Farmer's Market Salad

We love the Farmers Market in Santa Fe! In fact, we've even developed a seasonal salad as an homage to our talented farmers and food artisans. Last week, Body café visited the Farmers Market, and Lorin Parrish, owner and chef, gave an illuminating culinary demonstration on Body café's raw Swiss Chard Farmers Market salad. If you'd like to try it at home, click here!

"You are what you eat"

We've all heard this adage a million times, but even although the saying may be tired, the truth in it is more relevant than ever. The way you nourish yourself quite literally creates the cells that make up your body, and determines your health. So how would we eat if this simple mantra was going through everyone's head? There's no doubt that organic food would gain even more popularity, and processed food would decline into obsolescence.

Food and nourishment is truly an important and weighted topic, and should not be taken lightly, nor for granted. Give thanks for the nourishment you get from your food, and watch how meals can become yet another daily experience where you can practice consciousness.

If you are interested in how to prepare consciously crafted, healthy food, please join us this weekend for our Raw Culinary Class by Dr. Kartar and Deva Khalsa. Learn how to reframe your conceptions on food to see how it can serve as medicine!

-Keryn

Tacos at Body café

Have you ever had the pleasure to go on the ultimate foodie's adventure known as Body café's tacos? If you are in the know, you already have tried them. We have clients that travel from out of state just for these yummy examples of Mexican cuisine! Body café offers something for everyone - even in taco form! Satisfy your hunger cravings with a choice of taco fillings for anyone's diet - chicken, tofu, tempe, egg, or my favorite, smoked salmon! ¡Son muy sabrosos!

-Keryn

Get Healthier with Raw Chocolate

Have you ever tried REAL chocolate? I'm not talking about that highly processed stuff you find in vending machines or the waxy, chalky stuff that sits on grocery store shelves for ages. I mean raw, natural, unprocessed chocolate - straight from the cocoa bean. Raw chocolate is not only richer in taste and texture, but it is actually considered a medicinal food!

Like many foods, chocolate loses its vital health benefits when processed. Raw chocolate, however, is loaded with bioflavinoid antioxidants, known as flavanols. In fact, raw cacao contains two times the antioxidants of red wine, and three times more than green tea! Cacoa's combination of flavanols and high magnesium content promote a healthy heart, through lowering blood pressure and maintaining a healthy blood flow. Raw cacoa also contains sulfur, a mineral that is actually good for your skin and hair! There are many more health benefits of raw cacao.

Stop by BODY to try our new line of organic raw truffles, and see for yourself. All truffles and Love Cups are handmade and are sweetened with Agave Nectar. Finally you can satisfy your sweet tooth AND be kind to your body.

-Keryn

Surviving the Holidays vegan and raw

Surviving the Holidays Vegan and Raw
As seen in Natural Awakenings Magazine

The holidays are a time of family and food. Eating goes hand and hand with every holiday, making it especially hard if you are a vegan, vegetarian, a raw foodist, or simply trying to lose weight. If you find yourself in one of these categories, you will undoubtedly find this time of year challenging, as it is a time when traditional and comfort foods take precedence in most households, and eating healthy is put off for the New Year. There are many ways to avoid all of the problems that arise for those who are food conscious. Invite your family over for their first raw food feast or bring your favorite raw food dish to your holiday event to share! Bringing a non-traditional dish to a holiday event may feel like a risk, but by doing so you can introduce your loved ones to some very wholesome and tasty holidays meals.

Some people think Raw food consists of only salads or plain granola with no taste. To the contrary, chefs have developed wonderful raw gourmet recipes, such as Marinated Exotic Mushrooms with arugula or Bleeding Heart Radish Ravioli. Introduce your friends and family to this wonderful form of eating that is delicious and beautiful. I highly recommend the book “Raw” by Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein. This book presents numerous wonderful recipes that could make your raw food dish a hit at any holiday party. You can find this book at BODY, as well as a five other raw food books that carry some great recipes for all year round. For a wonderful vegetarian book try One Taste by Sharon Louise Crayton.

Introducing family and friends to vegan, vegetarian, and raw food, may be the beginning for them to become healthier in their lives. One taste of delicious raw, vegan cheesecake or chocolate ganache could be the first step. It may be their turning point to make a decision to be healthier, lose weight, lower cholesterol, and feel fantastic. Creating healthy desserts is a great way to introduce people to raw or vegan food. Even chocolate can be healthy! It is only a matter of how it is produced and what is mixed into it that causes it to become high in fat and calories. Surprise your family by not telling them how healthy your dessert is until after they ate it and have been full of praises.

If you do not have time to spend preparing food yourself, BODY café can offer some very special treats for your holiday. You can order delectable cakes, exquisite pies, and many unique raw treats to go. BODY café has raw, vegan, and vegetarian food, as well as selections for those with other special diets. BODY café is currently working on developing their to-go selections, is beginning catering, and will be serving BODY chocolate all made in house. Their goal is to make eating healthy, easier and more accessible for everyone.

Lorin Parrish, Chef and owner of BODY, has shared a few of her favorite recipes for the Holidays. She believes that eating raw means feeling good without sacrificing great taste. There is no reason to give up flavor for health! The recipes are raw and are best when prepared with organic ingredients. Try the local farmers market to get the freshest organic ingredients.
The holidays are a time when it can be hard to eat healthy, but it is possible with a little determination, creativity, and help from BODY café.

Mock Meat Loaf
*1-2 sweet potatoes, grated
1-2 red potatoes, grated
1 turnip, grated
1 onion, cut-up
1 cup cauliflower
1 medium beet, grated
3 celery stalks, with leaves
1/2 lb brazil nuts
3/4 lb pound raw pecans
1 TB nutritional yeast
1 tsp Celtic salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper1 TB pressed garlic

Put each item in a food processor individually. When each item is processed, place in a large bowl. Mix together and refrigerate overnight. Next day, shape into a loaf. Dehydrate 6 hours at 105. Slice and serve.


*Mashed "Potatoes"*
6 C chopped cauliflower
1 tsp nutritional yeast
1/4 c flax oil
Celtic Salt to taste
In a food processor chop the cauliflower with an "S" blade. In a large bowl fold in the remaining ingredients and put in dehydrator for 1 hour. Serve warm.


Butternut Squash Cookies
4 C butternut squash, peeled and chopped
1 C raisins
1 orange, juiced
1/2 t nutmeg
1 t cinnamon
3 T raw honey
Mash squash in food processor until smooth. Put in a separate bowl. Process raisins and orange juice until smooth. Add raisin/orange mixture, nutmeg, cinnamon, and honey to the squash, and mix thoroughly. Spoon 2 TB size cookie mixture onto a dehydrator tray. Press each cookie to a 1/2 in. thickness. Dehydrate cookies at 115 degrees for 4 hours. Flip cookies and dehydrate for another 10 hours.


Beet Salad
2 beets, peeled and grated
1/2 lg head of cabbage, shredded very fine
3 carrots, peeled and grated
1 C of raisins
1 apple, diced
4 TB lemon juice
4 TB orange juice
1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C water
Mix all ingredients thoroughly


For more information about raw or vegan food contact BODY at info@bodyofsantafe.com.
BOOKS ABOUT RAW
• Raw: The Uncook Book: New Vegetarian Food for Life by Juliano Brotman and Erika Lenkert
• Raw by Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein
• RAWSOME by Brigitte Mars
• The Raw Gourmet by Nomi Shannon

Kendra

Trick or Treat!

Wishing you a Happy Halloween and Dia de los Muertos! BODY hopes you are enjoying the festivities and the joys of the season. Remember that Body café has a variety of treats for take out or to enjoy right here in the café. From our chocolate love cups to our raw pumpkin pie (you won't believe it doesn't have pumpkin!), there truly is a sweet for everyone. There are no tricks inside of these treats, all ingredients are raw, nutritious, and are completely sugar free! We use agave nectar to sweeten our desserts. Come taste for yourself!

~Check out our menu ~

-Keryn

Salt of the Earth

Natural, organic food is always healthier than processed food, and apparently this fact is true all the way down to seasoning. Standard table salt, despite its pure appearance, is chemically processed, heated up to 1200 degrees, and may contain anti-caking agents. Conventional salt processing intends to remove impurities, however it removes healthy minerals and natural elements as well. Historically, salt has been an essential part of life, with uses ranging from food preservation to therapeutic bathing, but in contemporary times, it is better known for causing high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Intense processing has turned salt, a natural whole food, into simply sodium chloride, which is hard on the body.

Replacing your table salt with naturally derived Himalayan crystal salt is a way to flavor your food and get 84 essential minerals and electrolytes that are lost in refined salt. Minerals are an important part of the body’s digestion, and electrolytes regulate the hydration of the body, blood pH, blood pressure, and are crucial for nerve and muscle function. Himalayan salt is mined from a source that has been underground for millions of years and thus protected from the pollutants that are found in today’s atmosphere. Find this flavorful, pure, Royal Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt in BODY’s food marketplace, or taste it in your meal the next time you’re eating in BODY Café. It is one of the many special ingredients that our cooks use in our food!

-Keryn