Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you are having a wonderful day.
Enjoy the weekend...we'll be back in the office on Monday.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Dave and Melissa

Antibacterial Soap

Yesterday our November newsletter went out. I mentioned as a way to stay healthy through the winter: Wash your hands, but not with antibacterial soap.

But then I never said why.

I meant to explain that, sorry!

There is controversy about the antibacterial soap...this is what I have heard:

• it is getting into our ground water and killing fish and plant life.
  
• doctors are finding that when everyone uses it, it becomes less effective for them in hospitals.
  
• using antibacterial soap regularly kills off "good" bacteria that live on our skin and in our bodies and actually protects us and keeps us healthy
  
• upsetting the balance of flora on our skin and in our bodies can actually cause yeast overgrowth (yeast and bacteria usually keep each other in check.)
  
• using the antibacterial soap can also cause some "bad" bacteria to grow into super strong strains.
  

Thanks for the questions...I'm sorry I left it out.

If you are not on our mailing list, please join today! You'll receive our newsletter every month, as well as some freebies available to subscribers, such as the articles, 10 Ways to Improve your Health Right Now, and Achieving Optimal Health.

Thanks so much.

~ Melissa

Raw Thanksgiving Recipes

Thanks everyone for all your feedback and suggestions to our newsletter and blogs!

Here is a popular question we have been getting lately: What are some raw food ideas for Thanksgiving and Holiday meals?

The following are a few recipes we have put together, and are planning on having on Thanksgiving.

Butternut Squash Soup

3 cups peeled, chopped butternut squash
2 peeled chopped apples
5 pitted dates
1 cup apple juice + 1 cup water (or all water)
1 Tbsp cinnamon
ice if using a vitamix, so as not to heat soup while mixing.

Put all ingredients in blender or vitamix and blend. Serve and enjoy.

Raw Mushroom Stuffing

1/2 cup soaked sunflower seeds
1/2 cup soaked pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup soaked walnuts or pecans
2 stalks celery
2 carrots
2 kale leaves, stemmed and chopped
1/4 onion
1 clove garlic
juice of 1/2 lemon (or more to taste)
Tamari, miso or sea salt to taste
1 cup chopped mushrooms, marinated with some tamari and garlic
1 Tbsp sage
1 Tbsp thyme

Put all ingredients except mushrooms and spices in food processor and pulse until mixed. You may want to do the nuts/seeds first, pour into a bowl, and then do veggies next so they don't get overmixed. Taste and adjust seasoning. Pour into bowl and add mushrooms, sage and thyme. Mix, adjust seasoning, serve and enjoy.

Veggie patties

1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup walnuts
1 cup chopped cauliflower
1/4 onion
1-2 cloves garlic
(Pulse above ingredients in food processor and pour in bowl)
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
2 kale leaves, stemmed and chopped
1/2 red pepper
lemon juice (1/2 lemon)
1 Tbsp miso or tamari
(Pulse these ingredients until well chopped and mixed, and add to top ingredients)

Mix, form into patties and place on dehydrator. Dehydrate at 105 degrees overnight, flipping once after about 6 hours.

Enjoy with your favorite salad, and you have quite a meal!

And for dessert:

Chocolate "Cream" Pie

1 1/2 cup pecans
3/4 cup pitted dates

Mix above in food processor and press into bottom of pie pan. This is the crust.

4 - 5 bananas
1 avocado
1/4 cup honey or agave nectar
1/4 cup cacao powder
bit of vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt

Mix in food processor and pour into the pie pan. Refrigerate until you're ready to serve.

Apple Crumble

4 apples, peeled and chopped into inch cubes
squeeze of lemon

Chop apples and place in serving bowl, squeeze lemon on top.

For crumble:

1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup pitted dates
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch sea salt

Process in food processor, then sprinkle over apples.

Foraging Friday: Cracking Black Walnuts

Here is our first video! We wanted to show you how to get into those black walnuts that you may have foraged last month. We hope you enjoy it:



Also, our November e-newsletter is due out any day! If you are not on our email list, please sign up now! We will also be sending subscribers a special report: The Ten Most Important Things you can do to Improve Your Health within the week, and you won't want to miss it.

Thanks so much!
~ Melissa