Delightfully Raw in Eagle Mountain, Utah

After 3 days of driving we finally arrived in Eagle Mountain, a small town south west of Salt Lake City. We were earlier than we expected and our hosts weren't home yet. As the sunshine was glorious we decided to go for a walk, something I was looking forward to after being couped up in the van for so long!

Eagle Mountain is a relatively new community and is in a stunning location, surrounded on every side by mountains. We found a nice and quiet road to walk on that had amazing scenery.

We left most of our winter clothes in Canada, expecting to be headed to some place warmer. Thankfully Sathya gave me a winter coat which certainly came in handy!

 

Mister Kyky seemed happy to be back in the snow. (He's part husky after all!)

Meet The Fox Family

We were soon warmly greeted by the Foxes. In most of the families we've met the woman usually develops an interest in the raw diet and the hubby tags along (and that's if they're fortunate!). However Thomas is the one who first decided to 'go raw' after he was diagnosed with colon cancer about a year and a half ago. Angelica supported his decision and immediately started researching about everything raw. As you know, after a lifetime of eating a certain way, changing one's diet can be intimidating; the ingredients and techniques are all so new! She quickly stumbled on my website and began following my blog.

Angelica told me that she was disappointed that we didn't make it to Utah during last year's Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour, but when she learned that we were traveling again, she gathered up the courage to drop me a few lines and see what would happen. And we are so very grateful that she did!!! As I was writing in my previous post the stop came together magically. The Foxes are such good hearted and generous folks! After spending only a few days together we all felt that this was only just the beginning of a long friendship.

Furry Buddies
They also have a furry addition to their family: a young female golden retriever/spaniel cross named Coco that I came to nickname 'The Tornado'. She is such a sweet heart but boy does she ever have tons of energy! Kylo and her became buddies right away, but he had to growl at her a few times to respect his naps! lol Although he doesn't look it thanks to his 80% raw diet, at 12 years old (that's mid-80s in human years) he's now a senior and values his rest more and more.

You can see them getting acquainted in the next two pics.

 

 

Would you pleeeeeeeeaze let us out?

Coco is always looking for something or someone to play with. She hit the jackpot with Donnie! ;-)

Kylo's calm demeanor seemed to have its positive effect on her. She gradually mellowed out as days went by. Believe it or not The Foxes had never seen Coco quietly rolled up and resting in the middle of the afternoon! hehe

In spite of the cold the sun peeked out almost every day and we got to enjoy be-yu-ti-ful walks at the end of their road.

Raw Potluck
A couple of months ago I received an email from Linda of The Raw Recipe Box inquiring whether we'd be coming to the Salt Lake area. At the time we really didn't think that we would but as we've observed repeatedly, you just never know what Life has in store! When we found out that we would be visiting after all she quickly put together a potluck for her raw group.

On the way there we were blessed with a stunning sunset over the mountains.

It's amazing how fast the colors change at dusk. Look how different the hues are after just a few minutes!

Nicole's house was packed and we enjoyed an abundance of colorful and delicious food.

I have always stayed away from sprouted quinoa after an initial not-so-thrilling experience. However it was so delicious served in this tabouli; I couldn't detect the usual bitterness at all!

I contributed miniature Maple Ginger Cakes.

After dessert Don and I gave a short talk about how to successfully transition to and maintain the raw diet. Several of the attendees had begun a 30 day raw challenge on New Year's Day so the topic couldn't have been more perfect!

Britta, Nicole, Carmi & Linda

 

In Angelica's Sunny Kitchen
Angelica and Thomas were high raw for some time but had recently begun to gravitate towards their old food habits. One of the intentions of our visit was to assist and inspire them to reintroduce more raw on their menu. I focused on simple recipes that they could easily fit into their super busy schedule. Besides having a number of raw soups (Spinach Almond, Sweet Pea, Green Cucumber, etc.) some of the food we enjoyed include Asian Spinach Salad, Spring Rolls with Ginger Dipping Sauce and Satay Veggies on brown rice noodles.

Since Angelica was born in Mexico we just HAD to whip up some kind of Mexican fiesta! We opted for tostadas made with Chad Sarno's Sprouted Corn Tortillas, cultured Sour Cream (Basic Cashew Cheeze that we thinned out with water), Not 'Refried' Beans (still the best version I've tasted so far!), Guacamole and Salsa, both of which I let Angelica prepare traditional style.

This was insanely good; so light and tasty! Angelica and Thomas were impressed! Yay!

We didn't do much in terms of desserts as they aren't big fans of sweets. However we did whip up Cafe Gratitude's yummy Strawberry Brilliance Pie so that I could show Angelica the ropes about how to work with Irish moss. We served it with homemade raw vegan Vanilla Ice Cream. Need I say more?

Getting ready to share our last meal... Wowsers, that week flew right by!

 

New Kitchie Toy!

When we were invited by the Foxes we had no idea that Thomas was in the blender business. After selling various high power blenders like Vita-Mix, Blentec and Waring, he discovered the OMNI V 3 HP. While these are all top of the line blenders he found that the OMNI provides comparable performance at a significantly lower cost! Yay! I for one was really intrigued and put the OMNI blender to the test, using it for all of the food prep during our stay.

Like the Blendtec the OMNI is computerized and has a square container (although I thought it feels a lot better, is easier to operate and more solid than the Blendtec).

On his website, 3blenders.com, Thomas writes that the OMNI is every bit as good in power and quality as other 3 HP machines. Although the OMNI is slightly slower in RPM's than other comparable blenders, it emulsifies the ingredients equally well. It just takes a little longer.

The ONMI blender comes with a 7 year warranty on parts and labor for the motor/base and 1 year on the drive socket, container and blade assembly. And the customer service rawcks!!! During our stay we've heard Thomas take the time to personally and caringly answer every call and thoroughly help his customers decide which blender would best suit their needs. We found him to be a really genuine and honest guy and I, for one, would feel super good about knowing that he's at the other end of the phone.

Thomas states on his site that the OMNI is currently "the best deal that your dollar can buy" and I'd have to agree. At $250 it's clearly the 'value champ' and can't be beat at the 3 HP blender power level! We found it does a great job of completely breaking down fiber and achieving ultra smooth textures. The sound level of the OMNI is 85 db versus around 100 db for both of the others. The only issue that I had with it was that, like the Blentech, you need to make sure that there is enough ingredients when using the square carafe so that the (6) blades can do their job. Actually I was so impressed with the OMNI blender that I accepted Thomas' offer and have begun working on a recipe book especially designed for it that will be included in each box.

Anyhoo if you're on the look out for a new blender, make sure to drop by 3blenders.com! Thomas has tons of helpful info about high-power blenders in general including videos and articles in which he objectively compares the different brands on the market.

Be back soon with a couple of videos interviewing Thomas and showing you how the OMNI blender in action!