It's been a while!

Wow- I haven't posted since Wednesday, but I have been up to SO much it seems like!

I made homemade Pear Pie Granola-

And had some with some vanilla almond milk!
It had dried pears and dates, oats, flaxseed, almonds, cinnamon,brown sugar, applesauce, Smart Balance oil and probably more things too, but I can't remember- I just made the recipe up! It is so good!

I also made meringues for the first time since I was a teenager! They were like little clouds and tasted like perfectly toasted marshmallows!
I made banana sushi with my 4H kids- they all loved it!


This is a great recipe for kids, so I'll include it:

4 flour tortillas
1/4 - 1/2 cup of smooth peanut butter (depending on how much you want on each one)
4 bananas
4 tbs raisins
1 apple thinly sliced

Directions: Put the tortillas on their own paper towel or plate and divide the peanut butter evenly among them. Spread the pb all over the tortilla. Peel the banana (kids will probably need help with this part) and break the banana a little bit so that it will lie flat. Place the banana in the middle of the pb and top with raisins and apple slices. Roll up VERY TIGHTLY and then slice just like sushi!

This was a HUGE hit!

The other thing that I've been working on is prep for a juice feast which I started today. I know that there is a lot of controversy about cleanses and juices fasting/feasting and that sort of "detoxy" sort of thing, so before you all tell me how horibble this is let me tell you some reasons why I'm doing this as well as some "Not!" reasons for doing this..

Reasons Why:
I sometimes find (as many people do) that I am ruled by cravings. I plan a lovely meal at home only to have a craving for a bean burrito and so we go to a Mexican Restaurant instead. This wastes money and makes my waist get bigger- I know this! Juice Fasts/Feasts are said to help reduce cravings even after they are over.

Maybe this is TMI but Waste Removal is a big reason why as well. I have aome problems with that and can tell that my system is backed up- I get tummy aches and other things that tell me this is probably so. Juice Feasting is said to help alleviate many minor health issues that I suffer from- Migraines, constipation, horrible cramps and others.

I've wanted to do this for a while and my husband is leaving on a trip early Monday morning for the rest of the week so this is the perfect time! No dishes, no cooking for him and being tempted by his food or anything like that. Just me and my juice and NO DISHES!

One of this biggest reasons is just plain old EXPERIMENTATION! I've heard so much about it and really have no way of actually knowing what it's like and what it does and how it feels unless I do it for myself. I'm intensely curious about the process.

"Not!" Reasons Why:
Because cleanses and detoxes are "popular" with celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow who are STICK skinny- she looks like she might need a little MORE food in my opinion!

Because I think I'll lose tons of fat and keep it all off. I do think I'll lose some weight and I will try to keep it off, but weight loss is not the main motivation for me, health and reduced cravings are!

Because I plan on doing this over and over for prolonged periods of time. I have heard of many people to 100+ day juice feasts and I definitely think that that is EXTREME. I'm sure a lot of you think that any amount of time without chewing is extreme and I can understand that, but I think that 6 days of drinking fresh homemade juice will be perfectly healthy and fine.

Anyways, now that I've explained myself, let the comments fly- feel free to tell why you think juice feasting is bad or good- just keep it polite!

Here are some pictures from my Juicing Prep:
My shopping cart!
My bounty- nothing but fruit, veggies, green tea and dark chocolate (not giving that up even for six days!)
I got two new kinds of chocolate- the Lindt chili flavored kind is actually super tasty! (haven't tried the other one yet)
More ginger than most people probably buy in a year! Ginger makes a great addition to juices.
Lemons and limes for my Lemon Limeade (with ginger juice!). Surprisingly easy to peel.
And the end product above!

I've got:
2 gallons of green juice (cucumber, celery and cilantro)
1 gallon orange carrot ginger juice
1 gallon of (very strong) lemon limeade with ginger
1 gallon delicious fresh pineapple juice
1/2 a gallon of apple juice
1 gallon green tea

They all actually taste pretty good, too! I've been practicing making yummy juice (as opposed to gaggy juice- been there done that!)

We'll see how it all goes!

Love,
Lis