Be Simple!
More with Less
Zubi’s Organic Authentic Mexican-Inspired Sauces: Makes Dinner at Home a Fiesta!
Well we are closing in on Cinco De Mayo, yes? Not going to a big party? Then let the party come to you! I knew when the latest New Hope Network Blogger Box arrived, my little starter set of Zubi’s Organic Queso de Jalapeño, Crema de Jalapeño and Zubi Salsa were going to be a big hit. So I just didn’t tell Don they were vegan. A slight omission that he never even questioned. He just kept shoving tacos in his mouth and reaching for more sauce.
Kefir Smoothies with Growing Naturals A.M. Energy One & Done SuperShake
Kefir is a natural for smoothies, much like a runny yogurt with a bit more tang and TONS of probiotics. When my latest New Hope Network Blogger Box arrived with a sample of Growing Naturals A.M. Energy One & Done SuperShake, it was a no-brainer. Let’s make smoothies!
Get Organized…with Oats!
Ever since the Women’s Movement began in the 70s, women have taken on one challenge after another. While we have won many hard-fought victories, it seems to me that some what we’ve gained is something we’ve had all along… the ability to multi-task. No offense guys, but women are natural organizers.
In the Land of Kefir and Honey
I have several friends with whom I share a lot of passions—love of the outdoors, farmers markets, gardening, and environmental activism, among many other loves. Food is always top of the list, and I’m sure this is not a surprise to you. Conversations with my friends about food come up all the time, and sometimes these heart-to-hearts on all things yummy, healthy and local turn into something really special—in this case, bacteria. Say what?
Hiking? Camping? Picnicking? It’s a Date….Bar
You know me: why buy power bars when you can make them yourself? You will have total control over the ingredients, avoid the plastic wrapper and enjoy a much more delightful dining experience. Well, that’s my opinion, anyway. And making your own bars, snack balls and cookies is much easier than people imagine. This recipe makes quite a supply of tasty, healthy, flexible bars that will be ready in your frig for up to two weeks. After that, they are probably still fine to eat, but will lack flavor and freshness. However, I’m guessing that if you make them and eat one, storing them longer than two weeks just won’t be a problem. Yummy.
The Strawberry Sweetheart Smoothie
My new favorite Blogger Box product–Natreve French Vanilla Wafer Sundae Vegan Protein—takes the spotlight for Valentine’s Day 2020 in this rich and creamy strawberry smoothie, laced with organic natural cacao. Think those Valentine’s Day chocolate covered strawberries but minus the tons of sugar, questionably sourced and processed chocolate, and less-than-fresh tasting strawberries.
Frozen “Pear-adise”
No, this is not my description of the winter months. All regular Green Gal readers know that I am already ungratefully counting the days until the pool opens. But, I bet my Frozen “Pear-adise” dessert will make the rest of winter much sweeter. Whatcha think?
Golden Pumpkin Oats
This recipe began as many of my recipes do with a leftover. In this case, I had an extra quarter-cup of pumpkin puree with nowhere to go. You see, you can’t buy a two-cup pumpkin for your pie—you buy a pumpkin, roast, puree, strain and measure. Being one of the best food values going, an average pumpkin will yield up to 10 cups of puree. Really, one nice sized pumpkin is all you need for cookies, pies, soups and cakes during the holidays. But sometimes, there’s a little bit extra.
Winter Weather Skin Needs Herbal Healing
Cold, wet outside air meets dry indoor heat. It’s a match made…well certainly not in heaven. Chafed skin, brittle nails and peeling cuticles… so how are those busy little hands these days? If yours are like mine in winter, the answer is NOT GOOD. But I have found some help from the New Hope Network Blogger Box and a favorite new company, Herbal Healing.
Afterwords Books: The First Word in Gift Giving and Community Cheer
Afterwords Books is a family-owned local bookstore, celebrating 10 years in Edwardsville. Customers can purchase new and used books, take advantage of a trade-for-credit program and join a book club like ours—there are clubs going on all the time at Afterwords, for every age and interest. Little shoppers also can enjoy the free children’s story times, while others participate in a thriving monthly documentary club. People come to shop for books at Afterwords, to be sure, but they linger for the community, conversation and coffee and tea.
Sophisticated Sorcery for All Green Gal Goblins
What I love most about blogging is the creative witchcraft that takes place. Whether I’ve just discovered another blogger with great cooking ideas, or I’ve dipped into New Hope Network’s Blogger Box for the next Green Gal recommendation, or one of my friends passes on a fabulous recipe that was passed on by someone who found it on another blog somewhere out in the Universe, bloggers are a magic force of sophisticated sorcery.
A Cup of Tea and a Cookie: Sasi’s Recipe for World Peace
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville celebrates Diversity Day each October. Across the campus students, faculty and community members engage in various activities focused on the beauty of our differences and the power of our commonalities.
Help! Finding Balance and Smooth Transitions in “Time”
Overall, I’d say I’m a pretty stable and balanced person. Of course, a survey of family and friends might reveal a slightly different opinion, if I’m caught at the “right moment.” And, I’m guessing you have had some of those “right moments” too, when everything in your life is in overdrive, when every box on your little calendar is full. Sometimes it is just the simple and natural change of seasons that can push me a step past coping, especially if all the other factors are in play. And this pretty much describes my September 2019. But still I try to be strong, soldier through, resist help.
Can you say “stubborn”?
The Annual Back-to-School & Back-to-Work Blogger Box Favorites
Yes, I think we are talking tradition now. At the end of last summer, I decided to review the many delicious items that arrive quarterly in my New Hope Blogger Network Box for perfectly healthy lunchbox treats. It went so well, I have decided to repeat the idea with some new selections that are tasty, healthy and planet-friendly. So no excuses as you pack up the family lunches because there are both kid-friendly and grown-up choices that will help you keep highly processed foods out of your kitchen and missing from your desk at the office
Coconut Sugar Cocomels: A Sweet Treat, Pure and Simple
So, candy. Should it have a place in your diet? Well, if you read this blog consistently, you will know that I feel candy, despite its usually terrible rep, has a place, albeit a conservatively small place, in a healthy diet. What we eat, whether we are conscious of it or not, is more than just nutrition and, in my mind, shouldn’t be restricted to the point we feel deprived.
Lovin’ My Biscuits!
My friend Mary Lynn is always sharing these wonderful little stories that show how food is so much more than just sustenance, just nutrition for the body. You may recall the post from a while back on her banana bread story. She also tells this touching tale about a woman—quite old and sadly in a nursing home—who was unexplainably failing quickly after living a vigorous and healthy life on her family’s small farm.
Get the Good Glow of Summer Skin…Naturally
Okay, here is a not-so-happy idea: the older I get, the more unwelcome changes my body presents. Perhaps, you’ve had similar ideas as the years have passed. We can whine and pout, but I think it would be more productive to face maturity head on—embrace the wisdom of age with gratitude and don’t let those growing-old cliché’s get us down. Because, while aging is inevitable, growing “old” is not. My grandma was a young—very young—97 when she left this world for a new one.
Summer Fun in the Sun: Easier, More Nutritious, Safer and Greener with These….
I let a lot of things go in Summer: the garden is happier with native weeds; just ask it. The house is usually empty because we are outside, so if no one’s there to see the dust fall, is it really dirty? The kitchen is due for a rest, too, I think, though there is the issue of healthy food and market goodies. OK, not everything is “let go.” But my grip is certainly more relaxed.
Dayempur Farm: The Business of Food, Fellowship and Faith
I was at Dayempur Farm near the end of April, learning about this self-sufficient Sufi community’s sustainable spin on farming and living in Southern Illinois. The journey took me to the edge of the Shawnee National Forest, onto 60 acres of pristine land, some cultivated, some left wild and wooded, but none sprayed by pesticides and herbicides that mar most modern commercial agriculture.
Guest Chef Sally Burgess Gives Us Protein Recovery Balls
My friend Sally Burgess is a fellow environmental activist—a member of my new group of comrades, the Confluence Climate Collaborative, and a student working quickly toward her PhD. But today, she’s somebody else: Today, Sally is the Green Gal guest chef for March and has developed a delicious Protein Recovery Ball, using the featured New Hope Influencer Product Natural Factors CurcuminRich Muscle Recovery & Growth Optimizer.
Love What You Have 40-Day Challenge
Remember Project Drawdown— and the Eco-challenge issued through the Northwest Earth Institute to take small everyday actions that were proven to mitigate climate change? Well, I’m happy to report Project Drawdown continues and is gearing up for another round of challenges this spring beginning April 3 and running through April 24. You can register your team or just join as an individual to begin your own drawdown on climate change. But why wait! I have an immediate suggestion….
From-Scratch, Real-Food Power Bars: Love at First Bite
How homemade can you go? If we are really committed to eating a diet of REAL food and promise to know exactly what is in our food and how it got there, we have a lot of work to do before breakfast, don’t ya think? Is there a simple approach to health and wellness that includes sustainable decisions and foods we actually like?
Love Real Food
Well, OK. Don’t we all love real food, especially when our favorite dishes are on the table? Mmmmm….what are those dishes? Did you prepare them or did you open a box of stuff prepared by someone unknown…in a laboratory…for a major corporation?
New Year—New You? Guidance from My Friend Jane and the Always-Helpful New Hope Network Blogger Box
Well here we are once again—saying goodbye to the old year and ushering in a new one, promising to never to “that” again and vowing to change all our evil ways overnight. Good luck.
Or better than luck, why not go with “healthy curiosity and personal-best strategies”? Make your new start into 2019 an exploration rather than an ultimatum. Start with a few small changes and keep building. I know, you are rolling your eyes and thinking: “There she goes again with her anti-New Year’s resolution stuff.” Well, ok, I hear ya. So I thought this year, I’d let someone else share her success and hopefully inspire you to find yours—meet my friend Jane, an accomplished educator, master baker, beautiful woman (inside and out) and recent convert to a Ketogenic way of life.
