Black walnuts and paw paws

I just put a couple posts about foraging Black Walnuts and Paw Paws on my other blog: http://birchcenter.blogspot.com.

I'm trying to consolidate...it's so confusing to know which information to post where!

I hope you'll check out the posts on the Birch Center blog, though.

xoxo
~ Melissa

Please sign up for our monthly newsletter! We have raw recipes, information about Acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and overall wellness information. Thank you!

www.BirchCenter.com

Vitamix RAW nut butter tip

So, many of you probably know this, but wow, that Vitamix can sure heat food up! Last entry I posted about my pistachio yum bars. Well, I had used nuts right from the freezer for that recipe. Today I tried it again with room temperature nuts (so like 85 degrees!) and they got quite HOT in there. I didn't even blend them down all the way to nut butter.

So, the tip is: FREEZE the nuts first before attempting nut butter in the vitamix, especially if you're trying to keep the nut butter raw.

Love and light,

~ Melissa

Please sign up for our monthly newsletter! We have raw recipes, information about Acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and overall wellness information. Thank you!

www.BirchCenter.com

chocolate pistachio yum bars

Well, today is my third day all raw, and my total and complete energy crash didn't happen until 6:30 pm (and I got up much more easily this morning), so I'm moving in a good direction. The only reason I'm not sleeping now is that Dave was working and Ella wouldn't nap. She's going to sleep now, but I have an update phone call for energy mirrors (at 10 pm!), which is a kind of energy work I do. I actually haven't done it in a while, which may be part of my problem: I do feel much better when I do. But in general I like listening to the woman (Mary Lynch) who does the calls...it's interesting to just let my mind go and become more aware of possibilities......

But anyway. Do you remember (or did you have) those peanut butter bars in high school with the chocolate on top? They were little squares (brownie size) of a layer of peanut butter and a layer of chocolate. I've been thinking about them for a while, and today I created:

Chocolate Pistachio Yum Bars! (the piece in the picture is a bit heavy on the chocolate layer...but isn't it neat how the pistachio nut butter is green?)

• I put raw pistachio nut meat in the vitamix to make nut butter.
  
  
• I mixed the smallest bits of salt and honey into it (when I make again, I may make this layer a tad sweeter, but maybe not.)
  
  
• I pushed the nut butter into the bottom of a glass pan, about 1/4 inch thick.
  
  
• Chocolate layer: I mixed softened coconut butter/oil with cacao powder, lucuma powder, maca powder, raw honey, salt, vanilla.
  
  
• I poured it on top of the nut butter and put in the fridge to chill/harden.
  

Voila! Instant yumminess. I've actually been only eating tiny pieces of it - it's very rich. I just cut that big piece for the picture, then I put it away.

****

And, if you haven't seen it, I wrote about raw foods from a traditional Chinese medicine perspective on my Birch Center blog. I'm actually working on another entry about it for today, but I may be too tired to finish.

Perfecting Raw Chocolate Sauce...

The past couple days I have been 100% raw to try and shake this incredible fatigue that has overtaken me.

I've also been taking the last couple days to try to perfect a raw chocolate sauce, which I plan on serving at our Raw Foods Demo and Dinner on Wednesday, September 24 (please call soon to register...(412) 381-0116, the spaces are filling up!)

Today's version was so delicious: hemp oil, raw honey (I plan to use agave nectar at the dinner, though, in case there are vegans there), raw cacao, lucuma powder, and vanilla. Wow, it was so incredibly good.

I also wanted to mention my good friend Wendi Dee of Pure Jeevan, who has started an amazing new ALL RAW DIRECTORY! It is an interactive website, so you can add your own or your favorite blogs, restaurants, businesses...anything raw related! What an incredible resource, thank you Wendi!

Much love,
~ Melissa

Please sign up for our monthly newsletter! We have raw recipes, information about Acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and overall wellness information. Thank you!

www.BirchCenter.com