lotsa juicin'

well, for those of you curious to know how our juice fast is going... i will update. 

it shouldn't really be called a fast anymore considering we are having dinner. we are still doing juices for breakfast and lunch and throughout the day, and then trying to eat a small, healthy dinner. so i am very pleased with the progress. 

my only complaint, and it's a big complaint... i am SICK of living in my kitchen and washing the juicer and cutting fruit... and then doing it all over again... three times a day. 

with that said, we will continue to have juice for breakfast and lunch as long as we can. when we are sick of it or wanting something different, we will have something else. we are just happy to incorporate the fresh, no preservative juice into our lives. if there is a day that we go without, no big deal. but we plan on getting lots of use from this juicer. 

and if any of you have or want a juicer.. here is a fantastic tip for you...

line your pulp container with a bag so cleaning will be a breeze... trust me, when you are cleaning your juicer three times a day, every little skipped step counts.

here are some of the great juices that we have learned to love:

watermelon and lime breakfast juice -

juice from a watermelon is delicious on its own. very fresh and tasty! but when you juice one lime with it... it's over the top. 

try this one. you'll love!

strawberry-kiwi-orange breakfast juice - 

one container of strawberries

three kiwis

two oranges

SO VERY GOOD!

our version of a Mean Green juice - 

one VERY large handful of kale

a large handful of spinach leaves

one stalk of celery with the leaves

half a cucumber

handful of parsley

a big bunch of green grapes

one pear

one orange

small piece of peeled ginger

lots of ingredients in this one, but it does taste really good. we got some rubbermaid containers that have an airtight seal, and they have been a lifesaver for storing homemade juice. i fill mine with green juice 3/4 full, and when i'm ready for a juice break at work, i fill it with crushed ice and enjoy! 

i have been making this juice everyday for lunch since last monday, but adding an orange instead of an apple makes it taste a lot sweeter. both are good... i just prefer the orange.

i have just gone through my photos and will be posting 'food' blogs in the coming days... these were all dinners made before we began this journey... and just looking made me very hungry for all that deliciousness! 

day one... {epic fail}

today i was out and about for awhile... not nearly long enough. i always find myself wishing for more time in the day. NOT TODAY!
this has been a rough go, but we are still hopeful that the overall experience will be a good one. how ever long we make it through this journey, we will be proud.

this was our menu for the day, and the cost breakdown. (breaking down the cost makes me feel somewhat better about the fact that we are spending loads of money on this cleanse)-

breakfast: pineapple/mango/orange juice
one small pineapple 1.99
one mango .79
three oranges .81
1/2 cup filtered water (free)

juice that up and chill in the fridge. this juice was seriously delish. the total cost to make was 3.59 and it made three 10 ounce servings. so breakfast for one cost only 1.20... pretty amazing.

again, this juice was probably the best i've ever tasted, but why wouldn't it be? all fresh and natural ingredients, nothing else. i drank around 9am, and was very much missing my two cups of black coffee by this point in the day. before my stomach started screaming for food, i decided to make and can tomato sauce. (yes, ridiculous idea)... yesterday i picked around 5 pounds of tomatoes from my garden, so i needed to fix them so nothing would spoil. if you have ever prepared a sauce and canned it, you will understand the lengthy period of time this process takes. needless to say, i was in the kitchen ALL DAY LONG.
not a great place to be when you can't eat.
somehow i managed to get everything finished and now have 12 half pints of spaghetti sauce ready to be stored for the winter.

lunch: our version of a mean green.
one stalk of celery with the leaves .33
lemon .33
lime .17
large handful of kale .50
pear .40
cucumber .49
2 apples .60
small piece of peeled ginger .10
handful of grapes .67
2 ounces of filtered water (free)

juice it all up and serve over ice.
i was really surprised at how good this one tasted. happily surprised. total cost for 32 ounces was 3.59. not bad for a lunch for two.

how am i breaking the cost down of all this fruit???
summertime is THE BEST for fruits and vegetables. locals and markets and even grocery stores sell for dirt cheap because the production and volume is so high, so we have got tremendous deals on everything we have bought. example: a bag of five pears at 1.99 = .40/pear. a large bunch of kale at 2.00, we will use that in 4 different servings so it rounds out to .50/serving... that is how i am calculating our cost.

the afternoon is where the hunger pangs sat in. maybe i wasn't really hungry, but i just wanted to chew something! a mild headache was also starting in, but it was deal-able. around 3pm, i received a text from david that read "kind of struggling."
ME TOOOOOOOOOOO! he told me of his headache and we decided to have a cup of coffee. he had his at work, and i went back to the kitchen to brew up a small pot of sumatra. the headache went away... only to return a short while later. i was starving. i didn't feel like myself. ABSOLUTEY NOOOOOOOO ENERGY. i tried watching tv, but all the commercials advertising delicious food make me die on the inside. i put my earbuds in my ears to let ray lamontagne drown out my sorrows... even ray couldn't help me this time.
my stomach was screaming for food. just for the smallest amount of anything solid.

david returned home from work and he was in the exact mindset as me. we contemplated eating a small something, then decided to make a juice and keep going. so we did.
i love tomato juice, so we made a v8 concoction.

2 large tomatoes
1 celery stalk
1 garlic clove
handful of parsley
4 carrots
large handful of spinach

it looked decent... it tasted ok? not really, but when you are this hungry you will 'drink' anything. i got about 3 ounces down and just gave up. it really wasn't that good...
we made a small meal. we devoured it. and after that all was ok, or so we thought. you have heard of the term called 'crash and burn,' and that is exactly what happened. after we ate david was immediately asleep on the couch, woke up 30 minutes later and looked like a ghost, then went straight to bed. at 8:30. yes, that is a crash and burn. i felt ok, a little disappointed that i couldn't go a whole day without solid food, but when you have eaten this way for nearly 30 years, what else could you expect for a first go?!?!

all in all, i feel ok for day one. most people doing any type of juice fast spends a few days in preparation... which we did not do. tomorrow we will resume the 'juice fast' with breakfast and lunch, and by dinnertime, if we are THAT hungry again, we will make a small healthy meal. chicken or fish and a green veggie. on days that we get more hungry around lunchtime, we will eat a small lunch, then a juice for dinner. i'm ok with this new plan. and then when we/our bodies are mentally and physically prepared, we will try a complete juice intake.

ten day juice fast... good god.

that's right, a ten day juice fast that cleanses and detoxifies your entire system...
this means no coffee. no alcohol. no motrin for those 'sick of work' headaches. NO FOOD.
NOOOOOO FOOOOOOOOD.
for those of you who know me and my man, we LOVE our food. we take complete pride in cooking together and enjoying our evening meal while going over our day. it's just our thing.

with all that said, what in the world are we thinking?
first, we are thinking of our health and our family history, especially on his side.
we are thinking of getting back on the healthy food wagon and need a good boost to get that going.
lastly, we need a good cleanse to refresh our lives and most importantly, our bodies. this is healthy and good, and we are all for it!

so, where did this idea ever come from???
our great friend, sarah beaty, recommended we watch a documentary about a man who completed a 60 day juice fast that cleanses and detoxifies your body. The movie is called FAT SICK AND NEARLY DEAD. i was completely intrigued so i downloaded the film on itunes and we both watched it immediately. there was hardly a word spoken between us while watching except for the occasional, "are you kidding me?!?" after it ended, we were already searching online for the best juicer. we contemplated doing this fast FOR REAL... no cheating, no going back... just FOR REAL! we decided to sleep on it.
the next morning, david informed me that he had dreamt all night of juicing!
the decision was made!

today we bought a juicer. we called all over greenville looking for a breville that was readily in stock. we finally found one at bed bath and beyond - and they accept their 20% coupon off this purchase!!!! that saved us a gracious amount of money, all of which we will use to buy 20 lbs of produce a day.

i had my first juice this evening and this is what i used:
half a large cucumber
2 granny smith apples
half a lemon
a small piece of peeled ginger
a large handful of spinach
one celery stalk with the leaves

it was green.
and it smelled like a garden in my kitchen.
and the taste.... well, it was definitely not the best thing i have ever tasted, and absolutely not the worst. i drank it all and was pretty full. i couldn't believe it.

starting tomorrow, august 1, david and i begin our ten day juice fast. i will try my best to blog at the end of every day, documenting my progress, my drink recipes and the cost breakdown, how i feel, etc. in doing research i have found that day 2 and 3 are the worst. that is when you are the most hungry (obviously) and when your body begins to go into the detox mode.

so let the juicing begin...
hoping for ten peaceful days of a very enlightening experience.

here goes.

garden goodness all summer long...

i never imagined the amount of vegetables we would get from our garden. we have been overwhelmed all summer long with juicy red tomatoes of all varieties... especially beautiful roma's that make any meal a hit. our eggplants have been ripening and have made the most delicious dinner, and to accompany that meal, i made a homemade tomato sauce that i will share with you shortly. our flowers are also making our yard look extra lovely... last summer we planted a tiny little pink swirl round hibiscus bush. this summer, it has tripled its size and it absolutely stunning. the blooms are nearly the size of a watermelon.

i love this picture of sweet emme lounging in the grass... she could do this all day long.

here is a picture of the straw bale garden on the day we planted everything, and another pic i just took this week.

carrots still popping up! you have really never tasted a carrot as good as a fresh one...

and here are the photos from a few of my harvest days -

I. LOVE. GARDENING!

harvest time!!!!

the best part about gardening is finally getting to eat your hand grown grub!!!! my day always consists of checking out new growth first thing in the morning. currently, this is what we have harvested!

loads of sugar snap peas. i foresee a delicious stir fry in my future!

 bean pickin'

getting loads of these banana peppers. we have sweet and hot growing, and both producing lots!

i never imagined how great the straw bale method of gardening would work. along with all my pots and an additional raised bed, we are sure to be in for countless dinners of home grown goodness.

two months in and this is how the straw bale garden looks:

pretty awesome, huh! 

and the rest of our goods -

 oliver smelling the carrots ;)

 eggplant

 our raised bed garden

"There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling."  ~Mirabel Osler

10 lbs in 10 weeks...

who starts a diet a week before Thanksgiving... ME. probably not the wisest timing here, but if i put this off any longer... i will never start. sooooo... david and i wrote out our meal plans. we calculated our specific calorie intake to consume for the weight loss we want to accomplish, and we hit up trader joes to buy a boatload of fresh, organic, and healthy food. believe it or not, when seriously dieting the healthy way, and sticking to it, its amazing how much great food you can eat. we journal EVERY single thing that goes in our mouth, even if it's a stick of gum. if we are doing this, we will do it right.

A FEW THINGS I WILL PASS ON TO MY READERS IF YOU WANT TO START A CALORIE DIET
- download myfitnesspal on your home computer and your phone and let the games begin. this is the easiest and most convenient way that i have found to journal my eating. www.myfitnesspal.com
- the more you exercise, the more you can eat. when i walk my dogs, i burn 142 calories, which allows me to ingest that much more calories. one yoga class burns 192, and that is just a basic yoga. power flow or bikram yoga will burn double that!
-  choose the foods you eat wisely... purchase snacks that you really want... even if it is a small dark chocolate. some of my favorite snacks so far has been any piece of fruit i feel like eating, especially pears with brie cheese (so so so good), spicy hummus with baby carrots, chobani greek yogurt with pomegranite, and 100 calorie popcorn.
- find things you love that are nearly calorie free, and indulge! every day, i award myself with a steaming hot cup of my favorite teavana teas. ZERO CALORIES!!!!! i can add a packet of splenda for another ZERO calories, or a tsp of agave nectar for 30 calories. teavana tea comes in SO many different flavors and they are all natural. of all their products that i have tried, i have NEVER been disappointed. mate is my favorite, followed by white! teavana.com

I will leave you with a few of the food pictures we have taken along the way...
Dinners -

margarita pizza with whole wheat crust, 2 slices - 460 cal

grilled sirloin cubes with mushrooms, risotta and beans, 675 cal

 

 

fajitas with brown rice and queso, 600 cal

Creamy Chicken and Noodles, 559 cal

 

 

Eggplant Parmesan with whole wheat spaghetti, 649 cal

for those who say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day... i will have to agree. i have never been much of a breakfast person, until recently. oatmeal is probably one of the greatest foods ever, and i have came across a GENIUS way to make it! overnight oatmeal has been the name given for this invention, and it speaks for itself. you make it at night, and it's ready for you the next morning! my favorite so far goes something like this: steel cut oats or 10 grain cereal, agave nectar, soy or almond milk, a pinch of cinnamon, some almonds and blueberries... mix that up in a bowl and stick it in the fridge... and there ya go! some mornings i have it cold, others i add another splash of soy milk and heat it up... SO DELISH! here are some breakfast shots of our meals -

overnight oatmeal, 300 cal

egg whites with parmesan and salsa and a clementine, 96 cal

egg whites with salsa, half grapefruit, bread round with boysenberry preserves 202 cal

and now for the lunches...

tukey lettuce wrap and roasted red pepper and tomato soup, 376 cal

steak caesar salad 319 cal

lettuce wraps may sound gross at first, i know they did to me, but once i tried them, it's almost better than bread! the best i have had yet is tuna or chicken salad on romaine leafs... really really good!
we shall soon see if i reach my goal!