Got Sprouts?

I grew some red lentil sprouts in a jar.  I covered the open end of the jar with cheese cloth fastened around the jar's rim with a snug fitting rubber band.  First I soaked a few tablespoons of seeds overnight in a generous amount of water, drained them through the cheese cloth in the morning, rinsed and drained them again, and covered the jar with a dish towel to keep the seeds dark until they sprouted.  Rinse and drain well at least twice a day.  Within 3 days the jar is full of beautiful lentil sprouts.  Rinse before use and throw away any lentils that do not sprout.  Store well drained, unused lentils in the refrigerator.  Use them in a day or two.  Their taste is mild.  I sprinkle them over a salad.  If they start to get a bad smell or unusual consistency, throw them away!  I make small quantities and always use mine quickly enough to avoid waste. 

Lentil Sprouts growing in a jar -- you can see some roots and tiny pale leaves

 lentil sprouts growing in a pint jar with cheese cloth fastened over the opening

The salad consists of a base of tender leaf lettuce, a small amount of thinly sliced cucumber, one half gala apple diced with skin, a sprinkle of lentil sprouts, a bit of oil (I use an unfiltered, highest lignan, organic flax seed oil -- use what you like) and a light sprinkle of pink salt.  Layer ingredients in the order listed.  Of course you can use any dressing and add vegetables you like.  Enjoy!

The Salad with Red Lentil Sprouts

As you have noticed, the red lentils are more of a pale orange color.  Nevertheless, they add interesting color, shape, and texture to a salad.
Lentil sprouts are also good sprinkled over soup or stew.  They are nice in a broth or miso soup.
Sprouts are said to have much more nutrition and are easier to digest than the un-sprouted seeds.

On another subject: today I saw the license plate "I AM" -- I had a fine day.
I AM
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011

More Raw

I have been high-raw, i.e., eating over 80 percent raw food, most days 100 percent raw vegan, (but who knows if the nuts are really raw?) for over 40 days.  I have not had coffee for 45 days.  It has been (prepare yourself for a cliche phrase) life changing.  I am surprised at how much I like it and how easy it is.  The greatest challenge, thus far, is social dining.  Despite this, the rewards are great.

My sleep has improved.  Cuts heal faster.  My mood is more upbeat.  I get going in the morning without the two-plus cups of coffee I used to require.  No coffee to grind.  No coffee maker to clean.  No coffee to buy.  I drink a quart of water in the morning (it is dry here in the Southwest Desert) and add juice of a half lemon or lime.  Then I juice a quart of vegetable juice.  I drink one or two pints, whatever I desire.  If I only drink one pint, I save the other in the fridge for later.  If I am still hungry I have some fruit or a salad.  Yes, a salad for breakfast -- or lunch.  And I mean a vegetable salad, although sometimes I add a bit of apple, peach, or nectarine. If the salad is not sufficient, I have some nuts or seeds afterwards.  Be careful not to go nuts with the nuts.  Unless you are breaking them out of their shells, they are too easy to eat.

I generally save my smoothie for lunch or afternoon.  I have been making my smoothies with frozen fruit and greens -- green smoothie.  I freeze fresh fruit, peeled if necessary and cut into pieces, when it is sweet and on sale.  The frozen fruit makes the smoothie almost like a sherbert and I eat it with a spoon.  It is cooling, tasty, thick, convenient, fast, easy, and healthy.  No added sugar.  No added fat. No animals, animal parts, or animal by-products in the blender. Trust me, I never wanted a green smoothie until I tried one during the 7 Day Raw Food Challenge.  Look for my previous posts Is Your Drink Green?, Got Greens?, and other posts from late July for my green smoothie recipes, thoughts, and observations during my raw genesis.  Also link to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1383344 for a FREE easy juice and smoothie recipe e-Book, other easy raw recipes, videos, and info about the 7 Day Raw Food Challenge I completed.

Let me give you a secret ingredient I add to my banana spinach smoothie --- cinnamon.  It adds a new taste and the health giving properties of cinnamon.  I also add 4 to 6 ice cubes because my blender can grind them.  Note that I do not have one of those super-duper  $400 blenders.  Just something better than the old, bottom-of-the-line $15 model I used to have, for years, until the plastic handle broke off the (what is it called?) blender pitcher (?).  To recap:  the secret ingredients are cinnamon and ice cubes.  ;-)

I go to a naturopathic doctor.  After I stopped coffee for several weeks, a noon time slump in energy that would have been boosted by caffeine became pronounced.  The doctor found that my pineal gland was weak.  This has been corrected and my energy is quite sufficient to get through the day and evening.  Had it not been for quitting coffee, I would never have known that my pineal, a master gland, was weak.
I was advised it is OK for me to take vitamin B12.  The naturopath I go to has been a vegetarian since the 1960s!  He takes some B12.  He works long days, sometimes over 12 hours, and goes to the gym to work out during lunch.  We need more role models who practice what they preach and don't do too much preaching.  Also, it is good to have a practitioner you trust who can intelligently support you when you change your diet.  You want to be sure you are getting all your nutritional needs met.

In a previous post I promised to print some quotes from a book I read, Blatant Raw Foodist Propaganda! or Sell Your Stove to the Junkman and Feel Great!  Here it is:
    Most people live on an omnivorous diet -- that is, anything that is possible to chew up and swallow      and live long enough to tell about it, they will eat.  But, for one reason or another, many people decide to adopt some restrictions...The great value of the raw food diet is its transformative value. To a great extent, when you take up the raw food diet, you become a new and different and better person.  You don't just stay the same old person, only a little healthier.  You become, to a great extent, a new being, with new interests, a new philosophy and outlook on life, new goals and desires...Such transformations of course are impossible to imagine before you have experienced them.  The raw foods diet doesn't so much "improve you" as "replace you" with somebody better!  -- Joe Alexander c.1990

Wow.  Lofty words Joe.  I could stand to be replaced with somebody better.

I am new and improved, or replaced...,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011






 

 

Pizza

I felt like making a pizza.  I had purchased sliced provolone cheese.  It was on sale.  Usually I make pizza crust with one packet of quick rise yeast, a spoon of honey, warm (not hot) water and flour.  Add the yeast to the warm water in a large bowl.  Mix in the honey and sprinkle a bit of flour on the surface.  Soon you see the yeast grow.  The honey and flour feed the yeast.  I mix in more flour until the dough is a thick, doughy, kneadable consistency, and knead for a few minutes.  If the dough is too wet, I add flour until the dough is a nice, kneadable, play-dough, consistency.  I knead the dough in the large mixing bowl I used to mix the ingredients.  When the dough is a slightly elastic, smooth consistency, I lightly dust the dough ball with flour, place it in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel to keep it dark, and let it rise for about a half hour.  A half hour later, you have a nice, risen dough, which can be lightly floured again, tossed or rolled out to form pizza dough in your pan.

The problem was, I had no yeast in the house and did not want to venture out in the 110 degree heat, so I made a dough with flour, baking soda, and water.  This worked well, except that the dough was a little too wet and I ran out of flour.  The only way I could get the gooey dough spread thin was to spray the dough with cooking oil and spread it by hand, in the pan.  This required some effort, but worked.  No rising time required.

the basil plant with small white flowers in the Southwest Desert

I usually do not cook much in the heat of summer.  This was to be my holiday weekend pizza.  I find that pizza is best with a thin coating of red sauce.  I did not want to open a quart jar of sauce just for the pizza, so I used ketchup.  It added a nice, subtle sweetness and worked perfectly as that thin layer of red topped with thin slices of provolone.  On top of the provolone was a generous scattering of chopped, fresh cut basil that I elected to harvest before the insects get it, and one, rough chopped, fresh, garlic clove.  That's all.

I baked it in a 400 degree (F) oven, a very decadent summertime indulgence.  Usually I bake a yeast crust at 425 to 450 degrees, but I was not sure how this experimental crust would cook.  The 400 degree oven worked fine, baking for the usual 15 minutes.  The crust did not rise as much as a yeast crust, but it was surprisingly delicious, and there is enough left for a meal tomorrow.  I serve it with a salad.  I used organic romaine lettuce cut across the bunch every inch, and red bell pepper cut in rough half inch cubes. I added a tiny bit of dressing so as to allow the flavors of the raw salad ingredients to be present.  The texture of the salad and the taste of the fresh red bell pepper complimented the pizza perfectly.  I am so pleased with the result that I may substitute ketchup for red sauce in my future pizzas.  The flavor, consistency, and  convenience pleasantly surprised me.

As we look forward to the 4th of July, Independence Day, the weather here is sure to stay well over 100 degrees (F) every day.  We can feel the monsoon heavy in the air, but no substantial rains yet.  I wish you all a safe and enjoyable 4th of July.  Hope you get to see a fireworks show, although many areas have banned them this year because of the fire hazard.  I will look up in the sky after dark, hopeful...
As ever,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011