I'm Playing Favorites

Hey Friends! Thank you all so much for the warm, loving comments on my interview! I was overwhelmed with what you all said, sometimes I find it hard to believe people like me! ;)


Anyway, I bought some yummy vegan Lentil Masala Dip from Trader Joes last week and this week I added it to my salads. It's pretty good, but I prefer hummus. I am a hummus freak, can't get enough of the stuff! Mmm! Anyway, this little salad had mesclun, Bubbies, radishes and a Sunshine Burger.

Speaking of hummus, I had some with carrots and celery to snack on one day. Move over popcorn and chips with salsa, my favorite snack is hummus and crudites! ;)

Another favorite of mine: GRAPEFRUIT! I picked up a few organic grapefruit at Whole Foods! They were perfect!

Our wheatgrass all ready for juicing!

My first shot (I didn't juice enough for a whole shot, opps!).

This was dinner from last night: raw red kale topped with quinoa, black beans and avocado. YUM!

And finally, some new kale chips I picked up at the health food store. These were made by Life Force Foods, the flavor was "American". I joked saying they would probably taste like ketchup.. LOL! But, they actually did!!! They had Cajun flavor on them and for some reason they reminded me of ketchup. Of course, that could of been in my head after making the joke. ;)

I want to mention an incredible series of posts highlighting the link between plant-based diets and eating disorder recovery going on over at Choosing Raw. Please check it out! Have a great day all!

I'm featured today!

Check out my interview for the "My Favorite Vegan" feature on Body by Nature: 


http://bodybynature.ca/2011/03/29/my-favourite-vegan-lauren-of-ginger-is-the-new-pink/


Make sure to leave a comment over there! ;) XOXO

Weekend Recap and Answers about Wheatgrass

Hey All! I hope you had a great weekend! Ours was pretty busy with visiting family. Always a nice time though. Anyway, I got a lot of questions regarding growing wheatgrass and first I want to say T is the grower! LOL! So I will answer what I can, but he is the one who did the research and is really into it. We haven't calculated how much money we would save growing our own, but that is definitely something T would do! HA HA! I will ask him to do the math later. Also, we were using organic wheatgrass seeds that we bought at Whole Foods, but now we started using wheat berry seeds in the bulk section of Whole Foods, thanks Kelli for the recommendation. Growing wheatgrass is pretty simple, you basically rinse and soak the seeds and then plant them. T watched a video online and followed that. Here is our grass after a few days and the taller one has been growing for one week. That one will be ready by tomorrow.

Now onto the weekend, here we are before heading down to see our family. My cousin was home from college and hasn't seen Baby A since Christmas, she couldn't believe how big she got! On a side note, my cousin wanted to read Skinny Bitch so I let her borrow my copy along with the cookbook! *fingers crossed*

We hit up our favorite health food store for lunch before heading to my parents house. I had a raw collard wrap with lots of veggies, sprouts and raw cashew mayo! YUM!

We had dinner at my Mother in law's: kale, brown rice, eggplant, and zucchini all smothered in her homemade tomato sauce. So good!!!

On Sunday we did our grocery shopping at Whole Foods, and had lunch. I made a big salad (surprise) of raw kale, avocado, peppers, olives, cabbage, olives and on the side I had a scoop of yellow Indian rice.

After that we stayed in and watched the movie "The Town". Have you seen it? I thought it was pretty good, and I don't mind staring at Ben Affleck for 2 hours! He he! ;) Have a great day all!

Burgers, Wheatgrass, Baby Love and an Award

Hey All! I hope you are having a great week! Unfortunately, the weather has been cold again and we even got a few inches of snow!!! NOT COOL! But, I've been making the most out of it by staying in and cuddling with Baby A and Ginger! 

Anyway, earlier this week I made Gena's Kale, Millet and Yam Burgers! These turned out great! But how could they not? They are made with 3 of my favorite foods! ;) I had mine over a kale salad with avocado and Bubbies pickles.

I made enough to freeze, so I could have them on my salads at lunch. This one had mesclun, sun dried tomatoes, hummus and of course, a delicious burger.

T has a little obsession with wheatgrass (could be worse!), so we got a wheatgrass juicer. This is the Tribest Z-star, it's manual and we really like it! I wake up every morning to the smell of wheatgrass, LOL, T makes himself a shot as soon as he wakes up.

Last week we bought wheatgrass at Whole Foods, but now we are growing our own!

We bought a few other organic seeds as well.

And now for the main event! Baby A is 4 months old today!!!

My little Goober is getting so big! And she has the best personality, she laughs at us (and Ginger) and she smiles all the time. Everyday it's something new!! I am so lucky to be her Mom!! :)

Finally, I was awarded this "Stylish Blogger" award by a few blogger (THANK YOU!). Here are the rules:

     1. Make a post that links back to the blogger who gave you the award.
**Since I got this award from a few different bloggers I will skip this! ;)
     2. Nominate ten more bloggers to receive the award and list them in your post along with links to their blogs.
**Again, skipping this, I don't like to exclude anyone, so I award this award to all my lovely readers!
    3. Tell them they’ve received the award by posting a comment on their blog.
**Skip.. ;)

Have a great day all!

Here Comes the Sun..

Hello My Dears! So sorry I didn't post much last week, I was enjoying the beautiful weather with my loves! Sometimes I just need a technology break. ;) Anyway, lots of food ahead.. I bought new place mats and china last week! So exciting! Ha ha! It's the little things.. he he! 

Last week I made a yummy Indian Style Burger on a lettuce leaf with avocado, Bubbies pickles and hummus, along side some yummy baked sweet potato fries.

Enjoying lunch outside was such a treat! I am so mad that this week the cold weather will be back! Ugh! At least it is Spring now! ;) This was a salad of mesclun, a crumbled Sunshine Burger, Bubbies pickles, hemp seeds and raw sprouted sunflower seeds.

We ordered dinner from an Italian restaurant in town one night. I had gluten free spaghetti with arugula, tomato sauce and sun dried tomatoes. So delicious! I haven't had pasta in so long!

I had two yummy salads at Whole Foods over the weekend, this one was raw kale with a bean salad, cabbage, and mushrooms.

This one was a kale salad with red peppers, cabbage, onions and I threw a veggie burger (made at Whole Foods) on top.

We got to take a few walks during the warmer days last week, here is a picture of the blue skies and naked trees! ;)

Sunshine through the trees!

More salad for lunch another day: kale, Bubbies pickles, sprouted sunflower seeds, and avocado.

And finally, one of my favorite meals, tacos! I stuffed the shells with brown rice, black beans, guacamole, lettuce and salsa. Mmm, comfort!

Have a wonderful day all! ;)

Salads and The Girls

Hey Everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend, boo for less sleep but YAY for more sunlight! ;) I know a lot of you have been curious about P90x and we are on day 36 today! Doing great and losing the rest of my baby weight! T does his workout in the morning before work and I usually do mine when Baby A goes down for a nap around 11pm. But on Saturday we do our workout together, which is always hilarious. Last week we had to do yoga and T told me his favorite pose is corpse! :D He makes me laugh! I have to say I can't wait for him to put some recessed lighting in our basement so we can workout down there!!! But for now we do it in our living room, no space, lots of light and Ginger watching us like we have lost our minds! Ha HA!


Anyway, onto food, last week I made my normal lunch salad with mesclun and a Sunshine Burger along with some hummus. Hummus in a salad? What an easy concept! Why didn't I do this earlier! So yummy!

For dinner one night I made a kale salad with millet, white beans and sun dried tomatoes. This is my favorite high raw meal! We have this almost weekly now.

Another lunch: Kale salad with Bubbies, sprouted sunflower seeds, black olives and hummus.

On Saturday we went to visit our parents. We grabbed lunch at the health food store and I had a yummy kale salad with raw red peppers and hemp seeds.

We had dinner at my Mother in laws house. She made a big salad with kale lots of goodies in it.

And some asparagus and brown rice. Simple and delicious. Perfect!

Here is a picture of me with Baby A. You can really see how much she DOESN'T look like me in the picture! LOL! I am so sick of people saying she looks like T! UGH! HA HA! It's like, alright already, I KNOW!!!! My girl Kristen (of Kristen's Raw) taught me something good to say "She looks like him but acts like ME!" Which is very true. She has the cutest little attitude and some little things like how she sleeps or her ears and mouth, ALL ME! ;)

And finally a picture of Ginger with my Mother in law's pug: Sue She. Don't you like the spelling on her name? So cute!

Have a nice day all!

Zuddha = Love

Zuddha:

adj; Pure. Cleansed. Simple.

My lovely friend Sophie was kind enough to send me a box of raw vegan chocolate truffles made by her new company: Zuddha. Sophie and her partner Dani started a company that "specialize in using tasteful foods that stimulate the body's natural inclination towards cleansing and healing itself. They work with clients to create specialized diets and menus geared towards a healthy and eco-friendly lifestyle."

When the FedEx guy dropped these off at my door, I didn't care that he rang the doorbell, which in turn made Ginger start barking, which of course woke my sleeping baby up. Or that it was 10 AM, I wanted to try one.  So I did. And WOW, I kind you not, probably the best raw truffles I have ever tasted. I wish I new the recipe because I would make them weekly! ;) They remind me of a donut hole from Dunkin Donuts (I haven't had one in probably 15 YEARS, funny how you remember tastes), but these are WAY better, healthier and don't make you feel all icky afterward. In fact, these do just the opposite. After having one, I did 90 minutes of P90x yoga! ;) He he!

You can order their truffles or other goodies (I totally want one of those stickers!) from their website. Or you can do one of there cleanses (they even have a long distance cleanse!).  You can follow them on Twitter as well for fun updates.Thank you again for sending these, Zuddha Girls! I will happily review anything else you want to send! ;) He he!

Meals and Coco Joy Heaven

Hey Everyone! I hope you are having a nice week so far. Thanks for all the lovely compliments on Baby A. She is such a little lover! I can't take it, I am so in love with her! OH and she is getting so chubby, her little legs and arms have rolls now, I just want to bite her! Ha ha! Anyway, on Sunday it was rainy out so I made my favorite comfort meal for dinner: Rice and Beans with Guacamole. I used pinto beans and black rice and store bought guacamole (time saver!). Yummy!

On Monday, I made a Buddha Bowl for dinner. This one had raw collards (massaged with olive oil), wild black rice, chickpeas, hemp seeds, raw olives and sun dried tomatoes. We have Buddha Bowls weekly now. I just switch up the veggies or grain to make it interesting.

For lunch earlier this week, I made my usual "Lauren Style" salad: Sunshine Burger, Bubbies Pickles, Sun dried tomatoes and Mesclun. I usually use romaine, but I thought I'd change it up this week. Variety is important for health! ;)

Last night I cooked some kale with olives, sun dried tomatoes and tomato sauce and put it over some quinoa. Yummy!

I tried a new flavor of KeVita yesterday, Lemon Ginger. At first I didn't like it at all. But after a few sips I was hooked!

I got my hands on a box of Coco Joy!!! Oh My Gosh!!! In case you don't know, Coco Joy is a raw vegan treat made by The Raw Bakery. 

They taste like chocolate covered macaroons!!! I loooove raw macaroons, so these are right up my alley! ;) I will be enjoying these baby's for awhile..or not! He he!

Have a nice day all!

Weekend Bliss

Hey! I hope you all had a nice weekend! :) Mine started off with a nice dinner on Friday night: Raw collards with cooked millet, white beans, sun dried tomatoes and avocado. I added lemon and olive oil to the collards along with some seasoning and massaged them before adding the warm millet and beans. Yum!

On Saturday we went to Whole Foods for our weekly groceries and lunch, but we only ended up having lunch because T's mother was coming over earlier then we had expected. I made a big salad of raw kale, raw cabbage, guacamole, quinoa, chickpeas, raw peppers and carrots. We ended up doing a little shopping in town with T's mother. She bought Baby A the cutest Easter dress, along with a bonnet!!! I will definitely share pics after Easter. She also bought her an adorable jean skirt with a white sleeveless shirt, perfect for The 4th of July! I swear, my little girl has nicer clothes then I do! Little style maven! ;) We went to dinner (do you believe Baby A slept the WHOLE time?) and I had a big salad and a side of broccoli rabe. No picture, sorry!!!

On Sunday morning I made my usual smoothie (Chocolate Sunwarrior, Bananas, Spinach, Almond Milk) and I used it as milk over some Chocolate Raw Granola. This was so chocolaty!!! I was in heaven!!

On Sunday afternoon we ventured back to Whole Foods for lunch and groceries (this time for real!). Again, Baby A slept. Ha ha! I made another pricey salad: raw kale, olives, red and white cabbage, olives, quinoa and brown rice. I also grabbed a lemon slice to squeeze on top. I love lemons!

Sunday was rainy so after that we stayed in and watched The Social Network. T and I thought it was okay. Interesting, but not Oscar worthy to us. 

I leave you with a picture of Baby A going to sleep in our bed one night a few weeks ago (sorry for the bad quality, I took it on my phone). We love co-sleeping and Baby A sleeps for 6 hour stretches now!  Whoohoo!!  Although, I shouldn't complain. She has been a really good sleeper since around week 3. She sleeps a lot during the day and at night never cries. She does love to eat though!!!! :)

Have a great day! <3