One man's trash...

...is his wife's treasure!
Almost every Monday, hubby leaves me a selection of fruit he will no longer eat. We shop on the weekend, so he has a fresh supply for the week now, and he 'weeds out' the older fruit, as he knows I will put it to good use.
When shopping, there is usually a bin of older produce that the co-op marks down for quick sale. Organic bananas are my favorite thing to buy from there, as they are usually about 39 cents a pound. Two bunches came home this week :) To me these 'old' bananas are just right. I used to like a banana with just a spot or two, or even slightly green. Now I have realized how sweet and wonderful a truly ripe banana is! At least one bunch is always peeled and frozen for one of my favorite recipes...

Triple Thick Chocolate Shake













2-3 frozen bananas, break into chunks
1 tablespoon almond butter*
dash of almond extract
1/4 cup water, or a little more if needed
1-2 heaping teaspoons cocoa powder, or to taste
a little sweetener of choice, optional

Blend all ingredients in high speed blender until very thick and creamy.
Blendtec can use ice cream setting.

If you don't have a powerful blender, you can make this in a food processor fitted with the "S" blade. Even just plain, frozen bananas make a wonderful soft-serve treat! Try it, you will be surprised how yummy it is:)

Here it is as chocolate almond ice cream:


don't worry, I took care of the drip :)








6-8 frozen bananas, break into chunks
1 cup water
1/4 cup almond butter*
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
sweetener of choice, optional

1. blend all ingredients in high speed blender.Blendtec can use ice cream setting
2. transfer mixture to ice cream maker, follow manufactures directions, using about half the usual time to freeze. At this point mix in anything like nuts, chocolate chips, etc.
3. transfer to container and place in freezer for about 1 hour for perfect texture.
if frozen hard, let sit out of freezer about 20 minutes or so before serving.

*note: in both the above recipes the almond butter may be subbed with tahini, and the almond extract may be replaced with vanilla bean seeds.

chocolate sauce:
2 tablespoons agave
1 tablespoon raw cocoa powder

1. mix together in small bowl.
2. drizzle over ice cream or use to flavor nut milks

The ice cream maker is one of my favorite appliances in my happy raw kitchen:) The one I have is a factory refurbished Cuisinart model found at a kitchen store for 20 dollars. Here are several options if you don't have or want a machine.

How to make ice cream without a machine

Kids love to make ice cream this way

Any fruit 'smoothie' can be made into a delicious frozen treat. Simply blend any fruit with a little water and your choice of sweetener. Either of the above recipes can be made in Popsicle molds, the chocolate tastes like a fudgesicle:)
This sorbet was mostly peaches. They were a little wrinkly , but so sweet and juicy:)

Inspired by.....anything!

My love of crafting has often helped me in the creation of raw food. I have to admit to actually stenciling my crazy carrot bread. Today, raw food inspired a craft! Lunch was a yummy bok choy salad. You may have guessed by now where I got the recipe:) Thanks to Phytofoods for the recipe. I made a whole meal out of it by adding the tomato and carrot she suggested and also some julienned daikon, slivered snow peas, and a sprinkling of sesame seeds. I also just used a whole little orange, instead of the juice called for.













As soon as I cut the bottom of the bok choy for this delicious salad, I was inspired! It looked just like a rose, and this piece was to be discarded. I remembered making prints once using the bottom of celery, but of course celery is much bigger. In a few minutes, I created several little cards using the bok choy as a rose! The leaves were made by the actual ink pad, and the words are rubber stamps.














If you are feeling creative, here is how the cards were made:
1. Dry the discarded end of the bok choy and rub it with the ink pad.
2. Stamp the roses on the card first.
3. Stamp a rose onto plain paper and cut it out to use as a "mask" (This will prevent the green ink from getting on the rose.)
4. Cover the rose on the card with the mask.
5. Stamp the leaves around the rose with the little ink pad. I added a little detail with a marker.
6. Using a rubber stamp, add the words.

This would be a good craft to do with your little ones, you may use some tempra paint for the ink, or try some beet juice!

Now this is really playing with your food!

On the road again.....

Seems like I do a lot of eating on the run lately! This morning I grabbed a breakfast cookie pop and packed a yummy salad for lunch. The pop pictured here has sprouted sunflower and pumpkin seeds in place of the buckwheat. If you have a dehydrator, you can whip up a batch of cookie pops...and have breakfast to go in a flash! Kids love them, they will eat almost anything on a stick...lol.

Breakfast cookie pops:
4 cup sprouted buckwheat groats*, measured after sprouting
1½ cup date syrup
½ cup hemp seeds
½ cup chia seeds
½ cup goji berries
1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 inch vanilla bean, seeds only
12 lollipop sticks
*or sprouted sunflower and pumpkin seeds
Preparation:

1.combine all ingredients(except lollipop sticks,of course!).
2.let stand for about 1/2 hour to thicken.
3.form into circles(i used a burger press ) using heaping 1/4 cup per cookie.
4.place on teflex sheet and gently push in lollipop stick.
5.dehydrate at 115 degrees for 12 hours ,or as desired.
if you don’t want pops,just spread out to dehydrate,like granola,serve with nut milk makes great granola bars , too!

Try the yummy blueberry dressing from KMcR on gone raw. The salad was just mixed baby greens, blueberries, mango, and raspberries. Thanks to KMcR for the vinaigrette recipe!

Stop and.... eat the roses!

I really have enjoyed exploring my area for wild edibles this week. Of course this includes flowers, as well. I remember how lovely it was the first time my plate was garnished with an orchid at a beautiful restaurant . Now you can actually buy edible flowers in the market with the fresh herbs. Or, pick them yourself! During a brief bike ride this morning, I picked a fresh dandelion. The white lilacs and pink honeysuckle are from my yard. The orchid was saved from a restaurant salad. Here is this mornings breakfast:)

Sweet-n-Special Soup














3 small apples
1 very ripe Bartlett pear
3-4 big strawberries
for garnish
petals from dandelion, honeysuckle, white lilac
mint leaves

In high speed blender, combine apple, pear and strawberries until smooth.
Pour into bowl and garnish with flower petals and mint.

Don't eat it too close to the honeysuckle bush :)

Give bees a chance :)

As most of you probably know, we are all affected by the declining bee population. There are some things we can do to help. If at all possible, plant flowers and plants that attract bees. Growing wild in my yard is a pink honeysuckle bush. Right now it is covered with dozens of busy bees and eastern tiger swallowtail butterflies, both great pollinators.

































































There are many organizations to help the bees. The Great Sunflower Project is one of them. Here is a site called Urban Bee Gardens
Check out what you can do in your area to help out our little friends.

Eating raw on the run

Sometimes if I have unexpected errands to run, I don't have anything prepared to take with me to eat. Keep in mind where I am, any errand takes several hours at least, since we live in the middle of nowhere :) When this happens, I can usually find a market with a take away salad bar, or just grab some fruit. Yesterday, while in the nearby town of Ticonderoga, I bought a bag of grapes from the market and headed downtown to enjoy them by the Carillon Falls .













It was only a bag of grapes, but the day was so beautiful, they tasted like the best grapes in the world! I was able to walk around the area a bit, and snap these pictures, before heading home. Here is the covered bridge in the same area.














This is a pic of the falls from the bridge












Today I had prepared my favorite caponata, so I was able to take it with me for lunch in a small cooler along with a jar of water from home.














I stopped by my favorite spot in my area to eat it. The sand/rock area on the left side of the picture is where I usually sit when I come here. The picture is taken from a bridge above the river, just over a spot where it is always raging.












The small oval container fits perfectly with a jar of ice water, which also acts as the ice pack to keep everything cold in my little mini-mate cooler.












This is my favorite place to walk or bike ride to in my neighborhood. Earlier in the week I walked along the river road and looked for the wild edibles mentioned in my previous post.














Here are some pictures of wild edibles I took during my walk, but I haven't been brave enough to eat any of them yet.


clover













milkweed













morel mushroom











There are a lot more pictures I took of plants I have to identify, and I will add them here when I do:)



red trillium









wild strawberry












I thought I would share this photo of a pretty moth. She followed me for a few minutes during my walk, and landed on these new maple leaves when I bent down to take a picture of some plant next to them. I guess she wanted her picture taken!












Wish I was quick enough to get a pic of the pair of deer that almost ran me down, maybe next time!

Wild edibles

Now, for sure, I know I am a full-fledged raw foodist. During a walk today, I stopped by a lovely babbling brook. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the scent of pine was in the air. I took a deep breath, admired the beautiful surroundings, and said to myself...I wonder if those pretty green leaves are edible!!!!


















Of course, you must be very careful when foraging for food in the wild. Some plants are extremely poisonous. Today, the only edible wild plant I knew for sure were the dandelion greens. Click here for some health benefits.













Last year I used some in salads and smoothies. Try to find a field guide to wild edibles or an expert in your area if you are interested in foraging. Click here for a site with lots of information. Check out this page for pictures of many common plants. The pictures may help identify safe wild edibles:) Here is a site with many recipes , some are raw. You may also search 'wild harvesting' or 'wildcrafting plants' for more information. This site looks like it has some great resources.

Here is a salad I made today. I picked the dandelion greens in the woods, where I know they don't spray, and it is far from any traffic.

Dandy salad with sweet orange dressing












for salad combine:
2-3 cups mixed baby greens
1 cup dandelion greens
1 sprig mint leaves, torn
3 strawberries, sliced
1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup red raspberries
1/2 a navel orange, peeled and cut up

for dressing:
1/2 orange, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon agave, or a soft, pitted date
pinch of salt and pepper, optional

combine all dressing ingredients in magic bullet until creamy.

You may notice I am trying out my to-go ware:) They hold more than I first thought, more than 4 and a half cups (liquid measure) in each level!

Here is a website that has another brand of tiffin.
Check these out, too!
One more:)