Day 9 - Opening a Young Coconut

I didn't have time to do this post on Friday (Day 9 of the 31-Day Challenge) because I spent the day preparing for our trip to the NC mountains. To the best of my recollection, I consumed the following:

1.5 quarts of Green Smoothie (Romaine, Cucumber, Oranges, Grapes, and I can't remember what else!)
A few slices of Watermelon
A few Glazed Sweet Potato Chips
A couple of pieces of Energy Flat Bread with raw Rich Cheddar Cheese
A Banana

That's all I can remember, but I do know that everything I ate was raw.


How to Open a Young Coconut

I had a young coconut in the fridge that I wanted to use up before we left, so I decided, since I had nothing else to do today [lol], I would take photos of how to open one of these puppies.

You'll need a butcher knife and a cutting board, preferably flexible so you can pour the juice that overflows when you first open it into a bowl.


Step 1 - Slice the bark off the top of the coconut in the direction of the knife in the photo. Slice all around the top. Sometimes I find it easier to lay the coconut on its side and slice from the side to the point. Removing the bark off the top makes it easier to pop open the top.

Step 2 - Take the back corner edge of the knife and whack the coconut, working your way around the top center a couple of inches from the point, as indicated in the photos below.



You will be able to tell when the knife penetrates the coconut. Sometimes it will hiss from the pressure being released. Also, if the coconut is really full, the water will leak out. This is why it's good to have a flexible cutting board. It's easier to pour the water into a bowl. You may also want to tilt the coconut over a bowl and let some of the water pour off so it's not so messy when you pop the top.

I usually go around a couple more times to loosen the top of the coconut.

Step 3 - Once you've broken through the coconut, take the tip of the knife and insert it into the coconut and twist the knife in order to pry the top up. If it doesn't pop up easily, whack around the circle a few more times to break it open a bit more. Then pour the rest of the coconut water into the bowl.



Step 4 - To remove the meat inside of the coconut, place a spoon between the shell of the coconut and the meat with the inside of the spoon facing the outside of the coconut. Check out the photo below to understand what I'm trying to say! Then press the spoon down to lift the meat away from the shell. Keep working the meat away from the shell, then scoop out. Don't forget to remove the meat from the top that was removed.



Step 5 - And there you have it! A knife, a spoon, coconut water in a bowl, a pile of coconut meat, an empty coconut and a flexible cutting board. It's really easy once you've opened a few coconuts.

Day 8 - Eating to Live... Roaches anyone?

I've made the transition from "Living to Eat" to "Eating to Live." I have no desire for cooked food. Yay! I've decided not to worry about how much I consume each day, but instead just listen to what my body wants and enjoy what I eat.

Today's consumption:

Smoothie of Spinach, Pineapple, Coconut Water and Wheat Grass Powder
Watermelon
Cheesy Kale Chips
Salad of Romaine, Radishes, Cucumber, Tomato, Red Cabbage, Green Onions, Mushrooms, Carrots, and Sunflower Seeds.
Energy Flat Bread with Raw Rich Cheddar Cheese
Liter of Alkaline Water
My favorite snack: Almond Buttered Roaches on Bananas

I love dates, but I especially enjoy people's reaction to them. My kids refused to eat them because they said they looked like roaches. I always responded that they were the best tasting roaches I could imagine eating.

While I was making this snack today, my sweet hubby came over, looked and said, "WHAT is that?!" I laughed and said, "Almond-covered Bananas with Roaches. Wanna try one?" He turned, shivered and walked away shaking his head."

I must say that they definitely look more appetizing when I chop up the dates rather than slice them lenghtwise.

In preparation for our trip this weekend, I made some Glazed Sweet Potato Chips. If the weather holds out, we'll be taking the bike so I need to come up with some "travel meals" that will fit in a saddle bag. We'll be out in the boondocks where there are no restaurants within a reasonable distance, so running out to Mickey D's for a salad won't be an option. This is going to be interesting!

The Glazed Sweet Potato Chips are so easy to make, just use a mandolin to slice up your peeled sweet potatoes. Then mix equal parts of Raw Almond Butter and Honey and spread on the chips. Dehydrate at 105° till the chips are curled up on the edges. They won't be crisp due to the glaze on them. They'll be soft and chewy. Then enjoy!

Day 7 - Raw Ramblings

The Cheesy Kale chips are done! They aren't half bad. lol. I can't say that I'm addicted to them like so many others claim to be, but I can eat them. It's a good thing too, because here's my jar full of them. They're very light but I will need to get used to the cheesy taste. I actually preferred the way they tasted before I dehydtrated them. Oh well.

I actually have another recipe that I tried once before that I really liked. It's called "Seasoned Kale Chips". I might make up a batch of those tomorrow so I can have them for the weekend. We are headed out of town and I need to bring a bunch of raw food with me to live on.

Today's food consumption:

Breakfast: GRAWnola with Almond Milk and some sliced up bananas and raisins. I totally forgot about my blueberries. That would have been really good!

Mid morning: 20 ounces of freshly squeezed Grapefruit Juice

Lunch: Salad of Romaine, Radishes, Red Cabbage, Carrots, Cucumbers, Avocado, Tomatoes, Green Onions, Mushrooms, Sunflower Seeds with Balsamic Vinegarette dressing.

Afternoon: 1/2 quart of Carrot, Apple, Romaine juice

Evening: Large slice of Watermelon and a handful of Kale chips. Three slices of raw pizza, plus Alkaline water throughout the day.

Day 6 - Cheesy Chips

I've been told I need to up the amount of greens and veggies in my diet and reduce the amount of fruit. But I like fruit in my green smoothies. Oh well, I guess it won't hurt to back off a little at a time ... as I sit here and munch on watermelon.

Breakfast: GRAWnola with Almond Milk, Raisins and Bananas

Mid-morning: Juice of 2 Grapefruits.

Afternoon: Green Smoothie consisting of 1/2 cucumber, 1/2 avocado, juice of 1 lime, 2 handfuls of spinach, 1 tsp wheat grass powder and 1/3 of a pineapple. I tried to drink this without the pineapple but it just wasn't happening. I added the pineapple to make it palatable for me.

Dinner: I had cheesy kale coating left over from making Cheesy Kale Chips, so I spread it on my Energy Flat Bread, and topped it with chopped tomatoes and mushrooms and had a few slices. Alkaline Water.

I keep reading about how AWESOME these Cheesy Kale Chips are so I decided to make them today. They are in the dehydrator as I type this. Can't wait to try them but they probably won't be ready till tomorrow afternoon.

Today was another day where I had very little to eat. Just not hungry but lots of energy. Raw (or live) food is nutritionally satisfying because the nutrients and enzymes haven't been cooked out of it. I'm satisfied nutritionally but not getting enough calories. And most of my diet is fruit. Yikes.

Day 5 - Pizza anyone?

Wow, what a productive day. I was busy, busy in the kitchen playing with raw food! I pretty much ate all day! I can definitely feel the energy level soaring, The spring in my step is coming back and running up and down the stairs no longer hurts my knees ... in just five days of LIVE food!! Yeah baby!!

But before I started playing with raw food I made hubby lunch. He wanted to go to Mickey D's but I told him lunch would be served at Vicki B's instead! This was his healthy alternative to the Big Mac and Fish Filet that he wanted. Tuna in romaine leaves, pineapple, watermelon, grapes and carrots. He can thank me for saving his life!! lol. Fortunately, he really enjoyed his lunch and ate every morsel! Yay!

As for me, I started out Day 5 of the 31-day challenge with juiced carrots, cucumber, kale, & pineapple.

Then I made a Cucumber Avocado & Dill Soup. It was okay. Too dilly for my taste even though I used less dill than called for in the recipe called.



Next I made a Rich Cheddar Cheese to put on the Energy Flat bread that I dehydrated last night for a raw PIZZA!! I topped each mini pizza with chopped tomato and portabella mushrooms. This came out really good and I ate a bunch. YUMMMMY!!! Even my SAD family tried it and loved it!

I made Mozarella Cheese which came out so-so. Again, too salty. Maybe my taste is changing as my body goes through the transition from SAD to raw.

I finished the day off with a smoothie that consisted of Spinach, Blueberries, Coconut water, hemp protein powder, maca and a wee bit of cacao poweder. And I also had a few cacao brownie bites.

The worst part of my day was the CLEANUP!! I had a BUNCH of dirty dishes, appliances and dehydrator trays and mesh sheets. Ugh.

Day 4 - Not so good.

Okay, so I DID NOT cave into the Boston Cream cake that hubby got for his daughter's birthday. But it did look really good.

The reason why today wasn't that great is because I didn't eat enough. I just didn't feel like eating. But I have noticed the effects of being 100% raw for four days...

For starters, I didn't get to sleep last night (this morning) till after 2am, but I was awake before 7am!! Now that's a huge change from a week ago.

My energy level is definitely increasing. Although I haven't eaten much today, I accomplished more that I would have expected.

For example, I made "Amazing Body Rejuvenator Skin Lotion"(recipe below). My stepson tasted it and claims it tastes just like caramel. He then proceeded to slice up an apple and eat them with the skin lotion on them! LOL!

Then I cleaned up my mess in the kitchen.

I have four trays of Energy Flat Bread (recipe below) in the dehydrator. A lot more time consuming than I anticipated. And what a freakin' mess! So many dishes plus the food processor. Sheesh!

Then I cleaned up my mess in the kitchen.


I created a new Rawgurt recipe (below) with a young coconut I had in the fridge. It was SOOO good, but it wasn't enough. I wish I would have had two young coconuts and more strawberries in the fridge so I could have made a large batch. I gave hubby a glass and he loved it too.

Then I cleaned up the kitchen ... AGAIN!!

Okay, so this is what I consumed today:

20 ounces of Carrot, Apple, Celery, Beet, Pineapple juice
A handful of Cacao Brownie bites
A handful of Potato Chips
A handful of grapes
1 Banana
2 small cups of Strawberry Peach Rawgurt

I need to drink some water before this day is out, but that's all I've had today. It's not exactly healthy to eat and drink so little, and I need to make sure it doesn't become a habit. This happened the first time I went raw, and I actually had to force myself to eat.

Recipes

Amazing Body Rejuvenator Skin Lotion by Angelina Elliot
1 cup allnatural organic sugar
1 cup cold pressed olive oil
1/4 cup freshly juiced pineapple

Mix ingredients in VitaMix and smooth all over body using circular motions. This will stimulate the lymphatic system and carry away toxins. (If you have a rebounder, this would be a good time to bounce for 10 minutes to clear out the lymphatic system.) This will also make your skin glow because it removes the dead skin cells.

Energy Flat Bread - by Serene Allison, Rejuvenate Your Life! Recipes for Energy
7 1/2 cups sprouted buckwheat
3 1/4 cups soaked golden flax seeds (measured after soaking)
3 1/4 cups carrot pulp (made from the process of making fresh carrot juice)
This adds bulk to the bread and gives it a beatiful color. You could mix beet in your juice for a rich salmon-colored bread.
4 TBS raw honey
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (optional)
1 to 1 1/2 TBS sea salt

This makes about a months supply or maybe a weeks worth for large families. (it usually lasts us a little over a week)

Mix it in batches in your food processor and transfer to one bowl. Lightly grease 5 teflex solid dehydrator sheets and cover with dough, a scant 1 cm thick. If making pizza crusts form into rounds. If making flat bread to tear off when desired make large squares. If you want to make sandwich slices, score beforehand into cracker shapes.

Dehydrate the flat bread at 105 degrees for a few hours until a crust is formed on one side and then flip them onto the mesh sheet below and dehydrate until thoroughly dry - about 12 to 16 hours.

When they are very well dried, they will keep well wrapped in loose linen and a plastic bag in a cool, dry place.

Strawberry Peach Rawgurt - by ME!
Meat of one young coconut
1 large peach, peeled and pitted
8 +/- Strawberries
handful of red grapes

Blend and enjoy. Agave Nectar can be added but if shouldn't be necessary if fruit is ripe.

Day 3 - A Smooth(ie) Day!

Sheesh! Am I still alive? We have a blood pressure machine and every now and then I check my pressure - not because I need to, but just because I can, and out of curiousity. Today it was 90/68. LOL. I'm so blessed because I LOVE salt!

Okay, enough of that. Day 3 went quite smoothly. We were at our charity event today and I was surrounded by danish, cookies, brownies, and fudge but had absolutely no desire for any of it. Yeah!!

Today, I consumed:

1-1/2 quarts of Green Smoothie (Almond Milk, Red Grapes, Orange, Carrots, Peach, Strawberries, Broccoli, Spinach, Pineapple, Banana)

Buckwheat bars

1/2 Pineapple

1/3 Watermelon

Goji Slice bites

Raw Potato Chips that I made last night - oh! They turned out pretty good too; however, I do prefer the Potato Chip Recipe (right) to the Vinegar one (left). The vinegar was very strong, the Potato Chip was very mild but definitely needed more salt. I have some ideas about revising the recipe.

Salad (Romaine, Red & Yellow Peppers, Broccoli, Green Onion, Tomato, Cukes, Walnuts, Sunflower & Pumpkin Seeds, Raisins, Carrots) I ran out of regular Flaxseed Oil, so I used Balsamic Vinegarette instead.

Cacao Brownie bites. These turned out to be really good. Sure wish I could remember which recipe I used!

Bottle alkaline water.

I didn't group the food I ate into categories because we were out at the charity event, so it was an atypical day. I pretty much had my smoothies this morning and then grazed all afternoon.

Day 2 - Double Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies ... Oh my!

Today was a very busy and productive day. I love it when I get lots accomplished.

As for the raw challenge, this is what I consumed today.

Breakfast: Superfood Shake and 1/2 liter alkaline water.
I knew I would need this because my sis and I had a four-mile long trail walk planned and I was going to need the energy! The walk was wonderful with the morning temps at 64° - PERFECT!!

Mid morning: Couple of handfuls of red grapes.

Lunch: Green Smoothie (Kale, 1/4 Pineapple with skin, orange, grapes, distilled water).

Afternoon: Orange, Goji Slice bites, glass of fresh-squeezed Grapefruit juice, Buckwheat bars.

Dinner: Salad (Romaine, Red Cabbage, Carrots, Cukes, Tomatoes, and Sunflower Seeds).
Half an Avocado topped with Pate and chopped Cukes, Red Pepper, Lemon and Soy Sauce.
Cacao Brownie Bites. Distilled water.

Today's challenge: We are volunteering at a charity event tomorrow and I had to pick up some baked goods. I grabbed a few boxes of oatmeal cranberry cookies, double dark chocolate chip cookies with walnuts and peanut butter with chocolate chunk cookies. When I got home, I had to break down the cookies into Ziplock bags for resale tomorrow. *sigh* I tried my best to work subconsciously so as not to pay attention to them. I tried focusing on filling the bags rather than what I was putting into the bags. I will admit, I did eat a crumb of the Double Dark Chocolate Chip Cookie. But, I think I'll survive.

Afterwards, I wanted to make some Energy Flat Bread but totally forgot that I needed to sprout a ton of buckwheat for this recipe, so I have that soaking.

Next, I decided to make some potato chips; unfortunately, we had no potatoes!! That problem was quickly resolved when I ran out to the grocery store and got some ... at 8pm!! lol. Yes, I REALLY want to try raw chips!

I went on a hunt for raw potato chip recipes and found two:

Alissa Cohen's Baby Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips
Slice potatoes (Gold or Red) with mandolin so that they are fairly thin
Soak in Apple Cider Vinegar for about 30 minutes, massage slices before placing on mesh dehydrator sheet.
Sprinkle with sea salt.
Dehydrate overnight or however long they need to get crisp.

The second recipe was from RawFoodTalk forum.

Potato Chip Recipe
• Juice 1 medium juicy or 2 small lemons
• Pour in some olive oil, maybe several tablespoons
• Add about a teaspoon of Himalayan salt.

Whisk together.

The first time you make this, dissolve the salt in a spoonful of water before adding in. That way the dressing can be tasted and adjusted. If it's too lemony add more oil.

Slice 2 baking potatoes with a mandolin or whatever you can use, a veggie peeler works. Place potatoes individually into the bowl of dressing and push them to one side leaving liquid so each gets coated well. They should be as thin as possible without looking like paper. The paper ones will dry to resemble dried leaves. Chips too thick will resemble pita chips.

Important: After all potatoes are coated, if they don't look wilted just use both hands and massage the whole pile together for several minutes. This gets rid of quite a bit of the water and removes a lot of the starch. There will be a thick layer of starch on the bottom of the bowl.

Push the potatoes to the side again. The water will be in the next layer and the oil and juice on top. Take the slices out individually running each one through the floating oil/lemon layer of liquid. This will keep them a good chip color and add even more flavor. Lay on mesh dryer tray.

Dehydrate on 105° until they get crisp – usually overnight.


I decided to try both, so mine are in the dehydrator.

Some are already starting to curl up like chips!!

Can't wait to see how they turn out!

5th Anniversary of Going Raw + 1st day of 31-Day Challenge

I inadvertently came across a "Before and After Photos" document that I had put together when I went raw the first time. What I didn't realize was that today is actually the 5th anniversary of the first time I started my raw journey! TODAY!! And here I am starting a 31-day Raw Challenge on my anniversary! What a coincidence!

DAY 1 went very well. This is what I had today.

Breakfast: GRAWnola and Raw Almond Milk

Mid Morning: Orange and 1/2 bottle of alkaline water

Lunch: Green Smoothie (Spinach, banana, strawberries, grapes, 1 TBSP of coconut oil, scoop of Hemp Protein powder)

Afternoon: Orange, 1/4 of a round watermelon, 1/2 bottle of alkaline water

Dinner: House Salad at some tavern we ate at (plus I brought along a Ziplock of sunflower seeds, broccoli flourets, and green olives that I dumped on my salad). Water with LOTS of lemon!! When we got home I had some Almond Brownie Bites and some more water.

As I was sitting there munching on my yummy salad, the server comes by and plops down a platter of fried mushrooms. They smelled SOOOO good! But no worries, I sent them on down the table. Then the guy who is sitting ot my left gets his dinner of cheeseburger (YUCK!) and fries. I *LOVE* fries!! My husband is sitting to my left and his dinner arrives - chicken cordon bleu and seasoned fries! Oh no!! I'm surrounded by french fries. They remind me of the commercial with the pink furry dude, "Hunger". They keep staring at me. BUT I did great! Didn't even have one! Wooohooo!! I'm so proud of myself because fries are really hard for me to resist. Any potatoe, for that matter, is tough for me to resist - oh, except RAW potatoes. Blech.

Overall it was a great day! We're off to a good start.

(This entry was originally a lot longer, but when I attempted to publish it, Blogger gave me an error message and I lost everything. Bummer. Sometimes I abhor computers!)

Kick-Off to 31-Day Challenge

It's been five years since I did my only 31-Day Challenge. Afterwhich, I remained high raw and felt phenomenal. That is until July of 2007 when I went through a pretty major lifestyle change. Although I stayed raw through most of the day, my dinners were usually SAD ... terribly sad, as a matter of fact! To the tune of 45 pounds, but that can also be attributed to my transition from an active lifestyle to a sedentary one. Well folks, it's time to get my life back on track.

I started this blog last year with the intention of "getting my life back on track" but didn't quite achieve the success I had desired. I re-read my first post and noticed I mentioned starting a 31-day challenge back then. Not sure what happened there!!

The first time I went raw was very easy for me. The second time, not so much. You really have to be in the right frame of mind, and although I started out that way at the beginning of this year, I vascillated a bit. I managed to lose 15 pounds, but I still have 20 more to shed.

So here I am again ... I decided to start a 30-day challenge tomorrow - October 1st. To keep myself accountable, I will be posting my daily consumption of raw foods. To motivate myself, I finally purchased a long-coveted item to add to my raw kitchen!


YEEEEHA!! If anyone needs a dehydrator, I have a cute lil Nesco American Harvest for sale! = )

Tomorrow's the day! I'm eager to start experimenting with new dehydrated snacks and getting myself to high raw again! Wooohooo!! =D

Peachy Grape Green Smoothie

Whipped this up the other day and it has become one of my favorites!

Combine in blender:
2 handfuls of Spinach
1-1/2 LARGE Peaches (or 2 Medium)
2 handfuls of Red Grapes
1 Orange, peeled
1 cup of Ice
1 cup raw Almond Milk or Water

It's much creamier with the almond milk, but tastes great both ways!

Blend and enjoy!!

RICH & RAWESOME FUDGY NUTZ!!

I had a hankering for some Turtles; those simply delicious candies made with caramel, chocolate and walnuts. Mmmmmm mmmmmmm good!!! BUT! There's a price to pay for eating those scrumptious treats, so I decided to come up with a raw alternative to satisfy my craving. It took me about 15 minutes to whip up something delectable and RAW that is simply delicious and oh so quick and easy to make!! Wooohoooo!!

By the way, if you're trying to lose weight, you may not want to eat too many of these.

RICH & RAWESOME FUDGY NUTZ

1/2 cup of raw walnuts
1/2 cup of raisins

In a food processor, blend the walnuts and raisins until it makes a greasy "Playdoh" consistency.

Wrap in a paper towel to absorb some of the oil from the raisins.

Roll about 1/2 tsp. of the fudge into a ball, flatten and press a walnut on top. If you don't care about presentation, then just roll the fudge around a walnut and enjoy. You can also drop the "fudge ball" into some cacao for a nice dusting.

Enjoy!!