Monday-Eggplant Parmesan and salad

Tuesday- Skillet Steak over salad with baked sweet potato

Wednesday- Potato Cheese Soup with spinach salad

Thursday- Christmas Eve- In my husband’s Italian tradition, we eat fish on Christmas Eve- Grilled Salmon, rice pilaf, garden salad, lobster bisque, grilled asparagus

Friday- Christmas is at our house this year, so in an attempt to satisfy all family, I am cooking a strange mix of foods: Ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, tossed salad, Sicilian Spaghetti and meatballs, Garlic Bread. Also making Wassail, another family tradition (see recipe below). I will also make a sausage, egg, cheese and mushroom breakfast casserole for brunch.

Saturday- leftovers

Sunday- Ham Bone Soup with carrots, celery, beans, broccoli, spinach, and herbs.

How to Make Herbal Wassail

Wassail is a traditional German drink that my family has made each Christmas for as long as I can remember. This year, I found a way to incorporate herbs into the recipe for some added health benefits.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon apple cider
  
• 1 quart freshly brewed tea made with Red Raspberry leaf (3 parts), Alfalfa (2 parts), Nettle (1 part), and Dandelion (1 part)
  
• 2 cups pineapple juice
• 2 cups cranberry juice
  
• 8 cinnamon sticks
  
• 3 organic oranges, cloved
  

To Make:

1. Peel oranges, section, and put 1 clove in the middle of each section.
2. Mix juices and tea in large pot. (Or reduce quantities and put in crock pot)
3. Put cinnamon sticks and oranges in the mixture.
4. Simmer in large pot for one hour and serve. Can also be kept in crock pot all day.

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Why switch to natural laundry soap you ask? Conventional laundry detergent is loaded with chemicals like sulfates, fragrances, phenols and more. Many brands contain things like petroleum distillates, which are linked to cancer and lung disease. Fragrances in these detergents are made of a mix of harmful chemicals.

Luckily, making your own laundry soap is an easy and fast process! You only need three basic ingredients:

• Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer Brand available at most stores)
• Borax (20 Mule Team Borax available at most grocery stores)
• Bar Soap (Dr. Bronner’s, Fels-Naptha, Ivory, or other natural, unscented bar soap)

All of these things should be available at your local grocery store on the laundry aisle. You can also add a couple tablespoons of baking soda to help freshen clothes.

Wonder what’s in these ingredients? Borax is a naturally occurring mineral made up of sodium, boron, oxygen, and water. It is an ingredient in most of the natural soaps available now (Seventh Generation, etc) but it is much more inexpensive to make yourself.

Washing Soda, sometimes called sodium carbonate or soda ash, is made from common salt and limestone or found as natural deposits.

Dr. Bronner’s soaps are free trade and made with vegetable castille soap and pure organic oils.

To Make the laundry detergent:

1. Grate the bar soap or mix in food processor until finely ground. Use the soap of your choice. I personally use Dr. Bronner’s Pure Castille Bar Soap because of its exceptional quality, and because it is available in several different natural scents like lavender, tea tree, peppermint, almond and others.
2. In a large bowl, mix 2 parts washing soda, 2 parts Borax and 1 part grated soap. (Add a few teaspoons of baking soda if desired).
3. Store in closed container. I keep mine in quart or half gallon mason jars. If you are using a big enough container, you can skip step 2 and just put all ingredients in storage container or jar and shake.
4. Use 1/8 to 1/4 cup per load of laundry.

This recipe is also a great way to save money on laundry. By my calculations, I am saving over half on my laundry bill by switching:

On this recipe, I spent:

• One 55 ounce box Washing Soda- $3.49
• One 76 ounce box of Borax – $4.99
• One Bar Dr. Bronner’s Pure Castille Bar Soap- $2.99

With the amount this mixture I use (1/4 cup) per load of laundry, this recipe works out to $0.09 cents per load of laundry. This saves me almost $0.15 per load over using Arm and Hammer or Tide.

Happy Washing and have a healthy week!!

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A few quick beauty tips and recipes for the week:

• For a quick and natural facial, give yourself a honey mask. Take a warm shower, or hold your face over a bowl of steaming water to open pores. Rub warm honey on face and sit for 20-30 minutes, Rinse with warm water and splash with cool water to close pores.
• Instantly clarify and remove oils from your hair by mixing 1 part white vinegar with 5 parts distilled water and pouring over hair after conditioning. Add 5-10 drops of favorite essential oil to make a fresh smell. I recommend lavender, lemon, orange, or peppermint.
• For an intensive hair conditioner, blend avocado and coconut milk or cream in a blender and apply to dry hair. Leave on up to 30 minutes and rinse.
• For oily hair, massage baking soda into hair, shampoo as normal and rinse.

Have a healthy week!

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How to Make Almond Milk:

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw organic almonds
• 4 cups pure filtered water
• vanilla bean (optional)
• dates, honey or stevia (optional)

Instructions

1. Soak almonds for at least 12 hours in pure water with 1/2 tsp sea salt. This is an important step as it breaks down the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors and cultures beneficial enzymes in the almonds. (side note: soaking nuts should be done before eating them as well. Soak nuts in salt water for 12 hours, rinse them, and dry in oven on lowest heat.)
2. Rinse almonds well. Mix almonds with pure water in blender or Vitamix.
3. Blend several minutes until smooth and creamy. (Warning: mixture will expand some, so make sure your blender is not full before starting it)
4. Strain mixture into a large bowl through a sprout bag, cheese cloth or kitchen towel.
5. Put mixture back into blender with vanilla, soaked dates, or other sweetener.
6. Pour into glass jar or pitcher and store in fridge for up to one week.

Note: Save the pulp of the almonds, put on cookie sheet and dehydrate in oven on lowest heat until completely dry. Run through blender or food processor to make almond flour, which can be used in recipes in place of flour.

Have a healthy weekend!

Click here for more recipes.

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I started making applesauce last year when we got an entire bushel through our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and now it is the only kind of applesauce my kids (and husband) will eat. For anyone who has never tried homemade applesauce, there is a night and day difference between homemade and store bought (besides just the price).

Our adventure at the farmers market yielded about 50 lbs of apples (we got Dixie Reds, a variety we haven’t tried before) for about $20. This, combined with the other apples I have at home will probably make about 24 quart size jars of applesauce, which will last us about 4-6 months. The apples were not organic, but they were no spray apples and had not been coated in wax. I soak in vinegar to get any chemicals or toxins off.

The only other ingredients I add to the applesauce are cinnamon and absorbic acid (vitamin c) powder. Since I order the cinnamon in bulk, I get half a pound for $3.10, and use much less than that for all the apples. Since I already had the jars, this was my total cost for 24 quarts of applesauce:

• $20 for apples
• $4.50 for lids for the canning jars
• $3.10 for cinnamon
• $1.50 for Vitamin C

Total is $29.10, or $1.21 a quart… much cheaper than store bought.

Here’s the recipe in case you are interested:

• Apples
• Cinnamon
• Vitamin C powder

Soak the apples in vinegar and water in the kitchen sink for a couple of hours, this will help get any chemicals off. Once they have soaked, rinse well or there will be a slight pickle taste to your applesauce.

Cut the apples into quarters, remove the cores and any leaves. I leave the skin on, as we blend the applesauce later in the process and no pieces of skin are even noticeable, but feel free to peel if you prefer.

Put all the apples in a crockpot or large pot on the stove with a little bit of water (less than a cup) and cinnamon to taste. I usually add a few tablespoons of cinnamon for each pot full of apples and about 1/2 tsp of absorbic acid.

Cook the apples on medium heat until soft. Time varies, but expect at least a few hours. The house will smell great all day as they cook!

When the apples are soft and skins are starting to fall off, turn off the heat and let the apples cool to closer to room temperature. Use either a blender or hand blender (not hand mixer) to puree the apples until smooth. You could also use an hand mill for this, but I have never tried it.

Reheat the now smooth applesauce to boiling and then turn off heat. Put into jars and can according to your canner instructions. I have been told that just hot water bath canning in a large pot works for fruit like apples, but have not tried this either. This applesauce can also be frozen or kept in the fridge for up to a month.

See how we actually made the applesauce.

Stay healthy and happy!

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My first and most important recommendation I can make for weight loss and flu prevention,is to immediately switch to a health diet, though the specifics I recommend may be new to some of you. The old adage “you are what you eat,” has never been more true. As the percentage of the population that is medically classified as overweight or obese rises steadily, it is no surprise that rates of cancer, disease, and other medical issues rise as well. For optimal health, I recommend a diet of high quality proteins, abundant sources of beneficial fats, and adequate amounts of organic or locally grown vegetables, if available.

1. Proteins are necessary for virtually every function the body performs. One of the disadvantages of the low-fat diet that has been promoted my the medical community for so long is the lower intake of protein that often accompanies it. Additionally, a low fat diet is often a high carb diet, as foods like whole grains and starchy vegetables are considered “healthy” low-fat foods. This high carbohydrate diet can contribute to insulin resistance, obesity and eventually diabetes if continued over long periods of time. As proteins are vital for every function of the body, they also perform an important role in immune function and weight maintenance. Antibodies are specialized proteins that help defend the body from illness and bacteria. Proteins are necessary for cell division which is vital in healing and growth, and proteins in the form of hormones and enzymes regulate chemical reactions in the body. The adult body needs one gram of usable protein for each 2.2 pounds of body weight. This means that a 180 pound man would need around 80 grams of protein a day and a 145 pound woman would need about 65 grams a day. I recommend organic grass fed beef, free range chickens, free range eggs, organic raw dairy, and certain forms of protein powder. I will post more on this soon.
2. Fats-This may sound foreign to you if you have followed a low fat diet in the past, but more and more studies are proving that eating fat does not make you fat. In fact, recent research is showing that adequate fat intake is vital to weight loss. (A good discussion on fats here) Fats provide concentrated energy and are important building blocks in hormones. Fats carry the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Studies show that fats, including the much feared saturated fats, contribute to immune strength, bone strength, and can protect the liver. For optimal immune function, it is important to get adequate fats from healthy sources including olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, nuts/seeds, krill oil and animal sources.
3. Vegetables- I hopefully won’t have to do much to convince you that vegetables are healthy and important for optimal health and weight loss. The important thing is to get organic or locally grown vegetables whenever possible as organic varieties can often contain up to three times the nutrients of conventional vegetables. For weight loss and immune function, it is important to avoid eating too many starchy vegetables like potatoes and winter squash and to focus on greens (spinach, lettuce, kale, mustard greens, etc), peppers, tomatoes, hot peppers, garlic, onions, celery, and asparagus. I get mine in by drinking veggie smoothies and eating a salad or two green vegetables at every meal.

Another recommendation I make for both weight loss and flu prevention is to test and maintain adequate levels of vitamin D. More and more research is showing the importance of Vitamin D in maintain weight levels, preventing disease and for optimal mental health. The best source of Vitamin D is that which is naturally produced by your body when it is exposed to sunlight in moderation, though this can be difficult in winter months. If you are unable to get 30 minutes of sunlight a day, supplementation may be necessary. If you choose to supplement, opt for Vitamin D3, a more assimilable and healthy version than other forms. Since Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin, it can be dangerous if taken in excess. Consider having your vitamin D levels checked by a doctor before beginning any supplementation, though Vitamin D obtained from sunlight is considered safe. It is important to carefully maintain optimal levels of Vitamin D, as too much or too little can be dangerous. Recent research is also showing that optimizing vitamin D levels can be a major factor in maintaining or reaching a healthy weight.

Find out how to treat the flu at home with stuff you have around the house.

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The basic smoothie consists of some mixture of:

Tomatoes- Full of lycopene, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Potassium, and antioxidants.

Cucumber- High water content, Vitamin C, silica, caffeic acid, potassium, megnesium

Celery-Vitamins A, B2, B6 and C, Potassium, Folic Acid, Magnesium and Calcium

Garlic- Immune support, anti-cancer, infection fighting

Bell Peppers-Vitamin C, Thiamine, Vitamin B6, Beta Carotene, Folic Acid and a variety of phytochemicals

Onions-Beneficial sulfur containing compounds, Vitamin C, Chromium, manganese, can help lower blood sugar, reduce cancer risk and lower cholesterol

Greens-Combination of spinach, kale, mustard greens, lettuces and green herbs containing a wide variety of nutrients and beneficial compounds

Jalapenos- Capsaicin, Vitamin C and other. Can help relieve headache, congestion, high blood pressure, inflammation, intestinal diseases as well as aid weight loss and strengthen the heart

Kelp-Great source of Iodine and trace minerals

Spirulina- A green-blue algea. Great source of protein, good immune support, and the most nutrient dense whole food.

Recipe:

In the blender, combine:

• one small tomato
• 1/4 of a cucumber
• one bell pepper
• one jalapeno
• 1/4 of an onion
• 1-2 cloves of raw garlic
• 1-2 stalks of celery
• 3-4 big handfulls of greens of choice
• 1 tsp kelp
• 2 tsp spirulina
• 2 cups water
• handful of ice cubes

I make my smoothies in our Vita Mix, so quantities might need to be adjusted if you have a smaller size blender. If you don’t have all the ingredients, use what you do have and add any vegetables that can be eaten raw. As one reader recommended, I have also started adding turmeric, as this gives additional health benefits.

Blend ingredients until smooth. Smoothie will be thick. I find the easiest way to drink is like one would do weights at the gym, in sets. I take 5 gulps, chase with water and repeat.

Happy drinking and good luck!

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