Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Peanut Butter Brownie Cups (made with whole wheat and sucanat)

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The delightful thing about eating healthy, whole foods is that you can still have your cake and eat it too – you just need to make treats with real, wholesome ingredients. It also helps you to stay healthy if you refrain from eating the entire batch of goodies. Shucks.

Read through this post about Healthy Sweeteners, this post about Healthy Fats and this post about Whole Grain Flour to answer questions you may have about how to make treats that still have lots of great nutrients! While we still limit the sweets and treats at our house, I don’t feel guilt when feeding my family delicious desserts that are made with these whole foods and healthy fats. (You’ll see a big list of our healthier treat recipes here.)

And now, my friends, I have a very exciting new recipe to share with you that contains wholesome, funky fresh ingredients. Warning:  You may want to sit down when you take your first bite so that you don’t faint from the pure joy of it all.

A Heavenly Homemakers reader, Katie, gave me the idea for these Peanut Butter Brownie Cups. With tears in my eyes, my hand clutched to my chest and a sob in my throat, I’d just like to say from the bottom of my heart, “Katie…thank you.”

Yes, gooey chocolate and peanut butter makes me completely sappy. You can only imagine that this type of behavior is what my children and husband experience on a regular basis while living with me. If you think my reaction to this recipe is overwhelming, you should have heard me trying to get through the end of Little Britches when I was reading it out loud to the boys. Don’t even ask about Old Yeller.

Peanut Butter Brownie CupsYum

1 cup melted butter
1 1/2 – 2 cups sucanat (depending on your preference)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup natural peanut butter (I use homemade peanut butter)
2 Tablespoons honey

Stir together melted butter, sucanat and cocoa. Add eggs and vanilla and stir well. Mix in flour until batter is thoroughly mixed. Scoop batter into 24 paper lined muffin tins (filling each one about 1/3 full).

Stir peanut butter and honey together. Spoon 1/2- 1 teaspoon of peanut butter mixture into the center of each brownie cup.

Bake in a 350° oven for 20-25 minutes. Makes 24 Peanut Butter Brownie Cups.

Have you tried baking treats with whole wheat flour and sucanat (or honey)? Do you use real butter (instead of margarine or crisco)? Does the thought of chocolate and peanut butter together make you swoon?

Leave a comment on this post for an additional entry for our drawing for 5 $10 Gift Certificates to the Heavenly Homemakers Shop!

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Funky Fresh Kitchen – The Toss it Out Challenge

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I’m not generally a proponent of wasting food. But I’m here today to challenge you to do a little bit of selective pantry cleansing. This may be a little bit painful – but I’m here to hold your hand (and walk with you to the trash can). You can do this. We’re all in this together.

One of the most difficult things for me to do when we began our Healthy Eating Journey was to throw out and stop purchasing foods that I was able to get for little to nothing with coupons. Skippy Peanut Butter, Hamburger Helper, Poptarts, Rice-a-Roni – these and many more were all frequently in my pantry until six years ago when we began to learn the importance of eating real, whole foods. I shed tears, I got heeby-jeebies in my gut, I grieved my old way of life and way of thinking about “food”.

It was a roller-coaster time for me because at the same time I was struggling to clean out my food stash, I was also excited about eating better. I was thrilled to be learning ways to feed my family healthier foods. I was hopeful about the improvements in our health that came with eating nutrient rich foods, instead of pre-packaged foods that were hurting our bodies.


Why did I think I’d miss boxed mac and cheese when
for the same amount of time and effort, we can have this???
Creamy Mac and Cheese

During that transition, many boxes and bags made their way to our trash can. (It helped when ants got into some open boxes of cereal – praise the Lord for blessings that come in the form of little black pests.)  Some of our unopened packages of processed foods were given to our local food pantry. Little by little, I transformed our kitchen.

Some of the main ingredients I was focused on getting rid of right away were:  High Fructose Corn Syrup and Hydrogenated Oils. I began reading labels, and if those ingredients were in the foods in my home, out they went. Later, I transitioned our noodles and rice to be of the whole grain variety, then I made changes with our dairy products and meat. Slowly but surely, my kitchen became funky, fresh and healthy.

If you’re on a healthy eating journey, I’d like to encourage you to make just one more change today. Throw out something in your kitchen that shouldn’t be there. (Um, don’t toss your husband’s favorite goodies without asking first – this post is supposed to be inspirational to your health, not detrimental to your marriage.)  ;)

Let’s walk together to your food stash. What’s in there that isn’t helping you and your family to be healthy? I’m not asking you to throw out everything that isn’t a real, wholesome food unless you’re absolutely ready to take that plunge. Today I’m just asking you to throw out one thing (or set it aside to give away).

In an upcoming post I’ll share all kinds of exciting information about how to replace those bad-for-you foods with delicious good-for-you foods!!! But today we’re just taking a step toward a Funky Fresh Kitchen by throwing out one thing that isn’t good for us. Picture me (and all the rest of the gang who hangs out here) cheering you on while you do it.

Leave a comment on this post letting us all know what you’ve tossed out!!! Use that awesome basketball ability you’ve been hiding all these years and skillfully shoot those boxes of unreadables across the room into the trash so that you can replace it with something delicious and better for you. Share with us what you’re tossing!!! We want to be inspired by you. (Plus, your comment here will be entered in the drawing for our five $10 Heavenly Homemakers Shop gift certificates giveaway!!)

Hey, while we’re on the subject of cleaning out the pantry (and fridge), I’d love to hear how you’re coming on creating your Funky Kitchen. There are still some $2.00 Funky Kitchen coupon codes to be had…get ’em while they last!

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Gratituesday: A Funky Fresh Freezer Full

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I know the Funky Fresh Kitchen series has only just begun, but I sure do hope that you’re having as much fun as I am having!!! You all make this blogging thing a blast – I hope you know that. :)

This week for Gratituesday I wanted to share some of the fresh kitchen produce that we’ve been enjoying and working to preserve. Fall is always such a busy time, but the work is so rewarding as the wholesome food keeps filling our pantry and freezers.

We bought 12 dozen ears of organic corn at the farmer’s market and worked together to make a sticky, corn mess all over the kitchen – and also to put it up for winter. ;)

We ended up with about 30 quarts of sweet corn, maybe not enough for the entire year, but hopefully enough to last us until we can eat fresh corn next summer!

I ordered a big box of blueberries from Azure Standard (since blueberries don’t really grow well here in Nebraska). We ate as many fresh berries as we could, but then needed to freeze the rest for smoothies.

Why is it that looking at all these bags of good produce makes me so happy?!

Our green beans have been growing well, but have not produced enough for us to put up a year’s worth. Last week a friend of ours called and begged us to please come pick her green bean garden because she had quite enough. The six of us spent about an hour and a half one morning and well, judge for yourself. Do you think we got enough?

We snapped and blanched and snapped and blanched and now we have gallons of wonderful beans in our freezer!!! (Did I mention that we snapped and blanched? I truly was seeing green beans in my sleep for a few nights in a row.)

As I am every year, I am so thankful that God has provide wonderful, healthy food for our family. I’m thankful for my big freezers and that we are healthy enough to work together to get all of these foods preserved.

I’d love to hear what fresh foods have been in your kitchen as we head into fall. Have you been preserving? Have you visited your farmer’s market? (Leave a comment on this Funky Fresh Kitchen post for another chance to win one of 5 $10 gift certificates from our shop.)

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here.
If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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Easy Noodle Stir Fry

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You’ll want to make this stir fry recipe a part of your weekly menu plan!

It is a fact that earlier in the summer, my oldest son requested Ramen Noodles for his 14th birthday lunch. Bleh. I obliged because it was his birthday and because I could afford the 17¢ required to purchase the desired package of what can’t possibly be food since it only costs 17¢. Asa completely understands why we don’t normally eat MSG covered cardboard – but doggonit – he likes the stuff and it was a birthday treat.

Our family used to make a great stir fry dish using Ramen Noodles “back in the day” before we began our healthy eating journey. Asa has fond memories of that dish and was actually the inspiration behind this new version. One day he simply said, “Mom – don’t you think you could just use spaghetti noodles and soy sauce instead of ramen noodles and make the Stir Fry taste the way it used to taste?” Huh, well now why didn’t I think of that?

We tried it and WOW. We all devoured it (which isn’t entirely shocking because “devour” is typically what we do around our table three or more times each day). This dish is great for several reasons:

  • It is very easy to make.
  • It is completely healthy.
  • You can make it a variety of ways, depending on which vegetables your family likes and has on hand.
  • You can make it a meatless dish or add chicken to make it a complete meal!

Easy Noodle Stir FryYum

3.0 from 1 reviews
Easy Noodle Stir Fry
 
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Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 2-4 cups fresh or frozen veggies of your choice (broccoli, carrots, peas, peppers, corn, zucchini, squash, etc.)
  • 3 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 clove minced fresh garlic or ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 10 ounces whole wheat spaghetti noodles
  • Soy sauce (to taste)
  • Sea salt (to taste)
Instructions
  1. In a skillet, toss vegetables, garlic and olive oil together - cooking on medium heat until veggies are tender.
  2. In the meantime, boil the spaghetti noodles in water and drain.
  3. Stir cooked veggies and noodles together.
  4. Add soy sauce, stirring until the noodles are barely coated.
  5. Add sea salt (and more soy sauce) if desired.

Easy Noodle Stir Fry

What is your relationship with Ramen Noodles? Love ’em? Hate ’em? Do you know what’s in ’em? You don’t want to know. I highly recommend switching to whole grain pastas and skipping any MSG filled sauces and flavorings as part of your Funky Fresh Kitchen challenge. You can do it! Look how tasty this dish is without any artificial anything!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
malachi cutting
My youngest son can now cut all the veggies for this meal. I LOVE THIS!
This week only, grab the FREE Knife Skills Videos so your kids can learn how to cut fruits and vegetables safely!
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Funky Fresh Menu Plan for the Week (with a challenge!)

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Welcome to Day One of our Funky Fresh Kitchen series! Make plans to join us for fresh kitchen challenges, new healthy recipes and (hopefully) inspiration for you as we get organized in the kitchen and work our way toward a kitchen full of healthy foods! (And don’t forget about the awesome upcoming giveaways!!)

Since I normally post our menu plan on Sunday, I decided we’d work today’s Funky Fresh Kitchen Challenge around menu planning. As you can see from my menu list below, I typically plan all three meals for each day. I don’t always stick to the plan exactly, but having an outline makes life so much easier for me, plus makes our meals well balanced and healthy.

I know that some people function just fine without a menu plan. But if you are someone who tends to panic at 5:30 because you don’t know what you’re fixing for dinner – and then you just grab something quick and unhealthy to fill the tummies of your family members – let me encourage you to take this small step toward a fresh, healthy kitchen.

First, read through my menu plan for this week to get some tasty meal ideas, then stay tuned for the Challenge stated below!

Sunday, August 28
Blueberry muffins, honeydew melon
Spaghetti, tossed salad, fresh corn, green beans
Leftovers

Monday, August 29
Simple soaked pancakes, blueberries
Tuna salad on tomatoes, fresh peaches with cottage cheese
Teriyaki chicken and veggies, fruit salad

Tuesday, August 30
Applesauce bread, bananas
Taco corn fritters, green beans, watermelon
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

Wednesday, August 31
Creamy orange cooler, fried eggs on toast,
Turkey ranch pinwheels, cantaloupe, sweet pepper slices
Italian roast wraps, green beans, applesauce

Thursday, September 1
Orange muffins, freeze dried strawberries
Creamy mac and cheese, peas, watermelon
Salmon patties, ranch potato wedges, tossed salad

Friday, September 2
Honey whole wheat bagels, peaches
Sloppy cornbread muffins, green beans, pears
Homemade pizza, cherries

Saturday, September 3
Homemade whole wheat donuts, applesauce
Leftovers
Grilled chicken, stir fried veggies and rice

As you can see, I am not a gourmet chef. I do not cook fancy foods. I do not cook anything “weird”. I simply make very basic, healthy, kid friendly foods that are full of the nourishment our bodies need. I am very intentional about including fruits and vegetables with each meal. I find that if I’m not purposeful about including fruits and veggies, we simply do not get enough nutrients, then we start wearing down and getting sick. Bring on the veggies!

Your challenge today is to plan just one meal. (Of course, you can plan more if you want to!)  Figure out tomorrow night’s dinner, figure out what you’ll be serving Wednesday evening, figure out whatever will help you the most. Base the meal plan around food you already have, or if you need to go to the store, pick up what you’ll be needing for this meal so that you’ll be prepared and relaxed.

Be sure the meal you plan is well balanced and includes vegetables. If you don’t have vegetables in your house GO HENCEFORTH WITHOUT DELAY AND BUY VEGETABLES. No excuses. If you need to start with fruit because your family struggles with vegetables, fine – get some grapes. But please be intentional about feeding your family good, nutrient filled foods. (Read through this series of Simple Steps to Healthy Eating to give you some easy ideas for where to start!)

Leave a comment here sharing your one meal plan. Your comment will be considered an entry for the five $10 Heavenly Homemakers Shop gift certificates drawing. Plus, it will serve as inspiration for all of us! I love reading what others are planning to eat! In fact, after reading through your comments, I may just change my menu plan for this week!

(P.S. There are 0 Funky Kitchen ebooks still available at only $1.50. Once those are sold out, you’ll find the next 200 books at $2.00 each! Still less than half price!)  :)

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Funky Fresh Kitchen – Join the Fun!!

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I haven’t attempted to turn a cartwheel since I was in my early twenties. I actually almost pulled a muscle just picturing myself turning a cartwheel today. BUT, I am so excited about the next two weeks I really am tempted to do some flips. After a lot of emailing, planning, organizing and brainstorming, I have a lot to tell you about. Where should I start?

First maybe I should explain what Funky Fresh Kitchen is all about.

Fall is almost here. I don’t know if you are like me, but this time of year I’m always looking for a fresh start. I want to get into a nice, organized routine. I want to set new goals for my family and for my kitchen. I want to enjoy all the wonderful, fresh food of harvest time. I want to start baking again as the weather turns cooler. I want to try new recipes. And I want my kitchen to be funky.

Funky? Yes, funky. Functional, if you really want to be technical, but I like calling it a Funky Kitchen, mostly because it makes me giggle. (Obviously, I’m easily amused.)

Make plans to join us here for the next two weeks of Funky Fresh Kitchen fun! I have new recipes to share, I’ll be offering up some challenges (are you ready to get your game on?), I’ve got some incredible giveaways and there will be some majorly discounted items in our shop.

I’ve got so many posts and so much excitement, I’m going to suggest that you may want to subscribe to Heavenly Homemakers and/or join my Facebook page so that you don’t miss anything. Trust me, you don’t want to miss anything.

The giveaways I have lined up? Well, you may just want to join me in the cartwheel attempts after you hear about these. Are you ready?

Cultures for Health has agreed to give away an Excalibur Food Dehydrator!! It’s true. AND (yes, I am screaming here) Paula’s Bread has offered to give away my most favorite Funky Fresh Kitchen item ever:  a Nutrimill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Let us all pause now for a moment of synchronized cartwheel turning and screaming.)

And don’t forget the new recipes I’ll be sharing. Some are chocolate and some include broccoli and all of them are easy and will inspire you to make fresh, healthy changes in your kitchen. Goodness, I’m so excited while I’m typing, I’m realizing that I have forgotten to breathe. You are all still breathing aren’t you? Okay good. We can’t all pass out before we even begin all the fun.

Share this post with all your friends on Facebook and in your neighborhood and tell your sisters and cousins and friends at church and college roommates and your bff and your bff’s sisters and cousins and everyone you can think of who could and should join us as we pursue our Funky Fresh Kitchens.

funkykitchencoversmTo get us started, we are offering our Do the Funky Kitchen eBook (which is regularly $4.95) for only $1.00. Yes, a buck. Read my favorite tips and suggestions for achieving a funky (functional) and organized kitchen, fresh and clean for fall.  But hurry – our discounted price of $1.00 will only be available for the first 100 purchasers. As of now, you can purchase Do the Funky Kitchen eBook for just $1.50 – available for the next 150 purchasers!! After that, the price will creep up little by little throughout the week. Take advantage of this deal while you can!

Watch for specials and discounts like this for the next two weeks during this Funky Fresh Kitchen feature.

Also:  By leaving a comment on ANY post with the above Funky Fresh Kitchen button featured, you will be entered to win one of five $10 gift certificates good for anything downloadable in our Heavenly Homemakers Shop. Because the button is featured on this post, comments right here and now will be added to the drawing for our gift certificates! Let the commenting, the Funky Kitchen eBook purchasing, the facebooking and sharing begin!

Watch for frequent updates, new ideas and recipes, discounts and giveaways – you don’t want to miss a thing. Thanks for joining me! It’s gonna be a great two weeks!

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Jubilee

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~Appreciate Your Spouse~Buoyancy in Marriage~Consult Your Partner~
~Dream Together Part One ~Dream Together Part Two~Empower Your Spouse~
~Have Fun With Your Spouse~Give to One Another~Honor Each Other~Be Intentional~

Jubilee

Restart Button – Matt’s Thoughts

In the Old Testament (Leviticus 25) we read about the year of Jubilee. Land that had been sold to pay debts was returned to its owner and people who sold themselves as servants were set free so that people in desperate situations would not be taken advantage of. Using a modern day analogy, the restart button was pushed. This was to be practiced every fifty years. In a healthy marriage Jubilee takes place more often than every fifty years. Usually we call it forgiveness and it must occur often. Forgiveness is a MASSIVE component in marriage. We need to push the restart button, offering Jubilee to our spouse, and we need it pushed for us, receiving Jubilee from our spouse.

Several years ago, I really needed Laura’s Jubilee. I was playing computer games late into the night for many nights. I wasn’t getting the sleep I needed which led to all kinds of consequences that Laura took the brunt of, and more importantly we were not spending the end of the day together connecting with each other. She expressed to me her desire for us to be together more and I agreed, but I was lacking in self-control and did not follow through with my agreement…for waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many nights. This hurt Laura as she felt like I was choosing games over her. She was right, I was choosing games over her, not willfully, but due to immaturity, selfishness and – I’ll be blunt – stupidity.

I hurt my wife and I needed the restart button. Thank you Laura for pushing the restart button. (As a side note, we jointly made a plan that has moved us past those issues.)

The Chosen One – Laura’s Thoughts

Issues with computer games in a marriage may seem petty to some of you who have experienced painful betrayal in areas such as pornography or infidelity. We realized that at the time of our struggle and we realize it now. But the issue remains the same:  I want to be Matt’s chosen one. He wants to be mine.

Anytime you choose something or someone instead of choosing your spouse – you’re making the wrong choice. That’s not what this post is ultimately about, but please hear it loud and clear. Beyond your relationship with the Father, your spouse needs to be your first priority, so let go of yourself and choose your beloved.

That’s exactly what Matt did. He made the decision to grow through his selfish desires – and he chose to put our relationship first. I became his number one again.

But even so, Jubilee didn’t occur until I had truly forgiven the hurt he had caused me by what I had felt as neglect. If Matt had made the changes I asked him to make, and then I had simply shrugged and said, “Well, it’s about time,” our marriage may not be in a much healthier state than it had been.

We had to push the restart button. I had to truly forgive, and together we came up with a plan that worked to grow our healthy marriage. There is no room for bitterness in a marriage that is moving forward toward greatness.

Don’t wait 50 years for Jubilee. Forgiveness starts today.

Ladies, we know you’re reading here more often than the guys. ;)  We’d love husbands to read this article as well. If you feel so inclined please send the link to your husbands, or if it’s easier, we’ve created a downloadable article for you to quickly print off and share. Healthy Marriage Tips A to Z – Jubilee

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Menu Plan for the Week

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Last week’s busyness truly was a joy, even though it was very…busy.

Today starts this new week off with a bang as we had a nice little breakfast to honor our 6th graders at church before worship, plus we had a huge potluck to welcome all the York College students. I was asked to provide muffins for the 6th grade breakfast, so yesterday I made a double batch of both Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins and Blueberry Muffins. I made them into mini-muffins and filled two gallon buckets with the goodies.

I stopped long enough to take pictures of my buckets, because buckets full of mini-muffins – that’s just fun. :)

After not really having a menu plan last week, I was excited to put one together for this week. Here’s what we’ll be eating:

Sunday, August 21
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, blueberry muffins, fruit
For potluck:  frosted brownies (this frosting, these brownies), chocolate chip cookies, sweet baked beans, baked turkey ham with pineapple, cream cheese corn
Leftovers

Monday, August 22
Simple soaked pancakes, blueberries
Homemade corndogs, carrot sticks with ranch, watermelon
Shepherds pie, tossed salad

Tuesday, August 23
Mini breakfast pizza, honeydew melon
Creamy mac and cheese, peas, sweet peppers
Grilled chicken, creamy cole slaw, angeled eggs, watermelon, coconut flour cheddar biscuits

Wednesday, August 24
Creamy orange cooler, toast
Alfredo sauce with pasta, steamed broccoli and carrots
Cheesy salsa enchiladas, tossed salad

Thursday, August 25
Coconut flour banana muffins, cherries
Corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes, fried okra, milkshakes, peanut butter on celery
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans

Friday, August 26
Scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, turkey bacon, cantaloupe
Black beans and rice with salsa, fruit salad
Hamburgers, ranch potato wedges, peas

Saturday, August 27
Mini apple pies, sliced cheese
Leftovers
BBQ meatballs, cream scalloped potatoes, tossed salad, zucchini

I wanted to let you know that while this upcoming week is less crazy than last week, I still haven’t found time to get much writing done. I have posts started in my head, but those are undoubtedly much harder for you to read. (Consider yourself blessed, however, not to be able to read the posts I write in my head.)  We’ll see what I’m actually able to type this week, but I’m kind of thinking about re-posting some older posts during the next few days, just for fun – and also so that I can maybe take the time to find my missing flip-flop and to finally put away the rest of my Azure Standard order from last Tuesday. We’ve been in survival mode here. :)  I’m also hoping to simply sit and read to my kids a little bit more this week. The Hobbit is calling our name.

ALSO, I’m working on some very fun surprises for the blog during the week of August 28, and that is taking a little extra time and work. Just you wait to see what next week holds!!!!!!!!!

And so, thank you for your patience here while I play catch-up and get my act together. You are all awesome!

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Does Organic Food Make a Difference? (a guest post)

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Welcome guest poster Carrie Vitt, author of the cookbook Deliciously Organic and publisher of popular food blog, Deliciously Organic. Carrie focuses on recipes using unprocessed, organic ingredients with vibrant flavors and simple dishes everyone will love. She is the wife of an Air Force Test Pilot and mother of two daughters.

If you had two girls under the age of two, and your husband, a fighter pilot, was flying cover during a war in Iraq – would you be thinking about converting your diet to organic, whole foods? I wasn’t. My life had enough stress without another distraction. But that’s what happened in 2003.

Two years earlier, after the birth of my second daughter, I began having daily migraines. I was 25. As migraines often are, they were both baffling and debilitating. I often had to lie down in a quiet dark room, which was almost impossible with toddlers to care for.

I was taking several medications to manage the pain. After two years of struggle, my neurologist suggested adding yet another daily medication to my prescription regimen, a treatment that wasn’t working anyway. I kindly rejected her suggestion and drove home thinking:  There must be another way.

That same day, a tiny newsletter article caught my eye. It was about the benefits of organic foods. I knew migraines could be related to diet, so I wondered if changing to organic foods might help. I was at the end of my rope and willing to try something different.

At the time, I was eating lots of vegetables to lose the last 10 pounds of baby weight. I replaced my lettuce with organic – my first step, since lettuce was a food I ate most. Within a week I noticed a significant difference. The frequency of my migraines decreased and it was now easier to take care of my kids. I didn’t need any more encouragement. I next switched all produce to organic with the intent of increasing the amount of pure and untreated food in my diet, while decreasing my pesticide intake. As I dug deeper and learned more, I continued making changes in my pantry and refrigerator.

Over the next year and a half, I converted my family’s diet to whole, unprocessed organic ingredients. I felt like a stranger in a strange land. I had a hard time finding recipes that were equivalent in flavor to what we were accustomed to. Nevertheless, I avoided such ingredients as white sugar, white flour and partially hydrogenated anything. Recipes using whole grains were especially challenging. We weren’t ready to leave the world of paninis, pasta and pizza. As my husband likes to say, “We ate some terrible pancakes during the transition.” This was disheartening because I had grown up with a great love for cooking that I inherited from the women in my family.

I decided that if we were going to eat organic dishes, they were going to taste every bit as delicious as the ones I used before.

Over time, I shared with my friends and family how I overcame my health problems. Many were earnestly interested in learning more or in making changes to their own diets. I continued to tell my story, share my recipes and give encouragement through my blog, Deliciously Organic and my recently published cookbook, Deliciously Organic.

Through organic, unprocessed food our family of four was able to overcome severe asthma, eczema, IBS and migraines. No drugs – just good, natural real food.

If organic, whole foods are something you’ve thought about, I encourage you to give it a try. I hope you’ll discover, as I have, that eating food direct from the source is not only perfectly doable and beneficial but perfectly delicious! And don’t be surprised when your friends and the whole family (including the kids) say, “I can’t believe this is organic. It’s delicious!”

 

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Whole Wheat Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

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Finally, we can eat a guilt free Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie. Made with real-food ingredients and homemade butterscotch chips, we don’t have to worry about hydrogenated oils or empty calories. These are so good for us, we could almost eat them for breakfast. Well, except that the butterscotch chips add extra sugar – which is maybe not the best way to begin our day. Shucks.

What if we eat them for breakfast with scrambled eggs?

And fruit.

Okay. I’ll stop.

Oatmeal Butterscotch CookiesYum

3/4 cup melted butter
1 1/4 cups sucanat or brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat flour)
1 cup Homemade Butterscotch Chips

In a large mixing bowl, stir together melted butter and sucanat. Add egg, baking powder, vanilla and baking soda. Stir in oats and flour until the dough is well combined. Fold in butterscotch chips.

Drop by the teaspoonful onto a cookie sheet. Bake in a 375° oven for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.

If we drink a big glass of milk with our scrambled eggs, fruit and Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies – then could we count it as breakfast?

No really. I’ll stop.

Share your opinion! For breakfast or not for breakfast?? :)

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