A Bit of Everything

I just chugged an intense green juice made with swiss chard, kale, spinach, and a bit of mango. It was definitely a bit of a challenge to get it down. It's my pre-gym energy. I haven't been to the gym since Thursday. I have been slacking on the healthy lifestyle, and it feels terrible. But as someone more famous than I said, each day is a chance to turn it around. Today I will do just that.

In school-related news, I'm competing in Vegas this upcoming weekend with my trial team. The case is a bit strange--a rapper is being sued for inciting the crowd, which crushed the plaintiff to death. I represent the obviously innocent rapper ;)

In other news, due to obligations the Aussie and I have this weekend and next, I won't be seeing him for 3 wks! It makes me realize how lucky we are that we usually get to spend every weekend together. My personal philosophy is that everything is about perspective.

Speaking of the Aussie, we have both been slacking on the wedding planning. But luckily his sister and mom are on top of it. I'm not big into the wedding planning; I'm much more of a honeymoon type of person. But I did come across a gorgeous picture of flowers on someone's facebook page (I can't remember for the life of me whose) . . .



Anyone know what kind of flowers these are? They may be making an appearance at the wedding, depending on availability.

Off to the gym,

B

Pure2Raw Love

I tried 2 yummy dishes on Sunday. The first was the choc chip cookie recipe from Pure2Raw; the twins have incredible recipes that are also healthy. I ran out of agave, so I subbed maple syrup. These little buggers are wonderful. I love the choc shell texture--creamy, melt-in-your-mouth goodness.





Who would have thought soaked pumpkins and soaked sunflower seeds would be so tasty. Thanks for sharing the recipe girls :)

I also tried a coconut dish--the Aussie created it with a combination of coconut milk, ginger, garlic and who knows what else. Sadly, we realized we should have doubled the sauce, because it's a bit dry with all the veggies & soba noodles we added. I'm trying to avoid soy when I can, so I decided to try a fried eggplant to put in the dish (I know frying isn't good, but a girl has to have some vices). Instead of egg I used chia seed soaked in water, and it worked really well.



I made the spinach dip for a work thing tomorrow, and I'm hoping to shock everyone with how sinfully delish vegan dishes can be!

-B

New Creations (New to Me at least)

Happy Saturday!

I just spent a lovely afternoon with the Aussie <3 We woke up and did a five mile walk to a market that wasn't open. It was still nice to be outside in the fresh air (at least that's what I told myself). Then I spent a bit of time at the gym before we went to see Valentine's Day. It was a cute and fun movie.

I made dinner tonight . . . it was . . . you guessed it sausage pizza. I also tried my hand at a vegan hot spinach dip. I took a packet in the store that called for frozen spinach, artichokes, mayonnaise, cream cheese and cheese. I subbed in cooked fresh spinach, veganaise, and tofutti. The verdict--DELISH. I especially liked it with Mary's Gone Crackers (which may be the healthiest and best cracker ever).



And we tasted a pie I made for last week, but never took it out of the freezer. This was a mostly-raw vegan choc pie with avocado as the base. Sadly, we didn't really like the filling part of it, but the crust was tasty. We have plans to use the crust in another dessert ;) It was a combination of nuts and graham crackers.



Here's to hoping Sunday is SLOW :) because we all know I'm not a fan of Monday.

-B

Taking a Vacation in the Kitchen

I had another sausage pizza today. Does anyone else find something they love and then kill it by having it everyday? I do it with music and food. Now I'm gobbling up a lovely fruit salad--pineapple, watermelon and kiwi and some awesome raw choc. It's like taking a mini vacation to love island. Definitely not local eating and the watermelon is no summer melon, but sometimes a girl needs a summer treat in the middle of winter. As for the raw choc, it's my first experience with it. The Aussie got it for me on V-day. It is chewy, in a gum way but also in an amazing way. He and I love it. I just wish it was a tad cheaper. He scooped it up at Wholefoods. You should grab some next time you're there.




Tomorrow is Friday :)

-B

Sprouted Eating

I have been fascinated with sprouted foods since I first started learning about raw eating. I quickly ran to the store and bought a container of sprouts for my salad, and quickly realized I was not a fan. But I've continued to be open and am open to yummy suggestions. I had a container of sprouted brown rice in the pantry for about 6mons . . . and it sat . . . and sat. I decided to use it for vegan sushi (mostly due to not having another rice readily available). I was shocked by how tasty it was.



I used this brand:



And that is an Izze in the background. I gave up the cola and other sodas, but don't think there is anything wrong with an Izze every now and again (I've had 2 in the 6wks). Swap and your Pepsi/Coke for an Izze, I promise you'll be happy :)

-B

Sausage Pizza . . . Vegan Style

I have been trying to come up with meals that are super filling, not overly calorie-heavy and delish. Enter the Sausage pizza--vegan style. I popped a flat-out wrap into the broiler for 2 mins, then I flipped it over and added sliced tomatoes. Popped it back into the oven. Cooked up some vegan sausage and a TON of spinach with lots of garlic & onion. I added the mixture to the wrap and put it back into the oven for another 2 mins. with the oven at 350.



So perfect. I figured it was about 300-350 calories. Woot, woot!

-B

Creative in the Kitchen

I am standing tall today after two successful creations! I took a swing at healthy choc chip cookies (after I drooled over Fitnessista's amazing heart ones). The Aussie gobbled up my cookies (I baked half and froze half to see which way I liked them; we agreed baked was the winner). He made me attempt oatmeal raisin cookies, which turned out nice as well. Who would have thought cookies without flour or white sugar could be so yummy. Then I made pizza tortillas.

The choc chip cookies were a combination of oats (put through the food processor), baking soda, salt, agave, maple syrup, black strap molasses, and of course vegan choc chips. I literally didn't measure and dont think you really need to--just make sure it's the right consistency and sweet enough.


For the pizzas, I used store small store bought tortillas. I mashed up a sweet potato and added cayenne pepper, veggie broth, and basil to be the first layer. Sauteed spinach with garlic and onion powder was the second layer. Then I stir fried red pepper, mushrooms, and a zucchini for the third layer. Topped the beauties with sliced tomato and put them in the oven on 400 till toasty. Then I added cheese sauce (nutritional yeast, cayenne pepper, veggie broth and corn starch) and sliced avocado.


Off to drink some hot tea,

B

Sickness Be Gone

I am feeling under the weather, which is never good. But I'm sipping on lemon water so hopefully that will help. I bought some organic apples to make a sinfully bad vegan apple crumble, but couldn't find the recipe I wanted. Along the way I came across elanaspantry blog, which had a healthy version. I tucked in my devil ears and pulled out my almond flour. This creation was yummy, but definitely didn't supply the sugarrush I was yearning for. However, I will make it again.


I bought the Aussie a pizza stone for his bday and I was hoping to have amazing pizzas like I had at a vegan potluck not too long ago. However, I was a bit disappointed.



It did not taste good at all, in my opinion. The Aussie said it wasn't bad, but there isn't much that boy wouldn't eat. I took one bite, which I then spit out (in a very ladylike way of course).

I decided to quickly whip up another version. I made a vegan cheese (veggie broth, nutritional yeast, corn starch, cayenne pepper, and hot sauce) and grabbed the leftover homemade tomato sauce (slow roast the tomatoes at 250 for a few hrs, then put them in the food processor with a bit of roasted garlic and a splash of white wine)



This was actually delish. I absolutely adore nutritional yeast!!! If you haven't tried you before you must run right now to the store to pick some up.

Hope everyone is having a good week.

-B