PRETTY SMART RAW FOOD IDEAS

FABULOUS SALAD DRESSING: Zukay is now in NYC!

July 11, 2009 · Leave a Comment

I found Zukay raw vegan probiotic salad dressing at a raw food expo a while back, and fell in love immediately with the Sweet Onion/Basil flavor.  Unfortunately,  I could not find it to buy locally until today (actually, I just bought a carton of six bottles directly from the company, by mail).

Now, the Zukay dressings are at High Vibe !!  They have all of the flavors!  Hooray! Now I can try the other dressings, without having to buy an entire carton.

zukay salad dressingCarrot Ginger
Tomato Pepper Pesto
Cucumber Mint
Tomato Provencal
Sweet Onion Basil
Red Pepper Cilantro
Red Pepper Cilantro

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07/09/09 CSA SHARE: What we actually got.

July 9, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Am  I feeling like an orphan?  Yes!  Do I understand the way farms work?  Pretty much – my grand-daddy was a farmer; but still…. city girl that I am…. how come?   Oh, I know the answer!   I know how farms work.  I just had to say it.  (My secret desire, now, is to find out if there is a close-by GoldenEarthwormFarm CSA –at least no more than a block from a subway line– which gets the deliveries on Tuesday…  I could go there and make my Wednesday dinner from my share!)

What I actually got: (the things that weren’t there are marked in red.
1 bunch Swiss Chard     traded for : 1 bunch kale
1 bunch Parsley
1 bunch Green Kale
1 head Broccoli
1 piece Zucchini
1 head Romaine Lettuce
1 bag Spinach
1 head Radicchio

FRUIT SHARE
1 container Blueberries
1 container Gooseberries

More lettuce!!! I will have to break down and do a green smoothie.  Okay. I went to two markets after I picked up my share, to see if I could find some apples or some bananas.  The closest market seemed very expensive and their apples were all marred and the bananas were all green, so I decided to go to the other one.  SCORE!  A nice bag of bananas!

I was excited about the kale trade because, yesterday, I went to the green market and almost bought some kale because I want to make more kale chips.  Yea!!!!  I got more kale!  Chips on the way!  Yumm!

I am excited about the radicchio!
Each previous year it has been promised, but it has never been in my box.  What is radicchio? It looks like cabbage, but it feels like lettuce!  A new adventure!

→ Leave a CommentCategories: MY CSA Experience · MY RAW EXPERIENCE
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PINEAPPLE MOMENT

July 8, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Is it pineapple season?  I found a cheap pineapple and brought it home.  I am thinking… ice cream?  pina coladas?  gosh! I don’t know!  Yumm is what I know. Pineapple tomorrow or the next day!

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CANCER UPDATE FROM JOHN’S HOPKINS – read all the way through

July 8, 2009 · Leave a Comment

from http://www.rawchefdan.com/raw_chef_dan/newsjuly09.html

AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY (TRY THE KEY WORD) AND ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHN HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person’s lifetime.

3. When the person’s immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder.

By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color. Better alternative is Bragg’s aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened Soya milk cancer cells are being starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment.

A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine.

Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water- best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrefied and leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body’s killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFA s etc.) to enable the body’s own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body’s normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

PLEASE READ ON

1. No plastic containers in micro.

2. No water bottles in freezer.

3. No plastic wrap in microwave.

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well. Dioxin chemicals cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies.

Don’t freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital was on a TV program to explain this health hazard He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as CorningWare, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn’t bad but you don’t know what is in the paper. It’s just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons. Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.

This is an article that should be sent to anyone important in your life

→ Leave a CommentCategories: RAW FOOD EDUCATION · RAW FOOD LIFESTYLE · RAW POLITICS
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MY NEW BENRINER SPIRAL SLICER

July 8, 2009 · Leave a Comment

benriner turning slicerMeet the new addition to my kitchen arsenal! I have just gotten a Benriner Spiral Slicer.  I had seen it in the store a while back, for @$90.00, and I had sort of put it on the backburner — I need a new food processor!  Then, yesterday, my room-mate came home from a foray into Katagiri, the Japanese food store near Bloomingdale’s, and announced that she had seen the Benriner on sale for $25.00.  Insane!  I dashed up there today and found a pile of them with a sign that they were on sale for 70% off — I bought one immediately for $25.50 (Yep. TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS)

I’m looking forward to using this new spiral slicer.  It looks much sturdier than the Spirooli Spiral  Slicer (which looks a good bit like this machine, and is a good bit cheaper, but does not make very thin angel-hair type noodles)  I had before I got the the Saladacco Spiral Slicer (which made nice thin noodles,and was much cheaper,  but did not hold up to my spiralizing of anything I could find).  The instructions for my new Benriner specifically mention spiralizing daikon radish and potatoes, which are much harder than the zucchinis I will mostly be processing, so I imagine it will hold up to beets and  turnips when I am on a roll.  The assembly is a bit more complicated (the Spirooli just had slide-in plates, and the Saladacco had no changeable parts), but it does not appear daunting.

This is a good moment for me.  Yesterday, I got a package in the mail because I had won a raffle I had forgotten all about, and today, I got this amazing price on a Cadillac spiralizer.  Life is good.  Thank you, Lord.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: EQUIPMENT · RAW FOOD LIFESTYLE INFORMATON
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07/09/09 CSA SHARE: What they say we will get

July 7, 2009 · Leave a Comment

This is what they say we *might* get. (Or we might not!)
I actually like this dice-throw!  I have no clue if the Tuesday CSAs really get what the farm says, but it is fun to see what my Thursday share is, and how it compares to the newsletter’s prediction.

It seems that the farm thinks we need more lettuce and lettuce-y stuff.  I thought we talked to them about that the year before last, but, I guess, they are more into promoting health among us than we are into eating healthily.  (I personally hate lettuce and lettuce-like vegetables – yes! I am a raw foodist and I recommend that you eat these things, but I HATE them, and can only deal with them in a green smoothie once in a while.)

1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 bunch Parsley
1 bunch Green Kale
1 head Broccoli
1 piece Zucchini
1 head Romaine Lettuce
1 head Radicchio
1 bag Spinach

FRUIT SHARE
1 container Blueberries
1 container Gooseberries

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PLANNING TOMORROW’S DINNER : ha! you thought I’d never plan ahead! (neither did I)

July 7, 2009 · Leave a Comment

I think I am at last growing up.  I am thinking at least one day ahead!

I am thinking about a new sandwich for tomorrow’s.dinner.  I’ve never made a sandwich for dinner – sandwiches always seem like lunch, but.. Hey! I am a grown-up, and I make food for myself and my room-mate, so… why can’t I make sandwiches for dinner if I want to?  I have the sunflower/sesame bread. and I also have some shiitake mushrooms!!..

I am thinking about getting a tomato, and an avocado, making a fresh cheeze that I will also be able to use for the next day’s meal, and using the onion in the fridge. Oh, dear, I don’t know how that will work out with food combination, but it sounds delicious, so I just might do it anyway, and find out how it works with food combining the hard way.
I still have some collards, so I will probably marinate them for a side.

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SANDWICH FOR LUNCH TODAY: Sunflower/sesame/flax seed bread with kale/cashew cheeze

July 5, 2009 · Leave a Comment

I made the sunflower/sesame seed bread last night for a client request, and then I took some of the extra with me to work today for lunch.  I had some leftover cashew/kale cheeze, and some orange bell pepper, so I took that along.  I did not make up the sandwich before I left, because, in my experience, the bread gets soggy very fast, and then you just have glop after 4 hours.

Anyway, I spread the cashew/kale cheeze on the bread (see below), thinly sliced the orange bell pepper and placed it all over the the sandwich, and put on the other slice, and enjoyed a lovely, delicious very filling and lasting sandwich.  (Even though I have been doing raw food for a long time, I am always amazed at how some things have staying power, and, with others, you want to eat again in a couple of hours.  Sandwiches on this bread are my favorite on long days.)   Yum!.

SUNFLOWER/ FLAX/SESAME SEED BREAD
This recipe is based on a recipe from Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Kitchen

1 C ground flax seeds
1/3 C w hole flax seeds
½ t sea salt
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T onion, chopped
1-1/3 C water
2/3 C sunflower seeds
14 C black sesame seeds

  • Mix first six ingredients. Add sunflower and sesame seeds and mix well.
  • Use the back of a spoon to spread batter evenly on one a teflex sheet over a dehydrator tray (I find it easier to put the mesh sheet between the teflex sheet and the tray)
  • Score batter on trays into 9 slices, using the back end of a spatula.
  • Dry at 110 degrees F for 3 hours.
  • Remove the tray from the dehydrator.  Place a mesh dehydrator sheet on top, and a dehydrator on top of that, then flip the assembly.  Remove the top dehydrator tray and carefully peel off the teflex sheet.
  • Dehydrate another hour or two (depends on your atmospheric conditions – it is very humid here, so I ended up dehydrating for 2 more hours this morning)  before serving


The bread will keep in the refrigerator for 4 days. Frozen, it will keep for a month.

This bread  is fast enough to make that you can make it whenever you want it – the only thing is that you need to be around (and awake) for 5 hours to get it out of the dehydrator before it gets hard. (Or you could eat it hard).

KALE/CASHEW CHEEZE PATE
1 C cashews, soaked and rinsed
2 C kale, chopped fine
2 – 3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 C onion, chopped
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste (I don’t use it)

  • Thoroughly combine ingredients in the food processor and process fine.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: BREADS · cashew/kale cheeze pate · sandwiches · sunflower/sesame/flax seed bread
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NEW KALE CHIPS

July 2, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Last night, I decided to experiment with the KALE CHIPS.   using  my CASHEW CHEDDAR CHEESE recipe.

I made the recipe according to the original instructions, but, instead of the extravagant 2 C cashew recipe, I used my cashew cheeze recipe, which did just as well.  I had a huge bunch of kale from Fairway, for $1.99 (about 3 bunches from any other market), and I broke it all up into the large mixing bowl I use for making crackers, and then I poured on the cashew cheddar cheeze mixture and mixed it all around until all of the pieces were covered front and back.  As I went to put each kale piece on the dehydrator sheet, I added a little more cheddar cheeze mixture, to make sure it was well coated.

I ended up needing all 5 trays of my dehydrator.  The only problem is that I only have 4 teflex sheets.  The last kale pieces had to go on straight onto a mesh sheet.  In the morning, I turned all of the kale pieces which were on teflex sheets onto their mesh sheets.  I just left the pieces which had been on the mesh sheet all night.  When I came home, and tried the kale chips, I found that the ones which had been on the mesh sheet all the while were much crunchier than the others (so I put them all  to dehydrate for a few more hours, becasue crunchier is better).  Next time, I will put all of the kale chips directly onto the mesh sheets – they don’t drip, so there is not need for the teflex sheets.

I will be experimenting with other flavors now… I think the next choice is the jalapeno cheeze, and then I am going to figure out a Thai curry version.  Stay tuned … (I have a forced week of vacation coming up soon, so the recipes will be flowing.)


→ Leave a CommentCategories: CHEEZE raw vegan · CHEEZY KALE CHIPS
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CASHEW CHEDDAR CHEEZE

July 2, 2009 · 1 Comment

Here is my version of the famous cheddar cheeze recipe I learned from Tommie — this is the first cheeze I ever made, and it is still my favorite (easy, fast, delicious!)

CASHEW CHEDDAR CHEEZE
1 C raw cashews, soaked 1 – 2 hrs., and drained
1/3 lg orange (or red) bell pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1 t onion powder
1/2 t sea salt
1 T chili seasoning, or to taste (optional)
Water to just cover cashews

  • Combine all ingredients in the VitaMix (or a high-speed blender) and process until smooth.
  • Refrigerate for up to 1 week.

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