Good morning, blog fans! :-)

I know everyone is waiting with bated breath! Did she keep the microwave?? I did. You should have heard the uproar! Good grief! I did reclaim that section of kitchen real estate, though, and I'm very happy about it.

Now the only thing on the counter is my vegetable bin. It's kind of like a fruit bowl, but it is a vegetable bowl instead. It is very handy for making raw vegetables every day at lunch. It occurred to me lately that they aren't refrigerated in the store so why am *I* refrigerating them?

The other thing is that room temperature veggies taste nicer than cold veggies. I've been eating a raw lunch (Usually vegetables and tahini or Cheez) so I've kind of settled into it. It is a LOT faster and easier. The kids are old enough to do their own thing. Yesterday they made brown rice pasta with tomato sauce. I put some of the sauce on Dh's veggies and they added the extra veggies to their sauce. This is a typical sort of meal around here, but it is usually me accommodating everyone's tastes and allergies. I find it very wearing.

Today I'm trying out raw hummus. Basically it is the same as any other hummus- the beans just aren't cooked. I'm hoping the flavours will blend a little because right now it tastes a lot like raw chickpeas and I don't think I'm quite THERE in my raw food journey. ;-)

Okay, I admit I'm still in a little bit of cheese and yogurt withdrawal, but I feel a LOT better without it so it balances out.

I know there are questions, though, so let me answer them.

Is it more expensive to eat so many fruits and vegetables? It's really not. The food money just goes to cases of healthy food instead of things out of a box. A box of battered fish is $7.

Are you getting enough calories? I AM! My usual breakfast is 2 pieces of fruit (about 150 calories) and a quarter cup of nuts (about 200 calories). It's probably about the same number of calories that you had for breakfast this morning. Don't forget I have 2-3 snacks a day and if I want seconds or dessert I eat them. Last night we had gluten free chocolate chip cookies for dessert, but we often have a personal apple crisp.

Since we are off the oatmeal I blend whatever nuts, raisins and seeds that we want and we have a quarter cup of the mix on a chopped up apple. Each person makes there own and does cinnamon, butter and brown sugar to taste. If you make it with brown sugar and butter it gets a little caramelized and crispy. We usually put a a tablespoon of frozen non-dairy whipped topping on for 'ice cream' too.