Smoothie time!

This summer my mom saved up her money and purchased The Caddy.  I love my caddy! I do too! But its not a real caddy it is a VitaMix.  The Cadillac of blenders. Professional chefs on TV use it. It can blend and pulverize anything. Literally anything. But this post is not about the VitaMix, it is about smoothies.  Which work so much better if you have a great blender. Yes, well, moving on...

Anyway, this summer we have been trying out all sorts of smoothies and all natural juices and we wanted to share our favorites with you! This is how I add protein to my diet which as we all know is very important.


Peanut Butter, Banana, and Chocolate Smoothie (Gina's absolute favorite treat)
1 ripe sliced banana
1 scoop of whey protein
1 T. nut butter (peanut, almond, or hazelnut)--this is healthy if you use all natural butter with no added ingredients except salt
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
stevia or honey to taste
a sprinkle of cinnamon
1 c. cold water
1/2 c. ice
put all ingredients in blender in this order and blend until desired consistency


Mint Choco-nut Dream from Maximized Living (both of us really enjoyed this one)
1 to 2 scoops whey protein
1/4 to 1/2 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 T. mint flavored greens powder (which we didn't know what that was so we used a handful of fresh mint leaves)
1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 to 1 tsp of stevia
1 T. coconut oil (opt)
add cold water and/or ice to desired consistency
mix in blender


Berry Protein Smoothie (the standard smoothie for uninspired breakfasts)
a handful of frozen berries (freeze these yourself from fresh so that there are no preservatives)
1/2 c. organic whole milk or coconut milk (whole is better than skim because it isn't processed like reduced fat milks are)
1 scoop whey protein
handful of dark greens like spinach or kale if desired
mix in blender 


Frozen Strawberry Grape Juice from VitaMix cookbook (Brig's favorite treat)
1 c. green grapes
1 c. red grapes (sometimes I just use one kind because of what is on hand)
1 c. frozen strawberries (again frozen yourself)
1/2 c. ice cubes
put in blender in this order and blend until desired consistency, makes 4 cups


these make wonderful desserts that you don't have to feel guilty over! and I'm all about desserts! Plus, you can add other fruits or veggies if you have a hard time fitting in all your daily servings in! Really, how many salads can one person eat in a day anyway?


PS--I am saving up for a VitaMix myself when I move out...very expensive, but very worth it!

Real Food Rots

The title of this blog was chosen mostly because we think this mantra is funny...except when our bunch of asparagus didn't wait for us!  You should have seen that bunch of asparagus, yuck... But it is a good concept when you consider buying food.  Science has devised lots of ways to extend shelf lives of pretty much most of the food we eat and normally Americans feel that this type of food is fit for consumption.  Take a look at the ingredients list of any shelf item and you will find a bunch of unpronounceable, baffling ingredients having absolutely no nutritional value.  Another yuck... So we have to eat more of it to feel full, that is nutritionally full.

We switched to real food--organic produce, whole grains, nothing with any sort of added sugar, artificial or natural flavor (which is one and the same--all just chemicals that are added to enhanced flavor that gets removed with all the processing), no preservatives, no gums or texture additives. And guess what? It tastes better, we eat much less of it, and it rots! So we actually have to cook it before it goes bad...which is probably one of the best things about real food: it requires us to be creative cooks.  We love being creative in the kitchen it is so much fun!

We've discovered that flabby and soft veggies make a quicker veggie soup, spotty apples can make great applesauce when you cut out the offending spots, overripe bananas can be peeled and frozen for smoothies, as can strawberries just about to go bad, I have some great smoothie recipes, peppers getting old can be sauteed for omelets or fajitas, older pineapple can be grilled for just about any side dish and is fabulous. The question "what's for dinner?" is usually answered by "well, what's going bad?".  My dad just got back from a weekend out of town, and he complained about the tastelessness of the food he ate...real food may rot, but it tastes wonderful!

Berry Protein Smoothie


Handful of frozen or fresh strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries or a combination of any.
1-2 scoops whey protein, vanilla or chocolate
1/2 c. Organic whole milk
ice and cold water to taste 
Blend until smooth

A Good Start--the why

Hi, I'm Brig. And I'm Gina. This blog is kind of my fault. She's right: all her fault. Mom loves blogging, but even though she has a blog, it wasn't really describing all this stuff that we have been doing the last couple of months. My blog is chronicling the midlife changes in my life so some of the foodstuff didn't really seem to fit what I blog about. So much information that we have been learning. I have been doing a Biggest Loser challenge at my church and so my entire family by default has come along for the ride. And I had no choice because I moved back in with them (my mom, dad, and brother Lance) for a few months while I job search. So here we are: new attitude on eating and life, and a new blog to describe it.


I now can't stand fast food and I have just tried and loved my new kickboxing class. So now she'll kick my butt if I get too sassy! You better believe it! Even Lance has lost some of his Buddha paunch...


Every time I see someone I know, I have to answer what I am doing to look so good! It's hard to describe in a two minute conversation...So now she can whip out a business card with this web address on it! Just as soon as we get business cards...are we getting business cards? I don't know, sounds like a good idea right? We'll talk about it later...okay that's a no...


So we'll just post a whole bunch of stuff with links, recipes, and good, real info about what is in the food we eat and how to choose the right stuff to eat. Like the kale and spinach soup we ate tonight for dinner...maybe some book reviews...and anything else we come up with! Enjoy!