Tuesday, May 20, 2008

My new juicer!!



I finally replaced my juicer! I've mentioned in the past that my present juicer is garbage - I wasn't getting a whole lot of juice out of the fruits/veggies. It was a cheap Wallmart variety that I actually got for free a few years ago because I cashed in some Airmiles for it. Anywho, this new baby is an Omega 8005 model. It will even juice wheatgrass! I can make nut butters with it - ice creams - nut milks - and use it as a food processor. After using it a few times this past wknd I realize I definately got my moneys worth! It is super quiet (unlike my old one), easy to clean and assemble. I have only juiced with it - I have not tried out its other functions yet.

Another thing I snagged this wknd were two Raw cookbooks; Rawvolution by Matt Amsdsen and Raw Food/Real World by Matthew Kenney. I've already read both books cover to cover and look forward to trying out some of the recipes this week. I think I will start with a dessert.......:)

Thursday, May 15, 2008

A raw food dinner.


Let me start by saying that I have NO photography skills whatsoever. ha ha But I figure a post is alot better with some pictures - even if they aren't so skillfully taken.

Now I don't have a picture of the actual dinner served on our plates (forgot -sorry!) but what I have here are the leftovers in different bowls to show you.

For dinner last night I made Spicy Thai Wraps (actual wrap not shown), with a sweet mango dipping sauce, (the yellow stuff in the small bowl) a side of "rice" (in bowl beside mango sauce) and sweet avocado chocolate pudding (not shown here - see previous post for pic).

The thai wraps consisted of a filling (upper right hand corner) made from almond butter, napa cabbage, amongst other ingredients. The recipe said to wrap the filling in chard leaves, but I chose romaine leaves instead. I did not find them spicy at all - my kids found them sour (I can't imagine how).


The mango sauce for dipping was awesome. The recipes for the thai filling, the "rice" and the mango sauce is here. I will definately make them again. It was very simple to whip up.


The 'rice' was cauliflower and cashews whized around in the FP. (food processor) It actually had the consistency of a sticky white rice - but obviously not the flavour. The kids eat ALOT of it. Once again - it was simple to make - I just had to remember to soak the cashews for the day.


I mentioned in my previous post loving the sweet avocado chocolate pudding - so I made another batch. It is very rich, so we added a few raspberries to our servings - and kept the serving very small.


What made me giddy about sitting down to this meal was its presentation. The green leaves stuffed with a sauce, a yellow dipping sauce on the side and a ball of "sticky rice". I felt like we were eating gourmet for the night. The raw meal had lots of colour and we weren't left feeling uncomfortably full afterwards. (as some carb loaded vegan meals tend to do) And the meal left us satisfied for 3 hours....then it was time for a bedtime snack. There was no more preparation in this particular meal then any cooked vegan meal I make.


I made a couple of other things for tonight's dinner. Pictured in the upper left corner is some Moist Chocolate Brownies. I also whipped up some salsa to go with a Walnut "Meat" taco salad. I'll let you know how it turns out.


I will have to keep experimenting with different raw meals in hopes of finding a weeks worth that the kids love. The kids are always good sports and will try everything and eat most of it even if they don't prefer it. I eventually found vegan (cooked) meals that the kids liked and we tend to rotate that stuff. The hubbie however, has never liked ANY vegan meal. He likes his meat, cheese and dairy and no amount of recipe testing has ever changed that in 8 years of marriage. He did not like last night's meal - and I didn't expect him too. Like usual, he ate the entire plate's worth of food but grimaced and gagged the whole time. Like WTF!! He never complains or makes comments - so I appreciate that I suppose. Anyways, we have found a happy balance because he eats breakfast and lunch in restaurants 5 days a week for work (thankfully not on our tab) so he is kept happy eating what he wants at those meals.


Off of food and onto organic cotton. Pictured here is my new organic cotton duvet cover!! I found it at a store in Oakville, Ontario. Shipping was free and it arrived promptly. I have a wool blanket that my parents had for years and did not want anymore - so I put that inside the duvet cover and it works beautifully!


So now I have a complete bed of organic cotton sheets and blankets. Once the pillows are groddy they will be replaced with organic ones AND I hope to have an organic mattress someday - but this bed is only 6 years old - so that won't be anytime soon!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Tree planting is where I have been.




I can't believe I haven't posted since April. Geeze. We've been tree planting around here! Here are my sons and I getting dirty.
I've been dabbling in the world of Raw eats. Trying out some recipes. Seeing if I would consider converting from vegan to Raw vegan. Well, it's soooo tempting. There are alot of good raw treats out there. The only pic I've taken so far is this chocolate pudding. The recipe is at The Raw Goddess's blog. I was skeptical about making it as the main ingredient is avocado....but AWESOME! It was rich, and thick, and just plain yummy. The pic does not do it justice. I thought of taking the pic after I had dug in. ha ha

As well as eating raw goodies, we've been doing a bit of gardening. I've got our herbs in pots so far. We've still had a bit of frost some mornings, so I haven't put anything (except the kale and beets) outside yet. The kale and beets we started from seeds. The herbs I bought already started.

For mother's day the kids and I made some fruit bouquets. I got the idea from Rawdorable's blog as she got a bouquet of fruit for her birthday. It was not hard to make and we'll definately do that again!