Hump Day and Hippie Pizza!

Oh man, my body was sure feeling hump day this morning, thank goodness for super juice! Take a peek at my fun fridge It’s probably one of my most decorated areas at the moment because magnets are small, easy to save, and send

Work was a bit crazy today, or maybe it was just me. It was Wild Wednesday after all, hence the orange polo (and the crazy knee socks you can’t see). Whenever it gets cloudy down here in the south, I swear people come out of the woodwork. I was spilling things left and right to top it off.

PTL for Green Monsters!! I also made another Rocket Maca Shake around lunchtime, but I had to stay late at work so that got slurped up in a rush before I could even find my camera.

Besides, you know what shakes look like by now, a bunch of stuff mucked up together that end up in some funky color. YOU ALL appreciate it, my co-workers just go, “what is it that you are drinking…..”

NUM NUM for delicious summer fruits!!! Some beautiful red plums may have disappeared from this container before photo was taken…..darg gone munchies.

Today was a catch up day on the homefront since I was gone from dawn til dusk yesterday. I juiced, did laundry, swept up a bit, etc. I decided it was time to do another deep clean on my juicer by soaking the filter in lemon juice. Mr. Brutus works hard to produce me such deliciousnesss!

Then I set to work on dinner. I adapted the following recipes out of Thrive by Brendan Brazier-which is an awesome book full of some very good information.

Quinoa and Pink Eye Pea Pizza Crust-

Here is the raw crust that was blended all together in my food processor. I got to use my pink eyed peas from the farmers market!

    

• 4 cloves garlic (if you like garlic, use less if you don’t)
• 1 cup cooked pink eye peas (or sprouted to make raw) you can sub black eye
• 1 cup cooked or sprouted quinoa
• 1/2 c chickpea flour
• s+p to taste
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4c hemp oil
• (if you like it spicy, add 1/2 tsp cayenne and 1tsp chili flakes)

Sundried Tomato Marina-

Process everything together in a food processor or blender:

• 1c sundried tomatoes, soaked for 20mins
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1c chopped tomatoes
• 1/2c grated cucumber
• 2T hemp oil
• 1T flax oil
• 1T balsamic vinegar
• 1T italian seasonings
• sea salt to taste
• 1c water

Topping-

• 1/2 sliced red bell pepper
• 1/2 diced onion
• 1/2 grated sweet potato
• 1 grated med beet
• 1c cauliflower florets
• italian seasoning
• if you like spice, add some chili flakes

Here it is out of the oven. I cooked it at 325 for about 40mins…cooking time will vary depending on moisture from veggies, crust, and how crispy you want it. I was actually pleasantly surprised. I’m sure the marinara would have been better had I not screwed up the recipe but it was still very flavorful! The veggies, despite the odd combination, was quite good and made up for any lack of cheese though I found myself kind of wishing there was at least a sprinkle of feta. I think I might try adding nutritional yeast to the sauce next time. The crust was very good, thick, crispy, yet still doughy enough. Yeah, it wasn’t the usual light and fluff pizza crust, but I wasn’t expecting that. It was very filling and very nutritious, and I don’t think you could ever find a personal pizza THAT BIG and get that much good nutrition out of it at the same time! I’ll definitely be experimenting with this again!

Don’t forget, you only have two day left to tell me what Navita’s Natural’s product you want in my giveaway! Also, they are offering a 25% off discount until August 27th!!

Get some Power! Cheap Chia and Navita Natural Giveaway!!

Hopefully you have been able to check out my product review on the awesome Navita Natural Products I’ve been able to try-they have a very extensive line and so far I’ve been very impressed with everything I’ve had so far.

They are an incredibly generous company, and are offering all Faith in Food readers a 25% off coupon to use between 7/27 and 8/27! How awesome is that!  That means you could get yourself some chia power for only $4.50, and those will last you!  Check out there extensive line of a lot of other amazing superfoods as well that might not be available nearby.

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I think I’m going to get me some of their other Twister Power smoothie mixes, they are buy one get one free right now…anyone want to go in with me???

THE GIVEAWAY!!!

1)Leave a comment telling me which product you would like to try and why.

2) For a second entry, post a link to back to my blog/giveaway or add me to your blogroll!! Share the wealth, this is a great deal!

The winner will receive product of their choice, courtesy of me! I was so blessed to receive such wonderful products, I am going to personally pay it forward! My weekly tips are being saved as we speak, cause I love ya’ll just that much!

The winner will be announced on Friday, July 31st.

Watchout Wilmington!

Sorry for the delay in posting, I was too busy at the beach!! Phew, I know it was supposed to be vacation, and yes I did relax, but having fun can be a bit exhausting too!! This trip sure did bring back that joyfulness in my tummy and full appreciation for all of God’s beauty in every little small thing. It was in everything! I just kept thanking Him over and over again, He is so good!!

We left headed out mid-afternoon on Saturday, so I had plenty of time to start off my morning with some Psalms and supserseed juice! Perfect way to start the day! It’s so nice to not have to gulp it down while running around making coffee.

Breakfast was per usual, a green monster with lots of spinach, almond milk, dash of the berry, and Mr. Jay Robb!

When my mom got up, I made her some freshly juiced OJ, she was in heaven! I think she may be now shopping for her own juicer upon returning home! She loved the froth on top, num num!

We bustled around all morning, packing, getting the car packed, and of course I had to pack all my snacks, I’m only slightly high maintenance I made a shake for the road:

I am loving this new cup! It has a little place in the middle where I can put an ice stick and it kept it nice and cool until I ended up drinking it mid afternoon. Plus it’s big enough to hold my entire shake! DELICIOUS!

• 1c almond milk
• pkg of Amazing Meal pom mango
• 1/2 banana+bit of mango
• Acai Powder

The car trip to Wilmington went by pretty quick. My mom is dying in the heat. There were lots of people headed out for the weekend, but it was the easiest place to find yet in NC, as all you had to do was head straight on I-40 until you hit the water We were a little early for check-in so we drove around a bit to check out our surroundings and found a cute natural co-op where my mom got lunch and I found some great new raw bars to try!

After checking in, we went off to see some sites, be obnoxious tourists and get our game on! Wilmington is very cute, has great historic houses, architecture, and fun little shops!

Mid afternoon I snacked on one of my new bars, completely raw. This one was ok, sort of like a chewy fruit leather with seeds, it made my mouth feel funny. I wouldn’t buy it again, but I have two other flavors to try. I also ate a good batch of cantaloupe that disappeared before photoing.

For dinner we were recommended to go to Elijah’s, a seafood place right on the river. It was great. We ate right on the boardwalk, watched the sunset, and I tried some crazy new seafood, it was delicious! I started with a big ol’ salad because by this point I was “hangry.”

We ordered the Carolina Steam Bucket, and they first brought out our “tools” I was somewhat intimidated and wondering if I might end up at the ER before the meal was over.

This was our bucket! It was steamed with corn, new potatoes, mussels, oysters, clams, shrimp, crab, and sausage.

Here was my plate, I tried a little of everything except corn and sausage because my tummy can’t handle those.

My first attempt at hacking into a shellfish, pardon me for breaking apart your home mr. oyster!

SUCCESS!!!

This meal was amazing! The shellfish were delicious, perfectly steamed, and didn’t even need any of the dipping sauces they brought. I didn’t really like the crab, way too much work for nothing, and definitely not a date food. I also wasn’t a big fan of the shrimp, but man, do I like oysters and mussels! (Maybe they’ll help me get bigger muscles!

After dinner we walked down the boardwalk, stopping for some more photo-ops! That’s the USS Carolina, it’s haunted..MUUAAAAH!

We watched the sunset!

Then it was time for the Ghost Walk! This was a lot of fun, Wilmington is one of the most haunted towns in the USA and they have over 28 stories to tell. We got five of them on our walk.

Below is the courthouse that you may recognize from Matlock, it is haunted as well so watch out Mr. Matlock! They also have a pub crawl ghost tour, I may go on that one next time

By the time this was over we were tuckered out and I was sore from all the walking. I made a quick shake for a snack before bed and got some shut eye. Stay tuned for part 2!

Mix it up!

Lately I’ve been waking up before my alarm even goes off and that says a lot seeing it’s 4:20am. Honestly, I think it’s just nature calling. I confess, despite the fact that I work at a coffee shop, most mornings I would stumble out of bed and make *gasp* instant coffee. Then, I noticed how it would stain my counter and not come off, goodness knows what it was doing to my insides. So, I now practice patience and put on the tea kettle while I shower and make a french press.

Nummers, I sip on it while I prepare my juice, green monster, and lunch, though I seldom am ever able to finish a cup before I run out of the house. If you truly want to taste a coffee though, french press is the way to go.

I was too tired by the time I got home last night to bust out Brutus (my juicer) so I only had a little bit left. Thus I grabbed an emergency back up to try Mix 1 has new vegetable/fruit juice mixes out that have a bit of fiber and protein in them as well. This was the berry blend one and it wasn’t too bad. It mixed quite well with the little juice I had left and my super seed powder, and although there was some stuff I couldn’t pronounce on the lable, I was put at ease after going to the website. HOLY MOLY! I have never seen anything so interactive and a company so willing to tear apart their nutrition label and explain it to you. I really like that its soy, gluten, and lactose free which is so hard to find in any commercial smoothie these days. I have tried these once or twice before when they first came out, but never the juice ones. If I’m in a pinch I think I would get one again. I wonder what the carrot/orange is like….

Lunch was a layered salad with leftover broccoli slaw, bean sprouts and some pineapple with that thai curry dressing I made last week. Packed up and ready to go:

Work was the usual. Boss was stressed about a meeting ,the kids were left alone to run the store, I soupled up my green monster which was actually quite purple, guess I went a little strong on the blueberries this morning Still tasty!!!

Before leaving, I chomped on my salad. WOOHEE! That dressing must have absobed some curriness in the fridge. Due to the stress, I have some cold sores, so this was a bit too spicy now, but I ate it anyway :p

For dinner, since it’s hot out, I made another salad. I had made a fresh batch of juice and Brutus was still out so I decided to juice me some dressing. I put some strawberries and a lemon through, then mixed it with a dash of flax oil for some healthy fats and omega’s! The strawberries were so sweet and the lemon gave it the perfect zing! You could do this in a blender too, it would just be seedy.

Roasted Asparagus Sunshine Salad

• Mixed greens
• Asparagus
• Cucumber diced
• I added some beet pulp, but you could just julien a beet or whatever veggies suit your fancy
• bit of shaved raw cheese or your cheese of choice!
• Fresh juiced strawberry zing dressing (mentioned above)
• 2 eggs, poached

Place greens in bowl. Roast asaparagus in oven or on grill. (I lightly sprtized them with olive oil, salt, and pepper.) Poach eggs, if I did this again I would make them runny in the middle. Layer all ingredients in bowl, drizzle with dressing, enjoy!

The salad was okay. I would have liked it if I had a real poacher and not a microwave one so I could have made the eggs a bit overeasy. Plus my dang cold sores keep getting in the way, oh well. Also, I really wanted big crunchy asaparagus, and the store had sad thin sticks. Oh well, I’m fed, thankful, and I’ll take it!

I’m so sorry for the lame pictures, hoping to get a camera eventually that is decent :p

Have a blessed evening everyone, get ready for a mantra tomorrow!

Destress with Juice!

Happy 4th of July! I know most people out there are making flags out of food and red and blue sprtizers, but due to the great amount of stress I have been under, and sometimes even random holidays will bring about stress to some, I had to take a day to practice some self care, and that included some juicy mocktails that are specifically formulated to help your body deal with stress!  Most of my research came from a great book, Juicing with Life which I highly recommend to anyone serious about juicing because it covers all ailments from A-Z.

I busted out the Breville, and let me tell you, I love my Brutus (that’s what I have named him) dearly. He has yet to fail me. This was the first time I have juiced any greens, and I felt stress relief just pushing all the fruits and veggies through!! It makes a nice calm whirring noise, is easy to clean, and makes instant, refrshing healthful juices. Seriously, if you can’t bust out a couple hundred for a Champion juicer, the Breville is a great way to go!

My first juice was the Super Eight Stress Reliever-

• 1 kale leaf
• 1 collard leaf
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 carrot
• red pepper
• 1 tomato
• (it also calls for broccoli and parsley but I didn’t have those)

I have to admit I was a bit stressed at having to taste this, I’m honestly not a big fan of veggie juices (SACRILEGE!) Actually, I was quite surprised and it grew on me. I think I might add an apple next time, or some of the later made canteloupe juice because I’m just a sweet gal, but it was all in all pretty tasty, better than V8.

The endeavor was the Spicy Canteloupe Shake-

• 1/4 inch ginger root
• 1/2 cantaloupe, with skin

This too, caused a moment of stress as I didn’t know of Brutus could handle the canteloupe with the skin, but oh yes, he can and he put out some delicious juice! This was very tasty, and definitely had zing! It kept my tummy humming for an hour or so afterwards :p

The last one I made was the Strawberry Shake-

• Juice: 1 pint strawberries
• 1 firm pear
• Pour juice in blender and blend with 1 banana
• 1 T brewers yeast (found in your health section)-don’t mistake with yeast you use for bread

I snagged a bit of the fresh juice before blending and that was amazing! The shake was pretty good, I’ll admit it, anything with shake in the title is usually a winner with me. I could definitely taste the yeast, gave it that “healthy” vibe, but I would drink and make this again, especially if it will help me destress.

Great Vitamins found in Brewers Yeast:

• Folic acid
• B12
• Potassium
• Thiamin
• Niacin
• Chromium

It is low in calories, fat, and carbohydrates, even has some protein! Brewer’s Yeast has been a great natural way to treat a number of ailments ranging from anemia, STRESS, high cholesterol, constipation, and eczema.

**Note: When reseraching this I saw that people allergic to Penicillin should be wary of this…I’m very allergic, so I’m hoping I won’t react and will let you know, I will also be making a call to a fellow naturopath…YIKES!

All in all these gave me a lot of energy throughout the day and I got a lot accomplished without any mental breakdown. My car even died again, found out I had to get a new battery, but God provided once again! The man I asked for help just happened to be a mechanic, and not only did he jumpstart me, but then followed me to the auto store, had them test my battery, helped me get a new one, PUT IT IN FOR ME, and replaced my break fluid. How generous is that?? He also told me a few other things so I got his number so I could take it to him later. Thank you God for protecting and providing again and for such a compassionate human being!!

Another Amazing Giveaway!!

I have joined Polly in reading a Psalm each day so I am trying to take my verse from the one I’m reading…feel free to join us as well, July is Psaml 30-60!!!

The poor man called and the Lord heard him; he save him out of all his troubles. The angle of the Lord encamps around thos who fear him, and He delivers them. -Psalm 34:6-7

We are sturdy beings. But in many ways, we are frage. We can accept change and loss, but this comes at our own pace and in our own way. And only we and God can determine the timing. -Codependent No More

Butta’ and Blessings

First off I apologize for a day’s absence, there have been some crazy things going on, but more on that later. Today, I thought I would do a product review as I have had some delicous butta’s hanging around my house and apples calling their name! Also, natural nut butters are another great way to get a healthy fat into your diet, especially if you’re wanting a sweet treat!

The Butter Lineup:

MaraNatha Raw Almond Butter

This was delicious! If you don’t have time to make your own, I would definitely grab a jar of this to keep as a back up! It had a great texture, was easy to mix, dash of sweetness and easy to spread. It was great on my apple and wonderful on my snacky later. Plus the ingredients list are simple and you can pronounce everything: 100% raw organic almonds. Also, rumor has it you can now find this in bulk at costco!

MaraNatha Natural Cashew Buter

A very tasty treat and something different if you’re sick of almonds. The cashew taste really stood out! I see a lot of this in my future. The only thing they add is safflower oil, so not bad at all. Plus, it would be great to make peanut sauces with!

Barney Crunch Almond Butter

Barney took blogs by storm a couple months ago and I really like the crunchy kind, because it has big ol’ chunks of almond. If I needed a very sweet treat with some good capn’ crunch, this would be it. It does has some evaporated cane juice in it and palm fruit oil, but hey, you only live life once.

Artisana Coconut Butter:

Wow, can we just say dessert on a knife! Coconuts have such a misunderstood wrap and it’s so sad. This stuff is raw, amazing, delicous, tantalizing, holy moly, put the jar away before I eat the entire thing (must do serving sizes :p ) They use actual raw coconut meat and is so delicious I would also even use this as straight frosting! I used it in my tropical chia pudding awhile back and mmmmm!!! You can get it online and I’ve seen it at Wholefoods.

So for my snack I decided to have the raw almond butter with berries and drizzle the coconut butter on top. It was better than any ol’ pb+j I’ve had in my entire life!!!

So my stress level has been at an all time high lately and sometimes life just gets you in a rut.  This past year has been full of changes, big ones. But somehow, the past, that I’ve been trying so hard to improve keeps creeping back up with little reminders. It’s silly though, how little things can get us down. For example, today I wanted to get a new cell phone and contract but it demanded a deposit more than I can afford. I know I’ve chosen to work a minimum wage job in order to follow my passions, but I’ve always paid my bills on time. Well you know what? PEANUTS! I have a cell phone and I am thankful! So what if it’s not all fancy!

This morning at 4am, my car decided not to start and I freaked out because I wasn’t going to be able to get to work on time. I’m franitcally chasing down the one car I see go through our parking lot who speeds away (you probalby would too if someone in all black was chasing you that early). Thankfully, a kind coworker got out of bed and came and picked me up!! How kind is that! On top of that, one of my customers who works at a dealership sent out one of his workers later to not only pick me up, but help me with my car. THANK YOU LORD AND DAVID!!!

Everytime I start to mumble grumble, get frustrated with how behind I am, how I still have to scrape by to make ends meet, I have to take a step back, remember how far I’ve come, make sure I’m taking care of my self, get some extra sleep, and mainly, THANK JESUS! In truth, I really have a lot!! It may not be material, it may be forever until I see extra money in my bank account come the end of the month, but I know my account with the Lord will always be full!

and from today’s Psalm reading!! “We wait in home for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoic, for we trust in his holy name. “-Psalm 33:20

Introducing “DAFT” and the Amazing Avocado

Okay, so I know this might be kind of long, but stick with me, it all comes together in the end!

There have been numerous diet trends over the years: Atkins, aka low carb, the zone, reduced calorie, and out of them all sprouted a plethora of grocery items to meet the needs of consumers, that a few months later after the craze passed we found on the discount shelves (also partly because many tasted like cardboard). Among the most infamous, that has continued to stick around, is “fat free.”

FAT is such a powerful word in our culture and has so many negative associations and connotations to it, it’s frightening. Yes, there is an obesity epidemic in America, but at the same time, there are many other permaters to the word. At the other extreme, the vast amount of negative self-esteem it causes both men and women, due to the associations, is tremendous and leads to disordered eating.

On a completely different spectrum, despite what media has led people to believe, our bodies NEED FAT (in moderation of course)!

The importance of fat in our diets:

• most concentrated form of energy
• lowers risk of heart disease
• we need essential fatty acids such as omega 3 and 6
• cushions organs
• needed to absorb water soluble vitams A, S, E, and K
• helps with satiation and prevents cravings
• needed for cell membranes, nerve fibers, and feeds your brain!
• helps produce endorphins
• gives you beautiful skin and hair
• makes food nummy!

DAFT: A silly, sarcastic, yet educational phenomenon

This is where DAFT comes in.  The Webster’s dictionary defines “daft” as:

1 a : silly, foolish b : mad, insane

The next time your friend says she can’t eat something because it has too much fat in it, or they need to go fat free, blah blah blah, tell them they are DAFT. DAFT is “fat” mixed up with a “d” sneakily put in front of it standing for “dumb.” However, you’re not outright calling your friend dumb and you now have a leeway into explaining to them the importance of fat in their diet and how beautiful their skin and hair can become, not to mention the fact that they are beautiful nonetheless!

Example conversation:

Girl 1: I wish I could eat all that guacomole, but avocados have so much fat in them.

My usual reaction because I get so fed up and wake up too early: Will you shut up? That’s retarded and dumb.

My reaction now that I am happily munching delicous satiating wonderful guac!: Girl, you’re DAFT.

Girl 1? DAFT?

Me: Yeah, it’s my new word for people that don’t realize how good healthy fats are for them. Avocados are wonderful for you, and plus, you need to learn to just accept one thing about yourself each day. Love you, don’t let society define you!!

THE AMAZING AVOCADO

It is important to try to eat healthy monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats vs. trans fats. Good sources of healthy fats include: olive and other plant oils, fish, nuts, and the AMAZING AVOCADO!!

from www.whfoods.com

I grew up eating avocados and guacomole so have always loved them and pity the person that has not developed a taste for this amazing fruit. Since trying to eat more raw, I have been happily incorporating even more of these into my diet. Now, I have always known these to be a bit higher on the fat side, but going raw, and now after studying the abundance of other benefits the avocado has to offer, some days I find myself downing about 2-3 of these bad boys!

The avocado is one of those healthy fats that I would be DAFT not to happily enjoy without any guilt whatsoever.  It has more potassium than a medium banana, is high in oleic acid that is shown to prevent breast cancer, and also helps you absorb the nutrients of your other veggies!! So add it to your salads! This little gem also has a ton of Vitamin B, K, and fiber!

Here is a little nutritional profile from www.whfoods.com:

GUACOPULPE

Avocados are very versatile so be creative when it comes to recipes, they add flavor, texture, creaminess, num! I made a fresh batch of juice today and wanted to try out Gena’s idea of adding my pulp to my guac since I don’t have a dehydrator and I hate throwing it away (Dear Excalibur…) This actually came out wonderful! I grabbed a handful of my beet, carrot, apple and celery pulp, mixed it with some garlic, 2 avocados, lemon juice, s+p, and then decided to add a fresh mango for some zing, and I ended up with a meaty, delicious, very healthy, guacomole!!!! I could happily have a hearty portion, guilt free, knowing every ounce of it was doing wonderful things for my body! Nothing DAFT about it!

ETA: So it seems like Fat talk is all around today and Jenna of ELR wrote about it too!! I swear I had written this already, but give her’s a check out as well!

It is confidence in our bodies, minds and spirits that allows us to keep looking for new adventures, new directions to grow in, and new lessons to learn – which is what life is all about.

-Oprah Winfrey

Thank you for your wonderful, and intricate creation Lord!

“Boutiful”…spreading the message one cup at a time!

Being authentic, loving yourself, accepting you for who you are and what you are, I advocate for it all. I hate how society is continuing to send us negative and contradictory messages on top of holding a double standard with women. Caitlin, from Healthy Tipping Point has started a powerful movement to end fat talk called Operation Beautiful which has caught on so much it now even has it’s own site!

I started off by taking part in this movement by writing random notes on coffee cups and passed them out to women at work. (Some cups got “boutiful” since it’s Caribou.)  Some messages were written on the cup, some on the lid. I’m not sure how many people saw them, though I did see a few notice. Regardless, I hope it empowered them at least for the day.

Remember tonight is your last chance to enter to win the Trader Joe Giveaway!