What exactly are “Lu’s”? Lu’s are a real food version of almond joys, named by our friend’s two year old. :)

Thank you, Courtney, for sharing this delicious recipe with your readers! I love Almond Joys but refuse to eat them because of the HFCS and other terrible ingredients found in them! So I decided to search for a homemade healthy version of them. So I googled… All the “homemade” recipes I found included added sugar, cocoa powder, more sugar and corn syrup!!! I decided that I had to make my own recipe or never relish the wonderful yumminess of these treats again. As it turned out some friends were getting together for a pot luck to send you and Frank off to San Fran and this was a perfect opportunity to experiment!

Lu Recipe:

Makes 18-20 Lu’s.

Ingredients:
• Heaping spoonful of raw butter (2-3 Tbl.)
• 1/4 cup raw honey (buy here)
• 4 cups organic unsweetened coconut flakes (buy here)
• Dark chocolate/cacao (amount depends on how much chocolate is desired)
• Tbl. Coconut milk (buy here)
• Tbl. Coconut Oil (buy here)
• Raw Organic Almonds (buy here)

Directions:
1.) Toast almonds at 400 degrees in oven for 8-10 minutes (optional-sometimes I don’t toast them, they are great either way.)

2.) Melt coconut oil, then add chocolate and coconut milk (I melt mine by filling up a large pot with an inch or two of warm water, not boiling, and a smaller pot over the water. The coconut oil helps the chocolate not stick to the paper later, and the coconut milk makes the chocolate creamier.)

3.) Heat the butter and honey in a saucepan and pour over the coconut flakes. Then mix together until all flakes are covered. (Wet your hands before so the flakes stick together and not to you!)

4.) Spoon some chocolate into a cupcake holder. Add a spoonful of the coconut mixture on top. Then add another spoonful of chocolate on top of that, and place a toasted almond or two on the very top.

5.) Place the final product in the freezer to harden. (While waiting for it to freeze-go ahead and lick the spoon clean!)

6.) Remove cupcake paper and enjoy!

The post Lu’s (Homemade Almond Joys) appeared first on The Polivka Family.

Welcome to the Family Table Tuesday blog carnival! The purpose of this carnival is to connect like-minded people and share our ideas, recipes, tips, and successes. Eating real food and living holistically is easier when we work together and support each other. I’m very excited to see what you all have to share this week!

Each week, I will feature the top three most-viewed posts, as well as a few of my favorite recipes on the following week’s carnival. Be sure to check back and see if you were featured!

Even if you’re not a blogger, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

Featured Posts

These were the top three posts from last week.

1. Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies @ The Simple Moms

2. Why I Choose to Keep My Dollars Local @ Savory Lotus

3. The Butter Diet and Exercise Plan @ My Lamp is Full

Guidelines For Posting

1. Real Food Only: Please only post recipes using real food ingredients. No processed foods, artificial ingredients, refined flour/sugar, etc.

2. Also welcome: posts about toxic-free living, all-natural body care recipes, holistic remedies, etc.

3. Link back to this post from your post. Linking back is common courtesy at a blog carnival and helps share everyone’s posts and build community.

4. Leave a comment telling us a little about what you posted.

Let’s get started!

The post Family Table Tuesday #29 appeared first on The Polivka Family.

This is Chris Simpson. Chris runs Field of Dreams Farm iN Watertown, TN and is friends with my friend Brian Harville from KNB Jersey Farm. Together, they have provided us with the most wonderful raw milk, pastured chicken and eggs that I’ve ever had in my life.

Frank and I started buying pastured beef and poultry a few years ago, when we intentionally made the decision to eat healthier food. Pastured meat comes from animals that are raised the way they are supposed to be: in harmony with nature and in harmony with their biology. Cows are designed to eat grass; and chickens are made to eat both plants and animal protein, as they are omnivores.

One thing we really like about Field of Dreams Farm, is that Chris raises chickens the slow way. They are truly free range birds. They peck and scratch and forage, and because of this, they grow more “slowly” than commercial birds. But they really just grow at the normal rate their breed of chicken should grow.

Another thing we really like about Field of Dreams Farm is that Chris is really transparent. He’ll tell you exactly what’s in his feed, where he gets it, why he charges what he does, and when you can expect the next batch of birds to be ready.

Which is why, when I asked Chris if we could help process birds this year, he didn’t hesitate to give me a yes! This was my first chicken butchering, and I had a really positive experience. The processing was clean, organized, and efficient.

Chris also keeps two flocks of laying hens, as well as ducks. His eggs come from birds that are truly free-range, are not fed soy or GMO grains. And one flock is fully organic. His eggs sell for $4-5 a dozen.

Eating is a spiritual experience for me. It’s not just about the taste or the quality of the food. It’s about knowing what it took to get the food on my plate, knowing the hands that nurtured and raised it, and appreciating the sacrifice of the animal that I’m consuming.

This is why I really wanted to help process chickens: to that I could be a part of this life cycle and participating in an event that has been going on for generations.

This is a video of how to clean a chicken:

Below, I’ve posted a video slideshow of pictures from the chicken processing. Don’t watch this video if you are squeamish. There is blood. There are headless chickens. There are knives and feet and guts. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. :)

The post Know your farmer. Know your meat. appeared first on The Polivka Family.

First, let me be clear that I am NOT hatin’ on people with dairy allergies, I’m not hatin’ on vegans, and I’m not judging your food choices if you eat this.

My point is simply this:

No, not even close.

Just take a look at these ingredients:

Do you even know what all these ingredients are?

First of all, the majority of this product is WATER. That’s almost as good as that “ham and water product” picture I posted.

Canola

The history of canola oil is chalk-full of thrill and intrigue. Canola is not actually a plant. The oil is derived from a the seed of the rape plant—rapeseed. A seed with less erucic acid was developed in Canada in the late 1970s, and “Canola” actually stands for “Canadian Oil, Low Acid.”

Rapeseed oil was originally an industrial oil, used for naval applications and to lubricate engines, since it has the unique property of sticking to wet metal. In 1995, Monsanto genetically engineered a Round-Up Ready rape plant, and now over 80% of the world’s Canola oil is GMO. The remaining 20% is subject to contamination due to cross-pollination, even if the crop starts out as organic or non-GMO. My point: It’s risky business consuming canola.

To quote Dawn Gifford from Small Footprint Family,

The bottom line is that Canola is an inflammatory oil in your body that contains foreign, genetically engineered DNA, trans fats, and toxic chemical residues. It is also an environmental scourge and a threat to organic farming, and it should be avoided at all costs.

You can read more about Canola Oil from Small Footprint Family HERE.

Natural flavor

“Natural flavor” is often just clever wording for MSG. In this case, the package specifies that the natural flavor is “Autolyzed Yeast,” which is MSG, plain and simple. Other hidden sources for MSG include Glutamic acid, Glutamate, Anything “hydrolyzed,” Gelatin, Textured protein, Whey protein, Soy protein, Maltodextrin, Carrageenan, Malt extract, Seasonings, and Barley malt—just to name a few. To see a full list, click HERE.

Why is MSG bad? MSG stands for Monosodium Glutamate, which is a chemical compound and excitotoxin. It is used as a flavor enhancer in many processed foods that you see on the grocery store shelves. The short version of this story is that MSG can cause cell death in the brain, lead to nervous disorders, adversely affect your hormone levels, cause migraines, ADD/ADHD, seizures, heart palpitations, and contribute to obesity.

For the long story of MSG, check out this article from Food Renegade HERE.

Soy

Soy is mentioned twice in this ingredient list as Soymilk powder and Soy Protein. Don’t be fooled. Soy is no health food, and it’s best avoided by men, women, children, and babies alike.

Today’s soy is not prepared like traditional and fermented soy. Today’s soy is processed processed processed—the result of industrial waste, repurposed, chemically changed, and marketed to the consumer as “healthy.”

Some effects of soy include:

Bottom line? Stay away from soy that hasn’t been fermented. Read more from Dr. Kaayla Daniel HERE.

Carrageenan

Put simply, carrageenan is an emulsifier. Here, it’s used in conjunction with agar agar to thicken & stabilize the consistency of this colored/flavored water & oil product. It is derived from red seaweed and prevents separation, improves texture and mouthfeel. It is also responsible for causing massive amounts of inflammation, especially in the gut.

According to the Cornucopia Institute, carrageenan is responsible for a number of health problems, including irritable bowel syndrome/IBS, spastic colon, inflammatory bowel disease, and chronic diarrhea.

More often than not, these health problems are mistakenly blamed on the foods to which carrageenan is added—not the carrageenan itself. And carrageenan is unfortunately very common in organic foods, as well as conventional foods. Be sure to read your labels!

To reiterate:

The point of this post is not to bash vegans or people with dairy allergies. It’s simply to make you think about what’s REALLY in your food! This is NOT food!! And it’s certainly not CHEESE!

Be smart about what you put in your mouth.

It would be better to avoid this entirely than to settle for this toxic “cheese alternative.”

The post Show me the cheese. appeared first on The Polivka Family.

Welcome to the Family Table Tuesday blog carnival! The purpose of this carnival is to connect like-minded people and share our ideas, recipes, tips, and successes. Eating real food and living holistically is easier when we work together and support each other. I’m very excited to see what you all have to share this week!

Each week, I will feature the top three most-viewed posts, as well as a few of my favorite recipes on the following week’s carnival. Be sure to check back and see if you were featured!

Even if you’re not a blogger, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

Featured Posts

These were the top three posts from last week.

1. The Family Meal: Worth It? @ Megan Alton

2. Easy Ginger Carrot Sauerkraut @ Savory Lotus

3. The War on Margarine @ Our Heritage of Health

Guidelines For Posting

1. Real Food Only: Please only post recipes using real food ingredients. No processed foods, artificial ingredients, refined flour/sugar, etc.

2. Also welcome: posts about toxic-free living, all-natural body care recipes, holistic remedies, etc.

3. Link back to this post from your post. Linking back is common courtesy at a blog carnival and helps share everyone’s posts and build community.

4. Leave a comment telling us a little about what you posted.

Let’s get started!

The post Family Table Tuesday #28 appeared first on The Polivka Family.

Welcome to the Family Table Tuesday blog carnival! The purpose of this carnival is to connect like-minded people and share our ideas, recipes, tips, and successes. Eating real food and living holistically is easier when we work together and support each other. I’m very excited to see what you all have to share this week!

Each week, I will feature the top three most-viewed posts, as well as a few of my favorite recipes on the following week’s carnival. Be sure to check back and see if you were featured!

Even if you’re not a blogger, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

Featured Posts

These were the top three posts from last week.

1. My Experiment: 2 Weeks Without a Dishwasher @ A Joyful Mother

2. Are You Taking This Superfood? @ Healthy Roots, Happy Soul

3. No-Grain Quickbread Squares @ The Auld Grey Mare

Guidelines For Posting

1. Real Food Only: Please only post recipes using real food ingredients. No processed foods, artificial ingredients, refined flour/sugar, etc.

2. Also welcome: posts about toxic-free living, all-natural body care recipes, holistic remedies, etc.

3. Link back to this post from your post. Linking back is common courtesy at a blog carnival and helps share everyone’s posts and build community.

4. Leave a comment telling us a little about what you posted.

Let’s get started!

The post Family Table Tuesday #27 appeared first on The Polivka Family.

So I’ve been keeping a secret from you all.

When I left at the end of January for my Real Food Blogger Tour, Frank had just been accepted to Life University in Marietta, GA.

As my two-month blogger tour drew to a close, I hurried to get back home by the beginning of April, so that we could pack up and move to Georgia.

Except when I got home, Frank asked me, “What if we didn’t go to Georgia?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well…” he looked at me, eyes twinkling, “what if we went to California instead?”

And then, he broke into a grin.

Because, you see, there is another chiropractic school in California: Life West, the sister campus to Life University. And it’s located in (…wait for it…) THE BAY AREA—right across the bay from the big city of San Francisco.

It’s amazing how God works. Really, it just baffles me.

Two years ago, when Frank and I were dreaming about the things we wanted to see, places we wanted to visit, and cities where we wanted to live—San Francisco was at the top of our list. We were so set on doing it one day, that I even bought a $1 tumbler at Target that said “San Francisco” to drink my smoothies out of every morning.

Every morning, as I sipped blended up banana-berry-kefir smoothie before I went to my senior classes in college, I thought of San Francisco.

But every morning for Frank was different. He woke up and went to a job he hated. A job he hated so much that it made him want to run very far away. Well, I wanted to learn how to be a genuine farmer, so we dreamed up another dream—to go to Argentina and work on ranches in Patagonia.

OOOOOOhhhhh, what a big big dream that was. We said we’d do it when I gradated school. But then graduation approached, and we needed more money than we had to travel to Patagonia. So we said I’d work for a while so we could save up the money to travel.

Well, six months later, Frank got word from the Big Guy Upstairs that he should be a chiropractor. Long story short, we got seven signs that chiropractic was Frank’s calling. Frank even said that God had placed it on his heart a couple years ago, but he hadn’t thought much of it because he was working that job that he hated.

So here’s the timeline:

And now, here we are. May 2013. In July, Frank will start chiropractic school in Hayward, California at Life Chiropractic College West, exactly two years after the first time we dreamed about moving to that big, beautiful city in Northern California.

You see? God is good. His plans are always better than ours. SO WHAT if we didn’t get to go to Argentina? Frank has found PURPOSE for his life. And that’s better than taking more Argentine Tango lessons and practicing his Spanish. (He’s already fluent, by the way.) And moreover, that purpose is to help other people.

It will be such a blessing to help others AS A JOB AS A LIFESTYLE. No more sitting behind a desk. No more typing in numbers and data. No more coding and report writing. Just genuinely helping people live better lives, reach their full potential, helping them find true healing…helping them to reach THEIR life purpose.

Yes, God is very very good.

San Francisco, here we come.

The post The Big Move for Chiropractic School appeared first on The Polivka Family.

Oh well!

I had a lovely time with the Elliott’s! Yay!!

By the time I got to the Elliott’s house, I was rushing home for Easter, and they had family coming in for Easter, as well, so I only got to stay for 24 hours. But what a fun time we had in 24 hours!

If you’ve been following Shaye’s posts, you know that they got backyard meat rabbits this year. I got to see the two little bunnies from the first litter, and we filmed another doe get knocked up by Scooter, the buck. (For educational purposes, of course.)

While I was visiting with the Elliott’s, Shaye took me to see her little garden, where she trades bread for land.

While we were there, we also picked clover for the rabbits!

That afternoon, we went down to this little shop in Downtown Fairhope and tried on dresses just for fun. We weren’t going to actually buy them, but when Shaye came out of the dressing room, Stuart’s eyes lit up. “Let’s buy it,” he said. Shaye protested, saying it was too expensive. But Stuart insisted. It’s obvious why. Shaye looks absolutely beautiful in that dress.

Here’s a picture of the Hobbit (Owen):

I love those little chubby cheeks… :)

And I was privileged enough to be able to take the first family pic with all four of the Elliott’s at the beach behind their house!

The post Family Table Tuesday #26 appeared first on The Polivka Family.