My mom bought me two new cookbooks that I’m so excited about reading and then trying out the new recipes.
They are How it all Vegan and The Garden of Vegan.
I’ve taken just a quick glance through these cookbooks and they look great! I can’t wait to start cooking from them. 
Thanks, Mom!!
I’ve been drinking green smoothies almost everyday. My favorite is spinach, banana, and orange. It is a GREAT way to get at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies. It’s so EASY, too!
Yesterday was the first day I didn’t drink one and I grazed/snacked all day even when I wasn’t feeling hungry. I hadn’t noticed any other benefits to drinking the smoothies for breakfast since I generally eat pretty well. BUT since I’m trying to lose weight, if a green smoothie keeps me from snacking during the day when I’m not hungry then I’ll keep drinking them for breakfast! (I’m not sure *why* it would keep me from snacking, though…)
I borrowed this movie from the library yesterday and watched it tonight. It was great – and disgusting! Some would say Morgan Spurlock went to the extreme by eating McDonald’s, and only McDonald’s, for every single meal for 30 days and that is why his health deteriorated so quickly. But how many people in this country eat some sort of fast food once a day or more? They grab breakfast at McD’s on the way to work and then pick something up at Wendy’s for lunch. Maybe even get a pizza and breadsticks for dinner.
The state his body was in after just a week was incredible (in a bad way, of course) but not all that surprising. Most, perhaps all, of what is served at McDonald’s isn’t food. There’s little to no good nutrition in it. It’s filled with fat and sugar. I would even consider it to be toxic to one’s body. In fact, much of what people in this country eat doesn’t nourish or promote health, and is toxic over the long term.
I’ve gotten into the habit of reading labels at the grocery store. We do our shopping at our local co-op, which is awesome, but to keep within our budget we also shop at Kroger. We buy a lot of the same things each week so I know what products are natural or not at Kroger. Though, sometimes I read labels of “food” we would never buy just for fun. The lists of ingredients are filled with words I can barely pronounce and chemicals and preservatives of all kinds. It’s still a little shocking to me to read that! I always think: “People eat this?! Don’t they know this isn’t good for them??” I can’t imagine filling my body with that kind of stuff all day everyday.
The sad thing is, though, many people don’t know enough about nutrition and ingredients to know that most of the foods in a regular grocery store are not good for them. I don’t entirely fault people for not knowing, either. If everyone in their family eats like that and they don’t learn the importance of good nutrition in school or from their doctor, then how would they know? Not everyone has access to the internet at home, or if they do, the desire to obsessively read about healthy food like I do.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the movie. It raised a lot of good points and was funny at times, too. Watch if you haven’t seen it yet!
I’ve decided to join the Green Smoothie Challenge that Sara over at Happy Foody thought up. It officially starts today, but Adam and I had our first green smoothies last night. And they were good!
Green Smoothie #1 (2/24/08): Kale-Apple-Banana
4 Kale leaves
2 Apples
1 banana
Water
Ice
We had to put the ingredients into the food processor first (because of the apples) then into the blender. We did this twice (once for each of us) and it made 1 quart each time.
Green Smoothie #2 (2/25/08): Kale-Banana-Orange
4 Kale leaves
1 Banana, peeled
1 Orange, peeled
Water
I was able to blend this one up in the blender no problem. I liked this one better than yesterday’s! It was a bit smoother without the apple.
That’s my goal at least!
This blog is all about my adventures in cooking and baking for my family, which consists of me (Rachel), my husband (Adam), my 3-year-old son (Jude) and 4-month-old daughter (Audrey – who is exclusively breastfed at this point, of course).
We eat a vegetarian diet at home, and I’m now committed to being a vegetarian all the time. We eat natural and organic food almost always – and on a budget.
Join me as I share what we eat!
