Day 74

Fred, Ethel, Naomi and Ruthie

Thank you so much for all the kind words yesterday. It really meant a lot to know that you guys are out there caring what goes on in my day. :)

Alright, so here's the negatives: it's still raining (the sunny picture is recycled... I've been lacking picture taking motivation, but I don't like to post without one) and I'm starting to feel like I'm getting sick. I also don't have the job that I thought I would this summer, so I very quickly need to figure out what I'm going to do about that.

On the bright side, I feel much more centered today and way less stressed. I sent in the acceptance form that accompanied my graduate school acceptance letter, so in a few short months, I will be engaging in post-collegiate studies (which I'm sure will stress me out, but at this distance, it feels good).

I've tried two raw staples in the past few days: kelp noodles and fresh juice. To start with, I really detested the kelp noodles. Mad and I split a package with pesto, and it was a very sad waste of pesto. I think in my mind I was hoping for a real pasta replacement, but the texture is odd. I don't know how to describe it, except to say that for soft noodles, it's crisp. Also, I get this strongly off-putting burnt plastic aftertaste. I'm sure it's just a sea-weedy taste, and Madeline didn't notice it at all, but I couldn't eat more than a few bites. This is a good thing, though, because now it means that I won't be addicted to ordering packages of these pricey noodles. Shredded zucchini is much better.

As for the juice, I was at my local health food store and decided to treat myself to a carrot, celery and beet juice. I'm really addicted to my smoothies, but I know that there are circles that are really adamant about the benefits of juicing. First of all, it was delicious and shockingly sweet. I had no idea that carrot juice could be that sweet. I think I drank it too quickly, though, or maybe should have opted for the small instead of the large, because it really gave me a jolt. I felt like I had drank something caffeinated, but not in a good way. Caffeine makes my head buzz and my stomach hurt, and this was very similar. I think this might have been because of the rush of sugar without the fiber to slow absorption.

Needless to say, I won't be swapping out my smoothies for juices any time soon, but it got me thinking. Sweetening my smoothies with carrots seemed like a very appealing idea. I'd tried to make a blended carrot, apple, ginger juice once before, but there was way too much fiber to blend and I couldn't drink it. In the order that I had placed with The Raw Food World recently, I'd purchased a nut milk bag on a whim. I'm not sure why because it was pricey considering the fact that I don't see myself making many nut milks, but all of the sudden, it was perfect.

When I got home last night, I blended about 6 carrots and 3 apples together in my blender with a water to get things going. I then strained it through the nut milk bag to make juice and then used that as the base for a giant smoothie with a ton of greens. It was really, really good, although admittedly sweeter than the smoothies I'd gotten accustomed to drinking recently.

I also had plans for the pulp. A few weeks ago, Madeline and I tried a slice of raw cheesecake from Awesome Foods, and Mad particularly liked the crust, which had apples. She asked if I could make apple cookies, and I'd been mulling it over for some time. Most of the recipes I found were very heavy on nuts, which, as always, I'm reticent to use, even for a dessert. One recipe called for apple pulp, though, in addition to nuts, so having just produced some, I thought I'd play around with it.

Prototype 1 was made last night with the apple/carrot pulp, agave, maple syrup, flax meal and cinnamon. I dehydrated for 12 hours and my taste test this morning was definitely positive. I'll have more conclusive evidence after dinner tonight. I'm going to try another version soon using dates to sweeten, though. I didn't think of it until afterwards, but I think that's definitely the direction I want to take these. When I perfect it, I'll post the recipe.

-Eloise