healthy salad

Wow, this salad was really delicious.  Sometimes I’m in the mood for salads, and sometimes I just cannot stand them, to be honest.  I have started tracking my calories and my workouts, mostly to make sure I’m making balanced meals and eating healthy and getting enough calories.  We have increased our workouts to about everyday, sometimes twice a day.  Nothing crazy, the second workout is usually walking a mile or 2 and playing with Elijah in the park.

I’ve tracked my food for about a week now, and I’ve learned several things.  First, not surprisingly I am not getting enough calories.  Second, vegetarian foods really do have less fat & calories.  Third,  I’ve learned that actually tracking your food & fitness during the day really does make you think about what you’re eating and how active you are for the day.

This salad was great, I loved the different textures and the sweet and spicy peppers taste great with the lemon olive oil dressing.  I added a couple of vegetarian faux chicken nuggets for extra protein and let’s face it, they are just yummy.  To make the dressing, I whisked together w/ a fork a couple tbs of organic evoo, couple tbs of lemon juice, and freshly ground pepper.

buckwheat sprouts

Here is our first batch of buckwheat sprouts.

I adore these sprouts because they grow very long and have beautiful green leafy tops.  Unfortunately, I’ve learned that these healthy good for you sprouts can also be toxic.  What the heck?!  I’m still learning a lot about them.  But, from what I have read so far, if you eat too many buckwheat sprouts, as in juicing large quantities every day, you could suffer from a skin irritation/sun sensitivity called fagopyrism.  The best article I have been able to find will give you fantastic information and a personal account of the toxicity can be found here, Are Buckwheat Greens Toxic? by Gilles Arbour.

I will continue to eat buckwheat sprouts because they do have a lot of nutritional value.  I eat my sprouts raw in salads, soups and pastas in small quantities (a small handful).  Just something to be aware of, know why you eat the food you do, the good & the bad.

cabbage soup

The other day, I made cabbage soup in my crockpot.  It turned out delicious.  I had quite a few fresh veggies like green beans, carrots and potatoes that I also added, along with a can of cannellini beans.

Cabbage is a great way to detox your body and add some roughage to your diet.  This soup is fresh, full of vitamins, and is very good for you.

First I washed and cut the veggies.  I used 2 carrots, 1 tomato, about a cup of green beans, 1 or 2 potatoes and 1 small head of cabbage.  I filled the crockpot with water and added a bay leaf and 2-3 small veggie seasoning cubes.  Cook on high for 6 hours, stir every so often.  Near the end I added a can of white beans and adjusted the seasonings.  I also added pepper, salt, cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes & banana pepper slices (I wanted it spicy).

Plain & simple, it’s good for you!

sprouts!

I harvested some delicious alfalfa sprouts tonight.  The sprouting seeds that I got from the Bread Becker’s sprouted so very well.  I started them Monday evening.  You can see how dense they are:

3 quart sized bags stuffed full of alfalfa.  Rinsing the sprouts daily under cold water will help them keep longer.  I found an Oprah article about 10 Superfoods, with sprouts being one, of course.  For more information about sprouts, visit the section on sprouts, here.

watermelon

My first watermelon of the summer…sweet & juicy and delicious.

Fun Facts about Watermelons:

• Every part of a watermelon is edible, even the seeds and rinds.
• Watermelon is an ideal health food because it doesn’t contain any fat or cholesterol, is high in fiber and vitamins A & C and is a good source of potassium.
• The first recorded watermelon harvest occurred nearly 5,000 years ago in Egypt.
• Watermelon is 92% water.

sprouts

My sprouts did pretty well… For the first time sprouting, I am pretty happy.  I started a new batch last night, I will keep you updated on the process.

sprouts

were you wondering how my sprouts were growing?

here they are day 3:  the first day we notice them coming up thru the tray

day 4:  they almost doubled growing thru the tray

what did you learn today?

Ben always asks me, “What is one new thing you learned today”?

…today I learned how to sprout!

I have been wanting to grow sprouts for some time. We got this great automatic sprouter, Freshlife 2000 Automatic Sprouter, from Ben’s parents. It was very easy to set up and I started the seeds yesterday. I will let you know how it goes in a few days! I am also reading a book, Sprouts The Miracle Food: The Complete Guide to Sprouting that Connie loaned to me.

I’m really looking forward to having my own sprouts instead of buying the box in the store. Sprouts are super duper baby plants extremely rich in vitamins, minerals, protein and beneficial enzymes. The benefits are endless.

The sprouter takes very little room in my kitchen, I have it placed directly behind my sink. You can see the blue water tube sprinkles water intermittently throughout the day, every hour. So, basically all you have to do is change the water a couple times a day!

a tip…

I was reading thru the VegCooking blog, and read that Guinness is not vegan. Though I do not drink Guinness, I know others that do, such as my husband…I guess he won’t be anymore. So, I thought I would do a little researching…I try to keep up on all the vegan beer & wines, but it can be difficult. The reason Guinness, for example, is not vegan is because it is filtered with a substance called Isinglass. Most cask ales and beer are not suitable for vegans because of how they are filtered.

Isinglass is a substance obtained from the swimbladders of fish (especially Beluga sturgeon). Used mainly for the clarification of wine and beer, it is a form of collagen.

“Isinglass.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 31 Jan 2008, 09:27 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 12 Mar 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Isinglass&oldid=188118542>.

…something to think about this coming St. Patrick’s day!

*update* I found a great section on the Taste Better! website, the Vegan Beer, Wine, and Spirit guide.

illustration

A couple years ago, I found a lump and went thru that whole process. I went ahead and had the lump removed, which thankfully was benign. I’m definitely more aware of checking every month. There’s a lot you can do for your health and preventing cancer with healthy food. A month or so ago, I watched a great documentary, Crazy Sexy Cancer if you haven’t seen it, please watch it…it’s an incredible story of a young woman searching for treatments and alternative answers to curing her cancer. Her blog can be found here: Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Cancer

comic by Mike Adams, click for more information about breast cancer and this illustration

• Breast Cancer Action
• www.NewsTarget.com