Garden blessed

January 27, 2011
Chard from our garden

Chard from our garden

I’ve mentioned before how blessed I feel that M. is an avid gardener.  She’s planted a patch of chard which acts perennial.  No matter how many leaves I cut off of it, it continues to grow more.  This morning I made an awesome green smoothie with freshly picked red chard.  It had soymilk, strawberries, banana, maca, DHA, Irish moss gel probiotics, bee pollen, and a wee touch of stevia.   It was about time that one of my concoctions tasted fabulous. Lately my smoothie combos have all been “plug & chug” (meaning you hold your nose just to get it down).

KindKreme comes to Pasadena

January 20, 2011

KindKreme is opening up a Pasadena location on Feb. 5.   Right between my work and my home.  I’ve been wanting to try the Studio City location for awhile.  Los Angeles traffic usually keeps me closer to home, however.  I realize vegan ice cream isn’t health supporting but…they also make green juices and green smoothies!  And parking there is easier than parking at Whole Foods Arroyo, where I normally get my green juice when away from home.  And I can get a latte made with fresh almond milk if I’m in a coffee drinking phase.   I’ve always said to M. that the dearth of raw vegan places in Northeast L.A. and Pasadena/Glendale was a business opportunity.   I’m glad to be proven right.

German Chocolate Cake

January 15, 2011
German Chocolate Cake

German Chocolate Cake

Turns out I did take a picture of the German Chocolate Cake I made for my birthday in 2009.  It was yummy.  I adapted a recipe from I Am Grateful.  Unfortunately, I didn’t write down what I did so I can’t write out the recipe. As usual, I ended up freezing this because it’s too much cake for our little family of three.  It lasted about a year in the freezer at the rate we could eat it.  It’s so rich one can only take a teeny tiny slice.  Too many nuts at once plus sweeteners aren’t health supporting.  We need some deliciousness every now and again.

Belated birthday

October 30, 2010
Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake

It’s been (over!) a year since I started writing RawHabit.  Time flies no? I missed writing on the anniversary because I was getting ready for my two week stint at Optimum Health Institute of San Diego.  That was an awesome experience which I’ll detail in another post. I haven’t had a lot of time for blogging lately (many apologies), but rest assured, this blog isn’t going away.  It just might be incredibly intermittent for awhile.

In honor of my late observance, I’ll show you a picture of the raw birthday cake I made for myself.  I heart the raw carrot cake.  Many (ok most) raw-versions of traditional recipes are not analogous. You can’t expect raw bread to taste like bread.  Calling it bread, is a big.fat.lie.

Raw carrot cake, however, isn’t very far removed from the cooked version.  All of the ingredients are the same.  The cooked version just has the flour and eggs.  I’ve actually come to prefer the raw.

I tend to go overboard when I make raw cakes.  I like to make them pretty.  And that means making them full scale. Since raw cakes are practically 100% nuts, one can only eat the tiniest sliver.  And since I’m the only one in my family that eats any raw vegan, well, it’s overkill.   Thankfully, raw cakes tend to freeze well.   I can make one cake and eat off of it for 1/2 a year.

Unfortunately, I tend to forget to eat it and it ends up going into the compost.  C’est la vie. The fun is in the making.   I did the same thing last year.   It was a beautiful German chocolate cake.  And I didn’t even remember to take a picture. It’s the thought that counts eh?

Blessings

August 6, 2010
House before

Before planting

I’m a very lucky gal.  My wife may not be much into the raw eating thing, bless her heart.  But she consumes a lot of what I make and she supports me for the most part.  Best of all, she’s an avid gardener.  She’s into being a locavore.   She has planted an abundance of food in our yard over the years.  Now she’s taking it to the next level.  We are finally getting rid of the grass in the front yard so we can have our mini-farm.

There’s nothing better than walking out my door, picking ingredients for my creations, and eating the freshest and most flavorful food possible.

I feel very loved when I behold the results of  my wife’s  hard work.

We haven’t decided yet what we’re planting but you can bet it will be a colorful addition to my raw chef-ery.  We’ve already got apricot, avocado, grape vines, laurel (bay leaf), lemon, lavender, loquat, orange (Seville and Valencia), 3 pomegranate trees, rosemary, sage (pineapple & regular) in our perennial arsenal.    Plus we have plots where we plant basil, chard, cilantro, dill, mint, spinach, and tomatoes (heirloom & grape).

We have a good friend who is a permaculturist that runs a consulting business helping people do green landscaping and she does a lot of work creating edible lawns.  She’s helping us out because it’s what she does for fun.  She tells us that we have areas where berries will do well.  OMG.  Heaven.  We’ll be adding berries to the mini-farm for sure.   Since we’re a small family we do plan on joining a local produce swapping co-operative to share any excess and get a wider variety of home grown food into our diet.

I get a bit teary-eyed when I consider my good fortune.  My home is my Eden.  I am humble and grateful for my blessings.  Fresh ingredients are a chef’s dream come true.

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