goodbye july

July was chock full.  Not a moment to spare.  And mostly hazy in my memory already.  Luckily, I have these photos (and many pages of journal entries).  

And now August!  I am positively thrumming with change.  For those of you who are familiar with tarot, my Tower is majorly falling right now.  For those of you who are familiar with astrology, I'm really feeling the mercury retrograde.  Just when I think I'm definitely at my limit now, another intense situation comes rolling on in.  Life is crazy.  Life is good.  The intensity helps me not take things for granted.  It clears away the unimportant stuff so I can be grateful for all these experiences.  And that's what I'm carrying with me into this month; gratitude.

In gratitude,

Mada

Pictures:

1. Claire on the beach in Charlestown, Rhode Island.  My father and his girlfriend rented a house right on the water for a week.
2. My beautiful sister Camille in RI.
3. Claire follows my dad's strict (and highly effective) sand removal regime.
4. Wildflowers for my love.
5. Claire at the kitchen table.
6. Our other cat, Sherlock, gets a closer look at the mechanics of my camera.
7. Amazing fresh burrito fixings- homemade buckwheat tortillas, local pork sausage, homemade salsa fresca, red leaf lettuce and perfectly ripe avocados.
8. And the final burrito!  
9. One of my favorite ways to spend an early morning; taking a quiet swim in the beautiful lake, then air-drying while I drink a mug of tea.
10. Wild carrot, wild grape and staghorn sumac at the dam.
11. Gorgeous kale from the farm.  I've been living on green smoothies.
12. Summer salad- salad greens and cukes from the farm, avocado, olive oil, salt.

Why wraps are comparable to ambrosia

As if you needed more convincing!

More recent wrap-tivities:

Wrap 1: Dressed baby greens, red pepper pate, cuke, tomato and avocado on nori.

Wrap 2, part 1: Kale pesto, almond cheese, dressed baby greens, tomato, cuke, broccolette, snow peas and avocado on a collard.

Wrap 2, part 2: Drizzled with almond butter.  Hooooly moly.

And just when you think food bliss can't get any foodier or blissier, THINK AGAIN!  Yesterday, it was so warm (55℉) Claire and I drove our food train outside and ate in the SUN!

It was gorgeous.  And so was my wrap!

Dressed greens, tomato, cuke, avocado, kale pesto, snow peas and almond butter on a collard.

Ridiculously satisfying.

In non-food news, I held crow (bakasana) for the first real time yesterday!  I'm so grateful for my strong, stretchy body.

In gratitude-
Mada

Wrap-ture

Good title, right?

Oftentimes when people find out about how I eat, they say something to the effect of, "... so you eat, like, salad?"

Usually that's the point at which I try to convince our hypothetical person that I'm not a salad-crazed lunatic by talking about more complex dishes; nuts, seeds, dehydrated treats, pizzas, pates, cakes, cookies, etcetera.   But I have to say, deep in my heart of raw hearts, SALADS ARE MY FAVORITE.  And wraps?  Wraps are just another way to bask in the green glory.  (Shimmy shimmy.)

The past few days I have been living off the most simple, satisfying salad wraps you could possibly imagine.  Here's the basic recipe:

• Salad.  This can, obviously, mean a number of things.  Greens, dressing, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, whatevah.  Be creative!
• Sprouts.  Alfalfa, chickpea, sunseed, pea shoots, etc.
• Avocado, slice-y or dice-y.
• Optional: a nut/seed pate of some sort.

Then you basically just throw it all in a wrapper of some sort.  I've been using either collard greens or sheets of nori (or one on top of the other!).  Delicious, nutritious as all get out, physically gorgeous; what more do you want?

Wrap party.  (I'm hilarious.)

Camille gettin' down with a wrap-to-be.

So wrappable.

KALE PESTO!  (With a few changes, of course.  I can't help but personalize.)

Spreading the wrap-ture.

Avocado nirvana.

Camille taking a closer look.

Oh, isn't it beautiful?

Mia mamma creating her collard-nori wrap.

My lunch-wrap today.  Oh my god.

Featuring: Claire's red pepper pate.

Ahhhhhhh.  Highly recommended. 

In other news, as of last night I can officially hold a headstand!  YES!  After taking a long walk with the lovely Claire this morning, we both spent about half-an-hour experimenting with upside-down-ness in the family room.  I have videos.  And this picture of Claire:

I love this girl.

In love, gratitude and yogic excitement-
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