Tag Archive | healthy recipes

October Unprocessed: Day 1

Oct1

I survived the first day of October Unprocessed without too many cravings! 🙂

This is what I ate today:

I began the day with a glass of water.

For breakfast, I had an apple and an omelet. We have 13 chickens, so eggs are a big part of my diet. I generally have eggs every day in some form. To make the omelet, I sautéed ¼ cup onion with a Roma tomato from our garden in a teaspoon of coconut oil. I added ½ slice American cheese to the omelet as well.

October 1, 2014 004 crop

Around midmorning, I had a snack of 2 peanut butter cookies. This is one of my favorite cookies, and one of the reasons I love them so much is because they are unprocessed and contain NO flour and NO white sugar. Check out my Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies recipe here (today I left out the chocolate chips.)

For lunch, I had potato salad that contained all REAL-food ingredients.  Here is the recipe I used, only this time I used Greek Yogurt instead of the mayonnaise.

For an early afternoon snack, I made popcorn.  The popcorn kernels I used were GMO-free from our local farm.October 1, 2014 006

A little later in the afternoon, I had a few grapes to hold me over until dinner.

I roasted a chicken for dinner.  In addition to the chicken, I had corn on the cob from our local farm and roasted zucchini, broccoli, and onions along with some of the leftover potato salad from lunch.

October 1, 2014 012

I didn’t find today too difficult because I had planned my meals ahead of time. I expect it to get more difficult as the month progresses as I try to discover some new recipes and foods. I did crave some chocolate chips at several different times today, but I held off on eating them. I will be allowing myself chocolate chips as one of my “deliberate exceptions,” but I just wanted to get through today without them. 🙂

If anyone would like to join me in this challenge, it’s not too late!  You can take the challenge on your own terms.  Any step toward wellness is a step in the right direction!  Click here to take the pledge and join me and over 18,000 others in October Unprocessed 2014!

Recipe: Peanut Butter Raspberry Green Smoothie

Jan13

I have a new favorite smoothie (and it is kid-friendly, too!)

Over the past week, I have tried this recipe with many different additions and variations, but so far this one is my favorite.  My 11-year-old daughter loves it, too!  Here is the recipe:

Raspberry Peanut Butter Green Smoothie

 

INGREDIENTS:

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½ cup apple juice (preferably freshly juiced in a juicer, but store-bought works, too.  Our favorite apple to juice is Gala, but try different types to see what you like best )

½ cup water

¾ cup tightly packed organic greens (I use baby spinach & spring mix, but any greens you like will work)

2 Tablespoons natural peanut butter

1 frozen banana

1 cup frozen raspberries

DIRECTIONS

  1. Blend apple juice, water, and greens in a blender until greens are dissolved.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until completely smooth.

A few notes:

1. It is very important to use frozen raspberries and banana.  If you don’t have frozen, you may want to add a handful of ice.  I have found that you cannot taste the greens at all if the smoothie is very cold.  If you let it get warm, you will begin to taste the greens.

2. You do not need a fancy blender.  Mine is over 12 years old, and is still working just fine.

3.  If you prefer it thicker, use less liquid.  Feel free to play with it and add nuts, seeds, pineapple, different berries, different types of juice or milk in place of the apple juice and water, etc.  I love smoothies because you can play with the recipes and adjust according to your own preferences.

Give it a try, and let me know what you think!  Enjoy  🙂

 

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Peanut Butter Raspberry Green Smoothie

Prep time: 

Total time: 

Ingredients
  • ½ cup apple juice (grape juice or orange juice will also work)
  • ½ cup water
  • ¾ cup tightly packed organic greens (I use baby spinach & spring mix, but any greens you like will work)
  • 2 Tablespoons natural peanut butter
  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1 cup frozen raspberries
Instructions
  1. Blend apple juice, water, and greens in a blender until greens are dissolved.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until completely smooth.
Notes
1. It is very important to use frozen raspberries and banana. If you don't have frozen, you may want to add a handful of ice. I have found that you cannot taste the greens at all if the smoothie is very cold. If you let it get warm, you will begin to taste the greens.

2. You do not need a fancy blender. Mine is over 12 years old, and is still working just fine.

3. If you prefer it thicker, use less liquid. Feel free to play with it and add nuts, seeds, pineapple, different berries, different types of juice or milk in place of the apple juice and water, etc. I love smoothies because you can play with the recipes and adjust according to your own preferences.