Giving Up Grains

Creamy Root Vegetable Stew with Ham Steak

Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup chopped sweet onion

3 tablespoons of garlic

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

2 1/2 cups or about 1 lb of peeled diced sweet potatoes

2 1/4 cups or 3/4 lb peeled diced rutabaga

2 cups diced peeled turnip

2 peeled sliced (1/2 inch thick) parsnips

4 cups organic vegetable broth

1 cup water

1 to 1 1/2 pound ham steak, cubed

Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add onion to pan. Cook 3 to 5 minutes until clear then add garlic and rosemary. Stir and cook one minute. Stir in sweet potatoes and all ingredients up through vegetable broth. Bring to a  simmer and cover and cook 20 minutes until vegetables are tender. Place 3 cups of vegetable mixture in a blender. Remove the center piece of the lid to allow steam to escape. Cover with  dish towel to prevent splatter and blend. Add water as needed to blend vegetables to a smooth consistency. Once blended, add back to the stock pot and stir. Add cubes of ham and simmer 5 minutes  or until warm. This is a great starchy, fill your tummy kind of stew and a great post work out meal due to the sweet potatoes and other roots. FYI, if you do not love the strong taste of parsnips just leave them out or you may try carrots. My family does not LOVE parsnips but they like the small amount in this stew.

Grain Free, Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Scones

I made these for the kids this morning. They are one of Collin's favorites. This recipe is from Elana Amsterdam's Gluten Free and Almond Flour Cookbook. I have enjoyed some of the recipes from this great little cookbook. I altered it slightly by substituting honey for agave' and adding a couple of dashes of cinnamon. Delicious. Elana's cookbook and many free recipes are available at her blog at www.Elanaspantry.com

   

2 of Everything Tuna Salad and Mercury in Fish

Two of everything Tuna Salad. I love to make this for lunch. 2 cans of tuna IN OLIVE OIL. ( I use Trader Joe's) 2 hard boiled eggs 2 stalks of celery 2 dill pickles 2 tables spoons of grapeseed Veganaise. (This does have some brown rice syrup in it. You could use           lemon juice if you want to avid this) Drain the tuna but not totally dry. Chop eggs and celery and pickles and mix in a bowl with the tuna. Add Veganaise and some pepper and salt. Chill. Easy and so delicious. I like it with sliced tomatoes. Tuna is one of those fishes we need to watch out consumption of. The high levels of mercury make it something we want to eat in moderation. There are other fishes we need to watch our consumption of as well. Here is a list from Nordic Naturals Fish Oil Company(www.nordicnaturals.com) that tells us the Mercury levels in fish by rating them high, medium or low. HIGH Seabass(Chilean), Shark, Grouper,Swordfish,Tilefish,Tuna(Ahi, Yellowfin,Bigeye,Canned Albacore),Salmon(Farmed, Atlantic), Orange Roughy, Marlin, Makerel, Crab (Blue), Bluefish MEDIUM Bass, Monkfish,Carp, Cod, Croaker,Halibut,Lobster, Mahi Mahi, Monkfish,Perch,Sablefish,Skate,Snapper, Tuna (canned chunk light, skipjack),Sea Trout LOW Artic Cod, Anchovies,Butterfish,Catfish,Clam, Crab(domestic),Crawfish,Flounder,Haddock,Hake,Herring,Mackerel(North Atlantic, Chub),Mullet, Oyster,Plaice,Pollock,Salmon(Canned, Fresh, Wild),Sardine, Scallop,Shrimp,Sole,Squid, Talapia,Trout,Whitefish,Whiting

Ryan loves this snack.

Paleo Brands had free shipping last week so I decided to try their beef jerky. It is 100% grass fed beef jerky with no preservatives. My son Ryan(age 4) tried it and really liked it. He actually woke up this morning and asked for it.  This will be great for the lunch box too! Here is the website  www.paleobrands.com. Look under Paleo Snax.

Organic Grass Fed Beef

Trader Joe's now has Organic Ground Beef that is 100% grass fed. The manager told me this is what they are going to carry now. It is not frozen and 5.99 per pound in GA. Very good!!!

Cholesterol and Heart Disease: A Phony Issue

Cholesterol and Heart Disease: A Phony Issue

Written by Mary G. Enig, PhD

2001-Jun-30

Read this article in: Danish | Japanese "The Soft Science of Dietary Fats," by Gary Taubes, in the March 30, 2001 issue of Science,1 exposes the shenanigans of the 1970s McGovern Senate Committee staff and the follow-on by various government agencies that gave us the anti-fat, anti-cholesterol dietary goals and guidelines. This exposé adds to the material in "The Oiling of America"2 by Enig and Fallon and The Cholesterol Myths3 by Ravnskov. Taken together, these works provide substantial food for thought. Blood cholesterol levels between 200 and 240 mg/dl are normal. These levels have always been normal. In older women, serum cholesterol levels greatly above these numbers are also quite normal, and in fact they have been shown to be associated with longevity. Since 1984, however, in the United States and other parts of the western world, these normal numbers have been treated as if they were an indication of a disease in progress or a potential for disease in the future. As a result of some of this misinformation, which was purposefully planted by the leadership of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in 1984, many hundreds of thousands of people are treated with expensive medications to prevent the development of a non-existent illness. If the medications were only expensive and not life threatening, their use could no doubt be shrugged off as a harmless snake oil pharmaceutical scam; but, in fact, these are thoroughly dangerous medications for both physical and emotional reasons—for physical reasons because their use can lead to serious untreatable diseases such as liver cancer, and for emotional reasons because their use perpetuates the myth that cholesterol is dangerous and evil. In his book The Cholesterol Myths, Dr. Uffe Ravnskov tells us what happens to an older woman who has normal high serum cholesterol levels. When her blood is tested in a forced cholesterol checkup, the cholesterol myth is used to justify treatment of her nonexistent disease state and she loses her vibrant state of good health. The official advice to lower serum cholesterol levels has brought about numerous supplements with the attached claim that consuming them will lower cholesterol. This further supports the myth of cholesterol as an undesirable component of body and diet. In fact, the body uses cholesterol to repair and to protect. When improvement to the health of the body brought about by good changes in lifestyle or diet results in a lowering of serum cholesterol, it can be counted as an example of the body no longer needing the extra circulating cholesterol. The repair has been accomplished. A month after the exposé in Science, the NHLBI responded by lowering its recommended "at risk" cholesterol level and increasing the number of people it wants to put on cholesterol lowering drugs. But there may be hope that the truth will win. Independent thoughtful researchers have continued to point out that there is a real need for correcting the wrong advice given to the public regarding the consumption of dietary fats. New research continues to show that the saturated fats are not a problem, that the trans fatty acids found in partially hydrogenated vegetable fats and oils really are a problem, and that the lack of appropriate balance in the diet of the polyunsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids is also a problem. Even the mono-unsaturates have been taken to task by some of the recent research. And lowfat diets are being shown to be counterproductive. The lesson to be learned from all of this is that the old-fashioned, more saturated fats form the healthy basis of a good quality diet. And a good quality diet can help to produce a state of vibrant good health. Meanwhile, there is no need to worry about your cholesterol levels. This is a phony issue. References Gary Taubes, "The Soft Science of Dietary Fat," Science, March 30, 2001. Mary Enig, PhD and Sally Fallon, "The Oiling of America." Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD, The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy that Cholesterol and Saturated Fat Cause Heart Disease, NewTrends Publishing, Washington, DC, 2000. More info online at: www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm. This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Summer 2001.About the Author Mary G. Enig, PhD is an expert of international renown in the field of lipid biochemistry. She has headed a number of studies on the content and effects oftrans fatty acids in America and Israel, and has successfully challenged government assertions that dietary animal fat causes cancer and heart disease. Recent scientific and media attention on the possible adverse health effects of trans fatty acids has brought increased attention to her work. She is a licensed nutritionist, certified by the Certification Board for Nutrition Specialists, a qualified expert witness, nutrition consultant to individuals, industry and state and federal governments, contributing editor to a number of scientific publications, Fellow of the American College of Nutrition and President of the Maryland Nutritionists Association. She is the author of over 60 technical papers and presentations, as well as a popular lecturer. Dr. Enig is currently working on the exploratory development of an adjunct therapy for AIDS using complete medium chain saturated fatty acids from whole foods. She is Vice-President of the Weston A Price Foundation and Scientific Editor of Wise Traditions as well as the author of Know Your Fats: The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils, and Cholesterol, Bethesda Press, May 2000. She is the mother of three healthy children brought up on whole foods including butter, cream, eggs and meat.

Half your body weight in water.

I was reminded of something recently that I have started to do again.......drink LOTS of water. According to experts from CrossFit Endurance we need to drink half our body weight in water. I knew water was important and I drink water but NOT half my body weight. I started this a couple of days ago and I really feel better. What really hit home with me was the stated fact that if you are dehydrated as little as 1% you can have a decrease in performance of 10% - 12%. Whew! So, if you feel sluggish, hungover, slower in your work outs ect...add water to your diet! Also remember that you need to add another 16 to 20oz per hour of excercise. So, even though it's cold out there and you may not be thirsty....drink up!

Easy Dinner

Tonight I made a quick EASY meatloaf. This is so very versatile. I used about 1/2 pound of ground turkey, 1 pound of organic ground bison and 1/2 pound of organic ground grass fed beef. I chopped up about 1/2 an onion, added parsley, crushed fresh garlic, some organic tomato sauce,some salt and pepper and then 1 egg and a couple tablespoons of almond meal. I molded it into a "bread loaf sized" baking dish and baked it for 45 minutes on 350 plus a little more time on 400 to brown it. Delicious! You could add many other chopped veggies like carrots, spinach, peppers...anything really. I just used what I had available tonight. I then steamed broccoli and made Elana's Pantry Ranch Dressing to go over it. Dairy-Free Ranch Dressing ¼ cup grapeseed oil vegenaisse 1 tablespoon lemon juice, fresh squeezed 1 clove garlic, pressed ⅛ teaspoon minced scallion pinch celtic sea salt Combine all ingredients in a small mason jar Shake well to serve over salad Or to use as a dip refrigerate to chill and thicken What a great easy dinner. I love these dinners because they are kind of like a "clean out the fridge" dinner. Just about any ground meats (pork, bison, beef, turkey,veal) can go into meatloaf and just about any finely chopped veggies too.

A little soda water

My friend Jenny and I were talking about how soda water seems to make things fluffier in baking. I decided to try it in my next batch of muffins. I made Elana's Pantry Cinnamon Bun Muffins this past week- end and added a little soda water.(http://www.elanaspantry.com/cinnamon-bun-muffins) It really made them fluff up a little more. Fluffy is not something that usually happens with nut flour but this did make a difference. By a splash, I mean about 2 or 3 table spoons. This muffin recipe has baking soda in it but this water just did the trick. This is a brand I often buy that I drink ALL the time. [caption id="attachment_259" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Soda water"][/caption] I usually add lime or an emergen-C. (I only drink water, red wine and organic coffee now.) Anyway, this is something I am going to try in all my "baking" recipes.

New Found Paleo Website and Nut Flour Website.

My friend Jenny introduced me to this website.It is called Paleo Plan. (www.paleoplan.com) So far I have used it for recipes but it is an excellent website that sends you menus, makes grocery lists, contains a blog and back logs all it's recipes. I am diggin it! Here is another one I am using. www.nutsonline.com They have an excellent price on nut flour. A 5 lb. bag is $23.00 including tax and shipping. That is less than half of what I would pay in the stores here in GA. Check it out!