Labor Day marks the weekend my Rhodesian Ridgeback, Kanga, and I rescued one another….9-years ago! How time flies. (and yes, I cake sunblock on my face, as you can see).

Kanga had been at the Humane Society for over 2 weeks, and no one adopted her. Surprising, since she is a beautiful specimen of this breed. Plus, she came fully trained, so someone had spent a lot of time and energy with her. She was skin and bone, and 50+ pounds underweight with kennel cough and dusty fur. Poor baby.

Luckily, a truck intercepted 20 dogs on their way to get euthanized, and brought them back to a no-kill shelter in Portland, OR called Family Dogs NW. This was where I found Kanga early the very next morning. I applied the same raw food principles to Kanga as I do for human healing, and over the next month or two she gained 50 pounds and regained radiant health on a Raw Food diet. You can read more about her journey in Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen, where Kanga has her own dog food chapter.

My brother Max saw this photo of Kanga and said she looks like she’s “mugging”. I had to ask him what the heck that means. Max said “mugging = posing, like rappers do for pics”. Hahaa. Yup, Kanga is a superstar, and very popular too. Folks always stop us to pet her, especially young children.

Kanga’s from Rhodesia, which is now Zimbabwe Rhodesia, and the Sahara so she loves the sun, warmth, and sand. She hates water, but it was so hot out that Kanga got her paws wet. I love dog beach because here she can roam off-leash, and run free to play with other dogs.

Kanga and I love laying in the sand and soaking up the sun. It’s never hot enough for us, and soaking up sun is one of our favorite past times. I’m happy I got to take Kanga to Huntington Dog Beach yesterday on the final hot day of the summer (it was 90 F) to celebrate her 9-year Bday and Dogversary with me. Thank you Kanga for being my family, love, and for hanging out with me for the past 9-years! I love you.

Watch my debut on Los Angeles TV with ABC 7′s Health Coach Lori Corbin. I show her 5 raw food recipes that have gone mainstream including my Zucchini Pasta (featured in Food Network Magazine), Nut Mylks (like Almond Milk), Green Smoothies, Kale Chips (from Ani’s Raw Food Essentials), and Seaweed Chips (from Ani’s Raw Food Asia).

Watch the 3-minute video, and learn how raw foods helps with weight loss too!

This is a book trailer for Ani’s Raw Food Essentials.

Watch as I show you how easy is is to make my Coconut Cake with Nutella Hazelnut Sauce, from page 271.

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.

Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables, and it was abundant at the farmers’ market today. So, I picked up a big, beautiful head to whip up my mash for dinner. Cauliflower comes in white, green, and purple varieties, and works wonderfully processed into a mash. This is my version of mashed potatoes. Cauliflower has a kick to it, which I love. But if it’s too strong for you, try the following trick:

To soften the kick of raw cauliflower, process on it’s own first with 1 cup of filtered water. Strain through a cheese cloth or nut milk bag. Some of the pungent flavor will run off with the water. Or, you can also substitute with broccoli, which is much milder.

Serve with a gravy on it’s own, or alongside your favorite recipe(s).

Cauliflower Mash
Makes 4 servings, about 4 cups

To keep your mash lighter in color, you can use white miso paste. I used a red paste, and it was still light in color. I added a touch of olive oil, but for even more creaminess, I use avocado. Avocado creates spots of slight green, which I don’t mind, since I love the color green. Besides, the gravy will cover it up anyways.

I used to use Psyllium Seed Husk powder in this recipe, but this batch didn’t seem to need any stiffening up, so I skipped it. If your mash is too runny, add a teaspoon at at a time, up to a tablespoon, of Psyllium to thicken.

• 1 head cauliflower, broken into small pieces, about 6 c
• 1/4 cup avocado, cubed
• 2 tablespoons miso, any unpasteurized color
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons thyme or sage, dry

Place all ingredients into your food processor. Process until smooth.

Mushroom Gravy
(from Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen, page 190)

A rich and creamy gravy that’s easy-to-make in your blender.

Place all ingredients into your blender. Blend smooth.

Watch video: 4 min, 41 sec

This is a video shot during my workshop at Mom Tri’s Villa Royale in January. In it, I’ll show you how easy it is to make delicious, nutritious Thai Spring Rolls with an Almond Dipping Sauce. My yummy, super healthy, raw food version of a peanut inspired sauce is made using kaffir lime leaves, chilies, and almonds. The rolls are made by filling collard leaves with julienne zucchini, mung bean sprouts, and fresh herbs like cilantro, mint, and basil.

Thai chilies are spicy hot, so you’ll want to adjust the spice level to suit your tastes. Removing the seeds will help to decrease the spice level. Capsicum is what makes chilies hot, and is the ingredient found in most diet pills for its metabolism boosting properties. Capsicum increases circulation, decreases inflammation, and boost our immune system.

Thai Spring Rolls with Almond Dipping Sauce
(makes 4 servings)

Thai Dipping Sauce

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 Tablespoon Nama Shoyu
• 2 Thai red chilies, to taste
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons  raw almonds
• 1 lemon’s juice
• 1 cup water,  as needed

Fillings

• 1 zucchini, julienne
• 1 cup mung bean sprouts
• 1/2 bunch basil, de-stem
• 1/2 bunch cilantro, de-stem
• 1/4 bunch mint, de-stem
• 1-2 Thai chili, finely chop

Wrapper

• 3 large collard green leaves, de-stem and half

To make dipping sauce, place sauce ingredients into your blender, adding water as needed. Blend smooth.

To wrap, place leaves onto flat surface. Layer with fillings, and roll.

Serve with dipping sauce.

I made a batch of Kanga Dog Treats for my Rhodesian Ridgeback canine companion. She loves these, and asked me to share the recipe with you here on my blog so other dogs could also enjoy these treats.

It’s important to keep your dog’s gums and teeth healthy, especially if they aren’t crunching on dry kibble. These easy to make, crunchy treats will help remove plaque and freshen dog breath.

Your dog may not be used to these at first. Just like other new foods, you may need to teach pooch how to eat them by taking a bite out of one first, then giving it to pooch to try. Dogs always love what they see us eating. Especially when accompanied by yummy, delicious sounds.

Kanga is a dessert dog. She hates water and baths. She was rewarded after her lavender bath today with these treats, and was very happy.

I realize this is a recipe section where I list food for people. The good thing about raw food is that even treats for dogs could easily be enjoyed by humans. Many times, friends have come over and said “your dog eats better food that I do!” And this is so true, since Kanga eats organic, local, seasonal, and many times stuff that I eat. I joke that she’s my compost bin, eating up all my leftovers.

Kanga Dog Treats
(page 241 of Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen, the Kanga dog food chapter)

• 2 large sweet potatoes, sliced 1/2 inch thick

Place sweet potatoes on dehydrator trays, and dry at 104 degrees F for 12 hours, or until completely dry.

I’m excited about my newest book Ani’s Raw Food Essentials, available everywhere by May 3rd. It’s a huge hard cover book with over 250 recipes. It’s printed in 2 color, like Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen. My goal is to make my books accessible, and get these recipes into your hands so you can enjoy making healthy treats with them. By printing in 2 color instead of full color, the book only costs $27 rather than $45. There’s gorgeous color inserts, as you can see from the photos above.

JOIN ME:
UPDATED confirmed book tour dates for California:

• May 7, Friday, 7 pm - Book Soup in Hollywood, CA.
  Talk and book signing.
• May 8, Saturday, 12 to 1 pm - Erewhon Natural Foods in Los Angeles, CA.
  Demo and book signing
• May 15, Saturday, 1 to 2 pm, AuLac in Fountain Valley, CA.
  Talk and book signing.
• June 5, Saturday, 11:45 am - San Francisco Ferry Building Farmers’ Market, SF, CA. Demo and book signing.
• June 6, Sunday, 1 pm potluck followed by Ani’s 1 hr demo @ around 2 to 3pm - “San Francisco Raw and Living Foods” and “San Francisco Vegetarian Society”, Mission Community Room, 630 Valencia Street @ corner of 17th  Street, San Francisco. Talk and book signing.
• June 7, Monday - The View from the Bay, SF, CA. TV appearance. Join mein the studio audience by reserving a free seat. Call 415-954-7733 or rsvp online (note under ‘comments’ my name and June 7th).
• June 25th, Friday - YogaWorks, Larchmont, Los Angeles, CA. A community event, book signing, talk, book give aways, and raw tastes sponsored by LifeFood Organic. Attendees will receive a gift of 1 free week of yoga. 5.45pm to 8.30pm.

Keep posted on my events by joining my fan page on Facebook.

The sun was out for Day 1 of Expo West, and I was happy it was warm outside for the folks visiting from colder climates.

My first stop was the Sequel booth, where I found my good friend Brendan Brazier. He’s the formulator of Vega. He has a new Sport line out for pre and post workout fueling. Brendan’s the author of Thrive and Thrive Fitness books. I love Vega drinks and bars.

I also found my friend Robert Cheeke at the Sequel booth, vegan body building champion. He also has a new book out soon called Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness.

Next stop was the Ohgave booth, where I found Matthew Kenney with his new raw agave product. Matthew’s latest restaurant, 105degrees, is opening up the world of raw food to mainstream America in Oaklahoma City, of all places. Matthew’s the author of numerous cookbooks including Everyday Raw, which I’ve often found my Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen book sitting next to on store shelves. What a cutie pie.

Excited by the huge jump in new raw products at this year’s Expo West, I forgot to take anymore photos after this point, and got carried away into the thousands of booths and new products. I found several raw kale chips, tons of raw chocolate, a couple raw kombuchas, new raw bars, and several flax crackers. The raw food explosion was quite a sight to see.

I had my preview copy of Ani’s Raw Food Essentials with me, and folks were stoked to see a sneak peek at my new book. In addition to several awesome meetings, I was also video interviewed for VegNews and Delicious Living Magazines. I’ll make sure to post up the videos right here as soon as they are live.

I’ve been voted Sexiest Raw Vegan Woman 2009 by the raw community again this year, but by default. Alicia Silverstone actually won the votes, I came in 2nd place. But she doesn’t consider herself raw anymore. What an honor! Plus, Steve from Sacred Chocolates sent me a congratulatory package of his delicious chocolate hearts…yummmy.

Last year, I was surprised that I was awarded 1st place for Best of Raw 2008:

Best Chef
Favorite Cookbook
Sexiest Raw Vegan Woman
and

2nd place for Favorite Educator

Listen to my interview from last year on Raw Inspirations Radio where I chat with lovely host Laura Fox about my history, inspirations, and what the future holds.