Choosing to Juice

Some may recall my post several months ago about the juice cleanse/reboot Daniel and I were doing based on the documentary, "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" by Joe Cross {here}. WELL, we've decided to take some of what we learned through our ten day juice and apply it to our life day-to-day. What does that look like? For starters Daniel and I both knew that we didn't want to do another ten days of juice only SO we decided to continue to juice, but in addition we would start incorporating a normal sized, healthier dinner at the end of the day with a small non-juiced snack in the afternoon. Our hope is to continue to increase our fruit and vegetable intake and decrease our intake of carbs and processed foods. So far, so good.

The lovely machine that makes all of this juicing possible.

Previously, during our ten day reboot, a typical day's menu looked something like this:

Breakfast: two glasses of warm water & {orang} juice
Mid-Morning: coconut milk
Lunch: {green} juice
Snack: {green or red} juice
Dinner: {green} juice
Dessert (optional): {purple} juice
  *lot of water throughout the day

Now, our menu looks something like this:

Breakfast: two glasses of warm water & {orange} juice
Mid-Morning: black coffee with Splenda
Lunch: {green} juice
Snack: fruit, trail mix and/or nuts
Dinner: grilled chicken with a green leafy salad {we try to change up the type of chicken and salad for a little variety}
Snack (optional): fruit, nuts, yogurt, granola etc.
  *lot of water throughout the day

If you're curious, all of the recipes can be found by clicking here. All of the information, including the full length documentary can be found on Joe's website. Here are our two personal favorites - a typical breakfast and lunch any given day:

 

 

Carrot Apple Lemon {Orange}
4 carrots
2 green Apples
1 lemon

 

 

Green Lemonade {Green}
6-8 kale leaves
1 cucumber

3 handfuls of spinach

1 green apple

2 celery stalks

1 lemon

Pictured above is a salad from dinner a few nights ago - grilled Cajun chicken, mixed leafy greens, dried cranberries, fresh sliced Avocado, and crunchy tortilla strips.  Another one of our summer favorites has been spinach, fresh strawberries, blueberries, and mandarin oranges, with pecans and a lemon poppyseed dressing. {Recipe credit my awesome sister-in-law Janelle.}

 

Some quick observations about juicing:   1. Eating healthy is expensive {On the flip-side, we are saving a good bit of money from not eating out as frequently and not having daily trips to Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts}   2. We have to make more trips to the grocery store in a given week in an effort to keep all of the produce as fresh as possible   3. You NEED to drink a LOT of water.   4. Both Daniel and I have lost several lbs.   5. It's not as hard as you think   AND   6. I miss baking - my Kitchen Aid has been temporally replaced by my juicer.  

Farmer's Market

Breakfast is no doubt Daniel's most favorite meal of the day. SO what better way to start our weekend then with a trip to a place that has quickly become one of our favorite local breakfast spots - "In a Pickle" located in Waltham, MA. On our drive past Main Street we noticed we had timed our visit perfectly to score some fresh, local produce at the Waltham Farmer's Market not even two miles from the restaurant.

 

And let me tell you, these tasted as GOOD as they look.

We ventured home with four of these bad boys and cooked two right up for dinner. so fresh. so sweet.

 

Side note: when I was in middle school I was OBSESSED with sunflowers, so of course they still hold a special place in my heart. More moderate now of course like the five resting in a large Mason jar on my dining room table.

Ogunquit, Maine

Although I'll always be a white, sandy Carolina beach kind of girl, I need to give credit where credit is due. Ogunquit, Maine houses a beautiful, rocky not so sandy, beautiful beach along which runs a beautiful path known as Marginal Way {one and the same from my One Year Anniversary post}. Last weekend Daniel and I had the privilege of being guided around this adorable town by some dear friends of ours! What a FUN triple date it turned out to be and the view wasn't too bad either ;)

 

    The flower Daniel so courageously picked for me from the edge of the cliff. 

This photo is in honor of Cairn University. Someone a lot of someones {not us} spent a LOT of time setting all of these up. 

After walking along Marginal Way, we decided to venture into the neighboring town and explore some of the quaint, local shops.

Get it, "Seas the Day" ;) 

No trip is complete with out a little a lot of ICE CREAM.

 

Ben and Tyler enjoying their manly "Purple Cow" ice cream. 

 

Pretty sure I gained 5lbs just walking into this charming little bakery. 

 

This woman right here - answer to SO many of my, "God, help me find good friends in Massachusetts" prayers! 

The gang, minus Jenn, who is taking the picture. 

The breathtaking sunset we watched over the ice cold water while enjoying a completive little game of Bocce Ball. 

He's my favorite! AND I love sharing all of our adventures TOGETHER.

*Photo credits to Jenn Montillo of Jennifer Monitllo Photography 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jennifer-Montillo-Photography/153682501314915

Southern State of Mind

I love the south. the end. North Carolina will always hold a special place in my heart and it was a blast getting to spend an entire week visiting with family and friends I hadn't seen in 6+ months. Here are some snap-shots from our relaxing week. {looking back, I am realizing how bad I actually am at remembering to take pictures.}

One afternoon, Daniel and I were able to meet up with my family for some friendly and quite laughable games of bowling. 

 

 

Another thing confirmed by last week's travels was that David {Daniel's younger brother} is truly a younger, taller version of Daniel. They share the same sense of humor, same love of lyric altering, same tendency to pick on Candace {Daniel's younger sister}, and of course, the same unmistakable ability to charm the ladies! 

 David & Daniel gaming

While in our hometown of Fayetteville my sweet hubby volunteered to take me to to see the construction zone that was once my childhood home of 22 years. 

Me standing in what was formerly my childhood bedroom.

It was completely surreal sanding on the foundation and looking around realizing it is ALL GONE. However, this sad realization has to be followed by an explanation of what a tremendous blessing the whole situation has been to my family. Background: A little over a year ago the state of North Carolina bought my family's home because they had decided it was time to proceed with a project several years in the making to widen the road directly in front of our home. As a result, the state was required to fully compensate my family and relocate them to a new house that now accommodates my dad's business and provided space for my grandfather to move-in!

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."     Romans 8:23

Our visit was filled with other memorable moments not captured by pictures like a fun dinner with two of my dearest girl friends, a special lunch date with my mom in her new classroom, a visit from Daniel's Nanna and Pappa, and lots of quality time with both my family and my in-laws! 

We are already looking forward to our next trip to North Carolina for Christmas! 

Vacation Travels

When it comes to "holiday travels" it works in my favor that my family and my in-laws both live in North Carolina.This past week Daniel and I had the opportunity to fly to the great state of North Carolina and spend time with both families. 

Our week started with a quick weekend at Myrtle Beach. My in-laws worked out all the details and rented a cute little beach house with space for all six of us. 

Although the house wasn't "on the beach" we still managed to make our way down first thing Saturday morning.

Now me, I could have spent the entire weekend on that warm, sandy peace of paradise, however, my LOVE of sand and salt wasn't shared by all and no more than two hours later we were headed back to the house to shower and try another fun area restaurant.



 

The above pictures were taken outside Sticky Fingers {home of some truly sweet tea & deliciously sticky ribs}. Some of our other meals included food from Rio Stake House, Fuddruckers, Beef O' Brady's AND a local ice cream spot I can't recall the name of. 

I'm telling you, by the time my stomach could even think about food again, we were picking up the next menu! {perhaps another "juice reboot" will be in order for Daniel and I following this vacation 😉 }

In addition to family time, beach time and food we were able to visit a local church for worship on Sunday morning, hit the Tanger Outlets for some quality shopping and meet up with some dear friends from collage - Mr. and Mrs. Berry @ one of our favorite spots - Broadway At the Beach. 

More to come on the rest of our time in the great state of North Carolina!