Fresh Friday – Raw Stuffed Pepper

 With all the awesome peppers growing in my garden, I simply could not resist on this Fresh Friday to create some home-grown raw stuffed peppers. Oh my, these were DELICIOUS!

An occasional soaking of nuts and seeds can really add some variety to raw dishes. The  nuts in this recipe give these peppers a savory home cooked feel, and yet it is all raw. These are so simple to make. If you are in the mood for a raw meal you should give these a try.

 Raw Stuffed Pepper 

PEPPERS

• 3 bell peppers any color (purple is my favorite)
• 3 carrots
• 1 small bunch baby bok choy (no leaves)
• 1 small purple onion
• 4 ounces of Raw Foodz Japanese Joy salad dressing, or substitute your favorite
• 1 cup raw macadamia nuts
• 1 cup raw pecans

Slice tomatoes, radishes, and sprouts for garnishing

Soak nuts for one hour in warm water. Finely chop nuts using a food processor.

Finely chop carrots, bok choy, and onions one at a time in the food processor. Mix all the ingredients together and stir in salad dressing.

Seed and cut peppers in half. Fill peppers with mixture.

Top with garnishes. Makes 8 portions.  ENJOY!

One of the many reasons why I love a raw diet is the seasonal eating. I can feel the health that this brings to my body. The simplicity of working with these beautiful vegetables is so much fun. I hope you have a fantastic weekend and enjoy some incredibly healthy food.

Enjoying Life Living Right Now Raw

 

Epic Garden Fail

Harvest time brings about a joyful satisfaction that makes me super excited to start planting again. I am great at growing tomatoes. I’m bringing in a basketful every morning. Growing tomatoes has been worth every bit of work, money, and water.

To be honest my corn was a disappointment. I loved growing corn in my garden, it added charm, and it made me feel like a legit urban farmer, but come harvest time it was weighed in the balance and found wanting!

My organic corn grown without pesticides yielded about six whole ears. I love the idea of growing corn, but the reality is it was not worth the water. (Cali. is in a drought) So, I am throwing in the towel when it comes to being a corn farmer.

Organic corn and non GMO corn products are more expensive, but now I see how the extra money is well worth it! My family consumes 32-40 ears a month when in it’s season. It is amazing to me how the non GMO labels are appearing on many food products like, tortillas, chips, and cereals. This shows that we are making a difference when we choose to buy organic. I love voting with our forks and knives! Keep it up it’s WORKING!!!!!

I am learning so much through my garden, it dictates my dinners, causes me to try new things, and gives me a deep appreciation for what comes out of the earth.

If you feel like you have some failure in your life try removing what failed, learn from it, and plant something new. The best part of failing is learning what doesn’t work! I’ve pulled out plenty of bad choices out of my life, I love what I have learned, and the direction my life is going failure and all! Try planting something awesome in your life!

Failing & Learning Right Now Raw

 

Unexpected Fruit

I am having so much fun with my garden. If only I had started this earlier I could be quite the accomplished gardener! We started this project with a truck load of organic soil, organic plants, and not any knowledge about gardening.

It is going wonderfully, but I was not planning on growing melons by the pool. Out of nowhere, in the rockiest hard soil you can imagine, we have cantaloupe!!!

I know that the seeds are organic because we were composting in the very back of the property, but we soon quit due to the fact that we were clueless of how to manage such an undertaking. Obviously some seeds were deposited into this patch of soil. When we watered the tree, we watered the seeds, and now we have unexpected fruit. Incredibly simple, I love it!

As my husband was putting up a small redneck looking makeshift fence to keep our dog out, I thought about how beautifully these melons are growing in such a difficult place. It reminds me of how in the most difficult times in our lives we can have good come out of us. There is no reason for our circumstances to make us difficult, bitter, or miserable.

I love that we are protecting these  melons, although it looks ugly to have this green mesh surrounding them, it’s more important to safeguard the fruit than to worry about the aesthetics of our yard. I want to care more about what is going on with the inside of me than how I appear outwardly.  I want to protect the good that I have learned through my difficult times, this little unattractive fence is a reminder for me to never forget where I have come from.

Living with sickness is rocky ground, I never want to take for granted the good health I am experiencing now. I am so thankful that God put me on a path of lifestyle change that has healed me from the inside out.

Changing your lifestyle can be as simple as the melons growing in my yard. Start nourishing your body with real food. It is not as hard as you may think to get healthy. Simply start by making the right choice with every meal.  I can not keep quiet about how awesome this life- style is. You CAN do it!

Remembering and Living Right Now Raw

 

 

Fresh Friday – First Fruits

This Fresh Friday is so much fun because I am harvesting my first fruits from my garden. I can not believe how quickly these beauties grew. Backyard to table is pretty awesome, you should try it! Now the tricky part is what to make with these nutritious wonders. A family favorite won for the vegetarian family, and we held the cheese for vegan daughter. As for me I simply chopped them up and they made a delicious addition to my evening salad.

Family Favorite 

I hope you try this recipe. Now that zucchini is readily available at the farmers’ markets and overflowing in my backyard we will be enjoying this quite often this summer. It goes nicely with potatoes, add a fresh raw salad on the side.

Eating food that is in season is so good for you. If you are not sure what is in season take a trip to a local farm or farmers’ market. Try to  avoid buying from the grocery store, and fall in love with locally grown food. I am enjoying my right now raw garden of abundance! Have a lovely weekend! Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce, so your barns will be filled with plenty. Prov. 3:9

 

How Green Is My Garden

I love the garden that my family lovingly planted for me. I wanted a garden, but I was intimidated about growing my own vegetables. I requested to start off with one small raised box, that way if I failed the cost would not be so great. That was not the case, I have four 4′ by 8′ boxes filled with plants. So far all alive.

My mornings have changed drastically, no longer is my bed made and room cleaned early, but my first steps are out to the garden. I enjoy watering in the mornings because I wake up with an anticipation to see change!It is more simple than I thought to be an urban gardener. I should not speak too confidently, I only have one tiny tomato. The formula is simple; plant in good soil, nourish with water, and lots of sunshine. It is a similar formula for good health; eat right, drink water, get plenty of sleep. Simple does not mean easy.Knowing the simple formula that eating organic fruits and veggies will make you healthier is great, but eating like this on a regular basis can be difficult. We were created by design and when we follow that design we can have a lean healthy body. When we get off design our bodies suffer inside and out. We were not designed for muffin tops and bulging bellies. Nature itself shows how incredibly beautiful we were created, and sticking with the simple formula of eating right is the best way to gain optimal health.

Backyard gardening is fun. It is rewarding to watch the progress of these plants and to hopefully enjoy the harvest. If you are like me, you might feel intimidated about gardening. I want to encourage you to overcome those fears, and plant something!

The calming, stress relieving satisfaction that accompanies growing your own food is awesome! Getting my hands dirty is therapeutic. There is a balance in nature that is so evidently declared that we can follow if we slow down enough to embrace the simplicity.

Urban gardening is a pretty sweet tool that helps keep me right now raw. The earth is full of Your loving kindness, Lord, teach me Your statues. Psalm 119:64

 

Raw Mom

Mother’s Day has always been a fun day for me, but now that I am an older mom with grown children, I treasure this day all the more! As a young mom with six children getting through the day was a triumph.  It is no longer about getting through the days, it is about cherishing the days!

It’s the blink that gets me, that feeling of how did they grow up so fast? How am I already in this life stage? It seems like it happened as quickly as a blink! This makes me very aware of how fleeting life is. When they all start streaming in the house for a special day it instantly becomes a treat that brings me great joy!

This Mother’s Day was not only about the children coming over, but what they did once they arrived that made this an epic day. They planted me a garden! I have been dreaming of a garden, thanks to a wonderful husband and beautiful children, it’s now a reality and not a dream!

Growing my own vegetables is a prefect way to start my next phase of being right now raw!

  Proverbs 30:8 Feed me with the food that is my portion.