Commercial Canned Foods and BPA

We all eat canned food, it's something at we are all used to and comfortable with. It's super convenient and most of us couldn’t imagine doing without at least one item that comes in a can.  Canned foods have been around for generations so why is it a problem now?  The answer is a resin coating that lines the cans.  Almost all food cans are lined with a resin that contains Bisphenol A (BPA).  That means that BPA, an endocrine disruptor which can mimic estrogen, may leach into the food in those cans and then into the people eating that food.

Delicious Flourless Two-Bite Brownies

OK, these things are delicious and they also just happen to be gluten free.  I’d eat these babies all day long if I could.  The almond flour (also called almond meal) gives them that yummy brownie texture that makes your mouth want more!

Taco Tuesday with Homemade Re-fried Beans

Almost every week we have Taco Tuesday. Sometimes we have it as a vegetarian meal or sometimes I’ll include some ground turkey or beef cooked with a bit of chili powder. It is a great meal that kids love because they can add all the ingredients themselves.

Garden Pie Casserole

This is my vegetarian version of Sheppard’s Pie. It is a great choice for Meatless Monday, or any other day of the week for that matter. It strikes that fine balance between healthy goodness and yummy buttery potatoes cooked to a golden crisp.  Ahhhh…. So good.

Nut-Free Gluten-Free Granola Bars

I have been looking for a ‘granola’ type bar that I can send to my daughter’s nut-free school and that my gluten-free husband can also eat.  I found about a dozen different recipes and couldn’t find what I wanted.  I finally came upon one from thepaleomom.com that I tweaked just a bit to make  "Grandma" friendly. No sulphur in the dried fruit and no Soy Lecithin in the chocolate.  I used a brand of organic chocolate chips that don’t have soy in them at all. There are no oats in this recipe so I guess technically these are not granola bars but .... po-tae-toe, pot-ta-toe. . .

Veggie Chili

 

Veggie Chili is a hearty way to have big bowl of comfort food during long cold nights and leftovers make a great addition to homemade nachos or a taco salad. Served with crutsy bread, rice or organic corn chips it's perfect.  Because I don’t make mine too spicy (for young eaters) we always have hot sauce and/or chili flakes on the table for those with more adventurous taste buds.  You can also serve it with lime wedges and yogurt. 

Back to Basics - Cooking Beans From Scratch

Many people think that cooking dried beans is difficult and time consuming.  In fact cooking your own dried beans from scratch is very easy and requires almost nothing of the cook. A nice bonus is of course that they are extremely economical.  But for me the most important reason to cook beans from scratch is to avoid BPA in the cans.  So let's get started.