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How Do Your Favorite Recipes Stack Up?

October 24, 2012 by Dr Karen Hack

Do you have a stockpile of favourite recipes in books with flour covered pages and dog-eared corners? If you’ve ever wondered what nutritional value your homemade cookies and casseroles provide, take a look below.

This biscuit recipe analysis gives options for more nutrient dense ingredients and healthier items to substitute. In this way you can still enjoy your comfort foods, but with a healthier twist! Thankfully, there are plenty of products out there these days that taste wonderful and provide health benefits. This is just one of the services provided when you book with our Holistic Nutritionist, Eleanor Healy, at the Head to Toe Health Centre. After a thorough assessment, Eleanor can pinpoint which of your systems are out of balance and work on them as a whole to re-establish harmony with the help of food and dietary changes.

Ahsha Biskits

Ingredients:

2 ½ c.  Whole Wheat Flour   Milanaise – Organic Whole Wheat Flour

¾ c. Butter Organic Meadow Unsalted Butter
*½ c. Sesame Seeds Mountain Path – Organic Sesame Seeds White Hulled
½ tsp. Sea Salt Selsi Sea Rocks sea salt (or Redmond Real Salt sea salt)

½ c. Milk (3.25%) Harmony – Organic 3.25% milk

1 Egg, beaten

1 tsp. Baking Powder Bob’s Red Mill Baking Powder

1 tbsp Toasted Sesame Seed Oil Kadoya Pure Sesame Seed Oil

**¼ cup Brown Sugar Wholesome Sweeteners Organic

Optional additions:

¼ cup Pine Nuts, finely ground

1-3  tbsp Wheat Germ Bob’s Red Mill Natural raw wheat germ

1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds Mountain Path – Organic Sesame Seeds White Hulled

Alternative ingredients and additional information: The brands stated above are all high quality brands, so I wouldn’t suggest changing any of them, though I would make the following recommendations:

Whole Spelt flour-generally easier to digest than wheat flour with similar nutrient content, especially for a child with the digestive tract still maturing and forming.

Coconut oil-same reason as above, with the additional benefits listed here: http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/nutrition-2.pdf

You can alternate different batches using this and butter for variety. More information regarding coconut oil and children available here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/321407-why-coconut-oil-is-good-for-children/

Use Turbinado or Sucanat by Wholesome Sweeteners. These are less processed, more raw forms of sugar cane are used and it is still excellent for baking. These sweeteners will be more easily recognized and absorbed by the body.

Unhulled sesame seeds have a higher mineral content and are less processed than hulled sesame seeds. In addition, unhulled sesame seeds offer more calcium than hulled sesame seeds and are less prone to rancidity.  Read more: Hulled Vs. Unhulled Sesame Seeds | eHow.com or http://www.ehow.com/about_5479910_hulled-vs-unhulled-sesame-seeds.html#ixzz27bEDsG3y

 

Examples of nutrient analysis for some of the ingredients:

Click the links to see the full nutritional profile on these items.

Pine nuts, dried
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/nut-and-seed-products/3133/2

 

Organic Brown Sugar
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sweets/5591/2

 

Whole Organic milk 3.25%
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/69/2

 

Toasted sesame oil
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fats-and-oils/511/2

 

Please feel free to contact me for more information about how I can help you to analyze and understand the nutritional content of your diet or your favourite recipes. I will then be able to make suggestions and recommendations to improve the nutritional content of your food, allowing you to live a healthier, happier life!

-Eleanor Healy, RHN, Reiki Master & Teacher