Articles with the tomatoes Tag

Yep, that’s right! My husband can make yumilicious meals – I am SO lucky!

Friday, September 9th was our one-year wedding anniversary, and the night before, he peeled and sliced a ginormous cucumber, chopped two homegrown tomatoes (that we bought from a local vendor), sliced about a third (or so) of a big onion, and then put a whole bottle of Italian dressing in the bowl and stirred it all together. Oh, and he added some water (about half the dressing bottle full).

He popped the lid on the bowl and put it in the fridge so the flavors could marry overnight. YUM-O!

I know what you’re thinking: a WHOLE bottle of processed dressing?!

But hey, who can complain when their husband loves veggies AND whips up a flavorful salad?! Not I, says Raw Juice Girl, not I! LOL!

If you’re interested in the overnight salad recipe my husband made, you can see it at Mainline Gardening: Overnight Salad – Made By My Husband.

The Night Before

We got the tomatoes homegrown from a local vendor, using my eco-friendly Bite bag (which I reviewed HERE).

He also thawed some beef and pork steaks and hot dogs and made his own marinade concoction.

I busied myself making old-fashioned potato salad and (hand-grated!) cole slaw. I also made a fresh pitcher of tea (black tea bags mixed with green tea bags). Delish!

Next Day, Our Anniversary: Sept. 9th!

I got busy slicing red, yellow, and orange bell pepper + onion to get ‘em ready for grillin’!

SO Pretty—the Colors!

On to the Grill!!

And…. on to the table!!!

Set for four – we had a couple of guests!

As you can see from the table setting, I love old-fashioned stuff and flowers are my favorite thing in the whole world. Well, maybe chocolate and caramel are my favorite things, but you know…

Anyway…

Our anniversary dinner was a success. But even more important than the tasty meal, was spending the day with a true sweetheart – my soul mate. I have the BESTEST husband ever!!

I’m a happy girl!

Don’t forget to enter my SWEET GIVEAWAY!!!!

Hi, y’all!

How’ve ya been doing? I know you probably thought Raw Juice Girl “flew the coop” but I didn’t. I’ve just been busy as a little worker bee doing all sorts of cool stuff – including gardening and writing about gardening!

I’ve also been hunting for treasures (which I’ve found!) for unique container gardening. I’m so excited to be growing yummy goodies to eat. Not only is gardening fun and healthy exercise, it’s rawsome to be able to eat produce you’ve grown yourself.

First up, is an old wheelbarrow that was full of junk. I knew right away it was a treasure that could be filled with rich soil and that it would make a wonderful home for produce of some sort.

Now that I think about it, strawberries would have loved living here, but pepper plants it was: cayenne, jalapeño, and sweet bell peppers to be exact.

Before

After

Note two things:

1. The recycled trash can lid turned upside-down in order to lift the bottom and result in using less soil.
2. That the wheelbarrow is now PINK – my all-time favorite color!

(I blogged about my “Pink Pepper Patch” here!)

Next up is an old shelf that was laying in someone’s yard and would have literally just rotted away to nothingness. I could envision a fantabulous raised garden bed and just had to have it!

Thanks to my sweet husband, with some scraps of thin plywood nailed on the back to make a bottom, I was in business….

Before

After

On each end of the above raised garden bed is yellow crooked neck squash (four plants on each end).

Along the back, is four cucumber plants.

Down the three center rows is tomatoes (green zebra striped and beefsteak). I’ve never grown green zebra striped tomatoes. I bought them from a lady down the road. They’re supposed to stay green even after they mature. Now, she also sold me some Ananas Noir tomatoes – more about that in a future post.

Squash Blooms Already!

Tomato Blooms!

(I blogged about How Gardening with Grandma as a Child Brings Writing Success Today HERE!)

Lastly is an old, rusty washtub. Oh, the joy!  This beauty was lost in the weeds and it just spoke to me. Yep, it did. It said, “Michele, you need me. I’ll grow delicious spinach and basil for you!”

It won my heart over. (I blogged about the story: Grandma’s Washtub Transformed!)

Before

After

And so it grows….

What about you? Are you a gardener? Have you discovered the peace and joy of gardening? Do you love garden-fresh produce? Do you remember gardening as a child? What’s your favorite veggie or fruit?  How has life been treating you? I’ve missed you so – fill me in!

Keep your eyes peeled for more gardening adventures!

Hi,y’all!

I haven’t forgotten about all the upcoming reviews, contests, and information-packed posts – I’ve been soaking up the sunshine and gardening!!!

You know me, I’ve been snapping photos all along the way. Folks are calling me “shutterbug” lol!

(Organic) gardening is definitely therapeutic and as I recently wrote, you can be reinspired by stopping to smell the roses.

There aren’t any roses to smell yet, but I’ve been taking my own advice!

It’s hard sometimes being a freelance writer and blogger because naturally, I tend to throw myself in to my work and as you know, I’m pretty thorough in the reviews I write – and everything else I do. Some days, hours have past before I realize it and I haven’t taken time to stretch or enjoy a little fresh air.

I’m working on changing that. Life is precious and we need to absorb all we can while we have the chance.

Gardening is perfect for that! Besides, it gives me even more to blog about.

I took some photos of various flower blooms and veggie and fruit plants around the yard and edge of the garden to share with you….

Lilac Bush

Redbud Tree

Daffodils

Amish Windmill

Rhubarb

Brussel Sprouts

Rainbow Chard

Brussel Sprouts + Cauliflower

Potatoes

The posts and string are temporary – we’re planning to eventually have all raised beds with pathways all along the way!

Far back is the potatoes, right top corner, strawberry patch.

As you can see, this garden is HUGE (100×100!!!) – the above photo doesn’t even show 3/4 of it! There’s still a LOT to plant and TONS more work to do. And to the left, there’s a long row of thornless blackberries!

Also not shown: peony bushes scattered around the garden’s edge, tulips (coming up, not blooming yet), an iris bed, more lilac bushes, comfrey, mock orange, and also several rose of sharon bushes.

Grapes

And the orchard (not in the garden, a different area)

So far, our orchard consists of the following trees:

• 2 apple
• 3 (tart) cherry
• 2 peach
• 2 elderberry
• 2 paw paw
• 2 plum

So exciting!!! Can you just imagine all the yumilicious raw treats, smoothies, and juices I can make??!!

And not all of those are visible in the above photo – several are back to the left and out of the camera’s eye.

For fun: the old silo (not in use)

Why Companion Gardening?

Companion gardening is RAWsome. Why? Because there are certain plants that do exceedingly well side-by-side. There are also some plants you need to avoid placing next to others. There’s not enough room in this post to share all the information, but here’s a few examples:

• Spinach + Lettuce + Peas + Beans. We planted spinach and lettuces so they’ll be at the bottom of snap peas and green beans. This way, the lettuce and spinach work to crowd out the weeds, helping the peas and beans grow and the spinach and lettuce are shaded by the peas and beans. Win-win!
• Basil + Tomatoes. Sounds like ingredients for a salad, sandwich, or sauce, right? Then doesn’t it make sense to plant basil and tomatoes together? How RAWmazing is it that basil enriches the taste and growth of tomatoes??!! So, you know where these two will be found in my garden, eh?
• Flax + Potatoes? That’s right! The linseed and tannin oils found in flax helps fend off the potato bug!

And that’s just the beginning! I also love that if you plant garlic near your roses, it repels aphids!!

If any of you are interested in learning more about companion gardening, let me know and I’ll post more about it as I plant and tend the garden!

I’ll also be talking more about heirloom, organic plants and gardening.

Are you in to gardening? Do you have a garden? Want one? What do you have in your garden (or what would you plant if you had one)? Do you strive for heirloom, organic gardening?

I’m off to fantasize about all the RAWsome smoothie, juice, and salad concoctions that will come from my garden…. Yum!

Giveaways!!

Janetha, from Meals and Moves, is having a Kombucha giveaway!!

I’m hosting a shopping spree giveaway – there’s over 400 comments!!! Eeeek!!! Have you entered yet?? Why not?? Hurry!! Deadline is TOMORROW!!!!

Get Your Discount!

10% Discount code – You can get a coupon code for 10% off ANYTHING in my OpenSky store until Wednesday, April 14th.

Save $5 on your www.iHerb.com order by using the following code at checkout: TUN499

So, if you’ve been (cyber) window shopping, now’s your chance to take the plunge and go for it!

Coming Soon

In no particular order…

• Review of the Paderno World Cuisine Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer
• Review of Aurorae Sport Sweat Towel
• Review of Aurorae Slip Free Rosin Bag
• Health Benefits of Blackstrap Molasses – And Why I Drink It
• Tart Cherry Concentrate Health Benefits – And Why I Drink It
• More recipes
• More reviews and giveaways – lots of surprises!

Note: For my raw purist readers, this soup isn’t raw. As I’ve mentioned before (numerous times), I’m currently very high raw, but am not 100% raw at this time.

I live for fresh, raw juices and smoothies and veggies and fruit, nuts and seeds – but sometimes a gal just needs a bowl of yummy, herbalicious, flavorful (hot) soup on a cold winter’s day.

Enter: Rainbow Chard + Butter Bean Soup

This recipe was inspired by “The Clean Eating Mama” blog, from her recent post: White Bean and Kale Soup (Thank you, Tasha!)

Rainbow Chard + Butter Bean Soup

Ingredients:

• 6 cups water
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 2 cans butter beans
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• bunch of frozen Rainbow Chard (that was from my garden)
• about 1  -  2 cups of certified organic whole wheat couscous
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil (I used Tropical Traditions Certified Organic Virgin Coconut Oil)
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon basil
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• sprinkle of paprika
• garlic salt to taste (I used Himala Salt Certified Organic brand.)
• freshly ground flax (for sprinkling on top)

Directions:

1. Add the beans, tomatoes, rainbow chard, frozen peas, and cream of celery soup to your pot.
2. Pour in 6 cups water (or broth – I didn’t have any).
3. Add herbs, onion, garlic (or garlic salt like me).
4. Add the coconut oil.
5. Turn heat to medium.
6. Once the frozen veggies are tender and the soup has really heated up, add the couscous.
7. Cover with a lid.
8. Simmer for half an hour or so.
9. Sprinkle with freshly ground flax and enjoy!

Ooooooohhh, yeah!

Kale is one of my all-time favorite veggies, so I’m definitely going to make this soup again when I have the ingredients Tasha used in her version.

OpenSky Alert!

I love freshly ground flax SO much, I’m selling whole flax seeds so you can grind your own. That’s right: You can buy organic flax seed in my OpenSky shop – for only $7.49 per pound!!!

Shipping info:

“We will ship orders anywhere within the United States and Canada. At this time, we do not ship to other locations. When your order ships, you will receive a shipment notification via email that will include your tracking number.” – OpenSky

Contest Alert

HiHoRosie’s Place is giving away an ice cream maker.

And don’t forget to enter my latest contest for a $30 gift certificate from Glass Dharma!

Your Turn

What about you? Are you a “soup person” or do you detest soup? Do you love making a big pot of soup and savoring it day after day, or do you just get a craving for it once in a while and either buy soup from a restaurant so you won’t have leftovers, or eat it out of a can or at someone else’s house?

Raw foodie (purists): Do you splurge on hot soup once in a while during the colder months, or do you stick to raw soups only?

All of you, chime in – I adore reading your thoughts!!

And… I’m planning on posting about raw soup in an upcoming – so stay tuned! Plus, the delivery man has been kind to me and I’m going to give you a sneak peek at what he brought!

If you’re just tuning in, be sure to enter Healing With (Raw) Juices’ latest contest for TWO containers  of Amazing Grass – one is CHOCOLATE! (Thursday, October 22 is the last day to enter.)  You can also use the code hwj for a 15% discount on your order, if you can’t wait. And a BIG thank you to Amazing Grass for sponsoring! And don’t forget to check out my chocolate ice cubes — they’re super easy to make, and so fun!

Yum!

Dangerous?

When you think of dangerous foods, don’t you think of rotten or diseased meat, non-organic produce that’s grown swimming in chemicals, or something of that nature? Do you think about greens, berries, or sprouts? Seriously?

This topic came up when I noticed the following tweet recently:

@rawliving Puh-leeze! —> The Most Dangerous Foods – http://twurl.nl/vu5pok – Here’s a tip: WASH #raw fruits/veggies & eat LOTS of ‘em!

The article she’s referring to is the one The  Huffington Post: The Most Dangerous Foods.

Of course, I was nosy and had to go read it. I was totally surprised to find the following 10 foods as “the most dangerous” foods we have to worry about. Huh?

1. Leafy Greens
2. Eggs
3. Tuna
4. Oysters
5. Potatoes
6. Cheese
7. Ice Cream
8. Tomatoes
9. Sprouts
10. Berries

I find it odd that the foods that are rich in living nutrients, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, etc., are the ones listed as dangerous. The ONE food on this list I’d personally avoid with all my might is oysters (ew!) but even the ice cream isn’t listed as unhealthy or dangerous because of its ingredients or fat or sugar content.

“The largest ice-cream outbreak in history occurred in 1994, when a popular ice cream manufacturer used the same truck to haul raw, unpasteurized eggs and pasteurized ice cream premix. The result: thousands of people sickened in 41 states.” — The Huffington Post

The reasons given for these foods being the most dangerous is because of how they were handled and/or stored or transported. If they’d been prepared correctly, there wouldn’t be a problem.

I’m sorry, but I am not giving up foods 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, or 10 for sure – and if I feel like it, I’d splurge on foods 3, 6, and 7. If they’re grown and cared for properly and organically, I’m eating ‘em! And, besides, you can make ice cream at home…

Remember John Stossel? I echo him: Give me a break!

Oh, and @rawliving has a raw food blog herself. Drop by and visit In The Raw!

And did you see my new business cards??!!

Want to keep up with Raw Juice Girl’s adventures + more?  Subscribe to Healing with Juices’ Feed for free updates. You can get free updates to your email as well (sign up here). You’ll also receive inspiration, juice and smoothie recipes, and juice fasting tips and encouragement to help keep you motivated toward your ultimate health–and more personal posts about stuff that’s going on in my life. I’ve also been working on a recipe page where you’ll be able to easily locate recipes for raw juices, smoothies, and now dehydrator creations!

First, I’d like to remind you about the current contest I have running: The Bolder Mat Company Yoga Mat + Stacy McCarthy’s Yoga DVD. (Contest ends Wednesday, August 19th. There are SEVEN ways to win!!)

My day started out with an hour of yoga, which was fantabulous! I almost fell asleep during Shavasana, I was SO relaxed! (Have I mentioned lately that I’m in LOVE with yoga??!!) After that, I gobbled up an organic Greek yogurt with frozen blueberries on top (this is by far my FAVORITE, non-raw meal)!

Then, I did some writing + blog work and some other stuff. Once it was time for lunch, I was STARVING.

Spinach Salad

a bunch of baby spinach leaves (this is a bigger bowl than it seems)

organic tomatoes (from my garden)

frozen peas +organic  bell pepper from my garden (lightly steamed with coconut oil + Italian herbs)

hemp seeds (from www.manitobaharvest.com)

macadamia nuts

THIS SALAD WAS DELICIOUS!!! YUM!!!

Once lunch was finished and cleaned up, it was time for me to stop procrastinating and make some chocolate pudding from avocados! Enter: Chocolate (Avocado) Pudding Heaven!

Cleanin’ Out the Fridge + Garden Overflow

There was a little of this, that, and the other in the fridge where veggies are concerned. I’ve been eating a LOT of salad but needed to clean out those odds and ends. Also, I needed to use up some freshly-picked garden veggies…

Organic, Heirloom Tomatoes

Organic Heirloom Bell + Banana Peppers

All from My Garden

First Up: Tomato Juice

(After I washed all that garden dirt off!)

Beautiful Tomato Juice Bubbles!

Made 3 Cups + a Little Leftover

Just for me!

Next Up: Juice Concoction

rest of the tomatoes

3 bell peppers

5 big banana peppers

whole bag of organic carrots (16 ounce) + a few other stray (organic) carrots

2 big cucumbers (from my garden)

teeny bit of spinach

Juice Concoction Bubbles

Juice Concoction Pulp

(The pulp went to the ducks, chickens, and turkeys.)

Organic, Heirloom Cucumbers

9 big cucumbers went into this juice!

Gorgeous Cucumber Juice Bubbles

Those 9 cucumbers made 3 cups of juice (shown above) + half of my oversized, favorite cup for drinking right away!

Cucumber Juice for Me!

It’s a Raw Juice Party!

In all, I ended up with:

1 – 3 cup container of tomato juice

1 – 3 cup container of cucumber juice

1 – 3 cup container which contained 3/4 cucumber juice + 1/4 juice concoction

2 – 3 cup containers of juice concoction

1 – 12 ounce Amazing Grass shaker cup of cucumber juice

1 – 12 ounce Amazing Grass shaker cup of cantaloupe juice

leftover 8 ounces or so of cucumber juice, which I drank in my polka-dotted cup (shown above)

Cantaloupe Juice

I forgot to take a photo of the cantaloupe but it was organic, heirloom (from my garden) as well.

It made 12 ounces–which fit perfectly into an Amazing Grass shaker cup! This one went into the freezer for later. Yum!

Juices in a Nice, Clean Fridge!

What’s in your fridge?

Be sure to subscribe to Healing with Juices’ Feed for free updates. You can get free updates to your email as well (sign up here). You’ll also receive inspiration, juice and smoothie recipes, and juice fasting tips and encouragement to help keep you motivated toward your ultimate health–and more personal posts about stuff that’s going on in my life PLUS get to enter all sorts of awesome contests!

I had a little trouble going to sleep last night, but once I drifted off I slept blissfully and woke up rested and rarin’ to go!!

And I totally forgot to mention yesterday that I got to meet 2 young ladies from Wales! They had the cutest, most awesome, Welsh accent. It was just the coolest thing ever. I have never had the opportunity to meet anyone who was from Wales so it was such a special treat! Here’s one of them playing the guitar (she gave me permission to take her photo):

Friend from Wales

How awesome is that??!! So fun!!

Breakfast

This morning began with warm lemon water (1/2 a lemon in a cup of hot water). I normally have a raw juice between 30 minutes to an hour later but this morning, I was in the mood for a juice. I just wasn’t craving it. So, instead, I drank a tall glass of water with a tablespoon of organic apple cider vinegar .

Lunch

Lunch was hilarious. My Mom was making plates of salad for everyone who was here today and she made a plate for me–to juice! LOL So, I did.

Salad

(a little of each of the following)

chopped tomato (from a friend’s garden)

cauliflower

sliced cucumber

heirloom lettuce leaves (from my garden)

heirloom onion, chopped (from my garden)

sliced yellow bell pepper

sliced celery

Salad in a Glass

(Filled up a little more than half of my Amazing Grass cup)

After I took this photo, I added a scoop of Amazing Grass Green SuperFood powder. This juice was actually very delicious and satisfying!

(Just click on the photo below to find out how AMAZING this powder is!! )

Pickling Cucumbers

These are actually pickling cucumbers that weren’t picked soon enough and grew too big to pickle.

These are still good for eating/juicing, though. Sometimes they have a bitter taste; sometimes they don’t.

Cucumber Juice

I ended up with more than this amount because the juice turned out bitter. So to try to remedy the not-so-pleasant taste, I added 3 apples. That gave me 3 cups of cucumber-apple juic + a tall glass for me to drink right away. Weird combo, I know, but it worked out!

Cucumber-Apple Juice

Yum-O!

And that was it for day 14. I made sure to drink plenty of water and also had herbal tea with lemon. Tomorrow means this 30-day juice fast is already half over! Sheesh. Has it been 2 weeks already?

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you: I won a contest!! Eeeeek!! Kristin over at Iowa Girl Eats recently had a contest and I won the Grand Prize!!!

Until tomorrow… happy juicing!

Just tuning in? Catch up:

Day 1 of a 30-Day Juice Fast and Juicer Mishaps

Day 2 of a 30-Day Juice Fast–and AMAZING GRASS!!

Day 3–E3 Living!

Day 4 + Wheat Grass Galore + a Juicer!!

Day 5 — Dead or Alive?

Day 6 + Father’s Day Bliss!

Day 7, Cucumber Chia Heaven!

Day 8, Let’s Talk About Weight!

Day 9–and I’m Feelin’ Fine!

Day 10–Learnin’ About Lemon!

Day 11, Grapefruit Juice Heaven!

Day 12 with Sprouts on Top!

Day 13 and Juiceless

Contest Alert!

• The Living Tree Community contest ends tomorrow at 9 p.m. (Central Time)! You’ll win a 16 ounce jar of Coconut Mango Persimmon Butter AND an 8 ounce jar of Raw Almond Butter–both organic!! Hurry and enter. You have SIX CHANCES to win!!!

Upcoming Contests Featuring these Fabulous Companies

• 2 books by Nomi Shannon, The Raw Gourmet (These two books have GORGEOUS photos and the recipes are amazing!
• 2 Food Matters DVDs (Haven’t had a chance to watch this one yet, but do check out their site–they have a RAWsome message to share!!)
• Detox 4 Women by Natalia Rose (I read this book last night and it’s awesome; it really helps you understand water retention, etc!)
• Oh Nuts! (raw macadamia nuts and pecans) <— These are seriously delicious nuts–and they’re JUMBO sized!
• E3Live (Green-tasting (which I don’t mind!), but I REALLY notice that it’s making me feel better. It was definitely put to the test through my recent stressful events!)
• and MORE!

You’ll definitely want to stay tuned!

So… be sure to subscribe to Healing with Juices’ Feed for free updates. You can get free updates to your email as well (sign up here). You’ll also receive inspiration, juice and smoothie recipes, and juice fasting tips and encouragement to help keep you motivated toward your ultimate health–and more personal posts about stuff that’s going on in my life.