The Beginners Guide to Juicing

June 20th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (8 Comments)

If you’re interested in juicing but don’t know where to start – this post is for you.  This is a collection of the first questions that often come up when someone is looking to get started juicing, with all the answers wrapped into one post.

What Kind of Juicer Should I Get?

Breville Juicer

There are basically two different styles of juicers out there: a Centrifugal Juicer (pictured above) or a Cold Press (Masticating) Juicer.

The two pros and cons that are most often compared between these two types of juicers are price and nutrition.  Read more...

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Cuppow for Me, Cuppow For You

April 9th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (95 Comments)

Have you heard of Cuppow?

Cuppow

It’s a drinkable lid that you can use with a canning jar.

(I think I’ve made it obvious that we like to drink out of canning jars here?)

I love canning jars as glasses mostly because they’re so sturdy – when the girls were really little I was frustrated with how frequently regular glasses were breaking.  I soon noticed that the few small and wide mouth canning jars we had hanging around were the only glasses that were holding up.  I eventually stopped replacing our broken glasses altogether and just used canning jars and old almond butter jars instead.  Soon, our entire glasswear collection consisted of glasses with threading at the top.  Oops.  Read more...

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How Much Does It Cost to Make Fresh (Mostly Organic) Juice at Home?

March 29th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (10 Comments)

Fresh juice!  It’s time to haul it all out of the fridge and run the numbers.

Fresh Green Juice Ingredients

Today I made green lemonade from:

1 bunch of dinosaur kale
Beet greens from three beets
1/3 of a head of celery (3 – 4 stalks)
2 gala apples
2 lemons
1/2 seedless cucumber
a hunk of ginger about the length of my pointer finger

Kale juice with a splash of red from the beet greens? So pretty.

Juicing in Progress Add Beet Greens

Until you mix it all together, that is. Then it more closely resembles black lemonade.

How Much Fresh Juice  Read more...

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A Few Juicy Details

March 25th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (8 Comments)

I am definitely on a green juice kick right now.  Let’s chat a little bit about juicing today.

We’ll start with a quick primer on the differences between fresh juice and smoothies because this is a question that many people have.

Fresh Juice

(This was Carrot Apple Ginger Juice – it’s one of my favorite non-green juice combos!)

Carrot Juice

Juicing extracts the liquid from fruits and vegetables, bringing much of the plant’s nutrients, vitamins and minerals along with it, while leaving the pulp behind.  Read more...

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Avocado Perks

February 24th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (37 Comments)

I’ve got too many ripe avocados right now.

Over Easy Eggs with Avocado

Although I think this is comparable to complaining that your pants are too loose or that you have too much money.

I like avocado and egg salad sandwiches, so I decided to throw some of my abundant avocado onto my over easy eggs this morning.  This was an awesome breakfast combo, which is why I’m here telling you about it now:

Avocado on eggs is good.  Eat this.

(If over easy eggs aren’t your favorite, I don’t think you’ll go wrong with avocado in an omelet or on top of scrambled eggs either.)  Read more...

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Homemade Chicken Soup with Bone Broth

February 6th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (11 Comments)

I never had any interest in bone broth until I had a “why” – and that “why” originated with Deep Nutrition, but I’ve since read a lot more about the wonders of bone broth from many other sources, various books and a boatload of websites.  I’m completely convinced that bone broth is well worth adding to my diet.  Read more...

Straining Yogurt to Make Your Own Greek Yogurt (but is it worth it?)

January 21st, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (20 Comments)

I’ve always been curious about straining regular yogurt to make my own Greek yogurt. I prefer Greek yogurt to regular yogurt these days – it’s thicker, it’s creamier.  It’s got more protein and fewer carbs compared to regular yogurt.  It’s a great sub for sour cream too.  (Hello, homemade burrito bowls!)

Plain and simple – I love (plain and simple) Greek yogurt.

With a quick glance at the numbers in the dairy section, I guessed I could save some money if I made Greek yogurt at home by straining it myself.  Of the two brands of yogurt I buy, the price breakdown looks like this:  Read more...

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How to Make Your Own Kefir

January 15th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (19 Comments)

Fermenting stuff is one of my new favorite things to do.  I’ve recently started fermenting milk to make kefir because it’s cheap, easy and good for you.   You had me at “cheap and easy”.

(I’ve been fermenting tea too – brewing my own Kombucha WORD UP!  More on that in a future post.)

The First Thing To Know About Kefir

Short answer: it’s a yogurt-like drink that’s full of probiotics and good bacteria.  More info here.

The Second Thing To Know About Kefir

It’s pronounced “ka-feer”, not “key-fur” like I’d been saying, surely sounding like a dope.  Read more...

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New Groceries

January 8th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (12 Comments)

I rarely buy books. I much prefer to spend my money on late fees at the library. I did buy Deep Nutrition because it’s not in our library system and b.) I need more than 3 weeks to get through most books these days. (I can read Goodnight Moon in about 3 minutes flat though. Just saying.)

When I bought Deep Nutrition, I also bought The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth because hello, free supersaver shipping! And b.) I get this dorky smile on my face whenever I read the myriad of awesome things that good foods can do for our bodies.  Read more...

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Sneaky Santas Will Try to Snatch Your Self Control

January 6th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (2 Comments)

I have this habit of leaving the cupboard doors open in my kitchen. I don’t know why I do this, I didn’t even notice until a friend pointed it out. I didn’t really care about open cupboard doors until last week, when I kept catching these chocolate Santas glaring at me each time I walked by them.

Chocolate Santas

Stupid santas! Here I am merrily minding my own business, when suddenly I catch a glowering santa in my peripheral vision and BAM! Now I’m thinking “ooooh! chocolate!”, when moments earlier, chocolate had been the furthest thing from my mind. Probably about as far away as the thought of closing all my cupboard doors.  Read more...

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