Homebrew success

We have officially had success with our first brew of Kombucha =)

To begin, check out what a school friend hooked me up with...

my very own scoby, and a big fat healthy one at that!  So I had to get up the courage to give it a try ;)



isn't she pretty?  like science experiment pretty ;)

After picking up some sugar and a big jar we were ready to roll.

Supplies:

organic black tea
organic fairtrade sugar
glass bowl
glass jar
scoby



I did a little quick research online and learned that raw sugar isn't the best to use (hence the trip to the store), real tea should be used (not herbal), metal damages kombucha, and that I didn't have a good cover for the jar...

so first I brewed the tea for 15 minutes, 5 bags.  I used 2 quarts of water.



stirred in sugar ( I think I used about 1 cup, which may be more than necessary), and let cool to about room temperature, then transferred to the jar and placed the scoby inside, (Scoby is an acronym for Symbiotic Culture/Colony/Collection Of Bacteria and Yeast)  and added half of the kombucha that came with the scoby. 





What I ended up using to cover with was gauze, which we have a bunch left from hubby burning his hand a few years ago, so I thought I'd try it and a rubberband.  I don't know if this is ideal, but we didn't have any fruitfly problems which is what I've been reading about. 



and placed her in the corner (out of direct sunlight) and patiently waited...



for 14 days until I got the feeling it was time.  So I peeked in to discover that a little baby scoby had indeed grown!



again I don't know if this arrangement is ideal...



I tasted it and was surprised at how yummy it turned out plain.  I poured into two jars and filled an old Bubbies jar with brew and the mother and baby.  Our baby isn't a solid scoby as it grew around the mother sticking up since our jar was smaller than where she had grown in, but it separated well. 

labeled and packed back in the fridge



we did get some fizzyness (which dissapated as the jars I stored in are not air tight) 



and to one jar I added fresh sliced ginger







which was good, but not overly flavorful.  I'm wondering if I have to let it like 2nd ferment at room temp to take on the flavor more?  anyway, I chalk this up to a success =)  We'll find out if it was beginner's luck as there is another batch brewing now!

Things that I learned the first go round:
I probably need glass with a bigger circumference for more air exchange and so the scoby can stretch her legs out (check)
I should research more about reuseable material for the top
I need a funnel (check)
EZ cap bottles may help keep the fizziness (check)
While it's fermenting you can smell it, I love it, I may start talking to it soon...

Here's hoping we have success for round two! 
I welcome any suggestions/tips from you seasoned brewers. 

I've been enjoying this combo a ton for snacking:

organic, 'raw', soaked and dehydrated almonds



and Theo chocolate, mmm.  It's good with Kombucha too!

Sweet stuff =)

Another knock out cheesecake from Sweet Gratitude is the Chocolate-Orange Cheesecake! 





The recipe calls for cacao butter, but we didn't have any (it's pretty pricey) so we subbed more coconut oil/butter combo, and it worked great. 

I garnished the cake with extra orange zest and cacao nibs



Mom and Dad shared this one with us too and it is my favorite one!  The orange and raw cacao combo is SO delicious.  Here Dad is prepping the cake for the freezer so it's easy to pull out one serving at a time. 



Here's also a couple of photos of the how the lemon wild blueberry cheescake turned out



Dad rocks with the photos huh? 



On Mom and I's Mother's Day trip last year to Petoskey we bought a super duper delicious beet hummus from The Grain Train  to share in our hotel room.  I haven't forgotten about it since and we had a lone beet hanging around so this was bound to happen...







First I quartered the raw beet and processed it until broken down pretty well.  Then I added all the ingredients to make Dreena Burton's Peanut Sesame Hummus, using two can of Eden garbanzos.  (I know I've said this before, but if you love hummus this cookbook is worth getting just for the hummus section alone, there are 8 recipes! the rest of the book rocks too.)  I was thinking that the combo of beet, toasted sesame oil, and tahini sounded great.  I forgot I wanted to use tahini instead of peanut butter...so I added more tahini to the batch.  It was good, but then it got all nice and married overnight in the fridge and it was really, really good!  Not to mention it was an absolutely beaultiful color.  This hummus was enjoyed with lots of veggies including this find...



in February...in Michigan.  Thank you kind folks who are busy growning organic food in a greenhouse (I'm assuming) in the MI winter!  We bought these from Zerbo's and notice they're 50% off so they were like a dollar something for fresh organic local peas =)

 

One last item for today is that I have been grateful to receive two blog awards!  The first one is from Nikki at Live.Love.Yoga Blog.  Thank you SO much Nikki, I'm honored.  If you don't read Nikki's blog I highly encourage you to stop over.  She is a Certified Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga Teacher who writes expertly on living life and doing yoga.  This is a blog that I love to read for its thought provoking topics that so often bring self awareness and laughter =)  I do believe she is a modern day sage.  I met Nikki when I took her yoga classes while living in Las Vegas and about four years later her classes I still miss.  She really will take you to your edge and you will finish class feeling strong, centered, empowered, and smiling!  Lucky for us who are not local to her practice now, Nikki walks the walk with her service to the world and is offering podcasts of her classes on itunes or directly on her site here. 

so Thank You Nikki for my first blog award! -  Here is my cute award =)



With play come rules, and the rules are;


1. Thank the person that gave it to you

2. Copy the award to your blog

3. Pass the award forward to five other people of your choice

4. Share three things you like

I'd love to pass this award on to:

*Cora at Reflection: Mind, Body, and Soul who is thoughtfully beginning her blogging and sweet yoga adventure. 

*Averie at Love Veggies and Yoga  Averie's blog was the first food blog I started reading.  Many of her recipes are used/adapted here as staples in our kitchen

*Antony at Antony in London a fellow lover of raw foods and kitty cats where I love to read about inspiring raw recipes, art, and literature

*Be Verdant  my favorite holisitic health practitioner who keeps us up to date on big food, holistic health, and the beauty in the world

*Walk Slowly Live Wildly where I always find beautiful inspiration of creativity, life learning, and hooping!


3 things that I like are avocados, sunshine, and kitty purrs

hubby's lunch

I thought it would be fun to talk about what the hubby's lunch often looks like.  Monday -Friday we pack a lunch for him to eat at work.  This enables us to save money and more importantly eat healthy and how we choose to. 

In the morning we heat water for the Chemex and make a SS travel mug of organic, fair trade, shade grown coffee.  I will then use some of this heated water as it cools in my neti pot.  We also make a green protein smoothie which he drinks on the way into work.  

Good Morning Hubby Green Protein Shake (all organic)

10-15 ounces either filtered water or unsweetened almond milk
1 scoop of Raw Protein
1 tsp of spirulina
two handfuls of greens
1 banana
1 peeled orange
2 fresh pitted dates

blend all ingredients until smooth, we top ours with local bee pollen.  If I don't use any frozen berries in the shake I will add a couple of ice cubes to keep it cold. 

Green Protein Shake travels in a BPA free cup.  We have two cups so while one is in use the other can be washed and drying.  We originally used mason/ball jars, but hubby has broken one in the car (and yes it was full ;/)  this is more convenient for him and it fits in the cupholder of the vehicle he drives too.



Lunch consisted of an organic romaine salad with sliced organic fennel, piece of hormone free cheese (hubby is an omni outside of the house and eats plant based with ocassional cheese at home), and raw organic pumpkin seeds. 



I add the dressing on the bottom so it doesn't wilt the greens by lunch time.  This was Averie's Tahini Vegan Ceasar.  When I make this dressing I use less agave and add lots of powdered ginger that Averie suggests.  It's so good!



raw organic carrots and a sliced Bubbie's pickle



raw organic walnuts and organic fair trade chocolate



and an organic orange



We use glass containers, SS coffee mug, and a Klean Kanteen for water, a refreezeable ice pack, linen napkin and real flatware for packing lunches.  Basically just like eating at home only it all has to fit in the lunchbag ;) 

Other common items for hubby's lunch are:

organic nut/seed butter and jam on Ezekiel bread sandwich
veggie sandwich with cheese on Ezekiel bread
leftovers from dinner
celery sticks with or without nut/seed butter
other fresh fruits
chips with salsa and avocado/guac

Somedays I feel I am at a loss for new lunch ideas, I would love to hear any suggestions that you have please!  Do you pack a lunch for yourself or a loved one?

(please pardon the dingy looking pics, the sun is still snoozing when we get up ;)

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Love to all of us, everyone.



In the spirit of Valentine's Day we had a little bit of cacao and red strawberries in our breakfast today on the eve of Valentine's.  We don't really celebrate it any differently here than all the other days, but it's fun to have a bit of a theme! 

Inspired by a post from Girl on Raw I made this breakfast #2

Valentine's Breakfast for Loving with a Healthy Happy Heart
(serves 2 hungry lovers plus a little leftover for tomorrow's bfast, yippee!)

In a bowl combine:

1 cup oats

3 T chia seed
 and set aside
Blend the following ingredients until smooth, pour over your oats and chia and stir well.
2 fresh bananas
4 fresh dates
20 oz unsweetened plain almond milk
bit of vanilla
1 tsp cacao (could definitely use more if you wanted)





Set this aside (stirring occasionally) while you prepare your green juice which is breakfast #1

romaine, cucumber, celery, apple, lemon, ginger



When you're ready for bfast #2 (we usually wait about a 1/2 hour after drinking our juice, plus I have to clean up the juicer and stuff ;)

portion the oat mixture into bowls and top with sliced strawberries, a few straggler blueberries, and crushed raw walnuts



This was seriously a cinch to make and was so delicious.  I wouldn't kid you!  I think something about it tasted like marshmallow to which Dave replied 'When is the last time you have had a marshmallow?'  so I take it he didn't think it did, and my answer was a long time, years, I don't even remember, they're so gross....anyway I do think it did remind me of marshmallow, the herb/flower/root.  Have you smelled it?  heavenly.

So good, I think you should try this =D



While I was up preparing breakfast these two babies who've had my heart for going on 12 years were enjoying a morning still in bed with the sun shining in (yes, it's amazing we've had two consecutive days of sun here in the winter!)  on them. 



As for Maggie's headshot she apparently struck her best vampire pose...



and with her fangs in.



and my Marley cat, who I may or may not have been wearing in a blanket sling.  ;)



please don't judge ;)  he likes it!

I've been super excited that Maggie has been enjoying their wheatgrass



crunch, crunch, crunch.  mmmm, chlorophyll



Wishing you all a fabulous day and extending my love to you, hugs!

Make Juice, Not War

We found our quick staple juice that we groove on here to be Kris Carr's Make Juice, Not War Green Juice, with a little bit of adaptation. The juice we've been making consists of:

(all organic of course)
cucumbers
head of Romaine (hearts)
big stalks of celery
lemon
bosc pears
big knob of ginger, we like it spicy here!
(if we have kale stems hanging out we put them in too)

In Crazy Sexy Diet Kris explains what produce to begin with on your juicing journey to get your digestive system used to it, she's right, it rocks and we love it! 

ready to juice



juicing



the glorious green goodness.  I am extra excited to wake up for this in the morning!



just plain pretty, yes?



have you all been loving the delish bell peppers and blueberries in the stores lately?  This has been a common snack for me on the go to school and work.  Organic red, yellow, or orange peppers, blueberries, raw soaked and dehydrated almonds, organic and fair trade dark chocolate, and organic raisins.  Good fuel!



Last night I went to a screening of Forks Over Knives with two good girlfriends/wellness warriors.  We had a great time and I loved the show.  I am excited to take the hubby and my parents when it opens in May this year.  It will be running in a few of the big theatres across the country, that is so very exciting. 



Rip Esselstyn, Kerry Saunders, and two Michigan firefighters that have taken the Engine 2 Challenge hosted a panel discussion after the screening.  I recognized Kerry Saunder's name when they announced it, but didn't know why, until they said she writes a column for VegNews ;)  I didn't know that she's a Michigander though.  Rip Esselstyn is the author of The Engine 2 Diet and the son of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn who is in much of the movie.  Rip is vibrant and strong.  We loved the KALE shirt he was rockin! 

(sorry for the not so great pics, one of these days I'll start taking more than my PNS around again)



Whole Foods is a sponsor of the screenings.  They provided refreshments before the show.  Raw veggie trays, kale butter, hummus, bread, and drinks.



The kale butter was yummy, think we'll have to play with making that at home.  I've been having a sort of craving for hummus lately so I happily ate that up too ;) 



Whole Foods had swag bags on the theatre seats, awesome!  We received a reuseble little bag, a Larabar, can of Eden beans, coupon for a free bunch of organic greens, and the Whole Deal flyer.  These will enable us to complete a 'beans and greens for bones' meal.  That was Dr. Saunder's and Rip's answer for an audience question about getting calcium on a vegan diet. 



Highlights of the night for me were:

* the show was sold out so that meant we were surrounded with like minded folks, or at least curious ones.
*eating refreshments where I didn't have to read ingredients (...even though I did )
*seeing two strong vibrant doctors in their 70s actively living life on a plant strong diet (along with a cast of others)
*Gene Baur was in the movie for a minute =)
* learning that there is a husband and wife MD team that treats their patients primarily with a whole foods plant based diet.  Hippocrates would be proud.  (they're in LA)
*hearing so much dialogue first hand about plant based diets in Michigan
*seeing and listening to strong proud vegan men
* and of course hanging out with two fab girls!

I made a big batch of organic raw tahini for dressings and to maybe satisfy this hummus craving I have ;) 



A question for you juicers-  Do you peel your lemons or no?