Easy Chocolate Milk

I've heard it said that drinking chocolate milk is just as healthy as drinking regular milk and that if you can at least get your kids to drink chocolate then that is fine as long as they are drinking milk.  Now that I know so much about conventional milk and what all happens to I am quite certain that you would be healthier without the milk let alone the chocolate milk!  But that is perhaps another story for another time.  If you are at all interested in learning more about milk a really great book on it is The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid.  I may tackle my opinion on consuming grocery store dairy at some point, but not today :)

Today I have a wonderful recipe that I thought I would share with you that I absolutely love and it is super simple.

Chocolate Syrup

Put some milk into a small pot and heat it gently on medium.  

Add cocoa powder (lots and lots - I really can't tell you the amount but you want it to be concentrated)

Add some honey

I never measure and I've never been disappointed.  I usually put in about 1/2-3/4 cup of milk.  4-6 large tbsp of cocoa, and about 1/4 cup of honey or so.  This also works great for making hot chocolate, except then I make it to taste and not concentrated and heat it until hot.

Only heat the milk long enough to melt the honey and whisk it together to be smooth.  Take it off the heat and put it in a jar in the fridge.

When you want a glass of chocolate milk just pour yourself a glass of milk with a liberal splash of cream and then some of the syrup.  So good!  And the best part is that I can feel good about what my children and I are drinking :)  

*I often link books to amazon, but I always get my books from our local library here.*

One More Package Bites the Dust!

I am very happy to say that I no longer need to buy mayonnaise!  Hurray!!

Mayo is something that TR eats on his sandwich nearly everyday he is working.  He eats it with chicken that I've canned myself, but the mayo is still store bought.  It is still full of "spices" and preservatives.  It has been pasteurized and in my unprofessional opinion does not benefit the body at all, but rather harm it.  I've been dreaming for a while of making him some from scratch and even did a few times this past summer.  It tasted awesome, but it was an effort to make it and having it fail one time did not encourage the effort (not that it was terribly difficult, but I found the most success with mixing it by hand with a whisk which does take a bit of time - especially if you need it in a hurry because you forget to make it the night before!).   TR also didn't like the strong taste of extra virgin olive oil.  I went and bought the less healthy version of the olive oil to try but never did get around to trying it. 

I read this blog a few weeks ago that gave me the push I needed to try again.  She describes a method I've never heard of before.  I've always read that you have to mix the oil in verrrrrry slowly and if you go too fast you'll wreck it.  I was a little hesitant to try it, but what did I really have to lose?  She says to use a hand held blender stick and simply mix all the ingredients together and blend.  It takes merely a few seconds and it is done!  And it tastes amazing.   I've made it several times now and I've never messed it up - it's been perfect everytime!

My recipe:
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 farm fresh egg yoke
about 1/8 tsp. -1/4 tsp. sea salt
spoonful of mustard
1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (I usually don't like the taste of this, but honestly it tastes great in here)
little splosh of lemon juice (maybe about 1 tsp. or less)
sprinkle of garlic powder


Mix altogether in a bowl and blend with stick blender for a few seconds until it is all emulsified.  Stir in the little bit of oil that stays on top and refrigerate. (she recommends eating it in 5 days)

TR has taken it to work and he likes it!  I am so thankful that it is so simple to make and now I have more control over the ingredients and freshness.  Instead of being harmful and void of nutrients it is full of wonderful fats that our body needs and raw egg yoke which is so healthful to the body.

*a lot of people are afraid of raw eggs - I suggest that you buy your eggs locally from a farm you trust.  Raw eggs (specifically the yoke) have so many health benefits and if you have a good source for them, there is no need to be afraid of eating them :) 

Reasons to Love the 1st Trimester

For a lot of women the first trimester is simply to be endured.  After all there's morning sickness, an insane increase in the ability to smell, nausea, aches and pains, fatigue, mood swings and emotions that rival PMS any day!  There's also not to much to enjoy about being pregnant - no cute belly or cute maternity clothes.  I used to feel this way.  I used to just want the first trimester to be over so I could get to the good stuff: the baby kicking, watching my stomach rolling like ocean waves and being obviously pregnant so people don't just assume you're getting into too many chips at night.

But this is my fourth and a lot of things have changed for me!  So here's my list of why I love the first trimester:

• I can still sleep on my stomach!
• My hair doesn't fall out nearly as much as it usually does (although this is true for me for the whole pregnancy)
• I can do nearly all the normal activities I'm used to doing - so long as I don't overdo
• I can wear all my regular clothes
• I'm not kept awake at night from insane kicking and rolling
• My poor bladder isn't getting kicked
• My rib cage is in a normal position and I have no problems breathing
• It's still very easy for me to hold my 1 year old 
• I can read a story with a child on my lap
• I can eat a meal without it all ending up on my belly
• It's easy to get behind a steering wheel
• Giving someone a hug doesn't make me feel like I have really small arms

I have to admit that while I absolutely love being able to feel the baby moving it does cause quite a few discomforts!  I have developed a lot more patience than I used to have.  I know that the time will come very soon that I will experience all the pleasures of being more aware of my child and as a result I can enjoy the first trimester so much more than I used to.  It definitely helps that I'm not nearly as sick or fatigued as I have been in past pregnancies, and so far the aches and pains are mostly held at bay.  Maybe the patience comes with age - I am after all 6 years older now than I was when pregnant with my first child.  Or maybe it comes with experience.  Whatever the case it is a wonderful thing to be content with where you are and not spend the entire trimester waiting for what's coming next!

Taken just before I found out I was pregnant - Spent a few hours digging out my carrots from their warm cozy home in a hole in my garden.  If I had known I was pregnant I would have understood why it wore me out so much!!

Putting Fear to Rest

One of the problems of changes we've made and doing things differently than what most of society considers normal is that whole "fear factor".  There is a certain amount of comfort and saftey in following doctors orders.  If you eat what they say and do what they say, if you take all the tests that they suggest and follow the popular pregnancy books than you will have a healthy pregnancy and baby and all will be well.  If something does happen to go wrong than it must be because they gave you bad advice, but it certainly was nothing you could have prevented.

A few years ago I lost my faith in doctors.  In fact my first thought now when a doctor suggests something to me is "they must be wrong".  I understand that there may be exceptions to this (and believe me, my mother and I used to have slightly heated discussions about this!) but for the most part I have come to think that doctors make assumptions, are quick to diagnose and hand out the prescriptions, and know next to nothing about true health and healing for the body.  I have not been to the doctor much in the last few years and there is one here that I trust more than others, and another that I absolutely would never trust.  I know that there are good doctors - so please don't misunderstand me and think I have something against them.  I don't.  But I do think that their education is lacking and therefore I am distrustful.  I've had a doctor tell me that my husband would be on prescription drugs his whole life, could expect to battle great pain and changing his diet would not produce good enough results to warrant changing anything.  I've had a doctor write me a prescription for my daughter who had an odd diaper rash because he was convinced she had an allergic reaction to a cat even though the rash had shown up days before she had been near a cat.  I've had a prescription written out for antibiotics for an infection that I might have, that I should start taking before I got the results.  I never did take the antibiotics and I never did have the infection confirmed (it was tested, but they never called with the results).  I tried a few natural remedies and I was just fine.  I've asked a doctor if it was okay for my husband to take large amounts of alfafa and the doctor wasn't quite sure what alfafa really was.

Okay, so I tell you all that just so that you can understand a little - not to belittle doctors.  Doctors do save lives in this country and if ever I was in an accident of some sort I would be very grateful for their help.  I just don't think that they know much about healthy living and eating and the dangers of prescription drugs.

With such a distrust in doctors comes a great desire to do my own research.  I am still learning things all the time, but if I can't trust a doctor and I have no natural doctor to consult than how am I to know what to do when my family gets sick?  And with that comes fear.  Fear that I am going to make a mistake.  That I'm going to learn something too late.  In a lot of ways I feel as though my entire family's health is resting on my shoulders.  It is a great responsibility and lately it has been causing me great amounts of stress.  I am tired of learning new things.  Tired of making changes.  Tired of going against the flow.  Tired of questioning and wondering whose voice to follow.  Should I believe this source, or this one?  *sigh*

Some days my only comfort is that this world is not my home.   How thankful I am that one day our bodies will be perfect!  No more GMO.  No more pesticides.  No more harmful toxins in the air and water.  No more digestive disorders.  No more passing up food in the potluck line because we can't eat it anymore.  No more outbursts from my daughter when she has to drink more probiotics or try something new.  No more fatigue and pain for TR.  No more fear that I will eat and breath the wrong things and harm my unborn baby.

But I am slowly coming to realize that I don't have to just "get through" this life in anticipation for heaven.  The verse that I love just keeps coming back to me "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." Psalm 20:7.  Trusting in my own knowledge is foolish and silly.  My trust needs to be in God.  Not in research, not in natural doctors, not in herbal remedies.  My family's health is in His hands and I have to trust that just as He guided me in the beginning of this journey - so He will continue to lead me on.  I can't learn it all at once, but I can learn a little at a time and do what I can for my family.  But ultimately He is still the one who calmed the waves, who healed the leper and the blind.  My kids memory verse this month is "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, cast out demons.  Freely you have received.  Freely give." Matthew 10:8.  Jesus is talking to the disciples who are about to go out into the towns and preach and heal.  As much as I need to take a pro-active approach to our health, He is the one who heals!  He is the one who heals!!  Jesus never asked that we carry our burdens alone.  I think it's time for me to lay my burden down and rest at His feet for a while.  This song is so inspiring to me and I will often sing it when I need a reminder of the greatness and power of our God.

Water you turned into wine, 

opened the eyes of the blind

 there's no one like you, none like You!
Into the darkness you shine

 out of the ashes we rise

 there's no one like you none like You!
Our God is greater, our God is stronger,

 God you are higher than any other.
Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God!

Making Changes

After Christmas I began to notice that I was having frequent stomach pains.  All I wanted was hot baths and a heating pad when that was over.  I began to wonder if I might be reacting to something that I was eating.  The first thing I took out was wheat and I noticed a difference almost right away.  After a few days of no wheat I was really missing my morning toast.  Eggs without toast and oatmeal without toast is like tea without honey :)  So I decided that if wheat was making me sick than perhaps I could still have wheat if it was fermented first.  So I made this overnight bread and enjoyed it very much with my oatmeal.  It didn't take very long, maybe an hour or so and I was having the pains again.  Over the course of the day it got worse so that by the time the kiddos were in bed I was in the tub again.  I love a good bath, but this was getting a little ridiculous!  Toast with my breakfast is not worth a day of pain.

So it has been almost a week now since I've had wheat and while I still miss that option, I am feeling better.  I'm not sure I would go so far as to say that I have more energy, but it is actually a possibility.  I have not been drinking kambucha lately as it was turning my stomach a little and my energy levels have been pretty high considering I'm still in my first trimester.  So maybe the lack of wheat is helping in more ways than one.  I'm not sure if this is a permanent thing or if pregnancy is just making me extra sensitive, but maybe it is the kick I need to remove more wheat from our diet.

So for breakfast I've been having soaked oatmeal or eggs.  I tried this zucchini date bread this morning and while it's not awful it's not exactly something I'd jump out of bed for either.  Maybe I'll try to toast it tomorrow and see if that helps.  Otherwise I haven't really missed wheat too much.  I often make the kids and I gluten free pancakes - we've been eating them that way for months - so I can still enjoy those.  We often eat rice noodles instead of wheat. The other day I made gluten free wraps that I've made a few times already.  I'm guessing it'll be just like how it's been for TR - easy enough at home, it's when you go visiting that it becomes a problem. 

I am so very thankful that I found the connection between the wheat and my stomach pains so quickly - and also that I live in this day.  A generation ago most people didn't even know you could be unable to digest wheat.  There weren't even that many other options.  I have so many options for replacements in my diet and there are so many resources (like the library!!) for learning. 

Morning Sickness

Throughout my pregnancies I have experienced different degrees of morning sickness - not one pregnancy has been the same.  With Chloe I used to throw up every morning after breakfast.  I had a long hall way in that house and I used to run down it every morning half way through breakfast.   I don't know why I didn't just eat in the bathroom!  Hindsight is everything :)  A few times I got sick during lunch at work.  It lasted the typical first trimester and I was very happy to see it go!
With Benjamin I didn't throw up but I felt like it every morning.  I was always so nauseous.  After 3 months it was gone - but returned around 7 months when I did start throwing up.
When I was first pregnant with Kara I honestly worried that I had miscarried.  I didn't like talking about the fact that I was pregnant because in my heart I wondered if she was even still alive.  The reason?  I felt awesome!  I hardly had any nausea, I never felt like throwing up.  It was unlike my other 2 pregnancies in so many ways that I truly questioned it.  When I finally heard her heartbeat my mind could finally rejoice!!  I wondered at the difference between the first 2 and the 3rd and the conclusion I have reached is our diet.  We changed our diet (which you can read about in older posts of this blog) when Ben was about a year a half.  There wouldn't have been tons of time (several months) in between the change and conception of Kara but we did make several very significant changes to the way we eat in a very short time. 

So what about this pregnancy? I am happy to say that this pregnancy seems to be very similar so far to Kara's.  I feel great!  I do get quite sick feeling if I don't eat.  I often forget to snack in the afternoons and pay for it big time!  I get very shaky and have to eat slowly.  I absolutely crave proteins and some meals all I eat is the meat.  Last night my snack was cheese :)  Some foods seriously turn me off and I think I could eat salmon all day long!  Some foods that are so very healthy for me that I used to enjoy - like sauerkraut and fermented salsa - are turning my stomach, which I find disappointing.  I'm hoping that in a few months I will be able to enjoy those foods again.  I have felt great fatigue a few times but not nearly as much as I expected.  I have been drinking kambucha (I know that there are differing opinions on this and the safety of it during pregnancy. I choose to believe that it is okay for me to drink especially considering that I was drinking if before.)  in the morning and again in the afternoon and that helps so much to maintain my energy.  I am thankful beyond words that I feel so good.  It is a wonderful gift from my Father!  I am also thankful that I have the experience of Kara's pregnancy and am not worried that my feeling good is a sign of miscarriage.  That is also a huge blessing!


I have had a great start to this pregnancy and  we are all so very excited about him/her! 

Changing Direction

The direction of this blog is going to change!  I am very excited to say that we are expecting our 4th child next summer!! With my third pregnancy I really strived to learn all I could about handling pregnancy and delivery naturally and I'm excited to keep on learning even more this time!  I thought that this blog might be just the place to share what I'm learning and my experience with Kara's pregnancy/birth a year and a half ago.  I'll try to update regularly but I'm sure you understand by now that my best intentions often forget!  Nevertheless I'm excited about the journey of these next 7.5-8 months or so and I'm excited about sharing it with you here on this blog :)