Compote and kompost

This is so simple and duh-worthy I wonder why I only accidentally discovered it through googling prunes. Compote is a mixture of fruit simmered in water and light sweetener. I had been wondering how to get my baby to eat more variety of fruit after discovering that bananas have a constipating effect. Additionally, he only takes a few bites out of my apples every day and this is a great way to soften it up. The pectin in apples will also serve as a thickening agent!

Kompost is a christmastime drink in Russian cultures, and is made by soaking and boiling fruits and then letting it cool. Babies are given apple juice which causes cavities and spoils their palate, so this is a good treat or alternative to water. In this case, boiling the fruit won't lose nutritional value because it's in the water... Right?

spaghetti squash is very interesting

preheat the oven to 350, cut the squash in half, place it in the oven for 30 or 40 minutes, face down with a bit of water in it to prevent it from drying out.

I threw in some carrots to soften them up for my 1 year old, too.

In a food processor, broccoli tops with some but not all of the hard bits, one zuchini, a bunch of sundried tomatoes... and then it it was too fresh... so I added some dehydrated 'falafel' balls i had made a long time ago that were wanting to be used... It brought the dish into an earthier element which was needed with all the water and sunlight that was going on in the food processor. The Beet-Balls also added good texture.

Aanyway, i wanted to make some cheezy alfredo sauce, so i took out the pre-made alfredo sauce out of the pantry and looked at the ingredients, and the thing you see in the back left is the cheezy alfredo sauce that i made...

If you can get over your fear of salmonella poisoning, you can make this. Personally, i've been eating raw eggs every day with fermented soybeans, so it was easy for me.

1 raw egg (i used two but it was too much egg)
a yolk's amount of Chia seeds (as thickening)
parmesan cheese (yea, not raw, but fuck you, neither is the squash)
nutritional yeast (nutty cheesy flava)
and some salt and pepper

I really, really liked it, but i was very hungry. I could tell my mother missed the fermented soybeans, so i made a separate dish (back right) with squash, fermented soybeans, and my 'alfredo sauce'

I ended up putting the alfredo sauce ontop of my pasta sauce and enjoying that for a few bites too.

Okay... so, this has been my second squash experience, and i have a few more months of squash season to get through. Please help me with any ideas you love.

Varieties of seaweed

There is a whole variety of seaweed out there in the vast ocean. Are you aware?

This dish has coliflor, Red pepper, sesame seeds and kombu mixed in a mixture of soy sauce and sweet sushi vinegar.

"Of the eight major groups, three are used for food. Red seaweed, or Rhodphyta, includes dulse, purple nori, ogo, agar and Irish moss. Brown seaweed, or Phaeophyta, includes kelp, kombu, wakame, arame, hijiki and rock weed. Sea lettuce belongs to the Chlorophyta, or green seaweed group." from a NY times article on seaweed

Seaweed can be expensive to buy if you see them in health food stores. If you live near an asian population, you can find a large variety of dried seaweeds in asian supermarkets. There you will also find incredibly cheap fruits and vegetables, though you may not know what a lot of them are. That can be a fun adventure

"Arame, Eisenia bicyclis, is rich in iron and calcium. It is usually tossed into stir-fried dishes or soups, but can be served marinated in soy sauce and vinegar or fried with tofu."

"Dulse, or Rhodymenia palmata, which sometimes goes by the poetic name ''Neptune's girdle,'' once was eaten as a snack like potato chips in Western Europe and New England. Dulse is found in the North Atlantic and the waters of the Pacific Northwest. Fast-cooking and purplish-red, it is delicious fried in butter, added to soups and salads and combined with grains like oatmeal and barley. Rehydrated, it can be used as a leafy green, or mixed with cream cheese to make a savory spread for bagels. Or coat it in batter and fry it." Most of that sounds like something I will not be doing with Dulse. I like my dulse raw.

"Hijiki, Hizikia fusiforme, is excellent for dieters because it is very filling, and adds a crunchy texture and nutty, meaty flavor to almost any stir-fry dish, soup, stew or salad. Brown when fresh, hijiki turns black and stringy when dried. It is especially good cooked with onions and tofu."

"Kelp, a Laminaria, is available powdered, for use as a salt substitute, and is also sliced for soups, stews, vegetable and noodle dishes. Tasty when toasted until crisp and fragrant or fried in a little oil, it is also delicious crumbled onto popcorn, nuts, seeds, soups and salads. Kombu, also a Laminaria, is packaged dried in flat sheets or strands and is best known as a flavoring - along with shaved bonito flakes - in dashi, the Japanese soup stock." You can also find delicious kelp noodles online or at rainbow grocery and they make an excellent substitute for wheat noodles.

Apples and honey

Alright,
Real Simple, Real quick.

I just wanted to share this treat with you. I was surprised at a restaurant with this when we sat down, ready, waiting for us. It was so delicious, and usually One of my selves says to my Other self "What, like an apple isn't sweet enough, they have to drizzle honey on top?" But its so delicious.

Try it!

Getting to be [more] Raw

Step One, Intend on incorporating more raw foods into your life.
(Why? Because its great, and its not really that extreme of a thing to do.)

Step Two, Be easy on yourself. Health is more than what you eat. Its every day choices, replacing old crappy habits with better habits and allowing yourself to fluctuate between the two, so you really know Why you're doing this in the first place: It feels better.

Cooked foods and how i feel

The way that i make any big, permanent changes in my life is Little By Little, going back and forth from my old ways and experimenting with the new ways. That way i can notice changes along the way and know they're legit.

So after a few days of feeling great eating just fruit, i switched to eating whatever was presented, which included bread with the most delicious olive oil butter, salt and nutritional yeast covered kale chips, walnuts, salty sesame sticks, chips, hummus, black beans mixed with prunes and bananas (what was i thinking...?)

sweet, fatty, salty.

A few days ago, when I had been eating primarily fruits and salads, with little infidelities like a nut here and there, i was fuggin radiating. A friend visited and took this picture,





and throughout those days i was noticing the effect that radiance was having on people i met throughout the day... Anyway, after i experimented the other way (the hodgepodge food combinations) i had breakouts, gas, and this constipated feeling. And now i look like THIS!










And sure, camera quality, attire, time of day, and facial expressions may account for some variables in this scientific comparison of the differences in food intake and radiance output, but the results are still very compelling.

Very.

let it at least be anecdotal evidence. Eating fruit and salad i felt energetic, well, and radiant. Eating other stuff i got congested with a runny nose, constipated feelings, and zitty.
So yeah, tomorrow i'll be sitting in a bus for 4 to 5 hours, and i'm only bringing fruit, water, and juice with me.

mami's raw japanese dish: traditio~on! tradition!

My mom made this last night with cucumbers, and i asked her to make it again so I could take a picture because it was so delicious. We didn't have any cucumbers anymore, so she used zuchini, squash, celery and tomatoes! Very colorful, and just as delicious as the cucumber dish.


How to recreate this:
Soak dried wakame seaweed to expand
Whatever vegetables you have, cucumbers/zuchini/squash/tomatoes. slice them thin and floppy for nice texture
sesame seeds

For the dressing/sauce/marinade, Sushi vinegar (which is sweeter than regular vinegar) rice vinegar, a little bit of soy sauce, and a little bit of stevia. If you have ponzu you can use that instead.

Super alkaline and definitely nutritious and delicious :)