Thursday, October 16, 2014

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Psalm 116:15

“ The saints, during their earthly life, are filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit. After their departure the same grace remains in their souls as in their bodies. The very same grace is present and active in their sacred images and icons.”

St. John of Damascus

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Saint Paraskeva the New

Saint Parascheva please pray for us!
 “In the Eastern Orthodox tradition there are three different saints known as St. Parascheva.
The first one was born in Rome, in the 2nd century, and is considered a healer and a protector of cattle and crops. She is commemorated on August the 8th. The second one was born in Iconia and she died during the reign of the emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century. Her feast day, October 27th, is observed mostly in Dalmatia. The third one, the one whose relics are sheltered in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Iasi, Romania, lived around the year 1000 A.D. and is the best known and the most widely revered by Eastern Orthodox Christians. Variations of her name include St. Parascheva of Tirnovo, St. Parascheva the Serbian, St. Parascheva of Belgrade, St. Parascheva the New, St. Parascheva the Young, and St. Parascheva of the Balkans.”

Friday, October 10, 2014

Friday Fasting and Zucchini-Tahini Salad

Since today is Friday and we fast without oil, I decided to make another zucchini-tahini salad. Tahini has great liver detoxing properties. But if you do not like it, replace it with almond butter.

Ingredients:

4 zucchini, washed and grated

1 small Vidalia onion, thinly sliced

1 small red pepper, chopped

1 small yellow pepper, chopped

 
Tahini Dressing:

1 tbsp tahini

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp honey or 2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Sea salt to taste.

Directions:

1.     In a salad bowl add all the veggies and mix well.
2.     Blend together all the dressing ingredients and pour over the vegetables. Toss well.
3.     Serve immediately.
Note: for more antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties one can add to the above dressing 2 garlic cloves.
Another important note: Some people may wonder why fasting is done
on Fridays? Orthodox Christians fast on Wednesday in remembrance of the betrayal of Christ and on Fridays in remembrance of His crucifixion and death. For more information visit this page: http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/pr_fasting.aspx

What God prescribes for man, we should comply. There is growing scientific evidence on the importance of fasting. Fasting helps to alkalinize the body (especially when oil-less fasting is done). Fasting provides calorie control (especially the strict no food fast) which keeps cancer cells in check since they can’t survive in a nutritionally deficient environment as compared to the more robust normal cells. Also a rich vegan diet during the long periods of fasting (i.e. during a 40 day lent) will simply flood the cells with potassium rich vegetables which restores the whole body’s health. The Orthodox Christian Church has been following a regimented fasting calendar for more the 2000 years. Are you ready to do so too?

Dr. Axe: Food is Medicine

My husband found this amazing site with great recipes. I like that there are 2 main categories of recipes I am very interested in: gluten-free and gut health. Many of the recipes are also vegan, which is always a plus when fasting! One thing to remember is that cruciferous veggies should be cooked or fermented for the best health results.

 

How is your "purple penguin"?

With horror I learned that some schools are all about changing the very human nature of us, starting with such a tender age!!!! Even more interesting, they say that “The agenda we’re promoting is to help all kids succeed”. Succeed? At what, not being boys and girls? I thought the schools are supposed to help children succeed academically. Also, while they feed the kids the most horrible foods, they took upon themselves of  going further and further and changing the name of their gender, instead of cherishing what God created and furnishing the proper nutrition to His creation….in order to really succeed academically! May God have mercy on all of us!
 
“The fine folks who run the school system in Lincoln, Neb., are on a campaign to make their classrooms gender-inclusive. And that means teachers will no longer refer to boys and girls … as boys and girls. “
 
 

Monday, October 6, 2014

Cranberry Orange Macadamia Muffins


Considering the paleo diet, today I decided to make some gluten-free muffins for the kids for when they come home from school.
 
Ingredients:
2 cups of salted macadamia nuts
(if using unsalted, add ¼ tsp sea salt)
1 ¼ cup quinoa flour
1 tsp baking soda
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
¼ cup olive oil or coconut oil or ghee (or butter)
1/3 cup orange juice
1 cup chopped fresh cranberries
(dry cranberries are another possibility)
 
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Place macadamia nuts in a food processor and pulse until a coarse meal forms.
3. In a medium bowl combine the first 3 ingredients together.
4. Add the eggs, oil, vanilla, maple syrup and orange juice and mix well.
5. Stir in cranberries.
6. Spoon batter into prepared muffins cups.
7. Bake for 24-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Note: To make Cranberry Orange Macadamia Cookies use  2 cups of quinoa flour for a thicker batter and form 8 even balls. Flatten each dough ball slightly and place on a parchment paper and bake as above.
Other possibilities are:
- corn flour instead of the quinoa flour
- cashew nuts instead of macadamia nuts
- ghee or butter instead of oil
- omit syrup and cranberries, but add instead 2 cups of grated fruit (persimmons, apples, pears, etc)
- orange, almond, rum or lemon extract instead of vanilla extract
Cranberry Almond Macadamia Cookies
 
Persimmon Cashew Cookies
 
Golden Berry Cashew Orange Cake

In the same manner as above, one can substitute as follows:

Ingredients:
2 cups of cashews
(if using unsalted, add ¼ tsp sea salt)
1 ¼ cup quinoa flour
1 tsp baking soda
¼ cup maple syrup or 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
¼ cup olive oil or coconut oil or ghee (or butter)
1/3 cup orange juice
1 cup chopped dry golden berries  
Directions: use the directions as above, but pour the batter into a pre-greased glass baking pan. Enjoy!
 

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Apple Crumble

We love apple desserts. Today I adventured and made a vegan, gluten-free version of the Apple Crumble.
Ingredients:
5-6 medium apples, washed, grated
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup olive oil
½ cup quinoa flour
½ cup brown sugar
pinch of sea salt
Directions:
Mix the grated apples with 3 tbsp sugar and cinnamon. Put into a greased glass pan (I used an 8 inch square glass pan). Mix remaining ingredients and spread evenly on top of the apples. Bake at 375F for 35-40 minutes. Cover pan with aluminum foil for the first 25 minutes.
Note: if you can eat eggs, replace the olive oil with 2 eggs.