Make America Healthy Again: The FDA Bans Red Dye 3
Clean Living · MAHA

Make America Healthy Again: The FDA Bans Red Dye 3

Sarah

There’s still so much work to do in Making America Healthy Again, but the FDA’s announcement that Red Dye 3 will be banned in food production by January 2027 and medicine by January 2028 makes me so happy.

Even if it is a ploy by the FDA to show their soon-to-be-leaders that they shouldn’t get fired.

Red Dye 3 isn’t an easy chemical. None of us need it. When you realize it has been banned in cosmetics for nearly 4 decades, you have to ponder…how was it still allowed in food and drugs? Think how many pain meds, cold meds, and children’s medications contain it. When people are sick, they end up taking toxins into their bodies. If you are of a certain age, you might remember chewing on red pills that showed plaque on your teeth when in elementary school. It’s still used in that. It’s also the dye choice for red pistachios.

Red Dye 3 is erythrosine, along with petroleum.

Having said all this, there is a bigger target, and we must push for it.

Red Dye 40 is the most commonly used artificial coloring in the United States.

We are getting there, but we have so much to do.

~Sarah

Gluten-Free Blender Banana Bread
Recipes

Gluten-Free Blender Banana Bread

Sarah

I haven’t been baking much the past few months, but we had a lot of bananas that needed to be used up. I wanted a non-wheat bread, and oats are a great option. I paired it with sugar-free maple syrup, though regular syrup would work fine. We are using up what we have in the house and avoiding added sugar.

The youngest boy liked it, especially with a bit of butter spread on a slice. It was a nice treat that I didn’t feel very guilty over enjoying.

Gluten-Free Blender Banana Bread

Ingredients:

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° and lightly oil an 8″ x 4″ baking pan, setting it on a small baking sheet.

Add eggs through vanilla into a blender and process until smooth.

Add in the dry ingredients and process until the oats are broken down but not smooth.

Scarpe into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes.

Let cool for a few minutes, then knock out and let cool on a wire rack.

Store covered on the counter.

~Sarah

Why We Freeze-Dry: The Insane Egg Prices
Clean Living · Prepping · Preserving

Why We Freeze-Dry: The Insane Egg Prices

Sarah

Egg prices were terrible enough a couple of years back when the last “scare” occurred, but nowhere as bad as this January in the PNW.We already have higher prices for eggs in Washington, Oregon, and California due to state laws on chicken eggs, which mostly went into action in January of 2023, that require all hens be cage-free (not a bad thing, but most large growers had to invest more money into their productions).

That being said, you can even find eggs in stock. It depends on the store, whether it is a chain, and who its supplier is. The small stores had eggs this week, but as soon as they sold out, they’d not have anymore.

I took these photos on Monday this week at a local independent store. Most of their eggs were sold out, but this is what they had on hand. They were not able to order anymore at that point from their distributor.

$11.99 for 12 eggs from a mid-level grower. Nothing fancy here.  On average I use 6 eggs every morning for the two younger boys and me, every morning. That is $6 just for that, if I were buying eggs.

$17.99 for 18 eggs. There is no savings in buying 18 versus 12 either.

Even 5 dozen boxes of eggs were not a bargain, ranging from $26 to 30, or even more. Costco stores range from having no eggs to having some. But the prices have gone up quickly.

All it takes is a county, a state, or the Fed to say chickens must be culled to “prevent disease,” and suddenly, 100,000 hens are dead in a region with no new eggs coming. Once hatched, it takes 12 to 16 weeks for new hens to produce their first eggs, which takes 3 to 4 months, and hatching takes 3 weeks on top of that.

Since we got our Harvest Right freeze-dryer, one of the things we have dried a lot of was our hens’ eggs in the summer flow. When you cannot keep up with fresh eggs. We did it so we’d have eggs in winter to enjoy, when we only get 1 to 2 eggs (if lucky) till February.

We wrote a tutorial on freeze-drying eggs, which will get you going.

A freeze-dryer is a real investment and a major appliance, but it can help you reach prepping goals for long-term food storage. Even if you don’t have chickens on your land, the key is to buy eggs when they are affordable and process them. At this point, it seems that every two or so years, we are having an egg crisis.

Just knowing you have eggs you can open up, rehydrate, and use is a relief. We’ve actually gotten into ours this winter, and the boys had no idea they were not fresh. Freeze-dried raw eggs are not like the awful dehydrated egg powder you would get at hotels and hospitals, for they look and taste just like they did when you freeze-dried them.

~Sarah

Instant Meals In A Jar: Asparagus Beef
Prepping · Recipes

Instant Meals In A Jar: Asparagus Beef

Sarah

This high-protein, easy-to-prep “instant meal” is ready to go when you need it. You can take a hot meal when you travel or even go to work. You can store it in a glass mason jar or a small Mylar bag, and even use it for long-term storage for emergency use.

Asparagus Beef

Ingredients:

Directions:

Pack ingredients in a pint mason jar or a mylar bag. For longer-term storage, add a desiccant or oxygen absorber and seal. (Discard the packet before cooking.)

To prepare:

Add  1 cup of boiled water, seal, and sit for 15 minutes. Stir well.

Serves 1.

Nutritional Stats:

415 Calories / 655 mg sodium / 5 grams Carbs / 37 grams Protein / 1 gram Fiber

~Sarah

High-protein Poblano Pepper and Ham Scramble
Clean Living · Recipes

High-protein Poblano Pepper and Ham Scramble

Sarah

Eating eggs is simple when trying to eat low-carb/high-protein, but it can get rather boring quickly. I came up with this tasty scramble, where it’s got just a pinch of heat from the poblano pepper. If you find those too spicy, just use a green bell pepper.

The pepper also gives it bulk for only a few calories, so you feel like you are eating a proper meal, not just a couple of eggs.

High-protein Poblano Pepper and Ham Scramble

Ingredients:

  • 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 2 slices uncured Canadian bacon, chopped
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 Tbsp cheddar cheese

Directions:

In a small frypan, heat over medium-low and saute the peppers until tender. Add the ham and heat through.

Whisk the eggs, pour over, and gently scramble till done.

Add the cheese and enjoy.

Serves 1.

Nutritional Stats:

469 Calories / 34 grams Fat / 5 grams Carbs / 2 grams Fiber / 33 grams Protein

~Sarah