Tropical Fruit Love

Every summer TH and I pick a central or south American county to explore.  Why?  Aside from lovely people, a fascinating pre-European history, economic travel, beaches, jungle, fresh fruit and seafood,  a free trip to this part of the world involves a mere 35,000 miles on Alaska Airlines.  This summer we chose Panama.  We flew into Panama City the other day, and the next morning set off to appease TH's fishing addiction at Lake Gatun, a  jungle bottomed lake that developed with the Panama Canal.  It was beautiful and serene.

TH brought a few peacock bass home to fry up in our very economical mini apartment (City Suites Panama, $45/night), while I made a giant salad with veggies purchased at the Asian market down the road.  We topped the salad with a mystery spice that was delicious, until we discovered the secret ingredient:  MSG.

This morning we slept in, then dined on fruit purchased from a roadside stall and the Asian market.  An entire watermelon, a bunch of bananas, a bag of limes, and a mango were ours for $1.75!!

I was surprised to find rambutan, a fruit I know from Indonesia, in the Asian market.  Apparently they are now grown in Costa Rica as well.  To enjoy a rambutan you snap open the spiny outside, pull out the  white interior, and suck the sweet meat from the seed.  

Question:  Do you have a favorite exotic fruit?  

On the Road Again....

Well, I had a lovely summer parfait to share with you, but TH ate the ingredients I had prepared while I was up in Fairbanks.  I guess I should be happy that he chose a raw dessert over the Snickers that came home in his fishing backpack.

Since I don't have a pretty pic to share, I will post a not so pretty one.  I tried to make a travel kale chip, inspired by a flat kale cracker I saw at Natural Pantry.  My experimentation involved food processing a giant head of kale, apple cider vinegar, a few macadamia nuts, ground flax, and salt.   Then I spread the mixture in circle shapes on a ParaFlexx sheet, sprinkled hemp seeds on top, and dehydrated overnight at 110 degrees.  Salt and Vinegar Kale Crisps!

These guys turned out pretty tasty, and are going to Panama with TH and I tomorrow.  Won't our airplane neighbor be jealous. 

 I plan on posting a travel journal of sorts over the next month; come back and visit if you are interested in Central America!

Question:  Do you have a favorite travel destination?   

PIzza Twice in One Day!

Another thing I love about Alaska in the summer:  I did yoga at 9pm on my sunny porch this evening and it was 80 degrees!  I'm a little sad that we have reached the solstice and will slowly start losing our evening light.  However, it is still light until well past midnight, so I won't complain.  

After spending my afternoon doing laundry in Trapper Creek,  I thought I deserved a couple of treats.

First, raw savory pizza. 

Pizza Crust:  Russell James's bread

Tomato Sauce:  recipe from Delightfully Raw

Pizza Cheese

1/2 cup soaked macadamia nuts

1/2 cup soaked pine nuts

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup nooch

1/2 cup red pepper

water to desired consistency

Toppings:  spinach, peppers, marinated mushrooms, parsley

Then, dessert pizza happened.  I am not a great raw recipe inventor, but I do find some tasty ideas online.    Follow the links to make this lovely treat! 

"Crust":  Ani Phyo's Banana Pancake 

"Red Sauce":  Sweetly Raw's Strawberry Pudding

"Cheese":  Sweetly Raw's Coconut Whipped Cream

Toppings:  peaches and a strawberry

Question:  Are you a recipe inventor or a recipe finder? 

I had a bad case of the chocolate crazies yesterday.  I almost dove headfirst into a plate of s'more bars supplied by our lovely neighbor.   Luckily, I had a savior in the form of a Raw Food World goodie:

Of course, I was only eating it for its health benefits.

When I was in Seattle, my girlfriend and I went into a coffee shop that was fixing up some mean looking crepes.  I knew then that a raw crepe would be appear in my future.  The Rawtella seemed like a great pairing with bananas and a banana/coconut wrap from Just Desserts.  The wraps were incredibly easy to make (if you have a Vivian and a D), and are super tasty.  

topped with coconut whipped cream

My intention was to save half of the crepe for TH, but I must admit that I devoured the whole thing (and hid the evidence) while he was out in the man-cave.  He can have my share of the s'more bars.  

Question:  How do you handle intense chocolate cravings?  (Or are you one of those lucky folks who doesn't get them?)

Eating in the Great Outdoors

Well, I've learned that blogging in the summer time is more of a challenge than I expected, as we are gone too much to do it with any regularity.  But being away from home gives me a chance to try out different raw goodies in the wild.  Here are some snack ideas that are fairly light and portable.  (You should really buy Delightfully Raw!) 

Garlic Nori Snacks from Delightfully Raw 

Hemp Veggie Burgers, also from Delightfully Raw

Grawnola Bars (a recipe I still need to write up)

I don't eat raw all the time while camping.  When space is restricted it can be hard to pack lots of spoilable produce.  One way we do enjoy veggies is in the form of hobo dinners.  We prep these at home, slicing up veggies into tinfoil packets with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  While camping, we place them in the coals of a fire for about an hour. 

South central Alaska this time of year is so green and lovely. 

Question:  Do you have a favorite camping meal? 

Breakfast Snack

I had the yummiest snack today.  I was inspired by a free recipe book (Profoundly Raw Recipes- go and get yours!) and strawberry season.

Ani Phyo contributes a raw pancake recipe in Profoundly Raw and I was feeling it.  The main ingredients are brazil nuts, bananas and ground flax.  The recipe was super simple, and I enjoyed the tasty batter quite a bit.  I think I could have made my pancakes a little thicker, but my thin spread produced more of a Swedish pancake effect.  I am in love. 

I topped the pancakes with a strawberry sauce (strawberries blended with lemon juice and honey) and Maple Cream Sauce from Raw Food Real World.  I'd never made the sauce before- WOW.  It is awesome.  

Question:  Are you doing anything fun with strawberries?  

Sunflower Pate x4

A lot of people I know think eating raw food is complicated.  I always beg to differ, because how easy is it to eat fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds?  Of course, it can be complicated, but I save those recipe for the weekends.  

Sunflower pate is one of my favorite quick and easy snacks.  I make mine with soaked sunflower seeds, lots of garlic, and a little nama shoyu or Bragg's amino acids.  It looks like cat food, but it is actually quite tasty.  I make a big batch once a week and eat it in a variety of ways.    

Stuffed Avocado Boat

My favorite!  This is absolutely delicious.  

 

Sandwich with Lisa's raw onion bread

Cucumber Tower

All Wrapped Up

Easy right?  

Question:  When you soak sunflower seeds, do you think it is important to separate the soaked seeds from the skins that come off?  Are the skins edible?  

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend.  Seattle was lovely; filled with gorgeous babies, wine tasting, Whole Foods, fresh fruits/veggies, and big city fun.   (Please excuse the phone pics.)

I am horrible about taking dining pictures outside of my own house, so I don't have much to share.  My friends and I did accidentally find a raw dessert shop, called Jodee's, after running around Green Lake.  I ordered a 16 oz green smoothie, which at $7.50 I found rather pricey for the ingredients (water, spinach, banana, mango, pineapple- I skipped the dates).  The desserts, however, looked incredible and were very reasonably priced.  We meant to come back to buy some, but unfortunately ran out of time.  :(

Here is the dessert menu, from Jodee's website.  Insanity.  

There were also gorgeous looking truffles and chocolates in the display case.  It's killing me that we didn't go back.  Tiramisu pie...?!  Next time.  

When I left Alaska it was 75-80 degrees.  Seattle was pretty chilly and rainy, while, according to TH, AK's heat wave continued.  Now that I am back it is gray and 60 degrees here.  I am wearing a down vest for  Pete's sake!  

Question:  Have you seen Bridesmaids?  Does the fact that I found it quite funny mean I have an immature sense of humor?