FOK challenge post 4

Its been a few days since I posted. We got really busy getting ready for the Christmas program for last  Sabbath and went to the Zoo Lights Saturday night so there were quite a few late nights. However we did make a few recipes.

Jeffrey made Breadkfast Quinoa with Apple Compote. This is from page 50. The boys have not been fond of quinoa anyway, but they were ok with it this time. However the compote was not a hit at all. We only made one recipe which I did on purpose, knowing that they might not like it. I didn’t like that flavor mix very well either, but I did eat more than my share so we wouldn’t have to throw too much away.

Joshua made “Southwestern Twice-Baked Potatoes” on page 192. It was very good, though we skipped the second baking and stuffed the stuffing right on our plates. The leftovers we used in the next recipe which was “Southwest Mac and Cheese” on page 252. We cheated a little on that recipe and used real cheese, but it also was very good. I forgot to get pictures of those recipes and they are gone now, but oh well.

Today, we are cleaning house and getting ready for the weekend. Josh is making Strawberry shortcake for lunch and we will be making bread tomorrow as well as stuff for Sabbath. Then on Sunday or Monday we will be baking pies and cookies for Christmas day. Most of them are not from the cookbook, I think, but I will share them anyway as they are healthier recipes than your typical dessert recipes.

Anyway, thats all for now.

Have a great weekend, and a Merry Christmas!

FOK challenge post 3

So the last couple of recipes that we did this last week were so yummy!  Jeffrey was making Banana Granola Parfait on page46, so the day before I made Banana Almond Granola from page 44. So yummy. I usually make granola with oil, and bake it over night, but since I was following a different recipe, this one called for no oil and baked for about 40 or 50 minutes stirring every 10 minutes. It turned out toasty brown and crunchy. Not as flaky as the one with oil, but that’s to be expected. I really liked the flavor of it, too.

The Parfait basically is a layered dish, usually in decorative glassses. We used regular glasses and long spoons. The first layer was banana cream made out of tofu and bananas and other yummy stuff, then granola. Then Jeffrey put on some fruit salad, that we had tried earlier in the week from page 37, though this time I think we used just the fruit without the dressing. And then he added some more cream. At least thats how I think he layered it. Anyway, here’s a picture of my glass plus a picture of the fruit salad we made earlier.

We ended up having to make extra cream because everyone wanted seconds. Definitely a recipe to keep making! 

Vitamin K

I just wanted to share something that I was researching about. My midwife keeps asking me about doing vitamin K shots or drops for my baby and I had looked into it a little bit before so I didn’t feel comfortable giving them to him/her. My girls never had them and never had any problems. However, my midwife apparently had a client who’s baby had a brain bleed so she is extra concerned now. Because I am uncomfortable giving any kind of shots to my kids, I decided I had better figure out exactly what its for and if the benefits outweigh the risks. Here is a quick rundown of what I found out with some links to go with it. This was copied from the page I typed up and printed out for my midwife so that she could see what I researched and hopefully will help ease her mind as well.

 Facts about Vitamin K and Hemorrhagic disease of the newborn and Vitamin K deficiency in Babies. 

1. Risk for HDN or early onset bleeding is 1 in 100,000, risk for VKDB or late onset bleeding is 3-4 in 100,000
2. Causes include: liver disease in baby; medication use by mom that interfere with vitamin k metabolism like anticonvulsants, anticoagulants and antibiotics; or a diet low in k and fat. Also, any other issue that can interfere with baby’s absorption of vitamin k.
3. Vitamin K shot is synthetic, not easily absorbed or utilized by the body.
4. Vitamin K is metabolized in the liver, and absorbed by gut bacteria.
5. Baby liver and digestion are immature. Drops are not metabolized by baby liver, and interfere with the gut bacteria.
6. Shot has other ingredients, not just ‘vitamin k’. For example, Propylene Glycol, Benzyl alcohol, Hydrochloric Acid, castor oil. Etc. Again, Baby liver cannot process these. Benzyl alcohol has been shown to cause respiratory problems. 
7. Vitamin K shot has a black box warning. It says it can cause death, and jaundice.
8. Best way for baby is to increase moms vitamin k through diet in the weeks before birth, so baby liver can store it.
9. After birth, delay cord clamping to get all the stem cells for repairs from birth process. Vitamin K thickens blood so stem cells cannot travel where needed well.
10. Make sure baby gets colostrum which contains small amounts of easily absorbed vitamin K and stem cells. 
11. Vitamin K containing foods : Raspberry Leaf tea; Greens like Kale, alfalfa, cabbage. Cauliflower, spinach; Soy; Nuts, like cashews, pecans and walnuts; Legumes- green beans, kidney beans, etc.; Nettle; Avocado; Grapes. 
12. Gut bacteria also produces vitamin K, so lots of prebiotic food like onions and garlic and the above foods.
13. God created babies with lower k until 8 days old so stem cells from the placenta can travel through the body to brain quickly. 

http://legaljustice4john.com/jaundiceVitKshotNewborns.htm?fbclid=IwAR3PEuUPyxt6SywL4BHW0GYmnAJXCsgvgT5P7Fd41rCcWa2s5dCKm9EUUao

http://www.vaccination.inoz.com/VitaminK.html

http://barbfeick.com/vaccinations/vitamin-shots/vitamin_shots_for_newborn.html?fbclid=IwAR1XaWWB8kZYZfCchznyycX2E_8nG4t0srJ8dXDtCqOlRQudPewQdKtjP7w

https://www.scribd.com/doc/33874512/Merck-Vitamin-K-Package-Insert-Aquamephyton-PI

https://youtu.be/IFcDz3Kvz8I

https://youtu.be/6rxEo8R5Fwk

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-high-in-vitamin-k#section7

FOK challenge post 2

Today, we made White Bean Chili with Jalapeno and Lime. It is located on page 130. It was very good. A little limey, which was ok with me as we also had Swiss Chard for dinner and that was good mixed in. The kids didn’t like the lime flavor as well as I did, so we may have to alter the recipe a bit if we want to make it again.   This was also supposed to be a very hot chili with lots of jalapeno. 6 servings of chili with 3 jalapenos in the pot. Also lots of cilantro and the zest of 1 lime. I only used 1 jalapeno and I’m glad I did because it would have been way to hot for little ones. Josh liked the heat but the girls weren’t fond of it.

It made a very pretty picture, even if it wasn’t a favorite recipe. I may try it again next year, but with less lime.

Forks over Knives challenge

So, the other day, when my parents were visiting over Thanksgiving, we watched a true-to-life movie about a lady who challenged herself to cook from Julia Childs’ cookbook over the period of one year, writing a blog about it. I mentioned to my mother, “hey, I could do that, except maybe I could do one on the Forks over Knives cookbook, instead.” She, of course, thought that was a great idea.

We have been also working on the Pathfinder cooking honor, not as a requirement for the club, but as part of schoolwork. One of the requirements in the honor is to put together a file of 10 recipes they have made. So we are making some of the recipes in the Forks Over Knives cookbook.

Combining these two projects into one came to mind, so I made a list of some of the recipes to start with and we will be making them over the course of the next few months and letting you know how they fare in our family’s tastes.

Thus far, we have made 3 recipes from the 2012 edition of the cookbook.

A couple of weeks ago, Joshua made Mac and Cheese which is on page 2 which used the No-Cheese sauce from page 29. It was very good, except we over estimated the amount of pasta and ended up with more pasta than sauce, so it turned out kind of dry. Next time we will use more sauce, or less pasta.

The second recipe we tried was the Carrot Cake from page 284. We ended up using a whole can of pineapple for the topping instead of the Vanilla Bean Whip and it was very moist. It was taken to church for the impromptu potluck and mostly gone by the time we left afterwards. I think we will definitely be making that again. Next time we will try the Vanilla Bean whip on top and see what that’s like.

Yesterday, Josh made Corn Chowder off of page 93 for lunch, which he blended using an immersion blender that someone, either my mom or my friend gave me. It was slightly chunky, not meant to be smooth, and was very delicious. Next time we will make a double recipe, I think, and make it using the Vegetable stock from page 23 called for in the recipe. I forgot to make the stock in the morning before we left to go to the store so we used just water with a little miso and it was still good.

So far, the recipes we have tried have been fairly good. And I’m looking forward to trying some more of them.

I will try to remember to take some video or pictures of the next few recipes so you can see what they look like.

Til the nest time!