The Maker's Diet

Fresh Salad with hamburger topped with guacamole

cheese omelette topped with guacamole

We are in week two of following The Maker's Diet.

.It is a 40 day program that has 3 phases to it. We are currently in Phase 1. This is not intended to be a weight loss program for us. The goal is to optimize our health and try to eliminate any health issues that we may have.
Phase one is specifically geared toward cleansing the body. There are many foods that we cannot eat in this phase. The main foods we have to stay away from our grains, most fruits except for berries, grapefruit, lemons, and limes, beans, most nuts except for raw almonds, and dairy, except for raw goat's milk, and goat cheese.
Phase one is definitely the hardest, but we have been eating delicious foods! It helps to have a great cook in the house to help me prepare our meals! Phase Two will start next Monday, at which point we will add many fruits, beans, raw cow's milk, raw cow's milk cheddar, whole milk yogurt, and more raw nuts. So, Phase Two should be a piece of cake!!
We already eat a mostly whole foods diet - so this hasn't been that much of a stretch for us. But we do miss our freshly baked whole grain breads, pancakes, and waffles.
Rich has done very well with the diet. He has noticed some good health benefits for him. He is not having sugar crashes anymore after each meal. (each time he ate, he would drag and feel as though he was going to fall asleep)
I have done well with the diet too - but I have been experiencing some bouts of low blood sugar. Eliminating the grains and fruit from my diet has caused some spells of dizziness, headaches, and general fatigue as well as being nauseated. Once I figured out what was going on, I contacted my friend who is a certified natural health practicioner, and she gave me a remedy that I could take for those spells.
The pictures above are some meals that we have enjoyed over the week. We may have been missing our grains, but we have been eating very delicious and nutrition packed food!

Some meals that I have made this week:

Meatballs (with no bread crumbs - just spices and egg) with homemade pasta sauce

Meatloaf (made with lentils, eggs, spices), with pureed cauliflower, and italian green beans

Baked Lemon Basil Chicken with fresh raw broccoli and salad

French Style London Broil with asparagus and italian green beans

***Update***
I made Rich a cheese omelett topped with guacamole and he did not like it.
I made myself an cheese omelett with guacamole for the second time, and it wasn't nearly as delicious as it was the first time. However, we both loved the guacamole on the burger. That one is a winner for sure!

Rosalie 1 Year Old

Picture taken on her birthday with her pony.

This is just an example of how difficult it is to take a picture of her before she starts moving.

Puffy Pancakes - using soaked flour

Many of you may already know that in order for us to eat as we do, it requires a great deal of planning on my part. I have to know exactly what I am making each day for breakfast and each day for dinner. I keep a daily breakfast schedule, so that I will remember to soak the flour the night before. (soaking the freshly milled flour in an acid medium such as buttermilk or whole milk yogurt with live cultures optimizes nutrition!!) Most of the time, I follow my daily breakfast menu without any trouble. However, one Friday a week or so ago, I was out of everything. I was out of milk, only had 2 eggs, I was even out of bread - I had to make bread that day) What was I to do? I had to come up with something quick to feed my children - that didn't require milk - that only used two eggs - and that didn't require any of my home baked bread.
So, I leafed through a recipe book for ideas. I found a recipe for Puffy Pancakes. I wasn't going to be able to soak the grain overnight. (I figured they would survive) So, I milled some soft white grain and mixed all the ingredients together and put it in the oven. . . hoping they would all like it. The recipe does call for milk - I just used a mixture of water and buttermilk in it's place. It worked fine.
The children LOVED it. The recipe only makes one Puffy Pancake the size of a 9 inch pie plate. I gave each boy 1 quarter of the pancake - then Aaron and Martin shared the last quarter.

I made it again this morning - only this time I was prepared! I soaked spelt and soft white pastry flour overnight and mixed in the rest of the indredients this morning. It was even better this morning. Soaking brings another layer of flavor to it.

The Recipe:
Puffy Pancakes

2 TBS Butter (melt in pie plate while oven is preheating - this makes the puffy pancake crispy on the bottom)

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour (I used whole grain and made my own flour using soft white and spelt-original recipe is for all purpose flour)

1/2 cup milk (I used buttermilk/distilled water)

1/4 tsp sea salt

Soak the 1/2 cup flour overnight in an acid medium such as buttermilk/whole milk yogurt. (1/2 cup) The next morning add in the rest of the ingredients.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 25-30 minutes until it is nice and golden!

I put agave nectar and warm 100% maple syrup on their piece of pancake.

Happy Birthday sweet Rosalie!!

Rosalie is 1 year old today!!

Rosalie opens a present from Nanny and Pupup!!

Rosalie hugs her sweet monkey!

Thanks Nanny and Pupup for the sock monkey!

Video of Rosalie not doing anything I ask her to do

That's okay, we'll forgive her!

My Rocking Chair

Rosalie is pictured here sitting in the Rocking Chair that I have had since I was a baby! My mom has kept it all these years. Before Rosalie was born, she recovered the cushions with fabric that matches Rosalie's bedding.

Snowstorm 2010

Martin having fun in the snow!

Southern style snow boots

All bundled up and ready to play

Jonathan running in the snow!

Aaron making a snow angel