I’m very happy to feature Lenetta of Nettacow today with her in-depth research on food additives, a topic so vast and wide it could have a 10-week carnival all to itself! She’s one of my favorite readers and really knows how to get around the blogosphere (check out her weekly Link Roundup, appropriately tagged “Reading […]
Spring Cleaning Carnival: Get the Food Additives Out! Read More »
Sometimes I make hasty decisions. When I decided to go gluten free for Holy Week, I just did it. It wasn’t until I was writing a post about it that I began to realize it was going to take a lot more effort than I had given it credit for. Gluten is in wheat, rye
If you want to make granola bars or oatmeal cookies using the soaking process to reduce phytates, you have to soak and dehydrate oats. It feels almost silly to go to such trouble and still end up with oats, an ingredient. You can’t even eat it yet! However – if you believe that soaking makes
Please catch up on all the soaking grains research for the scoop on phytates, phytic acid, phytase and more! I’ve been looking for another “real scientist” to balance the Great Debate between Sally Fallon and my Australian PhD contact. Imagine my joy when I stumbled across Stephan Guyenet, Ph.D. a Senior fellow at the University
Phytic Acid in Rice Reduced 96% with Accelerated Fermentation Read More »
In Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon and Mary Enig claim that brown rice is low in phytates and therefore does not need a very long soak time; seven hours is sufficient for increased digestibility, or even just a long, slow cook time of an hour and a half. Unfortunately, rice is also dismally low in phytase,
Germinated Brown Rice: Has the U.N. Finally Heard “Nourishing Traditions” Wisdom? Read More »
What is a whole grain, anyway? What are phytates and phytic acid? Why should you soak whole grains? Read on to learn. The Food Pyramid says eat more whole grains, and big food companies comply with “Made With Whole Grain!” cereals and bread, and coordinating advertisements. Michael Pollan says don’t eat foods that have advertisements.
If you started your sourdough starter last week, it can be used as a sourdough cracker starter. Try your hand at something with it like this sourdough cracker recipe. This is a guest post from Sarah Wood, a KS reader. (But I use the same sourdough cracker recipe with whole wheat!) Sourdough Cracker Starter I
Is sourdough bread healthier than other breads? Yes! Learn about the nutrition of sourdough bread and its benefits. Sourdough Health Benefits Fermented foods are oft-lauded for their massive health benefits, including beneficial bacteria to balance your intestinal flora and easier digestion. Lactic acid fermentation not only helps to preserve food but also increases the nutrients
This is my brain. This is my brain on grains. :-} I have been reading so many words I can’t pronounce these past few months and wishing I had kept little index cards like a college student as I try to unravel the story of grains. It’s tough to wrap my brain around! It’s soaking
Food for Thought: Is Soaking Grains “Traditional”? Read More »
Simple things. What can I do that is simple and will increase my nutrition? I’m often asked that question, and the folks who ask it don’t know that it’s the question I ask myself all the time. When I read about soaking grains for the first time, I was pleased to find out that it’s
In addition to storing grains long-term, I like to soak my grains. Here’s why. Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to try soaking grains in one recipe this week. You’re right: it’s controversial. But it can’t hurt. It is said that traditional cultures almost exclusively soaked or sprouted their grains before baking with
Want to know what to do with coconut oil? How to substitute one kind of fat for another? Wish you always knew what to do with your fats and how to adapt recipes to avoid the industrial fats that you’re just not into anymore? For more on how to cook traditional foods and use traditional
I’ve got a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder at times. For example: as a child, every week during the 45-minute drive on the way back from dance class, I would consume a small order of McDonald’s French fries. (That’s not the OCD yet.) It took nearly the entire time because I’d eat them like this: a
Lazy French Fries in Beef Tallow or Coconut Oil Recipe Read More »
I’m all about the healthy baby steps! Let’s baby step our way into healthier fats by using lard and tallow. Learn the health benefits of tallow and lard and where to buy them. I used to spend a LOT of time cutting off every single little tiny bit of fat from every cut of meat I
Food for Thought: Lard and Tallow, Healthy Fats? Read More »
Ghee is one of those fats I had never heard of a year ago. Would you know ghee if you bumped into some on the street? Ghee, pronounced with a hard “g” like “go” and a long “e” like “see”, is also called clarified butter, and it’s pure butterfat with the milk solids, impurities and
I used to use Canola oil almost exclusively as my liquid fat for baking. The popular press said it was the healthy oil. I felt really good – you know that feeling? – when I used it in quick breads, etc. I would even brag about my “healthy food”. Hmph. Now there’s a whole bunch
Food for Thought: Canola Oil, a Unique Omega-3…Thumbs up or Thumbs Down??? Read More »
I can still picture standing in the kitchen my first summer in an apartment, talking on the phone with my mother. I called her a lot to ask how to do things! I just wanted the recipe for cream of potato soup, one of my favorites, and there she was explaining how to make a “roux”
My First Roux (and a Cream of Potato Soup Recipe) Read More »
Anyone want to disagree with me? Question my research? Please, do. Really. This may sound confrontational at first, but I truly appreciate and welcome those wiser than me helping me understand the science of nutrition and sharing other sources that I may not have discovered on my own. I’m not a researcher. I love reading
Food for Thought: Are Polyunsaturated Oils Healthy? Read More »
Ah, the French know their fats. When my husband worked with a Frenchman, he reminisced about this time of year in France: “Fall is the best time of year because the food is so wonderful: the fish are fatter, the cream is plentiful, and the vegetables being harvested are some of my favorites.” Yep, he
It’s time. Time to sign off of the fake butter revolution, and start putting real butter on your toast. And your mashed potatoes, vegetables, in your baked goods…and anywhere else you might use margarine or a “spread” that makes some health claim or another. This might be incredibly difficult for some of you, having grown up
Butter vs. Margarine vs. “Spreads”: How do They Stack Up? Read More »
