Welcome to The Self-Love Diet...

I have yet to meet a man who has EVER complained about too much ass. I promise.

When I was in my late teens I had the priviledge of working as a live-aboard nanny on a sailboat for a family with two daughters.  While I learned sooo very much from this intense and wonderful experience, there are a few golden nuggets of wisdom that the mom of the family passed on to me that have been with me and served me well over the years.  Sometimes the nuggets arrived in the form of a story but most often they were shared by her selfless and loving example, simply by how this beautiful woman did life and love and communication.

As I was folding laundry this morning I remembered a story that she shared with me while we were sailing and it went something like this:

When she was single and her oldest daughter was quite young (something like 4 years old), she was driving with a girlfriend somewhere and they were casually lamenting the size of their arses, as ladies sometimes do.  Now these were happy hippie single moms doing life in paradise and conscious about being purposeful parents, people, stewards of the planet, et cetera et cetera.  They arrived wherever it was that they were going and everyone but her young daughter got out of the car.  She poked her head back in the car and encouraged her daughter to get out.  Her daughter refused.  When her mom asked her why, the little girl's reply was: "My butt's too big."

So today I pass this story on to you as hopefully a nourishing morsel on the self-love diet.  How absurd it is for a little girl to be paralyzed by the thought that her butt's too big.  It's just as silly for big girls to hide too... 

...AND I have YET to meet a man (of any orientation) that has EVER complained about too much ass.  I promise.  And I work with the public.  A mostly male public.  In a rather uninhibited environment.  I'm telling you ladies - MO is BETTA!  And loving what you got no matter what you got is the BEST.

RECIPE: Marinated Kale Salad

Dressing/Marinade:

• 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes
• juice from 2-4 oranges (about a cup of liquid, don't be afraid to be generous with juice)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (lemon juice concentrate is just fine)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 heaping teaspoon dried herbs d’ provence or Italian seasoning 
• 1 teaspoon dried chili flakes (to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt (to taste)
• 2-4 fresh garlic cloves (to taste)
  

Everything Else:

• 2 large bunches of fresh kale
• ½ cup almonds
• fresh pear

Combine all of the liquids in a medium sized mixing bowl.  Add the herbs, chili flakes and salt.  Mince garlic and sundried tomatoes and add to liquids.  I find that cutting the sundried tomatoes with kitchen shears is easier than using a knife.  Let this mixture sit at room temperature for as long as possible, over night if possible – but perfectly fine if it sits just as long as it takes you to prepare the remainder of the recipe. 

Cut the kale off of the stems discard the stems.  Chop the kale into long thin strips (or any method you prefer to use so the kale is manageable with a fork and bite sized, just don’t cut it too finely or it will turn to mush).  Wash and dry the kale thoroughly in a salad spinner with cold water. 

Chop the almonds in a dry food processor until they turn to powder, pieces the size of couscous at the largest and sand at the smallest.  Toss the almonds with the kale in a large bowl.  Pour the dressing over the kale and massage gently until everything is combined evenly.  Let everything marinade in the refrigerator overnight if possible.  Delicious immediately, even better with a little time.  Serve with diced fresh pear – do not add pear until immediately before serving.

Shelf Life: Eat within a week.  Keep tightly sealed and refrigerated.  Travels well without refrigeration.  Keeps especially well the more thoroughly the kale is initially washed and dried.

Virtues:

• Kale: iron, calcium, major dose of antioxidants
• Almonds: protein, calcium, iron, vitamin E, magnesium, potassium, high in antioxidants
• Travels well
• Keeps well & improves with time!

Apple Fennel Salad: Raw Vegan & Gluten Free

My friend Dr. Christin Finn was the inspiration for this one.  She enjoyed something like it at the Port Townsend Co-op a few years ago and was craving it this week.  She described to me what she remembered about the salad and viola! following is the result.  The dressing is suprisingly creamy for being raw and vegan, but don't think for a second that this combo will bog you down - it's light and refreshing and the perfect balance of savory and sweet for any meal or snack for any occasion or season.  This dish also travels well and keeps beautifully for at least a week in the fridge.  ENJOY!

Apple Fennel Salad

• 1 small fennel bulb (plus stalks)
• 1 large fuji apple (about 1 pound)
• 4 large celery stalks
• 6 large medjool dates (pitted)
  
• OR ¼ cup raisins
• 1/3 cup walnuts
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
  
• OR 1 small red onion (for a more savory emphasis & intense flavor)
• ½ - 1 cup dill alkalizing dressing:
•     1 cup lemon juice
•     1 cup olive oil
•     4 garlic cloves (less or more to taste)
•     1 teaspoon dried dill

Thoroughly blend the dill alkalizing dressing ingredients, place in a glass jar, cover and refrigerate.  Finely chop the fennel width-wise all the way to the top of the stems, seperate the larger "rounds" from the inedible innermost core at the very base of the bulb (don't use the part you can't eat, shouldn't be more than just a few mediallions that you throw out).  Core and dice the apple.  Chop the walnuts & dried fruit.  Mince the celery and optional red onion.  Combine the fruits and veggies and toss with about ½ cup of the dressing (shake well before using).  If you didn’t use red onion, sprinkle the mixture with ¼ - ½ teaspoon of the onion powder.  Mix well.  If you can, let the mix sit in the fridge for a few hours - the dried fruit and walnuts will plump up beautifully as the flavors get to know eachother.

Helpful hints:

• Add up to another ½ cup of the dressing to achieve the desired moisture balance you’re looking for.  I personally like a very “wet” salad, but add the dressing gradually and taste as you go to find what works best for you.
• The dill alkalizing dressing will keep well in the fridge and is great to have around for salads, sandwich spread and vegetable/fruit dip.  Have fun experimenting with adding other herbs, fresh or dried – tarragon, salt-free seasonings, curry or just plain!  The olive oil and lemon juice activate your body’s fat burning furnace and helps to balance your body’s pH.
• To get your sticky chopped dried fruit to mix easily into the rest of the salad, add the dried fruit last and pour the dressing directly on top of it – the oil and lemon juice will help the chopped pieces separate and mix much more easily into the rest of the salad.

 

 

A few things have changed since my last post...

November 9th 2008 - I had a 6 month old baby, a busy 2 1/2 year old, a soon to be "wasbund" ...and alllll that goes with that.  A few things have changed since then and now I'm feeling ready to get back in the game.  Stay tuned for a flood of delicious recipes and helpful tips designed to meet you where you're at and nourish you and your family along the way, where ever it may be that you're headed.  Welcome to the Self-Love Diet.  It's good to be here and thanks for joining me!

RECIPE: RAW Almond Hummus

This is the other recipe from "Pilates Style" in the article featuring Chef Peter Cervoni.  Enjoy!

• 1 cup of soaked raw almonds
• 2 small fresh garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/3 cup raw tahini
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon whole cumin seed
• 2/3 cup filtered water
• 1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
• 1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley (loosely packed leaves only)
• Cayenne pepper to taste

1. Soak almonds overnight, drain and discard the soaking water
2. In a food processor, place all ingredients except the water and parsely and process until smooth.
3. With the processor still running, slowly add filtered water into the food processor until mixture is smooth and creamy.
4. Roughly chop parsley and fold into hummus.

RECIPE: RAW Kale & Dulse Salad

I was at a friend's house and noticed a magazine opened to the page that had the following recipe on it.  Kale is scrumptiously in-season where we live and I am always looking for ways to get more seaweed into our diets as well.

Bret loaded up on kale at the farmer's market yesterday, so I plan to make this recipe today, I'll let y'all know how it turns out!  The magazine that published the recipe is called "Pilates Style" and it was created by Chef Peter Cervoni.

You'll notice the changes I made to the recipe based on the ingredients I had on hand.  I served this at a dinner after making it.  In the morning I was surprised to discover that most of it was left over!  So I had it for breakfast and loved every bit (however the Italian seasonings were a bit strong).  A few days later I spoke to a friend that was at the dinner and she specifically mentioned how much she enjoyed the kale salad - so maybe there was so much other good food that folks passed over this dish not knowing what it was?  Who knows?  It also appears quite creamy, so maybe my raw and vegan friends thought it was dairy based (not in MY house!)...

Salad:

• 3 cups tighlty packed kale, thinly sliced or shredded
• 1/2 cup celery, in thinly sliced discs
• 1/3 cup red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup sundried black olives, roughly chopped
• Instead of the sundried olives, I used about half a can of black olives
• I also added about 1/2 a cup of chopped sundried tomatoes, they added a nice texture and savory sweetness to the salad
• 1/3 cup dulse leaves, tightly packed and torn into pieces
• Instead of the dulse leaves, I used a heaping tablespoon of dried dulse and kelp flakes
• 1 cup flat Italian parsley, rough chopped and loosely packed

Marinade/Dressing:

• 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
• Instead of the fresh rosemary, I used two tablespoons of dry Italian seasonings, I think I would use 1 tablespoon next time
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 1/2 tablespoons raw tahini
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• I used a generous splash of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons filtered water
• 1/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

1. Make the marinade/dressing by combining the ingredients and whisking together until creamy and smooth
2. In a separate bowl, combine the first six ingredients, pour marinade over and massage the kale with your hands until it begins to wilt and break down.

This salad will last two days in the fridge.

The marinade/dressing is great to have in your back pocket for any occasion.  Try it on salad, as a dip  - you name it - it's amazing!

Recipe: VEGAN Easy Pumpkin Curry Soup

I have been having a BLAST experimenting with different types of squash as they are in season and so delicious and nutritious!  My favorite for the following recipe so far are called "Golden Nugget Squash" they look like little pumpkins - sort of... but I have also done it with pumpkin, butternut squash and acorn squash - I am about to attempt spaghetti squash too!

Anyhoo - here it is, ENJOY!

VEGAN Pumpkin Curry Soup

• 4 small-medium sized squash (each about the size of a large grapefruit)
• ...or...
• 2 large butternut squash
• ...or...
• 1 large pumpkin (about the size of a basketball)
• 1 large green apple (or whatever tart apple you happen to have around)
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 heaping teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 heaping teaspoon of Frontier Organics Pumpkin Pie Spice
• 1/2 teaspoon Frontier Organics Muchi Curry (or your favorite curry powder to taste)
• 3-6 cups of water (to your desired consistency)
• fresh garlic to taste

Bake the squash until soft and easy to scoop out of the shell.  What I do is bake it before bed and then when it is done I just turn the oven off and leave it in the oven to cool overnight, easy to scoop out in the morning.

Blend the skinless squash with the rest of the ingredients - you may need to do it in 2-3 batches depending on how big and powerful your blender is (I burned up my blender with this recipe already this season...).  Add water as needed and to achieve your desired consistency. 

Can be served hot or cold.  Garnish with a drizzle of pure coconut water from the can (looks like sour cream) and the coconut milk can also be cooling if your curry is on the spicy side!

DEE-LISH!  Cincinnatus loves it as baby food too - he's my little hot n' spicy curry baby!!

Recipe: RAW Baby Food, Creamy Apple Sauce

With a two year old in the house there tend to be "unexplained mysteries" that occur from time to time - like just today I found a partially eaten apple in the ficus tree.  I didn't know that ficuses ate apples - but I am sure Percival was just being a good host and making sure that the tree had enough to eat...  Anyhoo - I added this apple to another apple that was in the fridge, also partially eaten and remembered that there was a partially eaten apple in the stroller that a friend had given Percival while we were out on a walk yesterday.  This collection of apples with two year old teeth marks in them was just too cute - it was like Alvin and the chipmunks came to visit!

While Percival is not the pickiest eater, he is not a fan of finishing apples that are brown and nibbled upon, so what I decided to do with them is blend them up for the baby to make apple sauce.  I had a good handful of sprouted groat ready to eat as well, so I threw everything in the blender together and it made a creamy sweet nutritious baby food delight that Percival and I found ourselves enjoying along with Cincinnatus!

I do recommend eating what you make right away.  By dinner time (I made the mix at lunch) it had begun to smell a bit off..

ENJOY!

Creamy Apple Sauce

• 3 apples
• 1 cup of sprouted buckwheat groat

Blend until smooth.  Enjoy immediately.

Recipe: VEGAN Sheperd's Pie

We purchased a bunch of potatoes and celery at the farmer's market this morning and I was craving pot pie so this seemed like a nice wheat free compromise.  The photo is NOT an original - but it sure looks good!

Shepherd's Pie

About 4 pounds of potatoes (if you use yellow skin potatoes - like the buttery and delicious yukon golds - they have a more "even" look when mashed) 1 tablespoon salt 1/2 cup olive oil 1 cup vegetable stock (I use "Superior Touch Better Than Boullion Vegetable Base") 1 big sweet onion, chopped 1 cup frozen corn kernels 2 carrots, sliced 1 celery stalk, sliced 1/2 pound (about 2 cups) mushrooms, sliced 1 15-ounce can chopped tomatoes 1/2 teaspoon Frontier Organics Fiesta Chili Powder

Boil the potatoes in water with the salt until tender.  Drain.  Mash, adding enough olive oil to make them smooth and spreadable.  Set aside.

In a large pot, heat the vegetable stock and cook the onions briefly. Add the carrots, corn and celery and cook while you slice the mushrooms. Turn the heat off and add the tomatoes and mushrooms, then cover the pan and let the flavors meld while you clean up the kitchen.

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Put the vegetables into a 9” x 13” baking dish and spread the mashed potatoes evenly over the top. Sprinkle with the Fiesta Chili Powder. Bake for 25 minutes, until hot and bubbly.

Recipe: RAW Vegan Chili ...for Brad

As we enter into the colder months in the northern lattitudes this recipe will come in handy.  Hearty, warming, filling and convincing!  We've been mixing a scoop of RAW chili with some heated vegan chili for a 50% RAW meal on cold days - it's been great!

I've adapted this recipe from Alissa Cohen's Living On Live Food.

ENJOY!

• 4 cups sprouted barley
• 1 teaspoon curry (or to taste)
• 2 tablespoons liquid aminos
• 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup small red onion, diced
• 2 cups corn
• 1/2 cup chili powder
• 1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 4 cloves garlic (or to taste) minced
• 1-2 cups of water
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 oranges, juiced
• 10 medium to large tomatoes, diced small
• 1 medium onion
• 1 cup dates, pitted and soaked
• 1 cup of sundried tomatoes, soaked

In a very large bowl mix together the barley, curry, liquid aminos, green bell pepper, red onion and corn.  Then add in chili powder, Italian seasoning, cayenne, garlic, water, olive oil, orange juice and fresh tomatoes.  In a food processor, blend the dates, onion and sundried tomatoes into a thick paste.  Add this paste to the bowl and mix with the rest of the ingredients.

The flavors meld beautifully if given a chance to sit for a while.  This dish also freezes well in small containers.

Recipe: RAW Vegan Easy Chocolate Pudding

This is a recipe that is fun and easy to improvise with.  Try adding fresh coconut meat, more or less carob or coco powder.  It also tends to be great in all types of weather!  The other day we spread pudding over a sprouted grain tortilla with almond butter for a fabulous "nutella" type treat.  Great snack or sweet meal - lots of iron in the dried fruit, calcium in the carob, essential fatty acids in the avocado.  Dip strawberries into it!!

• 3 avocados
• 15-25 pitted medjool dates
• 1 cup raw carob powder
• vanilla
  

Blend the ingredients until smooth.