Wilted Kale Wreath & Pineapple Icebox Dessert

Merry Christmas!

This is a dish we enjoy making for Christmas - Wilted Kale Wreath. The recipe is James Russell's Wilted Kale Salad & it makes for a perfect wreath with tomato ornaments.

Substitute sesame seeds for hemp seed, if you can't find it in stores.

Thanks for all the great comments about the Pineapple Icebox recipe. I didn't come up with the recipe; but, I did share the dessert with several people and they enjoyed it. (Recipe and pictures.) We made two batches of this recipe. The first was eaten before we could take pictures of it. We'd like to post our pictures, but I think the second may also be eaten before we get the camera out.

Tips:

* Use a silicone loaf pan or springform pan so the dessert can be easily removed for serving.

* Use vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract.

* The filling was really a workout for my high speed blender. So, I added a little more coconut oil and water, being sure to add more coconut oil since it will keep the shape better.

* Best served frozen!

Christian Evolution?

At church a few weeks back, the pastor's sermon made some interesting points about Christians and evolution. I just want to share them here:

If you, a Christian, believe in evolution, do you believe that God created you? If God did not create you, what purpose does He have sending His son to save you - someone He did not create?

Jesus, our Creator, had to die for us because He was responsible for creating us. So either the Creator pays or evolution pays.

Search for "Creation," 8/19/09 on the Reaching Your Heart website.

Did Jesus always exist?
And for some reason, I recall a sermon from a few months back which answers the question "Did Jesus always exist? Did God the Father create Jesus at some later time?" If Jesus has a beginning where he was created sometime between "negative infinity" and some point before or at the creation of the earth, then that would mean God existed at some point without Jesus and God didn't really give a part of Himself when He sent His only son to die for us. Any created being, such as angels, could have died for us if that were the case.




Thus, Jesus, like God the Father, has always existed. "...before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me" - Isaiah 43:10b.



I have to find the link for this sermon...

Battle of the Bibles & Changing the Word.

We recommend DVDs Battle of the Bibles and Changing the Word by Professor Veith.

We found this SO interesting... comparing the KJV with the NIV & RSV!

The following verses are NOT found in the NIV & RSV; but, they are found in the KJV.

Matt 17:21, 18:11, 23:14
Mark 7:16, 9:44, 9:46, 11:26, 15:28
Luke 17:36, 23:17
John 5:4
Acts 8:37, 15:34, 24:6-8, 28:29
Romans 16:24
I Tim 2:7

II Tim 4:22

In the DVD, Veith compares the KJV with NIV & RSV. He then explains the differences between the verses... and I was just amazed. Why does this matter? Well, removing or modifying certain verses make it hard/impossible to prove that Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy... and Jesus' diety!

Compare also 1 John 5:7. It would be difficult/impossible to prove the trinity in the NIV, but not the KJV.

Here are some modified verses you can compare for yourself:

1 Cor 15:34, Job 26:5, Matthew 1:16 & 25, 24:36, Mark 2:17, 10:21, Luke 4:4, 9:55-56, 11:2, John 5:39, 16:23, Acts 13:42, 16:7, Ephes 3:9, Col 1:15-16, 2 Tim 4:1, Heb 11:3, I Peter 1:22, Rev 14:5

I highly recommend the DVDs!

Or watch on YouTube. This is just Part 1 of the second DVD:

The Coming (Spiritual) Oil Crisis (Excellent Sermon & Highly Recommended)

The Coming Oil Crisis is a great sermon by Ivor Myers. I highly recommend it... and you may find yourself listening to it more than once. There are two others parts which are just as good: part II: Striking Oil and part III: God's Fire Alarm.

In The Coming Oil Crisis, Myers talks about the spiritual oil crisis and why we need to drill deeper! He basis it on the Ten Virgins parable, where the oil represents prayer, our communion with God, and he explains how & why we should be wise virgins so that we will not be left when "the door shuts". This will change your prayer life... forever.

Part II explains how each day of creation, in Genesis 1, represents a day of our spiritual creation. Awesome!

Part III explains how every week is a preparation and reminder of how to rest in Christ. And, how we prepare and keep the Sabbath will prepare us for Jesus' coming. It will change the way you view the Sabbath. Awesome too!

We have shared this sermon with several people!

Free Raw E-Cookbook

To this day, people still mention how wonderful Cheflandria's Mango Cheesecake is. It uses Irish Moss, but I've made it several times with agar-agar. Irish Moss is the raw version of what you know to be a common ingredient in your food - carrageenan. I have been curious enough about Irish moss, especially after Chef James Russell has used it with cashews to make a "tofu", that I bought some from Pure Joy Planet.  I will make Cheflandria's Mango Cheesecake with Irish Moss this weekend... hopefully.

Here is Cheflandria's free raw e-book which has that recipe:
Cheflandria VIBRANT Recipe Book FREE!
Linked from GoneRaw post.

Other food raw recipes:

Curried Cabbage, Marinara Sauce, Mango Avocado Salad, and Wilted Kale Salad

Christian Movies

Who has time to watch movies these days?  We typically don't, but someone recommended these Christian movies:  Saving Sarah Cain and Faith Like Potatoes

I recommend this movie... beautiful.

If the link does not work, click here for the trailer.

  Faith Like Potatoes (Global Creative Studio)

Raw Food Recipes

We enjoyed our time savoring raw food dishes prepared by several friends. The food was absolutely delicious! Thank you everyone.

Below are most of the recipes from the potluck. Additional recipes are found on a previous blog entry.

Eggless Salad

Recipe by Matt Amsden from Rawvolution

Equipment: Blender

Wilted Kale Salad

Recipe by James Russell.

Equipment: Blender, however optional

Pasta Primavera

Recipe can be found on The Sunny Raw Kitchen.

Equipment: Mandoline Slicer (or the like) & Blender

Mango Avocado Salad

Recipe can be found on We Like It Raw.

Falafel

Recipe can be found on The Raw Chef Blog (James Russell).
Equipment: Dehydrator & Food Processor

Pictures for... Mexican Patties, Tropical Pie, and Strawberry Pie

Russell James' Curried Cabbage Pillows with Dipping Sauce

Equipment for Cabbage: Food processor and Sprout Jars for Germinating (optional)

Equipment for Wrap: Dehydrator

Equipment for Dipping Sauce: Blender

First cold pressed olive oil and Braggs can be used instead of cold pressed sesame oil and tamari.  Optionally, add one tablespoon germinated black sesame seeds.

Refrigerator Cucumbers

Prepared by Pat

Equipment: Mandolin slicer (or something that slices thinly)

Ingredients:

8 cups cucumbers
1 medium onion
1 medium red pepper
1/2 medium green pepper
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup raw honey
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp celery seed
1/2 tsp ground pepper (optional)

Slice cucumbers very thinly. Chop onions and green peppers. Place cuccumbers, peppers and onions in a bowl. Sprinkle with celery seed and ground pepper, if used. Mix honey, lemon juice, and salt. Pour over cuccumbers and mix. The hyperosmotic solution of lemon juice, honey, and salt will pull the water out of the vegetables. (It's how pickles are made!!) Mix several times before putting in the refrigerator. Best made 24 to 48 hours before serving for the flavors to blend.

Strawberry Parfait

Recipe is posted on Any Phyo's website.

Equipment: Blender

We did not add agave to the strawberries, nor did we blend the strawberries.

Growing Your Own Fresh Air Indoors!

Researcher Kamal Meattle recommends these three plants for fresh air:

• Areca Palm - Converts CO2 to O2
• Mother-in-law's Tongue - Converts CO2 to O2 at night
• Money Plant - Removes formaldehyde and other volatile chemicals
  
  For more detailed information, watch this short video on WeLikeItRaw.com.
  It's worth the watch for cleaner indoor air!
  
  
  

Dehydrating Grapes to Make Raisins for Raw Baklava

Kurt made Cherie's raw Apple Baklava posted on Get Fresh magazine.  It tasted so good!  And, it tasted cooked!  For this special event, we made our own raw raisins.  Next time, we'll just use regular raisins, but we really wanted to make our own.  In a glass bowl, we squeezed some of the juice out of the raisins (but not too much), just enough to break each one open for better dehydration.  You can drink the delicious grape juice.  Place the raisins on parchment paper on a dehydrator sheet.  Dehydrate the raisins at 115F for 36 hours.

The raisins were used for the agave-raisin syrup in this recipe layered with apples, syrup, dehydrated-germinated walnuts, and raisins.  Additional raisins were sprinkled in between the layers

Kurt's artistic placement of the apples, which you couldn't see after we put the syrup and walnuts on top.  He did a very good job!

Applying the last syrup to be spread on top.  Beautiful!

This dessert was a delight.

Yellowstone or Northern VA?

With temperatures below freezing, the fountains in Landsdowne are quickly looking like geysers from Yellowstone NP. This is Young Faithful.