Fermented Drinks

Inside of you are 3 trillion microbes that make up the body known as you. Four pounds of bacteria. More bacteria that the total cells of your body. Without them, you can’t digest your food and receive the nutrients that you need to build your body and to have the building blocks of nutrients needed for cognitive function. Your emotions, believe it or not, are controlled by your gut bacteria. Studies now suggest that gut bacteria help control anxiety and stress responses. Your cravings for food are determined by how many microbes you have in your gut. If you crave a lot of sugar and fat then you have a lot of sugar- and fat-loving microbes – and the same with healthy foods. If you reset your microbes, you can change your habits, your behavior, and the markers that create inflammation and disease in your body. You will begin to heal just by resetting the microbes in your gut.

Most of you have heard of gut health and leaky gut – it's all in the news these days...

The Skinny on Healthy Fats

Even the New York Times has admitted that butter is good for you. Ancel Keys' Lipid Theory has been debunked. I'm not surprised.

God created everything we humans need to survive and thrive on this planet. In the Bible, all the fat of the sacrificial animal was offered to the Lord. He received the best of the animal as an offering.

People since the beginning of time have used the fats that God provided to cook their food. The factory fats have only been around less than a hundred years and their invention has suspiciously corresponded with the rise of heart disease and other diseases of modern civilizations in America and the world.

The following nutrient-rich traditional fats have nourished healthy population groups for thousands of years:

For Cooking:
Butter
Tallow and suet from beef and lamb
Lard from pigs
Chicken, goose and duck fat
Coconut, palm and palm kernel oils

BUTTER:Read More...

Christina's Top Ten Cake Tips

Someday I’m writing a book or blog – so consider this copyrighted material.

1. Always use the best ingredients. [cold AA large eggs, Mazola corn oil, (for icing) Pure Cane Sugar (regular or powdered) and Crisco.]
2. Always use purified water (I don’t like chlorine in my cakes!!!!)
3. Use pan grease* with a dedicated basting brush to grease the sides of the pans. Always use pan liners.
4. Wrap the outside of your pans with Wilton Bake Even strips – or a homemade product. This will prevent over baking on the sides of the cakes.
5. When you flip the cake out of the pan onto a cooling rack, immediately flip again onto a second cooling rack. This way the cake is cooling right side up. This will prevent the cake from cracking. Elevate one end of the cooling rack about 2” on larger cakes to promote cooling.
6. When cooled, put the cake on a saran covered board. Then completely cover with saran and let sit at room temperature ...

Christina's Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter (Real Butter – not lite, not unsalted)
1 cup Crisco
Two dashes of salt

Mix well then add:

3 oz. Milk
flavoring (see below)
@ 1 lb. powdered sugar

Mix well, then slowly add while mixing:
1 lb. powdered sugar (the recipe needs 2 lbs. Total)

Flavoring choices:

2 t. vanilla (use clear vanilla unless you want an ivory frosting) or
2 t. almond or
2 t. maple (this is wonderful on spice cake – deep ivory colored icing) or
1 t. peppermint (scant)

Chocolate variation:

7 oz. milk instead of 4.5 oz.
2 t. vanilla
Add 1 ½ cup Cocoa powder with the milk,
mix well, then add powdered sugar.

Cream Cheese:
Instead of the butter use 1 cup cream cheese, and use 1 t. vanilla flavoring. This is a soft frosting, so some decorating techniques will be difficult and will droop. Don’t even try roses in this icing.