easy healthy salad dressing

Today is a quick post, I wanted to write a longer one but the garden is keeping me very busy (we already have huge ripe pumpkins!)...

Salad dressing- one of the most expensive (for what it is) and laden with crap products in the grocery store. Most conventional salad dressings contain high fructose corn syrup, canola oil, maltodextrin and many other preservatives in it to make it shelf stable. I personally don't eat any of those ingredients- HFCS we pretty much all understand, by now, is evil. Canola oil... well, that is going to get its own post here in a few weeks- in a nutshell, you really don't want to be eating any Canola oil- if it's not organic it is made from GMO plants, it is usually made by heating at high heats, which creates cancer causing compounds in the oil, and too much vegetable oil in your diet throws off your Omega 3: Omega 6 ratio, which we know is already totally screwed up via the Standard American Diet.  And preservatives- well, why would you want to eat something that is supposed to preserve a food to be on a shelf for years? Also, homemade salad dressing is actually really easy to make, and if you have a food processor or an immersion blender with a processor attachment (which is what I have) it is all the more easy. You could whip up a basil feta vinaigrette, a honey lemon vinaigrette, or my personal favorite, an herbed balsamic vinaigrette... the list goes on. You get the health benefits of your healthy (unheated!) oil that you choose (we generally use cold pressed organic olive oil or avocado oil, but cold pressed organic walnut oil and sesame oil are great too) and all the antioxidants and nutrients from the fresh herbs- a nutritional powerhouse on top of your already healthy salad! For basic herbed balsamic vinaigrette, follow these "steps"... (well, "step" actually!)

you will need:
cold pressed organic nut/seed/fruit oil of your choice
fresh herbs (I like oregano, thyme, rosemary, a little bit of parsley- but whatever you like)
1-3 cloves of raw garlic (if you don't like garlic or just don't like it raw, omit this. We love raw garlic for its antibacterial/viral properties, and put it in everything, but some people can't eat it raw. You could also get fancy and roast the garlic first and then put it in the recipe)
juice from one half of a lemon (you can also omit this if you want)
Balsamic vinegar

Just throw it all in the food processor, run it until it is a blended, slightly creamy consistency, and serve! We make a batch every week and store it in a jar in the fridge so we always have it on hand- its also great on eggs, potatoes... really whatever you want. It is SO MUCH BETTER then store bought dressing- it has no scary ingredients, and it really does taste great. Let me know what you think, and if you give it a try!

the wonders of Ghee

Yesterday, I made Ghee for the first time. Many people have never heard of Ghee, or if they have it is in relation to yummy Indian food- Ghee is a traditional food of India, used for cooking just about everything. It is essentially clarified butter, and it has a lovely caramelized, rich, buttery taste that I have grown to love so much I put it in my tea instead of cream. It has a very high smoke point (about 485 degrees) which makes it excellent for cooking at high heat (cooking vegetable/seed/nut oils at high heat is very bad for you and causes the oils to be converted into toxic substances- more on that in another post). We have been buying it from the store for a few months now and cooking with it and eating it, but it is quite expensive to buy and I figured that it couldn't be too hard to make at home- so I decided to give it a try. In India, cows are sacred, and very well taken care of- people drink their raw milk and make butter and Ghee and some other things from the milk, and the cows are raised in such a healthy environment that the foods made from the milk have high levels of vitamins and minerals in them- much different from our cows here in the states, for the most part. The Ghee I was buying was wonderful, and organic, but not made from butter from pastured cows. Pastured butter is a huge "health" food at the moment, especially in Paleo circles. The butter from cows who have been 100% grass fed (i.e. "pastured", meaning a life ranging and feeding on grass only- no grains, even organic ones) has the most vitamins and nutrients of any butter, specifically vitamin A and D and especially K. These are of course, vital nutrients, especially for pregnant women and small children. The draw back to butter is that many people are dairy and casein intolerant, and therefore can't eat that yummy pasture butter... here is where Ghee swoops in to the rescue- Ghee is created by cooking the butter at a low temperature and separating the lactose and the casein from the pure golden clarified butter, therefore eliminating the lactose and casein and making it safe for those with allergies, while still retaining all the nutrients. Woo hoo Ghee!

I have been increasing the amounts of healthy fats in my diet- using pasture butter, coconut oil, olive oil (only cold, never cooked), Ghee, and eating more avocado. The eczema that I have battled all my life, which got a bit better when I stopped eating gluten, is responding very well to this- I have noticed a huge decrease in symptoms since I started eating more good fats. Ghee is also reported to be helpful for your digestion, helping to lubricate and soothe the stomach and intestines, which I have also noticed. And, it tastes amazing. I really do make a cup of tea every morning with a spoonful of Ghee in it- organic black tea, a spoonful of ghee, and a tiny bit of raw honey. It's divine.

So onto the Ghee creation process:
You will need:
1lb of unsalted pasture butter (Organic Valley, Kerry Gold, etc) (or the best butter you can find)
small pan to cook the butter
cheesecloth or fine mesh sieve of some sort
funnel
mason jar for Ghee storage

Put the butter into your pot/pan, simmer on low as it melts. It will begin to sputter and pop, which is what it should do.  It will then begin to separate, with a white floaty layer on top, clear bright yellow butter in the middle, and a layer of white stuff at the bottom. These are the milk solids, the casein and the lactose that you are getting rid of. The sputtering and popping will start to stop, and you can skim of the top layer of solids, to reveal the lovely rich bright yellow Ghee in the middle. It should smell sort of like popcorn, a sweetish caramelized smell- if it still smells like butter, let it cook a little longer. Be careful not to let the milk solids on the bottom burn, that will ruin the Ghee. Once it has that beautiful sweet smell, that is when it is ready. Pour the Ghee through a sieve or cheesecloth into the jar, making sure no solids get into the jar and you just have the liquid Ghee. You can also sieve it and then put it back on the low flame and keep cooking the Ghee, if you are afraid you are going to burn the milk solids but haven't gotten that smell yet. That is what I did this first time, 'cause when I poured it off to separate it from the bottom milk solids it still smelled like rich butter, not like Ghee, but after another 10 minutes on the stove it got that lovely Ghee smell and I knew it was done. That's all there is to it! It took me about an hour total, but now that I know how to do it it will probably take less then that- and I got the beautiful jar of Ghee pictured above, for much less then a jar of it in the store.

Let me know if you try making Ghee, if you cook with Ghee, or if you give cooking with it a try- I promise it lends a very amazing flavor to foods, and is oh so good for you.

the scary stuff lurking in your mattress...

As my friends know, I am a little on the crazy side when it comes to avoiding nasty chemicals. I worked for 4 years in a lab where we regularly breathed in formaldehyde, and because I loved my job I just took it in stride- just part of the job of being a biologist. Thankfully, I don't work with formaldehyde anymore, but I still breathe it in on a daily basis, because it is used in so many things in our world... particle board... plywood... couches... mattresses... all which off-gas chemicals. Things are changing, new standards for using (or not using, more appropriately) formaldehyde and other chemicals in mattresses and furniture are being adopted, and the prevalence of eco friendly furniture and mattresses is increasing. That being said, it's still not that common for people to know that their furniture and mattresses are off gassing potentially cancer causing (among other things) chemicals right into their homes- it's not like Pottery Barn is going to advertise their couches with a sign that says "this couch will off-gas harmful chemicals for 6-8 years!". I know that this sounds scary- the first time I read about off gassing of chemicals in household furniture, I was like "we have to get rid of all of our furniture NOW!!!". Clearly, that is not possible. So, baby steps. A few pointers for dealing with potentially harmful off-gassing chemicals if you can't afford to go out and refurnish your entire home (if you can do that, by all means, do).

1. Don't freak out. It is easy to get freaked out by all the scary stuff that may give us cancer in this world, and remember that there are things you can do to mitigate the dangers (eat organic, filter your water, exercise around trees to breathe in all that clean air, etc).

2. Open all your windows, daily. Crack one in the winter if you can, just to get some fresh air in and that chemical laden air out. This really does a lot for your indoor air quality. You could get an air filter, but I don't know which ones work on chemicals- I am lucky enough to live somewhere that I can open a window (or all of them) most of the year, at least for some part of the day.

3. Get some houseplants. If you have been to our house, you know it is a jungle in our little living space. Many houseplants are excellent at filtering out toxic chemicals- We have peace lilies and spider plants and ficus that all do a great job of keeping our air clea.

4. If you can, replace your furniture. When I learned this info, about 3 years ago, I started saving a little bit of money a month to buy an organic cotton and natural latex mattress. I figured that the mattress was the way to start- we spend a ton of our lifetime sleeping, and lying on that mattress breathing in everything it is off-gassing... Next will be the couch, hopefully at some point we will be able to afford an organic cotton and chemical free one...

Since we bought our mattress (which is AMAZING, but was pretty expensive- $3000 all together for the queen mattress and slat system for it), we have slowly been able to turn the bedroom into an eco-sleeping heaven- organic cotton and wool pillows and comforter (wool is actually more breathable then down and naturally fire retardant), organic cotton sheets, unfinished red alder beside tables and dresser, and a (gorgeous) unfinished red alder bed (which was handmade by my husband). I know that sounds like a lot, but when we started trying to get pregnant, I really wanted to make it a priority, since everything I breathe a fetus breathes as well. (Sidenote- if you can, buy your baby a mattress of the same caliber for their crib- I cringe when I think of little ones breathing in all those chemicals as they are developing). But, even if you can't replace anything anytime soon, adding some plants to your house and opening the windows does a huge amount of air refreshing, and helps to keep the chemicals you are breathing in to a minimum. It helps to remember that there are many small, inexpensive things you can do to stay healthy, and then when you are ready to replace your mattress or couch or whatever needs replacing, make sure you replace it with something that will nurture and take care of you, not poison you (not to sound all doomsday!)

Have you thought about replacing your mattress? Do you try to get fresh air in the house as much as you can? Have any other tips for keeping your air nice and clean? Let me know. Cheers!

oil pulling for mouth health...

Today I am going to talk about oil pulling. This is a bit of an obscure oral health practice in the western world, but Ayurvedic practitioners and other traditional cultures have been using oil pulling for thousands of years to keep mouths healthy and disease free. If you read my post on oil cleansing the skin, then you have some idea that certain oils can actually pull bacteria and other funk (for lack of a better term) out of the skin, so it is no surprise that it can also do so for the mouth. Oil pulling is largely "detoxing" the gums and tongue and throat, and aside from helping with gum issues and oral bacterial issues (gum disease, bad breath) it can also help to re-mineralize your teeth (more on that in another post) and also helps to clear sinus and throat congestion (a huge plus for me with all my sinus issues). Some say it helps to strengthen gums, helps with tooth sensitivity, whitens teeth, and possibly even helps to clear up skin conditions. I mean, with all of those possibilities, why WOULDN'T you try it? I will say, it does take some time to get used to, but my husband and I have both made it a regular practice, and we both have some teeth issues that seem to have improved- it would be hard at this point to say how much the oil pulling contributed to better mouth and overall health, I think changing our diets has been the biggest thing that has improved our oral health, but I think oil pulling is a piece of the healing puzzle). I have a good friend who has spent a significant amount of time in India and also went to a school in the US where Ayurveda is practiced, and she would tell you oil pulling is definitely something that everyone can benefit from (along with using melted Ghee in your eyes to help pull out funk- our husbands are firefighters together and sometimes come back from fires all congested up from the smoke- maybe I will ask her to guest post about that practice, since I haven't actually tried it on myself yet). Traditionally, sesame oil is used, but I use coconut oil since I like the taste a little more. I do this in the morning, before I have eaten or had anything to drink, since you get the most benefit out of it then (there is a whole routine of self care steps that Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners and followers do each morning, oil pulling and using the neti pot being two of those steps). You can do it at night as well, before bed. It is very simple:

Take about 1 tsp coconut oil (some people say 1 tbsp, but that was too much for me- experiment with the amount that is right for you) and put it in your mouth, and move it around so it melts. I like to do this right before I get in the shower, it makes it a bit quicker instead of sitting around, twiddling your thumbs while swishing oil in your mouth. Swish it around in your mouth, pulling it through your teeth and getting it on the back of your throat if you can, for as long as you can. It is generally supposed to be done for 20 minutes, but even if you only have 5 minutes it will still be totally beneficial. Then just spit it out (but make sure you spit it in the loo, if you spit it down your sink you could clog up your pipes) and then floss and brush as normal. And there you have it, easy as pie and so many benefits! Once it become part of your routine, you won't feel clean with out doing it regularly.

Let me know if you oil pull and love it, or if you try it and notice a difference- I know it has made a difference in our oral health, and hopefully it will work for you too. Cheers!