Balance Will Find Me

I truly believe that the course of life will go where it is supposed to be and I am just along for the ride. If I just let everything flow I will be where I am supposed to be. Let it be.

Another Song I'm loving right now by Dispatch

My new juicer allowed me to have tons of green juice this weekend. Yay overpriced appliances!

I shared 3 Clover sandwiches with my friend Dan this weekend, put I only manage to get a picture of this one, the chickpea fritter. I personally reccoment the vegan Barbeque Seitan, but the Soy BLT made vegan is great as well. I didn't very much enjoy the sweet potato (all pita sandwiches).

Today I was really in the mood for something hot, so I mixed some Amy's soup with beans and oatmeal. It was good. But not there yet.

Then I added more kidney beans.

And finally it was finished when I added Kale and Dayia.

I hope you all had wonderful weekends... as the course of my life progresses I continue to realiz that a possitive attitude and outlook is really all we need to succeed. The rest will take care of itself.

Namaste!

xo

Just a Little More

How cool would this house be?! Just wanted to share a little more love!

Namaste!

xo

Just A Little Glimpse

Since I was lacking a camera for a few days (turned out it was in the car) I am at a loss for lots of wonderful pictures, but I am sure there are more to come soon. A few days ago I had another awesome Clear Conscience Cafe salad which had mounds of hummus and kalamata olives. My favorite!

The other day in the dehydrator went Matthew Kenny's recipe for blonde macaroons. They looked kinda funky because the coconut I used was coarsely cut, but they tasted phenomenal!

Today for lunch with my panini press I made a sandwich with a roasted bell pepper and daiya the best (so far) vegan cheese out there. And the least processed.

Guess what?!!??!!?! Green Star came in the mail! Now I can have awesome green juice all the time! Yesssss! Although it is a huge pain to clean but it's worth it.

The quote I'd like to leave you with today is, "Make the most of yourself, for you're all there is to you." -unknown.

Have a wonderful sun filled day. Let's try for some vitamin D!

Namaste!

xo

Simplicity Interspersed with Challenge

I was just looking through The 30-Minute Vegan and I found a recipe about RAWviolis (I didn't make it) and it said "...imagination is the spice of life." For the next few days my intention will be to broaden my horizons. From that book however, I did try their Mac n' Cheese recipe which was phenomenal:

I added some left over veggies. Perfect dinner. The other day I made chocolate almond butter with almonds and coco powder. Perfect but probably not beneficial to have in the house:

Fabulous with GF banana bread:

This morning a splendid smoothie graced my blender: almond milk, chocolate almond butter, banana, and romaine:

I've had a few Buddha bowls lately. This one consisted of brown rice, kale, sweet potato, arame, and purple massaged kale.

This one was massaged kale, daikon, cucumber, kelp noodles, celery, sweet potato, and grapefruit.

Yesterday in Whole Foods I noticed a new kombucha, I bought it, and then after taking a sip I slipped on the ice and broke it while walking home with my friends. It was pretty good though.

My last bit of insight into the land of Julia for today is this: no matter how you end the conversation, every time you hang up the phone with a loved one, always say, "I love you," because you really never know what might happen next.

I hope every one's weekends are going beautifully.

Namaste!

Xo

An Even Balance Proves Necessary

I was just reading the twin's latest post when I stumbled upon an older post of theirs and this little tid bit really inspired me:

"Don’t go about looking for your reason to live or finding the purpose of your existence.

The only reason to be alive is to enjoy life. And enjoy all that you do in life.

Positive thought."

We constantly seem to be searching for why we were placed on this Earth, when the fact is that the fact we are alive is solely that: a mere fact. We were not given a reason for why we are here, we just are. With that, we look for the things, places, people, and experiences that bring joy to our hearts. That joy is what sustains us. That is what we yearn for and when we are aware of ourselves, then we are truly alive. For this reason, we must make the most of the time we have here.

*this is obviously just my opinion and take from it what you wish and leave the rest*

I also must say that that Out Loud by Dispatch is SUCH a good song (in my opinion). I apologize for my lack of ability to find them actually singing it, but I wanted to share!

So, now onto some food. A few weeks ago I went to yoga and then C3 with Mimi. We shared soup and a Panini. Mmmmm!

hummus peppers cukes n sprouts

potato leek soup

kiwi!

strawberry banana smoothie (can you say my favorite?!)

Later in the week Dan and I went to My Thai and of course, again his dish was tastier than mine but it's okay because we're good sharers!

yellow curry

pad see ew

soup of the day

For dessert we went to Flour which was a cold trek in 23 degree weather. They had an adorable quote that I just had to share considering you can always find me in the kitchen:

Look at this! Pickle of the day! Who is really that cool?! ... if only they were totally vegan....

They did have a decent vegan chocolate cake muffin though which sufficed.

Yesterday VegNews came in the mail... needless to say a load of excitement was born.

And last but not least today for dinner I threw together what I like to call a "clean out the fridge stir-fry" This consisted of sprouted grain spaghetti, cherry tomatoes, bok choy, asparagus, zukes, celery, and my homemade pesto. Yay for impromptu meals!

As for Valentines day I did make A TON of cupcakes with pink (beet juice) frosting... but I was in need of a camera at the time so I lack a picture. Tear tear... my banana bread also remains faceless... I have a whole week off next week so who knows what will cross my path.

All in all, embrace yourself because the best of you lies within and others want to see it.

Give yourself a hug beautiful!

Namaste!

Xo

Our Own Truths Always Come From Within

I realized that after reading a few of Taylor's quotes, and from my own intellect, that what is right for us always must come from our hearts, our intuitions. Through only myself have I come to the realization of my necessary balance of raw to cooked [all vegan] food. I realized that Kris is definately right about the 80/20 ratio. Although right now I am slighly on the extreme, I know that in my heart, that is where I will land.

As a little bit of a celebration with myself, I made 2 recipes from the Babycakes Cookbook [all gluten-free and vegan]. I made the chocolate cupcakes, and the chocolate shortbread scones with caramelized bananas.

Here are the cupcakes that look more like muffins.

And above are the scones, which I ate 8 of yesterday.... a tad off balance, but hey, what can ya do?

I also made a stew with the slow cooker like I told you about ^.

This was green lentils, lima beans, black beans, red beans, quinoa, cabbage, carrots, sweet potatoes, and a whole bunch of home-made broth.

This was an awesome smoothie of banana, romaine, mango, and coconut water. YAY!

And last but not least, some twice baked potatoes I decided to try. This was literally 3 sweet potatoes, roasted until soft. The insides were then scooped out, mashed and put back in the shells and I roasted them for about 15 more minutes. Perfect and simple! That's what I'm all about right?

All in all, I like to being back to experimenting, but I'm giving my recipe development a little bit of a rest for now so that I can work towards my other goal of making every recipe [with my alterations] in all of my vegan cookbooks that I own.. this is a life-long goal of course.

Anyways, mind-spirit-body balance is a wonderful feeling and I am trying to embrace it as much as I can.

What empowers you?

Namaste!

Xo

Sometimes We Must Look Deep in the Mountains to Find the Gems

Originally, I thought of the title of this post when I was in a gem store in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and then I realized that it can apply to many aspects of life. As can many other things. The way I interpret this is that life takes effort in order to get what you really want.. in other words, give everything your all.

I got lots of amazing scenery picture (105 to be exact) but I'll just show you a few ^^^^^^^

What a nice entrance :]

They compost!

Natalie and I waiting in the huge line for the bus to get back to the car

Natalie with Louie Vito (I think?)

Natalie with Shaun White

^^^ A few X games pictures

Sacred Grounds Coffee and Deli in Glenwood Springs, CO. How cute is that?

I got a strawberry, mango, banana smoothie, and they even mixed in a vega for me! How accommodating right?!

The Beautiful Town of Aspen

We didn't end up making it to the juice bar because they close at 4 and we didn't finish skiing on time, but I wanted a picture with the adorable sign!

Pyramid Bistro is where the following few pictures come from. We went there twice in a row! This is there bread with arugula pesto. MMMMM!

Dad's plate day one: Barley hazelnut risotto with greens and winter squash (I liked his better than mine!).

My plate day one: Millet croquettes with steamed veggies.

How cool is this? The entrance to the restaurant is inside the Explore Booksellers which also happens to be an amazing haven for all readers alike.

Dad's dish day 2: Spelt Gnocchi with mixed veggie (YUM!).

My dish day 2: Quinoa crouquettes with steamed veggies (pleasant).

And the silken tofu torte was to live for!

Overall, I love this place. If you're ever in Aspen, check it out!

I ended up being able to get my juice! This was called the Red Mountain Zinger! I slurped it down lovingly. Thanks so much Good Health Grocers! Much gratitude!

I just thought Two Old Hippies was a really cool store and we had to go in. Hehe.

And last but certainly not least, another awesome health food store: Natural Grocers. I got lettuce and peppers for the plane, a couple of my favorite bars ever. And of course, some almond butter for snacking purposes.

When I got home, Mom had some fresh roasted veggie for me. How sweet! I had some, packed some up for the next day's lunch, and in the morning, added the rest to my slow cooker stew, which I will share with you later in the week.

That's all for my snow filled escape. I have cupcakes, scones, and stew to share with you tomorrow! 

With love and light, Namaste!

Xo