Recipe of the Week: Homemade Green Powder

Hello again everyone!

Forgive me if I haven't been around much lately. I've been pouring most of my energy into my latest book project, hoping it will be ready to 'be born' sometime next month.

The local landscape sure has changed quickly in the last couple of weeks or so. Leaves have begun to change color and the sun is getting noticeably lower in the sky. There's no denying it anymore; Autumn is now here to stay. *sigh*

I discover more empty plant beds every time I go to the garden; their offerings having turned to seeds or been harvested. At least the hardier greens are loving this cooler weather; they are absolutely thriving! As there is more kale and swiss chard than can be humanly consumed fresh, someone suggested dehydrating them. What a brilliant idea!

This is probably the easiest Recipe of the Week that I've ever posted, but I couldn't resist passing on this awesome way to make use of the overabundance of greens in your gardens. Making your own green powder is not only super easy, but is also very economical! Plus, you know for sure that it is raw!

Homemade Green Powder
Whatever greens you have on hand, washed and de-stemmed.

1. Place on mesh screens and dehydrate until completely dry.

2. Grind into a powder in a high-speed blender or food processor.

3. Store into an airtight container and keep in a cool and dark place.

And voila! Enjoy in your favorite fruit smoothies!

Recipe of the Week: Coco-Chia Snowballs

Phfew, I'm finally getting around to posting this recipe; I had such a super busy week!

If I was to pick a theme for the last few days I'd say: 'abundance'. During this harvest season we are reminded of how Nature is so very generous, and this year we are blessed to partake in its amazing bounty like never before!

Pick, Eat and Be Merry!
In spite of the whirlwind that is my life right now, I made a point to put time aside in order to do some gardening. I find it so nourishing and meditative! Not to mention that I came back with bagfuls of beets, carrots, kale, swiss chard, tomatoes, beans and various types of lettuce. I feel so grateful for this opportunity to play in a garden, albeit not my own.

We also spent part of one afternoon picking fruit! Yippee! A friend of ours has several fruit trees on her property. They could have been left to ripen a little longer but she felt that time was of the essence as she had started to get nightly visits from a bear. While I lost myself in the blackberry bushes (Ahhh, Heaven!!!), Don gave her a hand with the apples and pears.

The simplest technique for unripe fruit is to give the tree a shake and let the fruit fall on a large tarp from which they are then transferred into a bucket. Easy peasy!

She also has a tool similar to the one I used in California to pick avocados last spring. It brought back such fond memories of this magical experience.

I was glad I had taken our camera along as I discovered the most beautiful flowers growing in her garden.

My Raw World These Days
On a different note, I gave a really fun food prep class on the weekend, demoing a number of raw vegan versions of popular recipes that usually call for dairy or animal products: Ranch Dressing, Corn Chowder, Cultured Nut Cheeze and Tuna Salad. They were all received with surprise and enthusiasm, especially the dessert: Cheesecake! I could feel that these few recipes were opening up a world of new possibilities for the participants and it felt so darn good! ;-)

I'm also making great progress with the new recipe book which is super exciting! It will be available in soft cover hopefully sometime this fall. It's a lot more work than the ebook format I've done in the past but will definitely be worth the extra effort. The aspect I like the least about the book writing process is that I have to hold on to my new creations instead of readily sharing them with you here. Guess there's no way around it... *sigh*

Thankfully there are so many other talented recipe creators out there to cover for me in the meantime! This week's recipe is from a lady who is greatly contributing to the health movement in Calgary. I must admit that I haven't made 'nut balls' in what seems like ages. While they used to be a regular dessert early on our raw journey, I've been seduced by the fancier gourmet cakes, pies and other scrumptious yummies that one can whip up in the raw.

These Coco-Chia Snowballs are just bursting with wonderfully nutritious ingredients! Actually I just realized that The Raw Life Health Store happens to have a lot of them on sale this month, including chia seeds for under $5 a pound!!! Woo hoo!

I like how simple these Snowballs are to prepare and they are such a delicious way to get all that goodness! The main modification I made was to grind some of the chia seeds called for as it had a little too much of a crunch factor for my taste. Just make sure to refrigerate the balls for at least 24 hours so that they can firm up nicely and to allow the ground chia seeds to fully absorb the surrounding moisture.

Coco-Chia Snowballs
Adapted from a recipe by Karin Haemmerle

1/2 cup organic dark chia seeds, whole
1/2 cup organic dark chia seeds, ground
1/2 cup raw sesame tahini
1/2 cup raw almond butter
1/4 cup hemp seeds
1/4 cup + 2 tbs cacao powder
1/4 tsp Himalayan salt
1/2 cup raw honey or agave
2 tbs organic virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup + 2 tbs shredded coconut
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp almond extract

Combine all ingredients.

Form into 1 inch balls.

Roll in finely shredded coconut, place on cookie sheet and refrigerate for at least 24 hours to allow the ground chia seeds to get absorbed.

Or press into a pan and sprinkle extra coconut on top. Refrigerate and cut into serving pieces just before eating.

Variation: Replace 1/2 cup chia seeds, ground with a mixture of 1/4 cup hemp seeds, 2 tbs ground chia seeds and 2 tbs shredded coconut.

Carmella's Note: Don used a small plastic scoop instead of rolling the balls in his hands. So much quicker and a lot less messy!

Enjoy!

Recipe of the Week: Rosemary Crackers

Hi guys!

I'm sorry to say that Summer has seemingly left us during this last week. It dropped something like 30 degrees overnight. Yikes! Let's just hope that we'll be getting at least a few more warm days before Fall really sets in.

With the arrival of the cooler weather, I've been spending a lot more time indoors, experimenting in the kitchen. Besides doing recipe development and testing for a new book (Yay!), I went on a major kale chip kick, filling the dehydrator twice with different variations of these yummies. Why haven't I gotten into these earlier; they're so utterly addictive!

I also managed to sneak in a couple of trays of Rosemary Crackers. I'm always on the look out for a good cracker to add to our list of staples, so when Velvet shared the recipe on Raw Freedom Community and mentioned that she couldn't stop eating them, it got my attention. These are probably the simplest flax crackers I've ever made and are soooo delicious! I'm having a hard time not popping one or two in my mouth every time I walk by the jar!

Rosemary Crackers
Posted by Velvet on Raw Freedom Community here

Rosemary crackers are very easy to make, and are the perfect snack or addition to salads. Rich in omega 3 fatty acids, B vitamins, iron and seasoned with mineral rich salt, these crackers will ensure you get top nutrition while loving every bite.

Ingredients: (fills 1 dehydrator tray)
- 1 cup sprouted flax seed powder*
- 1/2 cup whole flax seeds
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 Tbs dried rosemary
-  Salt to taste (about 1/4 tsp + more to sprinkle)

Directions
- Combine the flax powder, flax seeds, nutritional yeast, salt and rosemary in a large bowl.

- Mix about 1 cup of water by hand until well combined.

- Spread on a ParaFlexx dehydrator sheet to cover the entire sheet. Gently, score the batter into squares, or any shape you like.

- Dehydrate overnight, and flip onto a mesh screen. Dehydrate further until crispy.

* Or use regular ground flax seeds, which will give you the same result but are less nutritious.

Carmella's Note: I didn't have sprouted flax seeds powder so I used regular ground golden flax.

Recipe of the Week: Spicy BBQ Kale Chips (and Russell James' Extended Homestudy DVD Sale)

I thinned a kale bed at the garden this week and so got to come home with bagfuls of it. Yay! Now, I must say that kale isn't Don's favorite green veggie in the world. Over the years we've tried marinated salads and smoothies but no; he can still detect its strong flavor. *sigh* Actually a funny anecdote from our tour... we were served kale many times by our hosts. lol I figured it was The Mystery winking at Don, forcing him to work on his dislike. he he

I remembered that when I made Chrissy's Goddess (Kale) Chips some time back they generated more positive interest in him. I mean, what's not to like about Kale Chips, right? Crunchy yet soft at the same time and the possibilities of seasoning are endless! Not to mention that it's a super nutritious treat!

Growing up, I was a BBQ Chips kinda gal, so imagine my excitement when I discovered that one of the raw chefs I admire the most, Russell James, recently applied his culinary expertise to this popular snack. (Make sure to watch his video here!)

Their flavor is so wonderfully complex; a perfect balance of salty, sweet, sour and spicy. Oh-so-yummy! A non-raw friend who normally doesn't get very enthusiastic about food couldn't hide his surprise. "These are incredible! I bet you could market them!" he goes to me. That and the fact that Don loves them you can believe is saying a lot about how amazing these Spicy BBQ Kale Chips are! ;-)

Spicy BBQ Kale Chips
By Russell James
Posted on his blog

1 head organic kale, torn
2 chipotle chilis, soaked (seeds removed)
1/2 cup soaking water from chipotle chilis
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons nama shoyu/tamari
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch cayenne
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked
1 cup soft dates

- Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth.

- Thoroughly combine the kale a sauce in a bowl until all the kale is coated.

- Evenly scatter the kale on a non-stick dehydrator sheet in a way that will allow the air to circulate around it.

- Dehydrate at 105 degrees F for around 10 hours. Remove from the non-stick sheet, transferring to a mesh sheet and continue dehydrating until the kale is completely dried out.

Carmella's Notes:
~ I doubled the recipe as I had so much kale.

~ I made a couple of slight modifications: I used only half the amount of chipotle pepper and soak water and 3/4 cup dates (or 1 1/2 cups total for 2 recipes).

~ I wanted all the chips to fit onto 2 trays so the kale pieces ended up being pretty tightly spread without much air flow which partly explains why they look so flat.

Mmmmmm...

Russell James' Homestudy DVD Sale
I was just about to push the "Publish Post" button when I got an email from Russell announcing that he's having another super deal on his DVD Homestudy series. He recently had a sale and ended up ordering 30 too many, over and above what he normally keeps in stock, so he's offering these at the same $150 off discount!

If you're interested in getting this bargain and picking up one of those discounted sets, just follow these simple instructions:

1. Visit this page.

2. Take a look at the DVD set and see if it's something that will help you.

3. Click 'Add To Cart'

4. When checking out enter the coupon code WAKE28

5. Click 'Apply'

6. Ensure the $150 discount has been applied.

7. Checkout with your information.

Recipe of the Week: Amazing Raw Chocolate Shake

Hi guys! How was your week?

Well, mine was wonderful and blessed! For one thing, our dear friend Mr. Sun has been keeping us company. Yay! After last year's pretty much non-existent summer, we are making the most of it!

On a hot summer day what better way to refresh oneself than hanging out by a nice cool river, eh? I went tubing with a couple of friends (my first ever!) and had such a fabulous time! There is something really meditative and magical about letting oneself be carried along by the current, leisurely taking in all the surrounding beauty. And oh what fun when we hit rapids! Woo hoo! I had a huge grin plastered on my face most of the afternoon. ;-)

I'm a gardener at heart but was never given the right circumstances to really get into it. This week, however, I found a garden to play with and an absolutely ginormous one at that! I swear I've never seen such an abundance of veggies: various greens, beets, carrots, beans, peas, tomatoes, basil, potatoes, squashes... And as if that wasn't enough, the setting is be-yu-ti-ful! It's amazing how good it feels to spend a few hours in the company of plants!

I helped thinning lettuce beds one day; I swear that some of the heads were at least 1 1/2 feet in diameter! Have you ever heard of the lettuce diet? hehe We've been throwing some in our smoothies, soups and of course, enjoyng huge salads.

Nature's mandala

 Oh and there's also some lovely flowers!

One happy gardener!

On a different note, I realized that I haven't been giving much news about the furries for a while. Well rest assured that they, too, are thoroughly enjoying their summer. One thing's for sure; they are getting plenty of rest! Neither of them venture too far away from our 'home on wheels', especially Puss who hangs out in the van almost around the clock.

Her favorite spots are the front seats...

... but she occasionally goes for a little stroll (or in this case nap) in the woods.

Kyky's fave spot is a comfy hole that he's dug out next to the van.

Smiling woo'fie

With all this going on I've been too busy to spend much time prepping food, but I do have a yummilicious shake recipe to share!

I recently got an email from a lady named Karen who pointed out her website, Nature's Garden Health Center, to me. I was totally blown away by what she and her family have managed to accomplish! With the help of their 10 children (yes, you've read right!) they are sharing their passion for healthy living and helping spread the raw movement all over Wisconsin, aka 'the dairy state'.

The Urbaneks have an organic grocery store, organize raw retreats and health expos, offer an array of classes and have even developed their own line of organic, homemade products including several raw creations such as bars, crackers, breads, as well as sauerkraut and kombucha starter kits. Oh and did I mention that they also have an organic cafe called Zuzu's with some raw items on the menu? Call them 'The Super Family'! Wow, you guys rawck!!!

The following recipe was published in one of Nature's Garden Health's newsletters. It reminded me a little of my Super Choconana Shake sans the superfoods. I like how quick it is to whip up, since you don't need to have almond milk on hand.

Really very good!

Lisa's Amazing Raw Chocolate Shake
Posted in Nature's Garden Health Center's Raw Desserts Newsletter

Blend 3 cups coconut water with 3 dates

Then add:
1 1/2 frozen bananas
3 heaping TB of raw cacao powder
2 TB almond butter
1 heaping TB hemp seeds

Blend until smooth.

TRY to savor it and not chug the whole thing….I believe there is a prize if you can make this one last!

Recipe of the Week: Vegetable Satay on Zucchini and Kelp Noodles

One of the exciting culinary discoveries we made while in the US was Penzeys Spices, a company that sells wonderfully fresh and fragrant spice blends. We made sure to stock up at one of their stores on the way to San Francisco. What a fabulous aromatic experience that was! I could have stayed there for hours sniffing at all of their little sampler glass jars! Among our tasty acquisitions that day was a satay seasoning that I finally got around to experimenting with this week.

Conventional satay sauce usually calls for canned coconut milk and peanut butter. In rawifying this dish I replaced these with freshly made young coconut milk and a mixture of raw almond butter and tahini.

The result was deliciously creamy, exotic and, of course, yummy, but not having had satay before I had no sense of its flavors' authenticity. A friend who was trained and has worked as a chef happened to drop by that afternoon. How perfectly timely! She tasted my concoction and gave me the thumbs up. Hoo-rah!

I served the dish on a mixture of zucchini and kelp noodles (which I loooooove!) Speaking of which, The Raw Life Store has kelp noodles on sale this month. Yippee! You can buy the individual 12 oz package for $3.47 or a 3 pack for $9.36. Guess where I'm going shopping next! ;-)

Vegetable Satay on Zucchini and Kelp Noodles

Marinated Veggies
Mushrooms, sliced
Baby bok choi, sliced
Red and yellow bell pepper, cubed
Snow peas, sliced diagonally
Green onions, sliced
Mung bean sprouts, rinsed and drained

Toss veggies in a marinade made of equal part cold pressed olive oil and tamari or Nama Shoyu, and half of that amount of roasted sesame oil (not raw but gives the dish a delightful authentic Asian flavor). For example, I used 2 tbs oil, 2 tbs tamari and 1 1/2 tsp roasted sesame oil.

Let sit for at least one hour to allow the flavors to blend and for the veggies to get a 'cooked' texture.

Drain excess liquid before serving.

Carmella's Note: I added the bean sprouts just in the last 15 minutes or so as I wanted them to retain some crunchiness.

Satay Sauce

Yields about 3 cups

1 1/4 cup fresh coconut milk*
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons raw almond butter
1/4 cup raw tahini
3 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons tamari or Nama Shoyu
2 tablespoons cold pressed olive oil or raw sesame oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon agave
3 teaspoons Satay spice mix (I used Penzeys' Saté Seasoning)
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
3/4 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (or more, if you like it spicy!)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

*To make coconut milk, blend 1/2 cup young coconut meat with 3/4 cup water until smooth and creamy.

 Blend all ingredients until smooth in high power blender.

Noodles
I used a mixture of zucchini noodles done on my favorite spiral slicer and kelp noodles that I had soaked for a few hours.

Toss kelp noodles in a little Satay Sauce and let sit for 30 minutes to soften them up.

Just before serving, mix zucchini noodles with kelp noodles.

Carmella's Note: If you wish a warm dish, place the Marinated Veggies and noodles tossed in some Satay Sauce (in separate bowls) in the dehydrator for one hour at 110.

Assembly
To serve, place some noodles on a plate, top with marinated veggies and extra Satay Sauce.

Enjoy!

Recipe of the Week: Green Onion Dressing

Hi everyone!

I hope you're enjoying your weekend! As for us we're taking things easy after giving a class yesterday; our first one in a while.

I can now hear the rain falling on the tent as I'm writing this. Such a peaceful and soothing sound... It's actually nice to get a little break from all the heat and sunshine. I know that all the forests and gardens are rejoicing from it.

I was telling you the other day how my yummy dressing collection has been increasing all at once. Well, here's another very delicious one that I've come upon. As I often like to do, I replaced part of the oil called for with avocado and water. This gives dressings a super creamy yet light consistency that I love.

Green Onion Dressing
Posted on raw-food-living.com here

3 (or 3/4 cup) green onions
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup flaxseed oil
1/3 cup raw apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup raw honey
1 1/2 tsp sea salt

Place all ingredients in blender and mix until creamy.

Recipe Creator's Notes:
This is my favorite raw salad dressing recipe! I eat it on all of my salads and use it as a dip for my veggies. Yummy!

If you don't have any flaxseed oil, you can use 1 cup of olive oil in this salad dressing. The sweet and tangy flavor remains the same!

Something I found out by accident was that the type of honey you use is VERY important! I started out using the brand "Really Raw Honey" which is smooth and creamy, not sticky and gooey like typical honey. But when I ran out, I bought a different brand. The new brand said "raw" and "unheated" on the jar but it was sticky and gooey like typical honey. It didn't work AT ALL in this salad dressing recipe. All you could taste was the oil AND it separated within a couple of hours. I ended up dumping it. So... make sure you use a creamy, spreadable honey!

Carmella's Notes:
~ I replaced 1/2 cup of oil with 1/4 large avocado and 3/4 cup water.

~ I've made this both with olive oil and flaxseed oil (about 1/4 cup of each) and it turned out great. I've also used only olive oil and it was still yummy.

~ I used only 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar and 3 tbs liquid honey (I found I didn't need the creamy stuff since I was using avocado.)

Recipe of the Week: Chocolate Mocha Ice Cream

I know that this is technically the second 'Recipe of the Week' that I post but what can I say... New concoctions are starting to pile up again and I'm itching to share them! lol

A couple of days ago I stumbled upon a coffee ice cream recipe I had jotted down at Gayle's in Portland. Sounded mighty good to me. Alrighty then, time to put our new ice cream maker to work! (How did I survive without one of those for so long!?!)

One common issue that I've noticed with ice creams is that the mixtures tend to be 'crystally' rather than creamy if there isn't a high enough fat content. I was concerned that this was going to be the case with this recipe and, well, one thing led to another and I ended up giving it a few extra tweaks.

The combination of coffee and chocolate couldn't help but bring to my mind the rich flavors of Tiramisu. I decided to serve it as a Tiramisu Sundae; layering the ice cream with Whipped Cream I had already made and topping it with cacao nibs and sifted cacao powder. Need I say more?

Chocolate Mocha Ice Cream

Makes 1 quart

1 1/2 cups cashews
1 cup young coconut meat
2 cups almond milk
1 cup water
1/4 cup dates
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup + 1 tbs coffee substitute powder (such as Krakus or Inka)
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
3 tbs cacao powder
1/4 tsp sea salt

Blend all ingredients until smooth.

Chill mixture in fridge or freezer then process through ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Alternatively, freeze in ice cube trays until solid and then process through a champion juicer with a blank plate or high-speed blender.

Carmella's Notes:
~ If you wish you could use only maple syrup or agave.

~ For a Tiramisu Sundae: I placed some of the mixture straight out of the ice cream maker in a pretty glass bowl, followed by a Whipped Cream layer and more Chocolate Mocha Ice Cream. I placed the bowls in the freezer to set then finished off with Whipped Cream pipped on top, a few cacao nibs and sifted cacao powder.

Enjoy!


Keeping with the theme of decadent frozen desserts, I'll leave you with a photo of the Banana Toffee Ice Cream I made from Matthew Kenney's upcoming Everyday Raw Desserts. This was sooooo good! I had a bit of a hard time with the toffee, as the texture remained soft even after sitting in the freezer for hours. This turned out to be a bonus; when I served the ice cream the toffee had somehow melted on the inside!

Absolutely scrumptious!

Recipe of the Week: Creamy Peppercorn Ranch Dressing

One area where I often draw blanks when it comes to recipe creation is dressings. And to make matters worse, I'm also rather picky in that department. For instance I don't care much for oily dressings, usually subbing part of the oil called for with avocado, nor do I like completely fat free ones. So you'll understand my excitement that in the last week or so I've discovered not one but two dressings that I adore! Woo hoo! No worries, I'll share both of them with you. ;-)

Let's start with a wonderfully creamy dressing that was submitted by Natalia of Glowing Temple, for Living Light's 2010 Hot Raw Chef contest. It totally rawks! Soooooo creamy and flavorful! For some reason it almost tastes like parmesan to me. Anyhoo, an absolute must try!

Creamy Peppercorn Ranch Dressing
By Natalia of Glowing Temple
Submitted to Living Light's 2010 Hot Raw Chef contest

Yields about 2 1/4 cups

1/3 cup water
1/3 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup (shelled hemp seeds (aka hemp heart)
5 cloves garlic
2 tsp black peppercorn
1 tsp sea salt
--
1 cup cold pressed olive oil

Blend all ingredients except olive oil in blender until smooth.

Add the olive oil through the top's small opening while the blender is running, starting at low speed and quickly going to high (the process should only take a few seconds.)

Carmella's Notes:
~ I used more like 3/4 cup water as I found it too thick for my taste.

~ As Natalia points out in her video, it sounds like a lot of garlic but the flavor isn't overwhelming at all.

SRK Tour Adventures: New Mexico and Arizona

Alrighty, I'm back! Now where was I?

Oh yeah, getting ready to leave beautiful Texas...

It was a bit of a challenge coming down from Fort Davis as the roads were snowy and icy. (It was still early in the morning and they hadn't been cleared yet.) We just had to take it real slow; a little reminder of what our winter would have been like if we'd stayed up in Canada. ;-)

One last look at the mountains on our way to Van Horne.

After having spent a couple of weeks on the quiet desert roads of southwest Texas it felt strange to be back on the busy interstate with cars zooming by.

We soon found ourselves crossing into New Mexico. (Bye bye Texas! *sigh*) In Las Cruses we could actually briefly catch a glimpse of Juarez - its Mexican sister city - with its bright and colorful houses on the hillside. Wow! That's probably as close to Mexico as we were likely to get, at least this time around!

Rockhound State Park, Deming, NM
As we continued our way on the I-10, we could see beautiful snowy mountains ahead and to our left. (I later discovered that Don could hardly keep his eyes off those!) Interestingly our next stop, Rockhound State Park, turned out to be located right on their slope!

The Little Florida Mountains covered in snow; a rare sight I'm sure!

We arrived at the campground around 4pm and literally got the very last site with electric!!! Man, that was a close call! After the previous night's snow fall they were expecting yet another cold one, so we definitely needed to have the heater on. We pitched our tent on the group site which is used as overflow, snugly tucked away between 2 big RVs. Amazingly, in spite of the lack of privacy (there was only 3 or 4 feet left on either side of our tent! lol) it turned out not so bad after all. Our neighbors retired soon after sundown so it was pretty quiet. We were initially going to head off in the morning but decided to stay an extra day in order to explore the area.

We'd never seen so many cacti before! They were all over the place!!! Most of the green spots that you see on this photo, except for the odd bush, were bunches of cacti.

There's four different species of cacti in this next pic. Can you make them out?

I discovered a couple of new varieties we hadn't come across yet.

Fish Hook Barrel Cactus

On Todd's Desert Hiking Guide they describe them as having "two types of spines growing out of the ribs, the reddish, hooked spines (for which the cactus is named) protrude outward from the body, while more slender, radial spines criss-cross flat along the body between the ribs." I just found out that the yellow stuff sitting on top was fruit. Dang! Wished I'd known that before!

These were similar to prickly pear but more oblong shaped.

A lovely view of The Little Florida Mountains from the Thunder Egg Trail.

Look at that blue sky!

We quickly learned that the park is a favorite hanging spot for “rockhounds” because of the abundance of rocks and minerals scattered throughout it. Varieties of jasper, silica minerals, quartz crystals, chalcedony, agate, and common opal can be found. In fact, their brochure mentions that "visitors are allowed to take up to 15 pounds of rock for their personal collections." lol No way the driver/boss would let me bring that much - that's not to say that we couldn't do a little rock hunting of our own!

We didn't find much, as all the surface stuff has already been taken. Plus we didn't have any tools to do some serious digging. It was still a lot of fun to crouch on the look out for pretty stones. ;-)

Don found a seam from which I pried off a couple of nice pieces.

Rockhound State Park is also renown for its amazing sunsets. The sky looked like it was on fire on our last evening there!

Somewhere in New Mexico and Arizona
The next morning we hopped back on the interstate and made our way towards Arizona. The landscape consisted mostly of desert with mountains in the distance. I couldn't help but feel a sense of peacefulness as I looked out the window at the soft hues of green, pink and blue.

For some reason, New Mexico had the funniest road signs. I wrote them all down but lost the piece of paper (darn!) and now can't remember them. At least I got one on camera, it reads: "Caution Dust Storm May Exist" lol

We saw a road runner during a pit stop shortly after crossing into Arizona.

I found that Arizona's landscape was very similar to New Mexico at first, except with a lot more mountains.

We arrived at Catalina State Park just outside Tuscon around 4:30pm only to discover that it was full! Eeek! The state of Arizona is in major financial trouble and as a result several parks are already closed or will be closing in the near future. We figured that perhaps it explained why it was so busy on a weekday. We later discovered that Tuscon was hosting the biggest gem show in the world, attracting people from all over!

Since we were already on highway 77 North, we figured we might as well continue towards Phoenix and see if we could get a cheap motel along the way.

The Catalina Mountains

In no time we found ourselves deep into desert country with majestic saguaros for which Arizona is famous. Wow!

Don thought we better stop while there was still some daylight in order for him to add oil to the engine. His timing couldn't have been better! We saw the most amazing sunset ever! What a magical sight with all those great huge cacti! It's so rare that we're still on the road at sunset, I could see how this whole thing happened just so we could enjoy this special visual treat!

The first and only town we passed was Florence and it had only two motels to offer. Both of them were no-nos so we kept going. Don's sister Sandy and her husband Bruce did pretty much the same trip as we are now last year. This winter they decided to spend a few months in Arizona. As their RV was parked in Mesa, a suburb south east of Phoenix, we gave them a call to see if they could put us up for the night. Unfortunately that wasn't a possibility but they gave us a hand in scouting a potential roof for the night. Anyhoo, after much driving around we finally crashed at a cheap motel in Apache Junction, exhausted!

Usery Mountain Regional Park, Mesa, AZ

The next morning we pitched our tent at Usery Mountain Regional Park since our hosts in Phoenix weren't expecting us for another three days. The park is adjacent to the Tonto National Forest and is part of the lower Sonoran Desert.

When I'd called earlier the place was full so we were prepared to get settled in the overflow parking lot, but by the time we got there a few sites had become available. Yay! We were given a super spot with an unobstructed view of the Goldfield Mountains and with lots of privacy. It was so nice not to be in a rush to set up.

One of the main reasons we picked this park was that Sandy and Bruce were staying just a short drive away. We were looking forward to spending some time with them as we hadn't seen each other since the very beginning of our journey back in June, when we'd stopped for a couple of days near Calgary on our way to Quebec. They came to join us in the middle of the afternoon and together we hiked the popular Wind Cave Trail; a steep climb that offers breathtaking views of the area.

We made it!


Sure gave Kylo a good work out!


Bruce and Sandy

Sandy and Bruce had gone to a desert interpretative center just a few days before and learned a bunch of really cool stuff about saguaros. For instance, did you know that they only grow in the Sonoran Desert and that it takes them up to 75 years to develop a side arm? They can also absorb as much as 200 gallons of water in a rainfall. Some specimens may live for more than 150 years and grow as high as 68 feet tall! The inside of a saguaro is like wood and was used for construction and other purposes by Native Americans. So fascinating!

It's neat to observe how each saguaro is so unique.

Sandy has such a generous spirit and as always came bearing gifts: wonderfully fresh medjhool and barhi dates they'd bought at a farmer's market in Palm Springs and some watermelon that she'd dehydrated. Who would have thunk of that, eh? It's soooooo sweet and yummy! Yet another awesome snack for the road! All you have to do is slice your watermelon about 1/4 inch thick, place the slices on the mesh of your dehydrator and pop it in until dry.

Natural fruit candy!

We learned that it's an El Nino year which explains the unusual weather that has been experienced all over the country. In Arizona four inches of rain fell during the previous week which is enormous as they normally get only five inches in an entire year! Well, looks like we brought the sun along with us as the weather was gorgeous! Yippee!

In the afternoon Don and I went for a walk on a different set of trails that was recommended by one of the rangers. We started off on the Blevins, then continued down Amigos Wash, then back on Blevins towards the east. Once again we were blessed with breathtaking views!

Cholla Cactus

Cholla is made of cylindrical stems composed of segmented joints with super sharp spines. These little segments fall on the ground and when you get one of those into you, oh man, does it ever hurt! Kylo has been learning to be a 'desert dog', dodging cacti spines on the ground. We've started to watch him closely to detect whether he's got some pricklies in his paws. That day he did real good for about three quarters of the way but then got into a bunch of cholla thorns. Ouchie! Ouchie! The poor guy tried to get rid of them himself so we had to pry the thorns out of his mouth.

I had been eyeing this mountain from our campsite and was delighted when I discovered that the Blevins Trail allowed us to admire it for a while. Yay!

Ain't it pretty?

We hooked up with Sandy and Bruce again later that afternoon. For dinner I whipped up Russell James' Cauliflower Cheese that he'd shared in his latest newsletter. Cauliflower is one of those veggies we usually don't like raw as it develops such a strong pungent flavor as it sits. When I saw that Russell was marinating it in his recipe, I thought I'd at least give it a try since virtually everything of his I've made has been a hit.

Well, he's done it again!!! That guy is a genius I tell ya! This was sooooooo good! Marinating the cauli did take away the unpleasant edge and the sauce was oh-soooooo-creamy! Bet the latter would also be delish on some zucchini pasta!


Cauliflower Cheese
By Russell James
Published in his 'News From the Kitchen' eZine**

For the cheese sauce
1 1/2 cups cashews, soaked 20 minutes
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
6 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
Pinch turmeric

1 spring onions (green onion), finely chopped
5 chives, finely chopped

- Blend all ingredients except onions and chives in a high-speed blender until smooth.

- Stir in onions and chives by hand.

For the cauliflower
1 medium cauliflower, split into small florets (this will be about 4/5 cups)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch turmeric

- Mix all ingredients in a bowl, massage in by hand and leave to marinate for 10 minutes

To assemble
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

- Mix the cheese sauce and cauliflower together and serve in individual portions in small bowls. The bowls can be placed in a dehydrator 1 to 2 hours before serving to warm through.

- Sprinkle the chopped chive over the top and serve.

Once again we were blessed with a lovely sunset...

It was supposed to rain the next day so we figured we better go shopping. (As it turned out it didn't but we still had lots of fun anyways!) Sandy and Bruce came to pick us up and we went to Sprouts and Trader Joe's. We also managed to find an Asian market in order to get some mung bean sprouts for Jeanne's Asian Spinach Salad and restock on nori and wakame seaweed. They had never tried durian so we thought it would be a good time to initiate them. We also found jackfruit which I remembered is one of Heathy's favorite. (She actually just posted about it on her blog!) We then spent the rest of the day in Sandy and Bruce's home on wheels. They sold their house in Calgary a year an a half ago and have been living out of their RV. Gypsies like us! Must run in the family, eh? ;-)

The jackfruit was some work to open! Most likely I didn't have the right technique. The flavor was unlike anything I ever had before, sorta like a cross between banana and orange. The texture was a little crunchy and I didn't care for it much, but it perhaps wasn't quite ripe.

A close up of durian and jackfruit

Last Minute Change of Plan
I know I'm jumping a little ahead of my story but I gotta share this latest development with you guys!!!

We were planning on leaving Phoenix this coming weekend and start heading towards LA where we'll be meeting our dear friend Jozzie next Thursday. (Yippee!) Well, so much for plans again... lol

Today one of the organizers of the Phoenix Meet Up Group, Patrici, stumbled upon my blog and sent me an email asking when we were going to be in town. She was thrilled to learn that we were still around. (Wow, talk about good timing, eh?) There's a potluck scheduled on Saturday and she's actually going to be bringing my Chocolate 'N Cream Charlotte! After writing back and forth several times we've decided to stay around a few extra days so we can attend the potluck and do a Raw in a Flash class on Sunday. This has got to be the wildest last minute development we've encountered on our tour so far! Woo hoo! What can I say? Gotta go with the flow... ;-)

Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour Itinerary
We've already started nailing down the details of the last leg of our journey across the US. Promises to be a fun and exciting one! I just recently updated our itinerary but I thought you guys might appreciate me posting the details here.

- LA, CA:

• Dinner at Au Lac on Thursday Feb 24th and lunch on Friday Feb 25th (You'd be welcomed to join us if you'd like!)
• Raw dessert class on Sat. Feb 25th at 2:00 pm in Oceanside (south LA)
  
• Raw potluck in Santa Monica on Sunday pm

- Santa Barbara, CA
- San Francisco Bay area, CA:

• Class in Sunnyvale in second week of March (more details to come)
• Talk on being "Raw on the Road" on March 10th, 6:30pm
  

- Medford, OR:

• Raw potluck on March 14th
• Raw Italian class on March 18th, 6:00pm
• Raw Asian class on March 28th, 2:00pm

- Portland, OR

• Raw potluck on April 8th

Shoot me an email at sunnyrawkitchen(at)gmail(dot)com if you'd like more info about our scheduled events!

Other stops along the way...

- Olympia, WA
- Seattle, WA
- Anacortes, WA

OK, time to take a little break...

Coming up next: All about our uncooking blitz in Linda's sunny kitchen!