Oatmeal Spice Cookies

Monday's are kind of grim sometimes, so I thought I'd lighten this particular one up a bit by sharing a healthy and tasty cookie recipe...

Ida's Oatmeal Spice Cookies

1 cup water
2 cups raisins
4 Tbs favorite sweetener
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 tsp baking soda

Boil 1 cup water and 2 cups raisins. Cool for 5 minutes. Mix in other ingredients. Form into balls and bake on lightly greased cookie sheet for 15 minutes at 325F degrees.

On another note, if you haven't been following Josh and Leah's video blog of their 21 day detox and cleansing diet, you're missing out on a lot of informative fun.

Take a few minutes and learn a lot about detox diets from a young couple who are walking the walk at http://chetday.com/21days/

That's all for this Monday.

Oh, if you have a favorite oatmeal cookie recipe, I hope you'll use the "comment" link to share it below.

Chet "Oatmeal Spice Cookie" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com/blog

Fire Meditation

Today I'd like to share one of my favorite fire meditations with you.

If you've not yet taken up the practice of meditation, I urge you to do so because it has so many documented health benefits, with new benefits being discovered on a regular basis.

Without further preamble, for a great fire meditation, we turn to the late Zen master Shunryu Suzuki, who tells us...

When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.

Let's play with this meditation a bit, shall we?

To start, breathe deeply, pause for a second, and start centering your focus.

Repeat breathing and focusing three times or until you're deeply aware and intensely in the present moment.

When you're focused and centered in the moment, burn yourself and your ego and your petty concerns about this and that which are distracting you from the real you.

Breathe and let it all float up and away... like shimmering heat above the point of a flame.

Now, breathe again and feel the cool, calm peace that comes from burning yourself up completely, like a good bonfire.

Ah!

In closing, if you enjoyed this meditation, check out my weekly meditation newsletter at http://meditation101.com

Chet "Fire Meditation" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com/blog

Peanut Butter Oatmeal

I have an excellent (and less expensive) alternative today for those of you who buy individual packets of flavored oatmeal.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal

1/2 cup instant or regular oatmeal
1/3 cup hot water
1 or 2 Tbs chunky peanut butter or favorite nut butter
1 banana, sliced
1/4 cup raisins
Cinnamon
2 Tbs maple syrup

Cook the oatmeal by pouring the water into it and mixing until smooth. Add maple syrup and peanut butter and blend it thoroughly. Serve by putting the bananas and raisins on top with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

This recipes is quick, easy, healthy, and very delicious... yummy for peanut butter lovers.

If you have a favorite oatmeal recipe to share, just click on the "Comment" link and have at it!

Chet "Peanut Butter Oatmeal" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com/blog

How to Argue Effectively

If you're in a long-term relationship (married or not) and you're not arguing on occasion, you're in a rare and lofty situation and the rest of us in normal relationships congratulate you.

With that said, according to many experts every healthy relationships will engage in some arguing.

It's only when arguments turn dirty that they become potentially harmful, emotionally painful, and downright destructive.

Well, I have some guidelines for how to argue effectively that one of my newsletter readers sent in many years ago.

I predict you'll find these guidelines for arguing to be helpful in your relationships.

So, without further introduction, here are...

Five Tips for How to Argue Effectively

• Avoid all name-calling. Under no circumstances, no matter how angry you are, should you call your partner a nasty name. If you use the five second rule below, instead of calling your spouse an asshole or something worse, you'll be able to pick non-hurtful words appropriate to the argument.
  
  
• Know and use the five-second rule. Sadly, it's human nature to say ugly things without considering the consequences. So instead of acting human, pause and take a deep breath for up to five seconds before you react to whatever's been said that has lit your fuse. Use the five seconds to get control of yourself and to consider a ration response.
  
  
• Keep the argument in the now. It's human nature to dig into previous arguments or old hurts and to bring those up again. Doing this, as you well know if you've done it in the past, may be momentarily satisfying, but in the long run it'll only make the present argument worse. Also, if you bring up the past, you have a problem because it's obvious from this action that you didn't resolve that particular issue during a previous fight.
  
  
• Keep your anger under control and don't let it go ballistic. If you're about to blow your cork, do the smart thing and simply leave the room. Take a walk or practice some deep breathing exercises or drop to the floor and pump out ten push-ups to blow off the steam. But do NOT lose control of your anger while arguing.
  
  
• Argue and react with love. If you're arguing with your spouse, remember that you're supposed to be in love. That simple fact may be the last thing on your mind when you're fighting like two maniacs, but it should be the first so try to keep it in mind, especially when a disagreement appears to be escalating.

Well, that's it for tips for arguing effectively.

I don't know about you, but I'd love to live in utter peace and quiet all the time and without arguments, but, alas, I don't think most of us can do that without moving to a mountain cabin where we'd live completely alone in the middle of 25 acres

Chet "Argue Effectively" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com/blog

Quinoa Cookies

Today I'm going to share a recipe for some healthy cookies made with quinoa, a little-known grain that's healthier than wheat... by a long shot.

Coconut Raisin Quinoa Cookies

2 cups quinoa flakes (like oatmeal), found in health food stores
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup raisins
4 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
3 Tbs water
2 Tbs vanilla flavoring
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp white stevia powder

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet or cover with parchment paper.

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until well-combined and tacky.

Form into two-inch balls and place two inches apart on the cookie sheet. Flatten slightly and shape (the cookies don't spread very much when they bake). Bake for 15 minutes, until golden.

Try these. You'll like 'em.

And if you have a favorite healthy grain cookie recipe you'd like to share, use the "Comment" link and start typing, eh?

Chet "Quinoa Cookie" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com/blog