"I'm a little teapot . . .

. . . short and stout"

 No, I'm not! (well, maybe the short part!)

I can't seem to get that song out of my head.

Santa brought me this lovely cast iron blue teapot.

"here is my handle, here is my spout . . ."

It has a dragon fly on it on each side where the handle attaches. I like dragon flies.

And it makes the BEST tea!

Somewhere along the line I stopped drinking coffee. Guess I just don't need that caffeine anymore, and quite frankly I really don't miss it. It was not a conscious effort, it jut happened. Since then I have been discovering tea.

My current favorite is Rooibos Tropica from Teavana. Santa brought that to me too. It is so pretty. It's like drinking a garden!

Here's a few benefits listed with this tea:

• May support the immune system, promoting well-being
• May support digestion
• Naturally caffeine free, so great for kids
• Superfruit enhanced with strawberries & papaya
• Contains uplifting citrus
• Peach is a sweet source of vitamin C

Wikipedia says this about Rooibos tea.

Aside from all that, it just has this wonderful taste that makes my mouth happy and warms me up when I am cold.

I add a small spoonful of my favorite raw honey

"get me all steamed up, and I'll shout . . ."

I almost drank it all before I took a picture!!

"...sock it to me baby, let it all hang out!"

Now where did that song come from?? That goes way back! 

But now I have it out of my head!

I think I will go make another pot of tea.

I got juiced!

So, tonight I got juiced, and I loved it. Mean green pure pulp free juice.

This was my first glass of juice from my new Breville Dual Disc Processor Juicer.

It was superb! Here is what went into it:

Kale: a super-green vegetable, perfect for supporting weight loss. It is a rich source of glucosinolates, which are powerful detoxifiers, and is also packed with full potent anti-cancer phytochemicals, including the sulfur sulforaphane.

Spinach: is packed with iron, vitamin C and folic acid for healthy blood cells, making it a perfect fatigue fighter. It is also rich in chlorophyll, a substance that, together with the fiber in this juice acts as an effective cleanser and detoxifier.

Cucumber: contains sulfur and silicon - minerals that support kidney and liver function to aid elimination and tackle fluid retention. It is also rich in potassium, which helps maintain a healthy fluid balance.

Celery: is a strongly alkaline and is a great detoxifying food and is calming for the digestion. A well-known diuretic, celery's potassium-sodium electrolyte balance helps to avoid water retention and to reduce blood pressure. Celery is also rich in B-vitamins and vitamin C.

Apples: contain soluble fiber known as pectin, which binds to toxins and helps eliminate them from the body. Fiber can also encourage the proliferation of healthy bacteria in the bowel, stabilize blood-sugar levels and lower cholesterol. Freshly pressed apple juice provides malic acid, which your cells use for energy production.

Pear: contain high levels of dietry fiber to help keep the bowels in good health, and may help reduce the risk of colon cancer. They are also rich in immunity-boosting vitamin C and in mineral copper, which has an antioxidant effect on the body.

Ginger: is a well known digestive aid, and can help relieve indigestion and nausea. Its powerful gingerols possess anti-inflammatory  properties know to help reduce pain and inflammation and alleviate asthma.

Now with all those ingredients, and their health benefits, it is no wonder I am juiced!!!

And this is the wonderful machine, in it's new home, that makes it all happen:

This is the Breville in action:

Notice the huge pulp bin. It has a wonderful pitcher with a cover that allows the juice to pour out, but skims the foam off and leaves it in the pitcher. I really like that feature.

Tomorrow I plan to feed beets to the Breville, along with oranges and carrots. 

The color will be spectacular.

 

Look at the incredible color in this vegetable.

From the green, to the red, oh my, it is just beet-a-ful!

I can't wait to get juiced again tomorrow!!!

P.S. Hello blog, I have missed you. I will do better in 2012!

It Happened: I got sick

I don't even remember the last time I got sick. I actually have this invincible attitude that I won't get sick. So when the scratchy throat arrived, I was in total denial. This isn't happening to me! But within twenty four hours I was convinced otherwise.

In hindsight I know how it happened. High stress and anxiety reduced my immune system, and I was around sick people.

Acceptance: I was sick, now what? The old me would have run to the doctor for a Z-pack, started the Mucinex-D, popped Excedrin and thought I was doing the right thing. But in the last year and a half I have come to believe that our bodies are a miracle machine, and given the right opportunity it can heal itself, as mine has already done in many ways. Medicine, in this case, would just suppresses the symptoms, but it's the body that will actually do the healing.

I have been very fortunate to have made some amazing friends in the course of the last year and a half. One of those friends showed up at my door at 9:00 at night with a bag of remedies and suggestions.

 Here is what I did:

• I put eucalyptus in a bowl of steaming water and breathed it several times a day, and also put a few drops in the bottom of the shower. It was wonderfully soothing.
• I drank water with a teaspoon or two of apple cider vinegar
• I drank water with an oregano oil blend it came with capsules so I don't have to put it in the water and that is soooooooooooo much better!
• Elderberry syrup - that was actually yummy 
• A teaspoon of coconut oil. It melts in your mouth and runs down your throat - great for that annoying cough
• Salt water gargles
• Lots of tea - peppermint, ginger, and chamomile - with lemon and honey
• And I made juice. Juice is great for your body because it is digested with almost no effort, so your body can work at healing rather than digesting. My juice was made from carrots, celerey, tomatoes, apples, spinach, fresh ginger and lots of garlic.

Check out some of the links for the associated health benefits.

Result: it worked. I think I had a healthy jump start before getting this respiratory infection, and maybe that is why I got over it so fast. But the point is, I did it without medicine.

I love this quote from Hippocrates:

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

Now that's food for thought!

Sunday Paper and Oatmeal

It is a beautiful calm sight out my kitchen window. The sun is shining and the fall colors reflecting in the lake are so pretty. The geese and ducks just float by like they don't have a care in the world. I find it so relaxing to just gaze out this window. It has been such a great weekend with friends, a festival, and a new restaurant. I love days that I don't have to get up and rush out the door. They are few and far between so it is delightful when the opportunity comes along to take it slow.

I decided while eating my oatmeal, drinking a Teeccino and reading the paper, it was time to blog.

This mornings paper had a great article in it: 5 myths about healthy eating. I thought it was quite good and worth the read. In the article, myth #3, eating healthy is too expensive, it states: "A dinner of hot dogs and Devil Dogs is undeniable cheap. But a bowl of beans and rice with a banana on the side is cheaper. . . . Preparing a big pot of lentils for the week may not be glamorous, but it's much cheaper and not much more time-consuming than cooking up frozen pizza or mac and cheese." Now that is food for thought. Check out the article.


So, about that oatmeal.  Did I mention it is a raw oatmeal, and a true convenience food! Anyone who knows how to measure ingredients can make this. Even the kids! I am so hooked on it. I found the recipe on a fabulous website, Oh She Glows, which I now visit everyday! I have changed her recipe up a bit, but I must give credit to Angela for her brilliant creation. Here is a link to her Easy Vegan Overnight Oats.

This is my version. I make enough at a time for two mornings. My husband and I don't eat a large portion because our smoothie is the REAL breakfast for us, but we really enjoy this and it is packed with some great nutrition.

This is a picture of the morning after. Last night I combined in a bowl:

1 mashed banana
2/3 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 cups almond milk
4 Tablespoons chia seeds
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
sprinkled cinnamon (sorry didn't measure!)
raisins (sorry again I didn't measure!)

Stir it all until it is well combined and just cover it and put it in the refrigerator overnight. (that is when the chia seeds do their magic!!)

Today we added some dried cranberries, maple syrup (not too much) and a splash of almond milk.

At first I though raw uncooked oatmeal would be gross, but I was truly, and pleasantly surprised! I actually like it better. It isn't pasty like cooked oatmeal can get. The texture and flavor is excellent. Find out for yourself and try it! If you are not familiar with chia seeds, do some research. These seeds are a nutritional powerhouse all by themselves. Here's a link to get you started: Ten Benefits from this Power Food and Brain Food.

Now, out to enjoy this amazing day!

It happened again!

Everything started jumping in the dish again. It must be a Sunday afternoon thing?? It's a good thing. Just look how it all united and came together:

It was quite yummy.  I got to use several of my favorite gadgets too.  So here is how it all happen. 

First there was the line-up on the chopping block.

Then the zuchinni and butternut squash begged for the spiralizer, (they must have seen this video on YouTube).

That is one of my most favorite tools. I used the ribbon tool to get thin slices of the butternut squash and then cut them into smaller chunks. I then salted the squash and set it aside for 10 minutes or so to "wilt" and then rinsed it. This is the first time I have used butternut squash raw, and I must say it won't be the last time.  I really liked it.

Ok, so next the garlic and onion jumped into the, hmmmm . . .  I call it the pull string chopper but I don't know exactly what it is called . . . a chopper I guess.  Four pulls of the string and it is all chopped.  I love it!

The cucumber, orange bell pepper and the tomato went under the knife with the avocado, and joined the onion, garlic, corn, zucchini and butternut squash in the bowl. From the refrigerator I heard the purple hulled peas begging to join the gang, so what could I do but agree. So much color. 

I think the real reason for all these veggies deciding to jump into the dish is that they wanted to wear the wonderful dressing that appeared in our refrigerator. It was unfortunately (fortunate for me though!!) left behind by Dianna at our raw pot luck. It is an amazing dressing that she made full of wonderful ingredients from Alissa Cohen's book, Living on Live Foods.

It was a match made in heaven!  

Eating in the Moment

Today was a busy day. It's unreal how hard I can work on a vacation day! But I definitely had a vacation day lunch!

This is a piece of Chocolate Ganache Tart that we brought home from Matthew Kenney's OKC yesterday, after having an incredible dinner. It made for a fabulous lunch!

And then along came dinner.  Sometimes I just love how it can all comes together in the dish. No recipe. Just grab a bit of this and a bit of that and holy cow (hmmmm, funny phrase, holy cow, for a vegan to pick!), it comes out great!

This has as much taste as it does color! Here's what jumped into the dish:

• a wonderful combination of greens from Natural Farms coop
• a handful of raw hulled purple beans (I think that is what they were called) from the farmer's market this morning
• chopped tomatoes and red onions, also from the farmer's market today
• chopped cucumber
• fresh corn off the cob
• and some really ripe avocado

For the dressing I took some of the avocado and mashed it, added some chopped cilantro, a squeeze of  lemon, a splash of olive oil and apple cider vinegar, and then a dash of cumin and Himalayan salt. 

It came out so good I figured I better blog it so I don't forget what I made!!

I do love it when food just jumps into a dish!

How to dress a date

I've heard the expression, "Use it or lose it," so I decided I better use what I learned on Friday night.

Here are the steps to dress your date:

First remove the pit from the date, and fill it with nut butter.

Make the Ganache. One of the best tips I learned at class was to sift the cacao.

Now dip half of the date in the Ganache.

Roll in coconut.

And there you have it . . .

. . . beautifully dressed dates!

Raw Dinner and a Movie

What a delightful night.

This was the first, of what I hope of many, Raw Dinner and a Movie nights by Raw Intentions. Denise's passion to share her knowledge, culinary skills, and her desire to help us educate ourselves in the area of nutrition and health is just remarkable.

She shed her chef jacket and greeted us at the door in such a lovely fashion.

The table was plated with our salad and I happily was seated with my beautiful friends, Katherine Rose and Megan Demarais, along with some new table mates. The salad was literally from the farmer to the market to our plates today! Local, fresh and organic. What more could you ask for?

And then came the main course. The best raw lasagna I have ever eaten. Sorry Matthew, Denise's is better than yours. And that onion bread, wow!

Can you tell I liked it!

The movie: The Gerson Miracle.

"In this documentary from filmmaker Steve Kroschel, noted MD Max Gerson reveals a nutritional healing treatment that he claims can restore the body's ability to fight off cancer and numerous other degenerative diseases. The testimonies of a few "incurable" cancer patients highlight why this long-term cure could be much more effective than many of Dr. Gerson's critics may care to admit. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi"

Have you ever heard the word cancer? Do you know someone who has cancer? Do you know that the prediction is one in two people will have cancer. 

If you answer yes to just one of these questions, WATCH THIS FILM! PLEASE.

After the film was over there was some brief discussion. Knowledge is so powerful.

The night ended with dessert. With oh-my-gosh-I-can't-believe-I-am-eating-cheesecake-that-is-this-good dessert!  To use one of Denise's lines, "it is to live for!"

The next picture says it all!

A Date Anyone?

I love dates.
I really love dates.
Lots of dates, lots of ways, and often.

Oh, you are thinking, "and she is a married woman." Well, yes, and I love dates with my husband. But I am talking about the kind of dates that I eat.

As a child, I remember holidays with dates stuffed with walnuts then rolled in powdered sugar, and my Aunt Leona's date bars. Now living a pretty raw food life, dates are a routine in my diet.  From grabbing one for a snack, to using them as a sweetener in recipes, and to making wonderful desserts with them. They are the fix for a sweet tooth.

Tonight I went to a raw food class at Whole Foods taught by Denise of Raw Intentions. And there they were, naked plump dates.  And then she dressed them!

If only you could taste these little beauties. Oh my gosh!

First she took the seeds out and then filled each date with nut butter.

Then each filled date was dipped in chocolate Ganache and rolled in coconut.

Devine!!!

I will be making these little delights, often!

We also had a strawberry sorbet, and cacao ganache bites.

My mouth was so happy. 

Glorious Granola

I made my first granola and it came out great! Next time I will definitely make a bigger batch. It really took a long time in the scheme of things.

First the buckwheat groats had to be soaked, then rinsed, again and again.  Then at last they sprouted. Look at those cute little tails!

Now for all the additives . . .

I added diced apple, raisins, maple syrup, coconut nectar, and a pinch of salt . . .

mixed it all together, and then added cinnamon and combined it well.

Then into the dehydrator it went.

And it stayed for about a day.

The tray wasn't as full when it came out as it was when it went in. I did a number of taste tests while it was dehydrating.  The smell was amazing and I just couldn't resist regular tastings!

This is a do-over recipe.  It tastes sooooo good!

It is a great snack, and I can't wait to have it with almond milk and fresh fruit.

Glorious granola. Can granola be glorious? Why not!

Sinful!

I spent lots of hours in the kitchen this weekend.  I LOVED it! It is a very therapeutic thing for me to do. I continue to be amazed at how good I feel from eating so much raw food, as well as how good it tastes. I never turn down the opportunity to try a new recipe when I have time.

One of the new recipes I recently made is currently my husband's favorite: Mint Chocolate Ice Cream.  We do love to please our men, so of course I make it for him, and just to be a good sport, I "have" to eat it too.

This truly is an amazing dessert.  The ice cream is sitting on top of a brownie, and the raspberries add a nice contrast of flavor and make it even prettier with the splash of color. The brownies are so easy to make and they are stored in the freezer with the ice cream. And yes, the brownies and ice cream are both raw. No sugar, no dairy, nothing processed. All whole plant based foods!

We had this for dessert last night, and then again tonight. 

Yikes, we could have this every night!

It is just so good, it must be sinful!!!!

A Sweet Start

My husband and I have different tastes when it comes to smoothies, juices and the raw food world!  So today's smoothie was made especially for him. A sweet start to the day with my sweetie! For me it was like starting the day with dessert!

So for those of you out there with a sweet tooth, give this one a try!

Sweet Saturday Start

2 cups nut milk
2 bananas (frozen chunks if possible)
1 Tbl. cacao
1 Tbl. carob
1-2 Tbl almond butter
1 Tbl. maca
1 Tbl. spirulina
2 tsp. vanilla
3-4 cups spinach
crushed ice

I put it all in my Blendtec, selected beverage, then the XL Smoothie setting, and the blender does it all!

This is a powerhouse of nutrition along with a sweet taste that will energize us all morning. Which is a really good thing because now it is time to get to work in the yard!

I hope your Saturday is as sweet as mine!