Best Party Snack Ever!

This might not be very healthy (especially for all of you folks who abstain from adult bevvies), but it sure was enjoyable.  Background info:  when I hit the grocery store I pack my trunk with kale so I can indulge in my addiction:  kale chips.  The other day I was googling new-to-me kale chip recipes.  I decided to try out a Dill Pickle recipe from the Rawtarian.  Y.U.M.  These were tasty.  Now I am excited to peruse this awesome website for more exciting recipes.

*One note: next time (and there will be a next time) I will decrease the salt by half.  

Naturally, because I am such a health fanatic,  I paired my kale chips with a glass of sangria.  TH and I had a fabulous night in Panama that started with a jug of fruity goodness and we were super excited to make a vat when we came home.  So, no, technically I don't know if this is the best party snack ever, but if I were to have a party, I'm sure the guests would enjoy dill pickle kale chips and sangria.  

I randomly threw this together, but the end result was delicious and packed a real punch.  This is kind-of-sort-of what I did:

Sangria

1 bottle of red wine

hearty splash of brandy

hearty splash of triple sec

hearty splash of orange-mango juice

juice of two limes

chopped apples, oranges, kiwis, strawberries (or whatever you want)

Mix everything together and let the flavors marinate overnight in the fridge. 

So, maybe I will have a party and share my snacks.  Or maybe TH and I will continue to fight over the crispy-pickly treats and the boozy fruit.  

Question:  Do you have a go-to party recipe (for real parties or pretend parties, either is fine)?  

Kale and Zucchini

Hope you all had a lovely Easter!

My super busy weekend called for lots of easily scarfable snacks, as I'd rather wear a diaper than go hungy.  I knew I'd be working long hours without much time for eating, so earlier in the week I'd made a bunch of easily portable munchies.

I had a plethora of Sexy Crazy Diet's mustard dressing, which now translates into kale chips.  (FYI: the dressing was a little salty the first time I made it, so I've decreased the salt quite a bit.)

scarfable indeed

Viv also whipped up RAWvolution's zucchini hummus, for veggie dipping and collard wraps. 

nut-free raw hummus! 

By Sunday evening I was ready to sit on my heinie and savor dessert while catching up on all of your awesome blogs.   (Maca "cupcakes" with strawberry frosting.  I will share the recipe tomorrow.) 

Question:  Do you have a favorite cookbook? 

April Snow

In Alaska, we are very cautious about believing spring has arrived.  Yesterday we woke up to six inches of fresh snow.  Our hellacious death hill was an icy mess that I had to brave to make appointments in Wasilla.  I slid all the way down it sideways, stopping only when I plowed into a snow berm.  Luckily I wasn't going very fast, so there was no car damage and I could back myself out.

Don't worry!  If I would have gotten stuck I was prepared with snacks.    

In the baggie are a mess of kale and collard chips; a new to me recipe. I found this scrumptious recipe for Raw Food Kale Chips at the Renegade Health Show. The recipe called for two heads of kale, but it seemed like I had too much dressing for two heads.  I didn't have any more kale, so I sliced up some collard leaves.  They turned out great!

crunchy green goodness

Now I must excuse myself as this key lime pie tart won't stop staring at me.  I will share the recipe tomorrow if it pleases the taste buds of TH the Taste Tester.

Question:  What signals spring to you?  (For me, it's trading out my snow boots for my Bogs.)

Feeling Fishy

I love to eat!  While I'm finishing off my breakfast smoothie I'm already looking forward to lunch.  TH can go all day without eating when he's fishing.  I asked my friend Kelci if she had any passions that would make her forget about eating.  She said, "Eating!"  I can relate.  I feel kind of weird saying that food is one of my passions, but there it is.

My friend Andrea, who knows me very well, sent me some goodies in the mail. I just have to share!

Both the kale chips and the "raweos" (how cute is that?) were from Blessing's Alive and Radiant Foods, a company I'd never heard of.  The kale chips were perfecto, satisfyingly crunchy and ranchy.  The raweos were adorable to look at, and quite good in the raw/healthy sense, but I don't know if an average eater would go back for seconds.  I think maybe the chai essence added a little too much drama.  All in all, it was such a lovely surprise at the PO today.

Sometimes I have a hankering for fish.  Salmon I generally don't eat raw, instead we marinate it in Bragg's, maple syrup, and garlic before grilling.  I feel so lucky that we can catch our own wild salmon.

Cook Help got a little frisky with the carrots. 

Question:  Are you so passionate about something, that while immersed in it, you forget about eating for long periods of time?

"Helps your cooking fast, joyfully with wonderfully edged strings!"

When I ordered my ice cream maker I also threw a Japanese Benriner Cook Help into my shopping cart.  It arrived today!

I had read that this tool makes fantastic raw veggie noodles and had been scoping it out for a while.  I was tired of using a veggie peeler, or slicing my fingers on my cheap mandolin.  

I am soooo glad the instructions came illustrated because they were full of useful tips like:

• "Also, cut it in tiney (sic) pieces with kitchin (sic) knife and use for Hamburg steak, frizzled rice, etc."
• "Sliced onion can be obtained with ease. Very much popular as stamina food."
• "Just a little bit different Tastes of a regular cook."

Okay, I'm rude, but I had a nice laugh at Benriner's expense, but then did feel truly joyful (as the instructions stated I would) when I figured the thing out.  It is super cool!  

After playing around with lots of veggies (should have taken pics!), I made green pepper and carrot "noodles" and topped them with Cauliflower Curry from Delightfully Raw.  Heavenly.  

One of our Full Circle Farm boxes this week was packed with kale.  I did the ordering for this box when I was in Mexico, under extreme leafy green deprivation.  I wonder if FCF thinks I learned how to make meth with kale.  

Only one thing to do with bucco kale:  KALE CHIPS!!

Oil and vinegar, Kristen Suzanne's Cheezy Hemp and Carmella's Curry Kale Chips.  

I decided to do something productive with that mysterious freezer chocolate ganache, so I don't continue to spoon it mindlessly into my mouth while reading blogs.  

I set it on the wood stove to soften it up, then spooned a little layer into a candy mold.  I froze it for a bit, then spooned in a layer of Caramel Sauce #2 from Sweetly Raw's Just Desserts recipe book.  (BTW:  that caramel sauce is outstanding.  Tastes better than the real deal.)  I froze it again, and topped the candies with another layer of ganache.  

Wow.  This is better.  I can eat one or two of these and feel totally satisfied.  

Question:  What's your favorite kitchen tool?  

Kale Chips for Breakfast

This morning the D offered up curry kale chips (recipe from Delightfully Raw).  If you are a kale chip fan, you must try these!  The sauce is sweet and a just a tiny bit spicy.  I had to do some substituting as organic red peppers are nearly impossible to find this time of year.  I replaced the red pepper with extra carrots and some zucchini.  Scrumptious curry sauce made from veggies?  Hell yeah.

I also made the (imo, better than cooked) pasta sauce from Delightfully Raw.  It has been so much fun to uncook my way through that book! 

I couldn't find my mandolin to make pretty noodles (I must have given it away after shredding my fingers one too many times) so I peeled a few zukes for the noodles and topped the sauce with:   

Brazil Nut "Parmesan" 

2 cups Brazil nuts, soaked for a few hours

juice from 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp (+?) salt

2 tbs nutritional yeast 

Blend* ingredients and then crumble onto dehydrator tray. Leave in the D at 105 overnight. 

*Food processing might be easier, I just didn't relish the idea of cleaning the f.p. afterwards. 

The parmesan added a nice tangy, salty, crunchy texture.  Of course, TH had to mention that it tasted nothing like the real thing, but whatever. 

A little post lunch dessert:

I used real vanilla beans in the cheesecake and I think it made a difference in flavor.   The outsides look like dried up worms, but inside there are thousands of tiny, aromatic seeds.  It's kind of a hassle to scrape out the seeds, but your fingers will smell great afterwards!

Question:  Has anyone ever blended the entire vanilla bean, pod and all, into a dessert?

Today was a crisp, lovely day.  

Isn't this immature cabbage head pretty?  I was too lazy to clean it out of my planter when the snow came and it's now frozen solid.  

Speaking of frozen, we took a stroll on a series of lakes near our house to judge the ice for skiing potential.  Not quite ready yet, but soon.  Yippee!  I have new skate skis to break in.  

Our friends from Wasilla are on their way over.  They own a fantabulous wine bar in Wasilla (The Grape Tap) and I'm excited because they always bring yummy wine for us to sample.  

I made a crockpot Thai red curry and also some appies to go with wine:

served with raw onion crackers and veggies 

Nacho Cheeze from Kristen's Raw (highly addictive)

Avocado and Zucchini Dip (gorgeously chartreuse) from Gone Raw

Sun-dried Tomato Dip:

• large handful sun-dried tomatoes
• large handful cashews (soaked are better) 
• hearty dash olive oil 
• 1 tsp + oregano
• 1 tsp + basil
• onion and garlic powder to taste
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 red pepper
• blend on low 

veggie kabobs

kale chips, of course

Chocolate caramel tarts (see yesterday's post) for dessert.  My review:  the bottom brownie layer and the 

ganache on top are phenomenal.  I'm not sold on middle caramel layer yet, as I'm not a huge fan of mesquite in desserts. However, it may grow on me, as Kombucha and P90X have. 

Stretch day for P90X- heck yeah!!  I think I'm addicted.  I'm already worried about how I'm going to get my fix when our families are in town next week.  

Question:  does anyone else need armpit diapers during Yoga X?