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.