Cauliflower and Brussel Sprouts - with Salt and Nutritional Yeast

One may think that cauliflower and brussel sprouts sounds boring and bland, but sprinkled with a little salt (I use either sea salt of kosher salt) and Brewer's yeast (which has a cheesy flavor), the taste is heavenly!

Blessings,
Kimberly

Lunch - Iceburg Lettuce, Cauliflower and Brocolli

A small salad of iceburg lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower. I know that iceburg lettuce is not the most healthy lettuce, but it's what my husband brought and it's a negative calorie food, so I am not complaining. I have lost 9 pounds now! :)

Blessings,
Kimberly

Orange, Banana and Pomegranate

Orange, banana and pomegranate

Blessings,
Kimberly

Supper - Salad

Salad with tomato, mushroom, cauliflower, spinach, mushroom, and avocado - doused with a little olive oil and kosher salt.

Blessings,
Kimberly

Brocolli, Cauliflower, and Tomato with Spices

Normally, I don't eat lunch at all. Sometimes I have a smoothie for breakfast or some fruit and skip lunch, or some times I fast all day until night approaches, but for some reason today I got a little bit hungry. I had a smoothie earlier this morning. I got up considerably earlier today, so I think that might be the reason for the hunger. Anyway, I am having broccoli, cauliflower and tomato with some kosher salt, nutritional yeast (for a nice cheesy flavor), curry, paprika and turmeric. I love the spicey flavors, and it's a way to keep from becoming bored with the raw foods. No oil or dressing though, as I am avoiding the fats.

Blessings,
Kimberly

Cabbage and Tomato

Supper tonight.............

Blessings,
Kimberly

Breakfast - Orange, Banana, Raisins and Dried Cranberries

Very simple breakfast, and it left me soooo full!


One and one forth orange (my husband didn't want all of his), one banana and raisins and dried cranberries sprinkled across. Chamomile tea steeping in the background. Right now I using sugar to sweeten my tea, but hope to get some dates soon. Still raw, all but my liquids - and loving it.

Blessings,
Kimberly

Supper - Raw Brussel Sprouts. Tomato and Corn

Raw brussel sprouts (5). tomato (1/2) and corn (1 ear)... sprinkled with salt.

No breakfast today... this is the first meal I have had tonight. If I get hungry later I will snack on some grapes.

Blessings,
Kimberly

Supper Tonight - Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts, Raisins and Dried Cranberries

No olive oil, salt or anything... What you see is what I had.

Blessings,
Kimberly

Spring Mix, Broccoli, Brussel Sprout, Tomato and Red Pepper Salad

Not too many words tonight... I am writing a critique on pluralism and promised myself not to get overwhelmed with this blog again.

Tonight I made a salad of spring greens, broccoli, brussel sprouts, red pepper and tomato, seasoned with olive oil and salt for a dressing. It's basically the same thing as I had last night, except I added the brussel sprouts.

After I ate a few bites, however, I decided that I wanted a little cheesy taste, so I added some nutritional yeast. Yummy!!!! :)

I am really enjoying eating raw, and have lost 5 1/2 pounds this week. Exciting! :)

Blessings,
Kimberly

Spring Mix, Broccoli, Tomato and Red Pepper Salad

Tonight I had almost the same thing to eat that I had last night, except instead of the dandelion greens, I had spring mix, and this one had tomatoes and red pepper in it. For dressing I used olive oil and a little kosher salt. It was really delicious! It's still a struggle to not go for some of the cooked foods, however, but I am doing good. The only thing I didn't have raw today was the store-bought Mott's apple juice. I had LOTS of cherries today. I have gone through six bags in three days!

I thought this was cute. As I was cutting up the red pepper, there was a baby green pepper growing inside of it. :)

Blessings,
Kimberly

Yummy Raw Breakfast - Dandelion Greens, Orange, Cherries and Blueberries

Being that school is back in session and I don't want to get overwhelmed again, most of my posts will be of few words...

This morning I had a breakfast of a bed of dandelion greens, topped by an orange and sprinkled with pitted cherries and blue berries. Very healthy and quite delicious!!

Here is a closeup.

Blessings,
Kimberly

Dandelion Greens and Brocolli

Simple supper tonight... and yummy!

Dandelion greens and broccoli with olive oil and a little salt...

Blessings,
Kimberly

Something Healthy and Green to Add to Your Smoothie

I don't have a whole lot of new stuff to add tonight. I haven't made any gourmet raw recipes to share or anything like that. Basically, we are having lots of smoothies. But tonight, when I was making our supper smoothies, my husband told me to put a couple of spoons of sofrito (Spanish) or green base in English. It contains cilantro, culantro, green peppers, garlic, and onion - and olive oil. This is all blended up into a liquid. This is a very healthy addition, and a way to get a bit more greens and toxin-removing garlic and onions into your diet, and is undetectable in a smoothie. (I still added my spinach, as well.)

You can see the cinnamon I added too. I forgot to tell you about this the other day. Cinnamon tastes very good and has excellent health benefits.

To make sofrito: blend a whole bunch of cilantro, a whole bunch of culantro, half of a green pepper, 2 cloves of garlic and a quarter of an onion with a little olive oil.


Other than that, I have been eating LOTS of fresh cherries! Yummmmmmmmmm!

Blessings,
Kimberly

Supper Tonight - Salad and Smoothie

Tonight was totally raw. It was great. We had a nice sized salad and a smoothie.

The salad was made with sprong mix, parsley, spinach, onion, celery and tomato.

This is the finished salad.

I added some flax seed to mine. Great for any inflammation in the body! Here's a closeup.

For the smoothie, I put about 2 1/2 bananas (1/2 was bruised so the guinea pigs got it), an orange, 5 or 6 strawberries, a few blueberries, blackberries, raspberries

and a generous helping of fresh spinach.

This is everything in the blender.

and all finished.

I regret that this camera doesn't take true colors in the house, but here is the finished smoothie. :) It was yummy!

Edited 1/16/2011 to include the salad dressing I used... simply olive oil and salt.

Blessings,
Kimberly

Raw Food Inspiration

Well, I haven't eaten raw in months - for the most part... I have kept up with my bananas, and a smoothie here and a smoothie there, but since October when the weather started getting cold, I have primary been eating cooked. No more... at least not for the most part. I am feeling bad. My asthma is doing dramatically better from the 4 day fast of October, and my fibromyalgia is better, and my blood pressure is still low (last time I went to the doctor), and I have had blood work done regarding my cholesterol, which I have to go and get the results, but I think it would still be low too. But I have back pain! Two years ago when I was HIGH raw my back pain went away, and it returned with cooked food. So, I can't wait to see that leave again. Also when I eat bread I feel just like I have a cold. I get a runny nose and sneezes. It's terrible. I wake up sneezing. I did eat some bread today, but it was Arnold's health nut bread. I am hoping it won't affect me. So far it hasn't.

But I have LOTS of raw here now... Not like I usually buy, but it's a start.

I have strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and almonds,

bananas, salad spring mix, and oranges,

spinach, cilantro, parsley and tomatoes,

and cherries.... Oh, you don't know how I have been wanting cherries when they were out of season!

That's what I have right now. It's not a lot, but it's a little inspiration.

Blessings,
Kimberly

Delicious Dessert (Banana/Plantain, Strawberry, Blueberry, Pecan)

Normally we don't eat dessert, but with only a light salad for supper, I was still hungry. I promised that I would put anything cooked on here, but this was a substitute. I only have two bananas in the house, and they are for the morning smoothies. If not, I would have used raw bananas rather than the plantains. But the good news is that they are not fried, like my husband likes them.

I took two plantains and chopped them into about 1/2 or so inch slices.

I drenched them in molasses. Yes, molasses are healthy.

Then I sprinkled them with a good coating of chili powder and turmeric.

And I laid them on my George Foreman Grill, allowing them to grill probably about 15 minutes or so.

After that I laid them out on a plate and placed some sliced frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries and some pecans on them...

Yummy! It would have been better, however, if I had used the regular, raw bananas. It wasn't too bad though... no oil and no frying. Still healthy...


Blessings,
Kimberly

Salad for Supper

A couple of my friends noticed that I was hungry today. I don't know why. Normally, I can go all day with just a smoothie or even just one banana. I had a smoothie this morning. One just like here, except without the flax seeds... I think today the reason that I got hungry was because I was searching for tid bits on raw fooding to share on my Facebook account, and ran into a blog with some killer raw recipes that definitely had my mouth watering. I was so hungry that I ate a couple of pieces of bread, and forget about it! The carbs went into overtime dropping my blood glucose and my stomach was yelling at me to eat! My husband was going to go out to get something (as I am not that raw yet), but we remembered we had a precut salad in the refrigerator. We just took it out, sprinkled some olives on it (which were not raw) and voila - instant supper. We didn't even have any dressing. The saltiness of the olives did the trick of substitution of dressing for me.

That is my husband's hand in the back. He was chopping up the onion, so the salad is pictured without the onion.

It was a very yummy and healthy supper. I just wish that there had been more.

Blessings,
Kimberly

10 Weird and Gross Ingredients in Processed Foods

This came through my Facebook tonight, and wanted to share. There are some nasty things in processed foods!

10 Weird and Gross Ingredients in Processed Foods

Blessings,
Kimberly

First Post - Banana Berry Smoothie

Well, I had just about given up blogging. The last semester I had in school was really rough on me. I gave up just about everything. On my Facebook account, I use to post lots of news each day. I became so overwhelmed that I almost deleted my entire account, but instead I deleted over 900 friends so that I could keep up with the closest ones that I have. I posted on my blog at least ever two or three days. I just got burnt out on everything. On top of keeping up with my Facebook and my blog, and my studies, we also redecorated (painted and changed everything but the floor), so you can see how overwhelmed I became. I am still not rested, and school starts back soon, however, a few people have come to me and told me what an inspiration I have been to them in their eating habits. One sweet friend came to me yesterday and asked me so nicely to begin posting again. How can I refuse? I love this lady to death. I may not post every day or even every three days, because I don't want to be overwhelmed like I was, but I have decided to post again. This time, however, I don't plan on putting any cooked foods here. This year I am going to try to go as raw as I possibly can stand, and I don't need to encourage myself to eat more cooked my posting it here. My purpose is to eat healthier and to encourage other people to do the same, so don't look for anything cooked here, although I won't be eating as much raw until sometime later this month or early next month, when my finances improve just a little bit. I can't wait though. My body is craving raw!

Before I officially begin with my post, I would like to say that with a new year, though I firmly believe the Gregorian calendar is a pagan one, I do use it for a timer, so with the beginning of the new year, comes a new beginning - this new blog. I asked my husband what would be a good name for it, and he teases me all the time about how I like to eat twigs and dry leaves, hence the new name.

After all this ado, here is the recipe my sweet friend asked for. This is my favorite smoothie. Sometimes it varies... if I have more berries I like to add them. I like to keep raspberries, but I don't have any at the minute. Sometimes I don't have the spinach, or I forget to put the flax seeds, but for the most part, this is how I like this smoothie.

First, I take about a tablespoon of flax seeds and I grind them up in a coffee grinder. Normally, one would just throw them in with the entire smoothie contents, but my husband is allergic to flax seeds, so I have to keep them separate in mine. I really like flax seeds because they are good for inflammation in the body.

I set these to the side.

Then I gather three bananas, about 5 or 6 strawberries, a small handful of blueberries, and a generous helping of fresh spinach.

I keep my berries frozen, because they tend to spoil so fast, so I put the softer things in the blender first and the frozen berries on top. I do this because I use the puree setting on the blender to blend the bananas and spinach, then use the ice breaker setting to do the berries, then put it back on the puree setting again for one final go.

As far as the water goes, I use filtered water, and I don't measure it... I just add enough to get the food to blend. This is filtered, but I keep it in this Poland Springs bottle.

After it's all blended I pour it out into glasses, and pour my flax seeds on top (of my half)...

and simply take a spoon and stir them in.

It makes two 16 ounce glasses, and keeps me full for hours. This is normally all that I have (if I don't have stuff for smoothies, then I just have a banana) until supper, which is at around twelve hours away.

Approximate calories in the smoothie: 432 (that's 216 per glass)

Calories in a McDonald's chicken biscuit: 410 as per this report.

The chicken biscuit will leave you hungry in just an hour or two because the carbohydrates will make your blood glucose go up and then drop, where as the fruits and vegetables keep your blood glucose level, and they are full of fiber.

Blessings,
Kimberly