Moving Forward

Buddha Blessings - Beet of my Heart Green Smoothie, recipe below

Life truly takes us on an exciting journey with twists and turns abound.  My life, so far, has been filled with many of them - from good to bad to WTF... and everything in between.  And now, another one begins.

This is going to be an exciting journey!  One that I've been waiting to happen for many years, but just didn't know exactly what it was going to be.  Let me briefly explain...

For many years I worked in the corporate and medical world, then ended up horribly sick with CFIDS and could no longer work, let alone function at home.  Food, holistic medicine, Mark, family and my own perseverance (aka: never give up) is what got me well - even though it sneaks up on me sometimes.  Out of that sickness I discovered a talent I didn't know I had, which ended up as my successful metalwork career for the past 7 plus years.  I've had other medical blows and other crappy things happen in my journey, with the most recent one of early breast cancer (1 1/2 years cancer-free this month!) .  With each one of the blows, I eventually got back up, became stronger and continued on with life. Hence my nickname Rocki - as in Rocky Balboa which one of my docs had tagged me with years ago.

Moving forward.  The past few years I've told Mark how I wish I could do something more profound with my life that would help others in some way or another.  I had no idea what I wanted to do, but something that was close to heart.  He suggested for me to take the same nutritional class that he took as he loved it and said I would too.  While I thought about it, no bells went off.  Another thing to mention is that due to my wrists and arm issues, metalworking is not going to be a lifelong career for me. 

Sometimes when you stop looking for something, it appears right before your eyes.

It's going on two years since I became a raw foodist/raw vegan and I cannot express enough I very much I LOVE eating a clean diet and creating recipes.  My head spins sometimes with thoughts of what to make next!  I think I actually eat, sleep and dream it.  Mark sure isn't complaining, especially since he's my official recipe taster.  Well, so are our friends at SKW (his office).

I've always enjoyed learning about healthy eating and treating food as medicine. I have several books that I've read cover to cover, more than once and cannot seem to get enough knowledge.  In fact, my dad is the same way - not a raw vegan, but he sure loves his raw veggies!  We used to talk for hours on end about nutrition, healing with food, etc.  Now we share recipes too.

Okay, so let me get to my next journey in this life that I'm going on or else I'll just keep writing and writing about how much I love my raw vegan life!  Two things that I'm extremely passionate about and are close to my heart (besides family of course) is my Buddhist path and my raw vegan healthy lifestyle.  Well, this could not be any more perfect for me as I'm now enrolled in the Body Mind Institute to get my Raw Nutrition Certificate!  After that, I'm going to take a course to become a Raw Vegan Chef!  After that, I don't know.  I'm leaving the door wide open.

To manage my class and studio time, I'm going to work only part-time in the studio as that is the only way I can achieve my goal.  Yes, I do actually have a goal in mind as to where I want to be in a couple years and with perseverance, I will get there.

Moving forward.

Peace and love,
Rocki

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Here's the smoothie recipe that is in the picture with Buddha:

Beet of my Heart Green Smoothie
2 handfuls baby spinach
1 small beet
2 bananas
1 cup strawberries
1 cup hemp milk (or milk of choice - adjust as needed)
1 Tbs flax meal (optional)
1 Tbs maca powder (optional)
1 Tbs raw vegan protein powder (optional)
optional ice if you like a cold smoothie like I do :)

Blend, pour, be thankful for the little things, and enjoy.

Raw and Delicious!

Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse Pie

Whether it was entertaining family, friends or just the two of you with food, drink, games - or maybe outdoor activities, a movie or plopped on the couch with a good book - I hope everyone enjoyed doing what they love best!

 

For me, it was a simple quiet dinner at our house with family.  Since I’m vegan & celiac (with food allergies) and my family is not, I made several of my raw and vegan dishes for everyone to try, along with some new ones.  Of course I had some non-vegan food as well.  Some of the new vegan/raw dishes I made from scratch were: raw carrot cake balls, pumpkin hummus, quinoa stuffing and chocolate mousse pie.  I didn’t take any pictures except for the chocolate pie after I made it, which was a good thing because it was a big hit and gone in no time! 

 

So about the raw thing.  I came across several raw food recipes that led me to some awesome blogs, websites and books.  After trying some recipes out – like the chocolate pie with ingredients that you would never know was in it - I fell head over heels in love with raw food!  Yes, it’s more than desserts, snacks, smoothies, etc.  I’m talking breakfast, lunch, dinner… entire meals, completely raw and delicious!   I picked up a couple books, another on order, a dehydrator and now cleaning out my cupboards of processed foods. 

 

Funny how it has taken me until now to discover a raw food lifestyle.  Because of several health issues I’ve pretty much been into eating healthy anyway, along with some indulgence of course – I’m human.  Now I can indulge in an even healthier way!  And, Mark is just as excited about it as I am.  He said he’ll still need his chicken (that’s pretty much his meat) and a few other foods he can’t give up, but he’s ready for the healthy change.  Because of how I eat already, I feel that I could probably go at least 90% entirely raw… hopefully 100% if I work at it.

 

I’ll be adding a variety of raw food info here.  But don’t worry, I’m not one of those raw vegans that tells people what and what not to eat.  I don’t like it when it’s done to me either.

 

Peace,

Rocki