Organically Raised- Conscious Cooking for Babies and Toddlers By Anni Daulter. 2010.
 Organically Raised teaches parents how to prepare delicious and healthy foods for their babies and children, using fresh, natural ingredients and diverse flavors. The author is a parent and a professional cook and has tested the recipes in the book.
Check out their website here. There are even a few recipes here, so you can ‘try it before you buy it’- trust me, you’re gonna love them.
The first thing I did when I received the book is sit down and read through it. I love reading through cookbooks anyway, and this one was a special treat. The first thing that strikes you when thumbing through are the beautiful photographs. Currently, the book is sitting beside me open to a close-up picture of “Poppy’s Three-Cheese Fancy Panini” and I am not exaggerating when I say it is making me drool.
 Tennie's Spanish Veggie Burger Bites With Flaxseed The book starts out with information on conscious cooking, information about organic food and shopping tips. There’s information on feeding newborns, mindfulness in the kitchen, and nutritional information for children and babies. All of the information in this section of the book should be require reading for expecting or new mothers. It’s all great information and there’s emphasis put on breastfeeding- we all know I’m totally down with that!
The recipe section starts with organic recipes for babies ages 6-9 months, then she moves into talking about expanding your baby’s palate and special diets. It moves into blends, cereals, and yogurt recipes for babies 8-12 months. After that, it goes into recipes geared toward toddlers and preschoolers.
What I love the most about this book is the huge variety of foods and flavors in it. We all know that kids can be so super picky sometimes and the recipes in this book are a great way to introduce different flavors.
 MacKenzie's Superstar Sweet Potato Pancakes With Sour Cream We tried a bunch of recipes out of Organically Raised and everything was a hit. I used my phone to take pictures of everything I made, but like I said last week, my phone totally crashed and I lost all my pictures. Anni was kind enough to supply me with some of the photos from the cookbook to use in this post, and I think you see what I mean about how beautiful this book is- her pictures are much prettier than my smartphone ones! The veggie burger bites and sweet potato pancakes pictured were some of our very favorites of the recipes we tried- especially the sweet potato pancakes. They were even good cold, from the fridge the next day! The other things we tried were: austin’s italian sun-dried tomato wheel pasta with fresh basil capers, and parmesan cheese; river’s greek falafel bites with pita and cucumber-dill dipping sauce; duke’s delicious mozzarella bruschetta; and piper’s teriyaki chicken sushi rolls- and out of all of those things, there wasn’t a single dish my kids wouldn’t eat. (In fact… I could go for some of that bruschetta right now!)
This is just an all-around excellent cookbook. If you are looking to improve the eating habits of your own family, or you’re looking for a gift for a new mother, I would highly recommend this book. And here’s a hint for you: the best deal is on Amazon! Click here to see for yourself: Organically Raised: Conscious Cooking for Babies and Toddlers
Now… all this talking about food’s made me hungry. I’m off to make some paninis!
Ok, we all know the big scare about BPA (bisphenol-A) plastic. We heard about it, some of us threw some out and we bought other stuff, and we see the “BPA free” stickers on new stuff now. But were you aware that there is a good chance you’re still taking in BPA?
My friend Sarah wrote a blog on BPA plastic recently and it was enlightening to me. I didn’t realize what all had BPA in it! BPA is like a super sneaky ninja. For instance, did you know BPA is found in high concentrate in the lining of cans? Food, veggies, even soda- canned goods have it. Bottle fed babies actually have the highest BPA rates- not from the bottles, but from the cans the formula is packaged in, pre-mixed liquid formula being the higest in BPA. The sealant that some people have put on their children’s teeth? Full of BPA. And of course, we know the big offenders like plastic water bottles and food storage containers. Even plastic wrap and paper towels are potential sources of BPA. See? It’s right behind you and you didn’t even know. NINJA!
Except, ninjas are taller.
Why should you care about all this? What does it really mean for you and your kids? Well, like Sarah says on her blog…
BPA is an endocrine disrupter, which is particularly alarming in children, whose bodies are still developing. Endocrine disruptors can mimic natural hormones (estrogen) in the body and it may lead to early puberty. Other things are still unknown, but BPA could be linked to cancer — a 2010 study concluded that the risk may be increased with BPA exposure. There have also been concerns on its effect on brain development.
So I’m not gonna sit here and tell you what you need to do, other than this: You need to do your research and make your own decision. A great jumping-off point for your research is Sarah’s blog about BPA and I encourage you to read it over.
On my post about breastfeeding, a commenter said something about milk being worse for “soy babies”.
I’m sorry, commenter. I’m not picking on you, I promise. It’s just that soy is something I feel rather strongly about.
First and foremost, and the reason I don’t feed soy to my children: soy isoflavones can act like estrogen in the body and they can block estrogen from binding to estrogen receptors. (The study linked did animal testing. Sorry, but yes, I am for animal testing- better than human testing!) It is thought that soy can thus cause early onset of puberty. This quote, in particular, is pretty scary: “Infants exclusively fed soy formula receive the estrogenic equivalent of at least five birth control pills per day.” WOW. (This is a good read on soy formula.)
Soy may be a cause of ADHD and autism. Soy weakens the immune system. Soy formula may be a cause of type 1 diabetes. Soy products negatively affect the thyroid. Soy can cause digestive upset. (I can totally attest to that one. I cannot tolerate soy and “digestive upset” is an understatement of what I experience when I eat soy…) Soy is one of the top eight allergens. (Which makes it even stranger that it is recommended as an option for an infant that can’t tolerate its mother’s milk!) Just check out the many wonders of soy.
I’m not telling you what to do here. I’m presenting research. Look at it, do your own research, and decide for yourself.
OK, so you’re cruising through the dairy section at the store. There’s regular milk at $2 a carton or there’s organic milk at $4 a carton. Which one do you pick?
I always, always pick organic. I once read a blurb in a publication saying that if you can only afford to buy one item organic, make it be milk. That intrigued me, so I did a little more research on it on my own and found that:
- cows that produce organic milk do not ingest any toxic fertilizers or pesticides
- which is clearly better for the earth in general. Less chemicals = good!
- cows that produce organic milk are not subjected to hormones or antibiotics
- these things mean that the milk is free of trace chemicals, hormones, and antibiotics
- cows that produce organic milk are allowed free grazing time
- which means they get to wander around instead of stand in a stall. Obviously, grazing is a nicer way to treat a cow- think about it, which would YOU prefer to do?
- cows that produce organic milk are not fed any animal by-products (remember the mad cow disease thing?) or anything genetically altered
- organic milk is ultra-pasteurized, so it has a much longer shelf life (also, some of it doesn’t have to be refrigerated, if it’s had a UltraHigh Temp treatment which means it’s been heated to 275 degrees, which is a weird concept isn’t it? Who knew?)
- the USDA and FDA claim that there really are not any major health differences between organic and regular milk BUT there are some studies that show that organic milk has a higher content of beneficial fatty acids, antioxidants, and vitamins- especially in the summer months, when conjugated linoleic acid is found to be 60% higher in organic milk
So, why does organic cost more? Simple: it costs more to maintain organic dairy cows. For me this is a no-brainer. I’ll pay double the price of regular milk any day for these benefits. If your main concern is the health benefits, organic milk may feel like an unnecessary cost for you since it hasn’t been proven that organic is ‘healthier’ than regular- but even the thought that maybe some trace chemicals, hormones, and antibiotics could pass into the milk and thus into my kids? I’m not down with that at all. sources:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Organic-Milk–Is-It-Worth-Your-Money
http://organic.lovetoknow.com/Why_Organic_Milk_Is_Better_than_Regular_Milk
http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=370
I am making an effort to buy things that don’t contain high fructose corn syrup, dyes, or preservatives. Let me tell you, it is hard. No, no, I know you realize it’s tough and you’re probably like “shop at Whole Foods…” We do not have a Whole Foods or anything close. We have two half-aisles in the local grocery store for the ‘natural foods’ section. That is it. We have a teeny section of organic produce that is usually wilted, brown, and contains maybe 15 items to choose from. It’s really hard to find everything I need for an entire meal just in that section. I usually have to give in and buy something with some sort of preservatives in it just because it’s the only option here.
My friend Melissa is my food hero. She makes almost everything from scratch with organic ingredients- like chocolate syrup, a recipe which I am making later today. I am trying to follow her example in the kitchen lately (really I just wish she’d adopt me). I’ll admit I am having a hard time with it. I am planning on buying a bread machine and making all my own bread. I didn’t realize till a couple days ago that many many breads on the store shelves contain HFCS. What does bread need it for?! Yuck. Seriously, it’s in EVERYTHING. Why?! Those stupid commercials about it make me want to throw things at the TV but I guess that’s a whole different subject.
We’re going to Reno on Monday and staying the night for Tim’s follow-up back appointment on Tuesday and we’re planning on taking an ice chest and going to Whole Foods and stocking up on things. I think we may end up going to Reno once or twice a month to stock up on things I can’t find here. We go to Reno quite often anyway, I will get to see my aunts and cousins more often, and I think our health (and the kids’ behavior!) will drastically improve. Of course, I will also be buying everything I can from Wildtree from my friend Jen!
|
Considering cosmetic surgery? Get answers to your questions from experts as well as people who have undergone the same procedures at
_______________________
Find dinner planning help and lots of recipes at Dinnertool.com!
Please donate to my Relay for Life team!
Button 
If you put my button on your page, please let me know so I can return the favor! Thank you. :)
|
Here I am.
My blog header and button were designed by
|
Organically Raised teaches parents how to prepare delicious and healthy foods for their babies and children, using fresh, natural ingredients and diverse flavors. The author is a parent and a professional cook and has tested the recipes in the book.
