by Tara Mackey | Bees, Blogroll, Give Back, Health, Recipes
WANT TO MAKE A SMOOTHIE?
It’s not the same without pollinators.
Did you know that one in three bites of food is made possible by pollinators like bees, butterflies and hummingbirds? Whole Foods Market and The Xerces Society are partnering up to share news of pollinator population decline and their huge impact on our foods.
Take a look at this cute video they put together to show the importance of pollinators to our society…
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acAo8r5nVSk&w=560&h=315]
*This post is in partnership with Whole Foods Market
by Tara Mackey | Blogroll, Cancer, DIY, Health, My Organic Life, Recipes
Your gut literally serves as your second brain.
It even produces more of the neurotransmitter serotonin—known to have a beneficial influence on your mood—than your brain does. In fact, up to 95% of your serotonin level comes from your stomach. It’s actually called your “Gut Brain” (as opposed to your “Cranial Brain”) and is equipped with it’s own resources – breaking down, processing and storing food and nutrients endlessly without a peep. That’s because the Gut Brain and the Cranial Brain are derived from the same embryological tissues and produce the same biochemical – neurotransmitters – which turn nerve impulses into physiological action.
The importance of having a healthy stomach and digestive system cannot be overstated. So many issues – from anxiety, to acne, emotional distress, to fibromyalgia, to chronic conditions, to nausea & mood disorders can be attributed to what kinds of foods we eat. Eating foods that seal & heal your gut is an important and vital step to staying healthy and to maintaining your health.
Your gut is also home to millions of different bacteria – both good and bad. These bacteria outnumber the cells in your body by at least 10 to 1, and maintaining the ideal balance of good and bad bacteria forms the foundation for good health—physical, mental and emotional.
What Are Fermented Vegetables?
Cultured – or fermented vegetables – are the ultimate superfood. Fermented foods are potent chelators (detoxifiers) and contain much higher levels of probiotics than probiotic supplements, making them ideal for optimizing your gut flora. In addition to helping break down and eliminate heavy metals and other toxins from your body, beneficial gut bacteria perform a number of surprising functions, including:
- Mineral absorption, and producing nutrients such as B vitamins and vitamin K2 (vitamin K2 and vitamin D are necessary for integrating calcium into your bones and keeping it out of your arteries, thereby reducing your risk for coronary artery disease and stroke)
- Preventing obesity and diabetes, and regulating dietary fat absorption
- Lowering your risk for cancer
- Improving your mood and mental health
- Preventing acne
How To Ferment Your Vegetables
If you aren’t accustomed to these foods, you may have to work them into your diet gradually. Many folks – like myself, who snacks on them regularly, really enjoy the taste of fermented vegetables, which really have a pleasantly salty-tart flavor. And just one quarter to one half cup of fermented veggies, eaten with one to three meals per day, can have a dramatically beneficial impact on your health.
What You’ll Need:
1. Knife/Grater.
2. Cutting Board.
3.Very Large Bowl: This bowl should be large enough to hold the entire batch of shredded veggies.
4.Mason jars are all that is necessary for both fermenting and storing the vegetables.
5. Krautpounder: This solid wood tool that looks like a small baseball bat is very handy for tightly packing the shredded veggies into your jars and eliminating air pockets. You can use a fork & your hands if you don’t have one.
1. Select Your Vegetables and Herbs
The first step is gathering up your veggies. Cabbage ( or, as you may know it in its fermented form, sauerkraut) should be the “backbone” of your blend. Five or six medium-sized cabbages will yield 10 to 14 quart jars of fermented vegetables.
Add in hard root vegetables of your liking, such as carrots, garlic, thyme, basil, celery, oregano, golden beets, radishes, apples, turnips: just go nuts! Peel your veggies as the skins can impart a bitter flavor. One pepper for the entire batch is plenty.
Finally, you can add sea vegetables or seaweed to increase the mineral, vitamin, and fiber content.
Once you’ve selected your veggies, grate them into your large bowl.
2. Culture and Brine:
For your brine, one quart of celery juice is adequate for 10 to 14 quarts of fermented veggies. While you can do wild fermentation (allowing whatever is naturally on the vegetable to take hold), this method is more time consuming, and the end product is less certain. Inoculating the food with a starter culture speeds up the fermentation process. You can also add the inside of encapsulated probiotics to speed up the process!
3. Packing the Jars:
Once you have your shredded veggies and brine mixture combined in your large bowl, tightly pack the mixture into each Mason jar, and compress using a masher to remove any air pockets. Top with a cabbage leaf, tucking it down the sides. Make sure the veggies are completely covered with brine and that the brine is all the way to the top of the jar, to eliminate trapped air. Put the lids on the jars loosely, as they will expand due to the gases produced in fermentation.
4. Fermentation:
Allow the jars to sit in a relatively warm place – such as a windowsill, facing the sun- for several days, ideally at around 72 degrees Fahrenheit. During the summer, veggies are typically done fermenting in three or four days. In the winter, they may need 7 days. The only way to tell when they’re done is to open up a jar and have a taste. Once you’re happy with the flavor and consistency, ( if you’ve ever tasted sauerkraut this is the flavor(ish) you’re going for) move the jars into your refrigerator.
For storage, refrigerating your vegetables drastically slows down the fermentation. They will keep for many months this way, continuing to mature very slowly over time.
Enjoy Liberally!
Always use a clean spoon to take out what you’re eating.
Never eat out of the jar, as you will contaminate the entire batch with bacteria from your mouth. Make sure the remaining veggies are covered with the brine solution before replacing the lid.
I want to thank my incredible Health Fairy & Lovely Friend Colleen for introducing me to this lovely way to heal myself and improve my life! It has had amazing and miraculous consequences on my overall well being! After about 1 week I saw a drastic improvement in my chronic nausea, and after a month I didn’t know how I ever lived without fermented veggies!
by Tara Mackey | Blogroll, DIY, My Organic Life, Recipes, Skincare
Total Body Tonic
Ingredients:
To Make:
- Boil Water
- Add Ginseng to Tea Catcher
- Add Water to Tea cup
- Squeeze Lemon into tea.
- Drink as a full cup of tea or a shot
Why It Works:
Ginseng’s Latin name, Panax, comes from the same Greek root as our word, “panacea,” meaning all-healing. That’s not much of an exaggeration. A great deal of research shows that ginseng significantly improves athletic performance and relieves fatigue. Ginseng also relieves the ravages of stress. Japanese researchers showed that the herb reduces the secretion of stress-related hormones. Ginseng also improves immune function and appears to prevent cancer. University of Southern California researchers report that, in vitro, the herb increases production of interferon, the body’s own antiviral compound.
Lemon is an excellent and rich source of vitamin C, an essential nutrient that protects the body against immune system deficiencies. It helps to flush out toxins and balances pH levels in the Body.
Calcium & Coconut: Probiotic Tonic
My amazing friend Colleen invented this one and it got me over my flu pretty much immediately. Thanks, girl!
Ingredients:
- Calcium Ascorbate
- Coconut Kifer
To Make:
- Add 1 TBSP Calcium Ascorbate to 2 shots Coconut Kifer.
- Take as a shot once an hour.
Why It Works:
Ascorbate calcium is a form of vitamin C that is used to prevent or treat low levels of vitamin C in people who do not get enough of the vitamin from their diets. Vitamin C plays an important role in the body. It is needed to maintain the health of skin, cartilage, teeth, bone, and blood vessels. It is also used to protect your body’s cells from damage. It is known as an antioxidant.
Coconut kefir is quite simply fermented coconut water. This probiotic beverage is very healing to the digestive system and the liver and creates a strong immune system that is ultimately responsible for your good health.
Better Blood Tonic
For better blood health and immunity!
Ingredients:
- Dandelion Root
- Echinacea
- Garlic
- Goldenseal
To Make:
- Add herbs to a tea catcher.
- Add Boiled Water to your herbs.
- Let seep. Drink as tea.
Why It Works:
Dandelion Root is an excellent blood purifier that neutralizes acids and has a strong alkalinizing effect on the body.
Echinacea is recognized as one of the most powerful blood and lymphatic cleansers in the botanical kingdom.
Garlic is an excellent blood cleanser, lowers blood fats and is a natural antibiotic.
Goldenseal is also an excellent blood, liver, kidney, and skin purifier.
Better Skin Tonic
For better skin, hair and healthy nails!
Ingredients:
- Chamomile
- Calendula
- Lavender
To Make:
- Add herbs to a Teacatcher.
- Add Boiled Water to your herbs.
- Let seep. Drink as tea.
Why It Works:
Calendula is a garden plant in the daisy family that, like aloe vera and witch hazel, has anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties. It is also a vulnerary agent that helps to heal wounds and soothe damaged skin, such as sunburn, cuts and scrapes. Many have also used calendula oil to treat eczema.
Lavender may be more famous for its relaxing effects of the mind, but it also helps to soothe skin, too. It is rich in a compound called linalool that assists with skin healing while also preventing tissue degeneration keeping skin firm and preventing wrinkles. To make lavender even more of an anti-aging wonder, it encourages the growth of new skin cells due to its cytophylactic properties. Lavender also helps to heal wounds, scar tissue, acne, eczema and problem skin. Being anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-toxic, anti-bacterial and an anti-septic just serves to show how incredible lavender is for skin.
Chamomile is one of nature’s miracles. It has an incredible number of benefits, and none more so than for our skin. Alpha-bisabolol – a compound found in chamomile – reportedly reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by accelerating the healing process of the skin while also possessing anti-irritant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Do you make any tonics at home for better health?
Love & Light
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by Tara Mackey | Blogroll, DIY, My Organic Life, Recipes
One of my absolute favorite parts of Fall is Pumpkin Spice Flavor popping up everywhere for a month or two!
Fall of one of my favorite seasons! Gorgeous weather, cozy sweaters, bonfires, and playing with puppy in the leaves are all highlights of this incredible change in Earth’s seasons!
And Pumpkin Spice is one of my favorite flavors!
Instead of paying $5 a head for a cup of it in some form every day, I decided recently to make my own! It was quick, simple, easy and tastes delicious! I’ve been sneaking it in everything lately! 😉
What You’ll Need:
1 tbsp. Nutmeg
1 tbsp. Cinnamon
1 tbsp. Turmeric
1 tbsp. Ground Cloves
1 tbsp. Lemon Peel
Instructions:
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1. Gather & combine your ingredients
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2. Stir to Blend
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3. Enjoy in hot chocolate, coffee, tea, baked goods, pies, seasonal soaps, etc!
Are you enjoying a particular Fall Flavor this year?
Feel free to share with me!
Love & Light
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by Tara Mackey | Blogroll, DIY, Health, My Organic Life, My Photography, Recipes
Okay, I have a serious fruit addiction. I’ll buy 3 cartons of berries and 2 days later I’m explaining to Frank (my go-to check out guy) that I just needed 3 more. Luckily, the market has been having sales on fruit lately, so my little heart is practically bursting. The first lovely thing that I like to make with my berries is a banging
Parfait
All you need is granola, yogurt, and any kind of berries, and you’re good to go! They’re actually SO simple to make you’re going to be mad you’ve been handing Starbucks your $6 for these every morning.
Personal Pizza’s have been my go-to since college, and they’re super simple to make from scratch or to throw in the oven for 18 mins while you finish that Game of Thrones episode. I prefer Amy’s brand pizza’s, since they’re Organic, Natural & GMO-Free, but I made that baby from scratch ^^
Avocado on Toast is becoming one of my favorite snacks. You can just open the Avocado and spread it onto a piece of toast like butter, then add your favorite veggie, or hot sauce, and you’re good to go! I swear I made about 50 of these the first day I tried it. :X
Salad is intuitive and can be boring, but hear me out. I make the most integrated salads you can imagine, and I throw my fruits and nuts into just about every one. If you’re having a hard time getting your greens or fruits in – I’d start here. I will make a salad out of ANYTHING – this ^^ is Garden Lettuce, Apples, Cucumbers, Berries, Nuts, and a Salmon that I made, cut up and threw in there for protein. I also love Avocado’s, and Olive Oil or Grapeseed Oil makes a great dressing!
I completely forgot how much I like Whipped Cream. Now that Lucerne makes a Gluten-free one, I had to try it! So, I’ve found my new healthy mid-afternoon snack: Strawberries & Whipped Cream! I know Whipped Cream isn’t the healthiest option in the Universe, but if you have as much as you’d need with a handful of berries, I think you’ll be okay. 🙂 Everything in moderation!
Yep, you guessed it – more berries! I told you I had a problem! 😀
This is my new absolute favorite snack – Pudding Parfait: Rice Pudding, Plain Greek Yogurt, Chia seeds, berries & Chocolate Pudding on top. Now, I’m not talking about Jello Pudding. The berries make it anti-oxidant & Kozy Shack is gluten free if you want to go the healthy route.
Happy Snacking!
Thank you very much.
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by Tara Mackey | Blogroll, DIY, My Organic Life, My Photography, Recipes
Kale is my new best friend. I grow a few heads of Kale in my garden: they’re hardy and wonderful, grow year round, and are easy to maintain.
In recent years, researchers have discovered that kale is rich in calcium, lutein, iron, beta-carotene, and Vitamins A, C, and K. A single serving of Kale provides 192 percent of the recommended daily amount of Vitamin A, which can act as a preventative against lung diseases. Research in Australia found that a diet high in beta-carotene foods like kale can decrease the chances of skin cancer.
I created a very easy, simple recipe for Kale Chips, which are absolutely delicious! It’s a shame to me that they are selling these at stores for $8 a pop when they are SO easy to make at home! Not only that, I made two different kinds, and I’ll share them both with you! They flew off the plate!
Ingredients: 1 Bunch of Kale
Sea Salt
Olive/Grapeseed Oil
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
2. Some people remove the ribs from the kale, but I like them and find them nutritious, personally.
Rub Olive Oil & Salt into Kale.
Zesty Recipe:
Add Cheese & Pepper
3. Bake until crisp, turning the leaves halfway through, about 20 minutes. Serve as finger food. Watch them disappear!
Enjoy! If you liked this recipe, you may also enjoy my recipe for The Best Bay Tacos!
Have a Safe & Healthy weekend!
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