Taking a "THINKING" Break

Dear Readers, if you are out there, after much thought and contemplation I decided that I am going to take a break from food blogging. I have blogged for almost a year and a half on this blog, which was created with only one desire in my mind--to help others achieve better health through nutritional excellence. I was and still am very passionate about the topic of lifestyle and nutrition. However, like any other blogger, it is important for me to know that what I am doing actually helps people and that I am not talking to an empty space somewhere in the great big world wide net. As a result I want to take time away from blogging to make a few decisions and figure out what to do next: TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG ;).

If you had followed my blog up to this point--Thank You. I hope I was able to help and challenge you at least a little bit. Please know that I am not quitting blogging, but just taking a leave of absence to sort things out and to determine the future of this blog.

While I am going I will continue creating scrumptious recipes and improving my life and lives of those around me [those who need and want the help, of course]. You might still see Twitter updates on this blog with quick tips (see the right panel of this blog).

Merry upcoming Christmas and a wonderful New Year to all!

Until next time, whenever and however it might be: live and UNPROCESSED Life!

Thanksgiving Adventures!

Hello, blogosphere! I cannot believe that I had not blogged for almost two weeks. With Thanksgiving and many other things my life has been a whirl-wind. No excuse, but I had learned to take my life easy to maintain peace in my heart.

We had planned a small Thanksgiving dinner with a few family members—we were supposed to have 10 people total, so I was going to cook up a storm… A couple of days before Thanksgiving our guest list swelled up to 31 people, and on the day of the holiday we had 35 people neatly packed between our dining and living rooms. With only three vegans in the house: my husband, my sister and myself, we ended up asking every family to bring a couple of their favorite dishes (just imagine if I had to cook for 35 on Thanksgiving day!)

I ended up making mashed potatoes, an apple and celery salad (variation of what you will find here. Super delicious!); I made apple pies and Raw Alfredo Zucchini Noodles.

Apple and Celery Salad
• 3 large apples, chopped into small pieces, or sliced on a mandolin slicer
• 1 bunch of celery, cut in the same manner
• 2 cups of spinach, thinly sliced or chopped
• 1-2 large cucumber, sliced in a same manner as apples, only larger
• [cucumber can be substituted with a zucchini, or you can use both]
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons honey
• Dash of sea or Himalayan salt
• 1 cup walnut pieces [optional]
• 1-2 ripe avocados mashed up with a fork
Mix all ingredients together—serve immediately or refrigerate.

In the last few days I restarted my green smoothie intake. Today I had a very feeling smoothie for breakfast.

Chard and Banana Smoothie
Makes 3-4 servings
• 3-4 large leaves chard, stem included
• 2 cups water
• 2 large ripe bananas
• 3 tbsp hemp seeds
• 3 plums

Tomorrow I will add a review of an Gluten Free, fantastic new flour I discovered—it is super delicious, super moist and is my new favorite. Stay tuned!

GLUTEN FREE--DAY 15! ALMOST HALFWAY THERE :)

The last several days have been busy, and although I had taken pictures of some of the food we have been consuming, I have not had a chance to process them... So... instead of waiting, I will add a recipe and add a picture to it later on this weekend.

One of my husband's absolute favorite soups is Split Pea. Now, for a man that used to think that he is simply unable to eat soups to have a favorite soup is quite impressive. I tried making many different soups to see if Demetrye can be "won" over to be a soup eater and had come up with a couple of favorites. So, without further due, here is...

Split Pea Soup

Ingredients
(makes enough to feed 4 people for a couple of days ;))

• 6 quarts of filtered water
• 3 cups of split peas, rinsed and drained
• Sea salt to taste
• 3 large potatoes, chopped
• 1 large bell pepper, chopped
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 2 medium-large carrots, sliced or shredded
• 3-4 tbs olive oil
  
• Favorite seasoning to taste
• 2 bay leaves [optional] [you can discard them after soup has been cooked]
  
• chopped dill, cilantro or green onions for garnish

Preparation

• Pour water into a pot, add salt, bay leaves and peas
• Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium and boil for 30 minutes
• Add potatoes; boil additional 20-30 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked through and peas are falling apart
• Meanwhile heat a skillet with olive oil, onion, bell pepper, carrots and seasoning
  
• Saute vegetables on medium heat for 5 minutes
• When potatoes and peas are cooked through, add sauteed vegetables and boil for additional 10-15 minutes
• Serve hot
• Garnish with your favorite herb
  

Amazingly the soup gets only better if it sits overnight.

In the last few days we had also enjoyed cucumber salad made with avocados, raw salsa and chips, green smoothies, quinoa pasta, chili and many other wonderful dishes.

Today's Green Smoothie was super delicious

Radish Greens Smoothie

• 2 big handfuls of radish greens
• 3 plums
• 1 apples, seeded
• 2 cups water
• 3 tbs hemp seed
• 5 dates

I hope that you are enjoying your Gluten Free months--I sure am, although I was almost knocked up my feet today when I came home for lunch by the aroma of freshly baked bread... but it is a little price to pay in the face of all the benefits.

We are now nearly half way through the month, so hand in there. Let me know how you are doing :)

And remember to live an UNPROCESSED LIFE!

Are you born with a Strong Will? Gluten Free--DAY 12!

Silly question, right? Well, amazingly I am told all the time that the reason that I succeed with vegan whole foods diet is because I am strong willed. One of my family members told me that I have been dubbed “The Iron Lady” among my relatives for that reason. Hearing things as such never ceases to amuse and amaze me. It really cracks me up.

The same person that shared the family “secret” with me has an indescribable weakness for sweets—she is head over heels for them and according to her own confession “could not LIVE without them”, even if she tried, because… she does not have a “strong will”. The same person suffers from various ailments: high blood pressure, allergies, etc., and constantly tries various diets on her and her husband trying to lose weight. Their typical diet lasts about 30 days, sticking to certain food groups, and at the end of the 30 days they go on a binge of all things they “cannot live without”.

So, this phenomenon leaves me speechless and dumbfounded… oh, who am I kidding? It makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs: “Are you crazy? You have got to be kidding me!” How can someone with a “weak” will be so strong headed and set on a path of destroying their health, which affects not only them, but their children?!

So, are we BORN with a strong will, or is it an acquired skill?

Here is my opinion. I believe that some personalities are more predisposed to have certain traits—being head-strong is one of mine. By personality time I am nearly a pure choleric, however, as I grew and matured I worked hard on the traits in myself that I did not like, changing them to be positive, rather than negative. I also acquired certain traits found in other personality types, especially sanguine and melancholic—but only the ones that I consider positive and those that would enhance who I am. Although being more persistent in the things of my life than others, it does not guarantee that my personality will ensure me having a STRONG WILL. A strong will is nothing more than a solid resolution to succeed and then act on it, i.e. IF YOU WANT SOMETHING BAD ENOUGH YOU WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN!

I wanted good health, which required for me to give up certain habits that I acquired from my childhood, such as eating meats, cheeses, dairy products, and some that I acquired after moving to North America, such as eating boxed and processed foods. I had a simple choice to make: 1. Continue with my lifestyle and keep paying the price with my ever worsening health; or 2. Change everything that I knew to be true up to that point and re-gain control of my and my husband’s health. There was nothing else: Option 1 and Option 2—nothing in between. I chose life and I stuck with it.

Has it ever been hard for me? I had certain temptations, but I never got to a point at which I wanted to regress to my old ways. It would be much easier, as some think, certainly especially when it comes to family gatherings or any other social engagements involving food (which is nearly 100% of the time in our society). It is not a pleasant experience to come to a party where everyone is loading up their plate and gorging on various dishes, while I and my husband end up with a few green leafs (apparently that is the only thing that most can come up with that is vegan) and a cucumber or an apple. But we know that we made our choice and we have to be OK with that! It is that simple! What we get in return is much more rewarding: a clean bill of health, more energy, longer lives (eventually, God willing).

Strong will is nothing more than a decision to make a change, and a resolve to see it through. We all have to make decisions that are contrary to popular opinion at one point or another, and choosing to have a better diet is not harder than choosing to be a Christian in an atheistic society (I grew up in one so I know)—at least with food no one is going to hold a gun to your head and make you choose life or death based on your willingness to eat junk.

So, if you happen to talk to me, please, please do not use “weak will” as an excuse for your failure to feel better. Call it what it is: being lazy, going with the flow, being lazy (or did I already say that?), unwilling to live, choosing momentary pleasures over long term benefits, paying for your selfishness with your health and making your family pay for it [someone is going to have to take care of you when you eventually get really sick, and your, your family’s or my [taxpayer’s] money is going to have to cover the expenses]. Call it being self-indulgent, call it whatever you may, but please do not tell me that you are “weak willed” because it takes a lot of determination to slowly kill yourself also.

I have heard many times: “I would rather die from cancer than give up meet!”, “I would rather enjoy my life and be happy when I die than give up… (fill in the blank)!” But then I saw the same people willing to do whatever it takes to stay alive, when it is a little too late. Some get chemo, some have an open heart surgery, limb amputation… you name it. There are some, however, that do get smart, but not always in time to get well, and change their eating and lifestyle habits. But I hope you are not going to be one of those who are a little too late to enjoy perfect health.

I also hope that you will realize, if you are struggling with this, that developing a Strong Will is like developing a muscle--you have to work on it on a regular basis!

And just to show you that change IS possible if it is DESIRED, here is a transformation of a meat-loving cowboy into a vegan—his changes was prompted by a simple desire to LIVE!

So, do YOU think that Strong Will is a gift or an acquired skill?

GLUTEN FREE--DAYS 8-10 [loads of recipes]

I started this post on Friday, day 8 of my Gluten Free adventure, when I received a call that 3 of my nephews are in town and I had to get out very quickly to pick them up. You can only imagine that there was little time left to blog when I got back home with 3 teenagers. On top of everything else one of them just celebrated his b-day, so we had to make sure to celebrate again.

The day after we remodeled and I had a photo shoot, leaving me with no time to blog. Yesterday was equally crazy. So, with all this said, let me dive into day 8-10 of my Gluten Free living, as I started it on Friday, November 13th.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am going to start off by making up for cell phone pictures I had to take while on vacation. So, here is the image of Raw Salsa with corn chips:

Green Salad
and Roasted Potatoes all from day 1 of our vacation.

Today, after getting home early from our vacation, I plunged straight into the kitchen--there was nothing to eat and we still had a long day ahead of us. Instead of coming back to the kitchen several times, I decided to make enough for the whole day today and some for tomorrow, since we will be working on the house. So, I made Rice & Potato soup, Raw Alfredo Zucchini Noodles, Baked Potatoes and a super delicious Spinach Salad with Creamy Dressing. And I actually jotted down a recipe for the dressing, which can be used both as a dressing and Alfredo Sauce.

So, here is to Gluten Free Friday!

Rice and Potato Soup
[Makes 6.5 quarts of soup—reduce ingredients proportions if you are not planning to feed 4 people for 2 days with is, as I did ;)]

Ingredients
• 6 quarts filtered water
• 1.5 cups rice
• 3 extra large potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large bell pepper, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• ¼ cup or less olive oil
• Sea or Himalayan salt to taste
• Favorite seasoning, to taste
• Choice of your greens: 1cup cilantro, 1-2 cups parsley or any other kind of greens, chopped
• Chopped dill to garnish

Preparation
• Pour water into a large pot and place on HI on the stove
• Add rice and potatoes and salt, bringing to boil
• Reduce heat to Medium or any point where the ingredients can still be cooking (my cookware allows me to reduce it to LOW)
• While rice and potatoes are cooking, heat a skillet with oil, adding in onion, bell pepper, carrots and seasoning
• Sauté on Medium heat for up to 5 minutes
• When potatoes and rice have cooked through (takes 20-25 minutes), add sautéed vegetables and continue cooking for another 10-15 minutes
• Add chopped greens, leaving them in hot soup for a couple of minutes to wilt
• Serve hot, garnishing with dill, if you like

Raw Zucchini Pasta with Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients
• 3 medium-large zucchinis, cut by a spiral slicer, see details here
• Sea or Himalayan salt to taste
• Alfredo Sauce (recipe below)

Preparation
• After making zucchini noodles, combine them with Cashew Alfredo sauce
• Serve immediately or refrigerate

Spinach Salad with Creamy Dressing

Ingredients
• 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 bell pepper, sliced
• ¼ onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup cilantro, chopped
• Anything else you might want to add [I had some left over quinoa veggie spirals, so I mixed them in]
• ½-3/4 cup Alfredo/Creamy Dressing [recipe below]

Preparation
• Toss all ingredients together
• Add dressing, toss again
• Serve immediately or refrigerate

Now for my new invention: Cashew Creamy Dressing/Alfredo Sauce. You can use it on non-wheat, gluten free pasta of your choice and salads alike. However, I would not suggest it for those of you who might have cashew allergies.

Cashew Creamy Dressing/Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients
• 1 cup cashews
• 1 cup water
• Sea or Himalayan salt to taste
• 2 medium size cloves of garlic
• 1-2 tbs fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbs favorite seasoning [I use Kirkland’s organic mix]

Preparation
• Soak cashews in water for at least an hour, up to two hours
• Place ALL ingredients, including soaking water, into a high speed blender (I use Vita-Mix 5200)
• Blend until smooth (I start with a low speed and increase it to the highest setting)
• Pour over your salad or noodles
• Refrigerate leftovers and use as needed

With all these recipes I hope I have earned your forgiveness for not posting for 3 days :). Have a great Gluten Free Monday!

GLUTEN FREE--DAY 7 [CONTINUED], with a DASH OF PERSONAL CARE

The day is far from being over, but I felt like adding another post--I am on vacation and away from home, so I actually have time to blog, while my hubby is napping.

After a work out I made a very nourishing facial mask, and even talked Demetrye into pampering himself with me, although the way he was grimacing you would have thought I was torturing him. He probably did it just to show that guys don't do that, but he did it for me ;) The mask was inspired by a post from another blogger. I made a very slight modification

Facial Mask

• 1 apple (I only had Lady Pink with me)
• zest of 1 lemon (I peeled mine with a knife and let Vita-Mix blender handle the rest)
• 1 tbs honey
• 3 tbs water

I blended everything up in the Vita-Mix, spread some on my face and kept the rest to mix into a green smoothie.

I let the mask settle into my skin (15-20 mins) and then washed it off with a warm washcloth. My skin felt grate and grateful afterward.

With the remainder Demetrye made us a green smoothie. I would call it Facial Mask smoothie, but it would sound a bit too gross, so, I will call it

Nourishing Spinach Smoothie

• 1 apple
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tbs honey
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbs hemp seed
• 1 banana
• 1 big manly handful of spinach
• if you need more sweetness, add dates or honey

The smoothie was great. After it, we kicked back to indulged in one activity that always brings us closer together: reading. I am about get back to doing some more of it.

For dinner, I am contemplating on making either Ploff or Roased Potatoes again, to satisfy Demetrye's craving, along with a large green salad.

Until tomorrow: have an amazing Gluten Free day!

GLUTEN FREE--DAY 7!

The day is just starting, but I wanted to share our early meal with you today. I have an intense workout coming up so I loaded up on some extra calories. Here is what I made today (for the first time):

Quinoa pasta

Green Salad with Hemp seed

Here is our delicious meal

• To make pasta, I cooked it slightly longer than directed on the box--I like my pasta soft.
• I then sauteed onions and garlic with Kirkland organic blend seasoning, blended up some tomatoes with cilantro and bell pepper and mixed everything together, added salt.
• I also had some of Cashew Ranch left over after garnishing our salad, so I blended it into pasta, and it turned out to be a fabulous Alfredo Sauce. So, now my goal is to jot the proportions down and post it here. But, if you soak some cashews in the water and then blend it with spices it gives you a delicious creamy sauce.

Apparently pasta was so good that Demetrye went back for 2 seconds. It turned out to be a great alternative to wheat pasta and a great vacation meal.

How is your Gluten Free journey going?

A Big, Heartfelt Thank you to all Veterans!

My husband and I are taking a vacation. As we are relaxing now, we know that it is possible only by the grace of God and through life-sacrificing efforts of the men and women who enlisted to serve their country with their very lives.

I have several family members who have served in the military, navy and now one in the Reserves, Demetrye has two cousins that are Active Duty. My father, who is no longer with us, had served and fought in WWII. One of my grandfathers and one of my uncles have been killed in WWII.

I know that as a country we often fall short of showing our gratitude to those of you who put your lives on the line for us to keep our freedoms and to enjoy our lives, and for that I am sorry.

Thank you for your sacrifice! Thank you and may God keep you safe, be it here, in the US, or overseas, or on an enemy’s soil.

GLUTEN FREE--DAY 5!

We made it to our vacation destination--Seaside, OR. The weather is gray and it is raining. Thankfully, we are planning to be inside for the rest of the night anyhow, to enjoy each others company.

First order of business after checking in was dinner, of course. I wanted to whip up something quick, simple and delicious. Excuse the images--they were taken with my husband's cell camera.

We had Roasted Potatoes with Potato Dipping Sauce [a mixture of organic ketchup and Vegenaise).

I also whipped up a delicious green salad with lots of other veggies, served with home-made vegan Ranch dressing).

Salad

• spinach
• romaine lettuce
• cilantro
• onions
• tomatoes
• zucchini

We also had corn chips with salsa that I made with my super Vita-Mix that I had to bring along with me, of course.

Salsa

• 5 medium tomatoes
• 1/4 onion
• handful cilantro
• salt to taste (sea salt or Himalayan salt)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/4-1/2 large bell pepper

I had Vita-Mix on alternate speeds between 1 and 3, chopping veggies without turning them into mush. After getting the blade going I dropped veggies one by one, so they would hit the blade. I emptied the container 3 times, not to over-blend any of them. I mixed all ingredients in a bowl and served. It was super delicious!

We are getting ready to enjoy the rest of the night--all Gluten Free and restful... as soon as Demetrye gets done with a pressing real estate related call [sigh].

Hope you had a great GF day!

GLUTEN FREE-DAY 5! AND GLUTEN FREE FLOUR

I am still going awesome and strong-had only one momentary temptation so far. Yesterday I was eating one of my favorite soups-Borsch-which I always, always have with bread, when I felt like reaching out and grabbing a slice of freshly home-made, crunchy bread. I didn't, of course!

Yesterday I snacked on walnuts, almonds, raisins. My green smoothie of the day (though I had 2 different ones) was made by my hubby and was quite... well, not as flavorful as I would make it, but it served its purpose. We were painting a room in the house yesterday, so we certainly needed an extra oomph to get toxins out of our systems.

Spirulina Smoothie

• Big bunch of Radish greens
• 2 cups raspberries
• 1-2 cups water
• 2 heaping spoons spirulina
• dates, to taste

I slept like a baby afterward.

While I am going Gluten Free, I was contacted by folks from GrainFree Gourmet and informed of their Almond Flour. I am going to get my sample soon and see if it truly works. I will make sure to post a detailed review here. I was told that it is amazing, so we will see. Stay tuned for that!

Meanwhile, I and my husband are getting out of town for a few days on a mini-vacation. I will be making most of our meals, with his help, so, I am hoping to blog from there a little also.

If you are following me on my GF journey, drop a note and let me know how you are doing.

Till next time: LIVE AN UNPROCESSED LIFE!