All About Food

Almond yogurt with fresh strawberries
and a touch of raw honey. 

My life is kind of revolving around food at the moment, so it's appropriate that I dedicate a post to the details.

The Yogurt

Today has been full of some food experiments. The almond yogurt wasn't quite done last night, so I let it sit overnight. I had my first bowl this morning, and honestly, I'm wondering if the probiotics worked, or if I'm just eating something that was left on the counter too long. (I'm mostly joking...)

The yogurt was...not yogurt. But it wasn't bad! I blended in some raw honey and fresh strawberries, and it made a good breakfast. Even though I'm going to have to get used to the flavor, I was craving it throughout the day, which I take to be a good sign.

It's a little mealy (like the texture of ricotta cheese), and I can definitely pick up that fermented flavor, which is almost a little cheese-like. This actually gives me some ideas of other things I can use it for. I have a friend that's been doing this raw thing for a couple years (and was actually the one who took me to see the presentation that inspired me to do this), and he said he uses a probiotic that results in a better flavor, and the result isn't as mealy - the same brand featured in the video below.

Hmm... I will have to try that, but I'm definitely skeptical about whether it's just a matter of the probiotic I'm using. After all, this was my first try, so I'm thinking of all the things I may have potentially done wrong. I think I'll try another batch in the next couple days, once this one is gone, and see if I can get a different outcome. For one, the skins were really hard to take off of the almonds, so I'm wondering if I just hadn't soaked them long enough. If so, then that could be why the concoction wasn't creamier.

In addition, I've discovered I don't even have to remove the skin. Here is a video of Lou Corona, the man that inspired me to finally do this, going over the basics of this yogurt stuff:

Kale Chips

Homemade "cheesy" kale chips - delicious!

As of three minutes ago, this has been my most favorite discovery so far. The reason is not so much because of the kale chips, though, as much as it is the nutritional yeast. I had heard that this yeast has a cheesy flavor, but I'd never had it. Until just now! And I mean JUST NOW. I took a picture of the kale chips being dehydrated for this post, and noticed that they looked done. I popped one in my mouth and literally gasped.

Wow! These are soooo delicious, and they really do taste cheesy! I am in shock. I am in love. So I'm posting THIS picture instead. I intend to eat every last one of these things before this post is published. Here's the recipe I used, but I subbed the walnuts for sunflower seeds, the olive oil for coconut oil, and I also added some cayenne, since I like some spice. I know - I might as well have just given you my own recipe, but I'm too lazy. You'll get the idea... Also, I think the reason my "cheese" clumps are so big is because the sunflower seeds were too wet. Next time I'm going to try to make it more crumbly.

Other Foods I'm Loving

In my first post, I published a picture of some eggplant chips with fresh guacamole. I really loved these, and now I'm trying to make the same recipe with zucchini. I cut three zucchinis in three different ways, to give it some variety and see which ones I prefer on the dehydrator. I cut one in small circles - like chips; one in long, thin slices; and one in "sticks". I'll give a report tomorrow on the one that I prefer. I'm hoping for something crunchy, so we'll see!

My new addiction.

I am also drinking a looot of red tea, which is really high in antioxidants, and just makes me happier about this whole thing. When I'm feeling discouraged, or at a loss of what to make, it's tea time. And as I sip on this yummy goodness, going raw seems much more doable.

I had this for the first time several months ago at a friend's house, and I loved it so much she sent me home with my own stash. I'm now running fairly low, after drinking it like crazy this past week, so I tried to find some more at Sprouts. I found a Celestial Seasonings variety with some vanilla - which was the purest blend I could find. I couldn't find JUST the tea, and the other brands had other things like cinnamon and cloves added to it. I may try those in the future, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I just want the straight tea.

NOTE: This is purely an herbal tea. It's not actually from a tea leaf; the Rooibos is its formal plant name, and "red tea" is just a nickname. So there's no caffeine or yucky acids to deal with.

UPDATE: A friend just referred me to the BEST TEA SHOP EVER, where I can order this tea is so many different delicious flavors. I think I'm going to have to make some exceptions to my tea-only rule. You can check out that site here:  http://tinroofteas.com/rooibush-teas/.

A Confession

So, here's a little confession. When I started this raw journey, I'd just gone grocery shopping like two days earlier, so I had an unopened carton of Almond Milk in the fridge. What to do, what to do? DRINK IT! I've been putting a splash of the milk in my tea, which is probably cheating, but I know the milk comes from raw almonds, so I can easily rationalize this (= rational ' lies). But, I probably won't buy more. Instead, I'm hoping to find an easy recipe for making my own. If you have an opinion on this, or a great recipe to share, feel free to leave that below.

My Golden Rule With Food

I've quickly realized that one of the keys to my success is going to be avoiding things that I hate. I COULD eat some of this crap for health's sake, but why do that to myself? Chances are, there is always something else just as healthy that I could be eating instead.

For instance, the other night I tried my hand at making marinara sauce over zucchini spaghetti. It wasn't spaghetti, and it was crunchy and cold. Gross! So, being a college-educated woman with a truckload of wisdom, I decided what I really needed to do was use spaghetti squash next time. Which I did the next day. The result? It was still crunchy, cold, and gross. I ate a few bites, feeling sorry for myself and wondering what the heck I was doing trying to go raw, when I realized that I didn't have to eat it.

"But it's so healthy!" I argued. "It's raw! This is my life now - I just need to get used to this!"

I struggled through another bite or two before I realized that if I am going to do this raw thing, I'd better be eating foods that I really enjoy - and there are plenty of them! So I quickly tossed the impostor and made myself a huge salad - something that is SUPPOSED to be crunchy and cold, and is just as healthy.

So, that's been my motto. If I don't like it, move on to the next experiment. The flip side of that is that I'm making an effort to keep things on hand that I know that I love. This includes avocados, watermelon, young coconuts, eggplant chips, herbal teas, sun-dried tomatoes, and fruits galore.

Even still, I'm committed to experimenting and trying new things every day. In the process, I'm discovering more foods that I both love and hate - and recalibrating my experiments accordingly. So, we'll see what new flavors tomorrow holds.

Told'ya