Day 5

Day 5 left me wanting coffee.

Beginning and end of story.

I thought when push came to shove it would be chocolate that I would pick as the one item to take on the deserted island. (I would live long wouldn't I?) I even told Carole yesterday on the mountain that if she had chocolate in her trail mix I might wrestle her to the ground for it.

Turns out coffee is what I miss. Especially strange since I only became a coffee drinker a couple of years ago. (I believe it coincided exactly with the arrival of Maya. One needs to be on amphetamines to keep up with Maya. I have settled on coffee.)

I find myself more sleepy and with less stamina than usual this week.  My body does feel amazing and I feel very clean and pure, incredibly present and like I am taking REALLY good care of my body.  But I also want to sit down more and go easier.  The typical amount I would do in a day seems like too much work right now.

Sandi would call this a miracle.  My state of constant motion grates on her.

I call this a confusing annoyance.  A lot is going undone.

However, it does make me wonder how much of the time I cover up my body's natural inclinations with poor food choices and stimulants.  That is sort of scary to ponder.

Anyway, back to the delicious food...

I have been LOVING eating so much avocado this week!

For breakfast: oatmeal with banana and peanut butter. 

For lunch: Ange's veggie burgers with sliced avocado, quinoa stuffed peppers (here's the recipe , made for CFC without the cheese) and fresh veggie juice (made with carrots, oranges, apples, garlic and ginger). 

And here is the granola I made to eat mountain-side.  It is variation of a basic granola I've been making for years.  This is my wing-it recipe:

rolled oats
a variety of raw nuts (I prefer cashews, pecans, walnuts)
some salted nuts (sunflower, peanut or pumpkin)
raisins
chopped dates
coconut (big flakes preferable)
oil
maple syrup

As you can see I didn't include amounts. I feel granola is a deeply personal matter.  I like my granola with as much nuts and fruit as oats.  You can make it whatever you want.  I find that some salted nuts are a good addition for flavor. 

Some tips:

Toss the oats and nuts in a bowl and drizzle with maple syrup and some oil.  I like just a hint of sweet to my granola and don't use much syrup. I've made granola without oil for years and I cannot believe how much better is comes out with some oil to coat the oats so they taste more like granola than muslei.  (I used peanut oil in this batch and it was a perfect compliment to the nuts.) Spread onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until oats start to look toasted.  Stir and add in the raisins, dates and coconut.  Cook about another 10 minutes or until the raisins begin to puff up which leaves them with a nice chewy texture.

Dinner tonight was shared with Emilie, CFC founder and dear friend.  We set the kids up with make-your-own pizza and while our broccoli with toasted sesame seeds, lentil nut loaf, tempeh soup and quinoa salad were waiting for us, we nearly needed to be restrained in order to not gobble the crusts off our kid's plates.  The three of us looked at each other with desperate eyes, knowing we couldn't eat it but wanting it just the same.  In the end, when we did sit down to our feast, we agreed it was that much better because we hadn't been picking around in our kid's discards.  

Her blog post (scroll to bottom) about our dinner is hilarious.

And speaking of Emilie,  look at this beautiful gift from the Manhart's for the privilege of taking care of Skyler this year before school!  It came accompanied with a card inviting us to a "majorly fancy" dinner on their patio!  As if any of this is necessary...but we will totally love it. 

Two more days left.  Is that possible?