Organic Granny

  This Greek Salad is a refreshing whole food, plant-based recipe that involves marinated tofu chunks in place of the usual feta.   Start by marinating the tofu and vegetables in a herbal dressing for 4- 6 hours or overnight.   Herbal Marinade : 1/4 cup fresh pineapple chunks 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 1/4 cup walnut pieces 1 or more sprigs/leaves of the following herbs if available:Fresh oregano leaves, lemon balm or basil, thyme, green onion, and parsley,  2+ garlic cloves, finely chopped 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (optional) 1/3 cup of water Salt and pepper to taste **Blend until creamy smooth.  Chill.**                      Herbs for Marinade Salad ingredients :   Block of extra firm Tofu, pressed, cubed 3 ripe tomatoes, cut in wedges, or 20 cherry tomatoes  halved 1/2 nice red onion, sliced and chopped 1 cup black olives, pitted 3 cucumbers, chopped **Marinate tofu and vegetables for 4 to 6 hours in fridge (or overnight). Lightly toss before serving.** Great with delicious

  These little cranberry-carob chip energy balls are so tasty that you forgive yourself for their NOT being  entirely  raw vegan (the raw honey, the carob chips, the sweetened dried cranberries).  I put them together for a church function instead of the "squares" that I was requested to bring.  I'm just not a squares person.  I'm into round.  If you saw me, you'd agree that I am really into round lol. DRY INGREDIENTS: *1 C. Carob Chips *1 C. shredded Coconut ground into powder in a coffee grinder or high-speed blender *1 C. Oatmeal ground into powder in a coffee grinder or high-speed blender *1 C. Oatmeal, left whole *1/2 C. Sunflower Seeds *1/4 C. Pumpkin Seeds *1/4 C shredded Coconut *2 T. Flax seeds, ground into powder in a coffee grinder *1/4 C. Raisins *1/2 C. sweetened dried Cranberries *2 tsp. Cinnamon *1 tsp. Sea Salt WET INGREDIENTS: *1/4 C. Raw Honey plus 2 T. *6-10 pitted raw Dates *1/4 C. Coconut Oil *1/2 C. Water *2 T. Almond Butter DIRECTIONS: *Leave

  This was our son's first foray into creating a densely-nutritious, sweet and crunchy delicious raw (dehydrated) granola.   Soak the following individually in water to cover: 2 C. Buckwheat groats 1 C. Sunflower Seeds 1 C. Thompsons Raisins 1/2 C. Pumpkin Seeds Soak overnight, drain, and rinse and soak for another 8 hours, except for the raisins.  Drain and rinse the raisins and dehydrate for 8 hours at 105 degrees F.  Add the buckwheat and the seeds to the raisins and dehydrate for about 8-12 hours at 105 degrees. Add the following: 1/2 C. Dehulled Hempseed 1/2 C. organic unsweetened shredded Coconut 1 tsp. organic Cinnamon The sprouting and the dehydrating both add to the natural sweetness of the granola so no extra sweeteners need to be used To your living health!

(Back in the day Hipper-Me wrote:)We’re going for an after-church picnic at Tofino Beach (west coast of Vancouver Island– bring your surf board Baby) and I’ve got the Bliss Balls dehydrating away even as I type this… I have made them before and they are a huge hit… they pack a lot of power and are the perfect on-the-go snack for hikers, picnickers, etc. The recipe is from Sunflower Lord’s ebook Comfortably Raw: Chocolate.  Also worth noting is that this blissful little confection can be made entirely gluten-free... just make sure that your oats, in particular, are gluten-free. Enjoy! Ingredients for BLISS BALLS: For the Chocolate Chunks: 1/4 Cup plus 1 T.  Raw Cacoa Powder 1/4 Cup plus 1 T.  Carob Powder 1/4 Cup plus 3 T.  Agave (or Raw Honey) 1 T.  Coconut Oil Dry Ingredients: 1 Cup  shredded Coconut  ground into powder in coffee grinder or high speed blender 1 Cup  Oatmeal ground into powder  in coffee grinder or high speeder blender 1 Cup  Oatmeal, left whole 1/2 Cup  Sunflower S

  My hunch was that thistles are probably full of nutrients-- chlorophyl for sure-- and that they would be a nutritious, albeit somewhat bitter, addition to a smoothie.  I didn't think that they would be easy eating in a salad or a sandwich (similar to stinging nettles in that respect). And then I ran across this very interesting video by Victoria Boutenko's son Sergei, who was traveling the world and presenting workshops on wild edibles.  I'm pretty impressed with what he has to say.   He mentioned some fruits that he would choose to blend with the thistle.  He also stated that peeling the stem back exposes a tasty stalk that can be chopped and used in salads like celery or cucumber (has the potential to taste like either of these).   Since I also have a fair representation of thistle in my backyard I believe that I will do a little exploring.  If I come up with any really amazing recipes, I will post them here. Some notes on the healing and values of the  Silybum Marianum

  Plant-based cheesecake cookie snack After making a nice tofu Mayo with no oil, no refined sugar, or salt, I began to think of the possibilty of making a similar spread with a cheesecake flavor.   And while I was at it, why not put together an SOS (no salt, oil or refined sugar) plant-based cookie to slather the cheesecake spread on. Ingredients Cheesecake Spread 500g /16 oz. firm tofu Juice of 1/2 lemon 2 tablespoons Simply Organic lemon flavoring 2 -3 tablespoons maple syrup (optional) 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional) Snack Cookies 2 cups quick oatmeal 1 cup unsweetened apple sauce 1 tablespoon maple syrup 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped 1/2 cup medjool dates, pitted and chopped    perfect PERSONALIZED PUZZLE......                  SHOPETSY  (CLICK ON HEART) Method Cheesecake Spread (9-12 tablespoons) 1.  Drain and press extra water from tofu.  Cut in cubes and put in bowl of food processor (or blender carafe) with other ingredients.   2. Pulse until smooth and creamy.  

Starting a brand new #FridayFitness series of blog articles here focusing on folks like myself who are looking for a fitness routine that: has *Beginner* level options Is fun, with variety and encouragement has a brain science component is free is easily accessible online (NOT ZOOM) I have 2 suggestions for try-outs this week.  I will be incorporating these particular fitness variants into my own schedule this week and will report back next week.   I sure would like to know what you think and how they work for you if you try them yourself.   1. FIDGETTING as Fitness Yes, you read that right.  Getting in touch with your Bored Inner Child is required.  (Just kidding-- sort of) Dr. Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist from Stanford University where he and his team primarily work to understand and develop improved functionality for congenital eye problems.   Fortunately, Dr. Huberman is also not adverse to teaching laypeople everywhere about how our fascinating brain and connected systems

  Gathering Stinging Nettles: Tools include scissors, bag, and GLOVES!  (or buy at your local whole foods store) I am at the height of my locavore yearnings right now.  I want to eat only from the abundance of the nearby (within a 100-mile radius). I was originally inspired by the  Dervaes family  in Pasadena who grow 6000 pounds of food on their 1/5 acre property. If, right now, I were to eat only what edibles I could glean from our 1/3 of an acre  and what I have left over in the fridge from last season, we could eat the following: frozen blackberries, rosemary, thyme, chives, kale, grape leaves, oregano, some lettuce, blueberries (soon), parsley, aloe vera (leaves for green smoothies), nettles (yes, my son seeded some), mushrooms, sprouts, and dandelions. I guess there would be other leaves as well. Moving slightly afield, if I were ovo-vegetarian, I’m sure my dear neighbor would sell me some eggs from his free range chickens  (escorted everywhere by their possessive rooster master)

I have a large Rosemary 'bush' growing in a front flowerbed,  an inheritance from one of our home's past owners (thank you!). I love the sharp, clean, Mediterranean fragrance of rosemary, but I would like to know what I can do with it beyond roasting it with potatoes (which I don't do much of) or putting it into pork and turkey (which I also do not do because I do not cook meat). By the way, for anyone cooking with rosemary, a tip is to freeze the sprigs in plastic baggies-- retains its character much better than drying does.  So, here are some ideas that I found: Infuse a jar of Celtic Sea Salt with Rosemary .  The salt will smell and taste of rosemary.  There is no need to remove the sprigs. Put a sprig or two of Rosemary into Apple Cider Vinegar  and let it stand for about 30 days, then remove.  This makes a perfect hair rinse for people with dark hair.  (You can add some  stinging nettles  if you have some-- super nice rinse for bringing out the sheen in dark hair.

Separate and peel cloves from about 10-20 garlic heads (crowns) and whirr up in your blender. We all know that raw garlic can't be beat for antibiotic action (as a non-medical person that is what I am understanding from what I read) --it's the  allicin .  I stopped taking a particular 'superior' brand of garlic tablet because it contained silicon dioxide (sand) that has been suggested to contribute to "chronic fatigue syndrome". I ramped up my use of raw garlic.  ( IMPORTANT : Herbs are potent medicine. Do your due diligence and speak to your health provider about any conflicts that might exist between garlic and any prescribed medications). There are circumstances (lots of them) when I really don't have the luxury of time needed to peel and chop garlic. So, I am doing what  Dr. Ben Kim  describes his mother doing: I simply peel cloves of entire garlic bulbs, dump them into my Vita-mix canister, let it rip until they are finely chopped, nearly liquified, a

Before I was 55, I perhaps  had heard of  arugula  (I recall once watching a video where it was mentioned by the urban farmers, the Dervaes family) and believe that I had even tasted it (my husband says so, and that "we" didn't like it).   This weedy-looking little green re-emerged in our lives when I enrolled in the 28-day Raw Cleanse over at Penni Shelton's  Raw Food Rehab  and started faithfully following some of the recipes in Penni's book,  Raw Food Cleanse .    My husband brought home the groceries for the recipes and when I went to make the fake-V8 (oh, so much much much tastier than the real-V8) I popped  the 'handful' of arugula into the vitamix that the recipe called for. And the first taste was one one those forehead-wrinkling-nostril-flaring-kitty-tonguing  (you know, nik,nik,nik licks that kitties make in the cream bowl) attempt to identify the very pleasant, but unname-able flavour in the glass.  And we are old hands at identifying ingredien

This is a delicious little snackfood  that needs to be considered a "treat"  vs. an everyday staple of the raw diet.   As with many "raw" recipes, it will be necessary to dehydrate the Kale to obtain that near-the-traditional (cooked)-thing mouth appeal.  I bought myself an  Excalibur dehydrator  early on in my raw food experience but any brand will do, and if you absolutely must have the chips,  even an oven will work -- preheat your regular oven to 140 degrees Fahrenheit/60 degrees Celsius or the lowest setting, and spread out your chips on parchment paper on cookie sheets.   Put them into the oven with the door slightly propped open with a butter knife or chopstick.  Your chips (or other dehydrated foods) will take a long time to dry satisfactorily this way and it is not an environmentally friendly method, so use it sparingly, and you will likely want to invest in a dehydrator with a timer pretty soon into the process. Tools I use for the process: * Coffee Bean G

Lemon Balm,  melissa officianalis  ©Cynthia Zirkwitz 2019 Lemon Balm, or  melissa officinalis , is a perennial herb from the mint family.  It may have originated in Europe, the Middle East or Asia, but now it grows like a wild thing in my garden, and maybe yours?  But unlike other "invasive plants" (sometimes incorrectly labeled "weeds"), lemon balm has so many wonderful attributes-- lemon scent, lemon-y flavour, beautiful fresh vital green colour-- that you would never hack it out and dump it in the forest.  However, I do suggest that you grow it in a container or a bed that doesn't have access to other parts of your garden. But DO grow it. Order healthy Lemon Balm seeds from West Coast Seeds During the summer small white flowers show up, with bee-attracting nectar in them.  ( Melissa  is actually Greek for 'honey bee'.)  Melissa may well be the "honey leaf" referred to by Theophrastus, (c. 371-c.287BC) successor to Aristotle, and called "