Day 7 - 31 Days to a REAL FOOD kitchen makeover

SUGAR....SUGAR...

What do we do for sugar? 

My children's diets are sugar free. (except if we are celebrating a birthday or other occasion) My husband and I will have something sweet on occasion. But I do not bake for my family. For dessert we often eat fruit or homemade ice cream. 

If we are eating something that needs to be sweetened such as homemade ice cream, we use local raw honey or grade A maple syrup. 

The harmful effects of sugar

Sugar is nothing but empty calories that have no nutritional value, it weakens your immune system and expands your waist line. Check out this great article on sugar. 

Day 6- 31 Days to a REAL FOOD kitchen makeover

What's for breakfast?

What do you eat for breakfast in your family? The average American starts out their morning with something that is highly processed and holds little to no nutritional value. (cereal, pop tarts, waffles, drive-thru etc)

This is the meal that is jump starting your metabolism, waking up your brain, and needs to sustain you until lunch. It is so important to choose wisely. We don't eat cereal..even organic cereal. It is highly processed, the very thing we are trying to avoid. It's a lot easier to share what we do eat than what we don't.

When it comes to eating a real food breakfast it's better to throw out everything you think breakfast should look like. We eat a lot of eggs for breakfast which are incredibly nutritious for you (free range, GMO-free, & soy free) but if you are allergic to eggs like my 1 year old you will have to do something different. This morning he had brussels sprouts, sweet potato, carrots and some bell pepper.

Here are a few breakfast ideas:

If you need something quick, try making fritatta muffins for the week (the possibilities are endless with these. We've made them with zucchini and spinach)
Avocados
Fruit
Green smoothie
Steel cut oats
Leftovers from the night before.. seriously!
Sprouted grain english muffins from Ezekiel bread

Choose foods that will feed your body not just fill your belly. So often we eat to fill our bellies depriving our body of nutrients that it desperately needs which is why we feel hungry again after eating junk food. (and why we eat more of it...speaking in terms of calories)

EAT REAL FOOD! ;)

Day 5 - 31 Days to a REAL FOOD kitchen makeover

Leftovers? Don't put them in a plastic container that will leach harmful chemicals into your food. Instead use glass containers like these.

I bought a lot of my glass containers at HomeGoods. And since they are glass I usually heat up leftovers in the oven. So easy! 

Day 4 - 31 Days to a REAL FOOD kitchen makeover

I ate a paleo diet a few years ago. While, we still eat a lot of paleo meals we are not on any specific diet. Since we are not paleo or grain free anymore we eat bread.

Ezekiel bread is a sprouted grain bread that has NO sugar and no preservatives. 

I usually put coconut oil on one side of two pieces of bread and make grilled cheese sandwiches. The boys love it! We also eat their cinnamon raisin english muffins with a little bit of raw honey for breakfast. 

Click here and here to read why sprouted grain is healthier for you! 

*Remember, I am trying to keep these posts short and sweet so anyone that is just starting out on the real food journey won't become too overwhelmed. :) 

Day 3 - 31 Days to a REAL FOOD kitchen makeover

If you are converting your kitchen to a real food kitchen then you will be doing lots of cooking since most convenient packaged foods are highly processed, filled with preservatives and lots of other questionable ingredients. And if you are doing lots of cooking you want to make sure you have the right equipment. Non-stick pans have got to go. If you are still using non-stick pans click here to read the dangers.

When we got married we were gifted a set of non-stick cookware. After reading the dangers I didn't run out and buy a whole new set. No, the conversion of my pots and pans happened slowly.

So if you can't use non-stick, what can you use? Well, the two best options are cast iron and stainless steel.



My cast iron skillet has quickly become one of my favorite items in the kitchen. It was intimidating at first but after some practice I love it! Cast iron is so durable it can be passed down through generations. I use coconut oil to make it a non-stick surface.

Another great option is stainless steel. I have stock pots that are stainless steel. I know these are more expensive but I have seen great prices on amazon and at HomeGoods.

Day 2 - 31 Days to a REAL FOOD kitchen makeover

This next kitchen essential may surprise you. Every real food kitchen needs butter! I know what you're thinking, didn't I say to get rid of butter in yesterday's post? Yes, conventional butter such as land O'lakes, Betty Crocker, and store brands need to get out of your kitchen. But grass fed butter needs to be a staple. And once you have grass fed butter you won't go back! 

Best:

The best butter to have in your real food kitchen is raw grass fed butter. I love to make it myself when I can get my hands on some raw cream. It's actually very easy to make. I share how to make it in this post. 

Better:

If I can't get raw cream my favorite butter to use is the one in the picture above. The color is a rich golden yellow and it smells divine. Organic Valley only makes a small batch of this butter and it's only available certain times of the year. If you can't get this brand, Kerrygold is another great brand. When you are shopping you want the butter to be organic and grass fed. 

Here is a wonderful article sharing all the health BENEFITS of grass fed butter. YES, if you are eating the right type of butter it can actually be healthy for you. 

I like to use butter in recipes such as fettuccine alfredo. (we use quinoa noodles..a post coming on that as well) I don't use butter very often because I like to use a lot of coconut oil but it still an essential part of our kitchen.

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Day 1 - 31 days to a REAL FOOD kitchen makeover

Are you excited about this new series? There is so much info to share and only 31 days to do! So lets get started.

The number one staple in our home is coconut oil. I use it in almost all of my cooking. My husband often jokes that I think coconut oil can save the world. That's a little bit of a stretch but there is very little coconut oil can't do. 

(this is the brand that we use and love) 

What we use it for:

I use it in place of butter, margarine or olive oil for cooking. When I make the kids a grilled cheese sandwich instead of buttering both sides I put coconut oil on it. I use it when I am sautéing vegetables, whipping up some scrambled eggs, or browning chicken. I also use it to season my cast iron skillet. 

Why it's good:

Before using coconut oil I used a lot of olive oil. The problem with olive oil is that at high temperatures it turns into trans fat. Trans fat is very bad for you. It raises your bad cholesterol levels and lowers your good cholesterol levels. Olive oil is good for making salads but should never be heated. Coconut oil can be used at high temperatures without turning rancid or losing its healthy properties. It can aid in weight loss, boost your metabolism, it has anti-fungal properties, can be used in beauty products and so much more. Here is a blog post that compares the different oils. 

What you should throw out:

Please throw out your margarine, vegetable oil, and regular butter. (raw or grassfed butter is ok. We will discuss this in a different post) Here is a wonderful post on why you should get rid of these things. 

Because people don't have a lot of free time my goal is to make these posts short and sweet but on occasion I will link to other posts so you can read further about different points. I hope you enjoy this new series! 

31 Days to a REAL FOOD kitchen makeover

I'm dusting off the cobwebs of the 'ole blog to bring you a series regarding a subject that I love to talk about. ;)

So often people have the desire to start eating better but have no idea where to start. Well, look no further! I am starting a new blog series called "31 days to a REAL FOOD kitchen makeover".

There is a lot of information regarding a real food diet. So much so that once you start wading the waters you can quickly become overwhelmed and retreat back to your old eating ways. I am hoping to help you avoid that by giving a little bit of information each day for 31 days.

Before we get started I want to define the term "real food". You may think this shouldn't be necessary but because so many food-like products are apart of the everyday American diet, people may think they are feeding their families food when in fact they are not. Cheetos are not food. They are a food-like product...not real food.

I consider real food to be something that came out of the ground. (with the exception of dairy, meats and a few breads) Items that needed little to no processing. Very few items in my refrigerator and pantry are processed. I like items to as close to their original state as possible.

We have been eating this way for years and it has changed our lives for the better. Feeding your family healthy foods makes their overall health improve, it nourishes their bodies and it gives them more energy just to name a few. You will never regret feeding your family healthy foods!

I will give you lists of foods, staples that should be in your kitchen, recipes, and appliances to add to your kitchen.


It's going to be a fun and hopefully informative 31 days!


Click here to read all of the posts.

Armed with Truth GIVEAWAY!!

Have you seen pictures of these awesome scripture tattoos floating around social media? They are called Armed With Truth tattoos and I love them!

Scripture memory 

These tattoos are great for scripture memory for yourself and for your children. They boys have learned two new verses because of these tattoos. One verse being,  Psalm 56:3 "When I am afraid I will trust in You." Cohen, who is afraid of the dark ,wore this verse proudly on his arm. He memorized the verse and repeats it while getting tucked into bed. 

Conversation starters

Armed With Truth tattoos open the door for conversations about the gospel. Every time we have worn them we get asked about them. What a great opportunity to share Jesus with someone! Your children can wear them to baseball practice, to a friend's house, church, etc. 

Surrounding yourself with scripture

I don't know about you but I love to surround myself with scripture. There are verses written on 4x6 cards all over my house and in my car. These tattoos are perfect for those hard days when you need that constant reminder to "lean not on your own understanding" Proverbs 3:5 or that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today.." Hebrews 13:8. 

These tattoos are perfect for gifts or for anytime. My boys love them! Do you want to snag some for your family?! Today I am giving away $15 credit to the Armed with Truth store! The giveaway will end Friday at 12 pm central. 

How to enter giveaway

• All you have to do is comment below for 1 entry. 
• Like Armed With Truth on facebook. Come back, comment to let me know you did and you get a second entry.
• Share the link to this post on your facebook page. Come back, comment to let me know you did and you get a third entry! 

Trust me friends you want these!!

These tattoos may be temporary but their message and truth isn't. Though they will wash off my boys' arms my hope is that they are forever written on their hearts. 

Disclosure- Although I received Armed With Truth tattoos to review and giveaway all opinions are my own. I would never recommend anything to you that I don't love!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

The winner was picked randomly via drawing. The name that was drawn was Connie! Congrats Connie! 

The Ultimate List of Online Bible Studies for Summer 2014

If you are not apart of a study locally or maybe your local Bible study is taking a break for the summer, here is a list of studies you can do online this summer.

If:Gathering

The IF conference took the world by storm a few months ago. I was going to go with a group of girls from home group but got sick the week of and had to watch it online. Amazing! They have just started going through the book of Acts. This study includes a reading guide, a video of one the IF ladies discussing the passage and discussion questions. (Jennie Allen and Jen Hatmaker are some of the ladies leading this study) 

Click here to learn how to get started. 

Click here to join in on the study. 

Click here to like IF on facebook.

She Reads Truth

She Reads Truth is an online community of woman that daily dive into God's word. At the time of writing this post they are about to wrap up "The Risen Christ" reading plan.  Every day they give you a passage to read along with a blog post discussing that day's passage along with a weekly memory verse. Nehemiah is the next study. SRT is offering a study guide to purchase with the upcoming Nehemiah study. You don't have to purchase it to follow along but they are offering it for those that need a physical book. (I bought the book) SRT is also going to be launching an app soon! 

Click here to get started. 

Click here to follow SRT on facebook.

A lot of the ladies diving into this study are on Instagram. IG handle @shereadstruth #shereadstruth

Good Morning Girls

Sally Clarkson and Angela Perritt have teamed up and wrote a book called "You are Loved". I love Sally Clarkson, this will definitely be a good read. This study and book club includes Bible reading plan, study guide and weekly videos. You will need to purchase the book on your own. Enrollment for this study is May 19-30 and the study dates are June 2- July 25.

To check out this study click here. 

To like GMG on facebook click here. 

James 

This study is written by Jen Wilkin who attends the Village Church. She has a book coming out this summer about getting in God's word. I have no doubt it's going to be phenomenal. I went through the James study this spring and it is life changing. (when is God's word not life changing?) This study doesn't have a group or an online study. But you can download the study for free and go through it by yourself or do it with a friend (or with a group of ladies online or locally). If you have ever gone through a Beth Moore study the setup is very similar. You go through your lessons during the week and then listen to audio at the end of each week. She has several studies you can go through... for FREE! 

Click here to download the study guide and audio for the James study. 

To check out her other studies check out the list on the right side bar of her blog. 

You can like her facebook page here.

Proverbs 31 Ministries 

They offer online devotions and online Bible studies. 

Click here to check them out. 

As moms it is so important that we are in God's word. How can we pour into our children if we are not being poured into? Set up some accountability with a friend, get a group of ladies together or start an online accountability group with a group of ladies. You will never regret making the time to be in His Word but you will regret not doing it. 

Do you know of any other online studies? 

Are you already apart of any of these groups? Have you enjoyed it?