raw retreat and animal sanctuary

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!