Hidden Sources of MSG

Every pregnancy I experience different aversions and/or cravings, and my current pregnancy is no exception. My first pregnancy I could not tolerate any onions at all--and I normally love them. The second time, I constantly craved fish and potatoes. This time, after a lot of trial and error and paying close attention, I figured out that I can't handle MSG (monosodium glutamate). Like a whole host of other people in this world, MSG gives me headaches, nausea, and a generally yucky feeling. Though for some people the reaction is much more dramatic, my symptoms are enough to steer me clear.

But avoiding MSG entirely, I'm finding out, can be more difficult than I thought (even when eating at home), because of all the hidden sources of MSG. And this is coming from someone who was already consciously trying to avoid MSG and eats almost exclusively home-cooked foods from scratch.

One reason is because "more than 40 different ingredients contain the chemical in monosodium glutamate (processed free glutamic acid) that causes these reactions." Can you believe that?! I had no idea before I started researching. Some of these ingredients include anything with "glutamate," "hydrolyzed," or "caseinate" in the label. (Click here for a more detailed list.)

And, get this: There are 3 ingredients that "work synergistically with MSG to enhance flavor. If they are present for flavoring, so is MSG" even if there is no MSG listed in the ingredients! I found this out when I ate a few croutons that I thought didn't contain any MSG. But they still made me feel yucky, so I investigated. And sure enough, they contained 2 of these 3 ingredients that work with MSG: disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate, disodium ribonucleotides.

Companies are very clever with labeling these days, so we've got to be even more clever.

Knowledge + action = improved health = power

Making and Canning Applesauce

My aunt and uncle's trees produced more apples this fall than they could handle, so they asked around the family for anyone interested in taking some of them off their hands. I ended up taking about 100 pounds, with the intention of doing a lot of canning. Since my family likes applesauce and could potentially eat a lot of it (just plain as well as in recipes) over the next couple years, I decided to make most of the apples into applesauce.

Because of my schedule I haven't been able to dedicate even one whole day to this endeavor and have to do it in a few hour chunks here and there. So it's a good thing apples save! Yes, it takes way too long, and no, I don't particularly enjoy the whole process.

But there is something so satisfying about seeing the results of my labors.

And there is also a lot to be said for the example this sets for my children, and how they learn that applesauce isn't just something you buy at the store. They are also learning from the experience of watching and participating, just as I did growing up.

Lastly, I love how none of the products of this process are wasted, since we compost it all.

Merry Christmas!

Before I take a Christmas break, I wanted to wish each of you a Merry Christmas! May you enjoy the warmth and joy of the season with your loved ones.

And the Winner is...

Carolyn! I did another random drawing of those who entered and I'm so happy Carolyn won because she is one of my most faithful readers and says she never wins these things.

So a big congratulations goes to our Christmas giveaway winner! I'll send you an email with the gift code, Carolyn, and you can get busy choosing your item. :)

Christmas Cranberry-Orange Bread

I used to try to make our family's traditional Danish pastries to have on hand for Christmas morning's breakfast--the authentic kind that was passed down from my Danish great-grandmother. While we really enjoy even the healthier version of these pastries, it requires such a time commitment on my part that I have come to realize I just can't plan on doing it each and every year. So over time I have come up with a different Christmas breakfast bread that we all love, that is healthful and way easier/faster to make than Danishes!

Christmas Cranberry-Orange Bread
Yield: 1 loaf

1 1/4 c. warm water
1/3 c. honey
2 Tb. butter, softened
2 c. bread flour (I usually just use whole wheat for all the flour)
1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 c. sweetened dried cranberries
1 Tb. grated orange zest
Directions for mixer or for hand mixing:

Combine warm water and yeast. Let sit until yeast is softened.
Add salt, honey, and butter.
Add remaining ingredients while mixing, except cranberries.
When dough is correct consistency, add cranberries.
Place in greased bread pan, cook at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, or until browned and cooked through.

Directions for bread maker:

Place all ingredients (except cranberries) in pan of bread machine in order recommended by manufacturer. Select Sweet Bread cycle; press Start.

If your machine has Fruit setting, add cranberries at signal, or about 5 minutes before kneading cycle has finished.

Tamale Loaf

This is a classic recipe in my family. I remember eating it as a child and I still really enjoy it. And this time around I even found a Jimmy Dean sausage with minimal processing and no MSG to use in it!

Tamale Loaf

Mix #1:

1 1/4 lbs. sausage meat (I used less than 1 lb.); cook thoroughly, then add onion below
1 large onion, chopped; cook till tender before adding following ingredients
1 can creamed corn (I used 1 1/2 c. frozen corn)
3 c. diced tomatoes (I used 1 1/2 cans)
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 can whole olives

Mix #2:

2 1/2 c. milk
1 2/3 c. cornmeal

Add Mix #2 to Mix #1.

Then separate 2 large eggs in another bowl and beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into the combined mixes.

Grease 9 X 13" pan and pour mixture in before cornmeal settles. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, then turn down to 300 for 30 minutes.

My mom's note: With leftovers, either eat cold or warm in fry pan in a little butter.

Winter Neti: or My Favorite Product of 2010

A while back I told you about my neti pot. Since then, I have continued to use it whenever I have allergy symptoms, feel like I'm getting a cold or sore throat, or even (in the case of home repairs) to simply clear my system of dust. Since I'm one of those lucky allergy sufferers who is allergic to dust mites (as well as many of the seasonal airborne allergens), I have the potential of having allergies year round. And I have noticed lately that I am using my neti pot in the winter as often, if not more often, than I did in the summer. It has been a lifesaver in stopping my early sore throats (which, for me, is often my first allergy symptom), postnasal drip, sinus pressure and headaches, and just improving my general sinus (and probably overall) health. So, again, if you suffer from any of these symptoms and are ready to feel better using a healthier, drug-free method, I seriously recommend the neti pot! Mine has been my favorite new product of the year, hands down.

Scrumptious Herbed Salmon

Here's another recipe I've been in raptures over--but in this case, for a few years running. (Maybe one reason is that we don't get it that often, because salmon is expensive where I live.) It is just so, so good...

Scrumptious Herbed Salmon
Yield: 4 side servings

1 1/2 pounds boneless salmon fillet, about 1-inch thick
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. salt (optional--I think this makes it too salty)
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. lemon pepper
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried dill weed
1/4 tsp. paprika

Preheat oven to 475 F. Make a tray out of a doubled-length of heavy-duty foil large enough for the salmon filet by folding a long piece in half and folding up all four sides, with the dull side up. Spray the entire inside of the foil tray with cooking spray. Place the foil tray on a baking sheet.

Place the salmon fillet in the foil tray skin-side down. Sprinkle lemon juice over salmon and spread mayonnaise over the top.

In a small bowl, mix together salt (optional), onion powder, garlic powder, lemon pepper, oregano, basil, and dill weed. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the salmon, then top with the sweet paprika.

Place baking pan with foil tray in oven. Cook for 10 minutes per inch of thickness of the fish fillet. Do not overcook or it will be dry and unpalatable. Turning is not necessary. Salmon is done when it turns a light pink color throughout and feels firm when pressed gently with the back of a fork. Use a spatula to lift the salmon away from the skin to serve.

Want to Enter my Christmas Giveaway?

The more the merrier! As I mentioned Saturday, CSN stores has given me another opportunity for a giveaway. They have a complete line of everything you could want, from counter stools, to kitchen products, to home decor, to stuff for babies and kids, at competitive prices. If you haven't yet, check them out!

Here are the rules for the giveaway this time around:

First, as before, if you are not already a follower of my blog, please become one.

Second, send your favorite Christmas recipe to me at katrinaskitchen35@gmail.com, which will imply permission for me to modify it, if needed, when I recreate it, and permission for me to post it on this blog for others' use at a later date, if I choose to do so.

Third, like last time, you will be given one entry for each comment you make the week of the giveaway period. But this time I will be retroactive and any comments you have previously made (as in, before you knew about this giveaway) in the month of December will be included, to hopefully give my faithfuls' an added advantage.

That's it!

Some time on Monday, December 20th, I will randomly choose the winner, who will receive $35 from CSN toward the purchase of any item at their stores.

So good luck, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Christmas Giveaway

Dear readers,

CSN stores has once again given me the opportunity to do another giveaway and I thought it would be fun to do it just in time for Christmas! So be looking for details on Monday (Dec 13th)...

Sincerely,
Katrina

I'm in Love...

With this salad.

I've had similar salads before, but something about this salad the last couple of weeks has had me in raptures. I enjoyed it so much at Thanksgiving dinner that I replicated it at home. And I even found some store-bought salad dressing that is MSG-free with all natural ingredients (Brianna's)--not that I couldn't have made my own. At Thanksgiving I enjoyed it with honey mustard dressing; at home I enjoyed it with poppy seed dressing. I love how versatile salads can be! And this one has such a pretty color combination as well...

Cranberry-Almond-Feta Salad

Salad base:

Green leaf lettuce, torn
Spinach, torn
cucumbers, sliced
tomatoes, sliced

Over the top sprinkle:

green onions, diced
original feta cheese, crumbled
dried cranberries
candied almonds, crushed
salad dressing of choice

Budget Saver Tip #18: Decorating for Cheap

I'm (unfortunately) not real into decorating, but at Christmastime I feel obligated to make our home festive and have been given many decorations over the years that help me do so. Plus, my kids enjoy it so much that it's fun to see how excited they get helping me. But this year I wanted to do a little more, so I went to Dollar Tree. They're a good place to find decorations for cheap. In fact, I almost wished we didn't already have all the tree ornaments we need because I really liked many of the ones they had at Dollar Tree. For $4 I was able to make a small wreath for our front door (we've never had one before), and another $1 added festive greenery to our wooden railing. So, if you're feeling the need to do a little more...on a little budget, why don't you check out Dollar Tree? (If there isn't one in your area, you can check them out online.)

Homemade Granola Bars

I've been having to eat several small meals every day for the last few months, instead of my usual three regular ones. But sometimes, due to my schedule or other factors, I just need a good, quick, portable snack. So a week ago or so I started looking at the selection of granola bars in the stores. I almost bought a box a couple times, but I just couldn't bare to do it, not with all the high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, brown sugar, sugar, etc listed in the ingredients. After all, I didn't want dessert, I wanted a healthful snack. So I determined to figure out how to make my own. After all, I knew I already had the ingredients on hand and it couldn't really be that hard. I found quite a few recipes online and weeded them down to one I found on FoodNetwork.com. Then, of course, I modified it to include no sugar. We all loved the result and I felt good knowing I didn't give in to the easy, unhealthful option. :)
Plus, when you make them yourself, you can switch up the fruits, nuts, etc, so they are just the way you want them. I doubled the recipe and made two varieties: one with dried dates, papayas, and cranberries; and the other with sunflower seeds and raisins (though I didn't use nearly 1 1/2 c. of raisins).

Homemade Granola Bars

2 c. rolled oats
1 c. sliced almonds
1 c. shredded coconut, loosely packed (this can be found unsweetened to further reduce the refined sugar content)
1/2 c. wheat germ
3 Tb. butter
About 1 c. honey (I may cut it down a bit next time because it seemed a little too sweet to me, but the rest of my family didn't notice.)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. dried fruit(s) of your choice (of course, varieties with less or no sugar are the most healthful)

Preheat oven to 35o degrees. Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish and line it with parchment paper. (I didn't have parchment paper and therefore can't vouch for its necessity, but I unfortunately did find out how necessary greasing the pan is! I know, I should've known better, but sometimes I space things...)

Toss oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 min, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer mixture to large mixing bowl and stir in wheat germ.

Reduce temperature to 300 degrees.

Place butter, honey, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over toasted oatmeal mixture. Add dried fruit and stir well.

Pour mixture into prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press mixture evenly into pan. Bake for 25-30 min, until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2-3 hours before cutting into squares. Serve at room temperature.

I wasn't sure how long these would stay good outside of the fridge, so after a couple days I wrapped the individual bars in tinfoil and put them in the fridge.

Apples Galore

We now have apples coming out of our ears, thanks to my aunt and uncle who loaded us up over Thanksgiving. I love, love, love fresh, free!, homegrown produce and was excited to get all these apples, but now I'm trying to decide what I want to do with them. They have blemished skins but taste great, and I would like to do some canning, in addition to just using them in my cooking. All you canning experts and apple aficionados, what do you suggest?

Also, here is a tip for storing apples that my grandpa taught us when I was growing up, in case you didn't already know: You can keep apples tasty (and even crispy) all winter by enclosing them in a paper sack which is inside a closed plastic bag in the fridge. So I will definitely be keeping some of them that way for the long term.