Wednesday, December 17, 2014

HOLY YUMALICIOUS cookies!

Okie dokie, today I made some oatmeal cookies.  I've been craving oatmeal.  and chocolate.  Truthfully, I think I"m going to start my "ladies days" here.  Either that or I"m pregnant already.  Not entirely sure which, but we'll find out soon, won't we?

Anyhoo, that has absolutely nothing to do with this post other than I've been craving chocolate and oatmeal.
SO, I combined my love for both into a cookie today.  All I have to say is this:

So. good.

Oh, and I didn't measure a THING, so this is what I used and I"ll tell you approximately how much so you can eyeball along with me.

About 3 cups (or so) of Oats.
a tablespoon or two of cocoa powder,
melted coconut oil (1/4-1/2 c.?)
and agave to sweeten.
pinch or so of sea salt,

Here's what I did:  put the oats in the mixer.  add a squirt of two of agave.  and start mixing.  add some melted coconut oil and agave until it's sweet and sticky.  add cocoa powder.  (less is more, people.  start with less and work up from there.)  once sufficiently damp (NOT wet!) scoop out, I used a cookie scoop that was enormous and now that I know better, next batch will be smaller.

Be forewarned- it will be loose.  scoop onto freezer or parchment paper or even waxed paper- your choice.  Place in freezer until hardened.  enjoy.  it was phenomenal.

I was talking to Charlie (love of my life!) and he suggested that I do 12 cookies of Christmas.  and I"m thinking- yeah.  I just might. :)

Monday, December 15, 2014

Screwed up, not guilty.

So, I went out to eat last night.  I screwed up big-time.  Actually I screwed up in several ways and here's how:

I had meat and bread.  Fried chicken to be exact.  Yes, it was delicious.  It was greasy and I didn't feel right after eating it.  I also had like 3 biscuits.  Yup, we went to cracker barrel and I ordered the chef salad without meat, or cheese or even croutons!  (I was being a good girl) but then after sitting there for 20 minutes after we ordered without food, she brought biscuits.  THe kids were hungry.  and if you believe them, they were on the verge of complete annihilation through starvation, even though they ate a few hours before.  I, however, had not eaten all day except 1 apple and 1 grapefruit, and that was after 2:00.... :/

So, fail #1- I didn't plan ahead.  I made a post before this one about meal planning.  I didn't follow through.

Fail #2- I was already hungry when I went out to eat.  Yes, the point of a restaurant is to eat, but since I was overly hungry I ate absent-mindedly which brings me to fail #3

Fail #3- I was not aware when I should have been.  I saw something edible and put it in my mouth.  Just because it was there and I was hungry doesn't mean it should have gone into my mouth, and yet it did.

Fail #4- they didn't have a salad dressing I like, and very little that wasn't overly processed and certainly nothing that was considered raw.

So, with those 4 fails, it boils down to this:  I wasn't prepared.  Had I not been so hungry by eating before, at least enough to tide me over until food gets there, and make sure that I don't go for just anything.  Preparation is key.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Menu Planning.

Something occurred to me the other day when I was talking about planning ahead- why not make a weekly menu?  I make menus for my family for their food; I do it for grocery shopping, why wouldn't I do it for my food?

We get paid every other week (technically the 1st and 15th) so I have to plan my grocery shops and stuff accordingly.  I have 3 refrigerators- one in my soap lab (I make soap for a living, y'all), one in my kitchen (I'm in LOVE with how large this fridge is!) and one outside my back door.  I have 8 people in my family so more than 1 fridge is a necessity, particularly when I buy so much fruits and vegetables.

Anyway, I'm going to be scouring my favorite sites for some food porn to make.


Dinner tonight:
Creamy nut-free Strawberry Shake.

1 avocado
vitamix full of frozen strawberries
water
honey.

Blend until redonkulously smooth.  Enjoy.  and yes, I know- I'm amazing. :P  j/k.

Blessings, Rawkstars!


Wednesday, December 10, 2014

I am about 14 or so days in...

ok, about 14 or so days into my raw journey, I"ve lost 13 lbs!

I just wanted to post an encouragement- if your body is ready, you can do this without cravings and cheating.  If you're not entirely ready, it still won't hurt you to eat more fruits and veggies, getting your body used to the benefits of them!

Going to RAWK the pumpkin pie I made last night that should be wonderfully gelatinous in the fridge right now, and will catch you on the flip side!

Hugs, Rawkstars!

Monday, December 8, 2014

Where I'm coming from... and where I'm going.

Many people have amazing memories of their parents serving them meals when they grew up.  I grew up eating, but it wasn't food by any standards.  It was colorful boxes that tasted good but were crap.  Loaded with hydrogenated fats, MSG, transfats, nastyness that was anything but good for you.  That is, when we weren't eating out.  Thursdays were pizza night.  I remember that becuase it was girl-scout night and that was the day that we'd get pizza; I guess it was more convienient than a crockpot for my parents.

Anyhoo- I learned soemthing a few years ago.  I was really into eating healthy and weight lifting etc.  Except I wasn't eating healthy.  I didn't realize it.  I was lied to.  I was addicted to Oxygen magazine- and Tosca Reno, who while awesome and promoted health, added synthetic foods and animal proteins in their diet and touted them as health.

"You need protein from animals to build muscle".
"protein powders and have a shake for breakfast".
Protein, protein, protein.  Atkins diet- that's loaded with protein, but they don't tell you about all the problems associated with an overload of protein.

But do we really need that much?  The largest most powerful animals on the planet don't use animal protein.  They get everything they need from plants and so should we.

Did you know that you get more useable protein from leafy greens than you do from meat anyway?

So, that is where I come from- tons of confusing information and what you "have" to eat by the "Experts" in order to be magazine-perfect.  yeah, no.  I just want to be happy.  Being "perfect" is too much to live up to.  Seriously, there's no room for error in perfect.  One misstep, and you're under scrutiny.  I just want to be healthy.  With my asthma and my heart skipping the other day, it scared the crap out of me.

What I am doing:  getting back to nature, listening to what our original diet was supposed to be in the Garden of Eden (read Genesis 1:29), and working one week, one day at a time.  in my first 7 days, I'm down 10 lbs, and I'm happy.  Now, my next goal is 10 more lbs.   I will be adding some light workouts to my routine.  I have DDP Yoga and I'm thinking of starting that again.  I will also be walking more.  But In all honesty I'm not a fan of exercise.  And I can also give hte excuse that I don't have that much time, but I can do other things like turn housework into exercise.

Anyhoo, taht's where I am, and that's where I"m going.

Hugs, Rawkstars!



Sunday, December 7, 2014

The key to being raw...

So, I've had friends I've introduced to the Raw Food lifestyle, and they've asked me what is the key to staying raw?

Well, I've had issues with this myself.  The best advice I can give you is this:  1- if you're interested and asking about raw food, then you're obviously ready for it.  but that doesn't mean you're ready to go completely raw for the rest of your life.  Just listen to your body.

Ok, the "KEY" for me to being raw is preparation.  Prepare your food in advance.  For example, it's 9:41 in the morning, I"ve made my breakfast (avocado pudding!), lunch (will be a salad, easy to prepare in just a few) I'm going to take some pomegranate and grapefruit for a snack while at rehearsal and dinner is in the dehydrator. I've made cauliflower mashed potatoes and I'm marinading some portabello mushroom steaks- also in the dehydrator (to soften and get warm).  With that I will have some green beans with the left over marinade.  (Which I will post later, I"m on my way to church.)

Very proud of myself that I have the day of raw waiting for me, and in doing that, I"ll stay raw and stay focused.  I think tomorrow will be tacos.  I have 2 more avocados that I have to use up before they go bad.
Stay focused, Rawkstar!  You CAN do this!

~Heather

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

I don't know how I feel right now.

So, something interesting happened to me on Thanksgiving.  My heart stopped.  Literally, my heart stopped beating for a few seconds.  Scared the CRAP out of me.  It just confirmed that I need to do this.  While I'm sitting here writing this, I"m dining on grapefruit.  I might have a few of them, but I"m sititng here smelling my family eat pizza and I'm eating grapefruit.  Do you know how depressing this is while your family still eats SAD?  I am doing all I can not to eat crap.

I started at the heaviest I"ve ever been.  Having had another baby in April of this year, I let myself go.  I let myself be put on the back burner.  and it's time that I put myself first.

In the spirit of doing that, I have auditioned for Les Miserables and had callbacks yesterday.  I find out tomorrow if I got the part!  I'm excited!

So, after doing some research in the Bible, (I'm a Christian and I don't apologize for it.) I've found that all of our needs are met.  This is what I've found:  God has given us directions on how to eat -straight out from the gate.  Genesis 1:29- right after he created Adam He said "Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food."  (NIV)  This is the optimal way to eat.  Yes, after the flood, God gave us meat- because all of the plants were dead AND it said in the Bible that we weren't supposed to live for several hundred years.

This tells me 2 things- 1, we have a perfect plan of eating; nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables.  Basically if it grows and isn't born or hatched it's good. 2- plants are the key to longer life.  Eating the "original plan", we will have a longer life.  I don't know about you, but I want to be around for my children.  They deserve a mama who is here.

With all of that, I'm now officially over my pizza craving, so I'm going to have some more grapefruit and enjoy my health that's coming. :)

Thanks for listening.