Veggie Spiralizer

I got the coolest new gadget! It's kind of like a mandolin, but way cooler! It makes spiral strips out of zucchini, carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, etc. Like curly fries! Here's a totally raw "sandwich" I made today. I used some "flatbread" made in my dehydrator, red peppers, spiralized zucchini, and a sauce made out of cashews! I'll post the recipe for the flatbread and sauce later, but right now I just wanted to show you how cool this veggie tool is!
Here's a bowl of zucchini. Zucchini can be substituted for pasta in raw meals with a "cheeze sauce" made out of cashews.
The strips of zucchini can be two or three feet long! It was really fun to crank out these spirals!

Apple Carrot Bars

2 Cups golden flax seeds

1 Cup pecans, soaked for 2 hours

1 Cup carrot pulp (I juiced a couple of carrots and used the pulp)

1 Cup grated apple

1 1/2 Tbs. orange zest

1 Tbs. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbs. cacoa nibs (optional, but yummy)

Grind your flax seed until they are superfine.

Process your pecans in a food processor with the "s" blade into the consistency of meal. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix together.

Spread onto a dehydrator sheet about 1" thick and slice into bars.

Dehydrate at 115 deg. for 5 or 6 hours - until they are crunchy. We all thought these were "ok", but they seemed a little bland until I drizzled Ghirardelli white chocolate on them and then they were wonderful!!

Ok, I realize that the white chocolate knocked it out of the totally "Raw" ballpark, but since we are all new to Raw Foods I thought it would be a good way to get the kids to really like them. It worked!!

(If you aren't into juicing, you can use pumpkin or sweet potato processed in a high power blender or food processor with a little water to make it smooth.)

Chewy gRAWnola

Here's a really healthy and tasty snack that everyone thinks is good! It is a variation of "Chewy Bolder Boulder Granola" taken from Kristen Suzanne's Easy Raw Vegan Dehydrating, which has been extremely helpful to me in exploring raw foods.

1. I used 2 1/2 cups of nuts and seeds - almonds, pecans, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds - but you can use whatever combination of nuts and seeds you have on hand.

Soak these seeds & nuts overnight in 4 or 5 cups of water for about 8 hours or overnight. Drain them, saving the water, and rinse.

2. In your blender, put about 20-25 medjool dates. Make sure you take the pits out of them! (I was able to find Medjool dates at Sam's Club. They are really soft and moist.) Add about a cup of the soak water, a pinch of Himalayan Crystal Salt, 1 Tbs. of Cinnamon, 1/4 tsp Nutmeg, or other spices you think might be good. Blend this into a paste.

3. Put the seeds/nuts and 1/2 cup each of the following in a large bowl: Coconut (shredded & unsweetened), dried Blueberries, Craisens, Golden Raisens, dried Mango chunks, or any other dried fruits. I also added 1/2 cup Hemp Seeds and 3 Tbs. of raw Cacao Nibs. Add the date paste and mix it all together.

4. Spread this batter about 1/4" thick onto a non stick sheet on your dehydrator tray. Dehydrate at 104 deg. for 8-10 hours. At this point you can flip it onto another tray, peeling off the non stick sheet. Continue to dehydrate for 16-24 hours, or until they are dry.

These can be cut into bars before they're put in the dehydrator or you can just break them into "bites" when they're dried. These have been the favorite raw snack we've made so far....

Rhubarb Butter

A friend gave me a gazillion stalks of rhubarb that I couldn't bear to waste, so I put up some really yummy rhubarb butter!

I played around with a very old recipe calling for 15 C Rhubarb and 14 C sugar and came up with a somewhat healthier version:

32 C rhubarb chopped in 1" pieces

4 large oranges

5 C agave syrup

1 1/2 C sugar mixed with 1 C Clear Jel

Process the entire orange, peel and all, in a food processor or high power blender until it's a liquid/paste. Pour this over the rhubarb pieces and mix. Let it stand overnight.

In the morning, put the rhubarb/orange into a large pot, add the agave syrup and bring to a boil. Let simmer for an hour or so until the rhubarb breaks down to a sauce and thickens, stirring off and on so it doesn't burn.

Next, blend the "clear jel" into the sugar. Sift this mixture slowly into the rhubarb sauce, stirring constantly until it has thickened - about 5 or 10 minutes.

In the meantime, boil some canning jars & lids for 10 minutes to sterilize them. Pour the hot rhubarb into the hot jars leaving 1/4" headspace, (wipe off the rim of the jar so there can be a good seal) put the seals on, then the lids, and then just let them sit on a towel on the counter until they self seal!

I used 12 pint jars and then put the rest (about a quart) in my fridge. This morning we put it on whole wheat pancakes.....YUM!

Earth Bread!

Earth Bread!

About 23 years ago we moved to a ranch community in Nebraska. We were about 20 miles from "town" and about 2 hrs. away from a store where we could buy sox and undies for the kids! I learned a LOT while we lived there. I learned that there are not "streets" in the country, there are "roads". I learned that a cow isn't just a cow....a cow is a heifer or a cow depending on if they've calved or not... and a cow is not a bull or a steer. I learned that a "truck" is a farm truck and not a pickup truck, and that's it's safer to say "vehicle" for any car/truck etc. that you drive. I learned that a "preacher" is someone who is there for just a little while, but the ranchers have been there for generations, so no preacher man better be goin in there tryin to change anything cuz he's just gonna leave anyway. I learned that everyone lives in a "neighborhood" even if there's no one closer than 2 or 3 miles away..."neighborhoods" consist of families who's children go to the same one room schoolhouse and may have a 20 mile radius! I learned that in the country the main meal, called "dinner", is at noon and that "supper" is the evening meal and is leftovers and/or sandwiches. I learned that if one makes sandwiches at noon and a neighbor stops by it is assumed that one can't cook. I learned that cowboys are real. I learned the meaning of "family" in a completely different context. -In the city everyone gets babysitters to watch their kids each weekend and dad's & mom's go to work in different places...all family members have their own lives separate from each other. On a ranch mom and dad both go to work on their own place and the kids go to school, but then they come home and help their parents. The dad's take their little kids with them in their vehicle to check cows, or fences, and babysitters are very seldom needed because most people have grandparents close by, but usually the entire family does everything together.... and it's just the way it is. I learned that it's not cool to go to town for much....people who live along the highway count the times their neighbors go to town during the week. I learned that "news" is who visited who and who ate dinner with who and who had a branding and who helped...and it's actually in the newspaper. I learned that ranch wives love to pass on their knowledge to help city people learn country skills....like chicken pickin, eating lots of beef, gardening, canning, quilting, branding, dehorning, entering various things in the county fair, & making rocky mt. oysters.

An incredible ranch wife who accepted this city girl who moved into the neighborhood from Phoenix, helped me with my garden, chicken picken, raising some sheep, and way more, & shared her blue ribbon recipe for Earth Bread with me so I thought I'd share it with you all...

2 cups sugar

3 cups flour (I used fresh ground whole wheat and it turned out great)

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon (I add more)

mix dry ingredients and then add:

1 cup grated zucchini

1/4 cup grated carrots

1/2 cup mashed bananas

1 cup canola oil (I used unsweetened canned apples run thru my food processor instead of oil!)

2 tsp vanilla

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 cups chopped nuts

It's best to let this "age" overnight.

Grease and flour 2 bread pans (lining the bottom of the pan with wax paper makes it easy for the bread to come out). I usually divide the batter between several small loaf pans instead of 2 large ones.

Bake @350 for one hour.

The story behind The Fat House

I grew up with two incredible cooks! My mother and my grandma!

My grandparents had a small farm in Portland, Oregon. There were pigs way out back, a huge veggie garden, luscious cherry trees, and best of all, the berry patch with raspberries, boysenberries, and blackberries!! The summer nights with aunts, uncles, and cousins sitting in Grandma and Grandpa's back yard eating ice cream with fresh picked berries are of my favorite memories.

My grandparent's also had a house on the Oregon coast right on the ocean in Gleneden Beach. It was my favorite place in the world to explore...and eat!! We would go "surf fishing" with Grandpa and catch ocean perch. My parents, aunts & uncles would go clam digging early in the morning. There was a fish cleaning sink right inside the back door where literally hundreds of fish were cleaned and taken into the kitchen where grandma would fry them up.

My grandparents had a steady stream of visitors both at the beach house and in their house in Portland. Everyone loved my grandma's cooking and at some point she was given a wooden routered sign that hung above her kitchen sink at the beach house. The sign said, "Fat House".

So, there began my love of food and cooking for friends and family!