Maison Tranquille Blog

It's a beautiful summer day here in Arkansas. This morning I made some tomato soup in my Vitamix which I plan to have for dinner tonight. I will probably eat it cold, but if you prefer it warm you can warm it in the high speed blender. Tomato Soup Recipe: 4 vine-ripened tomatoes 1/4 cup water Juice of 1 lemon 4 stalks of celery 1 small sweet onion 4 little mini cucumbers 1 tsp chili powder Blend in high speed blender until smooth. Serve with chopped avocado mixed in. Tomato Soup in the Vitamix ready to blend. Tomato Soup after blending. Tomato Soup ready to store in the refrigerator until dinner. Food for the day. I started eating at 10:30. During the morning and at lunch I had watermelon and mango. Dinner was fresh orange juice and a salad made with iceberg lettuce, mango, cucumber, grape tomatoes, avocado, and paprika. Thanks to Louie Auslander for the salad inspiration. Also had dehydrated onion crackers. After dinner I had a fruit smoothie made with c...

There is a debate about eating fats on a healthy diet. I have been on both sides of this discussion, but here's the thing.  I have done my best healing and weight control when I was eating controlled amounts of healthy fats with no refined fats. 2008-2009 was a time of tremendous healing for me. My diet included nuts and avocado; however, most of the diet was juice, smoothies, fruit, salad, homemade salsa, and a vegetable juice. Not all avocados have the same fat content.  Avocados that are barely ripe have much less fat than avocados that are extremely ripe and soft.  Try to eat your avocados when they are just ripe enough to eat. In 2011, I reached my lowest weight in decades while interning at the Clohesy River Health Farm. Our diet there included fats in the form of avocado, coconut, pecans, and sometimes a little nut butter. At the farm our lunch was 4 or 5 servings of fresh fruit, 1/2 avocado, and 1/4 of a fresh coconut.  Our dinner was a salad made wit...

Travis bought these pretty Vinca's yesterday for our deck.    Hygienic principles are not such lofty principles that we must wait until some future time when the majority come to accept them and agree with them.  These principles are for us to use here and now.  You can't wait to change your own lifestyle until "everyone else" agrees.  It is not important what the masses of people believe and want to hear.  When you step up and began to embody the simple, natural lifestyle, it may well encourage someone else. Even though your circumstances are not perfect, and misinformation abounds, you don't need to feel like you are a prisoner to culture.  I have used that as an excuse before, but no more excuses!! Take responsibility for your own health and lifestyle no matter what most people are doing. Raise the bar for everyone by showing a better way.  We already have access to enough knowledge, if we seek it out, to help us live happier and hea...

Let's talk about healing autoimmune disorders.  Low fat vegan is the best way to heal any disease. If your experience is like mine, you grew up eating hot dogs, boxed cereal, grilled cheese sandwiches, and such. In my family, we got Shipley's donuts every Sunday and had Fizzies to drink with our meals.  I loved them, but I don't think they loved me back.    Fizzies Drink I have detested milk since I was 8 months old, so I dodged that bullet. My mother loved to cook, so we had the pleasure of her wonderful cooking...always with white Wonder Bread as an accompaniment. Even as a child, my body was reacting to this diet. When I was nine years old, I was in the hospital with something that some called pneumonia and some called consumption.  I was sick for a whole summer and was given massive doses of antibiotics.  My body would erupt with boils which we called risons, and once with a carbuncle on my lip. During my teen years, I had other dietary issu...