Starting to blog again

I am back!  Ready to share gardening, recipes and stories. First up, I am going to do a 30 day challenge my friend told me about last week.  She found it on http://www.unconventionalkitchen.com/30-day-challenge/. I am excited to do it since I have lost my green smoothie mojo. Also, since having major surgery in October-my metabolism is all jacked up, my anemia has returned with vengeance and I need more energy to keep up with my kids this summer!

Let the gardening begin! 

What's been going on...

Well what has been happening...Well my dad had a massive stroke in the spring. My dad who is very healthy, rides his bike everyday, walks,exercises and eats right had a stroke that left his left side paralyzed. So I spent most of summer helping take care of him. He was getting better and he had a set back, went to skilled nursing and they cut all his therapy off. Then last month I had emergency surgery for a hernia and twisted stomach. It is a very evasive surgery and taking a long time to recover. So needless to say, blogging hasn't been a big priority. But something I did want to share, after I came home from the hospital I juiced greens everyday. My incision healed so quickly, my surgeon took my staples out a week early. Did the yummy green juice make my incision heal faster, I have no proof. but I'm sure it didn't hurt.

Finally!!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, a local grocery store has a juice counter and they are now offering green juice. I am counting on getting juice here on the fly for my upcoming juice feast. I went in today, and the juicer is broken! They are waiting on a part and it could up to 2 weeks to reopen. Wow, that threw a wrench into my plans. I did get a coupon for a free large when they open, so all it not lost.

Planning for a juice feast is a lot of work! I plowing through raw cookbooks, websites and asking friends for recipes. I am planning to do 3 days of only juicing, the next 3 days smoothies and blended soups and the final 4 days adding all raw foods.

I am going to borrow a Champion juicer from a friend while she is on vacation. I have never used that type of juicer so it will be fun to see the difference in juice.

This man may have just convinced me to do a juice feast!

I was lucky enough to hear Dave the Raw Food Trucker speak this week at a local raw meet up.That is right, a raw vegan organic truck driver.  He has an amazing story of healing years of health problems with raw organic juices. You can hear his story on YouTube or at http://www.daveconrardy.com

I have been playing around with raw foods for about 3+ years. Although I am not vegan or even vegetarian, I do believe that raw foods is a path to try for healing the body. I have done several challenges over the years -high raw for 30 days, daily smoothies for 9 months and adding green juices into my everyday life, I  never thought I could do a juice feast. It actually overwhelms me a little. But I have a few health issues I would like to address and feel now (after hearing Dave speak) is the time to do it. I mean if this man could commit to juicing for 90 days on the road, I can do it from my home. Now seems like the perfect time to do it with produce being so plentiful in Ohio right now. So in the morning off to the farmers' market with a list of juice recipes and produce needed. I will also be stopping at my favorite food raw vendor and purchasing some yummies. Stay tuned.

Back to juicing!

The produce is in. We participate in a local organic produce co-op  as well subscribe to Green B.E.A.N. It is a weekly service that delivers produce to our door. 

I never realize how crowded my counter tops are until I see photos of them.

These are some of my favorite ingredients to juice. Add cukes to the mix and you have the perfect drink. 

It always looks like a green bomb went off in  my kitchen when I juice. 

I love to juice. If it weren't so time consuming to clean everything up, I would juice more. Lately I have been going to a newer grocery store that offers fresh raw fruit juice. Although it's not on the menu, I request green juice every time. Finally, they have been keeping kale, cukes, celery and broccoli in the case. I know I am not the only requesting the green juice, but I like to think I am part of the reason they started doing that.  

It's My Most Favorite Time of the Year

Okay, maybe it is just one of my favorite times of the year. The farmers' markets are open. I love it. My family and I went yesterday and came home with some yummy peas, some tasty treats from some raw vendors and gluten free goodies for the kiddos. Of course, I forgot to take pictures.

I did remember to take pictures of our trip to the U Pick It strawberry farm. The strawberries here in Ohio came in about 2 weeks early and they were so red and tasty. It only took 20 minutes to pick 9 full quarts of red ripe berries. I am not sure how many we ate but none of us were hungry when we left. 

Smoothie ready.

So red and juicy!

To be honest, he did most of the picking. 

I only ate one.  

Next week I will remember to take plenty of pictures at our local market.

Back to blogging!

Hello! Where has the time gone?? I have been attending our local raw meet ups over the past few months and tried some fun recipes. Right now I am participating in a raw challenge to be 30 days raw in the month of January. It is going well. I also gave up coffee almost 3 weeks ago. That was much harder than eating raw. I still miss her, my friend coffee but I am less cranky. I am not sure the 2 are related but I will take it!
One of the pot lucks I attended was a pizza making class. The food was delicious and the company was great. Here is a couple of pics of the fresh live food.