Baked Rapa (rapini)

Garden full of rapa greens

I have been dying to try baked Kale chips, but I forgot to buy Kale today!  My truck won't start and my neighbor was nice enough to take me shopping, and I forgot.  I have no way to get back to the store for Kale, however, I do have a garden full of what we call Rapa, and what I think other people call Rapini.  I ran out and picked some.

Rapa Greens

Washed it.  Dryed it.  Put it on a pizza pan, spritzed it with olive oil spray, and put it in the oven at 200 for 10 minutes.

Baked Rapa

There it is in the oven, crispy and ready.

Baked Rapa

Here it is in the bowl. I sprinkled it with a bit of salt, bit into one...and the verdict:

Yummy but insubstantial.  It's like biting into a fall leaf; a paper thin dry leaf; the kind that crumbles into pieces when you touch it.  Now, I've never actually bitten into a fall leaf, so I'm guessing here,lol.  The taste was surprisingly good, but there was hardly any chew factor.  I picked big leaves but I should have picked smaller ones because fitting the entire rapa leaf into my mouth would have been easier and neater, lol. 

I did enjoy them; they were yummy and a healthy substitute for chips, but I wanted something more substantial, more there.  I haven't yet tried Kale chips so for all I know they're like bites of nothing too.  I would definitely eat these Rapa chips again because they were so tasty, but I'd have to make a lot more than two pans full because they are definitely not filling, lol.  Next time I think I"ll try sprinkling them with some garlic and parmesan cheese.

Purple Smoothies are yummy

Spinach, blueberry, banana, walnut smoothie

It's noon and I finally got to make my nutriblast smoothie.  I blogged earlier about how much I was craving one since i woke up this morning.  Everyone else slept in until 11:30 so I waited so the nutribullet wouldn't wake them; it is pretty loud.

This smoothie has: 1 tightly packed cup of spinach,  half a small banana, a handful of frozen blueberries, yogurt (I small container), and 2 tbsp of walnuts.  For liquid, I used unsweetened almond milk, which is only 30 calories per glass.

 Wow, is this smoothie thick.  It has a nutty blueberry flavor; I can't taste the spinach or banana at all.  It has the texture and mouth feel of a very thick icecream shake. It's delicious!

It's incredbile to me that in one easy meal that takes seconds to make, I'm getting: greens, fruit, fibre, protein, and all of the vitamins and nutrients found in the various foods. The walnuts are full of healthy omega 3 fats and vitamin E, and I never usually eat them so it's a good change.

My Dad is making bacon and eggs and it smells incredible; I love bacon, but there's no way I'm having any now; I'd be way too full and I still have more than have of my nutriblast to drink.  I have to drive to Sudbury pretty soon, and it's a 4 hour drive, and I'd rather travel feeling energized by my smoothie than weighted down by fried eggs and bacon.  Not that I have anything against bacon and eggs; I had eggs yesterday :-}.

Day 3 of adding Smoothies and I woke up Craving One

I find it hard to believe, but after only 2 days of adding veggie/fruit smoothies to my diet, I woke up this morning, on the third day, craving one.

I put on my coffee, decaf, and as it perked, I found myself actually craving a spinach and fruit smoothie.  I think my body was starving for nutrition, which seems weird given that I need to lose 100 Ibs or more.

I know how to eat healthy and I often do eat healthy for long periods of time but I have never craved veggies.  I love fruit and have sometimes craved oranges or watermelon, but more as a treat craving, a "wouldn't it be nice to have some" craving, not a demanding drive to consume like I'm having now for a green smoothie.  Those horrible cravings are usually reserved for something like chocolate, or pizza, or hamburgers...you know, those cravings that won't go away until they're satisfied; the ones that drive you mad?  That is how I'm feeling about a smoothie.

I'd have one but I don't want to wake everyone up by using the nutribullet.  It's pretty loud.  As soon as the rest of the family wakes, I'm going to have a nice spinach and fruit smoothie.  I wouldn't have believed this could be possible, not for me.

I weighed myself and I"m down 3 Ibs in 3 days, just by adding smoothies.  I read that smoothies would make you want to eat more healthy foods but didn't believe it, but yesterday, I chose to eat:

Green smoothie for breakfast, made with 1 cup of baby spinach, plus blueberries,1/2 a  banana, yogurt, and water.
Salad for lunch, with 2 cups of spring mix greens, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, hot peppers, 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese, and 2 tsp of low fat bacon ranch dressing.  It was yummy and I'm making myself hungry writing this, lol.
I was still craving greens so for supper I had loads of fresh dandelion greens sauteed with a bit of olive oil and garlic, covered with 4 eggs and scrambled together. I had to put extra eggs in (2 for me, 2 for the dogs) because the dogs were going crazy begging for the meal while I cooked it.  I also had two pieces of rye toast with olive oil flavored becel.
Last night I was craving another smoothie so I had another one, made with 1 cup spinach, strawberries, 1/2 a banana, fresh mint, almond milk, and some chia seeds (which I tried for the first time; yum!).

That's a LOT more food that I normally eat, and more greens than I sometimes eat in a week, but it was also less than HALF the weight watchers points that I normally eat.  I'm allowed 40 points per day and even with all of that food, I only ended up eating 23 points.   Basically it's because the fruits and veggies are 0 points.  I had a blast filling out all the ingredients in my points calculator and seeing all of the 0's line up, lol.

Normally, after a day or two of "being good" I am craving sugars and sweets, or salty foods, or baked goods, or a combo of all three.  I've NEVER craved more veggies.

I think my body is trying to tell me something.  I stayed up late last night because I had so much energy. I only slept 6 hours but woke up feeling alert and energized.  I usually am exhausted when I wake up.

I'm going to keep drinking my green smoothies every day.  I'm not consciously doing anything else; I'm not restricting myself from anything (except caffeine, because of my health).  I just want to see what the addition of green smoothies will do.

Yay; I hear people waking.  I can go make my smoothie!

Have a nice day.  :-)

Late to the Green Smoothie Party but happy to be here!

Since I joined Weight Watchers Online on January 2nd, I have lost 17 Ibs; gained 8, lost 8, gained 10, lost 10, gained 6...you get the picture.  I've been trying but struggling to lose weight.

I have severe, chronic asthma and it has been completely out of control.  I was in the hospital twice last week and needed 5 treatments in a row.  I'm on prednisone, 50 mg per day. 

I know I have to eat more healthy foods but I really have a hard time getting enough veggies down.  Since January I've had no trouble eating my fruit; I bought a yonana machine and have been enjoying faux "icecream" made only of frozen fruits whenever I have a craving for ice cream.  I like veggies but can never seem to eat enough of them to make a difference.  Since a kitchen gadget helped me substitute frozen fruit for icecream, I wondered if there was a gadget that could make me eat more veggies.

I checked out Walmart.ca and found several potential gadgets that could help.
THIS is the one I bought, on sale for $88.00 Canadian Dollars at my local Walmart:

 I started making green smoothies, or "nutriblasts" yesterday. 

For my first "green" smoothie, I used:
 1 cup of fresh baby spinach, 4 pieces of frozen banana, and a few handfuls of frozen blueberries, and some yogurt.  I added cold water to the max fill line, like the instructions instructed,  pushed down on the bullet until it pulverized everything, and ended up with a PURPLE smoothie. 

First nutriblast, spinach, frozen banana, frozen blueberry

 I was very uncertain about drinking a smoothie with spinach, even though I love cooked spinach, but I needn't have worried as the banana and blueberry totally masked the taste of spinach.   It was actually delicious; like a blueberry shake.  The banana and yogurt made it creamy and smooth and it was soothing on my sore throat.

I read more about healthy smoothies on the nutribullet website and learned I should be adding what they call "boosts" to my blasts.  Boosts are:  chia seeds, ground flax, cacao,  raw nuts; things that add protein, good fats, and nutrients, basically.  So today I ran out and bought chia, flax, nuts, and hemp hearts.  I have no idea if hemp hearts can be used, but I was completely carried away by my foray into healthy eating and bought them anyway, lol.

Last night I was hungry after supper and decided to try to make an actual green, green smoothie, with no fruit.  I figured the extra veg would be good for me, and I decided to try to make something similar to V8 juice; only thicker.
For my second nutriblast, I used:
Mixed spring greens, cucumber, 1 tomato, garlic, dash of salt and pepper, a few ice cubes, and water.

 I forgot to take a picture, but if you imagine a frothy green sludge, you'll have an idea of what I ended up with.  The taste was terrible, so I added a drop of katsup, and some hot sauce, and then it was OK.  Not nearly as good as V8 juice, but OK.  I think it could have really used some carrots and celery to add to the flavor.  I'll try it again soon.

For my third "nutriblast",  I used:
Frozen spinach, frozen banana pieces, frozen and fresh strawberries, a handful of fresh mint leaves, 2 tbsp chia seeds, and then added unsweetened almond milk to the fill line.
I learned that the nutribullet does NOT like to deal with all frozen foods; it took forever to blend this concoction. 

Nutriblast made from spinach, frozen banana, strawberries, fresh mint leaves, chia, and almond milk.

 This blast came out an unappealing orange-y brown color, but the taste was fresh, minty, and delish.  I was really pleased with the flavor of this blast. 

I posted a picture of my first blast on facebook and learned that I am VERY late to this party; it seems most of my friends have already been doing this...or some version of this.  About half are doing smoothies, like me, and the other half are juicing.  We all seem to be trying to get more fresh, whole foods into our bodies. which I think is great. I just wonder why it took me so long to hear about smoothies, lol.