Happy New Year!..and Honey Cinnamon Nuts

I would like to wish all of my readers and Blessed New Year!
Many of us have good and bad memories of this past year....
I pray that all of your memories are not bad ones and that all of us can lay the bad ones to rest and look forward to a new year with hope.
Today I am going to focus on the good....hopefully you can find one good thing to be thankful for...

my one good thing today~
My oldest daughter was married at the first part of 2010 and I have been blessed with a wonderful son-in-law

I hope that even in the bad that we can find some good....since breaking my wrist...which has been pretty negative...I can find good in it....my children and husband have loved me and helped me..which is good.

May the God of all Comfort, comfort you through the bad and give you hope for the future and bless your new year, my friends.
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I have many pictures to post but have not been able to...over Christmas I lost my SD reader...but thanks to Amazon.com I should be receiving a new one soon. 
One Dessert I made can be found here on Bitt of Raw.  It is a Yule Log...a cake rolled up with a raw vegan cream cheese-like filling...I made a cherry sauce for the inside.  This was extremely yummy and my family ate it all in two days...my final cake was not very attractive so I didn't take a picture this time and I made a couple modifications to the recipe.  When I followed the recipe my ingredients were a bit too wet so I added ground chia seeds to the cake batter to thicken. My cheesecake filliing had to be thickened also....I added more cashews, agave, lemon to taste...remember you can play around with recipes...don't be afraid to experiment.  My family thought this was the best dessert I've made so far.
Thanks Aimee for a great recipe!

Check out this great info on Rawdawg Rory's blog on how to become an Ace of Raw cakes  He has a Raw carrot cake with orange frosting recipe on this post that is on my list of cakes to make....mmmmmm!

Another recipe I made for Christmas gift-giving and snacking was:

Honey Cinnamon Walnuts & Almonds

Soak nuts overnight drain and rinse

add:
Raw Honey
Raw Agave
cinnamon
pinch of Himalayan salt

Dehydrated until dry @ 115 degree's or less.
Store in glass jars and keep in fridge...if they are not completely dry inside the nut they will mold...but..if you keep them in the fridge you will protect them from molding up for a couple weeks or more..when dry the nut should have a bit of crunch to it after it cools.
I used 1/2 honey and 1/2 Agave to lessen the sugar impact but still give them a honey flavor.
These were a big hit!!

just sayin.....

Greetings, Merry Chistmas and Happy New Year!

I've not been up to blogging because of this broken wrist issue.  On my last visit the Surgeon showed me my new x-ray's...seems to be healing up at the joint very nicely where it was totally mis-placed!  The other fractures/brakes are healing too.   This x-ray showed us something not seen in the others ones.  I have  a very long fracture in one of the long bones in my arm, beside the brake across the wrist below the joint and in addition to the joint brake.  I am feeling a bit discouraged and not up to working out because of the pain/discomfort. Whaa! just sayin....
With that said, I have decided not to go roller skating anymore....
It just takes a moment to change our routines, our plans...our life....
mine is a very minor alteration in comparison to some, but it has caused me great reflection.
My family has been a blessing in serving me in many ways...
I had no idea how many times I used both of my arms & hands...
my children have folded clothes, made my bed, prepared meals...peeled, chopped, sliced, mixed, lifted, carried, opened, closed, worked in my place at my house-cleaning job, dressed me, bathed me, tied my shoes, drove me around, encouraged me and reminded me it could be worse...etc..etc...

I can hardly imagine being alone without anyone to care for me....


Is there anyone that is in our sphere of  influence that we could reach out to...maybe they do not have a broken bone..maybe they are just an older person, living alone..without the strength or ability...Lord give us eyes to see......

Disease Proof Your Children with Good Nutrition

This morning I got up drank my smoothie...one Dandy Blend and then a GREEN smoothie

GREEN SMOOTHIE

coconut water

black berries

mango

orange

kiwi

bit of orange juice

wheatgrass powder

barley

powder

spirulina

First I made a Fruit salad with

Pummelo's

kiwi

orange

Then I prepared some rice and veggies for my kiddo's

celery

carrots

onion

cabbage

mushrooms

dulse

peas

coconut oil..very tiny amount

Bragg's liquid Aminos

Toasted sesame oil

ginger

Saute lightly

BROWN RICE

red onion

celery

carrots

Bragg's

Toasted sesame oil

ginger

What are you feeding your children?  I encourage you to find out what is best nutritionally for your children and take the time to educate them and feed them food that will support their immune systems, build healthy cells and protect them from diseases and poor health.

T
This is a wonderful resource from Dr. Joel Fuhrman on how to Disease Proof Your Children.
I recommend all of his books!    Please do your own research.....go to the library and check it out...you don't have to buy it.


Editorial Review


"…a timely response to America's health care crisis. The time to effectively institute healthy nutrition is during childhood. Dr. Fuhrman provides solutions for children, parents, and physicians."

-- Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D., Preventive Cardiology - Cleveland Clinic Foundation



"Dr. Fuhrman's latest book couldn't have come at a better time given the epidemic of obesity, cancer, diabetes and heart disease which is reaching earlier and earlier into the lives of our children. It is destined to take its place among the most important child-rearing books ever written…"

-- Mark A. Huberman, President, National Health Association



"The reduction in disease and suffering from this book could exceed any 'medical' advance one can conceive of."



--John Kelly, MD, MPH, President, American College of Lifestyle Medicine, professor, Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Loma Linda University



Product Description

In his private practice, Joel Fuhrman, M.D. helps families transform their eating habits and recover their health. His nutrient-rich eating plan can have a significant impact on your child's resistance to dangerous infections, and a dramatic effect on reducing the occurrence of illnesses like asthma, ear infections, and allergies. Dr. Fuhrman explains how you can make sure your children are eating right to maintain a healthy mind and body, and how eating certain foods and avoiding others can positively impact your child's IQ and success in school.

He also presents the fascinating science that demonstrates that the current epidemic of adult cancers and other diseases is closely linked to what we eat in the first quarter of life. Eating well in our early years may enable us to win the war on cancer. Bolstered by this scientific evidence, he helps you do everything you can to protect your child against developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune diseases, and cancer through a solid nutritional groundwork.

Featuring easy-to-prepare, kid-friendly recipes that will satisfy even the pickiest eaters, your whole family will learn to establish life-long healthful eating habits.

Harness the power of a nutrient-rich diet to ensure a lifetime free of illness and full of health!

Three Bean and Kale Salad aka Christmas Salad

 The road conditions here in the midwest are a bit unfavorable today, therefore I am switching my work day for tomorrow. 

I am blessed to have some flexibility with my part time job....

so I get to stay home and play in my kitchen!!!

First up is my

Three Bean and Kale Salad

(aka my Christmas Salad)

1 bunch of kale washed and de-stemmed

1 red bell pepper diced

1/2 red onion chopped

1 c. of cooked black beans or 1 can drained*

1 c. of cooked pinto beans or 1 can drained*

1 c. or cooked garbanzo's or 1 can drained*

1 container of grape or cherry tomatoes (cut in half)

(I didn't cut mine because of my broken wrist)

Place kale in large mixing bowl and pour dressing over it and massage for a couple minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  Let marinate.   The more wilted the kale the better the flavor.

You can vary your beans according to your likes. I usually add green beans instead of the pinto's. I just used what I had on hand

*to keep it raw use sprouted red and green lentils

Dressing

1/4 c. raw honey

1/2 c. lemon juice

4 T. extra virgin olive oil

dash of salt

Blend in Magic bullet or blender on low setting.

As you can see the red and green colors of the salad make a pretty display on the table for Christmas dinner

Finished product!

Now onto soup for my family~

Quick Chili

saute:

1/2 chopped red onion

1 diced green pepper

1t. extra virgin coconut oil

add:

1 can of diced organic tomatoes

2 cans of diced organic tomatoes (pulsed in blender or food processor)

1 can organic pinto beans drained

1 can organic black beans drained

2 T. chilli powder

salt to taste

Chili Powder

recipe from The Food Substitution Bible

1tsp paprika

2 t. cumin

2 t. dried oregano

1 t. garlic powder

1 t. onion powder

1/2 t. cayenne

1/4 t. allspice

this recipe makes about 3 T.

.This is a great book for making substitutions for ingredients, equipment & techniques. I have the older edition and I use it all the time when making recipes! check it out.

My kiddo's love mac & cheese

I used one box of rice pasta and a large handful of Daiya Cheedar Cheese (vegan)

nice and stringy just like grandma's....

I am posting a lot of non raw food because my family eats cooked meals in the evening and I like to keep a record of my recipes for later use.

I still consume a very high raw diet...lots of smoothies, green smoothies, blended salads, raw snacks, raw nuts, seeds.  One snack I have recently discovered is Go Raw Spirulina  Super Chips and  Ginger snaps. 

I purchase mine through my local co op buying group but you can get them at Amazon by clickng on the link below.

These are raw seed crackers. They are nice and crunchy! Both varieties are quite dense, therefore they fill you up quickly.

The spirulina has a banana, coconut flavor and the ginger has a nice strong ginger flavor!

Spirulina ingred:

sprouted organic sesame seeds

organic banana

organice coconut

organic date

organic spirulina

Ginger Snap ingred:

organic coconut

sprouted organic sesame seeds

organic date

organic ginger

Berkey Water Filter

My husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas...

I've had a Berkey on my wish list for quite some time.  During Thanksgiving Weekend one of my favorite site's offered everthing they sell at a 20% discount!!! Whoohoo!

The only issue I have is trying to find room for it...

We have well water and have been purchasing R/O water for several years.  I live in a rural area and this is not always convenient and I wanted to get away from drinking city water that had been run through an R/O system...for many reasons.

There are so many benefits to having a Berkey.

Berkey is a world class water purifier!! It can even purify lake water in the event of an emergency!

It is gravity fed..one filter last for 6,000 gallons of water..the average cost of a gallon of water purified through your Berkey is about 1.6 cents....can't beat that for clean water!

I purchased mine through More Than Alive, here is there FAQ page

Quick Vegetable Soup

My husband likes to have soup and salad for dinner.  We are a bit burned out on lentils and beans, so tonight I threw together this quick veggie soup.  I used some dehydrated veggies I had on hand to make it fast.

8-10 c. filtered water

2 cans of organic diced tomatoes

(1 can I threw into the blender and blended)

1/3c. dehydrated sweet corn

1/3 c. dehydrated green beans

1/3c. dehydrated snap peas

1/4c. dehydrated okra

4 stalks of fresh celery chopped

1 c. of baby carrots (diced in vita-mix)

1 c. black  rice

1/4c. Seitenbacher veggie broth powder

2T. dried onion

2T. dried parsley

1 t. Himalayan salt

1/2 t. marjoram

1/2t. thyme

cook on stovetop until it reaches desired doneness

During the summer months when I receive my CSA share, anything I cannot use up, I dehydrate.  I have some items on my shelf from 2007.  Everything is still good when rehydrated and available for quick soups or green smoothies. 

I dehydrate beet tops or any other greens I have left over.  These can be added to smoothies or to dips....just use your imagination....

Tonight I had a cup of this soup with a LTM (lettuce, tomato, mayo~Vegenaise) rollup..and a little sweet red onion

Vegan Choco-PB Treats, Spring Rolls and Kristen's Date Bars

VEGAN CHOCO-PB TREATS

(my friend Laurie shared a recipe she found and I changed it up and re-named it!)

4 c. of Arrowhead Mills Pufed Brown Rice

1/2 c. Enjoy Life semi sweet Chocolate chips (vegan/GF)

1c. Eastwind Crunchy Peanut Butter

1c. Sweet Cloud organic brown rice malt syrup

1t. vanilla

extra virgin coconut oil for coating pan/bowl

coat 9x 13 glass baking dish with coconut oil and also coat a large mixing bowl with the same

place puffed rice and chocoate chips into the bowl and sit aside

over medium heat in a small pan heat peanut butter, rice syrup until it bubbles~stirring frequently to prevent scorching

remove from heat and stir in vanilla

quickly pour over the rice mixture and stir well, the chips will melt

then press into pan

let cool before cutting or place in the fridge

At noon time today I went into my kitchen to find this lovely young lady making her lunch...I suggested some additions and she said, "I'm trying to keep it raw."  

This child has been a bit challenging to persuade over to a primarily raw food diet.  Although she does eat a lot of raw foods...she has preferred peanut butter and jelly.

Most recently she has been drinking lots of green superfood smoothies and barley juice! She is seeing some positive changes and this is quite an encouragement to her.

She claimed vegetarian as her own quite some time ago

 and recently informed me that eventually she would go vegan.

I continually try to educate my family about the benefits of eating this way and also the dangers of eating the standard American diet. 

One word of advice I give to parents of older children~provide them with educational books/articles/youtubes/dvds/videos. If you homeschool, you can make this part of their curriculum for health and science.

As my children have read/watched about these things on their own

I have watched them grow in their understanding and make thier own decisions about what they will or won't eat. 

THEY OWN IT....

it is not something they feel obligated to do or forced to do...so today when my girl told me she wanted to keep it raw...that was my reward....and as she adopts more and more healthy choices in her life...she will reap a lifetime of benefits!

This was my lunch today 

Spring Roll and spicy Kimchi...yummy

thanks to my daughter for preparing it~

Spring Rolls

guacamole

tomato

cucumber

red onion

carrot

rice paper

she added romaine lettuce and banana peppers to my spring rolls

Kristen's Raw Date Bars!!!

click on the link to go to Kristen's page for the recipe and a better picture

the above picture was after our family had started to devour them...so I hurriedly took this picture

These date bars are Yummy! 

 Way to go Kristen on a great holiday recipe!

They were a hit at our family Christmas gathering

 for my date loving family members

I am still healing from my broken wrist.  I am able to use my fingers for a short bit of typing.  I figure it is good therapy.  I hope to get my cast off  December 21st and then wear a brace for a while.

This is my first broken bone and I now have a new understanding and sympathy for those who have experienced this unfortunate experience.

I have learned many things during this experience ...about....priorities, allowing others to serve me, humility in different areas, letting go, patience, dealing with pain

Although I do not regularly go to an allopathic doctor...

I AM THANKFUL FOR EMERGENCY CARE AND THE SURGEON/DOCTORS AND NURSES WHO CARED FOR ME and those who are still working with me

until the LORD GOD completely heals my injury through the self healing mechanisms He placed in our bodies