A Return to Writing

I have not blogged on this sucker in about a year.... maybe more. Why the absence? Life I suppose. I will say that in the last year my skin has taken a nose dive for the worse. I have psoriasis and eczema and my particular kind is cause by meat and dairy. Tragic cause I do love cheese. So my skin, my gradual weight gain plus the return of the pasta puff face has cause me to reconsider my life style again. To kick off a new season and a re-birth I am gonna post up some old information from my past. About three years ago I embarked on a 75 days juice fast with some amazing results.

So to the left is me at 170lbs (size 12-14) a vegetarian (more like a carbo-tarian) all puffed up on dairy and pasta. To the right is about three months later at about 142lbs size (size 8-6). This was beyond a shadow a shadow of a doubt the most amazing experience of my life. I drank at least gallon of vegetable and fruit juice a day plus tons of water. My skin got worse for a a bit during the fast but turned the corner somewhere near the end and was clearer than I have ever experience. Strangers would approach me and ask what my face wash regimen was because my skin was beautiful and luminous, to them I always said healthy food and dove soap. I also felt amazing when I was done. I'm sure that critics are now saying that I have probably gained the weight back but not only have I kept the weight off, I've actually gotten smaller, more muscular and leaner that is when I stay on the raw foods.

So this is where I am starting from I guess. I am going back to what works for me and I am fighting to get rid of my skin problem once and for all. The goal here being to eliminate all the toxic fat that is currently housing the skin irritants my body hates so much, re-establishing my raw food life style in a way that is practical for my go go go pace and share and collect recipes that appeal to my culinary love of food and keep me from wanting those tasty cooked options. Can it be done, can I change the course of life by just changing what on my dinner plate... lets find out... together ....

Pizza Chips and Grumpy Moods

Just got back from the gym. I think I forgot to mention the work out regimen. Well there will be one cause I am a big believer in healthy muscles and cardio vascular systems. I can be a punk though and not push myself very hard, must work on that.

On today's agenda is Pizza Chips.

Pizza Chips is an idea I am stealing from the "

Go Raw" company and their "Pizza" Flax Snacks. They are pretty good but not nearly spicy enough for me and a little to pricey as well for what they are. (sorry Go Raw, you are awesome, but I'm on a budget). Not to mention that I really

do believe in making as much of your own food as possible. That connecting we get from making our own meals and snacks is really important. You are more mindful of what you are eating and how much if you made the meal yourself. And overeating, even healthy foods, is still really hard on your body and overeating is something I struggle with because I LOVE food.

Pizza Chips

The on the go snack!

1 cup sunflower seeds (soaked 2 hours)

1/2 cup flax seeds (soaked 2 hours)

1/2 cup sesame seeds (soaked 2 hours)

1 small tomato diced

1 cup sun dried tomato (soaked 2 hours or until soft)

oregano

onion powder

basil

garlic

sea salt

water

In a Vita Mix/Magic Bullet/Blender combine the diced tomato, sun dried tomato (drained from soaking water), and gradually add a little water to the mix to help it blend and make a thick paste.

In a large bowl add all the seeds (drained from their water), the tomato paste, and the spices and mix with a big spoon (I find a rice spoon to work the best). As far as how much spice to add, it's totally up to you. I like things to be pretty intense in flavor so I keep adding to the mix and tasting it till the flavor is strong enough.

Spoon out small blobs of the mix onto Teflex sheets and flatten into small chips. Then put the sheets into the dehydrator at 105 over night. If you are short on Teflex sheets (as i am at the moment) you can wait till the chips are about halfway done and flip them over and transfer them to the waffle sheets (does that make sense) and start another batch on the Teflex.

I noticed I've been feeling a little grumpy lately. A lot I know has to so with financial concerns but I'm sure overhauling my diet and lifestyle has a bit to do with it. One of the major reason I have only cut back on coffee and booze instead of just quitting all together is to take it easy on these life changes. Re-loading all my eating habits is enough right now and it's gonna take me time to give up Mixology ( I am a bartender after all).