Packaged Foods Hmm? #loriinthekitchen #fightinginflammation #healthyfood #spiritualhealingjourney

Photo by Kereni at Pixabay.com.

Love this color rose!

 Packaged foods can be great.

They give us relief - too tired to cook.

They taste good - I’m sad, I have my favorite breakfast bar for the morning. Yippee!

They give us time - I have time to be with the love of my life. More time to do for others, cleaning, massages, sex……

Prepared foods have long been known to cause harm to our bodies. At 16 I got mono. My mom had been buying me prepared boxed and frozen foods solely where she wasn’t cooking anymore going through a divorce being emotionally depleted. My doctor I went to since a baby told her this is why I was sick. This woman would have a pot of soup on the stove whenever I went for a doctor visit, and it was often. My dad (not real dad I found out recently) smoked and blew it in my face regularly and felt to eat the American processed food that we came about with as the best thing (velvets, hotdogs, fish sticks, etc. He wasn’t into the extra money of processed foods though, just the additives usually to our regular home cooked meals, which made a big difference still then in bad health. Unfortunately my mom still years later died of stomach upset with a fridge filled with diet Weight Watchers items. She had to be thin……

But, just a few minor changes to start can help us take a better road. Maybe we don’t want to give up ALL our favorite boxed treats. Simple, just cut back. Here’s a few example tips to help do that:

Homemade BBQ Sauce - there is SO much sugar in BBQ Sauce. I don’t buy it anymore because I can’t afford the better ones without harsh chemicals, additives, and loads of sugar. A simple solution to many others is to make one of those favorite boxed foods once a week to substitute a better store bought BBQ Sauce. Or make your own. Plan for when you want to use it since it doesn’t last as long without preservatives.

Your own spice packets: I can’t believe how easy and how much better homemade taco seasoning is. I never buy premade anymore. There’s no hydrogenated oils or preservatives that eventually make our weakened bodies from age, abuse, and/or disease vulnerable to worsen outcomes. We actually can reverse a lot of this. I’m living proof, though sadly I’ll fight for the rest of my life to stay alive with the horrible injuries to my body. It’s an awakening we can only know. Our bodies tell us what we need. 

Yogurt: I can’t stress enough how easy it is and how good for you it is to make your own yogurt. Your husband will love it. You can make homemade vanilla yogurt out of it with honey and vanilla in it and serve fresh fruit with it to your loved one. He’ll love it! And he’ll thank you because it’s the first healthy step to take to get your body to read what you need.

Salad dressing: I would love to buy a bottle of salad dressing that’s healthy. It doesn’t exist. AND it’s expensive. You can find perhaps one bottle at a health food store but I get sick of that one flavor. And once again that $5 that you spend that week you can put it toward a more expensive packaged food for your convenience. So there doesn’t have to be an all or nothing. Soybean oil in mayo and salad dressing isn’t healthy. I can tell you firsthand where my body sends of signals and I can tell you. Buy a more expensive mayo instead with avocado oil exclusively in it. Your body will thank you. 

Snacks - I love snacks. I love salty snacks. I actually have to be careful to get enough sodium where I don’t buy many packaged foods though and only use a minimal amount of sea salt per day, that’s not usual I know. But for the most part it’s hard to find those salty snacks I love that are healthy with a good oil: coconut, avocado , olive, and sea salt. I search wherever I go for them. Happily I find them sometimes, but for the most part I have to make them. This is tiring I know. Perhaps the money here again can be a switch off to a better food preparation packet for your dinner. 

Homemade cheese crackers gluten free or not, keto or not: I like almond flour where carbs will raise your triglycerides if eaten too often. I choose to limit those in between meals. I certainly eat them if I’m fatigued and my body is calling for them. Homemade cheese crackers are easy and great. 

Breakfast food is the worst: The first part of our day we want to look forward to every night. Perhaps we can make our own breakfast bars with honey or maple syrup, dried fruit, homemade coconut sugar chocolate chips, etc. Overnight oatmeal cups a lot of people love. They last in the fridge 5 days. Perhaps once or twice a week you can have that delicious sugar sweetened store bought bar. I used to eat one bad thing a week. I relished this. Now I don’t quite miss it so much. I like to complain and figure out what I’ll make.

For more ideas visit my blog and check out the chefs I’ve gotten ideas from. They mostly run this way throughout their sites. Take care!

https://loriinthekitchen.blogspotcom

Air Fryer Baked Cauliflower #loriinthekitchen #cauliflower #healthyfood #myspiritualhealingjourney

These are sooo good and surprisingly easy. When I turned them I would brush them with more oil and shake on paprika where it would go bare. Make sure you put olive oil in the baking pan part of the air fryer.

Instructions below in video.

Lori’s Banana Cream Cheese Frozen Yogurt #loriinthekitchen #healthyfood #spiritualhealingjourney #frozenyogurt

 

I put 12 ounces of my homemade Greek yogurt into my Ninja iCreami. I made this by adding 3 1/2 tbsps of honey and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract into the strained yogurt I made right into the Ninja mixing cup and stirred it well.  Then I sliced one small banana and mixed that in. After 24 hours I blended it on the ‘smoothie bowl’ setting. I always remix. Then I filled the open well inside the made yogurt with cream cheese. It looked like it took almost 2 ounces. (I would take a bit of the mixture out before doing this-it made an unhappy noise at me.) Then hit ‘mixins’. Yummy! It has a bit of that yogurt tinge still but good. You can add more cream cheese if you want which I’ll try next and call it cheesecake frozen yogurt. 

Healthy Spiced Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting from Chocolate Covered Katie #healthyfood #fightinginflammation #loriinthekitchen #spiritualhealingjourney

I loved this cake and it’s so healthy with my alternative ingredients! I used 1/3 c. of coconut sugar instead of white and definitely add the allspice. For the frosting I used my homemade Greek yogurt and a tablespoon and a bit more of honey instead of stevia or powdered sugar. It was a bit runny but I keep the cake in the fridge so this helps. The taste is AMAZING! 

Cake

Frosting

A Hero’s Journey: Our Brave Children #children #bravery #juveniles #teens #lorijeanfinnila #producer #womenstationchannel #hope #opportunity

This is to our brave children in the woods that run from wrong, their greater perception of life, and poverty that at times leaves them in a worse home. 'Beauty is only so far away happiness and magic is near you I open my eyes darkness can be beautiful I open my mind and walk to it.' Lori Jean Finnila Let's give them no doubt and more opportunity to walk toward it when all there is is darkness to walk through to get to it.

Homemade Frozen Strawberry Yogurt #frozenyogurt #healthyfood #loriinthekitchen

I

I used 6 ounces of slices strawberries and 6 ounces of my homemade Greek yogurt. I added 2 tablespoons of honey and a half a tsp of vanilla extract. Then I stirred it all together. I froze it for 24 hours and then blended it in my Ninja Creami. If you want it sweeter just add more honey and hit remix. 

Spain On a Fork Fine Jumbo Chunked Canned Salmon and Fettuccine and Spinach Dish #yum #loriinthekitchen #healthyfood #spiritualjourney #spainonafork

Recipe at Spain On a Fork

Canned salmon never tasted so good! I used a can of Starkist Jumbo Lump (be sure to use jumbo lump) Wild Caught Salmon from Target for $2.39. It was chunked perfectly and no weird ingredients. And of course it was a good price. Hit the Starkist link for your local store. Be sure to look for the ‘jumbo link’ logo on the left of the can. I didn’t have to do much to the salmon to have the chunks the right size for the dish. Ingredients in this dish were handled with care which left a fine dining experience flavor. I didn’t bother worrying about reheating anything once the dish was done. This left the fine taste where it’s supposed to be. Alberto nailed it!

Homemade Granola Bars #inspiredtaste #healthysnacks #loriinthekitchen #spiritualjourney

 

You can’t get healthier granola bars making them yourself. These are so easy. Just toast the oats (I left out almonds), I made homemade chocolate (just be sure to col the oats a bit more-and Input extra), I used raisins and extra 1/2 c., coconut sugar, and Watkins Vanilla-really be careful about imitation vanilla-my video here. 

Thank you Inspired Taste for the recipe.

Healthy Hungarian Chicken and Cherry Pie Crumb Bars #crunchycreamysweet #darigold #loriinthekitchen #healthyfood

 

Anna at Crunchy Creamy Sweet nailed it. I used half the sweet paprika, my favorite spice, and all the chicken broth straight up. I ended up adding 1 tsp extra cornstarch with 1/2 tablespoon of water to thicken it more. I only needed 1/4 of full fat Darigold sour cream where they nailed it too and I only had that amount left. Anna is brave to use that much paprika and if you can handle it go for it! This chicken is one of my favorite recipes if not my favorite and I’ve never had Hungarian food. My mouth is still singing 20 minutes later.

I had these bars yesterday and they are rich. I only bake with coconut sugar as a granulated sweetener. I found I didn’t need as much which would put me in at less butter as well which I’ll do next time. It’s still satisfying and I may even use Anna’s crust with other brown sugar compatible fruits.

Recipe for Hungarian Chicken

Recipe for Cherry Pie Crumb Bars

Coconut Sugar Air Fryer Donuts #healthyfood #loriinthekitchen #spiritualjourney #platedcravings

 I was afraid to make this recipe. Many people use their air fryers for multiple things not ordinarily requested by the recipe. Well that’s what I did with this one, including swapping out the sugar glaze for brushing coconut oil on half the warm donuts then sprinkling cinnamon coconut sugar on them. The other half I used homemade chocolate softened to dip. I liked the coconut sugar ones best. They remind me of the ones my Portuguese grandma use to make. Ooooh so good! And she’s so right, you don’t need the hole. They’re so much better, light and fluffy!

 Recipe from Bakers Table.

I air fried the donuts for anywhere from 8-10 minutes reaching 190 degrees after brushing them and the parchment paper with coconut oil. 

Homemade Cheese Crackers #healthysnacks #loriinthekitchen

 These are better than store bought with no unhealthy additives. And great thing is they can be stored on the counter in an airtight container for 2 weeks.

Recipe at Mind Over Munch and Tasty.

I used both of these recipes to come up with the way I wanted to makes them. I used half butter and half coconut oil hardened. And I liked using the food processor and tsp of salt.