Page 68 - Spring2018

The Wise Traditions Pantry

ADAPTING FAMILY FAVORITES FOR DELICIOUS, NUTRIENT-DENSE MEALS
By Maureen Diaz

One difficult obstacle to overcome when adapting a family’s diet to rants such as paprika, annatto and turmeric. Os-
be in line with Weston A. Price principles is figuring out how to prepare car Mayer, in May 2017, announced its decision
foods that the entire family will actually eat and enjoy. It’s not only the to abandon nitrates, nitrites and preservatives
children we need to impress, but often also the dad and sometimes even in its hot dogs, replacing them with “cultured
the mom! Does your family include hard-to-please, skeptical eaters? If celery juice” (a wild card as far as nitrate content
so, I hope you can pick up a few new ideas here and be inspired! is concerned) and “natural flavorings.” How-
Revamping and revitalizing family recipes can be as simple as replac- ever, that is still not saying much, given the hot
ing refined, denatured ingredients with whole foods in their natural state. dogs’ “mechanically separated” beef, turkey and
For instance, this might mean using unrefined sea salt such as Celtic Sea chicken, along with dextrose, corn syrup and a
Salt instead of the bleached white “table salt” that most consumers are whopping five hundred and thirty milligrams of
used to; or substituting Sucanat or coconut sugars for white sugar (you sodium from refined salt per hot dog.
can even run these through a food processor to create “confectioner’s A much better option for real foodies is to
sugar”); or replacing vegetable oils and shortening with lard, butter and choose hot dogs or sausages from your local
real olive or high-oleic sunflower oils. In most cases, it is possible to farmer or a grass-fed and nitrate-free choice
successfully switch these items one for one. from a source such as US Wellness, Tender-
grass, Organic Prairie or another of the growing
QUINTESSENTIAL KIDS’ MEALS list of suppliers now available. (Check the latest
In the 1950s, America saw a growing demand within the food in- WAPF shopping guide for more suggestions.)
dustry to produce easy-to-make, cheap and convenient packaged meals.
The trend continued in the 1970s when General Mills answered the call BREAKFAST AND LUNCH
by releasing Hamburger and Tuna Helpers. Years before, Kraft already Bisquick, the famous Betty Crocker bak-
had beaten General Mills to the punch, releasing its “macaroni pasta ing mix first introduced in 1931, is a staple in
and processed cheese product” in 1937 and garnering the loyalty of many American households. Its fame comes
generations. I grew up on these food industry creations (eating Kraft from the ease with which moms everywhere
Mac-N-Cheese with hot dogs), and I’ll bet some of you did as well. The can make anything from breakfast biscuits to
thought of these items now turns my stomach, but at the time they were shortcake. If you want to avoid a product that
what we knew and loved. not only is sorely lacking in nutrition but is full
While none of these products were by any means nutritious, the of glyphosate-laden GM flour and rancid canola
increase in large-scale industrial farming, the ever-higher input of car- oil, consider creating your own baking mix. It
cinogenic chemicals and the advent of genetically modified organisms is as simple as mixing four basic ingredients
masquerading as “food” mean that today’s conventional products may be (or more, if a sweeter version is desired). With
especially harmful to the health of our families. All commercially grown a homemade mix on hand, you can make all
grain products are now raised on fields heavily sprayed with glyphosate, the standards, plus birthday cake, dumplings
which is also being used to “ripen” grains, resulting in a highly toxic and whatever else you might wish to bake up!
end product. Add to that the contamination of dairy products—due to For lunch, homemade tomato soup is
the industrial practice of feeding herds with a high intake of these very relatively easy to prepare and far surpasses the
same glyphosate-sprayed grains and giving cows recombinant bovine taste of anything coming from a can. Instead of
growth hormone (rBGH)—and, together with the widespread irradiation the usual grilled cheese sandwiches made with
of many foods, we have a toxic “soup” on our dinner tables, one that is storebought bread and American “cheese,” use
completely lacking in actual nutrients. homemade or other good quality sourdough or
Responding to consumer pressure, Kraft has given up using artificial artisan bread and real cheese—these make for
colors in its Macaroni and (fake) Cheese dinner in favor of natural colo- the best lunch ever! Add a little salad on the

66 Wise Traditions SPRING 2018