Ocean Spray on the boycott list...can't find any others available.

I have discovered something interesting. In Sidney BC if you want cranberry 'berries' the only ones available are packaged and from Ocean Spray. Ocean Spray donated money to fight GMO labelling in California through Proposition 37. I boycott all companies on the list. I wanted to make my own cranberry sauce/relish this year. Next year I will start earlier and source outside of Sidney.

The end of an era...the microwave is leaving us.

I have heard too many horror stories about microwave ovens. I just think they are a bad idea. It took me a while to gently get my husband on board. He has discovered that food tastes better oven warmed. Almost killed myself getting it down off a highish shelf that sits at about six feet. I was at the house alone and no ladder. Wow. That was close. Got the job done though, no worries. That gave me another shelf in this very small kitchen. A place to put some of the glass containers I've been switching everything over to. Isn't that wonderful. I think it looks really cool.

Making my own vanilla. Guess why!



Close up of vanilla beans

 I am in the habit of reading the labels on everything. In my cupboard I have a small bottle of Pure Vanilla Extract. Why read the label? Until someone on a blog was talking about making her own because of the added sugar in her extract. I went to the kitchen, turned my bottle over. SUGAR!! What the hell! As we know, sugar is made of about 50% cane and 50% sugar beets. Sugar beets are a GMO crop. GMO vanilla. Wow. So I have started a couple of batches of my own. Including this bottle. So, 4-6 months from now, I should have enough vanilla extract for the rest of my life. Okay for a couple years anyway.

Apple peeler....tool of the week. Butternut Squash Soup

Best tool bar none for peeling, coring and slicing apples.
$28.50 at Lee Valley

I made an amazing Butternut Squash Soup. My neighbor gave me the recipe. I will get permission to post it. Look at how beautiful the peelings are too. Food is incredible.

A completely unexpected bonus. Weight loss.

When did this healthy eating and food obsession began? It started in 2011 with organic vegetable gardening. My body really appreciated the fresh salads and berries. It is now a complete passion. Doing gardening research I was thrust into the world of GMO's. I started reading everything I could find. I became so horrified by what I was reading and seeing, I decided to get the GMO's out of my diet.  The more I delved into my diet and what I needed to remove, the more I realized that the average person is hard pressed to figure it all out on your own, unless you have a LOT of free time. I probably averaged about five hours a day reading about it. Then came Monsanto and the politics, and the failure of Proposition 37 to pass due to Monsanto and big business buying the vote using lies and scare tactics to win. Then I got mad. Thus the boycott of all the companies who directly or through their parent companies donated money to defeat it. 'It' is a law that would require labeling of GMO's in our food.
So months have passed and I am all but GMO free* and chemical free and for the most part, processed food free.
My weight has been steady within five pounds for almost four years. I weigh myself every few weeks just to keep an eye on things. I got on the scale a couple weeks ago and was shocked to see I had lost five pounds. As of yesterday it was a 7.5 pound loss. I have been eating more food than ever before and if I get hungry...I just eat. And I'm losing weight. I have a heart defect that requires my blood pressure and cholesterol to be lower, so I won't need a valve replacement. I am now looking forward to seeing my cardiologist in the spring, to see how I'm doing.
I am now convinced that what 'they' are saying about High Fructose Corn Syrup could very likely be right on. It is being blamed for the obesity crisis in the US and especially in children because their diets are so high in HFCS. I also believe that GMO's are keeping us fat and sick.
So my weight loss secret. No GMO's and chemicals in my food. No antibiotics and growth hormones in my dairy. The end.

*I cannot say 100% GMO free, because GMO's are blowing everywhere, and the plants all look the same. An organic farmer would not know that GMO's have blown on to his land without DNA testing. At some point we are going to reach the point of no return. I am all for banning them entirely, but now GMO alfalfa has been approved and wheat is next. {It saddens me to be honest}

A basic guideline to start you on your way to healthy eating.

Why Cut Processed Food?

From the blog 100 Days of Real Food:

1. Processed foods are an illusion, often appearing to be healthy (with claims like low fat, low carb, vitamin fortified, no trans fat, contains omega-3s, etc.) when these foods are in fact the very thing making a lot of Americans unhealthy, sick, and fat.
2. Coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer – four of the top ten chronic diseases that kill most of us – “can be traced directly to the industrialization of our food” according to Michael Pollan.
3. Making smarter (and sometimes more expensive) food choices now may reduce your healthcare costs later in life.
4. Why would one want to eat a processed food-like substance that is scientifically designed to never rot?
5. The food industry has proven that it is not very good at seasoning our foods by adding way too much salt, sugar, and/or oil to almost everything.
6. When you eat white bread and other foods made with white flour (which is a highly processed version of wheat) you are basically consuming empty calories with far less nutrition than the whole-wheat or whole grain alternatives.
7. It is estimated that up to 90% of processed foods* in the supermarket contain either a corn or soy ingredient in the form of an additive under a variety of different names. Now how is that for eating variety?
8. Cutting out processed foods could lead you to experience a variety of personal health benefits such as having more energy, losing weight, improving regularity, or just feeling healthier overall.
9. Rather than counting calories, watching fat grams, or reducing carbs for “healthy eating,” simply eat whole foods that, as Michael Pollan puts it, are more the product of nature than “the product of industry.” It certainly is less complicated.
10. It just makes plain old sense to fully understand what you are eating, be able to pronounce everything on the list of ingredients (if there is a list), and know exactly where that food comes from…don’t you think?

For more from 100 days of Real Food

*Statistic courtesy of a food scientist interviewed on the documentary “Food, Inc”

Pumpkin Bran Flax Muffins

Pumpkin Bran Flax Muffins

Mix together:

1 1/2 cups Unbleached White Flour

3/4 cup Flaxseed Meal

3/4 cup oat bran

1 cup Brown Sugar

2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

Stir in:

15 oz Canned Pumpkin

1/2 cup Applesauce

1/2 cup Currants or Dried Cranberries (I used my frozen organic blueberries and a small handful of organic chocolate chips)

1 cup Nuts (I used pecans)

Combine:

3/4 cup Milk

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

Mix the wet ingredients into dry. Stir until moistened, do not over mix. Depending what ou add or change, you may need to add more milk. I use grated apple insted of apple sauce. I have to add 1/2 to 3/4 cup extra sometimes. Sometimes just a titch. you want a very think batter, sith no dry spots. Put mix in oiled muffin tin and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Makes 18 muffins.