The ramblings of a woman,
wife, & mother, who loves:
Jesus / my man / the three,
learning about parenting /
mamahood / childbirth,
cooking foods healthy /
international / yummy,
pretending to garden /
write / design,
attempting to run /
exercise / lift weights,
enjoying traveling /
camping / adventures,
finding ways to love /
serve / sacrifice for others.

It is not to say she does these things
with style or grace, or even skill.

Green Smoothie Recipe Recap

Thu Jun 17 09:00:00 CDT 2010 - Thu Jun 17 09:00:00 CDT 2010

**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?

Tue Jun 15 10:00:00 CDT 2010 - Tue Jun 15 10:00:00 CDT 2010

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 Typical Moment in Training Me

Tue Mar 9 22:00:00 CST 2010 - Tue Mar 9 22:00:00 CST 2010

One of our kids was having a rough go of it the other day.  If you would've asked him, he would have just said, "I don't want to play football."  But one of the things we've learned in parenting, and life in general, is that it isn't as easy as the surface makes it seem; there is always a deeper heart issue. 

This time the deeper heart issue for him was the second most important commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself," which incidentally (in this situation, as in most) tied directly into the greatest commandment, "Love the Lord your God..."  We started to discuss what the application of those verses were to the situation and how there was a need for repentance and moving forward with a right heart and then something smacked me in the face... it was like I was looking into a mirror.  

God was calling me to the carpet. 

It was no longer about him, but a sin in MY heart had been exposed as I sat there talking with my son.  I stopped talking about his current situation and instead I talked with him about my similar situation, current in my life, happening right now, and how then and there, I needed to deal with the same deeper heart issue - and I needed to repent.  It was as clear as day.  And I did; right there, praying to God and having the child pray for me.  It was truly unexpected and truly necessary in the process that God has been bringing me through as of late, and once again, I was incredibly thankful.

Truth be told, this happens to me a lot, I should be ready for it.  (Maybe I have a lot more junk than most.)  Still, when the tables get immediately flipped around it always catches me by surprise but I am a completely grateful recipient.  God is, as always, the perfect loving Father for the kids and for me.

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!" 1John 3:1a

How did God protect us?

Wed Feb 24 22:00:00 CST 2010 - Wed Feb 24 22:00:00 CST 2010

While I would love our kids to take everything I say as their own, it is exciting to watch them learn to form their own opinions and come to their own conclusions from the stories they hear, their own circumstances and the surroundings around them.  One of the topics they have been mulling over lately is coincidences, especially as we read various missionary stories during our days, and tonight spoke directly to coincidence.

The three were being babysat at a friend's house until before/near 6.  At 6:02* and running late, Josh and I walked into the house to find the mom holding her sweet little guy of 10 months old, asking me if my kids had ever had a seizure before, taking his temperature, the dad on the phone, our three and their other two trying to tell us what is going on.  "This happened like two minutes ago!" Max exclaimed.  The paramedics were on their way, the police had just shown up, and Josh I and took the 5 kids downstairs. 

We gathered our three and their two and we all kneeled and prayed for the little guy, his mom and dad, and the EMT's.  After a while, word came our way that the little guy was ok and didn't need to go to in the ambulance.  We again all kneeled and this time, thanked and praised God for protecting little guy and keeping him safe.  Little guy looked much better now and the doctor said they could wait until morning to go in.  Again, praise God!

So tonight, before bed, as we were talking about what to pray for, one of which being sweet little guy of course, I also added thanking God for protecting all of us tonight.  "How did God protect us?" 

"Don't you think it is interesting it happened only two* minutes before we got there?  And the dad had gotten home from work just before it happened?" 

"Yeah... little guy was fine the whole time we were there." (Since 3:30 mind you.)

"What do you think it would have been like if it had happened earlier?" 

"That would have been CRAZY with us 5 kids running around and all those officers and the EMT's!... ... ... Huh?..."

I could honestly hear the gears turning... he was processing all the events he had bore witness to, how they all happened in a specific way, and how if they had happened differently it would've been "crazy." 

"Huh?..."

 

*2 minutes is just the number Max gave us.  This is the same guy who thinks 10 minutes feels like 2 minutes.  And in all the excitement there and coming home, I still don't really know how all the events transpired before we showed up, but it was enough to make my guy go, "Huh."  Coincidence?

Delicious Chicken Salad!

Mon Feb 22 10:00:00 CST 2010 - Mon Feb 22 10:00:00 CST 2010

This is a recipe I found on www.RecipeZaar.com.  The first time I made it was when we were on vacation; I used pouchs of cooked chicken and I served it on buns.  It was very flavorful and surprisingly easy for vacation.  The second time I made it I grilled fresh organic chicken breasts seasoned with s & p & garlic & oregano, then diced it up.  While it took a little longer to prep, it was incredibly juicy and well worth the extra time.  Also, this last time I used GF ingredients for the sauce, all natural ingredients or organic.  I substituted agave for all the sugars mentioned and I used a GF Szechwan sauce instead of the garlic/red chile paste.

Now, I know some who don't eat soy because either you don't like soy or are allergic to soy.  For those who don't like soy, thankfully the chicken itself is stir fryed in only 2T of soy sauce & there is only 2T of soy sauce in the special sauce, so it is limited you could remove it.  (Though sadly it'd be missing out since the sauce is delicious with the soy sauce.)  But, if you are allergic to soy, or really don't want to cook with soy, you can talk with our friend Leslie who knows how to make soy sauce without soy; she is amazing!

I hope you enjoy it!

P.F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps!

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