Category Archives: Recipes for Traditional Foods

Autism and Vaccination Choice, Children's Health, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Recipes for Traditional Foods

Chicken Tea and other Fun Nutrient-Dense Foods for Picky Eaters

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I manned the Weston A. Price Foundation booth at the Autism One Conference 2011 from May 26-29th. Over 2500 people from all over the world attended this year as the conference offered free admission. This was a blessing to families who are trying to find real answers for reversing autism. As I spoke to moms and dads, our message, as was the message of the entire conference–was one of great hope–that autism is a medical condition and can be reversed!! Yes–these children are “canaries in the mine” and are teaching us what must change. This IS, as is the mission of Autism One–GENERATION RESCUE! The uncontrolled greed that has shaped policy from the top down–is changing from the bottom up–from the inside-out–one person at a time. The truth will prevail.

Autism is most often now understood as being caused by an inflammation of the brain from a toxic overload from factors such as heavy metal toxicity (especially mercury), from the toxicity due to the huge increase in the numbers of vaccines that children receive, from other environmental toxins and from poor digestion, candida overgrowth and a weakened immune system. When the gut is damaged and inflamed, inflammatory chemicals can break down the blood-brain barrier and cause inflammation in the brain. Inflammation of the brain–also called encephalitis–can cause many of the symptoms of autism. Additionally, when the blood-brain barrier is damaged,  toxins that affect brain function can circulate more easily.

Nutrient-dense, easy-to-digest foods are proving to be one of the most powerful dietary partners in reversing autism. They have superior ability to heal the gut and inflammation, enable the body to detoxify, provide exceptional nutrition and therefore have the greatest ability to heal the brain. A colleague who helps to publish the Autism File Global magazine told me that she and her husband had spent $150,000 on treatments for their son, and it wasn’t until they focused on a diet of nutrient-dense foods that he recovered from autism!

However, many children with autism are very picky eaters. I heard that message over and over at the conference. In the book “Gut and Psychology Syndrome,” Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride discusses the necessity of introducing new foods very slowly and that changing a child’s eating habits IS challenging–but not impossible. Moms and dads ARE creative–“Where there is a will–there is a way!”

One of the most powerful gut and inflammation-healing foods to first incorporate is old-fashioned bone-broth. Bone broth can be made into soups, be used as a liquid for cooking vegetables, reduced as a delicious sauce over meats and can be a fantastic beverage. It was one of the primary foods I consumed in my own healing of a life-threatening digestive disorder, and have continued to eat daily for over 10 years. It is a food from which everyone can benefit.

For example, to incorporate bone broth, Ginger Taylor, a contributing author of the new book “Vaccine Epidemic,” told me that  her son loved tea parties! Now–who doesn’t love tea parties? So Ginger said she introduced bone broth by having a tea party with chicken tea–what fun! Now her son loves chicken tea! Most importantly, her son will begin to have the benefit of one of the most powerful foods for healing the gut and over time, every nutrient-dense food that replaces a nutrient-poor food will aid in recovery.

Another mom told me her son loves meatballs. Well–you can hide a lot of nutrient-dense foods in meatballs. She makes them with beef from pastured cows,  pastured egg yolks and spices and now plans to add little bits of pastured liver to her recipe. She also will serve them with a sauce made with reduced bone broth.

Adding raw egg yolks from pastured chickens to smoothies made with coconut milk and fruit is another delicious way to add nutrient-density to your child’s diet. Served in fancy tea cups would make it even more fun.

Here is a great recipe for chicken bone broth.

BONE BROTH—CHICKEN

Large crock pot or stock pot

2 large organic-free-range chickens, preferably from pastured chickens, cut up in small pieces

4 chicken feet (optional)

filtered water

3T. vinegar

2 large onions—chopped (optional)

6 stalks of celery, chopped (optional)

6 carrots—sliced thin (optional)

4 cloves of garlic—diced (optional)

2 T. ginger—diced (optional)

Celtic sea salt to taste

Place chickens, vinegar, optional chicken feet, onions, celery and garlic in the stock or crock pot. Let chicken and vegetables come to a boil then turn to simmer. If using crock pot, no need to change temperature. When meat is done, take meat off bones and place bones and skin back in pot. Put meat in refrigerator and use later for making soup or in other recipes (ie. chicken salad). Continue to simmer bones, vegetables and broth for 8-12 hours. Strain the broth. Add Celtic sea salt to taste. Use broth for soups, sauces or as a beverage. Broth can be refrigerated or frozen for later use.  Reheat broth on stove —DO NOT MICROWAVE!!

As you find new ways to help your child heal, you will join a community that is working together to find real answers. Let nutrient-dense foods become your close ally in your path to recovery!

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Recipes for Traditional Foods

New Blog Covering the 773 Recipes in Sally Fallon’s Book, Nourishing Traditions, a la Julia & Julia Style

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There is no cookbook in the world that can match the best-selling book by the legendary Sally Fallon, the co-author of my book, Performance without Pain and the founder of the Weston A. Price Foundation. Besides teaching people how to cook fantastic nutrient-dense, traditional foods from all over the world, this book has literally saved the lives of thousands of people through educating them on building health with REAL FOOD based on the infallible work of Dr. Weston A. Price. It is packed with information about nutrition that is so magnetic that you cannot put the book down! When you start reading it, you find yourself still reading at 1:00 AM thinking–this is a cookbook! But this cookbook helped to save my life.

Nourishing Traditions and the real food movement that has grown from it, in itself has begun to turn around the terrible incorrect modern high-fiber/low-fat dictates that have plagued our society since the dawn of industrial farming and the processed food industry. It is helping to change a food supply that has become so corrupted that it is causing epidemics of dietary-caused illnesses in people that have never been seen before. It is the basis of what needs to happen to bring an end to a broken, profit-driven food industry that has no true regard for your health.

In celebration of Sally’s work, Kim Knoch, a mom of teenage twin girls and wife to a picky eater husband, is going to cook all 773 recipes in Sally’s book before 12/31/2011! She states in her note to Weston A. Price chapter leaders that “I am having some challenges switching my family over to the ‘real food,’ Weston A. Price Foundation lifestyle, but we are doing it one step at a time. My blog is about the ‘real face’ of switching over to real food and replacing bad habits with good ones.

Her blog is called The Nourishing Cook. Please share in the celebration of the best cookbook ever written by following this blog.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Cholesterol, Traditional Fats and Your Health, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Inflammation and Healing Diet, Mood Disorders and Diet, Recipes for Traditional Foods

Interesting Article on Butter

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As you know from my blog by now–raw butter from grass-fed cows is an amazing nutrient-dense food. It is one of the foods that saved my life. It helped to heal my gut and gave me the important saturated fat I needed to be able to absorb the nutrients in my food. Dr. Weston A. Price found that healthy cultures ate plenty of traditional saturated fats–raw butter being extremely common, especially for the people in the Swiss Alps. In fact, raw butter in the spring time was considered a sacred food! Below is an interesting article I received about butter.

Pass The Butter … Please.

This is interesting …

Margarine  was originally manufactured to fatten  turkeys.  When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put  all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their  heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get  their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal  so they added the yellow colouring and sold it to people to use in place of butter.  How do you like it?   They have come out  with some clever new flavourings….

DO  YOU KNOW.. The difference between margarine and butter?

  • Both  have the same amount of calories.
  • Butter  is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8  grams; compared   to 5 grams for margarine.
  • Eating margarine can increase  heart disease in women by  53%  over  eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent  Harvard  Medical Study.
  • Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in  other foods.
  • Butter  has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and
  • only  because  they are added!
  • Butter  tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavours of  other foods.
  • Butter  has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years .

And now, for Margarine..

  • Very High in Trans fatty acids.
  • Triples risk of coronary heart disease …
  • Increases  total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and  lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)
  • Increases  the risk of cancers up to five times..
  • Lowers  quality of breast milk.
  • Decreases immune response.
  • Decreases  insulin response.

And  here’s the most disturbing fact….

  • Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away  from being PLASTIC… and shares 27 ingredients with PAINT
  • These facts alone should have you avoiding margarine for life  and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is  added,  changing the molecular structure of the  substance).

You  can try this yourself:

Purchase  a tub of margarine and leave it open in your garage or shaded  area.  Within a couple of days you will notice a couple of things:

  • no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it  (that should tell you something)
  • it does not rot or smell differently because it has  no nutritional value ; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny  microorganisms will not a find a home to grow.  Why?   Because it is nearly plastic .  Would you melt your Tupperware and  spread that  on your toast?

Share  This With Your Friends…..(If you want to “butter them up”)!

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Recipes for Traditional Foods

Homemade gluten-free crackers made from nuts

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This is a terrific recipe for homemade nut crackers that is packed with nutrients and can be a nutrient-dense substitute for regular crackers. For even more nutrients, serve with homemade liver pate or seasoned cream cheese and caviar.

NON-GLUTEN NUT CRACKERS

Makes 16-20

2  1/2 cups raw walnuts, almonds or pecans
2 tablespoons Celtic sea salt
1 small onion, coarsely chopped (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh minced rosemary, thyme or garlic (optional)
2 teaspoons raw red wine or cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey (optional)
1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt (see Sources)

Soak almonds or walnuts overnight in filtered water mixed with 2 tablespoons Celtic sea salt. Drain in a colander. Place in a food processor along with or without optional remaining ingredients. Process to form a coarse paste. Spread mixture onto as thin as possible onto cookie sheets lined with buttered parchment paper. Place another sheet of parchment paper over paste and roll with a rolling pin. Press in cutting lines before drying. Dehydrate in a warm oven (preferably at 150 degrees) for 12-24 hours until completely dry. Adopted from Recipes for Life by Becky Mauldin.

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see our book, Performance without Pain and our e-book on healing acid-reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Recipes for Traditional Foods

Maximizing the nutrient value of nuts, grains and beans

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Although nuts, seeds, grains and beans are not considered nutrient-dense foods, careful preparation can improve their digestibility and nutrient availability. Historically, people worldwide took careful steps to prepare these difficult-to-digest foods as they all contain anti-nutrients and enzyme inhibitors.

Soaking grains and beans in acidulated water overnight–that is water with yogurt, kefir, vinegar or lemon juice–will prepare them for easier digestion. As an example, if you are serving oatmeal to your family in the morning, the night before, slightly warm the water required for the recipe in a pan and stir in some yogurt and the dry oatmeal and cover. Place the pan on top of your refrigerator. The next morning cook as usual. Make sure you add lots of butter or cream when serving as this will also greatly enhance the nutrient value. If you are preparing beans, cover them with warm water and stir in some yogurt or vinegar and let them soak for at least 12 hours, drain and cover again with water and cook as usual. Always serve beans with a meat and a fat so that your meal is nutrient-dense.

For nuts, you will want to make sure you start with “raw.” Unfortunately, except for pecans and walnuts, it is difficult to find truly raw nuts in the health food store. For peanuts and almonds, you will have to look online. Here’s a website that offers high quality organically grown raw nuts.

http://www.livingtreecommunity.com/store2/products.asp?catid=17&gclid=CMzfreyipp4CFQjyDAod5x66nQ

To prepare 1 pound of nuts, simply cover them with water and add 1 tablespoon of Celtic Sea salt and let them soak for about 8 hours. Drain and dehydrate in a dehydrator or place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper on the lowest setting in your oven for about 12 hours or until crispy.

Taking the time to prepare nuts, grains and beans will make them a wonderful addition to a nutrient-dense diet.

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense, traditional foods, see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Recipes for Traditional Foods

Making Your Holiday Dinner Nutrient-Dense

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With a few adjustments to the Thanksgiving feast, you can make your dinner even more nutrient-dense. I like to think of meal planning from the perspective of what foods were available before the industrialization of the food supply and do everything possible to obtain these types of foods for my family. Although they are more expensive, they are also more filling and nourishing and their health benefits are far reaching. When you “Put your money where your mouth is,” you are helping to insure your family’s good health. Remember–“Your health is your wealth!”

Here are some guidelines:

  • Try to obtain a pastured turkey from a farm co-op as this meat is far superior to even an organic turkey and often no more expensive. The beauty of buying a wonderful pastured turkey is that the leftovers taste fresh for a long time as the fats in the meat do not go rancid as with commercial birds.
  • Serve nutrient-dense butter–Raw butter from your co-op is best or Whole Foods has  high quality butter.
  • Use whole milk–preferably raw-pastured or unhomegenized, organic– and pastured butter for your mashed potatoes
  • Serve your organic vegetables with lots of butter
  • Make your own cranberry sauce–I posted a wonderful lacto-fermented cranberry chutney several days ago–see  http://performancewithoutpain.com/2009/11/21/great-holiday-recipe-for-traditionally-fermented-cranberry-chutney/
  • Make your own pumpkin pie with high-quality organic ingredients

Your wonderful turkey has more gifts to offer as you can use the carcass to make a fantastic nutrient-dense bone broth soup. Cover the bones, fat and skin with water and put in a few tablespoons of vinegar. Simmer for about 12 hours and strain.  You will have a beautiful broth for a marvelous soup that you can freeze.

For more information on a healing diet and building optimal health with traditional, nutrient-dense diet foods, see http://performancewithoutpain.com

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Fermented Foods and Digestion, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Recipes for Traditional Foods

Great Holiday Recipe for Traditionally Fermented Cranberry Chutney

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Historically, traditional lacto-fermented foods were a mainstay of people’s diets worldwide before refrigeration. The lacto-fermentation process was very important in preserving foods. There were countless recipes from all cultures that created a wide array of delicious condiments like sauerkraut, pickles, pickled beets, kimchee and chutneys–and beverages like beet kvass, kombucha, kefir and ginger ale. Consuming these foods will help to maintain good digestion as they are high in enzymes and and probiotics. Sadly, when we buy these foods from most grocery stores today, they are pasteurized and will lack the wonderful health-building components.

Here’s a wonderful holiday recipe for a traditionally fermented cranberry chutney.

Lacto-fermented cranberry chutney

* 3 cups of cranberries
* 1/2 cup of nuts (pecans was suggested in the recipe I found, we used hazelnuts)
* 1/2 cup of rapadura
* 2 teaspoons of salt
* 1/2 cup of whey (easy whey can be made by draining 2 cups of plain organic yogurt through a smooth dish towel or cheesecloth-the drained liquid is the whey)
* 1/2 cup of prune juice or other juice (I used apple juice)
* 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon of cloves
* juice from 1 orange
* juice from 1 lemon
* 1/2 cup of raisins (optional–I like the chutney without raisins better)

Pulse all, except raisins, in food processor. Stir in raisins. Place ingredients in a 1 quart glass jar. Leave 1 inch room at the top of jar. Cover. Ferment 48 hours, then refrigerate. Serve with meat or poultry.

Usually the fruit ferments are good for 1-2 months. My chutney is still excellent after one year!!

For more information on healing and building health with traditional foods, see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Cholesterol, Traditional Fats and Your Health, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Recipes for Traditional Foods

If you want to avoid butter–use cream! Julia Childs

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I hope you all got a chance to see the fantastic movie “Julie and Julia.” Although this movie is not about health, it teaches us, through Julia Child’s passion to learn and share the timeless art of French cooking, that wonderful food has wonderful whole food ingredients–including butter and cream. And that slow food is worth preparing–and of course–eating!

Butter and cream were never avoided for thousands of years. Heart disease was almost never heard of before 1920. In fact, in the 1920’s a machine was developed that would test a person’s heart health. This invention was considered fairly useless!

It was only with the industrialization of food and the corn feeding of livestock, that there was a push to make a profit with vegetable oils and demonize traditional fats. Thus the Framingham study was launched, which tried to determine that as cholesterol levels rose, there was a higher incidence in heart disease. Unfortunately, the study results were tainted, and  if read accurately, didn’t show any change in heart disease rate with higher cholesterol. Since then, billions of dollars have been put into more flawed research to try to eek out a positive result that cholesterol is the culprit! It is only when trans-fats are used that there is a rise in heart disease–wonder of wonders!!! What are trans-fats made of?—-vegetable oil!

So enjoy butter and cream–it’s good for you–especially if it comes from pastured animals!! As we move back to nutrient-dense, traditional foods to heal and nourish our bodies and souls, let us look to the past–to those who have shown us how a passion for these foods can fill our lives with zest and sparkle–a true sign that we are well and whole and that we will have the nutritional ingredients for a life well-lived as we fulfill our dreams.

For more information on a healing diet and nutrient-dense foods, see www.performancewithoutpain.com or our new ebook on acid reflux diet.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Acid Reflux Healing, Allergies, Digestion and Healing Diet, Bone Broth Soups, Breast Health and Cancer Prevention, Digestive Disorders and Healing Diet, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Inflammation and Healing Diet, Mood Disorders and Diet, Performing Artist's Health, Recipes for Traditional Foods

Bone Broth Soup–A great recipe for one of the best foods in the world

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Regularly eating bone broth soup has many wonderful health benefits. There is an old Latin saying, “Good broth raises the dead.” So what are the magical attributes to this slow food that have given it such an honor?

Bone broth is one of the easiest foods to digest. It is loaded with a wide array of easy-to-assimilate critical nutrients like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, cartilage, marrow, amino acids and vitamins. The cartilage in broth will help you heal your own cartilage. Bone broths are also rich in gelatin, which can aid digestion and help to heal the intestinal tract.

In today’s world where everyone seems to have calcium and other nutrient deficiencies, good old-fashioned bone broth is the form of these nutrients that we can best utilize.

Bone broth can be made from chicken, fish or beef bones (for beef and chicken, pastured is best–free-range, organic is next best. For fish–wild-caught.) The most important thing is to add a little vinegar or wine to the water when simmering the bones as it pulls  the nutrients out of the bones and into the broth. Here is a wonderful bone broth soup recipe made from beef bones.

Rich Beef and Vegetable Bone Broth Soup

1 oxtail
1 knuckle bone
several marrow bones
several soup bones
2 T. vinegar
1-2 lb. stew meat
2 -3 large onions-chopped
4 large carrots-sliced
4 large beets-sliced
1/4 lb. Swiss chard-chopped
1 large bunch of parsley-chopped
other vegetables of your choice
2 cups dry red wine
filtered water to cover bones
Celtic Sea Salt to taste

In a large stock pot or crock pot, take the bones and cover them with water and put in the vinegar. Cover the pot and let the water come to a boil. Turn to simmer. When the meat from the soup bones and oxtail is cooked, take the meat off these bones and set aside in the refrigerator. Put bones back into same pot and continue simmering for about 24-36 hours!! (This is how you get nutrient-rich broth.) You may have to add water from time to time. After 24-36 hours, strain the broth and skim off the fat. Add the wine, meat from the bones, stew meat and vegetables. Simmer for about 2 hours. Salt to taste. (For easy lunches take a thermos of soup! Never heat in the microwave–it destroys the nutrients.)

For more information on a healing diet and nutrient-dense foods, see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in health,

Kathyrne Pirtle