RAWlelujah! It's a warmer week!

Greetings and RAW salutations,

I'm in a silly mood again, don't mind me. (RAWlelujah - I crack myself up!)

SO here's the haps for this raw week:

First and foremost: we had a fun class on the 19th! We finished up a bit early which was good, I think, as the roads were starting to look bad. I hope you had as much fun as I did. I know you ate a lot! (NOTE: Come to my classes hungry!) :-) I'll be sending surveys soon, if those of you who attended wouldn't mind filling out - it helps keep me rolling - I love the feedback and suggestions...

This coming Thursday (January 25th) is the Date Nut Torte demo at the coop. The timing is from 6:30 - 7:30 and the cost is like $12 for non-members and $10 for members. Please sign up at the coop if you intend to come. The date nut torte is one of my favorites! You'll love it. Your kids will LOVE it.

Sunday, January 28th is the non-dehydrated winter recipes class from 3-7 pm. Cost is $75.00. I've changed up the recipes a bit on this from the last time I taught the class. The recipes this class will be: 
• Wake Up Gruel - 2 kinds (breakfast idea)
• Sweet Potato/Leek Soup (lunch idea - I'll have crackers there for dippin')
• Thousand Island Dressing
• Cottage Pie (dinner idea)
• Date Nut Torte (dessert idea)
These are hearty recipes - filling and warming. Call me if you are interested in the class: 229-4496.

What did I eat so far today? What did I eat yesterday?
Well, I'm still into fruit which is not typical of me for this time of year but I must be needing it. I've been craving lemons of all things so I've been making lemon smoothies and puddings and dressing with lemon in it. Fabulous! 
Yesterday I had:
breakfast: smoothie made with lemons, frozen strawberries (local!), bananas and a drizzle of honey (also local!) BEAUTIFUL pink color and the kids loved it, too.
lunch was a DURIAN! Oh boy! I received a box from a friend (THANKS JOE!!!!) and inside it was this huge Durian that Matt & I shared. Do you know what a Durian is? Well, here's what it looks like and how to open it - Anyway, I made a pudding out of the durian (basically I just smooshed --technical term-- the durian into a bowl, et voila!) Durian is so lovely. What a treat it was to receive this and I am truly, truly grateful. I LOVE durian. I think it is a perfect fruit - fat and sweet and beautiful. Here's another link with some durian info
dinner was a HUGE salad with some nut cheese crumbled on top. Veggies included: baby spinach, red leaf lettuce, radishes, celery, carrot and I made a raw french dressing for the top. YUM! 
For those of you who don't think that's a lot of calories: please start plugging what you eat on http://www.fitday.com - it's a free resource to monitor calories/fat/protein, etc. I'm eating well, don't worry! I'm still eating way too much fat but it's in the form of fruits and nuts so not sources of bad cholesterol like animal fats are... Still, I'll get there... I feel great and I no longer feel guilt or shame around food so that's fantastic.

Today my food has been:
breakfast: smoothie consisting of frozen strawberries (local!), lemons and kiwi with some agave
lunch: well, I'm not really there yet. I've been nibbling on raw crackers that I made that have the entire kitchen sink in them. I'm waiting for the zucchini hummus that I made thaw. I made it in the summer (remember? I sent you the recipe for it - check the archives for the recipe) when I had tons of zucchini in the garden. I had some in the freezer I'm thawing it out and am looking forward to a little crackers and dip.
I also made a fudge/candy that tastes like almond joy. I'm going to bring it to the workshop on thursday so you can have a taste. 

OH yes! Meant to say that I did see the Part 2 show that Alissa Cohen was on and it was pretty good. Each diet "guru" had 2 people that they were to help lose weight. One of Alissa's lost 39 pounds and the other lost like 6 - she had said that she didn't feel that the raw food diet was for her. The other woman might be going on to work for Alissa, as she is a trained chef and might be moving to NH to work at Alissa's new restaurant... Of course there was some drama on the show with the other two diet "gurus". But if you'd like to see it, let me know and I'll loan you the tape. 

Also check out my updated media links page. I've been putting up more articles and things that might be of interest

(there an article there for 5 Steps to High Energy by Frederic Patenaude)

Have a RAWsome day,
Linda

Now for this week's recipe:

Hey look - this happens to be Rhio's recipe of the month - great!

HERB-ENCRUSTED MUSHROOM STEAK
by Rhio

Mushroom Steak

2 large Portobello mushrooms, sliced
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (with 1 tbsp. flax seed oil, op.)
1 1/2 tbsp. Nama Shoyu (or Bragg's Liquid Aminos - Linda's note)
2 tsp. cumin powder
2 tsp. cardamom powder (or tarragon flakes)
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 Ume plum, seeded and mashed

1) Mix all ingredients, except the mushrooms in a bowl and blend well.
2) Slice the mushrooms into thin slices and dip each mushroom slice into the sauce, covering both sides. Let marinate 20 minutes while you prepare the rest of the recipe.

Veggies

1 red or yellow bell pepper, sliced thin
1 cup broccoli, chopped small (or you could substitute other vegetable such as asparagus, edible-podded peas, zucchini, etc. or use a combination of vegetables)
1/2 cup scallions, finely chopped
1 clove pressed garlic

3) Mix all the vegetables in a bowl. Drain the marinade from the mushrooms and toss it with the vegetables.

Cheeze

1 cup soaked pine nuts, macadamias or almonds (if using almonds, peel the skins)
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup filtered water

4) Blend all Cheeze ingredients in a blender until creamy.
5) Put together your Herb-Encrusted Mushroom Steak by first placing some marinated mushrooms on a plate, top with the vegetables and then spread a few spoons of the Cheeze on top. Mmm good.

Serves 2-4. Keeps for 2 days in the refrigerator.

Variations: Layer the ingredients into a romaine lettuce leaf, Swiss chard leaf, cabbage leaf cup or bok choy leaf. Or you could serve it on Pizza Crust bread. The recipe could also be made without the Cheeze.