root vegetables.

i have been wondering what to do with a bag of root vegetables that i got from the discount produce bin at seward. the bag contained three large, round, beet-shaped vegetables that were a light green color, and i kind of assumed they were rutabagas or something. but when i cut into them, i discovered they are three of the largest beauty heart radishes i have ever seen! so this made uncooking with them easier, since radishes are excellent raw (in fact, cooked radishes are kind of blegh, except once we made them braised and that was good). so i chopped up a bunch of root vegetables and mixed them all together to create a CRUNCHY,SPICY ROOTVEG SALAD with MISO,GINGER,WASABI dressing. here is what the vegetables all look like in my mixing bowl:
















so then i put some of this on top of a bed of kale, napa cabbage, and sprouts to make myself a lovely salad. the dressing has wasabi (the real deal, not just colored horseradish!), tamari, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic, miso, and water to mix.




















here it is after ive been eating it and you can see more of the kale and cabbage underneath the roots:

















this was a delightful way to eat root vegetables, which are not too hard to bite into once cut and sliced into small pieces. my belly is burning from all the wasabi! in a good way.

i felt pleased with what i came up with for these veggies, since i used to only make soups and oily roasted dishes with root veg. here is an example of something i made earlier this winter:















it was a failed lasagne with all sorts of roots and, i think, four or five kinds of cheese! it looks so oily and kind of gross...i remember it did taste good, but it had a lot of smoked gouda and also lots of saturated fat, im sure. i think i remember eating the lasagne and feeling tired and heavy afterwards, but that salad just made me feel energetic and light! raw food wins again, right? :)

its good to be back.

im totally digging into smoothies and salads like no one's business. i just crave fruits and veggies. yum. last night i was given some chocolate as a valentine's gift, and so i brought it to work today for my co-workers and clients. i kept looking at the chocolate and thinking i would eat just one, but i knew if i did that i would end up eating it all day long. so i sat there with a bowl of chocolate in front of me for eight hours and didnt take a bite. instead i ate a fruit salad of apple, orange, and figs, and a vegetable salad with kale and peppers and stuff. i dont need you, chocolate!

pizza night with ryan's family.

i was invited to eat pizza with ryan's family tonight. ryan will be working, so he cant come. they are ordering galactic pizza, which (as far as pizza goes) is pretty good stuff; but after being on the road and eating a lot of crap, i decided not to eat the pizza and stick with my goal to go back to raw foods. my solution to this evening's meal: i prepared a large salad of kale, zuchini, peppers, carrots and a dressing of oil, vinegar, garlic, and fresh herbs. that way i can eat what i want but also share and it doesnt seem too weird and exclusive, i hope. i feel like, at first, his dad might think its strange, but salad goes awesome with pizza, right? so maybe they will just think its really cool.

back to minneapolis, back to raw food eating.

oh my. tour was very interesting...six days on the road and a backpack full of raw snacks. but when it came to meals, my desire to eat free food outweighed my desire to eat raw food. the worst was a potluck one night in milwaukee that consisted of all the midwestern trad foods...hot dish, macaroni & cheese, dessert bars, apple pie...and i ate so much...i felt horribly ill. i was also traveling with folks who like to dumpster for food, so i got into some bread through that. we were also stopping at all the co-ops along the way, and i was definitely up for free samples. i would say i was probably averaging 60-70% raw foods most days. and i felt so sluggish and had lots of abdominal cramps. now that i am home, i am so excited to eat as much raw food as i can. i made a welcome home dinner of pizza made from a disc of eggplant (for the crust) topped with eggplant/olive tapenade, sliced mushrooms, peppers, and zuchini, some mysterious almond spread that ryan made, herbs, and sprouts. i feel happy now. things are only going to get better from here on out! and i made a little moolah on tour, so i can use that towards buying delicious, healthy food. i already went to the co-op and got some wonderful reduced produce! and cardamom. damn, that stuff is expensive, but the whole house smells yummy.


i was too hungry to make it look really nice / take a better picture. when i uploaded this, i saw that ryan must have taken some pictures of dishes he made while i was gone, and they looked amazing.

tooahh!

my band is going on tour for five days this weekend. nick warned me that i probably wouldnt be able to keep up a primarily raw food diet. kyle and andrew have plans to dumpster food. lately this has led to me binging on bread and then feeling very ill all night and into the next day. we dumpstered on tuesday night, and it may not be related, but i just had a 17-hour-long fever last night of 102 and was very sick...aches and pains in my torso and especially my head. i almost had to ditch out on tour, but im going to buck up and take some vitamins, drink lots of water. anyway, since i decided im feeling well enough, i went to the co-op and stocked up on some road trip foods...bananas, avocadoes, tangerines, nuts, dates, goji-cacao snacks (possibly not raw, but there is a chance they are, and they are delicious anyway). i also got a large can of beans to share one night for dinner...nick is right that i will have to make some compromises, but i figure there are still some choices better than others. i will definitely be avoiding bread and dairy, but if i have to eat beans and rice or salad that may not be organic, ill have to suck it up for a few days and then get back on track later.

a rant regarding my poor health.

so my allergies, if they ever were allergies, have blown up into a fever, sharp pains in my ear canals, chills, nausea, loss of appetite, you-name-it...flu symptoms. i feel so terrible. my nose is still dripping like crazy, too.

gingersnap ice cream.

ryan got me a raw food cookbook for valentine's: the complete book of raw food. there hasnt yet been anything real earth-shattering in it, although ryan did make the borscht and it was super yum. he also made cheese from cashews and rejuvelac, and it is marvellous. one is spiced with dill and basil and the other with garlic and lemon and cayenne, i believe. these are very tasty indeed, and i would say much better than any dairy cheese ive had. seriously.

here is what i had for breakfast (it shouldve been dessert the night before, but i was out late with friends and shit went down involving bread...........................................)

gingersnap ice cream (the banana kind)
ginger, lots
cinnamon
vanilla
1 kumquat for fun
lemon juice
carob
2 cacao beans
molasses (this is kind of croosh)

i think that was it, then i added some bee pollen and wheat germ and stuff

a tasty start to the day. we've also been drinking reishi tea for breakfast. ryan made some reishi / chamomile tea and froze it into cubes, which we add one to hot water for a single cup. although i shouldve known after the goldenseal incident, i am apparently allergic to chamomile. so im all allergy symptoms of hay fever etc now.

dr weil.

im watching the video version of his optimum health book. my mom used to love dr weil, and when i was a teenager and vegetarian, she would often recommend that i read his book, or she would critique my diet from the perspective he offers... he just knocked raw and vegan, one after the other, as diets that are not "optimum" and insufficient in vitamins (B) and essential fatty acids and proteins. everyday i read so much about raw food, i read about various conditions in the prescription for nutritional healing book and what we should include as supplements in our diets, i read about how various foods are produced in ways that i abhor and that threaten our health and the planet. there doesnt seem to be an answer anymore; just many ideas, some i agree with more than others. i tried to imagine myself eating a significant amount of cooked food again, and i just cant see it. in a few days i will be on the road and will probably take advantage of free food, so i cant be picky. after teaching myself to resist cooked food, i will be tested. can i eat cooked food again? the other day i binged on bread at a party where some kids brought huge garbage bags full of day-old bread from a local bakery. i became very ill, but im sure from overindulgence. i suppose it proves that, if given something for free that i dont have any strong objections to eating, then it'll pass as edible. i bought some lentil & rice in a box thing at the co-op today because it was on sale and i thought something good to have on hand, just in case. but i cant even think of eating it, it just doesnt sound good to me. and i ended up being charged full-price for it. shit. i find it interesting, though, how i cant even find it appealing. anyway, im going on and on...im planning to do sushi tomorrow night for valentine's. i usually would go to the raw restaurant, ecopolitan, for a meal, but i think ryan would like some sushi and i could go for some, i decided. we might not be able to eat out at all, which is fine, and maybe we'll just go to the co-op salad bar.

picture update: bananavocado pie; peppermint bon patties; creamsicle

the pie:





























peppermint patties:




























best for last...vanilla.maple.almondcreme / orange sorbet:





















it looks like all i ever make is dessert, but the truth is that i most like taking pictures of sweet, pretty food.

raw pistachios are so good on salad.

especially with dried pear. mmm.

i forgot how good pistachios are.

i blended up some almond butter with maple syrup and vanilla and water
and filled an ice cube tray with the liquid. around 8 pm i plan to blend it into
an ice creamy mixture.

i love to blend frozen fruits and make "parfait" every morning now.
i know that eating very cold food is hard for your digestive stuff,
but it is so tasty. and you can add lots of nutritious ingredients...
spirulina, bee pollen, wheat germ, etc.

how bad is it? really? is it okay to eat once a day?
breakfast is probably the hardest, too...since your body just woke up
sigh.

for dinner i had portabello mushroom, sliced with the argula pesto and "parmesan" cheese
that i made the other day from cashews and nutritional yeast. it was also very garlicky.
there was a salad, but no pistachios this time. dried pears, though. sesame seeds.

organic produce for cheap

from my favorite organic produce for cheap locale...

$13:

1 pineapple
2 bags kiwi
3 mangoes
2 bunches of bananas
1 bag oranges

and a bag of pink ladies for about $1/lb

so much fruit

aparently im allergic to goldenseal.

and/or its relative, ragweed. i took some goldenseal as per advice given in the nutritional healing guide, and i now have hayfeverish symptoms! i feel terrible. so instead of healing my gums with this herb, i will go get some tea tree oil and calcium. ive also been mowing on citrus for the vitamin c's.

i made a delicious fruity parfait like the one they serve at my favorite raw restaurant. here were the ingredients:
1 ripe banana
1 frozen banana
frozen cherries
carob
vanilla extract
wheat germ
raw almond butter
topped with hazelnuts and coconut shreds, the best and most indulgent breakfast!

for lunch i had a salad of baby arugula, red chard, mixed sprouted beans / seeds, and this dressing:
dried chipotle peppers
garlic
thyme
salt
pepper
orange juice
apple cider vinegar
paprika
olive oil
it was so spicy, but also delicious. i got two boxes of baby argula greens for $.59 each! organic! amazing deals.

i made some raw applesauce with apples (!!!), agave nectar, and cinnamon, pureed in the processor. that was good, too, but it is turning brown, which doesnt bother me...although it might look unappealing (unapple-ing) to some.

off to the co-op to stock up on emergen-c, calcium sources, bee pollen, and dates.

a green salad with bananas.

not that big of a deal, but i never thought to put sliced banana on a green salad before. it was: red chard, mixed greens, celery, banana, agave nectar, cumin, cayenne, black pepper, salt. it was definitely good, and i wanted to put some mango on it, but it is too frozen...also, some nuts would be nice, but im not eating nuts for a couple days (ate too many the other day, oops).

might be gross, but: my first period since eating raw food.

dont read if you dont want. but i have long had very heavy and painful periods. and this was my first one since eating mainly raw foods. i have suspected for a while that soy was causing me to have undesirable symptoms related to pms. maybe yes or maybe no, but this most recent cycle was nothing compared to previous ones...i had one day of pain and cramping and one heavy day, but in general it seemed shorter and not nearly as bad. however, i did find that the week leading up to my period was difficult: i felt very depressed and moody, maybe more than usual, but it was mostly situational (the winter weather). so i dont know, but i think cutting out all the soy and eating raw foods might have helped me through this one.