"Food for Change" Worldwide FREE Screening

The documentary, "Food for Change" is offering a FREE worldwide on-line screening, March 21-23, 2013. You will NOT want to miss seeing this movie and I highly recommend it!

Here is the link to the information.  

Here is a trailer for it.

Let me know what you think.  Until next time...

~Pamela

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

As I have mentioned several times - we LOVE where we live!  Today, not only was the weather B-E-A-Utiful, but we enjoyed the Winter Park Art Festival.  There were so many incredible artists this year.  It is times like these, I wish I had a huge bank account so I could purchase some of the fabulous artwork, especially the still life paintings!

I think it is really cool that most of the restaurants on Park Avenue extend their seating to the street.  Many families and couples were enjoying brunch there today.  

Of course there were tons of food booths but none were vegan, so we settled on a snack of popcorn.  

I always enjoy the beauty of a rose.  I will hopefully have a rose garden in my back yard this year.  I snapped several shots of some of the roses in the rose garden.  Their colors are so vibrant and rich.  

Of course, we were not allowed to take photos of the booths, but we did enjoy taking photos of other things, as well as, ourselves goofing off.  We always have fun, no matter where we are!

 

Rennie and I posing as the GEICO mascot - I look like I have a wig on, but no...all that silver is mine!

My sweetie and the St. Patrick's Day bear - Top of the morning to ya!

I hope you had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day - I know we did!  Until next time...

~Pamela

Oil vs Olives

I read a very interesting article from the Happy Herbivore newsletter this morning.  It said:

Olives Not Oils

"There is no such thing as a “healthy” oil. Quoting Dr. Essy, “The reality is that oils are extremely low in terms of nutritive value. They contain no fiber, no minerals and are 100% fat calories. And above all, they contain saturated fat which immediately injures the endothelial lining of the arteries when eaten.”

 

I gave up oils after I realized 1 tbsp of oil had the same amount of fat as a Snickers bar and  ½ cup of premium ice cream has less fat and less calories than 2 tbsp of oil. Worse still, the candy and ice cream are technically more “nutritious” than oil because they still contain fiber, protein, carbohydrates and vitamins and oil does not. Oil offers nothing but fat and calories.

 

If you believe there are special properties or nutrients in olive oil, or flax oil or any other oil -- they would also exist in the whole food the came from, so eat olives and flax seeds instead. Plus, by eating the whole food you’ll also get fiber, vitamins, minerals and a host of other nutrients the oil version is missing.

 

Take Action: Compare the nutrition label on oil to various “junk” foods, such as candy bars, ice cream, sugar and cookies."

We have cut out oils in our diet since we've been juicing and eating one meal a day.  I get all the oil/fat I need from avocados and nuts.  

Just something to think about today.  Until next time...

~Pamela

Good Morning Juice!

I wanted to share with you our juice for this morning.  

It contained:
4 stalks of collard greens
4 stalks of purple kale
2 stalks of celery
2 roma tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 cucumber
1 sweet potato
3 small carrots
1 orange
1 grapefruit
A handful of strawberries

Oh so good and good for you!

Enjoy your day!  Until next time...
~Pamela

Milestone Hit!

This week was a great week!  First, my sister and I were reunited with our half brother, whom we have not seen or heard from in about 20 years! We have searched and searched for him for years and this week finally found him.  We chatted on the phone the other night and it was so good to hear his voice and be able to tell him how thrilled we were to have him back in our lives.  He was happy about our reunion as well.  My heart is full of gratitude and a piece of my heart healed.  Thank you Lord!

Another exciting thing that happened this week was that I hit a major milestone with my weight loss.  My sweetie and I weigh in every Saturday morning at Publix (in front of God and everybody!).  Last week, I was bummed because I didn't lose any weight but was happy for Rennie that he lost five pounds.  Today, on the drive there, I prayed, "Please God, let me hit that milestone, PLEASE"!!!  My prayers were answered and I was one pound under that goal weight.  I haven't been this far down the scale in over five years.  Happy...very happy!  Oh, and I was able to console Rennie because he didn't lose anything this week.  The tables were turned. Hopefully next week, we'll both be in the weight loss category. 

Recipe Time
While there are tons of vegan recipes on line and in cookbooks, Rennie and I have had fun creating our own dishes.  Since we LOVE black bean burgers and have yet to find a recipe that meets our dietary needs, we decided to create a black bean wrap (photos to come soon as soon as we make another one).  The other recipe we call, Vegan Veggie Italian Stew, is our favorite "pot-o-meal".

Here is the recipe (using only organic ingredients or local fresh veggies):

Knopf Vegan Italian Stew

• 16 oz of pureed tomatoes
• 1 - can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 - can of red beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 - can of garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 large box or two cans of vegetable broth
• 2 sweet onions, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• Fresh corn taken off 3 ears 
• Fresh okra cut up
• 2 small sweet potatoes, chopped
• 2 medium zuchinni, chopped
• 1 small head of broccoli, chopped ends only
• In a food processor process the following and add to the stew pot: 6 Roma tomatoes
• 1-2 tablespoons Himalayan salt
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground pepper 
• Did I say you needed everything but the kitchen sink??

Combine all the ingredients in a large stock pot - bring to a boil stirring frequently.  Cover the pot with a lid and turn the heat to low or simmer for 30-45 minutes or more.  The longer the simmer, the better the flavor.  Add more spices for your taste.

Once we serve the stew in a bowl, we add a half of a chopped avocado and some slivered almonds.  Yummo!  

Store the remaining stew in the fridge or freezer.  You can eat off this for days!

Until next time...
~Pamela

Morning Goodness!

After our trip to the market yesterday, we made this "morning goodness"!  Can't get enough of this great stuff, packed with vitamins and minerals, and makes you feel wonderful!  

Here the ingredients (for the two of us):
6 stalks of fresh from the garden collard greens (thank you Kim!)
Parsley - handful
Cucumber - 1 whole not peeled
Romaine Lettuce - 6 stalks
Bell Pepper - 1/2 of a red
Carrots - 3
Tomatoes - 4 small
Orange - 1, peeled
Grapefruit - 1 peeled
A few strawberries

Yummo!  Yes, I know it looks like pond sludge, but it tasted Oh So Great!!!

Happy Sunday and until next time...
~Pamela

A Bounty of Goodness

As we walk through the farmer's market today, I am forever reminded of God's provision for His people.  I so wish I had a garden of my own...more likely, I wish I had the passion for a garden of my own.  I want to have one but I don't know if I have the know how or the energy it would take to make it work successfully.  Normally, I do not begin something I haven't researched (to death sometimes) and really feel like I know the information completely.  So far, the research has only begun (thank you Pinterest!).

My grandmother Parks had a beautiful garden every year.  Our summers consisted of shelling peas or butter beans, shucking corn, or snapping beans.  She would work so very hard preparing veggies for the freezer or canning her famous bread and butter pickles, green beans, tomatoes, and apple sauce.  She made the best creamed corn in the world, but boy, was it messy!  There would be corn flicked all over her kitchen before she was finished.  Summers with her still bring back wonderful memories - times I wish I could revisit.

Pictured are some of our finds today.  Don't they look wonderful??  Surprisingly, most of this will last the week for us, but some will be juiced and gone in several days.  Thinking of all the nutrition that will go in our systems brings me delight! 

I am grateful that we can shop for our fresh veggies at the local market even though we do not have a garden of our own.  Maybe one day!

Until next time...~Pamela