Planting Seeds of Change

Tower Garden has taken off! 🌱 Our ground garden is also doing well with radishes coming in fast, carrots, zucchini, squash and beets. We use a lot of dill in Eric’s (incredible) tuna salad but I’ll need to look for other ways to use it up. Anyone dry their herbs?

"Gardening can act as a gentle reminder to us that we are not the center of the universe." As we celebrate National Garden Meditation Day, we consider how tending to a garden can help with practicing mindfulness, relieving stress, and bringing us daily joy. Sarah Rayner explains why growing greens nourishes more than your body in Psychology Today. Check it out! http://bit.ly/2UXWfvE
(image courtesy of )

🌱 Kids that grow their own fruits and vegetables eat more fruits and vegetables. 🤯 If you’re interested in starting a Tower Garden for your family, learn more about it from the comfort of your own 🛋 on Wed. April 17 at 8:30 CST! Comment below if you’d like an invite to our online Facebook event where you’ll get all the deets in a fun, casual presentation. 📱💻 You could be eating your own fresh salads, herbs and veggies within weeks! 🥗🗓

“What the hell is black rice?” asked my husband as he called from the grocery store. To which I could only reply, “I dunno. It’s rice. But black.” 🖤 Well whatever it is, it’s good sh*t. Especially in this recipe. 👩‍🍳👉 ASIAN BLACK RICE SALAD 🌱
1 cup uncooked black rice / 1 cup shelled edamame, thawed / 1 bell pepper, chopped / 1 can (8 oz.) pineapple, chopped (reserve the juice to use below) / 2 green onions, finely chopped / 1⁄4 cup cilantro, chopped / 1 1⁄2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar / 1 Tbsp. pineapple juice / 1/2 Tbsp. Braggs liquid aminos / 2 tsp. honey / 1 tsp. fresh ginger, grated / 1 clove garlic, minced / 1⁄4 cup olive oil / Salt to taste
1. Cook rice according to package. Place the rice in a large bowl to cool.
2. Add the edamame, pepper, pineapple, green onions, and cilantro to the bowl.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the rice wine vinegar, pineapple juice, aminos, honey or agave, ginger, and garlic.
4. Whisking constantly, add the olive oil in a slow steady stream. Add a pinch of salt if desired. Pour over salad until it is well coated. 🍽Makes 4-6 servings.
Day 10

Day 8 and I brought it on my mom walk. 🦸‍♀️👟🏃‍♀️ Ahhhhhh how I’ve missed it. The children blessed me with a simultaneous nap sesh - and a loooooong one so I took full advantage and got to steppin’. Didn’t track time, distance or steps, I just went with the beat on my Pandora station. 🎶
Breakfast was even easier than my normal blended smoothie - I believe it’s called the “Keep It Simple Smoothie” in the new *FREE* Complete Creations cookbook. Plant milk + French Vanilla Complete + Cinnamon + Shaker bottle. I got two gulps before the kids stole it 🤷‍♀️ and I got to make another.
Made a new ranch recipe and it was so amazing that I filled my big ol’ salad 🥗 bowl three more times. Entire bag of 50/50 blend consumed JOYFULLY. 🙌
The areas I need to work on for the last few days of this Shred are drinking water💧, avoiding stress-snacking aka cleaning the kids’ plates 🙄, and still less coffee ☕️. I mean no coffee. Maybe just less though. 🤣😬.

A last-minute get-together last night resulted in 🍕 and ☕️ - definitely not friendly. That dang pizza. Sheesh. But I’m back at it today with a strawberry banana smoothie 🍓🍌with flaxseed, kale 🥬, and all the goodness of Complete shake mix’s ancient grain and sprout blends. It’s also in the pumpkin chocolate chip bites. 🤤 I’m not on a diet. I’m on a lifelong journey to better health and one meal enjoyed in the company of good friends will never be regretted. Especially Casey’s Pizza.

Glad to see I’m on the right track! 👌

Study: Having Fewer Toys Makes Children More Imaginative and Intelligent De-cluttering children’s playrooms boosts creativity and cognitive development, study finds Too many options in the toy room can overstimulate and overwhelm a child, so that he can’t focus on — or learn from — any of them, a recent study finds. Reducing the number of toys results in more cre...

If you’re looking for something new to replace fish oil supplements, check this out! Happening *NOW*!

SEEDLINGS ARRIVED 🌱🌱🌱AND TOWER GARDEN IS UP & RUNNING!
🥬 Grow up to 30% more 🍓 Grow 3x faster 🥒 Use less water (up to 90%!) 🍅 Use less space - perfect for city dwellers 🥦 No weeding or watering 🌶 Fewer pest problems 🥗 YOU pick when you’re ready - you’ll never taste fresher foods 🤤
We can’t wait to see how these plants take off so we can enjoy those fresh salads! Stay tuned for updates.

45+ plant foods down in a matter of minutes! 15 in the blackberry pineapple🍍smoothie I blended with French Vanilla Complete shake mix, plus 30 from Juice Plus+ Fruit, Vegetable and Berry Blends! 🍋🥬🍒🥦🥕🌽🍇🍉🍊🥥🥑These whole food powders (and detoxing my liver monthly with Shred10) have kept me 100% healthy through this past winter for the first time EVER! 🙌

Eric wondered why I put chickpeas on the grocery list when we already had 4 cans. Answer: I can’t get enough. After roasting them for the first time during the last , I craved more. My mind was just blown 🤯 reading the health benefits of the garbanzo bean. More on that later, but for now just be jealous of my lunch 🥗 because it really was incredible. The caramelized onions gave this vegan cobb salad a smoky bacon-like flavor. If you’re into that, which I am. 🥓❤️

has begun! Who else loves their veggie spiralizer?! We ought to use the Ninja for this more often, and will once our garden zucchini comes in. Eric and I “test drove” this recipe last night and although we weren’t big fans originally, we added our new favorite spice - Deck Project’s Southwest! Adding cilantro helped too. Recipe in comments. 👇

This snuck up on us but we’re hitting the store today! 🛒
Here’s our process. I keep a list of dairy- and gluten-free recipes that sound good - breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks, cookbook name and page number included for reference. Whatever we haven’t tried yet goes on our weekly menu, with one or two tried-and-true meals because too much change is scary. 🤣 Then we read off the needed ingredients for Alexa to mess up on our shopping list 🙄 (“I said ‘add flaxseeds’ not ‘order book Black Seeds on Audible’, Alexa; open your ears!” 🙄🤬). We shop, prep a snack and cut some fruit. Sometimes life happens and we don’t get around to making everything we plan for. Sometimes veggies go bad before we get to them. But we’re getting better at it every month with less waste. 👌 I’ve never had much interest in cooking but these Shreds are changing that. My confidence in the kitchen is growing and it makes me feel reeeeeeally good that I’m preparing super healthy meals for my family. The kids try things. They don’t always like them but they’re being exposed. 🥬🍓🥦🥭🍒

A fresh coat of light minty blue paint and removing the sidecar crib on our bed opened up and softened the energy in our . I love spending time in here reading, meditating, rocking in the glider and pond gazing. I might just leave the walls completely bare of art, which is hard for the artist with a stack of paintings collecting dust in the basement. But I just can’t deny the serenity these beautiful bare walls are bringing. 🧘‍♀️✌️☮️ .

“... I have two young children. They inherited my eyes and my hair. But they didn’t inherit my messy, overwhelmed traits. That is because “overwhelmed” is not a life sentence. It’s a choice–and I have made intentional choices for my kids and my family.”

Interest in minimalism is growing right now with shows like “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” on Netflix. I became fascinated by it after watching the documentary “Minimalism: A Documentary about the Important Things” a couple years ago and have been slowly purging ever since. The book “Simplicity Parenting” has also been helpful. When my kids’ toys get out of control, I donate. My house is decently clean and picked up most of the time, and that’s a huge relief for me. 🙌

Why Kids Need Minimalism Childhood of today is messy and cluttered. We must trade the status quo of American childhood by choosing a specific value set for our children.

I love the idea of planting herbs to keep the bugs away, but then again I love anything that’s natural and beautifully fragrant. Lavender and lemongrass my favorite essential oil combo to diffuse in the house. Couldn’t hurt to bring it outside, right? And the delicious Thai soups I could with lemongrass! 🤤 🍜

What herbs do you grow? 🤔 Legally, people. 🤣

12 plants that repel unwanted insects These herbs and flowers can shoo pests from your garden and skin.

I actually do love kale. 🥬 I appreciate that I get it contaminant-free in my Juice Plus capsules, plus we can grow our own in the Tower Garden we’ll keep right on the back deck.

Kale Is One of the Most Contaminated Vegetables You Can Buy

I don’t usually have high expectations of healthy treats masquerading as desserts, but nothing I’ve made with Complete shake mix has failed me so far. These were jaw-dropping delicious, packed with fiber, plant protein, antioxidants 🍫 and good fat. Next time I’ll roll in finely shredded coconut.
CHOCOLATE BLACK BEAN TRUFFLE
- 1 can black beans
- 1 1/2 Tbsp coconut oil
- 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup
- 2 servings vanilla Complete
- 4-5 Tbsp 100% cocoa powder
1) Combine black beans, coconut oil and maple syrup in food processor until smooth. 2) Add Complete and cocoa powder. Blend until smooth. Refrigerate for 20+ minutes. 3) Using about 1 heaping Tbsp of the mixture at a time, roll between hands to form 1-inch balls. Optional: Dip in melted dark chocolate or roll in coconut. 5) Store in refrigerator for up to one week in an airtight container.

Last half of the was a little chaotic with the weekend, family, and replacing the carpet in our home and all that entails. But it ended yesterday and I feel five pounds lighter and about ten years younger! Okay, maybe five. I’ll take it. 🤣

My favorite way to use up brown bananas! 🍌 Steel cut oats, sliced banana, chia seeds, chopped walnuts, splash of almond milk, cinnamon. 👌 Day 10

Mid-Shred slideshow (Shredshow©️)
🥬🍎🥗🍓🥭🥦🥒🍅🥥🍋🍐🥕🌽🍠

Somehow I managed to whip this up for myself while making the kids’ grilled cheese sandwiches. Thank you, Instant Pot for the fast(er) quinoa!
Day 5

I’ve been replacing my morning coffee with homemade bone broth during the each month. I’ve grown fond of the warm, savory mug to wake up my digestive system.

Bone broth can be a little expensive to buy at the store, so I’m lucky to have found a source for quality grassfed beef bones that delivers TO MY HOUSE! Central Iowa friends, please check out Carney Family Farms! It’s a small farm with a holistic vision and a heart for their animals.

And learn more about the many health benefits of bone broth in this fantastic video! 👇👇👇

See What Happens To Your Body When You Drink Bone Broth For 7 Days By now, you’ve probably at least heard about the trendy hot beverage known as bone broth. Many health experts and fans of this near magical elixir have been ...

This was my day yesterday. My arm/back workout, if you will. 💪 Jonah went from 2 to 6 teeth overnight a couple weeks ago and has been attached to me ever since. It’s wonderful... and exhausting. I held him - even nursed him - for HOURS while I stood working at my computer for my side gig.

I wasn’t able to do much for myself. But with Juice Plus, I was still able to flood my body with over 50 fruits/veggies/berries. Easily. One-handed!

This mama may be tired but she’s still pretty excited for this salad with roasted chickpeas and homemade ranch! 🥗👌 Day 3

2 more days until the Shred! Still plenty of time to meal plan, grocery shop, dust off those sneakers and take a step towards better health!

Come join me and our small group of aspiring health nuts as we cheer each other on. Let go of habits that don’t serve you, and start ones that do! The Juice Plus products certainly help but they aren’t required - all you need is a little willingness!

Say “YES!” 👇 and I’ll hook you up!

4 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies gone in 2 days. 👀 Ugh. This Shred can’t come fast enough.

Winter has been roooooooough. Too much time spent cooped up inside, not nearly enough exercise (okay then, none 🤷‍♀️), late nights, and more coffee than water.
But in one week, my husband and I will focus our minds and bodies on making small, healthy changes to replace the unhealthy ones. Sometimes those habits even stick around after the ten days are through. One thing is certain, in the six months I’ve done the Shred10, I’ve learned more about how my body operates at peak nutrition than in two decades of trying every diet known to man. 🤣
It’s all about whole foods, more water, daily exercise (I’m going to try, people!), sleep, and closing the kitchen a little earlier. It’s safe, effective, and doable. Do as many of the guidelines as you’d like.
Anyone want in? 👋