Exciting!

 First and foremost, wahooooooo! More kale chips! They are all coming with me on my trip to Colorado. We're going to see the X games, which will be pretty cool... but I have yet to find a good Vinyasa class. Tear tear. I'll just practice on my own.. anyways, I did find a juice bar so I'm totally psyched about that. It shall be fun... and freeeeeezing!

My little pup sad while bathing this weekend.

I made some of my own raw sun dried tomato flax crackers and re-used my left over guac for a nice snack. Mmmmmm!

Here's a shot of all of the food that I'm bringing with me on the trip. It includes 8 larabars, flax crackers, kale chips, nori and dulse,various trail mixes, raw pumpkin chips, smoothie infusions, raw cereal, some nooch, and more galore! 

This smoothie consisted of 2 bananas, 1/2 head lettuce, 1 c frozen mango, water, smoothie infusion. you should totally try it!

Here's a shot at how my rosemary and basil are doing. I used the basil in my flax crackers.

I may or may not be back to blog while I'm away, either way, I will have pictures after. To you all I send light and love, and I hope your days are easy and stress-free. Let's not hibernate too much!

Xo

Invigoration

Today I woke up at five am just so I could go to yoga because I really wanted to feel the heat. I find sweat (sorry if that's too much) to be so cleansing and mind-opening, that I just felt so invigorated, and quite enlightened after the class. I shared some of my new raw creations (Cookies, Cereal, Bars, gRAWnola) with Taylor. I hope you all enjoy! My most recent endeavor with the dehydrator ended in my Nutty Chocolate Bars. They are not actually chocolate bars, but they are not are not actually granola bars. I'll share the recipe later in the week.

they look thinner thinner than they actually area and they taste like a citrus-y cookie.

Earlier in the week I used some of my Basil Olive Tapenade and raw kraut so make collard wraps.

MMM... check those babies out!!

This was another beautiful salad.

And a luscious banana blueberry smoothie.

After yoga today I went to  the Prana Cafe and had an awesome lunch of green lemonade (which I didn't get a picture of) and raw Nachos and guac! Hit the spot!

And here, my sad empty container of kale chips... so my mission for tonight? MORE KALE CHIPS!

I'm off.... for more studying and recipe experimenting! I hope all is well, and NAMASTE :]

Taste and Tests

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about perception... the way different people view different things. It interests me very much to ponder about the different ways information is conveyed through different peoples' minds. Just a little thought for today.

As for new food this week, I tried Gena's new green smoothie, and it was good, but I wanted to change it up a bit so I gave it my own twist and what I came up with was:

My Delightful Green

1 c walnut milk (any nut milk is fine but that's what I made last night)

2 large leaves Swiss chard

1 D'Anouj pear chopped

1 frozen banana

1 scoop vega whole food optimizer berry flavor (or hemp protein 2T)

Give it a whirl!

More snow came our way, here's Buddy, confused and covered standing next to the frozen compost pile.

My regal pooch running back home. True loyalty.

And here's a little shot of the nuts, seeds, and fruit I have soaking for the gRAWnola I plan to create later today.

That's all for now friends, what do you plan to do with our abundance or snow? I say a nice book, a fire and a large mug of tea!

Xo



2 New Recipes!

Today was my deadline for my French Basil, so I made one savory and one sweet recipe. They both came out beautifully.

First, I made

Basil Olive Tapenade

Combine in food processor until deep green in color:

11/3 c French (or any type) Basil

1 c pepitas

1/2 c sunflower seeds

2 t pitted kalamata olives

Then, stream in to emulsify:

1/4 c olive oil

enjoy atop tomato slices and garnish with olives and basil; or enjoy with veggie crudites

Next I made :

Basil Pear Carpaccio

combine until fully emulsified (in a high speed blender):

1/2 peeled orange

1/4 c basil

1 t agave

1/2 c water

serve over a thinly sliced pear with basil and strawberries to garnish

That's all for today. Much love!

Xo



It's Been a While Huh?

I must say I apologize for my absence. However, I do have a revelation that somewhat brings me to a strife. This weekend, I went on retreat with my work at the Heifer Project. It was lots of fun, and I had to eat cooked [vegan] food because I wasn't going to be a burden and ask for raw. If I were the chef I would have set something aside, but lots of wonderful people were cooking for us. I did however get to help in making the collards, kale, and Brussels sprouts. They had salad at lunch and dinner... I guess I could have managed being raw, yet my experiment then wouldn't have worked.

It was quite majestic I must say.

As for my revelation, I think my body wants to tell me that I should definitely wean myself off of the cooked foods. As Kris says, 80% raw, 20% cooked. I think I'll stick with that. The food I had was quite pretty though. Here's a little glimpse:

Salad of the weekend

Saturday morning breakfast of vegan spinach hash, granola, and oranges

my favorite veggie ever

another high scorer on the Julia veggie love scale

tomato soup with hummus and spinach

Don't get me wrong, all of these foods have had a dear place in my heart, but I felt so full and bloated and had a a headache afterwards. I know I didn't overeat, so that's just telling me that I need to find the right balance for my body. Last night when I got home, dinner consisted of a simple smoothie, and some gRAWnola, made by yours truly. I'll have to give you all that recipe soon.

Other than that, I must make something with my French Basil today. Until later, peace and love to all!

Xo

Much More Galore!

Today is all about new recipe creations! I've perfected (finally) my favorite new green smoothie. I call it: Baby Green Smoothie. It goes a little something like this:
4 large leaves Kale
1 frozen banana
1 c almond milk
1 c raw Tahini
1 T hemp protien
1/2 c frozen mango

give it all a whirl!

Now, onto this week's secret ingredient recipe:

Pleasant Persimmon Pie

(I realized that after I made this I probably should have used a little bit of Irish Moss, but that's why there's always next time right?)

Filling:

11/4 c young coconut meat (about 2 coconuts)

2 c chopped persimmons (about 3 small)

1 T cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1 t pumpkin pie spice

1 t sea salt

1 T Meyer lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)

 Blend in a vitamix until verrrrrrrry smooth

Crust:

11/2 c walnuts

10 dates

2 T coconut oil

6 prunes

3/4 c pistachios

1 T Meyer lemon juice

2 t sea salt

mix in food processor for a long while (it takes a little elbow grease)

garnish:

chopped rosemary

goji berries

nutmeg

Assembly:

Push crust into a pie plate (lined with parchment paper) using your palms (might take a while). Pour filling in. Garish as your heart desires. Chill overnight. Put in freezer for 15 minutes before serving. Not any longer or it will freeze

Serves 8-10

 This morning I had one of my favorites: I juiced 2 grapefruits and one orange and added some frozen cranberries for color

 My cookies came out wonderfully. They were kind of a spur of the moment thing but Dan loved them which is always good... the chocolate chips definitely sufficed.

I got to see my dear friend Rachel today, which is great, you know always there and those wonderful shinanigans. She got to watch and eat all the food I made, and I got her approval.

As for the rest, I will be having a pleasant rest of the weekend.. I think taking a break is very necessary. What else do you have in store? What ever it is, bring love with you.

A Little Bit of A Lot

I've been thinking lately about perspective. My perspective, your perspective, everyone's perspective. There are so many ways at looking at any one situation and they all need to be taken into the utmost consideration. So... which do you choose to listen to? I know that the best is most definitely all of them... so that's my intention for the week. See all perspectives.

Anyways, now I want to tell you all about an ongoing project that my wonderful friend Daniel and I will be doing. He will give me an ingredient every week, and I have to come up with at least two recipes (one savory and one sweet) for that ingredient. He will then try it, and "judge" it, Iron Chef style. This will continue even after my raw month, so get ready for some awesomely extravagant recipes. The ingredient Du Jour is persimmons. I'm going to get them today and let's see what we come up with.


As for my most recent food, my meals have remained bland, except for some raw chocolate chip cookies I started last night. The chocolate chips are in the dehydrator now and later I will make the batter. Check out these babies:

With the leftover batter that I couldn't get out of the vitamix, I threw in some fenugreek and lentil sprouts, then I put those on a tray, and added some dried coconut and golden raisins. We'll see later today how my experiment turns out.

It looks... interesting.


Some awesome smoothies I've made are:

Baby Green (based on this)
4 large stalks Dinosaur Kale
1 frozen banana
1 c almond milk
1 T raw tahini
1 T hemp protein
1/2 c frozen mango

Give it a whirl in the vitamix fro a while until smooth.

And this guy here, my Berry Chocolate Shake (based off this)
1 c frozen raspberries
1 c frozen chopped banana
1 c coconut water
1/4 c hemp protein
1 T flax seed
1 T hemp seed

Blend as always

One of my all time favorite foods: Brussels Sprouts!

Here's what I did:

Rosemary Garlic Brussels Sprouts

3 lbs quartered and trimmed Brussels Sprouts

2 minced garlic cloves

3/4 t minced fresh Rosemary

1 T flax oil

3/4 c olive oil

1/4 c agave

Mix the marinade and pour over the sprouts and let sit overnight. ENJOY! (You could saute these but I didn't)

I've had another zucchini pasta dish to use up the rest of my zukes this one was dressing, tomato, raw kraut, and carrot.

The remainder of this week is dedicated to recipe creation... and yoga. Other than that I hope you are all fabulous and enjoying this chilly weather in some way. Ta Ta for now!

Xo