Supermom's Health and Wellness

Juice Feast Day 16

2012-02-02T22:08:00.000-05:00

A good day again. Other than the occasional wish for a baked potato, I'm doing just fine. No problems, feeling good, not hungry, not suffering in any way. On days that are as good as yesterday and today, I think I might just do a 60 day fast. Of course, I know not all the days will be this easy, though my detox resource tells me that now I have crossed into the most optimal part of the fast, with my body "fully adapted" to fasting. So, I guess if things keep cruising along so well--why not keep going? I'm releasing extra weight at a nice pace, and certainly am not done with that job yet. I will say, though, that I am looking forward to eating healthy food again.

One day at a time.

Juice Feast Day 14

2012-01-31T11:42:00.000-05:00

Today is day 14 for me. 14 pounds gone. Changed things up today. Up until yesterday I've done my juicing in the evening. Last night I was tired and frustrated, so went to bed with the plan to juice this morning. Have lost the entire morning of homeschooling my kids because of all the hijinks associated with my morning juicing today. Plus, the green juice I made tastes horrible. Frustrated. Angry. Wondering how realistic it is for a homeschooling mother of six to continue to do this long term.

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Thankfully, my day has turned out better than it began! After I got all of my venting done this morning, I got on with the day, did school with the kids, made two turtle lap books for two of my boys who need them next week, cleaned up some stuff around the house, and got through yet another day of juicing. I decided to do some prep work for tomorrow's juicing, so now hopefully I'm ahead of the game. Going to bed soon. Thankful that I have made it through two weeks of my juice feast, and looking forward to continuing on!

Juice Feast Day 13

2012-01-30T19:40:00.000-05:00

The evenings are not treating me well, my friends.

By the time I put in a full day of homeschooling, work, business, feeding everybody else, and pet care including a new puppy (yeah! Did I mention we got a puppy too?!), in the evening I am tired and do not want to face an hour or more of juicing-related tasks. I want to mentally check out and stay that way until morning. Yes, I do. It's true.

My husband is on day 4 of his juicing and he is not handling it that well. I think his state of mind has really messed mine up as well. Not good.

Truly, I'm not physically hungry. Physically I feel fine and the juice seems to be treating me well. It's the mental game that's the real challenge for me.

Earlier this evening I had to shop at Walmart. By the time I was into the checkout line I was having fantasies of shoving frosted sugar cookies and M&Ms and goldfish crackers into my mouth. All at once.

That makes for a real pretty picture...doesn't it? :)

My hope is to eventually exit my juice feast/fast 20-30 pounds lighter than I started, and to feel relaxed and in control of my eating---not like a starved junk-a-holic! So, this is not the time, and I am going to be fine. I just have to continue, hour by hour, day by day.

Some of the thoughts plaguing my mind tonite:

I've been thinking about the foods I might not eat much any more after I'm done. No more fresh warm bread with melted butter?! No more birthday cake? No more pizza? No more cheese?

And if I decide that I don't have to swear off those things entirely, on what basis will I make exceptions? How often will I allow myself to swerve off of the normal everyday plan?

And if I swerve off, will it just be a slippery slope? Will I lose the weight and gain it all back again? If so, should I even try?

How much of my life am I willing to devote to eating and trying to control my weight?

Last time I got on a roll I found that in the long run I wasn't willing to devote the time needed to maintain my weight loss. What will be different now?

Will I have pushed myself so hard with all of these days/weeks/nightly hours of juicing that I'll just sit and eat a big fat bowl of granola while watching a movie every night?

I don't know. This is my brain off drugs, off sugar, off grains, off gluten, off everything except fruit and veggie juice for the last nearly two weeks. Tune in tomorrow to see if my state of mind improves!

Dogs and Deals

2012-01-29T21:40:00.001-05:00

I don't know about where you live, but here in central Kentucky we are having a weird winter. We have gone from snow and icy cold to springlike temperatures and sunny days, and back again, week after week. I'm used to some mild temps in February some years, but nothing like this! Nevertheless, I am not complaining! It has been great weather for the kids to play outside, and also for us to spend time with our dogs.

Have I never introduced you to our family dogs? Well, here we have beautiful Brandi, our Golden Retriever. She is the sweetest and most loyal dog ever. We often remark that she is the perfect dog....except for her occasional transgression of getting into the trash if we forget to put it up before we leave the house. :) Brandi has been with us for 2 years now.

Back in December two sweet puppy sisters were found wandering in the road near my mom's house. Long story short, we decided to adopt cute little Rosie. (some friends of ours adopted her sister Copper) As you can see, she has a very hard life here with my family. :) We have been thankful for less severe weather and sunny skies since it has made puppy training and play time much more enjoyable for all of us!

Since we ~~just don't have enough to do~~ are dog lovers, last week we decided to take on the adventure of also fostering a Great Pyrenees from our local animal shelter. She was so big that it was very hard on her to be in the shelter environment and she really needed room to run. We decided to get involved, so for a few days we hosted Miss Carli, the gentlest giant you could ever hope to meet. (How could I say no to that sweet face?!) Happily, Carli was adopted and moved to her new home last Friday.

Although it was very busy, it was fun to have a dog pack in the house. I started calling them "small, medium, and large." :)

We are now planning to take some "time off" without any extra pets in the house for awhile. (6 kids, 2 dogs, 3 cats...what *is* this time off of which you speak?!)

And what does all of this have to do with Supermom's Health and Wellness?

Mostly nothing. :) I just thought you would enjoy a little visual peek into our life. Animals isn't all of it, but we do what we can. Maybe someday soon I will introduce you to our cats!

In the store this week we have some 25% off sales going on!

#1: Vitex: Don't let the combination of winter blues and PMS cause you to do any damage to anybody! LOL Stock up now while it's a bargain and enjoy having your hormones on a more level playing field. (Your husband and children will thank you!)

#2. Winter Breeze: This is one of those items that you want to have on hand ahead of time in case of respiratory illnesses, because once you need it, you need it NOW.

#3. Supermom vitamins 180 tabs: One of our most popular items is now even more affordable! This is the week to stock up. Great for anyone--men or women, even teens, who need an excellent quality multivitamin with iron.

Sale prices are valid through February 5.

In other news:

I am slowly-but-surely working on a re-launch of my online health eating class, which includes a new format that makes it easy for all past and present class members to have all of the latest information handy, additional classes have been added, updated information, personal coaching options, and even a way for all of my previous class members to earn money by telling others about the class! I had hoped to have it ready by January 1, but here we are still plodding away. (For some crazy reason it is really hard for me to do big work projects while also homeschooling and wrangling dogs! Strange, isn't it?) I'm hoping to somehow make the big push toward completion within the next two weeks and will be sure to let you know when it's ready to roll.

Phew. I think that's enough newsy bits for one night, don't you? Stay cozy, my friends!

Juice Feast--What day is this anyhow?

2012-01-29T18:59:00.000-05:00

I skipped a day of blogging, and now I don't know.....I guess this is day 12 for me, and day 3 for my husband.

Dave had a rocky first two days. He's doing better today, although the ground venison cooking in the crock pot for our children all day has made it hard for both of us. House smells good BUT WE WON'T BE EATING!! Oh my sometimes this feels hard.

Today is one of those days when I need to remind myself why I am doing this. Since my husband joined me and I've heard his "Know what I wish I could eat right now....." it has messed a little with my mental strength cocoon that I enjoyed for the first 10 days of my juice feast. Getting through it, though, although today has caused me to wonder what my exit strategy will be. When will I stop? On the one hand, setting a date is good because you know what you're shooting for. But what if I stop before then? Will I feel like I've failed? What if I go longer? Then what will I be shooting for? I don't know. All I know is that today a nice black bean and wild rice dish with homemade guacamole and salsa and shredded carrots sounds really, really, really good.....

Thinking about diet, and man oh MAN I'll tell you what--conflicting information about health sure is frustrating! One thing tells you to go all raw. Another sells you on vegan or vegetarianism. Another tells you how important meat and dairy are and how immature it is to think that you can be healthy without meat. For crying out loud--HOW is a person to sift through it?

I guess the easy answer is to do a middle ground of real foods (non-processed, and local as much as possible), with a lot of veggies and some fruits as well. (sigh) I don't know. Eating for health shouldn't be this hard!

So my quest to figure it all out continues, and of course testing it out on myself is going to be a big part of this. When will I get to test it out and start eating again? I haven't decided. Stay tuned!

Juice Feast Day 10

2012-01-27T12:07:00.000-05:00

My husband watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead yesterday, and today he decided to start a juice fast/feast! He has some chronic health issues including terrible sinus trouble, so I am hoping he sees a great improvement. I have believed for years that if he stopped eating dairy that would help, but with his job as a firefighter, he eats away from home 35%+ of the time, so it is not always easy for him to control his diet that well. This juice feast will give him the opportunity to get a clean slate, food-wise.

As for me, I'm doing well, and down 12 pounds. It's very rewarding to lose about a pound a day. In the past it would take me 4-7 days of hard work to lose a pound. A mighty nice jump start in the weight loss department!

I am told that after day 15 or so weight loss usually slows to half a pound a day or less, so I'm prepared for that, and just enjoying what's happening now.

Doing lots of thinking about what we will be eating whenever the fast comes to an end. Leaning toward raw vegan, but not sure how realistic that is, or how the kids will accept it. May need to go for something more middle-ground for them. Not sure what that will look like yet.

Juice Feast Day 9

2012-01-26T22:09:00.000-05:00

Not much to report today. Not hard. No drama. Felt fine. Plenty of energy to do a full day of kids to basketball, household stuff, homeschooling stuff, juicing, meal prep, etc. Heading to bed soon. Good day.

11 pounds down, as of this morning. Pretty nice. :)

Juice Feast Day 8

2012-01-25T14:08:00.000-05:00

The sniffles, sneezes, aches, chills, and coughing is less severe today. Thankful to be feeling a bit better than yesterday.

Down 10 pounds.

Still not having any problems with the juice or not eating.

End of the day:
Still no hunger or cravings, although some food items do sound good to me. Still, I'm fine and enjoying all of the good nutrition that I'm taking in.

Happily, juicing is going faster for me! Now that I know what I like for what's in season, it comes together pretty fast. I had to do it all by myself tonite, but got it all done in an hour. Great improvement over 8 days ago!

Juice Feast Day 7

2012-01-24T15:53:00.000-05:00

Well, I knew that it couldn't be easy for the entire time!

My sniffles, runny nose, and aches went full-strength all night and continue today. It's like having a bad cold. Nothing I haven't been through before, though I'm thankful I started this juice feast before we got back to school! Hopefully by Monday I will be feeling much better.

I'm doing a lot of thinking and reading about how I want to eat once I'm done with this juice feast. It's nice that once you're free of addictive foods and habits, you can make free choices. I'm excited about that.

Evening: Rough day here. I went to my book group, plus had to pack orders, etc. so I forced myself through those things, but felt worse and worse. Now add chills to everything else. Thankfully, my younger boys are very enthusiastic about helping me juice, and they are doing most of the work of it tonite. I do not know if I would have the strength to do it all by myself.

Did an epsom salt bath in the late afternoon, felt really wrecked afterward. Took a long nap and thank goodness my nose cooperated so I was able to rest for a few hours. Right now my goal is to finish the juicing and get the kids to bed, then crawl back into my bed for the night.

I will say that it has been really nice, though, that I've had no cravings. The juice tastes good and I am doing fine, aside from the sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, and chills!

Juice Feast Day 6

2012-01-23T18:45:00.000-05:00

Another easy day. Other than the coughing and sometimes runny nose, today has been easy. Little-to-no hunger, no cravings, no problem. In fact, things were going so easily that when I had to leave the house for a couple of hours I hadn't even given it a thought, and left without taking water or any juices with me. Ha! I was back in two hours and survived just fine.

End of Day 6. Detox seems to have arrived finally. The cough and sniffles have increased some, plus some skin blemishes. All normal. Will proceed and conquer! :) Heading to bed now.

Juice Feast Days 4 and 5

2012-01-22T09:34:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was not a hard day for the juice feasting at all. I had to do several errands out of the house, had people stop by, cooked dinner for my family, packed orders, trained a puppy, and everything else there is to do in a normal day around here. A few mental twinges of things I might like to eat on a cold, wintery day, but otherwise I've been absolutely fine. I stayed up until midnight working, read some before I went to bed, and am up and enjoying the day at 9. So, I'm now starting day 5 feeling good, plenty of energy, and so far no problematic detox symptoms. The only weird thing I'm noticing is that maybe I now have a super Spidey sense of smell. Smells are seeming really strong to me right now, which I have found out is not unusual for juice feasters.

End of day 5 report:
Today has been very easy. I've been coughing some and having intermittent runny nose, both of which are mentioned as being common detox symptoms around this point in the juice feast. A little bit pesky, but nothing too bad. On a scale of 1-10 (easy-hard) I would say today has been a 2 or 3. Really not hard. If it wasn't for the time I spend juicing each day it would be super duper easy!

Some random thoughts on weight loss and gain:

I have quite a few reasons for doing this juice feast. Part of that is my desire to drop excess weight. While I guess it would be obvious that a person would lose weight while only drinking juices for an extended period of time, the process goes farther than that because of the detoxing, and all of that toxins that are stored in fat, and how all of that works together to release both fat and toxins.

While I do not know how long I will continue the juice feast, right now what sounds really good to me is sticking with it until I reach a weight that would be considered healthy for me. Happily, the scale tells me today that I have lost 7 pounds, so I am on my way!

Of course the question remains in my mind--what will happen when the juice-only stops, and eating regular food resumes?

Some things floating through my mind these days:

1. When you are no longer addicted to sugar, grains, dairy, caffeine, MSG, or junk, there is nothing pushing, pulling, or controlling your food or eating choices. Once you get a clean slate with food, you are free! That is one of the reasons I wanted to do this. While I already made pretty healthy food choices (and I'm thinking that may be one reason why I've enjoyed almost no detox symptoms thus far), there were some things I felt I needed an extended break from so I could get some clarity about whether or not they are good foods for me. (Wheat and grains is one thing I want to check on.)

One nice thing about this is that my blood sugar is really stabilized, and I experience hunger differently. I first noticed this a couple years ago when I was eating a high percentage of raw foods, and zero sugar or junk. Whereas I used to experience hunger with a blood sugar drop and a sense of urgency that I HAD TO EAT SOMETHING right away or I was going to get super shaky or even faint. When I was eating a healthy, high-raw diet, I experienced hunger as a feeling, but not one that commanded I do anything about it. It was just like, "Oh, I guess I'm getting hungry. I'll eat sometime pretty soon, I guess." But if I was in the car or on my way to a meeting or in whatever situation where I wasn't going to be able to eat, it was no big deal. Yes, I'm hungry. No, there is no urgent need to do anything about it. I'll be ok until I can sit down and eat.

I am imagining for those of you that have never experienced such a thing, you are probably thinking that sounds nuts. All I can say is that it is interesting to experience, and I probably would not have thought it likely or possible if I hadn't experienced it myself. I love it that I can do this now. That hunger isn't really a driving force. It's a signal, and I'll get to it when I can, and there is no race against the shakes!

During this juice feast, yes I am feeling a little bit hungry some of the time. It is not hurting me. It is not distracting me. I can function all day, have my juice every hour or so, and keep on trucking without any ill effects whatsoever. My hope is that when the juice feast ends, and I wean myself back onto solid food, that I will continue to eat a diet that continues to give me high nutrition and no issues that make me feel like I have to eat now or will fall apart. I like to be the one in control of the eating, not feel like a slave to my blood sugar highs and lows.

2. When you are eating a diet that is very high in fruits and veggies, your body gets satisfied faster and easier than if you're eating junk. I know that a lot of people look at their regular diet and they look at something like a salad for lunch and they compare the two and think that no way could they survive on the salad for lunch without being super hungry. In my experience, your body is hungry for nutrition. For fuel! If you stuff your belly full of a bunch of stuff that has little or no nutrition, your body will continue to ask for more. YES it knows you just had six slices of pizza, but it needs FUEL, and you've given it none. (or little) When you give your body a big salad full of minerals and vitamins and micronutrients, your body says THANK YOU! Over time you will probably find that your body doesn't even need as large of a salad as it does to begin with. Your ability to satisfy your body becomes easier as you consistently give it good things and not bad things.

When I end my juice feast I want to continue enjoying a very nutritious eating plan that gives my body the fuel it needs.

3. Now that I am investing almost 2 hours per evening in juicing, I am thinking that I wonder if I would like to continue to make juices daily and share them with the entire family. Other juicy ideas include replacing one meal a day with just juice, or having an ongoing habit of doing a 1 or 2 day juice feast each week. Seems like it would be a good ongoing thing, especially if I am still in need of keeping inflammation down for the health of my back issues. Plus, seems like it would help control weight as a side benefit.

It is too early for me to say for sure how any of this will go, so these are just ideas that I want to record for my own benefit as well as for anyone else that they can help. I'm sure I will be learning a lot more in the days/weeks to come as I continue this journey.

Juice Feast Day 3

2012-01-21T09:45:00.000-05:00

Not as good of a sleep last night, stayed up over an hour later than I really felt good about last night (New Year's Eve), but woke up with my body feeling fine. Not overly hungry, but I think I waited too long to have my first juice of the day. Feeling kinda tired and shaky this morning. Nothing too terrible, though. Will do some computer work and rest.

Feel almost like I have a current running through my body. A humming I can feel. Not a bad thing, just noticing it.

4:46 pm and I'm doing fine. Took a little nap this morning and got over the initial blahs.

I thought that today I would share a little about my juicer and some recipes that I enjoy.

We purchased a Green Star Juicer about 6 years ago and have used it off-and-on. We picked the Green Star because it is a masticating juicer. It gets the most juice yield out of the fruits and veggies than it would if using a centrifugal juicer. Also, the Green Star does not heat up and destroy enzymes in the live food. The other issue that is most helpful for me is that the juice I make with my Green Star can hold it's nutritional value for longer than others. When I was casually juicing, it was nice to have some juice for now, and to keep some in the fridge for later. Now it is really important to me because I am doing my juicing in the evening, in preparation for the following day. So far it has taken me about 2 hours to do my juicing when I haven't had any help. There is a lot that could be shared labor, though, so that time could be cut in half if you had an assistant.

I have been taught that the body can only utilize 8 ounces of juice in 30-60 minutes, so I use half-pint glass canning jars to store my juice. I fill it right to the tippy-top and immediately refrigerate.

Since I am making about 10 jars of juice to have each day, I like to make a variety of juices. What I have done so far is start with fruity ones, and gradually move to veggie ones.

On day 1 I had a big bowl of cut up apples, pineapple, oranges, and grapefruit leftover from Christmas, so I juiced those right up and that made a wonderful juice. I did an amount that I wanted, filled the jars, put on the lids, and straight to the fridge. Then I went on to the next batch which was:

ABCs
2 pears
2 apples
2 beets
1 cup cabbage
3 handfuls of kale
3 handfuls of mixed salad greens (dark leafy types)

Turned out nice!

Then I made:

Sweet N Tart Citrus
3 cups fresh cranberries (which was perfect since they were marked down after Christmas so I bought a bunch!)
a half inch piece of ginger
3 oranges
2 grapefruits
1 lemon

In this case I found that my juicer didn't handle the citrus fruits that well, so I used my citrus juicer for those, and ran the cranberries and ginger through the Green Star, then combined all of it. The ginger was a new thing for me, and although it was ok, I left it out on the next day. Also, I had some tangerines that I used in place of the oranges one day. This recipe is quite tart, and I have found that adding about 5 drops of plain stevia to the mix works well for me. Very, very refreshing!

On day 1 I also had a juice made with a bunch of tomatoes, and it didn't turn out that good. I felt pretty sick after drinking that one, so probably won't be making that again. Live and learn!

My standard basic juice recipe that was one of the first ones I ever learned is still one I enjoy. It goes like this:

carrots
celery
zucchini
kale
dark leafy greens
half a beet or a whole one
an apple

There isn't a perfect right way to do this. You can just play with the combinations and find what you like. So many things taste different when you juice them as compared to eating them cooked or raw, so be open minded to trying new things. You may not like cooked beets, but may love beet juice!

I have gotten some recipes from the Reboot web site, which is run by the guy who made the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. I also bought The Juice Fasting Bible which has a lot of great recipes, as well as much advice and information about juice fasting/feasting.

It is more ideal to have juices freshly made, so I am going to try to move up my time of day for juicing to more like 6pm so that I can have some of that fresh juice right away, rather than saving all of it until the next day. Know what that means? I need to get off the computer and out to the kitchen! Time to juice!

Difficulty level today on a scale of 1-10: probably a 4. Easier than day 1, but a little harder than yesterday. Definitely NOT THAT HARD TO DO! :)

Juice Feast Day 2

2012-01-20T10:11:00.000-05:00

Woke up feeling calm, peaceful, clear-headed, and not overly hungry. In fact, I had time to take a shower, do dry skin brushing, and several other-self care things for over an hour after getting up, without needing any juice. Am now enjoying 8 ounces of apple, pineapple, orange, and grapefruit juice. So refreshing!

Also, the scale tells me I have lost 3 pounds. :)

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I had a busy day away from home today. Had to work, go to a birthday party, and go to Kroger for more veggies. Was away from home for 4-5 hours. I took my juice with me in a cooler bag, and that worked out really well. I have continued to have good energy today (better than most normal days), no withdrawal symptoms so far. Feeling good and excited to see where this adventure will lead!

It is also really interesting to think about how much food I would normally be eating, and how I'm doing just fine with just an 8 ounce glass of juiced goodness every hour or two or so. In the past when I was eating a high percentage of raw foods I noticed that the high-nutrition food ended up being more filling and satisfying than anything else. This is a similar experience, except additionally interesting because there isn't really anything in my stomach to make me feel "full." I guess I don't really feel full, but I feel fine. Not bothering me. Probably the only little issue I've had today is, again, just the mental game of seeing or thinking of a food I like, knowing I can't have it today, and not knowing when in the future I will allow myself to have it again. I keep reminding myself to relax and enjoy the experience and not worry about what the food terrain will look like in the future. This is all going to work out.

Juice Feast Day 1

2012-01-19T18:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went to the store and bought more 8 ounce glass jars, plus a big cart of fruits and veggies. I went through my Kroger produce dept. and bought up anything organic that was on Manager's Special (marked down) since I knew I would be eating it soon. Also had to get some non-organic items just because the selection was limited.

I've decided to do my juicing in the evening, to prepare for the next day. With our school schedule, etc. I didn't think it would be realistic to think that I was going to start each day with juicing. As it was for last night, it took me two hours to get all of the juice made and clean up. Sounds worse than it was.

I made about 3-4 different types of juice. One was straight fruit (juiced a bunch of leftover cut up oranges, grapefruits, and apples), one has cranberry, grapefruit, ginger, and apple, one had more veggies (cabbage, carrots, celery, etc.), and one had a lot of tomato. The tomato one didn't work that well in the juicer and is the only one I am not liking today.

Woke up bright and early this morning (6:30) and had some juice. Have watched the clock a lot, saying to myself, "OK, I made it another hour...." a lot. LOL Funny how in such a short time I am already craving a few things, even things that I don't normally like. I think just the mental issue of seeing food I like to eat, and realizing that it may be quite some time before I eat it again. A big hearty salad, a fluffy baked potato, a juicy and cool orange, a rich and creamy avocado.... Have to keep riding it out until I get past this part, which I have heard will be worse in the next day or two.

I haven't been intensely hungry, just mildly. I have been told that only about 8 ounces of juice can be utilized by the body within 30-60 minutes, so I'm trying to only have one juice per hour or so if I feel I need it. I took a nap this afternoon, partially as a method to escape my cravings. I am feeling kind of nauseous tonite. That tomato juice really didn't sit well with me. Won't be making any more of that anytime soon. Everything else was good, and I have many more fruits and veggies waiting for me to do my juicing tonite.

One thing I have experienced is just feeling kinda chilly. Thankfully, herbal tea is permitted on the juice feast, so I did have one cup of mint tea to help warm me a bit and soothe my nausea.

So far, so good. On a scale of 1-10 difficulty, 1 being a total breeze, and 10 being the hardest, I'd say that today was maybe a 5 or 6. Definitely doable. It helps to keep my WHY in mind.

Awesome Dinner!

2012-01-19T18:33:00.001-05:00

We had such a beautiful and delicious dinner tonite, I just had to share! Sadly, I took no pictures. Still, I want to tell you all about it.

Let me preface this by saying that my children are not always that excited about NEW or HEALTHY recipes that are different from what we usually said. But, what I always tell them when we are having one of *those* meals: This is a meal for open hearts and open minds! :)

Strawberry Pecan Salad was beautiful and the kids looooooved the dressing. The salad basically consists of a large bowl of mixed organic salad greens, or you could go with all baby spinach. Add in 2 cups sliced strawberries, half a cup sliced raw pecans, and a half cup sliced or diced red onions, if you like. (I left them out.)

The dressing was made in the small food processor:
1 cup sliced strawberries
quarter-cup fresh orange juice
4 dates
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon of chia seeds

Mix it up and voila! It's done.

3 out of 4 of the boys at my table tonite loved this salad so much that they said they would like to take some in their lunch boxes on the days when we go to our homeschool group! THAT, my friends, is high praise coming from my kids!

I also made brown rice and kale with a peanut sauce.

For the rice, I cooked it in veggie broth, and added in Thrive freeze dried carrots, onion, and celery.

For the kale, instead of doing the usual sauté, I decided to try going oil-free and boiled it instead. I used a large bunch of kale, chopped up, and plunged it into the boiling water, left to boil for 3 minutes. Then drained and plunged it into cold water to preserve the color and stop it from cooking any more. I'm not sure if I would do the cold water step in the future because it made the kale cold, and I think I would have enjoyed it even more warm.

For the sauce, again I used my small food processor and combined
2 tablespoons honey,
2 tablespoons natural peanut butter,
3 tablespoons organic shoyu (organic soy sauce, you could also use Bragg's liquid aminos),
1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (go easy!),
half a teaspoon ground ginger, and
3 cloves of garlic.
Whiz it all up and done! I mixed some of this sauce in with the kale, and saved some.

I plated the food with a generous amount of the rice, placed the kale on top of the rice, and then for those that really like the sauce, added more on top. Mix all of that up and YUM! It was so hearty, flavorful, and delicious.

Other than the cost of strawberries out of season ($3.99), this was a pretty economical meal, and fit with our current healthy eating goals. It was easy to make as well. :)

I got the strawberry salad recipe from a wonderful collection of resources from Frederic and Veronica Patenaude that I would highly recommend to you if you are looking for fresh ideas for eating more delicious raw foods. Click here to read a review.

I'm going on a juice fast!

2012-01-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

A few years ago I got busy with exercising regularly, eliminating sugar from my diet, and eating a much higher percentage of raw foods. (probably 50-70%) In about a year I lost 30 pounds, yet I didn't feel good. Exercise never yielded any wonderful energetic high--only aches, fatigue, and hunger. While some aspects of my diet felt good (my blood sugar seemed very stable, I found that I could feel satiated with reasonable/smallish amounts of highly nutritious food), my health did not feel good. I still felt surprisingly tired, achy, almost always feeling like I was on the verge of getting the flu or a cold. How could I be doing so many of the "right" things and not be getting the health payoff I was looking for? Yes, the weight loss was wonderful and I was very glad about that, but still feeling tired and junky well over a year later? No thank you!

Eventually as my homeschooling responsibilities increased and my schedule changed, my exercise time was crowded out and never replaced with anything. Eventually I started making a little exception here and a little exception there on my no-sugar policy, and before I knew it, I was back to eating pretty much like I had been before all of my health efforts. (which, truth be told, is still *quite* healthy, certainly much moreso than most Americans. Everything I teach you in my class--I was doing it! But, alas, that combination of moderation in all things was not working for my waistline!)

You know the rest of the story, don't you? Oh yes---all of that lost weight found the way right back onto my body, plus bringing a couple extras along for the ride.

Interestingly, although I wouldn't say I feel *great* these days, I would say that I feel better physically than I did back when I was 35 pounds thinner than today. Obviously being overweight is not a positive thing either for my self image or my health, but feeling less junky all the time has been nice.

In my confusion about what has happened I have considered many things, mostly without finding answers. Some advocates of healthy diets will claim that if you feel bad it's because of "detoxing." So, how on earth am I to know if I'm detoxing, or if something is just not working for my body? I HAVE NO IDEA! (but I can tell you that after well over a year of staying the course and not feeling one bit better, that was a long enough experiment for me!) I read things that talked about eating more or less of various things that I was/wasn't eating a lot/a little of. Just a couple weeks ago I came across the book Wheat Belly and read it. That book tells me that wheat is evil and basically all grains are bad for me too. Oy.

So here I sit, overweight and unhappy with the way my body feels, moves, and looks. I still have some health ailments that I would like some relief of. (bulging disc in my lower back causes pain and difficulty at times, some joint pain, not as much energy as I would like, not as much mental clarity as I would like, generally not feeling as healthy and vibrant as I would like to) While I know that obviously I need to get away from eating sugar again, I have no idea about the wheat/grain/gluten issues for me, and also don't really feel like I can tell any more about which foods are working well for my body, and which are not.

Which brings me to the juice fast.

The other night I came across the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. (it's on netflix instant play) The guy in the documentary does a 60-day juice fast in order to try to heal his body of a chronic illness as well as obesity. I have done some juicing before, usually on a daily basis while I was being consistent about it, and I have really enjoyed the juices. I have all of the equipment, and I no longer feel like I know what I should or shouldn't be eating half the time! As I considered how a juice fast could help me, here are the things that stood out to me:

--a juice fast can let me break free from sugar, wheat, grains, and anything else "bad" all at once, getting the whole thing over with in one withdrawal effort, and hopefully moving me to a point where I am at a healthy base line for my health. When I end the fast, I can carefully try out various whole foods, and hopefully be able to evaluate which foods feel nourishing and beneficial for my body, and which do not. (I will admit that I am not sure if feelings are 100% accurate on things like this, but I am hoping to get some more information about this before ending my fast.)

--juice fasting is supposed to be incredibly efficient at helping your body detox and clear out all sorts of bad junk from your body. When I worked with a naturopath back when I was looking for answers about why I was still feeling so bad even though I was going so much "right" she suggested a detox to me, though the one she recommended was not one I felt comfortable with doing. I like the idea of clearing out the junky toxins from my body and seeing how I feel without them. (several years ago I did a candida kill-off and wow! It was amazing how much different my body felt. I hadn't realized how much of a negative difference those yeast bugs were making!)

--Juice fasting is supposed to be an efficient way to lose weight. Once those toxins (that are stored in fat cells!) start to go away, so does the fat. Boy Howdy I could stand to say goodbye to some fat cells! (can I get an amen?!)

Since so many ideally healthy things have not seemed to work that well for me in the past, I feel somewhat hesitant to boldly declare that THIS IS THE ANSWER FOR ME. Obviously, I'm optimistic, but I won't know until I try it.

I plan to see my doctor and get some baseline blood work done, in the hopes that if later on I feel like I'm not doing well for some reason, we could compare blood work and hopefully identify any problems or deficiencies.

I do not know how long I will do the fasting. From what I have read, most people need to get past the two week mark before really hitting their stride with the fast. I'd like to get beyond that and then see how I'm feeling. If I feel good and all is well, I'll carry on and do what I can to blast away this extra weight. (wouldn't it be awesome if I could juice fast myself to a more ideal weight?!) I'll also be continuing to read, learn, and consider what nutritional goals I will be working on post-fast.

I'm not a person who does well with pressure, either real or imagined. Originally I had this idea that I would blog or do video posts each day of my juice fast, but then I started wondering if that would feel like too much pressure both to produce, plus to live up to, plus to deal with any naysayers or honest concerns at a time when I might be not feeling my best or unsure about my experience. So for now I've decided to compromise: I may blog or do videos, but I am not going to release them right now. I'm hoping to start my juice fast on December 29, but I'm going to hold onto what I have to share until maybe Feb. 1 or so. It feels like it might be safer for my head and heart to just keep my juicing journey close while I'm still toddling my way through unfamiliar terrain. I hope I have a wonderful story to share with you all at the end of this, but if not, I don't have to add on the pressure of living some sort of example along with all of the other challenges involved in this experiment.

How to Make Nut Milk

2012-01-03T11:53:00.003-05:00

Since we've been blessed with a supply of truly raw almonds, I've enjoyed learning how to make almond milk at home. I've also done this with cashews and it works very well.

Soak one cup of raw nuts in about 3 cups of pure water overnight.
In the morning drain off the water.
Place your soaked nuts plus a fresh 3-4 cups of pure water into your high speed blender, vita mix, or whatever you have.
Whiz it up really well, then strain off the pulp. Voila! Nut milk!

If you prefer your milk to be sweeter you can also soak 3 dates with your nuts overnight and whiz them up in your blender as well. You could also add pure maple syrup or pure vanilla extract.

Very economical and only takes a few minutes! I use the nut milk in our smoothies, which works great. Leftovers store in a glass jar in the fridge for several days. I have even used nut milk instead of cow milk in various recipes without any problem.

Free Vanilla Extract and more!

2011-12-28T13:41:00.000-05:00

My children at our annual visit to The Southern Lights. They are a fun bunch of kids! :)

Hello friends!

I hope that your Christmas was beautiful, meaningful, and fun. We had a very good time visiting with extended family, both local ones and the ones that traveled from as far away as Florida and Massachusetts! Today my children are enjoying their new gifts. I have two boys working on their new world map puzzles, and a few others are asking for me to join them in playing their new Clue game. :) Never a dull moment here!

There are just a few more days before the end of the year, so of course our inventory reduction sale will continue since I'd rather give significant savings to YOU than pay taxes on stuff just sitting on the shelves. So, enjoy these savings while they last. On January 1 prices will be going back to normal. You can see all sale items here.

I would like to sweeten the deal even more by offering you a special gift. Anyone placing a $100 order can also opt to get a FREE bottle of the delicious Vanilla Extract that I have available! I just have a handful of these available, so this is a very limited offer. You'll need to add the free vanilla to your shopping cart. All of the details are here.

Cashews, almonds, walnuts, and pecans are all still available, though at very limited quantities now. The pecans we got from South Carolina were absolutely awesome. I am getting one final order of these for the season, so if you want some, speak now! :) I lowered the pecans to 3 pound increments because they fit better in a gallon bag, so for those of you that didn't need a full 5 pounds, this is your chance! :)

Have you seen this article about the treatment of Whooping Cough with vitamin C therapy? Worth a read! This is the sort of thing that I so often come across and share on our facebook page. If you have not yet joined me there, please do!

This recipe for Hot Cranberry Cider was a nice addition to our Christmas brunch and is soothing if you are chilled or feeling a little bit sick. Easy to make, too!

Stay cozy, my friends!

~Erica

Cranberry Walnut Granola

2011-12-20T12:00:00.001-05:00

I originally found this recipe here, but of course have made some tweaks that I liked.

1 ½ cups raw walnuts, roughly chopped
½ cup raw almonds, roughly chopped
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
¼ cup more almonds, ground up as small as my food processor would do (all the way to flour, if you can)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
½ cup dried cranberries (preferably fruit juice-sweetened) In my case I had cooked cranberries leftover from making Cranberry Cider, so I used a half cup of those instead and I am glad I did! So nice and tangy!

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Use no-stick spray on a 9x13 glass pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine the walnuts, almonds and almond flour, coconut, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the applesauce, maple syrup, and flaxseed. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until combined. Add in the cranberries if you are using wet ones like I did. If you're using dried ones, wait. Spread the mixture out onto your pan. Bake for about 25 minutes, stirring every 8-10 minutes with a spatula, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and stir in the cranberries if you used dry ones. Allow the granola to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature, or if you used the wetter cooked cranberries, store in the fridge.

Hot Cranberry Cider

2011-12-19T20:29:00.002-05:00

My friend Jill (who makes the lip balms and soaps that we have in the store) sent me this recipe today because she saw on facebook that we were dealing with some sickness at our house, and she recommended it as soothing and good for coughs, chills, and aches. I made some of this wonderful stuff and boy oh boy it tastes great and was easy to make. I'm not sure how totally medicinal it is, but seems like it should be a decent choice for drinking when illness is going around the family.

1 pound of fresh cranberries
1.5 cups raw honey
1.5 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
two-thirds a cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
2-3 cinnamon sticks

In a large pot combine the cranberries with 2 quarts of water and bring to a boil until the berries pop. Strain off the berries, reserving the liquid. (I saved the cooked berries and later used them in a granola recipe!) Add in the cinnamon sticks and another 2-3 cups of pure water and bring to a boil for 10 minutes. In the meantime you can juice your orange and lemon with a citrus juicer. After the 10 minute boil, remove from heat and add the honey, orange, and lemon juice and stir well. You can take the cinnamon sticks out or leave them in, as you like. Very nice for drinking warm or cold. We found it very soothing. It makes about a gallon of nice cider that you would certainly enjoy whether sick or healthy. :)

Our Big Holiday Sale Starts Now!

2011-11-22T15:19:00.003-05:00

Want to get the best deals that will be available from now til Christmas? This is it! 20% off store-wide starts today and goes til Monday. Stock up on all of your favorites now by clicking on through this link to have your discount automatically applied.

Please note: Due to very low profit margins on the almonds, walnuts, cashews, and vanilla, this discount does not apply to those. If you need to order any of those items in addition to your sale items, just leave me a message and I will help you get it worked out.

Carrot Cake Waffles

2011-11-20T07:27:00.000-05:00

I saw this interesting recipe posted by Crystal over at Money Saving Mom, and since I just happened to have some cooked carrots left over from dinner, I decided to try it for breakfast the next day, with some healthy tweaks, of course. These were really good, so I'm excited to share this with you:

2.5 cups whole wheat flour

3 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

half teaspoon sea salt

4 teaspoons ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

(Or if you are in a pinch like I was, use 5 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice instead of the ginger and cinnamon)

4 eggs

1 cup pureed cooked carrots

1.5 cups milk, nut milk, or milk alternative (I used fresh cashew milk)

1 cup coconut sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

6 tablespoons of melted butter (or you could use olive or coconut oil)

I used my ninja food processor to puree the carrots along with the nut milk and eggs, then mixed everything else together and cooked in our waffle maker. These smell and taste great! You don't notice the carrots at all. We used pure maple syrup on them. Perfect!

Vegetarian Alternative to Ground Meat!

2011-11-19T13:31:00.004-05:00

So today I have made a pretty cool discovery that will be great for vegetarians or anyone who is just looking for a plant-based and raw alternative to meat every once in awhile. Before today I have only used it as "meat" in a raw chili recipe, but today when my boys were wishing for meat with their pasta, I decided to experiment.

I got the main idea for this concept from Ani Phyo, one of my most favorite raw food recipe people, and tweaked it for my own needs. Here's the recipe:

1 cup raw walnuts--run through your food processor until they are in small little bits, like chopped up cooked ground meat would be

then add in

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon Bragg's liquid aminos

2 teaspoons of ground coriander

half a teaspoon of sea salt

Mix it all up and voila! you've got a nice meat substitute! We just added it to the pasta and it definitely did the trick of giving the visual, textural, and flavor of ground meat. Mixing this stuff up takes just a minute (less than cooking meat!) and is certainly less expensive than meat. If you wanted this to taste more like taco flavored, you could add cumin and chili powder. If you wanted it less salty, leave out the Bragg's.

You could use this in salads, chili, casseroles, etc. I hope that you will tell me how it has worked for you!

Walnuts are tremendously healthy for you, especially when raw. (so I would suggest adding this to your cooked and heated foods right before eating, and not heating it, though of course you could) Even if you aren't vegetarian, this is a great way to occasionally add in a powerful nutrient into your diet. Right now we have raw walnuts for sale, so this is a perfect time to stock up.

Leftover Soup

2011-10-20T21:30:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow I am making leftover soup! I thought I would tell you a little about how it goes.

Leftover soup is delicious, easy, and thrify.

The base for the soup ingredients is....leftovers! After meals when you have a little bit of rice or veggies or broth or meat that nobody wants to eat, stick in the freezer til soup day. Eventually you'll need a crock pot meal, and you should have a nice variety of items to go into your soup.

Start with some liquid. Whether you have homemade broth, or an organic broth like Imagine brand (please none with MSG), or a creamy soup base (I often get Imagine brand organic soups marked down at Kroger), any of it plus some water will work. Pour it into your crock pot.

Now is the time to empty all of your little containers and ziploc baggies of leftover bits and pieces. Put it all in the crock pot.

Then add in any fresher leftovers that you have in the fridge as well.

Then if you aren't happy with the amount of stuff in there, chop up some onion, carrots, celery, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, etc. Toss in some frozen veggies if you like. I now like using my Thrive freeze-dried veggies--I have a really nice variety, so it makes my soups so much more flavorful and colorful than I used to have when I didn't have so many different veggies on hand all the time!

You can add cooked or uncooked brown rice, wild rice, or barley. If you want to add pasta it does best to go in toward the end of cook time since it gets pretty mooshy after being in the crock pot all day.

Once you've added all the food bits that you want, add more water or broth if you feel that it's needed. Then add seasonings like parsley, a bay leaf, marjoram, sea salt, pepper, or any other herbs or seasonings that you think will add to the taste.

Cook it on low in your crock pot. Come home to a beautiful dinner!

It's never the same soup twice, but it's really good regardless. As long as you get the liquid-to-food ratio right, you can't really go wrong.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Balls, take 2

2011-10-18T21:08:00.002-04:00

Those of you that have taken my class have my original peanut butter ball recipe that I grew up with when my healthy-eatin' grandmother would make them. I found a new recipe recently that I adapted and enjoy. Here's the original source, with several variations there that you might enjoy. Personally, my family and I didn't really like the almond butter versions, but your taste buds may vary!

1 cup healthy peanut butter (I like the crunchy kind and it works fine, but creamy would work too)

half a cup + 2 T raw honey (you could use agave if you don't have any honey available)

1 teaspoon vanilla

half cup + 2 T coconut flour

6 T ground flax seed (I use my coffee grinder for this purpose)

half teaspoon sea salt

optional: half cup chocolate chips or raisins

Mix it all up thoroughly and then form into balls and store in the fridge in a covered container. Once again, I use my pampered chef scoop to make this easy and mess-free!

My kids and husband scarf these up! Not low in calories, though, so go easy if you're needing to watch the waistline.

Delicious Raw Scones

2011-10-18T20:58:00.002-04:00

I've had this recipe for awhile, though I'm not sure where the original inspiration came from. This is easy to make and is such a yummy healthy treat to have on hand for a quick grab on the way out the door, for a light snack, etc.

2 cups grated carrots
2 cups grated apples
2 cups chopped walnuts
2 cups raisins
1 cup cranberries
1 cup ground flaxseed (I use a coffee grinder to grind these up quickly)
4 tablespoons agave or honey
quarter-cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil

Generally I measure the carrots, apples, and walnuts dry, going a little above the 2 cup amount. I throw all of these ingredients into my food processor, pour it out into a bowl and hand mix if it isn't evenly mixed already. Then I use my pampered chef scoop to make nice even mounds of the dough onto my teflex sheet on a dehydrator tray. Since nothing gets bigger in the dehydrator, you can put them really close together. This recipe fills one tray plus usually makes about a dozen more scones on another tray.

Dehydrate at 105-115 degrees for 15-20 hours, then turn them over (remove the teflex sheet) and do another 3 hours to get the bottoms finished. Store in a covered container in the fridge.

Cheesy Kale Chips

2011-10-15T13:10:00.003-04:00

I have pulled myself away from devouring the latest batch of these delicious yummies in order to share the recipe with you. You will need a dehydrator that you can adjust the temperature on. I use and recommend the Excalibur dehydrator. (link to the left side of the blog for you to check it out)

First you need one of those big bags of washed, cut kale (or you could use collards) from the produce department. They are probably about 2 gallons in size.

At home you need to mix up the following ingredients in your food processor, blender, or whatever similar equipment you've got:

2/3 (two thirds) cup raw cashews

4 tablespoons lemon juice

6 tablespoons water

half a cup extra virgin olive oil

1.5 teaspoon sea salt

half cup nutritional yeast (this is what gives it the cheesy flavor and is a good source of vitamin B12)

about a half cup finely minced onion (I used Thrive freeze dried onion and added a little extra water to the mixture)

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon cumin

2 cloves minced garlic

half a teaspoon black pepper

Mix all of that up until it's mixed well. It'll be a little chunky because of the onion and cashews.

I used two very large bowls to put the kale in. If you take the time to rip the kale leaves away from their big stems, it will make for more convenient eatin' later on. (Those stems are very tough and not nice to eat. You can leave them on and just rip them away later as you're snacking, but once you see how fast you want to stick these in your mouth, you'll wish you could do so without the unpleasant surprise of those tough stems!)

I split the kale in two bowls just because the mixing goes a little easier. Pour half of the cashew and liquid mix onto each bowl of kale and just mix it up with a big spoon or spatula. You want to get all the pieces coated as much as you can.

Next you need your Excalibur dehydrator and the teflex sheets* that go with it. For this size batch I usually fill 3 trays with the now-coated kale leaves. Just gently plop them on the teflex and try to spread them out to be fairly even and not too lumped up on each other. When you put the trays back into the dehydrator you'll need to use every-other rung in order to have space for the height of the kale.

Put the door back onto your dehydrator and turn it up to 115 degrees and let it do it's thing for at least 12 hours or until not damp at all. It's a weird smell to wake up to, but very convenient to do overnight, since you can just let the dehydrator go til lunch time when you want some of these for a snack.

Warning: Turn off the dehydrator before you remove the door to check on the kale. The blower will blow the delicate, dehydrated leaves right out if you aren't careful. :) (ask me how I know)

Store these in an air-tight container. If they lose some of their crisp-ness, just throw 'em back in the dehydrator for a little while and that'll take care of that.

The large bag of kale costs less than $3 at my Kroger, and the ingredients for the sauce are quite economical. Such an easy way to enjoy your greens, and an easy way to sell them to your kids!

*If you don't have the teflex sheets, you could use parchment paper if you needed to. I've done it in a pinch and it worked fine, though not as convenient.

**I adapted this recipe from one I think I got from Green Smoothie Girl. I have tried some other kale chip recipes, but this one is the best tasting and most successful one I have tried.

Let me know how it goes for you.

Go Make This...STAT!

2011-10-15T11:40:00.003-04:00

I just made this awesome healthy caramel dip to go with the Macintosh apples my in-laws brought back from NY state. SO GOOD! Plus, enjoy the video interview from two years ago....especially my rambunctious boys in the background. True to life, folks!

Raw Nut Sale is Live!

2011-10-14T23:50:00.004-04:00

Once again we are able to offer fresh, raw almonds, cashews, and walnuts to you in bulk. This is our third year doing this, and each year I have been very pleased with the quality of the nuts, and our customers have been, too.

Cashews and walnuts are available in 5 pound increments. Almonds are available in 10 pound increments. Shipping is only $6.95 regardless of how much you order, as long as you live in the USA.

Right now we are accepting orders, and I expect to be placing a large bulk order by the end of October. If we get enough orders before that, I'll order sooner. Basically, I need to order these nuts in large quantities and then break down the orders for each of you, so we wait til we get many-hundred pounds worth of orders placed before getting the ball rolling. I'll do my best to make it speedy for you. :)

If you have any questions, let me know.

The Wonders of Coconut Sugar

2011-10-06T15:02:00.006-04:00

To say I am excited about coconut sugar would be an understatement. This wonderful product has allowed me to be able to "healthify" SO many more recipes without sacrificing a bit of taste or convenience. I am in Love!

Coconut sugar isn't actually a sugar at all. It comes from the sap contained in coconut flour buds. The sap is cooked, the liquid evaporates off, and the crystals are ground up into sugar. (actually, you can get coconut sugar in various forms, but the crystallized kind is what I am used to using) It is sometimes also called Coconut Palm Sugar and a few other names.

Basically, coconut sugar is a form of coconut and is considered a whole food. It has a low glycemic index of 35, so it's a great thing for anyone trying to lose weight and for diabetics. It is very high in minerals and macronutrients that our bodies need, too!

It's super easy to use: You use it in place of white or brown sugar in any recipe, at the same amount of other sugars that were called for, and you don't have to change the baking temp. either. IT DOESN'T GET ANY EASIER THAN THIS, PEOPLE! :)

I buy my coconut sugar from amazon. If you use the Subscribe & Save option you get an additional 15% off the regular price PLUS free shipping! Yes, you have to get six bags of it at once, but they will keep in your pantry so you will just be glad to be stocked up! :)

As you will see, coconut sugar is not cheap like white sugar. For me, when I compare homemade goodies to store-bought ones, even with the coconut sugar going into the homemade ones, it's still cheaper than a package of cookies from the store shelf. When I consider that I'm getting extra nutrients, I'm eating something that isn't going to lower my immune system and help me get sick (and then I'll have to buy stuff to take to combat the sickness), PLUS it isn't contributing to extra weight that I'll regret, it is worth it to me. Your feelings on this may vary. :)

This is the link to what I have been using:

**I'm noticing that right now Amazon seems to be out of stock on this, so the Subscribe & Save isn't a current option. I'd recommend waiting a few days and checking back so you can get this at a better price. Or, of course, you could hunt down some other coconut sugar on their site. They have several brands to choose from. When I have ordered, this has been the best price I could find. If you find a better price, let me know!

You can read more in-depth information about coconut sugar here.

The Philippine Food and Nutrition Research Institute released the following information about their analysis of nutritive values found in coconut sugar:

Macro-nutrients (mg / l – ppm, dry)	Coconut Sugar	Brown Sugar	Refined White Sugar
Nitrogen (N)	2020	100	0
Phosphorus (P)	790	30	0.7
Potassium (K)	10,300	650	25
Calcium (Ca)	60	240	60
Magnesium (Mg)	290	70	10
Sodium (Na)	450	20	10
Chlorine (Cl)	4700	180	100
Sulfur (S)	260	130	20
Boron (B)	6	0	0
Zinc (Zn)	21	2	1.2
Manganese (Mn)	1	2	0
Iron (Fe)	22	0.6	0.6
Copper (Cu)	2	12.6	1.2
Source: COMPARISON OF THE ELEMENTAL CONTENT OF 3 SOURCES OF EDIBLE SUGAR - Analyzed by PCA-TAL, Sept. 11, 2000. (MI Secretaria et al, 2003) in parts per million (ppm or mg/li)

Health Attributes of Coconut Sugar Nutrients
Macro-nutrients	Health benefits provided by these nutrients
Nitrogen (N)	help treat cardiovascular diseases
Phosphorus (P)	important for bone growth, kidney functions and cell growth
Potassium (K)	reduces hypertension, helps regulate blood sugar, helps control cholesterol levels and weight
Calcium (Ca)	vital for strong bone and teeth, and for muscle growth
Magnesium (Mg)	essential for metabolism, nerves and stimulates the brain (memory)
Sodium (Na)	plays a key role in the functioning of nerves and muscles
Chlorine (Cl)	corrects the pressure of body fluids and balance the nervous system
Sulfur (S)	important for healthy hair, skin and nails, also helps maintain oxygen balance for proper brain function.
Boron (B)	essential for healthy bone and joint function, enhances body's ability to absorb calcium and magnesium
Zinc (Zn)	called the "nutrient of intelligence" is necessary for mental development
Manganese (Mn)	has antioxidant, free-radical-fighting properties, is important for proper food digestion and for normal bone structure
Iron (Fe)	vital for the quality of blood, mental development and the immune system
Copper (Cu)	helps to release energy, helps in melanin production in the skin, helps in the production of red blood cells and aid in the absorption and transport of iron
Source: www.nutritiondata.com

Deal of the Week: SuperDad vitamins!

2011-10-06T11:49:00.000-04:00

Deal of the Week: SuperDad vitamins: Always popular, the SuperDad vitamins are on sale for you! The big, economical 240 tablet bottle is normally $48, but this week you can get it for just $39. It appears that our supplier is no longer offering this size, so once we sell out of our current stock of this size, that's probably all we'll be able to get. Of course, we'll still have SuperDad vitamins in the other size bottles, so don't panic!

Sale ends Oct. 12 or when I run out of stock, whichever comes first. :)

Interested in weight loss support? We had a bit of discussion about this on the facebook group awhile ago. While I don't have a complete plan right this minute, I do want to hear from those of you that feel you would benefit from some sort of community to encourage you in this area. Simply reply to this newsletter and tell me a little about where you're at on this and what kind of thing you think would be helpful to you.

Ingredients to Avoid in skin care, body care, and cosmetics

2011-10-05T23:05:00.006-04:00

This helpful list was compiled by our friends at Good For You Girls. We are exposed to hundreds of chemicals in our daily beauty routine. By knowing what's in the products we use, we can be empowered to make educated decisions. We want to look beautiful and feel beautiful without needlessly exposing ourselves to harmful ingredients.

Ingredients to Avoid:

Acrylamides - Thickeners used for a variety of cosmetic purposes. In personal care products, they act as stabilizers to add richness and body. However the material may be a possible human carcinogen because of its potentially harmful impurities. It is already a restricted substance in European cosmetics.
Alcohol denat (denatured alcohol) - A petrochemical byproduct. Usually contains benzyl alcohol, making it undrinkable. Can cause systemic eczematous, contact dermatitis and chemical sensitivities. Used in all commercial perfumes, used as solvent.
Aluminum ingredients - Skin irritants, linked to Alzheimer's and lung disease.
Benzyl alcohol - Harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Severe irritant for eyes, skin and respiratory system. Petrochemical.
Bismuth Oxychloride - Bismuth is put in cosmetics because it gives a sheen to the face, is soft to the touch, and is extremely inexpensive. A byproduct of lead and copper refining, bismuth oxychloride is a heavy metal. Heavy metals have been linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease.
BHA and BHT - Encourages the breakdown of vitamin D, can cause lipid and cholesterol levels to increase. Linked to cancer and endocrine disruption.
Diethanolamine - DEA is used as a skin softener and humectant in personal care products. It can be carcinogenic when combined with other ingredients. It's a skin irritant. It's close and dangerous cousins are TEA, and MEA.
Ethoxylates - Chemical compounds made as reaction products involving ethylene oxide. Ethoxylated materials include ingredients such as Laureth, Myreth, Ceteth, Ceteareth, Glycereth, etc. Trace contaminants in some ethoxylates have been implicated as potent carcinogens.
Formaldehyde - A preservative which includes Imidazolidinyl Urea, Diazolidinyl Urea, DMDM Hydantoin and Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate. A known irritant and potential carcinogen. It is often hidden in other ingredients, banned in Sweden and Japan mainly because of its inability to inhibit the growth of acid producing bacteria and it's implication in cancer.
Fragrance - Highly allergenic. Companies do not have to list the chemicals used in fragrances. They contain large quantities of toxins and chemicals not disclosed. Fragrance-free means that fragrance chemicals have been added to the product to mask the natural aromas of the ingredients.
Glycol - Often used as solvents for preservatives and other materials. Glycols are potentially irritating and harmful to the skin. Examples are: Propylene, Butylene, Pentylene, Hexylene, and Caprylyl Glycol.
MMP (Matrix Metalloproteinase) - An enzyme that breaks down collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid. They are involved in wound healing, but also cause premature aging of the skin and tumor cell metastasis.
Methylisothiazolinone - An antimicrobial agent found in some shampoos and hand creams and widely used in industrial settings. It inhibits the development of particular neuron structures that are essential for transmitting signals between cells. Prolonged exposure to low levels of methylisothiazolinone (MIT) may have potentially damaging consequences to a developing nervous system.
Phthalates - Phthalates are synthetic chemical compounds mainly used as softening agents and to create fragrance. Look out for your plastics - squeeze bottles, shower curtains, soft plastics. Possible carcinogen.
Parabens - Parabens are synthetic compounds used as a preservative in most beauty products. You can find them listed as methylparabens, propylparabens, butylparabens, and ethylparabens. Parabens cause many allergic reactions and skin rashes. They have also been found in breast cancer tissue and implicated in a multitude of health problems.
PEG (Polyethylene Glycol) - A water soluble polymer used as an emulsifier and plasticizer. Impurities in these materials have been cited as potentially carcinogenic.
Petrochemicals - Derived from raw materials of petroleum or natural gas origin. These include materials such as propylene glycol, ethoxylates, acrylamides, mineral oil and polyethylene glycol (PEG).
Petrolatum - A derivative also known as petroleum jelly. Petrolatum is very occlusive and can clog pores. Additionally, it provides no nutritive value to the skin and contains no essential fatty acids. Petroleum by-products can pass through the brain barrier and cause ADD/dyslexia symptoms. Acne producing, may be carcinogenic, causes dry skin, respiratory toxins, and may cause dizziness.
Phenoxyethanol - A synthetic ether alcohol preservative. Synthetic preservatives are considered by leading dermatological associations to be the number one cause of contact dermatitis.
Silicone - A synthetic additive used to provide emolliency. Some forms of silicone such as Cyclomethicone, Dimethicone and Cyclopentasiloxane, Methicone, and Phenyl Trimethicone can be harmful or irritating to the skin.
Sodium Laurel/Laureth Sulfate - Is used in many soaps, cleansers, and shampoos to enhance the foaming action of a product. It is a common skin irritant and is rapidly absorbed into the heart, liver, brain, and eyes, which can cause long term effects. It has been linked to cataracts in adults and inhibiting proper development of children's eyes.
Synthetic Dyes - Synthetic colors are byproducts of the petroleum industry. The molecular structure of these products are so small that they can pass through the brain barrier. This can manifest itself as turning numbers backwards when writing or reading, peeling skin, acne, or ADD symptoms. Many people have allergies to artificial colorings, especially red 40.
Talc - Talc has asbestos in it. Asbestos is another dangerous carcinogen. Do not use on babies, linked to ovarian cancer, possible respiratory toxin.
TEA (Triethanolamine) - Contains ammonium salts. It is an eye irritant, and sensitizer and is mildly toxic.

Introducing Good For You Girls

2011-10-05T22:06:00.010-04:00

Good For You Girls is the leader in all-natural and organic skin care specifically formulated for the special needs of young skin. Common skin care products are made with risky parabens, harmful petroleum ingredients, potential carcinogens, and more. These chemicals are not safe or healthy for anyone, let alone girls who are going through delicate hormonal changes.

My teenager daughter and I tested these products for 6 months before deciding to bring them to our customers. We have been pleased with the performance, scent, texture, and everything! What I've found is that they work great even for my skin--and I'm 40! So for all the moms looking for affordable, natural skincare products, you'll want to check this out!

Psst.....boys can use these products too! Just pull the labels off. ;)

NO Parabens
NO Sulfates
NO Phthalates
NO Propylene glycol
NO Mineral Oils
NO Silicone
NO Synthetic Fragrance
NO Dyes

Gluten-free and vegan!

I love this starter skin care kit! Perfect for Christmas gifts for all the teen and tween girls on your shopping list. Don't you agree?

Our supplier had a mix-up during their production process for the Blemish Wash and Deodorant that resulted in them getting the wrong bottles, which caused their labels to not affix nicely to the bottles. The end result is that although the product inside the package is top-notch, the container isn't as attractive as it normally would be. This problem turns into a WIN for you, because we are able to offer you the products at a deeper discount than would be normally possible. Once our initial stock is depleted, I don't know if we can get more of the cosmetically-imperfect product or not, so if you want to take advantage of this bargain, now is the time! :) Clickety-click on the product photos to read all about 'em and take advantage of the sale price!

Some of the Good-for-your-skin ingredients used in these products:

* Organic Arnica Extract - Anti-inflammatory properties. Improves skin circulation and stimulate healing.

* Organic Lavender Extract - Natural antibacterial. Tones and revitalizes skin as well as provides a soothing, calming aromatherapy effect.

* Organic Chamomile Extract - Anti-inflammatory properties and very calming to the skin.

* Organic Calendula Extract - Antimicrobial skin healing properties; it is also helps retain skins natural moisture.

* White/Green Tea Extracts - Beautiful antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties. Reduces free radical damage, and healing to the skin.

* Black Tea - Astringent and toning properties.

* Comfrey Extract (Allantoin) - Repairs skin tissue and promotes new cell growth.

* Vitamin E (Tocopherol Acetate) - Important antioxidant in the deactivation of free radicals and in maintenance of the body’s cell membranes. Improves skin softness and smoothness.

* Organic Olive Oil - An antioxidant, moisturizer and skin smoother. Rich in vitamins and minerals.

* Organic Avocado Oil - Nourishes with Vitamins A & E; also has antioxidant properties. Beautiful for sensitive skin.

* Organic Jojoba Oil - Helps provide a protective barrier on skin to maintain moisture and keep out environmental toxins.

* Organic Sunflower Seed Oil - High in essential fatty acids that nourish the skin and help break up excess sebum that can clog pores.

* Glycerin - Plant derived skin-softener and humectant.

* Witch Hazel - A natural astringent, chosen for its antibacterial properties. It is cooling and soothing to the skin.

* Organic Aloe Vera Gel - Anti-inflammatory properties, it’s cooling to the skin, and stimulates repair to damaged skin.

* Spirae Ulmaria Extract (Meadowsweet) - Targets clogged pores, anti bacterial and reduces sebum.

* Canadian Willow Extract - Natural salicylic acid helps to exfoliate and slough away dead skin cells. Anti-inflammatory, and promotes new cell growth.

* Papaya Extract - The enzyme papain, for its exfoliating properties, ability to remove dead skin cells. Antibacterial without irritation.

* Pineapple Extract - Anti-inflammatory properties, helps repair skin.

* Pumpkin Seed Extract – Helps repair the skin, and promote new cell growth.

* Organic Rose Hip Oil – High in Linoleic and Linolenic essential fatty acids which are beneficial for the treatment of damaged and distressed skin.

* Organic Borage Oil – Excellent for dry skin, acne, and dermatitis.

* 100% Natural Aromatics - A combination of natural essential oils and aromatics. No synthetic fragrance

How to Make Smoothies

2011-10-04T21:40:00.004-04:00

Most mornings I make smoothies. It's SO delicious, and a great way to get some fresh produce into your body and those of your husband and kids! Here's our basic recipe:

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 cup frozen strawberries

half cup plain organic yogurt (you can make it in your crock pot!)

several handfuls of organic spinach or mixed salad greens

3 bananas

Enough water, juice, or healthy lemonade to make it all go 'round nicely.

You can do this in a food processor, blender, vita mix, or right now I have a Ninja that I use. Whiz it all up and serve with a straw.

Obviously you can swap out the types and amounts of any of these things, so try it with what you have on hand. Organic berries are best, but if you feel you can't afford them, just start with regular. A big hit with the whole family! (and you can freeze it in popsicle molds if you have leftovers!)

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

2011-10-01T20:41:00.004-04:00

I made this delicious soup tonite and served it in homemade bread bowls. Oh so very yummy! I found this recipe thanks to Pinterest and adapted it to meet my healthfulness guidelines and what I had on hand. Also, you will notice that I used some freeze-fried foods in this recipe. I was recently introduced to Thrive Foods from a company called Shelf Reliance, and I was so impressed that not only have I started using their products in my own everyday cooking, plus building up some emergency food storage, I've also decided to start offering their products for sale. More about that at a future date, but that's the short version, and you are welcome to check out what Thrive has to offer here.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

quarter cup butter

half cup chopped onion (or half cup Thrive FD onion plus half cup water, rehydrated for about ten minutes)

1 clove garlic

quarter cup whole wheat flour

1 cup half-and-half

1 cup milk

2 cups organic chicken broth (or veggie broth)

half pound fresh, frozen, or freeze-dried broccoli (if freeze dried, reconstitute with water first)

1 cup shredded, chopped carrot or 1 cup Thrive freeze dried carrot plus 1 cup water, reconstituted.

8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese

4 ounces colby jack cheese

sea salt and pepper to taste

If using freeze-dried foods, set them up to reconstitute first, then gather your other ingredients.

Saute the onion and garlic in the butter over medium heat. Then add the flour, stirring constantly. Then add half-and-half, milk, and broth. Heat at medium high, stirring frequently, until almost boiling.

Reduce heat to simmer. Add broccoli and carrots. Simmer for 20 minutes. Stir every now and then.

Add salt, pepper, and cheese. (you could use more or less, or even leave it out, as you like) Let simmer for another 10 minutes before serving. Oh-so-very yummy!

Homemade Bread Bowls

2011-10-01T20:10:00.004-04:00

Bread bowls always seemed so very comforting to me, and although I had heard about people making them from scratch, I hadn't gotten around to it. I think I thought it was going to be kinda complicated. Well HELLO it was easy! Now I won't hesitate to make bread bowls to spruce up any soup or chili night around here. What a revelation!

I used my usual Honey Whole Wheat recipe, except cut it in half. As it turned out, this made 8 generous bread bowls plus a loaf of bread, so probably a lot of families would want an even smaller amount of dough to work with. To break it down for you, here's my recipe, but only half of what I made. You can probably get 4-6 bread bowls out of it:

1.5 cups warm water or milk

1.5 tablespoon yeast

.75 tablespoon lecithin (just eyeball it)

a little more than a quarter tablespoon sea salt (I'm sure there is some perfect measurement in teaspoons, but I don't know it off the top of my head, so do your best and know that the bread will be fine without you knowing a specific amount)

3 tablespoons sliced butter

quarter cup honey

And however much freshly ground whole wheat flour it takes to get the right consistency. (read my original bread post for more information on that.) Let your mixer do it's job and knead that dough for ten minutes.

In the meantime, let's get the bowls ready! I sprayed two cookie sheets, and then got out all of my glass custard cups, turned them upside down on the cookie sheets, and sprayed them generously. The glass bowls are going to be the mold for your bread to bake around.

Once your dough is done kneading, grab a fistful of dough (maybe a little smaller than a tennis ball size?) and roll or pat it out into a round, maybe ending up 5-6 inches or so. This part is going to vary depending on the side of the bowls you are using for your mold. The ones I had are probably a little more than a one cup capacity.

Once you get your dough flattened down a bit (but still a little thick--maybe a half inch or so), just lay the dough on the overturned bowl, and kind of pat it around the bowl and if you need to, stretch the dough a bit to make it fit all the way to the cookie sheet.

Repeat til all your dough is gone. If you end up with more dough than bowls, you can always just roll the dough into balls and make some dinner rolls as well!

Cover with a light towel and let rise for a half hour. (In the meantime, start making your soup. Recipe coming up in the next post!)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees so that it will be all warmed up and ready to go when your bread bowls are done rising. Pop your cookie sheets full of bready goodness into the oven and bake for 15-17 minutes. Then once you take the cookie sheet out of the oven, you need to flip each bread bowl, remove the glass custard cup from the bowl of the bread, and then put the cookie sheet back in the oven and bake for another 5-10 minutes.

The technique that worked for me was to use a wide spatula for flipping the bread bowls, and my hand was protected from the heat of the bread by a clean, dry cloth. I used a table knife to get a little edge of the glass bowl separated a bit from the bread, then grabbed the glass bowl and pulled it out of the bread. Very easy.

After you let the insides of your bread bowl bake, this is what you should have:

Place your bread bowls inside regular bowls, and then fill 'em up with your soup, stew, or chili. Warm, delicious, and filling! Oh...and did I mention *healthy*? There's no apology in the healthfulness of this meal, guaranteed!

Healthy Hot Cocoa

2011-10-01T11:43:00.002-04:00

It was a chilly day at my son's football game this morning, so when we got home my boys were clamoring for some homemade hot cocoa. My happy discovery of coconut sugar has made so many of my regular, non-healthy favorites possible to make in a healthy way, and BOY AM I HAPPY ABOUT THAT! :)

So today, I bring you the Healthy Hot Chocolate recipe:

3 cups milk (you can use rice, almond, coconut, or regular milk as you wish)

half a cup water

Heat the liquids either on the stove top, stirring often to avoid the milk scorching on the bottom of the pan. Or if you are not opposed to using a microwave, just microwave the liquids for three minutes or so and avoid the scorching issue altogether.

Add to the warm liquid:

3 tablespoons cocoa, cacao, or carob powder

a dash of sea salt

two-thirds cup of coconut sugar

Whisk it up and enjoy!

I'm back to avoiding sugar, so I am glad I can make this in time for cold weather! :)

German Pancakes

2011-09-21T09:26:00.003-04:00

I tweaked a recipe to try out this morning, and my boys are still raving about it. One son says that when he opens his own restaurant someday he will offer this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, because people will love it so much. :)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Melt half a stick of butter. Pour into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

Combine:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup milk or milk alternative (rice milk, almond milk, etc.)

6 eggs

half teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pour combined ingredients into the pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. Easy!

**You can add fruit to the batter to make this even yummier! I made it with pears this morning. (took about 10 extra minutes to bake) Certainly you could use apples, peaches, raisins, cranberries, etc.

I now make a simple fruit topping for many of our bready breakfast foods. Basically you just need 1-2 cups of fresh or frozen (but thawed) berries, plus a couple tablespoons of coconut sugar. Whiz it up in your food processor or blender. Voila! So easy, and so delicious!

Apple Crisp the Healthy Way!

2011-09-20T20:58:00.003-04:00

We have several apple trees in our back yard, so we need plenty of ideas for using them up. Tonite I made a quick, easy, and healthy version that I wanted to share with you.

One of the things that has held me back from making apple crisp is facing the chore of peeling and coring a dozen apples. It is not often that I have time for that! Last time I made apple crisp I decided to try out *not* doing the peeling. Know what? It turned out just fine! So hooray for a short cut. We can all use some time-saving tricks up our sleeves, can't we? The only disclaimer I would add is that I am doing this with home-grown apples that have not been sprayed with any pesticides. You may not want to do this with conventionally-grown apples.

Get a 9x13 pan and spray it with the non-stick stuff of your choice.

Quarter and core a bunch of washed apples. Just chop them up roughly in your food processor and toss them into the pan until your pan is full.

Combine:

1 cup coconut sugar

1 tablespoon whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon (or more) cinnamon

Sprinkle that combination all over your apples, then pour a half cup of water all over the top.

Next, combine:

1 cup oats

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup coconut sugar

quarter teaspoon baking powder

quarter teaspoon baking soda

Sprinkle that combination all over your apples.

Then pour a half cup of melted butter all over the top of that.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes.

Yummy, whole-food goodness, and not much different from the sugared-up version people are used to! I have one in the oven right now.....

Healthified Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-09-11T20:07:00.002-04:00

Just made these and they are so soft and perfectly delicious for a fall day! Yes, it's true, the chocolate chips are the kid-friendly part (ok, everybody-friendly!), but you could substitute dried cranberries, nuts, or raisins for the chocolate if you like.

Super Soft Healthified Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups whole wheat flour
1.5 teaspoons non-aluminum baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
half teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
half teaspoon ginger
quarter-teaspoon nutmeg
quarter-teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1 cup coconut sugar (NOT a refined sugar at all. It's really dried coconut sap and it is great!)
half cup olive or coconut oil
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips, raisins, dried or fresh cranberries, or nuts

Combine all and drop by tablespoons on a baking sheet (non-stick it first) at 325 degrees for 15 minutes, cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Soft and wonderful!

Anniversary Time!

2011-08-04T11:25:00.003-04:00

Yesterday my husband Dave and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary! It's funny how that sounds like a long time, feels both like forever and not very long at all, and we don't feel quite as grown-up as it seems like we "should" for being an old married couple. :)

For this week's special deal I decided to go a little crazy and invite you to celebrate along with us: 20% off everything in the store! Just click through here to have your discount automatically calculated.

We thank you for your interest and support of our family business. Creating Supermom's Health and Wellness has been one of our favorite adventures and we appreciate all of you so much!

Deal of the Week: Miracle Salve

2011-07-28T08:19:00.002-04:00

After using Miracle Salve on my family for almost a year now, I am confident that it will be a blessing to yours!

This is a wonderful product for minor scrapes, burns, cuts, stings, bites, sores, rashes, eczema, dry skin, and more. At our house it is the go-to remedy for every skin-related issue that arises. I appreciate it that this one product can do so much, instead of needing to purchase many different items for specific ailments. My children appreciate that it does not have a strong scent like some herbal skin salves do. :)

The coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil are moisturizing, and soothe and heal rashes and scrapes. Coconut oil is especially helpful for eczema and other skin rashes caused by yeast overgrowth. Olive oil is a wonderful moisturizer because it manages to allow your skin to still do all of it's normal things (sweat, shed dead skin cells, release sebum) even though it is moisturizing as well. The antioxidant properties of olive oil make it additionally beneficial to your body as well.

The beeswax gives the salve a good consistency even in the hot summer months, and it provides a protective barrier as your skin heals.

Plantain is a wonderful herb that is effective for all types of stings and bites from insects.

Comfrey is especially suited to healing cuts and scrapes. It is also an astringent that soothes and helps calm inflammation and bruising.

Propolis is another excellent ingredient that helps with abrasions, gum infections, eczema, acne, skin cancers, bruises, and burns.

Lavender essential oil is emotionally calming, plus hastens the healing of burns and minor cuts.

Rosemary essential oil has strong anti-inflammatory properties and is soothing to sore muscles.

Although this wonderful salve can do so many things, it manages to last a really long time. The two-ounce size is great for keeping in the diaper bag, back pack, or purse, for all of those small injuries that happen away from home. The 4 ounce size is perfect for everyday use at home.

Normally the 2 ounce size is $15 and the 4 ounce size is $25, but this week you can get them for just $11.80 and $19.69! Sale price through next Wednesday, August 3.

Deal of the Week: Everything's on Sale!

2011-07-21T13:44:00.001-04:00

This week's deal is simple: Take 15% off of your entire order. Just clickety-click here for the discount to be taken automatically. Enjoy!

Deals of the Week July 14-20, 2011

2011-07-14T09:29:00.003-04:00

Two timely products on special this week!

Did you know that you can actually help your kids (or yourself!) prevent head lice? My Supermom's No-Lice Hair and Body Spray has a pleasant peppermint scent, but is made from a combination of herbs that lice and other pests hate! Perfect for spritzing on hair before your child goes out to school, camp, sports activities, and church. Normally $19.95, on sale this week for just $10.95! Now is the time to make sure you are stocked up before the new school year. This product keeps for a long, long time when stored in the refrigerator.

So many parents asked me for a natural, non-toxic way to keep mosquitoes and other pests away. Now we have it!

This all-natural product will keep those pesky insects away from you and your family, without harmful chemicals.

Bug Stuff is a solid bar that's convenient to rub on your skin. No sprays or messy liquids! It comes in a tube with a cap, sort of like a deodorant container. So it's easy to carry in your purse, car, diaper bag, or back pack. At a nice sale price this week.

Deal of the Week: Vitamin D3

2011-07-07T11:00:00.002-04:00

I am seeing it more and more: news reports letting us know that vitamin D3 is an incredibly valuable and important vitamin for fighting disease and keeping our immune systems strong. Well, this week you can stock up on this normally very affordable supplement at an even lower price! The small gel caps are easy even for children to take. Mine eat these like tiny jelly beans. :)

In addition, I had some people tell me they were on vacation and didn't have time to take advantage of the SuperDad vitamin deal from last week. So, I am going to let that deal stay active for this week as well. A great opportunity since you save $12 on each bottle right now!

Now view this site on your phone!

2011-07-02T11:09:00.000-04:00

Good news--you can now see a convenient mobile version of this blog on your smart phone. Great for when you are at the store and need to check out the latest recipe ingredients!

Raw Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2011-07-01T22:48:00.002-04:00

I've been doing some raw food making tonite to get a jump on things. I whipped up this batch of Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and thought I would share the recipe with you since it doesn't take any complicated equipment or ingredients. Enjoy!

1 cup pitted dates, soak in some pure water for about an hour+ before you want to make this. Drain off but save the water before making the cookie dough.
2 cups quick oats
2 teaspoons cinnamon
about a cup of raisins, dried cranberries, other dried fruit, or if you're really going crazy, chocolate chips, carob chips, or cacao nibs

If you have a strong and mighty food processor, you might be able to get away with throwing all of the ingredients together and just whizzing it all up. If you have a finicky food processor, then try something like this:

Put drained dates into your food processor and chop them up as smoothly as you can realistically do with your machine. Add in the oats and cinnamon and continue to whiz it all up, adding some of the reserved water from the date soaking as needed. You want it to be wet enough to be able to smoosh the dough into cookie shapes. Not too wet to have the stuff hold together. If you have a smaller processor you may have to do this in batches.

Once you've got it all mixed, you've got options. :) You can form cookie shaped patties, little treat balls, or if you're in a hurry or looking for convenience just pour it into a 9"x9" pan and later you can cut it into whatever size cookie bars you need. These are quite tasty!

Deal of the Week: SuperDad vitamins!

2011-06-30T10:08:00.000-04:00

The SuperMom and SuperDad vitamins are hugely popular with our customers. They are full of high quality nutrients, including green superfoods like Chlorophyll, Barley Grass, Wheat Grass, Spirulina, and more.

The only difference between the SuperMom vitamins and the SuperDad vitamins is that SuperDad has NO iron in it. Perfect for those that don't need more iron in their diet or who find iron to cause constipation.

This week we are featuring the big, economical 240 tabs bottle of SuperDad tablets at a big 25% off (just $9 per month!!). If taken as directed, this is a 4 month supply. Please note that the tablets are somewhat larger than the capsules. However, you take fewer of them to meet the daily recommended dose.

Order as many as you like at this price. No limit on quantity. Sale runs through July 6, 2011.

SuperKids Deal of the Week!

2011-06-23T14:49:00.002-04:00

Pretty much everybody can use a multi-vitamin, and your kids are no exception. Sadly, most of the children's multi-vitamins available in the grocery store are full of cancerous aspartame and other artificial flavors and junk filler ingredients. That's why I'm so glad to be able to offer SuperKids, which has no fillers, is sweetened with beneficial xylitol, and includes all of the usual good vitamins and minerals PLUS green superfoods and other excellent nutrients. Happily, it tastes good too! (there are two flavors to choose from)

For really little kids you can give half a dose, and for adults who are unable to swallow pills you can double the dose, and even add it to a smoothie or applesauce if you like.

Order all you want at this great price, though when/if I run out of current stock, it may take a few extra days to ship. I'll let you know. Sale price goes through Wed., June 29, 2011.

Deal of the Week: Raw Almonds

2011-06-16T11:27:00.002-04:00

Hello from mild and balmy central Kentucky!

After a week of blistering heat last week, we are now enjoying a very enjoyable mild week of weather. So nice!

This week's deal is on Raw Almonds. I normally have these available for you October-November each year (and I plan to this year as well!), but I ended up with some extras after the last bulk buy, and don't think I'm going to be able to use all of them before it's time to buy again. So, I'm passing the opportunity on to you.

These almonds are from the most recent crop. They have been stored in the freezer, so they are very fresh and in great condition for you! While not certified organic, these almonds come from a farm that has not used any pesticides for over 15 years. Basically, you're getting organic almonds without the official name, or higher price.

I have a limited amount of almonds that I'm able to part with right now. Once those are gone, that's it until fall. So, if you're wanting to order, do it right away. You can order as little as one pound if you want to.

To learn more about these almonds, click here. Please note that some of the information is related to the bulk buy back in November and is not current. (like, we do not have a ten pound minimum right now)

To see some of my family's favorite recipes using these almonds, click here.

In other news, I would like to know what kind of products I could offer in the store that would be helpful to you. I have many ideas, but don't know what you want. Leave me a comment with your suggestions!

Awesomesauce

2011-06-14T22:12:00.004-04:00

Tonite while I was making dinner, my son Jacob came along to see what was cooking. "Is this the awesome sauce you make?!"

You betcha, Jake.

And then I knew I had to re-name this recipe, because, who wouldn't want to make awesomesauce in their own kitchen?!

Supermom's Awesomesauce

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

4 cups warmed milk

2 cups of organic chicken, veggie, or beef broth (**See my note at the bottom about bouillon powders.)

In a medium to large cooking pot melt the butter over low heat. Then add the flour and stir until the mixture is smooth. Cook until the mixture starts to bubble but do not let it brown. Gradually add the milk and broth, and stir constantly with a whisk. You'll probably want to have someone to chat with or a book to read, because it takes a little while before it thickens. (10-15 minutes, usually) 1.5 cups of this sauce equals a small (10 3/4 oz.) can of soup.

This sauces tastes wonderful. MUCH better than a can of cream-of-something soup. It works well for me to make a batch of this and then have it in a jar in the fridge all week, so anytime I want to make a casserole that requires a cream soup, I can use this easily.

Options:

You can add finely minced vegetables that have been sautéed.

For a cheese sauce you can add shredded Swiss, cheddar, or parmesan while the sauce is still hot. Stir until melted.

1 ½ cups of this sauce equals a 10 ¾ ounce can of cream soup

This sauce freezes well when already combined with other foods in a casserole.

**The reason that I use the organic broths in this recipe instead of bouillon is this:

Most bouillons have MSG in them. And unfortunately, even the ones that do not say MSG in the ingredients *still* have MSG in them. If the list of ingredients has anything that is autolyzed, hydrolyzed, or modified, that is all other ways of saying MSG. You can learn more about the many tricky names for MSG at MSG Myth.

True Confessions

2011-06-14T11:23:00.002-04:00

Undoubtedly, I could have a whole series of true confessions of ways I have slipped, slid, and fallen off of my various healthy eating goals from time to time. (I could also tell you a lot of Get Back Up stories as well, because I always do...) Living healthy hasn't been a straight path for me. It's been full of ups and downs, weak and strong, more or less.

If you're looking for a perfect size 2 health guru who never slips up, you've come to the wrong place.

Confession: I mentioned a few weeks ago that somewhere along the line my vitamin box got empty, and I didn't get around to refilling it. Some days I was remembering to grab a vitamin or two from a bottle, but mainly just wasn't taking them at all. All the time when I would complain of how tired I felt, my husband would say, "Well have you taken your vitamins today?" and I would be all, like, "Pshaw....vitamins. Who needs 'em?"

How quickly we forget.

Well, I took a few minutes to refill the box. I didn't want another round of PMS-from-you-know-where.

In addition, I have re-fallen in love with Bee Strong. Man, that stuff works *wonders* for me!! In just a few days of consistently taking two at breakfast and two at dinner, I am a motivation MACHINE! I have been a more hands-on parent, and been more productive in pretty much every aspect of my life. I love that!

I don't know how I forgot. This is just like when I first started taking it. It's an awesome product. It's the mommy speed that I've been wishing for. ;) I love it. As long as you aren't allergic to bees, you will too. Safe for pregnant and nursing moms. Get some!

Deal of the Week: All Time Favorites!

2011-06-09T21:39:00.003-04:00

The following is a testimonial I wrote way back in January of 2008 after having my life measurably improved thanks to my two favorite products, Bee Strong and Berry Well. Since that time I've been able to share these products with so many tired-out people who now love the products as much as I do. In fact, they are the best selling products in the store.

So, this week I am offering *BOTH* of these great products at a great price, because I hope you will try them both and see how they work for you.

No limit on quantities. Feel free to stock up!

From the archives:

Like a lot of you, I’ve tried many different vitamins and supplements. In the last year (or two, or three….or who knows how long?!) I have felt very, very tired and run-down, and always like I was just one step away from getting sick. During this time I have done things like eating a mostly raw-foods diet, or exercising 4-5 days a week, or trying some new vitamin that someone told me made them feel great. Well, for me, none of those things helped. I gained a pound a week (for 7 weeks straight!) while I ate a 100% raw foods diet (!!!!!), only felt more tired and more hungry when I was working out, and the vitamins didn’t give me any energy but did succeed in making me constipated! (Thank You Iron!!) ugh.

As most of you know, I have six children, plus homeschool, plus run my businesses, plus have a husband. I Need Energy!! I had been watching projects pile up, things going undone, and just felt too stinkin’ tired all the time to get a handle on any of it.

Recently I was doing some reading and two new supplements caught my eye. Because of my desperation to feel better, I got both (they were very reasonably priced) and started taking them. The first time I took them was at night, and by the next morning I was literally BURSTING with energy. That day I worked around my house conquering all sorts of projects and chores for at least 12 HOURS!!! It was amazing! Since then I have continued to have a lot of energy, except on the days when I realize I have forgotten to take the stuff. It has been since December 23 and I am still GOING STRONG and feeling SO thankful that I found these supplements.

As usual, I don’t clutter up my store here with just any old thing you can buy. (There are plenty of places like that on the web) Supermom’s Health and Wellness exists to offer you products that I personally feel are very worthwhile. So, of course, I had to bring these products to you.

The first product is called Bee Strong, and it is a bee propolis supplement. This is well-known for giving lots of energy, and it certainly works for me. Of course, if you have a bee allergy, this isn’t going to be something for you to take.

The second product is called Berry Well and it is an elderberry syrup with good stuff like raw honey, raw apple cider vinegar, among other ingredients. Berry Well is intended to be taken if you are sick, or feeling like you’re getting sick. I decided to take it since I could tell that my immune system just wasn’t very good. Although I do experience good amounts of energy when I take the Bee Strong, I feel really, really, REALLY great on the days when I also take Berry Well. I really enjoy it mixed into my healthy lemonade, and that has proven to be a great way to give it to my children. (You could even make it into a popsicle for sick little ones that need a health boost!) The taste of the syrup is fine and not objectionable, but when I put it in the lemonade it just makes a yummy berry lemonade that is very refreshing. (It mixes up great in juice as well)

I highly, HIGHLY recommend these new products to you. If it helps you feel half as good as I’ve been feeling, you will be THRILLED that you gave it a try!

I Love Peppermint Tea!

2011-06-02T06:08:00.001-04:00

One of the things I am enjoying so much right now is peppermint tea! There are many ways to make it, but here is the super-easy way I have made it lately:

Using our 10 cup coffee maker, I put 4 peppermint tea bags in the filter basket, fill up the water area with distilled water, and brew. Later add 3 droppers full of Peppermint stevia to sweeten. Enjoy cold and so refreshing! You can keep it in a pitcher in the fridge.

Easy, economical, perfect for the rising temperatures, virtually no calories, and a whole food! (yes! Did you know that about peppermint tea?)

I want you to give this recipe a try, so I'm keeping Peppermint Stevia on sale for this week! It is wonderful.

Deal of the Week: Say goodbye to joint pain!

2011-06-01T21:56:00.002-04:00

Almost 13 years ago after the birth of my third child I started experiencing a lot of pain and soreness in my hands. Thankfully, someone told me about glucosamine and how it helps lubricate our joints. Through three more pregnancies and all these years I have found glucosamine to be a good friend in helping me feel good and stay active with my growing family. :)

Glucosamine is an amino acid that contributes to making cartilage, which is the shock-absorbing gel in our joints. As we age, or as our bodies take on a lot of hard work, our bodies can slow down the production of cartilage, resulting in us feeling sore even while doing regular things in life.

Although pain killers can take away the symptom, that doesn't help solve the problem. Glucosamine gives relief from the symptom while also helping your body repair itself!

MSM is a natural sulfur compound that aids in pain reduction by blocking the pain signals from your nerves.It also helps lessen the amount of scar tissue and degeneration in the joints.

Many glucosamine supplements are made from shellfish, which doesn't work out well for those of us with seafood allergies. This wonderful formulation is made from fermented, non-genetically modified corn, and it works great.

The glucosamine used in this supplement is Glucosamine HC1, which uses less sodium than others on the market. This means you are getting more of the actual supplement and not just a filler.

Although you may experience relief from the pain in your joints soon after taking this supplement, for best results you will want to take it regularly over a longer period of time. You will want to plan on taking it for at least 30 days. Once you take it for 12 weeks, you can actually take 6-12 weeks off from taking it while still enjoying the same benefits! Pretty cool, eh?

Enjoy a big 25% off discount from now through next Wednesday, June 8, 2011.

Deal of the Week: No more PMS! and more...

2011-05-26T14:51:00.003-04:00

Men: Avert your eyes.

Thank you.

Ladies, I'm going to be frank: the reason why I decided to offer Vitex as this week's deal is because I recently went through a h-o-r-r-e-n-d-o-u-s round of PMS, and was reminded that I had forgotten to take my Vitex. OH NO!

I gave Vitex a try because I wanted relief from some rough PMS symptoms plus very heavy menstruation. In just the first month I noticed a great improvement, and have really appreciated this wonderful supplement. (my whole family appreciates it, actually! LOL)

I don't know what happened. I guess my vitamin box got empty and I didn't refill it. Must've been busy. (go figure) Either way, when the evil PMS monster came to visit me recently boy-oh-boy I was thinking "Why didn't I take my Vitex?!?!" Well, hopefully that was enough to keep me remembering from now on, and I'm happy to introduce you to this great product as well.

Whether you are dealing with PMS, menstrual difficulties, menopause issues, or having difficulties getting pregnant, Vitex has something to offer you. Read all about it on the product page, and enjoy 25% off from now through next Wednesday, June 1, 2011. You can order as many as you like at this price, but larger quantities may take a few extra days to ship.

Since the Vitex is a great product, but quite inexpensive, I knew that it would be disappointing to some of you to pay shipping for just one little thing. So, I decided to throw all of the liquid stevia products up for sale this week as well! We have all flavors and sizes in stock right now, so go ahead and stock up. :)

Church Cookies, or Super Breakfast Cookies

2011-05-22T22:29:00.005-04:00

So I tried something new this weekend, and it was a hit with the family, so now I get to share it with you!

So often on Sunday mornings we are in a mad rush to get out the door for church, and inevitably some late riser will get in the van and complain that they didn't get enough to eat for breakfast because they ran out of time (because THEY DIDN'T GET UP WHEN I SAID TO). A-hem. It is also very common that one early-riser kid will be filling ziploc bags with cereal to hand out to the late-riser kids on those mornings as well.

Yes, we get quite a few crumbs in our van. It's true.

Well, I heard about the concept of "breakfast cookies" years ago, and found a recipe recently that I wanted to try out. Breakfast cookies are basically just cookies healthy enough that you can eat 'em for breakfast without feeling guilty about it.

And I'm all for yummy food without guilt.

I figured I would make the cookies the night before church, and then I'd be ready for the mad dash out the door, the van snacks, or the after church I'm-starving-what-is-there-to-eat snack. I thought that maybe these would get to be called Church Cookies around our house.

So here's how it goes:

1 cup coconut oil, melted (or you could use melted butter instead)
3/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 tablespoons cinnamon (or more)
half cup of milk, buttermilk, or milk alternative--any of it will work
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups old fashioned or quick oats
1 cup dried cranberries (we like the kind that is sweetened with apple juice), or you could use raisins, other dried fruit, nuts, or even chocolate chips if you want to get crazy about it

In a mixing bowl combine all of the ingredients except for the dried cranberries and the coconut oil. Mix it all up, then mix in the coconut oil* and then add in the dried cranberries.

Scoop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-13 minutes or so. Cool on wire racks. Toss 'em to your kids on the way out the door to church, or let 'em snack on them all day long. Whatever floats your boat.

Makes approx. 3 dozen cookies.

These are not as sweet as typical cookies, so I would recommend that you don't skimp on the dried cranberries or whatever goodie you are adding in. To my sweet tooth, these need that extra burst of fun. More cinnamon could work just fine too. Don't be afraid to play with this recipe. It seems fairly forgiving that way.

*The reason I recommend adding the coconut oil last is because when exposed to the cold ingredients (like the milk) it tends to harden up and not mix in as nicely. So I just kinda sneak up on it by having everything else all mixed and then toss it in the bowl and mix it up real fast so it doesn't have time to give me any trouble.

I tweaked this recipe from one I found at Heavenly Homemakers. She has so many good resources there for healthy eating.

Deal of the Week: SuperMom Vitamins!

2011-05-19T18:54:00.003-04:00

I'm so excited about the deal I have for you this week! SuperMom vitamins in the 240 vcap bottle, for 25% off! How awesome is that?!

Feel free to stock up and order as many as you would like, but know that larger quantities may take me a few extra days to ship.

This deal will stay up through Wed., May 25.

Enjoy!

Introducing Deal of the Week!

2011-05-12T12:34:00.000-04:00

I am seeing so many awesome deals all over the internet these days, so I decided to join in on the fun. Daily deals aren't really practical for this business, but I think a weekly deal should be quite doable.

So, starting today, I'm aiming to post a new Deal of the Week that will run from Thursday-Wednesday. My plan is to crunch numbers, buy higher quantities, and generally do all I can to offer you deeper discounts than are usually possible. We'll try it for a few weeks and see how it goes. I'd love to get your feedback on how you are liking the deeper discounts, and what products you'd like to see coming up at bigger and better sale prices.

Enjoy!

Healthy Irish Soda Bread

2011-03-17T21:18:00.003-04:00

Since today is St. Patrick's Day I decided to try my hand at making some Irish Soda Bread. I tweaked a recipe I found in order to make it healthier. It turned out great and was quick and easy to put together and have ready with our dinner. I will definitely plan to make it again. Here's how it goes:

Healthified Irish Soda Bread

Makes 1 larger loaf or two smaller ones

1 cup honey

4 cups whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder (without aluminum)

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon sea salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 cups dark raisins (optional--and you could substitute cranberries, nuts, or other dried fruits quite easily)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cast iron pan or use a cookie sheet. (or, I used one cast iron pan and one 9 inch round glass cake pan)

In your mixer bowl, combine honey, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Cut in diced bits of butter and mix periodically until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in raisins.

In a small bowl, beat eggs. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the egg, pour the rest of it in with the dry ingredients. Add buttermilk and mix for about a minute. Dough will be sticky.

Place your dough in the skillet or split into two skillets or into two blobs on a cookie sheet. Brush dough with reserved egg.

Bake 30-40 minutes until golden brown and tester comes out clean. You can serve it warm or cold, with butter or some nice all-fruit jam, or even maple syrup. It is gently sweet and quite filling. It was a big hit with my family. Enjoy! :)

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal--YUMMY!

2011-03-03T14:26:00.004-05:00

I have never been a fan of oatmeal. I don't do mushy grains of any sort. No grits. No rice pudding. (shudder) No oatmeal. No rice made with milk. (ew!) I just. don't. BUT, my boys like oatmeal and so does my husband, so I do make it for them for breakfast and snacks sometimes.

Well, I'm always on the lookout for good recipes that are healthy, filling, and budget-friendly, and today I tweaked one (from a friend who has a blog that many of you would enjoy. Click here to visit her.) and it turned out really great! It's a baked oatmeal, which I did not expect to like...but I love it! Probably because it's more like cake. :)

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

* 3 c oats--quick or old fashioned, doesn't matter
* 2 T cinnamon--or more :)
* 2 t. baking powder
* 1 t. sea salt
* ½ c. organic maple syrup
* ½ c. honey
* 1 ½ c.buttermilk, or if you're doing this on the fly, just use milk with a splash of lemon juice or vinegar in it and let it sit for a few minutes to get nice and curdle-ish. You could make this with a milk alternative as well. (rice milk, almond milk, etc.) I don't know if the alternative milks would curdle, but I'm guessing that it really isn't going to matter if it doesn't.
* 2 eggs
* ¼ c. coconut oil (or butter), melted
* 2 t. vanilla
* 1½ c. frozen blueberries

Mix up everything except for the berries. Let it sit for about 5 minutes. Fold in the berries. Then pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for about 30-40 minutes until it has a cake-like texture and it lightly browned. Nice to eat warm or cold. You could add butter and more maple syrup to it if you wanted to. For us, it was sweet and yummy just as it was.

*Options: You could add more or different fruits to it. Fresh, frozen, or dried apples, banana, raisins, cranberries, etc. would be awesome. Also, chopped nuts would be good too! Very easy to do, you could definitely mix it up the night before and bake in the morning.

BIG hit at our house. Even from the girl who used to not like oatmeal. I like this!

Weight Loss Question

2011-01-20T10:03:00.001-05:00

I got a good question in my inbox today:

Hello,
I, like many moms, would really like to have a healthier lifestyle, but get overwhelmed to think about getting started. I have appreciated the practical baby-step approach you take in your book. I am not all the way through the book yet, but am already anxious to do some shopping for some items to get us started!

One question I do have for you; I read about drinking while eating. Recently I decided to lose about 10 lbs, and one thing I did to help is to drink a large glass of water before/during eating, which filled me up to make it easier to eat less. I am afraid I won't feel full if I stop this. When do you suggest to drink? How long should I wait after eating to drink? What are some tips to eat less without drinking the water while eating?

I would appreciate a reply when you have a minute. Thank you so much,

Kelli

Hi Kelli!
Great question. For best digestion, you should not drink while eating. When the digestive juices are diluted it makes your food take a lot longer to digest, and then the rotting food is sitting in your system, making gas, cramps, etc. Not good!

I would suggest that you eat a salad at the start of your meal. Don't use fattening and chemical-filled dressings like Ranch or whatever. Use low-calorie, natural dressings such as the ones I recommend in my Super Salads book. The calories in a salad are super, super low, even if you eat a ton of it, and it is so beneficial for your health and digestion. Eat as much of a salad as you can for starters, then follow up with whatever else is for dinner, eating only to the point that you are satisfied. Most people find that they need far less cooked food, and in many cases your salad will have filled you up and satisfied you.

If you decide to give it a try, let me know how it works for you. :)

~Erica

Ways to Use Sweet Leaf Stevia

2011-01-17T22:58:00.003-05:00

We’re getting lots of new customer buying stevia here, so I thought I’d share some ideas on why I love it and how to use it.

First: Why I recommend Sweet Leaf Brand over all the others. Clickety click!

Ways to use it:

*Soda alternative: Add your favorite SweetLeaf flavor to low sodium club soda or seltzer water for an instantly flavored and sweetened beverage with fizz! Root Beer, Grape, Valencia Orange, and Vanilla Creme are some of the favorites for this. (Here's my most successful way to make root beer!)

*Flavored water: Why pay over a dollar for a bottled of flavored water that has chemical sweeteners in it when you can make your own for pennies PLUS enjoy a better, healthier alternative? You just need about one drop of stevia per 2 ounces of water!

*Jazz up your pancake or waffle batter or French toast mixture by adding Vanilla Creme, English Toffee, or Cinnamon flavors to the mix. Easy and delicious!

*Chocolate milk without the chocolate? Just use Chocolate or Chocolate Raspberry stevia to your milk for a yummy, healthy flavor boost!

*Make flavored ice cubes!

*Stevia is perfect for sweetening coffee or tea. My husband’s favorites for coffee are Vanilla Creme, English Toffee, Hazelnut, and Chocolate. The most popular flavors for tea are Peppermint, Cinnamon, Vanilla Creme, English Toffee, and Apricot Nectar. Yum!

*Use Stevia flavors in plain yogurt or cottage cheese. Kids love it! The Berry flavor is a nice addition to these.

*Stevia works great as an addition to whipped toppings, icing, or frosting.

See all of our stevia products here.

Day 2 of The 12 Days of Christmas!

2010-12-02T11:44:00.003-05:00

Brrr! It's mighty cold here! Last night my husband and I took the kids to visit a friend in the hospital and then went to see the Southern Lights. This is an extensive Christmas light display that you see as you drive through the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park, which hosted this year's World Equestrian Games! In addition to the lights, there is also a petting zoo, camel rides, model train exhibits, and even some little mini train rides around the park (that we did while our teeth chattered!). Although it was cold, there were no lines for anything, which made it worth it! :)

Today is Day 2 of my 12 Days of Christmas and I have an offer that you are going to LOVE! BIG SALE on Supermom Vitamins! Regularly priced at $37 for the 180 tabs, and $33 for the 240 vcaps, right now you can get them for $29.99 for the 180 tabs or $27.99 for the vcaps!! Click through here to make sure you are at the right spot for the sale price. It is not on the usual Supermom vitamin page.

This sale price will be in effect through today, and into Friday until whatever time I get around to switching it off and turning on a different deal! (don't you love the small business dynamics?!) You are welcome to use this special offer to stock up, although it is possible that we will have a huge response and I may have to get more product in before I can fill your order. I'll let you know if that happens. :)

12 Days of Christmas: Day 1

2010-12-01T12:28:00.001-05:00

Are you getting into the Christmas spirit? We sure are! The falling snow today certainly helps. :)

I decided to offer a 12 Days of Christmas promotion. Each day from Dec. 1-12 I'll have something fun to offer for my customers, in addition to the already GREAT prices that are going on for our end-of-year sale.

Today: Shipping discount!

Regular shipping has been reduced to just $4.95, and orders of $100 or more will receive *FREE* shipping! This special will continue through Dec. 12. :)

**Don't miss our great prices on the Mashoonga Sabers and the Funline Slackline. These are perfect Christmas gifts that your family will love!

Here's what I've been up to while pulling an all-nighter....

2010-11-22T04:06:00.001-05:00

Weird things happen when you're up til 3:30am.

(which I am)

I've been meaning to get the store sale up and running for a week now, and tonite I decided to pull a super late night and get it done.

Sometimes when you stay up super late your judgment gets a little goofy. I set several sale prices, and then decided to throw caution to the wind and lower them even more! I think you will like that and hope that I set up sales in the middle of the night more often. :)

Here's a list of just some of the good deals I've got for you:

Almost ALL of your favorite vitamins, minerals, and remedies are on sale!

All Sweet Leaf Stevia 2 ounce bottles just $10.99!

Miessence deodorants just $6.99!

Miessence toothpastes down to $7.99

Rejuvenessence Facial Serum normally sells for $37.95, marked down to $16.99!

Depsyl (to help control blood sugar) just $23.95

The remaining stock of Belly Huggers is on final clearance at just $4.99!

Funline Slacklines are reduced to just $75.99. Your family will have so much fun with it!

Mashoonga Sabers: You can choose to Buy 1 set, get the 2nd set at 50% off!

FREE books are back! Choose one for every $25 of products you purchase. Great for getting a freebie for yourself or to use as a gift for a friend.

There are even more sale items, and you can see them all here. We have new toothpaste at a great price, and most Miessence products are on sale.

Just a few additional pieces of information for you:

Quantities are limited, and it is possible that I will not be getting any more of these products in stock until January. I have to take inventory at the end of the year and get taxed based on what is sitting on the shelves, so rather than pay money to the government for what didn't sell, I'm passing on great savings to you and giving you the benefit of stocking up. :) Ideally, my shelves should be as close to bare as possible on Dec. 31. Go ahead and order what you'd like to get, and if I am unable to fill it, I'll let you know ASAP.

Some of these items are not going to be replaced. I have a limited amount of space for inventory, and I like to use it for products that sell fast. Everything I offer in the store is a product I think is great, but sometimes, for whatever reason, they are slow to sell. When that happens, I sell out and don't look back. All of that to say, if you want something on this list, get it now, because I may not have it available later. (Stevia products are staying around, and the vitamins are safe, but many of the rest of the items are being considered for discontinuation.)

Last day to place an order before Christmas is December 15. Priority Mail should still come through for your deliveries in time for Christmas at that point. I will be taking some time off to spend Christmas with my family, and I may or may not have one last hurrah sale before the end of the year.

Don't miss the great gift-giving goodies like handmade soap and all-natural lip balms!

We still have almonds available, and a small amount of walnuts. After that, we're probably gonna call it quits on the nut orders for this year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My eyes are blurry and my brain is moosh. 4:15am. Let the savings begin!

I could use a long winter's nap,

Erica

Erica Johns

Supermom's Health and Wellness

Supermom News: More Nuts, and some new products!

2010-11-11T12:30:00.003-05:00

Hey friends!

We're Going Nuts!

I am so pleased and how quickly our first raw almond order was filled. The second order should be here next week! Because of how quickly the orders are turning around, I am going to go ahead and continue to offer almonds for at least another week or two. So, if you were thinking about getting almonds, you still have time!

Even better, I have also been able to get some raw cashew pieces and raw walnut pieces! I will have the initial order here next week, and will be able to order more after that if there is enough interest. For the cashews and walnuts you can order as little as 5 pounds!

New Toothpaste!

I know that many of you are just as cautious about fluoride as I am. My family has really enjoyed using the Miessence brand toothpastes, and I appreciate the organic ingredients. However, I know that for most of us, we like a good bargain price, don't we? Well, I have now got some new toothpaste in stock with a price you will love! This peppermint toothpaste is free of sugars, has no fluoride, no propylene glycol, and no sulfates that are in virtually every commercial toothpaste. The Oral Select toothpaste tastes good and is sweetened with cavity-preventing xylitol. It is a whitening, plaque-preventing, tartar-control formula. Best of all, it is on an introductory special right now at less than $3 per tube! I have a limited quantity of this, and depending on how it sells this month, I may or may not be able to get more. So, if you want some, this is your chance. Clickety-click!

PMS and other pesky issues relieved!

I am really pleased to be able to offer you a new product: Vitex with Dong Quai. Whether you're having trouble getting pregnant, suffer from PMS, or are entering menopause, Vitex can make life easier for you. Also called chaste berry, Vitex is known for its ability to nourish and support the female endocrine system as it regulates estrogen and progesterone levels.

I decided to try Vitex because I was experiencing overwhelming PMS symptoms and extra heavy menstruation. I was amazed at how much relief I had in the very first month of using it! Highly recommended.

You can still take advantage of this GREAT deal!

Are you already shopping for Christmas? I've got a great early-bird deal that is pretty awesome! When you buy a Funline Slackline I'll send you a set of Mashoonga! Sabers for FREE! (*very limited quantities*)

The slackline has been my family's greatest discover for this year. We have had hours of fun and entertainment using it outdoors. We even got my husband's parents to try it! (His 71 year old Dad did pretty well!) It has been really cool to see how each of us has improved on it, especially since it seemed so difficult when we first started.

The Mashoonga! Sabers are used on a daily basis around our house. They were also a big hit at one of our birthday parties here in the summer. Kids and adults seem to be drawn to the whacking power of the Mashoonga! :) Loads of fun, so keep these in mind for Christmas gifts for kids of all ages.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you have enjoyed getting up to speed on what's new at Supermom's. I am busily planning some fun things to share with all of you in the coming months. If you have not already joined us on Facebook, you should! :)

Enjoy what's left of fall! Winter's on the way! :)

~Erica

Christmas Sales and Specials

2010-11-02T17:29:00.004-04:00

For any of you that have been receiving my newsletters or have been doing business with me, you know that I don't do the hard sell. The Christmas buying season is no different. It holds no appeal to me to bombard you with one pushy sales letter after another, offering bigger and better discounts each week, making you feel upset that you missed out on a better deal by buying early. As a customer and consumer, I really hate stuff like that, and as a business owner, it's just not how I do things, even if I could possibly make more money by being obnoxious. No thanks. Not worth it. :) I value my relationship with all of you too much to act like that.

What I do want to do for the rest of this year is offer you good deals as I am able to, to provide fast and friendly service, and to be fair and treat each of you as I would want to be treated.

There isn't a huge profit margin with most of what we sell, so our sales may not be as flashy as some, but they are honest and we can offer them while also being able to stay in business. :)

If there is a product you wish you could buy from Supermom's Health and Wellness, or an item that you are hoping to see on sale, please share your ideas in the comments section. I'll see what I can do to make your Christmas wishes come true. :)

Chocolate Almonds

2010-11-02T16:32:00.002-04:00

2 cups raw almonds
1 Tbsp. coconut oil
2 Tbsp. honey or agave nectar
1 Tbsp. raw chocolate powder (or nonalkalized unsweetened cocoa powder)
1/4 tsp. sea salt

Soak your raw almonds in water overnight, then drain and allow them to air dry (an hour or two). Make sure coconut oil (warm it in hot water if necessary) is liquid, and mix all remaining ingredients well. Stir in nuts. Spread evenly on dehydrator tray and dry until no longer wet/sticky, about 14-18 hours, below 116 degrees. Enjoy!

I use and recommend the Excalibur dehydrator:

Teriyaki Almonds

2010-11-02T16:23:00.003-04:00

This is my family's favorite raw almond snack. It is surprisingly delicious and addictive! Last year my mom didn't order any raw almonds because she didn't think she would use them. Then she came to my house for Christmas and got hooked on Teriyaki Almonds! This year.....she's buying 30 pounds of almonds! (Yes, this recipe is *that* good!)

10 cups raw almonds, soaked and dehydrated at 105 degrees (or less) approx. 12 hours
½ cup chopped dates, soaked and drained
½ cup Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
1/2 cup nama shoyu (or if you don't have this, just use Bragg's instead)
2 Tbsp. raw agave nectar (or honey, if you prefer)
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. cayenne or red pepper flakes

Blend all ingredients except almonds in your food processor, blender, vita-mix, BlendTec, or whatever you've got, on high until smooth. Pour into a very large bowl, add almonds and stir well. Let mixture sit for an hour to allow nuts to absorb liquid, and then stir again. Spread nuts on teflex sheets in dehydrator. Dry at 105 degrees for about 16 hours. Place nuts on mesh sheets and dry again until crunchy (about 10 hours).

Yes, it takes a few days in the planning and process, but it is extremely easy and worth it!

I recommend the Excalibur dehydrator. I love mine!

Special thanks to Green Smoothie girl who gave me this recipe.

Candied Raw Almonds

2010-11-02T16:18:00.002-04:00

6 cups raw almonds, soaked and dehydrated at 105 degrees (or less) approx. 12 hours
2/3 cup chopped dates, soaked and drained
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp. sea salt
optional: ½ tsp. butter or rum flavoring
Blend all ingredients except almonds in your food processor, vita-mix, or blender until smooth. Pour in bowl, and stir nuts in, stirring to coat. Let nuts sit for 20 mins. to absorb liquid, and stir again. Spread nuts on teflex sheets in dehydrator. Dry at 105 degrees for about 16 hours. Place nuts on mesh sheets and dry again until crunchy (about 10 hours).

Variations: You could also use soaked pecans or other nuts or combinations of nuts!

I use the Excalibur dehydrator. It is the best!

Special thanks to Green Smoothie Girl for this recipe!

Raw Almond Information and FAQs

2010-11-02T15:55:00.004-04:00

Last year was the first time I got to buy truly raw almonds. Boy were they goooood! Most people do not realize how important it is to get raw almonds. When nuts are raw they contain powerful enzymes and nutrients that benefit your body and your health! Unfortunately, any almonds you find in a store will have been pasteurized (heated) to the extent that the enzymes and nutrients have been damaged or destroyed. Thankfully there is an allowance in the pasteurization law so that we can purchased truly raw almonds direct from a farmer in limited quantities. (up to 100 pounds per person per day) This is how we are legally obtaining these fabulous almonds again this year!

Are the almonds in their shell?
No way! Wouldn't that be a nightmare?! (sitting around the kitchen table shelling and shelling and shelling til 2011.....) These almonds are out of the shell and ready to eat when you get them.

Do raw almonds look or taste different from regular almonds?
Raw almonds look just like other untoasted, unsalted almonds you could find in a store. Since these are fresh, they taste better than the nuts sitting on the shelves at the store. :)

How do I use raw almonds?
They are great just like any almonds you would ever use. For those of us that like to keep our almonds raw, for the greatest health benefit, it is ideal to soak them in pure water overnight, and then dehydrate at a low temp (90-100 degrees) until dry. I typically soak most of our almonds before eating them, because the soaking releases more of the plant enzymes within the almond. (you know how sometimes when gardening there will be seeds that need to soak overnight before planting? This is the same idea! You get the germination process going, and that's extra good for your body, plus makes nuts easier to digest.)

Some people like to make their own almond milk. (recipe coming soon) Others turn them into crunchy snack mixes and delicious treats. There are a lot of possibilities, and with the high amount of protein and low amount of fat, almonds are a nut worth getting comfortable with!

I will be posting some of my favorite raw almond recipes soon. They are all very yummy, even for people that are not typically into healthy food. :)

So how many almonds is it if I order 10 pounds?
I have found that 5 pounds of almonds generally fills a gallon zip-loc bag. So, two big bags of almonds equals ten pounds. Yum!

Can I order less than 10 pounds?
Sorry, not from me. I try to keep things simple, and working with 10-pound increments is what seems will work best for this year. See if you can find a friend to split a 10-pound order with you. :)

How long do I have to order?
I'm placing an initial order during the first week of November. It is possible that I may place another order later in the month. The sooner you get your order in, the better.

How do I order?
Clickety click right here! You can pay with credit or debit card or paypal.

How much is shipping?
Shipping is $6.95 within the USA, for any amount of almonds you order!

How soon will I get my almonds?
You should have them within a month of placing your order, but hopefully even sooner than that.

How do you ship the almonds?
I'll be shipping them through the US Postal Service. I will line the box with a plastic bag and the almonds will be inside. This method allows us to fit ten pounds of almonds inside flat rate boxes, which make it much more economical to mail.

Do you have any other questions about raw almonds? Leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer quickly!

Off the wagon

2010-10-01T10:41:00.006-04:00

It's only fair, since I told you about losing weight and not eating sugar last year, to admit when things are not going so ideally.

In 2009 I lost 30 pounds, thanks to cutting sugar out of my diet, regular exercise, and eating a lot more raw foods. I got through the holiday season without eating sugar, but somewhere after that I made an exception for myself. I can't remember what or why. But after that, there were more exceptions. And a few more. And now here I am. My jeans are getting a little tight. (they had been getting a little loose) I can see that the pounds are creeping back in.

(real life moment: the battery in the scale died, and we have yet to replace it. I hate to think how many of those 30 pounds I may have gotten back.....)

Honestly, I am struggling with the exercise aspect as well, because my life is so busy, it is hard to take or find the time to do it.

Getting up early to go walking seemed like a good solution, except that I was so stinkin' tired every day, plus every night when I had stuff I wanted to do I had it hanging over my head that I was going to have to get up extra early.

With homeschooling in full swing, I don't really have time during the day.

My walking partner and I fell off of that wagon maybe two months ago. :(

I have a part time job caring for a handicapped gal, so that takes a significant amount of my time as well.

And then there is the fact that exercise has never felt like my friend. Yes, I was doing it. And yes, I was losing weight. But....so many articles promise that exercise will make you have More Energy! and a Better State of Mind! Yeah, well, not me. Exercise makes me tired. And hungry. and sapped.

Is it worth it to be closer to your ideal weight if you are also more tired?

I guess the answer is no. and yes.

Recently I did some reading in relation to adrenal fatigue (which I have struggled with for ages), and it pointed out that strenuous exercise and cardio can just make adrenal fatigue worse. Which makes perfect sense to me. No wonder I always felt like junk even though I was exercising 3-5 times a week.

The article recommended gentler forms of exercise, like pilates or yoga. I don't know how to do either, don't have any classes near me, and our TV died and we haven't replaced it yet, so DVDs won't help much at this point. (well, I guess I could set up a DVD on a computer....)

So, today I'm uncomfortable in my jeans. I've had some nagging health issues that I'm sure eating a less-healthy diet isn't helping. Something's got to give. I'm not sure how I'm going to approach this yet. I may just suck it up and be more tired and at least start reversing the encroaching fat. Maybe I will rig up a way to learn pilates in front of my laptop....

I will say that one saving grace (in addition to having an ever-supportive and loving husband) is that my baby step habits for living healthy truly do help in cases like this. Yes, I'm falling short of my personal wishes for how to eat and for being closer to where I'd like my weight to be, but there is still a lot in place that helps hold some of the lines. Smoothies are still happening. There are no sugary snacks in the house. Healthy meals are still happening.

The Challenge: Increase raw foods. Re-eliminate sugar. Find exercise that works for me, and find time to make it happen.

We fall down. We get back up. This is not about perfection. This is about keeping on and moving forward even though we are imperfect.

How do you handle it when you fall of the wagon?

FREE SHIPPING!

2010-09-24T13:10:00.002-04:00

I'm offering Free Shipping this weekend on all orders of at least $65! Enjoy!

Cauliflower Curry

2010-09-16T09:53:00.002-04:00

I don't mind telling you that I'm not an adventurous eater. I am not a person who wants to travel the world to taste food everywhere. I have never lived anywhere that had Indian, Cuban, or any other authentic ethnic cuisine. I grew up on all-American food, with Americanized Italian food on the side. :)

So, all of that to say I have little-to-no experience with curry. Normally, if I had seen this recipe in a book I would not have even considered making it. If I had looked at the ingredients, double that. But thankfully, my mom made this while we visited her last week and Oh-me-oh-my! this is Soooooo Gooood! My husband and some of the kids loved it too. And I have been dreaming of making it here at home ever since.

Today's the day!

I love crock pot recipes that don't ask me to do much beyond throw everything in the pot. If I have to pre-cook stuff, to me it kinda loses the point. Well, this is one of those easy-peasy recipes, so, give it a try! (ok, you will have to chop some stuff....can you handle it? :) )

Throw into the crock pot:

4 cups cauliflowerets (fresh or frozen)

3 medium tomatoes seeded and chopped (2+ cups) or the equivalent of canned diced tomatoes (get cans without BPA please!)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 14-ounce can coconut milk (not cream of coconut) (I'm not really sure how healthy this is, so report back to me if you have anything to say about it. There is no sugar in it, but there were some preservatives. I found mine by Chinese food at the grocery store.)

1 Tablespoon soy sauce, or you could substitute Bragg's liquid aminos

1.5 teaspoon (not 15!) curry powder

half a teaspoon sea salt

half a teaspoon dried crushed basil

Cook on low 4-6 hours.
Shortly before you want to eat, stir in 6 ounces fresh organic spinach. Cover and continue to heat on low for 10-15 minutes or so.

The perfect accompaniment to this is organic brown rice. If you have a rice cooker and will not be home while this is cooking, use it!

Experiments I look forward to trying with this:
-throwing already-cooked rice into the pot for the last hour of the cook time
-you could add cut up bits of cooked chicken to this as well
-the recipe book I saw this in suggested topping this with chopped peanuts, raisins, and/or shredded coconut. I would not have thought of any of those, but now it sounds really yummy.

This is very warm, soothing, comfort food. Perfect for fall and winter! Be brave and give it a try. Let me know how you like this. :)

Make Yogurt In Your Crock Pot!

2010-08-23T08:22:00.007-04:00

I am a person that does not like to have a lot of appliances. I like to just have a few that are versatile and use them for a lot of things. I thought about making homemade yogurt for awhile and looked at various yogurt making appliances but was hesitant to spend the money and then give up the counter space for something else. Then I found out how to make yogurt in my crock pot, and life was beautiful! :)

It is SO easy that I cannot imagine going back to store bought ever again. I control the quality and fat content, there are no chemical additives, and it is a great money savings. Check it out:

Put 8 cups of milk into your crock pot (cover) on low for 2.5 hours.

After that time, turn the crock pot off. (don't take the top off) and leave it alone for 3 hours.

After the 3 hours, add in a half cup of plain yogurt (yes, you're going to have to buy some plain yogurt to start with, and once you make your own, save a little of it to "feed" the next batch) (use a whisk to mix it in--be kinda quick about it), put the top back on, and wrap the whole crock pot up in a thick bath towel.

Come back in 8 hours or more and your yogurt is done. Easy!

If I get around to starting the yogurt before 8am and I'm going to be home most of the day, I can finish the batch before I go to bed at night. Alternately, this works well to start at around 4pm, and you wake up to yogurt in the morning, which is perfect for adding to your morning smoothie!

It is not all that important that the yogurt be put away directly after the 8 hours of incubation. it could stay in there for longer. Obviously don't leave it out on the counter for days, but it is fine if you just get around to putting it away after 10 or 12 hours or whatever. It'll be alright.

I use glass canning jars to store my yogurt in the refrigerator. Very easy!

You can use anything from skim to whole milk. At my Kroger they mark down organic milk pretty often, so when I see that I try to buy extra and make yogurt then. Even if I pay full price for the organic, though, it is cheaper than buying organic yogurt.

And did you know that pets benefit from yogurt too? You can add a little to your dog or cat's food and let them have some good probiotics as well!

I love Alice.com and so will you!

2010-07-30T12:04:00.001-04:00

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Alice.com is a fabulous place for you to bypass a whole lot of your grocery shopping, without paying more! In fact, Alice's prices are comparable to Walmart prices, they add in coupons, and they ship all of your stuff to you for FREE! And it's fast. Like, within a day or two, depending on where you live.

Alice.com has toilet paper, feminine products, cleaning products, snacks and cereal, toiletries, pet food, office supplies, stamps, and just a ton of other stuff that you are buying every time you walk through your regular store. (not weird off-brands, either. The real brands you already buy!) The difference: less stuff to shlepp through the checkout, into your car, and into the house with the kids in tow!

For our healthy lifestyle they have the Kashi Organics cereals that we like, lots of non-toxic all-natural cleaning supplies, some healthy snacks, etc. Some of these items we can't even find in our local store, so this is a great help to us!

I have been using Alice since fall of 2009 and I love love LOVE it. I recommend it to everybody! Right now you can get $10 off your first purchase of at least $50 when you clickety-click above to sign up. How cool is that?

Back to School Sale!

2010-07-19T19:58:00.000-04:00

In my part of the country school will soon be back in session, and for you northerners that still have more than a month to go, it'll be here before you know it!

Today I decided to put together a special collection of goodies for my fellow homeschool moms that will enrich them in body, mind, and spirit. It is chock-full of wonderful stuff that has a retail value of well over $100, but is available to you for a super-low price. You can read all about it here.

Today is also the start of our new No-Cooties School Year sale! For a limited time you can get TWO bottles of my Supermom's No-Lice Hair and Body Spray for the price of one, OR you can choose to donate the extra bottle to a family in need. Read all about it here.

That's it for today. Enjoy what's left of your summer! (personally, I'm looking forward to fall!)

Family Fitness and Fun

2010-06-15T23:19:00.006-04:00

It's always interesting to me to meet other families and find out what's working for them as far as healthy living, and where their challenges are. It is easy to get used to the way things are in my own family and not realize where others struggle.

My children are very active in their play, running around outside, swimming, gardening, chasing each other, playing sword games, running with the dog, etc. but I have been realizing lately that many families do not get outside or enjoy active play so much. Oftentimes children are so used to indoor activities that they are not inspired to get outside and do something else.

I'm so excited about the new category of products at the store! Family Fitness and Fun is where we will be bringing you some of our favorite active games, toys, and fitness products; items that I hope will bring lots of fun, active play, and family enjoyment to your home!

The first two products we're sharing are very exciting:

I've got 6 guys from ages 7 to 40 around here, and every one of them got super excited when they saw the Mashoonga Sabers in action. (frankly, my daughter and I could see good reason to get Mashoongas for ourselves!)

More than just your average sword play, Mashoonga!® is a new competitive and high energy contact game played with Mashoonga! Sabers™. Using speed, coordination, tactical skills, and more, your whole family will get a kick out of this fast and fun game!

The foam tube of the Mashoonga! Saber™ is soft, flame resistant polyethylene, with an additive for strength, durability and UV protection. The foam is covered with washable nylon sleeves to protect and prolong the life of the foam. The strong polycarbonate core tube is light weight and flexible. The soft yet durable hand grip is made of durable silicone compounds.

Each set includes complete game instruction and rules, plus two 35-inch Mashoonga! Sabers, one blue and one red. Click here to buy.

Slacklines are a fun new form of exercise and sport that is great for kids of all ages! My entire family was inspired by the videos showing all of the tricks and fun things you can do on a slackline, and it really appealed to me as a fun core workout.

The Funline Slackline is fast and easy to set up and take down, so it is very transportable. Can you imagine how fun it will be to take your Funline with you to a friend's house or on a road trip to set up for some active fun for the kids at a rest area picnic area?

A great way to get the whole family outside and improving balance, focus, coordination, and to strengthen all of your core muscles!

The Funline is the ideal slackline for children and beginners, thanks to less flexibility in the line and a rubberized grip surface that makes staying on the line easier. A super fun activity for a birthday party, too!

Bouncing (even gently) is a very healthy activity, activating the lymphatic system, which in turn activates the immune system. Wonderful for brain development, too!

Slacklines are also the hottest new accessory for skaters and snowboarders because the you can use it as a portable rail! Click here to buy.

Both Mashoonga Sabers and Funlines should be in stock and ready to ship by June 26. You can pre-order now. (credit cards will not be charged until your order is ready to ship)

Safe Sunscreen

2010-06-13T15:50:00.002-04:00

The Environmental Working Group evaluated 500 sunscreen products in 2010, and ours was one of only 39 that were evaluated to be safe and effective.

Check out the Hall of Shame to learn some of what's wrong with the sunscreen industry. It is dismaying to see how many products are labeled specifically for babies and young children that are extremely dangerous.

My own sister was diagnosed with skin cancer (melanoma) several years ago (thankfully she is ok today), so sun protection is very important in our family. I'm always looking for safe products that truly protect from the sun's rays as well as being free of carcinogenic ingredients.

Floatie Swim Suit Safety Alert

2010-05-27T14:12:00.001-04:00

I wrote this post several years ago, and now dig it out every year and re-post to share with people each summer.

We have an Easy Set pool at our house. It's a pretty big one, and we have floatation swim suits for our three youngest boys to wear, although we keep the pool shallow enough that all of them can walk around in it and still have their heads above water. Last year when I bought the suits the baby was one and the better quality suits did not come in his size, so I got a cheaper one, which he had continued to wear this year.
The other day the kids were playing in the pool while my husband and I sat on the deck watching them and chatting. Our youngest, who is now 2, lost his footing in the pool and very quickly was floating face down in the water. Fortunately my husband saw it right away and got to him within just a few seconds, so everything turned out ok.

BUT

The problem is that this suit was not designed to flip a child over onto their back if they needed to rely on the floatation! Our baby was helpless, face down in the water. He would have actually been safer with no suit on at all, since he would have been able to stand to his feet after losing his footing.

It only takes a very few moments for a little one to drown. I am so thankful we were right there with our eyes on the pool happenings.

We tossed out that suit and today I went and bought him one of the better ones, that are designed to keep a kid floating on their backs. Here is the difference between the two suits:

The kind that flips a child onto their back has a float in the front of the suit that is longer than the one in the back.

The kind of suit that put my baby into the pool face first is a kind that is designed for children who need a floatie while learning to swim. The floats are all around the suit and are the same size all the way around.

Just thought someone else might appreciate the reminder. Go check and see if your little one's floatie suits will flip them to their backs in their moment of need.

How Do You Afford Healthier Food?

2010-05-01T09:05:00.002-04:00

This question was asked of me today, and I thought I would share with you all the ideas I had on the subject:

I think that affording healthy food is a concern that most people have. For us, I guess it has been gradual both in finding resources and ways to make it less expensive, and also getting used to what we do spend.

For instance, years ago I found a co-op locally and I was able to get bulk amounts of organic brown rice, beans, etc. and it actually ended up being comparable or even cheaper than non-organics. Yes, I have to buy 20 pounds or so at a time, but we got used to it. After a few months of buying 1-3 items, I was stocked for a long time.

I try to follow the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 guidelines to decide what's most important to buy organic and what I can more safely buy non-organic. There are still things that I do not feel are affordable yet for us to switch to organic, so I just carry on with my philosophy of "do what you can, when you can."

Kroger has a good selection of natural and organic foods that gets marked down regularly. I commonly get organic spinach and salad mixes that are marked down, reasonably priced organic apples, organic milk marked down to less than what regular milk is selling for (I make yogurt every week), for the last several weeks the Kashi Organic Promise cereals were on sale for $2.99 per box, but there were $1 coupons on the boxes, so they were $1.99/box. I stocked up bigtime on those. Kroger brand pasta and crackers are often available in whole wheat and is inexpensive. We don't love the whole wheat pasta plain, but when adding it to a soup or casserole, we don't notice any difference at all.

I have gradually gone to making more things from scratch. This makes healthy food cheaper and of course you can control the ingredients. Even if you want to make cookies, you can use whole wheat flour or oatmeal, make sure there is no lard or high fructose corn syrup, etc. It may not be "perfect" but it's a whole lot better than 30 chemical ingredients added to the cookies at the store bakery.

Gradually learning more homemade cooking skills pays off in the end. I make yogurt every week in my crock pot. It is extremely easy, no fuss, very cheap, and far better than what I could buy in the store. So, I get a better product for far less money. My mom is a very busy person and she has one afternoon a week where she does food prep for the entire week ahead. A few hours invested allows her to save money, save time, and have the ability to eat healthfully. You can hear the interview that I did with her last year and get some great ideas from her here.
(We were having some technical issues during the first minute, so hang in there as you're listening, until you get into the interview.)

As I have learned more things about food and health, there are some things I just don't consider food and would not consider buying to eat, no matter how cheap it is. When you remove a lot of junk items, snack foods, etc. there is money for other items.

I know we're sometimes "guilty" of this, but a lot of times people feel like their grocery budget can't budge, but they manage to go out to eat pretty often. If people put the cost of one meal at a restaurant into the grocery budget, right there is a pretty good chunk of money to eat healthier with! Depending on how many times a family eats out or chooses to put that money elsewhere, choosing to spend differently can make a huge difference for grocery money.

Some families spend a lot of money for their TV service, but maybe that is an area where they could cut back for something more important to them. We have no TV service in our home at all. (and we have survived this way for most of the nearly 19 years we have been married) We do have a TV and do watch videos, and we can watch many shows online. I cannot imagine spending $40-90+ a month on dish, satellite, or cable TV like many people do. I enjoy having less noise clutter, fewer distractions for everybody, and no TV in the living room or most other areas of the house. I think our children are better off without TV, and I know I am. (TV is a constant temptation for me, so it is better for me to just not have it at all)

I will give you a real-life scenario I have been thinking about: I use frozen strawberries and blueberries in my smoothies most days. Both are on the Dirty Dozen list, so ideally I should be buying organic. Initially I wasn't because I did not have convenient access to organic berries. Now they are available at my store, though they are 2-3 times more expensive than what I buy now. I did not jump in right away and decide to do it, because for probably 25 days of smoothies per month, that is a significant amount of money in berries if I switch to organic. I have been watching what I do buy, and have noticed where I could afford to buy less of some things that are not really beneficial to our health (nor filling), and put that money toward the organic berries. I could choose to buy some of our berries organic and some conventional and just let it be an improvement. I could also choose to drink (and serve) smaller smoothies. I'm not exactly sure where we will be on this in a month. Our grocery budget seems to have increased greatly as our littler boys have started growing fast and eating even faster. My youngest boy is always asking for a snack (and he likes healthy ones, too) and he will grin and say, "Well you always tell me I'm a bottomless pit!" :) He sure is! But his snacks and meals are healthy, he gets lots of exercise and fresh air, and he is in no way overweight. He just needs a lot of food these days.

Then multiply that by 4, to include the other little boys. :)
We're spending more than ever on groceries, and I don't see an end in sight. It's normal to have limits, and to do what you can within those limits. Do what you can, when you can, and try not to "sweat" the difference. (but you are allowed to strategize about how to get to the next goal)

What do you think? How do you afford healthier food?

I Take My Job Seriously

2010-04-23T10:39:00.005-04:00

This morning I spent some time looking at a health supplement product line that I have heard wonderful things about. It's a little pricier than most of what I normally offer, but if it was as good as "they" say, I would consider offering it in the store.

One of the standard things I do when researching new products is to look at the ingredients. Over the years I have been really disappointed to see how many supposed "health and wellness" companies are clearly misinformed about true health, or just don't seem to really care. One company I knew about awhile back sold food products with aluminum in their stuff. Yuck!

Well, the company I looked at today had one product that looks great. But then I started checking on the ingredients for their other stuff. I found skin care products that I would not be willing to use because of carcinogenic ingredients, "health supplements" that contained various forms of MSG, and weight loss products that have forms of MSG. :( In short, I was extremely disappointed, and this company will not be getting my business, nor will I be recommending them to you.

Unfortunately, it seems that companies that are truly health-conscious are hard to come by. Miessence Organics is one that I have thus far been very pleased with. Their ingredients are consistently excellent, the products work very well, and every other aspect of the business that I know of has been consistent in representing their earth-friendly, health-conscious philosophy.

I take it seriously that my shop is recommending products to you and your family. Certainly I do not know everything health-wise, but I am always learning and always keeping my radar up in order to not only provide products that I can recommend to you, but ones that I'm willing to give to my own family.

If you ever notice ingredients in any product that you are concerned about, please email me at supermom (at) supermomshealthandwellness.com and let me know about your concerns. I take my job seriously and want to continue to provide only the safest, most effective, and affordable products I can find.

Non-GMO Shopping Guide

2010-03-24T00:02:00.001-04:00

I found out about this wonderful resource and wanted to share it with you. A handy guide to help you avoid purchasing genetically modified items. Get your copy here!

Aspartame now being marketed as AminoSweet

2010-02-17T12:04:00.000-05:00

Watch out for aspartame now being marketed under a new name: Amino Sweet. Bad stuff, people! Here is a link to an article about this, and follow this link, click on "What is the E number for Amino Sweet?" to see that it is indeed aspartame.

End of Year Clearance!

2009-12-29T13:13:00.002-05:00

We're clearing off the shelves until we ring the new year in. Come on over and save 15% on your entire purchase! Clickety-click!

Weight Loss Report

2009-11-28T14:10:00.004-05:00

True confession: I did not eat a single piece of pie or dessert for Thanksgiving. I wasn't prepared with healthy alternatives, ran out of time or energy to figure out something new, and although I knew it would be ok if I decided to have a piece of pie, I decided not to. I took some free sniffs, remembered how it would taste, and decided that was good enough. :) I was feeling like a maybe a cold was wanting to come on, and didn't want to push it over the edge by eating sugar. (sugar and white flour lowers our immune systems)

I've lost 30 pounds this year, thanks to not eating sugar, eating a lot more raw foods, and getting into a regular exercise plan. At the start of each year, losing less than a pound a week doesn't sound that impressive, but being at the end of the year and being 30 pounds lighter is mighty nice! I would encourage you to go ahead and start now, taking whatever baby steps you can take to make progress. Focus on losing one pound at a time. That's all. One pound at a time. I've been able to cheer every time one pound went away and never came back. That's been so much more fun than times in the past when I held back from cheers until I lost 5 or 10 pounds or whatever. Every pound counts. That's the truth.

My exercise buddy Kim and I started out doing Leslie Sansone walk-at-home DVDs during the summer when it was too hot to enjoy a walk outside. We started with a 3 mile, and worked up to 4 mile walking workouts. As fall arrived, we started walking outside at a local cemetery, which was nice for a change. Now we're gearing up for re-joining our local fitness center, because we both feel the need to add weight-bearing exercise into our routine, plus feel like we will enjoy doing something new.

I never used to enjoy exercise. It took me a long time to find a combination that would work for me. Being honest about what I was really going to do, and what I really would not do, was a key element in helping me get going. Teaming up with my friend Kim has been extremely valuable in the day-to-day doing of exercise. When she comes to the door, there is no question about whether or not I am going to stop what I'm doing and get busy exercising! Thankfully, Kim and I have done well at being to be honest about when we want to crank it up a notch, or slow it down. That's helped a whole lot too.

Now that I'm getting stronger and seeing the results of my little-by-little, day-by-day, pound-by-pound improvements, getting my body moving is more appealing than ever. I'm seeing new options (kick boxing! pilates! running! stretching!) and thinking that it would be fun to see if I can do those too. Eventually, I plan to give them all a try. :)

Know what? I just inspired myself. I'm going to go get myself re-enrolled at the fitness center and get a workout in this afternoon. Bye!

Making Chocolate Spiders

2009-11-14T10:29:00.004-05:00

This year we decided to have a "healthy Halloween" party at our house, instead of going to someplace that was having lots of sugary items to eat. It was a HUGE success. My kids loved it, and so did our guests. This is the demo video I made when attempting to make healthy chocolate spiders. It didn't turn out quite as expected, but I still thought the video was worth sharing. :)

Recipe for this healthy chocolate:

1/8 cup raw coconut oil (liquid form)
1/4 cup raw coconut butter (artisana brand)
1/2 cup raw cacao powder, or you could also use cocoa powder or carob powder
1/4 cup honey, agave, or yacon
1/4 cup water or nut milk (or other milk, if you aren't trying to go all-raw)

You simply blend all of this in the food processor or blender, and then make shapes with it. :) Freeze or chill before eating.

As it turned out, we made these a little too thin, and they were really hard to peel off the parchment paper after they were frozen. Next time I would make the individual chocolates much thicker, possibly using a chocolate mold. Another idea would be to add some coconut, nuts, or dried fruit into the chocolate and pour it into a container, chill, and then cut into small squares like fudge. The taste is AMAZING! Even though they didn't keep their shape after we peeled them, we had no trouble finding takers for eating the parts. :)

Interview with my son, and Raw Caramel Dip--YUMMY!

2009-11-14T08:49:00.002-05:00

One point I'd like to add to what we talked about in this video: I am not saying that you can't live your purpose in life if you are not perfectly healthy. I believe that God uses us no matter what. What we're referring to in the video is how difficult our lives can be if we do not take good care of ourselves, and create a situation where we are unable to do the things we are meant to do.

Here's the recipe for the awesome Caramel Dip:

1 cup pitted dates, soaked in pure water for about an hour
1/4-1/2 cup almond milk, or other milk or milk alternative of your choice
1 teaspoon raw coconut oil (in liquid form)
dash sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Drain off the water from the dates, the mix all of the ingredients in your blender, vita mix, or food processor until smooth. Start with a smaller amount of milk, and add just enough to get the consistency you want. Then use as a dip for apple slices, or even drizzle it over cereal or other treats! Store leftovers in the fridge. Very easy and yummy!

*the trickiest part of this recipe is that a single batch of it isn't that much, so it may be a small enough quantity that it isn't touched very much by the blades of your food processor. I experimented with several kitchen gadgets, and my best results came when I doubled the recipe and used my food processor. Then the quantity was enough that it was mixed well by the blades. You may have to try a couple different kitchen tools to see what works best for you. :)

Finally, a natural product to help diabetics!

2009-11-07T11:08:00.003-05:00

I was delighted to find out about this excellent product that has been proven to greatly help type two diabetics as well as others struggling to maintain healthy blood sugar levels. Depsyl is an herbal blend that does a great job of stabilizing glucose levels, as well as reducing cravings for the foods that tends to cause blood sugar problems.

You can read all about the ingredients and the way it works here. Soon I'll have an informative video that'll show you more, that includes testimonials from people that have been helped by this product!

I expect it to be ready to ship by Nov. 15, but you can go ahead and place your order now if you like.

Here is one testimonial:

"Didn’t want to say anything until I had tested for a while but…………
………………….I LOVE DEPSYL!
As you know, I have been playing tennis 3 days a week
and working out with a trainer 3 days a week
but because of work and everything else, I still wasn’t eating properly
so I couldn’t lose any weight.
I remembered what Carol said about how Depsyl calmed her cravings.
As you know, I am a carbaholic.
So when I do get to eat it is usually pasta, pizza, sandwiches, etc.
and I love ice cream and soda.
All things guaranteed to put the pounds on.
Well, I began taking the Depsyl that you gave me.
The first couple of days I took two, twice a day
but that was too much for me
and I think lowered my sugar levels too much since thank God, I’m not diabetic.
So I cut it down to one pill twice a day.
It has now been 2 weeks
and I haven’t had pasta, pizza, sandwiches, ice cream, etc.
because I’m not craving them.
For probably 30 years I’ve eaten those items as a large part of my diet
and never thought I could give them up
without craving them or feeling horrible from a “lack of carb” headache.

I’m a believer!"

Learn more about Depsyl here.

Dreamin' About Meeting

2009-10-27T21:51:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine recently got to meet a famous person that she has wanted to meet for a long time. My conversation with her got me thinking about who I might like to meet, if given a chance. What I quickly realized is that merely meeting someone (famous or otherwise) isn't really a goal of mine. I mean--meet some famous person, shake their hand, and they're gone. What does that do for me?! :) Nothing. I'm a relationship person. I like to get to talk with people, find out what they're into, and see what makes 'em tick. :) Meeting someone quickly wouldn't thrill me, but getting to spend some time with someone interesting would.

So...who would be on my list? Oprah would be interesting to talk to for an extended period of time. Most of the coolest people I know of are real-life people that I am already blessed to get to spend some time with. There are several internet friends that I have not gotten to meet in real life, but would love to.

And that got me thinking of YOU! I love my customers. Honestly, I do! And when I see your name come through again with an order, and I write that little note to you on your packing list, I'm actually thinking of YOU!

Some of you have gone through my class, emailed me with your feedback and questions. Some of you have joined me in the Next Steps group for class graduates, so I've gotten to know you better thanks to the chatter over there. I've even gotten to talk to some of you on the phone, which I've really enjoyed since I get to know you even better!

So, yeah. I think it would be really cool to get to meet you and spend some time with you! What do you think of that?

What I'm dreaming of is a Supermom retreat. It could feature healthy food-making demos and of course tasting, plenty of time for relaxation and chatting with others (so I can get to know you!), and maybe some additional healthy living encouragement from some other wonderful people that share my love for encouraging people toward healthier eating.

What do you think? Would any of you travel to central KY for a retreat? What things would you like to see happen at a gathering like this?

I'd love to hear your ideas.... :)

FREE Gifts with Purchase!

2009-10-26T00:35:00.002-04:00

Hi everybody!

I just wanted to let you know that tonite I was able to add a new selection of FREE gifts with purchase to the store. You can read all about it here. Enjoy!

When Sickness Comes to The Johns House

2009-10-21T07:31:00.002-04:00

So last weekend it hit. The Crud. Saturday afternoon I started feeling junky, then two kids were sniffling and coughing, and then my husband started feeling junky too. We had been exposed to a sick friend a few days before, and her daughter had gone into the hospital with a combination of ailments, including the flu. Oh boy! Here we go! This is what we do when the Creepin Crud comes around:

1-2 Ultra Immune upon waking, plus 1-2 a couple more times during the day. (should be taken on an empty stomach, so I just pop 'em when I think of it and haven't eaten)

Healthy Lemonade: a sweet drink that doesn't work against my immune system! In fact, it boosts it because of the nice pH balance it gives.

Berry Well: 1 tablespoon mixed into the healthy lemonade several times a day. Tastes great and helps fight The Crud.

NO SUGAR, and very limited products with honey or agave. (And no white flour, either!) The more healthy food, the better. Now is not the time to start eating junk. (It sure helps to have healthy food stocked up and easy recipes to make. I went out to buy groceries the first minute I felt well enough to do it, just to be sure we'd be stocked up in case we really went down hard.)

Odorless Garlic This is a new product for me. Garlic is great for fighting off any bad germs, and not dealing with garlic breath for a week is a huge PLUS! The kids take these just like a jelly bean. No problem!

Oscillococcinum is my favorite homeopathic flu remedy. We have used it for years. I had just ordered some on Friday because we had none on hand, so of course it had not yet arrived when we started feeling bad. I was delighted to find it in the Cold/Flu section of Walmart! It is easy to take, helps reduce the severity of symptoms and duration of the flu. You can easily give it to chidren (reduce the dose, of course) as well.

For the kids they take Super Kids, vitamin C, Berry Well, and Vitamin D3. I also used a cough remedy from Herbs for Kids.

I take all of my regular vitamins, of course. (That includes Super Dad, Bee Strong, Glucosamine MSM, Mineral Blast, Aloe Vera, and Vitamin D3)

Even with good nutrition and supplementation, you cannot always avoid illness. (well, maybe some people can. But nobody living at my house is one of them...) We do the best we can with what we have, and throw everything we can at sickness when it dares sneak in the door.

For this time around, we seem to have done relatively well. My two sniffling coughers stopped coughing within a day or two, and the sniffles are greatly reduced. They never stopped running around and playing full time. My husband and I still have some aches and have taken some naps, but in general have still continued to do the laundry, get the groceries, drive kids where they need to go, cook food, do school, etc. so I think we have done pretty well too. I am still not feeling 100% yet, but I am very thankful that we did not get hit really hard this time around. I think that having a ready arsenal of both healthy habits, as well as helpful supplements/remedies makes a huge difference for us. We rarely ever need to take a child to the doctor, and that has been the case for 16 years. (so far this year none of our children has been to the doctor for anything. This is life as usual for us.) I have invested in reference books (and read them!), and a variety of high quality herbal, vitamin, and homeopathic items that have been useful to us. It is very uncommon that we have an illness here that I am not equipped to handle at home. 9 times out of 10, if we do go to the doctor, I know exactly why we're going, and it's to get help in a way that I don't have the ability to do at home.

Knowledge is power. Preparation is also power. Being ready with what you know and what you have can make getting through common illnesses a lot less miserable than it needs to be. (even if that just means you can stay at home and deal with it, instead of shelepping the kids to the doctor's office....)

Tomato Bisque Soup Recipe

2009-10-20T19:00:00.002-04:00

The amount of healthy that this recipe seems to be will vary, depending on your own definition of healthy. For us, this has become a favorite:

Ingredients and Steps:

Finely chop these up in your food processor:
2-4 carrots, finely diced
2 stalks of celery, finely diced
half a large onion, finely diced
1 finely diced parsnip
24 ounces of diced tomatoes

Toss all of the finely chopped items into a soup pot along with:
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh or dried parsley
1 bay leaf
1 quart chicken or veggie broth (get a kind without MSG. Imagine is a good brand.)
6-8 ounces tomato paste

While stirring, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, and let simmer for an hour. (Leave the pot top on)

In a small sauce pan combine on med-high heat:
3/4 cup melted butter (that's three-quarters)
half cup whole wheat flour

Stir with a whisk and let cook for 1 minute. Then whisk it into the main soup pot.

Add:
1 pint whipping cream
salt and pepper to taste

Serve and Enjoy! Sprinkled cheese, chopped parsley, or oyster crackers are nice on top. :)

Ways that I am Dealing with Plastics and BPA

2009-10-20T09:28:00.002-04:00

Concerns about the safety of plastics, particularly those made with BPA, are increasing. This article gives some good ideas for limiting our exposure to this dangerous chemical.

As I understand it so far, when plastics, particularly those with BPA, get hot, toxic chemicals are released into the food or beverage inside the container. Not good!

I wanted to share some of the ways that I am being more careful about limiting my family's exposure to BPA. Most of these are pretty simple and doable for the the average family (I think):

-I use glass canning jars for a lot of food storage needs. With wide mouths and regular, there are only 2 size tops to deal with. I have a cabinet with a nice assortment of quarts, pints, and half pint jars. They work great for most leftovers, and can even go into the freezer. (just be sure to leave a half inch or more of space if freezing liquids in glass jars) You can find jars at most grocery stores. They are extremely versatile and last a long, long time.

-I read that Ziploc brand storage bags are BPA-free, so I am now spending a little extra to get that brand instead of others.

-I no longer put any hot foods into any plastic bag or containers. We only use plastic for dry or cold items. (cereal or pretzels for a car ride snack, leftover applesauce if there are no jars available, etc.)

-For times when I have hot foods that need to be stored in plastic, I first use a glass 9 x 13 pan and flash freeze (or cool) the food, then transfer the frozen food to the plastic bag or container that I like to use.

-We NEVER EVER microwave any kind of plastic. This includes "paper" plates that have a plastic coating on them. And that goes double for any kind of convenience foods that are packaged in plastic, with instructions to microwave the stuff inside the packaging. If you buy stuff like that, just take the food out of the plastic, but it on a ceramic or glass plate, and microwave it as usual. (or cook it on the stove top or in the oven, if you like)

-I never did this, but I know people that do: DO NOT cook your frozen veggies inside the plastic bag. I don't care if it says that it's a "steamer" package--it's not good for you, and plenty easy to just put into a glass or ceramic bowl or casserole dish to cook.

-We never serve hot drinks in any plastic cups, or paper cups coated with plastic.

-The paper plates that I do buy are 100% paper. No plastic ingredients.

-We have some plastic "kid plates" in fun colors that I used to serve dinner to my children on sometimes. I no longer serve any kind of hot or warm food on those, or in any plastic bowls. (we have some Tupperware cereal bowls that are only allowed to be used for cold items now)

-We are looking for stainless steel water bottles for the whole family, but are having trouble finding ones that we are sure don't have any BPA parts. In the meantime, when we do use bottled water, we have made some adjustments: We no longer keep a large pack of bottled water in the car. The heat that builds up in the car is enough to make the water hot, which means the plastic container is getting hot too. And we want to avoid that. Although I realize that it is possible that any bottled water could have gotten hot before we even bought it, when we do buy it, I store it in the house, and we take our bottles out of the fridge before we go someplace. And we try not to leave the bottles sitting in the car if it is getting warm out. Now that cooler weather is here, this will not be as much of an issue for a few months.

-Now that I know that the insides of metal cans (for basically every canned food) is likely to have BPA that will have been heated and leached into the food, I am avoiding canned foods as much as possible. I have been choosing more frozen and fresh items in order to avoid the BPA as much as possible.

-I am choosing to purchase more items that are sold in glass jars instead of plastic. (Bonus: If you don't have many glass storage jars, this is a way that you can start a collection for free! Buy your spaghetti sauce in glass jars and then wash and reuse the jars. Easy!)

Future plans for continuing to increase our level of safety in regards to BPA:

-I plan to buy glass pyrex storage containers for the items that do not fit well in a glass jar. So far what I see is that most of the flatter pyrex containers do use plastic tops, but I would consider that an improvement over some of the options I have on hand right now. (and I would still be careful about not letting hot food come into contact with the plastic lids)

-We will eventually find stainless steel (NOT aluminum) water bottles and invest in them for our whole family. Then we won't be buying so much bottled water while out and about.

-I will continue to move more and more toward fresh, unprocessed foods that do not come packaged in plastic or cans coated with BPA.

What are some ways that YOU are avoiding plastics and BPA?

Cabbage Leaves Instead of Tortillas or Buns!

2009-10-19T14:08:00.001-04:00

I have read a lot of recipes for raw foods that include cabbage leaves in place of tortillas or buns. Back in the summer I took this quick video and these photos to show you how it worked when we tried it out! This is a fairly normal taco meal for us, just exchanging the cabbage leaves for the tortillas. They were nice and crunchy, held in the salsa better than a tortilla, and had a light enough flavor that we all enjoyed it.

Start with a cabbage leaf:

Add a little cheese (if you're a cheese eater):

Black beans:

Some raw nuts:

Add some raw salsa:

Roll it up and eat! (tasting is believing!)

Adding veggies to a regular dinner

2009-10-18T20:55:00.003-04:00

I wanted to share some photos of how I often "green up" and add raw foods to a regular meal. It's simple!

Start with a bed of organic baby spinach or other salad greens:

Add some raw guacamole! (if you have taken my class or own my Super Salads book you should have the recipe)

After cooking brown rice in organic vegetable broth, I added raw pecans to it:

Add it onto the greens and guac:

Added a baked tilapia fillet and some steamed broccoli:

Adding the greens really bulks up the meal and is an easy way to get some "salad" into your diet even if you don't want a traditional salad. :) You can do this!

Super Fudge

2009-10-17T15:02:00.000-04:00

Although I may have shared this recipe before, today I made it and thought of sharing it with you all. :)

In my food processor I combined:

1 cup raw honey
1 cup natural peanut butter
half cup cocoa powder (or carob powder, or cacao powder)
2 cups assorted raw nuts and seeds (if they can be soaked and dried in advance, all the healthier!)
half cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
half cup dried fruit (dates, raisins, etc.)

Mix it all up really well and spread into a 9x13 pan and keep in the fridge. Cut into squares to eat. Yummy!

You can serve the little squares in tiny muffin cups, or even roll into balls and then coat with coconut, ground nuts, etc. for a fun seasonal treat.

Pear Bread Recipe

2009-10-16T14:45:00.004-04:00

Our pear tree had a decent yield this year (unlike our apple trees!) and yesterday was my day to Deal With the Fruit. I had two paper bags full of pears, several of which I am sorry to say had gotten overripe since pears hadn't made it to my top priorities yet. The solution: The nice ones were cored and tossed into the food processor, cores and yukky pears were tossed into glass jars to make vinegar! (I am going to have A LOT of vinegar this year! Did you see the demo videos I posted on how to make your own vinegar? It is super easy!)

One the food processor was full I chopped up the pears, basically making pear sauce. I added some cinnamon and nutmeg and honey to the mix, and froze some of it. The rest was slated for Pear Bread! I made two loaves yesterday (already gone) and two more are in the oven now. I love this recipe since it can be altered to be Banana Bread, Applesauce Bread, Pumpkin Cranberry Bread, or Zucchini Bread! (I'm sure there are other possibilities, too)

Here's the basic recipe:

2 cups whole wheat flour
half cup oil--coconut oil, olive oil, or whatever you have (if you use melted coconut oil, add it last)
half cup honey or agave
1.5 (one and a half) cups pear sauce or variation (see end of recipe for more ideas)
half teaspoon baking soda
half teaspoon sea salt
half teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg (vegans can omit the egg and just add an extra tablespoon of liquid)
3 tablespoons of milk or milk alternative (rice milk, nut milk, etc.)

For the pear bread I usually add about a tablespoon of cinnamon, a half teaspoon of nutmeg, and a little sprinkle of ground cloves. This combination also works well with some of the other variations.

Mix well and pour into a well-greased loaf pan. 325 degrees for 45-60 minutes, or when toothpick comes out clean.

Variations:
3 bananas
1.5 cups apple sauce
1.5 cups pumpkin + 1 cup cranberries (fresh or frozen or dried)
1.5 cups shredded zucchini (or if you are like me and find it not sweet enough, split half and half with bananas or applesauce)

I find that most people really enjoy this bread, healthy eaters and junk food eaters alike. :) Give it a try! It only takes a couple minutes to throw together, makes a nice gift for a special neighbor, helper at church, etc. :)

How to Make Vinegar--Steps 1 and 2

2009-10-09T20:57:00.000-04:00