What made it even more special since I volunteer with ministries that help the homeless. I will say, that when I listened to this I immediately prayed for Danny and hoped wherever he is, he’s still being a minister.
From Carlos’s site…
If you listen carefully at the end you hear me saying this to Danny.
“Keep trying to make it man.”
He looked me square in the eye…cocked his head sideways with a confused look on his face…and said,
“Trying to make it? No man. I ain’t trying to make it…I’m making it. Jah puts His soldiers everywhere. Jah says, Yea though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death… So He places some of us, in that valley.”
I love how he was quoting Psalm 23 at the end. Blessings come in many forms. Watching the video was a wonderful reminder (for me) that Jesus is accessible to anyone regardless of their socioeconomic status, race, etc., the only requirement is that you are willing to accept him. But how many are willing to do that? If we are to believe the Bible, the gate that leads to eternal life is small.
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it Matthew 7:13-15
I will say that it is very interesting to me to see a lot of the predictions that are talked about in Revelation seem to be unfolding now.
Here’s what’s been keeping me busy today, no time for too many words. That will come later, but here are several photos of the latest honeybees that our on our property.
Honeybees 5 frame nuc
This nuc rode in my vehicle for about 30 minutes. If I were to guess, I’d say in the back seat of my car was between 15,000 – 20,000 honeybees. Only thing separating me from them was a cardboard nuc box. 😉 No, I wasn’t nervous!
Honeybees: Five frame nuc crawling with honeybees
Lots of honeybees!
This is a five frame nuc and each frame was literally covered with honeybees (both sides).
Love seeing honeybees in action.
Picking up my Frame Grips.
And these honeybees were extremely active, but even so I didn’t use the smoker and just sprayed them once. I’m wearing lots of layers under the bee suit. Although I wear a size small, I chose an extra large bee suit. Why? I wear bulky clothing underneath the bee suit. That way if the honeybees sting my bee suit, since I’m wearing additional clothing underneath I most likely won’t get stung.
Honeybee tool: Frame grips
I will say these Frame grips are awesome! I purchased them today from a local beekeeper and it made transferring loaded honeybee frames to their new home a breeze!
During the transfer from the nuc to their new home, the honeybees did swarm around me in a cloud and that was fine. I’d be annoyed too, being cooped up in a tiny home for so long. No worries…I’m guessing that cloud contained several hundred honeybees. Who knows, it might have been in the low thousands? I didn’t have time to count you know! But even with all that activity, I didn’t panic. Why would I do something silly like that? Your brain can’t go on meltdown just because a situation might be challenging! I apply that same concept to other aspects of my life also; think rationally. I continued to make slow careful movements. I wanted them to know I wasn’t trying to rob or hurt them. I was there to make their home a bit bigger. My daughter, having seen all the activity, had already put further distance between herself and the hive. I make her stand a ways back until I can read their temperament. She’s expressed an interest in beekeeping so I’ll be purchasing a suit for her also. Then, she can be right there with me when things are a bit crazy. 🙂
Their new beehive
The above photo is their new beehive. It’s a Langstroth. I prefer Warre beehives and I’m leaning towards Tanzanian Top Bars also. I haven’t had a chance to try out a Tanzanian. I’m willing to check out the Langstroth before forming an opinion.
Securing the feeder in the top box
The second box is purely for show (for now.) This box is where I’m keeping their food. I’m feeding them for a bit since I’m still not seeing a lot of pollen sources. I don’t want them to starve. What’s their food? Organic sugar and water. The ration is 1:1. Keeping their food housed inside the top box will discourage potential robbers from trying to get a free meal. After all, there are lots of other critters that would love to gorge on sugar water too. Why make it easy for them? There’s only one way inside. A small entrance at the bottom of the hive and the guard bees won’t be letting other insects up in there; at least not without a nasty fight!
Gently shaking out the remaining honeybees from the cardboard nuc box
Their home is much larger now, here’s hoping they stay!
A few days ago, I made this raw onion bread for ‘Totally Raw Thursday’ which happens to be a day late since this is being posted on Friday.
Raw Onion flat bread with a tablespoon of mashed avocado
While I’d seen posts about raw breads, most weren’t too appealing to me because of the high fat content that was used in them. Nuts, seeds, avocados, olives are loaded with nutrients but they also carry a high amount of fat. Too much fat in my diet makes me sleepy, so I only consume it in small amounts.
I guess I should start at the beginning, right?
This raw onion flat bread is simple to make; it had five or six ingredients. The patience comes in waiting for your food to dehydrate.
Red onions
I chose red onions for my flat bread, the flavor isn’t as strong as the onions I normally use.
Carrots and onions prepped in my 12 cup Kitchen Aid Food Processor
Because I love color I also added carrots. Those colors are great together, aren’t they?
Pureed red bell pepper and tomatoes
To add a bit more sweetness, I added a red pepper and roma tomatoes were tossed in for natural sodium.
Freshly ground flax seeds that have expanded in water.
To bind the ingredients I ground 1/4 cup of flax seeds. I wasn’t sure if this would be enough to bind the ingredients, but I was willing to experiment. You might be surprised at how much fat is in flax seeds or you might not care! I let the ground flax seeds soak in about 1/2 cup of water for thirty minutes. As you can see, it expanded!
Adding flax mixture to carrots and onions
I slowly added the flax seed mixture to the onions and garlic. Even though onions and carrots made a lot of dough. It looked like a 1/4 cup of my expanded flax seed mixture is enough to coat everything. Phew!
Onion flatbread – dough
The next step was to slowly spread the ‘dough’ onto my Excalibur trays. This made enough to cover three trays.
See! Everything has been spread, no holes in the dough, either! Now the only thing left to do was wait. Waiting on something that smells this good? It wasn’t long before the house was filled with the aroma. It smelled so good! I will admit I was concerned with how it would taste, that’s a whole lot of onions!
Raw onion flat bread – cut into squares
Once they were finished, I cut them into squares with my Kitchen Aid Shears and now the main question, how do they taste?
Raw Onion flatbread
I must say I’m pleased with the results. The raw onion bread dough made a fair amount, but unfortunately the raw onion flat bread is all gone. My daughter loved them (as much as myself) and I shared them with others.
I enjoyed making this onion flat bread. I like mild flavors to so I’m tasting the produce, so I went easy on the seasoning and enjoyed tasting the flavor of the onion, carrots, peppers and tomatoes. They worked well together. These were a pleasure to make and I loved how the bread was bursting with flavor. It was so good, that I ate a few without adding anything to them.
Eaten plain (as a chip) or made into a sandwich this was a healthy, low calorie, gluten free meal that is bursting with flavor.
Check out Jennifer’s Raw Food Challenge!
Raw food Giveaway
I’ll be posting a raw food giveaway tomorrow. It’s for the above book. So stop by this weekend to enter and find out what my next challenge is for the next two weeks.
Dehydrating adventures: Raw Onion Flat Bread
Recipe Type: Snacks
Cuisine: Raw Food
Author: Opal @imcelebratinglife.com
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Raw onion flat bread that’s bursting with flavor
Ingredients
3 medium red onions (or vidalia)
4 medium carrots
2 roma tomatoes
1 large red bell pepper
1/4 cup whole flax seeds
Season to taste I added freshly ground sea salt and cumin
Instructions
Chop onions finely. I used my food processor
Grate carrots – I did this in my food processor
Dice roma tomatoes
Finely chop red bell pepper
Grind 1/4 cup flax seeds – set aside to soak (I let mine soak for 30 minutes)
Combine vegetables into large bowl and mix thoroughly
Slowly add the soaked flax seeds making sure that everything is coated
Place on ‘dough’ lined dehydrator sheet
Spread, making sure there are no holes in the dough
Dry 1t 130 for an hour then turn temperature down to 110
Check after 8-10 hours. If bottom is firm, flip (removing dehydrator sheet)
Check about 4 hours later. If slightly firm you can cut into squares at this time.
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Have you made any raw food lately? Let us know what you’ve made below.
Earlier this morning, I prepared the juice listed below using my Breville juicer. Since I was in a rush, I didn’t have time to juice any of the dark leafy greens in my Green Stary juicer, I opted for the easier route and juiced fruit using my newest juicing machine; Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite – Stainless Steel.
Happy juice
Recipe Type: Juice
Cuisine: Juicing
Author: Opal @imcelebratinglife.com
Prep time:
Total time:
Sweet & spicy blend of apple, grapes, citrus fruits and ginger.
Ingredients
5 medium apples (leave skin if organic)
3 medium carrots
1 cup of grapes
1 medium lemon (leave skin if organic)
1 small lime (leave skin if organic)
2″ ginger
Instructions
Rinse produce thoroughly
Add pieces to juicer
Juice
Serve and Enjoy
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No surprise that I could not come up with a name for this juice. I call it by whatever I’ve added to it, but I guess that’s not as fun for some.) The nutrients provided by the variety of fruits/herbs I use is a great way to kick start your morning and give you a blast of energy at the same time. It’s one of my feel good drinks and makes my bright days a bit more sparkling, so I’ll call it my Happy juice! Enjoy!
Health Benefits of my juice blend
I chose this produce combo for the amazing benefits. I’m still on my lenten pledge of only consuming fresh juices and raw foods during the entire lenten season. While there are numerous benefits to consuming the above juice. I’m only focusing on one today and that is malic acid.
Malic acid is great for…
Digestion
Fibromyalgia
Distributing energy throughout the cells
Metablism
Effective fighter against toxic metals that can be found in the body.
Just so you know, malic acid is naturally present in our bodies. What’s incredible is the effect that malic acid has a variety of toxic metals. It has a binding effect on them, so harmful metals like aluminum and stromnium (both dangerous for the brain and liver) are moved out of the body thanks to malic acid. Apples are one of the best sources of malic acid. Malic acid is mainly found in tart/unripe fruit.
I will say that I’ve already prepared the yumalicious dehydrated food that I’ll be featuring. I challenged myself to make something with onions. I will say the raw dehydrated food I made turned out amazingly well. In fact, I had some of it this morning. I’m still not finished writing the post. How hard can it be to write a post? Well… due to my tendency to write about the benefits of the various foods I prepare and then link to sources, that backs up what I’ve written sometimes it can take a little while.
However, I will be posting my challenge for ‘dehydrate something with onions’ for this Friday, so stop by and see what I’ve made and join in if you like. I look forward to see what Jennifer posts.
Unlike last year, my honeybees won’t be shipped to me through the mail, I’ll be picking them up locally. The main reason for going local is that I’m not dragging my feet on whether I’m ready for honeybees. I am! Last year, by the time I’d made up my mind, most of the package bees were sold out. I still am pleased where I purchased my honeybees. Their customer service and the honeybees received were amazing, but I’m thrilled that this year I can support a local beekeeper.
This year, I’m eager to add more to the four acres where we reside.
Also new this year, is the amount of hives I’ll have. Instead of one, I’ll have at least three hives on our property and I might acquire more… we’ll see!
My daughter has a high metabolism. In that way, she takes after myself. I stay active so I burn through calories very quickly. Over the years, my metabolism has slowed down (slightly) but it’s still fairly high since my activity level is still active.
Being that she can burn through food, I make sure that the snacks available in our home are delicious and nutritious. One way to do this is to make raw food snacks in my dehydrator. If you don’t have a dehydrator you can also receive similar results in an oven, just turn it on the lowest setting.
The most recent raw food snack I made for her are these raw zucchini chips. In fact, they are still in the Excalibur dehydrator.
Excalibur: Raw food snacks
Last evening, I made a few flat breads (one will be featured later this week) and I also made zucchini chips. As you can see the Excalibur dehydrator is almost full. Only three empty trays left. Naturally the kitchen was filled with the aroma of the flatbreads and the chips. Throughout the evening, I caught my daughter peering into the Excalibur dehydrator willing them to be finished. Yes, she knows that it takes hours for the food to be dehydrated. Food dehydrators dries the food on low heat. For ‘raw food’ I don’t turn the heat past 110 F.
Check out the zucchini chips! They were very easy to prepare. Zucchini makes the perfect base for chips. It has a mild flavor and readily absorbs whatever it’s marinated with.
While some people are adamant that you need a mandolin slicer to cut your zucchini chips finely, I disagree. You don’t really need to use one if you have a sharp knife. Just pay attention and cut thin slices.
Zucchini slices
You see! I did a fairly decent job cutting the zucchini into thin slices. I used s sharp knife. I do have a stainless steel mandolin slicer; sometimes I use it but usually reach for my knife.
I took out my mortar and pestle and ground up herbs and spices; sea salt, turmeric, black seeds, parsley, rosemary, etc., The smell that they gave off while they were being ground made me want to eat the herbs and spices. Yes, they smelled that good. However, I showed restraint and let them just kept pounding everything into fine dust.
Raw food snacks: Zucchini chips
Afterwards, I coated the zucchini chips with this marinade, and covered it, and placed them in the refrigerator overnight.
Raw food snacks: Zucchini chips ready to be dehydrated
Early this morning, I pulled them out of the refrigerator and placed them on my Excalibur trays. I filled three trays and then placed them into the dehydrator.
I’m sorry, but I guessed at the measurement for the recipe I’ve included below. I rarely measure ingredients nor do I follow recipes. I just toss in what sounds good.
Raw Zucchini Chips
Recipe Type: Raw food snack
Cuisine: Raw food
Author: Opal @ Imcelebratinglife.com
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Delicious and healthy raw food snack.
Ingredients
2 medium zucchini finely sliced
sea salt to taste
1 tsp raw organic coconut oil
1 tsp black seeds
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp turmeric (turmeric has a slightly bitter taste, if you don’t like that try curry or another spice)
Instructions
Place the sliced zucchini chips into a large bowl with the coconut oil. Stir thoroughly making sure all the zucchini is coated.
In another bowl combine all the spices (my spices were ground in my mortar and pestle)
Add the spices/herbs to your zucchini bowl. Make sure you coat all the zucchini slices.
Marinate overnight
Drain the water from the bowl
Place marinated zucchini chips into your Food dehydrator.
Dehydrate at 140 for one hour, then reduce the temperature to 115. Dehydrate until they are dry.
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I’ll be posting what I did with my raw food challenge on Thursday. Yes, it’s already been made and I’m still working on the post. Check out this post on my Dehydrator challenge and join in if you like. For the first challenge, I will be giving away a raw food book.
