Day 18

This morning was one of those mornings where I popped right out of bed as if I never really fell asleep, which is quite possible, considering we left our window open and I had what seemed to be an all nighter allergy attack. I never experienced allergies until the last couple of years. I always thought only dorky mom's had allergies but I guess that's not the case. I started my day with a 4.27 mile loop to town and back, and I basked in the beauty of the spring blossoms all along the way. It was a long day of school for us, Brady and I are so ready for the semester to be over! We are to the point of praying to stay motivated, even though all we really want to do is go play in the sun all day and do new stuff to our house. After school we came home for a bit and made some Raw Kale Chips using our dehydrator, which turned out to be delicious! I also made a Raw Banana Nut Ice Cream, which was super easy and really yum-o as Rachael Ray would say (: I have been looking forward to incorporating more Raw foods into my diet during the summer, because I love the way it makes me feel. Brady's parents Pam and Robert came into town again this weekend, so they spoiled us and took us out to the nicest and our favorite restaurant in town, Anasazi Steak House. They are known for their "Hot Rocks" on which they bring you your choice of meat still raw and you cook it and turn it until it reaches the perfect temperature of your choice. It's a fun experience, and they have really great sides, salads, and sauces as well. We wrapped up the day with the usual... tarea de matematicas, I am so ready to throw my calculator in the compost bin.

Amazing Raw Kale Chips

Ingredients:
200g curly leaf kale (if not ready chopped, you'll need to slice it into vaguely crisp-sized pieces, removing the stalks)
100g raw cashews
1 large red bell pepper
Juice of one large lemon
25g-50g nutritional yeast
1cm piece of red chilli
Himalayan crystal salt or Celtic sea salt to taste

Directions:
1. Chop the red pepper into small pieces and add to a blender with the lemon juice. Blend until smooth.
2. Add the cashews, red chilli and 1/2 teapsoon salt and again blend until smooth.
3. Add the nutritional yeast and blend again. Doing it in stages like this helps you to get the smooth consistency you need without over-heating it. 
4. Put the kale in a large bowl then pour the blended mixture over it and massage it in until all the leaves are coated.
5. Place it on dehydrator trays with Paraflexx sheets and dehydrate at 110 degrees. After two hours peel off the Paraflexx sheets and place the chips-in-progress on mesh sheets.
6. By the time they have been in for eight hours they should be seriously crunchy. If they aren't, just leave them in until they are! Taste, and if they're not salty enough, sprinkle some over and then enjoy!