10 Days 100 % Simply Raw--Day 1

After posting Saturday's Meditation I became inspired to try a 10 day 100% pure Simply Raw cleanse/detox. The five children and I came down with a terrible flu while we were traveling in Michigan. It lasted a full two weeks and I survived on herbal tea, cooked and raw vegetables and of course the morning green smoothies. I literally had to force the food down, there was no appetitite to be found. I also had to take some OTC meds in order to sleep one night, I had such a painful headache. So needless to say I have a lot of detoxing to do. What better way than a 10 day Simply Raw protocol. I will avoid gourmet raw during these 10 days and focus on simplicity which translates into easy recipes!
I will be sharing my meals from the day prior to each post, as I began my 10 days on December 10th. So here is how my Saturday looked on my 10 Days 100% Simply Raw
DAY 1
Large glass of filtered water upon rising
20 minutes of a full body workout using weights, large excercise ball and cardio
Meal #1: Post Workout Green Smoothie

Cherry Kale Smoothie (makes 5 large servings)
by Elizabeth @ RawLivingandlearning.blogspot.com

1 bunch of Dino Kale
1 bag frozen cherries
1/4 an avocado
4 ripe bananas
1 tsp coconut oil
2 T chia
1 C filtered water
1 C ice
Place ingredients in the "Wild Side Pitcher" of a Blendtec blender, or any large high speed blender pitcher, and hit the "smoothie" button. This makes 5 large servings.
I had a 16 oz glass after my workout and it was delicious. I served the remaining servings to the children and hubby.
For the second meal of the day I was thinking of soup. While I was sick I never got to have a really good bowl of soup and I was craving it big time.
I am always drooling whenever Lisa at Raw on 10 or Less posts her avocado soup. Her recipe along with the one from "Raw Food A complete Guide for Every Meal of the Day" are my favorites.
I decided to try creating my own avocado soup by combining key components in both of theirs. Here are two versions that I came up with:
Meal #2: Avocado Soup, Version 1 (serves 2)
by Elizabeth @ Rawlivingandlearning.blogspot.com

1 large Haas avocado
1 C  filtered water (More if needed)
2 T fresh lemon juice
zest from 1/2 of the lemon
2 T of diced Vadalia onion
1 clove of pressed garlic
pinch of red pepper flakes
pinch of sea salt (optional)
1 tsp raw honey
cucumber noodles
finely diced orange bell pepper
finely diced Roma tomato
broccoli sprouts
Directions:
In a high speed blender add the water, avocado, lemon juice and zest. Blend till creamy adding water if needed to obtain your desired consistency. Next add the garlic, 1 T of the onions and a pinch of sea salt. Pulse a few times. Next prepare the cucumber noodles by peeling a cucumber and slicing thin strips on a mandolin. stop before you reach the seeds. Stack the noodles and cut into thinner strips using a sharp knife. Pour the soup into bowls and add the cucumber noodles. Garnish the soup with a drizzle of raw honey, chopped orange peppers, tomatoes, remaining onion and the broccoli sprouts.

Avocado Soup Version 2 (serves 2)
by Elizabeth @ Rawlivingandlearning.blogspot.com

1 large Haas avocado
1 C filtered water (more if needed)
2 T fresh lime juice
zest from 1/2 of the lime
1 clove pressed garlic
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tsp Tamari
fresh cilantro
scallions, the greens only, finely sliced
cucumber noodles (see above recipe for how to)
finely diced orange bell pepper
finely diced Roma tomato
broccoli sprouts
Directions:
In a high speed blender add the water, avocado, lime juice and zest. Blend till creamy. Next add the garlic, Tamari, and red pepper flakes and pulse a few times. Pour soup into bowls and add the cucumber noodles. Garnish soups with the peppers, tomato, cilantro and sprouts. For a finishing touch top with a very small amount of ground sea salt. Insanely good!!

I actually had a bowl of each for Meal #2. I was really happy with how delicious they both were and how distinctly different they tasted.

Meal #3 Pear Delight

2 diced pears

6 soaked dates

2 soaked figs

1 T raw dried coconut, soaked

1/3 C raw sunflower seeds soaked 2-3 hrs

cinnamon

Directions:

Place the diced pears into a bowl. Slice the figs and dates into bite sized pieces. Add all of the remaining ingredients to the pears and gently toss. Enjoy!

I will leave you with this thought to ponder during this hectic season as we await Christmas:

"Can we rest securely in the knowledge that we are cherished by a God who pursues us passionately? If we can burrow deep into that identity, we don't much need pretension, titles, acclaim, prestige or perfect Christmas gifts. We have enough."
— from Catholic Update: Advent Day-by-Day

+JMJ+ Today I am grateful for my day filled with raw living foods and for feeling much better!!

Saturday Meditation

"We often miss the prophets in our midst. A few signals might point them out: they disrupt our cozy routines, present new ideas we find unsettling and ask us to reach beyond our comfort zones."
— from Catholic Update: Advent Day-by-Day

+JMJ+  Today I am grateful for disruptions.

Mountain View and Raw Collard Greens

Look at my views

Enjoying the beauty of the North Carolina mountains once again and it feels wonderful! Traveling is easy, if you eat raw, with just a little bit of planning. Of course packing the blender is essential so green smoothies can be enjoyed every morning.
 Stocking up on fresh produce once you reach your destination is a must. I knew that this trip was going to include Storm's fantastic recipe for raw vegan collards so I made sure that I printed out the recipe. The thought of heading for the hills of North Carolina made this recipe so relevent!!! I found the most amazing organic collard greens at the local grocery store (thinking-- how could I not!!) and also some Heirloom tomatoes; not to mention sweet white onions, so well known in the South. A little pre-planning (soaking and grinding my cashews into flour at home) made this a snap to put together once we reached our destination. I enjoyed this amazing raw recipe for lunch and dinner on two different days.
Check out Storm's recipe here.
I skipped his step of letting the greens sit in the sun and instead ate my greens in the sun :)
I watched our oldest two build a fire and ate my raw greens sitting on the brown grassy hill as the younger three rolled around in the leaves; it was pure bliss.

+JMJ+ Today I am grateful for a stupendous view on top of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

My 2011 Garden and a Recipe

The garden went in pretty easily this fall and I am hoping I can harvest some great produce. My neighbor was sweet enough to give me 4 cucumber plants (love yah!) that he started from seed. Unfortunately one of them did not survive a tropical downpour that we had a few weeks back. But the remaining three look just fine.

I also planted some marigolds as a border, they remind me of my Grandma and Grandpa that are no longer with us--memories flood back each time I look at the beautiful flowers--you'll see those down below in the updated pics.

I decided to plant the majority of the garden from seed. As you can see, the plants planted are tomato and peppers. And as I said the cucumbers against the fence were grown from seed, thanks Bubba!!!

In the front row I planted seeds for Chinese Cabbage;  the second row is all Romaine; the third row is Collards; the fourth row is Kale.

One of my cutie pies is in the backround modeling our banana trees. We have 3 hands on the trees right now!! That has never happened before, usually we only have one growing at a time. I hope these ripen nicely because we love these small sweet organic bananas!!

This year I once again am growing potted plants up on our second story deck. I will be growing tomato, aloe and a full herb garden as well as micro greens and some lettuce.
So far I have the aloe and tomato planted.

Now let's look at how everything has grown over the past 20 days:

I forgot to mention that I am also growing a pineapple.

Here is a super easy recipe for Raw Cranberry Sauce. It takes about 3 minutes to make and is packed with fresh flavors. I will be having it as part of my Raw Thanksgiving Feast that we will be preparing early this year. I am making a turkey for our oldest son because he LOVES turkey. The rest of the menu is entirely plant based and a large portion of it will be raw so I can indulge also.
Here is the cranberry recipe:

Raw Cranberry Sauce
by Elizabeth @ rawlivingandlearning.blogspot.com

1 large Florida navel orange
1 bag of fresh organic cranberries
1 organic red apple
2 T date fluff (paste)
fresh lemon juice
Using a food processor, process the cranberries into small pieces. Place into a mixing bowl. Next pulse the apple into small pieces, add that to the bowl. Lastly pulse the orange and mix with the apples and cranberries. Gently fold in the date fluff. Drizzle with some fresh lemon juice and gently stir. Chill.

+JMJ+ Today I am grateful for an unexpected gift from the hubby. Thanks sweetie!!