Contents

• 5 Day Tactical Push Weight Loss & Detox Dinner Plan
• 5 Day Tactical Push Weight Loss & Detox Lunch Plan
• 5 Day Tactical Push Weight Loss & Detox Breakfast Plan
• Lard and other Saturated, & Natural Fats are Super Foods
• White Sourdough Pasta, Breads,Tortillas, and more, are beneficial to metabolism, blood sugar and insulin levels!
• Yard to Table Preserving the Harvest
• Honey
• Beets Are Kale
• Taking it to a higher level
• Candy Entrepreneur
• Up Comming
• 1st of the Season Farmer’s Market
• Roussanne or Red?
• Fennel/Anise
• A day of heavenly delights

5 Day Tactical Push Weight Loss & Detox Dinner Plan

Please share any of my posts, videos, or recipes but credit me and link to my sight Pam’s Tactical Kitchen.

Here are five wonderful dinner recipes to enjoy. As with all my recipes they have anti-inflammation, detox and weight loss benefits plus they are delicious. Most use Grass-Fed/Grass-Finished Beef, that is antibiotic and growth hormone free. It is the most available, cleanest local food. Next is farm-stead pork raised in open space organic environments fed non-GMOs and table scraps. The chicken are free range whole birds, fed organic nonGMOs. Finally wild caught in season fresh fish and sea food. Garden vegetables grown organically and used in season are recommended, but even conventionally grown vegetables have less pesticides than fed-lot finished meats, and farmed fish and sea foods.

Included in this post is a link to what I’ve learned about sourdough and it’s benefits, along with links to some of my sourdough recipes. Also included are 10 bonus link recipes, of salads, stir-fry’s and steam-fry’s. After that 9 additional vegetable side dish recipe links (including the popular Kale Chips) and home-made probiotic vegetables. It’s very beneficial to eat a least one serving of probiotic vegetables a day.

1. Rosemary garlic Chicken & Collard Greens with Bacon

This is an easy dinner, it just needs 1 &1/2 hours or so of oven time, for the chicken, and after the bacon is done the collard greens take about 20 minutes. To see how to make slow roasted chicken, click on the black framed picture to see my video, “Rosemarry garlic Chicken”. The bird is done when the internal temperature is 165-180 degrees Fahrenheit and juices run clear. Let it rest for 15 minutes, before slicing. The drippings from the chicken make a great sauce. To de-fat it, a baster with bulb works quick and easy or you can collect some of the fat on ice cubes to separate it from the juice. Save all the bits from the roasting pan to make sauce or stock, use all the left overs for bone broth!

To make the greens, cook bacon and remove but leave the drippings. Soak and clean the greens in cold water for at least 20 minutes. Remove the veins and stems (they are too tough to eat) drain and chop. Cook on medium high heat in the bacon drippings 20 minutes or so, adding a bit of water, salt and vinegar. We like to add a bit of crushed red pepper flakes.

2. Grass-fed/Grass-Finished London Broil

The last picture is a video recipe of how to make this. The meat in the first 2 pictures is Orvis Ranch grass-fed/grass-finished London Broil, it was easy to grill and great tasting. Just about everybody knows the tremendous benefits of eating grass-fed/grass-finished over GMO fed, feed-lot finished beef from cattle that have been drugged up and meat that’s been enhanced. The grass-fed/grass-finished turned out wonderful, juicy, tender and a bit more complex than the feed-lot Londons. A fresh from the garden green salad, makes a great side dish with the tender juicy meat.

• 1 Fresh grass-Fed/grass-Grass/Finished London Broil
• olive oil (to coat) nonGMO extra virgin
• 2 cloves pressed garlic
• unrefined sea salt
• fresh ground black pepper

Cover beef with olive oil, 1 clove pressed garlic, sea salt, and pepper. Turn and repeat on other side. Let meat come to room temperature. Pre-heat grill, to 450-500. Grill meat around 4-5 minutes on the first side, and 3-4 on the second. check with an instant meat thermometer, I recommend stopping at 110* for rare, and 120* for medium rare, because the meat should rest for 5 minutes and it cooks a bit more all that time, you can put it back on the grill if needed, but you can’t undo over cooked meat. Slice the meat paper thin, against the grain, and at a slight angle. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on before serving.

3. GRILLED SALMON WITH CREAM SAUCE & ASPARAGUS DINNER

• First I made this super easy sauce. Just reduced down, 1/2 cup organic cream (best from pastured cows raw or only pasteurized), on the lowest setting for 8 minutes or so. Spice it with a bit of dry French tarragon, white pepper & lemon zest.
• When you buy asparagus look for the straightest tips, not opened up or bent way over. At home give them a clean cut on the bottom. Stand them up in a dish with a little filtered water. Cover with a bag and refrigerate.
• Just before cooking, bend and break spears at the point they want to. Clean and coat with olive oil and a bit of sea salt.
• Clean and dry Salmon. Cover each piece with soft sweet butter, (best to use organic sweet butter from pastured cows, raw if possible). Season with sea salt, garlic, and black, or white pepper.
• Grill the asparagus on a grilling tray, turning for even char.
• Gently place the salmon skin side up on the grilling tray, close lid and check every 3-4 minutes, turn carefully, so they don’t break up. Cook until the fish looks done, a kind of firm pink color not raw and opaque when you peek inside the flesh.
• When finished remove skin from the Salmon and cover with sauce. I like a spoonful of home-made mayonnaise or butter on the asparagus.

4. Grilled Asparagus & Beef Stir Fry

This is mostly grilled, then sliced and added to the hot nuts. An endless variety of other vegetables, spices, nuts, and sauces could be added. The possibilities of the recipe are unlimited. I recommend using, grass-feed/grass-finished beef, clean locally grown asparagus, and local almonds. I recommend making “Sprouted Almonds” click on the picture at the end of this recipe to learn how to make them yourself.

• 1/3 lb. Fresh grass-Fed/grass-Grass/Finished London Broil
• 1/4 cup almonds
• vegetables
• olive oil, best extra virgin cold pressed, non GMO
• sea salt
• Asian sauce

Coat 1/3 lb. London Broil or other lean cut, with olive oil, dust with sea salt, garlic, & black pepper. Leave out long enough to come to room temp. Clean and break the asparagus or prepare other vegetables. Coat with olive oil, and sea salt. Use a grilling pan to char then remove. Grill the meat just long enough to get a nice char on each side, but don’t finish cooking. Bring in and slice. Heat up burner on med-low add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add 1/4 cup almonds, toss nuts to coat with oil, roast 2-3 minutes, remove from burner add meat, vegetables, nuts and toss . Enjoy with your favorite Asian sauce, and a serving of fermented brown rice.

5. Paleo & Gluten-free Grass-fed/Grass-finished Beef & Homestead Pork Meat Loaf. This is a great crowd pleaser, and a fabulous left over in cold or hot sandwiches, and salads.

• 2 lb.’s Grass-fed/Grass-finished ground beef
• 1 lb. pork, best farm-stead raised in open space organic environments fed non-GMOs and table scraps.
• 2 stocks celery non GMO, organic, best home-grown celery
• 1 sweet white or yellow onion, non GMO, organic, best home-grown
• 12 to 15 Brown mushrooms, best home-grown or local
• 2 free range brown eggs, non GMO, organic, best home-grown
• 1 tablespoon unrefined sea salt
• 3 tablespoons fresh ground pepper best non GMO, organic
• 1 tablespoon allspice best non GMO, organic
• 1/3 cup cream, best raw from a dependable source, use non GMO organic, pasteurized is ok, but never ultra pasteurized
• 1/2 cup sprouted almond flour * click on the last 2 pictures for info
• olive oil, best extra virgin, non GMO
• balsamic vinegar, good quality

Clean and chop vegetables very fine. I use a food processor. Spread over roasting pan, (I use the same pan for this and the meatloaf) coat with oil and vinegar, salt & pepper. Roast vegetables at 325 for 20-30 minutes flipping a couple of times, until they are toasted. Let vegetables cool to room temperature. Mix all ingredients together. Form a loaf shape, and place on roasting rack as shown. Roast at 325, for around 2 hours, it’s done when the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. The pan drippings are excellent deglazed for sauce or gravy. Like all roast, the meat should rest (covered) 10-15 minutes before serving. Ketchup is always a great addition along side Meatloaf. Here are two of mine, Slow food Heirloom Tomato Ketchup or Safe & EZ Ketchup, click on picture to see recipe.

Sourdoughs, breads, starches and whole grains

For weight loss all starches including vegetables should be limited to 0-1 serving a day. For detox 0-3 a day. If you want tortillas or pasta I recommend my sourdough recipes. For more details about “true sourdough” and it’s benefits click on #1. Picture # 2 is my sourdough pasta recipe. Something almost cracker like would be my “Light & Yummy Snacking Bread” click picture # 3 for it. For store bought Bread: use sprouted grain breads or true sourdough * see next paragraph. Sprouted grain breads are made by Alvarado Street Bakery, or Ezekiel. My favorite is Alvarado Street Bakery’s, Sprouted Flax/Whole Wheat, 50 calorie a slice 6.5 net carbs per slice bread. The last two are my video recipes for Organic White Flour Sourdough Tortillas and Sourdough Bread.

1. 2. 3.

The white wheat flour I use is Bob’s Red Mill, Organically grown & certified unbleached unbromated. Why not whole grain? Click on picture #1 or quite simply, the reason is, that white sourdough does not spike up insulin as high as all other types of breads do, including and even more so with whole grains. Plus the benefits last for hours. *However not all sourdough is created equal, almost all mass-produced sourdough products, are not really sourdough. Most have yeast added, which means the long fermentation that makes sourdough probiotic and grows lactic acid was not done, and they are only sourdough flavored. Also most use cheep bleached, highly processed, enriched, flour. Keep sourdough starter, it is a live culture fermented food, and probiotic.

Here are 10 bonus recipes, of salads, stir-fry’s and steam-fry’s. Click on each picture to see recipe. Salads are a great way to use left overs, hot or cold, always have on hand home-made dressing, or oil & vinegar, and lettuces. Stir-frying is another quick meal, keep fresh vegetables and meats on hand ready to use.

Steam Fry

Live Blue Cheese Dressing

5 Day Tactical Push Weight Loss & Detox Lunch Plan

5 Day Tactical Push Weight Loss & Detox Lunch Plan

Follow the recipes, do not drink alcohol, sodas, or use any form of artificial sweeteners. I recommend use of cast iron or clad stainless steel pans, not non-stick, for all cooking. Use only whole fats. Never use hydrogenated oils, or any vegetable oils, canola, soy, sunflower, corn, and cottonseed oils being the most common.

These are the good fats you should use: * For high temperature cooking use, Lard,* bacon fat, goose, duck fat or coconut oil. Cooking at medium temperature, up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit use butter, and or olive, peanut, palm, macadamia, or hazelnut oils or of course those listed above. In dressings (not cooked or heated) use walnut, flax sesame, and wheat germ oils, as well as any in the above list.

The last listings are 2 video recipes, Organic clean & Healthy Mayonnaise Home-Made, Live Blue Cheese Dressing, and one post recipe, Safe & EZ Ketchup. I find it essential to make my own dressings and sauces, because store-bought ones have many horrific ingredients, and home-made taste so much better!

Continue using any of my green recipes for weight loss, yellow for maintenance, and red for special occasions.

1. Asparagus & Shiitake Mushroom Ginger Garlic Beef steam fry with Coconut oil. All vegetables were purchased on Saturday at the Modesto Certified Farmers Market.

Chicken Soup

That’s steam and aroma fogging up the photo, once you’ve had this you’ll never go back to canned.

After roasting a chicken, save the drippings from the roasting pan and some good meat and set aside. Put all the remaining bird, everything fat, skin, bone, meat, in a crock pot or on the stove, cover with cold water, add about 1 tablespoon of vinegar, and soak for 1-2 hours, gently cook for 24-48 hours on very low heat. If you have vegetables (except in the broccoli or cabbage family they make broth bitter ,[but you can add them at the end], that are old or not pretty or what ever, clean them up and add too.

What you’ve done now is suck out all the great flavors and nutrients, so you toss everything but the broth. Decant and refrigerate, when cold, skim off the top layer of fat, now sauté your favorite vegetables, and add them along with the good meat you set aside. Enjoy, this is truly a wonderful food, and great now during winter season. It’s well-known to help with a cold or flu too.

7. Left over pulled pork & added vegetables

Left over pulled pork from the big game meal, worked great with some lightly sautéed vegetables and sauce for lunch.

This is cooked in olive oil at med-low, we added a little left over BBQ sauce and fermented soy sauce at the table for a beautiful, quick meal.

There are 2 video recipes below and 1 post recipe that I can’t live with out, Ketchup, Mayonnaise and Blue Cheese Dressing. Olive oil (good cold pressed extra virgin nonGMO) with balsamic vinegar, is ok for dressing sometimes, but I just can’t stomach a dry sandwich.

A. Organic clean & Healthy Mayonnaise Home-Made

Organic clean & Healthy Mayonnaise Home-Made click to see video recipe.

It’s becoming more important to eat clean. This makes clean home-made mayonnaise essential. For years now I’ve tried so many different recipes, but this is the one that’s the easiest, and best for me. Believe me I’ve tried lots of other recipes, some where ok, but this one is great, and never fails me, plus I like it. It’s important that the oil not have an overwhelming strong taste, like olive, or flax, not really a mayo flavor. The left over egg whites can be used up in lots of other recipes.

Post Script

For some reason, egg size perhaps, I’ve had to increases this to a total of 3 egg yolks. 11/16/13

B. Live Blue Cheese Dressing

Live Culture Blue Cheese Dressing, click to see video recipe.

C. Safe & EZ Ketchup

Cook down 4 tablespoons cider vinegar, 8 tablespoons organic coconut sugar on low until dissolved.

Add 8 tablespoons organic tomato paste. If it’s not sweet enough add 1-2 tablespoons of organic maple syrup or organic raw agave nectar to your taste, add pinch of the spices you like. I used sea salt, allspice, and cayenne pepper.

Coming soon and to be added to this post as when published: * *

• Lard is a Super Food Good Fats/ Bad Fats
• Video, Lard Toxic Waste or Super Food

5 Day Tactical Push Weight Loss & Detox Breakfast Plan

5 Day Tactical Push Weight Loss Diet

This is a quick weight loss plan, and it’s a good way to start and then follow with the Tactical Life Style Plan, which allows more carbs, and alcohol.

Breakfast

• Coffee or tea optional
• Milk and diary, use the best quality whole milk and cream available: Best raw dairy form a dependable source. Organic from pastured cows, pasteurized only, never ultra pasteurized or homogenized or enriched, or low-fat, non-fat, etc. *All yogurt are heated which is pasteurizing, but most go far beyond this one step, the least altered are the best and the best probiotic. Cheeses from farmstead raw milk are the best, or home-made. Next any cheese from pastured cows in organic environments, last cheese from cows not given growth hormones.
• Eggs, best free range organic, local.
• Bacon best from a local meat processor, from farm-stead pigs, raised outdoors, on non-GMO feed, and farm raised feed. At this time sodium nitrite is not considered harmful, although many people feel the natural ones as in celery, are preferred over synthetic.
• Sugars and artificial sweeteners, do not use any in this first 5 days! In fact DO NOT USE ANY ARTIFICAL SWEETENERS EVER! Not even stevia. Here’s why; your body thinks it’s real sugar, and they are often many times sweeter than plain sugar, manufactures have buffed up sugar by making high fructose corn syrup to try to keep up with this new super, new tolerance level of extreme sweetness, caused in my opinion by artificial sweeteners. My point is you can change how your body responds to sugar, but not without getting rid of the fake stuff. The only way to detox from that super sweet craving sugar high is to stop using artificial sweeteners, and retrain your receptors to enjoy the natural sweetness in real foods.
• Salt use unrefined sea salt, it’s loaded with all kinds of nutrients and minerals, and many foods can not be absorbed with out it.
• Fat burns fat! Yes it’s true, and it also improves absorption of nutrients, suppresses appetite, provides vitamins, enzymes, hormones and prevents Metabolic Syndrome. The problem is we’ve been eating the wrong fats which actually increases Metabolic Syndrome. The bad fats are, vegetable oils, hydrogenated fats and or trans fats. All my recipes use only good fats. All natural fat is good for you, this includes saturated fat!

Here are 5 Breakfast meals, use them as you please. Most mornings I eat yogurt, or Egg in a Frame.

1. Morning scramble: 2 whole eggs, scrambled, 2 bacon strips, a bit of cheese and or fresh salsa, cook eggs in bacon drippings, mix in crumbled bacon, top with cheese and salsa.
2. Yogurt: 1/2 to 2/3 cups plain organic whole milk yogurt top with sprouted nuts, 2-3 dried cherries or raisins chopped up.
3. Egg in a frame: Use 1 slice of real sourdough bread (if yeast is listed as an ingredient then it’s not sourdough) or a sprouted bread. Cut a circle with a drinking glass, place a pat of butter in pan and toast one side, when its done, use another pat of butter, but keep the circle cut out to the side, and put the egg inside. Cover with a close-fitting lid, over the bread and egg, not the whole pan, glass works best because you can see when the white is done. Add more butter and enjoy.
4. Cream cheese and avocado omelet: Bring 2-3 tablespoons of cheese to room temperature Melt butter on low-medium heat, Beat 2-3 eggs to foamy, spread into pan, gently lift and when firm flip, remove from heat, add cheese and avocado.
5. Caramelized fresh fruit, Almond meal Puff: Make Almond meal from sprouted nuts. Use thin slices of fresh in season fruit, fall is a good time to use persimmons or apples. Slice thin, cook in olive oil over low-medium heat until browned on both sides. Beat 2 egg whites to peeks, add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, and powder, pinch of salt. Mix in 1/2 cup almond meal, and cooled chopped fruit place into buttered muffin tin, (this makes 2). Bake in pre-heated 300 degree oven until done. Use knife or toothpick test for doneness. FYI https://pamstacticalkitchen.com/2013/07/09/sprouted-almond-flour/ These post explain how to make the almond meal/flour and sprouting the nuts https://pamstacticalkitchen.com/2013/07/08/sprouted-almonds/ https://pamstacticalkitchen.com/2012/12/31/new-video-see-my-wet-nuts/
6. Exercise you know you need it. I recommend 20 minutes of anaerobic, or aerobic, or weight lifting a day. Or another option to get your heart rate up would be an orgasm.

Lard and other Saturated, & Natural Fats are Super Foods

Lard and other Saturated, & Natural Fats are Super Foods. Rendered fats, from animals raised in farm-stead organic type environments and not fed GMO’s, are super foods! Lard along with other saturated fats, used in traditional ways for cooking and eating are necessary for your body to absorb nutrients and vitamins, and also provide needed ones and hormones. Natural fats suppress appetite, help your leptin response, help your body burn fat, reduce asthma and metabolic diseases. Nature only makes good fats. Mass marketed vegetable oils, margarines, hydrogenated fats and low-fat spreads are not natural. Regrettably after years of disinformation, it has become more and more clear that the once proclaimed as healthy, “Low-fat /High-carb diet” is the worst thing for your health. In fact the fats recommended on that diet, such as canola oil contain unhealthy Trans Fats! Dr. Cate Shanahan http://drcate.com/ brilliantly explains in her book “Deep Nutrition” how all vegetable oils are bad, not only because they all have trans fats, (regardless of what their labels say), but also because when you cook with them they cause a “free radicals cascade” blasting you with “Mega Trans” causing metabolic syndrome. In other words making people sick. Further on, this post provides evidence from authorities who can document the benefits of eating a diet rich in saturated fats, as well as others natural fats and lower in carbohydrates.

Here is a list of the most available good fats:

• Lard & tallow from animals raised in farm-stead organic type environments and not fed GMO’s. Do not buy manufactured products that contain any hydrogenated fats (easy recipe video for home-made lard, “Home-made Lard is a super food!”
• Butter, cream, whole milk, cheese and other whole fat dairy from pastured cows, living in farm-stead organic type environments and not fed GMO’s, best from a safe raw source, or only pasteurized. Do not use homogenized, or ultra pasteurized dairy products.
• Olive oil, no GMOs extra virgin, cold pressed. Coconut, palm, walnut, macadamia nut, avocado and peanut oil, again no GMOs, and least processed.

Trans Fats are a type of fat which is uncommon in nature but can be created artificially. Here is a list of some of the most common vegetable oils, all are bad, and should not be used and are often an ingredient in most packaged foods.

• Canola oil
• Cotton seed oil
• Corn oil
• Grape seed oil
• Safflower oil
• Soy oil
• Sunflower oil
• All margarines

The reason you may not believe that saturated fats along with other natural whole fats are good for you, is because for years we have been indoctrinated into believing the “Lipid Hypotheses” which is wrong. We were told that eating cholesterol caused cardiac disease, and that a “low-fat high-carbohydrate diet” would cure that. For years unnatural manufactured hydrogenated fats like, hydrogenated cotton seed oil in Crisco, in other words Trans-fats (outlawed in N.Y. City since 2006) were said to be healthy. The horrific result from years of using these trans-fats and low-fat spreads, coupled with high carbohydrate consumption (the carbohydrates become sugar regardless if from whole grains, pastry, squash or fruit) are huge increases in heart disease, and an epidemic of metabolic syndrome. People are much sicker now, after years of following the low-fat diet. Please feel free to click on the following links to learn more about this horrible miss-information, why it’s wrong, and who is responsible.

The first is a video “Enjoy Eating Saturated Fats: They’re Good for You” by Dr. Donald Miller, a cardiac surgeon and teacher at University of Washington School of Medicine and the Seattle VA Medical. It’s a little long, but first he explains the Lipid hypotheses, then shows how it’s flawed, and the suppression of the truth. He also gives his recommendations, and references. I find his information through and helpful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRe9z32NZHY#t=22 Click to see video. His article “Health Benefits of a Low-Carbohydrate, High-Saturated-Fat Diet”, is the same information, but in print and with links to the published research and documentation of the cover up. Click to read http://archive.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller33.1.html

Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD, is a true hero he wrote “The Cholesterol Myths” in 2000 and a great deal more books, papers and articles since, far too many to list here: Click on his “about” to see along with awards and qualifications. http://www.ravnskov.nu/uffe.htm This is what Amazon has to say about his latest book; “A highly qualified doctor and scientist he has analyzed the studies used to justify the cholesterol hypothesis and demonstrates that the idea that animal fats and cholesterol cause heart disease is based on flimsy, even fraudulent evidence and wishful thinking. He also warns about the dangers of vegetable oils and cholesterol-lowering drugs. His latest book is “Ignore the Awkward.: How the Cholesterol Myths Are Keep Alive”. http://www.spacedoc.com/saturated_fat_is_good_for_you_1 Ravnskov and others are bringing us the truth, we should support them. Here are a couple of his works http://www.ravnskov.nu/myth9.htm http://www.stop-trans-fat.com/ufferavnskov.html

The Skinny on Fats, by Mary G. Enig, PhD & Sally Fallon. Fallon and Enig are the authors of the cook book “Nourishing Traditions”. Dr. Mary Enig told congress of the dangers from tans fats, in vegetable oils, and hydrogenated oils in 1977. She’s had a horse in this race for a long time, and now it’s finally coming in. http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/skinny-on-fats#benefits

Dr. Cate Shanahan http://drcate.com/ who I mentioned before has developed a complete lifestyle diet for her patients and also the LA Lakers. Dr. Cate’s books, website, and face book have been the most informative and helpful of all for me. She is really on it! Here is an informative article from the Orange County Register about her work with the Lakers. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/shanahan-527039-diet-food.html

Dr. Robert Lustig has become very prolific on video since his “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM video got over 4 million hits on You Tube. His latest is a series titled “Complete Skinny on Obesity” http://www.uctv.tv/skinny-on-obesity/ which he considers a Pandemic, not merely the over weight, but also the huge amounts of people of all weight categories with high levels of visceral fat. He also speaks of increasing numbers of infants born with obesity and how the often ubiquitous hidden and not so hidden sugars are raising havoc with our health and health care system. I have found his book “Fat Chance” and watching his videos very helpful. Here is an interesting article about Dr. Lustig http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-lustig-md/sugar-toxic_b_2759564.html

“Pure White and Deadly” by John Yudkin is a book from 1972 warning of the dangers of too much sugar consumption. He explains hidden sugar, and the problems of sugar abuse, which is actually far worse than in 1972. Dr Robert Lustig M.D up dates the data.

Update

White Sourdough Pasta, Breads,Tortillas, and more, are beneficial to metabolism, blood sugar and insulin levels!

This has been a dream of mine for so long now, finally I’ve accomplished creating this recipe and it turned out wonderful. The pasta was incredible, it took me back to hand-made great-grandma memories, and I felt transported to old world cuisine and time. The pasta was tender but firm, and with the little bits of fresh basil and oregano, I could have eaten it with just a drizzle of really good olive oil, and salt & pepper. What I have created here is great food! But wait there’s more, it’s also a white pasta that is healthy and good for you!

The white wheat flour I use is Bob’s Red Mill, Organically grown & certified unbleached unbromated. Why not whole grain? Read the following “FYI” info, and check out the link, on my blog, or quite simply, the reason is, the white sourdough does not spike up insulin as high as all other types of breads do, including and even more so with whole grains. Plus the benefits last for hours. However not all sourdough is created equal, almost all mass-produced sourdough products, are not really sourdough. Most have yeast added, which means the long fermentation that makes sourdough probiotic and grows lactic acid was not done, and they are only sourdough flavored. Also most use cheep bleached, highly processed, enriched, flour, which turn into sugars.

FYI [Prof. Terry Graham studied four types of breads to determine which had the most positive health effects when it comes to carbohydrate metabolism, blood sugar and insulin levels “With the sourdough, the subjects’ blood sugar levels were lower for a similar rise in blood insulin,” said Graham, whose findings are to be published in the British Journal of Nutrition. “What was even more interesting was that this positive effect remained during their second meal and lasted even hours after. This shows that what you have for breakfast influences how your body will respond to lunch.” He said it’s likely that the fermentation of the sourdough changes the nature of the starches in the bread, creating a more beneficial bread. And while sourdough came out on top, the whole wheat varieties used in the study came out on bottom – even below white bread.] see links for more info.

Recipe for pasta, and “Bolognese Sauce with Seasonal Fresh Vegetables”, more will be posted soon. Also Organic White Flour Sourdough Tortillas and Probiotic Home Made Sourdough Bread are on pervious post. Listed under, Videos and Recipes, and the drop down, Bread Recipes & Videos. Also https://pamstacticalkitchen.com/2013/10/07/sourdough-pasta/

*Eat in balance with complete meals, too much of a good thing is still too much.

Yard to Table Preserving the Harvest

When we lost our home and our little space on the family farm, we moved into town, and decided to grow as much of our own food as we could. The tomatoes and most everything my husband Scott starts from seed. I cook some of the tomatoes down for sauce and paste, dry some, eat a lot fresh. A few of the green beans and now some of the peppers I’ve pickled the probiotic fermented whey, way, it’s so easy, good for you especially me and taste great!  Every fall we plant garlic and this year I did onions for the first time, there they both are in the drying shed.  I love the probiotic fermented pickles, made from the giant patch of cucumbers Scott grows for me.  Some times it seems like every thing is ready to harvest at the same time and that’s when it gets really challenging.

Honey

A natural home remedy for allergies, is honey. This is really working for me!!!!! I’m taking about 1/4 teaspoon, 4-5 times a day. The belief is that, If bees visit a pollen producing plant in your area, that causes you problems, and it’s in the honey, then it could help you. Some folks say it’s just the raw honey. If you are severely allergic, or under doctors care, then get their advice first. People often swear that honey is a valuable ally in their fight against allergies and hay fever. Start by taking 1/2 teaspoon a day, and see how you feel, if you do not have an allergic reaction to the pollen in the honey, then gradually increase it. Burch Bees has a variety of Pure honey of the highest grade “B” which means it’s just been strained of stuff like wax & wings. Right now they have, Wildflower, Alfalfa, Sage, and Orange Blossom. You can find their honey at the Thursday & Saturday Modesto Certified Farmers Market. Enjoy your medicine.

Beets Are Kale

Beets are Kale, yes but not all kale have beet roots. So all those beet tops are good to cook just like kale greens.

Taking it to a higher level

Taking it to a higher level, did you know that you get a better work out when you go to a different elevation than the one you sleep at? May 9/13 was a beautiful day at Pinecrest Lake. At an elevation of 5620 feet above sea level up to 5700 on the hike, around 4 miles. The lake was incredible with clouds, shadows and light. Tell me if you know what these flowers are?

Candy Entrepreneur

Alison’s Almond Brittle, has a very smart entrepreneur who can ring up your candy purchase. When this ceo has the time you can find her at the Modesto Farmers Market. The candy is wonderful.

Up Comming

Next Video will be Maryland style Fried Chicken, followed by Grilled Coconut Chicken Gumbo, but now it’s time to make dinner.

Tonight I’m using my first of the season fresh home-grown basil and making hand cut pesto, but with chandler walnuts, instead of pine nuts, and a local aged gouda cheese, those are the only changes from the video recipe for the sauce. Here is our dinner, “Eggplant Pesto Meal”, type it in search bar on my blog page to see the recipe. below is the Pesto recipe.

Hand Cut Pesto

1st of the season Farmer’s Market

1st of the season Farmer’s Market

Roussanne or Red?

Lavender Ridge Wine & Seascape cheese with “Fun Nuts”
 I’m so excited about the upcoming cheese event at Lavender Ridge in May, that I woke up dreaming of making this and which wine to pair it with. Looking forward to doing more of this, and will post on my site. I made a fresh batch of “Fun Nuts” ( details are on my blog) sliced some Seacape from Central Coast Creamery and on each one I placed half a walnut, then let them set under the dome, while I worked on dinner. About 1-2 hours later I served them to my family, and something magical had happen. The tannins in the nuts had mellowed, the cheese was sweeter, softer and lingered longer on the tounge, with an even richer mouth feel. Now the question was, what wine? I thought Lavender Ridge Roussanne or maybe even Viognier, but my family, insisted red. I’m stumped, which would you think, and which red if you went that way?

Fennel/Anise

Florence Bulb Fennel is not Anise, although it seems to be labeled as Fennel/Anise everywhere today. Florence Bulb Fennel, should be bought fresh at the Farmers Market. It is particularly hard to grow in a garden because it easily cross-pollinate, so it needs lots of isolated space, also, rich soil, spoils its wonderful oils, aromas and nutrients, which are best as soon as possible after harvesting. The bulb is used and eaten as a vegetable, while the feathery leaves are used as herbs. Here it’s used in my steam-fry recipe.

Culinary and medical uses for fennel are almost endless. The sliced bulb is a sweet crunchy addition used raw in a salad: or marinated with other anti-pasta ingredients, or simply drizzled with a flavorful olive oil, Sciabica’s comes to mind with a pinch of Real Salt* sea salt then grilled on the BBQ. The bulb has long been a favorite in Mediterranean, Indian, and Middle-Eastern cuisine, well just about every where, but it seems new to us. The stocks are useful in soups and stews, while the feathers, add aromatic drama and flavor. Fennel seed is used as a seasoning, it’s great in fresh sausage. Deserts like cookies, cakes, candy, and puddings often call for fennel. Perhaps this is where the confusion with anise comes from. Anise is sometimes substituted for liquorice in candy making, because it’s so much cheaper. All three have a similar aroma, but all three are different, fennel is sweeter and lighter, anise is a cheep substitute for true liquorice, and liquorice, is a strong powerful herb, that the real candy is made from.

The medical benefits of fennel are as endless as the culinary uses. Here’s a list of just a few.

Weight-floss, anti-inflammatory, relief of chronic cough, relief of upper respiratory stress, colic in babies, menstrual cramps, flatulence, bloating, indigestion, improve eye health, improve lactation for breast-feeding mothers, and it can be placed around animals to deter fleas. I’ve read that in the middle ages people chewed the seeds during church services, to stop flatulence.

This is a fantastic food, and spice, and not only does it taste great, there are all the health benefits too. Right now it is fresh at the Farmer’s Market.

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A day of heavenly delights

A day of heavenly delights, artisan cheese and wine parings set in the beautiful sierra foot hills. Thanks to wine maker Rich Gilpin and Judy Creighton, cheese monger of Lavender Ridge Winery. More info soon.