Happy New Year!

I am not one to make New Year resolutions, especially when it comes to health. I believe in leading an overall healthy lifestyle and benefiting the most from it so we can enjoy the rest of our lives.

This year, however, I am making a decision that I am going to make all efforts to:

`Live to the fullest
`Be spontaneous
`Do things that I have never done before for one reason or another [that would exclude eating dried insects, of course ;)]
`Go places I have never been before
`Be positive at ALL times
`Trust more
`RISK more
`Love more

This past year has been a bit trying, with us still settling in a new town, continuing to heal and the recession. However, I have nothing but high hopes for next year, right out of the gate. I have learned that patience and positive mindset pays off big dividends when it comes to health and well-being, so I plan to further improve in that area in 2010!

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. [Phil. 4:13]

And since no post is complete without pictures, here are a couple of images of my Mom opening her Christmas present, given to her by my sister. The canvas is huge and shows off all 16 members of our original family. We have grown by leaps and bounds since—our ranks have swollen to over 100!

May your next year be prosperous: spirit, soul and body!

Raw Corn Bisque, Vegan Recipe

First of all, dear Readers, Merry Christmas! I hope that the light of the REASON of this holiday, the life of Christ, is found in your hearts. Of all things in the world that I am thankful today is the fact that He chose to come to our planet, to become like us, to get us back into our Father's arms. I am certainly most grateful for my lovely Savior, my Jesus, today.

I am also grateful for a lovely husband, without whom my life would not be as rich as it is now, and for my family and friends, for whom I am going to be slaving away in the kitchen today, to treat them with a 7 course meal.

The last several days Demetrye and I have been consuming more and more green smoothies [yeah for us during this season], and I had started to make more raw dishes, to bring back that wonderful light feeling into my body. Yesterday I whipped up a quick Corn Bisque. It is totally raw and takes only minutes to make.

To make this wonderful Raw Corn Bisque, which is also totally Vegan, you will need a high speed blender, I use my trusty Vita-Mix 5200.

So, here is the recipe. Enjoy it!

Raw Corn Bisque

Serves 1

Ingredients

• 3 cups corn [fresh or frozen; if using frozen let it thaw a bit before blending]
• 1 cup water
• 1 large clove garlic
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 favorite spice [I use organic Kirkland mix]
• Sea or Himalayan salt to taste

Preparation

• Place all ingredients in a blender
• Slowly increase blending speed to the highest available
• Blend until creamy smooth, and slightly warm
• Serve with your favorite raw crackers or homemade whole wheat bread

Enjoy! It is super delicious. If I did not use all of my corn last night I would be heading to the kitchen to make myself another bowl of it right now.

Merry Christmas to all, and a Blessed New Year!

Green Smoothie Paradise: Persimmon Smoothie

I had a great workout today. While I was working out at home, Demetrye went off to the gym and had a power work out also. When he got home we thought it was a good time to refuel our muscles and get ready for a holiday detox at the same time [getting a head start is a great plan]. No better way to detox, of course, than with green smoothies, especially for beginners. While enjoying the sweet taste of fruit we can simultaneously enjoy the benefits of chlorophyll and multiple nutrients found in greens.

So, today's special, and super delicious smoothie was:

Persimmon Smoothie [YUM!]

makes 32 oz [3 servings]

[hand model: my husband]

Ingredients:
*2 cups water
*3 ripe persimmons
*3 stems [with leaves] mint
*4 cups [2 large handfuls] kale [I used purple kale]
*2 tbs hemp seed
*2 strands dulse

-Starting with water add greens add all ingredients into a high speed blender, and blend, slowly increasing speed to highest, until completely smooth.

The smoothie is very refreshing and you won't even know it has greens in it, if you are sensitive, or just starting out. So, enjoy it!

Have a stress free, UNPROCESSED Christmas and a New Year!

Let me know how you are planning to detox and shed extra pounds accumulated this holiday season. I am very interested to know.

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!