Category: Healthy Living

Two days ago, my daughter prepared a delightful Mexican meal. What did she make?

Butternut squash & garbanzo bean enchiladas. She made the majority of leftovers. Tuesday, I’d made a butternut squash curry and so my daughter used that as her base. Monday, she used the garbanzo bean chili I made to add to the dish. With that covered, the only thing left for her to prepare was the sauce. Into her sauce, she had tomatoes, freshly crushed garlic, ground sage, freshly ground cumin and a variety of other spices, herbs, and vegetables. She let that simmer for a few hours and then she used pita whole wheat wrappers to create her enchiladas. Since she added cheese, these aren’t vegan, but you can easily nix the cheese to make them vegan.

What was the outcome of her vegetarian enchiladas? She really loved how they turned out and she made enough to put the bulk in our deep freezer. Later today, I believe we’re making black-eyed pea vegan burgers. Yum! 🙂

Yesterday, I made a big pot of vegan chili and some egg rolls.

The chili was about eight quarts. I made that amount purposely so there would be plenty of leftovers to freeze.

I made about 16 egg rolls and my daughter demolished at her mealtime. I’d say they were a hit. My 14-year-old daughter has been doing a lot of meal prep and cooking with me. I must say as much as I enjoy doing my own thing in the kitchen, I’m more than happy to share that role with my daughter. It’s another way to bond, and she’s learning a life-enhancing skill. Granted, she’s helped me in the kitchen for several years, but recently, she’s played a much more active role and I’m enjoying seeing her culinary skills shine.

I must say that I’m excited because my daughter is joining me on a tasty journey of only eating whole foods. I challenged her to two weeks. Granted, our daily eating habits do a good job reflecting this, however, for the next two weeks, it’s only going to be whole foods (straight from the natural source) so that means I will be eliminating any bread or pasta. Those two are something I don’t eat too much (perhaps once or twice monthly) but my daughter does eat them a bit more than myself (about five times weekly) but I know the amount she consumes is minimal compared to most.

Yesterday we made hummus and made a fruit pudding, that also included avocado (yes avocado is a fruit). Today, we’re making a vegetable stir-fry, smoothies and later it’ll be cabbage rolls stuffed with hummus. Yum. Last evening, I asked my daughter how she was feeling and her response was… happier. She went on to say that she typically feels fine, but she’s a bit more subdued. I asked her did she think her mood was related simply just eating whole foods but she was unsure. I’ll be curious to see if she notices any more differences later this week. What we drink hasn’t changed at all. We’re still consuming plenty of water, however, I have started making more tea. I purchase tea in bulk and to my last brew, I added cloves, allspice, and ginger.

I’m looking forward to hearing more of what she has to say about the experience. She’s keeping a journal and at the end of the two weeks, she’ll be writing a research paper about whole foods and processed foods.

The past few weeks, I’ve been really toying with sticking to a “candida free” routine. I must admit, that at times it can be frustrating. After all… I do eat healthy. My daily intake consists of whole foods. I rarely eat processed and if I do the ‘processing’ has been done by myself. However, over the years I have developed candida. Which is just an overgrowth of fungus within our bodies. We all have candida, it only becomes a problem when there’s an overgrowth.

I’m trying to think how I could have developed an overgrowth? I don’t take any medications at all, no antibiotics… I DO eat fermented foods and there have been times when I have gotten a bit crazy with the amount that I did consume; kimchi, sauerkraut, water kefir are a few that I can think about.

I’m happy to say that the foods that I’ve been consuming have been”candida-free.” I’ll be sure to post pictures of some of the foods that I have been consuming, once things calm down a bit… and yes, drinking green smoothies/juices are playing heavily into what I consume daily. My green smoothies are savory. An acquired taste… for some, but I happen to love savory over sweet.

The next few days, I thought I’d mainly focus on consuming green smoothies. Not the sweet kind, these are all savory. I’m hoping to be able to share some of the green drinks I consume here on Celebrate Life, but we’ll see. It’s been so busy for us the past few months, and… it’s about to get busier… for me! Yikes!!! I know I can handle the new opportunities that are coming my way. I’ve been proactive and have planned accordingly, and now it’s just a matter of seeing if everything goes according to plan.

Yesterday was Father’s Day and of course I cooked for my Dad. The reason was simp, my mother was working and so I made his lunch.

Actually, I started making the food on Saturday. I prepared the homemade potato salad.

Yes… the mayonnaise was homemade too.

 

I picked a bowlful of herbs from the garden and some of those herbs went into the homemade mayonnaise. The rest was brewed and turned into a pitcher of iced herbal tea. Of course… I forgot to take a picture of the potato salad!

I did remember to take a picture of the barbecued chicken that I made for my father, but… I forgot to take a picture of the bake beans but…

I did not forget to take a picture of the sticky rice! Most of the veggies and herbs that were added to this dish came from our garden.

My daughter made my father a picture for Father’s Day. I must say it was a enjoyable day spent with my loved ones.

The past several weeks, I’ve been sorely neglecting using my laptop or desktop when I’m not working. It’s so much easier to use my iPad. It’s portable and I use it at different parts of the house, although it rarely travels with me, unless I’m going away for a few days. Anyway… because of that my blog writing on all my websites have suffered. While I will occasionally write a post on my iPad, I much prefer the “traditional” method for writing a blog post.

 

What’s been happening? Well… this year, I did make it to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival! We went last Saturday, May 7.

Also… I’ve been having fun with food… as always. I made the above wontons a few weeks ago. They were a combination of vegetable only wontons and a pureed chicken mixture. I’m hoping to get back to using the computer, in my down time, very soon.