So, this weekend my boyfriend appropriately named my home 'Emma Graces' Raw Retreat and Animal Sanctuary'. Nice ring to it, don't you think? It gives me a sense of legitimacy and goodness; I can do this career move into making and sharing knowledge of living foods, and all of our animals are in fact rescues, so the picture of the land as a whole is quite satisfying, if mildly unrelated.
But, to kick off the official naming of the land, myself and my best girl Centehua from centehua living threw a little raw food shin-dig with a handful of our closet friends, family and neighbors. We all had a marvelous time and ate incredible food procured by Centehua and I, a great deal of which was picked from my garden!
Our menu included but was not limited to
homemade purple sauerkraut
Russian carrot salad with homemade, raw mayo [fresh egg and all!]
sweet and sour veggie jerky
apple mesquite trail mix
zucchini and yellow squash pasta with homegrown marinara
chocolate crusted strawberry pie
and lots of other delicious goodies. My favorite part of the meal were these incredible drink concoctions; strawberry shakes, cucumber wine cooler, and chaga elixirs to name a few.
To share with you all, I choose the apple trail mix. This is one of my favorite mixes; it doubles as granola, and the apples are an unexpected little bonus that makes this mix sweet without adding a sweetener. AND it is apple season here in San Diego! I know my apple trees already had a small but substantial harvest [delicious mystery pinks and granny smiths] and Julian is spitting out a few varieties as well. Be sure to buy your apples in season and local; there is really no comparison in taste, and you keep your carbon footprint small by avoiding the out of season apples from Chile.
apple mesquite trail mix
1 cup of walnuts, soaked
1 cup sunflower seeds, sprouted
1/2 cup buckwheat groats, sprouted
1/2 cup shredded, dried coconut
3 medium apples
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
1 tbsp mesquite pod meal
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
dash of cayenne [optional]
Chop apples into small bite sized pieces and put in a bowl with walnuts, sun-seeds, buckwheat, raisins and coconut. Mix everything together with a big spoon or your hands, and then sprinkle the cinnamon, mesquite, vanilla, salt and cayenne. Stir until evenly distributed. Put mixture onto dehydrator leathers [or right on the mesh, doesn't seem to matter] and dehydrate at 145 for two hours, and then 115 until apples are shriveled and all mix is dry.
I store this in the fridge, add it to plain sprouted buckwheat for cereal, take it on hikes and have all my friends love me for it,or put it in the food processor for a quick and tasty pie crust or cookie!
Hope you like it, loves. Until next time! see you at the sanctuary!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
sassy salsa
I am so blessed to live in a place where backyard gardens are so plentiful and productive. This has been my first year exploring the art of harvesting my own foods and my GOODNESS it has been an excellent journey so far! My own garden is spitting out tomatoes on a daily basis, just the perfect amount for me to eat, preserve and share, and the other day a dear friend gave me a big box of joy from his garden, including the last two ears of heirloom corn. So, I found myself in the kitchen with an excess of kernels and tomato fruits, and I immediately thought *salsa!*
I also have a handful of these terrifically spicy hot peppers growing. After a few attempts at eating them fresh one bite at a time [whoa] I decided a salsa would be a nice way to tame those suckers. I used black cobra peppers, but any hot pepper would work. If using jalapenos, use two for the same amount of kick.
Sassy Summer Salsa - alliteration from the garden!
2 ears of corn, kernels removed from cob
4 fresh tomatoes
1 hot pepper [Serrano, black cobra, De Arbol], diced
1 avocado, cubed
1 red bell pepper [optional]
1/4 cup cilantro [optional]
1 tbsp cold pressed olive oil
1 garlic clove
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp hatch chile powder [or cayenne]
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Chop tomatoes, peppers, cilantro and garlic and add to corn kernels in a big bowl. Mix oil, vinegar, and spices together in a little cup and pour over salsa. Mix thoroughly and dig in with raw veggie chips, or spoon into a lettuce leaf and eat like a taco!
I also have a handful of these terrifically spicy hot peppers growing. After a few attempts at eating them fresh one bite at a time [whoa] I decided a salsa would be a nice way to tame those suckers. I used black cobra peppers, but any hot pepper would work. If using jalapenos, use two for the same amount of kick.
Sassy Summer Salsa - alliteration from the garden!
2 ears of corn, kernels removed from cob
4 fresh tomatoes
1 hot pepper [Serrano, black cobra, De Arbol], diced
1 avocado, cubed
1 red bell pepper [optional]
1/4 cup cilantro [optional]
1 tbsp cold pressed olive oil
1 garlic clove
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp hatch chile powder [or cayenne]
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Chop tomatoes, peppers, cilantro and garlic and add to corn kernels in a big bowl. Mix oil, vinegar, and spices together in a little cup and pour over salsa. Mix thoroughly and dig in with raw veggie chips, or spoon into a lettuce leaf and eat like a taco!
Friday, August 19, 2011
reflection on digestion
There is a point in every diet where we think to ourselves 'self, something is just not quite right here.'
Despite any previous satisfaction with a certain way of eating or another, sometimes we just hit a place where certain habits do not treat us as well as they used to, or circumstances change our psyche regarding foods. I found myself in this place recently; in between the Easter holiday, when I did a 5 day cleanse followed up by a wicked flu, and the beginning of august, I found myself detached from the foods I consumed. In other words, I was indulging more often than healing with my diet.
So, decidedly, I devoted myself to a cleanse which consisted of 2 days of liquid food and 7 additional days of vegetable and fruit juices, warm raw barley miso drinks, the master cleanse lemonade drink, homebrewed kombucha, and any other healthful drinks I felt inclined to taste. Last Tuesday I started coming off of my fast with watermelon and cucumber, and now I am finally back to a happy, normal belly that I fill almost exclusively with nutrient dense, healing raw foods.
This cleanse enabled me to stop the bad habits I had acquired, such as mindless snacking, eating sweet and processed snacks and overall kind of losing focus. Granted, I know even my worst diet is one hundred times better than the SAD way of eating, but, being so invested and such a firm believer in the healing power of food, coming back to a place of love and appreciation of my food and my body was absolutely necessary.
And, the top it all off, I feel great, inspired, and ready!
I made the best soup yesterday from my garden;
Tomato and Dill Bisque
4 medium tomatoes [or a pint of cherry, or two big, whichever]
1 bunch of fresh dill
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup macadamia nuts
2 tsp nama shoyu
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp coconut oil
blend to creamy and drink up!
best when tomatoes are warm from the sun and freshly picked :D
Despite any previous satisfaction with a certain way of eating or another, sometimes we just hit a place where certain habits do not treat us as well as they used to, or circumstances change our psyche regarding foods. I found myself in this place recently; in between the Easter holiday, when I did a 5 day cleanse followed up by a wicked flu, and the beginning of august, I found myself detached from the foods I consumed. In other words, I was indulging more often than healing with my diet.
So, decidedly, I devoted myself to a cleanse which consisted of 2 days of liquid food and 7 additional days of vegetable and fruit juices, warm raw barley miso drinks, the master cleanse lemonade drink, homebrewed kombucha, and any other healthful drinks I felt inclined to taste. Last Tuesday I started coming off of my fast with watermelon and cucumber, and now I am finally back to a happy, normal belly that I fill almost exclusively with nutrient dense, healing raw foods.
This cleanse enabled me to stop the bad habits I had acquired, such as mindless snacking, eating sweet and processed snacks and overall kind of losing focus. Granted, I know even my worst diet is one hundred times better than the SAD way of eating, but, being so invested and such a firm believer in the healing power of food, coming back to a place of love and appreciation of my food and my body was absolutely necessary.
And, the top it all off, I feel great, inspired, and ready!
I made the best soup yesterday from my garden;
Tomato and Dill Bisque
4 medium tomatoes [or a pint of cherry, or two big, whichever]
1 bunch of fresh dill
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup macadamia nuts
2 tsp nama shoyu
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp coconut oil
blend to creamy and drink up!
best when tomatoes are warm from the sun and freshly picked :D
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
too many oranges.
I have a blog, don't I?
In the last few months, I successfully passed all of my classes, ate entire loaves of manna bread in a day, planted my first vegetable garden and made many mothers happy with beautiful bouquets.
Despite all of these accomplishments, I have very few raw recipes that are new and exciting!
I still haven't remade those date bars,
but I think I will tomorrow.
some raw or just general lifestyle movements worth mentioning include
1) sleeping without a pillow [who knew?]
2) daily meditation on how AWESOME life is
3) taking psyllium husk every day
4) getting library books
5) growing my own food
So why the title?
Since working at my wonderful flower shop job, I happily gorged myself on these huge, way too juicy oranges the entire shift... breakfast, lunch, snacks, you name it. I was easily eating ten a day, perhaps for the last month and a half. Now, I know many people can really thrive on a high fruit diet, the 80-10-10 for example... but after the last few months of observation, I don't think I am one of them.
On a 80%+ raw food diet with quite a bit of variety, I felt lame, tired, and always hungry.
So I stopped eating oranges completely, and only had berries and apples for my fruit for about a week,
and now I am feeling much much better.
I've followed Gabriel Cousens books for as long as I have been into living foods, and a big part of his programs involve a very low sugar diet. A year ago, I followed the strictest phase of the Rainbow Diet for 30 days and felt great; now, with this recent orange situation, I am going to revisit this concept, both in my own diet and with what other people have to say about this.
On that note, Billie Holiday and I are going to call it a night. Until next time.
In the last few months, I successfully passed all of my classes, ate entire loaves of manna bread in a day, planted my first vegetable garden and made many mothers happy with beautiful bouquets.
Despite all of these accomplishments, I have very few raw recipes that are new and exciting!
I still haven't remade those date bars,
but I think I will tomorrow.
some raw or just general lifestyle movements worth mentioning include
1) sleeping without a pillow [who knew?]
2) daily meditation on how AWESOME life is
3) taking psyllium husk every day
4) getting library books
5) growing my own food
So why the title?
Since working at my wonderful flower shop job, I happily gorged myself on these huge, way too juicy oranges the entire shift... breakfast, lunch, snacks, you name it. I was easily eating ten a day, perhaps for the last month and a half. Now, I know many people can really thrive on a high fruit diet, the 80-10-10 for example... but after the last few months of observation, I don't think I am one of them.
On a 80%+ raw food diet with quite a bit of variety, I felt lame, tired, and always hungry.
So I stopped eating oranges completely, and only had berries and apples for my fruit for about a week,
and now I am feeling much much better.
I've followed Gabriel Cousens books for as long as I have been into living foods, and a big part of his programs involve a very low sugar diet. A year ago, I followed the strictest phase of the Rainbow Diet for 30 days and felt great; now, with this recent orange situation, I am going to revisit this concept, both in my own diet and with what other people have to say about this.
On that note, Billie Holiday and I are going to call it a night. Until next time.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
date-ing around
A quiet, food-filled evening is coming to a close- but NOT before I document the delicious goodies I created. When I make really excellent, outstanding foods is when I most want someone to eat them with. Tonight is one of those nights.
...
extraordinary kale chip
my kale chips are different every time. It always depends on what I have in my tiny cubbard pantry... tonight, it included
one cup [ish] of brazil nuts
1/4 cup hemp seeds
splash of coconut vinegar
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp bladderwrack powder
1/2 or 3/4 cup rejevelac
1 tsp horseradish
shakes of real salt and cayenne pepper and black pepper
blend blend in franc the vitamix, massage into kale for extra tasty love and voila! they are dehydrating now, but i've eaten about a third of them anyways. strange how that happens.
I also had a spoonful of extra dressing left in franc, so I spooned it onto a nori sheet and made a little cracker. I've already eaten that, too, and it was delicious!
...
I think this is a fair time to put in a disclaimer about my recipes.
Because no one reads this yet.
I practice what I feel is a soulful, uninhibited way of preparing food. I use my hands, I make a little mess here and there... and I don't measure. I eyeball everything. I am a pretty good eyeballer though- smaller measurements especially. The bigger you go the more room you have to be off... but for the sake of my culinary career and for any future readers that may follow my recipe dream book here, I am working on making things more precise.
HOWEVER
I completely agree that the whimsy of making raw food should include a fair amount of intuition. If you think you'll want a little more cacao, put in more. Not feeling a few ingredients? Leave them out. The strictness that recipe books have had in the past is out, and REAL RAWR food is in!
...
that said, I also made a tray of date bars.
These are tasty enough to devour as is, but not quite tasty enough to want to share the recipe yet.
Coming soon- the best rawr date squares you've ever had!
...
extraordinary kale chip
my kale chips are different every time. It always depends on what I have in my tiny cubbard pantry... tonight, it included
one cup [ish] of brazil nuts
1/4 cup hemp seeds
splash of coconut vinegar
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp bladderwrack powder
1/2 or 3/4 cup rejevelac
1 tsp horseradish
shakes of real salt and cayenne pepper and black pepper
blend blend in franc the vitamix, massage into kale for extra tasty love and voila! they are dehydrating now, but i've eaten about a third of them anyways. strange how that happens.
I also had a spoonful of extra dressing left in franc, so I spooned it onto a nori sheet and made a little cracker. I've already eaten that, too, and it was delicious!
...
I think this is a fair time to put in a disclaimer about my recipes.
Because no one reads this yet.
I practice what I feel is a soulful, uninhibited way of preparing food. I use my hands, I make a little mess here and there... and I don't measure. I eyeball everything. I am a pretty good eyeballer though- smaller measurements especially. The bigger you go the more room you have to be off... but for the sake of my culinary career and for any future readers that may follow my recipe dream book here, I am working on making things more precise.
HOWEVER
I completely agree that the whimsy of making raw food should include a fair amount of intuition. If you think you'll want a little more cacao, put in more. Not feeling a few ingredients? Leave them out. The strictness that recipe books have had in the past is out, and REAL RAWR food is in!
...
that said, I also made a tray of date bars.
These are tasty enough to devour as is, but not quite tasty enough to want to share the recipe yet.
Coming soon- the best rawr date squares you've ever had!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
holy mole
Thanks to some inspiration from Jason Wrobel at the Longevity Now conference, tonight I satisfied a serious need for warmth and depth with cooked forbidden rice and a raw mole sauce. On sunday, Jasons' demonstration was a recipe for a tri colored quinoa mole bowl; he used sprouted quinoa, zuchinni and some other vegetables as a base for a chipotle mole sauce with almond butter, sunseeds and onion with all sorts of extra love and kisses in there for flavor.
Being as adaptable and inventive as I am, I reworked this idea with limited ingredients. I don't have any quinoa [how did this happen?] and no sprouted or soaked grains or seeds going, and I COULD NOT wait. I had an itch that a cowbell couldn't scratch. SO!
...
In the bowl
-forbidden rice [cooked]
-raw asparagus
-shredded carrot
That's it. my mini-fridge is empty!
In the SAUCE
-meat from one young coconut, and a little more from a second
-a really full spoonful [okay ladleful] of raw cacao powder
-clove of garlic
-half a jalapeno
-handful of hunza raisins
-bigish squirt of raw temecula avocado honey
-splash of olive oil
-maca, mesquite, vanilla, black pepper, real salt, cayenne pepper, cumin, and a generous pinch of dried chipotle seeds
I blended this up with water- it was wet enough to pour easily out of the vitamix, but thick enough to need to spoon out a big from the bottom.
mix mix mix mix, stir stir stir, chew chew
...
It was incredibly sateing [vocab accredited to Noel], I am 100% sure this is going to be made several times in many different variations over the next while.
The rice was the only cooked food of the day, and I think it would be better with more heat in the sauce, and less heat in the rice- I will plan ahead next time and try this with quinoa, wheat berries, or sprouted rice. In fact, I have some leftover sauce and I will try it over my buckwheat granola tomorrow!
Being as adaptable and inventive as I am, I reworked this idea with limited ingredients. I don't have any quinoa [how did this happen?] and no sprouted or soaked grains or seeds going, and I COULD NOT wait. I had an itch that a cowbell couldn't scratch. SO!
...
In the bowl
-forbidden rice [cooked]
-raw asparagus
-shredded carrot
That's it. my mini-fridge is empty!
In the SAUCE
-meat from one young coconut, and a little more from a second
-a really full spoonful [okay ladleful] of raw cacao powder
-clove of garlic
-half a jalapeno
-handful of hunza raisins
-bigish squirt of raw temecula avocado honey
-splash of olive oil
-maca, mesquite, vanilla, black pepper, real salt, cayenne pepper, cumin, and a generous pinch of dried chipotle seeds
I blended this up with water- it was wet enough to pour easily out of the vitamix, but thick enough to need to spoon out a big from the bottom.
mix mix mix mix, stir stir stir, chew chew
...
It was incredibly sateing [vocab accredited to Noel], I am 100% sure this is going to be made several times in many different variations over the next while.
The rice was the only cooked food of the day, and I think it would be better with more heat in the sauce, and less heat in the rice- I will plan ahead next time and try this with quinoa, wheat berries, or sprouted rice. In fact, I have some leftover sauce and I will try it over my buckwheat granola tomorrow!
Monday, April 4, 2011
how does this taste?
I am a stranger in this complex universe we call blogging; around every corner and behind each click of the mouse is a new, tremendous and fascinating experience.
What I want from this world is an outlet for my culinary musing, my creative expeditions, and touching anyone at all who finds me here.
....
I feel like I am sixteen again on livejournal. Do I introduce myself... to myself? To the future beautiful beings who will peruse my musings? Until I know what is socially appropriate in the culture of this new planet, I will reiterate what I need to ponder; a strange sequence of events that I have encountered since Sunday.
I spent the weekend at the Longevity Now conference in Costa Mesa. I went by myself and just drove up every day. It was kind of a gift to myself, as well as a challenge- I don't typically like going places without moral support. I will document the whole thing for myself on here soon, but what happened yesterday[sunday] can't wait.
Before I head out for the hour and twenty minute drive, my mother is calling for Otti, one of our kitties, because he goes exploring and she hadn't seen him for a bit. I think nothing of it, because I often do the same beckoning just to give him a scratch and let him on his way again.
Leaving shortly after, as soon as I get onto the road I see the tell-tale pile of orange in the far lane. I hope you have never had to, and never will have to, find your dear darling companion lying still in the middle of a road. It is a most tragic thing.
Now he is in the rose garden.
I continued to Costa Mesa, and tried my best to enjoy the final shots of knowledge offered and being sad for our loss, simultaneously. The last stretch of road home is a wide, gently curving road. I was just about to the end of this road when I turn a corner and first see a car skewed on the left shoulder with hazard lights, and moments later see another flipped completely upside down. Nothing else to be seen; so lights, no movement, or sounds. I pull over and call 911; what is one to do in this situation? I don't know emergency care, or safety, and no one was out of either car. The operator told me that someone was on the way, and to go home... so I did.
...
What are these experiences trying to tell me? I spend GREAT amounts of energy for three days learning as much about life, living, and welless, only to be jolted back down to humility and mortality not once, but twice, and including tonight even three times! [I almost sat on a small little bird body when eating my dinner and grounding myself. In fact, it wasn't until after I had finished that I even noticed her, right next to me. ]
I could conjour any number of interesting explainations for the last few days... yet, I feel most comfortable quietly accepting and appreciating each experience for what it is and what I have learned. I embrace my role as a new, loving companion to Otti's sister Kali, who is very upset that she does not have his company any longer. I am grateful for every time I get with my excellent family, and find peace in each bird singing when I ground myself each day.
In loving memory of Otti.
What I want from this world is an outlet for my culinary musing, my creative expeditions, and touching anyone at all who finds me here.
....
I feel like I am sixteen again on livejournal. Do I introduce myself... to myself? To the future beautiful beings who will peruse my musings? Until I know what is socially appropriate in the culture of this new planet, I will reiterate what I need to ponder; a strange sequence of events that I have encountered since Sunday.
I spent the weekend at the Longevity Now conference in Costa Mesa. I went by myself and just drove up every day. It was kind of a gift to myself, as well as a challenge- I don't typically like going places without moral support. I will document the whole thing for myself on here soon, but what happened yesterday[sunday] can't wait.
Before I head out for the hour and twenty minute drive, my mother is calling for Otti, one of our kitties, because he goes exploring and she hadn't seen him for a bit. I think nothing of it, because I often do the same beckoning just to give him a scratch and let him on his way again.
Leaving shortly after, as soon as I get onto the road I see the tell-tale pile of orange in the far lane. I hope you have never had to, and never will have to, find your dear darling companion lying still in the middle of a road. It is a most tragic thing.
Now he is in the rose garden.
I continued to Costa Mesa, and tried my best to enjoy the final shots of knowledge offered and being sad for our loss, simultaneously. The last stretch of road home is a wide, gently curving road. I was just about to the end of this road when I turn a corner and first see a car skewed on the left shoulder with hazard lights, and moments later see another flipped completely upside down. Nothing else to be seen; so lights, no movement, or sounds. I pull over and call 911; what is one to do in this situation? I don't know emergency care, or safety, and no one was out of either car. The operator told me that someone was on the way, and to go home... so I did.
...
What are these experiences trying to tell me? I spend GREAT amounts of energy for three days learning as much about life, living, and welless, only to be jolted back down to humility and mortality not once, but twice, and including tonight even three times! [I almost sat on a small little bird body when eating my dinner and grounding myself. In fact, it wasn't until after I had finished that I even noticed her, right next to me. ]
I could conjour any number of interesting explainations for the last few days... yet, I feel most comfortable quietly accepting and appreciating each experience for what it is and what I have learned. I embrace my role as a new, loving companion to Otti's sister Kali, who is very upset that she does not have his company any longer. I am grateful for every time I get with my excellent family, and find peace in each bird singing when I ground myself each day.
In loving memory of Otti.
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