Tropical Delight

This is another taste teaser! A blend of tropical flavors, each great on its own, but in combination they reach a whole new plateau.

I started with the juice from two, freshly squeezed Valencia oranges, added a fresh banana for body, not to mention the potassium, etc. and then added a generous handful of frozen pineapple chunks, a handful of frozen mango pieces and topped that off with a handful of dried goji berries.

Notice I don't get carried away with measuring.

Blend until smooth and creamy, drink and enjoy!

Breakfast or break — this is a super smoothie — simple, fast and filling.

Raw Broccoli Salad

It's a double treat to get such a full complement of vitamins and anti-oxidants from a dish that is so full of flavor.

It's been many years since I've had one of my favorite lite bites from Antonio's in Maitland, which really wasn't quite so light. We'd often stop in the downstairs deli for a quick slice of pizza and a side of one of their wonderful fresh salads. The broccoli salad was my favorite. As well as sporting a sweet yet tangy dressing, the broccoli, pine nuts, raisins and red onions were richly flavored with minced pancetta. It took many attempts at home in the mid-1990's to approximate the taste. It might have been our friend, John, who gave me a clue—sugar in the dressing!

With broccoli on sale this week, my mind and taste memory flew to that wonderful crunchy salad and I began to imagine how I would adapt it as a raw food item. For those who are just vegan, using a soy mayonnaise, thinned with a little rice wine vinegar and a spoonful of sugar is an easy route to go. But for those who would like to move more toward a raw food version, making a batch of almonnaise will get you closer to raw.

The basic salad is chopped broccoli, diced red onion, raisins, sunflower seeds or pine nuts. I tossed in the last of my snack sprouts as they are an addiction for me. They go in and on just about everything I make.

Enriched Almonnaise

- Courtesy of Marilyn Diamond in The American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit For Life Kichen

1/2 cup raw almonds

1/2 - 3/4 cup filtered water

1 tsp nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp finely minced garlic

3/4 tsp seasoned salt (kelp, etc) or sea salt

1 cup cold pressed olive oil

3 TBS lemon juice

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar (Bragg's)

l. Blanch almonds quickly and when cool, slip off skins. Have all ingredients measured and ready to go (mis-en-place).

2. Place almonds in blender or food processor and grind to a fine powder. Add half the water along with the nutritional yeast, garlic and seasoning. Blend well, then add the remaining water and continue blending to form a smooth cream.

3. With blender running on low, remove insert in top and drizzle in the oil in a thin stream until mixture is quite thick.

4. Keep blender running and add lemon juice and vinegar. Blend on low for one minute longer to allow mixture to thicken to desired consistency. Refrigerate tightly sealed; this will keep for 10 days to two weeks in the refrigerator.

I used half of a large head of broccoli. Slice the florets, mince half a medium red onion, add a generous handful of raisins, and a 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds. This was heavy on the onion. A half onion is probably enough for a whole head of broccoli. Play it by ear according to your taste. Again, this is a forgiving combination and a little more or a little less of anything won't matter a bit. I made this with 1/2 cup of almonnaise thinned down with 2 teaspoons of rice wine vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of raw agave nectar.

If you want to whip this up with store bought mayo: 1/2 cup thinned with 2 teaspoons of vinegar and 1 tsp of sugar will adequately dress a half a head of broccoli. Double the dressing amounts if using a full head of broccoli. This salad does keep well in the fridge for a couple of days before tasting stale and soggy!

Till next time . . . to eat well; eat raw.

Red Rice Salad

Recently, Heidi Swanson posted a fabulous Indonesian red rice salad recipe that she adapted from Robin Asbell's great grain book, New Whole Grains Cookbook.

When I read Heidi's post, along with her dramatic shot of the finished dish (nothing like the one above), I knew it was the perfect vehicle for the package of red Himalayan rice loitering in my staples cupboard. It's such a simple preparation, with common ingredients, that it was a delight to whip together. Heidi cautions to make this when you're not pressed for time as there is some chopping involved, but the chopping isn't that big an endeavor and I found I had the veggies and sauce ingredients ready for the pot in no time at all.

I'm not going to list all of the ingredients, as Heidi has done such a super job of that and her website has the added benefit of allowing you to switch to a print version of the recipe. I strongly urge you to subscribe to her postings as the images alone are magic. But beyond that, Heidi has wonderful treatments for whole foods that really tweak our imaginations when it comes to food prep and she offers simple procedures with good explanations for cooks at all levels.

This recipe calls for soy sauce. I used tamari instead of soy and as I added it to the sauté pan with the coconut milk and molasses, I chuckled to see the bright orange and green of the carrots and beans quickly turn to a very blah shade of brown. It brought to mind the constant moaning and groaning from the food designer in Nevada Verde Barr's fun novel, Last Bite. He seemed to constantly be faced with the challenge of making brown food look good for the TV cameras.


The myriad of flavors and textures in this dish makes it a surefire palate pleaser. Mine has a little extra kick, besides the hot chili pepper, I added the remnants of a little red curry paste that was lingering in the freezer - a scant teaspoon full. It added just the right amount of kick to assure there is nothing blah tasting about this red rice salad.

Till next time . . . keep on cooking.

Another Super Smoothie

This jewel-toned beauty with little purple and orange flecks is a nutritional powerhouse of acai berries, blueberries, white peaches, frozen banana and a helping of anti-oxidant superfood.

Spicy Veggie Juice

I didn't know that red mixed with green would give me this odd shade of brown. . . not the most appealing color, is it? This is a riff on V-8 juice - or gazpacho in a glass. Fortunately, it tastes much better than it looks.

I started with a thick, chunky gazpacho. Then blended a couple of cups with a little water and lots of romaine lettuce, and added a dash of Tabasco to the finished veggie drink. This simple Gazpacho mix makes a great chunky tomato sauce to serve with sliced veggies. It's a great cold soup as is, or blended with greens as I did above, it makes a great meal in a glass. The addition of softened sun-dried tomatoes adds a depth of flavor along with a rich mouth feel.

Allowing time for the flavors to marry and the soup to chill adds a lot to the flavor.

This gazpacho recipe will serve two as an entreé or 4 as an appetizer or make three large smoothies blended with greens. Spinach, chard, romaine or kale are all possible options.

Another Take On Gazpacho

2 cups chopped tomatoes

1 cup chopped kirby cuke

1 small onion chopped

2 TBS olive oil

1/4 cup sun-dried tomates, soaked until soft

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup parsley chopped

1 TBS oregano

1 tsp dark mustard

1 tsp agave nectar or honey

juice of 1/2 lemon

Salt & pepper to taste

Blend the sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, agave, mustard and half the tomatoes in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Add remaining tomatoes, onion, cuke, parsley and oregano and pulse until desired consistency.

Adding fresh, raw, organic fruits and veggies to the daily diet is quick, easy and delicious.

Till next time . . . You know the drill.

Peachy Keen

Okay, that's a term that dates me and many of you have probably never heard anyone say, "peachy keen". But that was the first thing that came to mind when I took the first sip of this morning's smoothie. Everyday is both a new experience and a new experiment as I choose what to toss in the blender for breakfast.

I'm so impressed with the many benefits of drinking fresh coconut water despite the challenge of opening a young coconut. Read about my first efforts here. But then how boring would life be without a few little challenges? If opening a coconut is the extent of the trouble I encounter in life, I'm certainly not going to complain.

Today, with a base of coconut water, I added a handful of frozen mango chunks, a frozen banana, a cut up fresh peach and a handful of goji berries,then gave the old blender a whirl. It took a few seconds with the blender on low to get things going, but as the frozen fruit pieces started breaking down in the coconut water, I slowly increased the speed until a nice whirlpool developed and voila! A peachy keen glass of vibrant nutrition that tastes like an elixir for the gods...or as I imagine an elixir for the gods should taste.

Making a nutritious smoothie is a fun exercise in using what's on hand and a little imagination. Each day I use a different mix of fruit, greens and superfoods to assure a balance for the body and an interesting journey for the taste buds.

Till next time . . . to eat well; eat raw.

Confetti Smoothie

What's a girl to do but improvise when confronted with these results? Instead of posting about my new green smoothie, I called it confetti to account for the little specks of green and red floating throughout. A VitaMix is at the top of my wish list. Meanwhile, I make do with an old Krups workhorse of a blender. It does have some difficulty getting the last bits of green completely disintegrated, or the red, for that matter. But that doesn't affect the taste!

6 oz pomegranate juice

1 Gala apple, cored and quartered

1 Bartlett pear, cored and quartered

1 frozen banana, broken into pieces

1 head of Romaine, chopped before adding.

The result is a subtly sweet, light green, rich smoothie, with the delicate pear flavor dominating.

Using a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables offers a wider selection of nutrients for our bodies to use in maintaining our health. Branch out, be adventurous, have some fun!

Till next time . . . to eat well; eat raw!

BOOK NOOK

Looking for a good book? These entertained me last month.

Edna Buchanan . . . . . . . . . . Love Kills

Art Corriveau . . . . . . . . Housewrights

Patricia Volk . . . . . . . . . To My Dearest Friends

Maeve Binchy . . . . . . . . Scarlet Feathers

Michael Palmer . . . . . . . . The Fifth Vial

Jacqueline Mitchard . . . . . . . Still Summer

Laura Lippman . . . . . . . . Baltimore Blues

Faye Kellerman . . . . . . . . Burnt House

*****

Not Quite Raw; Slightly Cooked

Here's a quick and easy vegan stir-fry with a healthy helping of quinoa and a piquant tahini dressing with a hidden surprise, a generous dash of ground chipotle.

This is particularly quick and easy with a little advance prep, yet it's a snap to prep the veggies and whisk up the dressing while the quinoa cooks. (30 minutes).

Wash and prep the veggies while the grain cooks. To serve two: half a large sweet onion, sliced; half a large red bell pepper; 2 small yellow squash, sliced; 2 small zucchini, sliced; a generous handful of snow peas. (Double to serve 4, etc). This is a very flexible dish. Sauté veggies in a little olive oil. Start with the onions and red pepper. Sauté for a couple of minutes, lightly salt and pepper, add zucchini and yellow squash, stir fry for 3 - 4 minutes, add a splash of tamari and continue turning and cooking for another 2 minutes, add snow peas and continue stir-frying for a two or three minutes. Veggies should be crisp tender, not soggy and overdone. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add some minced fresh herbs. Basil is nice, but cilantro, oregano or thyme would be just as nice. Or be adventurous and make an herb blend.

In a small bowl whisk up a little tahini dressing: 1/4 cup organic raw tahini; 1/4 cup warm water; 2 TBS fresh lemon juice; 1 clove minced garlic, salt to taste and a generous pinch of cayenne or ground chipotle. (This makes ample dressing for 2 servings - double up on the quantities to serve more).

The amazing queen of grains — quinoa. One cup, rinsed and added to 1 1/2 cups of boiling water with a pinch of salt. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until water is absorbed and little tails emerge from each grain. Approximately 25 - 30 minutes.

To serve, place a generous helping of quinoa in center of dish, surround with a few large spoonsful of crisp, tender veggies, add a dollop of dressing and a little minced fresh basil. Pass additional dressing at the table. Enjoy a simple, yet delicious and nutritious one dish meal.

A fresh green salad for a starter, a lively little merlot to accompany, and this meal is a staple to add to the 'meals in a hurry' file.

Till next time . . . keep on cooking!

Salad Days

Papaya and Spinach

Heaps of green with vibrant color from fresh fruits and vegetables makes for a wonderful lunch or dinner salad. With a spirit of adventure, I've been enjoying a myriad of flavors and textures in my salad bowl by randomly choosing a wide variety of fresh, raw food.

Ten Ingredients In A Bowl

What are all those dark flecks? Sea Seasonings! Most of us have grown accustomed to a salty flavoring on our food. Seaweeds provide both the iodine we need and the salty taste we desire, without much sodium. Sprinkle on the nutritional benefits of sea vegetables, skip the table salt and enjoy another layer of flavor.

This is a tasty blend of organic dulse, laver and sea lettuce, harvested from the ocean off the coast of Maine. Read more about these sea vegetables and the folks who bring this great product to you.

Okay, so what's in those salads? The top one is a great bowl filled with green leaf lettuce, baby spinach, papaya, vidalia onions, cucumber, red bell pepper, raisins, sunflower seeds, and snack sprouts. It's dressed with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a splash of apple cider vinegar.

The bottom salad contains, green leaf lettuce, broccoli, fresh basil leaves, cuke, sweet onion, avocado, mango, peppadew peppers*, sunflower seeds and a generous sprinkling of the Maine Coast Triple Blend Flakes described above. There is no dressing on this salad except for the juice that I could wring out from the flesh surrounding the mango pit. Allowing the salad to sit and wilt a bit, provided a nice juicy meal without added dressing. A light dressing with a citrus note would be a lovely addition, though.

* I cheated. The Peppadews are not fresh, they're processed with sugar and vinegar, and came in a jar! But there's flexibility in the raw food lifestyle — certainly in my version of it!

Till next time . . . To Eat Well, Eat Raw!

Peach Melba

The raw food lifestyle isn't just about green smoothies. This morning I blended a fabulous combination that I immediately knew I wanted to share, as it has such great nutritional value but is a super taste treat as well.
I bought a young Thai coconut for the first time. Getting it open was quite a challenge. Without the aid of a cleaver, hatchet or machete, I found myself whacking away at it with my 8" chef's knife. Scary proposition. I worried I'd slip and amputate a digit or two or worse yet, harm my favorite knife!
I was trying to follow the directions for opening a white coconut from Markus Rothkranz's site, I just didn't have the right tool.

Nonetheless, determination prevailed! I did get the top off, poured the coconut water into the blender and then when I couldn't get to the meat by cleaving the coconut in two, I resorted to a hammer! You know the old adage, "where there's a will, there's a way".

I was eager to get to the coconut water and use that as a base for my morning smoothie. According to the information on Markus' website, coconut water is identical to human blood plasma. It has strong anti-viral, anti-microbial, anti-yeast and anti-fungal properties. Along with the coconut water, I scooped out the small amount of soft white flesh and tossed that into the blender, too. I decided on a simple blend of banana, peaches, and frozen raspberries. Delicious!

Peach Melba Smoothie

Blend until smooth:

8 oz fresh coconut water (and coconut meat)

1 frozen banana

2 ripe freestone peaches

1 cup frozen raspberries

Till next time . . . To eat well, eat raw.

Saturday at the Market

A quick walk through the Winter Park Farmers Market produced a few nice images. Unfortunately, it's another market with lots of plants, some cheese and bread, a few sweets, street food vendors, and many veggies that looked like refugees from the supermarket.

But there were a few nice choices to be had.

Fragrant Herbs

Lovely Sentiment!

Muscadines, the southern grapes with character!

Sweet and Juicy - Summer Favorites

Just saying . . .

Till next time . . .

A Transitional Dish

Several people have commented that they would like to 'try' raw food but as they have to prepare meals for the family, not just themselves, it's too much of a challenge. Here's a full flavored, easy to prepare, salad that makes a great try-it meal. With the cooked beans and a bit of cheese incorporated, this doesn't qualify for inclusion in the raw food lifestyle, but it's a great dish to bridge the gap between cooked food and raw food.



This is the same corn and black bean salad that shows up on my menu at least once a month in the summer. I make a big bowl full and serve it, with some variations, at several meals. This is simply diced onion, red pepper, tomato, jalepeño, fresh corn, off the cob, chopped cilantro, and organic, cooked black beans, served over greens (your choice). The corn and bean salad is dressed with sea salt, the juice from one fresh lime and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (first cold pressed). The salad above covers a bed of soft Bibb lettuce and to add a bit more zing, I topped if off with a few pitted Calamata olives.


To serve this salad to family members who expect a 'real' meal, add some cheese (Chevrè is a good choice) and a crisp crusted loaf of whole wheat bread with olive oil for dipping. If you are trying to incorporate more raw fruit and veggies in your diet, this is a good dish to start with.


Simple, fresh ingredients combined to produce a fast, easy, nutritious meal.

Till next time . . . To Eat Well; Eat Raw!

Going Green

I'll admit, I've had a difficult time with green smoothies. My mentors, Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, and Tera and Amy, The Raw Divas, along with just about everyone in the raw food community, advocate green smoothies as one of the most important 'meals' in a raw foods lifestyle.

Until I made the little number above, I've not been able to palate any of the green combos I've made. The glass above holds blended cantaloupe and organic baby spinach, simply blended in a regular household blender. The ripe cantaloupe cut into chunks and pureéd first and then the washed spinach leaves added and blended.

I found this combination posted on the Raw Divas Sisterhood forum by Shari from Everett, WA. Shari uses cantaloupe and either spinach or romaine for a great green smoothie. While the forum conversations describe the flavor as leaning towards vanilla, I found it just tastes like cantaloupe. Nothing wrong with that.

I highly recommend this combination as a great jumping off spot for making green smoothies a part of your diet. Even if you aren't attempting some portion of the raw food lifestyle, this is a potent fresh drink that will give you mega nutrient value along with increasing your intake of fresh fruit and vegetables and to top it all off, it's delicious. I used one half cantaloupe and two big handfuls of baby spinach = 8 oz glass. Try it soon.

To Your Health

Till next time. . . To eat well; eat raw.

Gazpacho Base

What better time to make a batch of piquant, refreshing gazpacho? You don't have to be a raw foodist or a vegetarian to enjoy this delightful cold soup. But if you are a raw foodist and/or a vegan, this simple mix provides some fine meals.

Most gazpacho instructions call for pulverizing or pureeing the veggies, in a food processor or a blender, for the base. Early this summer, I read a different approach developed in the Cook's Illustrated test kitchen, and I decided to give it a go this past weekend. I liked the results of dicing the vegetables instead of pureeing. I did give the bowl a couple of swirls with the immersion blender, to thicken up the juice before placing in the refrigerator, but left most of the diced vegetables in tact.

The recipe from Cook's makes about 3 quarts, 8 - 10 servings. You can easily halve the recipe, but the soup does keep well and the leftovers are just as good as the first time around.Ingredients: 3 ripe medium beefsteak tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/4 inch cubes (about 4 cups)

2 medium red bell peppers, cored, seeded and cut into slices then into 1/4 inch cubes (about 2 cups)

2 small cucumbers, peeled and seeded and cut into 1/4 inch cubes (about 2 cups)

1/2 small sweet onion, peeled and minced (about 1/2 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed (about 2 teaspoons)

2 teaspoons sea salt

1/3 cup sherry vinegar

freshly ground pepper to taste

5 cups tomato juice

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (optional) or

1 jalapeño, seeded and minced (optional)

8 ice cubes

Directions: Combine the tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, onions, garlic, salt, vinegar and pepper in a large (at least 4 quart) non-reactive bowl. Let stand until the vegetables just begin to release their juices, about 5 minutes or so. Stir in the tomato juice *, hot pepper sauce, if using, and ice cubes. Cover tightly and refrigerate to blend flavors, at least 4 hours and up to 2 days.

To serve: Adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper and remove and discard any unmelted ice cubes. Serve cold, drizzling each portion with 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil and topping with desired garnishes.

Traditionally, diners garnish gazpacho with more of the same diced vegetables that are in the soup. Additional garnish possibilities include garlic croutons, chopped pitted black olives, or finely diced avocados. With this treatment, so chock full of nicely diced vegetables, I served it as is, without garnishes or olive oil. Serving the soup in chilled bowls adds a nice finishing touch, too.

* I used a quart of Knudsen's organic vegetable juice in place of the tomato juice called for.

With fresh, garden tomatoes coming into season across the country, this is a terrific dish to prepare. Dicing the produce doesn't take much time and the results are worth every minute.

Till next time. . . To eat well; eat raw!

I've been so immersed in the podcasts from the Raw Food World Summit for the past two weeks. Listening to a wide variety of personalities, all with compelling stories to tell of how they became involved with a raw food diet, and how making that change has affected their lives, health and happiness.

This awesome endeavor, gathering so many notable raw food enthusiasts and authorities sharing their insights and experiences, has been an education par excellence and the tuition can't be beat— it was FREE. Hey, I even caught up on all the ironing while I listened! Each speaker brought a different perspective to the table. Indeed, there was something for everyone.

I particularly enjoyed Dr. Doug Graham, and want to look further into his 80/10/10 System. I'm eager to read David Wolfe's books, Eating for Beauty and the Sunfood Diet Success System. Victoria Boutenko's talk was delightful. I'm a subscriber to the Raw Family Newsletter and can highly recommend her book, 12 Steps to Raw Food as a great place to get started.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Mike Adams from NewsTarget. It was Mike who steered me into the raw food scene. I've been a subscriber to his newsletter for quite some time. I appreciate the in-depth investigative reporting on health, drug and food issues. It was great to listen to him on the podcast.



I've been a whole foods, no processed foods, no synthetic chemicals, no artificial anything eater for years, but as I've aged, I've grown fat and sluggish. The high energy, mental clarity and effortless weight loss are just a few of the benefits of eating raw, organic food. The main reason to do it is to reverse or preferably, avoid deadly, debilitating diseases.

The carrot juice above along with this lovely, luscious plate of cukes with a mound of mixed veggies was today's lunch. The slaw is a combination of green and red cabbage, carrots, thinly sliced fennel, a Granny Smith apple cut into matchsticks, a few raisins to sweeten the pot and topped with a couple of tablespoons of snack sprouts. Lots of variety. Great textures. Nothing to bog me down for the afternoon.

Here are the other presenters in the Raw Food Summit podcasts. Do see Angela Stokes fabulous weight loss story. She lost 160 pounds! Dr. Gabriel Cousins is a world-renowned health authority. Happy Oasis is the calmest, most laid-back personality I've ever encountered. Check out The Raw Food Festival she's overseeing. I loved Richard Blackman's presentation and his no-nonsense approach. And there was Dorit, "Celebrating Our Raw Nature", Brendan Frazier, Matt Monarch, Brendan Cobb, Rhio and we wind up with Shazzie tonight.

Raw Food Summit surprised us with a couple of extra treats: Mark Perlmutter spoke about his upcoming documentary film, Raw For 30 Days, which I believe will be screened at the film festival in Osceola County this fall. Check out the trailer. Steve Prussack from Raw Vegan Radio was another bonus speaker. Check out the current episode.

Lots of excitement in the raw food world—lots of wonderful results. Imagine, just going back to eating the way nature intended, such a simple step offering such dramatic results.

Till next time . . . To Eat Well; Eat Raw!

A Dinner Salad

Take a close look at all the goodies tucked into this bowl of spinach. The ease of tossing together a great plate of food when eating raw, is one of the highlights of the program for me! Knowing that I'm feeding my body the best possible foods, with it all tasting so great and then having it be so easy, with so little prep work and so little clean-up, is just marvelous. This assumes, of course, plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables on hand.

I'm still not 100% raw, and many of my readers certainly aren't even 25% raw, so I'll continue to provide vegetarian cooked foods along with some ideas for increasing the amount of raw food we eat by sharing the meals I make for myself or suggesting places to look for more ideas that comply with being on the path to vibrant health.

Snack Sprouts
This spinach salad has sliced spinach leaves, washed and spun dry. A few thin slices of red onion, a generous helping of snack sprouts, a tablespoon of chia seeds, a cup of fresh blueberries, a couple of tablespoons of raisins, and is dressed with a splash of raw apple cider vinegar(Bragg's) and a very light drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Toss well and enjoy. This salad is a perfect canvas for adding mango or pineapple chunks or even some citrus segments. You're only limited by your imagination and what you bought at the produce stand.

Till next time . . . to eat well; eat raw.

Salad in a Wrap

This light combination of tomato, cuke and lettuce has a secret punch. The whole wheat wrap has a light coating of organic, wasabi, soy mayonnaise. Simple, raw veggies make a quick lunch and with a little imagination offer a filling and satisfying meal. The sweet crunch of romaine topped with crisp slices of cucumber and juicy vine-ripened tomatoes becomes a wonderful sandwich filling. Adding a condiment with a bit of bite, brings this simple fare to a whole new level.

Asian Influence

Here's a quick veggie side dish or, in my case, main dinner course, with an oriental twist. Three young yellow squash, sliced, half a large vidalia onion, sliced; one clove of garlic, minced, two heads of Shanghai bok choy, sliced and half a cup of edamame. The veggies are cooked in layers.

In a large skillet, heat 1 TBS olive oil, when shimmering add the sliced onion, when it begins to soften, add the sliced squash and the sliced bottom portion of the tiny bok choy (reserve the soft green tops to cook last). Stir fry the vegetables until the squash and bok choy are fork tender and then toss in the minced garlic, reserved bok choy greens and edamame. Stir fry for 2 - 3 minutes. Finish with a dash of tamari, a drizzle of toasted sesame oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Till next time. . . keep on cooking.

Rawsome !

Lunch, with a big bowl of fresh greens, romaine and spinach enhanced with the bite of some thinly sliced red onion and crisp Kirby cucumber, sweetened with diced mango and blueberries, add a bit of crunch with a generous sprinkling of snack sprouts (adzuki, lentil and mung beans) as well as some raw sunflower seeds, then top it all off with crisp, crunchy sunflower greens. Zowee! How good can it get?

I dressed this bowl of raw food with a drizzle of fine extra virgin olive oil and a dash of Bragg's apple cider vinegar. Doing so veers from the discipline of true raw foodists but offers an alternative stage for those of us who want to eat better.

This bowl of green goodies was absolutely delicious—summer at its finest. While fresh, local produce is available, we should indulge at every opportunity. I didn't sprout my own sunflower greens. I purchased a container grown by Glaser Organic Farms in Miami, soil grown in natural sunlight, from Whole Foods.

The more I read and investigate, the more I'm convinced that taking responsibility for our health by what we eat and the lifestyle we choose, is the only way we can achieve vibrant health, avoid or overcome debilitating diseases, and enjoy an active, illness-free old age.

The Raw Food World Summit started 8/7 and continues via podcasts and teleseminars featuring some of the most internationally, notable raw food specialists—a fascinating, educational experience.

I also joined The Raw Divas Sisterhood, a great way to gain more knowledge, to interact with women, globally, who share the same goals: vibrant health, positive attitudes, fit, slim and mentally alert. Look into it!

Just adding more live, raw, organic foods into your daily diet will be a great first step in the right direction. Ironically, not only is it good for you — but it tastes good, too!

Till next time. . . To eat well, eat raw!

Just Picked

The soil, clinging to the base of these lovely heads of lettuce, was still damp this morning when I found them at the Orlando Farmers Market. As I headed home with my canvas bag filled with fresh goodies, dozens of possibilities swirled through my mind. The lettuce, briskly washed and rinsed and spun dry would provide the base for several crisp salads over the next day or two.

Freshly harvested lettuce like this, is rich in flavor, abundant in nutrients and can easily stand on its own, very lightly dressed or as an accompaniment to other fruits and vegetables.
The marvel of fresh produce is one doesn't have to spend hours concocting fancy sauces, adding a variety of herbs and spices to camouflage old, tired or stale produce that was picked halfway across the continent, warehoused, shipped across thousands of miles of highways, stored again, then finally transported to the produce section of my local supermarket. Produce involved in that scenario must not only be picked unripe, but must be treated with a variety of synthetic chemicals to allow it to be handled so much and still arrive unbruised and deceptively handsome and appealing. Ah, the marvels of modern technology.


Choosing locally grown, just picked produce not only offers better taste but provides better nutrition. With a fine bunch of Florida onions tucked in my canvas bag along with a head of crunchy celery and a fragrant Georgia pineapple, my list of possibilities kept expanding.


When a recipe calls for green onions, this is what comes to mind. Or as I like to think of them, giant scallions! But these are Florida onions, sweet and mild with just a bit of a bite to let you know that as lovely as they are, they are still onions, a favorite aromatic that adds such depth of flavor to so many dishes.

Without an image to include, let me tell you briefly about a fabulous spinach salad I tossed together. I was too eager to eat it to stop and think about shooting a photo for the blog!

SPINACH SALAD WITH FRESH PINEAPPLE

Wash and spin dry some baby spinach, stack, roll and slice (chiffonade). In a large serving bowl, toss spinach with pineapple segments, thinly sliced sweet onion, a generous handful of fresh blueberries and a handful of raw sunflower seeds, a light drizzle of very good extra virgin olive oil, a splash or two of raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar. Slice two or three 1/4 inch thick coins of good French goat cheese, dice and toss over salad. This is especially good if the pineapple is very ripe and juicy.

Remember - To eat well; eat raw!

BOOK NOOK

I raced through a bevy of just released novels by popular authors during July. Some great entertainment!

Joyce Carol Oates . . . . . . The Gravedigger's Daughter

Robert Parker . . . . . . Spare Change

Louise Penny . . . . . . Still Life and A Fatal Grace

Pete Hamill . . . . . . North River

Jeffrey Deaver . . . . . Sleeping Doll

Thomas Perry . . . . . Silence

Ruth Rendell . . . . . The Water's Lovely

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Chard Burritos

This isn't a raw meal, but it is organic and vegetarian. And it's absolutely delicious. Rainbow chard is a dynamite veggie oft neglected and not often seen in produce departments of mainstream grocery stores. Farmer's markets, produce stands and chains like Whole Foods often feature this handsome green. I recently brought home a bundle and chose to follow Jack Bishop's suggestion for Chard burritos.

Jack comments that this is an excellent quick meal if one has leftover rice, but even with cooking fresh rice, this is an easy meal to assemble. I used my favorite Lundberg Farms' mahogany rice—that rich, chewy mix of dark brown and black rice. Jack's treatment calls for 2 cups of cooked white rice. I'm all about avoiding the deadly whites, though I do make an exception for Jasmine rice when making Thai curries. Using brown rice, or one of the dark rice combinations from Lundberg farms, offers more nutrition to this dish and a big bump up in flavor over bland white rice.

These burritos are great with fresh salsa but a good bottled one, like Green Mountain or Muir's would work well, too. The following recipe serves 4 as a main course. I used about half the quantities and made 3 generously filled small burritos.

Tomato-Chipotle Salsa
3 - 4 medium ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/2 inch dice
1 small chipotle in adobo sauce, minced (about 1 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh oregano leaves (substitute cilantro or basil if desired)
salt

Chard Burritos
1 lb. chard, preferably rainbow chard, leaves washed, shaken dry to remove excess water.
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
salt to taste
4 large flour tortillas (about 12 inches - warmed one at a time in a large skillet)
2 cups cooked rice (from 2/3 cup raw)
1/4 cup sour cream.

For the salsa: combine the tomatoes, chile, oregano and salt to taste in a medium bowl and set aside.

For the burritos: With a chef's knife, separate the fleshy stalk from the green portion of each chard leaf. Trim the ends of the stalks and chop fine. Stack the leaves and slice them crosswise into 1/2 inch thick strips. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and chard stalks and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the chard leaves and salt to taste. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until very tender about 7 minutes. If the greens are soupy, remove the cover and simmer a minute or two to evaporate liquid. Adjust the seasonings, add more salt if needed.

Lay the warmed tortillas flat on a work surface. Spoon 1/2 cup of the rice over the bottom of each tortilla. Top the rice with some chard and 1 Tbs. sour cream. Roll the tortillas, tucking the sides toward the center, to form neat bundles. Slice each burrito in half and serve, passing the salsa at the table.

These burritos are rolled in whole wheat wraps not flour tortillas. Extra flavor; more fiber.

Till next time . . . keep on cooking, but remember to include a lot of raw fruit and vegetables.