swift saturday, sweet sunday, mellow monday

Saturday:

Worked 8-2 today, picking and washing for the afternoon market.  Kale, chard, parsley, basil, beets, carrots, mint, rosemary, cucumbers, summer squash, tomatoes, garlic, salad greens, fennel, scallions, baby leeks and probably more that I'm forgetting.  Ran everything through the tubs, packed it up and sent it off to the market.  Brought home kale and salad greens.  Pre-farm breakfast: green smoothie with kale, blackberries and watermelon; a green juice with celery, cucumber, lemon, ginger and stevia; and a mug of ginger tea.  Post-farm lunch (I was SO HUNGRY): simple salad, fresh basil pesto on blond cukes.  Currently making rosemary onion garlic chicken for dinner!  Yummm.  Busy summer day.



Sunday:

It has been a rough and busy week at la casa mia.  Lots of difficult news from various quarters.  An extra day at the farm.  People coming and going and milling around all week.  I feel like I've put 10,000 miles on my car.  Part of me feels like never driving again; part of me feels like going on a roadtrip.  Oh, dear.

But today is Sunday!  And I canceled my one plan, so now I have a free day.  I'm going to do some crafty things around the house, write, get film developed, possibly go grocery shopping and just relax.  I was even thinking about pulling out my typewriter.




Monday:

I took the day off work today.  Good decision.  I spent my morning swimming, picking flowers and writing/recording music.  What a great feeling.  Now I'm at Claire's house, relaxing until dinner.  Tomorrow, to the beach!  My father and his girlfriend are renting a house right on the water this week.  Very exciting.

I am grateful for the freedom and wherewithal to run my own beautiful life.  I am grateful for the lake.  I am grateful for abundance in all areas of my life.  I am grateful for the farm.  I am grateful for my car.  I am grateful for the kind people that surround me.  I am grateful for my camera.  I am grateful for summer.  I am grateful for easy sleep.  I am grateful for the goodness in every hard experience.  I am plain grateful.

In gratitude,
Madeleine



pictures: 
wildflowers in a tall mug i made a couple years ago,
claire's skirt hang-drying on the balcony, 
sun-bleached hair long enough to braid,
farm feet, 
breakfast, 
garlic harvest, 
claire after work, 
a recent altar.

Summer in March...

Raw lasagna, kale salad and carob truffles.

and I'm eating outside!  BLISS!  Nothing better than dinner in the warm, breezy backyard at 6pm.  Claire and I took full advantage of the warmth yesterday evening and made a gorgeous, Spring-y meal.  Raw lasagna, kale salad and carob truffles.  I'm so busy doing things most of the time that I rarely sit for a consciously-prepared meal.  It's usually a salad thrown together on the fly, or a hastily blended smoothie, so it was a real treat to slow down and prepare something like this!

Oddly enough, this was my first attempt to make raw lasagna.  I think it turned out pretty well, especially considering I wasn't following a recipe.

Raw Lasagna recipe

• 1 zucchini, sliced horizontally into this strips
• 1/2 cup of tomato sauce (recipe below)
• 1/4 cup 'rawcotta' cheese (recipe below)
• a large handful of spinach leaves
• 1/2 avocado, thinly sliced
• chopped fresh dill or basil to garnish (optional)

To begin, make a square layer of zucchini strips.  Cover with a layer of spinach, then a layer of tomato sauce, then a layer of cheese, then another layer of zucchini... etcetera, etcetera.  You can really layer the ingredients in any order you like.  Don't feel oppressed by instructions.  Stick it to the man.  Break free!  :)  When it's all layered up, stick it in the dehydrator for 10 minutes at 145℉, just to warm it up.  Enjoy!

***

Tomato Sauce recipe

• 2 ripe tomatoes
• 1 tbs. olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3-5 drops liquid stevia
• 2 tsp. dried basil, or about 10 large fresh basil leaves

Combine in blender and blend until smooth.

***

'Rawcotta' recipe
Disclaimer: this is almost nothing like ricotta cheese, but it is delicious!

•  1/2 cup macadamia nuts
• 2 tbs. hemp seeds
• 1 large clove of garlic, pressed
• 1 tbs. olive oil
• 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1-2 tsp. salt
• dash of black pepper

Put macadamia nuts in a food processor and process until crumbly.  Add other ingredients and process to a paste.

***

Carob Truffle recipe

• 1/2 cup carob powder
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 15-25 drops liquid stevia
• 1 tsp. salt

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until doughy, then form into balls.  A note on carob: IT IS DELICIOUS.  I love chocolate/cacao, but it's really hard on my body and drives me completely bonkers, prevents me from sleeping and one time, memorably, caused me to lose consciousness in the shower.  Good times.  I almost never eat chocolate now, and I actually prefer carob!

Claire made the kale salad, and it was beautiful. 

Yummmm.

All in all, a wonderful meal.  I can't wait to have more in the future!

In love and gratitude,
Mada

(Happy Spring!)

Flu-soother smoothie

On Sunday night I started feeling a little sore throat action, and a few hours later I was full-fledge flu.  I'm gradually feeling better, but whoo, the last three days have been a little brutal.  The kind of sore throat that makes swallowing a Herculean act, pounding headache, achy lower back and hips, hyper-sensitive skin, one of those icky come-and-go fevers where you wake up sweating and freezing in the middle of the night.  What the heck, body?  I hadn't been sick in a long time.  When I was younger, I would often get the flu up to three times a winter!  But I've been taking really good care of myself, so I was surprised when this flu business popped up.  I did a lot of whimpering.  And a lot of smoothie-drinking!  Smoothies are so, so awesome when you're feeling under the weather.  Easy to digest, soothing to the throat and kickin' with all the nutrients and good hippie vibes you need to make you feel better.  This recipe is my current favorite (I'm drinking it as I type this!):

• 2-4 cups spinach
• 3/4 cup frozen wild blueberries
• half an avocado
• 1 1/2 inches vanilla bean, roughly chopped (or 1-2 tsp. vanilla ext.)
• small knob of ginger root, peeled
• 1 tbs. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. Celtic sea salt
• 15 drops liquid stevia
• ice (optional)

Pop it all in the blender, zip away and enjoy!  (No picture because I'm too lazy to get my camera, it's not all that pretty anyway and other excuses.)  This recipe makes a lot of smoothie, which works great for me, but if you're a lower volume guy or gal, you may want to cut this recipe in half. 

Hope everyone is well!

In love -
Mada

Sunshine cookies + salad report

Sunshine cookies!  I've had a huge, beautiful butternut squash sitting on my counter for weeks and I finally decided how to use it.  Recipe as follows:

•  1/2 butternut squash, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 cup coconut butter (not oil)
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cardamom
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• few drops almond extract
• 8-10 drops liquid stevia
• maple syrup (or extract) to taste

Peel, chop and food process the squash until it makes a soft mash.

Then add the rest of the ingredients and process until well combined.  Form into little patties and place on a dehydrator tray covered by a piece of parchment paper (or Teflex sheet).

Let them dehydrate overnight (or until they feel crisp on the outside- keep in mind that once they cool off they will harden more because of the coconut butter). 

Sunshine cookies with a zucchini/carrot latke in the middle- recipe forthcoming.

They're delicious warmed up with coconut oil and a sprinkle of salt.

Now for the salad report.  Here are two recent creations:

Massaged red kale, alfalfa sprouts, avocado, black olives, tomato, cucumber, hard-boiled egg*, hemp seeds, olive oil vinaigrette.

Mixed baby greens, tomato, alfalfa sprouts, cucumber, avocado, olive oil vinaigrette.

SO DELICIOUS!

Now I'm off into the big wide world of today.  Our Italian group gathers this afternoon!  To help fund our ground transportation while in Italy, click here.  Thank you so much!

In gratitude,

Mada

*A note about eggs: I don't, as a general rule, eat animal products (except honey), but you will see me occasionally eat an egg or two (even though, to be honest, eggs make me a little congested).  This is partially because I think they're very nutritious and partially because they're so crazy yummy.  The other day I was craving an egg like nobody's business, so I made this salad.  Whenever I eat eggs, I make sure they're local and free-range with the reddest yolks I can find (happy hens!).

Cookie dough + MORE SALAD!

One of my favorite raw snacks is 'cookie dough,' an easy and customizable treat which, for me, totally satisfies cravings for things like peanut butter cups and chocolate chip cookies.

Today's cookie dough.

My usual recipe (though, like I said, it's very customizable) goes something like this:

• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup hemp seeds
• 2 tbs. coconut oil
• 1 tbs. cacao butter
• 1 tbs. vanilla extract (as you may have guessed, I LOVE vanilla)
• 2-3 tbs. carob powder (you may also have noticed my carob fetish)
• 6-10 drops liquid stevia, to taste
• few drops of almond extract
  
• dash of Celtic sea salt

Then you just toss it all in the food processor, let it rock, and voila!  Delish and nutrish.  AND not a food-combining nightmare.  So an all-around winner!

Now for the salad report.  You may be thinking something along the lines of, "Jeee-zuss, does this chick have taste buds?  So much lettuce!  So much carob!"  Let me assure you, not only do I have taste buds, I have very discerning taste buds, and I promise you all these salads and strange doughy concoctions are scrumptious.*

Here are a couple recent salads:

Mixed baby greens, cuke, tomato, alfalfa sprouts, chickpea sprouts, avocado, black olives, hemp seeds, olive oil vinaigrette.

Mixed baby greens, cuke, carrot, alfalfa sprouts, chickpea sprouts, garlic kraut, black olives, olive oil vinaigrette.

Speaking of chickpea sprouts, I recently came to the important decision to refer to chickpeas as chickpeas exclusively.  I've spent much of my life torn between 'garbanzo beans' and 'chickpeas,' and I have come to the decision, after long moments of deliberation, that chickpeas is the superior term.  Mostly because it sounds cuter.

On another note, I recently attended a lovely raw potluck with my mother and Claire!  I hadn't been in over a year, and I had a great time.  It inspired me and reminded me how much I love being part of a community of loving people and families that share my ideals about food and living and school (or lack thereof).  Claire has a post about it (with lots of yummy pictures!) over on her blog.

In gratitude-
Mada


*I will concede that my palate is probably a little health-warped at this point.  My mother often enters the kitchen to find me moaning in food ecstasy over a mixture of sauerkraut and almond butter, or, on one memorable occasion, soaked prunes with cinnamon.  She finds these encounters hilarious.

Salads galore + chia pudding

I've been eating 2ish salads a day, and wow have they been delicious.  Lettuce is my favorite salad green in the winter- In the summer I use a lot of local kale and mixed salad greens, and in the fall I absolutely live off local spinach.

Lettuce, various veggies, sprouted chickpeas, avocado, ginger/garlic/sesame seed/nama shoyu/apple cider vinegar/salt/pepper/hemp oil dressing.

Lettuce, veggies, hemp seeds, olive oil vinaigrette. 

Lettuce, veggies, garlic sauerkraut, hemp oil vinaigrette.

SUPER delish.  Today, after yoga class and going for a run, I wanted something full of good fats and sweet without being a sugar-bomb.  So I made chia pudding!  The recipe goes (something) like this:

• 1 young coconut, meat and water
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 tbs. chia seeds
• 1 tbs. vanilla extract
• 9 drops stevia
• 1/4-1/2 cup carob powder, according to taste
• 2 tbs. cacao butter, melted
• frozen pitted sweet cherries (opt)

First, open the coconut (instructions) and pour the coconut water and water into the blender:

 
Then scoop out the meat and add it to the blender:

Then blend the meat and water, and add the chia seeds.  Let sit for 5-7 minutes.  Add vanilla and stevia and blend again:

Add the carob and cacao butter and blend it until completely combined.  Pour out into a bowl and top with cherries (optional).  Enjoy BLISS OUT!

I was clearly very happy with this creation.  (Credit: Camille)

Tonight I'm getting all dressed up to go see live comedy at the Bushnell in Hartford with Claire, Grace (Claire's sister), Camille (my sister) and my mother.  It was a Christmas present from my mother to the four of us.  I'm very excited!  Life is so, so great.  Simple pleasures are all OVER the place!

In gratitude-
Mada

Introduction / Breakfast for lunch

Hello!  I'm Mada, and here is where I intend to keep a colorful log of all the delicious food I create and enjoy.  I eat pretty much 100% raw vegan.  Sometimes I like to keep things very simple, other times I like to make more complex dishes, but I always love to experiment with whole, organic, living and life-giving foods.  Most of the year, I work on an amazing organic and biodynamic vegetable farm, so a lot of my produce comes from there.  I am 17 years old and live at home with my mother, grandfather, two sisters, brother and girlfriend, so I have a lot of willing (and not-so-willing) taste-testers!

Today I had breakfast for lunch!

'Buckmeal' topped with blueberries and cinnamon.

Live 'buckmeal' recipe:

• 1 cup sprouted buckwheat
• 1 tbs. ground flax seed
• 2 tbs. raw almond butter
• 1 tbs. carob powder
• hot (boiling) water as needed
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 6-8 drops liquid stevia
• 1-2 tsp. cinnamon, according to taste
• 1 digestive enzyme capsule, opened (optional)
• dash of maple syrup (or 1/2 tsp. maple flavor)
• handful of blueberries, fresh or frozen
• hemp milk (optional, recipe below)

First off, you have to sprout the buckwheat.  You can find step-by-step instructions online.  It usually takes 2-3 days depending on temperature/sunlight.

Extremely haphazard and jerry-rigged sprouting department.

Once you have your buckwheat, combine all ingredients except the blueberries and hemp milk in a food processor and process until smooth and smooth.  You can add water until it gets to your preferred consistency.

Then top with blueberries and hemp milk, recipe as follows:

• 2-3 tbs. hemp seeds
• 1 cup water or coconut water
• stevia to taste
• vanilla to taste

Blend everything in a high-speed blender until creamy, then pour over the buckmeal.  Enjoy!

I practically drowned mine in hemp milk.  Shameless.

Leftover hemp milk- fridgeward bound.

My youngest sister, Deidre (age 9), made herself this delightful platter as part of her lunch.  I couldn't help but take a picture.  It's so beautiful!

With love,
Mada