Gardening - In the Beginning

Today I started my first gardening chore. Building the raised beds and filling them with soil. 

I tried to get this all done before Mike got home from work. I wanted to surprise him, plus I knew he hadn't been looking forward to this part.  But I didn't succeed :(

Admittedly, I messed up by not reading the instructions, but to be fair I wasn't able to find the instructions when I first looked for them.  So this could have been much easier than it was. I initially used the tall posts in the center and the short posts on the outside beds, but when I had so many left over pieces I knew something was wrong. Looking again, in a much emptier box, I found the instructions and also found the problem.  2 levels of short posts in the center(tall) bed and the tall posts for the outside (lower) beds. Fixing this was no fun. But thankfully Mike was home to help at this point. :)

And once all fixed we noticed that we didn't have enough soil.  We'll get some more tomorrow. Also, standing back to admire my work made it obvious that the front right corner of the garden was a little too high.  We will fix this tomorrow as well.  I have a plan and if it works I will share it.

We can't plant yet.  Too early in the season in Caribou, ME.  We had a good hard frost last night and are likely to have a few more before the end of the month.  So we will wait and plant on the last weekend in May.  In the meantime I will try and come up for a support system for the tomatoes.  I am guessing some steel wire conduit will work well. I hope.  And some type of mesh support.  Hopefully the garden department at Lowe's can help.

More progress posts soon, I hope.

Almost 40

Tomorrow I will officially be 40 years old.  I am excited to see what this next decade will bring.  I have an amazing life and the last decade is what made it so amazing,  I can only image with this next decade will bring.

This evening I went to buy a bottle of wine.  A nice cab.  And I was carded.  Wow!  I felt awesome until the 20 something girl behind the cash qualifies that she has to ask everyone that looks under 50.  Crush.

So I handed her my driver's license.  She apologized profusely. And I am now wondering what is wrong with society that they take such objections with being asked for ID that this poor girl feels guilty that she asked for mine. Sigh!

She types in my birthday into the computer and I am approved to buy my wine. Sweet!  But I could tell that she had no idea of my age.  Math doesn't seem to be a strong quality in many of the younger generations, sadly.  Computers must have made math unnecessary. There are now calculators on everything from watches to cell phones.  No one needs to actually know math any more. SAD.

I commented that I felt better about being carded before I knew she had to card everyone that looked under 50.  I slipped in there that I will be 40 tomorrow.

NO WAY! Is the reaction I got.  You don't look 40.  WOW!

This is a big complement from a 20 something.  Remember how you felt about 40 year olds when you were 20? Yeah, I do.  I thought 40 was ancient.  So being carded made my day.  I don't look any where near 40.

My secret....I have no idea, but I am willing to bet it has something to with laughing a lot, playing a lot and loving a lot. I don't have time for grudges. I don't care about what the neighbors have and I am not worried about how I compare to the Jones'.  All I care about is being able to make others smile and being able to laugh.

Yes, life is good!

Chocolate Sour Cream Cup Cakes with Peanut butter Frosting and Salted Caramel drizzle

Another rainy day, another afternoon baking.  This recipe will need a little tweaking to perfect. The cupcake was a little on the dry side, but the flavor was excellent so I thought I would share anyway.  

Mike said he didn't love the frosting because it reminded him of cream cheese too much and he is not a fan of cream cheese. Maybe I accidentally discovered a healthier alternative to cream cheese frosting? 

Chocolate Sour Cream Cup Cakes

• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup granulated natural sugar substitute or sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups GF all-purpose flour store bought or home made. I made my own. 3/4 cup brown rice flour, 1/4 cup teff flour, 1/4 cup tapioca flour/starch, 1/4 cup potato starch.
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon soda
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips. I used Ghirardelli 60%.

Line 12 muffin cups with cupcake papers. In a mixing bowl, combine boiling water, butter, granulated sugar, and cocoa powder. Beat on low speed until smooth and sugar is dissolved.

In another bowl combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, sour cream, and vanilla.

Add sifted dry ingredients to the cocoa mixture alternately with the egg and sour cream mixture and then fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill cupcake cups about two-thirds full. Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool completely before frosting.

Peanut butter frosting

• 6 Tablespoons all natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt (I used vanilla)

Mix until well blended and spreadable.  Add more cream or yogurt, as needed, until the desired consistency is achieved.

Salted Caramel

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and water and cook over medium-high heat. Boil without stirring until it turns a deep amber color. Remove from heat and slowly pour in cream and vanilla, whisking until it is very smooth. Let cool for around 20 minutes, until it’s just barely warm and still pour-able.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, frost them with the peanut butter frosting and then drizzle with the caramel.  I added chopped peanuts as a texture contrast. I love the crunch.

The First Rainy Days of Mud Season, Oven "Fried" rice and Chocolate Orange Bread (again)

Yesterday was a much needed rainy day as the last few weeks had been hot, sunny and unusually dry for spring in Northern Maine.  Both the landscape and my home were ready for a rainy day. Somehow I managed to avoid getting scorched by the dry heat, but the local landscape hadn't been so lucky.  For 2 weeks we had been under an extreme fire hazard warning, and there was at least one forest fire raging just across the Canadian border.  My home had also suffered because of the beautiful, summer-like weather.  No way was I going to be stuck inside cooking and cleaning when I could be outside grilling, spring cleaning the yard and prepping for my first garden.  It was just too nice to be inside so the house work, aside from laundry, was set aside to wait for a rainy day.

We started the day the same as always.  Isagenix.  Mike and I have both written about our morning ritual before so I won't bore you with the details.  Saturday is a bit of a splurge day.  We have coffee and a light brunch so I pulled out some scones out of the freezer.  These were left over from my baking last week.  I was really curious to see how well they handled being frozen, and a few hours later we found out.  The scone itself was still delicious. The texture was a little crumblier than when it was fresh, but the flavor was very good.  The Lemon drizzle, while still very good, had lost that bright lemon flavor and really was better when fresh. Still, they were good enough that we couldn't stop at just one. We both ate 2. Good thing we had a busy day planned to help burn those extra calories.

Between Breakfast and Brunch we gave the house some much needed love.  Everything, and I really do mean everything, had been covered in yellow pollen. Pollen is sticky.  Did you know that?  So everything had to be washed twice, including the floors.  Sadly, because of this we only managed to clean half the house yesterday and will finish up the rest today.

During breaks in the cleaning, waiting for floors to dry, etc., I plotted and schemed food for the week.  Scanning the refrigerator, freezers and pantry I came up with a few ideas. The left over roasted chicken would be transformed into oven fried rice.  I already had most of the ingredients on hand, but would need some mushrooms.  Recipe below.

While I was going to be going to the grocery store anyway, I thought I would plan the meals for the week.  Google is my friend.  I picked up ingredients to make Salt Cod & Chorizo Chowder. I already had some salt cod and chorizo in the freezer.  And also on the list, Chicken & Mushrooms in Tarragon cream. Yum.  I will share both of those recipes after I have tested them since they may need tweaking.

Because we had eaten all the scones I also needed a brunch recipe for today so I decided to try the Chocolate Orange Swirl Bread from All Day I Dream About Food.  Last time I had tried it I had forgotten to add the protein powder and it still tasted delicious, if a little on the sweet side for our personal tastes, so I was excited to see how it would turn out if I actually included all the ingredients.

The first recipe I made is from my mom.  The recipe card she wrote out for me years ago simply has the title as Rice. Because really, this was the rice we always ate growing up.  The ingredients list is short and the prep very easy, even with a few tweaks I made yesterday.  Once popped into the over it needs very little attention. Other than an occasional stir, it can be ignored for about an hour.  The perfect dish to make the house smell yummy while you are busy with other chores.

Rice - Oven "Fried"

• 2 cups long grain rice.  My mom would have used white rice, but I didn't have any so I used brown. The only adjustment needed for this switch is in the cooking time.  Brown rice will take longer. 
• 1 package onion soup mix.  This is what the original recipe called for, but when I couldn't find an onion soup mix that didn't have ingredients I would prefer not to eat I decided to make my own.  If you are not bothered by MSG, you can use the a store bought mix, otherwise I will include my recipe below. 
• 1 8 ounce can mushrooms, with juice. 
• 1/3 cup soy sauce.  I used Gluten Free. 
• 1/3 cup oil.  Whatever you use for cooking every day.  I used grape seed. 
• 3 1/3 cups water
• Cooked chicken or beef - Optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place all ingredients in a covered dish. Stir. Bake for about 1 hour, or until the liquid is absorbed, stirring every 20 minutes or so. Using brown rice, my cooking time ended up being about 2 hours.  Cooking times will vary depending on the rice used and on the oven so keep an eye on it.

The rice was soooooo GOOD. Mike and I couldn't stop eating straight from the pan.  Good thing we aren't sharing it with anyone else.

Home Made Onion Soup Mix (Equivalent of one onion soup mix envelope)

2 Gluten free and MSG free Beef Bouillon Cubes, crushed or otherwise blended into a powder, or equivalent powdered beef bouillon
1 teaspoon garlic powder (not garlic salt)
1 teaspoon dried parsley
3 tablespoons dried onions

Mix everything together and use the whole recipe in the rice.  Make extra to have on hand if you like

Chocolate Orange Bread - Tweaked

The original recipe can be found here. Chocolate Orange Swirl Bread

Yield: 16 servings

Chocolate Swirl and Glaze
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Kelly's Notes: My modification to the glaze was to omit the sweetener. If you like sweeter sweets, check out the original recipe.  I have provided the link above.

Orange Bread
3 cups almond flour
1/3 cup vanilla whey protein powder. I used Isagenix IsaPro.
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated Stevia Based Baking blend (Original recipe recommended Swerve Sweetener or erythritol, but I can't get either of those locally)
3 large eggs
Zest of medium orange
20 drops stevia extract
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup milk (dairy or almond)

Kelly's Notes: With the bread I again decreased the amount of sweetener.  I also used whole fat cows milk instead of the almond milk called for in the original recipe.

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 300F and grease a loaf pan well.
• In a small saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate and butter together until smooth. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla extract and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, protein powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, I used a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add granulated sweetener and beat until lighter and well-combined, about 2 minutes.
• Beat in eggs, one at time, scraping down beaters and sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
• Beat in orange zest and stevia extract.
• Beat in half of the almond flour mixture, then beat in orange juice and milk. Beat in remaining almond flour mixture until well combined.
• Spread half the batter into the prepared pan, and then dollop with about 2/3 of the chocolate glaze. Use a knife to swirl the chocolate into the batter.  
• Top with remaining batter, and swirl a bit more, then smooth the top.
• Bake 55 to 60 minutes, or until top is deep golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan 5 minutes, then flip out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• Drizzle with remaining chocolate glaze.

My only complaint with this recipe is the serving size.  1/16, really?  I could have eaten the whole loaf.

I have not been able to get the bread to have a swirled effect using the technique above.  This technique works really well with thinner cake batters, but with this loaf I ended up just having a chocolate layer both times that I tried it.  Still tastes delicious.  If you try this recipe and manage to get the swirl effect to work, please share your technique.

Sorry I don't have any pictures to share.  I think we are going to have to buy a camera.  A real one, as all pictures shared so far have been taken with a phone.

And guess what.  It's raining again today.

I hope you will try these and if you do, please share your experience.  Did you make your own tweaks? How did it turn out?

Whole Grain Blueberry and Meyer Lemon Scones with Meyer Lemon Drizzle

Saturday morning espresso and baked goods will never be the same again.

Mike and I have a weekend ritual/splurge.  Saturdays and Sundays we get up and follow our usual morning routine, but with a twist.  1 oz Ionix Supreme, 3 squirts Isamune and water. Approximately 15 minutes later we have 1 scoop Mars Venus cleanse in 1 cup of water and 2 Mars Venus minerals each, Mars for Mike and Venus for me. Then within 10 minutes we have a 3 scoop Mars Venus shake in 1 cup of water, again Mars for Mike and Venus for me. With the shake we have our Ageless Essentials with Product B and a few other supplements.

This is our normal every day morning routine, but on the weekends instead of having our usual snacks we have a special brunch-like, mid-morning meal with homemade espresso/cappuccino and some type of baked good. Usually the baked good is Udi's cinnamon raisin bread toasted and served with organic peanut butter, creamy since the texture of the Udi's bread is very delicate.  But today, well yesterday really - I had to get some supplies after all, I decided to bake something from scratch using ingredients I have never used before.  Crazy I know! What if it turned out terrible?  Don't worry, there was a loaf of Udi's cinnamon raisin bread in the freezer, just in case.  I was a boy scout after all.  No that isn't a typo.

The ingredients I had never worked with before are teff flour and sorghum flour. Since they were new to me I started by researching GF flour blends that used teff and sorghum.  Gluten Free Girl and the Chef is a great resource, as is a new blog I found yesterday, Gluten Free Gourmand.  I highly recommend that you check out both of these blogs.  The recipe below is based on the Blueberry scone recipe found on the Gluten Free Gourmand site.

So here it is, Whole Grain Blueberry and Meyer Lemon Scones with Meyer Lemon Drizzle

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Ingredients

3/4 cup Teff flour
3/4 cup Sorghum flour
2 Tablespoons Tapioca flour
2 Tablespoons Potato starch
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder (make sure it's GF)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter
3/4 cup chilled cream
1 egg
Zest from 1 Meyer lemon
1/3 - 1/2 cup blueberries (I used frozen wild Maine blueberries, but fresh would work great. And specified the range because I used the 1/3 measuring cup, but filled it to over-flowing. I love blueberries)

Mix the first 8 ingredients together in a large bowl.  Cut in the butter using a pastry blender, 2 knives or your favorite method, until the largest pieces of butter are pea-sized. Keep this mixture cold, chilling it in the freezer if the butter starts to soften. especially important on warm days.

Whisk together, in a separate bowl, the cream, egg and zest.

Add the wet ingredients to dry the ingredients. Stir until the mixture starts to hold together, add the blueberries and then gently knead the dough a few times with your hands. If the dough is too sticky to handle once it's combined, you can add about a tablespoon of flour to coat the surface of the dough for easier handling. If the dough seems dry and won't hold together easily, add 1-2 Tbsp more cream and knead it in, being careful that your butter chunks don't melt into the dough.  If the dough starts to get too warm during mixing, chill it in the freezer for a few minutes before proceeding.

Turn the dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper.  Gently push the dough into a flat disk about one inch high. Moisten your hands with water if the dough is sticky. Cut into eight equal pieces and arrange them on the baking sheet about one inch apart.

Bake for 12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of one comes out clean.

While the scones are baking make the Meyer Lemon Drizzle.
1 tablespoon Meyer lemon juice
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Whisk the lemon juice and powdered sugar together until smooth.

Once the scones are done baking, place the baking sheet on a cooling rake for 5 minutes to set before removing them from the baking sheet and placing them directly on the cooling rack.  This will allow the outside edges to firm up a bit and make the scones easier to move.  Place the baking sheet under the cooling rack and drizzle the scones with the Meyer lemon glaze.  Allow to sit a few more minutes to let the glaze set,  then enjoy your scones!

These can be eaten warm out of the oven, or at room temperature.

May 5, 2013. Day 2 enjoying the scones.  The lemon flavor in the drizzle has intensified nicely.  Mike says it is very good.  He likes the more intense lemoniness.  I do as well.  The texture is a little crumblier.   Not unpleasant, but a little messier.

Second update: Mike just looked at me and said he wished we hadn't frozen the rest and asked how long they would take to thaw.  They are that good! 

Gardening - My latest attempt at avoiding all the -cides and GMOs

Gardening.  Yes, gardening.  Yikes!

This blog takes yet another turn in the road.  So glad I didn't decide to make it on one specific topic.

Just about everyone who is my friend on Facebook knows that I am not a fan of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and all the other -cides used in commercial farming.  Why?  Cide = Death.  Sure, they kill their intended targets, but they also kill innocent, beneficial creatures such as worms (that can help break down minerals in the soil and make them available to the plants) and possibly humans.

I can almost hear most of you calling me crazy right now.  How can pesticides and other -cides kill humans.  By making us sick!  Most pesticides work by affecting the nervous system via the use of organophosphates.
The effect of organophosphates was discovered in the 1930's during World War II. They were used in the creation of nerve gas, which was used in chemical warfare. When used in lethal dosages for humans, organophosphates cause extreme excitability, convulsions, paralysis and in most cases, death.

Ok, most of us are not going to be exposed to lethal levels of pesticides, at least not from the food we eat.  Not all in one dose anyway.  Bullet dodged?? Not really. Recent scientific research has shown that pesticides are not eliminated very efficiently by the human body. Because the body can't eliminate these toxins efficiently they do build up in the body in several places. Our incredibly intelligent bodies, in an attempt to protect themselves from the poisons, will do the only thing it can to protect itself . Store toxins in adipose (fat) tissue.  Excess fat is linked to many diseases many of which can lead to early death.  In fact obesity is one of the leading preventable causes of death worldwide. Since pesticides lead to us storing more fat they do lead to increased rates of human deaths as well. YIKES! Don't believe me, do some research.  There are many studies showing that our bodies are loaded with toxins.

After all these years of talking about avoiding all these chemicals I am going to attempt the next step and that is to plant a garden and grow my own, free of chemicals. I have never grown a garden before so this is a learning experience for me.  I am not worried though because I know some very knowledgeable gardeners and gardeners seem to love talking about what works and doesn't work.  So grateful for that as I will no doubt be needing loads of advice.

To get started we bought a raised bed system from Home Depot and it was delivered on Wednesday.
Greenes Fence Tall Tiers Dovetail Raised Garden Bed

It is still in the box, but today is Friday and that means the start of the weekend.  Yesterday I went out looking for some nice soil options for the garden and pricing some different options.  Who knew there were so many to choose from. And boy is it expensive.  Tomorrow I will check out one more option, recommended to me by my dental hygienist during my cleaning yesterday.  This nursery makes it's own soil from organic material such as compost.  Hoping the price is right, or at least comparable to other options I have seen as I really do love supporting local businesses.  So that will be tomorrow, finding some soil and coming up with a solution for keeping the cats from eating our crops.  They love herbs and lettuce greens.

And then of course there are the usual garden issues to worry about.  Since we will not be using chemicals I am researching companion planting. I read that marigolds are great at keeping aphids away, that peppermint can deter ants and that basil can drive away flies and mosquitoes.  Living in northern Maine, anything that can help keep mosquitoes away is a most welcome addition to any yard.  Bonus that I love basil.

The method that I choose to use is called square foot gardening and I picked up a copy of "All New Square Foot Gardening", by Mel Bartholomew.  And thankfully I have some Facebook friends familiar with the method of gardening.  I am not too proud to ask for advice and even beg for help.

As this project progresses, I will take pictures and post about my successes and failures and hopefully about the food we grow and eat.  If any of you have tips and advice for me I would greatly appreciate it if you could leave comments here on the blog or on my Facebook page IsaIsEnough.

It's an odd feeling to be so excited about something and so nervous about the same thing all at the same time.  Wish us luck!



If you are interested in learning how Isagenix can help you help your body release toxins watch this video.



If you would like to discuss Isagenix further email us at mikenkelly.isagenix@gmail.com

Telomeres and aging - Product B

As many of you know by now, Mike and I have enjoyed Isagenix products for several years.  They  replace the majority of our groceries and provide most of our nutritional needs. In fact we say we shop at Isagenix and supplement at the grocery store.

2 years ago, Mike and I started on a Product B which is a nutritional supplement based on cutting edge, Nobel prize winning telomere science. We were part of a select group of people that had access to the product before it was officially launched.  Generation One. The biggest thing Mike and I noticed during this phase was that we dealt with stress better. Things just didn't bother us as much and we could let go of things more easily.

Within 4 or 5 months of starting on Product B Isagenix launched Generation Two in August 2011 at their largest annual conference called Celebration. I remember the excitement in the room when Generation Two was revealed. For many people Generation Two would be their first, but for those of us that had taken part of the pre-launch learning that Generation Two was twice as good at supporting telomeres practically had us dancing in our seats.  We bought ours as soon as the session went to break and started on it the next day. Generation 2 was amazing.  Within a few months we started noticing big changes.  Better sleep, softening of wrinkles, more energy and increased weight loss. Also faster recovery from workouts and other strenuous activities.  The change was so great that we decided to double up on the recommended 2 pills twice a day, after confirming that it was safe, and we did see even further improvements in all the areas mentioned above.

So what could get better???  Isagenix launched the third generation at Celebration 2012.  This generation was now so good at supporting telomeres that it performed better in lab testing than synthetic chemicals previously considered to be the gold standard in telomere support. This was very exciting because until testing began on the third generation of product B experts such as Dr William Andrews didn't believe that it would be possible to achieve such results with natural and safe ingredients since prior to product B similar results were only attainable with toxic chemicals.

How much better was Generation Three?  I don't remember the exact % improvement, but I do know that there was a lot more dancing going on in the audience when it was announced.  Again Mike and I rushed out to the Isagenix store to purchase ours as soon as the session went to break and started the next day. This third generation was so powerful that we actually cut back to 2 pills twice a day from 4 twice a day and still experienced major improvements in multiple areas.

If you want to learn more about Product B, please watch the following videos.  The first is a news article aired in Orlando Florida on Channel 6 and the second is a longer video explaining some of the science behind Product B.

Contact us at mikenkelly.isagenix@gmail.com for more information. Or order at
http://mloux.isagenix.com

Fountain of youth?


product B orlando news from George Ruiz on Vimeo.


How it works.


Telomeres And Aging-Product B Presentation from S Long on Vimeo.