A Not-So-Green Smoothie

.

In an effort to work on detoxing and cleaning out my system, along with trying to make sure I get all my nutrients in each day, I have been working on making "Green" Smoothies. So... here's the deal... I HATE raw veggies... especially lettuce... with a PASSION. However, they are so incredibly good for you, so I figured the best way to get them into my system was to hide them.
 I found a basic recipe for a "green" smoothie that I thought might work for me since it is VERY basic and can be used in a large variety of formulas. I can't remember where I saw this basic recipe, but here it goes..

Not-So Green Smoothie

2 c Spinach, or Kale (I use spinach since it is less bitter)

2 c fruits of any variety

 (I usually put in a cup of berries for their great antioxidants, and a cup of other fruits like peaches and mangos to give it a boost of flavor)

1/2-1 c liquid

 (for extra protein and creaminess try using soy or almond milk, for a boost of flavor try adding 100% fruit juice, for good intestinal health try adding 1/2 c Kefir or 1-2 T Apple Cider Vinegar, or, of course, you can always just use water)

That is it! 2 c greens, 2 c fruits, and some liquids to get it going. Throw it in the blender on low, if it is having trouble mixing add more liquid, then bump the speed up to medium/high till it is thoroughly blended. Tada! You now have a healthy detoxing smoothie that tastes great and is great for you!  

If you truly want your smoothie to be green in color than use lighter colored fruits like apples, pears, or bananas. I am not a stickler on the color, in fact I am much more likely to eat it if it is NOT green, so I enjoy putting in berries which turn my smoothies a deep reddish purple color. So pretty AND delicious!!! 

Coconut Oil and Chocolates

.

I have been doing some research on Coconut oil and was AMAZED with this SUPER FOOD!!!


Here is a great link to a website I found with 160 uses for coconut oil. http://wakeup-world.com/2012/03/02/160-uses-for-coconut-oil/ They even have uses for our 4 legged family members!!!

Now I don't know how people just take a spoonful myself, so I have been sneaking this miracle food into my cooking instead.

Here is, by far, my favorite way to eat my coconut oil..

Homemade Coconut Chocolates

3/4 c Coconut oil

1/2 c Cocoa Powder

1/2 t Vanilla

Stevia to taste

Crushed almonds or hazelnuts (Optional)

In a small sauce pan melt your coconut oil and cocoa powder until well incorporated. Then Add your vanilla and Stevia. Now with the original recipe I found for these chocolates found here http://wholeintentions.com/2012/08/chocolate-coconut-cubes-candida-diet-allowed/ , it states to only add a teaspoon of Stevia but I found that it wasn't nearly enough, so I just add a Tablespoon, and taste the mixture, then add a little more at a time until it reaches the right level of sweetness. The problem with Stevia is that if you add too much it will start to taste bitter, so you just want it nice and strongly chocolate-y that is just sweet enough to not be too bitter. (It is not milk chocolate!)

Once you reach the right level of sweetness you can add your nuts. Next, spoon your mixture into an ice cube tray and freeze for at least an hour or two. Once it is hardened you can just pop one out and enjoy!!! (Yeah right like you could really just eat only one...)

This snack has all the best qualities! Not only are you getting your super food: Coconut Oil! But you are also getting the antioxidant rich chocolate. Plus it is Dairy Free, Gluten Free, and Sugar Free!!! Perfect for any candida diet!

Owl Hats

I have been crocheting like CRAZY lately! My sister-in-law found a cute owl hat and wanted something similar, so this...

is what I came up with!!!

Yeah, for Cute Owl Hats!!!

A Muffin for Everyday

I have been on a HUGE muffin kick lately... However, having issues with candida, which include having issues with sugar, gluten, and dairy, it is pretty hard to find a good recipe for a muffin I can actually eat. So I took the idea for some baked oatmeal, and made my own Oatmeal Muffin Recipe!!!

Everyday Oatmeal Muffins

Makes 6 muffins

1 Ripe Banana (or 1/2 cup pumpkin, squash, sweet potato, etc...)

1/4 c Nut Butter ie. peanut butter, almond butter, etc. (or substitute 2 T melted coconut oil)

1/4 c Honey, Agave, or Pure Maple Syrup

1 egg

1/2 c Almond or Coconut Milk

1 t Cinnamon

1 1/2 c Oatmeal

1 t Baking Powder

1/2 c fruit or nuts (Optional)

Start by mashing up your banana or other squashy filler, then add the rest of your wet ingredients and combine well. Next add your dry ingredients mix just until it is all incorporated. Spoon mixture into lined or greased muffin tin, and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. 

Tada!!! Delicious dairy free, gluten free, low sugar muffins!!!

Now the beauty of this recipe is that it is VERY customizable!!! For instance: for a great banana muffin just use banana, coconut oil, and add some walnuts. For Pumpkin Muffins use canned pumpkin, Maple Syrup,  and add a dash each of ginger, nutmeg, and ground cloves. For a Pina Colada muffin use banana, 1 c oatmeal, and 1/2 c unsweetened coconut, then add some crushed pineapple. Try adding some dried blueberries, or chocolate chips to a banana muffin. Use up those leftover yams/ sweet potatoes to make a batch of muffins! The Uses for this Recipe are Endless!!!

Cure That Cold Quick

So this last cold I had terrified me! You see, for the past year whenever I catch a cold I wind up with some sort of infection (sinus, eye, ear, lung). It isn't pretty... I inevitabley end up at Urgent Care or the ER and prescribed mega doses of antibiotics which only make my problems worse! 

This time I was going to beat the cold before I got to that horrible point! I went to my local health food store and begged for a cold cure. The very nice and knowledgeable lady led me over to Oil of Oregano...

I thought "What the heck... it's worth a shot!" and bought a bottle. I took a double dose 3-4 times that day and was shocked the next morning when I realized my cold was almost GONE!!! I still had some lingering effects, but I felt GREAT! I was sold!!!

Oil of Oregano comes in two delivery methods. You can either get a liquid form that you take via dropper, or you can get a capsule form that you swallow just like any other pill. Being that I am not a fan of tasting my medicine I opted to the capsule form.
This cure works best if you catch the cold early on, at the onset of symptoms, but can still help kick the cold faster when taken later on.
So.. the next time you get a cold skip the engineered meds and reach for your Oregano and you will be feeling better in no time!!!

Pumpkin Muffins

I just found this recipe for Pumpkin Muffins on the Elana's Pantry blog http://www.elanaspantry.com/pumpkin-spice-muffins/ . They are gluten free, grain free, dairy free, low in sugar, and DELICIOUS!!!

Pumpkin Muffins

1/4 c Coconut Flour

1/8 t Salt

1/2 t Baking Soda

1 t Baking Powder (I added) 

1 T Cinnamon

dash each of ginger, nutmeg, and ground cloves

3 Eggs

1/2 c Freshly Roasted Pumpkin (canned wont work...)

1/4 c Honey

2 T Coconut oil 

1 t Vanilla

Directions

In a blender, mix the coconut flour, salt, baking soda and powder, cinnamon, and other spices. Then add the rest of the ingredients and puree. (Make sure that you scrape a spoon around the bottom of the mixer to loosen up and mix in all the dry ingredients otherwise those ingredients get stuck in the corners). Pour the batter into muffin cup lined muffin tin. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 min. Then Enjoy!!!

How to Roast a Pumpkin

Since this recipe calls for fresh roasted pumpkin, here is how...

First you want to cut the top stem off the pumpkin. Then cut the pumpkin in half length-wise. Next you want to firmly take a spoon and scoop out the seeds and inside slimy strings (why yes that is a technical term ;) ).

Next you want to spray, or lightly coat with oil, a sheet pan. Then place the pumpkin halves open side down on the cookie sheet and poke holes through the skin with a knife to help release extra steam.

Next you want to stick the pan with the pumpkin into the the oven and roast it at 375 for 20-30min.

You will be able to smell the pumpkin, the skin will look darker, and it will look soft and slightly shriveled when it is done.

Then just scoop out the inside, puree, and enjoy in your pumpkin muffins or other favorite recipes!

One small pumpkin yields about 2 c pumpkin.  Make sure that you use a Pie Pumpkin, or Sugar Pumpkin, not the kind for carving...

Spaghetti Sauce

Ok, so let me start this out by saying: I HATE it when people post a recipe but first they give you a million pictures and some stupid back story, along with how incredible their results are, while you are (not so) patiently scrolling down the post going "Where the heck is the recipe?!?" I am going to skip all that mumbo jumbo, and just give you the recipe already!

Ashley's Spaghetti Sauce

1-2 T Olive Oil

1 Medium Onion, diced

1 lb Ground Beef or Italian Sausage (For our Vegetarian friends add a lb of your favorite veggies instead of the meat!)

3-4 Fresh Tomatoes, diced (Or one 15 oz can diced tomatoes, but let's face it, fresh is best!!!)

1 28 oz can of Tomato Sauce

3/4 t each Garlic Powder, Salt, Basil, Thyme, Oregano

1/4 t Ground Pepper

1 Bay Leaf

Directions

In large soup pot heat olive oil, then add onion and saute for 3-4 minutes. When onions start to become translucent add the meat and cook through.

                                 

Once the meat is cooked add the tomatoes, then let it simmer while you assemble your spices and take the lid off your tomato sauce.

Next, pour in your tomato sauce, and add your spices.

Stir to incorporate, then let simmer over medium heat for 20 to 30 minutes while you are preparing your noodles. (Cover for thinner sauce, leave uncovered for thicker sauce)

For our non-sensitive friends, serve over whole grain pasta. For our gluten sensitive friends serve over a corn-quinoa pasta. And for our grain free friends serve over spaghetti squash. YUM!!!

Ok, now my back story...

This recipe, like my blog states, was invented out of necessity. The pre made sauces at the store are all filled with extra sugar and preservatives (some of which do in fact contain gluten!) So I went on the hunt to find a recipe for a sugar free, gluten free sauce that actually tasted great.

I found this picture on pinterest http://pinterest.com/pin/238901955203244088/ with a caption for the "Best Ever Pizza Sauce." Naturally I tried making the sauce and LOVED it! So I figured I would take some of the spice combination from that recipe, while omitting the sugar, add some tomatoes, onions, and meat (making it a much hardier sauce), so that it could serve as a great spaghetti sauce. The result was fantastic! It is so simple and clean and delicious! Plus it is sugar, grain, and dairy free! Who could ask for anything more!?!

I hope you like our sauce as much as our family does! Enjoy!!!

Shower Cleaner

This was me! I HATE cleaning the shower!!! I have tried every shower cleaner that promises to make cleaning so "easy," but none of them work! They all require me scrubbing till my arm feels like it is about to fall off and the shower still being coated in grime. YUCK!!!

While I know it isn't original, and only partly homemade, I have finally found my all time favorite shower cleaner!!!

Here is the link to the recipe http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/02/tub-and-shower-soap-scum-buster.html . It is SUPER EASY! All it is is a mix of dish soap and vinegar. You can mix the two in equal parts, or for a little extra scum fighting power use two part vinegar to one part dish soap. (ie. 2 c vinegar and 1 c dish soap) Now the recipe on the website says to use Dawn dish soap, but I only had the cheap stuff on hand, and it seemed to work awesome. I tried my luck with a cheap spray bottle and was unsuccessful with it, so I emptied out an old bottle of cleaning solution and just put my homemade mix in it. Just put the 2 ingredients in the spray bottle of your choice and gently shake/agitate it

Now when you use this cleaner you want to spray it on liberally. Be careful though since the smell is really strong. I usually have to cover my nose and spray as fast as I can, otherwise I end up having to spray in sections while I break for a few breaths of un-smelly air.

After it is sprayed on, just let it sit for at least half an hour. I usually let mine sit for a good hour. The smell continues to be pretty strong, but does fade some (and is almost completely gone after you rinse it off). Once it has sat and cured, just take a shower scrub brush and give it a gentle once over,and rinse with water. Then sit back and enjoy your now sparkling, shining shower! Seriously, it will look like it is brand new! Ah-Maze-Ing!!!

The downside to this cleaner is that while you get amazing results with very little effort, It doesn't last for very long. I have found that the remedy for this is to put some of our magical shower cleaning solution into one of those dish soap filled scrub brushes. After every couple of showers just brush the shower down with the scrub brush and leave it. This way your shower will stay clean and clear and sparkling.

The Power of Lemon

Lemons, lemons, lemons. 
They are such a simple and often times looked over fruit due to their sour disposition. However, I have discovered that lemons are one of those amazing super foods. As emphasized in this website http://www.lookgreat-loseweight-savemoney.com/lemon-water.html , lemons not only are great for your skin but also help with weight loss, liver function, breathing issues, sore throats, colds/flu, among other health problems.
The consensus for the best way to utilize lemons in our diets is to squeeze half a lemon into about 8 oz of lukewarm water and drink right before breakfast (although a glass at night is also a good choice). 
I started getting hooked on lemon water when I had a sore throat the other day. I knew from some research I have been doing that lemon was a good antiseptic and figured drinking a glass of lemon water with honey (also a great antiseptic) would aid my sore throat. Sure enough, by the time I finished my glass of lemon water with honey, my sore throat was almost completely gone! I was sold!!! I enjoyed the lemon water so much I started to crave, and drink it, on a daily basis, only later to realize the great benefits of what I was doing! I love it when that happens!!!
So, the next time you want to aid your digestion, cure a sore throat in the blink of the eye, are looking for a great way to detox your body, or just want something soothing to drink, then reach for a glass of lemon water!!!

Candida and Adrenal Problems

While I have had a few health issues that have started springing up over the past few years, it seems to have really kicked into high gear in the past year and a half, since the birth of my daughter. I started having issues with UTIs, catching every cold that was floating around, developed endometriosis, and then my colds started turning into infections (eye, sinus, ear, lung) at the drop of a hat. 

Being a mother of three with a husband who works 45 hours a week, and then volunteers at our church another 20-30 hours a week, I just couldn't afford to keep living that way. Not only did I not have the time to be sick, but I also was having a harder time recovering from each illness even while taking antibiotics. 

I started to try natural solutions because I know deep down in my soul that the Lord has put those things on the earth to help us heal from our infirmities. I did a food sensitivity test, hoping that if I avoided those foods my gut could heal and I could boost my immune system. I tried going vegetarian. I took vitamin supplements and  probiotics. Nothing worked...

Finally I was talking to a friend and she mentioned Candida. Well I haven't really heard anything about candida, so I started doing a little research. I found this AWESOME website http://www.wholeapproach.com/ . I started reading about candida, what it is, what symptoms of overgrowth are and realized that my symptoms matched perfectly! 

If you follow the link to the Whole Approach you'll discover that Candida is a type of yeast that exists in our bodies all the time. Usually we have nice strong immune systems that keep it from causing any damage, and so it usually poses no real danger. However for some people, like me..., whose bodies are thrown out of balance by taking birth control, steroids, or antibiotics, your immune system gets weakened and the yeast quickly multiplies and starts attacking the body. This can be manifested in many ways. For me I had recurrent infections, frequent headaches, trouble losing weight, mental fog, fatigue, among other things...

Now, the solution in dealing with candida is simple but challenging. First off you have to change your  Diet. The candida cleanse diet requires to go off all sugars and most carbohydrates, along with eliminating yeast, caffeine, fake sugars, and foods that are known to have high mold contents. Next you need to take an antifungal supplement. Now there are all sorts of kits they sell online for buku bucks. I dont have a lot of extra money to throw at something like that, so instead I went down to our local health food store and found a homeopathic treatment made by Aquaflora http://www.aquaflorainc.com/ . Along with taking a good antifungal, you want to supplement with a really good probiotic to help boost your immune system. Now in order to find a really good probiotic you need to head to the refrigerated section of the health food store. Grab the highest potency one you can find. I actually found one that had 100 billion active cultures! The total cost of the two products was around $50. At first I wasn't very happy it was so expensive but when I realized the thousands of dollars the insurance company and myself have paid on medical bills I figured this was WAY cheaper! 

Now the trick with a Candida cleanse is that you get a little worse before you get better. This is known as the Herxheimer reaction, or Die Off. As the candida is being killed and starved to death it causes the body to experience headaches, nausea, cravings, etc. Don't give up when this starts happening!!! These symptoms mean that what you are doing is working! "They" say that the die off symptoms vary from lasting 2-10 days. I think the more strict you are with the diet and supplements the faster it dies off. For me the die off only lasted 3-4 days. After the die off symptoms stopped I started feeling so much better! My head was clearer, I had more energy, I felt good!

 

Now for me, this euphoria only lasted for a week or so. Oh no!!! So I started researching again, making sure I was doing the diet right, and stumbled across some more info... This time I found a link to a website about Adrenal Issues. Low and behold people with adrenal issues have symptoms very similar to candida overgrowth symptoms!!! In fact those of us who suffer from Adrenal gland problems have chronic fatigue, have problems with getting and healing from infections, and are even prone to being very passive and have trouble standing up for ourselves and saying "No." All of which I have been struggling with for some time! 

As it turns out, the diet to help treat Adrenal issues is the same as the candida diet!!! Score!!! Mainly you need to go sugar and caffeine free along with eliminating high carb foods. Now in order to help rebuild adrenal strength "they" also suggest supplementing with high doses of vitamin B5, otherwise known as pantothenic acid, along with other B vitamins, vitamin C, and other plant extracts. So I went by the health food store and picked up a good Adrenal Gland Support supplement to add to my daily regime. After a few days of taking the Adrenal Gland supplement I started feeling better again. YEAH!!!

The moral of my story is that... Yes you can feel better! Whether you are like me and struggle with Adrenal and Candida issues, or you have other health issues, you can take your health into your own hands. Keep searching for answers! Keep trying new solutions, until you find what works for you. It isn't easy! It is so hard to say no to the foods that everyone else is enjoying, but you are more important. It is SO worth it to finally feel healthy, strong, and have energy again!!!

Welcome!

Alright world here it comes...

My name is Ashley. I am a stay-home-mom of three beautiful, and sometimes crazy, kids. While life is usually a little hectic I have realized that it has become too cluttered by mainstream ideals, and has drifted from the wholesome goodness that life should be.
While I have been anti-fastfood for several years, it has been in this past year and a half that I have really struggled with the effects of a manufactured life. I started having small health issues over the past several years, but since the birth of my daughter almost a year and a half ago (oh my goodness has it been that long already) my health has really taken a plunge. I tried going to doctor after doctor, having test after expensive test only to be told that they can't find the underlying cause.
I finally came to the conclusion that the failure of my health was due to the reluctance to change my habits.
I realized that we are constantly being told what to eat, and that only makes us sick. We are repeatedly bombarded with adds for the newest beauty products that don't give results, and only make us feel more insecure and lower our self-esteem. We are filling our homes with products that have a list of ingredients that look more like a foreign language and we have no idea what impact they will have on our health.
At this point I came to the realization that health comes from within. I started researching natural cures that included whole foods and natural remedies. Once I started switching over I became hooked! I started feeling so much better and looking so much healthier!
And now I want to share my story with all my trials and errors, all my successes and failures, with you all so that we can all reap the benefits of a Whole life!