Raw Challenge: Day 1

I've decided to try to follow a raw diet for a month (who know if I'll even last that long), hence the blender and dehydrator.  Today was day 1.  I succeeded!  I ate a smoothie with coconut milk for breakfast, a Waldorf sans dressing for lunch, lightly dehydrated mushrooms tossed with olive oil, garlic, celery, lemon juice, and topped with a raw marinara sauce for dinner.  I snacked on almonds, raisins, a banana, an apple, and coconut milk.  I'm sooooo hungry.  And I really really want some bread or cheese, or a pizza, or a burger or juicy stake...mmm...stake....

Kale with rice and lentil soup

I made another kale dish, kale with rice and lentil soup, tonight.  Super unbelievably easy to make and really yummy!  Here's the recipe:

Cook 2 cups white rice (use 1 cup water to 1 cup rice)
Steam kale (about 7 min. or to taste)
Heat 2 cans of lentil soup, *add water to the soup or let the water evaporate to taste* (optional: add sausage cut in thin rounds, I added garlic and herb chicken sausage from Trader Joe's), add minced or pressed garlic, add kale last if you want it to be a little crunchy
Serve the rice and pour the soup over it

If you have a rice cooker, this dish becomes even easier to make, because you can just set it and forget it until the rice is done; heating the soup doesn't take long.

Here's a link to the recipe:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/lentil-soup-with-kielbasa_n_1056848.html

Kale

I bought a lot of kale yesterday because I want to make kale chips and to start using it more in cooking.  Today I found 25 recipes for kale and tried out a couple of them (below).  I think I'll try to cook one kale dish every night this week.  Here is what I made tonight, both are super easy and quick to make:

Kale chips:
Preheat oven to 350ºF
Wash, cut, and dry the kale as best you can
Toss the kale in a bit of olive oil (add salt, etc to taste)
Place on a backing sheet
Bake at 350ºF for 10min on each side or until done

Serving suggestion: sprinkle on some nutritional yeast after serving

Fried rice and kale:
Cook brown rice (1.5 cups water to 1 cup brown rice)
Steam kale (about 7 min or to your liking)
Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan and add minced garlic, stir for a couple min.
Add the kale to the pan, stir four a couple min.
Add the to the pan, stir for a couple min.
Add soy sauce to taste, stir for 30sec.
Serve
Serving suggestion: sprinkle on some nutritional yeast after serving

The above recipes, and more can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/03/kale-chips-recipe-baked_n_2398474.html#slide=2139358

The egg to apple sauce baking soda conversation factor

I went to another Grubwithus meal (yes, two in a row, it just happened that way!).  This one was amazing!  Not because of the food or the conversation per se, but because of the wealth of information I got on gluten free vegan foods!!!  I'm so excited!!  There is an egg to apple sauce and baking soda conversation formula!!  I don't remember what it is, but I sent an e-mail to the person you mentioned.  I can buy gluten free Bisquick and make pancakes and biscuits using this conversation factor!  I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!