Raw Relish for lunch

This is a favorite raw rollup-and it works great as a take-to-work lunch.

1 mango, peeled and chopped
1 orange, peeled and chopped
1/2 red onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
1/2 yellow pepper, chopped
10 red grapes, cut in quarters
1 firm roma tomato, chopped fine

add: a pinch of sea salt, a sprinkle of pepper
I like to add cayenne pepper for some kick, of course
if you have some pineapple, that works nicely too.

10 large romaine lettuce leaves, washed and whole.
fill with relish, sprinkle with sesame seeds and eat!

These look so pretty too.

Note: I had a can of organic chopped tomatoes and added these instead of fresh-note: don't do it again.
They are too mushy. Use fresh ingredients.

Am I low in Vitamin A?!

If you suddenly start noticing eye and skin issues that you haven't had before, you might be low in Vitamin A.

Dry eyes, itchy eyes, inflamed eyes, blurred vision, night blindness, dry skin, itchy skin, bumpy skin can all be indications you need to increase your Vitamin A foods for awhile.

Foods high in Vitamin A:

• liver
• sweet potatos
• carrots
• mangoes
• spinach
• cantaloupe
• dried apricots
• milk
• egg yolks
• mozzarella cheese

think ORANGE for vitamin A!

Another Reason

I read that 50% of all the anitbiotics sold in the USA are given to farmers/ranchers for their livestock. Cows, pigs, chickens, so that they grow strong and healthy. Europe already won't take our meat. This is why.

That means that even if we don't medicate ourselves-we are still getting the antibiotics via our non-organic meats. 

ANOTHER REASON to buy organic!

I had a funny thought-what if the Judaic mandate to eat kosher  and not eat pork is really a message from the future (via the biblical writings) passed down to us so that 2000 years later we don't eat pork and we don't eat non-organic.

Kosher means blessed. Right? Bless our food. Blessing changes the frequency.

So, what if the future bacterial or viral bug that potentially wipes out the human race is a crossover from pigs? All virus's begin in an animal host and mutate to humans. Wow! If we are eating pork that has been given antibiotics, we might potentially be creating an internal system that will be unable to combat the future virus!

Ok-enough of the science fiction for this Sunday morning. Happy Valentine's day everyone.

Of course, if you are doing 'raw' then you are not eating meat...except fish perhaps? Remember to buy organic eggs, for the same reason.

Do we have to eat organic for everything? No. Grapes and Apples are the most heavily pesticided produce.

But anything you can peel, you can buy conventional-unless someone else has a reason ? Let us know your thoughts.

A post from Salt Lake City Raw Group

This is a post from the message board of the Salt Lake City Raw Superheros group. The title was do you need another reason to buy organic. This so grosses me out.

D.Lindsey Berkson, a bioenvironmentalist educated at Tulane University, adds a chilling note in her must read book " Hormone Deception" in which she cites a shocking Associated press story. It seems that toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, arsenic, along with dioxins and radio active waste from a nearby uranium processing plant is licensed as a commercial fertilizer and sprayed over 9,000 acresof grazing land, where it makes its way into the livestock eating the newly fertilized grass. Although many other industrilaized nations regulate the use of fertilizers, the United States does not, which means that medical, municipal, and industrial waste is routinely spread over the ground where our crops grow and where cattle graze. Municipal sewage systems alone, says berkson, sell some 36 percent of their 11.6 billion pounds of waste materials to farmers looking for fertilizers. Holy nastyness.
So the issue clearly becomes, how do you wnat to pay? Up front wiht the Organic price tag, or aorund the back door with your health, your sanity, the future of our species, and your life in its entirety. Fort me its a no brainer. I am thankful that the option to pay up front even exists, and I encourage you to do the same.
Spread the truth and fight truth decay!!!!!

I found on this site there is another raw store at 389 W 1700 south called Cali's. I haven't checked it out yet. It is a local owner.

Smoked PEPPERED Mackerel

If you haven't tried this, and you like fish of course, try! It's in Whole Foods, by the meat section, hanging by the coolers. It is peppered and smoked and not raw, but yum!

Have it in lettuce roll ups for the rawish part, with some shredded cabbage and cilantro lime dressing?

I had it with cream cheese-also not raw, and then rolled in big dark leaves of ruffled lettuce. Ok-it's the holidays. I find that I have to break out into wildness every now and then, and smoked fish is so high in omegas that I figure it's only good for us!

Kale Crackers

I just had some great crackers that are raw! She dipped kale pieces in a mixture of garlic, olive oil and tomatoes that had gone in the blender until smooth.

Lay on trays in the dehydrator and dry for 10 hours.

They are tasty and light and quite healthy! Yet another way to put Kale to good use and a great alternative to fried or baked potato chips.

More fear marketing-hand sanitizers

I'm amazed at the plethora of hand sanitizers that have sprung up everywhere. You can wipe the handles of everything before you touch it. Heaven forbid you should touch something that someone else has.

Now folks, does this even make sense? Can you REALLY accomplish this? Can you? You are in a world populated by others. So we have automatic doors, automatic flushing toilets, automatic water taps. We have automatic paper dispensers. Pretty interesting. I watch people trying to open doors with their elbows! Good trick if you can do it.

Do you ever watch yourself? Do it for one day. Where is your FEAR?

My son was just telling me that last year in high school they did an experiment: hand sanitizer vs bar soap. He was the test dummy. He scrubbed his hands with soap. They took a skin scraping. He walked around the room for a few minutes, came back and they took another skin scraping. He made sure he touched things, just behaved normally for about 15 minutes. Then a third after another scrub.

Then he used hand sanitizer and did the same thing. Skin scraping right after the sanitizer, then walked around, touched things as normal for 15 minutes, then another skin scraping, a third after that.

While they all knew the ads-hand sanitizer destroys 99.9% of the bacteria, that was not a surprise, or as it turns out, was it a lie. It does kill all the bacteria-including the good that is a protective barrier and meant to stop the majority of bad bacteria from getting further into our system!

We are a symbiotic ecosystem-we are meant to have good bacteria on our skin, just like we are meant to have good bacteria in our intestinal tract. They keep us healthy. Get over the advertising that bacteria is the bad guy. It's not.

Here were their results:
These high school kids discovered that when you use regular soap, you kill the bad bacteria, and you keep the good bacteria. They saw it for themselves under the microscope.

When you use hand sanitizer, you destroy all the bacteria, and then when you touch something else you double the exposure to bad bacteria-with no protective barrier in place to stop them.

He mentioned casually "whoa was there a lot of bad bacteria then!" I smiled.

In other words the more you use hand sanitizers, the more you destroy your own ecosystem, your own defenses. It's like saying because you have soldiers with bows and arrows all around the castle walls, you can open the gates and lower the draw bridge.

I've never been a germ-a-phob. I figure we live in this world. Stuff drops on the floor. I have animals. We live with them. That means our energy mingles, our life force mingles, and our germs mingle. While I don't kiss my dog on the lips, and ew I don't like her to lick my face either, I'm not overly concerned about methodically washing my hands at every contact. With her or with the world. Germs are just germs. And btw, we are an extremely healthy family. Always have been.

Come into right relationship with your world, and you will be fine. Really. You want strong healthy kids-STOP using sanitizer on everything. Let them get dirty for goodness sake. They will strengthen their immune system through everyday life. Being a 'good mom' does not mean making your children live in an antiseptic world. And fanatically scrubbing everything down only gives them the vibrational message that the world is not their friend. Is that the message you want them to have?

Let's look at this another way:
Vaccines are about 'exposure' in order to build up an immunity.
Why would we not get the same benefits from building up our natural immunity to germs? They can't have it both ways. Oh wait. yes they can. It's called fear marketing.

We're getting marketed into the benefits of vaccinations, but we are are being reverse marketed about germs. We aren't in a battle with germs. In many cases, bacteria are our friends. Folks, touch your world. Get into it! You'll get stronger for it.

Raw ish - Fast Breakfast

1/2 avocado, cubed
1/2 tomato, chunked
1 cup cabbage, fermented overnight in olive oil and balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs sesame seeds
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
s&p

Here's the raw-ish
1 hardboiled egg chopped

Or the vegan option is always cubed tofu.

Add a touch more balsamic and oil if you like it wetter. Toss and eat!
Enjoy!

Liver Detox

Many of my friends that were in Mexico with me last week have reported they were quite sick when they got home!

I told them my remedy and I will say I didn't get sick. I felt a bit off but I thought it was the traveling.
I also didn't eat the fruit on the beach the last day. Maybe that was it?

Here are my home remedies that I swear by, and I took them while there too.
Alpha Lipoic Acid, Vitamin D, and zinc. I take it all at the first feeling of a bit under the weather. All of these boost our own immune system so that it can do what it needs to do.

I also did the green juice when I got home, and I made some detox soup.
1 can of stewed tomatoes, or 5-8 fresh tomatoes, quartered and mashed
1 can of water
2 tbs chopped garlic
1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
3-4 stalks celery chopped
1 bumch kale, washed and chopped into 1" pieces
1 bag baby spinach, washed and chopped into 1" pieces
1 good handful of fresh cilantro, washed and chopped

Put it all in a pot and put it on low. Cook until all the vegetables are soft.
Add salt, pepper, cayenne.

This is a great detox. Make it anytime you feel a bit punkish. It will clear your system out!
If you want more flavor, add some bullion. Vegetable miso or chicken work best.

Raw Juice To Start Every Day

Fresh raw juice is the best, most nutritious, easiest to assimilate food you can have! It feeds you. And it feeds you on multiple levels. It has rich color, flavor, smell, and taste. So why isn't everyone doing it?!

Night time tonic:
2-3 apples, washed and quartered. When it comes to apples, organic is best
5-6 stalks celery
1/2 lemon
1 inch of ginger

Juice it and drink it before bed for a tonic that will improve your sleep and end your day the right way.

Corn Tortillas are a great alternative

Did you know that a corn tortilla - a little one, only has 32 calories? Or 58. Or 62. It depends on the brand and the size. But overall, if you have a corn tortilla instead of bread, it's a big savings. That's if you are looking for alternatives. You can have raw ingredients with it. Shredded cabbage, fresh salsa, sliced avocado. Yum! My current favorite.

They are great for fish too-if you are doing fish...

Raw-ish Spinach. tomatoes and white beans over pasta

Fresh ingredients:
Tomatoes-chopped
Spinach-torn into pieces
1 onion-chopped fine
2-4 cloves, chopped fine
1/2 bundle parsley-chopped
4 leaves basil-chopped

salt and pepper
cayenne or hot pepper flakes
I can white beans, rinsed and drained

In a wok pan saute the onion, garlic and tomatoes and spices in a splash of olive oil until soft
Add the beans to warm them
add the fresh spinach and stir until it's wilted

Cook angel hair pasta until soft, and drain
top servings with mixture and add parmesan cheese (unless you're vegan)
and eat!

You can use quinoa pasta or bean pasta if you want to opt out of gluten too.

Raw - Marinated Cucumbers

Since we are all entering harvest time, here's a fast raw favorite of ours:

Peel and Slice 1-2 cucumbers. Make slices about 1/4"
Add:
1/3 Cup olive oil
1/4 Cup balsamic vinegar
(this are aprox. I splash it in so bare with me on this one)
2 tsp garlic
Juice of one fresh lemon
salt and pepper.
Fresh chopped: basil.

Yes, we use both the vinegar and lemon, but you can use one or the other.
This saves for a few days-if there are any left, so we do usually make extra.
They are great alone as a side dish or add them to the top of any salad.
Take them to work because marinated doesn't need to be refrigerated!
If you take your salad in one container, without dressing, take the cucs in a separate one and add them as the dressing.

Variation:
we add crumbled feta cheese at serving, and sliced olives for a greek flare!

Variation #2:
Add sliced red tomatoes to the cucumbers before marinating so they are both steeped in the dressing

Raw - Stuffed Tomatoes

6 nice big fat deep red fresh tomatoes! This is the season for them!
Cut off the tops and core them scooping, out the insides so you have tomato cups

save the insides, chop and mix with:
1/3 c each: onion, celery, finely chopped
jalapeno pepper chopped - to taste. If you like it spicy add more.
fresh basil leaves-finely chopped, *I use about 1 big leaf per tomato
I cup chopped fresh parsley
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup finely chopped mango
salt and pepper
juice of 1 fresh lemon
a splash or two of olive oil

Mix all ingredients and stuff into the tomatoes until they are heaped full! Garnish with a sprig of parsley and a serve with wedges of fresh lemon or lime and pita bread and more mango!

This is another great on-the-go lunch recipe!

Rawish-salmon spread

This isn't raw-technically. I use a large can of alaskan salmon...but it IS raw-ish and salmon is chock full of omega 3s for great brain function!

I make this and keep it on hand, sometimes I'll freeze half for another time too. As you can see, the recipe varies with what I have on hand

1 large can alaskan salmon, drained. Flake with a fork and mash so any tiny bones are dissolved up
1/2 onion chopped fine
1/2 gr pepper chopped fine (or red, or yellow)
1/2 c edamame or green peas
chopped fresh: parsley, cilantro, oregano and basil
salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
parmesan cheese
toasted pine nuts (or leave em raw too)

mix up and add a splash of olive oil, a good swig of red wine vinegar, and the juice of a whole lemon
I don't add mayo but I suppose you could if you like it

ANd we like it hot, so the pepper flakes, jalapeno peppers and a sprinkle of cayenne go in for us.

Toast corn tortillas in oil until crispy and then fill with this mixture, top with shredded cabbage and a squeeze of fresh lime before eating!
You can use lettuce leaves instead of tortillas but of course!

This is one of those "even better the next day" so it's great to make enough for lunch the next day too.

Healthy Lunchtime Eats

Lima Beans Greco
1 bag dried lima beans-soak overnight in cold water, rinse and drain when time to cook. Boil in water until soft. Drain. Remove any loose skins that have separated.

olive oil
red wine vinegar
fresh lemon juice-at least 1 lemon
oregano, basil, parsley (fresh if you have them in the garden-yum!)
hot chili peppers (if you like hot!)
cayenne
salt, pepper
garlic-as much as you like and we like it

add what you have, and here are some we've liked:
onion-chopped fine
celery-chopped fine
carrot-julienne slices
mushrooms-sliced

parmesan cheese or other dry cheese, grated
sesame seeds, sunflower seeds or even chopped walnuts (whatever you have works!)

Toss it all together and let it steep overnight for great second day flavor.

This holds for days, and gets better and better.

You can: eat it on a salad, put it in lettuce rolls, stuff a tortilla. You can have it as a side dish or all alone. This doesn't last long in our house!

This is a taste and test recipe, so allow yourself to play with the spices and go for color and splash!

Raw-ish

When we started our journey into raw food land, we decided to do 'raw-ish'. We thought we'd aim at 100% and hit closer to 70% and figured that 70% was still better than what we were doing.

It worked for us, but I don't tend to be an extremist with anything. My motto is pretty tolerant of all views, and walks and usually I say 'try it for yourself' because I do firmly believe that no one thing will work for everyone. That includes raw. That includes vege, and vegan.

It's not true that eating raw or vegan will make you happier, nicer or more spiritual. If someone tells you that you 'have to' do anything special to connect to God, walk on. Eating nothing but raw food can make you feel good, and if you do it long enough without the right additional nutrient support, you can feel drained and not good. it's true. Sorry.

The very very bottom line is LISTEN TO YOURSELF, be your own TRUTH, and come into right relationship with YOU. If your body wants an egg, or a steak or a hunk of liver tonight, it well could be that it is craving the nutrients in those foods. Going with your body instead of villifying the body will do alot for your health in general!

We've been working on identifying our food beliefs, and frankly, thanks to the wonderful world of marketing, we have tons! Did you know that the average American woman is 5'5" tall, and weighs 152 lbs and wears a size 12? Yep. That's the American average. Do you know that the American average in the 1950s was...a size 12? When Lucille Ball was doing her show in black and white, those were the stats. Size 12.

The media has thrown us into a frenzied hype that we are all hopeless hippos but the truth is we are about the same. We have more fears of food than ever before. We have more processing of foods, engineering of foods, food research and interestingly more allergies than ever before.

Eat what you want. Bless it, which means bring your intention and attention to what you are about to eat. Slow down, sit down and make it a special time-not in the car, not on the run. Pay attention to the color, the smell, the taste, and whatever you eat, savor it.

Let whatever you eat really feed you! ALL of you!

Why do you eat what you eat?

I'm curious-

What drives us to eat and which foods do we reach for?
How much of what we eat is pure marketing?

Commercials, advertisements, articles, labels.
Friends, memories, unconscious associations.

Do you eat eggs?
Are they organic?
Free range?
Regular?
Are they egg substitute?
Do you do tofu scramblers?
Do you only eat the whites?
Do you limit the number you eat, and why, if you do? In other words - where did you get the belief, and how is that working for ya?

Post a comment-but add why you've chosen it, and how you came to that conclusion.
Hope you will all play!

Slo-food, raw food, is mindful food, coming back to nature is coming back to our minds.

What field of intent do you hold in your mind when it comes to your food?
What field of intent do you hold when you prepare your food?
What field of intent do you hold when you eat your food?
What is your food field, and is there fear, guilt, anger, pain when you eat?

IF so, in any way, you are eating those emotions. Dangerous games - marketing us into obesity and disease.
We have to wake up and notice.

Eat Beans-Red Beans

Dried beans are better than canned
if you have canned beans, rinse them well
Avoid refried beans

Why beans? They take a long time to digest which means they slow down the release of blood sugar and lower insulin levels.

Master Your Metabolism the no list

Jillian Michaels is a strength coach from 'the biggest loser' on tv. Anyone watch it? I never really watched it until my son's friend became one of the coaches. Speedy Peterson won an Olympic silver this year at the winter Olympics. I must say that now I am a bit hooked on the show. As a former fatty, I was offended by the title-silly me-because I did an inadvertant diservice to those people that are giving it their all.

Here's Jillian Michael's list:

Eliminate
1. hydrogenated fats
2. unrefined grains - avoid corn and wheat
3. corn syrup
4. artificial sweeteners
5. artificial colorings and preservatives
6. glutamates - flavor enhancers

and then there are the 'less than stellar' foods to avoid
1. starchy root vegetables
2. tropical, dried and canned fruits
3. excess soy
4. excess alcohol (ok I admit to a glass of wine on some nights...ok ... ok...)
5. full fat dairy and fatty meats
6. canned foods
7. caffeine - unless organic coffee

what I noticed is that these were almost all things we eliminated on our 30 day/9 month raw adventure! We did eat Yams, cooked, but not daily, and I did still have my half and half in my one cup of coffee and still do.

Wow~we did it ourselves without an expert. But then-we made ourselves the experts. Girls-give yourselves a hand.