Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen!

 This weekend my sweet husband spent hours upon hours working in the scorching hot sun to create our GARDEN AREA!

Last year my dad built us a small garden box to experiment with and we had SO MUCH FUN growing our own food!

But this year we are going FULL out!

Jess started by killing the grass on the side of the yard, then dug it all up by hand. Next he leveled all the dirt, dug out a tree trunk, had curbing put in, built 2 boxes out of redwood, laid down landscaping cloth, and shoveled in 1 and a 1/2 TONS of rock! 

It was a pain in the neck (literally) but we are so pumped now that it is all done. Can't wait to start planting! Thanks JESS!

So why is it so beneficial to grow your own food or buy ORGANIC food at the grocery store?

***PESTICIDES*** 

Read below to find out WHAT foods you should ALWAYS buy organic and which ones aren't such a big deal

The Dirty Dozen

Of the 12 most contaminated foods, 6 are fruits: apples, strawberries, peaches, domestic nectarines, imported grapes and domestic blueberries. Notable findings:

• Every sample of imported nectarines tested positive for pesticides, followed by apples (97.8 percent) and imported plums (97.2 percent).
• 92 percent of apples contained 2 or more pesticide residues‚ followed by imported nectarines (90.8 percent) and peaches (85.6 percent).
• Imported grapes had 14 pesticides detected on a single sample. Strawberries, domestic grapes both had 13 different pesticides detected on a single sample.
• As a category. peaches have been treated with more pesticides than any other produce, registering combinations of up to 57 different chemicals. Apples were next, with 56 pesticides and raspberries with 51.

Celery, spinach, sweet bell peppers, potatoes, lettuce and greens (kale and collards) are the vegetables most likely to retain pesticide contamination:

• Some 96 percent all celery samples tested positive for pesticides, followed by cilantro (92.9 percent) and potatoes (91.4 percent).
• Nearly 90 percent of celery samples contained multiple pesticides, followed by cilantro (70.1 percent) and sweet bell peppers (69.4 percent).
• A single celery sample was contaminated with 13 different chemicals, followed by a single sample of sweet bell peppers (11), and greens (10).
• Hot peppers had been treated with as many as 97 pesticides, followed by cucumbers (68) and greens (66).

The Clean Fifteen

The vegetables least likely to test positive for pesticides are onions, sweet corn, asparagus, sweet peas, eggplant, cabbage, sweet potatoes and mushrooms.

• Asparagus, sweet corn and onions had no detectable pesticide residues on 90 percent or more of samples.
• More than four-fifths of cabbage samples (81.8 percent)  had no detectible pesticides, followed by sweet peas (77.1 percent) and eggplant (75.4 percent).
• Multiple pesticide residues are extremely rare on vegetables low in overall contamination. No samples of onions and corn had more than one pesticide. Less than 6 percent of sweet potato samples had multiple pesticides.
• Of the low-pesticide vegetables, no single sample had more than 5 different chemicals.

The fruits least likely to test positive for pesticide residues are pineapples, avocados, mangoes, domestic cantaloupe, kiwi, watermelon and grapefruit.

• Fewer than 10 percent of pineapple, mango, and avocado samples showed detectable pesticides, and fewer than one percent of samples had more than one pesticide residue.
• Nearly 55 percent of grapefruit had detectable pesticides but only 17.5 percent of samples contained more than one residue. Watermelon had residues on 28.1 percent of samples, and 9.6 percent had multiple pesticide residues.

Goals and Menu

We’ve got some new goals around here.  I was super happy to see that Michelle Obama introduced My Plate this summer to replace the old Food Pyramid.  She is a big health advocate and this is definitely a step in the right direction for our country.  Also, I love using this plate as a visual reminder and am trying to teach this to my children too.

Balancing Calories

● Enjoy your food, but eat less.

● Avoid oversized portions.

Foods to Increase

● Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.

● Make at least half your grains whole grains.

● Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.

Foods to Reduce

● Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals ― and choose the foods with lower numbers.

● Drink water instead of sugary drinks. 

To learn more about the government’s new guidelines, go here. 

 

Anyways, back to my goals.  I haven’t been feeling my best lately, and I have learned of some changes I need to make to get my strength back.

 

1.  Make at least half of my plate fruits & vegetables.  (Hard for me, but I feel so much better when I do and our Bountiful Baskets are definitely helping!)

2.  Eat more protein.  (Especially for breakfast.)

3.  Cut back on sugar and carbohydrates.  (Even organic sugar and whole grain carbs…waaaahhhh.  I am determined to keep all sugars under 25 grams a day, then work down.)

4.  Exercise.  Regularly.  Get stronger.  (Hard for me, again.  Thanks to my super awesome trainer who is getting me motivated!)

 

This inspiring quote is keeping me going as well.  Love it.

 

So, what are we eating around here this week?

 

Breakfasts

My Favorite Steel Cut Oats (protein powder added) & Peaches

Eggs and Veggies (Loving this high protein breakfast combo lately.  Thinking of trying this and this.)

Peach French Toast Bake

 

Lunches

Salad, salad, and more salad…

Seriously, what a great way to get lots of vegetables!  I also discovered that if you involve your children in the entire salad-creating process, they are much more likely to eat it!  This was Olivia’s very first bowl of salad and she was certain that croutons were vegetables! 

 

Dinners

Veggie Spaghetti Dinner 

Our Favorite Pork Enchiladas

Salmon Cilantro Grains Salad (Tanner’s dad gave us some freshly caught wild Alaskan salmon from their recent trip!  I haven’t had the best of luck cooking salmon, so we’ll see how this recipe turns out!)

 

Snacks

Best Granola Ever (My friend Brittany brought me some in a cute bag for my birthday and I’ve been dying to make more.  Recipe and my own pics coming soon.)

(Copied cute picture from here.)

 

Smoothies

(We have been on a smoothie kick again around here after a long break from them.  The one pictured below was some frozen mangoes and coconut milk.  Wow.  Our daily concoctions usually consist of… )

- some sort of liquid (almond milk, coconut milk, 100% juice)

- usually some organic plain yogurt or Greek yogurt (I just bought Kefir to try for the first time this week!  Yay for probiotics!)

- frozen fruit (pineapples are a must, berries, peaches, whatever)

- 1 T. flax oil (Read here.)

- 1 scoop fruit & veggie mix (trying to use up this super healthy powder I bought awhile back)

The girls are also having a blast sitting on the counter and choosing what will go into our daily smoothies, then we all get our glasses and enjoy!

 

Carrot Apple Muffins – I’m off to go make these right now to use up the carrot shavings that were leftover from my juicing this morning.  That is, after I go workout my legs and core…

 

And just one more picture that I took last week.  I can’t even tell you the excitement I had coming home with healthy goodies from my favorite store and getting a new issue of Clean Eating in the mail!!

Roasted Broccoli

TRY.... THIS.... NOW

 Recipe & photo from "Can You Stay For Dinner"

Roasted Broccoli

Ingredients:

• 2 heads broccoli, chopped into florets
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil, or any oil you like
• 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lay the florets in a single layer on a large baking sheet.
2. Pour oil into small bowl and dip a pastry brush into the oil and then onto each floret to coat lightly.
3. Sprinkle evenly with salt.
4. Roast for 15-18 minutes, or until broccoli tips have begun to blacken and they can be easily pierced with a fork.

serves 2

Product Favorites & Dinner Idea

Man, life just never slows down does it?

Sorry Kristen & I have been blog slackers lately (come on Kris!)

She has been enjoying her month off of teaching piano and I have been busy with my first month OF piano!

* But let's get back to business here *

Remember how Trader Joe's is my heaven on earth? Well here are a few of my current FAVORITES.

* 100% Pineapple Juice *

This stuff makes amazing smoothies! I find Jess drinking it straight from the can all the time :)

And seriously with the cans?? How stinkin cute are they?

* Unsweetened Coconut Milk *

Gluten/Dairy/Sugar Free and Smells so delicious

 4 oz coconut milk + 4 oz pineapple juice + frozen fruit + flaxmeal or flaxoil = Favorite Breakfast

 * Chocolate Icecream made w/ Coconut Milk *

Dairy Free and surprisingly addicting :) They also sell strawberry

* Chile Lime Chicken Burgers *

Find these in the frozen section! They are healthy with all REAL ingredients

 Now obviously this messy pile of goodness is no masterpiece but let me tell you it was phenomenal.

Chile Lime Chicken NACHOS!

(This recipe made enough for 2 adult servings. If you use ALL 4 burgers, double the RED ingredients)

Ingredients:

These ingredients in RED are optional but highly recommended!!!!

* 1 mexican grey squash (or a regular zucchini works too)

* 1/4 c. chopped onion

* 1 T. chopped cilantro

* 1 small garlic clove, minced

* 2 TJ's Chile Lime Chicken Burgers

* TJ's Reduced Guilt Tortilla Chips

* Extra Sharp Chedder Cheese

* Homemade CLEAN Guacamole

* Pico de Gallo

Directions: If you want to take the super simple route, heat some oil in a large skillet over medium-high flame and add the 2 chicken burgers. Cook through, crumbling burgers into taco-style meat as you cook. Construct a layer of tortilla chips on your plate, add SMALL amount of *Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, top with chicken, guacamole, and pico.

This time around I used my mexican squash that I had gotten in my Bountiful Basket! Heat oil in a large skillet and add chopped mexican squash (or zucchini) & onion. Saute for 5 minutes or so until softened. Add cilantro and garlic and stir for 1 minute. Add 2 Chicken Burgers and cook thoroughly, crumbling into taco-style meat. Layer goodness and directed above :)

*p.s. Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese has a much stronger flavor and taste than regular cheddar cheese, so you can use LESS but still get MORE flavor. WIN WIN Situation.

Thanks for READING!

Homemade Sloppy Joes

Do you ever feel like certain people come into your life for a reason? Well I sure DO! My visiting teacher and long lost friend from Elementary School, Wendi, has been such an amazing help to me lately! I was so happy to see she was in our ward because she was the only person I knew. We still didn't see eachother or talk to eachother until one day she told me she was my visiting teacher! So she came over and we started talking about food and health and who knew we were both CRAZY HEALTH PEOPLE! (She much crazier than I )

She is an all star and is GLUTEN FREE and mostly DAIRY FREE because of her sons food allergies.

She has given me so much information and great resources to finding the healthiest food and recipes out there.

My most favorite resource would have to be http://www.desertrootsfarm.com/

This website sells so many wonderful things.. including 100% grass fed beef that they get from THIS FARM.

click on the link to read all about the "integrity" of their meat. My favorite part is:

"Fat is minimal and Omega 3 levels are many times higher than Salmon (We test our beef to prove it!)"

WOO HOO I don't have to eat salmon!

The ground beef is $6.00 a lb and I purchased 5 lbs to try out and have used 2 lbs so far to make hamburgers, spaghetti sauce, and tonight... Sloppy Joes. And can I just tell you that this meat tastes SO AMAZING. So much different than regular ground beef I have bought before.

Now for the recipe: Homemade Sloppy Joes

Sloppy Joes to me have always been considered unhealthy because I remember them coming in a can and being slapped between to hamburger buns. But this recipe... with this ground beef... is fantastically healthy.

...Jess was so impressed by the taste...

The original recipe is from FAMILY CIRCLE MAGAZINE and is a crock pot recipe that calls for ground turkey. I adapted it to a skillet recipe with 100% grass fed beef. For the crock pot instructions.. click on the link.

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs of grass fed ground beef

1.5 Tablespoons coconut oil (or canola or olive oil)
2 carrots, peeled and FINELY chopped

1 medium-size onion, finely chopped  (I did 1/2 an onion, a whole onion seems a little much to me)

1 rib celery, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste (I used an 8 oz can of tomato sauce because its what I had!)

2 tablespoons cider vinegar (I used "Bragg"organic apple cider vinegar. Health benefits!)

2 tablespoons light-brown sugar (I used 1 Tablespoon and it was still fantastic, imagine that)

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

3/4 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

** hamburger buns

Directions

1. In a medium sized skillet, heat coconut oil and add chopped carrots, onions, and celery. Saute for 5-7 minutes or until softened. In the meantime, brown the ground beef in a seperate skillet. Once veggies have softened, add minced garlic and saute for 30 seconds, then add cooked ground beef to veggies mixture. Add tomato paste (or sauce), vinegar, brown sugar, worcestershire sauce, paprika, dry mustard and salt and stir until fully combined. Cover and let simmer for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally if you would like.

Put on top of hamburger buns with shredded cabbage. Or be REALLY adventurous and make a cabbage WRAP! I know I will do that next time!

Flatbread Pizza w/ Spinach, Carmelized Onions, and Feta

This recipe comes from our sister Kelli Adams! Kelli and her husband Payne are serious GOURMET cookers.  Payne smokes his own meat for like 10 hours, makes his own special BBQ sauces, etc! They are pretty much the best cooks in the family.

This pizza recipe look delicious! Especially with the healthy spinach!

Thanks Kelli!

Flatbread Pizza with Spinach, Caramelized Onions, and Feta
Recipe originated from Our Best Bites

·         Flat Bread or Pizza Dough (Whole Wheat Pizza Dough from Fresh & Easy or homemade)

·         Tiny Bit of Alfredo sauce (either store bought from a jar or homemade)

·         Fresh baby spinach leaves

·         Cooked chicken, cut in cubes, strips or shredded

·         Caramelized onions*

·         Feta cheese

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

If you are using pizza dough, roll out your dough on a stone or pan and then pre-cook it for 7 minutes.

Layer the above ingredients on flatbread or pizza dough and cook in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes.  Slice and serve!

*Caramelizing Onions: thinly slice onions and saute them in a skillet on med-low heat with a couple of pats of butter.  After about 15 minutes, when they’re nice and soft, add a sprinkle of sugar (either brown or white) if you want to enhance the sweetness.  Continue cooking until they’re caramel colored.  It can take 20-30 minutes depending on the heat of your pan and the thickness of the onion.  You could make them ahead of time and just store them in the fridge.