One of the things that gives me much joy is gardening. I remember living in a high building overlooking the city, and growing all kinds of indoor plants on the bay window. I've taken care of plants for as long as I can remember. I think I got it from my grandma who always had all kinds of plants growing inside her home. About 9 years ago I was able to plant a garden for the first time. I had so, so much fun growing tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, corn, watermelon, and all kinds of other veggies. There is no food like the one you get to grow yourself. It tastes so good.
This year I'm doing a garden again. My husband built some garden boxes and I've been enjoying planting seeds and seeing the little plants grow. Since this is a blog about healthy living, I thought why not share some pictures of the little plants I'll be eating in a few weeks? Can't wait!
Collard Greens - I'll post a recipe for a great Portuguese soup using these later.
Summer squash!
Carrots! Just started thinning these yesterday. Will see how it works as this is my first time growing carrots.
Peas!! I need to build a trellis so they can grow up tall and straight.
Brussels Sprouts! Can't wait to eat them with a bunch of garlic and a little of EVOO - extra virgin olive oil.
Didn't have much luck growing tomatoes here in Alaska last year, but since it's been so hot, I hope it will be different this time. Tomatoes ripe off the vine are soooo good!
Broccoli! Grew them for the first time last year and I was blown away by how wonderfully tasty broccoli is!
Living healthy doesn't have to just do with food. Living healthy has to do with many things. It's a whole package that together creates abundant life. One of those things is rest. Rest is so important as I got reminded of recently.
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Well, after spending about 5 summers in Alaska, my body has finally let me know that it doesn't like certain spring items. I guess I have seasonal allergies which is something fairly new to me. At first I thought I was coming down with a cold, but after almost 4 weeks with this "cold", I finally decided to see a doctor. Actually, what truly made me go see the doctor was the fact that I was so tired I noticed I wasn't as alert while driving. Not being able to breathe well makes sleeping difficult, and after so many nights of just a few hours of sleep or interrupted sleep, it finally caught up to me.
Lack of sleep can have several effects in our life. It doesn't just affect our driving, although that's pretty bad. Lack of sleep affects our mood, we can get more irritable, more impatient. We get more forgetful and less productive. Energy level goes way down. I was listening a doctor say how lack of sleep is even a risk factor for diabetes.
This time my lack of sleep was caused by a health issue, but how many times do we get few hours of sleep at night because of choices we make? It may be because we stay up late cleaning the house, or watching TV, or checking the facebook statuses of our friends. Or could be because we get lost on pinterest or checking all the info on new software or new apps.
Good sleep keeps our memory sharp, it helps us live longer, improves blood pressure and promotes cardiac health. Sleep helps us focus better, be more creative, and perform better at work or school. A good night of sleep can even help with weight loss.(2) There are way too many benefits of sleeping to not get serious about it.
So I came home from the doctor with a new medication and a plan to avoid allergies next spring. I'm also going to turn the computer off, take in some evening fresh air, read a calming book and spend some one-on-one time with God. A good night of sleep awaits me...
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(1) http://www.fyiliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/allergyfyi-400x265.jpg
(2) http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20459221,00.html
(3) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Gr4p6eiNVoJ5ES2MOQzb1aN8iEH3pIDsiSwYdd6pC-l7_Bfrb-dqrHZzrLttr70dDQbmOmCllvZDjjWxJFxeg4cE3tg12CSXafDgEg9rPUSRd4tTmWU4xdpz-8Phdo1NJxyzFmU4MxE/s1600/photo_baby_sleepng.jpg
Earlier this week my son and I went grocery shopping. As we were getting things inside the cart, he suggested we buy these small sweet rolls that we used to buy a while back. Since we hadn't had them in a while I thought, why not? So we came home with a small package of sweet rolls.
While tasting one, I noticed the flavor wasn't as good as I remember. They didn't taste bad and were well within the best by date, but we hadn't had them in a while plus we have been eating a lot healthier, so my only explanation is that my taste buds have changed! They are learning to enjoy the natural and simple ingredients more than the packaged foods we can buy at the supermarket.
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My son, ever so curious about labels, started reading the list of ingredients. Flour, yeast, water, sugar, eggs, and then a list of names I suspect one needs a degree in chemistry to be able to pronounce them correctly. After he finished reading I glanced at the list of ingredients. Thinking about our homemade bread, I asked my son how many ingredients it takes to make bread at home. The most simple bread we make requires 4 ingredients: flour, yeast, salt, and water. Sometimes we like to add applesauce, wheat germ, seeds, or honey. So most breads have between 4-8 ingredients. I started counting the ingredients listed on the package for sweet rolls and finished at 30! 30 ingredients to make small sweet rolls. 30!!! And most of those ingredients I don't recognize as food!
I had a hard time finishing the little bread on my plate and I have a feeling those won't be making their way onto the shopping cart any time soon!
Living more simple and healthier means also paying attention to the list of ingredients and making sure we are not putting inside our bodies things that are really not food. I searched some of the names on the ingredients listed and was sad to think that I've been putting inside my body synthetic wax and chemicals that are used in the production of fertilizers, plastic, pesticides, construction materials and so forth.
So, hopefully, lesson learned. I'm going to get me a recipe for sweet rolls with fewer ingredients and will use my freezer as preservative!
And since I'm talking about bread, I thought I would share the recipe for one of our favorite homemade breads. I do have a kitchenaid mixer, so I just add all the ingredients in there and let it mix it all for me. If you have to mix by hand just mix all the other ingredients and add the flour in the end. Enjoy!
4 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour ( you can substitute 1 cup of bread flour if you want a more fluffy bread.)
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 TBS yeast
2 cups of warm water
5-6 TBS apple sauce
1 tsp salt
Mix the yeast with one cup of warm water and let it stand for about 10 minutes. Then mix it with the rest of the ingredients. Add a little more water if you think the dough is dry. Place the dough in a loaf pan and let it rise for about one hour. Bake at 400F for 35 minutes.
Yumminess!
(1) http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/etiamos/etiamos1205/etiamos120500121/13634289-blackboard-with-chemical-formulas--vector-illustration.jpg
When I graduated from 9th grade, my parents gave me a big cook book of international cuisine. The index was illustrated and I remember spending hours looking at all the pictures curious what those recipes would taste like. I would pick some to try and had lots of fun creating foods from all over the world. I remember looking at the dessert section for long periods of time. I tried several of those recipes: cakes, ice creams, pies, pastries, breads, you name it. But I remember having a hard time making desserts that required strawberries.
They were probably the ones what I wanted to try the most, but every time I bought strawberries, I ended up just eating them without using them in the recipe.
Yesterday I was preparing strawberries for a fruit salad when I remembered my recipe book and me never trying one of those strawberries' recipes. I thought it was interesting that I just ate the strawberries instead of using them in cakes or ice creams. Thinking back, it was probably best that I had done it this way. Eating the strawberries plain, I could enjoy their natural flavor more than if I had hidden that wonderful taste behind all the sugar, butter, and milk that most recipes use.
And you know, natural is always better. And easier! I had to wash them anyway. By just eating them plain, I didn't have to go through the extra work of adding all the other ingredients and could enjoy all the wonderful nutrients without adding any sugar or fat.
This is making me even more motivated to eat more simple foods in their natural state. Fruit is nature's natural dessert plus it's filled with vitamins and antioxidants that are so important to our health.
I'd like to encourage you to take advantage of this wonderful resource of health that is so easily available to us. Make a big fruit salad and eat that for your supper, eat a piece or two of fruit with your breakfast or as dessert after lunch, add it to fruit smoothies. Indulge yourself in fruit in its most pure form. If you can get organic great, but if not that's ok too. Just make sure you don't add any extras that will make your beautiful fruit unhealthy. Indulge in its most pure form: natural and fresh. Can't get any simpler than that!
