Why would you choose to eat raw?

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Finding my path!

So I'm off of the Raw diet and looking to figure some things out.  I hope/plan/want to return to the raw diet but It will not be immediately.  To all of this I say, "I make apology's." I learned this from my hero Carl Paladino (Please not sarcasm!) Well I am ok with my choice and like I said def not done with it.  But while I'm not 100% Raw I am still cooking and trying to develop a healthy vegetarian diet.  I'm trying to cool with all whole grain foods, artificial sweeteners and stevia and seeing how it impacts my sugar and weight.

I'll star off by including two things I've good in the last few days! Both recipes are from Meatless Meals by Barbara E. Echols

The other day I made My Granola page 282.

My Granola

3 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup bran
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup chopped cashews
1/4 cup tahini
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup honey
1 cup diced dried apricots or any dried fruit

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
  2. Combine the oats, bran, sunflower seeds, and nuts in a bowl, Add the tahini, salt, extract, cinnamon, and honey. Mix well.
  3. Spread the mixture in a shallow baking pan and toast for 30 minutes, stirring after the first 15 minutes.
  4. Remove the pan from the oven and toss immediately with the dried fruit  to prevent the mixture from sticking together in lumps, When cooled, store in a covered container.

I've made this granola many times over the years.  I'm going to try to make it in the dehydrator next time because if the mixture burns even a little bit it impacts the granola.  I'll get back to you on how that turns out.

Next I made Meatless Meatloaf from the same cookbook page 155.

Meatless Meatloaf

1/4 vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup any combination of mixed vegetables and cooked beans ( used frozen mixed vegetables.)
1 cup finely chopped nuts or 1 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup cooked rice (I used brown)
1/3cup bread crumbs (Whole wheat)
1 cup grated cheese
2 eggs lightly beaten
black pepper

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Heat the  oil in a skillet and saute the vegetables till they are limp.
  3. Combine the sauteed vegetables with the remaining ingredients. Mix well, adding a small amount of liquid if the mixture seems too dry.
  4. Pour the mixture into a greased loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes. Serve hot or cold.
This is delicious.  It's great hot or cold.  I promise you will like it. My dad, when he was alive,  ate this and didn't hate it.  For him that is a ringing endorsement.  He was very much a meat and potatoes man. The funny thing about my dad was that, even though he was not very fond of a lot of my cooking, he always wanted me to become a chef.  Maybe I missed my calling.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Taking a break

So after a bit of thought.  I've decided to take a 3-4 day break from just raw food.  Cravings have won out.  But I'm ok with doing this.  I don't view it as a failure and am really proud of what I've already accomplished so far.  Part of what I hope to do is maintain raw for two meals a day and then return to all raw in a few days and try another 2 weeks.  Not much more to say.   I need to do some cooking the next few days.  as I cook I'll keep you updated! 

Monday, September 6, 2010

The Runner Stumbles

These are my raw pancakes, topped with mashed blueberries with a slight amount of agave nectar
So the last couple of days have been a little more difficult for me. I slipped a little bit but am back on track and doing ok. On Thursday hate I had made, Curry Rice really didn't turn out. I don't think it was so much of fault on my part as it was that soaked rice doesn't soften enough to make it palatable. The rice still tasted raw and ruined the dish. I'm going to try the curry sauce again but next time, only with vegetables. I had planned to use the rest of the meal for the following day, having not planned anything else. Then I was out for a good portion of the day and when out we stopped ay the Apollo Restaurant on Hopkins Street. For numerous reasons, first and foremost cleanliness, I wouldn’t recommend eating here. I ordered a salad. The good news is that it was $2.99, the bad news was it tasted like it was $0.50. The salad and the dressing had absolutely no taste.


 
So feeling hungry and a little bad for myself. I stopped at wegmans and bought eggplant parm and cheesecake. I went home and ate them all up. I felt crummy too so I guess I got what I deserved! I finished up the cheese cake the next day, but stayed on the diet for the next day.

 
The really good news in all of this is that my sugar didn't spike up noticeably. On Saturday my blood sugar was 121 and Sunday (today) it was 144. It's not that I think that I could go off of my meds but it showed me that I can goof up and still see the improvements.

 
Now onto what I cooked today. I finally made the Ani Phyo Sunburgers

 
Ani Phyo’s Raw Sun Burger

 
Makes 4 burgers
Ingredients:
  • 2 stalks celery
  • 1/4 c onion
  • 1/2 c red bell pepper
  • 1 t sea salt
  • 2 t oregano, fresh or dried
  • 1 c sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 c flax seeds, ground
  • slightly less than 1/2 c water

 
Rather than chopping these ingredients, I threw them all into my food processor and blended until everything was only slightly chunky. Now, simply place on your keflex sheet and form into 4 patties. Her directions didn't say to flip the burgers but I decided to flip them. The recipe didn't say how long to dehydrate but I decided that I'd go for about 12 hrs.

 
I decided to double the recipe because I really like the other sunburgers that I've made and hope that I will theses as well. We'll see how they taste tomorrow. I also made my first raw cupcakes!

 
Choccie Cupcakes!

  • 1 cup walnuts, un-soaked
  • 5 Medjool dates, un-soaked, pitted
  • 1/8 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon coconut oil, liquid form
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon almond extract
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt

 Process walnut and dates in a food processor until mixture sticks together. Add sea salt, vanilla extract and almond extract. Roll small eight balls out of the mixture and place each one in 1 ¼-inch baking cups. Mold the sides of the baking cups around the balls and form into a cupcake shape.

 
The cupcakes were delicious! I really liked them and to be honest they did remind me of a really dense version of cupcakes. I made the following frosting recipe to go on top. It was very simple and initially tasty but as I licked the spoon a little more I found the oil to be a bit much. We’ll see how it works on a cupcake. I am also a little worried on the amount of oil used. There were a few other recipes available, using less oil but they required me to soak tings over night and I wanted to try these a little sooner then tomorrow. I will try the other frostings next time and see how it goes. I also am not the biggest fan of walnuts so I will try different recipes that use a mix of other nuts. (Well I just ate one cupcake. I do think I will go for another type of frosting. The oil is a bit too much, but overall it was very good!)

 

 The Raw Food Frosting Recipe

 
The recipe is from a post on the Raw Freedom Community. While this recipe features lemon juice, you could make the same recipe with most fruits. I have reprinted it below with modifications.

  •  1 C coconut oil
  •  1/4 C agave nectar
  •  rind from 1 large lemon
  •  1/4 C lemon juice

 
1. Beat the coconut oil until creamy.

 2. Mix in the agave nectar.

 3. Mix in the lemon rind and lemon juice.

 
The frosting will spread well. However, it will not be thick enough to pipe. After you put it in the refrigerator, it will harden. I liked it much better cold and would strongly recommend serving it that way

 

 Dinner was nice and easy and very satisfying! I made my version of raw burritos.

 

 Raw Burritos

  • Romaine lettuce leafs
  • raw salsa (Make your own or you can do what I did and purchased it at Wegmans. I checked all of the ingredients first and I bought the fresh, not bottled!)
  • raw guacamole (Any recipe will do. I just used avocado, garlic, cumin, and a tomato. I forgot to add some lime juice and cilantro, but it tasted fine.)
  • sliced portabella mushrooms
  • black olives
  • carrots, thinly julienned
  • jicama, thinly julienned
  • sliced tomato
  • sliced broccoli spears

 
I distributed a healthy serving of each item on the two romaine leaves and I then enjoyed. they were very good.

 
Not perfect for definitely a nice switch and I'll have the rest tomorrow! I might even throw in a little bit of a sunburger to see how that tastes in it!

 
I'm not sure if I’m right here, but it seems like I might be spending less at the supermarket the longer I am preparing raw. Now the initial out put of money for all of these specialty items is definitely a chunk of change, but i went shopping tonight and only bought what I needed. Which for me is rare. usually I buy all of these other items which I munch on or plan to eat later. They are obviously not raw, so I no longer am interested in buying them. So all in all I'm doing less binge buying. I wish I had kept better track of how much I spent before, but I didn't so it can only guess!

Well That's all for now. TTYL!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Planning, Planning, Planning

Well let me start off by noting that I've discovered that there is a new editing box for new posts.  it allows different colors as well as different fonts. Although the fonts are not that different and are not as quickly noticeable, it's kinda cool to have it. I can also change the size of the lettering to emphasize things. There are a few other features but you're hear to discuss raw food with me, so lets discuss!

I went back to all of the old posts and added labels.  labels are the words or phrases that search engines use when they decide to display different pages for ones review.

You will not that there is a new gadget to the right of the blog.  It's Seasonal Foods. Which i felt was in keeping with the theme of the blog.  As you cook and eat raw foods, for planning purposes, it's important that you be aware of what the different foods are during the season.  It's best to buy local which is both ecological and good for your community.  All of which brings us to today's topic PLANNING!

Planning is probably the most important parts of a raw diet.  You usually have to plan one, to two days ahead for a meal. This is due to all of the soaking, and dehydrating that must occur before you are able to eat many pf the meals.  It is actually the most difficult part for me.  I tend to eat at the spur of the moment, which I think might certainly contribute to my weight problem.  If i planned better and more often I would probably have healthier meals. Some days I forget to plan properly and am stuck having the same thing over and over again.  (Today being an example, although I did enjoy the salad.) I'm getting better but it's still something that I have to work at.

So a couple of thoughts, not directly related to planning, but:
  • I'm betting that purists will frown, but I don't always use organic (Cost can be a problem as well as availability)
  • And the few processed foods i use, (nut butters and soy sauce) are not even raw. But the bulk of my food does fall under the raw heading.
I just wanted to be completely honest! I hate to have people think that I'm doing so good when they may be struggling or are intimidated by the raw diet.

So I tried the Raw Oatmeal Cookies and they were fantastic.  If you make them, please remember that they are not the same as cookies but they are sweet and delicious! Initially I thought that I would dehydrate them for less time but after they have sat a day or two they soften back up so the time suggested seems to be perfect.

I also tried the two Essence breads that I made. The Essence Bread #1, which is the less sweet one, I preferred over the second bread. Although one thing I did notice was that it was a bit too thick, so next time I will have to make them a little thinner.   I had no real problem eating it.  I had it with a Sunburger and the fixins.  The Essence Bread #2 I found to be very bitter and harder to eat.  I served it with Peanut Butter, honey and bananas.  I eventually removed to the top slice so that I could eat it better (This was one of those days where i had not planned well and had nothing else to eat.) It was suggested in one blog that the longer the sprout tails are the more bitter the grain and my sprouts were pretty long so I will be careful next time and see of that makes a difference.

Today I tried a few new things. 

                             Raw Pancakes
                        The Idiots Guide to Raw Eating
  • 1 cup red Fuji Apple, cored, and chopped.
  • 8 pitted dates, soaked for 30 minutes
  • 1/4 date soak water
  • 1/2 cup agave nectar
  • 1 TB vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp lime zest
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  •  TB golden flax seeds, ground
  • pinch salt
  • 1/ cup buckwheat groats, ground
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
  1. place apple, dates, soak water, agave nectar, vanilla, lime zest cinnamon and flax seeds in a blender.  Blend for about 20 seconds or a chunky batter forms. 
  2. combine with groats and coconut in a bowl and mix
  3. scoop onto teflex sheet. They will flatten a little so make about 1/2 in thick.
  4. Dehydrate for 6-8 at 120 degrees.  Flip and dehydrate for another 4-6 hours. 
  5. Serve while still sightly soft in the middle
  6. Serve hot.  They can be stored for 3-5 days.
I didn't have groats so I just used rolled oats. I used a granny smith apple and forgot the lime zest.  If the batter was any indication, it was really good.  I'll be having them for a late lunch tomorrow. 

                                Brown rice in curry sauce

                                                 By Vanessa Johnson  
  • 1/2 cup of brown rice (must be brown)
  • 1 tbsp. curry powder
  • 1 lb. carrots
  • 1/2 small beet
  • 1 stalk celery
  • Chinese spinach (when juiced thickens sauce- could use soaked flax seeds instead)
  • 1 clove garlic grated
  • 1/2 small onion chopped finely
  • olive oil
  • mung bean greens

Soak brown rice in plenty water for 12 hours. Drain. Mix in chopped bean greens and place in serving dish. In a glass place onion,garlic and any other desired seasoning greens. Just cover these with olive oil and let soak. In another glass mix curry powder with enough olive oil to make into a paste. Juice beet, carrots and celery and Chinese spinach. Add curry paste to juice and mix well. Pour curry sauce into serving sauce bowl.

Part of the enjoyment of this dish is all the serving that you allow yourself. I'll explain. You have the rice mixture in a bowl. The onion/garlic mix in a serving shot glass (or something) and then you have the sauce that should look orangy/reddy/browny in a another serving bowl all on a tray. Your bowl is empty. Then you spoon in some rice and on one side of the rice you spoon on some of the onion garlic mix, on the other you spoon on some of the curry sauce and so as you eat the rice, you decide how much of what flavours you want. Then you can serve yourself some more rice and more sauces... it reminds me of the way Asians eat- many serving bowls of different interesting stuff.. and you keep serving yourself as you go along.

Be careful not to buy mung beans too soon, I bought mine two days ago and they already went bad.  I'll have to go get more tomorrow now.  Well TTFN! Hope to chat with you all (Both?) again soon!

Monday, August 30, 2010

22 days to my goal!



My bread looks very different from this but that's Carrot lemonade just makes me more thirsty!

So I've been doing pretty good. I've cheated a little bit, nothing major, just a few pieces of chocolate today and yesterday. of course my popcorn as well, but been eating full meals, with lots of salads. I even went to the Elmwood Arts Festival and didn't eat anything bad there but the aforementioned chocolate.

I've been pretty busy cooking too. Firstly, I made a great salad the past two days and they were fantastic. To top them off I made dressing to go on it. Although I did make a few changes from the recipe.

Fantastic Flax Dressing

1/2 cup flax oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons miso paste (see glossary)
2 teaspoons stone ground mustard
2 teaspoons agave nectar or sweetener of choice
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar

Preparation:
1. Whisk all ingredients in a small mixing bowl and drizzle over your favorite salad.

Variation:
You can vary the flavor by adding any of your favorite fresh herbs or by adding 1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic or ginger.

I used sunflower oil because I didn't have Flax Oil. So I guess I can't really call it the Flax Oil Dressing, but I do!


I also made another batch of Sunburgers. I now I said I was gonna make the Ani Phyo ones this time, but I wound up making the regular batch. But I didn't cook them as long and they are much moister. (I think I would like an in-between, I want them a little dryer.)

I've also been cooking a bit more from the Juliano Book Raw.

Essence Bread #1
Juliano
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup walnuts
3 pitted dates
Water for soaking the nuts and dates
2 Cups sprouted wheat
1/4 cup shredded apple
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, minced
1 tablespoon Olive oil

Directions
Soak almonds and walnuts in water for at least 2 hours. In a separate container, soak dates in water for 1 hour. Drain nuts and dates and toss them into a food processor along with the rest of the ingredients and puree into a dough.

On a solid dehydrating sheet form dough into a loaf about 1 1/2 inches tall, 3 1/2 inches wide and 6 inches long. Dehydrate at 90°F for 13 to 17 hours. When done, the loaf should be crisp on the outside and moist on the inside.

Number of Servings: 6

I'll let you know how this turns out.

Essence Bread #2 is basically the same, but remove the minced garlic, and the fresh parsley. Also increase the Olive oil to 1/4 cup.
I made an additional change, I threw in about 3/4 cup of dehydrated banana chips that I had made previously. Again I'll let you know how this turns out.

Lastly I made
Oatmeal Cookies
Juliano "RAW - the uncook book"

2 cups oat groats
3/4 cup dates
1/2 cup dried raisins
1/2 cup raw almonds coarsely chopped
2 or 3 apples grated
1/2 cup raw cashews

Place oat groats in a food processor and grind until fine. If you don't have a food processor, use a blender and add a little maple syrup to help the dough turn over (I tried it, the blender will do it dry just fine). Transfer the groats to a mixing bowl and add the dates, raisins, almonds and apples and mix the batter well. Set aside. In a coffee grinder grind the cashews until they resemble a silky flour. On a mesh dehydrator sheet shape the batter. Keep in mind that the thicker you shape the cookies the longer they take to dehydrate. Dehydrate the cookies at 90 degrees until they reach your preferred texture, around 12 hours. They don't need to be crunchy all the way though.

They are still dehydrating but the batter tasted fantastic. i am gonna try to make some more but alter it a little bit. I'm gonna try it with rolled oats and grind them till they are fine and I want to replace some of the maple syrup with apple juice. We'll see how that goes...

My blood sugar has been a Little high, between 140 and 190, better then what it is when I'm not on the raw diet, but not as low as it's been before.

All in all, I don't feel as hungry and am definitely eating less. We'll see how that continues and the impact it will have on my weight. So I'm finishing up day six (At this point my longest stretch) and loving it!

Care to join me?

Oops I almost forgot to add this juice. I tried it and loved it! I just didn't have any ginger at the time and used a whole lemon instead of half. Try it.

Carrot Lemonade
by Carrie W.

4-5 medium carrots
1/2 medium lemon
1 mildly tart apple (Fuji's or galas are nice)
1 small 1.5 - 2 " wedge red cabbage
1 round of ginger, about the size of a quarter

Juice all, preferably organic, ingredients and enjoy! Yummy carrots without the overwhelming sweetness and what a
beautiful color! Makes one large or 2 small servings.
(I drank the whole thing all by my self!)

Friday, August 27, 2010

I'm Seeing Changes!



Firstly, some really fun/good news to share. I'm not sure of my exact weight when I switched to all whole grains and no processed foods and now raw, but the doctors office said I was 280. In truth I think I was closer to 290 because I refused to weigh myself for two months at the Dr.'s office. Only when I knew that I had lost some weight did I get weighed again (and that's the time I came in at 280.) The last time I weighed myself i was 268 and I think I've gone down more. Here is why: I, for the most part, have been wearing size 3x shirts. I had begun to slip into 4x. Well today I stumbled on a few old 2x shirts and i found that they fit. Some of them even a bit loose! If ever I needed incentives, that was it. It felt so good putting clothing on, some of which I haven't worn for 4-5 years. Why, I can now wear my Buffalo Bills, Drew Bledsoe Jersey again. (Yes I know he didn't work out here and he doesn't play for us anymore, but the point is I can wear the Jersey!!!!!!!!)

So Cheers! To a shrinking body and better health! I'm feeling really proud of myself right now. I hope it doesn't seem too boastful, but I'm really pleased with my effort and the results!
Thanks so much to those of you who comment on my blog or on the link on FaceBook. Big Thanks to Nancy who inspires me everyday with her dedication to the raw diet and still taking care of her family and their dietary needs!

***

Well Last Friday I had a crummy day at work so I wound up breaking the raw diet that evening. I planned to be off of it for only Saturday. Well it turned out that I was off of the diet for five days. Each day I felt worse and worse. I noticed a few things while I went AWOL from my raw life.
1. Cooked food felt like lead in my stomach. To my surprise this was not just that first day, but every day i was off of it.
2. While I was on the diet I didn't do a whole lot of craving of different cooked foods.
3. When I was off it, I ate everything that I could, not because I had craved it, but because I knew that once I returned to the diet, it would be a minimum of 28 days before I could eat cooked foods again. Which proved to me, how much of eating and food culture is psychological.

Regarding my Blood Sugar, it sky rocketed to 297 the last day I was eating cooked food.(I ate really bad that day so I'm not surprised.) The next day it dropped to 197and today it was 167 so back closer to where it needs to be.

So Now I'm back on the raw diet and doing well. I've made a few things while I was off the diet, initially out of guilt, but I felt better after getting some raw food in my system!

For dinner at a friends house, I made the following dish,

Light Summer Cole Slaw
Raw Foods for Busy People, by Jordan Maerin
3 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup shredded carrots
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked 15 minutes, chopped
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts
2T parsley, chopped
1t fennel or poppy seeds (Optional)
1/4 cup sesame oil
2T cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Toss all ingredients together!

I used the fennel seeds and I must be honest I found them too strong, although my friend Nancy liked it. i would most likely add some dates or other sweetener and not fennel. Although the poppy seeds could be interesting.
I also made them pudding which they all said they liked (I don't think that they were just being nice.) I made the chocolate pudding and a blueberry pudding, which is the same as the chocolate pudding (Included in the August 12, 2010 post) and replaced it with 1/2 a cup of blueberries.

I also made a Cashew Banana Mylk from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo. here it goes.

Cashew Banana Mylk
5 cups water (They always suggest filtered.)
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/2 vanilla bean (I used about 1 tsp of vanilla)
1/2 cup dates
pinch of sea salt

Blend together. will keep in the fridge for 3 days!

I liked this alot fresh, It was great in my morning Muesli (From August 9, 2010 - minus the apple juice and not soaked over night) but day two I didn't like it as much. I know it was still good but I didn't like the flavor as it settled in. So I took a chance and poured it in the blender and added about a cup of frozen berries. (I'm sure any fruit will work.) I really liked it this way and it was def filling.

I also made:
Fruit Leather
Two cups any fruit (I used a mix of frozen strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries.)
1 cup water
place in a blender
Dehydrate 12-24 hrs

I found even 12 hrs was too much but it turned out tasty. I added coconut meat to half of the batter. It seemed to dry up quicker. (I'm guessing that the coconut absorbed some of the liquid. So if you add coconut or anything else, keep that in mind and adjust the dehydration time.)

Right now I'm working on bread and Ani's sunburgers (not the sunbuger recipe that I've used.). I'll post the recipes in the following blog.

Well thanks for reading and I'll be back soon. I promise not to take off five-6 days next time!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Fudge you say?



Yep! Raw, Vegan fudge. It's nice and easy.

1 cup nut butter (I used peanut)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 coconut butter
1/2 cup chopped nuts (Optional)
1/4 cup agave nectar (My addition)

hand mix it all together spread it in a shallow pan and refrigerate or freeze till solid. Remove and cut into pieces. Store in fridge. I've already tried it. It's fantastic.

I also made the following:

Portobello Mushroom Steaks with Balsamic Asparagus from Idiots Guide to Eating Raw

Ingredients

•4 portobello mushroom caps
•2 cups filtered water
•1/4 cup plus 3 teaspoons nama shoyu (raw soy sauce)
•1/2 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
•2 teaspoons garlic, minced
•1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
•pinch salt
•pinch freshly ground black pepper
•2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
•1 teaspoon stone ground mustard
•1 bunch asparagus (or enough for 4 servings
•1/2 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced
•1/2 medium yellow or orange bell pepper, seeded and diced
•undisclosed amount of maple syrup (try 1/4 cup) – book left this out of the ingredients!
Directions

Must caps in quarters and place in a baking pan with gills facing down. Add the water and 1/4 cup nama shoyu and put into 145 F dehydrator for 30 minutes. Remove from dehydrator and pour off the marinade (save 1/2 cup).

In a separate bowl mix basil, garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 teaspoons nama shoyu, salt, black pepper. Push mushrooms into this marinade, coat evenly.

In a bowl, mix 2 tablespoons olive oil, balsamic vinegar, stone ground mustard, maple syrup, 1 teaspoon nama shoyu.

Clean and trim asparagus, put into pan, add this balsamic marinade.

Put asparagus in pan into 145 F dehydrator for 1 hour, stir every 15 minutes.

After this hour, add remaining 1/2 cup balsamic marinade to bottom of mushroom pan and put it into the 145 F dehydrator with the asparagus for 45 to 60 minutes.

****

The Recipe did not include how much maple syrup to use so I just threw in about 2 tsp. Try different amounts yourself. I also made a mistake and added mustard to both but I think it will be ok. It smells delicious!
Well I'm eating it before I head off for my walk. It's a nice, delicious meal. Really good and really flavorful. I'll have leftovers tomorrow!

On a side note, but certainly related one, I've been walking Delaware Park for three consecutive days. Two days I walked alone. I'm really trying to do this whether anyone joins me or not. I really want to keep doing this!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Raw's More Wonderful, The Second Time Around


Well I'm working on my second, non-consecutive week. I took Saturday and Sunday off and I must be honest, I ate too many things that I hadn't had in the previous five days. It wasn't a complete 360 but I didn't love my eating response. Part of what I'm disappointed in is that I said that I would eat half raw and half cooked, well i only ate cooked. I think I threw in a juice on Sunday to assuage my guilt, but for all intensive purposes, I ate cooked. This weekend will be the last weekend for a month, when I plan to eat cooked and that will only be one day, Saturday. I'm going to the Fair and I don't imagine that there will be much to sustain me on a raw diet. In all truth, It's hard enough to eat vegetarian there let alone raw!

Today and yesterday have gone well. I've been packing uncooked oats for breakfast and a hearty salad for lunch. Those usually tide me over till I get home and have a snack.

I've made another batch of Sunburgers and I'm really enjoying them. I def though need to find other dinner meals. Breakfast and lunch have been easy. Dinner has been a little tougher. I ordered a few more raw food books. One that was suggested by my friend Nancy; Raw: The Uncookbook by Juliano Brotman and two others; Raw foods for Busy People by Jordan Maerin, and Ani's Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo. I'll let you know what I think of them when I get them and try some recipes out!

My Weight still says I've officially lost about 12 lbs. I'm hoping to drop a few more this week. Really good news on the Blood Sugar front, today my blood sugar was 106. That's as close to normal as I've ever been since I started testing myself. If this continues I can start to investigate decreasing my insulin!

Well tomorrow will already be hump day and it doesn't even feel like it is! It's definitely getting easier. Wanna join me?

Sunday, August 15, 2010

I (mostly) made it through a full five days!


Well Thinks got a bit screwed up on Friday. To make a long story short, I couldn't sleep Thursday night and went to work with only 2 hrs of sleep. So as soon as I got home I fell right a sleep. I was supposed to go out with a friend at 9:00 PM and woke up too late to prepare something raw to eat. So we hung for a few and I stopped off to pick up some food. Well I wound up eating a couple of spring rolls with the sheet chili sauce. Ok there. Mostly raw! Well i also picked up some chocolate covered almonds and came home and ate a few more things., Nothing major, but nothing raw! So I made it for 4 and 3/4's days. I'm pretty proud of that!

I'll go back to it on Monday. I bought some more sunflower seeds and plan to make some more sunburgers! I'll as be sprouting some garbanzo beans to make raw Hummus. I'll let ya know how that goes.

It was cool weird, I stopped in a cooking supply store and asked for a spiraler for veggies. They asked why, assuming it was for decorative cooking, an I informed them that i was working towards a raw diet. It turns out that two of them had just been talking about raw diets, one had done it a few years ago and the other was investigating starting. I'm not sure how far she has gotten. So I told them about my blog, I hope they check it out! (Hello if you have!) The one woman asked why I was doing this and I told her about my blood sugar and she suggested Cinnamon pills so I've bought some and started tonight. (I'd heard about it before but had never checked it out.) Here to hoping that it helps!

Along with my raw morning shake, I had a bagel this AM (Thanks Tom Horton's!) The reason i mention it is because right after eating it my acid reflux started to kick in. Someone had suggested that it might be a wheat gluten issue. I'll have to watch closer as I switch on and off between the two! Well I'm off. I probably won't right again till Monday. Till Then!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Chocolate Pudding on a raw diet?


Yes sir! You can have chocolate pudding on a raw diet! I just made it and had it. Even let my sister and niece try it, both of who gave it a polite if not enthusiastic thumbs up. I think in part because, even before they knew what was in it, they knew it wasn't dairy so there was some reluctance to like it.

A big plus to this desert was that it was so easy!

Raw Chocolate Pudding
2 cups avocados
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 agave nectar
4 dates (soaked at least 45 minutes)
1/4 cup date water
3 tbs fresh squeezed orange Juice
2 tsp orange zest

Throw in a blender till creamy. Keeps for two or three days in the fridge.

This is really good but there are a few things to note. I made two batches, one with Haas Avocados and a second one with Florida Avocados. The Haas seemed to work much better. There really was no comparing. Also I found no hint of Orange in the recipe so I don't think it is necessary. There are a number of different recipes on line, check other ones out. tell me what you think.

Today went pretty well. I had the previously stated Breakfast and lunch. For dinner i was pretty lazy and finished off the Sunburgers. I wasn't sure That I could make it through four days and was even starting to wonder if I could do a full three to four weeks. I'm now thinking I could. So I will finish up tomorrow and take the weekend off. But I will be careful not to eat wild. Thanks for the support out there! Nancy, I know you are keeping up with my blog while on vacation, right? lol Talk to ya when ya get back! Enjoy!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Hump day


I'm gonna run out of titles for these soon.

Today was a really good day. Breakfast was the left over muesli which spiked my blood sugar to 230. So that will need to be off of my menu.
Lunch was a nice salad with balsamic vinegar. Dinner I had a few more of the Sunburgers. I really like them and urge people to try them I would just not dehydrate them for the full 24 hrs. They were a little dry then. But really good. I eat them just like a burger, well kinda, I used lettuce leaves for the bread part. I added sliced tomatoes, onions and ketchup. Really good. They'll be good to eat for the next few days.

i finished up with a v4 (not 8 vegetables) tomato, celery, carrots and beets. Yum. Ok it would be better cold but it would be yum then! lol Then I had another popcorn. I'm gonna shy away from them for the next two days.

Tomorrow I'm eating rolled outs, raisins, stevia, Cinnamon, pumpkin seeds, maple syrup and filtered water. I'll get back to you on that one. For lunch another salad with olives, onions, cherry tomatoes, avocado slices and balsamic vinegar again. Dinner will probably be lettuce rolls!

BTW. I'm not sure how much weight I've lost. (I was up to ten pounds lost but it's been another week and I've been behaving.... I do find that my pants and shirts are looser and my face is looking thinner! Here's to weight loss and good health!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Control! (Thank you Janet)


1:00 PM
Well I'm feeling a bit more in control today. I woke up and had a bowl of the Muesli that I prepared last night. I really enjoyed it. I threw a banana on it as was suggested and it was Delicious. I'll save the rest for breakfast tomorrow. It will be quick and easy and won't require me to do any extra work being that I will be back at school.
I just threw in my Sunburgers into the dehydrator.

Sunburgers
2 C sunflower seeds, soaked 6-8 hours
1/2 C carrots
1/2 C celery
3 green onions, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1/4 C fresh basil
1/4 C fresh parsley
Braggs to taste
Process all ingredients with S blade in a food processor. Make patties and dehydrate at 105 degrees for 12-24 hours until dry. Turn patties over when dehydrating on a teflex sheets after 6 hours.

I've decided to follow the advice of several of the books that I've been reading. They now recommend that you dehydrate for 2 hours at 155 degrees because it reduces the potential for bacteria growth. I'm guessing some purists will frown upon this but I'm doing it.

I tasted the batter, it wasn't too bad so It should be interesting. I'm also going to cheat when it comes to certain condiments. There are recipes for Live Ketchup but i will use a smattering of store bought. Being that I'm only one person, it is a lot of work to prepare a food that will not last more than a few days.
Additionally, I'm think I will stop making full recipes as they are too much for a single person. My Sunburger recipe made 9 burgers, certainly more then would want to eat in a three day period.

7 PM
Well I've been busy all day preparing foods. I made corn chips.

South of the border Corn Chips
Bobbi Clinger

4 c. sweet corn, fresh or frozen
1/2 t. garlic powder(opt)
1 t. chili powder(opt)
1 t. tomato powder(opt)

Chop corn in food processor w/ "s" blade until fine.
Add choice of seasonings "to taste" and process til combined.
On dehydrator tray, spread about 1/8" thick.
Score diagonally left to right, then across right to left into triangles, or preferred shape.
Dehydrate about 5 hours, or to desired texture. These are super, and helpful for those with a previous "chip" tooth!

I added kalamata olives for a little more flavor. they went from being yellow and looking like eggs to being dark brown. I'll be tasting them soon.
I also made stuffed mushrooms and we'll see how they taste.

Stuffed Mushrooms
1/3 C pine nuts
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 C fresh cilantro, packed leaves, chopped
1/3 C fresh basil, packed leaves, chopped
1 T lemon juice
1 C tomato, chopped
2 T Braggs or to taste
Put all ingredients into a food processor, except the tomatoes, and pulse chop several times. Stop to scrape down the sides and repeat. Add the tomatoes and continue to pulse chop until just blended. Keep a texture to a pesto, it should not be a puree. Remove stems from mushrooms and stuff the filling into the cap of the mushroom. Place on a dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 105 degrees for 2-4 hours.

Both were pretty easy so...

I tested 118 for my blood sugar. It's supposed to be around 100 or lower and I've been as high as 290 and my lowest before today was 131. So there is some success. I know it's more a matter what I've eaten and not where my blood sugar would be if I ate "normal" but it's still good, and as I drop weight, it will be easier to keep it down.

Well dinner was pretty good. I had two Sunburgers on lettuce leaves with tomatoes, onions and ketchup. It tasted pretty good. The mushrooms were fine, but not anything to jump up and down about. I tasted the corn chips and if my first bite is any indication, I'm not gonna like them. I'll try them again, but....

I'm gonna have a little cheat tonight. I'm gonna make a bag of microwave popcorn. Thoughts on that?

Monday, August 9, 2010

It's a piece of cake!


So all in all the first day has been fine. Breakfast and lunch was real easy. Now dinner I goofed up a bit with. I had done a little running and didn't have time to prepare a dinner. So I came home at 9 PM and just threw together a pineapple, banana, coconut milk shake and some store bought bruschetta with the flax seed crackers. It was ok. I topped it off with a glass of apple/carrot juice.
Tomorrow I'll hope to have sunburgers. I'll let you know how that goes then. I also prepared a bowl of muesli for my morning breakfast.

Muesli
6 juiced apples
1/2 cup of the pulp
1 cup of whole oats
1/4 cup of raisins
dash of Cinnamon
Then you mix it all together and leave it in the fridge over night.
Top it with fresh fruit and serve. Bananas and Berry's are suggested. It makes about three servings so I might eat two tomorrow and save the last for work on Wednesday.
I'm excited to be doing this for a whole week.

Right now it is feeling like a difficult task. Talk to me on Wednesday and see if I still feel that way.

I have reviewed the 21 day plan and am actually considering doing it for 28 days. The one book I'm reading suggest four full Weeks not three. So I'm gonna try that. Once I'm done I will eat two raw meals a day and 1 cooked (Boccee Pizza!)

The one thing I read is that you have to be careful reintroducing cooked foods into your diet so I will tread carefully. Well thats all I have for you tonight. Hope to sit and break raw crackers with ya soon! Till then!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Whew! I made it!

Well I made it through a second day. I had left over soup from yesterday but upon my second taste of it, really decided that it wasn't anything I enjoyed. For the most part I didn't find today to be too difficult. I was happy to see that my blood sugar continued to stay down. we'll see how it responds when I go off for the next two days. Come Monday though I plan to make it five consecutive days. Not really much more to say today so I guess I'm signing off! Later!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Putting my foot down


I really feel like I've been lolly gagging (SP?)with committing to the raw food diet, so today I've stepped in and am doing my two consecutive days. I started with it yesterday but chickened out. So today I'm back and I've made. One down, a second day to go. The worse parts have been in the evening when I've been really craving foods I can't eat. A big craving is popcorn. I want to just sneak into the kitchen and pop myself a bag. (Then I realize that i don't need to sneak because I live alone.)

Breakfast was my shake that I usually make. (Tomorrow I will do something with a mango) lunch was a salad at The Towne restaurant. There was only one little bump in the road and that was that The Towne didn't have plain balsamic Vinegar, all they had was a dressing which I decided to use. I also was craving coffee this morning (Decaf actually) and am not sure if I could cheat with that. I guess I need to figure out what I'm gonna let myself get away with and what will be unacceptable.

I went shopping and purchased some canning jars which will allow me to do two things, first I was able to take the different spices and powders I've bought and secure them in jars, secondly, I can start sprouting, as I've also bought cheese cloth!

I also woke up to two trays of flax seed crackers. They turned out pretty good. I'm wondering if I can tweak them and make them a sweet cracker. I might try that soon.

My Dr is having me check my blood sugar more frequently each day. Today the highest was 209 (Which is very good for me) all the way down to 136 which is the lowest it's been since I've started testing. we'll see how that goes.

BTW, today and Friday are raw, I'm off it totally Saturday (Family reunion and wedding so.....) gonna do like 1/2 a day Sunday and then try 5 consecutive days starting Monday.

I just realized that I can edit a post instead of commenting, so ere is a link to the video that first inspired me.
http://www.sprword.com/videos/simplyraw/

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

ahh Sometimes life gets in the way!


Yes folks sometimes life gets in the way. It's been a few days since I've posted and I need to cover a couple of things. Did I mention that I bought a used Jack Lalanne blender? Well I did. This will and is helping me with my juicing needs. And I found a mention for using the pulp of carrots in crackers and cookies so....yeah! (Thanks Julie)

I've also purchased an Excalibur food Dehydrator, what I've been told and reading is that it's the top of the line dehydrators. I've already used it. It's so much quicker and there is no funny taste with the dehydrated foods! (Thanks Patrick from Craig's List!)

The dehydrator is most important in that it allows me to make more crunchy, doughy foods (without using wheat.) which I was really missing. It's problem has been the most difficult part of the diet. Which leads me to my next point...

I tried three different days to do a full day of the raw foods diet, but each was over by dinner time. breakfast and lunch are really easy. Dinner not so much! But I have a few days off of work and I will be making flax seed crackers today and I'll let you know how that goes. My plan is to be raw for today and tomorrow, take Friday off, do a raw breakfast Saturday (I've a family reunion and wedding that day so.....)and do a whole week starting Sunday Once I've completed that 'll do half days for a few and then try going into my three week stint and we'll see how that goes.

Good news on the health front. I've lost three more pounds, making it ten total, my blood pressure went down some more (With medication of course.) My blood sugar has been the same. The Doctor is actually sending me to an endocrinologist for further support, I've also changed insulin which I will start tomorrow. So we'll see how that goes!

Also side note. The breakfast shake I've been making, spinach, frozen strawberries and a banana, works better with baby spinach. The larger spinach seems to be a little more biter so I've added a few drops of stevia concentrate in it. I should talk to you tonight or tomorrow he latest Wish me luck and chug-a-lug on those breakfast smoothies!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Dinner's the hard part

So That's what I'm feeling as I sit her on my second day. Dinner's the hard part! A Breakfast shake and a salad for lunch with other fun stuff was easy. It was filling and felt great. But I'm used to eating something crunchy after work. Popcorn being a favorite. But that's not something I can have right now. The funny part is that I haven't had it in days, but was craving it something serious today! I guess it's just one of those things I'll have to get over. I'm feeling that it's largely psychological but that doesn't make the craving go away and dehydrated hasn't yet quenched that hunger. But I will begin experimenting with different marinades and flavors so that might help!

While I missed the starch and crunch from the diet, dinner was very good. I started off with a Watermelon, Strawberry cooler. I added mint, lime juice, nutritional yeast and raw whet germ and it was great. Although I do think it was a bit much for my blood sugar. I then had a Green bean salad suggested by Nancy.

Raw Green bean salad
(I made some minor changes Nancy)
Green beans (Of Course)
Sea salt
olives
garlic
red pepper powder
oil
soy sauce
wheat germ
grape tomatoes
ground flax seeds
I didn't measure anything so use your own discretion when you make this. When it comes to the spices, you know your own taste buds. Let it sit for two hours and then enjoyed.
I'll be taking that to school tomorrow to have with lunch.

I've decided on my off days to try and eat one raw meal a day and see how that goes. I figure that it will serve two purposes: 1.) I'll keep getting my body used to the food, and 2.) It will help me improve and grow comfortable with the preparation of the food. This way I'm not scrambling at the last minute when I'm eating raw for the day!

I think I might be seeing an rather sudden and unexpected benefit to the raw diet. i noticed it both days I was eating raw. Today it was much more obvious. many of you are aware that i have severe Acid reflux. So bad that some days I have trouble walking a block with out the burning pain to cause me to stop, catch a breath and let the burn subside It never seems to go away. But today I actually wen for a walk with my students, a walk which I've made other days and have felt pain, but today there was none. I was able to walk the distance, back and forth with out stopping. Now I've had good days in the past, so I want to be careful and not claim an early victory, but the coincidence is rather strong, both days.

I'm going to start tomorrow off with a breakfast shake again and then eat a non-raw diet for the rest of the day. I think my next whole day will be Saturday and I'm looking to Tuesday August 3rd as the first of two consecutive days. We'll see how that goes, cause part of whats sustaining me to day is the knowledge that I can eat different stuff tomorrow!

Well that's all for now! See you all soon!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Day two and gearing up!

So I'm gearing up for tomorrow. I'm going to start off with a spinach/strawberry/banana shake. I'll probably through in a little wheat germ and some stevia.

For lunch I'm taking a salad with romaine lettuce, kalamata olives, grape tomatoes, wheat germ cucumbers and balsemic vinegar! On the side are some raw sunflower seeds, two figs and jicama! Dinner I'm not so sure about yet. Leaning towards Watermelon shake or soup and a green bean salad.

A fun side note is that I've not bought or had jicama since the march, and to my surprise I really liked it and the flavor and texture was so familiar.

It was interesting, i was conversing with a fellow peace marcher, Phil, and he said that he eats raw for breakfast and lunch and eats a regular meal for dinner (I think regular was either vegan or vegetarian.)

I'll update tomorrow on how things went.

Monday, July 26, 2010

The Day After!

Wasn't that a movie title!

Today, as planned, I returned to my regular diet. I think I'm going to go raw again on Thursday and see how that goes. The plan was to ease into it which I plan to do. Today I felt a bit hungry. I think it was more psychological than physical. But I did feel it.

I didn't see a drop in my blood sugar and while i wish I had I'm okay with it staying the same. Not much else to report today. See ya tomorrow I guess!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Twice today

So I'm sitting here eating a very late dinner. (Yell at me later1!) And enjoying it more than I thought I would. I must be honest, as I was preparing it ('Cause I can't really say cook it any more can I?) I was thinking "Am I really gonna be able to do this? Do I really want to?" The answer to both is yes, but it's funny how intimidating a life change like this can be. I figured I needed to be honest with my apprehension on the food. which is why I included it in this blog. I don't want others trying this and thinking is so damn easy so I want to include some of my random thoughts!

So back to the late dinner. It's pretty basic. It's the aforementioned Zucchini Pasta.

Raw Zucchini Pasta
one sliced or spiraled zucchini which serves as the pasta

Raw Spaghetti Sauce
one tomato
one red bell pepper
one celery stalk
dry basil
garlic
10 reconstituted sun dried tomatoes
Place it in a blender and puree. Pour it over the zucchini pasta and enjoy. It tastes like regular sauce and is really good.

So I've been telling my family about this and they kinda think I'm crazy. It's hard to see any really support there. But that's not new for my family. Historically they have always been very supportive of many of the things I've done, but my food choices they are baffled by! Honestly, they seemed to take my coming out as a gay man better that they have taken the different stages of being a vegetarian/vegan/rawist(?). I guess they view my orientation, rightfully so, as not being a choice, but the foods I eat, now that is a choice! Oh well. : )

I picked up a mandoline to cut my fruits and vegetables. It was specifically recommended for when I dehydrate foods. Which by the way, I have three trays of leftover zucchini in the dehydrator as well. I also picked up a B-12 supplement. I figure it can't hurt either way.

Should I include the entire recipe for what I eat here? Please give me feedback on that, thanks!

I'm not sure that I will post every day but I will try to be fairly regular!

First Shot

So the first day of my new life style diet has been a bit of a mixed bag. I started the day with a banana shake which included some raw wheat germ, Agave nectar cocoa and frozen strawberries. I then went to visit my sister who it turns out, still had a food dehydrator that she had purchased and barely used 10-15 years ago so that set me off in the right direction.
I did a little shopping and purchased a bunch of fresh fruit and vegetables. I was out driving about too long and got hungry so I grabbed a quick Simply Fruit Cider which after drinking I realized was pasteurized so I made my first goof. I also purchased two spring rolls which were completely vegetarian wrapped with tapioca paper, so I'm not sure it that really fit the bill. I'll be making some raw spaghetti and that should be the end of my day.

Now I won't list daily what I eat but thought it was relevant today. All in all I feel good but I know that one day is a poor judge of it. So I'm gonna finish up here and go play with the dehydrator.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

First Post

I figured this would be as good a title as any for my first post, so here goes. I'm currently on insulin and two different medications for type II diabetes, hypertension and severe acid reflux. After a little research I've decided to try a raw food diet. I had been interested in it some time ago but had never good beyond the curiosity stage.

I've been a quasi-vegetarian for the past 23-24 years. I was first introduced to a veggie lifestyle while on The Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament. During that 12 months I hated (or so I thought) every aspect of the vegetarian lifestyle and ate meat at every opportunity. When I returned home, I found that I missed the way this healthy diet made me feel so I began to investigate becoming a vegetarian. I started slow by first removing pork from my diet, and then beef. This took less than three months to accomplish. Next was the hard part, giving up poultry. It took about a year to completely remove poultry from my diet. During this time, I ate seafood, as did most of my friends who were vegetarians. I was very dogmatic during this period. Lecturing others and refusing to touch anything that had touched meat. I even gave up my beloved Oreos because at the time they were still made with animal lard. After about 5 years I became vegan.

I still ate honey but everything else was off of the table. I had traded milk for soy, ice cream for rice cream and never found a suitable replacement for cheese. (The vegan Parmesan was the only one that was palatable.) This phase lasted for about a year. It was difficult but a lot of fun learning all different things about food and cooking. It was funny because at the time people would say to me in a rather incredulous tone, "Well what can you eat?" Suggesting that life with out meat and animal products would leave a huge void in my food choices. The truth was, I never felt before that I had had so many options. I was introduced to foods and cooking techniques that I had never known existed. While I have never returned to the vegan lifestyle, I've considered it a number of times. An end result of the raw food diet might be renewed commitment to being a vegan again.

Over the next 15-17 years I'd gone back and forth to including poultry in my diet. I'd gone from a dogmatic position to one of more accepting that everything had cycles, including my diet. This past year I've sworn off poultry again and have been free of it since last September 2009 (the 8th if I remember right). Before that I had been eating poultry for about 3-4 years and during that time had seen my weight increase and a general feeling on being unwell. For the past two months I've altered my diet and have gone almost exclusively to whole grain, fresh foods ands limited my use of processed foods.

All of which brings me to today. Today I went shopping for many of the supplemental foods that will assist me with maintaining a raw food diet. At this point I'm only looking at it as a cleansing. I will start with one day on a few off, another day one, then a few more off. After that I will try two days straight, next I will take a few days off and then try a whole week (I'm not sure if they mean 5 or 7 days in their suggested week, but I will try seven.) I will then take a few days off and finally begin my 21 diet.

I'll post what I eat, how I feel; physically, mentally and emotionally for the next few months. I've never blogged before but I really felt that this would be a good time to start.

What do I hope to get out of all of this? A stronger body, mind and soul. I hope to drop a little bit of weight and most importantly, I want to start myself on a path to decrease and maybe even eliminate my need for my meds.

I am using three books as a guide to this change. The first one is:

There is a cure for Diabetes: The Tree of Life 21 Day+ Program by Gabriel Cousens, MD

Raw Energy By Stephanie Tourles

The Complete Idiots Guide to Eating Raw by Mark Reinfeld, Bo Rinaldi and Jennifer Murray.

and I've pulled a few recipes from the following website:

http://www.living-foods.com/recipes/

If you are currently living a raw life or have in the past, please drop me a message and let me know what did and did not work for you. Also let me know what resources you used.