Averie's protein bars, hemp-esan, and pink celery?

Happy Friday everyone!

The weekend is finally upon us:) I just got back from running some stairs. Holy, talk about a cardio challenge. I did variations every set from taking every 2nd step, every 2nd step with hands behind the head, cross overs, and jogging. My heart was literally pumping out of my chest after each rep. Love that feeling! If you want a FREE cardio and strength workout I highly recommend it. I'm sure you have some stairs nearby so no excuses, right?

So onto the food of my week. I have been eying Averie's coconut oil protein bars for awhile. I rarely buy protein bars unless I'm travelling or working and I didn't bring a suitable lunch. Yet, now that its spring I'll be out hiking, walking, camping etc and so having a great protein source would be handy. I made her bars with almond butter and unfortunately I ran out of chocolate chips. Don't tell the hubby there is chocolate around because it will be inhaled...lol! I also added half raisins, half cranberries. I used Vega Complete Whole Food Health Optimizer for the protein and nutrient PUNCH. It was the chocolate flavor so that made up for not having the chippies in there.
Check out that almond butter goodness....mmm. I put a little more in than she did...hehe!


All ready for the freezer. I followed Averie's advice and put the mixture on some plastic wrap for easy clean-up.
All cut-up and ready to be devoured! These are awesome and cheaper than store bought protein bars.
A little cross-section of one bar. I made mine a bit thick and so next time I would lay them a bit thinner.
One last picture to entice you if you weren't already in the kitchen making these:) See the one with the cranberry..that's all mine, baby!

A second recipe that is floating around the raw foodie blogosphere is hemp-esan. I never was a huge fan of parmesan but I love a recipe that provides a substitute to something that is loved in the non-vegan world. I think it is really helpful to those entering into a new lifestyle, vegan or raw to have something with similar flavor or texture. I know it was important for me to find recipes that would be similar to meat or dairy in the beginning of making the switch. So thank you Gena for posting this recipe! It really isn't a recipe pe se as it is so easy. Just put 3 tablespoons of hemp seeds and 3 tablespoons of nooch (nutritional yeast) into your food processor and pulse until you reach the consistency of parmesan.

Ta-da! There you have it hemp-esan on my dinner salad. I've seen it used on pasta as in Gena and Kelli's blog. I found the salad hid it's flavor too much so pasta will be the next adventure:)

Check out the tower of hemp-esan! Yum! Definitely try it on your next salad (Cesar salad anyone?) or pasta dish!


For today's lunch I had another wicked salad and this time it had some pink celery in it. Check it out....
Pretty cool huh? Well its not some crazy GMO product (luckily)..its actually the stem of this beauty....
Isnt' that the most beautiful piece of organic chard that you have seen? For me it was and I was really excited to find this in the grocery store. Usually I only find limp or dried up bunches.


Check out that plant blood! The veins on swiss chard are always crazy and the color is so cool!

Here is the final product with my lentil and sunflower seed sprouts, avocado, lettuce, parsley, basil. A hole hodge-podge really! I topped it with a tahini-orange dressing inspired by Russell James. PS if you want a great tutorial on sprouting, head on over to Bitt's blog. She did an awesome job explaining the whole process.


Have a great weekend everyone! Get your sprouts ready for next week:)