Thanks to “The Girl Who Ate Everything” for featuring this delicious summer salad on her website!
1 cup quinoa, washed and drained (I used 1/2 cup red quinoa and 1/2 cup white quinoa)
2 cups water
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 2 fresh limes (3 if they are small)
3/4 tsp cumin
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in quarters
5 green onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 avocado, chopped (not shown in the picture)
salt and pepper to taste
Rinse the quinoa and add to a saucepan with the water, cover, bring to boil and reduce to simmer – cook until all water is absorbed. 10-15 min. Turn off the heat and leave it alone for 10-15 minutes. Remove lid, fluff with a fork and pour into a large bowl. Add black beans, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and avocado.
Separately, whisk together extra virgin olive oil, lime juice, cumin and red pepper flakes. Add salt and pepper.
Toss dressing with quinoa mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
This salad can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Serves 2-4.
The more I read about and eat coconuts, the more I think that they are one of the greatest foods. Coconut meat has a remarkable ability to rejuvenate oxidative tissue damage, improve the functioning of the nervous system, and restore male sexual fluids. The coconut is a natural water filter that takes almost nine months to filter each liter of water in the shell. In David Wolfe’s book, Eating For Beauty
, he says, “Young coconut water is identical to human blood plasma, making it the universal donor. Plasma makes up 55% of human blood. The remaining 45% of our blood consists of hemoglobin, which is essentially transformed plant blood (chlorophyll). When we consume a drink consisting of 55% fresh coconut water and 45% fresh green-leaf juice, we give ourselves and instant blood transfusion.” Sounds like I need to find a coconut green smoothie recipe…
Swap out your cooking fats and your body lotion for coconut oil. Dr. Peat
relates that in the 1940s, farmers attempted to use coconut oil to fatten their animals, but instead, it made the animals lean and active. They switched to corn and soy feed, causing the animals to get fat without eating much food. Cooked unsaturated oils (corn, safflower, canola, soy, etc) suppress the metabolism and slow the thyroid. Coconut oil does just the opposite, leading to weight loss. Buy a jar and spoon it out into the pan, just as you would any other cooking fat- it’s delicious.
Coconut Oil 
is excellent at repairing and nourishing the skin. It is easily absorbed by the skin and helps prevent and lighten stretch marks. Its antiseptic quality keeps skin young and healthy and relatively free from infections. On the other hand, Commercial lotions and creams provide temporary relief from dry skin, but eventually weaken the skin over time. – My bottle of commercial lotion is just running out so I am going to try out Coconut Oil/Butter,
next. Ideally, you want coconut oil/butter that is raw (cold-pressed), organic, and packed in dark glass bottles. It does not need to be refrigerated.
The classic blueberry muffin gets an update with spelt flour and a flavor boost from orange juice and zest.
1/2 cup canola oil, plus more for greasing the pan
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs
1/2 cup orange juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups spelt flour (you can use whole wheat flour in place of the spelt)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper muffin liners. In a large bowl, cream together oil and sugar. Stir in applesauce, eggs, orange juice and vanilla.
In a second large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, zest and salt. Stir flour mixture into butter-egg mixture until just combined. Gently stir in blueberries. Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
I have been reading Eating For Beauty, by David Wolfe. I have really enjoyed reading it and learning more about raw food. I want to share this passage from the book about refined sugar:
Heroin is produced by taking the juice of certain poppy varieties and refining it into opium, then morphine, and finally into heroin. Similarly, refined sugar is produced from taking the juice of sugar cane or beet and refining it into molasses, then brown sugar, and finally white sugar….
Refined sugar is a drug that causes artificial highs, mood swings, depression, and energy crashes. In the sixteenth century, refined sugar was considered to be a recreational drug in the royal courts of Europe.
It takes 1.1 kilograms of sugar beets to create a mere 0.14 kilograms of refined sugar. Refined sugar is essentially a concentrated, crystallized sugar. - page 38
I love the analogy between sugar and heroin because sugar is absolutely addicting and destructive, yet Americans continue to eat more and more eat year- esp in the form of the more processed and likely more dangerous- high fructose corn syrup.
If you eat a lot of sugar, it can be very difficult to quit, you can absolutely expect cravings and withdrawals. Hopefully being armed with understanding and knowledge will give you the strength you need to free yourself from sugar’s nasty grasp.
A new Chick-Fil-A just opened up near my house and so I broke down and went and got their chicken sandwich (I did opt for the wheat bun). I must confess- they make some good chicken. A few hours later, to my disgust, it seemed my breath started to smell, well, bad. And, it kept smelling bad- I think I chewed a whole pack of gum that day. It has been so long since I have really had meat that I forgot how bad it can turn your breath. Have any of you noticed meat turns your breath bad?
Thanks to “The Girl Who Ate Everything” for featuring this delicious summer salad on her website!
