It’s that time of year again! My affiliate and fave online store, The Raw Food World is having a HUGE holiday sale. 17.5% off anything in the store except appliances – those are 12% off. Can you believe I placed an order just hours before the coupon was announced?!? LOL. Anyway, I had to take advantage of it, so I’m placing another order.

In addition, they have several items on sale already, so with an additional 17.5% off, it’s hard to pass up such a great deal. One thing I’ve been eyeing for along time are the QBC crystal pendants – so beautiful. So I got the clear pendant as a Christmas gift to moi. It represents transparency, clarity, radiance and full presence. Great way to start 2011!

To check out the items that are currently on sale, go to the Raw Food World website and type HNYMN in the search field. Then to use the 17.5% coupon off of anything on the website (excluding appliances,) use the Raw Food World promo code: HOLIDAY18 when you check out. Use the Raw Food World coupon: HOLIDAY12 to save 12% on appliances. The sale runs until December 31, 2010. Happy shopping!

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Since my last mushroom forage, I’ve had much better luck! I found a beautiful little reishi here in New Jersey. In fact, lately I’ve been spotting mushrooms all over the place just walking around town. Some puffballs even popped up out of the ground one day in my own backyard! I feel like such a nerd, but it’s fun spotting mushrooms and trying to identifiy them. It’s like being on a treasure hunt all the time.

"Puffballs in my Backyard"

"Looks Like Exploding Marshmallows!"

In August, I went to the Annual NJMA Fungus Fest in Morristown, NJ and joined the New Jersey Mycological Association (NJMA.) It was super informative! I had some of my mushrooms identified, went on a short foray and learned about using plugs to grow mushrooms on logs.

I hope to get confident at some point to be able to identify and eat some edibles. Except for my reishi, I’m a bit hesitant to eat any just yet. It would be nice to be able to forage enough wilds to make up a substantial part of my diet some day. I see purslane, dandelion and wood sorrel everywhere in the ‘burbs, but again I’m weary of picking them because of road pollution and potential pesticide contamination. Anybody else out there into mushroom foraging? I would love to hear about it.

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Last week I came home to find an unexpected box at my doorstep. Return address – Blue Mountain Organics. I LOVE their products but I didn’t recall ordering from them recently. So imagine my delight when I opened the box to find three samples of their kale chips for no particular reason. NICE! Thank you Blue Mountain!

The Nutty Cheeze and Cheezy Spice flavors were yummy but let’s face it - cheesy flavored raw kale chips? Been there, done that. What I really LOVED was their Chocolate Kale Chips!! Yes, I said chocolate and kale in the same sentence. Who would of thunk of this combination. It is YUM! It satisfies my chocolate “tooth” (yeah, you know you’ve got one too) without being overly heavy. The chips are like ethereal wisps of feathery crisp chocolate.

Now I’m not fooling myself and counting this is a serving of dark green leafys, but if your gonna have chocolate, what better vehicle than on kale to transport it I ask you? I also like that there is no agave in these babies. They only use coconut sugar – the new sweet darling of  raw food. SO check them out or try to make them and let me know how it goes. If I wasn’t so lazy lately, I would try making a batch – lol. Maybe some day. And just for the record, I was under no obligation to write this post nor do I receive any compensation from Blue Mountain.

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I was so excited when I found a water spring a few miles from my home at Holy Face Monastery in Clifton. I contacted the state to try to get information on it, but no luck. After hauling 8 gallons back home, I took out my tds meter (forgot to bring it with me) and the reading was 320ppm!!! I was shocked! Then I tested my tap water and it’s 110ppm. From what I understand that means one part contaminant per million parts water and the higher the number, the more contaminated the water? So the spring water is nearly 3xs worse than my tap water. I’m not sure, but now I don’t even want to give it to my plants, let alone drink it myself!

The next closest spring that I know of is about an hour drive away from me. Hope to get there soon. Read about raw living spring water on Daniel Vitalis’ website and why it’s so important to drink clean pure water. Also check out FindASpring.com for springs all around the world.  This is a great site developed by Daniel Vitalis, Heidi & J.S. Olander. If you find or know of a fresh water spring, you can contribute to the database too.

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THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING!

Big fat coconut chips! I love ‘em because they’re so versatile. I can use them in an impromptu trail mix with nuts and goji berries (shreds and flakes are too small to grab by the handful); add them on top of a yummy dessert like coconut cream pie to make it look STUNNING; or pulse them down finer, if I need smaller flakes or even coconut flour in a jiffy.

One of my fave quickie desserts is to melt a couple tablespoons of coconut oil, stir in cacao, maca, mesquite and lucuma powder until smooth, pour into mini-cup mold and top with big chunks of coconut chips. Pop it in the freezer and voila! Low-sugar, super-easy, coconut-cacao, bite-size treats.

"Mini Coconut Chip Cacao Cup"

If you read my blog regularly, then you know I’m partial to Tropical Tradition’s products and coco chips are no exception. They’re organic, unsweetened and contain no sulfites – just PURE coconut. And this month, Tropical Traditions has generously offered to gift one of my blog readers with a whopping 1 gallon pail of organic coconut chips! I mean this tub is HUGE!

"Gallon Bucket of Coconut Chips!"

Win Tropical Traditions Coconut Chips!

You can enter as many times as you wish by doing any of the steps below. Please write a new comment for each entry and remember to fill in your e-mail address so I know how to contact you if you win! Winning post will be chosen via Random.org.

1. Sign up for the Tropical Traditions newsletter.
2. Share this post on Facebook.
3. Save & share this post to Digg, StumbleUpon or your fave bookmarker!
4. Copy & re-tweet this line: FREE Organic Coconut Chips @ http://tinyurl.com/cocochip #giveaway #freebies
5. Write me a comment on how you will use the coconut chips if you win.

RULES: Giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada residents only. Giveaway will run from May 25, 2010 through June 7, 2010. Please be sure to fill in your email address with your comment so I can contact you if you win. If I can not reach the winner, a new one will be chosen. Winner will have 48 hours to contact me with their mailing info. If they do not reach me in that timeframe a new winner will be chosen. Prize will be shipped directly from the sponsor.

"Free Virgin Coconut Oil Book"

Free Virgin Coconut Oil Book!

Once you visit the Tropical Traditions website, I’m sure you’ll see a bunch of things you’ll want to buy. If this is your first order, you can get a complimentary copy of their Virgin Coconut Oil book! It has 85 foundational recipes, gluten-free coconut flour recipes and 100 personal stories from people using Virgin Coconut Oil and how it’s changed their lives.

To get the book with your first order, there is a place to choose “How did you hear of us?” when you fill in your account information. In the drop-down menu, choose “Referred by a friend” and type in this code for a FREE copy of the Virgin Coconut Oil book: 6132311.

DISCLOSURE: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product, and I was under no obligation to review it or write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product. I am not being paid to share their products with my readers. Instead, I am sharing them because I like them and you!

Visit Fight Back Fridays for more great recipes and real food topics!

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