Keepin' It Green

Happy Meat Free Monday Folks! I woke up this morning feeling a little under weather. I think I have a cold coming on. My solution, blast my body with lots of fruit and vegetables  and help it to heal itself. 


In trying to keep up with eating breakfast every morning, I started off  my day by having a green smoothie for breakfast.   Green drinks are something I've been wanting to try for a while. On the advice of some of my classmates, I've been experimenting with different fruit and veggie combinations. They look weird, but taste really good.   Ideally, using fresh veggies & fruit is the best way to enjoy these drinks. Leaf vegetables are typically low in calories, low in fat, high in protein per calorie, high in dietary fiber, high in iron and calcium, and very high in phytochemicals such as vitamin C, carotenoids,lutein, folate as well as Vitamin K.These drinks are a great way to get kids to enjoy vegetables too.

The Basic Green Smoothie Recipe


This is what I recommend for starting out (makes about 1 quart/1 liter).


1 or 2          ripe bananas
1/2 cup       of another fruit: (pineapple, blueberry, apple, peach, mango)
1 1/2 cup    fresh greens:   (~2 chard leaves or ~1 handful spinach/kale)




~ 12 oz water (or to desired consistency)

If you don't have a blender or juicer, or you're short on time, you can buy pre-made green drinks and smoothies.  The fresh ones are best, just be sure to read the ingredient labels to make sure there aren't any additives and that you are truly just getting blended fruit and veg.   I like Naked juice and Odwalla brands, if I have to grab a smoothie on the run.


For lunch I had some spicy black bean soup. It really helped clear up my stuffed up sinuses. I finished clearing them out when I got home from work with the aid of my netipot.


For dinner I tossed some whole grain pasta, in homemade basil pesto with some Kale, spinach, broccoli & I tossed in some cannellini beans for some added protein.  It was really yummy and super easy to make. 

Now I'm nursing a cup of green tea, with a hint of honey from the farm around the corner to soothe my sore throat.   It may not be the instant feel good cure for a cold, like some of the pills and remedies in the drug store, but I have peace of mind that I'm giving my body the tools to help it heal itself. .... Now if that can just be sooner than later so I can be healthy enough to enjoy being in my best friend's wedding this weekend.... :-)

Reinventing the Way We Pack Lunch

About a year and a half ago, I decided to rid my life of as much disposable plastic as possible. I was sick and tired of constantly hearing about our country's dependence on foreign oil and how much plastic was not getting recycled or even ending up in a landfill, but strewn across the land and  in our natural bodies of water, endangering animals.

I had already ridden our household of plastic grocery bags by switching to cloth ones and we'd switched to aluminum water bottles sometime ago.....but I knew there was something bigger I was missing. It hit me when my husband spent one of several weeks out of town for work. he decided to pre-pack several days worth of lunches to save money and also because he didn't know what was available.  My husband is a very tall guy and has a big appetite. I watched him spend an hour making PB & J sandwiches, portioning pretzels and stuffing all of it into those little plastic bags. He was using about 5 of those bags a day for one lunch. It drove me nuts thinking about the fact that  he spent several dollars on something that was going in a trash can as soon as it was no longer protecting his sandwich...several hours later. We tried gladware for sandwiches too, but I still wasn't happy about it being made of plastic and the possibility that even though I chose to place it in my recycle been when it outlived its life it may not actually get to where it was supposed to go.

About this same time, I had started planning my wedding. Knowing my passion for living as green as possible, one of my mom's friends had given me a gift that she saw in a new eco-friendly store in her town. It was a reusable sandwich bag (they call them lunchskins), by a company called three green moms. Genius! I thought what a great wedding favor......that was until I researched the cost on this little bag. These bags are easily cleaned just turn them inside out and place them in the top rack of your dishwasher.

I decided that even if I didn't use these for the wedding, I needed to track down more of these and at a better price point.  The other disadvantage of my first bag was that it was too small. We like big sandwiches and it just didn't hold them without smashing the sandwich. When I have something in mind that I'm searching for that doesn't seem to be available in conventional stores, my go to place is Etsy.

When I searched for reusable sandwich bag I had thousands of hits. I went through several tries finding just the right size and type of bags and now hopefully you can benefit from my trials and errors. Here are my criteria for a nice sandwich bag
1) Material
In trying to avoid plastic, I don't really like the use of oilcloth on the inside of these bags.  I've learned that wraps and bags made of cotton on the outside with nylon on the inside work really well. I also like ones with multiple layers of cotton.  Both of these types can be thrown in the washer with my other kitchen towels if they get dirty. I definitely prefer velcro or snap closures as opposed to the snack bags with zippers as well.

2) Size
We've learned that for our hearty sanwiches we prefer using a sandwich wrap instead of a bag.  They are big enough for one of my husband's gigantic sandwiches.  They also double as a placemat on your lap while noshing on your sandwich.  For our snacks the snack bags are good for little things, but the "sandwich size" bags work better for bigger things like chips.

3) Fun colors and prints

There are hundreds of different bags and wraps on Etsy, handmade by a ton of very talented people. You can even look up to see if any of them are in your local area. So, not only can you pick fun prints that suit your personality, you can also support the US and potentially your own local economy.  Kids (and your inner kid too) love all the fun colors and prints. It really makes their lunches personal. (My husband especially loves his batman wrap and his smiley faced one.) I think his next one will be a Pittsburgh Steelers wrap.

Now that you may be thinking, These are pretty cool, where do I find one?, never fear I've got some links to my favorite etsy shops. Definitely give them a try you won't be disappointed. I also recommend looking at lots. For example, one of my favorite shops Mada's Place, offers discounts if you buy 5 sets at once, you pick the prints from the choices she has in her store. I ended up doing this  and getting a different set for each of my bridesmaids in my wedding and it saved me a ton of money! A few more good choices include:
-Zenbot baby they have a wide variety of prints and styles, including some cool modern looking ones, also where I found my cool tiki one... I love tikis!
-Moja Creations
-RKEM designs

I hope this gives you some ideas on where to look if you think this solution to "greening" your lunch is for you. In the coming weeks look for a post on how to make packing lunch fun again. I kind of miss the fun notes and cool things my mom did when packing my lunch, don't you? here's a hint:

Phineas Sandwich from Hawaii's Bento Box Cookbook for Kids

In the meantime, be good to yourselves...

Sprouted Grains & MFM Recipe: Eggplant Lasagna

Happy Meat Free Monday all! In my post last night I mentioned I was having a sprouted grain bagel with almond butter for breakfast this morning. I did and I added some sliced banana on top and it was delicious!
But what is exactly the difference between a sprouted grain bagel and a regular one?

Until about a hundred years ago, humans harvested their grains, tied them into sheaves, and left them in the field until they were ready to thresh the grain. Inevitably, with this exposure to the weather, at least some of the grain would begin to sprout.

First, a quick primer on what sprouted bread is, and how it differs from white and whole-wheat bread:
Whole-wheat bread is made by grinding wheat kernels -- comprised of a vitamin-rich germ, a protein- and carbohydrate-dense endosperm and an outer shell called the bran -- into whole-wheat flour.
White bread is made by removing the wheat kernel's germ and bran, grinding up only the endosperm into flour.  Sprouted-grain breads are made from wheat kernels (often called wheat berries) that are allowed to sprout and then ground up and baked into bread. Because the kernels are not ground into flour, such breads are often referred to as "flourless." (Sprouted-grain breads do, however, contain gluten -- so they are no easier to metabolize for people who are unable to digest this wheat protein.)

Sprouted-grain breads made from an array of grains and legumes can provide a complete set of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins Sprouted-grain breads may also be slightly higher in protein because some carbohydrates are lost in the process of sprouting -- resulting in a final product in which protein represents a greater fraction of the sprout than it did in the germ.  Sprouting grains increases many of the grains' key nutrients, including B vitamins, vitamin C, folate, fiber, and essential amino acids often lacking in grains, such as lysine. Sprouted grains may also be less allergenic to those with grain protein sensitivities.


So that is the cliff notes version of sprouted grains.  I was in a good mood and determined continue my healthy day but hadn't had time to pack lunch. Lunch out on meat free Monday is always a challenge but is still doable. Today I headed to Wegman's and raided their salad bar. I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of really good whole grain salads there today. I tried a barley & wild rice salad that had raisins and cranberries. I also tried a red quinoa salad that had some cranberries and blueberries, accompanied by some fresh spinach.  It was yummy, filling and I got in more whole grains and fruit for the day.

my yummy lunch

Dinner in our household on meatless days is always a challenge.... I eat just about everything, but my husband on the other hand, can be quite the picky eater. I settled on a meat free lasagna. I made it by layering eggplant that I had sliced thin, mozzarella cheese, fresh sauteed spinach, whole wheat fresh pasta and a ricotta filling. For the ricotta filling I used 1 egg, a quart of part skim organic ricotta, about 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, and a bunch of dried Italian herbs. I tossed in a handful of Parmesan cheese and mixed everything together.

A note for you gluten free folks, The sliced eggplant can be used instead of lasagna noodles when making your layers. I learned to do this years ago while on a no carb diet and its really tasty. You won't even notice the pasta is missing.

In between my layers I used a spicy tomato sauce to give it a bit of a kick. It turned out really tasty and we'll be enjoying the leftovers in our lunches.  Lasagna really hits the spot for me on chilly nights.  Well that's it for tonight gang.  My next post will be about ways to pack a greener lunch. I'll also be continuing my breakfast experiments throughout the week. Until next time... Bon Appetito!

New Beginnings

Did you ever notice how starting a new school or course of study tends to change your outlook on life and how you see the world? I remember at about this same time of year back in 2009, I began a journey at the Mt Nittany Institute of health to become a life coach. Part of the basis of the program was that we learned techniques to help people discover aspects of their lives that have been dormant, by going through the program ourselves. The program gave me an entirely new perspective on how to practice the often neglected art of self care. It also helped me to understand biases I had developed over time and gave me a new way to interact with my fellow humans. Throughout the program there were some stumbling blocks as I tried new things both in my daily practices and in my life at home. As I worked through each of these stumbling blocks, I discovered my life becoming increasingly rewarding with each new step.   Now, I find myself in a similar starting point.

I have recently started on a new journey at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I am really excited about this new path and already started implementing some new daily habits. One aspect of the program that I'm most excited about is learning about many of the different nutritional theories and diets out there. As with much of my studies at Mt Nittany, this too is an immersion program with many new practices to add to my daily life.

One of the beginning exercises of the program is a special journal with some checklists to be filled out each morning and each night. I'm currently sitting in bed marinating on the wonderful day I spent with my hubby today: we went to a local winery and enjoyed the chilly air and sunshine along the wonderfully winding country roads in our area.  Then I began reflecting on what my eating habits were like today......massive fail.  This is especially a shame because I did great all week and my energy and attitude definitely reflected my eating choices.  I do tend eat very healthily and mindfully in general, but what I'm discovering about myself is that I only do it when I have time/ it feels most convenient. This is a habit I need to change. The biggest violation of that consistency is my breakfast habits.

So, dear readers, my next several posts/ recipes are going to be focused on trying some new things.  I can be your own personal Guinea Pig on all those weird health crazes you've hear baout/ wanted to try. So if you've heard of something you're curious about drop me a line. I'm trying to expand my personal food boundaries.   My first experiment will be tomorrow. Later in the week I will be seeing if I like Chia seeds and attempting Vegan overnight oats which I've read about on the Oh She Glows blog (really good recipes there).

Hopefully, I'll discover some new breakfast favorites that I'll be able to make in advance or in a hurry so I can develop some better morning habits to help me get through the rest of my day.  Tomorrow's breakfast: a sprouted grain cinnamon raisin bagel with almond butter. Yum! More details coming tomorrow. Good night. 

Have a Fiesta Friday!

Its crazy in the world out there lately. A few weeks ago we experienced a hurricane and an earthquake all in the same week. I was trying not get caught up in everyone's doom & gloom, especially when people were yelling at me at work for situations I can"t control (the entire east coast had sold out of sump pumps and I'm a kitchen designer at Lowe's)...

Anyway, amidst all of that negativity,  my hubby & I decided to have fiesta Friday.  We made up some sangria and some nice turkey tacos. I was determined to get some more veggies on our plates and didn't want to have unhealthy refried beans (besides I really don't like them), so I came up with a nice black bean salad instead. We both really enjoyed it. I love having leftovers to use in burritos & salads the next two days as well. Below are the results.


This experiment turned out surprisingly well for a last minute idea and it was great to use up some of my leftover bits in the fridge & pantry.
Toss together all the following ingredients and let marinate at least 30 minutes before serving.
1 can of black beans, drained & rinsed
2 cups corn kernels (we used leftover from the local farmers market, but thawed frozen kernels work well too
1 red bell pepper diced
1 green onion sliced
1 cup diced jicama 
1 Tbsp lime juice
spice blend I used: cumin, paprika, cilantro, red chili pepper, garlic and a smidgen of sea salt

***Note: if you're not familiar with Jicama its kind of a cross between a potato with an apple or a pear. It is usually found in the produce section of your grocery store or favorite Latin market.


This weekend we are "rained in". We live in central PA and the flooding has been way worse than anyone expected. So instead of being grumpy about it, we're reveling in having time to actually be home together for a long weekend. We'll be cleaning & organizing to give ourselves some stress relief, have some laughs while playing our favorite games and of course, I'll probably be cooking up a storm as usual. Not sure what I'll be making to keep the dark clouds away, but I'll be sure to post the results. Happy Friday!