Happy (Second) Fourth Birthday
Jake and Ben! :)

My twin boys, Jake and Ben, were due this week, FOUR YEARS AGO! Most of my friends know that my twins were born ten weeks early and survived a deadly syndrome. I always give them extra hugs this week. It's sort of like their second birthday. Another chance for me to appreciate them and thank God for my little miracles. I love this picture of Kev and the boys. My hubby is the REASON they are here. :)

Meal	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Dinner
Lunch
Prep.

Do you plan?

When the girls and I went on our shopping tour, the one thing I personally took from it was making my family's health a PRIORITY! To do this, Angelle advised us to make planning our meals top priority. I decided to make this extremely basic chart. This simple chart has alleviated a lot of stress from my life. In the past, I would pick out 4-5 meals for the week for my grocery list but I would either forget what I planned or I would forget to prep my meal, take out the meat, soak the oats, etc. Sooo now, I made this simple chart and it has been really helpful. I post it in my kitchen and have a visual of what my week should look like. Every Monday night, during 90201 :), I make myself write out my grocery list and my weekly plan. Angelle really encouraged me to not only plan dinner, but plan other meals as well. To be honest, I have not mastered the breakfast/lunch meal planning but am working toward that goal. I feel like the busier our life gets, the more important it is to plan. Do you plan? What is your best strategy? I'd love to know. :) Good luck, moms!!

The boys making our annual holiday popcorn balls.

The kids having fun decorating the Christmas tree.

Holiday Traditions!

As the holidays approach, I always try to come up with family traditions. I love the idea of my kids, when they are all grown, smelling a certain food and having a rush of family memories come back to them. Food brings such comfort and love. My mom and grandmas spent hours in the kitchen over the years, slaving over holiday dinners for our family. They hardly would even sit down...they were so busy rushing around making sure every one had what they needed. They never complained about their food being cold, they were just happy to have us all gathered around the table, enjoying a meal together. If that isn't love, I don't know what is...

I have copied many traditions from friends and families. Here are some of my current food/holiday traditions:

1. Halloween: Homemade Sloppy Joes in the crock pot, stolen with love from my mother-in-law.

2. Thanksgiving Weekend: We make huge batches of Monkey Munch and deliver it to the NICU nurses that have to work on the holiday.

3. Decorating the Christmas tree day: Make popcorn balls. See recipe below. My vision for this is to string popcorn for the tree and have a contest for who can come up with the best tasting popcorn balls.

4. Christmas Eve Dinner: My dad always makes an amazing Pasta Fagioli soup that we eat before dinner. It is wonderful and always makes me think of our family Christmas.

5. Christmas Morning: Monkey bread. My husband always complains that we don't have a lot of junk food in the house but for the holidays, I like to mix it up and make some naughty food for the fam. We all deserve special treats from time to time.

That is all I have come up with so far. I am hoping to come up with something for New Years, Easter and the fourth of July. I know...it is pretty cheesy. I just know how much I enjoyed our family traditions and would love to do the same for my kiddies.

Here is the popcorn ball recipe. I looked high and low for a healthy one. Many of the popcorn ball recipes use corn syrup. This one had all of the favorites and was soooo yummy.

• 1/2 cup honey

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 5 cups hot-air popped popcorn--Be sure NOT to use microwave popcorn. Microwave popcorn has toxic carcinogenic chemicals in the lining of the bag. (Please know I am not telling anyone this to make them paranoid. I am just stating the facts. My opinion is that knowledge is power. The more knowledge we have about the food we eat, the healthier we will be.)
  
• butter for handling

1. Place air-popped popcorn in a large bowl and set aside.

2. In a 2-quart microwave-safe bowl, combine honey, sugar, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of softened organic butter. Microwave for 40 seconds.

3. Pour honey mixture over popcorn and stir to coat with a wooden spoon then set aside to cool.

4. After thoroughly washing your hands first, butter your hands then shape popcorn into balls.

Makes 6 popcorn balls.

Homemade Food Coloring - Healthy and Toxin Free

I really thought it would be fun to dye our popcorn balls Christmas colors but did not want to use food coloring. I found this great site: http://hubpages.com/hub/make-food-coloring that had recipes for homemade/healthy food coloring. I thought this may be helpful with all of the holiday baking coming up. I only posted one example, but check out the site for a bunch of other colors. Here is an excerpt from the article:

"What would the world be like if everything was black and white? Gloomy. Insipid. Lifeless. Probably so. Colors do affect our moods as well as increase our appetite. Look at little children, for example. They tend to enjoy colorful Trix cereal more than boring shredded wheat, and get more excited to taste a bright rainbow cake rather than a simple coconut pie. In fact, adults are like that, too. Imagine two dishes sitting in front of you: one is a salad filled with colorful slices of carrot, apple and lettuce whereas the other is a bowl of dull-green Greek horta. Both are nutritious and tasty, but most of us will probably go with the salad. Why? It looks more appetizing.

An appetizing appearance, however, sometimes comes with a price. One little drop of artificial food coloring can make your plain vanilla icing turn hot pink in a minute, yet it might be ruining your health at the same time. Don't just assume that you're safe because you don't eat multi-color baked goods or candy very often. Synthetic food coloring can also be found in other types of food including sausages, fruit cocktails and even salmon. First, let's take a look at possible dangers of artificial food coloring, reported in recent research studies. And then let's see how we can make our own homemade food coloring and use basic natural ingredients in the kitchen to color our foods.

Beautiful Poisons - Food Dyes to Avoid

NAME	HEALTH RISKS	USAGE
Allura Red AC or Red 17	Asthma, Rhinitis, Cancer, ADHD in children	Snacks, Sauces, Candies and Soft Drinks
Brilliant Blue or Blue 1	Cancer, Tumors and ADHD in Children	Gelatins, Beverages, Icings, Syrups and Candies
Erythrosine or Red 3	Thyroid Tumors and Chromosomal Damage	Baked goods, Candies, Popsicles and Condiments
Fast Green or Green 3	Allergies, Tumors and Mutagenic Effects	Baked Goods, Gelatins, Sauces, Icings, Vegetables
Orange B	Allergies, Kidney Damage and ADHD in Children	Sausages and Hot Dogs
Sunset Yellow or Yellow 6	Adrenal Gland and Kidney Tumors	Baked Goods, Sausages, Gelatins
TarTrazine or Yellow 5	Asthmatic Attacks, Migraines, ADHD in Children, Blurred Vision and Anxiety	Snacks, Cereals, Jams, Instant Noodles, Cake Mixes and Candies

Here is one of the several examples she posted:

Make Purple Food Coloring from Red Cabbage

To make purple food coloring, all you need is one half of a big red-cabbage head. First, chop cabbage into big chunks and put them into a pot of boiling water. The amount of water should be just enough to cover the cabbage. After about an hour, the cabbage should lose its color while the water should turn dark purple. Remove from heat and let cool. Once it is completely cool, discard the cabbage (I saved mine to put in soup or stew). To illustrate the effectiveness of this homemade purple colorant, I used it to make purple steamed rice, by simply replacing water with this natural food dye and then letting the rice cooker do the rest of the job. My steamed rice came out gorgeously purple and didn't smell too much like boiled cabbage. I named it "Riso Purpuraceous."

My "Riso Purpuraceous"

Red Cabbage and Its Cancer-Fighting Nutrients

Anthocyanins or cancer-fighting compounds, which give blue and purple fruits their antioxidant power, are also found abundantly in red cabbage. According to recent research by scientists at the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS), red cabbage contains 36 types of anthocyanins that can help prevent cancer, improve cardiovascular health and promote brain function. One cup of boiled red cabbage delivers approximately 4,700 ORAC units (oxygen radical absorbency capacity, the measure of antioxidant power), which is about 50% higher than the minimum amount of antioxidants recommended per day.

In addition, red cabbage is also rich in indole-3-carbinole (I3C), a type of phytochemical that can reduce the risk of breast cancer. It is thus a vegetable women should adopt into their regular diets. Other cancer-fighting nutrients in red cabbage include vitamin A, vitamin C and glucosinolates, which together help battle free radicals and stimulate the body's own natural detoxification enzymes. No wonder many detox recipes use red cabbage as one of the main ingredients."

BAD HAIR DAY

My friend Corey told me that her and her husband fight over who's turn it is to get their girl's out of their beds in the morning. I couldn't agree more...it is one of life's most precious moments. There is nothing sweeter then a baby's sleep face, wild hair and cute little smile that appears as they see their parent enter the room for the first time. Babies are a true example of unconditional love. Don't you wish everyone greeted you like your baby? Wouldn't it be nice if the crabby lady at work was as happy to see you as your sweet little baby??? Life would be so much nicer if we all had a baby's happy, care-free demeanor. :)

Salt is so GOOD!

Celtic Sea Salt is on my “Must Have” grocery list. One of the most interesting things I’ve learned in the last year is about the health benefits of Salt. In October, I went to a presentation by Dr. David Brownstein called “Salt Your Way to Good Health.” The presentation advised people to throw away their table salt, which is just sodium chloride and switch to Unrefined Celtic Sea Salt which is loaded with 180 trace minerals lacking in the American diet.

Government regulations currently advise people to limit salt. Dr. Brownstein totally disagrees. The regulations are advising people to limit refined table salt, which in fact is not healthy. Unrefined Sea Salt is healthy. A book I am currently reading also backs up Dr. Brownstein’s research. The book Real Food: The Fertility Diet by Nina Plank talks about how important it is for everyone to have unrefined sea salt, especially babies. It is so nutritious. Here are some of my notes from the presentation: (By the way, please excuse my typos and grammatical errors. Grammar is NOT one of my strong points.)

There are Two Types of Salt: Unrefined and Refined

Refined- 2% toxic chemicals, bleaching agents, chlorine, made with high heat, contains aluminum, ammonia, etc. All of these chemicals ensure a long shelf life.

Unrefined- no toxic chemicals, 180 trace minerals.

(NOTE: Sea Salt can be refined. You need to read label. Brand names such as Redmond, Celtic Sea Salt and Himalayan are clean unrefined brands. Morton’s is refined and toxic. Also, kosher salt is refined.)

Your body should have a pH of 7.2. At this level you body is functioning better and is not a breeding ground for disease. Acidity causes your pH to drop. Refined foods (certain salts, breads pasta, cereals) are acidic and lack enzymes, vitamins, and minerals. Unrefined foods that are high in minerals such as the good salts are alkalizing agents in the body. A mineral deficiency leads to a pH deficiency. We should ingest ½ tsp. of unrefined salt a day.

Low Salt/Low Sodium is linked to acidity, cardiovascular disease, poor lipid profiles, and vitamin imbalances. In so many words, Dr. Brownstein basically believes the government wants to keep our country sick, causing chronic conditions that need drugs.

USES FOR SALT:

Detox Soak: Fill your bath with 1 cup of unrefined salt and 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide and it will detox your body of metals. Sometimes people see a black ring around their tub afterwards.

Salt specifically helps Ménière's disease, leg cramps, asthma (first sign of wheezing…drink a glass of water with ¼ t. added)

Ultimately, the human body was designed to require and utilize unrefined salt. Most studies done on salt, use refined salt.

The boys practicing their cooking skills!
Kid-Friendly Brussel Sprouts

Lana Eileen happily tearing my kitchen apart.

Mini Spatulas from Pampered Chef

After Dinner Prep Pics

Dinner Time Blues

Does anyone else find it challenging to make a meal while you have little ones running around your kitchen? I DO!!! Between the boys running around pretending to be Spider man and Little Miss Lana tearing my kitchen cabinets apart...it is a CHALLENGE! Lately, I have tried to get the kids involved in the cooking process. It is much more messy and a lot more work, however the kids absolutely love it. I always tell people, my goal in life is to raise good husbands. I want my boys to know how to cook a healthy meal for their family. Right now, that seems like a big task! HA! :)

I was a Life Management teacher before I decided to stay home with my kids so teaching kids about nutrition and cooking is a true passion of mine. However, it is much more challenging to teach a two and four year old these skills versus a 12 year old. A few things I have the kids help with in the kitchen are:
1. Buying blocks of cheese and letting them grate the cheese
2. Peeling carrots
3. Measuring liquids
4. Mixing
5. Seasoning food
6. Making their own PB&J sandwiches
7. Washing fruit and vegetables at the sink
8. Making pancakes on the griddle. We make a big Micky Mouse pancake and use raisins or chocolate chips for the eyes and nose.
9.Decorate their own pizza. Buy the pre-made dough from Trader Joes and have the kids decorate silly faces with the veggie and meat toppings.
10.We also make fruit and veggie pizzas with cookie dough.
11. Decorate baked goods
12. Have them help layer a lasagna or Mexican casserole.
13. Buy them their own kitchen utensils. Pampered chef has these cute mini spatulas the kids enjoy using.

There is so much you can do and it certainly makes this challenging time, easier...until you have to clean up! :)

I really believe they eat more variety because they are involved in the cooking process. I always encourage them to taste and smell different foods. One night I was chopping onions and Luke wanted to smell them. He got real close, took a big whiff and instantly got tears in his eyes and said "mom, I don't feel good, I need to lay on the couch." It was cute in a sadistic way. :) Anyway, one food I know they like now due to being involved in the cooking process is BRUSSEL SPROUTS! You heard me!! So this is the recipe:

• Wash and cut up a bunch of brussel spouts.

• Coat in olive oil and parmesan cheese.

• Spread out on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

• Sprink with garlic and Celtic sea salt.

• Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. I also like to broil for a few minutes at the end to give them a little crunch.

Another veggie they like now after helping prepare it, is Kale:

• Wash a bunch of kale and pat dry.
• Coat with olive oil.
• Sprinkle with Celtic sea salt and garlic.
• Broil for 2.5 minutes. Watch closely, they burn very quickly.
• We call them green chips. They are a family fav!
  

I attached a few pictures of the kids cooking. I also attached the after pictures. Not pretty!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some days I am just not up for it. But I am always happy when I make the effort to include them. They take so much pride in cooking.

Those Darn Ants!

In light of my cinnamon post, my husband just reminded me of one more use for cinnamon. This summer we had a bad case of ants in our eating area. Instead of tradiational/poisonous ant control methods, we used cinnamon oil. It really worked! I purchased the oil and sprinkled it along the border of the porch area abutting our home. I also added it to a spray bottle and made a cinnamon oil/water mixture, which worked well. I would like to add that I did have to reapply several times throughout the summer, especially after a good rain. It was very effective and safe for the kiddies and animals.

The Power of Cinnamon!

One of my favorite snacks is two Lundberg brown rice cakes topped with peanut butter, apple slices, cinnamon and honey. It tastes like apple pie! It is a great dessert, too. Cinnamon is so nutritious. Read about the health benefits from healthdiaries.com below:

"Studies have shown that just 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon per day can lower LDL cholesterol.

Several studies suggest that cinnamon may have a regulatory effect on blood sugar, making it especially beneficial for people with Type 2 diabetes.

In some studies, cinnamon has shown an amazing ability to stop medication-resistant yeast infections.

In a study published by researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Maryland, cinnamon reduced the proliferation of leukemia and lymphoma cancer cells.

It has an anti-clotting effect on the blood.

In a study at Copenhagen University, patients given half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder combined with one tablespoon of honey every morning before breakfast had significant relief in arthritis pain after one week and could walk without pain within one month.

When added to food, it inhibits bacterial growth and food spoilage, making it a natural food preservative.

One study found that smelling cinnamon boosts cognitive function and memory."

Here are some fun things you can do with cinnamon:

1. Add a cinnamon stick to hot cocoa.

2. When making baby-food, add to fruit and veggie purees.

3. Add to oatmeal, applesauce, or plain yogurt.

4. Add flavor to sugar by placing cinnamon sticks in it. You can make cinnamon -flavored sugar by adding 3 to 4 cinnamon sticks to a pound of sugar and storing it for two weeks in a glass jar.

5. Brew a pot of coffee by adding pieces of cinnamon sticks along with ground coffee.

6. Add cinnamon sticks to bread pudding.

Lead in Crock Pots...Oh Joy!

As you can see from an earlier post, I love my crock pot. However, I may be asking Santa for a new one based on what I have been hearing, from some wise mamas in HMN. Read this article from insightfulnana.com to learn more.

Lead Poisoning and Crock Pots

Crock pots containing lead was the subject of an investigation that started in Salt Lake City with KUTV’s Bill Gephardt. After his investigation about lead in ceramic glazed plates, bowls and mugs and finding high a content of lead in them, his focus turned to ceramic glazed crock pots after a viewer did a little research on her own.

A mom from Weber County, was a frequent user of her crock pot. Her concern about lead poisoning prompted her to take her Rival slow cooker to the county fair, where a booth was doing free lead testing on dishes. What she discovered was her crock pot contain lead. She notified Gephardt about her findings and he took the investigation from there.

Gephardt took several slow cookers to Data Chem lab in Salt Lake City to be tested. He found that 20 percent of the cookers were leaching out measurable amounts of lead into food. When ceramic ware is heated to just 80-degrees, it releases nearly 10-times the amount of lead as a plate at room temperature. (Something to keep in mind when you heat food in the micro-wave on ceramic dishes.) Crock pots can heat up to more than 250-degrees.

Wanting additional findings, Gephardt took a crock pot to chemist Robert Aullman, who preformed the standard test established by the Food and Drug Administration for testing leaching lead. He found that the Rival slow cooker leached lead at .085 parts per million. Anything below 2.0 is considered acceptable by the FDA. (It’s important to note that lead does not leave the body easily. A build up of lead over a period of time is dangerous.)

Mr. Gephardt took his findings to Utah House Rep. Jim Matheson. Congress was looking into a proposed amendment that would force manufactures to put labels on ceramic ware to identify lead content. However, Gephardt’s investigation was reported in 2004 and, so far, no law or amendment has been put into place.

My research in to whether Rival had removed the lead from their crock pots produced conflicting information. I called Rival’s Consumer Services department (1-800-777-5452) and they confirmed that their slow cookers still contain lead. They stated that the level is below the FDA standard for lead in ceramic products.

Upon further investigation, I called Hamilton Beach (1-800-851-8900) and they assured me that their crock pots do not contain any lead or cadmium. (Cadmium is another highly toxic metal associated with zinc ores. Oil paint used by artist’s contain a lot of Cadmium and Zinc…. Cadmium Red…Cadmium Yellow… Zinc White. It’s also found in industries where ore is being processed or smelted. Ceramic can be colored with Cadmium colors.)

It’s been suggested that you can use plastic liners in your crock pot so lead doesn’t leach into your food. I personally don’t recommend doing that because plastics heated to high temperatures leach other kinds of toxins. However, Reynolds claim their liners are made from a high resin nylon which is suitable for high temperature cooking. You’ll have to be the judge on this one.

I don’t use my crock pot often, but when I do, I want to know that the food is completely safe for my family. “So long… Good-bye… Rival crock pot.”

I find it disconcerting that the FDA allows any amount of lead in products if it’s possible to manufacture them with out it. A little of this… and and little of that… here and there can amount to a lot of toxins being ingested by Americans.

I’m not convinced that the FDA always has our best interests in mind. Just look at how many drugs and products are taken off the market that have been found to be harmful… even deadly… after the FDA has put its stamp of approval on them.

Becoming aware, and taking responsibility for our own well-being is the best solution for combating toxic and lead poisoning.

Till Later
Insightful Nana

P.S. The Hamilton Beach 6 Qt. slow cooker runs about $49.99 compared to Rival’s 6 Qt. at $34.99. It looks like Hamilton Beach is a bit more expensive… but what’s $15.00 when you can have a lead free product and peace of mind.