Big Decision

I spent a bunch of time in prayer today. I have made the decision to not have this be my focus for a while. As those of you who know me personally know, I have a HUGE life change coming up very soon. I need to turn my time, energy, and finances there. (For anyone who has found this blog through a random search, please respect that I choose not to share my private life here.) I am going to be in a state of preparation for that event and then will be adjusting to it. I will be back again in the future, but cannot yet say when that will be. Lord bless you!

Day 21

I did very well at being all raw today. I've tried eating the one meal a day raw as my plan and slid right back into mostly cooked foods. That's why I thought perhaps all raw 6 days a week and cooked all day 1 day a week might work better for me. Last week I was feeling a bit over confident on it. Tonight I'm back to thinking that's a great idea. :-D I'm not opposed to cooked foods. I just know myself and am trying to figure out what will work the best for me to keep going with this.

Breakfast: Blueberry banana oat porridge and milk
Lunch: Warm corn chowder
Snack: Milk
Dinner: Handful of almonds plus mango milk

Today's Recipe: Mango Milk
2 Cups milk
1 Mango (its flesh)
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp orange juice

Mix all together in a blender. It was delicious! I have great visions of making lots of peach milk during the height of peach season when they are cheap. :-)

Day 20

Last night I gave in to my craving and had hot cooked soup again. I started the day raw, but couldn't resist going to a Chinese buffet tonight as a family. I'll count that as one of the special exceptions. ;-) It was excellent. Still, I am not doing well this week at all raw. Don't you love how this works? Last week I was feeling SO confident and good about eating raw, thinking I finally had this thing down. And now I'm struggling this week. Still, outside of Fridays, the most cooked food I've had in one day has been one meal. All other meals and snacks have been raw. Anyway, I'm determined to stay raw tomorrow, enjoy my Friday cooked food day and then start fresh. Today:

Breakfast: Apple sliced up with almond butter on it, Milk
Lunch: Warm Corn Chowder (yes this was raw)
Dinner: Chinese buffet

I decided this morning that since I keep craving soup, what I needed to do was find a good raw soup recipe. First, I tried making a miso soup. My daughter and I both tasted it and both of us literally spit it out of our mouths into the sink. It was one of the worst tasting things I've ever had in my life. Yuck! That was not encouraging, but I was determined, so tried again. This time I made up my own recipe. See below:

Today's Recipe: Corn Chowder

16oz frozen corn (thaw first)
4.5 Cups milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp onion powder

I mixed it all together in my VitaMix and then put in a saucepan. Stirring constantly with the burner set on warm, I got it just up to the temperature where it felt warm to my finger. Nice warm filling tasty corn chowder really hit the spot for me! :-)

Day 19 and a catch up

Sorry about that long gap in my entries. First, I had a busy weekend and then I caught some type of tummy bug. I'm not going to try to remember what I ate for all of my meals. I'm sure I would get it all mixed up. Here is yesterday's though.

Breakfast: Green smoothie: spinach, bananas, strawberries
Lunch: 1 tangerine
Snack: Milk
Dinner: I ended up having a bowl of warm cooked soup last night and that seemed to help my stomach settle down.

My stomach feels fine today, but my energy level isn't back up yet. So here's the plan for today:

Breakfast: Granola, banana, and milk
Lunch: Almond butter and honey sandwich on sprouted bread
Dinner: Salad of mixed greens with falafel, shredded carrots, and chutney

Hannah, that's a great idea with the "Sprite." I do have a juicer and will have to try that. Do you recommend any particular blend of veggies for that?

Lynn, thank you for the prayers as well as all of the encouragement.

Friday

I went ahead and had cooked foods today, but easily could have stayed raw. It's funny how fast I've lost my cravings. The last 2 Fridays I drank Cokes. I've been drinking Coke since I was 13, so for 24 years. That's a long time to be addicted to something. The idea of having a Coke today was flat out unappealing. I think I'll stick with my Friday cooked days through January and then drop them. They've worked well for me, but I don't think I need them anymore. I checked my weight this morning and it had stayed the same this week, so I'm still at 9lb lost so far.

Lynn, you asked about the dehydrator. My husband gets an annual Christmas bonus. We have steadily over the last 6 years used part of the bonus each year to get something that will help us be healthier as a family. The dehydrator was something we bought that way. We have an Excalibur one and it is expensive but so fantastic. I love it and think it's worth every dollar! Also, I emailed you that gluten free bread recipe.

Day 15

I stayed busier than usual today, so was glad that I could go with such quick meals. I'm looking forward to eating cooked tomorrow, but nearly as much as I was the other weeks. I think that's a really good sign.

Breakfast: Sprouted tortilla spread with halvah and wrapped around a banana, Milk
Lunch: Sprouted tortillas used as pitas with corn tabouli and hummus
Snack: Milk
Dinner: Granola and milk with sliced banana

Lynn, good job on the salads! Regular salad dressings aren't raw, but this next week I'll try to post some raw salad dressing recipes. They're super easy to make and taste great.

Day 14

I got excited as I realized that this is in fact Day 14. If you look back at the 2007 posts, Day 14 was my last day I journaled about being raw. At that point, my desire for raw was gone and I wasn't even staying raw through the whole day anymore. I was really struggling. TODAY I'm on Day 14 and I'm still loving being raw! I'm still super excited about it and am feeling great! Woo-hoo! Yesterday, we headed out in the evening, so I ended up grabbing some granola to take with me in a bag instead of that salad I'd been planning on having. That made for an easy meal on the go. I'll have to remember that one. One thing I'm really enjoying about eating raw is how I can just prepare foods a few times a week and happily eat them all week long. That's great for a busy mom!

Breakfast: Strawberry banana oat porridge
Lunch: Falafel and chutney, Milk
Snack: Bananas
Dinner: Salad of mixed greens with broken up falafel, shredded carrot, and chutney

Today's Recipe: Falafel

3 mugs shrouted chick peas
2 cups soaked sunflower seeds (measured after soaking)
2-3 Tbsps. water
1 bunch parsley
1/2 small white onion
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cumin
2 Tbsp golden flax meal (ground in coffee grinder)
2 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp white miso

Process in batches in your food processor, starting with the seeds and beans and water. Once those are all done and in a big mixing bowl, mix the parsley and the onion as a batch in the food processor. Put that into the mixing bowl with the bean/seed mix and then directly mix the rest of the ingredients into it. Roll into little balls and place on an oiled mesh dehydrator screen and flatten lightly with fork like you would a peanut butter cookie. Dehydrate for 8 hours at 105.

Days 12 & 13

Well, I'm not doing as well at posting daily as I was before. This still seems to be fine though especially since I wasn't trying to keep track of exact portions. I am just positively addicted to that Israeli chutney. I'm actually having to convince myself to eat something different for breakfast, figuring I need a little variety somewhere in my diet. When I eat it with falafels, it is more like a little falafel with my chutney than the other way around. Yesterday:

Breakfast: Granola and milk
Lunch: Falafels and chutney and avocado
Snack: Milk
Dinner: Falafels and chutney

Today:

Breakfast: Strawberry banana oat porridge
Lunch: Falafels and chutney, milk
Dinner: Israeli Salad: Mixed greens with broken up falafel, avocado, and (of course) lots of chutney

Lynn, falafels are a Jewish/Middle Eastern yummy little concoction made from a base of chick peas. Raw food preparation really is easy! I urge you and anyone else thinking about it to go for it! I'm feeling healthier with every passing day and my weight loss is coming along great. Which ingredients in particular did you have questions about and I'll tell you what they are and where I get them. :-)

I bought a new book that I'm SO excited about! It's by Alyssa Cohen and is called "Living on Live Food." I'm including a link for it.
http://alissacohen.com/

Day 11

I made falafel in the dehydrator overnight. They were good, but I think I dried them a bit too long. Next time, I'll decrease the time to change the texture. It was my first time making them. I also made Israeli Chutney for the first time today. Oh it was absolutely incredible! It was one of the best tasting foods I've ever had in my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By the way, if you're enjoying these recipes, about 70% or so are slight adaptations from Rejuvenate Your Life by Serene Allison. It is the BEST recipe book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I highly recommend you purchase it yourself.

Breakfast: Granola and milk
Lunch: Falafel and Israeli Chutney
Dinner: Sprouted tortilla, almond hummus, corn tabouli, falafel, and Israeli chutney

Today's Recipe: Israeli Chutney

6 Granny Smith apples
2 big mangoes
3 lemons, freshly squeezed
1 big Vidalia sweet onion, chopped
3 Tbsp curry powder
2 Tbsp cumin powder
1/2 cup Braggs Liquid Aminos
1/4 cup raw honey

Process all together in a food processor.

Days 9, Friday, and Day 10

My internet connection went down. Sorry about that! Thursday, which was Day 9 of eating raw went very well. I've decided that getting off of my morning tea just isn't going to be a goal of mine for right now. My main goals that are motivating me to make these huge eating changes are #1 - Lose weight and #2 - Get healthy. I can feel both happening, praise God! If that means I still have tea in the morning and eat cooked food one day per week so that all the rest can be raw, then that's fine. Lynn, I'm proud of you for getting off caffeine!

Breakfast: Granola and milk
Lunch: Almond butter and honey on sprouted bread, Banana
Dinner: Mexican salad - salsa, Mexican veggie nut stuffer, cheese, avocado, mixed greens (This finished off the last of my salsa and Mexican veggie nut stuffer.)

That was the first day so far that I found myself really really wanting to eat cooked foods. I was happy that the next day was Friday! Friday I weighed in again and saw that I'd lost another 3lb, so that's 9lb so far this month. I'm so happy about that! I again got my cooked cravings out of the way and am now ready for another 6 days of raw and am all excited about it again. This seems to be working out very well for me. So on to today:

Brunch: Chocolate milk, granola, milk
Snack: Fruit
Dinner: Indian spinach salad

Today's Recipe: Indian Spinach Salad

Bowl of fresh spinach leaves
1 avocado, chopped
1/2 carrot, shredded
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp curry powder
Sprinkle with Nutritional Yeast
Sprinkle of ground sesame seeds

Days 7 & 8

Sorry that I didn't get to post yesterday. I was gone almost the entire day and was too tired to do it by the time I got home. I did manage to stay raw while out, which was a big accomplishment for me. Yesterday:

Breakfast: Rejuvenation Granola plus milk
Lunch: Sprouted tortilla spread with almond butter and wrapped around a banana, a tangerine, and milk
Dinner: Sprouted tortillas with corn tabouli and almond hummus

The chick peas and wheat sprouted and I put them into bags in the fridge to get to within the next couple of days. They stay fine in there for 3 days once sprouted. I also got another big batch of buckwheat going. Today:

Breakfast: Rejuvenation Granola and milk
Lunch: Mexican Salad: mixed greens, avocado, salsa, Mexican veggie nut stuffer, and cheese
Dinner: Sprouted tortillas with corn tabouli and almond hummus

Maybe you're right about the tea, Lynn. That tea in the morning sure does help me! I had it again yesterday and today. Last night while driving home from my big outings I wanted to stop and buy Coke so very badly, but resisted the urge. I will email you a gluten free (cooked) bread recipe.

Day 6

I am losing my battle with the caffeine. On a positive note, at least I have stayed totally away from soda on my raw days. Tea is certainly healthier than Coke and previously I was drinking both. I had tea with breakfast again. This morning I rinsed both colanders - the buckwheat and the chick peas. Tonight when it was time to rinse them I checked and my buckwheat was already ready to go. My oldest daughter and I had fun mixing it up into a big batch of Rejuvenation Granola. Some of the chick peas are just starting to sprout. It should be ready in the morning. I went ahead and rinsed them and put them back on the counter. During the day today, I soaked soft winter wheat. I rinsed that off tonight and put it into the colander that had previously been holding the buckwheat. Lynn, you commented that this seems like a lot of work. It only takes a few minutes each morning and evening. It's just a matter of planning. The Rejuvenation Granola is now "baking" in the dehydrator and will be all ready for a yummy breakfast in the morning.

Breakfast: Strawberry Banana Oat Porridge
Lunch: Celery sticks with almond butter in them, apple, tangerine, milk
Dinner: Sprouted tortillas with almond hummus and corn tabouli (So yummy! It was like being in a gourmet Middle Eastern restaurant!)

Today's Recipe: Rejuvenation Granola

14-16 Cups sprouted buckwheat groats
3/4 Cup honey
3/4 Cup olive oil
1 coffee grinder's worth of ground flax seeds
2 coffee grinder's worth of ground white sesame seeds
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup shredded coconut
Then have fun tossing in whatever seeds, nuts, or dried fruit you want. I went with pumpkin seeds, pecans, dates, and papaya tonight.

Mix all together and then spread on 4 greased dehydrator sheets. Dehydrate overnight at 105 degrees. Serve with milk or a dairy alternative. I like it with our raw cow milk.

Day 5

Today was a good day. I did end up having tea with breakfast again, but otherwise was raw. Lynn, hopefully you did better than me with the caffeine today! I did a bunch of prep work for raw dishes I will be having later this week, too. During the day, I soaked almonds, chick peas, and buckwheat. Tonight, I turned the almonds into hummus and I have the chick peas in one colander sprouting and the buckwheat in another colander sprouting. In addition to making the hummus tonight, I also made corn tabouli. Yes, I am moving off my recent Mexican kick and onto a Middle Eastern one. Raw food is so fun! :-D

Breakfast: half slice sprouted cinnamon raisin bread, milk
Lunch: one and a half sprouted tortilla wraps - spread with halvah, wrapped around a banana, apple
Snack: tangerine
Dinner: Mexican salad - mixed greens, corn, salsa, Mexican veggie nut stuffer, shredded cheese plus Milk

Almond Hummus

1 cup almonds, soaked at least 4 hours
2 Tbsp tahini
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cumin powder
3 lemons, freshly squeezed
half to one Cup water, as needed for right consistency

Blend all together in your Vita Mix. If you do not have one, it is a super powerful blender. Try it in your regular blender, but you may need to add a bit more water. This should come out nice and smooth.

Day 4

Yesterday I took care of all of the food cravings I'd had. Today I'm happy to be raw again. I didn't have any caffeine today. It was hard, but I'm glad I got through it.

Brunch: Strawberry Banana Buckwheat Porridge, fresh blueberries, fresh strawberries, chocolate milk

Snack: Banana, Tangerine

Dinner: Raw tacos - I took a sprouted tortilla and filled it with Mexican veggie nut stuffer, salsa, avocado, cheese, and corn. Yummy!

Snack: Milk

Today's Recipe: Mexican veggie nut stuffer

4-5 carrots, peeled and chopped
1.5 cups almonds
1/3 red onion, peeled and chopped
1.5 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp orgegano
1 Tbsp olive oil
juice of one squeezed lemon

Combine all in food processor. Whir.

Friday - Cooked Food Day

Today's Friday, my weekly day for eating cooked food. I'll continue my raw journey tomorrow.

I lost 6lb in my first 3 days of eating raw! :-)

Day 3

Today went well again. Last night was rough, so I had tea again this morning. I'll get there. Lynn, what an awesome final caffeine drink you had! Yummy!

Breakfast: Strawberry Banana Buckwheat Porridge
Lunch: 1 1/2 banana wraps: sprouted tortilla wrap spread with halvah and wrapped around a banana
Snack: Milk, Clementines
Dinner: Milk, Salad: greens, pumpkin seeds, salsa, cheese

Today's Recipe: Salsa

4 vine ripe tomatoes
1 jalapeno
1/2 red onion
1 red pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch cilantro
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp lime juice

Put in food processor. Pulse.

Day 2

Today went really really well. I must admit, though, that at breakfast I was struggling desperately with falling asleep. I decided that having tea with breakfast would be just fine. We started up our new homeschool semester today and the idea of a barely functioning Mommy leading the way didn't sound like the best plan. lol The tea worked perfectly and I was fine the rest of the day. That's still much less caffeine than I'd been having. Anyway, onto today:

Breakast: Strawberry Banana Buckwheat Porridge
Lunch: 1/2 almond butter and honey sandwich on sprouted bread, plus salad of mixed greens with cheese, avocado, and salsa and a glass of milk
Snack: handful of almonds
Dinner: 1/2 stuffed pepper (from yesterday), plus half a sandwich of that same pecan pate spread of the sprouted bread

Today's Recipe: Strawberry Banana Buckwheat Porridge
3-4 bananas
1 cup milk
2 cups soaked buckwheat (measure after soaking)
2 cups frozen strawberries
2 Tbsp honey
dash of bee pollen
dash of acidophilus

Blend all together in blender. I have a VitaMix and it is fabulous at this. By the way, I just toss everything in, so I'm guessing at measurements. Feel free to adjust any way you like!

Day 1

Today has been going great so far with being raw. Of course, starting is always easy! My only struggle has been trying to ignore my caffeine cravings. I haven't given in, though! I decided that I'm going to try posting one recipe a day here. Since I often make things in big enough batches to eat over a few days, that should work out well. For example, this morning I made enough of the porridge for today, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Breakfast: Strawberry Banana Buckwheat Porridge
Lunch: We all slept in and breakfast was really late, so we skipped it. I had a large glass of raw milk.
Dinner: Red and yellow peppers stuffed with Pecan Pate

Today's Recipe: Pecan Pate

2 cups fresh pecans
1/2 red onion
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1-2 tsp Bragg's liquid aminos
1-2 tsp lemon juice

Chop the red onion and then put it and all of the other ingredients into your food processor. Put in just enough water for things to move well. I like about 2Tbsp worth. Mix together, scraping it down from the sides as needed. Cut 2 sweet peppers in half. I really like the red, orange, and yellow ones for this. Fill each half with the pecan mixture and then put them in the dehydrator at 105 until nice and warm.