Last of the Citrus

We had a busy work day today, so I hit the ground running. Roger made me a delicious grapefruit orange juice so I'd have something in my belly. For lunch we had a watermelon we'd picked up at Costco, but it wasn't as good as the one we got at the farmer's market last week. Then for dinner, Darius and Alicia got to our house late with Angelina. I mixed up some taco soup (cheddar cheeze with salsa mixed in topped with hemp sour cream and avocados) and a fruit salad: 1 pineapple chunked up, 1 orange sectioned, 1 quart of mango, 6 bananas, some dried coconut, and some raisins.

I made a sauce out of some hemp sour cream mixed with honey. It was very filling. We served it on some romaine leaves.

Theories and Suppositions

We were away from home during the breakfast hour, so Roger packed apples and bananas to have in the car. I like bananas best when they are not overly ripe, although I know they are sweeter when they are riper. I like to freeze them or use them in the banana brittle recipe when they are really ripe as they add the necessary sweetness to the recipe.

I did a little experiment with the almonds I bought at the co-op yesterday. There has been this big toodoo about pasteurizing almonds making them not raw anymore (like a pasteurized juice is not raw). I heard that the pasteurization of almonds takes place before they are hulled and is an effort to kill all the e-coli bacteria that are on them before they are shelled. I was thinking this might not be enough heat to actually kill the nut inside the shell, so I decided to try to sprout the ones I got from the co-op which I am pretty sure were pasteurized. Lo and behold, they sprouted just fine, so my theory, I believe is correct. The almond is still alive inside the large hull, and would therefore, still have its enzymes intact. Yay!

So I have been soaking and sprouting almonds and walnuts and cashews and have had them in the dehydrator this week. I need to put the chili-garlic sunflower seeds in tomorrow as they are sprouted, but I don't have any room until the other nuts come out. The cashews were done dehydrating today, so I curried them, and they will spend another day in there.

One of the things in my order yesterday that I was out of was my hemp seed, so I made a quart of hemp seed sour cream today. Man, is that tangy and good! I think the hemp helps it be creamier and not as chalky as cashews by themselves. I'm thinking it will be a great base for a cheesecake, so I am going to experiment with that with some irish moss.

We still had a pint of refried no-beans, so I made a large batch of salsa and sliced some avocados to have living tacos using romaine leaves as the shell. With the sour cream, it was a meal fit for a king. I can't eat that too often. I think I could eat it everyday, and that is unusual for me.

We all had fruit for lunch earlier in the day; mine was some of those lovely honey mangos. I feel as though I've died and gone to heaven when I eat them. Surely the golden gate is surrounded by honey mango trees. Wyatt ate 4 oranges and a bunch of apples. Roger had his banana bowl. It is funny how we all have our favorite fruit and it is different from everyone elses.

Well, that was our day. Totally delish.

Not a very exciting menu options day. We had mylkshakes for breakfast at Wyatt's request. I think he would have that every day if we let him. We used fresh bananas as we had a box about empty, and we still had to freeze a few so they wouldn't go bad. We'll use them soon enough.

We had to pick up quite a few supplies including our co-op big order: 25 lbs each cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds, coconut, 30 lbs red flame raisins, 15 lbs dates, 4 more gallons agave, himalayan salt, cumin, curry powder, hempseed, and some frozen strawberries. We also got another case of bananas at Native Sun and a case of golden delicious apples at Whole Foods. We also got some fresh strawberries, kiwi, and raspberries for one of Roger's favorite pies. We picked up another case of those wonderful mangos, a beautifully fragrant pineapple, a huge knob of ginger, and some more tamarindo. We also made a stop at Costco for avocados, oranges, pine nuts and walnuts, olive oil, more garlic, and a watermelon. So there might not have been too much in the way of menus today, but that's a bird's eye view of our eating for the coming week(s). yummmmmm

After the shopping, we had a cooler full of fridge stuff that we took to the park to eat with Darius and family. This was stuff we had fixed over the weekend: leftover alfreda, marinated mushrooms, refried beans, sour cream, untuna, raisin cheeze, sunlight patties, cucumber salad, pickles, cheddar cheeze, plus celery, lettuce, and tomatoes to eat it with. Everyone chose their own combination, and it was tasty, at least for me. I had refried beans and sour cream on lettuce tacos with tomatoes. Of course I couldn't resist raisin cheeze with celery for dessert. The grandbabies don't like the raisin cheeze, but that doesn't bother us at all (as in "more for us").

Menu Planning?

We had bananas mambo for breakfast since our bananas are turning fast. I made the almond butter from some almonds dehydrating that had been soaked and sprouted. It made a very nice butter. I mixed it with some honey, 1/2 a vanilla bean, and some cinnamon and dipped it on some bananas. We topped that with raisins and spiced sunflower seeds. It was quite tasty.

For lunch we had some of our leftovers. I mixed the leftover alfredo sauce with some coconut water to thin it, then topped some corn and marinated mushrooms to make some kind of soup - I have no idea what kind! Mushroom corn chowder? Nevertheless, it was tasty. Then Roger had the leftover Crabby Cakes with some sauce leftover from salmon, a lemon caper sauce. I had some of the refried beans and sour cream on lettuce leaves. Wyatt had his usual selection of corn chips.

It is interesting to me how easy it is to use leftovers on this dietary plan. I have always tried to use my leftovers creatively, but it was work. I find this very easy. It is like everything goes with everything else. There aren't any bad combinations. If it sounds good, it probably is. Even when it doesn't sound particularly good, it might be. You just have to take a chance. The point is, very little has to go to waste. My biggest problem is that I will buy something thinking I will use it and then decide not to prepare it. Eventually it will go bad. I have a real problem with cole vegetables. I just don't like them very much, but I know I should make them. At least 1/2 the time they go bad and then I don't have to make them; problem solved! A better solution would be to not buy them in the first place. An even better solution would be to make up menus including those vegetables and develop the discipline to actually prepare them. Actually Wyatt made the suggestion today to make up menus. His mother always did that, he said, and then they always knew what they were going to be eating. He really doesn't like not knowing what's for dinner. In all honesty, I don't know until I get in the fridge and start stirring things up. I don't know why I'm like that. It's better to do it the other way, I suppose. I guess that is one of my many faults. I'm not working too hard to overcome it though.

Before church, I slid a mango down. I love the new kind we found this year. After church, I had a few more. There is nothing better than a nice, ripe mango.

The kids were coming over for dinner, but I got hungry about 4:00, so I made some yogurt up out the cashew cheese by mixing in some honey and lemon juice. I poured it over some pineapple and banana. It was delicious.

When the kids got here, I made up some mango lassis: 2 cups almond milk, 1/2 cup agave, 2 cups frozen mango, and 8 teaspoons lemon juice. Nice appetizer.

Then I made up some tartar sauce for the crab cakes (just some dill pickle diced up and mixed into the un-tuna mayo along with some onion). Then I sliced up some baby cukes into a vinaigrette made from apple cider vinegar, agave, and a touch of salt and dill. We also had some corn I cleaned up and mixed with lemon juice, EVOO, and dill (just a light sprinkling). Topped off with sliced tomatoes, and we had a lovely meal.


We talked about the foods for this weekend, so I put some cashews on to soak for the curry cashews. I also put some soaked almonds in the dehydrator as I would like to make almond butter from soaked and sprouted almonds to see if they are different. A soaked nut would always be preferable to an unsoaked one as the enzyme inhibitors are present in unsoaked nuts. To make almond butter, the soaked and sprouted nuts would have to be dehydrated to insure the nut butter is stable (oil and water don't mix!).

Marathons Come in Various Forms

We had lemon milkshakes for breakfast. Angelina was pretty excited about that. It was kind of like dessert for breakfast!

2 cups almond milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup agave
4 cups frozen banana pieces
2 T coconut oil

We had a marathon cooking session today. We learned to make a crab tasting patty at Present Moment. I call them Crabby Patties. I've adapted the recipe a little bit.

About 3 cups coconut meat in the food processor with 2 stalks celery, 1 small red pepper, a few green onions, 2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and about 1/4 cup mayonnaise. (I used the mayonnaise I use with the un-tuna).

I grind some dehydrated corn in my wheat grinder and mix some into the coconut mixture until it thickens up a little. Then I put a scoop of the mixture in the corn meal and "bread it". I then dehydrate them for a couple of hours. These are quite delicious.

We then made my version of the Sunlight Burger, my favorite of which is the burger sold at Present Moment. I don't know their recipe, but this is how I make it.

2 cups of almond pulp left from making almond milk
2 cups sprouted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 1/2 cups soaked and dehydrated walnuts

about 6 mushrooms
a few stalks of celery
4 carrots
1 onion
6 cloves of garlic
nama shoyu
pepper to taste
handful of parsley
1 tablespoon ground cumin

I like the texture derived from running this through the juicer with the blank plate. We then scoop 2 scoops on the teflex for each patty. We then smooth it with the spatula to make a patty shape. Then I dehydrate for a few hours and turn it out on the mesh to finish dehydrating. These are good if you don't dry them all the way through leaving them a little mushy on the inside.

I had some wheat berries leftover from making rejuvelac, and once I got the corn chips out of the dehydrator, I was able to put the wheat berries through the food processor with some banana and cinnamon and a spot of salt. This is smoothed out on a couple of teflex sheets and dehydrated several hours until they can be turned over on the mesh. We call it "banana bread".

We also made some refried no-beans to have with the corn chips sometime next week.

We had the taco soup we invented the other day for lunch. This involved combining the cheddar cheeze with leftover salsa. It was delicious and a tad spicy which was nice. The cheeze needs to be thinned with water (or coconut water or rejuvelac). We had corn chips with the soup and celery with raisin cheeze for dessert.

The Earth's Bounty

For breakfast on Friday (I forgot to update last night) we had a delightful low fat smoothie, 1 cup coconut water, 2 cups frozen sweet cherries, 2 bananas, 1/2 a vanilla bean, 2 tablespoons agave, pinch of salt, and 1/4 cup cacao nibs. I think I would like it without the cacao just as much. It was very nice. This is from Everyday Raw.

We made a double batch of corn chips for the weekend and put cashews on to soak for our multiple kinds of cashew cheeze.

I was famished by the time we drove to Jacksonville later in the day. The oriental market had called to say our 3 cases of Thai coconuts were in (we get them for 3 families), and I couldn't resist the lovely looking case of mangos that was calling my name. They also had ripe pineapples which is unheard of. They are almost always unripe anywhere I see them. They were so fragrant, I had to buy one of them as well. Never shop hungry! I also bought a package of tamarindo pulp to make for my Thai wraps.

As soon as we got to Darius and Alicia's house (we were picking up Angelina to spend the weekend at our house), I ate a mango and sliced up 2 more for others who might be hungry. It was so good, and I love how the juice feels running down my hand. There is no more wonderful fruit than the mango in my opinion (although the watermelon is a very close second). How blessed we are with the bounty of the earth. It truly is a garden of Eden even with its difficulties.

We had packed a lunch to have in Jacksonville of some leftovers from earlier in the week. We also had some dehydrated broccoli I had marinated (since I didn't have any fresh broccoli). This turned out to be a huge hit as it added another dimension to our "primavera". We also shredded some additional Cousa squash we got from our Gainesville CSA guy. It makes a nice substitute for zucchini which can be hard to get. I had also made some Alfreda sauce which also made a nice salad dressing when mixed with the marinated mushrooms and broccoli. It tasted kind of like a creamy caesar dressing.

Alfreda sauce

1 cup cashews soaked
1 1/4 cup water
1 T lemon juice
2 t nama shoyu
1 1/2 t garlic
1/2 t apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 t nutritional yeast
pinch cayenne
1/8 t salt, pepper

blend well in the blender until creamy. Serve over shredded zucchini. It is also nice as a "primavera" over shredded zucchini, carrot, red peppers with some herbs sprinkled in. I like marinated mushrooms and broccoli too. Do we eat well, or what? I feel very privileged and grateful. I know it is not that way for most people.

When we got back from Jax, I strained some sprouted wheat off the rejuvelac I had started earlier in the week, and it was ready to make cashew cheeze. I'll get some of that mixed up today hopefully after it is finished fermenting. I also need to mix the leftover rejuvelac wheat berries with some banana for Wyatt's favorite banana bread.

Alicia invented a new bread as well. She sprouted some lentils and mixed them with her wheat berries left over from making rejuvelac and dehydrated them. It was surprisingly tasty. I actually like it better than the wheat berries straight.

Smashed Bananas

Nothing fancy today. We had chocolate milkshakes for breakfast at Roger's request. Of course, Wyatt was delighted as those are his favorite. Then we had smashed bananas with almond butter mixed with honey, and added some raisins and sunnies. That's all I've eaten today, and I think the guys had some leftovers.

Experimenting

We made mint juleeps for breakfast today: 1 cup lemon juice, 1 cup agave nectar. Mix in blender with 1/2 a bunch of mint. Fill blender with ice. After this mixed, add a couple of shots of wheat grass juice. Very nice and healthy too!

I had also put some orange zest in some agave on Monday to "candy" so that I could make a recipe in Everyday Raw called "Creamsicles". They really did taste like the creamsicle ice cream delicacy. I didn't make them into popsicles though. I ran them through the ice cream maker. They are made with 1 1/2 cups coconut meat, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup agave, and 1/2 cup coconut oil. After this is liquified, the candied zest of 6 oranges is stirred in. This can be poured into popsicle molds also.

We also put 1 gallon of raw sunflower seeds in the dehydrator. We started these soaking on Monday (16 cups), and drained them. Then they have been sprouting for about a day and a half.

This is a large amount of seeds, so we divided them up into 3 sprouting trays. For each tray we minced a cup of garlic cloves (in the little bowl of the food processor of course), and mixed this with 2 tablespoons of chili powder and 3 tablespoons of sea salt. After the seeds are coated with this mixture, we divide it up on 3 dehydrator sheets. So the whole batch makes 9 trays, and we have 2 cups leftover to make burger patties tomorrow.

Dinner was leftover Mexican from yesterday. Still fantastic! I also started marinating some dehydrated broccoli (from Walton) to see how it freshen up. I want to see if it will rehydrate sufficiently for the soup or the pasta primavera recipe. I'll post the results tomorrow.

I don't think we posted about the mixture of leftover salsa and cheddar cheeze. I didn't have any, but Darius and Alicia said it was really good. They used some of the ensalada as garnish.

Happy Birthday, Trae

This morning we made mylk shakes as a little treat since we had company. They were delicious, and the children really loved them. It is so nice to have a non-dairy treat like that. They are so light and satisfying. The ones I usually make start with an almond mylk base:

I always soak the almonds I make into mylk. I store them in pint jars, so I just empty a pint jar into a quart mason jar and fill it with water and stick it back in the fridge. I always have 2 quarts soaking as I use the soaked almonds for a lot of different things. As soon as I use one, I empty another pint and make a new quart. I hope that makes sense.

Anyway, I empty one of the quarts of soaked almonds into a colander and rinse them really well. Today the skins were wanting to come off, so I "blanched" many of them. I put 1 quart of water in my blender and add the rinsed, drained almonds.

After thoroughly blending, I the mixture through a nut mylk bag into a large bowl, and rinse blender with another 4 cups water. I added the contents of the bag back into the blender to make sure we got all the almondy goodness we could. This is blended again and poured through the bag again. Of course, the pulp is stripped of as much liquid as possible. The pulp is put on a dehydrator sheet and dried to be used later.

The original pint of almonds results in a 1/2 gallon of almond mylk plus some pulp to use for burgers or a pie crust.

To make the mylk shakes, we freeze really ripe bananas on a cookie sheet just before they are too ripe. These are placed in quart jars in the freezer. I use one quart jar of frozen banana chunks with 2 cups of almond mylk, 2 tablespoons coconut oil, 1/2 agave nectar, and whatever flavoring we want. Today we used 1/4 cup each carob powder and raw cacao along with a dash of cinnamon. I also really like lemon flavored ones where I add a 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Very yummy.

For lunch we had the cheddar cheeze made into soup again, this time with some dehydrated spinach flakes. I fermented a triple batch of cheeze yesterday, so I mixed it all together today for use during the week including the soup. It just has to be thinned a little bit for use as a soup. Rejuvelac makes a good thinner, but since I was out today, I had to use water. We also had some tomato "sandwiches" on sprouted wheat crackers with some mayo again.


For dinner, I was giving a party for one of my seminary students who turned 18. I decided to go Mexican and made the corn chips Wyatt likes so much. I also made some "refried" no-beans, ensalada, salsa, and guacamole. I pulled out some of the sour cream from last week's cheeze frenzy, and added a little bowl of the cheddar made today. It was truly a feast meant for a king. I loved it.

Ensalada is something from my old way of eating that the Mexican sisters at church taught me to make. I had forgotten about it when I abandoned my cooked Mexican dishes, but I was thinking today that it would be a very tasty addition to our Mexican dinners. It is simply shredded cabbage mixed with a little sea salt, cilantro, and lime or lemon juice. I love it!

Everyone makes their own version of salsa and guac. Mine aren't anything special beyond the deliciousness of the wonderful ingredients going into them. We are so blessed to have so many beautiful and delicious fruits and vegetables.

Guacamole

Avocado
onion
garlic
tomatoes
salt
squirt of lemon

Salsa

chopped tomatoes
Jalopeno pepper
onion
garlic
salt

I never measure for these items. They are very intuitive foods.

Let's see how easy it is to blog from my mobile phone. The big problem is the 160 word limit. Lots of pictures today.

Busy Day in the Kitchen (no computer!)

My computer was gone yesterday, so I couldn't write my recipes. We had "save the tuna" tuna for lunch (saving the tuna because none were killed in its preparation). We had some ranch dressing to pour on which I posted yesterday.

I am having to prepare some food for a seminary party we are having for Trae who turned 18. I try to do something special for them when they are graduating. It is a bit of a challenge to think of food they will like that is consistent to my values. I started some corn chips when I got home from church. Then today I found out we're doing it tomorrow, so I just fixed regular food for today. I marinated some broccoli yesterday cause I wanted to make a broccoli cheese soup with the Cheddar Cheeze. It was amazingly awesome. I got the marinated broccoli idea from a workshop we went to at Present Moment. There was no recipe; just pour these items onto 3 cups of prepared vegetables (any vegetables, but they suggest broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms for the lasagna).

onion powder
chili powder
nama shoyu
sesame oil
maple syrup
crushed fresh garlic
white pepper

Anyway, I just put a pile of marinated broccoli in each soup bowl. In the blender, I put what cheddar cheeze was left from last week with some rejuvelac, enough to make it soupy. After it was mixed up good, I poured it over the broccoli. It was the best broccoli cheese soup I've ever had! I loved it.

For dinner, I shredded some zucchini to have with marinated mushrooms, carrots, and the rest of the broccoli. I also made a pasta sauce to pour over. It was kind of a pasta primavera. Very tasty.

Best Pasta Sauce Ever

(This is from Chef Olive in Orlando; Pam's recipe)

2 C chopped fresh tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 C fresh basil
1/4 C chopped onion
1/2 C raisins
2 tsp dried oregano
2 T olive oil
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp sea salt
1/2 C sun-dried tomatoes, soaked
1/8 C fresh cilantro (optional)
1/8 C fresh parsley (optional)

In a blender (I use food processor), combine the tomato with the garlic, basil, onion, raisins, oregano, olive oil, paprika, and sea salt. Blend well. Add the sun-dried tomatoes to the mixture and blend again, slowly adding water until desired consistency.

Thanks Pam!!!

I also started another batch of Cheddar Cheeze, a triple batch, in fact. I can't get enough of it, and I can't wait for another bowl of soup. I'm thinking it will be good with cauliflower too. I also started some orange zest soaking in some agave; I'm going to make creamsicles tomorrow. We started sunflower seeds to make a new batch of seasoned sunflower seeds, a batch of mayo (a staple we like to keep on hand), and more wheat for rejuvelac. We had a busy kitchen day. We also got the corn chips out, and I put some soaked sesame seeds in for tahini. Chef Olive recommended soaking and dehydrating seeds we use for butters, so I am going to give it a try.

Here's the recipe for the mayo (Chef Olive):

2 cups cashews and 1/2 cup pine nuts
1 1/2 cups Thai coconut water
3 - 4 cloves of peeled garlic
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 T sea salt
1/4 cup stone ground mustard

Delicious for the un-Tuna recipe, but Roger loves it with sliced tomatoes. It is a tasty spread on the sprouted wheat crackers to make tomato sandwiches.

So no pictures today, but 3 recipes, so hopefully I have redeemed myself.

I Do Love the Juice!

I got to work early this morning, so Roger made me a wonderful juice for breakfast: a whole quart of the most delicious grapefruit juice I've ever had. It was fantastic, and it was just the thing to get my day off to a wonderful start.

I made some ranch dressing for the weekend and had more than would fit in the quart jar, so I put it in a little pickle jar. When we got on the road I was using it to dip some celery sticks, and then we picked up our CSA from Fruitland and there were some of their delicious tomatoes, so I enjoyed some of those along with the celery. I also had a cup of raisin cheese to eat with some of the celery, so that was a nice dessert.

For dinner, Alicia made a spiced papaya that she serves over spinach leaves. She makes a lovely caper lemon sauce to pour over it, and it is quite yummy. I get way too into the moment to remember to take pictures. Sorry. Maybe next time.

Ranch dressing/dip

This recipe comes to me from the raw body twins, a couple of sisters who started a business helping raw fooders find their inner beauty. Their website is therawbodytwins.com.

1-1/2 c nuts (cashew or mac or combo)
Soak them for a creamier dressing (1-2 hr is fine, then drain)
3/4 - 1 c filtered water for blending
3 T lemon juice (translates into approx 1/2 lemon)
1/3 c cider vinegar
1/3 c evoo
3 T agave (or 3 soaked dates)
2 cloves garlic
1 t garlic powder
3 t onion powder
1 t dill
1 T sea salt
1/2 t basil

And to add after it's done:

1/4 c finely minced parsley
another 1/2 t dill, minced

Makes 3 cups. Serving size 2 T. Blend all ingredients till creamy and smooth except the last 2, then once blended, stir in the last 2 ingredients. Thickens in fridge. Thin to desired consistency if using as a dressing, or toss into wet lettuce leaves as is. Number of servings: 24

Mono Meals

Sometimes our best meal is a mono meal meaning a meal that only consists of one food item. I especially like this type of meal when the food is something that has been out of season and unavailable for a period of time. That happened to us today as we found some first of the season watermelons at the farmers market. It was absolutely delicious.


Towards the end of last summer, I bought a couple of watermelons knowing they were going out of season but hoping I could prolong the enjoyment a little longer. I couldn't. They weren't very good. So I let out a nice, long sigh, and decided to wait the long winter out.


When my kids told me there were watermelons there, I asked if they had samples out. They said no, so I said I won't buy them til I know they're good. There are far too many rogue watermelons running around out there. However, when I went today, one nice senorita gave me a sample, and it was good, so I decided to give it a try. I'm so glad I did. What a feast! (That's one of the secrets actually, and a good reason to shop where farmers are selling. They're proud to show off their good produce. I can't begin to tell you how many bad peaches I've purchased over the years from the grocery store. Now I don't buy any produce from the grocery store at all.)

Anyway we enjoyed a huge melon and can't wait til the next opportunity. $10 for a meal for 6 ain't bad either. I love mono meals!



For a light dinner, we had some leftover refried no-beans on some romaine leaves with some fresh guacamole and hemp cheeze sour cream. The corn chips were finally done, so they helped us finish off the guac. Umm, umm, good.







Today's picture. I'm just not very photogenic. I don't think we're going to get a good one here.

Getting Ready for Cinco de Mayo

This has to go down in history as one of the worst pictures ever. I had to post it cause I promised myself I would, but then I decided that was okay, because this is truly one for posterity! They will know how wacky their great great grand maw maw was when they see this one! I think I'm actually snarling or something. I don't remember doing that, so maybe I have palsy...

We made more sprouted wheat crackers this morning. Just trying to keep up with demand. Wyatt really loves them, and I worry that he'll eat more than is good for him. I try to get him to eat something green with them, but he can eat a ton of salad too. I guess I shouldn't worry so much about it. I wonder how different a sprouted wheat kernel is compared to just a dry wheat kernel. In theory, a sprouted kernel is a living plant compared to the dry seed where the energy is stored in the germ waiting to be awakened. If it is ground and cooked, the life force is killed, isn't it? When I dehydrate the crackers, I only do so at a low temperature so that it doesn't kill the sprout. I have to hope that is a good thing.

Anyway, after the sprouted wheat crackers, we made some refried no-bean pate. We were wanting some living tacos for dinner tonight. They turned out extremely good. We made guacamole to go on top of them, and dolloped a spoon of hemp cheese sour cream on it. They were out of this world. I was hoping for some corn chips, but I forgot to make them and start dehydrating them last night, so this morning was too late. We'll have them tomorrow. It's all good. We used some beautiful red leaf lettuce we get from one of our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farmers as our "taco", and I can't remember when I've had a better meal. I meant to take pictures for the blog, but I got too caught up in the moment. [Hey, I took a video of this the next day from the leftovers. Check it out.]


Refried No-Beans

2 cups hulled sunflower seeds (soaked and sprouted)
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (soaked)
1 Tablespoon Nama Shoyu
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon agave
1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste

Place all ingredients into a food processor. Process until you have a refried beans consistency. If you need more moisture, add one Tablespoon at a time of the sundried tomatoes soak water.

This tortilla recipe is for a whole dehydrator full (9 shelves). Doesn't last too long around here.

Golden Tortilla Chips
from Everyday Raw by Matthew Kenney (doubled recipe)

3 1/2 c flax meal
8 c frozen corn, thawed
3 c water
5 T olive oil
2 T cumin
1 large red onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 T sea salt
8 t lime juice
1/8 t cayenne
4 t chili powder

Place chili powder, flax meal, and cayenne in a large bowl. Blend remaining ingredients in a blender in batches to liquify. Stir liquified mixture into flax meal mixture. Stir well to break up clumps of flax meal. Spread about 1 1/2 cups batter over Teflex sheet. After dehydrating about 1 1/2 to2 hours, score chips. Sprinkle with additional salt if desired. Dehydrate 12 hours, turn, and finish dehydration.

We also made another fruit pie to share. These are very nice for those who like to have a healthy dessert. I'd rather just have the fruit, but others go a little crazy over it, so I try to accomodate them. No recipe. Just a crust, some bananas, slice some fruit, whatever is in season. If prepared ahead and refrigerated, the pectin in the fruit will help it all stick together a little more when it is served, but it's still going to be all over the plate. No one minded.

Mango-Pina Piiiiie

Only had one quart of my "hot" lemonade today, but boy, was it delicious. I really love it. I don't look forward to it because it is so spicy, but when I'm drinking it, I really love it.

Finished up the cheeses today. After they fermented, I refrigerated them until I could get to them. The cheddar cheese is a fantastic new recipe I will be using many times over. I can't wait to try it in a broccoli soup tomorrow! I'm dying for some raisin cheeze too, but I can wait til tomorrow if I have to. I think the hemp cheeze will be a new addition we all will like as well.


We also made up the mango-pina pie, but didn't have time to freeze it, and I think it fixes up better that way. Everyone still liked, but I'll make sure to allow time to freeze it next time.


The crust is just smushed soul dates with cinnamon and a pinch of salt. The filling is 2 cups mango, 2 spears pineapple (about 1/2 a pineapple, I think), 2 cups soaked cashews, 1/2 to 1 cup agave (depending on sweetness of fruit), and 1/2 cup lemon juice blended in the blender til smooth. It can be topped with a sprinkling of coconut, but I didn't have any more. This is a variation of a recipe in Matt Amsden's Rawvolution.

Also got a new pic for me. Not sure it's a final one..., but we'll see. I thought I'd try to get Roger to photograph me when I do my food pics and see how they come out.

Darius and Alicia checked on the farmer's market in Jacksonville (the Beaver Street Market), and it looks like we may be going there to hawk some of our goods.

Soup and Salad, again

No time for pictures today. We drank our "hot" lemonade all day while working in Palakta. I just made 2 quarts of it, one for Roger, and one for myself, and we ran out to the van when we got the chance for a sip of it.

When we got home, Roger juiced a bunch of celery for the cuke soup, and it was delicious and very light and nourishing as usual. I also made untuna salad from the sunflower seeds I had sprouting. This is Wyatt's favorite. Or one of them. The sprouted wheat crackers also came out of the dehydrator, and Wyatt said they tasted like popcorn. That's a new one. I haven't had one yet.

We had green salad left over from dinner last night upon which to plop our untuna pate, and it was quite tasty, but I haven't been very hungry for salad lately which is very unusual for me. I'm in the soup mode, I guess, and juice.

Well, that's all we ate today. Roger is still polishing off his pie...

It's interesting, isn't it, how we don't overeat the raw foods as much as their cooked counterparts. It's certainly not for lack of taste. I think the nourishing value of them is certainly an aspect of it. The cooked foods, and certainly the junk foods, don't have the nutritional value, so we find ourselves eating more than we should to get satisfied. We're satisfied on many fewer calories when eat foods in their natural state. Nice, huh, not to have to feel like a glutton all the time.

We drove past a former favorite restaurant today, and I felt the heaviness in my stomach I would experience when eating there. It is extremely unpleasant, and a feeling I am NOT anxious to experience ever again even if the addictive side of my head is telling me I want to experience the "taste" sensation.

Hot Lemonade and More

First off, here's how we make our "hot" lemonade. It is a recipe from Stanley Burroughs who wrote a book called Master Cleansing where he recommends drinking this whenever one feels the need to cleanse. His recipe calls for maple syrup which I don't like to use in large quantities, so I substitute honey (which he says NOT to do. Too bad.).

2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 T raw honey
1 1/4 cup water
sprinkle of cayenne

It is really quite tasty, and it hits the spot if you are feeling the need to cleanse.


I also made some "banana bread" yesterday with the wheatberries leftover from making rejuvelac. I just mix them with a few bananas, some cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. It makes a flexible bread that we might be able to make ice cream cones out of.

Today, I decided to use the tray of sprouts from yesterday to make some sprouted wheat bread. I haven't made it in a while, and Wyatt won't let me forget it! So this batch is for him!


Here's a pic of the cheeze made yesterday so you can see how much it "grew". It's alive!!!!!

Last night for dinner we had our leftover patties on a bed of lettuce and shredded zucchini. I marinated some mushrooms to put on top of the patty, and then poured alfreda sauce over it. Muy delicioso! Wyatt ate 2 helpings, but one was enough for Roger and I.

Of course, Roger had a slice of his pie, too, as did Wyatt. I'm not too crazy about stuff like that, but it did look good. We made the crust out of almond flour leftover from making almond mylk mixed with dates, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Roger made 2 more for the freezer awaiting whatver we can think of to put in there. Last week I made a mango pineapple dessert that I will probably do again. He really liked it alot, and we wanted the kids to taste it.


I love leftovers! I used the leftover Alfreda sauce to make a spinach soup for dinner tonight, added a little nutmeg, and it was fantastic. Wyatt hasn't been eating soup lately, but Roger and I don't mind a bit! More for us!

Moving in a Different Direction

Because I have been looking for a venue for my raw food journey, and because I have used this resource for that purpose while I was juice feasting, I have decided to take it in a different direction in case there is anyone out there who cares what I am doing. I am asked for my recipes a lot, and this might be a good way to keep track of my experiments.

Keep in mind, I have never been much of an experimental cook. I have always been a strict recipe follower. Also keep in mind that due to my work schedule, I do not have a lot of time for preparing or experimenting. We eat a lot of standard salads during the heavy work schedule.


I got a new book at Borders the other day called The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Raw. A lot of people are put off by being called an idiot, but I think I am an idiot in many different aspects of my life, why not in the way I eat?

There was actually a number of good recipes in here I would like to try. I bought the book because they had quite a few rejuvelac recipes, and I have been looking to branch out there as I love the rejuvelac cheeses. This one takes it a step farther into salad dressings and sauces, and I have been fearful about taking that additional step. (Hence the idiot status is completely accurate.)


Here is a picture of the next batch of rejuvelac that is in the works. Wheat or some other grain is sprouted. Once the sprouts are about 1/4 inch long, they are mixed with water and allowed to ferment for a couple of days, stirring at least 2x a day.

I made some rejuvelac at the latter part of the week and put it in the fridge to finish up while we did a weekend trip to Daytona for opening day at Jackie Robinson Ball Park. It was still waiting for me when I returned, so I was more than happy to put it to good use. We used up the last of our raisin cheeze last week, and we have celery positively dying to have some more. So that was the first order of the day. Jaray asked me for that recipe last week, so here it is:

Raisin Cheese

4 cups cashews
Enough rejuvelac to blend it (about 2 1/2 cups)

Blend until smooth; pour into 1/2 gallon glass container and let sit at room temperature overnight. Grind 2-3 cups of raisins in the food processor. (Don't wash as you will use the bowl to prepare the cheeze.) Put into a separate bowl while you mix the cashew cheese into cream cheese thusly:

Cashew Cream Cheeze

Cashew cheese prepared in previous recipe
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup OVOO
2 t sea salt

Blend in the food processor and empty into bowl with chopped raisins. Mix thoroughly. We then put this in 1/2 pint jars and try to limit ourselves to one jar at a setting. It is soooo good.

In the idiot book, there is a recipe for Hemp Cheeze I am also trying which can then be used for sour creme.

Hemp Cheeze

4 cups cashews soaked at least 2 hours
1/2 cup hemp seeds
2 cups rejuvelac
1 t salt

Place all ingredients in the blender, and blend for 40 - 60 seconds until very smooth. Place in a 1/2 gallon mason jar. Cover and allow to sit in a warm place overnight. Use as a dip for crudites and/or as a base for sour creme.

Sour Creme

1 cup Hemp Cheese
1/4 cup EVOO
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
water as needed for consistency and blending (additional rejuvelac can be used)
pinch of salt

Blend ingredients in blender only adding water slowly and as needed. Blend on high speed for 20 seconds. Add needed water and blend an additional 30 seconds until creamy and smooth.

Chill at least 30 minutes before serving. "Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 or 5 days. It is perfect to serve with burritos, tacos, and any other savory dish as well as desserts."

Here is another version of cashew cheeze I want to try from the idiot's guide:

Cashew Cheese

2 cups cashews
1 cup filtered water (I used rejuvelac)
1/3 cup red bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, and diced
2 1/2 T green onion, diced
2 T fresh cilantro, minced
1 t garlic, minced (optional)
1 t nama shoyu (or to taste)
1/4 t sea salt (or to taste)
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes

Place cashews and water in a blender, and blend on high speed for 40 - 60 seconds or until very smooth.

Place mixture in a quart-size mason jar. Cover and allow to sit in a warm place overnight.

Transfer cashew mixture to a large mixing bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Serve immediately (I think it would benefit from sitting for flavors to combine) or store in an airtight glass container for 3 to 4 days. This recipe provides a great base for a variety of dips. Red bell pepper can be blended into the cheese in the blender if you want an orange cheese. Other nuts (macadamia or pine) can be substituted if desired, and other herbs can be used.


Roger is making a raw fruit pie. He loves them, and I could care less, so he is the official pie maker in the family now although I don't mind whipping one up every once in a while.

Our main innovation there is that we use dry almond meal leftover from almond milk. After making the milk, we run it through a nut milk bag, and spread the residue on a tray in the dehydrator. After it dries, we place it in pint jars. To make the pie crust, we grind the meal up in the food processor until it is like a coarse flour, then add dates until we get the consistency we want. We add some cinnamon and a pinch of salt as well. This is pressed into the pie plate, and the pie can be whatever you want to add. I made this crust with agave last week instead of dates, but I think the dates give it a better consistency.