my hubby's lung wedge biopsy results

The lung is cancer. We don't know whether it is another primary or a metastasis from the esophagus. We will know more in a couple of days. He did have his left upper lobe removed as a precaution. If it is stage 1 lung cancer, he is done with treatment.

The esophagus looked great as did all the surrounding tissue, other lung lobes, lung area lymph nodes and stomach. There is no sign of an esophageal tumor or regrowth (please remember a month ago Shaheen slipped the tumor out with a resection endoscopy but it had a "dirty" bottom) and the Barrett's appears to be slowly shrinking; however, an esophagectomy is still recommended for Al's future whether it is stage 1 lung cancer and stage 1 esophageal cancer (within a month) or stage 4 esophageal cancer (after 6 months of chemo).

As I read my devotionals this one seemed to hit the mark.

I believe God wants you to know...

...that illness is not a sign of spiritual weakness, but of

spiritual strength.

  

When we fall ill there are some who will say, "Why

did you create that for yourself?" They might convince

you to see it as a sign of spiritual weakness or failure.

It is not. It is a sign of spiritual strength.

All challenges are a sign of spiritual strength, and of

the readiness of the Soul to move on;

to evolve even further.

Sprouted Mexican Quinoa Salad

My hubby is trying to eat a 40+% sprout diet. We sprouted quinoa and added cooked black beans. We served this with the Summer Squash Wraps stuffed with Raw Fajita veggies, walnut-based taco meat, salsa, nut-based sour cream and nut-based chipotle cheddar.

Ingredients:
2 cups quinoa, soaked for 6 hours, rinse, drain and sprouted for 18 hours, yielding 4 cups
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans
1/2 cup fresh cilantro (thank you garden)
2 cups diced tomatoes (thank you garden)
1 diced red onion
1 diced poblano pepper (thank you garden)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 TBS chili powder
1 TBS cumin
3 TBS lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients and serve.

Summer Squash Wrap

My hubby tells me he can do this raw "thing" if he has wraps. He has purchased several different kinds. We read the ingredients label, added what he needs for optimum health, and tried our hand at making one. This is what we did:

Ingredients:

2 squash

1 apple

1 celery stalk

1 tsp turmeric

½ tsp kelp powder

½ tsp onion powder

½ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

¼ cup lemon juice

1 cup water

Blend in high speed blender. Puree the spices, fruits, and vegetable.

1/2  cup Flaxmeal

Blend in high speed blender.

Spread over 2 non-stick dehydrator sheets.

Flip onto a mesh tray to complete drying

Cut each sheet into quarters, yielding 8 wraps.

raw dog treat from rawamazing

My hubby was looking for something to do with the leftover green juice pulp and found this recipe from rawamazing. The dogs LOVE them!

Juice Pulp Dog Treat Recipe

MAKES TWO TRAYS

• 8 cups juice pulp (make sure you don’t have anything toxic to dogs in your pulp)
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup ground flax soaked in 2 cups water for 1/2 hour
• 1/4 cup nama shoyu (optional, we ommitted)

1. Mix all ingredients together and spread on non-stick sheets 1/4 inch thick.
2. Score into 1-inch squares.
3. Dehydrate at 145* for 1 hour, reduce heat to 115 and continue to dry until completely dry, flipping once during dehydration. Approximately 12-14 hours.

Raw Coconut Walnut Biscotti

My hubby came home from Hippocrates with raw biscotti. We looked for a raw version without fruit, dried or fresh and couldn't find one. This is what we developed. 

Ingredients:

2 cups almond pulp (leftover from making almond cream)

1/4 cup dried coconut

1/2 cup crispie walnuts, crushed

1/8 cup raw coconut butter
2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp liquid stevia (this amount can vary to one's taste this is to his)

1/8 cup flax meal

Directions:

1.  Place the walnuts in a food processor fitted with the S blade and grind well (not so well that they start turning into nut butter, but you want them to resemble flour). 
2. Add the almond pulp, vanilla, flax, stevia, coconut butter, and coconut. Process until the mixture is totally incorporated and resembles a thick dough. 
3.  Turn the dough out onto a silicon-lined dehydrator sheet and shape into a mini loaf. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 3 hours.
4.  Cut the loaf into biscotti shaped cookies, and continue dehydrating till they are totally dry and crunchy (another 6-8 hours). Serve with tea or coffee :-)

Rosemary Garlic Bread

We love this recipe for Garlic & Onion Naan Bread is from the Raw Chef. We thought it would be amazing as a Rosemary Flat bread for Italian meals. This is what we did:

Ingredients:

1st Set

• 1 peeled courgette (squash)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

2nd Set

• ¼ cup psyllium husk
• ½ cup ground almonds (almond meal)
• ½ cup coconut flour
• ½ cup cashews (cashew meal)
• ½ cup GF flour
• ¼ cup lucuma

Brushing Ingredients:

Rosemary Sprigs

garlic cloves minced

1/4 cup olive oil

course ground salt

Directions:

1. Blend the first set of ingredients in a high-speed blender.
2. Grind cashews in a coffee grinder until the cashews are ground to flour.
3. Mix the second set of ingredients in the food processor, 
4. Pour both sets of ingredients in the food processor to combine both thoroughly.
5. Transfer to a bowl and leave to stand for a few minutes, so that it thickens up.
6. You’re now ready to spread into 3 to 4 individual naan breads on a nonstick dehydrator sheet, around 1cm (⅓”) thick. I like to make the outside edge a little thicker than that.
7. Dehydrate at 115 degrees F for around 3 to 4 hours, until you can turn them over, removing the nonstick sheet to complete dehydration for another 3 to 4 hours.
8. Brush rosemary, garlic, and olive oil mixture on the bread after flipping it and grind salt over each slice.
9. There’s a real sweet spot for dehydration here, where they’re still slightly moist inside, making them more spongy. You can always make one really small piece when spreading them out, so you can use to test how dry they’re getting.

Summer Garden Salad

Our garden is in full bloom. We have squash, green onions, herbs, and tomatoes ready for harvest.
We made this side dish.

Ingredients:
Salad
1 summer squash, sliced
1 large bell pepper, diced, ours are small so we used 2
1 green onion, diced
2 TBS basil, sliced
2 TBS oregano, minced
2 TBS thyme, minced
1 cup tomatoes, diced

Place in a bowl

Dressing:
1 summer squash
1 cup tomato
2 TBS basil
2 cloves garlic
2 TBS white balsamic vinegar or lemon juice could be used
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Directions, blend dressing in a high speed blender and pour over veggies

Allow to marinade at least 2 hours.