If you like to eat salad but don’t like the wilted leftovers, the canisters are perfect for sealing up the leftovers and keeping them fresh for tomorrow’s lunch. We buy chicken breasts in bulk and split them add marinade and vacuum seal in bags in 4 servings and throw them in the freezer. Since they are split they are thinner and thaw very quickly. Great for last minute dinner ideas.

My husband did a lot of research before selecting which vacuum sealer to buy. We bought the FoodSaver model below about 2 years ago and absolutely love it.

Now I understand that some people say that the amounts are so small that they aren’t harmful but I have to wonder that if such miniscule amounts of gluten, from the cross-contamination of bins in the bulk food section, can create such havoc on someone with celiac’s system couldn’t small amounts of these toxic  substances be affecting my body in some unknown way?  Given the rates of breast cancer and thyroid disorders I’m not willing to take the chance so I’ve been replacing all the products that go on my skin.  I prefer to save my indulgences on things I can taste so it’s been a pretty easy decision until I fell in love with the Mandarin Lime aromatherapy soap at my sister-in-law’s house.  To buy or not to buy?  I can’t decide…

If you are interested in learning more, below are articles discussing the dangers of these additives.

http://www.examiner.com/x-18171-Wichita-Natural-Beauty-Examiner~y2009m8d9-Natural-beauty-info-101-Why-are-parabens-in-our-beauty-products-bad

http://www.naturalnews.com/023138_propylene_glycol_food_health.html

http://www.emagazine.com/view/?91

I absolutely love quinoa and am surprised how many people have never heard of it.  Here’s a short video I found that gives a fabulous overview and cooking instructions for quinoa.

Enjoy,

NJ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2SgiI-9dFk&feature=related

Home made gluten dairy free bread tastes so much better!  And it doesn’t have to be a lot of work.  I use my old (more than 10 years) bread machine to make loaves.  There are new fangled “gluten free” bread machines but my old Panasonic works fine.

Gluten Free bread doesn’t last very long though.  It is best to slice them immediately after cooling and freeze.

Adding Xantham gum helps gluten free flours to rise. You can find it in health food stores.  It seems pricey at about $10 but it will last a long time.  You’ll also need much more yeast than you use for gluten
breads.  I find that quick rise works best.

Here is a quick and easy bread recipe for a bread machine.

INGREDIENTS

.       1 egg
.       1/3 cup egg whites
.       1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
.       1/4 cup canola oil
.       1/4 cup honey
.       1 1/2 cups warm rice milk
.       1 teaspoon salt
.       1 tablespoon xanthan gum
.       1/2 cup tapioca flour
.       1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
.       1/4 cup millet flour
.       1 cup white rice flour
.       1 cup brown rice flour
.       1 tablespoon active dry yeast

DIRECTIONS

.       Place liquid ingredients in first for better mixing.   Select cycle;
press Start. Five minutes into the cycle, check the consistency of the
dough. Add additional rice flour or liquid if necessary.
.       When bread is finished, remove immediately from the pan to keep the bread from getting soggy.

If you try it, let me know how it turns out for you.

Warm regards,
NJ

It was delicious and creamy.  Not overly sweet like many flavored yogurts. I liked both the blueberry and the mango.  I’m heading back to pick up some other flavors and will let you know which I like the best.  Maybe I’ll even share with my son Ryan, who is 20, and also dairy free.  But he better hurry up before I eat them all.

If you try them let me know what you think.

Warmest Regards,
NJ

We’ve created a free handy tool – our Gluten Dairy Free Product Directory with thousands of gluten/dairy free products.

Angela Pifer, MSN, Certified Nutritionist:

“This directory is a reliable resource that helps patients stop thinking about what they can’t eat and start thinking about what they can eat.  Once my patients realize there’s a whole world of foods available to them, they immediately relax about making the shift to gluten or dairy free. This directory is an invaluable tool that all health practitioners should utilize.”

To view the directory, visit www.mealplanswithout.com/glutendairyfree.html and click on “Download Now.”

Once I made the decision to remove dairy from my diet, I thought it would be the end of my latte addiction.  Good-bye Starbucks and hello pungent black coffee!  Then a friend introduced me to some alternatives and thanks to her, my addiction has resumed with hemp milk lattes.  Rice milk lattes weren’t creamy enough for my taste and soy has too strong a flavor but hemp milk was exactly what I was looking for.  This experience made me realize how easy it actually is to make your favorite foods dairy free.  Here are a few suggestions for dairy-replacement items so you don’t have to remove your favorite foods from you diet:

Replace 1 cup of milk with one of the following
•    1 cup of hemp milk
•    1 cup of soy milk
•    1 cup of coconut milk (helpful hint:  when cooking, coconut milk can add additional flavor and creaminess!)
•    1 cup of Vitamite 100

Replace 1 stick (8 Tbsp) butter with any of the following:
•    8 Tbsp Earth Balance spread
•    8 Tbsp Fleischmann’s margarine
•    8 Tbsp vegetable or olive oil
•    8 Tbsp Spectrum shortening
•    6 Tbsp unsweetened apple sauce + 2 Tbsp oil

In Baking:
•    1 cup of rice milk + 1 egg yolk
•    1 cup of water + 1 egg yolk
•    1 cup of fruit juice

Happy experimenting!  If you have any replacement items that you’d like to suggest, please let us know in the comments section below.

Proteins are made up of several different amino acids all strung together. Our bodies are capable of making some of the amino acids. Others are called “essential” because we must consume them in our diets in order for our bodies to remain healthy. In order to get adequate protein from our diet we should eat a variety of foods each day. The most common source of protein in the American diet is meat. Milk and most dairy products are also rich in protein. Egg white is said to have the most complete protein. Many of these animal sources of protein can also be high in fat.

To avoid too much fat, select leaner cuts of meat, fish and poultry and cook without adding fat. In other words, bake, broil or boil your meat. Vegetarians can also get adequate protein in their diets by eating beans and lentils as well as a variety of vegetables and grains. Nuts and seeds are also a good source of protein.

How much protein do we need? Most Americans get more than enough protein in their daily diets. In fact, some health professionals would argue that we get too much. The average adult needs 0.8 grams of protein for each kilogram or 2.2 pounds of body weight. This equates to 45 to 70 grams of protein daily for most adult males and females. Yet we generally consume twice that much. If you are overweight you do not necessarily need more protein. Some athletes feel they will perform better and increase their muscle mass if they follow a high protein diet. This has not been shown to be true in scientific studies. Women who are pregnant or lactating will require slightly more protein (20 grams) each day to help support the demands of the fetus and the nursing infant.

Submitted by:
Angela Pifer, MSN, CN
Certified Nutritionist
NutritionNorthwest.com
NourishingNewsBlog.com

From time to time I hear new ideas on which vegetables we should eat and which we should avoid. Potatoes were good (high in potassium), then bad (too much starch) …carrots good (good source of vitamin A), then bad (too much sugar)…corn good (taste amazing on the cob), then bad (too much starch) and then there are the tomatoes. Since many people already have a hard time meeting the current recommendations of 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, this added confusion only makes matters worse.

The easiest way to ensure that you are getting a good variety of nutrients is to vary the types of vegetables that you eat each day. And that means that you are not going to eat potatoes every night. Eat these on occasion; weekly is fine. On other nights and whenever possible, combine green, yellow, orange and red vegetables. The following list is a good starting point for vegetables that you might not have considered before:

Submitted by:

Angela Pifer, MSN, CN

Certified Nutritionist

NutritionNorthwest.com

NourishingNewsBlog.com