Congress Declares National Day of Fasting and Prayer

"Today is the anniversary of Congress's first declared National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, May 17th, 1776. Congress, yes, the United States Congress proclaimed throughout the colonies the need to "confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions, and by a sincere repentance and amendment of life, appease his [God's] righteous displeasure, and through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain his pardon and forgiveness."

Of Killer Dressing

Recently I have become quite interested in RAW foods and the health benefits of that kind of lifestyle.  I have checked out a couple of cookbooks from the library on RAW foods, and it seems that one of the requirements for becoming a raw foodie is that you have long hair that you do not brush, and definite hippie tendencies. (-;

Anyway, hippie or not, I tried out a killer salad dressing today from one of the books I got, and I just could not keep the recipe to myself.  I substituted an ingredient or two, one of which was not raw (gasp!), so I will just put what the original called for and what I used instead, since I didn't have the original.  Seriously, this stuff is so good you could drink it like soup!

Creamy Italian Dressing
3/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
2-3 garlic cloves
2 T. fresh lemon juice (no cheating)
1 t. sea salt (again, this actually does make a difference in taste--use the real thing!  Same goes with the...
dash or two fresh ground pepper
1/2 c. fresh basil leaves
1/4 c. fresh oregano leaves (I substituted a pinch of dried, since I didn't have fresh)
1/3 c. water
1/3 c. pine nuts (didn't have this, so substituted a few pinches of fresh grated paremesan cheese--YUM!)

Blend this all up in a blender, and douse your greens with it!

My New Love

Oooo, I am so happy. I have a new favorite food--Coconut oil! It is so melt-in-your-mouth delicious! I dare say it even surpasses butter, in my opinion, which for me is saying a lot, since I am a confirmed butter brat! Even better, it is actually super healthy, and has a two year shelf life! I will be buying this by the gallon, and eating it by the spoonful! I have already made homemade lotion with it...lovely!

In Times of Winter or Famine

For my LDS associates (or interested others)...I have debated posting this article that I came across several months ago, but I think I will go ahead and do it just the same.  Should we all be doing a few more vegetarian meals and cutting back on our meat dishes?  Read the article and comment...I would love to hear weigh-ins on this.
http://www.vegsource.com/articles/catano.htm

My Dream House Dos

I love, love this house in Provo. Someday I will get up the guts to ask the owner who the designer is...maybe they will give me a tour of the inside if I am lucky!

 

(I will post my dream house uno at some future date!)

Of Hammers and Nails

And yet another great idea from Family Fun!

 

MormonAds

I love the little Mormon Ad posters the church puts out for the youth. They are so clever. I especially like the little miniature versions. One friend I know lets her kids use them as trading cards, which they love. In our family, we have "cold cereal Sunday" and I like to tape the little cards to the back of the cereal boxes for the kids to read while they are eating.

 

 

Serendipity

I took down my planter to water it, and lo and behold, this is what I found inside! Maile was ecstatic!

Born of Desperation...

This may come as a shock to some people (riggghhhht!) but on occasion, my kids have been known to squabble and bicker with each other for hours on end, driving their mother insane. After a desperate prayer for an idea for a distraction, this is what popped into my mind. Perhaps another frazzled mother will be able to benefit from this idea.

Chalk on the kitchen table, with point values for each opening. We flicked coins from the end of the table and tallied up our scores.

This would also make a fun family night game, now that I think about it!

 

Of...LOVING These!

O.K., so I know you have all been biting your nails, waiting for my promised post on green smoothies. I will tell you, I picked up this book by Robyn Openshaw over conference weekend, read it in a day and a half, and have had a green smoothie almost every single day since, and it's been almost two months. Yes, surprisingly, they are that good. Excuse me while I expound, and perhaps rant and rave about these for just a minute.

Curtis, who is usually a little slower to jump on the bandwagon of my various attempts at better health, loves these, and requests them. I load them with tons of leafy greens--more then we could ever eat in a salad, and many that I don't use often (or ever), such as kale, collards, chard, carrot tops, etc., and lots of yummy fruit, to make them taste delicious. The kids enjoy them as well. The leafy greens contain micronutrients, protein, iron, calcium, live enzymes, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, and make you feel great. They act as a broom for your intestines, sweeping out toxins and other gunk. For me, they also help me curb my sugar cravings. If you do a little searching on the internet, you will find testimonial after testimonial about how amazing these drinks are for your health. In Robyn's book, she includes quite a few testimonials at the end. Her criteria for submissions was that the person had to have had at least a pint of green smoothie three times a week, I think, for at least a month. People experienced remarkable results, many of whom were able to get off medications they had been taking for years. (Robyn says ideally, adults should have a quart a day, and kids a pint.)

 Best of all, they take only about 10 minutes to make from prep to cleanup. I don't have the cool blenders that most "green smoothers" use, but my Osterizer is working fine until I can save up for a better one!

 Anyway, all green smoothers seem to have a favorite recipe, and here is my general standby: I like to use a base of a cup or so of coconut water (or plain water) and drop a couple of fresh oranges in, while blending. Then I stop the blender, stuff it up to the top with spinich (or whatever else I want) then let it puree for a couple of minutes until it is completely blended--no chunks. I then add usually a ripe banana, and whatever other fruit is in season. A favorite lately has been mangoes and pineapple.

When I first started making these, I always threw in a cup or two of berries, because the green color of the smoothies threw me for a loop, and the berries were enough to turn it a beautiful purple color. By now, we are used to the green, and it doesn't bother us anymore, but the berries were a nice transition. It is fun to try new combinations.

 I will admit, I have had to throw out a couple of my concoctions, including a brown rice smoothie, which the kids still tease me about, but all in all, we have thoroughly enjoyed these delicious and healthy treats, and as far as I am concerned, we will be eating them daily the rest of our lives! Give one a try!

A week or two ago, Curtis overheard some colleagues at work discussing this documentary:

http://www.thrivemovement.com/home

He was intrigued so we watched it together over the course of a few days.  It proves what I have long suspected--that our entire society is a big conspiracy.  (-;

Seriously, though, I would love it if people took the time to watch it and comment.  It has a lot of potentially controversial issues in regards to 12 sectors of our society, including the health, finance, media, education, government, economics, etc., that I would love to discuss and get others' thoughts on.

Of Leila's First Dental Visit

Leila recently had her first visit to the dentist for a checkup. This is what she looked like for the majority of her appointment. I felt bad for the hygienist...I don't think she charged us for the visit, since there wasn't much to see!