The Protein Powder I Would Make and Use
This ad and questions I am asked all the time prompted me to write this article. I have written about protein powders before, click here. My advice has not changed.
Do you use protein powder Paula?
Should I be buying and using protein powder?
What is the best protein powder to use, the best base substance the protein comes from?
Answers: No, No, and Real Food.
A protein powder is derived from some food that the protein has been removed from. This creates a concentrated protein.
Let's be mindful around the food we eat. Protein powders are refined food products. The protein has been extracted from the whole food. Why not just eat the whole food? And, how exactly do they, whoever they are, extract the protein? Chemicals? Extreme heat?
Mindfulness: Eat whole food.
The above powder ad says it is made from pea, hemp, chia, potato, and chlorella protein... (keep reading below the picture!)
Instead of Refined Isolated Protein Powder From These Sources, Try this:
- Buy hemp, chia, sunflower, golden flax, pumpkin, and sesame seeds. Organic and raw, of course.
- Measure 1/2 to 2/3 cup of each into a mixing bowl.
- Blend them together well.
- Pour into a wide mouth quart canning jar.
- Use 1 to 2 (or more to your liking) tablespoons in your morning oatmeal, granola, smoothie....
You now have the benefits of a whole food, not just the refined out, isolated protein. You get the healthy fats, the fiber, and all the nutrients that are lost in refining of a whole food into just the protein powder.
Whole foods feed your body cells for:
- healthy cell regeneration
- preventative medicine
- healing medicine
Wapatuli Pie Recipe
I remember Wapatuli Punch Parties from my college days... all too well. A cooler full of fruit juices, fruit chunks, and vodka-rum-whiskey and the party was on a roll.
Call me old but I like my Wapatuli pie better!
When Jake asked me to make him an apple pie I was low on apples. I combined apples, cranberries, blackberries, and blueberries (all local fruit I froze over the summer, apples fresh from Martin's Farm Stand). I chuckled as I was making it as my mind immediately went to college Wapatuli Parties!
Pie Filling:
- 2 large apples cut into bite sized chucks, leave skin on for the nutrients and fiber
- about 1 cup of each berry, add more to have enough to fill your pie plate
- 1/2 cup of sucanat, unrefined sugar
Pie Crust:
- 2/3 cup of a mixed flour blend: quinoa, amaranth, millet (I grind myself in my electric coffee grinder)
- 1/3 cup dark buck wheat flour (why the crust looks so deep brown)
- 1/2 cup each coconut flour and almond flour. I only used these as I was out of the above mix blend and did not feel like grinding more.
- 2/3 cup pasture raised butter
- 1/4 tsp. unrefined sea salt
- 5-6 tbsp. cold milk, the coconut flour soaks up more fluid as I usually use about 2-4 tbsp. cold milk
- extra flour for rolling out crust, I used the buckwheat flour
A whole grain crust is a much tastier way to enjoy pie. It has flavor unlike refined, white flour crust which taste like baked wall paper paste and butter. The butter is its flavor saving grace!
Place all ingredients into a food processor and process until the whole mess rolls into a ball. Cut ball in half and roll into pie crust and make your pie.
Whole grain pie crust can be crumbly. (See picture at bottom. I had to piece together a few patches!) Take time and be gentle with it. I use a cotton mat and a cotton sock cover for my rolling pin. I bought these in a package kit at Evans and White's Hardware in Potsdam.
Put the pie together and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, just until it starts getting bubbly. There is no need to over cook fruit.
Enjoy!
Fun, Easy Food with Lentils and Seasonal Veggies!
1. Start with a tbsp. or two of yummy, grass-fed butter 2. Put an amount of the cooked lentils you are willing to eat
on your plate. (Lentil cooking instructions below.)
3. Add butter to lentils and mix in.
4. Sprinkle curry powder, to taste, over lentils and mix in.
Like so!
5. Then I add raw nuts or seeds of choice. Any nut or seed is yummy: pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, poppy, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, almonds, pine nuts, hazelnuts....
Tonight's taste sensation was slivered almonds and chopped cashews. Yes, I know these are far from local. I figure 85-90% of my food is from local farmers. A little nuts, once in a while, is a delicious indulgence!
I served it with a shredded carrot and purple cabbage salad that I dressed with some raw sauerkraut. Sorry, forgot to take a picture of the salad before I ate it! It was so yummy, I could not wait!
EASY COOKING OF LENTILS:
Boil 1 1/2 cups of water.
Add 1 cup of red lentils.
Bring water back to a simmer, gently.
Keep pot covered, shut off heat, and allow lentils to "steep".
Shred your carrots and cabbage to make your salad. Add shredded beets too for color, healing food, and another sweet taste in the salad. Chunks of chopped apples are fun too!
When you are finished preparing the salad, put the lentil dish together, and enjoy.
THOUGHTS ON SEASONAL FOODS AND SEASONAL EATING:
Eating seasonal foods makes meal preparation easier. When your choices are only what is growing locally, in season now OR what can be stored and eaten over the fall and winter, you save yourself from the tyranny of choices in the supermarket.
When we change our food with the seasons, meal preparation becomes simpler! No more standing in the supermarket, overwhelmed by every fruit and vegetable that grows in every season, from every corner of the Earth, available to us every day. It makes our heads dizzy with what we are supposed to create for a meal tonight and every night this week.
Go with local and seasonal. Your choices each season are slimmed down; planning and cooking becomes easier. The process, including eating, becomes more enjoyable. You will look forward to each season and what new taste sensations the season has to offer.
I also find myself looking forward to the end of seasons: NO MORE asparagus! (But I so look forward to it again next spring!) Funny, I am not certain I would ever get tired of fresh, local strawberries...
I am also ready to say goodbye to "green" salads in the fall and I welcome the hearty taste of cabbage and root vegetable slaws. When spring comes, I crave those green salads again. The cycles of life are a beautiful thing!