A Pint Of Green Juice

I was a good girl this morning. I made a huge batch of green juice for a healthier May. 

The last time I drank my green juice was early in April. I had not been feeling well with my auto-immune and I have a horrible habit of thinking, if I feel so crummy, then I can eat whatever, as I can't possibly feel any worse.

Logically - that doesn't work. I do feel worse -- not being vigilant eating well for my auto-immune. It's funny where internal beliefs drive us.

Then I saw a beautiful bouquet of Mock-Orange in my Instagram feed and when I was all finished cleaning up the juicing operation, I went out and cut myself a bouquet. Right next to these fragrant Mock Orange blooms were these luscious Iris's. Love the deep purple against the white.

 Cleaning out the fridge for juicing, I came across this Cauliflower moldering in the vegetable drawer. I turned it into a quick soup.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup
Non-dairy, non-soy.

Head of cauliflower cut up into chunks, trim off the icky bits.
Steamed in beef stock (or whatever liquid you have lurking in your fridge).
If you use water, you'll need to adjust herbs.
2 tsp. dried Thyme
dash salt

When tender - about 20 minutes, turn off heat and let sit while you finish your juicing clean-up.

Use your stick blender to blend and mush the cauliflower, slowly adding coconut milk until you feel it is the right amount. Between 2 -3 cups. Blend until smooth.


easy peasy dinner for tonight.

 My green juice always seems to taste better in cool glasses.
Thank you dear daughter.

Today's Green Juice.
In your juicer:
3 granny smith apples
1 1/2 bunches of celery

In your blender:
Use juice from apples and celery to blend:
1 giant bag of fresh spring greens - spinach, kale, arugula, etc.
5 baby bok choy's ('cuz baby veggies taste better?)
4 zucchini

and today I added:
Stalk rhubarb
2 tbsps sea kelp
1 cup Hemp hearts

I have heard Rhubarb is  anti-parasitic. My doc thinks my fatigue and depression this spring might spring from a parasite I picked up during my January trip to Hawaii when I was so tired after the Christmas work (63 hrs/wk!).

I grew up with rhubarb and seriously dislike the texture - stewed rhubarb anyone? But I'm willing to try anything and oftentimes, veggies taste better as juice.
The hemp hearts were something new at my store and I thought I'd try them. The sea kelp was bought a while ago and forgotten about.

The only other weird thing about juicing is I prefer the green. If you add blueberries - it's brown. as in - eeuuwhw. If you add beets for the sweetener instead of apples, it's red, which is slightly better than brown.

I prefer green. I can't tolerate too much fruit, so my juice is mostly veggies.

And hubby has asked, "what's that taste like?"  me: "like drinking your veggies". I wouldn't do it if I weren't so sick. I try to use organic as much as possible. It's like 30 minutes to clean up, so I make enough for the week.

My sweet SIL gave me this little garden ornament for my birthday.

Double Zipper Pencil Case

Interior fabric.

 Turned inside out. Almost reversible.
Actually, I like this quilted fabric as an inside too. Still have more of it...

Still turned inside-out.

A close-up of the gusset.
Very easy to add but not gonna work for a coin pocket in a wallet.
It's attached only in the side seams. Keeps items from falling out...

Sundays sewing had a little hiccup - see following.

Christine Welsh

Yesterday at 5:51am · Edited

Silly Sausage Sunday! DO share with us your most silliest sewing, completely goofy mistake you have ever done, in the comments below! wink emoticon I'll pick my favourite story about this time tomorrow and that silly sausage will WIN a pattern of choice from my shop!

Chris W is a purse designer from Australia and she posted the above Sunday morning.
My response that afternoon was:
Katydid Green OMG I regret reading this post this morning. Going outside now for a time-out.
 

 It should not look like this.

My time-out:
I did go outside. In our windstorm, branches and pine cones flailed out of the trees which we picked up between small rain showers. I have missed the rain. It has been four months since we've seen any rain here.
Then I came inside and did my juicing chore. Now I am all set up with my green juice for the week.

  I flipped channels on the tv and found a OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) Simon & Garfunkle pledge concert. Ripping out stitches to Simon & Garfunkle - well I can't recommend it enough. Old favorites to sing along to.

It went very pleasantly and I did some other hand-stitching as well until the concert was over.


Now it looks like the bag I won this last week.

I used some Japanese quilted fabric as my outer fabric. My lining is also from Japan. The red & skinny black stripe is stash as is the skinny black piping. I also used a double zip because it works very well for this bag.

This bag is just over 8" in length and about 4" high.  This is very cute and the inside finishes are similar to my son's ditty bag albeit a little smaller overall than his bag. This pattern is on my to-do list with oil cloth and a slightly bigger profile.

Pattern is here:Zipper Pencil Case with side gussets

Nancy's Kale Chips

This is my fourth bunch of kale I have brought home from the store this year.

With really good intentions.





Challenged by Nancy, this bunch did not end up on the compost pile.

Start with dry leaves and squoosh the leaves off the center rib. Discard the ribs.

Drizzle olive oil onto leaves and season lavishly with special salt or whatever you have on hand.



Roast in a 275' oven for a bit more than 20 minutes. Until it's crispy-crackely.



For some reason I had a phobia about making these kale chips which was irrational as these were very easy to make.

What do they taste like?

My husband asks me that when he sees what I have juiced.

The juice tastes like eating your veggies.

There's no magic to make veggies taste like anything else but what is in there.

Kale chips are delicate- not the best candidate for scooping roasted jalapeno pepper hummis.

They taste like crunchy salty kale.

Good, once a while.



Why bother?
Kale has a lot of vitamins that are really healthy --for people who are trying to hang onto healthy.
"One cup of chopped kale contains 33 calories and 9% of the daily value of calcium, 206% of vitamin A, 134% of vitamin C, and a whopping 684% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus."

Juicing

Over a month ago I started juicing.
I had been thinking about it and researching it  for over a year.
I noticed a friend looking really good back in August and I asked what she was doing. She said she was juicing.
I asked her more because there is a theory circulating out there claiming those of us with auto-immune problems might benefit from having our food as smaller particles. My particular problem is every time I eat, my immune system turns  crazy and attacks my body. The idea is if the food is in smaller bits, some of it might get by my crazed immune system and actually give me nutrients.

Also - I have been sort-of, not-quite, kinda, laid off. Instead of working six days a week with split shifts every day, I am now only working three days a week.
My drawback was the price of a juicer. If it didn't work out, I didn't want to have thrown a few hundred dollars down the compost pile.
She said she bought the off-brand juicer at Bi-mart for twenty dollars.
Really?

Late August is prime time for green stuff in your garden or my favorite store or your farmer's market. With nothing to lose, I started out with two times a day.
This machine is so easy to clean. After all, you are using it multiple times a day.
I had occasion to go over to Redmond this summer and the friend I was visiting  had a Jack LaLanne juicer. It did have a bigger motor but it was a bear to clean. I can see why a person would give up on juicing using some of these expensive juicers on the market.
Doing some research for this post, I find I got a huge deal at Bi-Mart ($20). Other stores have this Nesco model for $50 - $75.

My husband asks what my favorite is and my response? I don't really have a  favorite - they all taste like drinking your vegetables. I suppose, the one I make the most often is with a Granny Smith apple, 3 stalks of celery and zucchini. This one is easy to make in the morning. 

Much harder to make is with broccoli or collard greens. Actually, I don't believe I have ever eaten collard greens before this year. I've eaten swiss chard and beet greens but somehow I saved myself from collard greens. God forbid that a rutabaga ever turns up in this house though.
Now I am eating bok choy, savoy cabbages, any green vegy I can get my hands on.

I don't juice for every meal nor every day but I am sustaining it because  --
1. My eyes are clearer. They don't look so yellow - like my liver is sick.
2. I am eating at least twice as many veggies as I used to and believe me - I eat veggies.
3. With my particular auto-immune, I am actually in a starvation diet mode because every time I eat, I get sick. Getting me to eat more is one of my goals. Because--
4. I have more energy
5. I feel like walking for exercise. Because I generally don't eat enough calories, I have trouble with managing my energy levels. Wanting to walk is a big thing for me.
6. Drinking my celery is very tasty. I eat celery and apples every day. Believe me, you can get very tired of eating the same old thing. But these two things never give me immune reactions. Drinking them is novel.

You cannot juice everything. Broccoli just gums up the juicer. Better to cook it first. I know most of the nutrients are there right away and soon dissipate - but I steam my broccoli, throw some greens on top (collard, beet, whatever is dark green), then I use the blender that came with the juicer. First I make an apple, zucchini, celery mixture in the juicer.  I then attach the blender and throw my steamed veggies in and use the juice I just made to help liquify the other veggies. Pears are better in the blender. It's rather an experiment in progress.

I am trying for two juicings a day. I see some benefits. The blendering uses up most of the veggies while juicing creates pulp for the compost. You could throw the pulp into your 'smoothie' if you wanted.

I find I have to have an apple or pear or it really tastes like drinking your vegetables. The tartness of the granny smith apple works quite well.

I haven't made it to three juicings a day yet. I haven't lost weight with this either but I feel better. On a couple of days this week when I wasn't eating the best, I was not juicing. So - juicing does help me - both with energy and mood.



On the subject of apples - I eat them everyday. Every single day.  July and August are the apple desert months. Thank God for New Zealand and their Jazz apples during the summer (their winter). My particular favorites are the early Galas. They go mushy fast so eat them as soon as they appear. Right now? Honey Crisp is big on my grocery list. After those go, Fuji's become my winter standby.
For the first time, I am liking Granny Smiths because of the tartness. They play well with other veggies in the juicer.

Revelations

I had a revelation last night.
Convoluted, but the reasoning seems sound.

I was pondering why I have eaten so much this December.
Since Easter, I have been trying a new food allergy regime that is pretty harsh but when I follow it, I feel more energized and my physical symptoms are less.
One of my food problems is trying to discern when I am hungry. For so long food made me sicker and sicker that I have difficulty in determining hunger pangs.
This December -- I have been feeling hunger pangs. When I get home from work, when I am at work, it hasn't seemed to stop. The net result is I have gained about 7 pounds. The choices of good foods for me to eat are limited and I have been turning to bad choices. I am craving these foods. I am craving any food.
Why?
The biggest difference is work. For Christmas,  I was given a supervisor  for work who allows that each employee is capable of doing their job. Furthermore, he works in a team effort to get the job done and supervises from a position of respect. A lot of work-related stress has fallen by the wayside.
Interestingly, this is when my appetite returned.
A definite A-ha moment.

My nutritionist has said that when I am reaching for chocolate, my body is indicating hunger.
Chocolate does not show up on my allergy tests - only dairy and soy. This  hunger indicator makes sense to me as I perceive chocolate to be a safe food that makes me feel good.

When I am feeling a craving for chocolate and reaching for it, I have been working on reaching for other foods instead.
 Now, with my latest revelation, where stress keeps my appetite at bay, I can try to keep more good foods at hand. Get back to my weekly soup making. Making sure I have more emergency foods at hand. Trying to eat more good choices so there is less room for bad choice foods that suck up my energy and good health.

My other boss will return and I will need every ounce of energy to deal with that so now is the time to optimize that energy.

Almost a resolution but really pondering the ramifications of how stress plays a part in my health.

The actual resolution is to go for a walk every day.