Our Incredible Hulk Smoothie

We were introduced to this Green Smoothie last year and it is a big hit with my kids. I use it as their afternoon snack.

2 big handfuls of spinach

banana

1/2 container of orange juice concentrate

1/2 c water

10-12 ice cubes

Blend in a blender! We love it!

new finds

I love food, esp. when I come across things that are new to me. Two of my recent finds that I'm loving right now are pea shoots and nutritional yeast. At the La Jolla Farmer's Market this morning, I started chatting with a vendor about the food she was selling. Her seaweed salad samples were delicious and when I asked about this lovely corncake thing she was preparing, she handed me one! The photo above is what she gave me -- a wonderfully moist and warm corncake topped with artichoke hearts, a cilantro hummus, onion sprouts and pea shoots. Pea shoots! Yum. I hadn't tasted these before. The pea shoots are tender, yet crisp and contain a lot of water. They'd make a refreshing snack on a warm day all by themselves. Another vendor today was selling about 8 different kinds of alfalfa/shoots so I picked up some pea shoots to snack on during the drive home!

My other recent find is nutritional yeast. Popcorn topped with nutritional yeast (using a little melted Earth Balance for sticking power) has become my favorite snack. I first purchased some from the bulk food section of a grocer three weeks ago. A friend had given me a recipe for a vegan "cheese" and nutritional yeast is one of the ingredients. I immediately fell in love with this stuff. Aside from the "cheese" I've made twice now, I've started to sprinkle nutritional yeast on other foods where I want a cheesy, nutty sort of flavor.

Exploring the produce section -- as well as the bulk foods! -- is becoming my new favorite past time.

Need Canning Advice

I will be canning applesauce this week. I would love any advice on canning that you have. What do you recommend buying. What do I need, what do I NOT need? I am excited to start filling my shelves.

Healthy Lunch Ideas

I just picked up the book The Vegan Lunch Box. Again, I am not planning on becoming Vegan, I just like having more options! I just used my last box of Mac N Cheese, and my kids and husband don't know it yet, but my goal is to not buy any more. So, I would love to have more creative ideas for lunch, both at home and at school.

Today for lunch I am making pizza on Whole Wheat Pitas. I just spread Spaghetti Sauce on the pita, add sliced zucchini, red peppers and yellow peppers and top with cheese. (See- not vegan!) The kids are excited about this one.

I like the cookbook "Eating for Life" for meal ideas. This book is where I get probably 75% of my recipes. I have loved it! Simple, healthy meals. Some of my favorites:

Tex Mex Burritos

Taco Pasta Salad

Shrimp Scampi

I will add more to this later. Please feel free to comment with your ideas or write your own post!

Starting a Garden

My goal this summer is to have a garden I can eat from! I would love any advice from all of you! I am going to post advice that I receive from my friend Kim! Thanks Kim! Keep it coming!

We bought all of our seeds from Seed Savers and Park Seeds.

We didn't not plant them inside. Because it was our first year , we deiced to do the easiest thing first and see what would happen. It was great

We bought all of our soil from Grims. THey have an organic soil that was amazing,

One thing we are going to do this year is only plant veggies and fruit that you can pick through out the summer...sugar snap peas,,, beans,, chard...tomatoes,,, blue berries,,,LOTS of different kinds of lettuce ( arugula ,,I am not sure on the spelling)

We started our garden in March. Lettuce was fun because you could always replant behind what you used so that you always had fresh greens. Roman lettuce was the easiest . You could cut it off and with in a week or so it would grow right back. After a month or so you would need to replant.

Feel free to leave a comment or sign in and do your own post!

Vegan Recipes from Cherl

My good friend Cherl has been vegetarian for awhile, but just decided to take the plunge to vegan. I am always up for trying something new and taking a break from meat. So, tonight I made the Broccoli Soup she recommended.

Creamy Broccoli Soup (Vegan)
adapted from Whole Living Magazine, January/February 2011
serves 4

1 head organic broccoli (1 pound), cut into florets, stems thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
One 15-ounce can organic Great Northern beans, drained (Cannellini beans would work here as well)
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted

Steam broccoli florets and stems until tender and bright green, about 3 minutes. Let cool slightly. Reserve 1/2 cup florets for garnish.

Heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until translucent, about 6 minutes. Add beans and broth and bring mixture to a simmer. Remove from heat and add broccoli; puree in batches in a blender until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish each bowl with broccoli florets, toasted pine nuts, and shaved Parmesan or cheddar cheese, if you wish.

2 out of the 3 kids ate it no problem and I thought it was really good. The only problem was I used fresh Northern beans and I don't think they were soft enough. We will definitely have this one again! I served it with drop biscuits.

She also just emailed me a Vegan Burger recipe that sounds good.

Mediterranean Lentil Burgers (from peas and thank you, you have to scroll all the way down her chatty blog post to find the recipe and photos but this is the recipe as she posts it)

• 8 oz. precooked lentils (I use Trader Joe’s Beluga Lentils, but you could make your own)
• 1/3 c. oats
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 t. vegan worcestershire sauce
• 2 t. reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 T. fresh basil
• 3-4 sundried tomatoes
• 1/4 c. chopped onion
• 1 t. dijon mustard
• 2 T. chopped kalamata olives
• salt and pepper to taste

I combined everything but the olives in the food processor, and then stirred the olives in at the end.

Introduction-Kelly M

I am first and foremost a mother. I know the things I pass onto my children will be carried with them and then passed on to their children. This responsibility causes me to really think about the choices I make and what I am teaching them. I want to be around for a long, long time! I struggled with my weight since I was a kid and luckily was taught to love exercise and being active. When I was pregnant with my first child when I was 23, I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. This was a huge eye opener for me, as I had watched my grandmother pass away from Diabetes complications when I was 18 and now I knew that I was susceptible to the same disease. I learned that it was up to me to control my eating and the importance of exercise!

In the 9 years since that diagnosis, I have found my love of running! I have become a running coach and a personal trainer to help pass on some of my passion and knowledge I have gained to others. I also teach an 8 Weeks to Wellness class at the local YMCA.

After reading a couple of Michael Pollan's books, I was reminded of the simplicity of nutrition. It is all about eating food in its natural form as much as possible. This is harder than it seems because of the convenience of all the "junk" food and the business of our lives. I have been determined to beat the system and learn how to eat more healthfully. I recently moved onto 5 acres, and one of the reasons for the change was to be able to have my own garden! That will be an experiment in itself as I learn to garden. I hope to get advice from others and I will share the things I learn! Please join me in these experiments!

Who We Are

The contributors to this blog are regular women (and maybe some men!) who want to live healthier, happier lives. We know the way to do this is to learn to eat and exercise the way our bodies were created to do so. This is an experiment because we are definitely still learning the tricks! We would love to have others give ideas of what has worked for them. Welcome to the blog and let's do this together!