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April 12, 2016 GF Products & Books, OH FORKS!! A Little Bit of Everything and All That's Gluten Free 2015, OH, Forks! A Little Bit of Everything and All That's Gluten Free Cook Book 2014, Teach Me Healthy Eating! 0 Read more >
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If you’re from anywhere in Fort Wayne, you probably had some effects from the most recent wind storm that seemingly came out of nowhere, and knocked power out to over 30,000 people in the county. A few days later, and finally our power is back on! Bet your non-gluten free buns I jumped on the computer fast as I could! Felt a little lost without her these past few days…but thankful I had my cell phone for internet service!
It’s pretty difficult to eat correctly during power outages, too. Most people who were out of power were frequenting fast food establishments and restaurants that still had power. Unfortunately for us, eating that way just doesn’t prove to be worth it in the end. Not only that, but the kids loved the idea of “indoor camping,” and once we knew the food and tortoise were safe, we could finally relax into enjoying it, too.
So, for our first night we had turkey sandwiches, chips and dip, and vegetables and dip. I also made gluten free tuna tacos, and we had some fruit bits. The second night I got a little craftier, and opted to cook some pizza and fries on the grill for the kids. To my surprise, the pizza turned out perfectly, and I was told the fries were “excellent” too! Pizza and I try to avoid each other at all costs…unless it’s a cauliflower or spinach based crust. I went for salmon on the grill & a sweet potato & GF butter noodles! Delicious!
Nights like these make me thankful that stove top cooking is easier, and less-stressful! I take lights, garbage disposal systems, and dishwashers for granted. It’s hard enough trying to eat gluten free and clean… even harder when there’s no power!
Here are a few treats that we’ve made to order in the past few weeks!! Party platters with roll-ups, frozen pies, fresh pies, strawberry bars, and homemade ice cream sandwich cookies! All gluten free, of course!!
And a garden update! Everything is growing like crazy, and I managed to save the large tomato plant that fell over in the wind storm!
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Sweet Potatoes! A true, natural super food for humans, fitting in to many dietary groups, too! Full of Vitamin A and antioxidants, one large potato can provide enormous amounts of protection against early aging, cancer prevention, and maintaining good eyesight. Very versatile, sweet potatoes can be used in everything from soups and bases, to main dishes, and even desserts! Packed with more nutrients than you can imagine, like vitamins B5 and B6, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and carotenoids from their orange color! Low in sodium and fat they fit with gluten free and paleo eating lifestyles!
While orange is the favored and most available color of sweet potato, there are also yellow, white, and purple varieties available. Orange and yellow contain the most vitamin A, but purple contains a myriad of antioxidants great for the body!
Help your heart! Sweet potatoes are GREAT for heart health! B6 helps to break down homocysteine, which is a substances that hardens blood cells and arteries inside the body. An orange sweet potato has an average of 440mg of potassium, which is also very heart healthy! As an electrolyte, potassium helps regulate your heart rate.
Along with heart health comes immune benefits, too! With such high vitamins A, C and E, they have high levels of anti-inflammatory properties. This is why sweet potatoes are seen as a staple in many paleo lifestyles and diets. The magnesium contained by the sweet potato can help regulate stress levels in the body, naturally. The dietary fiber can also work to keep the gastrointestinal tract regular!
There have been numerous studies done on the effects of beta-carotene on cancer patients, and specific kinds of cancer. In certain instances, breast cancers patients did benefit from eating more orange vegetables, high in the levels of anti-carcinogenic properties. For these studies, purple and red vegetables showed to be MORE beneficial than the super orange foods.
The Downside of Sweet Potatoes
While these are some of the healthiest vegetables on earth, they are also very high in carbohydrates, and calories. They also have more sugar than regular “white” potatoes. Eating orange vegetables frequently can cause a slight orange tint to the skin, and fingernails. No other major side effects had been reported.
Christopher Columbus took sweet potatoes to Europe after his first voyage to the New World in 1492.
Sweet potatoes are roots, whereas regular potatoes are tubers (underground stems).
Sweet potatoes are native to Central and South America and have been grown for at least 10,000 years.
By the 16th century, Spanish and Portuguese explorers had taken sweet potatoes to the Philippines and to Africa, India, Indonesia and southern Asia. Around this same time, sweet potatoes began to be cultivated in the southern United States.
George Washington grew sweet potatoes at Mount Vernon.
China grows about 80 million tons of sweet potatoes each year, Africa produces about 14 million tons, Central and South America churn out about 2 million tons and the United States harvests about 1 million tons.
George Washington Carver developed 118 products from sweet potatoes, including glue for postage stamps and starch for sizing cotton fabrics.
Sweet potatoes are North Carolina’s official state vegetable. North Carolina is the leading producer of sweet potatoes in the United States, producing about 40 percent of the national supply.
Resources Used:
livescience.com
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I know. And I sort of hope you were sitting down before you read that. It happens less frequently now than it used to, but it does still happen. Whether it’s your prescription, or your favorite over-the-counter box of cold meds, if you’re super sensitive to gluten, you should probably call the company or check out GlutenFreeMeds.com to see if it’s on their list, at the least.
Maybe you’re wondering why there would be gluten in your medication? It’s simple, and sort of the same reason why there is gluten in spices, shampoo, lotions, and makeup. It’s a binding agent in many things. In this case, it helps make your pills stay together.
If any of the prescription or OTC medications you take have any of these ingredients, you may want to further your investigating skills and verify for the sake of your body.
Pharmacists face many dilemmas in the gluten-free world. There are no requirements for companies to label their medicines as “gluten free,” or just what they contain. In the same breath, all gluten sensitivities are different, and that 1 particle of gluten dust may not do much to Suzy, but it was enough to put Tom in the hospital. It is also true that medications don’t work the same way in a body without a gluten issue, as they do in a body that severely reacts to gluten. I just don’t feel it should be left up to the pharmacist to decipher, and I think that put them into a bad spot, as well.
More and more, we’re seeing the push to ban GMOs, and label things appropriately for allergens. I am hopeful that even more labeling will be approved to fully label prescriptions, shampoos, and anything else that is used by humans containing gluten. I’ve learned through my years of personal experience, and that of my child’s, that gluten, GMOs, and the harsh chemicals in our world ARE affecting our bodies, and creating internal disasters that no one knows how to deal with.
So, just a gentle reminder, fellow Celiac sufferers- CHECK YOUR MEDS!!
Resources Used:
GlutenFreeMeds.com- linked their gluten free med sheet
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We’re in 2015 now, which means this year we’ll be participating in our first book signings, taste testing, and local events around the area! If creating the recipes, designing the cook, formatting the layout, making the nutrition labels and working on images wasn’t hard enough… now I’ve got to decide which foods to make in mass for people to try at our events!!
For this, I’ve decided to not decide myself, and let my followers and cook book owners help me figure it out! You’ll find a Google Form attached in this blog update (that I will post on our Facebook page eventually, too) that you can fill out to help me with this process! Don’t worry- you’re not signing up for anything at all. Just helping me to choose which recipes to consider for my early 2015 events!
For the first form, I’d like to get an idea of what your favorite recipes in the cook book, on our Facebook page, or from our blog are. If you’ve tried something in the cook book you love, please enter that in this form. After I get a general idea of “favorites,” I’ll then send out one last form choosing the “winners.”
USE THIS LINK FOR OUR GOOGLE FORM! OR, check our Facebook page for the link!!
January 4, 2015 OH FORKS!! A Little Bit of Everything and All That's Gluten Free 2015, OH, Forks! A Little Bit of Everything and All That's Gluten Free Cook Book 2014 0 Read more >
OH, Forks!! A Little Bit of Everything and All That’s Gluten Free ©2014
Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! I hope you got everything your heart desired! We have had a fabulous Christmas, although completely different than what we’re all use to!
It’s hard to believe that it’s almost New Year’s! I’m running towards that ball drop faster than ever this year. So many great things happened this year, some of them with your help and backing! I’m so thankful to have had created my SECOND cook book, and have it come to print. Thankfully, so far, there have only been a few things I’ve noticed were omitted in printing! Otherwise, I still think it’s a pretty damn great book!
Let’s talk about editing. I’ve paid for editors that have done horrid jobs. I’ve earned free editing services by huge companies, just to get shafted in the end. Because of the wasted money (that won’t happen again) I’ve decided to do things “my way” until I get my base created. I’m sure by now you’ve seen that I’m #allaboutthatbase. (That’s a hashtag I use regularly on social media.) What’s my “base?” It’s the next few publications I’m working on. Don’t worry, the few things I found as “errors” will have a blog page dedicated to them. One is just oven temperature, and the other is temperature and cook time! Coming soon!
2015 will bring book signings, and taste testing’s in different areas of the county. I’m excited to spread the word of gluten free eating in a simple, laid back sort of way. I would love to have more open dialect about how difficult it truly is to live a gluten free lifestyle in today’s world. Even more so living the paleo lifestyle, with children.
Isn’t it interesting to know that no human can digest gluten? Gluten is made to be indigestible by us. Did you know that? Some people just have a strong enough system to tolerate it as it passes through. In any case, it is an inflammatory agent. Inflammatory agents DO interfere with your organs and body, just how depends on your immune system.
If you’re trying to go gluten free, you are gluten free, or you have thoughts on the topic, please feel free to inbox us, or comment! We hope your Christmas holiday was filled with love and traditions!!
December 25, 2014 OH, Forks! A Little Bit of Everything and All That's Gluten Free Cook Book 2014 0 Read more >