Day 12

We have had such a great time with Bill and Debra that I have hardly noticed that we are still without power! I am so glad that I have a gas range and can keep cooking. Last night, I cooked the Fettuccine with Summer Garden Medley pg91. It looked so elegant that Debra took a photo of it. So I will send it along to you as soon as possible. Wish you all could have been here to hear the "ousssssssss and ahssssss" as it went on the table. A dish fit for a king!

Today, with the help of Bill and Sam, we made Soft Serve Sundaes pg 184. Basically, we put frozen fruit ( bananas, strawberries, walnuts) through the juicer and then added maple syrup and a drizzle of orange juice concentrate over the top of each serving. Wow, how delicious and totally healthy.

Speaking of health, Sam had to postpone the bone scan until tuesday due to our power outage. Tuesday, he will go for that and we are hopeful for a good report. Bill and Sam have had a good chance to talk over the intricacies of the special diet that Bill has prescribed for Sam to help his body fight the cancer cells. I will keep you posted.

Day 11

Here's the recipe I promised you:
As I mentioned, this is Sam's favorite
so far. He gives it a "check ++" rating.
Try it and let me know what you think.

This morning I made Bill's waffles
pg 166. They were a big hit especially
with unexpected company that dropped by.

Well, we still have no power, but our
generator is working nicely. After 48
of no power, the fun wears off. But, I have
some exciting news! Guess who's
coming to dinner??????
None other than ......Bill and Debra Irwin!
I feel somewhat like Julie felt when she
got word that Julia Child's editor, Judith
Jones was coming to dinner (hope you have seen the movie "Julie and Julia", if not please do).
I am not serving boeuf bourguignonne (thankfully) but I am preparing Fettuccine with
Summer Garden Medley. We'll have a big salad and some of Bill's wonderful hot bread
which he is bringing. Gotta run, Bill and Debra just pulled in. I'll fill you in tomorrow.

Day 9 and 10

Sorry, I missed yesterday, but we were without power. In fact, the power lines have still not been fixed but we have a generator! Hurrah for modern equipment. When we first moved to Maine in 1973 we had no electricity or running water. We, actually, were excited about it back then. We were part of a generation that decided to move "back to the land" and be self sufficient. We bought a fifty acre peninsula, cleared a some land with an ax and built our home for $5000.
We set out to grow all our own food, organically. We heated with wood, hauled our water, learned to enjoy kerosene lamps and candle light. We had no phone or computer. In some ways, I miss the simplicity of that life. It seemed like I had endless amounts of time to walk, to paint, to pick pussywillows, visit friends. Things always seem sweeter when you look back.

Well, thankfully, I have a gas range and can still cook. Yesterday, I made the Drop Biscuits on pg 164. The recipe is credited to Mary Meyers and it is wonderful. I used the biscuits for strawberry shortcake last night and today we had them with jam. They are delicious.

I hope you will order Bill's book if you haven't already. Just go to his website www.billirwin.com and you can order it there. I'd love to have you cook along with me.

Tonight, I made Fettuccine with caper sauce pg 91. This is Sam's favorite so far. I will send you the recipe tomorrow.

Day 8

Seven recipes prepared and seven enjoyed. Three hundred and forty three to go! What amazes me is the fact that every recipe is gourmet and contains no salt, sugar or animal products. Sam and I compared the meal tonight to those we had on a recent cruise and there is just no comparison. Tonight, we had Stuffed Mushroom Caps with Couscous. (pg 147) Bill has completely debunked the idea that the Vegan diet is spartan and tasteless.

I have to admit that come 5:00PM I am usually looking for the quickest recipe with the least ingredients and the recipe for which I have all the ingredients on hand. Tonight's dinner had 16 ingredients! I've come a long way from Bertolli, one bag suppers. In addition, I find myself using all that gorgeous cookware that has been decoratively dangling from my pot rack!

On the home front, May, 98 and Lewella, 101, our two moms, seem to be loving this new lifestyle as does Josh, our 16 year old, en grafted kid. Having come from a real meat and potatoes background, I am amazed that Josh finds delight in all these new tastes. Sam is staying the course with the extreme vegan diet that Bill prescribed which includes 48oz of fresh carrot juice and Barley green everyday. I will try to write more about that tomorrow. Friday, Sam goes for a bone scan which,hopefully,will show that the prostate cancer has not spread. Thanks for joining me!

Day 7

Tonight, we had dinner at church. So no cooking tonight! However, as you can imagine there are never too many vegan options at a church supper. So, we brought our little bag supper and tried not to look conspicuous with a big bottle of carrot juice, a canister of Barley green and a big pile of salad. I have to hand it to Sam, he is really taking his diet seriously.

Not long after we met Bill Irwin, he began sharing his vast knowledge of diet and its relation to our health and healing of disease. He has made it a lifelong study and has taught many people
how to restore their bodies to perfect health. After hiking the entire Appalachian Trail through some of the coldest months of the year, Bill's body was suffering with arthritis. Through the vegan diet he has completely healed himself.

We have passed on his story and diet to three people now who have taken the "bull by the horns" or perhaps a better vegan term would be "taken the apple by the stem" or the "carrot by the top". Anyway, today they are arthritis free. My sister-in-law is the most incredible example. She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and told that by fall she would be in a wheel chair. She began the diet in July and by fall she was completely free of any symptoms arthritis. That was several years ago and she is still pain free. More on this tomorrow........

Day 6

Here is the recipe I promised to give you. This is a truly delicious salad that really tickles those tastebuds in a totally new way. You could almost make a dinner out of it served with some of Bill's bread.

Tonight, we had the avocado soup pg 15. It is recommended to serve it cold, but we served it at room temperature and thought it was perfect. The ginger and orange flavors plus the wonderfully creamy texture rated this soup a "check ++" My rating system goes from "check" meaning I cooked this recipe but it was "so so", to "check +" meaning it was very good and "check ++" means it was excellent and I will defintely want to cook this again. On the other hand, you can guess what "check -" stands for!

Well, we had the dreaded Doctor's appointment today and the prostate cancer is worse than we had expected. The Gleason score was 8 and that means it is aggressive enough to warrant something major being done: surgery or radiation of some sort. We were advised to take our time making this decision. So we will carefully consider the options, but definitely keep moving ahead with the vegan diet and an extreme vegan diet that Bill Irwin recommends to fight cancer. I will tell you more about that tomorrow.

Keep cooking!!

Day Five

Tonight, we had company for dinner, my son Loren, son and daughter in law, Chris and Katie and my grandaughter, Lewella. I served Bill's Stuffed Peppers pg 145 along with Bill's whole wheat maple bread pg 169 and turnip cooked and flavored with Braggs Aminos. All was delicious and received rave reviews.

Last post I mentioned that I was cooking Noodles with Broccoli, pg 117 and that was okay but the Salad that I served with it stole the show: Grapefruit and Spinach Salad pg 38. I will send you the recipe tomorrow. You can order Bill's book at www.billirwin.com.Pass code and user name are wellness.

Tomorrow, we go to the Doctors to hear the specifics on Sam's prostate cancer. We are hopeful that the extreme diet changes and food regime that Bill has Sam on will produce the results we want without having to deal with the damaging effects of traditional treatments. I will share more about this tomorrow.

Day

Day Three: Portobello In Parchment

I wanted to pass this wonderful recipe on to you so you would have an idea of just how delicious vegan dining can be. Trust me we are not suffering through this. However, there are a few adjustments that I am trying to get used to.

1. I now have two refrigerators completely stuffed to overflowing with fresh vegies. Trying to find things is somewhat like foraging in a jungle. Me Tarzan, you Jane!

2. Then, there are the comments, like the ones I received today checking out at the grocery store with my 10 pkgs of carrots. "Oh, do you have rabbits?" answer "no". "Oh, do you have horses?" again "no," upon which she dropped the conversion and just gave me weird looks.

3. I find myself in the kitchen much more prepping, juicing, chopping.I feel like Julia and I love it.

Tonight , I am cooking Noodles with Broccoli pg 117 in Dining with Bill Irwin. I will let you know how it comes out. Iam serving it with a big salad and homemade bread.

The adventure has begun. 350 recipes in 365 days seems like a resonable goal. If Julie can cook all of Julia's recipes in a year, I should be able to cook all of Bill's. After all, I won't have to slit a live lobster, boil a calf's foot or truss a duck! Instead, I will be slitting live veggies, boiling kidneys (beans, that is), and trussing peppers!

Our first meal was and outstanding success, Portobello in parchment pg 126. By the way, you can order Bill's book on his website www.billirwin.com and then cook along with me. The user name and password are wellness. Sam and I loved the dinner, but you might wonder, how this vegan meal went over with the rest of the family. Well, we have a rather broad spectrum of ages. They range from 16 to 101. So I think we have a WIDE cross section to judge the dinner. Grandma loved it, pureed of course. My mother, 98, practically licked her plate clean. Then there is Josh, a delightful 16 yr old, who has come to live with us. He gobbled it down and asked for more.

Well, 349 recipes to go! From time to time I will share some of the recipes as Bill has given me permission to do so. Enough for today. I had better rest up for the 10ld bag of carrots that will be waiting by the juicer in the morning. Bon Appetite!

Day One: First Thoughts

I can't believe my husband agreed to go on this adventure with me, because through this process, we are going to become 100% vegan!!!! Whoever heard of a 65 year old couple , married for forty one years, ever becoming vegan at this stage of life.

Well, it all began one sunny, fall afternoon at the Common Ground Country Fair in Maine. We spotted a gentleman with a seeing eye dog and a white cane and immediately recognised him to be Bill Irwin, the only blind man to through-hike the entire Appalacian trail. Holding our stuffed sausage subs and soda pop, we approached this vibrant figure. Bill immediately put out his hand and gave us the most firm handshake we'd ever gotten. Over the next few years, we would form a close relatioship with both Bill and his wife, Debra. Their influence for healthy living has impacted our lives and the lives of our children.

Three years ago, I began a vegan/ vegetarian diet and found that my health improved so greatly, that I saw no reason to return to my former meat-eating habits. Sam, however, was a little more reluctant, for he loved steak, barbecued ribs, and italian sausage.

That is, Until now...

A few days ago, he received the phone call that no man wants to hear, "Yes, you have prostate cancer."

The Journey Begins

Inspired by the movie Julie and Julia, I decided to attempt to cook every recipe in Dining with Bill Irwin: Recipes for healthy living. I bought this cookbook hoping that it would motivate me to establish a healthier lifestyle. However, what I found was, it simply sat on my shelf. I thought that the idea of looking at it long enough would motivate me. But, like most of us, I needed an epiphany... and that is what I found in Julie and Julia.