Transitions, Transitions

Hello Friends!  Please pardon my lack of posts this past week.  I have decided to transition over to WordPress, and as fate would have it, we are experiencing a few bumps getting it up and running!  Which is frustrating because I have all these posts floating around in my head just itching to get written down and online!  Thankfully I am married to one tech-savvy hubby, who is diligently working to help me get things running smoothly.  I appreciate your patience...be on the lookout for my new site soon!

Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream - Dairy & Egg Free

I mentioned that I have been experimenting with making homemade ice-cream.  (My good friend has been letting me borrow hers for several weeks and I am finally going to purchase my own.  I just returned it tonight, so I will be motivated to purchase it soon in order to continue enjoying these delicious treats!)  I also mentioned that I put my husband on an anti-inflammatory detox diet.  One of the things he must avoid is dairy, so he can no longer enjoy my delicious ice-cream treats when on his detox.  Major bummer!  So I decided to try my hand at a coconut milk based ice-cream.  He requested chocolate, and the results were, and I quote:

"Meg, this is amazing!  Better than anything you've bought at the store!"

Boy, do I love it when my husband sings my praises!  I hope your husbands will sing praises to you, too, when you give this recipe a try!

Now in all fairness to put credit where credit is due, I used this recipe from Emma of The Kitchn as inspiration and tweaked it to make it chocolate flavored.  Here's exactly what I did::

Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice-Cream

• 2 cans full fat coconut milk (I just bought this brand this brand because it has no additives and the can lining is BPA free)
• 1/2 cup sweetener (I used organic cane sugar , but honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar would be excellent choices as well)*
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon arrowroot flour/starch
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup cacao (or cocoa) powder
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips (I like Enjoy Life  because they're dairy/soy/nut free or SunSpire  because they're fair trade, though Sunspire does contain soy)

*A note on sweeteners: I don't recommend agave nectar as it is really more processed and not really a "raw" product as marketed, and is very high in fructose - more so than high fructose corn syrup.  Please see this article and this article for further information to help you form your own preference of opinion.

Don't forget to freeze your ice-cream maker bowl in advance of preparing this recipe!!!

1.  Pour coconut milk into a saucepan, reserving 1/2 cup for mixing the arrowroot starch into.  The coconut milk often separates, especially if cold, so shake it up for easier pouring.

2.  Add the sweetener and salt into the saucepan with the coconut milk. Warm over medium-low heat until the sweetener (if granular) has dissolved.

3.  Whisk the arrowroot starch into the reserved coconut milk until dissolved, then add to the warmed coconut milk while stirring/whisking gently.

4.  Whisk in the cacao powder until well-blended (ok if mixture appears still somewhat granular from the cacao powder).

5.  Increase the heat to medium.  Stirring occasionally, heat the coconut milk mixture until thickened enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.  Do not allow the mixture to come to a boil.

6.  Once mixture is close to being thickened, add the chocolate chips and allow them to melt, then stir to incorporate.

7.  Remove saucepan from the heat and add vanilla.

8.  Using an immersion blender (pouring into a regular blender would probably be fine, too), blend the mixture until smooth and creamy.  This step takes care of any of the cacao powder or melted chocolate that didn't quite come together with just stirring/whisking.

9.  Allow the mixture to cool on the counter a bit, then chill in the fridge at least 4 hours and even up to 3 days (I chilled mine overnight).

10.  Churn in your ice-cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions.  (The machine I used  usually takes 20-30 minutes, and this recipe took less than 10 minutes for me, so keep an eye on it!)

11. Scoop into a freezer-safe container (I prefer glass) and freeze until solid, usually a few hours.  A piece of parchment paper against the surface of the ice-cream can help prevent the formation of ice crystals. 

Variations:  Omit the chocolate and cacao powder (maybe increase the vanilla) for a more coconut or vanilla flavored ice-cream.  Add chocolate chips or nuts if you like...be creative!  For a peanut butter ice-cream, my friend Molly at Ditching The Processed likes this recipe.

I found this ice-cream to be a little harder than a dairy ice-cream right out of the freezer, so it may need to sit on the counter a couple of minutes before scooping.  The result was super creamy and perfectly balanced chocolate heavenly deliciousness!  I hope that you enjoy it as much as my husband and I did!

My (Current) Food Philosophy - And a Recipe

I say "current" food philosophy because, well, it seems every day there is something new to learn about what our bodies truly need!  So I have to stay flexible.  As I learn something new, I make the change (if I can) and try not to worry about any potential harm I may or may not have caused.  Ultimately, we make the best decisions we can based on the knowledge and resources we have at the present moment.   For example, I had been giving my daughter chia seeds in her morning yogurt nearly every day.  I thought they were adding some good substance and omega-3's.  And then recently as I was looking up some other information, I came across this article and changed my mind.  Not that I won't ever use chia seeds again - they make a decent egg replacement in baking recipes - but I have decided they're just not spectacular enough to warrant feeding them to my daughter on a regular basis.

Moving along...I would describe my current food philosophy to be mostly "traditional", a little bit "paleo", and overall "real food".  These are a few popular food movements that I will describe briefly for you.  Traditional foods are basically foods that our ancestors have been eating for hundreds of years.  They have a focus on nutrient density and are in polar opposite to packaged and processed foods.  Some examples include: pasture raised meats and eggs, wild caught fish, organ meats,  cod liver oil, broths made from the bones of such animals, raw milk and cheese, fermented vegetables and beverages such as pickles or dilly carrot sticks and kombucha or water kefir, animal fats (butter, tallow, lard), unrefined sweeteners like raw honey and maple syrup, whole grains that have been prepared by means of soaking, sprouting, and sourdough fermentation.  See this article from Stephanie of Keeper of the Home for a good article describing Traditional Foods.  The Weston A. Price Foundation has a lot of good resources and information as well.

The Paleo philosophy is similar to the Traditional philosophy in that it stays away from packaged/processed foods.  It is sometimes called the "caveman diet".  It emphasizes foods that our earliest ancestors would have eaten - meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts, tubers.  However, in the strict sense, followers of Paleo do not eat dairy, grains, or legumes.  I use paleo-based recipes when I may want to make something without grains but do not want to take the time to soak, sprout, or ferment my grains.  For example, I want to try this recipe for snickerdoodles.  I want to avoid using all-purpose flour but don't think a sprouted grain flour would yield a good result and my old recipe isn't adaptable to being soaked.  I don't adhere strictly to paleo, but these types of recipes fit within my philosophy because they emphasize foods that are in their more natural state.

The Real Food movement is very similar to the traditional food movement.  Again, real food is whole and unprocessed food, that has not been altered by man.  It is food in its most natural state.  Ideally, real foods are single-ingredient items; packaged items contain very few ingredients.  Here is one article and here is another about what defines real food.

Why do I follow these "movements" in governing my food choices?  I do this because I believe we were designed by our Creator and I want to steward our bodies in as close to the way he originally intended as possible.  I believe God put on this earth all we need for sustenance.  Highly refined and processed foods were not here originally!!!   I believe that nutrition really does make a big difference in the functioning of our bodies and the health of our future children and grandchildren.  I don't believe that chemicals and artificial flavors and colors can sustain the generations.  The way people eat today is NEW!  I don't care to be a part of the science experiment.  And what results are in (high rates of obesity, cancers, chronic illness, autoimmune disease, etc) don't look promising to me. Beautiful Babiesby Kristen Michaelis is a book that speaks a lot on nutrition and pregnancy specifically that I found quite interesting. Deep Nutrition by Catherine Shanahan is on my wish list to hopefully read soon!

So what do we eat in our house?  We eat lots of eggs, sprouted grain (Ezekiel) bread, homemade yogurt, organic meats and cheeses, organic fruits and vegetables, milk from a local farm.  In baked goods I use coconut Flour , soaked nuts and seeds, or organic sprouted flour  I cook with olive oil, butter, tallow, and oh yeah - coconut oil .  I drink water kefir and eat fermented pickles.  When I make white rice (yes, WHITE rice!), I cook it in coconut milk or homemade bone broth to sneak in more nourishment.  Soups and stews are a staple.  And I've recently been enjoying making homemade ice-cream, yum!  And dark chocolate...mmmm, dark chocolate...we have a Trader Joe's nearby and you can't beat $2 for a bar of organic and fair trade dark belgian chocolate with only 3 ingredients and no soy or dairy!  I will obviously be sharing lots of these recipes (or links to the blogs in which I found them) as we go along here.

Tonight we had beef stew in the crock pot (my old crock pot recently started leaking...I was secretly glad, so that I could purchase a new programmable one and I love it!  Sorry for the tangent...it is still new and I am enjoying trying new recipes in it!).  I really wanted a biscuit to go with it, but my husband is on a detox diet (a discussion for another post) and can't have wheat, eggs, dairy, or nuts and I didn't find a suitable recipe in the short time I searched for one.  When he is no longer on such a strict diet, I want to try these ones.

Beef Stew in the Crock Pot

~ 1 lb grass-fed beef stew meat (local if possible)

2 or 3 potatoes, chunked

4 carrots, peeled and chunked

1 onion, chunked

1 can/jar diced tomatoes (I buy Muir Glen  whose can linings are BPA free) or 1-2 fresh tomatos, diced

3 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced

~ 1/4 teaspoon each marjoram, rosemary, and thyme 

Salt (unrefined sea or Himalayan) & pepper to taste

2 cups beef bone broth

1/4 cup red wine

2 tbsp arrowroot starch/flour  plus a little water to mix it in

1 bag frozen peas, thawed

Put the potatoes, carrots, onion, tomatoes, garlic, spices, beef, broth, and wine into the crock pot and mix together.  (If you have the time, brown the meat in a pan first to keep the meat even juicier...I often skip this step for sake of time and dishes.)  Cook on low 10 hours or on high 6-7 hours.  In the last 30 minutes of cooking, add the thawed peas and arrowroot starch which has been mixed until smooth in a bit of water (this will thicken the juices).

Enjoy with sprouted grain or paleo biscuits, if desired!

A note on links:  I added several links to various other blog articles which delve more deeply on our subject, FYI if you would like to learn more.  Some links are recipes...some I have tried, others I hope to soon!  If you try them, I hope you enjoy the results!  Remember, give yourself grace and leave room for trial and error as you experiment with new ways of cooking!  Other links are to books I have read, hope to read, or products I personally use in my kitchen.  Some product links are affiliate links.  Should you make purchases through my links, a portion will be given to me in support of my blogging activities.  Some of the products I link to show you what I use; I do not necessarily purchase through Amazon but may shop around for the best price.  Thank you for reading and supporting my new blog!

RESTART!

We have all heard of the Staples' "easy button", but have you also ever wished you could press the "RESTART" button?  For whatever reason:  I wish I could restart this recipe that I have messed up, twice now.  I wish I could restart my exercise routine.  I wish I could restart that quilt I started 20 years ago, and still haven't finished ;-).  That is what I am doing today with this blog (as I successfully avoid doing the dishes).

You may have previously read some of my posts at healthybymeg.com.  There were definitely some useful articles there that may eventually find their way over here...eventually.  Considering I hadn't written in healthybymeg in about 18 months, I thought I needed a "RESTART!"  I have a lot of good excuses - mainly, giving birth and keeping up with a now very active 15 month old daughter!  So, anyway, without further ado:  I welcome you to "The Humble Steward".

Over the past few years I have undertaken a journey to be chemical-free.  I started with revamping my personal care products.  Which turned into revamping my cleaning products.  And then revamping my eating habits.  And even revamping the various products I buy (does everything have to be doused in flame retardants!!??).  It has been an evolving journey.  As I learn what is better, I try to do better.  But I am of course limited in what I can do!  God has blessed us with abundance, to be sure!  And I strive to use what resources he gives us as wisely as possible.  Priorities are always changing.  And such is life - circumstances are always changing and you have to roll with the punches, or so they say.  And so, this blog will be devoted to sharing information on various topics/activities such as: real food recipes, books I am (er - want to) read, resources for fellow Moms, DIY projects, gardening tips, natural healing alternatives, and more.  I hope that you will join me as I humbly stumble along this journey.  And may God bless you in your efforts to steward His gifts.

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Now I wouldn't want to leave you empty handed on the first post!  I thought I would share a new recipe I tried this week for pulled pork in my crock-pot!  We really enjoyed it, though personally next time I will halve the cayenne pepper...it was a tad spicy for me, and I had to rinse the pork in order to feed it to my toddler, haha!  I have never done that before!  She enjoyed it, too...nom, nom, nom.  We served it on sprouted grain rolls and with roasted green beans from our garden!  Here you go!

The Best Pulled Pork in a Crock Pot from Lisa of 100 Days of Real Food.