Salads and a Slice of life

Consistency is clearly not my strength when it comes to posting on here. However, even when I don't post, I still eat and I still love it.

I've been on a healthy salad, soup, and sandwich kick lately.

Recently my wonderful in-laws gave me the book "Eat for Health" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. If you're looking to make some life style changes that include eating healthier, I *highly* recommend this book. While the book talks about many aspects of healthy eating, the thing that really stood out to me was that  (and I'm paraphrasing here) 'the goal is not to eat perfectly at every meal, but know how to make wiser choices.' Basically, my take away message was 'try to eat healthy, but don't beat yourself up if you eat a cookie'. A prime example of this was when I was texting a friend. We were talking about food, and here is part of the conversation:

me "I made chocolate chip cookies - which completely negated the power smoothie for breakfast and salad for lunch"
friend: "It didn't unless you ate the whole pan."

It really got me thinking that sometime I eat one cookie or sugary snack and think "Well great, I just blew that whole 'I'm going to eat healthy today' plan that I had." When in reality it didn't. It might not have been the best choice, but it wasn't the same as eating cookies for breakfast, lunch, and a snack.

I also think the self-talk we engage in about food, eating, and cooking are a huge contributor to our health - but that's a different topic for a different day.

Now, I say all this because I've been having a hay day with salads. After getting home from a week with my in-laws who were eating very healthy, I decided to dive in as much as I could. Knowing that 'perfection' wasn't my goal, I decided to see how we'd fare if we shifted towards more foods recommended in "Eat for Health" - leafy greens, steamed veggies, low fat meats, legumes, and no dairy. I started serving larger salads and smaller portions of meat and eating lentil soup for breakfast*. I can honestly say that once I learned the 'rules' of eating healthy (and making salads) that it became more enjoyable to eat healthily.

After a few months of eating healthier here is what I have found:
I feel better when I eat better.
No one approach is perfect, a cure all, or good for every situation.
Learning to listen to your body takes time, effort, and patience, but it is worth it.


I've said all the above simply so I can post this picture and go on about how much I love these baby greens!!!


I don't particularly care for regular kale, chard, or collard greens because they are a tougher green and not quite as crisp as I like. However, I've found this 'Baby Green' mix that has baby kale, baby Swiss chard, and baby spinach. These baby versions are on par with baby spinach and when mixed with some arugula and romaine, it makes for a delicious salad base. I've been trying different types of nuts, dried fruits, occasional cheeses, and various salad dressings.

Baby Swiss Chard, Baby Kale, Baby Spinach

This massive tub of greens was around $4 at Sam's Club - which is a steal in this area.
 You can also find it in smaller quantities in the pre-packaged salad section of most grocery stores.

I can't figure out how to rotate these pictures. Anyone know how!?

My slice of life is the White Elephant Christmas Party we're planing! These are the invites:

We'll be serving hot apple cider, cream cheese with cranberry chutney on crackers, apples and caramel, other munchies, and having indoor s'mores. I. cannot. wait!  Pictures to follow :)


Thanks for reading! Hopefully it won't be a month before I post again!






*Eating lentil soup for breakfast was inspired by Tim Ferris' book "The Four Hour Body" and the 'slow carb diet'.