Record Breaking Incoming Weather

Yikes, look what's coming! 12 to 20" of snow. It isn't even here yet and schools are already canceled.

The weatherman says this storm could break all records.  A blizzard in Oklahoma??? Checkout the temperatures in the seven day planner below!

Looks like there will be some "at home" days coming up!

Stay tuned!!!

Revive 2011: Body/Mind/Spirit

At the invitation of Kat Conrad, I attended an informal gathering in her home. I met Kat in December when I went to a Raw Food Tulsa Meetup. Kat is a Holistic Health Counselor/Nutrition Coach, a breast cancer survivor and is passionate about sharing her knowledge and experience of the impact of nutrition. Kat has a kind and gentle way about her, a sense of peace, and a delivery that immediately attracts one to her. I look forward to a long friendship and relationship with this fine lady.

I arrived to her home and was immediately welcomed by her and her guests.  Kat had prepared a Wilted Kale Salad, a Hummus and veggie tray, and a Winter Quinoa Salad. I am sorry I didn't take a picture because it was a really nice presentation.

Kat is seated at the head of the table on the left.

We sat around Kat's table and talked and shared for hours. I learned: the more I learn, the more there is to learn! I shared my acronym: CRAP. (I hope they don't remember me as the CRAP lady!) We were talking about what to avoid and I shared what CRAP stands for: avoid Caffeine, Refined sugars, Alcohol, and Processed Foods. The night was filled with nutritional conversations, a wonderful spiritual discussion about our quiet time, frustrated conversation about governmental controls and the need to educate and help people with proper nutrition and awareness, microwaves, and all too many other topics to list!

I am very honored to be associated with these amazing people who are not only making a difference in their own lives, but working at sharing and spreading good nutrition and health with their family, children and those around them.

My hostess gift was a bag of mung beans followed by a crash course on sprouting. My beans are soaking as I write this!

The mung sprouts were an ingredient in Kat's wilted kale salad. I found this website about mung bean sprouts  and the nutritional value of these sprouts.

Now, for one of the real highlights of the evening, the dessert! Oh my! I am not a big lover of cheesecake, but I never had cheesecake like this before! It was fabulous! My picture does it no justice.

When I tell people I prefer to eat raw food, they always ask "So what do you eat?" Well, this is a fine example!

I choose to eat the food God made, instead of the food man makes, and it has renewed my life.

Ginger Snap Ice Cream

 Ginger Snap Ice Cream for dessert! 

It was very yummy!

I topped it off with fresh spearmint and Cinnamon flax crackers.

Both of these recipes are from Raw for the Holidays. The ice cream contains no sugar or dairy. The crackers were made in a dehydrator - my first attempt at raw crackers.

See, raw is more than just eating carrots and celery!!!!

Glass Straws have arrived!

I love drinking my smoothies out of a straw. 

Today, after what seemed like way too many days, my glass straws arrived. 

A length for every container!

I even remembered to order brushes to clean them!

This straw is especially pretty.  

Each end has a beautifully rounded glass bead that is part of the glass straw.

I can't wait to drink my next smoothie!

Water filter vs. husband!

I have to say, my husband is one of my best supporters.  When I jump into something it is never half way. So, as I trek along this journey of renewed health, he comes right along for the ride!

While his way of eating still differs somewhat to mine, he has made remarkable changes that I believe has given him renewed energy and health.  He also has lost many pounds, takes no medication, has become vegetarian, has cut out processed food and refined sugars, and never misses his daily green smoothie. I am very proud of that. Not only do I believe my job in this marriage is to help him to get to heaven, but to keep him healthy on the way!

I have been researching water filters for our home.  He too has researched right along with me. We each agree filtering our drinking and bathing water is important, maybe even imperative, after much of what we have read.  We want the good parts of the water to remain, but we certainly can do without the pesticides, chlorine, lead and numerous other undesirables in our water. We decided to do the filters in stages: 1st the refrigerator, 2nd the shower, and the last one an under the kitchen sink system.

This weekend was stage one. The refrigerator.

The problem though, is that our refrigerator just, I mean just, fits in it's alloted space.  To mount the filter behind it would mean the refrigerator would have to stay pulled out an extra 2 inches or so, which was not doable. Plus with wood floors we did not want to have to pull the refrigerator out every six months to change the filter.

But I wanted a filter!! (our refrigerator did not come with one) And my husband is very good about getting me what I want!

The solution.  Oh he is so smart and clever, and, yes, he always figures out how to make something work! He ran the water line up into the cabinet above our refrigerator, mounted the filter in the cabinet and viola! we now have a filter on our water line to the refrigerator!!!

The results. I got what I wanted. My husband mastered the challenge. The filtered water is healthy and we can really tell a difference between it and our tap!

I just love this man!

Look how nice the filter hides in the cabinet! In six months when it is time to change the filter there will be no need to pull out the refrigerator. See what a great job he did! He is just amazing!!!

As a side note: we have narrowed our search to the Aquasana brand of filters. This is a good publication if you are interested in a piece of our research!

A TOUCH OF THE TROPICS IN THE SNOW!

An at home day! I LOVE at home days!

Snow. Ice. 18 degrees and a wind chill of 1 degree!

Schools closed.  Our office officially closed too!

It is a gift of time.

Smoothie time and the thoughts of the tropics came to mind as I gazed out the window at the snow.

I cracked open a Thai Coconut and put all the water and coconut meat into the blender, along with an amazingly ripe, sweet mango. Added to that, a half of an avocado, 1 stalk of celery,  a handful of parsley, chia seeds, spirulina and several handfuls of kale. 

Then, my new favorite ingredient: freshly grated ginger! Blend! Blend! Blend!

I topped it off with a sprinkle of some organic unsweetened shredded coconut and grated some fresh nutmeg on the top, and there you have it . . . 

. . . a touch of the tropics in the middle of winter!

Now to enjoy the gift of this day!

Eating healthy costs less than a diet of prescriptions

Eating healthy costs less than a diet of prescriptions. Of course, I would guess that most of you already know this.  For me, and I should mention that since making a radical diet change almost 6 months ago, I take no medication which has saved me lots of money.  I buy no meat, and I spend what was drug and meat money on lots of great fruits and vegetables.  My life had changed in many ways.

Today in our local newspaper, the Tulsa World, there is a great article, And good for you, that some of you might want to read and even share with friends or family. The opening line to the article is, "Think eating healthy is an expensive habit?"

The picture below was taken at Whole Foods in Tulsa, my favorite place to shop, and it is of one of my favorite spots in the whole store!!

Super Supper!

I had a great day in my kitchen trying out new recipes, with an ending result of a super supper!

Portobello Burgers, made in the dehydrator were awesome, and the recipe for Thousand Island Dressing was like the icing on the cake!  I fixed Dick's like a hamburger,

and I had my burger on top of a salad.

It was so good, I actually licked the plate! 

This was a great new raw recipe, especially the salad dressing.

Lentils Masala with Quinoa was the perfect hot side to the burger on this cold snowy night.  It has a spice in it that I had never used before -  Garam Masala.  It added a lovely sweet taste.

My husband was impressed with both of these dishes.

I was a bit disappointed with the Coconut Almond Cherry Bars.  The ingredients were great, but it came out just a bit too dry, so they did not set up well.  Too crumbly.  Next time I will know better.

My favorite was the burger and the dressing.

It was a super day, and ended with a super supper!

Raw Divas have great jugs!!

The Raw Divas have great jugs! Mine just came a few days ago.  

It holds 32 ounces of green gold!!  I love the words too.

The Raw Divas have a great website that you might want to visit. 

You will find the Green Smoothie Queen there!

In the jug is my smoothie for today: bananas, mango, pears, parsley, kale, coconut juice, crushed ice and water to get to the consistency I like, and various supplements.

I am drinking it as I stand in the window and watch the snow fall, the birds scurry to and from the feeders, and the geese floating on the lake.  

Ah, glorious vacation.  Day one!

Corn on the cob in the winter??

Thursday night I got two ears of corn in my veggie bag at Anner's, Tulsa Food Coop, and thought it a bit odd in the middle of the winter.  I am not a big fan of corn, so I wasn't too impressed.  Then along came Anner's recipes and I thought, "Hmmmm, Broccoli Corn Slaw, might be pretty good."

So outside as snowflakes fell, I had a summer moment in my kitchen husking corn!! This was a really easy recipe and we really enjoyed it.

Combine 1 cup of broccoli, cut into small florets, corn kernels from two ears of corn and a half cup chopped onion in a bowl. Mix together 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 1/4th teaspoon kosher salt, 1/8th teaspoon of white pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano, and a pinch of red pepper flakes, stir, and mix with vegetables.  Refrigerate 15 minutes or more before serving.

I didn't have the white pepper or the pepper flakes, but this was still very tasty.  Next time I might go a little heavier with the oregano. I am anxious to see if it taste even better the next day.

Veggie Bath

Ha, I bet you thought I was now taking a bath with my vegetables when you saw the title!

I learned how to wash vegetables in a most efficient way recently, watching a YouTube that I can't find now!  It is really a terrific method, and it is amazing how much dirt you can have on your greens!

First, fill a bowl with clean water.  I put a big bowl in one of my sinks.  Then put your greens in the "bath" bowl. Swish the greens, or whatever the vegetable is, around with both hands.

Then remove the greens to a colander, which I have in my other sink.  Do not dump the water and greens into the colander because the dirt that is in the water will stay with the greens. Just move the greens with your hands.

Once the greens are moved to the colander, dump the dirty water from the bath bowl,  rinse them in the colander, and then return them to a clean bowl of "bath" water.  Repeat this action until the water in the bath bowl is clean.  Usually three or four times. 

Check out how much dirt is left in the bowl!

The two pictures below are from the first bath of organic parsley!

Can you believe how much dirt there is!  Just rinsing really doesn't get all the dirt off.  I took what I thought was already clean curly kale from the refrigerator and with this method there was still dirt!

Now put your greens or whatever, in a salad spinner.  Boy, does this save on the paper towels!! If you don't have one, it is a great investment!

Once dry, I put them in a zip lock bag and get as much air out as possible, and then put it in the refrigerator.  It makes it really nice when I am ready to use it by saving prep time, and it also stays fresh much longer.

So, the bottom line is: try a veggie bath!

Jicama Anyone?

Jicama.  (Hic-a-ma) Funny word. I love saying it!

Until recently I never even heard of it. At Whole Foods, where I went to buy it, I didn't even say it right when I asked the clerk where to find it.  I didn't even know what it looked like!

So here it is:

For more information and nutritional value, click here.

I used it to make a recipe from Matthew Kenney's book Everyday Raw, that I bought at his restaurant in Oklahoma City, 105degrees. I'm not sure why I picked this recipe?? Probably because I had never had jicama and I was curious what it tasted like??? The jicama has a flavor somewhat like turnip and rutabaga.  It is also referred to as the Mexican Potato.  The recipe is called potato salad.   It is all raw and I really liked it.

Another great use is for a jicama and apple slaw.  This is one of my new favorites. In a food processor, shred/grate a jicama and an apple, add a little honey and some fresh chopped mint, mix well, and refrigerate a few hours.  This is a great side dish.

Dare to Believe

This is the cover and part of the inside page to a little book I found when cleaning out my pantry.  I stopped what I was doing and sat down and read it.  I added my little wish to it for you! I will share more of the pages in later posts.

I love the word believe. 

1-1-11

A New Day.  A New Month.  A New Year.

Ah, the possibilites!

Today is the first day of "Resolve to Evolve" at the Raw Food Rehab community, of which I am a member. I am excited to find a community that truly helps me to achieve "an amazing new lifestyle, full of possibilities for lasting weight loss, regeneration and healing."  The last 6 months of 2010 were an incredible time of transformation for me: weight loss, new energy, new foods, and feeling great. I can't wait to see what 2011 will bring!!

So, today began as usual with a green smoothie, but, notice it isn't green!!! It was quite good though.  Here is what went into it:
2 large pears
1 avocado
1/2 a cucumber
handful of parsley
1 stalk of celery
a   tablespoon of cacao, maca and chia seeds
coconut juice, water and crushed ice
I really liked it, but my husband needed some bananas added to it.

This was my "at home day" that I have been longing for for days!  Projects, organize, de-clutter, were on tap. The pantry got an amazing re-do, cabinets reorganized, a box of things to give away, and lots of throw away.  It feels so good! (Speaking of throw away, someone stole our city trash bin!)

To all who read this, I wish you a new year filled with good health, happiness, love, peace, laughter, and an abundance of all of God's greatest gifts.

Happy New Year!