10 is a big number....

Today was my daughter's 10th birthday. A day to celebrate and have fun! It was tough for her to decide on what to do, perhaps we have too many options these days. Some suggestions for outings were made, and it seemed that none were the right ones. A day at home, with the family, making crafts, hanging out, reading, a ' do nothing ' day was the right fit for her. How fantastic that after all the possibilities she chose the one that was keeping her most 'present'.

It was great to see her just doing her own thing. Real low key . Then her dad came over with presents... and everything changed!

We had planned the presents together, deciding on what would be the best thing, what she would enjoy the most, how she could get the most of the gifts that she did get. She chose to open the gift from her little sister first. ..... and I have to say, it was a great choice...for the girls.
A couple of weeks ago my girls and their dad and opa went to see High School Musical 3. According to them all 'it was fantastic! What a show!!'. So, based upon this wonderful, exciting and unbiased opinion, I thought it would be great for a music-theatre-loving newly-10- year- old to get the soundtrack. Forgetting, in the interm , that the PARENTS have to listen to the soundtrack. Again.. and again.. and again.. while little people dance, sing and insist on us watching ALL the routines!!

I am grateful for these little joys in life. And after a while of listening to the music, even more grateful for the 'off' button! I think it is payback... for all the times I did the same thing to my parents. At least that is what they tell me ( and warned me all my childhood: 'Just wait until YOU become a parent!).

Of course, some of the most important questions of the day were.."what do you want to eat for our special day ?" Cake. Carrot Cake. Pancakes. More Cake. Oh boy. Oh, and Ice Cream. What is a mom to do? I mean, it IS her birthday. So, I thought about it and said SURE!!! If you want Cake, then its cake you shall have!! ( I did not wind up making any ice cream though)

I was sure glad that over the years I have learned how to make a HEALTHY cake. Even MORE grateful that I have learned how to make Raw cakes as they are super healthy, everyone loves them, and it are easy to make.

So, today, my little darling had a TWO cakes .
The first cake made by her 5 year old sister, who wanted to get cake for breakfast. She made a sunflower seed goji coconut cake. Complete with beeswax candles.

As I was editing the photo for this blog, I remembered something very very special little sister did. She said... we have to do something MORE with this cake.. we have to give it LOVE. She insisted we do this together. So we wrapped our arms around the food processor and gave a group hug and lots of love to this cake. It made it so much more special. I talk often of the power of love. And how we need to put it in our food with intention. It is the magical ingredient that makes everything taste so good.



The 'main' cake that she wanted and talked about for days, weeks and months before her big day was a carrot cake. So I made her a suped up version. A Raw Carrot Cheezecake Layered with Whipped Cashew Cream. I made the recipe up as we went along, and it turned out fanastic!
Here is a photo of how it looked! ( and there is one at the top too). I piped some whipped cashew cream on the edges for flowers and the number 10 in the middle.


I made a batch of Goji Berry Pecan Fudge as a birthday gift. Knowing she would love it. She has never had the sugar loaded version that you can buy in stores or craft fairs. This was a HUGE treat. She was speechless when she tried it! How much better can you get than that???

I did make a dinner of non-cake first, before having the main course of cake.. lol. We had this amazing salad with greens, avocado, wakame, cucumber and red pepper, sprinkled with hemp seeds. I actually made two salads, one with wakame and one without. Turned out that everyone wanted the wakame in it , so I put the extra left from soaking into the other salad. It was so tasty, everyone had two servings before cake.

To top off the day, we went to see Madagascar 2. Boy, I don't remember laughing so hard at a movie EVER. It was great!! Better than the first one. There were only 6 people in the theater, including the 4 of us who went. I think we made up for the lack of audience size by laughing hard enough to fill the entire theater!

Avocado, Sunflower Sprout and Pepper Salad

Yesterday there was the start of a sale on one of my favourite foods.. avocados!!! Lucky for me they were the really big ones at 4 for $5.oo, so I bought 8 of them. Today I decided to make a scrumptious salad out of 1 of them,, and then there were 7... then my daughter 'found ' one somewhere in by the fireplace, and claimed it. Now there are 6... this is beginning to sound like a math lesson!
I have been wondering HOW it wound up by the fireplace, and how exactly she found it there. Some will forever be a mystery to me.

My girls and I decided to go on an adventure to the library, we walked the 3 km one way and took the bus back home. It took us three hours ! We did get some great books and in one little market I found some Sunflower Sprouts, so I made some lunch when we got back. Just when I was about to serve it, their dad showed up and scooted them away on another adventure. I was not worried about them being hungry, they had been eating lots of fruits and veggies while we were out.
Since the girls went out with their dad, and I got to enjoy the entire dish on my own! yummy!!

Here is what makes this salad so healthy for us...

Sunflower Sprouts: Rich in Chlorophyll, phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, protiens and amino acids!

Peppers: Red, Orange and Yellow peppers

The sunniest tones yield the highest concentration of antioxidant carotenoids. One small red, yellow or orange pepper provides three times the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C—way ahead of citrus. Red peppers stand out as one of the few foods that contain lycopene, a carotenoid which lowers the risk of various cancers, including prostate and cervical cancer. These crimson packages are also packed with beta-carotene, converted to vitamin A in the body and essential for night vision. Nature’s best source of zeaxanthin, a compound known to protect against cataracts and macular degeneration, can be found in orange peppers. * from the website www.thefoodpaper.com

Wakame: A seaweed. All seaweeds are rich in minerals, and can be a very valuable part of our diet.

Avacoado: Rich in B vitamins in addition to Vit. E and Vit. K . Avocados have more potassium than bananas. As well as the highest fibre content of any fruit.

Avocado Sunflower Sprout Wakame Salad

1 Avocado
1/2 Orange Pepper
1/4 cup dry wakame seaweed
2 cups Sunflower Sprouts

1. Soak the dry wakame in 1 cup of water. Let sit for 5 min. ( until you finish preparing rest of salad). Drain and rinse the wakame. Squeeze dry. * if the wakame is in long strips to start, crush it into small peices so it is bite sized in the salad.
2. Slice the avocado in half. Remove the Pit. With one half, slice the peices in long strips, set aside. With the other half, cut into cubes.
3. Dice the Orange Pepper
4. Rinse and dry the Sprouts.
5. To put together. Place the sprouts, pepper, wakame and cubed Avocado in a bowl. Toss gently.
6. Split the Salad into two bowls, and garnish the salads with slices of Avocado.
Serve and Enjoy.



You can also dress this salad with a simple dressing. My favourite all time dressing is this simple Hemp Oil,Lemon Juice and Garlic .

We used to make this dressing with Flax Oil for years and years. We never seemed to tire of it. Then we discovered the beneficial properties of Hemp Seed Oil, and started using that instead. We order it online by the 4 litre size and split it with friends. It is a great value that way. It is better to order it more often, and keep a fresh supply, as this is a cold process oil and has a shorter shelf life than most oils.


Hemp Oil, Lemon Juice and Garlic Dressing

1/2 cup lemon juice sqeezed from fresh lemons ( about 4 lemons)
1/2 cup cold pressed Hemp Oil ( or flax oil or cold pressed extra virgin Olive Oil)
3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced in garlic press.

Add all ingredients to a jar with a lid. Shake together. Serve.