008: Katie Kimball on Real Food & Killing Ants Naturally

The Wellness Mama Podcast

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I had so much fun on this interview with Katie Kimball of KitchenStewardship.com. She is a fantastic writer and researcher, pregnant with her fourth child, and manages a household and her popular blog (and makes it all look easy). We recorded at 9 PM after our collective 8.5 children were sleeping and she provided a lot of great tips for cooking real food for a family. My apologies in advance for the little bit of audio feedback in this episode. The problem has been fixed for the future episodes.

Katie shared some of her best tips for getting rid of pests like ants and wasps naturally without chemicals that can harm your children.

Resources Mentioned

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Katie: Hi, I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com. Welcome to episode eight of the Wellness Mama Podcast where I provide simple answers for healthier families. This episode’s interesting facts: People who ride on roller coasters have a higher chance of having a blood clot in their brain. Also, once a human reaches the age of about 35, he or she will start losing approximately 7,000 brain cells a day, and these cells will never be replaced. Another brain fact, it’s not possible to tickle yourself. The cerebellum, the part of the brain that recognizes that, warns the rest of the brain that you’re about to tickle yourself. And since your brain knows this, it ignores the resulting sensation.

Today’s guest, ironically, is also named Katie. And she and I, we’ve both had mommy brain and placenta brain several times over the last few years. She’s a mom of three, with another one on the way. She’s been blogging for about five years at her wonderful blog, which is kitchenstewardship.com. She has seven incredible e-books, and she is also a full-time mom to her three little ones.

So, welcome Katie. Thanks for being here.

Katie Kimball: Thanks Katie. It’s great to talk to you. I’m concerned about my 7,000 brain cells. I only have a year left of full strength, you know.

Katie: I know, I’m about there too. Well, let’s jump right in because I know we’ll probably have a lot to talk about. And I would love to start with your foundational habits, your top 10 foundational habits that you talk about. Because I think they are really pivotal, but also very practical for moms. That they can…we can just apply those tips every day. So, can you talk about those?

Katie Kimball: Absolutely. One of the reasons I started blogging was because I had a lot of conversations with friends about the struggle to balance it all, you know. People wanted to do the right thing for their families and buy organic, and cook from scratch. But when you start doing that, you feel the tug on your budget, and you feel the tug on your time. And it can be really, really difficult to balance those three areas plus just caring for the environment. So my blog is based on those four foundations: The environment, your family’s nutrition, your time, and your budget. And so what I try to do is give people the best ways, you know, to kind of maximize all of them in simple stuff.

And so, I talk a lot about baby steps and keeping things really, really doable. Because I see too many people want to make really positive change, and they just wanna do it all at once. So, they get…and then they get overwhelmed, and they give up. Or, they feel like they have to do it all at once, and then it’s overwhelming to even think about it. So, they’re always like, “Well, I’ll start tomorrow,” or, “I’ll start next month.” And then they don’t even try. And so, to think of like, if I can change one thing today or, one thing this week. And just do a little better today than I did yesterday and not worry about the whole package yet. So, I just think baby steps are really key to success. And a lot of people are grateful for that approach, and not, you know, not trying to be overwhelmed.

So, one of my foundational posts is the top 10 baby steps that you can take to working toward real food and natural living. And, there’s a lot in there now. It used to be a little bit more simple. But some of the 10 have like a couple of steps in them. But it’s really…it’s simple. Some of them are really simple things like, “Don’t use margarine, switch to butter.” And that’s something that doesn’t take a lot of brain power, you know. It tips the budget a little bit, but not terribly. And it’s, you know, just pretty easy to do. You just pick up something different on the store.

Some of my favorite techniques that I recommend to anyone because they don’t take a lot of time, and they save a ton of money and they are super, super like maximizing nutrition are three things: Making homemade yogurt, cooking with dried beans, and making traditional bone broth. And so those are 3 of the 10, right there. And when I first started my site, I’d kind of presented one each week.

My site’s based around Monday Missions. So we’re taking the summer off but, otherwise, every Monday, there is a simple baby step that you can take. And reasons behind why you’d wanna do that, and then the practical stuff to how you would accomplish that. And so those…like those are three that I always am coming back to. Like if you’re not making homemade yogurt, you know, let’s start because that saves the environment. And we’ve had so many plastic tubs of buying yogurt. It’s super maximization of nutrition for yourself and your family because probiotics are really important. And yogurt is just nice…like, you can have it for breakfast, you can have it for a snack, you know, it’s so versatile. And when you have it around in bulk, you’re more likely to eat more.

And then I…whenever I run the stock I’m always blown away. I save like $1,000 a year just making yogurt. Like, just that one thing. So, think about what that could do to your food budget, you know. It really opens up…it opens $1,000 to buy organic food maybe, or better meat, or, whatever, goat cheese, whatever you wanna buy with that $1,000. You can totally change your shopping list, you know, just by doing homemade yogurt once a week, and it only takes like 20 minutes. So, that’s…if I wanna be known for one thing, I wanna teach people to make homemade yogurt. So simple.

Katie: That’s incredible that you save $1,000 a year making yogurt. And, I don’t know if you have a recipe for this? But I know that people do also make coconut milk yogurt. So, even those who are intolerant to dairy, there are still options there. And I would love you to talk a little bit more about those three foods, especially the broth and the yogurt. Because, I feel like if you’re just starting off, those can kinda seem like huge hurdles to learn how to do. But, I think both of us know like once you get in the habit of doing them, it’s very simple. And, like you said, you’ve got all the nutritious elements of the bone broth with the gelatin and the amino acids and all the probiotics in the yogurt, which are also gonna help you absorb your other foods better. But, can you just talk about the practical steps of that a little bit?

Katie Kimball: Yeah, exactly. Well…and one more reason why I like to focus on those is because it’s really easy to be negative about food. It’s…I mean, oh my gosh, you can sit around all day and talk about all the things you need to cut from your diet and the things you shouldn’t eat, and the ways in which all these chemicals are gonna hurt you, you know. But, again, people can get so bogged down in that that it’s kind of nice to say, “Hey, listen. Let’s just do this and add this to your diet because it’s so good for you, you know, in a positive way.” So, I love that those two things are really positive.

Bone broth, so both of these…honestly, bone broth and homemade yogurt are two things that I would make homemade no matter how busy I get. And, in fact, when I had my third baby, three summers ago, I literally…I was sort of on and off in labor all day throughout this Saturday. And I was making bone broth. Like I strained bone broth and made dinner at 6 p.m. and gave birth at 9:30. It is that simple, you just…you know, like it’s just like clockwork. It’s like I brush my teeth, I go strain bone broth. It’s that much like a part of our lives. But it just keeps going, even when you’re in labor. So, if you ever doubted that it’s simple, it really is.

When I make homemade yogurt, I do about a gallon a week. And I just, I fill my jar, it’s super low dishes too. I fill my jars with milk, I put them in a pot, and fill the pot with water. So you’re not actually juggling the pot, you’re only juggling the jars. I heat it up, let it cool, depending on what…if you are going for raw milk yogurt or not, there is some different temperatures. But once you’ve done it a couple of times, you don’t have to look at any recipes. It’s all in your brain. And then you just throw in a little bit of your previous batch of yogurt or a new, you know, you can just use Greek Dannon yogurt plain. Stir in two tablespoons per pot, and I incubate it in a picnic cooler, actually.

So, I line the picnic cooler with a towel, put that pot of, you know, hot boiling water in there, and put the jars next to the pot, so they’re not still too high. You’re supposed to incubate it about 100, 105 degrees Fahrenheit. So, there’s a ton of ways you can do that. But for me, it’s really simple to just sink it in the cooler. Then it doesn’t take up my like oven space. So, it really doesn’t get in the way in the kitchen. And, you can incubate from 4 to 24 hours depending on like, the longer you go, it’s gonna be a little more tart. But also the probiotics will eat more of the milk sugar, so lactose. So, if you get to 24 hours, it’s really a lot more digestible, but then you usually have to add a little bit of boiling water to keep it at temp. And that’s it.

Put it in the fridge, dump the out of the pot. There’s no dishes, other than the spoon I you use to stir it. So, for me, it’s literally like 20 minutes in 4-5 minute segments done. That’s my gallon of yogurt for the week.

Katie: That’s incredible. That really does sound super easy and doable. And, I think a lot of readers might just be willing to just jump in and try that.

Katie Kimball: Yeah, for sure. I get so excited when people email me. They’ll be like, “I’ve been reading for,” you know, “Two years. And I was so scared of trying homemade yogurt. And I finally did. And I’m so proud.” I’m like, “That’s what I’m saying.”

Katie: Yes, and you could really…then you could add whatever you want to. You could add fresh fruit, or any kind of flavors like maple or vanilla. And, make it however you want.

Katie Kimball:Yeah. Oh, exactly. Exactly. We just pick fruit all summer and have it in the freezer. And that’s literally every lunch. My kids have homemade yogurt because…and again, like having it on hand a gallon at a time, you feel like, “Yes. I can serve this every day,” like, “This is something I don’t have to think about. It’s just our standard.” And so the whole mommy brain thing, that’s really, really nice. But there’s always yogurt. Like, “Someone’s hungry? Want some yogurt? Okay.”

Katie: Yeah, that’s awesome. And, obviously, those are…both the broth and the yogurt are really budget friendly when you make them yourselves. But could you share a few of your other top like budget-friendly real food tips? Because that’s another thing, you probably hear a lot also. And I hear a lot is, “It’s so expensive to eat real food,” and, “I can’t afford it.” So, can you touch on that a little bit?

Katie Kimball: Yeah. And you know what? It is. It really is. Like, if you wanna go, 100% switch from couponing to like organic, real food, all the way, your budget is going to increase. I don’t think there’s any way to do it. But, you can do, you can make a ton of impact toward like, perfection, without hurting your budget too much, just because you will start making things from scratch. And that’s cheaper than relying on other people and paying them to make it for you.

So, bone broth is for sure one of the cheap, cheap things. And, I loved when I learned, I can’t…who was it? Nurse Kitchen, someone. I finally read…Oh no, I know who it was, it was Amanda Rose at Traditional Bites Daily. Stuff that you can reuse the bones. So, I mix the of stock and add a single chicken I buy. And so when I look at the chicken and I get a little bit of sticker shock because, you know, it’s a free-grain, organic, local chicken, and I go, “Oh. That’s so much for,” like, “One meal.” But then I picture like my freezer blossoming over with jars of stock that I could have paid, you know, $2 or $3 or $4 a quart for in a store, I’m like, “Okay, this is a good investment.” And, you know, it doesn’t take that long to make chicken stock.

Dry beans are another huge one. You can buy dry beans for…they’ve been going up, but you know, a dollar or less a pound, typically. Even just in a regular grocery store, you don’t have to do any special sourcing of buying and well, to get that kind of cost depending on where you live in the country of course. But, that’s…it’s so much more economical than buying canned beans. And again, if you do things like that in bulk, you’re just more likely to use them more. Like, “Oh, I’m gonna throw some beans in my salad,” or, “This or that,” or the other thing. And then you’re just like including, you know, it’s just another like easy real food to have on hand.

And beans can also be a great way to cut the meat. Like beans, in general, can be a great way to cut the meat. I’m a big fan of meat. I have nothing wrong with it. I don’t think that meat causes artery clogging problems or whatever. But, there’s no denying that meat is a really expensive portion of the food budget, particularly as you start to try to source it really well. It goes up. At the regular grocery store, meat is up pretty high now too, to be honest. And, so what I’ll do is, I don’t do a lot of meat-centric meals. So it’s like a huge chunk of meat on the plate and then a little bit of vegetables on the side, or rice or whatever. It’s…and we’re more often around here to have soups, or casseroles, or someway where the meat is incorporated into the meal. So, it’s still there, but you don’t eat quite as much of it in a given meal. And so like if I do spaghetti or soup or a casserole and it calls for a pound of ground beef, I’ll use three-quarters of a pound instead.

And so, to me, that’s like saying, “This is your 25% off sale on the ground beef,” you know, because you’re saving that. And then we’ll just use, you know, if it’s in a one-pound package, we use the rest of the quarter pound in a different meal, freeze it, cook it or whatever. I also will cut the meat with lentils a lot. So, first Lucky Joe’s for tacos, even for spaghetti. For things where the kind of the ground beef is essential. You can cut it by a quarter to a half with cooked lentils, which are super cheap. I swear, probably like the cheapest food out there.

And as long as it’s got a lot of that sauce with it, people will…you can’t taste it. You really can’t taste the difference. People can see the difference, so, if you have people who are real squeamish, you might wanna wrap up the top before you serve it. A little trick, just hide it in there. Cover it with the cheese and lettuce and the tomatoes, whatever you put on top of your taco, and people probably will not even notice. So that’s huge…it’s just figuring out ways to stretch the more expensive things so that you…and, so stretch the more expensive things, and find ways to cut your budget just in general. Like making homemade yogurt, using dry beans. Even using like vinegar and baking soda more as homemade creams, is a great way to save some dollars in one column of your budget so that you can spend more on more well-sourced food. So, those are probably some of my favorites.

Katie: Those are great. And one thing, I know there’s a lot of kind of a hot debate in some nutritional circles about beans, and if they are safe because they have lectins and different things. But, obviously, there’s one thing that really helps with that, which is soaking. And, I know you’ve written about that and done a tutorial for it. So, can you just give a quick overview of what that means? And if you’re gonna use dried beans, how do you prepare them?

Katie Kimball: Yes. Dry beans, they can be another one of those things that seem intimidating. Because sometimes people will try them the first time, get it all wrong and you end up with these like half-cooked kind of crunchy, nasty things. And they go, “Ah,” like, “Now I’m throwing away this food. This was not a good experience,” you know. So, but if you cook dry beans correctly, once you get it, it’s really easy. Yeah, so beans and grains are all seeds which mean, in nature, they want to propagate. They want to be planted. So, they do not want to be digested. They’d rather be passed through again, in nature.

This used to…I used to teach third grade, and this would crack my third graders up. But I’d be like, “Do you ever see the corn come through on the other end?” And they’re cracking up. And I’m like, “That’s what I’m talking about. Seeds aren’t meant to be digested very well.” But there are things that humans with their ingenuity have figured out how to do to take away some of those natural plant defenses, right? Because those defenses aren’t…they are not very good for us. Eating things that we can’t digest is like sending the wrong signal to our digestive system into our body.

So, soaking is one way to get rid of that as is a long slow cook for beans. And, those are…the long, slow cook, in particular, is something you’re not going to get in canned beans. Which is why it’s a one-two punch to use, dried, you know. It saves a lot of money, but it’s… also, it’s very likely that your beans will be more digestible and more healthy. Your body will be able to capture more of the vitamins and minerals in them than a can of beans. Although, a can of beans is still a great, like, quick and convenient if you need to cut some corner.

So, when I soak beans, I pick them through for rocks or dirt, which actually can be found in there sometimes. They’re an agricultural product. And then, the best soak is to soak them in pretty hot water, like 140-degree water. I don’t always take the time to do that. But if I do, it’s just like I turn the burner on just about three minutes, stick my finger in, and as soon as it hurts, I turn it off. And you just let them soak overnight. And then pour off the water. Some people even do a double soak. But, I do not take the time to do that. Then you cover them with new water, about twice as much as the beans. So if the beans go a certain, you know, distance up of your pot, you cover that with double the amount of water, bring it to a boil, skim up any foam because that’s where like little impurities or little dirt or whatever can rise to the top. And then you just cook on low a long time.

It’s nice for a stay at home mom. Like I’ll just literally cook them four to eight hours all day. And if I’m getting toward dinner, and I taste one, and it seems like it’s a little crunchy, just put a little sprinkle of baking soda in. Then it’ll foam up, and within half an hour, your beans are soft for sure. So that’s a good little hack if you’re like, “My beans are still crunchy, I need to eat them,” little baking soda in the water. But that’s it. I mean that’s it. That’s a really quick easy, not quick. It’s not quick. It’s very easy though and very digestible and nutritious way to cook beans.

When I do lentils, like right now, I actually have some lentils soaking because I’m making tacos, I may wanna cut the meat with the lentils. I like to sprout lentils because sprouting is…I think it’s even more like a short higher way to get past the plant’s defenses. Because once the plant has sprouted, it doesn’t feel the need to be undigestible to be planted, you know. It’s already been there, done that. It’s sprouting. So, you can just do the same kind of soak for lentils. Soak them overnight, dump the water, leave them in the colander, and rinse them at breakfast and at dinner.

And after about 24 to 72 hours, you’ll see sprouts coming right out. It’s super fun science experiment to show your kids. Like, “Look, we’re growing dinner.” And you just cook them after about two days, the same as you would any other lentils. Lentils are really a quick cook. They only take about 30 to 60 minutes. So, you just cook up the sprouted lentils, and then they’re super duper digestible. And so I’ll do a big batch and just freeze them in about two cup portions to throw into whatever I can think of.

Katie: Awesome. Very cool. I hope that’s been very practical for a lot of listeners. And I’d love to completely switch gears now. I know that you’ve written posts about how to get rid of certain kinds of insects naturally. And it’s already been so hot where we live that we are kind of getting bombarded. So, can you share with us your natural tips for getting rid of insects?

Katie Kimball: I will, yes. So let us switch gears. There are no insects in my lentils, just to be clear. Those are not an inspiration for lentils. No. For some reason, I do have two posts, getting rid of insects naturally. They are just being…they’re very popular this summer. And that’s just kind of another part of my blog. Another like stand on is taking care of the environment. I feel that it’s really important to be a good steward of everything. So, not just your family, nutrition, and your budget, but also the environment. So, part of that is not putting chemicals, you know, into the air and into the water around us.

So, here in Michigan, we have plenty of bugs in the summer. And, sugar ants are a big problem. They are those little teeny, teeny, teeny ants that are just kind of everywhere sometimes. And man, when they get in my kitchen, they get in my kitchen. I’ll see one, and I’ll be like, “Oh no. Here they come.” And like the next day, there will be 20 of them in one…like in one spot, in one cupboard, around my counter. I’m like, “Just get out of here.” At least they’re little. But there’s a really, really super easy, super cheap ant, like homemade ant poison. It kind of mimics the TERRO ant poison that you can buy in a store.

And you just mix some corn syrup, I have one bottle of corn syrup in my house for this purpose. It’s in my laundry room. I mix corn syrup and borax and put it on a little index card and stick it wherever the kids can’t get to it but the ants can. And they come in droves, like a hill. Every time I do it, I’m like, “We do plan on killing these ants because it sure looks like an ant party there.” There’s like 50 of them around it. But, after a day or two, they’re usually gone. And actually, on that post, I have just about every recommendation from the worldwide internet of lines that insects can’t cross. So, I’ve tested most around salt, cinnamon, and other tineaous earth. Some of them work, some of them…the ants just like that. That’s one.

And then the other one is wasps. We had a wasp nest outside our house a couple of years ago. And my husband was hell-bent on going out to buy a big old can of Raid. And, by the time he got around to it, the local hardware store in our small town was closed. And he was like, “Well, you could try my idea,” I was like, “Okay.” And so we just honestly put some dish soap in a hose end sprayer. And luckily we had very good water pressure, so he went out all suited up. Pretty sweatshirt tied almost over his face and long hand and stuff, you know. Like he did…he didn’t wanna get stung. And he just shot the wasp in the late evening when they were mostly home. Chopped the wasp nest rather with this soapy water and they totally just all fell to the ground. He came inside, and he was like, “Oh, honey. You were right again.”

Katie: Nice.

Katie Kimball: So, yeah. It’s a pretty fun post. That was a fun post to write the next month. But, super easy, super cheap, no chemicals.

Katie: That’s really helpful. I know a lot of moms who would do so many things naturally. And then once a month the exterminator shows up at their house. And, it’s like, “Oh. Not around the children.” So those are really practical, great things. And hopefully, the answer to the next question will not involve ants or wasps. But I would also love to know, what do you think is gonna be the biggest challenge our next generation faces? Because we both have young children. And we both are on a mission to improve the statistics for the future for our children. But I would love to know, what do you think the big challenges are gonna be?

Katie Kimball: This is a fantastic question. And, just thinking about it, my hair stands on end. Because I get so angry and so worried about the future for my kids, honestly, when I look around. I’ve been working pretty hard at our elementary school this year to reduce the amount of sugar offered at celebrations and birthday parties. And I have completely hit a wall. I am not allowed to make change, and it’s so frustrating.

So, after that experience and hearing what other parents say to the principal when she recommends like really gentle, healthy changes, I think that our kids are going to be battling a culture where fun equals sugar. And no one can figure out how to possibly have fun or give anyone else a fun time without sugar. And not only sugar, then it’s excess of sugar. So, I think it’s a two-fold problem. It’s a culture of excess in general, both material and food. And a culture where sugar equals fun and there’s no ABCD option, it’s just sweets. And I think that’s a really hard battle to fight because it’s a very social battle. And that brings with it a lot of peer pressure and emotion and kinda psychological habits. So, I think those are huge.

And then, obviously, the fact that everyone is going to be sick because of it is the unfortunate result that our kids are gonna have to battle. And I just pray that…I think depending on the swing back toward real food and kind of the way things are created in the world, and away from chemicals and processed foods. But I’m not sure. The marketing and the advertising of the processed foods companies is incredibly powerful, and the culture of excess is just very deeply rooted. So, those are gonna be some big challenges. I’m hoping that I can train up my own children and my family to be good warriors in that battle.

Katie: Yeah. I think that’s a really good point. And unfortunately, I’ve seen that a lot too even though we homeschool. So, a lot of the time I’m able to make sure that my children have healthy choices available. I’ve noticed these years we’ve gotten into team sports and the kids have gotten older. Like, the part that’s so sad for me is that my son…several times I saw him refuse sweet treats. And then either other children or even the adults kept pushing it.

Katie Kimball: Oh gosh. I know.

Katie: And I was just like, “Oh. It’s gonna be an uphill battle for them. And it’s so sad.” Because…and I think part of it, hopefully, my hope is that part of it is education. And that I really do feel, and this is my battle cry, people might be tired of hearing it, but that moms are the ones who can make that change. Because we do control the food budget in the U.S. and we are helping shape the next generation. So, I do have hope that as we get more and more moms on board, that the moms will be the ones who are motivated and who care enough to make those changes before it is…because it’s an uphill battle right now. And, I’m with you. I don’t see it getting that much better yet.

Katie Kimball: Yeah, we’ll keep doing the better practice. There are plenty of people who have not heard it yet. So, we gotta keep going.

Katie: Exactly. Like, it’s crazy that we’re almost out of time already. But I always end with three questions. And the first one is, what is some advice that you wish you had gotten either health advise, or just life advice, that you wish you’d gotten earlier in your own life?

Katie Kimball: This is another very good question. And I try to think about where I went wrong. Because my mom cooked a lot from scratch. And she did kind of question to a certain extent, modern medicine as far as she wouldn’t give us Dimatap very often. Because she just had a hunch that it caused ear problems. And lo and behold, 20 years later, Dimatapcauses ear problems. I’m like, “Oh. I have the smartest mom in the world. Just love her”

But when I got off on my own, it was a life of Hamburger Helper and Pasta Roni and three desserts in the cafeteria at college. That was not good. So, I think…I just thought of three things that I wish someone had told me that I would actually have believed before I went off to college. And one was, don’t trust everything you read. Because I fell for the fat-free, low-fat like hook, line, and sinker.

Read your own ingredients. If you just start reading them, it unfolds like a horror story. And you start to realize what you’re eating or wonder what in the world you’re eating. I think that’s something that everyone should just start doing. And then just that it’s not all about the calories. Again, with the low fat, fat-free mantra is kind of a dangerous place to send people because it ends up jacking up the sugar and so it’s not. Life and nutrition and health are not all about the calories, not that simple.

Katie: Absolutely. Awesome. Okay so, to follow up that, what would be on practical step that if someone’s new to the things that you’ve talked about, or to real food, that a person could take right now that would have an impact for them?

Katie Kimball: You bet. I didn’t even realize this, but I totally wrote the same answer. I think that I thought about your questions at different times. But, getting over your fear of fat is a big one. Switching to full-fat dairy if you’re on the low-fat, no-fat. And just make that change, and you will not gain weight. Our whole family did it, and no one has gained weight in five years. Even the adults who probably eat too many didn’t, so. And then, you know, if you are using margarine and Crisco, that’s something you gotta cut right away. Switch to butter. Switch to coconut oil. There are fats to…there are traditional fats that those fake fats meant to replace. That you can do the switch over and go back to it. So, that’s always the very first thing I say. If you’re still using margarine, you need to get off that train, get on to butter.

And then just thinking about the positive. Like, don’t get completely overwhelmed. If you feel like you just need to, you know, maybe you’re already using butter, you’re smarter than the average Joe who’s doing margarine. Focus on just produce. Like, don’t worry about doing it all at once. Just add more fruits and vegetables to your diet and figure out how to store some vegetables in your casserole, soups and integrate them in a non-threatening way for your family especially. I think families can get a little freaked out (kids and husbands) if the mom starts making changes. So, like I’d like to encourage moms to figure out subtle ways to sneak, not sneak, but to get vegetables in the ambiance. And never lie to people about what’s in there. But, if they don’t ask, I might not tell.

Katie: Awesome. Very cool. And then lastly, what would be one resource besides your incredible blog, which I hope everyone goes and checks out, but what would be one either book or website or resource that you would point others for more information?

Katie Kimball: Well I have to choose two because I’m definitely the kind of person who’ll always ask at ice cream places, “Can I get two flavors in one scoop?” My, the book…the cookbook that I use most right now because it’s the Crock Pot cookbook. And I’m just at the stage in my life where I need more of those, whether you’re on I am kind of meals, it’s called “Crock On!” It’s an e-book by Stacy Myers. And Stacy makes sense. But it’s also available on Amazon. I think it’s Kindle and the print book. But I have the print book, and it’s one of those that’s all stained up. I use quite a few recipes from Crack On!

And then one of my favorite sites, I never had a recipe fail from them is Gnowfglins. And that’s spelled G-N-O-W-F-G-L-I-N-S.com. You’ll have to go there and find out what that means. But, Wardee at Gnowflings has been writing on longer than I have. And she has this wonderful vast, you know, recipe resources. Everything from sour dough to cream free. She does a lot of home setting. And then she has a set of I think six or seven different like 20 to 25-week long e-courses. And those are really cool because you can just become a member and then try it out for 10 bucks for a month and you get access to everything at once. So, that’s a ton…I mean, don’t get overwhelmed, but that’s a ton of information that your finger gets right there.

Katie: Awesome. And where can listeners find you if they wanna stay in touch with you and read more of your work?

Katie Kimball: Thanks. My online home is kitchenstewardship.com. So that’s the best place to find me. If you’re a Kindle reader, you can also find all seven of my books on Amazon at Kindle. And probably the easiest way is just to search for my name, Katie Kimball. But, you know, like anyone on the internet, I’m just on Facebook, everywhere too. But if you start at kitchenstewardship.com, welcome aboard. It’s where I am.

Katie: Katie, thank you so much for all the practical tips and for taking the time away from your family to be here and to talk. And I hope that everyone will go and find your site and absorb all your wonderful information.

Katie Kimball: Thank you, Katie. I’m so excited about your Podcast and that they are short in byte size. Now I can listen to them too.

Katie: Awesome. Well, thank you so much. And for all of you listening, thank you for your time and listening as well. And if you would please subscribe on iTunes so that you’ll be notified of future episodes. And I’ll also be really appreciative if you could leave a rating or review since iTunes uses those to help other people find podcasts as well. And the mission really is to spread the word and get as many moms and families as possible.

So until next time, have a healthy week.
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As always, thanks for listening. Please take a second to subscribe and leave a rating or review so that you’ll be notified of future episodes. You can subscribe via iTunes by clicking here or by searching for “Wellness Mama” in iTunes. Or if you prefer Stitcher to iTunes, click here to subscribe.

Comments

5 responses to “008: Katie Kimball on Real Food & Killing Ants Naturally”

Carlos

March 19, 2019

Hi Katie, i’m looking for a product that can be used for destroy Red Wasp and it’s Nest permanently .
Could you suggest me Red Wasp killing product?

Janet Southerland

July 1, 2014

Enjoyed

1. Wellness Mama
  
  July 1, 2014
  
  Thanks, and thanks for listening!
  
laura

June 23, 2014

Hey Katie, I’m loving your podcast. But this one has a terrible squeeking in the background.. I’m still listening but if there is a way to edit it out, or watch to background sounds in future episodes that would be helpful..

Thanks again for the podcast. I love hearing other people talk about what they are doing. You’ve turned me on to soo many new and great blogs.

1. Katie – Wellness Mama
  
  June 23, 2014
  
  Hi Laura, I mentioned in the show notes that there was an issue with the recording for that episode, but it’s since been corrected. Thanks for listening and I’m glad you’re enjoying it!