Joel Rendall

I went to Rawlicious with some beautiful people last night (well, mostly , and had the meatloaf. So I was inspired to make my own.

I looked at some recipes on the internet. They all varied in ingredients enough, that I decided to just improvise my own recipe, rather than following one. You see, cooking from recipe is work; bullshitting is fun!

I put in a bunch of unsalted, unroasted nuts: sunflower seeds, brazil nuts, cashews, and almonds.

I added sundried tomatos, a fresh tomato, half a small onion, a handful of sprouts, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, seaweed (for saltiness), 2 cloves of garlic, 3 stalks of celery… and probably a few other things I’m forgetting.

I didn’t do anything, except throw all this stuff into the Vitamix. I set it at about the 30% power setting. I used the black pushy rod that came with the blender to stir the mixture around as I blended. If I had set it on too high of a setting, it would have pulverized the whole thing into a soup. This way, there were chunks of stuff all throughout the mixture, making it more fun to eat.

I used my hands to spread the thick mixture out onto the dehydrator sheet. Then I used a knife to shape the mud pile, into something that resembled a square loaf. Then I cut it into 5 smaller portions. I stuck it in the dehydrator, waited impatiently for a couple hours, put it on a bed of spinach and sprouts… and now my stomach is filled to the brim.

I had no idea if this was going to turn out. I knew no matter what happened, I’d eat it. But I was pleasantly surprised when this meal ended up tasting amazing.

No matter what you prepare, dehydrate, cook, or even deep-fry (gag), the moral of the story is to be play with your food and not be too concerned about following a recipe.

Check this bad boy out. I can’t remember everything I put in it, but there are almonds, apricots, cashews, asparagus, tomato, green onion, garlic, sprouts, and all of this is thrown on top of a bed of pasta… zucchini pasta, of course! And some kind of dressing, with avocado, and spices, oil, vinegar, and probably other things I threw in the Vitamix.

Preparation time was no more than 10 minutes.
Now this is livin’!

I made almond milk by blending a bit of water with a handful of almonds. Then I strained it all using a hemp bag. I put the leftover pulp into the dehydrator to later sprinkle on the ice cream, to add a bit of crunch and texture.

With the Vitamix, I blended together a bit of raw cacao nibs, a few frozen bananas and the almond milk. Then I put that in the freezer. It sort of froze like a skating rink – with the top being hard, and the bottom being softer. So I reblended it later to make the texture consistant.

To add extra sweetness and make it more interesting, I added chopped banana slices, after sprinkling dried almond crumbles from earlier.

This was a success, and was reasonably easy to make. I will get very quick at it, because there are steps I can combine to make the process more efficient.

Freakin’ Delicious.

With the new Vitamix, I have been blending everything in sight, and experiencing the sheer joy of pulverizing a pile of food into nothing more than a pulpy liquid.

Last night I put flax crackers and nut/fruit cookies into the dehydrator that I blended. They turned out great! (Cookies are on the left and crackers are on the right).

The only negative is that since I am basically a compulsive eater, I ate all the crackers and cookies today. I made an avocado dip for the crackers.

I think tomorrow I should consume less fat, since today, it probably added up to about 50% of my calorie intake!

I ordered it less than 48 hours ago, and now it’s in my hot little hands. That’s right, I bought a Vitamix, which is one of the best blenders you can buy.

I was also looking at Blendtec, who is web-famous for blending iPhones and crowbars in their series, “Will it Blend”. But most raw foodists recommended Vitamix. Besides, making iPhone dust is not an important feature I seek anyways.

Since September, I have been abusing my roommate’s poor budget blender. And I am not the least bit sad to be sticking the busted-ass thing into the deepest, darkest corner of our kitchen cabinet.

I was surprised at how large the Vitamix actually is. I feel like I should be opening a restaurant or something, because it feels very industrial. I was inspired to clean and organize our kitchen, so I thought I’d take a picture now, because this is the best it will ever look.

I made a milkshake, and then a cold soup thing with avocado and vegetables. Later, I made some crackers and fruit bars / cookies that are currently in the dehydrator. This is the first time I’ve attempted to make any crackers or fruit bars, so we’ll see how they turn out in the morning.