Glass Dharma

Before my juicer got packed away ::insert sad face here:: I was making some pretty interesting yummy, and health packed juices/smoothies.

 Juice 1/2 cucumber

peeled orange

red delicious apple

1 parsnip

handful strawberries

+ dairy-free probiotics and pure aloe vera juice

Look at those colors!

Shane is more into straight up fruit juice.

 Juice of 2 oranges + handful strawberries

 Here's a great smoothie combo:

Juice of:

1 parsnip

1 lemon

1/2 cucucmber

1 broccoli stem

 Then put aloe vera juice, probiotic, and frozen berries in  blender.  Add juice and blend away!  The berries mask the strong veggie flavored juice.

But can I let you in on a little secret?

The key to a great tasting smoothie is all in the...

 
straw!

But these are not your average, run of the mill, trash worthy straws.  

 

No, these are far superior straws; from a company by the name of Glass Dharma.

A while back, think Earth Day,  Clean Eating Chelsey had a giveaway sponsored by Glass Dharma.  To qualify you simply had to write a letter (up to 5) to local restaurants and tell them about the benefits of glass straws.  

To be quite honest, as I sat down to write my letter, I just wanted my free straws.  But as I did some research and my brain got working, I tried to imagine just how many straws make it to a landfill each day, week, month, year!  That's a lot of straws!

And then, what about the BPA?  Of course when I bought my water bottle I opted for BPA-free, but think about the chemicals being leached into your drink from the cheap, flimsy, plastic, straws are made from.   

Okay, I'll step off my soap box now.  I'm sure you get the point!  

I now LOVE my new glass straws and can't wait to unpack them when we arrive in New Jersey! Be prepared for more smoothie pictures in the future.  And did I mention they have a life time guarantee?  Yea, pretty cool.

 Go check out Glass Dharma! 

Shoo Shoo Shakin', Sha Shakin' Up

Who remembers Rooney?

Rooney brings me back to the days when The O.C., first season of course, was on.  What happened Marissa....what went so wrong?

I don't know if they ever made any other CD's, but their songs still randomly pop up in my iTunes playlist.  And I get a little happy every time they do.  But besides that, I have nothing to add to the Rooney conversation, so let's switch gears and talk about...

The Shake Weight!!!!

I'm totally just kidding.  Please still be my friend and continue to read.  I promise I will stop being so random...in this post.

Let's for real, talk about smoothies, or shakes, or whatever you'd like to call them!

I'm having a love affair with smoothies for breakfast.

It all started when I had a huge stalk of organic broccoli left over from dinner.  I ate all the florets, but I felt a little guilty tossing the (expensive) stalk out. 

So I juiced it, along with a carrot, 1/2 lemon, and beet.

Ew, extra vegetable-y juice.  But added to a smoothie it was perfection.

Smoothie #1

handful spinach

1 tbsp chia seeds + 1 tbsp flax meal

1 frozen banana

frozen bluberries and rasperries

add juice & blend away!

Smoothie #2 juice items

This produced 10 oz of juice

With the weather warming up, these have been a refreshing, nutrient packed way to start the morning.  Especially after a workout!

However, there are a few downsides.  Make sure to bring a toothbrush and toothpaste with you if your fruit have seeds in them!  Or if you're weird and like to juice extremely bright beets.

And it takes about a 1/2 hour, including veggie prep and washing the juicer and blender.  But that's fine by me!  I'm adjusting my morning routine to fit them in because they're just that great!!

Girl Power

Woops!  Did I say girl power?!  

Now you probably have a Spice Girls song stuck in your head...

 

I meant to say Green Power!!!!!

 It's amazing what a little green juice, green salads, and green apples can do to your life.  In my last post I admitted to my sugar filled week which left me feeling tired, heavy, and unmotivated to work out.


Sunday, I thought, enough is enough!  I'm going grocery shopping and buying enough fruits and veggies to feed a small army!  An army of 2 that is ;)


Would you believe that all this produce, along with 2 containers of hummus came to only $23.52?!  Yes, the power of Vine Ripe people.  And then I went to Henry's for some grains in the bulk bins and spend a whopping $2.27.  And I used my debit card, because who carries cash nowadays?


As you can imagine, a big chunk of my Sunday was spent washing all this produce.

Last week I saw a commercial for a news segment about the disgusting germs found on produce.  I didn't even watch the segment, but it made my skin crawl to actually think about it.  So this week I soaked my veggies in apple cider vinegar water, about 3 TBSP per gallon of water.  


I've noticed so far that it's so convenient to just grab something from the fridge and not have to wash it.  Although it was time consuming on Sunday, it pays off during the week.

Some of my eats:

Monday

Handful dandelion greens, green apple, 1/2 cucumber, 1/2 lemon

cocoa oats with fresh blueberries

Salad with spinach, snap peas, chick peas, sunflower seeds, nooch, evoo + celery and PB

Shane made veggie-ful stir fry!

Tuesday

oats in a jar + 1/2 cup coffee

Salad with spinach, stir-fry, bean sprouts, snap peas, soy sauce, sunflower seeds + celery and hummus

Mediterranean Bulgur and Lentils

Mediterranean Bulgur and Lentils

From Betty Crocker Easy Vegetarian 

1 cup uncooked bulgur wheat (I used cracked wheat)

1/2 cup dried lentils, sorted and rinsed

1 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp sea salt

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 can whole kernel corn, drained ( I used frozen corn)

2 14oz containers veggie broth

2 medium tomatoes, chopped (1 1/2 cups)

1/2 cup drained pitted kalamata olives (I left these out)

1 cup crumbled fetta cheese (4 oz)

1. In a 3 to 4 quart slow cooker, mix all ingredients except tomatoes, olives and cheese.

2. Cover; cook on Low heat setting 3 to 4 hours or until lentils are tender.

3. Stir in tomatoes and olives.  Increase heat setting to High.  Cover; cook 15 minutes longer.  Top with cheese.

This was yummy and easy.  Mine turned out a little mushy, I think because I used cracked wheat instead of the bulgur.  It is a warm and satisfying meal that kept me full!!

I actually made this a while ago, hence the lack of pictures, and froze it.  Last night was the perfect opportunity to heat it up in the microwave and enjoy it all over again!

 Question: Did you have a favorite spice girl?
I loved Ginger Spice!!  She was so cool with her daisy dukes, bright red hair, and sassy attitude!

Juice it UP

I mentioned the other day that I was the lucky recipient of a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer.  

Juicing is an awesome way to get a variety of fruits and veggies into your diet.  Some other benefits include:

*Juicing helps your body to absorb all the nutrients from the veggies.  Think about it, the juicing process sort of pre-digests the veggies, so your body uses less energy trying to get the nutrients.*

*Juicing helps you eat enough servings of veggies.  You can pack quite a few vegetables in a tall glass of juice, rather than try to cram them all in a salad.  And think of how long it takes to eat those veggies, compared to a quick glass of juice.*

*Variety!  Juicing is a fun way to play with different combinations of veggies, using your favorite fruits and veggies to mask the flavor of healthy, yet not so tasty vegetables.*

I am so excited to incorporate juicing into my (almost) daily life.

Ingredients ready!

We're running a little low on produce.  Shane and I don't get paid till the 10th, wah!  So I made due and got ready for my first juice!

The color of the juices are so vibrant as they flow out!

Not so pretty all combined.  But oh so delicious.

We need more counter space!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed using my new juicer.  

There is not really prep for the produce, except for washing since it basically fit.  I just had to rip off leaves of romaine and roll them into a ball.  And I cut the apple in half since it was a little wide.  It's pretty awesome that I could leave the seeds in the apples, and when I use grapes I can leave on the stems!

Washing the juicer took less than 10 minutes, and I'm sure as I get more accustomed to assembling/taking it apart, it will be even quicker.

Although the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer, boasts 30% less pulp, I still had a good amount of pulp in the container, which is a good thing.  No complaints here!  I put it in the fridge and then tossed it with my salads this week for lunch.  No waste!

It's not loud, so I think I could juice in the morning.  After I hit the supermarket and actually have produce to juice, I'll let you know ;)

Quick Shred update.

Monday: Rest- I was so sore from yoga/ Level 2.  

Tuesday: AM- 2 miles on treadmill, made my legs feel so much better and loosened up my muscles  PM- Level 2 Shred

Level 2 is kicking my butt!  In level 1 I didn't really break a sweat.  No more of that.  I get home at 6:30 work out, and was super sweaty when I went to pick up Shane at 7.  Yes, I skipped the cool down, threw on a hoodie and ran out like a hot mess. 

It's almost hump day.  Thank goodness because it has been crazy busy in my classroom this past week!