Fundies and food

[prairiemuffin]

*My apologies in advance if this has already been discussed, I'm still pretty new to the board.

One of the things I'm most fascinated by is the recurring foods and recipes that seem to always show up in fundie blogs. Candy's latest "week in my kitchen" videos (riveting if you haven't seen them) got me thinking about this, and I'm wondering how this happens.

Some of the major players:

1. Homemade kombucha

2. Homemade yogurt

3. Various frementing and soaking of grains/veggies/etc.

4. Baked oatmeal

Does one blogger post something about the newest, most nutritional EVAH thing on her blog, and others just follow in her footsteps? Is most of this from the NT cookbook, and why is that now the answer to everything? Is there a greater conspiracy at play here?

[ilovetchotchkes]

What fascinates me more are the heavily processed recipes aka the much hated "tater tot casserole".

I find the juxtaposition between "fundy" and "crunchy" kinda hilarious.

[terranova]

I get confused by the obsession some fundies seem to have with apple sauce. Is it an American thing? When I was living in the US as a teenager we had it sometimes, but only with icecream as a pudding. Otherwise I found it borderline inedible.

[emmiedahl]

Is it possible that we are all talking about a different 'applesauce' dish? Because mine is nothing like pudding. I know biscuits = completely different things depending on which side of the Atlantic you call home.

America and England, two countries divided by a common language.

[terranova]

Is it possible that we are all talking about a different 'applesauce' dish? Because mine is nothing like pudding. I know biscuits = completely different things depending on which side of the Atlantic you call home.

America and England, two countries divided by a common language.

I'm talking applesauce from a jar? Tastes like...pureed apples! When I say pudding, I mean dessert (as opposed to a mousse "pudding" type thing), sorry should have corrected that in my original post!

Still don't get the appeal to the fundies though.

[Lillybee]

The appeal could be because apples are usually the cheapest fruit available. I make applesauce but mine is slightly chunky and a lot less sweet than applesauce from a jar.

[Vex]

I'm with ilovetchotchkes, I'm far more interested in the can-based diets/recipes than the healthier, DIY yoghurts ect. Why people buy and use canned veggies for every meal when frozen ones are almost as cheap and aren't gross and salty, I'll never understand.

[emmiedahl]

Applesauce with ice cream seems slightly gross, so I thought maybe you were talking about something else.

I like applesauce, but we don't eat it a lot. Unless you count the baby, of course.

[maybeizfundie]

Homemade applesauce is way better than the jarred stuff. I could be obsessed with that. One year we got ahold of some superb apple that were just the right combination of sweet/tart and it was the most amazing stuff ever. Also, the peels turned it *pink*. Awesome.

Anyhoo, clearly there's a big variance. Some are like the Duggars with heavily processed/canned food diet, and others are the kombucha crunchy sugar-is-from-Satan type. Most are probably somewhere in between the two extremes.

[clibbyjo]

I use applesauce a lot in baked goods. It gives cakes moisture and you don't need to add as much sweetner or oil. My kids like it plain, but I only eat it plain with potato pancakes which is part of my Polish heritage. I have a friend that makes it homemade and its much better than jarred.

I make kombucha and yogurt. Kombucha is really expensive to buy $3-4 a 16oz bottle. I can make 2 gallons for less than that. I haven't made it in a while as my "mother"(giant mushroom looking thing) died and I need a new one.

Yogurt is very easy to make in the crockpot and I make it unsweetened or can add my own sweetners.

You forgot smoothies(made in the Vitamix of course) and dehydrated food, both with are also big in the granola and fundies circles.(and yes, I make both :whistle: )

My fundy sister and I can bond over making healthy food. Its one of the few things we both do and can discuss.

[O Latin]

I think applesauce is maybe one of those things that parents can feed picky eaters to get them to eat healthy food. I know a non-fundie lady who makes a gazillion jars of homemade applesauce every year just because she feels like it.

[bananacat]

I love applesauce. I usually buy the kind without added sugar. It's really common here as a baby food because of the texture, but I'm an adult and I still love it. It lasts for a long time so I always keep some in my pantry for when I'm out of fresh fruit.

I don't understand why fundies are so obsessed with homemade yogurt though. Is the store-bought stuff really that expensive? And if they can only afford milk and not yogurt, why not just drink the milk as milk? I don't even want to know about fermented grains though. And what the heck is baked oatmeal?

[PBrooke]

I think applesauce is more common in the US, yes. It's pretty much never eaten with ice cream, but rather is considered one of those foods that can fit in anywhere - as a breakfast, as something to eat when you're sick, as a snack, as part of lunch, as a dessert, and, from the Brady Bunch, "pork chops and applesauce." When I was growing up it was a staple in school lunches brought from home.

[Deleted03]

I use applesauce a lot in baked goods. It gives cakes moisture and you don't need to add as much sweetner or oil. My kids like it plain, but I only eat it plain with potato pancakes which is part of my Polish heritage. I have a friend that makes it homemade and its much better than jarred.

I make kombucha and yogurt. Kombucha is really expensive to buy $3-4 a 16oz bottle. I can make 2 gallons for less than that. I haven't made it in a while as my "mother"(giant mushroom looking thing) died and I need a new one.

Yogurt is very easy to make in the crockpot and I make it unsweetened or can add my own sweetners.

You forgot smoothies(made in the Vitamix of course) and dehydrated food, both with are also big in the granola and fundies circles.(and yes, I make both :whistle: )

My fundy sister and I can bond over making healthy food. Its one of the few things we both do and can discuss.

ooooooo ok I'm thick, I used to make kefir, but was too much for me alone (have to drink it every few days) but I never thought of trying kombucha (incredibly expensive!) will have to look for that! However I had started my kefir because some crunchy friend gave it to me, and I'm the crunchier of my network here in the US lol

I love applesauce :D I like it unsweetened since my mom used to make it like that. But I never make it myself, it's just too time consuming to people those apples and then you never get that much of it anyway :P I like it with bread (hey I'm French!) I eat it alone and I put in cakes too - that's a vegan trick!

And I think people eat veggies in a can because it seems easier to prepare and they don't know frozen veggies are cheaper. My mom used to buy a lot of veggies in cans too. Now she discovered they're cheaper frozen, she buys them frozen. But many people would never go outside of their comfort zone unless someone advise them too... Have you ever tried to have kefir at home? to make kombucha? I think personnally that it's the exact same process, only you're starting with a wider base of knowledge of ingredients!

My next step is to make beans from scratch :P and maybe look for the kombucha mother. I'm sure I can share it with my roomie.

[prairiemuffin]

I find the juxtaposition between "fundy" and "crunchy" kinda hilarious.

See, and this is where I really enjoy looking at this. Honestly, most of my family/friends and I are pretty "crunchy" ourselves, and I what I find so interesting is that in most of the blogs I read, the crunchiness is just always a bit off.

Ex: big focus on soaking grains and fermentation, but then their meal plans have hardly any lean protein, vegetables, or fruits.

Or: all produce, dairy, etc is organic only, but then a huge focus of meals is pre-packaged stuff. So you've got your glass of organic milk and some organic strawberries along with your hamburger helper and wonderbread.

[liltwinstar]

A lot of commercial yogurt has a lot of sugar, stabilizers, gelatins, etc in it (at least in the US). I think folks who make their own like to control the ingredients in the yogurt. Also, I personally think homemade yogurt or commercial plain Greek yogurt tastes way, way better than the overly sweetened stuff.

My mom used to make yogurt all the time when I was a kid, apparently.

[Lainey]

Sausages and applesauce...mmmm! Like Clibby, I use it in baking, too.

[TMS]

Candy has claimed to be a NT follower for years. I think that's where all the fermenting, soaking, etc., comes from.

However, for those of us who followed her short stint on SparkPeople, we know better. Candy lives on Taco Bell, KFC, and Mountain Dew, all the while posting fake healthy recipes and spouting off about eating healthy on her blog. She's a complete hypocrite.

[sacrilicious]

I'm a little crunchy so the recipes are one of the more interesting things for me to read on those types of blogs. I think for many, though, it goes beyond eating healthy and into a lot of the DIY so you don't have to conform and rely on the ebil government type of thinking.

I have an easy single-serve applesauce recipe. Core an apple (you don't have to peel it) and put it in a bowl. You can fill the middle up with sugar if you like, and then pour in a bit of water or applejuce to cover the bottom on the apple around the outside. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave. I'm not sure of the time anymore, but you could try 1 minute intervals until the apple starts getting really soft and droopy. When it is ready the peel comes off super easy and you can mash it all up with the sugar and juice and it's a perfect chunky consistency.

[clibbyjo]

ooooooo ok I'm thick, I used to make kefir, but was too much for me alone (have to drink it every few days) but I never thought of trying kombucha (incredibly expensive!) will have to look for that! However I had started my kefir because some crunchy friend gave it to me, and I'm the crunchier of my network here in the US lol

I love applesauce :D I like it unsweetened since my mom used to make it like that. But I never make it myself, it's just too time consuming to people those apples and then you never get that much of it anyway :P I like it with bread (hey I'm French!) I eat it alone and I put in cakes too - that's a vegan trick!

And I think people eat veggies in a can because it seems easier to prepare and they don't know frozen veggies are cheaper. My mom used to buy a lot of veggies in cans too. Now she discovered they're cheaper frozen, she buys them frozen. But many people would never go outside of their comfort zone unless someone advise them too... Have you ever tried to have kefir at home? to make kombucha? I think personnally that it's the exact same process, only you're starting with a wider base of knowledge of ingredients!

My next step is to make beans from scratch :P and maybe look for the kombucha mother. I'm sure I can share it with my roomie.

Now I really need a mother to make kombucha! I just drank a whole bottle of kombucha and I HATE paying that kind of money for 1 drink!!! I also want to try kefir now, how different can it be from homemade yogurt? I was supposed to make yogurt today, but they kids drank the whole milk I bought for it. It is very simple:put milk(I think its 8 cups a crockpot.cook for a few hours on low,add store bought yogurt, turn off crock, let sit overnight wrapped in towels.Done. A friend on FB gave me her recipe,I have made it about 5 times.

[keen23]

Applesauce is one of my kids favorite snacks. I usually get the no sugar added kinds. I know it's not "super healthy" but it's better than fruit snacks or chips for a snack.

[Kitty]

I like to add cinnamon to my applesauce. I'm not overly fond of apples, but I'll eat applesauce if there's any cinnamon around.

[doe]

Another yogurt maker here. I'm staring down a bottle of non homogenized milk and thinking about another batch.. Also love my green smoothies.

I get what prairiemuffin is saying about the trend of these blogs, and I don't think it's as simple as the bloggers just wanting to eat healthy. I've seen a lot of vilifying of dairy, gluten, sugar, cooked foods, etc. I'm not talking about allergies/intolerance or even the simple belief that some things are better for us than others, but there's a mentality that connects restricted/crunchy eating to God and how he wants people to eat. Add a dollop of guilt trip, and you've got a complete breakfast.

[Jessica]

Candy has claimed to be a NT follower for years. I think that's where all the fermenting, soaking, etc., comes from.

However, for those of us who followed her short stint on SparkPeople, we know better. Candy lives on Taco Bell, KFC, and Mountain Dew, all the while posting fake healthy recipes and spouting off about eating healthy on her blog. She's a complete hypocrite.

She also does weird things like serve "home fries" along with spaghetti (with celery in the sauce. CELERY!!!) or "smoothies" that are a quart of yogurt with half a banana and 2 or 3 strawberries... She's SO weird!

[CynicMom]

Please post your homemade yogurt recipes here! Any advice on making homemade greek yogurt?