On the High Raw Road..

This week I was having a bad craving for one of my favorite types of food, MEXICAN! I kept it high raw and made Ani Phyo's Rawcos. I added a chopped pepper, scallions, tomatoes and avocado and put them in cabbage leafs then folded them like a taco shell. Along side some wild brown rice with the left over raw veggies mixed in. Perfect!
I have been drinking green juice just about everyday now. I am totally hooked! This one is romaine, apple, lemon, cucumber. I used a whole head of romaine. I am trying to be as healthy as possible. I don't want any Crohn's problems, and I am also trying to prepare for pregnancy (which isn't probably for another year..so don't get to excited!). But I feel like the earlier I start preparing, the better!

For lunch one day this week I made a sandwich on sprouted grain bread. I used cucumbers, avocado, sprouts, sun dried tomatoes and some mustard. YUM! Best sandwich I've had in awhile.. actually, only sandwich I've had in a while..ha ha!

Here's a picture of it all ready to be eaten! I love the crisp the cucumber gives it! Who need mayo when you have avocado, nature's butter!

Last night for dinner I made a big kale salad with avocado and sprouts. I added some roasted potatoes to it for a little oomph! Turned out delicious. I just love kale salads!

I hope everyone is having a great week! Seems like it's flying by! Can't wait to spend time with my in laws and T on the weekend!

A Recipe and a Slumdog Fan

Last night was our "Italian Night" I made Pasta Puttanesca..not following a recipe, we had it over vegetable bow tie pasta. Here's what I did:

Lauren's Puttanesca Sauce (sorry no measurements)
Olive Oil
Garlic
Onion
Sun Dried Tomatoes
Capers
Artichoke Hearts
Olives
Jarred Tomatoes
Basil
Hot Pepper
Basil
Pepper and Salt to taste

Cook garlic and onion in olive oil until light brown, add hot pepper cook for another minute. Add sun dried tomatoes, capers, chopped olives, & rinsed artichoke hearts, cook for 8 minutes. Add tomatoes basil and salt and pepper to taste. Let sit covered for 25 min. Serve over pasta!
I got this lovely soy candle over the weekend. I wanted something more Spring like, since I am totally over Winter! The scent is Passion Fruit Flower.

Today for lunch I made a big salad with everything I had left over from last week. I used kale, cabbage, cauliflower, sprouts, avocado, olive oil and ground pepper. This was so filling!

I wasn't feeling very well today (my tummy was hurting, but not in a "Crohn's" way). I wasn't up for the salad I had planned for tonight. Instead I made some broccoli rabe and wild brown rice. I feel much better now! Broccoli rabe is my comfort food!

Did anyone catch the Oscars last night? I was so happy that Slumdog Millionaire won! It was such a great movie! T and I saw it with his parents and we all haven't stopped raving about it (we saw it 3 weeks ago). Love Love Love it! :)

Ginger: EXPOSED..SHOCKING PICTURES!! :)

I had lots of leftover Chopped Cauliflower Salad (see my previous post for more on this), so for lunch the next day I added sun dried tomatoes and hummus and rolled it into a few cabbage leaves and had wraps! YUM!! This was so delicious! I've probably said this many times but I love raw wraps!
T took a pic of Ginger and I the other day before our walk. My sister said I am exposing her for all to see...ha ha! Poor Ginger, she's a little playmate. HA HA!Today I made a big batch of green juice for today and tomorrow. I used a whole head of kale, 3 huge broccoli stems, half of a cucumber, 2 and a half apples and some ginger. This is so tasty!! I have been addicted to green juice lately.

Tonight we did our grocery shopping at Whole Foods. I have been having mean cravings for some sushi! So I got multi-grain rice avocado/cucumber sushi. This hit the spot!

After dinner I made a raw milk-shake. Half of an avocado, one banana, cacao powder, 3 dried figs and coconut water. It's in the freezer right now, I am going to have it when it gets all frothy! Mmmm, can't wait!

Have a great weekend everyone! Remember to get out and get some fresh air and Vitamin D, even though it's FREEEEZING!! :)

Crunch, Crunch, Slurp, Slurp

I've been eating a lot more raw these days. Seems like I am "over" being cold and eating salad puts my mind in Spring mode. Although today was sleet and rain all day!

The other night I made a big salad and added some marinated tofu. I have been craving tofu more lately. I don't like to eat a lot of it because of the whole soy being controversial thing.. but once in a while I do enjoy it! Also in this salad: sun dried tomatoes, olives, avocado, sprouts, and cooked sugar snap peas.
Here's a juice from earlier in the week: pineapple, collards, lemon, ginger.

And here's one from today: Kale, Apple, Pineapple, Lemon, Ginger

Along with my juice I made a sprout salad. I used crunchy and alfalfa sprouts, sun dried tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, kale, lemon juice and olive oil. So tasty!

Tonight for dinner I made Wendy's Chopped Cauliflower Salad from the Renegade Health Show. I added avocado and didn't use radishes. This was super yummy! T kept going back for more. I have some left..can't wait for lunch tomorrow!! I think I will roll it up in cabbage and collard leaves..yum! I suggest making this if you want something raw besides a regular salad.

Okay I am off to hit the treadmill (my second workout of the day!). Feeling good is so wonderful!! :) I am truly blessed!

Gosh, everyone I know is turning veggie!!!

Yesterday T and I went to a local farm to check out some garden stuff. This will be our first Spring/Summer in our house so we are super excited to finally have a garden! We plan on it being all organic and natural, no chemicals for us! Anyway, I picked up some figs at the garden center-my favorite!
Then we went to Whole Foods where I made a huge salad! Mostly all raw except for hearts of palm, beans, and some curried cauliflower. So filling!

Last night was "Italian Night" for us. We made brown rice spaghetti with sun dried tomatoes and broccoli! This was to die for!! T is still talking about this today! Mmm!

I got a lovely surprise today, my coconut butter that I won from HiHoRosie and Yardsnacker arrived!!! So creamy and rich, I am going to add some to my smoothie in the morning, can't wait!

Today (and tomorrow) I am off. My sister came by to see my house for the first time and we hit up Trader Joes. She has never been there and is slowly transition into a vegetarian/vegan (she eats fish and chicken 2 times a week). Anyway, I made her get a bunch of vegan stuff so she can see how easy it is. She even got tempeh! I hope she likes it! I also let her borrow every vegan cookbook I own, she should have no problem with finding something to make!

P.S. T is still vegetarian, strong and proud!!!! :)

Will you be my VALENTINE?

My Valentine's day started off quite well when I answered the door to this box..
Beautiful organic long stem roses from T (of course!). These flowers are so beautiful and no chemicals added to harm the fun!

Then after that I got the Gnosis Raw Chocolate special edition Valentine's Day bar I won from yardsnacker and hihorosie! (I am totally on a winning streak, I also won some coconut butter from them in a different contest!)

We went to the flower and garden show, which was really amazing. Sorry, I forgot to take some pictures of the displays. It was so enchanting and beautiful!

For dinner, T and I stayed in and cooked together. We made garlic and herb brown rice with broccolini and fried tofu. These came out so amazing!! I just love adding lemon on top of broccoli (regular, rabe, and broccolini). It's a match made in heaven (just like T and I!)..HA!

After dinner we headed to the city to Lula's Sweet Apothecary. T ordered a Flurry with peanut butter cups (sorry no pic, he inhaled to fast!). I got a classic sundae. I chose 2 flavors (peanut butter chocolate chip cookie and s'mores) with creme filled cookie and hot fudge on top! They also added some soy whip cream, sprinkles, and a cherry on top! WOW! This was the best vegan ice cream we had both ever had (besides Pure Food and Wine of course). Definitely check out Lula's if you are ever in NYC. AMAZING! :)

That was our Valentine's Day, I hope everyone else had a great one! I am off the next couple of days, so expect to hear more from me soon! :)

Pre-Valentine Post

Heidi from HiHoRosie's Place has given me an award! I am so honored, thanks again Heidi! In honor of it I have to post 7 things I love, so here it goes..

1. My Husband! He is so loving, caring and supportive. He makes me a better person everyday. I don't know what I would do without him by my side.
2. Ginger! Ginger is one of the reasons I went vegan. I never understood how people could love their animals like they love their children..that is until I feel in love with a pug! She's made such a difference in my life, just by being herself. I've never felt so much love for an animal. I love her like I love my family!
3. Speaking of family.. my family, both mine and T's. I've been up and down with my own, but in the end all is forgiven. And as for T's family, I can't even go there. My life is impacted so greatly from their love. My mother in law is like a soul mate friend. One who just "gets you."
4. My life. Even though I struggle with Crohn's, I wouldn't trade my life for the world. I truly am blessed.
5. God, Jesus, religion in general. Prayer has gotten me through so much in my life. I feel being spiritual has made everything so much easier to deal with.
6. My house! Who would have guessed at just 24 years old I would buy a house! Wow! Like I said, I am blessed.
7. Trees. Something about trees is just remarkable to me. I am in awe when I look at a tree, leaves or no leaves, there's a beauty in the way it grows so tall and sturdy. A little saying I made up: Grow outward like a tall tree, keep your roots but sprout your leaves.

So now I have to nominate 7 people. This is so hard!!! I love so many blogs, I am just going to randomly pick SOME of my favorites:

Heather of Kombucha Chic

Katy of Legally Vegan

Miss V's Vegan Cookbook

Jessy of HappyVeganFace

Synthia of A Vegan on Stage

Veggie Girl

Paulina of Veggie Delight

Post 7 things you love and then give this award to 7 other people. Feel free not to participate, it's just for fun!

I wanted to make my next post dedicated to Valentine's Day so I am posting the pictures from today so I wouldn't forget about them.

This morning I made the most delicious green smoothie. I got the recipe from a free e-book I got on Go Raw Have Fun, it's a green pina-colada. It consists of pineapple, kale (I didn't have spinach, which it called for), orange, and banana. I added some hemp seeds and bee pollen for an extra boost. Totally a summer smoothie, in February!
For lunch I made a wrap with cabbage instead of collards. I like the cabbage wraps better, it's thicker and you get more of a crunch. I filled this one with whole grain mustard, cucumber, pea shoots, sun dried tomatoes, ground pepper and rawmesan. I've had a little cold all week. Tonight I felt like some comfort food. I made my favorite: Pasta Fagioli. I've made this many times in the past but this time I added some kale to it. YUM! This was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. T was in awe the whole time, saying "This is the best you've ever made.." Have a nice weekend everyone! Thanks for all the advice on the ads. I think I am going to put it off for now, but you never know, you might see them pop up sooner or later...

Opinions and Ideas

What does everyone think of google ads? My friend told me to ad them to my blog for a little revenue (who doesn't need that!). But I wasn't sure how I felt about it and if the ads would be to my liking. Opinions NEEDED! :)

The other night I made something I picked up at Trader Joe's. It was jarred Ratatouille, I added some spices and kale to it and put it over wild rice. It had a lot of flavor and came out better than any Ratatouille I've ever made.
Once again, my favorite lunch, with a new spin. Kale salad with avocado, sun dried tomatoes, hemp seeds, pea shoots, and cauliflower. It reminded me of the Italian flag! Gotta represent my ancestors! Ha ha!

Yesterday was so beautiful here. It was almost 70 degrees! T and I took Ginger for a nice long walk before dinner. It was so nice to get out in nature and breath some fresh air. I can't wait for Spring!

Last night I made a big salad with artichoke hearts, pea shoots, cauliflower, sun dried tomatoes, cucumber and olives. YUM! On the side, some sweet potato fries.

This morning I made Buckwheat Groat cereal with a banana, half an apple, Hunza raisins, almonds, pistachios, bee pollen, chia seeds and sprinkled it with cinnamon. No milk needed, this was amazing!

What is everyone doing for Valentine's Day? T and I usually don't go out to eat (we did for many years and always felt rushed and that the food wasn't good). So once again we are making a meal together. Send me your ideas! Right now I am thinking broccoli rabe and tofu over risotto. Since I never have tofu anymore, I thought it would be a nice treat. Before dinner we are going to a flower and garden show in the area and after dinner we are going to Lula's Sweet Apothecary, an all vegan old fashion ice cream shop in NYC! Can't wait!

Sideways..

Some of the pictures in this post are sideways. Still can't figure out why this happens. Makes me so mad!

Anyway, Sunday night was our "Italian Night" we made escarole and beans (white navy beans since the store didn't have any canellini) and we put it over sprouted grain pasta and sprinkle Parma-Rawmesan on top. My plate was mostly beans and escarole, hence the reason you don't see much pasta. This was soooo good and filling!! We usually have it as a soup, or just by itself as a dish so it was nice to change it up.
I made the most amazing smoothie yesterday morning: frozen berries, a banana, some Young Thai coconut meat and water, bee pollen, chia seeds, hemp nuts, flax seed, and pro-biotic powder. I didn't eat again for 5 hours! Talk about a meal!

My lunch yesterday was another kale salad. This time I added pea sprouts, sun dried tomatoes, lemon juice and raw crackers. Can't wait for lunch so I can have this bad boy again! :)

Dinner last night was a big mesclun salad with avocado, sun dried tomatoes, cucumber, olives, artichoke hearts and sprouts. Along side I made some raw mashed potatoes. I got the idea from another recipe but did my own thing in the end. I used raw cauliflower, pine nuts, olive oil, Parma Rawmesan, sea salt, ground pepper, garlic seasoning and chives. Put it all in the blender and there you have it: Raw Mashed Potatoes.

Have a lovely Tuesday everyone! I am a busy busy girl today..gotta get into gear! :)

A taste of Spring...?

Finally some warm weather here in NJ! We took the opportunity to spend as much time outdoors as possible. Especially today when the high was 55! Whoohoo! :) T and I did some shopping in town and I got a Calvin Klein Khaki trench for the Spring for only $69.99, it was love at first site and when I tried on the small and it was to big I almost cried.. I knew they would never have an extra small left..but they did!! Double whoohoo! I also got a really cute dress for my brother in laws confirmation in April and a cute tee that has a few attached necklace chains.. really cute! Anyway, lots of food, so I won't bore you...

Juice of the day on Friday: 2 apples, 1/2 a cucumber, collards, lemon and yellow carrots. I enjoyed this while reading my new issue of Get Fresh! I was so excited they had this at the health food store. I really need to subscribe!
Friday night dinner: Kale salad with sun dried tomatoes. I am obsessed!!

We also had some Rising Moon Organics garlic and roasted veggie filled ravioli with tomato sauce on top. T and I use to buy these all the time.. it was always our Friday night meal. But since eating more raw we haven't been getting them. I had a craving and picked them up last time I was at Whole Foods. I just love these!

Dessert? Raw chocolate pudding! I mashed up 2 bananas, some raw golden raisins and cacao powder in the blender, refrigerated for an hour, then sprinkled some more raisins on top for garnish. Simple and delish!

Yesterday we went back to Kaya's Kitchen for lunch. I ordered the Rasta Mist: kale, lemon, ginger, carrot, celery and apple. It was really spicy and warming! Mmm! T's arm had to be in the picture..he was showing you the lovely juice..ha ha!

I also ordered the Avocado Salad: avocado, romaine, sunflower seeds, cucumber, carrots, sprouts, cherry tomatoes and bell peppers. I ordered the cucumber ranch dressing, which was really creamy! Loved this salad!

At the health food store yesterday I saw they had individual packs of Vega Powder. I saw all the vitamins and minerals in it and decided to buy it to try out in a smoothie. I bought the chocolate flavor and blended it with 2 bananas, coconut water, and a small handful of frozen berries. Mmm... so chocolaty! I don't think I would purchase a big jar of it, but I would try out the other flavors and buy the individual packs once in a while. Anyone ever try these? I think it's raw, but I wasn't positive..?

Tonight is our Italian meal night (not that most of our food during the week isn't, but it's our "special meal" night). So I will post that meal and some others in my next post! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday everyone!

Everybody's working for the weekend..

Ha ha, that song always reminds me of Chris Farely and Patrick Swayze trying out for chippendales on SNL.. so funny!

I have been blogging a lot more lately. Maybe it's boredom, or maybe it's all the yummy dishes I have been making! Who knows! Anyway, we are suppose to have a beautiful weekend here, I am so excited. I'll take 50 degrees over 18 any day!

Here's something I made for dinner the other night. High raw burritos! I wrapped avocado, scallions, red pepper, cherry tomatoes and some cooked wild rice in collard leaves and made burritos. Then as a side dish I used the rest of the wild rice and added the left over raw veggies for some crunch. Not totally raw, but I was aiming for high raw.
Here's a picture of one of the wraps. I didn't add rice to every wrap, just a couple. They were so filling and delicious. I just love raw Mexican food... who am I kidding? I love ALL vegan Mexican food!

Yesterday I made a kale salad for lunch. I added the left over raw veggies from the night before, some avocado, lemon, and sun dried tomatoes. So amazing!! I am obsessed with massaged kale salads. You can do whatever you want with it, it always comes out amazing!

My juice of the day yesterday: 1 apple, 1 lemon, 1/2 a cucumber, and collards. Nice and tart. So refreshing and detoxifying.

Last night I made my only cooked meal of the week. It was suppose to be a kale salad on the side, but the last of my kale looked a little wilted. Not very appetizing. So instead I defrosted a soup I made a few months back and added some of the kale to it (it was fine as long as I cooked it, it was in no shape to be eaten raw). On the side I made green beans with almonds sauteed in olive oil and garlic. Yum!

I am looking forward to the weekend and will have lots of food to post when I get back from my in laws. Stay tuned and have a wonderful positive weekend everyone!