Day 3 - The Change

I will not lie, Monday and Tuesday was rough. First I think it was the lack of caffeine. I haven't gone caffeine free but I am also not drinking it if not readily available to me. Second, I think my body was detoxing. Today was the first day I woke up not exhausted or with a headache. Of course as I type this my body is crashing and I may be going to bed early.

Overall I think I have had a great start. I have had two juices each day and drink water between each one. I do end up snacking on a mini bagel through the morning and snack on something in the afternoon (what ever is available). I did have one bad night and that was last night. We went to a restaurant do to me getting home later than normal. I order pretty good but I ate the appetizer of cheese fries, ate all my dinner (planned to only eat half due to the appetizer) and had 3 large sweet teas. I will not lie, those sweet teas were yummy and a turning point with my headache last night.

Since juicing on Monday, I have made 5 juices. Some recipes make more than others and that is always nice. The last one was a freezer surprise and very yummy at that.

3-2-1 Juice - Made 2x's and made three servings for this week.
Banana Orange Juice - Made 2x's this week.
Blue-Black-Strawberry and Lime Juice - Made only one serving
Can't Beet It Juice - Made 2 servings for this week.
Freezer Surprise - Made 2 servings for this week.

Besides drinking juices again, I have made my family some healthy meals. As you may remember we get a CSA basket each week. To help use up my goodies I have made some new dishes and amazingly my family has enjoyed them.

Collard Leaf Dolmades with Pork and Sweet Potato Yogurt - This yummy recipe comes from our new favorite PBS show, A Chef's Life. Through out this show, Vivian (the chef) highlights local foods from the North Carolina area. My husband and I love the show as well as one of our daughters. I made this for my family on Sunday and I won over my husband who is a picky eater. I then shared my leftover with my CSA Farmers and they loved it as well. I will admit it took me over an hour to cook it up but it was worth it!

To help showcase my other CSA goodies I went searching on the internet and came across WholeLiving.com. This is one of those sites that looks are deceiving, but in a good way. It is a really nice website with a great search engine that brings up multiple recipes for one ingredient. By the looks of the website I thought the recipes would be to fancy for my ordinary casual family but they are not. And the crazy part the last (well first) two recipes I have made from this site were a hit again with my family. I highly suggest your try Perciatelli Roasted Tomatoes and Eggplant and Roasted Radishes and Greens. Both recipes were surprising (well not the pasta) really good and made our family cookbook.

So tomorrow is another day. I have my juices made and my goal is to stay on target for tomorrow. Make it a great day everyone!

Fried Green Tomatoes

So I know this blog is more about juicing but I had to share this recipes I made on the fly for my family tonight. Even my picky husband and one of my daughters enjoyed them.

Ingredients:

• green tomato 
• italian bread crumbs
• cajun shake
• milk
• egg
• vegetable oil

1. Pour some oil in a pan and turn heat to medium.
2. Slice your green tomato. I used a mandolin for perfect slices.
3. Pour your italian bread crumbs in a bowl and seasoning. I added cajun shake to ours.
4. In another bowl, scramble an egg and add some milk.
5. Dip tomato in egg wash and then in bread crumbs. 
6. Add to oil and cook.

For those of you who like exact measurements. Well, that is not my thing. I follow recipes for awhile and then start making it as I want at that particular time. This does mean that my recipes are never exactly the same each time they are made but that bring about the variety of life. 

Freezer Surprise

As you may guess, this is what ever fruits you find in your freezer.

I have this tendency to throw fruit in a freezer bag in my freezer. Tonight I went looking to see if I could make another Banana and Orange Juice and found half of a banana and random fruit. I beleive most of it was raspberries with a few strawberries for good measure.

Even though I had some bananas on my counter I decided to put all the fruit from the bag in the freezer and add around 3/4 cup of orange juice. I started with a 1/2 c. of juice but added more as I tried to blend all the frozen goodness.

Besides it being yummy, it turned out to be like a sorbet. Thick and nice refreshing taste. I filled up one cup to drink for tomorrow (figure it will defrost more in the fridge) and eating some now. The only issue I have is the blackberry seeds. I am not a fan of all the seeds when juicing blackberries in the blender. I am thinking a NutriBullet would be good for blackberries but that is not in my future right now.

Blue-Black-Red Juice

Blueberry, Blackberry, Strawberry and Lime Juice

o   1 pint blackberries

o   1 pint blueberries

o   1 pint strawberries, hulled

o   1 lime, peeled

1.    Process fruit through juicer.

I got this recipe from my Breville Juicer manuel. Yummy juice to make. Best part, the juicer removes the blackberry seeds. 

A New Start

As you may have noticed it has been awhile since I posted. As you may also gathered, I did stop juicing. I found I didn't want the ones I made and just wanted to eat. Well, that has been over a month now and I ready to get back to juicing. Today begins my searching of recipes and creating my grocery list for tomorrow.

To start off my search I am using the veggies I have gotten in my CSA basket (spinach, turnips, radishes, collard greens and eggplant) as well as the two small watermelon I pulled out of my garden today. I do have some random fruit in the freezer and orange juice I bought my daughters who did not drink it. Off to see what I can find.

Day 35 - Taco Night

My family has been requesting mexican night for weeks now. So I indulged them and we had tacos (soft and hard), queso cheese, black beans, pinto beans, refried beans and spanish rice. It was a great meal but can you guess our little family of four had left overs.

What to do, could eat for leftovers, freeze, or make something new. New it was, Chili. Mixed in all the beans (even refried), hamburger meat, chopped onions and cilantro. In my freezer I had some green peppers I cut up last weekend. And pulled out a can of diced tomatoes from the pantry. Looked so yummy but one problem. It was really thick. Well this was not so much a problem for me but my husband. To make him happy we needed some more juice. So I juiced.

Yes, I made the Original V-8 Juice, and added it to our chili. In my opinion it looks soupy but still looks good. Can't wait to have the chili tomorrow night for dinner. All of it is currently marinating in the fridge for my husband to put on the stove for dinner.

Original V-8 Recipe

Original V-8 Recipe

Ingredients

• Carrots - 2 large
• Celery - 3 stalks
• Cucumber - 1/2 cucumber
• Parsley - 2 handfuls
• Pepper (sweet green) - 1/2 medium
• Spinach - 1 cup
• Tomatoes - 3 medium

Directions

Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.

                                                                                                                                                            

I made this juice tonight but not for drinking. We needed some tomato juice for some chili and happen to by the ingredients for this juice today. I will admit that I am not a fan of tomato juices so I was happy to juice and make up for the chili. Can't wait tomorrow to try the chili for dinner.

Blueberry, Blackberry and Raspberry Cobbler

I came up with this cobbler after juicing Merry Berry Blend Juice. Enjoyed by the family and hopefully yours.

Cobbler

1. Spread blueberries across bottom of baking dish. (I used a small one).
2. Spread pulp mixture from juicing over the blueberries.
3. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
4. Mix up flour, brown sugar, oats and 1/2 of stick of melted butter to make topping. (All Estimated)
5. Sprinkle topping over blueberries and pulp.
6. Bake at 350 degrees until topping is crisp. (Didn't pay attention to time but I think it was in there for an hour. I let it sit in the oven until we took it to my brother-in-laws for lunch.)

Whipped Topping

1. Pour in whipping cream. (I use what I have left over from making homemade ice cream.)
2. Add a little sugar and vanilla for flavoring. 
3. Whip until thick and enjoy. (You could use a whisk but your arm will get tired. I like to use a mixer).

Merry Berry Blend Juice

Merry Berry Blend

• 2 cups of blackberries
• 1 cup of blueberries
• 1 cup of raspberries

1. Juice and enjoy.

                                                                                                                                                                         
Due to a sale on blackberries at one of our local grocery stores, Harris Teeter, I searched to find some blackberry juices. This is the first I made.

I made this juice this morning. I haven't had it yet but can't wait to try it. Why I am already blogging about it is because I decided to try something else. As all juicers know, you are left with remains after juicing vegetables and fruits. The vegetables leave a dry substance behind but fruit is still full of moisture. 

I took the remains of the blueberries, blackberries and raspberries and made a cobbler. No recipe just made it up as I went. Below is what I did and was enjoyed by the family. Ohh, I also included my recipe for whipped topping that I picked up somewhere on the internet. 

Cobbler

1. Spread blueberries across bottom of baking dish. (I used a small one).
2. Spread pulp mixture from juicing over the blueberries.
3. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
4. Mix up flour, brown sugar, oats and 1/2 of stick of melted butter to make topping. (All Estimated)
5. Sprinkle topping over blueberries and pulp.
6. Bake at 350 degrees until topping is crisp. (Didn't pay attention to time but I think it was in there for an hour. I let it sit in the oven until we took it to my brother-in-laws for lunch.)

Whipped Topping

1. Pour in whipping cream. (I use what I have left over from making homemade ice cream.)
2. Add a little sugar and vanilla for flavoring. 
3. Whip until thick and enjoy. (You could use a whisk but your arm will get tired. I like to use a mixer).

Day 33 - What a Week!

Wow, I just realized I have been juicing a full month now. Going at weight loss on my own this is the best I have done.

To recap my goals:

• Drink two+ juices a day.
• Drink water after each cup of juice. 
• Eat a meal at night
• Give up Caffeine
• Exercise

Overall I think I have done great. Weekends is where I struggle the most getting in my two juices. This past month I usually only get one juice in on the weekends due to eating out with the family on our outings. I did great going without caffeine until these past few days. I made it to day 31 and I caved. I wanted to eat out at a favorite restaurant of mine, Afton Tavern, and wanted their sweet tea which was one of my favorites. Can I tell you how disappointed I was when I took my first drink of tea. It so did not live up to what I thought. 

Due to me having broken my caffeine withdrawal the next night I had some more. It was meant to be a Pepsi but I when I took my big gulp from the BoJangles cup I found sweat tea. UGHH. I was looking forward to the pepsi, well the carbonation, after the frustrating day I had with Discovery Education (me and the assessment section are not getting along). Now I know that Discovery Education (DE) was not my true downfall. My mood dropped drastically. I suffer from depression and between that and my period (which hasn't started) I felt like I was extremely frustrated with DE, my long to do list (still long) and my body. I hate feeling emotional and once I finally got home (late due to work and the crazy BoJangles) I went and hid in my room to watch Sherlock Holmes (love love love this show) and Sister Wives (fascinated by this family but don't want to live that lifestyle). 

Today I had another crazy day but my emotions were in check. Even though I was exhausted after a day of getting kids online taking a quiz on DE and then changing their powerschool passwords I did not have a melt down. Instead I worked until my husband got to the school where we then went out as a family. This meant leaving my classroom in a mess, but I resigned myself I would go in early in the morning and work until Cannon Pharmacy (where we get our medicines from now) opens and then off to the Farmers Market. I am looking forward to the later. Looking forward to what I can find and especially picking up some homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing. 

So where did I end up:

•  I lost 7 lbs in 33 days. I think that is great accomplishment and look forward to seeing what I can do in the next month. 
• I do plan to go back to giving up caffeine. I do think this has done wonders for me overall. 
• I didn't get really any exercise in except for what I get walking around my classroom and school. I do hope that I will calm down with school work, catch up on my home projects and get into the groove of exercise again. The one I really want to start up again is yoga. 

Remembering Your Abcs Juice

Remembering Your Abcs

Apples Beets Carrots

Ingredients

• Apple - 1 medium
• Beet Root - 1 beet
• Carrots - 2 large

Directions

Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.

                                                                                                                                                            

This is another juice that I left up on the computer to long and don't remember if I have had this one or not. I think it is in my fridge defrosting but I also think I may have had it. I am sure it is okay (if I have had it or not) but not planning to keep it as one of my favorites and no I am not going to remake and try again. I am worn out on the beets.

The Man with the Golden Juice

The Man With The Golden Juice

Ingredients

• Beet Root (golden) - 1 beet
• Carrots - 3 large
• Celery - 4 stalk, large 
• Cucumber - 1/2 cucumber 
• Ginger Root - 1/2 thumb 
• Pear (bosc) - 1 medium

Directions

Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.

                                                                                                                                                            

So I have left this on my computer so long that I now can't remember if I had this or if its currently sitting in the fridge from it being defrosted.  Based on the ingredients I would say it was okay but not one of my favorites. Those I promptly posted so I would not forget. :) 

Strawberry, Banana and Orange Juice

Ingredients:
Banana
Handful of Strawberries
1 c.  of Orange Juice

Put all ingredients in blender and blend.

I made this juice tonight. Similar to the Banana and Orange Juice I make but added strawberries since we had a few left in the fridge. Little strong on the OJ but it will be yummy in the morning.

Banana and Orange Juice

Ingredients:
2 bananas
1 c. of orange juice
1/2c. of chopped ice

Put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy.

I found this recipe over the summer and has become a favorite of my husbands. It is one I can easily make when strapped for time. Bonus is that it is so easy I memorized it. Thanks Foodviva.com for the great recipe.

Green Breakfast Juice

Green Breakfast

Ingredients

• Apples (green) - 2 medium
• Carrots - 3 medium
• Cucumber - 1 cucumber
• Grapes (green) - 15 grapes
• Pepper (sweet green) - 1 medium
• Spinach - 2 cups
• Tomato - 1 medium whole

Directions

Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.

                                                                                                                                                            

YUMMY! I made this juice last night and really wasn't sure of it. I was worried with the odd combination of ingredients, well I am just not the biggest fan of tomato and cucumber juices. Honestly, I didn't taste the tomato or cucumber (only used 1/2 of one) and the pepper was a hint of spice to the juice. I would so have this one again.

Golden Spice Juice

Golden Spice

Ingredients

• Apple (fuji) - 1 medium 
• Beet Root (golden) - 1 beet 
• Ginger Root - 1 thumb 
• Lemon - 1/2 fruit 
• Pineapple - 2 slice 
• Pumpkin Pie Spice (a dash) 

Directions

Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.

                                                                                                                                                            

This is a yummy drink but I have to admit I made some changes. First it was more of the Red Spice Juice. I didn't have a golden beet so I used a regular one. A regular beet is a red one for me since I have not seen a golden beet when out shopping. Another change was I forgot the pumpkin spice. I like pumpkin so I think this will be a yummy addition the next time I make this juice.  

Sweet Beets Juice

Sweet Beets

• Apples - 2 medium
• Beet Root - 1 beet
• Sweet Potato - 1 sweetpotato

Directions

Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.

                                                                                                                                                                       

I made this juice last night. I found it to be okay but not a favorite. Interesting find when washing out my cup tonight. I found a pile of starch that had solidified at the bottom of my cup. Even with putting water in my cup after I finished the juice starch was still left behind. 

Day 29- Blah

I have been so tired the past few days. It could be the weather that has gotten cool and cloudy but I have to come clean. I have not been eating the best.

Weekends are always a downfall and usually only get one juice in. Sunday, I was in a funk and got up late so I didn't juice. Had mostly junk all day with only a salad and some water as being the healthy part of any of my meals.

I had planned to get back on track today. I did good at school and had two juices and a banana. Problem was I felt hungry and never really lost the feeling. When I got home my husband was cooking dinner and helped with the final touches and then it was on. I just wanted to eat even though I had had my dinner, a cookie, a ding dong and chicken pita (small).

How could I possibly still be hungry? Two things, one I have been drinking soda (caffeine free) again. I believe the sugar in the soda gets me craving more sweets and food. Then there is me feeling blah. Again I believe this is part of drinking more soda, not juicing on Sunday, drinking less water and well it just being the week of my monthly visit.

Honestly can't wait for this week to be over for I just feel like I am struggling. I want to curl up in a ball and do nothing but since my children have homework I am trying to push on.

Wish me luck and that I prevail over my current struggles.

Lemon Essence Juice

Lemon Essence

Ingredients

• Apple - 1 medium 

• Carrots - 8 medium 

• Ginger Root - 1 thumb 

• Lemon - 1 fruit 

Directions

Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.

                                                                                                                                                                       

This is another juice I made last night to have today. I did not get to drink that much of it but the few drinks I had I enjoyed. I placed the rest in the freezer and plan to have the rest next week.

I want to thank JuiceRecipes.com for all the juices I have been posting recently.

Red Tangy Spice Juice

Red Tangy Spice

Ingredients

• Beet Root - 1 beet 

• Carrots - 3 large 

• Celery - 2 stalks 

• Ginger Root - 1 thumb 

• Lime - 1/2 fruit 

• Pepper (jalapeno) - 1 pepper 

• Spinach - 2 cup 

Directions

If you're sensitive to heat, you should de-seed the jalapeno before juicing it.

                                                                                                                                                                       

I made this one last night and had it this morning. I am a bit leery of jalapeno peppers and so I left it out. Because I did this I found the drink to be okay but nothing spectacular for me wanting to drink it again.

Fresh Salsa Juice

Fresh Salsa

Ingredients

• Cayenne Pepper (spice) - 1 dash

• Celery - 1 stalk, large 

• Cilantro - 1 handful 

• Garlic - 1 clove 

• Onion (spring/scallion) - 1 medium 

• Pepper (sweet green) - 1 medium 

• Salt (himalayan) - 1 dash 

• Tomato - 1 cup cherry tomatoes 

Directions

Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.

                                                                                                                                                                       

This juice right up there with Morning Call, NASTY! Well maybe not that high but at least the 2nd worst drink I have had. I like salsa, had it for dinner tonight, but I do not want to drink. 

Even though I was not a fan of the drink I did wonder what it would be like to send all the ingredients through the juicer and then mix the dry contents with the juice. Would it be a good salsa to eat? Inquiring minds would like to know. 

Day 26 - Still At It

It is crazy that I am still juicing. This is the longest I have kept to a plan. Yes I have had my moments like the other day but I always get back on track.

So what happened the other day, I dropped my juice. Yep. On Wednesday I gathered up my stuff and as I picked up my bag my juice fell out of its pocket and crashed to the floor leaving a big mess of Green Breakfast juice on our kitchen floor. First, I was glad it was there for easy cleanup. Second I was upset for that was my breakfast. Luckily, I had two juices at school. One in the freezer and the other in the fridge to defrost. Of course though both were beet juices.

Even though both were beet juices I trudged along and drank both of them. But then came concessions. I volunteered to be the teacher sponsor for our schools concession stand. Basically I just have to keep control of students as they sale snacks and drinks. Yes I had a sprite (no caffeine), snickers and a few pieces of popcorn but the issue was the heat. The game was delayed to heat by an hour which meant for a later night for me. Then there was the fact that the concession building has no air and it was hot inside it. Between the heat exhaustion and late night I came exhausted that lasted into Thursday. Thursday has actually been the worst day I have felt since returning to school, I even passed out early when I got home.

As each day passes I believe I have done the right thing by juicing. By making juices the night before I get out the house faster in the morning. By drinking juices I have less containers to take to school for breakfast and lunch. I also do not have to worry about heating up anything which takes away time from breakfast and lunch. I can check email while at lunch with my students on the ipad and catch up in life. I have more energy and I am less stressed. All great results.

As for results I am tracking:

• Weight: 251lbs, -6lbs, holding from the last time I checked. Even though I would love to see my weight lower I am happy with how clothes are fitting and how I feel. One day it will get to where it needs to be. 
• Migraines: 1 day free, Unfortunately I had one Thursday morning. Luckily once I took my medicine it quickly went away. Does help explain why I was tired that day. After taking my medicine for migraines I always get sleepy. 
• Caffeine: 26 days free!

Green Aid Recipe

Green Aid

Ingredients

• Apples (granny smith) - 4 medium 

• Celery - 3 stalk, large 

• Kale - 2 leaf 

• Lemon (peeled) - 1 fruit 

• Spinach - 4 cup 

Directions

Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.

                                                                                                                                                                       

I am currently working on this juice right now. It was not bad at all and did not even taste the celery until I reached the bottom on my cup. I would definitely have this juice again.

Morning Glory Recipe

Morning Glory

Ingredients

• Beet Root - 1 beet

• Carrots - 2 medium

• Oranges - 2 fruit

Directions

Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.

                                                                                                                                                                       

I have had a lot of beet juices recently and really have had my fill. When looking for more juices for this week I found even more with beets. To my surprise it was very good  and did not have a high beet taste to it. I am thinking the size of the beets is playing apart of me liking and disliking the beet juices. I recommend the smaller ones verses the larger ones. The smaller beets get enough nutrients in the juice without being overwhelming. 

Day 22 - Labor Day Weekend

Here in the United States we just celebrated Labor Day Weekend. Usually during this time folks will go on a quick getaway, spend time with friends and family and of course lots of food.

On Saturday my family took a day trip up to Greensboro, NC where we toured Homeland Creamery, met with friends, and picked up some goodies at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market before heading home. It turned out to be a day where we ate out every meal and I did not juice. I had weighed myself that morning and found that I had lost weight and so I was mindful to not overeat as well as continue staying away from caffeine. Between the heat and not juicing I was exhausted! I fell asleep on the way home and became a couch potato the rest of the evening.

Sunday rolls around and I end up not juicing again. I was wiped out in the morning and was to lazy to make a juice. So, I ended up eating 2 cinnamon rolls and a bowl of cereal. Later  on to my mother-in-laws where I was good but then I got home and I ate an apple turnover, Phish Food ice cream by Ben and Jerry's, my leftovers from dinner on saturday and 2 cans of Caffeine Free Coke.

To me this was two bad days in a row. Both days I felt lethargic and just didn't get anything done. I found myself craving more sweets due to the extra sugar I had. All I can do is learn a lesson from this and get back on the journey. Which today I have done, made 2 juices and have gotten back into the swing of things.

With my bad days I did expect for my weight to rise. It did on Sunday but to my utter amazement it was back down and actually lower than it was on Saturday. The weight has really started to come off since I went back to school. I am more active when I am teaching than verses at home. I am hoping that by the end of this week I will have dropped into the 240's.

22 days without caffeine
8 days free of migraines
Current Weight 251 lbs, -6 lbs

Can't Beet It Juice

Can't Beet It

Ingredients

• Apples - 2 medium 

• Beet Root - 1 beet

• Carrots - 4 medium

• Celery - 3 stalk, large 

• Cucumber - 1/2 cucumber 

• Ginger Root - 1/2 thumb 

Directions

Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.

                                                                                                                                                                       

I have had a lot of beet drinks recently and starting to get burned out on them, however, I found this to be a good mixture and would drink it again.

Tropical Green Recipe

Tropical Green

Ingredients

• Ginger Root - 1/2 thumb

• Kale - 4 leaf 

• Mango - 1 fruit without refuse

• Orange - 1 small

• Pineapple - 1 cup

Directions

Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.

                                                                                                                                                                       

YUM! I very much enjoyed this juice and will be adding it to my favorites. Love the mixture of pineapple and mango.