Diatribe

I've mentioned before that I write for a living. Ad copy, to be exact. And I have spent so much time writing ad copy, that it sometimes invades my personal writing. Whether that be through lack of interest in sitting down in front of yet another computer, or in the style of writing that battles to override my own voice and insert marketing speak, or worse, bullet points.

I can use that as an excuse for not writing in my blog, and it would be partly true. I could skirt the real issues, but I feel a duty to be honest to you good people who read this blog. And as much as I loathe to be too self-indulgent, I think it's important to talk about this, and maybe even hear what you think.

On May 21, my very dear friend Jane took her life. I had plans with her and when she didn't show up, I drove to her house and found her. Not only did her death roll me in an unexpected direction, but it also annihilated my interest in anything creative, including raw food. Since that day I have put stuff in my body that now makes me cringe. Not in embarrassment, because I believe every choice I make is one that teaches me. I actually ate *chicken* the day after Jane's death. I was so numb, and hadn't eaten in 24 hours, and I looked at it and just grabbed it. It tasted awful, and made me feel even worse. I skipped meals, I drank coffee to alleviate the exhaustion from not sleeping. I stopped my meditation practice, terrified that I'd open my eyes and see her. I basically became a guest in the house of my body, and I was a lousy houseguest.

Getting away to Minneapolis recently, I was able to release a lot of my fears and anger and sadness. I relaxed and caught up on a little sleep. And I went to my favorite raw restaurant, Ecopolitan. It was there that I realized how disconnected I was from my body, and how very happy I felt eating raw food. My best friend loves that place; I thought she was always humoring me when we went. But it turns out that like me, she enjoys the light, energized feeling that raw gives her.

I admire the people who are on raw 100% of the time. I have been there before and enjoyed it. I have realized my shortcomings--that I tend to have an all-or-nothing attitude about things. Like the need to be the Martha Stewart of raw, instead of just keeping it simple. Making raw lasagna is a fun, delicious activity. But I don't need to make gourmet raw all the time. And I think that's what burned me out. I was always trying to outdo myself. When really, I'm most happy when eating a huge salad, or a bunch of fruit.

This diatribe really isn't making much of a point. But I wanted to say hi, check in with you guys, and put it in writing. As many times as I've gone off and come back to raw, every time has contained lessons for me. It's more of a journey for me than a destination. Whether or not I'm ever 100% raw permanently, I know that my body does prefer it. And concentrating now on getting back in sync with my bod is where I'm at. But being back and being fully present is making it easier. It's easy to grab a slice of pizza when you skip breakfast and don't feel like eating something healthy because your mood is crap. It's what comes after that is hard. Feeling low, icky and unhealthy. So the front end, the hard work of making good choices and smart decisions, that makes the back end easier. It also makes the back end smaller. :)

Thanks for letting me ramble. I'm still here, I still love raw food, and I still feel like it is the best way for me to eat. I'm so blessed and happy to have you folks in my life as I continue the journey.

xo
V


The lovely, light-filled Jane.

Redefining Dessert.

The other night, I went to a potluck at a friend's house. I brought a kale and collard salad, marinated and mixed in with hemp seeds and avocado. Along with that, I made a layered fruit salad containing strawberries, kumquats, green grapes, bananas, oranges and goji berries. To top it off, I made a whipped cream that I think would be heavenly on just about any combination of fruit. Or as my friend said, on anything at all...


Heavenly Whipped Topping

• Meat of four young coconuts
• 2 Tbsp honey
• sprinkling of sea salt
• 1 vanilla bean scraped (or vanilla extract if you don't have beans)
• 1 champagne mango (or 1 regular mango, or pineapple, or you get the idea)
• 1 Tbsp lecithin crystals (optional, and they add a firmer texture)
• 2 Tbsp of coconut butter (again, optional, and you can sub coconut oil, but this stuff is heaven)

Process in food processor, adding some of the water from the coconuts until it's perfectly smooth, but still thick. Refrigerate to set. Pour on fruit, raw granola, or someone you love.

This champagne will go to your head.

Breakfast today...three champagne mangoes and some leftover strawberries. If you haven't tried this kind of mango, run out and get some. You will appreciate the sweet taste without the stringiness that sometimes comes with regular mangoes. Delicious.

Charlie the Tuna, you're perfectly safe here.

I've posted my raw vegan tuna recipe on goneraw.com before. Essentially, I found that using the pulp from carrot juice was perfect for the texture of tuna. And since I had a bunch of leftover ricotta cheese from my portobello pizzas, I decided to take that, mix it in with my carrot pulp, add a tiny bit of olive oil, cracked black pepper and top it with a sprinkle of Brazil nut parmesan cheese.

Phwargh.

YUM.

The avocadoes are ripe...what do you do? What do you do?

What to do with very ripe avocadoes and gorgeous strawberries? Make a dark chocolate and strawberry pie, of course. I had leftover pie crust in the freezer. Popped it in a glass pie dish and put in the dehydrator for a few minutes to soften. Pressed it in the bottom.

Then lined that with thinly sliced strawberries tossed in a bit of agave. Set in the fridge.

Took a bunch of avos, added in David Wolfe's organic cacao powder, Artisana coconut creme, agave, salt and the meat of two young coconuts, plus a little of the water. Blended in the FP, threw in a handful of cacao nibs, stirred, poured into the waiting pie plate. Garnished with remaining strawberries and some nibs.

That finished off my giant jar of DW cacao powder, so I poured the remaining coconut water into that, shook it up, and drank it.

Say it with me, friends.

RAW ROCKS.

What to do with leftover raw paneer?

Dinner.

Zucchini pasta, grape tomatoes, olive oil, fresh basil, sea salt, black pepper and paneer cheese.

HOLY MOLY.

Rainy Day Potluck and Raw Indian Food. YUM.

Oh, wow. Another delicious potluck was had. And another kick in my bum for staying away from my blog. Perhaps it has to do partly with the fact that I'm the world's worst potluck photographer. I get so amped up about the gorgeous dishes that I forget to snap any pics until the food has been half eaten. Though no less delicious, I really do need to take photos of food before we descend upon it.

That said, this past Saturday's potluck was a wonderful, mellow gathering of great people. The rain fell steadily outside and provided a great reason to stay inside...along with the incredible food and good company. :)

I tried my hand at something I've long wanted to...Indian food. It is the one cuisine I have always assumed I would not want to give up. Until now. I made raw palak paneer. And it was so good, I can still taste it. I can also still smell the spices in my kitchen, which makes me want to make it all over again.

I promise to post the recipe...as soon as I figure it out. As always, I am so deeply involved with the food that I forget to write down what I'm doing. My friend Jenny is borrowing my Indian cookbook, which is where I got the general idea of how to make it. For those of you not familiar, palak paneer is one of many Indian dishes using a cubed cheese (paneer) that has a soft consistency and a mild flavor. This dish uses spinach, and is traditionally cooked down with ghee, spices and other ingredients. Because ghee is not on the raw menu (it's clarified butter), I made do with coconut oil and olive oil. I really winged the whole thing, relying on my taste buds to tell me when I had achieved the taste of my favorite Indian dish. Here's a picture of the last remaining portion:



Along with that I made the raw version of gulab juman, which is an Indian dessert that is essentially fried balls of dough in a sweet, rose water-infused syrup. My version involved almonds, soaked overnight, ground into a fine mush, mixed in with coconut creme, rose water, vanilla bean seeds, honey and ginger, and then balled up, and finally drenched in a diluted honey and set in the fridge. YUM. All of the balls were devoured before I had time to snap a picture. Oh, dear. That really reads like it should go in a totally different blog.



The table began to pile up with deliciousness.


The fantastic food brought by everyone else included things like almond butter cookies with chocolate icing, pesto pasta, potato salad made with jicama, incredible salads, spicy guacamole, and more. It's so wonderful to hang out with folks that are into raw, and just goes to prove that surrounding yourself with like-minded people makes this lifestyle that much easier.

I promise, I'll get the recipe posted for the paneer. Love to you all.