Partying sometimes leads to pie... and other erroneous details

Ahahahawl-righty then!   We have had a great week or two.  Eating really healthy.  My pants that have not fit since coming back from Bequia slid on the other day... had a bit of a mufffin top, but what are you gonna do?  I went to a Buddhist meditation on Saturday to kind of center myself... really helpful.  And also, we went out to The Furniture Factory with my mom and dad the other day...  Good Times!!!  :)  Monkey and The Spank Daddies were off the chain, my Mom did the Moores Mill Stomp, and we just had a good time overall!  I had a salad and a half of a portobello mushroom sandwich there,  Hartley had Rum and Coke..... which leads me up to the testing part of the evening... Big H wanted to stop at Kroger.... ok... We get there and he chooses a pizza... yikes!!!  and suggests that we get a pie.... UhOH!  I have a weakness.... We got a Hershey's pie...  yeah...  Not a good thing.... but when it is gone, it will be gone, and it has been a while since we have had any, so I don't feel completely terrible about it.

Side Note:  Dad and I planted our mixed greens this weekend...  expecting them to shoot up soon since we had some good rain today.
Big H also made Caribbean Coconut Curry Chicken last night... Phenomenal... Will make it again soon and post it on here!  Happy Eating :)

 867-5309!!!!!!!!!!

 My makeup had melted off, and yes, H had a run-in with a razor. He was trying to pluck without the tweezers  : D I laughed at him...... a lot...   

Ah, the night was over and dad had to catch his breath... :)

Pineapple-Raspberry Smoothies

Ok, Breakfast time!!!  I love a good smoothie!  Normally at home I would add flax seed and extra juices or maybe coconut milk, but  I stayed at my brother in law's house last night and so my husband stopped to buy fruit, but I could not bare to tell him to buy a whole box of flax seed... just not neccessary...  So we have Pinapple-Raspberry Smoothies for breakfast.

Start with your basic ingredients: fruit, yogurt, and juice.  I like to keep all of my fruit frozen.  I bought a pineapple from Fresh Market yesterday.  It is gone...  used half of it for smoothies last night, a quarter for Big H's smoothie this morning, and the remaining quarter for me this morning. 

So we have pineapple, raspberries, and strawberry banana mix, because we have these things at home, silly to buy a new bunch of bananas and a whole bag of strawberries.

I prefer to use Stoneyfield whole milk yogurt, but with very little selection last night, my husband brought 2 of these home from the store.

I ain't complaining!  :) Greek yogurt is great for you!  This container has 11g of protein, lots more than you would get from the same serving of regular yogurt.  The fruit was in a separate pocket, so I just didn't use it.

Ok, juice...  I realize that this is not primo juice... nor is it even real juice, probably, considering that it was totally clear when I poured it, but you gotta use what you have... and this was the choice. This or lemonade, and the pineapple is already really acidic.

Add the fruit to the blender.  I use about 2/3 cup of raspberries, a cup of pineapple and 1/2 cup of strawberry/banana mix.  Then the yogurt. 1-3 tablespoon fulls. We only had 2 of these yogurt cups, so I was skimpy.

 Add a bit of juice and blend.  I like mine really thick, so I don't put a lot of juice, but that means more elbow grease.  Start the blender, stop the blender. Use a spoon to mix up to fruit and juice.  Add a little more juice.  Repeat until blending properly and desired consistency has been achieved. 
And the end result is : "Duh, duh, dah Daaaaahhhh!!!"  (That was a horn fanfare by the way : D )

A completely delectable Pineaplle-Raspberry smoothie, for your drinking pleasure.  Enjoy.  And send me comments of other recipes for smoothies that you like. :)

Our rules (in a nutshell)

Basically, I got rid of anything processed in our house.  As Jillian Michaels say, if it didn't come from the ground, and if it doesn't have a mother, don't eat it. Big H's family are not from the states and inflation is really doing a double whammy on people in the wide open out-yonder, so we are sending them everything we have that was sealed.  If it wasn't sealed, then my mom took it... Problem solved. 
1)  No High Fructose Corn Syrup... I know I know... it is fine in moderation... but do you realize how hard it is to eat high fructose corn syrup in moderation??? When is the last time you added up how much you eat in a day?  For real.
2) Not so many ingredients on the label... I don't have a stead fast rule for this one, but generally if I look at it, and I see a paragraph instead of a few lines, I put it back.
3) Umm... check out the dirty dozen at http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-214. There is also a link to the printable wallet guide.  One of my new best friends.... cause I don't know about you...  But I don't want to eat pesticides on a regular... Just say no.
4)Is sugar one of the first 3 ingredients on the label?  Hello!  Not exactly healthy...  I would rather have my sugar on a piece of bread with some cinnamon and fresh unsalted butter.  Thank you!
5)  Use common sense.  If your grandma, or great-grandma didn't eat it, maybe we shouldn't either.  Just because something is new and exciting, does not mean it is good for us... It's like jumping on a roller coaster without secure seating... just not a good idea.

I am sure there are more and that more are going to emerge over time... This is a work in progress.  Slow and steady, and all that. :) 

Ok... The Beginning

This is new to me...  always kind of thought blogs were a little hokey... Now a definite, obsessed convert.  My husband and I have been eating whole foods only for about a week.  The beginning was difficult and I don't count it because there were lots of cheats (unbeknownst to me, of course.)   I have been on millions of pages, including but not limited to:  http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/, http://www.annies-eats.com/, http://www.naturalonabudget.com/, and the list goes on.  Got my start from the 100 days crew, who definitely inspired me.   For the last week or so Annie's recipes for bread are exactly what the doctor ordered. 

We love bread, can't get enough of it, Gotta Have It!   So, In the last 19 days I have gone through a whole bag of King Arthur's flour. Made a Sourdough starter, that I have not tried yet.  Made Cinnamon Pull Apart bread, which was a hit (except with my mother, who I don't think will ever like whole wheat anything!) Made Whole Wheat Pita bread (easy peasy, but lots of waiting for it to rise. My nephew was helping me, but abandoned me for the last 2 hours of waiting and the actual cooking of the bread.)  And last but not least, Whole Wheat Sandwich buns, which is my husband's favorite so far.

The trickiest part for us so far has been the shopping.  We are on a very tight budget as he is working for a manufacturing company (read:  not very good pay) and I am in nursing school, which is my main focus, so if I skip a few days here and there...  shoot me!  I have clinicals, tests, and the prep for these 2 items are not exactly as easy as baking pie... Thank you very much :)  So I have aimed at spending about $90.00 a week... sometimes not even that much... I find making our own bread is helping already.

And so we begin on this long, but so far, very tasty journey!!!   Please keep up with me and give me any help you can... Trust me!  We need it  :)