I do not consider myself an organized person and I am horrible at getting all my cleaning done. I am an ENFP on the Myer Brygg's and, for those of you who are familiar with the Myer Brygg's, you'll know that I am great at abtract thought and am constantly coming up with new ideas and will always be ready for an analytical conversation with a friend. But, tell me I need to get A...B... and C chores done and it will take me forever. ;-) Now that we are doing the GAPS diet and 75% of my day is spent cooking or taking care of my kids, I have even less time to get things clean.
So, about a year ago, to keep up with the stress of chores and getting organized I went in search of a way to making this cleaning business easier for me because I wasn't doing such a great job on my own. What I found was great and it tailors to the disorganized folk like me! I found the Fly Lady and she has helped me tons with decluttering and organizing my home so that there are less chores to do and I can stay on top of it.
She has cleaning plans and monthly deep cleaning sections of the house. This way the job never gets too crazy! What I like most of all is that if you have a cozi calendar, you can download her monthly cleaning schedule right into your cozi calendar. And since I can get a cozi calendar app for my Android phone, I have the schedule right at my finger tips whenever I want it. It is great. I was also able to download her morning and evening routines and her zone lists to the "to do" section of my cozi calendar. So all I have to do is go to that section of my calendar every morning and check off the items as I do them. It's great! And it makes my life so simple. And best yet....it is all free!
Let me know if you guys use anything else aside from the Fly Lady or if you have good stories to share about your experience with Fly Lady.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Polish Sausage and Saurkraut-GAPS Approved
This recipe is a family favorite! I come from a Polish/German family and growing up polish sausage and sauerkraut was a staple. And now that I have a family of my own, it has become a staple as well. So when we decided to do the GAPS Diet, I quickly set out to find a way to continue making this dish for my family. Below is my rendition of polish sausage and sauerkraut.
Polish Sausage and Sauerkraut
A couple links of Polish Sausage *
1 half gallon container of Homemade Sauerkraut
2 onions, chopped
2T of Lard
Any other GAPS approved vegetable to eat with this meal.
Cut the Polish Sausage up into individual portions. Place in a pot and fill the pot with filtered water, enough to cover polish sausage. I usually boil the sausage for an hour to give the water good flavor.
Melt lard in a frying pan (for recommendations on which pans to use, click here.) When lard is melted, place onions in pan and slowly cook. Burner should be set to medium. You want to caramelize these onions, so stir contiguously until soft and caramel in color. You can add a little salt to bring out the natural sweetness of the onions. Once done, ladle about 3 ladles full of the polish sausage broth into the frying pan and stir it with onions. Let sit until onions mixture is warm, but not hot**. Place sauerkraut in the frying pan and mix with onions and broth. I usually let it sit for about 20 minutes for the flavors to meld. Serve with sauerkraut with polish sausage and whatever vegetable you would prefer to eat your meal with. We will often saute up some broccoli with garlic and lard. Its super tasty.
* Make sure you buy your sausage from a reputable source or make it yourself. It needs to be sugar and nitrate free. We buy ours from a small polish market that sources all of their products from an Amish farm. The name of the store is Calma Optimal.
**The reason you want your onion and broth to cool down before adding the sauerkraut is because you do not want to kill all the good bacteria you worked so hard to make in the sauerkraut. The way I look at is, if I spent four weeks making that sauerkraut, I want to know that I can eat my polish sausage and sauerkraut with all the good bacteria still present.
Let me know if you tried this recipe and what you thought! Or if you make anything similar, please share. I would love to hear your ideas!
Polish Sausage and Sauerkraut
A couple links of Polish Sausage *
1 half gallon container of Homemade Sauerkraut
2 onions, chopped
2T of Lard
Any other GAPS approved vegetable to eat with this meal.
Cut the Polish Sausage up into individual portions. Place in a pot and fill the pot with filtered water, enough to cover polish sausage. I usually boil the sausage for an hour to give the water good flavor.
Melt lard in a frying pan (for recommendations on which pans to use, click here.) When lard is melted, place onions in pan and slowly cook. Burner should be set to medium. You want to caramelize these onions, so stir contiguously until soft and caramel in color. You can add a little salt to bring out the natural sweetness of the onions. Once done, ladle about 3 ladles full of the polish sausage broth into the frying pan and stir it with onions. Let sit until onions mixture is warm, but not hot**. Place sauerkraut in the frying pan and mix with onions and broth. I usually let it sit for about 20 minutes for the flavors to meld. Serve with sauerkraut with polish sausage and whatever vegetable you would prefer to eat your meal with. We will often saute up some broccoli with garlic and lard. Its super tasty.
* Make sure you buy your sausage from a reputable source or make it yourself. It needs to be sugar and nitrate free. We buy ours from a small polish market that sources all of their products from an Amish farm. The name of the store is Calma Optimal.
**The reason you want your onion and broth to cool down before adding the sauerkraut is because you do not want to kill all the good bacteria you worked so hard to make in the sauerkraut. The way I look at is, if I spent four weeks making that sauerkraut, I want to know that I can eat my polish sausage and sauerkraut with all the good bacteria still present.
Let me know if you tried this recipe and what you thought! Or if you make anything similar, please share. I would love to hear your ideas!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Making Homemade Yogurt
Nothing is better than homemade yogurt. It is super creamy and full of lots of good bacteria! There are many recipes out there, but I like to keep things simple. Below you will find my simple recipe for making yogurt. I always recommend using raw milk when you make yogurt, but the recipe below is for those who cannot get access to raw milk.
Items you will need:
1 gallon of milk (you can buy low temp pasteurized milk at Whole foods, its called Super Natural).
1 Large container of plain yogurt (We use Stoneyfield plain yogurt)
5 quart size mason jars
1 heating pad
1 sink plastic container (You can this at the dollar store)
3 large towels
1 roasting thermometer (I use a Oneida roasting thermometer)
1 Stainless steel stock pot
1 ladle
1 funnel
Prior to starting this recipe sterilize mason jars.
Place the gallon of milk in the stock pot. Position your thermometer so that it sit mostly in the milk. Turn the stove on Med-High and begin stirring the milk. Stir continuously until milk reaches 180 F. Take the milk off the heat and pour into mason jars. (I use the ladle and funnel to pour the milk into the mason jars.) Let the milk cool down to 110 F. Spoon about 1 Tablespoon of the yogurt into each container and stir. Place lids on top.
Place heating pad inside plastic container, plug into the wall and turn it on to the lowest setting. Fold one towel in half and place on top of the heating pad. Pull one layer of the towel back and place yogurt containers inside the container. Cover yogurt containers with the layer you pulled back and tuck the containers in, like you would your kids ;-). Place the other two towels on top of the containers.
That's it, your done for the next 24hrs. After 24hours, take the containers out and place them in the refrigerator for three hours before eating. Yogurt will last a long time as long as the container is not
opened.
Items you will need:
1 gallon of milk (you can buy low temp pasteurized milk at Whole foods, its called Super Natural).
1 Large container of plain yogurt (We use Stoneyfield plain yogurt)
5 quart size mason jars
1 heating pad
1 sink plastic container (You can this at the dollar store)
3 large towels
1 roasting thermometer (I use a Oneida roasting thermometer)
1 Stainless steel stock pot
1 ladle
1 funnel
Prior to starting this recipe sterilize mason jars.
Place the gallon of milk in the stock pot. Position your thermometer so that it sit mostly in the milk. Turn the stove on Med-High and begin stirring the milk. Stir continuously until milk reaches 180 F. Take the milk off the heat and pour into mason jars. (I use the ladle and funnel to pour the milk into the mason jars.) Let the milk cool down to 110 F. Spoon about 1 Tablespoon of the yogurt into each container and stir. Place lids on top.
Place heating pad inside plastic container, plug into the wall and turn it on to the lowest setting. Fold one towel in half and place on top of the heating pad. Pull one layer of the towel back and place yogurt containers inside the container. Cover yogurt containers with the layer you pulled back and tuck the containers in, like you would your kids ;-). Place the other two towels on top of the containers.
That's it, your done for the next 24hrs. After 24hours, take the containers out and place them in the refrigerator for three hours before eating. Yogurt will last a long time as long as the container is not
opened.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Utilizing your Coping skills while doing the GAPS diet
Utilizing your coping skills for any struggle you go through in life is the key to being successful. So, it is no surprise that coping skills would come in handy when you first make the transition from eating gluten and dairy to no longer eating gluten or dairy products. This can definitely be a struggle and having five or so coping skills to use on your hardest days can help you through.
What are coping skills?
Have you ever heard the phrase, "If you are a glass, what to do fill your life with?" The idea is that every person needs things in their life that make them feel happy or fulfilled. And by doing those things we love in the midst of life's crisis's or struggles, we are able to cope with those crisis's or struggles. A coping skill, simply put, is the thing that makes you happy and helps you to cope. It can be as simple as painting, running, play sports, making mosaics or stain glass, reading a book, riding a bike, photography, etc. It doesn't matter what it is as long as you feel refreshed after doing it. It is something that gives you joy and you should be doing at least one of these things each day.
Next Steps?
I want you to think of 5 things that make you happy or that you love to do. Write these five things down and post them in a place that you can see while you are going about your day. Now, do at least one of these things daily. I can guarantee you that life's struggles will feel like small pebbles in the midst of your day because you have just as many happy things to fill your day with and think about.
Now for you mommies who want to write down...."play with my children", I want you to think of something else. Yes, we all love playing with our children, but this is something we do to give life to our children and because we love them. We are giving to them and not receiving. A coping skill is something you do to give life back to yourself. So, think about the things you love doing aside from playing with your babies!
What are coping skills?
Have you ever heard the phrase, "If you are a glass, what to do fill your life with?" The idea is that every person needs things in their life that make them feel happy or fulfilled. And by doing those things we love in the midst of life's crisis's or struggles, we are able to cope with those crisis's or struggles. A coping skill, simply put, is the thing that makes you happy and helps you to cope. It can be as simple as painting, running, play sports, making mosaics or stain glass, reading a book, riding a bike, photography, etc. It doesn't matter what it is as long as you feel refreshed after doing it. It is something that gives you joy and you should be doing at least one of these things each day.
Next Steps?
I want you to think of 5 things that make you happy or that you love to do. Write these five things down and post them in a place that you can see while you are going about your day. Now, do at least one of these things daily. I can guarantee you that life's struggles will feel like small pebbles in the midst of your day because you have just as many happy things to fill your day with and think about.
Now for you mommies who want to write down...."play with my children", I want you to think of something else. Yes, we all love playing with our children, but this is something we do to give life to our children and because we love them. We are giving to them and not receiving. A coping skill is something you do to give life back to yourself. So, think about the things you love doing aside from playing with your babies!
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Refried Beans with chorizo, fried plantains and cabbage
My husband is Mexican and this diet has been very hard for him in that he has missed having rice and beans as a staple in his diet. So, I decided to come up with the closed thing I could to his long missed comfort food. Below is my recipe for refried beans with Plantains and Cabbage. It isn't the same as rice and beans, but it definately helps
Refried Beans .
1 bag of Navy or Northern beans
homemade beef broth
Lard
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Paprika
Salt to taste
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 cup of homemade chorizo (recipe to come)
Soak the bag of beans overnight on your counter. Once soaked, rinse beans and boil until soft. Place a Tbsp of lard and chopped onions in a frying pan. Saute until softened and then add chorizo. Once chorizo is fully cooked, add beans. Mash beans with a potato masher and slowly add beef broth. Add broth and more lard to create desired thinkness of beans and chorizo. While mashing, add 1 tsp of Cumin and 1 tsp of Paprika. Use washed raw cabbage leaves as tortillas by filling the cabbage leaves with the beans. Some times we will make crackers (with eggs, lard and almonds), cut them up to look like tortilla chips and eat them with the beans as well. Yummy!
Fried Plantains
1 plantain person
Lard
Wait until plantains are black on the outside. Slice on a diagonal. Place lard in the frying pan, wait until hot and then place the plantains in the lard. Fry to your desired liking. These are super good!!!!!!!
Refried Beans .
1 bag of Navy or Northern beans
homemade beef broth
Lard
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Paprika
Salt to taste
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 cup of homemade chorizo (recipe to come)
Soak the bag of beans overnight on your counter. Once soaked, rinse beans and boil until soft. Place a Tbsp of lard and chopped onions in a frying pan. Saute until softened and then add chorizo. Once chorizo is fully cooked, add beans. Mash beans with a potato masher and slowly add beef broth. Add broth and more lard to create desired thinkness of beans and chorizo. While mashing, add 1 tsp of Cumin and 1 tsp of Paprika. Use washed raw cabbage leaves as tortillas by filling the cabbage leaves with the beans. Some times we will make crackers (with eggs, lard and almonds), cut them up to look like tortilla chips and eat them with the beans as well. Yummy!
Fried Plantains
1 plantain person
Lard
Wait until plantains are black on the outside. Slice on a diagonal. Place lard in the frying pan, wait until hot and then place the plantains in the lard. Fry to your desired liking. These are super good!!!!!!!
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