Saturday, June 28, 2014

"Mom's Island Bakens" Cookbook Shares a Simple Gluten-Free Flour Mix Recipe for People with Celiac Disease


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his has been a fun week with the new release of Mom’s Island Bakens and it now being available on Amazon! One of the first people who bought my book, author Mamie Adkins, has emailed me and asked me if I would suggest this book for people with Celiac disease. Thank you, Mamie, because that is a great question and I think other people may wonder the same thing. Celiac is a disease in which eating gluten triggers an immune system reaction in the small intestines and overtime causes mal-absorption of some important nutrients. Following a gluten-free diet can help manage the symptoms and promote intestinal healing. While Mom’s Island Bakens is not written specifically for those with Celiac disease who are needing to become gluten-free, it does include in most of its recipes that use grains a substitute flour mix suggestion that is gluten-free. There are also a few delicious gluten free recipes using other gluten free grains than suggested in the gluten-free mix.

Likewise, the ingredients included in a few of the recipes in Mom's Island Bakens may have dairy products listed but usually also will include suggestions for non-dairy alternatives like almond or rice milk. I almost always use almond milk in all the recipes. And best of all, Mom’s Island Bakens takes a look at other important things to consider in your ingredient lists like how to make a recipe nutrient dense and have every bite packed with as much nutrition as possible. There are times that I select to forgo making a recipe absolutely dairy-free (even though most of my recipes include suggestions for doing so if you are allergic to dairy) because I want to make sure the nutrient density is as high as possible.

An example of allowing for milk products in a recipe to increase nutrient density is seen in the chocolate cream pie recipe on page 99 of Mom’s Island Bakens. I noticed tonight that for the chocolate pie recipe (I made one as a birthday gift for a family member) that I have listed as one ingredient a cup of almond milk thickened to kefir consistency using organic non-fat dried milk. The dried milk makes this recipe not absolutely dairy-free. However, you can make this recipe without using the non-fat dried milk and instead add two more tablespoons of cornstarch to thicken the almond milk. Since cornstarch has no nutritious value what-so-ever, I prefer to use dried milk as a thickener when possible. Of course, you would need to consider your own health needs to make this decision. I have cooked this pie both ways and it is delicious either way!

And yes, there are a number of recipes that are gluten free in Mom’s Island Baken’s. However, if you would like to simply have the gluten free baking mix recipe that I include in Mom’s Island Bakens, I am happy to give that out freely. Just use this mix to substitute 1 to 1 for wheat or other gluten flours in any of your favorite recipes and enjoy good health:
1 cup certified gluten free organic millet flour or certified gluten free oat flour
1/2 cup organic almond meal
1 cup potato starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum

So back to the original question, is Mom’s Island Bakens a good cookbook for people with Celiac disease? My answer is yes, because it is written to help everyone consider how to make ingredient substitutions for good health. And if you would like to consider not just how to substitute ingredients to make your diet gluten-free, but also how to have your cooked food higher in nutrient density, lower on the glycemic index, using all heart healthy oils like olive oil, and more digestible as a more alkaline diet, then you would certainly find Mom’s Island Bakens helpful. I suggest Mom’s Island Bakens to anyone as a helpful guide in making an overall more healthy diet change through learning to alter recipes for gut and heart health. And surely, you will find a number of Mom’s tried and true recipes not only healthy for you but also very delicious. 

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Mom's Island Bakens: Over 50 Altered Recipes For a Happy Gut and a Healthy Heart


Mom's Island Bakens: 

Over 50 Altered Recipes For a Happy Gut and a Healthy Heart

by Martha Char Love



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here are over 50 original recipes in this book and all are very delicious and healthy foods—many entire meals. The recipes that I have included are from my personal collection that I have created over a 40-year span of time and that I refined to healthy versions for gut and heart over the years to reflect modern knowledge about excellent nutrition and well-being.

Best of all in this book, you will be given cooking tips throughout that will help you become a skilled and creative cook with gut and heart health in mind. Once you have learned these 50+ recipes, you will have not only a great daily diet, but also the ability to make up your own variations of a large selection of types of dishes and alter any recipe you find on the internet or otherwise into a healthy but very tasty version of your own that will serve your own dietary needs.

This book is not only a recipe book, but also a course in how to cook and to alter recipes to your health specifications. Reading this book will demonstrate to you, for instance, how to take an old family recipe of your own mother’s and make changes to it that render it healthier—and yet satisfy your yearning for the comfort of her cooking. Furthermore, many of those delicious looking recipes you come across while surfing the web can be altered to a more healthy version for heart and gut and you will find some of these also included in this book.

You are also encouraged to alter the recipes in this book even further, to accommodate your own health concerns and the latest diet information and research past the time of writing this book. While I have added as much dietary knowledge and resources as possible for you to use, in determining what are healthy ingredients for you specifically, it is advised to go over you particular needs with your health care physician. 

You are invited to visit this blog site for more on the content in Mom's Island Bakens, updates on recipes, cooking tips and even some added delicious and healthy recipes.

Table of Contents for "Mom's Island Bakens"


To give you an idea of what Mom's Island Bakens is all about and what delicious and healthy recipes are included, here is the table of contents:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
A Word About “Mom’s Notes and Tips”
And A Word About Tasting
Updates and Recipe Versions


Chapter 1:
Changing a Recipe to Your Taste
and to the Most Updated Knowledge
About a Healthy Diet
Making Substitutions in Recipes
Flour Substitutions
Basic Gluten Free Baking Flour Mix
Substituting Liquids for Dry ingredients
A word about Egg Replacement
Three Important Healthy Ways to Alter and Improve a Recipe
Adding Ingredients for  Nutrient Density
Lowering the Glycemic Index
Balancing Your Acid-Alkaline pH Levels
Chapter Summary

Chapter 2:
Altering Dishes
Where to Start In Making Healthy Substitutions
What to Do When you Yearn for “Comfort Foods”
Emotions and Need for Comfort Foods


Chapter 3:
How I Altered Two of Mother’s Recipes
Recipe 1: Mother’s Original Shrimp and Rice Dish
My Altered Healthy Version of My Mother’s Shrimp and Rice Dish
Recipe 2: Mother’s Saving Grace Spaghetti
My Altered Healthy Version of Mother’s Life Saving Spaghetti—I Now
     Call “Secret Ingredient  Spaghetti”


Chapter 4:
Cakes, Breads, and Muffins
Organic Lemon Cake with Walnut and Lemon Icing Glaze
Frozen Log Cake—Coconut Milk Whipped Cream with Mayan Chocolate
Banana Nut Bread
Mom’s Island Ginger bread
Raison-Walnut Vanilla Muffins
Zucchini Gluten-Free Muffins
Heart Healthy Raison-Walnut Bread
Alternative—Handmade Bread Directions
Yum-Yum Chocolate Cherry Bread
Best Beet Chocolate Chewy Brownies
It’s More than a Scone


Chapter 5:
Cookies.
Easy Green Tea Almond Cookies
Favorite Oatmeal Raison Cookies
Oatmeal Cranberry Walnut Cookies
Double Chocolate Cherry Almond Cookies

Chapter 6:
Pies
Basic Altered Healthy Pie Crust
Agave Pumpkin/Sweet Potato Pie with Rice Milk  
Chocolate Cream Pie
Mom’s Island Apple Pie #1
Mom’s Island Apple Pie #2
Delicious Healthy Cherry Pie
Mango Ice cream

Chapter 7:
Main Entrées with Some Side Dishes
Nepalese Style Cauliflower and Potato
One Dish, Easy Baked Veggies  and Fish
Oven Baked Fruit
Meal in a Pumpkin—A Child’s Delight
Roman Hawaiian Pizza
Elves’ Squash Dish
Potato and Mushroom Delight
Falafels
Navy Bean—Pine Nut Burgers
Hot Veggie Sandwiches
Wild Rice Stuffed Peppers
Hot Almond Butter Sandwiches
Pesto Pasta and Veggies
Perfect Microwaved Organic Corn on the Cob
Chili Soup
Mom's Island Baken Beans

Chapter 8:
Soups, Salads, and Side Dishes
Minestrone Soup
Lentil Soup
Coconut Milk Soup
Miso soup
Papaya Salad
Special Cold Salad Green Beans
Pumpkin and Raison Soufflé
Mango Rice
Green Salad Delight
Bob's Longevity Oatmeal
Jetlag Fruit Salad


Chapter 9:
Condiments and Sauces
Homemade Organic Ketchup
Green Heaven Greek-Yogurt Dressing
Yogurt Tartar Sauce
Blueberry Jelly
Raw Cocoa Syrup
Mint Sauce
Basal and Pine Nut Pesto
Fresh Fruit Yogurt Dip


Chapter 10:
The Happy Gut and  Healthy Heart
The Happy Gut
Organic Edamame and Depression
Himalayan Salt
Try Eating Something New! Mangosteins, Durians, and Pear Apples!
Food That Will Help You Regulate Your Sleep


Chapter 11:
One for Rover!
Puppy Pancakes Treats


Chapter 12:
Kitchen Cleaning Tips
Cleaning Your Oven Using Non-Toxic Household Products 
Cleaning the Food Smells from Inside Your Microwave
Cleaning Sterling Silver



Appendix 1:
ANDI Scores

Appendix 2:
pH Levels of Ingredients of the Recipes in This Book: Accentuate the Alkaline in Your Diet 

Appendix 3:
Guide to Measurement Substitutions

About the Author




About Author and Cook Martha Char Love and the Writing of this Cookbook


Martha Char Love

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artha Char Love does not write this cook book as a professional nutritionist but more as a mom and lifetime family cook who has always had the well-being of her family’s gut in mind. She has used her long years of cooking experience coupled with her professional counseling abilities to write this book to guide people who have found it necessary due to illness and health issues or simply from a smart move toward well-being to strive to make healthy changes to their diets. 


You will also find included in Mom's Island Bakens several original recipes from Martha Char Love’s own mother Martha Campbell Whitenton, who was one of the world’s best family cooks. Before Martha Campbell Whitenton passed away in January of 2014, she was very excited that some of her original recipes would be included in this book and also that there would be a version of her recipes altered to include more healthy ingredients for a more nutritious meal. Martha Campbell Whitenton was a woman with a high regard and goals for advanced education of all people and who at one time was a professor of accounting at the same community college, Meridian Junior College, where Martha Char was also teaching psychology and was a full-time guidance counselor. 

Martha Campbell Whitenton, mother of author Martha Char Love


Martha Campbell Whitenton always stressed to her family the importance of learning and making changes to meet one’s full human potential. Her inspiring influence is the reason that Martha Char was able to freely alter her recipes and invent these new gut and heart healthy meals. Martha Char demonstrates how to honor your own mother’s cooking by making her recipes healthier to meet today’s nutritional knowledge and by altering them freely for your own well-being.

Martha Char Love, MA, PMA, is also the co-author, along with her colleague Robert W Sterling, of What’s Behind Your Belly Button: A Psychological Perspective of the Intelligence of Human Nature and Gut instinct, available on Amazon and in Hastings bookstores. She has made exploring and studying the intelligence of the gut response her life work as a former counselor and professor in psychology in community colleges, a licensed school psychologist for Alachua County Schools K-12 in Gainesville, Florida, and a researcher in the field of Analytical Psychology.

Martha Char Love reminds us that there is much more you can do for your digestive system along with eating the right foods. She encourages achieving body-mind unity through reducing stress using the Somatic Reflection Process to explore and understand your gut feeling responses and emphasizes that this is the key to calming the gut and having positive gut health. To learn the reflection process technique that will further increase your gut awareness and well-being, please be sure and explore the website dedicated to her book about gut feeling intelligence at http://careerstorefront.angelfire.com.
You are also invited to join Martha Char Love on her blog to explore the intelligence of the second brain—the gut feeling response and the enteric nervous system at http://instinctualgutfeelings.blogspot.com.

If you would like to contact her with your responses to this book and about your own healthy diet experiences, please do so at silver_love_@hotmail.com.