Gadgets: Juicer

Every morning I make carrot/beet/cucumber juice for breakfast. I make a juice for my husband as well. We use a Champion Juicer and throw all the parts in the dishwasher after juicing. The benefit of this one small exercise cannot possibly be overstated.

• While my body is still alkalizing from the night's sleep/detox, I am putting all alkaline foodstuffs into my body to continue the detox and keep my body as alkaline as possible for as long as possible.
• Juice gives me a sweet taste with none of the sweeteners. I am putting 100% pure vegetables into my body first thing in the morning. Nobody can tell me I don't eat my vegetables!
• I can feel the energy almost immediately.
• I have eliminated the need to worry about eliminating.
• I can feel the energy boost almost immediately.
• Any small adjustments needed in my health - a stuffy nose from nighttime air, a tightness in my muscles - is immediately fixed. It is my miracle cure.
• I know I am giving my immune system the perfect boost to fight the current gaggle of germs brought home by my school-age children.
• It doesn't get any more nutritionally dense than this for breakfast!

Buy a juicer and pledge to juice every morning. I challenge you to make meat/wheat/dairy-free a lifestyle but......if you can only do one thing - start with juicing.

Blood

3 finger-sized pieces of washed, red organic beet

1 large organic cucumber

2 lbs carrots

Run all the veggies through the juicer then pour through a fine mesh strainer into a large glass. The strainer reduces the fiber content but maintains the nutritional density. While fiber is great, this meal in intended to rush through to your blood with an onslaught of vitamins. This makes a very large juice. Drink it all. Cucumbers help grow nails and hair. The beet is a great way to measure your metabolism because you will poop red once it passes through your intestines.

Green Juice

1 huge handful of spinach

1 large cucumber

2 lbs carrots

The spinach will give you a fabulous shot of raw iron. All greens contain chlorophyll which draws oxygen into your system. Cancer cannot grow in an oxygenated system. The cucumber will sweeten the batch and the carrots will shoot it through your intestine cleaning out old turkey dinners and other parasitical debris. Enjoy!

Weenie Juice

1 apple

2 lbs carrots

Are you a first timer? Scared of how veggie juice tastes? OK, here you go. When you first get started the palms of your hands will turn orange. That is Vitamin A which cannot be absorbed because of your naughty prior habits. After a few months on this new regime your palms will turn a healthy skin color. Then you will know that your boyd is absorbing all the vitamins as well as A.

"A person trying to heal or prevent disease needs to
offer his or her body's cells as much high-quality, usable nutrition as possible
so those cells can revitalize weakened organs by creating new cells that are
healthier than the ones being replaced. The best way of doing this is with the
consumption of fresh vegetable juice because the nutrients in this juice offer
the very components - vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes - that are
needed to rebuild our cells. The advantage in drinking fresh vegetable juice
rather than eating the whole vegetable is that the fiber has been removed, an
dthus we can get much more nutrition to the cellular level of our bodies much
quicker, and with much less energy expended in assimilating it."

Recipes For Life

Rhonda Malkmus

Gadgets: Rice/Vegetable Steamer

I use a Black & Decker 7-Quart Vegetable steamer with rice basket. It was $29.99 at Target.

The most important thing about cooking in a steamer is that you can make fool-proof, great-every-time long grain brown rice. It is great for experimenting with millet, quinoa and other whole grains, too. The steamer also assures that the entire mineral and vitamin content of the food you are cooking is maintained in the final product. For instance, when you boil vegetables in a pot of water, much of the mineral value is left in the water when you drain the cooked vegetable.

Long Grain Brown Rice w/Bragg's

2 cups long grain brown rice

2 cups distilled water

Bragg's Liquid Aminos

Place rice and water in rice basket. Fill steamer tank with enough water to hit "fill line". Turn timer to 60 minutes, press On, walk away until rice is done and perfect!
Find organic long grain brown rice in the "bin aisle" at Whole Foods. For those of you with great fear over entering the "bin aisle", here are your directions: get a plastic bag, place under the bin of long grain brown rice #6678, fill bag, put that plastic bag into another plastic bag to prevent breakage and spillage, get one of those white twisty tabs, place around twisted bag, write bin #6678 so the checker knows the cash register number (SKU) for the product. Congrats! You are a Tier 2 Whole Foods Shopper; wear hemp next time you come to the store! Buy Bragg's Liquid Aminos at Whole Foods or Central Market. Look for it with the Asian food. It should be in the same aisle as the Mexican and Italian pasta. It is on the bottom shelf at Lemon avenue Whole Foods and is available in spray pump or regular. Buy either one. Bragg's Liquid Aminos tastes like soy sauce but is a whole food protein providing the 11 proteins that your body cannot make. It is extremely nutritious with no preservatives.

Corn/Red Potatoes

5 small ears of corn on the cob

10 medium red potatoes

Wash and shuck ears of corn. Break corn cobs in half. Place in lower steamer basket. Wash and slice red potatoes. Do not remove skin - all the vitamins are in the skin and the red potato turns into a starch if removed. Place sliced red potatoes in upper steamer basket. Remember to fill steamer tank to fill line. Cook for 50 minutes. I love being able to cook a whole meal in one pot.

Fish and Rice

4 pieces of wild Tilapia

2 cups long grain brown rice

2 cups distilled water

Place rice and water in rice basket in lower steamer. Place Tilapia in upper steamer basket. Season Tilapia with garlic salt and lemon pepper. Start rice without the Tilapia basket in place. Let rice steam for 40 minutes. Then place Tilapia basket in place for 20 minutes. This gives rice the full hour to steam and doesn't overdo the Tilapia. The Tilapia will drip into the rice but, hey, you're going to serve them together anyway! Meal in a Pot.

Gadgets

My friend Julie is an interior designer. She says the best way to clean a room is to buy something new!

It can be from Dollar Tree or it can be a new piece of furniture. When you place something new in the room it motivates you to clean, throw away and reposition things. I use her technique every time I need to tackle a tough project.

Her advice works great with diet changes. Want to make a change in your health, your body, the way you look, your energy level? Buy something new!

Here are my favorite gadgets for cooking whole foods. I'll give recipes for each gadget over the next few days. Get online or go to Bed Bath & Beyond with a fistful of coupons and let's get cooking!

• Vegetable/Rice Steamer - There is a Deni 3-Tier food steamer with free shipping for $49.99 from www.target.com. Make sure it has a "rice basket" meaning, you can place liquids such as rice and water in one of the tiers. Also look at the Black & Decker 7-Quart steamer at Target or Bed Bath & Beyond. It is a two tier with a rice basket. It should be about $29.99. Or go to www.amazon.com and compare both of these brands.
• Vegetable Juicer - If you only do one thing for yourself this year, decide to start the day with fresh vegetable juice. Fruit is not as vitamin rich. All other breakfast options are cooked and therefore do not alkalize and detox the body. First thing in the morning you should give yourself a fabulous shot of God's green earth. Juice carrots, beets, cucumbers, spinach, apples, celery, kale, broccoli, cauliflower every day. I use a Champion Juicer. It is a monster. The Champion Juicer can juice huge carrots (due to a large "mouth") or nuts. It holds up for 5 years and the parts are replaceable online. Get a Champion Juicer from www.hacres.com. This is my go-to website for all things whole and healthy. These people are crazy about their veggies so beware! It will cost about $250. Or shop the Champion Juicer at www.coolshinystuff.com. The last time I looked, it was $209.95 with free shipping. If you want to start small, get the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer. It costs between $95 and $150 depending on whether you get the Power Juicer Pro or not. Look for it at BB&B or Kmart.
• Pesto/Nut Chopper - This is the cutest, cheapest little trick ever. If you hate cleaning the food processor and are lazily purchasing pesto sauce, stop it! Store bought pesto has preservatives and cheese in it. Make yourself a flavor bursting basil-rich pesto sauce with the Progressive Nut Chopper. Only $7.99 at BB&B. How fun!! Or how about walnut sauce which is perfect for sauteed kale and onions: grind 1/2 cup walnuts through Nut Chopper. Add 1/3 cup water, 1 tsp miso and 1 tsp of ume plum vinegar. Yum!
• Crock Pot - Just get one. Don't make me explain! I'll give you recipes tomorrow.

A woman with many servants at her disposal is wise. Use these little gadgets as your servants. When I look at my kitchen in the middle of the afternoon and the steamer is filled and turned on for an hour and the crock pot is full and on low, I am happy! I'm happy because my family is about to eat a ton of organic food with all the vitamins in tact due to cooking processes which keep the food healthy and yet slow-cook the herbs and spices in to make a savory meal. Smart chick!

Recipe: Salad Dressing

A huge bowl of raw vegetables is a wealth of health. But the toppings can turn a vitamin rich meal into the equivalent of a Big Mac. Here are some whole food salad dressings to keep your salad nutritionally healing.

Honey Mustard Dressing

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup tarragon vinegar

1 garlic clove smashed

1 tsp organic herb seasoning (no MSG)

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1 Tblsp honey

sea salt

Pesto Dressing

3 cups fresh basil

3 cloves garlic

5 Tblsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp sea salt

Blend all. Serve over pasta salad: quinoa veggie curl pasta, arugula, romaine and julienned carrots.

Carrot/Parsley Salad

3 grated carrots

1/3 cup chopped parsley

1/2 clove garlic

2 tsps apple cider vinegar

2 Tblsp extra virgin olive oil

sea salt

Vegenaise "Ranch" Dressing

1 - 14oz jar Vegenaise

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

2 Tblsp minced garlic

4 Tblsp dried parsley flakes

Blend all. Serve over full bowl of raw diced vegetables.

Yogurt Dressing

1 small Oikos yogurt

1/2 grated cucumber

1 tsp minced garlic

2 Tblsp fresh dill minced

Mix all in a bowl. Serve over spinach salad: spinach, fresh strawberries, celery, slivered almonds.

Fruit Dressing

1 cup pineapple

2 apples

1 banana

1/4 cup coconut

1/2 cup pecans

3 dates

Blend all in food processor. Serve over spinach salad: Spinach, walnuts and julienned carrots.

Avocado Dressing

2 avocados

1 tomato

1/2 small red onion

1 large garlic clove

1/3 cup cilantro

2 Tblsp lemon juice

sea salt

Place all in blender. Serve over raw veggie salad.

Salad dressings are a perfect way to sneak vitamins into your day. Experiment with soy yogurt, curcumin/turmeric which has highly medicinal qualities, use herbs from your neighbor's garden: rosemary, dill, mint, experiment with new vinegars (no MSG), use cayenne for weight loss (and a kick!),and use parsley to cleanse the kidneys.

Recipe: Holiday Cooking

The season for eating is upon us! I believe in the soul-filling sharing of meals with family during the holidays. Here are some ideas to fill ourselves with food that reflects family love but also fuels our bodies.

Halloween - Send the candy to the troops. This is no time to allow kids to munch on sugar for a month. Sugar impairs the immune system; we can't have that during swine flu season. Time to ship that stuff off. Don't worry about those sad little faces, tell them the Navy is strong and didn't get to trick or treat. Write a note to the brave, beautiful men and women of the Nimitz fleet. Ship that candy to:

ENS Charbonneau

USS Chosin CG-65, FPO

AP 96662-1195

Thanksgiving - Go big with the turkey - green with the rest. Green salad: forget the croutons, iceberg lettuce and cheese. Make this a raw veggie feast: romaine, spinach, carrots, raw broccoli, raw cauliflower, celery. Offer a balsamic vinaigrette. Appetizers: offer fresh fruit, offer goat and sheep's milk cheeses with NutThins or rice crackers. Remember the sweet potatoes: put them on the grill in foil - takes up less oven space and forgoes the marshmallows and milk.

Christmas - Is it possible to start a new Christmas Eve tradition? How about quiche? Something light before candlelight service. Rosemary/Goat cheese/Broccoli quiche with a Caesar salad. Strawberries and romanov sauce for dessert.

Dessert - But we'll always have a sweet! How about chocolate mousse? 2 cups Vanilla Soy Milk, 1 12 oz bag Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate chips and 2 tsp vanilla. Melt all and pour in beautiful coffee cups. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Raw Cranberry Relish

• 2 cups fresh cranberries ground in food processor
• 1 organic orange - chop flesh and grate skin
• 2 ripe pears - peeled and chopped fine
• 1 apple - peeled and chopped fine
• 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans (chopped into small pieces)
• 4 celery ribs - chopped fine
• 1/2 cup organic raisins
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/2 cup raw, unfiltered honey

Mix well, cover and place in refrigerator. Gets better after 4 hours or more of refrigeration!