Last week when I was unable to move much from a car accident I was in, an old employee and sweet friend came over with her mom to bless me with a meal.  It was so delicious, and totally hit the spot.  She was even kind enough to bring over a copy of the recipe for me, making sure it was safe for Ellington since I’m nursing.  People’s kindness is so humbling!  One bite of her soup, and I was texting her that I would have to blog that incredible recipe.  Yum!  I have been craving it ever since I finished it off, and I made it today for my family to enjoy.  It was a hit with them too!

An added bonus is that it can be used on the Standard Process 21 Purification Program, on the Hallelujah Acres Diet and you can easily add in more protein for pregnant/nursing moms.  I cooked it as the recipe said for JB (vegan diet), and then I added chicken and quinoa for me (more protein).

Here is the recipe.

We have really been enjoying quinoa because it tastes so good, is easy and quick to cook, and provides a great source of protein.  Try it if you’ve never used it before.  It’s easy to replace recipes that call for brown rice with quinoa instead.  You can do so many things with this delicious food!  I ran across this recipe for quinoa that we also tried tonight.  Again, my family loved it!  Plus, I had never roasted garlic before, and I will definitely be doing that more often too.

Here is that recipe.

I sauteed the bell peppers and mushrooms in coconut oil, and added a little bit of tamari to them.

Finally, this third quinoa recipe is from my friend Lesley.  She brought it to a party, and as soon as I tasted it, I begged her to post the recipe.  She did, and we’ve already made it three times at the house; one of those was for mom who insisted she watch and learn how to do it.  It’s really simple and so delicious too.

On to the recipes…  Some of these have been our favorites around the Haggerton household for a while, but some have become new favorites since JB is doing the Hallelujah Acres Diet.  You can read about his journey here.  He is, ironically, content just eating plain salads a lot, but I feel the need to be a great wife and come up with really good recipes that are raw (or mostly raw) and creative.  This is especially true when we have to go to parties, which has happened frequently with the holiday season.

First, the Sunny Raw Kitchen’s Ranch recipe.  A friend and client told me about this a long time ago, but I hadn’t tried it out for myself until recently.  It is as good, if not better, as she bragged about it being.  And, the longer you leave it in the fridge, the thicker it gets so as to make for a great dip.  I love the fact that the cashews fill it full of healthy protein, and there are not the typical chemicals that you find in normal ranch dressings.  I’d say we like the taste better than store bought ranch too, so it’s a win win! 

Sunny Raw Kitchen Ranch Recipe

1 1/2 cups of organic raw cashews (soak them in purified water for 1-2hrs and then drain)

1 cup of purified water

3 tbsp of lemon juice

1/3 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar (I use Bragg’s)

1/3 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil   

3tbsp of Agave (I used 2 dates and 1/2tsp of honey instead of agave)

2 garlic cloves

1tsp garlic powder

3tsp onion powder

1tsp dill

1tbsp of sea salt

1/2tsp of basil (ours grows like a wild weed, so I use fresh)

Throw all ingredients in a Vitamix (or high powered blender, I assume you could try a food processor but I’ve only used the Vitamix) and blend until creamy.  At the end, mix in 1/4 cup of minced parsley and 1/2tsp minced dill.  Stir well and store in fridge until it reaches desired consistency. 

I use as a dip on all sorts of veggies, and have heard it’s good on chips too.  If the consistency gets too thick for dressings, add more water or olive oil to thin it out.

I’ll post some other favorites later on this week (unless- of course- I have a new baby to fill the blog with instead) so stay tuned, and they are on our Christmas dinner menu so you may want to add them to yours too.  If you try the dip, let me know what you and your fam/friends think; also, I’d love to hear about your favorite healthy holiday recipes.

Something else that is really neat that has been a huge motivator this time around…  And, I doubt when my dad shared this that he understood how much this made me cherish and want to better care for my health.  My dad left today to go to Haiti.  He will be doing water filtration.  But, out of the thousands of men who could have joined him to help, only a hand full could pass the criteria needed to go.  You know why?  Because only a handful were healthy enough!  You can’t be completely out of physical shape or on blood pressure medication and qualify to be on certain teams to go help in a crisis.  How sad that our society is filled with willing people who don’t value their health enough to take care of it so that they can help out in a huge time of need.  People will use the excuse, “Yeah, but they are old and retired.”  Hello!  I would kill to be in a retirement position (money, no children depending on me, no job holding me back, free time) and able to serve.  But, what is the point of working hard to make it to that position if your body is in no shape to serve others when you are available?  How terribly sad!  We have an entire society who is putting food and self gratification ahead of others; and, most don’t even see that as a problem.  With that in mind, I keep my goal ahead of me, and I press on to whip my body into shape and choose foods that are going to help my health not hinder it.  The Lord had a huge plan for us when He told us that our bodies were to be temples.  That is taking on a whole new meaning!

We got creative tonight and tried a new recipe, which we loved:  Stir Fried Spinach and Oranges

2 large bunches of fresh, organic spinach (I used more)

1 orange, peeled.  Remove seeds and cut into bite size pieces

1/4 cup chicken broth (I use fresh stock- Sally Fallon’s recipe from “Nourishing Traditions”)

Sea Salt to Taste

Sesame Seeds to Taste

Tamari Soy Sauce (I left this out, would use it when off cleanse)

Saute spinach in coconut oil until wilted.  Add in remaining ingredients, mix and heat through.  Serve over brown rice.  This would also be delicious with caramelized onions and/or garlic added. 

This recipe is wonderful for those dealing with iron issues or who are pregnant/nursing.  Spinach is a great source of iron and eating it with citrus (oranges) increases its absorbency, enjoy!

Sunday night, I made my Whole Foods run for the week.  I am pretty bad about making out menus for the week, but doing this is vital to surviving the cleanse.  I was feeling rather proud of myself, I had a menu, a grocery list and had times planned out to prep and cook.  My alarm was set for a decent hour Monday morning.  I had it all planned out- plenty of time to cook before heading into the office…  Well, as often happens, babies have other plans.  In my line of work, you have to learn to roll with this.  It’s good at keeping me from being too uptight!  So, after the unexpected phone call, I rushed to drop Harper off at my mom’s, and as I am attempting to speed across town to see this baby’s grand entrance, the little red Jeep in front of me is determined to go 5 miles an hour on a two lane, no pass road.  Urgh!  I finally arrive, park, and run into the house to hear the midwife say, “You can push as soon as Cindy gets here.”  They waited on me!  Thank-you, Jesus!  A precious baby boy was born 5 minutes after I walked into the house.  That was enough excitement for one day; so, I gave myself the freedom to postpone cleansing until Tuesday.  There is my long explanation as to why today marks day 2 for me instead of day 3.  I know, you want to know what all I have been doing cooking and eating. 

We start out with our shakes; which, I am learning to make taste better and better.  Harper loves them so much he comes and dances and screams when he hears the blender going.  And, yesterday we had a precious routine that I could have enjoyed all day:  Yell for my shake, give Harper a sip, Harper smiles and hugs me with his head rested on my shoulder as he pats my back, yells for my shake, and so on and so forth.  Priceless!  And, what better way to get your kids to take their supplements than to add them to a nutritious shake?  Even the pickiest of children would enjoy it.  Yesterday’s shake was just so/so, but today’s was divine! 

Shake Recipe:  1 cup of coconut milk, 2 scoops of SP Complete, 1 tbsp of SP Whole Food Fiber, 1/4 organic banana, handful of organic fresh spinach, 1/4cup frozen organic mangos and 1/4 cup frozen organic cherries with a dash of cinnamon and nutritional yeast

For snacks, I have had celery and carrots dipped in hummus, clementines and apples.  Because I am nursing and need extra protein and do not have digestive issues (if you did you would want to avoid these), I have done some almonds and eggs too.  For lunch yesterday, we went to Jason’s Deli and enjoyed the salad bar.  For dinner, we had baked organic sweet potatoes with organic butter, sea salt and organic cinnamon with a salad.  Harper ate an entire huge sweet potatoe by himself.  Then, for lunch today, we had a big, fresh salad (organic lettuce, organic celery, organic tomatoes, organic carrots and organic avocado) and sweet potato fries.  Also, we had some leftover stir-fry from yesterday.  That was one of the best stir fries we have had- yum! 

Stir Fry Recipe:  Organic Beet Greens (cut the stems/greens off of a bunch of beets- I had red ones), organic celery, organic carrots, organic brocoli, and organic red onion.  Stir fry diced veggies in coconut oil and season with sea salt, pepper, Bragg Organic Sprinkle and nutritional yeast.  Serve over brown rice.

I haven’t decided what we are having for dinner yet.  But, I am so thankful we got a co-op delivery yesterday.  Again, I highly recommend a co-op like the Healthsource Group.  They make my life so much healthier and easier!!  I feel like we have already gone through half of our share in just one day.  Of course, that is taking into account that Harper is addicted to the clementines!

I will share some new websites that I have found and really like too.  One is Kelly’s.  A few weeks ago, I stole a chicken taco recipe from her.  Bonus?  It’s made in the CrockPot, and who doesn’t love that?!  I have to tell you, I will be making chicken like this more often.  It is so easy, and so delish!  I didn’t know that you could cook chicken breasts in a CrockPot and they would flake apart with a fork.  Not only was this taco recipe great, but you could use chicken cooked like this in soups, sandwiches and salads.  The possibilities abound!  Here is the Taco Recipe.  I used the “Simply Organic Southwest Taco Seasoning” and homemade chicken stock (cooked using Sally Fallon’s ”Nourishing Traditions” recipe I have posted on this blog before) in mine.  Make sure you check all package ingredients- packaged spice companies tend to hide things in them like “partially hydrogenated oils” and “MSG”.  These would ruin your cleanse and your meal, and definitely shouldn’t be fed to your family!

A new veggie dish that we really like too is roasted butternut squash and brussel sprouts.  It is really tasty and simple!  Roasting the brussel sprouts really removes the bitter taste.  In a casserole dish, combine cubed butternut squash and brussel sprouts (bottoms trimmed and cut in half).  Toss with sea salt/pepper and coconut oil.  Roast at 375-400F for 30-45minutes until the edges are brown.  Stir occasionally while roasting.  Enjoy!  Harper likes these too.

For our sweet tooth that we developed over the holidays, we will be using this next recipe on the cleanse a lot.  I love it!  My friends, the Browns, treated us to these the other day.  They are wonderful!  Like I shared last time on the cleanse, I would make my “Almond Joy” version by stuffing with almonds and shredded coconut.  I love this new idea though.  Take organic medjool dates, slice them in half and remove seed.  Mix almond butter (or whatever nut butter you prefer) with a dash of organic cinnamon, sea salt and flax seed.  The flax adds great fiber and a wonderful little crunch (we crave texture a lot on the cleanse).  Spoon the nut butter mixture into the middle of the dates, and enjoy.  Yum, yum, yum!

Again, I would love to hear about your favorite healthy recipes!

Carmen Trease, congratulations, you may contact me to collect your WF giftcard!  I am so excited that my first giveaway went so great…  40 entries, not too shabby for the first freebie .  And, glad I had something to cheer up my day because I had to cancel and reschedule my son’s 1st birthday party today due to fever and throwing up .  It was a sad day in our house!!  Stay tuned, I will have lots more fun giveaways in the near future.  Hope everyone is looking forward to a great week.

Also, I will post home remedies that we used for cold/flu/congestion this season.  I will also share what we used to help naturally boost Harper’s immunity and bring down his fever.

Part of what I love about the blogging world- and admit it, you love it too- are the giveaways and freebies…  And, I know I promised giveaways on my blog.  Don’t worry, I will not disappoint.  I intended to do this sooner, but of course, life got in the way.  So speaking of cleanse, and lifestyle, and celebration, and my friends…  Who doesn’t love Whole Foods Market?!  And, who doesn’t love free stuff and giveaways?!  Whole Foods is a big reason we survived our cleanse so easily, and a big part of what makes this lifestyle easy.  I love Whole Foods, and I am so grateful to have one nearby!  I will not complain about their prices, I see the value in paying good money for good food…  In the words of Jordan Rubin, “You can pay the farmer now, or you can pay the doctor later!”

But, I would like to offer to help out with your Whole Foods bill…  How does a $30 gift card to Whole Foods sound?  Yep, that’s what’s up for grabs, my friends.  How do you win?  The winner will be randomly picked in a few days.  To be entered in the contest, leave a comment on this post.  Want a second entry?  Link me to your Facebook page, and comment telling me you’ve done so.  Want a third entry?  Link my blog on your blog, and comment telling me you’ve done so.  And, for a fourth entry, if you have done the cleanse, write up a testimonial on your blog or Facebook about your experience- I can’t wait to read them (don’t forget to share a recipe or website)!  Winner will be announced at the end of the week, so start commenting and linking!  Also, if you will create an account for free here, your pic will show up when commenting, which is much more enjoyable for me and other readers.

Curious how I ended up after the cleanse?  Well, I lost 11 pounds in 3 weeks, my sugar cravings are gone and I am sleeping a lot deeper.  But, one of our favorite things about this program is that we are cooking at home consistently and enjoying at least 1 (usually 2) meals at home around the table as a family.  I hope you’ll get to experience the wonderful results of making healthier choices, Happy Cleansing!

Lentils and Veggies

3 celery stalks

1 medium onion

2 carrots

2 tbsp of coconut oil

4 cups of chicken or veggie stock

2 cups of lentils (I used brown)

8oz. of organic tomato sauce

2 bay leaves

1/2tsp of dried basil

1/4tsp of oregano

1/4tsp thyme

2 garlic cloves (pressed or chopped)

sea salt/pepper to taste

Sautee chopped onions, celery and carrots in coconut oil until softened.  Add stock to veggies and then add rinsed lentils.  Bring to a boil.  Add tomato sauce and spices, reduce heat and cover to cook on low for 30minutes.  Serve over brown rice.

Here is Heather’s crockpot version:

Lentil Rice Casserole
blend together in crockpot and let sit overnight for optimal health

3 cups water + 1 T soy sauce
3/4 cups lentils
3/4 cup brown rice
1 T dried minced onion or one small onion chopped
1/2 t basil
1/4 t oregano
1/4 t thyme
1/4 t garlic
1 t salt or to taste

cook on low for 4-6 hours, on high for 4.  Since it doesn’t go bad sitting out, I plug it into a timer if I’m going to be gone all day so that it comes on around 1 and is ready for dinner around 6.  Can also bake in the oven at 300 for 2- 2 1/2 hours.

And, here’s what my version looks like:

Squash Apple Soup

2 apples peeled and quartered (I left the peels on because ours were organic)

1 butternut squash peeled and cubed (about 2 inch cubes)

4 cups of chicken stock (or veggie)

1 chopped onion

2 tbsp of coconut oil

1 can of coconut milk

1/2tsp of nutmeg

1/2tsp of cinnamon

sea salt (to taste)

Cook onions in coconut oil until translucent, add apples and squash with chicken stock and coconut milk.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, add nutmeg and cinnamon and sea salt.  Cover and turn down to simmer about 20 minutes- until squash and apples are soft.  Blend soup in a blender or with immersion blender to desired consistency.  Enjoy!

I realize I should have put the yellow soup in a different colored bowl to make the pic look better, oh well, it tastes great!

It makes a big pan- leftovers!  Good thing, since I am eating my third bowl as I type this (did I mention Harper is in the middle of a growth spurt?!).

This next recipe makes you feel like you are cheating, but the great thing about it is- you aren’t…  It was born out of the need to make my mom cupcakes for her birthday while we are cleansing, but not having the willpower to cook her cupcakes and not indulge myself.  I am very thankful for this website!  I adapted these cupcakes from there.  She suggests sweetening them with honey; however, while on the cleanse, I replaced the honey w/ over-ripe bananas.  Mom tried both, and the banana version was voted a better tasting cake.  Also, I did the icing for mom’s bath, but left if off of our cleanse-friendly cupcakes, and we think they taste just fine w/ out the chocolate!  I like them as a nice lil’ snack or for breakfast.  See what you think.

Mini Cleanse Cupcakes 

1 over-ripe organic banana (or 1/4 cup of honey if not on cleanse)

1/2 cup of organic raspberries (frozen is fine, just thaw on stovetop)

1/2 cup and 2tbsp of coconut flour (I bought this at WholeFoods)

1/3 cup of coconut oil

1/2tsp of baking soda

1/4tsp sea salt

3 lightly beaten organic eggs

Smash raspberries (and banana) with a fork, you want to break them up so you don’t end up with a whole berry in the cupcake.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt and whisk to remove lumps.  Whisk in raspberries, banana (or honey) and oil, then add eggs.  If the mixture is extremely dry, slowly add in water until a thick cake-like batter consistency is reached.  Fill muffin tins 3/4 full with batter (I chose mini muffin tins).  Cook 15minutes in a 375 degree oven, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Enjoy warm with butter….  Or, you can add chocolate frosting, like I did for the birthday girl. 

Not as pretty without frosting, but they sure do taste good when you haven’t had bread in a long time.

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup of cocoa powder (unsweet)

1/3 cup of coconut oil

1/4 cup honey

1tsp of vanilla

dash of sea salt

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and mix well.   Refrigerate until desired icing consistency is reached.  This frosting hardens quickly and melts fast too.      

P.S.  I can’t make any guarantees that you will turn out as cute as Harper if you do the cleanse…  See the cuteness I am talking about:

We don’t know where he gets it from!

And, sometimes, mommies accidentally dress their lil’ boys to match their friends…  What can we say, we both like the bargains on onesies at Target

Enjoy your weekend, and try out a new recipe !

The Nourishing Gourmet

Hallelujah Acres

Monica’s Healthsource Group (e-group on Yahoo is very helpful!)

Raw Sacramento

Alissa Cohen

Raw Guru

Those are just a few, hope they help add to your menu.  Please share your favorite sites and/or recipes by commenting on this post.