Raw Food Classes

A big hello to all the amazing raw foodies that went to Melissa's class!
Isn't she awesome?! I hope you enjoy the cookies! (I'll have that recipe in my upcoming cookbook). For those of you who missed that class, check out rawmelissa.com for some more rawsome goodness coming up! Speaking of great raw food classes... I will be teaching again soon. I'm finishing up my raw foods cookbook this spring and will have that for sale online hopefully by May/June.
My son and I were talking about raw foods and dealing with being a vegan with well meaning friends who wonder why he doesn't eat meat, and he decided that he would like to teach a kids/teens class with me this summer! I'm SO excited. And so proud of him. He's making some really amazing choices at a young age.

The next class I will be teaching is with a longtime friend, Amy Jones. http://thebirthsource.org/
on May 2. To sign up for this or any of Amy's classes, visit http://woweducation.homestead.com/testimonials.html
I'll have a few copies of my cookbook for sale there as well!

Natural Remedies for Pregnancy & Postpartum Safe, Effective, Time Tested Strategies

Pregnancy and having a baby....what a magical time in a woman's life! But when you are plagued with discomforts or your baby isn't feeling well, 1 month can feel like 1 year. This class will address all your questions regarding curbing everything from morning sickness and anemia to recovery strategies to colic and postpartum depression and everything in between. Come learn the tips and tricks of midwives around the world. Herbs, essential oils, homeopathy, nutrition and more will be discussed. Taught by Julia Holt, mother of 7 and Amy Jones, mother of 5. Both are doulas, childbirth educators, apprenticing herbalists and midwives with a combined total of over 22 years of professional experience and knowledge. Where & When Paradigm High School Sat., May 2 11 AM- 1 PM

You Are What You Love

My kids.
My music.
My bedsheets.
My food.
My oils.
My herbs.
Rainy days.
Talking with a friend.
My bird.
My daughter's crazy cat.
A good book.
A hot cup of tea.
A hot bath.
Good lovin'.
Snuggling.
A funny movie.
Crazy hair.
Chocolate.
My family.
My garden.
Spring.

What do you love?

Prepare

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing;
and establish a house, even a house of prayer,
a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning,
a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;

That your incoming may be in the name of the Lord;
that your outgoings may be in the name of the Lord;
that all your salutations may be in the name of the Lord,
with uplifted hands unto the Most High.

So... every New Year's I pick a word that will shape my focus for the year. It totally works.
Last year I picked "Gratitude", and had many wonderful experiences that taught me the depth of being thankful. There is something about asking for and creating focus on what I want in my life!
This year I chose "Be Prepared". Wow. I believe the minute I picked that, I have been haunted by the dusty shelves in my food storage, the state of my garden, and whether or not I have enough water saved up. Oh! And how are my 72 hour kits?? Do we have an emergency plan in case of a fire? I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, but have taken the counsel to take it on a little at a time.

Now I have fun picking out just one or two extra items when I grocery shop. I scheme over what meals my family would like to eat in case of an emergency. I have fun dreaming of roughing it with my family... hanging out fresh laundry out in the sun to dry, fresh bread made from freshly ground wheat flour baking in my adobe wood fired oven that I lovingly crafted in my back yard... and then I snap out of my romantic day dreams and am thankful for my washer and dryer, not to mention my computer... and Google... and eMail!! *kisses keyboard*

A funny thing has happened since January 1. I find that not only am I looking at how I can tighten up the ship, I have begun preparing myself spiritually. I gave up some intense pastimes that I thought I couldn't live without, but were taking time out of my family and me time. I have begun reading books again... by the boat-loads!! I love reading and I had forgotten how much I enjoy it.
I suppose what I have learned so far, is preparing is more about a state of mind and heart than it is about how much foodstuff I have tucked under the stairs. Not that that's not important, but that mindset has helped me not freak out that I don't have two years of food storage nestled away right this second. It will happen a little at a time. I'll get there.



For a little food storage fun:
http://www.shelfreliance.com/
http://mormonmommyblogs.blogspot.com/2009/04/righteous-giveaway.html

Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum (A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants)

I love words. Especially ones that are fun to say.
Sometimes words hit me strange and wonder where we got such a funny word.
I love how they are put together and sometimes even feel like music.
Ever read Jane Austin and wish you could talk like that? I do. Often.
In a brave new world of texting, IM-ing, psting, twittering, even blogging... I often wonder at the flexibility of words. The English language IS a toy.
Oh, how I love playtime!

For a lil' daily fun:
www.wordsmith.org

Language is the archives of history. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

What happens in Vegas...

I just got back from Las Vegas. It's not what you think.
There were no slot machines, strip clubs or buffets. Vegas has a different meaning to me. Its where I learned to bloom in the desert.
My beautiful friends are there. You know... those friends who make you want to be something greater than you are?
Yes. I learned a great deal about myself and who I want to be, in the desert.
My family is there. How I miss them. My brother and his family. My son.
Now when things get a bit too hot, I remember my roots that are firmly planted in hard packed soil.

What's In That?

About the time I had my 4th child, I noticed that not only was my backside not bouncing back into shape as easily as it used to, but my body was freaking out over what I ate. I craved sugar and treats like mad! I found out that I was suffering from food allergies caused by a systemic candida infection. I tried lots of different pills and powders, but nothing truly changed for me until I started looking at what I was eating.

Fast forward to my 7th kid, and I found raw foods. What a miracle. It seemed too simple to me after all the $$ and time spent trying to figure out how to beat my illness. The first day I made a soup of veggies in my blender and over the next 6 months proceeded to heal and loose 50 lbs on a diet of Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts and Seeds. Nice.

The hardest part of eating a diet made up of vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds, was learning how to cook again. I mean really. The women in my family are born KNOWING how to make a nice roast and a peanut butter pie. Blindfolded. How the heck am I supposed to prepare a main dish out of JUST veggies? No pasta? No dairy? NO GODIVA CHOCOLATES?! Not that Godiva had any place in a main dish, well… at least not in front of company, but you can see where my mind is going with this.

I tackled this by getting loads of new cookbooks and dove in. I then started teaching my friends, and then the community. I love this way of life! My kids love it too. We have had to learn how to balance out and not be freaky about it. (Such as, “OH NO! I consumed a french fry! My whole diet is blown and I need to juice fast for three days!) I have learned that my body does well on a 80% 20% raw to cooked food diet, and in the summer I can hold a 95% raw food diet comfortably. I even get Godiva once in a while.

Bonus? My kids are so much more aware of what they put in their bodies than I ever was at their age. They are healthy and strong. I have loads of energy, and find that I function better on so many levels.

Two years ago, I met a lovely woman and we opened a raw kitchen together. She makes the most WONDERFUL deserts, and I made entrees. I have since moved on to just teaching raw food classes locally and she makes both. www.rawmelissa.com

I think the thing I love the most about making raw foods, is how I feel when I am touching the food. Its alive. It holds it’s energy as it transforms into edible art. Its pure edible love.

I’m now in the process of putting together a raw foods cookbook with my kids and am learning more about essential oils and how to use them in my cooking.

Mmmm… essential oils. Now there’s a whole nutha’ subject that I could go off on.
They are amazing. And then put them in food?? Wowzers. I even make my own chocolate with them.

Mint Chocolate Cups for example… holy smokes. Or fruit dipped in Raw Chocolate Sauce. Yummy. I love being raw. I still eat a few cooked things. I just love food too much. Just admitting that feels almost sinful! Then I laugh at myself for feeling that way, and just feel the love.

Mint Chocolate Cups

1/4 cup nut butter

1/2 cup agave (or to taste)

1/2 cup melted coconut butter

1/2 cup raw ch0colate powder

1-2 drops DoTerra Peppermint essential oil

Blend until smooth and freeze in little paper cups. Eat. Melt into a chocolate bliss goo.

Chocolate Sauce with Fresh Fruit

½ C agave
½ C cocoa powder

Whisk together until smooth and use as a dip for fresh fruits. The best fruits for this are strawberries, pineapples, grapes, kiwi and especially bananas.

Animaniacs-Be Careful What You Eat

www.rawfoods.com for more information, support, and recipes

Juice Feasting

This week has been eventful!
I found out that my anemia got worse with our move to Utah. Something about the atmospheric pressure in the mountains is less than Las Vegas, and now my iron levels plummeted. No wonder I've been so tired!! I'm usually better about getting good iron in my diet, because I have always tended to be a little anemic. But it really got away from me this time. I'm starting off this week with a juice feast http://www.juicefeasting.com/
My dear friend Melissa introduced me to the idea. www.rawmelissa.com
She met David and Katrina on a trip to California and came home so excited about the concept.
A few years ago, my husband and I tried juicing for 10 days and had a wonderful experience with it, so when I researched juicefeasting, it made so much sense to me!
This week I will work on getting my iron levels up and building my blood. The bonus is, my kids are LOVING all the juicing going on and want to try out my concoctions... to a point! Anything remotely brownish in color gets the thumbs down, so I try to disguise the red and green mixes with purply stuff like blueberries, or beets.

On a side note.. I re-injured my tailbone! UGH.
I'm learning so much in my herbal studies at Dr. Christopher's School of Natural Healing. He has a formula for cell regrowth called BF&C (bones, flesh and cartilage) that I'm taking to heal it up. Danny, my 14 year old son broke his ankle last month and I put him on it. His healing time was remarkable! I'm excited to see how fast I can heal up!

Another fun thing happened today... my sister got published in this month's Latter Day Woman magazine! I'm SO proud of her. She has always had such a way with words. Latter Day Woman Oct/Nov 2008 she did the article on Home Based Businesses.
Its interesting timing for me, as I am evaluating my time at work and at home. My husband asked me to balance the home a little better, and I am prayerfully looking at ways to keep my little business thriving and my home humming. It seems like this is a constant process, as the needs of my children change as they grow. Right now I have four teenagers at home, and my two youngest. In some ways I have more time than I used to when they were small, and in some ways it can be just as hectic! I'm so grateful for the guidance from a loving Heavenly Father, and am excited to see where He wants me to go with all this.

Meanwhile, tomorrow is planning day for meals. I make raw meals on Wednesday and pickups are in the evening. I'm thinking if I work on meals over two days instead of jamming it all into one day, it will allow me to break up the times and be home when the kids get home on Wednesday. We'll see how it goes over the next few weeks.

Oooh! Something to try out... its one of the scary looking juices that my kids wont touch, but I have fallen in love with this stuff!

Juice of 5 carrots
Juice of 5 stalks of celery
Juice of 2 cups of spinach
Juice of one bunch of parsley
Juice of one small beet
Mix together and drink.

It makes a lot! But its wonderful stuff. I originally made it without the beet when my husband and I did that 10 days of juicing, but with my anemia, I decided to add the beet and it turned out awesome! At least that's what my body is telling me.

Have a fantastic week! Let me know what you think of the Juice Feasting!