Fun Snack Recipes and Veggie Dip!

I have been really enjoying my raw food lifestyle the last few days! I just feel so free from cooking, making meals, planning meals, etc. This morning I woke up, and looking at the smorgasbord of fruit on our stove top, I decided to eat a tomato for breakfast. I added some dulse flakes and it was heaven. About an hour and a half later I made a giant green smoothie. I drank 85 oz of green smoothie and it lasted me all the way until dinner. I did sneak in a peach half way just for fun. Now, I am eating some pineapple, and I will retire with a big, giant salad.

I am always trying to mix up my salads, and in this season it's not so easy. So now I am mixing up my salad dressing. Some days I make a vinaigrette, some days I just use lemon. Rory made a really great dressing/veggie dip that I have been enjoying this week. It has a Mexican flavor to it, but what I really like is that it reminds me of something I used to love. It took me a really long time to remember what it reminds me of, but I finally figured it out. When I was just a vegetarian, way back, I used to make a salad and add eggs and cheese. This dressing gave my salad that exact texture and flavor, and it was fantastic!

Here's the recipe~

2 C. soaked sunflower seeds
1/2 C. of water
Juice of 1 lemon
approx 3 tbsps. of apple cider vinegar
2 dates (pitted)
1+1/2 to 2 tsp. salt

Blend thoroughly and toss in the following seasonings~

1+1/2 tsp. onion powder
1+1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2-3/4 tsp. of ground black-pepper
1+1/2 Tbsp. of oregano
1+1/2 tsp. of ground coriander
1/8th to 1/2 tsp. of chipotle powder (it all depends on how spicy ya like it!)
1/4 tsp. of cumin

Blend!

Rory and I were about to watch a movie last night and I was complaining that I wanted some sort of snacky, junk food thing. I wanted it to be raw, but crunchy and salty like chips. I was so demanding, since I also wanted it to be nut free, and quick, no dehydrator. Haha! So I really put Rory to the test and he came through for me! He made me a delicious platter with carrots and cauliflower to dip into the same sunflower seed veggie dip. He also made this really great spicy/salty carrot chip thing and "to live for" salty cauliflower. He cut up some sweet watermelon and made a tropical blend green smoothie because, when someone usually has salty chips, they then crave something sweet! I enjoyed the food so much I could barely concentrate on the movie! He called the yummy cauliflower stuff Cheezy Cauliflower Nuggets and here is the recipe ~

1/2 a head of cauliflower broken into small florets and little pieces
1 tsp. of hemp oil
1 tsp. pulverized salt
1 Tbsp. of nutritional yeast

Toss!

Here is the recipe for the carrot chips~

2 Lg carrots - washed thoroughly and cut into long diagonal slices to resemble a chip

Put them in a bowl and toss with the following~

A tsp. or so of hemp oil to get the flavorings to adhere
1 tsp. of mineral salt ground into a fine powder for even coating
1 Tbsp. of chili-powder
1 Tbsp. of nutritional yeast flakes

I pretty much ripped these recipes straight from his site if you want to check out the source.

I was just telling Rory last night what my dream kitchen would have in it. You know those refrigerated buffet tables that you see in some restaurants and cafeterias? They hold different fruits and veggies, and keep them cool at the same time. I would love that! I would wake up in the morning and prepare all sorts off fruits and veggies and place them on the buffet. Then no one will be hungry or have cravings for cooked food. They could always be picking something nutritious off the buffet and eat whenever they need to! I think that would be great for children. Now where can I get myself a refrigerated buffet? haha

My daughter wants to make another raw food video, but this time on a raw food "buckwheat groat popcorn". Hopefully I can post that for you soon!

Kelp Noodles Short Review and Recipe

I know it's been a week since I posted last, but to be honest, I've been so busy! This week Rory and I pretty much spent all of our free time going through our old stuff and either re-purposing them, or sending them to a thrift store. I unloaded boxes and boxes of really great books to a local nursing home, who will sell them at their next charity event. I am so glad to see them go to a good cause. My daughter just found out that we cannot take our pet mouse with us, and she seems devastated about it. I feel bad, but so many places have a no pet policy. In fact, the place we live in now has a no pet policy, but we were able to use puppy dog eyes and keep our mouse here. I won't have so much luck next time.

So anyway, I finally made something with the Sea Tangle Kelp Noodles that were sitting in my refrigerator for a few months. These noodles are pretty much made with kelp and sodium alginate, which is sodium from brown seaweed. these noodles are very easy to prepare, just take them out of the bag and give them a quick rinse! That's my kind of noodle!

I was pleasantly surprised about their taste and texture. I just kinda invented the recipe on the spot.

1 bag Sea Tangle Kelp Noodles
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 Tbsp basil
1 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp onion
1 large kale leaf
1 carrot
2 tomatoes
2 Tbsp hemp oil
salt and pepper

Rinse the bag of noodles and place them in a bowl. Slice the kale leaf very thin and then massage it thoroughly to make it soft. Use a veggie peeler to peel the carrot, then dice it with a knife. Dice the tomatoes and onion. Add everything into a bowl and toss.

The recipe was great! The noodles themselves had no flavor, but easily picked up the flavor of the recipe. I did have to add a lot of salt, and I don't usually add salt to anything. It was as if the longer the salt was on the noodles, the less I tasted it. The noodles had a crunch to them, that I actually heard more than I felt. I barely felt any crunch in my teeth at all, but heard the sound when I chewed. It was also very filling, I couldn't finish my plate.

There is no real nutritional value to the noodles, except iodine. They're fat free, gluten free, low carb, and low calories. They are healthier than regular noodles, and a great way to transition to zucchini noodles. Also, I really think that children will enjoy these.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed the noodles, and I would buy them again. You can purchase them in bulk from their website, and I have found them in some Whole Foods and a few local natural food stores. They seem to last awhile in the fridge (we had them since Dec.).

Smoothie Feast Continued and Rebirthing Session 2

I just wanted to check in here with my smoothie feast first. I have still been drinking smoothies all week, but I have only 1 new recipe for you. I liked some of the ones I already made this week so much that I am just repeating most of them! Although today I did have 2 new yummy creations. The first was a curry pumpkin soup that Rory made for me. It was a surprise, so I did not get the ingredients for it.

The second was a cherry smoothie that I made:

2 cups cherries
2 bananas
water
Blend!

Very simple, and very tasty!
I'm not searching in the fridge anymore, thankfully, so I am much more adapted to "smoothiehood". I am also not using the bathroom as much, so I may have adapted in other ways as well. As I promised, I did up my intake of calories the last 2 days. I've added more bananas and banana milk, which should bring me to about 1300 calories, give or take.

I am looking forward to a solid meal. I make food for my daughter, and a salad for Rory each evening, and I really am craving them. I crave solid food now more than I ever craved cooked food! I am really enjoying the smoothie feast, but at the same time, I can't wait for it to be over.

Rebirthing

So Chris came over again this week, and I bravely did another Rebirthing session with him. It started out the same as the first time. I was in a lot of pain, especially in my shoulders, and breathing was a chore, like running a marathon. He kept telling me to keep going, and I hated him for that. I just wanted to stop. But I didn't, I stayed strong because I was determined to find what Rory found his first time.

Just when the session was about to end, and we both thought that I wasn't going to get "there" my breath slowed down, and I started to feel it. I have to say, it shocked me quite a bit, and I think that shock pulled me away from it a bit. I started to feel very light, and each time I took an in breath, I started to rise. I would breathe again, and I would rise another few inches. Then the room disappeared, and I was above the ocean. Each time I breathed, I floated higher on a wave. I felt so wonderful, and free. I honestly felt like I could just float away. Then, I started sinking, and the room came back. I realized I had to use the bathroom (darn smoothie feast!) and it was over.

I asked Rory if that is what he felt, and he responded, "not at all". Apparently I only got a small "drip" of what it could feel like. If only I could let myself go a little more, I would feel it so much more powerfully.

Ironically, Rory's second session turned out to be much like my first, which goes to show you that they can be different each time.

I'll let you know on Saturday the final results of my smoothie feast. I can't wait to step on the scale and see what I have accomplished. My goal is to lose the 7 lbs I gained last week from eating too many nuts.

What's My Caloric Intake on a Smoothie Feast?

Click this pic to make it bigger

I've been getting a lot of questions about my caloric intake while I am on this smoothie feast, so I decided to log into nutridiary.com to figure it out. I used my meal plan from day 3 as my example. I found that I am eating 1122 calories each day, 43 of them from fat. Here is a break down of what I found out:

Calories 1122
Calories From Fat 43

Total Fat 5g
Saturated Fat 1g

Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 459mg
Total Carbohydrate 282g
Dietary Fiber 42g
Sugars 161g

Protein 20g
Vitamin A 625%
Vitamin C 520%

Calcium 38%
Iron 61%

I realize the calories are low, but keep in mind that I am not exercising this week. I wanted this to be sort of an experiment (hence the title, "raw food experiment") so I didn't want to add another variable. I did some research (not too extensive, but just enough for these purposes) I found that to lose 1 pound per week, you should burn off, or limit your calories by 500. I was eating around 2,100 calories a day before the smoothie feast (except for the "way too many nuts week") so I am obviously eating too few calories. I'm not super worried about it since I feel fine, and I only have 3 more days left, but I do plan to drink more smoothies tomorrow to try to get my calories up. I know that if my body thinks it is starving, I will retain weight instead of lose it. That's the last thing I want!

So today I dank a grapefruit smoothie for breakfast. The first few sips were a little "surprising" because the grapefruit has such a strong flavor, but if you can get past that, it tastes great!

1 grapefruit, peeled
1 banana
water and ice

This was really good, and luckily for me, no one wanted me to share! lol It didn't last too long in my stomach, so I had to make another smoothie about 2 hours later.

1 large bunch of dandelion greens
4 oz spinach
3 bananas
2 cups strawberries

This was good, but dandelion greens can be strong, so a lot of people don't like them in smoothies. The first time I had it in a smoothie I spit it up. haha! But now I love it!

Rory made me another grapefruit smoothie while I was rebirthing with Chris. This one was a little different:

1 grapefruit, peeled
2 bananas
1/2 cup peaches
1/2 cup grapes

This was really good, but to be honest, I had no idea he added the other ingredients. I guess the taste of the grapefruit canceled them out.

Around dinner time tonight I had a savory smoothie. It wasn't as great as the others I made, but it was still good. At this point in the week, I am starting to run out of ingredients. I know I will make it through to the end, but I can imagine the food will be less and less flavorful.


1 avocado
1 whole romaine head
2 large celery stalks
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup onion
1 garlic clove
Italian seasonings

This was the first real fatty smoothie I made this week. The avocado blends so well in a savory smoothie, just remember to add it last since it doesn't do well with extended blending.

I would like to hear any one's opinion about the caloric intake. Too much, too little, just right, or maybe it doesn't matter since I feel great and it's only 1 week? Please, let me know.

Smoothie Feast Day 3 - Smoothie Side Effects

It's day three and I am still doing very well. Not too many cravings, but I am hungry if I don't have a smoothie to nurse. I've been drinking about 200 oz of smoothie a day.

Day Two meal plan
I woke up and I was already very hungry. Luckily I had made myself a smoothie and put it in the fridge.

2 dates
1/2 cup pineapple
1 handful blackberries
1 cup strawberries
1/4 lb spinach
1/4 lb romaine
enough water to make it blend
This was so tasty!

Later I made a really great savory smoothie (soup). I shared it with Rory and we both devoured it. He isn't on a smoothie feast, so he chopped up veggies to add to his.

2 Tbsp Dulce flakes
dash salt & pepper to taste
1 very large celery stalk (or 2 small ones)
3 tomatoes
2 carrots
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup onion
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 giant leaves of Swiss chard
enough water to make it blend

chop everything up, add some water and blend! This was a great treat, and very filling.

I also had another one of those delicious fruit smoothies from day 1. MMMMM

I felt really good yesterday, like I could run a Marathon. Instead, I decluttered and went through a lot of our old stuff to release some of it. I really do not like owning a lot of stuff, but we seem to have acquired a lot of books. Rory and I went through them and found over 100 lbs of books to take to a used book store. It feels really good to do that. When we move, we will not have the storage space for all those books, and even if we did, I don't want to lug them around for the rest of my life. We still have over 800 books, but I haven't gone through my daughter's collection yet.

We were up so late last night, that I started to feel hungry. I decided to make some banana milk:


3 bananas
2 cups water
tiny piece of vanilla bean pod
1-2 big handful of ice

Oh this was good!

Today I am not feeling as well. I am much more tired, drained, and unmotivated. Rory thinks that I could be detoxing. I hope so! I didn't want to get out of bed this morning.

I started out my day with a green smoothie. It took a lot of motivation to make it, since I was really feeling out of sorts. I was also really grumpy, and no one likes to be grumpy (or likes to be around grumpy people, apparently)

1/2 lb spring mix greens
1/4 lb spinach
2 bananas
1 handful blackberries
1 cup strawberries
enough water to make it blend

This was good, and satisfying. It did bring up my mood, but not 100%
I was still hungry after I finished that, so I made another smoothie

1/2 lb dandelion greens
4bananas
1 cup strawberries
enough water to make it blend


This makes enough for a full blender. It was pretty tasty, and I shared some of it with Rory.

Around dinner time, I had more banana milk. I make mine thick and smoothie like, but if you add a little more water, it would be great over a raw cereal, or a cooked one even.

Side effects that I have noticed so far

I've been going to the bathroom a lot. The first day was the worst, I was doing #1 and #2 every 20 minutes. I was really shocked about the #2. Where did all of that come from??

Another side effect is that I am not sleeping quite as much. I am staying up later and waking up earlier. When I am awake, I have more energy, except for today. I wonder what tomorrow will be like?

My teeth get really grimey throughout the day. I feel like I need to brush them 4 -5 times a day. I thought that I wouldn't need to floss as much, but it's just the opposite, I need to floss more!

I am also looking in the fridge a lot. I'm not hungry, I just want something crunchy in my mouth. I guess this is taking awhile to get used to.

Lastly, I almost always need a smoothie in front of me to feel comfortable. If I haven't had any in about 30-45 minutes, I start to feel really hungry. I wonder if other people have felt like this?


Tomorrow I have another rebirthing session with Chris. If I am not feeling better tomorrow, I may have to cancel. I will see how I feel and let you know how everything goes.

Thank you everyone for so much support! I am really enjoying this smoothie feast so far, and I am excited to see how everything turns out in the end.

Rory's Blind folded Adventure

Last week Rory and I were talking about what we were going to do for his next raw food recipe video and he decided that he wanted to do his Green Vanilla Bean Shake, mostly because everyone we know loves it. What's even better is that the shake is super easy to make, so easy that it could be done blindfolded!

So that's what he did, he did the video blind folded. You have to see!



It was a really fun experience for us, so I just had to share it here on my blog. I love the part where he is trying to find a glass and he is reaching out for the cupboard and cannot find it anywhere. Anyway, hope you like it!

Raw "hot" chocolate

Our Christmas holiday was a lot of fun. On Christmas day we opened gifts, did crafts, played games, and watched a movie. The following day we went to my mother's house and did the same thing. It was like having Christmas twice! I know Isabel loved it. I hope your holiday went well!

Rory created this wonderful, easy "hot" chocolate that we enjoyed Christmas day, and every day since. Of course, it isn't actually hot, but we did warm it a little in the Vitamix. If you don't have a Vitamix, you can do it in a pan with a thermometer.

3 cups almond milk
4 Tbsp cacao
4-5 Tbsp raw honey (do it to taste)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or about 1/2' piece of bean

Blend it! if you are using a Vitamix, allow it to get slightly warm. if you are using a regular blender, transfer it to a pan and gently heat it on low until it reaches your desired raw temp (around 115F usually) This will probably make about 3 servings.

It tastes really good, and almost as if it has marshmallows melted into it.

Do you ever get tired from all this fast food?

Everything was going so well, I lost about 1.5 lbs of the 2 that I gained in CT. I've been eating all raw, until today. I wasn't even really paying much attention to what I was eating today, since I was so busy. Tonight I was sitting around with Rory and complaining about how sleepy and tired I am. I was so tired I could barely get up to go to the bathroom! He asked me what I ate today...hmm I had french fries and some hot cereal. Rory jumped right up and made me a nice green smoothie and some salad and now I feel so much better.

It's amazing, and almost scary, how much cooked, and junk food affects a person. I used to feel tired all of the time, and I never knew it was from the food that I was eating. Now, when I do eat those foods again, the tiredness is almost a shock and I can't even function. There are so many people that I know in their 20s and 30s that say they feel so old and tired. I used to think, pre-raw, that it was the stress of our fast paced world, but now I realize that it is the food that we eat!

How are you celebrating your holiday? We have a family tradition of eating tacos on Christmas, and this year we will not be breaking that tradition. The non raw foodies in my family will be eating traditional tacos, and the vegetarians will be eating vegetarian tacos. We will be eating raw tacos. There are so many wonderful recipes out there for raw tacos, but since I don't like to eat a lot of nuts, and we are so busy during the holiday season, we will be making our easy raw taco recipe. So many of our non-raw friends have tried them, and they all love them. We are making enough to share with anyone who wants them.


Have a great holiday!

This is kinda a silly vid I did to share our Christmas tree on Rawfu. Rory is "singing" (you may want to turn off your speakers to avoid hearing him sing)