A Day Full of Vegetables

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing great. It sure was a beautiful day here in Arkansas! The sun was out and shining bright.

This morning I went to our local Farmer's Market and scored on some delicious greens--
Zucchini, Kale, Chard, and Basil!

Leafy greens have so many health benefits! Along with tasting great, they are full of vitamins, minerals, and disease-fighting phytochemicals. It is recommended to eat 5 servings of vegetables a day, including leafy greens. 

Kale is a good source of antioxidants, calcium, potassium, iron, and vitamin K just to name a few. 

Swiss Chard is also a good source of antioxidants, vitamin E, beta carotin, magnesium, potassium, and vitamin K. 

I use the kale in my smoothies on a daily basis. 

The chard I use on sandwiches or use as a "lettuce" wrap.  It has a delicious earthy taste. 

For dinner, my husband and I cut up all of our veggies: We had squash, eggplant, zucchini, and beets. They tasted amazing hot off the grill. 

Fresh vegetables are so quick and easy to prepare. If you do not have time to fire up the grill, they taste amazing cooked in a skillet. We sprinkled some Olive Oil, Turmeric, and Bragg's Organic Sprinkle on top.

To go on top of the vegetables, I made a raw zucchini dip. It consisted of zucchini, fresh basil, and a handful of walnuts. Throw all of it in the food processor and voila! This was delicious. It would make a perfect dip! 

You can use red pepper, carrots, or whatever with a good crunch to eat with the dip. Aren't those baby carrots so cute? I got them at the Market today as well. 

Until next time, have a blessed day!! Oh and go eat your GREENS! :) Your body and mind will thank you!

JP

Homemade Almond Milk

Hello everyone! I hope you each are having a great day so far! My day started with a great 5am session at the gym!

I do not know about you, but at my household we go through at least 6 liters (approximately 1.5 gallons) of Organic Almond Milk a week. My husband and I have decided to make our own because we know it only contains almonds, no added chemicals and ingredients.

This was our first time to make some.

Things you will need:

-A bowl or pitcher
-Ultra Fine cheesecloth (I got mine from Amazon)
-Blender (we use a Vitamix)



Ingredients:

-1 cup raw almonds (soaked overnight for at least 8 hours)
-4 cups water
-1 teaspoon vanilla


Steps:

1.Soak the almonds overnight
2. Rinse almonds until water runs clear.
3. Add almonds and water to blender
4. Blend for about 2 minutes
5. Pour through cheesecloth into container
6. Squeeze cheesecloth till no more liquid comes out
7. Add vanilla
8. Refrigerate

This milk will last for 3 days in the refrigerator, if you do not drink it all before then! :)

Creamy Goodness

There you go, it is that simple! You just made homemade almond milk.


Until next time, I hope you have a blessed day!
JP

Day 3 of Cleanse Complete!

Hello everyone! I hope each of you are having a great day! If you do not know all ready, I started a juice cleanse 3 days ago. I just completed my last day with my dessert drink!

Before I started this process, I was pretty nervous I would be hungry all the time! To my surprise, I was not hungry at all. Seriously, the juices, water, and herbal tea kept me full!

While going through a cleanse you are helping get rid of the toxins and impurities in your body. There are some potential side effects such as headaches, fatigue, stomach cramps, and hunger. Increasing your water intake, during the process, helps keep these at bay. On the morning of my second day, I woke up with a slight headache. Thankfully, after I consumed my breakfast juice I was good as new.

My body feels lighter, healthier, and just happier! My skin is even brighter. :)

I have been asked by different people if this was worth it and if I could tell a big difference. My answer is YES! You will just have to go and try it for yourself now. You will see!

My last dinner and dessert!

Dinner is served "Green Supreme" 

The most delicious "Vanilla Cloud"

The "Vanilla Cloud" is simply divine. I LOVE almond milk and at my house we go through it like crazy. We are actually going to start making our own tomorrow. I can't wait! The almond milk combined with the nutmeg and cinnamon hits your taste-buds just right and makes them go "ahhhhhhhh." It reminds me of Christmas for some reason; another reason I love it!

So if you are interested in doing a cleanse, go for it! Your body will thank you!

Until next time, I hope you have a blessed day!
JP

Day 1 Cleanse Complete

Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a great day! I was up super late last night making sure the severe weather did not come into our area. Thankfully it did not, but others were not as fortunate and my thoughts and prayers are with them. Hopefully the southern plains will not have to experience very much more (fingers crossed). 

Today was the first day of my cleanse. I woke up and drank some warm water with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to get started. About 30 minutes later I was ready for my "Glow" juice. It contains green apple, cucumber, celery, collard greens, spinach, kale and spearmint. This one was pretty good!

Breakfast

Before I headed to the gym, I had my mid-morning "Fuel" juice containing carrot, apple, pineapple, orange, lemon and tumeric. The carrot and pineapple really popped in this one. Carrot juice is my FAVORITE and I could drink it everyday. My husband calls it my "Carrot Dirt", hence where I got the name for my blog :)

Photo by JP

When I got back from the gym, I drank my "Purify" lunch juice containing carrot, apple, celery, cucumber, lemon and beet. 

Lunch

My mid-afternoon juice"Fiji" contained apple, celery, cucumber, spinach, kale, collard greens, lemon and ginger. The cucumber was strong in this one so I enjoyed it very much! On this cleanse you can incorporate fresh organic fruits and veggies as well. Since I had a good workout this morning, I ate a fresh red apple along with this juice. 

Afternoon Snack

Last but not least, dinner, I had my "Green Supreme" juice containing kale, green apple and lemon followed by the "Vanilla Cloud" dessert. I will have to admit "Green Supreme" was hard to drink. It's not that it was necessarily unpleasant tasting it is just that the kale/lemon was overpowering. Add to that, I was not very hungry to begin with and was really craving something with actual texture. In order to get some texture to compliment this juice, I ate some honeydew melon, strawberries, and cherries. 

Photo by JP: Dinner & Dessert

Dinner

The "Vanilla Cloud" dessert is out of this world! It is absolutely delicious! It contains almond milk, coconut milk, vanilla bean, honey, filtered water, nutmeg and cinnamon. Yum yum!!!! 

Dessert

All in all, day one was fairly easy! I am sure tomorrow will be a little more tough. I am going to incorporate some fresh vegetables tomorrow. I will keep y'all updated! 

Have a great night everyone!!

JP