Forest Gardening

        If there is something you should know about me, it is that I love nature.  I love it's balance and self-sustainability.  I love it's beauty and wonderment.  And, with this love for living things, I love gardening.  It amazes me that, with good nurturing and proper resources, you can make living things thrive.  And, furthermore, with the effort you put in, the plants you grow provide you with health and strength. 

        With the joy I find in gardening, I can't help but seek for the best methods.  I have posted a video of a the method I believe is the most efficient.  This method is call forest gardening.  The idea is to build an ecosystem like one you would find in a forest.  However, instead of using common plants, you use plants that are useful to you that produce food you like to eat.  Anyway, enjoy the video!

 

 

P.S.  I know this post doesn't have much to do with being a gluten and dairy-free college student, but it is something that may be more important after college.

From Rolled Oats to Quinoa

     Growing up, oatmeal was the most common breakfast meal for my family.  It cooked quickly and tasted great!  My favorite way to eat the rolled oats was with honey, a slice of butter, cinnamon, and almond milk.  Yum Yum! 

     However, though the oatmeal tasted delicious, I have recently come to understand that my body couldn't and can't process it correctly.  I didn't know it at the time, but it is clear to me now that the daily bowl of rolled oats caused my mind to function in an odd way.  The best way I can describe the feeling, is that my mind felt fuzzy and depressed.  Though, the feeling was weird to me, I didn't think it was significant enough to mention to my parents.  I soon accepted the fact, that that was simply how I felt in the morning before heading off to school.
    
     Upon discovering my gluten interolance, I accepted the fact that oats were off limits as well.  However, though my body couldn't handled the oatmeal, my tastebuds still craved that old-fashioned taste.  Thus, you can imagine how thrilled I was to discover quinoa. 

     Quinoa is a gluten-free grain that can be cooked like rice or rolled into flakes and cooked like a hot cereal.  It is packed with nutrients and tastes great.  For me, quinoa was the perfect replacement for oatmeal.  It makes my body happy and satisfies the craving I often feel for the unique taste of home.

Conquering a Cold

      You know that terrible feeling when you wake up with a sore throat?  Your thoughts begin racing, trying to fathome how this could have happened.  What did I eat?  Was is cold yesterday?  Was someone in class sick today?  You then begin to retaliate.  No, this IS NOT happening.  I have too much to do.  I am going to beat this thing!  This cold is going DOWN!  Next, you plan your mode of attack.  Antibiotics!...and fruit...and soup....and sleep...and tea.....oh joy.
     This was me last Thursday.  Colds are not fun, but they happen.  For this post, I thought I would explain how I, as a college student, conquer my colds.

First: Antibiotics
       I use an natural antibiotic called grapefruit seed extract.  There isn't anything fancy about it.  It's simply extract from a grapefruit seed mixed with parts of the grapefruit.  However, the stuff is potent.  All you do is take 10-15 drops in a capsule 2-3 times a day with food.  You can also put it in water and drink it that way, but grapefruit seed extract doesn't taste the greatest.

Second: Fruit
       Before the sympoms get too bad, I make sure I am well stocked with fruit.  I prefer citrus, mostly, but apples are good too.  Most of the time, fruit is all I feel like eating when I'm sick, but I have recently come up with a soup I really enjoy.

Third: Soup
       Soup is essential.  The nutrients fuel your body, and the warm broth soothes your throat and chapped lips.  My favorite soup is a variation of the failed masterpiece I posted about earlier.  In my soup, I have chicken stock, chicken, kale, broccoli, rice, water, and cayanne pepper.  Believe me, there are few things that are as rejuvinating.  It's packed with nutrients and comes with a kick! 

Four: Sleep and Lobelia
       One of my favorite things to do when I'm sick, is fall into a deep sleep.  Unfortunately, sleep is quite hard to come by when you are blowing your nose every 2 minutes, or coughing you lungs out.  So, in order, to obtain the rest I need, I take an herbal supplement called Lobelia.  Lobelia is mainly used to strength you respiratory system, which is great for a cold.  However, it is also a powerful relaxant.  Lobelia relaxes your entire body, which allows you to enter a deep, relieving slumber.  However, it does more than knock you out cold.  It heals your body while you sleep.

Five: Ginger Tea with Lemon
        Herbal tea is perfect for sore throats, and the best one for a cold is ginger tea.  To prepare it, you slice fresh ginger into a pot and boil it.  After boiling, you let the tea sit for at least 10 minutes to cool.  Then you add fresh lemon juice to the pot.  Lastly, strain it and drink.  The spiciness of the ginger clears your sinuses, and the lemon provides you with vitamin C.  It's a wonderful combination, though the taste may take acquiring.

Well, those are the main things.  Good luck!

          

Failure with Friends

      Today, I attemped my first, gluten-free loaf of bread.  To many, making bread without gluten may not seem so difficult.  But, trust me.  It is.  PERFECTION is required. 
The idea of attempting the recipe was presented to me by a good friend.  He suggested we use a simple bread recipe, and switch the wheat flour for a gluten-free mixture.  This made sense to me, so that was that.  It was my job to come up with the flour mixture, and he was to help me with the recipe itself. 
      Once the ingredients were purchased and prepared, my friend came over, and we began baking.
Upon mixing the ingredients together, we noticed the dough looked a bit odd, but continued anyway, hoping for the best.  After a thorough mixing, we let the dough rise for two hours, and were rewarded with a slight increase.  After which, we plopped the dough on a pizza stone, and smoothed the top.  Normally, you would leave the bread fluffy and thick, however, I recommended we flatten it a bit, to make sure it cooked all the way through, recalling previous failures.
     When the cooking time was up, we checked the bread.  It looked good on the ouside, delicious even.  However, upon further inspection, we noticed the inside was not as firm as it's surroundings. 
At that point, we had no idea what to do.  Finally, we came to the conclusion to flip the bread, inorder to cook the bottom as equally as the top.  Fortunately, enough, the flipping went quite well, and we successfully got the bread back into the oven, belly-side up. 
      After 10 minutes we checked the bread for the final time.  It WAS cooked on the outside, but, again the inside was quite gooey.  Thus, as a final resort, we decided to let the bread cool, hoping time would solidify the interior.  It didn't.
       Needless to say, the first bread loaf was a failure.  However, it was a failure with a friend; and, failures with friends are much less formidable. 

Gluten and Dairy-free in Time of Need

      I've been thinking a lot about food storage lately.  I'm not sure if I'll ever need to use a food storage, but I do like the idea of being prepared for anything.  So far, the main things I can think of, that would keep, are beans, rice, sprouting seeds, and quinoa.  I'm sure a lesson on bottling food wouldn't hurt either.  As always, I'm open to suggestions.

A Nourishing General Conference Weekend

      Last weekend, I spent a lot of time with my family.  It was a General Conference weekend, which brought with it the many different traditions my siblings have developed as they have raised their own families.  Of the many traditions, baking often plays a substantial role gluten-free or not.
      For the first half of Conference, I was with my second-oldest sister.  Her family doesn't eat gluten-free, which made me quite nervous.  However, she is always so accomodating to visitors, I shouldn't have worried.  When my sister hollered that dinner was ready, we all gathered in the kitchen and anxiously waited to see what was on the menu.  As my sis lifted the lid, I gazed intently to find that the pot was brimming with noodles.  At that moment I distress filled me.  What could I do?  I had to say "no", but I then what?  My sister would be crushed, and I would be left with regret AND an empty tummy.  However, before I could get too far into this thought process, my sister noticed my distress and announced proudly, "It's gluten free!" 
Relief washed over me, as did gratitude, for my sisters thoughtfulness.  Needless to say, the meal was divine, and all were satisfied.
     For the second half of conference, I was with my oldest sister, her family, and my parents.  I knew there would be less concern here, food-wise; because, my oldest sister and her family do eat gluten-free, as do my parents.  And, to confirm my assumption, as I walked in the door, the smell of homemade muffins greeted me.  To my great delight, my parents and sister had made a mountain of gluten-free muffins.  Could I have asked for more than that?  Certainly not!  The muffins were delicious and the company was top-notch.
     Conference weekend could not have been more perfect.  The messages were revitalizing, and the food was good too.

The Not-So-Masterful Masterpiece

          Earlier this week, I thought up the perfect soup and was determined to make it the way I had envisioned it in my mind.  It was going to consist of chicken, rice, mushrooms, kale, broccoli, carrots, chicken stock, olive oil, thyme, and sea salt.  I could hardly wait to get it started.  Of course, I'm not, exactly, the greatest at experimental cooking.  I work better with recipes, already measured to perfection.  Thus, I decided to check the internet, briefly, for a recipe along the lines of what I had in mind.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find one exactly right, so I concluded to simply chop everything up and throw it into the crockpot.  This is how other people did it, right?  Life on the edge? 
          After some time, my apartment began to be filled with a beautiful smell, and that's when I decided it had to be close.  When everything was thouroughly cooked, but not too cooked, I tried the first sip.  Oh man was it good!  Proudly, I took down a bowl and filled it to the brim.  "Who needs a recipe, anyway?" I thought.  Well, that's what I thought, at first.  Upon further inspection of my masterpiece, I found that it didn't really look like a masterpiece.  It look pretty gross actually.  And, furthermore, although the taste was good, the rice was a bit cruchier than it should have been.  Kind of like rocks.  So, lesson learned: Taste is not everything.