Don't Let Your Vegetables Go Bad, Freeze 'Em for Bone Broths

Today's Tip Comes from a reader, Erin, who writes:

Quick tip: When my veggies in my fridge are just starting to "turn", I put them in the freezer until I'm ready to make a batch of broth. Then just put them frozen into the slow cooker with the bones. Makes for an easy, economical, way to add veggies to my broth.

This is a great tip for onion tops, too - you don't have to throw them away, just freeze them and toss them in your broth!  Any veggie can be frozen for soup using your bone broth, too. Scoop out the broth from your slow cooker or pour from a mason jar in the refrigerator if you are storing the broth after it is done cooking. Heat up the soup and the frozen veggies in a separate pan and add herbs of choice and any extra meat.

Here's how to make bone broths:

Nourishing Bone Broth (Basic All Around Recipe for most bones)

Slow Cooker Beef Bone Broth

Nutrition Tip: Winter Squash Makes Good Carbohydrates & Unique Anti-Inflammatory Starches

Roasted Pumpkin

About 90% of the winter squash's total calories comes from carbohydrates, and according to The World's Healthiest Foods, a site I love, about half of those carbohydrates are starchy, although not all starch is the same. Here's what WHF says about this:

Many of the carbs in winter starch come from polysaccharides found in the cell walls. These polysaccharides include pectins—specially structured polysaccharides that in winter squash often include special chains of D-galacturonic acid called homogalacturonan. An increasing number of animal studies now show that these starch-related components in winter squash have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, as well as anti-diabetic and insulin-regulating properties.

When I started the GAPS diet, which in the beginning eliminates all grains, I had some problems regulating my blood sugar. Holistic Nutritionist Brooke Kaufman advised me to add roasted, winter squash to my diet (for GAPS roast without any oil). This immediately helped and has become a beloved staple ever since. You can do a lot with squash from baking to roasting, to saving and roasting the seeds. Brilliant.

Nutrition Tip: Winter Squash is Good "B" Eats

Spaghetti Squash - Roasted

This week's FEATURED FOOD is WINTER SQUASH. It's high in B-complex vitamins like B2, B6, folate, pantothenic acid (B5), B1 & B3 AND the B-vitamin like compound d-chiro-inositol that researchers expect has a regulatory effect on blood sugar. That's alotta B's!

Acorn, Butternut, Pumpkin, Kabocha, Hubbard, Turban, Spaghetti (pictured)... just a few varieties to give you some squash love.

Kitchen Tip: Use Baking Soda to Clean Ceramic & Glass

When I learned to make bone broths in my ceramic slow cooker, and started baking paleo (grain-free) breads, and then started the GAPS diet where I cannot use my normal oils, I noticed that there was a lot more cooked on, baked on residue that was tough to remove. Baking soda came ot my rescue. Here are two ways to use it:

1. Soak any pyrex, glass or ceramic pans that have some burnt on residue in a 1 to 3 part solution baking soda to water for an hour or two. For really tough sticky situations, rub straight baking soda on the residue and let it sit for an hour. Then wash the dish, it should come right off.

2. Use baking soda as a mild abrasive rather than a steel wool pad or other abrasive item. Baking soda is gentler to your pans, and less toxic to you.

~Elisabeth

How to Choose Gluten-Free Coffee

Photo by Jeff Hage of Green Frog PhotoGluten shows up in a lot of unexpected places. One of those places is coffee. You can read the full article here, but some quick tips to keep the gluten monster out of your cup, read here:

1. Choose a local roaster, rather than a large company, and call them to determine their practices. Larger companies sometimes use a gluten powder on machines to keep the beans from sticking. Small roasters have no need for this.

2. Get to know your local coffee shops and always know where they get their beans.

3. Use gluten-free extracts or maple syrup to flavor your coffee, rather than syrups, of which many contain gluten.

Read more . . .

Visit www.greenfrogphoto.com to see more great food shots.