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.

Real food vs fake food

I sent the following letter to The Food Network today after watching the program Hungry Girl. Lisa Lillien is very popular with the Weight Watcher world and weight loss community. Let me know what you think, was I too harsh or not harsh enough.

I just watched your program Hungry Girl and the first thing that comes to mind after viewing it, no wonder she is hungry, she did not use one real ingredient of food in her dishes. I believe I did see a tablespoon or two of chocolate chips and 12 raspberries. But that was it.


Lisa makes Sandra Lee look like an Iron Chef. The recipes (which term I use loosely) look like they are taken straight from the late 1980's. I half expected her to introduce The Go-go's at the end of the segment. I understand her demographic, she appeals to masses because she wants the "goodies and treats" every day. When the truth is the reason people want this "stuff" everyday is because it's not real food. The subsitutes for sugar and fat are addictive because they do not satisfy, creating a desire for more. When we use real food ingredients and small portions we are satisfied and we may not crave desserts every day, maybe weekly.


She also answered a question about organic foods and if they have less calories. She said no. Which is true when speaking about processed foods, but she could have added that organic produce is better when using the raspberries that she used at the end of the program.


I did like that she addressed what a real portion size looks like.


I am surprised that this program would be on The Food Network. It seems it would be a better fit for one of those shows where 5 women sit around and complain about today's' topics and then end their show with a segment on how women can be thinner.

A birthday gift

I was super excited to get this t-shirt for my birthday!

The end of the cleanse

I am wrapping up my cleanse and I indulged in wine and other triggers this weekend and I feel awful. I did not juice Saturday or Sunday and I can totally tell.  I stayed in bed an extra hour, feel sluggish and overall just tired. So last night I headed back to the neighborhood co-op to pick up some of my favorite raw/cleansing yummies. Bubbie's pickles, raw onion bread and some sprouts. I am going to double up on green juice today and ask my body for forgiveness. I will continue to juice in the morning now that I see what happens when I don't. Also I have lost my mojo for coffee. I think that I really want the sugar/syrup that Starbucks offers in my Venti French Roast.

Although I didn't do exactly what Kris suggested, I really did have some great results from the cleanse.
I lost 12 pounds, realized that I really do have an addiction to sugar and I love green juice. (Which I already knew but it was reinforced). I wish I was better about blogging every day but it's not in me.

I am planning to this 21 cleanse again in July.  But this time I plan to do it with a group of people.

Day 9

My juice was dark green today. Out of apples so I put in carrots for sweetness, not the same. I add also the one lemon. The combo was OK but not the best I have ever had.
I used baby romaine, kale, celery, cucumber, ginger, carrots and lemon. I really missed my apple.

A new favorite

Soaked kelp noodles



Crack like spicy "peanut" sauce



My rainbow of veggies cukes, red cabbage, carrots, red & yellow peppers

Chopped nappa cabbage

Topped with kelp noodles-pour yummy crack sauce, I mean peanut sauce over salad.



Try not to eat it in all one sitting.

So the second week is going well. I have had some sugar and have seen negative effects from it. Sluggish, crabby and craving returned with the sugar. So goodbye to you.
I made this veggies, kelp noodle, spicy almond sauce and could not stay of of the sauce. So good!

A look at my garden

Romaine

Kale beautiful kale

Mint

My first fruit of the season

Both flat and curly parsley

Red cabbage

Basil my second love after kale

Here's some pictures I took this morning in my garden. Enjoy.

Week 1 wrap up

Well I have been meat, alcohol, sugar, caffeine and gluten free for a week. The biggest change has been the jumping out of bed in the morning instead of my usual lay there for 30-60 minutes before letting my feet hit the floor. My energy level is better although I still have a logy time in the afternoon. I am having some muscle pains that I have not had before. Is this some form of detox or is this my age? :)
I will have to say that meals are difficult as I am still preparing 2  meals for dinner for the rest of my family in the house. Prep time is taking up a lot of my time. But I feel pretty good. I really need to add more exercise into my routine.

Day 5

I woke up early. My husband made the comment that I am not only up early but my eyes are awake. It's true before I would lay in bed for at least an hour before getting up. Now when I wake up, I get out of bed right away. So far this is the biggest change I have noticed. I also think I am a bit of a  sugar addict. My mood has been all over the place. Today I didn't eat much and I wasn't real hungry until almost bed time. I am trying to be in bed by 11:30 at the latest. I am getting 7 hours of sleep every night which is perfect for me. The green juice is really helping with the caffeine withdrawal. I have been drinking water with lemon every morning as soon as I get up. I have been drinking my juice later than I would like do to others still being in bed early and I do not want to start the juicer and wake the dead. So I get everything ready and when all are up, I start that baby up. I also make myself clean the juicer before I drink the juice. Does anyone else do that? It's like a reward for me.
Here is the broccoli pate I made the other day.
The ingredients include: broccoli, tahini, ground flax seed, onion, garlic. It was pretty good. I think I put too much onion in and it got stronger the next day. I put it on Nori with peppers, sprouts and cukes and wrapped it up.

Day 2/3/4

Before

After

So I can't post everyday. But here's what has been happening with the cleanse.
 Day 2 went pretty well, I ate the same food as the day before. I started craving coffee this day. I woke up at 6:45am -really early for me. I went to bed at 11:30.

Day 3 was a little more difficult. I really started craving coffee and I believe sugar. I use cream and sweeteners with my java.  So I think that I wanted the sugar as much as my coffee. I was super crabby. I woke up early again. I started getting a headache and I had some tummy trouble. Which I believe to be detox.

Day 4 I woke up at 6 am. I see a pattern here. I think this might be the lack of sugar in  my system. I wonder if I am in a food coma every night and that is the reason I found it so difficult to get out of bed before. I went out with some friends and refrained from alcohol and bad food. Which was easier than I thought it would be. I am drinking green juice everyday, no gluten, alcohol, caffeine, meat and sugar. I had a little dairy the first day but none since. I need to get more water in. I am trying to plan what to eat daily to avoid old habits and grabbing something fast that might not be the best choice to help me cleanse.
I am glad that I made the raw cheeze its as they are great for my crunchy fix.
Here's what I am planning to make tomorrow.
Creamy Tomato Soup from Earth Mother on Raw Food Rehab

4 tomatoes, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 avocado
1/2 onion, chopped

2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped

2 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp agave
salt & minced hot peppers to taste

Combine ingredients in a blender and pulse until the desired consistency is reached – creamy or slightly chunky, as you prefer.

Grapefruit with hemp seed

Raw Cheeze Its

Day 1

Here's how the day went
Lemon water upon rising
1 Red Ruby grapefruit with a sprinkling of hemp seed
Over priced Green Juice at a juice bar $7! yikes Kale, parsley, carrots and pear

Lunch
Broccoli tahini pate from Raw Food Revolution --Yummy
Banana
Snacking on Raw Cheeze-its in the dehydrator (I hope there are some left at the end of the day)

OK dinner didn't go as planned.  I planned to make a raw soup but I went with the kids and friends bowling. I ate some of the black bean nachos. I had a little sour cream that I was not planning to eat but I am not beating myself over it.
I had a raw cacao macaroon for a evening snack.

I went to bed @ 11:30. Which is 2 hours earlier than usual. I took a walk. No coffee. No meat. I didn't meditate/pray for 20 minutes, it was closer to 5. I have to work on that.

So I thought day 1 went well. I didn't take pictures but I promise to today. Have a great day!

Ready to raw and roll

Upon waking I went to weight myself, battery is dead in the scale. Oh well, I had weighed in last week, so I will use that number. Filled glass of water with lemon, turning on computer and had problems posting in the comments of this blog. Checked e-mails, keyboard froze on AOL. I am beginning to hate AOL. Is this sabotage?  Maybe but I am not letting this spoil my mood this morning. I am focused and committed to see the 21 days through, so bring it!

Pre-cleanse thoughts

The question people ask me when I tell them I am about to cleanse is "why". I also hear I can't give up _______. Well my new answer is "It's taken 2 years to get here, but I am actually looking forward to it". I have had several health problems over the past few years so now food and diet is not just about losing weight for me anymore. Actually I don't care about the scale or the numbers anymore. I pay attention to it but it does cause me stress or fear any longer.

You know the old saying never talk about sex, religion and politics at social gatherings, I think you have to add diet to that. We love our food and do not think about taking it away from us. I am lumping coffee and alcohol in this group as well. People get very passionate about their diet. Whether they are on a restrictive diet or not. Ask anyone who is Gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian and just tries to eat a whole food/organic life style.

Hey I am not looking forward to not having Starbucks for 3 weeks. I may go there for a herbal tea but I love coffee. But I want to feel better. I want to have energy. I want to be focused. So if that means abstaining from a few vices for 21 days, I am all in.

Getting excited to cleanse for the next 21 days

The countdown begins! My friend and I are gearing up for this challenge. We have talked about scheduling colonics at the same time. I know, people might think that is weird but I find it comforting. I am a little scared to do it so this makes me feel safe. No caffeine, no alcohol, no refined sugar and no meat. I am ready to cleanse!