Return of the green drink.

We recently welcomed green drinks back into our lives. We never stopped making them for any reason except that it was too much work in the midst of moving, packing, settling, planning, living-in-your-in-law's-basement-ing. But our kick's returned, and oh how we've missed them!

My new recipe (which eagerly counteracts the side-effects of Slow-FE :)) is intended to boost my iron levels in a way more natural than popping that small red pill every day.

Since iron-rich foods should be consumed with citrus for ultimate absorption, the base for this one is good ol' OJ.  I like to get all my green drink ingredients at Whole Foods because I know I can trust each thing they carry on their shelves, including juices.

Give it a shot if you wish:

8 oz. OJ
4 oz. apple juice
2-3 C organic kale
1-2 C organic spinach
1 banana
1/2 C frozen strawberries
2 C other fruits (this morning I used cantaloupe for a couple servings of yellow fruit and more vit C)

This makes anywhere between 28 and 32 oz, depending on how good or bad I am at eyeballing my greens. Either way, I chug it all in the morning.

Think of it, my daily requirement of fruits, and almost all veggies, in a glass (or 2 or 3).

And, surely I can't be the only person that wakes up from an afternoon nap ravenous for something sweet?

1 C Greek yogurt
1/2 C frozen berries + fresh fruit of your choice
splash of water/juice

Delish.

One last thing: I don't add the yogurt to my green drinks because I've read numerous articles on separating dairy and iron-rich foods for better iron absorption. I don't yet have an opinion on how true this is, but until I can do my own research, I'm keeping them separate. (That also means I can't have kale powder on my chocolate milkshake :)).

Summary of our year in pictures.

 In looking over the year, I can see how horrible I have been at capturing moments (big or little) in photos. The ones I did get (or steal!) are below.

 It's difficult to sum up some events from the past year, but for those that can be documented, here they are: 

December. . .

12/31/09
thank God for an amazing photographer.

Can two people be any happier?

January. . .

Honeymooning in Riviera Maya, Mexico where I spent most
of the time sick in bed, the waves were cold, the legal drinking
age is 18 (!!), and there were more mixed drinks floating on trays
than I knew existed.

the sun was a nice change from January in Cleveland,
though. . .

In February. . .

. . .we welcomed this little  (and he was little. . .
 then-- 9 weeks, 10 pounds)  munchkin (and headache) into our family.

Gosh,  he is pretty cute.

March. . .

In March we discovered his all-time favorite chew
toys: underwear and t-shirts.

Also, by March his best friend was the squeaking stuffed duck
Peter bought him (that had to be taken away at night or else
no one slept).

He especially enjoyed getting tangled in curling ribbon. . .

This year we enjoyed a Greek Easter feast at friends Bryan and Kate's.

Springtime, Peter spend a lot of afternoons in my dad's shop
at my family's in Medina
primping the Bimmer for summertime.

In May we took a short weekend break and visited Peter's
long-time friend Chris in Columbus. . .

I also threw a bachelorette party for my sister.

June. . .

5 June, Peter and I stood beside Daniel
and Ashlee as attendants and witnessed the most beautiful,
sincere, covenantally-minded wedding.

A complete surprise, early June,
we found out we were expecting. . .twins.

July. . .

We celebrated Peter's  birthday with
Daniel and Ashlee, only minutes away from
the hospital he was born at, 23 years ago. 

The dreadful surgery to straighten and connect
his collarbone.

Tis the season for weddings! Peter was also a groomsmen in Chris and Lindsay's wedding in July. 

Loxley continued to grow (as we'd hope. . ;)), and despite
his age and prior experiences,  he still found chewing electrical cords
appealing.

We had lots of outings through the summer, savoring each
moment with my family before their big move to Detroit.

In August. . .

. . .we vacationed in Virginia with my whole family


(the week before Peter lost his job). . .

. . .and this precious little girl was entrusted to me. . .

In September. . .

. . . I became a green drink fanatic. . .

. . .and Peter was in yet another wedding.
Congrats, Paul and Em!

October came and we both stood beside Jonathan and Chloe
as they covenanted before God and man. . .

. . .I also visited my family in their new house
in Michigan. . .

Nearing his 1st birthday, Loxley had grown into quite a. . .
man, er, dog, and was beginning to lose his puppy face.

Peter also worked on quite a few projects
 around the house while the weather was tolerable.

We spent Thanksgiving at Peter's Aunt Paula's in Pennsylvania. . .

Thank you, thank you, Rachel!

And Christmas was at my family's in Michigan. . .

I turned nineteen. . .

One more year as a married teenager. . .

. . .and 1 year as husband and wife!

That's about it. 7 weddings. Tons of babies on the way. And huge hopes for 2011.

-A.H.

Where is time going?

I promise I real post soon, but right now there is so much going on that I barely remember getting up in the morning or going to bed, though I'm sure that I actually do at some point...

Thanksgiving was great, but we're glad to be home. And now that we are, let the last-two-weeks-before-finals craziness begin.

Those fall pictures we had taken [by the lovely Rachel Clarke]: here are a couple peeks until I get my greedy hands on the rest!

I just spun around about 50 times, did enough jumping jacks to make my legs weak, sang every children's song I know, was stretched till I felt floppy, and played Simon Says over and over. . .and over with 3 girls. Nap time?

Last night I braved the cold weather and snowy roads for a run to the grocery store. I should have taken a picture of our fridge-- there was nothing in it. It looked like someone had just moved out and left the few things they didn't want to take with them: mustard, mayonnaise, a splash of milk in the entire gallon and some leftover pasta.
As much as I adore shopping at Whole Foods, something irks me about being there and last night I put my finger on it: a great portion of the people in there (employees included) seem to think they're something no one else is simply because they are in there. . .

We've got another busy weekend ahead of us, classes to finish and applications to complete and submit, THEN we're off to Michigan for Christmas (but home just before my birthday!). Speaking of Christmas! I'm almost finished with shopping (praise the Lord), though the only thing we have up in terms of decorations is a wreath on the front door. (More on that wreath later).

Green drinks this week:
3C spinach, 2C collards, 1C water, 2 bananas, 1/2C strawberries, 1 apple, 1 orange, 4T flax oil.


Time to fix lunch. These girls are "starving". Hah.


-A.H.

Another week of green drinks.

I've been so lax in my smoothie devotion. And I feel it. I think Peter does too, he just doesn't know that's the problem yet.

We're so tired. I'm cranky, too. And overly-emotional. I'm farther away from my Christmas goal weight than I was 2 weeks ago. Maybe the deadline will be my birthday. Or our anniversary...

The blender stays cleaner. But who cares?

But, for the smoothies I have been consistent about making once-a-day, here's what we're putting in:

2C water
2 huge handfuls (about 3-4 cups) organic, baby spinach
2 huge handfuls collards
2 bananas (I've since stayed away from freezing them, if possible. Sometimes they brown too quickly and I am left with no other option. However, the taste is definitely sweeter and stronger when used fresh)
1C strawberries
1/2 C fresh cranberries
2 apples, not peeled
3-4 T flax oil


-A.H.

A post that needs a title.

I've gone green smoothie crazy and I'm in love with the energy they give us! (And we're most definitely not starving either).

Good news-- I found the exact same spinach I was getting at Whole Foods for $2 cheaper at Costco! Yeah. I've since omitted the frozen berries and they taste just fine with bananas and apples alone, though a little... warm because of the fresh veggies. Last week we picked up a head of celery that I used and the week before that we tossed in a few cups of kale... wouldn't recommend the cabbage. I just couldn't bring myself to swallow it, and when even Peter nearly gagged at the lumpy texture and bitter taste, I knew it was bad.

I've been trying to have 2-4 smoothies a day and am really focusing on having the drink itself for meals and then, if I am still a bit hungry, I'll have a small bit of whatever I make Joyce. My focus isn't weight loss, but I have lost 11 pounds eating all these vegetables and fruits!

So here's what I'm doing:

2-3 C organic baby spinach
2 bananas (I like to buy them in bulk and freeze them, that way there's some icy stuff in the drink)
1 apple
4T unfiltered flax seed oil
6-8 ice cubes (if you want it more chilled)

Also, this makes 2 drinks. Your body can't absorb more than 1-2T flax oil, so there's no sense wasting it. If you're making for 1, cut back the flax seed, but take the blender-full of greens, if you can!

I've heard some controversial things on eating fruits and vegetables together because fruit digests faster than veggies, but I haven't heard enough to convince me to change this. At least not yet.

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This little munchkin is on vacation for nearly all of October. Man, do I miss her!

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I caught a cold Saturday night (wedding pictures in the rain!) but thankfully kicked it pretty quickly with some potent echinacea. That stuff is seriously amazing. I'd never tried it before (something else I've learned from my husband).

We're teaching 1st and 2nd grade Sunday School at church and love it. We have such an animated group of children that impress me with how much they know! Teaching 4th and 5th grade VBS really got us into it, so when we were asked if we were interested in teaching Sunday School, we were thrilled.

Oh, my man's taking me on a date tonight and I don't know where... :)



-A.H.

Green smoothies, etc.

After I got married, I realized that the health of not only me, but my husband also and any children we might have, was "in my hands", so to speak. After all, I do the grocery shopping-- choosing what and what not to bring into our house. Plus, Peter's kind of got other things to do and doesn't have time to worry about whether he's getting enough of the good stuff. I also realized that I had taken for granted the great efforts my mom went to to provide my family with a balanced diet and keep raw veggies in dishes throughout the day. Now I'm feeling a bit of pressure knowing we will reap the consequences, whether good or bad, of what I put on the table.

So with that, we're changing our lifestyle.

Our water is reverse osmosis and is stored in blue, BPA-free jugs. It is reverse osmosis because heaven only knows what Cleveland puts in their water... BPA-free because BPA has been know to cause premature-puberty, birth defects, cancer, diabetes, and more. Traces of it have also been found in newborns, showing that babies still in utero are exposed to the toxin and are highly susceptible to the dangers the compound poses.

Peter can't survive without meat and veganism is against our convictions, so we're finding a middle ground between factory farming and giving up animal products all together. Our animal products (meats, cheeses, milk, eggs...) all come from free-range, cage-free farms, and are local, preferably.
Confession: I used to think veganism was silly because "we have been given dominion over the animals", but after researching I'm convicted that, though we have dominion over the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, we are not entitled to be cruel in order to mass-produce. Free-range and, if we can afford, organically-fed, meat products are much much healthier and cruelty-free!

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So anyway, my latest rage: green smoothies. I've been reading on fresh veggies, fruits, herbs, etc., and have come to realize all the nutrients that are lost when the product is dried, powdered in capsule form, frozen...
I know we definitely don't get enough fruits and vegetables, let alone those raw, dark leafy greens. And so, I've incorporated these into our diet:

(Serves 2)
In blender, puree:
2 heaping handfuls each of fresh, organic spinach and collard greens
3T flax seed oil (this stuff has been known to cure everything. Insomnia, schizophrenia, it strengthens hair and nails, purifies skin, improves eyesight, eases weight loss, accelerates healing of sprains and bruises, and so much more!)
1/2C frozen berries
2 bananas
1 apple


You can really use whatever fresh, raw produce you want. Last night I added some fresh green beans that I had in the fridge. We also have peaches and grapes that I'm going to use today.The point is to intake as many raw fruits and vegetables as possible and reap the benefits of healthier hair, skin and nails, have more energy and live largely off of the fruit of the land!

They taste better than they look. I promise.

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Their new favorite thing: snuggling on the couch.