raw purple corn chips!

i have been vowing to use the purple corn kernels i've had in the fridge for raw chips for YEARS, i'm sure. i'm actually scared to do a search on this blog as i know it's been way too long.
well, finally i tried it! and i'm impressed.
i used this recipe from rawfullytempting.com and it was perfect.

first i needed to blend my flax seed into powder and process all the corn. i try to avoid corn in my usual day, though i am a sucker for anita's white popping corn! gah. anyways! i most definitely used organic (non-GMO!!!) yellow and purple corn for this recipe.


using my vita-mix for processing the corn and such was not ideal, but it just meant i had to take many breaks (as the motor was working overtime) and had to keep spatula-ing the sides to get everything mixing evenly. i really need to get a big food processor one of these days as my mini one is just not cutting it. it is, but not just not enough at once! ha.

the spreading part, as the recipe states, is not the easiest part. i didn't quite take my time and they are uneven. but now i know that i like the thicker parts better than the fragile thin chips!
but all sizes of chips taste awesome in the red pepper chickpea hummus paul made last night! 

picnic and a movie!

on tuesday, i went to see labyrinth for the first time (surprising, i know!) in stanley park and a bunch of us gathered for a picnic beforehand.
tony found blackberries, janna brought daiya cheese wedges (jack + jalapeno garlic havarti) with mary's crackers and a potato salad, dali brought sesame crackers and hummus, mel and mig brought zucchini brownies (babycakes-inspired), lisa brought her gluten-free brownies, phil brought gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, kip brought a $37 "whole paycheque" salad and i brought a matthew kenny "potato" salad-inspired salad.

i was craving potato salad (which made it incredibly amazing that janna made one!) and i was wanting to try another recipe from everyday raw, so i checked out page 84's "potato salad". though, in my attempt to not go grocery shopping to make sure my fridge was empty of produce before leaving the next day for a few days, i adjusted things a fair bit!

my salad is in the bottom left corner of the picnic spread ^_^

i got that massive avocado (organic!) for $2 at whole paycheque. amazing right? extra amazing is it was perfectly ripe. so i used it for this recipe!

movie picnic salad:

1 mashed big avocado
1.75 cucumbers, diced (i saved 1/4 of one for my smoothie later)
1 diced red pepper
2 sliced and halved radishes
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
a couple bunches of basil and oregano, finely sliced

mixed with a blend of:

2 tablespoons tahini
1/4 teaspoon (or more?) cumin
1 tablespoon (or more?) apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons (or more?) fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon braggs
1/4 teaspoon maple syrup
pinch sea salt
pinch chili powder

i definitely have to try matthew kenney's actual version of potato salad sometime, with jicama and green olives and celery. but this one worked for me. maybe if i did this particular version again, i would add garlic to add a bit more dimension. but really, avocado and cumin and cucumber make everything amazing!!!

sandwich! YES!

with a juicer back in action, i have veggie pulp again! so... yesterday, i soaked some flax seeds and ground flax and last night i combined the pulp and flax with some braggs and a pinch of salt and spread it onto the teflex sheets in the dehydrator. this morning, i flipped the breads onto the mesh (no teflex) and now that i'm home from work (1pm), i'm able to enjoy a sandwich for lunch!
i smeared some sprouted chickpea miso on it and then cut up some lettuce, cucumber and tomato (that looks like pickle!) from the farmers market ^_^ and put some nutritional yeast and cumin and basil on top. YES! the bread is firm and almost a bit crispy on the crust but soft and chewy!

but then it was super hard to eat with everything balanced on top and i spilled some. so i added another piece of bread. i love the red colour from the beet! ^_^

if i could eat this in a restaurant, i'd be most pleased!

so this was lunch yesterday! another ani phyo delight, from p145 of ani's raw food essentials: tomato chili with taco nut meat (bean-free). i only had 1 tomato so i don't imagine i had quite the 3 cups asked for and i didn't use corn but... success! i used less chili powder than asked for since i had stuff from organic lives and wow, i still felt a punch in the head from the chili! it's powerful!

for the taco nut meat (p146), i used brazil nuts instead of walnuts and it was DELICIOUS.

i served the chili on top of some romaine and put half an avocado on each of our plates to calm the chili a bit.

 and yah, this couldn't be better if someone else made it! the PERFECT meal!!!

 and well, a couple hours later, i couldn't resist trying to make a cashew cream with lemon and vanilla to spoon over strawberries with cacao nibs!