Harvest Recipes: Carrot-Top Pesto

With one of my recent pinterest sessions I came across a recipe for Carrot Top Pesto.  I was intrigued. Most of the recipes I saw mentioned that carrot greens can be bitter. They recommended using pine nuts. I thought I would try the sweet pistachio to counter the bitter green.

It was a big hit - so much so that Gracie was gobbling it down by the spoonfuls, not even putting it on bread. I am always tickled when she munches on greens happily. It's also always a marvel when we get to eat the whole plant!

Carrot-Top Pesto

2 c. carrot tops (no stems if you can help it)

1 c. pistachios

3 clove garlic

1 c. fresh grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1/2 to 1 c. olive oil (depending on desired consistency)

1/2 c. water (to cut down on use of olive oil)

Throw all the ingredients in the blender or food processor.

 Blend until smooth.

 Serve on your favorite crusty bread or over pasta. 

Why I Chose to Be Vegan

The Kicker

The day  before Thanksgiving I had my annual well-woman check up. This is a new doctor. I was not particularly fond of her as each time I went in to her she was pretty clear that if I wanted to have another child the only way was IVF or clomid.  So for this visit I braced myself. 

I did have some concerns though. While I have not been pregnant for three and half years (we lost that child to miscarriage), I have been feeling better about being the mom of an only child. If God wants us to have another one, he will make it so. But my biggest concern was that I had been trying vigorously to lose weight - 3 months of counting calories to loose 2 pounds. I was not getting the results so I was down to 1000 calories a day. My question for her was -I know women with PCOS have difficulty losing weight - please help me. I want to lose and be healthy. 

When she walked into the room I hardly recognized her. She was very thin. She obviously had lost a lot of weight. I voiced my concerns. She said, I have just the thing for you and she pulled out this study by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. The best way for women with PCOS to both conceive and lose weight is a plant based diet. She also recommended watching the movie - Forks over Knives. She had gone Vegan 6 months before and lost 30 pounds. 

I had been thinking about this for over a year through various conversations and just kept storing it away. I felt like this time it was a big flag waving in my face.  Ok! Ok! I get it!

So the day before Thanksgiving I made the decision to be vegan again. The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas I lost 3 pounds - more than I had lost in 3 months counting calories. Christmas came and went and I gained it back. Now three weeks after being back on track, those three pounds are gone. 

Reinforcement

Last week, I felt myself slipping into doubt over this whole Vegan thing (despite obvious results - go figure) I knew it was time for some reinforcement so I searched out the movie Dr. Kim recommended. The movie is based on the The China Study  which I had actually read a few years ago when I was vegan before. I wish that I had the option of the movie before! It was so much more accessible and easy to understand rather than reading the results of a major, comprehensive scientific study. 

There are a few fascinating finds in this movie, but for me it's the fact that in China there are communities where for centuries they have been eating the same diet due to location and isolation - some villages with primarily fish and sea vegetables, or others with beef and dairy, others with primarily vegetarian, etc. There are medical records available for these communities. Once the data was analyzed the results were astounding.  I totally recommend this movie to everyone - even if you have no intention of ever being vegan. It is information that every American should have. 

Think Globally

Every once in a while, I am in the car when World View with Jerome McDonnell is on the radio. This particular day I caught a few minutes of a segment on the international farming community and how Monsanto and genetically modified crops are affecting third world nations. McDonnell had Dr. Vandana Shiva as a guest. Link to the Conversation

Dr. Shiva was passionately discussing how these seed companies through their GMOs have completely ravaged our farming practices. She noted how there are no documented studies of the effects of GMOs on health, however, if you look at the general health of the U.S. as a case study you will see that we are quite sick as a nation. We are also the nation with no regulation what so ever regarding GMOs, therefore we have the most GMO products mainstreamed into our diet.

The other interesting fact that she discussed is that the primary genetic mutation that Monsanto sells and is so proud of is the round-up ready variety. This makes it possible for farmers to spray as much Round-up, a weed killer, as necessary to that they have pristine weedless fields. This has worked for a while.. but now the weeds are resistant to Round-up. They only thing that kills the weeds now - AgentOrange. So, in order to have weedless fields, farmers must use this highly toxic chemical. No only is this toxin getting into our food but the farmers and workers come into close contact with the chemical daily. Where is the dignity in that?

Healthy Diet, Healthy Planet

I have now come full circle. The world is sick and only getting sicker. We pollute our water sources with pesticides, herbicides and animal waste - all from unsavory farming and industrial practices. Our animals - that we raise for food are terribly sick, we pump them with antibiotics and then we eat them and wonder why we are sick.

I have spent loads of money at Whole Foods on organic no-GMO food and it is not sustainable. Why is the most healthy diet the most unattainable for the average person? Where is the dignity in this? I find this deeply disturbing. 

When we first started telling people our vision for Nativity House it was easy for them to understand the house of hospitality for unwed mothers. But why they would ask the farm?   

This is why! We need to get back to practices where we care for the Earth from which we get our food. We need to grow healthy food for those who need it most, the poor and marginalized. We can teach how to farm and care for their families to the best of their ability. They don't have the luxury of healthy food options. We can help them with that. 

I am on a journey.  This is where I have ended up. Again. 

Strength in Numbers: The Raw Detox Diet

I always do best when trying to lose weight if I am doing it with friends.  This time, I convinced my co-workers to do The Raw Food Detox Diet with me for the last three weeks of school. We are at the end of week 2. Collectively, the four of us have lost around 10 pounds. 

It is really a great system. I knew that it worked - I had proof - My friend Heidi (Heidi's Raw Hub) has lost her pregnancy weight after 2 pregnancies. She is so convinced she is seeking nutrition certification so that she can become a health coach to help others achieve optimum health through a raw diet. 

So my co-workers and I take turns bringing food. The plan simplified is pretty simple.

1. Raw fruit for breakfast - really all morning until 30 minutes before you eat your lunch. 
2. Lunch is as many raw veggies as you want. Add a protein OR a starch - Never mix protein and starch because your body needs different digestive juices for each. The different digestive juices can cause fermentation in the body causing flatulence and a residue left behind in your body. ICK!
3. Chocolate - 70% cacao or more - you can eat it any time! It is a quick elimination food and it doesn't leave much residue behind.

If this sounds at all interesting to you I suggest checking the book out of your local library. At first paying attention to the food combinations was trying. But when I stick to it my body seems to be working so well. When I don't, my body rebels. To top it all off, I am actually losing weight, I am not starving and I feel great!

Week 6: Getting Back on the Wagon

So, let me think of some excuses for falling off the wagon: Superbowl Sunday!, Who knew there was going to be a blizzard - couldn't get to the gym for like a week! Back to work full time (it just happened to be the week from hell) - no time to think about what or what not to eat. PMS - I needed those carbs!

I am down from my starting weight. 3 pounds instead of six. But there was a 2 pound gaining and re-losing in there. So here I am, ready to get back on the wagon. I mean business, again.

What I would like is to get so good at these good habits that when stressful times come around I have good practice to fall back on.

Bye-bye Bad Habit # 4: Stress is Not an Excuse
Every once in a while we get reminders of stress busters. The things that come to mind: exercise, healthy eating, healthy sleep - all of the things that go out the window when we are stressed. So how the heck to do we get a handle on this when stress strikes and all the time for healthy eating, sleeping and exercising is no where in sight? What can I do? Any ideas?

Hello Healthy Habit: Be a Woman of Your Word
While that mindfulness I was talking about last time kicks in.... I need to be a bit more reliable for myself. And remember, "oh, yeah! It's not only about me!" If I want to add to our family, if I want to be alive to a healthy, happy old age and be around to see Gracie grow up to be a beautiful young woman; I need to do what I say I am going to do and sweep those excuses under the rug. Stress is going to come. The best way to conquer stress is to do the things already mentioned above.  Ok, enough said, back on the wagon.

Ok, I have some recipes around here somewhere... 

One of my favorite, easy meals is Mexican Breakfast. The best way is a tofu scramble. In this first one I did it the old fashioned way with scrambled eggs, homemade salsa verde and half of an avocado stuffed with red peppers. Spicy, fresh and filling.

I tried this new recipe from Family Fun - Indian Hand Pies It called for ground beef, but I used scrambled tofu, peas, carrots and a touch of garam masala for the filling. The shell is just a whole wheat pie shell. For the dipping sauce I blended fresh pineapple and marmalade (half and half.) This was surprisingly fast. It would also be good to make up a few and freeze for a quick dinner on the run. 

This was among my favorite! Meatless meat balls, sauce and polenta This recipe is a bit labor intensive but it made so many that I have meatballs in the freezer for a meatball sub or a redo any time. I had some italian style lentils in the freezer. I whipped that up in the food processor with some parsley, more garlic, walnuts, onions and brewers yeast; formed them into balls and baked for 20 minutes. So YummY!

Soup. I think that I need to eat much more soup. If one of my meals a day is mostly liquid that can't be a bad thing. This is White Bean, Rainbow Chard, and Tortellini Soup. It is surprisingly easy and very tasty. For this one I start with carmelized onions, and chickenless chik'n broth. Add the beans and tortellini. When the tortellini is cooked mix in the chopped greens. If you like top it off with a bit of parmesan or brewers flakes.

Good Habit #3: Mindfulness

Bye-bye Bad Habit: 

Mindlessly shoving food in my mouth when I am ravenous or emotional will fall by the wayside (I hope!) I wish I was one of those people who didn't care about food. You know, the kind that forgets they are hungry or eats only for survival. Somewhere in my life food became a psychological soother or reward. In my inner thoughts I frequently hear, today was so hard, I deserve to eat a bowl of cheese macaroni or chips or McDonald's bacon, egg & cheese biscuit etc.

Hello Good Habit:

I have already started stocking my cabinets and refrigerator with good healthy snacks so that when I am having those moments of weakness good food is easy to find.  The raw chocolate mousse is a good example of this. I made up a batch of that two weeks ago. I just had the last cup last night. It is great for when I have a sweet craving. I have also taken to chomping on nuts when I get a hankering for something salty. Smokehouse Almonds are soooo yummy. Cashews all by themselves are pretty great too.

The other thing that I really need to work on which is not so easy, is the same questioning that I have to do when I go shopping; do I really need to buy this? Can I live with out it? The food question is, am I really hungry right now or am I eating just to be eating?

Last week in Review

I am down 2 pounds. I was fighting a cold so I didn't get to the gym as much as I should have. I will remedy that this week. Food-wise was great. I learned some new recipes and fell back on some old ones.

To the left is Tempeh Bacon (from Vegan with a Vengeance,) Scarlet Barley (from Appetite for Reduction) and my own Guacamole. The tempeh was just ok. It was not as flavorful as I was hoping. I will add more maple syrup, soy sauce and smoky flavor next time. I think that marinating overnight would have helped too. The Scarlet Barley was good. It will definitely become a staple around here. It was Justin-approved which is impressive considering he hates beets. Guacamole - well, can one really ever go wrong with guacamole. It is totally a crowd pleaser staple around here. I think we had it on our plate for 3 different meals last week.

To the right is my own version of Raw Pasta Bolognese. I used my new spiralizer to make "pasta" from zucchini. You don't need a spiralizer to do make zucchini pasta; before I had one I used a veggie peeler and made wide noodles. The sauce is a blend of garlic, carrots, celery, onion, sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh tomatoes. Very tasty. For the protein I made an Italian-style nut loaf and crumbled it on top. The best thing about this dish is that you can eat as much of it as you want. It is satisfying and bursting with flavor. I am trying to have at least one raw meal a week. I know that I am getting optimum nutritional benefits when I do and I can actually eat mindlessly. 

Finally, the yummiest of yummy vegan comfort food alternatives -Veggie Potpie Stew (from Appetite for Reduction.) I topped it off with Sweet Potato Biscuits (also from Appetite for Reduction.) This was totally scrumptious. It had all of those wonderful savory flavors that were so yummy about chicken pot pie without the uck of chicken. Instead of chicken, she calls for yellow split peas. Talk about a powerhouse legume! It is loaded with protein (25g per serving,) folic acid, and iron. Take that! all you who say vegans don't get their nutrition! I totally recommend this recipe. Do it! Serve it for a winter dinner and a movie party and your friends will be amazed at the goodness.

Confessions of One Fat Mama: A Challenge

It's true, there is no more denying it. I'm fat.

I have spent the last 10 years of my life getting to this point. Along the way, I have tried all kinds of things to lose weight. Some things have worked better than others. But I always end up back where I started -- back with the weight I lost.

Over the last year, I find that I am somewhere the middle of this vicious cycle 1. being mad at society for telling me I fat, 2. being content with my body,  3. waking up one morning disappointed that my clothes don't look right on my misshapen body, 4. convinced that this is the week when my habits will change for the better.

Bottom line.
I am lazy and have no will power and I am an emotional eater.

For whatever reason, my motivation has just not been there. I am really good at talking the healthy food talk.  But when it comes down to it, I love good food. I love to cook with all of the things that are not good for me - cheese, butter, cream, sugar.

I have even spent the last 10 years studying vegetarian, vegan, raw cooking in hopes that it would somehow convert me. And it did. For a little while. I do still believe that a vegan/raw diet is the best for me and the planet and all living things on it. But wrapping my mouth around that has been really hard lately.

Then a few months ago, it hit me.  My life is all not about me. SURPRISE!

As long as I continue on this trend, I continue be a poor example for Gracie. Justin frequently reminds me of the poor health I am promised to have if something doesn't change. He is right. There is a good chance that I will end up with diabetes and poor joint health later or not so much later in life. And, as long as I remain overweight my chances of ever having another child continue to drop.

So, I am on a quest - a life change - a good habit quest.

The Good Habit Quest

1. Adopt 1 new good eating habit a week.
2. Break 1 bad habit a week.
3. Try at least 1 new vegan/raw recipe a week.
4. Do 30 minutes of cardio activity at least 4 days a week.

I wonder if I can lose 40 pounds in 40 weeks.

Is there anyone else out there who has some good habits to share? Or good healthy recipes? Is there anyone who would like to join in this challenge with me? Things are always easier with friends.