The best spinach salad ever !!!

Salad
Bag of fresh organic baby spinach
1/2 orange , cubed into small pieces
2 tbsp finely chopped coconut
2 tbsp shelled sunflower seeds
1-3 hand fulls of fresh alfalfa sprouts

Dressing
(to taste)
olive oil
rice vinegar
squeeze of lemon
honey ( I used a wild blueberry honey which is to die for!)

Mix well
Drizzle over your salad, and your taste buds are in for an ultra yummy healthy treat!

..."Baby in there" is doing summersaults!...

19 1/2 weeks... Tea for thought

Well I'm closing into my first goal,  24 weeks, this is were a fetus becomes viable. I know, of course my goal is getting way past 24 weeks, but this is the first feeling of succeeding.
Anxiety is running a little high, but I'm keeping that in check with some yummy wild oat tea.

Herbal teas are quit amazing. I've been drinking nettle tea since the day I found out I was pregnant! Then I soon added red raspberry leaf tea. Now I've added a little oats just for my nerves.

What amazes me so much about these herbal teas, are many are made using plants, that in the western world we view as "bad weeds"! They've created herbicides to keep these amazing "herbs" away from "human made agriculture, meant for human consumption" ! It's quite absurd when you read up about nettle, it used to be a blessing to have a nettle batch in your garden! I'm only mentioning nettle here, but there are so many!
Milk thistle, dandelions, chickweed, red clover, just to name a few.

Now I'm not talking about a little infusion once in a while, although it's good too. If you want results from drinking tea, you have to drink it regularly. Tea used to be the only other beverage around, besides water of course.
I've been making batches of infusions and mixing with lemon, then cooling it in the fridge. I'm at 3 cups of "home made ice herbal tea" a day. And even if I'm supposed to be lying on my back, I've never felt better in my life!

The nettle provides a huge variety of vitamins and minerals, it's like your daily multi-vitamin, just way more effective and much easier on the system!  It helps blood circulation and is rich in iron and vitamin c. It cleans the kidneys and insures it's proper functioning.
The raspberry leaf is a uterus toner, tissue strengthener, and helps re-generate cells too. It is also rich in vitamin content.  And quit important when one is pregnant it is a hormone stabilizer! I've had no "crazy woman mood swings" ! That makes life much easier around here for my boy and my man too! he he he

Oats are rich in calcium, iron, phosphorous, the B-complex vitamins, vitamin E, and vitamin K. They are also a good source of potassium, magnesium, zinc, protein, and vitamins A and C. Oat's also have a high concentration of the trace mineral silica, which is responsible for many of the health benefits of oat straw tea.
I feel well balanced and well surrounded by my tea, and my family.

I will succeed, I will succeed, I will succeed...

The Journey ... cottage cheese, strawberries and heh? Smoked salmon

Ah Yes! The strange food combinations of a pregnant woman.

I just made an awesome strawberry and cottage cheese "salad".

Just mix some cottage cheese with lemon zest and a tiny amount of honey, mix in the strawberries...
And you've got it! I like to keep it in the fridge for a little, to let flavors enhance, however this morning I just couldn't wait, I ate half right away!

Somehow that wasn't enough, half hour later ... hum ... what to eat!

Ah Yes! Bagels! And Smoked Salmon!
Yum... I even have cream cheese...
Oh and look, what else?

Dill Mustard

Add some thin onion slices and capers...
And that's just even in my mouth.

I've been eating it this way since I discovered that dill mustard/ salmon sauce at Ikea
:)

The Journey ... Austrian Goulash

Today's meal won't have as much to do with health as it does with culture and flavors.

Well I'm saying Austrian goulash here, because a good part of my genetic code comes from there.
It could very well be Hungarian goulash, or Bavarian goulash, or German goulash... Even an Italian meat stew could resemble this! Usually the agricultural diversity of a certain area will change the herbs and vegetables used.

"To the little new growth inside of me, welcome to some great cuisine! "
"I promise you the same kind of meals through out your life time..."

he he , why not throw some temptation in there...

I buy my veal from a local organic farmer so I have a variety of cuts that I could use for this!
Basically any cut you don't know what to do with you chop up into cubes and cook  away...
Grass fed cattle produces a meat that is much richer in various forms of nutrients, you'll even find some beneficial omega fatty acids, not found in industrially raised cattle.

The recipe is the following:

Something close to a kilo of cubed veal
1 large chopped onion
1 large carrot (2 if small)
2-4 garlic cloves (individual)
you can add in some leek

3 potatoes (I just cut them into 2, they end up cooking to a mash and thicken the whole stew)
veal or beef soup bones (as many as you can ! at least 3) I have dogs so I can sometimes put up to 8  
                      bones! 
100 ml of red or white wine can use much more if you wish
water to fill over everything

(in order of most used)
paprika (about 1 tablespoon)
dry mustard
thyme
basil
freshly ground black pepper
salt

some sour cream, only to be used once serving

First take a big enough pot that can make food for hum... 8 people
Brown the onions, carrots, garlic and leek if wanted.
Then brown the veal cubes , all on Medium/High heat (hot enough to brown)
Pour in the wine and stir so that it "deglazes" the sides and bottom of pan.
Let come to a hot simmer a few minutes, then deposit the bones in and pour enough water to cover the bones.
Throw in the potatoes
Keep the heat the same until it simmers again. I usually then bring it down to low and cover the pot. Let it simmer a few hours. Generally at least 3 hours. My trick would have to be not to let the meat "boil" , but rather simmer...
After an hour of cooking add the herbs and spices.
Only add salt at the end

Serve over egg noodles and put a small spoonful of sour cream on top

Yum...
There's no other words for it!
I could eat this everyday...

I would like to have a picture, however the meal inspired the write up.
I can tell you... The meat was tender and the flavors where succulent.

I'm sure Baby has a smile on...

The Journey ...

Ok, so I skipped a few days already ! Well I'm trying to keep my mind at ease, and with out a touch of stress, so finally I'll be posting when ever my little heart desires!
Hey! I have to see the good side of having to stay quiet and practically lying down! I can actually make little "princess remarks" like the last one!

The past few days I've been starting with a banana.

It's a good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Potassium, Manganese, and a very good source of Vitamin B6.

It does have high sugar contents, which is what I'm supposing aids the nauseous morning sickness effect instantaneously! Since I've been eating a banana per morning, I've been feeling a lot less of that icky sicky feeling!

And I've read that morning sickness is due to low blood sugar level... Yay for bananas!!! 

Next I made an awesome fruit salad with the last fruits from the local farmers market! 

 - Black Berries

- Strawberries

-And a strange variety of yellow raspberries!

Mixed together, left in the fridge for at least 1/2 an hour and then voila! I actually made a tiny amount of chocolate syrup to drizzle on top !

My "semi healthy chocolate syrup" (this is way junk food for me!)

-1 teaspoon butter

-2 tablespoons cocoa

-drop of vanilla essence

-some milk (like 2-3 tablespoons)

-a little honey to sweeten :)

This is for a tiny amount! You can double or triple or what ever it to your own wanted amount.

I rarely cook with precise measurements, again these are just ideas for your mind to ponder upon and experiment with yourselves.

So you melt the butter, add the cocoa and honey and stir... Stir until melted... Add the milk and vanilla and stir again. That's it! Drizzle it over your awaited fruit salad! You can make big amounts of this salad! It stores well for up to 2 days in an air tight container, kept in the fridge.

The point here to keep it healthy is not to drown the fruits in the chocolate! Ya get what I'm saying?

Organic butter has no harmful BHA and BHT added, making it actually ok to consume in SMALL QUANTITIES! And since I'm trying to "fatten" a baby here! ...

Cocoa derives its health benefits from flavonoids which are plant pigments capable of acting as antioxidants to counteract some of the cellular damage that can lead to chronic diseases. Again I'm not talking about a "Twix or Snickers Candy bar" here ! Just pure, organic cocoa.

Another thing we made in the last days was Pumpkin soup and Pumpkin Pie! Loads of food from one lousy pumpkin that my son just had to get us to buy at the farmer's market! At least it kept him busy for hours carving and finally destroying this huge fruit.

I don't actually like pumpkins! However the soup was quite tasty indeed! 

And I do enjoy the healthy benefits of eating pumpkin seeds! They contain L-tryptophan, which is is an essential amino acid formed from proteins. Very good for brain development amongst other things!

Of course other things got eaten, my garden is overflowing with a variety of different tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers. My lettuce patch is feeding us well too!

I made a yummy brown rice, veal, and veggie dish last night, enough to last for few lunches as well.

And so my journey has brought me to absolute healthy eating! I bet I'm the healthiest I've ever been!

TO BABIES !
;)

Journey of a pregnant woman towards a healthier and safer child bearing time

 I know it's a cliché to say that a revelation came to me as my first child was born! Yet it happened sort of something like that.

I knew that very simply we were put on this earth for that one purpose.

No more existential question of “why am I here” or “what is my purpose” … It just seemed purely, simply natural.

Nine years have past since that moment and through everything my body has been through it has brought on a new question. Why can't I fulfill a full term pregnancy?

So my path has lead me on this farm, living amongst a few alpacas, a few ducks and chicks, a few (which have multiplied fast he!) angora rabbits, my 2 busy dogs and a farm cat! Oh yes and a few fish aquariums! But that's a whole other story about aquaponics which I'll get into some other time, when our system will prove worthy to talk about!

I have a small modest garden which actually produces way more than my mother could have imagined!

A steady growing raspberry bush, a few apple trees and 2 mirabella trees! With the ducks and rabbits we raise ourselves about ¼ of meat intake per year and 1/3 of our fruit and veggie intake per year!

Everything else I buy is now been switched to strictly organic and or locally naturally cultivated (which in sense is the same thing). Some research suggest that organic foods have 30 to 60% more nutrients than conventional/ industrial foods!

Presently, I am exactly 12 weeks pregnant and I must say, lots (doctors and family members, probably a few friends too) expect me to most likely fail! But with everything I've researched and studied, I sense that I have to try! Otherwise , well I'll never know...

I won't get into the whole depth of it, because it's quite technical and possibly boring.

Basically I have an “incompetent cervix” ! Yup one stupid cervix indeed...
It has previously caused quite some problems, which in return has obliged me to be pretty much in "bed rest"
mode... I basically have narrowed my activities down to "slowly walking the dogs" and cooking! 
Cooking I love, I would even call it a passion! 

So this brings me to food...
Everything I've read seems to point at the food we eat! How many people could change their entire health record by simply nourishing themselves properly and or differently! Something that we've seemed to have lost with all the processed foods out there.
I have for the past 4 years “drastically” changed my eating habits, of course my family has had to follow and what a blessing that is to them!

I will start a daily enumeration of my daily food intake... What I eat, where I got the ingredients, the nutritional value of some produce and sometimes full recipes! This is more of a self reminder than anything else! If I slip a few opinions here and there, well I'm sorry... I am quite an opinionated woman. However I am simply stating my facts and then my recipes! Not to be taken in a medical way or anything like that!

So here's day one !

Originally written for my mother, who's a little worried about my daily vitamin intake

The e-mail was titled “Sardines and pregnancy”

-Just so you know,

I get my spirulina from kelp!
Lecithin is found in a lot of things (including eggs, which I eat regularly)

Folic acid is a lot of things too! greeny leafs like cabbage and lettuce , full
grain cereal like kamut which I eat every morning.

I'm eating "pretty close to organic" trout 1-2 times a week
I do take a omega vitamin from sardine fish oil and anchovies (only other
additive is gelatin, glycerin and purified water)

And if I don't think I  drank enough nettle tea on any given day, I do take the
pregnancy vitamin supplement once in a while ('cause I paid for it, and refuse
to let it go to waste).

Otherwise I eat organic grass fed veal. Since it's
grass fed it's filled with omega's that industrialized beef has lost, and all
other meat is organic right now too!

In fact every single fruit and veggie is organic for now! (my health food store
gets fresh organic fruits in every Tuesday) keep in mind organic fruits (and
veggies) are 30 to 70% higher in vitamins than industrialized food!

Trust me I get what I need from food and tea.
It is the biggest  natural health/vitamin industry's myth to make us believe
that food doesn't have everything we need! Diversification and "what they call
organic now" is the key to getting everything the body needs!

My pee is a nice yellow, not to watery meaning not much nutrients are passing
through the body, and not to brownish yellow, which means the liver and kidneys
are over working to pass un-needed nutrients...

Love,
S.
:)

ps: Todays menu?

Yogurt, then some blueberry pie (your recipe with a home made sesame crust)
clementines
cereal (full grain and organic) with milk and raisins
grapes
tomato cabbage soup
a piece of veal steak
probably more yogurt as a snack in the afternoon or some nutty bar
"cuisse de pintade" (not sure what that is in English, coming from the chicken
farm. It's a sort of bird!)
sweet potato and cinnamon
broccoli

Then something sweet like sesame snaps or apples cooked in honey and cinnamon.

(invented by me,inspired by the Greek restaurant, I discovered with you in Tarpon Springs... I love cooked apples!)
And just before going to bed, I need more cereal or some wholesome grain, other
wise I wake up in the middle of the night feeling nauseous (morning sickness
comes from low blood sugar).

And that's just today!

Talk to you soon
S.

Here are 2 recipes and a few nutritional tips, for today.

Sweet potato and cinnamon! Yum both really healthy nutrients!

1 boiled sweet potato

50 ml organic milk (ideally 3.5%) , remember I'm pregnant here!

And that's it 1 ½ teaspoon of cinnamon!

Mash it all up … and yum yum yum, I'm sure your whole family will love it! Mine does!

Cinnamon has a few great health benefits

• 
  
  It has an anti-clotting effect on the blood.
• It has shown an amazing ability to stop yeast infections.
• It can have a regulatory effect on blood sugar
• When added to food, it inhibits bacterial growth and food spoilage, making it a natural food preservative.
• Can help arthritis pain, soothing joints.

 And that's just naming a few! So I try to sprinkle cinnamon regularly on diverse meals or deserts.


Sweet potato has ranked number one in nutrition of all vegetables!
The numbers for the nutritional sweet potato speak for themselves: almost twice the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, 42 percent of the recommendation for vitamin C, four times the RDA for beta carotene, and, when eaten with the skin, sweet potatoes have more fiber than oatmeal. All these benefits with only about 130 to 160 calories!

Sweet Potato Nutrition Facts
(for one medium size sweet potato)
Calories 130
Fat 0.39 g
Protein 2.15 g
Net Carbs 31.56 g
Dietary Fiber 3.9 g
Calcium 28.6 mg
Sodium 16.9 mg
Potassium 265.2 mg
Folate 18.2 mcg
Vitamin C 29.51 mg 
Vitamin A 26081.9 IU Source: US Department of Agriculture

Wow! Do I ever love sweet potatoes !

On that note I'll leave you all to another day !
Where my quiet journey continues... Towards a path nobody knows!

Cooking with children

Cooking with your children can be a great challenge...
I know...
However, I have realized that if you never start, then they will never learn!
The more you let them cook with you, the better they become and the easier it gets, and the cleaning diminishes...
What I mean by that is...
When they are little, a simple task like pouring milk in a bowl can leave a mess... But this gets better with time :)

Cooking is a great way to teach numerous things...

Mathematics : 1 egg plus 1 egg = 2 eggs ! Seems silly to a grown up, but for a 2 year old toddler this can be the beginning of logical thinking. Later on ... 2 pieces of a pie sliced in 8 = 1/4 of that pie! By the time my son was in 2nd grade , he "understood" simple mathematics! And impressed the teachers immensely! All thanks to cooking at home with Mama!

It can teach colors ... This is a RED apple, YELLOW apple, GREEN apple...

It can help concentration and manual ability! Getting your 2 year old to peel an orange...
I always incorporate general food knowledge... what is fat, what is sugar, what is protein ... So on...

And it can be a fun science experiment too ! Waiting for dough to rise, or mixing oil and vinegar for your salad!

So many possibilities to incorporate important child/parent time while making something basic and essential...
Your next home cooked meal ! 

The most important 2 things to remember while cooking with your children is:

PATIENCE (messes will happen)
CREATIVITY (finding different ways to explain, explore and discover)