The Benefits of Fiber

The typical American eats 12 grams of fiber per day. The daily recommendation is between 25-35 grams. To truly improve one's health one fiber intake should be over 50 grams per day. Dr Lustig recommends closer to 100 grams. That amount is even difficult for us, but 75 grams is very doable. One shouldn't increase one's fiber more than 5 grams per day to avoid blockages, while increasing one's water consumption.

We have found that keeping our fiber over 50 grams per day has promoted wonderful health benefits, including lower our cholesterol and our fasting glucose, while improving our skin and digestive health. Fiber also makes us feel fuller longer.

There are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble, we need both.

Soluble fiber is the type that dissolves in water to form a gel-like substance. It can lower cholesterol and glucose levels. Soluble fiber is found in legumes, oats, fruits and vegetables.
Insoluble fiber promotes healthy bowel movements and digestive health. It is found in whole grains, nuts, legumes, and vegetables.

Most plants contain both types of fibers. Remember animal products contain NO fiber, while processed foods contain very little.

This is a wonderful Fiber chart

Weed Be Gone/Round-up alternative

This recipe to get rid of weeds is all over the internet, we just like to have it handy which is why it is here.

Ingredients:
1 gallon white vinegar
2 cups epsom salts
1/4 cup Dawn (blue)

Combine the ingredients in a large container. Mix well. Add to spray bottle and use liberally. It needs to be reapplied often and it only kills what was directly sprayed.

homemade fly spray

With the heat the flies haven't been too bad but i do know they get bad around our chicken run and coop. This recipe for homemade fly spray is from communitychickens.com. We have been using it around other areas where flies seem to be an issue.

What you will need:

• 1 Spray Bottle (Mine is 12 ounces)
• 2/3 Cup of White Vinegar
• 1 3/4 Cup of Water
• 10 Drops of Tea Tree Essential Oil (Melaleuca)
• 10 Drops of Lavender Essential Oil

Combine the water and vinegar in a spray bottle. Next, add the essential oils into the mixture. Shake well and spray on the mist setting. Be sure to shake well before each use.

Pesto Bake

We saw this recipe for a pesto bake is from Dr Mercola. The amount of oil is way too much for us, so we altered it to fit our needs and added mushrooms and a little more garlic. Our thoughts are if we are going to consume fat, it might as well have the other macro-nutrients, plus a few micro-nutrients .

Ingredients:
1 eggplant, sliced into chunks
2 pounds of zucchini, diced
2 red pepper, diced
12 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 medium onions

2 14.5 oz cans organic diced tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Pesto ingredients:
2 cups fresh basil
1/2 cup pinenuts (walnuts are another option)
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup olive oil *
Place all in the food processor and blend until smooth.

Directions:
Water saute the vegetables and garlic. When the desired consistency pour into a large baking dish. We divided into 4 dishes, so we can freeze 3 of them.
Pour tomatoes over the vegetables.
Top with the 1/2 cup of pesto.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Nutritional information 16 servings:
calories: 105.8
fat: 6.8 g
carbs: 10.7 g
fiber: 4.0 g
protein: 3.3 g

*we have omitted the oil from the pesto by adding 2 TBS of plant based milk.

Raw Honey Ginger Carrots

Our carrot harvest is abundant this year. We have about 200 carrots to consume, store, and give away within a month.
This is an old favorite that we have cooked in the past, today we made it raw

Ingredients
10 cups carrots, coins or shredded

Dressing
4 TBS honey
1 TBS minced ginger
2 TBS olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil

Whisk dressing and pour over carrots. Mix well with carrots.

Tamales from Living Light Institute

We love mex-tex food. We used this recipe using romaine leaves instead of using corn husks.

Tamales

Author: Cherie Soria

Recipe Type: Entree

Cuisine: Raw Vegan

Serves: 12 small tamales

Ingredients

• 12 Corn Husks
• Corn Masa
• 3 cups corn from the cob, or frozen
• 1½ cups cashews or blanched almonds, soaked
• 3 tablespoons onion powder
• 1½ teaspoons Himalayan crystal salt
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 1 cup ground white almond flour (made from blanched almonds)
• ¼ cup mesquite powder, we used 2TBS lucuma powder
• 
  
• Tamale Filling
• ¾ cup finely diced zucchini
• ⅜ cup ground macadamia nuts
• 3 tablespoons finely diced dried porcini or crimini mushrooms
• 3 tablespoons finely minced red onion
• 2 tablespoons Mexican chili powder
• 1½ tablespoons finely minced celery
• 1½ tablespoons dried mango, soaked and minced
• 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon Himalayan crystal salt
• ½ teaspoon garlic, minced
• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne

Instructions

1. If using dried corn husks, soak the husks in warm water and set aside to soften.
2. Blend the corn and cashews with the seasonings in a food processor until smooth.
3. Add the almond flour and mesquite powder and combine well.
4. Using a ½-cup measure, create small oblong corn masa cakes, about ¼-inch deep, on a non-stick dehydrator sheet. Place them in a dehydrator set at 135 degrees for 1 hour. (This short amount of time will not harm the enzymes or nutrients in the food.) Turn the cakes over, reduce the temperature to 115 and continue dehydrating for another 30 minutes.
5. Combine ingredients for the filling and mix well.
6. To assemble the tamales, remove the corn masa cakes from the dehydrator and create a small indentation in the center. Place 1½ tablespoons of the filling into the indentation and fold some of the corn cake mixture from each side to (nearly) cover the filling. Place the tamales back in the dehydrator set at 115 degrees F for 30 minutes.
7. To serve the tamales, drain and towel dry the optional corn husks. Place the tamales in the center of a corn husk.
8. Serve the tamales warm, with Mole Sauce over the top.

Zoom Burgers from Living Light Institute

We received this recipe over the weekend Zoom Burgers . We are always looking for burger replacement especially during the "grill" months. To make this a "meatloaf" double the recipe, make larger "mini-loaves" instead of patties, start the dehydration at 125 for 2 hours and then reduce the temperature to 105 and continue to follow the dehydration directions.
We had them when the hubby had burgers, served with sweet potato fries on half an Udi's bun and a salad.

Author: Cherie Soria

Recipe Type: Main Entree

Cuisine: Raw Vegan

Serves: 3-4 small burgers

Ingredients

• ¾ cup walnuts, soaked and dehydrated
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 1 tablespoon dark miso (we used chickpea miso because it is gluten free)
• 1 tablespoon purified water
• ¾ cup minced mushrooms
• ⅓ cup minced celery
• ¼ cup minced red onion
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds
• 1½ tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
• 1½ teaspoons minced fresh sage
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

Instructions

1. Place ½ cup of the walnuts in a food processor fitted with the S blade and grind them into a powder. Add the zucchini and pulse to mix. (Do not overprocess; the mixture should have a little texture.) Transfer to a large bowl.
2. Mince the remaining walnuts by hand or coarsely grind them by pulsing them in the food processor.
3. Place the miso and water in a small bowl, and stir them together with a fork to form a loose paste. Add the paste and all of the remaining ingredients to the zucchini mixture and stir well.
   (We did the entire mixing in the food processor.)
   
4. Form 3–4 small burger patties, each about ½ inch thick, using approximately ½ cup of the mixture per patty. (If smaller burgers are desired, use less of the mixture).
5. Place the burgers on a dehydrator tray lined with a nonstick sheet and dehydrate them at 105 degrees for 4 hours. Turn the burgers over onto a mesh screen (without a nonstick sheet) and continue dehydrating for 2–8 hours longer, or until the outside is crusty and the inside is moist and chewy.
6. Stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, Zoom Burgers will keep for up to 3 days.