YUMMY!!!! Dinner, Shakes and Pudding!

Believe it or not, this picture was our dinner tonight at day #2 on the Raw food challenge. I think my husband was shocked but it was really filling.

I made a Raw vegan Avocado dip, with awesome superfoods, it was delicious! We used raw organic zucchini as our "french fries" here. The salad was made at lunch time and the pecan butter was left over from farmer's market, everything was delicious!

For desert I made two things:

1. A Raw strawberry shake

(coconut meat and it's water plus fresh strawberries and honey)

2. A Raw mango pudding

(coconut meat and it's water, honey and mango)

Both inspired by the raw food family's recipe "coconut and strawberry pudding", go on their site to check out the exact measurements and video: www.therawfoodfamily.com

I was speechless when I made it. I thought I was in heaven, really!

My husband liked it so much he opened up two more coconuts and we made everything so fresh. Only ingredient missing was the vanilla bean, I didn't have any and didn't want to use the fake substitutes. It was fine without it.

What an amazing day! I'm pretty tired now so going to bed..

Here are a couple notes to myself:

1. I need to throw away LESS in the compost. Way too much can be re-used in drinks or raw soups...

2. I need to find more creative recipes such as tonight's to make things fun and include superfoods.

3. I need to share more of this healthy stuff with people, they got no idea what they missing!

4. I will need suhail to shop for some much needed items...but I hope not to ask him soon. I have to do without what I ran out of.

I bought something today...eeeek....

I cheated today..I bought something but it was a gift not for myself....I guess I should disclose that "no shopping" means no shopping at all for me, and if I do shop it's with money I made somehow, not from my savings. AND if I do need something I will ask my husband or someone to buy it. Ahhh, that feels better , I didn't want anyone thinking I'm reallllllllly cheating, I'm trying to keep it real.

Today was first day of homeschooling. It was fun! No one came for the co-op but that's ok we still had homeschooling because that's what I want for my kids. So we talked about surah Kalf and the story of the two gardens, then we talked about trash and how we shouldn't leave trash on our yards or anywhere AND then, I brought out some plastic items I had washed and showed hisham how to use them in his classroom. We found use for a lid, a carton box, strawberry case and a small bottle. He will incorporate them into his kitchen play area lol

Then, we went outside for a garden tour, we looked at some veggies and picked some herbs that are growing nicely, alhamdulilah.

I just had salad cause I didn't have a nice lunch, it was mostly snacks. Salad was delicious as I add a number of superfoods, it was yummy and filling.

I was listening to a cd on Acai berries. They are known as "the beauty berry" because they help with hair and skin and give you positive energy. It does wonders for the small intestine and villi. I love that cd. All cd's like that I need to memorize!!!

Now I will clean up a bit, pray and start reading Quran, let's see how far I get and what insights I gain God willing. I think more than reading 1 part a day I should simply read for reflection. To be honest, I have been so busy, I haven't had time to sit and read Quran and I don't like that. I need to do it daily that's why I thought of it as a challenge but it really isn't, it's just an excuse to make this a daily habit! In other words, it is not really a challenge as it is easy and so rewarding to do!

DAY 2 Must Organize

ok this morning something happened that hasn't happened in months. I woke up tired.
I don't know why this happened but I have some thoughts.
One, I haven't taken my vitamins lately. Two, I took the kids to the Gym and I was doing a lot of exercise with them although it was a kid's gym. Three, I have also been doing a lot of physical work at home and no nap.

Today I want to schedule everything in a way where I can check off things I need to do. Yesterday was great but I didn't do these two: no planting and no reading 1 part Quran. To make up for that today I have to plant 2 things AND read 2 part Quran. HMMM, I don't know if I can do that.

I have to, I MUST try my best to stay on schedule or else I'll fall behind. Alhamdulilah I don't need to buy anything today either,got all the essentials so it's a matter of just organizing myself better. As we run out of items, we will do without them....that's the challenge!

Dinner #2

So far so good, dinner was amazing! and my husband was ok with it he told me he was full although he asked me at the beginning "where's the food?" LOL I'm proud of him! We are doing this as a family so even kids are eating vegan pate and raw veggies and so far they like it! I have to try some new dishes, the zucchini pasta and nori rolls are getting repetitive... I have to try something with mango and coconut! I have them both, shouldn't be too difficult.

Ok more tomorrow! goodnight :)
peace

KPFK RADIO

Boy I have so much to share...I went to mommy and me gathering at the kids' gym. I thought I read the email which said it was free ...I got there and then they charge $5 a child which is not bad...but I can't spend any money for 1month...soooooo, I saw my friend Hala there and she lend me money to pay. I told her I'll pay her back but she insisted I keep the money so I gave her some items I'm selling to raise funds for Ronan. So that worked out! I didn't have to pay plus, we got some donations for Ronan! I was so happy :)

My husband liked the raw vegan snacks I brought for him...that's great, now I got hungry so I'm eating banana chips.
I was craving some coconut water but it's almost done and I can't BUY new water, so I'll have to open up a coconut and I plan to fill the bottle from fridge with fresh coco juice. I want to also make a raw vegan coconut pudding I got the recipe from www.therawfoodfamily.com, using the coconut meat and other stuff. My only problem is I don't have vanilla bean..I have the imitation vanilla but I can't use that during the raw food diet...so we'll have to find an alternative!
I LOVEEEEEEEEEEE the Jasmine tea I got from the Indian store, it's wonderful! I been telling everyone I know about it as it has great properties to beat depression, stress, headaches and much more.
I head the awareness show on KPFK, that's my favorite show all the time, I made a pledge to the station as it is people owned and I love the fact that it has the best quality programs! But I can't pay it off till next month when I can spend money. So I told them please bill me in a month LOL!
Please support them, they are the best!
www.kpfk.org
(90.7FM, they are online live too!)

today 10am in the morning....

So far alhamdulilah, things are going well.
I managed to "de-clutter" the bedroom a bit...I washed the cloth diapers for bilal so now they are ready to go. Hisham is wearing cloth underwear. We will go out for couple hours so I have to keep regular diapers for bilal (I'm kinda cheating...).
For lunch I made a few things for my husband which I wanna drop off.
Hisham had organic/vegan breakfast. nuts, seeds, berries and almond water (or almond milk as it is called). He said it was yummy.
For snacks on our outing today we will have organic banana chips (which are dehydrated not cooked in any way) and water....I'm not sure what to expect at the mommy and me class today...but we will figure it out! I bet they will serve at least one fruit or veggie, that's what we'll eat.
I still have to plant something, but it's raining outside, maybe I'll use a pot and grow something indoors.
At the 99C store I found these ceramic small pots with the label of some herbs, very nice! for $1 only it was an awesome thing cause I plan on giving these away as gifts!
I'm off to drop off food/drinks to suhail at his office and let's see what else I get to do...I'm really happy so far, nothing processed, everything raw organic and delicious! So far, we are off to a great first day on raw foods!!!!

Check out some inspirational videos at: www.therawfoodfamilly.com

ok, so I managed to organize myself to be able to achieve all my goals for this month....and I don't think it will be that difficult, I just probably will need some support although I'm pretty much a leader by nature alhamdulilah!

No shopping
When I told my husband I'm not going to shop for 1month I think he thought I was crazy and I think I heard a noise (I was over the phone) and perhaps he fell off his chair lol.
But it's not impossible!
I think we are living in a very immature way and everything is "needs" and "wants" and "musts" and it shouldn't be that way!
I went to Costco yesterday and bought some awesome stuff to be able to survive for 1month and I got some really cool items, I surprised myself!
Then, I went to the 99C store and got some glass jars, organizational tools to get me started.

RAW FOODS
So we started vegan organic raw foods last night and I had gone to the farm to pick up some fresh veggies and I hope these last a while...and if they are gone by week 1, I will be harvesting whatever I can from backyard and will even ask my neighbors to share their veggies as they are both gardeners!

ZERO WASTE
so I have been recycling a lot and then I thought well maybe I can bring all trash back into the earth (as it is fruits and veggies anyway, no cooked or animal products). So I asked the farmers what tips they have for composting. I was so shocked, all you need to do is dig a 1" by 1" hole in the backyard and put all your stuff there and cover it, start a new one! This is amazing! I thought I had to toss and turn it and water it, all the things I read somewhere but no!
So Zero waste for me is not that bad at all.
Diapers were an issue but I'll do cloth from now on, which is something I prefer for kids and have done it with my eldest son anyway...
The other issue is milk...It's not in a recycled container..it's on a plastic one. I thought of transitioning Bilal (my young son) into drinking fresh fruit juice, coconut water and almond milk....so I will try doing that, that way I make my own juices and milks and that might save us money, and the pressure of having to use bottled milk..

Planting 1 thing a day
So this shouldn't be difficult as I plant daily anyway or work in the garden. Now I can plant flowers or more veggies and I just need to organize it better to keep track of where I'm planting lol.

De-cluttering
I want to de-clutter one place of my house DAILY and record what I do.
It's really important to live a clutter-free life!!! You can think better! It's amazing the power of organization.

Make money
This aspect will be a bit more secretive as I don't see myself sharing how I make money but I can give "general" guidelines....I'm excited about this one, specially since my husband doesn't want me working..I just want to be able to bring in some money from the sale of items or for my dedicated work...we will see



And there you have it, a taste of what this month challenge will be like, I'm very excited and I hope I can cope!
more coming...

peace,
gaby