Healthy Feeling or Healthy Looking

*This is a pretty long, boring post on my personal opinions and thoughts, it could possibly make you think and reconsider your pantry or maybe it’ll just offend you and your healthy ways.*

I prefer being healthy on the inside AND healthy looking! It’s nice to know that what you eat can have more effects on the body’s appearance than you think, as well as its internal health. You don’t have buy fancy cosmetics or face cleansers or take medication daily or worry about illness and disease when you make you’re dietary health one of your priorities.

I know there are people out there that hear me talking about what I believe is healthier for my body and health and think that I’m highly misinformed and completely ignorant, but honestly, I feel that it’s them. I feel bad for people who can’t think for them selves when it involves anything remotely important. It’s even worse, to me, when someone thinks they’re making a healthy choice and shoves it down your throat and really have no idea what it is they’re doing and why -ie. being a vegetarian and always commenting on it but eating boxed mac’n’cheese and drinking mountain dew and bingeing on drive thru french fries.

Yes, maybe I take things too far, or go over board or even just overwhelm people with such a radically different approach to my health and wellness then they’ve ever bother considering.  So, I think I’m going to give you my run down of my “diet” as of today, why I do it, and why I think I’ll continue to do it and encourage all the people I love to do it.

Number 1 : What do I eat?

I eat anything I want.

The key part to my diet is: I over think EVERYTHING! Even though a certain fast food restaurant’s Southern Style Chicken Sandwich is delicious (at least it was the last time I had it), I cannot even bring myself to go near a fast food restaurant, it scares me too much. No, I don’t think I’m going to die from a rare strand of e-coli living in my hamburger meat, no I don’t think I’m gain 10 pounds from that medium french fry, no I don’t think you’re a terrible person for eating fast food; I do, however do not like the idea of animal “left overs” that have been bleached to kill all bacteria and any trace amount of nutrition left in the so-called “meat” formed into a block of food filler being my main course in my number 3 burger combo, I also can’t stand the idea of dipping my unaging potatoes fried in GMO, plastic containing frying oil into high fructose corn syrup ketchup and finishing it off with 90 packets of sugar dissolved into carbonated water. Yes, my brain really does think all of this at once at the end of a long day when I’m considering not going home and just eating an apple and a salad with a glass of carbonated mineral water.

So by saying, “I eat anything I want,” what I guess that means, is I have no desire to eat the things I shouldn’t because I’m cursed with an overly imaginative, vivid mind. But to my diet, I find eating about 85% of all of my food raw is the right way to go, eventually I hope to up that percentage. 85% leaves me room for the things that are cooked, but still good for me…and also dessert after a dinner out, like ice cream.

I LOVE eating the things that are good for me, not just because they make my body healthier, but because they are so delicious! I mean, I cannot understand why someone would rather have that greasy burrito and cinnamon pork rinds (that’s what they look like to me) when someone could eat an amazing sweet and juicy homegrown (or farmers market bought), sun ripened tomato salad and organic apples in season and a kale and banana smoothie, I mean, c’mon, honestly?! Why is our health on the bottom of our priority list? I WANT my grocery list to be one of my biggest monthly expenses! at least then I know I’m willing to make some sort of sacrifice for a longer healthier life! And really, Branden and I are spending less and less with the more things we decide to cut out and the more we find that we love! and hopefully next year I’ll have a garden and be spending even less money on groceries!

I think most of the grocery money doesn’t go to the food that we eat and go through quickly, like apple, bananas and spinach, but to the things that we buy for a week or months supply, like our Spirulina capsules, my Vitamin C, my Probiotic capsule, my Raw Vegan Protein, the things that really make that extra difference in our diets and our health are the things we SHOULD be spending money on (in my opinion).

Number 2: Why do you eat it all raw? Why not cook it?

Well, I have a few reasons I’d rather eat most of my food raw.
A) Because I think almost all vegetables and fruits taste better uncooked, raw, and closest to its most natural form, like bell peppers, I LOVE bell peppers raw, but if you cook them I hate them! Of course, cabbage on the other hand I love juiced and maybe in a mixed salad, but prefer that lightly wilted in a stir fry or in a vegetable soup. So, I don’t eat EVERYTHING raw, we’re not all perfect, okay? 
B) Fruits and vegetables are more filling when they’re uncooked, so you could say I get more for my money. If you were to pull all of the stuff out for a dinner salad and eat that, you’d probably be more full and satisfied than if you were to dump that bowl into a casserole dish or stir fry pan and cook it for 15 minutes; that food wilts, looses water weight (which is so important to have), and depletes in nutrients, that doesn’t sound more satisfying to me. 
C) I’m not a fan of digestive leukocytosis, it’s where you’ve cooked your food to the point where it is enzyme deficient and your body treats it as an intruder, or illness, by creating white blood cells (leukocytes), above the normal white blood cell count found in the blood, and sending them out into your body. ( which, in case you don’t know, the cause of cancer is the bodies natural healing processes has not been turned off, your body is constantly in a state of healing.) Leukocytosis is a healthy thing when you’re body IS sick and trying to fight off infection, not after every time you eat; so when you are sick or possibly in a place where you could catch something, like a day care or hospital or just work with recycled air through the indoor air conditioning, you should REALLY be eating tons and tons of raw foods (not chicken soup and jello), so your body is able to not only use all those beneficial living enzymes in the food, but also allow those leukocytes to actually do their job where it’s needed, fighting off viruses and inflammation rather than your own lunch and dinner.
The nice thing is, you don’t have to have higher white blood cell counts after every meal, if you only ate 51% raw nutrient rich foods for every meal, leukocytoses won’t occur in your body and you won’t get tired after eating and your body will be able to turn off its healing process and actually rest!
D) The most important to me, I want the living enzymes in the unadulterated foods. Cooking any plant-based food over 104 degrees kills beneficial living enzymes that are vital to your body’s health! Even lightly steaming has a huge depletion factor on food! I know, I know, LIVING enzymes in my FOOD? YES! They are SOOO important! It’s almost the biggest single reason you should eat tons and tons of raw fruits, veggies, soaked nuts and sprouted grains! The enzymes in your food are protein molecules found in each cell of that raw food, once you cook the food past 104 degrees, these enzymes start to deplete and become unusable to the body. The enzymes have a major role in proper digestion and absorption of your foods, as well as helping your body to regenerate itself.

Number 3: Are you a vegan?
No. I would love to be, but its impractical for me to try when my husband even struggles with giving up bread. I prepare most of our meals, with the exception of meals involving the grill. My husband and I both enjoy a nice steak or grilled chicken, so what we’ve decided to do was buy locally raised 100% grass-fed beef and local free range chicken. We don’t eat meat daily, or even weekly, but we do occasionally love a hefty protein packed, naturally more lean beef filet with grilled potatoes. I guess you can’t take the Indiana out of an Indiana boy, or the yum out steak. Darn.
I also struggle with dairy, if I could pick a side of the fence I’d feel more better about having a glass of milk or a bowl of yogurt or the spreadable cheese, but for now I’m sticking with the argument of “beneficial bacteria for the gut and it’s just really good.” Again, I don’t over load on the dairy, I say no at olive garden! But I just can’t seem to give up my cream in my morning tea. I am taking probiotic capsules twice a day, as well, so really my cheese is my dietary luxury at the moment. Buuuut again, I choose the best route I can, I buy 100% grass-fed organic milk, cheese and yogurt. And it’s local enough, north Indy (I want to visit the farm for a day trip some time, they have a market on Fridays with music and dinner on a patio…it sounds amazing!)

Number 5. But are you really getting enough protein?
Yes. Protein, is a big misunderstanding with most people. I’m unsure why people feel you can’t get enough protein without meat, maybe it’s because they don’t know how much your body really needs?

Body Weight (BW) Protein Needs Formula
BW in LB/2.2= BW in K
K*0.8-1.8=daily protein needs
Mine=37.45 g of protein daily (103/2.2*0.8)
If was a huge body builder or marathon runner I would use a number closer to 1.8.
Even pregnant women’s protein needs are lower than most people think. Despite protein being the main building blocks of body tissue, a pregnant womans daily protein intake increases about 10g a day, so about 50-60g total a day (if I were pregnant, which I’m not).

So if not from meat where do I get it?
Protein is almost EVERYTHING I eat. Bananas, grapefruits, coconuts, avocados (and I have to clear up the misconception that these are fattening and shouldn’t eat too many, my husband and I eat avocados almost daily and the benefits we get from its fat are fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, protein and beneficial carbs. I would rather eat a raw, healthy avocado everyday of my life than a grilled chicken breast laden with hormones or antibiotics and FAT or a white bread, mayo slathered ham sandwich.), kale, spinach, almonds, Spirulina, oranges soaked nuts, sprouted grains…they all have protein and add up pretty quick, especially the dark leafy greens. I’ve started adding a raw vegan protein to my morning smoothies for an extra boost of energy since I’ve started working a physically demanding 60 hour work week. I need the extra power right now, but normally, it’s not necessary for me.

The healing properties of food are incredible, and incredibly, that’s not new!! Food always has and always will be our answer to living a healthy, long life. “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food”. Hippocrates new it way back in 400BC! Chinese medicine, one of the oldest forms of medicine, food is one of their biggest factors in healing. Seaweed is an excellent source of nutrients and where they eat seaweed and algae as a staple in their diet, disease and illness is uncommon. (Spirulina is a blue-green algae, one of the highest sources of plant-based protein in the world) In India, they have spices, herbs and plants for healing things as major as back injuries. Something as simple as taking a shot of apple cider vinegar everyday can make a significant difference in someone digestive health and heartburn. Using coconut oil on your skin can heal skin ailments such as eczema or adding it to your smoothies in the morning can give you some beneficial fatty acids as well.

I think the most important part of anyone diet is not necessarily what you are not putting in your body, but what IS going into your body. I encourage everyone who reads this just consider what is in your food, what you don’t want to be in it, or what DO you want your food to do for you. I try not to constantly say no to myself, but to give my self excellent, healthy, delicious alternatives that make me not even want the unhealthy option, or the less healthier option. Maybe try to cut out High Fructose Corn Syrup and corn additives, or maybe take it further by only buying organic produce, and then eventually try cutting out GMO using brands and foods containing certain additives and preservatives. And then you can eventually work towards really alkalizing you’re body’s Ph level. It’s all a step by step process, and I’ll be taking steps till the end of my life probably, because our bodies change, and hopefully so will our country’s food industry.

Good Food, Better Dog

Our puppy  is one the best things about our day. His potty training is really coming along great, we’ve giving him the kitchen as his space when we leave instead of his kennel, and his “accidents” have pretty much have gone from every time we left to every three or four days…so that’s progress in my book. It makes me like him a little bit more when he doesn’t pee or poo on my floor. But he’s a pretty spoiled little dog, he’s on my lap cuddled under a blanket right now…he gets completely devastated when he’s put on the floor when we’re eating dinner, pathetic! But he knows not to cross the street, he’ll sit on the edge of our lawn when we go across the street to check the mail and sit there like a good boy, such a good little boy!

I’ve also started making all of his food at home, so he knows he’s a spoiled rotten dog. The best part about making his food is it saves us money on dog food, it’s better for him, and it makes me happy knowing he’s eating his food because he likes it and not because he has to. Last time I made boiled chicken, egg and rice with ground carrots and canned it, it filled about 24 1/2 pint jars and he eat about 1 pint of food each day. This past time I cooked some oats, added a bag of frozen mixed berries, a half a bag of frozen peas, filled the jars about half way with that, the other half was filled with raw ground beef and then topped off with about a tablespoon of yogurt or cottage cheese. I usually top his food with ground flax seeds and some Spirulina and anything else that’s a left over we’re not going to eat or something extra to make it different from the day before, this one I put chopped spinach…he loves it. (no, it doesn’t look appetizing to us, but to him, the prime rib!) But what makes him healthy on the inside, will in turn help him be a happier dog and  stay with us longer and with less medical problems than a lot of other dogs on conventional dog food…hopefully.

The cats are stuck with bagged food, poor kitties ): Maybe that’s why BooBoo hates me? And besides, Pheobe’s turning into a dog and waiting at the door everyday to be let out for the day, so hopefully she’s out catching bugs and eating mice or something…no, who am I kidding, all she does is run under the neighbors camper and sit there and then run to the bushes in our front yard and watch all the other neighbor cats outside actually act like cats and sleep in the drive way.

ahhh, the fam, I love them all. And for those of you wondering how Branden’s back is doing, it’s doing much better. It’s still bothering him a little, but his pain killers are helping with the pain and his physical therapy is really helping as well with pain and the healing, so YAY! I was sick of him being on bed rest… I about died of frustration.

Goodbye, Summer

The weather has finally turned towards cooler days and colder nights making being outside finally enjoyable. One of the best things to me is enjoying a hot cup of black tea on my back porch while getting to watch my puppy chase the fallen leaves and knowing my two cats are snuggled up together by the space heater in the living room…finally, the time for family all being in one room has come for this Criss household!

I’m a military brat, but consider Florida home…so for anyone who may relate, this may sound like gibberish and lies, I have missed the fall and am looking forward to the beginning of winter time. Yes, only the beginning, because towards the middle and at the end, I completely hate all things cold, all things frozen and all things involving vehicles. I HATE driving in the snow and ice, it is the worst thing, I’d rather get fat during the fall and hibernate in order to avoid winter driving here. Sorry, off topic.

Branden and I have slowed our unpacking and have gotten unconsciously comfortable walking around and digging  through boxes…it’s sad, we keep saying we have to unpack, then don’t, this could be a great example of our excellent procrastination skills. Well, mine anyways. Branden’s at least got himself an excuse, it’s called a job. Me, well I have a blog, and soon a job, but that’s only more of an excuse to unpack before I start working and we live out of boxes through the new year…that sounds unpleasantly possible. I better wrap this post up quick so I can unpack something, maybe find my Birth Certificate or Marriage License so I can become a proper Indiana State Resident, even though I really am not looking forward to surrendering my Florida Drivers License. ):

THE WEATHER, gosh, I mostly just wanted to say how much I’m loving it, how much I love my new tea diffuser my Mother-In-Law bought me, either in Scotland or England during her and my Sister-In-Law’s trip this past July, and the cookies to go along with the tea she brought back for me. They were really good and thank goodness I now have a magnet to tell me how to make them. The ingredients listed on the box made me miss Europe, yes, because they are smart and made these the way they were meant to be made: Wheat Flour, Butter, Sugar, Salt. That’s it. No HFCS, no preservatives, no GMO’s, no hydrogenated oils, no corn, no soy…just what cookies are supposed to be made of, delicious, simple ingredients.

Branden’s been enjoying the weather and trying to get a lot of outdoor things done, for example, putting in a dusk-till-dawn sensor, it saves us money and our own energy to remember if we turned them on or off, usually I forgot, so really it saves Branden time from having to call from work to ask if I turned the lights off. He’s still enjoying taking care of the lawn with all of his new lawn care equipment, come next year I’m sure I’ll be writing about how much he loathes lawn work…he denies that this will happen, but I know the truth. (;

Adder, as well, has been enjoying the weather and the leaves. He chases them when the wind blows them around the yard, why we spend money on dog toys is beyond me. He is still getting used to the idea of a sweater, he usually forgets he has it on or becomes okay with it to then only start scratching and biting at it all of a sudden, but for Italian Greyhound, you’ve got to make sure they’re wrapped up in colder weather because they’re so skinny and all bone and lean muscle that they have nothing to (he’s drinking water in his sleep right now on my lap, he sits the gulping and slurping with his tongue lapping at nothing, it’s my favourite thing about his sleeping) keep them warm, so sweaters and jackets are a must for this little guy. I feel I have to justify having clothes on my dog for all the two people reading this post, even though he looks adorable in them!

Adder runs and runs and runs in the back yard, he just does circles around us, he’s so quick all we can do is stand there and try to grab him as he runs by because chasing him really is out of the question. I snapped a few pictures of him running around and playing and this one of him in mid-sprint made me burst on laughing, mostly because it made me happy to see how much he enjoys himself, but mostly, I mean, c’mon, he looks so goofy! haha! I had to share. And also the one of him with his top lips stuck, this happened to our previous dog, Roxie, all the time and always made Branden and me laugh. It doesn’t happen often to Adder because his lips aren’t as droopy, so getting a picture, well, was funny.

I do love this little guy. 

Monday Night Free-Range Chicken

So this past Saturday Branden also bought a free range chicken from the same stand, Royer Farm, that had the beef filets, this chicken turned out great! Branden found a beer brine on the internet, so I made that and we marinated the chicken for only about 7 hours, dried it off and refrigerated for another 2 hours before grilling it.

I don’t know what temperature Branden cooked them at but they cooked for maybe a little longer than 90 minutes. We had with that a salad with avocado and tomato drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was the perfect light dinner to end our weekend with.

Branden also very creatively came up with a quick appetizer for us to snack on, we didn’t have skewers, so we opted for the next best thing, chopsticks! HAHA! For something quick and unplanned, he did pretty good, the tomatoes tasted really sweet after grilling! I added a bit of pepper and some salt, but if we do these again, I’ll  probably only do pepper.

Our First Real Lunch At Home

So, practically none of our boxes have been unpacked, did I mention that we’re sick of moving? Yea, we’re currently pulling things out of opened boxes, leaving a huge mess behind us, to get the things we need immediatly…a potential bad idea. But today, it was worth it!

We decided to go to the Terre Haute Farmers Market today, instead of the Bloomington Farmers Market (which is SOOOOO much bigger). First of all, I bought a cotton plant today. I was super excited, Branden thought I was strange. He bought two grass-fed, grain-finished (the cows have access to corn and grass the last few months of their lives…but I always bring up the point, if you had a kid and gave him the option between fruits and vegetables or candy, which do you think he would choose? I guess I could be the exception to that, though… growing up I usually did choose fruit over candy…so MOST kids.) beef filets. I kinda thought it was stupid, but I’m glad he bought them. I would have preferred, before I had our lunch today, that we just wait till next week to try the 100% grass-fed cow. But my husband just bought himself a new grill the other week as a welcome to my thousands of dollars in debt (new home). It’s a gas grill, and it was totally worth the 10% off we asked for since the box had been ripped open.

We stopped by Baeslers Market (our grocery store) and picked up some small red potatoes, a big white onion, and some baby Portobello and some asparagus. We got home and for the first time ever, we didn’t have to wait for charcoal to heat up! I decided to dice up the potatoes, mushrooms and onion and mix them up with some olive oil and a few herbs and wrapped them up in some foil and roasted them on the grill for about 30 minutes. Amazing. The asparagus is just sautéed in some olive oil with some sea salt and topped with some Romano cheese.

Branden was in charge of the steaks and he does an amazing job, such a true man. haha. He mixed some olive oil and some Cabernet wine and just sits them in the mixture for a few minutes. The wine added an amazing flavour to the filets. I couldn’t stop talking about how good everything was while we were eating…on our back porch! (:

We were both happy with our first lunch that we made together at home and how many more we get to have!

Yup, We Got One

WE CLOSED ON OUR HOUSE TODAY! We are officially home owners. I’m so excited! I still don’t want to pack. boo.

But as excited as I am about our home, there is something else new I’d like to introduce to you. His name is Addy, short for Adderson. It may change, we try to go through a few names the first week to see which one fits him best. We’ve currently decided on Adderson because he is such a goof! He’s clumsy and awkward, like Rowan Atkinson’s character The Black Adder.

He is the sweetest guy, super cuddly and way too adorable! It’s really is pathetic how much I love him already. We went yesterday to pick him up about 5 hours north of here. The whole family of puppies were there, so Addy is still adjusting to being without all of them. He’s not a fan of the car yet, he’s iffy on walking on the soft upholstery of the seatsnand the bumps in the road makes his ears perk up, but after he finds a comfy spot on either Branden’s or my lap, he’ll fall right asleep and stay asleep, he sleeps like a rock.

 

He’s small enough to sleep with us in our bed, and I love cuddling with him. I woke up a lot though, I kept thinking Branden was going to roll over and squish him. Addy finally got up in the middle of the night, we thought it was a potty dance, but no, he got between the top sheet and comforter and snuggled with my legs. (I’m melting inside just from thinking about it! SO sweet!)

 

He likes our cats and wants to lick and cuddle with them already, but the cats are not a fan of him…yet! I would almost put money down saying in about a week or so they’ll be cuddling on the couch together sleeping the day away.

It’s nice having a dog in the house again. We will always miss our Roxie, but she’s now able to get everything she deserves with such an amazing family. Luckily, this little guy’s an Italian Greyhound, not a Great Dane, he’ll get his energy out pretty easily indoors and in our backyard.

I will keep you posted on the move to our new house and with Addy.

How Did I Forget?!

I can’t believe I forgot to mention this before! While with my sister, Erica, we both canned spaghetti sauce for the first time, well anything for that matter. Sooooo we were excited! I thought I’d share the pictures. I’m going to have to try canning my recipe sometime, because I like my spaghetti sauce to be more like diced tomato and onion simmer with some red wine and garlic with a bit of brown sugar added, my sister isn’t a fan of chunky sauce or tomatoes, so hers we more complicated than my sauce.

So here are the pictures. This one is of us filling our jars with sauce using the food funnel in the canning kit. We tought we wouldn’t need to use it…we were wrong.

Here they are, filled up.

Here’s my sister excited about her canned sauce!

This one is the jars simmering so the tops seal.

and I forgot to take a picture of the finished cans, but needless to say, they were adorable! Jars of food can be adorable, right?

Okay. I had to share our canning fun.

I’m Supposed To Be Packing

We’re moving into our new house on the 20th…and we haven’t packed one box yet. We’re really good at packing quick on the last possible day! Well, we pack a little and then realize that we’ve got to crack down and we just start shoving things in boxes whether they’re in any particular group or not. I like packing my boxes and labeling them with the room they’ll be going to and then allllll the items in that box; it starts out really well but by the last day we get boxes with labels saying “bathroom/garage/closet/entertainment.” Yes, very helpful. haha.

So today I have flat boxes that need to be folded, taped and packed, but I can’t find the tape…so I’m blogging about it. (:

I haven’t posted anything in a while, so I’ll try to update you…update you on my very uneventful past month. Branden and I are closing on our house on the 15th. We can not wait, it’s all we talk/worry/dream/think about. Finally, we’ll be out of this apartment, which we think wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the nosy, almost mean management, oh and our constantly flooding dishwasher that we’ve now decided to make a glorified dish drainer. We’re still driving past our house all the time, rain or shine, knowing full well that when a dishwasher breaks…it’s our problem, not a landlords, hence the worrying about.

We were supposed to close on the house a week ago, but had to push it to the 15th because the sellers are wonderful and must really want this house sold because they replaced the roof on the house! We have a completely brand new roof! They also did a termite treatment on our detached garage and fixed the small gas leak in the gas fire-place (which we will just turn into a wood burning fireplace). So needless to say, Branden and I are completely relieved to know that a roof shouldn’t be on our to-do list for almost 10 years! Excellent.

So, with all the anticipation with the house and packing and excitement I have over the whole situation, I had to find something to get my mind off of things so I didn’t drive myself crazy. My sister, Erica, is always the perfect source of distraction. She’s my best friend, and mother to two very distracting little boys! PERFECT!

I just got back on sunday after spending a week with Erica and her family. She has two adorable little boys that are so much fun! Her oldest will be 3 in October and he is so smart! He reads and counts and is always amazing me with the things he knows! And her youngest is 15 months (I think) and is so clumsy! He makes me laugh constantly with his silly faces and dancing! But, as much as I love these two little boys, I’m always happy to come home to quiet house and my wonderful husband after my visits. Also, I love coming home and cooking all the delicious dishes my sister makes for me at her house! I’m making carrot risotto tonight…it’s amazing! My sister made it for dinner one night and I’m pretty sure no one except me had any left overs! (I’ll post a picture tonight)

Let’s see, we are still going to the Bloomington Farmers Market on Saturdays, so that’s something we always look forward to. We also love this small soup place that Branden’s brother and sister-in-law took us to when they lived in Bloomington. The place has a changing daily menu, so almost every time you go, you can get a different soup. It’s become part of our Saturday routine.

Well, I’ll try to post again soon. I guess I should try to be productive today.

Can’t Wait To Be Home

We’ll be home soon! but later than anticipated. We’re having to push back our closing date due to the fact that the sellers have agreed to fix the roof! We’re still unsure if they’re putting on a third layer, which is the maximum allowed amount, or if they will be pulling up the previous, older 2 layers and putting down a new one. As a home buyer, I have to say, right now, I don’t care; if the roof wasn’t being replaced, buying the house would have been a no-go.

Branden and  I are happy again! We’re were both quietly worrying about this roof thing, we didn’t really say it aloud really, we didn’t want to hear the possibility of starting house hunting again said aloud. So now that the stress has lifted on that situation, I think we’re back to enjoying driving past our home to be whenever we go out!

And a small update on the diet change…change is still in progress, however, we kinda failed ): We found ourselves craving a lot of different things throughout the day. I don’t think the cravings were health related, meaning our bodies were craving something is wasn’t getting nutritionally…unless that things was chocolate and peanut butter. I had a few homemade peanut butter cups in the freezer left from Branden’s birthday…we caved and ate a few, and then caved and got chinese for dinner.

I am a little sad for ourselves, but just because we’ve gone back to eating things that weren’t on our list, I think we’ve already latched on to a healthier daily routine and diet. We both a juicing and smoothy-ing multiple times a day and have added, while subtracting its evil twin, a few other foods. I’ve bought whole grain flour, to cut out the processed bleached all-purpose flour; non-gmo baking powder for its unnaturally modified counterpart; organic flaxseed and brown rice crackers, to cut out the gmo using brands. We’ve also started adding Spirulina and ground flaxseed to smoothies and juices, and I found this amazing raw chocolate truffle with Spirulina recipe that is DELICIOUS!

We’ve also found at the Bloomington Farmers Market a few things we’ve never tried before that we almost feel we can’t live without now! We found an orange tomato that we eat like apples and a smaller orange cherry tomato that we eat like grapes! I love home-grown tomatoes of almost any variety, but these are juicy, sweet and almost tangy! They are a must for my garden next year…or this year if weather permits when we move into our new home. My apartment has a West facing patio which is shaded all but three hours a day, not enough for juicy, sweet fruit and ripe, tasty vegetables.

And even though I’m trying to stay away from cooked foods, which usually doesn’t seem too terribly hard when I just think about what’s in it and how it’s not good for me, soup is among the hardest to resist. Not store-bought soup, but homemade soup, to me is something I find almost therapeutic. I know, I know, soup? Yes, soup. I just love making all kinds of soups; vegetable soup, chicken noodle soup, black bean and chard soup, brown rice and carrot soup, potato soup, and my most recent soup, creamy leak and mushroom soup! I think soup is something I will forever keep in my diet, nothing beats a hot soup on a cold fall day..and winter day, but fall is when I start going soup crazy. I’m sure, come November, I will overload this blog with soup recipes and pictures.

The Creamy Leek and Mushroom soup was a slightly modified version of Ina Garten’s mushroom soup recipe. (I love Ina Garten, feel free to send me any of her cookbooks. k thankyou.) I used Portobello, Baby Portobello, and shiitake mushrooms, added oregano and took out the parsley, and served mine pureed, not chunky. I LOVED this soup. I can’t wait to make it again and try a few things with it (more onion, more onion, and more broth.)

Branden and I enjoyed our Creamy Leek and Mushroom soup with a collard wrap with an avocado and sun-dried tomato spread filled with carrots, tomatoes and sliced avocado. We’ve been eating a lot of these wraps lately. I’d rather try to keep bread to a minimum, so having a wrap instead of a sandwich is easy. Also, keeping mayo out is simple with an avocado spread. I’m trying to grow my own avocado tree because of how many we go trough! I hope it will do okay up here.

I thought I’d end this post with a picture of each of our cats doing their favourite things.

This is Pheobe, my husbands cat. She loves freshly worn shoes. She lays, rubs and cuddles all over them.

This is BooBoo, my cat. She loves napping, more than any other cat I’ve ever seen. This is her after she’s cuddled herself under my blanket on the couch with no help from me.

Day Two Tuesday

Just a quick day’s overview.

Breakfast was a two stalks of kale, one carrot, about 10 red grapes and about 6 strawberry and 1 small red apple Juiced. I love the way it looks before I stir it up!

 For lunch, we had a spinach salad with purple beets, cauliflower and half of a green apple with the rest of the apple on the side with a few teaspoons of lemon vinaigrette dressing.

For a snack, I had a halfed avocado and a handful of grapes. We’ve recently found out how much we really love avocados.

And to satisfy my sweet tooth, I made a sweet and sour juice that is almost like a sorbet in a glass. I juiced 1 lemon, a handful of raspberries, 1 small red apple, half of a banana, and about half of a large peach. It tastes like a sour candy apple!