Kombucha Day #4 & a Green Smoothie :)

I'm a little obsessed with my kombucha/science experiment. There, I said it ;) I just went to peak at it today and there is some major SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria & Yeast) growth going on in there! It looks like the top is developing a white film and it also appears to have a "baby SCOBY" growing. Yay! That's progress! Can't wait to see how it will change in the coming days!

Here's a peak in case you're as obsessed interested as I am.

Please excuse the poor picture quality... a photographer I am not! This was taken with my phone.


I also want to share with you one of my favorite green smoothie recipes as well today. I'm not a huge breakfast person. Although, I do live with a breakfast person, so I often cook a big bfast for my son and then eat a small portion of that or more often a green smoothie. It's a great way to start the day and get my veggies in right off the bat. It tastes really great too!

Today, I made this smoothie as kind of a mid afternoon snack. Here's a pic. It's usually a lot "greener," but I used red kale in this one instead of the usual green kale. I gave my son the smaller glass as I am still trying to turn him onto these.

I found this guide for creating a green smoothie on Pinterest sometime back and it has not failed me yet! Of course, you can just throw in whatever you like, but this helped me to realize what I should be adding in to get a well rounded and very nutritious smoothie.

My recipe is usually as follows:
1 cup organic almond milk
2 cups kale
1/2 a frozen banana
1 kiwi
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp maca root powder
1 tsp cacao nibs
1 tsp hemp protein powder
1 tsp/squirt honey ( I usually forget this and it is just fine without it)

Blend until well blended... Then add a handful of ice and blend again.

Enjoy!!

Baby Steps to Healthier Living

I've been through a lot with my health the past three years. Obvious-lay! So one of the things that I think a lot about these days is what I am putting in my body, what I'm feeding my son, what kinds of things I'm bringing in the house, etc. Anyone that knows me knows that I am becoming one of "those" weird people.

Side story: I went to pick up my sister from college this weekend and was sitting in her room talking with her and one of her roomies while she got all packed up and ready to go. Her roomie said that she had just finished a research paper and that she was so glad to have that over with. I could definitely relate, as I remember the stress and all that is involved with school and papers and classes and tons of homework. Funny thing is though, I miss it. Now, I am NOT going back to school anytime soon. It's enough homeschooling my own son and with everything else that is going one. However, I do miss research and papers, etc. So I said all that to say that I think that is why I enjoy researching health issues so much. I could spend hours reading blogs and such about eating a real food diet and getting back to our roots. I could also spend hours reading parenting books, spiritual books, self help books, etc. I'm glad that the desire to learn is one that hasn't left me. I also enjoy talking about what I've learned with others that are interested in a healthier lifestyle and learning from those that are farther along in all this "health nut" stuff than I am. So I thought, hey, this would be a good medium to do just that!

There are a few things that I am currently super curious about and researching:

• Kombucha - I just started my own homebrew on Saturday, so I'll keep you posted on that one

• Soaking Grains - I bought a bunch of whole grains a couple weeks ago and want to learn the best way to use them

• Water Kefir - A friend is making this and I'm thinking I wanna try. We'll see. I don't know anything about it, so I'm just now starting to do the research

• Water Filters - Water is pretty much all I drink other than the occasional cup of tea or even less occasional cup of coffee. I probably drink about 80-100oz of water a day. I have a Brita water jug that we keep in the fridge, but I'm thinking I need to research this further and find out more...
  
• Making Homemade Cheeses - I've successfully made ricotta, so I'm ready to try some others soon

I recently bought the book Nourishing Traditions which is like the bible for a healthier lifestyle, apparently. It addresses several of this issues, but I'm also perusing the web the learn more. I'll keep you updates as I try each of these things out.

I think that changing what we put in our bodies can make a really big impact on our overall health. I also think that it is very overwhelming, especially when you are starting out. Where do you start? What do you tackle first? What has worked very well for me is just learning about ONE item/area at a time and researching it, making the necessary change, taking a couple weeks to adjust to that change and then moving onto the next "thing." For instance milk, for the past several years we have bough organic milk from the store. I wanted to do better than that and try raw milk, so through a church friend I found out about a local farmer that sells raw milk. We now have been drinking it for about a year and love it. After that transition I started trying to buy organic or local produce. My kind dairy farmer told me about a local co-op that you can order organic produce from bi-weekly and we started doing that about a year ago as well. And so on and so on. I'm still very far away from knowing all that I would like to or making all the changes in my kitchen and home that I would like to, but I my kitchen is much better stocked now that it was a year and a half ago with the kinds of foods I want to bring in our home. It's just a learning process and as with anything, you have to take one baby step at a time.

I hope in the future to encourage you and share with you some of the other changes I've made and we can embark on this journey together :)

Tonight I wasn't feeling well, but I needed to make dinner, so I threw something together really quick that turned out to be pretty awesome. Last week I made sweet potato hash as a side for our meal. I made up my own recipe since I had never had it before. I made that again tonight with local scrambled eggs, avocado and a kiwi for each of us. I'll share the sweet potato hash recipe with you in the coming week, as I want to make it again and take pictures. I was super excited tonight though because my son ate half an avocado. Now, he is 13, but he swears he doesn't like them. I cut up 1/2 of one for us to share and just put about 4 slices on his plate with a little salt, pepper and a squirt or fresh lime juice. I told him "I know you don't like avocado, but I didn't give you much and I would like you to eat it." He ate it with no complaints and said "It's not my favorite thing, but it was OK." I've been trying to get him to eat them for years! That just goes to show that it's true that you have to keep on exposing them to the same foods over and over and eventually, hopefully, they will one day try it and like it. Now I'm worried that I'll have to share my guacamole! LOL. Now, bell peppers on the other hand, he still hates those!!

Hello There!

I must be the world's worse blogger. Oh well, whatcha gonna do? HA HA!!

One of my goals this year is to write more. I can' guarantee you that I'm gonna update this blog weekly, but I'll make an attempt to do it more often than every six months!!At any rate, it is what it is and I've been busy.

I've got several personal goals this year. Those that top the list are:
*Focus on a closer walk with God.
*Make memories
*Make changes to live a healthier, happier life
*Find balance, cut back, learn to say no without feeling guilty
*Get organized. Seriously. Purge, purge and organize, organize
*Create more.

I'm tacking #1 by trying to get more daily time with God. I'm also endeavoring to memorize scripture.

We jumped all over #2 this past week and made some memories to last a life time! We took a trip to Tampa to see my friend, Hattie, and had the BEST time!! We went to see Wicked (the musical), went to the Ringling Brothers Art Museum, visited Florida Aquarium and just enjoyed the time we had there with our friends. It was a trip to treasure!

I felt like things had been on hiatus until after the trip and revival (which we have this week). So, while everyone else was getting a fresh start on 1/1/13, I kept saying, end of January!! After the trip!! January 28th!! We just got home yesterday and although we are exhausted and I completely over did it, I am rearing to go and get back on a routine and start accomplishing my goals :)

Today I started Hungry for a Change's 3 day detox. You can go to their website to check that out here.
Last year I started the quest of eating better. We tried to incorporate as much healthy, whole and organic food as possible, but I am ashamed to say I totally fell off the wagon. But that's OK, cause I'm ready to tackle it again and I have a lot of knowledge behind me to where it doesn't make things seem so overwhelming this time. I'm a firm believe that diets don't work because you won't stick with them long term and also that you have to just change things little by little. The detox boasts that it will:

• Reduce your cravings
• Reset your taste buds
• Start the process of cleaning up
• Get you on the path to healthy living

We shall see! I'm on day #1. This morning I really enjoyed the ginger/lemon detox drink and the super green detox smoothie. I have to tell you, I've juiced a lot in the past, but mainly fruits, so I didn't have any experience with juicing veggies and I was nervous about the celery and cucumbers. It was very refreshing though! I truly enjoyed it! The "sushi" salad for lunch was AMAZING and so incredibly filling that I couldn't finish about 1 cup of it. It makes A LOT! It doesn't have fish in it, but I think they call it "sushi" salad because it tastes just like a California roll. I'll be looking forward to having it the next few days and I can even see myself making it in the future.

I need to get up and go make the soup. I'm really tired though and I don't know if that has to do with seriously overdoing it on vacation or detoxing. I read though that I need to "listen to my body," so I have just been resting a lot today. We have revival tonight, so I'm about to get up and get ready. I'll try to throw the soup together really quick before I leave so that I can let it simmer on the stove.

I never made the activated almonds because I couldn't find raw organic almonds. I ordered some from a website called nuts.com and I also ordered a raw sampler box from there and I am expecting it between now and Saturday. I'll add in the almonds as soon as I can. I did buy cashews, but I don't think they will be as good for me so I really don't know if I should be eating them.

I made the chia seed pudding a little while ago and put it in the fridge. I'm excited to try that and really glad that I get a "dessert." I have to admit, I LOVE sweets! I've been craving something sweet or sugar and that, I think, will be the hardest thing to let go of for me. I already have a lot of dessert recipes that are made with honey or maple syrup, so I know once I get off of the detox I can enjoy those things in moderation. If I want to loose weight though, and I do, then I need to seriously scale back on that.

Right now I'm at 119. I weighed myself last night and today and both times it was 119 on the dot, so I am curious to see how the detox will affect my weight. Wondering if and how much I will loose?

I've gotta throw the soup together and get ready for church. I'll update you tomorrow!