Essential Oils for Health and Healing

I have recently begun another blog and started a Facebook page to talk about the fascinating wonders of essential oils and how to use them in day to day health and in healing from disease.  Essential oils were successfully used for health and healing long before pharmaceutical companies were mass producing their drugs.

If you prefer to maintain your health and heal from sickness in more natural ways, I highly recommend you check out Essential Oils for Health and Healing.  Feel free to add comments on your experiences using pure essential oils or to ask questions. 

There is much information to be learned about the application of essential oils for various situations.  I am in the process of learning, as I also do my own experimenting and practicing.  As I discover new things, I will be posting what I discover and what kind of results are achieved.

As always, my hope is to help others take charge of their health and to share with others what I have found helpful.

Surrendering to Monsanto and GMO Food

Today, I read in disbelief and with horror, the shocking facts that some of the “organic food industry” companies are selling out to the bio-hazard monster company Monsanto.  Frankly, I am completely disgusted and angered by the recent move to stop fighting against genetically engineered foods and give way for Monsanto to continue to introduce their GE seeds into United States farm lands.  This will bring with it further risk of (and ultimate certain) contamination to the crops of the few farmers left who remain true to organic farming.

I had not known or heard of Monsanto until I watched the DVD called Food, Inc. The moment I learned what Monsanto’s work was all about and how they treated farmers, I was filled with disgust and anger.  

I am furious about what the food industry in the United States has turned into.  It is totally appalling to me what the USDA is allowing the money hungry bio-tech companies to do to our food system and what the consequences of that has been and will be to the American citizens.  All of it done in the name of the mighty dollar! 

It is an OUTRAGE!

Thanks to power hungry, money hungry companies and some of the same type of people in our government, my health and the health of those I care about is in danger.

How can the free people of the United States of America stand by and allow this to happen?  How can we stand by and allow this to be done to us?

Many are being deceived.  Money hungry organizations are now using a “natural food” advertising campaign to keep the wool over the eyes of the American public and deceive them into thinking that if they buy natural foods they are getting something healthy and truly natural.  What a crazy farce most of it is!

It is bad enough that the people’s cry for “cheaper” food has been one of the propagating issues bringing about this food mess.  If cheap food is what people ask for, it is cheap food that they will get.  And I am speaking of a lot of more than price cost.  I am speaking of the quality of the food. 

Many people in the United States do not give a second thought to where the food they are buying has come from, how it was grown, and what it contains.  They have been lulled into some false sense of confidence that surely the USDA and our government would not allow “bad” food to be sold to them.  Ridiculous!  It happens every day; especially, at the big chain markets claiming “lower” prices.  It happens every time someone goes through a McDonald’s drive thru and buys a burger.

We stuff our mouths full of whatever we can afford or whatever we crave or whatever tastes good and are not taking into account the very serious cost and consequences of such careless actions. 

America is the fattest nation in the world.  Why is that?  Because Americans are perfectly happy to eat to their mouth and stomach’s content without thought for the consequences.  The nation is addicted to fast food, sugar, and fat. The food industry continues to introduce crap food that appeals to our physical senses, and people buy without looking at the ingredients or learning more about where the food actually came from and how it was raised, grown, or processed.

Do we really want to continue on in ignorant bliss?  I really hope not.  The money hungry do not care one bit about your health.  The government does not care about your health.  

YOU must care about your health and take charge of it. 

We ARE what we eat.  That’s a fact.  If you eat crap, you are going to feel like crap, and you are going to be highly susceptible to disease.  When you get sick and need medication, then the money hungry pharmaceuticals are going to make their share from your sickness.  What a terrible cycle!  The chemical producing companies like Monsanto make money at our health expense and then the pharmaceutical companies reap the secondary benefits.  Meanwhile, the American citizens lose in every way and pay a very high price.  So when you were buying that “cheap” food, it was actually food with a very high future price tag.  The price paid could even be your life or the life of a loved one.

Please read the following article from Organic Consumers called “The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto:  What Now” and inform yourself of what is happening today.  Do not continue to allow these people to pull the wool over your eyes.

The article mentions that Organic Valley is part of the surrendering.  If so, that would greatly grieve me.  I don’t know.  I received an email from Organic Valley stating “We Stand United in Opposition to GE Alfalfa”. 

If you want to take some action, you can write an online letter to the Obama Aministration. 

For another great resource on better food for life, check out the Slow Food USA website.  Lots of great articles on the site.

As far as I am capable, I will NOT surrender my right to eat healthy, eat truly natural or organic foods, and to be in charge of my health.

May you be empowered to take charge of your health today.

RECIPE - Red Quinoa in Pear Marinade

I've decided to occasionally post some of my favorite recipes.  I'll do this as time allows.  As I love to share any other things which I find helpful, I thought I would share some delectable recipes too.

This one comes from my Inca Red Quinoa box.  Quinoa is pronounced "keen-wa".  It is an amazing grain (some say it's a seed) full of protein, essential amino acids, and gluten free.  

This recipe is not anything of my own, but it is wonderful and very healthy for you.  Plus it is gluten free!  You can read more about quinoa and find more recipes at the Quinoa Corporation website.  This recipe is also on that site under the "Inca Red Pamphlet" link.

RED QUINOA IN PEAR MARINADE   

½ cup canned pears, blended to smooth consistency 
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger 
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 
3 tablespoons liquid from the can of pears 
½ teaspoon sea salt 
¼ cup minced onion or scallions 
½ cup diced cucumber 
½ cup diced yellow bell pepper 
2 cups cooked red quinoa 
½ cup roasted almonds or cashews, coarsely chopped   

Cook red quinoa and let it cool. Place blended pears into a medium bowl. Add ginger, vinegar, liquid from can of pears, and sea salt. Mix well. Place onion, cucumber, and yellow pepper into the marinade and toss. Add quinoa, mix thoroughly, and chill or let sit at room temperature for a minimum of one hour. Add nuts and serve. This dish will keep well for several days in the refrigerator. Serves 4.       

When I cook my quinoa, I combine 1 cup of quinoa, 2 cups of water and 3/4 tsp of salt and 3/4 tsp of olive oil. And I do have to cook it longer than the instructions on the box.  This could be because I live at high altitude; I'm not sure.  One cup of uncooked quinoa turns into 3 1/3 cooked cups.  Since I put salt in the quinoa when I cook it, I omit the salt from the recipe above.

Removing Burned Food from a Crock Pot/Slow Cooker

Our apple tree has given us many apples this year, and a few weeks ago, I decided to make apple butter with our apples.  I pulled out my easy and trusted recipe I got from a friend a few years ago and mixed all the ingredients in my new crock pot.  The recipe called for cooking the apple butter overnight on the low setting, and I had done this multiple times with great success.  Our old crock pot had been 23 years old and one of those round shaped, upright kind.  Its glass lid broke, and we finally threw it away.  To replace it, we purchased a much larger sized, oval one. 

I set the apple butter to cook on low in our new crock pot and left it to do its thing overnight.  I was a little concerned when I went to bed because the butter looked almost done to me.  However, I didn’t want to turn if off too early, so I left it on.  We woke up in the morning to a horrible, totally blackened mess in the crock pot.  The apple butter was burned to a crisp—a rock-hardened crisp.  The new crockpot had been too large for the amount of apple butter I had put in there to cook.  Very disappointing, to say the least, that I had wasted so many delicious apples from our tree. 

We set the stoneware of the pot to soak with lots of hot water and left it for a few hours.  As we attempted to clean it, we realized the blackened burned stuff wasn’t going anywhere.  It was cooked on to the stoneware.  My husband did a lot of hard scraping with knives and spoons that we probably shouldn’t have done on that stoneware, but we were getting desperate, and I needed my crockpot in a few days for a planned dinner meal.  I soaked it longer, searched the internet for ideas, and also emailed the manufacturer for assistance on what to do.

On the internet I found some ideas for using vinegar, salt, or baking soda.  The manufacturer emailed me back and said vinegar was their only solution.  We let that pot soak overnight for many nights taking turns with water, soapy water, vinegar, salt, and baking soda.  But we couldn’t make any progress in removing the remaining stuck on blackened apple butter from it.  I was beginning to lose hope and think that I would have to throw away my new pot.  One day, I even tried scrubbing it with Goof Off and some super orange cleaner.  Nothing. 

Finally, an idea came to my mind.  It was my last resort.  I wet the stoneware with vinegar and applied a thick layer of baking soda on top of it.  After letting it sit for a few hours, I poured vinegar on the paste, let it foam up for a few seconds, and rinsed with water.  YEAH!  It was beginning to loosen the blackened gunk!  As I rinsed with water, I could see little chunks of black floating away.  I remoistened the pot with vinegar and reapplied another thick layer of baking soda and left it overnight.  The next morning, I poured fresh vinegar to create the foaming reaction and rinsed again; most of the burned stuff came off this time.  I was so excited about the progress!!  I repeated the process once again overnight; and after that time, the stoneware came completely clean.

So there you go.  No need to throw that pot away.  There is a way to get that blackened, burned food off.  It’s simple, it’s cheap, and it’s not hazardous to the environment!