Our Journey To Green: July 2009

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

More recipes

These are a few of the recipes I'm going to try this week. I hope they go over well with everyone. The girls have been kind of picky lately. I doubt they will eat the Jerusalem Salad (it's a little spicy), but I'm really hoping they will try the Super Simple Spaghetti and Jerusalem Salad.

Super Simple Spaghetti
Mary Jane Medlock

Serves 2 (I'm going to triple this recipe)

1 medium spaghetti squash
2 medium ripe vine tomatoes chopped
Juice of one small lemon
1 - 2 cloves of fresh garlic minced or chopped
2 - 3 Tbs. of olive oil
Fresh ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon of oregano

Directions: Cut spaghetti squash in half (clean out seeds). In a baking dish put spaghetti squash (facing down) in a 375 degree oven. Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until done. Let cool for about 5 minutes. Using fork, scoop out the spaghetti squash into a bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and toss. Eat warm or cold.
YUM YUM!!

Spicy Black Bean Salad
Heidi

2 cans black beans
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 yellow, orange or green pepper, finely chopped
1 lime, juiced
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, leaves removed from stems and chopped
1 1/2 tsp. olive oil
2 TBSP. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. garlic powder (or 2 cloves minced garlic)
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. chile habanero sauce (or Tabasco)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Mix.

A friend of mine has lost 10 pounds in 10 days just by using Greens powder and eating a diet of 80% raw, alkalizing foods and 20% less-alkalizing! She wanted me to share this recipe with everyone.

Jerusalem Salad
Sue Mount

1/3 cup tahini
2 Tbs. Olive Oil
1-2 cloves garlic,
crushed Juice of 1/2 lemon
3 Tbs. parsley Salt/RealSalt to taste
Water
1 cucumber
6 roma tomatoes, or 3 regular tomatoes

Directions: Mix first 6 ingredients in a salad bowl; add water to thin the tahini. Stir thoroughly to make a dressing. Dice cucumber and tomatoes. Toss in dressing. You can let this sit for an hour to allow the flavors to meld.

I have to give credit to www.phmiracleliving.com for these recipes. :)

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Compromising...

Trying to make something that everyone will eat has been a challenge, especially for dinner. Since Brooklyn will not eat potatoes, I decided to try mashed potatoes with garlic, a little rice milk, sea salt and pepper. She ate a few bites, but REALLY wants the brown stuff that goes on top... (gravy). I'll have to try to figure that one out.

Asparagas cooked in olive oil, seasoned with sea salt, lemon, stevia (natural sweetener) and toasted sliced almonds. VERY tasty.

Day Trip to Santa Cruz

I realize this is a really old post and doesn't even have anything to do with eating healthy, but I posted this on the wrong blog, and then later my camera was stolen with all these pics on it. I thought I would post the draft that I have saved. I'm so glad I posted some pics before I lost everything!

The girls first experience in the ocean.

Free concert on the beach: STARSHIP- "We Built This City"
Playing in the sand waiting for the concert to start...

While Ric saved our spot for the concert, I took the girls down to the beach.

We watched a couple street performers; rode on the carousel; played video games and had the famous corn dog and pink cotton candy. I didn't realize how much it cooled off at night, so we were all FREEZING by the time we got back to our car to drive back home.

Next time:
Jackets
Buckets/Shovels
"Magic" soap
Single jogging stroller

How Do I Start?

How do I start?

This way of eating does seem overwhelming (that's why it's been 2 years for me to actually do something), but I've just taken things slow because I knew I would get burned out if I did too much all at once. I feel really passionate about it, and I don't feel it's something I'm going to give up on. I don't see myself going back to what I thought was healthy before.

Here are some tips if you want to try to eat more alkaline/whole foods:

So...WHAT should I do first?

#1 You can start out at your local grocery store, and just spend most of your time in the produce section. If you don't have the money to buy all organic, then NO worries...just get the next best thing... Load up on vegetables to snack on like cucumber, carrots, celery, tomatoes, avocados, lettuce, spinach, green/red/orange peppers, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, peas, etc. Buy vegetables that you are used to eating, and then a couple new vegetables to try. We buy hummus and almond butter (like peanut butter) for dipping our vegetables. Go easy on the fruit (it's not as alkanizing as vegetables)...the best alkalizing fruit would be grapefruit; lime; lemon; tomato and avocado (technically fruits)...You can find a list of alkanizing food HERE.

#2 Switch from white rice to brown rice or quinoa (you can find this in the health food section), and red, new potatoes from bakers...eliminate all meat except fresh water fish, like Salmon and Trout (I have yet to try this...we're still going through the last of the hamburger meat and chicken in our freezer). NO more bread with yeast and flour. We have substituted sprouted grain tortillas for bread.

#3 Change from cow's milk to rice or almond milk. My girls just have it on their cereal in the morning. Most grocery stores will have this. We like the regular non-sweetened rice milk. Start emptying your fridge of cottage cheese, deli meat, sour cream, ketchup, margarine, butter, mayo, mustard, soy sauce (we use Bragg's instead), fruit juice, and hard cheese...Your fridge will start looking empty, except for the veggies and fruits. :)

#4 Try 2-3 recipes a week, and keep track of the ones that you like. I have found a lot of recipes in the book "Ph Miracle" but you can google alkaline recipes as well...www.greensmoothiegirl.com and www.greenshakesandgiggles.com are other resources.

#5 Drink lots of water (preferably distilled water or reverse-osmosis water) I buy bottled spring water. I like to squeeze a lime in a glass of water. Try some "green" drinks for breakfast in the morning. Green smoothie girl has 50 "green" drinks in her 12-steps packet...You can get all your servings in one drink for the whole day! You can also add 1/4 tsp of baking soda into an 8 oz glass of water.

#6 The KEY is to not get overwhelmed. Do what works for your family. Let them see you eating healthy, and most likely, they will want to try what you're eating eventually. I have been surprised at what my kids have tried and what they like. They all love spinach and avocado. My 3 year old loves to dip her veggies in hummus. Almost everyone likes grapefruit!

#7 DON'T buy tempting snacks and cookies! Pretty soon, your taste buds will change, and it will be easier...! Don't be hard on yourself if you eat a few cookies either. Just balance it out with healthy eating...tomorrow is a new day... :) Don't go out to eat...try to resist. If you do...choose wisely...Get the salad with dressing on the side and no croutons, lol...

All of us know someone who has cancer, diabetes, is overweight or has other health issues in their lives. I don't believe this is really a cure "ALL" necessarily, but you have to wonder WHY there is so much disease, weight problems, cancer, etc in our day. WHAT is going on? I am starting to realize that what we put into our bodies is much more important than most of us realize.

We need to be careful what we put in our body. Not just obstaining from alcohol, tea, coffee, tobacco, caffeine. I feel like for our body to work how it was intended, we need to feed it "premium" whole and raw foods...It just makes sense. It's just hard because it seems so foreign and out of the norm for many of us...

I KNOW it will make a difference in your life. It already has in mine... I've noticed SUCH a difference. Especially in my energy...and I haven't been sick for a few years! I've also noticed that my knees haven't been aching and I've been able to run without pain!

Now THAT is motivation for me.

Our Journey To Green

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