Food to Keep you Fueled

So I have been craving this wild rice salad that my mom used to make and I didn't realized how much I took for granted the midwest and their awesome foods! I have bought wild rice twice recently at two different grocery stores and it is amazing because they have 1 kind, no variety and it is soooo expensive. I may have to have someone from back home send me some wild rice because this is ridiculous!
Anyway enough with my ranting! I decided to add a few things to the original recipe and take some out, ok I only took out one ingredient and that is the peas. I did added a purple pepper and some chives.

My husband made a nice dressing but you can use store bought italian if you are so inclined.


Here is the finished product ingredients are

• wild rice (chilled)
• grape tomatoes cut in half
• celery
• onions
• chives
• purple pepper
• marinated artichokes
• dressing, something of the italian variety.

I made a batch of this and it is great as a side dish or a lunch and lasts in the refrigerator! It also has a great amount of fuel and I used this to work on my new garden.

We are going to have a fall garden including spinach, lettuce (a few kinds), potatoes, garlic and some parsnips. We should get a small harvest from the leafy greens before it frosts and everything else will be in the ground ready for the spring, at which time we will fill the rest of the garden beds with our favorite vegetables.

I need to get the seeds in this week and in order to do that, we need to get more dirt as we are using raised garden beds. I am amazed at how quickly we executed this project as I had only just seen the garden that inspired me to do this:


I saw this garden on a walk last week and fell in love! I can't wait for next year when I can get it all laid out.

Eating Right-How to make Carrot Juice

Today I am on my 9th day of my 21 day cleanse and it is going surprisingly well! My doctor said I could have meat 3 days ago but I haven't had a chance to pick up anything fresh and grass-fed. Yes I said grass-fed, I learned about this type of meat 10 years ago while working at a restaurant in denver, co and really noticed that it made for a much better burger (and way more nutritious). While all of this type of beef and free range chickens are widely available in some places, it isn't in others! I love minnesota for the fact that there are so many co-ops in and around the city. Here in mass not so much, so we have done some research and it looks like you can set up delivery from farmers to have different cuts of meat come to us! Still have some more stuff to look into but will probably post some of the more helpful websites I find in this endeavor.

I decided to make fresh carrot juice because I am so sick of carrots and I had a bunch left. Basically what I did is I took the carrots and chopped them in the blender.
then you add hot water to get the good stuff separated from the not so good stuff, leave stand for about 15-20 minutes.
Then strain the chunks of carrot out, at this point you would normally add a few oranges but I had a bunch so I added a bunch.
Pour it into the jars and throw them in the fridge. Shake before using as it does separate a bit.

This is one of my amazing smoothies that I added the juice to. If you can name 6 of the 12 ingredients you will win a $15 itunes certificate, just post your answer in the comments and don't forget your email address. Only 1 winner!

Weekend full of Cleansing and Backyard Nature

I am on day 6 of my Standard Process Cleanse and it is going very well! It is so strange but the minute someone says you can't have you want! In the last several days I have had cravings for things I haven't eaten in years! Anyway here is a normal routine 2 times a day that is 19 pills and a shake!
Today I made one of the best shakes yet containing:

• flax seed oil
• vanilla coconut milk
• the supplement
• apples
• kiwi
• banana
• spinach
• grapes
• tart cherry juice

Yesterday was the first day using the flax seed oil and I made a delicious shake with it too:

• orange juice
• supplement
• flax seed oil
• organic fresh wild maine blueberry's
• strawberry
• banana
  

While enjoying some time out back and watering my garden the birds were in full force enjoying a bath in the sun!

Here is a yellow bird that I think my husband and I saw a month ago and thought it was someones pet but it rolls with the sparrows in the neighborhood.

This was a gift from a friend and I just love the pot and dish it is in.

I can't just exercise I need an activity,

I can't just exercise I need an activity, so I decided to walk the trail by my house and take pictures! I had no clue how far I was going to walk but I was going to walk! So these are the items that I brought with me:
spring water, sketch pad, pens, ipod, phone, wallet, and some fruit

There were a bunch of these butterfly's hanging out so I was able to grab a couple snap shots of them.
I thought this was a neat tree with the contrast from the sky and the death of the tree.

Eating Yummy things while Cleansing

I started a liver cleanse yesterday which will continue for 3 weeks! I have a shake I make 2 or 3 times a day and I put a bunch of organic fruit that I have cut and frozen into the blender with some fresh squeezed orange juice, which is actually really good and kind of fools me into thinking I am getting my yogurt! Pretty much no dairy, meat or grains except for brown rice, wild rice and lentils. So basically organic veggies and more organic veggies! I decided that I need to figure out how to make some kick ass meals to make this a challenge more then something to dread!

For lunch today I sauteed some onions and garlic in extra virgin olive oil for a while to let them sweat.


Then I added the mushrooms!

Added salt and pepper and a bit of butter and of course the baby spinach!


I was so excited to eat this that I forgot to take a picture of it on it's plate and now it is all gone! I highly recommend this recipe for a side dish for times when you aren't cleansing!

Woah how the time fly's

I spent the previous six weeks getting the house in tip top shape and ready to sell! Started back up at my contract job and am actually enjoying sitting on my butt all day with a walk at lunch! Hopefully I can get caught up on some much needed rest, the body is a wreck having fallen a couple of months ago and cleaning and moving stuff!

Anyway I am spending the morning relaxing in my super clean well organized house doing nothing for the first time in months. But since I have been extremely intent on organizing and always moving around doing something, I still feel like I should be doing something while relaxing...So I decided to work on getting my inbox cleaned out as it has a ridiculous amount of data in it. Using gmail has been super helpful, being able to batch label and the different filters have allowed me to half the amount of emails I have in my account. If you don't have a gmail account you really should have a gmail account!

How do 2 People Have SO MUCH Stuff?

I have been spending most of my time recently on house inventory! Which consists of tearing it all down just to build it up again! Furniture has been moved up and down, rubbermaids have been packed and brought to the attic, paint has been rolled! The cats have now decided there is a really loud pet in the house and don't take so long to come out from hiding after I turn off the vacuum. Of course there is some fun in this process, I get to decorate and move everything around and buy random things for house appeal!

Next weekend I get a bit of help from my parents, my father and husband will be replacing a few boards and paint the front porch! That means I need to choose the color of paint! My mother and I will be sanding window sills, especially the ones that have had an air condition unit used in it for years and years and then staining!

I hoping that the rain stays away for awhile so I can get the rest of the leaves cleaned up in the yard! We will be having some great growth in the weeks to come! Pictures to come in a week and a half or so...