What foods do you make? (practically processed food free)

dwarfer22

I love making my own hummus with garlic or with roasted red peppers. Over the years I used to have my standard 3 tomato plants in the backyard in the summer, This past year I dug myself, yes MYSELF, a garden. I had 12 tomato plants or varying types, cabbage, cucumber, zuccini, lettuce, bell peppers, carrots, radishes, green beans, and a separate plot for fresh herbs. OMG I gained 10 lbs over the summer from all the goodies I was dishing up but it was so worth it. The taste does not compare to store bought, and it really saved me a boat load of money. Plus next year I won't have to dig so much so I can't wait. Especially for the herbs. I dried some and froze some in icecube trays with a little water to make herb ice cubes. I was making soup all the time with either fish or chicken, all the veg, and dropped the cubes in for the herbs. Next year I hope to expand and add a second plant/harvest (time permitting.) Great ideas on making from scratch. I do also make my own bread on occasion, but have mostly stopped eating bread as it is a big trigger food for me. Plz post more in the way of recipies. I have started cooking at home over the last 2 years and I LOVE it! I used to think it was tedious and boring, (I guess making fried chicken and Hamburger helper all the time killed it for me) but since I switched to healthy REAL food, I am liking it more and more. I love to find a recipie that sounds good to me, and then make it my own. I had a recipie for stuffed eggplants and beef that I knew the kids would never touch but sounded delicious. I turned it into a casserole and it went down a treat. Keep it up and pass along those idea.

funnygirl0940

My cooking binder has broken & become a mess so this is a great way for me to start of the new year and get it organized. I'm going work on getting these recipes that I use daily online and printable to share with others. It's been 16 months of googling & I'm not sure I could give everyone credit that deserves credit for making the recipe...would I get it trouble for that? I've also altered some of them so I guess then I've made them my own? I just figured if people were really interested they'd google and find recipes that sooted them but I have people ask all the time in both English & in Spanish.

4KidFather

@Funnygirl
Wheat intolerance...can you eat it if it's made at home? I'm wondering if food intolerences are caused from all the processing & preservatives?

Wheat intolerance...can you eat it if it's made at home? I'm wondering if food intolerences are caused from all the processing & preservatives?

My wife avoids wheat completely. Gets terrible neck head pains if she blindly gets it too!. I do use wholegrain wheat in my pancakes and bread though, but have reduced total wheat consumption.
This ALSO lead to my wife loosing her stomach flab!?! I also got my 6 pack out eventually by drastically cutting wheat. Interestingly I kept up my carbs via Oats, and rice and veggy tubers.
Avoiding refined wheat (nutritional crack!) almost forces diversification into other whole grains and real food carb sources.

I agree that the increasing prevalence of food intolerance may be attributed to modern 'food' production practices. often geared towards lower costs and 'taste' NOT optimum human nutrition.

@dwarffer2 - Bread IS a trigger food for a lot of cravings among several women I know. Thanks for sharing!

funnygirl0940

@4KF,
have you ever boughten the wheat berry to grind you own flower? I have that option here. Cutting back on the bread and pasta definitely helped me lose some weight. Can't go wrong increasing fresh produce!

4KidFather

@funnygirld
I have ground Wheat, Oats, Rye, and Barley 'berries' in my handcrank food chopper with great success - especially for porridge- but also baking hearty loaves. I more often than not use a blender to whip out a couple cups of oats for bannocks, and oatcakes. Works great - and for wheat too.
Super food for a song!

We ground all kinds of grains for our babies super porridge.

funnygirl0940

4kidfather, it's too bad you're not a woman :-)

I didn't even know whole barley was called berries too. You use a handcrank??? bless your heart! Have you made wheat berry w/milk? I think it would be creamy. I love cream of wheat but it's an imported item in Mexico. Perhaps I'll put it through the mill. The wheat berry. I'm so excited!!!

Mindful_Trent

I've made my own hummus, Tahini, Yogurt, Nutella, Yogurt Cheese (the strained yogurt you mentioned)... Looking forward to trying even more! I've thought about mayo - I'll have to give it a shot.

In the non-food category, I made my own Shampoo, and I've found a dried berry/fruit type thing that is great for use instead of laundry detergent (called "soap nuts") - although I didn't make the soapnuts (I'm just using the raw fruit off the tree), I thought it kind of fit in this non-processed-ingredient discussion.

Will have to come back and re-read the thread later for more ideas...

funnygirl0940

Have you made hummus by boiling chick peas or black beans? An authentic recipe is chick pea, tahini, lemon juice, & cumin.

You're another one of those guys that I wish was a girl. I just don't have guy friends on my profile because I discuss girl issues )

4KidFather

Imported wheat eh? Well I wouldn't get overly excited about it, there are copious adequate grass seeds in Mexico, especially Amaranth, corn and perhaps Quinoa (a big deal now). All of these seeds can be cracked for porridge, ground to flour for flat breads/pancakes and boiled as a side dish or cold salad addition. There really is an endless array of dishes with some great tastes, nutrition .... and price.
These quality grains a re a great addition to the diet - and EVERYONE I've spoken with who cuts breads and pastas binges loses weight! Veggies and fruits are the way to go.

Accountant-boi Soap-nuts eh? Sounds cool. We've made some great soaps from cocoa butter and olive oil. This spurned us to shun a lot of synthetic emulsifiers cleansers. I am toying with DRASTICALLY using shampoo even. I've seen some people with great results just scrubbing with water - true.