Essential Guacamole

This is such an easy recipe and so yummy that the entire family will gobble it up — I know mine does!  Beware, I am one of those cooks that often seasons by taste and this is one of those cases.  This is such a basic recipe and is good anytime you’re serving Mexican food.  It’s also a yummy, yet healthy snack.  This is the perfect compliment to your favorite Mexican dinner.

We are mostly grain free here, but we do allow small bits of gluten free foods.  We have really missed our tortilla chips though.  We’ve been using rice crackers to eat this with and it’s a pretty good substitute.    We eat so much Mexican food that we’ve become accustomed to serving it with queso, salsa, and guacamole.  It’s one of the ways that we spread the more expensive grass-fed ground beef that we try to use.  But, since we’ve been mostly grain free, we hadn’t been making those items because we were accustomed to eating them with chips.  The rice crackers really do work pretty well, as they are crisp, more like chips than crackers.

This guacamole has a very special ingredient…doTERRA Lemon Essential Oil!  I have to say this was a wonderful addition to my family’s favorite guacamole.  Normally, I would put in lime  juice in this guacamole, but I didn’t have the limes, nor did I have lemon juice.  I remembered that I had the Lemon Essential oil and decided to give that a try and I have to say that this was the BEST batch of guacamole I’ve ever made.  The essential oil made a HUGE difference in the taste.  I had made really big batch of guacamole and we ended up eating it for lunch, along with some strawberries and grapes.  My youngest, who wasn’t a fan of guacamole, ate it like it was going out of style and asked me to fix it again sometime this week for lunch.

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Stevia Lemonade

I’ve cut all sodas (diet & regular) out of my diet and have replaced them with water, teas and this Stevia Lemonade! Stevia Lemonade is truly wonderful and SO good for you! I’m not a real big fan of plain water, so that’s why I’ve always had a hard time getting rid of sodas.

Before I give you the recipe, lets look at the health benefits of lemons and stevia!

Lemon’s Health Benefits

• Cleanses the body of impurities
• It’s an antiseptic
• Relieves heartburn and bloating
• helps bowels eliminate wastes
• stimulates the liver
• Builds up bones and makes healthy teeth
• It’s a diuretic
• It’s a blood purifier

Stevia’s Health Benefits

• The sweetness is not from carbohydrates so it’s good for diabetics and those watching their carb intakes.
• It’s antibacterial
• It inhibits plaque growth and cavities in teeth.
• It reduces cravings for sweets
• Provides energy that lasts all day (no ups and downs like sugar does)
• Regulates your blood sugar
• Lowers elevated blood pressure
• Improves digestion

So, as you can see this lemonade is not just a nice, sweet drink, but it actually has some very nice health benefits! I have to admin; I drink a bunch of this every day, about 1/2 a gallon every day. I try to drink it between meals, as it REALLY cuts my sugar cravings between meals!  Okay, on to the recipe!

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Photo Credit: Lara604

Salt Tea

“Salt Tea?!?  Who in their right mind drinks salt tea?”   Yep, I had that same reaction when I first was told about it myself.  It sounded strange and a bit on the yucky side to be honest.  But I gave it a try and instead found myself actually liking it!  But not only is it rather good tasting, but it’s also extremely good FOR you.

Pink Himalayan Salt

• Contains 84 of the 92 known trace elements
• the most balanced salt and is easily absorbed by the body
• replenishes electrolytes
• balances the body’s pH
• helps to lower blood pressure
• benefits the respiratory and circulatory systems
• detoxs the body of unwanted metals

Grass-Fed Butter

• contains Activator X which helps your body absorb the trace minerals found in the Pink Himalayan Salt
• is high in the most easily absorbed form of vitamin A
• is anti-fungal
• helps your body metabolize cholesterol
• contains anti-oxidants
• a great source of vitamins E and K and rich in the mineral selenium
• is an immunity booster
• contains vitamin D with is essential for the absorption of calcium
• helps prevent tooth decay.

So the Pink Himalayan Salt and Grass-Fed Butter work in synergy together to help promote mineral absorption and general health.  It’s a sad fact that our soil has been so over worked that it no longer contains many of the trace minerals is use to.  Which means that the foods we eat no longer contain as many of those same trace minerals.  Our bodies need those trace minerals for optimal health.  Sure, you can take a vitamin–most likely filled with lab-produced trace minerals.  It’s always better to choose natural source vitamins over synthetic.  Butter tea is an easy way to add the trace minerals back to your body, and I have found that it’s actually MUCH cheaper than many whole-food supplements out there.

Below is a short video about how to make salt tea, it only requires 3 ingredients that most real foodies have on hand.

Water Kefir Grains: How to Rehydrate

How to Rehydrate Water Kefir Grains

Recently, I bought some water kefir grains from Cultures For Health. I was really impressed with them, not only do they offer a lot of different cultures such as water kefir, milk kefir, and yogurt, but they provide quick service as well. I got my water kefir grains very quickly in the mail. If you need cultures, I can HIGHLY recommend Cultures For Health. The water kefir culture comes to you dehydrated. Before you can use them to make water kefir, they must be rehydrated. Rehydrating them is really simple. The first thing you need to do is to dissolve 6 tbsp. of sugar and 1/2 tsp. molasses in 4 cups of warm spring water. I simply put mine on my stove top and heated the water and sugar until the sugar dissolved (don’t boil). You want to use spring because it has a higher mineral content which the kefir grains like. You DON’T want to use water with any chlorine. I also chose to use organic sugar and organic molasses. The mineral content of your ingredient is important, especially if you want your kefir grains to multiply. The molasses has lots of extra minerals and so it really encourages them to grow. BUT, you can leave the molasses out if you want.

Now that you have the sugar water prepared, you need to let it cool to room temperature in a glass jar. Once it’s room temperature, you can pour the kefir grains in and stir with a wooden or plastic spoon. You don’t want the grains to touch anything that’s metal…kefir grains and metal don’t mix! Cover the jar with a coffee filter or towel and secure with a rubber band. This is so it’s still exposed to the air, but critters such as ants and fruit flies can’t get in it. Now, the mixture needs to sit for 3-4 days until the grains are nice and plump and the mixture has a bit of bubble to it. Don’t let the mixture sit longer than 5 days. You will not want to drink this sugar water you rehydrated the kefir grains in, just dump it down the drain.  Once the grains are all rehydrated, you can make your first batch of water kefir!

You can purchase water kefir grains from Cultures for Health for $16.99 or a starter kit which contains the grains, a plastic strainer, and mineral drops for $23.99.

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