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.

Paul Nison

If someone needs raw questions answered, then I have a great resource for them.

The book is The Raw Life by Paul Nison. I will say this book is a little corny, but informative. It has nine interviews with long time raw foodists and it gets very real about a lot of subjects: hair loss, loose teeth, food aversion, flatulence to name a few. (It is about how to be a healthy raw foodist- but addresses the fact that some people will have problems and how to avoid them.) I highly recommend this book.

Clearly Paul Nison, and the participants in this book care far more about you succeeding at the raw food diet than in protecting/projecting their image. Thank you so much!

Tree of Life

I only have a minute to write this...

I recently saw the film Raw for Thirty. Several diabetics went to the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center and did raw for a month and reversed their diabetes.

I just re-read my posts regarding the diabetes diet offered by Richard Berenstein M.D.. I still LOVE Dr. Berenstein for letting people know they can have perfect blood sugars and that what the American Diabetes Association is pushing is complete garbage (if you don't want to burn out your pancreatic cells and you want to heal.)

But- after reading Rainbow Green Living Cuisine by Cousins M.D., I have a much better understanding of how raw food really makes a difference. I understand the importance of living enzymes to heal the body.

Unfortunately for me a whole food diet that uses a lot of grain or fruit also elevates my blood sugars. The key is to peice something together that works. It can be as simple as - more salads! That works.

Rainbow Green Living Cuisine gives a much better explanation of the Raw diet for diabetics than the Diabetes Cure by Cousins does. Now, I have to figure out how to make it habit, make it automatic, make it easy, make it affordable. And, I'd like to help others do the same.

Family Menu- Posted in April with seasonal for April/May Ingredients

* Most of the raw recipes can be found in the Rawvolution Cookbook by Matt Amsden. Make (not raw) chewy baked tofu by freezing, thawing, draining, pressing, then baking tofu. It makes the texture firm.

Raw Spinach, Pear Salad - Add Roasted Squash when it becomes available

Raw Ginger-Carrot Soup, Raw Zoodles (zuchini noodles) with Chopped Tomato Sauce

Raw Satay Sauce, Raw Brocolli Stir-Not Fry

Non-raw Spicy Chana Dahl, and Raw SpinachSalad for me (non-raw Salmon and Veggies for husband)

Raw Asian Wraps in lettuce (leftover salmon in nori wrap for husband)

Raw Dill Dip and Veggies Sandwiches on Rawvolution Onion/zuchini Bread (non-raw baked Thyme Drumsticks for husband)

Taco-Rawcos in a lettuce wrap (leftover chicken for husband) OR Kashi/Amys frozen pizza and salad
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This is a menu that "really works" in terms of what people whose food I am responsible for making, will eat. Most everyone (except my husband) can eat vegan on this menu for all seven days and be very satisfied. Five nights all raw.

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For breakfast I have been doing green smoothies: cucumber, a little celery, a little kale, a little pear, sometimes parseley or spinach, and powdered hemp seed and Udo oil. Also serve Cheerios, organic strawberries, organic milk, whole wheat toast with apple butter and melon.

For my lunch: whole wheat bread, natural (but not raw) peanut butter, two small bananas, big handfuls of raw almonds, and a salad with sliced bok choy and spinach in a tamari vinagrette.

Packed lunches have banana and peanut butter sandwich, or carrot sticks to dip in peanut butter, or carrot sticks to dip in hummus with roasted red pepper, and an apple or orange or organic grapes, red bell pepper and cucumber slices, often a cheesestick, and sometimes an oatmeal raisen cookie. This is two snacks and lunch for them.

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This is just my best attempt to balance the needs of something low-cost, something easy to fix, etc.

New Years Resolution Widget Needed

I really wish someone would create the following control- I call it ResolutionKeeper.

Something I can insert in a page:

It would allow someone to create graphs:
How many miles did I run each day?
How many servings of fruits and vegetables did I eat each day?
What percentage of my daily intake was raw?
That kind of thing....

I could add it to a page at blogger.com to show how many days I ate raw/ what perecentage of my food was raw.

Family Menu (is for the non-raw) Spring

Postscript: We did eat from this menu- but I never made a raw carrot muffin. Whew, that was ambitious.
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Breakfast:

1. Daily GVJ- just celery juice or spinach, celery, quarter of an orange blended in a Vita-Mix
2. Chopped sprouted & dehydrated almonds, blueberries, sunflower seeds, nutmylk
3. (Hot oatmeal with cinnamon, and grated apple)
4. Raw almond butter and banana w dehydrated sunflower seeds or Banana and nutmilk "shake"
5. Raw carrot almond muffin

Lunch:

1. Salad with lemon juice/olive oil dressing, and sunflower seeds or coleslaw
2. (Legume-based cooked salads: three-bean, chickpea, lentil)
3. Soups: raw carrot-ginger, (cabbage based- vegetable, black bean, lentil, split pea)
4. Raw Hummus w dipping veggies
5. (Kids have left-overs, lentils and brown rice with vegetables, PBJ sandwiches & fruit)

Dinner:

1. Pasta marinara: zuchini noodles on top of Russell James almond polpetta
2. (Baked vegetables: eggplants and tomatoes are not in season- but you can use it if you have some canned) Raw cauliflower macaroni and cheese from Mathew Kenney's book, (my family wont eat even homemade real mac n cheese) Califlower is in season though- baked cauliflower with vinagrette on top, served with brown rice
3. Vegan pinto beans w sautéed bell peppers (bells are not in season) onion, zuchini
4. Gratitude raw almond-dill dip with crudite
5. Admundson vegetable stir-notfry
6. Raw Food Real World spicy indian cauliflower samosas and lemon tahini
7. Homemade Pizza from Raw World

Snacks:

Glass of water to start, more GVJ, more soup, cucumber/carrot/bellpepper plate w raw hummus, (apples, bananas, not-too-sweet-flax-oatmeal cookies)

must make juice

It's 6:20 am, must make juice.