My husband's cousin Rob and his wife Cheryl stopped over last evening on their way to Boston.  I whipped up breakfast in the blender to send them healthfully on their way.

We also got talking about CODEX and the far reaching implications. I am including a link to my article on CODEX. (as a reminder… CODEX will make our vitamins and supplements illegal, and mandate irradiation of our food supply. TIME is running out on CODEX. The time is NOW to start lobbying government officials)

Cheryl's Boston Smoothie

In the Blender

• 1 cup frozen 4 berry blend
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 ripe pear
• a glop of flax seed oil
• 1/2 cup yogurt 

In the juicer

• 6 large carrots
• 2 granny smith apples

Pour juice into blender and blend.

This recipe made 3 large glasses full.

Now for CODEX…. please go read my post on CODEX and be AWARE and then be ACTIVE! This is important for our continued good health!

Go read about CODEX here

Bright Orange 

This one is brilliantly orange… beautiful to look and and OH SO DELICIOUS!

In Blender put

• 3 oranges peeled and sectioned
• flesh from 2 ripe mangoes
• flesh from 2 ripe peaches

Use your juicer to extract the juice from

• 6 large carrots
• 2 granny smith apples

Add juice to blender and puree.

Pour over crushed ice. Serves 3

These days I don't find it difficult at all to personally get my recommended fruits and vegetables. My house is loaded with fresh produce of all descriptions. Just in fruits I have fresh watermelon, honey dew melon, cantaloupe, pears, apples (red delicious and granny smith), naval oranges, tangerines, blueberries, green and red grapes, bananas, a mango, black plums, nectarines, lemons, limes, avacado… and I am probably missing something. That's just fresh. I also have several bags of frozen fruits in the freezer (mostly berries).

I won't begin to list all the fresh vegetables I have on hand… I know I would miss a lot.  Health is not, however, about what I eat today (or what my family eats today). health is about what we eat consistently over time. Each day of getting an abundance of fresh whole fruits and vegetables adds up to the grand total that will make a difference over the entire course of your life. It will affect how you feel, how you look, how you move, how you respond to viruses, how you fight off things like cancer. It is important that you pay attention to this now. It is not too late to start eating more fruits and vegetables.

As a mom, I found a number of creative ways over the years to get extra servings of vegetables into meals and snacks. You know the obvious ways, i.e. salads, veggie side dishes, and fresh fruit snacks or desserts, but these can get boring or tedious.

Here are some things that I have found make a big difference.

• Use grated vegetables in pasta sauces – When I used a canned pasta sauce I always saute onions, garlic, fresh mushrooms, green and red peppers and add the sauce with or with out browned ground beef, but I ALSO grate several large carrots to put in. Carrots give the sauce a real fresh flavored lift but the tomato sauce disguises the carrot flavor. To this day my family does not know I put carrots in their pasta sauce.
  
• Grated vegetables are also good in meat loaf or hamburger patties.
• When having spaghetti, grate a zuchini or 2 lengthwise and add it to the long noodles. If you peeled it they may not even know!
• Mix grated vegetables (carrots, onions,  into salad dressings or sour cream and use as a veggie or corn chip dip.
  
• Smoothies – Using fresh or frozen berries as a base throw in some flax seed oil, a banana, and some melon (water melon, honey dew or cantaloupe) Then for more liquid JUICE 2 large carrots per person, and 1 pear per person, to dump in the blender instead of water!
  
• Semi-frozen strawberry yogurt- take a cup of frozen strawberries, 1 cup of strawberry yogurt, 2 scoops of protein powder. (I use URI's Orange Flavored Multi-meal) and 2 tablespoons on flax seed oil. Blend. Add just enough apple or orange juice (or water) so the berries blend) Pour into bowls. This is MUCH more delicious than ice cream and makes a wonderful breakfast for children who don't like to eat in the morning.
  
• Make more casseroles. Tonight I cook chicken breasts. I took 4 large boneless, skinless breasts and chunked them, and baked them in a baking dish for 15 minutes at 375 degrees. The I chopped fresh new carrots, a head of broccoli, a small onion, some green beans, and mushrooms, mixed the whole thing in a bowl with a can of sodium reduced cream of mushroom soup, pored it all over the partially cooked chicken, and stirred it all up. Baked it for another 25 minutes and served it with a large salad of fresh vegetables. I let my family serve themselves but I live with teens. SO….
  
• Make it accessible… Veggies always fresh chopped and in serving sizes… with meals I put the large salad out and I get out their favorite salad dressings ad open the top and set it right next to the silverware, I always have fresh made salsa available and they will often scoop that up as a condiment or side dish.
  
• Make fresh cobblers for dessert instead of pies. Lots of fruit in a very lightly greased baking dish topped with a crumble of equal parts raw oatmeal, almond meal, shaved coconut and a tablespoon of brown sugar. Add a bit of coconut oil to make a crumbly mixture and bake at 350 until fruit is soft and bubbly. If using apples or peaches sprinkle a bit of cinnamon. Berries may require a bit of your choice of sweetener. It is very fast to do something like this up and pop it in the oven after you take the casserole out. It is ready when your meal is done!
  
• Wrap large lettuce leaves around sandwich filling instead of bread.
• And don't forget celery or carrot sticks spread with peanut butter. YUM!

It is good to have the proper tools. I use pampered chef garlic press and veggie peelers, and I have a small electric food chopper, a 7 speed blender, and a Hamilton Beach Juicer, and some good sharp knives. I also have plenty of spices, herbs and seasonings.

The other night my teen age daughter actually ASKED for a vegetarian dinner.  I had taken some pita breads, brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled them with garlic powder and sea salt and then baked them until lightly browned at 450 degrees. Then I served some home made salsa, a guacamole made with fresh avocado, juice of one lime, garlic clove crushed, and cilantro, and served both dips with the "chips" and some carrots, celery, cukes, broccoli, and cherry tomatoes.  The ONLY reason she asked for this is because she LOVES the "homemade nacho chips".

My rule of thumb is.. if having something they aren't crazy about, serve it with something they love!

Happy healthy eating to you, and get your 5-12 a day! Twelveliness is next to healthiness!

This is the baking dish I used to roast the potatoes. When using stoneware such as this, you don't use soap to clean, do not have to pre-heat the oven…. and after a few usages, the vessel is stick-free!

So ON to the recipe! These are the VERY best ever when made with P.E.I. NEW Potatoes

Potatoes chunked in to bite sized peices (scrubbed skin on)

Place in a bowl… sprinkle some extra virgin cold pressed olive oil over them.

Use the other half of the onion you used for the salad! ;-) chopped

sprinkle some garlic powder, and some oregano, parsley, basil

Turn the oven on 350 degrees F,

Mix the potatoes well with the other ingredients dump in to baking vessel and bake uncovered for 30 minutes or so for single layer of potatoes. Turn once.

YUM :-)

Smoothie enough for two

If you want to share!

I'm one of those who doesn't care for greens on their own. it's an acquired taste for sure. I still need to make sure I am getting my greens every day though, so I try some creative ways to disguise the taste. This was a SMASH hit. My husband drank it. I just told him it was a smoothie without telling him there were green things in it, and he loved it! It makes lots!

Juicy Smoothie for two

Blender and Juicer

1 cup frozen mixed berries – in the blender

Juice

2 large carrots

1 stalk celery

2 cups loosely packed spinach leaves

1/2 head of brocolli

1 red delicious apple

1/2 cup green grapes

(TIP - juice spinach leaves sandwiched between pieces of hard fruits or vegetables.)

Pour juice over berries in the blender, add 1 tablespoon flax seed oil and a teaspoon of raw organic honey.

Blend until smooth.

YUMMY!

My Best Day Yet!

Gosh darn I just feel so fantastic today! I really do! It’s a little over 2 weeks now of consistently eating real, whole, nutritious food and this morning when I woke up I just felt like singing! I have a ton of energy, and that cloud of depression that’s been doggin’ me for years seems to have lifted somewhat!

How AMAZING!

So this morning since I felt SO good, I did everything right! First I headed in here to the computer and checked my email with my coffee. Then I went out to the kitchen, grabbed a juicy nectarine and ate that while I flipped through the mail. Off to the livingroom for some stretching, and then downstairs to the tread mill. I did 20 minutes on the treadmill, and then upstairs to do 20 minutes on the recumbent bike. More stretching, and a BIG glass of cool alkaline water.

Then I went back to the kitchen to prepare for the day. One of the things I’ve noticed while doing this (almost) completely raw vegan diet is that I am eating fruits and vegetables in quantity, and having to prepare something every time I need to eat makes me grumpy.

So here’s what I did. First I ran 3 huge carrots and a Granny Smith apple through my juicer, so I would have something filled with life and sunshine while I worked (I saved the pulp for… see picture!) :-). Then I grabbed some containers that I already had of larger pieces of broccoli and cauliflour, and another container of carrot and celery sticks and grabbed a handful of each and chopped them up, along with a green pepper, red pepper and small garden onion (top and all) tossed it all together and put it in a comtainer back in the fridge for my salad later in the day.

Apple-Carrot Juice – fresh from the juicer- SOOOO good!

There are many people who will tell you that you shouldn’t be drinking to much apple-carrot juice straight from the juicer because there is too much sugar in it. This is true IF you are eating a diet that includes grains, fats, meat and dairy. If you are eating vegan or mostly vegan, 80% or more raw, mostly whole fresh foods, you don’t need to worry about that. Just make sure you eat a whole piece of fruit before hand, to add some fiber to the mix.

So the next thing I did was make a batch of cornbread muffins. Now I use a mix – a brand called Bob’s Red Mill – It’s a brand that I can get in the health food and organic goods section of our local grocery store. It is a fantastic product for busy health conscious people.  You need to add 1/4 cup oil, water and 1 egg (or substitute)

Ingredients in package:

Product Details Cornbread and Cornmeal Muffin Mix is just plain good!

Contains stone ground whole grain cornmeal, whole wheat pastry flour, evaporated cane juice, buttermilk powder, sea salt, baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate), and baking soda. 

The next thing I add is a half cup of raisins and the pulp from my carrot and apple juice. You will probably need to add another 1/2 cup of water or so. Mix up, drop into muffin tins and bake 3 minutes longer than called for because of the extra ingredients.

Is your mouth watering?

I will put this over in the recipe section as well. You’ll see me talk a lot about Bob’s. I am not affiliated with them in any way what-so-ever. They simply have fantastic products.

Talk about a productive morning! Now I have all afternoon to work on the website. I’ve promised a forum for the Be Naturally Well community, and I want to add a couple more recipes and a product review. It’s a BIG day!

Have fun, stay fit!

4 cups chopped tomatoes – (plum are better because they are less juicy, but regular round ones have MUCH more flavor)

3 green onions, stalk and root chopped

1/4 cup each of red onion, green pepper and red pepper chopped

1 garlic clove finely chopped (or pushed in the press)

1-4 jalapeno peppers finely chopped (a note that the HEAT in a jalopeno is in the whtie ribs and seeds inside. wear gloves to chop jalopenos and do not touch your eyes)

1/4 tsp sea salt and ground chili powder

1 tsp olive oil

ground fresh pepper

1 tablespoon of dried cilantro OR (preferably) a small bunch of chopped fresh leaves.

Juice of one lime

Mix it all up. Place in a covered dish and let sit for several hours to season. Serve with flax crackers, or nacho chips, or as a side to grilled chicken breast, or any other way you serve salsa. (on top of omelets?? YUM!)

ANOTHER way to have salsa:

I love to put my fresh salsa on a big green salad, or scoop it up with celery sticks, instead of salad dressing. It adds SO MUCH more wonderful fresh flavor to your chopped veggies!

Chili (adapted slightly from Living on Live Food by Alissa Cohen)

3 cups sprouted whole wheat or whole (hulled, not pearled) barley (Wait, wait, stick with me here. If you are put off by the idea of sprouting anything, I suggest you just go ahead and cook your whole grains, then stick 'em in the fridge to chill before using in this recipe)

1/2 tsp. curry
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne
2 Tbl. chili powder
1 Tbl. italian seasoning
2 Tbl. Braggs Liquid Aminos (or just use some salt)
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 ear of corn, shaved (I used frozen corn, sue me)
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1 orange
5 large tomatoes, diced
1 cup dates, pitted and soaked
1 cup sundried tomatoes, soaked

1. In a big bowl combine everything except dates and sundried tomatoes
2. In a food processor, blend dates and sundried tomatoes into a paste
3. Add paste to everything else, stir well. Easy peasey!

Faux Sour Cream and Onion Topping
2 cups macadamia nuts, soaked
1/2-1 cup water
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 cup onions, leeks or scallions

1. In a food processor, blend macadamia nuts, water and salt until smooth and creamy. Add water a little as a time, just enough to help the nuts blend.
2. I went ahead and cooked my onions because I REALLY don't like smelling onion breath for 2 days after eating them raw. So, your choice.
3. Combine onions with creamy mixture and chill. Use a dollop on top of the chili when serving.

Shred the zucchini length-wise to make long strings (I used the big holes on my cheese grater). Throw everything together into a pot and heat on low just until warm. Take care to keep temp below 105 degrees or it won't be raw any more.

It was good cold too, but I liked it warmed up a wee bit. Note that mothers will not miss hot food. Since their babies were born, they haven't had a hot meal anyway! 

Raw Spinach Mango Salad Recipe

I tossed up a spinach mango salad yesterday. It was so beautiful it looked like it could have been served in a gourmet vegetarian restaurant! It was delicious too!

1/2 avacado sliced

1/2 mango peeled, chopped

1 green onion (stalk and root) chopped

2 TBSP red onion chopped

1/2 red pepper chopped

Toss together and pour over a bed of fresh spinach greens.

Garnish with 6 cheery tomatoes or grape tomatoes

Dressing (optional)

Mix 1 teaspoon of extra virgin cold pressed organic olive oil with juice of 1/2 lemon or lime, add a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper to tase. Drizzle over salad. Eat immediately.