second chance kale chips

jodie (@jodie54) posted an instagram of her rhythm superfoods kale chips and was raving about the texas bbq so much, i decided to give the brand another chance (unlike the kale chips by kaia - soon to be kaya - that have turned into gross weird discs! yuck!). i tried the rhythm kool ranch for the first time back in december when i found them in calgary and was not impressed.
these bbq ones, however, are super good! there seems to be more topping than kale for each "chip" but it is super flavourful and fresh-tasting and as comfort-food feeling as the bbq chips i remember!

i am even thinking i could give the ranch flavour another try! i'm grateful the bbq chips don't use cashews. that's one thing i have to be careful of when buying kale chips!

raw kale chips! found in calgary, alberta!

i really didn't expect food success in calgary, alberta. me and paul brought a bunch of organic produce and snacks for our time here as we expected it to be expensive or non-existant. going to planet organic the other day proved us wrong!
we got kelp noodles like we love back home for $6.50! $1 cheaper than back home! and the produce appears to be cheaper! $1 cheaper too! like $2 romaine and $1.50 avocados? what is going on? i am excited there is a market for organic products in cowtown, alberta! though my main impression of the areas we have seen is that everyone here is living in EXCESS. there is oil money here! and no tax! people have more than one iphone and car... massive and new houses with new furniture. i wonder where the old stuff is?
in the town of didsbury, alberta (population 5000), the one coffee shop here serves soy and rice milk and has gluten-free options! and paul's mom found daiya cheese and coconut bliss ice cream at the grocery store here? i am so excited there is a market for it here! seemingly in the middle of nowhere!
anyways... i bought kale chips made by rhythm superfoods at the planet organic.

i haven't even seen this brand before! (**february 2012 update - i have now seen these in greens market in vancouver**) i think the store had 4 kinds of them for sale for $6.99 which is a nice price as i find if you buy them in vancouver, they are about $10 a bag. i got kool ranch but the bag i got tastes (or smells) a bit stale. paul said the flavour was 'trying too hard' which i agree. his kale chips are my favourite! he made some for this trip (and did some chards also) and they were AWESOME. only one of his nephews would try the "leaves from vancouver" though.
it was nice to make a raw lunch the other day using the kelp noodles and blending up tomatoes with a bit of lemon, a bunch of fresh basil, a few sprinkles of salt and oregano and a pour of olive oil, and then adding sundried tomatoes. i had mine on a bed of arugula and some other greens:

we have just a couple days left here and i hope we get a chance to check out gratitude cafe somehow, perhaps tomorrow?

we enjoyed some vegan goodness at the coup today for lunch which was fun. and the gratitude cafe is just a 6 minute drive from there. i'm curious about prepared raw food in calgary! the coup had a raw dessert but i wasn't too interested in it as it was agave-sweetened. 

i had the seaweed soba ($12) and some bites of everyone else's borsht and grilled pita sandwich things!

rawzania night!

on friday, sarah, emily and jen came over and we assembled a raw lasagna together! i guess i would call it an ingredient potluck! no overuse of hummus here! and wow... how fun to be all crowded in the kitchen assembling this thing! ^_^

we used ani phyo's italian rawzania (page 185 in ani's raw food kitchen) as reference, though didn't use olives. jen made the 'italian pizza cheeze' (page 161) with cashews, emily brought the zucchini and sarah brought tomatoes, onions, basil and garlic (and carrots and kale for later! ^_^) from her garden. THE BEST! i blended up a brazil nut/cumin/coriander/braggs/salt crunchy topping which was so awesome the last time i made lasagna with paul.

organic connections cafe

last sunday, i was super excited and lucky to get to white rock to check out organic connections cafe.

they are a mostly raw, all vegan cafe overlooking the water and eek, it was great!

here is the menu:

i had the banana ice cream sundae first!

then all 3 of us ordered the burger! i had it with the side salad with dijon dressing (DELICIOUS) and my favourite boys had soups. 

 had to have dessert again after lunch... the blueberry cheesecake! and check out the "just eat an apple" magazines from 2002/3... wish it was still around now!

can't wait to go back! though it'd take almost 2 hours to get there on transit if i were to try! but it'd be worth it!

kale chip excitement!

just over a week ago, i met up with my friend for the first time since coming back from korea and she got back from san francisco. we went to an art show but i couldn't focus on anything except wanting ice cream. we went into the choices market nearby and marvelled that there were now some raw treats to buy like lara-style bars and brownies. but gah, the huge packaging and lack of organic ingredients. why eat raw if it isn't organic? anyways... decided upon some of the vanilla cashew creamery ice cream which we ate in a coffee shop across the street! ha.

this is the first retail-available raw ice cream in canada (we barely just got coconut milk ice cream!) and i'm excited about it and all but it uses the agave and well, it's made of cashews! both of these ingredients are arguably BAD for you plus they are used waaaaaay too much in raw foods and snacks. i don't mind this ice cream as much (especially if i add cacao nibs to it and some cinnamon) but jodie was NOT impressed. i think she had one spoon if that. it's nothing compared to kindkreme in LA where even my non-vegan friends were totally into going again... but i remember they used agave too and cashews! oh and it looks like they use honey too? WHAT?! but anyways... i guess it was fresh there too so that would make a difference.
so yesterday i decided to mix up some things to coat kale with to dehydrate. i used this "vegan cheesy" salad booster i got from jodie and processed it with a couple mushrooms, half a red pepper, a few slices of zucchini, a splash of apple cider vinegar, maybe some olive oil and nutritional yeast.  i ended up slicing up some collard greens to try as well because, well, kale chips are everywhere - why aren't other greens being used as well?
anyways, they have been AWESOME. i love having loads of topping. and it was hard to tell the collards from the kale except for that it's flat and not all crinkly! so i'm going to use it more often!

 last night, paul wanted carrot juice. CARROTS! i LOVE THEM!!! and i decided to use the leftover pulp in a mishmash of zucchini, red onion, garlic, and salad booster in the processor before spreading it out on a teflex sheet. i couldn't tell you what it's supposed to be but it smelled SO GOOD in the dehydrator last night. and it's been great to snack on today. though i need to drink lots of water now i think!!!

curry acorn squash bread!

since getting a dehydrator end of september, i've started experimenting making raw "bread". my first bread was garlic, flax, almond and oil and it was so soft, it was hard to keep it in one piece so you really couldn't put anything on it (which is what i wanted!). paul liked it though.
for my second one, i added chia goodness as there's sprouted buckwheat and such in there that i expected to add a nice heartiness. and it was definitely hearty... really nuts and seedsy. i liked it as i could stack stuff on it. paul didn't.
well, here's the latest... a curried acorn squash bread.

one slice is missing of the 4 slices i made as i had to test it, you know? ^_^ i smeared some coconut oil on there and it was perfection! so... to make it... of course i'm not measuring which maybe i should be if i'm posting recipes but i'll do my best:

approx. 1/4 cup ground flax seed, soaked overnight in about twice the water as flax

approx. 1/8 cup (or maybe 1/16) ground almond

about 1/2 acorn squash, cubed then processed in food processor

1 tablespoon or 2 of a curry blend of spices (including turmeric, cardamon, ginger, chili, pepper, fenugreek, clove, garlic, mustard, cinnamon, bay leaf, salt, coriander)

i spread it onto the teflex with a spatula and made it square and scored the square into 4 squares and then dehydrated for about 7 hours at 105 degrees, then i flipped it onto the mat (sans teflex) so the other side could get air and that was on for probably about 7 hours too.

i love it but the true test will be paul tonight ^_^

this is the 2nd "bread" i had made that i enjoyed the texture of but wished i had added some spices to it. though i suppose the toppings could make it fine but i don't know, tons of flavour is fun!

a few weeks ago when i had kale chips and crackers and strange yam chips (i really have to use the peeler to make them thin and proper rather than an odd slice of chewy crunchiness) and banana cacao strips...

and a few weeks ago when i had crackers made and a "cheesy" type thing made with macadamia nuts that i wasn't sure what to do with so i put it on top of salad. this meal was AWESOME and it took maybe 5 minutes to put together!

last weekend or the weekend before, i took over a snack package to paul of a banana cranberry flax crepe type roll, apple chips, cacao almond coconut macaroon, strawberry chips, kale chips, sprouted teriyaki sunflower seeds, red onion flax crackers and my 2 kinds of breads! i gotta get in the habit of making so many things at once so i can do this more! it was so fun putting together all these treats for him!

korean middle school cafeteria day 7

breakfast today was especially amazing as my korean nutritionist friend's friend at the cafeteria brought me nectarines and grapes? YAY!!!! and that is after i had those plums! so much fresh fruit!













and then at lunch... something i have never seen in my 4 camps here... raw vegetables! carrots and cucumbers!? YES!!!!














dinner was not inspiring or helpful in any way and i'm still wondering what i should snack on at movie night... maybe some chocolate (cacao, of course!) covered goji berries? inca berries? one of the raw cookies i found in LA?














fast forward a few hours...

so i decided against the movie but decided on a cookie that was coconut deliciousness. i also tried some kale chips (salt and vinegar) which really were the worst i've ever had and it's pretty hard to screw up kale. not enough vinegar and they tasted old. i guess you gotta just make em yourself if you're going to eat them. kinda hard when you're travelling. but maybe next time i'll prepare my own in advance!