Vegan MoFo ~ Cookbooks!

Okay...this is going to be a pretty crazy post.  Vegan and Raw Vegan Cookbooks are just like better than potato chips...you can't have just one!  Therefore I will be doing a post featuring several of my favorites!  But please keep in mind there are MANY MORE and you can view them on my GoodReads Feed and Profile.  If you are on GoodReads PLEASE add me!  I'm looking for more veg friends on there!!!!  So...here goes!  4 books you may or may not have guessed I adore!  Vive Le Vegan by Dreena Burton I have LOVED since it came out!  It contains one of my most favorite recipes of all time in it which is the Hummus Quinoa Casserole!  Another one I would guard with my life is The Vegan Zombie Cookbook!  I met these guys more than once and they are AWESOME and so are their recipes!  I also like pretty much anything Philip McCluskey comes out with.  The possible 'dark horse' of the bunch may very well be "How We All Went Raw."  It's more like a binder but the recipes and ideas are pretty awesome.  Perfect example of 'don't judge a book by its cover.'

Above I mentioned Dreena Burton.  I pretty much like every book I have seen her come out with - like I stated about Philip McCluskey, too!  A few other Cookbook Gurus I can't get enough of are Matthew Kenney and Ani Phyo.  They are both wonderful!

Other Cookbook Authors I enjoy and wish I had more from include: Zsu Dever, Judita Wignall, Mimi Kirk, Jennifer Cornbleet, Robin Robertson, Terry Hope Romero, Tal Ronnen, and Bryant Terry.  I know there are many more but that is just off the top of my head.  I do have some of the books that some of these people have done but have noticed even more books that they are behind that I either don't have and WANT or haven't gotten my hands on as of yet OR didn't even know existed!

I LOVE how the vegan and raw vegan cookbook world is exploding!

But who could forget some of the best of all time...some of the ones that have really taken the vegan world and mainstream world and media by storm?  Like The China Study, Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, Engine 2 Diet, and Forks Over Knives and their companion cookbooks!?  I MUST mention them!  And many of other doctors books like Dr. Neal Barnard and Dr. John McDougall.

And a WHOLE COLLECTIVE of books from Moosewood...which go back decades!

Now there are more celebrities who are throwing this vegan hat in the ring such as Alicia Silverstone and Mayim Bialik and I admire what they are both doing quite a bit!

There are just too many vegan cookbooks and so little time.  Tell me which ones you like, want, or wonder about!

Vegan MoFo ~ Childhood Food VEGANIZED & Happy Mail

It's the 2nd day of Vegan MoFo and I wanted to stick with today's PROMPT which is to "recreate a meal from your childhood."  Well, this isn't really a complete meal per say but it was what I had for dinner last night and it certainly hit the spot!  Cheesy Broccoli!  YUM!  Yup!  That's 'from scratch' vegan cheese sauce!

Here's the recipe for the Vegan Cheese Sauce:

2 C Raw Cashews

3 T Lemon Juice

1 C Water

1/4 C Nutritional Yeast

1 t Minced Garlic

1/2 t Turmeric

About 1 t Yellow Mustard

Pinch of Cayenne Pepper & Black Himalayan Sea Salt

Remember you can join MY Vegan MoFo Blogroll by commenting on THIS post.  I decided to make one since I didn't see a 2015 BlogRoll on the VeganMoFo.com site.

I thought I would also show you my latest shipment from The Raw Food World!  They now have tote's!  YAY!  They are ONLY $2.95 and I LOVE them!  For the direct link to these neat reusable bags CLICK HERE!

The Raw Food World recently got a whole slew of new items from Chocola Tree and I HAD to scoop them up!  CLICK HERE to see them all!  There are Raw Vegan Wraps, Raw Vegan Flatbreads, Nori Nachos, and Raw Vegan Cheddar Cheese Sprinkle as well as Raw Vegan Parmesan Cheese Sprinkle.

Just for good measure I did a close up on the vegan cheese sprinkles!

I ended up getting a few items for friends and family, too, but then I wanted to try these 3 new-to-me Living Nutz flavors.  They also have some new Vegan Coconut Bacon which are on sale this month for only $4.55!  It was also time for me to re-order cashews and salad booster, too!  I finally decided to get some Camu Camu Powder as well!

I added to my Raw & Vegan Book Stash with these 4 books!  I was luck enough to meet Karen Ranzi at the WNY VegFest last month so I wanted to grab her book.  I have first Raw Foods For Busy People so I figured I should grab the 2nd one, too!  I have been into learning about fermentation and added to that category.  And then the Raw Food Nutrition Handbook looked interesting so I decided to go with that one, too!  Have you read any of these books yet?

  

I've had a lot of questions from people lately about purchasing from The Raw Food World!  If you click the banner above you will see all of the 'At Cost Specials' this month!  That's a great place to start looking!  And remember you can also save 7% on your order with the code rawfood7.
What do you think of my latest haul?  And what do you think about the veganized childhood dish?

Catching Up On Some Reading...

It just occurred to me that September is just a few days away which means not only is this years Vegan MoFo taking place but that means FALL is on its way and winter is right around the corner.

I suppose is as good as time as any to catch up on some reading, eh!?

I downloaded this eBook months ago it seems.  It was FREE thru Vegan Cuts.  I have yet to tap into it.  Shame on me!

I noticed while thumbing thru that Vegan Yak Attack is behind some of these recipes so I KNOW it will be good!

Of course I have other books I am still trying to catch up on and if you put 'cookbook' into my search bar it will show you some of the books I am talking about!

With my last shipment of goodies from The Raw Food World I received an eBook because I bought some Monkfruit Sweetener and will be experimenting with that soon.

This cookbook has celebrity chefs such as Donna Gates, Katrine Volynsky, Cherie Soria, Elaine Love, Chanetal Roy, and Karen Russell.  Of those chefs the two that I am familiar with are Cherie Soria and Elaine Love and I like them both so I am excited to learn about some more new-to-me chefs and their recipes!

I already see a raw vegan lemon cheesecake that has caught my attention.

I do like eBooks but I also like books that you can touch and feel, too!  I'm not much of a book reader but I'm more into cookbooks and reference books than anything.

And speaking of eBooks...

Earlier this summer I took part in Fully Raw Kristina's "Love Your Body" Challenge.

Because I met all of the requirements I qualified to receive her eBook for free.  This photo was on the cover.  I've always loved her videos and photos because of the color that pops thru.

I really love her raw vegan ice cream ideas, HUGE salads, mono-meal ideas, and JUICES!!!

This eBook has 14 meal plans, too, which I always love to check out.  Even if I don't do them to-a-tee I like to grab ideas from them!

And speaking of meal plans...

I also have this to read on deck!

Adria DeCorte's "My 7-Day Raw Meal Plan: Eating Mostly Fruits and Veggies in Real Life."

This eBook is darned impressive at an exciting 60 pages!

I already see a slew of raw sauces for ZOODLES I'm interested in...and just in time for squash season, eh?

So...these are the eBooks I have on deck to read.  I'm also back a couple of issues of my Vegetarian Times!  So much to thumb thru so little time, eh?

Here's one of the issues I have on standby and the other issues is below.

I've been a subscriber of Vegetarian Times for at least 15 years.

I'm pretty sure I still have most of the issues, too!

I have noticed over the last 5 or 6 years they are incorporating more and more vegan recipes so that is great.  A magazine I used to love even before going vegan was VegNews and I know that the production of it was halted for a bit but I thought I heard and/or saw that it's out and about and on shelves again!  I will have to look into that for sure and SOON!

What are your favorite eBooks?  What are your favorite magazines?

Are you a subscriber to Vegetarian Times?  If so what did you think about these last two issues?

Are you into any of the other eBook Authors I have mentioned in this post?

What about raw foodies?  Which raw foodies do you tend to follow?

I have had a bunch of people ask me which YouTube Channels I watch when it comes to raw and vegan people around the world.  I will most likely be doing a post about this in the near future.  In the meantime I would love to hear about your favorites, too!

HAPPY WEEKEND!  Any exciting plans for anyone?

Where Did This Week Go & Happy Mail

This week has been CRAZY with work and that's the main reason I haven't blogged!  I won't get into all of the busy-body-ness that I have been involved in this week...instead I will look forward and share with you some Happy Mail I received this week!

Starting things off is the shipment I received from Adagio Tea at the beginning of the week.  I decided to cash in a bunch of my credits on Cyber Monday and with their free shipping incentive that day I received all of this at no cost.  Since I have already tried almost all of their cataloged teas I only ordered a few of the black teas and black tea flavors and then they sent me a few samples such as the mango which I have already tried, too.

What I am really interested in from Adagio is the tea blending feature they have on their website.  I've created over 20 blends the past several years.  I finally ordered a few of them including the Love Spell one I blended which was inspired by Victoria Secret's Body Wash.  I know that might sound weird but it's true.  I think the tea aroma smells just like the body wash!  It's a pretty good floral flavored green with a bit of fruit and other natural sweetness in there.  I also grabbed the Mulled Cranberry Apple Cider which was a neat mix of flavors as well.  A 3rd Blend of mine I finally purchased was the one I named Dragon's Palm Tree.  It's mostly a white base tea with a hint of strawberry.  Since I am a Sci Fi Freak I decided to get a few other blends from other tea blenders including two from their FANDOMS.  One was the Dr. Daniel Jackson Blend from the Stargate Series and the other is the Darryl Dixon Blend from The Walking Dead Series.

One thing I forgot to take a photo of was a reusable bag I received from NBC Universal.  You can see it in the background of this photo from their site.  It's pretty awesome.  I received this because I participated in their website One Small Act.

In this 2nd photo - as well as the next 3 photos - you will see the last shipment I received from The Raw Food World.  I decided to stock up on raw snacks for work. 

I got 4 different flavors of Kale Chips from Love Force.  The American, Indian, Mexican, and Italian flavors. 

You will see one of two Nutritional Yeasts, a POUND of Raw Organic Mesquite Powder, and  Mung Bean Pasta.  Oh!  Yeah!  There is a small loaf of Apricot Bread in there, too!  I can't wait to try that!

Pardon the pun...but I went a little NUTS with the Cashews!  Yes...I got 6 pounds of Raw Cashews!  They were having a crazy awesome sale on them!  I couldn't resist!  I also bought some Organic Walnuts.  You will see that I scored some Cashew Cacao Hemp Nut Butter, too! 

I took advantage of their At-Cost Pricing on the Hurraw Vegan Lip Balm and grabbed a mint that was at regular price, too!

I've totally been getting into Bamboo more lately and I LOVE wooden spoons so I decided to grab a 2nd set of the Bamboo Kitchen Tools you will see in the netting.  I also decided to get another set of the Bamboo "silver" ware...a spoon, knife, and folk.  I LOVE these.  And I finally broke down and bought the "Edward" Salad Hands.  I just LOVED the name and never had anything for large salads or tossing so I figured WHY NOT?

More snacks for the office!  GO RAW Flax Snacks - spicy and pizza flavors as well as two cookie flavors - Chocolate and Ginger Snaps!

And let's not forget about the books!  This time around I picked up a Vice Cream Book and the Simply Dehydrated Book which I have been wanting for the last several months!

I have been wanting one of Cherie Soria's books for a while now and I decided to get Angel Foods.  I've been a fan of T. Colin Campbell and added The China Study Cookbook that his daughter Leanne Campbell wrote.

I have been wanting to get into and educate myself more on Micro Greens so I bought one of the many Micro Greens books that the Raw Food World has for sale on their website.  Another book I threw in was Go Further by Actor Woody Harrelson and Friends.  It's a book about 'being greener'.  The photos aren't that wonderful but I think it will be a good read and a good book to refer back on from time to time.

One of my goals for the new week SHOULD BE to dive into some of these books, eh!?  What do you think!?  Anything you have and LOVE or anything you see that you might like in my recent Happy Mail photos?

Winner Annouced, More Vegan MoFo's, Happy Mail, Natural Cleaners, Vegan Snacks, & More!

Where - oh where - to begin!  LOTS to cover today!

First...CONGRATS to the WINNER of the Garden of Life Chocolate Cacao RAW PROTEIN....Jordan!  I emailed you - drop me a note with your info when you have the chance.  REMEMBER...if you didn't win this first one there is another chance to win a Garden of Life product over at this post.  I will draw a winner for that tomorrow!  Then...I will have a NEW giveaway stating tomorrow and ending Monday!  Stay Tuned!

This first photo is a picture of the soup I made last night!  It turned out AWESOME!!!  I think I will call it Creamy Chipotle Corn!  

Here's the recipe for the Creamy Chipotle Corn:

1.5 C Corn (in blender) PLUS 1/2 C added at the end - whole

2 C Almond Milk
2 Sun Dried Tomatoes
1 T Dried Basil
Handful Cashews

1 tea Onion Powder

1 Cap Full Sun Warrior Liquid Rush
1 tea Wildtree Garlic & Herb
Pinch (or more) Chili Garlic Sea Salt

This was AMAZING!

Last night I had a bit of a weird dinner.  I ended up throwing together some random foods and it turned out super yummy!  I have some Daiya Cheese I need to use before we leave town.  I used it here to cover some white rice with green peas and black beans.  I just the black beans was an attempt at 'refried beans' but my own way.  I used my Ninja as a food processor and put them on stove top added a little Lime Juice, Wildtree Garlic Galore, and a tablespoon of Daiya Onion & Chive Cream Cheese...and since I was little lighter on my 'greens' yesterday I added about a tablespoon of Garden of Life's Perfect Food Alkalizer & Detoxifier power to the black bean mixture.  I find these to be vegan comfort foods and they were tasty!

 

Another thing I haven't been able to blog about yet is my latest shipment from the Raw Food World!  Here is MOST of what I got...I took out a few things I bought for my Mother-In-Law, my Father, and a Friend...those items I have already featured in previous posts.  As for this shipment I was REALLY excited about a few things!  First...they have a new Kale Chip that I got, and I tried some of their Nori Nachos.  In the front you can see Pesto Walnuts.  OMG...try these!  I hate to say it but I'm already addicted to them.  I will be buying these often!  I thought I liked Living Nutz Vegan Cheesy flavored Almonds and I do but these are CRAZY GOOD!  I wanted to get some Probiotics to have on hand and I will be blogging about my Probiotic Adventures down the road.  I am now completely set on Nutritional Yeast and other cheesy alternative seasonings with the Rawmesan and other things I have been ordering the last few months.  Flavored Dulse and Kelps are checked off my 'to-get' pantry list, too!  YAY!  Another product I have been thinking about for MONTHS is Sun Warrior's Liquid Mineral RUSH.  I mentioned this in my blog post yesterday and it's all because of Jason Wrobel.  I used a cap full of it in the soup I mentioned above.  I'm interested in this because it has a neutral taste but because it is full of trace minerals, too!  As you can see I DID end up ordering some of the Turmeric Extract so when I am back home I will be tinkering with that, too!  One thing you might not be able to see real well in this shipment photo is a new sea salt I bought.  I know - I know...I don't usually use sea salt BUT this is Chili Garlic flavored and I couldn't resist.  It will probably last me YEARS...but...it's packs a powerful punch!  I used a pinch of it in the soup I made - recipe and link above.  

Finally...you will see that I bought two items from a company called Earth Scents. Check this next photo out...I had bought the Multi-Purpose Cleaner before and fell in LOVE with it INSTANTLY!  So I bought another bottle even before I ran out of it.  My husband who is usually hesitant to try natural cleaning products even LOVED it!  I will be doing a full review down the road for the Raw Food World's website/blog.  I cannot say enough about this product!  It's great for windows because it won't streak and it's glorious on my counter tops...just LOOK!  So...YEAH...I'm stoked about Earth Scents now!  With this last order I decided to grab some of their Tub Scrub, too!  I haven't used it yet but even if it performs HALF of what their Multi-Purpose Cleaner did I will LOVE it!

And...YES...after a while of being on back-order I was FINALLY able or order the 80/10/10 Book.  I had borrowed it a while back and found myself wanting to buy it and have it on hand to use as a reference so I bit the bullet and ordered it when it was available again!  

I don't really like the term 'diet' - especially if people haven't ever heard of this book before.  It really is a lifestyle.  I'm certainly NOT going to follow this book to a "T" but I do like the info and will apply some of it to my life.

I know some of you already have this book - what did you find most helpful and what did you read in the book that you have NOT applied to your life?

And...last but certainly NOT least...with all of this HAPPY MAIL I received this week I also receive these little GEMS...Coconut Organics sent me some of their snacks.  I will keep some in my office and will be taking some along with me for our road trip.  I will be doing a FULL REVIEW on them soon but so far so good!  A real treat!

They have a Dark Chocolate - vegan - that is a TRUE Dark Chocolate flavor that is for sure!  Good for me - I'm a dark chocolate fan!  They also have their straight-up Coconut Chips that are toasted and wonderful.  Then they are known for their CocoBacon® Organic Coconut Bacon...yes...also vegan!  Have you tried these yet?  Are you a fan?

First Raw Food World Shipment!

Just a quick blog post today but I do have more on tap!  I was so excited because my first big order from The Raw Food World arrived today! 

And boy-oh-boy was it like Christmas for me!!! 

I got these two raw food books that I cannot wait to jump into!


Then I got a slew of Kale Chips, raw crackers, flavored nuts, raw bread, Kelp Noodles, dried and flavored veggie chips...

I also got some snacks like raw cookies, for example and some nut butters such as Pili Nut Butter, Cashew Butter, Tahini, Hazelnut Cacao, etc.

I was able to locate some breakfast items as well like some grains and a Chai Breakfast that has up to 10 breakfast in the package!

This is a FIRST for me on almost ALL of these products and I'm very excited to try them!  I hope to review everything I got, too!  So stay tuned for that!

I shared almost 1 of everything with my 2 co-workers who are not raw, vegan, or even vegetarian!  They enjoyed almost everything.

Within this order I placed - I also stocked up on some nuts such as raw Cashews and raw Hazelnuts.  I gave some of those to my mother in law because those are her favorite NUT. 

I was lucky enough to get my hands on some dried fruits I am not able to locate in my area such as JuJubes, sweet cherries...and for my dad...Pineapple!!!!  YUM! 

There are some odds and ends throughout these photos so feel free to make comments on anything you see :)

And finally...the ultimate excitement of this shipment...The Berry Breeze!!!!  I've been wanting one of these for a while.  It goes in your refrigerator and keeps produce up to 5 times longer!!!  In addition it helps keep your frig clean, too!  YAY! 

And under the Berry Breeze you will see I bought a Bamboo Plate, too! 

I can't wait to jump right in and try these and write reviews on everything...but...first...I have to clean and stock the shelves!  It makes it FUN tho...when you are excited about stuff!!!! 

Have you tried anything you see here?  Let me know  your feedback!

Thank YOU Glatfelter Library - InterLibrary Loan Book

A special THANK YOU to Glatfelter Memorial Library for fulfilling my InterLibrary Loan Request for Mimi Kirk's Book "Live Raw"

Many people are amazed that she's OVER 70 years old in this picture!  I've been checking out her YouTube Channel every now and again for new videos and think she's a peach!

I'm looking forward to many idea starters and recipes as well as info about all sorts of stuff from her book!

InterLibrary Loan - Thank You Vancourver Washington!

I believe in giving credit where credit is due and want to THANK the Vancouver Washington library for sending MY local library a book I requested!  Thank you so much!  I also found this interesting because my Sororitea Sister ANNE is from Vancouver...small world!  Check out Anne's Awesome Food Blog here...It's called Hungry In Portland!  And don't forget to visit our Sororitea Sisters Site - FULL of Tea Reviews and MORE!  Which book on my InterLibrary Loan WISH LIST did they send me?  Raw Food, Fast Food (Simple Recipes, Faster Than Takeout) by Philip McCluskey.  I have followed Philip's YouTube Channel for a while now and he's a great public speaker and informational guru on raw foods...he lost over 215 pounds in 2 years by eating raw!  I'm very much looking forward to the recipes and info in this book!