Posted by Cindy on August 9, 2008
Candace asked for these recipes. I thought others might benefit, too. So here ya go…..
Both of these recipes came from the cookbook I found at the www.msgmyth.com website.
Shake-n-bake Mix
- 4 1/2 cups dried bread crumbs, finely crushed
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp flour
- 6 Tbsp paprika
- 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp salt
- 4 Tbsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp onion powder
- 2 tsp oregano
- 2 tsp thyme
- 2 tsp (or less) red pepper
- 1 tsp sage powder
- 1/2 to 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Mix well and store in airtight container.
To uses: Dip meat (chicken or pork) in oil, then shake in a cup or two of the mixture that has been placed in a plastic bag. Bake approximately 1 hour in a 375 degree oven. Turn halfway through baking.
White Sauce (aka Homemade Creamed Soup)
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 1 cup milk
- salt and pepper to season
Melt butter and add flour. Cook on low heat, stirring at all times, for 1 minute. Add milk and whisk smooth. Cook, stirring until thickened.
Variations:
- Add 1/2 tsp dry mustard, 1 additional cup milk and 2 cups cheese for cheese sauce to be used with vegetables or mac-n-cheese.
- Add parsley and minced onion, then add to sliced potatoes for scalloped potatoes.
- Beat 1 or 2 eggs with 1 cup milk and add to cream sauce, then cook until thickened. Add to top of casseroles, pasta dishes, cooked vegetables, stuffed peppers or eggplant. It’s a tasty substitute for cheese. A tsp of parmesan cheese or nutmeg is a good addition.
- Add curry, paprika, garlic powder and any favorite herbs.
- Add 4 large chopped mushrooms to the butter, then saute for 2 minutes before adding the flour. Thin with water to desired consistency for mushroom soup.
Posted by Cindy on August 2, 2008
AKA – Our Red Food Coloring Story
Even though I shared my MSG story first, I really believe that this story is a more important message. Why? I see children every single day that are either out of control and their parents are at their wit’s end OR the parents have already lost hope and have put their children on a brain altering drug like Ritalin only to wonder if there’s a way out.
Let me back up for just a minute and say that I don’t intend to offend anyone who either is going or has gone the Ritalin (or some other medicine) route. I’m in no way judging you, I promise. I am only speaking because of the countless parents who have said to me, ” I wish there were a way to get him/her off this medicine. My baby isn’t the same.” I’m also not here to say that Ritalin is a bad drug or no one has true ADHD. I don’t believe either thing for one second. Again, I’m only telling my story and hoping that it might benefit someone.
First, let me introduce you to Mahayla.
She is truly one of the sweetest young ladies you will ever meet in your life. She cares deeply for others, will do anything for anyone, can run a household by herself and gladly takes on most tasks set before her. She is very bright, a wonderful friend, and generally a quiet and calm person. She is extremely obedient and wants to please her parents.
Not so when she was three. I found myself in the pediatrician’s office without Mahayla, but with my husband discussing with the doctor our options for my truly wild, loud and uncontrollable child. Lucky for me, the doctor refused to label her as hyperactive at three. Even though I could check off a “yes” for every single symptom of a child with ADHD, the doctor said there would be no way to start medicine in a child as young as her and we would have to wait until she were at least five.
Let me stop here and say that medicine is NOT my first choice for any situation. It certainly wasn’t here either. We were simply grasping for something, anything that would tame this wild child.
She wasn’t a wild baby. In fact, she was a wonderful baby – happy, a great sleeper, a good eater. By two, things started changing. She was getting louder, harder to get to sit still, less obedient. You might say, “That’s normal, Cindy!” Yes, but by three, it wasn’t at all normal. We would hear her screaming (for the fun of it) from her Sunday School class on a different floor of the church. We would watch her literally climb walls at out house. What was most apparent, though, was that she wasn’t ALWAYS like this. Often, yes. But always, no.
We would catch glimpses of a “normal” little girl in all her sweetness and then turn around a hour later and her eyes had almost glazed over as she turned into the Tasmanian devil and couldn’t be stopped.
After being sent home by the pediatrician and told we would just have to wait it out, I cried out to the Lord telling Him that I knew she needed some sort of help. Her parents needed help, too!! Just like with my MSG story, once I cried out to Him, low and behold, the answer was there almost immediately.
Again, the internet was where I turned. All of the sudden, every search kept leading me to the same things – artificial food colorings, artificial flavorings, Feingold, artificial preservatives. I didn’t know exactly where the answer was in the midst of everything I was reading, but I knew it was there. Her problems didn’t start until she started eating “real people food” which made complete sense with all I was reading.
The word that kept popping out at me the most was RED food coloring. So that’s where I started. And, praise the Lord, that turned out to be the culprit. We got rid of everything red, pink, purple, and orange. As long as those colors were gone, we had a normal four year old again. As soon as something “slipped” in, her eyes would glaze over within an hour’s time and she would be w-i-l-d, whiny and uncontrollable again. The effects would last for hours.
Very few people believed that red food coloring was really the answer. My family raised their eyebrows (until they saw the proof first hand!) The pediatrician said she seriously doubted food coloring was the culprit and suggested we see and allergist for food allergy testing. The allergist gave us some vague food allergies she had, but thought there wasn’t enough research to suggest food coloring allergies were real. The Sunday School teachers scoffed when I asked them to run all snacks and drinks by me before feeding her. But we KNEW it was real. We lived with the proof daily!! No red food coloring = a sweet little girl. Red food coloring = someone else. Someone else in attitude, stature, facial expression and action. The scariest part was the change in her eyes – this child wasn’t my own. I’ve heard other moms mention this change in the eyes, too.
As Mahayla’s gotten older, she is actually better able to handle red food coloring. Mind you, not in large amounts. If she happens to accidentally ingest a decent amount, she no longer goes wild, but she gets jittery, s-u-p-e-r cranky and v-e-r-y emotional. And it takes a couple days to wear off completely. I know you’re asking how an 11 year old accidentally eats or drinks red food coloring. It’s really very easy. Just like MSG, red food coloring is hidden in things you would never expect – blueberry muffin mix, prepared brownies, cereal….
I also ought to mention that it took a long time for Mahayla to understand that she had to make the choice to say no to foods and drinks with red food coloring. I had to be the food police for several years before she was able to recognize the change in herself when she ingested it. She prefers to stay as far away as possible now because she knows how awful it makes her feel.
Anyway, in trying to wrap this up….WE HAD A NEW CHILD! A child that was set on the path to Ritalin and a lifetime label of ADHD was “cured”. Of course, she never really had ADHD, but that’s where her path was headed if we hadn’t found the truth.
I read all I could from the Feingold site and in trying to get rid of red food coloring, we actually attempted to get rid of as much of the artificial colorings, flavorings and preservative as possible. We’re not fanatical about this, but do our best. If they (Caleb struggles with red coloring, too) are offered colored things at a church function or a party, I allow it as long as it isn’t red. We typically don’t buy much with those ingredients at our house, though.
I’m passionate about sharing this info with parents who care to hear. I’ll be happy to answer questions or tell more detail to our story if anyone is interested. Just ask.
Here are some websites that might be helpful:
About.com
Allergic Child
All Natural
Nature Moms
Posted by Cindy on July 26, 2008
I’ve tried to briefly answer most of the questions that have come from the MSG and homemade mix posts. I’ll be happy to continue answering questions if you have any. I’m only speaking from my experiences, but I sure hope something here helps someone!
What Pre-packaged Foods Can I Eat?
Let’s see. Just taking a quick scan through my pantry and refrigerator, these are some pre-packaged things I found. Take note – some people will be more sensitive than me and possibly not able to tolerate what I can. NONE of the products on my shelf have MSG as an ingredient, but their could potentially be some hidden MSG in terms like flavorings, seasonings, or spices. Personally, I can eat all the following without incident. Oh, I ought to mention that sometimes I won’t react to something the first time I eat it, but I will after eating it a second time, say the following day as a leftover. Unfortunately, knowing those things only comes with experience.
- Daisy sour cream – or any all natural
- Any natural yogurt
- Most Annie’s Organic and Newman’s Own salad dressings
- Real butter
- Most cheeses
- Heinz ketchup
- Most plain yellow mustards
- Hellman’s Real Mayo
- Many pickles
- Any canned fruit or veggie canned only in water and salt
- Starkist Tuna Select – the more expensive can with only water and salt added
- Canned salmon with only water and salt added
- Plain refried beans
- Most canned beans with no added seasonings – personally, I can tolerate Bush’s baked beans, too.
- Ragu spaghetti sauce
- Ragu pizza sauce
- Plain bread crumbs
- Most cake and brownie mixes
- Plain Chips, Fritos, plain Sun Chips
- Any meat that hasn’t been seasoned or injected
- Breads and baked goodies without seasoning or L-cystein
- Walmart’s brand of French fried onions
- Annie’s mac-n-cheese
- Most cereals (although we don’t buy any with BHT)
- Pancake and biscuit mix when I don’t feel like making my own
- Jiffy cornbread mix
- Salted nuts
- Natural Popcorn
- Peanut butter
- Jams and jellies
- Canned biscuits
- Most sweets like Oreos (although we prefer to make our own sweets)
- Most juices, bottled or frozen concentrate
- Plain crackers – saltine, butter, oyster
- Breyer’s ice cream
- I can tolerate the Walmart and Food Lion brands of chicken nuggets
- Frozen soft pretzels
- Frozen veggies with no seasonings or sauces
- Papa John’s pizza – no sausage
- Sausage from the butcher with no msg
What did I give up forever?
- Canned soups and broths – these are easy to make on your own in huge batches to freeze
- Ravioli and Spaghettios – now I think, “YUCK!” anyway
- Seasoned Rice boxes
- Seasoning Packets (taco, gravy, chili, etc)
- Scalloped potato boxes
- Most lunchmeats – partly because of nitrates and nitrites, too
- Seasoned fries
- Pre-battered or pre-breaded meat
- Seasoned chips – Sour Cream ‘n Onion, Doritoes, Cheetos….
- Chip dips – easy to make on your own
- Bottled bbq sauce, tartar sauce, A-1 – really all bottled sauces that aren’t very specific in their ingredients – all are easy to make quickly on your own
- Jello
- Most sausage
- Most prepared pizza
- Dry roasted nuts
- Frozen pizza
- TV dinners, diet dinners in a box
- It’s hard to remember because I really don’t miss any of this anymore!
What Are My Favorite Cookbooks?
The one that got me started on my MSG-free quest is the one offered at www.msgmyth.com. The first half of the book is full of wonderful information, while the second half is full of recipes for meals as well as things like mixes and appropriate substitutes.
I don’t have other cookbooks that are dedicated to living MSG-free. It’s really a matter of finding cookbooks that teach you how to cook from scratch rather than most of the ingredients being convenience foods themselves. I didn’t pitch my recipe books where every other recipe calls for a can of cream of mushroom soup, I simply learned (from the msgmyth cookbook) how to make my own white sauce to use in place of the can of soup.
Crockpots and Tomatoes
From the www.msgmyth.com website, some of you have run across the fact that slow cooking and overcooked tomatoes can cause MSG symptoms in some people. I have never experienced this. I use the crockpot all the time and tomatoes are a staple in our diet. I believe the author mentions this for those who are not finding total relief from getting rid of the added MSG ingredients.
Other Food Sensitivities
I have noticed that each person in our family is sensitive in one way or another to foods, medicines, food colorings and/or outdoor allergens. One commenter mentioned that she is lactose intolerant but still experiencing bowel symptoms. From my own experience, with no medical proof to back me up, I have found that sensitive people are just that – sensitive. Their bellies and bodies tend to struggle with more than one thing. That can make it a difficult row to hoe when trying to identify dietary culprits!
Aspartame and MSG
Aspartame, MSG and cysteine (as in L-cysteine often found in baked goods) are all excitotoxins. Chances are, if you are sensitive to one, you are sensitive to all. I’ve never used or allowed much “diet” sugar into our home, so I don’t have much experience with it. But, I do react to L-cysteine similarly to MSG.
Sloppy Joe Mix
I have never made a sloppy joe mix because I have a wonderful from scratch recipe that I’ve never wanted to stray from. I’ll post it below. But, I came across a mix recipe here and here if you’d like to try them.
Homemade Sloppy Joes
1 lb ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 c celery, chopped
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c ketchup
2 Tbsp vinegar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 c water
1 small can tomato sauce
salt, pepper, garlic to taste
Cook beef and onion in large skillet. Drain. Add all remaining ingredients and simmer, uncovered, for about 30 minutes to an hour. Stir frequently to avoid sticking. Makes enough for eight buns.
This recipe comes from Nina Beach of the Vine Run Baptist Church in Folsom, KY.
A Few of My Favorite Mix Recipes
Taco Seasoning
(I often quadruple this recipe.)
6 tsp chili powder
5 tsp paprika
4 1/2 tsp cumin
3 tsp onion powder
2 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp red pepper
1/4 tsp salt
Mix all together. Store in air tight container. Use 2-3 Tbsp in place of store bought mix.
BAM (Emeril’s Essence)
5 Tbsp paprika
1/4 c salt
1/4 c garlic powder
2 Tbsp black pepper
2 Tbsp onion powder
2 Tbsp red pepper
2 Tbsp oregano
2 Tbsp thyme
Mix together. Store in air tight container. Sprinkle on food as desired.
Chili Mix
1 c + 2 Tbsp flour
3/4 cup minced onions
4-6 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 cup paprika
2 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp sugar
Combine all ingredients. Store in air tight container. To serve: Brown 1 lb ground beef, stir in 1/2 cup chili mix, 1 can beans, small chopped bell pepper, 1 can diced tomatoes (undrained), and 3/4 cup water. Bring to a boil and simmer 30 mintures. (I usually add more water.)
Fajita Seasoning
(I usually quadruple this recipe, too.)
4 Tbsp chili powder
2 Tbsp cumin
2 Tbsp oregano
2 Tbsp garlic salt
Mix well and store in air tight container. 2-3 Tbsp = a mix packet from the store.
Posted by Cindy on July 17, 2008
Why am I sharing this? I come across so many people who share the same struggles that I used to have and I want to be sure they understand that getting MSG out of their diet can potentially be life changing. It was for me.
I grew up in the 70′s and 80′s. Eating Little Debbies, Big Macs, Doritoes and ranch dressing was just a normal part of life. It still is for most people, in fact. I never struggled with those foods until I reached my early twenties. I really have no idea why something “snapped” at that point, but it certainly did. Maybe it was years of ingesting a dangerous food ingredient and my body finally said. “No more!” Maybe it was four years of college when I probably ate WAY worse than I should have. Maybe it was being under a ton of stress planning a wedding and trying to find a job.
Whatever the case, my body began going a bit crazy. Not all of me, just my bowels, but it effected my entire being. It started with horrible stomach and bowel pains after I’d eat at a restaurant. Usually, I’d either have to run to the bathroom with explosive diarrhea before leaving the resaurant, or I’d be in horrible pain hoping I could “hold it” until I got home.
Before long, it started happening even at home. Often, I’d wake up in the middle of the night with cramps and spend an hour or more in the bathroom praying that I’d figure out why in the world this kept happening. Many times, the pain would be so bad that I’d have a trash can in front of me ready to throw up at a moment’s notice. Of course, the next day left me feeling sore in my bowels and extrememly tired after the “episode”.
I lost close to 20 pounds over time. Eventually, I had a colonoscopy. Irritable bowel possibly, colitis maybe. Vague. Unacceptable. I set out to find real answers. I simply couldn’t live with just a “title” - I wanted help. Where to start? Prayer, of course. “God, please show me the reason! I know it has to be something I’m putting in my body. Please help me!”
In a matter of days, I had found my answer. I “stumbled” upon www.msgmyth.com. (I say stumbled, but we all know I was led there purposely!) I simply couldn’t get enough of the information I was reading. I knew this was my answer. I hadn’t even tried removing it from my diet yet, but I knew this was it.
It didn’t take long to realize I was right. After removing all the MSG from my diet, I literally STOPPED any and all episodes of painful diarrhea. The only time it would return was after mistakenly ingesting MSG. When I say it was life changing, I really mean that. Both in good and bad ways.
Good changes: I was healed! The pain, explosions, middle of the night trips to the bathroom, lethargy the following day and everything going along with my problem competely disappeared. Completely.
Bad changes: Finding the source of my problem came with a huge price. MSG is in many, many, many products. Not only in products that say MSG or monosodium glutamate, but in hidden ingredients like textured vegetable protein, spices, broth, and so much more. I found myself, by necessity, in the middle of a complete dietary change. If I wanted to be healthy, no longer could I shop for just anything. In fact, for a diligent few months, I read the ingredient list on each and every product I bought. I had to begin learning to cook from scratch, something I hadn’t done much of previously. I had to learn how to question restaurants, something they still don’t appreciate this many years later. And worst of all, I often had to learn by trial and error the products that are safe for me to eat. Oh, and maybe even worse than that, I had to learn how to politely say no to food offered to me by friends or family when visiting their homes.
But let me say this very loudly: The effort it took to make changes was (and is) completely worth it as opposed to being sick and unhealthy.
And let me say also as loudly: Once the intial work was done and I got used to the new lifestyle, IT’S NOT THAT HARD anymore.
Do I have to cook everything from scratch? No way. But even the things I do cook from scratch don’t take nearly as long as you’d think.
What are some examples of things I can never ever buy again? Campbell’s soups (most soups, really); flavored or seasoned food like chips, stuffing, rice mixes, prepared seasoning packets (taco); many salad dressings; prepared or pre-seasoned meats; anything in a gravy or sauce; dry roasted peanuts; and bottled bbq sauce. These are just examples, the list is long.
I have to be very careful at restaurants to make sure they don’t pre-season meats or sprinkle seasonings other than plain old salt and pepper on my food. Of course, all special sauces and gravies are out, too. Chinese restaurants aren’t the only MSG culprits, believe me!
What can I eat? Almost anything I want as long as I prepare it (or someone else) with MSG-free ingredients. In other words, I can still eat casseroles that call for a can of cream of mushroom soup, I just have to make my own white sauce with mushrooms. I can still eat tacos, I just have to prepare my own taco seasoning. And talk about saving money! I can make about ten packet’s worth of taco seasoning for the cost of one that I might buy in the store. I can still eat stuffing at Thanksgiving dinner. It just has to be old-fashioned homemade stuffing. By the way, the taste of prepackaged stuffing doesn’t come close in comparison!
As far as prepackaged things, there are some companies putting food out there without any hidden MSG. It’s simply a matter of reading the ingredients on every package that goes into the cart. For instance, we don’t buy the name brand french-fried onions, but Walmart’s brand is MSG-free. We can’t buy just any sour cream, but the Daisy brand is natural (and much yummier.)
Have I found acceptable replacements for anything? Like I mentioned before, I have been able to make all my own seasoning mixes for packets that I normally would have bought. Making my own salad dressing is simple, but there are several organic companies that put out yummy MSG-free dressings, too. And I believe the tide might be changing for some of the major companies lately. I’ve been finding more and more products that are safe to eat. 
)
Does eating MSG-free cost more? No. In fact, it usually costs less because I’m not buying nearly as much “convenience food”.
This is just my story. Not everyone reacts to MSG the same way, which you can read about at the MSGmyth website. Either way, whether you react visibly or not, MSG is a nasty little filler that’s only included in your food to enhance the taste so that the manufacturers don’t have to include as much of the real ingredients for taste. That’s pretty sad.
I hope this story helps someone in some way. I’m always happy to answer any questions you have, so bring them on. If you have an MSG story, I’d love to hear it.
For the record, I bought the cookbook from the msgmyth website and it was SUPER helpful when I first began sorting out how to live my “new” life. Also, I plan to post some of my most favorite mix recipes soon since a couple people have asked.
Posted by Cindy on July 16, 2008
Over 100 quarts of beans have been canned, and I’ve decided to stop! But the kitchen was still a busy place one morning last week as Mahayla and I prepared many of our homemade mixes for the year. I’ll be telling you my MSG story one of these days, but basically I can’t have it in any form or fashion. Finding spice mixes and such without MSG is nearly impossible. So, for several years now, we have been making our own mixes.
In less than two hours we made everything from taco seasoning to shake-n-bake mix to Emeril’s BAM. Here are a few pictures from our morning.
I find the cheapest possible spices. Usually, I can find most of what I need for 50 cents to a dollar at Save-A-Lot or Walmart.
I try to recycle old containers as much as possible. Empty spice containers, baking powder containers, oatmeal boxes, sherbet containers and even yogurt containers all work well. If I plan to use something a lot, like pancake mix for instance, I’ll usually designate a hard plastic container (like Rubbermaid) for that mix. Sometimes, I’ll simply use zip top bags.
I always write the name of the mix and directions for using it on the container. That saves a lot of time when using it, so you don’t have to pull out any cookbooks or recipe cards. If you write neatly the first time, the containers can be used over and over again and you will save yourself a lot of work for future mix making days, too.
Although we make other mixes, these are what we accomplished in less than two hours. Really, it was probably closer to one hour’s time. Most of these will last me between six months and a year. We made shake-n-bake, fajita seasoning, not-so-hidden valley ranch mix, cajun seasoning, french and sweet Italian dressing mixes, taco seasoning, a meat rub, chili mix, BAM, and fish fry batter mix. I can’t begin to tell you how much better these taste than most of the pre-packaged mixes and foods you might buy!
What other mixes do we prepare? Pancake mix, biscuit mix, brownie mix, hot cocoa mix… My mind is drawing a blank on others, but we’ve found mix making to be economical and easy. A little preparation in buying the ingredients will keep your pantry well stocked with foods of which you know ALL the ingredients.
Instead of writing a post with my mix recipes, I think I’ll just pass on a few websites to you. If there’s a specific recipe you’d like from me, please let me know and I’ll be happy to post it!!
