• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

mamakay

managing a household of 10 by the grace of God

  • 2020 Book List
  • Seasonal Living
  • Blogging
  • Investment Cooking

Whole Foods

Whole Grain Breakfasts

April 13, 2009 by mamakay 2 Comments

Are you looking to add more whole grains and vitamin filled foods to your diet? Breakfast is one of the easiest meals to increase your intake of whole grains and wonderfully healthy and delicious foods. The biggest dilemma with incorporating whole foods into your breakfast menu is planning. If you are used to pouring yourself a bowl of processed cereal eating and going it is going to take some effort on your part to change but it is so worth it! You will feel fuller and get so many more vitamins and minerals from preparing your own food. Plus you can control how much sugar and other items go into your food.

Using whole grains for breakfast can stretch your budget while adding vital nutrients to your meal. There are lots of choices: barley, cream of brown rice, buckwheat, cornmeal in the form of Polenta, cracked Kamut, cream of millet, oatmeal, steel cut oats, quinoa, cream of rye, whole spelt, or whole wheat. This is a great way to expand your grains. The grains can be cooked whole, cracked, rolled, as flakes or as a flour. They contain lots of B vitamins, folic acid, vitamin E, zinc, iron, potassium, calcium and more! Talk about taking a multivitamin and these are a lot easier to swallow too!

In order to get the most nutrition from your cereal both Sue Gregg and Sally Fallon recommend soaking, fermenting or sprouting your grain before eating them.

Here is what Sue Gregg has to say about it:

Soaking, fermenting, or sprouting the grain before cooking or baking will neutralize the phytic acid, releasing nutrients for absorption. This process allows enzymes, lactobacilli and other helpful organisms to not only neutralize the phytic acid, but also to break down complex starches, irritating tannins and difficult-to-digest proteins including gluten. For many, this may lessen their sensitivity or allergic reactions to particular grains. Everyone will benefit, nevertheless, from the release of nutrients and greater ease of digestion.

The first stage of preparation in making whole grain porridges or baked recipes, is to soak the whole grains or whole grain flour in an acid medium such as buttermilk, yogurt, or other cultured milk, or in water with whey, lemon juice or vinegar added. As little as 7 hours soaking will neutralize a large portion of the phytic acid in grains. Twelve to 24 hours is even better with 24 hours yielding the best results.

The easiest way to do this is to start the night before. If you want to have oatmeal for breakfast after dinner measure out the oats, water and salt then add a tablespoon of whey* put a lid on it and leave it for the morning. In the morning add raisins and cinnamon if desired and cook the oats until finished. The oats cook up quicker and you can attain the most nutrition from your breakfast. (Don’t forget to serve them with a pat of butter, raw milk or some yogurt for the protein and fat to keep you fuller longer and add the yum factor.)

Sue Gregg’s Breakfasts cookbook contains several recipes for cooking the whole grains for breakfast and the two stage process for the hot cereal, pancakes, waffles and muffins. Read her Talking Pages report on the Two Stage Process that you can find at: http://www.suegregg.com/about/c.htm for more information.

I hope you will add whole grain breakfasts to your meal rotation!

*You can get whey from yogurt or raw milk by letting the yogurt or milk separate and then pour it into a strainer lined with cheesecloth set over a bowl. Tie the cheesecloth to a wooden spoon placed over the bowl. The whey (the clear liquid) will run into the bowl. Let it stand until it quits dripping.

Use the whey as a starter culture for lacto-fermented fruits and vegetables, soaking grains and legumes. The solid is cream cheese. We like to mix it with flavors like pineapple juice, cinnamon or honey or spices and serve it on crackers or celery sticks.

Recipes:

Baked Oatmeal is mostly prepared the night before and tastes delicious with the lemon curd recipe that follows.

Baked Oatmeal

2 cups  oatmeal
2 cups  milk
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil — (I use Virgin Coconut Oil)
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
cinnamon — to taste

dried fruit — to taste
nuts — to taste

Mix ingredients except baking powder and cinnamon together and pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Refrigerate overnight. Add the cinnamon & baking powder just before cooking

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes until edges are golden brown.

Serving Ideas:  Serve with milk, cream, applesauce, lemon curd or other fruit topping.

Lemon Curd

We make this delicious topping with lemons grown in our own backyard.

5 large egg yolks

2 cups sugar (I use Succant)

1 cup lemon juice (juice of 4 lemons)

Finely grated zest of the 4 lemons (I use a microplaner to help do this job)

¼ pound (1 stick) butter cut into pats

Combine all ingredients except the butter in the top of a heavy double boiler and place over a pot of boiling water. (Make sure the top pan doesn’t touch the water.) Whisk ingredients constantly or use a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom until thickening begins to occur. (About 15 minutes)

Remove from heat and whisk the butter in one pat at a time. The curd should coat the spoon at this point.

Strain the curd into a cool bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and chill. (It will thicken as it chills.)

This keeps well for 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Serving Ideas: Eat on biscuits, toast, make tarts, or serve on baked oatmeal.

Filed Under: Investment Cooking, recipe Tagged With: Allergic Reactions, B Vitamins, Breakfast Menu, Brown Rice, Buckwheat, Cornmeal, Delicious Foods, Lactobacilli, Multivitamin, Phytic Acid, Sally Fallon, Steel Cut Oats, Sue Gregg, Vital Nutrients, Vitamins And Minerals, Vitamins Minerals, Whole Foods, Whole Grain, Whole Grains, Whole Wheat, Zinc Iron

Real Food for Mother & Baby

April 1, 2009 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Nourishing Days is having a give away of Nina Planck’s new book: Real Food for Mother & Baby. I read her first book Real Food and found it to be an encouraging and practical guide to eating whole foods. I highly recommend it! I’m looking forward to reading this book as well!

Filed Under: Investment Cooking Tagged With: Amp, Mother Baby, Nina Planck, Practical Guide, Real Food, Whole Foods

Eating Well on a Budget

December 1, 2008 by mamakay 1 Comment

In this economic climate everyone is looking to see how they can cut their expenses and trying to eat healthy and save money at the same time takes some extra effort. Organic products are more expensive than regular grocery items especially if you buy them at the grocery store. There are no coupons to save you money and sometimes finding the items requires a trip to stores like Whole Foods or other natural food sources that aren’t known for their cheap prices. You are going to have to make choices. Your family only has so much to spend so what are the wisest choices you can make to eat the best?

First of all, pray that God will give you wisdom and the vision to see what your choices are. He will honor that request. We can not make eating healthy an idol in our lives. We should pursue good health so that we can better serve our God not so that we can have the perfect body and live without illness.

Eat seasonally. By eating seasonally you are gaining the best nutrient dense foods plus those foods are usually cheaper because they are bountiful. If you have a garden it is even easier to do this. Watch for new sources for great food. Food Co-ops like Bountiful Baskets or CSAs can offer you wonderful food for much lower prices.
Buy in bulk. I stock up on our main foods at Costco and from Azure Standard. Buying in larger quantities can save you lots of money. For example, I can buy 25 pounds of dried organic black beans for $1.00/pound, which makes about 100 cups of cooked beans. To buy one can of organic black beans it costs $1.43 for 1 ¾ cups of beans. For the cost of 1 can of prepared beans I can make over 6 cups of beans. Cooking beans is one of the easiest foods to prepare and one that my crock pot takes care of for me so it requires very little effort on my part. (See below for my recipe for cooking beans easily.) I usually fix a whole crock pot full and then freeze the extras in 2 cup portions for future meals.

Put your freezer to good use. When you are able to get a good deal on produce, preserve as much as you can for the future. I also like to buy big bags of frozen veggies from Costco for quick meals. They have more and more organic choices and for feeding the family it is much more efficient to buy the large bags for several meals then to buy the small bags at the grocery store.

Be creative in using your leftovers. I like to make soup with some of the bits and pieces left over from other meals. It is like making a meal for free when you can use the leftovers.

Make sure your meals include whole grains and beans. Not only will you get wonderful nutrients from these foods but tummies will fill up and not require so much of the more expensive foods. Make sure to soak your grains with whey or lemon juice whenever possible to make them more digestible.
Find a farmer’s market or participate in community supported agriculture. A great source to find the ones in your area is www.localharvest.org.

Be a good steward of the budget you have for food and be creative in finding ways to obtain your food and you will be able to eat healthier for a lot less. May God bless your efforts!

Recipes:

Beans:
5 cups of black beans (or most other beans: kidney, navy, or pinto)
3 quarts Warm filtered water
4 tablespoons of whey (the clear liquid that separates from plain yogurt or raw milk) or lemon juice

Rinse the beans and put them in a bowl. Cover with warm water & add whey or lemon juice. Cover the bowl and leave overnight. Drain and rinse. Place in the crock-pot on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5 hours until desired consistency.

Cool and bag for the freezer.

This recipe is from Sue Gregg’s Soups and Muffins Cookbook.

Black Bean Chowder

From Soups & Muffins p. 82

Serves 8 to 10 About 14 Cups
1. Bring water to a boil with rice and potatoes; lower heat to a very gentle boil, uncovered for 30 minutes:
2 1/2 quarts water
1/4 cup brown rice, uncooked
2 medium potatoes, unpeeled or peeled, cubed

2. In a separate pan sauté vegetables in oil:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped or1/4 cup dried green pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced

3. After potatoes and rice have cooked a full 30 minutes, add remaining ingredients and continue a very gentle boil about 1 hour until chowder is slightly thickened:
sautéed vegetables
15 oz. can black beans, undrained (I use my cooked beans from the freezer)
15 1/4 oz. can kidney beans, undrained
16 oz can Vegetarian Beans in Tomato Sauce
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 teaspoon ground cumin seed
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
3 tablespoons Sue’s Kitchen Magic Seasoning

4. Remove bay leaf. Top each bowl of soup, as desired, with:
grated cheddar cheese,
chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

Filed Under: Investment Cooking, saving money Tagged With: Array, Black Beans, Bountiful Baskets, Co Ops, Costco, Crock Pot, Csas, Economic Climate, Food Baskets, Food Co, Food Food, Freezer, Good Health, Grocery Store, Lots Of Money, Natural Food Sources, Nutrient Dense Foods, Organic Products, Perfect Body, Quantities, Whole Foods, Wisdom

What is Investment Cooking?

July 29, 2008 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Investment Cooking is a way of preparing meals by organizing your shopping, preparations and cooking in the most efficient way. You can simply double or triple the meal you are preparing for dinner tonight and put the other meal(s) in the freezer for another night. You can organize a cooking session based on a protein that you found on sale such as making several meals featuring chicken. Finally, you can devote an entire day to cooking resulting in a month or more of food ready and waiting in your freezer. Other names for investment cooking are bulk cooking, cooking for the freezer, or once a month cooking.
What are Whole Foods?

Whole foods are foods that are found as close to nature as possible. They include but are not limited to: freshly ground whole grains, purified water, beans, organic fruits and vegetables, “clean animals” as commanded in Leviticus 11 such as chicken, fish, beef, and venison, honey, unrefined oils such as olive oil and virgin coconut oil, butter, eggs, dairy products (preferably raw and certified), yogurt, kefir and other cultured dairy products, whole grains such as wheat, corn, spelt, barley, brown rice and many others.

Filed Under: Investment Cooking, whole foods Tagged With: Barley, Brown Rice, Close To Nature, Corn, Cultured Dairy Products, Eggs, Fish, Freezer, Fruits And Vegetables, Honey, Kefir, Leviticus 11, Olive Oil, Organic Fruits And Vegetables, Protein, Shopping, Venison, Virgin Coconut Oil, Whole Foods, Whole Grains

Continuing Gratitude

June 10, 2008 by mamakay Leave a Comment

140. 5potato’s first steps

141. Her beautiful laughter

142. 1potato’s willingness to watch the baby while I get a shower

143. summer break

144. a houseful of books waiting to be read

145. ideas swarming in my head with the potential studies of the new school year

146. grace

147. a beloved husband

148. Land’s End’s modest swimsuits for the girls

149. access to whole foods to feed my family with

150. hope for a future on a few acres of land

Filed Under: 1000 Gifts Tagged With: Beloved Husband, First Steps, Girls, gratitude, Laughter, Modest Swimsuits, School Year, Summer Break, Whole Foods, Willingness

1000 Gifts cont.

November 13, 2006 by mamakay Leave a Comment

21. Books — knowledge, ideas, friends, teachers, and adventure all waiting for me to absorb
22. The Bible — the best book of ALL!
23. blogs
24. a husband that shares the detail of his daily life with me
25. fresh baked homemade whole wheat bread
26. community supported agriculture — where I can connect with a farmer and get marvelous vegetables that are raised with love and without chemicals.
27. parents who loved me and took me to church where I found Jesus
28. sisters I can call friends
29. the best in laws
30. the internet — makes my life easier — I just registered my car in less than 10 minutes & didn’t have to email anything!
31. essential oils that heal our bodies without using chemicals
32. whole foods which God created for our benefit
33. quiet time to spend with God in the morning
34. circle time where the girls and I can have fun together and talk about God
35. photos that record the joy and growth of our family
36. time with Paul every evening
37. music that soothes my soul and refocuses my mind
38. running water that cleans and refreshes
39. the women at Heart & Home that have shown me so love & taught me so much
40. new friends

Blog Widget by LinkWithin

Filed Under: 1000 Gifts, God Stops Tagged With: Benefit, Bible, Books, Chemicals, Circle Time, Community Supported Agriculture, Essential Oils, Gifts, Girls, God, Heart, Jesus, New Friends, Parents, Quiet Time, Running Water, Vegetables, Whole Foods, Whole Wheat Bread

Primary Sidebar

Stitch Fix outfit

So glad you stopped by. I am a Christian wife and mother of 8 in the middle years. My kids are aged 4 to 20 and just about every 2 years in between. I write about our life as a big family, what God is personally doing in my life, food and books.

Hopewriters

Our Sponsors


This website includes affiliate links. Please help support our site by clicking through and purchasing from our sponsors! Thank you!

Newsletter

Simplified Organization Simple Meal Planning - Plan to Eat

Recent Posts

  • How Yoga Helped Me Fight Depression
  • What is the Best Way to Practice Advent?
  • Amazon Prime Days 2020
  • What I Learned This Spring 2020
  • Favorite Family Read Aloud Books

Categories

Copyright © 2021 · Wellness Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in