Sioux-per Fresh Rolls

• 1/4 head green cabbage, shredded
• 4 medium carrots, shredded
• 1/4 cup chopped basil
• 1/4 cup chopped mint
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 1/2 vidalia onion, chopped fine
• 1 cucumber, diced
• 2 avocados
• rice wrappers

1. Grate, mince, dice and mix everything but avocados and wrappers in a bowl. This is what I had on hand — sprouts, beets, radish, greens, etc would be lovely too.
2. Run rice wrapper under water, covering all of both sides with water. If you haven’t worked with them before, know this: it will still be a bit stiff when you put it on a clean cutting board, but it will be perfect by the time you roll, never fear. Don’t wash it til it’s droopy and soft, as that can increase chances of it tearing as you roll it.
3. Put about 1/2 cup mixture plus 2-4 avocado slices about 2/3 down the wrap (like where a smile would be on a smiley face). You can also add tomatoes, noodles or tofu at this point if you like. Or mango. If your children haven’t eaten them already, that is.
4. Fold up the bottom over the mound of veggies — I like to use this part of the wrap to squish everything down into a more compact roll, like you do when making burritos. Then fold in each side, and keep rolling til you have a gorgeous fresh roll ready to eat!

Based on some recipes from the internet and various cookbooks on loan from the library, I made a dipping sauce thusly:

Citrusoy Dipping Sauce

• 1 lemon
• 1 lime
• 1 juicing orange
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 inch piece ginger, minced
• 4 scallions, finely sliced, greens and all
• 1/2 cup nama shoyu (this is saltier and seems more concentrated than tamari, etc)
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 Tbs umeboshi vinegar
• dollop Sriracha or 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 Tbs maple syrup (optional)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Best made at least an hour ahead so the flavors can meld together.

This won a HUGE thumbs up from adults and kids alike. The other cool thing is that working with strong aromas like citrus, ginger, garlic, mint, basil, cilantro, everyone kept walking into the kitchen with vehement exclamations attesting to the awesomeness of the smell. So much so it got me thinking about what a difference fresh herbs make. I love that both kids were happy to go get the mint from the various places it lives at our house. So excited for the rest of our herbs to kick in (c’mon weather! We had May in March, now April in May? what gives??) so we can keep up the good smells.

We served it with a cold cuke-avocado blended soup (also had celery, ginger, garlic, jalapeno, onion, fresh mint, cilantro, cumin, lemon juice and salt) which we garnished with tomatoes. I put in about a half jalapeno;  while Dante enjoyed  it, Lulu found it to be too spicy. Hard to remember to reign in the heat sometimes… especially in a cold soup. I like the warming quality it lends to something otherwise cooling.

We also made the drink with many names (this cookbook had it as Jamaica (pronounced /həˈmaɪkə/) but since I first knew it as sorrel tea, I’ll go with that. I did a post way back when on the tea, and today’s version was even simpler — I adapted it to this:

The Red Fairy: Maple Mint & Hibiscus

Pour 4 cups-ish boiling water over ~ 1/3 cup dried hibiscus leaves (look in the bulk spices section at the health food store, some ethnic grocers or get them from Mountain Rose Herbs) and let that steep. If you’re like me, let it steep all day since you’re busy doing other things. Strain it into a pitcher, add maple syrup to taste, toss in several mint sprigs and fill the pitcher with cold water. Voila! Impressive deep red color, tasty, tart and oh so good for you! And again, better for sitting, can definitely be made ahead of time. I might add lime next time, tho I’m not sure if it will tip the sourness into the realm of obnoxious. Will have to try.

And keeping me company during dinnermaking? Tim Minchin as castaway on BBC’s Desert Island Discs. The show has been running 42 years — I believe you can listen to the entire archive of more than 1000 shows! Lots of excellent folks in there –  from Nick Park to David Tennant to Sir David Attenborough to Roald Dahl and more!

I’ve been making lots of these wrap type rolls lately, either with collards or rice wrappers. I’m on the hunt for a new dipping sauce — what’s your favorite?

Enjoy this excellent way to eat your rainbow!

The Health on a Budget Summit is a FREE 5-Day online conference that will be aired LIVE from May 19th to 23rd! During the Summit, you will be able to listen to over 30 talks and interviews with experts discussing topics like:

Eating Raw Foods on a Budget
Eating Vegan on a Budget
Feeding Your Family On A Budget
Raw Food for Busy People
Getting Fit on a Budget
Budgeting 101
Raising Financially Responsible Children
Creating a Budget that You Love
Live More on Less
Gardening on a Budget
Getting Healthcare on a Budget
Natural Beauty on a Budget

And that’s NOT ALL! The Summit will feature a Cooking section that will showcase affordable raw, vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free recipes; a Fitness section featuring exercise videos exclusively created for the Summit; a Summit cookbook with 100+ vegan, raw, vegetarian, and gluten-free recipes; Gardening and Budgeting 101 guides; and a HUGE Community Forum!

Take advantage of these AMAZING registration options that are GUARANTEED to fit your budget!

+ If you are low on money, attend the conference for FREE!
+ If you are low on time, invest in the premium registration (less than 8 cents a day) and get access to the Summit for a whole year! And you get the Summit recipe book too!
+ Want more raw foods in your budget-conscious life, become an All Star!

So many options…which one is right for you?

Register HERE:  http://healthonabudgetsummit.com#oid=1042_7

The movie Forks Over Knives opens with an  introduction to our narrator, a Red Bull slurpin, Coke guzzlin, meat gobblin Sloppy Joe as he’s on his way to meet some doctors with a different take on health and wellness. He gets a physical and those results spur him to find better health by transitioning to a plant-based diet instead of a daily cocktail of medications. He takes things one step further, embarking on an odyssey to explore the connection between diet and health. He interviews such nutrition researchers as T. Colin Campbell and Caldwell Esselstyn and discusses their and other study findings that clearly demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt the direct link between eating primarily a whole-foods, plant-based diet and maintaining good health.

The encouraging news delivered by Forks Over Knives is that the damage done to the body by consumption of animal products can be reversed through changes in the diet alone. Esselstyn has successfully treated over 250 patients with heart disease using almost an exclusively whole foods, plant-based diet. Sit with that for a minute and let it really sink in.

When I was first out of college, I used to book appointments and type operation notes for a group of cardiothoracic surgeons at the Deaconess Hospital (now Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center), a member of the Harvard Medical School. Every weekday, the team of three heart surgeons performed 1-3 bypass surgeries where they took a saw, cut open the sternum (breastbone), opened the rib cage, sliced open the patients leg and replaced blocked veins near the patient’s heart with healthier veins from their leg.

Having typed the details of the procedure over and over, I cannot fathom why anyone can consider that the “normal” way to handle this problem, and a vegan diet the “extreme” solution. I love that Forks over Knives points this out, as other doctors like Dean Ornish have been for years. I hope this film helps people consider these “extremes” before they end up reading those books after emergency bypass surgery.

Another inconsistency that has bothered me since I began exploring nutrition is the “Milk — it does a body good” ad campaign. Every kid asked will tell you that milk gives you calcium for your teeth and bones. But actually, scientific data shows that countries with the highest rates of dairy consumption also experience the HIGHEST rates of osteoporosis!  What??? I wish the movie had explained why this is (Kris Carr does a fantastic job explaining this in her new book Crazy Sexy Diet if you’d like to know more) but I am so happy to find someone actually pointing out this discrepancy and get people thinking!

All in all, I’d highly recommend taking a gander at Forks Over Knives — especially if you have Netflix! And if you or a loved one suffers from a disease of diet — heart disease, diabetes, cancer — this movie just might be the inspiration you need to make that leap to really doing a body good! The movie follows a few people as they too eliminate chronic illness via diet, with discussions of the changes they experience before and after. It covers a little bit of everything concerning the effect of diet on our bodies and the effect of our food system on the earth.

If nothing else, it will get you thinking and hopefully help you make some shift in your diet that will benefit you and the world around you!

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1244440

You already have everything you need to do this detox. No fancy machines or equipment is needed. You will get daily encouragement and lots of recipes to help you succeed. It is only 7 days to make it fun, doable and still see results!

Click on the link and check out testimonials about the program and a ton of info to answer all your questions. Sign up and give it a go!!!

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1244440

Go for it!!!

Basil is fairly easy to grow especially in the garden. It will also do well as a potted plant. Since it likes humidity and lots of sunshine, it is easier to grow in the summer than indoors in the colder months but it can be done and is quite worth the efffort. If you pinch back the plant, it will bush out a bit creating more and longer growth. Use the leaves as they are picked. Keep those stems! When mincing up basil for use in sauces or making pesto, use those stems.

Oooooo, speaking of pesto, what a treat it is to have in the summer! It is so fresh and makes you feel incredibly alive. I swear I get a jolt of energy when I eat the stuff. It is so easy to make and I recommend making a lot, I mean a hge batch so you can store the goodness away for the middle of winter as well.

Pesto!

2 cups basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
3 medium sized cloves of garlic
salt to taste

Put all the ingredients in the food processor and pulse until well blended.

Now, the great thing about making pesto is it lends itself to a lot of variation. Instead of pine nuts, you can use walnuts or a comination of the two. I like to use a bit less oil while making the pesto when I am going to be storing it. To do this, make the pesto minus a little oil. Fill an ice cube tray wwith eh pesto. Then, here is the little trick, top the pesto cubes with a little more oil. That helps seal in the color and it will brown less. Once the cubes are frozen, pop them out and store in the freezer in a container until you are ready to use it. The otehr reason I like to use less oil is so I have more flexibility withe the cubes. In winter, it is lovely to pull out a pesto cube, add some coconut milk and serve over veggies.

Let’s not rush things though. After all, it is still summer and we have plenty of sunny basil picking days ahead of us. Pesto is a great way to dress up a plate of veggies or add some fresh basil to your homemade salad dressing. A perfect appetizer or main meal for two is summer pizza. Using your favorite raw bread or cracker recipe, make one large or a couple smaller rounds and dehydrate. My new favorite is a cheezy cracker recipe. It is made with cashew and sunflower seeds as the base. Added in are tomatoes and red pepper. It is the loveliest orange color and really tastes like cheezy crackers. It compliments the color of the pesto superbly. Top your pizza with pesto and fresh sliced tomatoes. Rigth now there are a lot of great Heirloom tomatoes available in your garden or at local farmers markets and stands. The pizza takes only five minutes to make if you have preparred pizza flats stored away and is filling, full flavored and a divine treat!

People can’t make well-informed choices if they don’t have information! This film goes a long way to elucidating the connection between disease and diet.

Definitely worth a watch! I’m not sure how long   you can watch it free online, so take a gander while you can!

We have been listening to Little House in the Big Woods, and at one point they made snow candy with molasses and sugar. That reminded me about maple candy, and today we had oodles of freshly fallen snow to work with!

I haven’t done this before, so I googled and read several methods to get the idea, and then did this:

Poured no small amount of maple syrup into a small saucepan. I did maybe a cup? First lesson. If you plan on eating it all in one sitting, consider less than a cup. That’s a LOT of sugar to eat. Unless you have 6 foot tall mountains of snow to scale, enabling you to burn it all off…

Brought syrup to a boil over medium high heat. Boiled for 6-7 minutes stirring almost constantly. You can do the whole candy thermometer directions if you have one, but I tend to keep food made with snow simple. Ok, I admit it. I don’t have a candy thermometer.

When the syrup was boiling, it was all foamy, but that settled town once it wasn’t on the burner.

After 6-7 minutes, we took the pot off the heat, grabbed a roasting dish and filled it with snow. We did not, but in the future I would first grease the dish to help any candy that gets stuck to the sides come loose. I would also pack down the snow. We left it light ‘fluffy, just as it fell.

So i took the slightly cooled syrup and poured it over the snow.

It hardened immediately, tho was hot enough to melt through our light fluffy snow

I had some hungry shovelers/fort builders who were looking for some more energy just as the syrup hit the snow.

Taste testers heartily agree that maple candy is delish, if it a bit sticky. Helpful tips from them: take small bites and keep it movin’ so it doesn’t stick to your teeth.

Crunch on that!

I plan a day to make lots of goodies. We are quite a mixed bunch in this house. My husband eats whatever I make at home and thoroughly enjoys the variety and surprise of what might adorn the table. My 10 year old has unique tastes that always surprise me and I can never seem to know if he will love it or hate it. he loves spicy and things that frankly, are notso pleasing to me such as sardines! My six year old is in the pickier phase of food choices and says, "I don’t like it" before even trying it. He loves mashed potatoes and noodles with marinara sauce and don’t mess with changin’ it up! On the flip side, same said six year old loves raw mediterranean dolmas, kale salad, kale chips with lots of nutritional yeast on them and salad. Go figure! Then there is me. I have horrible self control when I bring junk food in the house or sweets. So, I have a plan!!

I have days of mass food prep for raw foods so when I feel not much like making raw foods for me and still cook for the family, I don’t have to. Here is what I do. Figure out what I am in the mood for and peruse my recipes and cupboards. Next, I lay out all those recipes and start the process. I start soaking anything that needs it and look over what order I need to make things in. If anything is for the dehydrator, I make sure I have enough going in that will fill it. Moore bang for your buck doing it this way. This is all done in the afternoon or early evening.

Fast forward to the next day. Everything is soaked and the recipes are out and I am in the kitchen ready to rumble. The recipes I am making today are Mediterranean dolmas out of Ani Phio’s book that are just fantastic. I make them all at once calling in Gatlin, the six year old to do the rolling. When I first started making these, he didn’t like them. After the I don’t know how many times later, and having participated in making them several times, he started to try them again and now loves them. Having them all rolled, I keep them in the fridge and it is quick to grab one for a snack, send with hubby to work or pack up and bring for us for lunch.

Next in the line up is the classic Cashew Mayo. Everyone in the house loves this dip and it is quick, easy and filling to serve for lunch with cut up veggies, smear on a romaine leaf topped with tomato and any other toppings around like shredded carrot, eggplant bacon or some seaweed. It is a perfect appetizer for hungry bellies while dinner cooks or a good pack and go when heading out for a playdate.

One of my favorites and more on the heartier side are some burgers. The base is walnuts and they have a little spice from a jalapeno thrown in. These will go in the dehydrator and then can be a substantial lunch or accompany an evening meal. The kids aren’t fans but Dan and I are.

A new recipe to me are rosemary flax crackers from a recipe put out by Carmella at the Sunny Raw Kitchen. Those will help to fill the dehydrator trays and be the crunchy item on the menu for the week. I may get ambitious and make some Walnut Hemp crackers but time will determine that.

Rounding it all out are Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. I got the recipe from Renegade Health but am going to make some changes and switch out the peanut butter for almond butter. The whole family loves these! They stay in the freezer and are perfect when we have a hankerin’ for chocolate.

So, there you have it. Lots of choices for me this week that are nice and varried and qwill keep me smiling!

So, go soak your nuts!!

I do love kale and have one recipe in particular that is my favorite kale salad recipe ever. This recipe is a well known one to any friends or family I know. I passed the recipe on to all that asked and I know they have said it is asked for in their families and circles of friends as well.

Hold on though, wait a minute, can it be true? Oh, sweet Rainbow Kale it is!! I have a new favorite that I just can’t get enough of. The first time I made it, I measured everything and was very pleased with the salad. Next time around I didn’t even need to measure because it is such a simple and quick salad to throw together. That is a high scorer in my book as well!

The recipe comes out of The 30 Minute Vegan cookbookby Mark Reinfeld and Jenifer Murray. Hats off to them both on a great book. It is true to it’s name and if a recipe requires more time for things like soaking ahead of time, it is clearly marked. It is not a raw book, but a lot of the recipes are live food recipes and marked right at the top as such. Also, in the variations sections directly under some of the recipes is a way to make the recipe a raw version. I love this!!

Rainbow Kale Salad
serves 4

6 cups lightly packed kale, stems removed
1/4 cup diced red pepper
1/4 cup diced yellow pepper
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup thinly sliced red cabbage

Dressing
2 TBS olive oil
1 TBS freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
1 tsp pure maple syrup (not raw)
1 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp cayenne

cut or tear the kale into bite sized pieces.
mix all salad ingredients in a large bowl.
whisk all the dressing ingredients together in a separate bowl.
Pour dressing over the salad and massage with your hands into the salad making sure it is evenly distributed.
Serve immediately or chill 10 minutes before serving.

One thing I love about this recipe is simply the name. Especially for a healthy way to approaching food preparation and getting kids involved. We are trying to accomplish a rainbow. So, you can really play with your food and ingredients here and substitute all sorts of rainbow colors in this salad.

I will be honest and the salad never gets the chill time in this house. It goes into the big bowl to serve and gobbled up soon afterward. If any is leftover, it will last a day or two in the fridge.

This is a lip smackin’ sweet and light kale salad that is easy to make even at the last minute and adds beautiful color to your day. Enjoy!

What is called sorrel in the West Indies is a variety of hibiscus, also known as “Jamaica flowers.” Hibiscus tea contains a number of antioxidants, and has also been associated with a boosted immune system, lower blood pressure, lowered cholesterol, and a lower incidence of heart disease and cancer.

As if that weren’t enough, as noted on the Mountain Rose Herbs Hibiscus info page (also the source of the lovely pic — thanks MRH!): “Scientific studies with lab animals find that it stops the conversion of carbs in food to body fat. It fights appetite and encourages weight loss not by increasing energy expenditure but by encouraging the “wasting” of carbohydrates.”

Lastly, hibiscus petals are rich in Vitamin C, making it the perfect drink for cold and flu season! Keep some in the fridge and heat it up as needed, or serve as iced tea if you’re feeling feverish.

Sorrel C Tea

• 2 liters water
• 8 ounces dried sorrel
• 1/4 cup fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 4 whole cloves

1. Put all ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Strain out a cup or two at this point for some hot tea, or set it aside to cool and move to the refrigerator. After a day in the refrigerator, strain out the flowers and spices. You can heat it back up for a more intensely flavored tea, add it as is to smoothies, or pour it into ice-cube trays for use in the future as either tea or smoothie components.
3. You can also make a lovely punch by adding your favorite sweetener (hibiscus tea is on the tart end of the spectrum) and some floating orange, lemon and lime slices. Perfect for a mid-winter celebration or a summer picnic!
4. Play around with the spices — add dried orange or lemon peel, allspice, or mace or whatever else you feel might complement the flavors.

So where can you possibly get your hands on some dried hibiscus flowers? Easy peasy! Through our affiliate, Mountain Rose Herbs. You can also try your local carribean market if you’re lucky to live near one. However I would encourage you to purchase organic flower petals since you can’t rinse them easily. I think we’ve purchased these at Trader Joe’s before, but I’m not positive.

Bottoms up!