The most brilliant colors are not in the common places...

Excerpt from The Ark, The Reed and The Fire Cloud-"Above that line are the meadows and the higher you go, the more sparse vegetation becomes. At such high altitudes, plants form into isolated "pillows." It is fascinating to observe that the most brilliant colors of plants are found at the highest elevations, which are exposed the the most severe weather."......"Perhaps it is the strength of the little plant that comes through when it is tested by the severe conditions. The winds sculpt to make it soft, and the sun brings out the brilliant color." said Liz pensively.



That's kind o' like life, then," remarked Al......



That spoke volumes to me last night. My spirit knows these things but sometimes my mind doesn't want to conceive those hard places we have to go to in our lives are the very things that make us beautiful...most brilliant...refined....



It's not a matter of adding things to our life that make us great...its the stripping away of all that is our own doing and letting the fires, heat, and severity of life... chisel us down to who God really wants us to become.

2nd time watching King Corn

After watching King Corn again last night...I couldn't help but think...what if....we took some of that land that produces WAY too much corn for corn syrup and grew some grass on it and let the cows roam free and eat what God intended for them to eat. Then...eventually...we would see the price of organic grass fed beef come down...and disease in our bodies reduced...its a thought anyways...if we could get our priorities right the economy of it would be so much better...hum...just a thought!



If we spent 20-25% of our income on organic food instead of 15ish% we could see much improvement in our health...our land...and I wonder if just not our general well being...just pondering...pondering...



It's only been in MY generation that we have been fed corn syrup...and its quite literally a mess...



Check it out on Netflix Instant if you have it. Its not a bashing of anything but just a visual documentary of how corn syrup came to be and how it is affecting us.

Cottage Cheese Smoothie

Cottage Cheese Smoothie This is (so far) the only way I can stomach cottage cheese. Tastes like liquid cheese cake or something. 1/2 to 1 cup of cottage cheese 1-ish cup of frozen fruit (I think I'll add a little agave syrup here instead of the splenda she suggested) ice Blend until smooth! You can also add milk or yogurt if you want to drink it, otherwise it's pretty thick. (or let the ice melt). Also you can put whatever you like for fruit in. Banana, strawberries etc. I use a frozen mixed fruit I got at Costco and sometimes add a banana. I also want to try it with my chocolate protein powder. It's a great breakfast or snack. The key is in the cottage cheese and splenda. I don't really know how much of anything I put in, just adjust until it tastes good. I made it for my family and they insisted on tons and tons of milk and tons of strawberries so you could hardly taste the cheesecakeyness. I personally prefer no milk, only adding it if my blender gets stuck. This makes about 300 calories worth (depending on milk fat % and exact quantities, this includes banana which is like half the calories almost but no protein powder) and it makes easily 2 servings (150 each) or a large snack you can sip for like an hour. it's got 34 g of protein and 50 g of carbs and with 1% cc and skim milk 4 g of fat. It tastes like it's so bad for you but it's not, it's just fruit and cottage cheese. very healthy. If anybody else has a cottage cheese recipe, or a smoothie recipe or a go to recipe for something that seems bad but isn't please share! http://thenextthingtotry.blogspot.com/2007/09/cottage-cheese-smoothie.html