Gotta try this!

Not sure what to do with fresh veg juice pulp? Mix it with fresh hummus for an amazing meal! #juiceon @joethejuicer twitter.com/RobTrains/stat…
— Rob Moore Fitness (@RobTrains) April 4, 2013

Easy Kale and Quinoa Salad with Mustard Dressing

I was inspired by the sweet meghanlivingstone to make this kale and quinoa salad... and. I'm. obsessed. So, in hopes of paying it forward with inspiration, I'm going to share my version of her recipe here! (Click here to watch Meghan's video.)

Ingredients:

Salad
-Kale
-Olive oil
-Quinoa
-Apples

Dressing
-Mustard (your favorite kind!)
-Olive Oil
-Apple Cider Vinegar


Just tear up some kale and massage with a little olive oil. Then add some quinoa (I like to add it warm)... and put some cut up apples on top! Drizzle with the dressing and viola! Super delicious and super easy. The dressing is just mustard, olive oil and apple cider vinegar. I use about equal parts olive oil and mustard and a few dashes of vinegar... just smell it to make sure one doesn't overpower the other. I posted this on Facebook and many people suggested adding bacon, so if you are a bacon lover, that sounds like a good tip!

Let me know if you make it, and enjoy!

 

What is Kale?

What is Quinoa?

Tips for buying good olive oil.  

Serve God, Save the Planet by J. Matthew Sleeth

It's not often that one finds Environmentalists and Christians in the same settings. I know this because I've spent a lot of time in both groups. Stereotypically, with environmentalists, you'll find plenty of atheists, Buddhists, Pantheists, and even Unitarians. Christians are scarce.

Since I was a child, I have always had a natural inclination to be worried about chemicals and care for the environment. One of my earliest memories comes from doing childhood chores. I'd dust the house, clean the bathrooms or clean my room with a fear of getting chemicals on me while cleaning. I'll have to ask my mom, but I think at one point in time, I insisted on wearing a mask while cleaning...

The older I get and the more I learn, I realize that maybe these fears weren't completely irrational.

juicing queen

Celery, lemon, red onion, cucumber, tomatoes,
carrots, green pepper and spinach.

In my quest to continue to eat what God put on this Earth for me, I got a juicer.

warning: I may become a health freak...

... this juicing thing, is amazing.

Last night I made my first juice: apple pear. So delicious! 2 apples, 2 pears. yum. Then, I decided to juice 2 peaches and drink those as well! I was feeling pretty full after all that fresh fruit juice! It really was the best tasting juice I've ever had. I'd say my Dad's fresh squeezed orange juice is a close second ;)

Tonight, I bought us some organic veggies. The idea was to make a salad for dinner and use the same veggies to make a juice. So far, I just made a juice. I haven't felt hungry for dinner yet! (Kev and I did have some organic cheese and crackers for a snack---but that's not unusual,  and I am normally still starving at this time of night). So, apparently when you eat healthy, you also don't starve!  I guess organic, natural, God-made nutrients really do nourish! Who would have thought?!

The verdict: This juice didn't taste great, but it's definitely did NOT taste bad. I think it's an acquired taste that comes with the desire to be healthy.

Cheers!

hr@emicmg.com

Homemade Peace Shampoo

Shampoo is a weird word. And all you have to do is turn a bottle of shampoo around to find more very weird words. Words you have never heard... words that are, in fact, chemicals...... words that have been linked......... to cancer. Words that we put on our heads, scalps, and skin every morning.

Once I "grew up" and realized I never really did learn what those words on the back of the shampoo bottle mean, I knew something was wrong. I mean.... seriously... I spent 15+ years reading those shampoo bottles while sitting on the toilet (I'm sorry, but when else do you ever read the back of the shampoo bottle?!) never knowing what those big long words meant. Why on earth would I want to put them on my head, daily?

I finally started to make my own shampoo and conditioner this weekend. I also used part of the recipes to make mouthwash as well. In [what seems to be] a never ending quest to rid myself from all man-made chemicals/toxins, I'm trying to "green" my home with organic food, beauty products, and cleaning supplies.

So tonight, after sweating a good 4 miles at the gym, I put my homemade shampoo and conditioner to the test.

It was the most peaceful, relaxing and refreshing shower I have ever had.

I inhaled the calming scents of rosemary and lavender. I was rejuvenated by the refreshing peppermint. I feel clean, refreshed and healthy. We'll see how my hair looks in the morning, but I think I'm finally getting the hang of this "healthy" thing.

☮ & ♥

(Recipes and pictures coming tomorrow....) Edit: I am not completely satisfied with my homemade shampoo, I'm working on tweaking the recipe and will get back to posting it when I'm happier with the results! My hair is almost too clean with this shampoo.

food rant

Apparently everything causes cancer these days (click here to read about how caramel color found in pop can kill you). This shouldn’t be a huge surprise to the world since almost everyone is GETTING cancer these days. Are we going to just kill ourselves off as a species? Or will people start to give a damn about what they eat and drink? When will we stop exposing ourselves to so many toxins?

I don’t think I’m a very paranoid person; I’m not very OCD about anything. But reading something new everyday about how what I’ve been eating and drinking for the past 26 years is going to kill me, well that’s just depressing.

Recently, California added caramel coloring to its list of "chemicals known to the state to cause cancer," noting that "levels above 16 micrograms per day pose a significant risk." (See a pdf of the list here.) A can of cola contains 130 micrograms—a little less than ten times the daily allotment—says CSPI.

I’m getting to the point where I don’t want to eat anything anymore. I feel like my only option is to move to a farm and grow my own food or just submit to society and eat the crap the government says is ok. Cincinnati needs to catch up with cities like San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, etc. We need more healthy options and more locally grown produce stores (not just in the summer at the farmer’s market). We need options year round. Until then, I’ll be shopping at Trader Joes, eating as many organic whole foods as I can get my hands on.

Seriously though, I’m tried of reading about how everything we ingest is going to kill us. Maybe I should read less! (yeah...riiiight).

Green Living Lesson: Soy Candle Making

I have a growing list of things I'd like to try to make homemade, or as homemade as possible. I keep reading more and more information on how bad standard candles are for your environment. I guess the smoke releases cancer causing agents. awesome. So, I've been wanting to "phase out" all of my standard candles (I have quite a few) and bring in soy and beeswax candles that are scented with essential oils (the safer candle). I bought a soy wax/essential oil candle at the grocery store, and while it cost a little more than standard, it seems to burn slower as well. So far, so good. 

I also decided it would be fun to try to make my own soy candle. I made my way to Michaels for this first experiment. I probably won't by more supplies from there--they are much cheaper elsewhere on the internet. Anyway, I bought candle making supplies and headed home to my kitchen to make my first candle since I was a kid at Camp Kern. In my ongoing effort to be more green, I plan to order bulk quantities of soy wax and essential oils and being making all my candles at home. They only problem is, the wax I bought at Michaels burns really quickly, so hopefully I can find a kind that burns a bit slower.

The process is easy and can be done in your kitchen:

Supplies: Soy Wax, color dye cubes, essential oil scent, thermometer, candle jar, wick, and chopstick to hold wick in place.

 

Step one: Pour 6oz of soy wax into microwavable bowl and microwave for 1-3 minutes watching carefully to make sure the wax does not burn. (use oven mits when taking the bowl out of the microwave, the wax heats to nearly 170 degrees).

Step two: wrap the end of the wick around the chopstick and place into the candle jar like the above below.

 

Step three: after the wax is melted at flakes of color to color your candle (wax will be clear when fully melted).

Step four: add the essential oil. I used a vanilla pomegranate oil and love the scent. I put in half the bottle. Step five: allow the wax to cool to about 140 degrees.

 

Step six: pour the wax into the jar keeping the wick centered.

 

Step seven: allow to cool for 4-6 hours. Then trip wick to a 1/4".

 

ta-da!

 

This candle was very fun to make and the whole process minus cooling time took less than 20 mintues. I think I'll make another one very soon! 

Forks Over Knives

I will definitely be going to see this...

Forks Over Knives asserts that diseases like diabetes, hypertension and cancer can be treated—even reversed—through a whole-foods, plant-based diet. The film follows a group of individuals, including the film’s director Lee Fulkerson, as they undergo radical diet changes to combat high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease.

Happy Earth Day

I love Earth Day. While I try to be Earth friendly all year round, it’s not a bad idea to celebrate it every once in a while! I like being Earth friendly for all the obvious reasons…but one of the best reasons is the peace it brings. I’ll risk sounding like a complete hippy on this one, but when I am more aware of the impact I am making (and not making) on the Earth, I feel more peace--here on Earth. It reminds me that my time on Earth is part of a bigger picture and if I can make my impact insignificant--it makes all the small "earthly" problems insignificant. I know that line of reasoning might not make sense, but it’s a one with the Earth, one with the Universe, one with God kind of thing. Being aware of a few simple things makes life on Earth a lot more peaceful, and who wouldn’t want that?

Some things I do daily are:

-Use reusable shopping bags. (and if I forget, make sure to recycle the paper or plastic ones I have to get). Check out ChicoBag's website for some bag facts.

-Skip the paper products. I don’t buy napkins, paper plates or anything that would get thrown away. I don’t use plastic wrap or foil, just reusable containers. Yes, I do end up using water to wash my reusable goods, but I’m pretty sure they use water at the paper plate making plants, as well as fuel to ship the products etc.

-Use as little electricity as possible. Obviously this one benefits my bank account as well, but I try to use low lighting and don’t turn on lights until I am basically sitting in the dark.

-Buy organic. I think this is a very important one, mostly because it goes back to the basics and makes life seem more simple. I don’t need fruit that’s not in season or oversized strawberries. I’ll take them the way they were intended to be, and without chemicals, thanks.

-Don’t eat meat. I’ve considered myself vegetarian/semi-vegetarian for years now. I never cook meat, and rarely eat it. From Care2.com: Meat is the most resource-intensive food on the plate. It takes much more energy, water and resources to produce a pound of meat, than a pound of grain or produce. (A pound of beef can require about 12,000 gallons of water to produce, compared to 60 gallons for a pound of potatoes.) In addition, agricultural hormones and antibiotics lead to pollution of soil, air, and water.

Some things I am working on:

-Eating local. I tend to shop where it's convenient and get most of my food at Trader Joe’s. I will hopefully change that this summer when the farmer’s market opens in Hyde Park. Otherwise, I am kind of lost about how to eat locally…someone help me.

-Using a reusable coffee mug. I am the WORST at this one. I don’t have a to-go coffee cup that I love, so I don’t take them with me anywhere. I need to invest in a quality one and then use that at Starbucks, the gas station, church, wherever.

-Switching over to green cleaning, makeup, shampoo etc. I’m making progress here…and I have found that I like cleaning a lot more when I am not worried about bleach catching fire on my stove (yes, I worry about that kind of stuff) or Bella ingesting toilet bowl cleaner, or Lysol accidentally spraying in my eye and blinding me. I recently bought Shaklee’s Basic H2 which meets all of my cleaning needs and then some...and I don't freak out about inhaling death.

~These are just a few simple things that make my life...well, simpler. Try some out, or let me know what else I can do to go green. Enjoy the Earth...it's beautiful~

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

I am absolutely obsessed with this show. However, I think it's scary how messed up our country's eating habits are. I've eaten a lot of processed food in my lifetime, and the more whole foods I eat, the better I feel. I just don't know what I was thinking before!

I did pick up some good eating habits when I was in Europe...they do know a thing or two about eating over there. One thing I am worst at, is that I eat alone a lot. I need to get better about eating with others, having people over to eat, and cooking for other people. I tend to eat A LOT more when I eat alone and no one can see me pig out. haha...seriously.

Anyway, this show is definitely a step in the right direction. I wish it had never gotten this bad, but we are where we are America. Maybe if we threw out the high fructose corn syrup and words we can't pronounce we wouldn't have shows like The Biggest Loser. Cheers.

I care.

I was recently asked what I really care about....like really, really cared about. I had to stop and think. I consider myself open to almost all ideas. I love to learn, ask questions, agree, disagree. I often think that I could be wrong, or I could be right, I don't know. I'm not sure this is a bad thing. I think it's good to be open, willing to learn.

I also think if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

So, to answer the question, I decided to really think about the things I really do care about. I'm going to start with animals. I wasn't always such a big animal lover. Well, maybe I was, and just didn't know. I have a fear of raw meat. It is something I have never gotten over. I can't look at it, I definitely can't touch it, and it just grosses me out. Why anyone would want to eat something that looks like that is beyond me.

Moving on. I eat meat. I don't really enjoy it, but I've never committed to being 100% vegetarian. When I say I eat meat...I mean, when I want Skyline Chili once every other month, or someone makes me dinner that includes meat. I don't cook meat, I don't buy meat, I do eat it on occasion. Honestly, I could be done eating meat tomorrow. I think the only reason I eat meat, is I'm lazy and a little selfish (chicken fingers taste good!).

Moving on again. This post isn't about meat eating. It's about caring. I know one thing I am really passionate about is our food. I eat 3-6 times a day. I literally put things in my body. Like inside of it. I care what they are.

I remember when I first learned about pesticides. I was in third grade. I learned about the dangers of the run-off and how it was ruining the ecosystem and killing the fish, etc. etc. It sounded awful. I guess I didn't make the connection at the time, but I'm eating what's killing the ecosystem. I am eating chemicals. Gross.

Loving animals. Hating chemicals. That's only the beginning. We have a HUGE problem on our hands, and I'm anxious to start to fix it.

We all know smoking is bad, right? People still do it anyway. Cigarettes are addictive, and I get it's not that easy to stop smoking them. People inhale chemicals all day long while smoking cigarettes. Think of all the change that has happened in the "world of smoking". You can now not even smoke in public in Ohio. Well, you can, but not inside, not within a certain number of feet of a building/public place, not in stadiums, not in bars, etc. etc. Progress. People who don't choose to pollute themselves, no longer have to be subject to it (smoking wise).

Food is the same way. Only it's going to be a whole lot easier. Pesticides are not addictive people. Every time you shop, you make a choice. Think about what you are buying and vote for organic.

Well, organic costs more. Good argument. But I guarantee you will spend all that extra money (if not more) on health costs to make up for the crap you are eating. You will buy into crazy diet schemes to lose weight. You will have to buy high cholesterol, high blood pressure medicine. You will get diabetes. You will spend more on healthcare.

All I am saying is to think about it, learn about, care about it. I know not everyone cares. I can't make anyone care. People still smoke and make bad choices for their body. But, we all don't have to suffer because of other peoples bad decisions. We can make small changes one step at time. I can't sit here and convince you, but I do care, and challenge you to watch Food, Inc. It sums up what I am saying and then some. I learned a lot. Take a look at the trailer. You can rent it on Amazon for $2.99 or get it at any retail renting store.

Back to my original question. I care what I eat. I choose organic as often as possible. I still don't eat 100% organic by any means, but I truly believe every little bit helps, and I'm going to make an impact on someone, somewhere, someday.