recipe

Food for Life – Is Cheese Edible, part 1

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This month we will look at another very serious problem which affects the health of millions and which holds a very prominent place in the diet of many Seventh-day Adventists; Cheese.

This most powerful statement comes to my mind and has to do with every phase of our daily diet. It is found in Counsels on Diet and Foods, 59, 1875. “The controlling power of appetite will prove the ruin of thousands, when, if they had conquered on this point, they would have had moral power to gain the victory over every other temptation of Satan. But those who are slaves to appetite will fail in perfecting Christian character. . . As we near the close of time, Satan’s temptation to indulge appetite will be more powerful and more difficult to overcome.” As Historic Seventh-day Adventists preparing to meet our soon-coming Jesus in the clouds of heaven, we recognize the importance of overcoming every hereditary and cultivated tendency to wrong.

When God, in His great love for His remnant church, sent the health reform message, He did not always give us the reasons for the restrictions that He placed on our diet. We were to move out in faith, trusting the divine hand that was guiding us. Now we are doubly blessed in having scientific research that vindicates the many questions that, in the past, were raised regarding the Spirit of Prophecy counsels.

Many years ago, the counsel to us was, “Cheese should never be introduced into the stomach.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 368. “It [cheese] is wholly unfit for food.” Ibid., 368. Today there is an abundance of supporting, scientific evidence.

The cheese found in super markets contains rennet, the enzyme coagulant used in the cheese for clotting purposes. This substance is an extraction from finely ground stomachs of calves. In addition, it may also contain an extender, pepsin, which is taken from the stomachs of swine. According to the cheese manufacturers, there is no way of ascertaining with certainty that the cheese you purchase does not contain this extender.

The Spirit of Prophecy also warns that mold can be deadly. As far back as 1985, newspapers carried warnings of bacteria found in a certain Mexican-style cheese which was responsible for thirty deaths in California and four serious illnesses in Fort Worth, Texas. Science News, 59, July 1976, carried the warning, “The mold that creates Roquefort and similar blue cheeses creates a dangerous nerve poison that causes convulsions in mice. The chemical is more concentrated in the heavily molded parts of such cheeses than in the white portions.” Also found in cheddar cheese and other common cured cheeses during the aging period is tyramine. Upon analysis, some cheeses were found to contain sufficient tyramine to affect the heart and raise blood pressure, even in amounts that are usually consumed at a meal.

Another serious concern is the high fat content of cheese. Dr. Julian Whitaker, director of the California Health Treatment Center, in an article in the Natural Health Bulletin states: “When large amounts of fats are eaten, the red blood cells stick together and stack up. This is called ‘rouleaux formation’ and limits the flow of blood cells through the capillaries. It creates ‘sludging’ with a thirty percent reduction of oxygen supply to the heart.” Surely we can see that our Creator knows what is best for the creatures that He has created!

Macaroni & Cheese Sauce

Place in a blender:

2 cups water

1 tsp sea salt

6 oz canned pimentos

1 tbsp onion powder

2 oz green chilies (not hot)

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 ½ cups cashews

When thoroughly blended and smooth, pour into container and add 1 small 4 oz. can of sliced olives, drained, and the cooked macaroni. Mix well, pour into casserole, and bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Molded Cheese Loaf

1 cup water

1 tsp sea salt

2 tbsp green chilies (mild)

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp onion powder

2 cups cashews

1 tbsp garlic powder

4–6 tbsp Agar powder

8 oz can pimentos

1 cup water

Thoroughly blend first seven ingredients. Then add cashews and blend till smooth. In small pan, place 1 cup of water and Agar powder. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; add to the above mixture and blend thoroughly. Pour into long Velveeta cheese mold and refrigerate overnight. Place on platter and garnish with parsley. This loaf may be sliced for sandwiches or grated on salads. (Agar is a Japanese seaweed and may be used the same as gelatin for molded fruit salads. We do not use the commercial gelatins because of the animal sources used.)

The End

Food for Life – It’s Springtime! Time to think about a Garden!

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“For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.” Song of Solomon 2:11, 12.

It is springtime, and how grateful to God we should be that He has preserved our lives to again see the beauties of this time of year. Many of you will be fortunate enough to have gardens this year. Some of you are no doubt already looking forward to being able to preserve your summer foods for next winter.

As you make your food preservation plans, the following comparisons, showing the loss in nutrients that takes place using the various methods of preservation, may be of interest to you.

Canning: 60-80% This is due to the high temperatures required to properly preserve the food.

Freezing: 40-60% The loss is due to moisture expansion that causes the cells to rupture.

Dehydration: 3-5% The low temperatures hold losses to a minimum.

(Composition of Foods Handbook #8, U.S. Department of Agriculture Research Service.)

We have all witnessed the sad demonstration of temper from a spoiled or hyperkinetic child as he screamed, throwing himself to the floor demanding something to eat. Too often, we have also witnessed the mother, rather than exercising discipline, give in and give him the very thing that he craved.

Sydney Walker, M.D., a neuropsychiatrist from La Jolla, California, found that forty-four of forty-eight childen with learning disability, depression, temper tantrums, or poor concentration, had, along with other problems, a blood sugar disorder. Dr. Walker told Prevention Magazine that once these children were put on a sugar-free diet, rich in vegetables, fruit, and high-protein foods, almost all of them had improved behavior.

We are told that “the diet has much to do with the disposition to enter into temptation and commit sin.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 52.

“Our very bodies are not our own, to treat as we please, to cripple by habits that lead to decay, making it impossible to render to God perfect service. Our lives and all our faculties belong to Him.” Ibid., 56.

What a solemn though, but how seldom we remember our responsibility to our Creator Who formed us and then gave His life that we might reign with Him throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity.

“We should not be prevailed upon to take anything into the mouth that will bring the body into an unhealthy condition, no matter how much we like it. Why?—Because we are God’s property.” Ibid., 328.

What a sacred responsibility parents have to train their children in proper habits of living during their formative years, while their tastes are not yet perverted and their digestive systems impaired.

April Recipes:

Apricot-Pineapple Jam

Place in saucepan:

1 cup dates or date pieces

1 cup dried apricots

With enough water to cover, bring to a boil and let stand overnight. Remove 1/4 cup of the apricots and chop. Place remaining ingredients in blender and thoroughly mix. Remove ingredients from blender and add 1/4 cup chopped apricots and 1 cup crushed pineapple with juice. Mix thoroughly and refrigerate.

Fruit Spread

1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple

2 large bananas

1 cup dates or date pieces

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 pkg. frozen strawberries (various other frozen or fresh berries may be used.)

Place all ingredients in the blender and mix until smooth. Delicious on toast, waffles, or pancakes.

Food for Life – More this Month About Sugar

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“We should not be prevailed upon to take anything into the mouth that will bring the body into an unhealthy condition, no matter how much we like it. Why? Because we are God’s property. You have a crown to win, heaven to gain, and a hell to shun. . . .

“It is better to let sweet things alone. Let alone those sweet dessert dishes that are placed on the table. You do not need them. You want a clear mind to think after God’s order.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 328.

Let us review, from a scientific viewpoint, some of the effects of sugar on the system:

  • Excess sugar affects the health of the teeth, causing decay.
  • Excess sugar lowers one’s resistance to disease.
  • Refined sugar is a high calorie, concentrated food with little or no nutritive value.
  • High sugar intake can cause liver damage undistinguishable from liver damage due to alcoholism.
  • High sugar intake is associated with mature-on-set diabetes.
  • High sugar can contribute to constipation.
  • High sugar intake can cause vitamin B deficiencies.
  • Some nutritionists feel that a high sugar intake is responsible for a malfunctioning appetite, contributing to overweight.
  • Too much sugar, in any form, clogs the system, resulting in mental depression, and can cause sleepiness and mental confusion.

According to England’s noted nutritionist, Professor John Yudkin of the University of London, sugar may be the etiologic factor in atherosclerosis, or heart-vessel disease. He believes that there is a clear association between sugar intake and heart disease. (Medical Tribune, July 10, 1969.) Most of us find it hard to believe that we are consuming as much sugar as we do, but remember that more than two-thirds of our sugar intake is hidden in prepared food products and beverages. Learn to read the labels when you go to the grocery store and you will be amazed to find what you have been eating. Remember that the contents are listed in order according to the amount used in the ingredients. Notice especially breakfast cereals.

I am very partial to dates as a sweetener. They are a natural, unrefined product and almost universally obtainable. You will find that you can use dates for almost everything. Remember that the nearer you can come to the simple, unrefined foods, the better your health will be. Keep in mind that “a clogged stomach means a clogged brain.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 46.

For those of you who are not familiar with Fruit Source, it is a sweetener made from grapes and whole grain rice and can be obtained in either granular or syrup form. If you have problems obtaining it from a local health food store, we will furnish you with distributor names. The syrup tastes like a high-grade molasses—delicious!

“I saw that our heavenly Father has bestowed upon us the great blessing of light upon the health reform, that we may obey the claims which He has upon us and glorify Him in our bodies and spirits, which are Him, and finally stand without fault before the throne of God.” Ibid., 51. May we be ready to meet Him whenever He calls us.

(We would not understand the Spirit of Prophecy to condemn the use of all sugar, but the free use that is all too common today. See Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 246. Testimonies, vol. 2, 383, vol. 3, 21, Counsels on Diet and Foods, 197, and Ministry of Healing, 299-301. Editors)

Cashew Topping

1 cup white grape juice

1/4 cup granular Fruit Source

2 cups cashews

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon white vanilla

Peanut Butter Balls

Mix together:

1 cup (homemade) peanut butter

1/4 cup carob powder

1/4 cup mashed banana

2 teaspoons vanilla

Shape into balls and roll in sesame seeds. Press a walnut or pecan half in each ball. Refrigerate.

Life and Health – Three Delicious Holiday Recipes

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“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.” Psalm 100:4. The holidays are approaching, how shall we observe them? “Will it be, as it has been in many instances, a thanksgiving to ourselves? Or will it be a thanksgiving to God?”

“We are to remember that it is more blessed to give than to receive. . . . Now a season is coming when we shall have our principles tested. Let us think what we can do for God’s needy ones. We can make them through ourselves the recipients of God’s blessings.

“But this does not embrace all of your duty. Make an offering to your best Friend; acknowledge His bounties; show your gratitude for His favors; bring a thank offering to God. . . . Brethren and sisters, eat a plain dinner on Thanksgiving and Christmas day, and with the money you would spend in extras with which to indulge the appetite, make a thank offering to God.

“We want this Thanksgiving to be all that it implies. Do not let it be perverted, mingled with dross; but let it be what its name implies—giving thanks. LET OUR VOICES ASCEND IN PRAISE!” Adventist Home, 474, 475.

What a beautiful picture of the Christian’s holiday. In order to fulfill God’s ideal in us, we must have His Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts and lives at all times. The delicate nerve endings of our brains must be in the proper condition each hour of the day to receive this Gift Jesus left for us upon His ascension. And let us remember, with great solemnity, that “The brain nerves which communicate with the entire system are the only medium through which heaven can communicate with man and affect his inmost life.” My Life Today, 148. Therefore, we find out a very important aspect of our Christian life in eradicating sin from our lives, that “When men take any course which needlessly expends their vitality or beclouds their intellect, they sin against God: they do not glorify Him in their body and spirit, which are His.” Counsels on Health, 20. What a sobering thought as we approach the Second Coming of Christ. With what fervor should we “work intelligently to put away from our life-practice every perverted appetite.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 373.

What constitutes a beclouding and benumbing of the brain? Here are a few that God has mentioned:

Meat (see Testimonies, vol. 2, 64);

Sugar (see Testimonies, vol. 2, 369; Manuscript 93);

Grease (see Testimonies, vol. 2, 63);

Cheese (see Ministry of Healing, 302);

Stimulants (see Testimonies, vol. 1, 549);

Gluttony (see Testimonies, vol. 2, 412, 413);

Lack of Exercise (see My Life Today, 130);

Impure air (see My Life Today, 137);

Improper rest (see My Life Today, 143);

Irregularity (see My Life Today, 146.)

Let us endeavor during the days that come to follow God’s ideal and original program for our lives that we may claim His promise to us, “God has pledged Himself to keep this human machinery in healthful action if [remember, there are always conditions with God’s promises] the human agent will obey His Laws and cooperate with God.” My Life Today, 127.

Holiday Dressing:

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon Thyme

1 /2 cup onions (finely chopped)

1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning

1/2 cup celery (finely chopped)

1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder

1/2 cup mushrooms (sliced)

1/2 cup wheat germ

2 teaspoons Sea salt

1/2 cup Cashew milk

3 and ½ cups dry bread pieces (or Grapenuts are very tasty)

1 Tablespoon Vegex in 3 /4 cup hot water.

1-1/2 cup nut meats (walnuts, pecans, etc.) chopped

1 teaspoon Sweet Basil

1 small can of chestnuts (sliced)

Simmer onions, celery, mushrooms, and seasonings in the 1 /2 to 1 cup of water. Cook a few minutes till celery is tender but still crisp, stirring often. Mix the Vegex seasoning and Cashew milk together and add the bread pieces, crumbs, or Grapenuts and chopped nutmeats. Mix all ingredients lightly but well. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until slightly browned. For an added treat, you may use a loaf pan, arranging slices of Nut Meat alternately with the roast. Use with Cashew Gravy.

Cashew Gravy:

1-1/2 cups of cashew pieces

2 Tablespoons Vegex

1 Tablespoon onion powder

1 teaspoon Garlic powder

1 teaspoon sea salt

3-4 cups water

Place above ingredients in blender and blend thoroughly. Place in pan on medium heat and stir constantly until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. You may add I can of mushrooms if you like.

Pumpkin Pudding:

Place in Blender.

2 cups Cashew milk

1 /2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup date pieces

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

1 Tablespoon Corriander powder

1 /2 cup cashew pieces

Blend thoroughly on high speed, and add to one 16-oz can of Libby’s Pumpkin. Mix thoroughly, and add 1/2 cup chopped Pecans or Walnuts. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

May God be with you and protect each of you during this season, and may we in unity say, “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.”

Life and Health – Whole Wheat Bread

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Welcome to our new Steps to Life and Health page. We welcome the opportunity to come into your home with the beautiful “right arm” of the gospel; and we earnestly pray, as you read the words of inspiration and medical facts, that the Holy Spirit will make you willing to be made willing to follow all of the light that God in His great tender mercy has allowed to shine on His people to prepare them for the outpouring of His Holy Spirit in these last days of earth’s history. We will be sharing our recipes with you, and we invite any of you who have healthful recipes to share them with us on this page in the months to come. Today’s recipe will be home baked whole wheat bread.

And God said, “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD they God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statues, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.” Exodus 15:26. What a wonderful promise from our God! However, to each promise that He makes to us, there are conditions. We must do our part. Again from the Bible we read, “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments and His statues which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. Deuteronomy 28:15. These are the conditions which the LORD has laid down for us, and He invites each one of us to accept His promise to us in Medical Ministry, 221. “The Creator of man has arranged the living machinery of our bodies. Every function is wonderfully and wisely made. And God has pledged Himself to keep this human machinery in healthful action of the human agent will obey His laws and cooperate with God.”

“We have the example of ancient Israel and the warning for us not to do as they did. Their history of unbelief and rebellion is left on record as a special warning that we should not follow their example of murmuring at God’s requirements. How can we pass on so indifferently, choosing our own course, following the sight of our own eyes, and departing further and further from God, as did the Hebrews? God cannot do great things for His people because of their hardness of heart and sinful unbelief.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 172.

Today we have before us countless medical articles proving from current medical science the many things that God sent to His remnant people over 130 years ago. Shall we not praise God for this wonderful light that will enable us to have clear, undimmed brains, that we may receive the Holy Spirit in its fullness and not disregard it or repress it? For “it is impossible for those who indulge the appetite to attain to Christian perfection.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 400.

“Bread is the real staff of life, and therefore every cook should excel in making it.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 315. In future issues, we will share with you some of the ingredients of the majority of commercial bread, and you will see why it is for our health to make good bread. “Let us remember that there is practical religion in a loaf of good bread.” Medical Ministry, 270.

Whole Wheat Bread

Mix Together: Blend Together:

4 cups whole wheat flour 1/2 cup apple concentrate

1-1/2 teaspoons sea salt 1-1/2 cups distilled water

3 Tablespoons Do-Pep

1/4 teaspoon Vitamin C Powder

Warm liquid sufficiently for yeast to work, and place in mixing bowl.

Add 1 – 2 teaspoons yeast and let work.

Add dry ingredients and stir vigorously until well blended, then knead for about 10 minutes.

Cover and let rise until double in bulk. Push down, and let rise again until double in bulk.

Divide the dough, shape, and place in two bread pans to rise.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

For those who have an automatic bread maker, this is an ideal recipe. Place your yeast in the bottom of the pan, add the dry ingredients, then the liquid, and “start.” We use a “DAK” machine and the amount is perfect. The amount of yeast sometimes varies according to altitude. We use a rounded teaspoon and have the liquid slightly warmer when we add to the flour mixture on top instead of sprinkling yeast on top. If you have an older “MAGIC MILL” round breadmaker, this is also the right proportions.