Organic and happy

Look how big this guy is getting. Isn't he so cute. One of the kids took this picture. They all wanted to take pictures of Everett, but I picked out the best and I can't remember whose it was. We also tried taking pictures of a few of us together. Cora took this next picture.
It's not the most flattering hairstyle for me! After I took this picture, I was trying to get a picture for my blog profile, so Cora took some more photos of me. But then I realized that I had purple lips from drinking my "Green" smoothie (which was really more purple because I added lots of blueberries to it.)



See? This is my Berry-Chardy smoothie. It has red chard in it, and lots of berries. We have been doing green smoothies this month because we have had so much sickness in the house that I am trying anything to get healthy again. I have actually developed a taste for green smoothies. I like the flavor of the blended greens and fruit.
I think it is working to make us healthy too. We have not had a sickness for a while, and all the kids finally stopped sniffling and coughing. Whatever we have had has dragged on and on forever. But Greens have so many vitamins-- including more vitamin c than oranges-- that I think we are on the mend, and I use a lot of greens in my smoothies. I don't even have a powerful blender. I just do it in my little Waring Pro. (Sometimes my smoothies are a bit chunky) I've looked up some recipes, but mostly I have just made them up with things that sound good and look good together. I made one out of romaine lettuce, oranges, fennel fronds and olive oil that was really good. It tasted like a salad.

Here is one recipe that turned out great. We call it Green Ambrosia:

Green Ambrosia

4-6 Dates

1 Orange

1 bunch curly endive (frisée)

1 Tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

The coconut oil gives it a tropical flavor, and the dates sweeten the endive just enough. When I add oranges I peel them with a knife just barely under the orange part so that I can leave most of the white pith on. That part of the orange has a lot of bioflavinoids which help to assimilate the vitamin c better into your body.

I had an interesting experience the other day. I have been doing Bountiful Baskets which is a produce co-op that orders large quantities of produce and you can buy it at wholesale prices. I usually only buy the organic basket which comes every other week, but this week they had Organic mangoes for sale by the box, and I wanted to get some so I ordered the conventional basket because I had to buy that in order to get the mangoes.

Well, I noticed a most interesting thing. When I brought the box into my house it smelled like the fertilizer aisle in the gardening store. Yuk! I thought things would be better if I washed the produce, so I filled a bowl with soapy water and washed all the food. After it was washed I realized that it still smelled like fertilizer. I think that because it is fed on chemicals that it smells and tastes like them too. I never realized it until now because we have been eating mostly organic for so long. The apples smelled the worst!

I am glad we eat organic-- and even more glad that we can raise some of our own food! And make it too.

Because I am such a foodie I have to show off this picture of some homemade sourdough cinnamon raisin bagels I made.



Oh, YUMMMMMMMMM!

This is definitely one of those foods that are so much better fresh and homemade!