On health and life. Sorta.

I'm interested in health and can get obsessive about it, like I said in this post. I believe food is important and definitely has an affect on your overall health. However, it needs to be kept in balance with everything else.

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I like reading about probiotics, fats, flour, and hydrogenated oils. I like making (and eating) fermented foods and nutritious breakfast goodies.

Unfortunately, since I enjoy it so much, I can let health control my life. For the past couple months I have been so stressed out, had an overload of information, and felt like I don't know what to believe. I want to be 100% sure of whatever I believe, or else it is guilty until proven innocent. It isn't fun.

I've researched and read and thought and doubted while trying to find the "right healthy". The one that really is true. The one that can't be contradicted. The one that is perfect.

I've been researching and reading and thinking and doubting for the past couple months. Then, two weeks ago, God sent me an incredible, incredible gift.

Peace.

Peace in the realization that there isn't a perfect healthy out there. That I need to accept what I have and live life to the fullest. Live life to the fullest for Him. He's the one who made me and loved me and saved me. He should be my life and He is. ("When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory." - Colossians 3:4).

You wouldn't believe what it feels like after months of stress, fear, and doubt to be at peace. It feels like a burden has been lifted from my shoulders. I can now eat this delicious rice casserole in peace and am free to enjoy the rest of my day without (for the most part) analyzing my every bite.

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I really don't have much to complain about in the health realm. After all, when I think about it, I am healthy and God has blessed me with the means to be so. I haven't been sick in over six months. I'm not overweight. I don't suffer from any chronic illnesses or fatigue. Thanks to this website, I'm getting stronger too. And I'm thankful and should use this health to live my life for the Author of life. 

So I've realized there isn't going to be a perfect diet, workout, or whatever that will solve all my problems. You know what else? I've realized that there isn't a perfect life. Not yet, anyways.

Now that isn't as despairing as it sounds. It's helping me to face the problems of life and not be as naive about it. 'Cause I can be. And I know that through all these imperfections, God is perfecting me, making me "...to be conformed to the image of His Son...". (Romans 8:29) One day, I will have a perfect life and be in glory. I'm yearning for that day more and more.

I hope you are discovering this in your life. I have by no means become a saint overnight, without any problems. This is simply a truth the Lord has shown me and I wanted to share. I hope I'm able to remember and rest in it.

Kitchen adventures

There's been a lot of fermenting going on in the kitchen. What's fermenting, you ask? Basically it's putting some ingredients together and letting it sit around for a while. For grains, fermenting helps make them more easily digestible and makes more of the nutrients available. The fermented-ness keeps your gut flora happy and healthy. Same with the dairy and vegetables you'll see later in this post.*

Least ways, that's what I understand. Go do your own research and find our what I haven't mentioned. Feel free to reprimand any inconsistent information. I'm ready to learn! :)

Exhibit a): Sourdough Blueberry Muffins.

These are based off a Kitchen Stewardship recipe. I just added blueberries, sour cream, various spices, and sprinkled some almonds on top. They're very fall-y apart-y (as we like to say) and apparently eaten better in a bowl with milk, as a sort of cobbler.

Exhibit b): Sourdough Bread.

This is what's left of the loaf I made yesterday. A delicious recipe from the Cultures for Health blog. Mostly. I added two tablespoons of butter and decreased the water a little bit. Because butter.

Needless to say, I made more today. :)

Exhibit c): Yogurt. 

Simple (we make it in the crock pot like this), delicious, nutritious, and it saves money!

Exhibit d): I told you there was a lot of fermenting! This time it's milk kefir. 

Even simpler and nutritious than the yogurt, but, alas, not as delicious. That's why you hide it in a smoothie. Or ice cream, which I'm going to try this weekend. 

Exhibit e): Pickles. Two different kinds actually.

Number one is from The Food Journal of Lewis and Clark (classic homeschooling material), which we've made several times.

Number two is from The Nourishing Cook. This one uses whey (leftover from the yogurt) and doesn't use sugar. We'll see how it tastes.

What strange things have you been experimenting with?

*does this mean I'm an amateur zymologist? Now that would be something cool to put on an about page.

St. Augustine and kale chips

I have to do some summer reading for the school year, and one of the books happens to be Saint Augustine's Confessions.

I have surprised myself by not being bored out of my gourd and how easily I'm able to explain what Augustine is saying. If you've never read Confessions, it is basically a memoir written like a pray to God. At the end there is something like an interpretation of the first chapter of Genesis, but I haven't got there yet.

In Book I (I'm reading the version translated by R. S. Pine-Coffin), page 22, Augustine is says this, 

"Do heaven and earth, then, contain the whole of you, since you fill them? Or, when you have once filled them, is some part of you left over because they are too small to hold you? If this is so, when you have filled heaven and earth, does that part of you which remains flow over into some other place? Or is it that you have no need to be contained in anything, because you contain all things in yourself and fill them by reason of the very fact that you contain them? For the things which you fill by containing them do not sustain and support you as a water-vessel supports the liquid which fills it. Even if they were broken into pieces, you would not flow out of them and away. And when you pour yourself out over us, you are not drawn down to us but draw us up to yourself: you are not scattered away, but you gather us together."

Wow. That was what I was thinking as I read this. Wow. What an amazing, incomprehensible God we serve. Augustine is just asking questions, yet these can fill us with awe. I am enjoying the way Confessions makes me marvel at my Creator and think about Things. 

Now, on to a recipe!

Mom made this delicious kale chips yesterday. They take two hours in all to dehydrate, but the kale retains its green color pretty well.

Dehydrated Kale Chips

Tweaked from Modern Girl Nutrition

1 (very) large bunch kale

1 1/2 T. olive oil

1 T. lemon juice

1 T. Braggs Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)

Salt

Preheat oven to 170 and line two baking sheets with tin foil. Wash kale and tear out spines. Mix all other ingredients, except salt, in a small bowl. Transfer kale to large bowl, pour dressing over it, and toss everything together. Spread on baking sheets in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt. Place sheets oven and dehydrate for 30 minutes. Let sit in oven 30 minutes. Then dehydrate for 35 minutes. Let sit for another 30 minutes and then transfer to cooling rack. Try not to eat it all.