Cafe Gratitude

If you are ever in San Francisco and you are even just a little bit adventurous when it comes to food (meaning you like vegetables, flavor and can do without meat and potatoes for one meal), you must eat at Cafe Gratitude. It was so good that my friend Katie and I ate there twice...and that says a lot because San Francisco has some of the best restaurants in the country and we were there for only one week.

For me, it wasn't just the taste of the food--which was incredible--it was the intrigue of "how do they make that?" Half of the menu is cooked and half is raw. I'd never eaten at a raw food restaurant before, but after eating at CG, I'm sold. I'm amazed at what can be done without an oven or stove.

This wrap and salad was my first meal at CG. We went to their Healdsburg location because I had some friends (Hi Josh and Meg!) who live there and they hadn't tried the restaurant before. I ordered this wrap which is totally raw--bread and all. It's a "live" sandwich with almond pâté, carrot, lettuce, tomato, avocado and spicy mustard sauce on apple curry bread. Raw foods are described as "live" because they have maximum enzyme activity--which is helpful with digestion and overall nutrition. Cooking foods at high temps kills some of the beneficial enzymes and nutrients that whole foods offer.

So there's that.

There's also this freaking amazing apple curry wrap. It was delicious and super filling. I want to learn to make that bread. First, though, I need to save a couple hundred bucks for a fancy dehydrator. Probably won't happen any time soon...

As you can see below, the cafe is friendly, homey, colorful and spirited. In other words, it's hippie. And slightly new-agey. When we walked into the restaurant, the girl who seated us asked me, "How would you like to be acknowledged?" I stared at her blankly and said, "Uhhh, do I need to answer now, or can I think about it for a minute?" What I really meant was, "[eye roll] Oooooh boy."

But then, guess what? We sat down and started talking about things that we wanted to be acknowledged for. Go figure. Those thankful hippies showed me. (I've been learning not to be so cynical, but I'm kind of slow.) We had a great conversation about our jobs, our personalities and ways that we hoped to learn to be kinder and more hospitable. It was a memorable discussion that wouldn't have happened without the cheesy "ice breaker" question.

There is one other new-agey thing about the restaurant that's a little hard to take seriously. The names of the dishes. Have a look at the menu and you'll see what I mean. The wrap that I ordered is called, "I Am Nourished" and the raw pizza below (which was amazing) is "I Am Hearty." The names wouldn't be such a big deal, except when you order, it goes like this:

Server: What can I get for you?
Me: Umm, I'll have "I Am Nourished."
Server: [acknowledging head nod] "You Are Nourished."

Haha, I can't take it. All I wanna do is be like, "Helllloooo. I Am Hungry!" [Server head nod] "You Are Hungry..."

But the people that work there are soooo friendly and helpful and I really love most everything about this place.

They have beautiful and tasty desserts aplenty. I heard that their raw key lime "cheese"cake is to die for. I didn't have a chance to try it, but when I go back, I will for sure.

I did have a vegan cookie dough bar dipped in chocolate (that's not it's official name, but that's what it tastes like).

I'm completely in awe and inspired by what this cafe is doing. I've even been doing research (both online and in the kitchen) about raw food recipes. I will be sharing some of them soon!

(Flourless) Rosemary Garlic Crackers

These crackers might be one of my favorite things that I've ever made. A good cracker is hard to find (when you don't eat gluten, dairy or sugar).

This past weekend, my friend Christa came over to eat lunch and hang out. We threw all of the veggies that we each had on the table and combined them to make one beautiful salad. Here's a question that came up during one of our conversations: Is it really necessary to peel carrots? If they're washed, why do we have to peel them? Feel free to shed light on this if you know the answer. If no one knows the answer, then I vote to start eating the whole carrot. Who's with me?

After contemplating carrots, Christa and I moved on to more important subjects like relationships, herb gardening and Tae Bo. You know, the usual.

On top of the salad, we drizzled my favorite go-to dressing:

Garlic Ginger Dressing
2 Tbsp Braggs Liquid Aminos
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
One garlic clove, crushed
One small chunk of fresh ginger, chopped

Shake together, let it sit for a little while so all the flavors mix. Makes 1-2 servings.

After lunch, I told Christa she was welcome to stick around to personally witness the "Untamed Kitchen" in action. I've really been in experimenting mode recently, and I've had a few recipes floating around in my head that I wanted to try. The first was to make crackers out of nuts and seeds. A long time ago I saw this recipe that I'd been wanting to try, so I decided to base my experiment on it.

It was another one of those times that I became giddy like a little girl as I saw that my experiment was working out. The house smelled amazing as they baked and they tasted even better. It's tough to beat the rosemary/garlic/olive oil combo. There were a couple other gluten-eaters at my house that day besides Christa, and everyone was a fan of these crackers.

I stored them in a ziplock in the pantry for a few days and they stayed crispy until the end. They're definitely heartier than store-bought crackers, so they can almost become a meal in themselves--they're really filling. Here's how you make them:

Garlic Rosemary Crackers
1 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp flax seeds (I used flax seed meal)
1-2 Tbsp fresh rosemary
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp sea salt (or more to taste)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 egg, beaten


Put everything except the oil and egg into your food processor and blend until it becomes a fine texture. Mix the oil and egg in a separate bowl, then add to food processor and mix together (my food processor has a "Dough" button that I used, but if it becomes to thick, you can remove it and mix it with a spoon). Next, roll the dough our between two pieces of parchment paper until it's about 1/8 of an inch thick. Lightly coat a pan with oil and bake at 300F for 35-40 minutes or until edges brown and center is crispy. Break into cracker-sized pieces.

You can also cut the dough before you bake it and make the crackers a uniform shape. I'm too lazy untamed to have square crackers though.

Happy Friday!

Sparkling Fruit Tea

I drink A LOT of water. I always have my 32 oz water bottle on my desk, and I tote it around with me wherever I go. Who knows where my obsession with hydrating myself started? They say you're supposed to drink half your weight in water everyday, but I'm pretty sure I drink the full weight of linebacker. Is there such a thing as too much water? Probably...supposedly (so says Wikipedia) there's such a thing as water intoxication. I don't think I'm quite ready to go to Waterolics Anonymous or anything, but if I start acting funny (more than normal), you might want to cut me off. Thanks.

I've never been a big soda drinker, and although I love the taste of beer and miss it dearly, I've never been one of those people who can down two pints right after a 6-mile run. All I want is water for at least 45 minutes after I exercise. When it's hot outside and you're hanging out with friends, though, it is nice to have something besides water to drink. With my diet restrictions I'm a bit limited as to what I can have. How many (good tasting) cold beverages can you think of that have no sugar, gluten, dairy or yeast?

None?

Yeah, me either. Until this past weekend.

I was invited to celebrate the birthdays of two sweet friends. Everyone was bringing something to share, so I decided to bring drinks. Not everyone wants to eat and drink according to my diet, so I made a yummy sugary drink called Ginger Almond Tea that has been a staple in my family for the last 10 years. Then, I got creative and made a sparkling tea without sugar. Both were a big hit and I'll definitely be making this Sparkling Fruit Tea for other occasions. I even had a friend request that I make another batch of it when she came over to visit the next day.

This tea not only tastes good, but it's also good for you since it's made with green tea. I got this Orange, Passion Fruit, Jasmine Green Tea from Aldi, but you can really use any fruity hot tea that you like.

First step is to make it strong by steeping 6 tea bags in one cup of boiling water. Steep for as long as the directions say--for green tea it's usually 2-3 minutes. Then, add stevia to taste (I added between 1/8 and 1/4 of a teaspoon). Next, stir in the juice from one lemon, 1/2 Tbsp of pure vanilla extract and 4 cups of cold water. Chill (the tea...you can chill once the tea is ready).

Right before you serve it, add 1 liter of cold sparkling water (I used some generic soda water). Don't serve it over ice or else it will become watered-down and less fizzy. That's it.

You'll find me sipping this on my front porch for the rest of the summer. Come join me! 

IMHO

A perfect vacation for me would include: friends/family, good food, beautiful natural scenery, vibrant urban scenery, easy to use city-wide public transportation, a road trip, mountains, ocean, 50-80 degree weather, good coffee, good food (whoops, already said that...), friendly locals, a farmers' market, good wine, good beer, good chocolate, lots of walking, lots of people watching...ok I'll stop there.

I have opinions. It's times like these that I must accept that the adjective "opinionated" does, in fact, describe me. Even though my opinions are generally about everyday things that many people don't care about (like food and water) and not loftier things (like politics or technology) I'm still opinionated...I guess. There, I said it. I could actually make the list above much longer and more detailed, but I'll spare you.

[Just a couple of years ago, a friend made a sarcastic comment about me not being opinionated and I asked--completely seriously--"Wait...do you think I'm opinionated?!" He looked at me and laughed, then realized I was for real, and was like, "You're kidding me, right?"]

It only makes sense to have high standards for a vacation if it can actually come true...if a place that great really exists. A place as great as San Francisco.

My trip last week makes me feel like way back when (you know, back when there was NOTHING), God said, "Some day, Miranda will be living in the humid southern US, and she'll need a break from her job. What would she like to do for a week?" And BAM. He created California, from Big Sur to the wine country. I'm not so prideful to think that San Francisco was made for me, of course, but it feels like it because it meets every vacation requirement of my little opinionated heart. Would I ever consider living there? Maybe. Not now, but maybe someday for a little bit (I'm a Midwestern girl, so I'll probably stick closer to home for the long haul, but who really knows.)
 
Before I left for the City by the Bay, I predicted some things that I might eat and drink while I was there. Well, I'm a very bad predictor. Turns out I didn't eat or drink any of those things. What I did eat and drink, however, is the following deliciousness (plus a whole lot more that I will gladly tell you about later):

A plateful of fresh Thai spring rolls with avocado (and pretty spirals made from beets) at Sweet Lime.

A raw vegan cookie dough bar dipped in dark chocolate at Cafe Gratitude.
 

And a cappuccino made from Espresso No. 9 Decaf at Flying Goat Coffee. (It turns out that San Francisco area has some incredible coffee and espresso. Peet's might be the most well-known outside of the city, but it's definitely not serving the best brew.)

All of these items and establishments require more explanation and photos, so don't you worry, you'll be hearing plenty about my amazing time in The City for many posts to come.

Swiss Chard and Sausage Frittata

When life gets busy, cooking is one of those things that unfortunately takes the back burner. Since I try to eat healthfully, a lot of days my breakfast is a hard boiled egg (boring, yes, but SO quick and easy...and yummy, especially with salt and curry powder!). A few weeks ago, after eating hard boiled eggs for days, I decided I needed a change, a quick and tasty one. So I got creative.

In the fridge, I found: eggs, almond milk, garlic, grilled Italian chicken sausage (left from my family's 4th of July cookout) and Swiss chard (it was my roommate's, but she told me she needed help eating it).

I remembered this post that had intrigued me, so I made my own personal sized version that fit my diet.

Swiss Chard and Sausage Frittata
4 eggs, beaten
A couple Swiss chard leaves
1 link of Chicken Italian sausage
rosemary, thyme and salt to taste
1/2 cup non dairy milk (I used coconut milk)
3 garlic cloves, chopped or crushed

Mix it all together in a baking dish (I used a glass loaf pan) and bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes.

Singing a Different Tune

I constantly have a song stuck in my head. Usually I'm like a broken record with one line of a song. Presently, though, my brain is serenading itself with a medley of Spanish children's songs: "Hay un perro afuera, un perro, un perro...Yo me llamo Rafa, Rafa, Rafa, yo me...Hola ninos, hola ninos, hola, hola, hola..."

This condition is an unfortunate result of a very fortunate event: Spanish Summer Camp. Today is the last day of the second session that I've co-taught/directed this summer. It's been fun. It's been tiring. It's been the reason I haven't posted much on this blog lately. There just hasn't been time to cook and I've had very little energy left to write.

But this next week is going to be a fresh start. I'm hopeful that I will come away rejuvenated and refreshed, with a new spring in my step and a new song in my heart head. I'm looking forward to the next seven days of my life more than I can explain. I'll take lots of pictures that I'll eventually share on here, but for the next week (or so) I won't be posting anything.

What will I be doing? Let's just say that I'll be passing on the Rice-a-Roni for a plateful of this:

 A bowlful of this:

and a cupful of this:

Catch ya on the flip side! 

Sunja's Kimchi: Health in a Jar

Probiotics.

A buzz word? Something made up by the yogurt industry? I mean, who's ever heard of good bacteria? Doesn't bacteria = bad? Something you don't want in your body? A couple years ago I hadn't even heard the word probiotic let alone know what it means.

I've learned a lot in the last year, though, and these days I'm a big fan of good microbes. One thing I've learned is that while yogurt can be great (as long as it doesn't have a ton of sugar added), there are a lot of other foods that are full of live cultures that will do your body good.

One of those foods is kimchi. It's basically Korea's version of sauerkraut...yet it's totally different than sauerkraut. Kimchi is fermented vegetables, usually with cabbage as a base, but it can really be any mixture of vegetables and seasonings--just prepared in a certain way.

Someday I will try to make my own kimchi, but for now, I'm happy to buy it by the jar. I've found a brand that I really like that is reasonably priced. I'm no connoisseur, so I'm definitely open to suggestions for other brands.

If you live near a Whole Foods you can find this brand. International markets would also be great places to find it.

As the label suggests, you can eat kimchi in many ways:

My guess is that the best kimchi is homemade, by someone from Korea. If only there were someone from Korea at my house... (this is funny if you know me and my roommates because one of my roommates is from Korea. But she grew up in Arkansas.)

This time, I decided to try it wrapped up in a nori roll. I loved it. I usually like to eat it right out of the jar or on top of spinach or other greens. It's good mixed with rice, quinoa and other grains too.

You should know, though, that if you eat kimchi around other people, they might comment about the garlic smell. They might tell you that you should stop bringing it to work because it's rude to bring foods that have a strong smell to work. Not that I've experienced this or anything...

Ok fine, I have, in fact, experienced food persecution at work. But I held strong in the face of adversity and told her that, while I was sorry that she felt that way, I would most likely continue to bring kimchi to work.

After all, I like the taste and it's got a lot of probiotics and it's just too difficult to choose my lunches according to whether or not they smell too strongly to certain people.

Kimchi tastes good and is good for you.

Try it. Embrace the smell. Fill up on beneficial microorganisms.