When in Doubt - Check it out!!!

I'm soooo mad right now!!!! I bought case quantities of some juice at Walmart for 50 cents a bottle!!!! Not single serving sizes, either. The 46 oz. bottles of Apple & Eve 100% fruit and vegetable juice blend. What a deal!?! Right?

I drank the orange flavor with no problem, but then I drank the Strawberry Mango. I started bleeding just like I do when I ingest corn - specifically cornstarch. I kept drinking the juice because I read the label and I am very aware of ingredients and there was absolutely no corn in it. Right? Wrong!!

After a week of bleeding and IBS cramping, I figured out that it must be the juice. I called the company. I will say that I was truly impressed that a representative actually called me back the same day I left a message. She informed me that there was in fact lactic acid in it and that it is a corn derivative. Wait a minute, lactic acid isn't even on the ingredient label at all! So much for the government's truth in labeling law!

So, technically it is still a good buy. Just not good for me and Shayla. The rest of the family is enjoying it. UGH!!!

BTW, I am thinking of doing several posts about food allergies. Mainly the different names for many trigger foods, as well as underlying health problems that could actually be caused by food allergies. If you're interested in seeing posts like this, let me know.

Date Your Food

No sillies, you're not going to take your food out bowling or to the movies!

I mean write a date on your new food as you bring it into your home!

This might seem like a no-brainer to some, but I must be a what would you say, slow-learner.

As we were building a nice stockpile of dry goods, boxed foods, and canned foods I realized that I had no idea which things were oldest - that I should use up first. (Oh, and I also had to throw away several jars of organic mayo because it went past expiration, and looked really nasty).

Now if I were Martha Stewart and this were a perfect world, I would (and my family)would move the oldest packages to the front and the new to the back. Yeah, right, I'm doing good to get stuff put away! So, right when I bring it home from the grocery, I take a sharpie marker and write the purchase date on the package.

For more kitchen tips, visit Tammy's Recipes.

Packed Lunch Suggestions?!?

UGH!!! I've spent the morning on the phone with Morgan's high school. You see, Morgan has had a sinus type thing going on since September. No big deal, right, wrong, school started in September. That is when Morgan began drinking milk with a school lunch. Ok, so, no problem, in high school they have choices, right. Yes and no. Yes they have choices, but it costs more!

Follow me here, a regular school lunch for one child is $2.25 per day x 180 days of school is $405 per year. Ouch! Without a doctors note the school can not allow Morgan to substitute the milk with an orange juice (for the same price). However...if she chooses to substitute, without a doctors note she can not get a milk and purchase an orange juice for 50 cents per day, in addition to the $2.25. So for another $90 a year, my child can have the orange juice. Or there's the option of bottled water for an extra $1 a day. So, her "fix" is going to cost me $495 year for a lunch with o.j. or $585 year for water?!?

Is that a crock or what?

Now, I'm not blaming the gal in charge of the school lunch program, she tried to offer other solutions, such as bringing her own and putting it in the fridge. It's the state. Ohio has these laws. More government sticking their noses where it doesn't belong. (IMHO)

What does all this have to do with Kitchen Tip Tuesday? I'm sending out another plea for help. Morgan does not eat the Standard American Diet at home. Because of food allergies, we eat very healthy. She does not actually have the food allergies (except maybe milk). Morgan looks forward to school lunches as her daily "junkfood fix."

Does anyone have any packed lunch suggestions? Something besides peanut butter and jelly. I'm especially interested in wraps, snacks, well, just about anything. She could do soups because we do have a thermos, I'm just afraid it will get lost, because Morgan is sometimes forgetful. What the hey, if you have those suggestions, they're welcome to.

Drink Your Vegetable Water and Help Please

I'm not trying to sell anything, I promise. My kitchen tip is not revolutionary. In fact it's not even hard or time consuming.

Do I have your attention now?

Let me further interest you by saying it will stretch your grocery budget and help your family's bodies get the vitamins and nutrients they so desperately need.

Now that your sitting on the edge of your seat, dying of suspense, drumroll please:

Drink your veggie water!

After you soak your beans or steam your cabbage, broccoli or whatever, don't throw out the water. Cool it in the fridge and drink it. Can't get past the taste, add it to some juice. Put it in homemade soups or stews. I personally don't like the bean water, but rather than waste all those B vitamins my plants, garden and compost pile get my bean water. I don't think plants get gassy! Cheap fertilizer!

Now let me briefly explain the health benefits. Your body has a pH range. If your range gets too low, you become acidic. Being acidic causes fatigue, high blood pressure, strokes and a whole host of other health maladies. Most veggies and the water they are cooked in is alkaline. When you eat the veggies/drink the water, your system becomes more alkaline. The results, more lower pH range = more energy. As an added bonus, it is very helpful to ladies of the childbearing age. Veggies like cabbage and broccoli contain iron that your body can assimilate. It provides energy and relief from PMS!

I've been doing this the past few years and I can tell a big difference in my sense of well-being when I get away from this.

I have a question I pray someone can answer for me.

Does anyone have a recipe for a gluten, milk, corn, soy, yeast free bread? I had been buying a sourdough fruit sweetened bread from Food for Life at $8/loaf, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to get. And expensive! I have found lots of yeast breads and I make a biscuit that tastes decent, but I really would like a bread recipe (sourdough or not) that is similar.

For more kitchen tips, visit Tammy's Recipes.