Incredibly Nutritious – all about food.

Many changes have been taking place in our lives… one of them being the way we eat. We tried to eat healthy before, and thought we were doing alright, but our stay with the folks at Gentle World exposed us to new ideas. I really like learning new ways to prepare food, so we bought one of their cookbooks when we left, because I wanted to try some of their magic in my own kitchen. During our few days in their community, eating strictly vegan, I began to feel really different. At first really tired, I think I was definitely de-toxing. Not just physically, before we left I was running on crappy food, a fair bit of stress, and not much sleep. I think we were a pretty sorry lot when we arrived. Anyway, something really cool started happening for me physically after the first two days…. It was while I was sleeping. I would feel really light, and have dreams that involved floating or flying, and when I woke up in the morning I felt really clean and clear and…. well just light I guess. I’ve been thinking that eating animal products is a pretty heavy thing for your body to take on. So back to my mission here, I wanted to share some recipes from the cookbook. BTW, here is their website if you would like to buy one for your own kitchen. http://gentleworld.org/

This Banini Shake is really great. I had it for breakfast the other morning and felt pretty spoiled to be eating what seems like a milkshake so early in the day. As Birds (one of the guys from Gentle World) says, “it tastes just like a malted”. Freeze your overripe bananas (peeled and bagged) for this treat.

Banini (or Vanilla Malted) Shake

1 cup ice cold water

4 bananas – frozen, sliced

¼ cup tahini

1 T maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla

In blender, start with 1 cup of ice water, add remaining ingredients and blend. If too thick, add more water.

Banana Bread- so yummy, and you would never guess that is sans dairy and eggs. We used applesauce in place of the oil.

1 cup dry sweetener

3 bananas mashed

½ cup oil

2 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. cinnamon

½ cup walnuts (chopped)

½ cup raisins

mix wet and dry ingredients separately. Combine and mix nuts and raisins into the batter. Pour into oiled/floured loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 45-60 min.

Pancakes – Johnny has always liked making us pancakes for a special breakfast treat, so we were pretty pleased to find this vegan version. Once again, you can replace half- or even all – of the oil with applesauce.

Fluffy Pancakes – yields about 8 small pancakes

1 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour

½ tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

2 T. dry sweetener

½ tsp. vanilla

1 ¼ cups soy milk

2 T oil

Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls then combine and make like you would any old pancake.

We have also been creating a lot of meals ourselves out of the yummy veggies and fruits that are sold locally at the farmer’s market…. They are SO delicious, fresh and affordable. Here’s one of our favorites, our own version of something our friends Sam and Hannah made up:

Bean Bowls

Quinoa – cooked and seasoned with braggs and herbs – then cooled.

Beans – either black or pinto – cooked then cooled. Or you can use a can.

Fresh chopped greens – Kale, Bok Choy, Spinach, Arugula, you name it.

Fresh diced tomatoes

Artichoke hearts, sliced olives (both of these are optional)

A sprinkle of something spicy, like Tabasco or Creole seasoning, or whatever you have.

Salsa

Vegan Sour Cream, made by “Tofutti” – try it, you will like it!

Toss all ingredients in a salad bowl and enjoy. J

The vegans have been really kind to us in letting us buy food from them since they buy in bulk. Here are some of the new ingredients they have turned us on to:

• Daiya shredded “cheese”. It looks like cheese, and melts like cheese. I can’t say it tastes just like cheese, but it tastes kinda close and it’s really tasty. When we picked up the cheese Summer gave us the idea of making mini-pizzas…. So we did that night, with our flatbread buns and they were really tasty little pizzas! Pretty cool that there is such a thing as vegan pizza.

• Tahini- LOVE this stuff. Remind me to post the recipe from the vegan cookbook for French toast using Tahini. We bought a gallon from them and I am loving it. It’s awesome in salad dressings too.

• En-er-gie Egg Replacer- for cooking or baking. This stuff is great.

• Vegan chocolate flavored syrup – made by santa cruz.

• Vegan Cookies – these are kind of pricey, but we have bought a few and they are so tasty. They are the big ones, individually wrapped, made by the Alternative Baking Co.

The vegans also have been sharing their home-grown avocados with us, which we are really thankful for… they are so delicious. In truth, the people at Gentle World have been incredibly kind to us, (in addition to be incredibly delicious haha), we are so thankful for all the help and resources they have provided us with. Really, they are amazing, sincere and gentle people, with an admirable vision.

I have more exciting things to share, like we may be converting a bus into a house for us to live in, but that will come later. Much love and Aloha, until next time.

Rambling thoughts from November 1st.

We have a place to call home now… in Kapaau on the northernmost point of the island. I think if you could come visit us you might not feel like you are in the USA. We are renting this place from a really sweet Filipino woman named Amelia. It’s a 2 bedroom apartment, attached to her house. It might have been the garage at one point, but we can’t figure it out. Her kitchen window overlooks into our kitchen. There is a sheet over it…. But we can hear everything she is doing in

her kitchen, and vice versa. Community living for sure.
We share the carport/laundry room/make-shift karaoke diner, and since she also rents a room in her house out to another Filipino lady, there is always someone around. It’s nice, they love the kids, no one expects them to be quiet, and it’s just very relaxed so far. We can always hear chattering or music, whether from them or the other neighbors, because everyone has lanais and the houses don’t have any insulation, so you can hear everything. It’s pleasant, not obnoxious. Last night was Halloween, and Amelia had all her Filipino friends over for Karaoke and dinner in the carport. Lily totally stole the show. Johnny and I were busy getting our house organized, and Lily was out there singing twinkle twinkle with everyone singing along. She had a blast, she was in rare form for sure… with the biggest smile on her face. She kept coming inside to check on her room, or change her clothes, then would run back out. She even ate their rice… but said no thanks to the fish head platter and fried squidOur house is painted bright crazy colors inside and has mismatching -but clean- linoleum in every room. We can see the ocean from our kitchen and bathroom windows. I love it. It’s a tiny town here. Johnny got a call for some side jobs today, which is pretty cool. I guess in tiny towns word gets out fast.

We had a multiple karaoke experiences yesterday. The indoor/outdoor diner we went to last night had karaoke, a bunch of really friendly locals who were also really nice to the kids, and let them sing. They welcomed us to the Kohala Coast and admired Lily and Gabe’s blonde hair. These kids are good at making us new friends.

We took Lily and Gabe to Hapuna Beach today…. Beautiful white sand and clean sparkling water. They loved it. Then to Costco in Kona, and then Pololuu lookout. So beautiful. A good day. Ad we have food now which is really nice. Johnny is returning the rental car in Kona tomorrow, then hitch-hiking back, and then we won’t have a car for two weeks til our truck comes in. No internet, no car, no tv. I have no idea how I will post this blog. Maybe walk to a coffee shop with the laptop. It’s a pretty peaceful life. I played princess and queen with Lily today. She wore the dress Rose just got her for her birthday, and she looks like royalty in it.

Future plans for the next two weeks…. Running, reading, cooking, picking fruit from the backyard (oranges, lemon and avocados), hanging with Lily and Gabe, and playing Lily’s pink guitar. Oh and the midwifery conference in Hilo this next weekend…. Yes!

Last night the roosters in the neighborhood crowed all night. I forgot about that part of Hawaii. All the rooster farms for the cock fights. Poor captive roosters.

Great Adventure!

My first day out, on the other side of life! For the last three days it has been raining on and off, but mostly on. I ventured outside on the second day to go to the closest thing to us, the town gas station. It's about 200 yards from our house up the hill. The sky was looking threatening, but I though I would have time. The plan was that once I reached the gas station I would buy an umbrella, or a rain poncho or something. I was 50 yards and closing, I looked up and saw sheets of rain headed my direction, so I buttoned down the kids in the stroller so that they wouldn't get wet and went as quickly as I could up the steepest pert of my venture. The whole left side of my body was soaked when I got to the gas station, and whats more there were no umbrellas, no ponchos, I mean they had the mantles for lanterns, but no poncho! Luckily I am in Hawaii where the people are awesome and after about five minutes waiting around to see if the rain was going to die down the gas station attendant loaned me her umbrella, I would have felt bad except that it was covered in dust and it looked like no one used it. I got some water and cookies for the kids went home never to venture out again until the sun shone, and shinning it is right now, and I love it!
Dani was in Hilo at a Midwifery conference for the last three days and that is why I was stuck inside with no where to go, the funny thing is that I knew a ten minute drive down the road would take me to a sunny swim spot and another 20 minutes beyond that was white sand beaches where it never rains. Man I love this island, I just need my truck, 8 days and counting and it will be here, I can't wait.
One more thing before I go. I have always loved flying, especially take off and landing, but this time was by far my absolute most favorite. Theres a book I am reading called, 'Dangerous Wonder' by Michael Yaconelli, where he talks about the wonder that children have when experiencing things for the first time, and man was Lily filled with wonder as we boarded the plane (for logistical reasons Lily and I boarded separately from Dani and Gabe, and Lily was sure to tell all the flight attendants not to leave without her mom) and the engines came on, then we were moving down the tarmac watching other planes as the took off and came down. I was glad Lily saw the plain land because when she saw us pull away from the loading dock she started to ask how we were going to get off the plain, I think she found comfort in seeing the plains coming going up and coming down. When the engines roared and we began to be pushed back into our seats Lily began to have sensory overloads, it was awesome. She couldn't stop grinning and looking first at me then Dani then back out the window, man was she stoaked! It was like she couldn't believe that what was happening was happening, she never once showed any signs of fear.
The flight went smoothly Gabe fell asleep and Lily tried but to no avail. They watched movies, colored in books and ate snacks. Getting off the plane was another adventure in itself. Kona airport has no indoor terminal, so you step outside off the plane on a mobile ramp, I got off a little after Lily, and I could not have been more proud. She was so confident walking down the ramp, as if she owned the place. We had packed her little pink backpack brimming with coloring projects, books and a portable dvd player, she could barely lift it, but when it was on she hunched over and carried it along. She kept looking back at me saying, "Come on Daddy lets go," it was awesome, as if I was the one needing reassurance that everything was okay. I wish I could have had a camera her squinted up face from looking toward the sun, while the wind whipped her hair all over the place, and her stuffed pink backpack, she was loving it!
Thank you all for all of your support and prayers, right now we have rented an apartment in a little town on the northern tip of the island, in fact I am told that if I take a twenty minute walk from our place there is a spot where you can see the sun set and rise off the ocean. I have had a few side jobs that have been nice and am currently looking for some work, nothing big just a little extra and Dani is getting really excited about the opportunities that are becoming available for her to practice midwifery on the Big Island.

Love to you all, miss you,
Aloha!
Johnny