Merry Christmas!

     I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We had a wonderful and yet sad Christmas this year. In the 2 weeks leading up to Christmas we lost my aunt, mother-in-law and 2 very dear family pets. This has been the saddest Christmas that I have ever had but at the same time it has made me take a good look at what Christmas really means, and that is a good thing.


     I have found that the meaning of Christmas has become a bit muddled, even in our home. Don't get m wrong, we do know what the real meaning of Christmas is but we are still getting too caught up in the worlds meaning of Christmas and Santa Clause. I want this to change in our home.


     What does this have to do with eating raw food you may be asking? I started out celebrating Christmas more like I feel that we should be celebrating it but somewhere along the way I got off track. See, I was not looking out for detours or side roads and I should have been. As soon as I start taking for granted that I am on the right path I get arrogant and take my eyes off of the road. This is where the trouble begins, whither it be celebrating Christmas, serving God or eating healthy. As soon as I stop being diligent about making sure that I am eating right and planning ahead I fall, and boy does it hurt.


     I have fallen down very badly indeed recently. I have fallen back on what has been familiar to me my whole life. You see, I stopped watching the road and ended up on a side street. I thought that I was watching the road but I had gotten arrogant. Arrogance is always my downfall. 


     Now here I am, feeling bad and so very sad from the food that I have eaten and the loved ones that I have lost lately. Please pray for my family as we heal from are losses and work at turning our eating back around again. I am learning to lean on God and not on my own understanding, in all my ways to acknowledge Him and that He will make my paths straight. May you learn these lessons without having to go through such a time as this and may God bless you and your family in the upcoming new year.


Words of inspiration:

 

 

And

Comfort Foods

   

     It has been a week and a half  since I have posted. I told myself when I started this blog that I was going to be very good about keeping it up and not let more than 2 or 3 days go between posts. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men! Oh well, things happen.


     This has been a very busy and sad time for my family. My lovely, sweet and amazing aunt passed away. She is the sweetest woman that I have ever met. I consider it an honor to have been related to her and to have been able to grow up around her. She has changed the way that I look at parenting and how I treat others. She had an infectious smile and the sweetest spirit. This world is a little less bright without her shining light.


     The other night my sweet baby doggie started having seizures and passed away a few hours later. She had almost died a couple of months ago and had to have a major surgery. She was never quite the same after that. We were blessed to have had her in our family for the 2 years that we did. The other dogs were rather quiet that day and didn't even try to get into the trash, they just laid around on the couch.


     With all that has been going on in my life I have fallen right back into looking for comfort in all of the "comfort foods" that have been surrounding me lately. All of the lovely, sweet people that loved my aunt so very much were kind enough to bring all kinds of food for the family. It was so very sweet of each and every one of them.


     I had learned that cooked food was an addiction for me and I thought that I had just about won my battle with it but I have not. If fact, I am still a very long way away from winning that particular battle. I ate some cooked foods every day for 8 straight days. I am not going to feel guilty about this, even though I don't feel too good physically, but now is the time to start eating right again. Every day that I have eaten foods that are not good for me is making it that much harder to eat right now.


     I have learned that when faced with a situation where I am wanting comfort that I will still go to the foods that have always comforted me. I have been comforted with food since I was a child and it is a very hard habit to break.


     I am not trying to go 100% raw. I am wanting to eat mostly raw or high raw, as it is sometimes called. I feel much better when I fix only raw foods at home and then eat cooked foods when at a restaurant or at someone else's house. This is just one day out of many in my journey going raw and I can only seek to improve. What are you trying to accomplish?

Raw Stir Fry Salad

    

     The other night I fixed a salad for supper. Now you might be thinking, what is so special about a salad? Oh my! This was no ordinary salad my friend. This was amazing, it took us back to stir fry but stayed healthy! It started out as a simple, ordinary salad and turned into so much more. The salad was simply chopped lettuce, tomato, cucumber, sweet onion, celery, grated carrot and zucchini. But the dressing put it over the top. I started out by juicing 5 limes and to that I added some toasted sesame seed oil, soy sauce, coconut amino acids, lots of fresh ginger, fresh garlic, dijon mustard, olive oil, sesame seeds and water. I blended it all in my vita mix, spooned some salad into my bowl, poured some of this amazing dressing over it and topped it with some wakame. Everyone in the house loved it!


     Maybe I will get around to measuring out this lovely dressing and maybe I won't, but I want to encourage you to experiment with your food. This salad came about because one of our favorite restaurants was Sho-Gun, a Japanese Hibachi Grill, and we still miss the amazing flavors that are in their stir fried rice, veggies and chicken. They have a wonderful ginger dressing, a yummy mustard dipping sauce and they put all of this soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sesame seeds and mustard sauce into their rice. These are the ingredients that inspired this dressing and yummy sushi inspired the wakame topping. Everything blended together into perfect harmony. What have you made lately that turned out amazing?

Today's words of inspiration:

 

Vitamix

     The Vitamix is my favorite blender! It is very powerful and one of my favorite kitchen machines. The Vitamix is not merely a kitchen appliance it is a machine, a true workhorse. When I think back to the appliances that I used to own and then compare them to the ones that I have now I realize that I am a very spoiled lady! And very glad to be one, too. *smile* 

     The Vitamix can handle anything that you throw at it. I have made nut butters, ground wheat, whipped cream, sorbet, hummus, nut mylk, seed mylk, hot soup, creamy soup, green smoothies and the best fruit smoothies that you have ever had. You can make many more wonderful creations with the Vitamix then what I have mentioned here. It was one of the best investments that we ever made. We got the reconditioned one and it has worked out great. It has more than paid for itself in the 8 years since we bought it. 

     Just drop the food into it and turn it on. It is almost as simple as that. I have burnt out blenders before and one of the things that I love about the Vitamix is the fact that if you do overwork it it automatically shuts off and does not turn back on until it has cooled off. And I have overworked it. Like I said, I have used it a hundreds of times maybe even thousands. I am in the kitchen a lot and of all of my kitchen tools, my Vitamix and my Cutco knives are my favorites. They are the ones that I use every day.

     I appreciate all of the lovely kitchen tools that my sweet husband has bought for me, and all of the ones that he doesn't know that he bought for me. He knows that I have a lot of tools but as long as I use them all to prepare food for all of us he is ok with it. Although he would prefer it if I stopped buying new ones. What can I say? I keep finding new little gadgets to make preparing food more fun and interesting. At least the tools that I find now days are smaller, less expensive and I am finding them less often. That is what happens when you have already bought just about everything that you could possibly ever want! I am still finding books that I want though and I think of them as tools, also. They provide me with much inspiration in the kitchen. 

     One day soon I will post a list of my favorite raw foods cookbooks. Blogging is still new to me but I will get around to putting all of my favorites lists on here. Until then, if you have a specific question please feel free to ask me in the comment section. What are your favorite kitchen appliances and living foods cookbooks?

Vitamix

Veggie Sushi Rolls

     Thursday was my daughter's birthday, she turned 10, but since it was a rather busy evening she decided that she wanted to celebrate her birthday on Friday night, since she could stay up later and have more fun. I thought that was very wise of her.


     In our house every birthday boy or girl gets to pick what their birthday dinner and dessert is going to be. She informed me over a month ago that she wanted Zucchini Pasta with Marinara Sauce, a few weeks ago she said that she wanted Make Your Own Wraps, about a week ago she decided that she wanted Zucchini Pasta Salad and the other day she informed me that she wanted Veggie Sushi Rolls. She definitely has good taste! She never varied on her dessert though, Banana Ice Cream with Raw Granola. The Raw Granola was her own personal recipe. *smile*


     So last night we dined on Veggie Sushi Rolls and Banana Ice Cream with Raw Granola. Then we finished off our evening opening presents and playing games. It was a very fun and delicious evening! Below are our favorite recipes for Raw Sushi Rolls and Banana Ice Cream. What have you fixed lately that you fell in love with?


Veggie Sushi Rolls

• nori sheets
• zucchini, julienned 
• cucumber, julienned
• carrots, grated
• tomatoes, julienned
• yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
• avocado, sliced

Layer all of of the veggies on one end of the nori sheet and roll up tightly. Cut into 1 inch slices and serve with sesame seeds, horseradish and soy sauce.



Banana Ice Cream

• ripe frozen bananas

Place frozen bananas in food processor and let sit for 3 to 5 to partially thaw. Turn food processor on and let it run until it becomes the consistency of soft serve ice cream.