I went into ATTACK mode!

On Friday he said, "I feel kind of lousy. Scratchy throat and a headache." Oh no! That is what everyone has been saying lately, and then they are sick for 7 - 10 days! . . . . . . No, we aren't playing that game!

So, it was time to open up my arsenal of remedies, and attack this "bug" before it took any kind of a hold on my sweet husband.

In October of 2011 I got sick (so click that link!). My good friend Kat Conrad showed up at my door at 9:00 at night with a little brown bag of goodies to make me well. And it worked. We haven't needed this cure since that time, but it was time to pull it out again and nip this bug in the bud.

Juicing is key to the cure. Into the juice - in the little 2 ounce container - drops of black elderberry, echinacea goldenseal, and an oregano oil blend - and swig it down like a shot. (Thanks for that tip, Denise!) Whoa, the cayenne in the oregano is enough to kill anything! I did it too. Preventive maintenance! We upped our vitamin C and D, added several doses of oil of oregano to the day, breathed steam filled with eucalyptus, drank lots of water, tea, and he stayed home and rested Saturday and Sunday.

And in my nurturing mode, I found delight by setting up camp in the kitchen. Beside the smoothies and juices, a few good meals were in order.

A quinoa concoction with a citrus salad was my favorite on Saturday. I liked the salad the best. Assorted lettuces with avocado, oranges and kiwi. The dressing was made from orange juice, avocado and agave whisked together.  Refreshing and full of vitamin C!

From this month's issue of Vegetarian Magazine, the Moroccan Potato, Carrot, and Chickpea Stew was a change of pace for us. We do not often have potatoes and these were quite tasty in this recipe. And those spices and raisins, oh my! (I love trying new recipes!)

And he wanted his favorite, Red Lentil and Squash Curry Stew.  This is a standard in our house. It is a recipe by Angela Liddon, of Oh She Glows. You really must check out her website! She has amazing recipes.

This blog could not be complete without a picture of the wonderful ingredients of one of our juices. I love pictures of fruits and vegetables. Natures beauties!

Here's the spinach, oranges, grapefruit and lemon that made one of our healing juices. A mega blast of vitamin C (attack!!!). And it tasted so good!

Here is what it all looked like on the way into the juicer! And this is what it looked like afterwards.

Of course a dessert was in order too. Some comfort food! I tried a new recipe for Chocolate Pudding. It has hemp seeds and cacao in it which are amazing super foods! This is a recipe, Chocolate Avocado Pudding, that was on Jason Wrobel's show, How to live to 100. I usually make Raw Intentions' Chocolate Avocado Pudding -  it's in her latest eBook by the way - but out of curiosity decided to try Jason's. I am not sure which one I like the best. Jason's is more like a milk chocolate pudding, whereas, Raw Intention's is definitely in the rich dark chocolate category. I wouldn't turn either one of them down!

Well, I think this is a sweet way to end this blog. 

Oh, and that bug . . . the attack is paying off. We are winning that battle.

(P.S It feels good to do a blog again!) 

I LOVE chips!

I have finally perfected sweet potato chips! Well, at least I just had a very successful batch! The main problem with these chips is they don't last long! And it is not due to their shelf life, but because we eat them so fast! I love sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are power-packed with all kinds of wonderful nutrients!

 

Sweet potato chips are really easy to make, once you get the mistakes out of the way. I have made these a number of times and have learned something each time. I think the biggest lesson I learned is to make sure to cut them almost paper thin. I was slicing them too thick, and marinating them too long. They just never got crispy no matter how long I dehydrated them.

So this is what I now do. Peel the sweet potato. Using a mandolin, make thin slices of the sweet potato. As thin as you can. 

Next decide what you want to put on the sweet potato. I use Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar as a base and then add a seasoning. (Thank you Raw Intentions for this tip!) I have added Himalayan salt and cayenne pepper, or cinnamon.  Put the vinegar in a zip lock bag and then add whatever seasoning you want. 

Add the sweet potatoes and shake them in the bag enough to just coat the potatoes. This is a quick in and out of the bag affair. Previously I was doing this stage in a bowl and letting the potatoes sit in the liquid for 30 minutes or so, and it just made them too wet and the dehydrating process took way too long and was not successful.

As soon as the potatoes are coated, begin placing them on the dehydrator screen. Put them as close to each other as you can to fit as many as possible on a tray. They will shrink 50% or more in size during the drying process.

I was dehydrating the potatoes at 105 degrees. This last batch - the first successful one - I dehydrated the potatoes at 115 degrees. I don't know if that was the key to success, or the fact that I sliced them thinner, or that I didn't soak them, or if it was a combination of all those things? Speaking of dehydrators, I use a 5 draw Excalibur. I love it! My next one will be a nine draw Excalibur!

The drying time will definitely vary. This batch took less than 24 hours to get to a nice crispy state.  I start checking them after 12 hours or so. I can always tell how many times I check them because half a tray might be gone before they are even ready!! 

Once they are ready, put them in a plastic container. I am not really sure what their shelf life would be because we have never had any left after a day or two!

So, if sweet potatoes work this well, I wonder if I can be as lucky with zucchini? As I write this, my zucchini experiment is in the dehydrator. I used my new favorite, golden zucchini from the Farmer's Market to make these chips. I did it the exact same way as the sweet potato method. I sliced the zucchini on my mandolin as thin as possible.

I used Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar in a plastic Zip Lock bag with Himalayan Salt, Oregano and Basil. 

I'll let you know how these turn out!!

Energy Bars . . . or are they?

I make my own energy bar. I haven't found one to buy that I like, and at least by making them myself, I am sure of what is in them! My bars are filled with great superfoods, tastes great and are so easy to make.

This is how easy it is to make them.

Here are the ingredients:

Coconut, goji berries, hemp seeds, cacao, chia seeds, maca, walnuts, and dates

Add the dates to a food processor

and pulse until there are large chunks.

Add the remaining ingredients

and pulse it until it sticks together when pinched.

Dump mixture onto parchment or wax paper and make a ball, then flatten the ball.

Place another piece of parchment or wax paper on top, and using a glass or rolling pin, flatten it to your desired thickness. Mine are about a half inch thick.

Using a large knife, square off the edges

and then cut into bars.

I like to top the bars off with coconut, nuts or hemp seeds.

Now just separate each bar

and wrap them individually. Store them in the freezer

and a quick energy bar, or treat, is ready when you are!

These bars are full of amazing ingredients. Superfoods. 

Check out the phenomenal properties of each one. 

DATES

GOJI BERRIES

HEMP SEEDS

CACAO

CHIA SEEDS

MACA

WALNUTS

COCONUT

There were lots of links to pick from when looking for the benefits and nutritional value of these foods. Do your own research. You might be surprised.

Yes, they are full of energizing nutrients, but they do taste so good! So that brings me back to the original question . . . 

                                  are they an energy bar, or a treat? What do you think?

Raw Soup Away from Home

I sure wish I had a blender and a juicer at work. Oh how nice that would be! It would make lunch time so fun. I especially like raw soups and I could just whip them right up on the spot. But, since that isn't the case, it requires improvising.

Remember my post, Afternoon Delight, where I talked about being organized and bagging up veggies to juice or to use for soup? Well, it actually works quite well. Here is how I can have raw soup away from home.

Before I left home I got out my handy bag of veggies that were all combined and cut, and dumped them in the blender. Next all the pre-measured spices got added, a little Tahiti and water and in less than three minutes I had Green Bandito Soup. This soup recipe is from my friend Kat. You can check her website to get it. Oh my, it smelled so good! It was all I could do not to eat it for breakfast!!

It filled two mason jars, one for today and one for tomorrow (or maybe even tonight!). 

I added some mung bean sprouts and an avocado to my jar of soup and packed it all together in my lunch box.

About 45 minutes before lunch I filled a Tupperware container with hot water. The hot water spout from our coffee maker really came in handy for this. Instant hot water! I changed the water one more time half way through and by lunch time the soup was perfect. Warmer than room temperature, but not so hot that the amazing enzymes from the vegetables and greens would be destroyed.

I added the soup to a bowl, garnished it with sprouts, chopped avocado and pepper, and lunch was ready.

Simple pure food in the bowl,

followed by extraordinary nutrients doing magic in my body!

Not Butternut Squash Soup and Broccoli Sprout Salad

Today was a day of improvising. I started out in the sewing room. I am still working on that dang roman shade. I was all set to make a big dent in the project until I realized the fabric glue required a drying time of 24 hours. OK. So I glued on the trim, set it all to the side, and I made two pillows for a friend.

My plan was to make Red Lentil and Curry Butternut Squash Stew. That was my husband’s request and what he thought he was going to get when he got home! But alas, we were out of squash! So time to improvise, again! He loves quinoa and beans, so based on that, the following soup happened!

Although he says he likes the Red Lentil and Curry Butternut Squash soup better, he had no problems having a second good size helping of this soup! I liked it too, and it was a pretty fast throw together soup! Very thick and hearty.

This is how I made Not Butternut Squash Soup:

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 medium sweet yellow onion, chopped 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced 
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced 
• 3 small zucchini, chopped 
• 1 ½ boxes vegetable broth (6 cups) 
• ½ cup quinoa, uncooked 
• ½ lentils, uncooked 
• 1 15-oz can diced tomatoes 
• 1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed 
• ½ - ¾ tsp curry powder 
• ¼ - ½ tsp cinnamon 
• Salt and pepper 
• Sprinkle of ground nutmeg 
• 3 cups baby spinach leaves (or kale would be good too!) 

Directions: Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Add the chopped onion and sauté over medium-low heat until translucent. Stir often. Add the chopped carrots, chopped zucchini, and minced garlic, and continue to sauté, covered, stirring often for about 10-15 minutes. Enough so the vegetables are almost, but not quite done.

Add vegetable broth, quinoa, lentils, tomatoes, black beans, and seasonings. Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

Stir in the spinach and cover. Simmer on low for about 15-30 minutes. Makes about 10 cups.

A day just isn't complete without a salad. I wanted to use my sprouts and my broccoli. I couldn't find any recipes for that combination, so time to improvise again, and Broccoli Sprout Salad was born.

Broccoli Sprout Salad

The ingredients are rough because I did not measure! Exactness is definitely not crucial with this salad.

Chop and add to a large bowl:

½ red pepper
2-3 green onions
1 carrot
½ cucumber
1 c broccoli florets (little pieces)
1 tomato
2-3 c sprouts (mine were a combination of mung beans and lentils)
¼ c sliced almonds

Stir it all together

Dressing

1 avocado diced
1 lemon
Sweetener (optional: agave or honey)
Olive oil
Salt
Garlic powder
Cumin
Cayenne Pepper

Dice the avocado and place in a medium bowl. Add the juice of a lemon. Add some olive oil – maybe a tablespoon or so – and the rest of the seasonings.

Stir it all up and add it to the veggies.

That’s it!



My lemon was rather big and the lemon juice was quite overpowering so I added some agave to take a bit of the tartness away – and not enough because my husband still thought it was too tart! I thought it was just right, so I ate his!

It is a wonderfully crunchy salad with lots of flavor. I love sprouts and this was a perfect way to use them. If you have never sprouted mung beans or lentils before, it is really easy to do. They are a powerhouse of nutrition, and way better than any you can buy. Watch this great little video on YouTube that shows how to make a sprouting jar, and also how to sprout. The same procedure shown on the video for the alfalfa sprouts would apply to mung beans and lentils. I use the plastic netting from the bags of limes or lemons for the screen. You could always improvise with anything that would work!!

So after some minor improvising, everything turned out OK.  Like the saying goes, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade." 

I could also say, "when you are out of butternut squash, make not butternut squash soup" or "when your sprouts and broccoli want to get together, make broccoli sprout salad."

(Does that even make sense? I can tell I lost that hour of sleep with the time change! Yikes!)

Wrapping Romaine . . .

. . . around veggies is one of my favorite things to do with a nice leaf of romaine lettuce.  I think I even like it that way better than in a salad. It makes raw food fast food.

Now just look at my lunch. Yes, it is just all over the place in the picture, but the point is, it was quick, delicious and nutritious!

As you can see I have a little baggie of carrots and red peppers, and there is also a cucumber hiding on the far right, and of course the romaine lettuce. The little containers are filled with two kinds of deliciousness, eggless egg salad (now how crazy is that!) and red pepper cheese. I put all of this in a big plastic bag and put it together on my plate. Can't get a lunch at work much fresher than that!!

Lay the lettuce leaf out, spread it with the eggless egg salad, layer red peppers, cucumber strips and fold it up, and there you have it, a great wrap! It's easy to change up what is in the wrap too. The carrots made for great dipping in the red pepper cheese (which by the way I could actually just eat with a spoon - I like it that much!!). It really was a very satisfying lunch.

Did you catch what I said, "eggless egg salad?"  Are you the least bit curious as to what that is all about? This stuff tastes just like egg salad but has absolutely no eggs, and no dairy of any kind, in it. It is also great on crackers, with veggies, or on your finger (well, I don't know how your finger tastes, but it is great on my finger!).

All you have to do is combine all this stuff.

First chop up the celery, red pepper and green onions, and put it in a bowl with the Bubbies.

Then blend, really blend, the rest of the stuff together

 until it is really smooth, and yellow. Then add it to the bowl

and mix it all together really well, and there you have it: eggless egg salad!

And just as a side note, absolutely none of this went to waste thanks to my handy rubber tongue!

I have used lots of spreads in a romaine wrap: hummus, guacamole, ranch dip. And filled them with everything from veggies to beans and even a quinoa combination. Think of it as the bread to your sandwich! Give it a try!

Well, as they say in show business, "That's a wrap!"