Green Smoothies

Yum....these things are delicious.  It seems really weird and gross at first, but after a few tries you get hooked. Green smoothies are basically fruit smoothies with greens (spinach, kale, or collard greens) added.  You can make a green smoothie with any combination of fruit and greens you can think of really, just add what you have and blend it up!  I'm not a fan of spinach salads so this is the best way for me to get a huge serving of veggies without having to gag it down in a salad.  I posted more about these on the other blog here  so this post will be more of an over view of how I make them. 

Pack your spinach in the blender first.  If you've never made them before start out with a small amount of spinach and work your way up.
I then add water, OJ (it's best if it's REAL OJ), and rice milk.  I don't know the measurements, but I count to 4 while pouring each one in usually haha.  

Blend it up till it's really smooth. (our blender is dying so this is the best it gets for me)

 Add your fruit (Joel and I like the mixed fruit from Costco).  I defrost it in the microwave first for about 1 min and 30 sec.

 I usually add a little Stevia. One or two packets depending on how sweet I want it.

Once it's all blended, I take half to work with me for my breakfast and leave half for Joel.  I thought the Mason Jar thing was weird too, but after ruining a nice water bottle because the mouth was too small to reach in and clean I saw the genius behind it. 

I think it's been about a year since I started drinking them and I'm still loving them!  It's nice because if you start to get a little tired of the same flavors you just mix it up with different fruit or juice.  You can also add yogurt which is really good.  I hope you enjoy these as much as I do! 

Breakfast

I truly believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Food is fuel for my body and I don't like to go through the day running on empty.
I try to eat more protein packed and fibery filled foods that keep me full for a long time over light, puffy, airy cereal that leave me wanting more an hr later. 
Some of my faves lately have been...
-a Green Smoothie with almonds or PB on the side
-(low fat) Refried bean quessadillas (who said beans aren't breakfast food!) and a fruit
-kidney beans mixed with salsa, warmed in the micro then topped with sour cream and eaten with corn chips.  Fruit on the side.
-Sweet potato mash up

I will post recipes for all, but wanted to list the recipe for the last item today. It doesn't really look appetizing, but I think it's delicious.

Ingredients
1/2 of one large sweet potato (cooked)
1/3ish C. milk of choice (vanilla rice milk is my favorite)
1/4ish C. quick oats (could use slow cook too)
2 big Tbls. of natural PB  
1 Tsp. chia seeds (not necessary but I like the little crunch they add.  They are way good for you too!)
1/2 Stevia packet (optional)


Start by cooking the sweet potato.  I wash it, cut it in half, then poke it with a knife a few times.  I've never been patient enough for oven baked potatoes, so I just microwave mine.  Put the poked potato in a glass dish (I use a 2 C. glass measuring cup) fill with a half inch of water and then cover with another glass dish (plates work great) just make sure there is a little room for some steam to escape.  I cook mine for about 6 min.  more or less depending on the size of the potato.  Once it's done cooking take it out of the micro with hot pad protected hands and take off the lid with CAUTION! (I burned my finger doing this once and it melted my nail polish..yikes!) 
 

Carefully take the peel off the hot potato and place it in a bowl.  Mash it with a fork till smooth.

 
  Add quick oats,

 
PB,
 
Milk, 
 
chia seeds, almonds, and Stevia (no chia seeds or stevia for me today) then mash it up again.  If the milk cooled it down too much toss it in the microwave again for a few seconds.  Devour! 
The measurements listed are really just guesses, I never measure stuff for this but just add more or less of each thing depending on what I have or what consistency I want.  If this recipe sounds good to you but you are a little wary, add less sweet potato, more quick oats, more milk, microwave for another min after it's all mixed and it will just taste more like peanut butter oatmeal which is equally as yummy.

Why hello there

"Oh Kalli, why start a new blog when your others are neglected and dusty?" you might be asking yourselves.  Well my friends, simply because I wanna and I like getting what I want.   
As some of you know, I've had some health struggles the last couple years.  They are not life threatening or disabling (thankfully!!!), and I know there are MANY others in this world who have things MUCH worse than I do, but.... they still suck.  They have been the source of temper tantrums, lots of tears, and the topic in many prayers.  I'm not sure if these issues will ever pass, but I am determined to do my best to help them find the door out of my life.
After speaking with Doctors and going through tests without receiving any valuable help, I decided that my time (and $$$) was better spent researching and learning to help myself. I want to help my body HEAL not cover up the symptoms with drugs.  (I should mention here that I still think doctors of course have a valuable place in society and am not opposed to modern medicine). I have spent hours and hours online researching and reading about different ways to help my body heal by changing my eating habits, and as I have applied my new found knowledge, little by little I have seen some improvements. 
So.....that brings me to the purpose of this blog.  While I still have a long ways to go, I am hoping to keep track of my new found knowledge and share it with others who may be interested.  I will also blog about my new eating habits-they are a little strange, but have become my new normal.