Three Bean & Lemon Cucumber Salad

This is a twist on the original Three Bean Salad posted on Healthy Journey Cafe. The celery is replaced by lemon cucumber in this version.

Lemon cucumbers are round and grow to be two to three inches in diameter. Changing color as it matures, its early, lemon-yellow color turns a golden yellow as it ripens. The mild, pleasant taste is complemented by a cool, crisp texture. Resembling a lemon in appearance, the flavor is more delicate and less acidic than the common green cucumber. Lemon cucumber skin has tiny bristles that are edible but may be easily removed.

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Black & Green Bean Corn Salad

This healthy salad has fresh, raw green beans and corn. Definitely a good crunch to this salad. Serve it over lettuce, with chips, or eaten just as it is—out of the bowl.

I modified a recipe from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) Food for Life Recipe of the Week to incorporate the abundance of green beans I had coming from my garden. If you've grown pole beans, you know once they start producing beans you need to get out to the garden and harvest every day. Then you need to make something. I'm a raw-food-kinda gal so I loved the idea of using them raw with fresh corn off the cob. Yum!

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Wisdom Wednesday

Tip:
I run a couple miles 3-4 days a week, but decided I need to strengthen my core. Here's a great slide show from the Mayo Clinic providing details for 12 exercises to do that. You don't need to do all 12 in a day. On Monday do 2. Tuesday do the next 3. Wednesday do the next 2. Thursday do the next 3. And Friday do the last 2.

Take the weekend off and repeat again on Monday. You can do it!

Exercises to improve your core strength from Mayo Clinic 

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Over the Top for Organic Food

I love that there are so many beating the drum for your health, dear readers. And there is no better person that I'd rather occupy the proverbial soap box with than Jennie Zraick. Listen to what she has to pass on today.

I know some of you think I'm a bit over the top with my passion for buying organic food whenever possible. Perhaps you think my "conspiracy theory" attitude towards our government and commercial agri-business tips to the paranoid side of the scale.

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Back to School Healthy Lunch Ideas

Even though my son is now 31, I remember making his lunch every day. I wanted to make sure he got healthy food to eat for lunch. There were plenty of easy pre-packaged foods to choose from in the grocery store, but there was no way my quest for simple would include pre-packaged items—full of artificial ingredients and sugar.

Here are some ideas for sending your child off to school with nutritious ingredients in their lunch box.

• Include some bite-size veggies like cherry tomatoes.

• A hard-boiled egg provides some good brain food.
  
• Add a helping of the veggie salad you made this week.

• Almond butter on whole-grain bread with bananas will satisfy any munchkin.

• Make up celery sticks with goat cheese spread and dot with blueberries. Yum with a crunch. 

• Add hummus for dipping to a recycled container and drop in some veggie sticks (carrots, broccoli, jicama, etc).

• Send them off with cucumbers that have most of the vitamins needed in a day, plus the skin contains lots of vitamin C.

• And don't forget the healthy trail mix.

Add your own ideas and come up with a list of foods you can rotate through your kids' lunch boxes. Also remember to surprise your child with an occasional sweet note.

What are some healthy food items you pack for your kids' lunch?

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