KitchenAid Grain Mill

Y’all, I love my KitchenAid mixer. It is so fabulously versatile! The peeler/corer/spiralizer attachment has gotten lots of use over the past weeks. The ice cream attachment is still one of our favorites. When I decided to go back to grinding wheat, I wondered if KitchenAid had a grain mill. They sure do!

So in trying to remove this and that from our diet to help my kids on the autism spectrum, I discovered it was when we reduced processed foods that seemed to help them most. In studying about nutrigenomics, I found this at the National Institute of Health.

When consumed in increasing amounts in food, six of these nutrients (folate, vitamin B₁₂, niacin, vitamin E, retinol, and calcium) are associated with a reduction in DNA damage, whereas three others (riboflavin, pantothenic acid, and biotin) are associated with an increase in DNA damage to the same extent observed with occupational exposure to genotoxic and carcinogenic chemicals.

What?! Do you have any idea how much we are putting in our bodies with vitamins, hamburgers, the buns, cereal, snack cakes and crackers, and even the flour we buy? We can find unbleached flour but not unenriched. So back to whole foods I go. It’s a lot of work for a family of 7 but it’s helping. I can see attention improving and behavior mellowing.

I started with eliminating snack cakes, cookies and crackers. Then cereal was replaced with homemade granola. Now I have a grain mill to keep extra vitamins out and all the natural nutrients fresh and intact.

It is a little loud but I ground flour for sausage balls this morning at 6am and it didn’t wake up anyone. After a week or so, my family has tuned it out.

One video I watched said that you should let it rest for 45 minutes after 10 cups of flour. I find my machine getting pretty warm so I try not to go past 6 cups just for piece of mind. If I need more, I grind and put the flour in the fridge tightly sealed until I can grind the remainder.

I find my pancakes are softer. My sausage balls smell sweeter (without any added sugar). My family eats it all with gusto. Can’t beat that!

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Spaghetti Squash

A farmer at the Saturday market in my town had spaghetti squash. I grabbed one not really sure what I was going to make with it but it sounded like fun. I was running low on my groceries by the end of the week but my van was still in the shop. So time to come up with something using what I had available.

I had the spaghetti squash, but no sauce. Not even tomatoes or tomato sauce. I did have lemon, garlic and butter. That would make a fine sauce. I also had a dab of okra to fry and a few potatoes left to mash up. No meat but it would be a good supper.

I found this link on how to cook the spaghetti squash. I may have cooked it once before but it has been a long time. I let my teen boys help with the fork to turn the squash into noodles after it was cooked.

My second son asked how I was planning to use the bacon in the fridge. “Wait, I have bacon in the fridge!” I had bought two packages this week but then counted use of one pack this week and one last week. Ooooh, this is gonna be really yummy!

I looked at this lemon sauce pasta recipe for an idea and then took it in my own direction. I cooked the bacon in a cast iron skillet. It wasn’t as crispy as I would like so I took the bacon and put it in a pan in the oven on 400 degrees while I prepared the sauce.

I added a stick of butter to the bacon drippings. I let it melt. I juiced two lemons in a glass jar to use fresh. I minced about 6 big cloves of garlic. Once the butter was melted, I added the garlic to the butter and bacon drippings. Cooked for only a couple minutes on a lower heat so as not to burn the garlic.

I added the sauce to the squash and then the lemon juice. Tossed the noodles. Added the crispy bacon which might could have crisped in the oven a bit longer but we were eager to taste it.

This is sooooo delicious! There were no leftovers. Definitely a keeper. It’s a super way to get more veggies into the diet of a not-so-enthusiastic veggie eater. I intended on mincing some  fresh basil and sprinkling with Parmesan. It can be done that way next time.

Gurunanda – my experience

Years ago, I signed up with Young Living just to get the starter package. I loved the lemon oil and reordered that one. Then I started to use it sparingly because they are expensive. I had to evaluate my sore throats. “Is this bad enough to use my lemon oil?”

I debated trying cheaper oils. But what about quality? Looking at Gurunanda, I found that they tested every batch of oil. I was impressed that they sourced directly from farms. With lemon oil costing only $7.99, it’s worth a shot. I tried it in my tea and water like I was accustomed to using my Young Living Oil. It is wonderful! Soothes my sore throat at only a fraction of the cost.

We adopted a dog from the shelter. We fell in love with her. Then they told us she was heartworm positive. Ugh! Couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her to bear her lot in life without treatment. After she was spayed, we brought her home to find she had kennel cough as well. I began diffusing frankincense to help boost her immune system. I finally finished off my sparingly used Young Living oil. I ordered the frankinscense from Gurunanda and decided to try the oregano I had wanted to try for a while. A diffuser with two oils was marked down from near $50 to only $10 and that put my total to just over $25 which qualified me for free shipping. Not only are the oils cheaper but come in a bottle that is .5 oz. That is much larger than Young Living.

My apologies to my Young Living and doTerra friends, but Gurunanda makes natural living so much more doable. Gurunanda has not asked for my opinion nor have I received any compensation or product for this review. It is my unadulterated opinion that Gurunanda offers a spectacular product at the best prices.