All Things Green

This morning I got out of bed at 5 AM and had all intentions of getting on that bus and heading into work. My stomach, on the other hand, rebelled. I thought things had calmed down in time to get on the bus, but I ended up scuttling home as quickly as possible and locking myself in the bathroom. Annie was ecstatic that I decided to call in sick and we ended up spending all day curled up on the couch. This morning I decided that it was time for my first green juice feast and to hopefully help balance the bacteria profile in my gut.

My immune system isn't normal, and my stomach seems to be my weak point. It's the first thing to start bugging me before a lupus flare and a good sign that things are wonky. I've struggled for a long time with intestinal candida, and I'm afraid I did myself in yesterday. I'm on Amphotericin (I was on Nystatin and that didn't work) and a low carbohydrate diet. I've been on the low carbohydrate diet a while and baked cookies for a potluck yesterday. I showed amazing will power and resisted shoveling chocolate chip heaven into my mouth. Until we got home. My chocolate chip cookies are amazing...but in the back of my mind I knew there would be a fallout (no pun intended) and couldn't really enjoy my one cookie. It's frustrating.

Green Juice Feast

After this morning, I started juicing everything I had in my crisper. In went cilantro, ginger, kale, cucumber, celery, a little fennel, and romaine lettuce. Right now I'm prepping spinach, lettuce, parsley, cucumber, and celery in a vinegar solution. It's a good thing I've been craving green juices lately! I used to hate them. It's amazing how cravings change.

I tested the juice, and it wasn't half bad. Annie was jumping up and down in the kitchen, so I poured some in her bowl. I'm not going to say she LOVED it, but she drank it all. I am a little proud - she's hard core.


This evening we went to the grocery store and picked up more greens since I drank most of the crisper today. Annie was in hog heaven because I kept dropping pieces of kale and spinach. She always creeps in to the kitchen and skulks off with a big piece of kale (her favorite).

Each batch of green juice contains:
1/2" - 1" long piece of ginger
1/2 a fennel bulb
1 bunch celery (leaves and all)
1 large bunch kale
1/2 bunch spinach
1 head romaine lettuce
1/2 cup cilantro (loose)
1/2 cup parsley (loose)
1 large cucumber


I was expecting to be dizzy with hunger. If I'm late for a meal or don't pack enough calories to work, I'm a mess. A shaky, cranky mess. Today I am surprised how well I feel. I've been sipping the green juice all day and supplementing with tea. I've been using a "Perk Up" tea with burdock and ginger. I'm also supplementing with probiotics. We will see how the next few days go, but don't be surprised if I don't do much baking. I am loving Janet Evanovich's novels right now, but I never realized how much she talked about food until today. The main character is a pastry/baked food addict and some of the descriptions have made me a little hungry.

It's Time to Plan the Garden

This evening I have big plans. I'm going to start checking out the Seattle Tilth's Maritime Northwest Garden Guide calendar and comparing the schedule to our supplies and the Territorial Seed Company catalog I just received. Last year our early garden did quite well. The weather got very strange this summer (so WET all the TIME), so things didn't do very well. We did save a lot of money on groceries regardless of the weather issues, and it is great to have an excuse to play in the dirt and find a closer connection with food.


If I get my act together, we can start planting outside under cloches as early as late February. Cloches are super simple to make and improve things tremendously. They also help keep many pests out initially.