Almost Raw Granola Recipe

Just made this granola recipe for the farmers market. It is super easy to make and way more nutritious than the sugary version from the store.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees

2 cups oats
3/4 cups almonds
3/4 cups cashews
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup maple syrup
1tbsp cinnamon
1tsp salt
4-5 large dates, chopped
2tbsp coconut oil

Chop nuts into pieces or grind in food processor. Mix with all other ingredients until it all sticks together. Oil baking sheet with one tbsp coconut oil and bake at 200 degrees for about 40min.
Let it cool and serve with almond milk and fresh berries!

Yum I am excited for breakfast.

Love and Cookies

Jennifer

Easy Black Bean Salad

 

This salad is super filling, full of fiber, protein and can be made in a pinch. You can use fresh soaked and cooked beans or the canned ones, just make sure you rinse them well. Please use organic corn, conventional corn will be genetically modified.
I made it for a party the other day and everybody loved it. I have to thank Corina for the recipe, I just tweaked it a little. Go eat your beans!!



Black Bean Salad

 Ingredients:
 2 cups cooked black beans
1 1/2 cups organic corn
1 red or yellow bell pepper, diced
1 avocado, diced
3 tomatoes, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/3 cup lime juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp cumin

Preparation:

In a large mixing bowl, combine the beans, corn, bell pepper, tomatoes, onion and cilantro and gently toss. Whisk together the remaining ingredients, then pour over the beans mixture and gently stir to combine. Top with avocado. Chill for at least an hour to allow flavors to mingle.

Love and Cookies

Jennifer

Eating

I watched the documentary ''Eating'' the other day. Very informative and should be an absolute must see for every one, actually I think it should be the law to show it in schools, should be a part of our children's education.

Our government guidelines are ridiculous, our food pyramid is retarded. America trusts the government, they trust their doctors, they trust people they hear and see on TV. When it comes to nutrition, don't trust anyone but yourself! Do your own research and please use your big brain. Think, use common sense.


The ''disease prevention'' pyramid


Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Diseases were almost non existing until the 1900. Everything started with processed foods and a diet high in animal protein . And even then, these diseases were found among rich people, that could afford meat and 'foods' that was produced in a factory. Clogged arteries are already developing in school children nowadays and people still wanna tell me, that it has nothing to do with the way we eat!!

You are brainwashed that you need meat and dairy, freaking brainwashed! Yes, our ancestors were hunters and they did kill and eat animals, but maybe once or twice a year. Not for breakfast, lunch and dinner...but were do you get your protein!!! Did you ever hear of a protein deficiency? No, me neither! You have to be very undernourished and starving to be ''low on amino acids''. Protein is build from amino acids, and 9 of them are essential, meaning you have to get them through your food. There is so much protein in plants, that you will never have a problem meeting your daily requirements and it is also easier to break down and digest. Just because the chicken breast says 20g of protein, doesn't mean you will absorb it.
 



Cholesterol is in animal products and only in animal products, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, clogged arteries, stop eating animal! Fish and chicken are not better choices. Chicken breast contains 126 mg of cholesterol in a medium serving, salmon 116 mg and beef 127 mg. Not really a big difference. BTW where do you think does the salmon gets its omega 3's from? The sea vegetables the fish consumes. You are better of eating nori, dulse, flax, chia seeds and walnuts and you don't have to worry about high mercury and toxic waste poison.

Animal products are literally killing thousands of Americans and other populations around the world. I guess that is the way the animals fight back. We torture and kill them and in return they kill us! How ironic!How can you eat animals and call yourself an animal lover. Who says that your pets life is worth more than the pig you eat? I am sure you wouldn't eat your dog, well people in China do and in India a cow is a holy animal that cannot be harmed. Animals are highly intelligent creatures, they give us their trust and we break it, over and over again.




When people adopt animal-based diets, heart disease and cancers suddenly become peoples biggest killers.It is happening all over the world, in countries like China and Japan where people used to thrive on a plant based diet. When they are replacing their rice and veggies with Mc Donald's diseases are spreading like wildfires.

Animal based diets deprive the body of oxygen. Deprive the heart of oxygen-you will get a heart attack. Deprive the brain of oxygen-you get a stroke.Deprive the blood of oxygen-you will get cancer.

Heart disease, diabetes and cancer are preventable. We don't need a cure, we need prevention. Every adult has cancer cells in his body, at sometime in their life. There is nothing we can do about it, but we can do something about how our immune system reacts to it! Our immune system is our cure for cancer. If the storm comes and it will, what will your house be made out off? Our immune system is a fighter, just how it can fight off a cold it can fight off cancer cells, but you have to provide it with strong building blocks. Green leafy vegetables, fruits, veggie juices, legumes and grains are gonna make you strong and turn your immune system into a fighting machine. The cure for cancer is strengthening your immune system by changing to a plant based diet. Your medicine is found in your grocery store, garden and farmers market.

Raising animals for food, kills and destroys our environment. Would you ever open your refrigerator, pull out 16 plates of pasta, toss 15 in the trash, and then eat just one plate of food? How about leveling 55 square feet of rain forest for a single meal or dumping 2,400 gallons of water down the drain? Of course you wouldn't. But if you're eating chicken, fish, turkey, cow, milk or egg that's what you're doing—wasting resources and destroying our environment.

Stop being ignorant just because you love meat!!! If we want a future for our children, the way we eat needs to be changed.

Love and Cookies

Jennifer

Brain over Binge

Happy Thursday everyone, hope you are all having a great week so far, enjoying life and the last sunny days in Chicago! I am sucking the sunshine in until the last one disappears for the next long couple of month.

I have been reading the book ''Brain over Binge'' by Kathryn Hansen. I thought I have a lot of knowledge, when it comes to the topic of bulimia, but I was impressed and very intrigued on how she looks at the vicious cycle of binging and purging.

 


Kathryn is a ''recovered'' bulimic herself and describes in detail her unconventional approach to recovery. She offers a very unconventional perspective to the canvas of eating disorders, meaning she doubts therapy and that binge eating and/or bulimia is more about self-control and free will.

When young girls and women develop and eating disorder,they are usually send to therapy.In conventional therapy, they are told that binging and purging has to do with deep issues. Experiences in their past or present that they haven't coped with. From the beginning on, eating disorder patients have to resolve their problems and emotional feelings to get in control of the disease.Eating until you are sugar drunk and purging because you feel guilty are signs that you want to shut out the real world and always have to do with deeper issues! Really?! Bulimia, Anorexia and other eating disorders are looked at as a disease. But is it really a disease? Do we really have no control over if we want to stuff ourselves until we feel sick and numb? Are our lives suddenly, magically improving and problems fade away, because we are not binge eating anymore?

I can speak from my own experience that sometimes you make excuses for binge eating! ''I had a tough day'', ''That idiot doesn't get me'', ''I am bored", ''It is OK to binge, as long as you get back on track''. The last statement is something you hear a lot in therapy. You will have setbacks, but it is important to keep on fighting.I get it, but for how many years are you supposed to have setbacks, how many excuses can you make?!
Just to be clear, I do not want to offend anyone, I know that struggling with an eating disorder is an awful, time and life consuming thing.
But do we really have no control!!!!!????

As Kathryn states in her book, most eating disorders start in teenage years, most of them are girls. Our society puts pressure on us, especially on young women, how to look a certain way, skinny equals perfect. We all know how influenced we can get when we are teenagers. For some it might be cigarettes, for some alcohol and for others it is the wish to be skinny. You probably just have to go into a class of High School students, and I can guaranty you, that a big topic under girls is diet and how to lose weight.

Maybe that is why bulimia and binge eating develops! When we starve our body, sooner or later our brain is gonna go crazy. Our brain and body doesn't know that we live in the time of food abundance, and that there is always plenty of it available. There is a part of our brain, the subcortex, the animal brain, that just wants to watch out for us. It is wired to tell you to get as much food as possible, if you starve yourself over a period of time. Meaning if you deprive yourself of food and nutrients, you will have the urge to binge tons of unhealthy, fatty, sugary foods. A long time ago, people sometimes stuffed themselves, because they didn't know when food would be available again. Today, at least in the western world, we do not have to worry about that! Your animal brain just wants to prevent you from starving.It is like a defense mechanism.

The human part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that has the power. Free will, self-control and self-reliance . It has the power to control your actions. No matter what thoughts, feelings or cravings the animal brain generates automatically, the human brain can choose the action. Nobody forces you to binge! Just like nobody forces anybody to pull the trigger..

Is binge eating a habit? It might be, a very bad one too. Are you always binge eating in the same situations. When you are alone, bored, or when you are stressed.
Are these triggers just excuses to binge? Do you feel better after?

In therapy you learn that something is wrong with you, meaning you had a dysfunctional childhood, if you have an eating disorder I guess you could waste your whole life figuring out who to blame. I think we all had some issues growing up, some more some less. Our parents can only do their best. We cannot blame binge eating and bulimia on our parents, ex-lovers, friends or teachers. We have self control and if we forgot how to use it, it is time to get it back.

Like all habits, we have to relearn how to change them. But if we really separate ourselves from the part of our brain that wants to binge, because it is used to doing it for so many years, maybe bulimia is not a disease. A bulimic binges and if the binging is non existing, the purging will stop automatically. No binge, no purge, no bulimia! If we assure our animal brain, that there will always be enough to eat, maybe after a while it will trust us again and the urges will go away. I am not surprised our bodies and brains are so messed up, by the way we treat them.

I personally think, that Kathryn's book is a refreshing take on bulimia and binge eating. It is empowering, knowing that you and only you can change yourself for the better. You are in total control of yourself. Stop being a victim, stop trying to run away from your life. Your life is your responsibility and your choice!


Love and Cookies

Jennifer

A taste of Sweet-Cranberry Rice

I just made this dish from my new favorite book ''Clean Food''.
Finally a book that combines vegan cooked with raw foods, has gluten and soy free recipes and the best part..they are easy and quick to prepare. You do not need a million ingredients for one side dish.


A taste of Sweet-Cranberry Rice

1 cup wild rice, cooked
1/2 cup brown rice, cooked
1 cup chopped mushrooms
3 stalks celery diced
2-3 tbsp red onions diced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/8 cup fresh parsley
21 seasoning to taste
Salt to taste 

You can either saute the onions in water or use a little bit of coconut oil. Saute onions over medium heat for about 3min or until translucent. Add celery, mushrooms and spices. Cook for another 3min.
Add rice, parsley and cranberries, cook until heated through. Toss in bowl, stir everything together and add almonds. Adjust seasoning to liking. Serve as a side or main dish with a green salad.

Love and Cookies

Jennifer

Sweet as Sugar Chocolate Pie

So this is one of these recipes that should be made for special occasions. It is not healthy or nourishing (well maybe a little)  but it is heavenly, amazingly delicious and worth a sugar hangover. For all of you who can not bake, you cannot mess up this ''no bake'' pie.


Sweet as Sugar Chocolate Pie

 

Crust
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup almonds or walnuts
1 cup dates

Process all ingredients in food processor until it all sticks together.
Press into a spring pan and set aside.

Filling
1 container organic silken or firm tofu, 12oz
1 cup dark (vegan) chocolate chips
2tbsp almond milk
1tbsp vanilla
Fruit of your choice

Preparation
Melt the chocolate chips over low heat, stirring frequently to ensure the chocolate doesn't burn
Once the chocolate is melted, blend together silken tofu, chocolate and almond milk in food processor until smooth and creamy. Pour into pie crust and refrigerate until firm, at least one hour. Decorate with fruit of your choice, i like strawberries, raspberries and bananas.



Enjoy every bite

Love and Cookies

Jennifer

Why Milk Sucks!!!!

So once and for all, milk and dairy sucks! If you want to do something for your health and your children's well being, cut the white poison. You will be amazed what a huge difference it will make.

I listed a few reasons on why, once and for all you should skip the Moo-juice!!!

 

 

 

 

1. Cows are not milk machines. After years of living in filthy conditions, being kept constantly pregnant, and being forced to produce 10 times more milk than they naturally would, dairy cows are slaughtered.

 

2. "Moo" is not your first language. Human babies are not calves, so why treat them like it? Humans are the only animals who drink breast milk after infancy and the only animals who drink milk from a different species. It makes as much sense for people to drink cow's milk as it would for dogs to drink giraffe's milk!

 

 

4. Studies show that over 75 percent of the world's population is lactose-intolerant. Can you say abdominal cramps, bloating, and diarrhea? The reason for this, is a lack of the enzyme ‘lactase’ which is responsible for breaking down the lactose (a sugar in milk) in the digestive track.

 

5. Dairy is scary. There's more to that glass of milk than you think. Dairy products are commonly contaminated with blood, pus, pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics.

 

There's veal in your cereal. Milk fuels the cruel veal industry. Considered byproducts of the dairy industry, male calves are dragged away to veal crates when they are just hours old.

 

6. Milk is bad for your bones. Instead of preventing osteoporosis, milk is a big cause of it. Dairy is highly acidic and to bring your blood back into a alkaline or neutral balance, your body leeches calcium from your bones.

 

7. Milk does the planet bad. Bad for mother cows, milk production is also bad for Mother Earth; it's a disastrous source of water pollution. Just one dairy cow produces 120 pounds of waste every day—as much as two dozen people could produce—but with no toilets, sewers, or treatment plants.

 

8. The white stuff isn’t the right stuff. Milk is formulated to meet the nutritional needs of calves—who have four stomachs and gain an average of 115 kg in their first six months. It's crazy for humans to chug moo-juice, and you wonder why people are obese!!

 

9. No grain means lots of pain. Every glass of milk takes a meal away from the hungry. Crops that could be used to feed the hungry are instead used to feed dairy cows. It takes a huge amount of grain cycled through cows to produce a very small amount of milk.

 

10. If you haven't read the China Study yet, please put it on your ''must-read'' list. Devoid of fiber and complex carbohydrates but loaded with saturated fat and cholesterol, dairy products have been linked to heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.

 

Have a beautiful and save Labor Day weekend

 

Love and Cookies

 

Jennifer

Sunshine Salad

Really, I have such a hard time to let the Summer go! I always knew I am a summer girl, but I definitely realized it this year. My move to California will happen, sooner or later...
This salad puts the sunshine in my heart, with all its beautiful vibrant colors and the fresh juicy taste of pineapple and mango!! On my today's love list.




Salad ingredients:

1 cucumber
1 handful macadamia nuts
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 bunch green onions
1 mango
2 cups of pineapple
4 stalks celery
2 handfuls of mixed salad greens
Several handfuls of spinach
Sea salt

Dressing ingredients:

2/3 cup date syrup
1 small bunch dill
2 limes, juiced
1 pinch cayenne pepper
3/4 cup sesame or olive oil
1 handful of fresh cilantro
3 tbsp organic dry roasted peanut butter

Preparation:

Process the cucumber, celery, peppers, green onions, mixed greens and spinach in a food processor with the slicing blade or just with a knife. Try to get the pieces as small as you can.
Chopping green onions is more efficient with a knife than a food processor.
Chop macadamia nuts and dice mango and pineapple.
Blend remaining ingredients for dressing.
Mix all the salad ingredients and toss with the dressing. Mix well and let sit for a while to let the flavors combine. Or just munch it up right away!


Love and Cookies

Jennifer