Nourishing Traditions and other Recipes for a Better Health

[freemotion]

Grinding our own flour would be something I would want to do eventually, but there are other changes that need to be done first to get there. If it was just me, no problem, but I have four folks to consider how to bring along for the ride.

Wheat Montana makes great whole wheat products but also white flour, so read the labels. They are not organic, but grow their wheat chemical-free and it is non-GMO. I called before buying in bulk.

You may do better with the family if you start with a sandwich bread recipe and use half whole wheat flour and half white flour. It is not ideal, but will be more palatable to those used to commercial bread. Let them know in advance that the texture will NEVER be what is in the bags in the store because you are attempting to remove all the chemicals and preservatives from their diet.....explain that you will not be attempting to recreate Wonder Bread (insert their favorite brand here!) and that they will have to be patient and develop new tastes.

If you use really good fats, the bread will be more appealing on a subconscious level. You can also use the soaking methods to make the wheat flour component more digestible. The body knows what is good and cravings will eventually develop for real food.

I've had many people over for meals or offered refreshments to visitors over the years. We don't have any white flour in the house, nor do we purchase any products containing white flour. We also avoid veg oils and have completely eliminated hydrogenated oils from our home. What has been VERY interesting to me is the reaction of others. Some don't ask and just eat. Some ask and hesitate to eat. Some ask and refuse certain items ("What! Lard! Oh, no, I can't eat lard!") but usually eventually (I think it really is "always eventually") reach for a small taste.

The end result is the same across the board. EVERYONE ends up eating voraciously, hungrily, filling a need. Some even remark that they can't stop eating and apologize. I smile and encourage them to eat as much as they want, it is a compliment, not rudeness. They go on....and on....and on! I sent some healthy cookies over to a neighbor and he told me later that the kids said they didn't like them....but couldn't stop eating them.

I bet it was the lard...... from our pigs. Very high in fat soluble nutrients that just are not available in today's grocery store except maybe in bison and wild-caught salmon....how many people eat that?

 

[FarmerJamie]

We're good going all whole wheat, we do a lot of 1/2 and 1/2 stuff now, when we do make it (and it's preferred over store breads). With bread I think it's just more a habit not to make homemade bread because of the time. Well, that and we might consume at least a loaf per day of good homemade bread. I need to find something more "rib-sticking" so one slice will suffice instead of 2 or 3.

I'm already there on the lard thing mentally, although because the MIL basically destroyed any trust in that type of cooking for my wife, I have to go slow bringing it into the house. Early in our marriage, we were at the local meat shop and I started to pick up a package of fresh made lard and got an earful. Still working on that stigma that low cost does not necessarily mean low quality.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Something we have found since my DH started baking bread-- we aren't eating as much simply because the bread provides so much satisfaction when you eat it. I think that when people eat lots of a particular food, it's possibly because their bodies are craving a particular nutrient. Our bread is naturally leavened, the flour spends 18 hours soaking in the acidic sourdough liquids, we use organic whole wheat flour and a "texture mix" consisting of Bob's Red Mill 5 grain whole rolled cereal, flax seed, sesame seed, poppy seed, sunflower seed and pumpkin seed. The bread comes out with a marvelous aroma, crunchy crust, and lots of chewing satisfaction. One or, at the most 2 slices and you are full. It's especially ambrosial spread with some goat milk farmers cheese and elderberry jelly!

Care to share the bread recipe?

x2

 

[moolie]

As far as anyone "hijacking" the thread, it doesn't bother me - sometimes it the journey, not the destination.

I'm looking for some interesting discussion and knowledge sharing.

The "hamburger helper" comments really ring true with me, because we got busy with life and fell into that meal-from-a-box approach as the kids got busy outside the home. I'm trying to rein that back in.


Grinding our own flour would be something I would want to do eventually, but there are other changes that need to be done first to get there. If it was just me, no problem, but I have four folks to consider how to bring along for the ride.

Please, please, don't hold back on the discussion.

You may be sorry for encouraging me, because I can type for miles...

If you don't mind me asking, what kinds of "other changes that need to be done first to get there" are you thinking of? Is it the change of mind set from what is generally acknowledged as "healthy"? I certainly don't have all the answers, and I don't want to pry or get personal, but it helps to effect change if one can identify the problem/s, the goal/s, and how quickly one wants to progress along the path to the solution/s.

Someone mentioned margarine vs. butter above--we never used margarine simply because both hubs and I grew up on butter and he hates the taste of margarine--it tastes plastic and machined to him. Do a taste test with your family, which do they prefer? Most recent mainstream research indicates that butter is better anyway--just scare them with the words "trans fats" and you can also appeal to the economics of the matter--most "healthy margarines" are mostly salty water with a bit of oil. And that oil is processed chemically in a very unnatural manner. Why pay good money for watered down food?

If you are already baking bread and your family prefers home made, you are well on your way in that department. The grinding your own only takes a few extra minutes, but adds so much nutrition. Source out fresh and organic to start with if you just don't have the time though and work towards it if it's a goal for you, but it doesn't have to be if you can get good flour. If you are a bread pro, move into the sour doughs and different types of bread like pita and tortillas for variety. I love to make scones, muffins, and waffles and freeze them for my kids to have easy breakfasts on rushed mornings (my 15-yo daughter needs to be at school at 7:30am on Fridays because she is in the Journalism class at her school and that is her team's day to prepare the daily "school announcements" broadcast).

If you have pre/teens that are concerned about ensuring they eat "low fat", talk to them about their fears in a non-threatening way. Guide them with logic, "who's fatter, people today or the pioneers/native indians? What do/did these groups of people eat? What's the role of work/exercise in health?" etc. I'm fortunate that my now 15-yo daughter did a science fair experiment in the 5th grade about nutrition so she's always been on-side with how we eat. Besides which, she loves real home made food. When we go on holiday she misses home cooking (well, both my kids do) and the kids hate restaurant food after about 3 days. Comforting food goes a long way to making people happy

When it comes to "meal in a box" type dinners, they are really easy to "make healthy from scratch". I do a modified version of this thing called "once-a-month cooking", where I put together a whole bunch of dinners and freeze them ready to bake from frozen. The books and websites on this topic want you to freeze everything in ziploc freezer bags and dump the food into a casserole dish on cooking day, but I tend to freeze most of the dishes in pyrex with the rubbery plastic lids and freeze them that way. I do use the bags if I'm out of dishes, but I don't like to.

I do meatloaf, meatballs (plain and with marinara sauce), chicken pieces with various sauces, pork chops with various sauces, pasta dishes like lasagne, perogies, stews and soups etc.

I'm not exactly sure what hamburger helper (just as a name-brand example) turns out like, but from the tv adverts I assume that it's a hamburger based casserole with rice or noodles and sauce? Easy to do from scratch and freeze up several different styles of casserole: brown your meat with lots of onions, celery and garlic (and if your kids don't like veggies you can also buzz zucchini or squash, carrots, green & red peppers etc. in the food processor and add in so they don't notice all the small pieces) and then go to town with your sauce--make up a sauce recipe you like (marinara, curry, sweet & sour, stroganoff etc.) and make those up, then stir it all together and freeze.

You can either cook the pasta the same day and leave it a bit al dente and stir it into the casserole after draining and freeze it all as one dish, or cook up the pasta while the casserole heats in the oven and then stir it all together fresh before serving.

You can prep up several beef meals on the same day, chuck them in the freezer, and then move on to chicken/pork/lamb whatever. You can do one meat one weekend, and something else the next, or you can just cook extra when you make something like this fresh for dinner and chuck that into the freezer (this doesn't work for my family as we end up putting it into the fridge to cool before freezing, then we eat it a couple of days later instead of it making it into the freezer.

Doing your "convenience" meals this way ensures that you are in total control of what's in the dishes you eat It does take time, however, so you need to build that into your schedule. If your wife does most of the cooking and you also enjoy cooking (you seem to enjoy canning so I assume you are no slouch in the kitchen), offer to try this out one weekend--either as your solo effort or for some "togetherness" time in the kitchen. There are actual cookbooks on the subject, I have Once-a-Month Cooking Family Favourites and The Big Cook as well as a couple of old 1960s Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks and 2 1960s English cookbooks by Audrey about freezing (one is titled Complete Book of Home Freezing, can't lay my hands on the other at the moment) and my public library has lots more on the subject of freezer meals.

I find the older the cookbook, the more "real" the ingredients. I'm a mid-century aficionado and love old Better Homes and Gardens books from the 50s and 60s, but often even these have some "convenience" methods like using a can of condensed soup in lieu of making a proper sauce, but proper sauces are some of the simplest cooking around so no biggie to just follow a recipe for those.

 

[abifae]

Moolie, I love the once a month cooking too!!!! I actually do once a week and freeze the leftovers and slowly gather a bigger stock of freezer meals.

 

[FarmerJamie]

You may be sorry for encouraging me, because I can type for miles...

If you don't mind me asking, what kinds of "other changes that need to be done first to get there" are you thinking of? Is it the change of mind set from what is generally acknowledged as "healthy"? I certainly don't have all the answers, and I don't want to pry or get personal, but it helps to effect change if one can identify the problem/s, the goal/s, and how quickly one wants to progress along the path to the solution/s.

No worries, I've been known for talking too long, too.

Things that need to change, in no particular order
- less pickiness from the DDs when it comes to food. I made potato cheese soup tonight that had in it *GASP* CELERY. I must be some kind of monster.
- better time overall management (before WannaBeFree chimes in I'll just myself).
- reduced grazing between meals, even with healthy choices
- we do make meals and stuff in advance, which is good, but see time management
- I am getting the kids involved in more real cooking, needs to improve more
- better food choices - this next batch of meaties, I'd like to try to make my own breaded chicken patties
- we have ton of old cookbooks, I try to sneak in one recipe each month.

We've tried monthly meal planning, weekly meal planning, "you pick the menu" nights, I live with a bunch of "free spirits" who don't tolerate structure very well or for very long when it comes to meals

 

[moolie]

You may be sorry for encouraging me, because I can type for miles...

If you don't mind me asking, what kinds of "other changes that need to be done first to get there" are you thinking of? Is it the change of mind set from what is generally acknowledged as "healthy"? I certainly don't have all the answers, and I don't want to pry or get personal, but it helps to effect change if one can identify the problem/s, the goal/s, and how quickly one wants to progress along the path to the solution/s.

No worries, I've been known for talking too long, too.

Things that need to change, in no particular order
- less pickiness from the DDs when it comes to food. I made potato cheese soup tonight that had in it *GASP* CELERY. I must be some kind of monster.
- better time overall management (before WannaBeFree chimes in I'll just myself).
- reduced grazing between meals, even with healthy choices
- we do make meals and stuff in advance, which is good, but see time management
- I am getting the kids involved in more real cooking, needs to improve more
- better food choices - this next batch of meaties, I'd like to try to make my own breaded chicken patties
- we have ton of old cookbooks, I try to sneak in one recipe each month.

We've tried monthly meal planning, weekly meal planning, "you pick the menu" nights, I live with a bunch of "free spirits" who don't tolerate structure very well or for very long when it comes to meals

LOL, you Monster you!

Sounds like you are a totally normal family, really. (Well, my daughter says that "normal" is only a setting on the washing machine and that everyone is weird, but whatever...)

My girls each have their pet food issues as well, oldest doesn't like green beans or peas and youngest doesn't like cheese (except for Gouda, and it's got to be cold for her to have a slice). And hubs can't eat tomatoes unless they've been completely cooked down into sauce or ketchup--cooked chunks get pushed to the side of the plate and he won't go near a fresh one (although he likes the smell of the plants).

Use that food processor, slap-chop, whatever you've got that can render the offensive veggies unrecognizable and go to town with it

Time management? I've attempted a little time wrangling here and there, always got bucked off. For myself, I have to set deadlines for certain things--everyone else is on their own and needs to keep track of their own stuff. So I'm no help there.

Grazing between meals may or may not be a good thing. We're supposed to eat when we're hungry, 5-6 times per day, rather than 3 squares. I was really good at it when my kids were little and only ate small amounts, but we've moved squarely into breakfast, lunch and dinner since they've been in school. The kids eat a snack after school (kefir frozen berry smoothie, piece of fruit, peanut butter toast...) but I'm often in the midst of dinner preps and forget to eat a snack myself. Then I wonder why I'm really hungry by the time I get dinner on the table...

Good that you have some meals prepped up ahead, even if it's intermittent. I'm not super regular, but there's usually something in the freezer (or pressure canned in jars in the pantry) that can be on the table in half an hour or so. Do you have a pressure canner? We keep beans, meat (ground beef makes it simple to whip up a tomato meat sauce for pasta, chicken or beef chunks make for easy casseroles), soups, stews, and chili ready to go--just a canner load at at time really helps. Then all we need is salad and bread. But there are those who would cringe at my use of my Mom's hand-me-down pressure canner because it's not very NT

And getting your kids cooking is awesome. Mine love it too.

I'm thinking the breaded chicken isn't very NT either, but do whatcha gotta do there

 

[moolie]

(Ok, I had smilies in that post and they didn't come through for some weird reason?)

 

[FarmerJamie]

Good that you have some meals prepped up ahead, even if it's intermittent. I'm not super regular, but there's usually something in the freezer (or pressure canned in jars in the pantry) that can be on the table in half an hour or so. Do you have a pressure canner? We keep beans, meat (ground beef makes it simple to whip up a tomato meat sauce for pasta, chicken or beef chunks make for easy casseroles), soups, stews, and chili ready to go--just a canner load at at time really helps. Then all we need is salad and bread. But there are those who would cringe at my use of my Mom's hand-me-down pressure canner because it's not very NT

And getting your kids cooking is awesome. Mine love it too.

I'm thinking the breaded chicken isn't very NT either, but do whatcha gotta do there

Do I have a pressure canner? I have canned around 300 jars of stuff (the picture on the header of the site is our pantry from last year. ) I love a cold February weekend making chili from the stuff we've canned.

Too much stuff not NT, eh? Maybe I should send the book back?

 

[moolie]

I knew you liked to can... but header to the site? I see Rebbetzin's adorable goats on holiday up there? Am I missing something?

Don't send back the book, there is good stuff in there. You just gotta read it, read between the lines, follow up on what you've read and research it further, and decide what is right for you/your family. As with any book