RAW Living and Learning

Unlike those who start "celebrating" Christmas on November 1st by stringing up all those lights around town, our Christmas begins on the Vigil of December 25th. And the party keeps on going. We get to celebrate into February if we wish with our trees, lights and nativity. I'm sure the neighbors wonder why but who cares, we wonder why they start so early so I guess it balances out.  Check out this wonderful explanation, I couldn't have said it any better myself so I am going to quote her . It is probably the least complicated explanation I have ever read and THAT is exactly why I love it!! Simple is best! She says its complicated but I dare to disagree and am grateful that I found her post. Read what Lacy has to say: "It’s a little complicated, but here we go: The Christmas Season begins on the first Christmas Vigil Mass, usually the evening of Christmas Eve. The Roman Catholic church returns to green vestments (Ordinary time) the day after the f...

Christmas is almost here and our children are getting very excited, as you can imagine. Today we finish our decorating by stringing the lights on our tree, arranging all of the ornaments, and decorating the outside of the house and the yard. We wait until Christmas Eve at our house to light everything up. It makes the anticipation of Christmas more exciting for the children and really makes THE day even more special. I have been playing around with my raw applesauce recipes and ended up making 3 versions of the one sauce. The first one couldn't be any easier; it is simply organic Gala apples that I blended up in the food processor. To that sauce I added some fresh cranberries and a few dates to add some extra sweetness. The third version was a combination of the first two that I smothered in cinnamon--yum--and added some fresh organic raspberries in the middle. Sooo good, and yes, I ate the entire bowl! +JMJ+ Today I am grateful for the fact that our shopping is all done...

Over loaded Blender!   I have a problem of over loading my blender when making green smoothies for the family. My Blendtec blender actually flashes a warning memo to me when I do this...you'd think I'd learn. I load it this full, pulse it a few times and then add in the rest of the greens. That usually works.   Our kiddos are quite accustomed to their green smoothies but if you are slowly easing into green smoothies there is a method that proves successful. Start out with your ratio of fruit to greens high. Use more fruit than greens and slowly creep the ratio of greens up. This way your tastes will change slowly and you will succeed at consuming larger quantities of greens. If you jump right in using too many greens you set yourself up for failure. A good example is this recipe I am going to share. It has 4 cups of fresh dandelion greens in it; that's a lot of greens. When I first started making the children green smoothies over 3 years ago I started with maybe...

Rip Esselstyn Rip, son of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, was a firefighter in the Austin fire department when he discovered dangerously high cholesterol levels of his firefighter comrades. He led a station revolution of dietary change and markedly better health, which he detailed in his bestselling book, The Engine 2 Diet . Visit Engine2Diet.com for updates from Rip. I know I have posted a few times my tips for traveling while eating a raw, living foods diet. Well, when we travel all 7 of us go and our daughter who is vegan, and two of the boys who eat loads of veggies, have used most of Rip's tips while traveling and eating out. Our daughter eats a vegan diet that combines raw and cooked foods and all of these tips have worked for her.With Christmas and New Years coming I am sure many people will be traveling.Read the article below and hopefully you can learn something new that will help your family on their next trip.  (Note: I personally do not ...

Here is a cute movie exposing the dangers of processed sugar in the form of soda. Take a look: http://www.therealbears.org/#video These facts are taken directly from TheRealBears.org site. It is amazing the dumb things people will say, but you have to remember it is all about the $$$ for these liars.   "The Truth Soda Facts 101" " Research has proven a direct relationship between consumption of sugary drinks and an increase in obesity, which promotes diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and many other health problems. Now you know the plight of The Real Bears. Real human families should also know about the risks of drinking too much soda. Here are the unhappy facts. Lie "There is no scientific evidence that connects sugary beverages to obesity." - Katie Bayne, Coca-Cola President of Sparkling Beverages, North America   Truth: Each additional sugary drink consumed per day increases the likelihood of a child becoming obese by about 60%. S...