Coconut Kale Smoothie!

Okay, so finally I have come up with another yummy smoothie recipe.

Coconut Kale Smoothie
*2 large ripe bananas
*roughly 1 head of kale (I used stalks and all...just not the MAIN stalk of the plant)
*hefty dose of raw hempseeds
*hefty dose of raw cacao nibs
*jar of failed coconut milk yogurt

Add all ingredients to blender (Blendtec) jar, and add cold water until total liquid reaches 4 cups. Blend on "whole juice" setting or until smooth.

Ok, now what you might ask, is "jar of failed coconut milk yogurt"? Well, this is what you get when you try to make coconut yogurt from dried coconut. I used my Wilderness Family Naturals coconut chips to make coconut milk. You basically the coconut chips with water to your blender, blend, then strain...repeat once. I found a video on U-tube and rolled with it. Then I followed the steps to make yogurt and used a Yogourmet packet as a starter. I put the jars into my dehydrator and waited 24 hours.

But instead of thick, creamy, So Delicious style coconut milk yogurt, I got funky separated coconut milk liquid. There was the teeniest bit of stuff that resembled yogurt, but for the most part the recipe was a failure. I've never had kefir, but I'm guessing from what I've read, it must be similiar. So, I gave the thickest parts of the "yogurt" to my son mixed in with his grain cereals, but I didn't know what to do with the liquidy parts...until I was making my smoothie.

I just went for it and dumped it in. And it really MADE the smoothie. The smoothie didn't really taste like coconut OR like yogurt, but it definitely didn't taste like a KALE smoothie, if you know what I mean. It was quite delicious! In fact, I've made the same smoothie for the last two days!

Now, how can you recreate my failed yogurt? Well, I'd say don't try to. You could use real coconut milk yogurt, coconut kefir, or just experiment with other types of yogurts or kefirs. Let me know what you find out!

Split Pea Barley Burgers and Raw Pasta Sauce

Okay, these weren't originals, but they're pretty tasty!

Split Pea Barley Burgers courtesy of the happyveganface blog

Fresh Tomato Sauce (raw) for pasta

Mmmm....

Yummy, yummy Kale Salad -- all RAW!

A week or two ago I signed up for The Daily Raw Inspiration email. I have to admit I haven't paid much attention to the once a day emails until today. The title, Kale Salad Recipe Music Video, was just too tempting to ignore, so I checked it out!

The video is only 3 minutes long, it's set to cool music, and it's nicely edited! Plus you get to see a family of young kids prepare and, most importantly, EAT the greens!

We already had all the ingredients on hand, so I tried this for lunch. I didn't measure anything, I just dumped in what felt right after watching the video. Hey, I figured if the little 9 year old boy in the video could do it without measuring, so could I!!

Here's what I used: locally grown kale--chopped, Bragg's raw apple cider vinegar, pink Himalayan sea salt, olive oil, Nutiva shelled hempseeds, cumin powder, nutritional yeast. When I had it all tossed up, I tasted it and added a little more vinegar, salt, and nutritional yeast.

It was delicious! My 2yo DS even ate about 1/2 a cup full of the kale salad, and he doesn't normally eat ANYTHING green! Yay!

I ate a Corelle pasta dish full of the salad, and thought about making something else to go with it, but I'm glad I didn't. It was surprisingly filling!

I think we'll have the leftovers tonight as a side salad with dinner so DH can try it, too!

Bulk Buys: Organic Strawberries & Almonds

I have been busy in my kitchen putting away bulk purchases the past few days. Buying in bulk is something we've just started doing to become more green...and save some money, too! Buying in bulk reduces packaging waste, saves on fuel costs, and is generally cheaper than buying in smaller quantities. Not to mention it means we always have food on hand as well as less trips to the grocery store, and with a 2 year old and a 7 month old, that is a blessing...for me AND the other shoppers! :)

While I have been buying in bulk from Amazon.com over the past 2 months, I had my first experiences with buying in bulk directly from farmers this week. Buying directly from farmers ensures you get the freshest products, reduces fuel costs, and generally saves you money since you eliminate the middle man.

Earlier this week, I got strawberries. Not just any strawberries. Organic, hydroponically grown strawberries...about 50 pounds of them! We use strawberries a lot in hot cereals and in smoothies, so I wanted to buy a bunch while they were fresh and freeze them. Fifty pounds of strawberries should last us a really long time! :)

Now, here in North Carolina, strawberries won't be ready for picking for another month or two. But Florida strawberries are ready NOW! My parents were just down in Florida visiting relatives, so I asked them to look around for an organic strawberry farm while they were there. Why organic? Because strawberries are on the Shoppers Guide to Pesticides' Dirty Dozen list! This list details the 12 produce items you should always buy organic because of their high pesticide load when grown non-organically.

Well, my parents not only found me organic strawberries, but hydroponically grown ones as well at the Parke Family HydroFarms. While hydroponic strawberries weren't a requirement of mine, it definitely was an interesting experience for my parents since the plants are all grown in vertically arranged pots, so there was no bending or kneeling required to pick the strawberries! Because my parents were kind enough to pick the strawberries themselves, they saved me about $50! So, what does 50 pounds of organic strawberries cost? About $100. Because of the quantity and because they picked them, the strawberries cost $1.99 a pound. That's cheaper than non-organic strawberries in the grocery stores!

When I heard my parents were able to find organic strawberries, I searched on Craigslist to find a FoodSaver. I was able to find a Vac 900 with 2 rolls of bags, a few pre-made bags, and a canister for $35. I figured this way I'd be able to vacuum seal the berries to keep them as fresh as possible. This was a pretty good deal considering 2 rolls of bags cost upwards of $19.99 + tax by themselves.

So, late on Tuesday night, my hand-picked strawberries arrived. Everyone was tired, so we waited until the morning to get them put away.

On Wednesday morning, I got to work on the strawberries while my mom played with the kids (read: kept them out of my hair). I had researched on the internet the best way to freeze strawberries, so I had a rough plan in mind. I think what I did ended up working really well.

First I topped (cut off the green top of the strawberry) and washed them. I had 5 flats total and I did one flat at a time. After I washed a small batch of them, I laid them out to dry on flour sack towels. Once I completed an entire flat, I hand placed them on cookie sheets lined with wax paper so that none were touching. Then I stuck them in my mostly empty garage freezer (another great Craigslist purchase...3 year old Frigidaire commercial freezer for $75) to harden. While they were freezing, I started on the next batch. After about an hour or so, I removed the frozen strawberries from the freezer and vacuum sealed them in FoodSaver bags. Ideally now I'll be able to open the bag and remove single strawberries instead of huge clumps!

So, from the "fields" to my freezer in about 24 hours!!


My second large bulk purchase arrived today: truly raw organic almonds!


We'll use them for almond butter, trail mixes, nut toppings, and raw desserts! Yum! In trying to learn more about the raw diet several weeks ago, I learned that most almonds labeled as raw, really aren't. A California law passed a few years ago requires that farmers steam pasteurize their almonds before they are sold, though they can still be labeled as raw. Unfortunately, this process "kills" the enzymes in the almonds and they are no longer living foods. If you soak these steam pasteurized almonds (labeled as raw) they will not sprout, like truly raw almonds should. The California law does have a loophole though; it does not specify that almonds sold directly to consumers be pasteurized. So, if you want truly raw almonds, you have to either buy imported almonds from Spain, or buy directly from a California almond farmer. I chose to do the latter.

After much research, I settled on Anderson Almonds.


My local health foods grocery quoted me a price of $12.99 for organic almonds (which aren't even really raw). Anderson Almonds sells their organic almonds shipped to your door for $8-10 a pound AND they are really, truly raw AND shipping is included in that price! If you order 5-10 pounds, you pay $10/lb and if you order 25 lbs you pay $8/lb. I had a few questions before ordering, so I emailed them and received fast, courteous replies. When I was ready to order, I called and talked to the owner himself. I gave him my credit card number to pay for the 25lbs of almonds ($200 even). He told me they normally take about 6 days to arrive, and on day 6, guess what UPS dropped off at my door?? That's right, my organic, raw almonds!!

I noticed right away upon opening the box that these almonds were carefully graded. There were virtually zero broken, cracked, or chipped almonds...very unlike the bulk bin almonds I had been buying from Whole Foods which, although "whole" were most definitely not!



I immediately went to work to freeze my almonds. I like to store my almonds for daily use in the refrigerator in a 1/2 gallon mason jar. So I figured out how many cups of almonds it took to fill up my 1/2 gallon jar: 8. Then I got out my measuring cups; I used the 2-cup one as a scoop to fill up the 4-cup one.


I put roughly 8-cups of almonds into each food saver bag...


...and vacuum sealed.


I ended up with 11 bags which immediately were placed in my freezer.

I can't wait to try them, but figured I'd finish using my not-really-raw raw almonds from the grocery store first. I'll be sure to update you on them later and show off some recipes using them!

Here are the 25 pounds of vacuum sealed organic raw almonds in my freezer:

I now have an entire shelf of organic strawberries and most of a shelf of organic raw almonds!



Now, off to enjoy the rest of this unseasonably warm Friday evening...and maybe munch on a few fresh organic strawberries I hid in the back of my refrigerator!! ;)

Homemade Baby Food

Making your own baby food is a great way to be green. The benefits are tremendous and it really isn't as difficult as it sounds. Just think: you will have virtually nothing to trash or recycle since you can use reusable containers, you will know exactly what is in your baby's food (i.e. fresh wholesome foods and NO preservatives or other ickies), and you can compost the food scraps, which is something I hope to get started with very soon...but that's a whole other post!

I am happy to say that I made 95% of my son's baby food. He's 2 now, so he survived! :) I started him on solids at 6 months which is the age recommended by the World Health Organization (courtesy of an article on the KellyMom site), to help lower the risk of him developing any allergies, and because as they say, breast milk is best!

I highly recommend the Super Baby Food book by Ruth Yaron if you are considering making your own baby food. It is a great (GREAT!) reference book showing when your baby can eat what foods, how to cook them, how to store them, and so on. It's loaded with recipes and just chock full of information. My 2yo still eats the Super Porridge recipe almost every day for breakfast. Sometimes I eat it with him! Seriously, get the book!!

My little girl is just about to turn 7 months old, so this past Saturday I made her first baby food meal: avocado! This was my son's very first meal, too.

Making your baby's own avocado baby food is about the easiest thing you can ever do, and it is super healthy. You won't find avocado baby food on the shelf at your grocery store either because they can't find a way to preserve it (according to our pediatrician at our most recent wellness visit), so unless you make it, your baby won't get to enjoy creamy, nutritious avocado.

Making your own baby food isn't very difficult to begin with no matter what you choose to make, but it doesn't get any easier than avocado:

1. Make sure your avocado is ripe. It should "give" when you lightly squeeze it. If it's hard, leave it on your counter for a few days until it's ripe. Once ripe, it will keep in your refrigerator for several days.
2. Wash the avocado.
3. Use a knife to cut the avocado in half lengthwise. Your knife will hit the avocado seed; don't try to cut through it, just continue to cut all the way around the seed. (Once you've done this a time or two, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.)
4. Pull the avocado halves apart.
5. Use a spoon to scoop out one half of the avocado into a bowl. I either eat the other half myself, use it to make guacamole, or I leave the seed and skin on, cover it with the other now empty skin, and put it in a covered container in my refrigerator to use later (the next day). If you scoop out the extra and put it in the refrigerator, it will turn brown and look disgusting. Leave it in the skin and cover it with the other skin, and it will stay pretty green and fresh.
6. Use a fork to mash the avocado until smooth.
7. Serve your baby yummy, healthy, fresh avocado baby food!

Easy peasy! No cooking involved and minimal cleanup...well, except the baby!

A Dinner of My Own Making

That's always scary. At least in my house. But this time it turned out okay. DH had two helpings of the beany pasta dish, and DS chowed down on it, too!


My personal fav of the day were the seasoned brussel sprouts.


DH groaned when I bought them (yes, groaned out loud in a grocery store like a little boy!) but he freely admitted that he liked them once I cooked them up. He actually preferred them steamed without any seasonings like I made them the day before, but I preferred the seasoned ones.

So, here are the "recipes" I created:

Beany Pasta Sauce:
*can of organic black beans (undrained)
*2 chopped tomatoes
*roasted garlic (I used Just Roasted Garlic from Just Tomatoes)
*oregano
*basil
*Just Hot Vegetables (from Just Tomatoes, ordered through an online coop)
*Just Crunchy Onions (from Just Tomatoes, ordered through an online coop)
*taco seasoning

I heated the pasta sauce over low heat while I cooked a package of whole wheat penne pasta in a separate pot, stirring frequently. (Using beans that had been soaked and cooked would have been more economical, healthier, and more earth-friendly, but I am still working on being prepared ahead of time...)

Then I drained the pasta and ladled sauce onto the pasta on each person's plate. We topped it with freshly grated cheddar cheese purchased from the coop (a community owned grocery I just found out about).





Brussel Sprouts:
I had lightly steamed these the day before and used some of them in a recipe (that flopped, by the way), so for today's second chance, I cut them in half and put them into a skillet along with...
*a good drizzling of extra virgin olive oil
*curry powder
*rosemary
*paprika
*garlic powder

...and stirred them around until well-coated and heated through. Then I put them into our bowls and sprinkled with some freshly ground Himalayan pink salt. Tasty!



Sometimes my creations end up really yummy and sometimes they're just okay (read: awful!), but luckily both of these dishes turned out pretty well and were well-received. :)

Recipes from Raw on $10 a Day (or Less!)

For dinner one night this past week, I made three all-RAW recipes from Lisa's Raw on $10 a Day (or Less!) blog. I stumbled upon this site a few weeks ago and have really been enjoying trying out her recipes. She is so creative and her photography makes everything look SO good! (My photos pale in comparison to her works of arts, so be sure to follow the links and check out her site!)

From Lisa's website, we tried the Banana Salad, Creamy Cucumber Soup, and Apple Cinnamon Cookies.

For once, I followed the recipes to a "T"...with the only exception being that for the Creamy Cucumber Soup, I used a red onion instead of a "regular" onion (although she didn't specify a type) and I also added some of the diced red onion on top of the soup as well.

Here were our thoughts on each dish, along with some photos:

*Banana Salad -- We loved the presentation of this salad (especially the coconut flakes!), but didn't think the dressing really melded well with the ingredients. We would definitely try it again, but would go with a different type of dressing...not sure what though...hmmm....





*Creamy Cucumber Soup -- We both LOVED this! It tasted incredibly fresh and light. It would make a great summer soup on a hot day because it tastes so cool and refreshing. DH liked the chopped cucumber and onion on top and actually wished there were more of it; he prefers chunky soups, and I have to say I agreed. We were pleasantly surprised by how much we liked this recipe! It turned out a beautiful light green color, and looked quite fancy, even though it took less than 5 minutes to whip together!





*Apple Cinnamon Cookies -- I had a little bit of difficulty making these in my Blendtec. I think it was just because the amount I was making was pretty small and I was using the big 3qt jar, so most of what needed to be blended kept getting stuck under the blade. A food processor probably would have done a better job, but with continued scraping down of the sides, and some patience, I was able to get a sticky dough which rolled nicely into cookies. These were absolutely delicious, but a bit thick (think peanut butter), so I'd recommend a nice glass of your favorite milk (cow's, coconut, almond, etc.) to wash these down with! The spices in these cookies are absolutely perfect; you won't believe they're raw! Yum! (Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo taken of these before we devoured them! Oops!)

Collard Smoothies!

On Saturday, I scored a HUGE bag of locally grown collards at the Carrboro Farmer's Market for $2! Woo hoo! On Monday, I decided to have a collard green smoothie for breakfast.

It went something like this:
*2-3 bananas
*raw cacao nibs
*raw chia seeds
*4-5 collard green leaves (washed and de-stemed)
*1 cup frozen blueberries
*organic raw hempseeds
*water and ice

I was unsure how it would turn out, but it ended up being quite delicious! DH and I both enjoyed it!

Today, I made another one that was okay. I have to admit that Monday's recipe was better though.

Today I did:
*1 banana
*5-6 collard green leaves (washed and de-stemed)
*1/2-1 cup frozen blueberries
*whole organic quartered apple
*chia seeds
*raw cacao nibs
*water and ice

It wasn't bad. It just wasn't as palatable as Monday's.

Now I'm just wondering what to do with all those other collards! :)

You are a foodie, aren't you??

foodie: a person who has an ardent or refined interest in food

Today, for the first time in my life, I was labeled as a foodie. I took it as a great compliment. I am very interested in food, especially since I've been reading and researching about eating RAW foods and increasing my family's fruit and veggie intake while reducing processed foods and all the icky things that go along with them.

So, here's what this "foodie" had for dinner. :)

I made a huge amount of homemade hummus (from dried chickpeas) a couple of weeks ago, and after tiring of eating the hummus as a dip, I winged a hummus salad. Well, DH raved about it so that I decided to make it again.

First, I made the hummus. I normally soak my chickpeas for about 24 hours, then slow cook them in my crock pot or on the stove until soft, but since I didn't plan ahead, I dove into the pantry for a huge can of organic chickpeas DH had bought as a "backup" plan. I poured most of the liquid out of the can, and then dumped the chickpeas and remaining liquid into my Blendtec. Next I threw in every yummy thing I could think of and blended it until smooth: some roasted garlic cloves (from Just Tomatoes, ordered through a coop), some Just Onions (from Just Tomatoes, ordered through a coop), several whole sprigs of fresh cilantro, a chunk of jalapeno pepper, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, some raw sesame seeds, freshly ground peppercorns, and pink Himalayan salt. I added and tasted and added some more until it tasted the way I wanted.

Then I made the salad. I put organic mixed baby greens onto our plates. Then I topped them with slivers of organic red onion and organic celery, and grated organic carrots. I sprinkled raw sunflower seeds over all of it, and then gave us each a big glob of the freshly made hummus right in the center.

Right before serving, I swirled olive oil over the entire plate, including the hummus and then drizzled balsamic vinegar over the greens (avoiding the hummus). Sorry, I didn't get any post-drizzling pics...I'll do better next time! ;)

DH loves this and I think it is great, too!


As a side, I made fresh apple sauce. I simply washed, cored, and sliced 3 apples using my handy dandy apple gadget


(I love how quick and easy this is. You can also have the gadget peel the apple if you desire. It does it at the same time it's coring and slicing. We eat apples raw as snacks a lot thanks to this gadget, and I've just found that it makes dehydrating the apples a cinch since it cuts really uniform slices.)

I threw the apples into my Blendtec and added a few ounces of coconut water and around a cup of water. I like to squeeze in as much healthiness as possible, so I threw in a couple of handfuls of greens as well; these could be omitted for a standard apple sauce, but we like it GREEN. I also threw in just a bit of cinnamon.

I blended until smooth (not long in this baby!)...

and served it up! Normally when I make this, I add spinach and the color is a much prettier green. This time, I used the same mixed greens as I used in our salads since that's what we had on hand, and it came out much darker, I think because there were some purple-y greens in the mix. It still tasted great, but looks much prettier when using spinach. DH ate two bowls!

After dinner, I was still craving something...something sweet...dessert! I had read Sheri's post about her version of Larabars on the Green and Crunchy blog, but had never even tried a Larabar myself. Earlier in the day though, I had been talking to another mama on one of the Diaperswappers' threads who was trying to eat more raw, and she had experimented with Sheri's recipe. So, I thought, why not??

I put a cup of raw cashews into the Blendtec. Most people do this in a food processor I think, but I don't have one, so I tried it out in my 3 quart Blendtec jar. I pulsed the cashews until they were roughly chopped (just a few seconds). Then I pitted and roughly chopped about a cup of Medjool dates. I added a few at a time and pulsed until things started to combine. I scraped the container down once to be sure all the nuts were getting mixed well. I also added some organic flax meal, organic chia seeds, and vanilla. I pulsed the blender until the mixture began to stick together like dough. Then I dumped it into a bowl with a flat bottom and pressed it down so it was even. I noticed the mix was a bit "damp" to the touch (Did I use too many dates??), so I threw some raw dehydrated coconut chips and more flax meal into the blender and pulsed until it was roughly mixed and chopped. I sprinkled the coconut flax flakes on top of the cashew bars, put a lid on the bowl, and stuck it in the freezer for about an hour. When we were ready to eat it, I pulled it out and cut it into fourths...

...and served us up a slice!

I was surprised how nicely the Vanilla Coconut Cashew bars came out of the bowl and how the pieces stayed together so well...very bar-like!

The taste was pretty darn yummy, too! These definitely hit the spot!

I'm looking forward to trying various combinations for these bars--using different nuts, trying different additions. I think my next version will have some raw cacao. Yum!

What do you think a fun combination would be?

Trail Mix

I am a snacker. Always have been. Probably always will be. One thing that has changed recently though is my choice of snacks. Instead of a whole sleeve (or two!) of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies, I'll have something a lot more health conscious. This doesn't mean I have to sacrifice my chocolate or that it can't be delicious!

One snack I have come to really love (read: CRAVE!) is trail mix. I've had various trail mixes throughout my life, but really started to get into them when I found a couple of varieties I liked at the health food store Trader Joe's. Problem is, they're fairly expensive, and unless you buy different varieties, they're always the same. Since I have started buying in bulk and have begun to learn to use a dehydrator, I really enjoy creating my own trail mixes.

Here are some of the "pros" of creating my own mixes:
*I can whip up a snack in minutes
*I can have as many or as few ingredients as I want
*It can be a different mix every time or I can repeat my favorites
*I can include more variety than store bought mixes
*I control the ingredients, so I can be sure there are no unnatural additives or preservatives
*I can ensure my dehydrated fruits and my nuts/seeds are really raw for added nutrients
*Since I buy all my ingredients in bulk, creating the mix is much cheaper than buying a small bag of pre-made trail mix
*Because I buy in bulk, I always have ingredients on hand that make nice trail mixes
*I can make as much or as little as I want

When I buy foods in bulk, I take out a portion for daily use to keep in an airtight jar or canister. The rest of the food is stored away in an appropriate place (i.e. pantry, freezer). As my daily portion runs low, I simply refill from the larger portion that has been stored.

To make my trail mix, I simply pull out the containers with the ingredients I want to use and scoop the desired amount into a bowl. I mix the ingredients up with my fingers, and TA-DA! There you have it: instant (healthy) snack!



Today's trail mix consisted of:
*Raw Coconut chips (Wilderness Family Naturals -- I blogged about these yesterday!)
*Organic Raw Pepitas/Pumpkin Seeds
*Raw Sunflower Seeds
*Dehydrated Apples (Just Tomatoes, purchased through a coop)
*Dehydrated Bananas (homemade)
*Dehydrated Cherries (Just Tomatoes, purchased through a coop)
*Dehydrated Blackberries (Just Tomatoes, purchased through a coop)
*Organic Rolled Oats
*Raw Almonds
*Raw Cashews
*Organic Goji Berries (Navitas Naturals, purchased through Amazon subscribe & save)
*Organic Raw Cacao Nibs (Navitas Naturals, purchased through Amazon subscribe & save)

It only took a minute or two to throw together, but WOW was it yummy! And filling! I didn't produce any plastic waste that needs to be thrown away, and I ate a wide variety of fruits, nuts, and seeds. I even snuck in a few grains!

Now, this trail mix wasn't perfect. Ideally, I'd have liked for it to have been all raw, but I am just getting into this and learning more and more. To be as "green" and thrifty as possible, I feel I need to use up my on-hand ingredients first. I have purchased a lot from Just Tomatoes through coops in the past and actually have a large order on the way now. I am pretty sure these dried fruits (while super delicious) aren't dehydrated at temperatures that are considered raw. My goal now that I have a dehydrator of my own is to begin dehydrating my own fruits more and more; and actually the banana chips were dehydrated by me, but I'd better stop there because that's a WHOLE other post! :)

So, what do you like in YOUR trail mix??

Wilderness Family Naturals

I had heard good things about Wilderness Family Naturals through all my internet research of raw foods. One of the products that is recommended to buy from them is their dehydrated coconut. It is so highly recommended because they dehydrate it at a low temperature (98 degrees) so that it retains its nutrients. Also they don't add anything to it. It's JUST raw coconut!

So, I decided to try their coconut chips; they also offer fine and large flakes. I really wanted the 25 pound bag since it is so much cheaper per pound, but there were out of stock, so I ordered 2 of the 3 lb. bags to try it out first, with the plan of snatching up a 25 pound next time if I indeed liked the product.

I ordered on Tuesday, March 2nd and it was delivered this afternoon! I ripped into the box immediately. It was well packaged and came in two large, clear plastic bags with resealable zipper tops. I tore into one. The description on the bag says, "You will notice a delicate crispness when you crunch them between your teeth and a melting of the delicious coconut oil as they dissolve in your mouth." That describes the taste to a "T". AMAZINGLY, good!

As I was snacking, I noticed the bag I had ripped into had a "best by" date on it: May 2, 2011. My first thought was "Oh, no!" I hadn't checked the dates on both bags and it is a pet peeve of mine to not eat the oldest first. So, I checked the other bag and was shocked that it said "Best by date: January 22, 2010." I did a double-take. This one was already past it's best by date. Upon further inspection, the coconut was noticably more aged as well. The fresher bag I had just opened had coconut that was uniform in color and very white. The older bag had coconut that was just a shade darker and also had pieces that were starting to brown near the edges. With a glance, I would have never noticed, but with close inspection, I could tell the one bag definitely had older coconut. Now to be clear, it didn't look "old" or bad or gross, just didn't look as fresh as the newer bag.

So, I shot WFN a quick email using their online form:

I literally just received my 2 x 3lb bags of coconut chips I ordered a few days ago. I am thrilled with the fast shipping and I cracked into one of the bags right away. Delicious! As I got ready to put the other bag away however, I noticed the coconut in it was a darker shade with some brown edging as opposed to the bag I had just opened that was pure white. The tag on the back of the unopened bag says best by January 22, 2010.

In no time, I had a reply:

We do GREATLY apologize. We here at WFN are aware that a few of the old bags got sent out and we apologize again for this. I will be shipping a new bag to you immediately. The coconut that is turning is still fine to eat as that is just a best buy date. Please enjoy the new bag as well as the first bag.

Again…I am so sorry…we just had no way of tracking who got the old bags sent to them. Thank you for your email!

Thank you,
K----

I replied:

Hi K----,

Thank you for the prompt reply. You caught me while I am still munching on the coconut from the bag I opened! haha This stuff is delicious! Thank you for sending a new bag. I had read great things about your business prior to ordering from you and I now see they are true!

On a side note, I stumbled upon a youtube video posted by WFN for "Extraordinarily good seasoned popcorn" about a week ago, and my family is now addicted! This is seriously THE. BEST. POPCORN. EVER.

Thank you again for the very courteous service. I will definitely be a repeat customer!

And literally 3 minutes later, she had replied again:

Glad to hear…the popcorn actually is good. The smell fills up the office from time to time and makes everyone hungry!

Enjoy…and we are happy to hear your satisfaction. We try and please everyone as much as possible.

Take Care!

Thank you,

K----

So, I just want to say, that I am one seriously pleased Wilderness Family Naturals customer. And I will definitely be ordering one of those 25 pound bags of coconut whenever they're back in stock. In fact, I may have to load up on some more of the 3 pounders because I can't seem to keep my hand out of the bag!!

Another thing I just noticed while perusing their website is that when you order with them, you earn up to 5% of your subtotal in points that you can use on your next purchase. So, I have already earned $1.75 in their customer rewards program that will apply to my next order! Woo hoo!!

Oh, and by the way, if you want to know more about that Extraordinarily good seasoned popcorn, check out this post.

Smoothies!!

Ok, here is way too much information on smoothies. A couple we are friends with recently began to make smoothies after hearing me talk about them, so I typed up some information for them. I meant to send them a simple recipe, but it ended up being a novel, so I thought I'd post it here to help others who might be new to smoothies. Hopfully some of this will be interesting and not bore you to death. :)

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Here is the smoothie I started out with that got me addicted:

Dr. Oz Brain Boosting Smoothie
1 banana
1/4 cup blueberries (frozen)
1/2 cup apple juice
handful of hemp seeds (from Whole Foods; but you could substitute flax seeds, flax meal, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc.)
*If you wanted to make it green, just add a handful of spinach, and if you need more liquid add a little water.

Here is a good one we had yesterday: Apple-Spinach Juice (I made this in the Blendtec though, so not sure how well a regular blender will blend the apples...you might want to add only a bit at a time)
*cored and cut up apples (3)
*spinach (couple of handfuls)
*enough water to get your blender to spin and get the consistency you want

I don't normally go by recipes for my smoothies since I like to wing-it (this is sometimes good and sometimes really terrible), but here is what I've learned from reading a ton and from my experience:
*if you want it to be sweet, (always) start with a banana (or 2...or 3...)
*if you want to thicken it, add 1/2 to 1 avocado (can even be a pudding-like consistency it's so thick; also chia seeds thicken)
*liquid sweeteners: honey, agave, maple syrup -- but beware, these are concentrated sweeteners, so still aren't THAT great for you; same with fruit juice...better to use the whole fruit when possible and avoid the processed juice
*whole food sweeteners: banana, other sweet fruit, pitted medjool dates (helps to soak the dates in water first to soften them; they have these in Harris Teeter next to the bananas and you can buy them one by one if you want to try)--whole food sweeteners are the best in my opinion
*when making green smoothies, your ratio of fruit to greens should be about 60% fruit to 40% greens--though I would err on the side of more fruit to begin with
*the best starter greens for smoothies are spinach and romaine lettuce because they have very mild tastes (you probably won't even notice they're in there except that the smoothie may be green). never use iceberg lettuce as it has virtually no nutritional value. you can also use kale, collards, mustard greens, etc. but I wouldn't start out with those as they definitely have a much stronger green taste.
*other "green" add-ins that we have tried and liked: cucumber (my new fav), carrot, celery, tomato, mint, cilantro
*fruits we've tried: blueberry, strawberry, banana (if you really get into this, you can buy the clearanced--already brown--bananas at Harris Teeter for $0.20 per pound--they usually have a ton of them...you can even freeze them), blackberry (very seedy in a reg blender), avocado, kiwi, raspberry, apple, mango, plums, pears
*other add-in ideas: flax seed or meal, hemp seed (love these), chia seeds (love these), cocoa or cacao powder or nibs, almond or peanut butter, pumpkin seeds, goji berries, sunflower seeds, oat bran, granola, any nuts, coconut water, coconut milk, dried or fresh herbs

One of my favorite fruit smoothies (The Skinny Monkey...hey, I didn't name it!) is simply:
*banana
*honey
*skim milk
*granola

And another is:
*banana
*cocoa powder
*peanut or almond butter
*milk
*honey

You could easily sneak some greens in there too and probably not even taste them.

We typically use water as the main liquid in our smoothies, but if you're craving something creamier, then you can make a milk-based one. Or you can add nuts along with water and that creates a "nut milk" so that would also be creamy.

Ok, I'm done now! haha Get blending!

Persimmon and Coconut Cream Parfait

I saw a recipe for a raw persimmon and whipped cream parfait the other day, and search though I might, I cannot find the link for it. If anyone knows where it is, please let me know and I'd be happy to give credit where credit is due.

The beautiful photos of the parfaits reminded me that I had several freezer bags full of pureed raw persimmons from my uncle. I first had persimmon last year when my son was still eating baby food. My uncle had given them to us and so I read about them online and decided to puree them for him. Well, DS loved them, but I found out that so did I! So this past fall, I mentioned to my uncle that we'd love to have more of his persimmons. Finding this recipe for a RAW parfait got my persimmon tastebuds churning!

I defrosted my frozen persimmons by placing them in a bowl of water. It didn't take long before I was able to dump them out of the freezer bags. I put them into the Blendtec for a quick spin to ensure no icy chunks were left. We wanted SMOOTH puree.

Then I searched swagbucks for a raw whipped cream recipe and found one that I modified to fit my needs and on hand ingredients.

Coconut Whipped Cream
*1 cup nuts (the recipe called for cashews; I only had walnuts, so that's what I used, though I'm sure cashews soaked for at least an hour would have made it much creamier)
*1 cup light coconut milk (canned from Trader Joe's)
*1/8-1/4 cup of honey
*1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
*splash of vanilla
*pinch of himalayan pink salt
*coconut oil (a good bit)

My cream turned out flat and runny, but tasted divine! For a thicker cream, you could try adding some thickeners: chia seeds, flax seed meal, etc. Or, it might also help to refrigerate or freeze the cream before serving.

To serve, simply put the pureed persimmon and the coconut cream in alternating layers in a pretty glass or serving bowl. You could also create a topping of ground goji berries or nuts to sprinkle on if you wanted, but we just ate ours plain. Yum, yum!

Yummy Apple Salad

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across this blog: Raw on $10 a Day (or Less!)

I love it for so many reasons: the great menus, the beautiful photos, the free recipes complete with nutritional information, and especially the thriftiness of a days worth of raw meals for $10 (or less!).

I've tried a couple of the recipes. One that DH agreed is a keeper, is this one: Dinner Apple Salad.

We used red onions because that's what we had on hand. I love the combination of apples, walnuts, and raisins, and the dressing is nice because it adds a hint of sweetness.

I am really looking forward to having this one again!

Pop-pop-pop-Popcorn!

This is simply the best popcorn ever! Since we discovered this recipe a few days ago, we've made it at least once a day. So good!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21wog59Pxu0

The key is to cook your popcorn kernels in coconut oil. I do it in my Whirley Pop. On my gas stovetop, it only takes about 2 minutes. The video says to use 3 tablespoons. I just use a regular spoon and scoop a bit in. Then I add in my 1/3 cup of popcorn kernels and pop away!

I throw the seasoning into my Blendtec to get it well blended.

The video calls for:
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons Indian black salt

I didn't have Indian black salt, so I subbed pink Himalayan salt instead. I also used dehydrated onions instead of onion powder but because I blended it, it made onion powder. The recipe made enough for DH and I to have two big batches (on different nights), and for DS to have a small bowl as a snack one day, too.

Yesterday, we were running low on nutri yeast but I was really craving some popcorn, so I improvised a new recipe. It went something like this:

(all ingredients "to taste")
nutri yeast (whatever we had left; probably about 1/8 cup)
pink Himalayan salt
dried parsley
dried oregano
garlic powder
onion powder (I used dehydrated onions)
peppercorns
paprika

If you don't like things spicy, definitely go easy on the paprika!

Raw Alfredo Sauce!

Last night, I had no beans pre-soaked for dinner (read: still getting used to the pre-planning needed for cooking from scratch on a continual basis) so we decided to have a pasta dish. Harris Teeter had recently had a buy 2 get 3 free on their whole wheat pasta, so I had bought quite a bit. I pulled out some whole wheat linguine noodles and asked DH what kind of sauce he wanted. I was sure he would say Ragu. A few years ago we fell in love with Mama's Secret Garden Sauce and never looked back. I think we have one lone jar left in the cabinet since we decided to eliminate as many processed foods from our diet as possible. I was fully prepared to pull it out and heat it up. But DH said, "Aren't you going to make a sauce?" That was all the motivation I needed!

My mind immediately went to alfredo sauce. Mmm...cheesy, yummy alfredo sauce. But, since we are trying to incorporate a more veggie, vegan, and raw lifestyle we've seriously reduced/eliminated dairy. So, my best friend Swagbucks and I searched for a raw alfredo sauce, and we found a yummy one!

The recipe called for soaked cashews and since I hadn't planned ahead, mine weren't soaked. The recipe turned out fine, just a little gritty, but it really didn't affect the taste at all. We ended up with leftover noodles though, so today I tried again with soaked cashews and the sauce turned out SO CREAMY!! Seriously, I don't think you'd be able to tell real alfredo sauce apart from this one!

First you make cashew cream. Here's the link for the recipe I followed. For my second attempt at this recipe (the one that turned out the best), I used a little more than a half cup of cashews rinsed, then soaked for an hour, then rinsed again. I put those into my Blendtec along with about a cup or so of water, a squirt of agave, and a little bit of pink Himalayan salt. I blended that twice until creamy.

Then I left the cashew cream in the blender and roughly followed this recipe. I added the juice of half an organic lemon, about a tablespoon of South River Miso (today, chickpea; last night, three year barley), a clove of fresh garlic, a chunk of raw onion, about a tablespoon of olive oil, and two heaping pinches of nutritional yeast flakes. The recipe called for 2 tablespoons of nutri yeast but I easily put double that. We like it CHEESY!

Then I just blended until smooth. It was ultra thick and creamy! Last night we ate it with linguine and lightly steamed broccoli. Today we had it with linguine and lightly steamed asparagus. Both meals were delicious!

All the yumminess of alfredo sauce without the guilt! And while very filling, this alfredo sauce doesn't leave you with that super heavy feeling after eating either! Eat up!

Our...or at least MY...Goals!

About 3 years ago, a coworker mentioned that her daughter was using cloth diapers. I thought, "How insane!" but something inside of me was intrigued. So I researched it. And researched it. And researched it some more. Then I thought, "Why not?" That's how it started for us. DH has not been quite as ecstatic as I've been about all the changes, but he's been right there with me and is ever supportive! Seriously, he's THE best (but don't tell him I said so! hehe).

Over the course of the past three years, we've gone from being a very ungreen standard-American-diet-eating, paper-towel-using, trash-can-filling, plastic-buying family to being a lot more concious of our impact on the earth. I'm not saying that we're green now; we still have a long ways to go and probably always will, but I like to think that every little bit helps.

Here are some things we've instituted already:
*cloth diapers for both kids from birth
*cloth wipes for diaper changes, nose wipes, etc.
*cloth dish towels and unpaper towels
*all homemade baby food
*exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months and then extended breastfeeding past 1 year
*mama cloth
*buying organic/non GMO/pesticide and chemical free foods whenever possible
*buying in large quantities/bulk to reduce packaging/shipping/fuel/cost
*replacing kitchen plastics with glass or stainless steel
*buying secondhand from Craigslist, Goodwill, thrift stores, and yardsales
*buying directly from farmers at the Farmer's Market or through CSAs
*avoiding processed foods as much as possible
*eating out less
*cooking from scratch as much as possible
*trying to follow a more vegetarian / vegan / raw / whole foods lifestyle
*making my own cleaners
*no pooing (replacing shampoo with baking soda and apple cider vinegar)
*researching products we use more thoroughly to see if there are greener alternatives
*reading ingredient labels carefully
*reusable grocery and produce bags
*making nut milks instead of drinking cow's milk (this is a new one)
*green smoothies
*dehydrating my own fruits
*stainless steel water bottles
*bought secondhand food grade buckets for bulk food storage and cleaned out extra closet for this purpose

And here are some of my goals:
*learn more about soaking and sprouting nuts/seeds for eating
*learn more about Raw/Whole Foods diet
*continue to incorporate more raw, whole foods, veggie, and vegan recipes
*learn more about dairy-free yogurt making
*learn more about fermenting foods to make probiotics and healthy bacteria
*learn more about dehydrating living foods
*try new homemade cleaner recipes for dishwasher detergent, etc.
*green-ify my kids toys and clothing as much as possible
*reduce household clutter
*get a secondhand freezer for the garage to store bulk purchases
*get a Food Saver to help with storing bulk purchases
*make bulk food purchases through local coops to save money/fuel/shipping
*buy more local foods and materials
*spend less time online and more time with kids!!
*more green art/craft supplies

How are YOU green?

My New Favorite Dessert

Mexican Chocolate Shakes...completely RAW and ultra-delicious! You won't believe there's no dairy in this because it is SO creamy!

I put these into my 3 quart Blendtec (the best blender in the whole world!) jar:

3 frozen bananas
a hefty pinch of cinnamon
a scoop of raw cacao powder (Navitas Naturals brand purchased from Amazon)
handful of organic, raw walnuts (from bulk bins at Whole Foods)
a big scoop of homemade almond butter (probably 2-3 tablespoons)
water (probably around 2+ cups)

I also added these mix-ins for extra nutrition and thickness:
chia seeds
flax seed meal (freshly ground is best)

Just a note in case you couldn't tell...I am a bit of an "un-chef" in the kitchen. I don't usually measure things. I just throw things in and taste, taste, taste, so be sure you do the same to get it to your liking!

I blended everything up on the "Whole Juice" setting on the Blendtec. I usually run it twice just to get it as fine as possible.

This made two servings. DH and I drank it in tall clear glasses (3/4 full) with our new Glass Dharma straws which are my favorite thing ever! Seriously...every drink in our house now has to have one of these straws. They are just so pretty and they're fun! Not to mention, they are very sturdy and they're NOT made of plastic! Yay!

Ok, but back to the shake. The cinnamon is what makes this so special to me. I first fell in love with cinnamon mixed with chocolate at Locopops in Durham. So, I figured why not in shakes, too! I love it. Now if you like things really sweet, you may need to add your choice of sweetener to this recipe: agave, honey, pitted dates, etc. but both DH and I liked this just like it was, so we didn't mess with it.

Hope you enjoy as much as we did. YUM!