soup is good food!

as winter goes on here we've been enjoying some hearty soups in our house.  As you all know it's a economical dinner and great way to use up veggies on hand, both a plus to me.

tonight we had a Garden Vegetable Soup which happens to be a Weight Watchers recipe that I got from my Mom's friend.  It is super easy and tasty.  We ate it over brown rice and with some wheat free bread.  The green cabbage got swapped for purple because we still had some left from this week, which accounts for the strange color.



I have been really enjoying this bread.  It's wheat and yeast free and has super taste, very much sourdough in my opinion.



You can find it in the freezer section.  I don't eat much bread so it lasts a long while in the fridge.



super thin slices make for some tricky sandwiches ;)



another soup here lately was my favorite miso, Mighty Miso from Get It Ripe.  Here it is on the stove, WF was out of shiitakes so we subbed creminis and left out the tofu. 



after dinner tonight we had big cups of warm chai tea lattes.  The tea was a tulsi red chai masala, warming and spicy.  You can read about the benefits of tulsi and rooibos here. 





another recent soup was the Tempeh Stew over brown rice from The Yoga Cookbook.  It was full of yummy vegetables like rutabaga and turnip and super nutritious kombu from the sea. 



Inspired by a post from Choosing Raw this weekend I made coleslaw.  I would have loved to add fennel like Gena did, but there was none in my fridge.  Fennel Cabbage and Carrot slaw with Poppyseed dressing. This is a great recipe, we both loved it.

I did add cauliflower, pumpkin seeds, raisins, dried dill, ground fennel seed, and cilantro.



We were a little shy on poppyseeds, they were in our pancakes this weekend.  A creamy sweet and sour taste, mmmm.





I forgot about another face wash that I use in the previous 'bathroom post'.  I don't use moisture before bed, it's part of the thinking behind evan healy's the skin breathes, this makes a nice wash without drying at all.  I found Alaffia when we lived in Nevada.  The air is so incredibly dry and thats where shea butter comes in to help.  I feel good about supporting this company because they use fair trade shea butter and empower the people and communities in Africa where the butter comes from, the products are then handmade in WA. 



good Tuesday night, I may have been making treats while I writing this post and now there's an almond butter cup calling my name =)

rooibos tea late...mmm

I tried to recreate the vanilla rooibos tea late that I like from Starbucks.  (you can read some benefits of red tea here.)  When I do order it, I get soy milk and ask for it without the syrup which makes it wicked sweet, tasty no doubt, but sugary.  At home I brewed a small strong amount of rooibos tea, heated some unsweetened almond milk with vanilla extract and 1/16th tsp of green leaf stevia.  It was good, not as creamy as soy milk, it was warm and yummy, and in my opinion a bit healthier than the cup from the store.



the ingredients



When I get to Costco I'll usually pick up a bag of avocados if we don't have a stash at home.  A few of them usually turn into a batch of guacamole.  This batch were 3 big guys, bunch of chopped cilantro, lime juice, finely chopped red onion, ground red pepper flakes, chili powder, cumin, and a bit of salt, yum.



I've posted before about our reuseable bulk bags, these are our snack bags from Plum Creek Mercantile. 





I took this one in my pocket for a walk recently with a square of dark mint chocolate.  I didn't however need the snack, exercise in the sun is even better than chocolate, yes I said it !  I use these most for keeping a piece of fruit clean on the go, and packing cookies, or nuts in Dave's lunch.  You just turn them inside out and secure the velcro when it's time to wash.  We wash and dry them with the kitchen towels. 



I was however thinking chocolate sounded good a few nights ago.  I had been wanting to make Gena's Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding.  I had some macadamias in the fridge to make the chocolate milk with.  I went by the recipe but did not add any stevia.  Here it is mixed up in the Vita-Mix.



chias getting stirred in



the pudding, I ate it plain chocolate, but plan to stir in some mint tonight for dessert.  I love mint chocolate!



a recent dinner were big salads, Bubbie's pickle, bit of guacamole, and Mellow Millet-Quinoa Pilaf from Vive le Vegan!



the dressing was one of my favorites Lemon Zinger Vinaigrette from the same book.  I didn't have any apple juice, so I just swapped water for it and flax oil for the hemp.

 

lunch of leftovers with red pepper and zucchini dippers.  The pilaf is great drizzled with extra lemony dressing. 



what post would be complete without a bowl of oats and a green smoothie ;) A delicious bowl of apple, date, walnut, cinnamon oats with maca.



fresh mango, frozen cherries, water, 2 dates, and kale



green smoothie goodness with a Glass Dharma straw!



We have 7 inches so far today and it's still snowing =)  I think I'll be outside in the coveralls later ;) 

no pooing update

It's been just shy of three weeks of no pooing my hair and I really dig the results!  I had read that I might experience a period of time of excessive oilyness, but I have not at all.  Maybe my hair was ready, I love it when things just happen organically.  This is the site where I found my instructions and have been going by them.  I've found that my hair has a lot more body and can go a day inbetween without washing no problem. 
Now I'm not one to really style my hair much (mostly ponies for me), it's a big deal for me to blow it out;), so I'm really enjoying that it behaves well on it's own and I think it actually looks better, not that I really care too too much about it, but just wanted to give a little review if anyone is thinking about giving it a whirl. 

here's a photo from a previous post of the baking soda paste and cider vinegar ready for the shower



another Costco find, like 13 pounds of baking soda for if I remember correct around $5-$6.  This will be great for the no pooing, baking/cooking, and cleaning.  Anyone else use baking soda for cleaning/removing stains?  Part of our kitchen has white laminate countertops and as anyone who has them knows that if you leave vanilla, curry, etc. on it, it likes to stain, well, trusty baking soda takes it right up.  I will dampen some baking soda and leave it on the stain and later wipe and scrub it away. 



since I was heading into the shower I thought I'd share my routine that I think I have pretty streamlined.  Our favorite bar soaps are Kirk's Castile and Dr.Bronner's.  I did just place a bulk order for Kirk's bars at the co-op so we'll be stocked up for a while. 



We use this for face washing and LOVE it.



We buy the big bottle to refill and save money and packaging by doing so.  We buy both of these at Whole Foods. 



For face moisture I use evan healy.  It was recommended by a gal who works in the whole body dept. at Whole Foods, I tried it, and have been loving it ever since.  This is the one I use during the dry winter months here and whenever I need a little extra moisture. 



I use this Blue Chamomile Day Moisture during the summer, it smells so, so , so good and absorbs right into your skin. 

Some days my hair could use some taming ;)  I keep a small jar of organic virgin coconut oil in the bathroom to use on the ends to keep them under control, and smelling a little coconutty isn't a bad thing either (I daydream about being in Hawai'i a lot ;)



this is the same oil that we use in the kitchen I just scoop some out for this use too. 



alright, enough talk about bathroom stuff.  As I was eating a mandarin this week I couldn't help but stop and notice how gorgeous food really is, do you often stop and really appreciate it?  Here's a segment of the mandarin, I think I was also feeling happy that the sun was shining ;)  It's full of life giving nutrients, I had to give some appreciation for many things, a couple are that we have food to eat, and that there are growers tending to and growing great organic food. 



I try to practice midful eating, but more often than not I find myself eating in front of the tv at night or the computer or a book during the day.  Do any of you practive mindful eating?  Here's a gorgeous avocado from this week, another amazing plant food.



Averie at LoveVeggiesandYoga is having a give away of coconut peanut butter from Tropical Traditions.  I would love to win this, it must taste amazing, coconut and peanut butter together!  It's organic and the peanuts are free of aflatoxins, pretty cool.  You can enter to win here.

Happy Sunday.

pancakes of weekends past ;)

I realized that I hadn't shared these pancakes yet.  We had them a few weeks ago for breakfast, our breakfasts this winter seem to either go by way of oats, chia, or pancakes, all with plenty of fruit =)  Anyway these are Averie's Vegan Gluten Free Pancakes and they were yummy, I added lots of cinnamon and no baking soda.  I almost (almost ;) didn't need any syrup on top they were that tasty on their own.  I had been hoping to run across coconut flour somewhere locally and I found my luck at Arbor Farms Market.  It wasn't the nice big bag that Nikki had found in California, but what I was looking for none  the less ;)



real wholesome ingredients going into the Vita-Mix



blended up



cooking up in some coconut oil





can I eat pancakes without blueberries??  I am not sure.



Hope everyone is enjoying sunshine today like we are here in MI!

my sun in a bottle

so far this is the most exciting thing to happen today =)  I got my hot little hands on this raw d3!  Do you all get your vitamin d levels tested?  I did and mine are insufficient.  I have been supplementing with a d2 for the winter ie. sick season/lack of sunshine here in the midwest, but it is obviously not as readily available/useable to the body as d3 is.  I was anxious to get this Vitamin Code d, I currently take their b12 and David takes the men's raw one.  I feel comfortable with the integrity of the product and the company (Garden of Life).  No one seemed to stock or be able to order this here in the Ypsi/A2 area, but I knew I had seen it in a brick and mortar store somewhere...  Mom figured it out that it was at Bassett's (they have good prices on supplements for any locals) in Toledo, so I made the lil trek, picked up some items stopped and hugged Mom and a little girly she was watching, and now am ready to get these d levels up! 



dessert last night was great so I have to share that first too.  It was banana softserve with PB (thanks Averie!) , vanilla, agave, and maca with carob chips. 



dinner last night was warm and comforting, I've been a little under the weather a few days over the past week or so :(  so big bowls of soup over brown rice was just the ticket.  The soup is from The Everyday Vegan Pureed Curried Squash and Yam Soup.  It makes a huge pot and was what was for lunch today too.



I've been getting some extra sleep, reading Judy Blume, and wearing my pjs with feet to make me feel better ;)  We received these to wear Christmas eve this year from Mom and Dad and they are so warm and cozy.  Anyone else rock the pjs with feet?  (as an adult)



some other meals during my blogging hiatus:

this super colorful salad of romaine, spinach (the recipe used watercress, but I couldn't find any organic so I used what greens we had), red pepper, shredded carrot, purple cabbage, a bunch of scallions and cilantro.



with warm tempeh croutons



with dressing of cilantro stems, ginger, shallots, curry paste, lime juice, cashews and flax oil.
(the recipe was from Delicious Living or one of the other free mags in the health food store, sorry I don't remember which one)



this is the curry paste we use, I don't know of an organic one???



also that night were some Miso Curry Roasted Potatoes from Vive le Vegan!.



with all the hoop-la and chocolate talk surrounding Valentine's day I've been having to make some sweet treats at home to keep from hitting up the local bakery for a paczki or Dunkin Donuts for that choc. donut they keep showing on the commercial ;)  Monica's Thumbprint Cookies were the winner again, and they won't give me that lovely sugar hangover headache =)

pretty clean ingredients





little shortbready-yumminess!



this weekend we had a 'use up your leftovers salad of romaine, spinach, shredded brocolli stems, cauliflower, red pepper, zucchini, celery, pumpkin seeds, and raisins with leftover Sesame Miso dressing from Get It Ripe.



also excited about picking up this book from Borders, hope to read through it real soon.



Everyone been watching the Olympics?  I am looking forward to watching the snowboarding tonight =)