A Review Post

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend and Thanksgiving (if you are in the U.S.), if not, I hope you had a great weekend, anyway!

I bought a few new products to try out and I am wanted to do a "review post" to tell you all about them!

First, Real Pickles Raw Organic Dill Pickles. Over the Summer I was obsessed with the raw sauerkraut this company makes, so when I saw they had the raw pickles in Whole Foods I had to pick up a jar! These are the best raw pickles I have had! They actually taste like pickles (unlike some raw brands I have tried in the past). They contain no vinegar so they are full of tummy healthy pro-biotics. If I crave pickles when I am pregnant, I am going for these!
Lately, I have been having Rawnola with coconut milk for breakfast. I've tried a few different brands (they are ALL expensive). This is the Two Moms In The Raw brand: Gluten Free Goji Berry. I like this rawnola a lot. The pieces are pretty large so I break them up first. I like how you only need a small amount of rawnola to feel full. YUM!
I saved the best for last! Organic Nectars: Raw Agave Gelato: Cherry Chocolate flavor. I have bought this raw ice cream in the past and loved it, and this time was no exception! Although rather expensive, again you only need a small amount to feel satisfied.
Look at that chocolate swirl! WOWZA! This gelato is so rich and full of chunks of frozen cherries! The perfect guilt-free treat!
I will be back on Wednesday with my weekend/early week meals! I am just on blogging fire lately with all these posts! Have a nice day everyone!

Going back a few days..

Hey Everyone! I hope you are having a great weekend! I had some meals from before Thanksgiving that I wanted to post.

This was a Tuscan Bean and Kale Soup from a recipe I got from Emeril Green. I left out the tomato paste and cheese. This turned out really good! I garnished it with parsley, yum!
The night before Thanksgiving I made some local brussel sprouts from my co-op box and tossed them with walnuts, mustard, garlic, olive oil and some gluten free pasta.
The day before Thanksgiving our appliances were delivered! This is our new Bosch dishwasher..
..And this is our new Kenmore stove, I love cooking with gas now!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

After Thanksgiving Post..

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I sure did! T and I went down to our families houses. We visited mine and ate at his. Before anything we took a drive past the ocean, since we hadn't been down in awhile.After that, it was to my in laws for a vegan feast! My mother in law is a vegan, so along with the usually non-vegan stuff, she made us a big vegan meal! It was delicious! here's what I had: a big artichoke stuffed with gluten free bread crumbs (not pictured, but my favorite part of the meal), cranberry relish (I made), brown rice with raisins and nuts in it, mashed potatoes with soy-free Earth Balance, garlic and parsley, green beans with garlic and pine nuts, and sweet potatoes made with pineapple and soy free Earth Balance. This was my best Thanksgiving meal ever (even pre-vegan days).
For dessert I made a spelt crust vegan pumpkin pie. I had taking this after a piece was cut (someone couldn't resist). I also had a small piece of vegan spelt crust apple pie (mother in law made), a scoop of coconut milk ice cream, some rice milk whip cream, raw cashew creme and half of a vegan peanut butter cup (from the book The Kind Diet). All small portions.. believe me I was only slightly full afterwards! ;)
My mother in law got Ginger her Christmas gift and she tried it on to make sure it fit..
Ginger doesn't move when we put clothes on her. It's so funny, but sad. I don't want her to be cold on those Winter walks though! Here she is with my mother in laws pug, they have matching sweaters! Along with matching beds! They are like sisters.. Ginger likes to beat up poor SueShe, and as you can see, SueShe is a little heavier then Ginger, so she doesn't have a chance! HA HA!
So that was my Thanksgiving! I have been feeling well and doing a lot better. I went to my new doctor this week and I am confident with him, he put me on a less risky med then my other doctor wanted me on and it seems to be working! Hallelujah!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone! See you in a few days with some yummy post Thanksgiving food!!

(image from Peta)

A weekend filled with ups and downs!

Hi All!


How was your weekend? Mine was filled with ups and downs. I will start with an up: hubby and my father in law put a new sink and faucet in our kitchen! Isn't it pretty? We also bought a new stove and dishwasher which is being delivered on Wednesday! We moved in our house over a year ago and I've been dealing with the 1970's appliances, so you can imagine how excited I am for some updated ones! Now we just need a new fridge, cabinets and counter tops and our kitchen will be brand new (we already changed the floor and some other minor things).Now onto the downs, Friday after eating this I was sick most of the night. This was lentils with veggies, brown rice and garnished with parsley.
Since I wasn't feeling well, I had some gnocchi for dinner. I drizzled it with olive oil and some parsley, it was actually pretty good. Bland, but perfect for my stomach.
Feeling better again on Sunday, I had a bowl of rawnola. Veggie Girl and I were emailing a little over the weekend and she put me in the mood for rawnola, so I ran out and got some. The power of Veggie Girl! :) I had it with goji berries, almond milk and chia seeds. This rawnola was a little to sweet for my likings.
We had my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary brunch on Sunday as well. Before heading to the restaurant, I grabbed a green juice, just in case there wouldn't be anything for me to eat. This was kale, lemon and orange. Yum!
There were no soggy carrots in site at the restaurant! They had an extensive brunch buffet where I filled my plate with mesclun greens, raw veggies and hummus, and fruit. They even brought me olive oil and vinegar to put on top of my salad since the dressings they had out were all creamy. Score!
Since we went down to the shore, I got to visit my favorite health food store and pick up some raw goodies. I bought a different brand of rawnola (Go Raw Chocolate Granola), Brad's Raw Vegan Chips in Cheddar Flavor (these reminded me of Doritos only less salty), and a Theo 70% dark chocolate bar. I had a few pieces of a Theo bar last week and I was in love! There are only a few ingredients, no soy letchin and I found the bar to be incredibly delicious!
Last night was a rough one, I ran a fever (that is a sign of a crohn's flare) and I was pretty sick. I am going to see my doctor today, which will probably be the last time, before I see a new one, closer by. Wish me luck!

60 years, Loaf, Ginger, Prenatals

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

Thank you all for the sweet comments. I am feeling a little better. But I am having a hard time with food lately. I like eating a more cooked diet, but I can't seem to figure out breakfast. I like oatmeal, but I am not crazy about it. This morning I tried to have a green smoothie and it came out terrible, my blender is so horrible. I also want to get green juice back into my diet, but not for breakfast. I think a balance is what I need.

Today is my grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary!!! WOWZA! I hope T and I are both well and kicking for ours! :) Like I've said in the past, my grandparents are so young at heart (Naunee does jazzercise, Pop still works like he is a 30 year old!). On Sunday we are all going to brunch to celebrate. I was told that I would be taking care of food wise, which probably means a soggy carrot and some fruit. Ha ha!

Anyway, for lunch one day this week I lightly sauteed some kale with bean sprouts and curry powder and put it on a brown rice wrap with avocado and hummus, this was the best sandwich I have made in awhile! YUM!
For dinner one night I tried to make a loaf from lentils, brown rice, carrots, celery, walnuts, parsley and seasonings but when I cut into it, it turned out like this. It was still delicious and very tasty, but not a loaf! Oh well!
Here she is, the ultimate healer. Ginger's love it one of the things that keeps me going when I am not feeling well, she always makes me smile. Look at that face, how could you not smile?
The people from Vitamin Code were kind enough to contact me and ask if I wanted to join a focus group and receive free raw prenatal vitamins from now until the end of my pregnancy (I am not pregnant YET, going to probably be awhile now since I am not feeling well). Anyway, after reading what Kristen said about Vitamin Code's raw prenatal vitamins, I was so excited to get started using them. I was using a different brand for about a year now, but I always wanted to try these. I love that they are in a capsule and have a ton of different nutrients in them (Hello, how many vitamins have sprouts in them?). I will keep you posted on these more as time goes on, but as of right now, I am super happy with them!
Does anyone watch True Blood? T and I got into it this season and decided to get the first season from Netflix to get the background of what happened previously. We are obsessed! I love this show, it has now become my favorite show ever! :) Have a nice weekend!

Pumpkin Things

Hi Everyone! I hope you are all having a great week so far! I haven't been feeling great. My stomach is on and off lately. Most of the time I feel good, but at certain times in the day I feel sick and need to lay down. It pretty much sucks.

Anyway, on a happy note, here's a picture of Ginger, my couch buddy. She is the best snuggler ever!
The other night, I finally decided to cut open my organic pumpkin and make something with it! First I roasted half of the seeds with Himalayan sea salt, and the other half with curry powder, ground pepper and cayenne. T wanted them extra crispy, hence the burnt look. :)
With the rest of the pumpkin I made a pumpkin soup. I used this recipe from The Fat Free Vegan and left out the corn. Instead we garnished it with the pumpkin seeds. This would be a perfect soup to have on Thanksgiving!
This morning I was finally in the mood for some oats (I've been having brown rice cakes with almond butter and a drizzle of local honey on top, because it was all I was in the mood for). Anyway, this is before I stirred everything in: gluten free oats, blueberries, raw almond butter, goji berries, green powder, local honey, flax seeds and chia seeds. I feel energized and ready to start my day!
Have a nice day everyone! The sun is shining here, so I am going to try to get some Vitamin D before it gets too cold!

Thanksgiving Recipe Testing

The weekend has come and gone again! I can't believe Thanksgiving is almost a week away! Where does the time go?

Anyway, on Saturday we went to the shore to visit my family and in laws. It was a gross rainy day. T and I went to lunch with my sister (sorry no pics, I had a vegan lentil soup and small salad with hummus). Then visited my grandparents, parents and went to my favorite health food store. I picked up some of my favorite snacks: Livin' Spoonful Raw Pesto Pumpkin Seed Crackers and Gopal's Raw Nori Power Wraps.
Last week in my co-op I got a bag of organic cranberries. I wanted to test some Thanksgiving ideas so I made them along with a gluten free vegan stuffing for dinner last night. They both came out great and I will be making them for Thanksgiving. Here are the recipes if you want to try them out:

Lauren's Raw Cranberry Relish:

1 cup cranberries
1 orange peeled if not organic
1/2 a lemon peeled
Handful of walnuts (about 15?)
5-6 tbsp. agave (to your preference, I like mine more sweet then bitter)

Throw everything in a food processor and mix until just crushed. You want it to have texture and be a little chunky.

Serves: 4

Lauren's Gluten Free/Vegan Stuffing:
(I don't measure, so use discretion)

5-6 slices of Gluten free bread (or Whole Wheat if you want vegan stuffing instead of gluten free/vegan)
4 stalks of celery
3/4 cup of chopped carrots
2 cups of Vegetable Broth
2 Onions
5 cloves Garlic
About a handful of parsley
Olive oil
White Wine (or I use soy free miso)
1/2 cup of mushrooms
Salt and pepper (to preference)
Thyme
Handful of raisins
About 15 walnuts

Preheat oven at 400. Slice bread into small cubes coat with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and thyme . Place on a lined cookie sheet and bake for 20 min (or until golden and soft, not crispy). Turn occasionally. While the bread is cooking, coat a pan on medium heat with olive oil. Add onion and garlic and cook until translucent. Add carrots and celery and cook for about 10 min. Add mushrooms, cook until soft and remove. Remove bread from oven and add to a mixing bowl. Add about a cup of broth on top (or enough to soften). Add vegetable mixture and a little more broth. Add raisins and chopped walnuts, stir. Add white wine, pepper, thyme, parsley and salt (if needed). Pour everything into a casserole dish and cook in oven at 350 for about 30-45 minutes. Check on it occasionally. You want the top to be crispy not burnt. Place fork in the middle when close to done to see if ready. Enjoy!

Number of Servings: 4-6

We had dinner at my mother in laws house on Saturday and she made Vegan Peanut Butter Cups from the book The Kind Diet. We brought two home to have on Sunday, these were out of this world amazing!!! So rich and delicious, you only need half of one to feel content (of course why stop at half when you can have a whole!). He he!

Have a nice week everyone!

Busy Bee

Happy Friday the 13th Everyone!

Sorry for the lack of posts again this week. I have been pretty busy going back and forth from the allergist and then I had an appointment with my OBGYN to talk about my pregnancy plans. But before I get into that, I had 2 days worth of allergy tests at the allergist. Turns out I am allergic to a lot of environmental things (molds, dust, ragweed, cat). But the food test showed that I wasn't allergic to anything! I am sure you find this as hard to believe as I do. I am not trusting it and will continue to eat the way I do. Meghan from Making Love in the Kitchen was kind enough to answer some of my questions on this and explained it a little further to me on the phone! She is the is so knowledgeable and even kinder and sweeter to talk to on the phone, then she is in her awesome videos (if that's even possible)!

My OBGYN suggested a few things, I am not going to get into details but I will be seeing a new gastroenterologist after my next colonoscopy in December. I am really happy with this switch since this new doctor has come HIGHLY recommended and is closer to where I live. She also told me that I won't have to worry about the baby in the case that I do get ill during pregnancy because the baby will take all my nutrients, and although, I might be drained from this, the baby will be fine, and most likely perfectly healthy. What a relief!? Now I just have to get super well so my colonoscopy comes out well. The pressure is on, but I can't stress, this is so hard!

Anyway, I didn't eat any new meals this week, so I didn't take many pictures. I made Dr. McDougall's black bean soup for lunch one day and added avocado and a scoop of brown rice. This is the perfect warming/filling lunch! YUM!
For dinner one night I made white bean soup again. This time I blended most of the kale up, I liked how it turned the soup green! I love this soup!
A few months back I sent my Sigg water bottle back after they came out and said that there could be BPA in certain liners. Of course, my liner was one. Sigg was kind enough to take it back and give me a code for a new bottle of my choice. Unfortunately, my pink and gold one wasn't available, so I got this one instead. I was so happy to see it arrived yesterday!
Have a nice weekend everyone!

Monday? Really..?

Good Monday Morning!

I had a really great weekend, but it went by way too fast (isn't that always the case?). Anyway, Friday night T and I watched a movie and I made some vegan hot cocoa. I used Trader Joes pure cocoa powder (no sugar, just cocoa) and I mixed it with hot water and Stevia. This probably would of been better with some almond milk, but I was looking for a low calorie treat. This whole mug was only 35 calories! Although, I didn't really like it, so I didn't finish it. Next time I want to enjoy cocoa I will splurge on the calories!Saturday night my brother in law and his soon to be wife came over and we played board games and ate vegan cupcakes (they also has some drinks, I did not). Anyway, T and I went to Sweet Avenue Bake Shop beforehand and picked up some vegan cupcakes. I had the chocolate gluten free. It was so delicious, I couldn't tell the difference from the regular and gluten free at all! So sinful! YUM!
Sunday T and I went to the Farmers Market and then headed to Hoboken for the day, to walk around and get lunch. Hoboken is only 20 minutes from our house, so the trip isn't bad. Anyway, we stopped in a health food store/deli for lunch and I ordered the hummus and veggie sandwich. This came on sprouted grain bread with hummus, cucumbers, sprouts, tomato and lettuce. Talk about delicious!! T had a TLT which we LOVED! We will be going back again soon.
Of course no trip to Hoboken would be complete without a visit to Carlos's Bake Shop. T and I watch Cake Boss on TLC and this is the bakery that the realty show is about. We didn't see Buddy but we saw a few of his sisters (who are also on the show). T had a cannoli and some Italian cookies. No vegan treats at this bakery!
How was your weekend? Do anything exciting? I am not ready to start a new week, but I guess I have no choice!! Today I am going to see an Allergist/Immunologist, just to see what's going on with my system and see what I am allergic. Should be fun! :) Have a nice day!

The weather gets colder, my meals get warmer!

Good morning everyone! Happy Thursday!

I got my blood work back today and it says I am anemic (which is ALWAYS, due to Crohn's). Also it says I have high EOS.. anyone know what this means? According to Dr. Google, it means I could be allergic to something.. hmmm..

Anyway, earlier this week I had vegan Cream of Broccoli soup from Imagine. Most of their vegan soups have soy milk in them, but this one didn't, and it is very low calorie too! Perfect for a nice warming lunch!
One night I made a bunch of kale with some sun dried tomato risotto on the side. I love risotto, it is so creamy and comforting!

T surprised me yesterday with this beautiful Fall arrangement of flowers. This definitely brightened up my day (and house!). So sweet of him!

Last night for dinner I made a white bean soup. I blended some white beans with low sodium veggie broth and some garlic, onion, spices, daikon, celery and kale. Then added them to the pot with the same ingredients "un-blended" so there was still a little chunk to it. This came out really good! I added some smoked paprika to give it a smoky flavor, kind of like bacon (I was never a bacon eater, or a fan of the stuff, but the flavor goes great in this soup). You could even add tempeh bacon, if that's your thing! This definitely is one of my new favorite soups!

Sorry for the sideways picture, that happens sometimes! Anyway, have a nice day and wonderful weekend, everyone!

A Mumble Jumble Post

Hey All! I hope you had a nice Halloween weekend! Happy November!! I can't believe how quickly Christmas is approaching us! T and I are talking about starting a family after the holiday's, but it's scaring me how quickly it is coming!! :)

Anyway, my lovely friend Janelle awarded me with this blogger award! Here are the rules:
This award is bestowed on to blogs that are exceedingly charming.These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends.They are not interested in self-aggrandizement.Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated.Please give more attention to these writers.Deliver this award to six bloggers who must choose six more and include this cleverly written text into the body of their award.I will pass this award to some of my bloggy friends that I find exceedingly charming...
Since I find all the blogs I read to be charming, I will not choose, instead I pass this along to all of you! Thanks for reading and being great friends!

I do not dress up for Halloween anymore, instead T and I stay in, hand our candy, make a nice dinner, watch a scary movie and eat some good quality dark chocolate. My sister on the other hand goes to parties and dresses up with her boyfriend. This year my sister was a skinny cow, I asked her if I could post her pic, since it was so relevant.

She is a teacher as well, so you can imagine the controversy this costume brought along! I love it! Awesome job, Amanda!

Going back a couple of days, on Friday I received two more gifts that I won from bloggers. On the left is the little carrying bag that came along with the Diva Cup I won from Making Love in the Kitchen and on the right is Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, which I won from Veg is Sexy! Can't wait to use both! Not together of course.. ewwww!

Back to that dark chocolate. I spotted this Dark Chocolate Lovers Bar at Trader Joes. This bar is 85% cacao and really rich and delicious! I only had a couple of pieces from it, but YUM! I stuck it in the freezer so when I want a little nibble next weekend I can grab it!

Sorry for skipping around so much in the post... but Saturday morning, T and I went for blood work, then out to breakfast for some vegan/gluten free pancakes! We drove about 30 minutes to The Rutherford Pancake House, since this is the only place (that I know of) in NJ with vegan breakfast options--everyday! I had mine with blueberries, YUM! This place is conveniently located near the vegan cupcake shop: Sweet Avenue Bake Shop, they weren't opened that early though (thank God!).

Sunday, T picked a bunch of figs from our tree! The harvest has been great this season because T put a net around the tree so no birds or squirrels could get to them!

And finally, dinner from last night, gluten free spaghetti with broccoli and white beans. This was tasty and filling. Perfect and comforting, especially after laying on the couch most of the day watching football with T, and by watching I mean, I was reading a book and he was watching! Haha!

So what did you do over the Halloween weekend? Did you dress up? How did you spend your extra daylight savings hour? Have a nice week everyone!