My mother-in-law says that the best pears are the slightly brown, bruised, so-ripe-they’re-almost-overripe, and her litmus test of perfection is whether the pear juice runs all the way down to your elbows when you eat it, such that you must stand over the kitchen sink to reach the core.

I feel the same way about a roast in the Instant Pot or slow cooker.

RELATED: 10 techniques to get the most out of your Instant Pot

That beef roast better be falling apart, not even requiring a knife, so juicy you’re reminded of pear juice to the elbows.

With a fall-apart roast, you can make sliders, enchiladas, burrito bowls, or classic roast and potatoes.

On the other hand, many folks love the kind of roast you slice into roast beef, which looks a lot fancier on the table and is perfect cold in sandwiches. I’m always nervous that I’ll overcook that sort of roast, so I’m more hesitant (and rely 100% on a good recipe and my trusty meat thermometer).

That kind of roast is more like an artisan loaf of bread, thickly sliced to perfection, crusty on the outside but steaming and soft on the inside.

With a beef shoulder roast, you get the best of both worlds.

Your juicy pears or your crusty bread, depending on how long you cook it.

If you want a flexible recipe that allows you to choose not only the texture but the flavor of the roast, this framework “dump roast” is your new best friend.

Take a beef shoulder roast, dump in some other ingredients to create one of four different flavor profiles, and cook it either in the Instant Pot or slow cooker. You could have a month of weekly roasts and never need to look up a new recipe!

What is a Beef Shoulder Roast?

The shoulder of the cow is fairly hearty since the animal uses the joint a lot and builds muscle there. Both shoulder roasts (sometimes called arm roasts) and chuck roasts come from the shoulder.

Beef shoulder roasts are less fatty and more tender than a chuck roast and can even go on the grill like a steak, but can also be shredded if cooked long enough.

Chuck roasts are tougher and 100% require a long, slow cook or an extended blasting from the pressure cooker. They’re often seen in stew or pot roast recipes.

Any meat from the shoulder or chuck area of the cow needs a moist, longer cook time to avoid being tough. They’re great for the budget compared to other roasts and steaks!

How to Cook a Beef Shoulder Roast

Traditionally, a shoulder roast would have been braised in liquid in the oven (or in a pot) for quite a few hours, but I prefer modern appliances to make everything even more foolproof.

Pot Roast Recipe in the Instant Pot

In an Instant Pot, you’ll need at least a cup of liquid and cook on HIGH pressure for 25 minutes per pound.

To get sliced roast beef, open up the Instant Pot and check the temp with a meat thermometer. If it’s at 145F, you can remove the roast and set it on a platter, tent it with foil or an inverted pot, and let it rest for about 5 minutes.

If the temp isn’t high enough, return to pressure for 5-10 more minutes.

To make a shredded beef roast for sliders or wraps, go with 30 minutes at pressure per pound and a natural pressure release. With a shoulder roast, you miiiiight not get it to fall apart with only forks, but you should be able to remove, slice with a sharp knife, and return to the juices for 10 minutes to finish getting all shred-y and juicy like you want it.

Pot Roast Recipe in the Slow Cooker

Cook that shoulder roast all day long, 8-10 hours on low temp, until it really is falling apart tender. In a slow cooker, I don’t recommend trying for sliced roast beef. Go shredded all the way, and the longer you can cook it, the better. This also should work at about 5 hours on high.

Recipes for Beef Shoulder Roasts Four Ways

In what I call a “framework” recipe, you’ll see how you can combine different fats, liquids, herbs and spices, vegetables, and acid to take a basic format and create many flavor combinations.

We’ll take that shoulder roast and make it into four meals:

1. A basic pot roast style meal that I’ll call “Dutch” in honor of the many Dutch here in West Michigan who like simple, inexpensive food without much seasoning beyond salt and pepper (and not too much of that, thankyouverymuch)
2. An Italian-inspired dish perfect with a glass of red wine and an optional side of pasta and crusty bread to soak up the tomatoey sauce. You can see the Italian recipe variation written out here.
3. A totally different Mexican seasoned roast that can become a burrito bowl with rice, beans, and fixings, soft tacos, or a cold taco salad the next day
4. And finally, one that I hope Julia Child would approve of, a French-inspired flavor combo with plenty of butter, mushrooms, and red wine

Using your trusty Instant Pot OR slow cooker, you can choose your flavor, choose your texture, learn one method, and have meals planned for Sunday dinners for a month.

You can use the same flavor match-ups for other roasts, such as a chuck roast, bottom round roast, or eye of round roast, as long as you look up a tested recipe for the amount of time it needs to cook.

Katie’s Framework Pot Roast Recipe

• Author: Katie Kimball
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 75 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
• Yield: 8 servings
• Category: Main Dish
• Method: Instant Pot
• Diet: Gluten Free

Print Recipe

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Description

This framework makes it simple to get a flavorful roast with 4 different options: basic, Italian, Mexican or French.

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Ingredients

Units USM

• 3 lb. beef shoulder roast (or adjust for smaller or larger roasts)
• 1–3 Tbs. Fat
• Vegetables
• A deglaze option
• 1 c. liquid
• Herbs or spices
• Acid
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt (Use the code kitchenstewardship for 15% off of your first purchase)
• 1/2–1 tsp. pepper
• 2–10 cloves minced garlic or 1/2–2 tsp. garlic powder

Terrible recipe, right? See the chart below to see which options to use in each category for each flavor profile.

 

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Instructions

1. Melt the fat on high and, if using an Instant Pot and you have an extra 15 minutes, brown the beef roast on all sides for about 3 minutes each.
2. If using onions, mushrooms, or peppers, brown them in the fat next. (I don’t bother removing the roast, just stir the veggies around it, but you may remove to a plate.)
3. If using a deglaze option, that goes in next, and stir around for a minute.
4. Carefully pour in the liquid and return the roast if you removed it.
5. Nestle other veggies around the roast.
   • If using green beans, steam separately unless you like overcooked green beans.
6. Sprinkle the herbs, spices, garlic, salt, and pepper all over the roast and veggies.
7. Cook according to the following directions:
   • Instant Pot sliced roast beef: 25 minutes per pound, quick release and test temp for 145F, add 5-10 minutes more pressure if necessary.
   • Instant Pot shredded shoulder roast: 30 minutes per pound, natural pressure release until falling apart. Add 10 minutes more at pressure if necessary.
   • Slow cooker shredded beef: 8-10 hours on low or 5+ hours on high.
8. Add the acid right at the end to the juices.
9. See serving ideas in the chart and enjoy!

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Nutrition

• Calories: 1088
• Sugar: 3g
• Sodium: 904mg
• Fat: 52g
• Saturated Fat: 15g
• Unsaturated Fat: 37g
• Trans Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 7g
• Fiber: 2g
• Protein: 22g
• Cholesterol: 421mg

Keywords: simple dinner, quick roast, make ahead dinner

Now you too can have a juicy, melt-in-your-mouth run-down-to-your-elbows-like-a-pear beef should roast, no matter what flavor suits your family!

I wrote this recipe in conjunction with a guest post for US Wellness Meats. Try out the other recipes I’ve done for them:

• Johns’s famous Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin
• Butter Ranch Drumsticks
• Easy Freezer Veggie-Filled Meatballs

Instant Pot Tutorials:

How to Set Up a New Instant Pot (With Video!)

How to Use the Instant Pot in a Hotel Room(save $$$ on dinner out!)

10 Basic Techniques for your Instant Pot

Convert Slow Cooker Recipes to the Instant Pot

Is a Pressure Cooker Still Healthy and Safe?

How to Cook Frozen Ground Beef in the Instant Pot FAST

The post Quick Pot Roast Recipe | Super Simple Slow Cooker or Instant Pot Dinner appeared first on Kitchen Stewardship | Caring for All Our Gifts.

Even common folk like a mom of 4 who teaches kids to cook now know him down to his Catholic upbringing, and we’ve all expanded our vocabulary to include words like “spike protein,” “viral load,” and “herd immunity.”

I was honored to speak at a TEDx event this summer, encouraging parents to raise children who become critical thinkers, a topic never more important than in this moment.

When I heard the breadth and focus of expertise of my fellow speaker, my heart quickened.

He’s a renowned researcher who has studied the effect of air pollution on the heart, figured out how to create chemicals needs for Covid testing kits in his lab when the supply chain broke down during the pandemic, and has proven that more serious COVID-19 symptoms occur in e-cigarettes users. I couldn’t wait to learn more from him. 

I wanted him to tell me something I didn’t know about the virus, the testing process, or the vaccine.

A part of me yearned for him to convince me that I was wrong, and that I needed to see a new perspective on the whole pandemic and the government’s requests. If anyone could do that, it would be this extremely intelligent, kind, Midwestern PhD with whom I was suddenly a happenstance peer.

I wanted him to say something that I couldn’t stop thinking critically about over the next few days.

And he did, when I asked just the right question.

Let’s Understand Science Better 

Backstage in the green room, he was having an academic conversation with another speaker about how science has been vaulted into the national conversation, and I couldn’t help listening.

“What people don’t understand about science,” he said, “is that it’s always changing. You have to follow the data, to adapt.” This was also a strong theme in his fascinating TEDx talk, and he followed up with a somewhat related example:

“When people say that vaccine was rushed, they don’t understand that the technology has been worked on for 20 years. It was just finally able to be completed because of the huge influx of money.”

And he would know.

He’s been invited to the White House to speak to both Barack Obama and Donald Trump while each was president of the United States, and he described President Obama as “wise, insightful, a great listener, really interested in learning.”

My interest piqued, my questions began to multiply. I set my mind on talking to this longtime friend of “Tony Fauci” at the after party, and I was thrilled to arrive just after him and join his family at a standing table.

We commiserated on the atrocity that Stanford University scientists formulated “new and improved” e-cigarettes by shifting the pH, specifically making them more palatable to our youth. Teens were then plunged into an epidemic of their own with 25% of high school seniors using.

I told him I wanted to stamp my foot and jump up and down, throwing a proper toddler-style tantrum in righteous anger when he shared that info in his TEDx, yelling, “Scientists should know better!”

He gravely acknowledged that even science tips toward money, and marketing has always been this way.

See – I trust science.

I just don’t always trust the human beings communicating the science.

The possibility that someone’s money has paid for the science.

The policies made after human beings interpret the science.

Finally, we ended up directly next to each other after the table jostled when we returned from a trip to dispose of plates and utensils and get, “Hey, one more!” from the bar.

He asked about my YouTube channel, and we chatted about how content creators monetize online. His university is very strict about researchers making zero outside income in any way, which I appreciated. “You’d have to disclose that at the bottom of every single journal article, right?” I asked, to which he replied, “They pretty much own us.“

I was just ready to jump into my first burning question about the pandemic, eager to hear from an NPR correspondent on the virus, an expert, a real scientist who followed the data and at one point was creating 15,000 COVID-19 test kits per day in his lab-turned-production-facility.

That was when he chose to say, “I’m just so tired of talking about it!”

Well, shoot.

The Questions I Asked Anyway

I’m not one to be intimidated, though, and I said that I did have one question, and he could feel free to tell me to stuff it if he didn’t want to answer.

He graciously accepted my query about his comfort level to travel and be un-masked in a crowded social situation. (I refrained from including the bit in my head about how his actions went against his friend Dr. Fauci’s official recommendations even for vaccinated individuals.)

Why are You Comfortable with Travel and Large Un-Masked Groups?

“Well, I’m fully vaccinated and boostered,” he said, reacting to my surprise about boosters even being available in early August 2021. “I work in a hospital, and I’ve had my antibodies tested multiple times. A level of 20 is considered protected, and mine are well into the 200s, so I’m good!” he grinned confidently.

He had also tested antibodies before being vaccinated and expressed deep astonishment that he had never caught the virus naturally, since all the college kids in his lab had contracted it (in social situations outside the lab) and the morgue was in the basement of his building. “The virus was surely in the airways, in the ventilation system…”

He tested antibodies, in spite of the fact that the FDA expressly recommended against that practice, both pre- and post-vaccination (sources: 1, 2). His scientist privilege allows him to feel entirely safe, even as the country is shocked to discover that these vaccines were never intended to prevent all infection, and many fully vaccinated Americans are landing in hospitals on COVID floors.

I couldn’t be waylaid by all my curiosity about the virus carousing in his university building’s airducts, because I needed to know about this “rushed science.”

I brought up what he said earlier in the green room, when he also revealed that he graduated with an NPR host who interviewed him regularly during the pandemic and was a close colleague with Kenneth Chien, co-founder of Moderna.

Was Vaccine Testing Rushed?

“I understand that the science wasn’t rushed, but what about the testing? Is it valid to say that we can’t know the long-term effects, simply because we haven’t had to time to study it?” I asked him. 

He misunderstood my question and talked about long haul COVID, agreeing with me that yes, we sure don’t know everything about the long term, since it’s a brand new virus.

I corrected: “Yes, that makes sense, but what about the vaccine as well? Is it fair to question the fact that we don’t yet know long term effects, even if the science is sound? Can we say the testing was rushed because we just don’t know?”

Instead of mind-bending insight, I received…validation.

He was pretty quick to agree with me that yes, either way, virus or vaccine, it’s a gamble long term.

We don’t know what we haven’t yet been able to observe.

I’m glad he was comfortable with my use of the word “gamble,” because earlier in the day when we found out why one of our fellow speakers was absent, we weren’t speaking the same language.

You could feel the collective gasp when our incredible volunteer organizers shared that one speaker couldn’t make it because he had COVID-19. Standing next to our lone PhD in the group, I was the one to whom he directed his comment: “That’s ironic.”

I doubled my gasp and couldn’t think of anything to say other than, “I don’t know if it’s ironic, but it’s terribly sad.”

My heart went out to this man I didn’t know who had the courage and dedication to apply for something on thousands of unrealized bucket lists, was accepted, had to wait a full year when our event was postponed, worked dozens of hours perfecting his talk, and then couldn’t participate.

That’s just…sad.

But he’s a scientist, not a writer, I thought, maybe he didn’t use the word correctly. After all, the only words he could come up with to describe speaking in front of President Trump were: “He fell asleep while I was talking.”

Later I realized after much contemplation that perhaps he meant that it was “ironic” for someone to contract a “vaccine-preventable” disease that one can so easily avoid. Perhaps he censored himself from saying, “Served him right.”

Or maybe I’m being unfair. I can’t know what his intent was with the comment. I do know he fully expected that anyone unvaccinated should wear a mask in large groups, like the one at which we were speaking shoulder to shoulder over apps and drinks.

I do know he has a cousin he “can’t even talk to” because she refuses to get vaccinated.

His disgust was palpable, and I wish the photographer would have caught a shot of my face at the moment of his revelation.

I can’t even guess if I veiled my true reaction well enough, realizing how opposite our views were and wondering if that would become clear soon.

Here’s the thing:

I’m a writer, not a statistician.

And he’s a scientist, not a mathematician.

But still, I would have thought it obvious: If 57% of American adults were vaccinated the week before we stood on a windy rooftop venue, simple probability says that quite a handful of people around him were unvaccinated.

He already knew I’m Catholic. (Not that that means as much as it should, thank-you-very-much Mr. “Catholic in word but not policy” President.)

He heard (and complimented) my TEDx speech, which outed me as skeptical of mainstream medicine.

As a scientist, I would have expected him to be constantly observing, playing detective with information like my brain does.

I expected him to question assumptions, only rely on facts, and be ready to adapt if something wasn’t as anticipated.

Yet he clearly spoke as if there was 100% chance I was a fully vaccinated Democrat.

The odds were against him.

I despise politics.

It was as if he was playing right along with the theme of the last chapter book my kids listened to on our long drives: Sometimes you only see what you already know.

I didn’t set him straight.

Why Should I Get the Vaccine?

Instead, I used a strategy from another speaker, who taught us that afternoon how to have great conversations. I asked an open-ended question.

“So, IF your cousin was using logic, what would you say as a scientist to convince her to get the vaccine?”

I felt like I landed upon the perfect question.

Now I had opened the Pandora’s Box.

Now I would get my insider information.

Now I would hear what I’d been waiting to hear, something that would convince me to make the jump, get the poke, and feel as protected as my new PhD cohort was.

I could feel in my bones that it was a monumental question and would get me what I wanted.

Maybe it was the alcohol talking – was it a Captain and Coke, or Diet Coke, in his hand? His second, maybe third…but in my experience, a man of his girth should take more than that to lose judgment and speak too much.

He leaned closer, his vaccinated, antibody-ridden face a mere 12 inches from my own potentially-infested nasal passages, and I caught my breath, anticipating the wisdom that would capture my attention for days.

In barely an undertone with little regard to the 10-year-old entrepreneurs selling lemonade just behind us, he said:

“I’d say, ‘Get the f&*%ing vaccine.’”

Ah.

Them’s fightin’ words.

And I haven’t been able to stop them from replaying in my mind, dozens of times in 24 hours.

But Doc, tell your friend Tony that it’s exactly that attitude that won’t win any wars, any battles, or convince the educated unvaccinated American public.

The hesitant.

The skeptical.

Those who, in the true sense of the word ironic, filled a data set of 100% of the people he didn’t already know at the table of 7.

I wanted science.

I yearned for learning, to have my eyes opened about this vaccine.

Sadly, instead I learned that even scientists are human and may not always be able to choose to use logic over emotion.

Note: This article was published with permission from the PhD scientist, who really is very kind and gracious! He read the whole thing, edited one factual error I had, and gave his blessing. I wouldn’t have shared this story if it was untrue, unkind, or would potentially put his job in jeopardy. 

PS – To address all the skeptics, who are WELCOME here – you’re among friends. 

• Some will say that because I have ads on my site and/or affiliates, they won’t listen to a thing I say. Great. Don’t watch. This is my family business and (a) I will spend more on Zoom than these ads will possibly make me, and (b) it’s a lot riskier to to my business to do a webinar on you-know-what than if I just stayed in my lane and talked about food. I don’t even have anything to sell at the end. But if you believe it’s about profit, go find another source. It’s a big Internet.
• Some will say that because I don’t have any science/medical degree, they don’t want to listen to me. Please, go somewhere else. 
• Some will say that I shouldn’t password-protect some of my more controversial posts, that I should own what I believe and be up front with it. To be clear, anyone who is in my KS community (i.e. on my email list for free) can read and share password-protected posts with others. They’re protected from the eyes of search engines and big tech who pretty much determine how much traffic I get (which has been slashed by about 70% in the last few years). So I’m not hiding from humans, just overly powerful computer programs who like to censor things. 

The post I’m unvaccinated. Here’s what a PhD said to try to convince me to get the shot. appeared first on Kitchen Stewardship | Caring for All Our Gifts.

Being a family with food allergies, it’s always tricky to navigate these situations. We have to be very selective about the food.

Thankfully we found enough safe options that my kids both could and would eat.

But there was one item on the menu that we had never tried that sounded intriguing – sweet potato tater tots.

There was just one problem – it wasn’t on the gluten-free menu.

Some of my family can tolerate small amounts of gluten, so we tried a few. And of course, they tasted good!

But I wanted us all to get to enjoy them in a safe and healthy way.

Sweet Potato Tots in the Air Fryer

Aside from the gluten, it’s a given that anything fried that comes from a restaurant is cooked in inflammatory, processed vegetable oils.

I decided I just had to recreate the sweet potato tots at home without allergens and without vegetable oils.

I don’t use my Air Fryer often as I’m a creature of habit that sticks to my oven, slow cooker most of the time. But I knew Air Fryer sweet potato tots would definitely be the best!

My goal was to make these as simple as possible. And yet I complicated them way too many times. It took about 10 iterations to get these sweet potato tots just right. Thankfully my final version was a lot simpler than my first!

Simple Summer Side Dish

I rely on my oven to cook almost every dinner. We love roasted veggies with dinner, but in the summer using the oven makes the house so hot!

So a simple summer side dish that you can cook in the Air Fryer is the perfect solution.

Another bonus is that you don’t have to pre-cook the sweet potatoes for this recipe. So no boiling on the stovetop either.

The prep work is so easy that your kids can do it. Let older kids peel and grate the potatoes (use a box grater as most food processors won’t grate finely enough). Then it’s just a quick mix and form into balls – perfect for smaller hands (and they can be made ahead so you can give them plenty of time)! Get your kids in the kitchen with Kids Cook Real Food!

Once your sweet potato balls are ready, older kids or a parent can do the actual work with the Air Fryer.

Sweet Potato Air Fryer Recipe Kids Love

With any new recipe, the real test is whether or not kids will eat it. And my kids sure had opinions on all of the different versions I created!

So when they all fought over who got to eat the last one I knew I had a winner.

Air Fryer sweet potato tots taste great plain, or they are perfect for dipping. A few options include:

• ketchup
• honey mustard
• mayonnaise
• hummus
• barbeque sauce

As an added bonus they make great finger food for little hands. My toddler loved them!

Simple Air Fryer Sweet Potato Tots

• Author: Mary Voogt, NTP (Contributing Writer)
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 30 - 40 tater tots
• Category: Side Dish
• Method: Air fryer
• Diet: Gluten Free

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

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Description

Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, salty and sweet – the perfect, healthy tater tot for kids!

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Ingredients

Units USM

• 2 cups peeled and grated sweet potato (about 2 medium potatoes)
• 6 Tbsp. tapioca flour (or arrowroot)
• 1/4 tsp. unrefined sea salt (or more to taste)
• 2–3 Tbsp. avocado oil, tallow, or lard for cooking

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Instructions

1. Finely grate the potatoes with a box grater (the medium grate on most box graters. Do not use a food processor unless you have a blade that grates quite finely). You should have about 2 cups total.
2. Mix the potato with the tapioca flour and salt to combine.
3. Form 1-in. balls and place on a plate (they should hold together. If not, add more flour.)
4. Remove all inserts and heat the Air Fryer to 375-degrees F. Set for 15 minutes.
5. Allow to heat for 3 minutes.
6. Add 1 – 2 Tbsp. of oil, enough to lightly cover the bottom.
7. Place the sweet potato balls in the Air Fryer (this will likely require 2 rounds, depending on the size of your Air Fryer).
8. Cook for the remaining 12 minutes, pausing halfway to flip the tater tots.
9. Remove from the pan and sprinkle generously with salt.
10. Repeat until all tater tots are cooked. Serve immediately.

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Notes

You can easily double the recipe.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1/2 cup
• Calories: 240
• Sugar: 1g
• Sodium: 128mg
• Fat: 1g
• Saturated Fat: 0g
• Unsaturated Fat: 1g
• Trans Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 55g
• Fiber: 4g
• Protein: 1g
• Cholesterol: 0mg

Keywords: kid-friendly, kid food, copycat

Are Tater Tots Healthy?

Tater tots are one of those foods that most kids grow up eating. I mean, crispy, salty, starchy potatoes – what’s not to love?

But most store-bought tater tots have not only vegetable oils but other flavors and gums added. Even organic versions have some not-so-real ingredients.

This is why I love homemade tater tots. You get to control the ingredients. And when you swap out the basic white potato for sweet potatoes you’re really upping the nutrition factor!

Sweet potatoes contain:

• fiber
• potassium
• manganese
• magnesium
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin B6
• Beta-carotene

When making sweet potato tots you can use healthy fats like avocado oil, tallow, and lard, or if you prefer you can cook Air Fryer sweet potato tots with no oil at all!

They are also grain-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, and soy-free. So everyone gets to enjoy these tater tots.

What Can You Serve With Sweet Potato Tots?

Air Fryer sweet potato tots make an easy side dish with just about any meal. If you’ve really gotten into air fryers and have more than one you can make it a full Air Fryer meal!

• AF Brussels sprouts with bacon
• AF chicken nuggets
• AF veggie fries
• AF sweet potato tots

But even if you only have one, here are some great options for kid-friendly meals.

• Hamburgers, rutabaga fries, sweet potato tots
• Salad bar with sweet potato tots as croutons
• Honey herb chicken, sauteed broccoli, sweet potato tots dipped in honey mustard
• Mini meatloaves, roasted cauliflower, sweet potato tots dipped in ketchup

You can even try making a tater tot casserole with these on top. Skip the Air Fryer and just bake them with the casserole.

As much as I hate peeling potatoes, it’s so worth it to make Air Fryer sweet potato tots. And thankfully a few potatoes make a lot! So the prep work goes very quickly. Plus my kids usually do it anyway.

If you have kids that enjoy tater tots, they’ll love sweet potato tots!

The post Simple Sweet Potato Air Fryer Recipe | Sweet Potato Tots – Perfect for Kids! appeared first on Kitchen Stewardship | Caring for All Our Gifts.

Watch our Sunbasket review or read the details below the video to see if Sunbasket is a good healthy meal subscription option for your family!

Sunbasket Review From The Kimballs

Can’t see the video? Watch our Sunbasket review here on YouTube!

Is Sunbasket Good for Kids?

Honestly, we had some bumps in the road, we thought that it’s really not kid-friendly. There’s a lot of mushrooms, things mixed together, and sauces. It’s a little spicy, and there are just some tastes more suited to adult palates. We also felt it was a bit fancy for many families.

If your family is full of adventurous eaters, this might be a great option for you!

Kids with some cooking aptitude could definitely make these meals. You’d have to have a little bit of cooking instruction like knife safety skills. Sunbasket recipes will not teach a child to cook, but kids who already know the basics could do it.

The directions were pretty good, but Blue Apron has pictorial directions which are easier both for kids and adults who are learning to cook.

We’ll be sharing another video in a few weeks of my kids actually making one of our Sunbasket review meals!

RELATED: Raddish Kids subscription review!

Is Sunbasket Worth the Money?

It costs $40 for four servings. While that did serve our family of six, it’s a little bit of a hard pill for me to swallow because I’m super budget-friendly.

Considering that I still have to do the work of cooking, I’m not sure I would do it often.

It definitely costs less than going out to eat, but we had fewer leftovers than when we go out. However, it is hard to go out and have organic produce and well-sourced meats. Obviously, that has to raise the price of Sunbasket.

RELATED: We source our quality meats from Butcher Box.

I tried one of their “Fresh and Ready” meals for lunch. I loved it, but it was a bit spicy. It was plenty of food for one meal, but only 6 bites of meat and not that many veggies. It was pretty expensive for being mostly rice.

When you order using this link you’ll receive $90 off, free shipping, and four free gifts with your first order which helps with the budget factor! 

Is Sunbasket Environmentally Friendly?

If you’re competing with other meal services like HelloFresh and Blue Apron, it does make a lot of dishes to wash. That’s kind of a bummer. I would try to cut corners where I could.

For any meal delivery kit, you’re going to have some waste. They come with ice packs which I don’t love. However, Sunbasket has a high commitment to sustainability. They have instructions to reuse and recycle as much as possible. I liked that we were able to pour out the ice packs into the garden and recycle the plastic.

It’s better than most, but there’s still a little bit of waste. Sunbasket cites a University of Michigan study that shows that shopping at grocery stores generates 33% more greenhouse gases than meal kit delivery—with packaging and delivery included. Something to consider.

Is it Easy to Order From Sunbasket?

When you go to order your meals there are no options over 4 in the family. It worked out for us because a meal for four served the six of us, but if your family is larger, you’ll need to double up on the same meal for a single day.

Sunbasket is a subscription. So if you don’t go in to change your meals each week, they will choose for you and that makes me nervous. Put a reminder in your calendar for Tuesday evenings or Wednesday mornings in case you miss Sunbasket’s reminder email!

I had a hard time navigating the website at first. You have to be on one screen to see the ingredients and description, and another to add to your cart which is similar but slightly different.

Often you can choose your protein for your meal, including adding protein to a vegetarian meal for an upcharge.

Who is Sunbasket Best For?

Now, if I was a young wife, a young married couple or college students, roommates living together, it would be so fun! It would be a special event like eating out, except that you’d get to learn cooking skills and do a fun activity with your spouse or friends!

I think it would be a neat gift for a niece/nephew/child/grandchild living out on their own who wants to learn to cook and eat well.

One benefit for us is that we did learn some things. We learned how to make soft-boiled eggs, (I’d never heard of that!), and we learned how to heat tortillas over an open flame. That was cool since we’re usually the ones doing the teaching in the kitchen!

Sunbasket Review: Bottom Line

Bottom line is that Sunbasket is something we would try very occasionally.

It is nice to have it planned out. I didn’t have to put thought into it, saving brain space on my end. Maybe it would be good on a week where we didn’t want to think about food but still wanted to eat well.

If you have high-class tastes and are ready to try new things then this might be something that would be worth it for your family.

Sunbasket is a little bit of an adventure! Overall, it was really an interesting experience!

Make sure you subscribe to my newsletter so you don’t miss our next video coming up where you can see my kids making one of our Sunbasket review meals!

TRY SUNBASKET HERE!

The post Sunbasket Review! | Is Sunbasket Worth the Money? | Healthy Meal Kit Subscription appeared first on Kitchen Stewardship | Caring for All Our Gifts.

School lunches.

Love ‘em, hate ‘em, make what you want of them, but they are here, and we need a plan.

If you’re like me, one of your big goals for your kids is that they eat plenty of plants. While our family still eats meat for other meals (we try to get it from quality sources, and that gets expensive!), plant-based school lunches are our best friend.

We focus on the veggies and fruit and other plants (like beans and legumes!) and let everything else take a back seat. These lunch ideas for kids help my kids get plenty of fiber, nutrients, and good quality energy for their day.

RELATED: 30+ Dinner leftovers that make great school lunches. 

Making Balanced Lunches for Kids

As parents, we all want our kids to eat healthily. When it comes to school lunches, I want my kids to eat well too. However, nutritionists assure us that we don’t need every single meal to include the whole spectrum of nutrients.

Rather, you want to eat a rainbow of fruit and veggies throughout your week. You want to eat a wide variety of foods across all your meals together. 

So when it comes to lunch ideas for kids, I think it’s okay to relax a little. I want my kids to eat well, but the reality is that between nut-allergy rules, keeping perishables cold all day, and packing food my kids will actually eat, we’re not going to eat a rainbow of fruits and veggies every single lunchtime. 

So consider this your permission to do what’s best for your family. Focus on plants. Fill your kids up. Let the rest go.

Packing healthy lunches when you’re short on time and out of bread is mind-boggling. Is there such a thing as a lunch without a sandwich? Is it possible for it to be healthy too?

The Healthy Lunch Box: Sandwich-free Secrets to Packing a Real Food Lunch is loaded with strategies to streamline your packing process, stock your pantry with emergency backups for your backups, and send healthy, delicious food in the lunch box, no matter how old your eater is. Read more and start packing healthier, processed-free lunches today.

Guidelines to Help Kids Make a Plant-Based School Lunch

We have a few guidelines that help our kids make sure they’re eating plenty of plants. 

The main lunchtime rule is:

Fill half of your plate or lunchbox with fruits and veggies.

The other half should focus on healthy fats and carbs.

Katie has so many inspiring resources for empowering your kids to eat healthy in the Kids Cook Real Food VIP Facebook Group!

RELATED: You can see Katie’s kids packing their own lunch for more school lunch ideas here.

Personally, I found the simplest way to get my kids to pack their lunches themselves and enjoy eating them the next day is to do this:

1. I lay out a collection of foods that fall into the categories described above. (Fruits, veggies, healthy fats, and healthy carbs – and usually a few compromise foods like pretzels, chips, or tortilla chips.)
2. Then the kids pack their lunches as they see fit.
3. They know the guidelines – half of their box is filled with fruits and veggies. The other half is quality protein, fat, and carbs.

I help the 6-year-old a little more than the older kids. 

Plant-Based School Lunch Ideas Kids Love

Our favorite plant-based school lunches:

• Bean burritos, fruit, veggies
• Fruit, veggies, dip, chips, cheese/hummus
• Hummus sandwich/wrap, fruit, veggies
• PBJ, fruit, veggies, dip
• Cheese crackers fruit, veggies
• Cold quesadillas, fruit, veggies

So to break it down, here are the kinds of foods in those lunches.

Veggies:

• Carrots
• Celery
• Cucumbers
• Cherry tomatoes
• Peppers

Fruit:

• Grapes
• Cantaloupe
• Apple
• Pear
• Oranges
• Berries

Carbs:

• Bread (try easy homemade, sourdough, or whole wheat)
• Tortillas
• Rolls
• Muffins
• Baked oatmeal (zucchini, sneaky veggie, or plain)
• Whole grain quick bread (banana, pumpkin)
• Sweet potato, potatoes (my kids like these cold as leftovers)
• Tortilla Chips
• Crackers

Protein: 

• Beans
• Hummus
• Yogurt
• Cheese
• Green peas (frozen, then thawed in the lunchbox during the day)
• Lentils (on quesadillas, or made into hummus) 

Getting Your Kids to Eat Veggies for Lunch

When my kids pack lunches, we have a further guideline: half your lunchbox should be filled with fruits and veggies, but it can’t all be fruit. ¼ of their lunchbox should have veggies, and another ¼ can be fruit. 

Then I let my kids take ownership of their lunches. 

Some of my kids only like a few veggies in their lunches. That’s okay. They eat a wider variety of veggies for dinners and other meals at home. 

RELATED: Bento boxes make this system super easy. Here’s Katie’s review of the best ones!

For lunch, I focus on veggies they actually like:

• Carrots
• Celery
• Cucumbers
• Cherry tomatoes
• Peppers

And then we add dips:

• Hummus
• Ranch dip

Veggies Coming Home After School?

Sure, my kids leave veggies on their plates and in their lunchboxes. That’s normal. 

But when they come home and are hungry for a snack, we have another simple rule: You need to finish the food in your lunchbox before you can eat anything else.

This helps prevent food waste and ensures they’re eating plenty of veggies!

RELATED: Katie has some tips for when your child is bringing most of their food home.

Plant-Based Lunch Ideas for Kids: Balance and Veggies!

Remember not every meal needs the whole spectrum of nutrients. Rather, you want to eat a rainbow of fruit and veggies throughout your week. 

So when it comes to packed lunches, relax. Give your kids a few guidelines, and use these lunch ideas for kids that focus on fruits and veggies.

Focus on plants. Fill your kids up. And let them take ownership of their lunches. 

The post Plant-Based School Lunch Ideas Kids Can Make appeared first on Kitchen Stewardship | Caring for All Our Gifts.

It was an intense game where all of the kids were playing hard. My son, in particular, was going all out (in typical Active Eater fashion). He pushed himself as hard as he could and scored the final goal to tie the game and finish the season undefeated.

His adrenaline was pumping, and his emotions were running high (as was all the fans’!)

When the game was over he came to me beaming with excitement…quickly followed by a look of almost panic and tears. He looked as if he might pass out.

Being a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner I quickly stepped in and took action.

I had him sit down, reassured him he was fine, and gave him the following:

• water
• juice (thank goodness we brought leftover juice boxes from a party!)
• salty snack

It didn’t take long for his smile and usual demeanor to return.

Why is Hydration Important?

What was happening? And why did that work?

There were two things happening at once.

1. dehydration
2. adrenal exhaustion

My son had played almost the entire second half without a break. Which meant no hydration. On top of that when he did drink it was just plain water. That is a recipe for disaster.

Hydration is important not only when you are active and sweating, but every single day.

Water is actually the most important nutrient in your body! But in order to properly absorb and utilize it, you need minerals.

A water decrease of just 2% can lead to:

• headaches
• anxiety
• irritability
• cramps

If it gets worse, dehydration can lead to:

• heartburn
• back pain
• constipation
• colitis

These are just a few examples to show you how important it is to properly hydrate. Adding minerals to water will also help prevent over-hydration.

Healthy Summer Snack to Support Adrenal Health

But it wasn’t just about the water. My son had a double whammy at his soccer game. Actually, he had trouble every single time he played soccer.

He is in a double exhaustion pattern with very weak adrenals (something I never would have known if I hadn’t done Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis for him!).

After every practice and game, my son had to spend a lot of time resting the next day. Otherwise, we all had to contend with:

• anger
• mood swings
• aggressive behavior
• inability to follow directions

We all felt his adrenal exhaustion!

The sad thing is that so many kids are in the exact same situation as my son. But they don’t know it. And neither do their parents. So they all suffer…while continuing to push through life at a fast pace. Which only compounds the problem.

The goal of Smart Sweets: 30 Desserts to Indulge Your Sweet Tooth is to give you options that are way better for you than you’ll find in the grocery store, usually better for you than another homemade version, and sometimes downright good for you.

You’ll find less sugar, healthier sweeteners, whole grains, soaked and sprouted grains, no grains, probiotics, and even some vegetables in these dessert recipes.

If you always feel guilty when you give into sweet things, this book is definitely for you.

A child in adrenal exhaustion needs a lot of rest and nutritional support. Two minerals in particular control adrenal function:

1. sodium
2. potassium

When I gave my son water, juice, and a salty snack at his soccer game I wasn’t just randomly giving him food and drink. It was very intentional. I was trying to get sodium and potassium in his system quickly.

His gas tank was on E, and he could feel it. Which is why he had a look of panic on his face. When your adrenals crash, you notice it! He could barely even stand up. We knew he was struggling prior to his final game, but that was our wake-up call. He needs serious adrenal support.

Now we are very intentional about giving him plenty of sodium and potassium every day, along with adequate rest (hooray for summer!). Sometimes it’s in the form of a simple adrenal cocktail. But sometimes we go for a really fun snack to support adrenal health.

Healthy Watermelon Slushie Recipe

Watermelon slushies are perfect for summer hydration and adrenal support!

Watermelon is a great source of both potassium and Vitamin C – two important nutrients for adrenal function.

Combine that with coconut water (loaded with potassium) and Real Salt (sodium), and you’ve got the most delicious hydrating drink around.

As an added bonus you don’t even need to add any sweetener! Watermelon’s natural sweetness is sufficient.

Hydrating Watermelon Slushie Recipe

• Author: Mary Voogt, NTP (Contributing Writer)
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 2
• Category: Snack
• Method: Blend
• Diet: Gluten Free

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

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Description

A sweet summer drink for kids that supports both hydration and adrenal health.

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Ingredients

Units USM

• 1 cup cubed watermelon
• 1 cup ice cubes (about 6 large)
• 1/4 cup coconut water
• 1/8 tsp. unrefined sea salt (Use the code kitchenstewardship for 15% off of your first purchase)
• 1/8 tsp. wholefood Vitamin C (acerola)
• 1 Tbsp. grassfed collagen (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. honey (optional – if watermelon is underripe)

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Instructions

1. Add all ingredients to a high-powered blender. Blend until desired consistency (totally smooth for young children, some ice bits remaining for older kids).
2. Pour and serve immediately.

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Notes

• You can freeze the watermelon first to make the slushie thicker.
• If the slushie melts you can pour it into popsicle molds and freeze for a frozen treat.
• The recipe can easily be doubled.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 cup
• Calories: 63
• Sugar: 9g
• Sodium: 173mg
• Fat: 0g
• Saturated Fat: 0g
• Unsaturated Fat: 0g
• Trans Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 12g
• Fiber: 1g
• Protein: 4g
• Cholesterol: 0mg

Keywords: summer snack, smoothie, frozen treat, dessert

Healthy Snacks Kids Can Make

Another positive about watermelon slushies is that kids can make them! No cooking is required. Simply add the ingredients, blend, and pour. My 13-year-old Adventurous Eater was more than happy to make this treat for her siblings. Anything new and fun is a win.

Even if your kids aren’t quite old enough to use the blender, they can still make some healthy and fun snacks that support adrenal health.

Here are a few:

• salted watermelon (sounds odd, tastes amazing)
• sliced banana topped with sun butter and Real Salt
• ants on a log with a pinch of Real Salt
• dates with sliced cheese
• whole-milk yogurt with a drizzle of molasses
• organic corn chips dipped in smashed avocado with a pinch of Real Salt

Easy Summer Hydration for Kids

Hydration is important every day. But you really have to be intentional in the summer when kids are playing outside and sweating more. Sometimes plain water is sufficient. But sometimes you need a mineral boost in your drink in order to absorb fluids. Some simple hydrating drinks for kids include:

• homemade pink lemonade
• homemade electrolyte drink
• salted chocolate milk
• brain-booster milkshake
• iced cocoa

Just remember that sodium and potassium are key when it comes to hydration. You can find more tips on keeping kids hydrated HERE.

Adrenal Function in Kids

Although it’s never fun to learn the hard way, my son is now very aware of how important adrenal health really is. He has seen the data on his HTMA (learn more about this powerful test HERE). He has experienced the fatigue that comes from adrenal exhaustion.

And now he knows how to properly hydrate and support his adrenals. At ten years old he is empowered to take ownership of his health!

Weak adrenals don’t define him. He knows that with proper nutrition (like watermelon slushies) and rest he can get his body back to full strength so he can be the carefree kid he wants to be! And the soccer player he wants to be!!

Enjoying watermelon slushies is a fun way to both support adrenal function and hydrate! Get in the kitchen and let your kids help make some today.

The post Simple Snack Kids Can Make: Hydrating Watermelon Slushie Recipe (No Added Sugar!) appeared first on Kitchen Stewardship | Caring for All Our Gifts.

That phrase turns my head quickly, and my shock factor kicks in.

“You don’t like cooking?” the voice in my head cries.

But…when I analyze my own time in the kitchen, it could be said that I don’t always like cooking, either.

Eating, on the other hand, I love.

Nourishing my family is an obligation in my book, a promise I made to my kids when I signed on for the job of motherhood.

Therefore if A and B are true, then C = thou shalt cook unprocessed foods.

There is simply no other option for me.

I Didn’t Grow Up Cooking Real Food

As I grew into an adult, I filled out countless “about me” forms throughout high school, college, entering the workforce. Under “hobbies” I never once listed “cooking.” Nor baking, or food shopping, or cutting vegetables, or gardening, nor any hobbies that had anything remotely to do with food.

I didn’t participate much in making dinner while I was living at home, although I remember once brazenly attempting a two-layer cake, from scratch, for a cake raffle for my cheer team.

My own dad won the cake…and it was pretty dry and cardboard-like. My mother may have been a good example of real food cooking, but we had some work to do on my technique.

When I finally had my own kitchen in college, I perused “Quick Cooking” magazines all one summer, and I suppose I did start having a little fun with food at that time. It was “cooking” in that it wasn’t really UNprocessed food, just putting together a lot of processed food, but it was a good first step.

As a young married couple with two of us working, we ate Hamburger Helper (cringe-here is my healthy version to substitute) about once a week but also had stir fry with real ingredients regularly and probably ate better than many in our state in life – but still not anywhere close to what I would not call a real food diet and no emphasis on natural or organic foods. We didn’t have the budget or the motivation.

Kids will give you that motivation.

Learning How to Cook With Real Food 

It was when I was expecting my first that I finally started thinking about not just “eating low fat” but about how the foods we were putting in our mouths might nourish and affect our bodies.

We ditched the margarine and turned to butter, started using whole wheat flour, and I began reducing the sugar I added to homemade quick breads.

When my son was born, everything that went into his mouth had to pass muster with my personal nutrition guide. With that tiny body, each bite seemed so important.

I didn’t even consider NOT making my own baby food, and I started buying organic foods for the first time, just for him. Homemade yogurt entered our lives, and since I was mostly staying at home, I had time and energy to figure out more unprocessed, from-scratch cooking.

Since then, it’s been a slippery slope. I can’t even count all the ways in which our diets – and my kitchen – have changed in the last eight years.

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I tell people, “If it comes in a jar, a bottle, or a box, I probably make it myself instead.” 

All our birthday cakes, as you might guess, are also from scratch.

Is Cooking Real Food My Hobby Now?

Even though I blog about real food, create recipes, and teach an online kids’ cooking course, I still feel like I have so much to learn in the kitchen. I sure do get a lot of practice though!

Once you’ve experienced a real food diet and shopping for vegetables in all the colors of the rainbow, there’s just no turning back.

Not only do I notice the “yuck” feeling on a compromise restaurant meal, but reading the ingredients on most processed foods makes me feel almost as sick. I can’t buy them, no matter how tempting convenience sounds. Natural, organic, unprocessed foods are our way of life, and I do feel like it’s an obligation to my family – and an investment in our good health in the long run – that I continue our good eating habits.

That means I will spend much of my time cooking, whether it’s something I enjoy or not.

Might it be my new hobby?

I’ve always loved reading, and I do notice that much of my casual reading, outside of books for a book club or Bible study, end up being about food. When I leave a conversation feeling energized and excited about it, it’s often been about food.

Food and cooking never was a hobby, but it’s taken over my recreation time and becoming part of the hobbies I did use to list on “about me” questionnaires.

I never thought I loved cooking, but I guess it really is “my thing.”

The post Do You Have to Love Cooking to Eat a Real Food Diet? appeared first on Kitchen Stewardship | Caring for All Our Gifts.

I’ve recently enlisted the help of my husband Kris to review a filtered water bottle. He was supposed to go on a big backpacking trip this summer, so I thought that would be the perfect opportunity to test out a GRAYL water bottle purifier. 

Unfortunately, Kris’s trip was postponed due to a huge, once in a hundred years snowstorm in Montana at the end of May. We’re talking feet and feet of snow!

However, there’s weird tasting water all sorts of places! So instead, we took our GRAYL water purifier up to a cabin where the well water has a very, very, very high iron content, and you can really taste it. We also filtered water directly from the lake.

I’ll be back with an update at the end of the summer after Kris goes on his postponed backpacking trip. In the meantime though, here is our GRAYL water filter review after our trip to the lake!

GRAYL Water Bottle Purifier Review

Can’t see the video? Watch our full review of the GRAYL water bottle here on YouTube!

Is the GRAYL Water Purifier Easy to Use?

Yes, it’s pretty easy. It does take a decent amount of strength to get the water filtered, but it’s pretty quick, about eight seconds.

You fill the outer bottle and then you press the filter down on a really hard surface. Kris found that the more you could use your body weight pushing down instead of your muscles the easier it is. 

Does the GRAYL Water Bottle Work to Filter Out Impurities?

From taste alone, we can say that the pond water tasted just like regular normal clean water.

I think the even better test is the well water though. Kris will practically dehydrate himself when we visit this cabin at the lake because he does not like the water. It’s got a pretty strong taste.

We’ve taken our Berkey filter up there in the past, and it worked great. No weird taste.

This time we were able to do a Berkey vs. GRAYL side by side test.

RELATED: Our review of the Berkey water filter.

The two glasses of water were indistinguishable from each other and way, way better than the unfiltered well water.

The GRAYL water purifier has been tested to remove 99.9+% of rotavirus, norovirus, hepatitis A, e. Coli, salmonella, dysentery, giardia, cryptosporidium, amoebae, microplastics, sediment, soil, chlorine, benzene, chloroform, lead, arsenic, and chromium, as well as improving taste, smell, and clarity. 

GRAYL Water Bottle Filter Pros and Cons

There are some definite pros and cons to this kind of filter. We’ll start with some of the cons.

GRAYL Water Filter CONS

It does take a little bit of strength to push down, and it also takes a decent amount of strength to pull the filter out to refill. Of course, if you’re backpacking, you should have some strength already.

Something to watch out for is that the GRAYL sometimes squirts water up when you first set the filter in. It’s well-positioned to hit you in the face. Just keep an eye out and don’t test it over the carpet!

If you wanted to do a lot of water, I can imagine you’re gonna be pretty sore after pressing the filter down 4-5 times in a row.

Why would you need to do that? When backpacking, you can carry a water reservoir and fill it up one bottle of filtered water at a time and then carry around the full reservoir and stop less frequently for water. This leads us to the first pro…

GRAYL Water Filter PROS

We travel as a family and stay in AirBnBs a lot. Sometimes they have funky tasting water, but now we can bring this with us.

The GRAYL can just be Kris’s normal travel water bottle, and then we can filter the water, pour it off into a pitcher, and into the family’s bottles throughout the day.

So that’s a huge benefit. For some other bottles, it is the act of drinking that filters the water so you have to use it as a water bottle and actually suck the water out in order to filter it.

What about hiking with the weight? The GRAYL filter has got some heft to it, and when you’re trying to backpack super light, that can be a negative. However, this is a two-in-one deal, it’s both a water bottle and a filter, which I think is advantageous here.

We actually weighed another pump-style filter Kris was planning on getting which meant he would need to carry another water bottle. The pump plus the extra water bottle actually came out a little bit heavier than the GRAYL. We think the fact that it’s two-in-one makes up for the fact that it’s a little bit heavier.

If you know anything about Kitchen Stewardship^®, you know I don’t like single-use items, whether it’s disposable plastic or just something that you buy for one thing like a yogurt maker. Something that’s 2-for-1 is great in my book!

The GRAYL water purifier is an affordable price for what it does. It was right in the same cost zone as that other pump filter Kris was thinking of getting, plus it doubles as the water bottle.

GRAYL Filter Unboxing

You can watch us unbox the GRAYL filter if you want to see how it’s set up!

Can’t see the video? Watch our GRAYL water bottle unboxing here on YouTube!

Would We Recommend the GRAYL Water Filter?

YES! Judging by the taste, the test data that shows its effectiveness in purifying the water, and how it is a two-in-one filter/water bottle I think it is really neat.

I’m really looking forward to traveling as a family and having this with us. It will be great to not worry about whether the water is filtered or has a weird taste. We have a very sensitive child who will not drink water they don’t like. Huge fans!

So what does it take to have good tasting, clean, safe, filtered water when you’re out in the woods? Take the GRAYL filter and water bottle which also doubles for hotels, AirBnBs, and family members who have gross-tasting well water. 

When you order, make sure you use this link and save 10% on your first order!

TRY OUT GRAYL HERE!

The post GRAYL Water Bottle Filter Review! | What’s the BEST Backpacking Water Purifier appeared first on Kitchen Stewardship | Caring for All Our Gifts.

I’m wagering on brown. (Maybe white. I like to hedge my bets.)

Deep fried chicken. Slimy beef patties. Corn dogs. 

Rolls. Pretzels. Pancakes. Buns.

French fries. Pasta.

Gravy. Chocolate milk.

Brownies. Cookies. “Muffins” that ought be called “cupcakes without frosting.”

Not only is a rainbow on a plate much prettier to look at than a bunch of brown food, but it has a far greater nutrient variety, too.

Don’t just taste the rainbow with a bag of sugary candies…eat the whole rainbow, every day if you can.

It goes way beyond a multivitamin. Here’s why:

Purple Food Health Benefits

Purple foods are rich in anthocyanins, antioxidants that offer protection from UV rays, cancer, and may reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes.¹ Although I still think a mineral based sunscreen is important, some research shows that the food we eat can be a sort of “internal sunscreen” for those summer months!

You can find many vegetables in a “purple version” nowadays, including cauliflower, kohlrabi, potatoes, sweet potatoes, artichokes, Brussels sprouts, and asparagus. You can even get purple rice!²

Some more “standard” purple foods include:

• Blackberries
• Eggplant
• Radicchio
• Cabbage
• Plums
• Grapes
• Onions
• Passionfruit

Green Food Health Benefits

Green foods are rich in:

• Iron
• Calcium
• Potassium
• Folic acid
• Chlorophyll
• Vitamins A, K, C, E and many B vitamins
• Beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which protect our cells from damage and our eyes from age-related problems
• Fiber (leafy greens)³

Beyond the vitamins and minerals, many green foods are prebiotic foods, which means they have probiotic benefits – prebiotics feed the healthy bacteria that you sent through your body in the probiotics foods you know you need to be eating. Vegetables like peas, broccoli, asparagus and artichokes are high in prebiotic nutrition, and all greens can help normalize digestion.⁴

More green fruits and vegetables to incorporate in your diet:

• Lettuce (the darker the better)
• Chard
• Kale
• Celery
• Green beans
• Apples
• Peppers
• Tomatillos
• Brussels sprouts
• Kiwi
• Avocado
• Grapes
• Herbs

Orange and Yellow Food Health Benefits

Orange foods are well known for beta carotene, an antioxidant that helps your eyes, skin, and graceful aging and cognitive health.⁵

Beta carotene is a precursor to Vitamin A, vital to a healthy immune system and more.

The “orange” and “yellow” categories are also usually high in Vitamin C, a heat-sensitive nutrient – so don’t cook everything you munch on. Vitamin C is a powerhouse for the immune system.

Some foods you can find in the orange/yellow category:

• Peppers
• Tomatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Carrots
• Apples
• Oranges
• Lemons
• Persimmons
• Kumquats
• Papaya
• Cantaloupe
• Squashes and pumpkins
• Bananas
• Peaches

Red Health Food Benefits

Red foods are rich in lycopene, a powerhouse of heart healthy foods. Lycopene is thought to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, macular degeneration, and cancer, especially prostate, although it’s possible something else in tomatoes is the real help. So eat tomatoes! Plain and simple.^{6, 7}

Lycopene increases when tomatoes are cooked, interestingly, one of the few times that cooking actually increases nutrition rather than decreasing, so when tomatoes are pale and tasteless in the store most of the year, don’t hesitate one second to use canned tomato products.⁸ (Look for BPA-free cans or Thrive Market.) 

Other red fruits and vegetables:

• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Apples
• Cherries
• Pomegranate
• Grapefruit
• Beets 
• Watermelon
• Cranberries
• Red onions
• Potatoes
• Peppers

Blue Food Health Benefits

Like the purples, blue foods have lots of anthocyanins. Unfortunately, blue and purple together only make up about 3% of the average Americans fruit and veggie intake combined, so this is a good category to set goals in. Here’s how anthocyanins keep you healthy:

• • fight free radicals (cancer)
  • reduce inflammation
  • reduced risk of high blood pressure
  • may increase HDL cholesterol (the good one)⁹

Blueberries are the most common blue food, but you may be able to find blue corn or potatoes. Other blue foods like some blue mushrooms and edible flowers are harder to source. 

Can Kids Cooking Help them Eat the Rainbow?

We know that getting kids to eat a wide variety of fruits and veggies sometimes seems like an uphill battle. 

In my book, knowledge is power in two ways for parents:

1. Some kids are science geeks like me, and they’d love to hear about the “super powers” each color has and how it helps different parts of their body stay healthy. 
2. Knowing HOW to cook really does help kids be more open to trying new foods and increasing their variety.

RELATED: Strategies for solving picky eating, including teaching your child to cook!

It’s a powerful one-two punch against picky eating when kids know about their food AND how to prepare it. 

You can teach nutrition nuggets differently to kids at different ages. For example, you might tell a preschooler that red foods are good for their heart, help them feel their heartbeat with their hand, and talk about Valentine’s day hearts that are red to help them remember. 

Elementary kids can easily be taught that yellows and oranges have Vitamin C which gives their bodies fuel to stay healthy in the winter. 

A middle schooler is ready to hear things like, “Blue and purple foods have antioxidants which help our bodies fight cancer and all sorts of other disease,” and high schoolers can really dig in to deeper knowledge.

Couple that with knife skills that allow kids to cut up and enjoy produce they choose and the impact ownership of their meals has, and you’re on your way to banishing picky eating battles and raising kids who appreciate both the delicious and nutritious aspects of eating the rainbow, joyfully. 

Choosing Your Rainbow of Foods

Remember that the deeper the color, the higher level of nutrients the food has, whether fruit or vegetable (one reason you might choose spinach over iceberg lettuce).

You’ll want to balance out your plate with some probiotic foods and healthy fats, and you’re well on your way to a rainbow of good health. Here are some more ideas to balance healthy food in your lunches this fall.

What we don’t know about how phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals work in our bodies and how we interact with our food is actually a much greater body of knowledge than what we do understand. That’s why supplements that pull out specific “wonder nutrients” often fall flat when it comes to results.

Go with nature. Eat whole foods. Eat pretty – enjoy the rainbow!

Footnotes:

1. Sessoms, G, (n.d.). Purple Foods List. Retrieved from https://www.livestrong.com/article/246263-purple-foods-list/
2. Helm, J. (2013, May 27). The Year of Purple: Purple Produce Gains Recognition From Chefs, Scientists and Supermarkets. Retrieved from https://www.nutritionunplugged.com/2013/05/the-year-of-purple-purple-produce-gains-recognition-from-chefs-scientists-and-supermarkets/
3. Dolson, L. (2020, March 24). Health Benefits of Dark Green Vegetables. Retrieved from http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarbsuperfoods/a/greensnutrition.htm
4. Busch, D. (n.d.). Which Vegetables Are Prebiotics? Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_7911588_vegetables-prebiotics.html#ixzz2aXU5A5hH
5. Stines, Y. (2008, December 1). Health benefits of yellow fruits and vegetables. Retrieved from http://www.sheknows.com/health-and-wellness/articles/806854/health-benefits-of-yellow-fruits-and-vegetables
6. Story, E. N., Kopec, R. E., Schwartz, S. J., & Harris, G. K. (2010). An update on the health effects of tomato lycopene. Annual review of food science and technology, 1, 189–210. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.food.102308.124120
7. Godman, H. (2012, October 10). Lycopene-rich tomatoes linked to lower stroke risk. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/lycopene-rich-tomatoes-linked-to-lower-stroke-risk-201210105400
8. Consumer Reports. (2009, September 4). Q&A: Lycopene in cooked tomatoes? Retrieved from https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2009/09/q-a-lycopene-in-cooked-tomatoes/index.htm
9. Eating Well. (2009, August 17). Blue and Purple Foods for Better Health. Retrieved from http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/nutrition_news_information/blue_and_purple_foods_for_better_health

The post Need Healthy Food for Kids at Lunch? Eat the Rainbow appeared first on Kitchen Stewardship | Caring for All Our Gifts.

It’s one of those desserts/breakfasts/snacks/whatever that tastes exactly like my childhood. We always made banana bread. Not only was it perfect for our tight budget (no food waste here!), but it was a tasty treat for me and my brothers and sisters. 

As we grew up, we learned how to substitute the white flour for whole-grain flour. As a mother of kids with food allergies, I learned how to make our favorite banana bread dairy-free, low-gluten, and egg-free.

I even learned how to substitute the sweetener for something more nourishing. And the best part is that it still tastes like the banana bread of my childhood.

Whether you’re trying to eat more whole grains or just trying to get better quality food into your family’s body, we have got to talk about spelt flour and this spelt banana bread recipe.

This spelt banana bread recipe is:

• Whole grains
• Ancient grains
• Low-gluten
• Dairy-free options
• Egg-free options
• Naturally-sweetened (with maple syrup or honey)
• One-bowl
• No food waste (as all good banana bread recipes should be)
• Easy! Even your kids can make it.

What is Spelt Flour?

Spelt grain is an ancient form of wheat. It was around long before our modern versions of wheat grains were developed. It’s low-gluten and tastes and acts very similar to whole wheat flour in recipes.

This was great news, because as a member of the wheat family, spelt can be substituted for wheat flour and acts a lot like whole wheat in bread recipes. Since it’s low-gluten, it doesn’t rise as high as wheat or white flour. However, it’s delicious and we love it.

It works perfectly for this low-gluten spelt banana bread.

Is Spelt Gluten-Free?

Since it’s part of the wheat family, it is not completely gluten-free. However, it is low-gluten. This means that if you are simply gluten-intolerant (not celiac), you may be able to stomach spelt flour.

When my kids were gluten-free, we eventually tried spelt flour and found that they could eat it no problem! Whole wheat banana bread was back on the menu!

RELATED: 7 beginner gluten-free survival tips!

Can You Substitute Spelt Flour for Plain Flour?

If you are gluten-intolerant, Spelt flour is an ideal substitute for wheat flour. You can substitute it cup for cup with wheat flour in most recipes. However, if you are baking yeast bread, it will not rise as high and it will be more crumbly.

This is because spelt is very low-gluten. If you’re not gluten-intolerant, you can substitute up to half of your white flour with spelt flour and make a very decent batch of whole wheat bread.

We found that when our kids were gluten-intolerant, we could make an all spelt loaf of bread, and it turned out great. Since gluten-free alternatives were more complicated or expensive, we were totally happy with the results of a simple loaf of spelt bread.

Spelt flour gave us whole wheat banana bread and anything else we wanted to bake, we didn’t have to adjust our favorite recipes.

Healthy Banana Bread with Spelt Flour

This spelt banana bread recipe is simple to make, delicious, and has an almost identical texture to any normal whole wheat banana bread recipe. However, with the spelt flour, it is low-gluten, loaded with fiber, and easier on our stomachs.

Butter or Oil

To make this banana bread, we use real butter instead of oil. If you’re dairy-free feel free to substitute the butter with avocado oil, grapeseed oil, or melted dairy-free chocolate cake recipe! It’s perfect in there).

RELATED: Tips for going dairy free with kids!

Egg-Free Options

If you’re egg-free, use flax eggs or chia eggs instead of the eggs called for here.

Naturally Sweetened

Finally, we sweeten our spelt banana bread recipe with maple syrup or honey. Honey is roughly twice as sweet as maple syrup, so if you want a sweeter bread, use honey. However, we use maple syrup all the time (because it’s cheaper for us), and it’s plenty sweet.

If you don’t have maple syrup or honey, use any kind of granulated sweetener, like turbinado or sucanat. I’ll share instructions for substituting for those in the recipe notes.

RELATED: Get all the info on using natural sweeteners here!

The goal of Smart Sweets: 30 Desserts to Indulge Your Sweet Tooth is to give you options that are way better for you than you’ll find in the grocery store, usually better for you than another homemade version, and sometimes downright good for you.

You’ll find less sugar, healthier sweeteners, whole grains, soaked and sprouted grains, no grains, probiotics, and even some vegetables in these dessert recipes.

If you always feel guilty when you give into sweet things, this book is definitely for you.

Healthy Whole Wheat Banana Bread Recipe

Because spelt is still part of the wheat family, this is still a “whole wheat” banana bread recipe – it’s just low-gluten, easier on our stomachs, and still delicious!

For us, we found that the most effective way to afford whole grains that also tasted really good was to get a flour grinder. This takes all kinds of wheat (or spelt) “berries” (the individual grains) and grinds them into flour right in your kitchen.

You can buy the wheat berries in bulk, store them for long periods of time, and grind them whenever you need to bake something. This ensures you not only save money, but that you bake with really fresh, delicious, and nutritious grains.

Our Wondermill has saved us so much money over the years. Katie loves and uses a Mockmill. 

RELATED: See a Wondermill and Nutrimill go head to head!

To save time, I usually grind large amounts of flour ahead of time and stash it in the freezer so it’s easy to use when I want to bake.

Spelt Banana Bread Recipe Kids Love

My kids love this recipe. It’s easy enough that they can make it themselves, and we can bake it loaf pans, cake pans, and muffin tins.

This is really good news if we are doubling or tripling (or even quadrupling!) the batch in order to stash some in the freezer for easy breakfasts and snacks.

Whole Wheat Spelt Banana Bread Recipe

• Author: Steph Jenkins
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour
• Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
• Yield: 9 servings
• Category: Breakfast
• Method: Baked

Print Recipe

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Description

This whole wheat banana bread recipe is easy to make, delicious and easy on your stomach.

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Ingredients

Units USM

• 3 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
• 2 eggs (or flax or chia eggs)
• 1/2 cup oil or melted butter (coconut oil and palm shortening work great)
• 1 1/2 cups whole grain spelt flour (white, whole wheat or sprouted flour works here too)
• 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup, (or 1 cup sugar)
• 1/4 tsp. salt (Use the code kitchenstewardship for 15% off of your first purchase)
• 1 tsp. baking soda

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Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium­-sized bowl, stirring well.
2. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.
3. If using granulated sweetener, bake at 350 F for 1 hour, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean. If using liquid sweetener, bake at 325 F for 1 hour and 20 minutes, checking after 1 hour.
4. Allow to cool thoroughly before serving (trust me – it tastes best this way!).

Notes

You can substitute up to half the oil for applesauce!

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 slice
• Calories: 217
• Sugar: 20g
• Sodium: 293mg
• Fat: 11g
• Saturated Fat: 7g
• Unsaturated Fat: 4g
• Trans Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 28g
• Fiber: 2g
• Protein: 2g
• Cholesterol: 63mg

Keywords: comfort food, snack recipe, quick bread

If you’re gluten-intolerant, or simply trying to eat better quality whole grains, try this 100% spelt banana bread recipe! It’s easy, delicious, and your family will love it!

The post Whole Wheat Spelt Banana Bread Recipe | Low-Gluten, Egg-Free, and Dairy-Free Options! appeared first on Kitchen Stewardship | Caring for All Our Gifts.