A Feast For The Eyes: Making Love To Pizza

Sometimes, looking is enough.

And, sometimes, you just have to give in to temptation.

Friday Food Porn

Broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, grated carrots and thinly sliced sweet potatoes, drizzled with a little olive oil, fresh basil, garlic and onion. Sounds like a lovely salad, yes? No. Pizza toppings!

When I spotted this delectable gluten-free pizza, I said I'd actually consider eating cooked food just to savor a slice or two. No need, its creator tells me, "you could totally make that pizza crust raw – sprout and grind the buckwheat, mix with flax and almond flour, dehydrate and you are good to go." Well, alrighty then. Let's eat!

The creator of this delicious dish is five-foot dynamo Meghan Telpner, certified natural nutritionist and holistic lifestyle consultant. You can feed your inner voyeur and pick up some fab recipes and wonderful tips for healthy living at her blog, Making Love In The Kitchen. Fitting title, no?

Live a little. It's the weekend.

Harvest Groceries From Your Backyard

The economy's tanking, grocery bills are climbing, and food safety scares are on the rise. Sounds like the perfect time to plant a vegetable garden. And, that's just what I did this weekend.

But is my own veggie patch really going to save me money? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, yes. Check this: every $100 spent on vegetable gardening yields roughly $1,000 to $1,700 worth of produce. Holy shiitake, that's a lot of green smoothies!

The National Gardening Association says you can expect a half-pound of edibles from every square foot of ground devoted to backyard crops. Even my modest 15x15 foot garden, can produce more than 100 pounds of garden-fresh tomatoes, salad greens, vegetables and herbs. Bonus: better flavor and bragging rights come with the harvest.

Planting and maintaining a veggie plot isn't that hard if you start small and keep some basics in mind:

Location – A sunny, well-drained spot is ideal. Leafy greens tolerate some shade, but most crops want eight hours of sun daily.

Soil – Adding organic material is key. It not only loosens hard soil, but helps to retain moisture as well. The "good stuff" includes manure, humus and chopped up leaves. Spread a 4-inch layer on your plot and till into the top 9 to 12 inches.

Fertilize – All edible plants remove some nutrients from the soil and can exhaust the soil without the help of a fertilizer. There are lots of organic fertilizers sold in garden stores and home improvement centers, but two of the best are easily available to most of us and they're free: grass clippings and kitchen waste compost.

Water – One inch of water weekly is adequate for most vegetables. Soaker hoses deliver water efficiently and keep foliage dry, fending off leaf diseases.

Pest Patrol – 67 million pounds of pesticides are used in American gardens every year. Yikes! Monitor insect damage but keep your crops pesticide-free. Hand-pick pests or dislodge them with a jet of water, then let natural predators do the rest.If you're ready to try your hand at creating your own backyard grocery, here are 10 easy (and delicious) crops to plant:

• Basil
• Beans: bush beans are easier to pick, but pole beans have higher yields.
• Bell peppers
• Chard: this leafy green tolerates cool temperatures well.
• Cucumber
• Eggplant: thrives in hot weather.
• Lettuce
• Parsley: rich in vitamins and a breath freshener too.
• Summer squash: try zucchini or yellow crook-necked squash.
• Tomatoes

Help is only a click away:

Seeds of Change: order certified organic seeds and live plants.

GrowVeg.com: an online garden planning tool with grow guides.

Square Foot Gardening Foundation: let Mel Bartholomew show you how to plant a luscious vegetable garden with no weeds and no hard work.

joegardener.com: Joe Lamp'l shares tips and tricks to help you garden and live in a more environmentally responsible way. Follow along on his quest to create the $25 Victory Garden.

So, tell me, what groceries are you going to harvest from your backyard this year?

A Feast For The Eyes: Garden Burger

Sometimes, looking is enough.

And, sometimes, you just have to give in to temptation.

Friday Food Porn

It's Memorial Day weekend here in the States and that means folks across the country will be firing up their grills for a holiday cookout. Don't think for a minute, my raw vegan friends, that you have to miss out on all the festivities. In fact, why not make those carnivores GREEN with envy!

Model, actress, musician and certified chef, Judita, has just the dish. Save that pulp from all those veggies you juice – she prefers carrot, celery and red bell peppers. Season it with salt, finely chopped onions and place in your dehydrator at 105 degrees for about 4-5 hours. Smother with chipotle mayo and top it with avocado, tomato and homegrown sprouts.

Why wait for a national holiday to feed your inner voyeur? You can feast on this raw vegan garden burger and other sexy recipes by visiting Raw Judita, 365 days of the year.

Live a little. It's the weekend.

How To Make Raw Cultured Vegetables

After hearing about my friend Judith Barnes, aka Zucchini Breath, and her fermented sauerkraut-making extravaganza this winter, I decided to give it a go.

Now, I've gotta be honest. Having been raised by the Hungarians, when I think of sauerkraut, memories of kolbász (garlic sausage) and székely goulash (pork stew) come to mind. So, it was a little bit of a stretch for me to envision eating sauerkraut in the raw. But hey, this journey into Raw Food Land has been all about stretching my self-imposed limitations, exploring new foods, and creating new taste memories.

When I learned that cultured vegetables add valuable probiotics and enzymes to your body, which help stamp out Candida, boost your immune system and curb your cravings for sweets, I was all "Let's get fermenting!"

So How Do We Do This?

In a nutshell, raw cultured vegetables are made by shredding cabbage or a combination of cabbage and other veggies, and then packing them tightly into an airtight jar or crock. They are then left to ferment at room temperature for several days or longer. Easy.

During the fermentation process, friendly bacteria grow, multiply, and thrive in their new environment. They convert the sugars and starches to lactic acid and partially digest the veggies, softening them or "pickling" them in the process.

Here's a wonderful video by Sandor Katz on fermenting vegetables. I love this guy! Check out his book Wild Fermentation for loads of information on the health benefits of fermented food.

See how easy that is? And after you get the hang of it, you can get creative and start experimenting. Try dark leafy greens like kale and collards. Soak, drain and chop up sea vegetables like dulse, wakame, hijikii and arame. Add either fresh or dried herbs such as dill, caraway, juniper berries, garlic, and ginger root. Let your imagination run wild!

Fermented vegetables can keep in your fridge for months. Like women and fine wine, they become even more delicious with time. (*wink*) You can pull one of these living salads out whenever you're hungry and have some "fast food."

Here's a few of my favorite recipes so far. Enjoy and share!

Cucumber Kimchi
3 English cucumbers, thinly sliced
6 inches fresh ginger, grated
2 daikon radish, grated
4 scallions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 Tbsp cayenne
1 Tbsp sesame seed

Spicy Pink
3 heads red cabbage, shredded
6 carrots, grated
3 inches fresh ginger, grated
6 cloves garlic, chopped

Sweet Kraut
3 heads green cabbage, shredded
2 beets, grated
3 carrots, grated
1 Fuji apple, grated
1/2 lemon, juiced

A Feast For The Eyes: Blueberry Cheesecake

Sometimes, looking is enough.

And, sometimes, you just have to give in to temptation.

Friday Food Porn

A-K is a swell vegan and I'm not the only one who thinks so. One of her many tantalizing culinary creations is going to grace the cover of an upcoming raw foods book. (Shhhh, it's a secret.) And a big shoutout to A-K's Mom by the way for letting her cook in the kitchen when she was but a wee-gan. You never know what talent may sprout.

I bet you'll have a whole new appreciation for bananas when you find out the delectable morsel above was made from frozen naners. Curious? Go on and feed your inner voyeur this raw vegan Blueberry Kumquat Cheesecake and oggle some other sexy recipes while you're at it. Oh, and three bucks will get you a swell vegan cookzine here. Three bucks!

Live a little. It's the weekend.

Won't You Be My Tweetie?

Heaven help me. I went and created a Twitter account in the middle of a Mercury Retrograde. Now, that's living dangerously.

So. The last holdout in cyberspace finally tweets. You can find me at rawliving. People with inactive accounts own earthmother and intheraw. Grrrr.

Be a tweetie and, pleasegod, tell me this gets easier. I'm in overwhelm mode right now, trying to find my way around the tweetosphere.

10 Good Reasons To Eat Raw Foods

A host of chronic health conditions and feeling lousy all the time, lead me to make the shift from a standard American diet to raw, living foods. Ten months into this healing journey, I can give you a long list of the benefits I've reaped as a result. Symptoms of ill health that plagued me – migraines, heartburn, fatigue, joint inflammation, acne, cellulite, edema, morbid obesity – have disappeared.

There are lots of websites devoted to educating people about the raw foods lifestyle. I decided to take a cyber-cruise and see what reasons other folks list for going raw:

1. To strengthen your immune system.
2. To break your emotional attachment to food.
3. To raise your vibration.
4. To reach your body's natural weight.
5. To function at your peak performance.
6. To detoxify your body.
7. To reverse the signs of aging.
8. To have unlimited energy.
9. To save time and money.
10. To help the environment and lighten your carbon footprint.

While none are my own, I have to agree they're all good reasons. But, do you have to eat all raw, all the time to benefit? No. I'm a firm believer that what you leave out of your diet, is equally important as what you add in. The more highly refined and processed foods you eliminate, the better.

Our body is roughly 75 percent water. Try to mirror that percentage on your plate with fresh uncooked fruit and vegetables at each meal.

See that Smart Shopper Guide in the sidebar to the right? Click on it, print the page, and hang it on your fridge. Buy and eat organic whenever possible. Pay with your dollar instead of your health.

Load up on leafy greens – juices, smoothies, salads, wraps, supplements. Aim for at least two pounds of greens a day.


So, if 75 percent of your plate is raw, what's comprising the other 25 percent? Try to improve the cooked components of your diet.

Healthier Transition Foods

• steamed vegetables
• steamed sweet potatoes or squash
• sprouted grain breads
• whole grains
• almond milk
• sulfur-free dried fruits
• unpasteurized cheese and milk (preferably goat or sheep)
• wild-caught fish
• organic, grass-fed meat and poultry

It stands to reason that for optimum health and nutrition, you'll need to eat as close to nature as possible. What you'll find is that your body will naturally guide you toward more healthy choices. Today, cooked food and animal flesh just don't have the same appeal to me as they once did. You can look at A Day In The Life to see my own progression.

Recommended Reading

Whatever your current diet, these two books are wonderful resources, chock full of information and inspiration to get you started on your own healing journey.

The Raw Food Detox Diet: The Five-Step Plan for Vibrant Health and Maximum Weight Loss

High Raw: A Simple Approach to Health, Eating and Saving the Planet

A Feast For The Eyes: Veggie Sushi

Sometimes, looking is enough.

And, sometimes, you just have to give in to temptation.

Friday Food Porn

Liz is a vegan who eats "mostly raw food." She's also a talented chef who claims no culinary "experience."

Liz photographs her food. You'll want to eat the pictures. Please don't. It's not good for your computer screen.

But if you think you can control yourself, then by all means, feed your inner voyeur at RawFoodCrafting.com, where you can g(r)aze upon this raw vegan Veggie Sushi and other sexy recipes.

Live a little. It's the weekend.

20 Raw Food Groups: Nothing Boring Here

Aren't you bored with the raw food thing?

I was recently asked this question by my brother. The same brother who asked Are You Going To Eat "Real" Food Again?. My brother, who'd be more than happy to eat pizza every night of the week.

I can think of many things to say about my chosen raw foods lifestyle. Boring never comes to mind. Just take a gander at some of the recipes on this site – click any category under the header – and tell me if you think they're boring.

But I suppose a raw food diet can seem boring if you have no idea just how many different kinds of foods there are waiting to be explored and enjoyed. So, have a look at the 20 different raw food groups:

• Fresh fruits
• Salad fruits (those fruits disguised as veggies: bell pepper, cucumber, tomato)
• Dried fruits
• Vegetables
• Leafy greens
• Herbs and wild greens
• Nuts, nut butters, nut milks
• Sprouted legumes
• Sprouted grains
• Seeds, seed milks
• Sprouted seeds
• Edible flowers
• Roots
• Mushrooms
• Sea vegetables
• Algaes
• Cold-pressed virgin oils
• Spices
• Superfoods
• Natural sweeteners (raw honey, agave nectar, stevia)

With hundreds of foods to choose from and endless ways of combining and creating with them, how could I possibly be bored? In fact, I still have a running list of foods I've yet to try but would like to, including: dragon fruit (that beauty pictured above), durian, jackfruit, okra, Irish moss, and maca.

Would you believe that prior to 10 months ago, I had never eaten chard, kale, or turnip greens? Now, I eat at least one of those lovely greens every day. And, I can't imagine life without them.

So, tell me. Have you sampled from all 20 different raw food groups?

Remember, variety is the spice of life. Add some to yours today.

A Feast For The Eyes: Blueberry Ice Cream

Sometimes, looking is enough.

And, sometimes, you just have to give in to temptation.

Friday Food Porn

Shernell Cooke is passionate about raw food. In fact, she considers it her purpose and life's work.

Lucky enough to live in or near New York City? Shernell offers a personal chef service, weekly meal pick up, and full event catering.

Nowhere near the Five Boroughs? Not to worry. You can still feed your inner voyeur online at Frangipani & Gingerlily where you can sample her raw vegan Blueberry Ice Cream and other sexy recipes.

Live a little. It's the weekend.