Recipe Sunday - Day 8

Real Food Tulsa Juicy Meetup at Whole Foods

I've been really boring with my juicing for the past few days and have been drinking almost the same thing for the last 3 days. Today I woke up feeling as though I was starting to lose my juicing enthusiasm. It's likely that my palate needs things switched up a little. So, every Sunday for the month of March, I've decided to share a few recipes from the book that I'm working on, Real Juice Daily, in an effort to help those of you who are juicing keep your momentum going!

Also, do you know the importance of getting a little good fat into your juice or green smoothies? I know that sounds unappetizing, but I promise it's not. Our bodies need a bit of high quality fat when were juicing or doing green smoothies exclusively for a period of time. The recommended daily amount of fat is about one tablespoon per day of either flax, hemp, coconut, or extra virgin olive oil. The lack of fat is another reason I was feeling a little punky this morning. Once I had my Thai Transfusion, I'm as good as new. The addition young Thai coconuts is also extremely beneficial while juicing. (You can scrape out the meat and freeze it for recipes when you're done with your cleanse.) Then finally, adding sprouts to your juices or smoothies is amazing. Because sprouts are fully alive and contain so much quality nutrition, it's a great and inexpensive way to create a more nutrient dense concoction.

Thai Green Transfusion:
6 stalks of celery
handful sugar snap peas
1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts
3 green onions
1/2 red bell pepper
1 serrano pepper
1/2 pint grape tomatoes
1 handful of cilantro
2 limes, peeled
water from one young coconut
2 tsp. flax oil (or whatever you have)
Celtic sea salt to taste
Juice all ingredients up to the coconut. Put all the liquids into a blender, adding in the coconut water, oil and salt. Blend until smooth.

Chilled Cucumber Salad:
3 cucumbers
handful of fresh dill (if available)
1/2 cup sugar snap peas
2 cloves garlic
1/2 pint onion sprouts
5 green onions
1 organic lemon, peeled
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. raw honey
Freshly raked pepper, to taste
(Omit the raw honey & vinegar if you are hardcore juice feasting)
Feed all ingredients through your juicer through the lemon. Then pour the juice into your blender, adding oil, vinegar, honey and pepper. Blend and drink over crushed ice.

Anemia Buster:
3 ripe apricots
3 carrots
one big handful of spinach
1/2 lemon, peeled
2 tsp kelp powder
Juice the first four ingredients and then put into a blender with the kelp powder.

Purple Passion
1/2 head purple cabbage
3 granny smith apples
Exquisite color with delicious flavor.

Remember, every Sunday afternoon at 3 pm a group of us meet at the Whole Foods Juice Bar in Tulsa for support, encouragement and information sharing. We'd love to have you come join us if you're in our neck of the woods.

Global Juice Feast 2009 Starts Today!

With Juice Feasting Founder & Mentor David Rainoshek

Last year's Global Juice Feast ran from March 1st through June 5th and because last year's event was such a success internationally, David & Katrina Rainoshek are launching 2009's Global Juice Feast, with today as the kick off! As you all already know, I began my juice cleanse on March 1st and plan to go through the end of the month, so it feels great to have the added momentum and community excitement in the air. GlobalJuiceFeast is a free forum where you can join other feasters, and JuiceFeasting is where to go for much more detailed information and education on juice feasting. I highly recommend the Rainoshek's site and found the information there invaluable along my personal journey with juice. If you're juicing right now please join me on GJF. On the educational site, I have a full year membership because I want access to all of the high quality information and training even when I'm not juicing exclusively. There are different options, but you can choose from a 30, 60, 100, or 365 Day Membership. For more information please click on the Juice Feasting link on the right side of my blog.

and with the beautiful co-founder, Katrina Rainoshek

Go Green Smoothie!

Earlier this week our local paper, the Tulsa World, published an article about the 12 Week Health Initiative at Gabby's school, Metro Christian Academy. I wanted to share about it here on the blog since Fridays have suddenly become such a highlight. Each week well over a thousand students, faculty and parents are exposed to a delicious way to increase the amount of fruits and veggies in their diet with our Go Green Smoothie Challenge.

I've been keeping the Vita Mix busy as the kids and adults line up to guzzle down the green goodness. It took a little coaxing at first, but once they had a taste, nearly all the kids gave the thumbs up to the green smoothies, which I make with a heaping serving of spinach, strawberries, banana and orange juice.

Metro's 12-week Health Initiative is a program that was created over 3 years ago to encourage healthy diets and lifestyles for students and their families. Since this is Gabby's first year at Metro, I was delighted to be asked to be part of such a great program dedicated to health education and inspiration.

I have loved watching as the kids come streaming into the lunch room, grimacing as they first see green drink being poured into sample cups, but once they try it, they are all smiles and generally come back for more. Today when I arrived at the school with my blender and ingredients in tow, some of the kids in the hall cheered and said, "She's back!! It's the green juice lady!!" Some of the older kids are throwing money at us and asking for full size cups. It's so encouraging to know these kids are realizing that good nutrition can be fun AND delicious!

In addition to the the Go Green Smoothie Challenge, Metro kids have other healthy-living challenges, such as learning about the importance of drinking more water, getting them moving with walking the school's new nature path and we have a committee that has planning underway for a school sponsored garden which will be maintained by students and parents.

This fact has surprised more than a few people, but the Go Green Challenge is sponsored by Arby's. We couldn't do it without their generous contribution. To get the exact recipe or read the Tulsa World article in it's entirety go here.

PS....to all you juicy juicers: I'm still on the juice train, although I did have to taste a few samples of the smoothies today. I feel great and already lost several pounds. I'll bring you up to date tomorrow on what I've been drinking and share a few more recipes!

How are you doing today?

Jardin de Shelton

The title is much more elegant than the reality. Today I get excited about the coming of Spring. Organic Gardening runs through my bloodstream and I'm more than eager to get my hands into the dirt and see if this year I can use last year's lessons learned to grow a more productive crop.

It's been a busy day of office work with an ultimate feeling of accomplishment. I veered off track from my juice cleanse for a moment this morning (see below), but I am immediately back on track and feeling great. The only symptoms of detox are that I'm aware of is the need to sleep 10 hours or the last two night and a couple of pimples erupting on my chin. So far So GOOD!

Also, BIG thanks to my juicing mentors, David and Katrina Rainoshek for featuring me and Courtney Pool, on their blog. If you want to learn more about juicing and all of it's marvelous nuances, I highly recommend the Rainoshek's site.

Today's Daily Juice:

1 Quart Smoothie: Pineapple, Orange, Banana
1.5 Quart Green Juice: Swiss Chard, Celery, Cucumber, Granny Smith, Lime
And later this eve - Bruschetta (after Taylor's FINAL basketball game):
1 pint (or more) grape or cherry tomatoes
1 sweet Vidalia onion (or other available variety)
1 small bunch basil
2-3 cloves garlic
1/2 head celery
1 red bell pepper
1/2 large cucumber
juice of one lemon
freshly ground pepper, to taste
Celtic Sea Salt, to taste

Tell me, how are things going for you today?

Juicing & Supplements

For those of you who subscribe, you'll need to click on the link above to view today's video.

Today I talk about supplements and juicing. One thing I didn't mention is that it's a good idea to get at least a tablespoon of oil into your juices or smoothies daily, if you're doing a cleanse. I prefer flax, hemp or cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. Our bodies need a bit of fat and one tbsp. daily while cleansing will help keep things in balance and lubricated.

March always seems like a great time to cleanse and then, on the 3rd, I realize it's my best friend's birthday. It happened last year....a big dinner party, decadent chocolate cake and there I sat, pursed lipped, demurely sipping tea. It was a rough night, but I made it through. And I'll make it through again tonight as I work my way down that narrow staircase to the Cellar Dweller Bar to celebrate with my dear friend, Western. It's also my brother-in-law's birthday - Favored Uncle Larry lives in Salt Lake City and I miss him, Debbie, Ryan and Little Ned to pieces. Happy Birthday, boys.....surely you know I love you!

Today's Daily Juice:

1.5 quarts of grapefruit/spirulina
1.5 quarts spinach/celery/cucumber/beet/carrot and garlic
not sure what I'll drink next (or if I will), but for now I'm just sloshing about, making food for the family. (Pray to baby Jesus that I won't give in to the evil temptation of vodka tonight.)

How was your day today?

Weigh In - Day 2

I went to the health club this morning and walked for an hour. After spending the majority of the last two months away from the gym, I was off to a slow start. It's true what they say, "Use it or lose it." I felt accomplished when it was over and I've had great stamina the rest of the day.

Today's Daily Juice:

2 Quarts (1 qt. each @ 10 am and 3 pm): 1 bunch of Kale, 1 head celery, 1 large cucumber, 2 golden beets w/ tops, 3 apples, 1 inch pc. ginger, 2 lemons (peeled)
getting ready to juice: 1/2 lb. mixed greens, some stalks of celery, handful of fresh parsley, 2 pears & lime.

How did you do today?

March Juice Madness

Real Food Tulsa Juice Crew

Today was the first of day of March's juicy adventure! I've been so amazed at all of the support and comradeship that I've found since I announced that I was going to embark on a month of juice. There have been friends from around the globe who have chimed in to share that they are also going to get their juice on during this month of early spring cleaning. Some people are committed to juicing, while others are doing a green smoothie challenge and then there are others who are committing to a renewed dedication to a raw food diet as means of cleansing and rejuvenating.

This afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting with a group of Tulsans who are getting in on the juicing momentum. We had a great time of sharing and mutual support. I feel so fortunate and blessed to have found this kind of community, accountability partners and friends. I've heard from a few others that they'll be joining us next week, so if you're in the Tulsa area, please join us in the juice bar at Whole Foods at 3 pm on Sundays, throughout the month of March.

Yesterday I shopped for lots of produce with which to fill my counter top and refrigerator. I tried to focus on leafy greens, celery, cucumbers, lemons, limes, apples, grapefruits and oranges. I also picked up some golden and red beets and a 5 pound bag of carrots. Since I'm hoping to lose some unwanted winter pounds during this month, my plan is to go much lighter on the fruits and much heavier on the greens.

I'll start back at the gym tomorrow and will report on what I am able to accomplish there. I'll also weigh in on the scales there, since they are more accurate than those at home.

Today's DAILY JUICE:

1 Quart - Orange/Grapefruit/Spirulina
1.5 Quart - Rainbow Chard/Celery/Cilantro/Cucumber/Tomato/Onion/Jalapeno/Lime/Sea Salt
1.5 Quart - Mixed Greens/Celery/Cuke/Granny Smith Apple/Lemon/Ginger

Tell me, how was your first day of March?