Chris Pedersen's Blog, page 21

Over the Top for Organic Food

I love that there are so many beating the drum for your health, dear readers. And there is no better person that I'd rather occupy the proverbial soap box with than Jennie Zraick. Listen to what she has to pass on today.



I know some of you think I'm a bit over the top with my passion for buying organic food whenever possible.

Perhaps you think my "conspiracy theory" attitude towards our government and commercial agri-business tips to the paranoid side of the scale.


In my defense, the article Five Reasons to Eat Organic Apples demonstrates one of the many reasons behind my attitude. We are literally being exposed to toxic poisons with every bite we take IF the food we eat isn't labeled organic. An apple may look like a delicious way to keep the doctor away, but what you can't see is a cocktail of pesticides that can't be washed off because they've penetrated into the meat of the fruit.



I know I can't avoid Genetically Modified (GM) foods altogether or always find organic, but the majority of my food is real and prepared in my kitchen. By choosing organic, I am significantly reducing my exposure to the toxins that are now commonplace in the majority of food produced.



Hmmm.... I wonder why Americans now experience disease like cancer, allergies, digestive issues, mental issues (including Alzheimer's, ADHD, autism), and "syndromes" (aka: diseases doctors can't explain) in epidemic proportions...



Attention young readers (ya'all in your 20's and below): Don't be ignorant about what you're eating. Check it out if you're not up on the topic of GM foods and reasons to eat organic. You have the opportunity to significantly impact your health in your later years (40 and up) by how you treat your body now.



Thanks Jennie. Love it when you echo my cry. Any questions about my or Jennie's journey?

 

Back to School Healthy Lunch Ideas

Even though my son is now 31, I remember making his lunch every day. I wanted to make sure he got healthy food to eat for lunch. There were plenty of easy pre-packaged foods to choose from in the grocery store, but there was no way my quest for simple would include pre-packaged items—full of artificial ingredients and sugar.



Here are some ideas for sending your child off to school with nutritious ingredients in their lunch box.


Include some bite-size veggies like cherry tomatoes.




A hard-boiled egg provides some good brain food.


Add a helping of the veggie salad you made this week.







Almond butter on whole-grain bread with bananas will satisfy any munchkin.







Make up celery sticks with goat cheese spread and dot with blueberries. Yum with a crunch. 






Add hummus for dipping to a recycled container and drop in some veggie sticks (carrots, broccoli, jicama, etc).






Send them off with cucumbers that have most of the vitamins needed in a day, plus the skin contains lots of vitamin C.






And don't forget the healthy trail mix.




Add your own ideas and come up with a list of foods you can rotate through your kids' lunch boxes. Also remember to surprise your child with an occasional sweet note.




What are some healthy food items you pack for your kids' lunch?

The Genesis of a Kid’s App for Eating Healthy

A late-in-life discovery found me with cancer from a genetic condition. Believing that my healthy lifestyle had saved me from a more serious prognosis, I changed my diet even further (eliminating sugar, alcohol and meat except wild-caught fish), incorporated an herbal extract called Vitae Elixxir into my daily routine and beat the odds, returning to a healthful state.



Now I want to make others aware of healthy eating and the benefits of herbs, especially at a time when childhood obesity trends are increasing.



Since I love crafting stories for kids, I wrote a story and made it an interactive app for the iPad, which creates a deeper reading experience. First book in the Veggie Chronicle series, The Prisoner of Carrot Castle is a fun and beautifully illustrated storybook following the adventures of Aiden in his imaginary world as he conquers his dislike for veggies. Children discover that eating vegetables is what real heroes do. That is, if they want to eat their way out of a wicked king’s clutches.


The subtle health message promoted by the book app offers vivid colors and playful music. Wiggly fingers can discover sound effects and make a mouse (or the hero himself) scamper through a hole. Children can dress (much like paper dolls) a few characters from the book if they patiently focus on small motor skills.



With the choice to have read to me on (or off), pages turned by pulling a carrot from the wall, interactivity with sounds and animations by tapping, sliding and tilting, iPad book apps are clearly the future of reading and learning. Forthcoming updates to the app include parent/teacher reading strategies with curriculum that supports Common Core Standards in education.




***Over 40,000 Downloads***

The Prisoner of Carrot Castle reached #1 in Top Free Book Apps during limited offer!

Purple Carrot Books, the publisher for these innovative iPad book apps, is focused on influencing young lives for a hopeful, healthy future. With more apps coming (Blondilocks, Ethan Blecher Braves a Bully, and The Slave of Peas Pyramid), parents are sure to find their kids have a change in attitude on healthy behaviors.



Follow us on Twitter @chrisathecafe and @prplcarrotbooks. Please Like our facebook pages at facebook.com/PurpleCarrotBooks and facebook.com/HealthyJourneyCafe. Get healthy and discover some great vegetarian recipes at healthyjourneycafe.com.



 

Breakfast Veggie Hash with Eggs

I threw this together one morning and it turned out yummy-licious. So I thought you would like it too. As I've said before, I typically don't measure anything—grab a little of this and some of that as I cook. Then I'll remake the recipe using measurements so you get something reproducible.



For this one I'm giving you estimates. It'll turn out great... trust me. Better yet... try the non-measuring technique. You'll find it freeing.







Lightly cook the veggie hash ingredients in some extra-virgin olive oil. Then push the veggies to outside edges of the pan making a ring of veggies with an opening in the middle.



Crack the eggs and drop into the middle of the veggie hash. Cover and let cook. Season and serve.




Breakfast Veggie Hash




From Chris Pedersen

Yield 2 servings




Category Breakfast

Cuisine Vegetarian




Ingredients

1 Tbsp Olive oil

1/4 C chopped onion

1/4 C chopped bell pepper

1/4 C chopped kale

1/4 C chopped summer squash

1/4 C chopped mushrooms

2 organic eggs

Handful of baby spinach




Directions

1. Add oilive oil to sauce pan over medium high heat. Add onions and cook for 1 minute.

2. Add pepper, kale, squash and mushrooms and stir to cook slightly.

3. Push the veggies to the outside of the pan to form a ring. Crack the eggs and pour into the center.

4. Spread the spinach on the veggies and cover with a lid to cook the eggs.

5. Once the eggs are cooked, add salt and cracked pepper and serve.



Try this recipe and let me know if you measured or estimated. Go ahead. Step out of your comfort zone.

Georgia: A Cancer Story of Success

Georgia ~ June 2013

"I just lost my dad and I wasn't about to lose my mom too," said Steve, Georgia's son. Doctors told him she had maybe 60 days to live. Six months later "CT scans and blood work confirm there is no more cancer," says Steve.



How was a frail 85-year-old able to battle and win against the odds?
It's a story that inspires any cancer survivor especially those fortunate enough to have a champion like Georgia's son fighting for them every day.



Steve grew up in a family with "can-do" parents. His dad Bud was a self-made man with a big heart. One of many remarkable stories from Bud's life included making friends with a cowboy-oilman-entreprenuer from Wyoming who developed a product based on traditional native-American remedies that he believed cured him of cancer. He dubbed the product Vitae Elixxir.


Vitae Elixxir became a recommendation to family members and friends who wanted to try an effective natural product in their cancer battle. Over the years, word-of-mouth recommendations for Vitae Elixxir grew. Bud developed a passion to help those in health crisis and often spent hours talking with people in person or on the phone.



Georgia knew she was pretty ill even before Bud passed away at the respectable age of 89. She had put all of her energy into caring for him in his last year. Several months earlier, before he died, Georgia's doctors told Steve that his mom and dad would probably die within a few months of one another. Now her symptoms were too urgent to ignore. Steve vowed to put all of his energy into fighting the cancer—he was not going to lose his mom.



The doctors claimed Georgia had a very unique type of cancer, but cancer is always unique to each person because each of us is different. Georgia had stage 3 peritoneal cancer with two tumors (2.5 x 1.5 inches and 3 x 2 inches) in her abdomen. Not wanting to follow the traditional treatment of chemo, she began fighting the cancer using a foot soak of Vitae Elixxir herbs with a proprietary solution that carries the herbs into the tissues more rapidly. It must also be noted that she ate a healthy, fresh-food diet.



Steve poured through the research and contacted trusted family and friends familiar with other natural cancer-fighting solutions. "I was going to throw everything at the disease," said Steve. As a result, he had Georgia take a supplement called Oncolyn—another herbal remedy, plus the prescription called Metformin normally used for diabetes, but found to also help reduce the size of tumors in many cancers. Steve had seen a segment on Dr. Oz that discussed the Metformin tumor reducing effects. They also began using the Vitae Elixxir herbs as a poultice applied to her abdomen for one hour every day.



At the same time Georgia agreed to the doctor's recommendation to start chemo, with the stipulation that they stop if she became more ill and weak. Fortunately for Georgia, there were few negative side-effects. "I'm sure the Vitae Elixxir helped to keep my body stronger while taking the chemo," she said in the middle of her treatment. "Vitae Elixxir has properties that kept my white cell count much higher than the doctors expected," she said.



When facing a life-threatening disease like cancer, each person should decide for themselves what choices to make in their treatment. "Self responsibility in treatment is a big part of the solution," said Georgia. Many people just want to do things part-way, like the smoker fighting lung cancer that won't give up smoking. Not going to work.



Although Georgia has no more cancer, she continues to apply the Vitae Elixxir poultice every day. All her friends remark how amazingly bright and healthy she looks. We hope you live a long and healthy life, Georgia.



Do you have a story using Vitae Elixxir? Please go the Facebook page: Cancer Stories Using Vitae Elixxir and tell your first-person story.

My Dog Had Skin Cancer

Cancer is an ugly thing. It's bad when someone gets it on the inside, but when it shows up with a vengeance on the skin, you can see how destructive it is. Especially for our beloved, furry family members.



I was shocked one day when I discovered an ugly, bloody, gnarled and fleshy spot about the size of a quarter on the upper chest of our chocolate lab Brandy. It was clearly cancer. Only cancer looks that ugly. I suspect it was an aggressive mast cell tumor. Being covered in hair makes it difficult to find skin issues like ticks and skin cancer on dogs.


Instead of taking her to the vet for a $120 appointment with an assured recommendation of surgery and possibly chemo at many more dollars, I decided to use Vitae Elixxir. I had been taking the herbal extract for four years and also used it on a growing spot of actinic keratosis on my thigh. If you read my story, my colon no longer grows polyps (a precursor to colon cancer I am genetically predisposed to) and the spot on my thigh is now normal, healthy skin.



The Vitae Elixxir was applied daily directly on the cancer on Brandy's chest. Because I knew it stings on cancerous skin (not healthy skin), I braced her for the reaction she would have, which was to try to rub it off. Fortunately the spot was in a place she could not reach or rub off.



I treated it for a week then left it alone to scab up and heal. One week later the scab began to fall off leaving healthy skin. Hair quickly grew back where the cancer used to be and you could not tell she ever had a problem.



Another success story using Vitae Elixxir herbal extract.



Do you have a story using Vitae Elixxir? Please go the Facebook page: Cancer Stories Using Vitae Elixxir and tell your first-person story.

Wisdom Wednesday

You know lately I've been talking about getting good bacteria into your body and how important that is to health. Here are some links to further that end:


Three Foods That Could Change Your Life
How to Make Kefir Water
Kombucha: Discover the Secrets of this Wonder Tea
Where to Buy Starter Cultures


Thank you to Jennie for the links.

Healthy Kids' Snack ~ DIY Trail Mix

I've been making my own trail mix for about four years now. It's great as a healthy snack for the whole family and added to whole grain cereals (e.g., quinoa, steel-cut oatmeal or millet) for breakfast in the morning. Many pre-packaged trail mixes are full of sweetened ingredients like M&Ms, mini-yogurt chips, or chocolate chips. It's a shame to take something healthy (nuts & seeds with a little dried fruit) and add sugary stuff that renders it unhealthy.



This recipe uses organic raisons and dried baby pineapple as natural sweeteners—a better alternative, making this a healthier snack that kids will love.



Other ingredients include a variety of nuts and seeds—nutrient-rich super foods—high in fiber, protein, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and essential fats. Besides supporting overall wellness, they help curb appetite and are beneficial in maintaining or losing weight.



NOTE: I suggest you buy organic raisons and grapes because the Environmental Working Group (EWG) classifies grapes as one of The Dirty Dozen, which means unhealthy levels of pesticides are detected in the conventionally grown fruit.


Step 1

Gather the ingredients. I purchased all the ingredients listed here at Trader Joe's.





Raw Almonds

Raw Cashew Pieces

Organic Raisons

Raw Pecan Pieces

Dried Cranberries

Raw Sunflower Seeds

Raw Pumpkin Seeds

Dried Baby Pineapple slices



Step 2

Find an appropriate-sized container with a tight-fitting lid to make and store your trail mix. Add equal amounts of almonds, cashews, raisons, pecans and dried cranberries. Add a larger amount of the seeds.



Step 3

Cut the pineapple slices into strips with a scissors, then cut cross-wise to make small chunks. Add to  mix, secure the lid and shake to distribute.



What's a healthy snack you enjoy?

Curry Roasted Cauliflower

I've never eaten much


This Curry Roasted Cauliflower recipe is so good, it may even become your favorite side dish. Darya Rose of Summer Tomato created this recipe and despite how simple the recipe is, she claims it "completely transforms it from a vegetable people are pretty sure they don’t like into something they just can’t get enough of."



So there you have it... Don't miss out on adding cauliflower to your most wanted veggie list.


For this recipe, I suggest that you use a toaster oven to cook your cauliflower. In fact, you can use a toaster oven for all your baking and roasting. You won't heat up your kitchen and you'll save energy. I love my toaster oven and except for Thanksgiving, we use it exclusively for baking/roasting.



Cut up your florets into even-sized pieces for the best uniform roasting.



The key to easily distributing the spices and olive oil is to use a zip-loc bag. Put the cauliflower pieces into the bag and sprinkle on the spices, then close the bag leaving in some air. Shake the bag to distribute the spices. Then drizzle on the olive oil, close and shake again to spread the oil.



I have not included amounts for this recipe although you may want to use a measuring spoon to sprinkle the spices to avoid adding too much from the spice bottle. You be the judge as to how much spice you want to add. Use your favorite curry with the sea salt and smoked paprika. The smoked paprika adds a sweet smokey flavor to this recipe—the perfect enhancement to roasting.



Arrange the cauliflower in a single layer on a baking sheet, cover with foil and cook at 500 degrees for about 12 minutes. Check the doneness. Should be slightly soft, but not cooked all the way. Remove the foil, turn the pieces and roast for about 10-15 minutes more. Watch carefully. Cauliflower should begin to brown and get crisp on the ends.




Curry Roasted Cauliflower



From Summer Tomato

Yield 4-6 servings




Category Side Dish

Cuisine Vegan




Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower

curry powder

smoked paprika

sea salt

olive oil




Directions

1. Cut cauliflower into medium-sized florets making sure pieces are evenly sized for even roasting.

2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Use a toaster oven to save energy.

3. Put florets into a gallon-size zip-loc bag. Sprinkle with curry, paprika and sea salt, then close bag and shake to distribute. Open bag and drizzle olive oil over cauliflower, then close and shake again.

4. Arrange cauliflower in a single layer on baking sheet, cover with foil to steam pieces and place in oven.

5. Cook for 10-15 minutes then check. Cauliflower shoud be slightly soft and translucent. Cover and cook 5 minutes longer if needed.

6. Once steamed, use tongs to turn pieces and continue to roast uncovered for 10-15 minutes. Watch carefully maybe turning again until the tips of cauliflower begin to brown and become crisp.

7. Adjust salt if necesary and serve.



Serve your Curry Roasted Cauliflower along side stir-fried zucchini with kale and onions and baked salmon on brown rice. Yum!



What's your favorite way to enjoy cauliflower?

Summer Squash & Japanese Eggplant with Tapenade

Need a recipe for your bounty from the garden? I harvested a yellow squash and a Japanese eggplant and wanted to have them for a side dish to our roasted salmon. Pulling a few things from the fridge, I came up with this simple little recipe that you can try.



Prep the veggies.



Cook the eggplant in some olive oil first. It takes a bit to get it softened. Then cook onions in a little more olive oil and add remaining veggies. When almost done, add 1 Tablespoon of your favorite tapenade, salt and pepper and you're done.



I always have a couple of varieties of tapenade in my fridge. Yes, I love olives! Don't worry if you don't like olives, it only adds a hint of flavor to the veggies.




Summer Squash & Japanese Eggplant with Tapenade




From Chris Pedersen

Yield 4 servings



Category Side Dish

Cuisine Vegan, Vegetarian




Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Japanese eggplant, sliced in rounds

1/4 sliced onion

1 yellow squash, sliced in rounds

1 zucchini, sliced in rounds

1/2 C chopped red pepper

1 Tbsp Tapenade

salt & pepper to taste




Directions

1. Heat olive oil in saute pan or wok over medium heat. Add eggplant and stir until softened. 

2. Move eggplant to the side and add a bit more olive oil. Add onions to the oil and heat until soft. 

3. Add remaining veggies and stir about 3 minutes. Add tapenade, salt & pepper and mix. Don't over cook veggies. Serve with main dish.




What's your favorite recipe for bounty from the garden?