Interesting attempts

I wanted to make pumpkin muffins so bad today, so I was going to "healthy" them up by making them vegan. I went to the kitchen and low and behold no baking powder!! Ugh!! Life over.

Not really. Life hand you no baking powder, you make raw pumpkin bars! I am 99% sure I now know why there isn't many raw recipes with pumpkin in them... They don't set up very well! I took a "basic" larabar recipe and put my own bippity boppity boo on it and add pumpkin, nutmeg, all spice, cinnamon and raisins to them. All looked and tasted fantastic! Then I realized with how warm it is in Hawaii these bars won't hold up. I froze them, sliced a few up, let them thaw for a minute and ate. They tasted like pumpkin pie without the crust! Pretty good! Next time I may turn this into a pie.

Dinner was interesting. Made sweet potato wontons in spring roll wrappers. Served with a spicy garlic sauce. They looked awful, but tasted really good!!


Pictures: pumpkin bar and the creepy looking dinner.

Always check your nuts!

Stock of nuts that is!! I was all set to make these chocolate mint truffles and realized I didn't check my supply of nuts. It called for a cup of cashews, I didn't have that, but I had a little more than half, and had Mac nuts so I used those. Anyway, it all turned out, next time I will use mint extract rather than fresh mint.

Breakfast was a juice of beets/kale/carrots/apples. Beets. Yes beets. I keep seeing and reading of these awesome veggies. Um gross. They are pretty with the red juice, but that's about it. They taste like dirt. Really. Dirt. But I drank that sunset colored drink down!

Lunch I munched on Licious Dishes flax thins, and made a chipotle sun dried tomato dip that was great!

Dinner had a bean burrito at home with salsa. Eh.

Went to yoga!! Felt really good to go back! Missed the past two weeks, but I am back. Also weighed in today. Didn't gain what I thought I did while my parents were here. I am still the same, but clothes feel icky. So... I am getting strict and will update you weekly on the numbers.

Pictures:
Inside truffles, dipped truffles, dip I had for lunch and juice.

Hiatus

Yes, hiatus till oct. 8th. Swear. I WILL be back and full on. But for now, eating my way through the island. That's what you do when you have family/friends in town. Told ya, I am not 100% raw/veg. ;) maybe I will show you what I have been eating while touring..

Holy yum!

After this weekend fail I decided to get back on track full force, well until this weekend, but I will take it easy and explain later (does happy dance).

Breakfast was ok. It was green leaf lettuce, cumquats, carrots, cucumber and a pear. I drank half, rushed out the door took 6yo to school and 3yo (omg she is 3!!) to the park. Sitting at the park with the besties (waves) and a lawnmower goes by... The smell of fresh grass reminded me of my juice. The smell, the juice tasted just how I imagined the grass tasted. Not like I went grazing on grass!

One bestie and I went to Costco, and Starbucks. While at Starbucks we watched the Zumba ladies, um, mad props to those that do this, I would fall over.

Lunch was leftovers. Had walnut "taco meat" on a bed of greens, raw enchilada sauce, cheez, and avocados.

Next up was the yummilicious dinner I semi made up. I sprouted quinoa today and used this as the base. I cut up the delicious green olives that look like little limes (sister, you know the ones!) kalamata olives, tomatoes, cucumber added capers cheez sauce from last night that reminded me of feta, and a shake of garlic powder. Um. Yum. It was SO good!! Hubs made a burrito with leftover mystery jar items I made this weekend (cheez, red pepper cheez) and beans, he tasted mine and said "if I had known that was going to taste so good I would not have made this!". Score!!

Tomorrow wont be fancy. I may make chocolate mint truffles. We shall see. Kids requested sushi night (raw made last week).

Baaaad

I slipped, I did awful, I feel baaaaad. Not just bad mentally because I "cheated", but physically bad. It all started Friday...

Friday was MNI (moms night in, friends get together at someones house for potluck) I was gung-ho and ready to eat even though I came armed with a salad, home made raspberry dressing and a RAW chocolate raspberry cake with chocolate ganache. But.. I caved. I went downhill really fast. Bread baked with ooey gooey cheese and olives (yes, I know I mainly ate the olives) the devils that were these ham and cheese sandwiches with this butter sauce stuff soaked in, stinky cheese (weakness!!!) and the stupidly delish trifle with peanut butter cups. That was only like half the food.

Then... Saturday comes.. Tea at a tea house with those stupid yummy finger sandwiches! The silly little yummy dessert tray, the ridiculous delicious scone.

Yeah, downhill real fast.

Today. New day! Trail mix cookie for breakfast. G-free vegan pizza for lunch and a coffee, dinner was Ani Phyo's "wet burrito", that is cabbage as a bowl, walnut "meat" mixed with garlic, braggs liquid amino, salt, cumin, coriander, a cheez which I used Mac nuts, lemon juice, garlic and water, a guacamole, and a enchilada sauce made of tomatoes, garlic, onion, cilantro, jalapeño and salt. Had an hour sesh at yoga in the park which was needed!! (thank you grasshopper!) Dessert will be a slice of that raspberry chocolate ganache cake.

Tomorrow: good day!!

Awesome food day!!

Okay, I made so seriously delicious items today thanks to Ani Phyo. Love her!! The 6 year old ate his dinner faster than I could plate mine!! He had four rolls then a plate of rice! Kid.can.eat! Bear (3) did good, she did take the nori off and say she didn't want it, but she ate the carrots, cucumbers, avocado and special sauce made of Braggs liquid aminos, apple cider vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, grated pear and agave (amazing). The kids and hubs had real rice, I had "rice", which was turnips, cashews and apple cider vinegar. It was really really tasty! Oh!! My rolls also had mushrooms marinated in that yummy sauce!

I also made Ani's raw trail mix cookies, TDF (to die for)!!! They have a mix of walnuts, almonds, salt, cinnamon, dates raisins and sunflower seeds. That is it!! Kids are eating them up!!!

My breakfast was scrambled eggs, snack was olives and those crazy good marinated mushrooms from Whole Foods (olive bar!), lunch.. Um, well I was seriously stuffed from the olives and mushrooms, I didn't eat.

I also made a batch if cake balls shaped like cupcakes for my sons Lazy Day at school tomorrow. Snacks and movies! Fun!!

I wear my sunglasses while I cook.

Yes, you read that right! I broke them out after my almond issue the other day, and the sun beating in the window.

First things first, the ice kreme I made is ok. I still have the nut texture going on so obvi I didn't blend those suckers long enough. It tasted good though! Lesson of the day: BLEND!!

Breakfast today was: pineapple (fresh from the farmers market!) dried coconut, Mac nuts, and a little agave.

Lunch: I had a Japanese yam. I had no clue what to do with the bugger. I cut the sucker up, turn the oven to 450, tossed the yam with EVOO, garlic powder and salt, then put them on a cookie sheet. 15/20 mins later they were done. Lesson: if you make them, keep an eye on them. Sone of mine burnt. I was too bust watching "The Rachel Zoe Project" and forgot about them. They still tasted good!

Dinner: spaghetti made two ways. I used the lasagna recipe from Chef Russell James of the raw chef, but turned it to spaghetti for the kids. The twist for the second was I used kelp noodles. Lesson: I have a texture issue with the kelp noodles and the fact they are from the ocean. Kids like kelp noodles and nothing else. Hubs loved everything and had seconds.

Strange thing going on. When I jumped to Raw foods only the first week of trying my eye had an issue. It ran like a leaky faucet. Not fun, and I was uber sleepy. I figured "detox". So now I had more raw foods again, guess what?! Leaky eye. Same eye. Strange?

Dessert is my downfall. If you have a good raw/healthy dessert please let me know. I am awful and have three fatty desserts waiting in my fridge that my lovely hubs picked up when I asked him to stop and get me EVOO. We are talking Shortcake, eclair, and tiramisu... Baaaaad.

Here is Russell's blog and recipe: http://therawchef.com/therawchefblog/lasagne-recipe super yummy, just watch the garlic, and I LOVE garlic.

Till tomorrow!

Wear safety goggles! Almonds are deadly.

A PSA, FYI whatever. I am a klutz, but I am sure those that read this know that. Big SHOCKER!! Yesterday as I was grinding almonds up with agave, and water (yes, that's all!) to make Ice Kreme, I got hit in the eye with an almond and agave on my face. Now, how does this happen to one? One friend (hi!! Grasshopper!) asked why I didn't have the lid on the blender and said "safety first mom!". Funny thing is, I did have the lid on! I was blending away (with the lid secure) and when it was done, I removed the lid and an air bubble had formed and as my eyes looked over the rim one of the almonds jumped out to save it's life from becoming a yummy ice kreme and hit me in the eye ball! Dude! Really?! Only me. The funny thing is, I have a window right where my blending area is and the sun was going down and hitting me in the eye ( no pun intended) and I thought to myself I should put my sunglasses on. Yeah should have.

Ice kreme setting up, will let you know all about it tomorrow! Today's food was not fun. One word "Groats" sound like gross, and that's what it was, pictured below. I think I actually gagged a bite down. It tasted like wheatgrass, and was to be like oatmeal. Yeah right. Lunch was cheez sauce (made in post below) with Flax crackers made by Licious Dishes (nom nom) dinner... Um. Yeah it was taco Tuesday down the street. I had a fish taco, grilled though!! Snacks were an orange, pear, and a nasty wrongly made Starbucks.

Sour Kreme and cheez sauce

Making tacos tonight, I have been making Raw Tacos a lot lately, but I want to try tofu "meat" tonight in them. Here is how I turn cashews into sour kreme and cheez.
Take cashews, lemon, salt to taste, a splash of white wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar and blend the crap out of it adding water as needed to get the texture you want!

I filled a mason jar up and had a tad leftover in it, tossed in a chopped up red bell pepper, some chili pepper flakes, and garlic powder and blended that up, and added water as needed. Bam! Shazam! We have cheez and kreme for our tacos!

I am serving this to the kiddos tonight, let's hope they like!

In the future I will attempt to do one post with food pics from the day, but since I started today, you get my dinner.

Okay so, dinner was a fail. I mean the kids ate, but I wasn't a fan. I can not for the life of me do anything with tofu! If you have any ideas, please fill me in! Oh! I made ice kreme tonight, will fill you in tomorrow!

A rawtastic journey

Hey there! This blog will be basically info for myself, and others that care to follow along with me on this journey. I am learning more and more about "food" and what I have been finding, I am not a fan of and can not imagine continuing to put this stuff in my body, or my families. This will document our lifestyle change to become healthy and mostly chemical and toxin free. I say mostly, well, because I am sure we all slip at some points. Now let me say, I don't think this will be a 100% raw "diet" (I hate that word), but mostly a mix of vegetarian, vegan, raw. My husband and six year old do not want to give up milk or cheese, so I will accommodate, plus I enjoy a good coffee, and pastry once in awhile. I am learning about this along the way, and be nice, I am new to all of this. I was a carne asada fry lover not long ago.

Pictures of my food making will come along with the posts, but for today I have had a green juice made of spinach, carrots, and an apple. Lunch has been brown rice, tofu grilled with red peppers, my three year old thought it was Kalbi Steak, off to a good start!

By the way, I am reading the "Skinny Bitch" so that is helping with the no meat for sure! This book has not made me decide to change, it was actually a local company here in Hawaii that makes delish raw food called Licious Dishes. They are amazingly good and inspired me to try making raw foods at home.

Grab a seat, and I welcome you to follow us on this Rawtastic Journey!

(I need to add, I am not a writer at all, and know my grammar will be a big issue here.)