Sawtooth Backpacking August 2010

Hey everyone! How have ya been? Sorry for the long break. Crazy times, but I will save the catch up for another post. Went backpacking twice this summer – and I was diggin it! Check out this pic of the Sawtooth Backpacking trip I took with the hubby my son, and his brother. We had a blast and the Sawtooths are awesome by the way! I fell in love with Sun Valley – too bad my bank account does not match my love for that area! Hope to chat with everyone soon!

My son took this pic on our first day entering the Sawtooth National Forest. Absolutely stunning!

A very sad weekend

Hi everyone. My family got some very sad news on Thursday around 1 am. My brother-in-law passed away suddenly and we do not know why. He was only 58 years old and has left behind a 14 year old son who is going to need alot of love and prayer to get through this. My sister is devastated and is faced with the task of raising my nephew without a father. My brother-in-law was a wonderful uncle to my children and he will be missed. My family is going to get together and really help my sister with raising her son. I have a wonderful sister and she is a very caring person. She also has Rheumatoid Arthritis and another crippling disease (my mom and dad are genetic nightmares!) and she will need alot of love and support to get through this.

On another note, my Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is raging and I can barely get out of bed or brush my teeth for that matter. Trying to keep my chin up though and remember daily all the blessings in my life that God has given me. My family, my husband and three awesome children, friends that care and do not mind my crippled condition sometimes! – I am very blessed. I want to thank all my friends who have called me with their kind words of encouragement and support this week. It has really helped me get through tough times this week and I appreciate your caring so much!

As some of you know, I have not been raw for the past month. My Rheumatoid Arthritis was so bad, that it was basically agony everyday. After being raw for five months, I decided I needed to do something different with my diet to see if I could (once again) ease my RA symptoms. My RA became so much worse on the raw diet, I cannot explain it. I think I am the only person on the planet that can eat broccoli and feel worse! And as far as the pain goes, you learn to live with the pain, so not many people can tell that I am hurting so much (unless they see my hands and wrists, or wonder why I shuffle). I mean, its not like you are gonna be at the grocery store and screaming in pain the whole time. You just learn to tolerate it and get through each day and try to keep a smile on your face! I know many of you deal with health issues and pain daily, and I will keep you in my prayers! hugs hugs hugs :)))))))))))

Wow, sorry for such a sad post! I promise my next post will be happier! I think I need an voice-activated keyboard as typing is excruciating on my wrists!  I wish everyone a blessed and wonderful weekend.

RA Gone Wild and Yummy Flax Cookies

Hi everyone! Long time since I posted. Sorry but crazy times around here with the son graduating college, the other son in baseball playoffs, daughter in dance recitals, end of school year stuff – all this and a really bad RA flare – and I mean really bad – wild bad. Cannot get out of bed bad. I think I need a rope contraption on the ceiling so I can somehow be hoisted out of bed!

As some of you may know from my other blog RA is Wild, I have been eating way more cooked food lately. After 5.5 months on raw, and my RA getting so much worse I had to make changes.  I am still trying to be at least 50% raw throughout the day and seem pretty successful with that. All it takes is a huge salad at lunch, or maybe a hummus wrap with lots of veggies and a green smoothie at breakfast, and I find it easy to stay above the 50% raw mark. Last week I was feeling a little better but this week has been really, really (did I say really?) hard. Coping with extreme, chronic pain can be tough to deal with mentally too. I have the greatest husband in the world who is very supportive and helpful – Love you hubby!

So my RA has been really bad lately and my hands do not work at all. In fact when I wake up, they are numb and very painful (I know that sounds weird to be numb and have pain at the same time but that is how I describe it). My wrists hurt so bad that I am icing them in the morning. But when life gives you lemons, what do you do? Make cookies! lol  - Even if my hands are not working I can make these easy cookies. Nothing will stop me from making cookies! I will make them with my elbows if I have too!

The other day I made Averie's No-Bake Vegan Flax Seed Cookies and these are really good! What a great way to incorporate flax into your diet and they are sooo easy! I added a TBSP of Almond Butter just because. Now she makes a much prettier version of cookies than I do, but remember I have mangled, painful hands! haha

Head on over to Averie's site as she has some wonderful vegan recipes and advice. She is a really wonderful person and blogger and is very inspirational!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Weekend! God Bless you all!

Quickie Blackberry Nut Milk Ice Cream & other confessions

Happy Saturday night everyone! Hey, so my kids wanted Thrifty (now Rite-Aid) ice cream. So like a good mom I went and got them some and had to hold two pints of cookie dough and pralines and cream ice cream in each hand for the drive home..How agonizing was that? I do not care how healthy the raw diet is, I miss ice cream. So I decided to make a quickie raw version using some brazil nut milk I had in the frig and some fresh blackberries. It was like magic – well almost…it turned out pretty good and calmed my ice cream cravings down.

I have made some killer raw ice cream before using a recipe from Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw Dessert Book (and I mean it was to die for!). This was a quickie version and it did the trick. I kept the agave to a minimum as I seem to feel it if I eat too much of that stuff (kind of the way I feel when I used to eat too much sugar).

 

Now onto the confession part – Forgive me for I have sinned. I am a very bad raw girl! It has been five months on the High Raw Diet – and yesterday I decided to treat myself to some crappy fast food at my fav place Del Taco. I ordered a small bean burrito no cheese. Its VEGAN. So why did I feel so guilty?

I am sure the guilt stems from that the fact that there is probably crappy ingredients in the tortilla and beans. I can make my own beans and buy my own tortillas and at least know every single ingredient that is in there. I do know that Del Taco has vegan beans and tortillas so at least that is good to know. But I have to confess that I LOVED EVERY BITE OF THAT BURRITO. I do feel deprived on the raw diet lately and I cannot help it. I am going thru a "If I eat another salad I am going to kill myself" phase!

~ Although this salad with Creamy Tahini dressing (recipe from

www.kristensraw.com) was really good ~

It is such a pain in the butt to make salads and eat healthy sometimes!

Ya know Dr. Fuhrman (the Eat to Live Doc) says if you can eat healthy 90% of the time you have mastered the art of healthy eating. So maybe I should treat myself every now and then to vegan cooked stuff. I am still high raw (like on average 80-90%) but I do enjoy the cooked vegan food ALOT when I have it!

Here is a list of cooked vegan food I have had throughout my duration of being High Raw (I have been 100% Vegan since I started and NEVER deviated from that – my kids were daring me to try a bite of real ice cream tonight!)

• Homemade Veggie burgers
• Quinoa Spaghetti and Organic Spaghetti sauce
• Stir Fry Veggies
• Roasted and baked potatoes
• Pinto beans
• A few French fries here and there
• Baked sweet potatoes
• Gluten Free and Vegan Scones (Homemade and killer)
• and ONE small Del Taco Bean Burrito NO cheese!

Now I have stayed high raw even though I have incorporated some of these items into my diet now and then. I could really see myself going more cooked vegan and REALLY enjoying it! So I am going to start making that transition. Especially since I cannot stay raw and backpack in the high Sierra's for two weeks, I better get my bod used to digesting cooked food.

I have to be careful though as I could easily be an overweight vegan. I like to eat ALOT of food and I can do that on raw and not gain weight. I know I would gain weight eating alot of vegan spaghetti and scones!

So I hope everyone has a great weekend! Summer is almost here! I went for a four mile walk today with the hubby and daughter. Trying to get into shape for upcoming backpacking trips!

Raw Bread Recipe Alert! – Kale-Hemp-Onion Bread

Hey there! How is Wednesday treating ya? I have been meaning to post some raw recipes that have actually been successful! I have had quite a few bomb on me, but I have to say (as I pat myself on the back) that my raw bread recipe is pretty darn delish. I have mastered Kale-Hemp-Onion Bread. I have made it a few times and tweaked it a little (sunflower seeds for hemp seeds, to add garlic powder or not) but each time it has turned out awesome.

Trust me – this stuff is awesome! And packed with nutrition! This is a great way to use nutritional yeast to get your B12s.

You can make it as thick as you want – this is about 1/4" thick

So without further ado…the famous recipe from a newbie raw foodie:

 

Kale-Hemp-Onion Bread

• 2 cups of torn Kale
• 1/2 white onion semi-chopped
• 1/2 cup Hemp Seeds (or use pepitas, sunflower – whateva you desire)
• 1 cup ground flax seed (or Bob's Red Mill Organic Flax meal)
• 2/3 cup Nutritional Yeast (makes this bread taste cheezy and awesome)
• 1 tsp Himalayan Salt (or whatever salt you have…I love this pink salt)
• 1/2 tsp Organic Black Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Organic Garlic Powder
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil

Now toss it all in a food processor and process til that ball starts to whip around the container. The dough will be stiff – Now spread it or pat it with your hands on a lined dehydrator tray and score it in your desired shapes. I score mine so they will fit into a quart mason jar for storage (so like 3" x 3" squares) I put my last batch in the dehydrator at 10:30 pm and it was ready at 8 am. That is it! You should get about 8 slices.

This bread has a great flavor..you cant really taste the onion that much at all, but it really helps to keep it moist. The nutritional yeast really compliments the bread and gives it a yummy cheezy flavor.

• Make veggie sandwiches – use avo and tomato slices, lettuce and organic mustard  - can you say YUM!
• Use it as a side to your huge raw salads!
• Eat it as a snack!

I feel this is a great go-to raw snack/food item to have on hand. One day I am gonna make all 9 dehydrator trays full of this stuff. But I need the super large 12 cup food processor! Hubby do you read my blog? Cuz that would be a super romantic surprise present! (HAHA)

Have a great day!

WOW! LDL Cholesterol dropped a whopping 30 points!

Hey Raw peoples! This is a quickie post and (sorry I have not posted but life has been crazy wicked) – Anyways, just got back from the Doc (a Hyst post-op appt) and my LDL cholesterol dropped 30 points – can you believe that? 30 points in four months. My LDL is now 109 – I am so happy! RA puts a person at much higher risk for cardio issues due to all the inflammation going on. So I want to do everything I can to lower my risks. My OB/Gyn Dr is so awesome. He is a firm believer in the overall total body approach and supports my veganism. All my other levels are great too. And I am not anemic – yeah!

So with that I will say…

"Goodbye In-N-Out Burger with melted, double cheese (for those who do not live in Cali, this is in fact a very traumatic goodbye) – Goodbye greasy french fries, Goodbye Ben and Jerry, Goodbye Taco bell, Goodbye fried chicken, Goodbye sourdough bread with butter slathered all over it - I shall miss you! Parting is such sweet sorrow (well sometimes it is!) and I am off to greener pastures!

Now if I could just lose that last 7 or 8 pesky pounds, my vegan life would be complete! lol.

The hubby's new pride and joy (I think he loves this Rubicon more than me!) We just got back from Utah – it was gorgeous!

Psycho Killer and Vegan Martinis

I can’t seem to face up to the facts.
I’m tense and nervous and I... can’t relax.
I can’t sleep, cause my bed’s on fire.
Don’t touch me I’m a real live wire.

Psycho Killer
Qu'est-ce que c'est?

fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa better
Run run run run run run run away
OH OH OH

This song is how I feel today~ It is one of those days! Especially the run away part! My RA is killing me, I am tired and could sleep the entire day away.  I had a Chocolate Cherry Bomb Shake by www.Kristensraw.com and used Hemp protein powder that has E3Live and Maca in it. Hopefully that will energize these weary old crippled bones! 

Yeah I know, this was NOT my Chocolate Cherry Bomb Shake…but it looks pretty good!

 

This puppy had raw cacao nibs on top…yum!

Here is the good ole Raw menu plan for today (I reserve the right to change this!)

Breakfast: Green Juice (I drank a quart!) – hey I save my Kale stalks from my massaged Kale salad and juice them later!

Lunch: Chocolate Cherry Bomb Shake with E3Live, MACA and Hemp

Snack: Apple

Dinner: Spinach salad with raw veggies and tahini dressing, my own Raw Kale Hemp Bread that I made and it was to die for…recipe coming soon.

 

Here is what I have been craving lately…

as if Raw martinis existed…raw vodka?

 

Good news! Vodka is Vegan – according to the Vegan Society in the UK…so that is good enough for me! I have not had a cocktail in four months. Now I am not much of a drinker at all (*cough* college days don't count), but semi-occasionally it is nice to mix a yummy, fruity martini and chillax a little. I used to love to go to the Cheesecake Factory with the hubby and sip on a Red Rasberry martini (one of the best drinks in the universe by the way.)

Absolut, Stoli, and Grey Goose are all Vegan. Just in case all you vegans wanted (needed) to know!

A GROSS, disturbing fact: Some drinks such as Campari are coloured with E120, a red colouring agent made from the red body material of scale insects (Dactilopius coccus). This is also found in some soft drinks and red wines. YUK – EEEWWW – Sounds like something Man vs. Wild would eat. The red body material of an insect. GROSS.

So what is everyone up to today on this ho-hum Monday? My 17 year old has a baseball game and then I am cooking chicken quesadillas for the fam. We are trying to go thru everything we have til payday. Of course my kids always tell me we have nothing to eat.  Last night they fought over pizza or Subway. I said "what do I care, I am raw, I don't eat that crap" – Raw gets me out of alot of dinner disputes!

Sorry my blog post is all over the place today…Psycho Killer, Martinis, Raw Shakes, Menu Plan…I am all over the place today!

I better run run run run run run run awaaaaaaaaaay!

PS – Now that song will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day! hee hee