a few of my favorite things

It's all rainy and thunder-stormy here at the moment, and whenever I hear thunder I think of the Sound of Music and Julie Andrews singing "My Favorite Things". So, while I'm in the mood, I thought I'd share a few of my recent favorite things :)

1. Eat to Live 
I read this book called "Eat to Live" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman a few weeks ago, and it changed my whole view on eating. Basically, Dr. Fuhrman proves that if you eat the right things, you can reverse disease, reduce high blood pressure, lose unwanted weight, prevent heart disease, cancer, and things like arthritis and osteoporosis, and improve your overall health without relying on medications or fad-dieting. I guess this isn't a revolutionary idea, but reading through the book really convinced me to be careful what I put into my body. I used to think that I ate pretty healthily, but when I read the book I realized that I really don't.
So I've turned over a new leaf, and I'm embarking on a whole new way of cooking & eating. One thing that surprised me was the fact that animal products from things like meat and dairy are not the best way to get nutrients. Vegetables, beans, and legumes have more protein and nutrients than meat, and in a much better form for our bodies to digest and use. Things like broccoli have far more calcium than milk or cheese, and far less fat. Meat and dairy are also more likely to have things like growth hormones and processing chemicals in them.
When you cut out meat and dairy products you end up with a vegan, mostly fat-free (apart from essential un-processed fats from things like nuts and avocado) diet... so that has been my new challenge. Originally I was like "oh this is going to be terrible and tasteless"... but there are surprisingly lots of very yummy recipes out there. I just have to get used to some new ingredients... soy milk, nutritional yeast, flax seeds etc.

Here's one the first meals I made: asparagus and chickpea casserole with a crispy grated potato topping. It was yummy. I get most of my ideas from the FatFree Vegan Kitchen - Sinlessly Delicious blog, which follows all the Eat to Live guidelines.

Thomas still thinks I've gone a little crazy, but that's just because he hasn't read the book yet :). And he has liked all the food I've cooked so far. Don't worry, hubby, I'll still cook meat once in a while :) I'm not against eating meat & dairy, I just know now that it's not the healthiest way to get nutrients.

I'll be blogging about all the delicious new things I'm going to make, get excited!

* cough cough * getting off my long-winded soapbox now...

2. My new toy

We FINALLY replaced our blender. The one we used to have must have been from the 1970's, not kidding. Whenever I used it, it smelled like burning rubber. It kicked the bucket sometime earlier this year and I've been begging for a new one ever since.

Here's the shiny new one

Yay! I can make smoothies again!

Frozen raspberry and soy milk smoothie... yummy.

3. Africa necklace... and Mercy House.

Isn't it beautiful?

I bought it from The Mercy House, a new ministry that is building a maternity house in Kenya for young pregnant mothers who have nowhere to go, and would otherwise likely get an unsafe abortion. The necklace was hand-made by The Vintage Pearl (a family business that makes beautiful jewelry), who donated 50 of them to the Mercy House to sell in order to raise funds.

4. Krispy Kreme donuts

So... uhhhhh... ummmm... *ahem* about that whole vegan fat-free thing... I was grocery shopping at Central Market last night and there happens to be Krispy Kreme riiiiiiight next door, and they had this big flashing sign that said "Fresh hot donuts now!" 

Who can resist something like that, I mean, really?

So I bought a dozen. Because it was Friday. And I'm not vegan. I'm just mostly vegan. (That's probably like vegan heresy or something). And really, you gotta enjoy the good things in life once in a while, even if they shave off a month or two, right?

5. Thomas Andrew Congdon

And last but certainly not least, my favorite thing (ok, person) in the whole wide world, my wonderful, hard-working, loving, handsome husband :)

Well hey there, good lookin' :)

And I'll end with a little picture collage of our married life so far: