sunflower milk yogurt

We make sunflower milk yogurt for our son. We soak 1 cup of shelled sunflower seeds overnight. In the morning we rinse them and place them into high speed blender  with 4 cups of filtered water and 4 dates (we use our blendtec on the whole juice cycle). This will make over a quart of milk. We pour the excess of one quart into a nut milk bag for milk to add to our morning sprouted granola. To the 32 ounces left in the blender we add probiotic powder (1 serving) and 2 tablespoons of raw honey. We blend until it is well blended (we use another whole juice cycle). We pour it into our yogurt maker and wait 10 hours. Leaving the hulls in the milk assists with making the yogurt thicker. We have added non-flavored gelatin or xanthan gum if we need it real thick for a recipe.

I just found this link for making coconut yogurt
http://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/2009/04/25/homemade-coconut-milk-yogurt/

Food that Kills by Dr Michael Klaper

We try to live by a nutrient dense diet to improve our overall well-being.
A wonderful way to begin is through Dr. Joel Fuhrman methods. His website is  http://www.drfuhrman.com/
This video from Dr. Klaper confirmed why one should reduce one's intake of animal products, including dairy, poultry, and fish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNCGkprGW_o&list=WLF4FAE58FDD86464D

http://doctorklaper.com/

diabetes links

There is so much out there to cure diabetes with dietary changes. I found this one from Mother Earth Living http://www.motherearthliving.com/health-and-wellness/natural-ways-to-treat-diabetes.aspx?newsletter=1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=HW%20eNews&utm_campaign=10.22.13%20MEL%20HW#axzz2iSFlNpEG , the most interesting due to the studies it references and the explanations it gives such as "A plant-based diet helps prevent diabetes in three ways: First, compared with the typical American diet, it’s much lower in fat, so it helps control weight. Second, it’s high in fiber, which helps control blood sugar. And third, plant foods are rich in antioxidant nutrients, which improve the body’s ability to use insulin."

There is a free course on diabetes being offered at coursera.org starting October 28, 2013. https://www.coursera.org/course/ucsfdiabetes

Here are several other links
http://www.naturalnews.com/042396_antidepressants_type_2_diabetes_health_risks.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/042421_diabetes_prevention_superfoods_natural_therapies.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/042441_type_1_diabetes_raw_food_diet_natural_treatment.html

This Nut May Prevent Diabetes & Heart Disease
http://www.drcolbert.com/blog/?p=468

earth clinic
 http://www.earthclinic.com/CURES/diabetes-type-ii-treatment.html

a documentary by Dr. Cousens
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001BKLCCS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=topdocufilm-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B001BKLCCS

This article is interesting on many levels, the main one again a reminder that fat effects insulin as does fructose.
http://www.naturalnews.com/042773_chlorella_insulin_sensitivity_type_2_diabetes.html

We really  like and respect Dr Fuhrman's position on diet and health. Here is his link for those with diabetes
http://www.drfuhrman.com/disease/Diabetes.aspx

toxic food additives

This article came out this week in Mother Earth Living,  http://www.motherearthliving.com/food-and-recipes/food-additives-to-avoid-zmoz12ndzmel.aspx?PageId=4#ArticleContent . It is about toxic food additives.
The top five are
artificial sweeteners,
chemical preservatives,
unnatural flavor enhancers,
artificial colors,
and chemical stabilizers.
So many things are coming out now but have been known by many for quite some time.

Seventeen years ago our pediatrician asked us to look into the Feingold diet, www.Feigold.org . In the Feingold community, even 17 years ago this was old news.
While looking at its website, i was appalled that so many of our chemical food additives are produced from petroleum waste products or byproducts. We have tried our best for the last 17 years to avoid adding any extra petroleum to our bodies.
These chemical food additives include
sweeteners (artificial and high fructose corn syrup),
artificial preservatives,
artificial enhancers,
artificial colors,
and artificial stabilizers .
Does the list look familiar?

We are thankful that this is finally becoming common knowledge.

Raw Mushroom Nut Loaf

We had raw mushroom nut loaf for dinner tonight with roasted butternut squash, carrots, onions, with garlic, and lightly steamed green beans. The No Cream of Mushroom Soup was used as a gravy.
Oh my goodness was this delicious.  We have made other raw and/or vegan "meat loaf" recipes, but this is superior to the others.
Our son had seconds on the mushroom nut loaf. What a blessing that the recipe made 6 slices, so we have leftovers for another day.
The recipe for the mushroom nut loaf is from  http://www.addictedtoveggies.com/2010/11/easy-raw-vegan-recipes-thanksgiving.html

Raw Vegan Holiday Mushroom Loaf

Step 1. Prep before hand:

1 c ground/smashed Macadamia nuts

I chose to grind my nuts in a food processor --- To smash your Mac nuts: place nuts in zip-lock baggy and pound with a flat heavy object.

Step 2. Seasoning your Mac nuts:

1/2 tsp dried Thyme

1/4 tsp dried/ground Rosemary

1/2 tsp dried Dillweed

1 tsp Onion powder

1/2 tsp Lemon Pepper

1 tsp dried Parsley

Sea Salt to taste

Add the above ingredients to your ground/smashed Macadamia nuts - proceed to grind/smash again. Remove the contents of your Whitlock baggy, placing them in a mixing bowl and setting them aside. 

Step 3. Mushrooms!

2 dozen (24) Crimini Mushrooms - minced very very well (you can either do this by hand, or in a food processor). If you are doing this by hand then you can mince and mash with the flat side of your chopping knife to get a very thorough and fine mince.

2 or 3 Green Onions (scallions) minced very well

Add your Mushrooms and Onions to the bowl containing your seasoned Macadamia nuts. Mix/Mash well )to do this you can use a hand masher or you can pulse with your food processor).

To your mixing bowl add: 

1 Tbsp White Mustard //or// 1 tsp Lemon Juice

1 tsp Minced Garlic //or// Garlic Granules (optional)

1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast

1/4 c Water (for a Smokey flavor use Lapsag Souchong Tea Water)

-Mash/Pulse-

Step 4. Final Step! Making your Mushroom Loaf //or// Burgers!

I fist shaped these into little Burgers (using a Biscuit cutter), at about 1/2" thick. 

Dehydrating Method: Dehydrate Burgers 5 to 6 hours, flipping half way though.

The recipe for the No Cream of Mushroom soup is http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2012/11/no-cream-of-mushroom-soup-rosemary.html

Zuppa Toscana

 Thanks Art for the challenge!!!
Zuppa Toscana (better than Olive Garden!) From facebook post from Art Mealer

1 lb. Italian sausages (use spicy to get that signature Olive Garden flavor)
4-6 russet potatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/4 c. REAL bacon pieces (optional)
2 Tbsp minced garlic (about 3-4 cloves)
32 oz. chicken broth
1 c. kale or Swiss chard, chopped
1 c. heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp flour

1. Brown sausage links in a sauté pan.
2. Cut links in half lengthwise, then cut slices.
3. Place sausage, chicken broth, garlic, potatoes and onion in slow cooker. Add just enough water to cover the vegetables and meat.
4. Cook on high 3-4 hours (low 5-6 hours) until potatoes are soft.

30 minutes before serving:
5. Mix flour into cream removing lumps.
6. Add cream and kale to the crock pot, stir.
7. Cook on high 30 minutes or until broth thickens slightly.

8. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.

Zuppa Toscana VEGAN STYLE

10 oz baby Portabella mushrooms
4-6 russet potatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp minced garlic (about 3-4 cloves)
32 oz. Vegetable broth
1 c. Swiss chard, chopped
1 c. creamed cauliflower

1 ½ teaspoon onion powder
1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder

1 ½ teaspoon dried sage

1 ½ teaspoon ground fennel seeds

1 teaspoon parsley

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. slice the mushrooms
2. Place mushrooms, vegetable broth, garlic, potatoes, spices, and onion in slow cooker. Add just enough water to cover the vegetables and meat.
3. Cook on high 3-4 hours (low 5-6 hours) until potatoes are soft.

30 minutes before serving:
4. Add creamed cauliflower and kale to the crock pot, stir.
5. Cook on high 30 minutes or until broth thickens slightly.

6. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.

Raw Chocolate Chip Cookies

chocolate chip
The recipe used is http://detoxinista.com/2013/03/raw-cookie-dough-bites-vegan/

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried almond pulp flour
• ¼ cup coconut oil, softened (we used cacao butter)
• ¼ cup pure maple syrup
• 6 tablespoons raw almond butter
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• dark chocolate chips, as needed

We made almond milk by soaking raw almonds  for 6-8 hours, draining them, rinsing and draining again, and processing through the Blendtec (a highspeed blender) with 4 cups of water and 4 dates. We drained the milk through a nut milk bag (thank you Darlene for the nut milk bag). The pulp is what is left in the bag. It was dehydrated at 105 becoming the almond pulp flour. The family is pretty happy to be able to use the leftovers for COOKIES instead of chicken feed!!! For those who aren't coconut fans, one can use Spectrum Shortening. It isn't raw, but the cookies still work well.
We make our own almond butter (2 cups of almonds, 1/2 tsp celtic sea salt, and 2 TBS Dupree Bees Honey following this recipe:
http://www.therawtarian.com/raw-almond-butter-recipe
We dehydrated them because we like the chocolate chips to be slightly melted, and the outside of the cookie to be crisp.