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

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sketching again...

A couple of years ago I began sketching daily, and I kept an online journal of some of my sketches.

Yesterday I began sketching a bit again...inspired by the yoga I've been doing (and a bit by the Olympic gymnastics.)



They're a bit light because I did them in pencil, but I think you can see them.

And I did post this on The Birch Center blog as well...it's confusing having two blogs. I wonder if it's time to consolidate...?

Much love,
~ Melissa

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Birthday Cake!

I've had lots of comments and emails about the blueberry cardamom birthday cake/pie I made...so there it is (above.) It was truly heavenly! So incredibly good. I may make another one very soon...I just bought more cashews at the coop yesterday.

I decorated it with bananas, goji berries, frozen blueberries and a strawberry. Four candles for forty years old!

Below is a slice of the pie:



I did adjust the recipe a bit: instead of using macadamias in the filling I used soaked cashews, I used frozen blueberries instead of fresh, and instead of almond milk I made some pecan milk to use. I also used maple syrup (not raw) instead of agave. (The link to the original recipe is in my last post.)

For the crust I used pecans, more dates than they said (I used about 8, they said 4), and I added some vanilla and a touch of salt.

Much love,
~ Melissa

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Back from vacation

My birthday is tomorrow! I think I'm going to make this cake. (Blueberry cardamom...looks so good!)

We were on vacation and just got back - I have pictures to share and lots to update!

Anyone doing the Raw Fu 100 day raw food challenge? I'm signed up, but haven't been quite perfect. Though I'm still starting every day with green smoothies, and am eating such a lot raw all day.

I'll update more soon. We have to get the house ready for a visit from my brother, who is coming later today.

xoxo
~ Melissa

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What's going on

My posting has been sporadic. I've gained 4 pounds since stopping my juice feast about 1 1/2 months ago. I've been totally enjoying GREEN smoothies, sometimes drinking close to a gallon a day, but that is on top of regular eating (raw and not so raw.) Today I had a totally raw day with 1/2 gallon green smoothie. The other exciting news: We ate two fresh peaches off our very own peach tree!

Recently I read: what is the one thing which you need to get rid of, and when you do would totally change your life for the better? Or maybe it was phrased: you know you have to get rid of this one thing to be living closer to where you want to be. What is that one thing? (and get rid of it now!)

For me, it is the computer. I am just so much more present and engaged in life without it. And I am addicted to it/drawn to it when it's on. Our computer is slow and old, so it takes forever to load things and surf around. It can suck so much time.

I will be turning it off. However, I do use the computer in my business, so at least (or at most?) once a week I will be on: checking and responding to emails, updating blogs (this on and our Birch Center one), working on newsletter and business handouts, and checking in at Raw Fu.

What is Raw Fu? It's a website created by Bunny Berry, and starting August 1 she will be leading a 100 day raw food challenge. I'm taking it. See you soon!

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

Those yummy green chips

After reading the post about kale chips on We Like it Raw, I just had to try some! I substituted broccoli greens from the garden for kale and made this marinade for them:

• olive oil
  
• wheat-free tamari
  
• lemon juice
  
• garlic
  
• chili powder
  

I dehydrated overnight...they were sooo good! I love how they don't shrink away like zucchini chips. I ate them up and the next night I made them with collard greens from a friend's garden, with one plantain leaf thrown in there to see how it would turn out. Yum!
So today I went out and harvested a lot of plantain:



marinated it, and it is now in the dehydrator. I also decided to try some daylily petals:



Here they are marinated and on the tray (before dehydrating):



Being flower petals, they did shrink a bit and I only left them in for three hours and now I've eaten them all.

Speaking of the garden, here are some carrots I harvested the other day: (I've never been able to grow carrots)



I grated them and an apple, chopped some broccoli greens and some dates and made a dressing by blending soaked cashews, miso, garlic and a bit of water, and mixed it all together. It was also quite delicious.

Greens in my smoothie

Here is a typical mix of greens, flowers and weeds that I have been putting into my green smoothies. I'm just going to post a quick update now, but I hope to post more about some or all of the weeds/herbs that are going into my smoothie: all from our little yard/garden!

The yellow flower is calendula, so beautiful! We've not had much luck with them in the past, but this year Ella planted them, and we have a huge patch of big, lovely, multi-flowered calendulas!

I also see in there:

Shephard's purse
Plantain
Chard
Quickweed
Mint
Lamb's Quarters

Other things that have been going in:

Red Clover (blossom and leaves)
Lady's thumb (Polygonum persicaria...related to He Shou Wu/Fo Ti - Polygonum multiflori - more about that later!)
Borage Leaves and Flowers
Comfrey Leaves
Mulberry - berry and leaves
Bachelor buttons (edible flowers)
Chickweed

Sometimes instead of water I add nettle or raspberry leave infusion (strong tea, steeped overnight)

And lately I've been added a spoon of powdered dong gui, he shou wu (fo ti), spirulina, and now I've given in and bought a pound of Vitamineral Green so that has been going in as well. (It was so fun to get that package in the mail from Matt Monarch's Raw Food World! It had all these yummy little sample packets of stuff - fun!)

All that with fruit to make it yummy.

The green smoothie challenge is going really well! Is anyone else doing it? Let me know how it's going.