Bring on the CHI!

Hey Everyone!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I have not been 100% and the weather is so beautiful, I've been trying to spend as much time outside as possible. I can't wait until Fall, it is my favorite season!

I am going to see my doctor on Thursday to try to get on a better plan. I have a few things I want to discuss with him and I am going to fight for what I believe in. Which is not taking Humira (or any TNF blockers) anymore. I am so stressed out about taking a medication that has a cancer warning on it. I has saved my life in the past, but since it's not working now, I don't see any reason to continue taking it.

Anyway, earlier last week I attempted to make Vegan Pad Thai. I used a recipe I found online and some Pad Thai rice noodles I had picked up at Trader Joes. This wasn't anything great, the noodles were stuck together and the flavor just wasn't there. I don't think I will attempt to make it again.
Saturday, T and I did a ton of things including changing the whole front of our house. We plan on doing some construction in the future, but for now it was painting the door red (which in Feng Sui brings prosperity, abundance and success), we also changed the mailbox and lights and put a bad ass door knocker on (a brass lion head). After we did everything I read about Feng Sui for front entrances and found out that everything we did was right, and this will bring lots of good flowing chi!

After all of that work, I made some brown rice pasta with lots of parma, brown rice flour and broccoli--sorta like mac and cheese with trees! YUM!

Tonight I made some wild mushrooms with garlic and onions over brown rice. This was really tasty, even though it was so simple. Sometimes simples meals are the best!

Last but not least, we bought Ginger a new baby this weekend at Whole Foods. It is made from all natural materials, she loves it!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

Butterfly Energy

Happy Weekend Everyone!

I wanted to give you all an update on acupuncture. I am loving it! I went for my third session on Friday and it gets better and better every time. I am getting use too falling into a deep meditative state while I lay there with 20 needles in me. Next time I am sure I will have the whole thing down and I will be able to get to that place right away. My acupuncturist showed me how to give myself an Ampuku Massage on my stomach. She did it to me with some lovely lemongrass massage oil and it felt heavenly. She said she was massaging the organs in my stomach. I told her a few "issues" I have been having and she said I have low Chi. So she worked on that, along with my stomach and kidneys (which are filled with yucky toxins from all the meds I have taken in the past and present). But my skin is extremely clear from the 3 sessions, so she said my kidneys are working better. She also mentioned that next week she is going to have a small list of herbs she wants to start me on. I had been wondering about this, and I was going to ask her this week, but she beat me too it!

Someone had asked in a previous post about the ginger water my acupuncturist told me to drink. First thing in the morning (after lunch and at night) I boil water and pour it over some fresh sliced ginger, I add stevia (she said honey or a natural sweetener would be fine), and I drink it up. The ginger is naturally warming and along with the hot water it brings warmth to my stomach. My new morning ritual is that I do this then take down about 3 ounces of aloe vera gel (inner leaf) and a tablespoon of Udo's DHA oil. It's rather lovely first thing in the morning!

Anyway, sorry for the lack of posts this week. My diet isn't very exciting right now, so I didn't want to bore you with the same meals over and over.

Earlier in the week I made this dish of mustard greens with long grain brown rice. I have never had mustard greens before and I must say, they are delicious! They taste like mustard and brussel sprouts. Mmm, brussel sprouts are my favorite (since I was a wee little one!).
I also made some yummy healing soup. I put everything I had left in the fridge in the pot and cooked away. This soup had veggie stock, garlic, turmeric, ginger, kale, carrots, celery, broccoli and mushrooms in it. Very tasty!

On Saturday, T and I walked around our town and hit up a few little boutique stores. I bought two adorable pairs of earrings from a interesting store called The Farmhouse. The pair on the left are made of natural wood (they aren't painted or anything), and the ones on the right are laser cut, they are extremely light and beautiful. The prices for both were very reasonable, which came as a huge surprise.

We also went to our favorite spiritual store, Success Express. This is the kind of store that you walk into and the smell of incense hypnotizes you. They have some of the neatest things, including, essential oils, incense, angel and fairy statues, religious things, stones, feng sui crystals (which I have hanging in my car), and these beautiful butterflies, that I had to have. Not sure if I have ever mentioned this, but I adore butterflies! The box came with 6 and I hung one in my car and the rest around my house. This little one is hanging out on my kitchen window. Gorgeous right? They are NOT made of real butterflies, just synthetic materials. I would not have dead butterflies hanging around, talk about bad energy.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!!

Warming Up My Tum!

Hey Everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend!

I started my Friday off with a big glass of green juice. This was kale stems, ginger, romaine, apple and cucumber. After this I had my acupuncture session, I am enjoying it so much! I feel so relaxed and wonderful afterwards. This time I talked with my acupuncturist about my diet. She told me I am on the right track with warm foods. She suggested I have a big mug of hot water with fresh ginger and stevia first thing in the morning, before my juice. I have been doing this and I never knew how delicious it would be! Way better then Ginger Yogi Tea, it's fresher and sweeter! Mmm!
Friday night I felt like baking! After talking with VeggieGirl I decided I wanted to make her famous Fig and Almond Blondie's! These turned out delicious! I shared with our little neighbors and my brother in law and his fiance, they got great reviews all around.

Saturday, being a little more adventurous, T and I along with T's brother and his fiancee decided to head to the city for some vegan pizza, that everyone has been talking about. So we went to Cafe Viva Natural Pizza. I am not sure exactly what these slices were called but the one on the left had tofu, olives, sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms and a basil sauce and the on the the right had tomatoes, hemp seeds, garlic and some other veggies. They were both gluten free! These slice were ONE SLICE EACH!! We thought each was 2, so we order 2 slices each. We cut both down the middle and wrapped them up before we even started to eat. Unfortunately, after eating this, late Saturday night I was sick. So I passed on the leftovers the next day.

Right down the street from the pizza place was Stogo's! We all splurged on 3 flavors each (hey, when can you enjoy vegan ice cream from an ice cream shop?). My flavors were: Key lime Pie (made from coconut milk), Maple Walnut (made from Hemp Milk) and Almond Joy (made from coconut milk as well). We all agreed that Almond Joy was the best flavor, hands down! YUM! What a wonderful treat!

Here is a picture of all of the ice creams they sold. They carried soy, coconut, hemp milk ice creams and water based sorbets. They also had some Babycakes cupcakes and raw chocolate bars at the counter! For my brother in laws fiancee and I, this was heaven!

So that wraps up all the fun stuff from the weekend. Sunday was a lazy day, I was still recovering from not feeling well Saturday night. I don't think I will be venturing too much with my diet anymore. Back to brown rice, soups and veggies and I am perfectly fine with that! :)

A Review: The Healthy Cookie: Unbaked

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all have had a great week! :)

I was honored last week when Meghan Telpner asked me to read a copy of her new ebook, The Healthy Cookie: Unbaked, and review it. Just a week before, I had asked her about her old blog, where she chronicled her healing journey with Crohn's Disease. So you can imagine my excitement! As a fellow Crohn's sufferer, any suggestions from someone who has healed from Crohn's is fabulous. Especially since Meghan is now a holistic nutrition counselor. Meghan's ebook has helped me with changing my diet and getting a hold on my life. The Healthy Cookie: Unbaked, is nothing short of spectacular. She journals not only her journey to health, but the life changes that the disease brought about. This is a book about her finding herself. Which something likes Crohn's Disease is bound to bring about. Meghan's journey was so vivid that I felt I could put myself in her shoes and live through her words.

The Healthy Cookie: Unbaked isn't just for someone with Crohn's. This book is for anyone who is finding themselves, or on a journey to health, or if you just like a good adventure. I finished her ebook in almost a day, I could not take my eyes off of the screen, I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. Meghan talks about acupuncture, nutrition, yoga, meditation and most importantly, BOYS! She was very candid and opened about who and what was going on in her life. The friendships she formed and the adventure she took, made me want to life my life with more color. I can not say enough great things about this ebook. Thanks you so much for sharing your story with us, Meghan!

Check out Meghan's Blog Here: Making Love In The Kitchen and
her ebook here: The Healthy Cookie Unbaked

I definitely recommend everyone reading this amazing story!

Strength in Words

Thank you all for the kind words and support!!! I have the most amazing readers! :) For the few that commented for the first time, please keep commenting!! I look forward to hearing from you!

It seems that pretty much everyone comes for the swishy face! So here is some Ginger lovin' for ya!
I must say, she heals me, leaps and bounds with that cutie face! I can't help but smile and kiss her whenever I see her. She's my angel!

I am enjoying the new diet. I feel a lot more relaxed about eating and more fulfilled at the end of the day. I really think this way of eating is going to heal me. When you are sick the way I am, the last thing you want is salad. Hence, my recent comfort meals.

Earlier this week, for dinner I made some light sauteed kale with garlic and some Trader Joes Wild Brown Rice. This rice had daikon radish seed in it. YUM!

For lunch yesterday I made some millet and collards. I added the collards in with the millet to steam while the millet cooked. At the end I added lots of Parma (of course). Perfect and filling! I felt great and stayed satisfied until dinner.

This morning I made some gluten free hot cereal. This was a free sample bag (from Bob's Redmill) I had picked up at the health food store. I made the whole small bag and added some coconut butter, frozen blueberries and bee pollen. Truthfully, I had about 4 bites and was full. I am not use to such a heavy breakfast. I think for now on I am going to stick to green juice in the morning. Then move onto grains in the afternoon and evening.

Have a nice day everyone! Hopefully it will cool down a little here and I can go for a bike ride with T later! :)

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes..

I have come to the conclusion that I need a change. A few things in my life are upsetting me and I can't sit around and just let them control me. First of all, I haven't been feeling great. This has been on going for a while now and I have been avoiding my doctor because I wanted to wait to see how acupuncture works out. I had my first session on Friday and I felt amazing afterwards. I was so calm and it even lessened my bathroom trips at night. I couldn't be more confident about it.



Secondly, I have been talking with a former Crohn's sufferer about how she cured her Crohn's. Not only did she do acupuncture but she ate a whole foods diet. Right now I am at the point, that I am willing to try anything. Raw foods are not helping me. I have concluded that I am feeling too deprived from it and I don't like feeling guilty when I eat something cooked. So I am going to be taking a raw hiatus. I am not sure if I will ever go back to eating high raw. Right now I will include a few raw elements into my diet (juicing, coconut water, avocados, fruits), and raw salads and smoothies will come back later. I am going to focus on whole unprocessed foods. Steamed and sauteed veggies, gluten-free grains, and pureed soups. I am sorry to disappoint my raw readers, I hope you will stick around. My blog is about health, and I think that is the goal for many of us. I will continue to read raw blogs, after all, you are all my friends, we relate on levels beyond food. Veganism will of course stay a part of my life. I will never give that up for more then health reasons.



Lastly, I have been holding myself back in life. Not allowing myself to do things because I am afraid of getting sick. This is no way to live. I have avoided social situations, car trips, activities away from home all because I am worried about being in a situation that I would have to use the bathroom and would be unable too. Not anymore, as soon as I start feeling better, I am living my life. Nothing is going to hold me back! I have been reading a very inspiring story (that I will be reviewing later in the week or early next week) that has me so excited to start living again. I feel strongly that with acupuncture and my fresh clean diet, I will be better, hopefully soon.



Thank you all for your love and support always. Please continue to comment, I don't want to lose anyone of my wonderful readers, you all play a special part in my healing.



Love and Light.

More Comfort

I hope everyone had a terrific weekend!

We had a more relaxing weekend then usual. We really didn't have much to do (for the first time ever). Saturday night still in the mood for comfort, we made vegan eggplant NO PARM. I've made this in the past, we don't use any imitation cheese, just eggplant, brown rice bread crumbs, olive oil, basil, seasonings, and sauce. I brush the eggplant with olive oil and then dip it in the brown rice bread crumbs and bake it before assembling. YUM! We even used eggplant from our garden!!
A typical Monday morning picture of Ginger. She comes downstairs with me in the morning and plops herself on the couch and I wrap her in blankets. Isn't she the cutest?

Last night for dinner I made another Buddha Bowl. This time I used wild brown rice and added peppers (from the garden), red onion, avocado, sprouts, sun dried tomatoes, fresh corn, parsley and raw kraut. Everything was raw besides the rice.

My blender is still on my last nerve, so for breakfast I made some of Gena's soft serve (Umm.. can I do a post without a variation of this?). :) This time I only used 1 and half bananas and about 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries. I also added E3Live and topped it with bee pollen and goji berries. The color was so pretty!

Lastly, I wanted to tell you all about another awesome blog! My friend Julia, of Sassy Gourmet (formally The Gluten Free Gourmet). Has a blog now! Check her out, and stop by her Etsy page, she make some really great gluten free vegan treats!! YUM!

Have a nice day everyone!