Aug 30, 2011

Batch Cooking: Finished

Our third cooking day was a success! (See day 1 and day 2).  There are a few things we learned and will do differently in the future.  Overall, I'm extremely glad we did it.

Let me just take a second to gush over my dear friend, HB.  This girl can cook!  I am so thankful for her friendship as well as her desire to bless her family with nourishing food.  Our time together today was such a blessing.  We got to hang out, talk (uninterrupted!) and accomplish a major task that will speak love to our families.  Can I encourage you to find a friend to cook with?  You will learn so many things.

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It's important to follow a recipe.  Every word of the recipe.  And it's important that if you're the person who doesn't like to follow recipes that you cook with someone who does.  Just be sure that the person who likes to follow recipes is forgiving if you mess up...on the most expensive dish you're making.
Above HB is browning the tenderized round steak that I tried to pass off as stew meat for the Boeuf Bourguignon.  Not a good idea - but it will work.  The red wine I bought for this dish was too sweet.  I should have read HB's grocery list a bit closer.  And, I made only half of the recommended requested chicken broth for the mulligatawny.  Details are not my forte.  I'm so thankful she is forgiving.

There were somethings I did right.  Like find a babysitter.  And make a fun cool drink.
HB's husband works from home so he was able to tend to their brood for a few hours.  Thanks JB - you're the MAN!

These chicken pesto quesadillas were yumma-lish!  It's what we had for dinner.
 Final tally of meals - we each took home these: 
2 chicken pot pies that will fit 9x13 pans, need crusts.
2 meals of beef tips and rice (HB needs to post this recipe!)
3 meals for boeuf bourguignon, serve with boiled potatoes drowning in buttah
2 mulligatawny soups, about 8 cups each though the bag says 6 cups.
2 gallon bags (at least 3 meals) of chicken pesto quesadillas (we ate one bag already).
In a previous post, I tallied the food cost at $90 and expected 7.5 meals for each family.  However, I can conservatively say there are 12 meals per family - which lowers the cost per meal to $7.50 which isn't bad considering we used quality meats!  We cooked a lot of nourishing food today.  And it was really fun.

-Julie
linked with Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

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Batch Cooking: I'm Ready

The fun begins at 2pm, we want to finish before the WAPF meeting at 6pm.  We'll start cooking in less than 3 hours from now.

HB just sent an email saying she was bringing:

- all the recipes so we don't have to refer to the computer
- 2 very big mixing bowls, 2 and 4 cup measuring bowls, ladels, large stirring spoons
- my 1/2 of the chicken, chicken broth and all the beef broth we will need
- prepared beef and sauce for beef tips
- onions and mushrooms cooked for bourginon
- my huge stock pot
- tortillas

Yesterday I cooked and shredded my chicken and made the pesto.

Today, I chopped the onions, carrots and celery in my food processor with the slicer blade shown below.  FYI: 8 cups of celery is about 2 bunches, and about 2 pounds of carrots make 8 cups.
My onions were all sizes, I bought 25 pounds at the farmers market a few weeks ago.  I have no idea how many pounds make 8 cups.
I've cubed my 6 pounds of round steak for stew meat.  Unfortunately I realized after thawing it that it has been tenderized.  This will make the recipe a bit different.  I hope not bad.
And soaked and cooked 6 cups of brown rice.
I just need to run my dishwasher so that we can start cooking with it empty.

I hope I'm ready!!

-Julie

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Aug 29, 2011

How I Make Pesto

Notice that the title of this post is not "How to Make Pesto" or "Pesto Recipe."  Usually my cooking involves ratios.  This drives some people crazy.  Sometimes it gets me in trouble {insert flop}.

So, this is how I made pesto.  Today.  And it turned out just fine {insert smirk}.

First, give your basil bush a haircut.  Whack it waaaaay back.  You'll want about 2 cups worth, packed tight.

Then gather the rest of your pesto making supplies.  I used Chaffin Family Orchards olive oil, Honeysuckle Lane (local) raw cheddar, garlic, and soaked walnuts.
A word about the above ingredients:

I love Chaffin Family Orchard's olive oil (no kickbacks for this praise).  I buy a gallon once a year.  It is great tasting oil.  

Cheese - most pesto recipes call for parmesan, Parmesan-Reggiano, Romano, or some combination of the three.  I've found that as long as it is a hard-ish cheese and somewhat sharp (tasting), it will work just fine.

Nuts - soaking and dehydrating them is not crucial but helps to increase the digestibility of them.  I usually buy nuts in 5 pound increments.  Then soak/dehydrate all at once.  I found a dehydrator at Goodwill that works great

The Recipe
I grated about 1/3 cup of cheese into my food processor then added a generous handful (or two?) of walnuts and 4 garlic cloves.  Pulsed until the consistency was mealy.  Then I dumped 2 cups of packed basil leaves into the processor, then turned it on.  While it was running, I drizzled about 1/2 cup of olive oil - until it made the consistency I was looking for.

The below picture isn't a very appetizing one.  Let me assure you, though, that it is quite tasty.

-Julie

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Batch Cooking: The Work in Advance Part 2

Yesterday I posted our meal plan and grocery list.  Today I went shopping and spent $68.89, roughly $35 per family.  We hope to get 15 meals (total, 7.5 meals per family) from this, which would be $4.59 per meal.

This is not factoring in the most expensive element - the meat.  HB and I both get our pastured chicken from Cove Creek Acres ($3/lb for whole birds - we get a discount for pre-paying).  She gets her beef, a quarter at a time for about $4.75/lb, from Falling Sky Farm.  Mine comes (FREE!) from my dad's farm in Kentucky.

Today I have about 9 pounds of whole chicken in my crock pot (9lbs x $3/lb = $27).  Tomorrow we'll cook about 6 lbs of grass fed stew meat, which will be $28.50 in beef.

$27 (chicken) + $28.50 (beef) + $35 (groceries) = $90.50 cost of food

$90.50 divided by 7.5 meals = $12.07 per meal


 EDIT: We were able to get 12 meals per family, making the cost per meal $7.50.


My family of four cannot eat out for $12/meal.  Plus, we'll most likely have leftovers from many of these meals.  Most of all - the meals we have planned are nourishing.

How to cut costs:
Omit the booze.  I spent $14 in wine (20% of the grocery cost) for the boeuf bourguignon and chicken pot pie.   The wine is not crucial but it sure does make a huge taste difference, one that I'm willing to pay more for.

- In the picture of food, you'll see that I didn't buy organic everything.  In fact, most things are not organic.

- The mushrooms were on clearance.

- Use recipes with beans and rice.  The first day of batch cooking we relied heavily on beans and grains. We didn't do a cost comparison but I promise you the cost per meal was very low - much lower than this batch cooking day.

- Use recipes that call for nutritious homemade bone broths.

- Buy meat in bulk - with the bones.  Many farmers give a discount if you buy in large quantities.  Indeed pastured meats are pricier than their feed-lot counterparts.  However, pastured meats are much healthier for your family.  And if you consider that you will make bone broth with the bones (instead of buying the sodium, MSG laden canned versions) this will help you bite the bullet of paying more for grass feed meat.

Shortcuts we're choosing to make:
- I bought shredded cheese.  I know that it has icky fillers.  The price was a bit cheaper for the shredded cheese AND it was one less thing for me to do in advance.

- Using premade tortillas, instead of making them from scratch.

- The mushrooms are already sliced.  Truth be told I went looking for sliced mushrooms but it was a huge bonus to find them marked down!

What I need to do in the next 24 hours to prepare for the Batch Cooking Day:
- soak and cook brown rice
- chop carrots, onions and celery
- cook, debone, and shred meat of 2 chickens
- thaw and cut up my 6 pounds of stew meat
- make 1.5 cups of pesto from basil in my garden
- finalize babysitter (should I factor the babysitter for cost per meal?)

One more thing: our husbands love it when we have a batch cooking day.  They love the stress that is reduced from our family when we have a freezer full of nourishing food.

Tomorrow is the big day.  I will probably blog about the results on Thursday. EDIT: Here's what I've done 3 hours before cooking.

-Julie

Linked with Monday ManiaFat Tuesday and Real Food Wednesday.

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Aug 28, 2011

Batch Cooking: The Work in Advance

On Tuesday, HB and I plan to make our third batch cooking day (see the first here and the second here.)  We both homeschool and have little people in our house so cooking big on one day is definitely a life-time-saver.  Batch cooking is one way to keep real food manageable with a busy lifestyle.

The work on cooking day isn't the only work.  The work in advance is just as important, if not more.

Since HB did the grocery run the last two times we've cooked, I volunteered to get the goods (and begged her to just tell me what to get.)

Before I show you the grocery list, I should tell you what we're making:

2 (or double recipe) Boeuf Bourguignon - A La Julia Child
4 Chicken Pot Pie - a la Pioneer Woman
2 Beef Tips & Rice - a la HB's Momma, recipe coming soon
4 Mulligatawny Soup
3 Chicken Pesto Quesadillas

Here's the grocery list she sent me:


meat needed:
6 pounds stew meat for beef tips (you)
6 pounds stew meat for bourginon (me)
12 ounces unsmoked bacon (Whole Foods?)
8 cups ckn. for pot pies
6 cups ckn. for mulligatawny
5 cups diced ckn. for dillas

broth needed:
5-6 cups beef broth for bourg.
4-5 cups beef broth for beef tips
8 cups ckn. broth for pot pies
15 cups ckn. broth for mulligitawny

3 pounds butter
onions (between the two of us, I think we have plenty)
carrots (10 pounds should be good, we need 8 cups sliced carrots)
celery (two or three bunches, we need 8 cups sliced celery)
mushrooms (1 pound for beef tips, 2 pounds for bourguignonne, pre-sliced would be good here)
6 cups full bodied red wine (chianti is recommended)
tomato paste (small can)
white wine (for pot pie)
6 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups pesto (Julie makes)
3 cups shredded mozzarella
3 cups shredded monterey jack
5 cups cooked rice for mulligatawny
tortillas (I have 20, we need two more packs, small fajita size, medium would be fine too if you can't find small)
ziploc bags

HB's notes on prep pre-cooking day:
I can do beef broth. Between the two of us, I think we will have plenty of chicken broth. We will each need to have 8 1/2 cups cooked chicken ready to go. Is that two or three chickens each? I would think that'd be two large chickens or three small chickens. 


All the mushrooms need to be sauteed in copious amounts of butter the day before cooking day. I can do this. 4 whole onions need to be sliced in large chunks and sauteed in lots of butter as well. I can do that, too. 

And last, but certainly not least - the babysitters!!  We are still in the midst of nailing these down.  We intend to cram all this in about 4 hours on Tuesday before the WAPF meeting at the library.

Hoping for the best,
Julie

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Mulligatawny Soup


This is a wonderful soup, that can be doubled and even frozen for future meals.  The chicken broth makes it nutritious and frugal.

1/2 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrot
3 T. olive oil
1 1/2 T. all purpose flour
1 T. curry powder
4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 bay leaf
1 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1/8 t. dried thyme
1/2 t. grated lemon rind
1/2 cup cream, warmed
1 1/4 cups hot cooked rice
1/4 cup flaked coconut, optional

Saute first three ingredients in hot oil in a dutch oven over med-hi heat till tender. Stir in flour and curry, cook over med heat 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually add broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer uncovered 15 minutes. Add chicken and next 5 ingredients; simmer uncovered 15 minutes. Stir in warm creamr. Ladle soup over rice in individual soup bowls. Optional garnish: coconut.

Yield 5 cups

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Aug 26, 2011

Reminder: WAPF Meeting Next Tuesday

Come socialize with other foodies and learn about the importance of nutrition and brain function from Lisa Lipe.


Tuesday, August 30, 6pm
Terry Library Meeting Room

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Aug 23, 2011

Price Comparison: Grassfed Beef to Processed Foods

by Tracy Youngblood
Rarely do I buy chips or candy at the store.  Usually it's for a party or similiar event.  When Matti sees the stuff in the buggy, she asks, "Where are we going?"  When she asked this the other day, I had a different answer for her.  I told her about the experiment I've been working on.

Many people new to the idea and focus of whole foods, real food or sustainable farms approach our booth, call, email or talk with me about our products.  One factor some folks choose not to try grassfed or pastured products is the price.  As I am in the typical grocery store I take note of the types of food in various buggies.  Most contain boxed, processed, high fructose corn sugar-laden "manufactured" foods and drinks.  I began to think about the choices we make.  Here are a few choice/price comparisons with our least expensive item, Grassfed Ground Beef.

Item                                 Price               Weight by pkg        Price/oz.
Grassfed Ground Beef   $4.50               About 16-20 oz.       $.23/oz.
Oreos                              $2.98                15 oz.                    $.20/oz.        
Pringles                           $1.50               6.41 oz.                 $.23/oz.
Snickers                          $4.94               22.55 oz.               $.22/oz.
Kraft Mac and Cheese    $3.72                 8.2 oz.                 $.45/oz.
Cheesy Chicken Helper  $2.88               23.6 oz.                 $.12/oz.
Red Bull                          $1.88                8.4 oz.                  $.22/oz.

As you can see, the price for locally grown, grassfed, intensively managed, hormone, antibiotic and grain free beef is relatively close to many of the items found in peoples' cart. 

It comes down to choice.  You choose with your fork.  You choose local farms, friends, whole foods, enlivening your local economy while boosting your health!  I really don't see any option here.  The point I make to people is:

We are in NO way similiar to grocery store meat, therefore our prices are higher.  If you choose to buy whole foods, prepare meals at home with an occassional dinner out, you can afford to have grassfed meat spilling out of your freezer.  When you quit buying pop, cereals, boxed dinners, chips, cookies and energy drinks, you'll have a much larger budget (and smaller waist) to shop for grassfed and pastured products.

Most of our customers are not wealthy monitarily, just a wealth of wisdom.   For them we are grateful beyond words!

You don't have to wonder which of the above product you could live the longest~that should tell you what you need to know.

Just for fun, here's the prices, by ounces, for some of our other products.
Sirloin Tip Roast            $6.85/lb.       $.43/oz.
Pastured Pork Chops      $6.25/lb         $.39/oz.
T-Bone Steak                 $11.25/lb.       $.70/oz.

We realize the YOU are the ones spreading the word about our farm and it's products.  We truly thank you for your support and encouragement.  What a blessing you are to us!

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, tell your friends about us, too.  We share up-to-date information with our Fans there throughout the week.  Prizes and giveaways too!!


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Aug 19, 2011

Family Day at Heifer Village

The “Living Local, Buying Local” Family Day will be on September 24, 2011 at Heifer Village, in downtown Little Rock, 10am-3pm

Bring your family to explore not only Heifer Village but activities that reveal why buying locally is not only fun but important to a community. The Family Day will include a mini-market featuring local farmers and vendors having demonstrations. The Root Café will be on hand to demonstration food preservation; The Green Corner store will display an array of offerings from local artisans and suppliers; Heifer Ranch will be highlighting their community supported agriculture program and how you may become involved.

Of course a family day wouldn’t be complete without a visit from our Ranch animal ambassadors and the many hands on activities such as creating your own “what’s in season” wheel, or traversing our “Life of a Tomato” obstacle course.

Learn more from the Heifer website or call 501-907-8800.

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Aug 16, 2011

Chipotle in Little Rock

Today's an exciting day.  Chipotle Mexican restaurant opens today on Highway 10 (next to Chick-fil-a, near Panera.)

Chipotle is one of my all time favorite chain restaurants.  Their specialty is burritos - really fresh and delicious burritos.  Oh and the guacamole, you gotta try it.

Because they provide real food options at fast food prices, I recommend this restaurant.

-Julie

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Aug 14, 2011

Apples to Apples -or- Eggs to Eggs?

Eggs are an inexpensive source of quality protein.  However, not all eggs are created equal.


Every week, it is my goal for my family of four to eat at least two dozen eggs.  My husband enjoys eating hard boiled eggs for lunch.  Sometimes we have scrambled eggs for breakfast - or a quick dinner.  Usually I consume my portion of eggs raw (actually just the yolk) in a smoothie.  The weeks that quiche is on the menu, I buy a third dozen.
Would I consume a raw egg yolk from the grocery store?  No way.  I worked in an experimental chicken house in college and I've seen too much.  Smelled too much.  Those poor industrialized birds are cramped in horrible living conditions and cannot produce healthy eggs.  There is a reason eggs go on sale at Kroger for $1 per dozen.
Eggs from hens allowed to feed on pasture contain four times more vitamin D, three times more vitamin E and seven times more beta-carotene, compared to industrial eggs. 
- Mother Earth News, June/July 2011

Pastured eggs are an inexpensive form of quality protein.

Not all eggs are created equal. The best tasting, most nutritious egg will be the one that has an orange yolk.

"Orange?"  you say, "I thought yolks were supposed to be yellow."  Well, grocery store eggs - from chickens that eat strictly grain and are trapped in small cages with 12+ hours of artificial fluorescent light a day - those eggs will be yellow.

But a bird that lives on green pasture, where the bugs are plentiful and the sun rises and sets as God ordained it - that bird will deliver beautiful eggs with orange yolks and hard shells.  Subsequently, the orange yolks will provide more nutrition.  Which is precisely the reason I am willing to pay $5/dozen for eggs.  The shells are hard and yolks are orange.   They taste delicious.

If you are buying eggs from a farmer, or someone that has chickens in their back yard, and the yolks do not look orange, but yellow, I would venture to say that those chickens are eating more grain than bugs and grass.  Those chickens are mostly likely in a small dirt pen.

Eggs from chickens in a dirt pen are still better than eggs from the grocery store; they're just not as good as chickens that have ample room to roam.

What if I can't find a source for local eggs?

If you are hard pressed to find pastured eggs or at second best - dirt yard eggs, I would buy organic eggs from the grocery store.  The term organic means the birds have not been fed antibiotics or given grain that is genetically modified.  Most, if not all, industrial raised layers (i.e. chickens that lay eggs) are given antibiotics whether they need it or not.  These antibiotics are passed on to the consumer through the egg and is why we are seeing resistance to antibiotics when they are needed.

If you cannot find organic eggs, I would buy eggs that say "cage-free" or "free range".

This is where the labeling gets a little squishy.  These terms, "cage-free" or "free range" mean the birds are not confined to a very small pen.  The birds could be crowded together on the floor of a barn or building with concrete floors. "Free range" means the birds have access to the outdoors through a small door but most choose never to use it.  Most industrially raised hens that are "cage free" have their beaks filed so they will not peck each other to death in their close living quarters.  As you can imagine this is not humane.  Here is a website that explains all this in more detail.

The price difference to me is worth it.  I am willing to pay more per dozen for quality nutrition.  Truth be known, I've paid more than $5 for a drink that's nothing more than empty calories.

As a recap, here's the order in which I would buy eggs:

1. pastured, from a farmer I trust or a neighbor's back yard that has green grass
2. farmer or back yard that is a dirt pen
3. organic from grocery store
4. free range or cage free from grocery store
5. dirt cheap eggs from grocery store

Industrial eggs from the grocery store are still real food.  They have a shell.  There is some redeeming nutritional value to them.  And they are a cheap source of protein and nutrition.

Unless I am starving (literally), or in a very awkward social setting, I will not eat powdered eggs or eggs from a carton.

If you are in the beginning stages of your food journey, I would recommend you to think about paying more for eggs.  Look for a local source to buy eggs from chickens that have access to fresh air, sunshine and bugs that nourish the chicken to give you a healthy egg.  Living in central Arkansas, there are plenty of options for locally raised eggs.  Start with a farmers market and ask the farmer to describe the area where his chickens roam.

After all, not all eggs are created equal.
-Julie

linked with Monday Mania.

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Aug 9, 2011

Okra Is Here

If you haven't been to a farmers market yet this summer - you gotta go this weekend!

fried okra
Today's afternoon snack at our house was fried okra in a bit of lard I rendered myself.

Another must try recipe that uses okra, purple hull peas, peaches and tomatoes (all currently in season) is Ginger Peach Gumbo.  Go ahead and buy enough at the farmers market to make a double batch.  It is soooo yummy.

HB wrote about her favorite okra recipe last summer.  In case you missed it, click here.

Okra isn't the only thing you'll find at the market on Saturday.  As I said above, you'll also find purple hull peas, peaches and tomatoes.  Last weekend I stocked up on bell and banana peppers, pastured eggs, and eggplant.  This is prime time for fresh produce.  Other things I saw were raw cheese, muscadine grapes, melons, corn, flowers, baked goods and so much more.

See you at the market!
-Julie

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Aug 7, 2011

WAPF Chapter Meeting in Little Rock: Real Brain Food

Weston A. Price Foundation Little Rock Chapter Meeting
Tuesday, August 30, 6pm
Terry Library Meeting Room

Real Brain Food
Academic Coach and WAPF Little Rock Chapter Leader, Lisa Lipe, will be speaking on the importance of nutrition for optimal brain function.  This information will be of special interest to parents, parents-to-be, teachers, and others wanting to improve or prevent learning, emotional, and behavioral problems in both children and adults.

The presentation will be from 6pm until 7pm.  Participants are invited to stay later to ask questions and socialize.  Please join us and bring a friend. We look forward to meeting you!

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Aug 3, 2011

Back to School: Lunches

from last August:
Here are some real food suggestions for lunch.


The first two pictures are my first grader's lunches.
Above: shredded carrots, popcorn -popped in coconut oil, raw cheese sandwich, water and Spiderman high fructose corn syrup and artificially colored poison (hey - we adhere to the 80/20 rule!)

Below: raw cheese sticks, water, popcorn, organic apples, peaches, oatmeal bake.
Below is lunch from Lisa Lipe: pastured hard boiled egg, raw cheese, organic apple, pastured chicken sandwich with lettuce and lacto-fermented mayonnaise on sprouted wheat bread.




Below is HB's kindergartner's lunch: mild cheddar cheese and wheat bread sandwich, popcorn popped in coconut oil, apple, soaked granola with extra raisins, in the sippy cup: water kefir, and of course, a napkin note because man does not live on bread alone.
Erin also has elementary aged children.  They get cheese or hummus quesadillas (on sprouted tortillas and fried in coconut oil), carrot sticks, organic applesauce, and homemade organic popcorn or granola for snack.  If they didn't eat an egg at breakfast, she would probably send a hard-boiled one in their lunch. 


Other ideas for real food lunch include:
 - egg salad
 - hard boiled eggs
 - probiotic potato salad
 - hummus and veggies
 - Lacto-fermented pickles
 - chicken salad
 - yogurt (full FAT) and granola
 - leftovers from the previous night's dinner.


Julie
{Participating in Real Food Wednesday}


What real food lunch ideas do you have?

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Aug 1, 2011

Back to School: Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  It jump starts the metabolism after a night's rest from food (hence the name, break + fast).  With a full belly and balanced blood sugars*, breakfast enables one to think clearly and soundly for hours.

I'm one of those people who just isn't hungry when I wake up.  If I were to choose the breakfast hour, it would be about 10 or 10:30 - that's when my belly asks for food.

However, if I don't eat anything until 10:30, the hunger pangs growl in my tummy like a bear after six months of hibernation.  Hungry horns hit me very suddenly mid-morning and it's not convenient to stop and eat breakfast then.  I'm not very nice mean when I have hungry horns.

So most days, I force myself to eat breakfast with my children.  I want them to create the habit of eating nourishing food first thing.

While breaking the fast in the morning is important, how you break the fast is just as important. Eating real food is paramount.

Please please please DON'T:
 - serve boxed food - especially boxed cereal.  Boxed cereal is not food.
 - serve fruit juice - dilute it with 1/2 water if you must drink juice.  It causes spikes in blood sugar that will only crash in a few hours.
 - serve carbohydrates, exclusively

Please DO:
- serve real, nourishing foods
- serve protein and healthy fats that help stabilize blood sugars for hours
- think ahead.  Most nourishing meals require a bit of planning.


My breakfast favorites:


1.  Baked Oatmeal - This is my all time favorite breakfast and after school snack.  It is nourishing, has healthy fats (coconut oil or butter), protein (I usually increase eggs from 4 to 5).  Best of all, I can make it ahead and usually double or quadruple the recipe.  Here's how you can package it for the freezer.  I've even added up to 2 cups shredded zucchini to each batch (instead of using the apples that it calls for.)  My son thinks I'm the bomb when I sprinkle chocolate chips on the top.  We eat it with heavy cream poured over the top, or on special days I'll whip the cream.

2.  Soaked Granola with coconut oil.  My husband eats this every day of the week. He likes it with dates and shredded coconut.  I like it with nuts.  We both like it with either milk or plain yogurt.

3. Soaked Oatmeal - here's how Kitchen Stewardship, The Nourishing Gourmet, Nourished Kitchen, Naturally Knocked Up and Passionate Homemaking do it.  C'mon, all the cool kids are doing it - why aren't you? :)

4. Soaked Whole Wheat Muffins with butter on top!

5. scrambled eggs with nitrate-free bacon

6. kefir or yogurt smoothie made with raw pastured egg yolk, coconut oil and frozen banana

7. quiche - for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

8. cottage cheese and fruit

9. natural peanut butter on toast

10. other nourishing breakfast ideas from Nourished Kitchen and The Nourishing Gourmet (whose recipes are often frugal).

The Schwarzbein Principle: The Truth About Losing Weight, Being Healthy, and Feeling Younger-Julie

{*A book that help me understand the importance of maintaining healthy blood sugar levels (and more) was The Schwarzbein Principle: The Truth About Losing Weight, Being Healthy and Feeling Younger.  It is an excellent book and can be borrowed from the Central Arkansas Library System.}


This post is a part of Monday Mania and Real Food Wednesday.

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