One of my favorite foods is cabbage because it’s super versatile, has hardly any calories, is free of wheat and gluten, is great for digestion, and is beautiful in color (purple and green). It tastes awesome in salads, gives us valuable probiotics as pickled sauerkraut, plus it works perfectly as a “shell” to be stuffed with yummy fillings to make a delicious hand held treat. I’m currently reintroducing heart-healthy fats into my diet from flax and chia seeds (omega-3), some nuts (vitamin E and antioxidants), and olives to keep my skin supple and moist, especially now that autumn is upon us. I picked up a bunch of avocados at the Farmers’ Market, but am disappointed they didn’t make it into my bag!

Today, I filled up a red cabbage shell with Chiffonade green cabbage. Watch our “How to Chiffonade” video I shot for Vegetarian Times Magazine: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/video/10). Please watch on the Vegetarian Times website to help generate viewer numbers. Thank you!

I’m also embedding it below from my own YouTube channel:
Ani’s Raw Food Asia + Vegetarian Times Magazine: How to Chiffonade

I first filled up my purple cabbage shell with Chiffonade green cabbage. Next, I layered on a Black Olive Tapenade, from Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen, page 155,  and Candied Onions, inspired by my Buckwheat-Battered “Fried” Onion Rings, from page 116 of Ani’s Raw Food Essentials, plus I added maple syrup to sweeten the onions. I then topped it all with artichoke hearts, and would have added avocado, if I had some on hand.

Black Olive Tapenade
makes 4 servings

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced, about 1 clove
• 1/2 cup black olives, pitted
• 1/2 cup green olives, pitted
• 1 to 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon thyme, fresh
• 1 teaspoon rosemary, fresh

Candied Onions
makes 4 servings 

• 4 cups thinly sliced sweet onion, about 1 whole
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons tamari or nama shoyu (raw soy sauce), to taste
• 1 tablespoon agave or maple syrup, to taste

Place all ingredients into mixing bowl. Set aside to marinate and wilt for at least 10 minutes. Add syrup to your liking. I choose to make this sweet! Squeeze excess liquid before using.

Will keep for several days in fridge.

This recipe offers another great way to enjoy greens, and boy do I love dehydrated salad! As a matter of fact, that was exactly how I first discovered Kale Chips, back in Portland, OR, in 1995 or so. After a big catering gig, I had so much marinated kale salad remaining, it would have been a shame to throw it out. Usually, I feed leftovers to Kanga, my pooch, but too much kale’s been known to make her poot (stinky!). Instead, I put all the salad into my dehydrators, and was stoked by what I found the next morning! Kale Chips!! It makes me happy to see Kale Chips have gone mainstream today. Finally, a healthy snack enjoyed by the masses!

The texture of these chocolate coated collard leaves is much like the texture of dried cashew cheddar, from my traditional Kale Chips on page 110 of Ani’s Raw Food Essentials. (Signed copies of Ani’s Raw Food Essentials are available at GoSuperLife.com). Delicate mouth feel, and amazing flavors.

Thanks to everyone for being patient with me, waiting for me to post this recipe after I’ve completed my next book! Enjoy xo

Chocolate Collards

• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1 cup cashews
• 1/4 cup cacao powder
• 2 Tablespoons agave syrup, or your favorite syrup sweetener
• 2 Tablespoons mesquite
• 2 TTablespoon cacao nibs
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 bunch collard greens, destem, cut each leaf into 2 halves

I visited Erewhon Natural Foods in Los Angeles on May 28, 2011 along my book tour for Ani’s Raw Food Asia. Erewhon is my favorite Raw Food store. These beautiful photos are courtesy of the very talented Sherman Lee at http://www.digitalslimages.com.

Juan Hernandez, the store manager, makes sure to offer the largest range of Raw Food products and brand, and has created the nexus for Raw Foods here in LA. Juan was one of my earliest supporters of my SmartMonkey Foods packaged and prepared foods products.

Each year’s visit celebrating my new book always draws a packed house. I love Erewhon!

I showed everyone how easy it is to make my Mushroom “Bul Go Gi”, from Ani’s Raw Food Asia, page 186, using mushrooms marinated in tamari or nama shoyu (raw soy sauce), toasted sesame oil, asian pear, and sweetener of choice like agave or brown rice syrup. We topped off these beautiful Lettuce Wraps, from page 188, with my version of a traditional Korean Gochujang Sauce, page 225, made with miso, sesame oil, chile powder, and sweetener like agave.

Following my food demo and Q+A…next, I get to sign books and meet people 1 on 1!

This tour, many people had me sign multiple copies of Ani’s Raw Food Asia for friends and family. I do love when people bring their entire collection for me to sign too…..a blessing for me.

My friends Ron Gilmore and Caroline Jue create an awesome animated series called Rawman & Green-Girl. They are doing great work educating and sharing information about our food sources.

Elaine R. Johnson hand delivered this beautiful porcelain sculpture she made to me all the way from Arizona with her mom. Elaine is amazingly talented. I can’t even begin to express my gratitude for such a beautiful gift.

This is the beautifully talented Elaine R. Johnson. She told me how challenging porcelain is to work with….cracking as it dries, or cracking out of the kiln during baking. A labour of love, it shows!

My introduction to Sarasota RAWked! Exploring my idea that creating something together with other people in our raw community, rather than going it alone, is more fun, plus makes a bigger splash. We produced and threw down a pumping RAWktail Party, it was the biggest and most successful raw event in Florida to date! Dress code was RAWkstar, of course. A wonderful event and a very warm welcome to Florida and Sarasota.

A RAWstar RAWktail Party isn’t complete without headshots. Is that too cheezy?….

We brought together a fun crowd of local hipsters, movers, and shakers. Raw foods help us feel great, look our best, and fuel up for a long night of celebration. Raw food is also great for recovery, detox, and combating damage after a night of partying too hard and not sleeping enough.

The event was held at the Weller Historic Estate, and it was filled with rich period furniture and wonderful styling details. The host Jeff Weller is below in the white button down and jeans. I was to discover later that Jeff gives great massages!

The Weller Historic Estate was at full capacity with well over 120 attendees, and the energy was contagious.

I demoed 4 recipes, which follow below, while people stood around a 20 foot long table to watch and learn how to make fast, easy, delicious raw food treats. Below is Bryant Meyers, to the right, an ingredient sponsor who’s home is packed full of cutting edge healing therapy machines like an infrared sauna and scalar wave technology. I was skeptical at first, but the scalar waves made me pass out and sleep restfully the following day. Now I’m a believer.

Above is the spread for our Taco Wraps, served in a cabbage leaf. With raw food, it’s easy to have our ‘kitchen’ anywhere, even in the living room.

Lisa Tomasi, in pink, runs the Naples raw food meet up group. She saved the day and was the best assistant I’ve ever had! A testament for raw foods, Lisa drove over 2 hours to come to the event, worked all night, drove home, then came back the next day again. An enegizer bunny and beautiful woman.

The man in black above is Vincent Dessberg, who has a roof top garden on a warehouse in the industrial area of town, called “I Grow My Own Veggies”. He sponsored cabbage, edible flowers, herbs, and strawberries. I harvested from Vincent’s garden just a few hours before the party. It was amazing to see so much food growing on top of an industrial warehouse!

Now, for my recipes. Enjoy!

To make Cashew Kream, place cashews, honey, vanilla, and water into blender. blend smooth. Add as little water as possible for thicker consistency.

To make Chocolate Sauce, place honey or agave and cacao in blender. Blend smooth.

Watch Video: 4 min, 24 sec

In this video I’ll show you how to make a beautiful, delicious, refreshing ice cream using cashews with folded in pineapple, and shaped into a cake form. This raw food demo was recorded during my workshop at Mom Tri’s Villa Royale in Phuket, Thailand on January 24, 2010.

Pineapple Ice Box Dessert
(fills one loaf pan to make about 8 servings)

Crust