BANANA - APPLE - CARROT CEREAL

This is a delightful and filling raw cereal. The common breakfast is almost all acidic to the body. If you don't like to drink Green Powder Drinks, then I recommend that you find a Green Fruit and Vegetable Smoothie and things like this cereal to start your day.

Banana, Apple, Carrot Cereal

Mash half a Banana in your bowl.
Shred half a Carrot or more on top of the Banana.
Finely chop half of an Apple on top of the Carrot. You can also shred the apple.
Sprinkle the top with Flax Meal and/or Homemade Granola.

Use Almond milk or Rice Milk or yogurt & Kefir, instead of cows milk or Soy Milk.

Note: Raw cows milk is a good food that provides calcium as well as other benefits, but we do not have access to it any more. Homogenized milk is NOT a nutritional choice at all, as it binds up the Calcuium in an inorganic form, and many can not tolerate it. Raw milk has the necessary enzymes to digest it, as well as provides organic calcium that the body can assemilate. Ultra-pasturized is rediculous!

Krogers carries a new line of milk in the Bristol and Johnson City area. It is Homestead Creamery and comes in glass jugs. You turn in the empty bottles and get $2 per bottle. Look of the cap (gold) and find the one that is Pasturized only. A better choice. If you make your own ice cream, their Half and Half is very good. Check it out.

Now for a few variations:

Add chopped dates (not the sugared kind)
Add Raisins
Add Blueberries

LIME CUCUMBER SOUP

I have just made a delicious refreshing Cucumber Soup with Lime and Mint flavors. An Avocado makes it creamy and thick so you can eat it with a spoon. If you do not like to chew the Lime pulp, you could juice it, but think of the nutritiets you miss.

This is also a great substitute for Breakfast that deliveres lots of energy, alkalizes and cleanses the blood, and too many other benefits to mention. I often fix a protein fruit & veggie smoothie for Breakfast and another for lunch, like fresh Spinach, Cucumber, frozen Banana, Strawberries, fresh Pineapple, and coconut water or herb tea or Almond Milk, etc. then a scoop of protein powder if you like.

I want to give you this Cucumber Lime Soup and follow it tomorrow with Apple, Carrot, Banana Cereal. Oh Yea! It is really good too.

CUCUMBER LIME SOUP

1 Granny Smith Apple
1 Cucumber (unless you use the long English Cucumber. Maybe only 3/4 of it)
1 Lime
1/2 to 1 Avocado
Cayenne, a pinch
Salt, a pinch
1/4 cup of Herbal Green Tea or Peppermint Tea would be good. Or use water.
Mint leaf (I added this after I had blended the rest)

Peel the Lime, the Apple, and the Cucumber. (English Cucumber I would not peel)
Cut them all into chunks, so your blender will puree them more easily. I hope you have a wide base blender. The small narrow bottoms don't handle large chunks as easily.

Taste this before you add the mint leaf and then after. I thought the Mint added a new deminsion and love it. I also like to add a sprig of Mint as decoration and smell the Mint as I enjoy the soup.

Add the Avocado meat to the blender with the fruit and veggie chunks.
Add the cayenne, salt and liquid.

Blend unto smooth. You will have a little of the Lime fiber to chew up, but it is not bitter. You can juice the Lime if it messes with your sense of texture and enjoyment.

DWELLING PLACES

I have been meditating in Psalms 84 for a few weeks now. That and Psalm 42, about thirsting for God's waterbrooks. I want to share an insight that has come to me often in the last so many years as I struggle to relate redemptively to others who rub me the wrong way or who I feel are very wrong in their behavior. Know any of those people? It may be your (sweet most of the time) husband, or friends in your church, business and social circle. This insight has caused me to be able to see them from God's perspective and respond more like God responds to me with all my inadequacies.


"How deeply loved are Your dwelling-places! You are such an outrageous Lover.
My soul yearns, yes, faints with intense longing for your courtroom encounters. There you and I can dance until my soul feels comforted and safe again."


In King David's time, "dwelling places" were most likely thought to be Jerusalem and the Temple. But Jesus, You arranged for Your presence to move into me, not just in locations or buildings. Can I really say, "How deeply loved are Your dwelling places" and know that You are referring to me? It is even more difficult to able to see that others I don't agree with in practice and theology are hearing the same message that I am hearing, "How deeply loved you are, for You are My dwelling-place."

How deeply loved are all those Temples You dwell in! How blessed we all are to be the object of Your affection! How wonderful to be able to run to You when we become aware of just how messed up we are.

If this world turns against me, as it did Christ, You will hold me and fulfill Your covenant of grace in me. After all Father, it was Your idea to create me in Your image. It was Your idea to redeem me and come to live in me, knowing what a mess I am.

"When can I come and appear before God?", askes David in Psalm 42. The answer is, any time our hearts long for fresh encounters with the Lover of our soul.

I am a gift to this world because You have chosen to make Your dwelling place in me. So are all the others You have put Your love upon. Remind me when I am tempted to dishonor another You love. Make me an open heaven, so that Father's will can show up on earth as it does in Heaven. We desperately need to have more heavenly encounters.

So, encounter me in such a way, as to encounter the world with the impact that You desire to have at any given moment.

STRENGTHENING MYSELF IN THE LORD

As the deer longs for running streams, so my soul longs for You God.
I am thirsty for God, for the living eternal God.
When can I come and appear before You? Psalms 42:1-2

Just like King David, we also have seasons of our life that cause us to cry out for relief from the burden. I love the way David talked to himself? He wanted his joy, peace and contentment to return.

"My soul, why are you so downcast? Why are you groaning inside me?"

David spoke good advise to his own soul (his mind, will, emotions). "Soul hope in God, since I will praise Him again for the salvation that comes from His presence."

He turnes his affections toward his God and stirs up the remembrances of His faithfulness. This act of obedience by David activates his attitude of gratitude and his soul is cut free from the "downer". In God's presence dark moods flee, like turning on a light in a darkened room.

This is how David strengthened himself in the Lord. It is not enough to just say words of praise. One must saturate his whole soul in face to face encoungers. "Deep is calling to deep. All Your waterfalls, all Your surging rapids and waves are sweeping over me." I may be wrong about this verse, but it says to me that God's Deep, all consuming presence, is calling to the deep places hidden in me that get triggered by life. He wants to heal the deepest places in me.

David asks, "When can I come and appear before You?" He may be so downcast that he feels he would like to "throw in the towel". But I think the salvation he is talking about refers to life's many "downers". David's adversaries taunt him unmercifully and he needs relief. Can you identify? It may be a situation that seems impossible, or it may be accusations of guilt from the inner voice of your soul. In either case, God knows all about it and He is so willing to comfort and lift. No condemnation from Him. He has already received the punishment for whatever you feel guilt over.

Isaaiah 40:26-31 God is asking, "Why do you complain? Why do you think and say, 'My way is hidden from the Lord. My rights are ignored by my God.'" Remember that this God is the everlasting God. He does not grow weary or tired in His relationship as Father to us or as brother/friend, or as Holy Spirit teacher, revelator, comforter.

So, my friend, STRENGTHEN YOURSELF IN THE LORD.

When can I come and apper before You, all-sufficient Lord?
I will turn my attention to Your faithful love. My affection burns for You.
I will hope in You and praise You for the salvation that comes from awareness of Your presence. Like the eagles, I can soar on Spirit energy.

The choice is mine.

OPEN HEAVEN

If I really believed followers of Christ were expected to be an open heaven for God, how would it effect my relationship within the family? What about my relationships where I worship, work and socialize? I have given serious attention to this question in the last six months and it is transforming me.

In this life there will always be conflict points due to opposite personality traits, baggage from early childhood wounds and unconscious belief system coming from ones history and upbringing, etc. If I am conscious of being an open heaven, then I will be able to respond to all things that rob me of happiness and contentment with the firm declaration, "Thy will be done Father, on earth as in heaven." I will then listen to what the Father is saying about the current situation and respond in agreement with Him. I will expect to experience a demonstration of heaven in the situation, and He will be seen as powerful and good and adequate for whatever I face. The world is not impressed or encouraged by the average Christian message because of how we live before them. We are followers of Jesus mostly in doctrine.


When my husband is short with me or somehow triggers a negataive response in me, I have a choice. I can feel crushed, devalued and endulge in a pity-party or anger explosion. This can lead to hours of troubling vibes between us. Or I can take my hurt feelings and anger to Jesus. He will interpret the event from heaven's perspective and empower me to bless my husband. This opening of heaven creates powerful results. I am able to release peace into the atmosphere that we both can feel. It is like turning on a light in a dark room.

The Church has a problem. We talk about a God of power, authority, and love, but we show so little of that power and love in our daily relationships. Are we satsified with correct doctrine and religious form and activity, so that we tolerate a weak display of the character and works of Jesus? Are we too preoccupied with getting and spending that we have laid aside the character and power that comes from intimacy in our relationship with God?

Many of us have all but closed up the portals of heaven by neglecting our private inner life. We wrongly think that few others know what is going on in our head, what we are thinking and feeling. This is pure deception. Our bodies are carrying around the evidence of emotional and mental stress from unforgiveness, bitterness over unresolved issues, negative self-talk, anger that shows up in many ways (depression and anxiety being two), daily hurts that accumulate until the relationships are destroyed. We just have too much on our plate to nurture the soul in God. We are paying a high price for this neglect of intimacy with God.

Our gracious Father takes all of that and says to us, "Jesus, My son, has cancelled the debt for all your failures, blindness, and struggles to have it your way. The Spirit of my son has come to live in you, creating an open heaven between you and Me. As you die to yourself and surrender to Me in you, I will continue to do through you what I did through Jesus in a human body. Wisdom and love for every responce needed and overcoming power for everything that seeks to overpower you. Rehearse my promises and my faithfulness. I have you covered."

Since Jesus has created an open heaven with me, I am highly motivated to see that that open heaven is available to everyone I come in contact with.

I have been given authority to forgive others and expect to see God go to work in their lives to create heaven on earth.

I have been empowered to release peace in a room of conflict or in someone I see struggling with emotions that threaten to swamp them.

I pray for a shift in our paradigm of "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." I must learn to still the raging storm of my emotions and thinking, get in agreement with heaven so I will be able to call heaven into every situation.

Don't forget that we serve the God who calls those things that be not as though they were, so that they will become what He calls them. He lives in us, expecting us to call things as He sees them, not as we see and feel them. He is a miracle working God today, but who believes it among Christians in America?

HOMEMADE MAYONAIZE

A blogger friend has requested I post the recipe for mayo so I will do that.

1 cup Vegetable Oil
2 TBS Aplle Cider Vinegar
1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
1/2 tsp. Dry Mustard
1 Egg

I drop a raw egg in my blender and add the Vinegar, salt, and dry mustard.

Add about half of the oil so the blade is almost covered to prevent splatering.

Start the motor running to blend the ingredients, then begin pouring the remaining oil in a slow steady stream into the blender.

The oil mixture will quickly whip into the consistency of Mayo.


Your advantage to making your own is obvious. You know what is in your mayo, no chemicles, and it is fresh. You can add herbs and nutritional additives if you like. This is a simple, quick and basic recipe. I have used it for years.

BLUE CHEESE AND BACON COLESLAW

I have never thought of using Blue Cheese in my Coleslaw. I found this recipe in the May 2010 issue of Tennessee Magazine. Here are my changes and of course you will probably make your own changes.

I never use packaged coleslaw mix because pre-shredded vegetables loose their nutriets when not eaten fairly soon.
I used my own mayo rather than store bought. So I didn't use the red wine vinegar. If I had used extra vinegar, I would use Raw Apple Cider Vinegar rather than distilled vinegars. Occassionally, I use Rice Vinegar or Kombucha Vinegar. You can add 2 TBS of Vinegar if you like.
The recipe called for 1 TBS Honey. I left it out.


If you like Blue Cheese, then try BLUE CHEESE COLESLAW

2 cups of shredded Cabbage (or 1 16 oz package of Coleslaw Mix)
1 cup or less Crumbled Blue Cheese
4 - 6 slices Bacon, cooked and crumbled (more if you choose - I limit my bacon)
1/4 cup Mayo
Salt & Pepper to taste

I added Parsley

I served it with Chilli and a handfull of crushed Frito Chips in each bowl. I limit the chips also.

I AM AN OPEN HEVEN IN THE EARTH.

I am an open heaven in the earth. This may sound strange, so let me explain.

Christ Jesus lived under an open heaven, in constant communion with the Father. It did not prevent him from being exposed to the darkness of a messed up world. He experienced the same suffering and pain in His soul and body that we do. But it did not keep Jesus from living under an open heaven.

An open heaven kept Jesus connected to the Father's heart and purposes. He did only what He saw the Father do and said only what He heard the Father say. His soul never got "stuck" in negativity of bitterness or self-pity. He always knew who He was, where He had come from, and where He was going; therefore, He had singleness of purpose and nothing distracted Him.

An open heaven empowered Jesus to move in expressions of radical love toward everyone, even His tormentors and abusers. He revealed the Father's heart of mercy and relinquished His own life to give LIFE to everyone and to deliver us out of our personal pits.

Here is the exciting thought: I too am an open Heaven because I live under an open heaven. I live under an open heaven, because Christ lives in me. He is resurrection Life, One with the Father, prepared to be all He was and do all He did in a mortal body and do it through me. Stop and allow that reality to grip you. If we could develop awareness of this reality, we would be fulfilling what Jesus said in John 14:9-18. Verse 12 "Yes, indeed! Whoever trusts in Me will also do the works I do!" (even greater works) I am so under-developed! Lord Help my unbelief.


I am an open Heaven in the Earth
God is here!
Spirit of the Living God, be released in me. . .flow through me. Demonstrate the life of God in the soul of me.

How precious to me is Your grace. . .that people like me can come to You.

People like me are allowed to take refuge in the shadow of your wings and meet with you continually in the secret place of communnion. Ps. 36:5-10 Ps.91

People like me are welcome to feast on the bounty of Your house in the presence of enemies who would rob me of my JOY and PEACEFULNESS. Ps. 23

People like me are invited to drink deeply from the streams of Your delight. Ps.36:9-10

People like me find You to be the fountain of Life and in Your Light I can see and move.


Continue You grace to those who know You, so we can be the conduit of grace to others.
Continue Your righteousness to those You have made righteous, in such a way that the Kingdom will be seen as reality on earth as it is in Heaven NOW.


THERE IS A RIVER WHOSE STREAMS GLADDEN THE CITY OF GOD. Psalm 46:4-5
I am a city of God.
His river flows through me.
I am His holy habitation.
God is in the city and it will not be shaken so as to be moved.