Yes...I have survived another Thanksgiving holiday with my marvelous family and friends. We had a beautiful day that included dinner for 20. As a raw foodist, orchestrating a festive and appetizing menu for a guest list of cooked food eating carnivores was not a task I took lightly. The menu consisted of a combination of the best of both worlds....traditional Thanksgiving fare and the introduction, to the majority of my guests, of the beauty and health of raw foods. I guess it is good to know that my appliances still work and that I haven't lost my ability to produce gourmet cooked foods for a crowd when the occasion calls for such.
I won't be sharing my recipes in this entry, although I will get around to it. I just needed to blog my assessment of where I am today, in the aftermath of such a day as Thanksgiving. Preparing all of that food seemed excessive and I felt troubled as I was vigorously adhering to the traditions that my family has always observed. No one had a clue I was at odds with the whole affair, yet in my heart, I kept asking the question, "Will this be my last Thanksgiving to cook?" My family doesn't have a real concept of who I am or what I do as it relates to the whole raw food thing, nor do any of them seem to care. I am speaking in a broad sense because my immediate family..husband and children, get it because they live it with me on a daily basis. But parents, aunts, uncles, in-laws, etc. just look at me with a baffled look as though I am dabbling in some type of cult. Perhaps that is the reason I keep my diet so much on the down low...in an effort to simply not upset the balance of these family functions that seem to revolve around food, all cooked and always in excess.
So, through my personal discomforts of yesterday's activities, I think I've turned yet another corner. I have a great deal of acceptance and love towards my family and I am so very thankful for all they mean to me. It really doesn't matter to me if they understand or accept my diet/lifestyle. It really doesn't have to be a big deal. One or two days a year I can certainly compromise my diet and enjoy all the fun and love that flows through the crowd. (Albeit, I was popping digestive enzymes like a junkie). They need their cooked foods somehow...it completes the ambiance for them. They can see that I have made and continue to make personal changes that are having positive impact upon my health and my appearance. They can tell by my words that I am doing my homework as it relates to diet and health. I don't have to cram anything down anyones throat. If anyone wants to know more, they can ask me. That is just where I am with it all.
Yesterday made me proud to be a raw foodist. It made me realize how eating raw is so much kinder and gentler on my body, my kitchen and the resources around me. Washing raw dishes hardly requires soap. Yet today, I have pans that are soaking in my sink that may never come clean due to the residues of cooked, congealed foods. As troubled as I felt in the midst of a pipping hot kitchen yesterday, a sense of gentle peace and gratefulness has settled upon me today. My husband is waiting on me now....ready to start this day with a green power smoothie. Yes, I have much to be thankful for.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Smells Like Pumpkin Spirit
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I have been working on a smoothie recipe that fits the season. I have tried to incorporate a lot of healthy, delicious and super nourishing ingredients into this raw power refresher. It is really great if you are a raw vegan and trying to keep your B vitamin intake up (especially B12 and folic acid). Check this out:
PUMPKIN CREME POWER SHAKE
milk and meat of 1 baby coconut
1 frozen banana
1/4 cup chia seeds, soaked with one cup fresh almond milk
1/4 cup (or more) fresh carrot juice
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (add more if you prefer)
2 - 3 soaked dates
1 scoop maca powder
1 tsp. liquid vitamin B complex
1 heaping tbsp. Crystal Manna Flakes
large glass of crushed ice
Place all ingredients into your high speed blender and mix until smooth and frothy. This drink isn't only incredibly healthy and delicious, it is guaranteed to keep you rocking and fueled up for hours!
PUMPKIN CREME POWER SHAKE
milk and meat of 1 baby coconut
1 frozen banana
1/4 cup chia seeds, soaked with one cup fresh almond milk
1/4 cup (or more) fresh carrot juice
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (add more if you prefer)
2 - 3 soaked dates
1 scoop maca powder
1 tsp. liquid vitamin B complex
1 heaping tbsp. Crystal Manna Flakes
large glass of crushed ice
Place all ingredients into your high speed blender and mix until smooth and frothy. This drink isn't only incredibly healthy and delicious, it is guaranteed to keep you rocking and fueled up for hours!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Crisp Fall Evening - Dinner for 4
Lately I have had a number of requests to share some of my recipes. I particularly like what we had last night and thought it I should share it with you. (Sorry - no pictures...I'm working on getting a camera so I can get visuals.) I gained my inspiration from our friend and hip raw food goddess, Tanja Andrews, who recently had a fantastic spot on a Bay Area home show. Check her out here: http://www.dreamhomebayarea.com/index.html
On this clip, she made a raw pumpkin soup and a kale salad. I took the base of her soup, but jazzed it up a little to suit my family's taste buds and it turned out to be a success! I made her kale salad exactly as she did and it was really fresh and delicious. I will include the recipe here so you have a copy to look at. Then finally, I served my raw corn bread recipe. I came up with this idea because of my old love of warm soup or chili and corn bread in the cold months. The raw results of my tinkering in the kitchen did not disappoint.
Marinated Kale Salad
1 bunch of Lacinato or dinosaur kale, chopped
olive oil
sea salt
Once your kale is chopped, place into a mixing bowl and add just a touch of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. Massage and mix the oil mixture into the leaves until they are shiny and covered. Allow this to rest for at least an hour, or so, until the leaves have begun to wilted just slightly.
Add:
1 apple, gala or other crunchy variety, chopped and not peeled
And toss with a dressing made of:
1 tbsp. stone ground mustard
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup basalmic vinegar
1/4 cup agave or raw honey
juice of 1/2 lemon
Serve!
Pumpkin Soup
1 pie pumpkin, seeds and insides removed, skin peeled and cubed
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 cup fresh hemp or almond milk
1 -2 tbsp. nut butter (I used macadamia nut, which was delicious!)
4 dates, pitted
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. curry
Add all ingredients into your Vita Mix, or other high horse powered blender, and blend until smooth and creamy. You may need to add more liquid if your soup seems too thick. I blended mine until the engine of the blender warmed it very nicely to around 100 degrees. I garnished this with diced red bell peppers and a bit of cilantro. Truly delicious!
Warm Corn Bread
4 ears of fresh organic corn - cut from the cob (you can substitute 16 oz. of frozen organic corn)
1/2 sweet yellow onion
1/3 of a large red bell pepper
3/4 cup ground golden flax seeds
1/2 cup ground sunflower seeds
juice of one lime
1-2 jalepenos (you can use a milder pepper, if you prefer)
1 tbsp. raw honey (I added just a bit more to mine ;-)
2 tsp. sea salt
1 clove minced garlic
and for good measure I added a few good splashes of Tabasco sauce - another ingredient I haven't given up)
Blend all ingredients in your food processor until you have a nice grainy texture. On Teflex lined dehydrator trays, begin scooping the mixture and build muffins or biscuit like formations. Mine were about 3 inches wide and 1-ish inch thick. My husband said they looked like little hockey pucks. Place into your dehydrator and set at 105 degrees overnight or for about 8 hours. Flip your muffins over and continue to dehydrate another 12 or so hours or until you reach your desired consistency.
We enjoyed ours straight from the dehydrator, while warm and the kids slathered on a little more raw honey....YUMMY!
On this clip, she made a raw pumpkin soup and a kale salad. I took the base of her soup, but jazzed it up a little to suit my family's taste buds and it turned out to be a success! I made her kale salad exactly as she did and it was really fresh and delicious. I will include the recipe here so you have a copy to look at. Then finally, I served my raw corn bread recipe. I came up with this idea because of my old love of warm soup or chili and corn bread in the cold months. The raw results of my tinkering in the kitchen did not disappoint.
Marinated Kale Salad
1 bunch of Lacinato or dinosaur kale, chopped
olive oil
sea salt
Once your kale is chopped, place into a mixing bowl and add just a touch of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. Massage and mix the oil mixture into the leaves until they are shiny and covered. Allow this to rest for at least an hour, or so, until the leaves have begun to wilted just slightly.
Add:
1 apple, gala or other crunchy variety, chopped and not peeled
And toss with a dressing made of:
1 tbsp. stone ground mustard
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup basalmic vinegar
1/4 cup agave or raw honey
juice of 1/2 lemon
Serve!
Pumpkin Soup
1 pie pumpkin, seeds and insides removed, skin peeled and cubed
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 cup fresh hemp or almond milk
1 -2 tbsp. nut butter (I used macadamia nut, which was delicious!)
4 dates, pitted
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. curry
Add all ingredients into your Vita Mix, or other high horse powered blender, and blend until smooth and creamy. You may need to add more liquid if your soup seems too thick. I blended mine until the engine of the blender warmed it very nicely to around 100 degrees. I garnished this with diced red bell peppers and a bit of cilantro. Truly delicious!
Warm Corn Bread
4 ears of fresh organic corn - cut from the cob (you can substitute 16 oz. of frozen organic corn)
1/2 sweet yellow onion
1/3 of a large red bell pepper
3/4 cup ground golden flax seeds
1/2 cup ground sunflower seeds
juice of one lime
1-2 jalepenos (you can use a milder pepper, if you prefer)
1 tbsp. raw honey (I added just a bit more to mine ;-)
2 tsp. sea salt
1 clove minced garlic
and for good measure I added a few good splashes of Tabasco sauce - another ingredient I haven't given up)
Blend all ingredients in your food processor until you have a nice grainy texture. On Teflex lined dehydrator trays, begin scooping the mixture and build muffins or biscuit like formations. Mine were about 3 inches wide and 1-ish inch thick. My husband said they looked like little hockey pucks. Place into your dehydrator and set at 105 degrees overnight or for about 8 hours. Flip your muffins over and continue to dehydrate another 12 or so hours or until you reach your desired consistency.
We enjoyed ours straight from the dehydrator, while warm and the kids slathered on a little more raw honey....YUMMY!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Epiphany
This has been a meaningful week for me. Nothing dramatic on the outside......it's all about what has been happening on the inside.
I hope that many of you were able to catch our raw food sister, Kris Carr, on Oprah this week and/or the showing of her documentary, Crazy Sexy Cancer, on The Learning Channel. She is a beautiful, groovy cool chick that has been learning to live with "incurable" cancer for over 4 years in both her liver and lungs. Whether you have ever had cancer infringe on your life or not, her message is universal. Watching her made a dramatic impact on me. It made me think about the way I approach my life and it caused me to re-evaluate my thinking: Am I really living my life to the fullest? Am I truly following my passions and making each day count? Am I making a difference in the lives of those around me or am I just sucking air? Am I fostering a positive outlook in the midst of difficult circumstances, or am I a frigging whiner? You've got the picture.
So.....what have I done with all of these deep thoughts and introspective visions? I made a final decision to go ahead and do what I have been thinking, desiring and talking about...I am now enrolled in a program in which I will officially obtain my licensing as a Certified Natural Health Practitioner. Not that raw food coaches NEED any type of certification, but it is just something I want to be able to have as an educational hook on which I can hang my hat, if needed. I already have done a great deal of formal study, years ago, in the field of nutrition and holistic healing, under to guidance of Dr. Joel Robbins, an MD, DC, & ND here in Tulsa. That's who first introduced me to the importance of maintaining a raw food diet, over 18 years ago!
Achieving this certification will involve LOTS of study, some travel and time. All of which I am eager to do. I don't have a specific outcome or a career path that I want to share with you at this point....I intuitively know that this will all unfold as I go deeper and follow my passion.
I hope that many of you were able to catch our raw food sister, Kris Carr, on Oprah this week and/or the showing of her documentary, Crazy Sexy Cancer, on The Learning Channel. She is a beautiful, groovy cool chick that has been learning to live with "incurable" cancer for over 4 years in both her liver and lungs. Whether you have ever had cancer infringe on your life or not, her message is universal. Watching her made a dramatic impact on me. It made me think about the way I approach my life and it caused me to re-evaluate my thinking: Am I really living my life to the fullest? Am I truly following my passions and making each day count? Am I making a difference in the lives of those around me or am I just sucking air? Am I fostering a positive outlook in the midst of difficult circumstances, or am I a frigging whiner? You've got the picture.
So.....what have I done with all of these deep thoughts and introspective visions? I made a final decision to go ahead and do what I have been thinking, desiring and talking about...I am now enrolled in a program in which I will officially obtain my licensing as a Certified Natural Health Practitioner. Not that raw food coaches NEED any type of certification, but it is just something I want to be able to have as an educational hook on which I can hang my hat, if needed. I already have done a great deal of formal study, years ago, in the field of nutrition and holistic healing, under to guidance of Dr. Joel Robbins, an MD, DC, & ND here in Tulsa. That's who first introduced me to the importance of maintaining a raw food diet, over 18 years ago!
Achieving this certification will involve LOTS of study, some travel and time. All of which I am eager to do. I don't have a specific outcome or a career path that I want to share with you at this point....I intuitively know that this will all unfold as I go deeper and follow my passion.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Green Smoothies are the new SlimFast
I finally ordered Victoria Boutenko's book, Green For Life. I had been wanting to drink green smoothies after reading The Green Smoothie Experience (see my post in late July), but I felt that I lacked knowledge. So I was delighted when I received my copy from Amazon. Once I started reading the book, I knew that I wouldn't put it down until I finished it. When I finished it, I immediately re-read it a second time because I wanted to have all the information assimilated and ingrained into my brain. If you haven't read the book.....get it and read it, ASAP!
So, not a shocker, I started mixing up and drinking green pronto. I jumped right into drinking around a quart of the delicious green concoctions within a day or two. My husband, Gordon, is such a good sport.....he started drinking them with me even before he read the book. But he did read it and he, too, is now a green smoothie lover. We are both blown away by the changes that have started occurring in such a short amount of time.
For the most part I only drink smoothies throughout the day. I have rarely eaten food until my evening meal each day. One thing that blows me away is that after a couple of days I became aware that I was never hungry. No cravings, no restless feelings, no desire to snack....I mean nothing! I've been a grazer my whole life so not having the desire to put food in my mouth all the time was new to me. What happens with drinking so many greens is that they hydrate, oxygenate and nourish the body on a whole different level. People are mainly overweight because their bodies are so depleted of nutrients that they are constantly hungry. They continue to stuff themselves, but the body continues to crave more. The problem is that the standard American diet is severely void of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc. With green smoothies, a person is truly being fueled as nature intended.
Personally, I have lost 7 pounds in three weeks. I feel more well rested and I wake up and get up without feeling groggy or tired. I require less sleep. My skin has a softer, more supple appearance. I swear my eye sight seems sharper. I have no inflammation and have zero bloating or gas. After struggling with IBS off and on for the entirety of my life, I have NO symptoms. My regularity is amazing.
Here are the ingredients of my most recent smoothie:
1 young thai coconut (meat and milk)
1 c frozen pineapple
1 frozen banana
1 bunch of collard greens (de-veined)
hemp nut milk
1 pkg. Stevia
ice
I put all of this into my Vita-Mix blender and it took 5 minutes tops. This made about 3 servings. I store the extra smoothie in drinking glasses filled to the very top and then tightly covered in plastic wrap in the refrigerator. I would recommend drinking within 24 hours.
So, not a shocker, I started mixing up and drinking green pronto. I jumped right into drinking around a quart of the delicious green concoctions within a day or two. My husband, Gordon, is such a good sport.....he started drinking them with me even before he read the book. But he did read it and he, too, is now a green smoothie lover. We are both blown away by the changes that have started occurring in such a short amount of time.
For the most part I only drink smoothies throughout the day. I have rarely eaten food until my evening meal each day. One thing that blows me away is that after a couple of days I became aware that I was never hungry. No cravings, no restless feelings, no desire to snack....I mean nothing! I've been a grazer my whole life so not having the desire to put food in my mouth all the time was new to me. What happens with drinking so many greens is that they hydrate, oxygenate and nourish the body on a whole different level. People are mainly overweight because their bodies are so depleted of nutrients that they are constantly hungry. They continue to stuff themselves, but the body continues to crave more. The problem is that the standard American diet is severely void of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc. With green smoothies, a person is truly being fueled as nature intended.
Personally, I have lost 7 pounds in three weeks. I feel more well rested and I wake up and get up without feeling groggy or tired. I require less sleep. My skin has a softer, more supple appearance. I swear my eye sight seems sharper. I have no inflammation and have zero bloating or gas. After struggling with IBS off and on for the entirety of my life, I have NO symptoms. My regularity is amazing.
Here are the ingredients of my most recent smoothie:
1 young thai coconut (meat and milk)
1 c frozen pineapple
1 frozen banana
1 bunch of collard greens (de-veined)
hemp nut milk
1 pkg. Stevia
ice
I put all of this into my Vita-Mix blender and it took 5 minutes tops. This made about 3 servings. I store the extra smoothie in drinking glasses filled to the very top and then tightly covered in plastic wrap in the refrigerator. I would recommend drinking within 24 hours.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Mentioned in the News
Check out the article that was written by my friend Natalie Mikles, Food and Lifestyle writer for the Tulsa World:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/entertainment/article.aspx?articleID=070816_238_D3_hSupe44780
http://www.tulsaworld.com/entertainment/article.aspx?articleID=070816_238_D3_hSupe44780
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Getting back in the Raw Game
Yes.....I have been gone from blogging for a couple of weeks. Out of town because my mother in law passed away. I won't go into those details here, I'll just say that now she beautifully rests in peace.
All the while I served and loved my family, away from my home and my raw kitchen......I fell from raw food grace, once again.
But I as I am known to do, I learn from my fall and then I love to get back on that raw food pony and ride. I am at my best when I indulge in lush, ripe, fresh and raw foods.
My children start back to school tomorrow and I look forward to the gift of more time to focus on planning, preparing, exercising, breathing and just being. I also look froward to sharing a few of the nuggets with you.
Peace. Out.
All the while I served and loved my family, away from my home and my raw kitchen......I fell from raw food grace, once again.
But I as I am known to do, I learn from my fall and then I love to get back on that raw food pony and ride. I am at my best when I indulge in lush, ripe, fresh and raw foods.
My children start back to school tomorrow and I look forward to the gift of more time to focus on planning, preparing, exercising, breathing and just being. I also look froward to sharing a few of the nuggets with you.
Peace. Out.
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