Stupid Westerns and Food

I certainly haven't accomplished much in the last couple of days. We are still waiting on Knology to get up and running in our area- which should be only another month- so I'm still hating watching Netflix from time to time. I'd like to hook up Birdie's XBOX 360 and take advantage of Hulu but I don't know how and everyone else keeps forgetting about it. ANYWAY, I'm stuck with Netflix for now.

All that to say, I ran across the Lonesome Dove series (Comanche Moon, Return to Lonesome Dove, Lonesome Dove...) and decided that I would watch them. And that's just about all I've been doing. Shameful, I'm aware. But how I do love that series- especially Lonesome Dove. I mean- Rober Duvall AND Tommy Lee Jones?! Swoon.

Of course there is uncontrollable sobbing are tears that accompany the watching of these shows. It's that dang music. Cursed violins. And I really hate it when they kill off my favorite characters- like Deets (Danny Glover) and Gus (Robert Duvall)...I would NEVER have made it in the old west. Never.

Even with all that sobbing television watching going on, I did still manage to tear myself away to try a couple of new recipes-

This one started with a big pot of garden fresh veggies-

And ended up being Swiss Chard Rolls--

For dessert, a Rhubarb Crumble-this was my very first rhubarb anything. It turned out delish!

Swiss Chard Rolls
(a Gerson recipe for 2--I more than doubled it because we had the gang over)

4 leaves green chard
2 carrots
1/4 head broccoli
1/4 head cauliflower
2 small zucchini
1 cup corn
1/2 cup uncooked rice

Sauce:

1 1/2 tomatoes
2 cloves garlic

Directions: Put chard in hot water to soften. Cut other veggies in small pieces and simmer til done. Drain water. Make sauce in blender and pour over top of veggies and uncooked rice. Place some mixture in center of each leaf and roll up. Put in baking dish with a lid and bake at 250 degrees for 1- 1 1/2 hours.

Part of the Gerson plan is cooking food slowly. Sometimes I adhere to this standard, sometimes I don't. I didn't this time- I cooked it on 350 for about 30 minutes (everything was already cooked I just wanted to heat it through). I cooked my rice first and mixed it with the veggies and then rolled them up. When I realized I had forgotten the sauce, I just poured it on top of the rolls.

Rhubarb Crumble
(from Koko's Kitchen)

3 cups rhubarb, chopped
2 TBS orange juice
3/4 cup raw honey
1 TBS spelt flour (I was out of spelt so I just used gluten free all purpose flour)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 TBS coconut oil

Topping
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup spelt flour (I was out of spelt so I just used gluten free all purpose flour)
2/3 cup oats (I used the gluten free ones)
14 cup coconut oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8 baking dish. In a bowl, stir the rhubarb, orange juice, honey, flour and cinnamon. Put mixture in dish and dot with the tablespoon of coconut oil. In a separate bowl, combine the honey, flour, oats and coconut oil and mix until it resembles a coarse mixture. Put on top of the rhubarb mixture. Cook at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. If the top is browning too quickly, cover with foil about halfway through cooking.

Happy cooking, y'all! And try to stay away from the TV! :)

Healthy Habits

It's taken me a lot of time, effort and research to learn about various healthy habits and to be better able to discern those that seem truly healthy and those that seem to be a bunch of hooey. And, of course, to decide which practices would be best for our family.

Here are the healthy habits we've adopted thus far. Some of them y'all have already read about during the challenge, and some of them are yet to come!

Diet. And by diet I am referring to our daily diet NOT a weight loss diet.

• No gluten. Remember that if you're trying to lose weight, you still have to count calories even if you've gone gluten free. You don't have to give up everything-you just make it all gluten free. The really nice thing is that food free of gluten means no craving for more and more and more, you just feel satisfied.

• No processed foods. At all. EVER. Not even gluten free. Ok, well there was that time we had the gluten free pizza at Brixx. :) But everything I cook is from scratch now. Including bread.

• No sugars-when I use sugar it's Turbinado, coconut sugar or honey. Refined sugar I do not miss one bit. Which is a surprise because I was a sugar addict. Using these healthier sugars makes sweets of all kinds taste great BUT, even better- they do not cause the cravings that refined sugars do. Win, win!

• Meat. When we do eat meat it is free range/vegetarian fed/grass fed/wild caught, etc. depending on what type it is with no added chemicals in any form whatsoever.

• Certified Organic EVERYTHING; local meats and produce; right from my own backyard whenever possible.

• RAW eating- I am currently researching this option and am thinking seriously about giving it a go this summer. What better time to try something that doesn't require cooking?!

Exercise- every single day!

• All it takes is finding what works for you, getting up and moving, and sticking with it-even when you don't want to!

Coconut oil- I use this in cooking and for moisturizing and oil pulling...nearly EVERYTHING!

Dry skin brushing- I'm addicted to this!

Oil pulling- Another addiction that I'll post about on letter 'O' day

NO chemicals in household products, beauty aids, etc. I use Tropical Traditions for most of this.

Rain barrels and well water for the garden.

Green Smoothies- Oh yeah, I drink them every single day and will post about them on letter 'S' day!

NO pesticides on us, Tucker or the garden! We're using cedarcide (just trying it for the first time), lavender oil, and Diatomaceous Earth. 

Mental Health- I'm working on getting my Zen (my own modified version, I'm sure) on and I'll post about this on, you guessed it, the letter 'Z' day!

Basically what my weight loss journey has become is a healthy lifestyle change. For the whole family.  Even with an empty nest, our lovelies are very interested in what I am doing and have jumped right on board in their own homes. Well, DoodleBug just comes over here and let's me feed her. Sweet girl that she is and all.

What steps are you taking on your personal journey to a healthier lifestyle? Share!

This is the eighth day of the A-Z April Challenge. I thought I might try a theme this year and focus on my personal journey to health and fitness, including weight loss.

Today's letter is H and my word for the day is HEALTHY HABITS.

Mom, You Are NOT Putting the Dog in There, Are You?

What's my favorite kind of day? The kind when I get to spend it with one or more of the lovelies!

I had that kind of day this morning! DoodleBug came over and we made a morning out of it.

First, we headed over to buy a jogging stroller. I wanted one for Tucker. He still stops after about a mile--or after he poops, whichever comes first-- and wants me to carry him. Which means I have to walk, not run. So I put him in a stroller we have here but it just didn't work out for running. First, that dang thing went all over the place and, secondly, I stepped on the rear wheel and nearly embarrassed myself by practically sprawling out in a perfect face plant on the trail.

Yeah. So, I looked on Craigs List and discovered one of those jogging strollers. I bought it this morning. Much to the embarrassment of a lovely or two who think that the strollers are for babies NOT doggies. To which I may have replied something like, "Until someone gives me grandchildren, the dog is going into the stroller." (Of course, I didn't mention that at that point, I'll be looking for a double jogging stroller...shhh..) Another conversation (via facebook) went like this:

My friend:  "Please please please take video. A photo just won't be enough!"
DoodleBug: "For the love of God and all that is holy, please don't encourage her!"

Will that stop me? Absolutely NOT. Will I take a video? Not sure about that. But I will post pictures soon.


Anyway, after purchasing the jogging stroller, we went to this market that I've been wanting to check out. Everything they carry is organic and local. Even the beef and chicken! 

Here is their lunch menu-I forgot to take a picture of their breakfast menu...oops!

I had their spinach and cheese quiche with fruit--although I would almost swear it was collard greens instead of spinach...which is fine with me! I love them both!

DoodleBug had their yogurt, granola and fruit parfait. She said that each layer had been drizzled with honey. So yummy!

They had farm fresh eggs and butter, SC honey, grass fed beef, free range chickens, organic milk, fresh fruits and veggies, homemade dressings and chutneys and such, dried beans...it was awesome!

Do you LOVE that cabinet? I do!

We came home with these:

And, the really cool thing? For a one-time fee of $15 you can order from them how ever often you want to and they will deliver your items to your house (for $5.95 delivery fee) OR to the drop-off for free! So, every week I can have farm fresh everything delivered to the drop-off! WooHoo! And, they not only drop off the grocery foods but also their home cooked meals should you want any of those! How awesome to know that I have such easy access to organically and locally grown foods?!

Guess what else? They are NICE in there. NICE. And their farm is less than one hour from our house so I can even go check it out if I want. Did I mention that they are NICE in there? You can check them out RIGHT HERE!


Lastly, we went to Michael's. Where I might have spent way too much money as usual a little bit of money. (guilty smile) Do NOT tell Hubs! 


The entire morning was absolutely perfect! 


Now, I'm off to take a run. With Tucker. AND the jogging stroller!