Cha Cha Cha Chia!

Happy Sunday! Why is it that the weekend always flies by but Tuesdays seems to linger on forever? I have some long overdue food porn for ya today! (eventually I'll get around to posting more regularly... heehee)


Blueberry Chia Pudding, a la Raw Goddess Heather of Sweetly Raw - if you haven't seen this pretty girl's sight yet, go check it out! She makes the most amazing raw desserts (and savory recipes too!), with lots of photos, and her writing is personal and lovely. This lady rawks! haha. She also just finished a few contests for raw desserts, for all you dessert divas out there- ice cream cakes and moonie pies (I made a few myself!). I have her Just Desserts e-book, and I totally recommend it. Most of the ingredients are easy to find, and there are lots of great seasonal recipes (like the blueberry chia pudding!) for fruit-inspired creations. Speaking of which... the blueberry chia pudding was sooo good. Seriously. You must make this dessert! Especially if you aren't keen on the texture of the chia seeds - because it's blended, it ends up super smooth, and it's sweet and refreshing and the most gorgeous color. Love it!

Round 2 of sushi:

I seasoned this batch of jicama 'rice' with lemon zest and fresh ginger (grated on my microplane - probably my favorite hand-held kitchen tool)

before rolling it up:

this knife was a wedding gift - it is a Shun sushi knife - awesome! super sharp, perfect for slicing sushi (I didn't have to dip it in water or wipe it at all - if any of you have made sushi, you know that this can be a major time savor for making big batches!)


big thing of pickled ginger:

funny thing is, I picked it up at Oceanic, the local Asian market! haha. the only thing I don't like is it has aspartame in it and you can taste it :( anyone else have trouble finding non-aspartame ginger? I love pickled ginger (any ginger really), but aspartame, not so much... sigh.

I also recently made... balls! Averie's balls, to be exact :)


Chocolatey Vegan Raw Goodness. I used agave since I was out of maple syrup, but I think maple syrup would have been awesome. I used this raw cacao powder from Earth Shift - it's sooo good and chocolately... and really, not that much more than the usual grocery store. The only trouble I had was getting the ball dough out of the Vita - it stuck like a mother - I got the majority out, but cleaning it was a beast :( balls were super tasty though, chewy, just sweet enough, very satisfying (TWSS!!!). I also made another Averie special:

coconut snowballs! Again, I used agave (still out of maple syrup - I can't drive since I have this brace that goes up to my thigh, it's been 1 1/2 weeks since the surgery, so rather than bugging the hubby or friends to go to the store for um, necessities like maple syrup to make dessert, I'm trying to be resourceful, heehee). Here's the dough:

and I ate some in a bowl with Silk almond milk and this maple sugar:

If you haven't tried maple sugar yet, I totally recommend it. It's kinda pricey - it was an impulse buy at Whole Paycheck (I live in Tampa where we are not blessed with a Trader Joe's, and we have the world's smallest Whole Foods - I do most of my produce shopping at the farmer's market or Publix, a regular grocery store, or the asian market - but I do get some staples at WF's - hey I don't eat meat, and rarely eat dairy or seafood, so I get to spend a little more from the family budget on fun stuff like maple sugar, right?) anyway, it's like little crunchy nuggets of maple syrup and sooo good!
here it is all together:



so delicious! Averie - you would love this! sweet and crunchy and chocolatey and vegan!

my new favorite shake lately has been inspired by Kristen of Kristen's Raw and her now infamous Cherry Chocolate Bomb Shake and Sarma of One Lucky Duck and her Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Valentine's Day Shake. Here's my Recipe:
1 c frozen strawberries
1 c frozen cherries
1/2 c frozen banana
1-2 T cacao powder
1-2 T agave or maple syrup
1 T lucama powder
1 t maca
1 t vanilla extract
1 T chia seeds
1 c almond milk

blend all ingredients in Vita mixalicious:

it is fabulous and guaranteed to make any day fan-freaking-tastic! Plus, check out the gorgeous color :) I am loving my glass straws too! they make smoothie drinking way more fun!

yesterday, I threw said shake in my ice cream maker:



good, but I think I like it as a shake better.

Believe it or not, I haven't been in a chocolate-induced sugar-high euphoria all weekend... I also ate some greenery:


and several unpictured kale salads... mmm kale. I've been digging purple dino kale (I think that's what it's called?) lately - so good! It's from California and organic and $3.00 a bunch (which I can practically consume in one sitting), and so worth every penny... mmmm sucks that we're out. 'honey, can you go to the store?' haha. being an invalid isn't so bad after all! I love my kale with a simple vinaigrette (olive oil, vinegar - lately I've been digging the raw coconut vinegar, tangerine or lemon juice, freshly ground sea salt and cracked black pepper, drizzle of local raw honey or agave, squirt of dijon mustard, minced garlic clove, all whisked together) and then massaged until soft - sooo good! lately I like it sprinkled with some nooch (gotta love the added protein too!) and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes for some kick. Sometimes I just eat a big bowl of kale, and then I have another salad on the side with other veggies in it.... kale rocks. Okay, I'm done now.

well - I'm off to finish some laundry and play with the puppy. Enjoy the rest of your weekend :)

Recovery & Update

Hellllooo bloggies! How's the weekend treatin ya? I am feeling pretty awesome this morning. I had my knee surgery on Thursday, so I've been taking long naps (and painkillers) and discovering why I don't really watch much TV (how is it that nothing is on when there are hundreds, even thousands of channels?). I think all of the anesthesia is finally gone because I can finally focus on things again! It was getting hard to read for awhile. So last night for dinner my amazing husband made me this (based on my directions :) haha):

raw vegan veggie sushi! with jicama rice! he did the *rice* in the dehydrator and everything (he'd never so much as turned it on before). I was uber-impressed. He has also been making me green juice (my recent favorite, from the Fitnessista - 2 stalks celery, handful spinach, 1" chunk ginger, 1 lemon, 1/2 green apple, 1/2 pear, 5 leaves romaine, 1 cucumber, handful spinach):

and smoothies in the vita-magic-machine:

This pink beauty was frozen sweet cherries, pear, green apple, strawberries, and a touch of honey.
what more could a girl ask for? he learned that the magic dish fairy is on hiatus! haha... He tells me yesterday, "I feel like I haven't stopped doing dishes" - yeah baby, welcome to my world!

Sorry for my long absence from the blogging world! I was super-busy pre-surgery; we had a wedding to go to in Tallahassee - the bride was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The dinner was buffet style and mostly meat but they did have a variety of olives, veggies and fruit - and some super delicious pineapple, so I was a happy camper :)

Recent eats have included grilled eggplant with homemade marinara sauce -



not raw, but vegan ... after seeing this post on Mama Pea's blog, I had been craving eggplant parm... so good! I followed Mama Pea's directions for marinating and grilling the eggplant (I grilled it on a non-stick indoor griddle) and it was awesome. Thanks Mama Pea! I had the leftover eggplant on a salad the next day and it was even better. For the marinara, I sauteed half an onion and a few medium garlic cloves (finely chopped) in a few tablespoons of olive oil until translucent, then added a large can of crushed tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper, and italian seasoning, and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. You can add other seasoning (extra parsley, oregano, etc, depending on what your Italian seasoning has in it), and you can spice it up with crushed red pepper flakes (I do!). Super easy. Or you can you use jarred organic. Whatever works. I had it over spiralized zuke noodles:


using this spriralizer:

that my pal Averie recommended. For $30 from Amazon, I can't think of a better kitchen investment - easy to use, easy to clean, and super fun! I imagine that for older kids, you could get them in on the action too!
We tried this recently too:

The box says it's 'vegetarian' but the ingredients make it seem vegan...? it was not too shabby for soup in a box! smooth and creamy, but no cream in it. I liked it for an occasional treat, but as the weather warms up, I don't really crave warm soups.

something fun to do: go over to Gena's blog and enter to win chia seeds! and check out Heather's recipe for Blueberry Chia Seed pudding... I haven't made it yet, but it looks awesome! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Summer's Here!

Hello bloggie friends! Happy May 1st! I think we went straight from *winter* (um, that would be spring for all you northerners ;) to summer - today is a humid one for sure! Rich and I hit up the dragon boat races downtown:

That was pretty cool to watch - I'd never been before. It was also the Asian festival - we watched a big dragon float by :)

and Rich grabbed some grub

and plate number 2 :)

and then we walked around for a bit before we called it quits on the heat. We came home and played with our fur baby, and I grabbed some lunch (un-pictured salad beast). Then things got a little dangerous... in the spirit of hottie Miss Averie I made some raw vegan almond butter cups! Also in her spirit, I made several substitutions (I desperately need to go to the grocery, but I also start eating a lot less heavy food, like nuts / nut butters and coconut butter when the weather warms up, in favor of juices and fresh produce... plus now I think I am *officially* and unofficial vegan)... note to self: coconut butter (while totally full of face-rocking deliciousness!) does not harden like coconut oil. Ah well, use what you've got right? Here's the chocolate lushiousness in the Vita beauty:

so tasty! and in it's lovely little cups (I ended up just throwing them in the freezer to harden... I think it'll all be okay, or ok-izay, if you're a Madagascar fan) - and yes, those are purple ghost cups from last Halloween

and then, I had a lot of leftover chocolate (guess that's what happens when you don't follow the recipe, wink wink), so... I busted out these fabulous candy molds, put a little dollop of almond butter in the bottom of each, and topped with the chocolate concoction:

they came from the $2 bins at the front of Target. Does anyone else get sucked in by those? Why, oh why, do they do that? all kinds of cute crap you don't need! well, maybe I did need these, for today ;) My wallet is just glad I don't have kids, because having to go by the Target black hole bins would be much harder with munchkins!

Something fun to do: go to Averie's blog and enter her NuNaturals contest to win some Vanilla Stevia! Why? because winning is fun and Averie is a hot mama :) and I love her blog

I'm off to go grab a drink (hopefully something icy cold to ward off the wicked heat... if only they had something to save my hair from the frizziness induced by this humidity!) at the local beer garden (um, wine for this gluten-free girl!)
Have a fantastic weekend!

Go check out Katie's blog and enter to win a $60 shopping spree at CSN!

xoxo, Kat

Recipes, Raw Food & Relaxation

Happy Sunday evening! How has your weekend been? Mine has been pretty low-key - Friday night and last night were spent chilling with friends (Friday involved the neighbor coming by for mojitos - the first not raw thing I've had in awhile - and last night was going to Ybor - walking distance bars - to watch the Rowdies, the Tampa soccer team, play on TV)... this morning I had one of these to recover: (sorry for the dark picture)

-glorious blend of strawberries, kiwi, mango, banana, bee pollen, spinach, and spirulina... and my sigg full of ice cold aqua ;)

a few hours later I ate one of these salad monsters:

spring mix, arugula, cilantro, red, yellow & orange bell peppers, grape tomatoes, carrot, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, dulse, avocado, hemp & sunflower seeds.... plus a tasty vinaigrette with a spicy asian twist: fresh tangerine juice, raw coconut vinegar, coconut aminos, garlic, fresh ginger, raw almond butter, fresh cracked black pepper, and red pepper flakes. It was the salad of my dreams! eaten with chopsticks of course, because, well, chopsticks make life more fun :)

I was at Starbucks a few weeks ago getting an iced coffee (black, plain, strong - so delicious!) and I got a few snacks (which were devoured before I could photograph them, oh well):

I'm so impressed! Starbucks is jumping on the raw bandwagon. And I was way excited to find dried cherries without added sugar. Do yall have a hard time finding dried fruit without added sugar? Other than raisins and apples, I find in nearly impossible, except online. I make my own in the dehydrator sometimes, but I get really impatient.

I made this tasty graw-nola recently:

-pumpkin seeds
-sesame seeds
-hemp seeds
-handful goji berries
-handful zante currents
-date paste (soaked dates blended with fresh tangerine juice)
-raw agave nectar
-maple syrup (not raw, but good for you and so rich in flavor)
-sea salt
-1 chopped apple
-1 chopped pear
-1 cup raw almonds, soaked and chopped
Mix all ingredients together, dehydrate at 115* until desired crunchiness. Eat with fresh sesame mylk and strawberries:


I made a mushroom quiche from the fabulous Russell James. The batter:


The mushrooms (1 cup - I used baby bellas) are soaked in lemon juice (about a tablespoon) and sea salt (about 1/2 teaspoon). Blend 1 cup zucchini, 3/4 cup soaked cashews, sea salt to taste (about 1/2-1 teaspoon), 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, 1-2 cloves garlic, 1/2 medium onion and freshly ground black pepper until smooth in blender. Chop 1 cup packed spinach in food processor with a tablespoon of olive oil, freshly ground black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt until chopped but not pureed. Chop 1 cup grape tomatoes to fine dice. Combine with drained mushrooms, spinach, and pureed zucchini mixture, and put in small tart pans (you could make a nut crust, but I opted not to). Dehydrate at 115* overnight until done:

Mine took about 12 hours. They were very rich and creamy and "cheezy"... a little heavy though as we've had really hot and humid weather this week. There may have been some of these bad boys in the dehydrator with the quiches:


There definitely aren't any kale chips left :) they were pretty tasty while they lasted! anyone else have trouble letting them make it to crispy crunchy perfection? even if I let them make it to the end, I pretty much demolish them the second they come out (or within 24 hours). I love kale chips! (I usually make mine extra cheezy and spicy!)

I also hopped on the Moonie Pie train and made a batch - I added some coconut and raw almond butter to my batter...



pretty tasty! The middle one I served to my husband - he was a fan :) I could barely take the picture because he was so eager to dive in! He drizzled his with local raw honey.

... and finally, I've finally experimented with chia seeds. I had some leftover cashew chocolate kream in the Vitamix today, so I added some water and about a tablespoon of chia seeds and made this lovely thick chocolatey scrumptious shake:

I love how the straw stands straight up in it! expect some more chia seed experimentation in the future...

it's time for me to get this melty ice pack off my knee (the humidity has been making it more achy for some reason :/) and drink my tea (I made some yerba mate with fresh mint & lemon - my allergies have been crazy lately). The heat makes me tend to want more greens & salads, fresh juice & smoothies, and less nuts and heavy dehydrated goodies - even raw chocolate seems to just give me a headache and seems to be too heavy right now. It's great to be surrounded by so much fresh produce - stay tuned for recipes and have a great week!

xoxo