Food and Spirituality

    I used to post about food and recipes. Mostly healthy ones, but that was before we got all spiritual and became missionaries and now no longer care what we put in our mouths.

  Maybe i should run that last sentence by my husband before i post it.

  Maybe he might not agree.

  Maybe he would be right.

  Because one time i knew of someone who also believed that when you reached a certain level of holiness there were other things a person no longer cared about. I was quite astounded and amazed at such amounts of spiritual knowledge.  But my husband said that certain ideas are anything but spiritual because the closer he himself gets to God the more he enjoys those certain things.

  Maybe i should get back to talking about food and recipes.

  I truly thought before coming that perhaps we would be so thankful just for food, especially after seeing how simple Kenyan's diets are, that my man's love for cooking would get replaced with.....with.....well, i hadn't thought that far. Maybe his super spirituality would kick in? I also thought i would lose vast amounts of weight because we would no longer have access to rich foods. I was kind of hoping it would be that way and for a while it looked promising. I picked up a batch of amoebas (nasty parasitic type things from contaminated food and water) immediately upon arrival and spent a large portion of my time studying the back of the bathroom door. I lost my appetite and i figured i had finally hit upon the perfect diet plan. I imagined people oohing and awing over how thin we all had become. And spiritual.

  Lo and behold, as my body adjusted to Kenya, i realized that my appetite for sugary delights was once again increasing in a rather unholy way and my man had not developed spiritual gifts that took away his love for cooking. Or other things.

  Also, while our access to processed foods is somewhat limited here, at least if you don't want to pay obscene amounts of shillings, there are still ways to get fat. With like chocolate cake and peanut butter frosting. Mashed potatoes and gravy. Big bowls of homemade ice cream.

  So i realized, due especially to Marlin's family history of diabetes and heart issues, that we would
have to continue watching our sugars and heavy carbs without the benefit of super spirituality.

  So here's a recipe that we like. A lot. I tend to make these just for Marlin and i because peanut butter is not cheap in Kenya and neither are chick peas or honey. The children eat regular brownies made with sunflower oil and white sugar and flour. Sigh...and to think i would never have considered allowing that evil oil in our cooking and baking before. I do use ghee also but it's still expensive and i just can't justify using it in all our baking. And it seems this crew's stomach is a bottomless pit and it would be rather embarrassing to have the mission tell us to go back where we came from because it seems we have food issues.

  So Marlin continues to cook and i continue to think he looks mighty amazing in the kitchen. Something about the black apron, large knife, and a big smile.....

Come to mama

  And now for the recipe. Please don't harm your happiness and think that anything with beans is disgusting until you give it a try.

Flourless Chocolate Chip Chickpea Blondies with Sea Salt

YIELD: Makes 16

INGREDIENTS:

Nonstick cooking spray
1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup natural peanut butter, almond butter, or your favorite nut butter
1/3 cup pure maple syrup, honey or agave nectar (i use part stevia)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp. semisweet chocolate chips
Sea salt, for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 8 × 8-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a food processor, add all ingredients except chocolate chips. Process until batter is smooth. Fold in 1/3 cup chocolate chips and spread batter evenly in prepared pan with a buttered spatula. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons chocolate chips over top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and edges are very light brown.

Let cool completely on a wire rack. Sprinkle with sea salt and cut into 16 squares.

Enjoy!

TIPS
Adding an egg to the batter will make the bars more cake-like.
If you’re using chickpeas, make sure they’re peeled.
Feel free to get creative and add nuts, dried fruits, or anything else you like.

No Bake Chocolate Coconut Energy bars and Homemade Lotion

Servings: 16
Preparation Time: 25 minutes

* 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
* 1 cup raw pecans
* 4 tablespoons Coconut Oil
* 1/2 cup coconut flour
* 4 tablespoons honey or enough to sweeten
* 3/4 cup raisins
* 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* Dried, shredded coconut

Chocolate Sauce Ingredients:

* 4 tablespoons coconut oil
* 8 tablespoons cocoa powder
* 2-3 tablespoons honey

Grind up 1 cup of sunflower seeds and the cup of pecans in food processor or coffee grinder and pour into bowl. Add coconut oil, coconut flour, honey, raisins, vanilla flavoring, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds and mix all together. Pour into square casserole dish and press mixture down firmly.

Sauce:

In small saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons coconut oil and mix in cocoa and honey until thickened. Pour chocolate sauce on top and sprinkle with shredded coconut. Refrigerate for about 25-35 minutes. Cut up into squares and enjoy!


These are really good. I did add several T melted butter and some sea salt to the recipe, since i thought it was a bit dry. I also think a thin layer of raspberry jam between the chocolate and bar would be delish. My family loved them, with the exception of Emily, since she hates raisins in recipes. I decided it's time for me to stop dancing around whining children and their hatred of raisins in anything yummy. See? I'm one tough mama. I have allowed them to pick the raisins out in the past, but that's stopping. Today!! Especially since it will come to a screeching halt anyway if big daddy sees them picking anything out of anything.

And now a question. I want to make homemade lotion. I'm tired of paying insane prices for high quality lotion and i feel it's important to use high quality. Simply for the fact that it sits on your skin and gets completely absorbed into your system. I'm not near as strict with soap since you wash it off, but it bugs me everytime i put garbage lotion on my skin. However, depending on my budget for the moment, i can't bring myself to pay the price for the good stuff, so i buy the cheap stuff and hate every smear of it. So i need recipes. I would like to use coconut oil, olive oil, sweet almond oil and anything else that is good for the skin. Anyone that gives me a winning recipe can come out and hang out with me for a day. Seriously, it wouldn't be that bad. You might even have fun. And if nothing else, my family will give you something to talk about. :)

6 weeks of grain free

This weekend will mark 6 weeks of (mostly) grain free eating. The "mostly" part was for me, not Marlin. I don't think he has had even one grain of, well, grain. :) So what's our conclusion? I'm not sure. I lost no weight until i got the flu, at which point i promptly lost 10 lbs within 48 hrs. Of course half of that came back when i started eating and my system filled up. So i was a little disappointed since i was hoping to have the rest of my baby weight melt off of me, but now it looks like i will actually have to work to lose the rest. I did have a small piece of soaked spelt bread, toasted with butter, when i was sick. Within minutes i had a slamming headache. Was it the spelt or the flu? I won't know until i try again. Neither did i ever have a time in the last 6 weeks when i felt fantastic. The only thing that makes me think i do have a few grain issues is the terrible way i felt the first 2 weeks. Major die-off doesn't happen unless you've got an issue. It's probably no coincidence that i have family members with gut issues. Maybe i'll just go find a big pile of sand and dig my head into it. Always helps to ignore things.

Marlin? He has noticed no difference. Zero. Nada. His energy level is down again but the one good news is that his blood pressure is too. Why? Don't know for sure. I have my theories but that doesn't mean a lot since i'm always having theories.

Will we stay off grains? I do think grains are good and healthy if prepared properly, but where we go from here i'm not sure. A good friend of mine and one i trust with health issues, told me we may not see a difference until we start eating grains again. I know we should probably go really strict GAPS diet, but right now i'm not ready for that. I want to get the GAPS book and do some reading. I want to know why i'm doing what i'm doing and to find out, i need to read. And pray. Unless it's something that God is leading us to do, it won't work anyway, and in the end, that's all that matters. We will never eat "perfectly" and i want to remember that. I want a healthy balance but more than anything, i want Jesus Christ to reign supreme over my life. In light of eternity, it's not really going to matter if i ate grains or not. So with that cheerful thought, i am going to bid "adieu."

Grain Free Granola

1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2-1 cup nuts
1/2 cup honey, warmed
pinch of salt
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 T vanilla
1 cup dried fruit
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large baking sheet. Mix all ingredients EXCEPT dried fruit. Bake 30 minutes, stirring every so often and watching to make sure it doesn't burn. Remove from oven and add dried fruit. Hide in closet and eat frantically, hoping the children won't find you. I'm telling you, this granola is GOOD!!!

Unfortunately, this stuff is expensive to make, so i limit the children's intake. Which isn't hard seeing they HATE raisins in food. :) That could be a problem for me, since this stuff can make you fat. Uh-oh, maybe there's a reason i'm the only one in this marriage not losing weight.........

Granola? Anyone?

Week 4

We are entering our fourth week grain free. Marlin has stuck faithfully to the diet, along with Josh, and i have noticed a big difference in both of them. Josh in more subtle ways, like no nightmares and no joint pain. Marlin? Well, let's just say that i'm seeing a spring to his step that's been missing for longer than i want to remember. Before we started this, he literally could hardly function. He'd fall into bed at night, exhausted beyond measure, and wake up as exhausted as when he went to bed. And now? He comes home and has this little wicked gleam in his eyes! And i LOVE it!!! However, i don't believe it's just the grain free diet that's causing him to feel human again. It's something else, something that i'm not going to share yet. It's our secret and i don't think most of you are ready to handle this secret yet. So you'll have to wait until i feel you're ready. ;)
So, we're looking at keeping wheat out of our diets, at least at home, indefinitely. We'll probably add brown rice, oats, buckwheat and rye back in, but not yet. Unfortunately, i have to admit that i slipped yesterday at fellowship meal and i've been paying the price. I just had to have some of those yummy tortilla's and little bite sized cherry desserts at church, and ever since i've been sluggish and bloated. Yuck! I guess i deserve it, aye?

Second week of grain free

Day 7/8 of the grain free diet. The past week was rough, no doubt about it. I felt achy and extremely irritable, like i was coming down with the flu. The thing that surprised me the most has been the lack of desire for grains. I thought i would be craving big slabs of warm bread or light cake, but it simply hasn't been an issue. I haven't been any hungrier than normal, in fact, i felt less hungry. I was able to pass up cake at fellowship meal Sunday and it wasn't hard. It certainly looked good and i would've certainly enjoyed eating it, but it simply wasn't a big deal. My cravings for sugar has gone way down, and that's awesome. And yesterday something shifted in my body. The terrible irritability left and i could feel my energy coming back. I love how I'm starting to feel and if it continues, i may just keep grains, or at least wheat, out of the house for a very long time. After all, with coconut and almond flour, i think we can do without wheat and be better for it. When i get the craving for something sweet and rich, i simply make smoothies, latte's, brownies, or any other number of goodies.

The biggest thing i've noticed with Josh is that he's been sleeping much better at night. He no longer wakes up sobbing but actually has been sleeping til 8 or past. And that's a blessing!

Sympathy? Anyone?

I'm suffering on this grain free diet, people. Simply suffering. For breakfast Saturday? No toast, just coconut flour crepes, stuffed with raw whipped cream and cream cheese with a drizzle of honey, and topped with plump raspberries and blackberries. Served with a side of home cured bacon and eggs.

For supper tonight? (eaten early since i'm on the way to the midwife. Because............haha, almost had you. Not for me, but am going with a pregnant friend just so i can see my all time favorite midwife) As i was saying, for supper i had strips of grilled chicken breasts, nestled on a bed of greens, topped with slices of cherry tomatoes, creamy chunks of avocado, papery slices of carrots and followed with a homemade blue cheese salad dressing. I will finish with a smoothie made with orange juice, yogurt, kefir, ice, coconut oil and a dash of stevia.

It's a life of sacrifice but someone has to do it.

Day 4

Day 4 of the grain free experience. I also cut out rice and potatoes at home, basically going completely carb free. Unfortunately i'm experiencing some serious weakness, so i'm not sure i can go completely carb free while nursing, in spite of upping my fats. Anyone do this while nursing? I'm definitely sticking with the grain free thing at home for all of us, but i can tend to get fanatical when i do something like this. I want to be wise, not nuts.

The good news? Marlin's blood pressure is dropping!! He took it last night and it was the lowest it has been for a very long time. That was incredibly encouraging after a couple rough days. I also think i've lost my sense of humor. Takes too much energy to be funny right now........that's a weird feeling. I'm thinking i'll make myself some brown rice for lunch and see if i can crack a couple of jokes afterwards. See, not funny at all. Sigh......

Day 3

Day 3 of being grain free. At least for Marlin and Josh. The rest of us only got serious yesterday. I'm so amazed at how Josh handles it. Very casually and totally accepting that he can't have any bread, pasta, etc. Of course none of us are eating it at home, but he still has a great attitude. Emily on the other hand, gets in a bad mood just at the thought. For some reason it stresses her out when we do something out of the ordinary. She's been that way since small, routine is everything to her.
I can't help but think that this grain free experience is so good for our children. A great way to teach them self discipline and self denial. And even greater is the mama learning it. I think as mothers we tend to excuse eating issues in ourselves, after all, we kind of think we deserve that extra cookie. Subconsciously, of course. I deny my flesh on a daily basis just based on the fact that i am giving 24/7 to a large brood of children, so GIMME' MY CHOCOLATE!!!!!! And breads, sugar, you name it.
So our diet so far this week? Lots of kefir smoothies, eggs and cheese, egg nog, soup, roasted chicken with daikons and carrots, steamed broccoli, salads, a few very ripe bananas, a few apples, and grain free crackers. Yup, you can actually make grain free crackers. I modified a recipe yesterday and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Sometimes you just want something that crunches like wheat and this fulfills that. We also talked about going dairy free, at least straight milk, but at this point we're keeping dairy in. I'm focusing on kefir and yogurt, but i'm not sure i'm ready to take the plunge and go without dairy, especially since i'm not convinced it's necessary for our family.
And for those of you who want to have your cake (or crackers) and eat it too, here's the recipe for the crackers.

GRAIN FREE CRACKERS

1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup butter, melted (this was my addition, felt like it needed fat)
1 cup asiago/parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup water
Grind seeds until fine and add rest of ingredients. Place on a parchment lined pan and press out in a thin layer and score. Bake at 325 degrees for about 35 minutes. I baked mine a bit longer since they weren't as thin as they should've been and took longer to bake.

I'm looking forward to saturday morning breakfast. I will be trying almond flour pancakes, a special treat since almond flour is SO expensive. I know that having a little treat like that once in a while will go far in encouraging ourselves to stick with it.

Oh, and you know the part where i said it's good for mothers to deny themselves with food? Especially chocolate? If your husband brings you home a Rapunzel organic chocolate bar with hazelnuts, you need to eat it. Seriously. It will enhance your marriage.