Did You Eat Your Fruits and Veggies Today?

As much as I love eating healthy, I do really wrestle with it (as I am sure some of you do;). It seems almost impossible not to fall pry this time of year to all the consumer ads and media hype that your health gets. Not to mention, how the holidays leave you feeling over sugared, bloated and weighted down. I was pretty proud of myself this Christmas, I didn't do any normal baking but I did healthy baking (granola, pretty healthy biscottis, etc.).

Last year, about this time, I got started on my biggest health kick only to give up when my stomach and pains got worse and worse. A friend, who is a Nutritious, told me I was getting way to much fiber and to take a break from really fiberous food for a while. I threw my hands up, gave up and turned to Dr.s to try to help me with my digestion issue. Well, here we are months later and no answers only more issues to figure out.

Not to go to far down that long, sad road;) here I am again finding myself wanting to cleanse my body and eat nothing but God's best foods. Whole Living Magazine has a 21 day cleanse and, one of my favorite blogs MyNewRoots.blogspot.com helped come up with weeks 1 recipes. I know that the recipes will be amazing (Sarah's always are).

I probably won't do a total cleanse (don't want to do anything to drastic to the ol' digestive track) but you bet I will be trying some of these recipes this week. Here is what I am thinking from Whole Living Magazine.

Breakfast
Grapefruit and Carrot Juice
Warm water with lemon (I have heard so many good things about starting your day with this for cleansing purposes and energy)

Lunch
Spiced Butternut Squash Soup
Avocado, Bell Pepper  and Tomato Salad

Dinner
Roasted Pepper, Cauliflower and Almond

Snacks
Dried Fruit and Nut Bites
Crispy Roasted Cauliflower
Pistachio Stuffed Dates with Coconut

Grocery List
4 grapefruits
Lemons
1 Lime
Apples (at least one green)
5lb bag carrots
Large piece of ginger
Scallions
Cilantro
Parsley
Onions
Garlic 
Butternut squash 1 large or 2 small
Avocado
Cherry tomatoes
1 yellow bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 large head of cauliflower
1/4 cup Kalamata olives
1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds
1/2 cup pistachios
16 large dates
Shredded coconut
2 cups dried fruit
2 cups raw nuts
1/3 cup sesame seeds

*salt, pepper, seasonings and olive oil I have on hand.

Carrot Soup!?!

I was dreaming of my favorite soup inspired from OhSheGlows.com as I was looking over some of the weekly grocery sales from my good friend Jennie at Bargain Blessings. I haven't  been that great at making meals with ingredients that are on sale but I would love to be better at it so no better time than now to start right?


Here are the highlights for this week 1/4 - 1/11 from Bargain Blessings. Make sure to check out Jennie's post for all the deals this week at Sunflower Market and other stores around town.


Sunflower Market


Chicken Sausage $1.97/lb


Fresh Express Garden Salad $1


Grape Tomatoes 10 oz $1


Blackberries 6oz .88


Green Bell Peppers .50 each


Organic Avocados .77 each


Organic Carrots 5lb bag $3.99




Carrot Apple Ginger Soup
Adapted from Oh She Glows

Ingredients

1 tbsp EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

1 small onion, diced (1 cup diced onion)

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp fresh grated ginger

1 large apple chopped

1.5 pounds (5 cups) carrots, peeled and chopped 

4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth

pinch of nutmeg

Course salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Add 1 Tbsp EVOO to a large pot over medium heat. Add chopped onion and cook for about 5 minutes until translucent. Add minced garlic and ginger and cook for another couple minutes on low. Add chopped apple and carrots and cook for a few minutes more.

Add the chicken or vegetable broth, stir, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low-medium and simmer for 20 minutes, or until tender.

I use an immersion blender or carefully pour into a blender, add a pinch of nutmeg, and blend until desired consistency. You might need to do this in 2 batches depending on the size of your blender. You don’t want the soup more than halfway full or it might explode through the top. Make sure to allow steam to escape through the top of the blender lid too.

Add salt and pepper to taste. You can also thin the soup out a bit with more broth. Serve and garnish with freshly ground pepper,  a drizzle of olive oil or shredded cheddar cheese. 

Makes 5 cups!

I hope that you enjoy this soup as much as I do. It is the perfect thing to make for the week for lunches for me and very health too!!

I found my inner couponer at Whole Foods today!

I finally have hope today that you can still save some money and feed your family really healthy food. I got some great deals at Whole Foods today. The sales on the ad run until 4/26.


Barbara's Oat Squares Original or Shredded Wheat $2.50
-$1.00 here 
-$1.00 in Whole Foods coupon booklet or here
= $.50 each 

Earth Balance Organic Soymilk $2.00 (*although it is advertised on the ad for $2.50?)
-$1.00 in Whole Foods coupon booklet or here
-$1.00 coupon found in Mambo Sprout's winter coupon booklet (I found mine at Natural Grocers)
=Free

So Delicious Coconut Milk 32 oz $2.00
-$1.00 from Jan/Feb Whole Foods coupon booklet
-$1.00 here  or here
= Free

Lightlife Veggie Protein Product $2.00 - $2.99
-$1.00 in Whole Foods coupon booklet or here
-$1.00 here or here
=Free - $.99

Blue Diamond Nut Thins $2.99
-$.75 in Whole Foods coupon booklet or here
-$1.00 peelie
Total Price= $1.49

Seventh Generation 2ply Tissue $1.99
-$1.00 in Whole Foods coupon booklet or here 
-$1.00 here or tons of coupons on all the products
=Free

Seventh Generation Single Roll Toilet Paper $1.49
-$1.00 in Whole Foods coupon booklet or here
-$1.00 here or tons of coupons on all the products
=Free


2 Arrowhead Mills Cereal Flakes $3.48 (I am going back to do this deal, I think this was the price) + 2 Westsoy products $?
-Buy 2 Arrowhead Mills Cereals get 1 Westsoy product free from Whole Foods coupon booklet or here 
-Buy 2 Arrowhead Mills Cereals get 1 Westsoy product free peelie
-(2) $1.00 from here
-$1 off 2 Westsoy products peelie (? not sure about using this coupon, I will see?)
=.99 per item at best

Garden of Lift Raw Protein $29.99 (usual price $39.99. I have been looking for a good protein supplement and this was highly recommended. I am a little nervous because I heard it taste like cardboard but I will update you guys on it).
-$5.00 coupon found in Mambo Sprout's winter coupon booklet or tearpads or here
-$5.00 from Jan/Feb Whole Foods coupon booklet
=$19.99



 

More Almonds for ya!

No, I don't live off almonds although my last two post have been all about almonds. I just happened to make a new breakfast smoothie this morning and decided to that it was good enough to share.


Almond al a Mode Smoothie
1/2 cup oats
1 frozen bananna
1 cup almond milk
2 Tbs chia seeds
2 Tbs almond butter
1/4 tsp almond extract
ice cube (optional)

Place the oats in the blender and blend until fine. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend away!

*I didn't add the ice which was fine for me but if you want more of a smoothie texture I would add it.
Also, if you want your chia seeds softer then let them sit in the almond milk for 20-30 minutes before make your smoothie.  
Some Vanilla protein powder would probably be awesome in here too (I will have to get some for next time!).

Well, since we are on the subject of almonds, Sunflower Market has bulk almonds on sale this week for $3.99/lb, which is a really good deal since I considered the average non-sale price to be $6.99/lb. Chia seeds on the other hand were a bit of a shock to me. Whole Foods best non-sale price was $12/lb.  I ended up getting some chia seeds in the bulk section of Sunflower Market for their non-sale price of $6.99/lb. Now I really wish that when I got them on sale in February from Whole Foods for $4/lb that I would have stocked up more. Next time I'll know!

I told you that I would get you the recipe for the cookie dough balls that I make out of my almond pulp. This last time I made oatmeal raisin cookie dough but if you want chocolate chip just leave out the cinnamon and raisins and add chocolate chips.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough
adapted from OhSheGlows Cookie Dough Balls

Almond pulp from making almond milk or 1/2 cup almonds or cashews
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp Turbinado sugar (you could use other sugar but this is larger and adds crunch)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla sugar
2 Tbsp pure maple syrup or honey
1/4 cup raisins
cinnamon to taste

If you are not using the almond pulp, then add your nuts and half of the oats to your food processor and process until it forms a fine crumble. Otherwise, I just added all the ingredients (but raisins) in the food processor and processed until well mixed.  If your mixture it to wet add more flour or to dry add more maple syrup or honey.  Mix your raisins in. Roll into small balls and enjoy!

Feed your cookie monster!

How To Make Almond Milk

I couldn't believe that making almond milk was really as easy as it is.  I don't make it all the time but it is a nice option if I am running low on almond milk and I don't really want to run to the store. I am sure there are different ways to do it but here is what I do.

Homemade Almond Milk









1 cup raw almonds (soaked over night, covered in water)
4 cups of filtered water
small splash of vanilla extract (optional)
2-3 dates (optional)

Drain that murky water out of your almonds. Place all ingredients in the blender and let it go! I like to run my blender for a couple of minutes.

                                               BEFORE                                    AFTER


I got some cloth produce bags from Whole Foods that work great to seperate the almond pulp and almond milk. It is also nice to have a hook that I can use to hang it so I don't have to try to hold it up myself.

When all said and done it makes about 4 cups of frothy almond milk and then you have almond pulp to either munch on or I like to add dried fruit, whole wheat flour, some oats and honey or maple syrup to. Then I roll them into little balls. They taste very much like cookie dough. I have never measured what exactly I do but I will and give you more of a recipe on this later;)

I don't think that making your own almond milk is really a money saver unless you can really get a great deal on your raw almonds. The average price for almonds is probably about $6.99/lb. At that price 1 cup is about $2.20 and makes 1/4 of a gallon. Store bought Almond Milk is retail around $3.99 for 1/2 gallon but there are always sales and coupons.

Some available coupons right now are . . .
Silk -
4/10/11 Smart Source (SS) coupon insert
or here to take their 10 day challenge for a $.75 coupon or possibly a $2.00 coupon.

Silk Soy, Almond and Coconut Milk is on sale this week at Target for $2.99!


Blue Diamond Almond Breeze -
1/30/11 Smart Source (SS) coupon insert


Let me know if you try making your own and what you think of it. Personally, I do like the taste of my own almond milk better than the store bought because it really does taste like almonds. Have a great day!!!

Chia Seeds - my new favorite!

Really I just started changing my diet about 3 months ago and like I said before, there have been so many things that I have tried and fell in love with.

Chia seeds are definitely one of my new favorites!

Chia Seeds - 

I use this powerful little seeds every morning in my oats and in my smoothies. In my opinion, this guys are a great way to really uptake on your dietary fiber. In just 2 tablespoons of chia seeds you get:

• 7 grams of fiber (more fiber than bran flakes)
• 4 grams of protein
• 205 milligrams of calcium (more calcium than 2% milk)
• 5 grams of Omega 3 (more than Atlantic Salmon)
• more antioxidants than blueberries
• they help you stay hydrated 
• they are easy to digest
• very versatile 

My favorite way to eat chia seeds is in overnight oats. Based off a recipe that I started with from OhSheGlows.com (she calls them vegan overnight oats or VOO for short).  I was never a oatmeal eater until I tried this recipe.

Overnight Oats
1 mashed up banana
1/4 cup oats *cheapest place I have found for Organic Oats is Natural Grocers
1-2 Tbs. Chia Seeds
1/2 cup Almond Milk or Coconut Milk

Mix all ingredient in bowl and cover. Let sit overnight in the refrigerator until morning. Your oats will be nice and soft and the chia seeds will have plumped up to give you a thick, pudding like texture.

Eat your oats just like this or adds some delicious topping for even more nutrients, like:
almond butter
peanut butter
honey
other fruit
cinnamon and raisins:)
granola
pumpkin (with some maple syrup gives you a pumpkin pie flavor:)
the options are endless! 

Price:
I stocked up on some a couple of months ago from Whole Foods. Spectrum Chia Seeds were on sale for $4.99 (regular price $8.99) - $2 Whole Foods coupon = $2.99 for 12 oz. That was a great deal! Now I am running out of my last bag really quick so I will let you all know if I find another great deal on them.