Green week part 4: Breath of fresh air

Now, because I never have time to blog when I want to or the kiddos are calling when I'm done with whatever I'm going to blog about I usually just write it down for later.  That being said, DH likes to touch everything that is not his, like juice recipes so 2 of my green juices from this week are no longer.  But, I do have another to share with you all.  This one we call Breath of fresh air.

Breath of Fresh Air

1 cucumber
1 green apple
2 celery sticks
1 cup of spinach
1/8 cup of parsley
1 kiwi

Juice and Enjoy!

The kiddos, DH and I all think this ones a keeper.  This drink isn't very strong at all, and anytime the kids drink it all up, we like to keep it!   DH thought maybe I should share how the name came about for this one.  So here it is, DH read somewhere that parsley helps neutralize bad breath, hence the "breath" of fresh air.  Now, how true that is, I have no idea.  But I liked the name so we're going to roll with it ;)

Green Week part 3: Freggie Delight???

We have another one for the week.  And while the name looks like something the kids would have come up with, full credit goes to my DH.  DD did end up agreeing with the name so 2 of their votes is enough for me to let it be named.  So here it is...

Freggie Delight

2 cucumber

2 kiwi

4 celery sticks

2 large green apples

2 handfuls or 4 bunches of spinach

Juice and Enjoy!

Another keeper for us.  DD and DS said they didn't like it but I think it was just because of the looks of it, she still drank it all up as did he.  DH and I thought it tasted great!  I will say this though, this is one of those drinks you need a blender bottle for, unless you plan to keep mixing it or drinking it as fast as you can.

We're going green this week: part 2

This week we're going green...juicing that is.  We decided that the sometimes our juices look too good, so as a family we decided to go green for the week.  Only green juices, and we'll post the good ones for you to try.  Now I should also mention that I let my kids come up with some of the names of these things so they feel involved in this.  Plus, it motivates them to drink it if they get to name it.  That being said, they decided the Green Dream was going to be the name of this one, so here it is.

Green Dream Juice

2 small or 1 large zucchini
1/2 pineapple
1 green bell pepper
2 celery
1 cup of spinach

Juice and Enjoy!

Everyone in the house liked this one, and its in the books as a keeper.

Going green part 1: Refresher Juice

This is the first day of our green week, more on that next post.  We tried another new juice using some fruit and veggies from our basket.  DH wasn't too sure about it at first but once he saw DD and DS drinking it all up he was ready to give it a try.  Here it is...

Refresher Juice

1 cucumber
1 yellow squash
1 pomelo (peeled)
1 large green apple

Juice, pour over ice and Enjoy!

Everyone in our house liked this very refreshing juice so its definitely a keeper for us!

Mean Green Juice

Time to share another juice.  This one I needed to get me through my day of cleaning and getting rid of toys and clothes from the kids rooms.  It always takes forever to go through that stuff and this gave me just the energy I needed.  Here it is...

Mean Green Juice

1 pomelo (peeled and make sure the pith is gone so its not sour)

4 whole key limes

2 red apples

6 celery

4 bunches of spinach

4 strawberries

handful of parsley

chia seeds (optional)

serve over ice (also optional)

Enjoy!

Spinach and Potato Soup

Its been cold lately so soups have been a major thing on our menu.  Between our baskets, of fruits and vegetables, from this weekend, we ended up with 4 bags of potatoes.  So we made soup.  Our basket also came with spinach, and our add on had onions so it was perfect for what we had in mind.

Spinach and Potato Soup

4 cups water
6 red potatoes
1 onion
1 can evaporated milk 
2 tbsp butter (to sauté the onions, optional not necessary)
1 bunch spinach 
1 pack veggie broth (you can use canned but we used condensed for this soup)
Parmesan Cheese (also optional)

Slice the potatoes and put into pot with 4 cups of water.

While you wait for the water to boil slice onions and saute in butter.  Now, for this part you absolutely don't need to saute it in butter but well, I like it better that way.  Instead you could just add it to your pot of water with the potatoes.

Let the potatoes boil for about 15 to 20 minutes.  If you decided to sauté, once the onions get soft stick them in with the potatoes.  Add the veggie broth.  Bring back to a boil.

Add the evaporated milk and let boil for another 5 minutes, then add the chopped spinach for the last 5 minutes.

If you'd like top Parmesan, or even some cilantro or parsley.

Serve and Enjoy!

DD, DS, DH, and I enjoy this soup very much on these cold winter days.  Pair it with a nice side salad and you're good to go.

What came of our mexican basket...

So we have been ordering produce baskets the past few weeks, and this week we went with the veggie lovers, which according to them was Mexican theme.  A few of the things that came in this basket were tomatillos, jalapeños, chipotle jalapeños, and avocados.  I have never in my life tasted these tomatillos, or made them before, so again it was time to throw some things together and hope for the best :)  I guess I should add that I normally don't use jalapeños or chipotle jalapeños either.

Anyway, this is what came of it...

Mexican soup (or as Mexican as its ever gotten in my house)

1 cup of corn
1 cup of black beans (do not use dry beans unless you've already soaked them over night)
1 chipotle jalapeño, chopped
1 green jalapeño, diced (this one was fairly young with no "stretch marks" on them...sorry don't know the right term to use there)
1 small onion, chopped
4 tomatillos, husked and chopped
4 to 5 green onions
4 smaller sized garlic cloves, minced
Cilantro (I just grabbed a few stems from the bunch)
Parsley (a few of the bunch as well)
1/2 the juice of a lime
6 cups vegetable stock
2 tsp adobo
1 packet of sazon
1 tbsp canola oil
avocado

Chop, dice, or prepare all vegetables.

In a large soup pot add the olive oil and heat on medium heat.  Add the onion, green onion, celery, tomatillos, garlic, cilantro, and parsley.  Stir.  Add the juice of half a lime.

Let cook about 10 minutes until the white onions start to look translucent.  Stir occasionally.

Add the adobo.  Stir.  Add the vegetable stock.  Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer.  Simmer for about 15 minutes until the veggies are tender.  You can stop at this point, or if you're anything like me, the color just isn't right and you'll add a packet of sazon.  

Add the corn and black beans, then stir, bring to a boil.  Let cook about 5 more minutes.

*Note:  For the kids I stopped here and served theirs, for mine and DH's soup I now added the regular jalapenos and the chipotle jalapeños, both had a bit too much kick for the kiddos :)

Serve, garnish with avocados, and Enjoy1

Ok, so this wasn't bad at all for my first try using these ingredients together, even DD who supposedly doesn't like avocados ate it all up today.  But there is something I would suggest that I will for sure do the next time I make this.  Rather than adding the avocados, I would add some shredded cheese then a bit of sour cream a guacamole.  I think thats the only thing that could improve this soup.  So, Maybe next time :)  But give it a try and see what you think!

Fruits and Veggies for dinner???

Ok, so normally I am not one to like sweet things with my dinner, or one to add fruits to dinner.  Today though it happened, and it wasn't bad at all.  So here is one of our sides we had with dinner...

Sweet surprise

1 Bell Pepper
1 shallot
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 pineapple

extra virgin olive oil

Cut rind from pineapple, then cut the pineapple into cubes.  Put pineapple pieces into a pan in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

While you're waiting on that, cut the bell pepper, shallots, and garlic.

Put 1 tbsp of EVOO into a pan, add everything except the pineapple into the pan with a pinch of salt just for a bit more flavor, sauté for about 5 minutes, the shallots will be soft and the bell peppers semi soft.

Take pineapple from the oven and put into the pan of veggies.  Sauté another 5 minutes or so, then serve.

Enjoy!

As much as I thought this was going to be a bad idea to begin with, not only did I like it but DH, DD, and DS did too!  One we will for sure be serving again.

Tropics juice

Alright, we have another juice for you all.  We tried this one this morning and there was an addition at the end which changed the drink quite a bit.  Here it is...

Tropics juice

2 cactus pear
2 guava
2 celery
2 carrots
2 oranges
1/2 pineapple
ice (optional)
chia seeds (optional)

Ok, so for this one, that was everything the DH and I had in our drinks.  The only change in DH's drink from mine was that after we juiced our drinks he decided to juice 3/4 of a pomelo and add it to his drink.  It does change the taste of the drink quite a bit, but he still liked it.  I didn't tasted it since the pomelo was a bit sour rather than sweet to me and I wasn't a fan.

Juice all of the ingredients, then add ice and or chia seeds to your cup.

Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Casserole

I know this is late, but again, I think it's always better late than never.  I'm finally able to catch back up and this is one recipe I thought I should share.  Thanksgiving week everyone talked about their casseroles and I thought, well, what kind of casserole could I make.  I didn't want to just do a green bean casserole like everyone else so I went out to the store to see what looked good.  That night, it was the butternut squash.  So, that's what I decided to make, here it is...

Cheesy Butternut Squash Casserole

1 large butternut squash

cheese (about 1 cup more if you prefer it very cheesy)

breadcrumbs

any cream of soup

Now, because of my DD's allergies we cannot use canned cream of soups unless we just so happen to find one she can have, which is not often.  So, the cream of soup we did not have on hand.  And I had to make one myself, which I will include in the recipe.  Should you have it on hand skip step 2, and instead just do steps 1, 3, and 4

The way I made a cream of soup, and what I used

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 onion chopped

1 tbsp butter

1 large potato

1 cup heavy cream (or substitute)

2 garlic cloves

seasoning (I used adobo)

vegetable broth

Step 1 :  Cut butternut squash into cubes, boil until tender.

Drain, then mash, and return to pot it was boiled in

*if your squash releases an excess amount of liquids drain most of it before returning to pot

Step 2:  In a pot, sauté onions in butter, only enough to soften but not brown.

Add, diced potatoes and 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth.  Let cook 10 minutes stirring occasionally. 

While the broth and potatoes were cooking I made the heavy cream substitute which I posted here: Heavy Cream Substitute.  As soon as that is done pour it into the pot with the vegetables and broth.  

Add diced garlic and let cook a few more minutes.

Step 3:  Pour shredded cheese on top of squash, then pour cream of vegetable over top, mix.

Step 4:  Butter a glass pan.  

Put the Squash mixture into pan and coat the top with breadcrumbs.  

Put in oven to cook for 20 to 25 minutes.

Everyone in our house loved this casserole.

Enjoy!

Heavy cream substitute

I started to make a casserole and realized I was out of a few things, one of those things was a cream of soup.  Now, that would have been easy to fix by just making my own, but then I realized I had no heavy cream to make my cream of soup.  So, since our closest grocery store closes at 7 and I didn't feel like driving 45 minutes to the next grocery store, I decided I'd make my own heavy cream substitute so I can make the cream of soup.  For those of you that are as prepared to cook as I usually am, here it is...

1/3 cup butter melted

3/4 cup milk

Whisk together and this will substitute for 1 cup of heavy cream

There's always something you can make with green beans...

Just like the cranberries we got in one of our fruit and veggie baskets, we also go green beans.  While I didn't know what to do with the cranberries, I knew that there is always something you can make with green beans.  So this is what I made, with what I had on hand...

Fresh Green bean dish

1 package or 8 oz of fresh green beans

1 bell pepper (sliced)

2-3 large shallots (sliced)

1 tablespoon of butter

1/4 cup vegetable broth

your choice of seasoning

After cutting your vegetables, put butter into pan.  Sauté the vegetables for a few minutes then add the vegetable broth, bring to a boil and let veggies cook in the broth, this will soften them a bit more. After about 5 minutes in the broth it will be done.  Its delicious, and just that quick and easy!

Enjoy!

Cran Apple Sauce

We started to buy our fruits and veggies from a local co-op and just so happened to receive cranberries in one of our baskets.  I am not really a fan of cranberries so of course had no idea what to do with them.  I figured, I could either experiment with them and make something my family would eat, or I could just throw them away and not give them a shot.  Well, throwing it away would be just like throwing cash straight into the trash, so I went with the other option and started experimenting until I finally found what I could make, that by the way, my kids really liked.  So, here it is...

CranApple Sauce

1/2 bag of fresh cranberries
3 granny smith apples (peeled)
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar

Put all ingredients into a small pot and bring to a boil.  Make sure to stir often and I also recommend doing this on medium hear so it doesn't burn (trust my recommendation, unless you like doing dishes).

Reduce the heat once it starts boiling.  Continue to cook the ingredients, and as you stir the cranberries will start to pop.  After 10 to 15 minutes, most of, if not all of the cranberries will be popped.  Remove from heat, and let cool.  Once cool you can eat it if you like it that temperature, or you can refrigerate it for later.

While I did "taste" it while it was warm, we all enjoyed it a lot more when it was cold and just out of the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Too - TV - Fruity Juice

DS and I were home alone today for lunch, and were talking to his abuelita (grandma) about getting a juicer.  So, we decided to make a juice and it was yummy!  So here it is...

Too - TV - Fruity

7 small Tangerines (I peeled them)
4 large broccoli florets
3 large carrots
2 large radishes
2 celery
1 large tomato
1 large green apple
Ice for your cup (optional)
chia seeds (optional)

Juice...

Enjoy!

Better late than never...

Here's another juice we tried that I didnt get a chance to post the same day.  That homework seems to get the best of me, but I suppose its better late than never.  This one is very sweet compared to the others!  So, here it is.

Berry Juice:

1 Orange (peeled)
1 guava
2 carrots
1 golden delicious apple
1 handful blueberries
1 handful raspberries
1 handful blackberries
1/2 a melon honey dew (peeled)
Ice (optional)

Juice all ingredients.

Enjoy!

Lets share some more...

Here's another new juice we tried last week.  I didn't really want to try it since I've never been a fan of beets, but I was pleasantly surprised once I got to try it.  It was pretty good!

Big Red Juice:

1 Celery stalk
2 radishes
2 oranges (peeled)
1 grape fruit (peeled, including the pith)
1/2 pine apple (peeled)
1 beat
4 carrots
8 strawberries
Ice (optional)

Juice all ingredients.

Enjoy!

Green Dessert Drink

I know we've been slacking with the blog, but trust me when I say, I much rather blog than do homework.  But, I am trying to catch up and will keep posting every chance I get.  So here was my dessert for today (since last week was full of baked sweets and candy).

Green Dessert Drink

1 celery
4 radishes (we peeled them to keep the green color)
2 guava
1 green apple
1 golden apple
1 orange (peeled)
2 collard greens
1/2 honey dew melon (peeled)
Ice (optional, we know I always have ice in my cup though)

This one was pretty good!  I was definitely NOT a fan of the guava skin when eating it raw, but juiced you couldn't even taste it, so leaving the skin on the guava when juicing works great.

Juice and Enjoy!

DH's got a good one for the books...Veggie Lasagna

Still getting used to not having meat (23 days and counting), in fact, I wasn't sure I was ready for this one tonight.  But I was pleasantly surprised!  We had veggie lasagna.  And, totally didn't miss the meat at all!  Neither did the kids, cause I've never seen them eat lasagna the way they did tonight.

So here it is...Veggie Lasagna

What you'll need:

Lasagna noodles (we used Tinkyada pasta joy ready: gluten free brown rice pasta)
Marinara sauce (we used 2 -  24 oz jars)
1/2 an Onion
1 Egg
1 Eggplant
Ricotta Cheese (we used 32 ounce container)
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese
seasoning of your choice (we used McCormick Perfect Pinch basil and garlic)
Tbsp Butter
Garlic Cloves (use what you like, we used 4)
Salt

Begin but cutting your eggplant into slices and lay out onto cookie sheet or whatever you would like, sprinkle with salt and let sit while you prepare other parts of lasagna

For the filling you will take the egg, Ricotta, Parmesan, Mozzarella, and seasoning of your choice and mix together.

Cut onion, and garlic (or use garlic press).   Go back to your eggplant, and pat down eggplant to remove the moisture.  Cut eggplant into pieces.

Get your pot of water ready to begin boiling lasagna noodles.  Then, get butter into a pan to sauté the eggplant, onion, and garlic.  Once sautéd, add marinara.  Your noodles should now be ready. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare your baking dish.  Add lasagna noodles, cheese mix, then marinara mix, continue layering to the top of the dish.  You can now put some extra Mozzarella cheese on top, or you can leave that for the last 10 minutes of cooking.  Cover dish with aluminum foil.

Put dish into oven, and cook for a total of 30 minutes.

Enjoy! 

Dinner needs some work so, we're sharing two juices

Well, today we had rice with vegetable stir fry and it definitely could use some work.  So, instead we have two drinks to share.  Here they are:

Green Monster:

2 kiwi (peeled)
2 celery
3/4 broccoli stalk
large handful of spinach
1 lime
1 apple
Ice (optional)
chia seeds (optional, my DH is addicted to these now)


Juice and Enjoy!

The DH liked the green monster, while the DD thought it was just ok.

Juice 2:

Brown Catastrophe (DD named this one)

1/2 cucumber
1/2 yellow pepper
5 grape tomatoes
1 celery
1 lemon
2 handfuls spinach
2 kiwi
1 apple
1 carrot
5 grapes
Ice (optional)




Myself, DD, and DS thought the brown catastrophe was pretty good, way better than it looked, that's for sure!   Sorry no picture though, DD and DS drank it too quickly ;)

Collard Greens for dinner

Ok, so I'm a day late on this one.  And without pictures, how dare I!  But, it was so good we didn't get a chance to snap the pics before it was all gone.  But, I figured I could still share the recipe.  Here it is:

Penne Pasta w/collard greens

Ingredients:

Penne Pasta
Collard greens
Tomatoes
Green Onion
Lemon Juice
Parsley
Cilantro
Your Choice of seasoning
Parmesan Cheese
Butter

Here's how we did it:

• cut the collard greens into pieces and boil in pan with your choice of seasoning (we used a pan instead of a pot since we were going to add more veggies and sauté in the end)
• While collard greens are boiling, cut tomatoes, green onion, parsley, and cilantro
• prepare lemon juice
• boil water in pot, and begin boiling the penne (we used GF penne)
• by this point the water from the pan should be almost out, add the other veggies to the collard greens with a tbsp of butter, sauté the veggies
• Add the lemon juice and sprinkle in some Parmesan cheese
• Drain pasta, add to pan, mix, serve, and enjoy!

This one was a hit in our house.  DD scarfed hers down, and had seconds larger than the amount the DH had.  Everyone had seconds and agreed that this one is a keeper!

DD Juice

Today the kids had a dentist appointment during DD's lunch time, so we came home to eat lunch before sending her back to school.  She decided on veggie spring rolls for lunch and then told me she had invented a juice to make and wrote it down on a note card.  Here's what the note card listed below the title:

DD's Delight Juice:

4 Carrots
22 Grapes
5 fresh broccoli florets (pretty large florets on this one)
1 pear
1 peach
1/2 lemon
Ice (cause she takes after her mother)

Since the peach, lemon, and carrot ends had to be cut, mom had to help, but otherwise she juiced it herself.

Juice fruits and veggies, pour into container with ice, and enjoy!

I have to admit, not bad at all!  DD and DS drank theirs all up, and agreed that this one's a keeper :)

No orange, orange juice

Tonight we stayed away from the green juice since we ate lots of greens for dinner.  Here's what you need:

No orange, orange juice:

4 full carrots
1/4 grapefruit (peeled)
1/2 a melon (peeled)
1 celery
1 mango (deseed and peel)
Ice (optional)
* Also optional are the chia seeds I put in mine (the little black seeds you see in the pic)



Juice and enjoy!

Veggie Surprise

We meet again!  Tonight's meal was another first for me.  We had couscous, a salad, and veggie surprise (the surprise was that the kids didn't know what was a potato and what was a squash since they both looked the same after I cooked them).  So, here we go!

Couscous:

We used a boxed couscous, that is an organic, gluten free (and even vegan) couscous.

To cook we:

• Boiled 2 cups water
• mixed couscous and seasoning into boiling water
• set to low and covered for 10 to 13 minutes (make sure not to remove lid)
• after 13 minutes turn off and leave lid on for another 5 to 8 minutes
• fluff with fork and serve

There are other brands of couscous, but we used this one due to the DD's allergies.  That being said, she LOVED this stuff, as did my DS.  They both ate it all up.  The DH and I were another story, we are not fans of this stuff!

Next onto our veggie surprise.  Here is what you'll need:

Potatoes
Squash
Bell Pepper
Flour (we used rice flour)
Eggs
Milk
Parmesan Cheese

• Cut potatoes, squash, and bell pepper and put in large bowl

• Sprinkle rice flour over the veggies (or in our case the entire bag since the DS got to the flour)
• Make sure all veggies are covered with the flour

• Put eggs and milk into a bowl and mix
• Take Veggies and dip into the egg then set on pan
• Once all the veggies are on pan, cover with Parmesan cheese

*Note:  I separated my potatoes from my squash and bell pepper and put the potatoes in 10 minutes earlier than the others and made the couscous with that bit of extra time

• You may turn at the 10 minute mark if you'd like, but we didn't
• Add the other pan of veggies for about 8 minutes to brown the tops
• Voila!  Veggies are done!

Lastly, we had a salad.  This was the easiest and the best part of dinner.  Here's what we used:

Kale (about 4, washed and torn)
Spinach
Arugula
Avocado
Lemon
Salt (Just a pinch)

• Add all ingredients, mix, and enjoy!

And here's the final product:

Morning burst juice

Woke up, oh, so tired this morning.  Probably cause of the 2 and 9 year old that were in my bed all night!  DS was scared of something, and DD snuck in shortly after.  As tired as I was, and as much as I wanted to just stay warm under my sheets, I knew, all I needed was to get to my juicer to get some energy.  And here's what I made to wake up...

Morning burst juice (or Lemon Orange Juice as my DS told me it was)

2 oranges (peeled, though I only pictured 1)
1/4 grapefruit (peeled)
2 handfuls of carrots
1/2 a lemon (peeled)

The smells from peeling it were just as awakening as the drink itself.


DS helped juice it and enjoyed it too!

Here's what it looked like when we were all done (DD wanted everyone to know she's drinking it too)

Zucchini on the menu tonight

Tonight's dinner was DELICIOUS (or DE-WISH-OUS as DS says)!  I have to give credit where it is due, the idea came from a friend, a better blogger than I, Mami Mormon, she is awesome and makes some great things.

While hers sounded super yummy to me, we had to change ours up a bit due to the DD's allergies.  So here's what we had for dinner, with instructions:

Items needed:

Zucchini
Carrots
Garlic
Onion
Green Pepper
Tomatoes
Spinach
Mozzarella

• Cut the zucchini in half and scoop out the center (put the center of zucchini into food processor to use later as part of the stuffing)

• Add carrots, garlic, onion, and green pepper into food processor
• Put the processor to work, and have it chop to your liking, I did it until it was pretty fine (pic below)
• Dice tomatoes and spinach and toss into a bowl for later (we squeezed our tomato to de-seed it before we diced them)

• Put everything from the food processor into a pan and sauté with the tinniest bit of evoo and your choice of seasoning (I used McCormick Perfect Pinch Roasted Garlic and Bell Pepper) 
• Grate mozzarella into bowl of tomatoes and spinach then top with the sautéd ingredients
• Mix well (the cheese should melt and help the mixture to stick together) 
• Spoon mixture into the zucchini boats

* Note:  I had extra stuffing so I used it for our pasta

• Bake at 425 for 15 minutes
• After 15 minutes, pull them out and sprinkle with more cheese, pop back in to cook for 5 more minutes, then you're done!

While those bad boys were cooking, I got some corn ready for the family, and cooked some gluten free Tagliatelle pasta (this pasta is not just wheat/gluten free but also lactose free).  

• Boil water, and add Tagliatelle pasta
• Cook for 8 minutes
• Drain
• Add remaining stuffing from the zucchini
• Sprinkle some fresh lemon juice over the pasta, and serve

These were GREAT!  The kids loved it as much as we parents did.  There was not one crumb left on the plate, in fact, DD asked "mom, can you eat the stem of the zucchini?"  When I answered, "I'm not sure, but I wouldn't", she said "oh, too late, cause my boat sunk in my stomach with the stem".

Well there you have it, our gluten free, vegetarian dinner.  Give it a try if you'd like, I know we'll be making this one again!

DH got ahold of the juicer

The DH got to the juicer before I could this morning.  Here's the brown concoction he came up with:

I don't know what he calls it, but I'm going to call it the brown frown juice ;)

1/2 Pineapple (peeled)

1 Grapefruit (peeled)

1 Orange (peeled)

3 Kale (which our juicer had on the do not juice list but of course he did it anyway cause he's the DH)

1 celery stalk

2 handfuls of carrots (DH handfuls)

Again, 100% honest on this one, I seriously asked the husband if he was trying to kill me!  I was NOT a fan of this one either!  He chugged his, I made my way through mine.  The DD had a few sips.  And the DS took a sip and began wiping his tongue on everything in his general vicinity, he very clearly hated it!

Again, give it a try if you please, but not recommended by me, at all!

Another green juice

Here we go again, another green juice.

Another green juice:

1/3 of the inside of an avocado (keep the seed of the avocado with the rest of the avocado to help it from browning)

2 small green apples (whole)

1/3 of a small pineapple (peeled)

1 celery stalk (leaves removed)

1 cucumber (we left the skin on)

small handful of spinach leave (again this was the DH's handful)

1 lime

Handful of ice

We juiced everything except the ice and the avocado since our juicer has avocado on their do not juice list.

With the avocado, we stuck it in the blender (could also use a food processor) but once it was in pieces we stuck it on the bottom of our blender bottles with our handful of ice, poured the juice on top and started shaking, to mix it together.

I'm going to be 100% honest on this one...I was NOT a fan.  I still drank it all with a smile on my face, to keep the husband motivated, and for our health.  

The DH seemed to like the drink, the DD was unavailable at the time to give it a try, and the DS said "Mummy, I no likey juice".  That was of course, only until we added the straw, then he drank it without complaints ;)

Everyone has different tastes that they like, so give it a try if you'd like to find out for yourself whether this drink is for you.

Our morning Juice

Our morning juice.  This one is easy and doesn't take a lot.

Morning Blend:

Handful of baby carrots (or a few regular carrots, again this was using the DH as my handful guide)

2 celery stalks

2 apples

1/2 a cantaloupe (peeled) 

Ice (optional)

Juice and Enjoy!

First juice we tried...

The first night we got the juicer, Friday night.  We didn't waste any time, we opened the box up, cleaned everything and got to juicing.  Here's the ingredients if you want to give it a try:

Green Lemon detox juice

1 lemon (peel the yellow but leave the white on it)
2 Celery stalks (without leaves)
1 cucumber (we left the skin on ours)
2 small green apples (whole)
a hand full of parsley (ours was a large handful since the DH was the parsley picker that night)
Ice (optional, but I have to add ice, I just don't like warm or room temperature drinks)

My opinion on this drink is, it wasn't too bad, my favorite so far for sure though.  The DH loved this one, my DD liked this one enough to have a half glass, and my DS only liked it when we added a straw for him to drink it from.  In his mind, anything tastes better with a straw ;)

There you have it!

A lifestyle change for the family and our health

Last Thursday afternoon, the DH and I had some free time and decided to watch some movies.  The first we watched was "Hungry for Change".  Apparently, we were hungry for some change.  The following movie was all I needed to stop me from eating meat, that one was "Food, Inc".  I was never really a fan of eating meat, but the DH would have it 2 to 3 times a day.

The following day after getting chores done and getting the DS to take a nap I watched, "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead".  From that point forward the DH and I knew that unless we can find organic meat in this town (which we haven't yet), we were no longer going to keep it in our "diet".  Later in the weekend we also watched "Forks over Knives", all movies with some good information that could be taken from them.  So, that is what started our "Plant based diets".  We went out and got a juicer that Friday and our journey began!

Here's the part where I tell you, I am not a doctor or anything even close.  I am not an expert in nutrition, or even juicing for that matter.  I am just a plain ol' stay at home mom, making a lifestyle change for my family and our health.  Experts suggest you consult a doctor before changing your diet.  But again, I am no expert, nor am I suggesting you change your diet.  Follow along if you want to see what kinds of things we eat, what we juice, or how we're doing, there is no other reason than just that.