TuralNap
12-13-2003, 01:38 AM
The Raw-Vegan's Holiday Survival Guide
Bringing The Light Inside
by Jinjee Talifero
Visit http://www.thegardendiet.com for more information
Bringing the Light Inside
A woman once told me that The Light is there for anyone who is open to it. You can live in the light just by seeking the light and being open to it. To me the light is not some vague new age term. To me the light is Christ, the light is God. And I do think that if you are even open a little bit to the Christ Energy, it will come pouring into you in large amounts, because it is seeking to come in to this world any way it can. It is a beautiful feeling to live in the light, which I have felt from time to time. It is peaceful, easy, joyous, filled with adventure, vastness, abundance, bliss and love.
I think you can seek the light through prayer and meditation, but also through loving and being positive, thinking positive thoughts, doing work you love and feel good about, being in nature, breathing, relaxing, drinking water, and a ton of different ways.
The other day I was thinking of how raw-vegan food brings light into your body. It contains so much water. And if you look at water you'll see it reflects light. It is almost as though it is bringing light into your body. And it is almost a spiritual light. I think the spiritual and physical are very similar, very related, almost reflections of each-other on different planes of life. And in some way I think they must be inseparable.
When I thought of raw food as bringing me into the light, lifting my body to a new level of life so that I can breath and move and live lighter and freer and happier, it became so easy to think of eating nothing but these beautiful light-bringing foods! Why would I want to eat anything else?
The joy of this thought is what I'm carrying in to the Holiday Season. For me the Holiday Season is about Celebrating the Life and the Message of Christ. The message of love for all humankind, peace on earth and good will among men, joy, grace, beauty, truth, goodness, light, love, faith, gratitude, giving, sharing, receiving, and being of good cheer. If I go into the Holiday Season thinking that it is going to be difficult and feeling sad that I'm going to have to deny myself of so many festive foods, that would not really be in the spirit of Christmas. But I have changed my perception of festive foods. I truly deeply feel that raw foods are the best way to celebrate Christmas, by bringing light into my body and my life. And with this as my focus I have faith that I will not be tempted or saddened by any of the traditional Christmas foods around me. And I also have faith that I will not offend or hurt anybody by my way of eating. I believe I'll be guided and will walk in the light, Celebrating fully the joyousness of the Season according to the highest light that I've been blessed with receiving.
I will not preach because I realize that most people are not receptive to this diet. If someone is ready for it, don't worry, they will be beating down your door for information. If people ask me why I am eating the way I do, I might say that I am Celebrating Christmas by eating my favorite foods and nothing else. I might say "this is what I feel like eating right now". I might come up with a new kind of answer on the spur of the moment, inspired by the person who is asking and where they are coming from. I might eat in such a way that I don't attract attention. I may throw a party instead of going to one, in which I make a festive raw feast without mentioning that it is all made of raw foods.
At social situations I will focus on socializing, on the joy that good company brings, on sharing time and gifts with people, rather than focusing on food.
If I fall off the wagon I will not be angry with myself, but rather learn from how the experience makes me feel, and remember the feeling of light that I am seeking.
I will indulge in my favorite raw-vegan Christmas foods. Here is my list and recipes below!
My favorite raw-vegan Christmas foods:
~Mandarin Oranges (Satsumas)
~Oranges
~Organic Granny Smith Apples
~Nuts in the shell (Cracked with a traditional Christmas Nutcracker by the fire!)
~NutNog de Noel
~Happy HempNog
~Christmas Eve NutLoaf
~Very Veggie Sushi Rolls
~Christmas Soup
~Christmas Salad
~Avo-Tomato-Jicama Treat
~Seasons Salsa
~Festive Burrito Wrap
~Christmas Cucumber Dill Salad
~Christmas Tabouli
~Party Veggie Sticks and Dip
~Honey Lemonade Yule Frappée
~Raw Ginger Cookies
~Raw Holiday Apple Pie
~In the Light Lemon Cream Pie
~Raw Festive Fudge Delight
~Yule Log
Here are the Recipes!
~NutNog de Noel
-Soak 1 cup almonds for 4-8 hours
-Put in blender
-Add 2 tablespoons honey
-Add a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt
-Add a dash of cold-pressed olive or flax oil
-Add a dash each of any one or more of these Christmas spices: Nutmeg, Cinnamon, AllSpice, Cardamom
-Optional additions: 2 medjool dates and a banana
-Fill blender up with water
Blend on high until liquefied
~Happy HempNog
-Same as NutNog above, but instead of almonds, use a 1/2 cup of hemp seeds. Makes a thicker nog.
~Christmas Eve NutLoaf
-Two cups of almonds (and/or brazil nuts, pecans, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, or hazelnuts/filbers)
-1 Red pepper
-1 Tomato
-2 cloves Garlic
-1/2 Onion
-5 Mushrooms
-2 tablespoons Whole Pine Nuts
Grind vegetables and nuts in Food Processor with S-Blade. Spread Tahini Sauce on top (2 tablespoons Raw Tahini, juice of 1/2 a lemon juice, 1 teaspoon honey, and 2 cloves garlic finely chopped)
~Very Veggie Sushi Rolls
-Nori seaweed
-1 Avocado
-2 Tomatoes
-1/4 cup Wakame seaweed
-1 clove Garlic
-2 green onions
-5 Brazil Nuts (chopped course)
-dash of Celtic Sea Salt
-2 tablespoons olive oil
Cut up everything, mix into mashed avocado, and wrap in Nori
~Christmas Soup
In a vegetable juicer, juice up a bunch of celery, a bunch of carrots, a bunch of parsley, a bunch of cilantro, a meyers lemon, and a clove of garlic. This is your soup base. Cut up and add tomatoes and/or red bell peppers, more cilantro, an avocado and a 1/4 jicama and you'll have a delicious energy soup made of lovely red, white, and green Christmas-colors. Add a 1/4 cup of cold-pressed olive or flax oil and a teaspoon of Celtic Sea Salt. Add whatever seasonings to taste that you like such as Italian Seasonings. For "heat" you can add some hot peppers. Grind up a cup of almonds (not soaked) in your blender into a fine flour and add to thicken soup and make it a high protein soup.
~Christmas Salad
1 Green-leaf or Red-leaf lettuce or bag of shepherds salad
1/2 Jicama
Tomatoes and/or red bell-pepper
Pomegranate seeds of 1 pomegranate
Avocado Dressing: Mash an avocado. Add a 1/4 lemon's juice (or vinegar if you prefer), a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt, and a teaspoon of honey.
OR
Tahini Dressing
-raw organic sesame tahini (buy in a jar in a health food store).
-Juice four lemons or limes and mix in bowl with whole jar of tahini (Or about two and half cups of tahini, if you are buying your tahini in bulk).
-Chop up a couple cloves of garlic and mix in.
-Add Celtic Sea Salt to taste.
-Stuff mixture back into jar and what is left over into a bowl.
-Mix two tablespoons with a tablespoon of water and you have your salad dressing.
-Adjust water amount to desired thickness of dressing.
OR
Simple Olive Oil dressing
Olive oil and lemon, with grated ginger (optional)
Simple Avocado dressings
Mashed avocado with a dash of celery juice
Mashed avocado with lemon juice
Mashed avocado with orange juice
~Avo-Tomato-Jicama Treat
Chop up an avocado, a tomato, and a 1/4 jicama in a bowl with a little chopped cilantro and optional dressing of the juice of a lemon wedge with a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt.
~Seasons Salsa
Mix in blender:
-one bunch cilantro
-four tomatoes
-5 green onions
-pinch of Cayenne powder
-3 tablespoons Olive Oil
-1/2 teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt
Slice up jicama in thin slices to dip in the Salsa like potato chips!
~Festive Burrito Wrap
Salsa and Avocado in Nori! Make salsa (see recipe above). Mash up an avocado and mix in salsa. Wrap in Nori or lettuce leaves. Think burrito! Yum.
~Christmas Cucumber Dill Salad
-one cucumber in very thin slices
-one bunch finely chopped dill
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1/4 of a lemon juiced
Mix olive oil and lemon, and add to cucumber and dill
~Christmas Tabouli
Chop finely and mix:
-two bunches of parsley,
-one bunch of cilantro,
-one bunch of green onions (scallions),
-4 tomatoes, and
-3 medium sized cloves of garlic.
Add
-Juice of a medium sized lemon
-a quarter of a cup of olive oil
-a teaspoon of Celtic Sea Salt
-a cup of raw almonds (not soaked) ground to a fine flour in your blender
Top with avocado slices
If you want a creamy sauce, add an avocado sauce made by mashing one avocado with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and a teaspoon of honey.
~Party Veggie Sticks and Dip
The veggies can be of your choosing. Beets, raw sweet potatoes, or jicama sliced really thin to imitate a chip, sticks of celery, carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers, or any other vegetable will also work.
To make the dip mix up in a bowl two tablespoons of raw tahini, the juice of one lemon, a 1/4 teaspoon of Celtic Sea Salt, a cap full of Olive Oil, a few chopped olives, a clove of garlic chopped finely, and a few tomatoes chopped up.
The other dip you will use is the same as above but made from avocados in place of the tahini. If you want the dip to have a sweet flavor then you can add a teaspoon of raw organic honey.
~Honey Lemonade Yule Frappée
You simply juice up one lemon and pour into a blender. Add Four tablespoons of honey and 6-8 cups of water. Blend. Savor with delight!
~Raw Ginger Cookie Dough
-Blend a cup of almonds (not soaked) in blender until it is a fine flour (Or you can use a cup of raw almond butter)
-Add a tablespoon of honey
-Add a teaspoon of flax oil
-Add a tiny pinch of Celtic Sea Salt
-Add a dash each of dried powdered Ginger, Cinnamon, and Cloves
-Add two medjool dates
Mix in blender again. Form into ginger cookie shapes!
~Raw Holiday Apple Pie
Crust: Blend a cup of almonds (not soaked) in cuisinart or blender until they turn to powder. Add a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt and 1/8th cup of Olive Oil.
Filling: Blend 4 apples not peeled but cored, 3 medjool dates, a tablespoon of flax oil, and a dash of Celtic Sea Salt
~In the Light Lemon Cream Pie
-one banana mashed,
-one banana cut up in slices,
-three tablespoons of dried shredded coconut,
-a quarter of a lemon juiced,
-a tablespoon of flax seed oil,
-tablespoon of honey,
Mix it all together and enjoy!
~Raw Festive Fudge Delight
There are many variations to this healthy Fudge recipe so please experiment with measurements.
-Raw tahini (sesame seed butter), two tablespoons
-(Raw almond butter can be substituted for the tahini)
-raw carob power, one teaspoon
-cold-pressed olive oil, 1/8th cup
-Celtic sea salt, 1/4th teaspoon
-Dried shedded coconut, two tablespoons
-Chopped raw organic almonds, 1/4 cup
-Almond meal (One to Two cups raw organic almonds that have been blended up in a blender at high speed to reduce them to the texture of coarse flour).
-Cold-packed honey, 2 tablespoons
-Chopped dates or raisins, 1 tablespoon
-Cinnamon and/or nutmeg, 1/8th teaspoon
~Yule Log
-Grind one cup nuts in blender (any oneor a mixture of almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, etc...)
-Add one to two tablespoons honey
-Add two tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice
-Add two pinches of Celtic Sea Salt, 3 medjool dates chopped finely, any other finely chopped dried fruits (apricots, raisins, etc...), and a teaspoon of orange zest (dried or fresh orange peel finely grated almost into a powder)
-Add any of the Christmas Spices: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, Allspice, and/or cardamom
-Mix in a bowl and shape into a log.
-Roll the log in raw carob powder and dried coconut shavings
Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix together with a spoon.
Enjoy!
*************
Bring the Light Inside this Christmas and New Year with Living Faith, Living Gratitude, and Living Joy!
Enjoy your Holiday Season!
Peace,
Jinjee
http://www.thegardendiet.com
info@thegardendiet.com
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Bringing The Light Inside
by Jinjee Talifero
Visit http://www.thegardendiet.com for more information
Bringing the Light Inside
A woman once told me that The Light is there for anyone who is open to it. You can live in the light just by seeking the light and being open to it. To me the light is not some vague new age term. To me the light is Christ, the light is God. And I do think that if you are even open a little bit to the Christ Energy, it will come pouring into you in large amounts, because it is seeking to come in to this world any way it can. It is a beautiful feeling to live in the light, which I have felt from time to time. It is peaceful, easy, joyous, filled with adventure, vastness, abundance, bliss and love.
I think you can seek the light through prayer and meditation, but also through loving and being positive, thinking positive thoughts, doing work you love and feel good about, being in nature, breathing, relaxing, drinking water, and a ton of different ways.
The other day I was thinking of how raw-vegan food brings light into your body. It contains so much water. And if you look at water you'll see it reflects light. It is almost as though it is bringing light into your body. And it is almost a spiritual light. I think the spiritual and physical are very similar, very related, almost reflections of each-other on different planes of life. And in some way I think they must be inseparable.
When I thought of raw food as bringing me into the light, lifting my body to a new level of life so that I can breath and move and live lighter and freer and happier, it became so easy to think of eating nothing but these beautiful light-bringing foods! Why would I want to eat anything else?
The joy of this thought is what I'm carrying in to the Holiday Season. For me the Holiday Season is about Celebrating the Life and the Message of Christ. The message of love for all humankind, peace on earth and good will among men, joy, grace, beauty, truth, goodness, light, love, faith, gratitude, giving, sharing, receiving, and being of good cheer. If I go into the Holiday Season thinking that it is going to be difficult and feeling sad that I'm going to have to deny myself of so many festive foods, that would not really be in the spirit of Christmas. But I have changed my perception of festive foods. I truly deeply feel that raw foods are the best way to celebrate Christmas, by bringing light into my body and my life. And with this as my focus I have faith that I will not be tempted or saddened by any of the traditional Christmas foods around me. And I also have faith that I will not offend or hurt anybody by my way of eating. I believe I'll be guided and will walk in the light, Celebrating fully the joyousness of the Season according to the highest light that I've been blessed with receiving.
I will not preach because I realize that most people are not receptive to this diet. If someone is ready for it, don't worry, they will be beating down your door for information. If people ask me why I am eating the way I do, I might say that I am Celebrating Christmas by eating my favorite foods and nothing else. I might say "this is what I feel like eating right now". I might come up with a new kind of answer on the spur of the moment, inspired by the person who is asking and where they are coming from. I might eat in such a way that I don't attract attention. I may throw a party instead of going to one, in which I make a festive raw feast without mentioning that it is all made of raw foods.
At social situations I will focus on socializing, on the joy that good company brings, on sharing time and gifts with people, rather than focusing on food.
If I fall off the wagon I will not be angry with myself, but rather learn from how the experience makes me feel, and remember the feeling of light that I am seeking.
I will indulge in my favorite raw-vegan Christmas foods. Here is my list and recipes below!
My favorite raw-vegan Christmas foods:
~Mandarin Oranges (Satsumas)
~Oranges
~Organic Granny Smith Apples
~Nuts in the shell (Cracked with a traditional Christmas Nutcracker by the fire!)
~NutNog de Noel
~Happy HempNog
~Christmas Eve NutLoaf
~Very Veggie Sushi Rolls
~Christmas Soup
~Christmas Salad
~Avo-Tomato-Jicama Treat
~Seasons Salsa
~Festive Burrito Wrap
~Christmas Cucumber Dill Salad
~Christmas Tabouli
~Party Veggie Sticks and Dip
~Honey Lemonade Yule Frappée
~Raw Ginger Cookies
~Raw Holiday Apple Pie
~In the Light Lemon Cream Pie
~Raw Festive Fudge Delight
~Yule Log
Here are the Recipes!
~NutNog de Noel
-Soak 1 cup almonds for 4-8 hours
-Put in blender
-Add 2 tablespoons honey
-Add a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt
-Add a dash of cold-pressed olive or flax oil
-Add a dash each of any one or more of these Christmas spices: Nutmeg, Cinnamon, AllSpice, Cardamom
-Optional additions: 2 medjool dates and a banana
-Fill blender up with water
Blend on high until liquefied
~Happy HempNog
-Same as NutNog above, but instead of almonds, use a 1/2 cup of hemp seeds. Makes a thicker nog.
~Christmas Eve NutLoaf
-Two cups of almonds (and/or brazil nuts, pecans, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, or hazelnuts/filbers)
-1 Red pepper
-1 Tomato
-2 cloves Garlic
-1/2 Onion
-5 Mushrooms
-2 tablespoons Whole Pine Nuts
Grind vegetables and nuts in Food Processor with S-Blade. Spread Tahini Sauce on top (2 tablespoons Raw Tahini, juice of 1/2 a lemon juice, 1 teaspoon honey, and 2 cloves garlic finely chopped)
~Very Veggie Sushi Rolls
-Nori seaweed
-1 Avocado
-2 Tomatoes
-1/4 cup Wakame seaweed
-1 clove Garlic
-2 green onions
-5 Brazil Nuts (chopped course)
-dash of Celtic Sea Salt
-2 tablespoons olive oil
Cut up everything, mix into mashed avocado, and wrap in Nori
~Christmas Soup
In a vegetable juicer, juice up a bunch of celery, a bunch of carrots, a bunch of parsley, a bunch of cilantro, a meyers lemon, and a clove of garlic. This is your soup base. Cut up and add tomatoes and/or red bell peppers, more cilantro, an avocado and a 1/4 jicama and you'll have a delicious energy soup made of lovely red, white, and green Christmas-colors. Add a 1/4 cup of cold-pressed olive or flax oil and a teaspoon of Celtic Sea Salt. Add whatever seasonings to taste that you like such as Italian Seasonings. For "heat" you can add some hot peppers. Grind up a cup of almonds (not soaked) in your blender into a fine flour and add to thicken soup and make it a high protein soup.
~Christmas Salad
1 Green-leaf or Red-leaf lettuce or bag of shepherds salad
1/2 Jicama
Tomatoes and/or red bell-pepper
Pomegranate seeds of 1 pomegranate
Avocado Dressing: Mash an avocado. Add a 1/4 lemon's juice (or vinegar if you prefer), a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt, and a teaspoon of honey.
OR
Tahini Dressing
-raw organic sesame tahini (buy in a jar in a health food store).
-Juice four lemons or limes and mix in bowl with whole jar of tahini (Or about two and half cups of tahini, if you are buying your tahini in bulk).
-Chop up a couple cloves of garlic and mix in.
-Add Celtic Sea Salt to taste.
-Stuff mixture back into jar and what is left over into a bowl.
-Mix two tablespoons with a tablespoon of water and you have your salad dressing.
-Adjust water amount to desired thickness of dressing.
OR
Simple Olive Oil dressing
Olive oil and lemon, with grated ginger (optional)
Simple Avocado dressings
Mashed avocado with a dash of celery juice
Mashed avocado with lemon juice
Mashed avocado with orange juice
~Avo-Tomato-Jicama Treat
Chop up an avocado, a tomato, and a 1/4 jicama in a bowl with a little chopped cilantro and optional dressing of the juice of a lemon wedge with a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt.
~Seasons Salsa
Mix in blender:
-one bunch cilantro
-four tomatoes
-5 green onions
-pinch of Cayenne powder
-3 tablespoons Olive Oil
-1/2 teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt
Slice up jicama in thin slices to dip in the Salsa like potato chips!
~Festive Burrito Wrap
Salsa and Avocado in Nori! Make salsa (see recipe above). Mash up an avocado and mix in salsa. Wrap in Nori or lettuce leaves. Think burrito! Yum.
~Christmas Cucumber Dill Salad
-one cucumber in very thin slices
-one bunch finely chopped dill
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1/4 of a lemon juiced
Mix olive oil and lemon, and add to cucumber and dill
~Christmas Tabouli
Chop finely and mix:
-two bunches of parsley,
-one bunch of cilantro,
-one bunch of green onions (scallions),
-4 tomatoes, and
-3 medium sized cloves of garlic.
Add
-Juice of a medium sized lemon
-a quarter of a cup of olive oil
-a teaspoon of Celtic Sea Salt
-a cup of raw almonds (not soaked) ground to a fine flour in your blender
Top with avocado slices
If you want a creamy sauce, add an avocado sauce made by mashing one avocado with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and a teaspoon of honey.
~Party Veggie Sticks and Dip
The veggies can be of your choosing. Beets, raw sweet potatoes, or jicama sliced really thin to imitate a chip, sticks of celery, carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers, or any other vegetable will also work.
To make the dip mix up in a bowl two tablespoons of raw tahini, the juice of one lemon, a 1/4 teaspoon of Celtic Sea Salt, a cap full of Olive Oil, a few chopped olives, a clove of garlic chopped finely, and a few tomatoes chopped up.
The other dip you will use is the same as above but made from avocados in place of the tahini. If you want the dip to have a sweet flavor then you can add a teaspoon of raw organic honey.
~Honey Lemonade Yule Frappée
You simply juice up one lemon and pour into a blender. Add Four tablespoons of honey and 6-8 cups of water. Blend. Savor with delight!
~Raw Ginger Cookie Dough
-Blend a cup of almonds (not soaked) in blender until it is a fine flour (Or you can use a cup of raw almond butter)
-Add a tablespoon of honey
-Add a teaspoon of flax oil
-Add a tiny pinch of Celtic Sea Salt
-Add a dash each of dried powdered Ginger, Cinnamon, and Cloves
-Add two medjool dates
Mix in blender again. Form into ginger cookie shapes!
~Raw Holiday Apple Pie
Crust: Blend a cup of almonds (not soaked) in cuisinart or blender until they turn to powder. Add a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt and 1/8th cup of Olive Oil.
Filling: Blend 4 apples not peeled but cored, 3 medjool dates, a tablespoon of flax oil, and a dash of Celtic Sea Salt
~In the Light Lemon Cream Pie
-one banana mashed,
-one banana cut up in slices,
-three tablespoons of dried shredded coconut,
-a quarter of a lemon juiced,
-a tablespoon of flax seed oil,
-tablespoon of honey,
Mix it all together and enjoy!
~Raw Festive Fudge Delight
There are many variations to this healthy Fudge recipe so please experiment with measurements.
-Raw tahini (sesame seed butter), two tablespoons
-(Raw almond butter can be substituted for the tahini)
-raw carob power, one teaspoon
-cold-pressed olive oil, 1/8th cup
-Celtic sea salt, 1/4th teaspoon
-Dried shedded coconut, two tablespoons
-Chopped raw organic almonds, 1/4 cup
-Almond meal (One to Two cups raw organic almonds that have been blended up in a blender at high speed to reduce them to the texture of coarse flour).
-Cold-packed honey, 2 tablespoons
-Chopped dates or raisins, 1 tablespoon
-Cinnamon and/or nutmeg, 1/8th teaspoon
~Yule Log
-Grind one cup nuts in blender (any oneor a mixture of almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, etc...)
-Add one to two tablespoons honey
-Add two tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice
-Add two pinches of Celtic Sea Salt, 3 medjool dates chopped finely, any other finely chopped dried fruits (apricots, raisins, etc...), and a teaspoon of orange zest (dried or fresh orange peel finely grated almost into a powder)
-Add any of the Christmas Spices: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, Allspice, and/or cardamom
-Mix in a bowl and shape into a log.
-Roll the log in raw carob powder and dried coconut shavings
Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix together with a spoon.
Enjoy!
*************
Bring the Light Inside this Christmas and New Year with Living Faith, Living Gratitude, and Living Joy!
Enjoy your Holiday Season!
Peace,
Jinjee
http://www.thegardendiet.com
info@thegardendiet.com
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!