I’m learning a new way to eat because the Standard American Diet is designed to make us sick. Most of the recipes on this site are paleo — or else resurrected from my baba’s time. It’s time for me to eat clean and healthy food, made from scratch.
Sweet Pickle Relish
Oh my, I have been missing eating sweet relish, as I have not been able to obtain a store-bought organic product anywhere since I switched to organic eating. This year I decided I’d grow my own cucumbers. I have an abundance of them in my organic garden right now, so I decided to make my own relish. So here’s what I did. First, I adapted and simplified a recipe I found on Internet that looked like what I might be looking for. I left a link at the bottom of this recipe. This is a two-part process which took me two days. My advice is to read all instructions as a first step before anything else. Read more…
Pomegranate Salad Dressing
Besides growing our own vegetable garden, my husband and I are conscientiously eating organic food. We are committed to eating healthy by avoiding sugar, as well as all artificial ingredients. Recently, we located a new product which has added variety to our diet — Pomegranate Juice. We were thrilled when we read the Ingredient List because it contained only one ingredient — Organic Pomegranate Juice. This wonderful juice was not from concentrate. It is just pure juice, not reconstituted, not sweetened, or poisoned with weird agricultural chemicals. So, let’s get right down to the good eating, shall we? Read more…
Banana Muffins with Blueberries
I’ve always loved banana muffins and I’ve always loved blueberries. Mix them together and the love is twice as big. I’ve been experimenting with a paleo-style recipe based on specific criteria to suit my needs. The ideal recipe had to have natural sweetness without adding sugar or artificial sweeteners. It also had to be paleo-style, gluten-free and grain-free. And it had to be pleasant enough to enjoy as a “treat” with my cup of tea, or a breakfast-style muffin to go with my bacon and eggs. As many of you already know, Gluten-free and Paleo food can be kind of like a brick, so to soften the texture of the muffins I added a bit of tapioca flour and the full-fat version of coconut milk. Read more…
Paleo Banana Pancakes
Happily, I noticed our local grocery stores have an expanding selection of organic fruits and vegetables, and even limited kinds of meats. In order for me to take charge of my health, a growing awareness of the food monopoly pitfalls was an absolute necessity! I am simplifying food preparation and finding easier recipes, all gluten-free. As I talk about eating healthy, more and more people are responding to me by saying, “My doctor told me to eat less bread.” Or “My doctor advised me to go gluten-free.” Even the fact that regular practitioners are giving advice related to diet is a significant shift, when at an earlier time, they might have suggested a drug to cover up an undesirable symptom — or a cream to cover up an eczema outbreak (for example). That’s all my “old” family doctor ever did, until I replaced her with a refreshing, new Functional Medicine Doctor. Read more…
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
Have you noticed that it’s much easier to enjoy food from all over the world — right at home — these days? Several years ago, I decided to cook like my mother and grandmother, as far as eating “clean”. Although my predecessors never cooked pasta, I do. I transferred their amazing cultural knowledge onto other styles of food. Ever since I was introduced to Italian cooking as a teenager, I fell in love with it. This recipe is work intensive, but well worth the effort for it’s delicious goodness. Motivation for delicious food is all that is really required, to keep me cooking such mouth-watering cuisine. Read more…
Sourdough Bread Starter Gluten-Free
I decided to try my hand at bread-making while reading the list of ingredients on the so-called “Organic” bread at our local grocery store, only to discover they are adding ingredients foreign to my mom’s bread-making days. I can’t buy organic yeast, either. My markers for real food is if I can’t buy clean food, I’ll prepare it myself like my mom or grandma did. I won’t do a trade-off from eating clean, as I’m healing a health issue.
Read more…
Sourdough Bread Gluten-Free
Do you love sourdough bread? Have you tried organic, sourdough bread gluten-free? If not, you’re in for a treat! If you have a batch of ready-made sourdough starter and are ready to bake bread you are at the right place. If you don’t have a sourdough starter, you’ll want to visit the page for instructions on making Sourdough Bread Starter Gluten-Free.
Read more…
Peanut Butter Cups
No matter how strict a diet I’m on, I still allow myself the occasional treat, whether a sweet, or whatever. But I also realize how important it is that the treats be organic, too, just like all my other food selections. I’ve worked diligently on my health since 2005 to get to where I am. From now on, I’ll guard my health by eating organic, which includes an occasional dessert and snack. On the long road to restoring my gut health, I have learned a lot about our “conventional” food industry and what exactly it does to hurt a body. For example, … Read more…
Strawberry Pancake Sauce
I suppose this recipe is more of a sauce than a jam because it is prepared in a sauce pan. Either way, I use it to dress up pancakes. It tastes delicious, it’s gluten-free, and it’s safe to eat if you have allergies due to artificial ingredients. I use all organic ingredients, for the sake of my health. Organic ingredients, prepared at home assure me there are no artificial food colorings, no GMO ingredients, no preservatives, and no harmful substances or dangerous chemicals. Just pure, clean, real food that is genuinely healthy and nutritious for the body. Make as much or little as you prefer. This recipe can be doubled and tripled. I like to make about four small containers and freeze some to heat and serve at a future time. Read more…
Paleo-Style Coconut Bread
I was hesitant to start cooking with nut flours, but in the end I’m having fun diving into the new adventure. It’s actually easier than the “conventional” method of cooking or baking because it’s just so simple. I have been eating Paleo-style since 2013 and finally this year decided to bake my own bread. Of course it didn’t help that I was healing from Adrenal Fatigue, but that’s another story, not for here. Read more…
Butternut Squash Soup
I love this time of year when the leaves are turning all those magnificent shades — everything from Sunshine Yellow to Deep Wine colors dripping from the trees. As a result of the seasonal change, my palate is drawn to more hot foods like soup. I love butternut squash soup but am unable to eat the ones out of cans or cartons in the grocery stores. Not sure why, but when I muscle-test, my body says, “No.” Finally, I decided I would experiment and make my own. I have been looking at some recipes lately and ended up altering a paleo recipe I had on hand. For a first try, it turned out really wonderful, and it muscle-tests strong! Here’s … Read more…
Satinka’s Favorite Greek Salad
I don’t know who else eats Greek salad the way I eat Greek salad — with lettuce. While I have been served awesome Greek salad on a bed of lettuce on occasion, I prefer my lettuce chopped up and mixed in with all the other wonderful ingredients. Ever since I visited Athens (yes, the one in Greece) I have been a huge fan of Feta cheese. Of course, when I’m at home I always get to prepare a salad just the way I like it, and with all-organic ingredients, so that makes it much more special — and healthy besides. I only know of two restaurants that serve organic food in the city where we live, and they are both a long way from home. As a result, we don’t go out that often to restaurants anymore, except for special occasions. Funny thing is, I don’t miss not eating out. Just knowing that the food served in most restaurants is “conventional” meaning it could have pesticides and/or herbicides all over it like some strange dressing, makes it easy to say goodbye to eating out. At least I know the food I serve lovingly to myself is minus toxins. So now, let’s get to the part about how I make my favorite Greek Salad. Read more…
Home-Made Sauerkraut
There are just a few basic ingredients necessary for the fermentation process, depending on your preference: Vegetables (I prefer cabbage and carrots, mixed together) and Sea salt. We grew up on a farm and I learned at a young age how to make sauerkraut; after all, my father was of Ukrainian descent. As a family, we ate it almost every day and I got to enjoy it. Of course, coming from a family of nine, Father’s idea of sauerkraut production meant making it in a wooden 50-gallon barrel. Not to fear, I have scaled down production significantly since then. I have a nice little crock pot now, which I use specifically for sauerkraut production. Read more…
My Baba’s Summer Salad
I miss my Baba. She’s been gone from the planet for many years now. I still remember her awesome home-made summer salads directly from her garden. She always grew a huge vegetable garden, even while in her 90s. She would never dream of using poisons on her precious vegetable patch. Now, that woman knew how to grow an organic garden even before the word “organic” was used to describe produce. It was just real produce, none of that GMO stuff and none of the toxic sprays used these days so liberally on our food. Most unfortunately, sometimes what is called “progress” is anything but progress. Baba just knew how to grow real food — healthy food. In fact, she never served a hamburger once to us grand-kids. I never even knew what a hamburger was until… Read More…
Weeds Make a Nice Addition to Salad
I have found that wildcrafted weeds make a nice addition to salads. When I was growing up on the farm my mom and I would collect dandelion leaves to add to salad. I must give Mom credit, since she is the person who influenced me in this direction. Now, living in the city, I still continue the tradition. Please bear in mind, we don’t use pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers in our yard or garden. So, if you use products like “Weed ‘n Feed” on your lawn, bear in mind that any surviving weeds will be toxic. Each spring when the leaves are small and tender, I carefully collect from the backyard small, clean leaves of dandelion. I avoid plants that grow along-side the streets, as they would be contaminated with traffic fumes. Wildcrafted dandelion leaves added to my favorite green salad are … Read more…
Is Soy a Health Food?
Yes, it’s true that soy has been heavily promoted by Monsanto’s scientists to some of the healthiest people on the planet: vegetarians. Unfortunately, I personally know several vegetarians whose health degraded severely after eating soy religiously. Read more…
Yummy Baked Yam
I learned to love yams and sweet potatoes only after I moved to a gluten-free and organic diet, due to severe allergies. And only after I found out how really easy it was to make yummy organic home-made oven-baked food. And only after I discovered how really delicious these are with my scrambled eggs or over-easy organic pastured eggs breakfast! After much resistance and arguing, “I can’t give up my breads!” I finally got to a point where I simply had to find a healthier way to eat. No more glutenous breads or grains for me if I wanted any semblance of a quality of life again. Read more…
more to come!
Why Organic? Read Big Food’s Dirty Little Secrets
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” ~ Hippocrates
Contact Me
Leave a comment
hey, which way is up? 