wholefood step-by-step: # 24 make your own ice cream and icy poles

It's summer here in Australia. Hooray! My favorite season (next to Spring)

Hot days call for cool ice cream, not just any ice cream though - home made, wholefood, real food, preferably organic kind of ice cream.

The beauty of making your own is that you know exactly what's in them and you can be endlessly creative with the combos you come up with.

What to avoid in commercially made ice creams and icy poles

Where to start? Well of course there's the obvious one the high concentration of sugar in all its forms - cane sugar, glucose, maltodextrin to name a few. Then there's the numbers that are usually attached to emulsifiers (the ingredients that add to the smooth creaminess), then there's ingredients you probably wouldn't expect to find in ice cream like wheat and soy. And finally the pasteurised homogenised milk and cream that can be difficult for people to digest, you can read more about modern milk here. And what on earth is the curious 'flavour' ingredient listed in so many processed foods?!

Let's take Peter's Original vanilla as an example:

1. Ingredients: Water, Cream (15%), Sugar, Milk Solids, Glucose Syrup(Wheat), Maltodextrin, Vegetable Origin Emulsifiers [477, 471 (Soy)], Flavour, Vegetable Gum (412).
2. While we're here, I just want to go over something that comes up a bit with wholefood/healthy blogs and bloggers. And that is, I'm not saying that I've never eaten this type of ice cream and neither have my children - we have. If you go and stay a weekend at my nan's I guarantee you will be offered this ice cream alongside a piece of her cheesecake or pavlova. I just want to give a little reminder that the whole purpose of this series is to shine a light on what is in processed foods and offer ways to make better choices more often.

I want to be so careful that people don't feel shame or guilt about what they have in the freezer and pantry when they read a post here. We are all on a learning curve in this processed food world we live in, awareness is the beginning for change and for long term health and happiness. So, no shame, no guilt - my line of work is about education not deprivation!

I digress. 

Back to the ice cream and icy poles. The ingredients to consider in commercially made icy poles are of course again an overload of sugar but also artificial food colourings. You can read more about food colourings here and here.

Equipment to make your own

- Icy pole moulds. You can buy these in most supermarkets and chain stores (ie. in Australia big w, kmart, target) and they are relatively inexpensive around $10, the ones I use I've had for two years. Biome have a range of pricier stainless steel moulds here. (I'm not an affiliate).

- A blender comes in handy if you want to make 'smoothie' style icy poles.

- An ice cream maker adds to the fun but is by no means necessary for creating beautiful cool sweet treats. 

- And of course the thermomix fans in our midst will already know the wondrous sorbets and ice creams that can be made with this pricey kitchen appliance that has won hearts all over the world (personally I don't have a thermomix and don't actually dream of owning one either but that's kind of a whole other post!)

Believe me when I say I don't have fancy or expensive equipment in my kitchen. I recently bought a blender from Kmart for $25, when my other one blew up unexpectedly, and it is doing a fine job of creating all manner of smoothies. 

I do have an ice cream maker that I picked up about 4 years ago at Aldi again for the magic sum of $25. The tricky part for me is I have a very small freezer and this particular ice cream maker requires the bowl to be frozen before use so it takes some planning, the ice cream it produces is beautiful though. There really is nothing like making ice cream at home and if your family really love it I would recommend making the investment in an ice cream maker.

Ingredients to make your own:

Fresh seasonal fruit, local and organic is always good!
Coconut milk or yoghurt
Organic milk or yoghurt
Sweeteners of your choice: maple syrup, honey
Real flavours: cacao, vanilla bean, mint, cinnamon
Freshly squeezed fruit juice

The possibilities are endless!

For some recipe inspiration check these out:

- Raspberry mint ripple icy poles, Avocado lime icy poles
- Jo from Quirky Cooking : coconut ice cream with date swirl (no ice cream maker required)
- The Best Apricot Ice Cream Ever (dairy free)
- Michelle Schoeps icy pole video!
- The easiest way to make vanilla ice cream at home (this is a very comprehensive post. If you don't want to use cane sugar in the recipe you could try coconut sugar or rapadura, bear in mind it will change the colour of your ice cream. But even if you do use sugar (perhaps reduce the amount) it will still be healthier in my opinion than a store bought ice cream full of additives).

For the icy poles pictured I used:

2 frozen bananas
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 can coconut milk
a dash of maple syrup

In the blender til smooth then into the moulds and freeze. Delicious. Enjoy x

Do you make your own? Share some of your favorite flavour combos in the comments and the brand of your favorite ice cream machine if you have one.

wholefood step-by-step: # 23 rethink flour, & what to do with coconut flour

My friend Anthea inspired this post. Anthea bought some coconut flour for the first time and asked me, 'what on earth she was meant to do with it?!' I'll say from the outset coconut flour is not my go to flour (I use spelt flour for baking), I use coconut flour from time to time and am keen to embrace it so I thought this was a good opportunity to investigate further.

Before we get into some ideas for using coconut flour, let's take a look at flour in general.

Once upon a time when all foods were prepared in the home, made from scratch, we would have been grinding our own flour, possibly from a variety of wholegrains - not just wheat. As you can imagine, if we had to grind our own flour - by hand - we probably wouldn't use it too often!

Fast forward to our industrialised, factory food world and much of the modern diet is based on grains and namely wheat flour - bread, pastry, cakes, sweet biscuits, dry biscuits, muffins and so on. Now that we're not grinding our own flour (unless you own a thermomix :), floury foods have become convenient.

The cons of eating a high grain/flour diet is a whole post in itself but in a nutshell:

- grains/flours are carbohydrates, eating a high carbohydrate diet often means that nutrition suffers because carbohydrates are chosen over fruit, vegetables and protein.

- wheat ( including spelt, kamut, triticale) rye, barley, and oats contain gluten and the number of people with health problems related to gluten intolerance or sensitivity appears to be on the rise. ranging from bloating, stomach cramps, nausea vomiting, constipation, diarrhoea, irritable bowel syndrome to coeliac disease. 

What is coconut flour and why should I try it?

One of the great things about coconut flour is that it is made from the byproduct of making coconut milk, which means nothing is wasted! The coconut pulp is dried and then ground into flour.

Fans of coconut flour love it because it is:

- it is gluten free
- grain free
- high in fibre
- low carb
- good for baking

Where do I buy it and how much does it cost?

If you shop online, thanks to Nutra Organics I am very happy to offer you a 10% discount discount in their online store not only on coconut flour but across their whole range!

Visit Nutra Organics here. You can find their Wholefood Pantry certified organic coconut flour here 1kg $14.35.

The discount code is: Wholefoodmama and is valid until February 28th 2015.

You can also buy coconut flour in health food stores and in some supermarkets in the section where flour is sold. It is generally sold in 500g or 1kg packets and prices range from approx. $6 - $12 depending on weight and whether it is organic or conventional.

If you'd like to try making your own coconut milk and coconut flour follow these instructions by Coconut Mama.

How do I use coconut flour?

The most popular way to use coconut flour is in baking: breads, cakes, muffins and desserts.

**Important tip: coconut flour cannot replace other types of flours at a cup for cup ratio. Coconut flour absorbs a lot of liquid and you will notice recipes with coconut flour generally call for a large number of eggs to assist with binding the flour to produce a cake or muffin that doesn't just fall apart.

Thanks to some of my favorite wholefoodie bloggers I have a great collection of recipe links here for you of their tried and true baked goods made with coconut flour:

Natural New Age Mums'  Healthy Chocolate Muffins

Bek Mugridge's  Berrylicious muffins (not gluten free)

Brenda Janschek's  Brownie Cake

Georgia Harding's Healthy Chocolate, Almond, Coconut Bars

The Nourished Psychologist's Paleo Banana Bread

And if that's not enough to get you started, check out Empowered Sustenance 105 coconut flour recipes

Tell us the highs and lows of your experience with coconut flour. I'd love to hear!

************************

Visit Nutra Organics here. You can find their Wholefood Pantry certified organic coconut flour here.

For 10% discount the code is: Wholefoodmama and is valid until February 28th 2015.

wholefood step-by-step: #22 chia seeds

I hope your new year is off to a wonderful start.

We're enjoying beach days here in Australia, and the long summer school holidays.

Welcome if you are a new reader! And welcome back if you're a regular here.

I'm looking forward to continuing this series this year. The aim is to break wholefood living down into easy steps that you can take one at a time, rather than feeling overwhelmed by trying to do it all at once.

Today we're taking a look at chia seeds. These little seeds fall into the 'superfood' category which is not something I write about much here because I want to focus on every day wholefoods - such as fruit and vegetables! - that are accessible to everyone.

Having said that, when you can include chia seeds into your budget they're a great food to add nutrients and variety to your wholefood diet.

I buy them from time to time and my favorite thing to do with them is add them to smoothies or sprinkle them on porridge, muesli or yoghurt. I've tried to love chia pudding but haven't managed to get hooked on it yet. More about that later.

What are chia seeds and why are they good to eat?
Chia seeds come from the flowers of the chia plant, a herb that is part of the mint family, native to Mexico and Guatemala. There are black chia seeds and white chia seeds, there is no difference in taste, texture or nutritional value between the two.

As the worldwide demand grows for these nutritious seeds, commercial crops are now grown in Australia and South American countries Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador and Nicaragua.

Nutritionally chia seeds offer protein, fibre, omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants.

Where can I buy them?
Australian grown chia seeds are sold in major supermarkets and you will find them in health food and organic stores too.

You can buy Australian grown chia seeds online here.

If you are really keen, you can grow your own!
Read this detailed post: How I grow and harvest organic chia by Long Time Mother.

How much do they cost?
Like many wholefood items, buying in bulk is the way to bring the price down for chia seeds.
A 250g pack is around $9-$10 whereas 1kg ranges between $23-$30. You only need to use a small amount 1-3 tablespoons depending on what you're adding them to, 1/4-1/2 cup if you are making a chia pudding so they will last you a while.

What do I do with them?
Chia seeds are versatile. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post you can sprinkle them on porridge or your favorite muesli or granola, add them to smoothies, you can also make chia seed jam, chia puddings or use them in baking.

When mixed with liquid chia seeds become gelatinous so they can be a helpful substitute in recipes for those who can't eat eggs. See this chia seed egg replacement recipe.

If you would like to try out chia pudding give Georgia's Chia Berry Ripe a go. This recipe can be a great option for those of you who want to get away from eating packet cereal for breakfast.
(A little aside, you will find plenty of wonderful wholefood recipes and info on Georgia's site beyond the chia seed one. Take a look).

Do you use chia seeds? What do you like to use them in? If you write a blog and have a chia seed recipe you'd like to share leave a link in the comments.

wholefood step-by-step: # 20 organic tamari

After a long sabbatical from this series due to our road trip, its back!

Wholefood step-by-step: every Monday I post about a small step you can make on your wholefood journey.

My aim in writing this blog is to help keep you inspired and informed; to take away the overwhelm and make it all feel doable.

We have Pureharvest to thank for kicking me back into gear with this series. They sent me a hamper with some of their goods to try. I chose to write about them here because I buy them already so am happy to recommend them to you. Also, one lucky reader has a chance of winning a Pureharvest hamper to the value of $50. Before we get into the giveaway details let's talk tamari.

What is tamari?

Tamari is a condiment similar in taste, colour and consistency to soy sauce. Tamari has more depth and roundedness to its flavour than soy, it is salty like soy but not as sharp.

Traditionally tamari is associated with Japanese cuisine and soy sauce with Chinese cuisine. This is due to the fact that tamari is the produced in the process of making miso. Miso is a fermented soybean paste used extensively in Japanese cuisine.

Pureharvest tamari is gluten free and made from non gmo soybeans.

How do I use tamari?

Tamari can be used in any dish you would normally use soy sauce.

My two favorite ways to use it are as a dipping sauce for nori rolls or in a marinade such as on these easy, crowd-pleasing tamari and honey chicken drumsticks. Or in this great home made teriyaki sauce. You can also add a splash to any dish that calls for saltiness and depth of flavour such as stews, casseroles and soups.

Home made tamari almonds are delicious too, toss almonds in a bowl with enough tamari to coat the nuts thoroughly, then spread the almonds out in a single layer on a baking tray leaving any excess liquid in the bowl and bake in the oven at 170 C for 20 minutes, cool completely and store in an airtight jar.

Where can I buy tamari?

Tamari is sold in most health food and organic food stores. You can buy it online here.
Many Pureharvest products including tamari can be found in major and independent supermarkets.

Pureharvest Giveaway
If you live in Australia and would like to win a Pureharvest hamper to the value of $50 all you have to do is leave a comment below and the winner will be selected by random number generator on Monday 15th December and announced back here on this post at 8pm (Melbourne time).
This giveaway is open Australia wide. Sorry international readers I'll do one for you soon!

Please make sure to check back and that I am able to find your email address via the link in your comment. Good luck! And feel free to share with friends who might like to enter.

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED.

Congratulations to Claudine Pollard! There will be a Pureharvest hamper coming your way soon Claudine. Thankyou to everyone who entered.

wholefood step-by-step: #19 (herb &) spice up your life

Cinnamon, tumeric, ginger, paprika, nutmeg, chilli what a bland old world it would be without you. But more than just your flavours it is your aromas and medicinal qualities that you bring to our kitchens and cooking that I am thankful for.

It is easy to fall into a habit of using the same flavours in our cooking, flavours that we grew up with, that we know go together and are confident will make a dish sing.

I was inspired to write this post to encourage you to step outside your herb and spice comfort zone and seek out flavours you haven't tried, do some research, find recipes that perhaps use your favorite everyday spices in ways that you wouldn't have thought to. Or skip the recipe and create your own.

For me, it is this creative, unexpected use of flavours that sets good food apart from memorable meals. Like Robin's spaghetti bolognaise with star anise, or any of Rachel's recipes in the Hungry Girls cookbooks. Pete Evans recipes too make great use of many flavours taking simple meatballs or a plain piece of fish to something memorable without any fancy cooking techniques, rather it is the combination of flavours that set the recipes apart.

If you need to dust the cobwebs off your dried herb and spice rack and restock it, I recommend Gourmet Organic Herbs I buy them at my local health foodstore but you can buy them online here. Whether you buy organic, or non-organic from the supermarket, the main thing is that you have them on hand and they are not out of date.

And if you are reading this thinking, there is no way my kids will eat coriander, cumin, tumeric and so on I say to you, give them a go you will be surprised! Part of what needs to happen in the food culture we create for our children is to develop their tastes for things outside of sugar and salt and the way to do this is to cook with a wider variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices. These foods are nature's medicine and if we stay with thoughts of what they won't eat then that will be the reality. We must put aside our own stumbling blocks to what our children will eat and just cook, cook with love and flavour and keep presenting real, flavoursome food over and over and over again and they will eat it I promise! And more than that, in time they will love it.

The weather is cooling here in Australia so it is a good time to cook with warming spices such as chilli, ginger, cloves and cinnamon. Give my dahl recipe a go. Or enjoy a warming cup of chai.

How is your spice rack looking? What are your favorites?

wholefood step-by-step: # 17 phase out processed snacks

Walking on to River's schoolground one afternoon I picked up the wrappers pictured above that were blowing around the oval. I picked them up not to put them in the bin but because I wanted to read the list of ingredients.

To the majority of  parents at River's school me doing this would seem weird and a bit over the top, after all, it isn't really a big deal that kids eat snack food is it? Well, of course I do think it is a big a deal. A really big deal that so many people, children and adults are eating mainly foods from packets and that they think that there will be no impact on their health and well-being and that they don't give a moments thought to the environmental impacts of the earth's resources that go into creating the products and the packaging that they come in.

The way I see it, the problem isn't eating these foods once, or if there was one snack food in the lunchbox and the rest of the time it is fruit, vegetables and protein, no there are two problems as I see it:

1. The Myth of Moderation - this is really a post in itself but I will touch on it here. The old 'everything in moderation' is full of problems because one person's moderation is another person's overload and vice versa. The most accurate way to work out if your family is consuming something moderately or occasionally is to keep a food journal, I think you would be surprised to see how many snacks and 'treats' are sneaking in that are full of processed ingredients such as wheat, refined sugar and damaged fats that are not nourishing in any way.

2. The second problem that goes with this is the cumulative effect of eating non-foods or factory made foods. Sure everyone might be able to get away with eating a packet of chips or some other processed snack from time to time but the problem is that ingredients such as wheat, sugar and damaged fats are in just about every processed food on the supermarket shelf, even in ones you don't expect them to be - who expects chocolate to have wheat in it? or muesli to have sugar and vegetable oil in it? So, without even trying people who include processed foods daily in their diets are overloading their bodies with ingredients that impact their digestion and immunity and ultimately their overall health.

Using these two snack foods as examples let's take a look at the ingredients:

Dominion Naturals - Ropes. Strawberry, raspberry and blueberry flavoured. No artificial colours or flavours. No preservatives, gluten free and 99% fat free. That is the list of selling points on the packaging. Many people would read this and think its good, it is 'natural' and free of artificial nasties, it contains fruit and it is fat free (inference is that you won't get fat by eating it). A the very bottom of the nutrition table in fine print are the words: Fruit juice based confectionery. So, really these are lollies dressed up by marketers as something healthy. (Makes me cross!!) The ingredients: glucose syrup, sugar, fruit juice concentrate (18%), Gelatine, Gelling Agent (406), Thickener (1401), Acidity Regulators (330,296), Natural colours (140, 163, 120), Natural Flavours, Glazing Agent (903).

Sun rice mini bites creepy cheese. Delicious mini brown rice cakes, seasoned with tasty natural flavours that are the perfect bite-size to munch and crunch. Made with wholegrain brown rice. No artificial colours or flavours. Gluten free. Wholegrain brown rice, consumers think that's good isn't it? Ingredients: wholegrain brown rice (84%), seasoning (milk solids, salt, natural flavour, hydrolysed corn protein, yeast extracts, cheese powder, sunflower oil, acidity regulators (270, 327), sunflower oil. This product also has a logo on it that reads 'National Healthy School Canteen - Amber Compliant' which would give some parents an added reassurance that they are buying healthy food.

Processed snacks may be quick to throw in the lunchbox but with some planning ahead so are homemade snacks. By making some time each week to bake some muffins, make muesli bars, bliss balls, or even to bake cake and then freezing them you are providing your family with wholesome wholefood snacks that are vastly better for their bodies and minds and for the planet.

I can hear some of you sighing and thinking oh no another thing to do but I think it is so worth the time and effort. Good health is such a precious gift that deserves to be protected every chance we have. The problem with having a processed diet is that the effects take time to show up. With the dominance of commercially produced food that is presented to us daily in various settings, there has never been a more important time to be proactive and stay ahead with good health. Many people wait until they get sick to make changes to their diet and lifestyle. Don't wait to get sick for that to be your reason to make changes, prevention is much better than cure.

Take a moment to ask yourself why do you buy processed snacks, for convenience? because kids like them or ask for them? as treats?

If you buy them because your children like them or have asked you to buy them explain to them that you have learnt more about the ingredients in them and that they are not nourishing for their bodies and they do not help them to think and concentrate at school and that instead you will be making your own snacks to put in lunchboxes. If you like, you can then get your children involved in choosing some recipes and preparing the lunchbox snacks. If you would prefer to phase out the snacks rather than going cold turkey perhaps you could include a processed snack twice a week, Tuesday and Friday and then reduce it to one day and eventually none.

Here are some links to recipes to get you started with alternatives to processed snacks, once you get into the mindset that this is totally doable and that it is so worth it you won't even notice that you are doing it and you won't miss the so called convenience of processed snacks.

Six Healthy Biscuits for Lunchboxes
Ten Healthy Muffin Recipes
Carrot Cake Slice
Spiced apricot, orange and quinoa muesli bars
Muesli bars with dried cranberries and seeds
Raw chocolate bliss balls

Oh and by the way never feel guilty or embarrassed about where you are at on your food journey. The most important thing is that we are all doing the best we can with the time, money and knowledge we have. Make small adjustments as you go along. Modern living can be stressful enough as it is, don't add guilt to your plate, do what you can making small adjustments as your knowledge grows.

I wish you well with making this change. I think you will find it so satisfying to stop buying processed snacks I know I have. Xx

wholefood step-by-step: # 16 choose the best quality tomato sauce you can find

Most kids love tomato sauce. Well, truth be known it is probably the high amounts of salt and sugar in it that has them hooked. Rather than tell you to stop buying it completely my approach is always to help you make better choices, I want this wholefood thing to feel easy.

The Ingredients

So, when it comes to buying any processed food the first step is to read the ingredients. Don't be lured in by marketing claims on the front sticker with words like 'natural', '50% less salt' and so on, read the actual ingredients and if you see lots of numbers or don't recognise the names of the ingredients, take that as a clear sign to put it back on the shelf and find one that contains only real food.

For example the tomato sauce in the picture above, the ingredients are organic and are listed as follows: tomato paste, vinegar, agave syrup, rice flour, sea salt, pectin, onion powder, garlic, paprika powder.

Agave is something I don't typically use but as tomato sauce is an occasional food for us I looked past it in this case, and onion powder sounds a bit weird and processed but again as our consumption of this is minimal I am not being pedantic.

The Nutrition Info

Once you've read the ingredients, look at the nutrition panel. Reading this info takes a bit of concentration but once you know what you're looking for it becomes quicker. The information contained in the nutrition label is useful for making comparisons between brands, the key is to make sure you are comparing the same quantity in serving sizes.

For example, 4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon. The sugar content in the sauce pictured is 3.7g per 34g serving. When I compared that to one of the big brands the sugar content in the big brand was 4.4g per 15g serving. So you can see that the big brand sauce contains over double the amount of sugar per serve. You can do the same comparison for salt which is listed as sodium.

The Cost 

The Absolute Organic tomato sauce I purchased cost $5.96 for 340g, compared to $2.96 for 500ml for the big brand. I bought the sauce at a small independent grocer so the prices are higher than if I bought it in a bigger store, and because it costs more it is good incentive to use it sparingly!

Make Your Own

The other option of course, is to make your own then you know exactly what is in it. A quick and easy way, inspired by Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar tomato sauce recipe is to use one can of tomatoes, 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and 1/2 tablespoon of sweetener of your choice such as rice malt syrup or honey and simmer this over a low heat for about 10 minutes, allow to cool and then blend until smooth. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Last week I had half a jar of tomato paste left over (about 200g) and I added some apple cider vinegar and simmered it, I didn't add any sweetener and I served that on a vegetable pie, my boys loved it.

Tips for reducing the amount of sauce your family eats

If your family is in the habit of eating tomato sauce at most meals and you would like to change that habit, here are a couple of ways you can go about it.

1. You can explain that tomato sauce has a lot of sugar and salt in it and that eating a lot of sugar and salt is not helpful for our bodies to be the best that they can be. Tell your family that as the parent, it is your job to make sure everyone eats great food that helps our bodies be the best that they can be. Then explain that tomato sauce is a sometimes food and they can choose two or three foods that they would like to eat it with.

2. If tomato sauce has become a problem - ie. there are regular tears and tantrums about it - I suggest to stop buying it for a while. If that feels like a bold move and makes you anxious, I understand! Too much sauce hasn't been a problem in my house but other behaviours come up that have to change, and the change has been accompanied by tears. That is all part of the less fun side of parenting! In my experience with this what generally happens is there is a want - ie. tomato sauce, snack before dinner or bed, ice cream, insert your own words -  and if the answer is 'no' and the response is tears, it brings up emotion in me, I have had to learn to just let the emotion wash over me and know it will pass. As we know in parenting, the key to success is making your stand, knowing your decision is for the best and sticking to it. Children let go of emotions very quickly, they move through them (it is we adults that become good at hanging on to our feelings!) We have all witnessed our children go from laughing to crying back to laughing in minutes, you can witness the same response when changing food 'rules'.
They will get over not having sauce on everything and it will give them a chance to experience the real taste of the food, get them excited about making their own!

I hope this is helpful. If you have a friend who may benefit from reading this please share it with them and as always tell us your experiences in the comments.

*Oh and a tip about leaving comments, a few friends have mentioned they haven't a clue how to do it so I thought I'd explain...go to the end of the post and click where you see comments it will either say 'No comments' or have a number ' 2 comments' this will take you to the comment box, enter your comment and then where it says 'comment as' click on the drop down box and if you don't have a Google account just select 'anonymous' (you can type your name at the end of your comment if you want to) then hit publish.

**disclosure - if you buy Sarah's cookbook via the link I get a small commission. While I'm not into an all or nothing approach to sugar, I do have this book and am happy to recommend it for its recipes that are useful when transitioning to a wholefoods way of life.

wholefood step-by-step: # 15 eat more veggies

Before we get on to kids eating veggies let's take a look at how many veggies you eat each day.
Yes you! (And me!) Our actions speak volumes beyond our words, it is important that our kids see us eating vegetables throughout the day, most of us could do with including vegetables in all our meals and snacks instead of just saving them for dinnertime.

The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia recommended minimum daily intake of vegetables for adults is 5 serves: one serve equals half a cup of cooked vegetables or 1 cup of salad.

The recommended amounts for children varies depending on age but in general terms for toddlers 2.5 serves, pre-schoolers 4.5 serves and then from age 9 onwards, five serves.

If you are looking at these figures thinking your family's intake needs to increase, below are some suggestions for ways to get more veggies in.

The main thing to remember is not to get too hung up on whether your kids eat a specific vegetable or not and to just keep presenting vegetables to them in different ways, steamed, mashed, baked, in curries, casseroles, pasta sauce and so on. Encourage your children to at the very least taste vegetables, tell them they don't have to eat the whole thing but you do expect them to taste them.

11 ways to get more veggies in 

 - Break the cereal or toast habit at breakfast and instead start the day with a handful of spinach in a green smoothie or in scrambled eggs, alongside the eggs add a serve of cooked tomato and mushrooms or some avocado.

- Have a breakfast salad of lettuce or spinach, grated carrot, beetroot, capsicum, whatever veggies you have on hand add in a boiled egg or two and your favorite dressing.

- Soup is also a great way to start the day especially with the weather cooling here in Victoria.

- Zucchini slice is popular with most kids and is perfect for breakfast.

- Salads and/or soups are the way to go at lunchtime, the combinations are endless!...try my quick lunch salad or Robin's quinoa, roasted veggie, marinated chickpea and fetta salad.

Mid morning or afternoon snacks:

- carrot and celery sticks with home made hoummos, tzatziki or avocado dip.

- Veggie sticks and a handful of nuts

- Savoury muffin with lots of veggies grated in

- a cup of minestrone

Dinner

- grate vegetables into every dish you possibly can: home made hamburgers, spaghetti bolognese, curries, casseroles, lasagne, tacos, all of these dishes are great opportunities to sneak more veggies in. Having said that, I don't believe that vegetables should always be hidden, children need to see veggies in various forms and encouraged to try them.

- I serve a salad plate of veggie sticks, avocado, cherry tomatoes, whatever is in season, before dinner when my boys start telling me they are hungry. Part of the key to children eating vegetables is they must have an appetite, so when they tell you they are hungry before dinner if it is still a while away put together a salad plate and let them eat that instead of filling up on processed snacks or carbs.

The other keys to veggie success is of course to make sure your fridge is well stocked with a seasonal variety, having easy access to them means you will eat them! My friend Anthea washes and chops veggies into sticks and keeps them in a container of water in her fridge so her boys can easily snack on them.

You'll find plenty more inspiration over at Veggie Mama, and at Veggie Smugglers and I highly recommend reading French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon.

And if you really want to dive in, sign up for Heather's 30 day vegan course.

Where are you at with veggies? What would you add to this list?

wholefood step-by-step: #13 upgrade your chocolate fix

Tough step I know. The problem with the majority of commercial chocolate is that it is...you guessed it, highly processed and can contain unhealthy ingredients like huge amounts of refined cane sugar, hydrogenated fats and palm oil.

And as you know, processing strips ingredients, such as the cocoa bean, of any natural, nourishing qualities they may have began with and the end result is a product rather than a food. A product that can be marketed and lots of sales and advertising dollars made, meanwhile what's sold is actually really bad for human health. I'm sounding cynical now. Sorry about that! Back on track.

The story of chocolate begins with the cocoa bean. In its natural state the cocoa bean is a bitter little pill to swallow so, it is fermented, then roasted, then ground into cocoa mass which is further processed into cocoa solids and cocoa butter before being mixed with sweetener and fat to create chocolate in the form you know and love.

Tips for buying wholefood chocolate

* Go for dark or raw
Dark and raw chocolate contain the highest percentage of cocoa compared to milk or white chocolate, it is the cocoa that holds health benefits such as flavonoids that fight free radicals. Studies have shown that eating a few squares of dark chocolate a week as part of a healthy diet can be beneficial to heart health plus it can keep you happy by stimulating the production of endorphins which are 'happy' hormones.  

Raw cacao, as the name suggests is made from cocoa beans that are cold pressed therefore their nourishing properties remain in tact. In addition, raw chocolate is made with few ingredients all of which have nourishing properties, typically cacao, cacoa butter and wholefood sweetener. To read more about raw cacao and its health benefits head over to this post on Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar site.

Loving Earth is my fave raw chocolate range, notice I said range! I can't really decide which one I like most. Having said that, I'm not a huge fan of raw chocolate it doesn't satisfy in the way dark does.

* Avoid soy lecithin
What on earth is soy lecithin anyway? It is a highly processed ingredient derived from soybeans so part of the problem with it is the likelihood of it being made from genetically modified soy. And what is it doing in chocolate? (and in soooo many other processed foods) it serves as an emulsifier in chocolate, an emulsifier helps oil/fat and water bind together to become the smooth and velvety texture we so love about chocolate. Alexx Stuart posted about this on her facebook page and nominates Alter Eco 85% as her soy lecithin free choc of choice.

* Avoid palm oil and hydrogenated fats
These ingredients are used in some chocolates because they cost less than cocoa butter.

Palm oil is problematic for a number of environmental and humanitarian reasons including deforestation and Indigenous rights abuses. For a detailed explanation of the palm oil industry and its associated problems go here. As is the case with soy lecithin, palm oil is a very sneaky little ingredient included in many different food stuffs so do check those labels.

Hydrogenated fats are bad news because they have been heated and processed and are essentially damaged, digesting these is in no way good for you.

For some chocolate coated fun try Michelle's ice magic or Nicola's raw chocolate hearts and if you need more then I think Sarah Wilson's IQS chocolate cookbook is the one for you.

And for those of you whose chocolate obsession is out of hand I have a post brewing especially for you. More soon!

Do you love chocolate? What is your favorite brand or wholefood choc inspired recipe? Tell us in the comments.

wholefood step-by-step: #11 butter is best...unless you have an issue with dairy

Sorry this post didn't appear yesterday as planned. Sol had an ear ache, then my computer jammed but I'm back now!

My cousin Nicole asked me on the weekend, 'Can you write about butter and margarine because I don't know why butter is better?' I figured that Nicole probably isn't the only one wondering about this so here we go...

Butter is best because it is made with wholefood ingredients. The butter pictured above contains: organic cream, water and salt. Butter is nourishing thanks to its omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins A, D, E and K, it tastes good and it satiates (satisfies) us so we don't go looking for more food in the way that we do if we eat highly processed 'empty' calories. Good fats like butter are essential for keeping our hormones happy and are especially important for nourishing children's growing brains.

Margarine on the other hand is made from processed and heated vegetable or seed oils that become denatured or damaged during processing. The problem with this is that they are inflammatory to the cells in our body. See naturopath Georgia Harding's great post on fats and oils here.

Until two weeks ago, we were butter all the way in my house. We use it as a spread and in baking, melted on steamed vegetables any way we could eat butter we were!

Then, Pete went to see a naturopath partly because he had had a cold and congestion for two months that he just couldn't get rid of completely. River and Sol too had lingering chesty coughs. The naturopath immediately recommended cutting all dairy out of our diets (the only dairy we eat is butter, natural yoghurt and parmesan cheese) until the congestion cleared, and suggested switching to Nuttelex instead of butter.

Pete arrived home with the Nuttelex, I read the ingredients: sunflower oil, vegetable oils, water, salt, emulsifiers (sunflower lecithin 471) flavour, vitamins A D2 and E. Flavour? What is that I wonder.

Interestingly, Sol won't eat the Nuttelex. He asks for his toast to be spread without it.

The good news is their coughs have all cleared! So, for us Nuttelex was a short term choice.

I suppose the other option to avoid using the Nuttelex on toast would be to spread it with avocado or tahini.

* disclaimer: I am not a doctor, scientist or health practitioner, this information is based on research and personal experience please consult a health practitioner if you have a health concern.

Tell us your thoughts in the comments...do you eat butter? If your family dairy-free what alternative spread to butter do you use?

wholefood step-by-step: #7 aluminium free baking powder

Today's post is for all you wholefood bakers. Hooray for you baking from scratch so you know exactly what ingredients go into your cakes, biscuits and muffins. But did you know that most baking powders contain aluminium. Yes, aluminium. Nice huh?

As it is widely known, aluminium exposure has been linked with degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. If you are thinking 'oh but a pinch here and there surely can't hurt' and 'if it is dangerous for our health the food regulators wouldn't allow it to be sold.' Well, this is the problem with many foods sold today. It is the cumulative effect that is the problem, the toxic build up in our bodies that occurs as we are exposed to chemicals from different sources - polluted air, cleaning products, factory food, skin care products, deodorants and so on. The more we can minimise our exposure the better it is for our long term health.

Click over to Whole New Mom for a great post on this topic and a recipe to make your own baking powder. And if making your own baking powder is way down your list of priorities (mine too!) then you can buy aluminium free baking powder in most supermarkets and health food stores.

Every little change adds up to a big difference to your health and happiness.

If you want to catch up on the previous steps in this series go here.