Hallelujah Acres Diet

Dh and I have almost done it - we are hovering close to the brink of veganism! H-Acres has a free program for 60 days of weight loss, and one for optimal health (and one coming soon for exercise.) There is no spiritual or moral message from me here - we are just tired of being sick and tired. I have studied healthy cooking for a number of years, and that path has slowly led us to less and less animal products. I do still have some beef from the half steer we bought from a known source last year, and I would have dairy goats again in a second if possible, but for the most part we are sticking to veganism and as much raw food as possible - and we are liking it!

Our first motivation to take this step is Dh's high cholesterol. Cholesterol only comes from animal products, so it makes sense to remove these from our diet for at least the next several months (He was not going to make this dietary change on his own.) And I need to loose weight. While I had seen some (tiny) past progress, I was stuck for a month or so at the same weight, and I still felt sluggish and tired a lot.

We are now on Day 36 or the 60 days and feeling great. I am sleeping better, have a lot more energy, and am losing weight. Granted we aren't perfect in keeping to the diet - but then they do say that we need to fit the diet to us - not be a slave to the diet. We will see in June when Dh has his cholesterol rechecked how we are really doing.

Even if you don't use the full program - if you click on the title above it will take you to the HA site and they have scads of great, healthy recipes. Even just adding in a few of these changes is beneficial. The green smoothies are fantastic and so good for you.

Trail Mix Apple Salad

Just made this up from a recipe in Reminisce Magazine - it is great ~ and healthy.  I think I will be making this for the week I bring the snack for my Friday night Bible study.

Trail Mix Apple Salad

2 apples, chopped into nice bite sized chunks

1 and 1/2 t. lemon juice

Mix these first 2 ingredients, then add:

4T. chopped walnuts

2T. sunflower kernels

2T. dried cranberries (Craisins)

4t. honey

(the recipe calls for 2t. flaxseed - I didn't have this so didn't add it)

1/4t. ground cinnamon

*Note - I get my nuts and seeds at a local SDA health store - they are great quality and low prices. The honey is from a local apiary.  This recipe easily adjusts to any amount of servings.

Dinner

I had to use up some hamburger I had unthawed, and the weather was hot, so I didn't want to heat up the oven - so I made this concoction. It turned out pretty good, everyone enjoyed it. 

Saute an onion (I hate having a leftover piece of an onion, so I always just use one whole onion for any recipe.) and brown the hamburger in a little olive oil. I use my cast iron frying pan for this. Then I just sliced up 5 red potatoes, skin and all and added that in with a drizzle of olive oil over the top. I flavored it all with salt, pepper, garlic (lots of garlic), a tiny dash of red pepper, some paprika, and a dash or two of Teryaki sauce.  I laid a lid over the top of the frying pan (it has no actual lid, I just use one from another pan that fits down over the food) and let it cook. I stirred it once in a while. In about 20 minutes it was done (when the potatoes are soft.)  A quick and easy one pan meal. 

Amazing Graze General Store Contest

Marci over at "Down on the Farm" is having a give away - the prize is a $20 gift certificate from her store. Feel free to spread this far and wide. It is always fun when you actually know the real live person behind the blog. I first met Marci (and her wonderful family) back in the late '90's. She was just getting goats (and I had goats at the time as well) and she was also the nearest contact I had for buying whole foods in bulk - back then she lived in FL - right straight across the state from me. Now she lives in Ohio and I miss going to her house! Her blog is great, and she has an "Amazing" store. You can find her here.  (Look, I learned to do embedded links now!!!) The Friday, January 23, entry has the details for her contest.