Years ago I use to buy avacados on sale and freeze them, only to find them months later in my freezer brown with freezer burn. Whoops in an effort to save money I spent time and precious freezer space and actually lost money. Of course I threw them away and vowed to only eat avacados fresh from now on .......until recently.

If you follow this blog you know that I love to grow kale in my garden.  Next to perennial veggies and fruit kale is the easiest plants we grow.  It's one of the first and last veggies in our garden every year.  I like that I can also harvest it whenever I want to.  It's also so nutritious it's a super food.  The only problem is we planted 6 kale plants this year and we only eat a little bit.  I like to sneak it into chocolate banana almond butter smoothies, and as a wrap for sandwiches.  I also occasionally add some to soup or stews.  But that doesn't amount to much.  So I'm determined to find some recipes with kale that I like.

While I don't follow a strict Paleo diet (the caveman diet), I do try to limit the amount of grains I have in my diet and replace it with vegetables.  I only use grains when very necessary in a recipe.  And then I try to have whole grain gluten free if possible.

I'll admit it I'm addicted to popsicles right now.  Eating them and making them.  I even dream of popsicles.  The trick is to make them healthy so I can eat as many as I want guilt free.

My husband and I were invited to a friend's for the 4th of July yesterday and while we weren't expected to bring anything, I decided to try to make something to bring.  I wanted to make something most people would like that could hold up for a half in our in our car with no air conditioning, was picnic friendly (don't need a fork to eat!), healthy, and easy and didn't require baking (cause who wants to bake in July).

I've been avoiding grains as much as possible (but not completely) for about a year now, because of the anti nutrients in some (gluten is one), and because they break down as sugar in your body. However I'm not against grains completely, I just believe in having good quality whole grains that are gluten free and soaked in moderation.   I got the ideal to try this after reading the book Beauty Detox by Kimberly Snyder (I plan to review this soon).  I tried her version with avocado and didn't like it, so I developed this recipe which was way better.  The only thing is I realized today that it does not follow the principals of food pairing for better digestion in her book, because she says you should have fruit by itself only on an empty stomach. Whoops!  But I figured I'd share this recipe since it still is healthy and delicious!  I think I will try it next time with just cinnamon and coconut or almond milk just to stay with her principals. 

zucchini chips and hummus

Welcome to my latest obsession.  I can't get enough of these.  Who knew that zucchini could be so good?  I got the ideal for this because I had hummus but I was tired of eating it with bread and would rather eat veggies.  Since I had a lot of zucchini in the fridge (they are so cheap at the farmer's market) I figured maybe I could turn them into chips.  I usually research many recipes before creating my own recipe, but not this time.  I totally winged it which was pretty daring since I've never made chips before, but I lucked out they turned out so fantastic I might just be addicted.  At least they're healthier than potato chips!  You can flavor them really however you want.  So feel free and try other spices you have on hand that you think you might like!

Nothing better than a healthy, easy, no bake, cold dessert for a hot day!   I have been wanting to make raw desserts ever since I discovered Minnesotan Susan Power's blog Rawamazing.  I was so intrigued by the quality of her ingredients and the beauty of the desserts she created.  I wanted to try them all!  How can you make mouth watering beautiful desserts out of fruits and nuts and stuff?   This was my first realization of the raw food world.  I went to the library and checked out a few books on raw food (Susan Powers has some great raw cookbooks herself too) and I was hooked.

If you follow this blog, you've probably noticed I've become obsessed with healthy shakes, smoothies, and juicing.  Since this is my second summer since I decided to stop drinking any beverages with refined sugar (and no diet drinks either), I have come to realize I need something to replace sugary drinks.  Smoothies, and juicing, and iced tea are my answers for this.  What I love is that instead of having a drink with empty calories,  I'm getting a lot of nutrition and no added sugar with every drink.