On Sunday my Mom & I ventured down to Suzie’s Farm, a local organic produce farm, & the CSA which I am a member of, for San Diego’s second “Farm to Yoga” event with Suzie’s Farm, Green Truck, & Sarah Clark Wellawareness Yoga. Three of my favorite things - my CSA, vegan food, & yoga - I certainly couldn’t pass that up!
Farm to Yoga was founded in New York by yogi, farmer, & healthy foodie Abby Paloma, whose goal is to “unite yoga communities with their local farmers & farmers with their local yogis.” As Abby is a San Diego native, & our city has a growing number of organic farms, a thriving yoga community, & passionate locavore chefs, it was only natural that Abby bring the Farm to Yoga experience here.
The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for this fun farm adventure. We began the afternoon with a lovely yoga practice completely outdoors - under the blue sky, the trees, & in the warm spring breeze. The closest I’d practiced yoga outdoors was in a palapa in Costa Rica., which was awesome, but this was even better! I couldn’t help but leave my eyes open during savasana & focus meditatively on the trees above me. So peaceful! Sarah is one of my absolute favorite teachers in San Diego & I was lucky enough to spend 3 weeks with her in January during an intensive “Living Yoga Immersion” at Pilgrimage of the Heart.
After yoga, we toured the farm, foraged & nibbled edible weeds like “Lamb’s Ear,” & experienced “Amcella Oleracea” aka, the “Toothache Plant,” an edible flowerhead that causes a novocain like numbing sensation in the mouth. It’s acrid ignition causes extreme salivation, followed by a few moments of numbness, then a stimulating tingling sensation. Wow. It was quite a fun experience for me, a CSA member of Suzie’s, to walk the among the rows & rows of gorgeous organic vegetables & see where the nourishing food I prepare my meals with is actually grown. Standing there on that farm I could really seeing the heart that goes into cultivating the land really reaffirmed my mission to eat locally, as locally & organically as possible. As I often hear, “we vote with our dollars,” & my vote is for supporting local farmers’ & farmers’ markets.
After the farm tour we were treated to a lovely “al fresco” vegan meal prepared by Green Truck who serves fresh, local, organic food out of their veggie oil truck & solar powered kitchen! San Diego’s Green Truck sources much of their produce for their menu from Suzie’s Farm, & 98% of the meal created for us that day was made from Suzie’s produce.
“The Farm Pesto” - grilled Floridor squash, balsamic wilted spinach, basil & nettle pesto, white arugula flower
Dessert:
“Fresh Suzie’s Strawberries & Lemon Verbena” - simple as that!
The meal was amazing! So fresh & flavorful. I am already planning a recreation of that kale salad. And those tacos? Perfection! I know what I’ll be doing with my next bunch of Suzie’s baby broccoli. I absolutely leapt off the bench at the opportunity for seconds! Yum.
It was a truly unique & wonderful experience, & I can’t wait to do it again! Thank you to Abby, Sarah, Suzie’s Farm, & Green Truck for a magical day!
Time for another video in our Quarrygirl Presents: At Home with Susan Feniger series! This time we go to the famous chef’s Los Angeles pad for a simple breakfast of mashed avocado on toast. It’s so easy and the perfect way to use up avocados before they spoil! Watch as Susan shares her favorite and quickest recipe and also gives us tips on pronunciation, her favourite knife, and why buying fresh pepper is important.
I am so hungry right now I could crawl through this screen & gobble this up! I am on day 2 of a 3 day Kaeng Raeng cleanse, & I am dying. I can however, eat raw fruits & veggies on this cleanse, & I just might have to make this for dinner to supplement my “shake.” In fact, I think I absolutely will! Gorgeous!
Farm to Table Vegan Dinner For Non Toxic Revolution
Attention San Diegans with charitable hearts! JoinKeep A Breast/Non Toxic Revolution for a very special evening in Encinitas! Come out & enjoy a 5 course Prix-Fixe vegan, organic, & local farm to table dinner, craft cocktails with organic gin & vodka, fresh pressed local organic juices. Details:
This event sounds all kinds of awesome, if only it wasn’t $200 a ticket! I’ve got about that to last me to the end of the month! But I sure do wish I could make it happen because the menu looks out-of-this-vegan-world. We’re talking “Caribbean Coconut Spring Rolls with a Spiced Brazil Nut Pate Heirloom Tomato Stacks with a Pistachio Pesto, Raw Mozzarella, & an Aged Balsamic Glaze.” I mean!
And it is for such a good cause! If you’re not familiar with KABNTR here is a little background:
Non Toxic Revolution’s mission is to inform, educate & inspire young people to revolt against the dangers of toxic chemicals in their environment & food supply especially those linked to the initiation of breast cancer. Its aim is to focus on prevention as a means to maintaining long-term health & well-being. NTR also provides alternative choices so that young people everywhere can make smart changes. NTR is part of The Keep A Breast Foundation’s mission to encourage youth to embrace prevention as a deterrent to breast cancer & other breast diseases & cancers.
It’s such an awesome cause & such an important issue for women of all ages. If you can afford the ticket price I highly encourage you to lend your support!
Did any of you catch green juice guru Joe Cross, of the documentary film “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead,” on the Dr. Oz show recently? I (proudly) don’t have cable so I missed it too, but fortunately you can watch video clips here. And if you haven’t seen the documentary, I cannot recommend it enough. It’s a life changer! Here’s an overview:
Documentary filmmaker & health advocate Joe Cross discovered a whole new body by vowing to change his life & his health by only drinking fresh fruit & vegetable juices for 60 days. When Cross started filming Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, he was 100 pounds overweight, on multiple prescription drugs & suffering from an autoimmune disease. He decided to drastically alter his lifestyle & tap into the body’s natural healing abilities by juicing. The results: Cross lost the weight, got off his meds & sought out to spread his message & the success of his personal journey with the masses.
Wow. 60 days! That’s quite a commitment. The benefits of juicing are immense. When you drink juice, highly concentrated vitamins, minerals & enzymes rapidly enter the bloodstream absorbing all of the nutritional benefits of the fruits & vegetables while giving your digestive organs a much-needed rest. I do not juice daily, but I do it as often as I can. When I do not have the time to make a jucie, I’ll blend up a green smoothie with coconut water, frozen fruit, & “Vega One” protein powder.
Ready to give juicing a try? To help others reap the benefits of juicing, Cross has developed this “3-Day Juice Cleanse” & this handy recipe infographic! Three consecutive days is about all I can handle & while I do love the convenience of the pre-made juices there is nothing like a fresh pressed homemade juice cocktail! I am definitely gonna give this a try! Who’s with me?
I hope you all had an enjoyable Mother’s Day! Whether you have children or not, or are a dog mom like me, it’s a great day to honor all nurturing female beings - human & non-human alike.
I am so lucky to come from a strong line of women & spent the day honoring my Mom & Grandmother at our mountain getaway in Julian, CA. We decided to beat the brunch crowd (besides there really isn’t much aside from a fruit cup on the menus in this country town!) & make brunch ourselves. I thought about making this splendid coffee cake creation again, & we also considered trying to veganize a baked French toast recipe we’d made in the past but didn’t want to fuss with the trial & error of veganizing something unfamiliar. Then I remembered this “Baked Coffee Cake French Toast” from Keepin’ It Kind. Why try to decide between the two when you can have both?This was the perfect solution & everyone at the table loved it - vegan or not! We served it with warm maple syrup & coconut spread, alongside greens with an apricot vinaigrette, & fresh fruit salad for a wonderful homemade Mother’s Day Brunch Feast!
While my images pale in comparison to Chris & Kristy’s (wait until you see, so pretty!), I still had to share this to make sure you head on over to KIT immediately & pin this recipe! You won’t be disappointed!
Raw Squash Noodles with Lemon-Basil Cashew Cream Sauce
The farmers’ market is abound with so many of my favorite seasonal delights - fresh cherries, asparagus, strawberries, romanesco cauliflower, tomatoes, & summer squash! I’ve been waiting for the moment that summer squash arrived at my CSA stand & yesterday I caught my first glimpse! Why the excitement? Raw “pasta” of course! Last summer I bought a spiral slicer, & made my first batch of zucchini noodles with raw tomato marinara & my life changed that instant! I love pasta, but my ever slowing metabolism doesn’t. And really what’s pasta without the sauce? Isn’t it the topping - a spicy tomato marinara, a creamy cashew alfredo, a zesty basil pesto - where all the flavor is anyway? So the beauty of zucchini noodles is that they are practically, if not totally guilt free! And they’re way more fun to prepare than dropping a bunch of dry pasta in boiling water. I enjoy the meditative process of cranking the handle & watching the dense squash become delicate noodles. And I recently cashed in the Joyce Chen for the Benriner, which gives you 3 blade options for varied noodle sizes, & I find the middle size to be perfect for zucchini squash noodles.
While I was instantly inspired by the arrival of squash at the market, I was further inspired by the friendly marketeer at my CSA’s stand. After a brief hiatus, I am back to my bi-weekly share & anxiously rooted through the contents of my box to see what I had to work with. A bundle of “basil fino verde” caught my attention. It certainly smelled like basil, & that was a delight, but looked a bit like thyme. So what should I do with it? Use it as a garnish? Mmmm, sprinkled on pizza, or pasta? Perhaps. I asked the marketeer if he had any suggestions, & boy did he! Win! And turns out he’s vegan. Win! Win! He said he had recently used it to make a “Basil Cashew Pesto” that he used as a spread on toasted bread, & as a dip for artichokes. Wow. Right? Get me some artichokes & baguette! But then, with zucchini & summer squash in hand, my inspiration bell rang. Ding ding! Raw “Pasta” with Basil Cashew Pesto Sauce. I quickly called upon my blog friends for some recipe assistance & came across Dreena’s recipe for “Lemony Cashew Basil Pesto”, & looked no further. What I created was more like a cashew cream sauce than a pesto, & that was certainly the result I was seeking, if you desire more of a “pesto” double up on the basil as Dreena did in her recipe.
“Raw Zucchini Noodles with Lemon-Basil Cashew Cream Sauce”
3/4 tsp. sea salt freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 Tbsp. water, plus more to reach desired consistency
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup raw cashews, soaked over night, rinsed & drained
1 cup basil fino verde leaves
2 Tbsp. pine nuts
Preparation:
Spiralize the squash & set aside in a colander to drain excess liquid.
In a food processor, combine lemon juice, garlic, mustard, salt, pepper, oil, & water, & purée until fairly smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
Add cashews & basil fino verde & purée until smooth & creamy. Add more water to thin out the sauce if desired.
Toss zucchini noodles with desired amount of sauce. Top with fresh black pepper, a sprinkle of pine nuts, & basil fino verde leaves.
Tastes like summer around here! While I can imagine that this luxurious topping would be wonderful smothering my favorite brown rice spaghetti noodles, the pairing of crisp raw noodles with the rich & brightly flavored sauce creates a wonderful balance of decandence & freshness. This would also make a wonderful sandwich or cracker spread, if left on the thick side. It would also make a wonderful creamy salad dressing! Yum yum! As I plan on going at least 60% raw this summer, this will become a staple in my raw kitchen! Enjoy!
