Great Veggies in Midland

What a great sign! When traveling, it's always wise to scout ahead of the trip and find what veggie friendly restaurants are available. This was a great find in Midland, Texas -- Strawberry Fields. Perfect for our family of mixed diets. Plenty of organic vegetarian items with a few free range chicken dishes thrown in for my husband. Great juices and smoothies as well as a salad bar. It's name came from the owner's love of the oldies. There were album covers all over the walls. My husband was in absolute heaven.

Laura's Chocolate

Laura's chocolate pudding is just unbelievable! Made with avocado and so...... smooth.
This was one of the desserts served at our last raw class.

Raw Comfort Foods Class

I'll be following up with a picture or two of our latest class.  Actually there are probably only a couple because we were so busy with 19 of y'all attending.  This was probably one of our favorite classes because we were fixing some of our favorite foods. 

For those not able to join us, here's the menu:

Best Ever Nut Mylk

Mango-Cherry Mylk Shake

Strawberry Mylk Shake

Nacho Cheeze Dip

Serene's Energy Flat Bread

Garden Burger with Ketchup and Mustard

Mango Salsa and Tomato Salsa

Laura's Hot and Spicy Chili Fries

Seed Cheeze

Spicy Beenies

Two flavors of Elizabeth's Yogert with Berries

Laura's Famous Chocolate Pudding

We started with the shakes and then made several of the staple items.  Since some of the attendees were on an anti-fungal diet, we had a couple of choices for some of the items that followed the anti-fungal principles (including no vinegars, mushrooms, nutritional yeast, sweet fruits, etc.).  The girls really had fun altering some of our regular recipes to accommodate these needs.

We put all of the savories out on the kitchen island and showed how to make burgers, pizzas or tacos using the bread and flax crackers as a base.  Then everyone got in line and made their own fun creations based on their tastes.

Some took time to go out and look at our fall garden.  Can't wait for all the babies to be ready for harvest.  

It was a great day and we really enjoyed the fellowship with everyone!

Ladies Lunch

The girls and I had quite a lunch today. We started making smoothies and just kept going through entrees and dessert!

Laura started out making almond milk. Just 4 cups water and 1 cup almonds with a bit of coconut oil, agave nectar and vanilla blended in the vitamix. This has been a staple for Elizabeth who uses this not only for the nourishment but also calories. We make this milk with all sorts of nuts--hemp which provides the omega 3s and 6s and brazil nuts rich in selenium are our favorites.

This smoothie today was made with mango and cherries added to the milk. Tastes just like a milk shake (only better)!









Next came the entree for Laura and I. (Elizabeth is allergic to a couple of the ingredients so her entree is below.) We called it Mexican Pizza for lack of a better term. It wasn't from any one recipe but a concoction of several and even altered at that. To duplicate this yummy lunch, just use your favorite recipes for pizza bread, seed cheeze and refried beenies. Top with baby spinach, soaked sun dried tomatoes, diced red pepper, and raw olives. We served it with a side of sliced avocado and a squeeze of lemon juice. I can't even describe how luscious this was--and very filling.



Here's Elizabeth's entree--I Can't Believe It's Not Egg Salad

Because of her allergies, she had to tweak the recipe in Rawvolution--no yellow turmeric here. She also added Bubbies dill pickles to the mixture of macadamia nuts, lemon juice, garlic, red peppers, and celery. Always the artist, she decorated her plate with baby spinach sprinkled with macadamia nuts.



And the best part? Laura surprised us with a raw apple pie. She uses the recipe in Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw for 1 or 2 People as her base and changes it to suit our tastes. Just unbelievable! It was even fragrant with the cinnamon and nutmeg - didn't miss the smells from the oven.

Of course, this wasn't very good food combining. But sometimes you just have to have fun in the kitchen!

Orchestra and Pictures

Our daughters and I just came back from orchestra rehearsal. They play their violins in this group and I play the flute. (No students to play my instrument at the moment)

This is a chamber group put together to accompany a young harpist who plays beautifully. It was my first experience to get to accompany a harp. It's so beautiful. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to take a picture of such sweet sounds, to actually "see" the color of the notes as if in a garden?

The Fall Garden

Here's what's in the garden this fall.  We're looking forward to some pretty awesome salads this year.  Pictures will follow later.  Most of the babies are just barely peeking out of the soil and aren't too photographic yet.

Collards

Broccoli

Cabbage

Kale - two types

Lambsquarters

Chard

Turnips

Beets

Spinach

Lettuces - 6 types

Chinese greens - including Pak Choi

Radishes

And the summer leftovers that we kept:

Peppers - 5 types

Herbs of various kinds

What's Summer Without Watermelon

This was our first year growing watermelon. They were absolutely huge! Our only problem was deciding when to harvest. I think we finally got it down by the last two. Some say to use the "thump" method while others look at the tendril closest to the fruit to see if it has wilted and dried. It's still a toss up for this family. But we do know that we'll have a better idea for next year. Sadly, they're all gone.

Watermelon juice is scrumptious! I liked adding my E3Live to get in some of my greens for the day.

Our Florida Trip

We took a break and went to Florida. I had been looking for a good bit of down time just sitting on the beach and reading. Well, the girls kept us hopping--tennis, biking, miniature golf, kayaking, more biking. But we did get mornings and late afternoons of the white sand and clear water. Surprisingly, it wasn't as crowded as we had anticipated. Footprints in the sand....

Picking Up Where I Left Off

Elizabeth sang The Star Spangled Banner at a Fourth of July celebration. This was her third year in a row they requested her to perform. What does this have to do with the garden life? GOD's BEAUTY! Both her voice and the colors. Just breathtaking.

Juice Feasting

My oldest daughter and I juiced for a week or so again. Yummy! We'll probably do it again, only I'm going to try for several weeks next time. It takes a bit of organization and time to juice feast correctly. Can't wait!

Flowers at Home

We're blessed with colors AND fragrance.

Memories of Raw Food Classes

I'ts been awhile since I've posted. My, how life happens.

Here's some of the dishes we taught raw food students to make at some of our classes. We have another beginning class next week and an advanced class in August. We really enjoy the time we spend with the attendees and we even learn quite a bit from them.

Not Charlie the Tuna Salad

I Can't Believe It's Not Egg Salad

Zucchini Fettucini with Donna's Summer Marinara

Kale Salad

Pineapple Gazpacho from Raw Food Real World

And a bit of the rest

What's a garden without at least one zucchini plant. Actually that's all you need.


Cucumbers are great in juice, in salads, or just eaten plain. We also like them in pineapple gazpacho.


Collards are a staple in our family. We're already making wraps.


Corn blowing in the wind.


We love our blackberries!

You say tomato, I say tomoto

The tomatoes are really looking great this year--all 42 of them

Green zebras are one of our favorites. They're really pretty on a plate with the reds and yellows.


OK, so tomatillos aren't really tomatoes, but I thought I'd through them in here.

Tomatillo bud

Peppers!

Our peppers are already producing!


Juicy jalapenos


Serranos are a bit hotter