We’ve been sold a bill of goods!

Everything you thought you knew is a big fat lie…

Antibacterial Finished Acrylic Medium Weight Yarn

Antibacterial Finished Acrylic Medium Weight Yarn!  WHY?

Use margarine, not butter. Use Canola oil, not lard.  Don’t use salt it’s bad for you… The list goes on and on.  It’s all been a lie, just to sell us more stuff. Well, you know that antibacterial soap, hand sanitizer, and the wipes they tell us we need?  You guessed it, all lies.  Listen to this…

The biggest marketing scam about these antibacterial soaps is that “they keep the germs at bay, protecting the individual from sickness.” This marketing lie tries to completely hide the fact that the average human comes into contact with hundreds of thousands of bacteria and viruses daily, and it’s the human immune system that prevents the illness, not the toxic  soap. The only thing the soap does is encourage bacteria strains to adapt and grow smarter and stronger, allowing new super-bugs to attack the immune system later on with more force and variability.

On top of that, methylisothiazolinone-laced products incite nerve damage. Similar in chemical structure to Agent Orange, the toxic soap preservative is often dished out on the American dinner table, as a thin layer of dish soap poison. The nerve toxin is so dangerous, Japan’s Standard for Cosmetics restricts its use in body care, while Canada has placed the toxic preservative on its Prohibited and Restricted Cosmetics Ingredients list.  [Read more…]

If you haven’t already started, take a look at the things you buy.  What’s in them?  These are not just harmless little chemicals.  They have lasting repercussions.  All those chemicals that you can’t pronounce are causing allergic rashes, they contaminate the drinking water, harm the fish and wreck havoc on the environment.

There are alternatives.  I’ve started making my own laundry soap.  It’s so cheap. There are tons of recipes, so don’t be afraid to experiment. I think I’ll try this one next. This is an awesome shampoo but there are many others.  You pay a little more, use a little less, the environment and your health wins.

So long as they can make a buck off us, they will keep producing garbage.  You deserve the best and your health may depend on it, so demand only the best.  You are worth it!

As for me?  I am getting as dirty as possible.  I believe those germs can keep me from getting sick.  So, I’m trying to get back to nature.  Try something new!

These articles might scare the pants off of you, but you need to know…

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America’s Test Kitchen School Review

I signed up for a trial membership of  The America’s Test Kitchen Cooking School.  I stayed about an hour and tried out two of the lesson plans.  Boy was I disappointed.

...or how to make your cooking look repulsive....

Oh, they have thought of everything.  There was more reading to do than I like.  I have to read stuff all day long and the videos work just fine for me.  Yes, I admit to being lazy. The lessons include:

* IQ Quizzes – These fun quizzes appear at the start of Technique Lessons and In-Depth Course sections and are designed to both gauge your current understanding of the topic and teach you some basics before diving into course material. Detailed feedback is supplied for each response and a summary of your results is supplied at the end.
* Concept Reviews – These are interactive quizzes that test how much information you’ve learned. Do you understand the key concepts that will ensure good results in the kitchen? You’ll receive detailed feedback as you answer each question and a score at the end.
* Core Technique Videos  – These videos, found in Technique Lessons and In-Depth Courses, are focused on a single important core technique and will help build cooking knowledge. You will learn techniques that apply to thousands of recipes, such as how to sauté chicken or how to make risotto, as well as more specialized techniques, such as how to tie a roast or how to blind-bake a pie shell. Watching these videos will prepare you for the recipe tutorials where you’ll be applying many of these core techniques. Most importantly, these videos review key concepts that will increase your understanding of course material.
* Recipe Tutorials – Recipe tutorials are where the cooking happens. After we introduce a recipe to you and list the required tools and ingredients, you’ll watch Bridget cook in an extensive step-by-step video tutorial and hopefully, cook along with her – that is if you’ve got an ipad or laptop and can bring her into your kitchen.
* Discussions – Class discussion is a key part of your learning experience. Clicking the discussions icon in the upper right-hand corner will allow you to start/or contribute to these at any point in a lesson. As a student and peer, your participation is key. You will add valuable insight by participating in discussions, enriching the learning that takes place, and allowing other students to learn from you. We encourage you to participate in class discussions often!

Recipe

Instructors are available, but that’s extra.

The reason I didn’t stay a member?  I took the tutorial on Eggs.  They had the nerve to say that store bought eggs were just as good as farm fresh eggs.  Excuse me?  I raise farm fresh eggs and nothing could be further from the truth.  They also claim there is no nutritional difference.  Saying it does not make it so, you can see the difference.  I don’t care what they say.  Just crack an egg open.

They are being politically correct and not telling people the truth.  Most store bought eggs come from chickens who are eating GMO’s.  You can’t talk about food and not hit on this subject and pretend it doesn’t exist.  So, I cancelled my free membership, that I had to give a credit card number to get.  It’s so not worth it, when you can get good accurate information for free.

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Homemade Apple Sauce

I was feeling ambitious yesterday, so I made some Apple Butter, then some Garlic Jelly and what the heck, I still had some time… I decided to make some Apple Sauce.  I should have stopped while I was ahead.

Apple SauceWhen I was done I turned the burner off, or rather I thought I turned it off, and actually turned it to high, where it cooked all night long. 7 hours it boiled on my stove.  I was afraid to open the pressure cooker. It was bone dry. Boil might not be the right word, since it wasn’t really liquid anymore.

These jars were actually full when I started out.  I used only the best spices and it tasted so good, the texture was perfect.  Tomorrow, I get to start all over again. The entire batch ruined.

So, if you ever wondered what would happen if you boiled something all night long, wonder no more. Actually, the apple sauce doesn’t taste too bad as long as you don’t scrape the bottom of the jar.

I can’t wait to try my Garlic Jelly.  Not only did I leave the garlic in the jar (instead of straining most of it out) but I used Ultra Gel to thicken the Garlic Jelly.  I had made some last week that was incredible but I made it with liquid Pectin.  My bad, it’s full of GMO’s!    It didn’t even occur to me to check.  I mean it’s for canning, it must be all natural, right?  Wrong.

This might just be the answer to prayer…  I’m going to try it out.  By the time I get to the bottom of the package, I’ll either order more or find something else.  What’s important to me is it’s GMO free.

Ultra Gel is a gluten-free, non-GMO cornstarch that can be added directed to any liquid, hot or cold, for instant thickening. The Ultra Gel Starter Kit includes one 16-oz pouch of Ultra Gel and one Ultra Gel Answer Book with 150 pages of easily prepared, delicious recipes.  From dips and dressings to dessert, the recipes are friendly for chefs of all skill levels and include nutrition information and tips and tricks for special diets and make-ahead preparations.

Of special interest are the sections on Canning and Jams and Jellies. Since Ultra Gel can be refrigerated, canned or frozen without losing quality, there are plenty of recipes for bottled pie fillings and sauces. [Get Ultra Gel]

Did you know you can make your own Pectin?  In fact, there are several methods.  I’m going to try this method soon:    Harvest: Making Your Own Pectin!  Be sure to check out other recipes, too.

Apple Pectin: How to Make It, How to Use It, and Why I Don’t

Homemade apple pectin seemed like such a frugal and healthy idea –  an all natural, chemical free alternative to store-bought pectin that I could make from apple scraps I would normally throw away.Brilliant, right?

Imagine my dismay when my experiment was a complete and total flop.  Oh, my jam “set” just fine.After I had almost completely boiled it away, that is.  And added way more sugar than I usually do.

She recommends using  Pomona’s Pectin, but what about those nasty GMO’s?  I won’t feed them to my family.  We are using Ultra Gel. My jelly setup just fine.  So, we shall see.

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