A WORLD OF MANY HATS AND NOT ENOUGH SHOES

Watching a beautiful love story unfold...

June 24, 2010 - 11:00 PM

In case you haven't visited her link before, our friend Vicki has been writing a beautiful blog for many years about their family, their story of adoption and currently, her trip to China right now picking up their little girl Jenna. Take a moment, visit her blog. It is a beautiful, moving tale in process! Lots of love to you, Cupps!

Green Smoothie Recipe Recap

June 17, 2010 - 9:00 AM

**This is a repost from 1.5 yrs ago because maybe you are like me and...

- You have more greens from the garden (or CSA) than you know how to use.

- You are trying to switch up your green smoothie combinations.

- Chewing can be painful some mornings and not an option.

- You'd like to *ahem* flush out your system.

Whatever the reason, enjoy!

AND - we finally got a new blender (upgraded from a $5 blender to a $25 one, whoo-hoo!) so the harder greens don't taste like hair anymore... Hooray!

green

What's smooth and green and smells like a salad? (January 28, 2009)

Green Smoothies!

No, I am not on any green smoothie band wagon and trying to convince the world to drink them, simply not my stchiick (sic). Basically, I have been eating the things for the last 6 days and the first question I get is, "What's in them?" so I thought I would share, :)!

Here's the facts: they are easy to make, they are relatively inexpensive, they are a great way to eat your dark greens, they can be consumed by the youngin's, and if you wanted to they are a great way to flush out your system.

Here's the concept: 1 bunch greens and 3 pieces of fruit and wa-la, green sludge. (However, blueberries or purple greens will make it brownish purple sludge.)

Here's a short skinny: The dark green leaves are packed with cleansing antioxidants and toxin-eradicating cholorophyll! Heavenly! The cruciferous veggies stimulate the production of a detox enzyme glutathione-s-transferases that bind to heavy metals, solvents and pesticides and gets them out of your body through your stool! Awesome! Wait?! What does that mean? It means the sludge goes in sludge and attaches itself to all sorts of nasty in your system and then carries it out the other end, in the same sludgey format. Yummy!*

Here's some more notes: Our five dollar blender is no match for green smoothies so we did have to add a cup of water to them, an act that some frown upon. And, like all things too much of a good thing can be bad, so you have to watch how much of these you drink & their ingredients. (Something about too much alkaloids can actually be toxic for you and you SHOULD NOT drink the same "green veggie" in these every day (like don't have a spinach smoothie every morning)... Thank God for Google!)

Here's the recipes... Found from eatsprouts.com...

Always blend the fruit first (This is where I add the water too) –

2-3 cups any greens of your choice, 2 cups papaya, 2 oranges, 3 dates

1 handful lettuce leaves, 1 handful mint, 4 bananas, 1/2 cup water

1 cup organic frozen berries (any kind), 2 cups fresh spinach, 1/4 inch fresh ginger, water

1/2 bunch romaine lettuce, 1 cup strawberries, 2 bananas, water

4-5 kale leaves, 4 apples, 1/2 lemon juiced, water

2 big handfuls mixed baby greens, 2 pears, 2 mangoes, 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

2 cups argula, 1 cup spinach, 3 mangos

Choc-mint – 2 cups spinach, 10-12 mint leaves, 3 bananas, 2 Tbs. carob powder, 1 cup water

1 handful of spinach, 2 stalks of celery, 2 bananas, 2 pears, 1 apple, 1 cup water

1 small handful of spinach, 2 cups arugula, 2-3 mangoes, 1 cup water

1.5 cup sunflower greens, 1 dried fig, 3 bananas

2 cups spinach, 2 clementines, 2 mangos, 2 (blood) oranges

1/2 head romaine lettuce, 1 small pineapple, 1 large mango, 1-inch fresh ginger

1 handful wild greens (e.g. dandelion), 1 small handful mint leaves, 3 cups honeydew melon

3-4 stalks celery, 2 ripe persimmons, 1 banana

3-4 stalks celery, 1 c blueberries, 3 bananas

1 handful chard leaves, 5-6 kale leaves, 3 large bananas, 1 cup water

1 handful parsley, 3 cups of peeled papaya

AND you can Google and hunt out more on your own!

(My favorite I found was a half bunch of romaine, kale or spinach with 3 pears. It is simple and crisp every time.)

*There are tons of websites out there that can tell you all the technical ins and outs of the veggies/fruits and their health benefits. Best to do your own research if you are going to do something like this on a regular basis or talk to someone in the know. However, if you try one you'll experience the the weird experience of drinking something green that smells like a salad and tastes like fruit with the texture of anything from air filled styrofoam to hair clipping in liquid. Really, it's THAT good!

How has your garden grown?

June 15, 2010 - 10:00 AM

This is our fourth year attempting to grow our own veggies/fruit in a rented 10'x50' plot at the city owned community garden on the southeast side of town. We are excited about this new season with its promise of fresh produce & old/new friendships!

garden

Things this year are off to a much better start than the last 2 years in particular (flood one year then having a broken foot the next will do that). The constant rain with the hot & humid temperatures have been causing everything to multiply in size, plants and weeds.

Controlling the weeds has always been the biggest battle with a garden this size, located miles from my home. This year I am trying something new with my weed control (in about half the garden). Rather than chemicals, landscaping fabric or plastic tarps, I got a butcher-esque paper in rolls. (It is similar to using newspapers, only on large rolls.) I weeded my beds and did all my soil prep, laid the paper and staked it, then put straw on top to help hold it down. So far it has proven a great deterrent from weeds with wind being its only enemy. I can also tell it will definitely decompose before a year is up, hooray!

max

broc/cauli

Once again, I am amazed (and thankful) at how easy the broccoli grows at these lots. This year we did absolutely nothing to the plants (no maggot mats, no anything) and they have turned out beautifully!

silly max

pea pickers

Our sugar snap peas are a kid favorite to pick and to eat!

corn a week ago

(This is from a week ago.)

knee high

(Yesterday)

Our sweet corn... wow. Having tried the last 2 years and failed miserably at corn, I am super stoked at how they are coming along. I accidentally used last year's seeds and was pretty skeptical at first. However, unlike previous years, I planted 5 longer rows with decent spacing between seeds, used straw as mulch and have been much better about weeding. I love, love, love the fact that they are knee high and it isn't even the fourth of July!

watermelon

We are also attempting watermelon. (Here you can see the paper I used and how it works even over the mounds.) We have never had watermelon grow successfully at the garden but this year we heard to better our odds: water them a lot, choose a small sized melon with a short number of days to maturity, and water them a lot more. I did not add straw to the melon patch because watermelons love nitrogen rich soil and straw takes nitrogen out of soil. Even over the paper, I didn't want to take the risk since these suckers have proven hard for me to grow. The true measure of success will be in a few weeks to see if the plants get any bigger than this.

splash pad

One of the neatest additions to the garden park has been the addition of a splash pad. The southeast side sometimes gets a bad rep in the press so it is exciting to see the city make a wonderful and free-to-use addition to this neighborhood park.

For the produce, the relationships, the hard work, the time spent outside, the lessons learned from God, I am incredibly thankful once again for our off-site, rented garden plot!

So tell me, how has your garden grown?

A WORLD OF MANY HATS AND NOT ENOUGH SHOES

Watching a beautiful love story unfold...

Green Smoothie Recipe Recap

What's smooth and green and smells like a salad? (January 28, 2009)

How has your garden grown?

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