Day 115: pt 2

Fred blissed out on catnip

Happy picture to balance out the glum. The cats always make me smile.

Also, this morning while I was hiking, a frog and a butterfly crossed my path. I almost wish I'd brought my camera with me, cause the frog was just chilling while we studied each other for a while, but it's nice to be present in the moment without thinking of the next. I'm trying to do that more.

I just got back from a walk around my neighborhood, and I feel better. Moving always helps.

-Eloise

Day 89

Cauliflower popcorn and kale chips

Still slogging through the end of term.

Dinner last night was a lot of fun. We had raw "junk food." I'm going to post the recipes quick and then get back to the lab report I'm working on.

Cauliflower Popcorn
My own interpretation extrapolated from various sources around the web
Ingredients
1 large head of cauliflower
1 c cashews, soaked 2 hours
Juice from 1/2 lemon
2 T nutritional yeast
water to blend
salt to taste

Break cauliflower into bite sized pieces. Put in big bowl and set aside. Blend remaining ingredients. Pour the sauce over the cauliflower (should be fairly thick) and toss to coat. Dehydrate 24 hours.

The kale chips came from We Like it Raw. I'm not even going to attempt to emulate the great tutorial they have, but I want to post the ingredients so I can readily find them next time I want to make them (and I do... as soon as I get more kale).

Kale Chips
2 bunches kale
1/4 c olive oil
1 tsp salt
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 T agave

Dehydrate 6-8 hours.

Oh, also: when I was retrieving an errant cauliflower floret that fell on the floor, I found Ethel sitting like this:


I didn't catch her mid-stretch, she was actually just chilling like that. Weirdo cat.

Bonus points if you spot the cauliflower!

-Eloise

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

Day 66

Wake up, lazy butt!

I have come to find that preparation is the key to eating raw (and I'm sure in some sense, this is applicable to healthy eating in general). If I come home at night and intend to make dinner, my options are limited. If we're lucky, there's leftovers. If not, well, it's salad with a vinaigrette. Not bad, but not really satisfying.

If I've planned ahead since the morning, though, I have nuts and seeds soaking and my options are much more varied. If I thought about it the day before, I can have something dehydrating and waiting for us. That's the best. It's like having a slow cooker (but raw!).

My friends tease me about my Mary Poppins-like purse that I carry, and admit that it gets ridiculous (three calculators... I may be an engineer, but even I don't know why there are three calculators in my bag), but there's always a snack stuck in there. There's nothing more disheartening than being stuck in traffic, hungry, and surrounded by inedible food. Being a vegan did prepare me for the phenomenon of scarcity in abundance, but at least we could still keep our eyes peeled for the Taco Bell on the horizon. A grocery store is our best option now, but it's never a sure bet. So keeping a snack on hand is really the only way to go.

Madeline and I have both found that throughout the day, we almost exclusively eat fruits and vegetables. I also drink lot of green smoothies, although she's not really a fan. Sometimes I'll include granola in my lunch tin, but today, for instance, I brought an extra quart of green smoothie in an insulated bag (which, I might add, fits inside my giant bag). It's going to be a long day at school for me. When we get home, we like to sit down to something hearty and flavorful.

Yesterday, I made flax crackers from The Renegade Health Show (my only variation was to throw in a little garlic powder... everything is better with garlic) and they finished dehydrating this morning. Since our dehydrator was a refurbished model, we didn't get a timer, which would have been helpful, but I remedied the situation with a $10 light timer. It worked like a charm. I flipped the crackers last night before I went to bed, set the timer for six more hours and in the morning when I woke up, the dehydrator was off and the crackers were done. I'm pleased.

By the way, if you're making the cracker recipe and you're like me, you haven't watched the video (something about cooking shows, I just don't have the patience). I was kind of confused what to do with the flax seeds after soaking them. It tells you to include the tomato soak water, but not a word about the flax water. Was I supposed to drain them? Regardless, I trudged ahead blindly, assuming that I'd eventually figure it out, and lo and behold. After soak for a half an hour, there's no soak water left. Instead you have plumper, slimier flax seeds. So that solved that.

I'm pretty sure they're going to be great. I haven't gotten a full taste yet, but I nicked a sample this morning when checking to see if they were crisp (from the corner that was missing, I strongly suspect that Madeline did as well). We'll eat them smeared with egg-less salad (scroll down) from Awesome Foods (we don't buy many packaged foods these days, but it's just phenomenal) and a huge salad on the side.

-Eloise

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.

Day 52

Exhibit A to the left shows a small corner of my (small) kitchen two days ago. Since going raw, we'd removed the toaster and the waffle maker from the living room, but the microwave has just sat there, taking up room. It did make a pretty good fruit platform, but I think it was a bit over-qualified for the job.

I've been reading a lot about sprouting. I had fun gardening on our balcony last summer (even after the stink bugs ate most of my vegetables), and I'm always down for some instant gratification, so it seemed like the best of both worlds. I purchased The Sprouting Book by Ann Wigmore, which is a great resource if you're considering getting started.

Getting set up was a bit of a process that's taken me the better part of a month. I decided that the jar method would be the most economical, and Ace Hardware had the best prices on mason jars. They deliver free to the store as well, which seems beneficial on all levels when you're talking about mailing a metric ton of glass. I got a case of pints, a case of quarts and a case of half gallons. Although I'm using the half gallons to sprout (per Ann Wigmore's specifications) I've come up with a dozen different ways to use the other sizes. I may have to order more in the near future.

I also purchased these mesh lids from Sprout People. Cheese cloth would work as well, but this seemed like it would make the job a bit easier. A dish drying rack from Target later, and my hardware was complete.

As for the sprouting seeds themselves, I will eventually purchase them online in bulk. In the meantime, however, my local-ish health food store has them in stock. I picked up clover, lentils and red wheat to start. Although it was more expensive this way, I wanted to make sure that I would stick with it before committing to a pound plus of seeds.

So far so good. As you can see, the microwave is gone and lovely sprouts are growing in its place. I have room for six sprouting jars eventually, but I figured that two was enough to get started in the event of major catastrophe. I still need to figure out what to do with our appliances. There had been a small fire (very small, really) in our toaster (though we kept using it....), so throwing it out was really the only thing that could be done at that point, but the microwave, waffle iron and crock pot are still perfectly serviceable. I think I may post them to Craigslist and see if anyone's willing to purchase them.

Sprouting is very satisfying. It's been a day and an half, and I've begun to see little sprouty tails. As for the fruit, it's found a new home. I dragged a desk into the kitchen that we hadn't been using, and surprisingly it fit. It will be great for when the dehydrator gets here (on Thursday!!), because I wasn't really sure where that was going to go.

The cats approve:

Ruth, Naomi, Fred and Ethel

-Eloise