Abyss

Do you ever wonder why some people seem to be always moving forward, always progressing and then others you could leave for ten years and come back and they would still be in the same exact spot.  Same job, or lack there of, same mind set, same goals still not accomplished...saying the same old thing and walking the same old walk they were when you left them.

I have a word for these people...disappointed.  These are the people that had a dream, that had a chance, maybe even moved towards it and almost made it happen.  But instead of falling down and picking themselves back up, they simply stayed down, so desperate, so hopeless, so Disappointed that they could not possibly fathom starting over and instead never started again.

I have been one of these people before, and I can tell you there is nothing greater than waking yourself up out of that slumber and deciding that you aren't going to stay down, but instead you are going to FIGHT!  I am sure that you know someone who is like this, or maybe that someone is you, all I know is there is nothing worse than waking up day after day knowing that this is not the life you wanted, knowing that as each moment ticks away on that clock and as each month turns into a year that your slowly loosing all your dreams.  If there is one thing that I have learned not only from myself but from others around me that have or are choosing this path, there is nothing rewarding in the mundane, there is nothing satisfying in broken-heartedness...nothing.  If I could go back a million times and change the word I said, the action I made, the thought I had, and chosen the other way I would have.  I guess that's the funny thing about life, you can never go back in time, you can never take something back, you can never get those wasted years and say "Okay, DO-OVER".  That will never happen, you live, you learn, you make mistakes, you hurt people, people hurt you, you forgive and you move on and try not to make the same poor decision the second time.

I lead a small life, meaningful but small, and I find myself wondering how much of it really matters.  Am I making any sort of impact whatsoever, is there any kind of good coming from this life that I live, am I doing everything I can to help everyone around me.  So much of my life reminds me of something I read in a book one time or saw in a movie, when shouldn't be the other way around?   I guess I'm not really looking for an answer just sending this off into the abyss to ponder...

Farewell, until we meet again.

Candace

Spanish Rice

2 Cups Cooked brown rice
1/2-1 Cup Salsa
1 Cup Corn
1 Can Pinto beans

Mix together over stove and serve with Chicken or if you are Vegan this is filling in itself!  Enjoy :D

The Top

Time and time again I feel like I let myself down.  I come to a point in my life where you would think that I could just enjoy myself, that I could look myself in the mirror and know that everything I set out to do was everything that I accomplished..but it's not.  Life so rarely turns out the way we plan them, and the things that do never really feel as we imagined they would.

What happens to us when we reach a point of no return, that place that we always wanted to be, that mountain we have been climbing for so long and finally reach the top.  This is suppose to be a milestone, a huge accomplishment, a moment of triumph and victory for a battle well waged....so why does that feeling fade, why even when you should be on top of the world you still feel under it.  It's the same thing that happens to those that think if we keep getting new things and always have the best of the best and are constantly adorning our homes and our egos with the latest trends that we will somehow be happy...but you won't.

I can tell you why that feeling once you reach the top doesn't last, it wasn't meant to last, we weren't meant to depend on our own ability to fill that void, to reach that dream.  No, that was not our job in the first place...but instead the job of our Maker.  Did you really think that the one who created you would allow you the ability to forget that you still needed Him.

I look at the world and see all the people that still tell themselves that they are the ones who have the control, but that's all they are..telling themselves.  After all the planning and all the doing and it's just you, that moment when you are all alone and all is calm and quiet...do you feel content?  For a lot of you the answer is most likely no, no because there is still so many things left that you want to achieve and while you may be content for now, you won't always be and then what? Do you find something new to fill that hole, do you create a new goal for yourself?

There is nothing wrong with new things and goals, but maybe instead of jumping on the next band-wagon right away, we can take a step back and determine why we are so quick to do this in the first place.  My wish for you is that you do all things you set out to do and accomplish all the dreams you desire, but that you also remember the reason we are meant to do these things in the first place, for a higher meaning, for a greater purpose.  I bid you all a farewell till next time.

Warm regards,

Candace

Orange Julius

1 cup of Orange Juice
1 cup of Ice cubes
1 cup of Milk Substitue (or regular milk)
1/2 cup of granulated or Raw Sugar
1 tsp. of Vanilla extract

Mix in a blender till smooth and serve, Enjoy :D

Ashes

Do you ever wonder how many times God has taken all your crap, all your wrong turns, your bad decisions, your "if I had just prayed about it a little more" choices, all the times you should have taken a right and instead you took a left, every moment that you took a few steps back instead of moving forward, all those horribly, sometimes life changing mistakes that we make and He, God has to fix it, He has to somehow out of the total mess we've gotten ourselves in, make it new, make it work, make it how it was suppose to be......He trades us beauty for ashes.

No worries because fortunately God is quite good at doing that, making all the times we decided to take the wrong path turn into the original path, the right path, the path we were suppose to be on all along. This is the path that our destinies run on, that every good thing and every hard time that made us stronger runs its course, it is the perfect way to go and the ultimate outcome that God chose for each of us when he sent us to this world so that we may change the world.

I often wonder how many times I have wandered down the wrong way or taken a wrong turn and I pray that I made the right choice more often than not. You see when you don't spend time with your Maker asking him if you should go here or take that new job there or move to another state or country or down the block for that matter, if you don't ask him if it is smart for you to being talking to that person about that specific thing or if you should have helped that person who really needed someone or whatever the circumstance may be, if you don't take the time to pray, to seek his face, to ask him "Am I making the right choice"...then you could make the wrong one that could set you back days, months and even years in the path he originally set out for you.

I said all of that to say this, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not be so far from God that you don't take the time to ask him if what you are about to do is what you should do, please don't just assume and then months later you find out you missed a whole opportunity because you just didn't give God the courtesy of making sure he was okay with your ultimate decision. I don't want to waste valuable time, time that I could have spent achieving my destiny and making Him proud for time that instead I spent disappointing Him and completely missing the whole purpose for that moment.

Listen, I do not know how many times the Lord has had to pull me out of situations that I foolishly allowed myself to get into, and I am not sure that I want to know because I am afraid that I would not like the final number, but what I can do is move forward making sure that I am doing everything I can to seek the answer from the one who knows the outcome. I really pray that all of you will seek first before you make a move that could lead you down a wrong path and inevitably delay your whole reason for being here in the first place. I bid you all a farewell till next time.

Warm Regards,

Candace

Vegan Fluffy Pancakes w/ Raspberry Syrup

1 cup of flour ( I use barley)

1 cup of milk sub. (I use rice milk of if your not vegan you can use regular milk)

1 TBSP of sugar

2 TBSP of baking powder

2 TBSP of oil ( I use coconut oil)

Whisk all ingredients together, than bake on a griddle or pan until the tops start to bubble then flip until golden brown, for the syrup I take maple syrup and raspberry jam and heat till runny, then pour over your pancakes and enjoy :D

The Race

I would first like to start out by saying that I think we, as humans, have this bad habit of seeing the worst in people, all the things that we first notice or all the things that take some time to notice, the things that you hope others won't notice in yourself or the things that you say you wouldn't be caught dead doing, all these things that make up the human race, all these flaws that we all share and that we all expose and that we all gossip about, these things that we can't seem to look past and some of these things that we look past too often....these are the things that make us who we are and these are the things that we can overcome or they can absolutely destroy us.

It really is up to you wether you let them define you and control you till its something you become accustom to and eventually something you stop trying to change and then that lack of bettering yourself turns into interest-lost and inevidetably settlement.  Hey, flaws, we all have 'em, but if you are one of those unfortunate people who make it a habit of only seeing them and pointing them out in others like you don't have them yourselves, well let me just say you are traveling down a very dark and lonely road that only will lead to lack of friends and ultimate unhappiness.

These flaws that we all possess, some more than others, are obstacles that have been put in our way for a reason, think of it as a challenge if you will, you see if life were easy peesy lemon squeezy we would have nothing to strive for, nothing to work on, nothing to overcome, nothing to achieve and to me that is worse and quite boring. 

I hope that we can all take a moment, just a second and instead of seeing the flaw in someone how about we see that flaw as a hurdle they have to jump to finish the race and how about instead of hoping they trip and fall to their demise you cheer them on and tell them they are going to fininsh....and finish they will.

I bid you all a farewell till next time!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Yummy Bean Tacos
fresh refied beans (I take a can of beans , black or whatever I have and mash them and add mexican spices so its much healthier)
fresh corn tortillas (I get the natural kind)
brown rice, cooked and fresh salsa added to it
chopped lettuce
chopped tomatoes
chopped avocadoes
chopped jalapenos
chopped onions
fresh pico de gallo or salsa

Heat tortillas in a pan or in the oven, spread beans then rice then toppings and fresh salsa or pico on tortillas and enjoy!  These are very simple, healthy and quick!

Like "Family"

You know when you are watching a movie on how life use to be, the good ole' days, when the rat pack ran the streets of Vegas and when you took care of me and I take care of you was the mentality and as soon as you became part of the group you weren't just another member of a "club" you were Family.  They were always giving good advice, "what should I take on vacation?"...."Leave the gun take the canolli" Or..."take it to the mattresses". Yes these great american classics like the Godfather, make that life seem so glamorous and wonderful, as long as you stay in good graces with the Family you pretty much had anything you could ever want.

Movies or stories like these seem so cool and makes you want to ignore that they probably brought a lot of pain and straight up scary times to the families that were impacted or involved.  I think the reason we like these movies is because minus the fact that these people seem to walk into a room and all eyes are on them and everybody stops what they are doing because these people command attention, is that they have these tightly-knit families that seem so close, close enough to go to them for anything, close enough to pay for anything, close enough that you arn't messing with him or else I'm messing with you, close enough to throw you in the Brooklyn and never think twice. 

Yes this kind of closeness, no matter how real these actual stories are, the closeness that seems so real is the closeness that most don't have or never have experienced in their lives, so we make up for that void by over-compensating in another area or by becoming this independent, do-it-myself, don't-need-any-kind-of-help-from-anybody kind of individual which only allows us to push people farther and farther away all the while alinating ourselves from ever knowing any kind of real love, true love, love that would die for you, love that did die for you, love that is everlasting, never compromising, always there, never going anywhere kind of love.

I have the pleasure of saying that I know this love from my Savior, this love will never leave you once you accept it and is the one love you can turn to no matter what you've done or said or didn't say and I am very greatful.  I think we try so hard to either avoid this kind of love because we are afraid that it's not everything it says it is or because we are afraid that it doesn't last forever or that we've done something that doesn't deserve that kind of love, but may I just say in all my life I have never seen one single person, young or old, married, divorced, murderer, adulteror, gossiper, hater and all around sinner ever be turned away from knowing it and to me thats kind of amazing.  I hope you can all know this kind of love in your lives and I pray that you do.  Please feel free to comment, pass along or re-post!  I bid you all a farewell till later!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Yummy Veggie Filled Pockets
2cups of Flour
1/3 cup of Olive Oil
1/2 packet of yeast
1/3 cup of milk substitute (I use Hemp or Rice)
dash of salt
dash of pepper
1 cup of Cabbage, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup of carrots, chopped
5 small muchrooms, sliced
hot sauce
spices of your choosing
fresh garlic, chopped

mix milk, oil and yeast and let sit for a few minutes, then mix in flour and salt/pepper roll out dough on a floured surface till you get a nice round piece.  Sautee vegetable mixture and sauces/spices till soft, then spoon veggies onto the dough in a long strip and then roll dough around veggies, before closing brush some milk sub. othe ends of the dough and then close, put in oven at 395 degrees for 12-15 minutes, cut and enjoy ;D

Life

So I've been gone for a week and now I've decided that writing is something I miss way too much to go a whole week without doing it. I attended my Grandmother's funeral this past week and if there is one thing going to a funeral is sure to do is really make you put your life in perspective. THings that seemed important a few days ago no longer are, petty stupid things that we waste our time thinking about, these toxic distractions that we allow to consume us, all the while spending valuable time on that instead of what our real purpose in life is.

There are so many things that I want to do, so many things that I have to do and the years I have left don't seem long enough to accomplish everything and definatley nothing I should be wasting with stupid minescule things. Did you ever notice how much happier you are when you don't focus on those things, when life gets so busy that you don't have time to focus on anything else much less something not worth while.

I know that there are things that people say or do that make us angry and we would love nothing more at that moment to hold onto a grudge and tell all of our closest allies what that person did or said or is doing and how wrong they are, and they may very well be, but after seeing someone live 104 years and going to her funeral and looking at her and knowing that she lived a great life and then hearing her voice on a video tape of her very last moments on this earth and do you know what she said, she said that she didn't always do it right, she wasn't always perfect, and hearing her say that my heart just broke and still aches because although no one is perfect she still wished she didn't do this or didn't do that and when I get to that moment in time I want as little to look back on a regret as possible.

My wish is that we all can look back and know that we did everything we could to be kind, to bite our tongues when we wanted to say not so nice things, to live each day with joy and peace everlasting and to live in the present, to really take each day and live the crap out of it. I bid you all a farewell!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Vegan Chocloate Chip Cookies
2 cups flour (I use barley)
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda
3/4 cup of chopped unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 cup of raw sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
dash of sea salt
1/2 cup of oil (I use olive oil)
1/4 cup of warm water

mix flour, baking soda/powder and salt, mix sugars and oil in a separate bowl, add all of the rest of the ingredients in one bowl, put on a baking sheet at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, Enjoy:D

Legacy

So I found out Saturday morning that my great grandmother had passed and at first I was sad because that means I will never be able to hug her again or talk to her about how things use to be or about how good God is, and then I realized that she is in a much better place, she was on this earth for One-Hundred and Four years and was sane for all of it, and although she had a ton of children and grandchildren and great grandchildren, she never forgot.

She was one of the best woman I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, she would always say that she would ask God many times why she was still here, why after her husband had been gone for so many years, why after her own children had passed, why after all this time when it didn't seem like there was any reason for her to be here and every time he told her "I am keeping you here to pray". Isn't it funny that we could look back on our lives and not be able to connect the dots, not be able to see the impact of the things that we are doing and at times it can seem disheartening, but you have no idea the people you are affecting and how small and insignificant it may seem to you, it is very important that you do it.

My Grandmother left behind something amazing...a legacy, she did this very simple thing, she lived for the Lord, taught her children to do the same and prayed, for 104 years she prayed and for 104 years she changed peoples lives and now that shes up there I know she is smiling down and connecting the dots and seeing just how fruitful her life was simply because she chose to be obedient.

My goal is to leave such a great legacy like she did so that one day when its my turn I can look down and know that what I did was good and what I did changed peoples lives and what I did was exactly what I was suppose to do...leave a legacy. I bid you all a farewell till next time.

Warm Regards,
Candace

Fresh Vegan Keylime Bars
Crust:
1 cup of flour (I use Barley)
1 cup of whole grain oats
1 TBSP of agave nectar
dash of sea salt
1/3 cup of raw sugar
1/4 cup of coconut or oilive oil

Filling:
Juice of 2 limes
Zest of 2 limes
2/3 cup of raw sugar
1/4 cup of ground flax seed in 3 TBSP of warm water (let sit for 2 minutes)
2 TBSP of Organic Apple Juice

Mix crust and press into a pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, mix filling and then pour over cooked crust and bake for another 20-27 minutes until golden brown, let cool and Enjoy :D

STOP

Today I was thinking about how in the past thirty minutes I had been so annoyed of another person, scratch that, people, and I was nit-picking every single detail on what annoyed me and why it bothered me so much, and how for those thirty minutes that person did not even realize what they were doing. And then as the steam was pouring from ears and the blood was coursing through my veins at a much more rapid pace, I stopped...and I saw the person who had just spent the last few moments raising my blood pressure, and I saw them in a different light, I saw them laugh and may friendly conversation and tell about their family and talk to another human being and give a kind embrace and gentle kiss on the cheek, and as I sat there watching this.....my hardened heart began to soften and the face that was once solid as stone slowly started to turn into a smile.

As I stood there I realized that we are all human, we all have those annoying habits and ways about us that others have a hard time standing. We can all do and say ill-conceived things and even repeat them on more than one occasion. We must not hold every person to such high a standard, we must not nit-pick and dissect every single thing that someone does. This will never make you happy because you will soon find that no one is perfect and if you spend your time examining their flaws you will grow into a bitter wreck.

Let's agree to give each other a break every now and then and remember that if you just take a moment to STOP....and see someone in a different light...they might just surprise you. I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow.

Warm Regards,
Candace

Yummy Vegan Peach Cobbler
5-6 ripe peaches, sliced thin and pitted
1 cup of whole grain oats
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of granulated raw sugar
dash of cinnamon
pinch of sea salt
6-8 TBSP of coconut oil (or any oil or butter substitute you prefer)
1/2 cup of flour (i use barley)

Mix peaches, granulated raw sugar, cinnamon and salt till coated, lay peach mixture in the bottom of the pan then mix remaining ingredients till they stick together then put crumbly crust mixture over the peach mixture until coated, bake at 350 degrees till crispy golden brown (about 20-30 minutes) Enjoy ;D

"no follow through"

Okay so I have officially made a recipe that absoultley did not turn out. I had a craving for lemon bars so I decided to make a vegan lemon bar recipie that I found online and as I mixed up the crust and then mixed up the yummy lemony fillig of goodness, I popped that baby in the oven and to my dismay I arrived at a very odd looking finished product. It was more brown than yellow and more honey tasting then lemon, needless to say I was not very happy and will definatley be disgarding the remains.

I will be finishing up my 30 days this weekend and many people have asked, now that I have made it 30 days being vegan, what am I going to do next, well I have officially decided, with much deliberation, that I will be continuing on my vegan ways after the 30 days are up and I will be totally content in doing so.

I have a lot and I mean a lot, of people asking me how in the world can I continue to eat this way, how can I stand always having to pack my meals and plan ahead and turn down good, chemical-induced food, and yes while it is virtually impossible most of the time to go out to eat or to go to a gathering and not bring your own dish just so you will have something there that you can consume, I have oddly learned to adapt to this crazy way of life and I really do enjoy it!

Yes there are moments that I wish I could just go hit up Famous Daves and have there buttery corn bread or slab of all too fatty ribs, but I soon get over those wishes and remember the way that I feel when I am doing this, the thing that I have committed to, and if it was about anything else over the past 30 days it was definitely about finshing what I have started and I am happy to say that I will.

There is nothing greeter in life then a true sense of accomplishment, the feeling that you get when you have done what you set out to do. There are so many times in life that we have deviated or just plain given up so when we finish something and we gave it all we had there is something to be said about that. I really do admire those of you that seem to have everything together and always finish what you have started, but for the rest of us with the classic case of "no follow through" we seem to take pride in when we achieve these things in life. I hope you all can finish the things you start and committ to the things that will make you a better you. I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow. Happy Cinco De Mayo!!!!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Vegan Fiesta Bean Nachos
1 cup of organic tortilla chips
1 can of black beans
fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 cup of corn
salsa
sea salt
garlic
fresh cilantro
fresh tomato, chopped
fresh onion, chopped
lettuce, shredded
Olive Oil
lime, cut in half

heat oil, beans, corn, spinach, and 1/2 of chopped onions in a pan with seasonings and salsa. in a bowl or on a plate put a base of tortilla chips once mixture it heated pour over chips, then top with remaing ingredients and some more salsa and a squeeze of fresh lime, Enjoy :D

Hole..

Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"

—Henry Travers as Clarence the angel in "It's a Wonderful Life"

This is a famous line from the famous movie "It's a Wonderful Life", where a man is at the end of his ropes, he finds himself wondering what he has left to live for and not even realizing what it would do to someone else if he were not here at all, and better yet what it would do to him, in the end he comes to his senses and realizes that he does in fact have a Wonderful Life....

Point being of this little trip down memory lane of the all-american classic is this, the main character in this movie doesn't realize that we were each put here to touch someone elses life, that the words we say, the things we do or don't do, are affecting others around us who are watching us, who may look up to us, who may need you to get your life together so they in return can get their's together.  The man is asking the main character if he realizes that each man's life, no matter how insignificant we may think it, in the same way is important, if not to the very man himself, then to someone else counting on him, knowing that if he were to ever leave or ever not truely step into who he is then it would leave a hole.

My question for you is what kind of hole are you leaving?  Who are you making an impression on, an imprint of your life should be all around you and others, how much are you achieving that you know you're suppose to be achieving.  How many times have you stopped and took a step back and said "whoa this is what I was meant to do, this is what my dreams look like".. how many times have you honestly woke up in the morning and knew that you were on to something?

There are all these moments I fear we could be missing by simply remaining stagnet, by not realizing who we really are and the kind of affect we have on others around us.  This is my thought, no scratch that, my goal, to leave a hole in this world that even after I am gone they are still talking about it, that the next generation remembers me and they know the very thing I set out to achive is the very thing I accomplished.

I hope we can all leave a BIG, HUGE, GAPING HOLE in this life, because we only get to live it once.  I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow.  Oh and please feel free to leave a comment or pass along to a friend!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Vegan Eggplant "Parmesan"
1-2 eggplants sliced
flour of your choosing used at your discretion ( I use barley flour)
1/2 cup or so of coconut milk or milk of your choosing
1 egg substitute
bread crumbs
italian herbs and spices
garlic
sea salt
fresh basil
can of tomato sauce
frech sliced tomatoes
fresh sliced red onion
1-2 tbsp of olive oil

Slice eggplant into medium pieces.  Mix flour and all seasoings together, dip eggplant into milk substitute then egg substitute, then flour mixture, then back into the milk then into bread crumbs, fry on skillet with olive oil till crispy on both sides.  When cooked top with a slice of onion, tomato and spoon of tomato sauce.  Helpful Tip: if egg plant is bitter soak in water and sea salt for 10 minutes before making. Enjoy :D

Vision

"Boy, I got vision and the rest of the world is wearing bi-focals". These words from the famous Butch Cassidy are something I think we can all relate to sometimes, like we are just peering into someone elses life and being on the outside we can truly see with perfect vision what the actual situation that is occurring, knowing that they may be about to make a huge mistake or maybe it's the same mistake being reapted over and over again and leaving you often wondering "how can they possibly keep reapting the same stupid thing over and over again?"

Well let me start by saying there may be some that look at us with those 20/20 eyes and we are the ones in the thick-fogged over lenses that seem to never be working. Every person at one point or another, some more frequent than most, have a moment in their lives that they just can't seem to get over, they keep running the same lap, they just can't seem to break their funk and no matter how many times you tell them how to get over it and no matter how many times they talk about getting over it, they never will until they are ready, until they pick up that fresh pair of eyes and see things clearly, things as they really are.

You may look at other people, as I know I do, and wonder "how is it that they struggle with that" when it seems so silly and simple to fix..to you, but to them it's all they can think about, it's that little devil sitting on their shoulder constantly poking them with that annoying little stick saying "just one more doughnut, you can start on your diet tomorrow" or "just one more smoke, you can always quite tomorrow" or "no need to tell that person what you know you need to tell them, they will always be here tomorrow"...but the whole problem with tomorrow is we never know if its coming, this may be you last moment, this may be the only time you have to get yourself together and live life how your actually suppose to, this may be the only shot you get and your wasting it.

If it had to do with only yourself then I could understand why we seem to fall horribly time after time to the same devices, but what if it's not just about us..what if by achieving what we are suppose to have achieved all along we could be saving someone else, what if losing those 20, 40, 100 pounds could inspire someone else to do the same, what if you actually picked up your pen and wrote that novel that turned into a best-seller that inspired a generation to make a stand, what if you took that remarkable, one of a kind gift that only you have and turned it into a movement...

I am so sick of wasted time and missed moments that I could have lived to become myself instead of staying the same. There is nothing stopping you from being brillant, from achieving total and complete success, not one person...just yourself. You can say you haven't lost those last extra pounds because of this or you haven't gotten around to starting your own business, or actually completing something in your life that is worth while, but all your really saying is you haven't taken the time to become yourself and shouldn't that be the first thing we should get around to doing?

I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow.

Warm Regards,
Candace

Homemade Guacamole and Tortilla Chips
3-4 mashed avocados
1 small red onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2 jalapeños, chopped
1 TBSP of olive oil
fresh cilantro
dash of garlic powder
dash of sea salt
juice of 1 lime
Whole Grain Corn or Whole Grain tortillas

mix all ingredients in a food processor till still chuncky, cut fresh whole grain or whole grain corn tortillas into triangles and sprinkle with sea salt and olive oil and broil till crispy, enjoy :D

Serendipity

Serendipity- definition: to come by something accidentally, not planned out...fate. Do I believe in fate? That a serendipitous moment is waiting around the corner? That somehow, some way in lue of all things I try to control that I actually control nothing, that life is nothing more then a triangle of decisions that we make which inevidatably lead to our fate. Yes, yes I do.

I believe that God controls everything and that yes we have free-will to choose what way we will take to work today or what we will eat for lunch or where we will live, but I believe there is a higher power that orchestrates our fate, wether we want to cope with that or not, it is the case. I believe that it was fate that caused me to miss that green light on my way to the grocery store only to avoid a 7 car pile up if I would have went through it, I believe it was fate that caused me to just happen to go out of town and miss my regular route to work on the very same day the 35W bridge collapsed, I believe it was fate that I met my husband when I did and where I did, I believe for as much as we "think" we control all the little situations and ins and outs of this life, that in all actuality we contol a lot less than we are lead to believe.

And yes I am one of those people that believes everything happens for a reason, as cliche as it sounds, but it does, if I would have done this then I wouldn't have gotten this, if I would have gone there then I would never be here, if I would have said no then I would never have gotten the chance to say yes. I said all of that to simply say this, know that with all the things you try to control in your life, all the planning ahead, that your days have already been predestined, your life has already been planned and wether or not you decide to take a left rather then a right, it will all somehow mash together how it was always meant to be...fatefully.

I hope you all make the right decisions that lead you to your great destines! I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Juicy Lucy Morning Smoothie

1/3 cup of Organic Apple Juice
1/3 Cup of Organic Orange Juice
3-4 ice cubes
1/4 cup of frozen strawberries
1/3 cup of frozen blueberries
1 banana
handle full of spinach

blend all together and enjoy :D

The Good Stuff

Do you ever feel all your insecurities are on display?..Like they are the only things that people can see.  Some how all the good qualities, the things that people always compliment you on or the things that people fall in love with, the things that only you possess, the things that no one else could even touch....well those things just seem to slip away when we are feeling this way, when we could hear a million times that we are beautiful or a million times that we are kind or we are a wonderful cook or "of course those jeans don't make you look fat", but for those brief moments we don't want to hear it.  It's like nothing can change our mind because as long as we keep lying to ourselves about what we think we are we will never believe anyone else.

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have done this, this toxic thing that the enemy breathes into our minds, telling us we aren't good enough, telling us we never will be and all those dreams we dream of and all those goals we want to achieve are never going to happen...and he's right they won't, not until we are willing to stop believing the lies and start becoming the truth.  I have a very limited time on this earth and I absolutely refuse to spend it in self-loathing and unaccomplished destinies.

So now lets get to the good stuff, lets start becoming those wonderful people we were meant to be all along, long before all the bad things crept in and stole our time, stole our thoughts...we were meant for so much more.  you need to see in yourself what everyone else sees in you, what the Maker of the universe sees in you, you need to take all the things that your good at and make them better, take all the things you love to do and do them more, take all the things your heart aches for, all the things you desire and make them a reality, make them your own, make them tangible.  

Once you begin to believe in yourself, once you can look in the mirror and say a good thing instead of a negative, once you really put those dreams in motion, that is when you will fully begin to understand who you are, like you should have been doing this all along, and you'll be wondering why you didn't start sooner and why you for even a brief moment thought you could have been happier anyway else.  Sometimes it just takes a little longer to realize it, all that matters is that you do.

I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow.

Warm Regards, 

Candace

Perfect Corn "Pudding"

1/2 cup of corn

1/2 cup of milk substitute (I use rice)

1 cup of corn meal

dash of salt

1/4 cup of oil (I use olive or coconut oil) 

1 1/2 tsp of baking powder

mix together all ingredients and bake at 350 degrees till golden brown, 20-25 minutes, serve as a side dish or eat as a desert, Enjoy :D

The Contents

Not quite sure why we as humans put so much emphasis on status, its like we think because of someones birthright or because of how famous they are or how beautiful they look that somehow we tend to look past who they really are as a person.  Why is it that just because someone accomplishes something great in life like writing the next great american novel or starring in the new motion picture or just simply someone who leads a great life, great house, great family, great kids, great.great.great.great.great....and so it is those are great things to have and to achieve, but I think sometimes we get those "things" mixed up with the "who" that  someone is not what they did.


How many times have we judged a book by its cover?  Well if I were being honest I would have to say about a million times I have done this and about a million times I have regretted it.  Even if I was right in my judgement, who am I to judge anybody?  I am not God and in my book He is the only one with the right to judge any of us.  It is a horrible thing that all people do, like it was ingrained in us since birth or something, like we were taught to just look at the surface and if we didn't like what we saw then there was nothing else we needed to explore, when the sad thing about that is, what if we could have formed something really great with that person we were so quick to turn away, or what if we could have learned something so great if we would have just took a second to realize that the cover of someone is not the contents.  


I really hope we can move forward from this horrible thing that we have all done and that has been done to us as well.  I hope that every time you catch yourself starting to judge someone before you actually know them, wether it be based on their status in life, how much money they make, how happy they seem, how attractive they are, that you for just a split second remember how you have felt when someone misjudged you and how bad you felt and how wrong you knew they were and how everything inside of you was screaming "but that's not who I really am".....I hope you realize that that's not who that person really is either.


We are all just people,  with the same needs and hopefully the same goal, to live a happy wonderful life reaching our dreams and accomplishing all of our aspirations, once you strip someone of their status or lack their of, their clothing, their money, their look, their career, you will begin to see them for who they really are...a human-being just like your self.  I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow.


Warm Regards,
Candace


Vegan Mini Doughnuts
Dry:
1 cup of flour (I use barley flour)
1/2 cup of raw sugar ( I use sugar in the raw)
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
dash of nutmeg
dash of cinnamon
Wet:
1/2 cup of h20 of milk substitute (I use h20)
1 egg substitute
4 tbsp of oil (I use extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil)
1 tsp of vanilla


Mix all dry ingredients with a whisk then mix all the wet ingredients with a whisk, then mix dry and wet together and put into doughnut pan, bake at 350 degrees for about 20-22 minutes, once cooked roll in raw sugar and cinnamon and enjoy ;D 

"Nay-Sayers"

So some of you may be wondering what it is that I am actually doing, some of my recipies have been labled as "Vegan" and that may scare some of you crazy carnivores, so let me use this blog entry to intice you with my latest reasoning.  Yes, I have been following a vegan plan for the past 20 some odd days now, but not because I am an animal-loving, tree-hugging environmentalist by any means, and certainly not because I hate the taste of meat or dairy or my beloved goat cheese, but because when I set out to do this thirty days of no processed foods it simply eliminated everything that was animal products or not organic or had anything in it that was used to preserve. 

I have had a ton of people flat out tell me that what I am doing is not healthy and a ton of people ask "where are you getting your protein, are you sure you are gettin enough nutrients?"...and as annoyed of all the questions and sympathetic looks from some people who think A: I've lost my mind or B: I have some kind of disorder,  Let me take this time to share with you some clarity.

First things first, I have never had more energy then I do right now, I am also consuming more protein then I was before with my meat-eating way of life, and I am also consuming more fruits and vegetables then I ever have in my life and it shows, it shows in my skin, my hair my nails are growing remarkably fast even though I find it hard not to bite them off, I am not counting a single calorie or feeling hungry or deprived.  And yes it is hard to give up dairy I could really go for a pizza, but hey I shouldn't have been eating pizza before I started this so nothing real shocking there, also I would be willing to bet my life that I am a lot healthier then most of the people that are looking at me like I have some sort of illness, Nope sorry to disappoint you folks but I could probably run laps around most with all the added energy and feel-goodness I have from eating this way.

Oh did I also mention that not only do I feel satisfied with all the protien and fresh fiber I am getting from all the nuts, beans, rice, whole grains, fruits and veggies my diet is consisting of nowadays but I am also rarely hungry and never have to over-eat because my body is actually satisfied from all the vitamin-filled food I have been feeding it.  Do you ever wonder why you get a craving that just won't quite?....I can tell you why, because whatever it is that you are wanting so badly your body is actually missing a component of nutrients and it in return starts to crave something that it needs.  Since I have been doing this I don't have those cravings, I am giving my body exactly what it wanted all along and with as much as I miss my pizza I never needed that in the first place so it's a win-win.

Sorry to be so blunt, but I am really getting sick of nay-sayers, it's like they are saying "oh hmm so you decided to be healthy and take care of yourself....are you okay?"  I really hope that for all the things you want to do in your life and all the people that may question why you want to do that in the first place never stop you from accomplishing it.  You are YOU and nobody else should get a say in your dreams and desires, you need to do that for yourself, noone else but yourself and God.  I am going to be asking people to please comment on my blog if you have any questions or something to say and please if you like what you read pass it along!  I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow!!!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Summer Sphagetti

Whole Grain Organic Sphagetti, cooked
Organic Tomatoe Sauce
Zuchinni, chopped
Tomatoe, chopped
Onion, chopped
Yellow Squash, chopped
Garlic, chopped
Mushrooms, chopped
Fresh Basil, Chopped

Cook noodles, then cook all veggies in a pan with sauce, top with basil and enjoy :D

Discipline

So my little journey on no processed foods for thirty days has been successful thus far minus my little excursion to Florida where I wasn't completely faithful but I got right back on the wagon and didn't let that stop me from following through. I am now 11 days away from completing and I have to say I don't know what I will do when it is all said and done, I really like not eating all the junk I consumed before, it has not been easy, it is virtually impossible to go out to eat or to go to a friend's home and be able to eat anything that they have made, if it's got dairy, eggs, meat or anything un-natural or added to preserve then it gets a big X and is not to be consumed.

You might say that is impossible to live by forever or people have said to me they would rather live life and not worry so much about what they are eating, that they don't want restrictions like the ones I am putting on myself, but can I just tell you that a life with no disciple, no real goals, no restriction, no limit on things that could be harmful to yourself, to your health, to your happiness, to your very well-being, is not something that I want to take lightly and just throw it into the wind and say "hmm oh well I'd rather be fat and disease-ridden and be "happy" then put a little discipline and restriction on myself". Uhh I gotta give that a big fat NO THANK YOU.

I think that we spend ourlives just kind of coasting, not wanting to push ourselves too hard or do anything too difficult, I might break a nail or I might just actually get somewhere with my life and be the happiest I have ever been and have everything I could have possibly ever wanted...but hey I don't want to try too hard or anything. The thing is you will never and I mean never, be totally fulfilled, happy, have real joy, reach your full potential, live life how it was meant to be lived until you push yourself, until you set some boundaries for yourself, until you tell yourself no, until you discipline yourself so you can get to where you want to be, who you want to be, who you are.

This is the point, life is way too short to sell yourself short, you absolutley cannot expect to arrive at your final destination without making it happen, you will never just stumble to it or accidentley come across it, or take a stroll and pass it on the street, you have to make it happen, you have to put some elbow grease in it, you have to sweat for it, it's never going to be easy and it wasn't meant to be...afterall how much would you actually feel like you accomplished if it came easy...I mean really.

I hope you can all work really hard and achieve all of your dreams so that they feel worth while. I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Sante Fe Tacos
1/3 bag of frozen Corn
1 can of Organic Black Beans
1/2 cup of spinach
i onion, chopped
1 tomatoe, chopped
1 avocado, sliced
fresh Cilantro
Whole Grain Corn Tortillas
Sea Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Organic Salsa

Heat corn, spinach, beans, onions, seas salt, pepper, garlic and salsa in a pan on medium heat till cooked and hot, put corn mixture into tortillas and top with the rest of the fresh toppings, Enjoy :D

Time

DO you ever want to go back in time, all of the things that you've said and did were somehow not good enough and somewhere in this twisted cosmic world we call home there must be something better that we could have done with our time. Unfortunately we seem to realize how we could have done things differently after the fact and most of the time years later when we are old and gray and wonder why we for one second made some of the descisions that seemed so foolish to us now.

I have decided that I want a "do-over", thats right a "do-over", I think that I should honestly get one, I mean how many times can I keep repeating the same mistakes over and over and over again, or how about how I have lost the same 20-40 pounds my whole life, I mean you would think that the 12 dozen times I had gotten down to my "goal -weight" I would have thought "hmmm I should make sure that I stay here so that I don't have to do that much work to get back here"...nope, I made sure that i just kept shoving those sugar-induced pastries and all the fine tapestries of fatty american food that I possibly could until one day I looked in the mirror with a much fuller face and a few pant sizes larger.

You think that after doing something and then conquering it and then doing something and then conquering it and then doing the same exact thing and conquering it the same exact way that I would have learned by now how to stay there or at least write a book on how to get people there because I've gotta be an expert in the field by now. It still amazes me that we as the human race are still creatures of habit, sometimes it's a good habit that keeps you organized, on time and balanced, but mostly I think it's just a horrible excuse to be comfortable and never go out of that habitual-zone so that we can tell everybody when they ask, "well why don't you start your own business", or, "why don't you try for that higher position", or, "how come you haven't lost those last 10, 20, 30 pounds".....And you can say that you simply have life planned out, you are in a groove and cannot afford to break it, you are too comfortable and it's too late to change and do something worth while, I mean c'mon after all no one really expects that of you anyways...right..

Maybe not, noone probably expects you to change or do something completely out of the norm, but what about you, what about what you expect of yourself, do you simply want to live life, pay your dues and then for the last years have nothing to really look back on but all that comfortable wasted time.

There is nothing that I want more than to keep moving, always changing, always evolving into this wonderful, amazing, beautiful woman I was always created to be, and you know what I will, I will become her and I will make sure of it, no matter if I fall flat on my face a million times, no matter how many people tell me I'm in dream land and need to come back to reality, no matter how many times I hear that little voice tell me I'm not good enough, that i will never be enough...I WILL DO THIS, I WILL MAKE MY LIFE SPECTACULAR, I WILL MAKE MY DREAMS MY REALITY, I WILL NOT GIVE UP....I WILL NEVER STOP.

Once you finally decide who you want to be and what you want to do with your life and what is more important...you fulfilling who you are or being comfortable with the mundane, you need to decide, pick one, I don't care which one, all though I hope it is following your dreams, and then do it!

I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Vegan Chocolate Cake
1 1/4 cup of Flour (I use Barley Flour)
1/2-1 cup of organic sugar
1 tsp of baking powder
1/3 cup of oil ( I usr coconut oil)
1/3 cup of cocoa powder
1 cup of warm water

Mix all dry ingredients then add wet ingredients to dry and mix well, put in oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until fork comes out clean, Enjoy :D

Fear

Sometimes I think we let fear control our destinies, at some point or another we decide to let it become a part of us, to become something that we live with instead of something that we get rid of, it's like we wake up every morning greeting fear and asking it to join us for the afternoon.

There is nothing in my life that I hate more than the enemies or even my mind's ability to create such a fear in myself that it completely paralyzes me from something I was meant to conquer. I cannot pretend that fear does not have a stronghold in my life because it has, it has absolutely stifled me from certain things that were always meant to be mine and instead I gave them away to the idea that something "could" go wrong or something terrible "could" happen or "what-if" I didn't succeed or "what-if" I never made it or what about the simple fear that I could look back on my life in ten or twenty years and be in the exact same place as I am now.

Oh yes, fear is a very gripping substance that can leave you staggering through life always second-guessing your descisions and possibly not going through with something amazing because you are worried about the risk. There are a hundered different avenues in life that you can take..don't let fear be one of them.

You know what they always say "face your fears" and even though we have heard this a million times throughout our lives it is something that shows to be true, you must face the things you are most afraid of, you must look them in the eye and know that they have no power over you, they have nothing on you except for the fact that you keep letting them control you. This life will prove to be a struggle and you will go through things that are scary and heartbreaking and all you will want to do it give-in and hold up that white flag in surrender, but you mustn't, you must not let something as little as your fears hold you back from being the person you are, you cannot fully become yourself until you give up things you are clinging to and the fears that are holding you back and take the venture into your destiny unknown and really fight for what your deserve....the chance that you might actually change the world, you might actually change someone's life, you might become someone who knows exactly what they want and then actually gets it.

When you let go of all that crap you will finally understand what you are doing here and the light of day will have never felt to good and the very breath that you breathe will have never made you feel so alive, and you will actually start to understand how this whole life thing is suppose to go and what your part in it really is. If there was one thing that I could ask of you, it would be to never let anything get in the way of who you were meant to be, not who you are, not what you did, not what you plan on doing..but who you were meant to be.

I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow.

Warm Regards,
Candace

Puffed Rice
3-4 cups of puffed brown rice
1/4 cup of natural peanut butter
1/4 cup of agave nectar

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl till sticky then put in a pan and put in the fridge till cold and set, enjoy :D

Today

When I think about today and what it means to believe what I believe and to know that someone made a decision a very long time ago with me in mind, it makes it feel sacred, like there is nothing that can touch what was done for me, nope, nothing can even come close and words cannot possibly describe how big of a deal it truely is.

Today is a day that goes down in history where the most innocent of men gave the most horribly wonderful sacrifice and he would do it all over again if he had to.

Today's post will be short because I want people to really take a few moments, the few that they would spend reading the rest of my blog and really think about what was done for you and on this most sacred of days, just let it sink in and really appreciate it, because even if you have nothing else going for you in your life at the present time you will always have this...a man willing to die to save your life everlasting.

.................................................................
....................................
..................
.........
.....
..


Warm Regards,
Candace

Sometimes....

Sometimes in life things happen that you wish you could have handled differenlty or you wish you would have said something different or if you could just have one "do-over" in life you know exactly which one it would be. I think we all know which event in time we would like to change or we hoped would have turned out a little bit better, but that is the uglieness of time, it keeps moving, it never stops and it sure as heck doesn't go backwards, that is why it is very important that you try to think before you speak and try to handle what you can in the best possible way that you can.

I am tired of looking back and going over certain sitauations in my mind wishing it would have happened differently and if I could just go back I would say this or I would do this. I don't apologize for being me, but I do wish at times people really understood who I was and why I was responding in a certain way or they knew me well enough to know why I was doing the things I was doing or saying the things I was saying, unfortuantely there are about 2-3 people in the whole world besides God that I actually feel comfortable enough to be my total self around, those are the people that I can let my guard down, that I can just breathe and I love that.

Not everyone is going to understand you, and not everyone is going to want to and that is something that you are going to have to accept and move on. What you will have to do is be around the people that do want to understand you and the people that love you for you, not the ones that make you feel bad for being you, or the ones that are "fair weather friends", they love ya when it's convienant for them and then they kind of brush you to the side.

Soon enough, if you haven't already, you will realize who is worth spending your time with, spending those precious moments that we only get a limited number of, and then you will be so happy that you found them. I hope you can all find those people in your life that love you for you and take you as you are......and the rest are just not worth it.

I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Corn Chili Chowder
1 yellow onion, chopped
3-4 small red potatoes, chopped
2 can of organic chili beans
1 can of organic diced tomatoes
1/2 can of organic tomato sauce
Sea Salt (I use Celtic Sea Salt)
Pepper
Chili powder

Mix all together in a pot and cook on medium till hot and enjoy :D

Do you ever wonder...

Do you ever wonder when all the things you have been waiting for, all the things you have been working for, all the things you have been desiring will come to pass?...it's like they are light-years away, like you cannot fathom how you are going to get from where your at right now to where you want to be right now.

I have learned that you must not look at the "big picture" all at once sometimes, it can be exhausting, it can be completely mind-numbing how you will ever reach your hopes and your dreams when it may seem that you are starting in a place that is so far away from what your hopes and dreams are, but you must not let that stop you, you must take each step with the intention of getting there and knowing that with every step further you are one second, one day, one year closer to finally becoming that person you always knew you could be.

Sometimes if I let myself think about how time seems to keep moving and I seem to be at a stand-still, or how many times I've said 'tomorrow" instead of "today", or why in the world I for one second could ever think that I would be happy if this was as good as it gets...because the truth is, I couldn't, I couldn't even pretend, and if I didn't do anything else with my life and I died tomorrow I would be up there telling God that he must have made some sort of mistake, that he needed to give me another chance, because there was nothing that I did of meaning yet and I needed more time to make him proud, to fulfill what I was always meant to do.

The key is to not bite off more than you can chew, you need to take each day at a time, you need to figure out how you will get all the way from point A to point Z and then do it. YOU have to do it, you have to take this whole "life as we know it" thing and turn it into "life as we make it".

No one is going to make your life happen for you, you have to do it yourself, you have to decide to change, you have to make the most of every situation, you have to press-on, you have to know that there is no one else like you...not even close, so lets not waste anymore time, lets start living today so we can look forward to tomorrow.

I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Moist Vegan Lemon Cake

2 Lemons, i lemon rind
1/2 cup of water
6 TBSP of coconut oil
1/2-1 cup of brown rice syrup or sugar
1 tsp of baking soda
1 1/2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp of vanilla

mix flour, sugar or brown rice syrup and baking powder till mixed. squeeze the juice of the 2 lemons into a measuring cup and grate the rind of one lemon into the lemon juice, then fill the remaining measuring cup with water to the 1 cup mark, dump lemon mixture into the flour mixture then add oil and vanilla, mix together and bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes, you may put your favorite glaze or frosting on top once cool, Enjoy :D

ALL THINGS

So far so good. I am starting to get back to my old pre-Florida eating habits and I have got to tell you it feels sooo good! There is nothing like giving 100% at something and feeling great in the process, I am almost positive that you feel better doing it because you are giving it your all and the sense of accomplishment makes it all the more wonderful.

I think there is a moment in all of our lives that we realize if we don't start living now, right now, then we never will, if you leave everything for tomorrow or the next day or the next month, you will never finish anything and too me that is way more disappointing then failing at it. I know it can be scary, you think of all the "what if's", what if I give it everything I have and I still never get there, what if I try and it's not as good as I thought, what if I do it wrong and waste all that time......WHAT IF YOU SUCCEED, WHAT IF it's everything you've dreamed of, WHAT IF YOU are the happiest you've ever been, WHAT IF YOU become the person you were always meant to be.....

You see there is something inside of all of us that knows who we are, it knows exactly what it wants and exactly how to get it....because you were made for it, you were meant to do something extraordinary, something spectacular, something that will change your life forever, but i promise you will never find it unless you are willing to die to control and live for your dreams....your aspirations are your possibilities.

It is inconceivable to me how we can spend our whole lives and still be confused on why we are here and who we are suppose to be. You are suppose to be you, you are suppose to do what you wake up smiling about, what you go to sleep thinking about, what you breathe, what you long for, what you wish for, what you were meant for. Don't you dare give up, don't you dare think for one minute you can't do something....YOU can do ALL THINGS....so start doing them.

I bid you all farewell till tomorrow!

Kale Salad

2 bunches of fresh kale, picked and cut
2 avocados, mashed
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup of sunflower seeds
1 tomato, chopped
Sea Salt and Pepper

Cut kale and massage with hands till it becomes soft mix with remaining ingredients and store in fridge till cold (you may need to add another avocado to make it more moist), Enjoy :D

Relax Jack

Okay so I had a little break with this whole unprocessed food thang that I am doing, I went to Flordia for a few days and decided that I rarely take vacations and that I really wanted to just eat what I wanted, so ya know what.....I did, and let me just tell you something, I wish I hadn't.

First of all I am very swollen, yes thats right swollen, I mean I don't know if it was the sunburn I received or the fact that every meal was at a restaurant and chock full of sodium or maybe it was being in and out of high altitude about eight times in 2 days but I am feeling not so good about letting myself breathe for a weekend because it is so not something that I am use to at this time in my life.... and when I finally decide to do it it's like I don't know how to handle it and I tend to either completely let myself go or do it absolutely wrong.

And you may be asking "How can you screw up something like letting yourself just relax?"...And my answer to that is who the hell knows except that I find myself over-thinking relaxation.... I mean c'mon, what is wrong with me...the only thing I can think of is that I want to make the most of the time I have to relax, I want to maximize every moment, and in doing that I totally kill any chance of relaxing with an agenda and that makes it work....again.

SO what is the best solution for making sure that you don't do this, that you eat healthy all the time not just when your in go-mode but that it actually becomes a way of life, or that you make sure you MAKE the time to enjoy just being you for at least twenty minutes a day so that when you actually do get a chance for an extended moment of relaxation your don't totally squander them because it seems so foreign to you, this is the seceret.....YOU MUST FIND BALANCE.

You must get to a place in your life where you work but don't work too much, where you strive but don't stretch, where you give but don't lose yourself at the same time. There are a million different reasons why we shouldn't put ourselves first for a change, but how about the one reason that we should...because we are worth it, because we deserve to feel like a woman of worth, because there is no book that says you have to be everything to everybody else and nothing to yourself, there is no reason why you shouldn't give yourself the time you need to actually be yourself.

I hope that you can find the time every single day to become a little more of who you were meant to be and less of what everyone else expects you to be. I bid you all a farewell till tommorrow!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Homemade Wheat Torillas

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup of coconut oil or olive oil
dash of salt
1/2 cup of warm water

Mix flour, salt and oil then slowly add in warm water till combined, knead dough until it is elastic in texture then separate into small balls and roll out till they are pretty thin, then cook on stove about 45 secods each side on a ungreased pan, stuff with veggies and salsa of your choosing, enjoy :D

Faith

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Heb 11:1 (KJV).

Faith is something that is learned, it is something that comes often in times of need and a lot of times it may seem like a last resort, that we just don't know what else we are going to hold on too and the only thing we have left is our faith.  There are times when I often wonder why I don't turn to faith right away, because ultimately I feel like that is the place God is trying to get us to go to, a place of faith, faith in him and not the situation, faith in knowing that somehow, even though all the walls are closing in around you and there is nothing that could feel as desperate as the situation you are in, that faith will carry you through.  

Before you can have faith, you must understand in whom and in what you have faith. Without understanding, there cannot be true faith.  You have to make a conscience decision that you will have faith, because faith is the evidence of things not seen, it is not in the realm of the natural it is the super-natural, it is believing in future possibilities and outcomes, it is believing in something bigger than yourself, something bigger than the reality of the situation. 

Faith is not ignoring the problem, situation or circumstance, on the contrary it is believing there is a different outcome than the one you see, they say seeing is believing, you must "see" the outcome in your mind first and then have faith in it.  

Some of the world's most successful people didn't become that way by living in their circumstances, they didn't go by what they saw in the natural, nope, they went by what they saw in their mind, what they wanted the outcome to be, they didn't live in their circumstances....they changed them. 

Faith is not seeing, faith is believing......

I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow.

Warm Regards, 

Candace

Stuffed Peppers

Brown RIce, cooked

Black Beans, cooked

1/2 onion, chopped and cooked

Bean Sprouts, cooked

Garlic, chopped and cooked

Basil, chopped and cooked

Assortment of Bell Peppers

Olive Oil

Cook together in a pan with olive oil, onions, bean sprouts, basil and garlic till soft, add that to rice and beans in a food processor till mixed, cut the middle out of assorted bell peppers and put mixture into middle, bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, enjoy :D

Pretty

Do you ever look at those magazines and wish you could be the model on the cover? If you could just lose the weight or somehow alter your face to be perfect or have the most flawless skin, the truth behind the cover girl is that she is not perfect, she has flaws, and ya know most of the time they do air brush those abs on.

I am so tired of this, you think we would have learned by now, I mean how many times has we heard that those models are airbrushed or no ones skin is that perfect or how about the advice they give, the top four articles to read are newest diet trends, lose ten pounds in two weeks, how to look ageless, I mean c'mon ageless?...really?

If you believe you can actually better yourself by reading into some of these lies then that may be the problem right there. If I can give you any advice please, please, please don't obsess over imperfections you see in yourself, instead focus on the good and then perfect those things.

You're not going to be able to be perfect so let's just throw that out the window right off the bat, you do however have things that you are great at that not everyone else is, and just like you envy those things others have and you wish you did,so does someone else envy the things you are good at and they wish they were.

You must always remember that you have a lot to offer now you just have to offer it. I bid you all a farewell til tommorrow!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Unleavened honey bread

2 cups whole wheat flour
2tbsp of flax seed
1tbsp of honey
3/4 cup of water

Mix, spread on pan and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, enjoy:D

Destiny

I think that all the little things we do coinside with our destiny, like we make a choice and that leads us to exactly where we are suppose to be. There is nothing that can stop it, there is nothing that can make it different, even if we make a wrong choice somehow we always seem to end up in exactly the right place..it just might take a little longer.

So when your tired and you don't know how you can possibly wait any longer for that something to happen in your life, to meet the right person, to find the perfect job, to find yourself, just know that it is coming, its out there waiting for you and its coming as fast as it can.

This is where "patience is a virtue" kicks in, sometimes in life things seem to be moving in slow motion or even rewind, but you must know that those are the very moments we tend to find out who we really are and what we thought we wanted out of life could change once we become more of ourselves. There are all these things working together to make sure we do what it is we were meant for, what we were made for, it may take you 40 years to get to the final outcome or it may take 10, but whichever it may be just know that it is coming.

Sometimes you don't even know what it is that you are waiting for or even what you want to be waiting for, but somewhere in-between the nothingness and frustration you begin to find out what it is you really want and what you want this life to be, not only for you but for your family and loved ones.

There is nothing more important that you will ever do with your life than doing what you were created for, and if it takes you 40 years to get there it doesn't matter, it just matters that you got there. I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow

Healthy Sea Salt Fries

5-10 small Red Potatoes
Sea Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil

Heat Oil in a deep pan on high, cut potatoes into shoe string sized peices, make sure oil is heated and slowly drop potatoes in, cook for about 15 minutes till golden brown, take out of oil then sprinkle with sea salt and pepper and Enjoy :D

Selfless

Sometimes  I think we do things without even realizing it, we might hurt someone else by our actions or by something we said  and not even notice until five years down the road and that someone drudges up the past memory.  It's like these things come flying out of our mouths and we have no radar for others around us, like we become totally oblivious to others, when do we do this...how is it that these moments of inconsideration and lack of sensitivity always seem to come around when we are being selfish.

Do you ever notice that?.....That the second you start thinking about only yourself you start forgetting about everyone else.  I cannot tell you how many times I have felt this way as I am sure you all have, and I also cannot tell you how many times I have been the one making someone feel this way..as I am sure you all have.  I no longer want to be the cause of someone else's bitterness or hurt feelings all because I was thinking of only myself.

I believe we are here for a reason...a reason other than ourselves, we are here to help others and in return we will receive the same.  We should spend every morning waking up with a plan on how we want and who we want to help today.  I would love to say that I do this on a daily basis, but that would be a lie, because I certainly do not....but I am going to change that.

You see I believe that the excuses we use as reasons why we can't or won't help someone else is simply LAME,  you may be too busy or have a million errands to run or be going through a crisis or your kids might be running around like chickens with there heads cut off, but if you would just remember one piece of advice it would be this.....there is always going to be a reason for you not to help someone or not to do something, the key is to find that one reason why you should.

I hope you all can find a reason to help someone today that really needs it, I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow.

Warm Regards,
Candace

Stuffed Cabbage

Organic (no-sugar added) Tomato Sauce
Organic Angel-Hair Pasta
1 head of Cabbage cut into four
1 Onion, chopped
A few sprigs of Basil, chopped
3/4 cup of Bean Sprouts
Clove of Garlic, minced
Olive Oil
Organic Veg. Stock

Boil cabbage in a pan until soft (careful not to get too soft), cook pasta till soft, cook onion, garlic, bean sprouts and basil in a pan on medium heat with olive oil til soft, mix together pasta, onions, bean sprouts, garlic and basil with 1/3 of the tomato sauce.  Once cabbage is soft put a layer on the bottom of a glass pan then peel back a few layers to roll the mixture in, spoon out mixture into each individual cabbage leaf and line pan, dump remaining tomato sauce on top and fill to top of cabbage rolls with vegetable stock,  cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour, enjoy ;D

Quality

Five days down, twenty-five more to go.....This has been quite an experience thus far, you would be surprised how much better you feel by cutting out all the processed junk we call "food", you start to feel like what I can only imagine how we were meant to feel all along, long before high-fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils, or how about when they actually put on the box under "Ingredients: .....to preserve the product" why does it need preserving?  Besides the obvious reasons of pro-longed shelf life which in return cause the product to sit days, weeks and months on your local grocery market shelves, and then that in return cause the manufacturer to make more $cha-ching$, but why do we think it's fine to consume things that have no nutritional value?

Let me say it like this...would you go to a restaurant and find it perfectly satisfactory to order month old spaghetti? Or two week old broccoli cheddar soup?  Of course you wouldn't you would be appalled, you would want to speak to a manager if you knew you were paying for something that had just been sitting around, wonder why it's different with the foods we purchase at the grocery store.

I know we all like the convenience of boxed, pre-packaged foods, but to me there just has to come a point when we decide who we want to be, how healthy we want to stay, how young we want to appear, how much more energy we want to have, what quality of life do you want to live?  I want to live the best life I possibly can...I dont just want to kinda live it, knowing that there was more things that I could have done to better myself, to better the way I felt about who I was and what I stood for.

What are we living life for if we aren't willing to become what we were meant to be.  Our life starts now, not tomorrow, not next week, but right now, lets not waste anymore time with "someday" or "later", instead how about we take each day and live the crap out of it : )

I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow!

Healthy Oats Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup of Oatmeal
1 cup of Wheat Flour
1 cup of ground or chopped Almonds
1/2 cup of Organic Raisins
1/2 cup of Coconut Oil
1/2 cup of Organic Brown Rice Syrup

mix and ball into one inch size and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

She is.

She is incandescently beautiful, compassionate, strong, willing to forgive, loving, courageous, a fighter, a survivor, a soul searcher, wonderfully made, completely a mess, full of flaws that make her all the more lovely, fears that enable her desires, flawlessly sexy and strikingly charismatic, she is all these things and more, she.is.woman.

If you are all these things then why don't you always feel like it. I think that sometimes we forget just how powerful being women is, we are this cloud of femininity paired with strength and grace, we have the ability to be tough and jaw dropping at the same time, there is nothing better than being a woman.

You must learn to embrace and balance what you are..... which is the best of both worlds. There is nothing that is more perfect, more beautiful than a woman who has realized exactly what she is, who has mastered the art of coming to terms with the things she cannot change and excelling at the things she can.

You can see these same things everyday, every time you look into the mirror, you are all these wonderful things so let's start acting like what we really are...beautiful. I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Black Bean Burgers

Cooked black beans
Brown rice
Seasonings of you choosing
Onions, chopped
Garlic, chopped
Lettuce
Tomato
Olive oil

Mix beans, onions, garlic, seasonings in food processor until blended, add some olive oil till moist, form into patties, cook stove top about 5 minutes per side, serve with whole grain bread and topp with lettuce, tomato and onion, enjoy :D

Comfortable...

Did you ever feel like you kept failing in a certain area in your life..like no matter how many times you said you weren't going to do something, you did, or you swore up and down that you were going to finally get this thing right, that today would be a different day... and maybe it was... for that day...and then your all too familiar habits crept back in to the place that they were most comfortable.

I wish I could say that once I made up my mind to do something that there would be absolutely nothing that could keep me from doing it, that I would always follow through, that there would not be one word that I would speak only to later find that I would be eating those same words because I have that classic case of 'no follow through'.

All I can say is that I try each day to better myself, I catch  myself being less compassionate then I should be and I try to stop myself and readjust my attitude, or I spend money on certain things like its going out of style, things I don't really need and I try to remind myself not to be wasteful of the things I already possess. Maybe you have no problem sticking with something, being consistant, always finishing a task or meeting a goal, but this has been something I have struggled with my whole life.  Now, by no means have I never reached a goal I set out for myself, I've actually met many, but that isn't what I come to find where the problem lies..no, where the problem lies is with my all too habitual self and after completing a 'said' goal or following through with a commitment I tend to get comfortable...and that my friend is where you never want to be...comfort is a place where complacency dwells and where hopes and dreams sit stagnate waiting for you to get sick of being comfortable and decide you want to be extraordinary.

There are so many things that we can be great at, so many things that we can accomplish and achieve if only we would get tired of the one thing that has been holding us back...comfort.  Comfort in the situation, comfort in knowing that if you can just maintain this 'moment', this place in time, then some how you could be happy..but that is only what you tell yourself when in actuality that place you are holding on to for dear life is the very place you will be crawling to get out of when everyone else around you seems to be moving forward and you seem to be at a stand-still.

I really am going to not do all things I have be 'trying' not to do, the key word here is 'trying', you see that word is meant to confuse you, you could almost mistake it for something positive, a move in the right direction, but if you really study it it is nothing more that a fancy shoulda-coulda-woulda-but didn't,  but that doesn't matter..because at least you 'TRIED'.  To me that word will always be an excuse failing at what I meant to achieve and that is never an excuse I want to use again.

I hope you will not 'try' to mend the things in your life that seem broken or out of place, but simply that you will.  I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow.

Warm Regards,
Candace

Homemade Granola

1 package of Organic, No-Sugar Added, Dried Cherries
2 cups of Dry Oats
1/4 cup of Organic Flax Seeds
2-4 TBSP of Organic Brown Rice Syrup
Honey to drizzle on top
H2O as needed

Mix 1 cup of oats and flax seed in a food processor till finely ground, then mix that mixture in a bowl with all the remaining ingredients except for the honey, add water as needed, you want a medium sticky consistency, then bake in oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees, once cooked drizzle honey on top and Enjoy :D

Temple

Day two was a success!  Yes I believe I have mastered the art of wholesome, un-processed, raw, the way it use to taste eating.  I can't describe how much better I feel already, this time I am not cutting out a whole food group or getting too much of one..nope I am feeding on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and beans.

My skin is clearing up, my energy levels are nice and high, my digestive tract is running smoothly and I have already noticed my clothes feeling looser.  Who would have thought that if you supply the right fuel for your body it would actually run the way God meant it too...

...Which leads me to discuss the whole reason behind doing anything of importance when it comes to your body, you, yes YOU are a temple, you were meant to run efficiently with no ailments, no sickness, no extra-flab hanging over your jeans or acne covering you beautiful face, you were created in an image that was perfect so in return you should try your hardest to maintain that image and that means taking care of your health so it can take care of you, that also means saying no to yourself when you crave that double-chocolate cupcake or when you want a mountain-dew to go with your lunch, all these things are toxic, they are not even recognizable to your body.

Did you know that the same can of pop you throw down your throat is the same thing that police officers use to eat away the blood off of the road after a tragic car accident, or how about that nice juicy stack of beef your about to enjoy, did you know that if you take that same pop you were about to have to coincide with that stack of beef and soak your raw beef in it over night you will wake up to a disgusting dish full of worms and pesticides that you were about to consume...I know you are probably thinking "yeah right" but my mother-in-law actually did this little test and it proved to be sickening.

I am not telling you to never have a burger or eat a piece of cake, but you should try to get the healthiest and most nutritional versions of these foods.  I am taking that verse in the bible where is says "...your body is a temple..." and running with it, I want to be the best possible version of myself that I can and that starts with the things I consume.  It is something that most of us have the luxury of controlling so why don't we?   I bid you all a farewell till tomorrow!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Raw Burritos

3-4 Romaine Lettuce Leafs
Juice of one Lime
1 TBSP of Apple Cider Vinegar
Dash of Sea Salt
Dash of Pepper
1/4 cup of Dried Organic, No Sugar-Added Cherries
1 Avocado
1/2 cup of Mixed, Fresh Cooked Beans
1/4 cup of Bean Sprouts
1/2 of and onion, Diced
1/2 cup of Carrots, Diced
1 small Tomato, Diced

mix lime, vinegar, seasonings, cherries, avocado, beans and tomatos in a bowl till combined, cook bean sprouts and onions in a pan till soft with olive oil, combine, then place the "burrito mixture on lettuce leafs and roll up, Enjoy :D

A thought....

First day being un-processed was a success, I have not had one morsel today that was not fresh or full of preservatives.  I thought it would be very difficult and it really wasn't as horrible as I had imagined it.  You see it is all about getting your mind right, if you have the proper mind-set you can reach the world, you can achieve your dreams, you can make anything possible.....and it all started with a thought.

Isn't that the age-old truth that I feel we have skated around our whole life, making excuses why we haven't done all the things we've dreamed of, all the things that when we were 5 years old seemed so possible, they  seemed so real, that we never would have thought for even a second that there was any other possibility than to accomplish our dreams...but somewhere down the road we took a wrong turn onto 'Mundane Lane' and we have been struggling to exit ever since.

The minute you have a thought, the second you have a goal you think you want to reach, the moment your dreams become a vivid scene in your head...that is when you pounce..you take action, you must not wait, because waiting turns into contemplating that turns into procrastinating and finally the thought becomes a distant memory that never becomes tangible.

I hope that you will take yourself seriously enough to realize that you have something no one else has and there is a reason you think the way you do and want the things you want and have the desires and dreams that you have....because no one else could ever have them...they are you and they make up your destiny if you would believe in yourself enough to achieve them.  I bid you all a farewell til tomorrow!

Warm Regards,
Candace

Yummy Spinach Fruit Smoothie

4-5 Frozen Strawberries
1 Banana
1/2 cup of Organic Apple Juice
1/2 cup of H2O
3-4 Ice Cubes
Hand Full of Spinach

Blend together and Enjoy :D