Doggy Downtime

Hello bloggies! Happy hump day! hope you are ... humping along! lol. This one's going to be short... This little gal


got fixed today (and microchipped! she's officially part of the family now :) and she's wearing the cone of shame. I didn't have the heart to take a picture of her wearing it. But I will post this one of her and the hubby passed out over the weekend:

poor Maki keeps walking into things with her cone! she's deaf (we rescued her - a friend's cousin found her, abandoned, and they already had 3 dogs, and Rich had been begging for one for ages... so I finally gave in. I'm still not a dog person really, but I do <3 mine now!) so she looks really pathetic right now... I'm off to spend some time with her and the hubby before bed...

Coconuts & Almonds

Sunday evening already! The weekend always seems to fly by... then again, I can't believe it's already halfway through June - wasn't it just January?! Yesterday, I dove into a lovely mug of coffee (Starbuck's Cafe Verona), made in my french press... I love that thing! (and when Rich & I moved in together, I gave my coffee maker to goodwill since his had been used, um, never and was *clean* - but his uses those conical filters and I've made a mess every time I've tried to use it). I have my eye on the Cuisinart coffee-on-demand carafe-less (one less dish to wash! the funny thing about me & dishes is I don't *mind* doing them but I am notoriously horrible at them. Rich blames my eyesight. When my friend Will is in town and cooking in my kitchen, he pre-washes every pot and pan he uses. I caught him once and *he* looked guilty. I've never been so embarrassed. I love a clean house. I, unfortunately, am not born to clean. I try, but it is not my forte. I redeem myself by cooking :)). Anyway, I made coffee, then steamed milk (unsweetened chocolate Almond Breeze) and pumped and foamed it in the milk pumper-frother (manual-style... maybe I need an espresso machine with a milk frother too! Why is frother not a word? My mac keeps underlining it red...). Here is the cup of glory:


So tasty! It almost gave me enough energy to clean the house. But I'm still using the gimpy knee excuse :) haha



After we got home from the soccer game (x2!!!) last night and my knee was throbbing, I conquered my first coconut:


it was beautiful. And I finally got to use my Global cleaver! (awesome wedding gift) Shoutout to the Fitnessista who man-handled many at 105* as a cheffer! and the fresh coconut juice was insanely tasty. It didn't have much meat, so I threw it in the Vita with my fresh batch of dark chocolate avocado mousse (it didn't want it's picture taken). I threw it in the freezer so it got cold and frosty, then topped it with fresh strawberries. No words. totally delicious. There's been a lot of talk in the blogosphere lately about local food ... the strawberries were from California, but for a giant 16oz container at 99cents... and they were soooo good, and I bought them at my local farmer's market - I may be headed back to stock the freezer :) I generally prefer local food, but strawberry season here is over for the year, and I love my berries!



I finally made it to Tar-jay today and scored some more coconut & almond:

even though I like the idea of "natural," I have to agree with Averie that sometimes the natural products just don't work as well. I bought the Almond Milk body wash on her recommendation and it smells sooo heavenly! One natural product that I do like is the Tom's of Maine deodorant. I had tried the unscented and found it did not work for me, but then I tried the apricot:

and it's way better :) Anyone have any recommendations on natural (or not) products that they love?



Whole Foods yielded even more coconut & almond:

new-to-me Coconut Milk creamer (since I'm drinking coffee again). I like my iced coffee black, and sometimes hot coffee black, but I thought I'd give this stuff a try. And even though fresh almond milk is (in my opinion) tastier and fairly easy to make, sometimes it's just easier out of a carton. And it was on sale :)



Eats today: Massaged kale salad:

Spiralized zucchini noodles, red & yellow peppers, carrots, shredded romaine, mint, cilantro, & basil - all topped with a Thai style spicy almond butter sauce:


Almond Butter Thai Sauce Recipe:

1/2 cup raw almond butter

2 Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tbsp agave nectar

1 1/2 Tbsp coconut aminos (can substitute namu shoyu or soy sauce or tamari)

3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

juice of half an orange (about 1/4 cup)

1 tsp red chili flakes, or to taste

1" chunk fresh ginger

1/2 stalk fresh lemongrass

1/4 cup water (add more or less, depending on desired thickness)


Put all ingredients in Vitamix and blend until smooth. This would also be fabulous with toasted sesame oil in it (which I had intended on using, but we were out).

The veggies all tossed together with the sauce:

Spicy and sweet and savory... love it!


I'm off to finish the laundry (which seems to be producing like bunnies!) and do some stretching . Have a fabulous evening and Monday morning! I'd love to hear about your weekend :)

It Gives You Wings!

... raw vegan Red Bull that is! this beauty was cucumber (check out the size of this monster:)

ginger, lemon, kale stems, romaine (the leaves were almost too gorgeous to juice! how can you turn down delicious eye candy like produce with amazing colors for the vending machine? I don't get it! especially with all the summer produce out right now!), a plum and handful of grapes that were on their way out, a green apple, and a pear... slightly sweet, slightly spicy, sooo good! Here it is in the carafe (overflowing, yeah that was *not* fun to clean up)

The purple is from the plum & grapes - they aren't something I've added in before, but the taste was summery sweet, and the produce was at least saved from garbage bin city where it was headed - that's a good tip for newbie juicers too, just try different things in your juicer until you find combos you like - there's tons of recipes out there, but just try stuff - the worst thing that can happen is the garbage disposal can eat it. haha



I've been indulging in iced coffee the past few weeks too... it's been baller hot here. My car thermometer read 108* yesterday - I know it wasn't *that* hot, but with 100% humidity, it certainly feels like it!



This week I made the raw cheesecake from the Raw Goddesses' book and it was amazing! I stored it in the freezer and it was a chilly treat - so good! Finished Product:

The crust:

The filling in the Vita:

See how thick and creamy?

To me, it tastes just like *real* cheesecake (but way better!). It does need time in the fridge or freezer to thicken (like regular cheesecake). I use this coconut oil:

I buy it from Earth Shift Products and I love it! It is the very best coconut oil I have ever tasted (and no, they did not give it to me free - I wish! - or pay me to say that). It has a nice coconut flavor and works wonderfully in raw desserts. When our UPS guy delivered it (aroune 6 or 7pm) a month or so ago, it was ALL liquid. funny. love Florida!



last night was Indian Food Friday at casa de Kat! I had been dreaming of Indian Food all week. I made Gajar Halwa via the Fitnessista's vegan recipe, but left out the vanilla (still out! I am going to Whole Foods as soon as I post this :) and the saffron (didn't have any). Here's my version:

and in a little serving bowl:

(sorry for the dark picture!) I didn't measure any of the spices and my cinnamon is in one of those giant Costco containers and I think it came out a little too fast... so I ended up adding a little more almond milk. I also made a batch of Baingan Bharta based on this recipe (thanks to Gina for posting the link awhile back!). Here it is cooking:

and ready to come out of the pan:

throw on some cilantro (hint to all the novice cooks: a little fresh chopped herbs go a long way to make your food look awesome & pro!)

and serve some up!

it's vegan, full of veggies, and spicy! I used a jalapeno and a red pepper (variety = unknown... growing on our balcony! yay, something that grows and is not consumed by squirrels...). So my husband got home last night and the first words out of his mouth? "Wow it smells AMAZING in here!" Any new wifey (it's been just over 3 months!) loves to hear that! especially now that I'm pretty much an all-the-time vegan (occasionally ~ 1/month I eat seafood), and always eating lots of produce, and while he likes veggies, he doesn't have the same love affair with kale that I do :). He had just run by whole Foods and had a baguette, so he threw some of the Baingan Bharta on the bread and said it was amazing. and then he went back for seconds! yay! I adjusted the spices a little, but pretty much followed the recipe. I think it would have been better if some onion was added at the beginning with the pepper. Something to do next time I make it!




*something fun to do* go check out Nelly's blog and enter to win Ani Phyo's book, Raw Food Essentials, because Ani is amazing! I have Ani's Raw Food Kitchen & love it!. Contest ends Tuesday, June 29.



I'm off to do errands - Whole Foods & Target - and then to watch the World Cup game, then to support the Tampa Bay Rowdies.



Have a fabulous weekend!



Happy Birthday to my good friend Averie who doesn't look a day over 25 :) Love you! xoxo

Doin' the Sushi Samba

My weekend has been flying by! How 'bout you? We threw an impromptu dinner party (read: food plus friends plus cocktails = loads of fun!) last night - sushi style! I did eat some fish (tuna and salmon), but no rice.. just not my ticket ;) Here's the group platter (with rice):

and mine (no rice or cream cheese - almost raw vegan with the except of fish - it was all raw and organic):


we did the rolls with various combinations of tuna, salmon, asparagus (blanched), red pepper, cucumber, alfalfa sprouts, carrot, jalapeno, lemon zest, basil (sound like an odd thing, but sooo good! came fresh off of our basil plant... they're finally all making an amazing comeback after dying during the winter freezes... haha Florida freezes). Served up with wasabi ('cuz I like it spicy!) and pickled ginger and soy sauce (I dip mine in this coconut aminos - it's raw, soy free & gluten-free and tastes remarkably like soy). Sorry, I was too hungry for more sushi pics heehee.

What else have I been eating lately? I made this beauty:

the Blue Sunset from Raw Food Real World, and the Bunny Spice:

(with carrot & ginger juice, blended with cinnamon and banana - so good!). Yesterday I made kale chippies! The before:


and the after:




love the nooch-y cheez-y goodness! protein power baby!

I also made a version of my good friend Averie's no-bake peanut butter bars, but I made a few tweaks. I used this almond butter instead of peanut butter:

I love how the only ingredients are salt & almonds! and it was on sale at Whole Foods. score! I made an apricot-date syrup (about 4 ripe apricots blended with 1/2 cup dates in the food processor) to sweeten:

and then put everything in a pyrex dish, topped with maple sugar.


It didn't all harden up too well, so I ended up baking them as cookies (on a Silpat - love how they're non-stick!)

here's the underneath:

pretty delicious! However, I ended up giving them all away. Oats and I still um, don't agree :/

I also made a raw pad thai of sorts. The dressing:

The before:

The after:


Veggie-licious!

Yesterday I got in an awesome workout - arms, chest, abs, and leg rehab. Today is lots of icing the knee :/ and maybe a headstart on packing? until everything is *final* on the house I don't want to jinx anything! haha. The weather here seems sorta blah today - grey and rainy and super humid (from here on out it's rainy season - we'll still have Florida sunshine everyday, but rain too - and 100% humidity! How's that for some knockout hair weather?) What are you up to today? Anything fun? Tell me all about it!

Have a fabulous week!