New site - Different address

The Helpful Cashew is now at www.thehelpfulcashew.com!

See you there!

Peanut butter balls!

I tried this recipe yesterday and I really enjoyed it. Quick. Simple and TASTY!!! These are a great snack for kids and adults alike. 

Our culture loves to snack - so why not start making your own? It gives me peace of mind knowing what is in my snack foods! 

Feel free to experiment with these by using a nut butter of your choice, dried fruit, seeds etc.

Ingredients

Mix together ( by hand ) half a cup of each of the following :

- Honey
- Oats
- Raw Sunflower Seeds
- Sesame Seeds ( ground )
- Cocoa or Carob
- Nut Butter ( crunchie )

You can also add 4 TBS of hemp seeds !

Mix it all together and roll into balls - then roll into coconut !

I stored mine in the fridge :)

10 Food Pyramids From Around The World

I found this interesting. Thought you might like to take a look! See what other countries are making a priority in their diets.

read here

HEMP BANANA BREAD.

You know what? I really, really like hemp. It is probably my favourite food-- and I am not exaggerating. There are so many benefits from it-- not to mention it can also be used as a textile. renewable? YES.

I feel as though as a culture we have depended a lot on meat for protein. And, no-- I do not consider myself a vegetarian, but I do feel like we need to eat a lot less meat and find some cleaner sources of protein. Hemp just happens to fit that bill. It's a great source of protein ( complete protein ), good fats ( both EFA'S -- essential fatty acids ) and it is suitable for people who cannot have wheat or gluten!

If you live in Canada, you can be proud to know that we are a large producer of this great food!

I encourage you to read further on hemp.

I tried this recipe the other day and I thought it was awesome. I found it here. Thanks Hippie Butter Blog!!

I changed a couple of things only to cater to what I had in the house.

Hemp Banana Bread


Ingredients
1/2 C Hemp oil
1/2 C Honey
1 Beaten egg
2 Bananas
2 Cups of flour ( I used spelt )
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Salt
3/4 C Hemp
1 tsp Vanilla

* I added walnuts and blueberries.

Directions 

Cream together oil and honey. Then combine the egg and bananas.
Mix in flour, salt and baking powder. Mix it all together. You can now add the hemp and vanilla ( and nuts if you like ).

Bake at 350 for 45 min to 60 min.

Avocado Basil Salad Dressing. YUM!

Yesterday I had one of those days where you make a lot of food in order to save yourself time in the long run. I am not always sure that it saves me time, but I really do enjoy those days. I learn so much, and get to taste EVERYTHING!!!! I am not too sure where I found this recipe, but just know I didn't completely make it up. So to whoever originally made this-- thanks!!

If you want a fresh tasting salad dressing that has the benefits of healthy fats of avocados, and anti bacterial effects of basil then this is the dressing for you!

Read further about avocados and basil.

1 Avocado
1/2 C Basil
3 TBS Hemp oil ( or olive )
3 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar
2 TBS Honey
1/2 TBS Salt
Water as needed.

Blend all the ingredients together and add water for desired consistency.

Enjoy!

BLOG {feature}

hmmmm. I am all smiles about this blog I came across today. It is a stunning, simple and fresh blog entitled : "The Alkaline Sisters ". The basis of this blog is the very honest realization that many of us come to --
"nothing else seems to be working. Whether you have chronic pain, extra weight or just need to re- shift your eating, these ladies have seen tremendous improvements in at least one of the areas just mentioned.

The Blog is centered on alkaline eating. This is, most basically put -- trying to reverse the acidity of our bodies. Having an acidic body is like putting up a tent city for disease, chronic pain, weight gain, and low immune system. This way of eating is all about maintaining the PH balance and The PH of our bodies depends on what we eat. ( The ideal ratio for acid/alkaline in our bodies is 80/20) . I encourage you to read more on alkaline/acidic eating. It is very interesting stuff.

I encourage you to read their stories on the blog. I found them to be reaffirming and honest. These types of stories really do help us all in our journey to become healthy.

AS you can see in the photo above, the food on this site is enough to make you want to stop what you are doing ASAP and try one of the many recipes. I think I am going to start with the spelt pancakes. My ohhhhh myyyy! can't wait.
One great thing about these recipes is that you don't need a ton of stuff to make them. Looking through them the ingredient lists look pretty simple. BONUS! And to top it all off there is even a "whats in my kitchen list" that could prove to be handy.

Seriously... go take a look .  [LINK]

" Growing your own food should be just as normal as eating your own food"

" Growing your own food should be just as natural as eating your own food" -- amen brother-- thats all I have to say.

To be honest with you, I don't have my own garden, but I want one. And as soon as I have a home where I can make one -- I will. I can't say I am committed to growing all of my food, but I do think having a garden is a great way to learn about how the cycle of life works and to control of portion of your food. I also don't think that there is anything wrong with shopping at the grocery store, although it seems as though one day it might be a risky thing to do-- what with all the GMO and other "pleasant" additives food seem gloriously show off on the ingredients list.

I encourage you to connect with a farm, or visit your farmers market if you don't have a garden of your own. I have a friend who bought a garden plot-- so that is an option as well.

Check out this video concerning farming and "big food". You may just find it interesting !




Cheers, from your friend in health,
Lindsay

ooohh Canaduh!

I hate to have this info coming from my own country. I do tend to think of Canada and some magic land of transparency. But, to my dismay I am proved wrong once again. ( insert sad face here ). 

Toronto Sun 

OTTAWA - The federal government is refusing to say whether it is close to approving genetically modified animals for human consumption. But if they do, you may never know it.

So far, groups have applied to get approval for fish that grow twice as fast as normal, and pigs with mice DNA spliced into them.

"For confidentiality reasons, Health Canada cannot confirm whether or not a submission has been filed or any other information related to a submission," said Jenny Van Alstyne, spokeswoman for Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.

This week, media reports revealed that scientists in the department of fisheries and oceans raised doubts about approving genetically modified fish over concerns the fish could escape from fish farms and mate with natural Canadian fish stock.

AquaBounty, a firm with Canadian and U.S. operations, made the application. [ continue to article here ]

Bloggeramma + MILK

I haven't been around too much, and for good reason. I have to admit that food has not really been too appealing to me in that last while. I never thought I would hear the day when I would say : "oh no I don't want to eat any cashews" or "sick! lentils are nasty". But yes indeed... those words did spew out of my mouth. Being preggers can be a great time in life ( so I am told!! ) And to be honest my experience has been less than pleasurable. And I apologize now for sounding like a whiner. But I have had to make some real adjustments to the whole pregnancy thing. Feeling sick everyday is.. well ... pretty crappy.

But alas! I am feeling well ( and I really am looking forward to our new family addition ). So all this to explain that I am going to do my best to update the blog more often with a focus on new recipes, health news articles etc etc...
There are a TON of great websites out there to help us all out. There is no longer any excuse for nasty "healthy" food. I am so sick of all these new companies marketing these nasty "low fat", "no sugar added" and whatever else they are trying to twist around "healthy" options . Let's face it. We need fat... Yes! But we need to eat fat that has a purpose in our diets. We need to eat clean sources of fat...

So it will be my blog goal to search the depths of the internet and other sources to find YOU great resources.

And now for a morsel of gold ... here is a cool short vid on milk and how to choose which milk to drink. WE should all be aware of the potential loss of RAW milk. It would be a sad loss. Even though I don't drink milk, I still really like that many people who do, could have the option of raw milk. ( Here in Canada, our raw milk debate is in a different place than our American friends ).

[ Video : Thanks to our friends over at Natural news ]

Yogurt.. and all the sweet things to go along with it.

I found this video and article while making my rounds on G Living. I really enjoyed the article and think it has a valuable perspective on the whole yogurt dealio. Check out the video that goes along with the article. You might recognize some common misconceptions there are out there concerning artificial sweeteners, "fat"  and the long and dried out misconception that dairy is the best source of Calcium.... p.s. watch the news clip before the article!

G Living 
Article by: Juli Novotny
I find myself often disappointed by the Today Show health updates. This morning was particularly frustrating. Watch the clip and then read my comments. It’s not that what Joy Bauer is saying is WRONG per se, it’s just that the information is not very fresh, new/current and there is so much research out there showing that most of what she is saying is not necessarily right anymore. For many reasons and factors that play a role in today’s farming and processing.

You’ll see what I mean…just keep reading… [ continue to article and video ]

it's balanced.... if you add fruit and ... { LAWSUIT! }

{ Globe and Mail }
The makers of the hazelnut-spread Nutella are facing a class-action lawsuit in the United States over ads that claim the chocolaty product is “nutritious” and part of a “healthy breakfast.”

Lawyers for plaintiff Athena Hohenberg, a San Diego mother of a four-year-old, filed the claim in U.S. District Court in California this week against Ferrero U.S.A. Inc., an affiliate of Italian-based Ferrero International SA. In her statement of claim, Ms. Hohenberg says she was { continue to article here }