Let me know your thoughts on gratitude and how you are making a difference in your own community.

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If you have no children or do not even like children …fear not..this activity can be done with a girlfriend,husband, dog,boyfriend or even alone!

Step 1.

make a list of dry healthy snack ideas.

Don’t be afraid Step outside the box a bit …

Think hot air popcorn
Dehydrated fruits or vegetables
Pecans
Cashews
Macadamia nuts
Goji berries
Cranberries
Coconut shreds
Carob chips

The sky is the limit! Let your creativity inspire what you will put in your own custom-made trail mix.

Step 2.

Head to the grocery store and directly go to the bulk bin section.

Not only look for the ingredients on your list but also be inspired by all the unique choices that you may never have even thought of using.

My girls personally love the bulk bin section of the store. Even with the no grazing signs plastered on the bins,they have been known to test a chocolate nut or two… Hey there kids and isn’t that part of the fun of being a kid?

Bianca making grocery shopping a fun experience not a boring chore!

One very important note:

Remember that when you are purchasing the snacks look at the ingredients and choose nuts and other goodies that are not saturated in oils, sugars, and loads of sodium. Simply look for raw or at least dry roasted with no oil when ever possible.
I like to pick at least 5-6 items to make a nice trail mix.

Step 3.

Turn on some inspiring music to create a more fun working environment. My girls love Lady Gaga so thats what we love to jam to!

Step 4.

Once back home have your children help you put each ingredient into separate bowls or better yet I find that muffin tin trays work really well too!

Step 5.

For easy travel put trail mix in plastic containers. Zip lock bags work well too and they can generally be reused when you are only putting in dry ingredients.

I like to have the girls make up to a weeks worth of containers so that we already have a pre packed snack ready to go at a moments notice.

Step 6.

The buffet line is now open!
Have your children pick a few ingredients from each bowl and put it in the containers of choice.
Since you have involved your kids in the decision-making process they will generally be more excited to pick as well as eat the ingredients in front of them.

Step 7.

Let the party begin! Enjoy the fruits of your labor! Creating healthy trail mix really is that simple!

I know..I know… if you’re a perfectionist like me you really want to be the one who packs the lunch and who makes the perfectly neat with no mustard squirting out the sides sandwich but in the end the sandwich still tastes the same right? Let go of the control and perfection and teach your child an invaluable life skills lesson. Your kids may not thank you today but they will tomorrow.

My last supper before the fast. A delicious salad with romaine lettuce,yellow beets,red beets,cucumbers,red peppers,cherry tomatos and shredded carrots topped with a little brown rice vinegar. ( I ate two salads )

I finished the evening off with a few strawberries and an apple slice.

Operation get Kim's garden planted

Last Sunday My family had the wonderful opportunity to help my girlfriend Kim plant her families first backyard garden. I was so excited! When I helped plant our school garden last fall it was one of the best experiences that I have ever had. There is something about digging in the dirt that just makes everything else melt away. The never-ending list of things to do ,the needy kids pulling at your shirt tail or the  unanswered emails ,texts,and voicemail that  seem to continue to pile up faster than any human could attend to in a timely manner. For a brief time my mind magically cleared its slate and allowed me to really enjoy the moment of just being with nature.

This is our little team of garden helpers

The kids quickly decided that the best way they could help us would be to just play in the yard and also eat up lots of the delicious organic apples and fruit that had been set out to enjoy while we were planting the garden.

Bianca on the Litt's great tree swing!

Enjoying our beautiful snacks in the sunshine!

Our little babies

Kim and I quickly got busy plotting and planning where each plant would go in the garden.

laying out the garden design

Kim looking oh so cute with her future salad!

We came up with a game plan and stared immediately cutting the holes in the garden blanket that we were using. Kim grabbed the pocket knife and immediately cut right into the hose…oops! That was the perfect excuse for Josh and Charlie to go get a starbucks…and some duck tape.

We continued cutting each hole in the garden blanket  and then we would take turns digging the holes while the other carefully transplanted our babies into their new home.

baby corn

Macy and Bella stopping by the garden for a little fun

As Kim and I worked together hand in hand planting the most beautiful little garden, something even more magnificent was beginning to blossom. Our friendship. We shared thoughts and ideas that we had never really talked about before. We made plans for our family summer together in Del Mar. We talked about how wonderful it would be for our families to grow up together as our children climbed through school faster than we could blink an eye. we also talked about the loss of my late husband and how that had effected me and my girls and the incredible gift that had been given to us when Josh came into our life. Kim listened so thoughtfully as only the most caring heart would do. I had already fallen in love with my girlfriend early on in our friendship but this afternoon had sealed the deal. Our friendship had grown to a new level.

watering our garden and nurturing our friendship

Watering our little babies

The guys finally made it back with the Starbucks and duck tape. Nothing like a delicious soy Tea in the afternoon!The men really did end up being very useful….they were the best cheerleaders a person could ask for! “Hey girls…you are doing such a great job.” All kidding aside this truly was one of the most memorable moments in my life that I will cherish.

The gang joins in to celebrate the big finish!

On a final note… I realized my life and  values were shifting when I insisted that Kim and I  not attend the Tory Burch champagne and shopping event and instead spend the Sunday afternoon planting the garden. This coming from a self-professed shoe and purse shopper!

Our family and friends

Our family

We always do lots of family pictures on the holidays…Well anyone who knows me knows we always do lots of pictures all the time whether they like it or not. I love capturing the moments!

I know there was some  concern whether we would have a “real” turkey or not after my family had all become vegan this past year. This was a tough decision for me. I have to admit at first I was ok with having a turkey in the house for our non vegan family and friends to enjoy but then the more I thought about it I didn’t feel so comfortable . Bella and Bianca had adopted Olive the turkey from the farm sanctuary and it just felt wrong.

Bianca and Bella with olive 's adoption certificate

I also didn’t want my family not to come because of the turkey situation. I wavered back and forth in my mind…one minute I was ok and the next I thought I do not want to cook any animals in my home anymore. We finally settled on my Mom cooking a turkey at her house and bringing it to our home. This seemed like the best approach. We had already decided to buy a couple of tofu turkeys for our family. The girls seemed very excited to have a tofu turkey. I think they thought that it would look just like a bird.

Josh with his game face on...ready to carve the tofu

To be honest I think Thanksgiving is one of the best meals for a vegan with all the side dishes. Here was our beautiful Thanksgiving day spread. Notice that our adopted Olive was the centerpiece.

This was my first round plate.

I really liked the tofu turkey and to be honest the wild rice stuffing was some of the best stuffing that I have ever eaten.

This is the infamous kids table.

We drank a toast to Olive

I never really cared for eating turkey that much anyway .  The toughest task was definitely creating some truly healthy low-fat vegan desserts with no oil.Rosa and I spent a good week or two working on some truly clean and healthy yet tasty vegan desserts.

Bella enjoying our homemade vegan healthy pumpkin pie and soy whipped cream

We finished off the evening with our family tradition of attending Opportunity Villages annual Christmas season event.

Bianca and Bella With Santa 2009

We always visit Santa and then take a ride on the train and then finish off the evening with some hot cocoa while strolling through the village enjoying all the  decorated christmas trees.

the happy family

All in all it was a beautiful Thanksgiving ! I can’t wait until next year….

Rosa seemed happy with the idea. In a previous job, she had once used a wheatgrass juicing machine. She said it was actually pretty darn easy to do.

Rosa was not feeling her best today so we decided that we should definitely start the wheatgrass program asap. Wheatgrass is considered a superfood and it is definitely my go to green when I need an immune boost.

Rosa and I began giggling like little girls as we pulled out my Champion juicer and wheatgrass machine. We both love learning and trying new things so this was definitely going to be fun!  We spent a few minutes trying to figure out the attachment to make the wheatgrass machine actually juice properly.

I plugged The Champion in and we were ready for business! Rosa started cutting small amounts of the grass and feeding them into the machine.

At first only a drop or two came out of the machine.

The next thing we both notice is that it smells like my lawn care man is mowing the lawn in my kitchen. It is such a pungent fresh-cut grass smell. I have to admit that I can’t stand the way that wheatgrass smells or tastes but because I know the wonderful benefits of consuming it I drink it anyway. Rosa continued putting chunks of  the grass in the machine and still only drops of green juice was making its way into the collection bowl. I told Rosa that considering that half a flat of grass cost 5.99 it may not be as economical as I had originally thought since we were quickly working through the grass. No sooner than I had spoken ,it was as if the wheatgrass heavens had opened up and all of this glorious all-powerful green juice poured out of the juicer.

I guess the Wheatgrass had gotten backed up in the machine. We again giggled as I poured the juice into my little sake cups.

We both drank down “the green medicine” and  I was quick enough to capture rosa’s expression as she finished her shot.

I on the other hand fell into such a wheatgrass blissful state…

I think we are going to give this home wheatgrass juicing thing a try. My next project will be to do some online research on the best way to grow my  own wheatgrass at home in the kitchen.

Our first meeting took place at Whole Foods for a quick store tour.

We then proceeded to buy the ingredients to make the most delicious soy yogurt parfait on the planet!! We packed the groceries into the car and headed back to my house for our first lesson together.

One of the first things that Chef mayra teaches you is to smell the food ,then taste it as you are cooking. I am really good at the tasting as you are cooking part.

Rosa was equally excited  to learn vegan cooking with Chef Mayra. Our first cooking lesson was a smashing success! The following weeks turned out to be such an amazing learning experience in the  kitchen and  I made some new girlfriends as well.

Who said you can’t have fun in the kitchen?

We made the most amazing portobello mushroom  burgers!!!

One word….DELICIOUS!!!!!!

When I started my vegan cooking classes with Chef Mayra I was coming from a place of health for my body much more than I was concerned with the health of our planet . What I learned in my journey with Chef Mayra is that the health of my body is just as important as the health of our planet. They go hand in hand. When you take off the blinders and really learn how your food is processed ,you cannot help but become a more compassionate human being.  Becoming Vegan has been the biggest gift that I have ever been given and I intend to continue to share it with all that cross my path for the rest of my amazing plant-based life!

This simple idea has suddenly made a normally not so fun chore of grocery shopping something that my girls look forward to doing. They have become quite savvy little shoppers as well as a help in the market instead of being a hinderence.

I have taught my girls how to read an ingredient list and what some of the big no no’s are on a package. One of the biggest challenges that a parent faces when taking your child shopping is the dreaded “I want this! Or Mommy can we have this?” Because I have taught my girls to be nutrition detectives, when they ask to put a product or treat in the cart ,I ask them first to read the ingredient list to see what is in it.  If the product passes the clean ingredient list then we make the decision whether will will put the item in our cart . Before I taught my girls to read labels and ingredient lists I was always the bad Mom if I did not let them have the junk treats that they wanted. Now,after educating my girls as to what the bad ingredients do to their bodies I don’t get the same response. They may be dissapointed that something they want has unhealthy ingredients but it then becomes sort of a game for them to find a healthier product.Unfortunately the girls are quickly learning that most packaged foods are filled with unhealthy ingredients.

Bella loves to weigh the produce! The grocery store has so many places that you you can sneak in ways to brush up on your kids math skills. For   younger kids just simply having them count out the produce before you put it in the cart is a fun game for you children.

The grocery store is an incredible opportunity for you to teach your children  healthy habits that they will carry into adulthood but even more importantly you will be creating  family memories together.