it's 2014 - let's get real

gotta send 2013 out with a bang, right!?

the first pic was taken in 1997ish and the second two pics were taken in 2010.  (i had my mom show the kids my blond pics the other day at dinner and they all asked, "who is that, grandma!?"  HA!)  let's get one thing straight - i have always been comfortable with myself.  i've been an athlete my whole life (go NUSB!), gained and lost 150lbs through three pregnancies and was quite content at 148lbs (it was my college weight!).  i was and still am a human garbage disposal.  i will always love food.  i just didn't really care what i was putting into the kitchen sink.

until my neighbor went to a nutritionist one day because he needed to eat healthier and gain.some.weight.  i asked for the information he brought home because i had never been to a nutritionist.  that was over three years ago... tommy was about to turn two.  i started to clean up my eating because my friend and neighbor shared his "water-drop".  mark, thank you for that epic conversation on our beach.

the picture of me lounging in "eddie" the airstream was taken by my lucky bunny.  she and i will never forget that moment:  "click" - she looked at me and said, "we are changing.your.hair".  then she pulled up this weird website called "pinterest" and showed me a picture of this gorgeous victoria's secret model with dark "ombre" (what!?) hair.  i remember reacting incredulously to the idea of changing my locks.  slowly then, over the next two years, i began to evolve, inside and out.  hellerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  yes please.  thank you.  really!?  will do.  love you.  (i smack her around sometimes too:)

so now you know a little prelude before i found my rope and swung into the mullies.  how my personal success with real food + golden friendships (oh chimmie you're a HUGE part of this too!) gave me some gumption when i had to drastically change abbie's food and eventually my entire family's food in sept/oct 2012.  it's a good story.  it led me to become an ambassador for the food revolution.  it's a story full of messes and successes (you wouldn't believe how real food has helped my parents!), of blunders and bloopers and it certainly has been worth it.  we're still evolving, back pedaling and lunging forward.   i hope you enjoy my new guest post for the food revolution blog entitled, "the evolution of a food revolution". 

water-drops make waterfalls.

sliding doors happen so many times in a life, every blink one takes.

do i jump or not?

should i or shouldn't i?

regret reigns when you stand still and let the world spin you on a collar.

bring it on babies - 2014 is ours to embrace.  find someone lovely who wants to ride on a bright yellow tandem with you.

7+7=14

2014 is my double lucky number and i hope it's yours too.

become a food patriot and join the food revolution.

unplug yourself from the matrix - your butt and brain won't regret it.

i love this article via foodday.org on making good food resolutions that you can actually accomplish.

and here are my top 7 real food "rezzo's" to chew on for 2014:

1.  pitch out the artificial colors & artificial preservatives.
overwhelmed with the amount in your fridge and pantry of these little bombs?  start with a category: condiments, sauces, jarred items, dressings etc and then to a perishable category.  when you run out of something, replace it with a brand that's clean.  take it slow or fast, whatever you can handle.  need a structured plan of attack?  this 6-week plan is awesome and you don't have to be battling with ADHD to try it!

2.  limit processed foods (aka the middle isles of the grocery store) & eat unlimited vegetables and fruits (organic when you can).
easier said than done with the vege - i've been at it for over a damn year.  not giving up...  the taste buds and preferences take time to evolve.  strive to eat 90% real, whole foods that come from the ground, the water or the trees.  it's not about perfection.

3.  know how & where your meat/poultry/fish is farmed so you can buy the best quality available (no antibiotics please).
yup, it's more expensive.  so we eat less animal products.  it has been eye opening and an adventure learning to cook more vegetarian and vegan meals.  who knew that plants=protein too?  jeeesh.

4.  be a nerd and educate yourself.  (read robyn o'brien's "do-onething" & the food babe's investigation page.)

5.  cook & play like there's no tomorrow. (make sure it's to loud.bad.ass.music whenever possible.)

6.  feeling pretty good with your real food?  look at your household chemicals and beauty products next.  meet saferchemicals.org to help you get your other cabinets in shape!

7.  love love love this article by kris karr... take in 2014 with "ease" and let go of monstrous resolutions!

there's no if.and.buts.about.it

happy.best.new.year.of.your.life.

to the mullies we go...

xoxo



ps

i just thought of peter pan and wendy flying when i typed that...  so silly i know...

today is food day - let's get cooking with our KIDS!

the mullies get's cooking with kids! Food Day 2013

happy food day 2013 party people!!  let's celebrate and have some fun in our kitchens tonight!!

me and my friendly imovie-loverpad put this little ditty together.  i'm just warming up folks!

i invited two amazing families over to cook together in honor of food day today and it never ceases to amaze me how fun it is when we cook.with.our.kids.  yup, this stuff is not getting old...  but you know what is getting crusty?  the horrifying statistic that says my kids' generation is going live a shorter life span than my generation.  sob.  and how about the fact that more people are going to die from obesity than hunger today...  and then there is the lovely news that our grand USofA ranks 50th globally in life expectancy. but i digress... teaching my kids about real food and how to cook is the only way i can help make sure they won't be shackled to "take out" for every meal when they fly fly away from me.

unleash your inner-cook you wild stallion you!  i was navigating around the foodday.org site and found a free cooking class link here.  i was floored to find it available to all and will definitely be checking it out.

needless to say, dinner was a slam DUNK.  below i have included my gluten and dairy free recipe adaptations from the amazing food day cookbook (that is where you'll find the three original recipes we chose to whip up - i have not included the recipe directions as the interweb is running out of ink and i really want you to see the cookbook.  HA!).

i hope you like cooking and eating the recipes as much as we did.

**warning** before embarking on any cooking tonight, please fasten your aprons securely and play this music immediately.  feel free to show the children how to dance properly (running man please).  pump up your jams and let the cooking partay begin.

quick tostados
(we doubled this recipe!)

1 T coconut oil
2 cloves garlic
2 cartons black beans
1/4 tsp salt
2 c cooked shredded organic chicken breast
6 c shredded romaine
1/4 c sheeps milk yogurt (sweet arse replacement for sour cream... not dairy free, only cow free)
gf tortilla chips/tostados/tortillas
3 avocado diced (we love to eat these pupppies)
1/2 c organic shredded cheese (we also served vegan "daiya" cheese)
1/2 c chopped cilantro

carrot, sweet potato & ginger soup 
(the surprise recipe star of the evening)

2 T coconut oil
1 lb carrots
1 lb sweet potatoes
1 bunch scallions sliced
1/2 c chopped celery
1 garlic clove minced/grated
1 T chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 tsp sea salt
4 T chopped fresh cilantro
1 T fresh lime juice
6 oz baby bok choy, stem ends trimmed, cut into 1/2 in slices

apple crisp
(this was completely prepared by our two 7th grade cooks, sarah and thea!)

toppings
1/3 c gf old fashioned oats
1/2 c gf flour
1/4 c chopped almonds
2 T almond flour
1/4 c coconut palm sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
1 T cold coconut oil, cut into pieces
2 T melted coconut oil
1 -2 T cold water

filling
9 apples
1/4 c fresh organic lemon juice
3 T maple syrup
2 T gf flour


that's.where.the.party's.at.and.you'll.find.out.if.you.cook.that.

wish me luck, i'm off to pass out 1300 apples to the students here in district 76 for our big apple crunch!  i wonder how many loose front teeth will be lost today in apples... or if my swagger van will ever lose the sweet smell... :)

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH


xoxo



ps

need more food day inspo!?  go back in time with our first mullies cooking class and then to our suit and tie party.  so what if you get your kitchen messy.  i don't have a fruit fly problem at all.  nope.

connecting chi-town and the burbs

there is nothing better than meeting other local fellow ambassadors!  i met up with one of the chicago food revolution ambassadors, sarvin haghighi, a few weeks ago for a lovely lunch downtown to get to know each other better...  it sure has taken me long enough to post about it!  i had the best time and our brains are very much connected on how to bring real food education to our communities.

she is helping me get apples for food day on thursday (1300 is not a shabby numbah) and we're meeting up tomorrow to exchange the goods!  how awesome is that!?  thank you so much sarvin and i can't wait to get cooking with you one of these days and introduce you to the other food ambassadors i work with - briana and christina!

here's what we have in the docket:

miss christina is in her kindergarten daughter's classroom today doing some real food demonstrating!   her co-worker sara lohrman (who is essentially a food ambassador too with all she does) will be leading her stevenson high school foods classes in 2 activities:  1 class is cooking with the preschool and another is doing a stir fry demo in the cafe during lunch for all of the students!  the cafe bought all of the food and even sourced it locally!  HOLY SMACKERALS!!
miss briana is going to be doing a real food cooking demo centered around apples & apple pies at her daughter's preschool classroom on thursday!  that is going to be one fantabulous sight seeing all those little kiddos getting into cooking!!

these ladies are simply incredible and i could not be luckier to be in their company. cheers to rocking food day week 2013 ladieeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!

making some noise, making some noise, making some noise



ps

looking for something to watch this week in honor of food day?  we got together with some neighbors a few weeks ago, cooked up a storm and ended the night on the couch to watch this eye opening film. put this one on your list foh shoh!

an evolution of a food revolution seminar

wanna talk real food with me!?!?

this past weekend i passed out information on the big food day coming up on thursday at our school district's "oaktoberfest" and 3rd annual diamond dash 5k run.  it was a blast!

AND tomorrow i'll be hosting a free seminar about my personal journey to improving my family's health through a real food change.   topics will include general health, learning disabilities, ADD/ADHD, cholesterol, Food Day 2013 and much more.  last time i checked in there was 35 people coming!  whoo hooo!  and the best part?  it's FREE.

All Ways Healthy Natural Food center
123 S. Rand Road
Lake Zurich, IL 60047
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
*RSVP your seat today 847.438.9200 (AWH)*
7pm

let's get real together!

see y'all soon xoxo.

celebrate your food revolution next week - it's FOOD DAY on the 24th!

i have two very exciting things to tell you about today!

#1 i have been invited to speak at the one and only All Ways Healthy, my go-to independently owned health and natural food store.  AWH joined the Lake County Food Revolution last May for our first Food Revolution Day celebration and Carole Childers C.N., L.D.N. is the nutritionist i was referred to by a friend who successfully changed her family's food to help cope with ADD/ADHD symptoms.  i am there every week picking up my fresh produce box and i am so honored to share my story.  here are the lovely details of my "An Evolution of a Food Revolution" seminar.

if you live in the area and are able to make it, i simply can't wait to meet you!

***

One Mom's Journey to Improving Her Family's Health Through Diet Change. *general health *learning disabilities *ADD *cholesterol *and much more To reserve a space at Lindsey Shifley's seminar call us @ 847-438-9200 This seminar is free of charge!  *** #2  FOOD DAY is thursday, october 24th!!!  i sure hope you take some time to link up and check out how this amazing day will celebrate the nationwide movement to promote healthy, affordable and sustainable food.  my school district will be participating in the big apple crunch!  i am a busy beaver right now getting sponsors to donate apples to our students (and hopefully the staff too!)  i cannot wait to get everyone in on some apple action on the 24th and join nyc in some healthy crunching.  what will you be doing on food day?  i'd love to hear all about it!! here are some of the goodies i'll be passing out to spread the word about our national food day at my district's oaktoberfest tonight and tomorrow morning at our annual diamond dash 5k.  i need to bundle up my buttercup cuz it's gonna be a crisp one tomorrow!!!