Sentiments by Denise

Juicing - on a Regular Basis

Most people enjoy a glass of juice. Fresh-squeezed is usually preferred. How about juice made through a juice machine?

         (the above juice contains carrots, apple, celery, orange & ginger root)

Last year we bought a Waring Pro juicer. It's not the top-of-the-line juicer, but it works for our needs. We try to juice at least twice a week.

I've been trying some new combinations lately, with more vegetables, to get a better balance of nutrients in my diet. For example, this is the juice combination I made this morning:

I combined one Fuji apple, broccoli stems (save those - they are great for juicing and have a slight sweet taste!), 4 carrots, 1 grapefruit, 1/2 cucumber, and some swiss chard.

This is a great little machine - easy to use and easy to clean up (though it is a bit messy, I won't lie!).

Ed helped while I took photos.

Here's my "green juice" with a little tinge of orange! I like the overload of the vegetables, yet it's a taste you have to get use to. I don't particularly care for a sweet juice, as Ed does. His looked like this:

He combined a Golden Delicious apple, Barlett pear, navel orange, and carrots. He prefers his juice to be heavier on the fruit side.

My juicer cleans up easily and goes back to its home above the refrigerator.

If you're thinking that it's just as easy to grab a bottle of juice at your local grocery store, take a few minutes to read this article on what you actually get in those commercial juices.
And if you really want to learn how juicing can benefit your health, there are many resources out there to help - starting with the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead (which can be viewed on Netflix).
Knowledge is power. Consider these things when giving attention to your health.

Love my juice!

Highlights of October

This month is flying by and I haven't made much of an effort to post on this blog. The month started off with our trip to Madison for the weekend (see previous post on that adventure!).  Here are some more highlights:

Tea -
 
This is a new tea that I bought in Madison - love the flavor! The added bonus of caffeine-free makes it great to drink any time of day for me. I'm loving the hot teas more now that the days are cooler. I usually start my day off with a mug of hot tea with breakfast or I make a flavored tea latte (green chai, coconut chai, or mango oolong with 1/3-1/2 cup of almond milk added) in my travel mug to sip on my long drive to work in the mornings. I drink several more cups  (2-3) at work in the morning - mostly Sencha green tea - and often have a cup of vanilla spice at night before bedtime. Love my teas!

Worship -

We are loving our new church so much! Our choir sings only once a month, but we do all three services (Sat night, 2 Sun mornings) so it makes for a busy weekend when we do sing.  For the past six weeks our pastor has been doing a series on prayer and it has been powerful! I have learned so much! The weekend in October that the choir sang, we also did a special Sunday night service called a Night of Worship and Prayer. It was an emphasis on everything Pastor Philbeck had been bringing to us in the past few weeks, worshipful songs of praise to our Lord, and a time to bring our prayers/petitions to God. What an evening of blessing and praise to God! Here's a link of one the songs we sang: Revelation Song (this will link you to our Worship Pastor's blog - click on the link to see/hear the video. Can you spot me in the choir? ). I didn't get permission from Brian to post this video to my blog so I'll just link to his - the blessing you will receive is beyond compare!

 

IKEA -
 
Last weekend my dear friend, Bonnie, invited me to go with her to IKEA in Cincinnati. I had never been before - what a fun store! We spent several hours browsing through the model rooms, oohhing and aahhing over all the fun furnishings. I actually had a couple things on my list to get and I snagged those, plus a few more. I left the store only spending less than $45, but know that a trip in the future is bound to happen. Lots of great ideas and fun ways to organize areas in the home.

Soup -
 
Emilee and I have been itching to make some soups lately, so yesterday after our grocery shopping trip to Whole Foods and Trader Joes (we do this twice a month), we decided to dive right in to making some great vegetarian soups. Pictured above is the split pea soup (flavored with liquid smoke to replace the pork that is so popular in this soup- tasted wonderful!). We also made a butternut squash/white bean soup and a minetrone soup.
 
(Roasting the butternut squash and onions)

I also roasted some pumpkin that my mom had brought me from their garden a few weeks ago, pureed in my food processor and froze for future use in recipes (smoothies, breads, muffins, or as a mix-in for morning oatmeal).

Today our Sunday lunch with the kids consisted of a sampling of homemade soups with some Irish Soda bread that Emilee had made. It was all very good!

 
Loving these Autumn days and nights!

 

Lemonade with a Passion

Rumor has it that Starbucks has a Passion Tea Lemonade drink that many are raving about. I haven't tried it. Yet.

I figure I can make the same thing at home with just a little extra effort. Starting with these:

 
Fresh lemons always make the best lemonade.

While squeezing the juice, I put a pot of water (6 cups to be exact) mixed with one cup of raw sugar on the stove to boil. This makes the syrup for the lemonade. You can always add more sweetener later to your tastes, but I love it tart (!) so this amount works well for me!

Yes, it looks brown - that's the raw sugar (cane sugar, less processed than white refined sugar). Raw sugar has a more complex flavor, much richer than regular table sugar. The color may throw you off when you first begin to cook with it.

First I wash the lemons, like any other raw fruit. You'll see why in a moment. Next I roll each lemon around on the countertop with some slight pressure from my palm to get the juices flowing.
Then comes the juicing. I realize there are easier ways to do this (I even have a little manual juicer), but I didn't mind squeezing  just a few by hand. This recipe used ten small lemons. This will make a little over one cup of pure lemon juice. Mix it with the syrup water, stir, and cool at room temperature for about an hour.

The day before I had made some Tazo Passion Tea and put it in the fridge to chill.

 

Isn't it a lovely color? It's made with hibiscus flowers (and other delightful flavors). The best part is it's caffeine-free! You can find this at any grocery store that sells the Tazo brand.

 

I usually mix 2/3 tea with 1/3 lemonade to make a glassful, adding ice to chill it. This is an awesome, refreshing drink! Not sure what the Starbucks version tastes like, but I love mine!

Oh, you're wondering about my wrap pictured above with my Passion Tea Lemonade? Well, it has an unusual ingredient  - can you guess what it is?

I'll be back next time to share more about this delicious wrap!

p.s. when using fresh lemons, take a few minutes to zest several and freeze the zest - this will come in handy later for those holiday baking recipes!

  

Homemade Veggie Burgers

I've been craving veggie burgers this whole week and had missed picking up my favorite brand last weekend during my grocery shopping trip. Dr. Praegers Tex Mex veggie burgers are so good and the ingredient list is spot on with natural goodies!

But, alas, I decided to take matters into my own hands and make my own veggie bean burgers this evening. Here's the recipe:

Homemade Veggie Burgers

1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 carrot, chopped into 3-4 pieces
2 green onions, chopped into chunks
1 small orange sweet pepper, chopped into chunks
1 handful of fresh baby spinach
1/2 tsp fresh dill
1 med-large fresh basil leaf
a pinch of sea salt
a pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tsp fresh minced garlic

1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 T. pepita seeds
1 T. chia seeds
1/2 c. spelt flour (or whole wheat)

Preheat oven to 375deg and prep a baking sheet with spray oil. Place all ingredients except seeds and flour into a food processor and process until mixture is well blended (may have to stop and scrap sides of bowl). Transfer mixture into a large bowl. Add seeds and stir well. Add flour, in 1/4 cup increments, stirring until well blended. Shape patties, place on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes , then flip and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Makes 7-8 patties.
(adapted from this recipe at Oh She Glows)

I enjoyed this burger on a spelt english muffin along with some fresh leaf lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, mayo, brown spicy mustard, and a couple cherry tomatoes cut in half. I would rather have had it on a sandwich thin, but we were out of those, too!

 

A closer look at the finished product without all the fixin's. I love all the seeds in these! So crunchy and nutritious!
I will pop the rest of these in the freezer for later use - now I have a little stash of veggie burgers to curb my cravings when they happen again!

Speaking of freezer -

Tonight I was hungry for some frozen yogurt and decided to pop a bowl of vanilla Greek yogurt (about 1/2 cup) into the freezer while I was preparing the burgers.

After dinner I pulled out the yogurt and it was frozen to a soft serve consistency - perfect! 

I added some freshly picked red raspberries (from my very own bushes!) and a sprinkling of cacao nibs.

 
The other night when Ed & I went on our date and had some delicious Thai food, we stopped at Ritter's for dessert before heading home. It had been awhile since we'd been there and I didn't know that they now serve frozen tart yogurt. I had a small serving and it was awesome! I opted out of the fruit toppings because they were the syrupy kind loaded with sugar, so I just ate it plain.  Still very good, especially after the spicy Thai veggie dish I had earlier.
Well, that yummy treat got me thinking about making my own frozen yogurt (froyo) dish here at home.

 

 Perfect way to cool down after enduring a 90deg day here in Central Indiana. I'm sure I'll be making this again soon - simple and delish! 

Farmers Market and Homemade Egg Salad

This morning Stephen came over so we could go together to the farmers market. We try to go at least every other week, but will probably start going more often once the farmers begin to get more produce in.

Before we headed out, I made him a bowl of steel cut oats topped with almond butter, golden raisins, chia seeds, ground flax seeds, and milk. He usually doesn't eat oatmeal, but I think he really liked  this combo.

I didn't take any pictures at the farmers market, but we picked up several more herb plants (cilantro, curly parsley, tarragon) and also several plants for the garden - orange bell pepper, sweet banana pepper, grape tomato, black krim tomato, mexican mini tomato. As soon as we get these transplanted into the ground or into pots, I'll show photos of our little garden.

Additionally, I purchased some green onions that looked really good. When I returned home I decided to make an egg salad sandwich for lunch for myself (Stephen headed home to get ready for graduation ceremonies today at the school where he teaches).

 

I purchase a dozen eggs each week from a gentleman at our church who has his own chickens. The eggs are always so fresh and great tasting.

First I chopped up four hardboiled eggs, then added:

• 1 sliced green onion
• 2 sliced red radishes
• 1 sliced stalk of celery

 

 I also added a few squirts of yellow mustard and about a half cup of plain Greek yogurt. This gives the salad a fabulous tangy taste!

Then I headed outside the back door to snip a few leaves from my chive plant that I have growing in a planter in the back yard.

The fresh chives were a perfect finishing touch (along with some pepper and paprika) to the homemade egg salad.

I mixed all the ingredients together and stuffed a couple small spoonfuls into a mini whole wheat pita (sliced in half) with some organic lettuce leaf that came in my CSA delivery this week.

 

Great lunch! This recipe makes two servings, so there's enough for leftovers!

An Omelette Anytime

Typically an omelette is eaten for breakfast, but I like to make them as a quick, healthy lunch or dinner option.

For this omelette, I sauteed some fresh onions, mushrooms, zucchini, and spinach together. Then I beat together 2 farm fresh country organic eggs with a bit of milk and poured the mixture into a skillet. When the eggs are just about set, I add the veggies to one side of the omelette.

Next comes this fabulous ingredient:

I think goat cheese adds such a robust flavor to any dish. I just love it on homemade pizza and sprinkled on a spinach salad. Give it a try and see if you don't agree.

I served this scrumptious omelette with some leftover oven roasted potatoes (organic Klamath Pearl) for a very filling meal.  Add a piece of fruit for dessert and you have a very healthy balanced meal. 

I really like oven roasted potatoes. I also make sweet potatoes like this - spritzing some olive oil and a dash of salt on the cut up wedges, giving them a couple tosses, and baking them in a 400* oven for about 40-45 minutes (turning half way through). If you haven't tried potatoes like this, you're really missing out on a splendid treat!

The days are getting longer and warmer - I sure do love this Spring weather!

Healthy Eating Sources

One of my readers commented recently and asked where I found healthy recipes and meal ideas. I have a few sources that I go to.

Books / Cookbook

I like to browse through books from the local library and if I find a book that seems invaluable to me - for meal ideas/recipes that I'll use over and over again, I will often purchase the book. Here are some books I've been reading through lately:

 

Most of these books have good healthy recipes in them and also ideas for cooking meals that will bring loads of good nutrients to the body. I just recently finished reading Steven Pratt's SuperFoods HealthStylebook and found so much useful information. He notes the benefits of eating foods in season and highlights several "superfoods" in each respective season. For example, it's Spring, and we should be eating foods like kiwi, pineapple, spinach, kale, other greens, orange bell peppers, honey, and tea. For each of these superfoods he also lists how each one benefits the body/our health, how to use it in the kitchen in everyday cooking/food prep, and how much/how often we should be eating these healthy superfoods. Sprinkled throughout the book are also sections of exercise, sleep, and other wellness strategies. I learned so much from this book and I would highly recommend it if you are seeking to improve your health in ways that go beyond just "dieting".

Magazines

 

There are also many good magazines out there with great recipes. Even if I don't follow the recipes I find verbatim, I still get some great ideas for healthy meals. I try to load as many vegetables into each meal as possible - even breakfast, if I can. It often takes some imagination and willingness to step out of the norm and try some things not usually eaten. This has been one way that I've discovered some new and interesting dishes. Shopping in the fresh produce department at my local grocery store also gives me ideas for meals. Yesterday, Emilee & I were at Whole Foods Market again and I saw the pretty bright orange organic bell peppers. I hope to make a stuffed pepper dish this week with some quinoa (a fabulously healthy whole grain that I've been experimenting with) and other veggies mixed in. I also picked up a Florida avocado, which looks (and feels) different from a regular avocado that I want to try using in a vegetarian quesadilla recipe I've been thinking about (that also include red pepper pesto).
Notice in the photo above that broccoli has been added to the pizza as a topping. Now, I wouldn't normally think of broccoli as a pizza ingredient, but this actually looks very tasty and I plan to try this recipe soon. Broccoli is a superfood and is a very nutrient-dense food - why wouldn't it be good in pizza?

 

Last week I made a vegetable marinara sauce. Normally, I just add some onions, garlic, and mushrooms to some crushed tomatoes to create a sauce with several seasonings. But this time I decided to add a few more vegetables to make it even more tasty - thinly sliced zucchini, roasted red pepper, diced tomatoes (and can you see the fennel seed, basil, and rosemary seasonings in that sauce?). 

 

Adding this marinara sauce to a cup of whole wheat rotini noodles makes a great meal, with a side salad of mixed greens, carrots, and cucumbers.

Healthy Food Blogs

I find lots of fun and healthy recipes on the internet also - just by reading health food blogs and doing searches highlighting one or two ingredients. I mentioned doing some experimenting with quinoa as another alternative to brown rice. The other night I cooked a small batch of quinoa in my rice cooker and then after steaming some vegetables (asparagus, zucchini, red pepper, onions, and carrots) I tossed a cup of the cooked quinoa and the veggies into a skillet with a dab of extra virgin olive oil and mixed it together with some awesome szechuan sauce.

 

I don't know why I don't have a photo of the finished product (I thought for sure I took one), but trust me - it was incredibly good! Healthy grain, vibrant vegetables, and a little kick - what's not to love?!

I have found lots of good recipes at several of the blogs I visit on line:

101 Cookbooks

Kath Eats Real Food

Edible Perspective

Fatfree Vegan Kitchen

These are just a few that I read regularly and their blogs have given me lots of menu ideas and recipes to try.

If you're trying to eat healthier meals like adding more vegetables and whole grains, a good idea is to replace an animal protein with a vegetable protein for at least one meal a week [i.e. cannelini white beans replaces chicken or black beans replaces ground beef]. My diet for the past three months has been leaning more toward a vegetarian focus. I still eat some meat (mostly chicken or fish), but it's not the main focus of my meals. In other words, I build my meals around the vegetables/grains and not the meat. My husband still insists on meat at nearly every meal. Often I will fix the meal, adding the meat dish for him, but I will not eat it, just focusing on all the vegetable offerings. For example, last Sunday for Easter I made sure there were several other options to eat other than the ham because I knew Emilee & I would not eat it (we don't eat pork at all). The guys loved having the spiral cut ham with all the trimmings, but I also enjoyed the meal because I prepared a variety of foods that met everyone's taste buds. 

There are many sources out there to help in planning good healthy meals for you and your family. I hope I've given you some ideas to look beyond what you normally fix and try some new/different foods in your menu planning.

Please share your ideas with me also - I'm always looking for good, healthy meal ideas.

What is your favorite "healthy" meal or food to fix at home?