Some December Posts and Toasting in the New Year

I still have some December posts that I don't want to neglect, but as it happens time flies by and here we are in the New Year; Happy New Year!
We have already planned and gone on some spectacular field trips with our home school group and I wanted to post about our Hydroponic and Heirloom Garden trip we went on the first week in December to Rabbit Run Farm. We had a great time learning about this wonderful farming technique and of course I just had to buy some food!! Here are some pics of her amazing produce.

Vegetables and Fruits as Far as the Eye Can See

The Best Strawberry Any of Us Has Had
These are the strawberies Norman Love uses in his chocolates!!

Purple Broccoli

She Shared a Watermelon Radish with Us

My Cutie Pie

I bought some greens and 4 pounds of strawberries. Her produce was the best that I have eaten. I will be making trips up to her farm often I think. I put together a salad with this head of butter lettuce and named it RABBIT RUN FARM SALAD.

Rabbit Run Farm Salad
Organic butter lettuce, cut up
1 Pummelo, peeled and diced
1 Ruby Red grapefruit, peeled and diced
1/2 of an organic cucumber, sliced
Radish sprouts
Whisk together a dressing of:
EVOO first cold pressed
raw honey
red pepper flakes
basil
cumin
pinch of sea salt

December was also filled with dairy free/gluten free and raw treats for the children.

Here are our gluten free/dairy free Christmas cookies this year. We had Wedding Cookies and Double Chocolate Thumbprints. They were amazing!! So delicious the kids and Daddy thought. I even tasted them! I will be making a raw cookie this month because several months ago I was fortunate enough to get a copy of "everyday raw desserts" by Matthew Kenney, to review!! I am looking forward to doing that book review and making several of his recipes. I will feature one of his cookie recipes soon.
Here is our raw Chocolate Raspberry Pie. It is Lisa's recipe from Raw on $10 a day (Or less!). This year was about simplicity. I only wanted to make a few desserts and make them well. We were really able to enjoy them better because we weren't overwhelmed by endless choices. Less is more in my book.

My husband found a wonderful dairy free hot chocolate mix for the children and we made it with almond milk. The mini marshmallows are the healthiest type you can buy ready made, they are from Whole Foods. No food dye or nasty chemicals, but they are still sugar, oh well, it is only a once a year treat. They really enjoyed it. The older two kids wouldn't pose like the three little ones here. But they loved the hot chocolate too!

 We also enjoyed a few Christmas parties, opening gifts and taking many pictures just to get that perfect one of all the children for our Christmas cards this year. Here we are right before going out the door to an annual Christmas party held at the home of my husband's employer.

Here is the pic I would have loved to put on our Christmas card. Look at the baby sticking out his tongue...too funny!! Little stinker, he was being a pistol that night.

 But we did end up getting a great shot. This is the one we put on the cards.

Here are the two youngest enjoying their new scooters in the house. Our 6 year old also got one but his is a Hot Wheels scooter with two wheels instead of three. They are loving their new scooters, that's for sure.

Now on to toasting in the New Year!! This year for me will be filled with even more green juices and even a few fruit juices when I feel like it. I also really want to achieve my goal of learning how to grow and juice wheatgrass. I have been continuing to study all I can about it and my husband is going to help me make a growing rack out of PVC pipes. I think I will buy a hand crank juicer, but I haven't really decided yet. All of my plans are still in the works.
Here is a wonderful juice I found a recipe for on healthyeasygreen.com.

CHEERS!

Healthy Green Juice

1 very large cucumber

3 stalks of organic celery

3 romaine leaves (recipe called for 1 kale leaf)

large handful of parsley

large handful of organic spinach

2 tsp ginger

small clove garlic

1 wedge of lime

1 C red clover sprouts (I added to recipe!)

Run everything through a juicer and enjoy the green goodness!

This juice is not for someone new to juicing. It is quite strong and probably wouldn't be the best recipe for one's first juicing experience, but for me it is just how I like a green juice to be.

Have a very Happy New Year filled with RAW goodness and Joy!

PAX ET CRUDUS SANITAS

+JMJ+ Today I am grateful for my family, plain and simple!! I love each and everyone of you so much! XOXOXO
January 1- Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. Let us follow her example when she so bravely said "yes" to God. We can make Christ present to the world by rededicating ourselves to the "yes" we've said to God.