Simple Raw and Natural

The Hot Springs Village Raw Foods Group met at my house today for our monthly meeting.  Cindy has been such a great inspiration and organizer to get everything going.  We asked people to bring a raw food dish or pay $5.00 to help with the cost of the food.  We had wraps (romaine leaves) and many choices to go in the wraps....baby tomatoes, chives, cucumber, mushrooms, olives, carrots, asparagus, parsley, Cashew Cream Cheese and Quick Guacomole.  Cindy brought kelp noodles, gazpacho, another salad, and lots of fruits and veggies.  I made a vegetable juice with beets, celery, carrots, kale, beet tops, and apple.  Cindy made a fruit smoothie with mango, banana, apple, kale, watermelon, dates, and water. The recipe for the Quick Guacomole was posted on April 13.   Quick Guacomole . Here is the recipe for the Cashew Cream Cheese: 1 cup cashews (soaked 30 min) 1/4 cup sunflower seeds (soaked 30 min) ...*I was out of sunflower seeds so substituted chia s...

Yesterday, we went to Magic Springs with our daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren.  The landscaping there is beautiful this year.  This one little flower didn't let a little concrete stop it.     Lunch today was three bananas which I ate about 1:30.  I'm letting my body rest a little bit after eating too much food the last couple of days.  I did domestic chores today.  But Travis made a trip to the City Compost Facility for another load of compost.  We'll use it on the trees we still have left to plant. We have a volunteer tomato plant coming up in one of the garden beds.  It's doing pretty well, too.  I have it on my to do list to buy some more tomato cages. The arugula I planted is up. The kale Travis planted is up. The new plum tree is planted. Here is a volunteer Poke Salat that came with the blueberry plant.  Travis planted some more blueberries in the blueberry row that lines our driveway. The...

Working in the garden is more fun than playing golf!  Today I planted arugula (rocket) in bed #2.  I transplanted five Rutgers tomato plants and six California Wonder peppers. Newly planted tomatoes and peppers. The harvest today was radishes, dandelion and kale.  We used the dandelion and kale in the green smoothies.  We ate a couple of radishes, but I am using the rest of them in the green salad I am taking to the family reunion. Today's harvest...radishes, dandelion, and kale. I read in the book, Anastasia, that every garden should have at least one sunflower, so I planted six or seven sunflower seeds in the corner of each of the raised beds.  Travis got a good report from his doctor today.  Dr. Wright raised his eyebrows when he saw where Travis was no longer taking his drugs, but his tests results were all good and his blood pressure was 118/78.  Green smoothies, fresh air, sunshine and exercise are the best medicine! Here is Travis wat...

This morning I worked outside in a drizzling rain and planted a Brown Turkey Fig tree.  Dr. John Fielder taught me how to plant trees when I was in Australia, so I followed his teachings.  I dug the hole using the mattock and shovel, put greensand and fertilizer in the hole and mixed it with compost.  I planted the tree so that the root ball would not be lower than the top of the hole.  I hope I got it deep enough, but I didn't want to make the common mistake of getting it too deep.   After planting, I fed around the tree with greensand, fertilizer, compost and mulch.  Even though it rained some, it didn't rain enough, so Travis watered the tree in the afternoon. Brown Turkey Fig...freshly planted and fed. We have more trees to plant. We had a visitor to the garden today.  He was not afraid of us at all.  He just happily let me take his picture while he ate dandelion leaves. Our bunny visitor. The harvest from the garden today was kal...

We had a spring-break trip Orlando, FL to Universal Studios and Epcot Center with Molly and the grand-kids.  It was fun. The family at Universal Studios. Then we went to Philadelphia to see the Philly family and had a marvelous time there. Travis and me with the Philadelphia grandkids. The hardest thing about traveling is trying to eat right.  So even though we had a great time, it's good to be back home and following my little routines that keep me on track. Lunch today was a green smoothie (kale, coconut water, kiwi, mango, banana, and water); watermelon; avocado; and goody ball.  I ate a little papaya but decided to save it to go in the smoothie tomorrow. I practiced flute for over two hours today.  The concerts are coming up in a couple of weeks, and I don't feel at all ready. Clear Creek Gardener is a new nursery not too far from our house.  Travis and I stopped by there on Saturday to check out what they had.  Travis went back over ther...

We had a spring-break trip Orlando, FL to Universal Studios and Epcot Center with Molly and the grand-kids.  It was fun. The family at Universal Studios. Then we went to Philadelphia to see the Philly family and had a marvelous time there. Travis and me with the Philadelphia grandkids. The hardest thing about traveling is trying to eat right.  So even though we had a great time, It's good to be back home and following my little routines that keep me on track. Lunch today was a green smoothie (kale, coconut water, kiwi, mango, banana, and water); watermelon; avocado; and goody ball.  I ate a little papaya but decided to save it to go in the smoothie tomorrow. I practiced flute for over two hours today.  The concerts are coming up in a couple of weeks, and I don't feel at all ready. Clear Creek Gardener is a new nursery not too far from our house.  Travis and I stopped by there on Saturday to check out what they had.  Travis went back over ther...