Morning Smoothie

Four years ago I randomly picked up a book while browsing at Barnes and Noble.  I love to buy books. I like walking aimlessly through a book store hoping that a great book will catch my eye.   I always have at least 3-4 books that I am reading at once.  Probably not the most efficient way to get through my pile, but as my husband would say, "it is what it is."

Anyway, I picked up the book Clean by Alejandro Junger. I wasn't exactly sure what it was about when I took it home but the idea of feeling better physically and having more energy sounded appealing!  I had heard of cleanses where you only drink grapefruit juice for a week or tea but those just never sounded healthy and not really that good for you.  They sounded more like a drastic weight loss system rather than a formula to for getting healthy and your body back on track.

The Clean Program is a 21 day cleanse that helps to restore your bodies ability to heal itself.  Although it can be a challenge if you don't already like healthy food, it is so worth it.  By the end of the 21 days you feel energetic, have more clarity of mind and actually clean from the inside out.  The basic meal plan is a smoothie for breakfast, a solid meal for lunch from the elimination diet and then a smoothie or soup for dinner.  Basically you are giving your digestive system a break from working so hard.  I rarely feel hungry while doing it.

This is my 4th year of doing this cleanse.  I love it so much that I have shared it with many many people.  I'm sure I have given away at least 20+ books to people who were interested in it.

I think the best way to be successful at this cleanse and have good results has a lot to do with your mental attitude.  The first few years I would tell myself,  "I can do anything for 21 days!"  If you think it will be hard, it will be hard.  If you go into it with excitement for how great you are going to feel, then you will notice how great you feel.  So, pull up your boot straps, put a smile on your face and jump in!  Give it your all.  You won't regret it.

Last year, Tom decided to give it a try with me.  He isn't a big healthy food eater, so I wasn't sure if he would really stick to it.  Well, he decided ahead of time it was going to be great and he loved it.  We are doing it together again this year.  One of the things he likes best about this cleanse  is the smoothies we have in the morning.  They are really good and we have them for breakfast long after the 21 days.

We always have some sort of combination of these ingredients: 

Kale 

spinach 

carrots 

apples, mango or pineapple (whatever is fresh and in season)

coconut meat and water 

almond milk 

protein powder (I prefer the vanilla flavor)

chia seeds and flaxseed 

frozen blueberries. blackberries, peaches

Use as many organic ingredients as you can find

I like to have fresh coconut.  So I purchase the young coconuts, drain them and then take them out back and chop them in half with an ax. (Tom thinks this is hilarious!) I scoup out the meat and add it to the coconut water and keep it in a jar in the fridge.  I am not sure how long it stays fresh because we eat it up too quickly.

                                             

I add in a brown rice protein powder (you can't have whey protein during the cleanse)

Chia Seeds and Flaxseed.

 I also like to make my own almond milk.  It is so easy and tastes great!

We also take a multitude of supplements with our smooties.

And there you have it.  Not the most appealing color, but believe me, it is delish!

Well, off to drink my breakfast!

Talk to you soon.

Love,

Carol

My mom's famous spaghetti.

Today is recipe day.  I am posting my favorite spaghetti recipe.  When I moved out on my own, this was the first recipe I got from my mom.  Eveyone loves this spaghetti.  I grew up eating it, so it I always thought, yeah, it's good.  But eveytime I make it, people go crazy for it. 

First saute onions and garlic in olive oil.  Add the hamburger and cook.  (I like to use grass fed, no hormone beef.)  Drain and then add the next ingredients.

I add whatever sauces I have in my pantry.  I love the flavor the fire roasted tomatoes add.   I made this meal for a large crowd so I used twice as much sauce as you see here.

This is the secret ingredient.

Well, not really a secret, but eveyone always seems surprised when I tell them what makes it taste so good.  

Simmer all of the above ingredients for an hour or all day.  The longer it cooks, the better it tastes.

Since we had a large group for dinner, I decided to make regular pasta and a gluten free option. 

If you have never tried spaghetti squash,  you really should.  I like to offer this as an option for people who don't eat grains, or pasta.

Use a spoon to scrape out the seeds. Place squash in a cake pan, add a small amount of water in the bottom of the pan, cover in foil and bake at 350 degrees for an hour or until squash is soft all the way through.

Use a fork to shred the squash into "spaghetti" like pieces.  Serve with the sauce on top instead of noodles.  This is so yummy!

Here are a few things to serve on the side of your spaghetti meal.

Heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, basil with a drizzle of olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar.

Watermellon chucks with fresh mint.

  Let me know if you made this and how it turned out.

Have a great weekend.

xoxo,

Carol

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Roasted Vegi Enchilada Recipe

Well, here is the recipe I promised you last week.

I found a recipe similar to this on Pinterest.  Pinterest is a great resource to find recipes.  If you haven't tried this website, you must.  It is so much fun.  I have way too many things on my "to do" list though because of it.

I changed a few things, but the majority of the recipe is the same.  I loved it so much, I made it for two different parties that I was going to, two days in a row.

First I bought pre-cut vegitables from Whole Foods.  Chopping takes so much time so I love when I can find ways to get out of that chore.  There are never enough onions though in these pre-cut vegi packs, so I added one whole onion as well as any other vegi's I had in the fridge.

I added sweet potatoe, broccoli, peppers and cauliflower.  I also like the homemade version of corn tortilla's.  They are thick and yummy.  Put all the vegi's in a large bowl and add oil and seasonings.

The recipe calls for coconut oil or grapeseed oil.  I only had coconut oil, but I know that it can take over the flavor and then you can't taste anything else.  So I used olive oil with just a small amount of coconut oil the first day.  Day two, I used grapeseed oil.  I liked the second choice better.

I also decided to use different kinds of cheese.  I didn't want to use the usual shredded cheese.  This was a good choice.  It really made the flavor of  this dish!  I used sheep and goat cheese.

Roast the tossed vegi's in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  Be sure to flip the vegi's so they get browned on all sides.

Layer with Salsa, Cilantro

Then spinach, corn tortilla's

Then vegi's and cheese

I did this twice.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

  Chloe hopes you like it!

xoxo

Carol