Chia Seed Pudding?

I bought chia seeds the other day.  I don't know if you've ever seen a chia seed before but they are tiny.  A little research showed that these seeds contain tons of nutrition.  Omega 3 fatty acids are just one of the health benefits.  Some call chia a superfood.  I found that chia seeds are incorporated into food as a thickener in dips, puddings, tossed in to smoothies, etc.  There are many recipes on the net for pudding.  Today I'm going to share a Mock Tapioca Pudding.

Mock Tapioca Pudding

1 cup milk (I used almond milk)

1 tsp. vanilla

10 or so drops of stevia

1/4 cup of chia seeds

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Stir mixture.  Place in fridge for at least one hour.  It doesn't get much easier!

Gluten Free Navajo Tacos

Who doesn't love Navajo Tacos?  I know they are really well received in this house.  I have rarely made them and not at all since the family went on the gluten free diet.  I was looking for an easy bread recipe and came upon this.  Oh, it was heavenly and EVERYONE loved it.  If a good all-purpose flour is needed, check below the recipe.

Gluten-Free Fry Bread
makes 4-6 fry bread, depending on size
2 cups flour
1 egg
2 Tbl vegetable oil (I use olive oil)
1 Tbl baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup powdered milk or powdered milk substitute
3/4 cup warm water
vegetable oil for frying (I use coconut oil)

Pour approx 2″ of oil into a saucepan and heat over medium heat.

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, milk powder until combined. Beat egg, add oil and add to flour mixture. Add 1/2 cup water and stir with a fork, adding the remainder of the water if needed. Dough should be soft and somewhat sticky yet firm enough to hold shape.

Form into tennis ball sized balls and let rest for 5 minutes under wax paper or paper towel.

Drop a small piece into oil to test the heat – it should quickly bubble and turn golden brown within 20 seconds or so.

Pat each ball into flat rounds, approx 6 inches across and drop into the hot oil. Let cook 45-60 seconds and the flip over. Bread is done when it’s golden brown.

Drain on paper towels and enjoy. Sprinkle with powdered sugar for a sweet treat or top and serve as tacos.

All-Purpose Flour

1 cup sorghum flour or brown rice flour
1/2 cup millet flour, almond meal, buckwheat flour, or quinoa flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch, potato starch or corn starch

Doesn't This Look Good

I'm trying to come up with an egg roll that is gluten free.  Many buy rice wrappers for this but I haven't found them yet.  This wrap was made from large cabbage leaves and the egg roll was sauted in coconut oil.  Toothpicks held the egg rolls together.  I thought this was good but next time I will pump up the flavors of the filling! 

Sugar

This video is really good.  It has a really good explanation on how sugar is harmful.

Can Essential Oils help ADHD/Autism?

     Essential oils have been such a blessing in my life and in the life of my family.  I'm not sure when I began using them - I can say that it has been many years.  The wonderful thing about them is that their effects are immediate.  For example, my daugher, Karlyn , was coughing something fierce the other night.  I got out the essential oil blend for coughs and colds and put it on her chest.  In less than a minute she wasn't coughing anymore.  Does cough medicine work in less than a minute?  Not for me.  Essential oils are powerful!  They are the "life blood" of a plant.  They have the ability to help oxygenate and detoxify the body.

     You can imagine that when I found out there was a study done on ADHD and essential oils that I was all over it.  Many have also linked it to help for those with autism and I can see why.  The study was done using three essential oils, Vetiver, Cedarwood, and Lavender.  Vetiver and Cedarwood turned out to be the most effective.  Results were measured by using a T.O.V.A. test administered prior to the study and then again afterwards.  This test measure the impulsivity of the child.  The oils relax the body while stimulating the brain.  The best form of delivery is inhalation.  I put cedarwood and lavender in my diffuser (I am waiting for the Vetiver to be delivered) and watched for results.  I found that my son definitely calmed as he inhaled the essential oils.  I can't wait to see the results of the Vetiver. The study was done for 30 days with the child being exposed to the essential oils 3 times a day and during the night.  I'm going to be doing my own experimentation but already am hopeful with the first results.  

        

Nutritional Yeast Question

I recently had a comment on this blog concerning nutritional yeast.  The poster had heard that nutritional yeast could act like MSG.  MSG is just plain something that we all should avoid.  Maybe at some point I'll post some research on MSG so you can see what I mean.  I found varying points of view on the issue of nutritional yeast and a blog that had some information that summed it all up and had many comments that could help someone make the decision on nutritional yeast for themselves.

Why This Blog?

Why am I blogging about food?  That's a great question.  This blog has 0 - yes zero followers.  I do get some occasional readers and I think I've had 4 comments.  A little pathetic, I know.  Mostly this blog is for me.  I can  write my successes and failures with food, put recipes that I'm trying all in one place, etc.  My secret hope is that maybe others or even one other person will find something helpful and hopeful in what I write here.  Today I want to tell you part of my story.  This story is the reason I feel passionate about nourishing foods.  Not just eating but looking at food as if every bite counted toward health.  The fact is, each bite does count - good or bad.

Why, as mothers (and father too), do we neglect our own health but when needed, we will move heaven and earth to help our children or spouse.  When you think about it, what wouldn't we do for our children?  My story doesn't start with my children and I'm nowhere near the end.  This story won't be for everyone to read.  It gets kind of personal at times and maybe a little TMI but it is what it is.

I had warning signs of health issues very early in my life.  My skin was covered in excema.  If someone with impetigo breathed on me I would break out with it.  I remember a family reunion where I was covered in bandages because impetigo was all over my body.  It just occurred to me that kids must have thought I was a freak growing up!  In the eighth grade I started my journey into womanhood and boy was it rocky.  I had anxiety so bad that it was interfering with my life.  I have always been really active.  Hiking, biking, running, water and snow skiing, soccer, etc. and always slender.  So why was I having such trouble?  I married my awesome hubby pretty young, 18.  I remember telling him that we better not wait to try having kids because I was pretty sure that I had endometriosis.  E ran in both sides of my family and my mom had a really bad experience with it.  Sure enough, we had trouble getting pregnant.  As a matter of fact, we chose adoption over infertility treatments to have our first four beautiful children.  The endometriosis was getting so bad that I was having 1-2 good weeks out of every month.  I predicted that I would have a hysterectomy around age 30.  My anxiety was getting so bad that I started having compulsive thoughts and actions.  I didn't want to live like this but I was only trying hit or miss things to make things better.

I came to a point where I decided to have the hysterectomy.  Nothing worked out for that to happen and I ended up changing my mind.  Thank heavens for that!  My mom started on a new "diet" that eliminated the "whites."  I thought, why not try it.  I thought we were already eating a fairly healthy diet but it wasn't nearly as good as I thought.  I made a really tasty french bread and pizza.  We had the typical mac n cheese, store bought wheat bread, and all the other processed goodies that make up the typical American diet.  Stepping back a bit, I have a son that was having numerous behavioral problems.  He would scream for an hour or more at a time plus a multitude of other things.  We tried a variety of things and then took him to a former nurse who now practiced natural medicine.  She told us he was pre-diabetic and gave us some stuff to take to help with his obvious sugar cravings.  We eliminated sugar from our diets.  So now we had eliminated white flour and sugar plus we added in all types of grains, wheat, spelt, kamut, millet, quinoa, buckwheat, etc.  I was feeling great!  Best I had felt in a long, long, time.

Out of the blue, 17 years into our marriage, I was pregnant.  It was quite a shock.  There could be many explanations to why it happened.  Maybe it was Heavenly Father's timing.  I think it had a lot to do with how good I felt, my endometriosis symptoms fading away, and eating nourishing foods...  To be continued.