V-5 Veggie Fusion & other Detox Fun!

Calli Cinnamon Detox

Still detoxing. It's fun. Once you get past the first two days. I eat all day, so it's hard for me not to be able to snack. Once I'm past that, I can see how some people fast forever (like 92 days.. like Angela Stokes). Okay, maaybe not. The longest I've ever detoxed (or juice feasted/fasted) is 2 weeks, The last 4 days I remember I was sick of juice. Here, I don't think I could afford to keep enough produce around to go even that long, so I've been supplementing with other liquids, Calli Tea and homemade Kombucha. The Calli tea I have is Cinnamon and it is palatable, but definitely tastes like tonic. I like to add oranges to it (which IS a little pulpy/solids..but good enough for me). I've been really going through my ready Kombucha (and I have 15 Scobys!). I have a couple different blends and 'flavors' right now. My favorite is Raspberry Green Tea. Just green tea with dried raspberries. Although I do a secondary fermentation before bottling my kombucha, I think the raspberries give the culture a little boost of sugar to digest. They also make the tea a beautiful bright pink.

Raspberry Kombucha

 After grocery shopping, it's been really hard to resist snacking on all our yummy fruit! And, I thinned a bajillion beet green yesterday and I just want to eat them! I'm going to break my fast tonight or tomorrow morning so I can protein carb load.

Rainbow of Health!

Here is a recipe for my favorite way to drink a V-8 kind of juice (without the salt and that cold veggie soup thing):

V-5 Veggie Fusion
3 Tomatoes
2 Carrots
1 Celery Rib
1 Handful Parsley (no need to pick off leaves-whole thing)
1 Clove Garlic
1 1-inch piece Jalepeno (mine are frozen, works fine)
1 Handful Spinach or mixed greens

Juice (or blend on high speed, then strain with mesh/fine colander). I put this on ice usually because I forget to refrigerate the tomatoes beforehand. I like this drink cold. So one trick is to refrigerate all the ingredients beforehand. Trust me on the garlic and jalepeno. SO good! I always want to make more! I can't wait until our tomatoes are ready! Then I won't feel so gluttonous using 3 on one drink!

Ferry in WA 2010

 Our little town has been recently blessed with the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry service. Well, it is a blessing at times. On ferry days it's definitely a bit noisier than usual. We see cars and people we don't recognize and no one waves back at you. For a few months a year, the ferry will be coming twice a week! Leaving on Monday afternoon, coming back Wednesday afternoon. We shop all day on the Tuesday in between. The deal with the ferry is you can bring your vehicle, load it up in Juneau, then bring it back, with absolutely no charge on freight (as long as your car dimensions do not change, ie. lumber longer than your vehicle. On the small aircraft that service our town, you get 70lbs of freight, every lb thereafter is $0.40 per pound and you have to be able to fit it into plane (no furniture etc). Until this last year, the only way to get anything here was by plane or lightweight (a sloooow cargo service heavily used to get mail, Uhauls, etc. to Alaska).

Not all boxes are as they seem....

As nice and inexpensive (well-less expensive) as using the ferry is, I found myself wondering why in the world we put ourselves through this. It's madness, it's tiring, it drains your account. A 25lb bag of duck feed for example is $26. We pay .40 cents a lb just to get it here. When you are ordering 10 bags, plus dog food, it really adds up. And that is just for the animals. It's only $15 for a 50 lb bag of the same feed in the lower 48 (according to my research). Yes, back to wondering why we live like this... oh yeah, it's Alaska! Imagine what the first Alaskans had to do to survive! Groceries are a luxury! (and so is Alaskan Beer!-says the hubs).

Any Funny Caption Ideas?

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Smoothie

Homegrown Alaskan Rhubarb (2nd year)

While in the backcountry I developed an allergic reaction. The first night I woke with angiodemia (facial swelling) which I'm all too familiar with. I figured it was the dried fruit someone shared with me. There was mango in the package, that I avoided, but it was IN the package... soo. This continued every morning, in gradually lessening degree, even with the elimination of the dried fruit. By the end of the trip I was having a photovoltaic reaction on my hands and lips. It was pretty painful and I simply could not stay out of the sun. There was no escape.

 Not the best timing for a detox because I'm doing a large grocery/ supply shopping trip (in Alaska, that's a huge deal) in a few days and I'm going to feel like crap before I feel better. It is also going to interfere with my running. Detoxing is not fun. Afterward I feel like a new womyn though. It has to be done. I'll blog about it to show the incredible changes that occur. I'd like to do a week long cleanse. I'm going to start with 2 days. It's been a while since I cleansed and I'm feeling impatient. My mother in law brought me some Calli Tea. It sounds like a wonder tea and I've never tried it. I'll drink this, kombucha, and fresh juice. Until I return from my shopping trip, I'm going to prep for my detox with juice, smoothies and tea.

I'm a tall person.. Some of these pieces were more than ready to pick.

I harvested a bunch of Rhubarb today. Strawberries will be ready soon and I plan to make lots of goodies. Most recipes involving rhubarb are heavily sugared desserts. Fortunately I LOVE the tangy flavor of Rhubarb and don't feel the need to eat it sweetened. Well... I'm sure a Rhubarb dessert is in the works. I'm already working on changing up my salsa recipe; Rhubarb wine (I'm totally allergic to grape wine), Rhubarb Stew... trying to think of more savory ideas. I'd also like to try to invent a Rhubarb tea. Hmmm... I juiced some with apple this morning and WOW!

Wrestling the Rhubarb outside was a chore and I was pretty thirsty. So I made up a smoothie using some young Rhubarb and it was deeeelicious. Almost forgot to add that Rhubarb is pretty dern tootin' healthy too! It's actually a vegetable, quite high in Vitamin A, Vitamin K... is an Okay source of Vitamin C, pretty high in Potassium, low in calories, high in fiber. Oh yeah and deeeelicious! Nutritional Info here.

Go get cha some Rhubarb!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Smoothie

2 small stalks of Rhubarb chopped
2 Strawberries(frozen or fresh)
2 Tbs Date Syrup (soaked dates blended with soak water)
Dash or two of Cinnamon
Water as needed

The color was gorgeous and it tasted like pie! I'm sure that was the cinnamon... but maybe it was the tangy sweet thing going on too. Because (similar to celery) Rhubarb has such a high water and fiber content.. it's pretty filling too! I bet cayenne would be an awesome addition to this. But I add it to almost everything soo..
Oh! And just in case; if you are picking your own, please remember the leaves are toxic! They contain Oxalic acid (the same foe on Quinoa, Buckwheat..). Besides being poisonous, Oxalic acid can interfere with the body's calcium absorption. If you are interested in eating more raw fruits/veggies juices.. here is a list for you.