Back from the Santa Barbara Wineries

Went to Santa Barbara last weekend with some girlfriends. It was great fun. I had never been on Highway 154 before. What beautiful vistas. First stop Kalyra winery. It was an Australian winery with no memorable wines but I was introuced to the wine tasting ritual which I thouroughly enjoyed. Next stop Sunstone Vineyards - DELICIOUS - ORGANIC WINES.

Love This Vegan Blog

This blog has great recipes. In particular, one that I cannot wait to try - a Mushroom Stroganoff with Seitan

http://www.theppk.com/recipes/

Thanksgiving

Every Thanksgiving, I struggle with what to prepare. In the past I have accommodated meat eating relatives with a seafood dish or something or other that would make them feel comfortable and that I could tolerate. If it didn’t have feet, I would often allow it on the dinner table. But this year I decided to honor my veggie position and have a meal with no animal products and it was the BEST holiday meal that I have ever prepared in my home.

The menu was as follows:

Peppered Seitan with mushroom shallot gravy
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Winter Squash with carmelized red onions
Whole Wheat Biscuits
Vegan Pumkin pie with soy ice cream

On Shelves Now!

You can now buy Momma Organic Raw Key Lime Cheesecake and Raw Macaroons at One Life on Main Street in Santa Monica and beginning June 4 at the Co-Op on Broadway in Santa Monica. I'll be doing a demo there from 11 - 3 on teh 4th so please come by for a taste. The desserts are delicious, healthy and consist of the highest quality ingredients. ALL RAW, ALL ORGANIC http://www.mommaorganic.com/

Spring Cleaning

Now that spring is on its way, this is a perfect time to gear up to detoxify your body and get your brain and body in optimal condition.

Taking time to detox can help remove not only old blood sludge, toxins, intestinal mucoid plaque, but buried emotions and anger as well. Whether you are eating a very clean, nutritious diet or you wish you were eating better, here are some tips that will help you get cleaner.

1. Start by choosing 3 days in your schedule and plan to:
Eat a simple raw food diet with smoothies, green juices, light salads, nut free dressings, spiralized salads, blended soups and fruit sorbets.

2. Eliminate all animal products including dairy and eggs, all grains, nuts and seeds (or use very little seeds) and any sugar including sweet foods such as dates, maple syrup and go easy on the agave nectar. Use stevia to sweeten beverages.

3. Drink 16 oz. of lemon water every morning (warm or room temperature) and drink at least 5 more 16 oz. bottles of water or liquid each day. The water will help to flush toxins and excess salt from your body.

4. Dry Skin Brush Daily http://www.womenfitness.net/beauty/skin/skin_brushing_for_detox.htm

After 3 days, you may notice you have more energy, feel happier and more grounded, and maybe you've even dropped 5 lbs. If you like the way you feel, stay on the detox diet for 14 - 21 days altogether and do as many blended meals as possible.

Even if you decide or just happen to go back to your normal way of eating, you can stay feeling good by eating a raw breakfast and lunch and having your cooked foods for dinner. If you refrain from eating anything after 7pm you will wake up with more energy and a clearer head. Abate hunger in the evening by drinking herbal teas sweetened with stevia or mineral water with lemon and stevia.

For those who already eat a high raw diet, eliminate all salt, sweets and nuts for 14 days and begin dry skin brushing every morning. As a result, you will experience a higher level of health and vitality.

Smoothies: A Great Way to Begin the Day!

This is a wonderful way to begin the day without the heaviness of breads or cereals. There are so many variations that you can easily make a different smoothie each day. This is a favorite with my children and it's so... good for them.

Mango Pineapple Smoothie

3 Cups Nut Milk (*homemade or store bought) or Rice Milk
2 Cups Frozen Pineapple
1 Cup Frozen Mango
1 Banana
2 Tsp Vanilla
3 Tbs Agave or other Natural Sweetner

Variations -
Add different fruit or a sprinkle of Hemp Seeds or Flax Seeds (high in Omega 3's) and/ or 1 Tbs of Coconut Butter, Green Powder/Spirulina to get the most out this breakfast drink.

To make fresh nut milk. Soak 1 cup almonds overnight in filtered water. Drain the water from the nuts the following morning. Place nuts in a blender with 3 cups filtered water and blend. Strain the milk through a collander or nut milk bag.

To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate?

It is admitedly challenging to know what to do when it comes to our children and vaccinations, but isn't it equally difficult to know what NOT to do? Currently it seems that more people than ever are open to having a conversation about immunization rather than simply accepting what the medical industry recommends as true.

Below is information from Dr. Mercola's newsletter/website about the subject. I absloutely love his newsletter. It is definately worth subscribing to even if you are not in agreement with all that he advocates. He is a great resource for healthy living.

He has this to say about the subject :

I realize that the issue of vaccination is quite controversial and is one of the bedrocks of "prevention" in conventional medicine. Anyone who opposes them is viewed as a dangerous lunatic. This is exactly the view I had when I graduated medical school. However, after 20 years of practice and encountering hundreds of vaccine casualties in my practice, and carefully reviewing the evidence, I came to a different conclusion. I strongly encourage you to review the evidence before you expose your own children to these potentially dangerous injections. I am convinced that their questionable benefits are far outweighed by their side effects.

Avoiding vaccinations for your children tends to look like the better choice the more you know about the subject. Vaccines given to newborns contain an array of potentially toxic chemicals including formaldehyde, the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal, aluminum phosphate (toxic and carcinogenic), antibiotics, phenols (corrosive to skin and toxic), live viruses and various other components.

Before you decide to vaccinate your children, do them a favor and look into the many risks and side effects associated with common childhood vaccines. Doing so could literally mean the difference between life and death. There are alternate and vastly safer methods of protecting yourself against disease that all begin with a truly healthy diet, as outlined in my eating plan; of course, drug manufacturers and the government they have purchased don't want you to believe that the foods you consume and the habits you adopt are the primary solution to establishing immunity to diseases and living longer. They want you to believe that their pharmaceuticals, including vaccines, are essential to your existence, and your children's.

Please educate yourself about the subject. Your child is worth it!

My Favorite Green Juice

5 stalks celery
5 leaves kale
1/2 bunch parsley

1 green onion (optional)

1/2 bunch cilantro

If you prefer sweeter juice varieties add 1 apple or 2 carrots and omit the onion and cilantro.

There are two main reasons why you will want to consider incorporating vegetable juicing into your diet:

1. You probably have a compromised intestine. Most of us have compromised intestines as a result of less than optimal food choices over many years. This limits your body's ability to absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. Juicing will help to "pre-digest" them for you so your body will actually receive most of the nutrition .

2. You need to eat one pound of raw vegetables per 50 pounds of body weight per day. Vegetable juicing allows you to accomplish this, as you can eat more vegetables than you would normally. By incorporating the juice into your eating plan you will easily be able to reach this goal.

Organic Wine

During Christmas my husband and I drove to Ojai. Ostensibly we were there for an office Christmas party. However, I had a hidden agenda. I planned to pick up a few bottles of wine from a local winery called Casa Barranca. The winery is owned by the husband of a friend of mine, Eliza Moses.

"Casa Barranca is the first organic winery on the central Coast, a region that lends itself very favorably to the production of Pinot wine grapes. There is a tangible difference in the expressive taste of an organic wine, just as there is a difference with organic fruits and vegetables. Without interruption, the wine is an expression of the land from which it came. And yet it is not this fact alone that makes Casa Barranca wine special.

There is a certain ceremony, a sanctity given to the grapes that are grown here by the workers who tend them. Casa Barranca’s wine is designed to be approached not as a mindless intoxicant, but rather grown, harvested and partaken of with reverence and again, intention."

You must try it. It is phenomenal! http://www.casabarranca.com/

Safe Birth Control

Since the birth of my last baby, I have struggled with the issue of birth control and what to use. Call me a hippie, but I was never very interested in an IUD (that stays in your body for 10 years!!!!) or a patch or a pill with harmful side effects. And quite honestly, I don't find the over the counter gels, creams and foams to be a much healthier alternantive.

Until now, I NEVER knew that there was a completetly safe option that elimates that little bit of riskiness involved in the rhythm method.

It's called Ovu Tech.

It is scientifically established that hormones filter into saliva and that during fertility a ferning pattern can be seen in saliva under a high powered magnification lens. Just prior to or during fertile days the sample will typically resemble "ferns," while during non-fertile days, only random and shapeless dots will be visible.

Ovu-Tech is a hand-held mini-magnification lens about the size and shape of a lipstick holder. If you want to check whether you may be fertile, you simply:

1. Make sure you haven't had anything to eat or drink for 2 hours.
2. Put a small amount of saliva on the lens and allow it to dry.
3. Insert the lens into the magnification lens and push a little button to illuminate the lens.

If you are just about to become fertile or if you are fertile, you will easily see a beautiful crystalline ferning pattern under the magnification lens. This is an easy and convenient way for women to monitor hormonal changes and enhance awareness of their menstrual cycle. If you track your cycles and fertility on a calendar, soon you will have a keen awareness of where you are in your monthly cycle, and what is happening hormonally in your body.

Ovu-Tech can be used over and over, and has a lifetime manufacturer's warranty.
Magnification lenses for only $29.99 each (plus $3.00 Shipping and Handling). 1-800-528-0559.

Go figure! I am odering one now!

Coconut Flour

My oldest son has a wheat allergy and until just a few months ago that has meant goodbye to muffins and many other baked treats in our home. But...I finally found a natural and delicious alternative to wheat and grain that's packed with dietary fiber and is a good source of protein too!

It's coconut flour!!!! it can be found online or at health food stores.

If you are serious about living healthier, then you will want to consider coconut as a regular part of your diet. Fortunately when it comes to coconut, there are endless ways to indulge! The best way to experience the many health-giving gifts of coconut is to use virgin coconut oil. It's a small investment in your health that yields tremendous returns!
I believe Virgin coconut oil is one of the smartest oils you can eat. Rich in lauric acid, coconut oil contains NO trans fat, strengthens your immune system and boosts your metabolism!

I just came across this Coconut Flour Chocolate Cake recipe. Can't wait to make it!

Coconut Flour Chocolate Cake Ingredients:
½ cup coconut oil

¼ cup cocoa powder

¼ cup coconut milk

9 eggs

1 ½ cups Steviva

Blend ¾ teaspoon Himalayan salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup sifted coconut flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

Melt coconut oil in a saucepan over low heat or place jar in pan of warm water. (note coconut oil easily melts and will congeal as it cools)
Add cocoa powder and coconut milk and mix together. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla.
Stir in cocoa mixture.
Combine coconut flour with baking powder and whisk into batter until there are no lumps.
Pour batter into greased 8x8x2 or 9x9x2-inch pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean.
Cool and cover with frosting, (optional) of your choice.

If you are like me you'll find ways to substitute the eggs for apple sauce and the coconut milk with nutmilk. Be creative!

4 Healthy Changes You Can Make to an Otherwise Average Diet

Add a fresh fruit and vegetable juice into the daily diet (apple and celery is great). This will help to neutralize too many acids in the system, increase digestive strength, and to provide minerals and high-quality water directly into the body.

Begin to incorporate one organic salad into the diet each day. This provides roughage and alkalinity to calm the body and mind.

Include high-quality organic fats and oils into the diet, such as: flax seed oil, hempseed oil, and coconut oil. These oils will help to restore cellular membrane balance, return omega 3 fatty acids into the diet, and lubricate the joints and tissues.

Include supplemental digestive enzymes with every cooked meal to aid with the breakdown and utilization of the food. Enzymes are not found in cooked food. They are present in raw food. Enzymes are catalysts that allow food to break down more efficiently.

A Brown Bag Alternative for Our Children

Did you know that a school age child taking a disposable lunch to school creates 67 pounds of waste perschool year?

And did you know that obesity is the top nutrition related disease affecting children.

What's the solution to these problems. Re-usable lunch containers and preparing healthier homemade lunches for our kids.

Laptop lunches has some great lunch suggestions and safe plastic containers to store them in.

http://www.laptoplunches.com/

Pass the Salt Please...

You may have a hidden Poison lurking on your kitchen table. What is it? Conventional Salt.

Salt is essential for life - you cannot live without it. But there are enormous differences between Morton's, standard, refined table and cooking salt most of us are grew up using and healthy natural salt. These differences can have a major impact on your staying healthy, or increasing your risk of diseases you want to avoid.

If you want your body to function properly, you need holistic salt complete with all-natural elements. Most common table salt is made up of chemicals that pollute your body. Himalayan Crystal Salt or Celtic Salt contains no toxins and all 84 minerals and elements necessary for your optimal health!http://www.mercola.com/forms/salt.htm

Corinne Bailey Rae

I love this album. If you haven't heard it already, you should check it out.

Family Vacation in Ojai

My family and I went to Matilija Canyon (just outside of Ojai) right before school started back in January. I was anxious to take a trip where the kids could run around outside unsupervised for more than five minutes, ride bikes, breathe fresh air, get dirty and maybe see an animal or two.

Our trip to the Dent House Ranch was all that and more. As you can tell from the wine post above, I am a huge fan of Ojai. Being that it is only 85 short, manageable, mostly traffic free miles from LA, it has automatic appeal. It's also amazingly beautiful, peaceful and has a health food store in town (Rainbow Bridge). A Definate PLUS!

The ranch is pretty nice. It is miles off the main road so you really feel away from it all. The trip to town is easily 20 minutes each way, as the roads are very curvy. There is a good bit of area for children to roam around and the ranch sits at the mouth of the Los Padres National Forrest which has trails with breathtaking views. We rented the Farmhouse, one of three rental properties on the ranch. I probably wouldn't do that again. It's an older house with two bedrooms, so it's a little small for our family of five.

You'll want to be careful choosing the season for your visit. I hear summer can be very hot in the Ojai Valley and just an FYI, the water to all the houses is supplied by the sulphur springs. So... while good for the body, we tired of the smell. All that being said, if you want to slow down and spend quality time with your family, you will be more than pleased with a trip to the Dent House Ranch. www.thedenthouseranch.com