Let's Play Catch-up

Hello, my name is Jenni & it's been 16 days since my last blog post. Whew, now that that's out of the way, let me catch up on the many things that have caught my interest lately. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a research-hound to anything that peaks my interest...so needless to say, a large part of my "home" time is spent researching subjects online.

Here are the subjects I've been interested in over the past 16 days:
1 - organic gardening
2 - buying organic/sustainable meats
3 - blueberries
4 - Dr. Klenner: Vitamin C
5 - repurposing plastic/glass food jars/bottles
6 - DIY crafts/homemade gifts: body scrubs & sugars
7 - composting
8 - furoshiki
9 - Netflix: food documentaries
10 - nutrition
11 - tea
12 - art from repurposed old books & sheet music
13 - simple syrup
14 - smoothies
15 - raw living

The thought of trying to do a post for each of these interests seems highly daunting, so I'm just listing them now & may go back to add links (if I can re-find the sites/blogs I found on each subject).

Most of these subjects have one thing in common: natural living. While there has been a huge 'green' movement in recent years, I am not one to jump on a bandwagon just because everyone else is doing it. I prefer to take my time & do plenty of research to find options that I can practically apply to my life.

As terrible as this is to admit, I've not recycled since 2005 - this is because all of the places I've lived since then have not participated in recycling. My current place of residence does participate in recycling; however, you are required to purchase "special blue recycling bags" from the company's website to put your recyclables in...doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of recycling? I digress...so now, I am shifting my focus toward repurposing in lieu of recycling until I move to a place where I can also participate. In addition to repurposing, I am way more conscious of the items I do purchase & what type of packaging they come in & what can be done with it after it's been used.

Cutting out a majority of processed foods definitely helps in this effort...while I did cut out alot of these items about a year ago, I've tried to focus more of my food dollars on raw foods recently. The whole idea of consuming only a raw diet seems a bit far fetched since I, as much as anyone, love yummy, warm & gooey comfort food...however, adding more raw foods to your diet has massive health benefits - which I intend to explore.

Thanks to my last visit with my best friend, I learned that I do, in fact, like blueberries...who knew? For years, I would never eat them because the only ones I'd ever tried were amazingly tart & for a super-taster like me, one never really forgets an unpleasant taste experience...at least until it's replaced with a pleasurable one. Well, kudos to my best friend for turning me around & starting me down the path of an oh-so-sweet love affair with the one, the only blueberry :) I love them most of the frozen variety...and in smoothies...oh-sweet-yumminess!

My most favorite smoothie to date is blueberry, banana & pineapple - I put everything in my nifty Magic Bullet & whirl-away!

1 cup frozen blueberries
1 banana
1/2 cup plain organic yogurt
2 Tbsp crushed pineapple

This loverly concoction makes about 2 cups of smoothie goodness & has just under 250 calories for the whole thing - which is roughly the same caloric equivalent as a small McDonald's french fry! So with that tasty fact, I bid you adieu & good night :)