Eat for Life and Eat for Health

Sorry folks for the long overdue posting. Life happens and then I hibernate. I figured that it is time to come out of my cave and try to adapt to the life around me. While hibernating I put on a few pounds, sunk myself into a drab attitude, and now it is time to do something about it. I will be back to work full time very soon, school was put on hold by necessity, and I can only thank God for my dear husband, Brandie, Erin, and our bishop for their support and needed strength through this. Out of my cave I am, but I need to work to stay out. I have been reading all of your blogs even if I didn't comment and love you all. I am thankful to have you all in my life. That said I have been reading Dr. Fuhrman's books Eat for Health volumes 1 and 2. Already being a vegan the concept is easy to understand and it is full of healthy reminders and yummy recipes for all of us vegans and nonvegans. While in my cave, cookies and potato chips, toast with earth balance, and onion dip made with tofutti sour cream were my staples. Vegan yes, Good idea, NO! I told DH the other day that I am a vegan who has forgotten how to eat veggies. WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH ME! ENOUGH ALREADY! So here is a yummy breakfast that does not include sour dough bread or earth balance. :o)

My body is having a party right now after drinking this delicious smoothie from Dr. Fuhrman's Eat for Health book 2. Frozen blueberries, an orange, dates, banana, and ground flax seeds.
It is really good. I don't have a super blender and I can only imagine how perfect this would be if I had a Vitamix, but having a little texture never hurt anyone. :o)
Love you all and know that you are very important to me.

Don't forget to hug someone, you never know when they just might need help getting out of their cave.

Hugs!

The end of our 21 days and doing it all over again

It has been so long that my blog forgot who I was. How sad is that? So, my birthday was Friday and that was the last day of DH 21 day vegan diet. I will get pictures of my birthday as soon as I get them uploaded from Brandie's camera. DH had a few vegetarian days and a couple "chicken" days (at least it wasn't beef). He told me he wants to do it again and do it right so we are continuing on. Here is a quick photo essay of a few of our days.

What better way to start off then to have a green smoothie baby!

This was a spinach, beet, and grape smoothie, which he loved!

Quick dinner this night. Just open a can of Amy's Minestrone soup. We rarely eat these because of the sodium content, but some nights are just too crazy!

DH veganized his habanero chili and it was fantastic! Good job, babe



DH's chili over baked potato. This really hit the spot!



Veggie burgers, with heirloom tomatoes, lettuce, and some delicious zucchini mash. Mash, you ask? Well, I put the zucchini, sunburst squash, and tomatoes in the pan and steamed them until they were just done. After draining them I put them on our plates and the water just kept running on the plate. Not wanting soggy buns they went back in the colander were mashed together with added nooch, "poof" zucchini mash. :o) It was really good!

Here is DH with his new beginning green smoothie of spinach, mango, banana, and super foods Boco green powder.

Wish us luck everyone!


Jr. sure loves to swim!

Busy week and "burgers"

First DH is grateful for all the encouragement. It has not been real easy nor real hard, but he is still trying to hang in there. Well, this week has been busy. We have either been watching our adorable grandson or going to doctors. All is ok, just tests for DH's back. Brandie has been cleaning some houses for some of the ladies in our church, which gave us time with Jr. We get to enjoy playing while she is working hard earning a few bucks. This has been a blessing on both accounts. So proud of you sweetheart. You are such a hard worker. Now on with some food porn. :o)

Look at this healthy Vegan grandson of ours!

He loves smoothies. This one is spinach, bananas, and blueberry.

Snack time at work. Heirloom tomatoes, peach, and carrots all from our CSA.

Can't forget "An apple a Day keeps the Doctor Away"

Apples are near the top of the deadly dozen. They are heavily coated with pesticides.

I only eat organic apples.

Organic Fuji. Yummm my favorite

Green smoothies are the breakfast of choice. Here we have spinach, banana, pineapple, and a little bit of kiwi. Don't you just love the color?

Boca burger dinner. DH loved these. I coated them with just a bit of BBQ sauce, added lettuce, onion, yellow heirloom tomatoes and mustard. Along side is some CSA zucchini and potato salad with cherry tomatoes from our garden.

Now isn't that a priceless picture. Two very important men in my life. DH and Jr.

DH loves green smoothies

Morning all! DH loves green smoothies. So far his favorite is blueberry. This morning we had spinach, strawberry, and banana. Yum! Can you believe that DH is drinking 4 cups of spinach in the mornings. His body is celebrating and throwing a party. He said that he woke up hungry this morning, but feels good. Today for Linner (we combine lunch and dinner on Sundays), we are having burgers and potato salad. Fingers are crossed on the veggie burger. DH has had Boca burgers, but these are going to be homemade thanks to Joni! Testing for her was so much fun!

Dinner to be posted later!

Question of the day: What is your favorite veggie burger, bought or homemade or your favorite side? Oh feel free to link to any good recipes. :o)

Now to get ready for church.

Hugs all!

DH going vegan for 21 days!!!

Hi all! Well here is the latest and greatest news! My DH has made the decision to go VEGAN for 21 days. Now all of you may or may not know that my DH is a 100% carnivore! So there maybe some grumpy days, but he wants to do this. Detoxing is not always easy. He is a great advocate for veganism and knows it is best for him. He is my best supporter, always telling everyone he talks to how healthy a vegetarian diet is. Today is the day he marked as his starting day. I am going to be eating a very healthy vegan diet to help him along. He wants to detox a bit so he is hoping to have breakfast, lunch, and snacks HIGH RAW. Pictures are worth a thousand words. :o) You can do this honey! I believe in you! Enjoy!!

Green smoothie breakfast. Spinach, banana, and blueberries. Look at that awesome watermelon! It is huge, sure hope it tastes as good as it looks. :o)

He is so melodramatic!

His last words before drinking his green smoothie were, "No More Steaks!"

All gone! 2 quarts consisted of 4 cups of spinach, 1 banana, and blueberries. I added a bit of stevia because DH has an awful sweet tooth. His last words after drinking his smoothie were,

"Hey this was really good!"

Snack time and he was ready! We had been out working in the yard, garden, and pool so his morning calories were burnt. 2 organic white peaches and an ounce of raw mixed nuts.

I only had a peach, but man was it a good peach. I love my CSA!

Lunch time! DH had CSA cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes along side a chocolate protein drink. His drink is made with chocolate rice milk (yes he loves chocolate), banana, and Sun Warrior Raw Brown Rice Protein Powder. Veggie girl turned me on to this and I love it. DH said it was a good lunch, but the drink was a bit grainy.

He said he will get used to it because the flavor was great.

Here is my lunch. Cherry tomatoes fresh from the garden, cucumbers, and carrots. My protein drink is made from vanilla hemp milk, Sun Warrior Raw Brown Rice Protein Powder, and a bit of orange juice. I was trying to get a "50- 50 bar flavor" Kinda worked.

Dinner tonight is going to be Eggplant Parmesan from Susan at Fatfreevegan.com.

I will keep you posted on DH's success! I am hoping that he will feel so good and see such great results that he will want to continue on with a vegetarian diet.

Oh you ask, why 21 days? Because my birthday is in 21 days so it

just seemed like a good number. :O)

Thanks for visiting!

High Raw Week and Feeling Great!

I finally feel good this morning! Even with a stressful week, I somehow feel emotionally, mentally, and physically good. Yes, my back hurts, but it is the inside that feels good! Could it be my high raw week? Below I am only posting 2 days worth of food, but my mom is here on vacation and she was supposed to fly home last Tuesday, but ended up in the ER last Sunday with heart problems and pneumonia. All fingers crossed that she will be able to get out of the hospital today and fly home this coming Tuesday. Scary, very scary! Even DH was scared. We just lost dad and didn't want to loose mom too. Praise the Lord there has been daily improvement and things are looking up.

Also, this week was the last week of my workout class at college. I will miss all the good friends I made. A few of us plan on staying in touch. I am hoping to take a nutrition class with my good friend Jasmine and I am already signed up for the water aerobics class with Heather. Taylor, I hope we can get together even though you are going to be a busy girl at State. Now on to food.

I got myself focused this week to eat a high raw diet and to get some low key detoxing done, I needed to get out of my toxic waste land. I feel as though I met my challenge head on and feel good about it. Everyday was pretty much the same. With work and being at the hospital with mom I only have 2 days worth of pictures. Enjoy!

I am in love with GREEN SMOOTHIES! Breakfast was a combination of spinach,

banana, and a few blueberries.

Lunch was Sun Warrior Raw Rice Protein Drink made with Hemp milk
(gotta get those Omega 3's) and fresh from the garden cherry tomatoes and corn on the cob, which I lightly steamed.

Oh my Gosh! Our CSA included fresh white organic peaches. Peaches are one of the fruits that I will only buy if it is organic. They are at the top of the dirty dozen list and I do not want all that pesticide in my body. Needless to say, I was thrilled when I saw them. Along with an organic apple and some raw almonds my afternoon snack was perfect!

On to dinner! Yes this is my cooked meal. Fresh from the garden we have cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and corn all lightly steamed. CSA also included golden beets, which are the bomb. I roast them in the oven in a covered dish with about 1/4 inch of water. Perfection. Last and certainly not least Julie's Smokey Sausage. Yes, I am still addicted to them. :o) Oh and everything is always better with a small sprinkling of nooch.

Another GREEN SMOOTHIE! Yes, it really is a green smoothie. 2 cups of spinach, about 1/2 cup of cherries, a few strawberries, and a couple blueberries. I did find out that maybe 1/2 cup of cherries was too much. Very cherry smoothie, that turned brown from oxidation by the time I drank it at work. Everyone was, "What the heck are you drinking?"I reassured them that the color did not mean the taste.

Morning snack was another CSA treasure. Organic peach, carrots, and cucumbers. I am in love with fresh organic cucumbers. Try a taste test for yourself. I have found that conventional cucumbers have a slightly bitter taste to them, which I really do not care for. The organic ones are sweet with a hint of a watermelon taste. I know weird sensation, but that is how my taste buds taste them. :o)

Lunch was quick as I was on the run to pick up DH, he is still in his cast, so he can't drive. Another wonderful Sun Warrior Raw Rice Protein Smoothie made from hemp milk and organic strawberries from our CSA. Oh and we can't forget my organic fuji apple! You know what they say: An apple a day keeps the doctors away and I want them far, far, away!

This is a repeat dinner without the nooch. Gotta eat yummy leftovers. This time I did slice my tomatoes in half before cooking them with my zucchini. Does anyone else remember the zucchini and stewed tomatoes in a can? Well, I grew up on that stuff. I am not sure I ever had a fresh zucchini until I was married. My mom still raves about those canned zucchini.

Boy, she needs to try the fresh version!

Question of the day?

What memory do you have of a canned food that you now

make with fresh goodness?