Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Debit Card Drama, Disneyland Trip, Maple Roasted Tempeh and Seasonal Fruits and Hurom Slow Juicer

OMG.... I can't believe i am finally posting! Which means I actually have a day off! I have been so busy... I gave  my notice at my job to start another one working for a Urologist. So, I have been doing both jobs until the 24th... it is a lot. The new job will be good though because it is normal hours, Monday through Friday and I will be able to spend more time with Mackenzie, which is the most important :)


So...


We had fun in Disneyland even though my debit card number was stolen two days into the trip and my bank shut my card off... good thing I had brought another credit card to use because it was the weekend of the 4th and all the banks were closed. Have you ever had you identity or credit cards stolen? Big pain in the ass! Not cool!


Mackenzie loved getting autographs and meeting all the characters and I did get her onto a few scary rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones... but there was no way she was about to get onto California Screamin'... the BIG roller coaster I would have loved... maybe next time!







we waited for an hour in line to see Minnie Mouse!


Glad she had fun!




Onto food... I have been enjoying my Maple Roasted Tempeh... sweet and yummy. 


1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 package tempeh


Mix first two ingredients and brush onto the tempeh, roast at 400 for about 20 minutes, flip half way through. Yummy and easy. 




I have also been enjoying fresh figs. Love these and they are not around for long. I was excited to see them at a farmers market I went to and snatched some up. Do you have any good fig recipes to share? 


My newest purchase is the Hurom Slow Juicer. I haven't used it yet, but will today. I have been wanting it for a while. After readind review I have found that people say it maintains the nutrients in the juice better. When I juice with my juicer if I don't drink it right away, I don't like the taste. With the Hurom you should be able to juice in advance (which means less clean up... a huge plus for me!) and still enjoy the juice later. I'll let you know what I think next post. 








Next recipe I will share is my baked Falafel balls with cucumber sauce... so good and healthier then the fried version. I am on a falafel kick lately... can't get enough of them!


Hope you all have a great day! 



Saturday, July 10, 2010

More to come soon!

Thanks to everyone who has left comments lately... I have been super busy and have  not had time to post. I will get to it soon. I want to share with you....


Our disneyland trip and ATM card drama/ issues while vacationing. 


My new favorite recipes...


Averies crackers


Sweet Maple Cinnamon Roasted Tempeh (YUM!) 


My new Juicer purchase...


and more! 

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Raw Macaroons, Raw "Cheetos"

Hello! 


It's been quite a while since I have posted... I have been super busy with work, summer projects, Mackenzie being out of school and I guess just life in general. Next Tuesday Mackenzie and I are headed to Southern California for a 7 day vacation of hanging out Lake Arrowhead and then going to Disneyland... we are both very excited! I can't even remember the last time I took a seven day vacation or got to spend 7 relaxing days with my little girl!



I have been busy trying new recipes too. I stumbled upon these protein cakes on the site Foods of April after reading about the protein ice cream that Heather of Heather eats almond Butter makes.  These are both two of my new favorite recipes. The protein cakes are really good and easy to put your own twist on. What I used was...


1 and 1/2 scoops vanilla protein powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon apple sauce
1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon
splash vanilla extract
sprinkle of stevia


Mix it up and microwave for a minute. They are so good cut in half and smothered with almond butter. They keep well in the fridge too. 


I also made Stacy Neely's  raw "cheetos" but used Kristen Suzanne's cheezy hemp sauce for the coating. Soooo good and easy! Here's how to make them...
Cut cauliflower into florets


Coat with sauce (use Kristen's Hemp sauce or Stacy's "cheeto" sauce {recipe follows})



Dehydrate until crisp... overnight for me.  


Enjoy! 

Stacy Neely Stower's Cheeto Sauce recipe is here...
"Stacy's Fabulouso Cheeto Puffs" and "Spicalisous Nori Nachos"

1 cup sunflower seeds soaked and sprouted
1 c raw soaked cashews soaked
1 c raw soaked almonds
1 big orange
1 cup red pepper diced
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp taco seasoning
2-4 Tbsp of nutritional yeast

Process all ingredients and use this as a batter to coat small pieces of RAW CAULIFLOWER. dehydrate at 108 for 24 hours or until crunchy. ENJOY!

I use this same "batter" for the inside of my "Spicalisious Nori Nachos"....except I omit the nutritional yeast and I add cayenne pepper for the SPICALISOUSNESS! Spread batter between 2 layers of raw unroasted nori sheets and dehydrate at 108 for 24 hours or until crunchy. cut into triangles.

I know your family will looooove these!


I also decided to make raw macaroons since I ordered this huge bucket of coconut from Tropical Traditions...


I used...
2 cups shredded coconut from Tropical Traditions
3/4 cup ground cashews
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon coconut oil from Tropical Traditions
small squirt of agave
1/3 cup ground flaxmeal
chocolate chip (to half the batch)



pop into dehydrator...


Then devour!

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend! 







Sunday, June 6, 2010

Kaia Foods Giveaway Winner & Best Soup Ever!

Hello! 


Hope everyone has been enjoying their weekends. I have been working but today is my Friday... yay! The weather has been beautiful and it finally feels like Spring, now that it is almost over. 


The other day I watched this video clip of Natalia Rose sharing an easy soup recipe. I love sweet potatoes and had leftover  carrot cake carrot juice (recipe below) so I made it. It is my favorite soup recipe to date. 


2 to 3 cups carrot juice
1 large sweet potato diced
4 or 5 dates
1/2 avocado
1 tablespoon (or more) pumpkin pie spice. 


Blend until creamy and smooth and enjoy. It is so good... tastes like pumpkin pie and reminds me of the sweet potato cassarole that I love to make. 


I used some leftover Carrot Cake Carrot Juice that I had made. I used...


1 two pound bag of carrots
4 apples
small chunk of ginger
sprinkles of cinnamon and nutmeg (sprinkle them right into the juicer)


At work, some of the girls have been asking me about raw foods. I usually get... "what do you eat, just salad?" So, I think I will prepare some raw foods and bring them in. I always like to surprise people with what you CAN eat raw, not what you can't eat. 


Maybe I can bring in Raw Apple Crumble....




What about a raw cupcake?


What foods do you like to prepare for non-raw friends to wow them?

Onto the winner of the Kaia Food giveaway...

The winner is comment # 8,Lauren..

Lauren said...

I added you to my blogroll: gingeristhenewpink.blogspot.com

Lauren, please email me at sryseff@yahoo.com with your mailing address... congratulations!





Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Kaia Foods Giveaway!

Hello! 


Scroll down for information on the giveaway! :)


 The other day I was making my favorites quick lunch of whole grain bread with nut butter, honey and sprinkled with cinnamon when I realized I was out of nut butter. I usually buy the almond butter from TJ's. It occurred to me, why have I not been making my own in my dear Vita Mix? So I did. I only had raw pecans, so I used them. I also threw in some vanilla and cinnamon. So good! I will  be making my own nut butters from now on. It is so much less expensive too. Some nut butters are like 10.00 a jar and if they have vanilla or some other flavor, even more. Way cheaper to do it yourself. 


During my shopping trip yesterday I stopped at the Asia food mart and grabbed a case of young coconuts. While I was there I noticed durian in the freezer section. I didn't get any but I think I will try it next time. Have you tried Durian? I know Bitt has.... she even made a durian moonie pieI did find gogi berries there  for 10.00 a pound and bought some of those. 


Onto more important things... the lovely people over at Kaia Foods would like to give away a product of your choice to one lucky person in the continental US. If you have not tried Kaia food products here is your chance to. Kaia makes yummy raw granola, fruit leathers and nuts, which I have not tried yet, but want to. I can vouch for the granola... it is great! 







To enter:

1)Go to the Kaia Foods website and leave a comment telling me which product you would like to try. 

2) Link this contest on your blog. For this you get 3 extra entries... leave 3 separate comments. 

3) Post this contest on your Facebook page and leave a comment telling me you did that. 

4) Become a follower of my blog and leave a comment telling me you did that. 

5) Add my blog to your blogroll and leave a comment telling me you did that. 

Contest ends Saturday night at 12:00 am PST. Winner will be announced Sunday morning! 











Sunday, May 30, 2010

Kombucha... it is multiplying! Heather's Mango Tart

Hello Friends! 


Hope everyone is doing well. The weather here in Northern California has been gorgeous! 


School is almost wrapping up for Mackenzie and I am trying to plan out the summer. I have planned a trip to Disneyland in the beginning of July... we can't wait! I also want to attend the Health and Harmony festival in Santa Rosa, California and the Raw Food Expo in Santa Rosa. Are any of you planning on attending these? Do you have any summer plans yet?


I had posting about making my own kombucha. I love kombucha but it gets expensive at 3.00 a bottle, so I am glad mine has been coming out good. The batch just keeps getting bigger and bigger. The scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) doubles every time you make a batch. I went from one batch...





 to this...

I have been flavoring some with different fruit juices. Yum!

Onto dessert! I made Heather of Sweetly Raw's Mango Tart. The only things I changed were to use apricots instead of raspberries, added raw oats to the crust (I posted about the raw oats here) and I omitted the cocao butter because I didn't have it. 



The mango mix


The crust



Layer of apricot slices



The finished product. Mine did not set as well due to not adding the cocao butter but it still tasted great... as any of Heather's recipes will. 

The past couple days eats have been mostly smoothie for breakfast or whole grain waffles with coconut butter and fruit. 


I have also been enjoying salad with roasted sweet potatoes, beets, onions, and raw corn all tossed in Kristen Suzzane's Cheesy Hemp Sauce. This sauce is good on everything.... use it as a dip or dressing. Yum!

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend! 

Thursday, May 27, 2010

The BEST Raw Oats, Chocolate Coconut Bars, Dehydrated young thai coconut and Healthier Cinnamon Banana Chips

Hello! 

It feels like it has been forever since I posted. I have finished my classes and have been working more. I will be starting full time next month. It is exciting because all the work I have done going back to school to change careers is coming full circle. I have to say that I LOVE being a nurse, so rewarding! And, of course I keep my Real Estate license current so if the market decides to come back strong I can always go back to that too. 

Anyway.... I wanted to share with you a recent purchase that I am just thrilled about. These YUMMY organic, RAW, fresh flaked oats and oat flour that I ordered online from Sunrise Flour Mill. They are so good, fresh tasting, and RAW. Why buy dead processed oats when you can get fresh flaked raw oats! It is amazing the difference in taste with the fresh oats... you should order some and see what I mean. 




What have I been making with the oats? First I did Averie's overnight oats with a twist. I placed some oats in a bowl, added maple syrup,  soy milk, cinnamon, dash of salt, walnuts and raisins and it soak overnight. It was creamy and sweet in the morning. Yum! It made me remember being a kid I used to mix uncooked oatmeal with water and eat it... I love the taste of oats. 

Breakfast today was a fluffy waffle, left over from Sunday mornings breakfast, topped with coconut butter (my new favorite slather on everything goody) banana and maple syrup. 



I want to share a delicious treat that could not be easier to make. I found this online but can't remember where. Anyhow, take the meat of a few young coconut and dehydrate until chewy. It is SOOOO good! It is hard to not eat it all at once. Chewy, sweet and good for you. 


I really like banana chips, but are they fried? I decided to make my own. I melted some coconut oil and mixed in some cinnamon...

tossed the banana slices and dehydrated.... yum!



I pulled mine out when they were still a little chewy. 




I also made some Chocolate Coconut bars. Similar to my copycat Lydia's Organics Bars but with cocoa powder and cocoa nibs. These are crunchy, sweet and light. 


In food processor, mix 2 bananas and 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder.


Add 2 cups flaked coconut and some cocoa nibs


Optional... add some cinnamon and cayenne pepper for a kick. 

Dehydrate overnight or until crisp. Break into chunks and enjoy!

Question: Do you have several careers under your belt? Have you had a major career change due to the downturn in the economy? 
What do you do differently now than you did before? 

Also, check out the daily raw cafe for a chance to win a Jennifer Cornbleet uncook book or Blackbird Truffles!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Schools almost over! Favorite recipes...

Hello friends! 


I have not posted in a while because I have been so busy studying... yes... finals next week then I am done with my classes... yay! I can't wait to get back to devoting more time to creating yummy raw recipes, product reviews, and training for another half marathon. 
I will be signing up for the half marathon in Santa Rosa in August. 


I am curious... what are your favorite raw recipes? Are there any recipes that you love that you would like to be made raw? I know that I LOVE bread and have had fun creating different raw breads, like my cinnamon raisin bread, and this nut free raw bread recipe.

slathered with avo, yum!

I also love my spiced buckwheat crispy granola... have you made it yet?



perfect with fruit on top and nut milk!

I am on a mission to create some fabulous new raw dessert recipes. Anything you would like to see? Pie, cake, cookies???






Thursday, May 6, 2010

Started Clean Program

Hello, 


I hope everyone is having a great week so far. Mine is just flying by. I realized today that I have only 20 days left of school! So excited, but not for the finals...yuck!


Some of you may remember that I had bought the book "Clean" by Dr. Alejandro Junger and that I went on to buy the clean kit. I was planning to start the 21 day total detox after my half marathon. Well, I started yesterday. The basis of the program is to have two shakes a day, one for breakfast and one for dinner and eat one meal at lunchtime. There is a simple list of foods to include and exclude and pretty much has you eating a very clean diet. The kit includes the supplements that Dr. Junger recommends. 


Yesterday I made a shake with the Tropical flavored powder and added a mango. It was pretty good. For lunch I had a salad and later snacked on some raw almonds. The dinner shake was the chocolate orange flavor and I added cherries. 


I have to say that I do have a bit of a headache today, I'm sure it is from not having coffee in the morning, which I have replaced with green tea. Lunch today was some quinoa with cauliflower, asparagus, beets and some Raw Coconut Curry Soup, which is a Cafe Gratitude recipe that I love and have made several times. 


Through this cleanse I am hoping to feel lighter, have more energy, clearer skin and to reduce my cravings for starch and sugar. I will keep you posted on my progress. If you have not read "Clean" I recommend it, it is a great book. You can do the program without buying the kit as well. 


One quick thing before I go... after I received the kit in the mail one if the "wellness coaches" from Dr. Junger's company called me to see if I had any questions about the program or needed any support. Pretty amazing... when was the last time you got service like that...never!


Hope you have a great day! :)

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Half Marathon, wrapping up the weekend.


Hello! 


It is Sunday morning and I have had a great weekend. I hope you have too! I ran my first half marathon yesterday... yay! I want to do another one now just to try and beat my time. It was fun. 


My mom, Mackenzie and I headed to Sacramento the night before the race and stayed the night there. We got up super early, had breakfast and were off to the race. The crowd was huge and it really gets your adrenaline pumping. Mackenzie and I before the race...



Here  I am getting ready to run...



That is me with the the black top and the pony tail. 

I was really tired coming in but I was trying to smile although I look like I am in pain...



Luckily I had Mackenzie and my mom there to cheer me on! 

Mackenzie & I after the race...


She is happy to be wearing the free shirt and hat I got. After that I let her wear the metal too and she was happy about that. 

I let my mom drive home because my feet were killing me! All in all, it was fun. I am going to buy myself a garmin though, so I can better track my time and mileage. There is a half marathon in Santa Rosa I want to do in October. Until that gets closer I am just going to enjoy my running and not force myself to stick to a schedule. 

That's all for today, I haven't been home to create any new recipes and don't have any exciting eats to share... so, enjoy the rest of your weekend! 




Monday, April 26, 2010

Happy Monday, Raw Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Hello Friends, 


I hope everyone had a great weekend and are having a great start to the new week. 


My weekend was productive I guess. I ran my first "race" on Saturday, just a 5K, but it was fun. Since I have been training for my half marathon, which is this Saturday, I have been more focused on distance than speed, so running fast in the 5K was different for me. It was a small race (65 people or so) and the divisions were 19 and under, 20 to 59, and 60 and over. Well, I didn't win, but I had fun and want to work on my speed more when I am done with the half marathon. 


On Sunday I did a 10 mile run with my running group and later took a hike with my sister. I came home and cleaned (a little) watered the newly planted veggies, did crafts with Mackenzie, and just hung out. The weather was beautiful! Unfortunately, it is cloudy again today. 


As I usually do on the weekends I broke out the dehydrator to make some goodies. I made Averie's (Love Veggies and Yoga) Blondie  macaroons... YUMMY! and simple to make, as most of Averie's recipes are... which I love! 


I also made some raw cinnamon raisin bread which turned out really good. Here is my just winging it recipe... 


Raw Cinnamon Raisin Bread

1 cup buckwheat groats (soaked overnight)
1 apple (diced)
2 tablespoons cinnamon
dash of salt
1/4 plus 1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup ground flax meal
1/8 cup flax seeds
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup agave (or to taste)

Blend everything except 1/4 cup raisins in a food processor until smooth. Stir in remaining raisins. Spread onto non-stick dehydrator sheet. Score into pieces with a knife. Dehydrate at 105 until it reached the desired dryness for you. I like mine a little soft. 


Enjoy!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Fajitas, Spicy Salsa & Spanish "rice"

Hello all! 


So glad it is Friday and the sun is shining! What are your plans for the weekend? I am going to do a 5K race on Saturday morning, a long run on Sunday and hopefully get some veggies planted. I also ordered Food, Inc. from my netflix and am looking forward to watching it. 


The other day I was checking out Heather's blog (Sweetly Raw) and she had a yummy recipe for fajitas. They looked so good, I got them started that day. I used sliced baby bella mushrooms, an orange bell pepper and a sweet yellow onion. I soaked them in Heather's marinade over night and the veggies softened just enough that I did not need to dehydrate them. They are so good. 




Alongside, I made some Spanish "rice" as I had cauliflower to use and it seemed perfect for the fajita meal. 





Spanish "Rice"

1 head cauliflower 
1 bell pepper (I used orange)
handful cilantro
Onion (I used a leek)


Process cauliflower in food processor to make "rice"

process bell pepper and onion


add chopped bell pepper and cilantro to cauliflower mix





Mix above ingredients together and set aside. 


Combine...

1 avocado
cumin
coriander
chili powder juice of 1 lemon or lime
1/2 jalapeno pepper
1 teaspoon garlic
squirt agave
basil

Mash together in bowl. Add to cauliflower mix and lightly toss together. Enjoy! 




I ate some as a snack in endive leaves. Yum. 

I made a quick salsa to go along with the meal. 

Spicy Salsa




2 tomatoes
handful cilantro 
1/2 jalapeno pepper
salt 
onion
garlic

Blend together and enjoy. 


Hope everyone had a great weekend! :)