Favorites for Beautiful Hair and Skin

Happy end-of-the-month post!

I hope you have found your way over to the new and growing ADDN site, subscribed, and are enjoying revisiting the old blog posts!  I had forgotten some of the information and recipes I've shared, and it's been fun getting re-motivated to take care of my health!

As the weather is turning colder, I am seeing and feeling the dryness settle in.  My hands don't want to stay moist and the cracks are looking like a dry desert!  Ugg!  And the hair is getting the flyaway wisps everywhere!  No fun!

So here is a list of some of my favorite foods to maintain health, happy skin and hair!

Five Beautifying Foods and Drinks:

WATER

It may seem simple, but proper hydration is critical!  Correct fluids are important for the health of your skin cells and scalp.  Clean, filtered water will support your skin and hair health.  Eating abundant produce will also allow you to get a good intake of water, since fruits and veggies are water-rich!

COCONUT WATER

Or, you can opt for coconut water, because it will also supply a nice dose of minerals, which your hair will drink up!  Minerals and hydration in one - what a nice treat!

HEMP

Hemp will have good omega-3 fatty acids in whatever form you find it: hemp milk, hemp oils, or hemp seeds.  But my form of choice is the seed, because then you are also getting a lustrous 11 grams of protein with each serving!  Omega-3s help with scalp health and generating hair follicles.  Protein is a large part of the make-up of a strand of hair, so adequate protein is important for strong, shiny locks.

 BERRIES

The deep hughes of dark berries and cherries come from the phytonutrient group called anthocyanidins.  These phytonutrients help the collagen fibers link together in a way that strengthens the connective tissue matrix, keeping your skin strong and healthy.  Plus they have good vitamin C which works in partner with Vitamin A for healthy collagen.

SWISS CHARD

This often praised vegetable has yet another wonderful benefit!  It is a rich source of biotin.  Deficiencies of biotin have been linked to numerous skin and hair problems, such as hair loss, seborrheic dermatitis, and even cradle cap in infants!

So there you have it!!  Five foods for fabulous skin and hair!

I hope September has treated you well, and October is even better!

Hugs!
~Katie

My Main Romaine

I am finally getting back to the question of Romaine! Mom asked the other day why I love Romaine so much. It’s because it’s so darn healthy! Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not placing it above or below other leafy greens!! They all have their own benefits to your body. Romaine is simply one that Dave likes more, so I tend to use it often to keep him enjoying his salads, smoothies, and wraps!

It’s got a crisp, clean crunch that brings a mild flavor. Plus, a 2-cup serving provides over 140% of your day’s needs for Vitamin K and almost 60% of Vitamin A! It is also an excellent source of folate, manganese, and chromium; and a very good source of fiber, vitamins B1 and B2, and minerals potassium, molybdenum, iron, and phosphorous!

At only 15 calories, that seems like a pretty good deal!

Romaine is one of the few plant sources of chromium, so that’s another reason I like it! Onions, broccoli, and tomatoes are also contributors (hooray for chromium salads!)

Plus, and take this with a LARGE grain of salt - Celtic sea salt, of course! ;-) - I have this notion floating around in my head that chromium may help reverse graying hair! I cannot recall for sure where this idea came from, but it’s something that niggles at the back on my mind. (To the Research Cave, Robin!) And I have had friends, and read accounts of others, who have noticed their own hair color returning after adding daily green smoothies to their diets!! It didn’t happen right away, but after a month or so, they noticed darkening areas where they’d more recently been silvery! Woohoo! So perhaps it’s just the general nutrition gained from adding a smoothie (and thereby eliminating a less healthy breakfast option) or perhaps it’s a specific nutrient. I will research more one day!

But back to Romaine! Here’s another good health combo… the beta-carotene plus the vitamin C work together to help keep down bad cholesterol!

When cholesterol gets oxidized, it becomes the sticky, nasty plaque that clings to your arteries. This begins to block the passage of blood, narrowing the artery and making it harder for your body to get that nutrient-rich blood around! So then, in comes higher blood pressure, less oxygen and energy getting transported, and possibly even heart attack or stroke after too long. Beta-carotene and Vitamin C help prevent this awful oxidation, helping to keep your blood a’flowin’ easily! And then the fiber can come along and help sweep out the gunk and help you excrete it. (I know, fun topic!)



From MyPyramid.gov



Just try to get organic, as this is one of those Dirty Dozen highly sprayed veggies!

Have a great weekend, my friends! Tomorrow is another 5K run! Woo!

~Katie

So! Romaine! Yet another great green to add to your life! Salads and smoothies are the easy route, but there’s plenty you can do! Add it to casseroles or sandwiches; or just use it in place of bread for sandwiches, buns, or tacos; use the smaller, firmer leaves as boats for fun toppings like salsa, avocado, or julienned veggies; or use it like a sushi wrapper!

Raw Ratatouille... the fancy way of saying "Zucchini Spaghetti in Circles"

I was all excited to try another new recipe from Gone Raw - so I picked Zucchini Ratatouille since zucchini is nice and cheap. And Italian sounded good!

And while this was a pretty zucchini dish with home-made tomato sauce, I think it will not be a repeated recipe.

I enjoy zucchini as a substitute for pasta, but I found that slicing and dehydrating all these slices was much more time consuming than just throwing it through my spiral slicer. Perhaps letting the slices marinate in a little salt and oil would be a good step, but I don't think it needs to dehydrate.

And the sauce would have been delicious if it wasn't for the fact that my grocery store changed their sun-dried tomatoes. Sadness!!

Thankfully, we recently found a nice tub of ORGANIC sun-dried tomatoes from Jungle Jim's market, so we'll get to try out some old favorites with these new nuggets of sunny glory!

So, above is our pretty dish of ratatouille... the first, and the last. But hey - we tried it, and now we know! Sometimes it's just the matter of pushing our comfort zone, and trying something new! Can't love 'em all!

Have a happy week, and I'll get to that post about Romaine lettuce soon!

~Katie

Super Sprout Salad

Happy Healthy Day, to you, my friends! And why is today Healthy Day?? ...Well, no specific reason. Really, hopefully EVERY day is a happy healthy day :)

How are those Resolutions going? Hopefully healthy and successful! But, if you've staggered, that's okay! Pick up today - RIGHT NOW, not tomorrow! - and choose to be healthier now! :)

I wanted to share a quick recipe for a salad that I have been craving lately. It just feels so healthy to eat it!! (Ok, hopefully that doesn't scare some of you off! "Ewww, 'healthy'?! Must not taste good..") Not true! This salad is rich in flavor, I will admit. So it can be quite potent if you're not used to the bursting goodness of dark greens. But if you've been doing green smoothies and other salads, then this will be another simple recipe to add to your arsenal!

Super Sprout Salad!

I did both Mung Sprouts and Broccoli Sprouts for this one :)

Salad:

Dinosaur Kale

Sprouts (Mung bean, alfalfa, broccoli, etc)

1/4th Avocado, diced

1/2 Tomato, diced

Dressing:

Small Drizzle of Olive oil

Juice of one half lemon, or to taste

Dash of Sea salt (or Kelp Flakes)

Cayenne to taste

Wash and tear the kale into bite-size pieces and then add the oil, lemon, and salt. Massage it all into the leaves, as this helps soften the kale. Add the sprouts, avocado, and tomato. Mix. Sprinkle with cayenne.

This is a great salad to make in the morning and then take to work for lunch. As it sits, the flavors marinate together, and the lemon helps continue to soften the kale. Don't get me wrong, it's not MUSHY gross! Just a little more tender.

Kale, as I've said many times, is one heck of a healthy green! Great source of vitamins and minerals, and helps our natural detoxifying process. A rich source of antioxidants and cancer fighters! Avocado is rich with healthy fats, and will help you absorb even more of the goodness of the kale. Avocado is an anti-inflammatory food, which is a benefit of many produce items that I'll get into more another time :) And cayenne, an excellent source of Vitamin A, is believed to be a great spice for stimulating circulation and digestion, boosting immunity, and possibly preventing ulcers. And during these cold months, a little heat can be appreciated! Heck, maybe try mincing up some ginger or garlic, too! Enjoy playing with it :) Perhaps do half kale, half of your favorite green (Romaine? Spinach? What do YOU like!) I like to you kelp flakes to give that extra kick of iodine and a little salt flavor, but sea salt is good too!

Most types of sprouts are good to try to add to your diet. They offer a large 'bang for your buck' nutritionally! According The George Mateljan Foundation for the World's Healthiest Foods, a non-profit organization that looks at the science behind healthy eating, "In the life of a plant, sprouting is a moment of great vitality and energy. The seed, after having remained quiet for an often long period of time, becomes more and more active and begins its journey up through the topsoil and into the open air. When it sprouts, a healthy seed activates many different metabolic systems. It converts some of its sugar content into vitamin C, to act as an antioxidant in the new open air environment. It also begins to synthesize a variety of new enzymes, many of them necessary to handle oxygen metabolism in the world above the soil. On a gram for gram basis, sprouts are richer in vitamin C than the older, more mature plants they eventually become, because this moment in their lifecycle calls for a high level of vitality." (Bold mine)

So try out some sprouts! They're great to add to salads, sandwiches, any many other dishes! Happy Eating!

~Katie

Saipan Fresh Markets!

We got to experience the Tuesday night market in Garapan. It was, all at once, completely normal, and totally new! I love farmers markets, and have been to several - so in a way, seeing all the little tents lined up, and foods displayed was just like home. ...Until you look closer, and realized you don't recognize anything!!

What's a girl to do?

Try it all!

They were very friendly people there - when you didn't know what something was, they'd try their best to explain how it tasted, how you prepare it. Or, when all else fails, just shove one in your hand and tell you to take a bite! That was how I got to experience my first guava! Delicious! I'm sad they are not available here in Ohio :(

We also go "coconut juice" which would have been great... but they added sugar to it. Sad... something so simply wonderful, and they had to dump in processed junk! Ah well, it still tasted good, and was more exploring of culture, since that's the popular way to do it! (I'll keep mine fresh from the nut next time, thank ya!)

Here was an actual catering stand - they had the most variety, mostly processed foods they'd already made.

So, of course, we had to try some new items.

Not exactly the most natural of foods... I mean, would you look at that neon orange?! But it's local rice cake (coconut milk, rice, and sugar all blended into a smooth texture) so we wanted to see what it tasted like.

Quite good, really! Creamy and somewhat chewy, sweet and mild.

Then there was sweet rice (rice, coconut milk, brown sugar, not blended.) Very similar, but Dave preferred this one.

And then we had to try the "Eat like a Local Plate." So VERY not healthy!!! And I really didn't eat much of it - picked at the rice, and ate the (uber oily) veggies. Then Dave enjoyed all that many meaty stuff ;-) (And yes, hot dogs are apparently a local staple there, as well!)

We took our little tray, walked to the back of the market where we found a nice log, sat, and ate our food while the sun set. Oh, and had a friendly neighborhood mole run out and squeek at us! I guess they're common there!



The market all lit up!



We went back to our hotel, where they finally convinced us to get the free foot massage, and then coaxed us into the pedicure - yep, Dave too! But I'll share about that later, and the unnaturalness of that! (Even though I did enjoy going crazy with blue

toes with butterflies... it's something you may want to keep in moderation!)

After that, a good sleep, and then the next morning, day three on the lovely beaches!

And I got to start my morning off with fresh guava! YUM! Ok, admittedly, this stuff has one heck of a potent smell!! Dave was whining about it the night before, so I stuck it in the fridge. And - oh MAN! Opened the fridge in the morning and was about knocked over by the gush of guava scent! It's not a bad smell, just so strong when so fresh! Guavas have no cholesterol, saturated fat, or sodium; and they have all these wonderful nutrients: potassium, folate, a good 5g of cleansing fiber, and skin-so-soft helping Vitamins A and C - over 200% of your need of Vitamin C in one fruit!

Now that's a nice way to start a morning!

And I also got to try some local oranges that morning (yep, going Vitamin C happy!)

It turns out, the cold nights in California and Florida are what help give oranges their namesake peel. With nothing but warms and tropical weather year round, Saipan oranges aren't orange! They're green! But still sweet, juicy, tart, and delicious!

So after I enjoy my fruit breakfast, we go and relax on the beach some more. I mean, come on, who could refuse??

So that was our experience with the local food and market - more good memories!

Michigan Day Two!

Alright, my friends! Here it is!! Day TWO of my Michigan Raw Trip! The festival was only that Saturday, but Dave and I got to spend that Sunday in the wonderful company of Carla and mark!

And what better way to get all pumped and ready for church than...

a green smoothie, of course!

This had to be one of the most fun smoothies to make - getting to dance around the kitchen with Carla as we soaked, chopped, washed, and pitted. And then got a smiling nod from BOTH men! They agreed it was one of the best tasting smoothies they had tried! (Mark and Dave said Carla and I just need to hang out more so we can continue making these lovely creations.)

And what, you may ask, was in this smoothie that our men enjoyed?

We called this our Apple Pie Smoothie

3 honeycrips apples
1 banana

2 plums

1 pear

about 1 cup almonds (that we soaked over night)

1 stick of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

a small piece of fresh ginger

as much fresh kale as we could put in without the guys groaning! (probably about 2-3 cups?)

water as needed

We first blended up the almonds and some water, as that was going to be the toughest part to make into a smooth consistencey. But her heavy duty blender had no fear! And we soon added the remaining ingredients to our breakfast drink.

Almonds are a common nut used to make crusts of raw pies, so mixing that with the apples and spices turned this into a holiday decadence! (Though it's not quite holiday season... so I imagine this baby will be making a comeback over the next few months!)

We poured the lovely smoothie into travel mugs and bolted for church. And what a beautiful place that was! Sadly, it didn't cross my mind to take my camera into the church, so I have no photos. But it was so bright and cheery, and Carla sang with the choir, making it just such a meaningful day!

Afterwards, we wanted to grab some lunch... and of course, by this time - after more than 24 hours of NOTHING BUT RAW - poor Dave was caving! My man wanted MEAT!



Dave enjoying his big ol' grease burger!

And the waiter was so flexible for us! I wish I remembered his name and could send out a giant THANK YOU to him!! I wanted to try to stick to the raw deal, as I was feeling amazingly energetic! So, looking through the recipe, there weren't too many options other than salads. So, how to spice up a salad? Just ask!

I asked him if I got the "Chicken Salad" without the chicken, could they instead add some extra vegetables to it? He said, "Sure! We have zucchini, beats, cucumbers... what would you like?"

To which I simply responded with an emphatic, "umm... YES!"

He got the idea, and in came my salad loaded with extra veggies!

I just drizzled it with a little of the honey-mushroom sauce which would have been topping the chicken. (Ok, that may not have been raw, but I didn't use much!)

We finished our meal with good food, good chats, and headed to the Apple Cider Press of the area! Ahhh, fresh apple cider... there's nothing like it!

You can see the two men standing at the apple shoot here. Somewhere else, apples are loaded into a blender of sorts, and the apple bits come tumbling down the shoot onto these cloth-covered trays. Tray after tray is stacked, then a huge machine compresses them all, squeezing out all that lucious juice! Sad to say, I asked what happened with all the left over pulp, and they said it just gets pitched. How sad!! Apparently they used to try to compost it, or do some other things with it, and it just wasn't working for them. So it became easier to trash it. (Hmmm.... perhaps there's an opportunity for some Michigan resident to get free apple pulp.....)

The juice then runs through tubes to various dispensing machines, and right there, they'll fill a half gallon jug for you to take! It doesn't get much fresher!

So we bought a half gallon, and (*gasp*) just HAD to try the fresh cinnamon-batter donuts that they sold, to go with the cider. Oh, so worth it! Soft, warm, and spicey - perfect pair for the cider!

As we enjoyed our treat, we wandered through the isles of fresh apples - so many types! It was amazing!



Dave picking out a bag of apples for us to take home

You better believe some of those apples went into a smoothie that next week! In fact, my dad had come to visit, and so I thought that the Apple Pie Smoothie had been such a hit in Michigan, that he just may like it! And he did! He had his entire 12 ounce glass! Go dad!!

And so ended our trip. It was getting on towards evening, and so it was time for us to buckle up and make the drive south to home.

What a wonderful time, wonderful memories, and new friends! Again, I cannot thank Carla and Mark enough for their loving hospitality! What beautiful people!

Have a great week, everyone :) See you back here with more doses of natural goodness soon!

~Katie

***EDIT: Thanks, Carla!!  She's got the better memory ;-)  The restaurant was Hogans.  Yum yum doodle dum!

Viva la Veggies!

Good evening, everyone!

Sorry for not posting lately - I guess I let my "staycation" get me a little lazy! My goal to sweat every day ALMOST happened... but I let a visit from my sister give me "reason" to slack. Ah well. I know I could have gone for my jog while she rested, but it was just such a nice cozy home, and I didn't feel like leaving!

But it's back to the grind! Dave and I have been enjoying playing guinea pig on ourselves. 6 days, nothing but fruits and veggies. (Is this a long-term plan? No. It would not be something to recommend long-term, but for less than a week, we were curious!)

Day 1 started out great! Dave admitted that his system was loving the easy digestion, and that he didn't feel so "bogged down" with trying to process junk. He was a whirl-wind Mr. Mom and spent the whole day checking off tasks left and right, and getting the home all clean!

Then the end of day 1 came.... and we both crashed. Tired, and I had a splitting headache. But we just went to bed early, slept a solid 10 hours (yikes!) and began days 2 and 3.

Those days were rough (I would have posted, but we were so tired from it!) Still felt lethargic, some brain fog, and the headache only slightly diminishing. Fruit-packed smoothies helped give us some natural sugars for energy; and adding some veggies helps sustain the long term health. Saturday evening, I pulled out some veggie wraps for us. Dave's supportive comment: "when I saw those plates of nothing but veggies - no cheese, no dressing... I thought I was going to die!" A little dramatic, but that's my man! And that brave soul managed to eat two entire wraps!

Admittedly, with only lemon for seasoning, they were a little bland, but still amazing nutritional sources! So much goodness wrapped into one little bundle! And easy on the digestion!

Pure Veggie Wraps

Shredded carrots

Raw corn

Mung bean sprouts

Onions

Chives

Broccoli sprouts

Lemon Juice

Large Veggie Leaves (ie: collards, Romaine, cabbage)

Top a large leaf with items of choice, squeeze a little lemon juice if desired, roll and devour!

I enjoyed cabbage leaves just because they are so sturdy. The Romaine tended to break and leak more! But all are good and healthy!

Day 4 is bringing back some energy. Dave was actually up and awake today, and I feel great! Having fun playing with the kids at work (enjoying some old-school Michael Jackson "Thriller" with one little boy!) and finding time to let you all peek in on our craziness! :)

Dave has forbidden me to mention the "holy name of Chipotle" for the next few days. Ha! He has also had dreams of Oreo Cakes, and dwells on thoughts of hot dogs and M&Ms. Hopefully his cravings for junk will soon start to lessen - mine have! I am craving fruit! Craziness!

I hope your week is off to a wonderfully energetic beginning! See you again soon!

xoxox

~Katie

Wrap It Up, Raw Style!

Hello, lovely people! The week is finally over, and it is time to relax with the family!

But I posted about sprouting/soaking grains, and wanted to share my experiment! So here it is... TADA!!!

My first attempt with soaked wild rice - it required soaking for 2-3 days. That may sound like a lot of work, but it was really easy! Just filled up a glass container with water and rice, then rinsed it 2-3 times each day and refilled with clean water. By the third day, it was soft and chewy! Granted, not as soft as if it had been cooked, but I actually found I liked the heartier texture!

So, after that was ready, I added in some raw corn (corn is really important to get organic!), some black beans (those were cooked), diced in tomato, and seasonings! And we were all ready for Veggie Wraps Raw Style! (...if you ignore the cheese and salsa that Dave wanted!) ;-)

This was such a nice picnic dinner! We just set the tray on the floor, popped in a movie, and wrapped the rice blend in the Romaine leaves! Admittedly, it was a little messy, but hey - living messy can be living fun!!!

This is definitely a recipe I will want to repeat! If you don't count the prep-time of the rice (since that's really not labor intensive) I pulled this thing together in all of 5 to 10 minutes, and got such a healthy, hearty meal from it!

Veggie Wraps Raw Style

2 c. wild rice, soaked 2-3 days

1 ear organic corn

1 tomato, diced

1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed

seasonings as desired - experiment with what you like! Cumin, cilantro, cayenne, sea salt...

4-6 Romaine leaves

Optional: get some healthy fats from diced avocado; get a bonus health boost with minced garlic; add some spice and color with raw red onion; try other leaves like collards or dinosaur kale for a deeper green wrap; and mostly... HAVE FUN EXPERIMENTING!!

Cut the corn off the ear, add it to the rice. Then add in the diced tomato, the beans, and seasonings. Scoop into a Romaine leaf, wrap as best you can, and enjoy with napkins nearby!

(Traditional Wild Rice Harvesting)

A USDA review of the health benefits of wild rice states "Nutritionally, wild rice has several attributes that set it aside from many other cereals. Wild rice has a higher protein content than most cereals. Also, for a cereal, it has an adequate balance of the essential amino acids." (cereals being oats, wheats, other rices, and corn.)

It has about twice the protein as brown rice (almost 24g per cup if eaten raw!) and, while not a high-fat item, wild rice does contain a little bit of the wonderful Omega-6 essential fatty acid, linoleic acid! And, other than calcium, wild rice has more nutrients that brown rice regarding iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, zinc, and the B vitamins thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin!

I am not saying all that to bash brown rice! Brown rice is a still a healthy option with its own benefits over wild rice! I am just trying to motivate you to try something new, if you haven't yet! :)

So have a wonderful weekend, and go try something new!

~Katie

Container Garden Update!

Hey guys! How is your day treating you? With much peace and patience, I hope!

It's been a while since Dave and I first brought home our baby container garden... and I wanted to show you our big, beautiful mini garden! The broccoli is overflowing, the stevia can't hold itself up anymore, and the herbs are still a delight! If you have the ability to start a container garden, I highly recommend it! It's been so easy, and I know exactly what I put on my plants! Good and organic and natural!! ...I'm still not sure the broccoli will bear any edible blossoms for us (though that may just be my impatience coming through!) but the herbs have been great from day one! I love making my chocolate mint tea (or sometimes - shhh! - flavoring coffee... but not often!), and using oregano to season salads and dinners.
And it just takes watering it now and then (with the wet summer we've had, that's been easy!) and adding some organic fertilizer once a month. Simple!

Have a great day, guys and gals! It's time for me to get back to my salad!

xoxox

~Katie

Loving Cafe, Vegetarian Foods

Happy Weekend!!!!

As a weekend treat, instead of slaving in the kitchen, Dave and I decided to go out to eat!

The Loving Cafe is a volunteer-based (read: "more affordable for the customer!") vegetarian/vegan restaurant that promotes "green" eating - local, organic, sustainable foods! So, of course, I had to go try them out!

And it is such a nice little place! A small back room is bright and spacious, with a cute little waterfall set up. Service was friendly, and the food was declicious!! ...Not necessarily healthy - after all, refined grains, abundant soy cheese, and oils for deep frying are technically vegetarian...

But it was still a fun experience, and even Dave LOVED his vegan steak burger! (He was more surprised than anyone!)

And I just went with the sampler platter: salad, spring roll, veggie wrap, soy mac and cheese, soy ziti, and various forms of mock chicken, including a BBQ drum stick and chicken fried rice.

I will opt to avoid the processed soy in the future most likely, but the salad was good, and they do have many other recipes that looked great! Raw pizza, kelp-noodle veggie pasta, Black Rice burger... all sorts of fun things to experiment with!

On their website, The Loving Cafe lists some of their reasons for "Why Go Veg?"

BENEFITS OF A VEGETARIAN / VEGAN DIET
Conserves up to 70% clean water
Saves over 70% of the Amazonian rainforest from clearance for animal grazing
A solution for world hunger: Free up 3,433 million hectares of land annually Free up 760 million tons of grain every year (half the world’s grain supply)
Consumes 2/3 less fossil fuels than those used for meat production.
Reduces pollution from untreated animal waste
Maintains cleaner air
Saves 4.5 tons of emissions per US household per year
Stop 80% of global warming
Lower blood pressure
Lower cholesterol levels
Reduce Type 2 diabetes
Prevent stroke conditions
Reverse atherosclerosis
Reduce heart disease risk by 50%
Reduce heart surgery risk by 80%
Prevent many forms of cancer
Stronger immune system
Increase life expectancy up to 15 years
Higher IQ

So, there's some food for thought :)

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend, and getting plenty of water! It's a HOT one!

~Katie

(Sorry! I didn't think to photograph my plate till after I'd already eaten some of it!)

Broccoli: The Cancer Fighter!

A quick little recipe for today...

Steamed broccoli + flax seeds + tumeric = antioxidant and cancer-fighting powerhouse!

(Go easy on the tumeric - it's got a strong flavor!)

Broccoli, part of the cruciferous family, has been shown to help reduce the risk of developing cancer. Tumeric, too, is now being studied for its health properties! There's an entire article on it in a Scientific America I have at home - I will have to review that for you all soon! But today, I just wanted to share this simple side dish!

Enjoy!

~Katie

My Spiral Slicer!

So a while back, I'd read about this cool kitchen gadget called a spiral slicer... and I HAD to have one! It may seem like a goofy novelty, and most likely, it is. But I love it!

It can serve many functions, but they all basically boil down to slicing food into rings or strands. But what I mainly use it for is cutting zucchini into spaghetti-like noodles. It's such a great replacement for pasta! Fresh, healthy produce with no processing! (I am not saying pasta is evil, per se, but just offering a fresh alternative!)

So Dave and I spiral-sliced a whole plate of zucchini, and threw in a little carrot for fun! The texture is a little crisper than pasta, but Dave has admitted that - despite his history of full-on cringing every time I mention zucchini! - he loves this raw pasta version :)

(shhhh! Processed sauce AND cheese! Don't tell! We're getting there!)

Admittedly, our sauce is not home-made... yet! We've experimented with several tomato sauce recipes, and just haven't found one we like. But I'm sure we'll find one some day!

You don't have to have a fancy spiral slicer to make this - really, just take a potato peeler and make some fettuccine-like noodles! Easy and fresh! A fun way to mix things up with your pasta! Or, heck, just throw your standard pasta on a bed of fresh spinach greens and you'll be getting an extra dose of health that way! Any step to add some health power to a meal is good :)

Have a wonderful weekend!! See you back here soon!

Spiral Smiles!

~Katie

Carrot Juicing

Just a quick little post to say, YES! We are making our way through our carrots, slowly but surely! Thankfully, there has been no yellowing of the skin at this time ;-)

(Of course, every time we pull out the juicer to make carrot juice, Dave wants the fresh apple juice that so impressed him the first time!)




I just wanted to share this picture - maybe it's just me, but isn't that a beautiful shade of orange?! Such a sweet, fresh juice! Even if you don't love carrot, the juice is like the concentrated sweetness from it - it's so good! Well, ok, there's still some carrot flavor, so if you HATE carrots, you may not like this.

But it is rich in vitamins and mineral (see this old post for all the details on carrot glory!) so if you have a juicer, or are ever at a juice bar, maybe give it a try! I sometimes like to mix it with orange, apple, and/or spinach... but the simplicity of carrot juice alone is a refreshing treat!

Now I just need to come up with a good way to use all the carrot pulp I've got sitting in my freezer...

Carrot Kisses! :D
~Katie