Health Archives

Gluten Free Crock Pot Caramel Apple Cheesecake

We have a real treat today! Some of you guys have been asking for me to post some gluten-free recipes on here. Since I have no real experience in this area, I asked my expert friend, Kristi to do it for me. Kristi is the owner and president of Gluten Free Guru and she knows her stuff. She’s going to give you a little recipe tutorial on how to make a gluten free cheesecake in the crock pot. Thanks Kristi!!

I’ll include the recipe at the bottom with no pictures so you can print. 🙂

Gluten Free Crust

1 cup gluten free cookie crumbs

( I used homemade Snickerdoodles but you can use sugar, gingersnap or graham cracker.)

1 Tablespoon brown sugar (or sucanat)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted [Read more…]

Fluoride Filters

I’m a wee bit sensitive when it comes to the topic of fluoride. When I was younger, I was over medicated with fluoride (water system, toothpaste, dental fluoride treatments) and it lead to white fluoride deposits on my teeth. Because of this fact, I have always been VERY self-conscious of my mouth and my smile…and if you’re around me a lot, you’ll probably pick up on the fact that if I laugh, I cover my mouth. Once, in college, I had a boyfriend tell me “You’re really cute – you’d be pretty if it weren’t for your teeth.” [Read more…]

HealthIER Camping Food: 7 Tips for Taking Real Food With You

I am not a beach person. My idea of a good time usually involves shade and cooler weather…not sand that gets in weird places and sunshine that bakes you from the outside in.

I’ve been camping since I was 8 years old. At my request, my parents decided to try it once – and they ended up LOVING it. We’ve been every year since then. Annie, went on her first camping trip at 2 months old.

We started out in tents but my parents graduated to a pop-up camper. However, when we camp we like to “rough it.” We usually don’t use electricity, but we do use gas for our little camping stove…perfect for our secluded mountain camping spots.

One of our favorite parts about camping is the food. For some reason, food tastes so much better outdoors! And cooking the food is most of the fun!

There are some people who think going camping means you eat cans of Beenie Weenies and pre-packaged doughnuts. That’s never really been the case with us – we enjoy experimenting with food while we camp and we try to eat a wide variety of foods.

Today I’m chatting over at Keeper of the Home about how to make your camping food more healthy…with a little of my 80/20 Principle thrown in. 😉

Come join me!

Crock Pot Venison Roast

Barry and I are HUGE fans of venison. I was raised on ground venison…so it’s not unusual to me. I was blessed to marry a hunter…even more blessed that he doesn’t make me come along with him to hunt. *Snore fest*

Venison is really great for you! If you can get your hands on some, I would highly recommend it. Ask around. Do your friends hunt? If so, they might be willing to give you some of their plunder, only charging you for the processing. SCORE! [Read more…]

Why I Don’t Soak Grains

I’ve needed to write on this topic for a while. Back in August, I wrote a post about soaking grains. It was basically an overview of why to do it and how to do it.

In the Beginning

When I first started out on this whole foods journey, I felt like I needed to do everything…everything. So, soaking grains just fit right in that category. I just started doing it because “everyone else was doing it.” And I guess you know how that saying goes. But, something you’ve probably figured out about me already is that I like to swim upstream. I’m not going to swim downstream just because everyone else is doing it. [Read more…]

Ice Cream: Healthier Sweetener Options for this Homemade Treat

I am a lover of all things ice cream. I dream about it…and I dream about making different flavors (hence the Butternut Ice Cream post). It’s my favorite dessert of all time – and my Cuisinart gets LOTS of use around here. But, I started wondering if there were other things that I could sweeten my ice cream with – besides turbinado sugar ( (we don’t like sucanat in ice cream). I’ll just go ahead and tell you the truth – I want to be able to eat more ice cream, so if I feel like it’s HEALTHY then I can eat more…right? Yes. Amen. So, I tried three different “healthy” sweeteners to see which ranked the highest: honey, liquid stevia, and maple syrup. [Read more…]

Whole Wheat Vegetable Pizza

Today we’re talking about Real Party Food. I love a good party. I’m a party animal y’all! Someone says “Party!” And I say “Where at?!” Actually, I’ll be truthful. I should be called Stacy The Wallflower. I love parties, but I am usually physically attached to the wall or a corner chair. I like to be in the back and watch. My idea of a good party is when I can escape to the kitchen and help with refilling bowls and cutting up cantaloupe. For some reason, I always fear I’ll make a gigantic fool of myself in front of everyone – food down my shirt….a popped open button right in the middle of my chest…..toilet paper on my shoe…..my skirt tucked in the back of my leggings. Yeah – I dream about this stuff. It’s safer to stay against the wall where no one can see your rear.One of my favorite party foods of all time is Vegetable Pizza – made withPillsbury Crescent rolls and ranch dressing mix. Since these aren’t foods we buy anymore, I thought I would have to do without it. But then I got ornery and decided to make my own. You’re not going to take away my favorite party food, BUSTER! Let’s party! [Read more…]

Butternut Apple Bake

Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming soon! And that means that if you’re a more health-conscious eater, the very idea of all the eating outside of your home at relatives, parties, restaurants, etc. might make you want to go into hysterics.

But let me put your mind at ease… go to the parties and eat the food.

Seems like we all tend to get bent out of shape worrying about white sugar around the holidays. Am I telling you to forget about all your healthy eating and just throw caution to the wind? No. I’m telling you to behave and eat well at home and then be thankful for what someone else is serving you. Take care of your family with good, healthy food 80% of the time, and don’t stress about the other 20%. Go ahead and enjoy the holidays!

Also remember that it’s pretty easy to convert your old favorites.

You can use your own cream of chicken soup instead of buying the cans; you can use sucanat instead of brown sugar; you can use coconut oil instead of Crisco. Just convert your favorites to fit your new lifestyle. Sure, there might be some duds – just feed them to the birds and move on!

[Read more…]

Kefir Cottage Cheese

I have this genius friend (actually, I have several) and her name is Carrie. If I want to know something about nature or herbs, I ask Carrie. She’s a wealth of information. She used to work with my dad and now she’s retired….which excites me because it means she has more time to answer all my questions. Carrie uses kefir and she sent me her recipe for homemade kefir cottage cheese. I was STOKED! (Do people still say stoked?) I love cottage cheese – but Barry and Annie are not fans. Tons of my recipes call for cottage cheese…..and both of them will eat it if it’s IN something. Pansies. I love knowing I can make things with my kefir instead of buying it at the store. So, come along with me and see how easy it is to make your own cottage cheese. Thanks Carrie! [Read more…]

Easy Baked Oatmeal

Without a doubt, one of the most popular recipes on this site is my Baked Oatmeal….and rightly so. It’s deliciousness on a plate. It makes your taste buds sing. It makes your kids scream OATMEAL! It makes your dog beg. It makes you…well, it makes you regular. What more can you ask for in a breakfast food? Nothing I tell ya!

Well, I wanted to update my old recipe because of the quick oats and sugar issue. I only buy rolled oats in bulk now (they go through less processing) and I don’t use brown sugar anymore.

So, I played around in the kitchen a bit….okay, so I played around in the kitchen a lot. Let me just tell you, I made about 123,981,273 flops with this one. Why mess with something that’s already good? Well, to make it better. Except, my better was a long time coming.

[Read more…]