Healthy Eating

Homemade Vanilla Bean Powder

Organic vanilla bean powder is expensive even on Amazon. A small one ounce package of Sigmeau brand runs about $12.50. If you use it frequently in recipes , you’re better off buying a larger package from your brand of choice.

But frankly, I wasn’t even familiar with vanilla bean powder until I saw it in a chia seed pudding recipe I wanted to try. You can check out my favorite version Chocolate Chia Seed Instant Pudding recipe here.

With no powder on hand but two old empty vanilla bean pods in my fridge I decided to try making my own. Quick search on the Internet brought up several how-tos. I picked the easiest, tweaked a bit, and soon had approximately 3 ounces of homemade vanilla powder ready to use.

Instructions

Start with empty vanilla bean pods.

Our two were already empty because we had scooped out and used the vanilla bean paste. It’d been at least two months prior.

Then we set out the pods on clean paper towel, covered them with another, and set them aside to thoroughly dry out. Took about a week for ours. Yours may take longer to dry if they are fresher than the ones we started with, or if you use a dehydrator.

Once dried, I broke the pods into a few pieces and ground them up in our little electric coffee bean grinder. Then I transferred the powder into a small glass jar.

The powder has stored well for many months in fridge.

YOUR TURN

Do you have your own method for making vanilla bean powder? Or a favorite recipe you use it in? I’d love to hear about it. Please comment below.

Please note: Some of the products I recommend include affiliate links. It doesn’t affect the price you may pay if you buy from that link. It just means that I might get a small commission if you do, which I use to help pay for the cost of maintaining my websites and running my business.

Chocolate Chia Seed Instant Pudding

By Kat Sturtz 8 Comments

Love puddings. This one is so quick and easy to make. No cooking and easy to tweak to fit your taste buds. Plus, it’s terrific as an anytime energy boost.

It’s my tweak to a Chia Seed Pudding recipe I discovered on Katrina Mayer’s site. I admit to serving this with homemade whipped cream. Now that does up the calories (for those counting) but all the nutritional value of chia seeds, and the other great ingredients, remains.

Don’t be afraid to adjust quantities and experiment with additional ingredients. As my chef hubby Dennis says, “Remember to savor the food you eat.”

Ingredients

4 tbsp chia seeds

1 1/2 cups unsweetened nut milk (I like almond best, but have used coconut, too)

1 tbsp raw cacao powder

2 grams powdered stevia* (I used Pure Via Stevia packets. Each packet is 1 gram.)

1/4 tsp vanilla bean powder (homemade, see my instructions here.)

Directions

Place ingredients in jar or bowl and mix well. Let stand at least 10 minutes or overnight to allow chia seeds to “gel” and thicken the pudding.

This holds well for up to a week or so. Great for breakfast, snack, or dessert.

Can serve with fresh fruit, chopped nuts, and other goodies. It’s up to you.

** Adjust stevia to taste.

— Can substitute another sweetener, like maple syrup, brown sugar, or even table sugar.

More tweaks

Make Vanilla Chia Seed Pudding

— Omit cacao and start with 1 gram stevia

— Increase to 1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder

You can find Katrina’s original recipe here.

Products I used

The vanilla bean powder I made myself (recipe here). I use a lot of chia seeds so usually buy it in bulk from Amazon. Also bought the raw cacao on Amazon, as well. The stevia I can easily find locally. I don’t go through much so tend to buy smaller boxes of packets which I find more convenient. Last time I bought it at my little local IGA store on sale. But it’s easily found on Amazon, too.

Please note: Some of the products I recommend include affiliate links. It doesn’t affect the price you may pay if you buy from that link. It just means that I might get a small commission if you do, which I use to help pay for the cost of maintaining my websites and running my business.

You are what you eat. Choose wisely. Make it healthy and organic when you can.

By Kat Sturtz 4 Comments

Be aware of your choices.

Although we may not have statistical scientific proof of the long-term affects of multiple harmful pesticides, herbicides, etc., in the body, I think there is plenty of visible physical and emotional proof already.

Just consider here in U.S. the alarming rise in obesity, learning disabilities, behavioral issues, and more, affecting adults and kids. Do we really need to wait x number of years for science (and politicians and our government) to catch up to what so many of us already inherently understand?

Look how long the predominant science thinkers, religious powerhouses, and government entities took in the past to acknowledge the Earth was round and rotated around the Sun, and more recently that energetic forces, including those generated by your memory, thoughts, and action affect our health and well-being.

Here’s a little something to watch and ponder.
Then make your own choices.

Think you can’t afford to eat organic?

Do what you can. Consider starting small. Cut back on processed foods and junk food choices.

Grow some of your own food. Buy from local farmers.

When choosing what to buy and eat … think in terms of nutritional value rather than volume.

For example, instead of that family-size bag of chips, consider the nutritional value in buying the same dollar value in fruits or vegetables. One 1 pound bag of carrots or apples can be used in multiple meals and a variety of ways.

What’s in the Sturtz pantry?

It may surprise you to learn that, yes, there frequently is a bag of chips, a candy bar or two, and even a liter of pop (soda for those not from Michigan. 🙂 ), especially if we’re expecting guests we know enjoy those things.

Truth is … we enjoy those things occasionally, too.

Over the years, however, we’ve cut down A LOT on both the purchases and the frequency we enjoy them.

We don’t always buy organic or local either. Plus, much as I enjoy growing and eating our own food, our lives have been too hectic last few years to do as much gardening as I did in the past.

Still, we’re more conscious than ever before about what we buy and eat. We work hard to weigh nutritional value versus spontaneous purchasing and eating whims.

And that’s the point. Be conscious. Be aware. Choose wisely.

But don’t be a martyr.

Wave a Better Made™ chip in my face and I’ll chomp down on it before you can say Hey! That’s mine! And I’ll savor it immensely … a crispy salty morsel or two or three of good times from my childhood.

Same with popcorn. It’s drizzled with real butter or nothing. Yet, I do pop it in coconut oil mixed with a little bacon drippings. (The bacon drippings way was my dear Grandma Aline’s way. Need I say more?) But no added salt.

See … it doesn’t have to be just one way or another. It’s your way. Tweak it how you want it to be.

Here in the Sturtz household, we’re choosing more healthy over less healthy more and more often these days.

And know what?

The amount we spend on groceries is actually down not up.

So don’t claim you can’t afford to eat healthy until you’ve really tried. And weighed in the benefits of better health for you and your family and friends.

What are your favorite ways to save money on food, yet enjoy more healthy meals and foods full of nutritional value?

Please share your tips and questions below. Your tips may encourage and help others.

Also Chef Dennis D. Sturtz and other professional food expert friends will be around to help answer some of your questions. I’m nor food expert or medical professional. But I do know what I like to eat … and why. What about you?

Food as Spirit

By Kat Sturtz Leave a Comment

It’s been barely two months since my good friend, Les, shared some thoughts about “Food as Spirit.” In it was a prediction that the price of food in our grocery stores will likely double within six months or so. As Hurricane Ike hit hard along the coastlines of Texas and Louisiana late last week, and gas prices soared over $4.00 per gallon again, I was reminded again of his email and the more important information he shared in the wake of changing times.

I’ll let Les speak for himself.

Dear Friends in Spirit,

I am inspired to share with you today some of my discoveries relating to food and spirit.

Being given the opportunity in this lifetime to steward land and cultivate plants, I have made some powerful connections with the land, the food that is harvested from it and the spirit that it invokes. I can not stress enough the difference in energy that you will feel from the different ways that our food is prepared or the intent of the hands that produced it.

The material age has created a food system that has forced farmers to rely primarily on profit margins for growing food vs. focusing on quality and the health of the community benefiting from his or her labors.Now with the price of fuel increasing, the price of food at the grocery store will likely double over the next 6 months or so.

It would be a wise move while we are in the productive season to buy extra produce and put some up for winter. Locally grown, fresh organic produce is the best for the health of your body and for nurturing the spirit within.

I have been harvesting from my garden for a good 4 weeks now [July 10th]. Fresh asparagus, spinach, salad greens, broccoli, snow peas, baby beets, new potatoes, zucchini, summer squash and more. I have also been experimenting with sourdough bread and making yogurt from our cows milk. Pretty much every day I eat from the farm and the benefits are tremendous!

Seed saving this summer and fall should also be a priority. Any efforts in this regard will be rewarded!

Many Blessings on your path!
Les

Thank you, Les, for reminding us that we have the freedom whether or not to make wise choices when it comes to the feeding our physical and spiritual bodies. With rising food costs may hamper us, but we should not let it stop us from finding ways to eat healthy.

Les Roggenbuck’s fully certified organic farm is located in the “Thumb” of Michigan.

To learn more visit:
East River Organic Farm
www.eastriverorganic.com

NOTE: This post was originally published Sept 8, 2008.