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Summer Cooking: The New Solar Oven

Here is my latest "cooking gadget"-- An American Sun Oven -- solar oven.  It is some swanky item and it has been on my mind for a long time. So I ordered it. And then my husband and I were ill with a virus for about a month during which there were many beautiful sunny days, but we didn't have the energy. Hahah... energy.  The one thing that the solar oven brings to mind is energy-- from the sun!  Solar energy. Yesterday I opened the box and took it and all its accouterments out and laid them on the kitchen table.  I re-read the manual and watched the video online. We took it into the backyard and learned how to adjust the leg so that I could follow the sun at the right angle.  I learned how to "focus" the incoming sun as well as position the oven properly.  I learned how to shut the various 'clasps' so that the heat would not further escape. I made up a delicious baked bean dish so we could use the beans this weekend for burritos or perhaps

REVIEW: YES Cacao Botanical Chocolate Bars: Dirty, KarmaMellOwl and GabaBaba

YES Botanical Chocolate Bars Okay, as a big promoter of eating organic foods , I admit that I generally share recipes for whole food plant-based dishes that contain organic fruits and vegetables-- if you have been here before, you know the recipes: vegan soups, stews, 'cheeses', sauces, casseroles, breakfast foods, etc. But what could I do when I received an email asking if I would consider reviewing some CHOCOLATE BARS?? (or more accurately, 99% organic, vegan, wild-sourced, organic, botanic cacao bars with No GMOs, and studded with healthy botanicals (herbs, spices, tea, mushrooms, essential oils??)). They are also NOT ROASTED which means... tah dah.... RAW VEGAN!!  Oh, and handmade (I guess that means that they DO NOT have the chockies going down the conveyor belts like this classic clip we remember from an  I Love Lucy episode: OF COURSE I SAID 'YES' TO REVIEWING 'YES CACAO' BOTANICAL CHOCOLATE BARS! And then because I live in Canada, it took

Braised Red Cabbage Over Baked Sweet Potato- Rainbow YUM

Braised Red Cabbage over Sweet Potato  I recently purchased Anthony William's Medical Medium Life-Changing Foods: Save Yourself and the Ones You Love with the Hidden Healing Powers of Fruits & Vegetables  and although I am a skeptic around the "medical medium" tag, I was excited by the book's layout.  He introduces what he calls the Holy Four: Fruits, Vegetables, Herbs & Spices, and Wild Foods (Raw Honey being the only departure from the vegan whole foods listed as life-changing). Each "life-changing" item, example: Cranberries, contains an Introduction explaining why the food is included, Conditions (such as allergies, staph infections, etc.) that eating the food can help with, a section on Symptoms (that could point to conditions that can be healed), Emotional Support and a Spiritual Lesson (for those who follow Louise Hay and other New Age gurus). There is also a section on Tips and a RECIPE that uses the various life-changing foods,

Making Basic Whole Wheat Bread Using a Stand Mixer and a Dehydrator

I am always on the look-out for great videos** that can illustrate a concept or recipe that I am including on my blog.  "Making Basic Whole Wheat Bread" is a current interest of mine.  I have the books.  I have bookmarked the links.  I went out and bought a Kitchen Aid stand mixer after having drooled and dreamed about one for a very long time.  I thought that I would start turning out perfect bread loaves (something I have never in my life done) but it was not to be. This looks like a high maintenance bread recipe, eh?  Stand mixer and dehydrator for raising the dough?  I can see my grandmother chuckle.  She was always able to make more loaves from scratch than I could from with whatever "no fail" recipe I had at hand.  But somehow I know there are others out there who have the fancy equipment and are dreamers like I am.  This bread is for you! Please watch the video (above) to get all the fine points you will find transcribed below in the recipe.  A v