Go Raw Chicago

<–one of two of my new 4 x 4 square foot gardens (surrounded by tons of wild edibles ironically enough!)

Happy Friday Everyone!!!  Need some upliftment?  Here are some short but effective audio clips to get you in the mood ;)   I try to listen to these every morning now.  I’m a such a nerd, I know!    http://www.soundboard.com/sb/laugh_track.aspx

The Chicago Green Fest last weekend was awesome.  I think it was the biggest so far.  It’s always fun running into friends from the local raw food community, sampling new products, supporting local companies just starting up, and browsing through the gorgeous organic clothing.  I’m not sure what booth/product was my favorite, but my friends and I all got a health reading at this one particular booth and each got a print out of where we stood with our digestion, adrenals, hormones, sleep, etc (there were about 30 points of measure)-and we thought this booth was well worth visiting.  The testing method was new to me but the guy said the readings were usually pretty accurate.  He put a clip the hand of tip of my left index finger and then wet an electrical probe and pressed it onto the outside of the middle bone of my right index finger.  The guy pressed down with the probe for each health measure and obtained a number on the computer.  Funny enough, I was slightly outside the ideal range for water!!  That was a great wake up call for me though.  I am now really focused on making sure I get at least 3 liters of water in me a day (not including juices, teas, etc.)  The basics are always a great thing to re-focus on

I’m seeing wild foods everywhere right now!  Clover, plantain, dandelion, wild violet, rhubarb, lambsquarters, lemon sorrel, and garlic mustard (I LOVE garlic mustard).  I think I’ve been thinking about and studying wild foods so much lately that the universe is literally putting them right in front of me everywhere I go!  I borrowed a book on wild edibles from the library last month, wanting to identify everything in my front yard.  It turns out I have four of the above eight wild foods in my front yard alone.  I feel so lucky.  I plan on going to the Magic Hedge near Montrose beach in Chicago soon to check out what else is going off now that spring is in full gear.  Probably mulberries, wild apples, and tons more.  Check out this post I did last year on wild foods for more info on the Magic Hedge.  I think the next young and raw meetup will be an intro to wild foods in my front yard and then a field trip out to the Magic Hedge.  I’m VERY excited…

One last thing for today to spark that ever-expanding mind of yours:  I found a great source for some free e-books on superfood health from Mike Adams, “The Health Ranger.”  He’s such an awesome guy that has started up a website called http://www.newstarget.com/, a completely independent website dedicated to educating us on health info the FDA doesn’t want us to know about.  The website is

http://www.truthpublishing.com/Articles.asp?ID=131 and gives you access to about 10 free e-books.  I’ve already read/skimmed through four of them and have learned a ton of new info.  Also, here are some great youtube videos of him I’d highly recommend.  This is a series of about eight though so watch them when you have time.  His knowledge base is huge and this is not your everyday information.  You’ll definitely learn something new from him.   Enjoy and have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

~Lenette

Last weekend I continued my shopping (I feel like it’s been a real scavenger hunt) for supplies and ingredients for my square foot garden.  It seems like it’s been years since first talking about this and I am just SO excited to get started.  However, I’ve encountered a few challenges:  I’m finding that not a lot of gardening supply centers carry organic transplants, composts, copper shovels, etc–at least not in Chicago.  I REALLY thought these things would be more prevalent and not at all hard to find but I guess I was wrong.  Chicago is striving to be the “greenest” city in America.  Why not start with the actual greenery?  Organic gardening materials are definitely the most sustainable and earth friendly way to go.  Oh well.  I’ve posted some want ads on Craig’s list.  Maybe someone is making organic compost in their kitchen using some sort of automatic composter and has some extra to unload.  The universe will line it up for me, right? Right!  It would definitely be a great business for someone in the Chicago to take on–making and selling organic compost.  It’s a great way to promote growing your own food too, or the whole Anastatia Movement. 

One thing I did see (and smell!) at the garden supply center that I thought was pretty cool was a bag of cacao shells.  I wasn’t sure how to use this in my soil mix so I didn’t buy it.  I’ve heard David Wolfe say that cacao shells add a lot of nitrogen to the soil.  The bag that I saw was sitting in the sun and smelled SO good I was seriously ready to take it home and use it as potpourri (maybe someday soon.  It would be a pretty neat idea.  I wonder if anyone has done this?).

On another topic:  Are you interested in trying out young green coconuts but don’t have $400 to take a vacation to the tropics?  I was pondering this question myself the other day and decided to start Googling.  If found this business in Florida, Broward Palm Trees, where you can order a case of 12 (I don’t know why 12) young green coconuts for about $5-$6 per coconut, depending on where you live.  Expensive I know, but it’s FedEx that really gets you because I spoke with the guy and he sells them for only $1 each!  It’s just an option.  Maybe if you can get five other friends together you can go in on a box together for $10-$12 each.  If you are anything like me-I know you’ve spent more than that on good food and superfoods before.  Why not try something new?  OR….if you can get together a bunch of friends and order a crate of 400 you can get the cost down to about $3 each.  Maybe if you’re in New York or California it would be possible to get this many willing people together.  Just putting it out there… It would be a good reason to put an event together

Have the best weekend ever,

Lenette

A major blog is coming… Sorry for the spaciness in the posting.  Big things are happening and changing.  Life is so much fun!!!  I’m working on the post right now but wanted to buy myself some more time.  Here’s an AWESOME recipe I’d love to share with you in the meantime!

Berries and Cream Puddin’

8 oz nut milk (your favorite recipe.  Mine is brazil nut milk.  If you didn’t put any vanilla extract or bean in the milk, make sure to put a little in before you eat this)

1 tablespoon of chia seeds stirred in

Small handful each of goji berries and mulberries (dried)

Stir and shake every couple minutes for about 10 minutes and then place in the fridge to soak and expand in the milk overnight.

This turns out to be the most heavenly berries and cream breakfast or snack ever.  You’ve got to try it out!  It’s a good excuse to get those chia seeds you’ve been thinking about buying for a while now too

 ~Lenette

<—Coconut/Durian soup from Naked Chocolate book with vitamineral greens and cacao added in

I typically don’t do surveys for the fun of it.  In fact, I usually make fun of people who who are always answering those ridiculous 75-question surveys on MySpace.   But I thought this one would be a good opportunity for you to get to know me and for me to pass some new ideas and information on.  I think it’s going around on the raw food blogs, funny enough.  I saw it first on http://buellerskitchen.com.  Here it goes…

1. Favorite home-made nut (non-dairy) milk?
The Chocolate Mylk Kick stuff from David Wolfe’s Naked Chocolate book: almond/Brazil nut milk (I like to add Brazil nuts into all my nut milks for the selenium), cacao powder, maca, tocos, agave, hemp oil, and flax oil all blended together. 

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to make?
Hmmm…taking a look at my menu board right now… A falafel recipe I saw on some website (I need to figure this out real soon), blueberry-mango cookies that call for almond pulp which I have a lot of right now, and a pumpkin pie smoothie I saw on the Raw Freedom Community website.

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
A raw pumpkin pie that was WAY too much work to make for what tasted like lumpy orange pine nut baby pudding.  Ever since then, I haven’t liked pine puts too.  The sad thing is it took me a while to throw the darn thing away since I put so much effort and muscle into it.

5. Favorite pickled item?
Does sauerkraut count? I really like raw sauerkraut when I make time to put it together and ferment it myself.

6. How do you organize your recipes?
I create word docs entitled Soups and Salads, Entrees, Desserts, Smoothies and Drinks, and Dehydrated Goodies and just copy and paste onto it whenever I see something I like.  Every now and then I print out the latest pages and add it to my recipe binder but I like using the computer most of the time because of the find-search function and because I don’t have to worry about getting food all over my binder or books.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
Trash only at the moment.  Compost someday hopefully.  It’s a bit too cold for that right now in Chicago.  But I do I take all my glass bottles with me to work and recycle them there.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods…what would they be?
Avocado, bee pollen, and raw honey.  I’m hoping there will be plenty of wild foods for foraging on the island!

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
Going to the local arboretum with my little brother and parents.  They loved to video tape us wander around, touch and feed the koi, and get WAY too close to psycho geese, ducks, and peacocks.

10. Favorite raw ice cream?
The hemp ice cream, “Hemp Scream,” at Karyn’s Fresh Corner.  Hands down, the best ever.  Only $18 per pint!

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
The Vitamix, for sure.  I always wonder if I should recommend people get a juicer before a Vitamix because the Vitamix is just so much more fun.  I got a Vitamix first and I think it’s what kept me raw those first 6 months because I could make so many different drinks, soups, dips, dressings, and other dishes with it.  I bought it for myself as a x-mas present.  I love the product so much, I signed up to be an affiliate and tell people about it all the time!

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
Celtic sea salt if that counts.  I like Stevia a lot too, even though a lot of people get turned off by the aftertaste.  In my opinion, they probably just used too much.  I keep a bottle at work and at home.
13. Recipe (Cook) book you have owned for the longest time?

I threw out all my old ones since going raw, including the Better Homes and Garden one my mom gave me three Christmas’ ago.  I think the oldest one I have now is Raw Foods Made Easy.  That one’s my favorite.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Don’t eat jam or jelly but I suppose you could make an awesome goji berry jam if you processed it with some agave nectar.  Not sure what this question is doing on here.

15. Favorite raw (vegan) recipe to serve to an omni friend?
I usually make zucchini hummus with veggies to dip and for dessert cacao brownies.  Usually no one can even tell the difference between these and their cooked versions!

17. Favorite meal to make or time of day to make it?
I love making superfood smoothies on weekends when I get home from my morning workout.  I’m usually famished by then and way too tired to multitask while I eat so I make a smoothie that I pre-plan a bit on the drive home and eat it on the living room couch in utter bliss.  Best meal of the day by far.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
Haha!  That is too funny because I have SO much stuff on top of there.  It’s probably a safety hazard:  Aloe Vera leaves in a big bowl, and all of my BIG containers of supplements: coconut oil, non-GMO lecithin, tocotrienols, coconut flour, and MSM.  …as well as a big fern, a handwoven fair trade basket, and a big red candle.  See–told ya.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
Loads of frozen fruit, the obligatory container of frozen raw brownies and chocolates for when I’m craving a fancy dessert, and a bottle of E3Live.

20. What’s on your grocery list?
Just went grocery shopping so I’m good for a week but I guess: burdock root (Whole Foods was out), celery, and…..Durian?  I miss Durian!

21. Favorite grocery store?
Stanley’s Fruit and Vegetable Mart on North Avenue.  Then WAS Sunflower Market but they just closed down, then Whole Foods.

22. Name a recipe you’d love to rawify (veganize), but haven’t yet.
Can’t think of anything that hasn’t been done although I do miss brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes every now and then.  I don’t think you can rawify those

23. Food blog you read the most. Or maybe the top 3?
Raw Model, Angela Stoke’s Raw Reform, and We Like It Raw.   A friend of mine just started a new one that I’m hoping will explode develop quite nicely too: http://www.justallowit.com/.  Check it out!

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
Sacred Heart Chocolates!  A good handful of Chicago raw food restaurants and health food stores have these now too.  My favorite flavor is Pacific Paradise.  Although I can’t have these after a certain time at night, otherwise I’m buzzing all over the place.  Holy cracao for sure!

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
I got some whole ginseng that was sort-of candied in honey at a Chinese market the other week.  That was more exotic than extravagant, although it was pricy.  I guess I’ve been indulging by going out to eat at the new raw food restaurant, Borrowed Earth, and trying out the items on their menu.

27. What is one recipe, ingredient or cooking technique that you’ve become familiar with in the last year that you can’t imagine you ever lived without?
Juicing/my juicer.  I finally bought a Greenstar Juicer in the spring and don’t know how I ever lived without it.  I love my veggie juice!!!

28. Do you have a food inspiration in your life? Someone who taught you a lot about making a certain dish, or about food prep in general, or someone who taught you how to truly enjoy food?
Karyn Calabrese of Chicago.  She taught me how to live this lifestyle in the real world in a workable way, how to inspire others through that raw food glow, and how to take in more and more and still more greens every day.  And David Wolfe, who has taught me so much about the power of a positive attitude (having the best day ever, ever day, forever and ever), all about superfoods, herbs, smoothies, wildfoods, and thousands of other juicy tidbits mentioned in his lectures and YouTube videos. 

Hi All,

Here’s my new favorite veggie juice as of late:

2 cucumbers

1 bunch arugula

2 inches ginger

2 lemons

6 inches burdock root

2 bell peppers

This stuff is awesome.  I thought it would be spicy but it really isn’t. (Mustard greens are spicy.  Don’t do it–TRUST ME–the worst drink I’ve ever had)

I just ordered yet another superfood supplement.  Supplements seem to be one of my favorite things to treat myself with, besides new gourmet raw foods and clothes :)  I’m pretty sure I’ve tried over 30 new supplements, superfoods, and exotic foods/powders this year.  Maybe more.  I just love trying out new products.  I go a bit crazy whenever I go to a health food store and see a totally unique one that I haven’t tired before.  You just never know which one is going to bring your health and consciousness to the next level until you try it. 

I just ordered my first bottle of Oceans Alive Marine Phytoplankton from David Wolfe’s Sunfood website.  I usually never order from that site because the stuff is pretty expensive but you really can’t get it from anywhere else.  And from what I’ve been hearing and reading about this product, it’s one of the best supplements ever.  Sounds promising.  I can’t wait to try it out.

My favorite supplements are probiotics, digestive enzymes, fresh E3Live, a B12 or B Complex, and Krill Oil.  Those are the ones I take everyday no matter what.  MSM too.  That stuff is fantastic.  There is a wonderful health food store in Chicago called LifeSpring that has a TON of supplements, healthy beauty products, and raw foods all for 10-30% off the suggested retail price.  I get an enormous bottle of MSM there for only $19.  It’s got to be at least 2 pounds.  I strongly recommend going there if you live in the Chicagoland area.  If you don’t, I recommend a website called Herbspro for all of your supplement and healthy body product needs.  Practically everything is marked down by 33%.  You have to pay shipping and handling but they discount that too if you spend over $89 (which consequently isn’t hard to do if you wait until it’s time to restock on a few things or if you buy a couple of things for some friends).  My favorite things to get from Herbs Pro are Chlorophlly, Hawaiian Spirulina (the powdered kind and the flakes), hemp protein powder, toothpaste, and face/body/hair products.

Tomorrow I’m off to California for Christmas for eight days and then New York (again) for New Years!  I can’t wait.  Hopefully the phytoplankton (being shipped to my brother’s place in Seal Beach) will keep me mineralized enough the entire time since I’ll be without my green smoothies, spirulina, and E3 live.  The baggies are all packed and ready to go.  I’ll probably juice whatever I have left in my fridge tonight to drink tomorrow morning too :) 

I’ll be putting together the business plan for “The Green Crush” smoothie bar on the plane and reading my restaurant book on the elliptical machine at Bally’s all next week.  I’ll be taking notes and asking tons of questions when I visit my favorite California raw restaurants too.  It’s ON. I can’t wait.  Look out Chicagoans!

~Lenette

This is really hilarious–I was going through my pictures from my recent California trip home for my parents and ended up laughing out loud at this pic I took in the hotel room. My brother was laughing at me at the time too. Not exactly low-maintenance, am I? In my defense, I had NO CLUE how long I’d be gone and I knew that in order to keep my sanity during the climax of my emotional life, I’d have to have all of my raw food creature comforts with me (it worked too–I stayed raw and mainly organic the entire time

Good thing I had plenty of baggies on stock before I left! That is the secret I’ve found when traveling (or dining out for that matter).

This is what I brought with me….

Lots of dried food: soaked and dehydrated pumpkin seeds, apricot kernels, figs, prunes, Goji berries, flax crackers (several types that I made), granola I made from sprouted buckwheat grouts, dry oat grouts (I love soaked raw oat grouts with a bit of Bragg’s–it’s tastes like brown rice). It always helps to have a staple of dehydrated raw foods in your pantry. I like to make batches of crackers, cookies, new recipes, etc every 3 weeks or so.

Supplements: vitamins, baggie of msm, laxatives (good for when you travel because your body can get a bit out of wack), and contain of green powder (Barlean’s). I save all of my mint tins and use them as pill boxes. Every Sunday night I line seven of them up and drop my multis, B vits, crill oil, enzymes, and garlic extracts into all of them.

Other: Celtic sea salt (added to all of my water along with the MSM), maca, cacao nibs, raw food packaged snacks, a big baggie of sea veggies, stevia, gynostema tea, shaker cup, kelp powder, flower essences (good for stress and balancing of emotions)

Phew!!

The funny thing is that I actually came back to Chicago with more food than this because I went shopping at Erewhon, Euphoria, and the Raw Spirit Fest. I love being this way! It’s a bit expensive but it IS kind of fun being able to treat yourself to new tastes and higher level of health!

I don’t know if this helps anyone but these are just some ideas on what to pack when traveling I suppose. Of course, you can always bring fruit and unripe avos in your luggage too–which I did. (Yes, people will stare at you when they are eating these huge breakfasts and you’re shaking this drink of green stuff but I always like telling people about raw food. I show them the green powder container and they’re always amazed at the ingredients possible to get in the human diet). Definitely stop at a Whole Foods or farmers market when you get to your destination and perhaps buy some salad dressing (the Bragg salad dressings are REALLY good) and tupperware too so you can make salads in advance for your week. Happy travels!!

Goji berries and cacao.  These two superfoods make one of the greatest combinations of foods I’ve ever discovered.  I have to admit that when I tried these two out about 1 1/2 years ago, I wasn’t too crazy about cacao nibs and they stayed in the cubbard for months.   I did, however, LOVE the goji berries and savoured them so much that I’d eat only about five at a time!  I thought they were rather expensive too.  No–actually they ARE pretty expensive!  I think that each bag was over $11 or $12 for 8 ounces.   Over time, I realized that I DID really like cacao, as long as it was mixed with a little honey or dried fruit (or in smoothies). It’s hard to deny yourself these two foods when you realize just what gives them their “SUPERFOOD” label too.  For instance, goji berries are probably the most nutritious fruit on the planet–they have 18 types of amino acids (the same as bee pollen) and contain all 8 essential amino acids (such as isoleucine and tryptophan), they have up to 21 trace minerals (the main ones being zinc, iron, copper, calcium, germanium, selenium, and phosphorus), they contain vitamins B1, B2, B6, and vitamin E, they contain polysaccharides which fortify the immune system, they’re one of the only fruits on the planet that are a complete protein (11%), they’re traditionally regarded as a longevity, strength-building, and potency food, AND it’s said that a handful a day will cause you to have a SMILE on your face the rest of the day That’s pretty priceless, I’d say!

Cacao, on the otherhand, has just as many (probably more, actually) benefits.  Here are just a few: it’s the #1 source of magnesium in all the world (magnesium is the most predominent mineral needed for heart function and it is the most deficient major mineral on the Standard American Diet), it’s good for the brain (the cacao nibs actually look like a brain), it’s youthening, it is THE most concentrated source of antioxidants found in any food, it’s a source of chromium, and it’s THE solution to cooked/process chocolate cravings.   

So where is the best place to get these superfoods at the most affordable price?  The solution I’ve found is Amazon.com.  My recent Go Raw Chicago class students were always laughing at me because whenever they asked where I got one of my super-special raw foods (gojis, cacao nibs and powder, coconut oil, gooseberries, mulberries, really raw cashews etc), I’d say I got it from Amazon.  Amazon is carrying more and more superfoods now and in particular, the brand Navitas is distributing more and more on Amazon. I know what you’re probably thinking though–paying for shipping? No way! But the REAL secret is to order those items that when you click on them, say “eligible for FREE Super Save Shipping on orders over $25.”  You just need to spend $25 or more on items that say this (all items in the order have to say this) and you get free shipping!  It’s been an awesome finding for me so I just wanted to pass this onto you.  As requested my some students, I’ve put the items I order all the time (or that I’ve ordered at one time or another) in the recommended items section of these website.  Enjoy!!

*One more tip: sometimes it can take 7-10 days for the food to get to you when you’re getting free shipping so make sure you take stock and order in advance if you can’t go without your superfoods for a couple days!