Healthy Habits: My new love: the Vitamix! + EASY smoothies

On Sunday, my mom and I bought tickets for the New Life Expo in Ft.Lauderdale. It is basically a day at the Broward Convention Center filled with all sorts of informative lectures and booths set up containing all sorts of holistic health and spiritual things/resources/services. We went last year and absolutely loved all that we learned while sitting in the lectures. The expo travels all across the US and Ft.Lauderdale, FL's turn is around March every year. 

This year, we came home with a lot of goodies! We each: received 3 free books, each bought a Vitamix, and acquired a bag full of brochures/samples/ect.

The Vitamix blender was a something that I've wanted for a while now... 

Also, now that I am working on a health coach certification starting this upcoming Monday, my husband thought it was an appropriate addition for my future endeavors :) ...aaand he also loved the fact that I can blend and heat homemade soup at the same time (My husband can eat soup all day, every day if that were an option.) 

Sunday:

As soon as I got home from the New Life Expo

Getting busy with our new Vitamix...

Yum!

Real men drink green smoothies too. 

I love him and his amazing support that he gives me even though I think sometimes he thinks I am a crazy hippie. :) 

I just remind him that good wives want to keep their husbands healthy so they can be around longer. He should worry when I start feeding him unhealthy foods... that won't ever happen though! 

Monday morning: handful of raw baby spinach, 1/2 peeled lemon, 6 strawberries, 1/2 banana, 1/2 mango, peeled kiwi, 1/2 cup of water, tbsp of chia seeds

blend. 

(FYI: chia seeds: more calcium than milk, more omega 3s than fish oil, and more antioxidants than blueberries!) I buy my Bob's Red Mill Chia Seeds at Whole Foods for about $10 and they last my foreverrrrrr since you only use about a tbsp at a time.

 Ava liked it too...

Monday night: 

I made Avocado Tortilla soup! It was thick and delicious. 

Avocado Tortilla Soup

adapted from the Vita-Mix Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of chicken broth
• 5 Roma Tomatoes, quartered
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 avocado, pitted and peeled
• 1/2 lime, peeled
• 1/2 c. canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 c. canned non GMO corn
• 1/2 c. salsa
• non GMO/organic tortilla chips

Instuctions:

1. Place first 7 ingredients in the blender in the order listed.
2. Turn Vitamix on and blend on high for 7 minutes.
3. Reduce speed and add corn, salsa, and beans. Blend for 10 seconds
4. Garnish with tortilla chips, cilantro, or avocado, etc… the possibilities are endless!

(I added in all of the ingredients in at once because I didn't follow the directions properly. Oops. Still delicious just not chunky.) 

Yesterday: waiting at the Atlantic bridge on the way to a beach play date 

Breakfast Smoothie: whole banana, handful of raw spinach, 3 strawberries, 1/2 cup oats, cup of almond milk - blend. 

Today after Mommy&Me class: 

Not so green due to the blueberries, but sometimes your green smoothie isn't so green and that's okay!  (I like to use our mason jars for smoothies. Trying to eliminate as much plastic chemicals as I can in daily use.) 

As you can see, I've started adding some oraganic oatmeal to my breakfast smoothies along with almond milk. My friend, Jessica, gave me the idea and I am so happy that she did. It is perfect for mornings when you want something filling and really creamy. Plus, the oatmeal surprisingly gives it more of a "comfort food" taste and less of a fresh, green juice taste. Personally, I love all of my green smoothies with whatever ingredients I decide to use that day.  But it is a nice, tasty change to have the creamy, comforting addition of the almond milk and the raw oats. 

Jessica's breakfast smoothie recipe: DELICIOUS! 

-Whole, peeled banana

-a few strawberries (stems on top and all! You want that green chlorophyll - you won't taste it) 

-1/2 cup oats

-cup of almond milk 

Blend. 

(I sneak a handful of greens in because I always like the benefits of greens even though you don't taste them with the oatmeal)

Thanks, Jessica! Baby Christian is going to thank you when he's old enough to have some :) 

I recommend you try one for your on-the-go breakfast.

 A lot of people don't have time to make breakfast in the morning and so they either

 1. Don't eat and only have some coffee 

or 

2. Drive through/ pick up something not so healthy. 

These smoothies literally take 1-2 min for me to make (depending on if I am using any ingredients that needs to be peeled). 

It's grab, throw in the blender, blend on high for 15 sec, pour into your cup, and GO. 

Now, I do still think that eating your nutrient dense foods is always a better option since your saliva during your chewing starts the entire digestive process. We are meant to chew our calories to break them down properly.

But if it's between chewing an egg mc'muffin or swishing/"chewing" around healthy smoothie to get the saliva going in your mouth before swallowing... 

I'll take the 2nd choice any day! 

Even if you don't own a heavy duty: Vitamix or Ninja kitchen system, bust out the 'ole hand blender that I used (and loved) before having a Vitamix or any normal kitchen blender. Anything works!

Okay, I'll wrap this one up here...

Now, I need to decide what soup I'm going to whip up for part our dinner tonight! :-)

I also saw this easy dressing and want to try it out for our side salads:

(This dressing calls for honey. Remember, most mainstream/processed "honey" is not just raw honey but contains things like GMO corn sweetener. Make sure to buy some organic/ raw honey for your home. I never knew that about honey either but it doesn't surprise me.) 

Remember: anything you make at home from simple ingredients- even if they aren't all organic- you will still be cutting out A LOT of dangerous and unhealthy ingredients. 

I don't care what the FDA thinks... Some of these "approved" ingredients are not meant for human consumption!!! 

This is a "fun" little article that my friend, Kaylyn, posted: Mind blowing...

9 Disgusting Things You Didn't Know You've Been Eating Your Whole Life

Hope you all have a happy & healthy Wednesday! 

XO

Christina 

Today: Ava + Sophia's Beach Playdate

Today, Ava and I met up with our friends Jereann(mom) and Sophia(daughter). We originally met them at our Amanda's Place Mommy&Me classes a couple of months ago. They also live in Pompano Beach which makes it great for a last minute, local playdate for the girls. 

Jereann asked me if we could meet up at Pompano Beach's splash pad so that the girls can run around and play in the water.

 I had no idea that this even existed because my family is not aware of anything going on in Pompano - ever... 

Since Mark and I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale, we do everything there. I guess this teaches me that I need to branch out and see what our official place of residence offers. 

I will say... Pompano beach is VERY clean and family friendly. They have clean picnic area, bathrooms, a playground, a nice kid's area with the splash pad, and the pier nearby. It took us 10 min to get to our beach parking spot from our home. (There was no traffic what so ever.) 

I usually go to Ft. Lauderdale beach which takes me 25min since we live north of there. 

Now that I am am familiar with this "family friendly" beach,  I will be going here more often with Ava and Mark. 

When it is time for me to have a mama's day out with my friends, I will be loyal and still go straight to Ft. Lauderdale Beach though haha ;)  

Anyways, today's beach playdate was adorable! 

Sophia and Ava get along so well and the weather could not have been better. 

80 degrees and very sunny

Here are some pictures that I took today. They came out a bit dark (still learning how to use this Nikon D5100) so I had to try and lighten them up a bit at home.

(And I promise that Ava is walking a lot now...just didn't get any of it on camera today - my fault.) 

Jereann & Sophia

Ava is still getting comfortable with the idea that there is water randomly shooting up from the ground...

The mamas with our precious girls

Sophia sharing her beach toys with Ava

Sophia petting Ava's hair. haha This was funny

Ava found some little toy duck nearby... She loves little toys

Sophia bringing Ava her water 

Thanks for a fun playdate, Jereann and Sophia! We will be back soon :)

Hope everyone is having a nice Tuesday! 

Family Beach Day {OOTD}

It's finally Saturday and going to be perfect south FL beach weather. 

75 degrees and sunny. 

I prefer hotter weather for the beach but let's not be greedy now... ;)  

I'm anxiously awaiting for Mark to get home from golfing so we can go! 

Can you tell I am excited to spend today outside ?! Ha 

Today's Mommy&Me OOTD will include bathing suits and nothing more until bed time! We are long overdue for a day like this. 

Bathing suit: Roxy

Bag: Patricia Nash

Sunnies: Ray Ban

Suit&Cover up: Carter's

Sorry, Mark... I couldn't find your suit :( 

Hope you enjoy your Saturday wherever it is that you'll be spending it. 

XO

Christina 

My {Random} Friday Thoughts...

This post is very RANDOM. Just things in my phone's camera roll on what's going on in my mind today... 

Today's daily green smoothie: spinach, lemon, ginger, chia seeds, mango, strawberry 

Yum

Fun and easy idea I came across for a summer party, picnic, or just snacking in the house. Fill with hummus, chicken salad, etc. 

This weekend's DIY project:

Cookware:

I'm grateful for my GreenPan set that was given to us from my maternal grandmother. It was our wedding gift (and not the set that we registered for...) 

Little did I know, cookware can be toxic to your food. Luckily, my grandmother watched QVC a lot and learned about the benefits of these... haha. She was always "on the more natural side of things" herself as my mom recalls. My grandmother died last Spring from a tragic accident. A woman hit my grandmother with her car as she was crossing the road. I was in Nashville, TN on a girl's trip with my two best friends when it happened. My heart still hurts for her but I do little things that make me think of her like wearing her crazy looking vintage jewelry and, more importantly, cooking with our safer cookware that she bought us :) 

I'm now looking into the dangerous effects of toxic (mainstream) cookware and happy I am already ahead of the game!

(FYI: I've seen them now being sold in Taget! Complete sets and individual pieces!) 

GreenPan even made my favorite blogger's Food Babe's Healthy Holiday Gift Guide a while back! You know how much I love the Food Babe...

What I'd like to cook more with: cast iron for my non toxic cookware collection. Back to the basics, people! 

(Still looking into this... but I heard that using cast iron is beneficial so much so that it actually adds iron to your food during the cooking process. Anyone else know anything about this?) 

Makes you wonder what toxic, "non stick" Teflon cookware adds to your food during the cooking process...

What I have my eye on for Ava.

New at Janie&Jack:

What I'd like to make for Mark. My hubby is rhubarb obsessed :) 

Where I am going on Sunday with my mother:

We went last year and I thought I was dropped into the middle of a crazy hippie fest... kind of like how I felt the first time I shopped at a Whole Foods. haha. 
(But now, Whole Foods is like Toys R Us for me.)

*Siiiiiide note: For my fellow Whole Foods shoppers... Don't you appreciate when you ask one of their employees about a product or if they have a recommendation how they are always have a wealth of knowledge?! Example, I asked a WF employee where the non GMO corn taco shells were and they WALKED me straight to them and then told me how organic/non GMO blue corn shells(and chips) taste the same(and cost the same) as yellow corn but have more naturally occurring antioxidants. So you get a little more bang for your buck. SOLD! Now I buy blue taco shells and chips that are right next to the yellow ones...
  *NOTE: If it isn't organic/non GMO corn, then you're probably just eating blue food dye on GMO corn so be careful*
...Not to bash other beloved grocery stores but the most I ever get in other places is which isle it is on.


Back to my hippie expo....I mean, my NEW LIFE EXPO! ;) 
At the time, I felt kind of out of place but had an open mind.

Now, since I've learned a lot more about holistic health and all things natural, I CANNOT WAIT to go back!!!!!!

 Looking forward to the lectures.  We learned a lot from those last time. 

On Saturday morning, Mark is golfing and then hopefully after that we will head over to the beach. I also have one of my best friends in town that I look forward to seeing this weekend. 

Have a happy weekend! 

TGIF 

XO

Christina