The Alchemists Kitchen

Chef available

2012-02-01T12:41:00.000-08:00

I'm offering to be of service to you if you need help starting or maintaining your raw food lifestyle
~ if you need a chef to cater for your small events or dinner parties
~ one to one online/telephone consultations to assist you in finding your way with living foods
~ if you need extra help in the kitchen at your raw food restaurant/cafe or retreat center.

I have two years practical experience preparing many raw meals, from juice therapy to gourmet meals, buffets and special events.
Currently I am nearing the end of a 3 month juice feast and will be a fully certified juice therapy coach.

In April I will graduate from the Pure Joy Culinary Academy under the tutorship of Elaina Love and Chris Whitcoe

I have also gained much from completing the Raw Nutrition Course with David 'Avocado' Wolfe.

I am looking forward to travelling the UK this year to be of further service and continue to share the love and benefits of a living food lifestyle.
I have a passion for raw chocolate and dessert creations.
My main desire is to work with people interested and engaged in providing amazing health and healing services through simple fresh live menu creation.

May the Joy continue

Dawn

The Juice Feast Journey ~ Day 31

2012-01-31T13:46:00.000-08:00

Hurrah! I have made it through a whole 30 days of the juice feast, and wanted to give you a little update on how it has gone so far.

I am so happy to have gotten so far with this and not had too rough a ride really. Times have been challenging but nothing I did not foresee. I found the first 2 weeks the easiest to be honest and the last 2 weeks to be the most interesting! I have never been hungry at all, but have craved chewing really badly.

The last week has been the toughest to date as I have hit the emotional detox phase plus the healing has begun on old traumas and illness's.
For the last 5 days I have had really bad back pain, neck pain, nausea and headaches...all centering from the endocrine system of imbalances.

Thankfully I seem to be through the worst of this now and today I feel human again! I can now fully engage in the feast without the need to have any portions of food to eat ~ During the worst of the days I had to eat some root vegetables to slow down the healing and detoxing process or I think I would have just stayed in bed and not done anything!

So, yes, a little deviation from full on feasting, but, I remained juicing apart from the root vegetables.

The next 30 days will be going even deeper into the healing process and I am eager to see what happens next.

I'm going to be adding recipes each week from now on...all juice recipes...to encourage you to experiment with your own juicy journey. So, head on over to the Recipe Page to see the first one.

Thank you all for keeping me company ~ it is comforting to know this is not a lone journey

love and peace
Dawn xxx

90 Day Juice Feast

2012-01-02T10:02:00.000-08:00

Okay, I must start as I mean to go on as we jump exuberantly into 2012 ~ to do this I have begun a 90 Day Juice Feast!

Woah, I never thought I would be committing to something like this, after all it does seem an awful long time when you first look at it, but, when you look deeper, it is in fact not that long at all, with how fast time flies and all.

Only a 1/4 of the year and that will be gone in a flash and Spring will be here in all her glory!

Now, some of you may or may not know, that I have been on this road of rawsomeness for around 2 years now, with ups and downs and sidetracking galore, with it comes periods of denial about what I am actually eating when in the cooked food world. These foods have ranged from home made veggie soups to the very un-friendly pork sausages when craving meat hits me (thankfully not that often) included in this was bread which became more frequent as did cheese...all with horrible and undesirable bodily effects like bloating, wind and palpitations.
Why eat it if that is what it does? Well, addictions are hard to break aren't they?

So, here we go, with 2012 to be one of the biggest years for transformation and healing, I pledged to go the whole hog starting on January 1st. This feast will take me up to the end of March, and then in April I fly out to Bali for 4 weeks training with Elaina Love's Pure Joy Culinary Academy and the Raw Chef Certificate!
To ensure that I am not flying out with out breaking my feast correctly I plan to re-introduce solid foods in week 10, with one meal per day of a Green Smoothie, salad or soup, but remain at the level of 90% juice until week 12 when more solid foods will be brought in to get used to chewing again in prep for the course which is 3 weeks of gourmet raw (low Glycemic though).

How did I prepare to begin this feast?
Well, the week or so leading up to 1st January, I went high juice every day ~ eating an evening meal of cooked or raw foods that were vegetarian and a little fish on occasion.
In the last 3 days preparing I moved the main meal to lunch time so that my body got used to having a juice for supper.
The day before the feast began I signed up for 90 days membership of David Rainoshecks Juice feasting site www.juicefeasting.com
This is an invaluable resource for anyone wishing to do any length of juice feast and the information contained in the site is VAST!

I began to film my progress, which you can find on here through other YouTube videos, and will be filming almost daily to log all the ups and lows of this 3 month adventure.

Why am I doing this?
To fully engage my body, mind and spirit in the healing powers of juice feasting
To finally end my addiction to foods
To fully connect to all things in a deeper level and higher vibration
To ensure my body is at it's best to have the mercury fillings removed on the 21st February and continue to heal afterwards
To release that stubborn waste that is no longer serving me as it once did.
To end the pain of a toxic body
To further my knowledge and experience of the Live Food as healer and so further be of service to many who need guidance as they step onto their own healing path.

So far it has begun well and I have not had any hunger pangs or too much detox symptoms yet...If I feel a little tweak of hunger I grab another pint of juice or a large cup of herbal tea laced with raw honey!

Stay tuned for more as the weeks turn into months...it is going to be one heck of a journey

Namaste
Dawn xxx

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheezecake

2011-10-07T03:23:00.000-07:00

I made this dessert the other day and have been begged to share the recipe with you, so here it is!
The recipe is from the book Sweet Gratitude ~ I highly recommend you invest in it if you love desserts as much as we do!
This was my first time at swirling two different coloured fillings, and I do need more practice, but the taste of this is worth all the effort of making it...hope you enjoy xxx

makes one 10" cheezecake

CHOCOLATE ALMOND CRUST
3/4 cup almonds
3/4 cup coconut flakes (not toasted)
11/2 oz cacao powder
5 oz date paste*
1/3 cup cacao nibs
2 tsp liquid vanilla*
1/8 tsp Himalayan salt

process all the ingredients until a fine crumb and press lightly into the bottom of the springform tin. Set aside whilst you make the filling.

WHITE CHOCOLATE FILLING
3 cups soaked cashews (soak for at least 3 hours)
2 cups almond milk*
3/4 cup agave syrup
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 liquid vanilla
1/4 tsp Himalayan salt
3 tbsp lecithin
2/3 cup melted cacao butter

method:

add to the blender all the ingredients except the cacao butter and lecithin.
blend well until smooth and creamy (3-5 minutes)
stop blending and add the lecithin and melted cacao butter
resume blending until the butter and lecithin are fully incorporated
reserve 2 cups of this filling for the swirling
make the swirl layer: to the reserved 2 cups of filling add 6 oz of fresh raspberries & 2 tbsp lemon juice. blend this until smooth and pink.
add the white chocolate filling to the springform tin, shake gently to distribute.
with the pink filling you want to add this now ~ confidently pour the pink filling into the white chocolate filling (only use about 2/3 of the mixture), aim to pour it so it breaks the surface of the first filling and goes into it well, pour at random in blobs as this will create a marble effect that can be seen in each slice of cake. Once you have poured 2/3 of the mixture start pouring lightly so the filling sits on top, make sure you do not cover the entire edges of the cake. Then, take a chopstick or some similar item, and insert it just below the surface of the mixture. Begin swirling the fillings into each other to make a balanced pretty pattern. Don't over swirl though or you will just blend it all together!

Once you are happy, put the cake in the freezer for a couple of hours to set, then, with a spatula, gently ease the sides of the cake away from the tin and then remove the tin.
The cake will keep for up to 4 days in the fridge (as if!!!)

MAKING DATE PASTE
take 2 cups of either pitted or Medjool dates and chop them finely. You can add them to a pestle and bash them into a paste or, if you have a high power blender, add them to the blender and pulse them until they make a thick paste.
This will keep in a container in the fridge for a good few weeks.

MAKING LIQUID VANILLA
use 3 or 4 vanilla pods chopped up into small bits, add them to the blender with a cup of water and blend on high power for a minute or two so that the warmth of the blades warms the liquid.
Store this in a glass jar in the fridge and it will keep for several weeks or more.
(I had some vanilla powder so used that instead and infused it in the sun for half an hour)

MAKING ALMOND MILK
soak 2 cups of almonds for 8 hours or more
rinse and drain the almonds and add to your blender
cover with 3 cups of water
blend on high power until the nuts are broken down
strain the liquid nut milk through a nut milk bag ~ squeezing all the liquid out into a glass bowl.

Use the nut pulp to make other lovely foods like nut burgers or add some to a smoothie, OR dehydrate the pulp and keep in an airtight container to use as almond flour for other cakes!!!

Yin~Yang chocolate treats

2011-09-05T11:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a little recipe I made today, for yin~yang cacao treats, very simple to make and very light to eat.
Enjoy xx

for the dark layer you need:
100g cacao butter
100g cacao powder
1/2tsp spirulina
agave/honey to taste
pinch of Himalayan salt

for the white layer you need:
100g cacao butter
50g cashew nuts ground to a fine powder
50g lucuma
pinch vanilla powder or 1 vanilla bean scraped out
agave/honey to taste

Gently melt the butters in separate bowls over warm water ~ make sure no water is mixed into the butters!
Once melted, add the powders after sieving to make sure the chocolate is not lumpy.
Stir in really well and add the sweeteners to taste

Using what ever moulds you like ~ first pour in some of the white chocolate mixture, then place the mould in the fridge to allow this layer to set a little
Then, take the moulds out and pour over some of the dark chocolate mix until the moulds are full.
Place back in the fridge until set.

Enjoy xxxx

Day one of Green Smoothie Detox with Raw Divas

2011-09-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

At Last, I found the hit to make that change back onto this rawsome journey again!
While browsing all the daily inspiring posts on Facebook earlier today there was a post from The Green Smoothie Queen reminding us that the latest Green Smoothie Detox was starting ~ TODAY!!!
Well, that did it, with no hesitation I went and signed up, for the full supported program, and felt my body sigh with relief...

To say I have fallen off the raw wagon is not fully true, but, since the end of July I have slid down the cooked food slope more than I wanted to, and found each day one of the worst challenges to keep on track than I have since this journey began 2 years ago.
I have no excuses or reasons why cooked foods hooked me in again, they just did...and I have been getting deeper into a spiral of feeling not too well again, loosing inspiration, confidence, drive and life feeling difficult again.

That is just not where I wish to be at, so, off we go again with this amazing opportunity to get back the mojo, the vavavoom, the sexy, the happy and the ecstacy!

Supper this evening will be a goji berry and strawberry refresher, as I am in no need of anything more than a glass full of sunshine to send me off to dreamland a happy Goddess.
I am so looking forwards to tomorrows smoothies ~ with a garden full of kale, salads, cucumber, melons and tomatoes...this next month is going to be AMAZING.
I will be adding a link to the Green Smoothie Queens on here and on the website soon, so everyone will be able to join the raw-volution!

for a taster of some green smoothie goodness, here is a very lovely one for you to make:

Kale
Cucumber
Apple
Spirulina (1 tsp)

simple and fresh ~ make in what ever quantity you prefer

Love and sparkles xxxxxx

lovely light juice recipe

2011-09-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

Okay here is a lovely little juice recipe for you that is so easy and light but packed...PACKED...with vitamins, enzymes and chlorophyll!

We need to pack in the chlorophyll if we want to be experiencing wellness and healing, so, here is the secret to accessing this in large amounts...

WHEATGRASS!

Yes, this is the way folks...actually, in the growing season, your own lawn is an ideal source of it...you heard right...the humble lawn is just as good at providing chlorophyll as wheatgrass, but this needs careful nurturing to keep it clean and fresh, so it may be best, until you get into it, to order in trays of fresh wheatgrass from a reliable source.

I use Aconbury Sprouts for mine, and have to say it is a great place to go for anything to do with sprouting seeds and the trays of lovely grasses, snow peas shoots and sunflower greens...why not check them out?

2 trays of wheatgrass cost £9 plus postage but so worth it, particularly as you can harvest each tray several times if you look after it.

So, the juice?

Okay...you need to juice:

1 head of celery
4 crispy apples
1/3 tray wheatgrass
1 lemon

there you have it!
This yeilds a pint of juice that will start you off on the right track each morning.

Try and see for yourself

NOTE; all produce is organic of course!

Love and peace

Dawn xxx

Changes

2011-08-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

Hello again,
Just a very short visit, and so sorry not to have posted since June! It has been a very busy summer with many activities taking me on the road around the UK ~ more of those soon :0)

I am in the process of looking at incorporating some changes to this area of the website, to bring you the freshest of my raw food creations as or before I make them...I will aim to give a few days notice of what will be available so you have time to put in your requests :0)

I am finding that having the 'shop' on the website is far to stagnant and stifling the creative flow, and having 'stock' is often not a good thing with the sometimes delicate ingredients I wish to use in the foods. So, on here may just be the space for all those more spontaneous creations I get the urge to make at silly o'clock in the mornings LOL

There will always be an abundance of Chocolate Elixir available, but this too may change regarding ingredients, and, with the cold weather coming, I want to make some tea Elixirs for you all...so again here will be the place for those too.

If you have any requests you can always post them here in the comments area, for any foods you have dreamed of but do not know how to make...I am sure it is possible for them to be made for you xxx

Also, I will be posting more recipes (one per month) for you all to try out at home...I will aim to keep to fresh ingredients that are as seasonal as possible now we are entering the most exciting time of the year..yes, KALE season is here! LOL

So, to get the word out there of all these new things coming, please do share this link to your loved ones and together we can change the world, one meal at a time.

Blessings and love
Dawn xxx

ups and downs

2011-06-26T12:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a progress report on how things are going during the 100 day challenge. I have to say that mostly I have kept to the program but I did have about 3 days or so where I just ate some not so good foods, like oven fries and fried eggs...this was due to me feeling very lazy and lonely and craving some of the old foods that made me so obese and ill for many years :0(

I have until now, been drinking the pint of bicarb water every morning and having the vitamin C smoothie an hour later. I have no idea if it was making a difference or not, but what is for sure is that I have been in a lot of pain and discomfort for the past few weeks - more so than initially.
So, today, I did not have the bicarb water, just went back to a pint of warm water first thing followed by a green smoothie with a hunk of coriander in it.
For lunch I ate a courgette pasta salad with olives and hummus, a while later a raw chocolate mousse made with Irish moss (yummy) and mid afternoon some more olives and hummus.
What can I say...I fed my stomach and soul today! LOL

Supper has been for the last 2 days, another green smoothie, again heavy on the coriander, chard and rocket.

The pains have been all over my body, and they are making me feel very down at the moment. Being a little hypochondriac all my life (not to the point of going to Dr's all the time, but being aware of the aches and pains and worrying they may be some dreadful disease), I am of course worried what it all means, but I really have no faith in the NHS system and wish to avoid radiation of any kind when they do explorations as to what is going on in the body...not that the Dr would go that route when mostly they say.."you look too healthy for there to be anything wrong with you"

Well, let me tell the world...I don't blummin feel to great at the moment!

I am not one to complain much to anyone but my beloved husband, and keep most of how I feel health wise quiet from even him until of late, and I totally hate to come over as being negative or whiny...so this sharing here is a first for me...I hope it is of help to some of you to know how and where I am right now.
Being raw is not the be all and end all of life and wellness...not when there are years of healing going on right now, not to mention all the energetic shifts that many of us are experiencing - most of the time we have no idea what is going on and why we are feeling like we do - very disconcerting and frustrating.

When I wake up every morning, and most nights, in pain with my back, hip or legs, I wonder what on Earth is going on, where am I going wrong in my diet, what can I do to make it heal easier...
I am also having pains in my left breast - so much so that I sometimes cannot bear to wear my bra as I think that is contributing to the pains...and, being well provided for in the chest department, this is not the best option for going out in public...LOL
All this is a chore to cope with and a bore for someone who has so much energy I just want to get out there, dance, sing, laugh, play, run, bounce and be on the go all the time...but this soul carrier just cannot keep up with the soul it is holding!
I am impatient for the healing to be complete, so my body can carry me to all the glorious places we want to go and have all the experiences we need to be having.

So, onto food again. I have to keep on track and not deviate if I am to allow the healing to continue. If I choose cooked foods I have to ensure they are good choices, like whole foods and not frozen chips and animal embryo's (urgh)...nice baked potatoes and a huge green salad sounds a better choice doesn't it?

I am happy today for the food I have chosen to eat since Thursday...all high raw, well, almost totally raw really...but, I think to see exactly what I can bring to my healing, I need to stay raw for at least another 4 days or more before I choose any cooked foods for a meal.
What I did see when beginning the challenge, was that each day my weight went down by a pound or so...only when I deviated from the raw plan did it go up again.
I am still lighter than I have been since I was in my late 20's and this is such a positive for me on a mental level.

To keep retreating from that 15 stone level is a plus every day.

My next goal is the number 14.

But, I am no longer on the weight train, but rather have jumped onto the health train, in the mind set that it is better to gain health than loose weight.

Today my emotions took a down turn. I have spent the day resting mostly, after a busy few days - making foods for a festival, then the festival yesterday, which left my body in lots of pain which again knocked me for six and leaves me wishing I was able to share the work with a dear one who has the same understanding and passion for sharing raw foods with as many people as possible.

Now, this may not be the case, and there may be huge shifts of change around the corner that are just out of sight right now, and we all have feelings like this - I know that. But, when we get like this it can seem hard to shift out of that energy alone.

I am determined not to give up and to carry on with the search for where I am supposed to be in this changing Universe, for I know that it is coming. It would be a travesty to give up now and go join the rest of the population on the treadmill of boring 'normality and conformity' just to keep the roof over our heads... being out of the box is often not the most comforting place to be and the faith is certainly shaken today.

I am eternally grateful for the support and love of Ant and my family up north, for they never give up on me (Only I do that).

I am eternally grateful for all of you who read these ramblings here and on Facebook (although I am having a few days off being on there for now)

I am eternally grateful for the inspirational people all over the world who share their passions and also their ups and downs on this path to health and freedom.

I am eternally grateful to wake up every morning to another day of opportunity and blessings to spend time connected to Gaia .

I am eternally grateful to be learning to make some of the best food ever and to share that with beautiful souls at the events we go to.

I am also eternally grateful to be present in this moment, in this reality, in this breath, to share the deepest darkest hours as well as the highs and vibrational love flowing ever on towards our transformations in this incarnation.

I am also eternally happy to not be what people expect me to be, to not fit any mould or any box and also to not be defined as anything - I am just ME, I just AM...I just BE, and although I wish to know where I am needed and what to do (an how best to do it) I am happy to do that quietly, behind the scenes and then burst through the chrysalis to blossom and bloom full of light and sparkles so that it is very clear exactly what it is ~ shine time!

Off to dream sleeps now ~ blessing, love and peace to you all ~ may tomorrow be a better day for us all, better than we could ever hope it to be xxx

June ~ growth and more bounty

2011-06-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

I am often stumped as to how to write in this Blog, I sit here with a blank mind even though there is much I could say, but not knowing how to put it all down!

So, just ramble on and let if all flow out...

June is here and I must say it is a bit cold for my liking...we are having more stormy days that really should have been here in April, and the evenings have a real chill (I feel the cold anyhow but this is silly)

Thank fully we got the tunnel up and covered and now I am working on the bed edging for the planting areas. We planted tomatoes, melons and cucumbers and will add basil, calendula marigold and some more herbs to make it really pretty and productive.
There is bounty in the salad beds outside too, with so much salad leaves we have too much...must get juicing some of it!
This year sees the first success with Henbane too ~ never got it to germinate before but it is doing really well now (I have a passion for deadly plants that is perhaps a bit worrying...LOL)

Today I planted out some mallow and it looks really healthy ~ must look up the best way to eat it and all its benefits.

I'm pondering how to support the melons but may just let them sprawl as we have water melon which may be too heavy to climb a net. the Charentais will be ok too fingers crossed.

100 day raw food challenge
Today is day one of a 100 day challenge to be, well, 100% raw and fully cleanse the body mind and soul...I am doing this with the support of Michele at Super Raw Life magazine, and following her book of the same title.
I went out and bought a set of digital scales today so I can now weigh at home instead of going into town, and I am pleased to say I am at my lightest in 20 years...
My weight today is 14st 13lbs

I have been doing good on a high fruit/carb raw diet for 2 months but feel it is lacking something...so I begin this new challenge, with determination to stick to it for the whole 100 days...
Each day has a journal page to fill in and lots of stats to record, at the end of the challenge I hope to collate all the information into some format and share it all with you...

Today I admit I feel a little scared and very lonely. I have allowed some old patterns back in over the last 2 weeks, even though I maintain a high percentage of my daily food as raw, some of the foods have been real shocks for my body, but I felt that I just need them some how...not sure why.

So, as day one of this challenge comes to an end, I have actually sat down at lunch time and eaten a huge plate of salad with olives and courgette hummus...rounded off with a bar of my raw chocolate ( I always feel the need for cacao after eating a chewable meal)
Then I went into the garden for an hour or so, actually I am off out again now to do some more work.

Here is what I will be drinking every morning:

Vitamin C Blaster

juice ~ 1 lemon, 1 lime, 1 grapefruit, add 1 cup fresh or frozen berries and blend on high power.
Drink one hour after drinking 1 pint of bicarbonate water (1tsp bicarbonate of soda in 16oz water)

The bicarb water helps flush your system of lactic acid every morning.

I will let you know in a few days how this routine makes me feel.

Love and blessings

A busy month ahead

2011-05-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

Just flying in to add a few words ~ I am trying to keep up with this area so it stays fresh and vibrant with news and happenings!

Over the coming weeks I will be making lots of new chocolates including ones with liquid fruit centres...yummy! They don't keep long though, so as soon as they are made they will go out into the world to delight your senses and fill you with dreamy loveliness...

I'm also going to be out and about at a few events over the summer, hopefully with some lovely friends to share all the lush raw goodness with.

We will be at Barefoot Festival in Leicestershire in late July and Gaunts House Summer Gathering in August, plus a few one day local events for Well Being week in June.

Each month I will be holding a free evening talk and food demo in the Health Studio in Northampton (TLC Holistics) ~ this is the home of my teaching kitchen, so hope to see many new faces in the kitchen and at the free class.

On a personal note, I am about to begin a green smoothie feast this week ~ no time limit, and there may be little breaks of a meal or two, but I will aim to be as 'liquid' as possible for as long as possible.

I find smoothie feasting easier than juice feasting, although I love juices, smoothies are just faster and easier to clean up the machine afterwards! Leaving time to get on with the day rather than dismantling the juicer! LOL

My favourite smoothie at the moment is strawberry, banana, mint and wild/garden greens.

Look forward to hearing from you with any news you have xxx peace and faery dust xxx

2011-05-10T03:58:00.000-07:00

Summer Raw Live & Wild Food Retreat
August 18th - 21st

Join us for 3 days of rejuvenating raw juices, super smoothies, sumptuous salads, raw chocolate making and wild food foraging.

Each day you will benefit from 2 cleansing and energising green juices and 2 super fruity smoothies ~ a real feast for body and soul!
In the evening there will be a huge feast of salads and raw delights to choose from ~ and you get to assist in the preparation should you desire.
Day time activities will include wild food forages, walking the lanes around the Tor in search of edible greens for our meals.
Live food talks and discussions daily ~ what is raw food all about and how can it benefit your health and life long term, how to get started, avoiding pitfalls and back tracking, releasing food addictions and negative belief patterns, how much raw food is appropriate for each individual, and how you can design your own 'sun food triangle'!
We will also explain the changes we can make when growing our own fruit and vegetables with eating more raw - how to design a juice feasters garden for example!
On Saturday 20th will be a daytime session on making raw chocolates, from bars to truffles and even a nut free cake for dessert!

There is ample time to relax, share stories and life experiences, chill out and do your own thing, in the supportive environment created by Dawn and the team.
We will also take a trip into Glastonbury to 'shop' for goodies!
This retreat will allow you to create a new and healthier body, mind and spirit - one meal at a time!

" The raw food lifestyle is a perfect example of really living 'green' ~ No cooking needed - ever. Our emphasis is on creating a living kitchen in our gardens ~ eat straight from the earth from home grown edibles, with minimal preparation, and whole food nutrition from wild greens and locally sourced seasonal organic fruits and vegetables"

Investment £195 per person ~ inclusive of all meals and accommodation.

To book please contact info@rawalchemy.org.uk
www.rawalchemy.org.uk
Tel; 01604 696771

Ce~RAW~monial Chocolate Workshop

2011-05-09T02:48:00.000-07:00

Blessings this sunny May morning.

I would like to include some of the workshops I will be running, in the blog, so you get advance opportunity to come along and have some fun and learn some new skills too.

Where better to start than with the next Raw Chocolate class!

So, here are the details for you ~ hope to meet some of you soon xXx

Ce~RAW~monial Chocolate making workshop

Saturday June 18th

10am ~ 4pm

investment £90 per person including light lunch (raw of course).

Join me in my chocolate temple where you will learn a brief history of the cacao tree, how it came to the Western world and how we can work with live raw chocolate to create a shift in our conciousness & move us forwards on our journey to wellness.

Of course you will also learn how to make some beautiful raw chocolates! Bring a small container with you to take some home.

Raw chocolate creations make a great 'transition' treat ~ helping us to release our addictions to less healthy snacks and foods.

To book your place telephone me on 01604 696771 or e-mail me on info@rawalchemy.org.uk

Sunny day part two

2011-05-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

Sunny day in raw heaven

2011-05-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

Alchemist Kitchen day one

2011-05-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

So, what am I eating?

2011-05-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

Merry May Blessings!
As we move towards the warm sunny days of summer ~ finally here and are we blessed or what? Amazing weather for April and although a little cold in the evenings, the days have been perfect for getting out side and eating up our Vitamin D!!

I wanted to share with you what I am eating at this time of year, now I have moved steadily towards more low fat raw vegan. I hope it is of use to you if you are wondering what it is all about.
Now, there are the odd times when I enjoy a little bit of feta cheese or the occasional egg, but on the whole this is what a typical day looks like for me.

On waking ~ 6am-ish ~ one pint of warmed water with lemon juice and MSM powder, drank in bed while reading something inspirational ( great way to start the day)
10am ~ smoothie made with 2 bananas, mango, 1/2 pineapple, 2 cups of berries, 1 tsp MSM, 2 tbsp super morning jing powder and 1 tsp E3 live digestive enzymes (I have under performing kidneys and absorption issues so wish to assist them if I can). Cover almost with water then blend until smooth.
OR half a watermelon (shared with Aura the Wonder Dog) or other melon ~ if it is a small melon I eat a whole one!
The smoothies vary in content depending on what is in the house. That amount of fruit makes around 3 pints of smoothie which I drink through to mid afternoon.
2pm ~ Green Smoothie made with 4 sticks celery, 3 handfuls of salad greens from the garden, handful of spinach/kale, 2 cups berries, 1/2 pineapple or 2 bananas (any sweet fruit can replace what I list here) tbsp raw honey.
OR melon.
Supper ~ large green salad with tomatoes, cucumber, celery, sweet peppers sun dried tomatoes and a drizzle of olive oil plus some nutritional yeast flakes if I fancy a cheesy taste. Now, I do not hold the olive oil for this is the fat I choose to include in my daily diet, rather than avocados or coconut fats (I do sometimes have them but not often) and I leave out nuts most days too (occasionally I throw a small handful into a morning smoothie).
Occasionally I will make a dressing with balsamic and olive oil or tamari but I tend to like it just with oil.

Some cooked foods I still include once or twice a week ~ eggs, potatoes, one serving of feta cheese.

Oh, and I have started to eat some raw chocolate again and so long as it is not a huge amount, I'm loving it again :0) I did over do it earlier in the year!

What other things do I have? Rooibos tea with fresh lemon and raw honey, water and any herbal tea I have around, but, drinking so much smoothies means I am rarely thirsty and eating melon really helps hydrate.
Coconut water and chlorella 2 x a day ~ to assist removing heavy metal toxins from the blood and cells!

Since starting to eat this way I have released 1 kilo each week and have found it to be the easiest way so far to not only feel good but remove excess in a steady way without worry.
I'm still working through emotions and 'head stuff' but this is part of the process and it, like toxins, need to come out!
I'm due to book my first colonic since transitioning to raw...no pictures...but(!) I will let you know how it goes!
What have I noticed since upping my game? That I have little or no tolerance to cooked foods other than those I include above ~ they make me feel blocked up, bloated, dull, heavy and sleepy!

more soon x x x Namaste x x x

things I am loving at the moment

2011-04-30T14:17:00.000-07:00

a light look at what is great about life in the raw...

the sun shining into the bedroom in the morning

the cool breeze as I walk down to check the hens and feed them greens and grains

morning lemon water...so refreshing and a great aid to waking up the digestive system

coconut water with chlorella ~ an awesome meal in a glass and amazing detoxer

Concious Eating ~ my latest study book!

my husband...what an amazing man

Aura the Wonder Dog...she is my guide and soul mate

picking baby salad leaves from the garden and making huge green salads...mmm

feeling over half a stone lighter!!!

laughing often

eating mangoes and dripping their juice everywhere...

mashed banana mono meals...childhood memories

long evenings in the garden sipping rooibos tea

sharing the love with friends

feeling so calm and centred

knowing that I am right where I am supposed to be

feeling my body changing with my heart and soul

being happy to know that all things now make sense

not having to feel that life is a struggle or a battle any more...it is just perfect

waiting for the melon seeds to germinate...oh how I look forward to watching them grow :0)

meeting new friends on the raw journey

and...

just 'being present'

shanti xx

My Story from the start

2011-04-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

Since I was a small child I and my family have been overweight, mostly on the female side of our family. Mum and Dad raised us on home made foods and we even grew some of our own vegetables over the years, but meals were large and full of the standard ‘meat and two veg’ or pastas dripping in sauces. There were always vegetables on the plate, but I did not really like them – I have memories of the dreaded frozen spinach and boiled cabbage which really put me off anything ‘green’! I loved pizza and chips, eggs and bacon, huge sandwiches and fried anything…salads were not on the menu at all.

I began to develop an unhealthy attitude to food when going through some tough times in my early teens, and began binge eating on crisps and chocolate bars – I could eat a 12 pack of Wotsits in one go and not think anything of it. Food became comfort to me at an early age, and it helped me to stop thinking and feeling.

My Dad, Dave, died when I was 16 and my brother was only 6 – dad was 37 – he had spent a few years previously having a series of heart attacks which led to a triple bypass operation. It was a massive shock to us all, loosing him so young. I think it was then that I began to spiral deeper into unhealthy relationships – food, alcohol and boyfriends.

Leaving school, going off to Art college and then taking a placement as a student groom in a stables in Hertfordshire took me away from family stability and guidance and my eating habits became erratic and often non-existent! Back then in the 1980’s we had £30 a week to live on being YTS students, and most of my money went on nights out. I lived on baked beans and pot noodles for at least a year! Working with horses meant I lost a lot of weight over time, but it also deepened my food issues and soon led me into an eating disorder where I would often go 2 -3 days without eating, just to make sure my weight stayed off. Then I would go out and binge for a day, feeling terrible again. I was also taking diet pills – a never ending cycle of self abuse, just to keep light enough to do the job I loved!

It was my beloved mum who made me see sense when she said that if I didn’t stop and eat something I would be too ill to work, and then I began to start eating ‘normal’ meals again.

Unfortunately I was still drinking more than I ought to and my meals were far from ideal – slim fast meal replacements and Weight Watchers frozen meals were my main diet!

In 1988 I had a serious accident while working a very difficult horse, and even though no-one suspected at the time, the damage caused to my pelvis would cause health issues for the following 15 years. Due to the amount of pain I became addicted to strong pain killers, just to get through the days work, and I lost a lot of confidence in riding the competition horses that my job revolved around. Every fall re-opened the tears in my muscles and ligaments, as did moving the heavy jump equipment and mucking out 10 plus horses a day! In the end, whilst lying prone on the floor at the end of a day, I rang the local Doctor who worked with the race trainers near my yard. He examined me and told me that I had to stop working with horses or I would cause even more damage.

Talk about a bombshell hitting home! Ever stubborn, I thought I knew better so carried on for another year or so, until, once again, another fall put me in hospital – then I woke up and realised my mortality. Leaving the love of my life – horses – was a big step, but it had to happen.

After stopping all that hard work I began putting weight back on and loosing the muscle. Eating really badly increased as did drinking far too much. General life stresses and boring office jobs meant I was sedentary for the first time in almost a decade. Weight gain led to more comfort eating, and so the cycle went on.

I would put on a few stones, then go and join a slimming group, loose the weight, stop going and put it all on again. Each time a little more went on too.

Before I knew it I weighed over 14 stone. I was working in a pub at this time, and after one relationship broke down I met a man who I eventually married. However, this relationship was the most destructive one in my life. To cut a long story short, the man I married was a manipulative alcoholic, and the following 13 years was spent trying to keep him sober and me sane. At least it made me stop drinking though!

Even though my weight increased much more during this period I fell in love with gardening, and began growing herbs at home, and a few salad leaves and tomatoes. We had 3 big dogs too which kept me busy walking for hours, so I got a bit of my fitness back, even though I was far too heavy. If I knew then what I know about food now – boy what a difference it could of made! My garden became my sanctuary from life and I became more and more interested in growing organic foods and healing therapies, training as a Reiki practitioner to Master level and studying herbal medicine as a vocation. We could not afford to buy land in the UK so we ended up moving to France in 1999. I took up a volunteer job as an organic gardener and Reiki therapist at a retreat centre – this was the turning point for me. I learned much more than I ever thought possible from the years in France. The main enlightenment was that I did not want to be married any longer. The relationship went from bad to horrendous – booze is so cheap over there – and I had to leave before I lost all of my soul.

Returning home to the UK stronger and more focussed than I had ever been in my life – I set about ‘sorting myself out’. The divorce was messy but quick. I lost everything, but that was a blessing. One last shock fell the first week home at mums – my beloved dog Ella had bone cancer. We lost her 3 months later. To this day we miss her and love her. Goddess Bless you little Ella xx

So, I am home with my family, almost 19 stones and very depressed. What was I to do? Well, shake myself off and get my self healthy. A few hiccups along the way in the first few months, but I was on the path finally. Slimming groups just do not do it for me, but I had to keep trying. Food was still controlling me on every level – when I was feeling good I would eat well and lots of salads and veggies – feeling down and the cake, pies, chocolate and crisps took over.

At this stage I met a man called Ant. He is now my husband and the most adorable, loving, gentle man I have ever met. My life became HAPPY, CONTENT AND LOVED. My relationship with people changed - 6 years later I finally began understanding my relationship with food.

In the last six years our eating habits changed slowly. We first made the conscious decision to become vegetarian. Ant did eat meat but was never comfortable buying or handling it, and I ate lots of meat, did all the cooking, but just started to feel that I was ready to stop supporting the cruel farming practices widespread in meat and dairy production. So we went veggie. In came all the TVP, Quorn and tofu, plus lots of soya milk, desserts etc…We did increase our fruit and vegetables and grew lots of our own on our allotments, but this was far from ideal – especially the after effects of all that soya!

I had lost a good few stone by now and was approaching a much healthier 14 stones again. I had built up a few gardening jobs locally, so was loving life, doing work I loved, a nice home, studying permaculture and herbalism – perfect.

Then I began feeling ill. I was sore all over, my hair began falling out, I had little or no energy, could not concentrate, was always freezing cold, fell asleep in the afternoons. This was so not right. So I went to the Doctor and had a blood test. A week later the results came in – under performing thyroid gland. Yes, the medication was given, and for the next 3 years altered every few months to get it at the right level. At the same time I began seeing a friend who is a kinesiologist and Vortex healer (and colonic hydro therapist – Oh the joy!). She found that the issue lay with the hypothalamus and not the thyroid on the whole and so supported the medication with natural remedies. I also have mercury toxicity due to amalgam fillings, so I began taking chlorella daily to assist in the elimination of toxins.

Eventually I was able to function again, but all my garden work had to be let go – I just could not do the work. But we did still have the allotment so we continued growing our own foods. We both have a real passion for living as natural a life as we can, close to nature. For a good 3 years we lived almost constantly outdoors, in our van and our amazing Mongolian Yurt! My interest in nutrition started to deepen too. It was not until 2009 that I discovered the issue of soya in the human diet, and we stopped eating any soya products at all. (put link here). This was also the year we were living in Glastonbury, Somerset and we met people following raw food diets. A good friend of ours lent us The Raw Family by Victoria Boutenko, and I must have read it in 2 days! This book set my mind alight with new ideas to look into. At the time I was addicted to coffee, so much so that my body was highly acidic – which led to my joints being so painful I could not walk at the end of the day. SOMETHING had to change.

Little did I realise, from the moment I read that book, I began to transition to a raw food diet.

WHAT I DID RIGHT AND WRONG ON THE ROAD TO NOW

For me the best thing has been to take every day at a time, often one meal at a time, to allow the changes to come in at a steady pace. Some people can go 100% raw over night, and that is fantastic, but often it is easier to take it slowly. One of the reasons is that, although detoxing takes longer it is also some what less painful. Our daily lives can be so full that to go ‘cold turkey’ from our standard diet could be almost impossible.

I never thought of being 100% raw in the first year – it sounds great, but I did not want to put that amount of pressure on myself too early. When I commit to something I need to know what is going to happen and analyze it all, inside and out, but the other side of me likes to just go “you know what…give it to me and I will accept it!”

So, in came smoothies every day – fruit with organic yoghurt at first, but in a matter of a week or so I just dropped the yoghurt and have never touched it since! We still ate cooked foods most days, but my body was saying it wanted more RAW.

There is so much information on raw food lifestyles out there – in books, on the internet forums and online communities – it really is an amazing resource. But, there is much confusion too – what kind of foods to eat, what kind of equipment do I need? How much raw should I be…and the rest! I must have read so much my head almost burst!

Whilst subconsciously transitioning I decided to start my own micro-business, which coincided with our returning home to Northamptonshire.

We returned to care for Ant’s father Tom, who was diagnosed with bladder cancer in the August of 2009 – it was easier for us to return home and be his carer’s as Ant’s brother Colin and his family work full time. So, not to want to sit back we made a home here again and whilst looking after dad, built a solid foundation to work with, and Raw Alchemy was born.

For the past year I thought I was doing great on my raw food quest ~ eating lots of raw salads, green smoothies, juicing every few days, making lots of dehydrated and gourmet dishes, rich in nuts and avocadoes and coconut butter, plus all that Chocolate! Oh how yummy life was.

But, although my health improved tremendously and my energy levels soared, creativity through the roof and lots of other benefits that I had never imagined, my weight did not seem to want to shift much more than a half stone or so. I was still addicted to cooked foods, especially potatoes in any form and often bread and coffee.

What was I to do?

I wanted to make a deeper commitment to myself so I signed up for not one but two initiatives. The first was my dear friend Tracy Partridge- Johnsons 80% Raw 30 day challenge. The second was a 30 day Vegan Pledge with the Vegan Society. These ran at the same time and it was a great benefit. Out went all the dairy, honey, potatoes, eggs etc. In came more green smoothies, salads and green leafy vegetables plus more juices! It was not easy at first and the detoxing from dairy was horrendous – I never even saw it coming, but it had me feeling so sore and ill for 3 days, but as in all the detoxes, I allowed it and accepted it as a temporary period that would leave me feeling so much better once it had passed.

At the end of the month I had shed 7lbs and felt great. BUT…as soon as it was over some of the ‘banned’ food came back in. Not the dairy however – that is gone – gone – gone!

At around the same time, I decided to come off the thyroid medication. On reflection now I should have done so gradually with the supervision of my Doctor, but hey, I did it my way. I would never advise anyone else to come off ANY medication without their doctor’s guidance though!

To ensure that my body was getting the right support I began taking some herbal supplements; spirulina, chlorella, kelp and maca, building them up each dose until I was taking about a teaspoon of each most days – it is important not to let your body get used to the same supplements on the whole, or there may be slight tolerance build ups.

One of the most beneficial things I did last year was to sign up for David Wolfe’s Raw Nutrition Course with the Canadian Body Mind Institute – this is a year long course in raw living foods and is totally amazing. Check it out for yourself – I signed up for their Affiliate scheme too as the courses are just great.

This course gave me such a deep understanding of so many aspects of living a raw life that would have taken me so much longer had I just read books about it.

It also sparked my interest in Superfoods and eating much closer to nature. In turn, taking many more of these healing foods has increased my health ten fold in the latter half of 2010.

By now I was becoming a little more restless at my lack of ability or will power to shed both the cooked foods and my excess ‘pain waste’, and I was starting to feel some of the old thyroid symptoms surface again, so at the end of last year I made a little pledge to my soul that, by May 2011 I would embrace 100% raw, at least for the warmer months of the year. On January 3rd, with over 100 others online, led by SHAZZIE, I went on my first ever juice feast for 7 days! Wow, I never thought it would be so easy – to juice fully for a whole week ~ in Winter! I loved it so much, and the support of other people taking part made is so much better.

I also went and had that long over due appointment with my Doctor, and got another blood work done. He was fine with my decision to come off meds, so long as I was happy with how I was feeling, but the blood work gave some results that were not great. Of course my TSH and Free T3 levels are not as they should be so more work needed there, but my kidney function reads low for my age – here goes work to improve that area. Also my iron levels are not as good as they could be, what with all the greens I eat – so there is some improvement in my digestion and absorption needed. The great thing is that my B12 levels are fantastic as are my Vitamin and Mineral levels and hormone levels are good too – must be doing SOMETHING right!

Since then I have gone from strength to strength, finally transitioning to 98% raw well before my goal of May 1st. I honestly can’t say I am 100% raw as I do drink hot herbal teas and elixirs, but the rest of my diet is whole and raw!

How did this happen? Well, more research and inspiration from other raw food dudes online led me to invest in 80-10-10 by Doug Graham. Until reading this book I had been restricting my fruit intake greatly, to the point that I believed if I ate more than one banana a day I would never be able to get healthy, and that a fruitarian diet is only for athletes and active people – yeah my mind sucks!

But, I read the book from cover to cover, digested it all, threw out some of the bits that just did not resonate with me on a core level, and started out on the path to where I’m at right now.

I’m seeing great improvements almost daily in my general well being – including the reduction of those thyroid symptoms. Energy levels are increasing again and my food cravings are gone! With the increase of fruit in my diet I am now no longer hungry at all and have found going deeper into raw so much more simple – just by upping the fruit. All the cravings for potatoes and other cooked foods just fell away, virtually over night. I also no longer tell myself that I will enjoy that cup of posh coffee! I feel that I am eating such a decadent diet – full of fresh fruits, green leafy vegetables, salad fruits and leaves, herbs and fruity dressings – LUSH.

Now, as I do have quite a bit more healing to do, I must say that I do not eat anywhere near as much fruit as the 80-10-10 book advises – I actually could not eat 11 bananas in one smoothie! But to bring balance to this totally awesome way of eating (for it really is awesome), I try to eat around 45% sweet fruits – 45% green leafy vegetables and non sweet fruits like cucumbers and celery – 10% fats in my daily intake. This, to me is optimum for the time I need to fully heal and complete the detoxification process.

At this point I must mention the most inspirational resource that helps thousands of people into a healthy raw life, and that is RAW FOOD REHAB – this online community, guided by the very lovely Penni Shelton, is there waiting to welcome you with open arms and lots of love. I have been a member (it’s free) for a year, but only just really got involved last month – joining one of their amazing initiatives to really boost health and connection to raw.

Well, this brings us up to today…it is some read I know, but I hope you find my journey so far of some help and insight as to the life of transitioning to raw.

There will be plenty of recipes coming up on the site and I look forward to chatting to you and sharing some ideas and inspirations.

Love, peace & faery dust

Dawn xXx

This is my personal experience and as such please bear in mind that I do not seek to provide individual medical or nutritional advice and ask that if you choose to embark on your own RAW adventure (which I hope that you do) that you seek the advice of your own medical practitioner or Holistic Health consultant.

To Dad & Tom

The most influential men in my life

Love and miss you both.

Huge love and thanks to Ant, for being my rock and for testing out all the recipes xx

Go Fresh - End of Week One

2011-04-07T05:09:00.000-07:00

Good Morning - and another sunny warm day here in the UK...we are being a little spoiled this far with some really lovely days, but a light frost this morning!
One week into Go Fresh and on the whole all is seeming to go really smoothly. Although I'm approaching the weigh in with some trepidation - this is my fear issues coming out, the dreaded scales! I must try not to get too worried about what they will read and focus on the whole 11 weeks instead of the first weeks results :0(
Since Fridays kick off food has not been an issue at all, each day was taken as a new day, and I'm proud of myself for keeping to around 98% raw ever day.
Yesterday we went out to dinner with friends, and this is the only time all week that I needed to let my normal way of eating go and allow a cooked dinner in. Thankfully today I am not suffering for it, and I left around a 1/4 of the food on the plate as I just could not eat it all.
I love that I'm feeling much more satisfied now and am beginning to feel a little less sore in my joints, able to do some deep stretches and some 'belly yoga' - outside on the grass, bare foot, connected to Earth, Sun and Moon!

So, what have I been eating, doing etc?
Well, every day I wake up and drink some lemon water, warmed, with a 1/2 tsp MSM powder. I sit and read for half an hour while drinking it, to allow my inner system to warm and awaken. About an hour after I make around 4 pints of green fruit smoothie, with any combination of fruits and greens, including wild greens like dandelion and nettle, and add another 1/2 tsp MSM and 2 tbsp super morning jing powder to tonify the kidneys and liver.
This smoothie lasts me usually until mid afternoon.
OR I will eat half a water melon or other type of melon. If I start with melon then the smoothie comes around lunch time and lasts the whole day.
During the day I potter around in the garden, do chores, exercise a little, work on my business planning (or plotting), study (raw food nutrition course), walk my beloved dog Aura, read, blog if I have any interesting thoughts or happenings, make raw foods for local stores, things like that.
Today I am making some of the dishes for the lunches on a healing course being held over the weekend, tomorrow will be a full day of food making ready for Saturday delivery, including shopping at the farmers market for ingredients and making LOTS more kale crisps!
For supper I make a large green salad with tomatoes, peppers, cucumber etc, and this keeps me feeling full and happy.
I do like snacking on Kale crisps (common knowledge by now LOL) and try hard to limit them...honest!
What makes it easier for me to stay at this level (higher than I have ever been since starting out a year ago) is keeping my foods really simple, basic, and fresh. I have learnt to stay away from nuts, seeds (mostly), avocados olives and dehydrated foods of any kind (apart from kale crisps LOL) and desserts other than a small square of raw cacao if I feel the need for extra stimulation. My main fat portion comes from olive oil on salads or the crisps - no other fat other than what is naturally in the fruits and greens.
I find it easier to stay satisfied and not getting hung up on what to make to eat or if I am getting enough (hope I am) of the nutrients daily - this has been a new experience for me and really has made it easier to allow cooked foods to fall away. Cooked food smells now actually make me feel a little nauseous unless I am prepared for them in advance! Even then I often cover my nose and get past them asap!!!
What I love is that every step of this adventure into raw is NEW...ALIVE...FRESH...and EXCITING.
Wishing you all a fabulous day

Peace, love and faery dust xxx

Getting Deeper into Raw

2011-03-28T03:58:00.001-07:00

The last week or so has been a bit of an uphill hike through lots of issues around diet and life pathways, and I really hope that now, on Monday, I have come to a turning point.
Go Fresh will be my first real commitment to finally change my diet fully to a higher level of raw than ever, and was a decision I felt needed to be made for me to step up onto the next part of this awesome life.
Until this point I had been working on so many layers of healing through raw foods, some meditations, being my authentic self like never before! And just learning peace and stillness rather than pushing the point all the time. But, cooked food has remained a hook for me, and one that has been the most stubborn to move from. Even as I write this I am having a little be of childish tantrums at the thought of releasing me addiction to cooked starches. But I have to do this if my body is to fully cleanse and heal, and the last week or so the pains in my body have not been good at all, to the point that I had to really look at what is going on with me deeply, painfully and honestly.
Although being high raw has been really helpful in getting more energy and wellness, this refusal to leave the cooked starches alone has, I feel, been the downer in it all, as well as a few coffee's a week, with dairy milk (when out socialising), the odd slice of bread (not often, but still a set back) and even perhaps cooked eggs (no way to eat them raw!)...all this has added up over time to cause the issues now, and, perhaps, it is this cumulative effect that has moved the position to where I'm at right now.
So, the commitment to go low fat raw vegan has been made, for the period of Go Fresh at the least, to see what the next 11 weeks show up. When I don't think about it it is easy, but once I start thinking about food the triggers come up...how will I deal with food for me and food for my husband, who does not cook or want to, and who cannot stand the thought of raw soups or not eating his normal meals to assist the process whilst at the same time improving his own health? To be fair, if I put a plate of food in front of him he eats it and invariably enjoys it, but this time I am not sure he will go with it, not every day anyhow. So, keeping meals simple and low fat raw is my personal challenge for my beloved Anthony, so that he loves the meals he is eating and feels so good after them that he wants and begs for more!!! LOL
Back to body stuff - for several weeks I have been in some amount of pain daily, or rather at night...my right hip, which was badly out of line, hurts like a bugger if I lie on it too long, and my spine is generally tight and sore - something that I really hope cutting out the non raw foods will assist, along with some more treatments from my friend. This pain, as you know, is debilitating over time, and darn boring to live with when I am the kind of person who love life and wants to go out and get on with it! But, one thing I am learning is to be gentle with my self, and so long as I am moving around lots and resting when tired, I can't really do more than this, right?
Considering my past 40+ years, most of it eating high fat processed, glutinous, meaty, dairy foods with limited fruit and veg, added to several years of hard graft with horses, getting bashed around, falling off, over working the body etc, and then carrying over 6 stones too much waste for the last 16 years, I feel that my body is taking the time to really get all the detoxing and mending done, but this is being hampered when I eat the wrong foods - I have a super sensitive body, I know this, but still I do it...self sabotage! For all the days of eating really pure raw vegan smoothies and juices, then I go and put in a quart of decaf coffee dairy concoction and some starches and eggs...NOT the good thing to do to a system that is attempting to heal! Stoopid!! LOL
Today this is changing...
Today I began with half a water melon for breakfast, which I shared with my dog Aura (she is so beautiful)...it took me ages to eat it, but I did it and loved it, for I love fruits and could happily live in a fruit growing country and thrive on greens and fruits and fresh avocados and coconuts all day!
I'm still working out supper, but it will either be a soup - to use up the cauliflower and broccoli in the fridge, or some marinade greens, or perhaps both! MMmm sound like Anthony will love that xxx
The rest of the day I will make a juice and then a fruit and spinach smoothie - left to my own I would just have this all day :0)
I'm just about to order a spiroli to make raw veggie pastas, then this will become an amazing addition to the evening meals, which my love actually really devours with gusto!
I feel this point in the path is really liberating and at the same time a little scary, but in a good way.
The more I learn and the deeper I go, just confirms to me the direction to take with this, and that is to teach and document everything, so others can see and benefit from our progress and transformations. I have never before been so active at documenting emotions and life changes, and hope that it is of use and benefit to others and perhaps will encourage more to do the same?
Life is truly amazing and once we place trust in the Universe to show us the direction to take, so much opens up to us that it can feel overwhelmingly powerful, like meeting your Dragon and knowing you need to sit up there and take a ride!

Love Peace and Faery Dust xxx

New Energy and Adventures

2011-03-25T11:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, what an amazing year it has been so far, and it is looking like continuing to be an inspiring and enlightening year all round.
As usual lots have happened since I last wrote here, sorry not to have been logging it all down, but getting round to pouring out lots of emotions and thoughts is often not the easiest of things to do.
Life has been turning on though but not as manic as it was last year, mainly due to the bereavement process of loosing Tom (Ant's father) in January. There is so much to deal with and sort out, and so we have been spending time with this. The estate is now being wound up and the house has been sold, so again, an emotional time and quite surreal in a deeply meditative way. Whilst there today I really felt Tom's presence sat behind me in the conservatory as I sat in my favourite place on the top step...nice to know he is keeping any eye on us, even now.
We have has much quiet time to contemplate what we are going to be doing in the coming years, and have not decided on anything for sure, apart from the possibility of investing in a small acreage of land over the channel to have as a bolt hole and a place for friends and family to go away for respite when ever the need arises.

We have no desire to buy a home over here and are content renting our peaceful cottage. We feel so blessed to live here and have been working on the garden for the coming seasons food supply. Soon we will add a large poly tunnel to extend the season through winter - lots of winter greens! Already there are pots full of rocket, kale and pak choi looking healthy, I so look forward to the first pickings. I have decided to start running some weekly workshops in basic organic food growing to help others get more clean fresh foods on tap, including sprouting and wild greens.
In addition I will post pictures on here and recipes to log all the adventures.

This is all following on with the raw transition, growing deeper over the weeks and I will add more recipes here to follow the learning experience.
As a member of Raw Food Rehab I have just signed up for the next 11 week initiative - Go Fresh, logged in to the Vault and Weight Room, as a commitment to change and releasing the remaining emotional baggage that has been stalling my progress so far. Although there has been amazing changes in the last year, with my overall health and spiritual journey, the waste has remained somewhat the same, although I have noticed areas where there is less flesh than there was, but it has stuck around my 'centre' of who I 'am' if you know what I mean :0) This has, for me, to do with genetic and historical beliefs and patterns and is also part of the collective conciousness 'stuff', and a lot of us are dealing with many levels of stuck energy that ultimately needs to move and clear for us to be free to evolve into our birthright of longevity and wellness. Every day is a new day, one to release yet more emotions and patterns and allow in the new frequencies -this I wholly embrace even if at times I have no idea what to do that day or even if I want to do anything!
Spending time in the sun helps greatly and thank the Earth for this! Feeling the warm rays brings so much joy.

So, to add new energy in to this next 11 weeks I will begin omitting cooked meals in the evening, in favour of huge salads, raw warmed soups and sometimes just a raw dessert for supper - needing to keep Anthony well fed and not feeling he is missing out is the challenge as he remains a little bereft of the will to cater for his own food needs :0) But, a nice dessert would certainly disguise the fact there is not a hot meal on the plate!
The initiative begins on the 1st April and runs through until June 16th, so I will aim to log in and record my thoughts and journey work each week, more than likely at the end of the week rather than the beginning.
Please do share your comments here, and if you want to join me on this amazing walk through life, please do log into Raw Food Rehab and gain some awesome support your selves xxx love, peace and faery dust xxx

2011-02-15T08:21:00.000-08:00

Immortality, Superfoodism & Chocolate Love

2011-02-15T07:24:00.000-08:00

I'd like to begin by saying how happy it makes me that we have longer daylight hours now! It is great to be able to stay outdoors for that bit longer each day that the rain and cold permits. Aura the Wonder Dog and I have been spending a few hours out in the garden each day laying out new growing areas and preparing for the arrival of our poly tunnel some time this year. Not dry enough for us to really prepare the ground for sowing yet, as each time we test it our it is too sticky to work, but we have plenty of large pots to sow up with leafy salads at the end of the month; lots of Rocket, Spinach, Chard, Lettuce and early kale crops...YAY.

Today is a cold one so we have decided it is perfect that we stay warm and catch up on our writing projects...well, Aura is currently in her bed snoring, but she does check on me from time to time to make sure I am working! We went for a walk and down the garden to see all is well earlier and will pop out again this afternoon :0)

So, I sit here, wrapped in my blanket, drinking a juice and aiming to put thoughts down here! Plus waiting in for the latest delivery of goodies from Raw Living to arrive...second day waiting...grump, but it is on it's way...
What have I chosen this time? Well, the latest additions to the collection of ingredients are some Kelp powder, to assist in healthy Thyroid function, which to be honest I should have been taking a long time ago, but I have been collecting other herbs until now. I will be adding this to my daily juice or smoothie from now on!
I have also ordered some Multi-flora Raw Honey - I adore honey and since moving onto a raw diet I feel it is important to eat this raw too - honey is one of natures super foods;
Raw honey is the concentrated nectar of flowers that comes straight from the extractor; it is the only unheated, pure, unpasteurized, unprocessed honey. An alkaline forming food, this type of honey contains ingredients similar to those found in fruits, which become alkaline in the digestive system. It doesn’t ferment in the stomach and it can be used to counteract acid indigestion. When mixed with ginger and lemon juices, it also relieves nausea and supplies energy. Raw honey is the healthiest choice amongst the various forms of honey as it has the most nutritional value and contains amylase, an enzyme concentrated in flower pollen which helps predigest starchy foods like breads.

The one product I have arriving and have been waiting for for ages is Adya Clarity;

Adya Clarity is a Para-magnetic sulfate mineral solution that is extracted from the rarest, most mineral rich Biotite/Black Mica volcanic deposit in Japan. A proprietary acid sulfate process is used to perfectly extract the elements from the Black Mica that are made 100% bioavailable. The Mountains in Japan are the only known 'PURE' resource of Black Mica.
Functions of Adya Clarity:

Magnetic Sulfate Minerals provide the elements needed for optimum cellular function
Unnecessary elements are bound and eliminated thus creating equilibrium within our body
Purify, Microcluster, Structure and Optimize any water by simply adding Adya Clarity
Chlorine, Fluoride, Harmful Chemicals, Plastics, Solvents, Heavy Metals & Pathogens are reduced or eliminated.
Provides your body with the full spectrum of elements in soluble form
Aids in detoxifying the body by removing cellular waste residues out of all tissues, fluids, glands and organs
Activates oxygen and increase assimilation of all nutrients to feed and nourish your cells
Stimulates proper and efficient cellular metabolism
Provides profound hydration at the cellular level
Para-Magnetic sulfate minerals are the key factor to optimize all enzymatic functions in your body

So, we are looking forward to letting you know our findings from using Adya over the coming weeks.

I have also ordered some Yacon Flour - this will be introduced to my chocolate creations as a sweetener that has no effect of the GL or GI and is a pre-biotic digestive aid. I am aware that some of us, especially certain levels of diabetes sufferers, are sensitive to agave, so I seek alternatives that are still raw to add sweetness to the cacao. I will also be using coconut nectar as opposed to coconut sugar as this is not a raw sweetener but the nectar is raw. I am constantly looking to make my magical foods even better and more enjoyable, so this is the next stage in the adventure. Not sure how the Yacon flour will taste yet as I have only tried the syrup and root shavings so far, but can say they are both really sweet, so I am eager to begin. Yacon syrup is amazing but it would mean a big increase in the price of my chocolate if I used it, for it is very expensive to buy.

I have to say that I love making and eating and sharing chocolate, and I am so thankful to be making a career out of working with such a sacred food. I often wonder how it is all going to progress, for no day is ever the same or ever goes to plan, and one of the things I rebel against is having to make each bar the same over and over again, for I often begin making a batch and feel inspired to add all sorts of superfoods and little bits of magic, but, having to stay with each recipe for the retail outlets is important.
To overcome this a little I have made a bit of room for creative flow on my new food due to launch very soon;
The Superfood Raw Chocolate Spread has a note in the ingredients section saying that from time to time the ingredients will change - this, I hope, will allow me to have a run of labels printed but still allow me to alter what goes into each batch a little!

So, where is all this leading to? Well, much more longevity I hope! Being a superfoodist is all about gaining more for less, and increasing the years in our life and the life in our years. By packing lots of amazing superfoods into each meal, whether that is a juice or a smoothie or a salad or even a soup, is for me, important and is assisting in the ongoing healing of my whole bodyMindSpirit connection.
I tend not to do so well if I sit down to eat a chewable meal during the day, for once I begin to eat I find it too tempting to carry on, even if it is a raw meal. So, I make up the liquid portions for the day and dip into them whenever I want to. Saving the evening for sit down meal to share with my love Anthony.
I have just started to make use of the dehydrator again and have it full of kale crisps and marinade mushrooms to add to meals or snack on at times when a crunchy treat is in order - they are a great potato crisp re-placer, and so darn healthy for us too!! Only trouble being is that you can literally find you eat a whole bag of them in one sitting if you are not careful!! Still, green leafy veggies are the main part of this lifestyle, so bring on more kale crisps!!!

Krispy kale Chips

one large head of kale - 400g
3 tomatoes
bunch of celery
4 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp pink salt
1 cup shelled hemp seeds
juice of 1 large lemon

tear the kale from the stems but keep in large sections, place the kale in a large bowl and prepare the sauce; add all the ingredients to your blender and blend into a creamy sauce. Pour over the kale leaves and massage in with your hands - really squeezing into the kale as this starts to break down the leaves a little. Once all the leaves are well covered, spread out thickly across 2 dehydrator sheets and 'cook' for upto 14 hours at 45 degrees.
Take out and place into a large bowl, sit down with a good book or friends and much away!!! OR - store in an airtight tub for a few days!!!

Cocooning...and a sad goodbye

2011-01-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

January began much as December ended...with Ant's father as our main priority. He continued to deteriorate over the last month and he just wanted to get out of the hospital. We did achieve this for him and he moved into the nursing home on January 11th. His move was in ambulance as he was so frail, and the journey for him was not a good one. Unfortunately he again deteriorated faster than we have seen, and, on Friday the 14th he passed over to the Summerlands...he is now at peace, free to be young again and we miss him greatly.

Tom was a lovely man, so kind and happy, to see cancer turn him into a shell of his former self was such an unkind end to a very long life.

Now, I feel like hibernating a little from the bigger world, while we deal with all the things grown ups deal with at the end of a loved ones life. Each day we are taking the steps needed to put all of his life in order, celebrating it at the same time...no time to dwell on morbid thoughts and un needed sadness, as he was a big part of our lives and every day we wish to carry that love he showed with us by showing everyone even more love and living life as it ought to be...fully and happily.
We are spending time sharing lots of stories about dad, and the life he had with Neta before I came into the Smith family..such happiness and a simplicity to their lives that today is hardly in existance in modern relationships full of stress and ulcers!!!
I adore hearing tales of couples being happily together for over 30 years...such an amazing and awesome achievement!
I won't dwell on the not so happy relationships, long or short, for I tend to steer clear of negativity at all costs...not good for our health!

As for health...well, from Jan 3rd I began a juice cleanse, for 8 days mostly green juices and a light 'fat' portion of olives and avocado in the evenings. It was great to feel so light and clear in this time, and although I have been eating since the 8th day, some cooked and some more raw foods, I am continuing to juice every other day and have smoothies on the intervening days. Apart from the last couple of days I have maintained a 90% raw level which is the highest % for me since beginning this lifestyle.
I love being that bit more clear and will be hopefully back to this tomorrow...not as great today as we have been for another :0( But high raw all the same :0)
I have felt fatigued since yesterday, going to bed at 8pm last night feeling so worn out...but I put this down to the past year looking after dad and the last few days seeing him go down so much.
I sit here now with a pot of superfood chocolate spread and a spoon...and my energy is lifting lots...hee hee...

Tomorrow is juicing day again, and I shall make about 2 litres of green heaven to take me through to Tuesday afternoon. Then, smoothies on Wednesday.
Supper tonight is a pan of cauliflower and broccoli soup to which I add, on serving, a big handful of sea vegetable salad...this tastes so good and really assists health in top form. I tend to add seaweeds to lots of cooked dishes now, and always add it to a salad...dulse is amazing in salad as is cut up nori sheets.

I have a couple of day time events to attend this week, with the obligatory nasty food criminals, well, cooked food in general...I will be taking a salad with me to the all day event on Wednesday so as to not look a complete freak when everyone is eating the cooked carvery lunch and poor vegetarian option as is usual at events :0(
Tuesday should not be a problem as it last until lunch time, so just need to take a juice...I so love to see people's faces when I pour out a huge glass of 'pond slime' as it has been called! It creases me :0)
Even better is when some ask to try it, and realise how totally delicious it is...some converts to green juices at each outing for sure :0)

On an end note to this post, I have decided that 2011 is a year for creating as much magic as possible, lots of mischief, love and laughter, and LOTS of chocolate!!!
So, keep tuned here for little snippets of alchemy

Love and Gratitude
Amber Dawn xxx

Some creations for you

2010-12-28T07:48:00.000-08:00

I have been working on some goals since I last posted, as the next lesson is on this subject, so, making a list of 100 goals is going to take a little time! Once I have got some down I will post my top 5 here with how I intend to creatively and enjoyable reach them.

I know one goal is to post lots of raw recipes on here, so, as I have been avoiding paperwork :0( I have been a little creative today, and here are the 2 I have made for our feasting...hope you enjoy trying them out.

Immortal Raw Chocolate Pudding (serves 3...possibly)

5 baby avocado/ 2 large avocado
50g coconut butter (solid or melted)
2 heaped dessert spoons cacao powder
1 tsp vanilla powder
1 heaped dessert spoon Lucuma
1 tsp 3 Immortals powder (from Raw Living/Shaman Shack)
1 tsp spirulina
1 tsp maca
3 tbsp agave or some raw honey to taste.

Place all the ingredients in the high power blender or food processor if you have not got a high power blender.
Blend until really smooth...you will need to use a spatula to get all the bits down off the sides and blended properly.
Adjust the sweetness if you need to.
Pour into dessert bowls and chill for a few hours, especially if using melted coconut butter.
Serve decorated with goji berries and some hemp seeds (if you like that kind of thing)

You can of course add any kind of superfood that you have, and just keep tasting to see if it is how you like it.

Raw Marinated Mushrooms

Several thickly sliced chestnut mushrooms
Olive oil
Tamari
Italian herbs
Crushed garlic

In a large bowl coat the sliced mushrooms in a fair bit of olive oil (they soak it up well), then add the tamari to coat a little (around 2-3 tbsp) add the herbs and crushed garlic and coat really well. You may need to add more oil but not too much that there is residue in the bowl once coated. Mix the mushrooms every now and then and place in the chiller overnight to marinate. Serve as you like, with salad or with raw burgers...I snack on mine during the day!

I hope you like these little treats, and watch for more soon xxx Om Shanti

Oosha ~ Raw Culinary Artistry ~ on the road! Advanced Raw Chocolate Masterclass

2010-12-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

Ooosha... Raw Culinary Artistry
On the road ! March 5th 11am-3:30pm Monkton Wyld Court, Dorset
Come and join us in the heart of the Dorset countryside, amongst a community of like minded individuals at Monkton Wyld Court.

Advanced Chocolate Class
This class will propel you into the infinite realm of raw chocolate making possibilities and ignite your creative fire. If you have a base of raw chocolate recipes, and consider yourself a novice, or you're a quick learner and want a crash course, then come join us for a seriously in depth class.

You will learn ~
- Filled Chocolates
- Truffles
- Praline
- Tempered Chocolate
- Creating Textures in Chocolate
- Coloured chocolate for decoration
- Milk, Dark and White Chocolate

The cost for this class is £100 and includes a recipe and detailed information packet. You'll also take home portions of everything we make throughout the day. A light raw organic lunch will be provided and will come from the organic gardens of Monkton Wyld Court.

*Monkton Wyld Court is offering a discount to those of you attending the class who would like to stay the night or weekend. Please see their website for details of their accommodation www.monktonwyldcourt.co.uk *

Please email or call for more information or to book your space.
sweetcntr@yahoo.com
www.ooosharawculinaryartistry.blogspot.com/
07913869376

About Amy:
Amy attended a 3 year culinary arts course and at the age of 18 she began her career as a chef, but soon realized something was missing between the meat and potatoes…vegetables! It was at this time that Amy found her way into a vegetarian kitchen and experienced the true genius of vegetarian cooking. This naturally peaked her interest in health, which led to her attending an intensive Holistic Health Counseling program in NYC. During this time she was first introduced to raw food and chocolate. After graduation she returned to her biggest passion, being a chef, and was now able to couple that with holistic balance and nutritional awareness.
‘The Food Clinic’ was where she was able to bring her holistic health approach into her career as a chef by providing nutritional balance to dishes. Following this, Amy began her path of working with and studying raw chocolate as Chocolatier at ‘The Raw Chocolate Company’ in Brighton. This avenue provided her the great opportunity to work within the science of food. It was as if the final piece of the puzzle she had been working on for so long had final appeared. Since then Amy has worked along some top chefs, including world renowned raw food chef, Chad Sarno and created exceptional and truly unique raw chocolates. She continues to research the nutrition and science of raw chocolate and food.

Class Testimonials:

“I really enjoyed Amy's class. It was great to learn from someone with such in-depth culinary knowledge, years of professional experience and the patience to share her expertise with novices like me! The techniques taught in the class have opened up many new avenues to explore and Amy has inspired me to be more creative in my experimentation with textures and flavour combinations. Definitely a day well spent!” - E. Simmons

"Ooosha Rocks!!! Amy Levin is an absolute genius, and she's so wonderful to boot!! If you have the basics of chocolate and want to go further then Amy will just open you up to a new level. "
C.Bagehot

"The most phenomenal raw food chef I have ever come across. She is like the Heston Blumenthal of Raw Food and she makes stuff to sell, as well as runs courses from the most gorgeous  retreat in the Sussex countryside." D. Apolline
Thanks for an awesome day Amy!! I didn't want to go home!! I learnt everything that I wanted to, plus more!!! - F. Bray

___________________________________________________________________*
Amy Levin

http://ooosharawculinaryartistry.blogspot.com/

Some Pictures ~ Then, Now and more...

2010-12-19T12:53:00.000-08:00

Aura the super dog

Cannabis Sativa in full bloom in our garden

Juice ingredients

Shilajit Latte

Raw Lasagne

Mulberry & Goji Caramel Hearts

Superherb Brew

Me a week ago 2010

Love my greens

Me in 2009

Beliefs

2010-12-18T00:40:00.000-08:00

The fourth lesson is all about our beliefs and how they shape our individual perception of life and reality, how everything is different for each of us depending on our beliefs carried since we became influenced by those around us at a young age.
As children we have perfect minds and perfect memories which become dampened by limiting beliefs. Once we overthrow those limiting beliefs we regain our perfect minds and memories!
So, this lesson teaches us how to eliminate our own limiting beliefs, which in turn helps those around us to do the same which is one of the principles of Life Transformation.

Well, here are my action steps...

These are my current personal beliefs and how I will transform them.

The question to ask and answer after each one is; "How can I immediately and powerfully improve or replace these beliefs and enjoy the process"

1. I believe that I am not a good communicator.
...live in my heart and speak my truth openly and honestly at all times, express my emotions and dreams to those around me and speak clearly and not hide behind my fears.

2. I believe that a good weight for me is to be around 80kg.
...allow my higher self to guide me to my perfect weight without placing a number on my self...and relax knowing that my choices are perfect all the time for me.

3. I believe I do not exercise enough to become well.
...go walking every day again, like before, use my rebounder as it is FUN and start to dance again...all things I loved to do but placing time and pain limitations had become an excuse for not participating in my own passions.

4. I believe I am too overweight to be a good raw educator.
...I am now, every day, making excellent choices in what I eat, how I eat, and where I eat, that assist in me shedding my excess waste whilst being in the eyes of those following my journey to whole life transformation...demonstrating in the BEST possible way, how amazingly powerful following a life full of raw living foods works and how easy it is if we make that commitment to our soul!

Om Shanti

Another act that this lesson teaches, and it is one I now have been practising for a while, is that of letting those around us know how special they are and how much their being around means to us.
By the universal law of Reciprocity what you send out will come back multiplied.

On this note i would like to express how much I appreciate your act of reading this journal, and how much I hope it is of some benefit to you on your own journey through this amazing life.
Every one of us is an amazing light being, capable of so much love and limitless potential to create a world of wonder, peace and abundance one breath at a time.
I send out virtual hugs to each of you (I love hugs, don't you?) :0)

Love, peace and joy
Amber Dawn xx

Foodie Thursday

2010-12-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

Had a fun and peaceful productive day today and sampled some new vegan foods that I would not normally eat...I usually just cook for the visitors and hardly ever eat any, but just fancied a slice of cashew nut roast with ginger brussel sprout salad...totally yummy!

Rest of the day has been RAW...including a seaspagettie salad with raisins, hemp seeds, sprouted seeds, green salad leaves, red pepper, cucumber and fennel dressed with vegan pesto...wow this was so very very good!
I shall have the same tomorrow ~ increasing our intake of sea vegetables is crucial to our wellness!

It was so nice today to take a breath and sit with friends while they had their drinks today instead of rushing around in the kitchen...shall do that again tomorrow as well!

Now, and early night with my book is calling, for a nice day to come tomorrow.

Love and peace

Amber Dawn xx

wow how the universe weaves

2010-12-15T11:53:00.000-08:00

seems to be that the Universe weaves endlessly in response to our seed planting...not sure what else I could have titled today's post but this seemed to fit (wish we had smileys on here)

After sharing my thoughts yesterday there has been a shift of energy towards a much more wholesome future. I have received clarity and so much love and support from those close to me for which I am so grateful (love you all so much)
From next week my focus will come home...to the hearth of creations and I will be concentration on bringing more magical raw foods to share. This will also mean that my energy is free to look in on Tom more when he is home from his current stay in hospital, and of course be with my furry companion Aura all day again!

I have deeply loved bringing healthy foods and the amazing super smoothies to Namaste House and all her beautiful visitors, and will continue to provide the decadent raw cakes, chocolate, breads and spreads, so they will be available to you still, but to be home is where I am needed, and Raw Alchemy needs me to be there so she can continue to grow and spread the magical foods around the country.

I have learned much in the past couple of months and have come to see exactly where I wish to be and go...step by step, dream by dream.

In addition to creating foods I will be upping my knowledge sharing ~ so lots of workshops and group/private support sessions in the new year (message me to find out more or ask about booking me to share with your local groups)...I am now committed to living it and showing it works!!!

On to how day 3 has been on a deeper level...

I am so loving how calm I have become ~ just like I used to feel! Complete peace and very very happy.
I am finding some detoxing signs and food reactions are coming even faster than ever...painful ankles today which I put down to the decaf yesterday and after eating some starch for supper, both today and yesterday, I had some very strange palpitations and slight breathlessness for the odd second.

I have increased my intake of sea vegetables again, and try to eat a portion each day for overall endocrine health support. Udo's choice oil and some Bragg's aminos on salad leaves to ensure these nutrients are eaten daily as well.
During the day I ate barely nothing ~ a tiny slice of my raw cake for lunch and almost a pint of maca manna smoothie mid-afternoon, lots of water and 2 cups of superherbal brew.

I was ready for supper when I got home and started with a sliced persimmon before the starch meal of potato and egg salad (an hour after the fruit)

I am now off to brew a 'normal' cuppa with some rice mylk. lol this is my night time treat!

From this weekend I will be posting more recipes here with I hope, the pictures to show them off...stay tuned xxxx

Namaste
Amber Dawn xx

thoughts are seeds

2010-12-14T05:54:00.000-08:00

"we become what we think about" Earl Nightingale

"all destiny begins with thinking" Percival

today is a day for planting seeds for the future harvest...on waking up I decided to create another raw chocolate and so the new Elixir Bar has been born. This will be the bar version of my Mayan Chocolate Elixir drinking mix...so a new birth of energy has begun...

there, that just popped out! And all before even being fully concious...lol

more inspiration came in the post today in the form of a delivery from Amazon; The World Peace Diet & 2 of Kate Magic's books...so much to experiment with now, there is no room for me to waver from this path ever again.

Talk about skilling up...oh boy!

Feeling really happy and still very calm today. I have been sharing my thoughts and feelings with Ant (my beloved), and have said how I am trying to be my 'fearless self' and trust in and believe on my path.
Decisions are being formed for the coming days, weeks and months...more seeds!
I feel that I will get most enjoyment out of this journey if I re-arrange my work somewhat radically which will enable me to fully engage in all of the activities we are creating.
So, as of January when I re-open the coffee lounge after the holiday, I will propose to only work there for 3 days a week ~ Thursday, Friday & Saturdays...leaving the space available for another passionate chef to come along and be creative :0)
The Rest of the week will be spent at the Raw HQ making all the lovely sacred foods, tending the garden, caring for my father-in-law and animals and making house!
There is so much to plan and create for our future harvest and this way it will all be tended well and flourish.

In myself I feel very soft and gentle today, not so vulnerable, and very focussed on all the enterprising potential of this new step being taken.
I still feel very open, which I am getting used to, but at the same time have the protection and support of my loved ones as I take these baby steps to wholeness and for this I am eternally grateful :0)

I have spent the morning make lovely cakes for the coffee lounge and for special orders so my focus on food has been away from my own stomach...I have to laugh when I create as I fail to need to eat for my own body so unless I stop and make something I can often go a whole day with no fuel other than the love fuelling the creations...
I did begin the day with the left over green juice made yesterday, and Ant brought home a soya decaf latte at 1.30. Water of course is always drunk.
I will now go and make a quick smoothie to keep my mind and body complete as we have to go out and get supplies for the kitchen...and...a treat of a living Yule Tree for the house, to light the new year in style...so many years since we had the inclination to bring in the Green other than some hedge decorations for the altar...but this year we feel it is time to make a special effort and bring new focus to the Temple Room...

Love, Peace, joy and Abundance

Namaste

Amber Dawn xxx

end of first day...

2010-12-13T10:09:00.000-08:00

...how do I feel?

Peaceful...

...vulnerable...exposed...

it was quite strange to have the feeling of being really exposed and this made me feel really vulnerable too...my centre has opened up much more than, well, I ever thought...not that I was waiting to feel these emotions...deeply and physically!
I feel like birthing a new person.
to have such an openness to the world is not an experience I have had until now.
I have fully embraced all of me today and allow all the new things to come and say hello.

This really does feel like the first TRUE steps of my journey, even though I have followed a high raw lifestyle for almost a year...
The play has ended, now I am LIVING it!

I am very used to all the green juices and smoothies after falling in love with liquid meals from the beginning so I look forward to many more of them :0)

After one day off all dairy and wheat I feel good but baby steps...I make it sound like I ate it every day but only once or twice a week really. It makes that much difference to me having such a sensitive system :0)

So, today has be great and tomorrow will be even more so... Om Shanti from this Raw Diva

Amber Dawn xx

Sunfood Diet Success system ~ Day One ~

2010-12-13T01:53:00.000-08:00

"I am fully responsible for my own great health. My daily habits create my great health"

Morning is a good time to start this journal today as I am at home resting, well, if you call it resting (LOL)...
As I am now immersed in the SunFood Diet Success System, David Wolfe's amazing book has me hooked!
One Lesson at a time to ensure it all sinks in and is embedded into my soul so there is no room to & I hate to say the 'f' word, so I shall say 'get distracted'...

Started by taking a 'before' picture...not a good one, but I am smiling! I hate my pic taken at the best of times but this is for a very serious cause, so it has been done...will upload later.

Now, the first question I must answer is; What type of person do I have to become to experience radiant health? & How do I become that type of person as quickly as possible while enjoying the process?

This is such a huge thing to answer...I feel that I have to become much more connected to my heart than I thought I was...for then I will not keep falling into the trap of eating out of lazy or greedy emotions...in my heart I know what needs to be done to get to where I am going with this life, and I have until now just been treading water, which is a pattern that has been prevallent in my life!
I am such a devoted and creative soul with huge passion to take my dreams to the heights they can go, but, for some reason, probably fear, I remain in a physical rut on the outside...inside has changed for I can feel it, with the huge energy I now have and the general wellness plus so much creativity it can get a bit tiring as I have trouble stopping even in my sleep!

So, I also have to become 'fearless'! I have to trust that all will be well and all will be perfect, instead of just saying it I have to 'believe' it!

How to become that person??? Well, I guess more time looking inward as David says to do...and more time spent in quiet thought and also some meditation and breathing, and some sound wave therapy will be sooo good! I have no trouble voicing myself now apart from when I go into panic mode and then I just cry, silly really but that is what happens.
Yes, quiet reflections, planning and 'feeling' the changes rather than looking on the outside for them, expecting results while still stuck in the 'old' energy of years of self sabotage ...

I have now gone back to being almost vegan, although I could not call myself vegan as I do eat honey and some eggs, but I now have stopped eating cheese which is great as it made me ill anyway!
I have committed to brewing all the superherb teas every day now, and today made an amazing mega smoothie to begin the day;

2/3 pint superherb tea (see last nights post) cold
one large spoon raw honey
one banana
one pear
on tbsp maca
one tsp chlorella & spirulina combined
one tsp mucuna
one tsp vanilla powder

so green and thick and lovely

I will be juicing later before I go into town to do my Monday stuff and see dad in hospital.

The juice will be; carrot, apple, kale, fennel and ginger...mmmmm!!!

Tonight for dinner we will have a steamed feast of kale, savoy, onion, raw garlic, cherry tomatoes, Udo's oil and Bragg's Amino's ( I add the oil and aminos after steaming ) with a few roast potatoes...not many! or some mash, which ever I feel like.
I know that white potatoes and other starches are so not the best thing to eat but if I can leave off eating the crisps (replacing them with dehydrated sweet potato crisps) and keep them to a minimum I feel that I am not depriving myself totally of the food that I really love...who, knows, some time in the coming weeks and months they may just fall out of my life without me trying...

Now, I must go and get on with the day as I wish to achieve much today as usual...I feel good and positive and will not let fear of complacency come into my life - that is my promise to me today...

Om Shanti
Amber Dawn xxx

My superherb tea

2010-12-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would share this recipe for what I feel is the most amazing super brew. I am learning all about the superherbal way to health on my Raw Nuturition course.
This brew contains;

Nettle
Boneset
Horsetail
Angelica root
pau D'arco
Taheebo
cat's claw
Burdock root
ashwaganda
goji berries
Reishi mushroom root
all in the pan with around 2 litres of water, warming on the stove all day for drinking when I like ~ simply top up the pan each day for around 5 days of brewing, it has a lovely earthy taste but sweetened by the goji berries.
I sometimes add this as the base of a mega smoothie, to which is added a few cashews (6) some coconut butter, some cacao nibs, some chilli peppers, lots of raw honey, fo ti, muira puama, camu camu, maca, mucuna, shilajit, amla and chlorella powder. I would add crystal manna or phytoplankton but yet to buy them as I am saving up for a pollytunnel (lol)

This is a mega healthy brew in so many ways...

Om Shanti xx

My Daily Journal of Transformation

2010-12-12T08:23:00.000-08:00

Today, 12th December 2010 begins a year's journal ~ my (hopefully) commitment to myself to complete the transformation I began about a year ago.

I hope you will follow my progress through the ups and sometimes downs along the way...I will give it my best and tell everything on here...all the details, dramas, joys and ecstacy...for from now on there will only be one way to go and that is the unlimited potential....

more tomorrow

Om shanti xx Amber Dawn xx

refreshed web page and a new juice fast

2010-11-16T13:24:00.000-08:00

well, it's been a while since my last entry and this one will be quite short I guess, although I do ramble off when on here!

We are making some changes to the website this week and one is to hopefully link the blog to the site so you can have instant updates as to what is going on in the divas kitchen...lol

...and a lot is going on I can say...
so, let us hope we can get it done.

The news so far is that I have been working hard both in the kitchen and out and about helping friends etc...
The peace cafe is now up and running and we are getting a bit of a following out there now, with people ordering cakes and chocolate and the special little bliss balls flying out of the kitchen at a fast pace ~ beautiful!

We have a couple of new faces coming in to the kitchen to help out too which is a blessing as it gets quite busy during the peak hours of the day...keeping up with drinks, food and clearing away can be a task indeed!

Namaste House is such a special place to be and it is bliss to share the space with so many lovely people ~ long may we carry on bringing new faces to the building and making them feel safe, warm and loved... oh, and leaving with a full tummy too :0)

Each day there are more enchanting things to look at in the shop ~ it is a little Aladdin's cave of delights.

The food menu changes daily too; each day there is a different soup and sometimes more than one flavour. There are dishes with couscous, dhals, pasta, baked potatoes, crustless quiches and of course our seedy super salads too, not to mention our raw desserts along side more traditional treats like carrot cake and caramel slices :0)

so, I do hope to meet more of you soon, to share the food with you all and the adventure.

Now that I have moved the juicer into the working kitchen (so to speak as home is a working kitchen too!) I am embarking on a 7 day juice fast/cleanse...juicing during the day to clear away some of the baggage hanging around and to hopefully get rid of the stagnant brain fug that is keeping me where I am in my shedding of the waste...
I think it is needed at this time before the really cold dark months are fully here ~ not sure how I will cope and I may sulk a little along the way...been feeling the cold more of late so it will need to be backed up with some herbal brews to keep the fire inside burning strong.
So, tomorrow will see the start of the weeks fasting.
I am going to attempt to carry it on in the evenings too with a warm smoothie superbrew or some soup rather than a meal.

I will keep you posted here and on FaceBook.

If you want to join in comment back with how you are doing and we can share the support.

love and peace be with you xx

Interesting ups & downs

2010-09-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of days I have been retreated into my studies which have really been my inspiration and drive while on retreat.
Managing around 10 lessons per day I am 3/4 way through now and so looking forward to the exam and qualifying. Then I will be able to pass on all the learning to many more who are looking to change their lives and regain health and wholeness.

It is a really interesting time, as normally I would be so very very active and busy running around with not a second to stop...often a good thing really as I am not tempted by naughty and unhealthy foods...however, in these times I would always sucumb in the evenings to some crisps or some other baddy! Now, as I am free from the opportunity, I am at least keeping fairly 'clean'...

Realising that food addictions, like any other addictions, will always be part of my life is taking some understanding and acceptance to work with the energy surrounding the times when I feel like going backwards.
I know that keeping to my raw foods as much as is comfortably acheiveable (around 80%) is the best for my future.
It never ceases to amaze me that I am going through phases of detoxification on a regular basis when I leave out foods that have crept back in again. Not nice to go through but it is a good part of the process.
In 7 years I will have a completely new body, from cells to muscles, lungs, bones, everything! That is how long it takes for our bodies to renew themselves...how amazingly awesome is that!? I find it totally inspiring to think that, on my journey to wellness, I get to have a new perfect healthy body at the end of it all...

Anyway, back to the ups and downs bit...I am having daily conversations with myself...yeah, I know, been on my own too long again! ... to work through eahc meal and why I am taking in the foods I am eating. I brought with me a limited supply of superfoods and today ran out of them, so I am trying not to worry about not having them...they are part of every day for me to complete my nutritional intake being largely a liquid meal eater.
I am aiming to further simplify intake by narrowing the number of foods going into my body each meal time...particularly the cooked meals, so as not to burden my digestion with to many complex things to digest.
Liquid meals are the easiet for any digestion as it is all mushed up so the stomach can extract the nutrients and pass them through the rest of the intestinal process with minimal effort.
Why tax our system with the job of digesting huge food particals when we can go out and have much more fun if it is all done for us by the blender! LOL

Juicing is even better...no effort whatever as the pure plant foods pass directly into the blood stream from the mouth delivering all the nutrients with no effort at all...and boy do I miss my juicer right now ~ one last pre-juiced shot left and then I will need to go home and restock!

So, the ups are many...lots of time spent in study instead of making food, lots of energy although it is not spent physically but mentally this week (apart from walking) and more than enough concentration power.
The downs? Well, still trying to stay away from not beneficial cooked foods really. Holed up in the house is cool...no temptations...and I am doing pretty well when out and about too, but the main downer is that I keep beating myself up about the last month or so when eating too many crisps, bread and oven chips of all things!!!
Stupid, but human!!!

I have now taken a pledge to give up fish and all dairy apart from when I have the odd coffee treat time...I was up until last week, eating fish weekly, but now it has gone! I am so proud to have made that decision.
Out too must be the crisps ~ the trans-fats they contain are SO toxic it just is not worth the pain they will cause in the long term or the waste storage in the short term!

A real investment was made this week, even though I ought to have spent the money on other things...I have bought the long awaited GS2 gravity fed water filter...it hold 9 litres and can process 50 litres a day! As I use filtered water for everything, this will make it so much easier. Next week I will order the additional fluoride filters that are extra. Then our ingesting water will be as pure as possible.
We are lucky to have a spring over the lane which we will collect from daily ~ the filter makes all rain and spring water safe and drinkable.
Next will be the filter for the shower...water that goes on our skin is just as toxic to us as that which we drink...

I have also invested in some superherbs...and they should be here very soon...then my liquid diet will be taken to an even higher realm of divinity...watch this space for the recipes and pictures!

I must end by saying that although the fried potato crisps are out of my life (weep) the humble spud is still revered! But, I am now steaming and baking them.
I have found today that rice cause a reaction, so that too is out...interesting. Spelt pasta too, although I love it occasionally, has caused bloating and excess excreations, so this will be phased out.

Now, I hope the new smoothies and teas that will be brewed from this week will remove all final emotional ties to these food, so my life can soar to even higher dimensions...

Love, hope and abundance xxxxxxx

My 'retreat' ~ R&R

2010-09-24T06:18:00.000-07:00

My little 'retreat' is actually a spot of house and pet sitting for a dear friend whilst she is in hospital having a new hip fitted. She had come through the op well and should be home on Tuesday nest week.
So, while she is away Aura & I are looking after her huge house and assorted furry companions which is lovely. It is very peaceful here, rather like our own home, and surrounded by wild beauty of the Buckinghamshire countryside. I am blessed to be able to walk for, well miles if Aura were able to, along the gallops at the farm here, but we make do with a shorter stroll so not to tire her out too much!
She would go for longer walks if left up to her as she is not aware of being restricted by her dis-ease, but, if she has too much exercise she is very tired and sore, so 'mum' keeps her walks shorter nowadays.

I have decided to take advantage of being away from the kitchen to catch up on my studies and rest up a bit, well, alot actually! The last couple of months has been pretty full on in the kitchen, and, now that I have been given the opportunity to go in a slightly unplanned direction, I can spend time re-structuring things for the next pathway of adventures.
It does feel a little lazy to be spending so much time just 'sat' studying, but, as life is about to go 'mega' it feels great and luxuriant and decadent...all lovely words and ones we perhaps should embrace using more often, even daily or hourly! Loving oneself with these feelings is wonderful, just like taking a long hot bath in some lovely bubbles with candles...and we should do that more and more...

I purposely left all my fiction reads at home and only brought practical work with me, as to spend time in fantasy would perhaps have been a waste of energy...plus I use fictional books to shut off in an evening from all the work energy, so to bring that with me here would prevent me spending time on my studies...being a bookish girlie I love reading, learning, exploring the realms of conciousenss and fantasy etc..
So, how am I spending my days here?
I start the day as I would normally, by drinking 2 pints of pure water before getting clean and dressed. I sort out all the furry ones needs and then prepare the days smoothies. I make about a litre of smoothie and drink half before my morning walkies and half when we return. This keeps my bodymindspirit full and happy until about 1pm most days.

It is cold today so I made a cup of coffee...something I would not normally do at home, and it was yucky! Instant coffee really sucks big time...I now only have posh coffee when out and about ~ now I know why!!!! Should have chosen tea like I was going to!

Anyway, I had a pinapple to eat up, so just had half of it now, followed by 3 squares of my raw mint chocolate ~ totally lovely!

Whilst waiting for the next video lesson to load (which takes forever on this computor) I thought I would update the blog...lol

This afternoon we will take another walk along the gallops, hopefully not in the driving rain like this morning...even though it was invigorating. Then come home and back to the studies until bed time...interspersed with mooching around and brushing the doggies and some hoovering upstairs.

Tomorrow is forcast to be a lovely day, so we will spend it outdoors tidying the garden for a couple of hours, as I have always done when staying over here...she has a lovely garden ~ quite huge, and full of cottage garden plants which now need putting to bed for the Autumn.
I may pop into the village at some point for a coffee and some world watching, just to take a break from isolation...you can go days here and see no-one!

I suppose I could explain about the course I am taking? Well, I am studying Raw Nutrition with the Body Mind Institute of Canada ~ it is David Avocado Wolfes Certification course and is an online study system. I am really loving it as all the lessons are by video feed from Davids home in Canada...a wild and beautifully abundant ecosystem...David is such a passionate and energetic teacher and this really comes over in the lessons. Each lesson is followed by a multiple choice quiz. At the end of the course is the exam. It will take me another couple of months to complete it as I want to read all the writen support notes that accompany it before taking the exam.
After this exam I will begin the next course that came FREE with this one...another Nutrition course but direct from the Institute. By early 2011 I will have completed this one.
There is an affiliate scheme with the Institute and once I have set it up I will link it here and to the website, so that, if you want, you are able to have access to the courses they provide. I feel that the content and value they provide is amazing and so available to us no matter what restricted budget we are in...personally this was the best way for me to study as every penny coming in needs to be spent so wisely and I know we are all in the same vibration with this. We need to invest in our futures to provide the best for us all.

Back to the love of my life...Aura...she is the most beautiful dog in the Universe...and has been such an amazing friend and guide for the last 11 years. Here is a picture of her for you

uploaded pictures

2010-09-20T06:15:00.000-07:00

the remains of the fruit hamper!

my green juice and all that is left in pulp form (Aura will eat this)

water kefir 'swimming' in the sun

water kefir grains on day 2 of brewing

some of the super ingredients I use most days

Here are a few pictures that I have just uploaded

A period of rest and recuperation & amazing juicing!

2010-09-20T03:34:00.000-07:00

Well what a glorious Monday morning we awake to! so beautiful to feel the sun on my face and tend to the salad leaves not to mention catch up on a little housekeeping after a very busy weekend again.

I would like to share my juice with you this bountiful day.

On Saturday I was blessed to win a huge fruit hamper in a 'guess how many pickles in the jar' competetion! Wow, what a good home it came to...already half empty after today but still full of lovely things like mango and pineapple! Ant got to have all the preserves and a pack of biscuits so it was a win win thing!

So, today, after making the downstairs nice and clean and going over all the kitchen so it is spotless again, I have just sat and drank a pint of amazing green juice.
In it were: One red grapefruit (not skin), one pear, one apple, one stick celery, one cucumber, 1/3 fennel bulb, lots of baby salad leaves of lettuce, spinach and snow pea tops plus sunflower greens.
all this went through the Green Star juicer to make a tangy but sweet chlorophyll rich juice.
One pint down and another in the fridge for later. Mmmm Yummy.

Today marks the start of my journey back to high raw after a few manic weeks of not really having time to love my tummy or body much, having been so darn busy! It sounds daft really, as I spend ALL day every day making raw foods to take out to others, but, as it is mostly chocolate foods, I have had little time to actually spend juicing as I would prefer to do for optimum nutrition.
I love making chocolate (who wouldn't) but after a spoonful tasting of each you do loose appetite so end up not eating anything all day...not a good thing really if you are aiming to pack in the greens!
I have eaten a large part of my daily food as raw but it has lacked the green element that is so important.
As we eat a cooked meal in the evening, I have eaten too many white potatoes and some pastry each week too as well as snacking on potato crisps (a huge no-no).
So, this is it! Back on track and in line to shed another stone of waste from my body. No doubt some more detoxing is occurring already as I have a stinking headache today!
I have 2 weeks before the next event is booked in, so I will have much more time to make smoothies and juices each day and far more time to relax and enjoy my studies too.
I will make more chocolate, but it is not so intense now, so I can make time to create other foods too.

In the next couple of weeks I will also be venturing into the cafe to begin making foods there too...so looking forward to that I can tell you.
There are so many of us in Northamptonshire who are concious of what we eat, but really struggle to find anywhere to eat out that makes lovely food with a loving energy. Even salads are pretty poor in the majority of eateries.
Namaste House is already a beautiful place to eat and it will continue to gain a reputation for its food now we move into new waters of Vegan and Raw dishes.

Wishing you all an amazing day full of abundance and love xxx Namaste xxx

Sacred Foods Workshop

2010-09-15T06:13:00.000-07:00

Sacred Plant Spirit Medicine day working with Cacao and High Vibrational Foods - Saturday 9th October at Raw Alchemy HQ, Northamptonshire, UK.

This will be our second sacred foods workshop but our first to go deeply into the uses and medicinal qualities of Cacao.
You will learn how to make Elixir drinks which contain cacao and other superfoods as well as what we term 'high vibrational' foods, such as Etheriums and Suma. These foods greatly assist in our journey to wellness and awareness of our life path.
You will also learn how to make a basic raw chocolate recipe, how to blend ingredients, use of different moulds for chocolate and specialist equipment.
In addition you will be looking deeply at where you are at on your own individual journey, what blocks have formed and how to remove them safely and easily ~ this is all part of the journey work cacao facilitates and can be very emotional for some people.
There will be time spent looking at addictions and the role they play in life and how we can overcome them using sacred foods and meditations/quiet time.
Included will be recipes and info sheets for you to take home.

The Venue: Raw Alchemy is situated in the tranquil rural village of Chadstone just a few miles from Northampton town centre. Very close to a natural spring and having the benefit of ley lines and a positive energy fountain running beneath the house, this is a peaceful and healing environment for any deep energy workings. The venue has a permanent temple room for relaxation and an efficient working kitchen for workshops. It is also the home of Dawn and her husband Ant and their furry family of felines and special dog Aura, who will all enchant you with their antics...

Cost: £45 per person (some concessions available)

booking: please email Dawn to book your place

Namaste

The virtuous Carrot

2010-09-15T02:35:00.000-07:00

Oh how lovely is the carrot? Full of light, sun energy and earth elements and sweetness...add some fresh coriander and you have a very high nutrient meal waiting for your tummy to enjoy!

Yes, I juiced again this morning! I have had little time to think of using the juicer lately as it does take some time to clean afterwards, and being busy means not much time for that!

But, I really wanted some high nutrients today and having some carrots and coriander needing using up rather than end up in the compost heap, I juiced them...about 10 carrots and a bunch of coriander...all through the Green Star for the most lush green juice ever! Yes, it was green! I now feel very 'open' and aware and also needing another trip to the bathroom!

I am still aiming for a high water content during the day and less actual food until later, just to really cleanse my system and provide a clear pathway for all the lovely nutrients in the water kefir that I am taking each day now.

This is all a new subject for me and fascinating...I shall dig up all the info on water kefir for a blog entry here later on.

Right, must go now, Aura is looking at me and asking for a walk, so off we go...into the windy day

love and abundance xxx

A duvet day...almost

2010-09-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

Oh how lovely it would be to have a duvet day...not had one in such a long time.
After a very full on few weeks of constantly creating foods to fulfil markets I have reached a bit of a crisis...one more week of really full on foodie making and then there is a small break where it eases a little.

After an unsettled night without my dearest Ant to snuggle up with for the 3rd in a row while he is sleeping over at his fathers (Tom has cancer and has been unwell for the past few weeks), restless cats and doggie with upset tummy...I woke early determined to have a slow day.

And, I did...moontime is also here and boy has that made me more than a little emotional! So, I managed to breathe through an almost panic morning with lots going on, and took myself over to Namaste House in Earls Barton ~ already a sanctuary of peace and love, the shop and coffee shop are beautiful, tranquil and such a haven of calm, this is soon to be where you will find me, creating love filled foods for the patrons.

Sadie, who is the 'keeper' of the house has offered the coffee shop to us so that our energy can flow with that of the therapies and fair trade wares in the shop. We will be looking after the foodie side of things from early October...so exciting!
More on Namaste House in another post.

After that visit, I went over and bought supplies for Luke's lunches, then home to make them for him...super sexy raw curry, strawberry desserts and chocolate pudding...what a lucky guy! He has already noticed his appetite lessening and also naturally eating much slower when eating raw meals than he would cooked ones...thoroughly enjoying them!

That is what I so love about raw foods...how they can change our whole way of eating and experiencing foods. It makes me glow with happiness to see people really fall in love with raw!

More lovely friends have shared their experiences with me this week too ~ all saying that once they have eaten some of the raw foods I create, that they go off conventional foods ~ and start craving more raw living food! Totally awesome!
Corrr...how busy will I be???
I really am looking forward to making more foods and also training new raw chef's to help spread more raw!

Back to the duvet...well, soon...we ate a lovely supper together now Ant is home for the night, and we are now chillaxing.
Tom (dad) is staying in hospital for a few days to gain some strength. He has weakened a great deal recently and has lost a lot of weight. Let us hope that after this latest bit of medical care, that he recovers a bit of his old self enough to enjoy life again.

Night night all xxx

2010-09-10T02:34:00.000-07:00

such a beautiful sunset...

The most awesome breakfast smoothie

2010-09-10T01:51:00.000-07:00

Morning, early start today as I was going to be on a farmers market in Towcester, but, after a night working through deep thoughts, I woke at 5.30, got up and started catching up on lots of things that had been pushed to one side due to being so busy! You know how it is, paperwork just gets put in a dark corner and grows cobwebs!

Anyway, that is now all sorted into more digestible bits and the hoovering is done, altar cleaned and tidied, all crystals dusted and re-arranged...lovely way to start the day...

Now, to food! I love having a liquid meal in a glass...very decadent ones at times. Here is what I just made...

Chocolate Avocado Smoothie

2 bananas
1 large avocado
1 heaped dessert spoon of either my chocolate Elixir powder OR just raw cacao powder
11/2 pint filtered water
some agave if you like it sweet

place all in the blender wizz until lovely and creamy.

Sit down and drink it all up, then enjoy your chocolate moustache! This is the most filling and satisfying breakfast drink ~ especially with the Elixir in it as it contains some of the highest nutritional foods on the planet!

Welcome to my new Blog

2010-09-09T13:47:00.000-07:00

After many months sending updates through twitter & Facebook I now have the nice new shiny blog to keep you all up to date with happenings in my raw world...each day I will post the experiences with living foods, adventures around and about, new energies, superfoods, cacao spirit medicine, and furkid adventures (we have a beautiful collie Aura and our daft cats too!)
Here is the place for all those recipes, both cooked and raw that I love so much, and a place to share those moments of un-clarity when cooked food is not being well received in my body! Yes, there are moments like that most weeks :0)
Well, for now, here is a beautiful picture to share with you

Namaste
Dawn )0(