RECIPIE CENTRAL - MARCH 2008 Discoveries

Lolo Hotsprings, MT

3/14/08

Green Smoothie of the Month: Spinach/Kiwi/Banana

Handfulls of Spinach, to fill 3/4 of the Vitamix
2 bananas
2 kiwis, peeled

This one really tastes great to me this month.

8 leaves of Romaine Watermelon - one watermelon takes care of about 4 smoothies

Very refreshing!

Candy!
I have to admit, I have gotten a bit sick of green smoothies, and I'm falling back into some old bad habits.... mainly eating a candy bar every day at work. Candy at work is my weakness. It's so easy to prepare (purchase, unwrap, eat!) and keeps me full for many hours, without digestive discomfort (read, gas!) and takes the edge off the many cups of coffee I need to stay awake.

Mono-eating Fruit
I got into mono-eating dates for a bit, and had a lot of grapefruits. I'm not sure what led to what, but I had one of the worst period days. Ever. I took 2 ibuprofin, and even a perscription pain medication left over from my c-section recovery. Even that failed to take the edge off. It's bad when the 3rd highest pain med available no longer works for you. My body grew immune to it two weeks after my surgery and has been resistant to it ever since. I took the same dose just a few hours before work, and I was afraid I'd done myself in. Ringing in the ears. Horrible cramp pain, major spaciness. Jittery. It's awful when this happens at work, because you just have to go home. I think I remember reading in several places that grapefruit enhances your body's uptake of certain medications. Oops!

Dying Silently
Death through bleeding to death is a silent, painless death, I learned when I had my placental abruption happened. I bet this is how many people go, on overdoses of pain medication. They don't even realize they are bleeding internally. They just quietly go to sleep.

Period Pain
The answer to "female pain" for me seems again, to be GREENS. Dong Quai seemed to work, when I took that, the pain was greatly reduced. Also, red raspberry leaf and alfalfa tea. The problem with tea and green smoothies are getting them down. I suppose I should buy some Dong Quai then, since it is in pill form.... until greens get a bit more appealing again. Oh, and I should mention, green tea does NOT work and in fact makes my periods MUCH MUCH worse.

Adventures in GREEN SMOOTHIES - Jan/Feb 2008

This is my husband, Wallace. Isn't he cute? (This is how he poses for most pictures - what a turkey!) Here's some of the smoothies my son and I tried. Yes, not all the ingredients are raw, but we are working with a limited budget and using up stuff that people gave us. My #1 goal is to increase my consumption of leafy greens.

Th. 1/3, Fr. 1/4

1/2 bunch kale

2 yellow apples (tried green apples the next day)

1 orange

1 avocado

2 c water

Joseph and I like it, but it gives me horrible gas/diahreah. Won't blend small enough for a bottle. Joseph ate some on Triscuits.

Sun. 1/6

1/2 bunch kale

Apple juice - "baby" stuff that Joseph wouldn't drink plain. Pasteurized.

1 peeled cucumber

1 lemon

Use less lemon next time, but good! This is my third day of eating leafy greens, and it was a "Fast Sunday" at church, which means you don't have anything until after lunch. With being diabetic, I couldn't do that, but decided to see what would happen if I just drank this smoothie before the 3-hour service. Would you believe I actually made it all the way until 1pm WITHOUT needing to eat, and WITHOUT my blood sugar crashing?! This is HUGE for me. I was actually able to pay attention, and although I was a bit hungry, it was a genuine hunger for healthy foods, not that crack-y shakey hunger that gives you a headache and weak, clumsy movements.

Mon. 1/7

2c Strawberries

2 bananas

6-7 kale leaves, no stems

YUM! Joseph ate a coffee cup-full by the spoon!

2c mangoes

kale - 1/2 bunch

2c water

peeled cucumber

YUM! Joseph didn't like.

Tu. 1/8

All leaves from a bunch of bok choy

2c mangoes

1 cucumber (peel next time!)

2 c water

Not very tasty, but tolerable. Joseph didn't like. I don't think he likes mangoes. Improved with pasteurized grape juice but not much.

Wed. 1/9

6 leaves kale

2-3c strawberries

1c mangoes

1 peeled cucumber

You can hardly taste the mangoes - not sure if that's worth it to put 'em in. Good! Joseph drank 6 oz. too.

Th. 1/10

Morning:

Kale

Strawberry

Evening:

turnip greens

1 apple

1 orange

1 cucumber (unpeeled)

Tasted ok but gave me a fasting blood sugar of 102 and the runs. Joseph didn't like.

Fr. 1/11

1 bunch Romaine

1 12-0z bag frozen Raspberries

1 avocado

1 banana

Sa. 1/12

1 bunch Romaine

1 12-oz. bag frozen Blueberries

1 avocado

1 banana

Agreed with me, but I was hoping the taste would be better. Surprisingly, romaine is more bitter than kale. Joseph didn't like either of the romaine smoothies either.

Sa. 1/12 with my MIL who is also diabetic:

Handfull kale

1 avocado

Juice of 1 lemon

1 apple

1 banana

Chives

Water

Good! Thin, and easy down. Joseph ate a little - not really interested - too "chivey," I think, for him. My MIL's ten year-old and 14-year old love green smoothies now too.

Sun. 1/13

1 bunch Turnip greens

1 pear

1/2 green apple

avocado

Not bad for turnip greens, but it has a Wasabi-like spiciness that is undesireable.

WALLACE'S CREATION!

1/2 c water

12-16oz. "Berry Medley" frozen bag (straw-, rasp-, blue-, and blackberries) Great Value brand from Wal-Mart - but any brand will do!

1 banana

DELICIOUS!

ANOTHER WALLACE CREATION!

1/2 c water

12 oz. blueberries, frozen

1 banana

AWESOME! Go easy on the water for the fullest flavor.

WALLACE CREATION #3

Blend 1 honeydew melon.

I asked him how small you had to cut it up, and he said "normal" slices - more like scooped out of the melon and into the blender. Add no water. I thought this creation was SO good. It was like nectar from the Gods. I HATE melons, something about the crunchy/juicy texture together is gross to me, but blended it is creamy like milk and tastes delicious.

Mo. 1/14

3 kiwis

3 celery sticks

1 banana

2c water

Interesting! Thin! Seems a bit garlicky. The taste is immediately very good, but gets overwhelming after 1 tall glass. Had to split it up into 2-3 servings throughout the day - then it is delicious! Especially chilled!

Tu. 1/15

1 ripe pear

1 ripe banana

1/2 head romaine

1 avocado

VERY good! Especially cold!

BABY FOOD - How to try three different smoothies on your baby at once.

Start with:

1 Bag Frozen Strawberries
1 Bag Frozen Blueberries
Bunch of bananas
Bunch of Kale
8 "Munchkin" brand cups with lids - 1c serving size, or other Tupperware type of storage system for homemade baby food.

In a Vita-Mix blender, add:

2c water (do the softest things first, do the frozen stuff last)
2 avocados
2 bananas
25 strawberries

Blend. Take out two cups of the mixture and put into storage containers. Add:

1c water
1c blueberries

Blend. Take out two cups of the mixture and put into storage containers. Add:

1c water
3 kale leaves

Blend. Fill the remaining four storage containers.

RECIPIE CENTRAL - FEBRUARY 2008 DISCOVERIES

Green Smoothie of the Month: SPINACH APRICOT

It's not 100% raw, but the idea here is to get 1-2 bunches of leafy greens into my diet each day, however that is accomplished.

1 15-oz can of low- (or no- if you can find it) sugar apricots
Baby Spinach (the kind found pre-bagged), to the top of the 2-Liter Vita-Mix container

Blend!

Delicious!

Joseph's (10 mo. old) Smoothie of the Month: MIXED BERRY

1 12-oz bag "Mixed Berry" from frozen fruit section of the store
1 banana
1 avocado (optional)
water, to cover blades

Blend!

Other options:
1 12-oz bag blueberries
1 12-oz bag blackberries
1 12-oz bag cherries

Also, can successfully add GREENS! They didn't appeal to us real heavily this month, but nonetheless I at least threw in 1-2 handfulls of spinach.

We have eaten a LOT of mixed berry smoothies this month. Blackberries are by far the cheapest - $1.99, followed by blue- and raspberries - $2.89-$3.89. Mixed berry was the most expensive - $3.49.

You can get good deals on frozen berries at Wal-Mart, Grocery Outlet (Rainbow Grocery), and sales at normal stores.

Good news to report! Since drinking green smoothies of any type each day for one month... month ending with my period, I have to say there has been a positive change! Only one day did I need to take an Ibuprofin, and that was only 3 doses. Many months I have been crippled with pain to the point of having to stay in bed for 2-3 days, missing work or school, and not being able to do much of anything.

Back on the Sugar Train.... and back off

I observed something interesting about myself.

I got a new job three weeks ago. It's not glamerous, but it's at a convenience store called "Zip Trip" - the big draw is that it's just 5 miles from our home in the country and has set hours - four 10-hr. graveyard shifts - which works perfectly with dh's swing shifts.

But anyhooters.... it all started with needing several cups of coffee to make the transition from day working to night working. Then it became coffee with a bit of creamer to stop that dry, hunger-like coffee belly feeling. Then it became some hot chocolate mixed in. Then it became a candy bar dipped in the toasty warm coffee with hot chocolate. Which then became a king-sized. And all of a sudden I discovered I was feeling super-intense sugar CRAVINGS again, after nearly a month of feeling NONE for the first time in my life since drinking 2 L of green smoothies a day.

How did this happen?! Just the small allowance of that daily sugar turned into a big allowance and then a craving. Mix that with a horrible batch of kale and all of a sudden I've missed greens in my smoothies for five days while I wait for my paycheck to buy more kale.

It's amazing how a lack of greens can lead to all sorts of cravings. Because as soon as I started doing my greens again, the sugar craviongs went completely away.

Our Physical Body is Never Older than Seven Years

Our physical body is never older than seven years! This is due to the fact that the body recreates itself constantly.

Tissue cells die and are replaced by new ones. Every second we lose about three-and-a-half million red blood cells. There is nothing to worry about though, for another three-and-a-half million are born to replace the old ones. Ninety-eight percent of the atoms present in our body today will be gone within one year and replaced by new ones. The body is more like a river of constantly renewed tissues rather than a frozen sculpture of decaying matter.

Skin cells live for seven days

Heart cells live for ninety days

Bone cells have a thirty-six month life span.

There is a different life expectancy for every type of tissue cell depending on its function and location in the body. Life energy, the creative force, is constantly at work recreating our tissues and organs. Life energy or "human electricity" travels via the nerve system to reach every single tissue cell in the body... The question we must all ask ourselves is, what kind of body are we going to have next year? Is it going to be a healthier one or a sicker one? Is it going to replace itself normally or abnormally? Is it going to express more ease or dis-ease?

Autism

I am facinated by autism. I don't know what it is.... but something tells me to PAY ATTENTION and learn all I can about this devastating condition. This is my collection of information on autism.

http://www.generationrescue.org/ A site about overvaccination, the chemicals in vaccines (antifreeze, ether, mercury, aluminum), the alternative (DAN! - Defeat Autism Now!) vaccination schedule and motivational posters to get people to THINK and QUESTION the powers-that-be regarding the safety of our vaccines.
http://www.autismbites.com/ A site about a family who has SIX autistic children (six!) and their struggles to be understood and their fight for autism awareness. They sell t-shirts for autistic children to wear in public that explains their sometimes odd behavior with humor.