Kickin' it with Karen : Beyond Sauerkraut

"Just a simple sauerkraut without all the fancy stuff, please".  Kickin' it with Karen: Beyond Sauerkraut   A colleague of mine asked me if she could buy some sauerkraut from me. How strange. I never thought anyone would want to buy something made in my kitchen. But, she really wants the natural, fermented probiotics that are bioavailable in a quality sauerkraut and the only place she knows where to get it is from Whole Foods (EXPENSIVE) and well... from me. Probiotics are so important for our gut health. As a reminder from my previous sauerkraut post, "Probiotics are the good bacteria that line the intestines and help break down food and help your body absorb nutrients as well as help regulate and increase energy". We need probiotics to support our immune system and regulate our metabolism (Axe). For my colleague, I am glad to oblige. But it is so easy, anybody can do it. There are a thousand and one million hundred gazillion recipes out there in ...

Kickin' it with Karen: Beyond Sauerkraut If you read my last post, you know that the gift giving season is very important for me for one specific reason. As young children, my dear sister and I would make gifts and spend hours happily giggling away as we haphazardly wrapped them with the tape all wonky and the corners sticking up and not really folded where the box had a corner or an edge. Again, the holidays are here and  I rejoice in my memories of my sister, but I miss her so much.  Forty-nine is too young to pass on. However, I was given the gift of those 49 years and I have memories to carry me through another year. So, in my sisters honor, I will make gifts. Not drawings or cut out dolls,  but non-toxic homemade gifts that my colleagues, friends and family can make use of everyday.  As I said in my last post, I believe in gifts with a purpose. I also believe in gifts from the HEART 💖 and not from the wallet. Winter is long here in Minnesota. Right...

I was addicted to antiperspirants. All I wanted was to make sure I didn't have pit stains and I didn't stink. As a dancer, sweating is a fact of life. If your gonna dance, your gonna sweat. But I wanted to do it in a "Lady-Like" fashion and not pit out all of my clothes. Although, there were rumors abound suggesting that store bought deodorants, and especially antiperspirants, caused breast cancer and Alzheimers,  I was not inclined to care. I knew that the research available did not confirm that antiperspirants were the cause of such deadly diseases(Klotz et.al.).  However,  there was enough research that said that over-exposure to heavy metals such as aluminum is toxic and potentially dangerous (ATSDR - Aluminum). Aside from the heavy metals, there are other irritants such as propylene glycol. Propylene glycol, found in antifreeze, is a synthetic liquid that absorbs water. In most personal care products, it is used as humectant and emulsifier (McCay et.al.) Freq...

Kickin' it with Karen: Beyond Sauerkraut So, I am not only a Kitchen Goddess experimenting with ferments, gluten free recipes, and recipes where I can replace chicken eggs with duck eggs. I am also a teacher at a large high school in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I teach dance and English. I know, that's an odd combination. Most people who have dual licenses to teach, teach English and Social Studies, or Science and Math. But it just so happens, I was a dancer in my first career - I had earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theater with Emphasis in Dance from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. After U.W.S.P.  I spent ten long hungry years dancing and touring with African dance companies on the East Coast as well as building my own dance company called "Sisters: women of common ancestry" . Though it was a life full of travel and excitement, it was also a life full of HUNGER. I was dancing 6-8 hours a day, and I am telling you - there is not enough food in ...