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

Successful Mothering Convention

I recently had the opportunity to speak at the 2008 Successful Mothering Convention at
the South Towne Expo Center. It was an amazing event put on by Media One and MANY
dedicated women. I spoke on children's nutrition and had a GREAT response!

For all those AMAZING mamas who were in my class, thank you so much for your enthusiasm
and support! Here are the recipes I shared in class. Hope to see you again next year!


Purple (Green) Smoothie

1 C packed spinach
2 C fresh orange juice
1 mango
2-3 C frozen blueberries

Blend in a blender and serve immediately


Chocolate Sauce

1 C natural cocoa powder
1 C agave

Whisk until smooth and serve with tons of fresh fruit for dipping.


Strawberry Salad

Salad:
1 head romaine lettuce
1 orange
1 pint strawberries
Dressing:
1 C frozen strawberries (thawed) [FORGOT TO WRITE "THAWED" ON MY POWERPOINT AT THE CONVENTION. THIS RECIPE WON'T WORK UNLESS THE STRAWBERRIES ARE THAWED! MY APOLOGIES TO THOSE WHO ATTENDED!]
1 T honey to taste
A splash of balsamic vinegar (optional)

Cut romaine into strips, arrange on 4 plates. Peel, section, and cut oranges into bite size pieces. Slice strawberries. Arrange fruit on top of romaine. Blend all dressing ingredients in a blender. If necessary, add a small amount of water to make blender run smoothly.

Thanksgiving Sluggishness?

Is sluggishness even a word? It makes me sluggish just trying to say it.

So, let's admit it: Most of us, even those of us with the best diets, let loose and eat a little differently on Thanksgiving. Either by eating foods we wouldn't normally eat, or by eating larger quantities than we're used to (or both). I vowed not to eat so much that I had to roll myself from room to room, but my sister-in-law made eggnog cream puffs and my brother brought pecan pie laced with chocolate chips and my mom made pumpkin cheesecakes with ginger snap crusts - so put me in food jail, I tasted them all. Truthfully, I just barely over ate. If I were in the overeating olympics, I would have only taken the bronze, or gotten an honorable mention or participant ribbon. Still, by nighttime I was feeling yucky so I went and ran on my mom's
treadmill (but not before I ate more pie - you know, for energy). Much better. The next morning all the cousins wanted to play on this bouncy mini-tramp my mom has in her exercise room, so my niece brought it downstairs and she unknowingly, yet strategically, placed it in the walk-way between the kitchen and living room so that every time we passed, we instinctively jumped on it a couple times. Later that day, after a lot of movie watching and singing around the piano, my mom and I joined the nieces and nephews in the exercise room and we rotated around the different machines for another "post-Thanksgiving" workout. Thus forms a new amendment to my eating philosophy: On holidays, eat what you want. As long as you're willing to pay for it.

My "Help-your-Thanksgiving-digestion-along" juice:

I made this today and it was YUMMY! Even the kids loved it.

3 apples (Any combination. I used 1 Red Delicious, 1 Granny Smith, and 1 Braeburn)
1-2 C cranberries (I freeze mine. Use the larger amount for an extra cranberry-y flavor)
1 - 1" piece ginger (I use probably triple this, but it might send you into convulsions, so start small)

Run through a good quality juicer and drink right away. If you don't have a juicer, you can blend in a blender and strain the pulp out. This will serve two.

Happy Digesting and Thanksgiving!

Always love,
Raw Melissa