What's in my packaged loaf of bread?

Ah, grocery shopping day.
Juicing means we go through a lot of fruits and vegetables- mainly apples, carrots, and lemons.  I would say we consume about five pounds of carrots and ten pound of apples, more if the kids snack on them.  Apples are so expensive to purchase organic (bah!), so I usually purchase about 5 lbs of organic apples (the cheapest ones I can find), and 5 lbs of your basic pesticide-loaded sort.  Yum, right? I know it has to be better than consuming prepackaged, processed foods.

I decided to stop buying pretty much all processed foods, except for cereals.  We're pretty picky about the cereals we eat to begin with and hardly eat cereal anyway (it's one of those, "I can't function this morning so have a bowl of this" sort of meals).  This has motivated me to test out various cracker recipes, among other snack delights, so I have a simple and healthy snack to offer to mini-peoples. I've also stopped buying breads. Fact is, every time I pick up a package of crackers, bread, or other snack food, I cringe at the label. I feel like there's not a good option out there for healthy, tasty breads— at least not one that doesn't make my pocketbook flinch.

I've been pretty good about  preparing a decent homemade breakfast almost every morning (muffins, banana bread, parfaits, or eggs with a side of fruit and some fresh juice).  I figure I could make it part of my breakfast routine to pop some ingredients into the bread maker so that we could have some fresh sandwich bread for lunch or supper.

I've allowed myself to eat "junk" as long as I make it from scratch which often means I skip the junk because I'm feeling a bit too lazy to whip up the batch of decadent brownies I'm craving.  However, even when I feel like making chocolate cake or a frappe, at least I know it's from quality ingredients with no added weirdness.

Seriously, have you looked at the label on some of those things? As I mentioned before, I've been scanning the ingredient lists on loaves of bread at the grocery store, and.... it's shameful really. I can't pronounce most of the things on there, and I'm wondering why a simple loaf of whole wheat bread has fifty ingredients (the majority of which do not resemble food stuffs). Whaa?

So, I guess we'll just be one of those households that has a zillion gadgets on the counter tops (juicer, bread machine, crock pot), but if it means we're eating healthy, it's worth it. Brandon's thrilled about me becoming more "domestic" (as he put it) because he absolutely loves when I bake fresh goods. (I've always been the baker in this union.) It's really not that difficult to make bread, tortillas, crackers, cakes, granola bars and other delicious goodies from scratch, and once I get into the routine of doing it (rather than relying on the packaged, flavorless hamburger buns for a buck), I'll wonder why I even settled for such icky substitutes.  (Let's face it. Homemade, fresh baked is so much better!) Besides, when I make it myself, I can pack in even more flavor and nutrition.

Apple Carrot Juice

Carrot juice.  Yeah, I can just hear you gagging.  It doesn't sound appealing, does it? (I'm agreeing with you there.) Let me share a secret with you.

Apples.

Yep. Apples can make almost any weird juice taste good (including celery juice!).



Recipe:

Juice 3 large carrots and 2 medium sweet apples (like Red Delicious or Gala).  I also added half a lemon.

Stir and enjoy!



And don't forget to show off that beautiful orange mustache!

Bottoms up!

Saturday I went out and bought a juicer, and so, we're on day three of juicing (and loving it).  Previously, I used my blender to make green smoothies, which we all love, but... man, juicing is much more fun.  I love that I've been able to slip healthy goods like carrots, celery, spinach, and kale in with apples and lemons to create a delicious drink!

Bottoms up!

The Sugar Drug

Oy! I'm a major sugar addict, so this is definitely a wake-up call for me. (Is it odd that I spent the entire video fighting the desire to binge on Bluebell Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough icecream?)

A foundation of good health for children

There is an issue of vital importance that most well-meaning parents don’t know about. They don’t know because nobody has told them. The issue is this: the modern diet that most children are eating today creates a fertile cellular environment for cancer to emerge at a later age. Trying to prevent breast, prostate and other cancers as an adult may not be possible because most risk factors cannot be changed at this late stage. The bottom line is that in order to have a major impact, we must intervene much earlier, even as early as the first seven years of life. In other words, childhood diets create adult cancers. That’s right: when our children don’t eat fruits and vegetables and instead are fed junk food, the groundwork may be laid for cancer and other diseases down the road.

- Dr. Joel Fuhrman

We still love raw foods

I've been thinking about raw food again, mainly because the kids and I just watched Food Matters again, and I was reminded of how absolutely fantastic I felt when I was on a high raw vegan diet.  I had come to the point where my energy was no where to be found.  I was dragging by lunch time, had a migraine by two in the afternoon, and had a Garfield-like nap attack on a daily basis (which, after indulging, I'd wake to an even bigger migraine and general grogginess).

I learned a lot from taking part in a high raw vegan lifestyle.  First of all, I realized that our diets were seriously deficient in whole, raw foods. Like most Americans, we were in the habit of eating cooked food, and the little bit of raw we managed to get in our diets was from the lettuce and onions on our burgers. Sometimes we'd have fruit for breakfast.  Sometimes I'd have a fruit smoothie.  Sometimes we'd eat carrots.  Sometimes.

Researching raw foods and their impact on the body really opened my eyes to the big gap in our family's diet, so we made huge changes. It has been my goal for our diets to be over 50% raw.  We changed snacks to fruits (clementines, bananas, and apples are the favorites here) and raw nuts (sunflower seeds are a hit), and started including at least one generous side of fruit or vegetables with each meal.  Breakfasts are generally loaded with fruits as well (clementines, grapes, bananas, strawberries).

We significantly cut back on our meat intake.  We may have a little meat mixed in a salad, soup, or veggie-filled casserole, but we're no longer consuming huge slabs of meat on a regular basis. I found that my body really does not handle large amounts of red meat well at all.  Since cutting back on red meat (I may a small amount once every two weeks, if that), I've found that this horrible full-body itch I'd been plagued with for several years has vanished!

When I first did the "raw food" thing, I did a lot of work in making raw meals.  However, I found that the thing that worked best for us was just consuming raw fruits and vegetables in their natural state, instead of trying to make raw lasagnas, pizzas, and such.  Pairing a lot of raw foods with some cooked foods is what really works best for our family, allowing us to get in the nutrients and live enzymes we need without having to concoct "weird" recipes.

One of our favorite recipes is a taco salad which features ranch-style (pinto) beans, on a bed of assorted lettuce greens loaded with (raw) onions, tomatoes, peppers and such. We enjoy a lot of Greek style foods as well, like gyros, which are easy to pair with cooked and fresh vegetables and a huge salad.

We found the kids really love cucumbers, and even though I'm not a huge fan, I don't mind when they are chopped up finely and tossed in a salad.  They love when I slice cucumber rings to snack on.  They will also consume tomato grapes like they're going out of style, and I buy about 10 pounds of clementines on a weekly basis.

Evangeline is a huge raw food lover. Ask her if she wants an orange or banana, and you'll see her face light up as she squeals with excitement! It's amazing how often the children ask for fruit when they are hungry instead of a sugar snack.  That's not to say they never ask for sugary snacks (they do love granola bars, and we buy organic versions), but I am hearing requests for fruits and veggies far more often.  Here's an example of a meal they might have one day.  (This is Evangeline's, so it's a bit more skimpy than the other kiddos' plates)

Banana, clementine slices, carrot "chips" (just sliced carrots) with a bit of tzatziki for dipping.
Sandwich wraps and organic corn chips (similar to fritos).

See, there's a give and take. The kids do have some things that aren't extremely healthy (even if they are organic, like the corn chips).  Sometimes we have white bread (or, in this case, white tortillas), sometimes we have whole wheat or some other grain. Sometimes their plates are loaded with veggies and fruits and have a muffin on the side.  Sometimes we have soup and crackers.  Thing is, we try to keep a healthy balance.

And there then are mornings when we do crazy stuff like this:

Because, we do love donuts, and there is no use denying it.

Gluten-Free? Check out this delicious blog!

This blog is filled with delicious Gluten-Free recipes (many of which are vegan/vegetarian!).  I am definitely bookmarking this one! (While I can have gluten, many of my friends and family cannot!)

The Cinnamon Quill

Veganized cinnamon rolls? Chewy chocolate chip cookies? Baked onion rings? Oh man, the drool.....

What about fudgy brownies?  Yes please!

And doesn't she take fabulous photos of the food she makes? *Nods*

Now that I have your taste-buds going, check out Free Eats Food.  These calzones look absolutely yummilicious!

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