Green Goodness, thanks to iPhone?

It's true. I took the plunge and bought an iPhone a couple of days ago with high hopes of using handy applications to help me and my family make some healthy lifestyle changes. Sound unlikely? That's what I might have thought before I learned about all the AMAZING possibilities that this little piece of wonderful has to offer!
Because I got my new iPhone I looked into a free web service I used years ago called

Spark People

This service offers a number of web tools to help people meet their health and fitness goals. It's a whole package. And it's free!! I can't say enough wonderful things about Spark People. You'll have to just check it out for yourself to truly appreciate all it has to offer.

So with the inspiration of my iPhone and a free website as well as a free app for my new toy from Spark People, I set up my account with my current data and set goals. Now I can track my progress daily using my phone, no matter where I am. The convenience is amazing.

There are many factors that go into a healthy lifestyle. I personally choose as many local foods as possible, growing much of it myself. I have every intention of remaining vegetarian, though do not intend to make the move to vegan. I do intend to eat at least 50% of my daily calories raw and hope to increase that over time. I appreciate the motivation that I've gained through a high tech contraption because trust me friends, I wasn't getting motivated any other way!

So this morning I replaced my morning cup of java with a heavenly simple green smoothie that even my 4 year old gulped down. We were both impressed by the flavor, the energy and the shimmer in the glass. It was like magic!

Simple Green Smoothie

1 cup frozen peaches

1 fresh banana

1 cup baby spinach

1 cup water

Blend in the Blendtec until smooth and dreamy. Serves 2.

Stuck

I feel stuck. I haven't been eating a raw diet for quite some time now. I've gained quite a bit of weight and I don't like it. Who would? It's frustrating because I have this amazing, bountiful garden with amazing goodness available for harvest and even get food delivered to my door by my CSA (including tons of zucchini that "I just don't know what to do with". Ha! There's zucchini noodles, zucchini hummus, zucchini chips... what is wrong with me?

Anyway, I'm preparing for a one day mono diet cleanse/fast. I'm choosing cucumbers because we have an abundance of them and they are oh so good for me. I'm hoping this will jump start a fresh inspiration to move back in the raw direction, even if it's not 100% raw. I have a friend that would like to do raw for one week with me so I'm hunting down recipes now and planning some good dehydrated breads and crackers to help get back into the groove.

So in the meantime, enjoy a happy, colorful photo of a days harvest from the garden.

Homegrown Inspiration

Growing my own food has always been inspiring. When I saw the tops of these gorgeous crimson radishes poking their heads out of the soil inviting me to pull them up I was totally amazed that they grew so quickly and even more excited to eat early crops from the garden other than lettuce which we've been harvesting small amounts of for the past 10 days or so.
This year I planted nasturtium, a plant I've never grown before. They have these gorgeous edible flowers and while I understand that growing this plant is somehow good for my soil, growing the flower to eat is good for my soul :) Another edible flower that I included in my square foot gardens this year is the pansy. They come in many different colors and they have long been one of my favorites because of their bright colors and papery petals but again, this is the first year I've grown them. I can't wait to create a salad with homegrown greens and gorgeous edible flowers.This lush bowl of salad greens including a variety of lettuces and arugula from the garden was more than photo worthy. I feel so blessed to have the liberty to walk out my back door and go to my garden to gather my lunch or dinner. Wow.
So I've been away from raw for a while and though I of course continued to eat raw foods I did not manage to maintain a high raw diet. If all of this homegrown fresh goodness isn't inspiration to get back into the raw groove I don't know what is.

Purple People Maker?

Since I gave up solid food breakfasts for Lent I've been enjoying lots of new smoothie creations. Because my husband and I are hoping to add to our family I thought I'd make a little something to possibly encourage fertility. The result is the Purple People Maker ;)

1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 frozen banana
2 cups water + 2 Tbsp shelled hemp seeds (or use 2 cups hemp milk)
1 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp Sambazon Acai Powder
1 tsp wheat grass powder
1 Tbsp maca powder

Whether this smoothie will actually increase our chances of making a little person or not is unclear, ( I leave the actual creation part up to God) but this purple smoothie wonder sure did taste wonderful so that's good enough for me.

Durian Goodness

Here is video of the Durian Goodness!

Durian Love

So we recently bought a whole frozen durian from our local Asian market, Chongs. We've had durian before, Cam loved it immediately, I'm still on the fence and Cam quickly convinced Adi to give it a try and she's a durian lover as well... Here's a photo of the spiky fruit before it was opened. It's HUGE!



Adi was so excited about opening the durian. She could hardly stand waiting for it to thaw. This one had a really mild sweet smell prior to opening. One that was tolerable for me since I'm not a huge fan of the durian stench.



As you can see I'm not so sure about this stuff. I'm trying really hard to like it, but am amazed at how much my 3.5 year old totally LOVES the stuff!



Here she is actually licking the fruit out of the spiky casing. She couldn't get enough!



And finally a big ol chunk of durian heading for her salivating mouth. It was interesting to watch Adi and Cam go nuts over the stuff. I hesitantly had a little bit. I'm still not a durian lover, but rather tolerate it.


After getting the seeds out of each section we froze the durian using round biscuit cutters so it's in individual size portions. It has a custard like consistency and would probably mix really well with banana to make a frozen ice cream. I might like that a little better. I wanted to post a video but we're having a hard time getting it to upload, must be too long? I'll try editing and see if I can get it out there some time, it's worth it just to see and hear how Adi responds to the experience.

Blueberry Ice Cream

The other night when I asked Adi what she wanted for dinner she said, "ice cream". Ha ha. No ice cream for you. With the COLD winter weather lately I've had no desire at all to eat ice cream. But she persisted so I decided to come up with a raw vegan ice cream to make my little princess happy.

Get ready for a really simple recipe.

Blueberry Ice Cream (Serves 2-3)
2 frozen bananas
1 cup frozen blueberries (you can also use thawed or fresh blueberries if you like)

Break the bananas into 1-2 inch sections to fit in an agar style juicer using the blank plate and alternate blueberries with bananas. Voila. Blueberry ice cream. Adi ate it up :)

I'm Posting This on All Three of My Blogs

John McCabe from Sunfood Living
sent out an email last week about his new book.

Here is what he wrote:


Hello everybody,

After years of work, I have decided to pass over the traditional book
publishing fiasco and to publish my newest book on an
advertiser-supported Web site:
http://www.hempnowbook.com.

People told me, “Oh, you can't do that!”

Yes, I can!

Yes, I did!

Various publishing companies that looked at the manuscript
wanted the book to be shorter, to be focused only on hemp,
and to not contain the “controversial chapters” about the drug war,
political corruption, the prison industry, and corporate greed.

To their proposals to cut my book in half, I say: No, thanks!
That would truly be a book to nowhere.

By publishing the book for free on the Web,
people all over the planet can educate themselves on the topic.
People all over the planet have already been looking at
my other Web sites (http://www.sunfoodliving.com,
and http://www.sunfoodtraveler.com - which is going to be overhauled).
This new site will give them more of my writing to read.

I didn't write the book for money. I wrote it for the environment,
for wildlife, for family farmers, for the health of humanity,
and for a more sustainable world.

According to the authorities and industry leaders who
read through the manuscript as I was writing it,
it is the most up-to-date and complete book on the history,
laws, and uses of hemp, the world's most useful plant.

Even though the U.S. is the world's number one
importer of hemp products, U.S. farmers are not
allowed to grow it, but Canadian farmers are growing
many thousands of acres of it, and they are doing so
largely to supply hemp products for the U.S. market.
Read my book and understand why the U.S. government
refuses to allow family farmers to grow hemp.

My new book has been endorsed by
The Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance;
The Hemp Lobby;
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML);
Oregon NORML;
and The Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform.

Also, the people at http://www.VoteHemp.com read
through the manuscript, provided me with information for the book,
and connected me with people to interview.

After years of writing, rewriting, researching, toiling,
interviewing, editing, and more researching and writing and rewriting…

As of today, December 30, 2008…

The complete manuscript of
HEMP: WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW
can be read for free by accessing:
http://www.hempnowbook.com

"Hemp: What The World Needs Now" is the first book to be formulated for this strain of Web delivery by a new company. If you know of any other authors who want to publish their books in the same advertiser-supported format, feel free to contact Sam Estrin: Sam@Odinmetatech.com.

Meanwhile, spread the word about http://www.hempnowbook.com.
Link it to your Web sites.

Educate yourself about hemp and what it can do
to create a more sustainable culture.

Add raw hemp seed powder and raw hemp oil to your
daily diet, and feel your health improve.

And, have a great New Year!

Rock on!

John McCabe