This is the FIRST Wife of the Month for 2013. Somehow it slipped away from me for the past four months. How did I manage that? I loved doing this series last year. I loved getting to know other wives and mamas in the blogging world.

It seemed only fitting that I re-feature someone you met in 2012! (This also fits in for "Throw Back Thursday"!) Do you guys remember Sarah? She's pretty awesome. Her blog was just featured in Skirt! Charleston. For her post about that amazing bit, click here.

Lately I've been struggling with diet fads and all the craziness surrounding "clean eating". So I thought I'd ask some other bloggers to share their thoughts on the matters.

Who better than to share some thoughts on clean eating from someone who is all about it?

As you guys may know, I am not vegetarian/vegan. There are, however, definite health benefits if you decide to make the choice to go either which way.

I'll stop babbling now. Here's Sarah!

Photograph by Alice Keeney Photography.

Hey y’all! Sarah from What I Vegan here.

I’m excited Emily has asked me to guest post about clean eating today!
I think most everybody agrees that we want to give ourselves and our families healthy food that will nourish and sustain us.

But grocery stores out there are practically minefields of chemicals, GMOs (genetically modified organisms), MSG, bacteria, and hormones. These have known and (even scarier) unknown effects on our health.

Seriously, how’s a gal supposed to navigate that minefield and find a way to avoid giving herself and her kids all those terrifying ingredients?

By eating a clean diet full of plant-based, whole foods.

Hang on a sec; did your eyes just glaze over as you pictured bland, brown “health food”?

Snap back with me here, sister.

I’m not talking beans for dinner every night (though I DO love me some beans ‘n’ greens; check out a delectable recipe here). I’m talking about a whole WORLD full of amazing food possibilities opening up to you that are not only healthy, but downright delicious.

Eyebrows still raised? I would have been skeptical too. Before I went vegan, I was (self-proclaimed) Miss Cheese living off of pasta, pizza, and you guessed it, cheese. I wasn’t exactly a health nut.

And I’m still not one. But I do recognize that certain foods and their dangerous ingredients are best avoided, and it’s really not that hard to do.

Don’t believe me? Check out a few healthy, veggie-centered dishes I made at home (and trust me, I’m no chef):

Quinoa noodles with avocado pesto pasta and squash.

This is what I call “Everything in the Fridge Salad” – just throw together a salad, with whatever toppings you have on hand. Get creative!

Vegan crab cakes with tangy rémoulade and sautéed spinach from Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Kitchen.

Twelve-grain bread with hummus, organic tomatoes, avocado, arugula, and salt and pepper. Easy, healthy, and delish!

Red and black chili with cashew sour cream.

Check out more pictures of what I eat on my blog’s Facebook page! You’ll be amazed at what all you can do with plant-based foods!

Now that you see how yummy it can be, I’m going to give you some easy tips on how to add more of these healthful plant-based foods to your family’s table.

•Eat more veggies! Pick a few to take the spotlight on your dinner plate. Be adventurous; buy a veggie you don’t recognize, and then look online for a recipe. A great site is VegWeb.com.

•Buy organic produce as much as possible. It’s a little pricier but your body will thank you for saying no to those pesticides! Can’t buy all organic? That’s ok; just avoid these dirty dozen.

•Check those ingredients. The less processed, the better. Try to buy items that have fewer than 5 or so ingredients and make sure you can pronounce them! Your body doesn’t want that azodicarbonamide (whatever that is)!

•Skip the meat, dairy, and eggs. They’re full of hormones, antibiotic resistant bacteria, cholesterol, and other nasty stuff. Switching to organic won’t help either. Not to mention, animals are treated in unspeakable ways to make these products. Best to skip out as often as possible (or altogether!). Start a Meatless Monday tradition and work on it from there!

•Look for the Non-GMO Project symbol. This guarantees that the food doesn’t contain harmful GMOs, which have never been suitably tested for long-term health impacts. To learn more about them, click here.


Want to learn more?

Watch the movie Forks Over Knives (it’s on Netflix!). It’s entertaining, informative, and could save your life!

Check out the book Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr, who I consider to be the queen of clean eating. Her follow up book, Crazy Sexy Kitchen, has amazing, clean recipes!

Can we eat 100% clean 100% of the time? Or course not. That’s not realistic. But we can try to eat healthfully the majority of the time for the sake of our bodies and our kids.

Try the tips above to take the first step!

To Healthy and Tasty Food!
Sarah

Macaroni & Cheese was never really a favorite of mine... until our first year of marriage. It became a staple in our house because we were so poor and it was so cheap. However, now that we're older and we have a toddler to worry about, I realized how AWFUL the boxed stuff is and how EASY it is to make homemade, healthier, wonderful mac & cheese.

Ingredients:

- 1 1/4 C Whole Wheat Macaroni
- 2 to 3 C shredded cheese *your preference... I usually use a mix of sharp cheddar and monterey jack. If you like it extra cheesy, go for three cups-- just make sure to add a little extra milk as well!*
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
- 2/3 C milk
- Salt *optional*
- Parmesan Cheese *optional*

Directions:

- Cook the pasta according to the directions, drain, and keep waiting.
*Note: You may see a lima bean peaking through in the pictures. When I cooked the pasta, I also mixed in some frozen veggies because this is a great way to get Michael to eat them!*
- In a large pot, melt your butter. Whisk in the flour until it is evenly combined and starting to thicken a little. Next add your milk. Stir continuously. DO NOT STOP MIXING!
- Once it has thickened, add your cheese and pasta. It's easiest if you add your cheese, then the pasta, and mix really well. Add extra little milk if it's too thick. This is when you can also add your optional salt, up to 1/2 tsp if desired.

VOILA! Sprinkle Parmesan Cheese on top and serve warm. You'll never go back to the prepackaged stuff.

This recipe was inspired from 100 Days of Real Food.

Now, for the giveaway!

Today we're celebrating the one year anniversary of The Lily Field! If you haven't looked over Brittany's blog, you need to. She's an amazing woman with a heart after God, sharing her faith, relationship tips + stories, and raising two handsome young men. But who better to introduce this than Brittany herself?

________________________________________
Blogging is so much more than an online journal of daily activities. It is not just a pretty URL with
perfectly arranged HTML. But it is an avenue, a portal into the very hearts of humanity.
Beautiful, blank, white space begging to be filled with dreams, ideas, reflections, stories...

It is about community.
It is about reaching out to people you may never have the chance to meet in person.
It is about building relationships and sharing your testimony...
learning lessons from each other that impact life.

They say it takes a village to raise a child...
I think it takes a village to do great things in general.
We need each other.

Blogging has been such a blessed adventure for me. One that I was reluctant to take. Fearing I would fail,
I put the idea off for years. But on March 22nd, 2012 I found me some beautiful, blank, white space...

and began.

THANK YOU readers, friends, and family... I wish I could come give each and every one of you a hug.
Praying the words and pictures found in the day-to-day posts can at least hug your heart. You are loved.
________________________________________
Celebrating this milestone with me are 6 other wonderful women who have touched my life, encouraged me,
and held my hand along the way! Each one is so unique - singing her song from her space on the web.
Visit them. Let them bless you as they have blessed me!

Together we are giving away a $100 Target gift card to one, lucky reader this week!!!
Enter to win below. Open to U.S./Canada residents only.
________________________________________


::: THE LILY FIELD :::

::: STANDPIPE & SPRINKLES // NEWFANGLED HOUSEWIFE :::

::: LILY & LIGHT // THE WILLIAMS POST :::

::: IMPERFECTLY PERFECT GRACE // BEAUTIFULLY MOLDED :::


a Rafflecopter giveaway

*** this giveaway is in no part sponsored or endorsed by Target.
all details and opinions are my own. ***