Amazing Raw Chilli

Go here RAW CHILLI and make this chilli. You will not regret it unless you are a miserable human being. No, seriously though, probably the best raw food item I have ever made and at the top of the list with the raw tortilla soup I had at juliano's. I do not have the words to describe this wonder. I want the taste to stay in my mouth forever. Oh! the best part is that I have enough left for two more servings! In other news... I am going to try to make Kale Chips tonight. Hope they turn out good!

The current lesson (cross-posted on the 100 day raw food challange)

Raw food has been teaching me many small lessons, about myself and life, since day one. Now, at 2 months in, I am currently learning about my overeating issue, gratitude, and fulfillment. One large adjustment I believe many of us have to make when converting to a raw food diet, even if only temporarily, is the acceptance that the physical "full" feeling is no longer an acceptable indicator of when to stop and start eating. On a raw food diet it is very hard to achieve the full feeling and even harder to sustain it. I find myself continuing my cooked food habits of snacking when bored and overeating to try to maintain a full feeling.
The lesson I believe I am being given is one of patience, acceptance, and gratitude. The patience and willpower to SLOW DOWN and visually savor my food before eating, take smaller bites and chew every bite to taste my food and begin the digestion process in my mouth; contrary to popular belief you don't digest food when it is lodged in your esophagus because you swallowed it whole and it's stuck. The acceptance that food is fuel, and while I cherish it and obsess about it, and think about it when I am not involved with it, it is supposed to serve a specific purpose- to nourish my body. To accept that I have had enough. To accept that I may not feel stuffed but I have been adequately nourished. The gratitude and thanks for the bounty I have and the gift that living food is.
It is a process for me. I have been trying very hard to be more conscious of my meal time habits. Trying to take smaller bites, chew them well, and not go back for more, or snack just because I don't feel painfully full. It is hard for me. I am a comfort food junkie and I seek emotional fulfillment from my food. I think the lessons I am learning now may be the first steps of internally addressing that issue.
I am not really ready to think about it now, that part seems very overwhelming, so I am going to start with the enjoyment and pleasure of what I have, and take it from there.

beautiful morning

I am going in an hour late to work today (which isn't entirly unusual for me to do on my late days) I have to stay til after 4 today so I figured I go in at 8 to make it an 8 hour shift as opposed to 9. The dog is "hounding" me for a walk right now. She's goin "mom, why are you just sitting there when we could be out smelling things in the sun?!" I guess she is right. So I just want to say quickly before we go "smell things" that I went to the second yoga class in my early morning series yesterday and it was great. It was much more challenging than my first class and we did back bends and hip opening exersizes which are totally my areas of improvement (my chest and hips are very tight) so it was perfect. I left class feeling like I had springs in my legs :)

Lunch

Today for lunch (after my customary ice cream sundae) I had a delicious taco salad and tried out a new chip recipe. I must say it is a lot better than the first one I tried, which was good, but too flax(y). This one I got off gone raw and I think the girl from gone raw got it from a cook book (maybe rfrw?) I was out of jalapeno and didn't have hemp seeds, I followed the rest as written. Here it is:

Corn Tortilla Chips!
3 cups fresh corn, from about 3 ears, or use frozen, thawed sweet corn
1½ cups red or orange bell pepper, roughly chopped
½ cup onion, roughly chopped
¾ cup flax seeds, ground
½ cup hemp seeds (optional), ground
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 jalapeno, seeds removed
1 teaspoon chili (mild) powder
2 teaspoons fresh whole cumin seed, ground
2 teaspoons sea salt

Preparation
1. In a food processor, chop the corn, bell pepper, and onion until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and process until just combined.
2. Using an offset spatula, spread the dough thinly onto three 14 inch Teflex lined dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 6 – 8 hours, or overnight. Flip the sheets over onto the tray and carefully peel away the liners. Break or cut w/ a pizza cutter into chip shapes. Place back in the dehydrator for 4 – 6 hours, or until crisp. Store in an airtight container for a week or two.

I also tried a new experiment for fresh taco meat... I chopped a carrot super fine and tossed it with cumin, chilli powder, a little nutritional yeast, and a tiny drizzle of olive oil. It turned out pretty good, would have been more meat like had I dehydrated it a bit, but I thought it was fine as is. I think this would be very effective using mushroom instead, also. Next time I would try a bigger batch and use my food processor, perhaps throw in some mushrooms and soaked sundried tomatoes and maybe some lemon juice, season it, and let the whole thing marinate a bit to get all softened and chewy and flavorful. What do you all think? Any ideas to improve this recipe? I am going to a taco party this weekend and I am going to either make taquitos using this filling and the raw chip recipe, or just make all the stuff for taco salad. Perhaps even sour cream? Any suggestions for what I should put on my raw taco/taco salad to make it the envy of all the cooked vegans I will be partying with?
Oh... and remember all that fruit?
I finally have it ALL sealed away in the fridge for smoothie and ice cream use. Very fast and convenient! Like 4 bags full of bananas! yum!

I joined... how about you

View my page on Raw Fu

And for my next meal... (yes this is my 3rd post today)

Because all I have done today, besides that easy breazy yoga class, is eat and prepare food, I decided to post about my next meal which I will be eating in one hour, when it gets done warming in the ol' dehydrator.
On my shopping expidition the other day I went to madison market on capitol hill which is known to have the best raw food department in the city. I must say it is true. They have a bunch of different dehydrated crackers, which I didn't buy cause I can make them at home, and they have hummus (livinspoonful, portland oregon), almond butters, raw salsas and guacamole, OLIVES, you get the idea. Good stuff I tell ya. I obviously went JUST for the olives but I also got some delicious hummus while I was there.
So does anyone else have certain items that make or break a meal? What I mean by that is: A hamburger isn't a hamburger unless it has pickles. Or pizza=pinapple... I have a few of these things, some of which I have just had to get over for the sake of my sanity in the raw food world. 1 thing I WILL NOT, at least not yet, part with is my nutritional yeast on any pasta item. Spaghetti= Nutritional Yeast, well and olives.
I know nutritional yeast is not raw, but come on people, the name says it all "NUTRITIONAL". That means it is good for me. Plus it beats taking a b12 supplement. And well, it's delicious. After 10 years of being vegan there are certain comfort foods I have learned to hold close. The yeast is the one I don't want to quit.
At least I got raw olives.
Does anyone else have these few non-raw items they have decided to keep in rotation? Like NY or Namu Shoya, Miso, Balsamic Vinegar? Do you plan to give them up someday or intend to keep em around?
PS I will be learning to make raw pickles some time in the near future... just you wait

raw food binger: ice cream all day long

on my days off all I want to do is eat. Pretty much every 2 hours I eat something. It's all raw and healthy food I guess but there is something unhealthy about eating because you are bored and obsessed with tasting food. I guess that isn't a battle I am ready to fight right now...

yoga class

well, this new class I started leaves a little to be desired. It was a 75 min class and we probably spent the entire last 20 minutes in "restorative poses" aka sleeping. I am hoping it will get a little more intensive in the next few sessions. I am going to try to get thursday morning off so I can go to both sessions a week, I don't know if that will happen. I payed for the series so I am going to stick it out at this studio for the session, but I may switch to another studio if I don't find what I am looking for at this class. The instructor did say that she would try to give me a more open option for more "heat" in the future... That may be enough. It is a hatha class, which I have found to be a good workout when i have taken them in the past.
I am just so used to and satisfied with the bikram series that anything else I do doesn't feel like it is as corrective or as much of a workout. I wish there was a bikram studio in my neighborhood.
In more satisfying news I mixed a cup of young coconut juice into three cups of filtered water and brought it to class. It feels so refreshing and healing.

It's so easy eatin raw...

when you have ice cream sundays for dessert...

I forgot to take a picture until I was half way done eating it. On the left is banana soft serve with sliced strawberries, in the middle you'll see fruit sorbet consisting of strawberries, raspberries, and mango, and to the left is my coconut ice cream I made earlier today, topped with a raw chocolate sauce. I put it all on top of sliced bananas for a true banana split.
A champion juicer pays for itself within a couple weeks of ice cream. I may get an ice cream maker someday, but it is so easy and versatile to use the juicer. The best part is it was all completely raw, well other than the agave, but I didn't use much of that. Next time I could probably substitute dates for the agave I used in the coconut Ice Cream. I was just out.
Tomorrow morning at 6am I am going to see if I can get into this am hatha class near my house. The yoga studio has all these drop in classes but the only class they have that the time is convenient for me is this early morning series that is on tue and thurs. Unfortunately I can't make it thursdays and it is a pay in advance series not a drop in or pay as you go. I am going to explain my dilemma and see if we can work something out... Usually these yoga people are pretty flexible... HAHAHA (not really funny)

ice cream splits

Did my grocery store shopping today and finally put the first ripened bananas of the case in the freezer. I am having a banana split tonight and it is going to be awesome!!! I bought some young coconuts at whole foods today and blended three with a banana and a little bit of the coconut water. I ended up using a bit of agave as well because it didn't taste quite sweet enough to be ice cream. I put it in an ice cube tray in the freezer and tonight is going to be frozen bananas and strawberries/mangos/raspberries and the coconut ice cream fed through the champion. I may also make some chocolate syrup to drizzle on top. yum!!!
I will probably take some pictures :)