Month: July 2011 (Page 3 of 3)

You Just Never Know With Life…

July 9, 2011 / Lindsey / 10 Comments

Anyone else out there a big fan of Northern Exposure?! 🙂 I think we’ve seen every episode at least once.

In one of the episodes, Marilyn Whirlwind tells a story that has stuck with me to this day. I wanted to share it with you…

“My uncle once told me about a warrior who had a fine stallion. Everybody said how lucky he was to have such a horse. “Maybe,” he said. One day the stallion ran off. The people said the warrior was unlucky. “Maybe,” he said. Next day, the stallion returned, leading a string of fine ponies. The people said it was very lucky. “Maybe,” the warrior said. Later, the warrior’s son was thrown from one of the ponies and broke his leg. The people said it was unlucky. “Maybe,” the warrior said. The next week, the chief led a war party against another tribe. Many young men were killed. But, because of his broken leg, the warrior’s son was left behind, and so was spared.”

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Make Your Own “Green Smoothie Frozen Concentrate”

July 5, 2011 / Lindsey / 1 Comment

Green smoothie frozen concentrate, (c) The Herbangardener

Green smoothie frozen concentrate made with lettuce, spinach, and lambsquarters.

So I peeked into my remaining three bags of lettuce from the garden this year, and discovered that they were starting to go south and needed to be used right away. I separated out the slimy leaves, washed the rest, and had an idea! I’ll make green smoothie frozen concentrate cubes!

To make the concentrate:

1. Pour some kefir, water, juice, or watered-down yogurt into a blender. You won’t need too much — just enough to get everything to blend together smoothly.

2. Add lots of greens. Ideas are: lettuce, spinach, beet greens, chard, lambsquarters, purslane, mint, parsley, cilantro, edible flowers, etc. (Kale is the only one I don’t like in a shake, but if you do, go for it!)

3. Start the blender and let it run until you have a uniform slurry.

4. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze.

To use:

When you’re ready to make a green smoothie, thaw out some cubes; I usually use 2 cubes when I make a shake for myself. Add the green liquid to your blender containing the rest of your smoothie ingredients — I like to use fruit and kefir with some ground flax seed and vanilla extract. Blend & enjoy. Yum!!

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If you’re curious about green smoothies, you might check out the book Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko, or the related website. My friend Sasha recommended this book to me, and I loved it! While I don’t agree with absolutely everything in the book, I’m glad I read it.

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Gratitude Sunday * July 3, 2011

July 3, 2011 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

Sunday’s a good day to remember what we’ve been grateful for over the past week, don’t you think? I’m joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition, and here’s my list:

– Not rushing through this week; just having time to do what needed to be done, and to do what I wanted to do.

– A much quieter, more relaxing week this week.

– My COBRA health insurance that I *almost* let go of when I quit my job, since it’s $400 a month. So grateful I followed a persistent hunch to hold onto it, rather than my logical mind’s rationalizations to get rid of it.

– Earplugs. Essential for urban living!

– Meeting my sweet Hubby for lunch with a couple of his coworkers, and going out to an excellent Vietnamese place to eat Pho soup (which I’d never had before). This place was so good, and the food was so light and fresh which is what my body loves best. I snarfed. And snarfed. I’ll have to take a picture of the Pho for you next time!

– That was such a good day, the day I met F. for lunch. I was feeling so good and energetic, I was so happy to be home and not at work, enjoying summertime. Just a really great day. 🙂

– Taking the time to sit down and draw a mandala. I haven’t done one in a long time and I felt so uplifted afterward. It was like playing!

– Resolving to do more things that bring me joy. Lately I’ve had some very dark moments where life seems more of a struggle than it’s worth, and I realize that the best way to remedy that feeling is to be sure I’m doing enough FUN and JOYFUL stuff. There’s so much to do in life, just to keep things going along smoothly, that I sometimes don’t carve out enough time to do something purely for the joy of it. Doing fun, joyful things keeps me motivated to ‘keep doing life’ and get through the difficult parts.

– Fresh, organic, in-season fruit! I LOVE fruit. And I’ve enjoyed eating breakfasts like the one below — fresh fruit salad with a couple dollops of sheep’s milk yogurt, and my daily nettle-mint-lemongrass tea.