Watermelon DAY TWO! Smoothie!

Watermelon smoothie

3 cups watermelon
2 tbs Ruth's maca/hemp/e3live

Blend and drink!

nummers.



Dinner last night
Stuffed cabbage!














I know, not very summery but we need to go shopping and the only vegetable I had in the house was a cabbage. I used rice and quinoa for the stuffing. I also used apples because we have them.

Stuffing this time is:
1 cup broth
1/2 cup rice
2 tbs black quinoa
Steam the rice and quinoa like normal, cool and add

1 cup ground seitan
1/2 onion
2 cl garlic
1 sm apple, chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
salt to taste
Mix the cooked grains with the raw ingredients and then:

Roll about a 1/4 cup stuffing in each steamed leaf and baked the rolls in a sauce made with
3 ripe tomatoes
1 cup chopped watermelon
1/2 onion
2 cl garlic
salt to taste

Bake 400F for 1 hour or more. Let it stand about 1/2 hour before serving.

Quick Easy Raw Vegan Lunch :: Watermelon Soup and Banana Watermelon Salad!

yum yum!

The tangy apple and plum juice balance the super sweet watermelon. Pucker up and get ready to enjoy:

Watermelon Soup

Makes 1 serving

1 cup watermelon cut in bite sized pieces. I don't mind the seeds but you may want to remove them for your guests.
1 cup tart fruit juice. I used apple and plum.

Put watermelon chunks in a bowl and pour the juice over the top.

















Banana Watermelon Salad

1 cup sliced banana
1 cup chopped watermelon
Put in a bowl and eat.


















That's it! Raw vegan lunch in a jiffy!

Watermelon!

Watermelon!

















The man brought one home tonight
















And I'm going to eat it today!
















We'll call this "Breakfast"

Today's Smoothie

1 banana
handful fresh mint
1/2 handful raw almonds
1 tsp raw vanilla powder
2 tbs whole flaxseed
The usual supplements
Water











Dinner last night:














Kale and carrot salad with pickled ginger, Pot 'o beans and leftover pasta.

Raw Food Health Expo 2009 Santa Rosa, California :: Day 2

GOOD MORNING!

Day two of the expo was better than day one!












This was our campsite. More people stayed the second night than the first, including Esther Vander Werf of Visions of Joy.

















The fire














C&S came and picked us and all of our stuff up and we went for coffee and juice and then back to the expo site for the day.

I worked the registration desk for 5 hours. It was fun! I met everyone that came in the place and gave them a name tag and told them where to go. I met some wonderful people including The Boutenkos, Paul Nison, Nomi Shannon, The Giannis, John Kohler, Cherie Soria, Rick Dina, Don Weaver (to whom I gave bad directions. I tried to find you to apologise for that, Don, but I didn't see you in a moment where I could. I'm sorry, Don. The room was on the left at the end of the hall we were in), Shea Lynn Baird, Shana Dean, Chris Whitcoe, Melissa Mango, Jeri Hastey, the owner of Seed raw and vegan restaurant on Santa Rosa, Terry Nieves, Novalee Truesdell, Micheal Bedar who made Simply Raw, Robin Silberman (I got her a table. Literally), Jody Ryabinov and my campmates, Winnie (who said, "don't you blog about me!"), Daniela, Esther, Alex and our "go-to" couple and ride down, Connie and Stanley from E3live!

If i met you and i forgot to mention you, let me know!




The Giannis, Kevin and Ann Marie

















Adeba Wright, the Crazy Cracker Lady and my new close personal friend :)
















Paul Nison interviewing Victoria Boutenko















The last rest stop on the way home.
We drove until two am.

What a great show! I left exhausted but inspired.











I met some wonderful people and exchanged ideas about raw food, veganism and life in general.

Thanks to John Kohler and to everyone else involved. It will be even better next year!

Green Chocolate Mint Smoothie

I'm out of fruit and I don't feel like cutting worms out of apples this morning so I had a GREENS smoothie. Wild edible greens from the back yard and some greens from the garden.


I picked dandelion, mint, melissa, red lettuce and ruby chard and blended them with water, maple syrup, a handful of cacao nibs (crackao, I heard it called this weekend. 'tis sad but true. I am an addict) and the usual supplements.














Kitteh stalking chocolate smoothie.















It's not too sweet, very chocolatey, slightly bitter and wonderfully minty

Raw Food Health Expo 2009 Santa Rosa, California

We drove down with C&S

We stopped at Grass Lake at the rest stop. C and I were walking to the facility and she said, "Do you want to see the Glory Hole?" "Err, noooo..." I thought but I went. Turns out it's a stream that runs out of a hole in the ground that is formed by a tube of lava. I was relieved. Grass Valley is beautiful and we almost always stop at this rest area when we make the tripbut this was the first time I ever saw the Glory Hole.



Drinking green juice while driving past Mt Shasta.














C and S dropped us off at the campgrounds. Lovely place. Lots of rocks. It was pretty full of people, quite a few large groups of people who were partying. We shared a campsite with two other people who were at the expo. One was a photographer and one was the vendor coordinator. It was really nice to hang out and talk with other raw foodists face to face.













The man sets up the pup tent all nice.
The next morning C&S picked us up and we went to the expo to set up. It was early and the vendor's room wasn't open yet so we went to the Farmer's Market that was out in the parking lot.

Later that morning John Kohler, the organizer of the expo, put me to work cutting up name tags.














I was scheduled to work one volunteer shift on Sunday so I spent most Saturday either helping with the E3live booth or goofing around and meeting people.

People like Victoria Boutenko who is the most sweetest lady ever and she gave me a DVD!




"Just pick one" she said. I picked Valya Boutenko's Overcoming the Food Imprint, the origin of our cravings. WOW!! It' s documentary and I am looking forward to seeing it.







I had my copy of Green for Life and she signed it for me. She said "this is an old copy!"

This is the e3 booth. There was a refrigerated dispenser and we gave out samples and sold frozen bottles that were kept in the freezer until the buyers went home. Response was good. I thought the whole experience was very positive.
















Here is a view of the island tables. There are a lot of people in that photo.



Kevin Gianni, Ester Van Der Werf, Victoria and Valya Boutenko, and others! Click on it to see it BIG. If you recognize anyone else, please tell me in the comments! Kthnx!








We stayed all day and it was a lot of fun. I saw Paul Nison speak and a food demo by Melissa Mango make Perfect Tunah salad Seasonal Peach-Apple cobbler and helped out with little things where I was needed, like putting recyclables and trash in the containers and pointing people in the right direction if they couldn't find a speaker or demo they wanted to see. "through the double doors, first door on the right." I had a great time and the energy from everyone was so positive. Beautiful Day!

Aurora! Did I see you there? There were a couple of people who had little girls and I don't recognize you from your photo on your profile.

And that was day one. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion, Day Two! Where I meet Adeba Wright and follow her around like a puppy!

Apple/Sage Vegan Seitan Sausage Recipe

I made apple/sage sausage this morning. The apples are falling off of the tree and I need to find more things to do with apples cuz I plan on eating a lot of them this summer.

Apple/sage sausage
Preheat oven to 325F and have a 12x12" pc of foil ready on a baking sheet

Chop approx 2 cups cut up apples in Food Processor until almost pureed

Add 1 cup vital wheat gluten
1 tsp salt
2 tbs olive oil
4 tbs water
1 heaping tbs dried sage
1 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp onion powder

Mix in processor until a ball forms then turn out onto a board and knead it for a minute. Form into a log, wrap tightly in foil and twist the ends. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 90 minutes.
Cool, slice and serve.

Raw Vegan Dinner Ideas :: Pizza! Perfect Raw Pizza Crust Recipe

I made this for dinner.

It's all raw but the olives.

















Close up














This was the perfect pizza crust. It was firm yet pliable and didn't get soggy under the toppings. Success.

Perfect Raw Pizza Crust Recipe
Three ripe tomatoes
1/4 cup whole flax seeds
1 tbs sesame seed
3 tsp dry oregano
1/2 tsp of salt

All in food processor with S-blade until puree
Pour on sheets and spread them around in the shape you want.
Dehydrate one hour at 145F
When firm on top flip out on to the rack and continue drying at 115F until hard and leathery but not crisp.



My plate with red lettuce and sauerkraut and a dollop of seed cheese















Close up of my slice.














It was pliable enough to fold and didn't fall apart or get soggy at all.



The man's plate.











He likes those jalapenos!

I've got my ticket for the Raw Foods Expo in Santa Rosa

I've got a ride down and back, reservations at a campsite and my ticket!

Yay!

Raw Foods Health Expo July 25th - 26th Santa Rosa, California
Are you going?

Ok, well. Maybe I'll see you there.

Two dinners:

Monday: Bruschetta, steamed cauliflower and fresh veges and vegan sausage tossed with pasta.









Tuesday: Tortilla with beans and rice and a raw vege salad.









I made the rice with a tbs of quinoa and it was pretty tasty.

Happy Birthday to me!

We went camping at the usual place
Our friend owns a few acres in No California and it's a nice weekend getaway.

There is a bunch of woods and a travel trailer to sleep in. My kind of camping. The kind with a private toilet :)















Me, hot, tired, dirty and 42.















This is our truck at the Oroville Dam runoff.


I think that's where we are...












On the way home there was a wildfire and we had to take a detour because 97 was closed so we went over Mt Ashland.

And we stopped here, at Tub Springs.

Best water. So cold after such a hot day on the road. The settlers crossing the Siskiyou mountain range must have been really happy to see it.











This is the cab of the truck.

















And we went swimming in Berry creek.

Vegan Bruschetta and Yeast Bread Recipe

This morning's smoothie was




2 bananas
2 golden delicious apples
a handful of fresh mint
2 tbs ground flaxseed
Water and blend.










I baked a loaf of bread yesterday

















Put in a big bowl and mix together:
2.5 cups flour
1 tsp each sugar and salt

Mix together in a separate bowl
1 tbs active dry yeast
1 cup warm water or vege broth
stir until the yeast is dissolved and then add
1 tbs olive oil

Pour liquid into the flour mixture and stir until a dough forms.
Put on a floured board and knead about 5 minutes until it's a smooth ball.
Place in a greased bowl, cover with a towel. Leave at room temp until the ball doubles in size, about 45 minutes, more or less.

Knead the dough for about 2 minutes on a floured board.
Place in a greased loaf pan, run a knife along the top to make a split and put chunks of vegan butter all along the split
Bake at 350F for 1 hour
Cool and slice and then make this out of it for lunch the next day:
















Bruschetta.
















Toast two slices of bread then spread marinara sauce on the bread. Add tomato slices, onion slices and more sauce on top. Broil for a few minutes, until the sauce on top starts to bubble.
Sprinkle with vegan parm and fresh ground pepper and serve with a green salad and sauerkraut
Yum.

Afternoon Smoothie

Mint, (I think they are) gooseberries (whatever they are they are sweet and tangy and definitely not poisonous) and apples from the tree.










I added two bananas and some water and blended it into a delicious smoothie.







"No photos, Please!"
















And here is my afternoon green smoothie. I love picking stuff out of the yard and eating it.