Pear & Pistachio Stuffed Acorn Squash

What are your plans for the Thanksgiving table? Are you doing traditional Turkey and all the accompanying starchy foods? Or do you plan to make some changes in your meal choices because you've been adjusting your lifestyle to be healthier?

There are great options for yummy food–perfect for fall. I made this delicious recipe and it was all we had for dinner. Mmmmm! The fresh herbs make it really sing and it's so easy to prepare.

The recipe calls for red D'Anjou pear, but you can use any variety of pear. I used a Bartlett pear and it  was mmmm good. I think you could experiment with using other fruit. How does fuyu persimmon sound?  I must try that one. Persimmons are my favorite fall fruit—maybe my all time fav actually.

Pear & Pistachio Stuffed Acorn Squash

from Costco Connection

yield 4-8 servings

category Main Course

cuisine Vegan, Vegetarian

ingredients

2 Acorn Squash

2 tsp olive oil

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp finely ground black pepper

1 C chopped pistachios

2 Tbsp diced pistachios

1 red D'Anjou pear, diced

2 tsp olive oil

2 tsp maple syrup

2 tsp red wine vinegar

2 springs of rosemary, finely chopped

10 leaves of mint, finely chopped

4 springs thyme, finely chopped

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp finely ground black pepper

directions

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. Slice squash in half through stem and scoop out seeds.

2. Place squash cut side up on baking sheet. Rub with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast 30-35 minutes, or until soft.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together the cup of chopped pistachios, pear, oil, maple syrup, vinegar, herbs, salt and pepper.

4. Portion out the pear mixture to fill the squash halves and sprinkle with the diced pistachios.

5. Preheat broiler. Place the squash under broiler for about 3 minutes, until golden. Serve warm.

I plan on bringing this dish to the family Thanksgiving dinner at my brothers. I used to bring the Tofurky with vegan dressing for any vegans (which is usually just me and my hubby) at the feast. But since I stopped eating soy this year, I'm bringing only veggie options for my meal. No more fake turkey.

What changes have you made that will effect your Thanksgiving meal?

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20 Questions to Ask Your Oncologist

Chris Wark, fellow cancer conquerer, cancer killer, cancer whisperer and all around nice guy, is making a difference in disseminating the truth about cancer. He just posted a great resource that everyone should have for themselves or someone they know who is facing cancer. Go to ChrisBeatCancer.com and sign-up for his FREE 20 questions for your oncologist.

Asking the right questions is a powerful tool and (as Chris had learned) can save your life.

Chris writes, "Most cancer patients have NO IDEA what they are getting into. They have no idea how effective the treatments will be. They have no idea what the real risks are. They have no idea how much suffering is involved. They have no idea about the long-term damage the treatments will inflict on their body... "

And oncologists are likely not going to tell you... unless you insist and ask the questions.

Getting truthful answers to your questions, may cause you to wonder whether the recommended conventional treatments are worth it. It may send you on a journey to find a better way to heal from cancer. One that will not harm you in the process.

Remember one thing, you have time to get answers—take that time to do your research and be informed. Check our my post I Have Cancer—6 Tips for help.

Which questions on Chris' list surprised you?

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Now Appearing: Cure Today Online Magazine

I'm happy to announce that I am a new contributor at Cure Today online magazine. Catch my debut article Being Passionate About Health Saved My Life. You may learn a bit more about me you didn't already know.

As you might guess, I provide a different approach than most contributors to the site, who offer stories of survival while undergoing the conventional treatment of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Take a look around and read a few other posts.

Look for future articles at Cure Today that provide motivation and support for a different approach to cancer. Something you (my faithful readers) would expect from me.

Note: If you haven't gotten to see The Truth About Cancer: A Global Quest 9-part video series, you would have missed my interview in Episode 9. You'll hear me speak to being an example of epigenetics. Look for epigenetics to be the subject of a future post. Some viewers of the series wrote me and expressed a hope for their genetic cancer condition after watching me.

What would you like to see me address in this blog or at Cure Today?

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Wisdom Wednesday

Was there some significance to Frankincense being one of the gifts given to the Christ Child? Today we find it to be a powerful cancer fighter—kills cancer cells (apoptosis), stops cancer cell reproduction and is toxic only to cancer cells. Also known as Boswellia, throughout the ages it has been used to fight disease and inflammation while strengthening the immune system.

Studies show frankincense effective at killing ovarian cancer cells which are resistant to chemotherapy and may be used to treat many other cancers.

Available from several essential oil companies, frankincense may be administered orally (check each brand as some are not food grade oils), topically or defused.

Have you or someone you know had experience with the healing properties of frankincense? Share the experience.

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Redesigned Carrot Cupcakes Recipe

This is the second Carrot Cupcake recipe I've created. I decided the first recipe could be easier and, yes, even yummier. So I set about to make a newer, better recipe. Motivated by the upcoming celebration of our son's marriage to his college sweetheart, I spent the week before the event (dubbed the I Do BBQ) planning, shopping and making the dishes and dessert.

Our son Nur and his college sweetheart Annaliese met over 11 years ago. Nur participated in the Anime club on campus and met Annaliese there. Smitten from their first meeting, Nur spent much of the years winning her over—a true romantic tale. Both being minimalists and creatures of habit, they seem made for each other, highlighted by their love of Anime and annual vacation to Comic-Con in San Diego. The two lovebirds married in a private ceremony at San Francisco City Hall (a beautiful and cheap venue) on June 19th. The I Do BBQ allowed the extended family to meet Annaliese and share their well-wishes with the newlyweds.

Run the carrots through your juicer and add the filtered water. Add coconut oil, honey and eggs to a medium-size bowl and mix thoroughly then add to the carrots.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. I used quinoa flour and buckwheat flour, but you can choose any flours you want—make it gluten-free or add 2 cups of one type of flour. Your choice.

Add the carrot mixture to the flour mixture and mix thoroughly. Add the vanilla, lemon juice, walnuts (optional if you like) and raisons. Add a bit of water if the mixture is too dry. Batter should be wet enough to easily scoop into cupcake papers. Sprinkle with some natural sugar and bake.

Viola! The buckwheat flour made these cupcakes look like chocolate cupcakes. I certainly fooled a few when they bit into the delicious cake. The crowd loved em!

Carrot Cupcakes ReDesigned

from Chris Pedersen

yield 16 cupcakes

category Dessert

cuisine Vegetarian, no sugar

ingredients

3 carrots

1/2 C filtered water

2/3 C coconut oil, melted

2/3 C raw honey

2 eggs

1 C buckwheat flour

1 C quinoa flour

1 C rolled oats

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/2 C chopped wlanuts

1/2 C raisons

1-2 Tbsp coconut sugar or sucanate

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350º

2. Run carrots through a juicer and use juice and pulp. Add water to carrots and pulp.

3. In medium bowl, mix together oil, honey and eggs. Add to carrot mixture.

4. In separate bowl, mix flours, oats, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

5. Add carrot mixture to dry ingredients and mix well. Add vanilla, lemon juice, walnuts and raisons. Combine.

6. Scoop mixture into cupcake papers in a muffin tin. Fill to just below the top. Sprinkle coconut sugar or sucanate on top of each cupcake.

7. Bake for 20 minutes. Test with toothpick.

I elected to add some fun and decorative frosting to the cupcakes. A search for vegan cream cheese frosting yielded this perfect and easy recipe. If you want to do something similar on top of your cupcakes, take a sandwich bag and cut a teeny, tiny triangle off one bottom corner of the bag. Scoop in the frosting then squeeze from the top of the bag (this can be messy) until the frosting comes out of the hole. Decorate away!

What's your idea of a good cupcake recipe?

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The Truth About Cancer

Powerful! is the word to describe the first episode of the 9-part doc-series The Truth About Cancer: A Global Quest. I hope you're seeing this!

Ty covers the history of chemotherapy and how the pharmaceutical companies have hijacked our health system turning it into a disease system that heavily promotes the sale of drugs and pads their bottom line. You will be shocked by what he found in his quest across the globe. Ty talked to health practitioners who are healing people from cancer, but at risk of losing their license because they are not using the accepted treatment of chemotherapy and radiation.

My father died at 63 of Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. That was 28 years ago. He lived 4 years with the disease refusing to do chemotherapy, but rather sought more natural means to heal his body.

My life-long healthy lifestyle is home grown. Dad encouraged eating healthy, took supplements, and read Adelle Davis and other early healthy eating champions like Jethro Kloss of Back to Eden. My mother cooked meals from scratch and shunned white bread and TV dinners which came into vogue in the 50's. We also had raw milk delivered to the door each week along with bottled water. Dad also stressed exercise. My most prized possession as a young girl was a 3-speed bicycle.

When faced with cancer, it was dad's drive to be healthy that kept him alive for so long. He used food and alternative therapies like acupuncture in an effort to heal his cancer.

Eventually he put his fate into the hands of the medical system which immediately put him on chemotherapy. Six months later he was dead. The oncologist admitted my dad kept himself alive for many years longer than expected by the treatments he did, although he (the oncologist) did not understand how.

Sad that many doctors today still have no clue how to heal cancer. Instead they administer drugs and radiation that cause more cancer and keep the industry making money at the expense of a bankrupt healthcare system. Really we've lost the war on cancer. Meanwhile there is a different war—against those who practice non-harmful ways to heal cancer.

Please educate yourself about the dangers and insidious foundation of our current treatment for cancer. The only way we can turn the tide is to get people educated. You still have time to register and view the videos for The Truth About Cancer: A Global Quest.

And if you know someone who is facing cancer, please send them a link to my post I Have Cancer—6 Tips.

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I Have Cancer—6 Tips

"You have cancer," is still the worst phrase a person can hear. It changes your life forever. Sadly, you become a member of a growing class of people who feel the grief and vulnerability of having a disease that not only kills, but the conventional treatment prescribed often harms and leads to death.

I'm not going to make this post about my feelings toward the conventional approach cancer patients are subjected to. But I will be firm about what you should do.

Remember you are ultimately in charge of your health. Not the doctor. Not your family or friends. YOU! You need to make the decision for YOU. Because you have to live with the disease. It's happening in your body. Not the doctor's. Not your spouse's. Not your friend's. YOU!

1. Don't Panic
The doctor will insist you need to get treatment started right away. They will role out the conveyer belt in front of you and urge you to jump on. Enjoy the ride!

Don't panic. It took many years for the tumor/cancer to develop. You have time to make an informed decision after you consider the remaining tips.

2. Get a Second Opinion

The doctors may balk at you getting another opinion, but remember, this is about YOU. Search out other treatment centers. Do your homework. Which brings up #3...

3. Educate Yourself

There is a vast sea of research and information out there for you to explore. Get on the web and start googling.

I learned everything I could about my defective gene. Did you know the majority of genes in your DNA are exclusively for repairing things that go bad during cell division (i.e., DNA replication). Realizing that process is happening right now as you're reading this post, I hope you begin to understand how cancer might develop.

This process will help you make peace with your cancer. After all, the cancer growing in you is YOU. Your body. A symptom in your body that is sounding an alarm: "Something is wrong!"

Please take this seriously, you are in charge of your health and YOU can affect your heath with changes in lifestyle choices. People do it every day.

4. Live Life to the Fullest
I've heard it said that health is 100% diet and 100% mental. You can change your health by changing what you eat. Equally important is what you think about yourself and others, stress you're under—your overall attitude. If your'e a negative person, then you need to make some changes. Negativity breeds ill health. Here are 3 studies that show how your thoughts can make you sick.

Slow down. Take time to pamper yourself. Count your blessings—of course there are things you can be thankful for. Live your life to the fullest every day.

Shortly after my cancer diagnosis, my husband took me to Paris, fullfilling a promise he made to me years earlier while on a business trip there. We enjoyed only 5 days in Paris, but we made the most of it. That trip is still one of the best trips I've taken—living life to the fullest.

5. Change Your Diet
When I started my diet changes I hoped to stop the possibility of cancer growing in my colon. Some thought I was extreme and wondered why—some were even mean. But I didn't care what they thought. I wanted to make my body healthy and not allow cancer to grow. Create an environment in my body that could NOT sustain cancer. Yup.

After succeeding, I discovered what happened to me was an example of epigenetics. No matter what my genes said,  I could control my gene expression (good or bad) by my environment—what I chose to eat and drink, think, or be exposed to.

So where do you start with changing your diet? Begin by eliminating processed food loaded with dead food, chemicals and sugar. Sugar has been added to everything. "Nom, nom!" said the cancer cell—makes me grow big and strong! Eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and legumes. Drink lots of purified water. If your body needs animal proteins, stick with wild-caught or strictly grass-fed with no hormones or antibiotics. I eat eggs from chickens eating what they forage as they free-range or fed organic food.

Don't make it complicated.

6. Beware!
I think when doctors get their medical degree they lose their ability to think critically. They are trained to focus on assessing the symptoms in order to apply an appropriate diagnosis, which can then be used to prescribe a medication. So when they tell you diet will not affect your cancer, they are not thinking.

Really? The cancer can be healed with a drug, but not food? So (you might ask) the reason you have cancer is because you haven't taken the right drugs?

Nonsense!

Here's another tool to add to your toolbox so you might get a fair shake and make it out alive if you get a cancer diagnosis. Click below to get a FREE guide from Chris Wark (fellow cancer conquerer) on what you should ask your oncologist.

Please pass his on to anyone you know who is facing cancer. I'm sure you know several since cancer has become a pandemic in this country. Remember when you didn't know anybody who had cancer? I'm old enough to remember.

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The Truth About Cancer: A Global Quest

It's finally here—the 9-part docu-series you won't want to miss. Another groundbreaking video series from Ty Bollinger of The Truth About Cancer. He is passionate about bringing you knowledge about non-harming cancer treatments.

Starts October 13th, Tuesday 9 PM EST

The series is FREE and starts October 13th when episode 1 airs at 9 PM Eastern Time. Don't miss out! Get signed up to get linked up.

Over 131 doctors, researchers, scientists and survivors from 27 countries across the globe come together in unity to reveal their amazing new findings. It’s not just news—it's a movement! The Truth About Cancer!

If you or anyone you love has been touched by cancer, you owe it to them and to yourself to watch this explosive FREE docu-series, The Truth About Cancer: A Global Quest.

Watch the Trailer

The information you gain by watching could save your life or the life of a loved one. This is my passion, dear readers. We do not need to be slaves to the conventional medicine conveyor belt treatments for the most dreaded disease of our time.

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Wisdom Wednesday

More than half of Americans take medications. Many experience side effects, but may not realize the medication also creates nutrient deficiencies. Check out mytavin.com to learn about nutrient deficiencies triggered by a drug. The site lists symptoms of those deficiencies so you can adjust your diet or supplement intake to compensate.

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