Updates on Food and Life!

Greetings, readers...I wonder how many of you there actually are...?

I return from a long hiatus, and boy...do I feel great!

Let's see, what has been going on in my life since I last wrote? For one thing, I'm engaged : ) Jonathon proposed to me on a cliff in Point Loma right after he picked me up from the airport two weeks ago. I had just returned from an incredible journey back to the East coast to reconnect with family, friends, and to make an incredible batch of new friends who I hope to see again.

At home I got a chance to do yoga with my mother and father.  It was great! My mother and I are simultaneously doing yoga teacher training programs. It has been a self-transformational experience, and introduced many changes in my life.  

Above, you'll find a picture of me with some of my new friends at a drum circle, taken two nights before my departure. Credit for the photo goes to a guy name Grey who took a bunch of incredible photos at the event. It's rare to have pictures taken at a drum circle, and especially wonderful to discover pictures were taken after the event. Thanks Grey! You'll also find a picture of me with my two very best friends, taken on a small trip I made to Richmond, just an hour away from my hometown in Newport News.

You'll also find a green goopy mess of deliciousness called "The Demonslayer" by one of my friends.  The recipe is...um...classified, so I will have to get permission from my friend to post the recipe. It's sort of like guacamole, but with spirulina and more spices.

I had an absolute blast in Virginia experimenting with my two new cookbooks from San Francisco-based Cafe Gratitude. Among the pictures, you'll see a spread consisting of dishes entirely from "I am Grateful" by Terces Engelhart, founder of Cafe Gratitude: "I Am Whole-Hearted Veggie Rice" atop a bed of kale massaged in some sesame soil, tamari and lemon juice, "I am Fiery Salsa Fresca," "I am focused Brazil Nut Cheez" and "I am Generous Guacamole." I hope you love the positive, life-affirming recipe titles as much as I do! =)

New discoveries: YOUNG THAI COCONUTS! If you have access to good quality coconuts, go out and grab one, crack it open and enjoy the wealth that Mother Nature has to offer. It's hit or miss to know whether a Thai Coconut is "good quality," but I hear that if the bottom is reddish, there's a high chance it has gone bad. The best part about young thai coconuts is that the flesh is soft, almost like a firm pudding texture, making it great for raw ice creams and making a quick and delicious coconut milk for dressings, like pad thai sauce! There's a great pad thai recipe in "I Am Grateful" (picture of the Pad thai and sauce I made included above!) Go out and buy the book!

There is a LOT of misinformation out there about coconuts. They have a bad reputation for being high in fat, but coconut water contains NO fat and coconut meat, depending upon its maturity, contains healthy fats that are incredible for you. Young thai coconuts contain potassium, lauric acid, only 25 mg of natural sugars, zero sodium and cholesterol, and the kicker: the water in young coconuts have the electrolyte equivalent of your own blood plasma. Drinking isotonic beverages literally means that your body's cells are surrounded by an environment that has the same concentration of solutes as within the cell. Water and permeable solutes will always be flowing back and forth, but the important part is that the net movement of water and solutes will be zero.  This means that your body's cells aren't losing any of its essential components, which you can't say the same for drinks like carbonated beverages or fruit juices full of high fructose corn syrup. 

Recipe for Sauce for Romaine wraps filled with bean sprouts, orange and yellow bell peppers, fresh basil and mint and young coconut meat

Blend some olive oil, crushed garlic cloves, fresh ginger, lime juice, miso paste, organic maple syrup, and hot peppers (to taste) into a creamy texture. Pour over the filling, wrap up the romaine into tight little wraps and enjoy with coconut water! Isotonic deliciousness!

As a side dish to the romaine wraps, my friend Jake brought over some delicious savory treats (the dark ball-shaped things in the picture). The ingredients are: ground walnuts, soaked sun dried tomatoes, cumin, fresh garlic/parsley/cilantro and portobellos, tightly packed and dehydrated. 

Second new discovery: RAW VEGAN ICE CREAM! Oh man. Oh man. If you haven't tried it, you haven't lived. Why raw vegan ice cream? Well, for those of you non-raw enthusiasts, let me be frank. I believe it was Jeremy Safron who wrote in "The Raw Truth" something along the lines of: Milk is used to sustain and grow a tiny calf into a 300 pound heifer. Why on earth would a human being need to continue drinking the milk of a cow after being fully grown? Many human beings suffer from indigestion because they are not even meant to consume milk - their bodies do not produce lactase, the enzyme needed to digest lactose (i.e., lactose intolerant people). Arguments aside, vegan ice cream, in my opinion, is not about "low-fat." On the contrary, it is pretty high in fat - most recipes, in fact, all the ones I've used, call for cashews or macadamia nuts. The catch is that it is so filling and satisfying, I personally only need one small scoop to make me feel content. Most traditional ice creams lack the homemade love, wholesome ingredients and substance I need to feel satisfied.

Freshtopia's Cardamom Saffron Rose Ice Cream:

Soak 2 cups cashews in water for about 4-5 hours.

Soak some saffron in 2 cups warm water for a couple of hours.

Blend the cashews minus soak water, the saffron water, two teaspoons of rose water, a half a cup of agave nectar (you can combine it with maple syrup) and some crushed cardamom seeds to taste until you have a creamy texture. Chill for about an hour or 2, without freezing the mixture completely, and when you are ready, pour into an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions.  If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can easily pour the mixture into ice cube trays and eat it that way, or put the cubes into a juicer with the homogenizing attachment on to make a smoother texture. BadaBING yummy!

I also made an incredible Blueberry Cardamom ice cream, inspired by RawGoddess Heathy's recipe from her e-book, "Just Desserts." 

Third discovery: NORI! I made some deeeelicious nori wraps with a friend and enjoyed them with some kale-peach-mango-banana smoothies. Absolutely heavenly!

Raw vegan sushi:

Nori, romaine leaves, purple cabbage, roasted cumin seeds.

filling: almond butter, scallions, ginger, avocado, cayenne pepper, chaat masala, lime juice. Blend the almond butter, scallions, ginger, avocado, cayenne, chaat and lime juice into a thick paste in the food processor. 

Tip: mash up the garlic and scallions with a stone mortar and pestle to quickly get smaller components and release their potent juices to fully flavor the filling. (that was really alliterative)

Whew! What an update! And what's scary is that there's more to come, verrrry soon. =)