Preserve your life, with preservative free food!

With the holiday season over for a while, some of us might be ready to focus on saving money while still eating healthy as we start making plans for our spring or summer beach vacation.

My favorite dinner as of late, has been to get a pound of nice fresh salmon from the local co-op, marinate it with some of Wildtree”s Morrocan Salmon Sauce, which consists of fresh ginger, and honey in addition to a blend of exotic spices. Then I add a pinch of Wildtree All Natural Sea Salt to the salmon, make a nice salad with some fresh leafy greens,tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots which I toss in Wildberry Dressing.

While I am waiting for the salmon to bake in the oven, I warm up some nice fresh pita bread to dip in Wildtree’s Hummus  Seriously, This hummus is some of the best hummus I have had in a long time. It is perfectly balanced with lime juice, tahini and garbanzo puree. And, what makes it so great is that there are no preservatives. If you happen to invite your friends over for dinner, you just may get a standing ovation. Everything tastes like you made it yourself, and the best part is–you did!

 For those of you who have gotten the “memo” about processed and preserved foods, but haven’t given it much thought:  Let me clue you in! Food processing changes the original food and the proportions of the nutrients within the food. Many prepackaged, microwaveable,  and boil-in-the-bag type foods have gone through a multitude of processes before they end up in your local grocery story and refridgerator. These foods have little or no nutritional value.  You end up just eating to eat.  You are not nourishing your body at all.

The food industry allows several thousand  additives to be used in the processing of food. And just because some of these are supposedly “safe,” does NOT mean they are!!   Chemicals, food additives,  artificial sweetners which can cause all kinds of cancer, artificial flavors, dyes, nitrites, preservatives to prevent spoilage, acids, maturing agents, bleaching agents, emulsifiers to maintain consistency are all finding their way into our bodies via these easy-to-prepare packaged foods.

We now know that alot of these processes can cause allergic reactions and stress on the liver, many of which are cancer forming. Children exposed to such processes can become hyperactive and display learning difficulties.  In addition, who wants to feel sick and unhealthy all of the time?  That miserable stomach ache you have all of the time? Maybe it’s from the MSG.

This is just the begininning– I could go on and on.  And why should you even bother eating foods like this at all when you could have a healthy preservative-free meal with Wildtree prepared in just minutes? You don’t have to spend tons of money shopping at places like Whole Foods, you can make your life quick and easy by ordering Wildtree products online at http://jsullivan.mywildtree.com/Pages/HomePage.aspx.   When you join the culinary club, you will save even more money.

It is very easy to turn your life around.  And once you do it, you will feel better, your food will taste better, and your family will be happier.  In addition, your dinner party guests will be very impressed:)

Holiday Shopping Quagmire

If you are wishing for a happy and healthy Christmas, (but believe that those are hard to come by among holiday winter weather, shopping chaos and family stress), you need to take an online vacation to the Wildtree site.  Christmas is one of the most hectic events of the year and people tend to get really stressed out trying to plan for it.  For instance, after a long day of working or running errands, most people do not want to spend more money and more time in the kitchen in order to find time so that they can relax.  This is why I have some great ideas as to what you can be eating and feeding yourself, family and friends as you unwind every night.  For instance, Wildtree’s Slow Cooker Meals  include a delicious and very easy to make Red or Creole style Jambalaya; the Southwest Stew which is a really nice and spicy warm meal for cold wintery nights (this is excellent for vegetarians as well, since you can just add tofu) and hearty Turkey and Barley Stew which is an EXCELLENT choice for dealing with those Thanksgiving leftovers. 

Wildtree’s Alfredo Extraordinaire is also a fantastic choice for kids or vegetarians as well as meat eaters.  Why not throw some left-over turkey on noodles and end up with a gourmet meal in just minutes? I would also opt for Leslie’s Chili which includes a perfect blend of herbs and spices to designed to make that turkey chili one of the best post-thanksgiving meals yet; or Wildtree’s Red Beans and Rice which is a perfect warm southern blend designed to warm you right up after an outing in the snow.

As far as braving the holiday shopping chaos, I just won’t do it.  Rather than spending big bucks at the wine shop trying to figure out which wine to get my wine-o relatives who have everything, or making rounds at the mall, I will take a holiday vacation to the Wildtree website where it’s one stop shopping at prices that make me very merry. Besides, everybody needs to eat, and setting the table and the mood with Christmas cheer is what’s important this time of year. 

Some great gift ideas I will be keeping in mind for the red wine drinker in my family, is Wildtree’s European Dipping Oil-Chili, which would pair extremely well with a nice merlot, cabernet or zinfandel and is a way better gift idea than alcohol.  Wildtree’s European Dipping Oil Duo includes both the Tuscan and Garlic Dipping oils which would be great for white wine drinkers as well. All you or they would need to do, is grab some wine, cheese and baguettes and these dipping oils help set the mood. These dipping oils are among one of the most popular Wildtree items.  In fact, one of my buyers asks me for a straw when he calls to order them  so that he can just drink it out of the bottle.  The Garlic Lovers Gift Set is also a lovely and thoughtful gift for any hostess for a great price.

 In addition, Wildtree’s Holiday Gift Ideas list which includes all occastion gift sets not only bring elegance and delight to any table but are affordable and usable options for gifts. Better yet, you can just do all of over your shopping online or over the phone rather than braving the storm of chaos and of snow.  You can keep your family, guests and relatives happy with preservative free, all natural meals that will delight their stomachs and minds and make the holidays easy for everyone with these wonderful affordable gift sets from Wildtree!

Quick and Easy Thanksgiving Dinner!

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, it’s definitely time to start planning for the big feast. If you are planning on dressing your turkey, the first thing you should ask yourself is whether it’s a boy or a girl. But hopefully, you are past that stage already and while your kids are running around in their Pilgrim hats and Indian feathers, you are trying to get your recipes in order so that everything runs smoothly on the big day.

My Thanksgiving dinner will begin with a nice big organic turkey purchased fresh from my local co-op. Then, to make things really quick and easy I will use my Turkey Dinner Essentials Kit which includes Wildtree’s Poultry Seasoning, Turkey Basting Herbs, Traditional Turkey Gravy and Cranberry Horseradish. In the meantime, while thats cooking, my cornbread will be available for me to start working on. Of course, I will be using nothing but Wildtree’s Texas Corn Bread, which is additive free and very delicious! My mashed potatoes and corn will be seasoned with Wildtree\’s All Natural Sea Salt, which is of course, iodine free and tastes way better than the unhealthy kind.

This will be about as quick and easy as it gets so after my guests start coming in, I will definitely be able to relax and have some nice hot cider made with Mulling Spices while I chit chat with them and enjoy a few hors d’oeuvres. These will consist of chips and Cranberry Salsa, in addition to the Spinach and Artichoke Spread. My kids will really enjoy some pretzels dipped in Wildtree’s thick and creamy Honey Mustard in moderation.

And just like every year, my guests will be raving about the food and hopefully unlike most, I will be able to save some left-overs for later:)

The scariest Halloween costume

Recently, I finished reading Michael Pollan’s best-selling book, The Botany of Desire. In this book Pollan discussses the intimate relationship between people and plants. In telling the stories of four familiar plant species that are deeply woven into the fabric of our lives, Michael Pollan not only frightened me into becoming even more food conscientous than I already am, but it spurred me to pantry-cleaning, item replacing action. Besides Stephen King, I’d never read a book by anyone who had made a corn field seem more sinister. After doing a little more research, I came across an article where Pollan argues that corn is “wreaking havoc on everything from public health to foreign policy.” The article, entitled When Corn is King led me to my refrigerator and pantry where I began to review and consider all of my products with high amounts of corn syrup; ketchup and salad dressings being at the top of my list. Replacing my Heinz with Wildtree’s ketchup became a priority, in addition to replacing all of my generic corn syrup saturated salad dressings with even tastier more exciting alternatives like Wildberry Dressing or Balsalmic Vinaigrette

After mourning my own dietary ignorance for a little while-childhood memories of day trips to McDonalds turned sour, my expedient mindless shopping trips to the grocery store, I found the truth hurting just a little bit and came up with a great idea for the most terrifying Halloween costume of all…

(begin loud and scary organ music)

Mrs. Cornstalk