I love a good Blog - cookusinteruptus.com

I stumbled upon this blog on one of my many message boards. It is written by Cynthia Lair...here is her bio and the link. (She has an amazing recipe for cooking Kale!)


http://cookusinterruptus.com/index.php?video_id=25
Cynthia Lair (Cynthia Lair) - Author, faculty member (Bastyr and UW), speaker,
actress, improv artist.

Cynthia is a fresh local organic nutrition educator and cookbook author. She
lives with her husband of 25 years, Steve. Shortly before the economical crisis
he decided to cut the umbilical paycheck and go free-lance. Their daughter
Jane, has moved back into the nest with her 5-year-old son Joaquin in tow. She
doesn't have a job yet but dreams of her band making it big. Or maybe just
getting a catering job. Keeps things lively. Recently Steve's dad, Ward, came
for a visit. He doesn't like to be alone and his wife Doris seems to be on an
extended vacation. We're not sure where Steve's friend Darrell lives. At least
he can fix things.

So without a steady stream of income and more mouths to feed, Cynthia agreed to
do a web cooking show in her home. Family life proceeds as usual during
shooting, sometimes Steve, Jane, Ward or Darrell pitch in but mostly they
interrupt. There's not much money in the mattress (or the 401K) but we're
saving the world, one recipe at a time. And around the house, both the plot and
the sauce thicken.
------------------------
"This is a really silly, but totally informative cooking show online from
Cynthia Lair, the author of a great cookbook, Feeding the Whole Family . "How to
cook fresh local organic whole foods despite lifes interruptions " is exactly
what I need! The short instructional videos are fun (and funny!) and the food
quickly comes together while life happens around Cynthia, her "husband," Steve
and their "daughter," Jane. She provides full meal menus on the website, both
meat and vegetarian options, and I know from her cookbook that they will be
healthy AND full of flavor." -from Dawn at The Sustainable Table

http://cookusinterruptus.com/index.php?video_id=25

Whats4Eats

Thank you, Angie (of Angie's Cultured Veggies) for sharing this wonderful website. The first page reads: "Whats4Eats is a celebration of the various cuisines of the world. Cook your favorite ethnic foods with recipes from Algeria to Vietnam. Searchable by cuisine, recipe name, ingredient or method."

Ha, it even has a category for "Comfort Foods". Click this link and have fun, fun, fun.

http://www.whats4eats.com/

Below is Angie's email to me about the site.

Cynthia,

Dr. Price would have liked this! Here’s the link to the site I told you about. It’s done by a chef that has traveled the world. You can search by region, country, culture, meal time, holiday…you name it! This is an awesome tool for homeschooling - we can make meals to coordinate with our history and geography lessons! There are interesting things to learn and try here no matter what our ages or educational status…

I’m imagining an WAPF chapter international meal party – as long as everyone makes their dishes traditionally nourishing, of course!

Bon Appetit!

Angie

http://www.welcomehomefamilies.com

Joel Salatin on global warming

Several years ago I engaged Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm to give a talk to the area WAPF Chapters. His talk was titled "Heal the planet by healing your plate".

Recently he spoke at a college and is still singing the same song. I wanted to share this with all you meat lovers so you can have the verbiage to respond to the "Red meat is destroying the planet" articles out in the world.

“Every bit of the alleged science linking methane and cows to global warming is based on annual cropping, feedlots and herbivore abuse. It all crumbles if the production model becomes like our mob-stocking-herbivorous-solar-conversion-lignified-carbon-sequestration fertilization. America has traded 73 million bison requiring no petroleum, machinery or fertilizer for 45 million beef cattle, and we think we’re efficient. At Polyface, we practice biomimicry and have returned to those lush, high organic matter production models of the native herbivores. If every cow producer in the country would use this model, in less than 10 years we would sequester all the carbon that’s been emitted since the beginning of the industrial age.”

Stop and think about that for a moment: Raising beef cattle with biomimicry can stop global warming in its tracks almost singlehandedly.

Yet another reason to support our small farmers and avoid at all costs animal products from CFO's (Confinement Feeding Operations)

(Quotes copied from http://localnourishment.com/2009/10/29/what-joel-salatin-said/)

Cultured Vegetables

How cool is this!? One of my favorite blog writers www.nourishedkitchen.com has put together a free e-book on cultured vegetables. To quote the blog:

Each recipe in Get Cultured focuses on nourishing probiotic, naturally fermented vegetables and all the recipes are dairy-free. I strongly recommend that you purchase a vegetable fermenter (see sources) for these recipes, though mason jars will due in a pinch. Fermentation is an inexact art and variances in the temperature of your home, the weather or the season may yield a quicker or slower fermentation period than outlined in the book, so use your judgment in preparing these wholesome probiotic foods.

And here is the link to the e-book http://issuu.com/nourishedkitchen/docs/getcultured/6

Which one will I start today?

Enjoy and please share your successes with me.

Homemade Laundry Soap

Preston and I love this concoction for it's simplicity, effectiveness and almost "greenness" It sure is a lot kinder to the environment than Tide or the like and works tons better than Seventh Generation and such. Not to mention it is CHEAP to make.

All the ingredients can be found in to laundry soap aisle at the grocery store.

1 Cup Fels Naptha (grated and powdered)
1/2 Cup Washing Soda
1/2 Cup Borax

Use 2 TBS average load or 3 for heavy load

That's it!

You can add a scent if you like when you mix to powder but I find it lovely on its own.

Why protein powders are bad?

The topic of Why protein powders are bad? came up on the WAPF Chapterleaders message board recently. Sally Fallon (president and founder of the WAPF) joined in the discussion with these points. I thought they were worth reading about and wanted to share her concise and knowledgeable information.

Why protein drinks are bad (WAPF 101):

1. High-protein, low fat results in the depletion of fat-soluble
vitamins, particularly vitamin A. Ask Randy Roach, a body builder who became blind
using protein drinks. Filed as top secret in U.S. government files:
People in Guatemala became blind when given skim milk powder as food aide. Also
cause autoimmune problems, fatigue, thyroid problems, cancer, etc. The most
fundamental lesson of traditional cultures: they never ate lean meat.

2. Proteins are very fragile--high temperature processing denatures the
proteins, the body must mount an immune response.

3. Lots of additives, carcinogens formed during processing (nitrates,
etc.) Others added to these powdered mixtures. Tend to be high in MSG (also
formed during processing)

4. Where does the whey come from?? It is the waste product of
conventional cheese making, confinement cows, etc.

These protein powders are not REAL FOOD!!

Traveling with food and how to fry a steak

Preston and I spent last week in our home state of Virginia visiting family (his) and trying to relax. We took a cooler on the airplane with frozen milk, eggs, bacon, chicken soup and ground beef! I am so glad I have figured out how to travel without compromising my diet.

I subscribe to a number of blogs and this week one of them featured how to pan fry grass fed steak. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks like it would make a heck of a good meal. I wanted to share it with you...
http://nourishedkitchen.com/pan-fry-great-steak/

Last night we saw Julia and Julie. What a great movie. SO enjoyable. Makes me what to go through Nourishing Traditions recipe by recipe and make everything in there. When we came home we were starving so I took some cut up chicken, a couple of cups of broth and heated them up. While it was heating I squeezed a lemon in a bowl and whisked in two eggs. After I took the pan off the heat I whipped in the lemon/egg mixture. I created a modified Avgolemono (a classic Greek soup) in just moments. Preston and I ate it with gusto and I felt so strong and healthy afterwards. Nothing like good stock to feed the body and soul.