Join Us For New Year's Eve :)

Would YOU love to spend New Year's Eve with myself and the Monarch, in delightful company with a whole tribe of raw foodies, down at the Tree of Life in warm wintery Arizona? Mmmmmm, if that sounds yummy to you, then I'm blissed to say that we have a 10 day "Renew Yourself" raw rejuvenation retreat lined up for you to come and play at... The retreat is from Dec 27th to Jan 6th and will combine powerful body work with yoga, meditations, delicious raw foods served daily by the Tree of Life kitchen crew and of course, talks with us. Here's a list of some of the activities on offer:

* 5-6x/week yoga classes

* 4x/week food prep classes, on subjects such as breakfasts, savory foods, sauerkraut, and raw 'breads'

* 1x/week sprouting class - wheatgrass, alfalfa, sunflower, buckwheat, mung beans and many other kinds of sprouts

* 4x/week Nutritional Q&A sessions with Dr. Dan Engle, Medical Doctor and Psychiatrist

* 1x/week Qi Gong class

* 7x/week Evening programs/Meditations

* Access to unlimited wheatgrass, non-chlorinated pool, infrared saunas, non-chlorinated hot tubs, the world's largest Chartres labyrinth, sundecks, and nature trails

* Native American medicine wheel, teepee

* New Year's Native American Inipi (Ceremonial Lodge)

* New Year's Day Celebration Party

The arrival date is Dec 27th and the phone number to make reservations is: 866.394.2520 x215 or via email: tolrep2@treeoflife.nu

Included in the retreat fee of $2,890 is lodging (shared double room) at the renowned Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center, an abundance of 100% organic plant-based meals, 5 kundalini-enhancing, intensive "Renew Yourself" body–work sessions with Dr. George Cromack...and all the activities listed above...

We are very excited to bring in the New Year this way, with raw family :) We're especially looking forward to the Inipi (ceremonial lodge) on New Year's Eve, which we intend to all emerge from at exactly midnight... Then we're going to have a New Year's Day party on January the first, with music and delicious food, where we'll enjoy an intention circle and collectively set the course for a totally flowing, synchronous, divinely healthy 2010 ;)
We hope that you'll join us for this AMAZING, powerful, life–shifting retreat...

on October the 27th I was blissed with:

1 quart water
2 cups veggie juice: celery, fennel, spinach, carrot, ginger
2 Tbsp bee pollen, 2 Tbsp spirulina crunchies, an apple
bowl of energy soup with sauerkraut and spicy sunflower seeds, followed by a YUMMY slice of raw blueberry cheesecake :)
3 cups water
2 cups goji juice with marine phytoplankton, Merlin's Elixir and Etherium Gold
an apple with ½ a bag of Noniland Coconut Crisps and an apple–oat cookie
3 cups water

I've been doing a lot of 'mindless' work for the last week on the computer (repetitive stuff that doesn't require much of my actual attention) and when I'm doing tasks like this, I LOVE to listen to inspiring information. As a result I've been tuning into Raw Vegan Radio and also Raw Inspirations Radio – love them :) Both of these shows provide masses of free interviews with fascinating people in the raw foods movement and beyond – I'd recommend tuning in for some inspiration if you don't already and big KUDOS to Steve and Laura for providing these great services... :) What do YOU like to listen to at times like these? Any recommendations...?


on October the 28th I loved:

1 quart water
3 cups greeeeeen juice: celery, cucumber, spinach, parsley, lemon, ginger
big bowl of chia–pomegranate pudding with a couple of fresh figs and tahini on the side
3 cups water
2 Tbsp spirulina crunchies and bee pollen
two small apples with a big handful of spicy sunflower seeds
3 cups water


on October the 29th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
2 cups goji juice with Marine Phytoplankton, Merlin's Elixir, Etherium Products
2 small apples with spirulina crunchies and bee pollen
bowl of energy soup with spicy sunflower seeds on the side, followed by a hand–mixed yumpot of lucuma/mesquite/maca/cinnamon powders with a little pine nut butter and water
3 cups water
2 cups goji juice with Marine Phytoplankton, Merlin's Elixir, Etherium Products
bowl of grawnola with fresh apple and macadamia milk ;)
2 cups water

The video entries are pouring in for the current RawReform Giveaway Contest to WIN a Blendtec Blender (worth $399) – thank you all SO much for your very amusing, creative flow and sharing...the closing date for this contest is Nov 1st (this SUNDAY) and here is a little reminder of the deets again for those of you who'd still love to enter:

How do you get in on this free piece of mechanical magic for your kitchen? Well, get us giggling and you could be on to a winner ;)

To be in with a chance of winning the spangly new machine, we'd love for you to send in to us a video of no more than 3 minutes in length, explaining WHY you'd love to win the Blendtec blender, what you currently use as a blender (if anything) AND...we wanna giggle too - whoever gets us laughing the most (whether from your stage presence, hilarious costuming, witty anecdotes, charming interaction, stand-up comedy routine or whatever it is...) will win the blender...
Oooooooo, how exciting - we very much look forward to enjoying your submissions :)
You have until November the 1st to get your entries in. We suggest the easiest way to send the videos to us is to upload your entry to YouTube (or another online video hub such as Google Vids or whichever you like ;), then send us the link to the video, to angela@rawreform.com. You can set your video to 'private' if you don't want 'the general public' to see your video quite yet...;) If you would like to send us a video in any other way, you can contact us on that same email address to arrange that - please DO NOT email us massive video files however ;)
Thanks...and ENJOY :)))

All lovings and shimmy-ings,
Ms. Stokes-Monaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarch. xxx

Diabetes, Discussions and Yumballs... ;)

OOoooo, greens at the ready, it’s World Diabetes Day today, Friday the 14th of November :)
To mark the occasion, over 700 monuments around the world are being lit up with blue lights, including the Empire State Building in NYC and the London Eye in England. Perhaps you’d like to join in the celebration by pinning blue lights on your roof...? Or perhaps a more exciting way to celebrate on this day is to invest in a copy of the life-changing raw food documentary on reversing diabetes naturally, called Simply Raw? Mmmm, I think I know which I’d choose... ;)
Ext-RAW-dinarily, there will be diabetes-related events kicking off ALL over the world on this day and yet information about how to naturally reverse this condition does not seem to be actively embraced or encouraged by the World Diabetes Day team. (In fact, the WDD website/organisation has gone so far as to remove any mentions of the Simply Raw film posted to its website by users...hmmmm...interesting policy methinks... ;)
SO, in honour of the multiplying multitudes of our brothers and sisters worldwide who are living with diabetes and simply not receiving the message that they can heal naturally, myself, the Monarch and over a dozen other raw food renegades have come together to create a super-package of giveaways, to support the ‘Simply Raw’ documentary team’s mission to spread the truth.
You can see the details of this giveaway HERE – there are STACKS of generous goodies to get your mittens on – e-books, discount packages, interviews etc - for anyone who orders a copy of the Simply Raw DVD before November the 21st. (There are truly some amazing gifts in there, including the whole of Mr. M’s “Raw Success” e-book, my ‘Revealing the Physical Changes’ e-book, a whole CD recording from Wolfie, 2 free e-books on raising raw children from Storm and Jinjee, a 50% off scholarship for courses at Brenda Cobb’s living foods centre and...a free toe-nail clipping for every customer, from Gabriel Cousens (I made the last one up – he’s actually offering a chapter from his latest book ;) ...and the DVD is only a $29.95 investment - wow, it’s like Christmas come early ;) You might consider hosting a showing of this film in YOUR area, or at a potluck, or sharing it with anyone you know who is (pre-)diabetic (I wonder how many people these days DON’T know someone who is diabetic...???)
If you’ve been reading here for a while, you might remember that I watched this documentary a couple of months back (after excitedly waiting around 3 years for it to be completed ;) – I LOVED it – you can see my write-up on it HERE. You can also see the trailer for the film HERE.

ENJOY :)

on November the 12th I had:

1.5 quarts water
1.5 cups green juice: celery, cucumber, fennel, endive, spinach, kale, cabbage, ginger, lime
1 persimmon
2 cups energy soup with okra on the side, followed by a few amazing little raw goji yumballs made by the Monarch
little cup of rooibus tea
2 cups water
1.5 cups yummy veggie juice: carrot/fennel/romaine
1 cup energy soup with okra on the side, followed by a little bowl of chia/pomegranate pudding
little cup of rooibus tea
2 cups water

Ho-hummmmmm...Mr. Monarch left for the US again today = me sad again... ;(
Yes, the US-visa-waiting saga continues...he’s going back to take care of some business, while I continue to breathe deeply here in the UK for now...hmmmmm...well, in the meantime, if you’d like to hear the Monarch’s musings on travel as a raw foodist, along with discussions about being 100% raw or not, overeating, dwindling bee populations and more, he and two of those ever-lovely goddesses of raw, Victoria Boutenko and Laura Fox, had a mighty chin-wag about all that on Wednesday night on Raw Inspirations Radio, that you can listen to HERE, if it would delight you to do so...(you might even notice a sneaky cameo from a certain Stokes too, if you listen carefully... ;)


on November the 13th I had:

1.5 quarts water
1 cup orange/pomegranate juice
1 persimmon
1.5 cups greeeen juice: celery, cucumber, fennel, endive, spinach, kale, cabbage, ginger, lime
2 cups energy soup with okra on the side, followed by some Monarch yumball concoctions
little mug of rooibus tea
2 cups water
1.5 cups veggie juice: celery, spinach, endive, carrot
little bowl of yummy kale salad with lime juice, avo, apple and nori strips (using up leftovers – worked GREAT :), followed by some Monarch yumballs
little cup of rooibus tea
2 cups water


Well, before he left, Mr. Monarch fortunately relayed the recipe to me for the current batches of low-glycemic ‘yumballs’, so that I can make them for myself now... ;) Each batch has been a little different so far – they all follow the same kind of pattern though and they’re YUMMMMMMY, so I’ll try to summarise in a way that will get you the taste, with space to play around with the exact ingredients you choose to include...
Ok, so, here are the important elements:

1 cup goji berries
water
2.5 tbsp nut butter
3-7 tbsp sweet raw powder (might be yacon powder, lucuma powder, or the most recent batch he made had the new 50% Hemp Protein Powder from Nutiva and is soooooooooooooooo good – this new HPP tastes like WEETABIX (for those of you in the UK) or WHEAT CHEX (for those in N. America - I think that's what Mr. M said the name was ;) – WOW)

Directions:
First you soak the gojis in water, for at least 3 hours or so, until soft. Do not use much water – barely cover the gojis in fact with water – it is ok if some on the top are hardly touching water. Once the gojis are softened, pour them with the soak water into a food processor with the S-blade in place. Add in 2.5 tbsp of whichever nut butter you desire (me like almond butter) and a big whack of whichever powder you’re using (at least 3 tbsp – use more if you used more water). Process that all together into a yummy smooth consistency. If it looks very loose, keep adding in more powder until it stiffens up more. In a little bowl, sprinkle some more powder. Take little balls of the goji mixture in your hands and roll them in the powder in the bowl, before placing them in a 'Tupperware box' for storage in the fridge. Mr. M thinks they have the consistency of marshmallows ;) They are VERRRRY yummy – soaking the gojis seems to make a huge difference.
Other variations we’ve tried out include adding a little stevia powder and cinnamon to the mix, to make it sweeter, sprouted/dehydrated buckwheaties to add more crunch or maca to the powder that goes on the outside of the balls, for some extra OOOMPH ;) ENJOY :)

We love you,
Angelalalaalaaaaaaaaa. xxx