Tag Archives: green smoothies

Sweet Potato Brownies For Me!

moon sky cloudsThe dancing every day is not happening quite yet but I did have a good dance at a party on Saturday night, on the earth by a camp fire in fact. Bare feet would have been even more awesome but it’s still winter and the grass was wet from an earlier rain so I danced in my boots beneath a beautiful moonlit sky full of amazing clouds. Just as well after a week when I worked two nine to five sacred sensual firedays instead of my usual one, on the afternoon of the second day my shoulders were having a lot to say about how much they hate sitting still for so long! They say that our sedentary ways are bad for the body and I couldn’t agree more. That and much of the food that people eat which tends to be full of all kinds of crazy chemicals that were never meant for human consumption.

Which brings me ever so neatly to what was a big highlight of my party night, I made my first ever batch of brownies! The birthday girl was surprised that I’d made something to bring, I’m known for many wonderful attributes amongst my lovely friends but cooking isn’t really one of them. Having said that I usually do ok when I make the effort and the brownies were no exception. There are only five ingredients for this recipe, sweet potato, nut butter, maple syrup, cocoa (I used cacao) and carob chips. It was so easy I managed to make them as part of a busy day with no stress whatsoever. I’m hoping this will inspire me to start exploring more gluten free food, there are a lot of very simple recipes out there these days. I found this one on Facebook ages ago and feel incredibly grateful that I worked out how to save links, great resource when I was looking for quick and easy party food.

sweet potato brownies

Isn’t it just the best when you are savouring delicious food knowing that every bite is contributing to the health and well-being of your body, mind and soul. When I eat like that I can feel my body saying thank you as well as the taste buds, nice when the whole system is saying YES, thank you, thank you. I feel the same way when I have one of my green smoothies full of fruit and veggies, positively brimming with life force energy. But please don’t assume I’ve achieved some kind of perfection in this, I still have bread sometimes and the sugar monster is never too far away. I do my best to limit that sort of thing but being too hard on yourself when you do eat naughty foods can stress you as much as the food itself. In the end balance is the key and if you enjoy cooking then it will be much easier to make sure that your meals are mostly nourishing and nurturing.

green smoothie

Having said that I’m not much into cooking and even I found it easy so if you have a sweet tooth and like chocolate brownies check out this recipe and see what you think. Yay for yummy gluten free treats!

5-Ingredient Anti-Inflammatory Sweet Potato Brownies with Almond Butter, Cocoa and Maple Syrup

Balance Of Care.

A couple of posts ago I was raving on about how great I felt after evicting what seemed like another nasty bug, it seemed so unfair when I had only recently spent a week in bed, so unusual for me. At the same time that I was feeling that energy surge through my body I was also aware that I was riding a fine line, that kind of enthusiasm can spend your vigour and take you back to a place of ill-health. It’s something we’ve all done at one time or another, when you have been feeling low the return to full life can almost be a bit overwhelming.

So I was determined not to allow that to happen, with two overnight shifts in a row and a busy weekend to follow I needed to make sure that I took proper care of myself. So I made sure to lie down and at least have a doze before going to flamenco class, it was particularly vigorous but I enjoy it so much it ends up giving me as much energy as it takes. If you are going to fill your life with a lot of activities then it is essential for most if not all of it to fill you with joy, that kind of passion will take you a long way although it doesn’t change the message that spirit is sending me to slow down.

Alas the bug was not completely cleared, so I’ve been trying to do what needs to be done at the same time as taking care of myself . That means green smoothies and meditation, after a long session on the laptop I went and lay on the earth for a while feeling the loving support of Mother Earth. Connecting your bare skin with the earth on a regular basis is sooooo important, you can feel any stress draining out, it’s a bit like the earthing wire in electrical systems.

So here I sit still feeling the sickness in my body, looking forward to a medicine circle where I will hopefully be able to journey to a place of full health. Shedding whatever needs to go, embracing the wonderful new beginning that has opened up for me as I move through this transition, into my wondrous new life!

So be it, so be it, so be it…………

For more information on earthing have a look at this website, and if you are intrigued by the whole subject get researching, there is heaps of information out there: http://www.sarahwilson.com.au/2013/05/my-simple-home-earthing-mats/

Travel Broadens The Gut.

Seems like it’s time to talk about food again, I am fairly obsessed on this subject most of the time, but there’s only so much you can say unless you are an expert, or much more into research than I am. But it’s in my awareness always, and I’m mostly feeling very good about where I am in terms of my relationship to food. I don’t crave sugar, I have one or two coffees a week, and my simple cave man’s diet satisfies me with very little snacking required between meals.

I do get a bit frustrated about water sometimes, in my house sitting travels I’ve had lots of rainwater which I love, but when you are drinking town water then a water filter becomes an issue. Your basic Britta water filter is not expensive but it doesn’t take out the fluoride, for that you need something like a reverse osmosis system and they are not cheap. That’s a big part of the problem of trying to be super healthy, you tend to need a super bank balance which makes it prohibitive for many. For me I spend the money I would have spent on rent on buying local organic produce, I also buy a probiotic to put in my green smoothies which is pretty expensive, but with my energy levels I would say it is definitely paying off.

The probiotic comes under the classification of cultured food, and I listened to a short video which had something very interesting to say on this subject. In the past people had a lot more cultured or fermented foods, particularly in the days before refrigeration. We talk about people becoming more cultured when they travel, and generally we’re referring to things like art, theatre and dance. But when we travel we are also being exposed to the local bacteria, puts the expression ‘becoming more cultured’ in a rather different light doesn’t it!

Sauerkraut.

Sauerkraut.

You could make a fabulous short animated video using that idea as the theme, if I had time I would try to find something on YouTube, but I don’t so I will simply add the link for my inspiration for this post. It comes through Food Matters which is responsible for a documentary of the same name, as well as a newer doco called Hungry For Change. If you are looking for information on good food I can highly recommend both the films and their newsletter.

Naughty Faeries.

On my enchanted adventure I ventured into forbidden territory, sugar, grain, Cadbury chocolate and coffee, I gave myself permission to be naughty and hoped that I would not be trapped in the world of faery forever, having supped of faery food. Actually the truth is that the faeries probably eat food that gives them plenty of life force, maybe it is the power of that energy that has given birth to the stories of the dangers of eating anything while in the realm of magic and enchantment. Having sat at the table with Titania and Oberon, our present reality cannot be anything but a pale imitation of life’s glorious potential. Like a beautiful photo that has faded with time, we become accustomed to a lesser reality, so much dimmer than the place we inhabit as children.

The Fairies' Banquet by John Anster

The Fairies’ Banquet by John Anster

A little bit of naughtiness will do you no harm, but for those whose daily fare is processed and full of sugar and nasty chemicals, the dulling down is happening quite literally in the cells of the body. I strayed off the path for just four days and even so I could feel my sugar and carb addict beginning to wake up, the more you have the more you want. I came off it slowly with the help of some chocolate halva (Oh my Goddess what a treat!) and my green smoothies are incredibly important for bringing me back into alignment.

For those of you who struggle with cravings the news is good, if the former Junk Food Queen of Parap can become pure, anyone can! From the very beginning as I moved on to solids I wanted everything that was unhealthy, I dealt with teenage trauma and loss by drowning my sorrows as only a true alcoholic can and smoking furiously whatever I could get my hands on.

The path to redemption has been a long road of shifts and changes on all levels of my being, physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. You deal with one layer at a time, making the changes that are possible at that time, and slowly but surely you begin to build up better habits. For me the emotional aspect of food has been very important, I no longer have that ‘need’ to fill the empty space within me by stuffing my face.

Dear Gaia, thank you for providing me with such a dazzling array of sustenance in the form of the fruits and the vegetables that abound on this gorgeous planet. And thank you for helping me to connect with that leafy, aromatic realm of taste and texture, heightening my senses until I positively reel with ecstatic delight!

fall_harvest

Superfoods and Digital Watches.

Ok, so now its back to the subject of food, green smoothies and oil pulling both features of my current adventures into the pursuit of optimum health! With no power for two and a half days I went two whole days without my green smoothies and I really, really, missed them, HUGELY (not sure if that is a proper word but it expresses my feelings)! I had quinoa porridge with banana, sultanas, cinnamon and vanilla, luckily I have a gas cooker in my current house sit, so I could still cook and heat up water for cups of tea.

It was good food, but my body was crying out for its raw greens, fruit, probiotic, flaxseed oil, all that goodness that I’ve only been consuming for just under a month, but already I’m accustomed to it. Alright so I was also going through some pretty full on energetic shifts too, which can get you off kilter, but the point is that finding the right food can really support you in those kinds of processing. It’s all connected, body, mind and soul, it’s no accident that those words tend to come up as a threesome in all sorts of contexts, just try doing a google search on them, and you’ll see what I mean.

And tonight I made myself zucchini pasta for the first time, a really nice organic pasta sauce with some avocado thrown in at the last minute and garnished with grated goats cheddar. It was absolutely divine! This is the kind of simple recipe I need to work out if I am to move more strongly into the raw food journey, I’m not a lover of spending time in the kitchen, so it has to be nice and easy. When it’s mostly raw my body is sooooooo happy it sings!

The coconut oil I have been swishing seems to be giving me strange pimply things around my mouth and very dry lips, I tuned in and asked my higher self if this was ok, and was told it was part of the detox. In reading up about oil pulling, I read a report that some people find that coconut oil has a more intense detoxification effect, so maybe that’s how it is for me. I am taking a smaller amount in my mouth now, and the sores are slowly disappearing, hopefully the dry lips will also improve or I will have to invest in some lip balm. And maybe also consider switching to sesame oil, which is generally what is used in the Ayurvedic tradition that this practice hails from.

What an exciting adventure this is, how could anyone ever be bored in this amazing thing called life, on a small blue-green planet, in a rather unfashionable corner of the galaxy! Or as Douglas Adams once described this world:

“Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.”
―    Douglas Adams,    The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

PS: I was never a fan of digital watches!

blue geen planet

Spirals of Goodness.

Ok it’s official, I LOVE MY BROTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He just gave me the coolest present ever! We have  a no presents unless you really want to policy at christmas time, and my brother hasn’t given any for years, don’t get me wrong, he’s very generous, just isn’t into presents.

He has had long-term health problems ever since contracting Ross River Fever a long time ago, and early last year I put him on to a book called “Super Charged Food” by Lee Holmes. She cured herself of Chronic Fatigue when the doctors could do nothing, by researching food as medicine and applying it in her life.

David is a virgo so he is very good and very thorough when it comes to research, unlike his airy fairy aquarian sister! He got really inspired and has been practically living on super salads ever since, he has also discovered equipment to help make great salads, and this brings me to the star of this post!

Enter the Veggie Twister!!!!!!!!!! Mum has been using something called the spiraliser to create long twirly bits out of carrot and zucchini and beetroot, funnily enough I am not a fan of beetroot normally but when it has been spiralised I love it. Go figure, I don’t understand why but I do know that it makes an ordinary salad into something very special. The veggie twister is a lot smaller than the other machine, and so easy to use I was amazed, making my salads has become an entertainment that will not wear off in a hurry. My enjoyment of the finished result will never wear off, that I am quite sure of.

This is an important next step in going more towards a raw food diet, the green smoothies are still starting off my every morning, may do something else from time to time for variety but they are so easy to make and so delish! It is often the simple things in life that bring true joy and the veggie twister has brought such joy and delight into a life already overflowing with goodness!

By the way I apologise for all the exclamation marks, I think I have gone a bit overboard, but it is so hard to contain my excitement, it had to express itself somehow!!

Veggie Twister.

Veggie Twister.

Spinach and Shekels.

Returning to the green smoothie theme, it seems I may have to do some more research beyond reading ‘The Green Smoothie Bible’, apparently variety is important when you are having all those greens every day. The plants have various substances in them that are a part of their defense system, so that they aren’t overgrazed by animals, and it isn’t a good idea to have too much of them.

My brain glazes over when I read very scientific information, and I got a bit lost in that particular chapter, what I was really hoping for was a chart telling me which ones had what, so I know what to switch to and when. If I had my way I would probably just have spinach and kale, but these both contain oxalates which I shouldn’t have too much of.

Is it just me, or do we have to take in and somehow assimilate, way too much information in this modern world. I probably need to make a confession here, I love to write, but have always hated doing research, even so I think I may be correct. Let’s face it, anyone who trusts the so called authorities that are supposed to give us guide lines for healthy living, will probably suffer a whole range of diseases in a relatively short life span, and end up dying slowly and horribly from some form of cancer.

I am determined to achieve optimum health even if it means actually having to do research! Thats how much I care!! But mostly I hope my research will be in the form of actually doing it, have the experience and learn from that. So I think the sensible thing to do is to focus on green smoothies and get that right, and from there move on to more raw food. Oh, and I also need to buy In-Liven Fermented Probiotic Superfood, not cheap but the author of my smoothie bible, Kristine Miles, swears by it.

Once again I come back to the need to bring in the shekels, the moolah, love may indeed be all you need, but until we change the basic premise of this culture the money will also have to keep rolling in.

Shekels from Carthage.

Shekels from Carthage.

Spinach.

Spinach.