July 2008

Irish Moss Soaking in a Bowl of Water   My Honeys Version of Coconut Cream Pie   Fresh Husked Coconut From Hawaii   Raw Tapioca Pudding   Green Smoothie Chia Seed Pudding

Hey sweethearts I haven't forgotten about you! Just been busy, but here is this months journal entry!

Superfood's Rediscovered

Irish Moss

I've been experimenting with some unique ingredients lately! One of them is called Irish Moss, you can see a picture of it to your right soaking in a bowl of water. I had known about this ingredient for awhile but didn't try it until recently. I had seen it used in raw dessert recipes as a thickener and Cherie Soria recommended it to me after my goopy pie won third place in the raw food pie contest. I finally bought some at Cafe Gratitude, and luckily they sell it online as well:

Cafe Gratitude's Online Store to Buy Irish Moss

Here is the definition of Irish Moss:

An edible North Atlantic seaweed (Chondrus crispus) that yields a mucilaginous substance used medicinally and in preparing jellies or as a thickner. Also called carrageen.

Irish Moss seaweed contains potassium chloride, this compound helps to dissolve catarrh, which is responsible for the congestion associated with chesty coughs. Irish Moss also contains several natural anti-microbial and anti-viral agents which not only prevents colds and flu's, but is reported to eradicate a wide range of infections

Just be aware that you need to soak it at least overnight and preferably longer. You also need to rinse it really well to get all the shells out and get rid of it's fishy smell. Store it in a cool dark dry place like you would other seaweed. I don't recommend storing it in the refrigerator.

When you use the moss it needs to be blended in a blender with the recipe you are making. It will thicken up any recipe. The first time I used it was in a nut cheese recipe to make it a little thicker. I just added about a tablespoon of chopped Irish moss to the nut cheese recipe. Then my wonderful boyfriend of a year and a half decided to replicate
the Coconut Creme Pie Recipe from I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude but he made it lighter by adding a tablespoon of chopped Irish moss and omitting some of the coconut oil. This was is first official raw food recipe that he created on his own with no direction from me, except for the fact our pantry was well stocked with all the ingredients he needed. Then he made a banana and mango lime sauce to go on top. He definitely has some raw culinary potential! He even took the pie to his work (pretty much everyone there eats SAD) and they loved it!

I let the Irish moss thicken the recipes overnight but I'm assuming it can thicken up a recipe in a few hours. I'll have to experiment some more and let you know!

Chia Seeds

Another superfood I have been playing around with lately is the miraculous chia seed! It all started when I taught a young coconut class and we made my delicious Raw Tapioca Pudding, see the picture to the right. Everyone loved it and it had such a similar consistency to tapioca pudding that it reminded me of the tapioca my mom would make me when I was sick as a kid. After enjoying it for a few nights in a row I realized that every time I ate it, it really settled my stomach and it left me full for hours. I have a really sensitive stomach and when it's empty it growls! But the chia seeds made me feel full and satisfied for hours afterward. After looking it up I found a great
chia seed article online. Here is an excerpt from it:

"If you try mixing a spoonful of Chia in a glass of water and leaving it for approximately 30 minutes or so, when you return the glass will appear to contain not seeds or water, but an almost solid gelatin. This gel-forming reaction is due to the soluble fiber in the Chia. Research believe this same gel-forming phenomenon takes place in the stomach when food containing these gummy fibers, known as mucilages, are eaten. The gel that is formed in the stomach creates a physical barrier between carbohydrates and the digestive enzymes that break them down, thus slowing the conversion of carbohydrates into sugar."

"In addition to the obvious benefits for diabetics, this slowing in the conversion of carbohydrates into sugar offers the ability for creating endurance. Carbohydrates are the fuel for energy in our bodies. Prolonging their conversion into sugar stabilizes metabolic changes, diminishing the surges of highs and lows creating a longer duration in their fueling effects."

Then I started putting the chia seeds into my morning green breakfast smoothies and I started eating them like a green pudding with a spoon. It's not very attractive looking but it's still yummy. What I do is soak about 1 tablespoon of the seeds in 1/3 cup water and let them hydrate for at least 15 minutes or so before mixing them into my smoothie (I don't blend them). Please don't go over board with the chia seeds; I would only eat about a tablespoons worth at a time. I went overboard a few times and started to feel nauseas! Oops you live you learn!

Here is a great source for Chia Seeds.

White Chia Seeds

Jason Mraz

When I was listening to the radio one day I heard a really catchy mellow yet upbeat song that I enjoyed listening to. There was a lyric in the song that talked about looking at my tongue in the mirror. I thought to myself, the only people I know that look at their tongues in the mirror are raw foodists! So I wasn't surprised when I saw an interview with the singer song writer of the song, Jason Mraz, and found out he is a raw foodist who lives on an avocado ranch in San Diego! The name of the song is called, I'm Yours. Check out the video below.

 

He also sings a duet called, Lucky with Colbie Caillat and I think it's the most romantic song I have ever heard. My sweetheart and I slow dance to it in the living room and I swear the world stops. It just makes sense that a raw foodist would make beautiful music for us to enjoy!

My Honey's Almond Butter Cookies   My boyfriend, a hydroponics expert   Wild strawberry in it's home   My Footsies in An Ionic Footbath   Protective Swans at Bird Sanctuary. This one actually hissed at me !!!!

Summer of Raw Continued

As I mentioned in my last journal entry I've been working full time this summer to promote the raw foods lifestyle. I've been on a roller coaster of emotions. At times it has been exhilarating to speak to a room full of people and and to think that somehow I have impacted their life in someway for the better. Sometimes I've felt really strong and that I know my purpose and I know who I am. Which is a healer and teacher who wants to be the light at the end of the tunnel for those who are depressed or suffering from a chronic illness. I want to be a beacon of light for people and show them that I got well and that they can get well also! I am also extremely creative in the kitchen I think my talent lies in being able to create simple healing recipes and still manage to make them taste great! On a good day I have felt focused, determined, and excited about sharing my gifts.

On the other hand putting myself out there more with talks and classes has at times made me feel vulnerable to scrutiny and insecure, like asking myself; do I really have something unique to offer the raw food world that hasn't already been done? At times I've been exhausted and over stretched with planning classes or events and then feeling extremely disappointed when not as many people showed up as I anticipated. Sometimes I've felt drained and resentful when it has seemed at times that I give so much with getting little in return.

I think this is some really deep emotional stuff that is coming up for me to heal and I think it has little to do with raw foods but with the fact that I am a natural giver. Most people who have had chronic fatigue are natural healers and givers. And I'm still learning to be able to do what I love while still supporting and nurturing myself. I love to give, help, heal, and teach because it fuels me. I think I just need to find a way to  take care of myself better while doing it. One of the things I decided is that I need to ask the Universe and the people in my life for help.

I get Abraham quotes everyday and this one felt so appropriate to what I've been feeling:

I Can Have Money and Freedom, Too. . .

A feeling of being overwhelmed is your indicator that you are denying yourself access to all manner of cooperation that could assist you if you were not disallowing them.

As you begin to feel freer regarding the expenditure of time and money, doors will open, people will come to assist you, refreshing and productive ideas will occur to you, and circumstances and events will unfold. As you change the way you feel, you access the Energy that creates worlds. It is there for your ready access at all times.

So after a heart to heart with my boyfriend he agreed to help me out more with my raw food events. I especially told him how much I wanted him to be involved in the potlucks I run. So he really stepped it up and offered to be the speaker for our last potluck since he is a hydroponics expert naturally he talked about how to grow hydroponically indoors and out.

Then I decided to get well known raw food speakers and writers to come speak at my potlucks and events to attract more people to help me spread the word, and so far it's working! I have beautiful Victoria Boutenko coming on Aug. 20th and Dr. Craig Sommers on Aug. 1st!

 

Of course loves the moral of the story is that I'll never give up spreading the joy of raw foods. If only for the simple fact that it brings me so much joy to do so!

Love Love Love

Just an update in happily ever after land. Am still madly in love with my guy and we will be celebrating our year an a half anniversary soon. As many of you know he is not all raw, borderline vegetarian is probably the best description, but it has never been an issue. We love each other and support each other 100% unconditionally and that is what my heart has been hungry for all along. I think it helped that I had already been 5 years raw before we met so I had already undergone the transformation of finding out who I was. Now I've found someone who not only supports and accepts the real me, but he thinks I'm amazing! Most people are surprised I don't push my diet on him and I think what really affected me was when I heard Victoria Boutenko's daughter talk about dealing with children and raw foods. She said that you should never push the diet on your children and never tell them what to eat, but to just find joy in what you eat and to set a beautiful example. That is what I've been doing and I notice that he has taken an interest in making raw recipes like the almond butter cookies above, asking for green smoothies or juice in the mornings, buying E3-live and using it, and eating cooked vegan most of the time. It may not sound like much, but this is from someone who is from a small town in the midwest who had never been introduced to raw until he met me. Am so proud of him:)

Fun Stuff

For those of you that don't know Shazzie she is this wonderful free spirited woman who has been raw for 8 years and has a raw e-commerce site and is the author of Shazzie's Detox Delights and Detox your World. Right now she is offering a free e-book and if you sign up for her newsletter you get a lovely quote from her everyday. A few days ago I got a great little tidbit from her on how spider plants can detox your house from the toxic off gassing from new furniture. I looked into it further and as it turns out many tropical plants can detox the air in your home. Since my boyfriend and I are avid plant lovers we have 10 plants in our living room and many of them are tropical. I think they really helped when we were having smoky air due to the California fires.

Ionic Footbath

My friend has a skin condition that makes his skin really dry unless he's in Hawaii or puts coconut oil on it all the time. Raw foods have helped it tremendously but it still bothers him once in awhile. Lately I noticed that his skin was looking really smooth and soft. I asked him what he was doing differently and he said that he was taking an ionic footbath every night. I looked into it and I found this description of an ionic footbath online

In a common plastic bucket, you place the metal array in clean water that has a little sea salt in it. The array puts out a very small current with positive and negative ions that circulate through the body. The oppositely charged toxins attach to them and by osmosis the toxins are pulled out through the pores of the feet. The clean water starts to change color depending on what organs are detoxing.

In my research on the subject, I don't think it matters what color the water changes to, that's just a chemical reaction, but there has to be something to it if my friend's skin was getting clearer. I tried it, but I didn't notice much after one session. Will keep you updated!

Here is an article about ionic footbaths

Raw Radio

Have been listening to a few raw interviews lately on this wonderful website:

http://rawkinradio.com/

Enjoy!

Bird Sanctuary

When I have been at the computer too long I go and take a walk at the wetland preserve bird sanctuary right behind where I live. I just watch the beautiful birds fly across the sky and I remember how free I am. My favorite poet David Whyte explains exactly how I feel when I walk the sanctuary:

THE JOURNEY Above the mountains the Geese turn into the light again Painting their black silhouettes on an open sky. Sometimes everything has to be inscribed across the heavens so you can find the one line already written inside you. Sometimes it takes a great sky to find that small, bright and indescribable wedge of freedom in your own heart. Sometimes with the bones of the black sticks left when the fire has gone out someone has written something new in the ashes of your life. You are not leaving You are arriving. -David Whyte from The House of Belonging

That was a lot for this month!!! I'll leave you with the beautiful poem and a recipe!

Thank you so much for reading my journal!

Kisses,

C

Marinated Asian Kale Salad An easy way to eat your greens Salad 1 large bunch lacinto kale thinly sliced (or another type of kale, collards, or Swiss chard) Juice from 1 lime (about 6 tablespoons) 1 tablespoon Vegan DHA Flax Oil or Raw Sesame Seed Oil 1 tablespoon cold pressed olive oil 2 tablespoons chickpea miso 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger 2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion  ( about 2 green onions green part only) 1 cup finely chopped bell pepper (about 1/2 large bell pepper) 1/2 cup seaweed (optional) (torn dulse, silky sea palm, kombu . . .(etc) 1 tablespoon black or white sesame seeds (optional) Make sure the greens are thinly sliced, you can even shred the kale with your food processor with the slicing disk on. Put the shredded kale in a large bowl and mash in with a fork the oil, chickpea miso, shredded ginger, and lime juice. Make sure the miso and oil is well blended. You can even massage the kale with your hands to make sure the kale is well coated.  Serve now or let the kale marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hr., it can even sit overnight. The longer it marinates the more tender the kale will be. When you are ready to serve add in the bell peppers, seaweed, cucumber, green onion, and sesame seeds. Enjoy!