Healthier Choices

 

Over that past year, I have tried to make some healthier food choice for our family.  No, we haven't gotten to the total "real food" point. I have tried to make a few changes at a time. I have tried to cut out alot of the processed foods, but we still consume way to much.

 

Also, we began drinking non pastuerized, raw cow milk about a year ago. I feel that this is the best for my family because it isn't filled with all the hormones that the grocery store milk has in it. I also believe it is good for our immune systems because all the healthy bacteria hasn't been killed during pasteurization. An added plus to buying the raw milk is that it comes with a thick layer of cream, in which I began making my own butter.  My family loves the fresh butter and all I do is mix it in my kitchenaid mixer.

 

We buy our milk in glass gallon jars

 

 

I have also added as much local honey to our diet as possible. It is so beneficial and also a natural sweetener. I have started adding it to our bread and pancakes dough instead of sugar.  I prefer to eat honey on my waffles or pancakes instead of syrup. Well, unless it is real maple syrup. I don't care for the artificial stuff at all. I am trying to steer away from the high fructose corn syrup as much as possible and the artificially flavored syrup is filled with it.

We also, use the honey for medicinal purposes. Examples are for allergies and cold and cough. Jaelyn likes to warm lemon juice and add honey to it for a sore throat.

 

We buy our honey from a local bee keeper, but we

hope to start bee keeping ourselves in the future.

 

 

Something else that we just began doing is grinding our own wheat for flour. We recently bought 95 lbs of wheat berries and 50 lbs of oats. I have been experimenting with different breads, rolls, and pancake recipes. I found one that calls for oats and wheat flour and uses apple sauce instead of oil. We all seem to like it and I personally could eat it without honey or syrup. It is a very good recipe.  You can find it at www.thehappyhousewife.com. By the way, you will find many wonderful recipes on her website.

 

Whole wheat/oatmeal pancakes that I made last

week.

 

We also, plant a garden every year and can as many veggies as possible. This year we have expanded quite a bit. We are trying alot of new things. (Will post more on gardening later.)

 

As I said earlier, we are trying to make a few changes at a time and we still have a long ways to go. My goal is to eventually stop buying and cooking processed foods and to cut down on our grocery bill by raising as much food as we possibly can.

 

Not saying this is for everyone, but this is what I choose for my family.