A few weeks ago my mom gave me a Jiffy greenhouse to start seeds in. My egg carton seeds have not being doing so well. The only ones to sprout were the tomatoes, and they have been transplanted in peat pots for a while now.
Well, its been several weeks since I filled up my greenhouse with seeds, and today I just barely transplanted 22 very tall seedlings into peat pots.
I still have a lot of basil, bell peppers and a few tomatoes in that greenhouse, but as you can see, I’m over flowing with plant life! I’m so excited for my garden this year! It’s going to take some creativity to make good use of all these plants!
Here is a little basil baby surrounded by tomatoes.
On a different note, we had the pleasure of taking a quick road trip for the weekend recently. This was my first time in New Mexico! We started in Fruita, CO so Joe could ride Bikerpelli. Once we found out that the event was canceled due to bad weather (Joe went back the next weekend to complete the ride), we decided to head South. It’s a good thing they didn’t ride. The mud was horrible! This is what Joe’s tire looked like just after riding through the parking lot!
We visited Taos, which I had never been to before. It would be a fun place to vacation to in the winter, I think. Then we decided to make our way West to the Grand Canyon. It was Joe’s first time there, and my second time. I hadn’t been there in about 12 years and once again, when I saw the depth of those rocks open before me, I was left breathless.
Here is Joe enjoying the view.
So amazing!
We even found a nice place to mountain bike, away from all the tourists!
As we headed up North, making our way back home, we came across a petrified wood forest and some really cool rock formations. So cool!
Here’s an interesting scene while heading North in Arizona.
Our Subaru, Thor is a pretty good vehicle for road trips! Joe is getting seriously interested in something bigger and more RVish, though.
That was a really fun trip, I love visiting new places! I only wish that we could have spent a bit more time in each area, it was a rather rushed trip. We traveled into four different states within 3 days! Well, that’s all for now. I had a huge salad for dinner last night and that got me very excited about raw food. Very soon, I will be posting some date ball recipes! In the meantime, go find someplace new to explore! Sometimes, that can be found right in your own back yard.
Hello everyone! It’s been a while since my last post, so I thought it was time for some more green smoothie pictures. Here’s all that went into it:
And here’s what it looks like after adding frozen fruit, water and blending.
It was so easy, so tasty and so satisfying. I’ve been having dreams of a green smoothie business. I think it would be fun to sell green smoothies in as a street vendor. I’d be the healthiest option out there! In other news, I recently purchased a bustier for an upcoming photo shoot. Here’s what it looks like:
Front:
And back:
It’s my first one, and its so fun to wear! Even if it is a little consticting.
Snowboarding season has officially ended, and that makes me a little sad. I know everyone is going to think of me as weird for missing snow already, but that’s ok. I’ll miss you Brighton. It’s been a fun year, and I really learned a lot. One final snow pic until next season:
Happy Spring, everyone! I hope all of you are enjoying the gorgeous weather we’ve been having. As always, we like to take our enjoyment to a higher elevation. Yesterday, instead of hitting up the slopes on a busy Saturday at the resort, we decided to go for a hike in the back country. Here is the trail that we hiked up, snowshoes on feet and snowboards strapped to our backs.
The weather could not have been more perfect. In fact, I was getting quite warm! This is definitely a workout, and my legs were feeling it.
Gorgeous scenery.
Stopping for lunch.
Digging my sunscreen out of my pack. I think I put on two layers, this time.
My mountain man.
At this point, you are probably wondering what the whole baby business is all about. No, I’m not pregnant. :p But I do have babies! My little heirloom tomato seedlings finally sprouted!
Aren’t they cute?
As much as I love winter, I’m very excited for Spring. I’m even more excited to plant a garden and grow my own food! It’s been about 4 years since I have done this. Next on the list for starting seeds are bell peppers, kale and basil. I can’t wait!!!
So get out there and enjoy the sun and snow while its still there! It’s warming up fast.
I’ve been on a green smoothie kick while trying to get back into the swing of eating raw. This latest concoction of fruits and greens is one of the tastiest I’ve made and it features one of my favorite raw foods: young coconuts.
From its beneficial, immunity boosting lauric acid found in the soft flesh, to its high electrolyte content found in the water, raw foodists are quite often found praising this health inducing tropical delight. Just see what beautiful Susan from Rawmazing has to say about it!
For the recipe, I combined 1 banana, 1 peeled orange, the water and flesh from one young coconut and about 3-4 leaves of collard greens into the Blendtec.
Look how beautiful the collards look! I think I have a new favorite green for my smoothies!
After these first ingredients are blended, I add about 2 cups of frozen fruit and 1/2 cup of water. My smoothie went from looking like this:
To this:
I love this smoothie! It’s perfect energy for a workout. Which reminds me, time to get on that bike! Happy weekend, everyone.
This smoothie was so incredibly easy. So easy that even husband Joe commented that it was “easier than making coffee”. And he was right! After drinking this delicious smoothie, I didn’t even crave it, like I usually do. Here is the recipe:
2 bananas
1 apple, sliced
2 collard green leaves
2 cups tropical frozen fruit
1 cup cold water
For this recipe, I first blended everything except the frozen fruit (mango, pineapple, papaya) and 1/2 the water. This helps the blending process to move more efficiently. Then I added everything else and blended about a minute longer until everything came out perfectly smooth. This recipe makes enough for two large servings.
Being a dark, leafy green vegetable, collard greens are packed with nutrition! With its high amounts of Vitamin A, K, as well its abundance in vital minerals such as calcium, this has become a major favorite in my smoothies. I also love the fact that they flavor of the greens is quite mild. While this smoothie looks as green as can be, all you can really taste is the wonderful sweetness from the fruits.
On a different note, I found a video of our troupe from Spring Fest.
I love lentils, whether they are sprouted, cooked, put in soups, or all by themselves. Filling and substantial, their protein content makes them a favorite among people seeking healthy food options. The other day, I was trying to find a way to use some of the random food items I had laying around the kitchen. I grabbed some lentils, zucchini, carrots, onion, bell peppers and sun dried tomatoes and figured I’d make myself a delicious, lentil lunch to give me some energy for the day.
I started by cooking the lentils. I cooked about 3/4 c lentils to 1 1/2 cups of water and let it simmer like rice, on low heat covered. Then, I added all the chopped up veggies, plus some garlic, ginger, lemon juice, tumeric, cumin, and a tiny bit of curry powder and soy sauce. Some agave nectar was added to even out the spices. I cooked all of this down, until everything was tender, adding olive oil as needed.
One of my staples I’ve been enjoying lately is this yummy green papaya salad. Some of you might remember it from One Week Raw. I don’t think I ever get tired of the crunchy veggies with the almond butter sauce, and it stays good in the fridge for a long time.
Its such a simple recipe as you can see by the ingredients. Its basically just marinated green papaya, carrots, cabbage, and onions. Sometimes I add bell peppers, or other things to the mix. As for the almond butter sauce, after reading about this awesome way to make almond butter in the food processor, I decided to try it myself.
I started with these raw almonds:
And turned them first into this:
And finally into this:
It took a while, but it was so easy! Thanks to Susan from Rawmazing for the wonderful recipe! Look how creamy it turned out!
It was delicious mixed with some soy sauce, sweetener and garlic chili sauce. This makes for a good meal before and after snowboarding. Which I’ve been doing plenty of lately, but I’m sure that’s no surprise.
I also danced in Spring Fest over the weekend! Here are a couple of pics from that:
Now you can see where the sparkle fits in to all of this. Happy Monday, everyone!
Want to spice up your green smoothie with a shot of protein, vitamins and enzymes? Would you also like to achieve this in an inexpensive and easy way? Try throwing a handful of homegrown sprouts into your morning smoothie.
Sprouts are easy to grow, and the seeds are usually very cheap to buy in bulk. I sprout a zesty sprout mix consisting of clover, alfalfa, fenugreek and radish seeds. My preferred method for sprouting is using a wide mouth jar with a mesh lid. Adding sprouts to your daily diet can make the difference between night and day. These tiny little superfoods are packed with nutrition and can put a swing of vitality in your swagger.
1 banana
1 orange, juice and pulp
2-4 leaves of collard greens
1 handful of sprouts
2 cups frozen berries
The result is a tasty, light smoothie with fuel for an entire morning of activities. I liked this smoothie so much, that I’m going to make another one to take to school with me.
I hope you all enjoy the recipe! I’ve got a cat on my lap and it’s time to go!
I knew a long time ago that being out in nature was something that was required in my life in order for me to be happy. I am just so lucky in that I have found someone else that shares my same requirement. It’s really no surprise that we spend so much time enjoying outdoor activities, and neither is the fact that we love winter and the elements the season brings to the open wild.
Something that constantly looms over us as we indulge in tree therapy is the threat of danger. Most of the time I don’t think about it, but there is always something in the back of my mind reminding me to be careful. This can be hard to do when you’re getting used to the feeling of speed and the control you can gain from it. I try to stay cautious and aware of changes in my body and take breaks when I need them. And after running into a tree at about 20 mph a month ago, I’m very cautious about going too fast if my body is tired. As Joe and I venture out into the backcountry, our dangers spread much wider than steep slopes and tree collisions.
Avalanches have been notoriously present this season, being set off by amateurs and experts alike. Luckily, Joe and I haven’t been involved in anything serious, but we still realize that we need to learn as much as we can about this temperamental death threat. That’s why we spent all of last weekend at an Avalanche Training Course in Park City. Here I am riding the cabriolet at The Canyons Resort, where our class was held.
And this is where most of our class was held; up along the Park City ridge line.
I was very impressed with the way the course was put together. The classroom segment was very detailed, totaling about 5 hours. The other 17 hours were spent in the backcountry, where we learned how to observe snow, perform compression and Rutschblocks tests, calculate slope angles, and look for signs of past avalanches. All of this was done at about 9500″ elevation, where we had to snowshoe on top of the powder with our snowboards strapped to our backs. Most of the other students were on skis with skins. I really want to learn how to ski better!
Joe and I took a Backcountry 101 Course last year at Brighton, which was a good start, but this latest course was much more in depth and hands on. It was also a lot smaller, with only 2 females and 12 males. I learned so much from this course, and I’m so glad that Joe and I were able to enroll in time. These courses fill up fast! And what an amazing experience! How can you go wrong with views from here?
If you look hard, you can see me hiking in between those trees, with my snowboard on my back. We only got in a few runs, as we spent most of our time trying to figure out which slopes were safe to ride. Still,those runs were some of the best I’ve had all year! I highly recommend that anyone interested in backcountry activities take one of these courses, at least! Joe and I are planning to continue our education with a refresher course, and then move on to Level 2 and then Level 3. In my opinion, the more we can learn about avalanches, the better off we are. The more knowledge we have, the more we can enjoy days like the one depicted below.
I’ll be doing some food posts very soon. Happy weekend, everyone!
In other news, I recently purchased a bustier for an upcoming photo shoot. Here’s what it looks like:
