Common Sense Vegucation

• Grow, Buy, & Eat Organic Veggies

• Non-GMO is a must. Look into heritage varieties. GMO foods are hard on the precious and very important gut lining & gut microbiome. Protect yours.

• Gently cook your veggies so vibrant color and a crisp texture remains for your eating pleasure and cell nourishment. Yes, gone are the days of mushy, washed out colored veggies.

• Grow your own? Keep your soil organically, bio-dynamically healthy. Skip the Miracle Gro® and other non-whole food gardening additives. Yes, your soil needs to be lovingly cared for with a whole food mentality. Whole foods & whole food vitamins feed your body’s “soil” best. Only feed the Earth’s soil with whole fertilizers, compost, etc.

• Pull a carrot. Wipe the obvious dirt off. Eat without water washing & scrubbing if your soil is chemical free / toxin free. Soil microbes (think probiotics) are in the soil. If your soil is not chemical free, see suggestion directly above. ^^

• Vibrant Soil = Vibrant Food = Vibrant Body Cells = Vibrant Whole Health

• Prep veggies just before you are going to eat them or cook them. This preserves nutrients. When we cut into veggies, it creates open surface area that will begin oxidation and loss of water soluble vitamins. You want the most vibrant, nutrient dense food going into your body to make those cells squeal with delight.

• If you are steaming or light simmering veggies (remember, NO mush)? Use as little water as possible to retain nutrients in the food. Drain the cooking / steaming water into a mug, let coking water cool, & then drink. No more pouring nutrients down the drain. Don’t want to drink it? Save it for your house plant watering. Their soil needs nutrition too.

Suggestions for Adding Veggies to Your Life In Ways You Can Love Them

1.  Be adventurous, try new vegetables you have never cooked or tasted before.  There are so many more than the tried and true potatoes, carrots, lettuce, and broccoli. Remember: cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes are really fruit.

2.  Find local farm stands, farm markets, and farmers who grow food sustainably.  The food will be far more nutritious and you will be eating local, seasonal produce; not food shipped from thousands of miles away.  Produce loses its nutritional value and vitality the longer it takes to travel to your plate.

3.  Grow your own, even a small raised box or potted vegetables, to enjoy food fresh from the plant.  Plant some berry bushes or maybe a fruit tree or two.

4.  Make the commitment to eat at least 2 to 3 servings per meal and snack on vegetables and fruit when you need a between meal lift.

5.  Make your plate mostly vegetables with high-quality, locally raised, grass-fed protein as the smaller portion on your plate.  Add beans instead of the animal protein for another plant and fiber boost to your diet.

6.  Add shredded carrots, beets, parsnips to your whole food baked goodies.  A beet cake is a fun alternative to the well-loved carrot cake. 

7.  Add beets, carrots, squash, and parsnips to pancakes and waffle batter.  I even add spinach, kale, collards, etc. to my kids’ pancakes.  They used to call these “green” breakfast pancakes Shrek pancakes. 

8. Make scrambled, poached, or fried eggs, beans and greens for breakfast.  Get your eggs locally from a farmer who lets the chickens feed naturally.

9.  Make omelets with lots of vegetables, different than the typical ones put in omelets.  Be creative and adventurous.  Add fresh herbs just before you fold it and shut off the heat. This prevents overcooking delicate herbs.

10.  Make a breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, from naturally raised chickens, and/or refried beans.  Add plenty of vegetables and herbs and roll into a sprouted grain tortilla or a 100% whole grain tortilla. Buy organic so you can avoid genetically modified organisms, GMO’s*.  Also, try rolling the burrito fillings into large leaves of kale, collard, or Swiss chard and really up the veggie intake.

11.  Make vegetable curries for dinner and use the leftovers for lunch or breakfast.  Curried vegetables and beans, eggs, or meat are yummy for any meal.  Think past the typical refined grain breakfasts that most Americans eat: processed cereals and milk, doughnuts and coffee, or toast and juice.  Start putting real food and vegetables into every meal.

12.  Add hardy greens to soups, stews, stir fries: kale, collards, Swiss chard, dandelion greens, beet greens, spinach, arugula, mustard greens, endive, and escarole.  Cut them into small, fine strips to make them more palatable if you are new to eating greens.

13. Make fruit smoothies for breakfast or snacks.  If you avoid dairy, see my recipe on how to make fresh nut and seed milk.  Making your own nut and seed milk avoids the packaged, processed, non-dairy milk.  Remember to “chew” your smoothies.

14.  Buy large carrots and make your own carrot sticks.  Avoid packaged baby carrots.  Most commercially packaged baby carrots are actually large carrots that were less than desirable (rotting), carved into baby carrot shapes and soaked in chemicals to kill microorganisms.  This is not a healthy option

15.  Make “sticks” out of any root veggie that appeals to you, eat them plain, dip into hummus or other whole food spread or dip.  Root vegetables: parsnips, celeriac, turnips, daikon radish, rutabaga, carrots and beets. 

16.  Snack on red pepper halves filled with hummus, yummy!  Or fill them with fresh herbed cottage cheese or herbed egg salad.  Use your imagination.

17.  Make fruit salads with local, seasonal fruits.

18.  Add new vegetables to your raw, green salads that you have never tried in a raw salad.  Try anything.

19.  Skip desserts and eat fresh, local, seasonal fruit.  Off season?  Try local fruit you froze or canned. Try organic frozen fruits.

20.  Make homemade pizza with whole grain crust and load it up with vegetables.  Eat with a salad greens and veggie salad or a shredded root veggie and cabbage salad.  Have that fruit salad for dessert.

21.  In the fall and winter, bake quantities of squash, sweet potatoes, or yams and keep the extra for quick meals and snacks. 

22.  Add extra squash and sweet potatoes to pancake and waffle batter.

23.  Extra squash is also yummy added to “egg nog” smoothies.  I even add cooked beets to get vegetables into my kids.  

24.  Avoid ready-to-eat packaged vegetables and fruits.  Sure they are convenient but once produce is cut up it loses nutrients and starts to decompose faster.  Most pre-cut fruits and vegetables are wet. Wet sealed bags are an easy place for mold to grow.

25.  Skip the “greens” in a salad and make a salad out of all kinds of raw chopped vegetables, grated root vegetables, and shredded cabbages.  Mix it up and use simple oil and vinegar dressing.

26.  Grill veggie chunks on kebabs. Add pineapple chunks for extra flavor.

27.  Roast vegetables in the oven for fall and winter warming dishes.  Try tourlou, a Greek roasted veggie delight.

28.  Make big pots of soups and stews and eat all week.  Think lots of vegetables.

29.  At restaurants: skip the bread (it is refined flour anyhow) and ask for extra vegetables in your salad and as a side dish.  Order pasta dishes without the pasta and have the chef put the pasta sauce on a pile of steamed vegetables instead.  You avoid the refined flour pasta and get the benefits of vegetables.  Skip any flour- based food when you are out and about (crackers, noodles, pasta, bread, desserts, white rice) and opt for extra vegetables instead.

30.  Skip the factory-farmed meat at fast food restaurants (skip the fast food altogether, but if you find yourself with no other option…) eat a salad and baked potato with beans and salsa.  Hopefully there is a salad bar with beans to add some digestive “staying” power to the vegetables.  Protein and fat, balance out the meal, creating greater and longer satisfaction between meals.

31. Use whole grain quinoa, millet, amaranth, teff, or brown rice to make a “pasta” salad.  You will be skipping the actual packaged pasta and using the whole grains instead.  Then add far more vegetables to your whole grains than most people do to the average summertime pasta salads.

32. Grate up all kinds of veggies and use instead of pasta. Quick stir fry grated zucchini or yellow squash and use as pasta. Use an actual spaghetti squash instead of pasta.

Final thoughts:

• Fruits are generally easy for people to add into their diet, vegetables are where people can get stuck.  Avoid Shopper’s Rut (using the ame produce week in & week out).

• Fruits and vegetables make for good cell replication - healthy cell biology.   

• Every step towards healthy, whole food eating creates positive changes in the health of your cells and your whole body. 

* GMOs are genetically modified organisms, in this case genetically modified foods.  These are foods that have had their genetics manipulated in laboratories; they have had extra genes spliced into their genetic material.  Examples are tomatoes with salmon genes spliced into them, supposedly to make the tomato more cold hardy.  While this may make sense on some level to some people; did nature intend for tomatoes to have salmon genes?  I think not.  I will go with nature’s plan.  She seems to know what she is doing.

Sink into the Rhythms of Nature with Sacred Circle Yoga™ Mentorship

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My Best Gluten Free - Grain Free Bread Yet!

UPDATED 9/28/22

Why was this particular loaf so much better? I have made several varieties of the gluten free, 100% whole food flour, bread from various websites. One was too eggy. It had 6 eggs per one loaf of bread. It was more like eating some sort of weird loaf of quiche. Others were too moist and dense. This one I remedied by cutting the eggs to 4, adding lots of extra butter, and using milk.

The top is nice and brown crispy. And it is not doughy in texture. I had a slice warm from the oven and literally slathered in slices of butter. Delicious!

Ingredients  

• 2/3 cup organic buckwheat flour

• 2/3 cup organic quinoa flour

• 2/3 cup organic millet flour

• 2 Tbsp coconut flour

• 1 rounded teaspoon baking soda

• 1 rounded tsp baking powder

• 1/3 cup + a little extra organic Pasture Butter, I am very generous with the butter, and I gently melt it before adding to the batter

• 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar

• 2 TBSP local maple syrup

• 4 local & organic eggs

• 3/4 cup local, organic Goat’s milk

• ½ teaspoon unrefined pink Himalayan salt

Vinegar, Milk, Salt, & Eggs

1. Melt the butter

2. Beat the eggs

3. Mix in melted butter, milk, & maple syrup

4. Mix dry ingredients together

5. Add dry to wet & mix well

6. You will have more of a thick bread batter than a traditional yeasted bread dough

7. Pour into a well buttered bread pan ( I use 8 1/2 L X 4 3/4 W X 2 3/4 D )

8. Bake at 350F for 55 minutes or so until top is crispy brown & loaf pulls away from the bread pan sides

Let cool for 10 minutes and then remove to a plate. Allow to finish cooling.

Slice & use for your favorite sandwiches, toast for a buttery delight, add jam, melt cheese on, spread with hummus / peanut butter / Nuttzo butter… whatever pleases you! Bologna from well raised pigs?? I no longer have a source for such childhood comfort foods. Bummer.

Goat’s Milk Butter

I have one frozen package of Piggery Bologna left… the business has been closed for over a year. I will miss this pasture raised pork bologna when I finally decide to break it out of the freezer and indulge.

Cell - A - Brating Spring Foraging

                                               Clockwise from top:                                                   Dandelion greens, Wild Violet, White Pine, Wild Leek shoots.

It is April 23rd (Happy Earth Day yesterday!) and I am patiently awaiting Dandelion greens, Wild Violet leaves & flowers, and Wild Leeks. I am heading out soon, with my yogurt quart container bucket and trowel, to see if the mighty Spring Leeks have popped up big enough to dig.

It has been a long winter and a hard won Spring for us Waaaay Northern New Yorkers. Today is day 3 of sunshine and no snow floating down. The ground is finally bare, save for a few pockets of the "white stuff" here and there, on the northern sides of trees, hills, etc. 

*After a long winter of heavy foods, our bodies long for light and fresh. Our body cells crave the nourishment from the Wild Ones in our lawns. 

The 4 plants surrounding Mother Earth (image above):

Dandelion is a liver lover. She helps to promote bile flow from the liver into your gall bladder and on into the small intestine. This bile helps digest food, keeps you regular, helps balance gut microbial health, and so - so much more. Bile is a good thing. Dandelions are a good thing too. This Spring: enjoy the greens raw or saute' very-very lightly, eat the yellow flowers, and learn about the root for harvesting and use in fall and winter (Shhhh, forget I said that naughty word).  Dandelion is loaded with chlorophyll and beta-carotenes. 

Wild Violets are Springs gift of flavor, color, and Vitamin C. Our bodies love vitamin C after a long, dark, cold winter. This is why I love citrus fruit by the time February rolls around. No, citrus is not local, but sometimes a girl has got to do things to survive. Vitamin C is a scrub brush for the body, a bit of Spring cleaning for you cells to perk things up, get firey Spring into Summer metabolism revving, and boost the immune system after the cold, dark days.  Feel free to eat the greens and flowers in salads. See below for *sustainable harvest info. Always leave plenty for reseeding and regrowth year after year.

I just read a blog post on Wild Violets and how they are the bad ass weeds of your lawn. (From the post: One of the most difficult weeds to control in the lawn is wild violet.  This native plant may look cute and dainty, especially in the spring when it produces pretty purple flowers. But in reality it is an aggressive weed with an unusual flowering quirk that results in thick mats of leaves that can choke out your lawn.) Yes, I was and am laughing quite loudly. An aggressive weed?! Look out folk, the violets are coming to get you! Seriously people, violets (and dandelions) are pretty color in the sea of green. Who wants a perfectly groomed, institutional like lawn. Nothing like some wild flowers to break up the never ending grass AND violets only grow to a low height... no mowing needed where violets take over. Seems like a win win to me: color, food, no mowing required. 

White Pine: Placed here because I Love White Pines. They are a Tree of Wisdom. Pines are evergreen, like I need to tell you that. Their green-ness all winter long keeps the landscape colorful and is the hope of the Spring green to come. Their needles are high in Vitamin C.  Harvesting to make winter tea (be gentle when you make tea, keep it covered while steeping. See link above.) is a dose of Vitamin C. 

Wild Leeks: I will keep this info quick & simple. I love Leeks. There is much info on Leeks here on my blog, just do a search (Dandelion as well).  These Spring beauties are a gift to digestion, the intestines, the liver, cellular health, and life in general. Eat raw, saute' very gently, add to soups and stews (I add Leeks after the soup or stew is made and the heat is turned off). Just enjoy them, bad breath and all.

Please do so with extreme consciousness of only harvesting what you need for right now's meal. Do not ever over pick - over dig the Leek patch. Go to a different patch for your next meal. I really freak when I see people harvest huge pails of Leeks (or any wild plant) with no regard that they just destroyed the whole patch. Be kind. Take only what you need right now. 

My April 23rd Waiting For The Wild Ones Spring Tonic

• 1 organic lemon
• handful of fresh, organic cilantro
• local, raw honey
• well water (no chlorine or flouride)

1. Juice lemon and place juice in blender. I scrape out the lemon peel with a grapefruit spoon and add to blender.
2. Add 2 cups water to blender. Carefully rinse citrus juicer and add liquid to blender. Do not waste anything.
3. I eat a chunk of the lemon peel. Good nutrients here and anti-cancer antioxidants.
4. Add the handful of cilantro leaves and stems to blender.
5. Add 1-3 tbsp. local, raw honey.
6. Cover and blend to liquidy consistency. 
7. Let settle a minute or two and pour into a quart canning jar. Rinse blender carefully & slowly with gentle low stream of water, from top of blender down, to save every bit of goodness and pour the "cleaning water" into your quart jar. You should have a quart now. If not, fill the quart.  Enjoy.

I do not add ice cubes to the blender in Spring. We are trying to warm digestion as we move into the warmer weather. Iced drinks squelch digestion and contribute to poor digestion, reflux, etc. 

Relaxing by the Raquette, reading a book sipping my Cilantro Lemon Aid, and deeply grateful for the Sunshine of Spring!

*Please harvest very responsibly and never take more than 5-10% of the patch of wild foods. Other beings need to eat. The patch needs to be able to restore itself for sustainability for the next 7 Generations. Nature is not providing just for you. Be kind. Be gentle. Be conservative, caring, and Love the Earth's bounty.

Stinging Nettle Cake

I can't proclaim the brilliant idea for this cake came from me. I confess, I eat nettles in every way possible, even blending up raw in a morning green drink (yes, all green plants come from my lawn). When Debbie Miller of Earth Rythm Wellness in Ogdensburg, NY shared the recipe with me... I think the whole North Country knows I am a Nettle Queen, I thought "Why Not?"  We make carrot cakes, beet cakes, zucchini cakes and breads; nettle cake sounds like a splendid idea to me.

The original recipe came from Kate Hackworthy, a freelance food writer, magazine columnist and blogger who admits to being unashamedly obsessed with vegetables. I don't know her but I like her already! Kate lives in the UK and writes about her veggie obssessions on her blog Veggie Desserts.

The raw nettles about to get blended into a non-stinging cake patter puree, see #7 below.

Here is what I did differently. Come on, don't act shocked. If you know me, you know every recipe gets the Paula Whole Food Makeover.

1. I added pasture raised goat's milk (nope, I don't have goats but I love my farmer and farm family who care for my goats.)
2. I used 4 eggs, yup, from the same loved farmer. Eggs bind things better and I use gluten free flours. No gluten in the flour and things tend to get crumbly, cakes can fall apart. But, the frosting always glues things back together nicely!   ; )
3. I stuck with the 3/4 cup sugar. Surprised? Are you saying: "What? Paula always decreases the sugar?"  Yes, I do but most cake recipes call for 2 cups of sugar that I immediately decrease to 2/3 or 3/4 a cup. Kate, the veggie loving gal from the UK, did this for me!
4. At least 1 tablespoon (3 teaspoons) of real, organic vanilla. Recipe called for 2 teaspoons. I am heavy handed with vanilla and pour right from the bottle into the batter despite what my high school home ec teacher tried to teach me. Sorry Jane.
5. I used 1  1/2 to 1 3/4 cups of gluten free flour not refined, white, wheat flour. This is why my cake will not be so luminous green from the nettles but more of an earthy brown tinted green. I used a blend of oat, quinoa, millet, and amaranth flour that I ground fresh. All organic and the oats are certified gluten free as well.
6. I used a very full, very rounded tablespoon of baking powder not the 2 teaspoons the recipe called for. Gluten free flour is, well gluten free, and can use a 'lil kick in the bran and germ butt to get fluffed up. Do not be mistaken: this cake will not be the light fluffy cakes you are expecting from baking with refined white flour. Will it be yummy: yes it will!
7. Nettles: I easily over did the 2 packed cups. I did not boil them. The nettles are being pureed in the blender and baked in the oven. If the sting can withstand that well then sting away baby! Seriously, just blending the raw nettles into the batter gets rid of the sting. I make pesto with raw nettles all of the time and never have I been stung.
8. I added 1/2 to 3/4 a tsp. of baking soda. Not sure why, just a habit and seems fitting with gluten free flour. (No, I do not used refined gluten free flour mixes of tapioca, potato, and/or white rice flour. Most gluten free flours and products are crap food sources that do not feed cellular health.)
9. For the frosting: I made my customary heavy cream & neufchatel cheese frosting to which I added in the 1/2 lemon's worth of zest and 1/2 lemon's worth of juice (1 tablespoon). I did use a fresh organic lemon for the zest but I saved the juice part for my liver flush am drink and used bottled organic lemon juice. I figured the juice was getting baked at 350 F and would destroy the vitamin C so why not use the fresh lemon juice right now in its raw state? Yes, this is how my mind works all of the time.
10. I used Sucanat unrefined organic sugar not refined white table sugar. 
11. I poured the batter into one 9" round cake pan instead of the two 7" pans. I like to slice cakes in half and toy with the gluten free flours ability to hold up to my kitchen play. The then raw cut surface of the cake soaks up the yummy frosting better. This took 50 minutes of baking at 350 F. I then cracked the oven door about 3-4 inches, shut off the gas, and let it sit there in the warm oven to cool.

The cake batter in a 9" pan looking a bit olive drab green not the bright green of Kate from the UK's cake,                       See # 5  &  # 11 above explaining pan size difference and cake color difference.

OK, Ok, I will quit finger babbling and give you the ingredients and directions.

Into the VitaMix Blender I put:

• 1 cup goat's milk
• 4 eggs
• 2+ packed cups of raw nettle leaves, stems not removed 'cuz I am a nettle rebel
• 3/4 cup sucanat unrefined, organic sugar
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup soft butter  (extra for lubing up the cake pan really well)
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp. organic lemon juice
• 1  3/4 cups gluten free flour: oat, amaranth, quinoa, millet (no refined crap please, see #8 above)
• 1 tbsp. baking powder, aluminum free please, your brain will thank you
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. unrefined sea salt of the pink Himilayan variety

1. Preheat 350 F oven. 
2. Blend into a greenish brown frenzy.
3. Stop 2-3 times to scrape the sides down.
4. Rub that luscious butter all over the insides of the 9" cake pan.
5. Pour cake batter into butter loved pan.
6. Slip into that hot 'ole oven and bake for 50 minutes. 
7. After 50 minutes, slip a knife into the cake to see if it is done, finished, baked to perfection.
8. If so, keep oven cracked 3-4 inches and leave cake on the rack.
9. When cool, frost your 'lil stinging nettle cake with the frosting I use for everything...

Frosting:

• Organic heavy cream, one or two 8 oz containers
• Organic Neufchatel Cheese, one 8 oz package
• 2 - 4 tbsp. dark maple syrup
• Zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice, basically juice from 1/2 lemon

1. Put all ingredients in a mixing bowl and use an electric hand mixer to whip into frosting consistency.
2. You can slice the cake open for 2 layers, if you wish. I suggest proceeding with caution as gluten free cakes can be tricksters.
3. Frost.
4. Let sit for a bit to settle into the flavor melding.
5. Serve with the Blackberries that Kate of the UK suggests, or not.
6. Enjoy. Nettles are amazing nourishing food. Adding them to cake makes sense! 

Voilà: The finished cake!  

Because of the whole grain flours and unrefined sugar (very brown and not white like refined baking ingredients), the cake does not have the luminous green of Kate's of the UK. It was delicous. As with all whole food baked goods I like to tell people to get used to the heavier texture. Unrefined foods mean you have the density of fiber, minerals, vitamins, complex carbohydates, proteins, and fats... not light, fluffy refined and empty calories (cellular health degenerating). Dense food is real food feeding your cellular health. 

Happy Memorial Day!

Be Grateful to All who have given to make your life better.

Need support around finding your personal space of gratitude in this world?  Jenny Morill & I share our new book about creating mindfulness & healing.  We hold sacred space for you.

Bone Broth: What Is the Hype?

Jar one: bones soaking in apple cider vinegar

Jar two: finished bone broth

I originally wrote this for the Potsdam Food Co-op's August 2016 Newsletter.

Perhaps you remember your mom or grandma feeding you chicken soup when you were ill. Most chicken soup, stock, was made with the bones, cartilage, and the hunks of attacked chicken meat. (If you are vegetarian or vegan… don’t bail on me just yet. I have plant based gut healing suggestions as well. Bare with me on this bones thing.)

Animal bone broths have been used for hundreds of years, thousands really, for their nourishment and healing benefits. People inherently knew the healing benefits of the daily food and life choices they made. Modern living somehow now requires scientific proof that what we are doing is worthwhile. Research into the benefits of bone broth is available and plenty to satisfy the scientifically inclined.

After the long soak and simmer to make bone broth (recipe to follow), the resultant gelatinous and slightly fatty liquid contains valuable minerals and nutrients in a form your body can easily absorb, circulate in your bloodstream, and be taken in and used by your body cells. These nutrients include amino acids, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, silicon, sulfur chondroitin, glucosamine, collagen, and a variety of trace minerals and other nutrients.  The gelatin in bone broth supports gut lining health, gut lining healing, and proper digestion.

Bone broth has been proven to help with infection fighting (why Mom and Gram gave you chicken soup when you were sick with the cold and flu). Bone broth contains amino acids that easily nourish the body on the cellular level. L-arginine and L-glutamine are two nourishing amino acids present in bone broth that decrease inflammation in the gut (and whole body inflammation) assisting the immune system in its never ending job of fighting infections and inflammation.  L-glutamine is known for its gut health enhancing properties. L-glutamine helps to heal and seal the lining of the digestive tract, your gut. More L-glutamine information coming up.

Many issues of modern living (antibiotics, hand sanitizers, modern wheat-gluten and dairy, chlorine and fluoride in drinking water, household chemicals, cosmetic chemicals, glyphosphate and other industrial agricultural chemicals… the list is never ending) create inflammation in the gut. An inflamed gut lining creates problems that allow undigested particles of food, chemicals, microbes, etc. to directly enter into the blood stream. This happens because the gut inflammation creates a diseased small intestinal condition medically named increased intestinal permeability.

This dis-ease of the body’s small intestine is more commonly known as Leaky Gut Syndrome. The small intestine has junctions that are very tightly packed together. These tight junctions serve a wonderful purpose by keeping unwanted particles (chemicals, bacteria, viruses…) in the digestive tract to be dealt with and passed out in solid waste OR food digested down to the smallest particles* to be absorbed, circulated, and used for cellular nutrition.

·         *Carbohydrates to simple sugars

·         *Proteins to amino acids

·         *Fats to fatty acids

The issues of modern living, mentioned above, create inflammation that irritates and erodes away at the gut and loosens these tight junctions. When these junctions are loosened all hell breaks loose in the body. The above mentioned substances pass through the now loose junctions directly into the bloodstream. This is not meant to be. The substances are meant to be digested first, cleaned up by the liver, and/or pooped right out of the body. When they slip into the circulation because the junctures are no longer tight to keep them where they belong… your immune system goes postal on them. Antibodies are created to combat these substances that are seen as foreign invaders, antigens. The next time you eat or take in one of these substances, the substance moves into the bloodstream through the loose junctures setting off the immune system (The immune response to this now problem food or substance actually happens before the food even reaches the intestines). This time the immune system has the antibodies ready and war is waged on the substance, the assumed antigen. Over time the body wears down from this cycle of inflammation, gut juncture loosening, seepage of the unwanteds into the blood stream, and a result can be that the body starts attacking itself (auto-immune issues).

Above 2 photos used with permission of Tracy Harrison – http://www.wildlysuccessfulhc.com/  Photo #1 shows tight junctures and loose junctures in a simplistic drawing.  Photo #2 inside of small intestine showing a very blown up view of the thousands of villi covered by millions of micro-villi. These villi are where the junctures exist.

My gut story is a very simplistic explanation meant to assist in the understanding of what in the body is going awry.  An inflamed gut lining contributes to leaky gut syndrome and the resultant food sensitivities and allergies, auto-immune conditions, and many other inflammatory body issues leading to a host of dis-ease. (Dis-Ease being a lack of ease in the body; lack of health.)

L-Glutamine, contained in bone broth, is a gut junction healer. It helps to soothe the inflamed gut and heal the loose junctions back to their tight junctions. Tight junctions are immune and whole body health enhancing.

Now you know some substances and habits that can contribute to leaky gut issues and how bone broth plays a crucial role in the healing of this condition. It is time to tighten up junctions everyone; time to learn how to make bone broth. (Again, I have added vegetarian and vegan suggestions to mimic, as closely as possible, bone broths healing benefits to your gut and body’s health.)

Making Bone Broth: 

By the way… bone broth Cafés are now quite popular in metropolitan areas.

Bone broths are made with fish, chicken, turkey, beef, pork, and lamb bones in water. Different animal bones and tissues have different nutrients and benefits. (Buffalo, venison, rabbit, wild bird bones are fine as well.) Use only bones, cartilage, feet, tails, etc. from pasture raised or wild animals. Never use bones from commercially raised animals (factory farm animals) that are given anti-biotics, hormones, and/or fed genetically modified feed (corn, soy…).  You are what you eat and animals are what they eat. If unhealthy substances were used in the raising of the animals, those substances will be concentrated in the animal bones and body tissues, and therefore concentrated in your finished bone broth.

1.  Put slightly meaty bones, cartilage, feet, tails, etc. (they do not have to be stripped clean of meat) in a sauce pan or big soup pot (if you have a lot of bones) and cover with water, just enough to cover bones well. I break up the bones as best I can and squish them down into the soup pot bottom.

2.  Add a generous tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar (ACV) and cover the pot.  If you are doing a big pot of bone broth use more of the ACV. For estimation purposes I use a heaping tablespoon of ACV for a whole chicken’s pot of bones.

3.  I soak the bones in the vinegar water for at least an overnight and then…

4.  I slow simmer the bones for hours the next day. I gently bring the bone filled pot to a simmer on the stove top.

5.  I then place the pot o’ bones in a pre-heated 220 F oven and leave for 5-6 hours if chicken or fish bones and longer if the harder bones of pork or beef (at least 6-8 hours).  Yes, a crock pot works well.  You could simmer for hours on the stovetop but I find the oven temp is easier to regulate and keep the simmer from boiling away the broth. Cool fall and cold winter days make for extra warmth in the kitchen with the oven going. Slow roast something for dinner to get extra bang for your buck using the oven for so long.

6.  After simmering, I remove the bones with a large slotted spoon.  Use the broth as a soup stock or eat the broth as it is, drink it like a morning or evening cup of tea.  I add a bit of unrefined sea salt to taste.

7.  If making soup, I sauté the veggies and other soup ingredients before adding them to the hot bone broth. This avoids further simmering of the broth.

8.  Toward the end of bone broth simmering you can add herbs** that contribute to the anti-inflammatory effects: turmeric & ginger root, rosemary, thyme, oregano… allow the herbs to gently simmer (that 220 degree oven is hot enough) for an hour if a leaf/flower and simmer for 2 hours if a bark/root/seed.  (Similar information is the making of herbal tea infusions: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/making-herbal-infusions-teas/ )

9.  When I re-warm the broth for sipping I will sometimes add small amounts of marshmallow root powder, slippery elm bark powder, and/or licorice root powder. These herbs are anti-inflammatory and also contribute to the soothing effect; the heal and seal for the gut lining.

10.  Using a large slotted spoon, remove the bones from your finished broth.  

Now what to do with it?

• Put into glass canning jars and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Drink one or two cups daily, gently warmed up, like a tea.
• Use it as soup stock.
• Freeze to use later as bone broth tea or soup stock.

I often keep my bones soaking in the vinegar solution for days or weeks. I keep the bones in a wide mouth canning jar in the fridge. I add bones to this jar until I have enough to justify making bone broth and/or the outside temperature is cool enough to be ok with my long oven usage. With fall and winter just around the corner, sorry dear Co-op friends, it is a good time of the year for long cooking of bone broth.

Enjoy making and sipping bone broth.

**This is part of my vegetarian and vegan friendly information for enhancing your gut health through plant based choices…

Thanks for hanging in there and continuing this read. As a vegetarian or vegan you can cook up vegetable broths that are enhanced with the above herbs.

· Slippery elm, marshmallow, and licorice root have coating and soothing effects on the gut lining. I use them in many ways as bonus gut health foods – teas or the powdered herbs mixed into plain/full fat yogurt with added L-glutamine powder.

·Add red cabbage to your soup as it is a plant based source of L-glutamine. Red Cabbage is considered the densest vegetable form of L-glutamine. Making red cabbage sauerkraut is another great way to use cabbage and create a highly bio-available form of l-glutamine.

·Other sources of L-glutamine to help tighten up those junctions: the highest levels found in grass-fed beef, bison, chicken, and free range eggs. Raw dairy products from grass-fed cows and goats are also very high in L-glutamine.

·Plant sources: almonds, pistachios, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, peanuts and peanut butter are all good sources (peanuts can be disturbing to gut health in people with pre-existing gut issues). Dried lentils, peas, and beans contribute L-glutamine as well. Other vegetables sources include spinach, parsley, and beets.

·It is best if these vegetables are consumed raw or fermented in order to maximize their glutamine content and increase bioavailability. Cooking heat, especially high heat, breaks down the L-glutamine.

·A recipe for using raw, red cabbage in fresh slaws: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/winter-salad/

·Making sauerkraut with red cabbage: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2014/02/04/i-popped-the-cranberry-of-fermentation

Conveniently made for you bone broth in Canton-Potsdam area: 

• Potsdam Food Co-op in Potsdam carries Pacific Organic bone broths, in aseptic packages, on the grocery shelf.
• Nature's Storehouse in Canton carries Bonafide organic beef broth in their meat freezer.

2 websites for further learning about bone broth and healing the gut lining (type "bone broth" or "leaky gut syndrome" into the website's search bar):

·         http://www.mercola.com/

·         https://draxe.com/

Carrot Cake: Grain Free & Cow's "Liquid Lactation" Free :)

                              Read on my friends... recipe is below!

I work with people who have health challenges... sometimes big health challenges:

• auto-immune,
• cancer,
• diabetes, etc.

The ravages of modern living and modern eating raise holy hell with people's bodies creating ongoing inflammation, immune activation, cellular metabolism issues, blood sugar issues, glandular ill health... BUT, people still want an occasional celebratory food to relax into and enjoy.

With above said health challenges; the removal of gluten, grains, and cow's milk dairy (it is a caesin & A1 protein / caesin issue) are imperative (from a functional medicine / natural health perspective) to reduce gut and immune health inflammation and get the healing process rolling.

My son Jakob's birthday is always celebrated twice: once with his summer, Lake Ozonia friends and once with family. Dates and times available never seem to mesh to celebrate with all together.

                    Summer Friend Birthday Celebration: Bridge Jumping, Jake's On The H2O, & Cake

This year I made him the standard, as close to whole food, Oreo® cookie cake that a mom can muster up in the kitchen. I use Newman's Organic creme filled chocolate cookies. It is year # 6 for this cake, making twice yearly for both sons, and I think I have perfected it. 

Now comes the family celebration cake. With health issues to consider, I have opted to make a non-inflammatory cake of Jake's 2nd favorite option... carrot cake.  Click carrot cake, back there, for the standard whole food carrot cake recipe. Oh yeah... and enjoy. 

Grain Flour Free, Cow's Milk & Butter Free, Gluten Free BUT Yummy Whole Food Carrot Cake:

• 3 eggs 
• 1 cup buttermilk (I used raw goats milk soured with 1 tbsp. raw apple cider vinegar)
• 3/4 cup organic coconut oil  (melted)
• 3/4 cup sucanat sugar
• 3 tsp. vanilla
• 3 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. unrefined sea salt
• 3/4 cup fresh ground coconut flour
• 1 cup fresh ground almond flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 2-3 tsp. cinnamon 
• 1 tsp. cardamom
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1 rounded TBSP. baking powder
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 1 - 8 oz can pineapple with natural juice, no added sugar (I used the organic canned pineapple from the Coop, it is  a 14 oz can, i used 1/2+.  I will use the whole can the next time I make this yummy cake.)

(All ingredients organic and naturally raised)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

1. Beat eggs, then beat in buttermilk, and coconut oil.  
2. Blend in sugar, vanilla, and spices.
3. Mix in nut flours, b. soda, b. powder, and salt.
4. Shred carrots on a cheese grater and blend into batter.
5. Chop pineapple pieces in blender to a puree and mix into batter.
6. Add 1/2 the can's pineapple juice and mix in well.
7. Use coconut oil to grease two 8" round cake pans, divide batter evenly between two pans
8. Bake for 45 minutes, until cakes is pulling from edge of pans and knife inserted in center comes out clean.
9. Allow to cool until just warm and turn out on cooling racks.  
10. When completely cool, frost the bottom layer, add the top layer, and frost top and sides completely.

Options: You can add the raisins, coconut flakes, and walnuts of the original recipe.

Frosting:

This creates a cow's milk dairy free frosting. Auto-immune conditions benefit from avoiding gluten and cow's milk dairy.

• 2 cups raw unsalted cashews, covered in water and soaked overnight (24 hours is even better)
• 3/4 - 1 cup sheep's milk feta
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tbsp. water (use water from soaking the cashews)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• pinch or two of unrefined sea salt

I soaked 2 cups of organic, raw cashews (I think they were free range?) overnight in a wide mouth 3 cup peanut butter jar. Put the cashews in the jar and just cover with enough water to submerge the nuts. They will swell considerably by AM.

1. Drain cashews. Place in food processor with remaining frosting ingredients.
2. Purée on high. You want all ingredients to blend well together into a creamy consistency.
3. Scrape out of food processor into a bowl and freeze for 30 minutes.
4. Remove from the freezer and fluff with a fork. 
5. Freeze again for 15 minutes. 
6. Fluff up again.
7. Freeze for 15 minutes.
8. Fluff again.
9. Freeze for final 15 minutes.  
10. Fluff very vigorously until frosting becomes light. 
11. Frost your carrot cake.
12. Refrigerate until serving time.