Showing posts with label chia seeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chia seeds. Show all posts

Friday, April 9, 2010

Seeds Planted and feeling the food connection

Happy Friday everyone!

The weekend is upon us..wahoo! I'm actually pretty stoked because although I have to work at 6:30AM Saturday and Sunday, I'm off at 1pm so basically I have the whole day (at least that's what I'm telling myself:) Do you have any wonderful plans for the weekend? Tonight Ryan is going to a party with his school buddies so I'm going to chill and rebound and read and write! Why am I not going to the parrtaay? Well let's just say that the girls in the group aren't the friendliest and so at the last party I had to hang out with Ryan and I felt like a third wheel...uugh. So, I'm saving myself the boredom and the frustration of not being able to leave as its 30 minutes out of town. I'm actually excited because then I can have "me" time and do whatever I want. I know it sounds geeky but I'm actually working on my application for Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine. They aren't taking in apps until August but because its a naturopathic school I need to pull all the stops with the autobiography, reference letters,
application forms, and transcripts...all you scholars know the deal. The more time I have to get ready, the more confident I am. I don't want to be preparing this all last minute, I know it would be sloppy and that's not a good first impression. I am also going to be upgrading my organic chemistry(yuck, I know) and I'm going to be studying The Language of Medicine which was recommended to me by a Boucher staff member. I was lucky to find this book practically brand new on craigslist. It's going to help me learn a lot of the terminology and it will give me a good review of the body systems as well. I cannot tell you how excited I am to start this new journey. I know its going to be hard, I know its going to take up a lot of my time, and I know my social life may not exist but I want this..BAD. I want to bring the natural medicine world to center stage and show people that your body is an amazing healing system if only you would allow it:) I have BIG plans for my career and I am so ready to learn all I can learn. I am very lucky that my province just passed legislation that allows prescribing rights to ND's. Now, you are probably thinking this goes against everything the profession stands for yet there are times when natural remedies are not enough and this way they don't have to go to an MD to get a prescription. Just try going to your MD after telling them you need a certain antibiotic because "my ND said so". It usually doesn't go smoothly, at least in my experience. The next step is to have diagnostic equipment in ND offices so they basically can be your primary physician. I will be campaigning for this legislation when it comes up. Other plans involve going to third world countries where I can provide basic medical care and some natural therapies. Do you some big career dreams?

Onto some exciting garden news...the seeds are planted! Wahoo! They are taking up the whole window area which is south facing so they get lots of sun. I saw Kelli already had some of her seeds come up:) Don't worry I'll let you know when the first sprout appears.
I love growing my own food. Last year we were living in a basement suite and so we didn't have any green space for ourselves. Yet that didn't stop me, I got all my pots together and I had quite the little garden with tomatoes, beans, kale, herbs, and salad mix. It was awesome and I loved just going outside to pick fresh herbs or grab some kale. Sorry, I wasn't into the blogging thing last year so I didn't take any picts. Yes, it does take some time but the end result is so worth it. For instance, I bought some organic seeds for $3 and each package has 300 seeds. I maybe planted 20 seeds out of this which took me 5 minutes. Then all I have to do is water and wait. Once they have grown enough I will plant them in my garden. This will take a couple of hours. Then all you have to do is water and pull a few weeds out. PS maybe you can even eat those weeds? The end result is food that will keep producing through to the fall. Local, organic, cheap, and nutritionally superior food at your doorstep. Even if you just grow some herbs, give it a try!



I put labels on every row for my watering purposes. Yet, I made a big boo-boo after I made all the labels and lined then up with each row... then I moved the trays from my table to the window and I totally forgot to keep track of which end was which so around half of my labels are guesses...lol. Oh well, I like surprises!

If you want some good resources check your local library as I bet they have tons of books on all types of gardening. For some online resources check out these sites:


I finally got to watching some of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and I really think it is an amazing show. I love how he handles himself in the most hostile and stressful of situations and how great he is with the kids. He is out there making a difference and I think he deserves a huge round of applause for sounding his voice. He doesn't serve strictly vegetarian fare but the fact that he served a 7-vegetable pasta sauce for lunch was a huge step UP from that disgusting pizza that was served for BREAKFAST and lunch...ugh! I was shocked a bunch of times, I shook my head a lot ( Alice and the radio host...grr), and my heart ached for so many of the people on the show. The thing is its not just this small town in the USA who needs people like Jamie, its the entire world! So, I hope that the show inspires people around the world to drive by that fast food joint and make a salad and a stir-fry instead. I know this is not the best of the best but its a step in the right direction and that's what is needed. One step at a time and we can make huge change to the way we all eat. That's how I became the eater I am today..step by step! One thing I think is so, so true is that we've lost that vital connection with food. So many people think food comes from a window in a drive-thru and is eaten in a car, so many people think putting a frozen pizza in the oven for 15 minutes is actually cooking, and so many people think food from a box is normal. For me, cooking has really connected me to food, given me a huge confidence boost, and has helped heal my fear of food. I see beautiful greens and veggies and I know that farmer had to work hard to make them grow successfully. I volunteered at a CSA farm last spring and holy it takes a lot of work to grow organically but it feels so right to be out in the field sowing, weeding, planting etc. I think if more people took one extra minute to look at the box, bag, or bottle and ask themselves if this is something grandma would eat (as Michael Pollan asks), there would be a lot more veggies and other healthier choices being made. Not everyone is going to eat organic..at least not right away..but once they get on the bandwagon of cooking their own food, its only natural that their research will lead them it this direction. I also think if you can grow some of your own food you should do it. It's the ultimate experience when it comes to learning about your food and how it comes about. I think even growing sprouts provides this experience! So, what are you going to grow this summer? Do you feel connected to your food?

I wanted to let you know about another connected area in my life..animal rescue. I read on Andria's site called Veg is Sexy(who was told by Nelly) that The Animal Rescue Site needs help getting donations (AKA clicks) on their site to help feed rescued animals. It doesn't cost you a penny and all you need to do is click on the button that says "click here to give" and that's it. So head on over to The Animal Rescue site and help feed some rescued animals today:)

It's organizations like this one and all the many other animal rescue organizations that are out there that provide for those who cannot speak for themselves. When we adopted Nemo I learned that he had been in the shelter since May of 2009 (we adopted him in March of 2o10). Nearly a year he was fed and cared for by people who simply wanted to do some good:)



Have a wonderful weekend everyone....PS I just made some Superfood Bon Bons...divine!


Monday, March 1, 2010

My favorite spice+ Ch-ch-ch Chia seed giveaway:)

Happy Monday everyone,


Welcome to March:) Ahh..one of my favorite months. Now I'm being a bit selfish here as my birthday is only 14 days away but I do have other reasons as well (albeit not as exciting as celebrating being one more year older). March is that month I look forward to because I can start hiking again, spring clothes are showing up in store windows, and I can start to buy seeds. I'm definitely a spring lover, even if it means nothing but rain for a month or two...its better than snow and ice. Are you seeing signs of spring in your hood? I saw tulips coming up in a garden bed the other day and the birds are chirping like crazy:) Loving it!!


I grew up with a mom who loved to use all kinds of spices! She is a great cook and rarely needs a recipe to make flavors pop! I am very jealous of her talents and hope that one day I will know which herbs go well together and which don't. I have a good teacher to help me with that one:) One spice that she introduced me to was turmeric. That bright orange/yellow spice that gives curry its glorious color and your hands if you don't watch out..lol! As we know with many whole foods, their color can be associated with powerful molecules that is usually good for us. For example, beta-carotene which is the red-orange pigment found in fruits and veggies. Beta-carotene is converted in the body to vitamin A which is an antioxidant and is very important for maintenance of your eyes (plus many other uses). When it comes to turmeric, the active ingredient that gives it that stunning color is curcumin. According to Natural News, curcumin brings order to the cell membrane which makes the cell more resistant to infection. That's right, turmeric "organizes" your cell membrane. How cool is that? I recently listened to an audio between David Wolf and Dr. Mercola and the doc said that curcumin is going to be one of the most talked about molecules in 2010. This must be powerful stuff. Turmeric has so many health benefits that it would take more than one post to write about them all. So, if you want to know a bunch of health benefits to this yellow powder check out Meghan's blog or this article by the National Post. My mom swears by this stuff if she is not feeling well. She adds it to her homemade broths.


I love adding turmeric to almost everything. Salads, soups, dressings, casseroles, curries, stir-fry, and dips all benefit from this beautiful spice. One reason I love it is because it is so versatile and its flavor is not overpowering. I add a lot and I don't taste it as other herbs I add are more potent in the taste department. It basically gives everything a yellow tinge...like the sun! I just picked up a half of a jar of organic turmeric for less than $2. It's so easy to find and cheap! So the next time you are down the spice isle pick up some and start sprinkling!

PS Meghan has this awesome recipe for turmeric tea that sounds so amazing. I'm definitely going to give it a try.

PPS Bitt is having a giveaway of 2lbs of chia seeds from Chia Seeds Direct! Yumm...chia seeds are da bomb (lol) and so jam packed with nutrients, especially omega 3's! So get on over to her blog and enter.



Have a great rest of the week and don't forget to pass the turmeric on your dinner table!