I have a confession to make. Remember the slice of pie I posted the other day? Well, it was somewhat easier to make than I led you to believe. It's true that I got the idea to whip one up after viewing the DVD, but I didn't actually use their crust recipe (although if I had the time, it would've been my first choice).
As a busy mom on two (a 7-year-old and a just turned 7-month-old, who's a bit of a handful at the moment), I sometimes have no other choice but to cut a few corners. Although I have a reputation for mainly posting raw recipes from scratch, lately I've been more open to the use of convenience products, doing a "semi-homemade" thing like a raw Sandra Lee.
Now, I don't live right next to a Whole Foods or other health food store, so I get even more excited by any raw convenience food available in my local grocery store. Its small selection of Raw Revolution bars (I think they only carry 3 or 4 flavors) have kept me on the raw track in a pinch, as they are easy to find when hunger strikes while I'm out and about.
Curious about the other flavor options (specifically the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough I've heard so much about), I contacted the company (Raw Indulgence) to see if I could try some more. I have to say that I was truly impressed with its quick and polite response. To top it all off, I was even more surprised with the generous number of full-size samples in the box sent to me (Thanks Raw Indulgence!).
There were two of every flavor, except for only one Apple Cinnamon Organic Greens Super Food Bar and five of the Tropical Mango (I think it is because its about the same size as the apple cinnamon and the cookie dough that was absent from the box; but, I'm not complaining, as they really did send a lot).
Lucky for my readers, I opted to save one of each flavor (except for the apple cinnamon, since there was just one; I really need my greens) for a giveaway. I thought I'd pick two winners, one gets the chocolate flavors, while the other gets the chocolate-free.
The chocolate flavors include Hazelnut & Chocolate (I need to ask my grocer to add this one), Chocolate & Cashew, Chocolate & Coconut, and Raisin & Chocolate. If you like chocolate, post that you do for one entry and mention/link this post on your blog for entry No. 2.
As for you chocolate-free fans (or if you just want to try a break from the chocolaty stuff), tell me you want yours cocoa-free for entry No. 1 and link to this post to increase your chances of winning (don't forget to add a separate comment for the extra entry). Flavors include Cashew & Agave Nectar, Spirulina & Cashew (I'm a big fan of anything with spirulina), Coconut & Agave Nectar, and of course, Tropical Mango.
Since I had some extra Tropical Mango bars, I decided to dress one up a bit. Raw convenience foods are even better when you give them your personal touch. So, it's no surprise to see mine formed into a cupcake shape, using a reusable silicone cupcake liner/mold. It is topped with a mound of mango and some coconut flakes to complete the look.
Unfortunately, although it looked like a cupcake, it was too moist to replicate the crumb-like texture I strive to achieve in my usual raw cupcake recipes. With that in mind, I recommended opting for the chocolate flavors when forming your "semi-rawmade" cupcakes. The cocoa in them helps to absorb some of the oil from the nuts in the bars. I also advise using a fork to break apart the bar before gently reforming it into a flakier (yet still rather dense like a brownie) "cake."
Both the cocoa-based and chocolate-free flavors also work well for forming pie/tart crusts, like I mentioned at the beginning of this post. For example, the apple pie slice pictured at the top, is actually comprised of a Cashew & Agave Nectar bar, molded to hold an apple, date paste (I had some on hand from making my own raw cupcake recipes) and pie spice filling. I reserved some excess bar pieces to form the crosshatch pattern on top and garnished it with more apple pieces.
So if you're interested in getting your hands on some of these bars, pick some up at a store near you, and/or enter this giveaway (the directions already stated in this post) by Tuesday, March 30, 2010. I'll pick two winners (one for the chocolate and one for the chocolate-free flavors) on Wednesday, March 31, 2010. Good luck everyone :-)
Ever think about hosting a raw vegan barbecue? Although most people wouldn't think of putting "raw vegan" and "barbecue" in the same sentence, Jackie and Gideon Graff of "The Sprout Cafe" make preparing food for the event easy as pie, like this slice I whipped up after viewing their DVD (Thank you Natural Zing for sending a copy my way, check out the yummy pie recipes Jeff and Helen posted back in November, if you missed it).
Apple Pie with Nut and Date Pie Crust is actually one of the recipes they demonstrate in "Uncooking with Jackie & Gideon: Country Barbecue." They show just how simple "unbaking" your own pie can be, even giving substitutions and tips for making it look more like the traditional version. It is the perfect ending to their hearty menu.
That's right; this is one hearty buffet, full of Barbecue Nibs with Barbecue Sauce (it's a little spooky how they doctor up the nibs up to give them the look of "ribs"), Brunswick Stew (which also contains their barbecue sauce; I love it when recipes build off of one another), Squash Casserole (they sprinkle a certain ingredient on top to give it a "cooked" appearance) and the most decadent raw corn bread I've ever seen (it contains heavy "cream," whipped up out of raw macadamia nuts).
The corn bread, like many of their dishes, is made by "rawifying" (a term I use for turning a traditional cooked dish into a raw version) the original recipe. This is my favorite approach to raw "uncooking," as it makes you feel like you're preparing what you already know and love; it keeps the memories alive.
For example, to round out the menu, Jackie and Gideon also serve up a Green Salad with Ranch Dressing (what's a country barbecue without Ranch dressing?), Spicy Marinated Herb and Greens (my favorite; I like the texture of the very thinly sliced and marinated collards, which almost look like noodles. I even used this technique to top the olive dish featured in my post about Natural Zing), Cole Slaw, Avotato Salad (this is some rich stuff) and Corn on the Cob.
The best part of the DVD is how real it is; it's like you are right there with their live audience, sipping on freshly made Lemonade out of mason jars and enjoying the Deviled Tomato appetizers. The couple doesn't edit out the accidental additions to the blender that need to be fished out or the moments they don't agree about what goes in where and when; these are the takes that brought a smile to my face. It was really fun to watch.
The only criticism I have, if you can call it that, is concerning their excessive use of macadamia nuts, which can be pricey. During the Q&A session at the end of the DVD, one of the audience members asked the same thing. Jackie and Gideon responded with a nut substitution, but also reminded everyone that this menu is for a big event to impress your guests with your raw food know how. Feel free to go all out on this one or just offer up the dishes you like best. This is a menu worth celebrating. Check it out :-)*****
After making the slice of raw pie, I was surprised I didn't make it in raw cupcake form, as I am prepping to release my raw cupcake e-book. To get you in the cupcake mood, here is a blast from the past, a photo of my Gingerbread Apple Tart Cupcake (sorry that it is a bit blurry, as it was taken a while back with my son's camera). Enjoy!
Oops. That's not what I meant. Quick, cover your eyes, kiddies. They shouldn't be seeing a "naked" cupcake. This photo wasn't supposed to be made public. Ha ha.
If you read yesterday's post, you might recognize the Kookie Karma-inspired cupcake with its "clothes" off, but please don't go sharing it all over the Internet without its dressed up top. You can find the recipe here on Juli Novotny's Pure Mamas blog.
Speaking of raw cupcakes, I was so excited to receive a package in the mail, containing one of my "Dreaming of Raw Cupcakes" designs. My hubby thought I should own one of the shirts, if I was going to be selling them.
Of course, I tried it on and snapped a quick pic (sorry for the lack of professional photography, as I took this one myself; I'm also apologizing to my hubby for posting yet another one of me without hair and makeup. I guess that means I'm going "naked," too). It fits perfectly, but I will give everyone a heads up that they do run small (mine was printed on an American Apparel shirt, so if you are familiar with the company, you know how most of their merchandise is cut snug).
I also wanted to inform my readers that the shirts are available in both organic and standard cotton versions. All organic would be amazing, but also more expensive. I left the option up to you.
Now, finally on to the real big reveal. I bet you're wondering who won the contests. Since Hayden drew the winners, I'll show you in the following photos:
First up, she draws the winner of Joanna Steven and Tonya Kay's “Raw Analysis II: Spring Athlete Diet.”
She carefully separates her handful, narrowing it down to one.
She gives the slip her lick of approval, so let's see who it could be:
She fought me for it, but Kaysie won! Congrats :-)
Onto the next one, she dives in for a Natural Zing Peruvian Sundried Salt-Free Olive winner.
She samples her selection ...
Thinks about going back for more ...
It's good!
Hayden, get out of that bowl; the winning name is already on your lap. But, what does it say?
mgonyeo, you have some olives coming your way! Congrats to you, too :-)
Thanks to everyone for playing :-)
If you were wondering what was in my jar yesterday, I'll let you know how you can find out, as it is part of this raw cupcake recipe, inspired by today's Q&A (now that was a mouthful, sort of like the cupcake. Yum!).
As I've mentioned in the past, I like to credit Juli Novotny of Kookie Karma for starting me out on my "unbaking" path. After being introduced to her yummy creations on the GLiving site, I was ready to get a little more experimental in my own kitchen.
Although I was already raw at the time, I had barely gotten my feet wet in the raw desserts department. Let's just say I'd only dipped a toe in to test the waters; Juli was the inspiration I needed to dive into the deep end (this is starting to remind me of how my aunt taught me to swim, but that's another story).
I remember her starting a thread on the GLiving community message board, requesting ideas for an exclusive raw cookie recipe. She wanted to know our favorite flavors, so she could "rawify" (a term I came up with later) one special for us. The resulting oatmeal chocolate chip cookie was so simple and yummy that I just had to make more.
I began to play around with the ingredients, coming up with new cookies, bars, cakes, and eventually cupcakes, etc. If it wasn't for Juli, I probably wouldn't have a raw cupcake e-book in the works.
Speaking of an e-book, she has one coming out soon all you "PURE mamas" are going to want to check out. Yes, I did say "mama," as Juli is one herself. She's been busy with her two children, while still expanding her product family at Kookie Karma with a new online store (where she even sells raw ice cream; Mmmmm!) and some additions to the line.
Lucky for me, she let me test drive the kale chips (which were perfect for my green theme yesterday), Kokoa Krunchies cereal (I'm "kokoa" for this one) and these scrumptious (you know it has to be good when I use that word) Lime Coconut Krunchies, used in today's recipe.
If you want the recipe, you have to stop by Juli's Pure Mamas blog, where I have a guest post/recipe. Check it out, after you read my interview with her below.
Q: How have things changed for you since having your two beautiful children?
A: "SO SO SO much. They are so close in age, so I was basically pregnant for a LONG time {so it feels}. Being pregnant for that long has sort of forced me to be HOME and do more in the kitchen.
"Having these babies has really helped me manage my time better, too. I never thought in my life I could multi-task to this degree or accomplish so much in one day. I STILL somehow run my biz {barely}, my new blog and a new online store, but work the same amount of hours (?). I can't get out in the field as much as I should for Kookie Karma, but as far as computer and kitchen and photos and getting creative - I've seriously been on a CRAZY roll!
"I LOVE having this job of creating the most nutritious, great foods for my young boys. It is one thing to treat myself really well, as far as diet goes and see how I react to a clean diet; but it's even more miraculous to see how little ones do when you feed them well from the beginning. You don't meet too many babies/kids that have been fueled on superfoods, raw foods and a veg diet very often. I personally think it really helps with their immunity, consistent energy levels, quality of sleep, minimizing temper tantrums, and fuels better concentration.
"Their reactions to this diet is what ignited my desire to share my {and other raw or vegan moms} ideas with other moms. Some of my ideas are fairly common in the raw/veg food world, but other tips and facts are unique to my household and my creation. It's those things that I want to share with others {hence my new eRecipe book launching (soon)}."
Q: Tell us a little about the new PURE Mamas eRecipe book. Do you have a favorite recipe from it? What are your kids' favorites?
A: "My new eBook contains a lot of raw food dishes. But, it also contains GREAT cooked food ideas for parents who eat cooked food. The idea behind my book is to help moms include raw foods and superfoods into an otherwise fairly "normal" or "traditional" diet. It's very important to me that I don't overwhelm parents with the idea of feeding their children super/raw foods {in other words, some of the recipes require a dehydrator and some use an oven}. ALL of our recipes are super simple though and don't take too much time. "I include dozens of ways to give raw meals a cooked feel and cooked foods a douse of super foods. The recipes are also for children, so I like to be sure that texture and palatability is taken into consideration, as well.
"Kale chips are a must-have at my house, so are "cooked" vegan cauliflower bites {those are my children's FAVORITE for sure}. Vitamin C boost smoothies and seaweed wraps are also my personal favorites."
Q: Any plans to add more kookie flavors to the Kookie Karma line? If so, would you consider doing another contest to select the new kookies?
"We are coming out with a new lone of kookies called KOKOs {means coconut}. The main ingredients being Coconut! Sort of a macaroon-style snack. You won't be disappointed. Trust me :-)"
Well, I've got a lot going on around here today, but I just couldn't resist posting on a holiday. Although I have been known to "rawify" the traditional fare, I decided to simply keep it green this year (like this lovely lady, who happens to be giving a blender away).
Of course, I started the day off with my usual green smoothie. Later, I'll be polishing off the contents of this green jar. It is what I had leftover after making a yummy treat. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow :-)
*****
Leave it to me to come up with a title like that; if you say it really fast, it almost sounds like, "I love Natural Zing," doesn't it? I guess you could also focus on the "live" part (of O-"live"), as the company is a big part of the owners' lives.
When I first met them at the Washington D.C. Green Festival a couple years back, I was surprised to find out that this online store was run by such a sweet down-to-Earth couple (Jeff Rose, pictured above, and his wife, Helen, shown below). The reason the service always seemed to be personal was because of the real people behind the scenes.
Now whenever I place an order, I am even more impressed with how everything arrives in a timely fashion and with all the items I selected. Sometimes, if there is a special offer going on, I'm also happy to find that, too.
For instance, Natural Zing is currently tossing in a 15.7-ounce jar of these Peruvian Sundried Salt-Free Olives with any purchase of $60 or more. Just enter the promo code: "salt free olive" in the comment section at checkout (you can also tell them shannonmarie sent you).
Lucky for me, I've also got an extra jar to giveaway. TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY, visit the Natural Zing website and then comment back here by Thursday, March 18, 2010 (I'll draw a winner on Friday, when I'll also be picking the winner of this giveaway) about what products you'd like to try or recommend. If you already have a favorite product, don't forget to order some more, so you can post a review on your site (Natural Zing is currently having a review contest, too, that I previously mentioned at the bottom of this past post).
So if you win the olives, what should you make with them?
I found that they take a little getting used to on their own, but they make for a perfect blank canvas for getting your creative juices flowing. They can be sweet, as I snacked on some wrapped in dates. Or, they can be a savory, like in THIS RECIPE:
Thanks to Jeff, I have this one to share. He is a little like me, tossing a few ingredients here and there, but in the end, the results are quite tasty. Just blend together 1/2 cup of the olives (make sure you remove the pits) with 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (the ones on the site are quite delicious, containing just the perfect amount of sea salt), 1/4 cup olive oil, some garlic and herbs (I just used a bit of herbs de Provence, because that's what I was in the mood for).
Originally meant to be served like a dip, I turned it into a meal by reducing the olive oil to just a drizzle and tossing the sun-dried olive/tomato mixture with some zucchetti (zucchini cut into noodles with my spiral slicer I purchased from Natural Zing). I freshened it up a tad with a squeeze of lemon juice (it always brings new life to these things), added thinly sliced massaged baby spinach (I'll explain the thinly sliced/massaged part when I post about this DVD), sprinkled it with hemp seeds and garnished it with a slice of lemon and more olives.
Make sure to check out all that Natural Zing has to offer, so you'll be ready to enter the giveaway. And, don't forget to read the following Q&A with Helen Rose:
Q: Tell us a little about your story. How and why did the two of you adopt a raw vegan diet? What made you decide to turn this lifestyle into a business?
A: "Jeff and I are one of those few couples who have been lucky enough to travel the adventurous road to vegan raw food together as a couple, primarily beginning with Jeff’s interest in food and health.
"Married 16 years ago, we started our lives together on the corporate fast track living unhealthy lives, yet trying to find health. We each had our own health issues: anxiety, depression, addiction, heart issues, pre-cancerous tumors and we were both 30 to 40 pounds higher than our ideal weight.
"In searching for ways to improve our health and the quality of our lives, we started with vegetarianism, then veganism, and finally raw veganism in 2002. Becoming a raw vegan became not only a way to eat but a life-style -- a new way of thinking, prioritizing and a new openness to the possibilities of the blessings of life. At the time there was little support and few resources for a raw foodist, so in 2003 we started Natural Zing to try to fill that void.
"Natural Zing has grown because the community has wanted it to grow. If the community needs us, we’ll be here serving their needs as best we can. We still own, manage and operate Natural Zing with the same passion and sense of adventure that started us down this path so many years ago.
"Since then, we have not only grown our business successfully, but, we have also grown our family and are raising our young family in the raw food life-style."
For more on each of our stories see links below:
Jeff’s story: http://zingbabies.blogspot.com/2009/04/jeffs-raw-food-story.html
Helen’s story: http://zingbabies.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-story.html
Q: I don’t think most people realize how such a big player in the raw food world is actually a small family-run business. How do you handle all those orders and daily operations? How important is it to you to maintain that personal touch?
A: "We work long hours. We ship orders fast and take care of customers. That is what we do and we love it. Thankfully, we also have developed a great staff that cares about our customers, too. Some of our staff have been long time customers, and others are new to raw food and are very excited.
"Maria Dormer was a long time customer and has been with us since 2005. We have these young sports-oriented guys in the warehouse who take pride in their work and make it a challenge to see how many orders they can get out the door – with care.
"Jeff is a hands-on manager. I honestly don’t know how he manages all that he does. He wears so many hats … managing employees and meticulously managing inventory levels. He personally takes the pictures of the products and is usually the one to write or approve each product description. He researches new products, as well as handling an array of topics and business issues that come up every day. And he will still answer incoming calls.
"I am a full-time mother and a part-time Natural Zing worker. I work two days a week taking customer orders, as well as handling project management, marketing, human resources and accounting supervision.
"On very busy days, we both drop everything to help pick and pack orders. It is important to us to ship orders out to our customers quickly … and our customers appreciate it. We love taking customers calls and staying in touch with the customers. We also use Twitter and other ways to try to stay connected to our customers. We are busy and we love it … good thing we eat raw food to help us stay energized."
Q: How has the business grown/changed over the years? What are some of the new products?
A: "When we started we had to provide a lot of education to our customers; now we have people who are not in the raw food movement saying, “hey Dr. Oz was talking about that on Oprah.” We have grown much larger than our egos need. We are here to serve the community and grow as the community needs us to grow.
"Our product philosophy is to build a customer base for every product, so we can have regular fresh shipments coming in. We store product refrigerated. We want the food as fresh as possible. That makes a big difference to the customer.
"We also look for high integrity products. We will continue to add new products as we go along. Because of our philosophy, we may not be the fastest at getting new products, but we feel like our customers appreciate the care that we take with all the products we offer.
"A good example is Lydia’s Organics. We’ve had Lydia’s Organics whole product line since day one, and they are still great products that people need to try."
So check out our other new items:
Unsalted Peruvian Olives
Power Wrap Marsala
Pecan Love Cups
Ormus Supergreens
Acai Powder
ChocAlive Truffles
Cinnamon Powder, 5% oil
DVD: Healing Herbs & Wildfoods by Bridget Mars
Things soon to be arriving or just in:
Pistachio Butter
Macadamia Brazil Nut Butter
Maqui Berry Powder
Books and more books …
Q:I love the fact that you are raising your children with some of the yummiest food available, such as fresh fruits and veggies from your garden and items from your online store. What do they enjoy best?
A: "From the fresh variety they love berries … strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, black raspberries, blueberries …. They also love celery, chard, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, apples, oranges, figs. Our 3-year-old son has a salad with us every evening, and our 1 ½-year-old daughter has everything except the green leafy stuff (she needs her 2 year molars to help break them down.)
"From the dried and packaged varieties, they love goji berries, mulberries, dried mango, Gopal’s Power Wraps, Organic Food Bars (green), flax crackers, Lydia’s crackers, Lydia’s spirulina bar, kale chips, dulse, all kinds of nuts, and OLIVES! They are pretty easy to feed. In the summer, they’ll just start picking food out of the garden and eat it. We’ve eaten lunch that way more than once."
Q: What does the future hold for Natural Zing?
A: "We’ve been investing in new technology to make our operations more efficient and less costly, which will position us for easier expansion of operations, inventory, etc. Some of these new technologies will result in new features and services for our customers.
"Natural Zing is often looking into areas of need or voids to fill; we will continue to bring you some new exciting products.
"Many have called Natural Zing the best kept secret in the raw food community. This is probably true. We don’t market much; we are happy to grow steadily. However, we do offer services that we expect will continue to grow, such as our wholesale business, selling to natural food stores, café’s, and food manufacturers. We also offer fulfillment services to raw food manufactures, raw food websites, authors, talk show celebrities, etc. We expect that as we make more businesses in the community aware of these services that this will continue to grow."
As you know, I've dreamt in the past of doing something with my raw baking skills. I've mentioned the thought of opening up a raw bakery (like these lovely ladies; check out their Q&A if you haven't already), putting out an unbaking book (something I've wanted longer than I've had this blog), designing some shirts, etc.
Since I passed on the chance to do a raw cupcake book last year due to the timing (it was right at the beginning of my pregnancy with little lady; although I was making/creating raw cupcakes like crazy only weeks prior, the thought of them made my stomach turn in my first trimester), I thought I might be like the Little Hen now and do it all by myself in a raw cupcake e-book. Besides, I had been building the foundation for one for years, so why not share it?
Of course, the e-book needs some polishing, and this takes time to do. Hopefully, I'll eventually produce a finished copy for you soon.
In the meantime, I am excited to announce that I now have a shop, but it is not an unbakery. Instead, I found a simpler way to sell my shirts.
In the past, I've posted some shirt and onesie designs that I freehand painted myself (some of them in the posts were made by friends and family as shower gifts). I had considered selling some on Etsy, but it is so time consuming and expensive to do it that way (fabric painting by hand is not a quick process and therefore would be difficult to come up with a fair price).
For now, you can still support this blog by sporting this design first modeled by Hayden a few months back (hers was the hand-painted original). Check out my shop here (more designs to come), or click on the link in the sidebar to the left.
Now that I am officially a stay-at-home mom (after 6 months of unpaid maternity leave, I've decided to just continue being here for my baby and my son, too), I hope to find more ways to keep this blog afloat. Stay tuned for more Q&As, reviews and giveaways (there's still time to enter the Spring e-book contest, which ends Thursday, March 18, 2010), while I put the finishing touches on my e-book, more shirts and maybe even some Etsy items (if time allows). Thanks for believing in me. I adore my loyal readers :-)
As a busy mom on two (a 7-year-old and a just turned 7-month-old, who's a bit of a handful at the moment), I sometimes have no other choice but to cut a few corners. Although I have a reputation for mainly posting raw recipes from scratch, lately I've been more open to the use of convenience products, doing a "semi-homemade" thing like a raw Sandra Lee.
Curious about the other flavor options (specifically the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough I've heard so much about), I contacted the company (Raw Indulgence) to see if I could try some more. I have to say that I was truly impressed with its quick and polite response. To top it all off, I was even more surprised with the generous number of full-size samples in the box sent to me (Thanks Raw Indulgence!).
Lucky for my readers, I opted to save one of each flavor (except for the apple cinnamon, since there was just one; I really need my greens) for a giveaway. I thought I'd pick two winners, one gets the chocolate flavors, while the other gets the chocolate-free.
As for you chocolate-free fans (or if you just want to try a break from the chocolaty stuff), tell me you want yours cocoa-free for entry No. 1 and link to this post to increase your chances of winning (don't forget to add a separate comment for the extra entry). Flavors include Cashew & Agave Nectar, Spirulina & Cashew (I'm a big fan of anything with spirulina), Coconut & Agave Nectar, and of course, Tropical Mango.
Unfortunately, although it looked like a cupcake, it was too moist to replicate the crumb-like texture I strive to achieve in my usual raw cupcake recipes. With that in mind, I recommended opting for the chocolate flavors when forming your "semi-rawmade" cupcakes. The cocoa in them helps to absorb some of the oil from the nuts in the bars. I also advise using a fork to break apart the bar before gently reforming it into a flakier (yet still rather dense like a brownie) "cake."
