What a Month!
I've had such a busy month I'm making this
August Journal entry on Sept. 2nd. I guess I'll have to make
this an August/September entry. Jeez,
to think I had been planning to do it for awhile now! I'm not
sure where to start but I guess I'll start with all the culinary
adventures I've been having:)
Sea Beans!
My month started out with the amazing discovery
of sea beans! Also known as pickleweed or salcornia. I was
walking along the bay and discovered wild salcornia everywhere.
This is an amazing plant that is succulent and salty at the same
time. It makes a wonderful substitute for salt, olives, or
capers in a recipe and I'm sure is chock full of wonderful
minerals and nutrients. I've seen it at whole foods for over ten
dollars a pound! I got it for free:) I love a good deal and
foraging for food. I went crazy and started putting it in all my
recipes, soups, and salads. On the left is some of the creations
that I've made. I've found that it tastes really good with lime
and ginger. Mmmmmmm what a yummy combination!
Blended Soup Heaven
Speaking of yummy combinations I know that last
month I was crazy about green smoothies and I still am. Just had
a pear, peach, celery, and spinach smoothie this morning with
green powder (one of the best green smoothies I think I've ever
made) and I'm sipping on a blueberry, nectarine, fresh
orange juice, green powder smoothie with
vanilla bean of course! But I have to say that this month I've been even
more crazy about blended soups. I've made some amazing
combinations this month. The trick is that I use avocado,
young coconut water, and miso as my
base and then add all kinds of wonderful herbs. These soups are
some of the most amazing recipes I've made so far:) And they are
still simple and healthy. I promise that I'll add the recipes to
my recipe section shortly.
Kaffir Lime Leaves
One of the magic ingredients I've been using in
my soups are called kaffir lime leaves. Kaffir lime leaf is this amazing
aromatic herb from the kaffir lime tree. I just blend it up in
the blender and it gives my soups and dressings this amazing lime flavor. I'm
lucky that there is a lady at the farmer's market that sells
them and she also sells the dried ones that last for a long
time. I also buy the fresh ones and freeze them and they taste
great! I'm sure you could find them at an Asian market if you
really tried or you could order them online. I'm sure the local Thai restaurant in your area
would know how to get them for they are used heavily in Thai
cooking. I even had a raw dinner party where I made a lime
ginger avocado soup with the kaffir leaves and everyone loved it!
Vegan DHA
I discovered Udo's choice Vegan DHA Oil. Usually
people get their DHA from fish but the fish get it from algae so
why not just get it from the algae? Udo is so smart ha ha!
Anyways I've been using the oil as a salad dressing and in my
blended soups and for the first time in months I didn't have
period cramps! I didn't even know I had started my period! I'm
pretty sure I can attribute it to the oil. If you don't know
what DHA is, it's a fatty acid important for the brain, eyes,
and other bodily systems. Learn more about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docosahexaenoic_acid
Raw Sorbets
I've also been taking advantage of the end of
strawberry season by freezing the strawberries and then blending
the strawberries in the blender with a
little almond milk and stevia.
I also missed strawberries and cream that I had as a kid so I
made a really thick batch of almond milk with
my cotton sprout bags and then
poured it over the strawberries. I thought it looked really
beautiful. I always get my almonds from the farmer's market
where they pick them fresh and raw:) You can also make nut milks
from just about any nut or seed with the sprout bags, experiment
and have fun. I really do use the sprout bags and love them. My
friend from the Anne Wigmore institute tried the cotton sprout
bags and really liked them! I'm so excited to hear that.
Raw Pickles
Okay so raw pickles aren't the most healthiest
of foods on the planet because of all the salt but as a treat once
and awhile they are great. There is this company that makes them
raw
called Alexander Valley Gourmet
www.alvalgourmet.com The cool thing was that after I ate all
the pickles in the container I then put my own cucumbers in the
brine and in a week had homemade organic pickles! I had this
weird craving for pickles and tahini the other day, no I wasn't
pregnant, just premenstrual:) This company also makes a raw
sauerkraut although it's not organic.
Easiest Raw Pizza Recipe
I put this little pizza together in about
fifteen minutes because I cheated and used Lydia's Lovin Foods
sunflowerseed bread as the crust
http://www.lydiasorganics.com/ Then I made a "cheese" with
tahini, miso, and lemon juice. I also made a simple marinara
sauce with fresh tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, and italian herbs
in the blender.I topped it with whatever I had available,
heirloom, tomatoes, parsley, bell pepper, avocado, and olives.
Yum!
I Met Ani Phyo
Ani Phyo was at my local
San Rafael Cafe Gratitude. She is the master mind behind
Smart Monkey
Foods and
has come out with a wonderful new raw cookbook called: Ani's Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes
.
I don't often buy raw food cookbooks but I knew that her
recipes were going to be like mine: simple, easy, and delicious.
She was so kind and a beautiful person inside and out. It was
awesome, we chatted for awhile and she signed my book then I got
a green juice and some positive energy (thank you
waitperson) from cafe gratitude and rode home:) I'll let you
know when I try her recipes . It was so nice to meet a fellow
raw foodie, we are such a rare breed.
Proof
Ha Ha, I finally have proof that more than my
boyfriend reads my journal! I was at a friends' wedding in San
Francisco and a girl came up to me that reads my journal and is
into raw food! She was so happy to meet me. I think this
wonderful woman is probably my biggest fan, if I have any that
is. Anyways she is actually the owner of a cool spa in San
Francisco called Soothe
www.soothesf.com and it was voted the best Spa in S.F. by SF
WEEKLY in 2007, very cool:) So happy to know someone reads
my journal besides my boyfriend lol. I have also been really
grateful for the wonderful e-mails that are super kind and
encouraging. I have a wall of gratitude in front of my computer
where I have printed out every nice e-mail and pinned them to a
bulletin board. If I'm feeling down, I just look up and there
are these wonderful encouraging words to bring a smile to my
face. Thank You! I wanted my business to be an extension of what
I learned in the Secret
and I am truly grateful for every order that I get and try to
send positive energy with them before they go through the mail:)
|
Raspberry Kombucha in a Wine Glass
Me and my sis at the
wedding
Emily's Garden
Mega Garden
Kiwi Lime Raw Spritzer
Yummy!!!!!!!!
Raw Sushi at Living Light Cafe
You know me and my flower obsession:)
Osmosis Japanese Garden
Me in my bride's maid attire .Don't I look cute:)
My Favorite Treat Dried Young Coconut
Dried Figs, Almond Butter, and Cacao Nibs
Raw Food Plate at Potluck
|
Speaking of the wedding, I wasn't as prepared as
I usually am for these types of events. I had my Kombucha (to
the right) so that I could toast with other people and then I
had a some cucumbers and a tahini pate in my purse that I ate.
It was a little heavy to carry around though, will have to think
of a lighter plan:) I've kinda made the decision in social
situations that if there is a healthy cooked vegan choice that I will
eat cooked, once an awhile. At this wedding there was nothing
vegan so I'm glad I had a few cukes in my purse lol.
Indoor Gardening and Raw Foods
Something I'm really passionate about that I
haven't talked about yet is hydroponics. Of course it's
beautiful and wonderful to have your own garden during the
growing season, but what if you don't have a long growing season
because of where you live or you don't have the space for a
garden? Hydroponics is the answer! Imagine having fresh
tomatoes, basil, lettuce, peppers, greens, and other herbs year
round with little space! I went to an indoor gardening expo and
got so excited about the possibilities. Hydroponics simply means
growing without soil and there are so many wonderful organic
high quality nutrients and fertilizers that you can feed your
plants so that they are comparable to ones grown in your own
garden without the worry of pests, mold, or weather:) If you are
interested in indoor gardening I highly recommend something
called
Hydrofarm's Emily's Garden System
.
There is a picture of it to your right. If you are serious about
growing and want something a little bigger check out the
Hydrofarm Hydroponic Megagarden System
.
To the right you can see that someone is growing basil and Swiss
chard in it. The amazing thing is that it grows so fast that you
can literally have fresh food any time you want. My dream is to
get every raw food enthusiast growing their own food and I
think hydroponics is the way:) I'm sure I'll write more about
this in the future and my experiences with hydroponics as well.
In the mean time check it out:)
Alive Foods at the Farmer's Market
I had an amazing weekend in the city and was so truly
privileged to try some of
Alive
restaurant's food at the Embarcadero Farmer's market. I
tried this amazing lime kiwi juice in sparkling mineral water.
It was delicious! My boyfriend also had a piece of the apple pie
and he said it was delicious. (Not as good as
mine though ha ha!) What a great idea
to mix fruit juice with mineral water, how refreshing. It was
still a little chunky so I wonder if they just blended the kiwi
with the water instead of juicing it. I haven't been to
Alive
in awhile but is was voted best raw restaurant in S.F. Awesome!
Speaking of hanging out in the city and having
fun, I had an awesome weekend with my guy. We walked around
China town, Haight Ashbury, and ended up at the Fairmont Hotel's
Tonga Room. It was so awesome just having a relaxing weekend
that I don't want it to end so I'm actually going to hang out
some more with him by watching a movie and eating some organic
freeze dried corn (closest thing to popcorn:) But I have so much
more to write about my month! I actually went to
Living Light's Vibrant Living Expo and entered their pie
contest. That is going to have to be a separate entry all in
itself! To be continued shortly, but at least I gave you a
little something so that you think I haven't abandoned this
whole journal thing! Ha Ha.
C
Cecilia's Raw Pie Contest Adventure
Hey loves after a few hours writing here is my
raw pie contest story and the recipe!!!!!
http://www.rawglow.com/pie.htm
Another Wedding
Hey loves I had the pleasure of being a part of
my friend's wedding. I think I alluded to being a bride's maid
in a previous journal entry. Well, the day came and went and it
was so much fun. Being part of the wedding party was definitely
a girly girls heaven. It was so much fun to get all dressed up
and made up. I'm proud to say that all my
make-up was natural and vegan. The
wedding was beautiful, it was on the beach and super romantic.
My friend made sure they served me a salad and some steamed
veggies at the wedding and the rehearsal dinner. They were fab! I wasn't completely raw, but vegan and
very happy.
Here is a picture of me before the wedding.
During the wedding I was much too busy to take many pictures!
Anyways, I caught the bouquet! I always wanted to catch a
bouquet and, well, I went for it. It was also probably due to
the fact that I had on the most comfortable shoes of anyone
there. As a rule I
don't wear uncomfortable shoes, I love my feet and myself too
much! They were so cute, silver flip flops with a rhinestone
flower! The whole thing was so awesome and I felt really honored
that my friend wanted me to be part of it. I got a few "you eat
like a rabbit" comments, but too be honest I don't care at all.
For me the focus is to enjoy my friends and family and food just kinda being in the background during these types of events. I'm
not out to prove anything, I just do what makes me happy:)
Best Massage of My Life
A few weekends ago my guy and I went and got
massages together at this awesome spa in freestone called
osmosis. It
was so awesome they have this beautiful Japanese inspired garden
and they even have this thing called an enzyme bath. It looks
like we are going to try it in the near future, but as far as
the massage, it was excellent, my "massager" was a woman named
Terri, I highly recommend her. Such a wonderful thing to be able
to treat yourself to a massage.
Raw Treats
I wanted to share with you a few of my favorite raw treats.
My ultimate favorite raw treat is dehydrated young coconut meat
. Just the plain meat scooped out and dehydrated. The flavor
gets really sweet and intense. Some people say it tastes like
white chocolate. I think it tastes like heaven. It's best when
you dehydrate it until it's crispy about 24+ hours, but I rarely get
to that point! I usually eat them after 12 hours or so!!! But
they are better crispy.
Another treat is dried figs with almond
butter and raw cacao nibs or you could also use dates in place
of the figs. There is a picture of them to the right. If you're
not into cacao you can just use almond butter and spread it on
the dates or dried figs. Not the best food combo but good once
in awhile. I also like to spread raw
almond butter on apple slices, yummy! I brought the almond
butter figs to the last
raw potluck.
The last potluck was amazing. There was so much good food I took
a picture of someone's plate. Someone made these incredible
tacos made with brazil nuts and lettuce. Mmmmmm! And today I did
a free raw food demo. About 15 people showed up it was awesome.
I made some raw pasta
with a raw marinara sauce. On top of the pasta I added some raw
mazanilla olives from Nature's First Law and they were awesome!
I also made vanilla almond milk.
Speaking of vanilla a new thing at raw glow is that I'm selling
vanilla beans in bulk at a discount
for those who would like to buy more than 1/4 of
pound. I'm also offering them wholesale for all you budding raw
food teachers who would like to sell them just
e-mail me for prices.
See you next month!
