Live it up, RAW!

I went to the doctor on Monday. He said he doesn't want me to start weaning from the Prednisone until I stop getting up at night. I am already improving big time so we will see how long. I am hoping less then a month.

After my doctors appointment I stopped at the health food store to pick something up for dinner (I had a late appointment and wasn't in the mood to cook). I bought a raw soft shell taco by Awesome Foods. This was pretty good, although a little dry.. I think it needed some salsa.
Here it is out of the package. It was pretty big and filling. I had a green juice along side of it to round out my meal.

Speaking of green juice, I can't get enough of it lately! Here's one I made for lunch yesterday: kale, clementine and orange. Sweet and tart. Perfect for the 90 degree day we had!

Also for lunch, I through together a veggie bowl. This was sprouts, avocado, Parma, sun dried tomatoes, olives and raw crackers. So tasty!

Last night for dinner I made my favorite: Rawcos! This time I had them on romaine leafs and raw crackers. I added avocados, onion, tomato and olives. In case you haven't noticed, I can't get enough of raw Mexican food!

Have a fabulous day everyone! I've got to get a move on, lots of errands and things to do today! Happy Hump Day!

Long weekend and feeling good!

First of all, thank you all so very much for the kind words, thoughts and prayers. Your support means so much to me and friends make blogging so worth it! :) I started Prednisone on Friday and already feel much much better. I will be seeing my doctor tomorrow to see how long I will be on it and what the next step is. A few of you mentioned avoided raw food while I wasn't feeling well and believe me, I always do. Last week I didn't eat anything raw, in fact, yesterday was the first time I felt well enough to enjoy raw food again. When I don't feel well it's plain, plain, plain meals. Hence my lack of posts lately.

Anyway, on Friday night I had my little brother in laws conformation and on Saturday my other brother in law (he's my age, 25), got engaged to his girlfriend!!! We are so extremely happy that it FINALLY happened! We even had them over today (along with my in laws) for a little lunch, champagne (non for me!) and strawberries. So exciting!! Of course it was almost 95 degrees today!!

Below is my dinner from last night. Some baked veggies (eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, peppers) and a small side salad.
I've been in a sweet mood lately, which is unusual because I am not big on desserts. But I love a piece of dark chocolate every now and then. At Whole Foods I picked up a Dagoba Organic chocolate bar, the flavor was roseberry and it had raspberries and rose hips in it. This was so tempting and delicious. My favorite thing to do with chocolate is put it in the freezer and grab a small piece every so often. Chocolate bars usually last a few weeks in my house, but this one was gone by today!

It has been so hot and beautiful here this weekend. We've spent plenty of time in the yard, and I am positive my Vitamin D levels have gone up! I even got a little color! Here's some beautiful flowers outside the window in our office. So cheery!

Here's the little booger making a sad face because my mother in laws pug didn't come visit with them today! Poor little Ginger!

Last night I made some Quinoa (gluten free) pasta with asparagus, Lima beans and sun dried tomatoes. A lovely Spring pasta dish, to bad it felt like Summer! ;) I liked this pasta, but as it cooled down it got really hard, and crunchy..weird!

Today before our guests arrived I made myself a nice big energizing juice. This was kale, apple, and lemon. Simple, refreshing, perfect!

We grilled today when everyone was over, but after my juice I didn't feel like anything else, so for dinner I had my share of veggie burgers! I had 2 Sunshine Burgers-Garden Herb and Southwestern. I've tried most of the flavors now and I think Garden Herb is my favorite. I love that these burgers are gluten, soy, dairy, wheat and egg free, with very minimal ingredients. Mostly nuts and veggies! I used romaine lettuce leaves for the bun, sprouts, onion, sun dried tomatoes, mustard, and heirloom tomato.

So that's my exciting weekend! I will update soon with a doctor report! Enjoy life everyone!

Quick Update

Hey Everyone!

I probably won't be around much until next week. I haven't been feeling great and I am going to be seeing my doctor on Monday. Tomorrow I have my brother in law's confirmation and then a nice hot weekend to follow! I will try to visit your blogs soon, but right now it's couch time catching up on my Tivo. I will probably be taking a short dose of Prednisone (BLAH), hopefully only for a few weeks, just to get back on track. Don't be disappointed in me. I just think the medication isn't working as great as it was at first. Something threw me off of my game. I think it had to do with the change in diet (80-10-10), plus I was eating more soy and gluten then usual. I do better on just regular raw foods. With Crohn's I think the fat is good for me. Plus it helps me keep weight on. But I will stay positive and prosper. Thanks for all the support!

Lauren

I could get used to this!

Happy Monday! I had a wonderful weekend! The weather was beautiful and we spent a lot of time outside doing stuff in the yard. I can't wait for everything to bloom so I can post a lot of pictures.

On Friday afternoon I made myself a refreshing juice for lunch: broccoli, lemon, apple. Simple and delicious. Couldn't of been any better!
Friday night after we did our grocery shopping at Whole Foods I made a veggie burger I got at the salad bar there. I've mentioned before how much I love these veggie burgers. No soy, wheat, gluten, dairy, eggs. Mostly grains like millet and mushrooms, so tasty! I used a romaine leaf as my bun and topped it with avocado, tomato, sprouts and stone ground mustard. Along side, some kale lightly sauteed in garlic and olive oil. PERFECT!

Saturday was so lovely. The temperature got up to almost 80! We worked in the yard and relaxed, I even got a little color! Ginger enjoyed it the most I think!She was racing the neighbors kids in our yard and when she was done she jumped up on my lap. I don't know where she gets all of her energy!

For lunch Saturday, T and I went to our favorite Italian Deli and I got my favorite salad: spring mix with marinated veggies topped with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The marinated veggies are so good!!!

Have a wonderful week everyone! Hopefully the nice weather will come back to us, today it's rainy and cold again! Suppose to get nicer as the week goes on!

Gonna be squeaky clean!

Happy Friday Lovelies! I am so happy we are finally going to have some warmer weather this weekend! It's suppose to be in the 70's!! You know what that means... lots of time outdoors! We will be working in the yard and spending time soaking up some vitamin D all weekend!

On Thursday I started a little "cleanse." Kris Carr on CrazySexyLife.com is starting a group adventure cleanse during the month of May. I decided to get a head start and get my body clean and smiling again! My cleanse with be raw till dinner most days with a few all raw days during the week. Also, one day of juice/smoothie fasting, until dinner. I am eliminated wheat, gluten, soy, processed sugar, and bread during this time. Please bare with me, I promise I will keep my meals exciting! Wish me luck!

The other day for lunch I made the most tasty juice- apple, kale, broccoli and lemon. I felt so refreshed and revitalized after this. Green Juice = LIFE!
On Wednesday night I made this tasty soup of lentils, kale, and potatoes. It turned out pretty good, although both T and I felt it needed something. I didn't follow a recipe, just took what I had and made it. Oh well!

Since yesterday was my first cleanse day, I decided to have an all raw day (with minor exceptions for condiments). For dinner I made a huge salad of romaine, olives, tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and hemp seeds. For dressing I used olive oil, stone ground mustard, a little balsamic vinegar and lemon. I had just received my co-op box so the lettuce was so crisp and fresh, as if I picked it myself.

Speaking of my co-op box, I started putting everything away and then I remembered to take a picture. Opps! Sorry no picture this time!

Have a splendid weekend everyone!

Spring is singing!

Happy Easter Everyone!! I hope everyone had a wonderful lovely one. I sure did! Here's my little gray beard (one of her many nick names) on Easter..
I don't have any pictures of my meal on Easter but my mother in law made us vegan eggplant parm (no cheese, not even fake). Also we had pasta with marinara sauce. I haven't been eating very raw the past couple of days. Tomorrow I plan on juicing and getting back into the groove of things. Temptation got the best of me!

On Friday night I made rawcos. I used a non-raw blue corn shell, but everything else was raw. I used Zukay's raw salsa, lettuce, onion, avocado, olives and Ani Phyo's rawco meat. These are my favorite!

At Whole Foods last week I picked up some Deglet Noor Dates. Medjool are my favorite but of course they didn't have any. My Whole Foods is very hit or miss with them. It's okay though because any date is good to me!

With lots of rain and sunny days the past week, spring has begun to sing! We have daffodils in our yard that are so beautiful.

Also, we have a ton of Forsythia bushes. Which I absolutely love! Yellow seems to be everywhere!

Have a wonderful Monday! Thanks for all the compliments on my hair. Everyone seems to love it! Not that I would care if they didn't! ;)

Adventures in FUN!

Happy Friday everyone!! I hope you all had a great week! I was off all week, and I had a blast! :)

Someone had asked what a co-op box was. A group of people pull there money and the group leader gets produce from local farms. In the winter it's really hard to get local in NJ, so some of the produce is out sourced. It's always the fresh, organic, and really high quality produce. I get a box of different goodies (I don't get to pick what I want), every other Thursday. There's a co-op is just about every town around here. The leader of my group is one of T's clients, that's how we found out about it. I was an alternative last summer and in the fall a space opened so I became a member.

Anyway, for lunch the other day I made bok choy wraps. I filled them with avocado, cherry tomatoes, sprouts and zucchini slices.
Here's a picture of my hair. I just love it! It's so much fun! T took this picture of me yesterday before we went to dinner..

Speaking of dinner... T took today off and last night we went to NYC to Caravan of Dreams! I ordered all raw from the menu (it's raw and vegan). Here was my appetizer: raw nachos. They were out of this world good! T got the regular nachos, I didn't take pictures of his food.

Sorry for the side ways pictures, it was hard to take in the restaurant. For dinner I ordered another Mexican dish (since it IS my favorite cuisine!). I ordered the raw special entree which was Quesadillas. Here's the huge salad they gave me with it. Definitely not the normal wimpy salad I get in non vegan restaurants. It even had an edible flower!

My Quesadillas! In the words of VeggieGirl HOLY YUM! :) I just loved these!! I was dreaming about them all night and am thinking about making some raw Mexican food for dinner tonight!

We got dessert "to go" since we were pretty full (T had the veggie burger for dinner, said it was just okay). But we ordered the raw banana almond butter pie. This was really sweet and delicious. It was a raspberry taste to it. I love eating dessert knowing nothing artificial is lurking in it!

I was thrilled when I got home to see my 2 new nail polishes from Zoya had arrived. In case you don't know Zoya is Toluene, Formaldehyde, Camphor, and DBP free. They come out with the cutest seasonal colors. I bought one for spring (on the left) called Cassi and one for summer (on the right) called Katy. They also name there polishes after female celebs of the moment or cute girlie names. So much fun! This nail polish stays on forever and is definitely my favorite!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!! I will be celebrating Easter at my in laws. As someone has asked, yes I am Catholic and very religious/spiritual. So all of those prayers mean a lot to me! Thanks!! One last thing, check out my friend Gena's great new blog: Choosing Raw she is awesome!!

Update on ME!

My doctor wasn't to pleased with my colonoscopy. Although I am feeling better, he says it's only improved a little. So now I am taking Humira weekly. He also said he wants me to wait 4-6 months before getting pregnant. Which isn't a problem because we were planning on waiting that long anyway. The night after my procedure I came down with a fever and felt sick for the past few days, but I am back in action today! I even got my hair done and added 3 hot pink extensions. I am out of control! :)

Sunday night was "Italian Night" I made whole wheat rigatoni with yellow and green zucchini with marinara sauce. This was really good, but really filling.
Sunday during the day we went to Whole Foods for lunch and groceries. I made a huge salad with everything raw and some chickpeas. On top is raw slaw. It was really good!

I got my co-op box last Thursday. This is the bag of greens. Which were red leaf lettuce, parsley, and bok choy.

Here is the rest of the box: apples, onions, bell peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, asparagus, carrots, cherry tomatoes, bananas, pears, clementines, and potatoes.

Have a great week everyone!! I am off this week, it's so nice to sleep in the morning with my little snuggles, Ginger!

Happy Birthday Ginger!

My little girl is 3 years old today!

Above is the first day we took her home. She wouldn't leave my side.
Here she is in our bed, she spends every night there. She loves to cuddle.
She does use her bed, she digs and buries bones in it. This was in our house, she was just getting use to the new scene.

At my in laws house she is always exhausted and ends up sleeps on the comforter on the ground while I am getting ready.

This was Christmas 2007. She was probably up to something bad.

But who could yell at that innocent face. She's such an angel.

Always posing for the camera, she's a natural.

In our old apartment she loved sitting in the window, nosey as can be.

She loves going for walks. This was probably 2 years ago.

Easter 2007 she was just a year old here.

Halloween 2007, I don't think she enjoyed being a Bumble Bee!

Here she is with her best friend, my mother in laws pug-SueShe.

And a few days before we brought her home at the breeders house (we didn't know much about adopting back then, but our breeder was very ethical). This was 2006.

I love my little bubby. She is the best thing that has happened to us. We treat her as a family member and even though she is a bad-ass, we still spoil her to death and she knows she is our bestest friend in the world. I love my Ginger!! Happy 3rd Birthday!