Fwd: The Raw Gourmet Newsletter Feb 22, 2007

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Nomi Shannon <nomi wrote: "Elaine" <shortydemp"Nomi Shannon" <nomiThu, 22 Feb 2007 03:07:39 -0500The Raw Gourmet Newsletter Feb 22, 2007Mailer 02 x The Raw Gourmet Newsletter Feb 22, 2007 Eat Well on a Budget On food budgets both large and small one can eat poorly or one can eat well. The following contains some simple guidelines I have come up with to reinforce your healthy high raw or all raw diet on a reduced budget. I have also included a few survival tips as I have am very interested in Smart Survival Methods for Raw Foodists. When times are hard globally or personally, our stress levels often drive us to treat our mind/body less than optimally, shall we say. But during any type of hard-times, it is more important than ever to eat right in order to maintain physical health and a high level of immunity. By maintaining your own equilibrium -physically, mentally and spiritually-you are better able to do what is necessary; whether that means dealing with basic survival for yourself and those close to you, or reaching out to those in need and contributing your best to make your country and your world a better place to be. When you are feeling secure about the high level of your natural immunity, it is easier to steer clear of the kind of mass fear that the evening news promotes. This kind of self-confidence in your own health and energy can not happen overnight. Now is the time to Re-New your New Year New You vows, and hopefully what I have

to say about how to eat well without it costing more than you can afford will serve as motivation. I hope so. I invite you, friends and readers of my newsletter to email me your successful budget busting tips too, I will include them in the next newsletter. (Not sure if you've noticed yet, but part of MY New Year New You plan is to write more newsletters.) Please send your ideas to me at: nomi. Here are some strategies to help you eat in a healthy way so you can develop and maintain the energy and vitality necessary to function on a high level during difficult or good times. Economics are specifically taken into consideration so that your health and immunity will remain high on a tight budget. This will allow you to contribute the maximum amount of energy to the causes you feel the most important whether they be related to family values, work, ministry, survival, charity, or world health/peace.

The Strategies 1. It is important that you know the best places to obtain ingredients in your area. Always check out the seasonal produce and sales. Take advantage of them. 2. Apples, oranges, bananas, carrots and cabbage are available year round and usually affordable. 3. Get

together with a group to purchase your food. Belonging to a food co-op saves money. Sometimes large groups can arrange for wholesale prices. You will especially notice savings on the more exotic or expensive items like tropical fruits, nuts and nut butters. 4. Consider simplifying even more and foregoing the more exotic and expensive items. 5. Carefully look over the reduced price produce-it is often still good; just not pretty -but usually very ripe and ready to eat on the same day as purchase. Produce departments are likely to mark down very ripe and spotted bananas, which are perfect for freezing to use in smoothies and desserts. Likewise, very ripe and soft fruit gets bruised then marked down but it is edible and a good buy. 6. Young coconuts can be purchased in many cities for sixty to seventy cents each, and comprise a meal by themselves. Check in Asian

markets for young coconuts, inexpensive pea sprouts and other interesting greens. 7. Don't waste anything. If there is one inch of red pepper left, save it for raw soup. 8. Root vegetables are inexpensive, last quite awhile in the refrigerator and are full of nutrients, minerals and fiber. If you eat cooked food, they are an excellent choice for baking or steaming. Served raw either grated or turned into pasta with a saladacco ( spiral slicer) they become a gourmet item. Look for parsnips, turnips, rutabaga, parsley root, celery root and don't forget beets and carrots. 9. Eat monomeals four or five times a week; for example, just melon or just apples or just greens at one meal. Not only can you take advantage of local produce and sales prices this way, but you also save time in food prep and lots of digestive energy! 10. Most Americans eat too much. According to a study in the August 1996 issue of Scientific American, we spend $33 billion annually on weight-loss products and schemes. The message here is: cut back on your quantities. (This advice does not apply to children, they need calories, fat and protein for proper growth and development.) 11. Don't be put off by the high per pound price of mixed greens (called mesclun in some areas). Even at $6.99 a pound, a good -sized bag will cost less than half of that. Greens are light. Be sure they are dry when purchased, they will weigh less and keep longer. One helpful tip especially if you are buying for one or two people, is compare the salad bar by weight prices with the price per pound of the greens over in the produce department, sometimes you can do better to buy your greens at the salad bar. 12. If you juice regularly, feed some of the pulp

to your pets mixed in with their other food, it adds a lot of bulk/fiber to their diet, helps them to feel full but doesn't stuff them with calories and fat. You can also put some of your pulp into salad, carrot pulp is especially good for this. Pulp is also a great addition to dehydrated crackers. 13. Take the time now to learn as much as you can about local foraging. Unless you live in the high desert, there is almost always edible food in the woods and fields around you, probably even in your yard. A good illustrated book is helpful, I like Edible Wild Plants, by Thomas Elias and Peter Dykeman, and there are many others. Try to find a book that specializes in your geographical area. See if you can locate a master herbalist in your area that specializes in wild edible foods. Get a group of friends together and learn how to forage in your area. This is great fun for the whole family, can supplement your purchased food, and even save

your life in times of crisis. My favorite season for foraging is fall, grapes are plentiful as well as dandelion, plantain and rocket. When I lived in Sedona AZ, all of winter and spring I picked bowls-full of mustard greens on my daily walks near my home. Later in the season, I picked the yellow blossoms from the mustard plants. And, even when the heat of summer began I could still find mustard greens in the shade and along streams. Over half of my greens intake for several months of the year was foraged mustard. Perhaps it is my imagination, but I notice higher energy levels when I eat foraged greens rather than store bought ones. If you are lucky enough to live near woods, spring and summer will offer up quite a bounty. While there are ways to discover for yourself if something is edible, save that for emergencies and buy some good foraging books or get from the library . This kind of information doesn't go out of

style so you may find some great books in vintage book stores and the like. To me, knowing at least the basics about foraging, being able to identify at least 5 or 6 or more edibles in your own area, is like insurance. For now, it is fun to find it and eat it as you go or bring it home to supplement what you buy. But also if, heaven forbid, there were a true catastrophe and there were no food to buy, wouldn't you feel better if you knew you could survive because you knew where you could find edible food? There is even a lot available to eat in the cold of winter if you know where to look for it. Peace of mind is such a good thing, don't you think? 14. It is extremely economical to grow your own sprouts, not just the jar-grown variety but the type grown in soil in nursery flats or cafeteria trays. The most highly nutritious sprouts are soil grown sunflower and buckwheat. If you decide

to soil sprout at home, consider also growing baby lettuce greens at the same time. Other delicious sprouts to grow include: cabbage, turnip, peas, radish, mustard, spinach and kale. My book, The Raw Gourmet has general instructions and growing charts. I recommend The Sprout Garden by Mark Braunstein for more in- depth sprouting information. By growing sunflower, buckwheat, pea and other sprouts at home, you are getting the very best food known to man in the least expensive way possible. It will cost you only pennies for a pound of high protein, high chlorophyll, high vitamin, high mineral and high enzyme food. If you are interested in preparing for survival purposes, you will need to store soil, flats, seeds and any other equipment you may need for your crops. Or, look into the various types of sprouters that allow you to grow the sprouts that you normally grow in the soil hydroponically. In times of true crisis, other than what you can forage, sprouts could most likely

be the only fresh food you will be able to obtain. (Coming soon: an article about a superfood that will give you all the benefits of sprouts and more.) 15. Stock up one time on pantry essentials, then replenish as needed. Buying in bulk saves money if you buy wisely-purchase only food that you know that you will use. If you live far from a reasonable source for these items, remember too that the more you order at one time from a mail order company the less per pound the shipping will cost. For those of you lucky enough to live near a Trader Joe they usually have the following items raw and organic: nuts, almond butter, some dried fruit. 16. If you own a dehydrator (if you don't perhaps now is a good time to buy one-go to http://www.rawgourmet.com/excalibur_dehydrator.html to see dehydrator on special until March 1) make up simple flax seed crackers in quantity and

replenish when the stock gets low. Basic Pantry Essentialsraw tahini raw nut butters sunflower seeds (hulled) nuts such as walnut or almond, hulled Inshell nuts for snacks flax seeds olive oil nama shoyu or sea salt olives sea weeds: dulse, kelp sprouting items Your favorite dried herbs and spices Carob powder Dried fruit such as dates and apricots

Flax Seed Cracker Recipes Each time I make flax seed crackers I do them up differently but here is a guideline. Take 5-6 cups of brown or golden flax seeds and add 5-6 cups of pure water. Allow to stand at room temperature for 4-6 hours. Then, fill your blender container (to the top) with some or all of the following, 3 to 5

cups of pureed tomatoes, 1 cup rehydrated sun dried tomatoes, juice from 1 lemon plus a bit of lemon rind, 2-3 whole onions, 6-10 garlic cloves, any other spices or herbs you think that you will enjoy. Stir the flax seeds and this mixture together, do not blend as you do not want to break open the flax seeds, that will cause them to start becoming spoiled before they can finish dehydrating, flax seed oil is very volatile -it spoils quite quickly. I love the taste of caraway seeds so I add in 4-6 tablespoonfuls of whole caraway seeds to the mixture, but you might prefer fresh or dried cayenne, italian herbs, bits of chopped olive, etc... Spread mixture on teflex trays about 1/4 inch thick or less. Set your dehydrator at about 125 until the crackers are dry and warm to the touch on top, then lower the temperature to 115-120. When dry on top, score crackers to the size you want (I usually do 2 X 2 inches). Flip crackers over, and carefully lift the teflex sheets off,

leaving the crackers to finish drying on the screen mesh that come with the trays. Be sure your crackers are utterly dry thoughout so that they won't spoil. Run the dehydrator for an extra half-day if need to be, just to be sure. They will not get over done. Store in an airtight container like a jar with a tight lid or zip lock plastic bags. Another yummy flax seed cracker "recipe" is a sweet one. Start with the same 5-6 cups of seeds and water. Only this time your blender will be filled with sweet things, not savory. I like using 6-8 ripe bananas, a handful of dates along with water and maybe a little cinnamon, then dehydrate as above. Another great favorite of mine is apple crackers. I often make one batch of half apple and half banana. Start with the flax seeds and water mixture. Then fill your blender up with applesauce made from fresh whole apples, as well as a handful of dates and lots

of cinnamon. Lately I have been making up about 3/4 of a blender of apple/date mixture and roughly grating 4 or five apples and mixing all together, the large grated pieces are yummy in the cracker and it looks very cool too. All these flax seed cracker recipes keep indefinitely. Great for travel and for emergencies. The sweet ones taste wonderful with a little bit of almond butter spread on them and the savory ones are great with sliced avocado or some pate. Note: there is a great deal of misinformation going around the internet and even in some books about correct dehydrating temperatures. Some individuals are setting the thermostat as low as 90 degrees Fahrenheit. This low temperature invites mold to set in long before the food is dehydrated. The truth is, the food never reaches the temperature at which the dehydrator is set. To use conventional cooking as an

illustration: When (years and years ago, or maybe you just heard about this) you set your Christmas turkey to roast at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, many hours later it would be done at 170 degrees. Likewise the dehydrator, setting the thermostat above 115 degrees does not heat the food up to that temperature. You can get all fancy and buy a thermometer if you want, but I just check the crackers by touching them, when they are quite warm and dry that is when I lower the temperature. Certainly cold wet crackers will take many hours before they even begin to heat up, there is no reason to worry about killing enzymes until they are warm and dry. Do not make the mistake of running your dehydrator at only 90 degrees, by doing this you are creating unhealthy food. The Raw Gourmet PO Box 10396 Wilmington NC 28404 To or change r options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?jBzMzLTMrEwcrEycTA==

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