D@mn Olives!!

I loovvveeeeeee olives black and green. I just recently stopped eating the green ones and have been just eating black ones. I'm going to have to give those up to. Number one they are not raw. They are the only thing that is holding me back. I can eat a whole jar/can in a sitting then I wonder why my scale has jumped up 2 pounds.
Sooooo today I am renouncing the olives! Olives be gone! No more. Either raw olives or no olives. I think I will wait until I have more weight lost to even eat the raw ones.
The other day me and Steven made coconut macaroons. They were good a little sweet though. I think I put to many dates in.



This is Steven forming them and putting on the dehydrator tray.
Off to work I go. Will write later.

Day 10

Today was a really good day. I made a banana, orange and mango smoothie this morning. I handed my 7 year old son a cup praying he would eat it. He asked what it was I told him and walked out the room. I did not want to hover over him with anticipation. He ate it and asked for seconds! Thank God! So now I think that will be his breakfast and fruit on other days. One meal down.
I had a a smoothie for breakfast, orange for snack, salad for lunch and a salad for dinner. Two bowls of salad :) with my favorite dressing.
I woke up this morning at 4:56 am. Do you think I got up to get on the treadmill...no. I have got to get in gear. Tomorrow I think I am going to do a colon cleanse. I should drink tea tonight but I am to full now. On a empty stomach I might drink the 32 ounces of warm salt water that is described in the Master Cleanse book.
We will see how tomorrow goes.

Michele

Day 7

Today was a good day. I went and brought some ingredients to make some more salad dressing. I brought a few ounces of raw walnuts, some coconuts flakes. I am trying to find some raw carob powder on line so I can make some fudge balls.
I spoke with a lady at a yoga place to see about holding classes there. She thinks the owner would let me. So I will call her Monday and see. My mom wants me to make her a pizza and calzone. I am going to tackle the pizza for her sometime next week. I want her to go 100% raw she is depending on me to make the food for her.

I ate salads all day with my dressing. I weighed myself. I am 214.0. I weighed in the afternoon so I am most likely less than that. I do not know exactly what I weighted when I started my challenge. Last time I weighed myself I was around 223.0. Still need to hop on the treadmill. I am aiming for Monday.

Michele

Day 4

I ate so much the past few days that I am still kind of full. I only ate a orange, apple and banana today. Of course it is only 6:30 pm now. I think I am going to make a dressing and a big salad ummmm. I did not get up to exercise this morning..laaazzzzyyyy. I am looking forward to the energy that I will have from eating so healthy. I want to pop up at 4am full of energy so I can get my butt on the treadmill.
I'm going to make my salad now and Steven wants a orange and banana smoothie. Speaking of smoothies I tried a green smoothie this morning. It had spinach, apple and water. My blender sucks. It did not turn out well at all. I have got to get a vitamix!
I keep forgetting my weight scale at my moms. I think it is a good thing. I am to obessive about my weight and I do not want to get discourage if the numbers on the scale don't move. I know that inside I am making wonderful changes.
I went to the library and checked out The China Study, Sprouting Handbook by Ann Wigmore and another Raw Gourmet book.
I'm going to go make that salad and Steven's smoothie and start to read .

Michele

Full of Food and Knowledge

I am stuff with good raw food and raw food knowledge. I had such a great time with Schall Adams. She is truly a blessing. I really hated to see her go. I have met some wonderful people in the Level 1 chef class.
So my plan for tomorrow is to try to get up early to walk on my treadmill before work, make myself a green smoothie. I might just take fruit for work tomorrow. What I need to be do is get off this computer and go make a salad and dressing for work....but I'm going to bed.

Michele

Day 2 (30 day Raw Food Challenge)

I am stuffed and tired. I was at the Level 2 chef class all day today. We started around 9am until 9 pm. We made all kinds of foods. Schall kept us busy we made a lot of recipes. We made oatmeal. ravaoli, fudge balls again, tacos, chocolate shake, calzones, pizza and alot more. I am so tired I can't even remember it all.
I went to Target and purchased a 8 cup food processor. I really did not have the money to get it but I will have to sacrifice something..maybe the heat bill..ha! I made Steven some banana icecream in it tonight. He had 2 kiwis and a couple of bites of the ice cream. I will most likely give him the banana ice cream in the morning for breakfast. It will be a whole lot better than Captin Crunch.

Michele

Day 1 ( Raw food 30 day challenge)

Today is day one of my challenge. My mother has my scale so at the moment I do not know what I weight. I guess it is a good thing. I am obsessive about getting on the scale every morning. Last time I weighted my self about a week ago I was at 219.0 lbs. Before I did a 30 day fast at the end if December 2005 I weight 247.0 lbs. My goal is 140-145lbs in 6 months. That is around 75- 80 lbs. It rounds out to about 13 pounds a month. It can be done. With this raw lifestyle I know it will melt off. I just need to do my part in eating right and exercising.
Earlier I had a spinach salad with just cherry tomatoes, black olives(non raw), jalapenos (non raw) and mushrooms. I used this awesome tahini dressing I made that Schall told me about. It taste like blue cheese.
I will make a green juice later with my Jack Lalanne juicer. The juice consists of:
Romaine lettuce
Apples
Celery
1/2 lemon
Ginger to taste
mmmmm good

Here is a pic of my pride and joy. He is part of the reason I am going raw. I need to live to see him grow up. His diet is horrible he eats way to much sugar. For breakfast it usually cereal, pancakes, waffles or fruit and cream oatmeal. Lunch is whatever it could be a TV dinner, chicken noodle soup from a can or ravaoli from a can or he could eat any of the breakfast items again. Dinner...ha yeau it's about the same thing. And I wonder why he is hyper, can't concentrate in school. I know, I know it is my fault that is why I am turning it around now!

Alissa Cohen Level 1 Class with Schall Adams

Yesterday I attended a Level 1 chef class taught by Schall Adams. I must say it was very enlightening. The recpies are so easy to duplicate. At the moment I do not have any equipment except for a dehydrator. So I am in the process of finding a food processor and a vitamix. I also want a champion juicer.
Yesterday we made Coconut Macaroons



1 1/2 cups raw coconut flakes
2 large dates (soaked)
1/4 cup Agave Nectar
1 tsp Vanilla

Pulse all ingredients through a food processor just until dates are finely processed. It will be a stucky dough. Form into patties and dehydrate at 105 for 5-6 hours.

These were soooooo good!!

We also made Banana Ice Cream yummmm.

Peel and freeze bananas. After you take the bananas out the freezer let them sit out for a minute and then try to peel them. My fingers were so cold trying to peel the bananas right away.

With a Champion Juicer or any juicer that will homogenize run the frozen bananas through with the "blank" on. As you can see it can also be done with a food processor. We also made strawberry and raisin and walnut toppings. My son loved the ice cream.

Mock Salmon Pate on celery sticks

A delicious pink pate with a hint of salmon flavor! I eat this all the time on top of a large salad with a vinaigrette dressing. It’s such an easy pate to prepare and oh so delicious!
2 cups walnuts
2 stalks celery
1 large red bell pepper
1 large scallion
½ -1 teaspoon sea salt
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.Serving suggestions: This can be served on a plate as is, over a salad, rolled up in a green leaf, or spread on crackers

Angel Hair Pasta and Marinara Sauce

Angel Hair Pasta
3-4 Large Zucchini

Marinara Sauce
2 1/2 CupsTomatoes
12 Large Sundried Tomatoes, Soaked
3 Organic Dates, Pitted and Soaked
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
4 Cloves Garlic
2 Tablespoons Parsley
1 Teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt
1/8 Teaspoon Cayenne

Spialize the zucchini in the Saladacco and then Pour the Angel hair zucchini pasta into a large bowl.

Place all of the Marinara ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Next pour the smooth sauce from the food processor onto your angel hair pasta which is in the large bowl. Now serve.

We also made Chile and onion dip.

I did not get a picture of the chile or onion dip. I was to busy eating.

This is Andreu cutting up the red pepper for the chile. Andreu is an inspiring raw gormet chef. He has a powerful testimony of how raw foods has improved his life. Once I get the link to his myspace from him I will post.

This is me and Schall. I look really big in this picture this shirt did not help matters either. I am really looking forward to the weight loss aspect of this raw lifestyle.