Grilled Quinoa Salad

•  1 bunch asparagus (I used the purple haze from WF Market)
• 2 large zuchinni, quartered lengthwise
• 1 large red bell pepper, quartered lengthwise
• 1 medium yellow onion, cut in half crosswise
• handful of yellow sunburst cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 2 C. dry quinoa
• 4 C. vegetable broth

First, I want to share with the whole world: Simple Living Media is my favorite web resource lately. They do such a smashing job of providing relevant, well-researched, well-tested, and thoroughly-considered material. You should go subscribe to at least one of their blogs right now.

I recently happened to  read this article and decided to give it a try since I have also been searching for a decent natural deodorant. Tom’s of Maine wasn’t cutting it in the slightest.  I followed the recipe found on Passionate Homemaking, another blog I’m excited to start following, and added a few drops of tea tree oil as well.

I’m thrilled to say that I’ve been wearing it for three whole days now and am utterly shocked at the lack of body odor. In those three days I hosted a huge, day-long birthday for my husband, went on a 3km hike in humid weather, and met with my trainer after not showering the day before. So, I feel that I’ve tested it thoroughly for only 72 hours.

If I have any problems with it, I’ll be sure to update. In the meantime, I’m very excited about experimenting with some other essential oils and creating my own lovely scents!

I’ve also just decided to try out Project: Simplify next month. Check out the button to the left for more info!

As with so many things, I believe balance is the key. I know I will never be able to convince Cory to sell everything and take off on an unknown adventure with me and the (soon-to-be) kids. But, I still plan to travel on a regular basis and provide my children with experiences similar to my childhood. I know that I want to raise my children to value good nutrition and exercise, but there will be times when we eat tex-mex at Trudy’s (Cory’s favorite) or order pizza. I hope to balance that by getting their help with the garden and exposing them to produce that I only became familiar with in the past 5 years such as beets, fennel, kale, chard, and turnips, etc. I would rather not put my children in public school, but that decision may take a back seat to other family values and I think that parents are just as responsible as schools for their child’s education. The public school system doesn’t teach you to manage money, change a tire, or develop a good work ethic. As an adult educator I know that there is only so much you can do for students. If they insist on doing the very least possible to pass, then so be it. When students are young, it should be the responsibility of the parent to inspire curiosity, motivation, and an active interest in the world around them. If you’re apathetic, you’ll have apathetic children.

Of course, I may look back on this in 5, 10, 15 years and laugh at how naive I was. There is no way to know for sure what kind of parent you will be or how your children will turn out until it’s already happened. We all just do the best we can do, right? Still, as a soon-to-be parent, it is fascinating to me to consider which parts of my personality developed from nature versus nurture and to witness so many examples of how parents affect their children. To some extent, children are born as little pieces of clay that we mold even when we are not intending to do so. They go out into the world and continue to be shaped by their experiences and we hope that the impressions we’ve made are not completely destroyed in the process.

FoodShouldTasteGood Multigrain Chips: Granted, there are a million and one other things we should be eating besides chips. Like Broccoli. However, these are also miles from your average tortilla chip’s simple ingredients. Pass the salsa!
Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomatoes: These are great on just about anything. You can also process them into a spread with some fresh basil or other herbs. Rinse the oil off with hot water or squeeze between layers of paper towels before using to reduce fat content from the olive oil.
Crunchmaster Rice Crackers: Low in fat, full in flavor, and go great with hummus!
Pita Pal Organic Hummus: Made in Texas and they use 100% renewable energy for their corporate offices.
Flax USA Organic Cold Milled Flaxseed: Smoothies, Breads, salads, cereals…just add flax! They have some good recipes and substitution suggestions on their website.
Seapoint Farms Dry Roasted Edamame: This is my absolute favorite snack. I can take this with me anywhere and I much prefer it to most nuts. Only a fourth of a cup has 14 grams of protein! Talk about tiding you over until your next meal.
Kashi GoLean Crunch Honey Almond Flax Cereal and TLC Chewy granola bars: I pretty much love anything Kashi. They also have a fantastic website including recipes and a Natural Learning Blog.
Earthly Delights Organic Quinoa: (4lb bag, y’all!) I think I’m going to make quinoa in place of rice for everything now. I also love it cold, which makes for great salads.
Tasty Bite Madras Lentils: I haven’t tried these yet, but they seemed like a pretty good grab-and-go option for lunches.
Larabars: It’s impossible to get my husband to eat much for breakfast. First, I had him on CLIF bars, but these are unsweetened and made with more wholesome ingredients.
Pacific Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth: Another great company working to reduce their footprint and support their community. I usually go for the low-sodium vegetable broth since I have so many vegetarian friends who eat over, but it’s nice to know that Costco is carrying these guys.
La Croix Sparkling Water: Sometimes water gets boring. I love to drink La Croix by itself or mix in juices, teas, or wine.
Jana Worldwide Sashimi Grade Ahi Tuna Steaks: I grilled these for dinner last night and they were delicious! Not the cheapest frozen meat available, but I think they were totally worth it.

While it goes without saying that too much of anything can be bad for your health, I’ve never fully understood what is so bad about coffee. It is mostly water and I drink it with light vanilla soy milk only, so I’m not getting the ridiculous calorie intake of, say, a venti caramel macchiato from Starbucks. I also only drink about 1-2 cups in the morning, so my caffeine intake is not comparable to an IV drip like some people I know.

I’ve read that since coffee is a diuretic, it can dehydrate you. I’ve also read that the amount of fluid lost from coffee (or tea) is inconsequential. I’ve read that coffee has a myriad of benefits from reduction of risk of diabetes to parkinson’s disease, so why all the fuss over a few boiled beans?

Diana really helped to put it into perspective. Our liver, kidneys, and other parts of our body’s systems that filter toxins can only take so much. Even if you have the most impeccable diet in the world, you are still absorbing toxins from the air you breathe and everything that touches your skin. Since most of us are not perfect and cannot eat only organic produce, or completely abstain from processed foods, our detox systems are working overtime to keep our bodies free of anything internalized through our digestive system AND all of the latest and greatest chemicals and preservatives in our personal care and cleaning products, AND anything that may be absorbed through our skin or lungs when we’re out and about in the world. That’s some serious overtime.

When there is too much toxic waste for our bodies to dispose of properly, it starts to wreck all kinds of things including organs that control our hormones, our cells’ metabolic rate, and our body’s ability to communicate with the brain in an effective manner and it’s ability to regulate itself. Hence, the crash-and-burn effect after too much caffeine, alcohol, or unhealthy foods.

However, in the end, there is a certain amount of pleasure that comes from a hot mug of coffee first thing in the morning. Diana conceded that it isn’t worth denying yourself some small thing if it will make you bonkers for the rest of the day. So, while there are days that I go without coffee completely, I feel quite a bit better about my single cup with light soy on those days when I would be going for someone’s jugular without it.

P.S. If you’re ever in the mood for a beautiful, quiet nature hike, Wild Basin Preserve is a great place to visit!

Part of me just can’t bear to give up meat and seafood and most everything I read seems to suggest the best route is high-quality, unprocessed, moderate portions of meat paired with loads of great veggies. What do you think?

This is one of the only companies that my friends are all sick of hearing about from me. The ALL know about Greenling and how much I adore my Local Box.

Grilled Turnips
When in doubt: grill it. I will have to show you a picture of the beautiful, blue Weber I received as a birthday gift from my husband. Without a doubt, this is my favorite method of cooking. When I was faced with some aging turnips and carrots, and couldn’t find a recipe that wasn’t loaded with fat or drowned the flavor of the turnips with sauce or pulverization, I turned to trusty Blue. I dressed it all with some drizzled olive oil, salt, and pepper. The turnips cooked in the grill basket for 30 minutes, the chicken and carrots cooked for about 20 minutes and the whole thing came out delicious! I was surprised to not find much reference to grilled turnips when I was digging around online. I think more people should try this great method of cooking them!

Parsley: not just decoration
I also made a delicious Parsley Parmesan dressing which I found on Canela and Comino. I have been eating it on everything since then and the tiniest bit goes along way. It adds a refreshing kick, with just a slight zing of dijon mustard.

Everything except the chicken is from Greenling

Kale Chips
I keep forgetting to take a picture, but I wouldn’t be able to do justice to the flavor anyways. I have seen recipes for kale chips all over the internet, so I make them a bit differently each time. Essentially, I tear the leaves into large chunks, toss with olive oil and something a bit salty/spicy, and bake them on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees. Toss them around every 3 minutes until most of them are browning and/or slightly burning on the edges. These cook down quite a bit, so you can start with a heaping cookie sheet of fresh kale. The end result is a bit crispy, a bit chewy, a bit salty, and a bit of the natural buttery taste of kale. I have found various versions on Recipezaar, AllRecipes, and Epicurious.

I have been working with Kyle since December of 2007 and he has changed my life. Not only is he a fabulous personal trainer, he has been a constant source of encouragement and support. He had a small part in my decision to become a massage therapist and a huge part in my desire to help others live healthier lives. He has made me stronger both in body and spirit and I will be forever grateful to him for that.

If he can do all of that for me, imagine what he can do for you! Please contact him at WorkIt Training or at least check out his wonderful blog for some great health tips.