Away again...until Friday

We'll be out of the office again for a couple days (Wednesday and Thursday) but we'll be back on Friday! so if you leave a phone message or email we'll get back to you on Friday.

Have a great couple days!

Love,
Melissa and David

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Mmm...Monday - Delicious Juice!

Dave made me the most delicious fresh juice this morning!

Here is what it was:

In our lovely Jack Lalane juicer, he juiced:

• 3 peeled oranges
  
• about 6 carrots
  
• handful cilantro
  
• handful parsley
  

Too bad that Dave does not like cilantro...but my four year old and I drank a quart of juice between us (and she had quite a bit herself!) That's how yummy it was. If you have a juicer, definitely try this one. (It's excellent without the parsley and cilantro by the way...I've been drinking just orange/carrot juice for weeks, but I decided to try to "green it up" a bit this morning.) I couldn't believe how much Ella drank!

With love and orange and green good-ness,
~ Melissa

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Raw Food Meet-Up

Today was another fun and delicious raw food meet up! If you're not a member of the Pittsburgh raw food meetup group, it's free to join and you'll get notices/invitations for all the great potlucks and meetings that are held monthly. You can join here.

Today we met at the Peaceburgh sound studios in East Liberty, to kick off Kevin and Ann Marie Gianni's cross country tour! If you're not familiar with Kevin and Ann Marie (above), they host the Renegade Health show, where they have daily videos with fitness info, nutritional info, and on Wednesdays Ann Marie prepares a lovely raw food dish (my favorite day to tune in!)

They are from Connecticut, but are part of Steeler nation, so chose to kick off their tour right here in Pittsburgh! They'll be touring the country in a veggie-oil powered RV named the Kale Whale, talking about health and nutrition. Check out their website for more information on when they'll be heading your way...and who knows, maybe they'll come back to Pittsburgh some time!

And we had a wonderful pot luck, sampling delicious raw dishes! There was a cacao/carob/coconut cake today that was scrumptious, and some delicious dehydrated crackers topped with avocado that I felt were divine. My own contribution was a sunflower seed dip, with yellow, orange and red pepper strips for dipping. Mmmmm.

Much love and light,
~ Melissa

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Away until Friday

We'll be out of the office for a couple days, but we'll be back Friday, February 13.
Hope to see you soon!

Much love,

Melissa and David

Please sign up for our monthly newsletter! We have raw recipes, information about Acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and overall wellness information. Thank you!

www.BirchCenter.com

Wellness Wednesday: Oh no, Enoki recall!

Well, an alert reader of the blog let me know that there was recently a recall on Enoki Mushrooms! Here is all the information, so if you went out and bought the delicious enokimaki nori rolls from Monday's post, please check to make sure your package was not recalled.

Thank you!

Much love,
Melissa

Please sign up for our monthly newsletter! We have raw recipes, information about Acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and overall wellness information. Thank you!

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Mmm...Monday: Nori Wraps with Enoki Mushrooms

These wraps are so delicious! Thanks to my friend Jill for showing me how to roll the nori into those little cones...perfect for stuffing full of delicious vegetables!

I'll try to explain it:

• cut the nori sheet into fourths.
  
• Start at one corner and moisten one side going down, and one side going across (starting from the same corner - I wet my finger with a little water to moisten the sides.)
  
• Take the two opposite corners (where the moistening ended) and fold them towards each other, sticking the moistened edges together, and viola!
  

Those alien-looking white things are enoki mushrooms...my new favorite thing! I first had them at the last raw food meetup (at Trish's.) I was lucky enough to spend the day with Trish preparing food for the meetup, and she introduced me to this delicious delicacy!



I think they have them at the natural food stores, but Trish's tip was to pick them up at an Asian market: here in Pittsburgh there are a couple in the Strip.

As you can see, after I rolled the nori into a cone, I placed some enoki mushrooms in, then added sprouts, grated daikon, grated carrots and avocado.

The dipping sauce: Tamari with a splash of raw apple cider vinegar and a shake of ginger powder. Yum! (The little salad in the picture is the leftover grated carrots and daikon.)

Enjoy!

Much love,
~ Melissa

Please sign up for our monthly newsletter! We have raw recipes, information about Acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and overall wellness information. Thank you!

www.BirchCenter.com

Added Wednesday, Feb 4, 2009:

An alert reader of the blog let me know that there was recently a recall on Enoki Mushrooms! Here is all the information, so if you went out and bought the delicious enokimaki nori rolls from Monday's post, please check to make sure your package was not recalled.

Thank you!