Homemade Larabars

Homemade Larabars. So good and so easy. I had quite a few recipe requests for the homemade Larabar picture I posted on Instagram this morning and so I decided to post the recipe here. (If you have an instagram account, go HERE) I have loved Larabars for a while, but their pretty spendy. Plus, I just love homemade food. It tastes better and is more than likely better for you. Hence me looking at the ingredients on the back of the package and thinking, "I could totally make this."  I was right. 

These bars are so moist and delicious that they put their store bought counterparts to shame. I know I'm a bit biased, but seriously these are tasty! Just a disclaimer, I followed no recipe and when it comes to amounts of ingredients used, this recipe is completely original. I hope you love these as much as my family and I do!



Ingredients:
~32 oz of dates (I used two packages of Trader Joe's Medjool Dates)
~18 oz of peanut butter (I used Adams Crunchy Peanut Butter)
~1/2-2 c toasted almonds
~1/2 c chocolate chips
~salt

Preparation:
1. Put a few slits in each date and then soak them in hot water for 10-15 minutes. The skin will easily come off and of course, take the pit out.

2. Next put half of your dates in a food processor and process until the dates are mush. It's ok to have a few chunks here and there. Put the mush into your kitchen aid (or other mixing bowl) and process the second batch of dates.

2. Once all dates have been puréed put them into your kitchen aid mixer and add the peanut butter. Mix thoroughly together. ***I would have added more peanut butter but didn't have enough. If you like peanut butter a lot then add a little more.

3. Next put 1 1/2 cups of your toasted almonds into your food processor and purée them until they are finely ground. Add the ground almonds to your date and peanut butter purée and mix. This is where preference comes in. Do you want your bar to be moist? Don't add more than 1 1/2 c almonds. Want your bars to be a little more dry? Add more ground almonds. Simple. (Just be sure to not add too many ground almonds. You want your bars to hold together and not crumble.) I made mine to be not really sticky when you touch them, but they are most definitely not dry. They are nice and moist.

4. Put your chocolate chips in the processor and grind them up until they are a quarter of their original size. (Again, this is preference too. If you want your bars really chocolate-y add more and so on.) Add to the mixer and combine. Taste your batter and you can see if you want to add salt or not. I added a few shakes from my salt shaker.

5. Line a 9x13 and an 9x9 pan with Saran Wrap or wax paper. Press your fruit batter into each pan. My bars are about 1/2 inch thick, but make them as thin or thick as you like. I then lightly sprinkled the top of the batter with salt.  ***You could even lightly dust the top with cocoa powder.  Mmmmm.   :)

6. Refrigerate for an hour. Once cold, pull the fruit purée out of the pan using the Saran Wrap and cut into desired sized bars. Store bars in fridge.

7. Try not to eat them all at once!

I hope you enjoy these and let me how how they turn out! 

Homemade Tallow Balm

For the past year and a half I have embarked whole heartedly into my whole foods journey. I have always had more of a "natural route" approach when it comes to feeding and caring for my family. In finding out about the Weston A Price organization I had an 'ah-ha!' moment. It was like I found what I never realized I was looking for. An organization - more like a group of people -  who are dedicated to eating what is nourishing to our bodies and are committed to helping others do the same. I became a member immediately and in doing so I received their quarterly journal quickly in the mail.

I devoured it. I read it. I scoured it. And I learned from it.

I can't emphasize to you enough of my enjoyment of reading that lovely journal. In it I found a jewel, one that I have been looking for long and hard.

I have been battling diaper rash with my daughter for months. It seems like I have had an issue with it since she was born last July. It has been terribly frustrating to not be able to figure out why it wont go away and not have any home remedies work in healing her poor bottom. Weston A. Price to the rescue! In the quarterly journal there was an article about tallow balm, it's history, it's healing properties, and a 'how-to' in making your own. There even was mention of a mama using it on her baby's diaper rash and it was cured. Say no more, I decided that I was going to try it out. What was there to lose? Nothing. Absolutely nothin'.

There I was, standing in my kitchen looking at something that should be in a sci-fi movie sitting on my counter top. I had made several calls earlier in the week and had walked into a local grocery store/butcher shop and finally obtained what I was looking for. Beef tallow or as the butcher called it suet (I will proceed to call it tallow/suet since I have had so many people call it these two names). Since I have my quirks and like to have fun with my food I decided to name the newest addition to my REAL foodie journey.

Meet 'Little Miss Suet'.

Isn't she disgustingly awesome?

I think so too.

I'm serious, she was and is awesome in so many ways. I never knew the greatness that I had before me. Before we get ahead of ourselves, let me give you a few facts on tallow balm and why I am so excited about this. Once rendered you can cook with this, bake with this, and make your own skin care products with this. You heard me correctly. Skin. Care. Products. This is where I am heading with this post. Food tastes amazing using tallow/suet and it is full of natures goodness, but I want to focus on what it does for your skin.

In the article it states that, "From biology, we know that the [human] cell membrane is made up primarily of fatty acids, a double layer, to be exact. Saturated fats constitute at least 50 percent of the cell membrane. Since saturated fats tend to be more solid  than unsaturated fats at a given temperature, they help give the cell membrane its necessary stiffness and integrity for proper function...Healthy, "toned" skin cells with sufficient saturated and monounsaturated fats would undoubtedly make for healthy, toned skin. Interestingly, tallow fat is typically 50 to 55 percent saturated, just like our cell membranes, with almost all the rest being monounsaturated, so it makes sense that it would be helpful for skin health and compatible with our cell biology."

Isn't that just so amazing? I love learning about how the Lord made our bodies and how intricately we were designed. Did you also know that "tallow also contains fats like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as palmitoleic acid, which has natural antimicrobial properties?" (quotes cited from article)

I could go on, but I'll spare you. I'm hoping this will lead you to do some more reading and research on your own.

*wink, wink*

Back to my baby's diaper rash. I'll admit, this was my last ditch effort before I resorted to more drastic measures. I am so glad that I tried this because it really worked wonders and I love that I'm putting something on my baby's skin that not only is helping her, but is also healing her.

Tallow/suet balm is so easy to make. If your interested in learning how to do it follow along and then...get you some suet!

You'll want to cut up the suet in small pieces and cut out anything that isn't hard and waxy. The kidney you can either throw away or if you have a dog...give the dog a treat! Franco loved his treat so much he buried it. What can I say?  He's a smart one. There is major sarcasm going on here.

Once that job is complete, put the tallow/suet in glass cooking dishes and preheat your oven to 220 degrees. Just a warning, it takes quite a while to cut up this hunk of fat, so make sure you do this early in the day. By early I mean, start in the morning so you can have this whole process done well before bedtime. And yes, I was straining tallow/suet while the rest of the family was snoozing. I didn't get the early start that I'm advising...

You'll want to bake the tallow/suet for 6+ hours, or until all the fat is cooked out and the hard tissue is floating in the rendered fat. During the cooking process I took my potato masher and gave everything a good smooshing.

Once this step is finished you'll want to put a metal strainer over a large bowl and strain out all the large chunks. You will need to do a final strain through a cheese cloth to make sure that you got everything. I draped the cheese cloth in the metal strainer and then re-poured the fat through the cheese cloth. It was pretty simple. Don't worry about your cheese cloth, after I used it to do the final strain, I rinsed it out with warm water, gave it a good hand scrubbing with dish soap, let it sit overnight in soapy water, and then washed it the next morning with my laundry. It was as good as new. Whew, that was a mouthful!

Pour your liquid gold into jars and let cool. The rendered fat will stay good for a looong time in your fridge. I use it for all my cooking now and let's just say...it's delicious.

I didn't make my tallow balm right away and so I just let it all cool. When this stuff cools it turns white and once you place it in the fridge it gets hard. When it came time for me to whip up some tallow balm, I just took a jar out of the fridge and let it warm up a bit so it would easily mix up with my other ingredients.

Long post made longer, here's my recipe for my tallow balm.

Homemade Tallow Balm

Here's a wonderful skin balm that has a wide range of uses. Such as face lotion, hand and body lotion, diaper rash cream, and etc.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons soft tallow
1 teaspoon organic olive oil
4-7 drops lavender essential oil* (or desired scent**)

Instructions:

1. Mix tallow and olive oil together in a small glass bowl.


2. Add essential oils and mix.


3. Once the desired consistency and scent is achieved transfer to a small glass container with a lid, keep at room temperature, and enjoy!


4. Makes approximately 2 oz.


5. *I would start with a few drops and then add more if you are wanting a stronger scent. You can always add more, but you can't take away.


6. **Use essential oils that are known for being good for skin and skin health. I wouldn't use anything strong that could be an irritant. Peppermint for example would NOT be a good choice.


7. ***I wouldn't recommend using any essential oils that aren't 100% pure therapeutic grade. DoTERRA essential oils are what I use and I highly recommend them.

I hope you love this tallow balm as much as I do.

However, I know that not everyone is up to making their own skin care products. If you are still wanting to have this skin care goodness but don't want to make it you can go HERE and buy some. You won't regret it.

And just so you know, I also use this on my face. Don't be shocked, it's wonderful.

If your in need of essential oils click HERE and you can find everything you need.

*** Excerpts in this post were from the article written by Andrew J. Gardner titled, "Traditional Nourishing and Healing Skin Care". It can be found in the Winter 2012 Volume 13 Number 4 edition of Wise Traditions.

Rosemary Sage Roasted Chicken

Lets just get this out in the open.

I love butter.

In fact I love it so much that I've taught my kids something that I consider to be very important. It goes like this...butter makes everything better.

Say it with me now, "Butter makes EVERYTHING better."

Ok yes, now we can move on cause the recipe in this post is just simply delicious AND it contains a lot of butter.

Mmmmmm.

I have about darn near perfected the roasted chicken. It is so good, soft, juicy, and finger lickin' tasty that I just have to share it with you. What kind of a friend would I be if I didn't?

When I first got married I was so intimidated by the (whole) chicken. I had no idea how to cook it and quite frankly didn't really want to touch it. I cooked a few and they were just as bland as a piece of unbuttered toast and dry to boot. The whole chicken quickly was put on the back burner and I turned to the boneless skinless chicken breast. While the chicken breast is very versatile it can also be very dry (I have a trick for this too - later friends, later) and can't go as far as a whole bird.

I can't remember the last time I bought chicken breasts. I miss them at times, but I can get at least two meals, maaaybe three out of a whole chicken. Plus I make bone broth with the carcass when I'm done. Score! I'm pretty sure you can't make two chicken breasts last as long as that (I said two because there are after all, only two breasts on a chicken).

So before we get started on the chicken I'll show you a little technique I've come up with. It makes life much easier and tastier. I like to put butter under the skin of the chicken and on top. Have you ever tried to put butter under the skin of a chicken? No matter the answer, let me show you how I do it.

Get 1/2 cup of butter to room temp and peel one small head of garlic.

Mince or crush your garlic into your butter and mix thoroughly. I like to make my butter VERY garlic-y because I love garlic too. You can definitely do as much or as little as you want, but please, add garlic.

Once mixed, put your garlic-y butter on wax paper. Spread it out to about the size of an elongated stick of butter. Next you'll want to wrap the edge of your wax paper around your butter and squeeze all the air out. Gently make the butter into a smooth tube and keep the wax paper as wrinkle free as possible (this is so when you go to unwrap the butter, the wax paper will easily come off). Gently twist the edges of the wax paper like you see on a taffy candy wrapper. Put butter into fridge and let harden (I like to do this step the day before to make sure that is is ready).

Now for the finger lickin' chicken.

First things first. Rinse off your chicken inside and out, then dry it off with paper towels. Don't skip the drying off, it makes for a crispier skin and it makes it easier when you go to slather the butter on the bird. Believe me if you don't dry off your chicken, the only thing that is going to have butter on it is YOU.

Next take scissors and cut one slit on each of the legs. Once you've made your cuts, take your finger stick it under the skin and separate the skin from the meat. You'll also want to separate the skin from the breasts in the same manner. I about get my whole hand under the skin on the chicken breasts. I want my butter to go far.

Now is the time to whip out your tube of garlic butter. Unwrap the morsel of buttery goodness and cut the whole thing into slices. Separate 2-4 slices from the bunch and then stick the rest in a baggie and put it in the fridge for future use. Split one of the slices in half and then slide the halves under the skin on the legs. Next slide the other slices under the breast of the chicken. Make sure you really get them in there. You don't want your butter to drain out of your chicken do you? Of course not.

Once your done sliding the butter under the skin, stuff the small stash of herbs (below) into the cavity along with a lemon that's been cut into quarters. Tie the legs together with a piece of baking twine.

Next you'll need to make the herb butter for the outside of the chicken.

I have herbs growing right outside my door so I grabbed a handful of sage and rosemary and thought it good for my chicken. You can really use whatever herbs you want, but this combination is a good one. Separate a small stash for the inside of the bird (above) and then mince the rest for the butter. You really want to make this as small as you can. Also, if you choose to use fresh rosemary, be sure to remove the needles from the stem. The stem is essentially wood and is no bueno for eating. Once your done mincing, add it to about 1/4 cup of softened butter and mix well. I like to add a bit of salt too, but do whatever suits your taste.

Generously rub the herb butter all over your whole chicken and make sure you cover it well. The butter should stick well if you made sure that your chicken is dry. Once that's done, drop the rest of the herb butter on your potatoes (assuming your cooking your chicken on potatoes).

Cook for about 1 1/2 hours with your oven on 350 degrees. If your potatoes aren't quite done yet (don't cut them too big), cover your chicken with foil and then turn the oven up to about 375 for about 10 minutes and that should do the trick.

And voila, you have a fantastic mouth watering roasted chicken! Make sure you let it rest for about 10-15 minutes so all the juices soak into the bird and don't just flow out when your cutting it up. The potatoes are going to be mouth watering tasty due to them being baked in your buttery, garlic-y, herb and chicken juices.

Are you hungry yet?

I really hope you try this, it's just too good not to.

And if after all that I've told you, if you can only remember one thing, please remember my motto...

Butter makes EVERYTHING better.

Homemade Caramel Corn

Well, I'm sorry.

It's been a long time since I posted a recipe, but life has been in such a whirlwind lately that I've been cooking basics. Nothin' exciting or fun.

Until now, that is.

On Saturday the fam and I went to a rodeo. It was so much fun and my son now is fixated on becoming a bull rider. If you knew him, you'd realize how serious he is. Next year we'll sign him up to do the muttin' busting and he can get a taste for sand. Hopefully that will rid him of his desire to die on the back of a bull. I mean really, what mama gets excited when her son tells her he wants to ride bulls? Not this one.

Moooooving on.

Sorry, I can't help myself.

Knowing that we were going to a rodeo filled with all sorts of junk food, I decided that I wanted to bring some snacks that could rival anything the concession stands could fry our way. I mean come on, who doesn't love a corn dog?

I didn't make corn dogs, but I did make something even better. I give you...homemade caramel corn!

It tastes every bit as good as it looks and it's full of good stuff. You won't find any hydrogenated oils or corn syrups here. No way. Just goodness the way God intended. I will not make you wait any longer, here ya go!

Homemade Caramel Corn

Here's what you'll need:

• 1/2 cup Molasses*
• 1/2 cup Honey
• 1/2 cup Butter
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

*If your molasses is really strong, make it 1/4 cup molasses and 3/4 cup honey.

First things first, pop your self some popcorn. Put 1/2 cup of unpopped popcorn in your air popper (if you don't have one use a heavy pot over medium low heat). I really like air popped popcorn because it's lighter than popcorn popped in a pan.

Wow, this is a lot of popping. Let's just say I'm trying to make sure I'm doubling the p's and not the o's. If you know what I'm sayin'.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and butter two 9 x 13 casserole dishes. Once buttered, split the (popped) popcorn between the two dishes.

Next you want to make the caramel for the popcorn.

In your pan add 1/2 cup molasses, 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup butter, and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Once it's boiling, let the carmel mixture boil for 5 minutes without stirring.

Remove from heat (VERY IMPORTANT).

Add 1 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp baking soda.

Make sure you are stirring carefully when you add these because the carmel is going to want to foam and will rise quite a bit. If this is your first time, you may want to do this in a larger pot so it doesn't spill everywhere.

As soon as these are mixed well pour equal parts over your two dishes of popcorn. Mix quickly and carefully. You want to make sure you coat all the popcorn with the caramel before it starts to cool and you don't want to break all your popcorn to bits. I suggest you fold the caramel into the popcorn like you would fold whipped egg whites into batter.

Bake in your preheated oven for 1 hour. Stir/fold the caramel corn one more time and then pour it out on parchment paper and let cool.

***You could also make popcorn balls with this. Before baking, make the popcorn into the desired size of balls and then bake. So fun!

If you are going to be eating this caramel corn right away you don't have to bake it if you don't want to. It is sooo good and gooey and soft. If you are going to be eating this later then I suggest you bake it and make it wonderfully crispy. It doesn't save well unbaked.

This is some of the best caramel corn you'll ever eat! I'm serious. We ate this in about 10 minutes at the rodeo and I was lamenting that I didn't make more.

Next time, I will be FULLY prepared.

I can't wait for you to try this and it's really so easy to make.

Oh, and I dare you to not lick the pan when your done.

What I Learned at the Wise Traditions Conference - Portland 2013

So I've been busier than a bee and have had nary a chance to write down all I learned at the Wise Traditions conference I went to a few weeks ago. Heck, I've hardly had time to even THINK about what I learned about. Yes, it's been that crazy.

I'm trying to convince myself that life isn't going to slow down and that I need to get used to this pace. I'm naturally a pretty laid back gal, a go with the flow kind of lady, and a take everything as it comes kind of girl. This is how I function, but it's not the best way to approach life and it lends itself to lack of preparedness for the day, lack of productivity and stress. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: stress + me = no bueno.

I had plans of doing an explanation of every talk I listened to, but honestly I don't have the energy. I will simply write my notes and you can glean from them what you will. Sorry if you were wanting more, but I just don't have the time to give it.

*******

 ***Disclaimer: These are the notes that I wrote down in haste trying to remember everything that was said. I may have written down a thing or two (unintentionally) wrong (probably not, but maybe). Don't hold it against the speaker or myself. Thank you!***

Sooo, I got to meet Sally Fallon (AFL), which was so awesome! I was sitting down waiting for the first talk to begin (Sally's of course), and realized she was...ahem...sitting right in front of me. Whaaaaat?! So when she glanced over her shoulder I took the opportunity to say hello and begin a conversation. Probably everyday stuff for her, but I was in shock that I actually got to meet her. Needless to say, during her talk I deemed it downright necessary for me to take a picture with her. After all, we're friends now. Right? 

She is lovely and I'm thankful to meet someone who's worked so hard to help people eat well and take care of their bodies.

Nourishing Traditional Diets- Sally Fallon

11 Principles for a healthy diet.

1) No refined or denatured foods

    No agave syrup or corn syrup (The process used to make agave uses many steps and solvents and               renders a sugar that the body is unable to digest. Stick with the good stuff- raw honey and grade B

    maple syrup.)

    No hydrogenated oils, refined oils

    No protein powders

2)Every diet (in Weston A Price's book (afl)) contained animal products.

   -Fish and Shellfish

      -oil, bones, and heads

   -Birds

      -organs, fat, and skin

   -Red Meat

      -beef, goat, sheep, game, organ meat, and fat was the most preferred part of the animals

   -Milk and Milk Products (raw of course!)

Only found in animal foods:                                     

-Vitamin A & D

-Cholesterol

-Vitamin b12

-AA, EPA, DHA

(AA is a long chain, super-unsaturated fatty acid)

More easily absorbed from animal foods:

-Calcium (dairy and bone broth)

-Vitamin b6

-Magnesium

-Iron

-Zinc

-Copper

Vitamin b12 Deficiency:

Early signs-                                                 Chronic Disease-

-fatigue                                                        -MS

-tingling in hands and feet                             -Anemia

-sleep disorders                                           -Cancer

-irrational anger                                           -Heart Disease

3) ~Huge Deal~ Nutrient Density of Food.

Primitive diets contain 4 times the calcium and other minerals and 10 times the fat soluble vitamins than our food.

Sources of Vitamins A & D.

~From the Sea~

-Sea Food

-Fish Eggs

-Livers

-Oils (Fermented Cod Liver Oil)

-Heads, Oily Fish

-Sea Mammals (traditional cultures, remember?)

~From the Land~

-Insects

-Butter

-Cream

-Egg Yolks

-Liver

-Organ Meat

-Animal Fat

We cannot absorb and digest our food and all it contains as well without the fat soluble vitamins (A & D).

Needed to convert Carotene to Vitamin A:

-Fats in the diet.

-Thyroid Hormone (assuming its working properly)

-Enzymes

-Vitamin A

It is very difficult and nary impossible for following groups of people to be able to digest and absorb their food properly without the fat soluble vitamins. Mainly due to not mature enough immune systems or severely weak ones.

-Babies and Children

-Diabetics

-Poor Thyroid

-Poor Liver Function

-Poor Intestinal Absorption

(need to eliminate nitrites and nitrates from diet!)

Vitamin A:

Needed for numerous processes in the body.

-Protein Assimilation

-Calcium Assimilation

-Proper Growth

-Prevention of Birth Defects

-Proper Function of Endocrine System

-Thyroid Function

-Immune System

-Production of Stress & Sex Hormones

-Eyes, Skin, and Bone Health

Vitamin A is the conductor of the concert when it comes to baby formation.

Vitamin A is depleted by ___

-Stress

-Cold Weather 

-Fever and Illness

-Physical Exertion

-Exposure to Toxins

Vitamin D is our feel good chemical.

Myth: only need 10 minutes a day of sun exposure to get our daily dose of vitamin D.

The body makes vitamin D out of cholesterol out of the action of sun exposure at mid-day.

Sources of Vitamin D:

-Fish Liver Oils (FCLO)

-Fish Eggs

-Shellfish

-Oily Fish

-Lard

-Butter

-Cream

-Liver

-Organ Meats

Vitamin D is needed for ___

-Bones

-Teeth

-Proper Growth

-Muscle Tone

-Reproduction

-Healthy Skin

-Insulin Production

-Immune System

-Nervous System

Activator X = Vitamin K2

Vitamin K2 is the animal form of Vitamin K. It helps prevent tooth decay.

A, D, and K are the trio that help to keep us very healthy.

Sources:

-Natto

-FCLO

-Goose Liver

-Cheese

-Egg Yolk

-Butter

-Chicken

-Fatty Meat

-Sauerkraut

Raw butter and Cheese is great for every day eating and COOK IN LARD!!!

Cholene is critical for pregnancy preparation, pregnancy, and babies.

We should eat liver once a week! It gives you the same amount of Zinc and other minerals as eating red meat every day. It is also inexpensive.

FCLO works best when consuming plenty of animal fats.

4) All cultures cooked some or most of their food. Some animal food (aka meat/organ meat) they ate raw.

Vitamin b6 is destroyed by heat and so we should eat some meat raw.

Raw milk contains lactoperoxidase and lactoferrin.

5) Traditional diets contained high levels of enzymes.

Fermented good is full of enzymes.

Enzymes give energy.

Enzyme Rich Foods:

-Raw Dairy Products

-Raw Meat & Fish 

-Raw Honey

-Tropical Fruit

-Cold Pressed Oil

-Wine & Unpasteurized Beer

-Lacto-Fermented Food

  -Vegetables

  -Meat (salami and etc)

  -Dairy

  -Fruits

  -Fish

  -Beverages

Bacteria and Biofilm is 85% of our immune system so we should be eating a lot of enzyme rich foods to keep our guts healthy and properly functioning.

6) Soaked, Sprouted, and Fermented

Did you know there is no food that has higher profit margins that breakfast cereals? And it is probably one of the WORST things you could eat.

In order to properly soak your grains you need ___

-moisture

-warmth

-slight acidity

-time

7) Total fat content of traditional diets vary from 30% to 80% of calories. Only 4% of calories come from polyunsaturated fats.

We each need to learn what makes our bodies hum and thrive. While some of us can handle less fat in our diets, some of us need more. And please, get the notion out of your mind that fat = fat. You will not get fat if you eat butter, you'll be giving your gut a favor and helping it to digest food and help you to feel full faster. I'd rather eat butter any day than a honkin salad with nothing but bird food sprinkled on top. And if you don't believe me, you should see how much butter we go through in the McNeil household...

8) Equal amounts of omega 6 and omega 3's needed.

9) All traditional diets included salt.

Salt is needed for ___

-Protein Digestion

-Carb Digestion

-Development of Brain

-Adrenal Function

-Cellular Metabolism

Salt should be gray or pink...not white.

Adult needs 1-1 1/2 teaspoons a day of salt.

10) All cultures made use of bones, usually as bone broth. 

If you haven't made bone broth yet...you MUST!

11) All cultures recognized the necessity of good nutrition for expecting mothers and those who would become mothers soon.

Special foods for parents-to-be, pregnant women, nursing women, and growing children were of high importance.

They spaced their children every 2-3 years to allow for the woman to be prepared physically and emotionally for a new baby.

The elderly taught the young how to prepare, cook, and eat their food.

The Life and Lore of Bone Broth - Tressa Yellig

Minerals found in bone broth:

-Calcium

-Phosphorus

-Magnesium

-Potassium

-Floride

-Sulfur

Bone broth helps the body digest food that is eaten throughout the day.

Amino Acids:

-Glycine

-Proline

Bone Marrow:

Soak bones overnight in cold salted water, bake, and enjoy the marrow goodness!

Gelatin:

-Gives bones flexibility.

-Improves digestion

-Normalized stomach acid

Never microwave bone broth! Microwaving the broth makes it toxic; especially to the liver, kidneys, and nervous system.

Bone broth is a source of Glucosamine Sulfate.

To Make Good Bone Broth...

-heavy bottomed stock pot

-clean water

-good bones (variety)

-splash of vinegar

-aromatics (vegetables, herbs, spices)

-time & patience (8 hours minimum on a tremulous simmer...I prefer 12-24 hours)

-strainer

-storage container

-don't salt till done

Broth will last for a few weeks in the fridge and you'll know when it's bad when the gelatin breaks down.

Bone broth can last up to 6 months in the freezer.

Cooking Time:

-Up to 72 hours for beef or lamb.

-Up to 24 hours for chicken.

-Up to 4 hours for fish.

-180-212 degrees while simmering - NO HOTTER!

Types of Bones To Use for Broth:

-Chicken: heads, backs, fat, wings, hearts, gizzards, feet, neck.

-Beef: trachea, shanks, knuckles, ribs, hooves, oxtail, any that have exposed marrow.

-Pork: any of above, but NOT cured bones.

-Fish: heads, tails, spines.

Broth is a bridge to a better diet.

1-2 lbs of bones per quart of water.

If you want to have a richer broth, bake your bones first. Especially if they still have some meat on them. 450 degrees for 10 minutes.

Fertility - Dr. Kaayla Daniel

Trans fats affect everything, including fertility. Its best to avoid them along with all or most processed foods.

We are very toxic these days due to constant exposure.

Toxic Metals:

-Aluminum

-Mercury

-Cadmium

-Lead 

-Nickel

If you are having a hard time getting pregnant, consider doing a metal detox. Look into copper toxicity which can over-estrogenize women.

No matter what, avoid SOY!

Tofu was originally a food for monks because it decreased their sexual desire. If a chinese woman wanted to punish an unfaithful husband, she'd feed him soy.

Fertility Food:

-Butter

-Cream

-Eggs (especially the yolks)

-Raw Milk

Cholesterol nourishes all of our hormones.

Cultured vegetables are great for fertility and over-all health.

Avoid MSG. Autolyzed yeast extract is code for MSG. Learn all the 'names' of MSG...

Have a Healthy Pregnancy - Sally Fallon

1100 IU of Vitamin D is found in 1 Tbsp of grassfed lard. Moral of the story? EAT LARD.  

Cheese is one of our best forms of Vitamin K.

Liver and Egg yolks are a must for preparing for pregnancy, during pregnancy, and baby's first year. Egg yolks should be baby's first food. Make sure you don't feed any white!

Cholesterol is key to the healthy formation of your baby's gut.

Eat liver and feed liver to baby when appropriate. Cook liver in butter or lard to get Vitamin D.

Fish eggs are extremely healthy. To eat:

-Crispy Pancake (recipe from HERE(afl))

-Sour Cream

-Fish Eggs

-Chopped Onions and Parsley

You can eat chicken liver everyday, but you should only eat calf's liver a few times a week.

You can get Vitamin b6 from raw milk, cream, and butter.

Avoid industrial foods.

Never has there been a case of listeria from raw milk.

If you must take prenatal vitamins, take Dr. Rons Prenatal Vitamins.

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As you can see, these are clearly notes and not in any way complete when it comes to the topics. I learned so much and probably could listen to the lectures a few more times to glean from them when I would like to. I will add a ridiculous amount of pictures to this post so you can have some more info. I got tired of writing and so took pictures of the slides. The lectures and slides will be available on the westonaprice.org website soon, but not sure when they will have it up.

Here are the pictures of the slides. They are in no particular order. Too many pictures and I need to go to b-e-d.