CHOPPED SALAD

The key to this salad is chopping the vegetables you use very finely. The flavor of the ingredients blend. I like to blend vegetables and fruits. My sister Chris put this combination together.

Start by chopping Leaf Lettuce very finely. Place in a salad bowl and start layering.
Red Bell Pepper
Celery
Sweet Onion
Apple
Roma Tomatoes
Knife chopped Cabbage (Use knife not fine grated. It creates too much juice)
Top it with Frozen English Peas

Chris served her salad with Catalina Dressing or Newman's Own Balsamic Light. She also offered Blue Cheese Crumbles. They are great with either of these dressings.


I took this basic salad and added finely chopped Brocoli, Cauliflower and raisins. I mixed Catalina with my Mayo and added the Blue Cheese Crubmles.

If you are eating beef, but desire cutting back on meat in proportion to vegetables, here is a suggestion: Fill your plate with the salad, then place a well seasoned Beef Patti on top. Or crumble it up on top.

A More Healthy Version of CHOPPED SALAD

Try layering small portions of each ingredient on a salad plate, with Apple at the top. Drizzle the finely chopped apples with Lemon Juice and Berlean Flax Oil or Udo's Oil. Or use no oil at all. I add a bit of Sea Salt to the salad, but you may not need salt.
Top with Cottage Cheese (unless you do not use dairy at all) Sprinkle with Flax Meal. My son likes to drizzle honey or Agave Nectar over the top.

ENGLISH PEA CASHEW SALAD

I am into salads again. Years ago I had a group of business people in downtown Bristol who bought dinner salads from me. I prepared them fresh each morning and delivered them. This is one of their favorites. I am looking for variety since I am eating the simple salad again. This can be assembled as a single plate salad.

English Pea Cashew Salad

Torn Romaine or Leaf Lettuce
Sprinkle with Frozen English Peas (rinse them if they are icy)
Sweet Onion Slices, whole or broken
Tomato wedges or Cherry Tomatoes halved (I use Roma Tomatoes in winter)
Toasted Cashews or raw (Buy raw nuts and toast them yourself for better quality)
Hard Boiled Egg (sliced, wedged, or mashed and sprinkled over the top)
Bacon pieces (good addition if you are allowing yourself to have Bacon)

Dressing is Mayo Dill.
1 cup Mayo
1 T. Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp. Dill Weed

I use a clean Mayonaize like Veganaise or make my own (very simple)
I also salt my egg and tomato by adding Salt and Pepper fresh from the grinders over the entire salad before adding the dressing.

Note about salt: I persoanlly believe salt, in its natural state, is very health giving because of the minerals like calcium, potassium, magnesium, etc. Many are restricting salt almost entirely from their diet and what is worse, they are substituting chemical products for the real thing. Do some research on your own and then do what feels comfortable for you. If you choose to use salt, pay a little extra and buy a quality Sea Salt. Even in the healthfood stores you can buy salt that has anit-caking agents and preservatives. Look for Redmond Real Salt or Celtic Sea Salt and always check the ingredients.

Salt is alkalizing and detoxifying to your body. Buy Epsom Salt (very inexpensive) and take a soaky bath for 30 minutes. It draws out toxins and is healing to the skin.

COURAGE IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF FEAR

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the absence of self." I don't know who originated this quote, but it helps me know who to look to for the courage. Certainly not myself and I now believe it is not by eliminating the feelings of fear.


Trust in the Lord. Lean on Him.
Do not trust the Self. Do not cave in to what seems obvious.
Flesh demands comfort. I do not live after the flesh but after the Spirit.
Be strong in the Lord. Proverbs 3:5-6


Awakening to You, Lord!
I am finding in You the answer to every question, every desire, and the supply for all that pertains to life and godliness. II Peter 1:3

Awakening to You!
To the wonders of Your grace and love.
To the wonders of Your touch.
To the nearness of You and the warmth of Your embrace when I feel so alone, when things go wrong.

And the Spirit says, "There is so much more for you to awaken to in Me."


Glorious Father, grant me hearing ears and a receiving heart. Spirit of wisdom and revelation, empower me to know by demonstration experienced, this Jesus who calls me to the marraige chambers. This is where I am made one with Him and can forsake all else. It is at His banqueting table that I am nourished unto transformation. Open my eyes, and make me see from heaven's perspective what You are bringing on the earth. Exert Your powerful life in me and through me, so I will become to You, all You created me to be. Ephesians 1:17-19

CUCUMBER TOMATO SALSA

The following side dish is an excellent one for keeping your meal 80% alkalizing foods. Every ingredient is alkalizing and energizing.

1 English Cucumber
1 or 2 Roma Tomatoes
Some Green or Yellow Bell Pepper
1/2 Jalapeno Pepper, seeded and minced (or use a little chopped in a jar)
Half of a small Onion, chopped
1 small Garlic Clove, or the amount you like
Half of a Lime, juiced (If no lime, use Lemon)
Hand full Fresh Parsley, chopped
Hand full Fresh Cilantro, chopped
1/4 tsp dried Dill Weed
Sprinkle with Sea Salt

The Jalapeno Pepper doesn't make it too hot, but gives it a kick. You can drizzle Olive Oil, Avocado Oil over it, but I think it is good without the oil. The Lime juice and the Sea Salt brings out the flavor.

This is good served with Hummus on warmed Pita Bread or Arnolds Multi-grain Mini bun halfs.

IN UNION WITH CHRIST

I have been taking notes on what it means to the followers of Christ if they really believe that He lives in union with them. The Apostle Paul used "in Him" and "in union with Him" so often in his letter to the Colossian Christians that I decided to circle each one and then write out the effects of this union with Christ. This morning, I started reading the eighth chapter of Romans and once again began to see "in union with God" . . . .The following is my journal entry for this morning.


In union with Messiah Jesus, there is no longer ANY condemnation awaiting me. Ro.8:1
I am acceptable before the glorious Father because Jesus is acceptable, in me.



In union with Jesus Christ, the law by which the Spirit lives in me, produces this LIFE that sets me free from the demanding law of sin and death. Ro.8:2
I am no longer obligated to obey sin's logic or desires since Christ has joined me.


In union with Christ, the righteous laws God requires can be fulfilled in me. Ro.8:4
I am empowered to do what the Spirit of God in me wants to do. I have a choice now.


In union with christ, the Spirit, who is the presence of Jesus, draws my heart and my mind to be attracted to and desire His heart and mind. Ro.8:6
I want to know how He feels and what He thinks. Being in agreement with God is the
source of my peace and contentment. I can't afford to be in mental conflict with Him.

And check this out. This is profound truth.

"The mind controlled by the Spirit is LIFE and PEACE." Stop and think about it.


Who is in control of my thoughts? Would Jesus be talking like I am thinking? Bill Johnson says something like this, "I can't afford to have thoughts in my head that aren't in His." Thought patterns produce emotions and attitudes in agreement with or in conflict with Christ.

Think of the anxiety and fear I endure by not coming into agreement with the indwelling Lord. Living in conscious union with Christ adjusts my reality to reflect what God says in the face of what my past history and current assesment of the "facts" tell me.

Thank you Father, Christ has cancelled any condemnation I deserve. Thank you for the outrageous reality of my life in union with you.

HOMEMADE MAYONAIZE

For the two that asked me to post my Mayo recipe, here it is. I finally remembered to do it.


HOMEMADE MAYONAISE

1 WHOLE FARM FRESH EGG
1/2 TSP. SEA SALT
2 TABLESPOONS RAW APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
1/2 TSP. DRY MUSTARD
3/4 TO 1 CUP LIGHT VEGETABLE OIL

I use my Vita Mix blender. Put all ingredients except the oil in the blender. Add enough of the oil to cover the blade. This is to avoid splatter.

Turn the blender on medium speed. Drizzle in a slow steady stream the remainder of the oil while the blender is running. It will thicken into mayo in a matter of seconds.

I have had it fail to whip into mayo, but that doesn't happen often. When it fails, pour off the oil after it separtes and make an Italian dressing. OR throw it out and try again. Never had it fail twice in a row.

CULTIVATE THE INWARD MUSIC

The following quote is from Elizabeth Elliot and I find it grounds me when I endulge my emotions that compel me to complain and be offended.

"Oh Lord, in all Your dealings with me - whether of joy or pain, of light or darkness - let me be brought to You. Let me value no treatment of Your grace simply because it makes me happy or because it makes me sad, because it gives me or denies me what I want; but may all that You send me bring me to You.

Knowing Your perfectness, I can be sure,

in ever disappointment that You are still loving me;

in every darkness You are still enlightening me;

in every enforced idleness that You are still using me;

Yes, in every death You are still giving me life, as in Christ's death, You gave life to Your son, my Savior."

Thank you Elizabeth Elliot. Your words have so often transformed my attitude.

Lord Jesus, I surrender to your sovereign authority. You reign! Be ruler over all that touches me. Reign over my little world and all I hold dear. I bow my knee to Your sovereign love. I believe You to be the King who sings over my life and who lifts Himself up to do me good all my life. I trust You to cause all things that touch me to work toward Your glory and my ultimate good. I will not be disappointed.

Brennan Manning has a way with words that speak volumes. Here is a quote that speaks to our passion to perform well in order to feel accepted, to keep it all together and running "right" in order to feel successful. See what you think.

"Our controlled frenzy creates the illusion of a well ordered existence. We move from crisis to crisis, responding to the ungent and neglecting the essential."

"The fire in the belly dies. We no longer hear the inward music."

Abba's Child