The Living Kitchen

So, nooo…, it’s definitely not a born beauty, and there may be some textural issues to overcome, but for flavor and nutrition - it is the BEST! Am I sure about the flavor part, you ask? Well. YES, frankly, and it is largely thanks to a recipe called ‘Rocket Fuel’ that was making the rounds in my circle when I went raw for the first time, seven years ago. It’s a great, forgiving recipe that I wished I had known about for my first four months of raw when I lived on blender food alone, not knowing how else to prepare anything, haha! I had inadvertantly hit upon the very thing my body required to shift into this lifestyle: the easiest, most nutritious preparation possible in the form of vegetable smoothies, or as I like to call it: Blender Food.

I am not so enamoured with the concept of adding fruit to greens in a smoothie, other than the occasional addition of perhaps a quarter of an apple to round out a particularly intense combination like dandelion greens or the like. The following recipe is perfect for people like me who don’t like sweet greens and yet want something powerfully pleasing to the palate. And, being a smoothie, it is by nature fast food. That’s rather catchy, isn’t it: By Nature, Fast Food. Fast food, by Nature. Hmmm…

This will fill a one quart mason jar, more or less, depending upon the size of your vegetables. I used to make HUGE blender batches, using lots of water and I now prefer this in the proportions given below. Experiment a bit to find your own preference, because that is probably what your body needs most. (And then expect that to shift, and shift again, at some point!) An even more potent variation if this recipe, and the one that is most optimal is in my up-coming recipe book. For now, enjoy this one. I do, almost daily!

TIP: I keep all my veggies washed and prepped (but uncut to retain nutritional integrity) in plastic boxes in the fridge, that way all I have to do is pull out the entire bin and I can slice off and toss bits of everything in there into the blender and have a fulfilling, delicious, nutritional and portable meal, in way under 5 mins.

ROCKET FUEL

1/4 cucumber

2 sticks of celery, sliced with 1/4 inch cuts

1/4 carrot stick, scrubbed, only peeled if not organic, and sliced into discs

1/4 beet, roughly chopped

2 inch wedge of red or green cabbage, or bok choi

1/4 avo

1/4 bunch of kale or collards

1/2 bunch of cilantro, can sub or add parsley but it will thicken, because parsley puree will gel.

1/2 lemon, juiced and NO SEEDS or it will be too bitter. Trust me, I’ve tried to be manly and take it with seeds for their cleansing effect and decided it is just not necessary to suffer that much bitterness. Just take citrus seed capsules. Really.

1 big splash of nama shoyu (about 1 Tbl)

pinch of cayenne and or an inch or two of sliced ginger, both ideally. I am also into fresh tumeric right now, which I LOVE so you’ll see that and some spirulina tabs in the photo above as well.

Add filtered or spring water to your preference, about 1 cup is a good place to start, and blend. If you’d like a big pitcher of easy to drink liquid, then add water to the top of the vegetables and you’ll have enough to last you an hour or two. It’s also easier to drink that way if the thick texture bothers you. Matt Amsden doesn’t add any water, (he says at the bottom of this post), but does add a whole cucumber. I love it that way too, then it’s like a spoonable, savory pudding. Either way, he has another helpful tip, which is to remember to stir in some whole goji berries, about 1/4 cup or a nice handful, after you blend it in order to have a physical reminder to chew your juice! Goji berries are sweet and salty, so I can handle them. Forty percent of digestion takes place in the mouth and many digestive issues can be eliminated by simply chewing everything that goes into your mouth until you get a flavor change, signaling that it’s ok to swallow now. This definitely includes liquids, except perhaps water, though I wonder what Danny Vitalis would have to say on that subject!

Yeah, so, like I said: yuhhhhhhhh um………………..

Happy Birthday, Mom!

In honor of my mother’s birthday today, I made an eggfruit cheesecake. My mom is such a good egg : D, so that more than qualifies as an excuse to go all out with this surprisingly easy, though shockingly delectable, morsel. My neighbor, Joy, was the guinea pig for the first little cake and it was her happy verdict that gave this post it’s name. Sadly, my mother lives several thousand miles away, across the Pacific ocean and I had to make her an honorary beneficiary only. So, I ate two cakes, one for me and one in her honor. Of course.

Never having made this before, I was curious about the outcome and I found that any expectations I may have had were far exceeded in the most wonderful way. I think this is something that anyone could easily make with a substitution of mamey sapote, which isn’t too difficult for a good produce manager to order in, in the US anyway, since they come from Mexico, usually. I’ve requested odd-ball things in the past and it’s not been a problem. The best places for exotic fruits though, is an Asian market (and you can find thriving Asian markets in the most random places around the US; it’s amazing!). They are often more than happy to order all sorts of ethnic specialties, so if they can’t get eggfruit, try asking for mamey sapote and see how you fare.

It definitely helps if you build a neighborly relationship with your produce person. When they know you care and show an interest in their stock, it can really pay off, both in being given a head’s up on special things that come in and more simply, but just as valuably, in helping to create more of a community vibe. Not to mention getting people more excited about their produce. Not that our local produce guy, Edgar, needs anyone to inspire his enthusiasm for excellent produce, he’s one of the best produce guys I’ve ever met and grows his own specialty vegetables and is fully into the fruits of the earth. I knew I’d be bringing one of these cheesecakes to him after he laughed at my enthusiasm for these golden orbs of, of…creamy, cake-like sunlight! I filled my basket with about 8 eggfruits - it seemed perfectly normal at the time *shrugs innocently*, while he just looked on and laughed. And then Edgar began telling me all about growing up with eggfruits in the Phillipenes. I had to bring him one of these little cakes. I love interesting personal stories. I can’t wait to hear what he thought of it. He had never heard of anyone making cheesecake out of them and was doubley shocked that it was ‘raw’. Hee hee…

These are the eggfruit’s seeds! Amazing, aren’t they? There is more than one variety of eggfruit and this one differed from those I’ve had in the past by being longer and much richer and having only one or two seeds, instead of three or more. Edgar says that the elongated ones of this variety are considered the best. It’s true that the fruits were so rich and sweet that I could only eat half of one at a time, and in fact used not a drop of added sweetener in the dessert. That’s why I decided to make the cheesecakes into very small individual cakes. I prefer only a bite or two of dessert anyway, and these are just that. Perfectly satisfying with the perfect amount of bites.

Look for this particular recipe in my affordable, upcoming recipe e-book, coming out sometime this summer. It will have lots of easy, elegant fare, and some very detailed photos of great techniques that I haven’t seen used in raw food much. I intend to share as many of my insider tricks as possible to help inspire your own creativity and to make this lifestyle shift an effortless joy!

Also coming very soon, my SpringCleanse e-book, an easy to follow guide that simplifies some very thorough cleanses and explains what to expect from a holistic perspective. Email me if you’ve got questions or would like to sign-up for a pre-order.

As a child, I nearly lived on orange juice. It was my go-to drink of choice over any other option. My mother was a health nut, (thank you, mom!), and therefore, processed sugars and pre-mixed “kids” drinks were absolutely banned. Part of that was a very logical act of self-preservation; raising three children virtually single-handed, without the aid of either nannys or a helpful husband, meant that she did everything in her power to prevent any situation that looked like three wild, sugar-rushing children torpedoing into chaos. I lived for oranges whole from the huge fruit bowl on the living room coffee table and for their secondary but of so lovely gift of pure, golden, tangy squeezin’s. With pulp, of course.

As an adult, I lost my preference for sweet drinks of any kind, including fresh squeezed OJ. I now realize that it was because the anti-biotics I had been given as a little child had already thrown my body way out of balance and destroyed my digestive system in ways that I am, even now, still healing. Therefore I am careful about even fruit sugar, a wise practice for most people to adopt in this era of rampant, half-baked anti-biotic prescriptions.

Harmonious Abundance.

Therefore, even though I now find myself living about 100 feet from a gorgeous pink grapefruit tree and a honeybell tangelo tree, (who are clearly best friends), I rarely make juice. I tend to get my citrus fix from the nearby Meyer lemon tree. I know, tough life.

I drink juice straight from the bowl.

But what to do when the fruit trees are sending you telepathic invitations to sample the best they have to offer of the season? One would be a fool not to accept, and I am no fool! And thank God, because. This juice was so good. Tragically - because the color of the juice in the photo above is so unrepresented, the orange and pink were psychedelically gorgeous! - I still have mad studying to do before my Photoshop skillz actually become useful, so I apologize for the totally not-true-to-life colors that my camera gave me. They actually look good in Photoshop, but don’t translate well when posted. Don’t know why yet. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Having said that, it goes without saying that names are never named, even off the blog. Ever. Also, I must also say, I am totally not above laughing AT these people, even as I pray for them to come up to speed. I laugh at their expense, most definitely, but it isn’t unkind laughter. I have their best interests at heart. I hope others grant me the same grace whenever I mis-step as well. And now, our simple tale:

Being single, I had no special plans for Valentine’s and was fine with that. Then, Thursday afternoon, on Valentine’s DAY, a man I barely knew, having met only once for the first time a week or so ago, called me to invite me over to his house for dinner. And he proceeded to deliver the singularly worst invitation I have ever received from a man in the following phone conversation, which went something like this: (This is a grown man, by the way, who has presumably encountered women and been on dates before, God help him.)

His message, on my machine sometime around noon, Valentines Day; with mental dialogue provided by me:

“Hi! I was just wonderin’ if you’d like to maybe, you know, come over for dinner or something (somethin?) at my house tonight because it’s, like, Valentine’s Day and we should be celebrating - LOVE, or somethin’, right? (Uh, not if it’s a should, bro.) I don’t know how to make raw food but there is maybe some lettuce in the fridge and we could go shopping and maybe you could come up with something. (Wha…?!) I get home from work around 5:30 or 6 and so give me a call then, ok? (Give you a call? )

Ok, uh, right. Is this guy on drugs? It was like a prank call or something. Except that this man was completely serious. I had to laugh in wonder and near awe.

My overall response was along the lines of, huh? Ok, well, let me lighten the terrible burden of “should” that you’re carrying by politely declining that ever so brutal “invitation“. Um. Yeah.

The sad thing is, while he’s not raw himself, he has raw friends, one of whom has a raw cafe! I would think that nearly any other guy in his position, asking out a beautiful woman on a first date, and on Valentine’s day for the first date no less, would have gotten his cafe friend to make a Valentine’s meal for our dinner date if he was unable to do it himself. Duh! There are THREE excellent places to buy raw meals in our town, as well.

Needless to say, what follows is a photo - OF CHOCOLATE. Refuge of the lovelorn everywhere. Although, not usually me, and not because I’m not occasionally lovelorn, but because I am, sadly, allergic. I know. It’s a post in and of itself, but for later.

If it all wasn’t so pathetic as to be a joke, I could have been so depressed by this encounter, given the fact that I live in one of the most romantic places on earth. As it was, I thoroughly enjoyed my evening alone, thank you very much, and had a truly enjoyable evening creating and photographing this amazing chocolate tart with the ingredients I had on hand. I look forward to the day when I have someone who genuinely appreciates our connection enough to offer his best effort. Certainly for the first date, anyway, and as a beginning.

I’ve posted two photos of varying quality because I am trying to determine the lighting I prefer and thought I’d share both. If you have any preference, let me know in the comments! Thanks, and much Love.

As I am allergic to chocolate (more about that in a post coming soon on my other site: Junglegirl) , I gave this tart to my delighted neighbor as an open bribe for his help with getting my propane tank refilled this weekend. (Thank You!)

Citrus is in season right now and throughout the winter - so helpfully provided by nature just when people need a little burst of sunshine and freshness most. With the weather to intense to venture forth into I have been inside surfing the net for hours and came across what appears to be a very helpful recipe for heading a cold off at the pass.

I haven’t had a common cold since I was a child because I always take preventative measures as soon as I feel even remotely under the weather, but so many people seem to suffer from this annoying virus that I thought I’d help spread this helpful little web bug around which I came across here. It should nip just about anything in the bud (or in the butt, as an old boyfriend used to say, haha!). The original formula calls for oranges and lemons only, but I’ve added a few other ingredients that I know make a difference. To your health!

***for an amaaazing juice try Cara Cara oranges! You might want to wait until you’re well again and your taste buds come back, though.

10 oranges
2 lemons
2 inches of ginger
2 garlic cloves
pinch of cayenne
glass quart container or mason jar
your coziest blankie and a comfy pillow

Fresh squeeze one quart of oranges into a glass container (a mason jar is great), and then add the juice of two lemons, the grated ginger, grated garlic and the pinch of cayenne. Drink this within 30 minutes and eat the gratings at the bottom of the jar and then! The most important part is to lay down for a nap. So many bugs can be avoided by simply getting extra rest when you feel over-worked. That’s when bugs are most likely to strike. Winter is technically a time for resting. People who tend to ignore this pay a heavy price when they ignore the rythems of nature and continue on as if seasons don’t matter. Even if you are in a warm climate care must still be taken to get extra rest in winter, as a ritual, or otherwise the body’s chi (energy) runs down and you are far more likely to be prey for whatever bug is making the rounds.

This delicious remedy should work wonders especially if taken just as you first notice you are feeling off. I’ve added a good 2 inches of grated ginger, 2 cloves of grated garlic and a pinch of cayenne. Eat all of the goods at the bottom of the jar after you’ve drunk it.

And to end on a sweet note, this is a lovely poem I found here. It was written a few years ago when she was 15 and it just a beauty!

The Orange Juice Club

i’m in the orange juice club

no intoxicating syrupy concoctions

just the breath

of mists and sun washed

city asphalt air and whirring

rushing

sound.

i’m in the orange juice club

of outside-

i’ll watch you watch you watch

you and you and you

and never (include)

me too.

Because there is no whirling of the orange juice

around the bowl of a perfectly blown and spun glass

and no zillion adjectives-

flowery, fruity, dry, vintage.

Only a fresh squeezed pulpy flavour

The bright mandarin flesh

Slightly sour, always refreshing!

Drinking the new sunshine of summer

slanting reddish yellow glow on

short squat brownstones

their mix of brick coulours

the array of autumn

sugar maple trees

and painted birch trunks.

i’m in the orange juice club

no thank you, concoctions of fermented

wheat and barley soup,

squashed grapes

and pine tree berries too.

i’ll be drunk on the seasons changing

and the touch of wind

on every hair

and summer–

Coney Island Cyclone, greasy food and

riding in the first subway car there.

Orange juice club.

plain old

straight up,

clear bright

yup.

Shuna Lydon

1995