so many thinks to think right now!

so don't even get me started about my fears of losing access to real, whole, organic, non-GMO foods. perhaps you heard of the whole foods "not labelling GMO" drama of last year? of course i go through phases where i feel hopeful (and i remind myself about the good things happening when i see stuff like truth in labelling campaigns and i make sure i am as aware as possible and eat as much fresh, organic plant foods as possible as per this how to avoid genetically modified foods article.) but sometimes it's hard not to feel sad for our world's health! i guess i just have to keep hoping that our push for progress and our rapidly changing technology advances will somehow suddenly shift us to using absolutely no electricity or oil or plastic, etc (probably because there will be none!) and back to "the basics" of growing food for your immediate community and moving at a man and sun-powered pace!

just want to put this all out there in ye 'ol interwebs, whoa, what a ramble... as i think about the health of the world, i remember that i can at least do something about my own health!

with this new year, my naturopath had promised an elimination diet to figure out my food sensitivities and allergies.

FYI, i finally used almond flour (remnants from making milk) successfully! i made a cracker bread with soaked ground flax and processed carrot, beet, green onion and sauerkraut and a whole bunch of spices. hurrah! (smeared on top is a store-bought red pepper hummus. oh the shame! but hey, it tasted great and i was able to eat it with other people over at my place!)

so now, i am not only avoiding the regulars which i would NEVER dream of eating such as any animal products, coffee, MSG, or conventional, non-organic things, but i have to completely avoid the following for 3 months:
*corn
*wheat
*baker's yeast
*green pepper
*tomato
*grapes
*honeydew
*strawberry
*cashews
*peanuts
*saccharin, white sugar

so some of those things, i don't buy anyways, but i don't usually ask if they are in the ingredients of something i order at a restaurant. and now i need to. and i guess i don't usually eat ANY of them but tomatoes. even though i have always known i was sensitive to tomatoes, i thought i was ok eating them. and i definitely enjoyed not having to look out for them as an ingredient!

the following things, i need to have RARELY (so for me, i am 'indulging' once a week if necessary):
*dates (gah!)
*figs (thank GOODNESS it isn't september right now!)
*papaya (it's been awhile since i've had my tropical thunder smoothie at organic lives but still)
*peach
*watermelon
*brazil nut (also has been awhile since i've binged on these! hehe but gah, i love brazil nuts!!!)
*hemp seed (can't help but wonder if this is because i was drinking hemp milk and pouring seeds on my salads in the days before my sensitivity test)
*poppy seed
*wine (it's funny since i haven't really enjoyed it for the past year)
*carob, chocolate, cocoa powder (what?! i wondered if this was because i was going CRAZY for chocolate the week before my test. this past friday, i treated myself to 2 halves of zimt bars! i had asked if raw cacao counted and apparently it does. sigh.)
*sugar cane
*brewer's yeast
*buckwheat
*oats
*brown rice
*sprouted bread
*fermented soy (i thought fermented soy was the easiest soy? soy milk was borderline for me)
*cauliflower (was it because of my horrid cauliflower mash the week before?)
*cucumber (at least it's not in season right now and expensive because i LOVE cucumbers!!!)
*eggplant
*pumpkin
*spinach
*squash
*sweet potato, yam
*black eyed/lima/navy beans

so it's been super interesting doing this so far. i have survived just over a week. i have to keep a food diary which is interesting as i'm thinking more about what i eat since i have to record it down. it's helping me become more conscious and eat when i'm hungry rather than eating just because it's so delicious! hehe.

ooh, speaking of delicious... a smoothie inspired by my friend menaka working in bali... frozen banana and banana with thawed coconut meat, supergreens (spirulina, chlorella, barley grass, wheatgrass, AFA, brainon), lucuma, tumeric, and ginger! YUM!

it's also been interesting because i'm realizing that just because i'm not eating something i really love (ie chocolate), it doesn't mean that i am sad or feel i'm missing out. there are so many incredible things to eat and it somehow isn't a big deal?
i'm now also eating with more awareness of proper food combining. i have considered it before, as with balancing acidic and alkaline foods. i'm aiming for 75% alkaline food in my diet. and that, with trying to eat what is local as well. so... it is really perfect for eating raw! i am really limiting my processed food intake, which admittedly isn't very high to begin with, but it's always a challenge when you decrease your options!
the only annoying thing is eating out. vancouver has so many vegan-friendly restaurants and i have LOVED being able to order anything without question. now i have so many questions again. and new questions. it's a whole new way of thinking.

like eating at sejuiced the other day - i would normally get the raw caesar but it's made with cashews! so i ordered a sandwich and i couldn't do gluten-free bread as it was made with buckwheat. so i got lettuce "bread" and skipped the tomato and instead, it was filled with a chickpea hummus (which i acknowledge is not raw!) with yummy avocado and sprouts. the bonus was i was still satisfied and it cost me only $4? yah!

i feel lucky as i can imagine this sort of elimination diet process for an "eat anything" person would be INCREDIBLY challenging, if not impossible. but last year, i wasn't eating ANYTHING off my avoid list except tomatoes and sometimes the other fruit!

the simple pleasures: finding these pears at drive organics. so nice to have a delicious snack! i haven't been able to bring my usual larabar work snack as there are cashews and/or dates in them so i have been on the lookout for easy things to pack along with me and THESE were INCREDIBLE!)

i am grateful for this chance to be more present in another area of my life. the diet actually helps me appreciate my nourishment even more! and a big bonus is it is helping me stick to more of a budget this year which was an important 2012 resolution for me!

so i know i can do this. and i'm super curious as to what i will find out!

mary rydman recipes!

if you don't already, see what your local library has in the way of raw food books! i am constantly trying out new ones before committing to buying any. it's the best! some may have awesome recipes but if they aren't simple enough for me to be inspired to try them (as a starting off point or to follow exactly), then they are pointless to have!

anyways, my most recent book from the library was mary rydman's raw food quick and easy. i had to return it so i ended up taking photos of recipes i was most likely to try and within the last 24 hours, i've tried 2!

first one i tried was her "mashed cauliflower 'potatoes'" last night. i wish i had ingredients for her gravy also (which i conveniently did NOT take a photo of - though i suppose i could've found a recipe idea easily enough somewhere else!). me and paul were overwhelmed by the strong raw cauliflower and garlic tastes. i kinda felt like i was eating pureed horseradish! i liked the texture and the initial taste but wow, this is potent stuff!

 paul was a super good sport and added tons of nutritional yeast. 

i tried a (leftover) spoonful tonight with some corn and it was a lot easier to eat! but i know there's gotta be an even better recipe (for me) out there. (this one and this one are similar but perhaps different enough to warrant a try?)

tonight i made her tomato soup. 

this is probably the first raw soup that i have made and enjoyed. which is pretty exciting. though i couldn't finish my bowl! maybe too many raw tomatoes. (if i eat those whole, somehow, i gag uncontrollably!)

 but i have some to bring with my lunch for work tomorrow. i'm curious how it will hold up the next day. will the italian spices be too strong by then? or will everything be more subtle? i've added nutritional yeast and hemp hearts in hopes that having a bit more texture will help!

gratitude cafe!

hooray! i got to try gratitude cafe in calgary last night!
i'll admit i was quite nervous about bringing paul and his mom there as there is an unbelievable amount of negative reviews of "attitude cafe". but paul and i agreed that our extremely low expectations weren't the reason we had a most lovely experience! paul's mom even said she would love to stop in again if she finds herself in kensington. so either people there have figured out how to run things in the last couple years or there are some delusional yelp stalkers trying to make them look bad!

when we came in, i was the only one who really wanted to eat, but the place was empty and thankfully everyone was okay with staying for something sit-down. our waitress came right away and suggested we do the raw platter and told us the wrap that was part of it could be split into 3 for us. so that was super easy!

it came so quick,  i don't even remember waiting!

the platter had a curry(?) with sunflower seed-sauced veg noodles in the center with a shittake on top, collard wraps and a gingery salad with sprouted quinoa, cilantro, cucumber and red cabbage. all pieces of the platter had intense (but welcome!) and differing flavours and textures. the vegetable crackers were too dry for paul's liking, but i enjoyed the thicker, nuttier texture than i am used to. i wish i could place more of the tastes but they were welcome ones that i don't have often! everyone enjoyed sharing this. and it was really nice how it was divided up into 3 portions for us!

we then decided to take on one of the raw desserts available - the amaretto cheezecake with a convenient 3 (1 for each of us! i'm sure it wasn't a coincidence!) cape gooseberries as garnish. super sweet and a nice nut (and possibly avocado)- influenced texture. it looked and tasted a bit like thanksgiving, er, perhaps, gratitude, on a plate. hehe.

and everything was so quick and enjoyable, we decided to stay for a latte. me and paul planned to share. then paul's mom figured she'd have one too. and the staff split our 2 ordered lattes into 3 mugs! yay! we got chai tea with almond milk. i guess one thing i was surprised by was the apparent lack of any "raw" drink choices. i guess you need to ask what is available for smoothie flavours and juices. there was no indication if fresh fruit was used and juiced on the spot or if everything was from a package (which i assume). i did expect at the very least, house-made almond milk. there was a coconut milk option but i confirmed it was from a can. no thanks! and okay, i'm happy enough to have almond milk from a tetra when i'm dining out in alberta! in a raw-friendly cafe!

and really, this was such a treat especially when compared to our options at o'sullivans later that night for karaoke! i was so excited to see 'vegan' on the menu but it turned out to be 'vegan nightmare'. hahaha.

anyways, i'm happy that we got to go to gratitude cafe and i just joined yelp now so that i can leave a positive review!

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!

lazy cookie experiments.

i'm not sure what my deal is, but whenever i make almond milk and have all the almond flour leftover, i either figure i won't use it for awhile and put it in the freezer or i try to make up a recipe for cookies that never works! the other day was no exception.

 what i should do next time is at least try something that has been done before so i get a better idea of what makes a good cookie texture. i'm thinking this cacao walnut cookie recipe might be a good one for next time (substituting the agave, of course!).

for these cookies, i used almond flour, banana, coconut oil, maple syrup, cinnamon and cacao nibs on top. maybe there was something else too. they smelled AMAZING in the dehydrator.

out of the dehydrator though, i figure these would need raw ice kream on top or something! they are kinda chewy but basically cause me to gasp for air, like eating too much almond butter or something. i think i need to add dates or something sticky and sweet to balance out the dry flour.

next time i will spend the extra 30 seconds and look up some sort of guideline to follow!

why is the majority of industry in the wrong industry?

last night, i finally watched food inc. which isn't anything shocking to someone who reads michael pollan and had to recently cut herself off from food/environment/health documentaries as they were getting to be too doom and gloom!

but anyways...

combine thoughts from the movie and my friend mentioning today that oil of oregano will be pulled from shelves within the next 2 months (it's already started in alberta and apparently in ontario!) and i am having a hard time not getting back into a 'it's hopeless!!!' state again.

okay so oil of oregano 'works too well' - why can't BIG PHARMA switch gears (and products, ahem) and start mass producing things that work!?

ah, and why can't amazing foods (and superfoods!) be advertised with the amazing things they do? why can bogus, novelty "food" like cheerios ramble on about benefits of whole grain in your diet while raw chocolate zimt can't make any claims about raw cacao or the FDA will be after it?

what's so bad with having a healthy population?

oh, right. the traditional doctors.

why not pay them to keep us healthy and stop paying when you are not? they could potentially get paid non-stop! that's a medical plan that makes sense to me!!! keep these people accountable rather than just getting rid of one symptom only to gain a million others.

oh but a healthy population isn't something we need right now. not with a world bursting with almost 7 billion people?

let's pull a china with a 1 kid per family rule or try to encourage people (of our currently poor and frustrated generation) to not have kids?

i like to remind myself that the world can heal itself. more and more people are becoming interested in eating better, becoming concerned with gmo's and conventionally grown (ie non-organic) food.

we can eat more organic, compost it, barter for more... basically, i see our success dependent on returning to some old skool ways. it's funny to me to consider progress as going back to the basics. our brains are so focussed on the crazy advances to technology, we are forgetting our basic needs.

food. real food. water. unpolluted water. air. fresh air. love. attention and connection with real people in real time in the real world.

hope you are well. <3

chocolate mousse in a glass

ok so maybe not the most INSPIRING photo of all time but how could i post without a photo?
anyways, after my flow class, i NEEDED a chocolate smoothie! but i was also down for experimenting. and what i have ended up with is the softest, most lightest (almost foamy!) pudding of a smoothie. i'm 'drinking' it with a spoon! heaven.
this is what i did and well, i'm not one for following recipes (or measuring) so strictly so the following is my best educated guess:
*half a frozen banana
*half an avocado
*1 cup almond milk
*2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
*1 tablespoon yacon syrup (i've been loving trying it in everything lately, trying to figure out exactly what i like about it. i'm so used to dates and maple syrup as a sweetener, this fruity sweetness is a nice switch!)
*a sprinkle of red maca powder (figure it can't hurt to combine some with that cacao)
*a sprinkle of lucuma powder (hmm, since i didn't have enough sweetness with the banana and yacon... haha)

i'm going to do my best to save some of this for paul to try when he gets home. i'm so curious for a second opinion!