I heart green smoothies

Last week I got the chance to see Victoria Boutenko.  She was giving her Green for Life talk and I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to see her.  I purchased Green for Life last year at VegFest and it sealed the deal on our Vita-Mix purchase =)  I also have her 12 Steps to Raw Foods book, I've really enjoyed reading it and the thinking it provokes.  It was fun to listen to her talk about the plant kingdom and some history of modern foods.  I enjoy her quest for health answers and how when she sees a health problem she gets to the basics and thinks there might be a simple solution for this, many times there is.  It was fun of course to meet her and to meet other like minded kind people and to hear about how she came up with the first green smoothie.  Another treat is that we all got a green smoothie made by her! 



pear, spinach, and mint



She is a very sweet person and is on the same thought as me with seeded watermelons!  (That's what I had to snack on in my purse during the talk, it was such a steamer of a day I was a big sweaty when I got there and watermelon always does the trick to cool me down)  She said that we have the best watermelons here in Michigan =)  I haven't traveled to nearly as many places as she has but I would have to agree ;)  I'm really missing it right now not being able to have made it to the farmer's market this week yet without a car...

I took my books, she was kind enough to sign and answer questions that I had.





and bought a sticker with the change in the bottom of my wallet.



These smoothies aren't in true Raw Family fashion, but here's what my smoothies have been looking like lately here. 



water, banana, fruit on hand: peaches, strawberries, etc., hemp seeds, raw protein, greens: parsley, kale, spinach, etc., spoon of raw almond butter



I've been using some of this protein lately for a change.  It is the one that I seem to digest best. 



I don't use supplemental protein very often, but sometimes it just sounds kind of good and a fun change of pace.  I personally don't ever feel like I'm lacking in protein and actually when I have a supplement I'm full for the time of like two meals!  So if I did this all the time, it'd be all I was eating pretty much or I'd have to step up my exercise and burn more fuel ;) 

couple more green smoothies =)



one on the go



I was on the go to the grand opening of the Lululemon showroom in A2. 
So cool that there's one in town now, I met the manager and she's super nice, they'll also be hosting lots of free yoga and other fitnesses classes in the shop, I love that!  I tried on some clothes and fell in love with the wunderunders, but will have to wait, with paying tuition for school yoga clothes are not in the budget ;)  I know the clothes are on the pricey side.  In Vegas I bought a pair of groove pants and a bra, they've had tons of use and are in like new shape, the clothes really are good quality.  We have been playing the lottery so who knows maybe I'll be able to go shopping before I know it ;) 



Reading LoveVeggiesandYoga  Averie's Banana Nut Muffins looked so good and it would be an excuse to use my antique store find glass batter bowl =)







these are my kind of treat on these cooler days now (it was in the 40s here last night! perfect sleeping weather)  gooey and dense, yum!



I changed the recipe a little bit:

*used two bananas
*did about 1/6 cup almonds  1/6 cup oats instead of the 1/3 cup almond meal
*decreased the brown sugar to a scant 2 T
*after the batter was mixed in the Vita-Mix I stirred in some oats and frozen blueberries, again I wanted to use my batter bowl =D  The  MI blueberries were super duper delicious.
I baked for 20 minutes, and like Averie said they're that underdoneness that I love. 

other fare around here has been lots of salads with artichokes hearts this week and garden toms



and these little gems I like to call PB&J dates!  This will satisfy your sweet tooth, sometimes I really get a craving for a PB&J sandwich (it might be a comfort food thing) but am not really hungry so I started making these.  I've been using the Naturally Nutty vanilla peanut butter, good grief is this good. 



Thanks for reading, hugs!

Also at the Green for Life talk I chatted with the manager of Inn Season Cafe and there will be a raw food and juice cafe opening up in September a few doors down on 4th street in Royal Oak!

lentil joes

I had a desire to make sloppy joes from reading ChoosingRaw ( I can't find the exact post now... ) So out came Veganomicon from the bookshelf.  A cool tidbit here, if you have this cookbook, somewhere on the ppk site they have a list of the corrections for it, I went through it one day and marked them down in the book, good thing to know)  Anyway we enjoyed a warm meal of Snobby Joes for dinner.  They're easy to make with ingredients that you most likely already have in your kitchen. 
Changes that I made:
*used red bell instead of green (read yesterday's post)
*decreased the chile powder from 3 T to 1.5-2 T, three seemed like a lot to me, but use your judgement only you know how much chile heat you like.

onion, pepper, and garlic  (Tantre Farms onion and garlic, they grow the best giant garlic and our garden peppers)  I'm actually missing the FM today =(  our car has been at the doctor since Saturday.  It's pretty amazing how much cleaning and catching up gets accomplished when you're without your car!



If anyone is curious how dinners roll around here in a house with a omnivore boy and a plant-based girl, sometimes we eat the same dinner and sometimes it's a little different like this.  We had leftover buns from entertaining so Dave had a lentil joe on a bun with organic cheese, raw pickles and mustard. 



my dinner looked like this, romaine leafs with lentil joes, Daiya shreds, tomato, raw pickles.  The buns weren't nonvegan, but I really find that I LOVE as many raw veggies and greens in my diet as I can work in, and greens are something that I regularly crave.  They are the one item that I am sure to have stocked in the house. 



I don't remember if we had salad as well that night.  I am a big believer that greens are our such an essential food so I get Dave to eat as many greens as I can, it's not hard he does enjoy them.  I'd like to spread these slogans instead of the 'go meat!' one that's been on tv.  Eat More Kale!  Strong Men eat Greens!!!  So that's how it rolls here, we eat vegetarian/vegan meals at home (with dairy cheese being the last hold out that I shop for David), if we get carry out there will most likely be meat ordered in his meal, and then when we eat out he obviously chooses his own meal.  I am so grateful that I have a husband that understands and respects my lifestyle, it works smoothly here for us.  He is happy to share with others the difference the evolution of our eating has made on his cholesterol, that makes me pretty proud =)  We are happy and healthy together even if we do have some differences in our lifestyles.  I think patience and mutual respect with one another are key.  I wasn't vegan when we met and along the way he has projected no opposing opinions on me (does he harrass me?  of course, but that's about everything else and hardly about food ;)  and did I continue to cook meat for him after I was no longer eating it, yes.  Did it gross me out/have reservations about it? big time...am I SO glad that he doesn't care that we don't have meat in the house anymore, YES.  Thank you Dave.  I know there must be other households like us and many that are not.  What's your story?  I do love comments and getting to know any readers better =)  hint hint...

Also leftover from enteraining was some guacamole we picked up at Costco, which turned out to be really yummy.  I usually make our guacamole, but when you're short on time and ripe avocados...you do what you can. 

guac spread on romaine leafs, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!



a frugal dinner of quinoa cooked in vegetable broth  (This is my broth of choice lately) with lightly sauted veggies in coconut oil from the garden and FM.  I added lots of dried herbs, a sprinkle of nutritional yeast,  and pepper, it was really tasty. 



ok so you know how much I love canning jars right, then you can imagine how excited I am about this.  My friend has an Etsy shop where they sell handcrafted light fixtures.  We're having one made for over the kitchen sink, yea!  I fell in love with it from this photo.

(image from thebluecabinet on Etsy)

I'm so geeked, I know I'm going to love it.  Here are the jars for our fixture.



I have a big thing for antique glassware.  I want to buy all the old Fire King measuring cups I see and any unique glass jars with lids, ooh boy I'm like a kid in a candy store antique shop ;) 

Check out the Etsy shop, I have new favorites  Rain and Marshmallow!

Maggie wanted to say hello again and show how much she loves her new nap spot.  This was not the reason I got the basket down, but I just can't take it away now ;) 



We are having the most beautiful weather here, this is what I'd order if it were an ordering kind of thing ;)
I see a bike ride and/or walk in my near future, but first I have a pile of ironing to tend to...
Enjoy your day xoxo!

treats

We drove up North a few weeks ago and stopped into a Whole Foods that is not one of our usuals for a couple of provisions for me for the ride/weekend.  I did have some things packed like chia yogurt, peaches, a green smoothie, and Odwalla bars.  I was excited to find this WF selection of raw foods bigger than ours and tried these kale chips (that were on sale =) a raweo, and some bananas.  Bananas always seem to make my road trip food even though I hardly ever just eat one plain at home.  I think it's the peel and eat convenience.  So the kale chips were tasty, I do like homemade ones better, but they were very good.  I used the crumbles from the broken ones later that weekend on top of some GF pasta (oh, I also threw a bag of this in the car too and it came in handy). 



I was SO excited for this raweo...



and it was maybe the most bitter unpleasant taste that I remember in a long time, boo =(  I don't know if we got a funky one or if that's how chai spice is supposed to taste and I've always had a 'western' version or something...has anyone had these cookies?  (Dave tasted it too and gave me a look like you better get me some water quick, I don't know what you just fed me ;)  haha, he was driving.  Anyway, they were worth a try.

I did make some raw treats that were not a disappiontment.  Here's the recipe, they couldn't be much easier!  Lemon Treats



I'm really proud of the produce we've gotten from our little garden this year. 

romaine, basil, kale



green beans, cuke, zucchini



our red zebras are so so pretty with their yellow and red striping



red peppers!!!  I'm convinced that growing your own organic red peppers will alone pay for any money you spend to put in your garden.  I'm really proud of these =)



A word on green peppers...from what I understand (aside from an actual heirloom variety that is green when ripe) the green peppers that we commonly see are unripe red, yellow, orange, purple, etc. peppers.  It is best to eat them ripe as there are toxins in unripe veggies, but you can read more about that in a google search.  So if you're growing green peppers let them stay on the plant and ripen, unless of course you're growing the actual heirloom green bells. 

more goodies.  We have been saving some serious dough by shopping in the garden this summer!

\

I now realized why there are so many recipes that involve zucchini ;)  Here's a recent attempt to keep up with the garden.  Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Bread



'Dare to set goals for your life that are bigger than the ones you've had until now in your relationships, career & your life in general. Have the confidence to step boldly from your comfort zone & make the changes & take the chances that will fulfill the potential within you. And don't let fear and/or negative comments... by others keep you from going after that which inspires you most! Think Big, Dream Big!'  ~Earth Cafe Living Foods on Facebook today

I really loved reading this status update today.  I'm going back to school next week and found comfort and strength from these words.

the photos are back.

My apolozies to any readers who have visited in the last 24 hours or so.  I have exceeded my bandwidth limit on the site that hosts my photo uploads for the blog.  I just upgraded so now it'll be unlimited and the photos are back, at least for the next year.  The reason I process the images this way is so we can see them in a bigger size on the blog.  Do you like them big like they are, does it matter to you? 
I have much gratitude for you taking the time to visit and read my blog! Thank you.

raw vegan cheesecake 1.0

This week I attempted my first raw vegan cheesecake.  I used the Strawberry Cheesecake recipe from Sweet Gratitude and it is sooooooooooooooo delicious.  Anybody who has had a raw cheesecake knows how devine they are! =)  I will quote Vegan Cookbook Critic here:  "the most effective vegan outreach tool ever invented. I have yet to meet someone who doesn't swoon at the first bite of a raw vegan cheesecake".  Check out her post with some glorious looking desserts! 

Here's a photo montage of my cheesecake ;)

soaking cashews



The almond date crust





filling ingredients (this alone would be enough of a reason to buy a Vita-mix!)



you know it's summer when your coconut oil looks like this...



lecithin was the only ingredient I had to specially buy.  I did make sure it's from non-GMO soybeans, when I bought this I was unaware of the sunflower lecithin...next time.





the Vita-mix can work some magic!



poured into my springform pan.  I bought this pan from a Pampered Chef party especially for making these cheesecakes.  Are you seeing how much I love them??? ;)  My love affair started when we lived in Nevada and our local Wild Oats sold Earth Cafe cheesecakes by the slice (they're like $6 or $7 I can't remember) and it was love at first bite.  I would totally ration them and have just a couple bites a day, what will power man.  Now I can have a whole slice at a time =D  yea!  We desperately tried to justify the shipping to order whole cakes here, but it just didn't make sense since they have to ship frozen/cooled. 



yea, it worked!  (this one was not difficult to make at all, it was just exciting)



Next time I think I'll cut it when it's a little more frozen, this got a wee bit mushy, but still held together fine. 



pretty



I picked up an extra set of these at Costco for storing slices in the freezer.  They're all now packed away frozen, well except for the two slices thawing on the counter for our nighttime treat ;) 



Something else I've been goo goo over lately too is this Go Raw granola.





I have a little bit with some almond milk and it is crazy good.  I'm still researching our dehydrator purchase...can't wait to start making more raw goodies in our our home!  I know that this fall and winter crackers and breads are going to be perfect, oh and granola too! 

I'm off to enjoy that slice and to try and finish Eat, Pray, Love tonight! 

Another great thought from Lululemon's Manifesto:

•Drink FRESH water and as much water as you can. Water flushes unwanted toxins from your body and keeps your brain sharp

I heart yogurt.

Lately my breakfasts have been lovely thanks to the glorious peaches that are now in season, holy momma are they good!  I'll eat at least one big one sliced up in a bowl while my chias are gelling in some yogurt.

Our windowsill all summer =)



two bowls of goodness!



I've been rotating non-dairy yogurts until I found this one that has no sugar added. 



I do stir in some vanilla powder and a dab of agave and about 1-1.5 T chia seeds and let it hang out for about 20 minutes while the seeds gel.  It is tart and yummy, boy do I love chias in my diet.  This is what my husband says when somebody wants a taste of my yogurt...'it's not the yogurt you're thinking of..."  haha.

When Mom and I were in Petoskey shopping in a kitchen store I was so grateful to find the yogurt maker that I'd been thinking about ordering online.  It's the Yolife by Tribest.  I wanted this one because it comes with small glass jars and the extra tall lid so I can also use my canning jars to make bigger batches.  I have yet to use it since I now need to order a vegan culture/starter.  I'm really looking forward to experimenting with seed based yogurts. 

Here she is and she now has her own space in the cabinet =)



Does anyone have experience or recommendations for making vegan yogurts or the culture/starter that you like best?