I thought I should touch base one last time before we embark on the next leg of our big rawdventure! Woo hoo
We're having a be-yu-ti-ful Indian Summer here in Quebec after a pretty much non-existent summer, so have been making the most of it. The leaves have already started changing colors. Gosh, how I missed those red hues! We don't get them much over in BC. Sure promises to be a visually stunning journey along the east coast! Yay!
The preps for our trip are coming right along. Everything is almost set: passports, furries are vaccinated, car is insured and our load is yet even lighter. (Man does it feel good to leave behind the unnecessary!) We've had a savory D day in order to stock up for the road. We made my new pizza crusts, Onion Bread, and the wonderful Rainbow Flax Crackers that my lovely friend Diana had given us when we saw her in Calgary.
I love how all the colors of the rainbow are represented in these delicious and flavor-full crackers; simply gorgeous! Yet another new staple!
Rainbow Vegetable Flax Seed Crackers
By Diana Stoevelaar of www.AwesomeRawsome.com
Makes 4 Dehydrator trays
5 Cups of purified water
4 Cups golden flax seed presoaked
3 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup of purple cabbage
1 red pepper, coarsely chopped
4 small Carrots or 1 orange pepper, coarsely chopped
1 yellow pepper, coarsely chopped
4 Ribs celery, coarsely chopped
½ Cup minced parsley, cilantro, or spinach
¼ white onion
2 Cloves of garlic, minced
¼ Cup Lemon Juice
2 Tsp. basil
2 Tsp. oregano
1 Tsp. thyme
1 Tsp. poultry seasoning
2 Tsp. sea salt
1. Presoak flax seeds in 5 cups of water for at least 1 hour or overnight. Place in a large mixing bowl.
2. Puree fresh tomatoes, lemon juice, garlic and seasonings in the food processor. Add to the flax mixture.
3. Process all the vegetables individually in the food processor until finely chopped but not pureed. Add to the flax mixture.
4. Stir the flax mixture until well combined.
5. Using about 3 1/4 cups of the mixture and an offset spatula, spread the mixture about ¼” thick onto Teflex sheets on the dehydrating trays. Score into squares or triangl es with a plastic utensil so as not to damage the Teflex sheet.
6. dehydrate for at least 12 hours. The crackers easily separate from the Teflex sheets without stickiness, usually after 12 hours. Remove the dehydrator tray. Flip the crackers by placing a mesh and another tray on top of the crackers. Hold both sides of the sandwiched trays and flip them towards you so the top tray is now at the bottom. Remove the new top tray and the mesh. Now peel off the Teflex sheet from the crackers, which are now facing downward. Return the crackers to the dehydrator for approximately an additional 4 hours until completely dry.
7. Let cool before storing by leaving them on the dehydrator trays outside of the dehydrator or inside of the dehydrator with the door open.
8. Store crackers in an airtight container in a cool dark cupboard, fridge or freezer.
Enjoy them with Spicy Almond Cheeze or with a pâté. Crackers are also a wonderful accompaniment to soups and salads.
Variation: Grind 1 cup of the flax seeds and add to the soaked flax when adding the minced vegetables. Soak the remaining 3 cups of flax seeds in the 5 cups of water. The ground flax seeds will absorb the remaining water later.
Carmella's Notes:
~ I filled up closer to 5 trays with the batter, probably due to the size of the veggies I used.
~ Since Diana didn't specify what temperature to use, I dehydrated mine at 110. They were ready in about 18 hours.
~ The crackers' edges curled up on me. I'm wondering if it might have to do with dehydrating them at too high a temp. Hers were so perfect and flat! *scratching her head*
We'll be squeezing in another D day sometime next week in order to make Just Like Ritz crackers, Raw Cheeze Itz, Heathy's Chocolate Chip Granola Bars and a different type of sesame seed crackers also from the Purely Delicious magazine. Then I think we'll be set, at least for a while...
The Sunny Raw Kitchen Goes Live!
In spite of the busy-ness with our upcoming trip, I've managed to teach a raw food class at the local health food store. I had the jitters a bit - it being my first one ever and all! - but I think the class went rather well. I mean, other than my constant searching for the words in French, that is!
I still don't know how to translate "process" as in "process until smooth". All suggestions welcome! lol
My intention was to pass along some super easy yet delish recipes that can be prepared in just a few minutes with the help of a blender (or in my case, my trusted Vitamix.) I was a little worried that the participants would be too full to try the different yummies I demonstrated, but thankfully there was plenty of room left for all the sampling!
We ended the demo on a sweet note with a Mango Pudding (all ready to go in the V) and a Raspberry Jam that I mixed by hand.
Yay, I did it! I finally broke the veil between my 'virtual' teaching and the 'real world'. ;-)
Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour Itinerary
As I always remind myself, the best way to make God laugh is to make plans! lol
With this trip, we're doing our best to draw a general picture, leaving plenty of room for Life's unexpected surprises. Having said that, our tentative plan is to leave my sister's place in order to visit my parents in about 2 weeks time, then to head for the US around Oct. 15th, the Mystery willing. We'll basically be traveling down the east coast, then along the southern states, and finally make our way back up to BC.
There's several stops that have been taking shape and undoubtedly more will reveal themselves as we go. So far, here's what our itinerary looks like...
- Central NY (Syracuse area)
- Ithaca, NY
- Gloucester city, NJ
- Raleigh, NC
- Northern Florida (Jacksonville and St. Augustine)
- Houston, TX
- Austin, TX
- Patagonia, AZ
- Phoenix, AZ
- LA, CA
- Santa Barbara, CA
- San Francisco Bay area, CA
- Medford, OR
- Anacortes, WA
- Seattle, WA
- Ithaca, NY
- Gloucester city, NJ
- Raleigh, NC
- Northern Florida (Jacksonville and St. Augustine)
- Houston, TX
- Austin, TX
- Patagonia, AZ
- Phoenix, AZ
- LA, CA
- Santa Barbara, CA
- San Francisco Bay area, CA
- Medford, OR
- Anacortes, WA
- Seattle, WA
We'll be having some kind of raw get together in most of those places, so send me an email if you'd like to be kept posted. Also, if you live somewhere along the way and would like to hook up or even help put together an event, please drop us a line at:
sunnyrawkitchen(at)gmail(dot)com
Tour Launching Party
And since 'Departure Day' is approaching quickly, I thought we ought to throw a going away party before we take off for our big journey!
In case you don't already know, in addition to selling my two ebooks The Best Of The Sunny Raw Kitchen and The Best of Raw Freedom Community separately, I've decided to also offer them together as one convenient package. You can now purchase these two best sellers with a single click!
The package is normally available for a sliding scale starting at $19.98, but for this special occasion, from now until we leave my sister's place on October 7th, you can purchase it for only $15.99!
The downloading instructions for the ebooks will be sent to your inbox shortly after you've completed your payment. (If you don't receive it, you might want to make sure it hasn't been sent to your SPAM or junk folder!)
Our Current Faves
Lastly, it just came to me that it would be fun to share our current favorite recipes with y'all from time to time. You know how we all tend to get on a kick for a while...
Don's Favorite...
Soup: Jennifer Cornbleet's Cream of Tomato Soup
Salad: Jeanne’s Asian Spinach Salad
Entree: Veggies tossed in Ginger Marinade on top of brown rice vermicelli
Dessert: Blueberry Dream Pie
Carmi's Favorite...
Soup: Cucumber Dill Soup
Salad: Fresh greens from our garden with my House Dressing
Entree: Tuscan Pizza
Dessert: Warmed up brownie pieces with banana slices, drizzled with Heathy's decadent Chocolate Sauce.
Now, how about leaving a comment telling us about your current faves and get a chance to win a new ebook I'm currently working on. It's actually a very selfish enterprise I've been meaning to compile for some time now as I'm getting tired of having to look for recipes among a bunch of ebooks and websites. And so I've decided to put all my favorite recipes in a single document for easy reference. This will sure come in handy, especially once we're mobile again and won't necessarily have access to the net.
I'll be accepting entries until we leave Canada, roughly around October 16th, and will announce the winner on my blog and on Raw Freedom Communinity.
Alrighty, I guess that's about it for now. The weeks to come will undoubtedly be very intense with limited online access, so I may not be around for a while. I'll be taking lots of photos along the way and will do my best to report back on how it's unfolding as soon as I can!
Until then, wishing you heaps of fun in your raw kitchens and looking forward to meeting some of you on our journey!
If you're going all the way down to Raleigh, I know a lot of people (including myself!) would love to have you in Washington DC! It could be a nice stop along the way :)
ReplyDeleteThose crackers do look incredible!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your first live class!
Right now my current fav has to be your creamy spinach spread (with lots and lots of spinach) stuffed in baby bella mushrooms and thrown in the D. I've yet to have the entire batch come out of the D.
ReplyDeletevery interesting post. i wish I lived nearby.
ReplyDeleteAs for your translation, I would say "mixer" (as in je mixe, tu mixes, il mixe) would be close to "process". Hence "process until smooth" would give something like "mixer jusqu'à obtenir une consistance homogène (ou crémeuse)".
Mmm,yummy looking crackers:-) Congratulation on your first real life raw food class!Wish I could have been able to attend that too....and bon voyage and good luck for your Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour!
ReplyDeleteChantal,
ReplyDeleteSomeone had mentioned perhaps doing something at the Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Center, but so far I haven't heard back. Would you mind sending me an email so we can explore DC possibilities together?
Thanks Kecily! "Mixer" kept popping in my mind too, but I thought it might not be a real French word. That sure would simplify things a LOT! ;-)
Hi! If interested in visiting the Sacramento, CA area (northern California), let me know. I may be able to help you set some things up. Meanwhile, I'd love to win your new e-book!! My current faves...? Hmm, I'm always experimenting, but lately I've been repeatedly having a savory mexican spiced green smoothie, lots of huge bowls of greens with simple dressing, and different raw ice creams from the Turtle Lake Refuge's book or made-up versions, squirted with Ani Phyo's Liquid Chocolate (just like "Magic Shell" when I was kid!) or yummy caramel sauce from Raw Chef Andi (Griffith).
ReplyDeleteI have both of your AMAZING ebooks already! My family and I LOOOOOOOOVE the recipes!!! They are staples in our daily meals! Keep on creating simple yet exceptionally tasty recipes and writing wonderful books. You are such an inspiration!!!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your first raw foods cooking class!! The crackers look amazing...love the colors!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear about a new ebook!
ReplyDeleteI like raw raviolies(can't spell that word for nothin right now!)
vegangoddess
dh and I would have to say that the Spinach and Mushroom Pockets are our favorite recipe right now and it is a great way to use up the zucchini that is so abundant right now
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on teaching your first raw course! I'm sure you were wonderful.
ReplyDeleteSo glad that you are coming to LA and Santa Barbara. I really hope to attend one of your classes in one of these cities. Once you have the location and dates setup, I'll do my best to get the word out. I know there is a lot of interest in healthy cooking out here.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan. I've made the just like cheesecake with fruit topping (super good for birthdays), green soup, cheeze dip with red pepper (big favorite when I bring this to parties) and attempted a version of your chocolates. I have yet to get a dehydrator, but I definitely see getting one in the future (can't wait to make your crackers). I've only dabbed in raw cooking, but I would really like to learn more. Thanks for all of your beautifully descriptive and illustrated posts and great inspirational ideas- you are so creative. There are so many dishes I would like to try to make and also expose my young kids to healthy yummy un-cooking. Good luck on your tour!
Yay for coming to Seattle!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a raw foodie, but Thrive is one of my fav restaurants, and Chaco Canyon has some raw options as well.