But even more important, I sure think I have found a way of eating that will work for me from now on. It solves a lot of problems that I have had with food for a long time.

An online friend posted before-and-after photos of himself after eating in this way since last spring. Those sure caught my attention! I read his comments, and immediately went to Amazon and bought a couple of books.

I happened to already know that humanity became less healthy when we shifted from hunter-gatherers to agriculturalists. My husband reads constantly on the subject of early humanity, and this is well-documented fact.

What I just found out is that there is a whole movement based on eating in a way that reflects how hunter-gatherers ate. Note I said “reflects,” as it isn’t exactly the same for sure.

The key seems to be that grains have not really been all that great for people. I know that they haven’t been for me.

So the two books I got spell out the theory and the practical how-to information. Here is the one I am using as a guide, The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson. It’s pretty radically different, but I am giving it a go. More later!

Click on the image to find out more at Amazon:

This article came from: Eating Like The Earliest Humans at SimpleGreenLiving.com..

So off I went to Amazon.com, where I read reviews and put a couple of things on my wish list. Then I realized I already had something I could use to make ice cream: my old and reliable Vita Mix blender. So I pulled out the manual and did some reading. Pretty soon I was making my first batch. It turned out great, and we’ve had dozens of delicious batches since then. I think it’s better than any ice cream maker because if you do a tiny bit of preparation in advance, you can whip out your home made ice cream literally in about 2 minutes. I frequently do it shortly after dinner when we have guests.

A Vita Mix blender is a larger investment than an ice cream maker, but it does a gazillion other things too… more about that later. Now for how I do this:

1. Beforehand, freeze ice cubes of milk, half and half, soymilk, and/or ice. I keep a couple of trays going in my freezer, most often with low fat milk. Coconut milk is another favorite in our house, and it’s very good for you. I like to thaw the trays a little when I am in the kitchen anyway, and then I put the cubes in plastic bags in the freezer all ready to go. It doesn’t matter if the cubes stick to each other, as you can hit the bag on the counter and they will break apart enough. I fill the trays up again (without washing them) and pop them back in the freezer.

2. Also beforehand, be sure you have the ingredients you will need:
Sugar, honey, or other sweeteners
Vanilla for vanilla ice cream, or chocolate powder for chocolate
Fruit, frozen or fresh

3. When you’re ready for ice cream, put your ingredients in the Vita Mix blender. Here is one of my favorite recipes:
1 cup low-fat milk, refrigerator temperature
2 cups frozen blueberries
2 cups frozen ice cubes, made of milk or whatever I’ve got in the freezer
1/2 cup sugar

4. With the lid on securely, and the tamper in place through the middle of the lid, warn anyone around that you are about to make some very loud noise. (Ice cream machines make a loud noise for maybe 20 minutes! Having pre-frozen ingredients is the secret to this fast process.) Then turn the blender on to high. Keep pushing with the tamper until everything in the container seems to be about the same color and texture, pretty much like a soft-serve ice cream. Spoon into dishes and enjoy. Makes about 4 servings… depending on the people!

You can vary this recipe in any number of ways. The key things to remember are that you want a ratio of 4 parts frozen to 1 part refrigerator temperature, and that the Vita Mix is going to be working very hard so you can’t fill it all the way. If you use less frozen in relation to refrigerator temperature, you end up with a nice thick milkshake. Either enjoy it that way or add more frozen. You can make this as a sorbet by just using ice made from water.

What if you don’t have a Vita Mix blender? DON’T try this with any other blender! Most normal blenders can’t crush ice. There may be some other brands of heavy duty blenders that can, but I’m not familiar with them. I’d suggest you consider getting a Vita Mix blender, sooner or later — the lowest price ones are around $400, but sometimes you can get a great deal at a yard sale or thrift store. We have had ours since 2002, and we use it constantly — for ordinary blender tasks, now for home made ice cream, and also for making peanut butter and grinding wheat berries and other grains for fresh flour.

So we are eating more ice cream, but it is more delicious and healthier (not to mention cheaper) than the store stuff. And the range of exotic flavors we invent is great. Mangos are fabulous. Chocolate-peach was a favorite. You get the idea!

This article came from: How I Make Ice Cream in Two Minutes at SimpleGreenLiving.com..

A variety of beans. Image via Wikipedia

Do you eat beans much? Here are some ways to work them into your meals more, while minimizing their famous side-effect of flatulence. We’re talking here about dried beans such as garbanzos, black beans, pinto beans, and dozens of other varieties. Split peas and lentils, while not technically beans, are related legumes with similar qualities.

First, why would you want to eat more beans? Here are four reasons:

1. Beans can be really delicious when cooked properly. They need to be thoroughly cooked to be most easily digested. They lend themselves to all manner of combinations with other foods, such as rice. In much of Latin America, beans and rice are eaten together daily, prepared in an imaginative variety of ways.
2. Beans are nutritious, providing protein, fiber, complex carbohydrates, calcium, B vitamins, and more. What they don’t have much of is fat, at about 3%, so they are great for low-fat diets.
3. Beans are economical, being one of the most inexpensive ways to get your protein. A one-pound bag of beans will provide you with quite a few meals and cost less than any meat per serving. You can store beans for years and they will keep virtually all of their nutritional benefits.
4. Beans are a more eco-friendly choice than meat. The feeding, transporting, slaughtering, and refrigerating of meat are extremely energy intensive. Beans are just another plant crop.

How to cook and eat beans at home

Here is how we do it. In the evening, choose from your supply of beans the ones you want to cook. You can mix different kinds, with the exception of soybeans which require longer cooking and some special handling. Pour about a cup of beans onto a flat surface like a plate or cookie sheet. Spread them out, and examine them under good light for any little pebbles or other debris that might be mixed in. With modern processing methods, you probably won’t find anything, but it’s worth doing just in case. If you wish, at this stage, you can pick out the beans that are broken, as they will provide less nutrition than the intact ones.

Rinse the beans and soak them overnight with about three times as much water as beans. I use a quart canning jar for this step.

In the morning, pour out the water and rinse the beans. Then put them on to simmer with plenty of water. I have a one-quart slow cooker that I use for this step. Keep the water temperature at simmering rather than at a rolling boil, for softer beans in the end. If you don’t have a small crock pot, you can do this on the stove top.

The beans will be done in a few hours. Pour them and the cooking liquid through the strainer again; getting rid of the liquid helps keep the flatulence factor down. Other things you can do in this regard include using a strongly-flavored herb called epazote in cooking, eating a bit of an enzyme called Beano right before you eat, and gradually increasing the amount of beans you eat over several weeks.

Store your cooked beans in your refrigerator in a glass jar. Add them to salads, soups, stir-fries, and more, or you can heat some up with tortillas and salsa for a delicious lunch.

This article came from: More Beans! at SimpleGreenLiving.com..

Sift together into a mixing bowl:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 T baking powder
1 t salt, or less
6 T carob powder

Add
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup oil or melted butter
1 cup milk (or water)
2 t vanilla

Mix well. If you wish, stir in
1 cup nuts or sunflower seeds

Spread the batter evenly in a large baking pan.

In a bowl, combine
½ cup honey
¼ cup carob powder
3 cups very hot water

Stir well and pour over the batter; during cooking, it will sink to the bottom and form a pudding. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, or until cake feels done to the touch.

This article came from: Carob Pudding Cake at SimpleGreenLiving.com..

It does take a little planning. Most evenings, I spend a few minutes considering what we might eat the next day. Often there is a container of leftovers from something Kelly or I have concocted,  and if we don’t have them for lunch, we’ll have them for dinner.

If it looks like we’ll be cooking something for dinner the next day, then I consider my beans and grains. Usually I’ll get a feeling of a bean or a grain that I feel like starting with, and then I will decide what else to use.

The beans that I cook with the most often are black turtle beans, pintos, Anasazis, lentils, split peas (not really a bean but who cares?), and garbanzos.

In the grain department, my usual choices are rice (short, medium, or long grain brown rice or white Basmati), quinoa, pasta (made from spelt or rice flour because of my wheat allergy), corn, and millet (tends to be dry, best in soups).

I also look at my vegetables, to consider what we’ll have and to see if anything needs to be used up.

So from these humble ingredients come a wide variety of possibilities. Be sure to cook the beans till they are quite soft, as this enhances both their flavor and their digestibility.

Seasoning with herbs and spices adds a lot to the dish. Spices, such as chili powder or curry, can be added early in the cooking process, but herbs should just go in within the last half-hour or so, as their flavors tend to get lost if you cook them too long.

Here are three of the dishes I often make from beans, grains, veggies, and flavorings. I make enough for at least two meals for the two of us. Sprouts are good on top of these.

Black beans, Quinoa, and Corn

This is an all-American dish, as all of the main ingredients are from the New World. Out of season for fresh corn, I would use canned corn in this concoction. Serve it with fresh or bottled salsa. It can be made thick enough  to go into tortillas.

Stir-fried Veggies with Vice and Tofu

The quintessential hippie dish, and I’m still happily making it after all these years. I stir-fry the veggies in a large pan  – often with ginger and garlic – and then add the tofu near the end. I make the rice by itself. Leftovers usually get mixed up together if the proportions seem about right.

Another variation I do sometimes is to cut the tofu into small squares and marinate it in tamari (a.k.a. soy sauce). Then I cook it separately in a different frying pan, till the tamari has mostly evaporated and the tofu is dark brown on the outside. To serve, start with rice in the bottom of the bowl, then pile on the veggies, then the tofu. This is good with sesame or sunflower seeds sprinkled on it. Not for people on a low-salt diet!

Curried Split Pea and Millet Soup

I soak the split peas overnight (or you can pour several cups of boiling water over a cup of split peas and let it sit for two or three hours). I like to cook the split peas for a good long while by themselves, to be sure they are plenty soft. (They are more apt to create foam in cooking than beans are, and hence aren’t recommended for pressure cooking.)

Then I add whatever veggies are on hand (cauliflower is a favorite) plus pre-soaked millet. I usually make a big batch of this soup, starting out with about a cup of dried split peas and about a cup of dried millet. I tend to have a liberal hand with the curry powder, and to balance that, will throw in a handful of raisins or some fresh or dried apple. Because millet has a tendency to absorb seemingly unlimited amounts of water, leftovers of this dish are often thick enough to serve the next day on bread or tortillas.

There are so many things you can do with beans and rice.

This article came from: Beans and Rice at SimpleGreenLiving.com..

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This article came from: Lucid Food: Cooking for an Eco-Conscious Life at SimpleGreenLiving.com..

It’s really quite easy to grow sprouts. You can use wide-mouth canning jars, with screening cut to size to fit inside the outer jar lid. You can do the same thing with any fairly wide-mouth jar, a rubber band, and screening, cheesecloth, an old stocking, or some other covering that will allow air and water (but not tiny seeds) to pass freely.

Put a tablespoon of seeds into the jar, and fill it with water to cover the seeds. Don’t use seeds meant for planting if there is any chance they have been treated with chemicals, as is commonly done by the non-organic businesses.

Put the bottle in a fairly dark, reasonably warm place, for overnight or for about 8 hours if your impulse to sprout struck in the morning. Many things I have read suggest that the whole sprouting process needs to be warm, but alfalfa, broccoli, and sunflower sprouts were very accommodating in our motor home in cold weather, where nothing was toasty. They just grew more slowly. Some other things may be more demanding about their temperature.

After about 8 hours, pour out the excess water, give the sprouts a small drink of fresh water, and set the bottle on its side, tilted somewhat downward so the water can drain out. I often put mine on a dish drainer. Somewhere near a sink is good, because you should remember to give them a drink at least twice a day. I must admit that I sometimes forget, usually the sprouts are still okay but occasionally I have to throw out a batch and start over. The seeds like light as they grow, but not direct sunlight.

Eating the Sprouts

Within a day (for sunflower seeds) or several days (for most seeds), the seeds are ready to eat. Eat them! People say that they will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to a week, but ours never last that long. If you do refrigerate them, be sure they are quite dry before you put the jar in the fridge; otherwise, the ones in the bottom of the jar will go slimy.

If you wish, you can rinse the seeds in a large bowl of water and many hulls will float off and others will stay at the bottom, and then you can put the sprouts back in the jar. I like to do this with alfalfa after 3 or 4 days, but I don’t do it with anything else.

Add raw sprouts to salads. We use them as topping for eggs, casseroles, soups, sandwiches, whatever.

Beans that are sprouted are then usually cooked, though mung beans, lentils, and some others are good raw. They will take less time to cook than before they were sprouted – sometimes a lot less time – and they become more digestible.

You may have heard that there can be some toxins in alfalfa sprouts. From what I have read, the dangers have been rather overblown. Be sure to use clean water and to wash your jars and screens or cloths between batches. It’s a good idea to let them dry too, though I don’t always bother.

Wheat, sunflower seeds, and other grains can be grown in trays of soil for fresh winter greens. See the three-part series on this blog: an illustrated guide to micro greens.

Seed will last several years, especially if stored in cool, dark places. Your local health food store probably sells seeds for sprouting; I also get mine online from the Sprout House, which also sells some nice sprouting trays and provides good information.

This article came from: It’s Easy to Grow Sprouts at SimpleGreenLiving.com..

Discover One of the Best Eco Friendly Products You Could Ever Use

By Raymond Hamilton

Let’s face it, these days we are surrounded by eco friendly products, some of which are good while others are not very eco friendly at all! Personally I have one favorite that I think is among the very best of them.

My vote for the best and most accessible eco friendly product goes to enviromentally friendly water bottles. Now bear with me and let me explain why they are just so important.

In America each day, over sixty million plastic bottles are thrown away can you believe, with bottled water accounting for much of this. This contributes to filling up our already full landfills with more unnecessary toxic waste.

Most plastic bottles contain many harmful chemicals that will leach into the contents over time. Just think how long these products sit on the shelves before you buy them.

Quality enviromentally friendly water bottles are made from glass which is 100% recyclable and lasts forever or stainless steel certified to be BPA free so no chemicals can leach into the water. The best also have no chemical lining and no plastic lids either.

Bottled water is one of the most un-eco friendly products around! In most cases it is no better for you than the tap variety, many times coming from exactly the same polluted source and containing the same amount of toxic chemicals.

Pure clean healthy water is the most important substance on earth and the quality of it greatly affects our health and well-being, making the ideal situation to have some kind of home filtration and bottling your own water when you go out!

So I rest my case and hope that you can see why of all the eco friendly products out there, I believe that these water bottles can have the greatest impact and are accessible to everyone, improving not only the health of our planet, but ours as well.

Visit my website today if you would like to learn more about the type of eco friendly water bottles that I personally recommend and use.

Discover the best eco friendly water bottles today.

Ray Hamilton is a dedicated advocate and researcher of the incredible benefits of safe, clean healthy filtered water. Discover which products Ray recommends after extensive research.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Raymond_Hamilton

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This article came from: Do You Use an Eco-Friendly Water Bottle? at SimpleGreenLiving.com..

Making bread by hand takes time, but not all that much. Sometimes I’ve done it after dinner, while half-way watching television, and we’d have hot bread for a bedtime snack. (We currently have a bread machine, so we usually use it.)

When Kelly and I first met, he taught me to make bread using the sponge method. I’ve since tried a lot of bread recipes, and making bread this way remains my favorite because you only have to get your hands into the dough once. Now, we grind our grains with our Vitamix right before making the bread. Talk about fresh!  Making bread from a recipe can be a little confusing or messy the first couple of times, but you will soon get the hang of it. This recipe makes two loaves.

Start with

2 cups lukewarm water (too hot will kill yeast)
2 T dry yeast  (can be reduced to 1½ if you prefer)
3 T sweetener  (honey, molasses, brown sugar, whatever)
1½ t salt
2 cups whole wheat (or whole spelt) flour

Put the warm water in a large mixing bowl and dissolve the yeast, sweetener and salt. Add the flour and stir till well mixed.

Put in a warm place to rise; if you have a gas oven with a pilot light that keeps it warm but not too hot, that is a good place. This first rising will create what’s called a sponge. It needs to rise for about half an hour, but is forgiving of variations in this time.

Lightly grease your bread pans and set them aside. Stir down the sponge again and add, stirring as you add the flour:

¼ cup oil may be substituted
2 cups whole wheat  or whole spelt flour
2 cups of any kind of flour (wheat, barley, rice, white, etc. I often just use more of whatever I’m using)

Lightly flour the counter where you are going to knead the bread. When most of the flour in the bowl has been stirred into the dough, dump everything onto the counter.

Then knead it for several minutes, by pushing the heels of your hands into the dough, then turning the dough a quarter-turn toward you and pushing your hands again, and so on. You want enough flour on the counter under your dough to keep the dough from sticking to the counter, so keep adding a very little flour as needed.

Divide the dough in half – I just cut it with a knife – and then knead each half till it’s smooth. Put it in a bread pan, and push it down with your knuckles till the height of the dough in the pan is pretty much the same everywhere.

If you want raisin bread, after dividing the dough, roll one out till it’s about the width of your bread pan and however long it turns out to be. You may need more flour on the counter under the dough for this process. If you don’t have a rolling pin, use a jar. Once the dough is rolled out, sprinkle on raisins and cinnamon. That’s all I usually use, but for a richer loaf, brown sugar, nuts, and/or a little butter or oil can be added. Then roll up the dough, keeping it pretty tight, and squoosh it into the bread pan,  leveling it with your knuckles.

Let the bread rise in a warm place for 20 minutes to about half an hour. Cookbooks often say, till the dough has doubled in size but I don’t always wait that long. Because yeast doesn’t like a draft, if there is any air movement where you put your loaves to rise, just cover them with a clean dish towel. I usually put my on top of my stove, with a towel, and then turn on my oven to preheat to 350 degrees.

If the counter is a mess to clean up, just put a little water on the places where the dough stuck to the counter, and within a couple of minutes it will be much easier to scrub.

Bake the bread at 350 for about 45 minutes. Take out of the bread pans — and eat!

Some recipes say not to cut it till it cools, and it’s true that it’s more apt to fall apart when it’s hot, but what can be yummier than fresh bread? In any case, do take it out of the pans as it tends to sweat if left in them.

This article came from: My Homemade Bread Recipe at SimpleGreenLiving.com..

Ways to Be Green in the Kitchen

By Lindsey Maestas

Living in today’s economy, everyone wants to save money. Saving on energy costs can be a large chunk of change when planning a budget-not to mention it can save our earth! Although building green can save money in the long run and over time, it can be more costly in the building process than standard construction. And although green products are more expensive than standard products, they are becoming more affordable. The kitchen is typically the most used room in the house, so let’s start conserving energy where we use the most energy.

Use less water.

One way to be greener in the kitchen is by using less water. Low-flow faucets are available that will limited water pressure which will cut down on unnecessary water consumption. We are all familiar with the automatic faucets in public restrooms. There are similar products for homes that will only turn on when hands are under the sensor. Options for water-saving faucets include self-closing faucets, metered valve faucets, sensor faucets, and more.

Manufacturers that are offering WaterSense-certified faucets include Delta, Moen, American Standard, Brizo and Symmons. These manufacturers are meeting the water-saving standards by using special aerators that deliver more airflow so the lower water flow is not noticeable.

Use the classic work triangle.

The work triangle has been around for years. It is a formula that lays out the refrigerator, stove and sink within a triangle that creates an efficient work flow. In a kitchen plan, each side of the triangle should be between 4 and 9 feet. The total of all the sides should be between 12 and 26 feet. This ensures ease of motion between the stove, the sink and the refrigerator, which in turn can be more eco-friendly. For example, while cooking, you should be able to pull food from the refrigerator, place it on the counter and turn to the stove and sink very easily without obstructions. This will most likely mean you will have the refrigerator door open for a short amount of time. Also, the stove should be far enough from the refrigerator so the heat from the stove does not cause the refrigerator to work harder.

Buy ENERGY STAR appliances.

Energy efficient appliances can save a homeowner about one third of their energy bill. When shopping for appliances look for the ENERGY STAR label and know that all ENERGY STAR products have met strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).

Add a recycling station.

We always seem to designate a place in the kitchen for our trash can, but why not use some kitchen space to recycle? All it takes is one or two 10-gallon trash cans to cut down on the amount of trash that will end up at the landfill. Be creative in what containers you use to sort your recycling. Many retailers sell multiple shapes and sizes in recycling bins. You’ll be amazed at how much longer you can go without taking out the trash!

So there you have it… 4 ways to be greener in the kitchen. I imagine if everyone does what they can to conserve energy the earth will be a much better place for generations to come.

I want to carefully guide my clients through the process of buying and/or selling, while offering them the tools they need in order to make informed decisions. Call me to schedule a showing or an appointment: 615-714-3665 or visit my site: http://www.YourNashvilleHomeFinder.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lindsey_Maestas

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This article came from: Ways to Be Green in the Kitchen at SimpleGreenLiving.com..