Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Week 24~Progress report

Well, things are going very well! I am so happy to report that I am doing and feeling good! My vita-mix has been so much fun to use and the smoothies are sooo good! I have been at least 75% raw. Even while away at church I decided to bring some things so I could stay healthy. They were more than happy to have me eat different. They said not to feel bad at all. There is one man in our fellowship with diabetes and so they understand having to eat different. Food can be your enemy or help you heal. Just depends on what you feed your body.

My daughter and I canned salsa and it is SO good. No not raw but put away for the winter! I love canning salsa. I thought I would post my favorite recipe.

Hot Salsa
15 med tomatoes
3 white onions
12 jalapenos
12 oz tomato paste
2 C white vinegar
2 T salt
2 T sugar
1 bunch of cilantro
2 T lemon juice
Chop all ingredients (I use a food processor, so fast and easy) and combine in a pot and simmer for about 3 hours or until thick. Ladle into hot jars seal with lids, and I do oven canning. I put the jars into the oven, turn it to 250 and then after it gets to 250 I set the timer for 25 minutes. Then just turn off the oven and let them sit until cool. Works every time!

Now the FDA says it is not safe to do that, yet look at what the FDA says IS safe. People have been oven canning things like tomatoes for years and years. There are certain things that need to be pressure canned and I'm just not sure of all that. So do your own research and decide for yourself!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

My Menu for today!!

Well, so I got my vita-mix and love it. I used it for several things tonight for dinner. For my cooked food family I made a nice black bean taco filling and chopped onion and cheese in it. I don't care for how it does cheese but oh well. I like to grate cheese. And it is something we shouldn't even be eating anyway.
So for my dinner I had raw enchiladas with raw sour cream made in the vita-mix. I have never had such creamy, smooth raw sour cream. The recipe is:
Raw Sour Cream
1 1/2 C soaked cashews
1 T cider vinegar
1 t lemon juice
1 t salt
1 t miso (I didn't use any)
1/2 C water
Mix it up! It is sweeter than regular sour cream but is wonderful on the enchiladas!
I used raw corn tortillas, and a nice veggie mix that I marinated in worcestershire. I really like worcestershire!
Okay so that was dinner, pretty much all raw. For lunch I had a sandwich on a whole wheat bagel. It is called a world class sandwich and it is pretty good. You saute onion in BBQ sauce and that is your sandwich filling, then top with spinach, tomato, avocado, and any other veggie you want. So not completely raw with the bread and cooking the onion but it is oh so good. I also had carrot & barley juice, of course! Now for dessert!!!
Chocolate Freeze
1 C almond milk
1/4 C raw honey
2 T cocoa powder
2 bananas frozen
2 C ice
I'll put everything in the Vita-mix and blend it up, Yum, yum!
BTW, the vita-mix came with a really nice whole foods cookbook that I am loving. You can easily swap raw foods for certain things and make raw meals! They have a value of $50 just for the book. I think I got a really good deal buying a refurbished vita-mix. It has a 5 yr warranty too! I feel like I am really going to be able to do this raw food lifestyle. Still aiming for 85 % raw for my daily total. However I can see being 100% pretty easy most days. Oh, and my weight was down again! I can already see a difference in my face. I was starting to look pretty fat. Again I am the same weight right now as when I delivered my 5th. So I know I do not need to gain any weight. It can come off the places it's not supposed to be. And baby is getting great nutrition. Now a confession...I still have to kick the caffeine habit. I know it is bad for my baby and can even mean smaller birth weight. I'm working on it!

My Vita-mix is HERE!!!!!

I just used my Vita-mix for the first time and I am in love!!! I made a Garden Fresh Cocktail. I used two tomatoes, 1/2 small red pepper, small handful of spinach, 3 baby carrots, 2 T onion, dash parsley, 1/8 t hot sauce, 1/2 t worcestershire, dash of sea salt, & 1 C ice, blended it and it was so good and smooth! Amazing! My children loved it! Tell you what.... I would much rather drink this than chomp on wet leaves! I get most of my greens in the form of a smoothie. I also highly recommend Barleymax from Hallelujah Acres. It is the most cost efficient way I have found to get that kind of nutrition. Their processing is done in a way to not ruin the enzymes and I Love the berry and mint flavors. I also have a greenstar but find it hard to use it. I did the math and it is much cheaper to order the juice on the go set from Hacres.com. It has carrot, barley, & beet which is what I usually juice anyway. For a month it costs less than buying the produce. Yes the old fashioned way would yield higher nutrition but I don't have the time. I'm actually thinking of selling my greenstar. I would only use it for fruit when doing a juice fast.??? And I know I won't be doing that for a long while being pregnant and then nursing for hopefully at least a year. All I know is that I am so very happy with my vita-mix. Wow!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Raw Chocolate (avocado) Pudding

Okay I think I promised this recipe. It is so very good and makes a great topping for fresh strawberries!

Chocolate Pudding
2 avocados
1/2 C almond milk
1/2 C raw honey or agave
1/4 C cocoa
Put everything in the food processor and blend up. Add more milk or honey for taste or texture preferences.

On a little side note, I will be getting my Vita-mix tomorrow, Lord willing! I am so excited. I have wanted one for about 5 years. I'll be able to make fresh raw baby food in seconds! My little guy who is 1 yr old prefers raw food to anything cooked. However he does eat cooked food too. So I'll be letting you know how it goes with the Vita-mix. Is it as good as people claim it is? We'll see.

!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Avocados for $.49

Wow!!! I was so happy to find avocados for $.49 each! I bought 21 of them. I thought I had 20 but oh well. So what am I going to do with all of them? Live on them! Today I made fresh homemade guacamole, it sure beats the store packaged kind. It was SOOOOOO good! Tomorrow I plan to make a lovely chocolate pudding/sauce to dip my fruit in. Then I'll also have plenty of raw sandwiches with my homemade raw onion bread! I have raw banana flax crackers and raw corn tortillas in the dehydrator. The banana crackers made way more than I thought it would. They totally satisfy my sweet tooth. I put almond butter, fresh or frozen berries and then raw honey on top and they are so yum!
Well, I am up too late tonight so no recipes but I'll try to post some recipes tomorrow for the pudding.
Today in my quiet time with the Lord He reminded me that I am blessed to hear Him and see the things He has in His word. I take that for granted. I forget that there are some who really don't hear or see. The Lord wants you to hear and see but it starts with repentance. Humbling yourself before God. Nothing is so important. What we eat doesn't matter at all if in the end of our measly 70-100 years we go to hell. When I think about how short our lives really are, wow, it's not much. No in the end all we get is a dash under our names.
Jenny Trask
Nov. 5, 1977- ?????????
That little dash is my life. I want to use it for my Lord. I pray you can say this in your heart as well!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Raw Fudge!!!

Okay, I'm not 100% sure how raw this is but I think it is very healthy and it keeps me on track. Just a small, very small piece satisfies any cravings for chocolate or sweets. It is very rich.

Raw Fudge
1 C Coconut oil
1 C Raw Honey
1 C cocoa
Blend all three together well and pour into a container with freezer paper, then freeze, try to catch it just before it is totally solid and you can cut out your little bites and put them in a freezer bag. These are a life saver IMO!

For today I had my carrot, barley, & beet juice. Then a spinach and pineapple smoothie with a little agave. I used my old blender and it is just not doing it, kinda chunky but it was okay. Have I mentioned yet that I can't wait for my vita mix? Then for lunch same as yesterday, guac, salsa, flax crackers, carrot sticks, broccoli, & califlower. It was good. For dinner I had a huge salad with garden tomato, garden cucumber, shredded carrot, romaine lettuce, broccoli, califlower, and sunflower seeds with an italian dressing. It was filling but it is starting to wear off. I have some frozen mango thawing and that is going to be my before bed snack. So yeah a great day food wise!
My weight was down today as well. Obviously while being pregnant my body is burning extra calories anyway, then with proper eating and all that fiber there is almost NO way I could not lose weight. YEAH!!! All the while baby is getting the best nutrition there is. Some people think oh you shouldn't be eating this way while pregnant. It doesn't make sense to me. Look at what cows eat, grass, hay, maybe corn but they are not designed for it, and water. Yet they have an 80-100 lb calf right? Then they have to produce all that milk, do they eat protein?? No, more grass, hay, and water. It's just hard to get over peoples responses to my diet. But it is what makes me feel good. I have 7 children to keep up with I have to do something! :0)

Friday, September 16, 2011

Flax cracker recipe

I thought I would share my diet yesterday. I had a nutrition shake for breakfast from Reliv. Then carrot, barley, & beet juice for a snack. Then I had guac, carrot sticks, and flax crackers with salsa for lunch, yummy! For an afternoon snack I had a fruit salad with mango, apple, strawberries, and grapes, SO good! A small handful of almonds too. Then for dinner was a spinach salad with carrots and honey mustard dressing. I also had one enchilada that was not raw. My family is trying to finish up some cookies and cream ice cream and I confess, I had some. I need things like that out of my house. All in all I feel it was a pretty good day.

My Vita-mix did finally ship today. It was a great deal but I can't praise them on fast shipping. Anyway, sometime next week it will be here! I can't wait I'll probably live on green smoothies for awhile. Great nutrition and I may even lose a little weight. I have so much to loose that it wouldn't hurt my sweet little man.

Speaking of him, he is doing great!!! He moves so much now and makes me ever so anxious to see him. However I have a lot to do before he gets here. I am finding cute cozy sleepers for him and I bought his first blanket. It is so soft and cozy!

Flax Crackers
2 cups flax soaked overnight (makes 4 cups)
1 lime juiced
handful of baby carrots
garlic powder to taste
salt to taste
pepper to taste

First put in carrots and lime juice in the food processor and blend, add powders, blend again, add soaked flax, blend again, put onto dehydrator tray sheets and dry at 105. Once they are pretty dry you can peel them off the sheet and then dry them fully. These go great with salsa and guacamole!
Coming tomorrow is my favorite, Raw Fudge!!!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

I'm very excited.....

I guess I have to start with being honest. I have been blowing it big time. If I keep going like this I'll be 250 lbs before this baby gets here. I have not been maintaining raw and have been drinking pepsi and eating ice cream. Boo for me!!!
Okay, now that I got that off my conscience I can tell you why I am excited. I am finally getting a vita mix!!! I am so excited. Oh, did I say that already? Well I am. I have been lacking a good blender for quite some time and I remember how key it was the one time I was successful in raw food. So it should be here next week and I can't wait. Raw food world here I come. Oh and I got a great deal on it too. Reconditioned and half price with all new accessories! It's the Vita-mix 5200. Doesn't that sound wonderful? :0) :0)
So today I did do pretty good. I had a nutrition shake and then a triomax. Then a large fruit salad with almonds. I am having some swelling in my ankles which concerns me. If it is not gone by the time my midwife comes she is going to drill me about my diet. She is huge on protein. In my previous pregnancies when I ate raw I was so healthy, NO swelling. But I ate a lot more raw veggies because I had an okay blender. The blender I am using now is worthless, so I just don't use it which means I end up eating a lot of fruit. Not getting any protein there. Really need the green smoothies.
Okay I am going to try to be more faithful. Post what I am eating. Oh, to finish my day I ate a cheeseburger at Culver's. :( It did have raw lettuce and tomato on it. Okay I know that was terrible. I feel bad. Now I am moving on!
Baby boy has been active tonight! He is a sweetie. Can't wait to meet him!