Last Blue Moon we had, I was in Sedona, AZ on the top of Cathedral Rock at a drum circle I was invited to celebrate the blue moon. Earlier that day I was told that it was a good idea to set your intentions or goals for your life on the night of the blue moon. So I grabbed a writing pad with the hotel stationary and wrote my intentions at the top of Cathedral Rock while the drums played.
I came home and put the list in my night stand drawer. Months later I looked at my list and found I had accomplished many items from it. A year later I found the list while I was cleaning my drawer and read it again this time crossing every item I had accomplished. When I was done, all of the items had been crossed. So without pressuring myself or recalling the list everyday, I was able to accomplish all the things I had set that night at the drumming circle on the Blue Moon.
This year, the Blue Moon falls New Years Eve and therefore making it more interesting as many people use this time to set their intensions, goals, or resolutions for the New Year.
I invite you to take this opportunity to sit down and write a list of the things you want to accomplish in your life. I’ve created a template here to help you putting down your thoughts.
I would also recommend being honest with yourself as you set your intentions on the Blue Moon. I know I can be honest with others but lie to myself when it comes to knowing my limitations. For example, deadlines; I can tell someone if I can complete a task in certain time, but I lie when I tell myself “Oh! I can write this blog in 20 minutes!†when I know it really takes me 2 hours or more. So, know your limitations and don’t stress about what your goals are. When I wrote my first list, one of the items was to clean my garage and un-clutter my entire house. I started with one closet at a time, one box in the garage, a couple of drawers here and there, and three months later I had completed that item.
One of my favorite cooked dishes was Russian borsch. It was my favorite soup to make for Denis and when we became vegetarians I stopped using beef to make it. However, when we became raw, I had a hard time finding a recipe for borsch that I liked. Finally, I invented my own and liked how it came out. The almond milk gives it a “sour cream” feeling to it. I have actually made this soup with golden beets as well. So I hope you enjoy it as well!
1/2 cup of raw almonds & water (or 1 cup of raw almond milk)
1 medium size tomato
2 medium size beet
2 carrots
3/4 cup shredded cabbage
Garlic and onion to taste
Salt to taste
Olive Oil
Chopped dill
Blend the almonds and water to make almond milk. Strain the milk in a nut bag or if you want to keep the pulp, don’t strain. Poor the milk back into the blender and add one beet, one carrot, and the tomato. Add some salt, garlic, onion, and olive oil and blend until smooth. Put aside in a bowl.
Shred the other carrot and beet and add to the soup base. I use my food processor with a shredding blade to save time. Add cabbage and dill.
Pour in serving bowls and add some olive oil on the top.
Kimchi is one of my favorite dishes ever! I think I can eat it almost everyday. Here is my way of making raw vegan kimchi.
1 Napa cabbage or Chinese cabbage
Real Salt (first to salt the cabbage and then to salt the whole recipe)
5 to 7 cloves of garlic
Peeled Ginger to taste (I use about 1 inch square of a ginger root)
1 red pepper
1 jalapeño pepper or cayenne pepper (not powder)
1 yellow onion
1/4 cup Bariani Olive oil
Chili flakes and pepper flakes to taste
10 Scallions julienned or cut in long strips (lots of scallions is what makes this recipe)
Wash the cabbage and separate the leaves. Let the water drip off the cabbage and get a container ready to place the cabbage for the salting part of the recipe and another container to press down the cabbage. Line up some leaves on the container put salt all over. Add another layer of leaves on top and add more salt and repeat until you use all the leaves and salt every layer. Use the other container to press down the cabbage. Let sit for 8 hours or overnight until all the cabbage is soaked in the salty water. You can let it sit more time to ferment more, but it won’t probably be raw at that point. You can also choose to let it sit less time, but I find that 8 hours is just perfect. Taste the cabbage and if it’s too salty for your taste, rinse it, but if it’s fine, just dumped the residual water.
Cabbage and salt in layers
To make the paste, I like to use my juicer to mince all the ingredients for the red paste. However, you can use a vegetable chopper or a food processor for this part. So mince or chop or process the garlic, ginger, red pepper, onion, and some of the red pepper flakes or jalapeño pepper or cayenne pepper. When I put this thru my juicer using the mince blades, there is also some juice that comes out which will make the paste a bit more liquidly and that’s why I don’t have to add water to this recipe. If you use a food processor or a chopper you may have to add a few spoons of water and the olive oil. Mix this paste and taste it for flavor. Depending on the saltiness of the cabbage and of the paste, you may want to make sure they will balance each other.
Peppers and Garlic for Kimchi
Using the same washed container, spread some of the paste at the bottom of the dish and take some of the scallions and spread them over the paste… you are going to layer the cabbage and paste like a lasagna. Take some cabbage and cover the first layer of the paste, and then add some more paste and scallions over the cabbage and keep layering in that order. Once you used all the cabbage and paste, cover the container and refrigerate for a few hours (4 to 6 hours). If you have cabbage or paste left over, just add it to the sides or try to fill in every space in the container.
I get about 6 to 8 servings out of this because I use a lot of it in different salads. I like to take a cucumber and chop it small cubes to add to the kimchi.
10 Zucchinis sliced in a mandolin slicer (for two people use 2 or 3 zucchinis and reduce the marinade)
1 cup of your favorite marinade (see recipe below)
2 cups of your favorite pate (see recipe below)
Slice zucchini using a Mandolin slicer and marinate the night before (I place them into a lasagna pan as if they were lasagna noodles and pour the marinade over each layer). When ready, prepare the pate to fill the rolls. Line up the zucchini slices and put a spoon of pate at on the slice and roll the zucchini and put in the dehydrator sheet. Repeat process to use all slices and pate. Dehydrate for 2-3 hours.
Marinade I recommend
Namashoyu
Braggs
Olive Oil
Italian Herbs
Pate I used for party
1 cup of hemp seeds
¼ cup of pine nuts
½ sun flower seeds
Olive oil
Salt to taste
2 Tbs. water
Italian herbs to taste
Crackers and Pate
White Crackers
1 cup sunflower seeds soaked for 1 hour
½ cup hemp seeds soaked for 1 hour
¼ sesame seeds soaked for 1 hour
¼ pumpkin seeds soaked for 1 hour
1 cup ground yellow flax seeds (I used yellow to make them light)
½ shredded zucchini
Any seasoning to taste (I often alternate between Italian herbs or Mexican Seasoning)
About 1 cup water
1 Tbs. salt
I soak all the seeds in the same container and after 1 or 2 hours I drain them and rinse them again with ionized water. I them put them in the food processor and grind. Put the grind mixed seeds in a bowl and add the flax powder and seasonings as well as salt. Mix well and then add the shredded zucchini. I add as much water as I want and continue to mix until I have the desired consistency and that way the crackers won’t have to dehydrate for a very long time. After mixing and making a “doughâ€, press them flat onto a teflex sheet and dehydrate for approximately 4 to 8 hours. Serve with any pate, salsa, or guacamole.
1 broccoli cut in mini florets same size as the other vegetables
1 cup of diced tomatoes
1 yellow zucchini diced small
1 cup peas
1 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Tbs. olive oil
Curry powder to taste (I use about 2 Tbs. of curry)
A pinch of garam masala
A pinch of cumin
Salt to taste
Curry Sauce (see recipe below)
Mixed all the ingredients in a bowl and let the marinade mix well. Transfer to a teflex sheet and dehydrate for 1 to 2 hours.
Curry Sauce
1 red pepper
1 cup of sundried tomatoes soaked for about 2 hours
Garlic to taste (I use about 2 cloves or more)
1 Tbs. lemon juice
Ginger to taste (I use about an inch cube)
½ cup of cilantro
Curry powder to taste
1 Tbs. Coconut oil
Salt to taste
*To make it spicy I add about 1 red or green jalapeño
Blend all the ingredients in the blender until smooth (you may want to add a little bit of water or oil to make it more liquid). Bring the vegetables out from the dehydrator and put in a glass container and add the curry sauce. Mix well and return to dehydrator for another hour or so.
The original recipe is from Get Fresh Magazine by Russell James
Salad & Raw Nut Tofu
I made a big salad and one of our friends brought another salad which everyone loved! I often use lettuce to replace rice and serve with any dish.
Raw Nut Tofu
1 cup Irish moss paste
¼ cup water
½ lemon juice
2 cups of Cashews soaked for 2 hours
1 Tbs. of unpasteurized light miso
Salt to taste
Blend in high power blender until smooth. Use a plastic wrapped container to pour the mix. Refrigerate for a few hours and serve. Another variation on this is to actually marinade the tofu in the kind of sauce you want until it soaks the sauce. I put the marinade in the blender from the beginning and refrigerate longer.
The original recipe is from Get Fresh Magazine by Russell James
Drinks
Ice Tea & Watermelon Juice
Ionized Water
Desserts
Chocolate Pudding
1 Avocado
¼ cup raw cacao
2 Tbs. maca powder
¼ cup raw agave
1 Tsp. of Mesquite powder
Salt to taste
Put all the ingredients in the food processor and blend until smooth. Set in refrigerator until ready to serve.
