Project Valentine's Day

Project Valentine's Day was something I coined a few weeks before the big day. I knew right away that I wanted to make something lavish for Kelli. She deserves it...and lots more! I had a vision in my head, and of course not all visions come to fruition lol. Nonetheless, Project Valentine's Day was a success! What did I make you ask? A box of chocolates and a heart shaped cake!

The box of chocolates was an easy one to conceptualize. Chocolate is rather an easy thing to make. A little cacao, agave and ground nuts, you have yourself a winner!

I bought an empty heart shaped box and little paper guys from a restaurant supply store. I headed off to Chef Dara's (http://live-love-raw.blogspot.com/) house to get to work. When I arrived, long behold she had "caramel" already prepared in her fridge. Perfect! I went ahead and started with the cake while she prepared the chocolate dough.

Once the cake was in a stage where it had to sit in the freezer, I rolled little balls of chocolate and caramel. It was easy to get creative. Some were stuffed with dried cranberries, others were plain chocolate rolled in cacao or coconut flakes. I added pecans to a few as well.

Once I was done playing with the dough, I put them in the wrappers and placed the whole box in the freezer so it would keep longer :).

The real project was the heart shaped cake! At first I thought about making a triple layer chocolate cake. Kind of sounds like the Shawn White's Double McTwist 1260 in the halfpipe Olympic competition, a nearly impossible feat for the average person.

Dara handed me a raw dessert bible, Cafe Gratitude's Sweet Gratitude. Those guys have it down! If you haven't been to a Cafe Gratitude, GO!!!! Eat any one of their desserts or milkshakes and you'll be flying high through the clouds for the next day or two.

I flipped through the book and landed on a Strawberry Shortcake. How appropriate!!! It was broken into two parts, cake and filling. The basis for the cake consisted of 24oz of dates to 8C of grounded nuts (or nut flour). In this case I used almonds, the queen of nuts. The filling was a cashew cream (cashews, agave, coconut oil, vanilla) with chopped strawberries.

What was interested was that in the book it called to use a mixer to mix the dough. Perhaps in the "cooked" world of food, a standard household has a mixer. I've never heard of using a mixer in the raw food world. Well, we were short a mixer so my hands had to do the work! After about 20 minutes of massages, you can only imagine what my hands and arms felt like. With each minute the dough was getting more dense. It was rather sticky so I knew I had to had something of a powder form, be it more ground almonds or another form of powder. I choose powdered coconut. This worked really well!

I then divided the dough in half, one for the bottom layer and one for the top layer. I put a few drops of coconut oil on the bottom of the heart shaped spring form pan to keep the dough from sticking. I shaped the dough on the bottom of the pan and pressed it down firmly.

Next up was the cashew cream. I wish I could remember what all exactly was in there but I only remember the few mentioned above. This was created using the Vitamix. It tasted so good!

I poured half of the cashew cream over the dough. I reserved the other half to use as a frosting. I placed chopped strawberries in the cream. Next, I placed the pan in the freezer to allow the cashew cream to set. It took about an hour to get to the point where I could work with the top layer.

Traffic on the 405 was building up so I had to leave Dara a nice mess in the kitchen and hit the road. I took my project on the road! 50 minutes later, I got home and immediately placed the cake in the freezer.

The next day I removed the pan from the freezer, I had to shape the top layer. It's kind of difficult to shape a cake layer on top of a cream so I pre-shaped it. I did this by making rounding and flattening the dough, to about the thickness I wanted, on a cutting board. I placed pan on top and pressed down. This acted like a cookie cutter. I just removed the outside and voila!..another heart shaped layer. I placed the layer on top of the cashew cream and filled in the gaps with the dough pieces I removed earlier.

I had leftover dough so I used those in the box of chocolates as well :).

I let the whole thing sit in the freezer overnight because I didn't want Kelli to see.

I took it out of the freezer and prepared to frost it. This is where cake decorating skills would come in handy! I've never frosted a cake so only you could imagine! Yikes!!!!! My sister got the decorating genes, I just all the math stuff.

Dara suggested using beet juice to dye the cashew cream pink to use as a frosting. Great idea Dara! I microplaned a little beet and strained it through a nut milk bag. Pure juice! This works perfect if you only have to use a little juice. It's easier than setting up your juicer and having to clean it all.

I reblended the cashew cream frosting and while it was blending I added a little beat juice until I got the color I wanted. It was a nice light pink :). I used this to frost the cake. Not so fun! I think the trick is to use a lot of frosting, freeze it, use more frosting, freeze it, then shape it. I'm sure Meagan would disagree though; she's the resident pastry expert! That was just my logic given the experience I had.

After frosting the cake, I realized that I didn't do a very good job, expecially on the top part. I was not happy whatsoever so I covered it up with chopped strawberries :). At first I was just making a mess everywhere....but then it started to come together.


After I laid all the chopped strawberries on top I decided to add a little more flare. I piped the outline of the heart with a darker shade of the frosting. Note to self: freeze frosting after blending or it'll turn into liquid quickly and make a mess!

Don't ask me why but I added sliced strawberries across the sides and piped those as well. Not fun when strawberries are sliding down off the cake.

Finally, I was done!

KELLI LOVED IT. Or at least she gave me that impression hehe. The cake tasted fantastic! I still have a little left ;-). She also loved the box of chocolates! Her favorite was one made from all chocolate and powdered in cacao.

Piece of cake!

My friend the Coconut Oil...but wait, there's fat?

Why is coconut oil my friend? Because it is fantastic in raw desserts! It's used as a setting agent. It's melting temperature is 76 degrees F so once it's in the fridge, it will harden up pretty nice. I don't recommend eating Coconut Oil every day in large amounts, but if you're going to eat a fat, this one is a better alternative than butter.

I'm sure many of you have heard how Coconut Oil contains "medium chain" fatty acids as opposed to short or long chained. People say it will more likely to be used as energy than the longer chain fatty acids. That I have yet to look into, but let me share with you the difference of Medium Chain vs. Long Chain fatty acids and how they're processed in your body.

This is taken from wikipedia and it explains how fatty acids are absorbed in our system:

"Short- and medium-chain fatty acids are absorbed directly into the blood via intestine capillaries and travel through the portal vein just as other absorbed nutrients do. However, long-chain fatty acids are too large to be directly released into the tiny intestine capillaries. Instead they are absorbed into the fatty walls of the intestine villi and reassembled again into triglycerides. The triglycerides are coated with cholesterol and protein (protein coat) into a compound called a chylomicron.

Within the villi, the chylomicron enters a lymphatic capillary called a lacteal, which merges into larger lymphatic vessels. It is transported via the lymphatic system and the thoracic duct up to a location near the heart (where the arteries and veins are larger). The thoracic duct empties the chylomicrons into the bloodstream via the left subclavian vein. At this point the chylomicrons can transport the triglycerides to where they are needed."

Ok ok...it may seem like a lot of mumbo jumbo. Let me break it down and try to make some sense of it.

Short and Medium chain fatty acids are absorbed directly into the blood as other nutrients are.

Long chain fatty acids cannot go directly into the blood as do the others because they are too large. They reassembly themselves in triglycerides (not cool) and then they have one heck of a ride through your arteries and eventually to the blood.

Now that we've covered how it's absorbed, let's look at the Coconut Oil fatty acid profile:

Fatty Acid	Saturation	Carbons	Percent
Caproic	Saturated	6	0.5
Caprylic	Saturated	8	7.8
Capric	Saturated	10	6.7
Lauric	Saturated	12	47.5
Myristic	Saturated	14	18.1
Palmitic	Saturated	16	8.8
Stearic	Saturated	18	2.6
Arachidic	Saturated	20	0.1
Oleic	Monounsaturated	18	6.2
Linoleic	Polyunsaturated	18	1.6

Coconut oil contains approximately 92.1% saturated fatty acids, 6.2% monounsaturated fatty acids, 1.6% polyunsaturated fatty acids. The above numbers are averages based on samples taken. Numbers can vary slightly depending on age of the coconut, growing conditions, and variety.

What you want to look at is the number of carbon atoms present.
Short Chain = <6
Medium = 6-12
Long = 14 or more


So what you're looking for is the number of carbon atoms. As you can see, most of the carbons present are 6-12. Coconut oil, on average, as about 62.5% medium chain fatty acids.

Now if you're going to have fat in your diet, wouldn't you want a fat that travels essentially directly to your bloodstream? I sure would!

Hope this helps clear up a few things about Medium vs. Long Chain fatty acids!

Get Moving!

I didn't write too much about my last race because quite frankly I was a little embarassed. Let's face it, for me, it was a dismal performance. Since then I had only ran once until today! This is coming from a kid who ran 4-5 days a week. Twice in 2 weeks = not cool.

In the last few days my body has felt like it needed something. Perhaps a kick in the....well, this is a kids program. Today my buddy Dave and I pulled out a 7 miler at a 8:16 pace. It was a hard effort. From a scale 1-10, during the first half of the run, I'd put it at a 9.5. It was not pretty. I was relieved to reach the 3.5 mile turnaround.

When did running get so hard? It wasn't nearly this hard just a few months ago. I ran a 1:37 half marathon in mid October. Does one really fall of the wagon that quickly? YES! Maybe it was the 14 mile bike ride two days ago?...nah. No excuses. Running right now is not fun because I've stopped doing it consistently in the last few months.

That's with anything in life. When you have momentum, keep going. Don't stop. It starts with a simple excuse....I don't feel good today, I'll run tomorrow....Ah, I'm tired, I'll go later...I don't feel like it right now. NO! STOP! Put an end to excuses! The buck stops here! With running, it stops with me! No more skipping out on runs, no excuses, even if it's a few miles. It's better than nothing. No more skipping out on boxing (yes I box, but Kelli is much better at it than I am!). 3-4 days a week of 45 minutes of pure insanity is all it takes for boxing. No excuses!

If you're chasing your dream, you know what you need to do. Don't put it off. It's easy to not do anything. It's easy to quit. That's why most peolpe do. Write Make yourself accountable to someone.

Well, this post is making me accountable for running. I will run when I have to. No excuses! Race times will reveal the truth...

I'm Raw and They're Not

You might be in your raw food journey and your partner wants nothing to do with it. Is it hard for you? I sure don't think it makes it any easier.

My personal raw food journey began with my lovely girlfriend, now fiance :). She's still raw as long as I'm making all the food. We're not vegan's but we consider ourselves raw foodists. I know it doesn't make sense being that raw is a derivative (for all your math nerds) of veganism. The occasional non-raw dishes just might happen to contain animal product. We don't try stress ourselves out by trying to be "100% raw". We've done that before and believe me, it wasn't fun. For us, it's more about how we feel. If you're not feeling good and not having fun, what's the point?

My New Year Resolution was to be vegan. So far so good minus the crackers we buy at Trader Joe's coated with who knows what and gargonzola cheese. It's definitely yummy. We probably buy a box of those once a month or so. We can easily go through it in a day...and it's happened before.

If you're in a relationship and you want to go raw and your partner doesn't then try to communicate in a way that's effective for you both. Let them know how you feel. Talk openly without feeling threatened. This may or may not work for you but it has in my personal life.

Super Bowl Sunday: if we had cable, this wouldn't have been a problem, but we didn't so we went to a bar. Kelli wanted nachos and of course they came out covered in lots of cheese and some bits of meat. I picked around it because I made a decision that I was not going to eat meat or dairy this year. After a few minutes I asked her if it's uncomfortable for her that I was not eating the nachos covered with stuff I didn't want. She honestly said no and was glad to find me chips with nothing on them. I told her I didn't want to make her uncomfortable or feel weird. I also told her if she ever feels that way when we're out to just let me know. If I never know then I cannot resolve the issue.

Next came the gargonzola crackers from Trader Joe's. I know how much she really wanted them without her saying much. We share everything so if we got a box of crackers that happened to contain a dairy product, it would be extremely weird that I wouldn't be eating them. Just the thought of us not sharing something is weird in itself. I love her more than words can ever describe, more than you'd ever see radiate from my food. I'd do anything to make her happy. Even though those crackers may be her vice, I'm not going to get in the way of her journey. We bought some of those crackers and ate some tonight. I'll likely eat some tomorrow and the day after. If a few crackers with some cheese is the worst thing I eat all day, then I think I'm doing pretty dang good. I'm not going to throw her under the bus or make her feel bad for getting the crackers. I embrace the journey, not scold it.

Enjoy your journey. You'll continue to grow more beautiful each day. Your partner will notice a difference in you. They will soon be curious. Do not try to force it upon them. You cannot make them do something they do not want to do. They will have to come to that conclusion on their own.

Tongiht's dinner was a Mexican cuisine:
Enchiladas stuffed with Mexican seasoned cabbage rice and guacamole. They were topped with a Mexican seasoned cashew cheese. I added scallions, onions, jalapeno, Mexican Blend powder and chili powder to the cheese.

This dish was served with seasoned cabbage rice, guac and a cherry tomato. I used a scallion leaf for garnish.

I rolled the enchilada, spread the cheese on top then put it in the dehydrator for 1/2 hour at 125F.

I thought it tasted great. I think I would have to alter the recipe if someone wasn't a big fan of spice. I feel the spice really made that dish. Having it on top of the enchilda helps so the flavor isn't lost in the filling.

Texture was right on. Enchiladas are essentially slop in the middle. These had a nice cream/slop texture.

Enjoy!

When Life Throws You Lemons...

...make more than just lemonade! Try a couple tablespoons of lemon juice in your pate or marinara sauce. Squeeze a little in your smoothie or green drink! I guarantee it'll taste 10x better and feel more alive!!!

Lemons are a funny thing. It's so sour and it makes your lips pucker (though Meyer lemons are more sweet). How often do you sit around the couch eating one anyway? Exactly! But, the juice that a lemon can produce is pretty amazing! Just one ounce gives you about 25% of your daily Vitamin C. I typically add at least 1oz (about 2T) to any recipe that either calls for or deserves lemon juice.

Why don't chef's add lemon juice to marinara? Does the lemon not deserve to be added? Is the marinara too good for lemon juice? They are a perfect marriage!!!!! Lemon brings out the best in the sauce. It makes it sing!!!! Try it sometime.

Tips
Choose a lemon that is fully yellow. Ones that have a hint of green are not fully ripe and are more acidic. Look for ones with thin skin. They are more juicy than the ones with the thicker flesh. You want to store them away from light but you can also keep them in the fridge for about a month. If you do use one out of the fridge, dip it in warm water to soften or let it sit out for a bit. Roll them around to soften...or massage. It'll extract more juice. If you're going to use the lemon itself, not just the juice, and are looking to eliminate some of the bitterness, remove the white pith.

Simple salad dressing: lemon juice, oil (olive or flax), garlic and pepper.

The point is, when you get dealt a lemon, it's a blessing because now you have the one ingredient that can change good to GREAT!

Enjoy the lemons that life throws you!!!!

It's A Love/Hate Thing

Guess what I made?! Sauerkraut aka Cabbage Kraut! Sauerkraut is fermented cabbage. Fermentation is just converting carbohydrates into alcohol or better defined, converting sugars into ethanol.

I did this by shredding a head of cabbage, 1t salt per 10C of shreds, massaged it for a loooong time until I created a lot of juice, added unknown amounts of cracked black peppercorn, bay leaves and dill, then finally put it into a bowl to ferment. I used the outer leaves of the cabbage to create an air tight fit over the kraut. I pressed a small flat bowl over the center to really get the kraut deep into its juices. To keep it all in place, I filled up a quart Mason jar with water and placed it in the bowl, again assuring the kraut was in its juices. I laid a tea towel over the whole batch and set it on the lower portion of our bookshelf. I let it sit for 5 days....

Depending on temperature, it can take 3-14 days. I was just too excited so I to test it out. Good thing I did! This sucker was going dry!!!! Another day or two I'd be eating cabbage leather. We did have a couple warm days this week (75F) so I'm sure that didn't help. Next time I think I will juice some cabbage in my Green Star then add it to the massaged bunch. That will ensure it won't dry out. I also don't think I had the cabbage leaves tight enough around the kraut. This was a given when I noticed the edges curling up :-P.

Sauerkraut has a ton of Vitamin C (when it's not pasteurized or heated) as well as our friend the lactobacilli bacteria (if fermented correctly). There's actually 3 phases of the fermentation. A different bacteria takes over in each phase, lactobacilli being the last. For those concerned about pH level, it is on the acidic side. I wish I knew where abouts but maybe you can comment with the answer :). If you are sensitive to acidic foods, just eat a little at a time.

You're supposed to keep the kraut in an "anaerobic" environment. This is where I begin to compare cabbage kraut with running. What???...Cabbage and running???

I'm a runner and athletes hear a lot about "anaerobic" and "aerobic" exercise. You might find this at the gym on cardio machines. Well, to put it simple, anaerobic means "without air". When you're sprinting to the finish line and you can barely breathe, you're running in the anaerobic zone which is almost to your VO2 Max (Volume of Oxygen). You're essentially out of air. Then again, when it's the finish line, all adrenaline takes over and it's an out of body experience. Before you know it, you're 8" off the ground in a full sprint, one that even 100m World Record Holder Usain Bolt would be proud of.

With me, running is a love/hate thing. You can train all you want, but yet, come race day it's a hit or miss. Kind of like making kraut...sometimes it turns out great, sometimes, not so much. Though, it's a definite miss if you don't train at all lol. I've learned that the hard way. I have a race coming up on Super Bowl Sunday. It's my 3rd Surf City 1/2 Marathon in a row and 4th out of 5. It was my first ever race 5 years ago. Pretty crazy to think that I've been sort of running that long. Thanks Dave! The goal for the race?...unknown. Ideally a sub 1:40...but I'm not sure if I want to exert that kind of energy when the real race is March 21st, the L.A. Marathon :).

Running is just one of those things that I hate when I'm doing it but I love it when I'm done. I hate the thought of running but I love the way it makes me feel when I'm done. Race day numbers seems to always be better than expected, when you train properly. I guess that's the point of it. Work hard for 2-3 months and it pays off. That's a good philosophy with anything in life.

Enjoy life! Eat well. Work hard. Exercise. Love life!

Green Smoothies Make Us Happy

Yesterday afternoon Kelli and I were a little sluggish and cranky. We attributed it to not having our daily "Green Smoothie". We were running late for work and didn't have time to make it. Oops!

Since coming back from Living Light, we've made smoothies that consisted of 2 navel oranges, handful of greens (whatever we have - typically Romaine or Kale) and a banana. Topped off with a little water and ice....voila!

Why would this simple drink make us happy? Well I plugged in the ingredients on www.nutritiondata.com and got the nutritional facts. I was a little surprised by the numbers, but why should I have been? We blended lots of whole goodness and making it easily digestible!

Here are the numbers for each glass:

145 Calories
1g Fat
36g Carbs
8g Fiber
21g Sugar
4g Protein
252% Vitamin A
202% Vitamin C
11% Calcium
9% Iron
180% Vitamin K
62% Folate

In addition to that, we have at least 1 heaping Tablespoon of HealthForce Nutritional Vitamineral Green which has:

150% Daily Vitamin B12
50% Daily Calcium
50% Daily Iron
1.6 billion Probiotic Cells
0.8 grams of fat
4g Protien
6g Carbs

So yea....that's why Green Smoothies make us happy and that's why you too should incorporate a tasty green smoothie to your diet! Even if you don't eat any raw veggies or fruits throughout the week, at least do this one thing every day and you'll notice a difference! :)

We had this smoothie today and we're happy and energetic!