Nutty Snack Bar Recipe

Here's a recipe for the Nutty Snack Bar I mentioned in the What's For Lunch article.

1 cup nut butter of choice (preferably homemade from crispy nuts)
1/4 to 1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1 cup crispy almonds, chopped into small or large pieces
1 cup dried coconut
1/2 cup crispy sunflower seeds
1 cup carob or chocolate chips or dried fruit of choice (such as dried cherries or raisins)

Mix everything together and press into a baking dish. You can leave this recipe raw and place it into the refrigerator as is or allow the flavors to meld and the chips to melt by baking it for approximately 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Good stuff!

What's for Lunch?

I don't know if any of you are like me and have a difficult time balancing packing a healthy lunch for your kids and making it fun for them as well. Sometimes it seems like thre are so few choices to pack, so they're left with the same things over and over. Or maybe you just don't have the time to prepare something truly nourishing and you settle for the convenience of pre-packaged itmes or the dismal hot lunch the school provides.

For those of you in this rut, I found some great ideas on the Weston A. Price Foundation website in an article by Jen Allbritton, a certified nutritionist, called Packing the Perfect Lunch Box.

Main Lunchbox Items

Dinner Leftovers: This is often the easiest food to add to a lunch. Last night's meat loaf makes a bomb sandwich.

Sandwiches, Roll Ups and Pitas: Sandwich "holders" can come in many shapes and sizes, such as pita pockets, tortillas (I make a batch of 20-30 at a time), and sprouted grain bread like Ezekiel. Fill these with-

• Turkey meat slices with pesto and tomato


• Good quality salami with mustard and lettuce


• Homemade chicken liver pate with pickles


• Apple slices, bacon, Dijon mustard, and cheddar cheese


• Grilled cheese embellished with bacon bits, shredded meat or chopped veggies


• Chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo


• Nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew) with sliced bananas


• Meat or turkey loaf with mayo and lettuce or sprouts


• Cream cheese with salmon, capers and red onion


• Chicken salad made with crispy pecans, grapes, celery and mayo


• Mashed avocado mixed with a drop of lemon juice in a pita stuffed with spincach, grated carrots, tomato slices, cucumber slices and provolone cheese

Roll-ups:

• Raw cream cheese sprinkled with grated carrots, grated zucchini, grated apple and topped with a lettuce leaf


• Mix cream cheese, chopped apple, nuts, vanilla, cinnamon and raw honey


• Refried beans (seasoned with cumin, garlic and salt), lettuce, cheese and salsa


• Hummus with shredded carrots, cucumber strips and sliced avocado


• Use a slice of deli meat to roll up a stick of cheese and add in some pickles or sauerkraut (preferably fermented and homemade), onions, a little squirt of mustard and mayo
  

Soups:

Good on cold days, use a thermos to fill with family favorites. Chili is a great idea. My kids love a Thai-inspired coconut chicken soup I make. Use a homemade bone broth or chicken stock as the base to add additional vitamins and minerals.

Snacks:

• Crispy nuts and seeds (recipes found in Nourishing Traditions)


• Trail mix made with crispy nuts, coconut flakes, dried fruit and a splash of carob or chocolate chips


• Nutty snack bars


• Fruit salad made with chopped fruit with a dab of sour cream or creme fraiche with a touch of maple syrup


• Homemade fruit leather


• Olives, green or black


• Jerky (homemade)


• Hard boiled egges with a dash of sea salt


• Cheese, preferably raw
  
• Popcorn
  
• Yogurt Dough crackers


• Muffins


• Baked tortilla chips with bean dip or salsa


• Raw veggies with hummus or guacamole


• Fermented veggies, especially homemade pickles

Beverages:

• Raw whole milk


• Kombucha


• Lemonade made with stevia or raw honey


• Hot cocoa made with coconut milk


• Iced herb tea with stevia or honey to taste


• Fresh pressed organic apple juice

Pre and Post Natal Motor Development

This quarter, I have some great classes. One I am especially excited about, is my Motor Development class. The first few weeks of discussions are devoted to pre and post natal motor development, which happens to be of great interest to me. I wanted to share the first topic we discussed, and that is the importance of lipids, or fats, in pregnant women and newborns.

Just prior to delivery, lipid count is at its highest in women. This is due, primarily, to develop the myelin sheath around nerves. 80% of myelin is made from these lipids. Subsequently, without adequate consumption of dietary fats, there is a very real danger of lowered myelin production in the unborn fetus. Thus, nerve connections, neural junctions, signals, etc. are at risk of misfiring. In addition, psychological and physical complications can arise, such as, autism, ADD, ADHD, Tourette's, seizures, and so on.

Innervation is required for muscles to work properly, since they are electrical conductors. Myelin's job is to compartmentalize the electrical signals. Without these compartments, the electrical currents trigger the entire body, rather than a particular area. The brain, especially, needs many compartments in order to relay messages accurately to the rest of the body and maintain a level of control.

Studies introduced to this discussion, postulate that the spike in neurological and neuromuscular disorders are due to the low and non-fat craze. We went from being a society thriving on rich fats in good quality butter, cream, milk, cod liver oil, and so on, to one obsessed with getting rid of fat in everything. Margarine, skim milk, vegetable oils, low fat snacks...all of these substandard products swarmed the shelves of local supermarkets and landed in American pantries.

I think it's important for all of us to remember that nature is complex. Mankind still underestimates nature and overestimates its own abilities to mimic it or even to improve upon it. We are constantly patting ourselves on the back for advances made, like with baby formula. It was not too long ago that a concoction of powdered milk and caro syrup was used as a substitute for mother's milk and was considered adequate nutrition of newborns. Now we understand that many other nutrients are necessary for the development of a complex human being.

While the store-bought formulas have come a long way since the first rudimentary ones, we should never stop asking ourselves what will mankind find out tomorrow that they didn't know today? What have we overlooked? As usual, we rely too much, suppose too much, to our own detriment. Let us break that cycle, learn from our mistakes, and always remember to embrace nature.