Raw Journal

I started this journal in hopes that my life could help or inspire someone else. Enjoy!

 

April 2008

 

Happy Birthday to Me!

I celebrated my 31st birthday at my raw food potluck! It was awesome because people made the most awesome raw food. And my friend made me a mango pie with a macadamia nut crust. I don't have the recipe but he used Irish moss to thicken the pie. It had a great consistency, it was like a thick pudding that stood up on it's own.

Besides the pie I got some great gifts this year. My lovely boyfriend got me a shirt and jacket with my website written on it and other sweet sentimental stuff.  My fam got me an ipod which is the first one I've ever had. I love it, so much fun. I work out with it, read with it, do the dishes with it. . Basically I'm listening to music all day. If you don't have one already I highly recommend it. It's not just for kids! 

 

A friend of mind got me some raw snacks including freeze dried banana chips from Trader Joes and the most amazing raw granola I have ever tasted. It's called Kaia Foods Granola and it comes in a few flavors. Here is the website so you can order your own! www.kaiafoods.com I promise you it's amazing. I'm able to get it at Oliver's market in Cotati, California. But I haven't seen it in Whole Foods yet but I'm going to hound them until they carry it. I'm sure it would taste amazing with almond milk. So far I've just tried it with bananas or by itself.

 

Another new raw food item I've seen on the market are these raw food fudgesicles by Happy Day Raw Foods. I found them at Community Market in Santa Rosa. I haven't seen a website for them yet so I guess you'll only be able to enjoy them if you live near Santa Rosa, California. Reminded me of fudgesicles as a kid. Plus you get two in a package for only around $3.50. Considering most raw food snacks are over 7 dollars I thought it was a nice find.

 

Hostess with the Mostess

 

Have had a busy month so far. Been host to a lot of visitors this month. First my boyfriend's parents came to stay with us plus his adorable 9 year old niece. We had sooooooo much fun. We went to Stinson Beach and all over San Francisco! Then I had a friend from Hawaii stay for one night and we also played host to some friends from Vegas for a weekend. I'm becoming quite the hostess and quite the tour guide of San Francisco. Looking forward to a well deserved laid back weekend!

 

Cooking with Kombucha

 

As many of you know I'm a fan of Kombucha. Kombucha is an ancient recipe for a fermented black tea filled with probiotics and enzymes. At my potluck someone made sauerkraut with Kombucha as the starter. It tasted really good and I though it was a brilliant idea. I haven't tried it yet, but I had always wanted to make a salad dressing with Kombucha because Kombucha has always reminded me of vinegar. So I took a little original flavored Kombucha, a handful of macadamia nuts, one spoonful of raw honey, and two spoonfuls of organic mustard and blended it in the blender until smooth. You could adjust the honey and mustard until you like the taste. I then put it over salad greens and I thought it was successful experiment! It was an interesting twist on Honey Mustard Dressing. I'm sure you could just use the mustard seed if you didn't want to use the prepared mustard. Now I'm wondering what would happen if I put Kombucha in my blended soups. I know energy soup is usually made with either rejuvelac or cabbage sauerkraut so why not Kombucha? I'll keep you updated:)

 

Kale Chips

 

Another experiment I made was dehydrating kale and chard to make chips. The truth be told as much as I love flax crackers, most heavy raw food crackers feel like a rock in my stomach. So I decided to make kale and chard chips as a crispy alternative to the heavier flax chips.  First I washed a large bunch of Kale, but you could use chard or collards if you like. What I did was grind some golden flax seed and black sesame seeds in the blender until I got a fine powder. Probably about a half cup of each. Then in a separate bowl I mixed about a 1/3 cup water with a spoonful of miso, chopped green onions, grated ginger, and 1 teaspoon of curry powder. In a large bowl I massaged the kale with the miso mixture and the sesame/flax seed mixture until everything was well coated. Then I dehydrated the greens overnight until they were crispy. You might have to adjust the amounts because they are all approximations. They tasted amazing, but just a warning, if you take them out of the dehydrator they will immediately get soggy so eat them immediately or put them in an air tight container. You might have to "crisp" them up again it the dehydrator before eating

 

Sorry I don't always have definitive recipes. I honestly am always experimenting and don't always remember to write down the experiments than turn out good!

 

A New Earth

 

I'm sure that many of you are reading Oprah's book club book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61). But on the rare chance that you haven't read it yet; I highly recommend it! I am almost finished with it and have felt like I've grown so much since first picking it up. It has taught me to let go of my identification with the ego, like what I do, eat, look like, what I own, . . . (etc.) And to instead be aware that I am not my thoughts but rather that I am the awareness, the presence, behind my thoughts and feelings. I have felt so much inner peace since I started reading it and I can't recommend it enough!

 

 

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