Flax Seed...is one of those things that I came across when my first son was a baby. I started mixing into his baby food just to give him some extra nutritional value. We didn't give him meat until he was able to chew it himself so I was concerned that he wasn't getting enough protein, fiber and iron so I adjusted my menu for him and one of the things I added was flax seed.

Tips for using, buying, and storing flaxseed

    * Buy it ground or grind it yourself. Flaxseed, when eaten whole, is more likely to pass through the intestinal tract undigested, which means your body doesn't get all the healthful components. If you want to grind flaxseed yourself ,try an electric coffee grinders work great!



    * Buy either brown or golden flaxseed. Golden flaxseed is easier on the eyes, but brown flaxseed is easier to find in most supermarkets.

    * Check the product label. When buying products containing flaxseed, check the label to make sure ground flaxseed, not whole flaxseed, was added. Flaxseed is a featured ingredient in cereals, pasta, whole grain breads and crackers, energy bars, meatless meal products, and snack foods.

    * Add flaxseed to a food you habitually eat. Every time you have a certain food, like oatmeal, smoothies, soup, or yogurt, stir in a couple tablespoons of ground flaxseed. Soon it will be a habit and you won’t have to think about it, you’ll just do it.

    * Hide flaxseed in dark, moist dishes. The dishes that hide flaxseed the best usually have a darkly colored sauces or meat mixtures. No one tends to notice flaxseed when it's stirred into enchilada casserole, chicken Parmesan, chili, beef stew, meatloaf or meatballs. For a 4-serving casserole, you can usually get away with adding 2-4 tablespoons of ground flaxseed. For a dish serving 6-8, use 4-8 tablespoons.

    * Use it in baking. Substitute ground flaxseed for part of the flour in recipes for quick breads, muffins, rolls, bread, bagels, pancakes, and waffles. Try replacing 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the flour with ground flaxseed if the recipe calls for 2 or more cups of flour.

    * Keep it in the freezer. The best place to store ground flaxseed is the freezer. Freeze pre-ground flaxseed in the bag you bought it in, or in a plastic sealable bag if you ground it yourself. The freezer will keep the ground flax from oxidizing and losing its nutritional potency.



    * Whole flaxseed keeps longer. The outside shell in whole flaxseed appears to keep the fatty acids inside well protected. It’s a good idea to keep your whole flaxseed in a dark, cool place until you grind it. But as long as it is dry and of good quality, whole flaxseed can be stored at room temperature for up to a year.

Benefits of Flax Seed Meal

Flaxseeds' omega-3 fats are far from all this exceptional food has to offer. The Benefits of Flaxseed in your meal provides a very good source of fiber that can lower cholesterol levels in people with atherosclerosis and diabetic heart disease, reduce the exposure of colon cells to cancer-causing chemicals, relieve the constipation or diarrhea of irritable bowel syndrome sufferers, and help stabilize blood sugar levels in diabetic patients. Flax seed meals are also a good source of magnesium, which helps to reduce the severity of asthma by keeping airways relaxed and open, lowers high blood pressure and reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke in people with atherosclerosis and diabetic heart disease, prevents the blood vessel spasm that leads to migraine attacks, and generally promotes relaxation and restores normal sleep patterns. 

(from www.flaxseedshop.com)


Food that I add flax seed to

Pasta sauce

Oatmeal

Smoothies

Yogurt

Pudding

PBJ

Pancake mix

French toast egg mixture

meatloaf

hamburgers

cereal

homemade Popsicles

eggs

muffins

cakes

cookies

brownies

just about anything...what do you add flax seed to?