Falafel and Hummus Salad

Lettuce, cucumber, tomato, sumac

Cooking beans requires a little forethought but home cooked beans are tastier then the canned version.  I soaked 2 cups of chickpeas overnight (8 hrs) in 6 cups of water.  Rinsed them off and added them to a pot of 6 cups boiling water along with a 1" piece of Kombu.  Simmer for 45-60 minutes and they are done!

We used about half of the chickpeas to make hummus and the other half for the falafel.  Both recipes are from Oh She Glows.  Next time I might try her lemon tahini dressing instead of the humus to add a little more kick to the salad. 

Raw Food Party!


Yesterday I went to San Francisco to a raw food un-cooking party, which was hopefully the first of many of these get togethers! 

My friend decided to have a few friends over who were interested in this type of eating for a potluck style dinner party.  This is the same friend who introduced me to the world of healthy eating as a life style through her book suggestions to me.  I was in charge of spring roll and nori wrap dips so I got a little carried away and made 5 pates/sauces.

1)  Almond Ginger Nut Pate - Ani Phyo
2)  Walnut Thai dipping sauce - Dan McDonald, Life Regenerator
3)  Red pepper pate - Living Raw, Mimi Kirk
4)  Peanut sauce I - slightly more salty, Oh She Glows website
5)  Peanut sauce II - slightly more sweet, Love Veggies and Yoga website

Making the nori wraps

It was my first time having raw sweet potato and I couldn't believe how much I liked it!  I will certainly be spiralizing some more soon.

A day with Dan McDonald the "Life Regenerator"

I just got home from a day in San Francisco.  I went to a 6 hour presentation by Dan McDonald titled "Juicing for Beauty, Energy, and Mental Clarity."  You would think I'd be exhausted from a day of sitting and learning, but I got home totally pumped!  He is a raw food educator that uses YouTube as a medium to get out the message that fruits and vegetables can save your life.

So the basis of the day was how to turn all of this:



Into all of this for about 18 people!

Part I of the day began with a watermelon-lemon juice, followed by a green juice of celery, cucumber, herbs and lemon.  Part II covered things you could make with a Vitamix.  We were all amazed at how delicious a simple hami melon could be when liquefied in a Vitamix! 

He made enough for everyone to have about 12 oz of each drink.

Then he switched to things that could be used as dressings.  The Coconut Almond "Yogurt" was the base for a dressing with avocado, basil, and garlic.  That one was my favorite dressing.  Another dressing he made was an orange/tomato/dill and the grand finale was the Corn Fiesta Soup/Dressing.  The corn soup was so good that it motivated me to go to not one but two grocery stores to find fresh basil so that I could make it for lunch tomorrow!  I've already made it and let my husband try a tiny spoonful, at which point he told me I'd better box it up for lunch or there might not be any for tomorrow!

Dan is putting out a new DVD next week that I'm looking forward to getting, "Life Saving Salad's and Dressings."  All of the dressings he made were today are on the DVD, so if the rest of them are even half as good then the DVD will be totally worth it. 

Raw Vegan Sushi!

Parsnip & pine nut raw sushi rice, red pepper pate, avocado, clover sprouts, raw untoasted nori

Last week we made vegan sushi for dinner using quinoa instead of the traditional white rice.  It was awesome and delicious and we will absolutely make it again.  I had found the recipe on Sarah Britton's blog My New Roots.

But after a day of eating mostly raw, I wanted to give raw sushi a try.  I had seen a recipe for raw sushi rice using parsnip and pine nuts in Mimi Kirk's book Live Raw.  She suggests many different combinations for filling nori rolls for sushi, but I chose the red pepper pate (using walnuts and macadamias instead of cashews, an orange pepper, celery, scallion, nama shoyu, olive oil, garlic and a little curry).  My other two fillings were clover sprouts that I had harvested this morning and avocado. 
The flavors went together pretty nicely.  I'm actually getting slightly better at rolling and cutting sushi!  Or at least we are enjoying eating the mistakes up before they even get to a plate.

Our Garden



The Plot (12.5'x18' of dirt)

Last February we became members of the Pleasanton Community Garden Patch Program. I had never gardened before, but my husband had been itching to get his hands dirty for a long time. When we lived in San Francisco for 6 years, the idea of planting, growing, and harvesting our own food was a distant dream.

In April we began planting. . .yes WE. My official contribution to the garden was planting many of the transplants and seeds.

Tomatoes, cucumber, broccolini, herbs, peppers, sugar snap peas, beets, chard, leeks to name a few!






So far we've harvested tons of basil for pesto, kale, tomatoes, parsley, beets, and several HUGE cucumbers. Back Row: Tomatoes, cucumbers, kale, mini pumpkins. Middle Row: broccolini, herbs, peppers, sugar snap peas



Future kale chips!

By October we will have our own pumpkin patch

I hope I figure out what to do with these "edible" flowers and chamomile in time


 Having fresh vegetables from our very own garden has absolutely been an inspiration in the kitchen.

New Favorite: Baked Sweet Potatoes

Sweet but savory, chewy and crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside.  These potatoes are amazing.  It's just a little coconut oil, salt, curry, and turmeric!  Check it out in Kimberly Snyder's book The Beauty Detox Solution.  It takes 90 minutes to bake but these are totally worth it.

This summer salad was from Oh She Glows: cucumber, baby kale, fresh corn, mini sweet peppers, green onion, hemp seeds and an avocado dressing.  Perfect dinner for a mostly raw day. 

My First Blog Post!

Weeknight Dinner:  Zucchini pasta with baby kale and vegan pesto

Over the last year my diet is inspired by blogs and books.  Time to keep track!

To this point my reading has included:

• Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life, Brendan Brazier
• The Sunfood Diet Success System, David Wolfe
• Live Raw: Raw Food Recipes for Good Health and Timeless Beauty, Mimi Kirk
• Raw Food Real World, Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis
• The Beauty Detox Solution: Eat Your Way to Radiant Skin, Renewed Energy and the Body You've Always Wanted, Kimberly Snyder
• Crazy Sexy Diet: Eat Your Veggies, Ignite Your Spark, and Live Like You Mean It!, Kris Carr
• The Female Body Breakthrough, Rachel Cosgrove
• American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit for Life Kitchen, Marilyn Diamond
• Diet & Salad, Dr. N.W. Walker
• Eating for Beauty, David Wolfe
• Superfoods, David Wolfe
• The Clear Skin Diet, Alan C. Logan and Valori Treloar
• The New Abs Diet for Women, David Zinczenko
• Fit for Life, Harvey and Marilyn Diamond