The 25 Day NO Flour Challenge

Day Three

For anyone curious.. Yes I am losing weight.. down 2.5lbs as of this morning!

Today's meal plan

Smoothie for morning, banana, almond butter, coconut milk, Earth (Health Force Nutritional) Supplement and water

Morning snack, fresh strawberries

Lunch

Kale salad, 3 Falafal 'balls'  

Last nights meal

a baked potato, broccoli and a 'chiken' pattie by morning star 

with some fresh tomato and cucumber slices

As you may have seen on FB our evil chihuahua Pichi -pichi bit our Labrador ZaZu once again and we drove to the vets to see exactly what was happening.... so the result ZaZu is on meds again, and the evil chi has moved into a new home.. not away from us, but in a large 'pen' in the kitchen.. where he will live out  his days in personal confinement, it's large enough that he won't feel confined in body only mind and spirit!

Remember Water is the Key to Life

Drink it!!

  These are my art pieces.. (yesterday was SWORD LADY) as you can see this is the BREAD LADY.. holding up bread as a staff of life, however in my life.. there will be no bread... at least not for another 22 days!

Living for Life

 

 

The 25 Day NO Flour Challenge

Day Two

 

So Day one wasn't bad at all, didn't think it would be (somewhere around day Ten I imagine I'll get something!)

I did head over to the Green Grocer in Portsmouth RI 

http://www.thegreengrocerri.com/

a nice local healthy alternative shoppe for like minded beings attempting to live healthy lives, when I mentioned to the young clerk I was on a 25 no flour challenge and I told her I was afraid I'd get crabby or nasty, she chuckled and said maybe not...maybe people have said their moods change for the better without flour!

I picked up some of that new crunchy snack seaweed in individual packages for 'snacks' the ones I love are Annie Chuns here is the web link  http://www.anniechun.com/our-food/seaweed

and some rice cakes, good ol rice cakes, haven't had those in years!

So today's meal plan

A smoothie for breakfast ~ strawberries, spinach, apple and "Green" supplement from Health Force Nutritionals

Lunch consists of marinated vegetables, that'd be broccoli, mushrooms, and carrots all raw with a lemon dressing made with Olive Oil, Lemon juice, salt and dijon mustard

some Purple Dragon Kale salad 

and 

Blueberries to snack on

 I also found this Herbal Water.. this particular one is Cinnamon and orange peel, I'll let you know how it tastes tomorrow.. might be a nice cool refreshing change!

Dinner.. who knows.. lots of veggies for sure and I picked up some Falafal balls (as opposed to meatballs) yesterday, I find them a nice alternative to soy and 3 are filling!

 I did find this new juice as well, the green one has pulp the blue one does not! Taste testing is one of my favorite past times.. and there is my SIGG bottle with water ready for the day!.. 

and OH by the way.. that ugly Hawaiian Punch bottle is something one of our parents brought refreshment last Friday, NOT a product I would bother purchasing! UGH...

And to keep myself busy I have been knitting dishcloths, continuing my knitting skills by following directions! .. This has a heart pattern in it and was fun to create. Keeps my hands from putting food into my mouth!

So onwards and upwards to meeting my goal! 

Another Day! 

The 25 Day NO Flour Challenge

This is a current picture of me July 6, 2011

Today I will begin a No Flour in my diet food challenge

Day one

So what's in my food plan

For breakfast I have consumed a smoothie made of a banana, almond milk (I made myself) 4 fresh strawberries, Health Force Nutritional's "Earth" a supplement and hemp powder

 

I brought a package of blackberries (organic) for my snack

 

and last night I made a salad of chard, and red cabbage with a sauce of olive oil, curry powder, lemon juice and a slew of other things.. (already since last night I can't remember) oh an apple and garlic mixed in the vitamix and poured over the veggies.. unbelievably delicious! So I'll eat that alone for lunch it outta take away the need to chew something crunchy.. 

Dinner 

A bit of tempeh, some Kale salad which I made last night, grilled summer squash and water

Lots of water, with the temperatures going to 80 it's going to be a hot one

Exercise

5:30 A.M. Walked with my Labrador ZaZu for 2.5 miles

Wish me luck! This ain't gonna be easy!

Enchanted Garden Circle of Protection

Tools needed:

A good hand-cutting tool

Planting Velcro

Hemp cording

Garden Gloves

Also needed are vines of some sort, in this case I used wisteria (early spring, summer wisteria vines are nice to work with )

Fresh Herbs or Flowers that dry nicely

I have taken several of the longest wisteria vines that I could find.

These were cut off of the Mother plant here in my yard. The largest and thickest was chosen to be the base circle.

From this base circle I began weaving the long vines in, out and around the base using no cording or wires, simply weaving in and out, while chanting the words “Bless and care for the birds, the insects, the plants and all those who visit this garden.”

Continuing weaving the vines until the circle is full enough for the look you are  seeking. It could ultimately be very large or very small, depending on your needs, I have chosen for it to be about 2 feet wide as the space where it will hang is very open.

You can see from the photo it is the width of this chair cushion.

Then adding several herbs, in this case, Rue (Fire), Horehound (Water), Peppermint (Air) and Oregano (Earth) for representing the elements.  I added them one at a time at the base of the wreath with the plant Velcro then overlapping the last of the bunch, with one or more herbs plants to cover that Velcro piece while weaving them into the  wisteria.  This gives the wreath a nice finished look.

Remember to chant the verse while weaving. This can be any verse you may wish, as the circle will continue to hold the chant.  Any herbs can be used taking into mind which elements they may serve.

Lastly I took a long piece of the hemp cord, which I then folded four times, again chanting the verse of protection and then made a hanger that would fold over and through the vines at the top.

Crawling over and atop my koi pond I hung the wreath over the fence.

Here is the completed project hanging on the fence.

And one taken back to see the effect with the garden included.

 Look at all those beautiful evening primrose!

This concludes my latest end of the work week, end of the day project!

The Garden Changes

Not very long ago I posted the Enchanted Garden as it began to open to Spring.. about one month later here are some of the changes

 Comfrey in April

 One month later, and lots of rain!

Looking South East.. the Wisteria has opened

The birdbath, was exposed, is not covered

 The paths then...

       The paths now! 

Here is Jack in the Pulpit!

He is so cute.. 

And there is Mr Frog behind the fountain up on the rock ledge admiring his own reflection

That Of Beauty and Might

May the Force be with YOU 

Ezevia Rose

Making Nettle Soup

OH yeah.. there's nothing quite like it

 Fresh Nettles

I know so many of my friends balk and say.. "No Way, you don't really eat that do you?" 

but then there are those of you who know me well enough to know I'd eat pretty much anything without a face!

 Here are those little friends of mine  hidden between the day lilies just waiting to be plucked!

 Picked with heavy duty gloves and a scissor filling a good sized bucket

 Got a wee cocky with my nettle picking and ended up with one sting.. but quickly grabbed a plantain rubbing the leaf onto the sting eased the biting sensation!

 Step one.. into the Vitamix go 

1/4 onion, 2 Tablespoons of chopped garlic, 1 teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt, 2 Tablespoons of Earth Balance margarine, and all those nettle and whirrrrrrrrrrrr

 Blending Blending.. first low speed then higher and higher until whir...... it's finished!

Ready to Go!

Not bad huh.. and look how bright and lovely green it is.. WITHOUT I might add any artificial coloring!

I have been eating this for a week and the children in my class today said.. "Oh Mrs Fernandes is eating that stinging nettle soup again."  "Do you like eating that Mrs Fernandes?"

I told them how it has lots of vitamins and just how healthy it is and that YES I like eating it!

Bright Blessings

Ezevia Rose

The Big Dandelion Event

 

It always starts off like this.

And before long.. looked like this!

A colander filled with Dandelion heads.. but then came the hard part.. not that going out in the front yard collecting all those heads wasn't hard enough, but now.. separating the heads from their bitter bases..

This was a lot of work!

Slowly the bowl is filling with petals and the colander is emptying...... slowly I said!

 Will my hands ever look normal again?

 

I'm getting there... only 1/2 bowl to go....

 At last the petal bowl is FULL!

Here are the 1/2 gallon sized mason jars filled with petals.
One jar will be filled with vodka for tinctures and the other with brandy to make Dandelion Cordial

A long but fulfilling day!

Ezevia Rose