The "I Did It" List

I just started reading a blog called Smaller Sarah which chronicles a woman's journey to lose 75 pounds in one year. Though I have no interest in weight loss, I got hooked by a post on raw foods and continued reading because of the positive insights throughout each post.

Some of my favorites are:

"All the little things I've been longing for and dreaming about appear en masse.  It can be a little overwhelming, but its important to be open, ready and willing to say YES." (from this post)

"When I started boot camp in early November, I wasn't sure if it would work into my busy schedule.  I could only manage two of the three days a week and felt like it was an extra burden of time and money that I didn't have to spare.  But that's a pretty normal reaction to something new.  Most of us think that of all the things we lack, time and money are at the top of the list.
But I don't feel this way anymore.  Now instead of wondering how healthy eating and working out will fit into my schedule, I plan my daily life around eating well and working out." (from this post)

"The more I engage in a full physical life, the clearer and more expressive I become." (from this post)

But the the best thing I have gotten out of Sarah's blog is The idea of a weekly "I Did It" list!


I'm going to try to do this, too.

This week, Smaller Sarah's "I Did It" list is:

The "I Did It" List

three hours of boot camp

made healthy meals for my family all week

played catch with my son when the weather was nice

bought a box of produce from Bountiful Baskets Co-Op

juiced most mornings

Now for my "I Did It" List:

The "I Did It" List

Started selling my handmade jewelry at Janet's Consignments (haven't actually sold anything yet)

Went to a Student Immigrant Movement meeting and made plans to make informational flyers about immigrants and a video of interviews with immigrants. Then got home and made an informational flyer!

Went roller skating with beloved friends

Worked two days and went to all of my classes

I think I did of a lot of good stuff this week. It feels great to look back and appreciate what I've been able to accomplish! I'm proud of myself.

What did you accomplish this week? Share your "I Did It" list in the comments!

Suspiciously easy raw applesauce recipe, or: Why isn't applesauce always made this way?

Spoiler: To make applesauce, all you have to do is blend apples in a blender.

This recipe takes about 15 minutes to make about 1-3 large servings.

Raw applesauce with cranberry and cinnamon

Recipe

1. Chop apples into eighths, approximately, removing the core. I recommend a big knife like the one pictured, because it makes this step very easy.

2. Put apple chunks in blender.

3. Add raw, rinsed cranberries to blender. (optional)

4. Add ground cinnamon (not too much!) and real maple syrup. (optional. Also, this stuff probably isn't raw.)

5. Add a little bit of water (if necessary to make it blend. My blender doesn't work well unless I add the water.)

6. Blend. You might have to use a spoon to move the stuff around in order to make it blend. Be very careful if you do this because it can easily hit a blade and that can result in you getting seriously hurt or making a mess.

7. Let it blend for about a minute once it starts blending smoothly. Then taste it to see if you want to add anything else.

Enjoy!


Also, I'm thinking of making cranberry sauce using the same technique, except I would use more cranberries, less apples, and more maple syrup. And maybe no cinnamon.

4 minute "apple pie," or: the product of my menstrual cravings

Yum

Today my hormonal body said to me, "Go to the kitchen and eat apples with butter and cinnamon."


Recipe:

1. Chop up an apple into pretty thin slices. Take out core.
2. Spread a thin layer of butter onto one side of each apple slice.
2. Sprinkle generously with ground cinnamon.

I actually liked this more than I like apple pie.

The process

A delicious contrast between nourishment and heart attack fuel

Enjoy!

The most wonderful breakfast

I have a cold. This morning, my mom recognized that I wasn't feeling ambitious enough to make breakfast, so she made me the most wonderful breakfast.

It consisted of:

chopped oranges with lettuce
grapes
chopped red pepper
raw cinnamon applesauce with almonds, lettuce, red pepper, and oats with honey
water with lemon, lime, orange, and honey


I am inspired to mix fruits with vegetables more freely.

Raw fooding

I started eating mostly raw foods about three weeks ago, and I'm starting to notice health benefits! I wasn't really counting on this happening; I just wanted to feel good about what I was eating.

1. I am more hydrated. I am peeing clearer and much more often.

2. I am breathing easier. For at least a year, I've often been unable to catch my breath once or twice a day. This would happen at random times, when I was just sitting around, not related to exercising. Now it seems to be totally gone.

3. My mouth/tongue are cleaner. I don't get a bad taste in my mouth, which used to often happen to me after eating, especially when I ate dairy and chocolate.
(Also, Nate is experiencing the same thing. He has told me that he, who has always been very adamant about frequent and thorough teeth-brushing, barely sees the need to brush his teeth anymore.)



Update: some health concerns I have since "going raw":

1. I am losing weight

2. My back teeth have been sporadically very sensitive to cold (but this could be because of a recent injury).

Ingredients:

Carrots
Collard greens
Mushrooms
An onion
Celery
Cucumber
Olive oil (cold pressed--it's not raw otherwise)
Sesame oil (don't know if this is raw)
Fig-infused vinegar (or other interesting sounding vinegar)
Ginger root
Garlic clove
Lime

Directions:

First, make the marinade:
Combine olive oil, vinegar, and sesame oil. Sweet lime juice in to mixture. Mince garlic and ginger. Add to mixture.

Then, chop (washed) carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, onion, and celery into sticks (or something like sticks). Sometime before these are all chopped, immerse the chopped mushrooms into the marinade. Leave them in there for about 10 minutes.

Then, cut the collard greens on either side of the stem so you just have the soft leaf part. This will make each leaf into two thin, spineless leaves. Eat the stems.

Remove the mushrooms from the marinade. Lay out the collard leaves. Add about a couple sticks of each vegetable to the middle of a leaf. Roll the leaf around the vegetables so it holds them. Put a toothpick through the roll so it stays together. Continue until all the vegetables are used.

Serve with the marinade for dipping.

Marinade

I had extra vegetables, so I chopped them into squares and ate them as a salad