I saw these questions posted at one of my favorite blogs and thought I’d follow suit. I’ve been tagged again to share the “5 things about me” so I think this also accomplishes that.
1. Favorite Raw Vegan milk? Chocolate Hemp Seed Milk is one of my favorites. Hemp is so nutritious that it’s an automatic winner every time for my entire family. Just blend Manitoba Harvest Hemp Seeds with water, raw chocolate, and a couple of pitted dates.
2. What are the top 3 recipes you are planning to make? I’m working on a new ebook (yep, another one!) and it’s top secret for now. But, let’s just say that one recipe will have raw chocolate in it, and another will have some raw chocolate in it and another will have…um, yep, raw chocolate.
3. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure? This was an expensive lesson learned here: I made cheesecake with a coconut oil that was bad even though the expiration date was fine. It had a horrible, weird “soapy” after-taste. I tried making it again (not knowing the coconut oil was the culprit) and the end result was still awful. I made it with a different jar of coconut oil, and it turned out wonderfully!
If you get that “soapy” taste and there is coconut oil in your Raw recipe, try it again with a different jar of coconut oil. Better yet, do this…I will now only buy coconut oil from Wilderness Family Naturals because it’s so deliciously fresh (the flavor and quality are unsurpassed – ALWAYS!). I’ve never had a problem since.
4. How do you organize your recipes? I’m an organization and color freak. My recipes are color coded, tabbed, flagged, highlighted, filed, alphabetized, labeled…you name it, I do it.
5. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal? None of the above. I toss it over my balcony to the bunnies running around my neighborhood. I love animals…they are one of my biggest passions and mission.
6. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods…what would they be? Hemp, coconut water and Vitamineral Green powder all the way! If given the opportunity to bring a fourth, it might be raw chocolate powder.
7. Fondest food memory from your childhood? Grocery shopping with mom. Oh…those were the days. We’d spend 2-hours every Saturday at the grocery store. It was so fun.
8. Favorite raw ice cream? I haven’t been eating much ice cream lately, but in a couple of months, it’ll be my Summer Strawberry Ice Cream. Someone I know, who has a monkey for a pet, said this is the monkey’s favorite ice cream! How’s that for a testimonial?
9. Most loved kitchen appliance? Blend-tec blender all the way. The best high-powered blender on the market. I make green juices to smoothies to ice cream to dressings to mousse and so much more with it.
10. Spice/herb you can’t be without? Only one? Damn! Well, if you’ve been to any of my classes, you know I’m in a constant love affair with basil and will put it into almost everything I can.
11. Recipe (Cook) book you have owned for the longest time? I grew up with chefs and come from a family in the restaurant business, so I literally grew up with cookbooks. My mom and I have over 500 cookbooks between the two of us. I have no idea which I’ve had the longest…probably something that came with my Easy Bake Oven – LOL.
12. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly? I love strawberries with a touch of agave, dates to thicken, and accented with a smidge of cinnamon.
13. Favorite raw (vegan) recipe to serve to an omni-friend? The Chinese Hemp Noodles from my hemp ebook always wins the crowd over (the flavor is AMAZING), as well as my stuffed mushrooms (same ebook). The mushrooms resemble cooked food so well. In fact, I’m often asked to bring both of these dishes as “my dish to pass” at parties with omni-guests.
14. Favorite meal to make? I love to chop and use my knife in the kitchen. Therefore, I’m always making a big, fresh salad topped with an amazing dressing.
15. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking. Manitoba Harvest Hemp Products, frozen bananas, raw cheesecake.
16. Favorite grocery store? Whole Foods
17. Food blog you read the most. There are way too many to name. But, I will say that when Sarma posts on her blog, I step back, make a chocolate smoothie and then settle in for a great read.
18. What is one ingredient that you’ve become familiar with that you can’t imagine you ever lived without? Anything related to hemp (oil, seeds, powder and butter). The nutritional profile is fantastic and I love the flavor.
19. Do you have a food inspiration in your life? Definitely! All of my food memories revolve around my mom. She’s brilliant and taught me so much. During my pre-vegan days, I remember going to some fancy restaurants…sometimes there was a food item on the menu that I didn’t know (and someone, usually my date!, was asking me what it was). I’d change the subject and then secretly text message my mom or excuse myself from the table and call her from the bathroom to get the answer – haha.