Raw food menu for today

Thought I would post a menu of what I ate today because it seems like I have been receiving a lot of inquiries lately regarding what I eat on a daily basis. This morning I had a liter of green smoothie -- spinach, orange, banana, mango. Mid morning I had a bowl of mixed fruit. Today for lunch I had a delicious sprout salad from Whole Foods. It had sunflower, red lentil, white lentil, and some other kind of sprouts. If you have never had lentil sprouts, they are very tasty! They are a bit spicy and add great flavor. The kids and I ate some heirloom organic navel oranges for afternoon snack. YUMMY! For dinner I had a green leaf salad with dried cranberries and apple cider vinegar dressing and a banana. I feel so energized! I know it sounds weird, but eating this way makes me feel clean. My mouth feels clean, and I do not feel heavy or sluggish. I don't know how else to explain it. I remember when I ate a SAD diet I felt so full after eating meal and then I would be so tired, especially after lunch. Now, I feel revitalized every time I put something in my mouth.

Tomorrow I am going to go hear a raw food guru speak in downtown Dallas, Paul Nison. I am pretty excited about hearing what he has to say. You might be interested in checking out his website at www.rawlife.com. I know I promised a pic from the raw food meetup, but I can't get my pic to download properly. I will work on it and try and get it on here in the next couple of days. Here is a pic of me with my new (kinda funky) red hair.

3 days to go til Bahamas!

Sharing Dreams and Dreaming Visions

It has been a very good weekend. Friday night Wayne and I went to a vegan Indian restaurant in Dallas with some very good friends of ours. The food was great, and the company was wonderful! Have you ever had the type of friends with whom you just feel connected? These were those type of friends. It doesn't matter how long it has been since we have seen them, we are always just able to pick up where we left off. They accept you for who you are and there is nothing false or forced about being with them. We shared dreams and dreamed visions together so I have quite a list of things to do on my list for this week.

Saturday Emma had choir practice, Phillip had a soccer game, and Jake took an archery class. I got my hair done and became a red head. One of my high school friends told me "red in the head, better in bed." I'm not sure about the truth behind it, but it might be fun to experiment (ha! ha!). It is good to have a change. I like having a little spice in my life.

Speaking of spice, tonight Emma and I went to a raw food meetup. It was very nice and the food was outstanding -- I will post a pic tomorrow. I made raw pizza and raw "almost oatmeal" cookies from my Raw Revolution Diet recipe book. They were both a hit. Someone else made pina colada "cheesecake" (the cheese is actually made from cashews, not milk -- no animal products in it). YUM! My other favorite dish had zucchini and some kind of tomato sauce. We also had nettle soup (I had never had nettle before, so it was interesting and yummy), several different types of salads, and some organic blood oranges. It was fun to see everyone.

my core raw foods

I was on another raw food website today where someone had posted that every raw fooder should have 15 - 20 core items that they eat on a regular basis. I had so much fun reading everyones' responses. It gave me ideas about what new things I might consider adding to my diet. Anyway, I thought you might enjoy reading some of the things I usually always have on hand: 1. trail mix (I like mine with several different kinds of nuts and seeds, gogi berries, apple sweetened dried sour cherries or cranberries) 2. salads with LOTS of colorful veggies (red and yellow peppers, cucumbers, radish carrots, avocado, sprouts, and I even like nuts and dried fruit on them) 3. Green smoothies EVERY DAY -- LOTS! 4. Fruit salad 5. Nut butter with an apple 6. raw vegetable "sushi" 7. raw "spring rolls" 8. zucchini pasta with raw "tomato sauce" 9. Go Raw! bars 10. Hail Merry Chocolate tart 11. veggies with dip 12. raw date cookies 13. home made guacamole with yellow squash "chips" 14. raw taco lettuce wraps 15. young coconut mixed with almost any kind of fruit 16. almond milk 17. cucumbers, red onions, apple cider vinegar (with the mother), and fresh dill 18. green juice 19. kale (love it!)

ALIVE in 2010!

Today I experimented a little more with my juicer. For breakfast I had coconut, pear, romaine juice. I blended the water and meat from one young coconut and then added it to two juiced pears and a head of romaine lettuce. It was quite good, I must say. I love coconut. I think I could add it to pretty much anything. For lunch I decided on a nice vegetable juice. I did 5 tomatoes, half a red pepper, half a yellow pepper, a stalk of celery, and a little bit of Bragg's Amino. It was also very good. I wasn't sure because I vegetable juice is typically not my favorite, but I really enjoyed it.

Tomorrow we are entertaining people who are not, and don't want to be, vegetarians, much less raw vegans. That is okay with me because I realize this lifestyle is not for everyone, but it does make feeding everyone a bit challenging. At first I was going to say to hell with it and make a big pot of chili and have hot dogs on hand. They could all enjoy the chili and I could just make myself a smoothie. But I finally settled on a vegan homemade minestrone. It is not raw, but it is still chocked full of all kids of good stuff. I also got some crusty bread for everyone to enjoy and I am going to also chop up some fresh fruit and veggies to munch on. I figure that is a pretty good compromise. For dessert vegan pumpkin pie -- Yum! I can live with that. I am also juicing oranges in the morning and we are going to make mimosas. I am not a big champagne fan (I don't know many who are), but it is hard to beat a good mimosa!

2010 looks to be good, though, and I am excited about what this new year will bring. I think about how much life has changed in just a little over half a year of eating a high raw diet and I get goosebumps -- I can't see what a year of eating a high raw diet will bring, and two years, etc... I feel so much wiser, healthier, and ALIVE!

JUICY!

I received a juicer for Christmas and I have been juicing my little heart out today. The kids and I went to Costco this morning and they each got to pick out a fruit. Phillip picked apples (sweet apples, actually -- he makes sure to clarify "sweet"). Jake picked oranges and Emma picked pears. We bought in bulk because I wanted to try lots of different concoctions. Then we came home and did some experimenting. We made carrot, apple, pear, spinach juice. It was really good! I was surprised how much juice we got out of the carrots; it was pretty impressive. The juice was such a pretty orange, too.

I poured myself a large glass and that was lunch. I was going to have a salad, too, but I was full from the juice. In fact, I wasn't hungry all afternoon. I expect smoothies to fill me up, but just juice? I did not expect to be full. Jake drank a full glass, but Emma and Phillip just had a sip. They both said they liked it, but neither wanted a full glass. I'll keep trying. I did succeed in getting Phillip to eat a small salad at dinner this evening, though. It even had yellow and red bell peppers, onions, and cucumbers on it. Wayne and I are making a little extra effort to get him to eat his veggies. He is the only one of my children who turns his nose up at vegetables. If I don't offer it to him and show him how much we value having veggies in our diet then he is sure not to ever like them. Therefore, I will keep piling them on him plate and making him eat even a few small bites.

We got a new game for Christmas called Qwirkle. We really like playing games and this one was GREAT! If you haven't heard of it, I highly recommend taking a look at it. It requires lots of strategy and planning. It is MENSA approved, and we all enjoyed playing it. Speaking of games, we got another game that we played with the kids before my parents left that was also fun. It was Funglish. It is sort of like charades (you are trying to get people to guess a word), but there are only printed words, no acting. Both games guarantee a fun family night!

Before I wrap this blog up for the night I just have to tell you about one more thing. We had more SNOW today! I cannot believe it. It was not as much as Christmas Eve, only about one inch today, but it was so pretty falling. Tomorrow it will be in the mid forties, so it is not going to last long. We are enjoying it while we can.

Almost Oatmeal Cookies Rock!

My almost oatmeal cookies have been a hit today. I really like them and will definitely be making them again. They do take a while to make, but it is just the dehydration that takes such a long time. Making the dough is actually pretty quick and easy, and once they are in the dehydrator you don't have do anything except flip them. I guess what I am saying is that they were worth the effort.

Today Emma sang in the Nutcracker so we were very busy running back and forth to the performance hall for dress rehearsal this morning and the actual performance this evening. Her choir sang beautifully and were appreciated by all who were there. I am very, very tired tonight and have a million and a half things to do tomorrow so I turning in for the night. Sweet dreams!

Holidays: Preparing to Succeed

Three days and counting. Mom and Dad are driving here as we speak and should arrive within the next hour. We are all getting excited! Today the kids and I made white chocolate covered pretzels and some organic cookies. Those are some of their favorite treats. Then we made some treats for me. I made raw almost oatmeal cookies -- they are in the dehydrator as I type. I also bought lots of fruit and am ready for the holidays! Tomorrow I am making raw not-peanut butter cookies and raw brownies so we can leave some for Santa. I have been so much healthier that I do not want to fall off of the wagon because of a failure to prepare.

For one brief moment, all of the laundry is done and the house is clean. I am enjoying it while I can because Wayne and the boys will be home any minute and this moment will be over as soon as they walk in the door. Oh well, it was good while it lasted. They have been at a living creche tonight. Jake was a shepherd. Phillip loved petting the sheep, donkeys, and cows. Emma and I did not go because she had choir rehearsal since she is singing in the Nutcracker tomorrow. They practices with the symphony tonight and she was thrilled! It was neat for her to practice singing with the back-up of an orchestra -- she said she felt like a "real" singer.

The Whole Pizza

Wayne and I had the home made raw pizzas for dinner tonight. I must say, I did a good job! My pizza crusts weren't as pretty as Bliss', but they tasted just as good. I made pesto and raw pizza sauce and layered them on the crusts. Then I topped the pizzas with raw sun-dried olives, purple onions, and Roma tomatoes. They were pretty, but they looked pretty small. I was worried that we would still be hungry, but neither Wayne nor I could finish our entire pizza -- they were very filling! I will eat the leftovers tomorrow for lunch. Wayne was worried because they didn't have cheese on them, but once he tasted it, he said he didn't miss the cheese at all.

Today I took the kids to North Park Mall in Dallas and we went to the model train exhibit. It was really cool, and the kids absolutely LOVED it, even Emma. The tracks and scenes were so elaborate. It doesn't cost much money and the proceeds go to The Ronald McDonald House. It was very well done. We also saw a very cute (and FREE) puppet show in the mall. I try not to take 3 children to the mall EVER, but especially when it is crowded, because it is a recipe for disaster. Not today, though, and let me tell you, the mall was not just crowded -- it was packed! Nevertheless, we had a very nice time. The SPCA also had a booth set up in the mall and played with all of the puppies. They really had some cute ones. My favorite breed is a mutt, and they had lots of those. We adopted both of our dogs from dog shelters and I am a huge advocate of shelter adoptions. If we did not already have two dogs, I may have brought one home. The pic is of one named Minnie. She looked like a little Clyde (one of our dogs).

By the way, Happy Winter Solstice. I can't believe that there are only 4 more days until Christmas.

Raw Ethical Eating

Tonight I made my first raw pie. I don't know why I have waited so long because it was so easy and delicious! It has always intimidated me a little bit to try a pie. I should really say, my mom and I made chocolate cream pie. The crust was made from macadamia nuts, dried pineapple, and dates. The filling was raw cocoa nibs, a young coconut, coconut butter, dates, and vanilla. Then we froze it it so it would set (we didn't wait quite long enough, but it did not matter that much) and topped it with fresh raspberries.

We also made raw "fried" rice, vegetable sushi, and a seaweed salad. It all made for a very good dinner. I think my dad was surprised. He was kinda hanging around the kitchen with his lip curled up a little bit as we prepared it, but when he tasted it he liked it, and even said he thought he could get used to eating like this (as long as he could occasionally have a little meat). I think that would be great for him.

A high raw diet is not for everyone, but I do think that upping your raw intake will benefit almost everyone! The key is to listen to your own body and be sensible. When I first started eating a raw diet, I did crave some things, but the longer I stuck with it the less cravings I had. Now that I have learned so much about food and the food industries I don't think I could ever eat meat or poultry again. It doesn't even sound good.

I did not start eating this way for ethical reasons, largely because I was totally ignorant of how my food got on my table. However, eating raw has opened my eyes and mind to many things I did not expect when I began. Ethical eating is increasingly becoming a large part of why I eat what I eat. Some good books to start your own food education are Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (she is not a vegetarian, but is an ethical consumer), and Food, Inc. (also a film). Just be prepared, once your read or watch them it will change how you view your meals.

Smoothie recipes

We were riding in the car today, in between the library and swimming lessons, when Jake announced that he had an idea for a new invention. I asked him what it was and this is what he said, "I want to invent a shelf in the shower that is protected by waterproof glass. Inside it is a bookstand and you can prop your book up on the stand and then shut the glass. There is a button or a remote control in the shower so you can push a button and turn the page whenever you want. The pages never get wet! You can read in the shower." Pretty clever. I had to smile to myself as I thought about how much I like that he loves to read.

On a completely separate note, I made a couple of excellent green smoothies today. The first I drank all by myself, but the second one everyone enjoyed. The first had half of a bunch of spinach, a mango, a frozen banana and the juice from 3 oranges. The second had the water of a young coconut. Half of a head of romaine lettuce, a mango, and two frozen bananas. Even Phillip drank it! We called it our super-green smoothie complete with flying around the den.

Loving my Raw Food

I am feeling so much better today and glad to be back on my raw food diet! My mind and my mood felt so much better this morning and my energy level has been consistent throughout the day! I am very glad to be feeling like myself again. I have gotten used to the fact that my food choices can improve my physiological health, but it continues to amaze me how much my food can affect the way I feel. I guess this is because I have gone through my whole life not knowing that my food choices could make me FEEL this good! I would have never thought that what I ate could have such noticeable impact on my general sense of well-being.

Before a raw food diet, I thought it "felt" good to eat things like a cheeseburger, a beef chimichanga, macaroni and cheese, or a plateful of lasagna because they were "comfort foods." Now I realize that those things didn't make me feel good at all. They didn't comfort me -- they made me feel comfortable with a "be happy with less than life really has to offer me" attitude. They made me complacent, fat, and numb to all of the wonderful things that life really has to offer. Raw foods give me the energy, clarity of mind, and drive to go for what I really want out of life, namely LOVE, SPIRITUAL WHOLENESS, CONFIDENCE in myself and my choices, INTENTION and PURPOSEFULNESS, ENJOYMENT OF MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY, and THE APPRECIATION OF THE BEAUTY THE WORLD OFFERS ME EACH AND EVERY DAY through nature, food, people, self, art, and music.

I have had many of you tell me that you really like it when I put recipes or things that I ate today on here. So, today I had a wonderful shake -- 2 large handfuls of spinach, the water and meat of a YOUNG coconut, 2 peaches, a mango, and juice from one orange. It was very good and about 32 ounces. I had some trail mix and a banana for a snack. The trail mix had raw pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes, dried Turkish apricots, raisins, raw cashews, and raw walnuts in it. For dinner I made zucchini pasta with garlic dressing (I posted that recipe with a picture a couple weeks ago).

Garlic Lover's "Pasta"

Wayne is out of town this week so I figured what the heck, I am going to eat all of the onions and garlic I want! LOL! Dinner tonight was so easy and so good! It also shows you that you do not need a million dollar kitchen to prepare raw meals. Here is what I did:

I peeled a zucchini squash and then used my julienne tool to make long spaghetti noodles. My julienne tool came from Bed, Bath, and Beyond and was about $4. I topped that with some fresh diced heirloom tomatoes and some fresh basil. Next I used my magic bullet to whip up a sauce to go on top of the "noodles." It had 4 TBSP fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 cup EV olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 tsp Himalayan salt and a couple of grinds of pepper, Italian seasoning to taste (I used dry seasoning, but fresh would also be good), and 1 pitted medjool date. I pulsed it in the bullet until it was creamy -- about 10 seconds. I dabbed it over the "noodles," tomatoes, and basil. It smelled delicious! I have been eating raw long enough to not care if it looks like real noodles, but this dish looked and smelled like the cooked version.

When I first started eating raw I was scared to venture off of a recipe page, afraid I would mess something up. The Boutenko's numerous books gave me the courage to experiment a little. They talk about the five flavors and different things you can add to any dish to make it taste sweeter, more sour, bitter, etc. I highly recommend reading all of the Boutenko books because they have helped me so much! I checked a couple of them out from the library -- you can't get any cheaper than that.

The other thing that strikes me as I write this recipe now is that I would never have had medjool dates in my house before I started eating raw. Now medjool dates are always in my house -- a true staple. I have a tendency to throw one in a smoothie every now and then and they make great brownies, cookies, and crusts. My grocery shopping habits have definitely changed.

My old staples used to be cereal, milk, eggs, turkey (deli meat), lean ground beef, boneless skinless chicken breasts, and bread. My new staples (I am talking things I buy or make sure I have EVERY time I go to the grocery) are medjool dates, almonds, a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables (this is the bulk of my food), lemons, dried fruit, and olive oil. That is a big shift from four months ago! If you calculate the cost of what I was eating and compare it to what I eat now the are almost equal. Yet, I look and feel so much better!

I hope you enjoy the recipe. It was DELICIOUS!

I Needed Some Green Goddess Soup b/c of my school district

Tonight I wasn't expecting Wayne to be home for dinner so I hadn't planned to make anything. I like just drinking a green smoothie for dinner, but he usually likes something that you chew. He called to say he was on his way home so I just decided to throw some things in the blender and see what happened. When he walked in and saw green stuff in the blender he was a little disappointed I could tell. (In all honesty, I've tried a few tragic raw soup recipes online so his disappointment was not unfounded.) I told him not to be disappointed yet because this recipe came from my head. I couldn't tell if that comforted him in any way, but he got a spoon and took a sip. His face lit up as he exclaimed, "This is really good!" I named it Green Goddess Soup:

3 heirloom tomatoes -- seeds and all

2 avocados

1 red pepper seeded

1 head of romaine lettuce

1 bunch of cilantro

1 garlic clove

1 Tbsp raw agave nectar

cumin to taste

chili powder to taste

cayenne pepper to taste (ours was pretty spicy -- made your lips tingle)

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Needless to say, he ate it all without complaint.

I needed to Green Goddess Soup tonight because it gave me the fire I needed to shoot off a letter to the School Superintendent. He sent a letter to the district explaining lame excuses why they chose not to show the President's speech yesterday (like they did not have enough time to read the speech beforehand, and the concern of many parents that the speech would be controversial). I know, my children aren't even in public school anymore, but I am still part of the public that pays taxes so that all children will have an opportunity to receive an education. Here is what I said:

Dear Douglas W. Otto,

Thank you for sending a letter to the school district parents. I appreciate your attempt to communicate with us despite the late hour. That being said, I completely disagree with your decision and think your reasons for choosing to not show the president's speech are simply excuses. Our children are watching us, all of us, not just the president. What you have taught them is that when they disagree with someone they do not have to listen to them. That is not the way the world works. The school district is not just responsible for teaching our children to pass standardized tests, it is responsible for educating our children in ways that will help them be responsible, respectful adults. We have failed them. I am disappointed in your decision not to show the speech. If we cannot teach our children to show common courtesy and respect to the President of the United States (no matter what your political affiliation), how can we expect our children to be respectful and courteous to their teachers and principals. We have done our children a great disservice.

Respectfully,

Check out your library

This morning the kids and I went to the library where I checked out some books on raw food that our library had. I am finding that I am hungry to read everything I can get my hands on. There is so much to learn and the more I read, the more there is to read. The book I read today is The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose. Most of the recipes in this book are raw food recipes, but there are some cooked food recipes as well (some made with fish or shellfish). I am not interested in those recipes, especially given my recent allergy development, but the other recipes looked interesting and I thought it was worth a try.

Tonight I made Creamy Asian Salad and Dressing from page 118. It was so good! Emma had dance tonight so Wayne met me and the boys at the park close to her dance school and we had a picnic. It was fun. When we got home I made home made raw vanilla ice cream (pg 165) banana splits. Oh my! So good! The ice cream by itself was delicious, but when I added the chocolate sauce (pg 147), bananas and strawberries...well, let's just say there weren't leftovers. The ice cream is made with ice, young coconut meat and a little of the coconut water, maple syrup, and vanilla. The chocolate syrup was just maple syrup and cocoa blended together. I am glad I checked out the library and got this book because tonight's dinner alone was worth the trip to the library. Check out your nearest library and try some recipes before you invest in some raw food recipe books for your home. You can see what you like.

Recipe suggestions

I have lots of people asking me for recipes lately. Many of you are wondering how I find recipes and what kinds of things I eat besides salad and smoothies. When I first started my raw food diet my primary source of finding recipes was online. I would just google search "raw food recipes." There are so many websites that have free recipes. One of my favorites is welikeitraw.com. I have gotten many yummy things from this site. Here is a link to raw cupcakes http://www.welikeitraw.com/rawfood/2007/11/raw-choccie-cup.html

I haven't tried it yet, but they look so good! I can't wait to experiment with them. Other good websites are www.fromsadtoraw.com and www.goneraw.com and www.rawguru.com

There are two books that I own that I highly recommend for someone considering a raw diet. The first is The Raw Food Revolution Diet by Cherie Soria, Brenda Davis, and Vesanto Melina. I like this book because two of the authors are registered dieticians and the first half of the book is extremely informative about getting all of your vitamins and nutrients from raw foods. The second half of the book has wonderful recipes. A couple of my favorites are their "mexican burritos," "vietnamese salad rolls," and "bon bon sauce." The bon bon sauce is affectionately called "goody sauce" in my house because we love it so much!

The second Book I highly recommend is 12 Steps to Raw Foods by Victoria Boutenko. This book gives plenty of inspiration and is a little more hard core raw, but her suggestions and thoughts about food addiction were immensely helpful to me. There are some recipes in the book, but it is mostly information. Her "live garden burgers" with "live fries" and "tomato basil sauce" were to live for!

I hope this gives some of you a place to start. I am excited to know that you have been inspired by my journey.