Vacation here we come

Ben, Shira and I are off to Skytop Lodge in the Poconos in Pennsylvania for the next 6 days. You cannot believe how excited I am to be going to Dr Fuhrman's Health Getaway. Initially, I totally discounted the getaway as I was convinced it was going to be populated by sycophantic, guru worshipers and I run a million miles from such people. However, I discovered a few weeks ago that we'd be able to eat three meals a day that are gluten, dairy and soy free, plus they are phytonutrient rich and vegan. This means that the meals will be safe for my family to eat and will be the types of foods we enjoy. Suddenly the getaway became much more interesting to me because I realized that I would get a break from cooking for 6 days.Those of you who do not live with food allergies do not understand how difficult it is to eat out. I can't order in when I've had a rough day, I still have to cook for our family. I haven't had a break from the kitchen for over 4 years.It's a joke when we normally go on vacation. I have to spend hours on the internet and telephone before we leave finding out which restaurants can serve us safe food. Once I've found out about the safe food, I have to find out if we can get vegan food. There are many restaurants that can serve a safe piece of fish or beef, but substantially fewer that can serve safe vegetables.Then I start packing the large 5 day cooler boxes with safe food.Even if I do find safe restaurants, we all start feeling mildly ill after a few restaurant meals. I doubt we feel ill from the allergens, I think it is because we're not used to eating the standard American diet (SAD). The salt, fat, processed foods and sugar does not sit well with us. This all means that I'm back to cooking all our meals.Starting tonight, I have a break from cooking for 6 days. We'll spend six days eating gloriously fresh fruits and vegetables, prepared just the way we like them. It will be heavenly. The only thing that would make it better would be if Marc could join us.The poor guy has a brutal week ahead of him at work.One of the first things Marc teased me about when we met was my fruit and vegetable habit. Every time there is an E. Coli outbreak with fresh produce, he reminds me that if I would only eat processed foods I would be safe. ("An apple? That's not safe! You don't know what's in that thing. There's no list of ingredients!")He once tried to convince me that Twinkies were the perfect food, that with fresh produce you never know what you are eating, while with a Twinkie, you can read all the ingredients on the box.I find it amusing how well we get on, yet how different we are in our attitude to food. However, the mighty may be falling, he's eaten my way for the last week. I'm not holding my breathe over his diet while I am away though.

What's wrong with what we eat?

I LOVE the TEDtalks videos. The TEDtalks organization bills the TEDtalks as being "Ideas worth spreading" through "talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers". They aren't wrong. I've yet to watch one of their videos that isn't completely inspiring and thought provoking in one way or another.

In this fiery and funny talk, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman weighs in on what's wrong with the way we eat now (too much meat, too few plants; too much fast food, too little home cooking), and why it's putting the entire planet at risk. You just have to get past his global warming rhetoric at the beginning of the video.

Perfect, totally perfect.

That was Shira's pronouncement about dinner. LOL. Marc's working late tonight and I had absolutely no inspiration for dinner, so I asked the chicks for their preferences. Shira asked for a tomato and basil salad, a red pepper and a banana smoothie. Tomato, basil, cracked black pepper and a smidgeon of EVOO happens to make Shira's favorite dish.

As soon as our pansies are over their best, we plan on filling the planters with basil plants. The basil is going to be Ben's and Shira's summer project. They have promised to water the containers through the heat of summer. I, in return, have agreed to find ways to include basil into our daily diet.

I took such pleasure watching her eat her salad. You could see the enjoyment in every mouthful. I can only imagine how much she is going to enjoy it when we can buy summer tomatoes.

Ben also thought his dinner was perfect, though he was the only one who thought so. LOL. Loraina made him some gluten free flatbread from Gluten Free Gobsmacked. We love this recipe. It takes 16 min from start to finish and you would never guess that it's gluten free. I used it to make him a wrap with tomato, onion, basil and a smidgeon of mayo. He also asked for fried eggs. To be specific, he asked for eggs that you make in a frying pan where you can see the yolks in the middle of the whites and where you can cut the yolk and make it run. He cracks me up. No matter how often I tell him those are fried eggs, he still insists on giving me the description just to ensure that he gets the right ones. To finish it off, he had a banana smoothie.

I used to love double thick malted shakes, not that I drank them at all often, but when I did, it was sheer heaven. I am sad that my children are never going to experience that particular bit of junk food so I set about making a healthy, gluten free, dairy free, soy free version.

My banana smoothie isn't exactly the same, but I think it tastes even better than the double thick malted shakes I used to love so much. In case you feel like treating yourself, here's the recipe.

Banana double thick smoothie
1.5 cups ice cold water,
2 cups ice cubes,
4-5 very ripe bananas,
3 medjool dates (more if you like food sweeter),
3/4 cup raw cashews
3 tablespoons of flax seeds (optional).
Blend very well.
Makes four 8oz servings

This isn't a low cal food, but every ingredient is good for you. It makes a wonderful desert, or hot afternoon treat.

I must admit that this turns out better when you use a high powered blender like a Vitamix. I couldn't imagine my life without my beloved Vitamix. The standing family joke is that if we ever had to evacuate our home, I'd grab my Vitamix before my children.

I was on a roll wrt smoothies today. I made the children a great one at lunch time. It was too sweet for my taste, but I've noticed that since I've been following Eat to Live I've lost my taste for sweetness. The kids had no such complaints. They inhaled it with gusto.

Tropical smoothie
1 orange
2 bananas
1 cup frozen pineapple
16oz frozen mango
2 tablespoons flax seeds
cold water
Blend until smooth and enjoy.
makes three servings.

Yikes, I was proof reading this post and realized that I almost OD'd my kids on bananas today. They had bananas with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Oh, well, they aren't going to be short of potassium today.