We would like to thank Bob and the students at Aiki Farms for sharing their evening, experience and delicious sprouts with us last night. The kids and I had a wonderful time! I’m going to put the video up for now and will add the pictures later tonight.
Archive for March, 2010
sweet ‘n salty
March 4th, 2010
Lucia may be our resident cookie monster, but she’s got nothing on me when it comes to chips. Knowing that good ole fashioned potato chips are not fantastic at building health, I’m avoiding them these days. But that doesn’t mean I don’t sit down to watch the Daily Show without hunkerin’ for something crispy and salty. So I set out to find a solution to my problem. I came up with several, including regular smoothies with walloping doses of nutrition for most breakfasts. And eating enough during the day so I’m not hungry at night. But for those times when I’ve still got to feed my inner chip glutton, I now reach for
Sweet n salty raw chips
2 large sweet potatoes- 2 beets
- 5 carrots
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 tsp cayenne or to taste
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp honey
- Wash the veggies. If organic, you can leave the skin on. The peel on our beets was tough, rooty and thick, so I did peel those, but left the skin on the carrots and sweet potatoes.
- Using a mandoline if you’ve got one, cut the veggies into pretty thin slices. Chip thin.
- Place them in a bowl and set aside.
- Mix oil, cayenne and salt in a separate bowl with a whisk. Drizzle over veggie slices. Drizzle honey over this as well and then mix the dressing and veggies to make sure all of the veggies are coated evenly.
- Place on a mesh dehydrator screen. You can overlap a little, but clumpy handfuls won’t dry evenly.
- Dehydrate for 8-12 hours at 110 or until as crispy as you like.
- Dig in, and be careful — if others in your household get wind of what’s going on, you may not get to sample many.
These chips are stunning — beautiful, crunchy, and not heavy with the fried taste that plagues so many commercial chips. The flavor of the veggies is showcased, but the heat of the cayenne and sweet of the honey are lovely complements to the flavors. As with the kale chips, err on the side of not enough oil and salt rather than too much — a little really does go a long way. Also, I stopped the dehydrator after having them in overnight and some of the chips just weren’t crunchy. Disappointed and thinking I”d put too much oil, I left them sitting on the trays because we were heading out, and when I came back hours later, all of the chips had crisped up further even though the fan/heat wasn’t on. So if the chips don’t get crispy as you’re expecting, give them a few hours of exposure to room temp air, and see what happens.
All the veggies shrank considerably, but the carrots, having started out so small, win the prize. I would do these perhaps as crunchy bits (ha!) on top of a salad, but not as chips. Unless you have enormous carrots, or can cut the carrots in long strips.
Lucia and I made a video of us in the kitchen making these delicious treats. She had a hard time not licking her fingers or coughing on her hands so we had to stop a couple of times. But if a 5 year old can make them, so can you! This is our first video using the Dante’s new camera, and as you can see, we haven’t quite worked out the process yet, but we’ll get there. Enjoy!
Walnut Hemp Crackerscr
March 4th, 2010
Last year for Mother’s Day, my family got me a copy of Raw Food Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis. The food in this book is absolutely gorgeous and the recipes all look soo gourmet!
One of my favorite recipes from RFRW is the Walnut Hemp Crackers. Many of the raw crackers rely heavily on flax, so this one is a treat in that it has a very different flavor and texture. Don’t get me wrong, I loves me some flax crackers. It’s just nice to have some alternatives.
Even in the summer when it’s hard to keep dehydrated things crisp, I gobble these crackers down with a smear of cashew mayo or cheezy dip and tomato on top. And when I say gobble I mean eat a reasonable amount and certainly not enough to make myself feel that bleh “oh no I’ve eaten too many nuts n seeds” feeling. Cough.
The first time I tasted them, I wasn’t quite sure I liked them. They were like nothing I’d tasted before. But I tried another cracker and I’ve been hooked ever since. I also really like the small number of ingredients involved in this recipe, and that some of the “breadiness” comes from zucchini. If you dehydrate it a little less, and/or spread it a little thicker, it makes a great raw bread as well.
Walnut Hemp Crackers
- 5 cups walnuts, soaked overnight
- 5 cups zucchini
- 3/4 cups golden flax, ground (~1 cup ground)
- 1 cup hemp seeds
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup water
- 1 Tbs salt
Grind walnuts in a food processor until finely ground, but take care not to grind them into a butter. Transfer to a bowl.- Put chopped zucchini into the food processor, process until homogenized, pour into bowl with walnuts.
- Add hemp seeds, ground flax and salt, stirring to combine. Add water as necessary to give consistency of wet muffin batter.
- Spread onto 3 lined dehydrator trays using an offset spatula or the back of a spoon or whatever else you have that will give you a relative flat surface. Dip the utensil in water to help keep it from sticking to the relatively gummy dough.
I put my knife down on the dough to create score lines. I tried moving the knife through but sometimes it would snag leaving holes in the dough. Putting the knife down and picking it straight up again leaves enough of an impression to make the crackers break easily apart once dried.- Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 6-8 hours or overnight. When the tops are dry, flip them over and peel away the linings. Dehydrate until they reach the crispiness or flexibility you like.
I like this best served with a thin slices of avocado, tomato and red onion with a leaf of fresh herb on top. But I’ll eat it with the mayo or dip or just cultured veggies sometimes. Sometimes I sprinkle the dough spread on the trays with nutritional yeast for an added flavor dimension. This recipe fills a one gallon glass jar.
Why walnuts? According to the world’s healthiest foods :
Walnuts’ concentration of omega-3s (a quarter-cup provides 90.8% of the daily value for these essential fats) has many potential health benefits. In addition, walnuts contain an antioxidant compound called ellagic acid that supports the immune system and appears to have several anticancer properties. Walnuts, pecans and chestnuts have the highest antioxidant content of the tree nuts, with walnuts delivering more than 20 mmol antioxidants per 3 ounces (100 grams). And walnuts have been shown in studies to help lower cholesterol. So whip up some of these crackers and feed your body good!
Have you made raw crackers? How do you eat them?
the oatmeal cookie monster
March 2nd, 2010
bearded oatmeal smilies
In the winter here in New England, I find that our family is wanting warm food for breakfast. Partly because I turn the heat waaaay down at night to something in the high 50s, and party because it’s winter and our bodies are craving warm comfort food. So I make oatmeal. I make enough so that I have extra to pop into the dehydrator to make lovely cookies and bars for those days we’re out and about.
I usually just toss these together and don’t measure, just mix stuff in to taste, but I measured mostly this time around. Don’t feel obligated to make this my way — adjust it to your tastes and seasoning preferences. You could make a savory version of these for use as crackers or a sandwich bread using basil, oregano, onion, garlic, lemon juice and salt. Or a mexican version spiced with chili powder, cumin, lime juice, salt and fresh cilantro to top with guacamole, and indian version with curry, etc. The oats are a great blank palette and can go in many directions. The original recipe that got me started making this was in Kate Wood’s Eat Smart Eat Raw, but she used lots of olive oil. I tried it that way, then tried cutting down on the oil, then using coconut oil, but in the end I’ve concluded that I like them better without the fat. You may disagree.
First I made date paste. I don’t often do this, but wanted to try it for this recipe. Usually I just chop some dates and toss them in, or just use raisins. But today I made
Date Paste
- 1 cup dates
- 1 cup water
Let dates soak for at least 20 minutes (I soaked mine overnight because I didn’t get around to making the oatmeal when I planned, and they really plumped up nicely — these are the deglets from the bulk bin at WF), then pour both dates and water into a food processor (or a blender if you don’t have one) and whizz it up.
I soaked the oats overnight, drained them and rinsed them with warm water so the oatmeal would be warmish. This time I had the kettle on so I used hot water since I was using steel cut oats and wasn’t focused on them being raw.
Oatmeal Cookies/Bars
- 5 cups soaked oats
- 1/2 apple, diced
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 3 Tbs date paste
- 3 Tbs maple syrup
- cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger or other spices to taste
Blend these ingredients in the food processor until you reach a consistency you like. We like it sort of chunky, so we don’t puree it too long, maybe 30 seconds. I have made it into something smoother, but felt like I was eating wallpaper paste and have since left the oats a little chunkier. If you can find oat groats, great, use those. I have had a hard time finding them lately, so I have been using steel cut oats. Due to the way they’re processed, steel cut oats are not raw, but since we’re not 100% raw anyway, I don’t sweat the small stuff.
Once you’ve done with this step, add in the garnishes. Sometimes I do this in a bowl, mixing them in by hand to keep them whole, sometimes I add them into the food processor and whiz it for 5-10 more seconds.
- 1/2 apple
- 1/2 cup raising
- 1/2 pear
Voila, you’re done! If you drain the oats and rinse them with warm water, they will make a warmish oatmeal. Or if you have a dehydrator you can pop the bowls in there for a bit to warm them up.
For our leftovers, I made oat bars and oatmeal cookies. I sprinkled the cinnamon on last and used that batch for the cookies since my honey is allergic to cinnamon. This way everyone can have a little oatmeal love, and not have a fit of sneezing on the side.
I sprinkled chia seeds on part of the oatmeal bars I spread on the dehydrator tray. The cookies were the perfect texture — crunchy on the outside, softer and chewier on the inside. The bars got a bit overdone because I left them going while we were out, so they were crunchier than I like, but were still snarfled within a day, so not too bad after all, I’d say.
Cookies ready for the dehydrator, and below, in the dehydrator with the bars and 2 bowls warming for the kids. You can see some escaped buckwheat groats on the floor of the dehydrator from our last batch of crunchies.
and all done! Inspired by the recent Olympics, Dante and Lucia made little Olympic figurines to support our breakfast of champions! Can you guess the events surrounding the cookies?
crunchy oatmeal bars ready for the road
getting up close and personal with some cinnamon oatmeal cookies
And what would a post about oatmeal cookies be without your friend and mine, the cookie monster. Cookie learns to ask nicely for — you guessed it! — oatmeal cookies:
kale chips…. yum!
March 2nd, 2010
The kale at our local health food store looked so yummy and was on sale this week so I picked up a ton! The kids begged for kale salad so I made a nice batch of that and thought I would make them a treat with the rest. These kale chips didn’t even make it off the dehydrator tray!
I would double this recipe or triple it otherwise they may get eaten before you blink! Or before you get some!
kale chips
- 2 bunches kale
- 2 TBS olive oil
- 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
- pinch sea salt
- 1/8 – 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- Wash kale and tear into bite sized pieces.
- Add all other ingredients and massage gently with your hands until all the kale is nicely coated with your mixture.
- Spread on teflex dehydrator trays. It will take up 3 or 4 trays. Dehydrate 105 degrees for 2-4 hours until crispy. All done!
This recipe is so fun to play around with and does well with all sorts of flavors. Try adding some tahini or cayenne pepper to spice things up. You can also make a more savory chip by adding your favorite herbs. Sprinkle some herbamare for a nice zing.
Beware!! Do not add too much oil or your chips will be soggy. A little goes a long way when it comes to the salt in this recipe.
Make a batch of these yummy kale chips and enjoy as we kick off our week of dehydration exploration!
Farm Field Trip this Friday!
March 1st, 2010
We have been invited to Aiki Farms in Ledyard, CT this Friday, March 5th at 6pm.
Aiki Farms offers high quality produce including organic-biointensively grown sprouts (lentil, mung bean, wheat berry & pea shoots) and vegetables, as well as instruction in Aikido and serious Zazen meditation.
Their product is certified by NOFA (Northeast Organic Farmers Association) to ensure that our customers know they support the effort of organic growers to stabilize and deliver a healthy food product.
We’re going to make a short video featuring the farm, and Mr. Burns has generously offered the following activities as part of the trip:
an aikido demonstration with his students- an introduction to zazen (sitting meditation)
- a tour of his sprouting operation
- a pot luck dinner including their greens
- possibly some fiddle music
I realize that this is short notice, but if you are interested in joining us and are available to be part of this special experience, please contact me as soon as possible via our facebook page. There is no charge for the event, aside from bringing a potluck dish to share, but they do accept donations if you are so moved. Thanks and I hope you can make it!
Viva la revolucion!
March 1st, 2010
The always awesome celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is starting a food revolution!
Watch his impassioned speech upon receiving the 2010 TED Prize, which is awarded annually to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, “One Wish to Change the World.” Visit his TED Prize page to offer your support.
TED: Ideas worth spreading is a series of “riveting talks by remarkable people”. So much here to watch, so little time. I put it on while I make dinner, clean, or sit down to do something that doesn’t require my full attention, like knitting or crocheting. If you haven’t checked it out, give it a whirl.
You can help initiate change on the smallest of levels — in your own home.
- Ask yourself: Where does this food come from? How did it get here in our home — how far did it travel, what was it exposed to (chemical fertilizer, pesticides, irradiation, etc). How was it produced? Opt for the least amount of processing whenever possible.
- Look at the ingredients on the food packaging. In general try to avoid things that aren’t food — preservatives, artificial colors and flavors. (see our Resources section for the CSPI’s Safety of Food Additives to learn more)
- If you have children, teach your kids how to read labels as well. And bring them into the kitchen when you cook! Have a special “kitchen date” once a week where they pick the meal they want to learn to make.
- Eat a variety of fruit and vegetables from local, sustainable farms and from the ocean. As Michael Pollan says “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
- Support your local farmers. We’re so lucky in CT to have CTFarmFreshExpress.com which makes doing so a breeze. Don’t forget the hidden costs of shipping food from long distances when comparing the prices to the corporate grocery store. Produce begins to lose nutrients from the moment it is picked, and the fossil fuel required to get it from far away to your door has a cost beyond the price per gallon.
- Explore wild foods – many “weeds” are higher in nutrients than the plants you grow in your garden. Nettles, chickweed, lambsquarters and dandelion just to name some common in our area.
- Nutrition is one of the most important factors for health. Be mindful of what you put in and on your body! Add more and more fresh fruit and vegetables in, crowding out the less healthy choices.
- Grow some of your own food. During the food shortages of WWII, people across America rallied and started Victory Gardens. Let’s revive the Victory Garden!
As long as we’re on the topic of revolution, have you seen the Homegrown Revolution? Look at what this family has done with 1/5th an acre (1/10th is cultivated). No space is too small! Get your seeds today!
FREE standard shipping ($25US/$35CN)
USE COUPON CODE 06-004894
1-800-848-2649