Our Very Own Picasso

This is my grandson. The only boy. He recently turned seven.

He's got three cowlicks and great toes.

He's all boy.

He loves to work out. Anything physical and he's all for it. Scares the heck out of me sometimes! (Okay... most of the time.)

Boxing. Hey! Where's his helmet and mouth-guard?! (I know he wears it now!!)

His nine year old sister is great at this too. Thin as a rail and strong as an ox.

I made the mistake of letting her punch my palm once!

The boy loooves football!! (And is surely wishing somebody would throw him one already!)

And lets not forget the Jiu Jitsu. He and his sister are both yellow-belts now.

But my favorite 'sport' is when he picks up a pencil and draws!!

I was so excited to see him get a toy, plunk it down on the table, and use it as his model!! Way to go, Dude!!

Love this kid!

And the fact that he likes to draw. Because I am...

An ART JUNKIE!!

He also has a two year old sister, so he's learned to work around her stuff.

Finding peace & quiet is the tricky part!

Here is the finished drawing of "Happy Feet". :)

Then he was on a roll and drew a few more. The kid's surprisingly fast.

Of course, being a seven year old boy, boogers, snot and warts are quite appealing.

These drawings went home with me and are now hanging on my walls. Like all of the other grandbrats' artwork. Good memories!! ~ ~

"If a man ain't nothin' else he is an artist.

It is the one thing he can claim to be, that nobody can prove he ain't."

-Will Rogers

‎

There are so many things to love!

I love "Followers" and comments too!

Thank you.

Signing off for now,

gabriele

A Raw Food Thanksgiving: Mock Turkey & Cranberry Sauce

A Raw Food Thanksgiving: Mock Turkey & Cranberry Sauce

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!

And thank you for stopping by during this busy time!

I'm reposting this from last year, because I'm really, reeeally busy this year.

And truth be told, I worked my butt off on this, so I want to get as much mileage out of the post as I can!

(A link to part 2. is at the end.)

This was my first attempt at a raw Thanksgiving meal and it was actually fun!

In this post I'll be showing you how I made the "Mock Turkey" -

And the "Cranberry Sauce".

These are the ingredients for the turkey.

These recipes are not my own (why reinvent the wheel?) so I can't share them with you here.

They are from Alissa Cohen's fabulous book, "Living On Live Food".

She also has a wonderful new book, "Raw Food For Everyone" and a great DVD!

You can find a lot of Thanksgiving recipes on these two websites, as well:

The Raw Diet

Pretty Smart Raw Food Ideas

OK, here we go -

I placed the first batch of ingredients into the food-processor.

And gave it a little spin.

Then I cut the scallions and the celery.

And added them to the other ingredients.

I processed them until smooth.

And here is what it looked like. Pretty? Not so much.

A little on the green side, which just reminds me that we're eating healthy, raw food.

My father was a sculptor, and so is my oldest daughter.

My youngest daughter does wood-carving, so I thought I'd give it a whirl too!

And heeere he is.

Look at me! I'm a sculptor now!! :)

I've got dibs on a drumstick!

Moving right along -

Here are the ingredients for the "Cranberry Sauce".

I placed all of the ingredients into the food-processor.

And let it do its thing.

It ended up being too tart for my dainty, little taste-buds, so I added some Agave Nectar.

You may substitute Raw Honey for the Agave.

Lookin' good! And tasting even better!!

It's almost time to eat!!

In the next post I'll show you how I made raw "Mashed Potatoes" -

and "Mushroom Gravy".

As well as a raw "Pumpkin Pie"! :-D (Be still my heart!!)

And here it is, part 2; "A Raw Food Thanksgiving: Complete With Pumpkin Pie!".

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!! ~

"Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare.

They are consumed in twelve minutes.

Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence."

- Erma Bombeck

There are SO many things to love!

I love "Followers" and comments too!

Thank you.

Signing off for now,

gabriele

For The Love Of Raw Food

I love raw food. And living healthy.

I try to make raw meals for myself when I'm on vacation too, which isn't always easy.

I like to have my grandbrats help, so that they'll be interested in eating healthy too.

Which isn't always easy either. First I've gotta catch 'em!

Well, I love 'un-cooking' so much, that I bit-the-bullet and invested in two fabulous

raw food, home-study courses!! (Be still my heart!)

The courses are by the amazing raw food chef, Russell James.

This one is called, " How To Be Your Own Raw Food Chef... And Still Have Time To Eat".

LOVE! LOVE!! LOVE IT!!!

But this one is my favorite!! It's ALL DESSERTS!!!! :-D

The title of it is, "How To Be Your Own Raw Food Chef... And Still Have Time To Indulge".

I'm a biiig fan of indulging!!!! I could eat desserts all day, if I let myself!!

My dream is to get really great at creating super-duper meals and desserts -

and then teaching others how to make them. I'd love to give demos at senior centers, and to others that need to be more watchful of their health. Or, to people who just like to chow-down on some great tasting eats!!

Of course I had to buy some decent knives to do the job right! Right? Right!

If you guys have been reading my blog for awhile, you know how freaked-out I am by knives, so wish me luck!! (Check out the post about Nori Rolls.)

I already have the "Excalibur Dehydrator" for raw food; cookies, breads, snacks, etc..

This is a really great machine!!

For some photos and info on raw foods I've made in the past, please take a peek here.

If you still want more, just type "raw food" in the search-thingy on this page (top right) and you'll find plenty.

Thanks for stopping by! ~

There are SO many things to love!

I love "Followers" and comments too!

Thank you.

Signing off for now,

gabriele

Little Girl, Big Heart.

Should I, or shouldn't I?! Ohhh, I don't knooow!!

Okay! HERE I GO!!!!

Awww, I looove youuu!!

Worms.

We should all love our worms.

Or not.

She is our first grandchild. A treasure to this day.

She's eighteen and going to college now.

How the hey did that happen?! Not the college part.

She's smart. She was Valedictorian at her graduation.

She didn't get it from me. I had to google 'Valedictorian'

to find out how to spell it.

I miss her! ~ ~

"A three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty six dollar set of swings, as it does out of finding a small green worm."

- Bill Vaughn

"Even if you've been fishing for three hours and haven't gotten anything except poison Ivy and sunburn, you're still better off than the worm."

- Unknown

"I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glow worm."

- Winston Churchill

There are SO many things to love!

I love "Followers" and comments too!

Thank you.

Signing off for now,

gabriele

Cats, Cat Food - And Confusion

This is my son, when he was a little guy - sampling the cat food.

(Yum! tastes like chicken!) The cat was not amused.

Putting the food and water in separate bowls, made them easier to clean.

But apparently, it confused the kid,

so I decided to put them in a proper cat food/water combo-dish...

Which confused the kitty! ~

"If cats could talk, they wouldn't."

- Nan Porter

"The problem with cats is that they get the exact same look on their face,

whether they see a moth, or an axe-murderer."

- Paula Poundstone

"No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat,

and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch."

- Leo Dworken

"One is never sure, watching two cats washing each other, whether it's affection,

the taste, or a trial run for the jugular."

- Helen Thomson

"In ancient times, cats were worshipped as gods. They have not forgotten this."

- Terry Pratchett

"To bathe a cat takes brute force, perseverance, courage of conviction -

and a cat.

The last ingredient is usually the hardest to come by.

- Stephen Baker

There are SO many things to love!

I love "Followers" and comments too!

Thank you.

Signing off for now,

gabriele

Doctors, Plumbers, And Vegetarians

My granddaughter has always been a girly-girl.

If it was pink and shiny, it was in her wardrobe. Just like her, now fourteen year old cousin, when she was little.

This one's eight now and still loves a bit of the pink. And flowers in any color.

Somebody gave her some money (yeah, I'm a sucker for that) and she begged to go to a

"Bath & Body Works". I'm not kidding about the 'begged' part. The kid was sooo excited!!

Here's her dad letting her smell the stuff. I think that was the last picture I took, before I had to get the heck out of there! Perfume, candles, any odors like that go straight to my head and make me weak in the knees. But she loved it!!

Her six year old brother, not so much.

He left with me and was one happy kid again.

We were sitting in the doctors office once, for her check-up.

She was reading a book about dogs and cats. I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she said, "a doctor". I asked, what kind of doctor? For big people, or for kids?

She said, "a vegetarian". (Translation; veterinarian. :)

I love the things kids say! Most of the time.

On my last visit to Georgia, the kids' bathroom sink was clogged. I kept meaning to tell my son, but forgot. It wasn't totally clogged, just draining really slow.

One night, I went to wash my hands and it drained right away. I thought how cool that my son fixed it.

Imagine my surprise when she told me that she did it!

She said that she, "took off the lid and pulled all the stuff out". How cool, but kinda gross.

I asked what she used to do that with. She said, "my fingers'. Okay... really gross!!

I can imagine these hands helping people as a doctor, or helping animals as a vegetarian veterinarian.

But it's hard to think of these sweet little fingers down a clogged drain. Eeew!

She swore to me that she washed them really, really good afterwards. Three times with soap.

Soap that she bought after an hour at the "Bath & Body Works".

I told her that there is an actual tool that unclogs drains.

She got all excited and said, "Really?! Can I have one?!"

Guess what went in the mail yesterday, for my girly-girl. :)

Here ya go, Sweetie...

But please wear these!!

Here she is, when she was a little bitty thing. They grow up much too fast, don't they?

I still miss my adult kids on a daily basis.

But life is so full of good things and each and every one deserves to go after them.

I just wish it could all be done from home. :)

I hope the grandkids stay home for a really, reeeally long time!!

I think my kids planned their first escape on an "Etch A Sketch".

A sign on a plumbing truck, "We repair what your husband fixed".

A sign in a restroom, "Toilet out of order. Please use floor below".

There are SO many things to love!

I love comments and 'Followers' too!

Thank you.

Signing off for now,

gabriele

I Love, Love, LOVE Sugar!!

It's an addiction. I'm a sugarholic. And I need to lick the habit!!

We started off doing SO good, on my recent trip to Georgia. I made healthy, green smoothies for the first three days. It was a treat for the grandbrats, because I'd bought them new tumblers to drink them out of. (Hey, whatever it takes!) This is my six year old grandson.

We shopped for organic greens and fruit, and even popped in to see my nephew, Brad Gruno and the gorgeous Jaime Cahalan, (aka Girl Friday) while they were giving out samples of his fabulous

Raw Kale Chips, etc., at Whole Foods.

They would have smacked me beside the head if they knew what was to come!

They're all about health... and most of the time, so am I. I'm a raw foodist, for crying out loud!

But sometimes it's just really, really hard. Especially if you're addicted to something!

My granddaughter passed a really difficult test and got accepted into a fabulous school!

So, to celebrate, we all went to a nice restaurant.

With the great intention of eating something healthy.

This is the first thing we saw as we walked in!! (Not the kid. He was with us.)

How can anyone resist such temptation?!!!!

He was good and ordered a turkey salad, without dressing and water.

He didn't expect the egg-salad stuff and didn't eat it.

Here he is saying grace. The kid's got a good line of chatter, so even his prayers are cute.

And then it happened...

We ALL caved!!!! One... by... one.

And the slices are huuuge there!!!!

Some of us got a piece to go.

But by the time the check came, some of us (yeah, me too!) had put a good dent in it.

We went home and life went on.

Guess what happened a couple of days later. We decided to go there again!

Oh, Oh! Remember this temptation?

What's that old saying...

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome."

He's always so good when he orders his meals - turkey and healthy greens, with water.

He even takes the yolk out of the egg. He likes being strong. He works hard at it.

He boxes.

He plays football.

And he and my eight year old granddaughter both practice Jiu Jitsu.

She also boxes and loves being a cheerleader.

I love her moves. (I can do that. I just don't want to.)

After our healthy meal... we caved again!!

We all felt such a wonderful sugar-high afterwards.

And then the sugar-low!!

If you eat sugar products, you probably know that feeling.

And so, SO many others! Speaking for myself, it's migraines, lethargy, spaciness, etc., etc.

I read that young children, supposedly don't have that yet, whatever it's called, that gets people addicted.

Thank God for that! But, according to the experts, it's not good for them, or anyone, and our family has decided to do our very best NOT to feed sugar-products to the kids, or eat them ourselves!

Easier said than done!!

In desperation, I bought this DVD!

And on the night before I left for home, my son and I sat down to watch it.

It's by the brilliant, Nancy Appleton, PhD.

Still craving sugar on a daily basis, I thought it would be fun to watch the film while stuffing our faces with chocolate donuts!

Stupid, I know. But that's what I do. Any excuse to wolf-down sweets.

I was hoping that it would be our last hoorah, so to speak!!

Eat all the donuts and then, not eat sugary stuff anymore!

But it didn't turn out that way.

About ten minutes into the film, the donuts got tossed into the trash!!

OMG!!!!!! What an eye-opener!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

I highly recommend the video and these great books, by Dr. Nancy Appleton.

Reading them is helping me curb my cravings, because the alternative is not something I'm a fan of.

I was sugar-free for an entire year and all it took was a little bowl of chocolate pudding to get me addicted again!

Some people can eat one candy bar and be satisfied. I need four. One right after the other.

I know how to make healthy, raw desserts and plan to lick the sugar habit that way too!!

It's just so damn easy to fall back into that trap, when sugar products are everywhere you look!

My youngest grandbrat is only two and just started childcare.

The first day the kids were fed; applesauce, a corn-dog, fruit punch and a Toaster Strudel.

Sugar anyone?!!

The following day, her parents were given a note saying they should bring food in for her, because she wouldn't eat it. Ya think?!

Looks like she's the smartest one of us all!! :)

If any of this sounds like YOU, and you want to stop the sugar habit, I hope you'll check out some of these books, Dr. Appleton's blog/website and especially the DVD.

(You can purchase them there.)

When the eight year old was two, she was strapped in her car-seat and going on a drive with her dad. When he stopped at a toll-booth and dropped in the change, he heard a little voice from the back yell, "CHICKEN NUGGETS!!"

We all eat healthier now! Sorry Mc Donalds. ~

For another post about sugar addiction and food allergies, please check this out;

http://somanythingstolove.blogspot.com/2010/06/raw-food-vs-standard-american-diet-sad.html

There are SO many things to love!

I love comments and "Followers" too!

Thank you.

Signing off for now,

gabriele