Coconut Flour for Baking

I've just found a great post on the blog The Nourishing Kitchen on How to Bake with Coconut Flour.

For those who want a grain free or wheat free alternative to flour, coconut flour looks like a great choice.

This blog post is an excellent reference for how to use coconut flour, the benefits of coconut flour, measurements for substituting coconut flour for other ingredients, and links to a number of recipes using coconut flour.

Here is just one section of this very informative post:

"Benefits of Baking with Coconut Flour

- Coconut flour is rich in protein, fiber and fat, which makes it exceptionally filling.

- Coconut flour is also a good source of lauric acid, a saturated fat thought to support the immune system and the thyroid. Like most healthy fats, lauric acid also promotes good skin health.

- Coconut flour is an exceptionally goodshource of manganese which helps you to better utilize many nutrients including choline and biotion (found in eggs), vitamin C and thiamin. Manganese also supports bone health, nervous syste function, thyroid health andhelps to maintain optimal blood sugar levels.

- Coconut flour is not grain-based, and, as such does not present many of the issues that accompayn grains. Coconut flour is a gluten-free and, while it does contain food phtate, the mineral-binding effect of phytates in coconut are virtually non-existent so coconut flour does not need to be soaked (read more about soadking coconut flour)."

 

A Winter's Tale

As a Priestess of the Ancient Ways, I am thus a servant to the Great Ones.

I have been advised by Them to speak with you, and tell to you of the events that have passed since the Precession of the Invernal Equinox, especially since the Dark Night is almost upon us.

I seek only to humbly serve my Gods and Goddesses, as I am but a mere human. Still they have chosen me to serve them, so I must seek to honour my most Auspicious Masters.

One of my priestly duties, as a Keeper of the Ancient Ways and One Who Walks Between, is to honour the Great Gateways, those Gateways of the Elements - Earth, Air, Fire, Water. One of my duties is to draw water for the honouring of the Western Gate, as it rules the Element of Water.

The Great Ones have told me that they have been pleased with my Drawing of the Sacred Waters, or as those of the more mundane realms might say - “The Running of the Water”. What has pleased them most is the response I am able to elicit from the humans on this more mundane Plane of Existence.

When I draw from the Sacred Waters, one of these humans has begun to respond. I can only assume he seeks to honour this Great Rite with his actions. When he hears the Running of the Water, whether it be day or night, he responds by drumming quite loudly upon walls of his dwelling with a long metal rod. Most impressive was his response one evening - I believe that it was the New Moon was close upon us. He began by banging on all the walls of his dwelling with his metal rod quite furiously, going from one wall to the next, until he’d played upon every wall. He then proceeded to “play” upon a metal fixture that radiates heat, thrumming upon the spine of this fixture quite loudly and vigorous for several minutes. I must say, the Great Ones were very pleased.

That I was able to elicit such a response also pleased them, for it was not often that a human responds so heartily to The Running of the Water.

Thus spake the Ancient Ones. Thus this telling is done.

 

 

Poem | Gratitude for All Who Inspire

 

Namaste


called forth by the muses

evoked

provoked

to get down these words

how else to express
this urge to honour the sacredness

a poem ...
words only attempt
to express the sacredness
and ecstasy
of
life
as constant
miracle upon miracle

putting it down in words
seems a desecration of the sacredness

yet, if I write nothing,
that is a sin in itself

to not honour the gift of inspiration given me

if it inspired another so

then I am redeemed

 

- j. khat o'brien

 

 

A Poem for Independence Day

JULY 4th  mmxiv


that familiar pungent odor
is wafting in my window
over the cloying humid air

skunk

someone has found its sleeping lair
in the middle of the day


who needs firecrackers?


- j. khat o'brien

Motorcycle design inspires new patronage system

News story from NPR's Marketplace BUSINESS

Two Obsessed Guys and a Radical Motorcycle Design

MSG in Disguise - Read the Label Carefully!

From John Douillard's Life Spa website -

This article is very much worth a read through. There are many health issues that are exacerbated by eating MSG.  John Douillard explains what MSG is, how is affects our bodies, and just how much the use of MSG in its many forms is dangerously prevalent in many foods we would not think would contain MSG - why? because, as the title of his article explains - MSG has many sneaky names.

"Sneaky Names for MSG: Check Your Labels"

"The dangers and prevalence of MSG will shock you! This flavor enhancer is linked to a host of health issues, including fibromyalgia (1), obesity (2), fatty liver (3), high insulin and blood sugar (3), high cholesterol (3), liver toxicity (3), metabolic syndrome (4), high blood pressure, disturbance to the gut-brain connection (5), neurological and brain damage (6).
The danger lies in that MSG is almost impossible to avoid.

Why? The reason is twofold:
    1.    There are over 40 different ingredients that manufacturers use, that all have MSG.
    2.    It is not just a flavor enhancing additive – it is a natural by-product of processing proteins.

These MSG by-products are found in many of your favorite organic health foods. ... "

please read on

Ponder this - a view of the gut-brain connection

A slide show presentation by Todd R. LePine, MD, a graduate of Dartmouth Medical School, and interestingly he did practice at Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires. The information on the nature of bacteria is absolutely fascinating, as well as all the other findings on the brain-gut connection.

The Gut-Brain Connection: An Inside Look at Depression from Augustin Bralley