I’ve always had a mild interest in preserving the goodies from my garden, but never grow more than we use on a pick-as-you-need basis – three tomato plants, 2 cucumbers, 3 banana peppers, chives, various squash and zucchini, rhubarb, raspberries, strawberries, Fairy Tale eggplant, chard, kale and some New Zealand spinach. Oh, and a HUGE tomatillo plant that volunteered itself into one of my beds and proceeded to take over not only the bed, but pretty much the whole back yard!

So, when my friend Andie advertised on Facebook that she had some veggie relish to give away, I claimed it, picked it up, devoured it (with the help of Paris) and vowed to can my little heart out from that day on!

I made room in my budget for some canning jars, as I hadn’t planned far enough ahead to have begged from friends or bought from garage sales, then Andie hosted a class on preserving, at which I won another dozen pint jars! I invested in a pressure cooker, a Ball Blue Canning book and a set of tools (lid lifter, jar lifter, etc) and set about my first canning experiment. Those mushrooms from Aldi.

The result of the mushroom experiment (pictured at top right) was a resounding success. I had managed to navigate the pressure cooker without blowing up the kitchen, and my jars all had great seals on them! This is what  turned me into a novice canning junkie, pestering neighbors for tomatoes, planning trips to orchards, even planning on getting up early enough on a Saturday to go to the Farmers’ Market! We’ll see about that one … but I can say that I think I’ve found something that is practical, useful … and fun!

Image credit: Flickr/gmtbillings

It’s getting harder and harder as the months go by, and I do my best to take things in my stride and not complain.

This month I was really stretching to make it to the end of the month. My food stamps have been reduced because I am being paid for 4 hours of work a week. One hundred and seventy dollars has to last me all month, and so to keep my food budget to $50 a week is a struggle.

It really is no wonder that when relying on government assistance to help feed the family, there is no room for health considerations. For the cost of two apples, you can buy four boxes of instant macaroni and cheese. If you have a family to feed, there is no option – no apples for you!

Organic? Sure! I’d love to do organic … but that just adds to the price.
Local? Again, a dream of mine, but shopping at the farmer’s market is more expensive than buying those veggies sourced from who-the-heck-knows-where.
Fresh? I can guarantee freshness if I pick it from my garden, but otherwise, no idea!

So, last month – June, I was so pleased with myself! My Link benefit is deposited on the 4th of the month. Today is the 2nd, and I still have $10 left on my card!

I have to admit, it’s been a creative struggle. We’ve eaten some strange combinations, including a soup made by Ciel that contained Liquid Smoke as one of the ingredients. But we’re going to make it another two days without having to dip into my non-existent savings account. And that’s really important!

Image credit: Flickr/sdc2027

Paris has taken over the coupon responsibilities, proclaiming “I think I’ve found a new hobby!” She is subscribed to many of the couponing sites, and loves to work out the deals for each store using the store flyer and the coupon inserts. Her first trip out was something of a disaster though.

She had spent days going through the inserts and clipping the appropriate coupons, asking me about the store’s coupon policies, and getting her list together. We entered Kroger, coupons and list in hand, and went to find our first deal. We couldn’t find the cans of soup that had been advertised, and the lunchmeat that was on her list was not the same price as she had transcribed from the coupon site. And neither was the pasta. The coconut milk couldn’t be found at all. We did get Goldfish crackers for free, but I had added them to the list right before we left home. Once I had proclaimed my confusion about the prices and coupons not matching, she said “well, this was the list from last week!”

OK

Next week, we shall try again!

Yes. Really!

See, I was a vendor at the Annual Holistic Fair at Natural Pathways in Normal. While there, I entered draws for a few things, and imagine my surprise when I got a phone call saying I’d won a month of HyperVibe sessions!

While I was actually at the fair, I was having a Zyto scan, which was in the same room as the HyperVibe, but the room was so full of people I didn’t want to get on and jiggle my stuff in front of everyone. Well, would you? I hadn’t tried the machine, but as soon as I heard I had won this gift, I did some research on the machine I was about to get up close and personal with.

The HyperVibe is said to give you a 100 minute workout in 10 minutes. Nice gig if you can get it, right? So what exactly is HyperVibe?

HyperVibe is a full-body vibration system. Ten thousand muscle contractions in 10 minutes. While helping develop strength and tone, the machine is also stimulating the lymphatic flow, pulling toxins out of the cells and tissues and allowing them to be eliminated from the body.

My HyperVibe experience consists of 10 minutes of jiggling (in a room now cleared of people!) three times a week. I can honestly say that I feel stronger in teh core, and even a little less flabby! I haven’t been on a scale in the longest time, so I can’t confirm that, but if we can gauge any improvement by the fact that my clothes fit better, then I’m well on my way!

For the first week (3 x 10 minute sessions) I was using the “balance” setting, which vibrates at 6-8Hz. The base that you stand on vibrates more wildly at the outside of the platform, so where you place your feet is key. The further apart, the more vibration. There are a number of simple stances, where you must always keep your knees flexible and your tummy sucked in! Flat footed, on your toes, squatting, leaning forward, standing sideways, using the resistance bands to help your arms, and raising your legs, both forward and backward.

The second week saw me move on to “Recovery” – that’s 9-14Hz. Definitely my jiggly. Sometimes I talk just to hear how shaky my voice sounds!

And you know what? It’s not expensive! Call my buddy Sharon at GetYourVibe.org – 309  830 5975 – and tell her Vikki sent you …

This was my first attempt at vegan baking, and what I liked about this recipe is that I already had all the ingredients on hand. I did use vanilla soy yogurt where it probably should have been plain soy yogurt. I also used turbinado sugar instead of organic unbleached sugar, but I did not venture out of the vegan realm one iota!

I weighed in on Friday with a 3lb loss, that’s a total of 5lb since the start of the 21 day vegan kickstart but my true weigh in day should be a Monday, as the program started on Monday. I’m doing a separate challenge with a friend that requires me to weigh in on a Friday. I know, it’s all too confusing!

Now, I have to go and see what wonderful vegan icing recipes are out there. I have no doubt that there will be a shortage of low fat icing recipes, so it may just require making up half a batch, and spreading it very thinly!

Desk - before the clean up!

This 21 day kickstart seems to have kickstarted more than my eating habits. Or it could be because I’m back on my thyroid meds after 6 months of not being able to afford them. It could also be the fact that I slept on Friday night from 6pm to 10.30pm, then 11pm unto 10am on Saturday … oops!

Whatever it is, I’m feeling good, less tired and more productive! I didn’t get a whole bunch of work done yesterday, as I had planned, but I did get a head start on cleaning my desk, which – as you can see – was well overdue for a clean! Hopefully now I can get my act together and work from home on a desk rather than from the couch. Even though the couch was comfortable!

I received my doTERRA order yesterday, and had ordered GX Assist, which is a 10-day GI cleanse. I started taking it yesterday morning and hope to see some results soon.  Will report on that as soon as I have something to report! You can explore  the doTERRA range of products here.

The Kickstart is going much better than expected, even the girls are loving the recipes! Today is the last day of the first week, and the menu is as follows.

SUNDAY, JAN. 9: DAY 7

Breakfast: Breakfast Rice Pudding (use leftover brown rice from last night’s dinner) or frozen waffles (with berries, banana, or both)

Lunch: Spinach Salad with Orange Sesame Dressing (add garbanzo beans)

Snack: Ambrosia

Dinner: Whole wheat pasta with Simple Marinara Sauce (add broccoli, spinach, and any other leftover veggies)

and, because I don’t trust myself enough to post daily next week, here’s week two!

This is the third time I’ve started this. The first time I tried I almost got all the way through. The second time, I barely managed two days. This time, I’m not working, so I’m not going to run into the roadblocks I encountered when I was living life “at the office”. I know that I need to finish the whole 21 days, because I know how good I felt those two times I’ve attempted this prior to today.

The holidays are over, there is nobody to enable me … no excuses to make. It’s all on me. If I mess up this time, it’s my own damn fault! I have time to make the recipes, and time to sit and enjoy the food as I eat it. I also have my own mini-vegetarian (Ciel) to keep me in line!

So, what’s on the menu today?

MONDAY, JAN. 3: DAY 1

Breakfast: Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal (make enough for Wednesday)

Lunch: Couscous Confetti Salad (make enough for a side with tomorrow’s dinner) and Carrot and Red Pepper Soup (make enough for tomorrow’s lunch)

Snack: Toast with apple butter and banana (easy option: apple or banana)

Dinner: Hoppin’ John Salad and Kwick Kale

I have to say, I went to a different grocery store than usual and I wasn’t happy with the quality of the kale, so I bought collard greens instead. I totally forgot that I have kale in the freezer from my own garden, but I may just cook the collards anyway! I love my greens “steam fried”, so I’m sure they’ll be just fine.

Image credit: Stock Xchng

I’ve decided to use CinchCast for some of my posts. The reason for this is that many times I go to bed and then stay awake tossing and turning because I keep thinking “I should have blogged about …..” or “I forgot to record …..”

Mostly, I’ll be using it from my phone. I believe that the sound quality is a little less than when recorded directly on the computer.

My first CinchCast reveals a part of the weight loss plan that I haven’t heard much about before, yet it’s critical if you’re trying to work out what your caloric intake should be when trying to lose weight. We all know that you lose weight by expending more calories than you take in, but how do you know how many you expend beyond what you measure for cardio, running, walking, etc?

There is a link referred to in the CinchCast – this is the link: BMR Calculator

Let me know what you think. I think it’s kinda neat!

Losing my job precludes me from signing up for Henry’s Farm CSA for next year. While $390 is a bargain for 26 weeks of fresh, organic veggies, that’s more than a week’s benefits and I just can’t guarantee that I can pay that money when February rolls around.

Tonight, I’m roasting the last of the sunchokes and japanese turnips, along with some baby leeks. This almost feels like a Last Supper. After today, I have to go back to eating grocery store veggies and the one I’ll miss the most is definitely the sunchokes.

You may know them by their more popular name – Jerusalem artichokes. And if you’ve never tried them you really need to! You can just wash them and nibble at them raw, or you can roast them, which is my cooking method of choice! About 20 minutes at 425 degrees should do it. I prepare mine by washing them (of course!) and then I break or slice them into pieces about 1/3″ thick. I pour about a tablespoon of olive oil in a ziploc bag, put the sunchokes in and give them a good shake. Then, into the oven until done. Believe me, the taste is nothing short of amazing.

I haven’t seen sunchokes in the stores. I guess I’m going to have to grow some myself!

I just don’t feel good. I have a full blown sinus infection which is not only messing with my head, but my chest too. I think it’s time to just flush the system and start over.

I’ve done this particular detox in the past, and …..

wait …..

I just remembered that Laura invited us over for supper on Sunday. Better make that a Monday start.

As I was saying …

… it is a very tolerable fast, the green smoothies really freak people out, yet they taste so good!

My body is currently overflowing with symptoms of toxicity … I won’t go into them all, you can read them on the divas page for yourself. Let’s just say that I have 16 of those checkmarked “symptoms”, and no, I won’t elaborate on that!

Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds. I can do this again! I’ll keep you updated, of course, on a daily basis. Remember, MONDAY is the starting day!

Ciel will not get sick. I’m determined. Not this week.

Above all, don’t panic. It seems like these days all you have to do is sneeze and everyone ducks for cover. They shout at you from their hiding places “quick! get to the doctor!” It’s a sneeze people. It’s allergies.

Yes, people have died from this evil disease known as H1N1, but haven’t they pretty much all had underlying pre-existing conditions? I’m sorry people, but I refuse to treat my child’s newly-conceived sickness as anything other than a fever and an ache until I’m moved to take her to her doctor and he tells me otherwise.