Super Slaw Salad

Today I made a filling slaw for lunch to fulfill the autumnal desire for heavier meals. This is filled with shredded green and red cabbage, carrots, red onion, raisins, and celery with a creamy dressing made from activated almonds.

Cabbage is an excellent source of Vitamin C, to boost the immune system, and glutamine, which is an anti-inflammatory. Cabbage is full of antioxidants and phytonutrients that signal our genes to produce enzymes involved in detoxification, cleansing our bodies on a deep level. Eating ample cabbage reduces the risk of several forms of cancer. So with all the fear propaganda about getting seasonal illnesses, the best thing I believe we can do is to eat healthy living foods as much as possible!

Here's a healthy filling yummy salad to activate your immune system...

• 2 c. green cabbage, shredded
• 1 c. red cabbage, shredded
• 1 large carrot, shredded
• 1 large celery stalk, chopped finely
• 1/4 c. red onion, chopped finely
• 1/2 c. raisins
• 1 c. almonds, soaked 8 hours or overnight
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1 T. miso
• 2 T. apple cider vinegar
• 1 T. raw honey
• 1 T. nutritional yeast
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• pinch cayenne
• 1/4 c. - 1/2 c. water

1. Mix all the cabbage, carrots, celery, onion, and raisins together in a large bowl.
2. Add the almonds, oil, miso, vinegar, honey, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, cayenne, and 1/4 c. water to a Vitamixer or high-speed blender.
3. Blend until thoroughly mixed, adding the extra 1/4 c. of water if needed under the ideal creamy blended consistency.
4. Stir the dressing and the veggies all together until coated well and serve!
5. Enjoy!

The beautiful bowl is made by Amy the Potter. Check out her amazing work!

Apple-Pear Pistachio Cobbler

A perfect autumn dessert...or breakfast. Making raw cobblers and pies is really easy and so much faster than cooking. The trick to success is slicing the fruit as thinly as possible and then massaging the rest of the filling ingredients into the apples and pears with your hands. So yummy! This disappeared way too quickly. Luckily it is so simple to create.

Crust and Topping

• 2/3 c. raw oats
• 1/3 c. raw pistachios
• 1 c. dates, pitted
• 1 tsp. Vitamineral Earth (optional but yummy and packed with minerals)
• 1/4 tsp. real salt
• pinch cinnamon
• 1 tsp. cacao nibs

1. Add all topping ingredients to a food processor and mix until crumbly and thoroughly combined.
2. Press half of the mix into a pie pan to make the crust.
3. Put the other half aside to use as topping.

Apple-Pear Filling

• 1 large apple, thinly sliced
• 1 pear, thinly sliced
• 1/3 c. raw honey (or agave)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla powder
• 1 tsp. lucama powder

1. Thinly slice the apple and pear and place into a bowl.
2. Add the honey, salt, vanilla, and lucama to the fruit and mix well with your hands until all the fruit is well coated and the ingredients are combined.
3. Pour the filling onto the pie crust and top with the other half of the topping.

Enjoy! This will stay good in the fridge for a day, probably longer but it never lasts that long, it's too good! Can be prepared in advance for a potluck or dessert. Feel free to play around with the ingredients and add more cinnamon instead of the Vitamineral Earth or lucama. Have a delicious autumn!

Chocolicious Dream Pie

Creamy, sweet, filling, and packed with superfoods, this pie feeds the belly and soul and activates powerful dreamtime visions. Thanks to the mucuna pruriens and shilajit, this pie may give you lucid dreams, it sure has brought some radiant nightly visions my way.

Almond Crust

• 1c. almonds, soaked overnight and drained
• 1/2 c. honey dates
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 c. shredded coconut

Chocolicious Dream Cream Filling

• 1/2 c. cacao powder
• 1/2 c. raw coconut oil
• meat from one young coconut
• 1 avocado
• 1 tsp. mucuna pruriens
• 1/2 tsp. shilajit
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/8 tsp. real salt
• 1/2 c. honey dates
• 1 tsp. Vitamineral Earth
• 1/4 c. almonds, soaked and drained

Assembly

• Sprinkle the coconut into the bottom of a pie pan
• Mix the almonds, salt, and dates in a food processor
• Press the crust into the pie pan on top of the coconut
• Combine all the filling ingredients in the food processor until smooth
• Stop and scrape down the sides of the food processor several times to make sure all the filling is smoothly incorporated until very smooth
• Spread filling into pie pan and chill in fridge for 1 hour or more
• Top with sliced strawberries and serve
• YUM!

Art of Food Cafe

Mushroom SashimiYUM! My favorite raw cafe I've yet been to is the Art of Food Cafe in Sacramento, California by Chef Richard Hemsley. It was totally worth the extra drive out of my way to stop by Richards cozy cafe in the arts district of Sacramento. I met Richard at the Raw and Spirit Living Retreat in Oregon this summer and was impressed with the amazing yumminess of his raw inspiration, plus his innovative use of plant superfoods, and his mastery of the raw cheesecake - my favorite!!!

I had the very delicious mushroom sashimi, which was a combination of oyster mushrooms and some other kind of mushroom, marinated, on romaine leaves with electric onions and cherry tomatoes and served with flax crackers. That was wonderful, but the tostada then blew me away. This is raw gourmet food like you want at home, tremendous flavor, simple production, filling, tasty, and energizing. The tostada had a delicious flax shell, with a sunflower bean pate, delicious sauces, topped with lots of lettuce, avocado, and served with conscious awareness and care.

TostadaI ordered a lot of food, because I really wanted to try it all, and I was amazed how much I ate. I couldn't stop it was so delicious, and by the end I was bouncing in my chair with all the amazing energy of the food.

Of course, I needed to have a slice of the cheesecake of the day and I was delighted to try the Pomegranate Cheesecake that Richard had made with fresh pomegranate juice from the local farmers market. It was so good!!!

Pomegranate CheesecakeYou can also get bulk superfoods at the Art of Food Cafe for 10% off, and I stocked up on some Mucuna Pruriens, an herb I learned about from Richard that is actually 5-DMT and balances moods and can induce lucid dreaming, along with Shilajit, another powerful herb that amplifies and activates the healing properties of the food you are combining it with.

Get to Sacramento and get thee some cheesecake!!! I'll be back, I'm hoping to intern with Richard soon and learn some raw cuisine magic.

Love is bursting from the food and the walls at the Art of Food

Cafe Gratitude

I am Abundant - Sampler PlatterI've been traveling for most of September, to Hawaii and California, and have been fortunate to visit several raw food restaurants in Northern California. I had to visit the highly talked about Cafe Gratitude which has three locations in the Bay Area. I visited the SF location for breakfast and had a yummy, if pricey, smoothie, and tasted the delicious raw bagel with cream "cheese" that my friend ordered up. I had never had a raw bagel before and who knew it could be so yummy.

The highlight of Cafe Gratitude is definitely the desserts, and I got a delicious slice of chocolate mousse cake that was divine. They have a cookbook all of their raw dessert recipes called "Sweet Gratitude" which I just got and am excited to create some of their amazing concoctions myself.

The vibe of Cafe Gratitude either appeals to diners strongly, or repels them. All the food is named by affirmations such as "I am Luscious" or "I am Dazzling", so some may feel odd ordering food by such narcissistic language. It was very amusing to order the "I am Vital" and the "I am Abundant" and have my hip adorable waitress chime back with "You ARE Vibrant!!!" and "You ARE Abundant!"

Live LasagnaThe restaurants were founded after the owners created a positive affirmation board game called the Abounding River. So you can peruse game cards on the table and make up your own Spiritually Abundant Name - choosing from a list and saying three times to your dining mates "I am Cosmic Prosperity Kara!" or "I am Christ Gigantic Bob!" or whatever your magical dinner name is.

I also visited the Fairfax location in Marin and had delicious chai, the live sampler platter, and some amazing pies. The sampler platter had some delicious nacho cheese and flax crackers, tapenade, cashew hummus, kale salad, and more. However, it also came with a sample of the soup of the day which was potato - and not raw. So be sure to ask carefully to make sure your food is all live if you are strict with your diet.

The highlight was definitely the Turtle Cheesecake - OMG! So fabulously yummy, I want more! My dining companion had the lasagna, which would have been yummy if it was slightly warmed or at least room temperature, but was actually very cold in the center which made it less lasagna like and more like a cold layered salad.

If you are in the Bay Area and craving delicious raw food, then Cafe Gratitude may be for you. Definitely check out the desserts. However be warned about the overly sincere sappy staff and the overly priced gourmet raw food. Be Abundant and Be Full!

Turtle Pie and Coco Cream Pie