Deconstructed Kale Chips, Moving In, Trips

Hi bloggie friends! It's been so long, but I'm baa-aack! :) The last month has been pure craziness working on the house, commuting almost an hour each way to my day job, taking trips (last weekend - New York City - this weekend - Gainesville), and squeezing in exercise, cooking / un-cooking (in a, let's say, partially equipped kitchen), friends and LIFE!




So, what's a girl to do when she's craving cheezy kale chips, but there's no running water and the kitchen sink looks like this?

Deconstructed cheezy kale salad! I simply chopped a red pepper, and mixed it with all the usual ingredients for my kale chips - apple cider vinegar, olive oil (sometimes I use cashews for the fat content), sunflower & hemp seeds, lemon zest & juice, red chili flakes, a pinch of sea salt, cracked black pepper, and NOOCH! All massaged into a glorious bowl of kale:


so, so good! I'll definitely be making this recipe again. Dishes were done with the hose outside. We've actually gone 2 weeks with no functional kitchen sink. crazy right? the worst part is, I haven't been able to wash & put away all the dishes from the move! The plumber finally came yesterday and now the sink works (yay!), but we were so busy preparing for this weekend (the house is getting tented for termites, so we had to box up all the food to take with us, along with all the new-house bills that needed taking care of), I just didn't have time to finish. And this morning, yoga was calling :)



Other recent eats: Cookie Dough Snowball - Basically, take Averie's recipe, add half scoop each vanilla & chocolate Sun Warrior protein powder, stir & freeze. For the sweetener, I used splenda & stevia, and for the liquid I used almond milk (the Silk almond milk - I used plain because we had it, but vanilla would have rocked), and then about a tablespoon each agave & maple syrup. And Hershey's special dark cocoa powder. The whole thng tasted like cookies and cream. It might not look like much:


but it rocked my face off! So freaking delicious! Thanks, Averie, for the inspiration ;)



Well friends, my photos are taking forever to load and I wanna go hang with our friends, but enjoy your Friday (I am, already with a vodka club soda in hand - haha!)

xoxo

New House, Blueberry Protein Ice Cream & Veggie Flat Bread

Hello bloggies! TGIF! What a week! I have some exciting news on the personal front -- we closed on our first house today! I am beyond excited! Expect some pictures to come... especially as we embark on tons of renovation projects (it was built in 1924!!!). I was super anxious all week, waiting for the loan to get approved, and the walk-through, and today was signing signing signing - but now we have the keys! Yay!



So after the paperwork mountain today, I had to go to work, then me & a co-worker friend changed the rear brake pads on my car, then I finally got home and was not exactly hungry, but munchy and had a ton of blueberries and Heaby's Protein Ice Cream came to mind. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 6+ months, you know about protein ice cream. Clearly, I've been living under a rock. Haha! This is what went into my Vita:


in case you need a photo interpreter, the liquid is half tea made from this:

(totally delish, by the way; very refreshing in all this heat), and half coconut milk, I used all xantham gum and no guar (it's what I had), liquid stevia, a raw protein/meal replacement powder (that, to be perfectly honest, I'm not a fan of the taste of), bee pollen, about a cup of blueberries, 2 big handfuls of ice & a sprinkle of sea salt. This is what it turned into:


Let me reiterate.



The most delicious thing ever. Why have I been under that rock all this time? Thank you Heather! You made my totally awesome Friday totally scrumptious! I really have no words, other than... I want this ice cream in every flavor possible (hello Baskin Robbins!)



I had this pizza-like craving yesterday, so I decided to try to make a flatbread-esque recipe based loosely on some raw recipes I've made in the past, plus my recent cracker hacking :) Here's the recipe:

2 Tbsp chia seeds mixed with 1/2 cup water to make gel

1/3 cup flax meal

1/3 cup sunflower seeds

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

2 small cloves garlic

1/2 chopped tomato

1/2 cup chopped red pepper

2 large handfuls chopped kale or spinach

1 zucchini & 1 yellow squash, blended to smooth puree

1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper, or to taste

1 tsp sea salt, or to taste

crushed red pepper flakes & cayenne, to taste (I like it spicy!)

Here's the batter with the squash puree:

All stirred up:

Close-up:

Spread on a silpat and baked:


Baked at about 300*, about 30 minutes per side should do it. I started at 350* which was too high (notice the burnt, er crunchy crispy corners). Here's the bottom:

And a snack with a tomato and basil:

Even though the recipe needs tweaking, the taste was super yummy!



It's pluot season!!!

I've been eating lots of these lately. So good!



I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Friday night (read: finish laundry, get some shut-eye and get up early to clean and pick out paint!) Have any good plans for the weekend? Tell me all about it!!

Cracker (Recipe) Hacker

It's Huuuump Day! I'm a nervous nelly today :/ super full of anxiety. Hopefully by this time on Friday I will be sharing some very exciting personal (non-food related) news! Wish me luck :)



My gluten-free buddy Averie made some crackers the other day, and I had to try her recipe. I had recently tried these store-bought gluten-free crackers:


My main issue with them is they have a little soy in the form of soy sauce (soybeans only), but I try to avoid it. I was feeling snacky though and wanted crackers and they were out of Mary's the day I got them... The were good enough that hubby loved them! He ate them with hummus. Of course, I made a few tweaks ;) Hers were a sweet cracker, and I went the savory route - I used her measurements on chia, flax & sunflower seeds, then added a squirt of agave (about a tablespoon), a few tablespoons of Southwest Chipotle Mrs. Dash, a few grinds of the salt & pepper grinders, a *lot* of nooch (because I like it cheezy :), maybe 1/3 cup or so, a few shakes of cayenne and crushed red pepper flakes for spice, and cumin. Here's the dough spread on a silpat, ready for the oven:

and a close-up:

I just baked them at 300*F and skipped the dehydrator. I was feeling eager to try them and too impatient to wait ;) I baked them for about 25 minutes per side. Note that they will harden up as they cool! So take them out when they seem chewier and they'll get crispy. Here's the crackers straight from the oven:


and all cut up:



a comparison to the store bought cracker:

What was interesting was they didn't smell southwestern while they were baking -- they smelled like pizza! Like sundried tomato and oregano. It was crazy. So good though :) I had one with a little avocado for a snack:

It hit the spot! Creamy, cool avocado with a crispy, spicy cracker! Total comfort food.



Dinner tonight was cheezy massaged kale:


Dressing was fresh squeezed orange & lemon juice, Whole Foods German mustard, salt, pepper, Mrs. Dash lemon pepper, squirt agave, dash cayenne, shake crushed red pepper flakes, raw apple cider vinegar, all whisked together and massaged into kale with nooch and 1/4 avocado. So good!



It has been super hot and humid here. It's like a free sauna outside right? But I got the go-ahead from my physical therapist to resume some cardio (no running yet, but elliptical and bike are okay) and I've been doing some upper body strength training (awesome arms, abs & chest workout today after work). How do you deal with the heat (if it's hot where you are)? Do you shove your hair in a messy ponytail everyday? haha, that's what I do! I want to chop my hair all off, but my husband loves it long :) and to be honest, I do to... but it gets so unmanageable since it's naturally curly, and with the Florida humidity it never really seems to dry after I wash it. Any good hair tips?



The weekend will be here soon! Enjoy the rest of your week!

Raw Vegan Dark Chocolate Snowball Bites

Hi Friends! What's shakin'? How's your weekend so far? Mine's been fantastic! I had a lovely girl's dinner (read: salads & a bottle of red wine! which was crazy since I'm barely drinking these days) out with a fabulous friend last night at this outdoor cafe, on the river downtown. It was great to catch up on some girl time. Today I did a few errands, spent time with the hubby, and we have some friends in town tonight.



I made a delicious green smoothie this week:

1 c frozen strawberries

1 c pineapple

1/2 c frozen bananas

1/2 c frozen mango

2 big handfuls spinach

small shake from the bee pollen jar

1/2 cucumber, peeled & chopped

green juice - 1 cuke, 2 pears, 1 green apple:


before blending:


nice & smooth, with a lovely glass straw:




This morning my darling husband made pancakes! I love pancake Saturday :) These had coconut (shredded coconut, blended in the Vitamix into flour), almonds (also ground in the Vita into flour), honey to sweeten, a touch of salt, baking powder, cinnamon and water to make a batter. Here's the final product:

Sorry for the stiff looking picture :) This one was straight from the fridge. I forgot to take pictures this morning, and I always like to store no-preservative, gluten-free goods in the fridge. We ate them with more honey (all out of maple syrup and agave, but you could use either to sweeten the batter), vegan margarine, and blueberries & pineapple! delicious! The batter was a little dry, and I think next time I'll add some coconut oil :)




I've also made one of Averie's delicious chocolate recipes: raw vegan dark chocolate snowballs! I used maple syrup for my sweetener, and then I pressed it all into a tupperware container and froze it. I took the mixture out, diced it up and got this:


topped with an almond butter crown:

yummy!



I'm off to chill - have an awesome weekend! Tell me all about it!