Homemade Sausage with Sourdough French Toast This recipe came out of a need to do something with the extra triming I had lying around after butchering several pounds of tri-tip and pork shoulder. What better to make sausage out of! INGREDIENTS 1/2lb of Tri-tip trimming 1 lb of pork shoulder (trimings ok) 5-6 eggs 6 pieces of sour dough bread 1 bottle real maple syrup 2-4oz. half and half 2 tbl. rainbow pepper 2 tsp. sage powder 1 1/2 tbl. Hiwa Kai sea salt 1 tsp. majoram 2 tbl. onion powder Toast Topping 1 tbl. granulated sugar 1 tbl.

I just recently received a link to an article that I unfortunately read whilst eating my lunch. As someone who has a ‘cast-iron’ stomach, even this article made me feel a little nauseous. It’s written by a member of the Yahoo News team, Eric Pfeiffer, who went with the following headline: “McDonald’s confirms that it’s no longer using ‘pink slime’ chemical in hamburgers” The fast food company has announced that it has stopped using ammonium hydroxide in the production of its hamburgers. ‘That seems quite nice of them’, one would think…until you realize what ammonium hydroxide is also used for. This chemical is found in fertilizers, cleaning detergents and believe it or not…even homemade explosives! Why was it in the hamburger meat to begin with?! Apparently, this chemical acts as an anti-microbial agent in meat. Again, it’s hard to use the words ‘chemical’ and ‘meat’ in the same sentence. Pfeiffer’s article also lists six other chemicals found in our foods. However, some of them are OK and in that regard the author is over dramatizing, but the ammonium dioxide is a problem considering why it is used. The rest of the article contains a video where a popular UK chef shows the process of how this chemical is used in meat

Almost everyone with a pet has been guilty one time or another of feeding their pet table scraps. When you’re eating dinner and your beloved pet gives you ‘the eyes’, it can be nearly impossible to resist. Unfortunately, an occasional table scrap may be more harmful than you think. Giving in may instill bad behaviors, such as begging and whining – which I know from firsthand experience, can get very annoying. The odd piece of meat shouldn’t harm your dog, but there are many foods out there that can be very harmful if ingested by your pet.

Mini Pot Pies These delicious pies are great for entertaining guests during those long winter nights. Serve them with your favorite salad for a hearty meal. INGREDIENTS for the crust: 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp. sea salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup vegetable shortening 1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced 1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash 1 tbsp. rosemary 2 1/2 tsp. onion powder for the filling: 5 applewood-smoked bacon slices 1/2 of a white onion 2 cups baby carrots 1 3/4 cups organic chicken broth 3/4 cup Greek yogurt 1 whole leek 6 small white potatoes 1/2 cup white wine 1 tsp. white pepper 1 1/2 tsp. sea salt notes?

Pumkin Carrot Cake This delicious holiday dish was perfected by Teresa Nakatani as a gift for my family on Christmas. It produces one of the tastiest carrot cakes I’ve ever had. INGREDIENTS Cake: 2 sticks butter, softened 1 ½ cups sugar ½ cup light brown sugar 4 egg yolks 1 ¼ cups pumpkin puree 1 teaspoon Starwest Botanicals™ vanilla extract 2 cups grated carrots 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour 4 teaspoons baking powder zest of 1 orange 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon Starwest Botanicals™ ginger 2 tablespoons ground Starwest Botanicals™ cinnamon* 1 tablespoon ground Starwest Botanicals™ cardamom* ¼ teaspoon Starwest Botanicals™ nutmeg ¼ teaspoon Starwest Botanicals™ allspice* ¼ teaspoon Starwest Botanicals™ cloves* 1 teaspoon salt 8 egg whites ½ teaspoon cream of tartar 2 tablespoons white sugar Frosting: 2 sticks butter, softened 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese 1 tablespoon sugar 1 pound confectionery sugar, sifted 2 teaspoons vanilla 1/4 teaspoon Starwest Botanicals™ Pumpkin Pie spice blend Pecan topping: 2 tablespoons butter ½ cup light brown sugar 1 teaspoon water ½ cup chopped pecans ¼ teaspoon Starwest Botanicals™ cloves* ¼ teaspoon Starwest Botanicals™ nutmeg 2 tablespoons ground Starwest Botanicals™ cinnamon* *These spices were in their whole form, toasted in a skillet, and grounded fresh prior to usage in recipe. Toasting these spices in a skillet over medium heat for a few seconds allows the flavors to bloom. DIRECTIONS Cake: Grease and flour three 9″ round cake pans. Set aide. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream the butter and sugars until they are light and fluffy (approximately 3-5 minutes). Add the 4 egg yolks, scrapping the sides of the bowl after each yolk addition. Blend on medium for 3 minutes.

With rates of childhood obesity steadily on the rise, pediatricians are now saying once-standard growth charts are no longer applicable. Approximately 17% of youths are obese, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

We live in difficult times. Employees work harder than ever and have fewer opportunities. That’s what the market research firm, Harris Interactive, found after questioning over 1,500 American workers. Harris published these findings in a survey that the firm conducted for the American Psychological Association. According to the survey, thirty-six percent of American workers are stressed out.

A customer recently raised the following point: on the Xtend-Life website under “Buyer’s Guide” sustainability section, it states “The tuna oil does not have any impact on tuna stocks as it is a by-product of the tuna caught for food.”  Can you expand on this? Our response: The reason that our tuna oil has no impact on Tuna stocks is that the oil is a by-product of the fish which is caught for food. To clarify further!  After the fish is filleted, fish meal is produced from the remainder, and oil is produced as part of the process of making the fish meal.  Around 90 – 95%% of that oil is used for agriculture and industrial purposes.  Ironically a significant proportion of the fish meal is used for rearing fish on fish farms which actually puts more pressure on wild stocks as about 5kgs of fish meal is used to produce 1kg of salmon in a fish farm.  Actually the oil from tuna (and hoki) is more conservation friendly than much of the other oil which is mainly produced from anchovies for converting into industrial fish meal as opposed to tuna which are caught for their food value. We certainly accept that tuna is suffering from overfishing and believe that there should be more international controls to curb this overfishing.  However, using the oil from tuna is not contributing to the pressure on the tuna fish stocks. Fortunately the Hoki fishery in New Zealand is healthy, thanks to the tight controls kept on the allowable catches by the NZ Government.

Some people think of hobbies as a waste of time that provide little benefit to life; however, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Whenever I have a friend who is depressed or is just going through a tough time, I always ask what they do for fun. Most of the time they reply “nothing”, which in many cases is a cause of the depression. I immediately tell them to find a hobby; there is no better way to get out of a slump than to find something you enjoy doing.

So who hasn’t overindulged these past festive weeks? Wherever I look, ‘big bellies’ seem even bigger than usual! What can be done? Especially as both Dean and  I point out, zillions of sit ups and the conventional low fat diet will make little difference. To blast belly fat permanently, you need to understand the Real underlying causes. Key Belly Fat Causes In essence, belly fat signifies hormonal and metabolic imbalances characterised by inflammation, estrogen dominance and insulin resistance. Let’s start with inflammation. Inflammation You saw in an earlier blog how inflammation results from toxins, oxidative stress, free radicals, injury, infections, lack of exercise, heredity and especially diet. Regarding diet, it’s mainly the imbalance of fatty acids and oils, with focus on Omega 6 rather than Omega 3 which leads to the metabolization of chemicals causing chronic inflammation. This imbalance is starkly seen when we compare our prehistoric ancestors’ omega-6 to omega-3 ratio with ours.