Food Storage friendly Homemade 'Speghetti Os'

Who doesn't love comfort foods like Spaghetti O's? I want my food storage full of delicious comfort foods. In hard times, when our bodies may already be under stress, the last thing I want to feed my family is less than yummy foods. Food can be very healing and comforting. But, unfortunately many 'comfort foods' are full of preservatives and junk! The solution? Easy homemade alternatives! You and your kiddos will love this delicious and much more nutritious and cost effective alternative to store bought pasta and sauce!

This recipe is truly so easy its nearly criminal!

You will need

 1 cup small pasta (You could also use homemade a sprouted or sourdoughs pasta)

2 tbs Olive Oil

2 Garlic Cloves

1 tbs Thrive Bell Peppers

1 Pinch crushed red pepper

1 1/2 + 2C water 

(Plus water for cooking pasta)

2/3 + 1 tbs C Thrive Tomato Powder

1/2 C Magic Mix

1 tbs Stevia or Raw Brown Sugar or Sugar

Seasoning to Taste

1 C shredded cheese (optional)

Method:

Cook your pasta according to package instructions. While your past is cooking, In another pan, Add Olive oil, Bell Peppers, Crushed Pepper and garlic. Cook over medium heat about 30 second or until fragrant. In a bowl, Mix 2/3C tomato powder with 2c water. (To make tomato sauce) Add this to your pan. Add 1 heaping tbs tomato powder. Add magic Mix, remaining water, stevia and seasonings. You may need a whisk to fully incorporate magic mix. Stir over medium heat. For thinner soup, use less magic mix, for thicker, use more. When all ingredients are mixed well, simmer on low for about 10 min. You may also add 1 C of shredded Cheese stir until melted. Drain pasta. Stir Pasta into sauce and serve. (If some in your family like their's more soupy than others, you can place pasta into bowls and ladle desired amount of sauce onto noodles.)

 This recipe freezes great! You can double the recipe and freeze into portion sizes to be reheated on the stove!

I'm thinking of trying to make this into an all-in-one mix! I'll let you know how it turn out!

~Happy Eating~

Best Of Pinterest...Week 2 Health Edition

Can you believe we are in Week 2 of 2013?!?!  Every Friday I will be featuring a few of my favorite Pinterest finds for the week! Be sure and follow me! This week I am featuring a few Healthy and Good For You ideas!

1. Honey & Cinnamon Cold Remedy

We swear by this at my house! Honey and Cinnamon cold Remedy - Did you know that a honey & cinnamon mix will usually knock out a cold within a day or two? Both honey and cinnamon are antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal. Also knocks bladder/kidney infections, reduces sugar levels, blood pressure, acts as a pain reliever for arthritis. And much more!

2. Why I don't reduce a fever and what I do instead

Again.. Something we adhere to here is our home! Help your body heal!



3.2013 Wellness Challenge

I absolutely love Wellness Mama's Blog! We will be doing the challenge. Will You?

4. Apple Cider Vinegar - The Wonder drug of Yesterday and today

You will not believe all the health benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar! So Healthy! We use Bragg Organic Apple Cider vinegar. It is unpasteurized and contains 'the mother' which contains lots of healthy goodies! Each day I enjoy a glass of ACV, honey, and water. This has significantly helped my allergies, headaches, and congestion!

5. Remineralizing Tooth Powder

This is a must read! Did you know you CAN remineralize and heal your teeth naturally? Did you know conventional toothpaste can inhibit this process? Check this out! Super easy and relatively inexpensive tooth powder

~What are your favorite home and natural remedies? Did you find anything awesome on Pinterst this week?~

Your Health: BPA

You have likely seen 'BPA Free' stickers popping up on hard plastic bottles all over the place! Just what is this BPA? Why is it so dangerous?

What Is BPA?

Bisphenol A, commonly abbreviated as BPA, is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups. It is used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins, along with other applications.

Known to be estrogenic since the mid 1930s, concerns about the use of bisphenol A in consumer products were regularly reported in the news media in 2008 after several governments issued reports questioning its safety, prompting some retailers to remove products containing it from their shelves. A 2010 report from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raised further concerns regarding exposure of fetuses, infants and young children. In September 2010, Canada became the first country to declare BPA as a toxic substance.In the European Union and Canada, BPA use is banned in baby bottles.^(Wikipedia)

Is BPA Toxic?

This is a subject of much debate. Since the FDA completed its original analysis in August, additional data on the potential health effects of BPA have emerged, linking high levels of BPA exposure to increased risk of heart disease and diabetes and even a decreased sensitivity to chemotherapy in cancer patients. The compound is also linked to developmental and brain effects in infants; BPA is known to mimic the hormone estrogen in the body, which can cause changes in developing fetuses and infants. "There is enough evidence today for the FDA to take the precaution and to certainly get BPA out of infant products," says Urvashi Rangan, senior scientist and policy analyst at Consumers Union. "Even more, consumers should not be ingesting this substance while the science is being figured out."(Time Magazine)

A 2008 draft report by the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) concluded that “there is some concern for neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures,” and that there is “some concern for bisphenol A exposure in these populations based on effects in the prostate gland, mammary gland, and an earlier age for puberty in females.”

Dr Oz suggest the BPA may be making us fat.

BPA has been linked to many health problems.

BPA is also known to have a negative effect on the environment.

In general, studies have shown that BPA can affect growth, reproduction and development in aquatic organisms. Among freshwater organisms, fish appear to be the most sensitive species. Evidence of endocrine-related effects in fish, aquatic invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles has been reported at environmentally relevant exposure levels lower than those required for acute toxicity. There is a widespread variation in reported values for endocrine-related effects, but many fall in the range of 1μg/L to 1 mg/L.^(Wikipedia)

^{In Conclusion, The jury may still be officially 'out' on BPA, but it is something we should all be mindful of.}

Where do we find BPA?

BPA is hiding everywhere. It is in water bottles, milk jugs, ling of cans of baby formula, lining of many cans and many other places. Heat causes BPA to leach at up to 50% more quickly. This means, do NOT heat or reheat your foods in plastic containers. Do NOT leave water bottles in the sun. When in doubt do not reuse plastics or cans.

One easy way to identify BPA is by the recycle code on the bottom of most plastics.

In general, plastics that are marked with recycle codes 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 are very unlikely to contain BPA. Some, but not all, plastics that are marked with recycle codes 3 or 7 may be made with BPA.

Thrive & BPA

You can feel safe feeding your family foods from Thrive and Shelf Reliance. All Thrive cans and pouches are BPA FREE!! Our specially lined cans are durable, safe, and add to Thrive foods long shelf life. Best of all, with Thrive foods, you don't have to worry about dangerous, toxic substances such as BPA leaching into your families food.

Many baby food containers  contain BPA. With Thrive foods you can quickly make healthy baby food in minutes! Just rehydrate your chosen foods and puree! No need to boil or steam! You can then freeze your homemade baby food eliminating your baby's exposure to BPA.

How many toxic and dangerous chemicals is your family being exposed to on a daily basis? Are you or your family suffering from any health problems as a result of these toxic chemicals and compounds? What can you do today or change tomorrow to limit your family's exposure to toxins such as BPA?

~ Go to TawnysThrivingHome.com to shop products and get the best deals on food storage and emergency preparation products.~

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Made in The USA

In today's age of 'out sourcing', almost every product we buy has 'made in china' or a similar country attached. When we pick up our phone to make a customer service call, our calls are often transferred over seas. In this day and age 'made in America' has become something rather rare.

According to the ABC News, if every American bought $3.33 worth of American made goods every week we could create 10,000 jobs.

In many areas of the country, we know just how bad those jobs are needed. It's basic economics. Spend money on goods made in your area, this creates jobs in your area, and stimulates the economy and helps it grow in your area.

We love our country! We have the best country in the world! So, lets show out support for our country! If spending just $3.33 on American Goods creates 10,000 jobs imagine what $9.99 would do!

We have strong work ethic standards in this country. When we buy American made goods, we know the workers received fair wages and fair conditions. When we buy American goods we know the goods meet health and other standards and regulations we have in this country to ensure quality.

So, take some time. Turn over the products on the shelf. Look for Made in The USA.

Many companies are opening, building, or reestablishing factories here in the USA. So, you will be seeing more made in the USA!

Love Chocolate? Mars Chocolate announced it's building its first new chocolate factory in the U.S. in 35 years!

Another great way to ensure you are getting American Made goods, Shop With Shelf Reliance & Thrive.

Shelf Reliance is an American Based Business. Your personal consultant in someone you know and trust. By shopping with Shelf Reliance, you are stimulating your local economy, buying US goods, and buying delicious high quality foods.

So hop on over to My Online Store and spend your $3.33 toward the cause!

Made In America. Buy with pride in your country & your community.

~ Go to TawnysThrivingHome.com to shop products and get the best deals on food storage and emergency preparation products.~

~Always be in the know… Sign Up for my Newsletter~

Our Daily Starch?

Bread. For many generations, bread has been an essential to life for man kind. It was *the* staple of every culture. Bread was healthy. Bread was life sustaining. But now, it seems, bread just makes you fat.

Most likely you can peek at the label of one of your favorite treats and you will see 'enriched wheat flour' as a main ingredient. But what IS enriched wheat flour?

Enriched wheat flour is flour that has been bleached and striped of all nutrients until it forms a nutrition-less starch. Enriching is necessary because the processing used to make white flour destroys most of the nutrients that originally were present in the whole grain.

Interestingly, One of the key nutrients added back to white flour is iron, however it is not iron in a usable form, but yet a metallic form our bodies cant process.

White flour is essentially nothing more than a starch, and the body processes it does other starches and sugars. White flour is really nothing more than a refined carbohydrate. It is a great contrast to its Whole Wheat counterpart which is processed by the body in a completely different way.

Whole Wheat flour is absorbed by the body as a grain. It is used for energy and processed slowly by your body.

Enriched Flour is basically a healthy grain striped down to a starch and 'enriched' with some of the vitamins and minerals removed in the processing.

 This enriching and bleaching process is esentially why bread is now 'bad'. This bleaching process took a nutrutuous food which sustained life of all kinds and turned it into a literal killer. This 'Daily Starch' sends out bodies through a roller coaster of sugar highs and lows and leads to diabeties, obesidy, heart disease and a whole host of other health problems.

Our daily bread had been turned into our daily starch!!

But, the good news is, flour is NOT bad! Whole Wheat and sprouted flours are an important part of a healthy diet. With Shelf Reliance your can store whole kernels of wheat and grind it to make your own healthy flour!!

Chose Whole Wheat when ever possible... And think of white flour not as a grain, but as the starch/sugar it is once processed by your body.

Reclaim your daily bread!

~ Go to TawnysThrivingHome.com to shop products and get the best deals on food storage and emergency preparation products.~

~Always be in the know… Sign Up for my Newsletter~