Probiotic Coleslaw

Including probiotic foods such as fermented pickles and yogurt is essential to healthy digestion and great for all around good health. We have yogurt for breakfast every morning with chia seeds, banana, and soon bee pollen. The protein really keeps us going strong all day without the drowsy effects that eating wheat has. Try having toast before you hit the gym and then have yogurt the next day instead: i'll bet you'll be jumping higher on the yogurt day! I make our yogurt every two weeks. We get raw milk and I always save enough yogurt from the previous batch to make the next week's new batch of yogurt. It's the most delicious yogurt either my husband or i have ever tasted, and the cost is ridiculously frugal: a quart of White Mountain yogurt will set you back over $5. I turn one gallon of milk into about 5 quarts of yogurt for about $7. It's very easy, doesn't require any special skills or tools, and has increased our health by leaps and bounds. Immune systems, check! Healther skin and hair, check! Increased energy levels, double check!

Yogurt for breakfast is great. Yogurt in baking is really great, but i really don't need to be eating more baked goods. So, how can one use yogurt for dinner recipes? Yogurt is great added to a curry or cream sauce. Yogurt can be used as a sauce or dip, and can be incorporated into just about any recipe that would normally use cream, milk, or sour cream. Get creative! You get the most health benefits by not cooking out the good bacterias, so always add the yogurt at the last minute and don't let it boil.

A recent favorite in our kitchen has been a yogurt sauce/dip. We used it on our nachos on game day, and it's really, really delicious on fried fish or in fish tacos in place of ranch dressing. Use whatever herb you have growing seasonally, we've been using cilantro:

• Plain Yogurt (whole milk yogurt will make a thicker dip, skim is saucier)
• Pinch herbs (cilantro, dill, basil, mint, you name it)
• 3 garlic cloves
• Pinch cumin
• Salt to taste

Blend this up until the garlic cloves are completely chopped. The fresh garlic, and herbs along with the probiotic rich yogurt is a real immunity booster, and super delicious. This sauce is so versatile and can even be added to some shredded cabbage to make the most delicious coleslaw with no fat needed.

Do you make your own yogurt? What are your favorite yogurt based recipes?
This post can also be found at the blog hop: Simple Lives Thursday

Wholesome Wednesdays: Cranberries

Wow, i can't believe it's already wednesday morning. No excuses this week, here's much ado about cranberries!
Firstly, cranberries are tart and delicious, and are great in cranberry/ jalapeno muffins!

Secondly, "my mama always said" eat your cranberries to prevent urinary tract infections! It was long thought that that tart, acidic bite of the cranberry was what prevented UTIs, but it's recently been proven that their proanthocyanidins (PACs) are what prevent the dreaded UTI:

The special structure of these PACs (involving A-type linkages between their components) acts as a barrier to bacteria that might otherwise latch on to the urinary tract lining. In many studies, the UTI-preventing benefits of cranberries are somewhat modest and limited to women who have recurrent UTIs.  -WHFoods

Gotta love bacteria blocking food stuffs! (Apologies for the overabundance of exclamation points this morning, it's just that kind of a day) This bacteria fighting may also be helpful in fighting stomach ulcers caused by nasty tum-bacteria build up. It also turns out that those cranberries that are water harvested (generally for convenience and easier harvesting) may have even greater health benefits than their non-water harvested friends. Those berries that get to float on the water for a few weeks really soak up the sun, increasing the content of anthocyanin  (the phytonutrients that give the berries their popping red color). And as is usually the case - if you want to get the full bang for the health-buck of cranberries, eat them whole instead of taking capsules or drinking juice. As is often the case it is the synergy of all the interior components of the berries that make them so healthful, not just one or two little elements alone. Eat those cranberries and get antioxidant benefits, anti-inflammatory benefits, and anti-cancer benefits, oh my!

A note on cancer from World's Healthiest Foods:

Over the past 5 years, scientists have identified an increasing number of mechanisms that help explain the anti-cancer properties of cranberries. These mechanisms are now known to include: blocked expression of MMPs (matrix metalloproteinases); inhibition of ODC (ornithine decarboxylase enzymes); stimulation of QRs (quinone reductase enzymes); inhibition of CYP2C9s (Phase I detoxification enzymes); and triggering of apoptosis (programmed cell death) in tumor cells. The cancer-preventive benefits of cranberries are now known to extend to cancers of the breast, colon, lung, and prostate.

Tons of health benefits are hiding in this tart little berries along with some great, immediate nutritional goodness. Cranberries are a great source of Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol) and Vitamin K, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C and Manganese. They include a decent amount of sugar, like most fruits but all that Vitamin C makes a little sweet worth it. Mix in some cranberries to your diet this holiday season: i'm famous for my cranberry sauce every Thanksgiving, but i also like to mix them into my homemade applesauce, great with yogurt for a probiotic, cancer fighting breakfast.
Here's to your health!

What's your favorite cranberry recipe?