Day 57

Ethel keeps asking, What are you making for me?

Our dehydrator arrived, and it's been humming away from within an hour of taking it out of the box. We had to rearrange the kitchen a bit because the cord is so short. Not a big deal, really; the sprouting station moved onto the desk and the dehydrator took its place. Since the sprouts are close to the window, though, I'm actually going to try covering them with a towel to keep them out of the light. We'll see how this goes, because the cats seem to think it's a surprise for them and keep sticking their heads under to peek. Like the rubber drain stopper and my dishwashing gloves, it's very possible that I might wake up one morning to find the towel in the hall or at the foot of our bed.

In addition to my new batch of soaking sprout seeds (2 jars of clover and red wheat this time) is my jar of chia gel in the forefront. More on that later.

So the dehydrator! It's a refurbished Excalibur 3900, and as far as I can tell, its defect is an unglued temperature control knob. It works fine, though, and my instant-read thermometer tells me that all is as it should be. Last night, I put it a double batch of corn chips that are finishing up that will be dinner with salsa and coconut chutney tonight. I also sliced up a bunch of banana to make a tray of banana chips. We'll see how many actually make it to the chip stage, though, as every time Madeline and I have a reason to walk by, we slip another one or two slice out to eat. They're leathery and chewy and taste like banana candy. SO GOOD.

This morning, it was my intention to make kale chips with my assistant chef, Naomi*. We had two big bunches of purple and white kale in the fridge that I deveined, cut into 2" pieces, gave them a good wash and thoroughly massaged them with some olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, garlic powder, nutritional yeast and cayenne. Then I tried a bite. It was so incredibly delicious and un-kaley that I ran down the hall to make Madeline try a bite.

See, earlier in the week, Mad had been seduced by the purple leaves and pulled the bag of kale out of the fridge to try some. This resulted in a face and the proclamation that it was unfit to eat. Fair enough. I love kale in my smoothies, so more for me. When she tried the seasoned kale I made today, though, she asked if it was lunch. I hadn't actually considered lunch and our fridge is pretty bare at the moment, so as it turned out, I made a kale salad instead of kale chips.

I am now even more in love with kale than I was before, and our shopping list for tomorrow says KALE x 100!!!. I need to look into the effect of oxalates on a healthy person more because if I let myself, I could eat it during every meal. It seems silly to limit myself from eating such a nutrition packed green because of the possibility that it might be too much of a good thing.

Another thing that I picked up this week were chia seeds. There are a lot of "superfoods" out there, and I have to say that I pass over most of them. They're often over-hyped and definitely over-priced. But after wading through a ton of reviews, I decided to give them a try. They're very high in fiber, low in calories, a complete protein and can be digested whole (unlike flax). One of the things that I've noticed eating raw is that I'm frequently hungry very shortly after eating, so I'm hoping that adding these to my diet will help me to feel fuller for longer. So far, I've mixed them into my banana ice cream, sprinkled some into granola and blended them into my morning smoothies. In the first picture, I was making chia gel, a ratio of 1/3 c chia to 2 c water. It makes a thick slime, although it's pretty much tasteless and it's supposed to be easier to add it to liquidy or creamy recipes this way. I bought them at Whole Foods, since I could return them if they were gross (they're not), but you can also find them for a good price at The Raw Food World. I am itching to place an order from that website!

-Eloise

*I know that some people may find it repulsive that I let my cats hang out near food preparation, but it's the sunniest window in the evening and I couldn't stop them even if I wanted to. Plus, those without cats may not realize just how clean they are. They shed very little on a good diet (ours eat Halo) and although their breath always smells fishy, they have reserve shampoo spit which is used exclusively for grooming. It makes them smell like they've been drycleaned. Tru fax.