My Morning prayer (6/25/07)

This is the prayer that I wrote last night to say this morning:

"Today is a welcome of abundance. I welcome abundance. I will recognize my blessings. Every moment is abundance. So much can be achieved in a moment. Whether it is checking your email or driving to work. A single moment allows you to move to a place you weren't before. So many possibilities. So much abundance! Treasure these moments. They are the source of abundance. Have a wonderful and blessed day. Be a blessing for others."

-Brandi

Good morning everyone,

Today is such a wonderful day. This is the second day of my menstruation cycle and I feel wonderful. I am almost 1 year raw. According to my journal, only 26 more days to go. I woke up this morning, took a shower, and worked on my garden. Most of you don’t know this, but I have a small container garden. I started it over spring break from seedlings, not knowing what to expect. I planted summer squash, basil, sugar peas, parsley, melon, lemon cucumbers, and sunflowers. I also brought 2 grape plants and 2 blueberry trees. I left my plants in my friends care while I was in California for 4 weeks in May, and unfortunately some plants didn’t make it. No fault of theirs, they just needed my love, patience, and fertilizer. So now they are back home and doing very well. Here is a picture of my garden:

I staked my peas and now they look healthier.

My grape vines are still doing well (the one I brought from the farm is doing better than the one I bought from Lowe’s).

One of my blueberry trees is producing small blueberries, which suggest that I will have a good harvest next year. The plant from Lowe’s is not doing as well as the one from the farm (duh!).

I replanted my squash because the container was too small. Also I think that because there wasn’t enough fertilizer, the plant kept producing roots, and the plant became root bound.

Also, there is good news. When I transplanted my plants from their small trays to their pots a few months ago, I used compost from the farm where I pick up my farmshare. Well, the compost had all kinds of seeds in them. Now I have peppers growing, all types of tomatoes, and lettuce. All of which, I did not plant. I can't wait for the fruit to come in (see below).

Also this morning, I made some juice. I juiced rhubarb (no leaves or roots) with lemon and strawberries. I was careful to make sure that I cut off enough of the bottom of the stalk so that it had no roots. Rhubarb contains a lot of oxalates, and the roots and leaves are toxic.

After I made the juice, I mixed in agave and lecithin. I wanted to make a sauce to pour over peaches and strawberries. My peaches weren’t ripe yet, so I poured it over strawberries and it was gooooood. It was tart and sweet. Here is the recipe if you want to make it:

3 stalks of rhubarb

1/2 c. strawberries

1 lemon (meyer preferred)

Agave to sweeten

1 1/2 tbsp lecithin

Juice all the ingredients. I juiced the lemon rind, but you don’t have to. Pour the juice into a bowl. Now add the lecithin and stir until dissolved. Now it is ready to pour over any sweet fruit. Berries work the best with this.

Lastly, I wanted to make mention of my menstruation cycle this month. It was different. I bled more on the first day (can we say a river). I even bled heavy during the night, which is when I usually bleed lighter. I didn’t feel tired like I usually do, or discomfort. I was bloated for the first half of the day and then it went away. And, I had more energy and more patience.

Good times.

-Brandi

Curry Flax Crackers

by Brandi Rollins

This recipe makes a spicy flax cracker. However, if you like strong flavors (like me), you can decrease the amount of flax seeds, water, and oil in half.

2 cups Flax Seeds (soaked 6 hours in 3 cups of water)
2 cloves
4 cardamom pod
1 tsp coriander seeds (a heaping teaspoon)
3 garlic cloves
2 roma tomatoes cubed (or 1 medium sized tomato)
1 tbsp cumin
1 red jalapeno (if green, you may need two)
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp ginger, minced
1/3 cup water
2 tsp salt
2.5 tbsp Curry seasoning
1/2 cup Sesame seed oil or sunflower seed oil (try not to use olive oil)
Soy sauce or salt to taste

You will need a dehydrator and 2 Teflex sheets.

After soaking the flax seeds for 6 hours, remove them to a large bowl. In a small blender combine the remaining ingredients except the oil. It should form a paste. Now add the paste to the soaked flax seeds and then add the oil. Mix the mixture well. Pour half the mixture onto one Teflex sheet and spread to 1/8-inch thickness. Pour the remaining mixture onto another Teflex sheet. Place both in the dehydrator. Dehydrate the flax crackers at 145-degress for 1 hour, and then decrease the temperature to 105-degrees. When the top of the crackers are dry, flip onto the grid and peel away Teflex sheet. Dehydrate until dry.

The crackers will keep for a week in a dry container.

Green Tea Ice Cream

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This stuff is amazing! The cinnamon is a nice touch. This is my roommate’s recipe. All the ingredient measurements are estimates. Enjoy!

-Brandi

2-3tsp Green Tea powder
1 banana
1/2c. coconut milk (may need a little extra)
1c. ice cubes (can add more to thicken)
1-2tsp cinnamon
1-1½ vanilla extract
2-4tsp honey

Blend all ingredients in a strong blender. You may need to add more coconut milk to blend the ingredients. If you want a more solid ice cream, place in the freezer.

Note that bananas can be substituted by the fruit of your choice. My roommate has also made this with mangos and peach. They are both very good with the green tea powder.

Note that the fruit can also be frozen. If you use frozen fruit use ½ the amount of ice or no ice, depending on the amount of fruit you add.

A Morning Prayer (read 6/17/07)

Last night, I wrote in my journal a prayer to say in the morning. I thought I would share it with everyone because it is about celebrating your work. I thought it was a wonderful way to start the day and it really helped me stay focused on the day’s tasks. So here it is:

"Today I will work. I will celebrate that work because it is my vocation. It is where I put my time, therefore, it's work that I love and is a reflection of myself. Through this work I will cultivate my power, and gain the skills and experiences needed to serve, further, and commune with the spirit. The spirit of my ancestors, the universe, and the present time me. Thank you for the gift of today. So many opportunities to further the spirit. So, be present, be apart of the living, and just be."

-Brandi

Meeting of the Minds
May 2007

Last month, the raw sistas (plus 2: Shaneca and Omer) got together for the 2nd quarterly Meeting of the Minds. If you don’t already know, this is a meeting where we share our goals and achievements to inspire, support, and encourage one another. This was a special meeting because we were all in the same city at the same time. What a blessing! We met at Café Gratitude in Berkeley, CA. A one-hour breakfast turned into a 3-hour sharing of stories, life plans, and wonderful food (although some ended up on the table thanks to Omer and Shaneca dipped out for some roasted chicken at a nearby restaurant).

We were all in a place of new beginnings: GaBrilla was beginning a new stage in her life as prepared to move to New Orleans. She shared the introduction to her book, and her accomplishments as a mother and an artist. She is such a fantastic mother! Rufiena spoke of her new job as coordinator at EF in Los Angeles, her successful six-month stay in Thailand, and recent certification as an international ESL instructor. Alicia celebrated her induction into the honors society at Columbia University, and looks forward to starting the first year of graduate studies. Shaneca shared her goals of graduating High School, improvement of her grades, and her experiences as a dancer. She plans to study dance at college. Lastly, Brandi talked of her many achievements in Graduate School, including her main accomplishment for being 100% raw for almost a year. She plans to submit 5 publications and attend 2 conferences in the fall.

Here is a picture from the meeting.

In picture: (left to right) Rufiena, Brandi, Alicia, Shaneca, Gabrilla, and Omer (he's eating))

-Brandi and Alicia (our new raw sista)

Greetings everyone,

From here on out I will be breaking my entries into three sections, Gardening, Food and my weekly reading. They are all so connected in my life, that it would not make much since to not include them.

Garden: A Sista Gotta eat

Like I posted last week, we (my son and I ) have moved forward to New Orleans. As soon as I got here, I dove full fledged into my goals, one of which happens to be to grow food for me and my family. At first I thought that it would be more of a way for me to prep myself for my future dream farm, but once I saw the prices of the food here, I knew that planting and growing produce will have to become much more of a priority than it ever was. I have lived in the bay area for the past five years and I have never paid these prices for food before--ever. And the bay area is one of the most expensive places to live in the country. I guess this was to be expected post-Katrina, but how are people who are still not getting a living wage, to find healthy affordable food? This is one of many examples of the inequities that so many locals are faced with. But I’ll rant later. And if ya’ll know me, you know that I am not one to stop at a wall. There are a few organizations in the city who are addressing the problem. Here are a few:

As far as the progress on the garden, I came back to see that I had a lot of baby carrots that grew and tons of mint. See below.

I had to pull all the weeds up and lots overgrown grass. I turned the dirt over and knew that there was some other things that I needed to do to the soil since it is so clay like. See below.

I did some research on the current status of the land post Katrina and I was advised to get the soil tested, so I will be holding off on any planting, growing seedlings indoors and growing compost until I get the results of the test back.

Here’s the beginning of my garden. I can’t to see what it looks like six months from now.

Although it is a major blow to have to pay 2.99 for a bunch of organic kale, half the size it is supposed to be, I intend to maintain a healthy diet, comprised of lots of vegetable and fruits. And speaking of food, here is a “living” date torte that I made with a cashew butter frosting--Heaven!!!
Date Nut torte:

(from Living-foods.com)

Base of Tort:
2 cups raisins
2 cups walnuts
Frosting:
1 cup dates, pitted and soaked
1/2 lemon, juiced
For Base:1. In a food processor, combine raisins and walnuts and blend until well blended and moist. (This will take a few minutes and you may see it forming a ball. Just make sure the raisins come out looking like a fudgey mixture and are not still grainy)2. Remove from processor and mold onto a plate in a round circle about 1 1/2 inches thick.For Frosting:1. In a food processor, combine dates and lemon juice until smooth and creamy.2. Spread the frosting on top of the torte

Cashew Butter Frosting:

2 tbl raw cashew butter

1 tbl agave nectar

a dash vanilla

a few dashes of water until smooth and creamy

Note: I like this served at room temperature as the frosting and torte are still sticky, but if you want a firmer texture that will be easier to slice, refrigerate it for a few hours.

GaBrilla’s Weekly Reading

Moving forward to New Orleans, and close to my family, having grown and learned so much, I feel a need to approach my relationships differently. My relationship with my family, my community and the city that I was born and raised in has changed, because I have changed, yet I feel as if I am approaching some things in that same reactionary emotional way that I did five years ago. Some friends of mine and I had a conversation about the thing that kept us coming back to the bay and I thought about it for a while. I realized that we all “grew up” in the Bay. Yes we went there as “legal” adults, but many of us got our first apartments, paid our own bills and had our first children in the Bay. So for the Bay I will always be thankful for all the experiences and all the wisdom gained. I will always consider Oakland my second home. But how does one return home grown and stand in your wisdom and growth without apology or regret?

I said all that to talk about the book (s) that I am reading. As usual, there is always a health book that I have my hands on. This week I have been referencing a gem I picked up called “The Essene Science of Life” by Edmond Szekely (same author of “The Essene Gospel of Peace--Book 1)

But the book that is challenging me the most to grow in ways I assumed I had, is "Nonviolent Communication: a language of life" by Marshall Rosenberg, with the workbook (by Lucy Leu)that goes with it. It is both an empowering book and one that breaks everything I thought I knew about communication fall to pieces. If you practice NVC than you are ahead of most, but if you are like me, I am being broke down, are at least the illusions that I believed in are. And I give thanks for it. It is making me re-evaluate how I communicate with my son, the messages I tell myself and others who are close to me. It makes it very hard to judge and makes me get very clear on how I am feeling. I feel really good when I can hold myself back from raising my voice at my son and get on eye level with him and ask him to something in a loving, but firm tone. Sometimes then yelling slips out, but I am conscious of it and I go back to NVC and he responds so well.

My bedtime book is “Conversations with God” by Neale Donald Walsch. I can’t and won’t explain. Read it for yourself.

Next week, I will give you all the results of my soil test. And some more pics of the great raw and some cooked foods that I have been making.

Greeting People,

We have arrived safely in New Orleans. I was pleased to pull up carrots from the garden that I started last fall. I also have mint growing all over the place (Lots of cacao mint smoothies!!!) I will be posting some a new blogs in a few days. I will also be including my adventures in gardening. In the meantime, here are a few pics of some smoothies that I have been trying out for size.

Oh, the baby with the Green mustache is my son, Omer. He loves green smoothies.

In Wellness,

GaBrilla