A Juicer

I am so thankful to day for our recently acquired JUICER!  I know it's not tuesday anymore, but I just had to write this post! 

We got our awesome new-to-us juicer from a sweet sweet friend!  She got a new one and just GAVE it to us!  The last three mornings, we have been experimenting with delicious, healthful juice. 

Monday it was kale apple pear carrot juice.  Very sweet and delicious!

Tuesday we had kale apple carrot.

And this morning we had kale apple carrot zucchini! 

This morning it was much less sugary than the last two mornings.  I really liked it, though!  I am excited that this is a new way for us to get lots of vitamins and minerals from fresh veggies that we wouldn't necessarily eat. I mean, I will eat kale.  But every day?  Not really.  Plus, you should see the kale plants in our garden-- they are huge!  So not only are we eating fruits and veggies, but they are fresh picked from our garden!  Yay! 

Since I am a little wary of only drinking juice and not eating the fiber of the food with the juice, I will not juice every day, or at least I will make juice that is low in or has no sugar.  But even this morning when the juice was not that sweet, two out of three kids drank everything I gave them.  :-) Regardless, I am still excited about this new avenue to explore! 

Thanks so much for my juicer! 

"Ice Cream"

K, so tonight I stumbled upon this blog with all these vegan recipes.  I was looking for a recipe for corn cake.  I don't know. I've never heard of corn cake before, but today, it sounded good to me and I wanted to see if it even existed.  Well, it does, and I am going to try it soon!

Anyway, on the top of the page was this amazing looking sorbet.  So I clicked on it and it looked so delicious.  I decided I wanted to try the blueberry banana recipe after dinner.  During dinner I presented this idea to Chris who made a face, and when I asked what was wrong with that idea, he said, "Well, first of all, there's the banana and the blueberry."  Ok, so the banana blueberry wasn't going to fly.  But I still wanted ice cream. 

After dinner, we were in the kitchen, and all the kids were asking when we were having ice cream (and I think Ellie was yelling something like, "NOW" in her sassiest voice), so I just started throwing things into the blender. 

Beet Blueberry Strawberry Sorbet
One small (fresh from the garden!) raw beet, shredded finely
Half cup of blueberries
One cup strawberries
About 1/3 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup coconut milk
Splash of lemon juice
Splash of rum or something (optional, keeps it softer after you put it in the freezer)

Put all ingredients in the blender.  Blend until desired consistency.  Taste for sweetness. Adjust if necessary. Eat right away, or put in ice cream freezer.  Then eat. 

It went over well.  There was none to put in the freezer.  There are lots of newly stained clothes in my house, though!  Enjoy!

Fruit Bars!

We made the most DELICIOUS BROWNIES (ahem,... I mean totally nutritious, healthy, filling fruit and nut bars) for an afternoon snack and dessert today!

These bars were inspired by my lovely friend, Monica (who also has a food blog-- check it out!). 

As I was making the recipe she sent me, I kept thinking, these are SO similar to the brownies I posted on this site! Well, I just had to modify them a bit-- to be more like brownies!  

They were 'scarfed' down readily by three hungry vultures and two adults. (And then the adults had two more after said vulture/children were in bed!)

Basically, it's a larabar, without the hefty price tag. The following recipe is based on the recipe Monica sent me. Here it is:

Chocolate Cherry Delight!
1 TBS coconut oil (or some other, light oil)
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup almonds
8 large dates (12- 16 smaller ones)
about 1/2 a bag of dried cherries (maybe 3oz?)
1/8 cup cocoa powder

Blend first three ingredients in food processor.  Add each additional ingredient one at a time, and blend until it's a fine, moist meal-like consistency. Press into 8x8 and chill until firm.  Or, scoop right out of the food processor with a spoon, and eat with a spoon. (Like we did this afternoon.) Taste will not be affected!  :-)

This made a thin bar.  I would probably 1 1/2 or double this recipe to make a nice, thick bar.

I'm sorry, I have no pictures of this bar!  Please accept my apology and enjoy this picture of a cutie pie instead!

Our Food Journey Part VI

Finally!  We get to this year!  If you haven't read the rest of our journey, catch up here.

This year we have seen so many really drastic changes to our diet. 

It started with the boys' ears being so clogged from colds, etc, that we mostly cut out dairy.  Not completely, but mostly.  I started buying almond milk, rice milk and coconut milk (mostly for Ellie) instead of our fresh, raw milk.  And I stopped buying cheese, which is a favorite food in our house.  At first I wondered how in the world our lives were even going to go on or exist at all without dairy.  But you know what?  They did.  And I learned/ am learning dairy alternatives every day!

Next, Chris wanted to avoid all sugar, wheat, and gluten.  I wasn't exactly on board with that one right away.  How am I supposed to feed my family anything when we aren't eating dairy, sugar, wheat, or gluten. I really resisted this change to our diet.  I knew that Chris was going to be more strict with it than the kids or I could ever be.  I did finally have a heart change and chose to submit to my husband.  Even in the realm of food it is so important to submit to our husbands, if we are to be truly a picture of the church submitting to Christ. But, I digress from the topic of food... :-) Anyway, once I finally did choose to submit my will to Chris', you know what? God blessed it.  I had a HUGE burst of creativity in the kitchen!  We had all kinds of amazing food that week!  I even came up with the sesame cracker recipe that I'll share below. 

ANOTHER change we have made here in the Good household since the beginning of the year:  eating more raw food.  My mother-in-law got the book The Live Food Factor: The Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet for Christmas.  I was immediately interested in these crazy people who were insane enough to eat ONLY RAW FOOD.  Chris and I knew right away that we needed to be incorporating more raw foods-- at the very least more vegetables-- into our diets pronto. I have been learning so much about raw food and the benefits of eating raw, but also the benefits of cooking certain foods.  We are still working towards a balance in our house on this one.  It's tricky working with little ones-- finding things to eat raw that are beneficial for and also realistic for our children.  We also got another book on the topic, Becoming Raw: The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets, which has helped a great deal in figuring out what is best for our family.  There are also a bunch of great recipes/menu plans! One last book I should mention on this topic is Breaking Free: Truths for Healthy Living.  This book also has a great, balanced approach with a lot of really helpful recipes, some of which I even tried out these last two weeks! It has a great chapter on feeding our children as well. 


Okay, so as if all these major changes were not enough, there is one more.  I have spoken about soaking grains a little bit on this site before.  My heart right now is to really prepare all my grains, legumes, beans having soaked or sprouted them first.  This breaks down the phytic acid in the bran of the grain, unlocking many nutrients that are inhibited by the presence of phytic acid in digestion.  I haven't done this much yet.  I would like to experiment with sprouting wheat (and then dehydrating it before grinding it into flour) instead of soaking it, to see if that is a better option.  This last soaking part of our journey is going to be a real learning curve.  I don't know too much about what I'm talking about... YET!  I intend to find out as I go and I will  clue you in to my findings as well.  So far, the best site I have found with information on soaking is KitchenStewardship.com. Katie has done extensive research over the past year-- comparing soaking methods and sprouting, interviewing all kinds of experts on this topic.  If you are interested to know more, go here. 


Whew!  Glad to get that all down for you folks to read!  I hope our journey from simply giving up soda to a dairy/gluten limited, low sugar, more vegetable laden, soaked grains diet will inspire you to go out and take that first step in your life!


And finally the recipe I promised: 


Sesame Rice Crackers (Dairy free, gluten free, vegan)
3 TBS oil or palm shortening (Oil can be coconut, vegetable, light olive oil, or any other mild flavored oil)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 1/2 cups rice flour (I have also used a rice/millet mix)
2 cloves garlic, crushed or pressed
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp tumeric
1/8 tsp paprika
2/3 cup water


Combine the oil, sesame seeds, rice flour, garlic, salt, tumeric and paprika. The result will be almost like a pie crust before you add the water-- crumbly, but moist.  Stir in the water. Turn the dough out onto a cookie sheet. Press it out until it is a relatively even layer on the sheet.  I like to use some plastic wrap on top of the dough, so my hands don't get really messy.  Score the crackers (a pizza cutter works really well!) into whatever shape you like.  Ben likes sticks, but Chris likes crackers, so I usually make a combination.  Bake at 250* for an hour or so.  Check after 40 minutes to see if they are done.  They should be crispy, but not brown.  Because of the turmeric, these crackers will be yellow.  Last, a note about oil vs. shortening: The crackers were more... oily (for obvious reasons!) and dense but less likely to fall apart when made with oil and were kind of flaky (reminiscent of pie crust) when made with shortening.   


Enjoy!  These usually don't even get 'put away' at our house-- everyone just snacks on them right off the cookie sheet until they are gone!

Our Food Journey Part IV

We have already lost weight, made bread and root beer, and spaghetti sauce.

The next leg of our journey to healthy eating involves high fructose corn syrup.  Or, rather, a lack thereof.  We just got convicted to stop buying stuff with high fructose corn syrup in it. Meaning, bread all of the sudden got really expensive.  I'm talking $4 a loaf!  And Chris and I, being teachers, loved to bring a nice sandwich to school for lunch.  Let me tell you, after a couple of weeks/months, we rediscovered homemade bread.  I started making bread once a week. 

I discovered a couple of really great resources on the web, the first of which was "The Homestead Kitchen." This website revolutionized my desire to cook for my family, as well as how to cook, and especially how to make bread!  Because of this website, and our desire to eat fresh, whole wheat bread regularly, we purchased a wondermill for Christmas that year. And I have not looked back.  I absolutely love it!  My wondermill grinds wheat berries and spelt (how is that spelt, exactly?), and a myriad of other grains (even beans, if you want to!) into fresh flour that has so many more nutrients available than store bought bread or flour. 

The price of the wondermill is expensive, up front.  But, Chris and I calculated that it paid for itself in less than a year!  I was spending $4 on a loaf of bread every week (Sometimes we would go through more!).  Now, I am spending roughly $2 for two loaves of bread.  So, I am saving $3 a week just from making my own bread! (Ok, so I realize that my math in the prior two statements DOES NOT work out to saving enough money in a year to pay for the wondermill... but it was DEFINITELY worth every penny!)

I guess one more note on this leg of our journey is that we started drinking fresh, raw milk. Yummm. Our pastor and his wife introduced us to it while we were engaged.  I had never really liked milk before, but boy!  Raw milk is delicious! And, since it has not been pasteurized, the enzymes in the milk that are living and beneficial are not dead.  The homogenization process breaks up the big fat molecules in the milk and makes them able to be absorbed into the body.  These fats are bad!

Around this time, our firstborn, Benjamin arrived on the scene!  And our journey continued...

Banana Pudding for Breakfast

My children are obsessed with having oatmeal for breakfast.  Everyday they wake up and ask, "Are we having blueberry oatmeal today? Or peach?"

Oiy.  I am tired of oatmeal!  So, I have been trying to dress it up a bit recently.  Also, in my endeavor to go more raw, I wanted to try oatmeal raw.  Plus, in my musings with soaking grains, I wanted to try soaking my oatmeal. And then eating it raw. But at the same time, making it taste delicious.  I came up with Banana Pudding for breakfast!

Now, some of you are saying "Ew!  Why would you eat oatmeal raw?!" And the rest of you (who made it past the raw oatmeal) are thinking, "What is soaking grains??!!"

Cooking food kills the enzymes in the food that are good for you and help you digest it. So, eating raw food helps with digestion and with most foods, is more healthy.

Soaking grains helps to unlock some of the other enzymes/properties of the grain that make it more easily digested and more nutritious.  (Ever feel bloated after eating some really delicious, processed white bread?) Soaking the grains before eating them, or even cooking with them can help stop that feeling... I don't know a whole lot about the whole process, but Katie from Kitchen Stewardship has done a great deal of in-depth scientific research on the subject.  You can read all about it here.

All that to say, here is my newest recipe:

Banana Pudding Breakfast

2 Cups Oats
1 cup water
2 TBS yogurt (Or 1 TBS apple cider vinegar, if you want to do the vegan thing)
2 bananas
Milk, of any sort or water or juice would work, too!
spinach (Optional!)
Toppings: Walnuts, almonds, raisins, craisins, coconut, etc.

Mix 2 cups of oats, one cup water and 2 TBS yogurt in a bowl the night before you want to eat this for breakfast. Leave it on the counter until the morning.  In the morning, blend the bananas, spinach and the milk or juice in the blender until just smooth.  Try not to make it too thin.  Add the oats and pulse until desired smoothness. Pour into bowl and add desired toppings.

This recipe is SOO good!  The bananas are so sweet that you don't even need any other sweetener.  You can even hide good-for-you things in the pudding like spinach that will be willingly gobbled down with everything else.  My kids LOVE this!  Like I said, they go nuts for oatmeal, and love having toppings!  It's almost like having a sundae for breakfast.  (almost.)

Have YOU Ever Tried Raw Asparagus?

A quick salad I threw together for dinner tonight.

Broccoli Asparagus Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

1-2 cups broccoli, chopped

20-25 asparagus stalks, chopped to 1" pieces

1 small zucchini, sliced and quartered

1/4 onion, diced

1/8 cup (2 TBS) chopped parsley

1/4 cup sprouts

Vinaigrette:

1/4 cup lemon juice (of one whole lemon)

1/4 cup olive oil

2-3 TBS apple cider vinegar

1 clove garlic, pressed or minced

salt and pepper to taste

Toss first six ingredients.  Wisk together the vinaigrette.  Toss with vegetables.  Delicious. 

PS.  I think he WAS complaining.  :-P

Birthday Brownies

Yesterday it was my birthday, and my lovely husband decided to make some birthday brownies!  These are not just any ordinary brownies, but ones made entirely of raw food!

We have recently been experimenting with raw recipes, and this one was SO GOOD.  They even have icing.  The best part-- they are good for you!  Anyway, I will let these brownies speak for themselves.


Chris found the recipe at trinigourmet.com and here is the post for the brownies.


(We substituted one banana for one of the avocados, because we only had one avocado.  WHEN I make the recipe again, I will try two avocados, because the banana flavor was good, but a bit overpowering.)

I can't wait to share more recipes and fun discoveries!  I already have a list in my head of some things to share.  I'll also have to get you up to date on our food journey from the past five years!

-Janet.