Making Raw Work

I googled myself and came across this review for the Diabetes Cure by Cousins. At the time I was following Cousins and had perfect blood sugar. Why did I ever stop?

Vanessa was here- we went shopping- I have a fridge full of fantastic fresh produce, soaked almonds, soaked sunflower seeds- I just have to prepare it. I don't even have to cook on a hot day.

Here's the thing with making raw food- unless you're just having a salad then it requires some work to put it together. "Traditional" cooking involves the exact same amount of work. For example, I might slice, salt and weight the eggplant, rinse it, saute it. But, I do that on AUTOPILOT. I am not on autopilot with my raw recipes. And, my favorite raw things take days to prepare- the falafel, raw bread, even sunflower seed smoothies with sprouted seeds has to be started the day before.

So now... I have to get in there and make Kale Salad, Carrot Salad, Cucumber-Celery Juice, slice up the veggies and make a dill sauce... because, I will ultimately eat whatever is in the fridge. Laziness will even allow me to eat things that I know are not good for me such as cheese. Because, that is what most people do. We eat whatever is in the fridge. We need to make an effort to make sure there is something good in the fridge.

100 Things to Do by 2016

OMG I can only think of 37 things....

1. paint some beautiful crone paintings
2. have perfect technique on all of the easy to moderate yoga poses
3. go a year without coffee
4. go a year without eggs
5. learn integrated movement therapy
6. support preadolescents in developing into their most wonderful selves
7. bake the vegan chocolate birthday cake from the Sneaky Chef
8. travel to Turkey or San Francisco to visit Nilsu
9. research the effects of integrated movement therapy on the elderly
10 research the effects of integrated movement therapy on the morbidly obese
11 have an art show
12 research overcoming resistance as it applies to people with chronic disease
13 get big pink climbing roses to grow over the art studio
14 run, swim, bike a half marathon
15 use a CSA
16 meditate for 20 min every day for a month
17 spend seven days in silence
18 publish a raw foods for diabetics article with carb counts for all the foods
19 master advanced Spanish grammar
20 walk all the permanent labyrinths in Washington state
21 practice the meditation Mithra suggests for 180 days+
22 prepare raw food for a large group as a job
23 do a performance art piece where I dance in costumes I have made
24 create a whole exhibit of feminist art peices from cloth
25 create a whole exhibit of feminist art photography peices
26 realize tendencies are illusory
27 read eight books about Carl Jung
28 Serve artichoke pinole dip with rice crackers, Alice Water's Winter Minestrone and those vegan brownies for a holiday meal
29 Spend the Dream Fund Cash with Vanessa (a beach and New Age grooviness will be involved!)
30 Feed children that don't have enough food- fight policies that cause the situation
31 Have a complete conversation with Ada and Jon in Spanish - this probably means going to a Spanish speaking country for at least two months very soon
32 Visit Virginia and Justine
33 Make a documentary video
34 Write a screenplay
35 Go four years (and more!) with perfect blood sugars!
36 Co-Write the Big Green Money Workbook with Vanessa
37 make sure my kids are strong swimmers
38 larger than lifesize paper mache art & multimedia show
39 Go to Costa Rica and Hawaii & bike across Ireland with Stephen
40 Register for campsites in January & plant Sunflowers in March
41 Will this organic garden ever be weed free? Pat says it can be done in seven years!
42 Walk the labyrinths of Washington
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100 Things to Try

I picked this up at veganbits. Here's the basic premise:

1) Copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you've eaten.
3) Cross out (place an xxx beside) any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Post a comment here once you've finished and link your post back to this one.
http://www.veganbits.com
5) Pass it on!

1. Natto XXX
2. Green Smoothie
3. Tofu Scramble (Feeding the Whole Family has a great recipe.)
4. Haggis XXX
5. Mangosteen (on my honeymoon)
6. Creme brulee ** made with sugar topping not made from animal bone char **
7. Fondue
8. Marmite/Vegemite XXX
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Nachos
12. Authentic soba noodles (hmmmm... was it authentic?)
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Street cart taco (do you really know their beans are vegan?)
16. Boba Tea - (two things to look out for here - milk and honey)
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Gyoza
20. Vanilla ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries(I do live in the Pacific Northwest.)
23. Ceviche w fake fish XXX
24. Rice and beans
25. Knish (http://www.recipezaar.com/Vegan-Knishes-234377)
26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper XXX
27. Flan (Goya's Flan is vegan)
28. Caviar XXX (I saw some vegan caviar online that looked very real. Yipes! Yuck!)
29. Baklava (Cafe Gratitude has a version I would love to make)
30. Pate
31. Wasabi peas
32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl XXX
33. Mango lassi(does a Frozen Mango with coconut, rice milk and lemon smoothie count?)
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Mulled cider
37. Scones with buttery spread and jam XXX (a scone made without butter is a paperweight)
38. Vodka jelly XXX
39. Gumbo
40. Fast food french fries
41. Raw Brownies
42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans
43. Dahl
44. Homemade Soymilk
45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Stroopwafle
47. Samosas (Sarma Melngailis has a raw version I'd like to try)
48. Vegetable Sushi
49. Glazed doughnut
50. Seaweed
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Tofurkey (I was about five at the time!, so wrong!)
54. Sheese ??? (I located this- vegan cheese spread online.)
55. Cotton candy
56. Gnocchi
57. Piña colada
58. Birch beer
59. Scrapple XXX (Scrapple is not vegan!!!)
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores (use vegan marshmallows unless you like boiled horse hooves with your chocolate)
62. Soy curls
63. Chickpea cutlets
64. Curry
65. Durian XXX
66. Homemade Sausages
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake
68. Smoked tofu XXX
69. Fried plantain
70. Mochi
71. Gazpacho
72. Warm vegan chocolate chip cookies
73. Absinthe
74. Corn on the cob
75. Whipped cream
76. Pomegranate
77. Fauxstess Cupcake
78. Mashed potatoes with gravy XXX
79. Jerky (do dehydrated veggie strips count- Remlinger farms version is so good)
80. Croissants (who knew? http://shmooedfood.blogspot.com/2006/03/vegan-croissants.html)
81. French onion soup (My tastebuds sing "carmelitas carmelitas.")
82. Savory crepes (a vegan version???)
83. Tings XXX
84. A meal at Candle 79
85. Mock Moussaka (moussake recipe with chickpeas is so good!)
86. Sprouted grains or seeds
87. Macaroni and "cheese" (I want to try one in Mathew kenneys book- WITHOUT pasta)
88. Flowers
89. Matzoh ball soup
90. White chocolate
91. Seitan (Shojin makes the best Seitan)
92. Kimchi
93. Butterscotch chips
94. Yellow watermelon
95. Chili with chocolate (I've had vegan mole- chili - chocolate sauce over grilled vegetables)
96. Bagel and Tofutti (get the Tofutti in the yellow container... No trans fats)
97. Potato milk XXX
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Raw cookie dough

The End :}
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To read more about why most sugar is not vegan, go to www.vegfamily.com/articles/sugar.htm
The following sugar companies DO NOT use bone-char filters:

Florida Crystals Refinery
P.O. Box 86
South Bay, FL 33493
407-996-9072
Labels: Florida Crystals

Refined Sugars Incorporated
One Federal St.
Yonkers, NY 10702
914-963-2400
Labels: Jack Frost, Country Cane, 4# Flow-Sweet
Pillsbury
Makes powdered brown sugar

Supreme Sugar Company (subsidiary of Archer Daniels Midland)
P.O. Box 56009
New Orleans, LA 70156
504-831-0901
Labels: Supreme, Southern Bell, Rouse's Markets

Young(?) Women Have Angst About Making Themselves Useful at Home

There is this thing I keep noticing (I've seen it at least three times) some (I imagine young) woman posts something good and useful about how to do something- baking, canning, whatever and then has to add some defense about how she isn't "barefoot in the kitchen" or a "dowdy submissive." I read an article by a woman who says she's been baking for her husband as he's been having a lot of stress, and her friends have been giving her a hard time. Really? For being nice to your husband? It's the baking part you are supposed to be embarrassed about? I am going to start tossing links to this phenomena here as I find them, because they are so weird.

She wears shoes to stir a pot in her kitchen? Oh, she is saying that she doesn't want us to think she's an old-fashioned woman who knows how to do stuff. Are we really so convinced that it is a waste of time to make things, because we can just buy products instead? Can you imagine a man writing this stuff? You can't, right? Why would anyone apologize for knowing how to do stuff?


http://shellyfish.wordpress.com/tag/bread/

Quick Post on Cleanse the Body Cleanse the Mind

Part 2

There hasn't been any part of anything I've eaten or drank this past week that was particularly "cleansing." In fact, I've consumed more coffee in the past two weeks than in ages... But- I rocked a supermove on cleaning out the attic and shed in preparation for ART. All the purging, dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, mopping.. a cleanse of sorts.

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As far as my organic garden is going,

dandelions are taking over my world.

It is sooooo getting me down.

I picked up 7 dark pink double knock-out roses on clearance for $12 a piece and am now not too sure where to put them. I mean- I have a long fence line and so I can space them all around with low growing flowers. A neighbor has a line of dogwoods with white roses and lavender beneath them. It looks fantastic. I thought I'd do the same (working with dark pink roses.) BUT then I read online that dogwoods get 15' - 20' feet wide AND that you shouldn't plant beneath them as this will interfere with their roots. So, I'm going to leave plenty of space around my one dogwood- and then just do the roses, lavender thing elsewhere. I also have blue geraniums and who-knows-what-else growing back there. And- then have a bed 6' x 4' for vegetables/herbs in the center of the herb garden. Nursery doesn't sell German Chamomile but I'm still trying to source it.

But- big sigh- dandelions are taking over in between the flagstone where the creeping thyme is moving too slowly. This is why most people (is that assumption true?) say Heck! and give up. Pat once told me and Stephen (because I asked) - if you always pull your weeds the minute they start coming up, in seven years you'll have a weed free garden. (Assuming your neighbor has a weed free garden.)

Cleanse the Body Cleanse the Mind

A group of friends and I are doing a "Spring Cleaning." The theme is "Cleanse the Body Cleanse the Mind." The organizer of this is the wonderful Somatic Massage Practicioner Kristin Welch, located here in Seattle.

My experience this Spring is very curious.

Definately my biggest stumbling block is the cleanse the mind part. For a couple of days this weekend- what, that's the whole weekened?- I just could not get off my toxic thoughts. Sunday morning I was listening to satsang and had a little glimmer of "So, this is it Ruth. I would rather stay with being right, and feeling sorry for myself, and focusing on a bunch of negative stuff, and flit back in forth in my mind between the awful past and awful future and grandize the pain of these thoughts- I would rather have that- then GET OFF IT. And for a few minutes, I would get off it- and then just pick it right back up." Groan.

Luckily my husband has a really good sense of humor so I just started making some jokes and pretty soon we were both laughing.

Anyway- the mental cleanse- that is the big thing!

Also- today I tackle the attic! Yay! I am planning to create a space to make art! We did the closet clean out for Spring on March 20 and I didn't have much to give away as I don't hoard. But the attic... has been collecting stuff... and it needs to get looked at, dusted, organized. But I am so looking forward to this. (And then I can get my art groove on.) I have been so inspired by reading some art blogs out there.

7 days for June

I am starting a new series: 7 days. The idea is to provide guidance for folks living in the Pacific Northwest- who wish to eat locally, and healthfully, to prepare meals quickly, are semi-vegetarian all the way to vegan, and benefit from easy on the budget meals.

If you are vegan- then round out the days' protein with chickenpeas, almonds, sunflower seeds, tahini, oatmeal, flaxmeal/flaxseed crackers, buckwheat (which, I believe is not related to wheat) and (if you eat it) wheat. Obviously, if you are a vegetarian then you might add eggs and yogurt. If you think you have "seasonal allergies" try going off milk for a week and see how you feel! I personally feel so much better without milk products. If you don't drink milk- be sure to get calcium from other sources such as brocolli, leafy greens, (*canned) figs and almonds.


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7 days Begin with what is in season then add a grain and protein source to make a meal. The meals are nutritionaly complete without meat. If you do eat meat- eat the fish while it’s freshest the first two days after buying, then roast the chicken and it will last another few days. The tighter your budget, the more you will benefit from "rounding out" the meal with grains and legumes, as well as vegetables. Eat fruit in the order of perishability- for example, eat your berries first, then cut the cantaloupe and finally eat your apples last. This way- you won’t go to the store as much which saves time and money.

This is What is Seasonal for June: (* out of season alternative)

Drinks: Good Earth Cinnamon, Chamomile, Ginger-Lemon with Agave, Hibiscous, Mint, Bancha
Vegetables: Salad Greens daily, Broccoli, Green Beans, Asparagus, Cabbage, Carrots, Snow Peas, Cauliflower, (*Tomato Sauce in a Jar)
Grains: Millet, buckwheat, amaranth, oatmeal, brown rice, frozen heirloom corn, quinoa
Proteins: Chickpeas, French Lentils, Red Lentils, Black Beans, White Beans, Chicken, Fish
Fruit: Apples, Strawberries, Cherries, Blueberries, Apricots, Pears, Raspberries

Monday: Asparagus, brown rice, French lentils (fish optional)
Tuesday: Blanched broccoli in garlic olive oil, chickpea hummus with rice crackers and carrot dippers (fish optional)
Wednesday: Heirloom corn and roasted green bean salad, black bean soup
Thursday: Roasted cauliflower with curry ghee, millet, red lentil soup (chicken optional)
Friday: Snow Peas, Radishes, Three Bean Soup, Brown Rice Crackers, Green Beans Baked in Tomato Sauce with Garlic
Saturday: Creamy cauliflower and carrot soup made with rice milk, salad with quinoa and greens, oatmeal cookies (made with applesauce instead of butter and 1/3 less sugar)
Sunday: Buckwheat noodles with tomato sauce and brocolli, (frozen cod baked in tomato sauce), blueberries and strawberries.