Look At All Those Veggies

Okay, so I realize my 'obsession' with my juicer is odd, but I can't help but be fascinated with it. Even though I am a healthy person and am always in pursuit of living a healther life, physcially, I have never been able to eat a lot of fruits and veggies everyday. Seriously, when you look at the number of servings of fruits and veggies we should be getting a day, I doubt 98% of our country is even close to accomplishing that - hence, the power juicer.

I tell you what, I probably have had more fruits and veggies over the past couple weeks then I have the past couple of years. So, my money was well spent on this device and I feel good about doing something that will allow me to be healthier in my physical body. After all, my decisions do not just affect me anymore. I have a husband and 2 children that I need to remain healthy and strong for. You will not find me 15 years down the road wishing I had led a healthier life. I'm being proactive now and I know I will benefit from it everyday from now on.

That doesn't mean I don't enjoy my desserts every now and then and I still love to create delicious and yummy baked goods. But that is all a small percentage - and working on it being smaller. The saying is so true: You are what you eat. If you are tired, stressed, sluggish - look at what you're eating. I like the fact that in one glass of juice I can have 2 tomatoes, 4 carrots, 3 celery stalks, 1/2 a cucumber, 1/2 cup spinach leaves and 1/2 head of cabbage!

There are many great books out there that I would recommend, but today the one I'll 'plug' is the book that concvinced me to buy my juicer and it's called: Toxic Relief by Don Colbert, M.D. I have read many of his books and honor and respect his practice and his desire to help people live healthier lives. This book deals with detox and cellular cleansing and lifestyle changes. The info was amazing and opened my eyes to how our bodies work and operate and why we need to take care of them differently than how the average american does. It amazes me that we know so much information, we can recite every line in a 3 hour movie, we know how to create websites, software, build cars, design skyscrapers, yet 99.9% of us don't know how our body functions and how we need to properly take care of it. We take better care of our cars then we do our bodies.

So, anyway, all that because I'm amazed with my juicer! Drink it up!

"The way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not." ~ Mark Twain

Mmm. Mmm. Pancakes!

Okay, so I'm a bit of a healthnut, which can be an issue when I love to bake and eat yummy desserts. So much that I had purchased a power juicer last week, which I completely enjoy, so I can get more healthy foods in me and yesterday my daughter and I baked a cake and when my husband got home and saw the cake on the counter, he commented: 'Did that come out of the juicer?!!!' Ha. Ha. Anyway, I think eating healthy is important to us all - but saving the soap box lecture for another blog, I'll cut to the point of this blog: When my daughter was almost a year old I ordered a book called "Sugar Free Toddlers" by Susan Watson. I realize the importance of starting a child on healthy foods and they will more likely enjoy them as they grow older. So, although she still uses ingredients that I don't think are healthy (shortening and vegetable oil), the recipes are really cool and 99% of the ones I have tried my daughter absolutely loved. One of her favorites are the 'William Tell Pancakes'. Do I know who William Tell is? No, but what does it matter when the girl eats the pancakes and they are a healthy alternative to over processed dry cereal. And another good bonus - mom likes them too. I make enough to have enough for her to eat for breakfast for the week and if I make an extra large batch, I freeze some and take them out at the beginning of the week. The book also included a syrup alternative which is good and has so much less sugar than convential syrup, even pure maple syrup (which I personally prefer, but I grew up on it).

Following are the recipes for the pancakes and the syrup. As with any recipe, I try to use all organic products when available. The grocery bill does cost more, but it's worth it. I'd rather pay more now for healthy and beneficial food, then to pay a doctor later when my health is detiorating because I didn't take care of myself.

• Whole milk is great for young kids. I know many adults drink 1% or skim (we drink whole in our house), but when making for the youngsters, whole milk is good for them.
  
• Olive oil and Coconut oil have very healthy fats as oppose to regular vegetable oil. The Coconut oil gives it a nice flavor too.
  
• I have used apple juice concentrate in the pancakes, but I've also used orange juice or pure 100% pomegranate juice as well. They all have given the pancakes a nice, sweet taste.
  

WILLIAM TELL PANCAKES

1/2 cup whole wheat flour / whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons olive oil / coconut oil
2 tablespoons apple juice concentrate or juice of your choice (doesn't have to be concentrate)
1/2 cup applesauce

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix until smooth. Make panacakes las you normally would.

GARDEN OF EDEN SYRUP

6 ounce can white grape juice concentrate
1 cup fig or dates
3/4 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, combine juice and figs or dates. heat over low heat for 5 minutes to soften the fruit and then pour the mixture into a blender jar. Mix on high for about 1 minute until the fruit is pureed. Return the mixture to the saucepan. Add the cornstarch and vanilla and heat over low until thickened, stirring constantly. Serve warm.

Enjoy! I'm sure your kids will love them.

"The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of human frame, and in the cause and prevention of disease."- T. A. Edison

Scout is ONE month old!

Happy ONE month, Scout! Our Valentine's Day baby is such a joy. What a beautiful smile he has. I'm one proud mama of two precious kids. God is good!

Making Her Own Bed

Those who know me know that I am an organized person. I like order. Everything should have a home and it should be in it's place. So, as you can imagine, having 2 kids might put a kink in this desire of mine to be neat, tidy and in order.

After having my daughter 3 1/2 years ago, I had to learn to let go. It wasn't difficult - I'm not OCD by any means, so I didn't go out of my mind because of messes and things not getting done at their scheduled time. Yes, I'm a planner and list maker and things get done at a certain time and in a certain order. The adjustment wasn't difficult, but I'll admit, my desire to be 'in tact' has never changed.

So, now Bella is at an age where she gets to help around the house. Yes, she has chores. Cruel? I don't think so. It's good for her and teaches her responsiblity - something I think many kids and youth lack these days. Well, along with her chores, I have to be willing to step back and not give her explicit instructions on how to do something. I can give her direction and then let her go at it and do it and as long as I see she is truly trying, I don't say a thing and I don't come up behind her and 'fix' what she did.

Making the bed is one of her chores. She hasn't quite mastered the whole sheet and bedspread part of it, so I still do that part for her and then her job is to put all the pillows and animals on the bed. She has 6 regular pillows and 2 accent pillows, a huge, plush bear, a couple favorite blankets and sometimes her dolls or stuffed animals. So as she was making her bed today I was watching how involved she was in getting her pillows on just right. Now, for me, making the bed is an art. I think it can be done beautifully and the end result can truly make a statement. When I make my bed, the pillows are in perfect order, they seam on the pillow case is always on the bottom, the angle of the pillows are always the same - you get the point.

But as I'm watching my daughter arrange her pillows the way she thinks is beautiful, I smile. They are placed all over the bed - some double stacked, others by themselves. Some facing this way, others facing that way. The coolest thing is how serious she is about it and I realized - she was creating art. It wasn't my idea of how the bed should look, but when she was done and stepped back to look at it, she said, 'Mommy, look at how pretty my bed is.' How can you argue with that? It was pretty. It was my daughter's own piece of art and it was outstanding.

My daughter has been my greatest teacher over the past 3 1/2 years. A teacher on many different subjects. She's taught me to chill out a little. She's taught me to enjoy the little things in life. She's taught me to see just how much fun it is to play in the creek for an hour on a warm summer morning. She's taught me more than I can write in any blog. Most recently she has taught me that art is truly in the eye of the beholder and if I stop thinking everything always has to be 'my' way, then I can start to enjoy so much more in life. All this from my daughter making her own bed. I love my daily life lessons from a brilliant young girl and I will do my best everyday to look at the world through her eyes - it's much more attractive than the alternative.

A Beautiful Song

Even though my daughter has always been a 'fireball', she has recently become a little less 'shy' then she has been the past 3 1/2 years. She is at the stage where she loves her movies and she loves to mimick and dress up and sing and repeat every line of the movies she watches. I enjoy watching her so much when she's watching her favorites that she has memorized. Lately, she loves to sing and she isn't reserved about it.

My brother got married in June of 2008 and my sister in law walked down the aisle to 'At Last' by Etta James. Well, Bella has liked the song ever since. For my sis in laws shower I made up a cd with love songs and this is the first song on the cd. Needless to say, Bella loves listening to this when driving in the car - and she sings just about every word and she sings it loud. She is so off key, it is absolutely beautiful. When she sings songs from the movie 'Enchanted' or 'Beauty and the Beast', she sings with all her heart. And there are certain songs she sings at church and it's amazing. To hear a 3 year old sing 'I exalt thee, I exalt thee, I exalt thee, Oh Lord' is breathtaking. I'm not sure I've ever heard anything so beautiful in my life.

Watching my daughter change and grow and become more comfortable with herself is a wonderful journey. Everything she does - she does it with gusto and maybe that's why her singing is so beautiful. She doesn't care what she sounds like, she just sings with all she has. As I've stated in other blogs, our children teach us so much. My daughter has allowed me the opportunity to stop and enjoy the small things life brings us each day. She's given me the chance to see how beautiful things are in places we wouldn't expect the find beauty. If we all would see life through the eyes of a child, we'd have a much better journey on this earth than we are having now.

I'm thankful at how much I've learned from a beautiful song, sung by my three year old daughter. May she keep singing and bringing joy to my days and a smile to my face.