Monday, June 8, 2009

Happy 50th Birthday, Mom!

I had the privilege of throwing my mom a 50th birthday party yesterday. It was a lot of fun and a complete adventure, because I did all raw food. Trying to put together a vegan, raw menu for an audience that is mostly omni was a challenge. I got lots of positive feedback though, and everyone (except for a few non-adventurous types that only ate the fruit and the salad *wink*) really seemed to enjoy the food. Thanks to Ani Phyo's book Ani's Raw Food Kitchen for saving the day. I made her spicy mock tuna roll, pizza, and "cheesecake", then added in a kale, red cabbage, and romaine salad with raisins and pumpkin seeds, and a platter of grapes and strawberries. I made a strawberry sauce for the cheesecake, too. I found that I'm growing in my knowledge of raw food prep because when I was not happy with the thin consistency of the sauce after blending the berries and agave, I knew what to do! Instead of thickening it with cornstarch or arrowroot and boiling it, all I had to do was blend in some dates and it became the perfect thickness. In addition to not boiling all the heat-sensitive vitamin C out of the berries, it was also much more quick and easy just to blend in dates. Anyway, I made extra of all the food so I can be feasting well into mid-week. :) Yay! Happy birthday Mom! I love you.

Friday, June 5, 2009

King Sandwich of Tastyville

Meet my new best lunchtime buddy, the raw veggie sandwich! I've been loving this...it's simply Ani Phyo's recipe for Black Sesame Sunflower Bread, slathered with yellow mustard on one side (easy to make raw if you want) and tahini dressing (which thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise when allowed to sit for a couple hours in the fridge) on the other side. Then layer on some ripe avocado, juicy tomato, salt and pepper, thin sweet onion rings, and lettuce leaves. The flavors are so wonderful; it reminds me of the raw version of a hamburger. And you feel much better when you're done eating it than you ever could after eating a Big Mac...

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

All Dried Up!

I was most surprised and delighted to receive the fabulous (and extravagant) group gift of an Excalibur food dehydrator from my family for my birthday. Yesterday I tried a bunch of new raw recipes, including Nacho Flax and Sunflower Chips, Sesame Sunflower Bread, and Strawberry Macaroons. The macaroons are absolutely delightful...jammy little morsels of summertime. I couldn't believe how they retained such fresh strawberry flavor. I got the recipe out of Ani's Raw Food Desserts, another birthday gift, this one from my lovely, sweet friend Pamela. She actually gave the book to me at the author's meet and greet signing at Powell's, which just happened to be on my birthday! Ani is just as sweet as pie, radiant, and has such a great perspective on healthy eating. It was such a pleasure to meet her. You really should get your hands on a copy of her new dessert cookbook; it's full of really great recipes that you'll feel good eating and feeding to those you love. Anyway, back to the macaroons. I portioned them in 1 T scoops instead of 2 T, and was very happy with the results. The picture is of the little macaroons on the dehydrator sheet, just before they went in. They look like pork meatballs; I assure you they are not. :)

My sweet baby helping his mama make macaroons