Carrot Creamsicle

You know what's really good? Blending carrot juice with other stuff. I know it seems like sacrilege to a detox purist, but what can I say: I like it!

Must be the rebel in me. The rebel made me do it. And the fact of having some day old Trader Joe's carrot juice in the fridge. Along with some fresh turmeric roots, aka the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-cancer best herb ever. Nothing wrong with that. 

If you don't have access to fresh turmeric, just use the best quality powder you can find. And drink up. To your health! 

Carrot Creamsicle

Ingredients

8 ounces carrot juice

1/4-1/2 of a honey crisp apple, cored

1/2 a lemon, peeled

1 small turmeric root, or a teaspoon of powdered turmeric

1 Tablespoon hemp protein powder

1/4 cup raw cashews

Optional Supplement Boosts

2 g vitamin C powder (I like Complete C from Innate Response) for added immune support.

2 g leucine powder (from Moss Nutrition). Leucine, a branched chain amino acid, works together with protein to help stimulate muscle growth and promote lean body mass (as opposed to fat. You know what I'm talking about.)

Instructions

Put all the ingredients into a blender and whip into a sweet, frothy shake. Serves one delightfully.

P.S. Want to order professional quality supplements through me or ask me a question? Shoot me an email or leave a comment on this post, and I'll get right back to you. ♥

Weedy Green Juice

Leggy oregano tops.

I spent a good hour or two this morning out in the herb garden, trying to return some sense of order to what had become a desperately overgrown situation. The Greek oregano was all legs and flowers. Ditto for peppermint and lemon balm. Not to mention the comfrey.

And then there were the actual weeds. So-called simply because they show up on their own, rather by design. Most weeds I know have their own charm and value, be it leaf shape, flower or medicinal property. Case in point: blood-building yellow dock, detoxifying dandelion, and my favorite, majestic mullein, whose fuzzy leaves, steeped in water, make an excellent lung tonic. Or, if you prefer, steep her yellow flowers in olive oil for an effective earache remedy.

When mullein shows up at my house, she's always welcome. Just look at her! Who wouldn't want this kind of royalty guarding their front door?

Mullein, the Queen.

Anyway, it's late August and the back garden was getting out of hand, so I had at it. By ten am I had a whole, overflowing wheelbarrow full of weeds and trimmings:

Plus (bonus!) a nice bunch of fresh clippings for making weedy green juice. Here's what went into the mix:

2 large bunches dandelion leaves
1 medium bunch peppermint stalks
2 sprigs of leggy oregano and lemon balm
4 six-inch long slicing cucumbers
1/2 lime
1 granny smith apple

Because of the juicy cucumber base, I chose the Breville juicer today. Accidentally ran it on high speed, so the juice came out pretty foamy, but that's ok. Foamy or not, it's still incredibly delicious... clean, light and perfectly refreshing. Yum!

Now, back to the garden...

Weedy green juice, and friend.

Breville Juice Fountain: Fun New Kitchen Toy!

My new, pre-owned Breville Juice Fountain Plus, with Green Juice.

I love my old, single gear Omega 8005 juicer. I really do. I've featured it in post after post on this blog, and I am 100% satisfied with the superior quality juice it provides. But how could I say "no" to a mint condition Breville Juice Fountain Plus today, at my neighbor's tag sale, for only $25?

Let's see... A $190 juicer. Like new. For $25.

Sold!

I confess that secretly, I've always wanted a Breville Juice Fountain in addition to my Omega. Greedy, I know. But what can I say? Martha Stewart's classic Green Vegetable Cocktail video is enough to make anyone want to go out and buy a Breville right this minute. And then there was Natalia's glowing recommendation in The Raw Food Detox Diet. But when it came time to purchase my first juicer, I went with the Omega 8005 (now the 8006) for two reasons:

1) more versatile (can use attachments to make frozen banana ice cream, nut butters, etc.)
2) slow, quiet, single gear mechanism better preserves enzymatic and cellular integrity of the juice

The down sides of the Omega 8005 are:
• small feed tube (requires more pre-chopping)
• more effort required to push veggies through (actually have hurt my shoulder a few times, due to pushing carrots at an awkward angle)
• S S S S L O W W  juicing speed

That last one could be annoying. Well. Just let me say that the Juice Fountain is not slow. Not slow at all. It's so fast my juice was done in about half a minute. I was cracking up the whole time, it was so fast. Reminded me of how I couldn't stop laughing the first time I tried riding a mountain bike with a granny gear. Climbing was so easy! After standing up to power my way over hills for so many years on a beat up old Gitane 10-speed, to actually sit down on the seat while going up steeps? Hilarious.

I'm doing a modified Extremely Green Detox right now so my maiden juice was an all-green veggie concoction containing 1/2 English cucumber, 5 celery stalks, half a lime and a big bunch of fresh green herbs from my garden, namely parsley, peppermint and comfrey. These before and after pictures were taken 30 seconds apart.

Before:

After (still cracking up):

So yeah, the motor on this thing is phenomenal. I used the high speed option and Whooosh! Juice in 30 seconds. The fat feed tube just gobbled up the cucumbers, celery and greens like it was starving, and the green juice shot out with force, like—well, like a FOUNTAIN!

They're not kidding with that name.

As for the actual juice, it's fresh and delicious. But I do notice it separates a lot faster than green juice from my Omega 8005, maybe due to the cellular integrity issue. And the taste is not quite as...rich, perhaps. As complex.

So fear not: I'm still keeping my trusty Omega. I love the juice it makes. I love the banana ice cream. And speed isn't everything. In fact, I'm a big fan of going slow. But it is fun having a new toy in the kitchen. Can't wait to go to town with some carrots and ginger!

Peppermint Kiss Sweet Green Juice

Peppermint is one of my all time favorite flavors, and right now, my little herb garden is producing a bumper crop. One of the most delicious medicinal herbs, peppermint is a wonderful digestive soother and breath freshener, a superb respiratory decongestant and a mild stress reliever. Even the scent of peppermint alone is reported to boost mental performance and memory.

Iced peppermint tea with honey and lemon is a staple in my fridge during the hot months of summer. This morning, I was inspired to add a few fresh stalks of the cooling herb to my daily green juice, and am pleased to report outstanding results! The refreshing essence of peppermint pairs perfectly with the bright tastes of cucumber, apple and lime in this simple, sweet green juice.

Peppermint Kiss Sweet Green Juice

3 medium cucumbers
1 smallish head romaine lettuce
1 lime
3 stalks fresh peppermint
1 granny smith apple

Run all ingredients through your juicer, drink and enjoy as soon as possible, or within 24 hours. Makes about 20 ounces fresh green juice.

Cleansing on the Job: Raw Food, Brown Bag Lunch

If you're interested in stretching your hard-earned dollars a little further, try bringing your lunch to work! "Brown bagging" is a tried-and-true way to conserve your financial resources on the job, not to mention your number one insurance policy for staying on track with your cleansing diet-lifestyle.

If you care about what you put into your body, preparing your own food always gives you the maximum control. No need to worry if those salad greens are organic, or if your salad dressing is made with high quality oil. You made it yourself!

You can step up the fun factor by using food storage and carrying containers that make you smile. Every day feels like a picnic when I bring my lunch to work in a willow basket. Here's what I'm looking forward to enjoying today. The green juice is for morning. I'll probably drink it around 10:00, when I start feeling hungry, and then have my lunch a little after noon.

1 pint Ginger Green Juice (celery, cucumber, romaine, kale, apple, lemon ginger)

Avocado Salad with mesclun greens, drizzled with lemon juice and MCT oil

Rainy Day Crackers (made fresh yesterday!)

Raw Tahini & Garlic Red Pepper Miso medley (for crackers)

baby carrots, to nibble on later

Tell me, dear readers, what are you bringing to work for your lunch today?

xo Diana

The Rose Cleanse - Days 4 & 5: Carrot Cake Juice

Yesterday and today counted as days four and five of my 7-day Rose Cleanse. I call this period the hunker-down phase of a detox, smack dab in the middle. I am noticing that my body feels more energetic in the morning and slower in the afternoons, especially as hunger builds and dinner beckons. That wholesome cleansing dinner makes it possible to detoxify and still be active - went for a one-hour bike ride yesterday and a two-hour walk today. It's great to get my blood and sweat flowing, releasing toxins through my skin. Well worth the need to rest later on and take some quiet time before dinner. Quiet time is what cleansing is all about.

Speaking of dinner, by Day Four I felt ready for a nice protein meal. So yesterday, I purchased two wild salmon steaks - two meals' worth - and pan sautéed them in olive oil with a sprinkle of Himalayan crystal salt and a healthy grind of fresh ground black pepper. Last night's salmon was eaten warm, today's was cold, but both were served with a large green salad topped with chopped heirloom tomatoes, oil-cured black olives, sliced red onion, diced red pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar and Herbamare herbal salt. Spanish Manchego raw sheep cheese and sungold tomatoes rounded out last night's meal, while tonight I indulged in dessert: a dish of fresh blueberries dusted with raw cacao nibs, bee pollen and a drizzle of maple syrup (bending the Cleanse guidelines just a tad). Two meals fit for a queen, indeed.

In addition to permitting me to exercise, having a tasty dinner to look forward to makes juicing all day a sane proposition and satisfies the little rebel in me who doesn't like to be held down, even when the boundaries I've set are my own idea.

I'm also noticing some emotional cleansing going on - tears and feelings close to the surface as I let go of old clutter in my heart as well as my cells. This is detox: a physical and emotional overhaul. Bring it on.

If you are tempted to try The Rose Cleanse but feel like making all your own juice is a big commitment, consider purchasing at least some of your juices ready made. We have a juice bar/café nearby and yesterday morning I did just this, stopping in at The Siren Cafe on Main Street in Greenfield. The Siren is a fairly new, honestly hip establishment run by a friendly crew of bodacious women. In the raw department, The Siren serves fabulous salads, juices, smoothies and tasty fruit-nut energy bars, along with more standard, high quality café fare (fair trade tea and coffee drinks, baked goods, breakfast bagels and piled high sandwich creations).

Incredibly, The Siren allows you to build your own three-item, 16-ounce juice for only $3.25. Yes, you read that correctly. Three-twenty five! What a deal! That's practically less than it costs to make the juice yourself. It's not organic, but well worth the tradeoff for the occasional treat value.

For my three items, I chose carrot, celery and apple. And because The Siren is a café with a customize-your-coffee station, I had access to cinnamon. I added a generous sprinkle to my glass, stirred with a straw and WOW! My juice tasted just like carrot cake!

Naturally after I got home, I had to try making my own Carrot Cake Juice. It was delicious! I made more again today: 2 pints worth! This stuff is terrific. And so simple. Filling, even. Who needs cream cheese frosting when you can drink dessert for breakfast?


Carrot Cake Juice
Makes two pints.

9 ribs celery
9 medium-large carrots
2 Royal Gala apples
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

Juice the celery, carrots and apples. Alternate apples with the veggies to facilitate juicing. Pour into one quart jar with the cinnamon and shake well to blend (or use a blending wand or whiz in the blender if you don't mind cleaning another appliance). Heavenly!

Simply Green Juice

This is my new favorite juice. Four green ingredients, fast to prep, incredibly refreshing, totally yummy & very little waste. (Celery and lettuce are mostly juice, apples are practically all juice and ditto for limes. So: just a small handful of pulp for the compost bin.) Simply Green has become my breakfast of choice this summer. And just look at that color! The color of life itself, growing right out of the garden...

Simply Green Juice

1 head organic romaine lettuce (the kind that comes in a 3-pack)
1/2 bunch organic celery (about 6 stalks)
1 small organic lime, peeled
1 granny smith apple (also organic, of course!)

That's it. Alternate feeding apple and lime through the juicer with feeding celery and romaine to facilitate the process. The fibers in the greens push through the juicy pulp of the apple and lime.

This recipe makes 16 to 24 ounces of juice. Cheers!

Dill-icious Sweet Veggie Juice

Fresh dill has to be one of the cleanest tasting herbs on the planet. I love its bright, sweet flavor and refreshing scent, its deep green color and the tickly texture of its soft feathery fronds brushing against my lips.

Dill is frequently paired with cucumbers, beets or potatoes, often along with vinegar (think pickles) or lemon. Creative chefs the world round add dill to yogurt dips and sauces and use it to enliven recipes featuring eggs (egg salad, omelettes) and fish, particularly cod, trout and salmon. (Kosher salt- and dill-infused gravlax, the delectable raw equivalent of smoked salmon, is one famous example.)

My father taught me to use dried dill in scrambled eggs and I've always adored it chopped fresh in salad dressings and on boiled new potatoes. But lately, I’ve been discovering a new way to enjoy dill, in JUICE! I came up with this idea almost by accident, when a beautiful bunch of dill purchased a few days earlier began calling for consumption from deep within my refrigerator. “Eat me! Eat me now,” the luscious stalks demanded.

Never one to turn my back on such a cry, I complied by feeding the entire bunch into the mouth of my trusty Omega 8005 juicer, along with some carrots, celery, fresh lemon and green apple. The result was dill-ightful, reminding me of the sunny fennel flavor I enjoyed during my Maine Detox without the licorice aftertaste.

Dill is an old herb in the Western tradition. The plant is native to the Mediterranean region, as well as southern Russia and parts of western Africa. Both leaf and seed have been long recognized for a variety of healing properties, with references appearing in ancient Egyptian and Greek writings as well as the Bible.

Most often in older texts, dill is considered cleansing and relaxing. The name “dill” is derived from the old Norse word dilla, meaning "to lull," evoking its traditional use as a soothing remedy for sleeplessness and tummy aches. Hippocrates used dill in a mouthwash recipe to provide antiseptic and breath freshening qualities. Dill seeds are regarded highly for helping to dispel intestinal gas. Recent research suggests that potent antioxidant phytochemicals in dill may help to fight ailments as diverse as hypoglycemia, thyroid imbalances and cancer.

Dill contains two primary types of active compounds. These are:

1) monoterpenes (aromatic volatile oils), notably carvone (also found in caraway and spearmint), limonene (also found in lemons), and anethofuran, and

2) flavonoids, including kaempferol and vicenin.

The monoterpenes in dill help support detoxification by inducing the enzyme glutathione S-transferase. They offer potent, cancer-fighting antioxidant potential by activating glutathione, the body’s most important endogenous (self-made) antioxidant. Monoterpenes also function as antibacterial and antifungal agents, helping to keep the body clean and free from microbial foreign invaders.


Flavonoids are generally regarded as heart-healthy antioxidant phytochemicals. Specific attributes are associated with particular flavonoids found in different plants. The flavone vicenin, present in dill, has been shown in studies to help protect cells from radiation damage. Kaempferol, a dill flavonol also present in spinach and broccoli, is suggested to help promote cancer cell apoptosis (programmed cell death) and, additionally, to help protect heart, spinal cord and brain health.

Interestingly, this latter benefit was suggested by the 17th century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper who, centuries before the era of modern clinical research, wrote of dill that: “Mercury hath dominion of this plant, and therefore to be sure it strengthens the brain.”

Dill. Plate 8 from Culpeper's Complete Herbal with The British Florist 1812. Shrewsbury Museums Service. Image sy7060.

Nutritionally, dill is a good source of blood-building iron, collagen-building manganese and bone-building calcium. One tablespoon of dill weed provides about 50 milligrams of calcium!

When you purchase fresh dill, try to use it within three days. Store in the refrigerator as you would fresh flowers (stems trimmed and placed in a glass of filtered water) or wrap it snugly in a damp paper towel and tuck inside a plastic bag with the air gently pressed out.

I can honestly say that the longer I live, the more I love dill. In the words of raw food educator Dan McDonald, the Life Regenerator: “Dill is the bomb diggity.” I couldn’t agree more!

Dill-icious Sweet Veggie Juice

1 head celery
4-5 carrots
½ - 1 bunch dill weed, stems and fronds
1 lemon, peeled
1 large Granny Smith apple
1 or 2 kale leaves with stems (optional)

Wash and slice ingredients as needed, then feed through your juicer. Alternate apples and lemon with more fibrous celery, dill and carrots to facilitate juicing. I had some leftover kale stems which I used in this juice so I include optional kale in the recipe – I don’t think it is necessary but I can’t help feeling like “the more greens, the better” in general. Makes a tall 16 ounces of juice.


REFERENCES
Zheng GQ, Kenney PM, Lam LK. Anethofuran, carvone, and limonene: potential cancer chemopreventive agents from dill weed oil and caraway oil. Planta Med. 1992 Aug;58(4):338-41.

Panda S. The effect of Anethum graveolens L. (dill) on corticosteroid induced diabetes mellitus: involvement of thyroid hormones. Phytother Res. 2008 Dec;22(12):1695-7

Culpeper's Complete Online Herbal. This is a fantastic source for traditional herbal lore. Click here to access.

Click here to watch the entertaining Dan McDonald make his tasty Lemon-Dill Sesame Tahini Dip.

Maine Detox Finale

My last night in Maine was a beauty. At sunset, I took a walk around the tip of Ogunquit Beach. It was low tide, and I marveled at how the surface of the shallow water that skimmed the sandbar reflected the pastel colors of the sky in soothing tones of lilac, rose and pale blue.

After my walk, I took myself out to The Front Porch, an Ogunquit favorite, for a fabulous detox dinner: Field Greens with Sea Salted Radishes & Chevre, and Steamed PEI Mussels in a delightful broth flavored with Basil Pesto & Oven-Dried Tomatoes. (Of course I skipped the bread bowl, but did indulge in some wonderful red wine.) Walking home alone with the memory of dinner fresh on my tongue, adjectives such as succulent, savory, plump, sweet and tender played on mind as I thought to myself: I LOVE LIFE!

On Easter Sunday, I awoke to overcast skies that, although clear by noon, obscured sunrise over the horizon. The morning remained cheerful however, as it found the hotel lawn dotted with a hundred brightly colored plastic Easter eggs! A group of eager children, speaking excitedly in both English and French, gathered on the dining room porch, anticipating the nine-thirty hunt. Inside, synchronicity struck when I met Dixie, a friendly hotel staff member who confided in me that she was a raw foodist! (Synchronicities often occur when doing the Artist's Way program.) What serendipity to meet each other there, especially on my last day in Maine!

Back in my room prior to check-out, I made myself two juices for the day’s sustenance, a fresh quart of Ruby Burst Surprise using these ingredients: and two pints of a new Green Juice featuring red apples from the hotel’s continental breakfast and two cloves of raw garlic.

The taste of this second juice reminded me of the fall/winter season of 1979, when I was nineteen and ate an apple and a clove of fresh garlic every morning for breakfast. To this repast I attributed the fact that I never got sick that winter, despite living in less than hospitable conditions such as unheated attics and abandoned chicken shacks. Tasting the surprisingly satisfying combination of flavors once again, I reflected on how much my life has changed in the past thirty years. Surely, one could hardly find a more hospitable place to harbor one’s body and soul than The Beachmere Inn! Until I return to Maine, the sea-blessed memories I made on my Detox weekend there will serve to sustain. Looking back on it even just a few days later, it seems like a dream.

JUICE FOUR: Sweet Green Garlic

1 cucumber
1 head celery
3 collard green leaves
1 lime
½ lemon
2 red apples, peeled (b/c not organic)
one-inch chunk of ginger
2 cloves garlic

Feed all ingredients through the juicer, alternating the softer apples, cucumber and citrus with the more fibrous celery, ginger and leafy greens to facilitate transport. (This is only necessary if you are using a single or twin gear juicer like a Champion or Omega 8005. I don’t think it makes a difference with centrifugal juicers such as the Breville Juice Fountain or Omega Vert.)

farewell Ogunquit Beach! until we meet again...

Maine Detox Redox

High tide again as I sit down to post a quick update on my Maine Detox and share another juice recipe.

Once more, a simply perfect day... beautiful blue sky, non-stop sun and brisk ocean breezes. From my window now, I'm watching row after row of evenly spaced, short white-capped waves rolling into shore, each separate but aligned in precision, like trained dolphins swimming in a chorus line. This cheerful display is a true heart opener.

Meanwhile, yesterday's surfer has been replaced by a paddle-boarder riding the swells beyond the breakers – a wet-suited fellow standing on a short wide surfboard, holding a long-handled black paddle used more for balance than for travel. Looks like fun.


In detox news, last night found me eating a bit of solid-ish food, beginning with fresh guacamole from the Village Food Market in town. This was followed by miso soup with a few slender stalks of steamed asparagus chopped in. (I had brought from home a jar of South River Barley Miso, along with fresh garlic cloves and a grater, cayenne pepper and nutritional yeast. Voila! Instant miso soup.) The asparagus also came from the market - they do a nice job there.

Before bed I drank a cup of Smooth Move tea to help boost elimination, a critical component of cleansing. (Remember: until waste leaves the body, a cleanse is only a potential cleanse!) I've also been taking 4 capsules daily of Comprehensive Cleanse, a product I formulated while working as the staff nutritionist and education administrator at Pioneer Nutritional Formulas. The product contains clinical levels of milk thistle plus meaningful amounts of several other traditional Western and Ayurvedic herbs, green foods and superfoods – all intended to help support the body's many channels of elimination (liver, lymph, kidney, etc). Comprehensive Cleanse contains no laxative herbs, however, hence the added boost from Smooth Move or Colon Cleanse, a gentle purgative I use and recommend.

This morning I drank a glass of water with MSM and fresh lemon juice before slipping out to catch sunrise at 6:15. Back inside my warm room, I enjoyed a mug of Barry's Irish black tea (my vice) with raw honey, and later, a tasty green juice made with pink grapefruit.

I'm feeling very clear and light today, thanks to the psycho-spiritual benefits of cleansing. For just as waste is eliminated from the body, so it may be removed from the mind. Reducing the amount of dense matter in the system via the physical cleansing process allows pure thoughts and life force energy to flow more freely throughout the entire human organism. This supports a certain mental liberation, opens up psychic channels to god/spirit and sets the stage for deeper spiritual growth if one is moved in that direction.

With this in mind, I've been strengthening my practice of Vipassana Meditation by sitting three times a day during my stay here. I’m also working the Artist's Way program through a 12-week workshop facilitated by the wonderful Robin Lane, - we’re now on week three. This means lots of writing and journaling, reading and reflection...

If only there were more time in twenty-four hours. The shadows grow long...this day will be ending soon. Sigh. I will be sorry to leave tomorrow. And I will be glad, holding the ocean near in spirit as I move forward into my life, returning to family and friends refreshed, renewed and grateful for this experience.

JUICE THREE: Grapefruit on the Green

1 bunch celery
3 leaves collard greens (or kale, etc.)
1 pink grapefruit, peeled & pitted
1 cucumber
generous squeeze of lime juice
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more)


Directions: Run celery, collards, grapefruit and cucumber through the juicer. (Tip: alternate feeding softer cuke and grapefruit with more fibrous celery ribs and collard leaves to help keep things moving.) Squeeze in lime juice at the end and add cayenne pepper to taste. Or, if you happen to have a green jalapeno on hand, juice that, too and leave out the cayenne. Either way, bon appetit!

Maine Detox

Greetings from Ogunquit! I’ve taken myself to Maine for a cleansing, healing mini-retreat. It’s my first time here and, I have a feeling... not my last! ☺

I’m staying at the beautifully-maintained Beachmere Inn, a medium-sized, ideally situated hotel overlooking the cove-scalloped Maine Atlantic coast across a grassy lawn. At this writing, from my window I see high tide rolling in. A young surfer in a black wet-suit just caught a slow wave all the way into shore. Sweet.

I arrived last night in the dark, moon not yet risen, so I could only hear the ocean but not see it... until morning, when the golden sun finally came up over the water, shining a wide pillar of yellow light straight at me, from horizon to shoreline. That glorious sun is still beaming down, drying out the sodden earth flooded across New England by a long March deluge. Beneath the sun, a healthy wind has blown all day; it buffeted me cheerily along Ogunquit Beach earlier, where I enjoyed a two-hour walk yielding many tumble-rounded fragments of colorful Maine granite and a giant quahog shell I intend to use for burning sage. (Been needing one of those...and so it came to me.) Lovely.

The Maine Detox plan is simple: liquids, liquids, liquids all day long, and at night, the added option of heartier liquids (i.e. miso soup), avocado, low-starch veggies (raw or cooked) or lightly cooked seafood. (I don't plan on having seafood, but I am in Maine, after all, so it feels right to keep my options open.)

Daily detox liquids will consist primarily of water, tea and freshly pressed juices. Smoothies and blended soups would work, too. But I'm mostly focusing on juice, which is why I arrived with my trusty Omega 8005 juicer in tow, and a cooler full of organic vegetables and fruits to feed it. Basically, I’m doing a modified juice fast. Love the flexibility there, since I’m all about “tools not rules.” Rules have their place but ultimately, I choose freedom.


My cooler stash of juiceable organics includes 3 heads of celery, 2 bunches of collard greens, 3 cucumbers, 5 pounds of carrots, several beets, 3 Granny Smith apples, 2 grapefruits, a ginger root and some limes. If that’s not enough, there’s a very nice market in town where I can fill in items as needed (their produce is not organic, but it is conveniently located! Again, "tools not rules.")


Room 113 at the Beachmere looks out at the oldest building on the property, The Victorian, which you can see in the above photo taken first thing today from my patio. My room, situated in the newer Beachmere South wing, also boasts the cutest little kitchenette ever, perfect for setting up juice shop. So this morning, after writing in my dream journal, doing my Artist's Way morning pages (while happily surveying low tide, see above) and meditating for an hour, I got right to work preparing two delicious, jewel toned, living elixirs.


Making both juices together, one after the other, offered the advantage of only having to clean the juicer once. To me, this was a trade off well worth the slight loss of nutrients that occurs when fresh juice is stored in the fridge for a few hours in a tightly sealed container. A couple of glass Mason jars, brought along for this express purpose, do the trick at keeping oxidation to a minimum.

JUICE ONE: Imperial Emerald
1 head celery
1 bunch collard greens
1 Granny Smith Apple
½ cucumber
½ lime (peel and all)






JUICE TWO: Ruby Burst Surprise
8 carrots
2 ribs fennel (the surprise)
1 or 2 small beets
1 Granny Smith apple
½ lime (peel and all)
large chunk ginger root (the burst)

(This was incredible!)

I feel blessed to have the opportunity to take this time to myself, to cleanse, heal and explore the tranquil space of creative contemplation. And how about you? I’d love to hear about the last time you took yourself on a vacation. Where did you go and what did you do? Or where would you most like to go for a mini-retreat? Leave your comments below. Dream big or small – everything is possible, once you imagine…

Cheers!

Love Yourself Pink Juice

With great respect and love, I honor my heart: my inner teacher. Namaste.

I learned this simple prayer in my new weekly yoga class, Living Room Yoga with Lisa Enzer. At the beginning of each practice we repeat the prayer three times to help center us in the body and open our hearts to the benefits of our efforts.

I love saying these words at the start of yoga practice, and remembering them throughout the day. For truly, the heart is our inner teacher. With compassion and kindness it guides us, it speaks to us, it heals us - if only we will listen.

Love is far more than the romantic notion of fairy tale constructs as served up by culture and society. Love in its highest form is pure bliss energy, union with the divine, a state far beyond the realm of earthly passion!

To become fully realized human beings, we need to immerse ourselves in the energy of love and loving ourselves comes first. By loving ourselves, we become healthy and complete – in body, mind and spirit. Loving ourselves means to do no harm to self or others, to act always in our highest good. Loving ourselves allows us to become whole, and from this place of wholeness, to reach out to the world, to help others, to give service in a manner that will be truly meaningful and beneficial.

Sometimes, to love ourselves we must turn away from relationships or situations that fail to serve our health and happiness. This may be painful, for all parties involved. But if the motivation is pure, the outcome will be positive and healing to everyone. You cannot truly love another unless you love yourself.

One way to love yourself is to nourish your body with the freshest, healthiest living food in the world - starting with plenty of crisp, juicy fruits and vegetables. Eat them every way possible: whole, chopped in salads, blended in soups and smoothies and freshly pressed into juice. As a healing food, fresh raw vegetable juice is the supreme elixir of vitality.

Fresh juice can be made with any combination of veggies, plus apples or other fruit added for sweetness if desired. Usually I like to drink super-alkalizing Green Juice, but in honor of Valentine's Day, I've created a Pink Juice made with all the ingredients pictured below.

As you can see, my pink juice gets its tantalizing color from just a touch of ruby red beet along with a larger proportion of a few basic, inexpensive ingredients. Add more beets and you'll have red juice! Pink or red, this liquid sunshine will please your tender heart as well as your thirsty taste buds. May it help you to embrace the spirit of Valentine's Day and love yourself more deeply than ever, today and every day.

Love Yourself Pink Juice

1 bunch celery
5 good-sized carrots
2 small beets or equivalent
1 granny smith apple
1 lime, peeled and pitted

Put everything through your juicer and enjoy.
Makes about one pint (two cups) of gorgeous pink juice.

3-Day Mini Cleanse: Day 2

My sixteen year old son, Zack, decided he wanted to join me on the 3-Day Mini Cleanse - I am so excited! He's doing a modified version that looks something like this:

Breakfast: Green Smoothie
Snack: Fresh Fruit and/or Superfood Fruits (Goji Berries, Golden Berries)
Lunch: Avocado & Veggies Sandwich on Sprouted Grain Bread. Raw Veggies.
Snack: More Raw Veggies or Fruit, as desired
Dinner: Large Raw Salad with choice of seed cheese, raw goat cheese, baked sweet potato, sprouted grain toast, flax crackers
After Dinner: water, herb tea, fruit if desired
All Day: plenty of water or herb tea

So basically, he's just having more food than me, plus the sprouted grain bread for school lunches (providing ease and normalcy). So far, he's doing great, despite reporting feeling more hungry than usual. (He is a teenage boy, after all, which is just one step removed from a bottomless pit when it comes to food.)

Here's the skinny on Day 2.

My green juice was extra yummy thanks to this fresh pineapple I happen to be working on. I cut fresh pineapple from the bottom up in big round slices, trim off the skin and store the remainder standing up on a plate in the fridge. I like to see its sturdy, cactus-like plume top descending towards the plate with each subsequent slice.

Pineapple Green Juice
one inch thick slice fresh pineapple, skin removed
one crisp red apple (honeycrisp, fuji, braeburn)
one bunch celery
one bunch collard greens
one lime, peeled

This recipe makes a quart of juice. In the photo, the jar is not full because I already drank one glass before I took the picture! Isn't the color completely gorgeous?
A few hours after the juice it was smoothie time. Today's smoothie was grapefruit-blueberry-banana-kale with acai, stevia, bee pollen, chia gel and maca. I made enough so that Zack could have his for breakfast and I could have mine at lunch. I stirred some cayenne into mine, also. Very filling.

Truth be told, I hardly get hungry at all on these mini-cleanses. I find the food so tasty and satisfying. It's so nice to simplify my intake...and not have to give up enjoyment, since I do love making and eating yummy food.

To that end, I got creative at dinner and made a Creamy Cabbage Salad using Pumpkin Seed Cheese, thinned down with a little water, for the dressing. This was served on a bed of red and green oak leaf lettuce. Zack proclaimed it tasted like chicken salad, which I guess is a good thing. I thought it was divine. Here's the basic recipe with some photos that I'm afraid, don't do the living colors justice.

Creamy Cabbage Salad with Cilantro Pumpkin Seed Cheese Dressing
1/2 green cabbage
1/8 red onion
1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
generous pinches of thyme, sage, celery seed
1/2 box cherry tomatoes
1 package white button mushrooms
1 clove garlic
teaspoon or so wheat-free tamari or nama shoyu
about one third cup pumpkin seed cheese (click here for recipe, but substitute cilantro for the parsley.)
water
small handful dulse seaweed

Juice lemon into a large bowl and add sea salt. Slice cabbage thinly, add to bowl and toss well. Mince red onion and add this to cabbage along with thyme, sage and celery seed. Stir well and allow to marinate for one to two hours, tossing occasionally.

Mince garlic and combine in a medium bowl with tamari. Slice mushrooms and add to garlic-tamari. Stir well and allow to marinate for fifteen minutes or longer.

When ready to assemble salad, add marinated mushrooms and cherry tomatoes to cabbage and toss. Combine pumpkin seed cheese with a little warm water and stir into a thick paste, the consistency of blue cheese dressing. Add this to the salad and toss well. Tear dulse into small pieces and mix in. Let salad sit a while so flavors can marry. Serve on a bed of fresh crisp greens.

So that is Day 2 of the 3-Day Mini Cleanse. Oh - I had dessert: 2 dates dipped in maybe 2 tablespoons of raw almond butter. (What a splurge!) Followed by a nice mug of medicinal herbal tea - an echinacea blend from Traditional Medicinals, one of my favorite packaged tea companies.

I'm feeling pretty energetic - had a great yoga class today with snow falling outside the studio window...tomorrow I plan on rebounding to help move any released matter through my lymphatic system for elimination. (Always remember, a cleanse requires that the waste leaves the body - otherwise it's just a potential cleanse!)

Living in the Raw

On August 17th I started a little raw food experiment, upping my raw food intake from high raw to very high raw. Very very very high.

For those who don't know, the "raw food diet" is defined as a diet that contains eighty percent or more raw food. Not necessarily exclusively raw, just 80%. This will come as a relief to many people who are drawn to raw food nutrition but hesitate to give up all cooked food, the option of going out to dinner with friends, etc.

There's a significant degree of confusion or, in some cases, competition in some circles around the whole issue of "how raw" a person is. For many people, there are times or situations when one wants or needs to commit to being strictly 100% raw. Karen Knowler, the UK's exuberant Raw Food Coach, calls this "going through the eye of the needle." I respect people who choose this path, for however long. I've walked on it myself and there's a lot to be said for adhering to that kind of discipline while remaining soft in one's heart.

The current experiment going on here is a step down from 100% rigidity, although exceptions are pretty much limited to things like miso and other condiments (prepared mustard, curry paste, organic soup broth powder) plus some restaurant-friendly items like goat cheese* or olives that make it possible for me to be relaxed when going out to eat with "normal" people. (This happened today.)

Speaking of normal people, many do wonder what on earth a raw fooder actually eats, anyway? Is it just a lot of salad and fruit? Isn't that boring?! I thought I'd answer that question by sharing a few days of my raw food diet-lifestyle, just to show how varied it is, and how delicious!

Let's start with today, Tuesday. FYI, the tostada shells at dinner are a version of a Wild Rice Flatbread from Living Cuisine, Renée Loux-Underkoffler's magnificent un-cookbook. I made these with red rice instead of wild rice and they are fantastic. The soup was gently warmed to 100 degrees, just steaming, to preserve life force & enzymes intact.


BREAKFAST
water. herb tea. Green Juice (celery, kale, carrot, apple, lemon, ginger)

LUNCH
Greek Salad (From Panera restaurant. Feta cheese and olives not raw.)
Apple

SNACK
Sacred Chocolate (69% dark chocolate; 1/3 bar)
2 Seckle pears (from my tree - delicious!)
tea with raw honey

DINNER
big slice of Manchego raw sheep cheese (appetizer)
Raw Blended Soup (Cream of Sweet Corn and Zucchini Dill)
Guacamole Tostadas (Cilantro-Lime Guacamole, Purple Cherokee Tomatoes, Butter Lettuce, Manitok Wild Rice Flatbread)

EXERCISE
AM - 20 minutes rebounding, yoga
PM - 20 minute dog and cat walk (Bonnie, the one-year old kitten accompanied Stella and I. Her brother Clyde stayed home this time.)

* Note: raw fooders are often vegan, but not always. I admire and aspire to an animal-free diet but as a Protein Type O, do well at this point with some goat cheese and even sushi in my raw diet.

Ginger Green Juice

The fudge didn't last long but green juice continues to be a daily drink, even after my new year's fast! Here's a favorite recipe with lots of ginger to help keep the internal fires burning in wintertime. The taste is tangy with a hint of sweetness; the bonus is oodles of nutrition, including eye-healthy lutein, blood-fortifying iron, bone-building calcium and other minerals. If you have an Omega or Champion-style juicer like me, try alternating the squishier items (apple, cuke, lemon) with the more fibrous celery and greens to help keep everything moving smoothly through the gear.

Ginger Green Juice

1 large hunk of ginger (up to an inch long, or more!)
1/2 large cucumber
2-3 celery ribs
2 large leaves kale OR equivalent - use any dark green or blend of leafy greens (parsley, romaine, spinach, chard, etc.)*
1 granny smith apple
1/2 lemon, peeled and pitted

*For the juice in the photo I used about 10 sprigs each dandelion, watercress and curly parsley in place of kale