Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Woefully negligent...

I've been negligent of my blog, you would think that this would have meant I've been busy and really its not. I've just been lazy.

We've been having a beautiful summer, its the first summer where we have not over extended ourselves with plans, trips, and commitments. Nearly every weekend has been a relaxing time, sticking close to home and enjoying friends and of course, Ian.  

Following closely on the heels of the Vitamix arrival, I was able to finally purchase the Excalibur food dehydrator to add further variations and dimensions to our raw food cuisine.  While I am far from 100% raw and don't really have the desire to become so, I've been enjoying the ability to make healthy snacks of different textures.  The experiments include a delicious fresh blueberry jam (blueberries, agave nectar, lemon, and dates). Half of this batch became fruit leather which Ian enjoys.  Corn chips came out only ok. They are good, but I think that recipe is going to need some more tweaking.  The winning recipe that has come out of the dehydrator has definitely been the cinnamon buckwheat cereal. I've made two batches of this so far and it is a yummy, crunchy, filling, and nutritious breakfast or anytime snack. Made with germinated buckwheat, maple syrup and cinnamon  it is made even better with sliced banana, strawberries and almond milk.  Even Evan enjoys it and my mom took home a container of it to snack on. 

I scored today at a local farm. I went in to buy nectarines and corn on the cob and noticed a box of tomatoes by the door. When I inquired the owner told me they were "# 2's".  The #1's were on display for 3.89/lb. The #2's were not aesthetically perfect with tiny lines or scars on them and therefore the whole box (24 lbs!) was available for $10.00. I was thrilled at this find and now have about 6 trays of tomatoes dehydrating in the Excalibur. I also made a large batch of fresh salsa and a delicious tomato based vegetable juice...with some to spare. 

Tonight we are off to the beach to have a picnic and fly Ian's new kite.