Raw

Last night I was busy for what seemed like hours. I made almond milk, cheesy kale, Nomi Shannon's sunny paté, I cracked open 4 coconuts, the meat is in the freezer and the water is in the fridge. Along with the cheesy kale I also put some buckwheat into the dehydrator that I have been sprouting.

I am lucky to have a cold press oil extractor for my Samson juicer so I am going to press some sesame seeds for the oil because I am going to make some mayonnaise that Ann Marie Gianni made, you can watch it here:



I had to buy a new washing machine last week-ish...grrr my other machine that I haven't had for too long started banging loudly when it was spinning, just like the previous washer to that....humff - ah well, I have a new machine now, I can't NOT have a washing machine.

I STILL have not received my Walnut tree....GRRRR! My hubby rang them because after 3 weeks still no signs of the tree, they told him that the dept still hadn't acted on the request for the replacement to be sent out....SOOOO ANGRY!! The guy has now passed it onto a higher dept....we will see.

Well, tomorrow I am planning on making the mayo and other things, I will let you know and maybe take some pics.

Since Saturday

I was up bright and early on Saturday morning because I wanted to get a big grocery shop in. I wanted to be in and out of Asda before the nasty, ignorant and pushing people filled the shops, so I got up at about 5.30am. I got up so early because I needed to drop my hubby off at work first because I needed the car. I was in Asda by about 7.15am and I spent £235.00....oops!
When I got back I quickly put the freezer and fridge foods away and then I went over to Netto because they had a fire I wanted for our livingroom. When we re-vamped our livingroom this year we had the existing fireplace removed....it was an eye sore, we were thinking of not bothering with a fire, we never used it anyway because of having the central heating and after the new central heating was installed, BOY! It so much warmer but I couldn't get used to not having anything on the fire wall. We have been looking around for a fire for sometime now but I didn't particularly want anything that would fill the chimney breast wall again, I wanted something small but oldy worldy.....kinda, so I bought this:













I LOVE IT!! And it looks good in our livingroom. I wish I had taken before pics of our livingroom, maybe I have some livingroom pics somewhere.

After Netto's I went into town for a shoe rack. I had a lovely shoe cupboard but I gave it to Michael because it was too big for our hallway after doing the work around here and changing things around, I have a lovely cupboard in my hallway now. I put the shoe cupboard in the coat cupboard but it was too big for the cupboard so I needed a smaller shoe rack to put into the cupboard. I found a shoe rack....£10 and so not worth the price but it was all I could find.

It was time to go pick up my OH and we then went onto Costco where I spotted a much nicer shoe rack for only £5 more....typical but I wasn't going to spend more on another rack.
£137.00 later and our Costco groceries were all bought....phew!
On the way home we stopped at Tesco where I bought my usual of Sweet Onions. On our way out we stopped at the Nutri Centre (which is a franchise inside of Tesco's) where I bought sprouts, Nak'd cashew bars, tea and coconut.

Onto Christmas. I still have more presents to buy for Christmas. My OH bought me a gorgeous standing mirror for Christmas which also has storage for jewellery....LOVE IT!





















My hubby has bought it in Oak for me...woohoo...can't wait!
We also bought Adam a bike for his main Christmas present, one more thing for Adam and that is all of his presents in. I still need to finish James' presents and then Michael's and our two granddaughter presents, we have bought for our grandson, little Michael...Oh! I nearly forgot, I need to buy my dad's and stepmam's present.....how could I forgot my pops and stepmam?

Sunday
Well, Sunday we went to B&Q to buy a mitre because the mitre we had wasn't suitable for the scotia's, instead we borrowed a good mitre from my dad and I am pleased to say, we now have the scotia's fitted and it looks GORGEOUS! It has finished the floors off beautifully, although we still need one more length of scotia for 3 tiny pieces in our kitchen.
The rest of the day was rather lazy.

Monday
We took some rubbish to the eminites then home.

Today
Lazy. My OH has had a couple of days off work so we just relaxed.

Tomorrow I am going to attempt to get some things into the dehydrator so I have some good things to hand.

All Done

I had my lady appointment on Wednesday which I obviously attended which is all done now just waiting for the result.
When I was at my appointment the nurse asked if she could weigh me because this hadn't been done for a good few years - WOW!....*SHARP INTAKE OF BREATH* NOOOOOOOoooo!
I weighed in at 92kilo's which equates to 202.4lb or 14st 4lb....OH MYYYYyyyy BUT that was fully clothed. I weighed in at home on the Thursday morning and I was 199.4lb - I have to say, I have lost 2.5lb since last weeks weigh in. To think I always said I will NEVER let myself hit 13 stone and I did and so I always said I would NEVER EVER hit 14st and I have and at this rate I am well on my way to 15st....time to TAKE STOCK which is exactly what I did on Wednesday and so I have been EXCELLENT since then and have been eating a good high raw diet.
I have my breakfast thickening at the moment.

Breakfast
Blend
1 Banana
1/2 c Water
1Tb Chia
1Tb Carob
1/2 Tb Coconut Crystals

Let stand for 15 mins then blend again
Top with berries or unsweetened Coconut

I have never tried this before so I am looking forward to it.

My washing machine is packing up so I have had to by a new machine which is to be delivered today. I NEEEED my washing machine!!!

LATER
My breakfast was YUMMY! I will definitely have that again. I like carob. When I make chocolates I sometimes mix carob and cacao instead of all cacao, I find it isn't as strong when I mix the cacao and carob together

Back later today

Getting Colder

It is beginning to feel so much colder and we have had some frost over the last few weeks.....BRRRR

We went out to Tesco this morning to buy some Buckwheat as that seems to be the only place to buy it locally. Whilst in Tesco I took the opportunity to stock up on 5 Romaine lettuce, Tomatoes, 2 Pineapple, Butternut Squash, 4 fresh Sweetcorn, 2 Cauliflowers, Broccoli, Banana's, shredded Coconut and Coconut Oil. On our way back from Tesco we saw a sign advertising top soil £2 per bag....GREAT! I thought because my 4 fruit tree's arrived and I needed soil to pot them, so we drove down the farm track and saw the lady there, but they aren't doing the soil now......grrrr.....why have the sign up then?? My sister was going to pop to the same farm for top soil and she too asked why the sign if they are no longer doing it?
On our way home we popped into Aldi where I bought a couple of salad bags, only 49p WOW! I also bought cucumber, I think that was all. Strangely as we went into Aldi I was looking for something my sister had been talking about which was very small slices of Rye and other German Breads in 2 slice packets but I couldn't find them so my OH rang my sister and asked her where they are in the shop and it just so happened that my sister had just left the shop....teehee so as we were coming in she must have passed us as she was going out, she was still in the carpark.

We also went to visit my Dad and step mam Beryl......we LOVE those two people!! Yes I am biased but they are lifes genuine folk, really REALLY nice folk and I am very proud to have them as parents.

Well, this weekend we are going to be getting through some jobs around here i.e. the windows outside need cleaning so my OH is getting up the ladders and he is going to do that for me and he is also going to clean the stair inside window and blind, I can't reach that window inside.

This weekends jobs:
Scotia's - to finish the flooring
Clean undersink cupboard
Clean outside windows
Clean inside stair window
Clean stair blind
Clean and sort raw equipment cupboard
Clear work surfaces
Sort out shelves in bedroom and throw out old shelving
Start my Kombucha pot off (made a hash of the first lot)
Glue drawer bottoms on desk
Soil and plant trees

I think that is all for now.

I am very tired today so I think I will make the families evening meal and chill, maybe watch a nice DVD in bed.
Nighty Night for now.

Missed a WHOLE Month....

and some....WOW!

We have been SOOO busy with the house, I also have that lady appointment coming up....AGAIN! This has been on my mind more as my appointment approaches. I have another appointment made for next week and then another two week wait on top.

My raw hasn't been great because of everything, but as the house (the downstairs and loft) is as good as finished I am more ready to get back with my raw meals and healthy lifestyle....just quaking a tad about appointment.

We have gutted and totally re-done all our downstairs what with skimming and painting, coving, laying new flooring etc. My OH still has the hall, stairs and landing to paint but that wont take long - Oh! And we still need to fit the scotia's along the floor edge, which again shouldn't take long. I have been getting quite a lot of thorough cleaning done because of all the work we have been doing.....since June/July....YIKES...THAT LONG! ....WOW! All the cleaning to get the dust, mess and muck out, and not forgetting that Christmas is just around the corner, I like to clean behind every nook and cranny at this time of year.....all those places we don't get to on a day to day basis.

Okay, I have Buckwheat sprouting and then I will dehydrate these so I have them prepared and to hand, I also have Alfalfa sprouts growing....I love Alfalfa.
I am going to make Penni's Pumpkin Pie recipe in the next day or so, this recipe looks delish!
Oh! I bought a few e-books lately - Penni's 'Falling Into Raw,' and Penni's 'Raw For The Holiday's.' I have also been wanting to buy René Oswalds 'Transitioning To Living Cuisine' e-book for some time which I finally bought also, especially as René has her book at a lower price at the moment.
My OH has bought me Alissa Cohen's NEW book, 'Raw Food For Everyone'....FAB!! But that is part of my Christmas presents.

Oh! I nearly forgot to tell you, I have bought....TREE'S....yeah baby, yeah baby...*doing a happy dance* - I have received my Sweet Chestnut Tree and TWO Hazelnut tree's. I am now waiting for.......excited.....A Walnut tree, a Braeburn Apple, Conference Pear, Victoria Plum and a Cherry Tree....WooHoo The tree's only grow to about 7ft but they yeild a huge amount of fruits and nuts. I am also thinking of buying a Lemon, Orange and Lime tree ANNNND a Kiwi and Fig tree. I currently have a Redcurrant bush, Blueberry Bush and a Strawberry bush growing in my garden, well, not growing so much at present because we are into our Winter now, our clocks went back on the 31st October.....brrrrr but come next year then I should have fruit and nuts in abundance....self sufficient or what....teehee.
I bought two beautiful hanging baskets that will look like this when we get them filled.













BEAUTIFUL! Don't you think? Balls of flowers and colour.

Well, I think that is all for now. I am going to do my utmost to blog daily and I will be back tomorrow with my daily raw jobs and preps and any other news that happens.

Sleep tight!

Here We Are!......

Back blogging. We have been so busy with re-vamping the livingroom which is still going on I hasten to add but it is so much closer to being done......FINALLY!
My OH is busy painting the walls and I am hoping that we will start laying the floor in the next couple of days. It takes us a long time to re-vamp/re-decorate a room now because gone are the days when we would slap paint on top of paint and strip walls just to repaper without washing the walls first etc, we now literally gut the rooms right down to the bare of everything, hence the length of time it takes us to re-vamp/re-decorate a room, but as it is said, "if a jobs worth doing, then it is worth doing right!"

My diet is still bad, but having said that I lost 4.8lb on the scales last week......*puzzled expression*
I am definintely going to get some Saurkraut made in the next day or two AND some of the Krazy Kracker Lady's, Krazy Krackers and Onion Rings....YUM!

My OH made me some FAB garden planters for my vege's and a seperate planter for my Strawberry plant. (I will get a pic of them soon for you to see) I am going to fill my planters, probably next year and use them from then. My vege's are not doing well in the large green tubs I bought.....ummmm.
I now have a redcurrant bush planted at the bottom of my garden courtesy of my sister who gave me the plant, she has such green fingers, EVERYTHING seems to grow for her.

I had to go for my lady test two weeks ago only to be sent a letter saying they don't have a result to report so will I make another appointment to go back in November, but that is 12 weeks! Why 12 weeks?? Why not now?? So as you can imagine because I am a depressive this situation is not making me feel too happy. I rang the doctors to ask about this letter and I was told it is probably because they didn't have enough cells or someone has made a blooper at the laboratory, but why 12 weeks?? That has me puzzled somewhat!!

My Adam has started a mechanics course...WooHoo we are SOOO proud of him!!
Had to pause there for about an hour because my BRILLIANT Dad just phoned and well, when we get chatting we are usually on the phone for at least an hour each time.

Well I don't think there is anything else to report for the moment but I will be back tomorrow even if only to say "Hi"

Wasn't To Be

No, we decided not to get the dog, well it wouldn't be fair on the dog at the moment with us doing so much around here, so maybe sometime in the future we will get another pooch.

We popped to Asda this morning for a few bits and pieces. When we got home my OH skimmed a bit more of the walls. I had to go to see the nurse today to have that horrible lady check up...I HATE that!! We then popped along to see Michael, our grandchildren weren't there, they were with their mammy at the shops, always LOVE seeing our Michael though. When we got back home my OH finished skimming our livingroom walls....WoooHooo.....so pleased although there is still a lot to do yet.

My eating has been rather bad today and my friend Avril and I are reporting to each other on a daily basis with our daily menu's.....ummm I have been shocking today....BoooHooo

I have started to write a daily list of my to do things for my raw food which might also help me stay on track and to be more prepared, so on that note here is my list for tomorrow of raw things to do.
RAW PREPERATION
Juice Citrus Fruits - Ice lollies
Open Coconuts
Prepare Apple Cider Vinegar
Sort Kefir
Marinate Mushrooms
Prepare Saurkraut
Make Raw Krazy Krackers
Make Raw Onion Bread
Make Raw Corn Tortillas
Cheesy Kale Chips
Soak Buckwheat
Soak Wheat to make Wheatgrass

Quite a bit to do there but the Krazy Krackers, Onion Bread, Cheesy Kale Chips and the Tortilllas can all be put into the dehydrator together, thats the beauty of having a 9 tray Excalibur....I LOVE IT!!

I have felt rather down today, I think it was the thought of that lady check and the fact that it has rained like crazy today which has meant dark, dull skies. I am still on my anti-depressants which do help a lot, even during days like this because at least I don't start and sink into what feels like a never ending and very deep black pit, I just tend to go rather down and gloomy which doesn't last. I would say that most of the time I am a lot more happier and on top of life now. Maybe there is a pattern there, when I am down I eat badly yet the more raw I eat the happier I am, I need to stick to raw and try to fight against even feeling down......ummmm

Anyway I am off for some sleep as it is late, so, speak to you again tomorrow.