Do you really know what is in your food?

The big thing I started doing as I have made my switch to eating more real food is reading food and product labels. As consumers, we can be fooled too easily by the big text on the front of products promising us things. Words like 'natural' and 'healthy' a lot of the time don't mean anything. When I see advertisements for products I am more interested in WHAT they are using to create their product. I don't care if companies are selling a product that gives your washing a new prettier scent or makes the bread you eat softer. If they are using toxic, synthetic, cheap chemicals to achieve this I'm not interested. There are always better, healthier options if you are willing to ask the right questions and have a bit of fun searching.

The easiest way when cooking to avoid all the additives, food like substances and unpronounceable ingredients in processed food is to not buy them in the first place. I've been googling and researching most common ingredients in processed foods and products for a while now so I know what things should be avoided. However, I know it can be quite hard to decipher long lists of ingredients and numbers on the back of packages which you have never heard of. When we buy food from normal super markets we try to buy only one ingredient products. Carrots. Sweet potatoes. Basil. These are all fresh ingredients and can be used to make foods from scratch. That way you will know exactly what is in your food. I recommend cooking by the way. It is lots of fun, doesn't need to be time consuming and your food will taste so much better when you prepared it yourself!

When buying products think basics. If my great grandma was to make this 100 years ago, what would she have needed? A lot of things in the store have unnecessary processed ingredients in them. Things like yoghurt should only have milk and culture in it. That's what it is like if you were to make your own yoghurt. Anything like a thickener ingredient or milk powder don't need to be there. (Milk powder is added to make the product cheaper, which is basically trying to cheat you from the real thing.) And you don't need sugar or artificial sweeteners, you can add your own fruits and honey into your yoghurt at home. And how about coconut milk? Look out for that one. All it should have is coconut milk. But the food companies forget that sometimes...

Don't let body products become too complicated either. For example, look at the moisturiser you are using now and see what the main active ingredient is. Shea butter? Go buy 100% shea butter and give your body the best it deserves. There are many good natural brands out there but still I recommend you always first flip the product over and read the label on the back. Usually less is better. It's also good to find out about the company that makes the products. This will help you know whether the company actually cares about your health and knows how to make a product with high quality and unprocessed ingredients.

So to sum it all up, make sure you take hold of your health and be informed of what is in the products you are buying. Don't be fooled, always read your labels :)

Toilet cleaning

Cleaning toilets has never been this easy or fun.

1. Pour some vinegar into the toilet.

2. Then chuck in a handful of baking soda,

3. Watch it fizz like crazy while continuing to clean the toilet like you would usually.

4. Notice how squeaky clean it looks afterwards.

You have just cleaned the toilet without toxic chemicals. And you are on the road to saving the planet.

-Katja :)

Zucchini spaghetti

I wanted to share what we had for dinner tonight (and yesterday too) because it was so yummy. Zucchini noodles is such a good alternative to pasta and a great way to eat more vegetables. Always a good thing to eat more vegetables right.

To make the zucchini noodles I just used a cheese slicer and started slicing strips. There are actually these vegetable spiral slicers you can buy which would make nice thin noodles, but a cheese slicer (or peeler) works just fine.

Saute the zucchini in a pan and drizzle a little olive oil and lemon on top when finished. I don't like to cook with olive oil so thats why I add the olive oil at the end.

Add some homemade sauce on top and enjoy!

P.s and dont forget the cheese on top. Cheese makes everything taste good.

 

Finland loving

MORO! Hello from Finland!

I have recently moved back to Oulu after 3 amazing years in Australia. I'm so excited to start and continue with my journey as I source out real, nourishing food here in northern Finland. We have just moved into our own apartment and are finally starting our life here together. It was super fun unpacking boxes and putting things away. I secretly love moving and organising things. I have so many ideas and food projects that I can't wait to start so I'll be sharing them all with you. Today I started a little sourdough starter so we'll see how that takes off. I've also got some chamomile flowers in the kitchen sitting in some water waiting to be added to my hair conditioner rinse I'm making...

Here are a few things things that I have enjoyed about being in our new home :)

Our new juicer baby (that i've been waiting for like 2 years?) WE love it!!! Fresh juices in the morning, yes please. So far I like orange+carrot. Jaakko is into apple+lemon+ginger.

 It's so nice to have our own stuff. Unpacking boxes and finding things that I have forgotten we have has been so much fun. I forgot I had all these pretty pillows i've sewn :)

 
Sauna time! If you can't find me I just might be sitting in here..

                                   

This is the view from one of the windows. It's a bit of a snow storm day today. But i'm loving the winter.

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Love from the snowy north,
Katja x

A little toothpaste experiment

We ran out of the natural toothpaste we were using so I decided to experiment with making something myself to clean out teeth with. It's super fun to try out new things especially with ingredients that I have in my own kitchen! We haven't used store bought toothpaste for ages because of the things it contains like flouride, sodium lauryl sulphite (which is found in most commercial soaps and things!) and artificial sweeteners. So far we have been ordering natural toothpaste from iherb.com online. So until I get around to buying some new toothpaste I'm excited to see how this one I made myself goes.

So here is what I did: I mixed equal parts of coconut oil baking soda together and then added some peppermint oil. Simple! Coconut is amazing for so many things and especially in a toothpaste it works great because it is antibacterial. I put the ready toothpaste in a little jar (which I have a lot of in my house for all my little projects) and brushed my teeth with some. My teeth were nice and squeaky clean. It was very refreshing due to the peppermint oil and was a little salty due to the baking soda. Maybe for someone who is used to store brought sweet toothpaste it might take a little getting used to. But as for me, I'll give my toothpaste a big thumbs up! :)

For the love of eggs

This was my lunch today: a boiled egg mixed with homemade mayonnaise and honey mustard on top of some toasted sourdough bread. I baked a whole batch of carrot sourdough bread the other week and freezed it all for lunch moments like this. I added a little homemade sauerkraut on the top of the bread too for a boost of enzymes. It was one tasty sandwich. And any egg mixture that was left over was great with some celery sticks. Eggs rule. I wish I had my own chickens.. :)

Peppermint chocolate fudge

              Cacao butter, cacao powder and peppermint chocolate fudge!

Medjool dates

If you do anything this week make sure you try this peppermint chocolate fudge. Oh my. It is so good. I'm eating some now as I write. If you like mint and chocolate this one is for you. I don't know why you would want to buy chocolate from the store any more when this raw fudge is so good. Every week I think of something healthy and sweet to make so that when I feel like something sweet I have made something ready for that moment. Being prepared is the key. This is how I never need to buy sugar filled lollies and chocolate from the shops. And I don't even even crave them because I think the things I make myself are better. Hih.

What makes this fudge divine is the raw cacao butter. Cacao butter is cold pressed from cacao beans and has this lovely chocolate smell. It adds a great flavour to any chocolate dessert and is more solid in room temperature compared to coconut oil so it hardens up chocolate more. It can be a bit pricey so I usually only use a little at a time.

Peppermint chocolate fudge
50g raw cacao butter
1 tbls coconut oil
12 soft dates
2 tbls raw cacao powder
Peppermint essential oil

Put the cacao butter and coconut oil in a bowl and melt them by adding a bowl of hot water underneath. This way it will melt slowly and not reach too high of a temperature. If your cacao butter pieces are big you can grate them beforehand to get them to melt faster. Add raw cacao powder to melted cacao butter and coconut oil and a drop or two of peppermint oil. Take the pits out of the dates and begin with you hands or a fork to mush them. Add the dates to the mixture and start to mix/knead/squeeze through hands until the dates are combined. It should become like a soft ball of dough. Then press into a container and put in the fridge or freezer until it hardens up. Cut up into pieces then enjoy!

(This recipe makes a small batch and I store it in my freezer. I usually add 2 drops of peppermint essential oil to my fudge. You can add less or more depending on what you like. I also think you could make this in a food processor. I haven't tried yet, so far I've just used my hands and gotten messy.)