You are only as old as you feel!

I had a milestone birthday last week. I can look at it 2 ways, I'm middle aged now OR I'm in the prime of my life with an exciting future. I bet it's not hard to guess which way I'm looking at this...

I've been celebrating with friends and family all month long and have been loving every minute of it. So I ask myself why wait until a birthday to celebrate? Insert all those cheezey cliches that "you only live once" and "you're only as old as you feel" cause they are all true!! Thank you to all of my pumpkins cause you make me celebrate every day.

And speaking of pumpkins...

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

1 med pumpkin chopped, peeled and seeded
1 med yellow onion with peel on
1 bulb garlic (or whole if you like) with peel on
1 - 2 tbsp coconut oil
3 cups water or low sodium veggie broth
2 tsp salt (if not water add salt according to taste test)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp ground clove
1/8 tsp cayenne

Preheat oven to 400. Peel, chop de-seed the pumpkin. Cut the ends off of the onion and slice the top of the garlic bulb off, making sure the rest of the bulb stays intact. Coat everything in coconut oil, also coat the bottom of the pot. In a good dutch oven roast the pumpkin, onion and garlic (both with the peels on) until soft.

When the veggies are soft take out of the oven and add 1/2 the water or broth. Blend until smooth keep adding water until it is the consistency you desire. Add the spices and more coconut oil if you need fat.

Variation: Substitute 1 can of coconut milk for 1 cup of water to give it a creamier consistency.

Serves 6 - 8 small bowls
Cook time 65 min
Equipment: Dutch oven, hand blender or blender

Every superhero can fly...Sometimes

OK - so I liked that title for an album and since I am utterly tone deaf the next best thing is a blog post... For those of you that follow Kris Carr you will have seen an email and blog post from her that talks about making November "Prevention" month. Similar to Breast Cancer awareness month in October. I loved that idea. I'm sick of the pink everywhere - especially where it really doesn't belong:

Source: examiner.com

I mean REALLY?? Another area that burns me is when cosmetics company start their pinkwashing - YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. How dare they stand there with the thousands of women that have had breast cancer and sell them the products that have the very carcinogens that contribute to their illness... This is plain old wrong, wrong, wrong. For more info please check out this article from my friends at The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. 

So great, you read that article and now you want to do something about it - here's what you can do or at least what I'm trying to do... 

The NO list: 

NO animal products, 

NO alcohol (except at my 40oz themed 40th birthday bash and Thanksgiving)

NO gluten, 

NO processed foods that contain flour, gmo corn or soy

NO added sugar (I have had agave nectar which I am trying to cut down)

NO caffeine (raw cacao is my downfall here)

The YES list:

YES fruits

YES fresh beautiful colorful veggies

YES beans

YES plant-based healthy fats

YES whole grains (think rice, millet, quinoa & buckwheat)

YES raw nuts and seeds
YES green juices
YES green smoothies

YES meditation

YES communing with nature

YES moving your body

YES journaling

YES counting blessings (or gratitude journaling)

YES quality time with the family (especially the fur babies)

As you can see the YES list is a lot longer than the NO list. That's no accident - it's because you are saying YES to a healthy, happy and loving life.

Happy Prevention Month!

Get the word out: #preventionrocks