Living Rawesome

Day #6 Bar-B-Que Crisps pg. 52 everyday raw

When I first received everyday raw in the mail I briefly thumbed through it and decided that one of the first recipes I would make would be bar-b-que crisps. After work today I decided to soak the sun-dried tomatoes and chipotle peppers. The recipe’s soaking time for the chipotle peppers is 2 hours and sun-dried tomatoes is at least 3 hours. Destiny came over tonight and hung out. We chatted about Raw Food and Healthy Living. We both have so much in common and I’m very grateful for all I learn from her. We both tried the vanilla granola. It is almost crispy. She loved it more than the buckwheat granolas. It is not too sweet, just sweet enough. I really would love to add more raspberries next time. The dehydrated raspberries are delicious. I would also love to make a cacao bar and shave it on top of the granola. YUMMY!! Everyday that goes on I appreciate the chef Matthew Kenney is. It amazes me how someone can make up these recipes. The bar-b-crisps have so many ingredients and they blend so nicely together. It tastes savory and sweet. Jason and I kept eating the batter. I made myself stop. I made a mistake when I made the batter though:( I am so used to following my own rules I didn’t see how to mix the bar-b-que sauce with the bar-b-que chips (flour). According to the directions, I am supposed to mix the dry ingredients together and then lay that out on a teflex sheet, then pour sauce over it. I mixed the sauce with the flour. I did make it work by spreading it out just like I normally do for flax crackers and onion bread. I am still reading the directions and wondering how Matthew does this. It seems like it wouldn’t work. I think I’m going to write him an email and ask how he does it for sure. No matter what, the recipe is RAWESOME!! I bet the crisps will be gone in 2 days after their dehydration time of 2 days.
Ingredients
sun-dried tomatoes, almond flour
maple syrup, oat flour
apple cider vinegar, flax meal
shallots, nutritional yeast flakes
garlic, olive oil
chipotle peppers,
chili powder
sea salt
sumac

Day #5 Raspberry Vanilla-Almond Granola pg. 40 everyday raw

Today was the Raw Food Gathering, so I decided that I would do the raspberry vanilla-almond granola as a demonstration in the presence of my friends at the potluck. I soaked the nuts (almonds and pecans) and sunflower seeds last night before bed and soaked them for 12 hours. I am finding out that I also need to do any preparation before I go to bed the night before my next project. I bought fresh raspberries from Rutabaga’s. They are so fresh and delicious. I went to the gym and my Bible study with Sarah this morning. After I returned from Sarah’s I strained the nuts and seeds and rinsed them. I put them in the refrigerator until tonight. I did the demonstration in front of my friends at the potluck. The recipe calls for fresh raspberries, sunflower seeds, pecans, almonds, maple syrup (I replaced with agave), date paste, pears, vanilla extract and vanilla bean scraped, almond extract, sea salt, ginger juice (I left this out because my son will not eat it then) and lime zest. I decided to cut the measurements in half, which I will do with many of the recipes when possible. The prep time only took 5 minutes after soaking the nuts and seeds. The lime zest was a pain because I didn’t bring my zester to the potluck. My sister, Cathy, helped me with the zest. Everyone watched me make it, which to me was a special time. Everyone tried it and thought it was great. Joanne said she has tried many Granolas and this recipe is the BEST! I was so excited to share this time with my friends. Thank you all who came to the demo:) I consider myself very blessed to have all of you in my life!
This granola is so delicious. I am dehydrating it now. I am guessing that it will taste more like raspberries after it is dehydrated. I am going to make some yummy almond milk on Saturday or Sunday and have some.

Day #4 Avocado Tartare and Tamarind-Glazed Cherry Tomatoes pg. 126 entertaining in the raw

Today is the final day of my preparation for the avocado tartare with tamarind-glazed cherry tomatoes, black sesame pappadam, and curry froth. I went to the Indian Spice Shop today that is next door to Rutabagas. I was hoping to find Tamarind. I walked in the shop and two ladies were there and with their friendly smiles they greeted me and asked me if I needed help. I asked them if they had tamarind and sure enough, they said “Yes!” The owner of the shop walked me to all of the spices. She had dry tamarind, tamarind concentrate and tamarind candy. I was so excited I jumped up and down and told her how she saved my day. I explained to her what I am doing for my project and told her my recipe called for tamarind and I had never tried it before. I told her that I didn’t know of anyone in Inverness that had tamarind. She was so friendly and was smiling from all my excitement. I am very excitable when things go my way:) She explained to me that it is a sour fruit. I couldn’t wait to try it. I looked around the store and was so amazed by all the authentic Indian foods. She even had real pappadam. The package looked like a tortilla package. I never have heard of any of these foods until delving into this project. I looked at all the foods. She even had red lentils, and something called moth beans. The prices were great too! I learned about alum. I asked her if she ever heard of tartare and she said it is alum. I don’t think it is exactly what I was looking for, but I did learn something new. I looked up tartare and it is a preparation of finely chopped raw meat or fish optionally with seasonings and sauces. Instead of meat in this dish Matthew Kenney substituted avocado. I think that maybe I could use mushrooms as a replacement for meat with this dish. I bought the tamarind and told the owner that I would bring her a sample of my meal for her to try on Saturday. I hope she likes it.
I couldn’t wait to try the tamarind. It reminded me of dry cherries. It was sweet but sour. I wouldn’t mind eating just the fruit. In the dry tamarind there are seeds. I am going to make a necklace out of them. They are a pretty reddish-brown color. I will try to dehydrate them first, then make the necklace. I am having more fun than I imagined doing this project!
Jason was home tonight to help me with the meal. The avocado tartare calls for avocados, lime juice, lime zest, macadamia nut oil, salt, black pepper, chopped cilantro, crushed coriander seed, jalapeno. I had all the ingredients except macadamia nut oil. We found out that many people substitute mac nut oil for olive oil. So I used olive oil. I bet it would taste better with the mac nut oil. Next time I make this meal I will use macadamia nut oil. I chopped up all the ingredients and placed them in a bowl to be stirred. They are supposed to be placed in souffle’ cups but I only have tart cups. They worked fine for us. We lined the tart cups with saran wrap so they were easy to slip onto the pappadam.

Jason helped me with the tamarind-glaze. We soaked the tamarind in water for 30 minutes and it became very mushy. He used our fine mesh strainer to make the pulp. He placed all of the soaked tamarind into the strainer and used a spoon to push the pulp through. I made the rest of the sauce with agave, chili powder, cayenne, lime juice, and sesame oil in the Vitamix and added the pulp. The sauce is sweet but tangy. We mixed a few tomatoes with a small amount of the sauce. We decorated the plate similar to the picture in Matthew Kenney’s book. It was so beautiful, I didn’t want to eat it too fast. It took me 3 days to prepare this meal. It was worth the time and effort to obtain all of the ingredients that I needed. The meal is divine. I am looking forward to letting my friends try it. I love the tamarind sauce and the curry sauce. I am not much of an avocado lover, but the tartare was good too. I will definitely use the curry sauce for salad and dressing for zucchini spaghetti. I absolutely love the curry sauce. I discovered curry within the last 2 years and I can’t believe that I lived this long without it.

Day #3 Froth pg. 126 entertaining in the raw

I just sat down after making one of the best sauces I have ever made. I was going to make the Tamarind-Glazed Cherry Tomatoes, but I am having a very difficult time finding tamarind paste, or dry tamarind. I was on a mission to find it today, I called Sweet Bay and Doing Dinner. Neither of them knew where I could find it. There is an Indian Spice shop next door to Rutabaga’s so I will try to go there tomorrow. I made the froth tonight. It is so exciting that I have most of the ingredients that I need to make these recipes. The Froth calls for red bell peppers, mango, salt, curry powder, garam masala, paprika, turmeric, cashews, fresh lime juice, sesame oil, and nama shoyu. I received paprika from Hungary. My mom gave it to me as a gift. My uncle got it from Hungary and now I finally got to use it in this meal. It is so delicious so far, I still have 2 more parts to go. The Pappadam is tasty but the sauce, oh my gosh, IT IS AMAZING! Jason was on the phone when I made it. He is hungry again, so I was teasing him. I am so glad to be on this journey, I am really discovering what a genius Matthew Kenney really is. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s meal. I will be bringing this sauce to the Potluck this month. I am certain EVERYONE will love it!

These are all of the ingredients. I didn’t have turmeric. It only called for a small amount so I don’t know if it really makes that much of difference. I don’t know what it tastes like without it, but I know it is delicious just the way it is.
The bacon from yesterday turned out amazing. I let the boys try it. Christian said he liked it, but it could be a little less spicy. I am looking forward to eating it on lettuce with tomatoes. Sabby didn’t like it so much. It is not all the way crispy yet but I know it will be fantastic. Cathy tried it and said it is awesome. She didn’t know how I did it. She laughed and was surprised it was made from eggplant. If you look at the picture you can see I am always reminded of my Savior.

Sarah just walked next door to the Indian Shop. They are open at 3 tomorrow. It works out perfect because I get off at that time. I will let you know how it goes.

Day #2 Eggplant Bacon pg. 58 everyday raw

I am on my break from work. I have a raw food class tonight. I’m teaching at 6:30. Tonight will be the last class for a few months. Hoping to start back in October. August will be a busy month. I am going to the Raw Spirit Festival in Maryland. I am also starting school.
Today I am working on Eggplant Bacon. I have to say it is so delicious. I don’t even want to dehydrate it. I wanted to eat the whole batch. It was hard to stop eating it. I am almost tempted to do it at the class tonight. I want everyone to try it. It is marinating right now and when I get home tonight I will put it in the dehydrator. I am really hoping Christian and Sebastian will like it. I think they will. Christian always likes the morning star bacon. I am trying to remove all morning star products out of our house and replace them with better ingredients. I was talking to Jason on the phone when I tried some. He is at work and very hungry. I didn’t mean to but just kept saying how great it is, mmmmm:p Yummy!! I am so excited to be doing the recipes, finally.
The Pappadam turned out good. I will make the rest of the meal on Tuesday and Wednesday. We will eat it on Wednesday. I will report how well the boys like the “bacon”. I am going to go study now. I must finish my work by Thursday.

Trevor Hall concert

Went to see Trevor Hall in Orlando, Fl. We arrived early and went to get our tickets but the doors weren’t even open yet. We all decided to walk around downtown, Orlando to get some yummy food. We stopped at the Pita Pit. They offered vegetarian food for the kids and other options for the meat eaters:) It’s very similar to Subway. Jason tried Falafel for the first time. I still want to make it raw for him. As the kids were eating I thought I saw Trevor Hall walking in the street. Sure enough it was. He was across the street and I definitely didn’t want to go chase him down. 10 minutes later he walked past the Pita Pit. So of course I had to go out and get some photos.
We got some photos and I could tell he was wanting to leave. He said he was looking for something good to eat. I was so upset:( I wanted to make him Raw Yummies. I should’ve listened to my inner being, I knew I wanted to bring it for a reason but I ignored the thought of it. I’ve been so busy and like I said in my other blog I really haven’t been feeling well. Next time, I WILL BRING HIM SOME YUMMY RAW TREATS:)
So we told him we would be there at the concert. He remembered us from all the other concerts and he remembered us giving him Tulsi Mala Beads.
The concert was great!! It felt like he was performing for the small crowd, he was very personable. He was talking to the audience asking what we wanted to hear next. He is humble performer. Chris Steele was amazing on the drums as always:) I can’t wait to see them again.
Jacob Jeffries Band was the opening act. Usually I am not very excited about the opening band but they were very impressive. I will be seeing them again.

Dying my Hair Blue

Yes I finally did it. Jason helped me of course:) I now have blue streaks in my hair. They are not permanent. I don’t know if I want it blue for as long as permanent would last. It was so much fun to hang out with Jason after he got out of work. Sebastian even got in on the action. He decided he wanted it done too. It was fun. We both had our hair tied up out of the way of the blue dye. I didn’t want it getting all over my hair.
Jason kept telling me all night and all day how beautiful it looks and how much he loves it. He is always making me feel like a queen. I was worried I might resemble Violet Beauregarde from Charlie in the Chocolate Factory when she ate the gum and blew up like a blueberry. But it’s fun and different and something we could all do it together.

First Recipe Day # 1 Black Sesame Pappadam pg. 126 entertaining in the raw

Today was the kickoff of my new adventure in the RAW. I decided to look through Matthew Kenney’s books to see what I had at my house because my favorite health food store Rutabaga’s Etc. was not open. I had one thai coconut, so I decided to use it. My first recipe is the Black Sesame Pappadam. I had all of the ingredients to make them. This whole meal will take me a few days. I figure that I will do it in steps.
Black Sesame Pappadam
flax meal
yellow squash
coconut meat
lemon juice
water
raw agave
salt
coriander
cumin
black sesame seeds
It was so easy to make. The batter tasted good. Can’t wait to try them with the meal on Wednesday:)

My New Raw Project featuring Matthew Kenney’s recipes

I am officially announcing my new raw project. I recently went to see a movie with my family which I rarely do and a preview sparked my interest. Julie and Julia. I was so intrigued by the idea that someone would think of such a fun and adventurous cooking experience for an entire year. I turned to my husband and said “I want to do that raw.” Of course he smiled at me and said, “Sure you can do it.” He is always so supportive. I really was serious. I started thinking how I could do it with my busy schedule (work, school, kids, husband, housework, homework, working out, raw food classes, etc….) I pondered it and I wrote Matthew Kenney back in May to ask him if I could post his recipes on my website. He responded last week and said “YES”. I didn’t make him aware yet that I want to do this project but I will be writing him today to tell him. I know I need to do it. I have to test my limits and just put one more thing on my RAW PLATE:) It is things such as this that keep me going. I always have to have a plan of something to do. I will be using his books, everyday raw and entertaining in the raw and some other recipes from Raw Food Real World.
Everyday for the next year or until I am through the books I will prepare his raw recipes. If I am swamped I will find one that is easy, but on days when I can play I will prepare more involved recipes. I will share the food with friends and families and hope they will love them.
I am looking forward to this endeavor. I know it will challenge me and take me outside of my limits. I will stay faithful to this project and I intend to blog everyday about my preparation experience. I hope that you will come along with me for the journey of Matthew Kenney’s recipes.
Today is my parent’s anniversary as a tribute to them I will start it today:) July 26, 2009. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! 40 years and counting!!

Day of my Labyrinth Walk

Sebastian and I went to D’Adjoa’s house today. We had so much fun. It was an enlightening day. I was reenergized by her. I have not been feeling like my usual self:( I recently hurt my back and I have been going through many emotional changes. It may stem from Colonics…ever since I went I feel like I’ve been cleaning house of emotions. D is such a dynamic friend. I absolutely love hanging out with her. When I do I feel like I never want to leave.

We went swimming with her grandson who is Sebastian’s age. They had fun and we hung out and talked of course about Fresh, Raw and Living foods. She loves the lifestyle just as much as I do. We chatted about Spirituality and God. She made me think that in this time in my life I really just need to draw closer to God and He will guide me. I know this is true. I have felt and seen many changes He is making in my life. Many signs have been coming to me that I know He is the one who will improve my life and will guide me where I need to go. I must remain faithful.
After swimming we went and had what D calls a Sunday. Super yummy.
2 bananas, sliced
blueberries and blackberries
raspberries with agave in a vita-mix(seeds strained)
Incredible after swimming in the summer’s heat.

Here is D preparing it. She always makes fresh food with pure love. She is always smiling and blessing it with positivity.

Sebastian even loved it. He has really been taking to the Raw and Living foods alot lately. We decided in our family that we would make at least 3 raw meals a week and it has been going great so far.

After our “Sunday” we went for a walk to show see the Spa and Fitness center where she lives. She lives in Terra Vista, which has the fitness facility, pools, tennis courts, raquetball courts, restaurants and gorgeous homes. She can walk to the gym from her house. I have heard so many things about the gym I couldn’t wait to see it. When I walked into every building, it felt like I was at a resort. Nothing around Citrus County compares to the Fitness Center and Spa. It was stunning and I can see how people stay fit in that community. There is no reason why one couldn’t.
When I walked in there was fountain in a courtyard. She lead me to the Labyrinth. I have always wanted to walk one. I was suppose to in college for my religion course but I missed that day:(

She lead the way and we were both quiet and listening to the sound of the fountain. The sun was shining and the landscape was breathtaking. For the first time in a week I felt still inside of myself and wanted to stay there forever. It caused me to reflect on how my emotions have been within this last week. This time made me realize that my problems are so simple to resolve. D is such a spiritual friend to me that she made me reach inside of myself and made me realize that I am stronger than I have been. I will continue to get stronger with God’s food and His guidance. He has placed many people around me that will pick me up if I stumble. His signs and my dreams make me aware that He is here, and He has been, and He will be FOREVER!!
THANKS D’ADJOA