Eat Naked Segment......Chicken Broth

I haven't had an "Eat Naked" segment for a while but this is one that should be called to attention. I was making soup tonight, after all, it is a chilly 80 degrees here now so it is time! Can't wait. I made some delicious White Bean Chili soup, vegetarian style with Northern beans, potatoes and Quinoa and thought about what effort we go into making a good, healthy soup for our families. We chop up fresh veggies, cut up potatoes, add beans, delicious ,healthy spices and then the blunder occurs: the broth. How many of us are putting poisons unknowingly into our soup in which the very intent was to provide nutrition and satisfaction? Do you know what is in your broth?

Maybe you are already a step ahead of the norm but just in case you haven't checked into the ingredients on the broth canisters, let's take a look see:

Exhibit 1: Knorr Chicken Bouillon

Ingredients: Salt, sugar, corn starch, monosodium glutamate (MSG), Beef fat, hydrolyzed corn protein, dried chicken meat, maltodextrin, autolyzed yeast extract, chicken fat, silicon dioxide, dehydrated parsely, disodium inosinate, citric acid, onion powder, natural flavor, colors yellow 5 , annato, yellow 6.

Exhibit 2: Pacific Naturals Free Range Chicken Broth

Ingredients: Organic Chicken Broth, Organic Chicken Flavor, Natural Chicken Flavor, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Onion Powder, Turmeric, Organic Flavor.

Do you see what I mean? Fresh veggies, healthy spices and a container or msg OR fresh veggies, healthy spices and organic chicken broth. You decide. We went with the real deal. It was delicious. You can get a pack of the "real deal" at Costco. It has a good shelf life. It isn't too costly but the cost of not using it is high. Either make it yourself or try this variety out. Out with the MSG brand. BLuckkk!

Want to try my soup? Here ya go.

Creamy White Chili

1 medium onion, chopped

3-4 red potatoes, peels on, cut into small cubes

3/4 C. chopped celery

2 cloves garlic

2 T. olive oil

2 15 oz cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained

appx. 28 oz chicken broth or as much as needed

2 4 oz cans diced green chiles

1 t. salt or more as desired

1/4 to 1/2 cup White Quinoa

1/4 t. cumin

1/2 t. pepper

1/8 t. cayenne pepper

1 C. sour cream

1/2 C. whipping cream

In a large sauce pan, saute chicken, potatoes, celery, onion and garlic for a couple minutes. Add broth, beans, chiles, quinoa and seasonings. Bring to a boil and then reduce to low and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.Remove from heat and stir in sour cream and whipping cream. Add more salt as needed and thicken with ultra gel.

***I did mine in my pressure cooker to reduce time. After I sauteed the veggies, I added the broth and quinoa and pressure cooked on second ring for about 1 minute. Used quick release and added the beans, chiles and seasonings. I simmered until potatoes were just right and then added the cream and sour cream.

ps, I have no idea why my font is messed up. Sorry.

Eat Naked segment....Granola Bars.

These are actually labeled as "healthy" choices for snacks for school . After all, they use whole grains so they must be good for you. Right? I just so happen to have a box of these in my pantry right now, a left over from a school function but not at all a normal thing in my home. Once in a while won't kill us but for those of you who do keep this as a regular healthy snack in the home, take a gander at the ingredients:

(its long, get comfortable)

Granola (whole grain rolled oats, sugar, rice flour, whole grain rolled wheat, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonssed oils with TBHQ and citric acid with natural tocopherol added , whole wheat flour, molasses, sodium bicarbonate, soy lecithin, caramel color, barley malt, salt, nonfat dry milk, corn syrup, crisp rice (rice, sugar, salt, barley malt) semi sweet chocolate chips, sugar, dehydrated marshmallows (sugar, corn syrup, modified food starch, gelatin, artificial and natural flavor, sodium hexametaphosphate, blue 1) corn syrup solids, high fructose corn syrup, glycerin, honey graham cracker crumbs, high fructose corn syrup, whole wheat flour, vegetable oil, sorbitol, calcium carbonate, salt, water, natural and artificial flavors, molasses, soy lecithin, BHT, citric acid.

Yum. No, I did not accidentally keep retyping High Fructose Corn Syrup and sugar. That is how it is listed. There may be some whole grains in there but they are surely overshadowed by the junk. A health food? NOT. Here is a granola bar kept simple. Try it out. Eat Naked!

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

combine:

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup raisins

In saucepan whisk:

3 T. oil ( I use coconut)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup natural smooth peanut butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 T water

Heat over low heat until sugar dissolves. Let cool slightly. Whisk in 1 egg white. Pour over oat mixture and spread in 8" square parchment lined pan. Bake at 30o degrees for about 30 min or until golden brown on edges. Cool for 10 min. Lift out of pan and cut into bars.

(one of the fabulous recipes that will be featured in my cookbook!)

Eat Naked Segment.....Flavored Waters

I could tell you again how horrible soda is for you and those insane amount of caffeine laden rock star drinks, but... you all know that story. Let's visit the popular craze of flavored waters. They are labeled as "Vitamin Waters", "Powerades" or even just water with "real fruit juices added". They seem innocent enough. They even may lead you to believe that they are better than water. They give us electrolytes to replenish what has been lost in vigorous activity, they give us vitamins to make us healthier, they add some real fruit juice. Well, as we all know, advertisements can be misleading. Labels can be misleading. Companies are misleading....on purpose.
BECAUSE, we fall for it. Lets just talk a bit about Vitamin waters.

Did you know that in one bottle of Vitamin Water there are actually 2.5 servings in the bottle? So, the calories and sugar contents you think you are getting on the back should be timed by 2.5. The total amount of sugar grams is 32.5, compare that to a Coke which has 39 grams. Sure, they throw in some synthetic vitamins to make it sound better and some "natural flavors" to make it seem well, "natural" but that is also a cover up. If it was just a natural product, they would list the product. If it was once natural but has been synthetically processed and changed, it is now a "natural flavor." In other words, you don't want it. I won't even go into all the other synthetic ingredients in these drinks. We will just focus on the sugar alone.

When sugar is ingested, the sugar just goes right through the stomach wall and raises the blood sugar levels in the body. Your body is programmed to keep the blood sugar at a certain level. When it soars, the pancreas secretes insulin to balance it all out. When the insulin is increased, your metabolism is disrupted. Metabolism has a very important role in the bodies. It is the process by which the molecules in your body combine and create new material that that help take in energy and release heat. By changing the natural metabolism in your body by disrupting it in a negative way, the immune system is suppressed.

What does this mean? The very drink you are sipping to help give you some vitamins can actually help make you sick. Not to mention add some love handles. Many of these are even laden with High Fructose Corn syrup, now even linked to mercury content in many foods.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY: DRINK NAKED. Drink water. To add some flavor, essential oils are great, and....even beneficial. I love to put some lemon or orange oil in my water. It has a sort of creamy taste to the oil and is very refreshing. It will help cleanse the water also of any bacteria. It is much cheaper than vitamin waters but just make sure that you get a pure brand of oils. We put some oils in our water jug in the fridge for a little zip. We also love cutting up cucumbers in the water jug. It has such a fresh and light taste. I wouldn't have expected to like this much but sampled it one day at a store and have been hooked. My kids all love it , a true "vitamin water" . This really all should be so obvious. I mean, can anything blue or bright neon colored be healthy? Stick to what God gave us. I want to keep my sugar intake to where it really counts, a good desert or chocolate bar. Don't waste it on a drink. We all need to take our sugar level down and drinking it daily will kick it over the edge. Especially for the little kiddies who consume these drinks like they are , well....water. I know that now and then a good Gatorade will not kill us. All in moderation. But, on a daily basis, lets kick up the water intake. We can't live without it.

Eat Naked segment....

Enlightened Homemaker Lingo (for the new enlightened homemakers)



To "EAT NAKED" is the act of eating food as God intended it. No preservatives, additives, nothing "fake".

To "GET NAKED" is the process of cleaning out your pantry and lifestyle of the offending ingredients. If you can't get the ingredients off a tree, from an animal, from the earth, it is out. Nothing from a laboratory. Nothing Blue. Simple. Delicious.



Now, I shall be starting a new segment on my blog called the "Eat Naked Segment" which will be to shed light on what may be in your pantry and why it just shouldn't be there. Just a little info to help us all understand how and why we need to get naked.



First one comes from a little discussion we had at our Mom's club discussion last night- Cream of Mushroom Soup.



In any church or organization cookbook you find a host of recipes containing this soup. Some simply don't know how to make an enchilada without it. But, if any of you have read about the dangers of MSG and their many disguises on my blog, Terri Hirnings or anywhere else, you can see from this label why we need to purge it from our shelves. If you haven't read, please do. You probably know that MSG or monosodium Glutamate is bad but it is also hidden under so many other names. In this label alone, there are 4 ingredients that can be MSG. Here are the ingredients:

Water
Mushrooms
Vegetable Oil (the bad kinds)
Modified Food Starch
Wheat Flour
Cream
Salt (way too much)
Dried Whey (Most often MSG)
Monosodium Glutamate (They don't even hide this one)
Soy Protein Concentrate (MSG form)
Yeast Extract (MSG)
Spice Extract
Dehydrated Garlic


Now, wouldn't it just be better to use a little flour, Milk, butter, garlic and mushrooms? MSG is in most packaged foods kids eat. It messes with their little developing brains. Get rid of it. In case you have missed some other MSG blogs, here is a list of hidden free glutamate ingredients:

Always found in:

Autolyzed yeast, calcium caseinate, gelatin, glutamate, glutamic acid, hydrolyzed soy protein, hydrolyzed corn gluten, monopotassium glutamate, monosodium glutamate, pea protein, plant protein extract, sodium caseinate, textured protein, yeast extract, yeast food and yeast nutrient.

May be in:

barley malt, bullion, broth, carrageenan, citric acid, enzymes, flavorings, malt extract, maltodextrin, natural flavorings, pectin, proteiase, soy protein, soy sauce, whey protein, and whey protein isolate.

Blaaahck. If you are overwhelmed, you can find snacks and food without it. Try Trader Joes, Fresh N Easy, Sprouts. Or, as always, make it. Always the best option.

FYI, when using spell check on this post, a good portion of the additives list weren't even recognizable by the dictionary. Another clue that we just shouldn't eat them.