What has been getting me through the day?

Growing up I was a spoon-in-the-peanut butter jar type of snacker. My brother was known to drink maple syrup directly out of the bottle as a child. Now, as an adult eating mostly raw foods, I came up with a new version of these classic pastimes. I simply dip half of a spoon into a jar of raw organic almond butter and fill up the other half with pure organic maple syrup. It's SO delicious! You'll have to reserve one jar of almond butter for double-dipping. This little trick has really been getting me through my insanely busy work load the past week.

Sweet Potato Rolls

It has been a very busy week in my professional life and in times like these I do what any good New Yorker would do - call for delivery! However, I want to make sure that I eat healthy especially when I'm stressed and busy, so it's important for me that I stay raw. All week I have stopped by One Lucky Duck for a delicious carry-out. Tonight I called Cafe Blossom and ordered their Autumn Sweet Potato Rolls. Essentially, they wrap up organic veggies (and coconut meat) in a thinly sliced piece of sweet potato. It is served with an almond ginger dipping sauce. They are just what I need to be nourished enough to put my nose back to the grindstone.

Tuesday Breakfast....no smoothie!!!

After just having mentioned how important coconut water is to my morning smoothie, I ran out of it. Rather than making a smoothie with filtered water, which I find very bland tasting, I decided to take a different course with breakfast - a heartier one.

This morning we pulled a loaf of banana-hemp-walnut Manna Bread out of the freezer, spread it with raw almond butter and drizzled maple syrup on top. Manna Bread is a sprouted grain bread that is cooked at a very low temperature. It is certainly not considered raw by all, but it is perfectly acceptable in my book. It's a great transition food for times that you want to sink your teeth into something bread-like. You can generally find Manna Bread in the frozen section of your local health food store or Whole Foods Market.

After giving our Manna Bread some time to digest, I juiced some apples, spinach, and a 1/2 inch knob of ginger. The green juice was SO refreshing!!!

Smoothie Tips

1. Salt:

Salt has a remarkable capacity for bringing flavors together. This is true both in savory foods as well as sweet. I always add a pinch of salt to each smoothie I make. When I forget to add salt, the difference in flavor is quite noticeable. Make sure that you're using a good quality sea salt that will contribute to your overall health, rather than deplete it.

2. Vanilla:

I always add a half of a vanilla bean to every smoothie I make. It really adds to the flavor of fruit smoothies and green smoothies alike. I use the whole vanilla pod which gets pulverized in the VitaMix. If you don't have a high-speed blender you can split the vanilla pod down the middle and scrape out the seeds with the back of your knife. I think this is better than using vanilla extract, which always leaves an alcoholic taste to me.

Some feel that vanilla is cost prohibitive. I generally buy my vanilla beans from Fairway here in NYC where it costs $2.99 for two beans (that's 4 smoothies). For those of you outside of New York, i've heard that Costco now carries vanilla beans. There might be less expensive resources online. If you find any, please let me know.

Update: Antony Heaven of livingrawfooduk.blogspot.com just emailed me a fantastic site where he buys his vanilla beans from. organic-vanilla.com. Their prices are FAR better than anything i've seen AND they're organic. Just placed an order of 30 beans for $10. Thanks Antony!

3. Coconut Water:

Nothing tastes better to me than when I use coconut water as the liquid in my smoothies. It's always strange to me because coconut water isn't that distinct from filtered tap water to me. But using filtered tap water in my smoothies always makes them taste quite bland. Also, coconut water has copious amounts of electrolytes, which is why it is often referred to as "nature's Gatorade."

4. Cleaning the Blender:

Many have told me that the task of cleaning their blender is SO daunting that it puts them off of making smoothies. They are generally quite excited to learn my method for cleaning (I honestly have no clue where I learned it). Simply fill the pitcher 3/4 of the way up with warm water. Add 4 to 5 drops of dish detergent (phosphate free, naturally) and give it a whir. The power of the blender should remove any schmutz that accumulated on the sides. Give it a rinse and turn it upside down on a dish cloth to dry. It's honestly one of the easiest things to clean in the entire kitchen.

Rumbling Tummy

Anyone who has even dabbled in eating raw living foods can tell you that there are a plethora of new bodily sensations and functions that occur, especially in the beginning and especially in the intestines. I remember when I first began making morning smoothies each day my stomach would gurgle and rumble quite loudly. I should emphasize that these sensations have never been painful - more amusing than anything. Sometimes I've felt like shouting, "IT'S ALIIIIIIIIVE!!!!" Then I realize that's precisely what's going on. I am eating living foods that have active enzymes which are doing their work.

Natalia Rose penned an animated tale of why we hear those noises and feel the rumbling in our tummies. The essay is titled "A Salad in Motion Remains in Motion" and was written for Kris Carr's blog, crazysexylife. It's definitely worth reading.

Also, if you haven't heard of Kris Carr, I recommend not only her fabulous blog, but also her amazing documentary, Crazy Sexy Cancer. Kris is full of wisdom and vitality - a sage in her 30s. Even Oprah thinks so:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbRM2RAjgh0

Onion Bread

I came home this evening to a nice warm batch of onion bread that was finishing its run in the dehydrator since yesterday. The smell of this wonderful bread greeted me at the front door to my apartment. Perfect for a cool and blustery fall day.

The recipe I used was inspired by Matt Amsden's Rawvolution. The ingredients are quite simple, just onions, flax meal, sunflower seeds, olive oil, and nama shoyu. Amsden's recipe called for 3 large onions and I used half that amount. Next time I'll keep the 3 onions and just double the rest of the recipe so that I can have 2 batches.

The funny thing about cooking raw food is that the hands-on time is often not too extensive. True this bread had to dehydrate for 24 hours, but I spent about 10 minutes prepping it. The dehydrator did all the work.

Tratoria Dinner

It was a busy day in the kitchen today here at Intrepidly Raw headquarters. I prepared a batch of raw onion bread, which I'll write more about tomorrow or the next day. I put a fresh batch of kale chips into the dehydrator (those should be ready momentarily). And, I made a fantastic raw manicotti for dinner that is inspired from my new favorite (favourite) blogger from across the pond, Anthony Heaven. It was an Italian tratoria dinner of a fresh salad and warm manicotti. Too bad I didn't have a laminated red checkered tablecloth.

This meal was actually quite simple - I only had to make 2 things: a nut based ricotta, and a raw marinara sauce.
Ricotta:
1 garlic clove
1 cup pine nuts (soaked)
1 cup walnuts (soaked)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/3 cup sweet white miso
1 lemon (juiced)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Give garlic a few pulses in the food processor. Next add all remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Thin out with water, if desired.

Marinara:
3 large tomatoes diced (roughly 2 cups)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup basil leaves
2 pitted dates
1.5 tsp dried oregano
1/2 lemon (juiced)
1.25 tsp sea salt
4 sundried tomatoes (dry)
Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Next, I sliced 2 zucchini lengthwise on a mandoline (try not to use the seedy and very wet core). I then scooped a little dollop of ricotta onto each strip and rolled it up.

I then spooned some marinara sauce into the bottoms of 2 individual gratin dishes and placed each mini-manicotti seam-side down into the sauce. When the bottom of the dish was filled with little manicotti, I spooned some sauce over the top and stuck them into the dehydrator to warm for an hour.

As a side, I prepared what we fondly refer to in this house as a "Refrigerator Salad." Essentially, this means that the contents of our fridge get chopped up and put into a salad bowl with a simple dressing. Today I had delicious watermellon radishes that I got at the farmer's market last week and still haven't used. If you live in NYC I implore you to seek out these beautiful specimens. White on the outside, a deep watermellon pink on the inside with a green ring around the outer layer, almost like a watermellon skin.

I diced this up and tossed it with some mesclun mix, a red pepper, some sprouts, chopped pistachios, and hemp seeds. I made a simple dressing out of balsamic, honey, and macadamia nut oil.
The best part about the entire dining experience was that I didn't feel groggy or need a nap afterword.