Nibbles and Bits

BERRY SAUCE AND PUDDING - PALEO STYLE

"What to eat?" has been the big question this week.  The possibilities are endless!  You just have to get creative.  Here is a quick and easy dessert-ish recipe. I actually made it for Lily for breakfast.  She kind of liked it.  Steve, on the other hand, loved it. Give it a whirl and let us know what you think of Berry Sauce and Pudding.

Berry Sauce with Paleo-Friendly Pudding

Source:  Paleo Recipes Cookbook

 

Ingredients:

½ Cup nut flour
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Egg
A bit of cinnamon to taste

1/3 Cup frozen berries

Directions: Combine ingredients all ingredients except the berries in a bowl and mix until they become almost solid. Place the mixture in a skillet and stir it around till full cooked - about 3-5 minutes. Put berries in a blender and blend away to make the sauce. Put the pudding in a bowl and top with berries. 

BETTER THAN LARABARS

Sharon Rayne went on the hunt for a high quality, paleo friendly bar recipe.  She found a great one!  Instead of spending $1.49 - $1.99 per Larabar, whip up a whole pan.  Sharon reported that these tasty treats took 3 minutes to make!  I sampled one this morning and it was delicious!

NotLaraBars  from Eat.Drink.Better.

Makes one brownie pan (ours is about 6×10)

• 1 cup dried fruit of choice (cranberries, blueberries, bananas, apples, cherries, strawberries) home dried in low heat dehydrator is best to remain food integrity.  You want the fruit to remain tender, not crunchy if you’re going to use it in this recipe.
• 1 cup dates (whole- roughly chopped, do not buy prechopped)
• 2/3 cup Raw almonds
• 2/3 cup Raw cashews
• 2 tsp. finely grated citrus zest (lemon, orange, lime)
• 3-4 drops almond extract if desired

Spray or oil pan, set aside.

Place fruit, dates, zest and extract in food processor/blender/Vitamix and process until you have a smooth paste.  Pour into a bowl and set aside.  Pulse nuts in blender until finely chopped but not pureed/mushy.

Combine nuts and paste.  Mix well (fingers work best).  Transfer to prepared pan, smooth and allow to sit until firm.  Store tightly covered in refrigerator, makes about 8 bars.

SUGAR AND ALL ITS FRIENDS

"But mom, there's no sugar listed on the label."  Hmmm... let's take a closer look.  Thanks to food scientists, manufacturers have over 40 different types of sugar derivatives to use in the foods they make for your eating pleasure.  (Manufacturers figured out that the sweeter their products, the more you'll like them, and the more you'll buy.)

Pull a few products out of your refrigerator or pantry and check out the label.  Are any of these ingredients lurking inside?  Is so, you've got sugar's friends: barley malt, beet sugar, brown rice syrup, cane juice, caramel, corn sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, honey, dextrin, dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fructose, fruit concentrate, glucose, hydrolyzed starch, sucrose, invert sugar, maltodextrin, polydextrose, powdered or confectioner's sugar,turinado sugar, organic sugar, organic cane sugar, organic high fructose corn syrup, organic fructose, and others. 

Become familiar with the names of sugar's friends. You wouldn't let your kids hang out with friends you don't know so why would you be okay with mystery ingredients sliding down the throats of you and your family? 

As part of your healthier diet, sugar needs to find a new place to hang out.   

For additional reading about the history of sugar, how its processed and metabloized, click here.

WHAT IS PALEO?

Paleo refers to a way of eating based on the eating patterns of humans living 10,000 years ago during the Paleolithic period.  Our ancestors were hunter-gatherers.  Their survival was dependent on eating off the land. They ate lean meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds.  According to Loren Cordain, the author of The Paleo Diet, "By eating the foods that we are genetically adapted to eat, followers of the Paleo Diet are naturally lean, have acne-free skin, improved athletic performance, and are experiencing relief from numerous metabolic-related and autoimmune diseases.

If you are ready to be leaner, healthier, feel better, and perform better in your CrossFit workouts, then check out The Paleo Diet. Learn how to lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, arthritis, acne, gastrointestinal disease, autoimmune diseases, and more. Dr. Cordain manages a website, sends out a regular newsletter, and has authored several books. This is just another resource for you to get the latest science and practical scientific tips that will lead to optimum health and performance.

DO YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GMO?

Yes, you do.  Genetic Engineering (GE) or Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) is the laboratory process of artificial insertion of genes into the DNA of food crops and animals.  Read that again and think about it.  What that means is that in a lab, food scientists alter natural food.  Once it is altered, it really isn't food anymore or is it?   

Labeling is such that food manufacturers and marketeers don't have to reveal everything related to the use of GMO ingredients in food processing.  Your best bet is to avoid Genetically Modified crops and the products that are made from those crops

Here are a few tips from the Non-GMO Shopping Guide provided by the Center for Safety.

1.  Buy Organic - 100% Organic, Organic, or Made with Organic Ingredients means that these products are not allowed to have any GMO ingredients.

2.  Look for "Non-GMO" Labels - Companies may choose to use the Non-GMO label

3.  Avoid At-Risk Ingredients - Avoid products made with any of the crops that are GM. Most GM products are made from corn, soybeans, canola, and cottonseed.  These four crops are the foundation of most processed foods.  The most common GM ingredients are: corn flour, meal, oil, starch, gluten, and syrup, fructose, dextrose, glucose, modified food starch, soy flour, lecithin, soy protein, isolate, isoflavone, vegetable oil, canola oil, rapeseed oil, and cottonseed oil.

4.  Download a free copy of the Non-GMO Shopping Guide provided by the Center for Safety.  Use it when you shop.  After a few trips to the grocery store, the Farmer's Market, Good Earth, Harris Teeter, and wherever else you shop, you'll know which foods are best for you and your family.

 

EAT FOOD

The Food Dilemma Food Study gets underway tomorrow.  The six-week course is an exploration of the origin of the food we eat and how to improve it.  Below is an excerpt from Michael Pollan's Food Rules, An Eater's Manual:

"Eat Food. These days this is easier said than done, especially when seventeen thousand new products show up in the supermarket each year, all vying for your food dollar.  But most of these items don't deserve to be called food - I call them edible foodlike substances.  They're highly processed concoctions designed by food scientists, consisting mostly of ingredients derived from corn and soy that no normal person keeps in the pantry, and they contain chemical  additives which the human body has not been long acquainted.  Today much of the challenge of eating well comes down to choosing real food and avoiding these industrial novelties."

For the remainder of the week, just eat food!  To learn more, join the Food Dilemma Food Study.  Register on-line or contact Kelley.

FOOD INC MOVIE NIGHT

This Friday night, 7pm, we will show Food Inc.

In the land of plenty, we take pride in our modern industrialized food system.  There is always plenty to eat and relatively speaking, food is affordable.  This attitude has enabled our food system to land in the hands of a few corporations who routinely put profit in front of consumer's health. We are facing health ramifications that are multi-tiered and incredibly alarming.  Even healthy people are at risk due to the complexity of our food system. 

Each of us owes it to ourselves, our children, our families, and our neighbors to learn as much as we can about where our food come from and what we can do to improve its quality and sustainability.

Food Inc. takes a look at what we eat, how its processed, and who we have become as a nation. 

Check out this review.