Wanting the best, needing something better!

On black Friday, the consumer world that we live in goes crazy. I willingly was dragged into the hype by my husband, who has been after a few big ticket items, mainly a TV. We currently don't have a TV and I would be happy if we never have a TV. (Youtube plus an occasional movie on the laptop is good enough for me). Of course, being married, it is OUR money and he wanted my input on preferences: size, plasma vs. LCD vs. LED., budget, etc... We had our budget set, and he was deciding between a larger, poorer quality TV or a smaller, better picture quality TV. All weekend all I heard was, "Dot, What about THIS??" or "daaang, check out this one!! We should get this! No, wait, its not what I want." Back and forth all weekend. I humored him because I know it's a big change, us jumping into HCRV lifestyle, and it puts an $100 dent in our pocketbooks every week. 

My husband is probably 50-70% raw vegan, depending on the day. He eats what I eat by default (It's whats for dinner!). He acknowledges the health benefits and clearly notices the difference when he's had a high-raw day, however he unfortunately does not empathize with the environmental or ethical impact of the diet. He still eats SAD when we go out to restaurants and at the in-laws. I make him cooked vegetarian dishes weekly, sort of as a compromise. He definitely respects me for doing HCRV 100%, but is in denial that he can do the same. 

So what does shopping around for the best quality for your money TV have to do with eating the diet that is best and most suited for you as a human?

Well, as we were discussing the TV issue, I had an epiphany. I said, "Mike! What the heck!? $400 for a 42" LCD TV or $400 for a 46" plasma??! We are talking about a moving picture. We are comparing what used to be the best with what now is the best! If this were 2 years ago, plasma would have been a huge splurge! Nobody had any complaints about plasma UNTIL the ppl who make tvs were all, 'ummm, plasmas are outdated. They reflect lights. Come by our newest TV, LCD, no reflections! Brighter, sharper images!" Who says so?? They do! Because they want your money! A plasma is a perfectly quality picture..the only reason people need to buy tvs is because the people who make tvs keep on changing what is considered 'the best.'"

K so maybe this is a given. My husband just looked at me (he's a business major), laughed, and said, "well DUH. Its called MARKETING." tu-shay. 

I've thought about that a lot recently though, and how it relates to diet. Stay with me.

Back in the day, way back in the day, people ate raw food. They lived in tropical places, plentiful with fruits, ate to their hearts content, stopped when they were full. Then people began, for whatever reason, to migrate. They moved to colder places. They didn't have a steady residence. They were now required to hunt and gather for their food-this was the next best option. Ok. Now fast forward to the days when dehydrating meats and cooking stews became "the thing" to do. Wow! suddenly people could be enjoying the meat that they had killed months previous! Food preservation because a huge motivator, as well as diversity in what they could make that cooking offered. Skip even more to the future, and we have the invention of canning! That completely took off, and soon thereafter came grocery stores filled with shelves of cans, jars, and OH LOOK a freezer isle! Somebody figured out how to creat an ice box that keeps food fresh and, OH now we have a microwave to re-create that dish whenver you wish! And lastly of course, came Dominos Pizza, freshly delivered to your doorstep. You don't even hafto walk five feet out of the house. 

So that is basically a mini-explanation of how the food that we eat has progressed. Now, ask almost anyone and they would say, yeah eating packaged, restaurant, gourmet food is great! Its convenient and delicious, if nothing else. It is, lets say, the LED 51" TV that my husband fantasizes about. The only reason he fantasizes about it is because it EXISTS. Before LED technology was around, my husband fantasized about Plasmas. There was no way that he could have guessed what the latest and greatest TV would be, because THAT WAS the best. 

Ironically, pros and cons wise, I would argue that NO TV is infinitely better than the biggest, best TV out there. I would also argue that our ORIGINAL DIET, that of fruits and veggies, is infinitely better than all the take-out, restaurant, convenience food out there. It may not be convenient to have to figure out ripening-times of bananas, but its a lot more convenient to grab a banana on the go, crap it out an hour later, and reap the energy, compared to grabbing a pop-tart, feeling sluggy, and keeping it in your colon for a week. Maybe it's a stretch, but I see the connection quite clearly. Simplify.

Crazy about Heirlooms!!

About a month ago, I was at the farmer's market and asked one of the vendors a question that has been plaguing me. What does "heirloom" mean?? I felt foolish for asking it, but no one had ever explained it to me before. The kind lady explained that heirloom meant that is was the ORIGINAL plant. There are hundreds and thousands of varieties of any given fruit or vegetable these days due to cross breeding (both intentionally done in a lab, and done by mother nature spreading seeds through bees, animals, wind etc for cross pollination). Heirloom means that the seed was saved from the first variety of that plant and they continue the legacy today. The first difference you'll notice when looking at heirloom tomatos, is that they are less symetrical, more bumpy, and vary in color. The next thing you'll probably notice is the price: expensive! My first thought was, "why are these ugly, odd shaped tomatoes MORE expensive?" The answer: they are heirlooms. So what's so great about heirlooms (other than its the original plant)? one word: TASTE. It just takes one try, and you will be hooked. I never ever ever could understand how people could eat tomato plain, and now, I am eating them like apples!! They are juicier, sweeter, less acidic, and just wow, that tomato flavor! It doesn't get much better than a ripe, squishy heirloom.

That was a month ago. Now I'm in love. The average price for heirlooms is $2.50/lb, so it is definitely a splurge item of mine. Sometimes I find vendors selling them for $2/lb. Today I found this sweet old lady that sold me 10lbs for $10!! I was ecstatic! They are unfortantely going out of season now, so that's a huge bummer. I look forward to enjoying a full season of tomatoes next summer.

A great recipe for salad dressing I've been loving:

2-3 cups tomaotoes

2 cups mango

1-2 stalks of celery

1 T chopped chives

1/4 c chopped onion

herb of choice (dill, basil, cilantro, parsley)

1-2 pitted medjool dates

blend and serve on top of favorite salad! Add more tomato, jalepeno, and pepper to make a sweet and spicy salsa

...So get your heirlooms while they're hot!

Tis the Season for...Zucchini!

Yesterday I did my bi-weekly grocery shopping at the farmer's market. (In case any locals haven't heard, it's pretty awesome. Every Saturday from 9-2pm at Pioneer Park in Provo. Tons of vendors!) It's granola-y to say this, but I really do love talking to the growers and asking about where the food is from and how it's grown etc. Plus, REAL food is sold there. No two cucumbers look the same. Peaches are bumpy and apples have knots and dents in them. Carrots are short and fat with the stringy root still attached. Heirloom tomatoes come in every shape and color from purple to yellow to red to orange. It's the complete opposite of shopping in the produce section where everything looks identical.

Upon my stroll through the farming vendors, I came across a zucchini that I just could not pass up.

For $1 I bought that massive squash that will feed Michael and I for the next two days. I went to work this morning on making one of my favorite raw meals: Rawtsa! aka Pasta! I don't have a spiralizer yet (it's on my wish list) but I do have a mandolin slicer  so I sliced up the zucchini into thin but wide shaped "noodles." Pasta sauce is so easy and quick to make, and you can easily experiment with the portions of  ingredients without going wrong. I used:

leftover zucchini slives

3-4 small cloves of garlic

salt (to taste)

splash of lemon juice

3 handfulls of cherry tomatoes

1 handfull of fresh basil

2-3 dates

I've made pasta sauce quite a few times, and every time dates really make the difference. (You could substitute agave if you wanted). The sweet counteracts the salty and really compliments the flavor. You could also add onion, pepper, celery, cucumber, shallots, spices, whatever you want! Olive oil is optional; I personally prefer it without. You really can't go wrong though with all fresh ingredients. I love knowing exactly what is in my meal!

Pumpkin seeds goes nicely with this meal and they add a nice chewy texture. I also put pea sprouts on mine to add flavor and texture. The thinly sliced zucchini picks up whatever flavor is around it, making it perfect for this dish. Also, the slimey-ness makes it feel just like pasta...minus the bloat. Zucchini is in season now, so it's easy to find and cheap to buy, but I probably won't be making this dish  again for a little while. We don't want to get sick of it! An alternative is to take the sauce and pour it over the zucchini slices, dehydrate it, and it makes the perfect chip. Any other ideas for using this awesome vegetable???

Spicy Kale Salad

As promised...the Kale Salad Recipe that made even Michael appreciate kale. It's a miracle!

Ingredients:

Kale (stripped from stem and ripped into small pieces)
1 avacado (or 2 if your name is Dot)
Salt
Cayenne
Lemon juice (from one lemon)
Basil
Tomatoes
Mung bean sprouts (optional)

Squish all ingredients together, massaging in. Add tomatoes and mung beans last. Amount of cayenne used determines degree of hotness.
Sprouts really add to the salad, although they are not necessary. For the salad in the picture I had just gotten some fresh cherry tomatoes from an organic farmstand....mmmm. so good. I've brought this salad to both raw and non-raw events, and it's always a hit.

Karma

I never got to share this before due to the choatic pre-wedding-ness, but I want to now. Raw food really is getting a name for itself. Restaurants are popping up everywhere, juice bars, going "green," health food stores/organic sales are going up, along with the popularity of farmer's markets. I was thrilled when I went home to Massachusetts for the wedding and discovered a new Raw/Vegan Restaurant named Karma in the neighboring town of Northampton! A few days before we were wed I convinced Michael to come with me and check it out...

He had the buternut squash soup and I had the Raw-Zagna! Made with cashew cheeze and strips of zucchini and other spiralized vegetables. It was yuuuuuummy. We finished with a raw brownie/vanilla ice cream dessert

Of all the places to first adopt a Raw Food Restaurant, Northampton would have been my first guess.

This makes me homesick, but I will share some snapshots I took anyways. Northampton is a pretty hippie, liberal, gay-rights town, always an adventure waiting to happen. It has a lot of history (like any part of New England) and neighbors where I went to high school, so I used to visit Noho a lot as a teen. Harrel's has unbeatable ice-cream, Faces has the weirdest gifts and coolest clothes, Turn it Up has the cheapest used music, Thorn's has anything and everything you could ever want, including but not limited to Tibetan garb, the most expensive handbags, and the world's best mac n cheese, Sweet's is like walking  back in time to an old fashioned candy store, Raven's musty flavor of used books just makes you want to read forever, among hundreds of other stores and restuarants. It's a great town. 

One of my favorite memories in Northampton is with one of my oldest friends and Noho-native, Liz. As newly licensed sophmores, we were driving around one day through town and decided to hit up the McDonald's drive-thru. I just wanted a diet coke, but the lady handed me a full meal, complete with burger and fries, AND a large soda. Hmm. I was too rebelious to hand it back, but we had just eaten and weren't the slightest big hungry. Liz suggested we take it to a homeless lady that she sees constantly crouched behind the old Hotel Northampton.That seemed charitable enough, so we did just that. This lady was pretty sorry looking, wrapped in rags and obviously filthy. You couldn't help but wonder when was the last time she had a real shower. I awkwardly approached her saying, "excuse me, ma'am. We just got this meal for free by mistake and didn't want to waste it. Would you care for it?" The lady looked suspiciously at us and poked inside the bag. "Is that a hamburger?" She asked, almost accusingly. "Uh, yeah, pretty sure..." With that she tisked, shook her head no, and without hesitation said, "No. Thanks. I'm a vegetarian." Liz offered her the fries at least, which she took, and we both walked away in amazement, waiting til we were around the corner and burst into laughter. Only in Northampton. It's just that kind of town. 

Everything Grows in Cali

We had a wonderful time two weekends ago in California. I was ecstatic about seeing Gma and Gpa Wren's garden and was very impressed. They kept on saying how this was the worst month, harvest-wise, to come see them, as they were getting everything planted for the winter garden and the summer garden was sparse...but not to me! It is a wonderful hobby that I can see they take very seriously and definitely reap the benefits of it. Our visit was short and sweet; Michael and I are looking forward to another California road trip come Thanksgiving.

They didn't let us go without filling up on Nature's Bounty. We brought back two huge bags of ripe tomatoes, 2 cans of beets, 1 can of strawberry jam, 1 can of salsa, an acorn squash and butternut squash, as well as 1 honeydew and 1 crinshaw melons! The salsa was gone within the first 2 days of being back. The melons in the first three days. I dehydrated most of the tomatoes and those were gone in the first week. We made a dent on the jam as well. WOW. You can really taste the difference between fresh and fake. Yeah yeah, I'll take an apple over applesauce any day, but I would also take organically grown over inorganic without hesitation. Some foods I'm not as picky about, some I'm 100% organic 100% of the time, but regardless, homegrown trumps both, handsdown. 

The whole 24 hours we were in Cali, I couldn't help but notice how EVERYTHING just grew! Once we got over the Sierra Nevadas, we started seeing signs everywhere to pull over, fresh fruits and veggies, farmer's markets etc. I was salivating just looking out the window at the vineyards and acres upon acres of farmland. I've driven cross-country many times, and I've seen the beautiful wheat, cotton, corn, and sunflower fields of the midwest, but the colors of California were unbeatable! Gpa Wren was bragging in his own right about how his neighbors grapefruit and lemon trees on opposing sides of his yard, drop dozens upon dozens of ripe fruit onto his yard. They then gather the extra fruit and use it for fresh-squeezed lemonade among other things. It all seemed too good to be true! Needless to say, I am plugging for California when it comes time for us to move.

The last two weeks have been wonderful in that I have found support beyond which I thought was available to me. Most people that I have talked to or read about find out about raw foods through a traumatic diagnosis or health concern, usually cancer, diabetes, candida, allergies, or an auto-immune disorder. The majority of these ailments plague older generations, and so it has been difficult for me, a healthy 21-year old, to find common ground with my peers when it comes to food. My sister's mother-in-law referred me to her friend, Lara, who holds support group meetings once/week here in Provo! I already go to a once/month potluck at Kathrines, but was very excited to learn about a meet up that was more local to me, and on a weekly basis. I've gone the last two weeks and it has been immensely helpful to share my story and hear about other people's journeys. I know it sounds cliche, but it has made all the difference. I recently contributed to Agi's Recipe Book as well, which gave me the oppertunity to attend a dehydrating class of hers yesterday! It was inspirational to learn about Agi and her healing through foods. She is really the source for me of where I first heard about raw food. She sparked my interest before anyone or anything else. As my mentor, Agi really made a difference in my life, more than she knows. I filled my dehydrator to capacity this morning making her recipes.

A recipe for fruitleather that she gave us yesterday:

1 cup any fruit

2 T ground chia

2 T ground flax

2 drops lime essential oil

1/4 t cardomon 

splash of water

a little agave

Blend and dehydrate overnight. Yummy!

Kale Chips

Make these...and Lays will never taste the same. Promise.

I owe Katherine Scott for giving me her recipe for these chips. You can find hundreds of recipe combinations online, but this one is definitely my favorite.

I can remember the first time I bought kale. It wasn't that long ago. I had been reading about it randomly for a while, and never really thought about trying it until I saw a picture of it in a magazine. "So THAT'S what it looks like" I thought to myself as I thumbed through Women's Health. Hmm. I passed it a few times in the produce section as I grocery shopped, consciously looking out for different dark leafy greens. I wanted to try something other than spinach or romaine in my salads so one day I braved it, picked it up, put it in my cart, and never looked back. 

Plain kale is bitter, curly, and tough to chew. I've grown accustomed to it in my salads, but it's not the most popular green to eat by itself. It is, to say the least, a powerhouse of nutrients. (It is most famous for it's abundance of vitamin K, but it also has crazy amounts of vitamins B2, B3, B6, B12, C, E, beta-carotene, folic acid, lutien, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium, silica, zinc, falvonoids, glucosinolates, and fiber. If you really needed more of a reason to eat kale, there ya go!) Kale is very versitile and can be made in dozens of different ways, other than just salads. I have a special recipe for kale salad (I'll share it later) that has become a favorite of me and Mike's. It used to be that I couldn't pay Michael to eat kale salad, but this recipe I found worked miracles. I love putting kale in green smoothies; there is nothing easier than 2 bananas, a bunch of kale leaves, 2 cups water, and 1 cup ice. Ta da! Breakfast.

 An absolute FAVORITE way for us to prepare kale though, has become kale chips. It started before I became raw. I simply washed and broke up the kale into bite size pieces, put in on a pan, sprayed with cooking oil, sprinkled with salt, and put in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes. Simple, crunchy, delicious. I have since tried other ways of making them and by FAR this is my favorite. Best. Kale. Chips. Every time. I have to distract myself or else I'll be tempted to pull them out of the dehydrator before they're done, they're THAT good. (At a health food store, you would pay $5+ for a few ounces of these kind of chips.) This does require a dehydrator, you could probably make them in the oven just fine, but they're SO good when dehydrated. 

Start out by blending the following ingredients til smooth:

3 T nutritional yeast (not necessary, but gives a lot of flavor)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup raw cashews

1 bunch cilantro

1 T lemon juice

1 red, orange, or yellow pepper

1 jalapeno

1 t salt

In a separate bowl, have ready 2 bunches of kale, washed, and torn into bite size pieces 

Pour over the kale, massaging sauce so it covers every leaf. Put in the dehydrator for 8-10 hours at 110 degrees. Enjoy!

(before dehydrated)

(after)

Michael and I are taking a roadtrip tomorrow to California to visit his grandparents. I made a batch of this for the car ride. Sure, Michael has his potato chips but we will both be snacking on these the whole way down. They crunch the same, taste fresh, and my favorite thing about them: you know exactly what went into them. I am excited to show pictures here next week of California. Grandpa Wren keeps an impeccable garden and I am looking forward to learning about what he does and enjoying what he's grown! More to come...