easy almond milk

Leave a comment December 7, 2013 nourishinggrace

“For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.” -Job 14.7

Any grain, nut or seed can be sprouted. The process of germination enhances the food through not only producing vitamin C, but also changing the composition of the nuts or seeds in numerous beneficial ways.

Sprouting increases vitamin B content, especially B2, B5 and B6.
Just as important, sprouting neutralizes phytates. Phytic acid is present in all legumes, nuts and seeds and represent a serious problem to our diets. Phytates inhibit our absorption of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and zinc. This issue of phytates and their ability to not only interfere with the absorption of the minerals in the almond milk, but also their ability to bind with minerals from our own diets becomes an important one. Traditional methods of preparing nuts included soaking them.
Another benefit of sprouting is that it neutralizes enzyme inhibitors present in nuts and seeds and increases enzyme activity as much as six fold. Prior to neutralization, these enzyme inhibitors can actually neutralize our own enzymes, the ones found in our digestive tract!

Sprouted almond milk is an item we keep on hand during Fasting periods. The reason we don’t buy commercial almond milk is due to the fact that industrial methods for producing almond milk do not involve a sprout. Sprouting takes time and that extra time is money to corporations so it is overlooked. When one is replacing a staple like milk with nut milk, then large quantities will be consumed and so the issue of phytates becomes very relevant as it can result in depletion of minerals.

Because our diets are seasonal, sprouting almonds becomes part of a 40 day routine when our diets are already changing for the Fast. It’s easy to incorporate and develop a rhythm to making the nut milk and having an ample supply on hand. Our family only makes this milk during the Fasts.

Though it takes a few paragraphs to write out the method for sprouting, the active time involved in making the almond milk is about 10 – 15 minutes. The rest of it really is left up to the almonds and time.

Easy Almond Milk

First for the Sprouting

1 cup rinsed almonds
3 – 4 cups cool water
bowl

Method

Place almonds in bowl and pour in water to cover by at least one inch. Allow almonds to soak for 4-12 hours.

Rinse and drain. Place almonds in sprouting jar or mason jar and put out of direct sunlight at room temperature. Let sit for 8-12 hours. Rinse and drain and you can use them.

The almonds will have a bulge to them. These are more soaked than sprouted. Now you can make your almond milk.

For the almond milk.

1 cup soaked almonds
1 or 2 nut milk bags for draining
2 cups water
blender
optional: 1/4 tspn pure vanilla extract
t tspn raw honey or sweetener of your choice (quantity may vary to taste)

Place almonds and water in blender. Start out on low speed and increase speed to medium for 1-2 minutes. All chunks of almond should be gone. Place nut bags over bowl and pour in the almond milk. Strain the milk through the bag.

The remaining almond meat can be used for other recipes or placed in a mason jar in freezer until you are ready to use. The almond meal be stored in the freezer for 2 months.

We normally double or triple the recipe to make a good portion of the almond milk for the week. The almond milk will separate in the fridge, but that is okay. Just give it a good shake or stir before enjoying!

During Fasting periods we use it in chai, smoothies, and oatmeal as a staple ingredient.

fish broth

Leave a comment December 6, 2013 nourishinggrace

“The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it does great things. But where it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.” —Saint Gregory the Great

This is a simple fish broth and it’s also a very inexpensive one too. In fact, fish broth can be the least expensive for you to make. Just make a call to your local fish monger or supermarket and ask them to put aside any carcasses for you from the day. Chances are they’ll charge you 50 cents to a dollar for it, or just let you have them for free! For vegetarians, this is a great way to add the benefits of bone broth in to your diet.

Fish broth has a delicate flavor but strong smell when it is cooking.

It’s a good idea to avoid the larger fish when making broth – this is due to the probable build up of mercury in the larger varieties like tuna.

Ingredients:

2 medium fish carcasses or several fish heads – such as rockfish, snapper, or turbot
1 small head celery
1 medium onion cut into fourths
2 carrots
1 small head garlic, washed, not peeled but cut in half
1 teaspoon black pepper corns
3 quarts cold water
juice of one lemon

Place all ingredients except lemon in stock pot. Bring to boil and skim. Simmer covered for 3 hours. Remove from heat, strain add the juice of the lemon and use or store. It is important not too cook with the lemon, but add it at the end as if you cook with the lemon that will impart a bitter flavor to the soup.

chicken broth

3 Comments December 3, 2013 nourishinggrace

“Soup puts the heart at ease, calms down the violence of hunger, eliminates the tension of the day, and awakens and refines the appetite.” Auguste Escoffier

“Soup is the song of the hearth… and the home.”

Louis P. De Gouy, ‘The Soup Book’ (1949)

Homemade chicken soup: it’s not only good for the soul but also the flu! A warm bowl of it contains rejuvenating nutrients and proteins that may otherwise be difficult for a flu ridden and nauseous stomach to digest.

Whether you find you like to make large batches, or enjoy simmering a pot every few days, you’ll need a large stock pot with a lid. Stainless steel and enameled cast iron are very good choices.

A word on ingredients. Find and use the best ingredients affordable to you. Bones and carcasses from free range pastured animals are the gold standard, which we’ll talk about in an upcoming post.

Remember, eating healthy broth need not be an expensive endeavor. Our farmer sells pastured beef bones for $1.00/lb and chicken carcasses for $2.00/lb. That’s a great deal! Despite being carcasses they are absolutely loaded with meat and frankly it’s enough for our soups and stews – no need to add any extra.

Basic Chicken Broth / Stock

1 whole free range chicken, or 1 organic chicken carcass or 2-3 pounds chicken parts i.e chicken feet, necks or scraps
1 large onion quartered
1 head garlic, rinsed and cut in half
3 celery stalks coarsely chopped
2 washed, unpeeled sweet potatoes or yams, cut into thirds
4 carrots coarsely chopped
1 strip kombu – optional : this is a great source of potassium and iodine and minerals
12 or so black peppercorns
1 or two bay leaves or several generous sprigs of any fresh herbs you have on hand, thyme, sage, oregano are great
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (this acidity allows more minerals to leech from the bones)
1 teaspoon sea salt

Rinse all vegetables well. Place chicken, carcass or parts in a 12-quart or larger stock pot. Brown on low heat briefly on all sides. Add vegetables and herbs and fill pot with cold water, about two inches below the rim. Add vinegar or lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Remove the lid, decrease to low heat and simmer for at least two hours. Some of the water will evaporate.

Strain broth through a coarse sieve. Cool to room temperature before refrigerating or freezing. Will store in refrigerator for 5 to 7 days or in the freezer for 4 months.

Once cool, the fat will separate to the top, you can remove this and use it for other purposes.

got broth?

Leave a comment December 3, 2013 nourishinggrace

Fall and the approaching winter have ushered in a wave of cooler weather. With the change in seasons and temperatures, we naturally migrate our cooking toward more warming & nourishing foods like soups and stews. That brings us to one of the least glamorous of all foods – the humble broth – a nutritionally wonderful canvas to enjoy the hearty fall harvest!

Broth provides a modest yet universal meal.

A remedy for sore throats and the flu, it nurses the sick and puts vigor in our steps. The nutritional savior of the soup kitchen, the humble broth is a warming comfort in times of need. It is also incredibly healthy and a powerhouse of vitality!

Broths are a nutritional superfood in that they offer a very simple, affordable and rich concentration of nutrients that are easily acquired by our bodies. That ease of nutrient absorption is paramount, because there is a big difference between consuming nutrients (from whole foods or supplements) and actually assimilating them into our cells.

Unlike it’s commercial cousins, homemade stocks and broths come with an unabridged complement of the exact nutrition we need to rebuild and maintain bones and joints. One reason is that homemade broths and stocks are teaming with gelatin and minerals. If you are unfamiliar with gelatin, it is a jelly like substance that is extracted from simmering bones or the soft tissues – like cartilage and skin from chicken.

Gelatin is essentially collagen in liquid form and collagen is part of the connective matrix that holds you together! Among other things, it provides for youthful supple skin and healthy joints. It also supports the immune system, digestive tract, heart and muscles and contributes to the building of strong cartilage and bones.

Want to know more about the benefits of gelatin and broth?

Gelatin is an easy way to support your digestive system. It is not only nutritious but very soothing and healing to the digestive tract. Its ability to attract and hold liquids makes foods cooked in broths easier to digest.

American researcher, Dr. Gotthoffer found that cooked foods eaten with gelatin were easily digested and that babies fed milk fortified with gelatin had better digestion than those given plain milk. Also, the babies who were fed milk without gelatin had a higher rate of allergies and intestinal issues.

Additionally, Gotthoffer found studies showing that convalesing adults who have lost weight because of operations, dysentery, cancer and other illnesses fare better if gelatin is added to their diet.

Gelatin has long been recognized in the treatment of digestive diseases. “[Gelatin] is said to be retained by the most sensitive stomach and will nourish when almost nothing else will be tolerated,” wrote L. E. Hogan in 1909. Today, homemade broths are the essential component of the GAPS diet protocol, in that it heals and seals the digestive tract.

One reason gelatin was recommended so highly for malnourished individuals is that it reduces the amount of complete protein needed by the body. So, while gelatin is not a complete protein, it is high in the amino acids arginine and glycine which enables the body to more efficiently utilize the complete proteins that are consumed. For that reason broths are known as “protein sparing” because with broth your body can make better use of the protein you do eat, therefore not require as much.

Gelatin strengthens hair and nails, minimizes wrinkles and prevents and heals cellulite.

Gelatin may be useful in the treatment of a long list of diseases including peptic ulcers, tuberculosis, diabetes, muscle diseases, infectious diseases, jaundice and cancer.

Gelatin is unusually high in the amino acids glycine and proline. A vital function of glycine is detoxification. Proline aids the body in breaking down proteins for use in healthy cells and is used in making collagen, tendons, ligaments and heart muscle. Adequate proline is beneficial for the tratments of conditions such as osteoarthritis, soft tissue sprains and chronic back pain.

Gelatin assists in neutralizing intestinal poisons causing problems during an intestinal bug or flu.

Research has shown that broth aides in normalizing stomach acid levels for those with too high or too low stomach acid – which can have a profound impact on digestion.

Despite the abundance of our modern food supply, traditional diets contained far more gelatin than ours do today. Broth was a mainstay in French, Italian, Russian, Japanese, South America, Middle Eastern, African and other cuisines. In the honored traditions of food, none of the animal went to waste (ironically, probably due to the scarcity of their food supply!)

People would eat soups made from bones all the time and doing so supplied their bodies with the whole family of glycosaminoglycans, which used to protect people’s joints. Now that few people make bone stock anymore, many of us are limping into doctors’ offices for prescriptions, surgeries and, lately, recommendations to buy over-the-counter joint supplements containing glucosamine. (Shanahan, 2011).

Broth is economical and therapeutic food.

One can spend exhorbitant amounts on supplements containing glucosamine and chondroitins, but these capsules do not hold a candle to the efficacy of the the whole spectrum of glycosaminoglycans in a well made broth. Whereas a supplement will contain only a few targeted ingredients, a well made broth provides the entire nutrient complex of joint building substances – some of which have likely yet to be discovered.

In that sense, bone broth represents a wonderfully inexpensive therapeutic food. What a bargain! A twenty five cent cup of broth offers an unparalleled small fortune in supplements: excellent levels of bioavailable minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and phosphorus are supported by gelatin, chondroiton sulphate, bovine cartilage, glycine and hyaluronic acid.

Best of all, broth tastes great.

You can enjoy it warm in a mug at the end of a long day, or create delicious nourishing soups, stews and sauces. It’s a pantry item to keep on hand in fall and winter. Making homemade broth is not only very nourishing, but the utilization of the rest of the animal also qualities broth as a nutritional virtue and a wonderful manifestation of stewardship eating.

Of all we consume, may we always eat thankfully, wisely and well.

Nourishing Broth Recipes:

Vegetable . Mineral . Broth

Chicken Broth

additional resources:
Broth is Beautiful by Sally Fallon

Why Broth is Beautiful: Essential Roles for Proline, Glycine and Gelatin by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN

Gelatin in Nutrition and Medicine by N.R. Gotthoffer

Proline Amino Acid Benefits LiveStrong

Urban Victory Gardening – Downtown Vienna Virginia

Leave a comment October 21, 2013 nourishinggrace

This wonderful couple whose garden we drive by every day was kind enough to let us photograph their vegetable garden and show us their harvest stores for the winter! They have lived in Vienna for 50 years, raised five children and tend this really productive Victory Garden. They live just off the town main street. Looking at their assortment of frozen vegetables is an inspiration!

: Downtown Vienna, Virginia Victory Garden

: Downtown Vienna, Virginia Victory Garden

: preserving the harvest for the winter

: Downtown Vienna, Virginia Victory Garden

: Downtown Vienna, Virginia Victory Garden

seasonal eating

Leave a comment October 1, 2013 nourishinggrace

seasonal eating

It is a struggle in a prepackaged world with jets and ocean liners bringing everything we can possibly desire from the four corners of the globe right into our little community. Whereas the local harvest is selected at the peak of ripeness, it’s conventional counterparts are picked well before maturity and prior to maximal development of nutrition and flavor.

Calorie per calorie seasonal local produce outmatches its conventional cousins in nutrient density – and that’s just for starters. This nutrient density is essential for vibrant optimal health.

Seasonal eating is a subtle ~ and to be honest – difficult at times – asceticism yielding patience. The satisfaction of what nourishes us presently, along with the patience of the anticipation of the delicious nourishing foods of the next season…It is the patience that a connectedness to our landscape fosters. At the moment our table is laden with lots of squashes, broccoli, cabbages, cauliflower and beets.

Despite cool weather, winter gardens can yield a bounty!! They are also a traditional way to add sustainability and some distance from the industrial food chain into ones diet!

Plotting a little Victory Garden in your back yard is easier than you might think!

Although it is January in Virginia, there are kale, lettuces, carrots and fennel growing quite nicely in this Victory garden! Not quite enough to feed the entire family, but a great supplement to our meals!

: victory garden – under cover – winter carrots and lettuces

Our eggs, meat and dairy are local, all within 300 miles of home. With the help of a little Victory Garden, local Winter CSA’s and our community market, enjoying the bounty of our local food shed despite winters chill, is a reality.

Depending where you live, winter is likely a time of scarcity. When unable to find food from your own state, try to stay as close to your own geography as possible. Our first choice is from our tri-state area, and we venture out from there, trying to stick with the eastern seaboard. That said, if we want oranges, we chose those grown in Florida rather than California.

Once we tire of our winter vegetables which are remarkably sweet if you can rustle them up locally, the harvest will be over, and we will again begin to savor the first spring vegetables – which cleanse the body and coincide with the beginnings of Great Lent ~ which cleanses the body and the soul.

Whole foods and seasonal eating ~ good for the local farmers, our pastoral responsibilities to our land and the nourishment of our bodies…

tiny hands with an asparagus snack

reprinted – originally posted January 2013

edible-fall

Leave a comment October 1, 2013 nourishinggrace

seasonal eating ~ edible-fall

Today there is a resurgence of folks trying to eat within the boundaries of their local geography and with good reason : local, seasonal food, prepared and eaten properly supports vibrant health and energy and is sustainable for the earth. The thing is, it’s easier to accomplish during the long warm days of summer – when the harvest is plentiful and bringing it to the table is as simple as a trip to the farmer’s market, local market or your own backyard.

Seasonal cooking takes effort but with an adventuresome palette – a willingness to experiment – you can make your meals a seasonal thanksgiving of your landscapes harvest. It’s simpler than you might think!

In our area of the mid-atlantic, the early days of September have already begun to melt away the lingering rays of a hot and lazy summer. The fresh morning chill settles in overnight heralding the first days of autumn. Waxing and waning…. it all blends together, these seasonal changes. Those last warm days of summer are actually the first cool days of autumn. and with that our Indian Summer ushers in a whole new variety of possibilities at the farmers market.

In these past few weeks, hearty fall vegetables have made their annual debut, and their rich unpretentious earthy colors are a prelude to same colorful beauty our eastern forests display in their show of fall leaves – just before they shed to adorn the forest floor.

Foods in your local season, tend to support your wellness in that season. Fall foods are warming foods. Produce that matures in cooler months generally contain more calories than their summer counter-parts, and come with their own complement of nutrients. By helping our bodies acclimate to our regional weather, they perpetuate our health and may help prevent frequent seasonal ailments.

So here they are, the first butternut squashes, oddly colored and shaped gourds, beets and of course – the fall favorite – pumpkins, all emerging at the farmer’s market.

Virginia and West Virgnia is apple country, and those too are sure not to disappoint – especially not the heirloom varieties that farmers are lovingly resurrecting for locals hungry for real food!

fall 2013 Virginia apples – except for the really big one which is an apple gourd…

As the weather changes, so to does our pantry… and a well-stocked pantry is the only way we’ve found to cook with ease at home. Posts in the upcoming weeks will include stocking our fall pantries with a few basics, to make this seasons cooking simple and easy.

Our favorite food of the season is soup… the backbone of which is broth and that simple humble and nourishing broth is the perfect canvas to highlight so many of the glorious foods of autumn. And that is the feature future posts – broth and soups and stews!

polyface farm

Leave a comment October 1, 2013 nourishinggrace

This is Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farm, located right here in Virginia. He runs a transparent farm… that means he welcomes visitors! He also keeps it local and won’t raise more animals than his land sustains and so therefore tends a vibrantly healthy livestock which require no daily cocktails of antibiotics or medicines. They are raised in nature, roaming free ~ where they can forage on the very foods God intended, living peacefully in the very manner God intended, rather than penned up wing to wing without any access to daylight or fresh air. He sells his food only to those within certain geographical limit of his farm – he says it’s good for the environment because, among other things, it saves fuel.

Thankfully there are farmers like Joel Salatin across this country (most of them sell at farmer’s markets or have local drop off points). Due to his humane and sustainable method of farming, farmers from across this land come to apprentice on his farm and learn his techniques. These farmers are feeding the future.

People call Joel Salatin a pioneer, but he just considers himself a lunatic farmer.

Why Food Matters

Leave a comment October 1, 2013 nourishinggrace

Improving Wellness with Holistic Nutrition

“Give the body discipline and you will see that the body is for Him who made it.”

Amma Theodora – Sayings of the Desert Fathers

A holistic approach to nutrition focuses not only on a healthy diet, but considers that each person is unique, addressing them as a whole. This includes emotional, and physical health. In fact, the very word diet comes from the Greek word diata, which literally means “our manner of living”.

You can have the healthiest diet in the world but if you are not digesting and absorbing nutrients, it’s simply not nourishing you. Holistic nutrition considers the stomach and digestive system the core of whole body health, because every system in the body relies upon it.

As Orthodox Christians we also believe that each person is unique, created in the image and likeness of God. And…. we also believe that our spiritual life and health begins with our stomachs. So, as we consider steps we can take to improve our health, let us first and foremost consider our Faith. The Church gives us guidance, applicable throughout the ages, about the right role of food in our lives. From an Orthodox perspective, “eating right, or eating well is also about eating for the right reasons”.

“Our initial struggle must be to gain control of our stomachs…

Food is to be taken in so far as it supports our life”

(Father John Cassian – On Control of the Stomach – 4th century)

In other words, we should eat to live rather than live to eat!

So why is this generation so worried about diet and nutrition? Some background is required. While we might say “we are what we eat”, there is a great irony that we, as a nation, eat quite poorly and deficiently.

How did we get in this situation? For one thing, at no other time on the earth, have we been so disconnected from the sources of our food. And from that perspective, it’s easy to be unaware of the the ill health of livestock within modern “industrial” animal husbandry, the unlabeled genetic modification of our seeds, and the pesticide and herbicide laden nature of our produce.

These issues, however, are worth our attention, because “we are what we eat”. There is a complex and symbiotic relationship between the quality of our air, the health of our soil, the health of plants and animals, and our own health.

Nutritionally, we have traded in wisdom for knowledge and traditional foods for overly processed convenience foods. Our ancestor’s cultural eating habits were determined by tradition and despite their varied ethnicities, their diets had one thing in common – they ate a whole foods diet, one that was local, seasonal and organic.

The last century has shown serious trends away from nourishing foods. Now, there is much uncertainty about what even embodies a wholesome diet. People are concerned, and justifiably so.

Humanity has an intimate relationship with food, for our food becomes our very bodies – flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. “Our genes make their day to day decisions based on the information they receive from the food we eat… in that sense, food is less like a fuel and more like a language conveying information… that information programs your genes, for better or worse.” (Shanahan MD,Catherine, 2011: p 7)

A calorie isn’t just a calorie and nutrient density and quality really do matter. How you nourish yourself over the long run has either a negative or positive affect on your health.

We routinely eat ingredients in our foods which have been created in laboratories and are not even pronounceable, but how often do we question them? The petroleum based preservative BHA, found in beer, butter and cereals, has been classified by the Department of Health and Human Services as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen”. Another is titanium dioxide found in your salad dressing, coffee creamers and icing… guess what – it’s also used in paints and sunscreens!

There are many processed things called “food”, but few that are worthy of keeping us vibrant and well!

These are big issues, but the great news is that through education – organic foods, Slow Food and Buy Fresh Buy Local movements are popping up across the country and are very available. People are learning about the wisdom and health benefits of traditional and ancestral food. They are returning to Farmers Markets, buying shares in their local Community Supported Agriculture – CSA’s … at heart, connecting and investing, not only in their health, but also in their communities.

Even if you have really bad eating habits, it’s never too late to begin fresh again. God created us with tremendous abilities to detoxify, heal, grow and regenerate!

Below are some easy steps you can incorporate over time to improve your overall wellness. Remember – healthy eating doesn’t mean eliminating the foods we love. A healthy diet is about balance. If 85% of our diet is healthy, then that baklava proves a guilt free pleasure!

And one last thing… as you begin steps toward wellness, embrace and enjoy the journey! Don’t just eat healthy, eat well. Take pleasure in your meals and dine with family and friends whenever possible… it’s just more delightful together!

Let’s eat to live and make every bite count ~ one morsel at a time!

[box] Make a Diversity of Whole and Plant Based Foods the foundation of your diet. That doesn’t mean you need to give up meat, but strive to make produce the foundation of your eating. Whole foods are those as close to their whole natural state as possible. They look like what they are like an apple or a carrot. Whole grains, and brown rice are also whole foods. They come perfectly packaged with the fiber and nutrients essential for their optimal absorption by our bodies. There is a synergy in the combination of nutrients found in each whole food, in other words, they are more effective in their whole food form.

Avoid refined and processed foods. Reduce sugary snacks, sweets and sodas. Simply stated, refined and sugary foods are very depleting for the body. At the turn of the century, the average american consumed about 2 pounds of sugar per year; we now routinely consume upwards of 100 pounds per year. Last year 60 Minutes did a great expo titled “Is Sugar Toxic”.

Stay adequately hydrated! Good clean water is vital for life and involved in almost every function our bodies perform. Get at least 8 – 8 ounce servings/ day.

Exercise regularly. It reduces stress, increases circulation, releases those good feeling endorphins and promotes weight loss. Moderate your exercise to your ability.

Reduce and Manage Stress. Prayer, a positive outlook and exercise are most helpful in mitigating stress. Stress is a great challenge to our immune system, taxing nearly every organ in our body. It takes a high toll on health.

Add Probiotic rich foods to your diet: These foods are alive, and quite symbiotically, their life gives us life! Probiotics work with our immune system to keep us healthy, but they need to be continually replenished. “Studies have shown that live-cultured foods containing probiotics help to prevent a whole range of allergic, autoimmune, and inflammatory diseases.” (Shanahan MD,Catherine, 2011:pp. 147-148) Click here for a list of probiotic rich foods.

Know thy fats! Essential fatty acids are an important part of a healthy diet and should be included. More about them can be found here and here. Also, learn more about the traditional fats which have nourished civilizations well.

Watch your portion sizes. Saint John of the Ladder sums it up well, “Master your stomach before it masters you.”[/box]

The ultimate goal is to Go organic, local and seasonal! You can do it! Buy free range -pastured meats, pastured eggs and dairy and produce as close to their source as possible. Their nutrition is superior. Looking for a farmers market near you? Local Harvest has a nationwide list!

It’s taken our family over two years to dramatically change our diet and we have enjoyed the adventure and the journey ~ slowly making changes, one morsel at a time.

Above all, whatever your diata, keep the Feasting and Fasting cycles of the Church. In her wisdom, she provides this rhythm for the nourishment of body and soul. And in this life, our journey in Christ, through “prayer, daily Christian living, and worship, which ultimately lead to union with the divine uncreated Light” is the ultimate source of our wellness.

about the author

Victoria Cherpes is a wife, and homeschooling mother of three beautiful daughters and Sunday School teacher. On their small urban family homestead, they enjoy tending their Victory Garden full of lettuces, berries and vegetables, weeds and bugs; raising figs for the local market and amateur beekeeping.

She is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Holistic Nutrition at Hawthorn University and is a student member of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals (NANP).

If you have any questions, you can reach her at nourishinggrace@yahoo.com

[box] Sources:

Shanahan MD, Catherine (2011-04-22). Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food. Big Box Books. Kindle Edition.

Ballentine M.D., Rudolph (2007-01-25). Diet and Nutrition: A Holistic Approach. National Book Network – A. Kindle Edition

Lipski PhD, Elizabeth (2012). Digestive Wellness: Strengthen the Immune System and Prevent Disease Through Healthy Digestion (4th Edition)

Mandell, Catherine (2005) When You Fast: Recipes for Lenten Seasons

Ward, Benedicta (1975). Sayings of the Desert Fathers. (http://www.scribd.com/doc/75385925/Apoftegma Fallon, Sally (2001).

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats. (2nd ed)

http://www.nj.goarch.org/resources/spirituality.htm%5B/box%5D

This article was original posted at Orthodoxmom.com and has been slightly revised.

late summer bounty

Leave a comment October 1, 2013 nourishinggrace

This late summer time of year has left our Victory Garden looking a little more battered than victorious, but despite the waning summer growth we still managed to pick a great large bowl of summer cantaloupes, english and lemon cucumbers, beautiful tomatoes and some peppers. And as it goes with the garden, the season of harvest blends with the season of planting.

At some point you make the decision rip out the plants that are not producing or that won’t have time to ripen (a great time to enjoy fried green tomatoes) and prepare the beds for fall planting. We’ve added our freshly composted soil to the beds, turned them over and sowed several rows of beets and Russian Red Kale which are sure winter producers in Virginia – the kale is also an excellent edible winter cover crop that will become a valuable green manure in the spring.

Upcoming plantings are garlic and carrots. The garlic is from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, and their garlic always grows fabulous in our garden.

There are swiss chard and cabbages peaking their way through the dirt too..

Thanks to the bees hard work, once these little guys below ripen, we will also have a plentiful tabasco pepper harvest and that means our first batch of Tabasco sauce!