Forks Over Knives and granola and soup.

I watch documentaries with my husband almost every night on Netflix. I have a particular interest in anything from shows on Food, Farming, Animals, and Adventures. This one is about eating habits, food, and health.  Forks over Knives is one of my favorite. It has completely changed the way we eat. My husband has lost 13 lbs in the last month and I have lost 5 lbs. It has a great website with amazing recipes. I grabbed a synopsis of this from their website.   http://www.forksoverknives.com/ Check it out!
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Ok.... so I just got totally called out by my dad about how boring my blog was this morning. He couldn't believe I would just copy and paste something from a website. Have you been reading people... I'm lazy. This is what I'm about. I'm trying to be a Martha Stewart but like... a lazy Martha Stewart that doesn't get put in jail for insider trading.

Anyway, the reason why I was a little quick to post this morning was because I was very busy trying to get my kids to take a nap. My two year old has just discovered that if he crawls out of bed at 1 am my husband will come running to his every beck and call and pamper his little two year old butt. He does this every hour until I show up... and then he goes "uh oh" and scampers back to his bed not to be heard from again.

That's cause I'm da president of this house. So being the president and all takes a lot of work. That is why I was able to get both boys to sleep, AND make "Casssoulet" which is fancy for white been soup AND make a batch of granola AND also get some bread going. AND I got pictures to prove it.

Once your done looking at my food porn feel free to look at my copy and paste job that my dad said was boring. I would like to note that it is because of Forks over Knives that I have the energy and will power to do all this crap. AND I don't have a bunch of intern slaves doing all my prep work like Martha Stewart. So sit back and enjoy my work of the morning. Feel free to comment about how I am amazing. AND if you dont think I'm amazing. Shut it. No-one wants to hear about it.
-Da President.

Jbone say's "You aint doing crap today mom , cause I'm going to party all day" I replied, "you just wait my young one... you wait and see what this girl got up her sleeve" and then we danced. 

Meanwhile Ron did not help.

he said "how do I eat these fish mom?" and then he took a nap on my open lap top

meanwhile I was setting out the ingredients for the Cassoulet.  8 ounce veg broth, 1 onion diced, 4 garlic cloves, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 2 Tbsp thyme, 2 Tbsp. parsly, 1 tomato, 2 tbsp tomato paste, and 1 can white beans. I didnt quite have all those ingredients, so I made due with what you see. 

and then I cut it all up. I'm missing the carrots and garlic, cut that stuff too.  Oh and heres a great tip. To get the paper skin off the garlic put the whole clove in the microwave for 5-10 seconds. The paper skin stuff slides right off. TRy it I aint lying. Your welcome for that one. It's my favorite tip. 

then I washed the beans.

then I put it all in a pot

but first I cooked the onion and garlic till it was translucent in a little bit of the broth. No oil... just broth. Remember Oil is not good for you. I try really hard not to ever use it. 

and then a half hour later, I ate it. 

I was suprised at how good it tasted with no salt or pepper but I still added a tiny bit to add more flavor. I wish I hadn't put the parsly in. I picked that out.  It tasted very much like minestrone soup from the Olive Garden, only it didn't suck. I knew that it didn't suck because my two year old ate half of it, and he doesn't like any of the ingredients in this soup. So explain that one. 

So then the monsters were asleep, and was like, I'm bored. I'm going to make granola.  So I set out all the ingredients.
3 cups old fashioned oats, a hand full of chopped pecans, chopped walnuts, cashews, mixed nuts, muesli, almonds, and then I sprinkled the whole top with cinnamon, and drizzled honey till everything was covered. (Put enough honey so that the oats get very lightly coated.) 

I mixed it till everything was lightly coated. 

I then took parchment paper and laid it out and put it in the oven at 425 for ten minutes, I took it out stirred it up and put it back in for another ten minutes. BOOM. 

and then I added cranberries and raisons and I was DONE, so then I made some bread but you already saw how I do that.

I then put it in fancy jars. Ha ha fooled ya.... This is a classico spaghetti jar. I love them. 

But I didn't have enough so I used other jars I had recycled, cause I'm a tree hugger.

AND that was my day so far, and it it's only 2:33. I'm impressed. Are you? No? Well then go watch Martha.

Now read this boring part below. I didnt write it, but I certainly believe in it.
Hope this makes ya happy Dad. xo

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What has happened to us? Despite the most advanced medical technology in the world, we are sicker than ever by nearly every measure.

Two out of every three of us are overweight. Cases of diabetes are exploding, especially amongst our younger population. About half of us are taking at least one prescription drug. Major medical operations have become routine, helping to drive health care costs to astronomical levels. Heart disease, cancer and stroke are the country’s three leading causes of death, even though billions are spent each year to “battle” these very conditions. Millions suffer from a host of other degenerative diseases.

Could it be there’s a single solution to all of these problems? A solution so comprehensive, but so straightforward, that it’s mind-boggling that more of us haven’t taken it seriously?

FORKS OVER KNIVES examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods. The major storyline in the film traces the personal journeys of a pair of pioneering yet under-appreciated researchers, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.

Dr. Campbell, a nutritional scientist at Cornell University, was concerned in the late 1960’s with producing “high quality” animal protein to bring to the poor and malnourished areas of the third world. While in the Philippines, he made a life-changing discovery: the country’s wealthier children, who were consuming relatively high amounts of animal-based foods, were much more likely to get liver cancer. Dr. Esselstyn, a top surgeon and head of the Breast Cancer Task Force at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, found that many of the diseases he routinely treated were virtually unknown in parts of the world where animal-based foods were rarely consumed.

These discoveries inspired Campbell and Esselstyn, who didn’t know each other yet, to conduct several groundbreaking studies. One of them took place in China and is still among the most comprehensive health-related investigations ever undertaken. Their research led them to a startling conclusion: degenerative diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even several forms of cancer, could almost always be prevented—and in many cases reversed—by adopting a whole-foods, plant-based diet. Despite the profound implications of their findings, their work has remained relatively unknown to the public.

The filmmakers travel with Drs. Campbell and Esselstyn on their separate but similar paths, from their childhood farms where they both produced “nature’s perfect food”; to China and Cleveland, where they explored ideas that challenged the established thinking and shook their own core beliefs.

The idea of food as medicine is put to the test. Throughout the film, cameras follow “reality patients” who have chronic conditions from heart disease to diabetes. Doctors teach these patients how to adopt a whole-foods plant-based diet as the primary approach to treat their ailments—while the challenges and triumphs of their journeys are revealed.

FORKS OVER KNIVES utilizes state of the art 3-D graphics and rare archival footage. The film features leading experts on health, examines the question “why we don’t know”, and tackles the issue of diet and disease in a way that will have people talking for years.

FORKS OVER KNIVES was filmed all over the United States, and in Canada and China.

Interior Decorating Tips

I went to school for Interior Design and many other things. This does not make me a good decorator. Decorators make your couch cushions look nice with your rug that matches your curtain that compliments your wall, this was not my forte, or rather it doesnt interest me much. I rather like to rip down walls and put in water features. I like putting curved walls in a rectangle, I like to design horse barns and cow barns, and bank barns, any barn really... as long as it's a barn.  I love to design old and new barns, and in them I can put a water feature, and oh don't get me started I LOVE BARNS... but this is not about barns.

This is about my little old house and things I have done to it.  I don't like to be thought of as a decorator but if you like this, then sure I can help you.  However, that being said, I do come across other peoples good ideas and use them in my home. So before you go saying how crappy my house looks, just shut it... this isn't about me saying my house looks great, it's to show you how you can use things in a different way.

Ok so here we go, again look past my stuff and listen to the ideas and come up with your own.  I got the idea of using old hard covered book jackets/covers to cover up my router, cable box and WD TV box from Fox 29 news. I do wish I had thought of it myself, and was like. thats genius. May I recommend you use a nicer looking book from a thrift store? I found some old hard covered books in our garage that this old guy left when he died. The pages had been eaten by bugs so I didnt feel bad about ripping out the pages.
Check it out:

see those black things to the left? They are ugly, lets do something about it. 

This is a book jacket without the pages for those that havent picked up a book in a while. 

now look, can you tell that there are things hidden in my ugly old books? They blend in with the other crap thats on my shelf.( The black book jacket has a hole cut out of it so that the box still works with the remote). My book jackets are also unreasonably beat up because my two year old likes to throw them around to get me angry.

Ok now lets talk abut texture, line, and interest. How many people have this in their living room?  I do... that who. I love saddles, I think they are works of art. They are sculptures that smell of horse and leather,  feel soft and warm, and have beautiful color and texture. Why not use it as a statement piece? 

Saddles are beautiful to me. Leather is a texture, and this saddle has nice lines, it breaks up the simple bench and it motivates me to stop having kids so that I can get back to horses. 

Metal is another texture. Hard, cold, heavy, strong useful, why not use it as a statement piece? If you find some old iron work like you see in the photograph next to my wrenches use it!  It is an art form that is rarely used anymore.

These wrenches are enormous. I should have put it up against a normal wrench so you can see how big they are. These are my husbands, he loves abnormally large things, and these were used for tractors. We hang them on the wall for a conversation piece. Almost everyone that has ever been to our house says, "wow those are huge! where did you get those!" They trump all the other art work in our house. Again, something different on the wall, stands out. Think of the Barnes museum,- Mr Barnes collected iron work such as hinges and other things and then put them next to Picasso paintings. It works. 

Velvet, wood, ink and a plant. So much texture, shape and interesting conversation pieces.

Again texture. I have my first ever riding helmet with a drawing and a plant.  Oval, Square, fluff.  Composition, and color. 

This is not about texture it's more about keeping out the cold. Look closely. This keeps cold air out, and light in, PLUS it's great for privacy. Can you tell what is on my window? Bubble wrap. Yup, cheap, and easy. Spray some water on the window, and place some bubble wrap on and boom, you are saving about $20 a month on heating. Thank you Mother Earth Magazine for that genius idea.

Look at this window. It looks like frosted glass.  Our house is really really old , the windows are terrible and all need replacing. Talk about a draft, we might has well have them open! 

Here is the solution. As you can see this window has a crack in it. I took a misting spray bottle of water, sprayed the window with a fine mist, then I took some bubble wrap and cut out a square the size of the window and placed it on my window. The bubble wrap clings to the water and sticks really well. It creates a suction effect. No more draft, and it helps to insulate the cold out. It does wonders. The best part is when your done having your windows insulated you just take off the bubble wrap and save it for next year. This one is my favorite. Thank you Mother Earth Magazine for the idea!

And one more use for metal, I needed something to break up my wall. I had soft, I had a painting, I needed a shape, how bout my old horse bits? 

So there you have it. Some little ideas that I have used to help you decorate your space. Again, I don't think of myself as a decorator, I just thought these were neat ideas and hope you do to.

Blender vs. Juicer

Good morning! I'm a morning person and thankfully so because my boys wake up at 7:45 on the dot. Most people like to drink coffee first thing, but I like to make some juice out of fresh veggies and fruit. I feel everyone has gone through a juicing faze. They do it for a month, and talk about how amazing it makes them feel, but then they stop... because it is a huge pain in the ass. It's messy, it's loud, you have to cut or peel... it gives a ton of pulp and little juice.

I love the juice and how it makes me feel so I thought why not just blend it all together. I got my blender out and broke it on some frozen banana. "I need more POWER" so I put my husband on the task of researching a blender that can juice.  He came up with the health master. He ordered a refurbished one on Amazon and I love it.

Every morning I peel some citrus, peel some carrots, and throw in some frozen spinach and I have juice  with little waste. I make a large jug and it lasts all day. I have two cups for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I have left a link to Montel Williams health master juicer so that you can check it out in more detail. I know his show sucks but his blender doesn't... nor does his body or skin he looks great. This juicer is 2 horse power! Its stronger then my garbage disposal and my disposal just ate a spoon the other day. Doesn't that blow your mind?! "It sure does!" says you.
http://www.myhealthmaster.com/
Hold the phone!
So here's an interesting update.....
We were watching the super bowl last night and my husband just sent me an article on Ray Lewis, who he thinks is a really scary guy. He was bragging about how this may be the toughest man he can think of and that he killed a man blah blah... and look how mean he looks, blah blah... and well it turns out he juices... and is a plant eater like us. Don't believe me, here is the article to prove it. Real men eat plants. Just saying....
http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/ray-lewis-at-37-good-juice-keeps-him-going-1.3927221

I like to add one lime, orange, banana, three strawberries, three carrots peeled, cucumber, a half cup of pineapple, a cup of frozen spinach,  a fingernail size of ginger root, a dash of cinnamon, some flax seed, 1 tsp bee pollen, two cups of water, and about three ice cubes. This will not taste very good at first, it's no "Naked" juice, because it's FRESH and has no added crap. I have learned to love it, because of it's secret boom.

OMG STOP THE BUS... just made the best tasting juice ever. 
Here's the recipe:
GREAT TASTING HEALTHY JUICE
Half a Frozen or not frozen Pineapple
 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Orange
2 Apples cored not peeled
3 carrots peeled
2 cups frozen spinach
1 cup water

It's delightful. Anyway, back to what I was saying before I rudely interrupted myself.

You don't need to chop it up with this blender but I do it so  that I can fit it all in there.  As you can see I fill it to the top.

Look at that food porn. those yellow dots are bee pollen. I will talk about that later. Bee Pollen helps fight allergies and I get this from my bee man at Mill Creek Apiary. Its good stuff. 

And a minute later, I have a ton of juice. Now I just pour it into a pitcher put it in the fridge,  and drink it all day. Every time I drink a cup I get a buzz as if I have taken a shot of espresso. It's a natural energy booster, and poop plunger for the body. Stay near a bathroom when you first start doing this, it will clean you out, its full of fiber, and has lots of detox agents in it.

Now I just take the blender and run it under hot water and boom. DONE. No messy pulp, no scrubbing metal screens, it's simple and easy. I love it cause I'm lazy, and I don't like mess. I put all my orange peels and apple cores and bana peels in my compost container or I feed it to my chickens. I throw my citrus peels down the garbage disposal because it sharpens the blades and leaves a lovely clean scent.
No waste. I love it and hope you do to.

Look on the website for other recipes. I have made spinach and cheese omeletes, split green pea soup, tomato sauce, and frozen banana swirl. It can also make kick ass margaritas. It blends ice like a champ.
AND then.. we eat this for dinner. Eat well... be well.

Its what's for dinner. 

I took some of the bread I made that morning and pinched off small chunks and put them in the oven at 350 for  20 minutes... makes for some amazing croutons. 

Just a side note. I did not put spinach in this batch of juice because I wanted it to be more fruit then veg because we were going to have this for dinner. Hubby and I eat a very large salad packed with unsalted Pecans, walnuts, cranberries, flax seed, and avocado and then have some fruit juice to round it all out. For dessert I blend some frozen pineapple, banana, and silk coconut milk and freeze it for an amazing little healthy treat.

Here are some pictures of my green juice.

Juice made with Apples, lime ,carrots, spinach, cinnamon. Large bag of frozen spinach in background. 

Juice took 5 minutes to make, and takes seconds to clean with very hot water.

So easy and so good for you and lasts the whole day! 

Hope this was helpful.

My Dad and his bird brain.

My Dad loves chickens almost as much as I do, but he isnt allowed to have them. He talks wild stories about chickens, and knows a ton about them. Today he stated that he wished he could sit in his chair and watch his bird friends and chicks walk around while they thought of him as their father hen. So in leu of that I did this quick sketch. Did I mention that I was once an artist? My dad is my only fan. He's actually more like a manly cheerleader rooting for the handy cap team. We love him anyway.

Fresh Homemade Bread at 8 am.

FOOD PORN by Liz. 

I'm still recouping after one of the worst days ever. So to treat myself I have made some fresh bread and my usual morning fruit and veggie juice.

 Let me start by saying that bread is not that easy to make. I was very skeptical about doing it. All the homemade bread that I had tasted sucked. It was bland, chewy and meaty. (My brother went through a faze of making fancy health breads in his bread machine). AND it took too long, way too much effort for my lazy butt. My mom would come over and be like "why don't you bake your own bread you little tree hugger you?" And by the way she never said that, she's British and was more like, "why don't you have any bread? I'm hungry- I used to make bread all the time, it's easy -even you couldnt screw it up!" She didnt say that either, but that's what I heard.

I was trying to cut out bread and was using whole grain tortillas to make Watt's Peanut Butter and Jelly Sando's,  burritos , quesidias and tacos... I love you mr tortilla, such a wonder.

 But this didn't stand a chance with my English mother who eats pretty much a loaf of white bread a day. So I thought about it, and thought about it some more, and was like. "No it's a pain in the ass". But then my father started making fancy breads.

The deal with my dad is that he gets into "hobby mode" as I like to call it. He does everything from the book exactly as they tell him to do it, and the product is almost always perfect. like a week and $500 worth of supplies later... and then I get to sit back and listen to him blather on about how making bread is the new black.

So anyway, now my dad was making bread and telling me I gotta try it. Which made me really not want to do it, cause everything he does is a pain and takes too much effort and fancy gear. Until he brought over one of his loafs. It was still warm and looked as if he had stolen it from Panera. (a really nice Bread store). AND not only did he trick me into eating his bread but he also brought me a 15 page print out of how to make bread the easy way. So I took that 15 pages and cut it down to one page and did it my own way. The really easy way. Keep in mind, this bread is super bland and tastes like oatmeal. Its bland because you put tasty things on it like peanut butter or jelly or an egg. Let the food be the taste. Here is the recipe on the side of my King Arthur Bread Bag. If you don't want to read the directions, you can just skip to the pictures below. The directions are boring to read, even for me. 

Oatmeal Sandwich Bread:

3 cups of King Arthur Flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

2 Tablespoons of butter (I don't use butter)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt (I don't use salt)

3 Tablespoons of honey or brown sugar ( I use my local honey)

2 teaspoons  or 1 packet of active or instant yeast

1 1.4 cup luke warm milk ( I use 1 cup hot almond milk and 1 cup hot water) 

3/4 cup raisins ( I havent tried this yet)

As you can see I make it my own. I never like to follow the sheep off the cliff. I found with the first batch of bread that it was too dry and clumpy, I needed to add more water in order for it to be like dough,( like soft moist dough you see Pizza makers flipping around). 

Ok now get a big bowl and mix this together. I like to knead it with my hands so I can feel the consistency of it. May I suggest you take your rings off for this... what a mess. I knead it into a ball and then put it back into the bowl and let it rise for an hour. Then I knead it again, line the bowl with saran wrap and then put my dough ball in it and cover it for another hour. It can stay in the fridge for a few days, and will get more sour as it waits for you. 

30 minutes to a day later... I take it out of the fridge and knead it into a shape of my liking and then wait for it to rise one more time for a half hour. 

Then I put it in the oven at 425 for about 20-30 minutes. 

AND THIS IS SIMPLE? Sounds like a lot of work. It is. If your lazy don't bother. 

First off this is a bag of bread that I would normally eat. Please take a moment to look at all the ingredients in this bag. One of which is HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. Too many ingredients for my liking. If you don't know what an ingredient is or if you cant pronounce it, don't eat it. 

This is my bread after being in the fridge for the night . The ingredients surround it. King Arthur Bread Flour, Mill Creek Apiary Honey (local guy that makes the best honey in the world) , Active Dry Yeast, and Old Fashioned Oats.  The recipe is on the King Arthur Bread Bag. 

Here is my bread hanging out with crap in the bag. This is for size comparison.  

This is what it looks like when I'm done making it into a shape of my liking.  

I dust it with some flour, and I personally like to give it a spritz of water to help it expand in the oven. Some people put a tray of water under the bread, but thats too much work for me. I'm not a chemist.

25 minutes later I have this space ship. As Forrest says, "you never know what your gonna get". This is not what I had in mind, but whatever. 

Which one do you want? Crap in the bag or hot fresh bread? Shut up- I know, the bag looks better. oh..well.. 

It tastes good though. Very yeasty when warm, but once it cools down it has a little bit of a sweet taste of oatmeal and honey.

It took longer to write this blog then it did to make the bread.... In the meantime.....
Just got a phone call from my dad saying that one of his kids (he has 5 including me) is eating a giant hole in his fabulous artisan bread. This is a crime and you will be punished. You're a bread muncher that hates crust and we all know what your doing. So in order to right a wrong I am publishing your crime on my blog for everyone to see what you have done to our dad's hard work.

There was even a note... hard to read yes, but she knew what she was doing.

She just grabs the middle part out like a mouse. 

and then plays with her technology devices without a care.  

Ironic isnt it.

I'm so sad right now.

I just posted about my favorite hen Wendy, how much I loved her, and the special bond we had together...

I was just taking out the compost when I noticed a hawk flutter out of the chicken run and look at me for a little too long. I thought... "that's weird, what was it eatin?" and then I look and see a lot of Wendy's feathers, and something coming out of the mud. I get in the pen and see two yellow feet and some blood. I pull her body out of the ground, and see that something has eaten her neck and chewed a large hole in the side of her body. She lay still with her eyes closed. She gave it a good fight... and now its over. I havent cried in a long time, but this broke the seal. Me and the girls sat around looking at the queen not knowing what to do. I dug a hole and had the brood say there goodbyes... they all walked up to her and gave her a small peck as if to say, "wake up stupid". What a crappy day. Will I ever find another chicken like Wendy? Who will take over her job? I guess we will find out. Bye Wendy, we loved you and will miss you here at Lizards Den.

You ate and killed my only friend.