Whatcha Got in Your Garden?

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Purple Dragon Carrots, Lemon Cucumbers, Assorted Heirloom Tomatoes, and Gigantic "oops-we-took-4-hour-zucchini-picking-break-and-look-what-happened" Golden Zucchini.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Hello! I've been reading Barbara Kingsolver (one of my all-time favorite authors!). Her latest book is called, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and, WOW, is it ever changing the way I think about food. It's all about the joys and celebrations of gardening and harvesting, but it's also full of research on how we can make better choices by eating locally. I've practically been living at my local Farmer's Market and am telling everyone I know to frequent local fruit and veggie stands and Farmer's Markets if at all possible. The huge box of peaches I bought last week was gone in three days! The strawberries lasted about two hours and the artisan bread was dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and DEVOURED. Here is a link that will help you find a Farmer's Market near you and I'll leave you with a great recipe for apricot nectar, so that in the dark winter months you can have a little local summer produce in your belly.

my nephews stuffing themselves with apricots

My Mom's Delicious Apricot Nectar with a Twist:

In a one quart freezer bag or one quart jar, put:

3 T fresh squeezed lime juice (We don't grow limes here, but I bought mine at the farmer's market. I think one of our farmers must have had his friends bring up a box from California, hehe!)
1/2 C agave or honey, and fill to the top with
apricots, pitted and pureed with the skin on (of course)

If you want raw vegan nectar, you can freeze it in the bags. If you want to can it, you can process it in a waterbath for 35 minutes. See here for more info on canning. When ready to drink, dilute with one quart of COLD water or orange juice. It also makes a GREAT syrup for whole grain pancakes and you can use this same recipe for peaches, too.

Two nights ago, I put up a dozen quarts of this great nectar. It was such a beautiful evening with a rainstorm happening outside and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" and Elvis' "Heartbreak Hotel" playing in the background while I scooped up soft salmon-orange apricot halves and blended them into a thick, liquidy sunset. And the best part...I picked them for free from a tree that was begging to be harvested.

What do you have in your area? What have you harvested? I'd love to hear your stories.

Always love,
Melissa

Cacao

I recently returned from a trip to Central America. As you may have guessed, I had an extraordinary time! Many of the pictures I took are food related (of course) and I will be writing a number of blog entries over the next several months, detailing the food highlights of the trip as well as some of the glorious experiences I had.

I met a huge amount of amazing people from all the world; Germany, Canada, Japan, Australia, Israel, Argentina, Holland, New Zealand, and Denmark, to name (not) just a few. It was interesting to watch the reactions of each person when they found out what I do for a living.

One of the best experiences I had while there was traveling to a cave called, "Actun Tunichil Muknal" or, the ATM caves (read the travel-guide explanation below).

"This is the acclaimed 'Cave of the Crystal Maiden,' featured in National Geographic Magazine and quickly becoming Belize’s most popular underground experience. This cave is for fit and active people who do not mind getting wet and muddy—and who are able to tread lightly! After the initial 45-minute hike to the entrance (with three river fords) and a swim into the cave’s innards, you will be asked to remove your shoes upon climbing up the limestone into the main cathedral-like chambers. The rooms are littered with delicate Maya pottery and the crystallized remains of 14 humans. There are no pathways, fences, glass, or other partitions separating the visitor from the artifacts. Nor are there any installed lights. The only infrastructure is a rickety ladder leading up to the chamber of the Crystal Maiden herself, a full female skeleton that sparkles with calcite under your headlamp’s glare..." from the Moon Travel Series Guide


As we traveled through the jungle to get to the entrance of the cave, we passed a number of cacao trees. I've noticed that many people have a difficult time pronouncing cacao. It's pronounced, "cuck-ow" with the emphasis on the "ow". The pods are a beautiful violet color and hang from the long extended branches of their trees or on the upper trunk itself. These cacao pods are full of a white pith which holds the cacao (or cocoa) beans. In our kitchen we use cacao nibs which are the bean broken into pieces.

Julia has created the greatest recipe for raw vegan chocolate chip cookies and she uses the nibs as chocolate chips. They are very bitter, but when mixed with agave and other ingredients, they are palatable and satisfying.

Here are some other ways I use cacao nibs:

~sprinkled on healthy chocolate pudding
~sprinkled on salads with a sweet dressing like Lime Agave Dressing and pecans (soak the nibs first to soften them up)
~in granola or energy bars (good source of energy)
~ground up in smoothies (try 3 cups of almond milk or 1 cup of almonds and 2 c water, 3 T. cacao nibs, 2 frozen bananas and agave to taste)

Our guide's name is Carlos and as a true Belizean, he knew and respected the caves like only a local can. He has a great sense of humor, too. Here he is, holding me for ransom. If you're planning a trip to Belize soon, you must go to the ATM caves. Ask for Carlos. He's very talented with a machete.

Always love,
Melissa

Hey all you amazing people! I've got a lot of new workshops coming up. Click here to view them. Email my awesome and amazing assistant, heather@rawmelissa.com if you have any questions. Hope to see you there!

St. George, Utah

Hello! I just taught a wonderful advanced workshop in beautiful St. George, Utah. St. George is known for it's amazing red rock country. The morning of the workshop, my host, Katherine took me on a splendid hike where we were able to get an extraordinary view of what (her archaeologist friend told her) were the "best petroglyphs in Utah". (I will put up some pictures in a future post). At the summit of our hike, we could see red-rock, tabled mountains for 360 degrees and a snaking stream running in the blue valley below. The view was everything she promised and more.

When we finished, we returned to Katherine's beautiful home and a wonderful group of eager workshop participants arrived. I demonstrated several wonderful recipes including mango and blackberry salad with mint, chocolate-chip-oatmeal (and of course goji berry) cookies, and olive and sun-dried tomato tapenade to name a few.

Here is a great pic of the lively bunch and me!



Always love,
Melissa
(petroglyphs to come soon)

Another New Kitchen and Workshop!

Dejavu?

About a year ago, I wrote a post about moving to a new kitchen. I was sharing the kitchen with two other women who have similar businesses. One of the women, Agi, recently got a contract so big, that she needed the whole space to expand. I found a space closer to home so it worked out great for all of us. Julia is working in my kitchen, preparing meals for private clients under the Raw Melissa name, and we are having a great time together!

Besides preparing food, I'm teaching a lot of workshops in this new space, so I painted it a beautiful carrot juice color (hehe) and layed down a nice wood floor. We have some beautiful pictures of food on the walls and are just putting some happy quotes and sayings up, too. The space is truly conducive to the high energy, delicious and healthy foods that are made there.

Here are some great pictures of our last workshop and the new space!

I hope to see you at our upcoming workshops!


Always love,
Melissa