Breftiss of juice 2 grapefruits, 2 oranges, couple inches cucumber and some water.

About to start marination of ye olde Shoyu Mushroom Wings (which includes a mess of chopped red bell pepper) (marinade is tamari, lil onion, lil pressed garlic, lil fresh ginger, teensy bit honey or maple syrup, olive oil, some dried chilis and maybe just a skinch of lemon) (and marination only takes like half an hour at most) (you could also go wasabi with this, that'd probably be awesome).

So yesterday, driving home from a cleaning job, I didn't go to El Pollo Loco.


Did you hear that?


Also, can we give a round of applause to Starbucks for coming up with a dairy-free, low calorie, just-sweet-enough-yet-not-artificially-sweetened caffeine vehicle that also has raspberries in it?!?!?!??! (They call them "blackberries," but I know better.) So clever I almost don't mind how expensive they are.


So yes, there are three El Pollo Locos on my way home from said cleaning job, and sometimes I'm so pooped from cleaning I think I deserve to eat fast-food chicken...tell myself it's a healthier raw food cheat than something bready...but somehow, how those birds are treated wouldn't let me, yesterday. Somehow yesterday it was relatively easy, like deciding to take the subway rather than the bus or something. Maybe it really is just a matter of getting into the habit of three raw meals a day...maybe getting a baseline amount of nutrition helps take the edge off crap cravings? We can hope.

$1 at Albertson's.
You probably need some.

Shale Talifero's recipe "Celery Root Pilaf" with yellow tomatoes and avocado.

I saw this recipe a couple months ago through Jinjee Talifero's Facebook page (Shale's her son), and have been thinking about it ever since...went through an entire celery root sitting in the fridge til it went bad, though, before getting down to the nitty gritty of actually making said pilaf last night (new root, of course!)

I recommend! Probably about one root per person. But next time will ask the produce person how to find the freshest root (this is also apparently called celeriac), mine was just a teensy bit woody.

Here's how to do it.

More on raw banana ice cream for your pleasure.

A woman my friend Chelsea knows makes raw banana ice cream with pieces of what she called "bitter chocolate" inside. Of course!

Frozen banana ice cream deal

So I'd been hearing for awhile now that people make raw ice cream from frozen bananas.

Ya whatever, I thought. Sounds sucky to me.

For the heck of it I froze a peeled banana today, and put said frozen banana in blender. (The blender scared me a little at first, but eventually got through it...have since read it's better to freeze the banana in chunks, duh.)

Well, I simply cannot believe how much like ice cream a frozen banana is. There's some banana flavor, but the cold mutes that a lot. Overwhelming is the ice-creamy way a spoon goes through it (think dense, heavy, creamy), and the ice-creamy way it melts in your mouth.

Next time (tonight!) I'm going to try this recipe for vanilla ice cream. You know my thing with that, olive oil and a little salt.

Day 5 of Seriously Hardly Having Very Much Sugar at All

I'm serious. Day 3 began an unsweetened cappuccino addiction...but for now, I think, if I can just make much-less-sugar my everyday, unconscious reality, I'm good.

I'm not doing this 100% raw. I'm frankly indulging all fat and protein cravings, El Pollo Loco included (meat only), and seeing if it makes eating less sugar easier. (It does.) (That said, eating raw also seems easier.) (Also my body tolerates meat pretty well, much better than breadstuffs or pasta.)

We are NOT eating breadstuffs or pasta, for sure not that. And I'm actually mostly eating raw, probably 80%.

By the way, I recently discovered the wonderfulness of black beans in a smoothie. It was a couple handful cooked black beans, handful blueberries, handful blackberries, couple chard leaves, a banana and some water. The beans lent no flavor, just substance and nutrition, iron especially.

Ok that's all. Love you.

So my sugar craving is out of control, which is why you haven't seen much here lately. I can't blame raw foods; I sense a physical/hormonal issue that was underlying a long time, and that raw eating brought it into the light.

In any case I am getting intentional, as they say. Stumbled onto a sweet little post about white sage in that effort this morning, which is fairly common in southern Californian (and my backyard!) Reading this about sage it occurred to me to look there for help. You know what the heck.

I like what the Chumash knower of such things says about herbal oils. Using the leaf, and only one in a cup, just sounds so sensible.

Isn't this beautiful? It's water plus the buds of maybe seven lavender stalks, chopped leaves from maybe the same number mint stalks, and about a third of a green apple chopped.


It sits in the sun all day and then the moon all night.


If the taste is strong enough I'll strain it, but if not everything stays in. Then it goes in the fridge.

From my girl Jinjee:

"WATERMELON !! Must Read and Share

The more we study watermelon, the more we realize just how incredible this fruit really is.

It’s full of antioxidants shown to reduce the inflammation that contributes to diabetes, asthma, atherosclerosis..., colon cancer, and arthritis - but that’s not all.

Other beneficial ingredients in watermelon are known as Phytonutrients - which are naturally occurring compounds that are bioactive and able to trigger healthy reactions within our body.

1. Asthma – The antioxidants, such as Citrulline in watermelon can reduce toxins in the body. Some of these toxins are believed to trigger asthma attacks.

2. Arthritis – Watermelon is rich in Vitamin C and Beta-Carotenes. Both have anti-inflammatory properties that can help relieve the symptoms of arthritis.

3. Bladder Problems – Containing 92% water, this melon acts as a natural diuretic that cleanses your kidney and bladder.

4. High Cholesterol – The cleansing properties of watermelon may also reduce the risk of clogged arteries. The fruit is also believed to increase HDL (good cholesterol levels).

5. Constipation – A glass of watermelon juice can naturally eliminate waste and promote proper digestion.

6. Bloating – Again, the diuretic effect of watermelon can eliminate water retention. It is especially recommended for women who retain fluids during menstruation or pregnancy.

7. Heart Disease – Watermelon contains Folic acid and Citrulline that works in tandem with other essential vitamins. Some research indicates that these vitamins may reduce the risk of a heart attack, stroke and colon cancer.

8. Itchy Skin – As the water from the melon cleanses your system, it can flush out the toxic waste that cause some forms of itchiness.

9. Prostate Cancer – The Lycopene in watermelon has been extensively reported to reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

10. Blemishes – Watermelon can also be used as a beauty aid to reduce skin blemishes. Simply rub your skin with a small piece of watermelon. Leave the juice on for 10 minutes before rinsing.

Share If You Love this info about Watermelon."



Licorice root

So I'm addicted to sugar! 

So Maybe This Is True For Christ's Sake! So Would You Get Off My Back Already!

Don't want to do anything rash...but am thinking of chewing on a licorice twig when a craving hits and see what happens. One of my best enemies used to chew on licorice twigs. It definitely gave her a look.

If Lynne Rosetto Kasper says it,

well -- you know the rest. She says you can soak raw garlic and raw onion in (raw) lemon juice to "lessen their heat."

Hoping to confirm this means, "make raw garlic edible by Maggie," will report soon.

Last night's dindin

A zucchini "mandolined" into noodles...chopped red bell pepper...chopped tomato...handful of 24-hour-soaked garbanzos, chopped, for protein...half a chopped green onion...a sprinkle of capers...

Then a non-raw sautee, in just enough cheap, high-temp-ok cooking oil, of pressed garlic, the other half of the green onion chopped, salt, cheap white wine, a sage leaf and rosemary twig (not chopped, just for infusion's sake), and a last-minute teaspoon of nonfat plain "Greek" yogurt...spooned onto raw food above, along with a couple splashes of room-temp, non-cooked olive oil.

It was fucking fabulous!

A cucumber-and-chili-powder popsicle.

Yes.

It's really, really good. And a raw version could easily be made at home.

I love how Mexican cuisine doesn't underestimate the audience.

Not raw

but worth doing. Sassafras is a portal. I'm just saying.

Ok. Not that bad for getting back in the saddle after a month away. Morning blendered collards + apple + wawamelon + wawa, midmorning snack of a whole mess of dark chocolate truffles, lunch of apple and pear with Laura Scudders pb. F it, it's a start. Dindin will probably be the same as last night, which was really good.

We'll get there. (And then what will we do.)

Where we're at today, trying to get back in the saddle, is, we can eat whatever we want, but have to have 3 raw deals in the day. Dindin was melange of shredded raw cauliflower and spinach, drenched with a cooled saute (nonraw, but I'm ok with that) of vegetable oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, onion and a handful of squished tofu, with a drink of juice 3 oranges + 2 carrots + some water. Good!

I know...

I know...I know...I'm sorry!!!!!!!

No way to cover the lost ground so let's just start with this morning.

Maybe two weeks after one of my very good friends, living in Oregon now, told me she and her hub are all juicing now, without any evangelism from moi even, it was actually a little the other way around during the phone call wherein I learned this, and she was so expounding juicers and I thought to myself, well, my blender isn't that bad, and possibly easier to clean...maybe two weeks after this a free and brand new juicer landed on my counter, used this morning. Cucumber, mango, apple, the rest of the collards, a carrot. Delicious.

I heard once, though, that juicing as opposed to blendering drinks gives you a medicinal-level essence of the plant, which isn't necessarily what you always want...so to juice with prudence is all.

So much crapeating and I feel like shit and it's not all because of food but possibly some of it is. I'm getting back on the saddle here and now, to see what we can do about el mood.

Thinking about

getting herbal teas involved a little more. The thought of cold chamomile tea in a smoothie is making my mouth water. Mint tea could be awesome, too. Anyone out there doing this?