CABIN FEVER DINING: What I made today post-Sandy

POST #848
With no public transportation on the day after Sandy, this week is definitely a stay-cation.  Worse, everything within walking distance is closed.  Cabin fever city!  Back to the kitchen!

This morning I got up and made some kale/cashew cheeze in my much beloved Cuisinart food processor (it has already outlasted each of the two economy food processors I had before) to go with the sunflower seed crackers I meant to eat later.

Later, I made a “surf and turf salad.”
I had some leftover torn-up kale from huge bunch I’d bought on Sunday, so I chopped it up a little more, added some soaked wakame seaweed, also chopped up, about 1/4 C chopped red bell pepper, 1/2  jalapeno, chopped, some freshly-ground black pepper, 1/2 galangal (don’t ask why, I have no idea), 2 chopped garlic cloves, about 1/2 C lentil sprouts, and about 1/4 C sunflower seed sprouts, then some apple cider vinegar and olive oil.  It didn’t seem like enough, so I took a heaping soup spoon of the kale/cashew cheeze and mixed it with water to make a creamy dressing which I poured over the top.  Yumm!

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HURRICANE ALLEY: What do I do when there’s a hurricane outside?

POST #847
What do I do when there is a hurricane outside?

Well… first, I watch the weather for too long, and, then, when I cannot take it anymore, I get up and go to the kitchen and make stuff. Today, that was kale chips and sunflower seed crackers.

After I did that, I raced back to the computer, just in case the power might go off, and found a new cool site, Nouveau Raw, with great recipes, read them all, then sat around and thought about making something else. [I really really liked Nouveau Raw. It is almost like a raw food training. Who knew there could be so many things to address on such an attractive blog?  I’ll be going back there soon and often]
That brought me up to now.

Time to hop in bed. The hurricane can wait or go away.

TRAIN FODDER: What I am taking on the train

POST #843
This is going to be a big adventure. I will be on the train for 10 hours with no personal refrigerator.  Since the first few of the hours will be night-time (I get on at 2am), I will probably sleep.  Still, knowing me, I will want food since my refrigerator is not handy (Have you ever experienced that? If your refrigerator is just in the other room, you don’t get hungry, but if there is no food that you can control, you are starving?  I used to feel that way on transpacific flights, so I always traveled with a big food bag. Now you can’t do that on planes, but you can still do it on trains!)

I have made kale chips and sunflower/flax seed crackers, along with some cheddar cheeze to dip the crackers into.  I am also going to bag about 4 days worth of Garden of Life Raw Meal powder (This is not the world’s best tasting stuff — sort of a cross between dirt and grass, but it is filling …. I’m assuming that water will be available, but I’m still going to carry a couple of bottles with me).  In addition, I am carrying some of my latest vegetable ferments (pickles) for my parents to try — if I get really desperate, I can dig into those.  If I were at home, all of this would be enough for at least 4 days. … I guess I will make it to my destination without starving to death.

LARABARS: RAWNESS

What?  General Mills bought LaraBars when I wasn’t looking?

I am sort of addicted to LaraBars (I don’t eat them every day or anything like that, but, when I go up to Fairway, I get about 20 and eat my way through them, using them for meal substitutes when I am out)  so this is of great interest to me.

What I have learned here is that my beloved Banana Bread, Coconut Cream Pie, and Pecan Pie are still safe!!! (I guess my rule of no more than 5 ingredients, and preferably no more than 3, has saved me and my favorites)

I got this from The Raw Gourmand on Facebook:

“There has been some controversy about Larabars since General Mills purchased them in June 2008. I called, as The Raw Gourmand to get the lowdown. Here is what I uncovered…

The following bars are still 100% raw with no sugar…
Apple Pie
Banana Bread
Cherry Pie
Cinnamon Roll
Coconut Cream Pie
Ginger Snap
Pecan Pie
Pistachio Bar

The ones with peanuts are roasted, the the cocoa is heated. The cashews use heat to extract the nut.”

Oh, well. I can always make my own, yes?

CHEEZY KALE CHIPS

I have tried to make kale chips before with no success (I never had a recipe – just put the kale in the dehydrator and got …. dehydrated kale!)  Then I met Bebe at the raw food meetup on Friday, and she shared her recipe with me.  This recipe is just what I have been looking for!

Here is my version:

CHEESY KALE CHIPS

3 bun. curly leaf kale
1 C raw cashews, soaked
1 lg tomato, deseeded
juice of 1 lg lemon
1/3 C nutritional yeast
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Tear kale leaves into bite-sized pieces, and set aside.
In a food processor, process cashews and lemon juice to a hummus consistency paste
Add all remaining ingredients except kale. Process smooth.
Place kale pieces and 1/2 cashew mixture in a large bowl,
Massage cashew mixture into kale pieces, massaging each leaf individually.. When cashew mixture runs thin, add the remaining 1/2 of the mix.
Place kale pieces one by one on Teflex covered dehydrator trays, and dehydrate at 110 degrees for 2 hrs..
Remove trays from dehydrator and transfer chips from teflex sheets mesh covered dehydrator trays (easy way: Place a mesh sheet over the dehydrator tray with the chips.  Cover the mesh sheet with another dehydrator tray.  Flip the assembly and then remove the first dehydrator tray, and the teflex sheet.)
Dehydrate for 5-6 hours more, until crunchy.

The kale and cashews I have are  spoken for (dinner tomorrow night and then leftovers dehydrated patties for Wednesday’s dinner), so I will take a trip up to Fairway to pick up enough kale and cashews to make a double recipe of chips (I know they will be that good)