It's all about The Dirt:

This is gluten-free comfort food. We make variations of this, depending on what fresh veggies look best. This week it was broccoli, and since we double the recipe, we ate it for 3 days as a snack or meal. It comes in handy when I’m training and my husband’s traveling.

Pie Crust:
7 tbsp. of butter
1 cup of almond flour
1/2 cup of amaranth flour
1 egg
1 tsp. of natural salt

Filling:
1 pound of chopped fresh spinach, leaves only
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 medium diced onion
1 minced garlic clove
3 tbsp. olive oil
5 eggs
1 cup of coconut milk or diluted cream (2 part cream, 1 part water)
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano

Place pie crust in greased pie pan and press edges to the rim with fingers or a fork. Prebake at 350° for 10-12 min. Chop spinach and sauté onion and garlic in oil. Add spinach and feta cheese to onions and garlic. Cook through, set aside and cool.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs. Add coconut milk or diluted cream and spices. Before adding egg mixture to spinach, beat eggs again. After all ingredients are combined, pour the whole mixture into pie crust. Bake at 325° for 45 min. to 1 hour, or until placing a knife in the center and it comes out clean. Serve with a salad or sliced cucumbers.

Recipe from “Your Goose Isn’t Cooked…Yet” by Hal Huggins, DDS, MS. The crust recipe is a variation.

“When I go biking, I repeat a mantra of the day’s sensations: 
bright sun, blue sky, warm breeze, blue jay’s call, ice melting and so on.  This helps me transcend the traffic, ignore the clamoring of work, leave all the mind theaters behind and focus on nature instead.  I still must abide by the rules of the road, of biking, of gravity.  But I am mentally far away from civilization.  The world is breaking someone else’s heart.”
~Diane Ackerman

I’m so glad I’m not the only one. Peace…

Pain meds
Novocaine
Tylenol
Anti-depressants
Epidurals
Anti-anxiety meds
Sleep meds
Food gluttony
Ritalin
Cold meds
Muscle relaxants
Alcohol
Weed

These are all examples of what we do to avoid the screams of our body’s warning signals.

Shut us up, feed us bad food, make us calm, give us fake sleep, numb us, dull the pain, cut out bad parts, and follow the rules. No need to feel, foster individuality or spiritual growth…just follow the masses. We are human cattle being led to the trough of a passive, unemotional life.

Aren’t we allowed to feel pain? Why do we have to be numbed to live? Why can’t we just listen and change our ways?

One of the reasons our family has chosen to homeschool is to cultivate individuality:

To be their own person.
To be “unlabeled”.
To follow their gut or instincts.
To learn what they’re interested in.
To character build in formative years.
To grow into their personality.
To feel emotions and have a melt down without having an audience.
To be able to form themselves without conforming so much to “the system”.

Now that we have chosen to join the public school system, it just reaffirms we need to feel. Life is not grades, scores, peers and conformity. It’s more about love, self-understanding, freedom to choose, and individuality. Adults or children do not need to be “numbed down”, we need to experience and listen to each other and ourselves.

I understand if there are extreme circumstances where drug influence can come as a “quick fix”; if all other options are exhausted and the fix is short term. We always have personal choices.

And I can somewhat relate to the philosophy “why be in pain when it can be relieved?” But at what cost?

Is it our liver or our minds?
Is it our hormones or our ability to feel?
Is it our nerves or our growth?
Is it drowning our sorrows in a glass or a good cry?
Is it our true personality, or is it a Band-aid so we don’t have to deal with ourselves?

Maybe I’m just crazy, but I wanted to feel the pain of labor. I wanted to be stronger mentally and feel the baby through each contraction. I learned so much about myself, my strength and ability. That allows me to climb mountains, get through tough situations and grow.

If we don’t feel, do we grow?

I don’t. All of us are little kids in big bodies. We still giggle, desire, have temper tantrums, and bicker. But when we’re “grown up”, we have to be responsible, accountable and mature to take on situations without showing emotion. We suck it up, try to ignore the pain, and just do it.

Our bodies have a unique way of getting our attention: First, it’s a tap on the shoulder, then a smack in the face, then a brick in the head. We really need to listen before our bodies start to break down.

Here’s what we need to do more of:

- Feeling
- Going through pain, but finding the positive
- Understanding ourselves
- Learning from life lessons
- Gathering joy in our lives
- Being happy like a child
- Being emotionally present
- Having quiet

Letting go of past sores that we carry…and just plain negativity.

I have choices everyday, and I will try to make them with a whole mind and body. I really need to work hard at it though.

Let’s be true to ourselves as much as we can.

(Drug cocktail photo)

A variation from Fresh Cracked Pepper

• 1 cup walnuts

• 2 tsp. raw cacao powder

• 1/2 cup shaved coconut

• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil

• 1/4 cup melted coconut spread (or butter)

• 1 tbsp. raw agave nectar

• 2 tbsp. chia seeds

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1/8 tsp salt

• 1/2 cup raw or toasted sesame seeds (you can buy ‘em pre-toasted or do it yourself: keep an eye, they burn fast!)

Chop the walnuts in blender and toast the sesame seeds (we kept them raw). In a bowl, add remaining ingredients and stir until it’s a dough-like consistency. Shape into 3/4″ round balls, and then roll into sesame seeds. Chill or freeze for up to a month, but if you’re like us, they won’t last that long.

These make a great snack on a bike ride, hike or snowshoe. It’s a cool weather snack though…they will melt and be mushy in warm temps.

My little helpers/tasters. One for the plate, one for me…one for the plate, one for me…