Thanks Martha for this fabulous book. I know that this cookbook will be referenced over and over again for the treasure of information about ingredients, as well as delicious recipes! I love the Design Your Own Muffins recipe idea! I look forward to experimenting with my 9-year old daughter. I used to avoid backing because I knew it was unhealthy. Thanks so much for making baking fun and something I can support wholeheartedly!”

I hope this is helpful. Thanks again for sending me the ebook. I love what you are doing!

Jacqueline Green

Host of the free Parenting Expert Teleseminar Series!

www.GreatParentingPractices.com

My sentiments agree with this quote. Learning to clear your mind and get in touch with your body is a learned skill - one worth cultivating.

On March 31st, Jeff Herring, known as The Article Guy, interviewed me about my e-cookbook “The Holistic Cookie”. We covered a lot of information and had a lot of fun. You can find the Replay at this link for your enjoyment — http://www.thearticleguyteleseminars.com/cookie-live

Several people have really liked that idea and have sent me e-mails describing what they have done. After downloading and printing this e-book, they slipped the pages into plastic page protectors before putting it into a beautiful 3-ring binder. Using page protectors is a truly brilliant idea for the following 3 reasons.

1. The page protectors keep the pages clean when food is splashed around or the fingers get dirty.  The protector can be easily wiped clean.

2. It is so easy to slide the page out and write on the recipe any additions or changes to that recipe. Or you can write on the back some information about where and when you served that dish. Like last month, I wrote on the back of the tamale pie recipe about our Super Bowl party, who came, and how much fun we had!

3. The page protector itself acts like a big pocket to store clippings = other recipes from newspapers and magazines. Recipes you could convert to a more holistic way of cooking if you want to. I really should write down that one conversation from the Super Bowl party that I am still laughing about. I would like to remember that one. I can just write about it on a small piece of paper and stick in into the pocket. Then next year I will find it and laugh some more.

It is such an interesting concept to get started in your family life. I still am astonished at the clippings my mother saved. I have 5 recipe boxes full of positive memories of her in the form of letters and clippings. These were her favorite thoughts and I am glad I still have them.

Have you checked your mother’s old cookbooks or recipe boxes for inspiring notations?

Thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday on my blog, Twitter, e-mails, regular mail and phone calls - oh, and lunches! WOW! I am truly blessed. Thanks to all of you.

Now here is a birthday present from my mentor, Jeff Herring. He gave me a gift - permission to reprint one of his articles so that my readers could learn more about this internet “stuff” - technical term. Thanks to my wonderful mentor, Jeff.

By Jeff Herring

How do you get started with writing articles?

Well, it’s been said that writing is not hard, it’s getting started that’s hard. Just like anything else, we put it off, we procrastinate, and we make it this big giant thing that’s going to take forever. Yet once we get going and get into the flow, it works.

Here are several tips for how to get started

1. First of all, all that inner English teacher stuff, all that critical stuff you put on yourself, leave it in last year. Your English teacher is not here, and if you’re as old as I am, hitting 50 this year, your English teacher may be dead, so don’t worry about it. Writing for the internet is different.

2. Keep a working list of ideas to pull from. When you get an article idea, write it down. Keep something with you where you can capture it and put it on your list later so you can always have with you a working list of article ideas.

3. One of the ways to keep doing it, even around one sliced topic in your niche, is to divide your niche into categories - a heading for each category, and then sections underneath the categories.

4. Ask your members, your list, your students, your clients - whatever you call them. You ask them what their challenges are, what they need help with, and you write about that.

5. Set article writing goals. One a __________. At least one a week. One a day I’d like you to work up to and we’re going to work towards that with everybody this year. If you’re thinking one a month, I’d say that I don’t think you’re serious about article marketing if all you’re going to do is write one a month. That won’t cut it.

6. Here’s one way to never get writer’s block again. Personally I don’t believe in writer’s block anyway. I think it’s something we talk ourselves into. Have you ever had eating block, walking block, bicycle riding block? Come on! I think we like to talk about writer’s block because it means if we have writer’s block, we must be a writer.

So here’s one way to never have it again - have several articles that you’re working on at the same time. It might just be a working title and a working idea, but if you’re working on one and it doesn’t go anywhere, you can’t get anywhere with it, go on to the next one and work on that and keep moving on until you find one that flows. You can always write an article that way.

7. Another way to motivate yourself to get started is focus on the result. Focus on the visitors to your website, the subscribers you’ll get, and the profits you’ll get.

And now I would like to invite you to join my Article Marketing Teleseminar Club. There is an amazing list of classes and bonuses and a supportive community available for you to join. Read all about it at http://www.ArticleMarketingClubLive.com

Now as I look back on my amazing life in gratitude, I am especially happy and grateful that I finally finished this e-cookbook “The Holistic Cookie”. This is my gift to the world. Not only does it contain delicious and nutritious recipes, but it contains inspirational stories of my favorite cooks — Mom, Dad and my friend Vera, who taught me to experiment with food. People who have known me for years have been impressed with these inspiring stories. This is my gift to share with the world.

If you really want to make me happy, why not purchase a copy of the e-cookbook at                           http://www.TheHolisticCookie.com and enjoy this new healthy way of cooking.

But if you want to make me really, really happy, leave a comment, wish me Happy Birthday, and let me know you read my blog. If you have any stories about the time I cooked for you, or anything else, that would be something I would really be interested in reading. 

Last week I reconnected with a friend from high school through Facebook. She told an amazing story about our high school adventures in the previous post.

Also please accept the basic “Holistic Cookie” recipe by signing in at the box in the upper right hand corner. You will instantly be taken to a page that you can print.

Thanks in advance for your Birthday wishes to me.

And each tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this one day,

My article on What Makes Olive Oil Virgin, Extra Virgin, Organic Or Not? has now been published on Ezine Articles. You can read the entire article by visiting www.greatarticlesbyMartha.com  

But the short answer is that extra virgin olive oil is made with great care - careful picking, careful squeezing so as not to over heat the oil.

This made me think about how much we are like that sensitive oil. Being holistic is about paying attention to your Whole person. Carefully picking and choosing what you eat, what you think about, how you spend your time. Sometimes we need to squeeze ourselves and stimulate ourselves to do better. Sometimes we need to cool off and not get overheated.

Since we know this about ourselves, why would anyone continue to feed themselves food that does not nourish them and in fact can cause harm? Especially when there are so many healthy alternatives now.

Years ago when I started developing the recipes available in “The Holistic Cookie” there were no alternatives available except for what you could make yourself.  Now there are huge stores full of prepared food with no preservatives and with high quality nutrition in mind. So why do people keep eating that junk food?

I am seriously asking this question. Please leave your comments. Why do you think that people keep eating that junk food?

What a beautifully picturesque way of describing something that anyone who has struggled with weight and health issues has felt!

In fact, this is one of the reasons that I wrote “The Holistic Cookie - Enjoy Nutritious Time Tested Recipes”. When a person feels like falling off the wagon, have a holistic cookie. You made it. You know what is in it — low fat of a good quality, low sugar that is organic, high protein Vita-Spelt flour, extra fiber from oatbran or rolled oats and extra fiber from other fruits and vegetables. And NO transfats or preservatives or anything else you are avoiding. 

Holistic Cookies taste good, but are so loaded with fiber that you really feel satisfied with only 1 or 2 and do not feel like eating the “whole box”.

Dearest Oprah, this is how you fall off the wagon and get right back up on that wagon and avoid letting it run over you!

“The Holistic Cookie” E-cookbook is now available at http://www.TheHolisticCookie.com

Holistic Tip — Sugar does not have antibacterial properties, nor does it sooth mucus membranes. If you use sugar instead of honey, this recipe will not work.

HOT LEMONADE - 1 cup

1 tbsp. Lemon juice

1 tsp. honey (sugar does not work here)

dash of red cayenne pepper — powerful, don’t need much

Add hot water to your cup. Drink and enjoy! Results begin immediately.

Red and Green Exotic Winter Salad

1 Avocado plus 1 Red Grapefruit — cut into little pieces into a bowl

Dressing

Pour on some Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil and some Blackberry Ginger Balsamic Vinegar or flavored vinegar of choice.  Or simply use your favorite Italian dressing.

When was the last time you tried something new and exotic to eat? This could be an interesting discussion. Please add your comments.