Rotate your greens

I posted earlier about HULK JUICE!! Hulk juice is a great way to add greens to your children's diets.  If you are making them regularly its important that you rotate the greens you use.  Instead of blending the same recipe over and over again, try mixing it up.  Did you know there are several different types of Kale leaves and several different colors of chard-red, yellow, and green (look for rainbow chard).  There's also collard greens, dandelion leaves, watercress, and many more green leafy vegetables. 

 

today's recipe was a good one.  We made a green smoothie by using frozen fruit.

3 frozen apricots
3 frozen strawberries
1 banana
1 frozen pear
 2 tomato
2 collard greens
4 carrots
 4 chard leaves-yellow
  4 red kale leaves
handful of frozen blueberries
filled blender 2/3 apple juice
blended very well

This is a big recipe that feeds 6 people 1 1/2 cups each.  I usually fill my blender 3/4 of the way full of greens.

This drink was suprisingly good.  I thought the kids would reject it because it had vegetables.  The pear was so sweet that i think I found my new favorite thing to add to shakes.  PEARS!! I never thought to try.

Remember you can use fresh fruits instead of frozen and then use ice.  Since I don't have an ice maker anymore I've been freezing my own fruit and using it for shakes.  Anytime my kids eat only 1/2 a banana or apple, I throw it into the freezer for shakes.

OH so BUSY!! How Do I possibly make good food?

The past 3 weeks I've been completely slammed with deadlines at work, studying/taking the GRE, and a million other things.  If I was okay with feeding my kids fast food, this would have been the time to do it for sure.  But since I can't stand the thought of processed foods I had to really be creative and organized.  Here's a suggestion for everyone.

Spend one day a week making food for the week.  I cooked on Saturday mornings about 4 or 5 meals to pull out of the fridge during the week for lunch or dinner.

Try making soups, lentils or beans, bread, rice, chili, stir fry, teriyaki chicken, or salad toppers to mix into a salad.  Every pan in my house was dirty but I spent about 3 hours cooking and cleaning up.  The great thing was I had food for the whole week.

 Instead of using the microwave, use a pan.  Nutrients are damaged when you reheat in the microwave.

Organize your kitchen

I am able to whip up good wholesome foods quickly because my kitchen is set up to do so. All the ingredients are easy to get to and available. It's easy to get to my bowls and pots or pans.  When things are down in the storage room or in the clear, far back of the cupboard we are less likely to dig around to get to it. Human nature I guess. I know I'm a culprit of this for sure. I don't have a lot of time. I work everyday, usually 30 hours a week. I have 4 children who demand every second after school with piano, dance, basketball, scouts, homework (ahhh... the homework). Most of the time I have 20 minutes to prepare dinner. Remember, I make everything from scratch. I don't use boxes or mixes or processed foods. Things in my kitchen are organized and easy to get to. If I know I'm wanting to have beans the next day, I'll soak them overnight and then start cooking them in the morning. I have general meal ideas already set up so the ingredients are already either in the fridge or in my cupboard. It's important to have plenty of the basics; onions, garlic, and herbs (see post about herbs).

Find a system that works for you. One thing I've always tried to do is plan ahead. If I see the flour bucket low, I'll grind the wheat before I need it. If I see that my jars of nuts or grains are getting low, I'll refill them before I need it. This is primarily what I do on Sat when I'm doing my deep cleaning in the kitchen. This is really how I can be so successful with preparing good food with very little time. Here's a few pics of my kitchen.  Try having open shelves. I love it.   I also keep everything in jars or cans; so I don't have to worry about mice getting into them or plastic leaching.  I also like how it looks. 

 

Here's my pantry cupboard.  Everything is marked and easy to find.  All my baking products, nuts, seeds, grains, beans, legumes etc. go in here.  I have larger buckets of them in my storage room but have these in my pantry for easy access  

AHHH the CRAVINGS!!!!

Have you ever been craving something all day and can't quite satisfy it? Do your cravings bounce back and forth between wanting salty foods to sweet foods. For example, you start breakfast with a donut or sugar cereal and pretty soon your rummaging through the cupboards for something salty a few hours later. So you eat some potato chips and awhile later you start craving something sweet. And the cycle continues.
 Or maybe you can't stop eating because nothing seems to satisfy your appetite. Both of these scenarios should mean something to you.

ALL SIGNS LEADING TO VITAMIN DEFICIENCY!

Your body is telling you there's a deficiency in something. This is a perfect time to blend up some greens and make some hulk juice. The alkalinity in the greens will balance out the extreme cravings caused by too many acid forming foods. So get yourself a salad or some vegetables or drink a green drink. Try it. It works for me every time. WARNING: Pretty soon you will no longer be satisfied with foods without lots of nutrients. Your body will crave the nutrients. This could change you forever.  ARE YOU READY FOR THIS? :)

the new and improved me

When you feel good... When you can exercise hard . .. When you can see the results of your efforts . . . Life is Awesome! 


I wake up everyday so grateful to be alive and healthy.  I've been truly blessed. I am so happy to have been healed from sickness and disease.  I spent so many years physically and emotionally sick. Through diet, herbs, exercise and the Lord's tender mercies,  I've been able to change and be healed.   I'm healthy and strong now. I'm never turning back.  I'm becoming the person I want to be.  I can do things physically that I could never have done before like beat my brother-in-law in a push up contest doing guy push ups (and no he's not a weakling-i'm just buff :) or run 5 miles in less than 50 minutes. Or do 3 pull ups!! Wow! That doesn't sound like much, but for me, it's freakin awesome..  I've dropped 5 dress sizes.  I went from a size 9 to a size 4 and lost over 10 lbs.


Here's me last year... What a babe!!!

                                               Me now!!

You can do it too.  Start with your nutrition.  When you give your body what it needs, you'll feel so much energy that all you'll want to do is workout.  The food I eat fuels my body and it feels great. Experiment on what foods give you energy and what foods make you tired and sleepy.  Stick with the foods that provide the most energy; foods like: whole grains, vegetables, and lean proteins. 

Next step on my journey... a seriously ripped abdomen and maybe climb a rope.  Flashback to high school... I was the geek who never could climb the stupid rope.  Where's a rope for me now to redeem my scrawny, geeky self.

Promise all this healthy stuff will help you be a better influence for the children in your life.  I used to wonder how my kids had so much energy.  I can keep up with them now.  They learn their eating habits from me and it's up to me to set a good example for them.  Not only that, my kids will learn to have self control when they see me practicing it daily.  2009 was my year! Make 2010 yours!  Do it for them!

My Quinoa & Curry Recipe

Have you heard of grains like millet, couscous, pearled barley, quinoa, and amaranthe.  These are just a few of the whole grains that I love and use often.  There are so many vitamins and minerals found in these whole grains that are hard to get in the average American diet.  Try cooking with these instead of plain rice.  I love making curry and quinoa.  Here's one of my all time favorite recipes I came up with.
Cook Quinoa in a pan.  Follow the directions for cooking.  Use 2 cups of water for 1 cup of Quinoa.

In a large fry pan ...
Add 1 T of Coconut Oil (this is perfect to handle the high heat)
Add 1 onion diced.
Saute in pan for a few minutes on high heat.

Add vegetables (start with veggies that need more cook time)
start with: Cauliflower, Carrots, Squash, Sweet Potatoes etc.. I use whatever I've got in my fridge.
saute for a few minutes
add in: green beans, sugar snap peas, broccoli, red peppers (a must), zucchini, etc

Simmer in pan for several minutes.  I add 2 or 3 T of water and close the lid.  Simmer for a few more minutes.  I don't like my veggies mushy, I enjoy them a bit crispy.

Add 1/2 cup or can of black beans.

Add herbs...I use fresh tarragon, basil, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and curry (probably 1 T). Careful it's spicy so use to taste.

Mix with Quinoa.  Add sesame seeds or sunflower seeds.

You can serve it on salad or eat it plain.  I like it with tortilla chips.  Perfect with chicken or steak if you eat meat.  You can eat it hot or cold.  Add tomatoes and avocado.  There's so many options.

BENEFITS of using Quinoa:

1. An excellent source of iron, magnesium, potassium, phosporus, and zinc.
2. Good source of B-complex vitamins.
3. High in Protein. 

I buy mine thru Azure Standard at www.azurestandard.com.  or Sunflower Market or Any health food store.

Got Milk?

I'm so grateful for all the different options for milk.  I use a variety in my kitchen.  Gotta say I'm not a big fan of goats milk.  I know it's good for me which should make me want to drink it but I had to draw the line somewhere. I just couldn't gag it down.   

My fridge has the following milks in it.  

I read somewhere that over 75% of Americans are allergic to cow's milk.  Not sure how they come up with these stats but nonetheless as I'm thinking about my own family, there's 6 of us and 5 of us, for sure, cannot tolerate cow's milk.  In my extended family the numbers are probably the same.  Signs of allergies (especially look for these in your children) are: clearing mucous from throat a lot, snorting (don't you hate the sound of kids snorting?  It drives me nuts!), lines under eyes, darkness under eyes, excema, rashes, and WARNING kind of grosse but red rings around the bum area.  If you notice any of these signs after having milk it's a good indication that there's some sensitivities to it.  Some of you might feel worried because you love milk and your kids love milk.  We used to be the same way.  But no need to worry when there's such great alternatives.  Here's how I use the different kinds of milk.

• rice milk--I make pancakes, waffles, shakes, put it on cereal, etc.  This is our main source of milk.  Did you know that there's the same amount of Calcium in rice milk as there is in Cow's milk?  And vita D.  I get the enriched organic kind from Costco.  Cheapest price!  Start here if you haven't tried different milks before.  Your kids won't be able to tell a difference.
• almond milk--I get the chocolate kind for protein shakes.  I also get the unsweetened original kind.  It's the best because it's not sweet making it taste more like cow's milk.  I especially love this with granola. It's kind of expensive.  It's cheaper to make it and really not too difficult or time consuming.  Maybe I'll blog about that soon.
• soy milk-- When I'm working out hard I use some soy because it's high in protein, however, I don't use very much. It's just not that good for you. Too much soy can trigger migraines, effects the estrogen/progesterone balance.  Use soy milk sparingly and make sure it's of an organic source.  It's absolutely disgusting how soy is processed.
• Organic Cow's milk-- I still buy a gallon of organic milk 2 times a month because Spanky likes it.  She doesn't show any adverse reactions to it. Portamus Prime and Bubbles are definitely allergic.  They sniff and snort and drive me crazy if they ever drink it. I'm also allergic to it.  I used to wake up everyday with hardened boogies in my nose and a sore throat.  No joke every morning.  Since going off milk I wake up with a clear voice and nose.    

If you're going to get milk, be sure it's organic.  

• I've done lots of research on dairy farms.  Most of them especially the large companies (meadow gold, walmart, etc) treat the cows REALLY bad.  Not only that the drugs and hormones are severly affecting Americans.  So you'll spend a couple extra dollars but it's well worth it knowing you aren't giving your children the growth hormones--another reason for the estrogen/progesterone balance to get off.

So what do you say?  Set a goal to try a different milk this week.   If you're eating whole grains and vegetables and drinking the hulk juice, trust me you're getting all the Calcium you need.  If you start using alternative milk sources with very young children, they grow up not having a clue.  Tallyoop (my 3 yr old has no clue about cow's milk. She's only had rice and almond milk.  Same with Bubbles (my 4 yr old).  Remember even if there is no sensitivities to dairy, one could easily transpire when used too much and too often.  We need to rotate the things we eat and drink.