1. What is your favorite tool in the kitchen and why?

If I had to choose just one, it would probably be my GreenStar Juicer.  I love, LOVE making green juice first thing in the morning – I can’t start the day without one!  Sometimes I’ll even make another juice later in the day.  The GreenStar is a bit slower than most juicers because of its twin gears used to cold-press the juice, but that’s what I like about it.  It’s like a mini meditation, preparing the fresh produce and patiently watching the juicer transform all my beautiful, organic veggies into a pure, vibrant juice.  Almost magical.   

2. What's in your pantry?

Lets see, some of my staples include gluten-free whole grains like quinoa and buckwheat, but I’ve also got some wild rice, lentils, seaweed, coconut oil and butter, raw honey, dates, cacao butter/powder, vanilla powder, various teas including nettle and green tea, reishi mushrooms, MSM powder, nutritional yeast, and I always make sure to keep plenty of organic spices on hand.  My nuts/seeds and most of my superfoods are stored in the fridge to keep fresh.  At the moment I’ve got almonds, walnuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, hemp, chia and flax seeds, sprout seeds, some bee pollen, maca, mesquite and lucuma, and of course green powders like Ormus Greens, Vitamineral Green, and Elixir of the Lake (currently my favorite).

3. What's your favorite meal comprised of?

I prefer high-water content veggies to most dehydrated foods. So a favorite meal, whether it’s soup, salad, or sauce, would typically include fresh greens, tomatoes, bell pepper, avocado, onion/garlic, olives, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, etc. Most evenings I’ll include quinoa or buckwheat with my meal, along with a soft-boiled egg or a little goat cheese to balance things out.

4. What are some of your favorite books or magazines to read for inspiration?

I like just about anything related to spirituality and metaphysics.  I recently came across a beautiful article by Christian de Quincey that I strongly resonated with. www.tikkun.org. I’m very curious to delve deeper into his works, so I’m definitely looking forward to reading his books.  As far as raw foods, I’m really intrigued by Gabriel Cousens’ Conscious Eating.  And I love browsing colorful cookbooks with photos and graphics.  It’s always such a treat to find a beautifully illustrated recipe to inspire my imagination.  When it comes to magazines, my favorite is probably Healing Our World, published by the Hippocrates Health Institute.  There’s so much information packed into every issue, I love it.  For recipes, I like Purely Delicious magazine.  But really, I pretty much subscribe to just about every raw food magazine I can get my hands on. There’s so much inspiration in each one, you can’t go wrong.

 5. What's new these days?

I’m so amazed at how much creativity I’m surrounded by these days.  I’ve had the pleasure of working with some really creative and talented beings in recent months.  I just released my latest ebook Raw Chocolate & Wine, from my upcoming Simple & Elegant Entertaining ebook series. I was very fortunate to collaborate with Carmen Shelton, organic/biodynamic wine connoisseur, who kindly provided wine pairings for each of my chocolate recipes. I’ve also recently had my article, Risking Everything, featured in the premier Fall 2010 Issue of Super Raw Life Magazine.  And I’m really excited my story and recipes are being published in the Raw Fusion book set (volumes 1 & 2).  So it’s definitely been a very busy and exciting time for me – I can’t help but feel grateful.