Squashed!

God has truly blessed our family this week.  I have been unusually stressed about jobs and finances, like most others around me.  Just when I thought I would lose heart in our situation, God came through.  I'm not sure why I am surprised when He blesses our family.  This week was awesome!

Here's a bit of background on what's what.  At a busy intersection near our house, an enterprising group put up a pumpkin patch/petting zoo/straw bale maze/haunted house.  The mountain of pumpkins was a sight to behold!  Some of the biggest and roundest orange globes all in one place.

After Halloween I noticed there were several boxes, large 4'x4'x4' boxes, filled with pumpkins.  I decided I was going to stop one day and ask about them.  Wednesday I was driving down the road and noticed someone doing some cleanup.  I whipped the car into the drive, got out and walked toward him.  "I was wondering if you were still selling your pumpkins?"  "No, but you can take some.  Do you want the large or pie pumpkins?"  "I'm hoping to buy pie."  "Well, the pies are over there, take as many as you want."  "What can I pay you for them?"  "Nothing.  They're just going to waste and I've been giving them to anyone.  So there's no point in charging you for them.  Take as many as you want."

Now, just for the record, this is more than I can handle so I will be putting the word out to my friends who may want fresh pumpkin pie.

These are going to become puree, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin bread, and anything else I think need pumpkin.





As if that wasn't a hugely generous gift, God blessed again this week.  My daughter's boyfriend called last night.  He had a strange question for me.  It seems someone had donated some large squashes to the church's food pantry.  Most pantries can't keep fresh produce so the church was giving them to anyone who would take them.  He told me they were huge squash, about 40 lbs.  Well, my brain cannot picture what a 40 lb squash looks like so I told him, "Sure!  I'd love a couple."  When he got to our house he popped his trunk and hauled out (and I mean hauled out) this beautifully red-orange, bumpy monster of a squash!  Wow!  It is gorgeous!  The second is a beautiful white, flat squash.  I may get a couple more if they have them.  Here is what he brought over:

Are these not just the most beautiful examples of an autumn harvest you have ever seen?!  I may keep some seeds from the white squash for planting this spring.

The pretty white cat is Strat.  He is my daughter's large 16 lb cat.

Another shot of the 40 lb squashes.  I can't wait to cut into these for some soup!

There's a blob in my kitchen!

And the blob isn't from the sink of unwashed dishes, either!  No, I have two jars of Kombucha brewing and the scobies are forming nicely.  It's strange, though.  One scoby is thicker and better formed than the other.  They both sit next to each other in the darker corner of the counter.  One is next to the (uninsulated) outer wall so I am wondering if that has anything to do with the stunted formation.  When the scobies are thicker I plan on starting a new batch and making black cherry Kombucha.  These current jars are pretty tart so I want to use them as the starter for a new, drinkable batch.                                              

Here are my jars of Kombucha.  The are covered with a paper towel and rubber bands to keep out the inevitable gnats that appear during Autumn fruit season.  It smells good but is a bit too tart for my taste.

Here is one of the scobies.  She is about 1/4-inch thick, maybe a bit more.  I had to do a double take on this one.  The momma sank beneath the surface and now has a baby scoby forming above her.  BONUS!  The other jar has a malformed scoby and isn't thickening quite as fast.  I think this is the one setting next to the wall, so she doesn't get a much warmth to form correctly.  I may move both of these over on the counter closer to the oven for a bit of radiant heat.

This is the baby scoby forming above its mother.  Doesn't she look so cute?

Future black cherry Kombucha using R.W. Knudsen's juice concentrate.  Hmmm... it looks like someone has been snitching from the bottle!  I can't wait to try Black Cherry Kombucha!

Merry Grasshopper

This week I have been short of greens.  Not only smoothie greens but spending greens.  It has really put dash on green smoothies and juices.  My body is really craving them, of course!   This morning I thought I would flip through Victoria Boutenko's revised Green for Life and found this great recipe, Merry Grasshopper.  I just happened to have the ingredients!  Woo hoo!  

Merry Grasshopper

1 cup wheat grass

2 bananas

1 lemon, juiced

1/2 inch ginger

2 cups water

Blend until smooth.

Yields 1 quart

I used half wheat grass, half flat leaf parsley and it tastes great!

When I drank that first sip (okay it was actually more a gulping action than sipping) it was like my body heaved such a satisfied sigh.  If you don't have Victoria's book I highly recommend Green for Life. It is packed with great information, facts, testimonials, and delicious recipes.

Stay Green!

Health Food Jackpot

                              


I totally hit the yum-yum jackpot today!  Our local recover store had boxes of 12 mini Larabars for $3!  At the health food store a box of mini Larabars costs about $12.  Talk about feeling like I won the lottery!  THEN they had Doctor Krackers for $1 a box.  At the health food store they cost $4.50.  I bought two boxes of each of the three flavors they had available.  I am really hoping these are still there on payday (one more week).  I am just giddy!
Well, I have done quite well this week, if I do say so myself.  Three pounds gone so far.  Weigh in starts today at RFR but I want to wait until Sunday morning to see if I can drop at least one more pound.  I am determined to lose the rest of my weight by the end of the year.  That is 20 pounds a month.  I think it's doable, but I really will need to stay focused.
I did get my grocery shopping done.  I have the week's menu and the rest of the family can eat meat and yummy vegan food.  There is a lot of soup on the menu.  I have the bread machine going so we have fresh bread for the sandwich eaters.  I know what is in the bread and what is not.  I like knowing what is not in the food I serve the family.
Well, I'm off the enjoy some of those krackers!  

Going Shopping

 

I am getting ready to do one of my least favorite chores:  grocery shopping.  I don't know why I dislike going to the market so much.  Maybe it's because I get frustrated with the traffic jam of carts in the aisles.  Or maybe because I spend more money to buy less and less.  Then again it could be the knowledge that this chore is never ending.  If I think about the reasons, ponder them deeply I would admit it's because of the crowds.  A store full of people all disliking the same chore doesn't always make for a pleasant experience.

I have my (long) list written out.  This one is filled with whole foods; raw foods.  Daikon Radish, curly Kale, Baby Bok Choy, fresh thyme.  The menus for this week have been chosen: Shaved Fennel Salad, Colorful Cabbage Slaw, Crispy Shallot Onion Rings, Weeknight Chili.

Oh!  Here is another reason grocery shopping may be such a pariah, buying for raw food eaters (just me) and cooked food eaters (everyone else in the house).  It's hard to balance that, at least for me.  I tend to forget to buy what my family wants to eat and sometimes end up with only healthy vegetables and fruits!  It's an honest mistake.  Really!

Anyway, staying raw lately has been very hard.  I don't know why.  Maybe the cooler weather is triggering my comfort food meter.  Fall and winter has always been "Soup Season" to me.  Soup with warm homemade bread cut thick with real butter.  Eating raw vegan during Soup Season is going to be a struggle.  

I mean, warming soups in the dehydrator is definitely doable.  It may be the only way I have warm soup.  The bread part will be impossible.  At least the thick-cut bread.  I don't think there is a thick fluffy raw bread recipe out there.  Plus it doesn't help I'm allergic to wheat.

I am determined to stay as close to 100% raw as possible.  It occurred to me today I only have 40 pounds left to lose.  So why is it so hard to eat in a way that makes me feel good, sleep well, look good, and lose weight?  No pills, no marathon exercising (though exercising will certainly speed up the weight loss).  Why can't my brain wrap itself around eating raw?

So, my list is made.  Tomorrow I'll head to the store and do my duty.  Maybe I'll treat myself to a new fruit or vegetable.  

October - Breast Cancer Awareness Month

It's been nearly two years since my mom died from breast cancer.  I miss her.  Even though we didn't always get along she was my mom and I loved her.
The hardest part of the cancer was watching my mom's body deteriorate. The last year of her life her mind deteriorated.  That was just one ofe the hardest part.  My quick-witted mom became a six year old little girl.
This year my mom missed the high school graduations of two of her grand kids and the marriage of her oldest granddaughter.  When she first went to CTCA she told everyone there she had to beat the cancer because she had wedding bouquets to make for her four granddaughters.  It was sometimes difficult planning the wedding and knowing how much fun she would have had.


To my mom:  I miss you.  I love you.

Putting on the Pink

Last night our church put on a "Putting on the Pink" party for Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October). It was a lot of fun. Lots of information, good speakers, yoga, massages, and a bone density test. I decided to do the bone density test (I didn't opt for the massage as I'm so knotted up there wasn't enough time to work half of them out). It's a neat machine that is 99% accurate.

It looks kind of like a foot massager. They ask your age first.  You place your foot in the machine and two balloons on either side of your heel inflate. Nothing uncomfortable like a BP cuff. It sits for about 30 seconds or so and deflates. They look at a colored graph on the screen and show you where your bone density is in relation to your age.

I am 46 (next Saturday). Here are the findings of my test:

* On the graph I am above average for my age.

* My T score is 0.0 {T score indicates whether you are above or below the bone density of a healthy 30 year-old, the age when bone density reaches its peak.}

* My Z score is 1.1 {Z score indicates whether you are above or below the bone density of other people your age, sex, and race.}

So, my T score of 0 indicates the average for the healthy, 30 year-old group and my Z score of 1.1 indicates I have higher bone density than my age group.

I have the bone density of a 30-something year old! Se said a good diet, exercise, and lots of greens contribute to higher bone density. I said I green smoothie every day and she just smiled and said green smoothies are great.

I think that is awesome considering my mom lost 8 inches of height at the end of her life and that is something I definitely want to avoid.