Gluten Free or Nearly Gluten Free Big Batch of Sourdough Pancakes

Previously on this blog I posted a recipe called "Transitional Sourdough Pancakes", which I had created as a compromise for my family when they didn't like the taste of completely sourdough pancakes.  However, I have a new favorite pancake recipe for our family, and no compromise is required!  In fact, these pancakes are so good I can eat them as is, without any syrup or adornments at all.  However, you may want to try them with homemade fruit syrup (see below) or buttermilk syrup.

This recipe makes a large batch: big enough for our family of 6.  Even if your family is not this large, I would suggest making a big batch of pancakes because once they are cool you can freeze them (put parchment paper between each one and put in an air tight container).  Then when someone needs a quick snack, or you find yourself running late one morning, you can just grab them, pop them in the toaster & in a minute you'll have pancakes!

If you have a gluten free sourdough starter going, then these will be completely gluten free.  If you're like me and keep a wheat sourdough starter then these will be "nearly" gluten free (sourdough breaks down some of the gluten in wheat).  This recipe started out as one from the Cooking Traditional Foods Menu Mailer website.  I modified it slightly, made it a much bigger batch, and arranged the ingredients and instructions so it was easier for me (and hopefully you too).

Tip:  the night before you make these pancakes you want to make sure you have enough sourdough starter for the next morning.  I normally only keep about 1 cup of starter going on my counter, so what I do is get another jar (see my reused peanut butter jars in the photo?), divide my existing starter between the two jars, and then add another cup of flour and water to each.  Be aware that with such a big feeding your starter is going to get really excited and will grow quite a bit beyond where it starts; allow enough space for it to nearly double its size during the night.  I put my jars in a small bowl just in case they overflow- because that's a mess I have experienced a few times & it's not fun!

Big Batch Sourdough Pancakes
1/2 cup butter or coconut oil

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup tapioca, bean, or other gluten free flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

4 cups sourdough starter
4 eggs
4 tablespoons honey
1 cup milk (or milk substitute)

1.  Put your frying pan on low heat and melt the butter or coconut oil in there while you complete the rest of the recipe.  Once melted set aside in a measuring cup to cool slightly.
2.  In a large bowl whisk together the flours, baking soda, and salt; removing all lumps.
3.  Add remaining ingredients (including melted butter or coconut oil) and whisk to combine.
4.  Turn heat up to medium on your frying pan.  Once pan is hot, place a desired amount of pancake mix on to cook.  If you prefer thinner pancakes (as we do) use your measuring cup to smooth/spread the batter on the pan.
5.  Flip once the bubbles on the surface begin to pop.  Cook an additional minute or two.  Keep warm on a plate in the oven (with the light on or just slightly warmed & turned off) while you cook the rest of the batter. 

Variations:  When you add in the wet ingredients you can also add 1 cup fruit or vegetable puree.  Such as smashed ripe bananas, applesauce, sweet potato, squash, etc.  Add a bit of cinnamon too if you do!

Fruit Syrup
3 cups frozen berries (such as:  blueberries, raspberries, or a mixture)
1/2 cup real maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a small pot over medium heat until berries are juicy.  You can put it in a blender if you want a thin syrup instead of with fruit bits.  Serve warm.  Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

*This syrup is also a great flavoring for homemade yogurt or cream cheese.  Yum!

Enjoy!
Lisa

Thinking About Coconut Oil...

Wow, I have been so quiet on this blog!  I feel I owe you an explanation, even if it is a little weak.  Most of my day is scheduled with homeschooling my two oldest children in high school classes.  Once I cook dinner and we eat, I am just too tired to blog much of the time!  Not to mention the fact that we have slow internet here which sometimes is just impossible to use.  But I am still here!

I have been thinking about posting about coconut oil.  Many of you may have heard of coconut oil and may know about it for cooking (if you don't, it is so good for you)!  When I placed my first order from Tropical Traditions they sent me a book that is full of testimonies about the health benefits of coconut oil.  It is amazing!

Now I have my own testimony to share with you.  For a long time I had something on my leg- either a skin tag or a wart, I don't know.  But every time I would shave I would nick it & it would get bigger.  Eventually it was nearly the size of a small pencil eraser & dark in color.  Sometime last year I started using coconut oil exclusively as my lotion for my skin.  Time went by and then one day I realized something- my bump on my leg was getting smaller!  It continued to get smaller and now I can tell you that bump on my leg is completely gone without a trace & I am sure it was the coconut oil.  If it was a wart maybe it was the antiviral properties of the coconut oil, I really don't know, but I wanted to share this testimony with you.

Now I just realized I have two skin tags on my neck (which I hate) so I am going to start applying coconut oil to them & see if they don't pack their bags & git!  I'll let you know!

Here are a couple of other websites that I recently saw talking about using coconut oil:
Cooking Traditional Foods
160 uses for coconut oil (found this post in the comments of the previous post)

Enjoy!
Lisa

Sweet on Sourdough

I've been working a lot with sourdough since we arrived in Rwanda.  I prefer to use sourdough in my bread and baked goods because it breaks down some of the gluten in the flour, making it easier to digest, as well as reducing the phytic acid so minerals are more easily absorbed.  

Before we left for Rwanda I decided to dehydrate the starter I had been keeping on in my kitchen.  Since I don't have a dehydrator I came up with a different solution that worked for me.  I poured out a thin layer of starter on a piece of parchment paper.  It was August and we were having 100+ degree days, so I put the parchment paper inside our barbecue (with it turned off) in the morning.  The closed lid kept the bugs off, while being inside the metal of the barbecue magnified the heat and dehydrated my starter for me.

I also brought along a small amount of Oregon Trail Sourdough starter I got from "Carl's Friends".  Once we got here I mixed the two and rehydrated by mixing with a little bit of water, and then adding small amounts of flour and water each day.  I started out with a white flour starter (that's all you can find in the stores here) and then ended up switching it over to spelt flour (after some friends brought me a supply of spelt flour).  I've been trying all kinds of recipes made with sourdough starter: pancakes, crackers, cinnamon rolls, rolls, pizza crust and even chocolate cake!  Here in the next few weeks I hope to share several of these recipes with you.

You can help to keep your starter happy by using it a lot and feeding frequently.  I feed mine a minimum of 1/4 cup of both flour and warm water twice a day when I'm using it, and it works even better if the last feeding I give it (several hours before I use it) is 1/2 cup each (this would be different if you're keeping larger amounts of sourdough than I am- I only have a jar about the size of a mayonaisse jar).  When not using it for a few days I may feed it & put it in the fridge.  When I'm ready to use it again I pull it out at least 8 hours ahead of time & feed it.

Here is my "go to" bread recipe.  It worked well for me both back in the US as well as here.  We are at a high elevation in Rwanda (around 5 or 6 thousand feet) which I've learned causes baked goods to rise more (not as much air pressure pushing down on them).  I'm able to do a shorter rise time (6 hours first rise, 2 hours second rise) which also keeps my bread from getting too sour.  You can experiment to find out what works best for you.  Make sure you use enough flour to make a nice firm dough, because it will get very soft and sticky after souring.  Slash the tops of the loaves before baking to keep them from exploding out the sides! 

Sourdough Bread

1 cup flour (plus additional)
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup warm (not hot) water
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup oil (melted coconut oil, or olive oil)
2 Tablespoons honey

Mix all ingredients thoroughly.  Add additional flour: 1/2 cup at a time, up to 3 or 4 cups.  Let dough rest for 10 minutes before kneading, then knead for 5 to 10 minutes and place in a greased bowl.
Let rise until doubled: about 8 hours, then punch down and form into loaves (flatten and roll up burrito style).  Let rise for an additional 2 to 4 hours.  Heat oven to 350 and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.  (If making rolls check after 20 minutes.)

Enjoy!
Lisa

P.S.  If you don't already have a sourdough starter you can make one in just 7 days.  I used the pineapple juice method when I made another one here.  Give it a try!  (Start with low rise items when your starter is young like pizza crust or crackers.)

Healthy Peanut Butter Cups

I'm really surprised I have not blogged about these awesome little treats before- these need to be in your recipe book right after the healthy mounds/almond joys.  This recipe comes from the Oceans of Joy blog.  I made them here last week (yes, I brought my [half full] gallon of coconut oil here to Rwanda- and now I am seeing the pitiful bottom of my tub... sigh...).  After not having a good treat for a while I was so ready for these & loved having one each day- bliss!

I know these peanut butter cups look a little funky on top, that's because my chocolate mixture started to seize when I was ready to put the top layer on, so I had to just put little dollops of chocolate on each one- still tastes good though!

Healthy Peanut Butter Cups

chocolate layer:

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/8 cup honey (more if you like your chocolate sweeter)
1 tsp. vanilla

Melt the coconut oil (in a skillet or a hot water bath).  Add the rest of the ingredients and combine until smooth.  I used a regular muffin pan (12) for making these, in the past I have used a mini muffin pan also.  Line each muffin cup with a paper liner or oil thoroughly.  Evenly distribute half of your chocolate mixture into the muffin cups (start with about one tablespoon in each one).  Place in refrigerator or freezer to cool.

filling:
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup ground nuts (optional, I did not have them this time)

Melt the coconut oil again, add in honey, vanilla, and peanut butter.  When thoroughly combined stir in the ground nuts.  Evenly distribute the peanut butter filling into each muffin cup.  Top with the remaining chocolate mixture (if you need to, gently reheat it, being careful not to let the chocolate seize).  Refrigerate or freeze until firm.  Store in refrigerator and enjoy this healthy treat!

In my last post I promised you a picture of my kitchen sink, so here it is: 

Use your powers of perception carefully here- notice anything odd about it?  Hmmmm.  How about those interesting spickets for water that only pour into one side of the sink?  Yeah, sometimes the way they do things here just makes you say... "Huh?"  In order to fill the left sink for doing dishes, you have to use a cup to transfer water into that sink.  But, if I haven't said so already, I am very thankful to have a kitchen with counters and cupboards, because the last time we were here our kitchen was just a room with a refrigerator and a table that doubled as a cupboard and work area.

I am also having awesome success here with my sourdough.  I will post another time about how to dehyrdrate sourdough starter (I brought some of mine from home).  I don't know if it's the elevation (5000 ft.), the air, climate, or the flour (there is no such thing as whole wheat flour in these stores, white only) but my starter actually smells like yeast and is making the most amazing bread!  Very exciting for me when at home all I got was super-sour dense bread that no one else in the family would eat!

Hope all your kitchen adventures are successful this week.
Enjoy!
Lisa

Power Bars

This recipe originally came from the Nourishing Protein Bars over at Passionate Homemaking.  When I tried the recipe for some reason my bars were "missing" something (it was like eating a mouthful of peanut butter) so I let it get soft again (sat the pan inside the recently used toaster oven & it softened right up).  Then I mixed in a bunch more "stuff" and thought I'd share with you.  These are a great in-between meals snack: satisfying & easy to grab one on the go.

Power Bars
2 cups almonds
1/4 cup flax seeds, chia seeds, or pumpkin seeds *gound in a coffee grinder* I forgot that step & will tell you whole flax seeds are not fun to chew! 
1/2 cup dates
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup peanut butter or almond butter
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
4 Tbsp. maple syrup or honey
3 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup raisins or diced figs (I used figs)
2/3 cup cashew pieces
1 cup chocolate chips/chunks (use this recipe for healthy chocolate)

Place almonds, ground seeds, dates, coconut, peanut butter and salt in food processor. 

Pulse for about 10 seconds.  Stir sweeteners & vanilla into melted coconut oil.

Add to food processor & pulse until it forms a coarse paste.

Pour mixture into an 8x8 pan.  Stir in the raisins or figs, cashews, and chocolate chips.  Press into pan.  Chill for 1 hour, until mixture hardens.  Make 4 cuts vertically & horizontally in your pan so you have 16 bars.  Cover & store in refrigerator or freeze for another time.

Enjoy!
Lisa

Please feel free to comment this week, but our family is with a team working at an orphanage in Ensenada, Mexico, so I will not be able to approve or reply to comments until after July 1st.  This week's posts were written & publishing scheduled ahead of time- just for you!

Dark Chocolate Coconut Fudge

This recipe actually originated on the Tropical Traditions website, but as written it only made a small amount.  I quadrupled the recipe and modified the amounts slightly.  This amount of fudge worked perfectly for using a bread pan as a form.  I have kept mine in the freezer- it does not get too hard but has a nice consistency when frozen- reminds me a little of a "fudgesicle".

I shared this fudge with some extended family members, people who are not "real foodies".  They loved it!  One even offered to pay me to make this for her!  You can vary the amount of honey to give it more or less of a dark chocolate taste.

Dark Chocolate Coconut Fudge
3 (scant) Tbsp. coconut cream concentrate
3 (scant) Tbsp. coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup cocoa powder

optional: chopped nuts, shredded coconut

This is how I prepare the coconut cream concentrate for use.  I place it in a pot of water and heat over medium heat.  As the outside of the cream begins to melt I use a knife to cut through it (like cutting a pizza) because having more surface area will help it melt faster.  Once it's melted you need to mix it up thoroughly.

Measure the coconut cream and honey into a bowl.  Add the coconut oil (solid) and then use the hot water from the pot to add the 1/2 cup hot water needed.  The hot water will melt the coconut oil and soften the honey.

Add the cocoa powder (and any optional ingredients- I didn't use any).  Mix thoroughly.  Line a bread pan with parchment paper and pour in the fudge mixture.

Place in the freezer until firm (a few hours would be good).  Pull out the parchment paper & slice the fudge.  I tried this both with a regular knife and with a pizza cutter.  I think the pizza cutter made it a little easier, though it is sticky either way.

I placed the pieces in mini muffin cups to keep them separate & also for presentation.

If you have coconut cream concentrate you can try this other idea too (if you order through Tropical Traditions and give my customer # 5997607 as your referral, then you get a free book & I get a bonus product too!) .  When the coconut cream is warmed a little (like in the Summer months) use a knife to make a hole in the side (so you're getting down into the cream, not just getting the oil on top).  When you have pancakes scrape a little bit out and put it on your pancake. The hot pancake will melt the cream & with maple syrup it tastes amazing!  This picture was a bit of an afterthought so it doesn't look pretty, but trust me, this tastes so good!

Enjoy!
Lisa

This post is a part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays and Real Food Wednesdays. 

Cookies... for breakfast?

If you're of my generation that line may bring back memories of Saturday morning commercials for a certain sugar filled cereal...  but what we've got going here is a whole different animal!  Last week I had some soured milk that I needed to use up and I felt like making something different for breakfast.  I decided to try out the recipe for Breakfast Cookies at Heavenly Homemakers.

Since I started cooking with soaked grains I have been missing cookies something terrible!  The only cookie recipes I have found either require sprouted flour or are macaroons (nothing against macaroons, but it's not quite the cookie experience I was craving).  The first time I made this recipe I soaked it for 12 hours, the second time was closer to 24 (which is much better for you).

"Soaked" Oatmeal Cookies
Makes about 50 cookies (unless you make giant ones)

The recipe calls for 1 c. melted butter, but I melted 1/2 c. butter with 1/2 c. coconut oil.  Stir that together with 2 c. flour and 2 c. oats, then add in about 1/2 to 3/4 c. of  buttermilk (I added a tablespoon of kefir to my soured milk to make sure it was cultured).  You want to mix well so that everything is moistened & you will have something that is a very thick oatmeal consistency.

Cover and let sit for 12 to 24 hours.  For the next step you better get ready, because you are going to get a good arm workout!  What was oatmeal consistency has now become much more cement-like!  Use a sturdy spoon to start breaking it up.  I added the 2 eggs & 1 t. vanilla at this point, as well as 1/2 c. honey (the recipe calls for 3/4 c., but because these were for breakfast I didn't want them too sweet) & I began to work that moisture into the dough.

Eventually it will begin to get smooth and you can add a teaspoon each of salt, cinnamon, and baking soda.  Once that is thoroughly mixed in add 1 c. raisins (my raisins were low so I only had 1/2 c.).  Preheat your oven to 350 and get out your cookie sheets & parchment paper (optional).  I was using a cookie scoop, so my cookies were not "giant" like the original recipe.  I filled two very large cookie sheets and baked them one sheet at a time for 15 minutes each.

Oh, my cookie scoop, how I missed you!  You have no idea how delighted I was to make cookies again!

If you use the full 3/4 c. honey your cookies will not be as firmly rolled as these are (and when I made almond butter ones they were much looser & spread much more).  When they are done you get a light & fluffy cookie.  But the real fun was when my daughter (who did not know what was for breakfast) got a whiff of them baking and said, "What is that smell?"  When I got to tell her, "Breakfast Cookies," her whole face lit up!  Priceless.

These are healthy so if you want to serve them for breakfast, go ahead, but I would use them as a side with some other protein item (bacon & egg, whole milk yogurt, etc.) to really start your day right.

Now we get to have cookies again- hurray!  I even made almond butter cookies (with the full 3/4 c. honey) for my husband's birthday celebration & they were well liked.  Even with 3/4 c. honey they are still not overly sweet, which is great for us.  These are handy for dessert, after school, or as a quick on-the-go snack.

Almond Butter or Peanut Butter Variation: substitute 1 c. almond or peanut butter for the 1 c. butter/coconut oil, omit cinnamon, optional: add 1/2 c. chopped almonds or peanuts
 In case you're wondering, I did include the almond butter with the oats & flour that "soaked" for 24 hours.  I did not try almond extract instead of vanilla, but you might want to if you're using almond butter.  This batter will spread more, so make sure to space them 2" apart on your cookie sheet.

(Suggested) Apple Spice Variation: subsitute 1 c. finely chopped apples for the raisins, add 1/8 to 1/4 t. ground nutmeg (I have not tried this yet but I think it would work great!  I'll let you know soon!)

Chocolate or Carob Chip Cookies: this is the one my son can't wait for- use chocolate or carob chips instead of raisins, omit cinnamon (or leave in depending on preference)

Do you have any other ideas for variations on this cookie?  How about a tropical version- use 1/2 c. shredded coconut & 1/2 c. tropical dried fruit, instead of raisins, and a different extract instead of vanilla?  Have some fun!

Tomorrow will be my post on making homemade pear sauce (or syrup) in the crockpot.
This post is a part of Real Food Wednesday.

Enjoy,
Lisa

P.S.  Have you seen Food, Inc?  Did you know it is premiering on TV tonight on PBS?  Check your local listings, in my area it is on at 9pm.  Then watch it, record it, DVR it, or Tivo it.  Tweet about it, update your facebook status, email your friends, talk about it and get people watching & learning!  If you want to talk about it after you watch it you can visit my Food, Inc. post to comment & discuss there.  I am sure that change can happen if people learn & begin to care about what they feed themselves!

Homemade "Mounds" or "Almond Joy" Candy

The other day my husband came home from work & saw my computer open to a page on The Nourishing Gourmet that featured a picture of her homemade "Mounds" candy.  Right away hubby started talking about how good they looked- and when I looked at the ingredients I thought, "I can make those!"  So I did  :)  Have you tried them yet?  If you like coconut & chocolate- you must!  They are UH-MAZE-ING!  If I had an award to give, I would certainly give her one for this recipe.

I used a mini muffin pan, so the recipe made 24 candies.  I used 2 "crispy" almonds in each one (you could do 3, or use chopped), so you would need at least 48 almonds this way.  Here's my 1 1/3 coconut in the bowl (I used unsweetened shredded instead of flaked) along with the teaspoon almond extract and 1/4 c. honey & 1/2 c. coconut oil that I melted in pot of hot water.  You don't have to use muffin liners & may not want to- I will go into that more...  Using almonds make these more of an "Almond Joy", but because it is a dark chocolate, not milk chocolate, it's kind of a "Mounds" & "Almond Joy" hybrid.

OK, so my 6 year old son is a camera fiend & he took this picture of me furiously stirring up my coconut/honey/oil mixture (and then he took 20 of the dog).  Sometimes his pictures actually turn out & I am so thankful for the "delete" button on digital cameras (as well as the fact that the sink of dirty dishes is behind me where you can't see it)!

Here is the coconut mixture sitting on top of the almonds. Next it goes into the freezer for 30 minutes, and you can work on the chocolate mixture (or spend some time deleting pictures from your digital camera).

Here is the coconut oil, tablespoon vanilla, scant 1/4 c. honey and 3/4 c. cocoa powder getting mixed together.  I want you to know I was almost out of coconut oil, so I only used 3/4 c. instead of the 1 c. called for & it still turned out great.  In fact this chocolate mixture is more than great, it's so-good-I-have-to-lick-the-bowl-clean great!

Oh yeah!  There it is- can you believe that ingredients this simple can make something this awesome?  Now, if you are using paper liners you have an extra step here- you have to remove the paper liners before you put the chocolate layer on- you see the cups are so full that the chocolate will run over the top & around your paper liners.  Not good.  So, why use paper liners?  Well, if you notice in my picture below my candies ended up looking "chocolate dipped" because the paper liners are smaller than the muffin cups, they freeze that way & then the chocolate goes all around them.  So, if that look is important to you- go for it- otherwise skip the paper liners!  By the way, if you use a tablespoon to measure the chocolate mixture on each candy it should work out just right.  Freeze for another 30 minutes or so, wait patiently, until...

My husband took one bite of these and said, "These are way better than Almond Joy!"  My daughter (11 year old milk-chocolate-loving-sweet-toothed one) said, "These aren't sweet enough" and as she was finishing it she said, "Can I have another one?"  LOL- yes!  Kimi says to store these in the freezer but we put them in a container & they store well in the refrigerator.

WARNING: these candies may cause serious cravings & consuming thoughts of... MORE!

Enjoy!
Lisa

This post is a part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade

Exploding Toaster Ovens & "Girl" Talk

This post is a part of the Tuesday Twister Blog Carnival at Gnowfglins

and Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers

Just so I'm not accused of being over-dramatic, I should say that my toaster oven did not explode with a "BOOM!".  What did happen was very strange though.  We've had this toaster oven since Christmas.  I asked for it so we could avoid microwave use.  The reasons why are listed out for you here.  So, on Friday I was cooking some hot dogs for my son in there (uncured hot dogs, thank you very much Trader Joe's for no nitrates!)  When I heard the "tinkeling" sound of a lot of glass shattering in the kitchen.  What I found was this

The entire glass door had spontaneously shattered into tiny pieces.  Every last bit.  There were a couple of pieces that were even all the way across the kitchen floor.  So bizarre!  Thankfully no one was near it when it happened.  A friend reminded me to check the CPSC website to see if it had been recalled- it hadn't but I did file a report on what happened.  Kind of ironic that I started using a toaster oven to be "safer" and then this happens!  We took it back to the store and got a different toaster oven- no more Black & Decker ones for me!

One thing I have been enjoying in my kitchen this week has been these oh-so-good Healthy Grain Free Brownies.  The first time I made these they were thin & dense, but still very good.  Then I saw another similar recipe at Just Making Noise.  The difference was more eggs, more coconut oil, more salt & vanilla, and 2 T. coffee substitute.  I decided to morph the two recipes (and not use coffee substitute in mine) and the result was a wonderful soft fudgy treat!  I used the Healthy Grain Free Brownie recipe and used 3 jumbo eggs (you could use 4), between 1/3 & 1/2 c. coconut oil, and the extra vanilla.  Now the bittersweet chocolate I'm using was strong- about 84-90% cacao bars from Theo.  The great thing about their bars, besides being fair traded and organic, is that they do not contain soy.  Just cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, and vanilla beans.  The way it should be!  But because the flavor is so strong, and I wanted to make sure all the flavors blended together, I melted the coconut oil and chocolate together before adding to the batter.  It turned out great!

I feel good having this kind of treat because: lots of good for you ingredients & no grains (most of us consume way too many).  Both black beans and dark chocolate are high in magnesium.  Magnesium is helpful for women when we are PMSing- maybe that's why we crave chocolate?  I'm about to delve into some "Girl Talk" here- so guys beware.  :)  When I was a teenager I never had PMS.  No cramps, no irritability, nothing.  Then, when I got married at age 20, I went on hormonal birth control.  Suddenly I had headaches & all the other PMS stuff.  I was only on birth control for about 6 months, but my hormones never were right again after that.  Fast forward 18 years to 2010.  Every single cycle I have 2 weeks of PMS and then I have to take Ibuprofin to manage the painful cramps when my cycle begins, and this is how it has been for 18 years.  That is, up until last month.  Last month I had one day pre-cycle where I was feeling irritable, so I upped my intake of magnesium foods (black beans, dark chocolate, almonds) and felt better the next day.  During my cycle itself I felt light "twinges" but no cramping really.  Nothing that was enough to interrupt my day.  I could hardly believe it!  It was amazing!

We have made so many changes to our diet I can't tell you what I should attribute this too.  Soaking grains?  Raw milk?  Kefir?  Eliminating processed foods?  I have no idea.  But I am delighted & thankful!

Here's to your health journey too.

Blessings,
Lisa