Employee Minded Management

We've been at the Beaver Street Farmer's Market each and every Saturday for 15 months now. This is an interesting experience. I have been to farmers' markets in every town I am able to visit, and this one is different from any other one in some good ways and in some not so good ways.

At most farmers' markets, they have actual farmers. At this one there are more vendors than farmers. They purchase from huge clearing houses and bring the product to the market. I'm talking 50 cases of lettuce, etc. Most of their income is derived from selling to restaurants and other clients who buy several cases of each item.

There is a lot of walk-in traffic from people who know this exists, and that is where we draw most of our customers since we do no retaurant or bulk business like the other vendors do. It is really a challenge to be at this market because the conventional produce is priced so cheaply, it is very difficult to compete. We have an organic sign over our booth so that people can find us, but it also serves to help many of the customers to know where they DON'T want to go!

One of our customers who found us when they were doing their weekly shopping visit to the market were happy to find a vendor who carried organic food. They have been a regular to our stall ever since.

Last Christmas they asked us to make up a gift basket for a benefit auction which we gladly did. Then last month, the guy, who works for a big company in Jacksonville, asked us to participate in a health fair his company was putting on for their employees. We weren't sure what to expect from this as we have never done this before, but we agreed to do it.

Most health fairs are put on for the community. It was interesting to me that this one was for the employees and that they would have enough employees to make it worthwhile. Come to find out, this company does many things to help their employees be healthy. Someone figured out a while back that a healthy employee costs their employers less in terms of health insurance, sick pay, etc. To me, this is a win-win. While they may be doing this to help their own bottom line, it is a wonderful perk for the employee as well.

To encourage their 600 employees to attend the health fair, they were given a sheet with all the booths listed. I guess there were 20 - 25 of us including Duval County Parks and Recreation (what a good idea!), Duval County Health Department (diabetes screening), St. Vincent's Hospital, Weight Watchers, several gyms and personal trainers, yoga instructors, massage therapists, and us. We felt privileged to be allowed to be there as there were no others like us there. We gave out samples of our honey almond butter with celery sticks which was pretty popular, and several people signed up to get our newsletters. They were such a wonderful group of people, and we really enjoyed meeting all of them.

To encourage them to visit all of the booths, they were told they would be entered into a drawing for door prizes if they got little stickers from at least 16 participants. Of course, there were those who only went from booth to booth to pick up the free stuff and get their sticker, but most people genuinely seemed interested in what we had to say. They were either very health conscious or extremely polite!

We particularly enjoyed it from the networking aspect. We met some great people with whom we hope to have a long association. We also got to see our customer, Randy, from a different perspective, and got to see what drives his desire to be healthier. I guess the main thing we came away with was what a great concept it was for a business to do something like this for their employees. I am not a big fan of big business, but I have to admit, I admired their commitment to their employees and their health even when it stands to help their own bottom line. There are other ways to do that, so I see that as a good thing that helps both parties. (I believe the business partnership should benefit both parties - we live in a society where everything is about "What's in it for me?" Our government has trained us well to be very ego-centric, but that's another soapbox!)

I wondered if the employees appreciate what went on that day - the sacrifice the booth participants made to be there (since there were no sales or contracts allowed) as well as all the work management put into the event. I think they probably do. I'll bet this company does not have a high turnover rate...

I was thinking this is why we keep doing the Beaver Street Market in spite of the fact that it is not organic friendly. We have met some remarkable people. I wouldn't give anything for that. When I think of who we wouldn't have met if we had not chosen to be there, it makes me really appreciate the hard times as well as the good...

This week we've got some delicious sprouted garbanzo bean hummus made up to eat with cucumber slices, celery, and corny chips. We feel our hummus is very unique in that we sprout our garbanzo beans (chickpeas) and then mix them with the traditional hummus ingredients: tahini, garlic, sweet pepper, onion, cumin and other spices, lemon, salt, and cilantro or parsley. It really is tasty. Because it is made from a sprouted legume, we were worried that it would be too starchy, but it is very good. We particularly enjoy having a little too much as we love it dehydrated into what we call falafels. These are very tasty additions to our salads or dipped in tahini sauce.

We must be in a dipping mood as we also have our olive cheese spread which is delicious spread on celery or anything else you can think to use it on. yummy. We also have some guacamole this week, no-net tuna, Waldorf salad, and cucumber salad. Of course, our ever present Ranch dressing is available, and we made some sweet and sour sauce to serve over shredded zucchini. We've also got some fresh everyday bread and corny chips along with veggie crisps.

Dessert and snack items include Hawaiian granola, soul dates, candied pecans, crunch meister, apple crisp, key lime pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate cheesecake, curried cashews, and chocolate mousse cake.

As a plug for the produce, the celery is excellent this week, and we are selling it at cost as we like to get it in fresh each week for ourselves, but we can't eat a whole case by ourselves (24 to the case). All items like this (lettuce, cilantro, parsley, celery) we sell at cost, so our customers definately benefit from our personal addictions! Please consider purchasing these items from us so that we can keep getting in a case of them. You won't find a better price anywhere else. I don't know how it compares to conventional produce, but the organic has got such a magnificent flavor, I can't believe anyone would eat these foods conventionally if they could get them at a decent price organically. But maybe that's just me...

Happy Birthday, Angelina

Not much going on this week as we had a lot of work in our “real” job to do, but we still gotta, eat, right? So here’s our list for the upcoming week:

Desserts first:

key lime pie
rawky road
coconut banana cream pie
chocolate mousse layer cake

entrees (and other stuff):

broccoli cheese soup
no-net tuna
tomato salsa (good on the no-net tuna & nachos)
Ranch dressing
elote con crema (once with avocado “boats” and secondly as a nacho topping)
cheddar cheese (to have with shredded zucchini and marinated mushrooms)
ball park sunnies
everyday bread
corny chips
buckwheaties
honey almond butter

We haven’t made rawky road for a while, but it’s my granddaughter’s birthday this Sunday, and that is her special request. I hear we’re having ice cream too! If there’s any ice cream left over, I think I’ll experiment making some ice cream sandwiches with the cake we use for the chocolate mousse layer cake and/or ice cream sundaes with the skinny mints. Birthdays are a fun excuse for experimenting!

In fact, her request for dinner that day is pb & j:

Core and slice up some apples.

Pit and slice up medjool dates.

Apply a dab of honey almond butter to the apple slice. Top with a date slice.

Arrange on a plate and sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt. Delish and super easy.

We’re working really hard at getting our web page up and running. Really we are, but it is a challenge. Not only is there a lot of time needed for doing it, but my technical abilities aren’t as good as I wish they were. I made up my own web page several years ago for our school, but making one that has shopping cart capabilities is more difficult. But we are determined, and it will happen. Thanks for your patience.

Alicia made her specialty for lunch today, mashed no-taters, hence the marinated mushrooms as we like that as a topping for them. Massaged spinach and/or kale makes a lovely base, and we had grape tomatoes on the side. Here’s our recipe for the taters:

Mashed no-taters

1 head of cauliflower
2 cups macadamia nuts, soaked
Juice of ½ lemon
¼ – ½ cup water
2 cups corn, either fresh or frozen and thawed
Black Pepper (to taste)
2 tablespoons coconut oil
Handful of fresh rosemary or choice of herbs, finely minced
1 scallion, finely minced
½ teaspoon salt or to taste

Break cauliflower into 2 inch chunks and chop in food processor with S blade until grainy.

Put corn in blender and process until smooth. Add water if necessary, but only enough to result in a smooth, creamy blend. It needs to be thick.

Add soaked nuts, coconut oil, and lemon juice to corn in blender and process until smooth. Add water only if necessary. This mixture should be thick and creamy.

Add nut and corn mixture to the cauliflower in the food processor and process until well combined, but not completely smooth. It should have a bit of texture, like mashed potatoes.

Place in serving bowl and serve as is (mixture should be warm from the processing) or put entire mixture into baking dish and place in dehydrator for 2 hours to warm through. Season with salt and pepper and herbs to taste.

Serve right away. It tastes best if served shortly after preparing, and changes after refrigeration. If you do have leftovers, they are good as the base for a cream soup. Just add more water. We like to whirr it up with the leftover greens we used in the base for a green soup.

All Things Mexican ... or how do I live without tortillas, hot sauce, and refried beans?

We've been getting some good batches of corn lately. I think you learn to appreciate good produce more when you only eat raw produce. Back in my cooking days I'd always add sugar to my cooking water for corn to help sweeten it up. A starchy ear of corn didn't taste quite so starchy that way. When you only eat raw corn, though, you really are grateful for those naturally sweet ears, and we don't enjoy the starchy ones too much.

That being said, my favorite way to eat raw corn is in a recipe we made up to imitate a treat we got when we were sitting in our car waiting to get across the Mexico border into the US. The line was wrapped around the block several times, and apparently this is a common occurrence as there were several industrious vendors lined up right next to the cars offering last minute souvenirs and/or snack and lunch foods. One of the items for sale were elotes which turned out to be sweet corn with a spicy mayonnaise sauce. It was really good, and we wanted to replicate it when we started eating a living foods diet.

Picante mayo was our secret: we just make a cashew based mayonnaise with cashews, lemon juice, some type of sweetener (I usually use agave nectar), salt, and a good dose of chili powder. Once this is made, we just mix the corn into it, and we love it. It is now one of our staples every week. We have found several ways to use it: piled into peeled avocado halves served on a bed of ensaladsa (shredded cabbage, lime juice, cilantro, and salt) or Mexican "rice" (cabbage chopped to look like grains of rice, minced onion, dehydrated and fresh chopped tomatoes, English peas dressed with cold-pressed olive oil, unrefined sea salt, chili powder, cumin, garlic). We also love to make "Super Nachos" with them: corny chips, elotes con crema, tomato salsa, guacamole, unfried no-beans, diced tomatoes, ensalada, on a bed of shredded romaine. Sometimes we mix crema and tomato salsa or harissa sauce for a dressing if we need one. (It's also good with the ranch or avo mayo though.) Do we live good or what?

Many people ask us where we got the name of our business (i Viva La Verde !). This means "Live Green" which is something we hear at every turn nowadays. We didn't mean for it be so cliche when we came up with it, and we apply it more to our plant-based diet than our environmental concerns. We, of course, do care about our earth and the waste of our resources, but our business was designed to help people live a greener life in terms of their eating choices.

We chose a Spanish name because of our love for the Latin people. Darius spent two years in Mexico on a mission for our Church where he fell in love with the culture there. We returned with him twice and were just as enamored as he was. We have tried to learn the language and as much about the cuisine and culture as we could.

Once we started eating a predominantly living foods diet, this presented a little bit of problem. While the Mexicans with which we had eaten used only fresh ingredients, usually they were cooked. (They think Americans eat only canned food and find that very distasteful. It is unimaginable to them that someone would eat a canned salsa or vegetable. Though a staple at every meal, salsa is made fresh (and often differently) each time.) You will notice in our catalog we have several items that help fill the void for us including our beloved elotes con crema.

Crema is another food we love to use inspired by our experiences in Mexico. I'm not sure how it is made there, but it is similar to our sour cream except thinner. We culture it with cashews and hemp seed. (Hemp seed is NOT a source of THC, by the way, in case you were wondering. Here is a well-researched blog post on it if you're interested: http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2009/03/hemp-seed-nutritional-value-and-thoughts.html.) We use crema on top of all of our Mexican dishes, but we also use it in our lasagna. We like it any way we would normally use sour cream.

I was just thinking how much we enjoy our non-dairy foods that used to be made from cow's milk. I really wonder how dairy foods became popular. Nut-based mylks and creams and cheeses are so delicious that we really don't miss their dairy equivalents. A lot of it might be the convenience. We used to raise dairy goats and made all of our own cheese from their milk, so making nut-based cheeses is actually a lot easier. I suppose it is a matter of convenience though for those used to the plastic wrapped variety at the store.

Another item we are pleased with that helps us with our little addiction to Mexican food is our new Harissa sauce. Quite accidently we stumbled upon it, and now it helps fill the void for all those little bottles Darius brought home from his mission. (No kidding, he had a whole suitcase full of them because he knew he couldn't get them here. I never knew there were that many varieties of hot sauce...)

Well, I'm in quite the mood for Mexican this week, so we'll get busy on that right away.


Ranch dressing
cucumber salad
Harissa sauce
everyday bread
Hawaiian granola
veggie chips
crunch meister
picante mayo
guacamole
corny chips
tomato salsa
crema
un-fried no beans
elotes con crema (to stuff avocados & for nachos)
queso verde (used this week to stuff peppers)
queso dulce (with celery sticks)

dessert items:

crispy treats
pumpkin pie
chocolate mousse layer cake
skinny mints
vanilla yogurt sylk (on top of those lovely blueberries and strawberries)

Thinking It Through

Doesn't this poster remind you of the Chick Filet restaurants' ad where the cows are always telling you to eat more chicken? Every time I see one of those ads, I always wonder why they think a cow would think it was alright to eat a chicken but not a cow.

I've been thinking a lot about veganism and why it is as popular as it is and why it isn't more popular. (It's been around since 1944; did you know that?) According to the American Vegan Society (www.americanvegan.org), being a vegan (vegans (pronounced VEE-guns) live on products of the plant kingdom, i.e. no animal products)is more than just eating in a more healthy way. "Veganism is a[n] ... way of living in accordance with Reverence for Life, recognizing the rights of all living creatures, and extending to them the compassion, kindness, and justice exemplified in the Golden Rule... AHIMSA is a Sanskrit word for non-killing and non-harming. It is not mere passiveness, but a positive method of meeting the dilemmas and decisions of daily life. In the western world, we call it Dynamic Harmlessness. The six pillars of this dynamic philosophy for modern life (one for each letter: A-H-I-M-S-A) are:"

ABSTINENCE FROM ANIMAL PRODUCTS
HARMLESSNESS WITH REVERENCE FOR LIFE
INTEGRITY OF THOUGHT, WORD, AND DEED
MASTERY OVER ONESELF
SERVICE TO HUMANITY, NATURE, AND CREATION
ADVANCEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AND TRUTH

I was reading a review of a book I'm reading (Eating Animals) where the reviewer (Tim Challies) indicated that he was very moved by the facts presented by Mr. Foer in this book but didn't quite know what to do about the information he now had:

And yet I don’t quite know what to do about it. As I read this book I felt guilty when reading about the conditions of the animals on their factory farms. I felt positively sick reading about the conditions in many of those slaughterhouses. And then I ate a ham and egg sandwich. It was delicious.

Are we so addicted to our lifestyle that the facts are meaningless to us? Are we (as a society) determined to lay the realities aside so that our personal "needs" can be met? Are these "facts" just fabrications of lunatic minds? Veganism is obviously more than a decision to live in a more healthy way which explains why we are in what might be considered both the best and the worst of times.

On a friendlier note, our mostly vegan family menus (we use honey sometimes) are based on the requests from our customers, and this week one of our customers asked for some items we haven't made for a while, so that's been kind of fun. We get in a rut like everyone else I suppose.

One thing we've really enjoyed this week on our salads is surf n turf. This is a play on words because the surf is some delightful arame seaweed, and we mix it with shredded carrot, onion, and sweet pepper for the turf part. We mix it with a nice vinaigrette: 1 tablespoon nama shoyu or liquid aminos (the liquid aminos are gluten-free), 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, ¼ cup white or black sesame seeds, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon minced ginger, ¼ cup miso, and ½ teaspoon salt. The result is a fantastic salad topping that is power packed with lots of nutrients.

Our big "new" thing this week is Skinny Mints. I made a chocolate cake base similar to what we use in our chocolate mousse cake except it has peppermint extract in it. Then I frosted it with chocolate ganache. Since it is not a baked cookie, I keep it frozen, but it's not lasting too well around my kitchen, if you know what I mean. Darius has already requested it for one of his birthday dinner treats later this month. He thought we might call it "I Can't Believe It's Not Thin Mints..."

I also experimented with a new cheese called Pimento Cheese so named because of the addition of paprika. It also has miso and tahini, so that's a first for us in any of our cheeses. It is very savory. I used it to stuff some nice little banana peppers, and served it with Raita (crema with diced cucumber and cilantro) and Harissa Sauce. This was an interesting pepper sauce I found in one of my books: fennel seeds, caraway seeds, sun-dried tomatoes, red bell pepper, garlic, yellow onion, lemon, coriander, red pepper flakes, curry powder, cayenne powder, sea salt, and a little olive oil. Sounds exotic, huh? It was really nice and not so hot you couldn't enjoy it like so many hot sauces are. We're going to use the Pimento cheese as a dip for one of our meals this week with celery and carrot sticks, and cucumber circles. It will probably be good with cherry tomatoes too.

Our cashew cheese has been amazing lately, and we loved the queso dulce we made from it. Nothing beats this "sweet cheese" as a dip for celery. Celery isn't in season here in Florida anymore, but the ones we've been getting from California are gorgeous, so we're enjoying it as a couple of our meals every week besides everyone of our salads. Honey Almond Butter is good with celery too, so we get to switch it up...

We've got some Hawaiian granola in the dehydrator so that will be ready for the market. I always laugh when people ask for the recipe for this. I formulated the recipe one day, and then when I made it, I wrote down the cost of each of the items I put in it. It makes almost a dehydrator full (which is only enough for a week around here!), so it is a large batch, but it cost about $60 for the ingredients. People think they will save money by making their own, but sometimes it is worth it to let someone else do it for you, especially since we don't add anything in for the labor or even the electicity for the equipment. Gold-plated you say? How can it cost that much? Well, I don't know, but here's the ingredients: sprouted buckwheat, flax seed, almonds, sesame seeds, dates, raisins, pineapple, coconut, and honey. Simple, yet amazingly delicious, and totally alive. This and the crunch meister are our two favorite treats I'd venture to say.

Also on the bread menu this week are the veggie chips formerly called pita chips. We had to change it because we made a new bread this week that smelled just like "real" pita chips baking, and it tasted like them too. We're going to try to make them more flexible next time and do more experimenting with them. We decided they'd be our new pita chip, so we decided to call our old ones Veggie Chips since they are so loaded with veggies: cabbage, carrot, sweet and hot peppers, garlic, parsley, sprouted buckwheat, and sprouted sunflower seeds. The newly named pita chip is surprisingly made from coconut meat, zucchini, onion, and a little salt. It is hard to believe something so simple can be that tasty.

Since the pita chips and veggie chips put us in a Mediterranean mood, we decided to make some Sprouted Garbanzo Bean Hummus, so we'll be having lots of dipping dinners this week. It will taste nice with a swirl of Harissa sauce on it. Considering this is made from a raw sprouted legume, it is surprising that it doesn't taste starchy like you'd expect. We love making our hummus from a sprouted legume (which we consider a vegetable once it's sprouted) so that it can still be a live food. We've also got some East Indian Sprouts (made from sprouted lentils) in the dehydrator that will be out in time for the market.

Since a customer requested No-Net Tuna, we got to make this treat again. It is a great addition to a summer menu as it is such a great topping for our salad. I like it as a stuffing for tomatoes too. It is made from sprouted sunflower seeds with lots of celery, some walnuts, a little onion, dill pickle made into sweet pickle relish, and seasoned with dill weed, kelp, and mustard seed. We dress it with our avo mayo, a very simple dressing made with avocado, honey or agave nectar, lemon juice, and a little salt. Delicious...

And, since we made Avo Mayo, we decided to shred some carrots so that we could have carrot raisin salad we all love. Avo Mayo is a delicious untraditional dressing for this rather traditional salad. It is a nice change of pace from our usual Ranch Dressing (even though we still go through a gallon of that a week!).

While we were in the avo mayo, we also made some waldorf salad topping: diced apples, celery, walnuts, raisins, lime zest and juice. This time of year it's all about lots of different toppings for the salads.

A customer also requested some sweet potato souffle. I don't think we've had this since Thanksgiving, so it was a nice surprise for our family. This is reminiscent of that traditional sweet potato casserole with the marshmallows on it sans the marshmallows of course. (Did you know marshmallows and anything with gelatin is made from horse hooves? GROSS!) I did go to a pot luck once where a lady made vegan marshmallows, but I guess I'm too lazy to do that. We like this one just as well without them: sweet potatoes, some cashews and macadamia nuts to add creaminess, vanilla beans, Medjool dates, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The recipe called for lemon juice, but I forgot that when I made it this week, and it tasted good. I also added some extra honey to make it a little sweeter. Who knew you could eat sweet potatoes raw? We are getting some very nice Covington sweet potatoes out of North Carolina with which we have been very happy. Whenever I think of this dish, I think of little Carl, a son of one of our customers that loves anything we make that's orange it seems since this is one of his favorite dishes along with the pumpkin pie. Besides the pumpkin pie, we also have the yummy key lime pie that is so refreshing on a hot day.

Surprisingly, we're still getting some great cherry tomatoes out of the garden, and I've been wanting some avocado tomato salad. It's like a very chunky guacamole with lots of tomatoes in it, and I love it on top of salads and in sandwiches. I'll close on that note. You know I'm hoping you have a wonderful week enjoying all the fresh, ripe, organic fruits and veggies available this time of year. Don't forget your melons! We have one almost every morning. I keep thinking I'll get sick of them, but every morning I awake yearning for just one more day of it.

Avocado and Tomato Salad
4 ripe avocados (not too soft) peeled, seeded, diced into medium sized pieces
1/2 lb tomatoes diced into same size as avocado
1/2 bunch cilantro chopped
1/2 sweet onion chopped small
1 lemon juiced
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Place all ingredients into a large bowl and gently fold in all ingredients making sure not to smoosh it up too much.

Life IS a bowl of cherries...

I'm not feeling particularly philosophical this week. I've had a few moments of brilliance, but nothing that is formulated well enough in my mind for me to put "on paper" yet. So what's my topic today? You'd think I would think about this during the week. It's kind of like fixing dinner. You know you're going to have to do it every day, and yet, every day we seem surprised by the fact that's it's dinner time, and we have to come up with some food on the table. 24 hours is just not long enough in between. If God's time is 1000 years = 1 day, I could use one of those. Maybe I could get that pile cleared off my desk...

We are all loving the fruit this week. Last night we had some cherries left from the week before (I know, unbelievable!), and I begrudgingly got started on them knowing we should clear them out before starting on the ones coming in this week. What a nice treat when I discovered how delicious they were. I thought how stupid I was not to be eating them all week (I'm a watermelon girl most of the time when it's in season). I think we enjoy our summer fruits even more knowing we will only have them for a short while. Well, summer will be over soon enough, that's for sure.

We also made an albondigas spaghetti tonight (that's Mexican meatballs for all of you who missed the dialogos in Spanish 101). It's amazing the mileage we get out of the lowly sunflower seed and nuts in general.

We've also been wanting a new dessert. Last week we made parfaits with some of the lovely blueberries. We layered it with vanilla yogurt sylk and topped them with some crunchy buckwheaties. I went to an all day class in Orlando last Saturday. I knew they were having lunch catered in, but I was not willing to gamble that they'd have a nice salad let alone any vegan food, so I brought a Viva La Verde salad (thanks, Roger) and a blueberry parfait. Not only did they not have anything vegan to eat, but they were 50 meals short, so my food looked really good to at least a few other folks! I had brought watermelon to eat for breakfast on my way down, so I was a happy camper. We had black grapes to nibble on the way home, and I couldn't have been happier. (Of course, the really great class and company on the trip didn't hurt either!)

Found another new dessert to try today: vanilla panna cotta, an Italian custard dessert we are making with coconut milk instead of the traditional dairy. Hopefully those who try it will like it. It is topped with a fruit coolis; I haven't decided which fruit yet. I'll see what we have an abundance of tomorrow when I start packing up for the market. Other desserts this week are the pumpkin pie and chocolate mousse layer cake.

Another new treat I've been wanting to try I've called CRUNCH MEISTER. There is a non-raw version of it and I wanted to make it healthier. It's almonds, pumpkin seeds, and cashews. So far everyone that has tried it has loved it. It's a nice little pick me up. We're still making curried cashews which I love too along with candied pecans. Darius says all of these make great guilt free salad toppings.

I also experimented with some date treats. One is stuffed with a baklava mixture (equal amounts of chopped almond, walnut, and agave nectar), so we'll call it "Greek Dates". The other has some chocolate ganache in its little center, and it's topped off with an almond. Fun, fun, fun.

We've also made some delicious queso dulce (cashew cream cheese mixed with raisins) to celebrate the gorgeous celery we were able to get in this week. Made some crema and picante mayo while we were into the cheese. Gotta have those elotes con crema. I don't think we can go a week without them. It was good with those albondigas tonight too! Loving the queso verde with the bumper cherry tomato crop. It makes a really nice hors d'euves with or without a cucumber slice under it. Cucumber salad is still really appealing to us as well.

We don't seem to be able to give up our salads even though we can't find a local lettuce green within several hundred miles. I confess: we're bringing in our lettuce from California. I know, I'm so ashamed, but I love salads, what can I say? We can stretch it with kitchen grown sprouts, and maybe a few garden weeds, but we still want our Romaine for the base. Well, maybe it will get cool soon, and we can get a new batch of lettuce started. The guilt is killing me! We're going through a gallon of Ranch dressing every 4 to 5 days, so I thinking there are plenty of others to share the guilt. Don't even try to tell me all the ranch is being used to dip carrots; they're coming from California too! We'll be shredding up some locally grown squash/zucchini this week to have with peanut sauce (no peanuts; it's made with almond butter, ginger, honey, and lemon juice). Does that help redeem me in any way?

We've got a fresh batch of everyday bread for some open face sandwiches with all the yummy tomatoes. Also made some corny chips for some monster nachos (corny chips, elotes con crema, guacamole, tomato salsa, crema, olives) this week.

Well, I guess that about covers it for this week. Wishing you and yours a wonderfully "fruit-full" one as well.

Seasonal Availability vs. Appetite

We were having a discussion about summer time being the time when so many fruits are available, and hopefully we are all taking advantage of this. I was thinking of the biology of that situation. In the winter time, at least in the tropical areas of the world, the greens flourish, root crops are abundant, cruciferous vegetables are available, and we can usually get citrus pretty easily. Apples are produced in the late fall and are usually available until spring when the juicier fruits become available. Then comes the glorious spring when the wonderful berries, melons, and stone fruits descend upon us along with the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squashes. What would it take to align this seasonal availability with our appetites?

When I first learned about the living foods approach to diet back in 1983 (at which time I was very unsuccessful at applying it), my mentor told me that vegetables and herbs heal while fruits cleanse. If our bodies could communicate with us, they would tell us what we need at any given point in time. Craving salads? Perhaps our bodies want to do some healing. Can’t wait to bite into those strawberries? Cleansing is the name of the game for us. Of course, our bodies need to do both everyday, so a variety of cleansing and healing foods are good. In fact, my mentor warned, if we eat a lot cleansing foods, our bodies will dump toxins and garbage as fast as it can, welcoming the opportunity to do so. Unfortunately, this can be a little unpleasant sometimes for the body doing the dumping! It’s not a bad thing, just an uncomfortable one. She advised me to eat fruits in the morning and stick with vegetables the rest of the day.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since I have been eating A LOT of cleansing foods lately, and my body is definitely glad the long winter of discontent is over. I have had several days in the last few weeks that I only ate fruits. Nothing else seemed appealing to me. I’ve had a few moments of discomfort, but all in all I have a tremendous feel of well being.

I was impressed the other day with how low the stress levels can be when we choose a simpler way to eat. Not only is it less stress on the body, but it is less stress in the food prep area. My granddaughter and I had some appointments in town, and we were going to be gone over the lunch time window. Now any of the other family members, including my grandson, would have thought to pack food. They pack food everywhere they go even if they won’t be gone over a meal time. But not Angelina or I. We just gather the things we need for our appointments, and out the door we go.

Around noon we were getting a little hungry, and I was frustrated thinking of all that food sitting in our refrigerator at home. Why hadn’t I been more prudent or thoughtful? (Truthfully, I NEVER have to think of this because there are 4 others who ALWAYS do it.) But now I was stuck...

We decided to go the supermarket and rummage around in the produce department. They have a nice little organic section as I remember it. (I haven’t been to the grocery store in over a year.) So we looked around for awhile. I gave her a dollar amount to make it more challenging. (She’s the type that would pick out $50 worth of food and pick through it all day long.) She picked out one of those 2 packs of the giant portobello mushrooms, a pack of alfalfa sprouts, and 2 red Bartlett pears (none of which we had at home by the way...smart girl). I got a bag of baby carrots and a carton of raisins (I like that combination) which also contributed to her meal. I also got a hand of ripe bananas. She stuffed her mushrooms with the sprouts and topped them with raisins (I know, weird), and she was very satisfied as was I. Would it have been better to bring food from home? Sure, but it was kind of an adventure for both of us, and we got to have a nice lunch of fresh (I hope), organic, raw fruits and vegetables, and we were none the worse for wear. How easy is that? And we only went 50¢ over our budget! We even had food left over for another meal since she only finished off the mushrooms and the pears. Everything else has been re-purposed. So I guess the supermarket is our new fast food joint! I would have preferred going to the farmer’s market (we don’t have one in our area) or even an independent produce vendor, but none in our area carry organic produce (except us, of course!). So there we are at the mercy of corporate America in spite of ourselves.

We could, of course, have waited until we got home around 3:30. That would not have been a big deal for me, but I’m afraid I would have had a rather cranky little girl on my hands. I’m just not good about remembering that we have to eat. A simple diet suits me better than most for that reason, I suppose. A lot of that has to do with eating addicting type foods. If all of our foods are there to meet the needs of our bodies and not to satisfy addictions, it doesn’t really matter what we eat, and when becomes a lot less important too. It probably should have more to do with our caloric needs than anything else. If I were more active, hunting and gathering would probably be more important to me.

All of that being said, my menus these days are very simple. We did get in some lovely Romaine lettuce from California, so I know we’ll enjoy a couple of salads. Our cherry tomatoes from the garden are fantastic, and I enjoy them as a meal in themselves, but they are great in the salad too especially with some olives. Everyone likes them on top of a cucumber slice with a little queso verde to glue it on.

Speaking of queso verde, the cilantro has all but dried up since it is a cold weather herb, so I am thinking of trying basil in it. Actually, I have been thinking of trying some of my weeds in there. I don’t know why domestic herbs have such a tough time in the summer, but we’ve got weeds like crazy. Some plants obviously love the hot weather. Last year I experimented with quite a few of them in my smoothies, and they were surprisingly not yucky. Maybe I’ll see how they work in the cheese as well.

Smoothies, by the way, are an excellent dinner. They are filling, cool, and very nutritious, especially if you throw some greens in there. My favorite way to make them is with 1 quart jar of frozen banana (we buy a lot of extra bananas on purpose so that we’ll have some to put in the freezer for smoothies), 2 cups rejuvelac, 1 lime zested and juiced, and agave nectar to sweeten if you want it. We also use other frozen fruits if we have and/or want them including strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or mango. I like mild greens in my smoothies, like spinach or kale, and I use a large handful. Not as much as some folks, I guess. You can play with the numbers.

Another good dinner drink is a strawberry mylk shake. I use almond mylk as a base for this, about 2 cups, a couple of frozen bananas, and I load up the blender with strawberries. You might need to add some agave nectar as well if you like it as sweet as I do. Of course, chocolate mylk shakes are great too, but I figure they’re not as nutritious as the fruit ones.

Mango lassi is one of my favorites. It is also made with an almond mylk base, and then I load up the blender with frozen mango, one zested and juiced lime, and some agave nectar to sweeten. The recipe calls with cardamon. I like it with or without it. It adds another level of flavor, I suppose.

Another meal we’re enjoying is our cucumber salad. Another great simple easy meal. We slice cucumbers and onions as thinly as possible and mix them with agave nectar, apple cider vinegar, and some pink salt. I don’t know amounts, I just do it to taste, and it probably comes out differently each time. We do love it though, and it is a meal in itself (if you have enough of it).

We’ll probably also have our chili rellenos this week as well: split any kind of sweet (or hot if you’re into that) pepper in half and clean it well of any seeds and membranes. Then smear in some cashew cheese, queso verde is my favorite, and top with anything that suits you. I like them with just the cheese and the pepper, but you might like them fancier. Salsa on top would be nice too.

While I’m in the Mexican mood, I think I’ll make some elotes con crema. These are so delicious in the avocados which are perfect right now. Some of that shredded romaine would make a nice base for that.

I’m not sure what else we’re going to come up with for the week. Maybe some of our customers’ requests will spark something. I know we’ll be making key lime tarts for dessert. I love lime and lemon this time of year.

If you’re still reading, bless you. Thanks for sticking with me. Hoping you have a delicious, light, and cooling week.

Core Values

We've been asked to do a program for a group tonight, and when we asked them what they were most interested in hearing about, they said they wanted us to explain why anyone would ever spend money buying organic when there is plenty of cheap conventional produce out there.

My first thought was that we were walking into a lynch mob situation. It seems that people who eat organic food do so because it makes sense to them to do it. Likewise, those who don't, do so because it doesn't make sense to them. It seems like we are all basing our decision to eat organic on what appears to be the more logical to us.

There is a magazine I get every month that has a controversial question in it, and they have an expert from both the pro and con side give their opinion. Then they ask random people what their opinion is, and they publish the opinions of 3 pro and 3 con. Every month when I read these, I always wonder if it ever changes anyone's mind. Maybe it is helpful to fence sitters. It gives them the ammunition they need to make a decision one way or the other.

I'm not much for trying to convince anyone of anything. I don't think that's really apathy on my part; I'm just not a very persuasive person. Decisions come very easily to me. Things are never as black and white as they seem, and there's probably some good in both sides. I think we ultimately side with the one that appeals to our core values. So there it is...

According to Wikipedia.com, core values are "those [values] which prescribe the attitude and character of [a person]." Our attitude and character are determined by our core values.

What core values would we be employing when deciding that we will spend the extra buck buying something grown organically? There is an article I read recently that may shed some light on this ("10 Reasons to Eat Organic").

1. Organic farms have a better balance of wildlife. (Core value: Make sure wildlife isn't deprived of their homes because of my eating choices.) (This picture from our sweet potato patch was a precious catch. I like it because you can look close and see little holes in the leaves eaten by the catepillar that preceded this beauty. Our sweet potatoes are none the worse for it...)

2. Soil is not depleted on an organic farm. In fact, this valuable natural resource is actually enriched. (Core value: Belief that as a human living on this planet, I don't have the right to rape it of its resources.)

3. Animals fed organic food fare better than those fed "conventially" grown food. (Core value: I and my family deserve to thrive; my food choices should not diminish my health but enhance it.)

4. Organic produce has more salicylic acid which helps fight hardening of the arteries and bowel cancer. It is produced in plants naturally as a defense against stress. "If plants don’t have to resist bugs because of pesticide use, they generate less salicylic acid, and pass less on to us." (Core value: God created plants as the main food for humans and intended for us to eat them without manual manipulation.)

5. Organic foods have higher nutrient values. (Core value: see number 4.)

6. Organic food tastes better and has a better texture. (Core value: I want to feed my body and my family's bodies the best quality food I can.)

7. Organic farming can feed the world. While many think it is not feasible to organically grow all of the food needed by humans and animals, studies have been done to prove similar yields are often possible. Even when yields are lower, "The organic plots required 34% to 53% less fertilizer and energy and 97% less pesticide, however, and produced more food per unit of energy and fertilizer." The ecological impact was also less. (Core value: I do not believe I am entitled to anything not available to everyone.)

8. Organic farming protects the climate by storing more carbon in the soil which helps to stop global climate changes. (Core value: My actions should not negatively impact the planet.)

9. Organic methods are more effective in drought conditions. (Good to know; can't think of a core value I have that would apply to this.)

10. This is often used as the ONLY reason to eat organically: Organic food is safer. Farmers and farm workers who farm conventionally are 6x more likely to contract cancer from pesticide exposure. We all know it doesn't make sense to eat food which has been sprayed with poison, yet what we don't, won't hurt us, right? (Core value: I should make decisions based on intelligent logic.)

This article from which these 10 reaons are taken is written by Guy Dauncey and originally appeared in Common Ground Magazine, August 2002. I'll be glad to e-mail it to you.

I've had a really hard time thinking what core values are in play when making the decision to buy conventionally grown food. I'm sure there are some, but I can't think of them.

That being said, I have to say that I love being able to support farmers who are swimming upstream in a difficult current to do something they believe is the right thing to do. None of the organic farmers I know are getting rich. They are not in this business because it is a lucrative employment. I love voting for them instead of the corporate thieves robbing us of our health.

My sister asked me what I do with the wheat after we make our rejuvelac. We use it to make some gently dehydrated crackers we call Alicia crackers. The wheat is saved after the rejuvelac is strained off, and then we mix it with some tomato, a slice of lemon or lime, some garlic, and whatever herbs you have that you like along with some salt. We just mix this up in the blender. They taste kind of like cheezits as the wheat has a cheesy flavor. We pour the mixture onto our dehydrator sheets and dry them until they lift off the sheet indicating they're dry all the way through.

These are nice with soups, and we also like them with a little avo mayo, a slice of tomato, and a few sprouts as an open face sandwich.

Seasonal eating dictates lemonade is more of a winter drink, but it does taste good on a hot day. Rejuvelac, with its lemony flavor, is an adequate summer substitute. Your body will love you for it.

We're really enjoying the melons this year. They are delicious and amazingly hydrating. The berries have also been delicious. Last Sunday, we layered some blueberries and raspberries in our dessert dishes. We put on a dollop or two of vanilla yogurt silk (non-dairy cashew cheese cheese mixed with honey, lemon, and vanilla bean), and then sprinkled on some Hawaiian Granola (gently dehydrated buckwheat sprouts (no gluten!), pineapple, raisins, honey, dates, coconut, almonds). It was a wonderful dessert/dinner. Angelina and I are also pigging out on the mangoes. The tomatoes are delicious this year, and I'm enjoying whole meals of them by themselves (or breakfast as the case may be). I hope everyone is basking in the deliciousness of the season as I am!

It has taken a bit of a paradigm shift to realize my beloved lettuces really aren't in season right now. In thinking of what this meant to me, I realized it wasn't so bad. I'm loving the cucumber salad (thinly sliced cucumber and onion mixed with apple cider vinegar, agave nectar, and a little salt) as a meal in itself. I'm loving the tomatoes as I already mentioned. I'm thinking it's not so bad to dispense with the salad and instead have a bed of shredded zucchini at each meal with one of the many sauces available (all non-dairy, non-flesh, non-gluten): cheddar cheesy sauce, sweet n sour, marinara, "peanut", and alfredo. We also like mixing the shredded zucchini with queso verde for a green spaghetti. I'm trying to understand the benefits to my body of eating what nature is providing in each given season.

Desserts this week: pumpkin pie, key lime tarts, chocolate mousse layer cake. We are also enjoying the chocolate mousse layered with berries. We also have some chocolate macaroons made fresh.