Road Eats

Happy Thursday!

Today is actually my friday..wahoo! I've been insanely busy today but I'm totally loving the adrenaline. Before I get into what I'm taking along for the big trip tomorrow, I wanted to share a big moment that happened today!

Yep, I finally got to cut that bad boy up! Man, did it feel good. But then after a couple of minutes the reality of not having it in my purse kind of stung as I guess I did like the security of knowing that it was there. I didn't have too much left on it and I haven't used it in months but its funny how some little bit of plastic can have a psychological effect on you.

Now onto the goods...When I travel I like to nibble and snack on this and that so I ended up making a variety of stuff not only to last the trip, but hopefully a couple of days down at the coast.

First up were the muffins. I decided to try a banana zucchini muffin recipe that I found on Vegweb. These came together in a flash and I only needed to buy the zucch which was nice. I added in some oatbran and wheatbran to give it some extra uumph. I decided that you NEEDED to see what the inside of these muffins looked like so I ate half just for you:) I took one for the team..lol! They are really delicious.

And why not one more picture...everyone loves pictures, right?

Next I went for the classic vegan chocolate chip cookie. I absolutely love the Happy Vegan Chocolate Chip cookies from Vegweb. They are Awesome with a capital A. Yet, the one thing I just haven't figured out with cookie making is how to keep the cookies soft. Any insights? Maybe I just bake them for too long?

Then I made some of my almost raw protein cookies. Ry and I are really loving these right now! They really speak for themselves:) This time I used Medjool dates so we will see if I notice the difference.

Last but definitely not least, I tried making some kale chips. I used Averie's recipe for 1 bunch of kale. It tasted so good right out of the blender..I could barely wait. I don't have a dehydrator so I had to use my oven which is gas. I opted to turn it on to 200 and leave the door open. Let's just say my kitchen was a boilin' lol!

Don't you just love that color...WOW!

And there is the final product! These seriously are addicting. I love the flavor and texture of them. A real winner! I think my oven may be a bit too hot so I had a lot of little pieces that stuck to my parchment paper. But I can not wait to try making some more of these. Now I know what everyone is raving about:)

I'm also going to be bringing a lot of leftovers as I had to cook up a lot of veggies that would have gone bad before I could have reached a kitchen! Trail mix is also coming along as well as some raw cut up veggies. I'm hoping that I will keep with these and eat less of the other sugary stuff, but like I said, I love to nibble on stuff on the road:)

And I can't not let Nemo have a treat so I picked up these treatsies from the co-op and he loves them so hopefully it will keep him quiet in the car:)

So, I better run as I still have a million things to do including preparing a dish for a potluck..eek!

I hope you like my little menu for the road and whatever you are doing this weekend, have a good one!

I'm not sure how often I'll be posting this next week as we have a pretty busy schedule , but I'll try to update you when I have a spare minute. Maybe a 2AM post will be in order..lol!

10 Thing you can do for your health today!

Hello everyone!

UPDATE: Thanks to Gina I discovered that UV rays do in fact penetrate glass!

It's Wednesday already and I'm starting to feel the pressure! Laundry, packing, food prep, pet prep, tax prep, and more, all need to be completed before we head out on Friday morning. I have to say I've procrastinated a little bit on getting everything together. I'm not sure if this goes back to my university days but there is something about having a time restraint that gives me this little rush:) This sometimes works but sometimes I fail and wonder why I keep this process going! I'll let you know how it goes.

So my food this week has been pretty basic and nothing too exciting, to be honest. Lots of salads (with raw beets..yumm!), quinoa, pate, and steamed sweet potatoes.

As I don't have too much foodie stuff to share today, I thought I would try to inspire you to ADD to your health today. Yes, I'm talking about adding to your diet and lifestyle not taking away. I believe that once you start adding healthy habits the bad habits tend to diminish. So let's get started!

1. Drink more water - Yes, I know you hear this everywhere but it is so important. You have to remember that your body is 62% water and each and every cell needs to be hydrated in order to function properly. We can go for about 30 days without food but only 2-3 days without water. Yet, people are chronically dehydrated because they think soda and other processed drinks are hydrating. I love to wake up in the morning and drink a glass of water with some lemon . You can add cucumber slices, mint, goji berries, watermelon etc to a pitcher of water and you have delicious, naturally flavored water. Another possibility is to drink herbal tea (nothing caffeinated). And try to drink water that has been filtered as tap water contains some nasty things like flouride and chlorine.

2. Add something green to your meals - Yes, you will have to meander over to the produce section of your grocery store, but I'm telling you its worth it! It's getting into Spring so that means an abundance of greens will be popping up in markets. Take advantage of this marvelous season and maybe try something new like dandilion greens, kale, collard greens, or for the not-so-brave, just try a lettuce mix. What to do with them? Well, put some in your fruit smoothies as you will not taste it and it adds loads of vitamins and minerals. You can also put them into your food processor and chop them really fine and add them to a soup, chili, casserole, stir-fry etc! Of course you can eat them raw to add a kick to your mundane salad.

3. Go Outside - Humans used to live outdoors and now we work, go to the gym, and sleep inside a virtually sealed box. You think standing by a window and having the sun hit your face is enough?...nope! The UV rays cannot penetrate the glass and therefore you will not be making any vitamin D my friend. I sometimes have a problem with going outside during the day too but I'm going to start to make it a priority. I think today I'm going to eat lunch outside as it's so beautiful. Free warmth and vitamin D....that's a score! So there'e an easy solution if you can't get out after work..do it on company time LOL! My favorite outdoor activity is hiking so if the weather in your area supports it..find a trail that is well-marked and get out there. I feel so connected to nature when I'm deep in the woods and my cellphone doesn't work and there are no cars...ahh it just feels right:)

4. Have some alone time with your lover - Yep, its good for you to have sex! Well we all knew that..didn't we? The "business time" with your partner can relieve stress, increase immunity, burn calories, increase cardiovascular health, and reduce prostate cancer risk in men (plus many more ). It's even been proven that simply talking and caressing can have significant health benefits. And how fitting...I'm posting this on a Wednesday..lol!

5. Take time for yourself - This one is hard for a lot of people as they usually put themself last. I think we are all guilty of this as some point in time. For me, my time is to blog. You may think that its "work" but its something that I enjoy doing and its all mine. Some ideas are to write it on the calender so that you don't schedule something in its place, tell your family that tuesday night at 8pm is your time ( or whatever day and time) and that they respect that, or give the kids (or your partner) a project to do that will keep them busy for a certain amount of time so you can go do something fun! Take a bubble bath, go for a run, read, blog, go shopping, paint, bake..whatever makes you happy and takes your mind off the craziness of life.

6. Fit some exercise into your day - You need to move..period! We were meant to push, pull, squat, throw etc and sitting all the time is not good for us. An interesting fact that my chiro told me was that after the age of 6 our spinal tissue is not directly fed/wastes removed and so we need to move the spine in order to create a rush or wave of spinal fluid to these tissues to provide it with the adequate nutrients and to remove wastes. This is why they tell people with back injuries to MOVE. I have a desk job right now so I know that its hard to fit something in during the work day but I'm starting a new ritual (for the lack of a better word) of rebounding for 10 minutes in the morning. Like I said, its all about adding and tweaking little things because they add up! I don't think that this is enough so I do go to the gym but there are a million exercises you could do at home or outside that cost nothing. For instance..walking! It's so simple yet we struggle even to do this on a daily basis due to the availability of our vehicles. You can ask yourself this question. Can I walk to....work, the grocery store, friend's places, the restaurant, the coffee shop, school? etc. I bet you can to at least one of these places and that will make a difference. You can also run up a hill, take the stairs, do some push-ups, jump roap and many, many more possibilities. People sometimes get too focused on the gym being the only way to break a sweat (I used to be one of them), but really the sky is the limit and I'm sure you can find something you love to do.

7. Try a new healthy recipe - The internet has so many recipes that I get overwhelmed sometimes. I want to try them all but unless I live to a million years old that probably won't happen. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that you have free recipes for anything you want to cook at the tips of your fingers. There is still this mode of thinking that healthy food has to taste disgusting..uh-uh my friend. Check out some of these websites and tell me that their food looks like green mush -

Vegetarian Times

Simply Recipes - A site that is not necessarily vegetarian

VegWeb

Elana's Pantry

Gone Raw

8. Try to be more positive - This is where I have to work hard. I tend to slip into my old ways and spew out negative words about my current life situation. I physically feel a difference in my body...I'm tense, my heart goes a-wall, and I feel drained. Positivity is my must-have charactertistic for 2010 and beyond. I've gone too long being negative about things and its time I looked at situation with the glass half full. In fact, positive thinking has been shown to increase your life span, reduce stress, reduce risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and increase your resistance to colds. I love quotes so I headed over to quote garden to give you some positive, inspiring words:

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, bring your own sunshine ~ Anthony J. D'Angelo

I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet~ Ancient Persian Saying

So often in times, we all live our life in chains, and we never even know we have the key ~ The Eagles, "Already Gone"

Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples, don't count on harvesting Golden Delicious ~ Bill Meyer

9. Throw out un-healthy food that prevents you from reaching your goals- I seriously think that if you have processed food in your home, you will end up eating some or all of it even if you think you have the will power. If I fill my fridge with veggies and fruits that is what I'm going to turn to if I'm hungry because that is what is available to me. If there only was pizza in the fridge it would be super hard for me to close the door and run to the store to buy some salad greens. Its that simple! So, stick to the outskirts of your supermarket when shopping as this is where the least processed foods are. The inner isles are mainly boxed and processed foods.

10. Make yourself aware of whatever you slather on your skin - Your skin is your largest organ and it needs to breathe! We put so many chemically-laden creams, moisturizers, toners, and make-up products on our skin without the slightest thought of whether or not they can cause you harm. Just remember that whatever you put on your skin will enter your bloodstream. We can't be passive about this anymore because companies are getting sneakier with the chemicals they add and they are simply not governed enough. Check out the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. Some natural alternatives to some of the products out there are coconut oil which is an amazing moisturizer, aloe vera which moisturizes and soothes the skin, avocado which is full of healthy fats and can give your skin a smooth glow. You can also try dry skin brushing to help remove the chemicals that are on your skin from pollution, creams, and even your diet. Check out my post on dry skin brushing here.

Hopefully you can start implementing some of these today as they will drastically improve your health tomorrow!

Have a great rest of the week and stay tuned for my road eats!

PS- The Women's International Summit of Health (WISH) is now on so please go to their website to sign up. I just listened to 3 calls this morning and they were awesome!

International Women's day + pantry dinner + planning for our roadtrip

Happy Monday Everyone,

I especially want to say hi and give a big hug to all you ladies out there as it is International Women's Day. I have to say I'm not the most outspoken feminist out there. I believe all women should be treated as equals and treated with respect. Heck, I think everyone in the world (including animals) should be treated this way. Yet, I feel deep down that I have the duty to stand up for those women who cannot speak for themselves. I have seen clips and news stories about women taken as sex slaves, stoned to death, body parts being cut off, not able to vote, not able to go to school, etc. Yet I know the media tends to make things for the public a little more easy to swallow so I know it must be much worse. My heart aches for these women and the hardship that has fallen upon them simply because they were born with the X chromosome. Even in my own country women are oppressed in a variety of ways from abusive relationships to workplace biases. As I write this memories of a book I read are invading my brain. The book was called Holding Out by Anne O. Faulk. I picked it up from my Mom's bookshelf. I think this was one of those books that ends up at your house but you have no idea how it got there. The story is about this group of women who get together because they are livid a senator didn't go to jail for verbally and physically abusing his wife to the point that she decided to commit suicide. The women cause such a disturbance in the country when they ask every women to "hold out" until this man goes to jail. Could you imagine if the women in your country banded together for such a cause? It would be revolutionary! I thoroughly enjoyed the book, even though I thought it would be a corny read. If you want something that is fun but still has a message behind it this Women's Day, try this book! This book also made clear something that has bothered me for some time. Sometimes I feel so disconnected from my gender because there is all this competition between us. Women can be evil to other women for the stupidest reasons (men, money, looks etc). At times I feel more emotionally and physically comfortable hanging around guys. Yet, who wants to talk about truck engines? I want the fun girl talk where we open up and talk about whatever is on our minds! I think its time we dropped the defensive wall and encouraged each other. So all you ladies out there..I wish you a great day and never forget that you truly are gorgeous:). And to those women in this country or far away lands who are facing hardships and immense pain, I pray for you and hope that I can somehow make your life better. Maybe it means buying something made by women that was produced fairly, maybe I can volunteer for an organization to helps women near and far who are facing oppression, or maybe I can just shoot a smile at all the ladies I see today (and always). What are you going to do today to show the ladies a little love and appreciation?

So.. backtracking a little bit... how was everyone's weekend? I worked but now I have nearly 3 weeks off the one job so I am stoked! My friend Synje sang at a local restaurant on Friday and so we caught the end of that. Then Saturday we went to the gym after work and then toured the town a little bit. I hit up the co-op to get some dates for my nearly raw protein cookies and I was craving something salty so we picked up a bag of Guiltless Gourmet chips. They were actually decent for a baked chip. Ry is eating up the protein cookies and is feeling stronger than ever at the gym...go figure..lol! I had two for my first break on Sunday and they kept me going for a long time. After work I did some grocery shopping. Ry was at a friends so I had to haul all my goodies up the hill. I was huffing and puffing near the end, but it was a good little workout. As I mainly had picked up fruit, my veggie and grain stash was pretty empty. So, that meant digging through the pantry for something..and that something was rice. I usually have quinoa for dinner as the nutritional value is so much higher than rice. But this is a pantry dinner..and there was no quinoa to be found..so I sucked it up and put on a pot of rice. One of my guilty pleasures is fried onions so I put those with the rice and some sad looking cabbage. For a sauce I made tahini-lemon that I got off the Renegade Health blog. I topped that with paprika, turmeric, and pepper. And voila! The pantry dinner was fun as I got to use up some stuff that I usually don't eat...leaving more space for the stuff I eat more of. Perfect!

Then for dessert I made the 5 minute coconut chocolate from Averie's blog. Yumm!

This Friday we are headed out of town (with Nemo too)! Wahoo! I'm sooo excited to be going to my home town for a night and then heading to the coast for a week. We've got a lot planned and I don't know how we are going to fit all the visits in but I'm just so excited to see everyone again. I'm also getting a medical procedure (nothing serious) done to help with a tendon problem that I have with my knees. I'll write more about that later. Anyways, I need to prepare in advance at least some of the food. We are going to be on the move a lot so I need something that can travel well. Have any ideas? I will for sure be making my protein cookies but I was thinking about trail mix, granola bars, energy balls, cut up veggies etc? Do you have any ideas or suggestions because I would love to hear them!

Also, any pet traveling advice? We are taking Nemo on quite a long trip (3hrs then 5hrs the next day). I've never travelled with a cat before so it should be interesting:)



Have a great week!


P.S Averie is having a giveaway on her blog from Celestial Seasonings. So go check it out!

PPS Bitt is having a giveaway for a wicked ceramic knife. So get check her out as well!

Coconut chocolate success plus almost raw protein cookies

Happy Friday everyone!

I've got a lot to be happy about today! The weather is stunning, I've got an amazing recipe to share with you, my new batch of coconut oil chocolates turned out fantastic, and I WON a contest! Wahoo!

So, let me start with the contest! I entered Bitt's chia contest and won a 2lb bag of Chia Seeds Direct chia seeds. I'm so stoked and it was perfect timing as I just ran out of these "little bladders." Thanks Bitt for the giveaway:)

Last night the hubby was thinking that maybe he wasn't getting enough protein ( I know, I know). He eats what I make so lots of veggies, seeds, nuts, healthy oils, quinoa etc! I know that he eats enough because I make sure we eat a lot of foods that contain protein. Plus he takes Vega everyday. But to tame his worries I decided to make an uncooked protein cookie. I took inspiration from Ani Phyo’s Oatmeal Raisin recipe. I had some cooking oats so I used to food processor to grind them into a flour-like consistency.

Then I blended in the dates with a little bit of water. Next I added the almond butter and vanilla. Its starting to come together!

The next ingredients were the raisins and cinnamon. As my food processor is really small and it was starting to make angry sounds, I decided it was time to use some elbow grease to mix in the remaining ingredients.

The final touch was the Vega . We had the berry flavor which didn't exactly compliment the other flavors in the cookie but we actually really liked the final product...yumm!

Here they are ready for the freezer. You could dehydrate them too if want:) I was really impressed at how versatile this "dough" turned out to be and so now I have a million ideas on how to change up the flavors of these wicked cookies. Maybe add in some goji's or chocolate chips or hemp?? I'm just starting to feel comfortable enough in the kitchen to experiment so I'm pretty proud of these cookies (pat myself on the back haha).

The healthy cookie jar! Hopefully grandma would be proud:)

The hubby gobbling a cookie! I barely had a chance to take the pict.


Here's my very easy recipe
1 Cup Oats ( I used regular cooking oats)
2 Tablespoons Almond Butter
1/2 Cup Dates
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1/4 Cup Raisins
1/2 Scoop Vega Sport (or your favorite protein)
Water as needed

Process the oats in a food processor until you get a flour-like consistency. Add the almond butter and dates. Then combine the remaining ingredients. Add water if the mixture is too dry.

I then placed them on wax paper and placed them in the freezer. I froze mine overnight and then placed them in an airtight container in the fridge. You can dehydrate as well if you wish.

Now for some chocolate!! As I said in my last post, I tried Averies Coconut oil chocolate but mine ended up being a little on the soft side. Averie suggested that I should try it with the agave as that is what she uses. Why did I deviate from this recipe?...I really should have known better..lol! So, I picked up some agave today and gave the recipe another shot. And?? SUCCESS. This chocolate really is amazing! Thanks again Averie for your guidance! The hubby thinks this stuff is deadly and that we will never have to buy chocolate again:) A total winner!




Hope you have a great Friday night and the rest of the weekend:)

Coconut chocolate plus laundry time!

Happy Thursday everyone!

I know chocolate is a HOT topic no matter what diet/lifestyle you follow. I personally love dark chocolate with a cocoa content above 70%. Now that I'm incorporating more raw foods into my diet, I'm very intrigued by all the raw chocolate varieties out there. Seriously, Bitt, Heathy, Averie, Evergreen ,and Carmella, just to name a few, have totally changed my view on chocolate making. I'm so excited to really get down to business in the kitchen and make some chocolate, raw chocolate at that! Yet, I had my eye on a very simple recipe that Averie was raving about on her super, awesome blog, Love Veggies and Yoga. Raw, vegan coconut oil chocolate just seemed too good to be true. I had to try it!


So I followed her really simple directions but I used honey instead of agave. I place it in the fridge to set and that's when my problems began. It would not set and it was sticking to the parchment. I knew I must have done something wrong as this chocolate looked nothing like Averie's final product. It still tasted delicious so we just ate it with a spoon:) I was curious if it was the ingredients I used so I emailed Averie and asked her opinion. She responded with lightening speed and she suspected it was my substitution of the honey for the agave. So I'm going to go pick up some agave and try this ridiculously simple recipe again! Thanks Averie for your insight. And please give this recipe a try..you will love it!


Now onto some non-food related topics...laundry! Ahh..the super fun task we all love, right? Well maybe for some, but I'm really neutral about doing laundry. I live in an apartment so I have to truck my clothes down three flights of stairs and hope that there is a free washer! Yet, I find folding laundry somewhat therapeutic. Maybe it's my perfectionism sneaking to the surface again but there is something about neatly folded towels and clothes that brings me some sense of satisfaction! Are you a laundry lover or fighter? I have been putting off doing our laundry as we were out of soap and I was out of my homemade stuff. I just wasn't feeling inspired to make more but today had me in spring cleaning mode. Maybe its the warm weather outside or the fact that I was out of matching socks, but I got to making a batch of this powdered laundry soup. It took me about 10 minutes to make which is faster than going to the store to buy some! So I really don't know what I waited so long..geesh!

I grated it straight into the ziplock baggie that I use to store the soap in so it makes for a mess-free process. The recipe called for 2 cups grated soap but I just grated about half a bar. You can be more precise and eventually you can eye-ball it.

Then I added 1 Cup of Washing Soda


And finally 1 Cup of Borax

And here is the final product! It's so great and super easy and CHEAP! Plus you know exactly what's in your laundry detergent which is really great. Give it a try this weekend, the washing soda and borax is readily available in many stores. I found them right next to other laundry detergents (the ones that give you a headache to walk by!). I saw the co-op even has the washing soda in bulk if you don't want to buy a huge box.


Back to food for a minute... I'm really glad you all like your salads "dirty" too! Makes for a whole new salad experience! Today I had another dirty salad but I threw together a bunch of ingredients for the dressing and come up with a beautiful dressing! I had a few left over soaked sun-dried tomatoes from making Nikki's hummus so I decided to make a dressing with them. I basically added the tomatoes, olive oil, lemon juice, and a bunch of spices. Very delicious and I really loved the color. You like?



I really should write down what I put in these dressing so I can share them with you! I'll try to remember next time:)


Now, check out my prayer plant. It's been blooming like crazy lately and the flowers are really pretty. Ryan is now calling this plant "his" as he thinks its blooming due to the massive amounts of water he keeps giving it. He waters too much and there is always a puddle on the plate that we have underneath it. HAHA too funny but who know maybe he's right. Or maybe its the glacial rock dust I added awhile back. Have you ever heard of rock dust? Well, its basically rock from glacial regions that is ground up and contains tons of minerals. It's an organic product that the company I work for deals a lot with in organic soil mixes. Anywho..check out this gorgeous bud!





I kept my container inside where I had my oregano and mint growing in the summer. It basically looked dead but this week the mint has made its first appearance.


I love new growth of my plants! It's so cool seeing them come out of the ground and mature. And of course being able to use something that you've grown. Do you have any new growth in your plants/herbs?

I'm headed off to the gym...enjoy the rest of your day:)


PS do you guys use twitter? Do you like/dislike it? I'm debating whether of not to sign-up!

Dirty salad and other food musings plus surprising happiness

Welcome Wednesday!

The middle of the week again..wahoo! Hope your week is going well. I just wanted to send a huge hello to my family and friends who are reading my blog. Thanks everyone and miss you all:) Anywho..my week has been going okay ..the usual work/gym/ sleep routine..nothing too exciting. But what has had me excited is the delicious food I was able to make.

First off, I'm glad you guys are incorporating turmeric into your diet. It really is a power player and I'm happy to have it on my team. Sorry for sports analogy, I guess its the hangover from the Olympics..lol! As I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to try Meghan's turmeric tea. I followed her instructions and used about a teaspoon of turmeric and man was this yummy! Here it is simmering on the stove...great color hey? I think I might have simmered it too long because when I was straining it it was rather thick. I heated up a bit of rice milk and added that and about a half a teaspoon of raw honey. All the glorious cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves tasted so good and you couldn't even taste the turmeric. I will definitely have this again..yumm! I thought I took a grand finale picture but I searched and couldn't find one. So, you will just have to take my word on it!

I read a post this week on Joanna's blog about bringing your salad to the next level. I'm totally game for that! She had some really great ideas and I'm glad my salads contained some of her listed ingredients. Does that make my salad popular (geek alert)? wahoo! Anyways... I did want to try her mustard dressing as Joanna uses apple cider vinegar and I usually go with fresh lemon juice in my dressings. I liked the dressing but I've come to realize I can't handle too much ACV, its just too sour for my liking. So, I had some "pulp" left over from making the turmeric tea and so I thought I would just add a bit to tone down the sourness. It turned out amazing. So, thanks Joanna for the inspiration! So, I needed some awesome salad to go along with this crazy dressing. I came up with my "dirty" salad. No, I do wash my produce! The dirty part has to do with the kelp powder and intense amounts of dried oregano and basil on top. All in all this salad rocked. It was pretty basic as it only contained romaine lettuce, carrots, cabbage, broccoli but with the dressing..I was in heaven. So good!

I also made Nikki's totally awesome sun-dried tomato zucchini hummus. We are truly addicted to this stuff! The flavor is so unique that I don't think I could enjoy regular hummus ever again (yep, that good!).

If you have a hard time digesting tahini or chick peas from regular hummus, Gena of Choosing Raw just did an awesome post on a more digestion-friendly hummus. So check it out!

For dinner, I blended up a soup from Carmella's blog named Indian Carrot Curry Soup. This was so good and nourishing for our post-workout meal. I had been craving Indian food and this so this was the perfect fit! Raw soups don't have to be scary! If you want something super easy and Delicious give this recipe a try. It literally took me 10 minutes...that's about an hour or so of time saved if you were to make a cooked soup. Bonus! I followed her instructions to blend the ingredients in two batches..and she was right, my blender was full to the brim each time. This makes a lot of soup but its a good thing because you will want more than one bowl. We each had a bowl for dinner and we each had it today for lunch. There is only one bowl left and its going to be a fight as to who gets to eat it...lol. By the way, I usually win those fights (Ryan might say otherwise but that's not important)! I'm loving recipes from Carmella blog. I tried the chocolate-dipped date truffles in this post, and Ryan and I still talk about them. I will be making them again real soon...yumm! So, head on over to The Sunny Raw Kitchen and try something..you will not be disappointed:)

The best of both worlds is what I called my lunch today! Hummus with Ryvita crackers and curry carrot soup. The hubby added some left over quinoa for a little boost in the protein department. mmm!

Back to dinner...We finished off with some cute over-sized chocolate chips from the co-op that are vegan and organic with 70% cocoa. They were so Delicious and the perfect way to end the day:)

My next foodie adventure was to make my own trail mix. The store I usually get it from was out so I decided that it was a good time to experiment. I bought natural almonds, raw cashews, organic dried cranberries, and organic raisins. I had some raw pumpkin seeds and raw sunflower seeds at home so I thought I would use some of these as well. I soaked all the nuts and seeds overnight.

I then had to leave them spread out on plates and baking sheets to air dry as I don't have a dehydrator. I quickly realized this was going to take too long so I put them in the over, turned the heat on low for a bit then turned off the oven. This was way more efficient (duh!). Aren't those almonds huge? They pretty much doubled in size after soaking them!

Ta-da..the final product! It made so much that I'm going to have to go buy a larger glass storage container as it wouldn't fit into anything I had on hand. One down side was that I really wish I could have dehydrated the nuts and seeds so I could get that "crunch" that I associate with trail mixes. Next time I think I will leave out the cashews and maybe go for a brazil nut or pecans. I would add more raisins and cranberries or maybe add some goji berries. The possibilities are endless! I felt like I went back to an older time where you had to make everything you eat. So, I definitely felt more connected to my food. Have you made something that made you feel more in touch with your food?

So, I really didn't measure what I used so I'm not sure how to determine if it was cheaper to make my trail mix or buy it..but I'm going try.

sunflower seeds - $1.00

Pumpkin Seeds - $.50 (didn't have much left)

Almonds - $3.71

Cashews - $ 2.19

Cranberries - $0.88

Raisins - $1.00

TOTAL = $9.28

I'm thinking that it's about the same price as the trail mix I currently buy but everything in this mix is organic. So if I compare it to organic trail mix prices, I think it's a better deal. Gotta love that!

Have you tried making your own trail mix? How did it go?

Last but not least, I tried a new kind of chewing gum that I picked up at the co-op. It is sweetened with xylitol which is, according to their website, ".....a naturally occurring sugar-alcohol found in corn cobs and stalks, and is shown to reduce tooth decay by up to 80%." The good thing is it is non-GMO but I'm still a bit iffy about corn sugars. Although, I think using xylitol is better than aspartame or sucralose. So, have you tried Spry gum? Or is there a gum you recommend?



So, what's my surprise happiness? Well, I wrote about my woes with our current tenants last week. Now, this week we decided to side with them and go ahead with a large repair that was not necessary (even though they claimed it was vital. We called them to make sure the time was okay. Then about 2 hours later they call back and say they are moving out..this month. Seriously, these people are all over the map. Good thing we could cancel the repair but not we have to find new tenants. Yet, amongst this mess I am smiling because they are leaving. Huge relief! At least I'm more prepared for looking at new tenants!

Well that about sums up my week so far! It's been fun! Hope the rest of your week goes well. I'm going to leave off with a picture of the King...well at least the king in our house...lol

My favorite spice+ Ch-ch-ch Chia seed giveaway:)

Happy Monday everyone,


Welcome to March:) Ahh..one of my favorite months. Now I'm being a bit selfish here as my birthday is only 14 days away but I do have other reasons as well (albeit not as exciting as celebrating being one more year older). March is that month I look forward to because I can start hiking again, spring clothes are showing up in store windows, and I can start to buy seeds. I'm definitely a spring lover, even if it means nothing but rain for a month or two...its better than snow and ice. Are you seeing signs of spring in your hood? I saw tulips coming up in a garden bed the other day and the birds are chirping like crazy:) Loving it!!


I grew up with a mom who loved to use all kinds of spices! She is a great cook and rarely needs a recipe to make flavors pop! I am very jealous of her talents and hope that one day I will know which herbs go well together and which don't. I have a good teacher to help me with that one:) One spice that she introduced me to was turmeric. That bright orange/yellow spice that gives curry its glorious color and your hands if you don't watch out..lol! As we know with many whole foods, their color can be associated with powerful molecules that is usually good for us. For example, beta-carotene which is the red-orange pigment found in fruits and veggies. Beta-carotene is converted in the body to vitamin A which is an antioxidant and is very important for maintenance of your eyes (plus many other uses). When it comes to turmeric, the active ingredient that gives it that stunning color is curcumin. According to Natural News, curcumin brings order to the cell membrane which makes the cell more resistant to infection. That's right, turmeric "organizes" your cell membrane. How cool is that? I recently listened to an audio between David Wolf and Dr. Mercola and the doc said that curcumin is going to be one of the most talked about molecules in 2010. This must be powerful stuff. Turmeric has so many health benefits that it would take more than one post to write about them all. So, if you want to know a bunch of health benefits to this yellow powder check out Meghan's blog or this article by the National Post. My mom swears by this stuff if she is not feeling well. She adds it to her homemade broths.


I love adding turmeric to almost everything. Salads, soups, dressings, casseroles, curries, stir-fry, and dips all benefit from this beautiful spice. One reason I love it is because it is so versatile and its flavor is not overpowering. I add a lot and I don't taste it as other herbs I add are more potent in the taste department. It basically gives everything a yellow tinge...like the sun! I just picked up a half of a jar of organic turmeric for less than $2. It's so easy to find and cheap! So the next time you are down the spice isle pick up some and start sprinkling!

PS Meghan has this awesome recipe for turmeric tea that sounds so amazing. I'm definitely going to give it a try.

PPS Bitt is having a giveaway of 2lbs of chia seeds from Chia Seeds Direct! Yumm...chia seeds are da bomb (lol) and so jam packed with nutrients, especially omega 3's! So get on over to her blog and enter.



Have a great rest of the week and don't forget to pass the turmeric on your dinner table!