Are you aware that some cleaners in you home contain dangerous chemicals?  Do you want to know which ones are the worst? Environmental Working Group has come out with a hall of shame for the worst cleaners:

http://static.ewg.org/reports/2012/cleaners_hallofshame/cleaners_hallofshame.pdf

Did you see the Green Cleaner in the list?!? Guess you can't trust marketing!  Did you know there is really no need for Comet (which is found in the hall of shame) if you have baking soda?  If you are wondering how to clean without chemicals, you can learn more under natural cleaners.

This is a fascinating study comparing vaccinated children versus unvaccinated ones.  The results, well let's just say it lines up with my health "worldview":  Did God design for us to have things go directly in our veins to improve immunity?  Read the survey for yourself and see what you think.

http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/survey-results-are-unvaccinated-children-healthier/

Extreme Recipe Makeover

At a family gathering, I tried a delicious dish that the cook called "Sammies".  Of course, it had ham (which I almost never touch, as I avoid the "dirty" foods mentioned in the Bible), white flour bread, and sugar.  But it's so easy to make it healthy.  Only problem is I need to exercise self-control not to overeat!

Make your sandwiches as normal.  I use natural sandwich meat DeBecca and Organic Valley raw cheddar cheese.  I make it on my homemade bread.

The standard way to make it is to place sandwiches in a casserole dish, pour sauce over the top, and then cook in the oven (about 350 F) for 20 min or so.  I have also poured it over a grill cheese and meat sandwich I made.  Anyway the sauce is made by mixing:

Melted Butter (make sure it's high quality)
Organic Tamari (organic is important with any soy so it's not GMO)
Mustard powder (or you could use real mustard--we never have any)
Poppy seeds
A dash of Stevia (other sweeteners are ok, but Stevia is the healthiest.  This is one recipe where I think it tastes just as good, which is not always the case.)

When I make things up, I don't measure.  Sorry!  But butter is the main ingredient and largest proportion.  Tamari is less, but a decent amount--the rest is in small amounts.  And I listed them in order from largest to least.  And I taste it before I pour it on. 

A simple conversion and in my opinion a much yummier sandwich.  I especially like that my hearty bread soaks up the sauce so well.

Don't say I didn't warn you that they are addictive.  ENJOY!

Is Saturated Fat Good for You?

"In Framingham, Massachusetts, the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower people's serum cholesterol...we found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories weighed the least and were the most physically active."  --William Castelli, Director the Framingham Study (quoted from the Archives of Internal Medicine, Jul 1992, 152 (7):1371-1372.)

I discovered this quote in the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fvKdYUCUca8

Note--the video is 2 hours!  I got this far which was about 37 minutes in and will have to finish it later!

Definitely worthy thinking about. Food in fat or coconut oil tastes so much better.  Maybe we should trust our tastebuds a little more after all.

Cheesy Tuna Patties

This recipe was contributed to our contest by Carrie from www.naturalmomsrecipes.com :

Ingredients:

• 4 cans tuna (may substitute canned salmon)
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 t chopped garlic (or to taste)
• 1 egg
• 1 T  Worcestershire sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix ingredients together and shape into patties. You may either fry on stovetop in oil or bake in the oven. To bake, preheat oven to 425F. Place on well greased baking pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until well browned.

Thanks Carrie!  Sounds yummy! And easy. 

I'll use my healthy soaked whole wheat bread for the bread crumbs.  When I cut my bread, I save the crumbs in a bag in the freezer.  I haven't found a healthy worchestershire sauce, though I need to look for one. (If you know one, please share in the comments.)  I usually just use organic tamari and that works well.