End of Daniel Fast

Yesterday was the last day of our 21 day Daniel fast. We all felt amazing, although I have to admit I was missing my occasional slice of bread. So, today, for lunch I had tomato sandwiches [mmm...mmm... GOOD!], with wheat pasta mixed with fermented and fresh veggies and more fermented raw vegetables on a side. Let me tell you: IT WAS GOOD! I had treated myself to some bread and I think I am satisfied for another week or so to go without. The main thing with any food item/group that is not wholly good for you is not to overdo it if you choose to occasionally indulge in it. Although the bread I had was freshly made at home, the fact that the flour was not freshly ground and it had yeast in it already added stress on my digestion. [I hope we all know that yeast is not good for us--leavened breads bring too much harmful bacteria in our gut, especially when eaten excessively, and especially by those on the SAD (Standard America Diet)]. [make sure to click on the links and look through--you will find a lot of valuable information that will help you make sense of the statements I just made]

Those who followed Daniel Fast that do not normally adhere to a Vegan Whole Foods diet need to be very careful in breaking the fast. During the time of the fast your bodies have detoxed and cleansed, although partially, from your old diet and have become more sensitive to what you ate: hopefully all plant foods. Now that you are done with the Fast, the biggest mistake would be to dive into consuming animal products head long. You will be asking for a lot of pain, drainage of physical energy [it takes a lot to digest flesh products], and poor digestion among many other things. Take care to SLOWLY reintroduce the foods you know you will be bringing back. Better yet, I hope this fast showed you how easily you can live without extra foods that you thought were a necessity and you will continue on with your newly formed habits.

After all think of it this way: MY BODY IS A TEMPLE! NO TRASH ALLOWED!

Really! If you have to make a sign and put it on your fridge and all around your house--do it ! You get only one body for your entire life and you will get out of it only what you put into it. Take care of it now and it will take care of you later.

Now, on a whole different, none-food related topic: I am SO excited! I finally received my birthday present: Canon 780IS HD camera!!! As a professional photographer I am SUPER excited: I finally got a camera that I can slide into my purse instead of bringing a whole camera bag with me. It is tiny--fits in the palm of my hand, AND has an HD video capability. I only tried it out for several minutes and cannot wait to do more. I might even start featuring HOW TO videos on the blog! I will be going to bed and dreaming of all the possibilities now. [I know it does not take much to get me excited ;)].

For now I wish you Good Night, and... LIVE AN UNPROCESSED LIFE!

Daniel Fast, Week 3, Day 15

It has been a long day: a full day at work, making dinner, which was quite simple, actually, then painting and THEN jumping into the kitchen headlong to make fermented veggies and kombucha. I will post more tomorrow--I even have pictures ready, but now I must take my leave and get a little break for my body and brain.

'Till tomorrow: live an UNPROCESSED LIFE!

Daniel Fast-Vegan Recipes, Week 3, Days 11-14

As promised, I am adding more scrumptious dishes for the Daniel Fast. These dishes are also safe for Candida cleanse, if you are doing one now, which would be a great way to benefit from the fast. I will cover that topic in the near future, though.

Meanwhile, I was inspired to make the first dish by flipping through Rachel Ray's magazine.

Spring Pesto with While Wheat Penne

Ingredients

• 1 bag of whole wheat organic penne pasta
• 10 oz of frozen peas, thawed
• 1 cup basil leaves
• 2 handfuls soaked and dehydrated walnuts
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp grated lemon peel
• Sea or Himalaya salt to taste
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Preparation

• Cook pasta according to directions on the package, salting the water
• Drain pasta, almost completely, leaving a little bit of liquid in
• In a food processor, blend half the peas with basil, walnuts, olive oil, and lemon peel until coarsely chopped
• Add pesto to pasta and combine, adding remaining peas
• Sprinkle with pepper and enjoy!

Next dish is very simple and is one of my husband's favorites.

Rice and Corn
Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 2-3 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/3 red onion, diced
• 2 cups frozen corn, thawed
• 2-3 tbs hemp seed or extra virgin olive oil
• salt and spices to taste
• 2 tbs fresh dill, chopped

Mix all ingredients and enjoy!

And as promised, here is the recipe for....
Falafels

I found a recipe that looks super delicious on www.bittersweet.com blog. Since the post was about breaking rules, I broke them by changing up the recipe a little to please my taste buds. I have not tried to make these raw yet, since I was pressed for time, but you can make them RAW or COOKED.
Ingredients
• 2 cups soaked sunflower seeds [soak overnight or for at least 4 hours]
• ½ cup tahini paste
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbs dried or 4 tbs freshly chopped parsley
• 1 scallion or 1-2 shoot of green onion, chopped
• 1 cups cooked garbanzo beans
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1-1.5 tsp sea or Himalayan salt
• Paprika for sprinkling on top

Preparation
• Place all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until well mixed but with small chunks
• Use a small ice cream scoop or a teaspoon to create balls.
• If you are using a teaspoon, like I did, place ingredients into your hand and roll it into a perfect ball, and then place either on a dehydrator mesh sheet for RAW version, or a parchment covered baking sheet for BAKED version
• Sprinkle with Paprika

For Cooked Version
• Preheat oven to 375 F and baked until falafels are slightly crisp on the outside but still feel soft on the inside [about 20-25 minutes]
For RAW version
• Place balls on a dehydrator mesh sheet and dehydrate at 118 F for 6-8 hours, looking for the same qualities as in cooked version: crisp on the outside, soft on the inside

To enjoy falafels, use on a salad as seen in yesterday's post or inside a Whole Wheat Wrap

I hope you will find these dishes as we did. Make enough to last you a few days so you can get the extra time in prayer and meditation.

Until next time: LIVE AN UNPROCESSED LIFE!

Daniel Fast Week 2, Days 8-10

It’s a bit late, but I promised I will be posting more recipes for the fast—I kept my promise and spend a few hours in the kitchen on my day off creating, tasting and enjoying these foods that I am about to share.

When I made these dishes, I made larger portions so I would not have to spend every day in the kitchen, just like I would advise anyone to do, especially since this is a fast, which means we abstain from foods in some way—for me it is not only by cutting out foods from my regular diet, but also by spending less time in the kitchen, and more time alone with God.

I am going to break up the foods that I made into two different posts, since there are way too many recipes for one post and it is way too late to be blogging, albeit it this will post in the morning.

So, without further ado, here are several meals that will delight your taste buds, while cleansing your body.

Whole Wheat Crisps

Ingredients

• 5 tbs extra virgin olive oil; you will need another ¼ cup for later use to oil crackers*
• 2 cups water
• 6.5 cups whole wheat or hard white unfine flour [you might need about ¼ cup more for rolling out dough later]
• 2-2.5 tsp sea or Himalayan salt
• 1tbs your favorite seasoning [I use Kirkland organic blend]

Preparation
• Preheat oven to 375 F
• If you have a bread machine, set it on Dough cycle; feel safe to pull out dough after 30-40 minutes, since it is unleavened and you won’t have to wait for it to rise
• If you don’t have a bread machine, combine all ingredients, saving water to be added last, little by little, adding more flour in the end if needed; then knead dough until elastic
• When dough is ready, divide into 10 equal parts
• Roll out each part—you can choose to make some of the parts as tortillas for Whole Wheat Wraps [see below] and some for crackers
• When dough is rolled out thin, brush a little bit of oil on each side, so Crisps come out crispier, then take a knife or a pizza roller and cut it into any shape you might like

• Bake until light golden and slightly crisp—the pieces will get more crisp after sitting out for a while
• Cool and serve on their own or with a topping of Hummus [recipe below].

While Wheat Wraps

• Same recipe as above, you can even choose to split dough half way
• Preheat a skillet on medium-high
• Roll out each dough part into a circle
• Drop on the hot skillet, moving the piece in the beginning so it does not get stuck
• Flip over and repeat until done [you should be able to see when it is cooked through or slightly golden in parts]
• Fill with any filling you desire

We made our wraps with Hummus, Garden Salad [recipes below] and Falafuls [recipe coming tomorrow]

Elena’s Hummus

One of my favorite things to eat, but it seems that is so not only for me but for the rest of my family too. I made enough last night to last us 3 days, but it was gone before today’s dinner.

Note: soak overnight or for several hours; when soaking make sure to cover beans with water completely so that water line goes above beans about 2-3 fingers width high—it will all be absorbed—will yield 8 cooked cups of beans [you can use the other 4 to make another helping of this recipe or to add to other dishes]

Ingredients
• 4 cups cooked garbanzo beans [aka chickpeas]
• Juice of 1.5 lemon
• 1.5 cup water
• 4-5 large cloves of garlic
• 7 tbs tahini paste
• 1 ¼ tsp sea or Himalayan salt
• 2 tbsp favorite seasoning [I used a blend of organic seasonings, you can also try cumin, if you do, start with 2 tsp and work your way up depending on how much you might like]

Preparation
• Place all ingredients, starting with water into a high speed blender that has some sort of temper [an instrument to push down solid ingredients and keep the mixture going]
• Start the blender and increase speed to high slowly—make sure not to burn your motor
• Blend until smooth
• Use immediately or refrigerate

Garden Salad
• 2 hearts of Romaine lettuce, coarsely chopped
• 4 Roma tomatoes, sliced in a way you like
• 1/3 red onion sliced
• 2 avocados, cubed
• Any other vegetable of your choice, such as a cucumber
• Toss all ingredients together and dress with
• Sea or Himalayan salt to taste
• Sprinkle with your favorite seasoning
• 2-3 tbs extra virgin olive oil or hemp seed oil
• 2-3 tbs apples cider or balsamic vinegar [optional]
• Toss everything together and enjoy!

More recipes coming tomorrow—I did not waste my day off, that much I can promise you : )

Daniel Fast, Day 5 Recap and Menu Planner

If you are following us on Daniel Fast, I hope your Day #5 of Daniel Fast went well.

I ended up feeling a bit drained last night so I lived off of leftovers and did not make what I wanted, but I have plans to catch up tomorrow! That is my commitment.

The food we had today was certainly delicious and nutritious.

We had energy packed green smoothies for breakfast. [Remember you can make them with fruit only, however greens add so much more your body can benefit from].

For lunch we had soup made with veggies, rice and beans. And for dinner we went all out! We had soup leftovers, whole wheat crackers with avocado dip, and whole wheat wraps with a delicious filling--check it out. [I know that these cell phone snaps do not look very scruptious but I was way too hungry and waiting to dig in to get out my camera and do it the right way.]

So, here are quick recipes.

Clementine Smoothie
Makes 3 servings

• 1 cup water
• 4 clementines, peeled
• 2 plums
• 4 cups spinach
• 4 strips dulse
• 2 tbs maca powder
• 2 tbs flax seeds

Potatoes and Bean Soup
(if you have precooked beans and brown rice this soup can be made in less than 30 minutes)

Ingredients
• 3.5 quarts water
• 1 large potato, peeled and sliced
• 1 small-medium sized carrot, shredded
• 1/2 onion, sliced
o 1/2 cups cooked beans
• 1/2 cup brown rice
• 3-4 tbs chopped dill
• Your favorite organic seasoning
• Sea or Himalayan Salt to taste
• 3-4 tbs olive oil

Preparation
• Start warming water while you are peeling and chopping potatoes
• Add salt and potatoes to water
• Bring to boil and reduce to medium or low-medium heat; cover
• Meanwhile, sauté onions and carrots in oil [you can also add 1/2 chopped bell pepper if you wish]; add seasoning while sautéing
• Once water and its contents had boiled for 10-15 minutes, add beans and rice to it [if you did not have precooked beans and rice, then cook beans first; when half way done, add rice and cook through, then add remaining ingredients that need to be boiled]
• Add sauted veggies to the pot and cook for another 5-10 minutes
• When done, garnish with dill and enjoy!

Whole Wheat Crackers
• It is quite simple, follow recipe from this post to make torilla bread, however add your favorite organic seasoning to the mix and 4 tbs of olive oil.
• Preheat the oven to 375 F
• After rolling out dough, place on a baking sheet and bake until bread becomes brittle and easily breakable. Some parts of bread will be golden brown while others will remain the same light brown color [color of flour you are using].
• When done, take out from the oven, cool off a little, then break into pieces of any size you like.

Whole Wheat Wraps
• Same dough, same concept, only this time bake dough until it is baked through yet remains pliable
• Take out of the oven and cover

Avocado Spread
• 2 avocados, mashed with a fork or a spoon
• Salt and seasoning to taste
• 1 tbs apple cider vinegar [optional]

You can dip into the spread with Whole Wheat Crackers, or spread on your Wrap before laying out other ingredients to make it creamier.

Wrap Filling/Salad

• 1 head of Romaine lettuce, chopped
• 2-3 Roma tomatoes, sliced lengthwise
• 1-2 avocados, cubed [I later searately added 1/2 sliced avocado to my wrap]
• 3 tbs olive oil
• seasoning and salt to taste
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley

Mix all ingredients and fill your Whole Wheat Wrap with them.

Are you having a recipe overload? Well, my stomach had certainly enjoyed the whole meal!

Tomorrow we are planning to feast on energy filled green smoothies, lots of water; I will also be making falafels [I found this delectable recipe on a blog of a wonderfully talented lady Hannah] to have with salads, and whatever else comes our way.

For the next couple of days, here is the menu I propose for you, dear Daniel Fasters.

Saturday, Day 6 and Sunday, Day 7
Breakfast

Smoothie/Green Smoothie

Lunch

Choose from the list of Salads [pick the ones that are Fast Friendly]

Dinner

Choose from the list of Dinners, Salads and Main Dishes

Dessert

You can find some Fast Friendly Desserts here, if you are craving some, although I would suggest not to overindulge in sweets, albeit they come in the form of fruit.


Take the time tomorrow and Sunday to do all of your shopping and preparation for the week to come: precook some rice and other grains, beans; chop greens and veggies, and some fruit [which you can freeze], so you do not have to feel like you live in the kitchen.

I am hoping to take some time tomorrow to blog a menu for next week, so I hope you come back to check it.

And here is my ghetto take of me in my work-out getup (I work out at home). I normally do not indulge in posting pics of myself, however, I thought it is about time I reminded the world what I look like ;).

Now, onto things that are more beneficial.

While fasting, especially in the last couple of days, I personally felt that the Lord is already leading me to help resolve one of my most pressing needs and I am very grateful and MOST excited. I am once again reminded that He will withhold no good thing from us, when we ask, if we abide in Him.

In the next few days I am going to blog [hoping to blog] about the plan of action I resolved to take regarding further adjusting my Daniel Fast diet. It will be an interesting read, I promise you.

What about you? What are you facing during this fasting time? What are your victories?

Daniel Fast-Vegan Recipes, Day 3 Recap and Day 4

Day 3 was our “eating our leftovers” day, although I purposefully was making more than enough for the two days before that so our food would last us longer. Today, Day 4, will be no exception—leftovers and green smoothies.

So, for us it was: yams, borsch, and green smoothies. Today it will be: green smoothies, fruit, nuts, brown rice mixed with corn and beans.

For Dinner I am planning to make Falafels that I spotted on a blog I follow: BitterSweet Vegan Recipes. The author of the blog is quite a lady--whips up new amazing recipe accompanied by gorgeous images all the time. Thanks, Hannah! [By the way, Hannah has a book published, for those who love to indulge in some vegan dessert, and a few e-books you can find on her site. Although my overall guidelines are much more strict, I find a lot of inspiration on Hannah's blog.]

For now, here is a recipe to the smoothie I whipped up this morning. Enjoy!


Pear Green Smoothie [nourishing recipe]
Makes 2-3 servings2 cups water

• 1 large ripe pear
• 4 plums
• 4 cups beet greens [for protein, iron and chlorophyl, among other wonderful things]
• 1/4 cup dulse [for iodine--great for thyroid health]
• 3 tbs hemp seed [for your protein, Omega 3, 6, and 9]
• 3 tbs maca poweder [iron, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6 and a whole lot of other great things along with a boost of energy]

Blend everything until smooth and enjoy it! It is pleasantly sweet.

Tonight, if I whip up something special, which I am planning to do, I will make sure to take some images so you can actually see what I am talking about [I love recipes with images myself]. So, until then, stay strong and...

LIVE AN UNPROCESSED LIFE!

Daniel Fast Vegan Recipes, Day 2

Hello, world! It is time to recap our Day 2 of Daniel Fast.

Personally I can tell you that I felt great at the end of the day. Over the weekend, before the fast started, my body fought come kind of a bug, but thankfully, due to my clean diet and prayer, it never developed into anything except a couple of days of deep, raspy voice and one day of minor discomfort. Last night, by the time I went to bed I felt fabulous and was ready to conquer the world.

For breakfast we had fruit and for brunch a little bit of the pasta leftovers from Day 1. I finished off my lunch at about noon. I was on the road [work related travel] yesterday, so Demetrye and I ended up stopping by Whole Foods in Vancouver for a quick bite. We had their black rice with veggies in it, which was pretty fabulous.

I kept drinking lemon/cinnamon water throughout the day to help my scratchy throat.

For early dinner we had Borsh [see recipe by clicking on the link], and for later dinner I went all out and whipped up flat bread tortillas made with hard white whole grain flour [it’s almost the same as whole wheat grain only slightly lighter in color].

DANIEL FAST TORTIALLAS
To make tortillas I used the aid of a bread machine.

1.5C water
3.5C flour [whole wheat or hard white whole grain]
1 tsp Himalayan salt

• Place in a bread machine and let it knead for 25-30 minutes, adding more flour if needed. If you do not have a bread machine or another kind of contraption to help you knead the dough you will need to do it by hand. If you do, I suggest using warm water, which will make your job easier.
• When the dough was ready divide it into 8 equal parts
• Pre-heat a skillet on medium heat setting.
• Oil the skillet with about 1-2 teaspoons of sunflower oil.
• Drop first tortilla on the skillet and start moving it so it does not stick to the skillet.
• Flip over and do the same on the other side. When parts of tortilla turn golden—it is done.
• Place cooked bread on a plate and cover so it remains pliable.
• You won’t need to add any more oil to finish the rest of tortillas.

Tortilla Filling
• Chop 1C spinach
• Dice 4 Roma tomatoes and 1 avocado; mix them together and season with salt and 1T red wine vinegar.
• 2C yellow corn, seasoned [you can defrost frozen corn if you don’t have fresh]
• Brown rice

[Earlier in the day I presoaked 3C brown rice, which was cooking with 2tsp of salt while I was making tortillas.]

To assemble a tortilla [the way we did], take the bread, spread some brown rice on it, yams, tomatoes with avocados, spinach and corn.

Enjoy it!

While the bread machine was hard at work I prepared DELICIOUS yams. Making them was super easy.

DANIEL FAST YAMS
1 large yam, peeled and cubed
1 large onion, peeled and cubed
Himalayan salt to taste
1 tsp Kirkland organic mix spice [use whatever might please your taste buds]
2-3T cold pressed sunflower oil

• Preheat the skillet on medium-medium high, add oil and salt to it.
• Add yams and onions.
• Stir occasionally so yams don’t stick to the skillet.
• Turn heat to medium and cover.
• Cook until yams are soft.

I can tell you that is was my FAVORITE DISH FOR THE NIGHT… I am planning to have leftovers for lunch today.

*please do not use non-stick pans for cooking—they are laden with chemicals that are harmful to your body and can cause serious problems, such as hormone disruption, infertility in man and women, and heavy metal poisoning.

I will check back with you tomorrow again.

If you are following the Daniel Fast, let me know how you are doing or what would be helpful for you to see on this blog.

Day 1 Recap of Daniel Fast

Good morning, folks! Just wanted to check in with you and see how your Day 1 of Daniel Fast went.

For us it was quite enjoyable. We started off our morning with a Green Smoothie. Throughout the day drank lots of water, some with lemon, some plain. I had a scratchy throat so for my therapy I threw in a stick of Cinnamon in some hot water and sipped on it all day long. I am feeling better today.

For snacks we munched on fruit and avocados.

Lunch was very light veggie soup, which I did not seem to have enough of.

Dinner was great. My sister sautéed veggies in very little oil, adding water to keep them from burning. The veggies were: zucchini, carrots, onions, a little bit of garlic, spinach, and some Whole Food chemical free spaghetti sauce. I cooked whole wheat pasta, and we ate it along with a delicious Green Salad made with spinach, cucumbers and almonds dressed with red vinegar and our favorite spices. All I can say is : “Mmmm, Mmmmm, GOOD!” And we had enough left over to make our lunches for Day 2.

How was your Day 1?

Daniel Fast Recipes

Our church is starting Daniel Fast [21-day vegan based fast] tomorrow morning. It is quite awesome that my whole diet is pretty much structured around what would be considered Daniel Fast approved. So, I took it into my capable hands to guide those who might be struggling or need a little help through the fast, helping them with suggestions, tips and recipes. I will be blogging quite a bit between the two blogs in the days to come.

You can find out all of the details about Daniel Fast HERE. I will be adding more content in the days to come. Meanwhile I already put together a daily meal planner for the fist half of this week for the fast. You can find it HERE. This should make Daniel Fast a breeze for most--just follow the meal planner and keep your eyes on the goal!

If you are interested to join us on the fast, PLEASE DO! Visit the Daniel Fast home page and leave a note, if you wish, to let us know what you are fasting for so we can support you in prayer.

I am VERY, VERY excited and cannot wait to hear about all the changes that will happen in my friends' lives: spiritually, mentally and physically.

For me it will also be an adventure. Demetrye and I have a couple of needs that we need clarity about, so we will be taking extra time to seek God's direction. We will also give up some of the foods that are now in our diet: herbal teas, leavened breads, honey. We will reduce oil intake and consume more water. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about that. I will be introducing even more Vegan Recipes that are Daniel Fast approved in the days to come.

Until next blogging time, LIVE AN UNPROCESSED LIFE!