When “thanks” isn’t enough December 29, 2011

Have you ever received a gift that just blew you away? One so generous, thoughtful and spot-on that you just don’t know what to say? That’s what happened here today. The doorbell rang, the kids ran to the door as Jeremy opened it and brought in a huge box marked Excalibur Dehydrator. Folks, this is THE home dehydrator as far as I’m concerned (and as far as many raw foodists are concerned). We’ve been hoping to make room in the budget to save up for one, and here it was! This gift came from some very dear friends (whose names I won’t share because, like many generous souls, I’m pretty sure they’d prefer to remain out of the spotlight).

We opened the box, looked over the dehydrator and were awestruck. Really??? That’s just too generous! As we tried to decide where to put it, I just kept thinking “WOW! How do we say thank you for such a generous gift? I don’t feel worthy!” I kept saying to Jeremy, “But how do we… how do we say thank you for something like that? You can’t just say ‘thank you.’ That doesn’t really cover it.” We thought of Jeremy’s pottery (he’s an excellent potter)… but his wheel isn’t functional at the moment. We thought of hand-building something ceramic… but it’s not as cool as thrown stuff. We weren’t trying to think of paying back; just how to say thank you. We can’t give back in kind. Not right now. We simply don’t have the resources. And I think it would lessen the gift and maybe even hurt our friends’ feelings if we did feel like we needed to give in kind. They didn’t give to be given to; that’s not who they are. They gave because they love us and want to help us on the paths we want to be on. THAT is who they are. Still… we’d like to give something because a simple “thank you” doesn’t express what we’d like to say.

And gradually it dawned on me.

Salvation is the same kind of gift… except more so.

Jesus knew exactly what we needed. He knew what it would take to give it to us… and He gave it anyway.

And Jeremy’s and my response to our friends’ gift is exactly what God is hoping for in response to His gift. God’s love, God’s gift ought to motivate us to follow His commands. Not because we’re under compulsion to do so. Not because God said we had to. Rather, because we realize the gift was perfect. Spot on. Just what we needed. When we needed it most. When we were least capable of providing it for ourselves.

We love because He first loved us.
1 John 4:19

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
Ephesians 5:1,2

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.”
Ephesians 2:4, 5

Christianity isn’t a to-do list. It isn’t meant to be something motivated by fear (at least not once some maturity is gained… but that’s a different post). It isn’t even supposed to be about a coming reward. It’s a life lived in service because of gratitude. It’s an acknowledgement of a gift received that wasn’t earned or deserved or warranted. It’s saying every day and with every breath, “God, you gave and I know I can’t repay you, but I want you to know how very VERY grateful I am… so this day, this breath is yours. May it be to your glory.”

You know, I still don’t know what to say to our friends. But I think the fact that their gift helped me to better see something I already knew just makes the gift that much more special. And I think maybe sharing that deeper understanding with you is better than any thank you.

First thing into the dehydrator? Kale chips. :o)

Eating Raw… So far December 12, 2011

We started on Thursday (5 days ago) with eating a raw vegan diet and had nothing cooked until Sunday! We’ve been dabbling in raw for a few months now, but this was our first concerted effort. Day one I really did a good job drinking all my water (32 ounces first thing in the morning, total of half your body weight in ounces… i.e. if you weigh 100 lbs, you drink 50 oz water daily). Day two… well… not so much. Day three… nope. I knew the water drinking would be the biggest challenge for me and I proved myself right. Hmm. More positive thinking needed!

Acai-less acai bowl

We were doing the three day cleanse from Penni Shelton’s book, but our preparation fell short on Friday. We stayed away from home longer than anticipated, didn’t bring food with us and by the end of the day, we were starving. The kids had been rather poorly-behaved and I guess we let our emotions get us. I did anyway. I’d been looking forward to making a really lovely and sweet smoothie to satisfy my sweet tooth and learned that no such thing was in my three day cleansing future, so I felt punished and deprived. My hubby came up with the brilliant concoction of drizzling honey over some raw cashews and WOW was that good. It wasn’t on the cleanse and my perfectionist self was disappointed, but I’m learning to let her go. I really think we’d have ended up with honey mustard sandwiches from Golden Chick if he hadn’t come up with that and/or if I had let Patty Perfectionist rule the day. We made ourselves some acai bowls a la Barefoot Market (except… umm… ours were acai-less since we have no acai… haha) and that really hit the spot. Off to bed at a (semi) decent hour and we were feeling good on Saturday morning.

Saturday was a lot easier because we were a lot easier on ourselves. We’d given up on the cleanse for the time being and decided we really needed to change some things parenting-wise. I think we had kind of centered our home around ourselves– and that’s not where we want it. More than anything we want to demonstrate Who God is and what He’s about. We tell the kids all the time that obeying us is practice for obeying God as grown-ups. We are responsible to show them God, to be physical representations of God to them… and I think we were being that God so many picture who throws lightning bolts every time you stray the slightest bit. That’s not the God we serve and that’s not the one we want pictured for them. SO… we had to take a bit of focus off of cleansing and onto parenting. Our compromise was good, I think am sure. We ate 100% raw and tried really hard to look for things to praise in the kids. Turns out, we really didn’t have to look far. They are great kids and they needed to know it (we already did… just forgot to tell THEM).

Sunday was potluck day at church and we knew from the git-go that we would not be eating raw that day. We didn’t even try. We made a chocolate tres leches cake to bring and enjoyed eating all the cooked food we wanted. Jeremy was veggie-er than me: he had about 5% raw. Me? Well, like I said… he was veggie-er. ;o) Totinos Pizza finished out the night with Prince Caspian for family movie night. We did resist the Cheetos and made air-popped popcorn, poured some melted coconut oil on, sprinkled some sea salt and– amazingly– it hit the Cheetos spot!!

Today I have done well with my water and I’ve eaten probably 90% raw, 98% vegan (ya know… give or take). Jeremy is, once again, veggie-er than me. Patty is crying in her corner. See if I care.

I’m excited because I’m seeing changes in what I WANT to eat. If I choose to eat something that doesn’t fit with my idea of health, but tastes  oh-so-good, I am finding that just a little satisfies. I don’t feel compelled to stuff as much as I can. And I am finding that I would just rather eat what will feed me, sustain me, nourish me… not simply fill me. What I didn’t find was pleasing, too. I didn’t (and don’t) find that I am just dying to get to my next chance to eat something “forbidden.”

So, with all that said, Let me share a few raw recipes with you and a few of my new favorite websites.

Green Smoothie
Here is a green smoothie concoction for you to try out. Smoothies (green ones, specifically) are staples of eating a raw vegan diet and they’re a great way to get those all-important greens down.

• handful of raw spinach
• 1/2 cup blueberries (we use frozen)
• 1 banana (frozen is best if you ask me!)
• 1/2 cup strawberries (again… frozen)
• whatever fruit is sitting around about to go to the fruit flies
• 1-2 cups nut milk/ hemp milk/ coconut water/ water

Stick it in a blender and blend!
Note: if your blender starts to smoke or blow black chunks, it’s dead. Ask me how I know.

Walnut “Chorizo”
This one comes from a raw foods class taught by Paul Risse and Russell James. This was Paul’s recipe and we love it so much we’ve actually chorizo-ed ourselves out. While we’re taking a break, enjoy it for us, eh? Thanks. If you try it, let me know what you think. I’ll pass the word along to Paul and he’ll smile. Then I’ll smile ’cause I made someone smile and you’ll feel great ’cause you made two people smile and all three of us will be smiling all over the place and who knows what good will come of it. It’ll be like that butterfly who flaps and causes a hurricane… except this will be a hurricane of smiles. Okay, okay… recipe already…

• 1 cup walnuts*
• 1/2 tbs curry powder
• 1/2 tbs coriander
• 1/2 tbs cayenne pepper– or less… this amount makes it pretty spicy!
• 1/2 tbs paprika
• scant tsp black pepper
• 1 tbs Braggs liquid aminos
• 1 tbs nutritional yeast**
• Romaine leaves
• Tomato, onion, avocado (topping)***

Pulse in a food processor until it’s the texture you want (should be crumbly, but kinda sticking together) . Serve in romaine leaves and top with finely chopped tomato, onion & avocado. Serves 2 (hearty servings)

*Can do 1/2 walnuts, 1/2 sun dried tomatoes… also gives a more “meaty” texture

**nutritional yeast is NOT the stuff you make bread with. This stuff is a.k.a. brewers yeast. It comes from the health food store and looks like yellow instant mashed potato flakes.

*** I throw 1/2 an onion & a clove of garlic in the food processor, pulse a few times. Then I add 1/2 a tomato, some sea salt, a few sprigs of cilantro and maybe some lemon juice. Delicious!

Some new favorite websites…

Raw Food Artist– you can’t always find the recipes for the stuff, but just seeing the BEAUTIFUL food is inspiring.

Russell James (a.k.a. The Raw Chef)– amazing what this guy can do with food. We’ve tried several of his recipes and have really enjoyed all of them. Well, to be fair, I have enjoyed all of them. Jeremy  has enjoyed all except one that got “mixed reviews.” lol He’s been in town several times and he’s really a neat guy with a heart to help people out. He IS trying to make a living though, so some of his stuff is to be bought.

Rawmazing– It’s… well… amazing.

“Raw recipes to try” (my Pinterest board)– I’ve been collecting raw recipes from all over that look interesting.