Water, Water, Everywhere...but here

Learning how to live my new healthier lifestyle:
The more I test the waters, both negatively and positively, I am learning. I am trusting myself more and trusting my judgement more, on what I eat or what I do for exercise as well as what I don't eat or what I don't do for exercise. Remember, this is all new territory for me. I have never been this way before. I am still learning how to live as a semi-normal healthy woman...and I LIKE IT!

Summer:
Summertime is here with a vengeance in central Arkansas. Yesterday it was over 100º with the humidity around 50% and no rain for days. Yuk. My 12 year old son and I are still hitting the local swimming pool to exercise and cool off. I love the water! Plus I scored those water-dumbbells at that rummage sale last fall and can do a real proper exercise session, in the pool. Playing catch or water-shooting each other has been fun too.

Gardening:
Something new I discovered is that you can grow your own lettuce from what normally you toss in the trash! I am experimenting with romaine lettuce. I cut off the end of the lettuce and put it in about a half inch of water. The water needs to be changed daily as the lettuce gets its nutrients from the minerals in the water.

Here is a photo of three lettuce heads. 

They were all started within a few days of each other:

 The one on the bottom right is the oldest one. 

Here you can see I added a forth head-end of lettuce:

 Look how much the first one has grown in less than a week!

Within two days the forth head has sprouted leaves in the center.
The oldest head is almost ready to start harvesting if you want to eat baby romaine:

A few more days pass, and I have a 'garden in a cup' on my window sill!

 

I will let you know if this turns out to be real food that is edible. I read that you can do this with celery ends, onions, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and pineapple too! I have an onion and sweet potato in a cup on my window sill to see if I have any luck there as well.

In the kitchen:

Something that is a little more normal than growing lettuce in the window, is pie. I don't eat pie very often. I do like a good blueberry pie though and this one is from fresh blueberries:

I have mine with plain 2% fat Greek yogurt (Fage of course) instead of whip-cream or ice cream. Since I only have pie once or twice a year, I don't feel guilty about it at all! You do NOT have to be deprived to live healthy.

In the background are banana muffins. I made these without sugar, buttermilk, or oil. I used whey from homemade yogurt that I made from raw milk. The bananas are very ripe so they add the needed sweetness. These turned out great! They were not as chewy as when I've made them with yogurt or applesauce instead of the oil. I also tossed in a few handfuls of rolled oats to thicken the batter. I love experimenting in the kitchen. I had to show this again as this really is one of the best looking pies I have ever made:

Pizza Crust:
I have made pizza crust using cauliflower in the past. I always thought you had to precook the cauliflower and then run it through a ricer. This method takes raw cauliflower to make the 'dough' and is not as much work! For preparation and cooking specifics go to this video on YouTube by Buff Dudes.

Here are the ingredients from the video:
CHICKEN PIZZA
 2 Cups Cauliflower
1/2 Cup Cheese
6 oz Chicken
Dash of Parsley & Oregano
3/4 cup Tomato Sauce
Handful fresh Spinach
2 Full Eggs

1 Slice Contains:
90 Calories
4.3 grams Fat
2.7 grams Carbs
10 grams Protein

Whole Pizza Contains:
726 Calories
35 grams Fat
22 grams Carbs
81 grams Protein
This recipe is for chicken pizza, but you can change up the toppings as you like.

That's it for today! Till next time, Walk-On!