My main focus for this blog is health and eating foods that nourish your body and prevent disease. As I have gotten a little older I have watched a number of friends struggle with cancer, tumors, viruses, autoimmune diseases, bacterial infections and plain unhealthiness. My hope is that I can help people recognize the value of eating real food and prove to them that vegetables actually taste good!

Recently, I was approached by the local paper in regards to my connection with Royal Acres Farm and CSA. They wanted to do a piece entitled Health Matters that featured both Royal Acres and myself since we often collaborate and promote one another. I was flattered beyond belief and for the first time thought that maybe the blog was in fact helping others on their path to healthful eating. Here's a glance at the article!

'Healthy vegetarian adventures'

I have not been blogging for very long, less than a year and boy has it been a learning experience. Initially, I thought to myself that since I have been cooking, taking photos, and writing for most of my life that this would be a great outlet for me; simple, easy, creative. I was wrong, blogging is not for those looking for a simple outlet, it takes a lot of time, energy, and thoughtfulness. There is also a significant amount of self critique involved in the process -

Are my images good enough?

Is the recipe easy enough for the average person to follow?

Will anyone like this recipe?

Is anyone making this recipe?

Is anyone actually reading this thing?

A lot of unanswered questions go into this process and often you wonder if it is even worth it. Blogging is also not as simple as typing some words and posting an image. Recipes have to be tested, photographs have to be taken and edited, and social media needs to be engaged. In general, we are a visual culture, photographs inform our decisions and we essentially eat with our eyes. The images need to draw people in and be available across various platforms; Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and of course on the blog itself.

The other major component is that others want to feel like they know you and are connected to you, and the only way that that can happen is if they read your word and much like your food, see your image.

I love taking pictures of food but I do not like selfies so in order to let you all know me a little bit better, I enlisted the help of the amazing photographer and graphic designer, Mai Fung. Mai is based in New Jersey and is super talented. She was very patient with me and allowed me to be my silly and corny self which was captured in many of the images. Check out her website maifung.net for more examples of her work and check out my silly mug!

Two of my favorite images - me goofing off

If you are thinking about becoming a blogger, just remember that although it is a lot of work, it is a creative outlet, a lot of fun, and a great place to make new friends, educate others, and share your passions.

As I have stated before, the warmer weather inspires me to re-explore raw foods. Fruits and vegetables in their raw state are the most nutrient dense, easy to digest and have powerful healing properties for the body. As far as alkalinity goes, it has been proven that cooking food reduces the alkaline footprint in the body, in order to combat this food really should never be heated above 180 degrees.

This is where a dehydrator comes in handy. Now I know that dehydrating can seems scary and of course there are some draw backs involved. The first being that you do need to plan ahead, it takes a few hours to 'cook' food in a dehydrator and it does take time to prepare the food for dehydrating - there is a lot of thinly slicing involved.

Once you have all of that slicing finished and you have set aside the time to dehydrate it is really quite simple and much healthier than other forms of preservation. When dehydrating you do not have to add any chemicals, salts, sugars, or oils. You simply place the food in the dehydrator and let the magic happen. A squirt of lemon juice will keep the color bright but other than that there is no need for additional preparations.

Dehydrating is an efficient way of preserving food. Lets say you head to your local farm market or grocery and they have a case of peaches reduced as they are on the brink of spoiling. A lot of people would can those peaches or slice and freeze them, both of which takes up significant space. Dehydrating takes up minimal space and allows for you to keep food fresh for long periods of time especially when bought in bulk at peak season.

In your dehydrator you can dehydrate fruits, vegetable, make fruit leathers, crackers, veggie burgers, cookies, and even warm soups if you so desire. You can utilize the dehydrated food in other recipes enjoy it on its own and pack it up as a healthy snack while on the go.

This past week I bought a bunch of fruit that was on the brink, my local farm store had papayas, mangos, and bananas that were all starting to turn so I bought up a bunch and decided to whip out my trusty dehydrator. I had also juiced earlier in the week and had a good quantity of pulp left so I decided to make a batch of juice pulp crackers and juice pulp veggie balls (simply mix the pulp with a little water and flax meal and whatever spices you want and tada - delicious).

Tips:

Slice thinly for the least amount of time

Sprinkle with lemon juice to preserve color

Dehydrate until very dry if you are going to be storing for a long period of time. Placing in a sealed plastic bag for a few hours before vacuum sealing stabilizes the moisture content.

To rehydrate, simply soak in warm water

The best tip of all is to experiment, some of my favorite dehydrated foods are okra and asparagus, they taste awesome without being fried like those versions sold in the supermarket!

Social Media and What it means to be a blogger!

Guide: Dehydrating

Tips: