The Perfect Boiled Egg

Rumor has it that our pasture-raised eggs are hard to peel.

I would most definitely agree with that statement.

My girls love to eat and snack on boiled eggs and I'm delighted to feed them to them. However, I use to secretly dread making them because I never knew if they were going to "turn out" or not.

Through trial and error I believe I have found a way to boil and peel our eggs perfectly- as opposed to looking like you got the shell off with a hammer and a chisel.


Step 1: Place your eggs in a saucepan and cover with water about an inch about the eggs on HIGH heat. **IMPORTANT: SPRINKLE SEA SALT IN THE WATER.**


Step 2: Once your eggs begin to boil, reduce heat to medium (so that they won't crack) and set a timer for 9 minutes. Continue to let eggs boil on medium heat.

Step 3: Once timer goes off. Remove eggs from heat.

Step 4: Immediately place eggs into cool water and let water run over them.

Step 5: Lightly tap egg on the counter top to loosen the shell up.


Step 6: THIS IS THE TRICK: There is a layer of skin between the shell and the egg white called the "inner membrane". This tends to be a little thicker on pasture-raised eggs. But THIS is the trick. You have to find that skin and get under it and peel that off along with the egg shell. It should come off relatively easy once you find it and should pull the shell off at the same time.


Step 7: Find a sweet little helper. This really is a great way to get kids to help you in the kitchen. Once they get the hang of peeling eggs, its a piece of cake for them. My girls LOVE to peel eggs.


Step 8: The final product is shear beauty.




And tastes mighty delicious too!


AND you can also save the egg shells and use them as a natural plant fertilizer and sprinkle them in your garden.

Liquid Sunshine

I know the health posts on this blog are few and far between around here. Or really any posts for that matter. We have lots going on these days.

Honestly, I’m sort of “over” the internet right now and over blogging. I want to push through this phase because I know what is written here on this blog helps document our family’s life and has also been (hopefully) used for good.

After I heard feedback and stories from women who tried the OCM (Oil Cleansing Method) and saw amazing results, I was encouraged. The stories are still coming in.

Who knew something as simple as slathering your face with a bunch of oil that smells good could be so beneficial to our skin?

I love hearing stories of natural methods helping people and taking the things the Lord created to bring healing.

Enter Chlorophyll.

We had a customer out to the farm a few weeks ago who has struggled with severe anemia. And to top it all off, she is a mom of 8 kids. Not a good combination. I think anyone would need a nap after feeding that many kiddos.

She did some research and talked to her natural doctor. Her findings and doctor’s recommendation led her to try Chlorophyll.

She noticed an increase in energy very quickly and overall felt much better. I didn’t get into great detail with her, but as with most things I wanted to look more into this.

Energy??? I could use a little bit of energy myself. I’m all about that.

I happened to have some on-hand- I used it to treat an illness that Jason had came down with a while back (colitis). But, I had never thought about taking it for myself.

The things I read about Chlorophyll made me want to try it for myself. In my research, I’ve learned that this is an all around good supplement.

Here is a quote from this site:

“Chlorophyll is miraculous. It has SO MANY health benefits it makes it a true wonder-food. However, the most marvelous and amazing benefit it gives comes from the fact that its molecular structure is absolutely identical to hemoglobin except for the center atom. In hemoglobin this is iron, whereas in chlorophyll it is magnesium. This means that when ingested, chlorophyll actually helps to do the job of hemoglobin (hemoglobin is so vital to the health of our blood – in fact, blood is approx 75% hemoglobin). It helps to rebuild and replenish our red blood cells, boosting our energy and increasing our wellbeing almost instantly.”

Here are some other claims that come with using Chlorophyll as a supplement:

• Help cleanse your blood
• Aids in digestion
• Increases oxygen in your body
• Removes heavy metals from your body
• Helps balance your pH levels
• Detoxifies your liver
• Anti Carcinogenic

As with anything, I encourage you to do some research before you decide to take this supplement.

I will most definitely continue to make this a regular part of my diet. I use the liquid form of Chlorophyll. Within a few days, I noticed an amazing increase in energy. So much so, that when I "thought" I wanted to take a nap, I could fall asleep. I've struggled in the past with digestive issues and this seems to be helping things move in the right direction also. Overall, I feel better.

I would recommend drinking this in the morning. I've heard from a few others that this has been known to keep them awake at night- which the hubbies might seem to like. Just sayin'.

There are a variety of Chlorophyll brands out there. I chose THIS one solely based on taste. The reviews all said that it was the best tasting one. A lot of the brands claim to be "tasteless". I refer to this as my "cup of fresh". It is indeed refreshing for sure!

You can also receive chlorophyll from eating RAW veggies including parsley, broccoli, brussell sprouts, and Spinach among a whole host of green vegetables.

From my understanding, Chlorella is referring to chlorophyll found in algae. Chlorophyll is simply the green pigment found in both plants and algae. So Chlorella is a specific type of chlorophyll; algae-based. Both are extremely beneficial to our health. I have found Chlorella to be very expensive and so I chose to use a liquid form of Chlorophyll instead.

You can view some articles on NaturalNews.com HERE pertaining to chlorophyll.

HERE is another article on The World's Healthiest Foods website.

Disclaimer::::: I am not a doctor. The things I speak about on this blog regarding health are things that I have personally benefited from using. This information is supposed to be used to inspire and motivate. And should not be taken as medical advice. The methods discussed here have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Oil Cleansing Method (OCM)::::

I've been doing an experiment some months and I've been loving the results so far!

I have a very dear-to-my-heart friend, Mandi. Go check out her blog...you will learn cool crunchy hippy things.

Mandi is a kindred spirit. She also has glowing, radiant, beautiful skin- and striking green eyes (but that is besides the point...back to the skin).

Upon one of our many conversations- me learning and she enlightening me- I asked her what she "washed" her face with.

Much to my surprise, she told me about how she cleanses her face with oil. Gasp!

Instantly my brain thinks through how this would NOT work for me because I have oily acne-prone skin. I would be committing skin suicide if I put oil on my skin, right???

I had bought "oil-free" everything my whole entire life per the costly dermatologists requests.

There lies the problem.

For the majority of my life since I've been old enough to have pimples and bad skin (which most likely dates back to the ripe ole' age of 7.......not really, I tend to exagerate. It just seems that long.) I've struggled with skin issues.

I won't deny that a lot of my skin issues in the past have been hormonally related (PCOS), dietary related (the SAD diet), and an imbalance of good vs. bad bacteria in my stomach.

That whole statement above really irks me! What is the first thing a dermatologist prescribes for someone with acne?

Birth control and antibiotics??? Ding, ding, ding! That's right! And then they tell you to lay off the chocolate. Much to my surprise, chocolate was the least of my worries.

Well, I don't know that a dermo can technically "prescribe" birth control, but I know it was suggested that I use it to help with my acne and so I went to the "other" doctor to get on the pill- who highly recommended the pill for acne. Do you see the cycle?

Okay...I need to focus. I can't get into all of that right now because I don't want to bore you to tears with a reaction chain of all-things-wrong.

We're about solutions around here.

A large part of my problem has been what I've put on my skin on a daily basis.

From the www.oilcleansingmethod.com:

"The reasons we have so much trouble with mainstream skin care products are numerous, but two reasons, in particular, lead the pack. These products strip the oil out of our skin, leaving our largest organ trying to repair itself by replacing the oil stripped away. This leaves us in a cycle of being tight and dry followed by the inevitable oil slick. Each time we strip the oil away, our skin over-compensates for the lack of moisture by creating more oil. On top of the drying effects, these products are highly-scented. Fragrance is one of the top skin irritants and strangely enough, even the so-called "unscented" products usually contain fragrance. See for yourself and check the labels. Dry, irritated skin replaced by oily skin, inflamed and trapping debris."

After talking to Mandi and reading that paragraph above, I had a light-bulb moment. I love those!

I had no idea that taking care of my skin could really be this easy.

I'm not claiming that I have perfectly spotless skin, but during "a time" when my skin is usually the worst.....it looks pretty good I must say.

And on "normal" days, my skin glows like it never has and looks better than it has in years. I do attribute this to the oil since my eating habits have mostly been on track and I've changed my cosmetics over the years.

I really noticed the most improvement when I switched to the Oil Cleansing Method.

I have normally oily skin. When I'm done oil cleansing, my skin feels balanced and soft. Not squeaky clean and not overly oily.

I've noticed a big decrease in blackheads. I can't tell you how many times I've declared war on those suckers.

I cleanse my face with oil at night to wash off my make-up. In the morning when I wake up, I just rinse my face off with water as a good refresher.

Side note.....Another light-bulb moment for me was when I realized that I was washing my face every morning after only sleeping on a newly washed face before I went to bed. How dirty can your face get sleeping??? Not very I don't think.

I will never use soap on my face again. Never! And I will never spend another dime towards expensive cleansers, moisturizers, or toners claiming to be awesome. They are not awesome.

I noticed a HUGE drastic improvement of the "feel" of my skin in just a few days of doing this.

Here is a post on The Oil Cleansing Method website with recipes and information.

Here is a post on Mandi's blog with her great recipe.

I made some modifications for my facial oil based on my skin type. I do have oily skin naturally (my momma says I'll be thankful when I'm older) so I use a little more castor oil than normally balanced skin people should use.

Some people like to use Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) in place of the Sunflower Oil.

But, this is where I like to have a little fun.

The recipe on The Oil Cleansing Method website suggest only Castor Oil, and Sunflower Oil. I suppose you could do that. But, there isn't a whole lot of fun in that now is there?

So, like Mandi, I added Neroli and some essential oils for fragrance. Many many many essential oils are so great for the skin. At the top of the list is orange oil. Not only does it smell scrumptious, it does wonderful things to your skin.

The main thing is to keep it simple and do some experimentation on what works best for your skin.

Try and use medicinal or therapeutic grade (organic is possible) essential oils if you choose to add them.

Before you spend another dime on a bottle of "the next big thing", try going simple and back to basics of skin cleansing. I think we tend to over-complicate things in this world of ours.

Cleansing your skin can really be as simple as using two ingredients (or 4 in my case) and not a list of ingredients the length of your hand with a million words you've never heard of claiming to do things they were never intended to do in the first place.

If you give this a whirl or have used it, give me a shout out and let me know!

Got Milk???

Last night on Nightline, there was an extremely disturbing story about commercial dairy farms and the milk industry. The video is posted for you below.

If you drink milk, you need to watch this.

But, as you are watching this video, keep in mind that you do have options. This story fails to mention the side where the grass is greener- literally. You don't have to give up drinking milk all together.

I'm not even advocating drinking "organic whole milk"- there are skeleton's in that closet as well that I encourage you to look into.

There is a wonderful site filled with information about drinking raw milk and buying milk from local dairies. In the state of Texas, to my knowledge, there are 3 "Grade A Raw for Retail" dairies and probably more are popping up all over the state.

People immediately become fearful at the thought of drinking raw milk and its safety. But, what the government deems as "safe" is shown in the video.

At the dairy we buy from, you see cows in pasture eating green grass in the fresh air. The milking room is clean and not filled with poop.

Our family switched over to raw milk 3 years ago. We absolutely love it!

Raw milk definitely costs a little more than "organic whole milk"- you are looking at anywhere from $5 to $10 a gallon.

But, in my opinion, if you were to make a few changes in your diet towards a healthier lifestyle, dairy would be one of the first areas I'd start closely followed by meat.

How To Render Lard

****Below are steps to render your own lard.****

When people hear the word "lard", they mostly think bad things- fattening, unhealthy, bad for you, etc. Lard has developed a bad connotation over the years and has been replaced by things like crisco, margarine, vegetable oil, and canola oil.

I recently told someone that I was going to try and render my own lard for cooking. To that they replied,"I thought you ate healthy. Lard does not sound healthy."

So, this is attempt to dispell the myths that all fats are bad for you. All fats are not created equal.

"Today heart disease causes at least 40% of all US deaths. If, as we have been told, heart disease results from the consumption of saturated fats, one would expect to find a corresponding increase in animal fat in the American diet. Actually, the reverse is true. During the sixty-year period from 1910 to 1970, the proportion of traditional animal fat in the American diet declined from 83% to 62%, and butter consumption plummeted from eighteen pounds per person per year to four. During the past eighty years, dietary cholesterol intake has increased only 1%. During the same period the percentage of dietary vegetable oils in the form of margarine, shortening and refined oils increased about 400% while the consumption of sugar and processed foods increased about 60%.2 " (The Skinny on Fats, Weston A. Price Foundation, see full article below)

Not too long ago, our grandmothers and their mothers all cooked and baked with pork lard and butter. In recent years, these two foods have been deemed "bad" fats and we've been dumbed down to thing that baking with margarine (which is one molecule away from plastic) and vegetable oil is better for us in some way.

As a matter of fact, when you hear the words "vegetable oil" one would think good things because of the word "vegetable". And "canola" certainly doesn't sound that harmful either.

Vegetable oil is made up largely of genetically modified (GMO) soy and corn. It is even used in paints, hydraulic fluid, and has various other industrial uses. Canola oil is made from a seed called the rapeseed. Sounds freaky, right? The name "canola oil" was given to make the oil more marketable. Rapeseed has high toxic amounts of erucic acid that is dangerous for human consumption. However, the hydrogenation of the rapeseed deems it safe for human consumption because it only has trace amounts of the erucic acid in it- yet its still in the oil. Canola oil is also an industrial oil that does not belong in the human body.

Here is a direct quote from an article "The Oiling of America" listed below to sort of sum this up for us.

"Most animal fats-like butter, lard and tallow-have a large proportion of saturated fatty acids. Saturated fats are straight chains of carbon and hydrogen that pack together easily so that they are relatively solid at room temperature. Oils from seeds are composed mostly of polyunsaturated fatty acids. These molecules have kinks in them at the point of the unsaturated double bonds. They do not pack together easily and therefore tend to be liquid at room temperature. Judging from both food data and turn-of-the-century cookbooks, the American diet in 1900 was a rich one-with at least 35 to 40 percent of calories coming from fats, mostly dairy fats in the form of butter, cream, whole milk and eggs. Salad dressing recipes usually called for egg yolks or cream; only occasionally for olive oil. Lard or tallow served for frying; rich dishes like head cheese and scrapple contributed additional saturated fats during an era when cancer and heart disease were rare. Butter substitutes made up only a small portion of the American diet, and these margarines were blended from coconut oil, animal tallow and lard, all rich in natural saturates."

To sum this up even further for us- our bodies know how to process naturally saturated animal fats and fats like lard, butter, coconut oil, and tallow. Foreign and ancient diets high in natural saturated fats have low risks of heart disease, high cholesterol, and cancers. Seed oils our bodies don't really know what to do with because of all of the extensive porcessing and hydrogenation to achieve the seed oils.

"The relative good health of the Japanese, who have the longest life span of any nation in the world, is generally attributed to a lowfat diet. Although the Japanese eat few dairy fats, the notion that their diet is low in fat is a myth; rather, it contains moderate amounts of animal fats from eggs, pork, chicken, beef, seafood and organ meats. With their fondness for shellfish and fish broth, eaten on a daily basis, the Japanese probably consume more cholesterol than most Americans. What they do not consume is a lot of vegetable oil, white flour or processed food (although they do eat white rice.) The life span of the Japanese has increased since World War II with an increase in animal fat and protein in the diet." (Skinny on Fats, Weston A. Price Foundation. See below.)

After seeking alternatives to the modern use of crisco, vegetable oil, canola oil, and margarine I discovered the unique benefits of cooking with pork lard and raw grass-fed butter.

Here is a chart of of the best sources of obtaining good fats in your diet (taken from "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon)

- Fresh Butter and Cream from pastured animals; preferrably raw
- Lard
- Beef, Lamb, Goose, and Duck fat from pastured animals
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Unrefined Flax Seed Oil in small amounts
- Coconut and Palm Oil

Second to Cod Liver, pork lard is among the top foods in obtaining Vitamin D in our diets. The key to benefitting from vitamin D in pork lard, is by rendering lard from pigs raised in natural sun light.

Commercially raised pigs never see the light of day. So, their lard would be low in Vitamin D, not to mention that animals store their toxins in their fat therefore making the diet of the pig extremely important during its life.

Lard is a stable fat that is largely used in baking and cooking. We have our butcherer save our pork fat (we sell this as well) so that we are able to render our own lard from our pigs raised on pasture and fed 100% USDA certified organic grains.

I've barely even scratched the surface here. The subject of fats in our diet is highly complex and somewhat scientific.

As with anything, you will run into information on both ends of the spectrum. Always consider your sources. If you are interested in looking into digging deeper into this subject, I encourage you to do so and not just take my word for it.

I've compiled a list of articles from the Weston A. Price Foundation- a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity founded in 1999 to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated nonindustrialized peoples established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets.

The Skinny on Fats

The Oiling of America

The Great Con-ola

How to render your own lard on the stove top (you can also render in the oven):

1. Find a cute farmer willing to cut up your fat for ya!!! Just kidding. Not really:)

I have a hard time cutting up the fat since its a lot! So, Jason helps me with this step and for that I'm grateful!

Here is what it looks like in the package de-thawed.

2. Place cut up lard in a large stock pot. Turn to medium heat and let the pork fat do its thing. Keep in mind that it is pork, so a splatter screen might come in handy.

You will let pork cook on medium heat for about 45 minutes and stirring occasionally. Be careful not to overcook the pork fat because it will give your lard a "pork" flavor. Pork lard that is rendered correctly doesn't have a pork flavor to it.


3. Once the pork lard begins to float and look like this, continue cooking for about another 10 minutes watching it closely and stirring the pork fat.


4. Remove from heat once its done.

5. The steps I use for straining are....

Place a strainer in a bowl.

Triple line it with cheesecloth and pour pork fat and cracklings into the strainer lined with cheesecloth.


It should look like this after you've strained it.

6. Save your pork cracklings! These are good to use in bean recipes and cornbread recipes. Yum!

7. Use your jelly funnel to pour into glass jars.

8. Once it cools down to room temperature, place it in the fridge for storage. It should look creamy white once it has cooled down.

HFCS

This commercial showed up on television the other day. I don't know if its been around a while since we don't watch much television, but I found it extremely interesting and aggravating all at the same time.

Along with this commercial coming on scene, this website (HFCS Facts) and this website (Sweet Surprise) have also popped up.

There is so much information out there about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) being bad for you. And make no mistake about it, it is. But, simply hearing its bad for you and being an instant HFCS-Nazi is not a good idea. You then risk looking like the woman in this commercial. Know the facts behind the decisions you make.

The claim that HFCS is a 'natural' ingredient is far from the truth. That in and of itself is deceitful. HFCS is made up of almost all genetically modified chemicals and is most definitely made using genetically modified corn (GMO corn).

GMO corn was created in the early 90s. It was was man's attempt at creating a product resistant to pesticides and herbicides that their fields are saturated with. Farmers can drench their fields with pesticides and herbicides and the corn plants remain unaffected. Insects won't even eat GMO corn as it was developed to be insect tolerant.

The name of the seed used in the majority of GMO corn is 'Round-Up Ready Corn'.

Sounds appetizing, doesn't it?

If something has a corn product (Corn Syrup, HFCS, Cornmeal, or just plain corn) in it of any kind and is not certified organic, you can know without a doubt that product was made with GMO corn. The vast majority of the country's meat within the traditional meat industry is fed GMO corn (yet, another reason to eat grass-fed meats).

A good summary of the HFCS and corn crisis is the movie KING CORN. This movie is highly entertaining and informational as well. There are overwhelming statistics that are in this film. The guys who made this independent film even attempted to make HFCS in their own kitchen. It was a bit scary watching what they put in this stuff.

My all-time favorite quote from the movie is from a corn farmer in Iowa. He states proudly in the movie,"We're not growing corn. We're growing crap."

Sweet.

There is a vast amount of information out there about GMO corn and the other genetically modified foods that our government allows. I could type forever and not even cover the surface of this. Corn is an important issue. Its in everything it seems like. I could not even find a bag of hamburger buns at the grocery store without HFCS in it.

Here is a brief list of the GMO foods allowed by our government, but know that within each of these categories are several varieties of GMO seeds.

- corn
- soybeans
- cotton
- tomatoes
- potatoes
- rapeseed (canola)
- sugar cane
- sweet corn
- rice

If there was an ingredient I'd choose to omit from my diet, it would be anything containing GMO corn products. There is some disturbing info about this stuff. A better option would be to buy organic corn products. Most of the packages say "Made with non-GMO corn".

I hope this doesn't come off too critical and harsh. My heart is to educate and encourage others to educate themselves so conversations like in the commercial don't happen. I get so aggravated when I see commercials and websites like the one above as if Americans are silly enough to sit back and believe whatever is put right in front of them. But, don't just take my word for it or believe these commercials and website. If its a concern of yours, I encourage you to look into it and dig a little deeper and read labels.

Have you seen this commercial?

What are your thoughts?