Cashew Dill Dip, Coin Update, Pain Update, Vegan Grocery Hauls, Veganized Great Depression Cooking, & Tomato Cakes

I'm really trying to make the most of this crappy weather that we have been experiencing but it's difficult.  Especially when my parents are soaking up the sun in St. Lucia for about a week.  Lucky Stinkers!

I've been testing new recipes, doing research on several topics, and making mini goals for myself.

Yesterday I made this Cashew Dill Dip.  It's made up of 2 C Cashews, 2 C Water, 4 T Lemon Juice, 1 Small Onion, 6 Cloves Garlic, Dill and Black Sea Salt to taste.

Today I had some HAPPY MAIL - about 30 coins from all over the world.  I was VERY excited to add these to my collection.  I'm up to 98 countries now!

I've been trying to tackle ongoing pain issues that seem to mirror Fibromyalgia.  I've upped my intake of Spirulina & Chlorella and hope to up my Vitamin C, B, D, & Magnesium mostly thru foods. 

Today I did 2 mini budget hauls.  This first one was at my local herbs store.  It was unplanned but these items caught my eye because they were on the discount shelf (except for the Hemp Hearts which I needed).  Those were over $8.  Other than that the rest of what you see here was roughly $10.  As an afterthought - I don't think I have ever tried the Kamut Spirals, Spinach Spaghetti, or those Simply Organic flavors before.  The last couple of times I bought Hemp Hearts online they were about $6 so I know they can be found cheaper but since I was already there and it is a small business and locally owned business I thought I would splurge a bit.

As for this other grocery haul - it was 'sort of' planned.  What I mean by that is - I watched The Vegan Zombie's video on Vegan Shopping at Dollar Tree and thought I would see what I could find at ours. I found 2 soups that were clearly marked vegan, Gnocchi, Soy Milk, Bread, Olive Oil, Chickpeas, Black Beans, Sweet Corn, Saltines, and Diced Tomatoes.  The Diced Tomatoes were 2 for $1 and the Corn was 79 cents...other than that the rest was $1 each.  That bought my total to $12.79.

I mentioned at the beginning of this post that I have been doing a lot of research.  I like to call it 'personal enrichment' or throw it in the 'more you know' category.  Regardless...check this out!  One of the many things I have been researching lately is Great Depression Cooking.  I have looked into that topic in the past before but the spark was re-lit the past couple of days.  This also falls into 'Eating on a Budget' that I like to do as much as possible.  What you see here are Tomato Cakes.

Tomato Cakes are made up of 2 ingredients.  Canned, Diced Tomatoes and Saltine Crackers.  All I did was crumble up about 30 Saltines and mixed them in with 1 can of diced tomatoes.  I then made patties out of them and pan-fried them with a little oil.  If you want you can kick it up a notch and use Basil infused oil for a twist.  These turned out pretty awesome if I do say so myself.  I topped them with leftover Cashew Dill Dip.  I will be making these again and soon!  They cost $2 or less for an entire batch.  I easily made 10 patties out of these ingredients!

Potent Extracts & Happy Mail from TeaBook!

So I've been getting into these Potent Extracts from Medicine Flowers that are available for purchase over at The Raw Food World.  So far I have the Dark Chocolate, Guava, and Caramel flavors.  I'm waiting on the Blueberry to arrive.  I will be placing an order for the Raspberry flavor this week.  There are soooo many flavors!  Last night I tried to make Raw Vegan Cheesecake Bites.  I haven't taken a photo YET because it didn't quite set before I fell asleep.  Hopefully tonight I will be taking some photos of the bites.  I used the Dark Chocolate flavor in the cheesecake base and make a strawberry swirl out of maple syrup and frozen strawberries for the top.

Another thing I would like to quickly share is some Happy Mail this week!  I received this from TeaBook.  It's a Tea Tumbler and a collection of teas.  I will be doing at least one review over at Sororitea Sisters on this Tumbler in the near future.  I might also do a few mini reviews on this site for it, too!  I'm loving the sleek look to the tumbler already!

Questions of the Day: What's the last bit of HAPPY MAIL you received?  What flavors do you think would make neat extracts?

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?

Happy Mail & Crazy Color!

A bit more of back-log-blogging before I start posting about my WNY VegFest Adventures from the weekend.  I have some HAPPY MAIL and Crazy Color to share with you right now!

First up...Happy Mail from NuNaturals!  They repackaged the Oat Fiber and sent some more of the flavored stevia and syrups!  I will be doing more with these in the very near future that is for sure!

You may remember a few months ago that 52 Teas was doing a KickStarter Campaign to change hands from Frank to Anne.  Well, it happened and the new owners have taken over 52 Teas and sent the KickStarter perks to those you participated!  Here are the reblends I received and I am super excited about them!

PLUS the company will remain vegan and organic!  Woot!  Congrats and THANKS to Anne and her daughter for continuing this label or great teas!

I have already tried their Pancake Breakfast Black Tea and LOVE it!  I think it's more bakey-crusty tasting than before and I'm LOVING that!

This morning I received a surprise in the mail from OPAL!  She hand-made this amazingly beautiful knit hat and also send some embossing folders for my Cuttlebug Machine.

I really MUST get back into scrappin' and paper craftin'!

Maybe after fair is over :)

Again a HUGE Thank You to OPAL for these!

The hat will surely come in handy for the cold winters here.  She knows I LOVE LOVE LOVE hats!  And she's incredibly talented!  She is brilliant with fiber crafts!

In other news...

The rooftop garden is going very well!  We didn't do as much of a variety of things this year but what we are trying is doing well!

We started these peppers inside several months ago and actually these three peppers were indoor and window sill gardening attempts.  We didn't take these outside.

These are SUPER HOT!!!  I like spicy but I will be using these in moderation that is for sure!

They are about the length of my finger so they are pretty small but pack a powerful punch!

And I have been blogging about how we are gearing up for fair time and this is where this next photo comes into play!

This year we are going to have a Prize Wheel and here is what it looks like.  My father let us borrow it from his work and DH altered it.  Doesn't it look COOL!?  What CRAZY COLOR, eh?  Sure is colorful!  And we already have a LOT of prizes to giveaway!  That is above and beyond all of the travel mugs we are given to pass out from a local company and this year we also have about 300 bags of chips to pass out, too!  There will be 4 concerts in 5 days so that is where most of my time will be spent once radio life is wrapped up for the day!

Happy Mail This Week!

I'm super excited about the goodies that came in the mail both yesterday and today!  I got my latest shipment from The Raw Food World!  Check out the NEW Foods Alive Salad Dressings!  Woot!  I've had the Garlic Paprika before and LOVED it!  I can't wait to try the others on salads SOON!  I already sampled them by themselves and they are great!

Yes!  I was plum out of Nutritional Yeast which rarely ever happens!  Well, it did this time - so I stocked up on some!  I grabbed 3 of them!  I have also been sharing some of my nut butters while out with our Wildtree stuff on weekends at festivals and I usually bring my own food for snacking!  Well, I have a few others HOOKED on these Jem Organics Nut Butters so I got one of the Red Maca's for a friend and another for my sister as well as the Superberry Maqui Camu.

Also in that 2nd pic you will see Hemp Oil I got for another friend who has MS she's been taking it for pain and some Agave Powder jut because I was interested it working with it PLUS some Valerian Powder that I wanted to start using in evening tonics to help with sounder sleep.

In this next photo you will see I grabbed some Pineapple and Apricots!  The Pineapple is for a co-worker and I thought I would try using the apricots in dressings sauces, smoothies, and such.  Plus they all make great desk snacks to have at work or while on the run!

And speaking of snacks for work or on the go - check these bad-boys out!  Jumbo Figs!  A few Pro-Biotic Nuts, and even some Pili Nuts, too!  I hope to start working with Pili Nuts in the near future so be on the look out for that!

Then I FINALLY broke down and purchased some Purple Corn Flour.  TannyRaw was the one who pushed me over the edge on it.  It really contributes to the color and also can work as a thickener!  I have been in to TannyRaw's YouTube Channel the last couple of months!  I like her personality and positive outlook!

I've also been into Lisa Montgomery's books more lately, too, I have found myself referring back to them often so I decided to check out a few more of the ones she has her name on.

The Liquid Raw I can see myself using often I glanced thru nearly the whole thing last night already!  I'm thinking the Potluck one will come in handy, too!

And I will have to check out the Raw Challenge one when I am able to, too!

I have been interested in other detox books and some others from David Wolfe and I will keep you posted on that progress, as well!

There were a few things that were on back order from my last order that I got in the mail too!  2 Foods Alive Flavored Flax Crackers - I have had them before and LOVED them - they were on sale when I tried to purchase them before!

Then I got HOOKED on the Sprouted Trail Mix - Pineapple - but it has just the right amount of spice, too!  YUM!  And I have tried the other breakfast crusts before as you see in front in the last photo but not the Spirulina ones, yet, so I wanted to include those with that last order, too!

Happy Mail ~ 7 Non-GMO Products To Try!

HEY there!  Today I share with  you 7 Non-GMO Products from Garden of Life!  Special Shout Outs to Rhonda and Ursula!

3 of the Vitamin Code Products are featured in the beginning of this video and 4 of the Raw Organics Products are towards the end.

In case you were wondering about the fruit in the one flax seed product here it is...

This premium RAW Certified Organic Golden Flax Seed is grown for us in North Dakota on pristine and virgin soils. The family farmers have been growing flax for generations. The flax goes through a unique five step cleaning process that gently filters all impurities, leaving behind only the PUREST, FRESHEST, Certified organic Golden Flax Seeds. The nutrition flax is sweetened with RAW Certified Organic fruits: blackberries, cranberries, raspberries, and strawberries, plus delicious apples and tropical favorite’s bananas, and mangos - all NON-GMO, pesticide free, and with no added sugar or preservatives.

Happy Mail ~ Cacao Crazy!

I got some HAPPY MAIL yesterday!  YAY!  This was a REALLY HUGE order from The Raw Food World! 

The Raw Food World now has their own line of Cacao Products!  I grabbed them all!  Raw Cacao Powder, Raw Cacao Butter, Raw Cacao Paste, Cacao Beans, and Cacao Nibs!  I'm super excited to start working with them!  I hope to submit recipes to The Raw Food World NEWS Site using these Cacao Products soon!

After taking the photo I realized that some of the Raw Noni Powder snuck in there!  I have been wanting to try their Noni Powder for a while now and FINALLY decided to get some!

I have been a bit obsessed with nut butters over the last year.  I may dunk my spoon in one from time to time for a dessert or snack on the go.  A little bit goes a long way.  I usually only do about a tablespoon at a time.  I had to reorder the Superberry Maqui Camu Sprouted Almond Butter - it's AMAZING. 

I also grabbed a few new-to-me nut butters including Almond Crunch, Silk Almond, and Pistachio Halva. 

As you can see I re-ordered the Citrus Essential Oil Spray - the girls in the office LOVE it so I got more for work!  AND...there is some NEEM OIL in there, too! 

Here we have an assortment of items including Raw Yacon Powder, Irish Moss, Lucuma Powder, Pink Himalayan Sea Salt, Kelp Noodles, 2 different Olive Pastes, and 2 different truffle 'balls' including Peppermint and the other is Goji Cherry! 

A few side notes on a few of these products...with the powders I am now in need of more mason jars.  Years ago I switched everything in my pantry into glass Mason Jars and I'm running low on them now. 


With the Irish Moss - I have never worked with it before - so it's will be a journey that is for sure.  And with the Sea Salt - since I'm not much of a salt fan - this may very well last me the rest of my life! LOL - Previously I had bought 2 ounces of it and I think it lasted me 3 years!

It's been a while since I stocked up on flax snacks so I ordered some and 2 of them were on back order but these will certainly tide me over in the meantime!

My sister asked where to get bulk quinoa from and I told her that The Raw Food World carries it so I decided to get some for her! 

I was almost out of Tahini and this brand was on sale so I couldn't resist!

They also had some of their raw breakfast crusts on sale so I added that to my cart, too!

AND...a Bamboo Lettuce Knife?  Yes, please!  PERFECT timing because I will be doing salads nightly for dinners VERY SOON!

And finally - another stash of snacks and superfood cereals!  These will last me a while but I also have a plan for them.  Not only will I snack on them but I plan on using them as toppings for smoothie bowls, too!

AND...a new mini goal and project I have up my sleeve!  Since I have been doing a lot of driving with my job now I want to set up my car to be more raw food friendly with foods, snacks, and to-go foods that I can easily access throughout the day.  I will be - at some point - putting a personal cooler in my car - and will be blogging about my efforts and attempts.  So I will start a new tag for Raw Foods While Driving, Raw Foods For Travel, if you can think of any others let me know!

I Think I Have A Problem...

Apparently my newest addiction is obtaining vegan and raw vegan cookbooks. Here are my latest additions!

* Raw Food Quick & Easy, by Rydman & Rodwell

* Raw Food For Everyone, by Alissa Cohen

* Easy Sexy Raw, by Carol Alt

* Ripe from Around Here, by Jae Steele

* Raw Food: A Complete Guide for Every Meal of the Day

* Ani's Raw Food Desserts: 85 Easy, Delectable Sweets and Treats

* Raw Family Signature Dishes

* Rawlicious: Delicious Raw Recipes for Radiant Health

* Living in the Raw Desserts, By Rose Lee Calabro

* How We All Went Raw, by Top Raw Men

I have to say that I've already spent a lot of time with the last one on that list - How We All Went Raw and I really enjoyed it! It's FUN, informative, creative, and is in a binder so the pages turn and lay flat - perfect for kitchen use! I hope to do reviews of all of these books at some point! It might take me a while but that is one of my mini goals I have this coming year!

I stocked up on raw snacks for my office space and my car and since I will be on the road a lot more with my new job I need to have better/best foods by my side so I'm not spending a lot of time and money at not-so-good places and food.  Yes...it's true! This is my latest shipment from The Raw Food World and a bunch of the goodies I grabbed! I couldn't resist the super low price on those Kale Krunch Chips! They were among the at-cost specials they offered! I also grabbed two of the breakfast bowls and one of each of the Gopal's Power Wraps! They are Nori Wrapped Energy Sticks! You can see that I have the Italian, Curry, Masala, Japanese, and Mexican flavors! I tried a few of the flavors in the past and find them to be great snacks for on-the-go!

I decided to break down and by SunWarrior's Vanilla Flavor of protein powder. Not necessarily because I'm worried about my protein intake (I'm not) but more so because of the flavor. Jason Wrobel uses it in a lot of his smoothies and desserts because he says it adds a 'cake batter' like flavor to it.  I also stocked up on various Raw Crackers, too! One of the many things I buy over and over is their raw cashews and this time I grabbed some raw pumpkin seeds. 

  

I will say I've used it once already and I do like the flavor. Even more - tho - I LOVE the aroma of the Vanilla! Very nice!I've been wanting to try Coconut Secret's new sauces so when I saw they had them available on The Raw Food World site I threw them in my shopping cart right away! I've enjoyed all of the other products I have tried from the company so I'm assuming these two new sauces will follow suit. One is a Garlic Sauce and the other is a Teriyaki Sauce. I did grab one of their new deodorants but it's not technically vegan - it has beeswax in it along with Shea butter. So I guess it would be Beegan instead of Vegan for those of you who were wondering.  The price of their D3 and B12 patches were CRAZY LOW so I decided to grab those, too! I have used the B12 in the past and only use them every once and a while either when I'm not eating the best or on the road or feeling sluggish. I have yet to try the D3 patches but with the winters where I live a little extra Vitamin D wouldn't be a bad thing. Again...it's not because I fear I'm not getting enough - just curious about the product, really.  Also in that photo above - you will see my newest Bamboo purchase! Yup! I added Puzzle Party Platters to my growing bamboo collection. I haven't used them yet but LOVE the way the look and hope to be taking photos of food on them SOON. They fit together like a puzzle...and I just might be buying more of them to play with down the road.

The paper bag like package in the back is a bag of Chia Crackers from ChocolaTree Organic Oasis! This is the first chia cracker product I have tried from this company. I have to say that they have one of the best textured chia crackers I have tried so far! It's not hard - but light and crispy - rather. I really like the cayenne kick, too!  Finally - I've had my eye one these Himalayan Sea Salt Lamps for a while and they have them for $16 off this month! I bought one and thinking about buying 2 more. LOVE them! It's not the best picture but perhaps I will take more down the road. Have you found any new-to-you products lately that you are excited about? 

Past Happy Mail, Local Eats with Vegan Options, Paco Update

Hello everyone!  Thanks for all of the kind words, thoughts, emails, notes on Instagram, etc...I appreciate it!  I have so much to share with everyone but so little time! 

I hope to be doing updates more this week to try and catch up!  I have lots of products to share with you - I have reviews I need to catch up on - I have lots of articles and recipes to cross promote and link to over at TRFW and much, MUCH More!  In the meantime...here's a sneak peak at some of the things that have been exciting me lately!  My shipment from last month, actually!


In this first photo you can see Sun Warrior Immune Shield, a new Skin Brush, salted Sacha Inchi Seeds, Kelp Noodles, Shea Butter, and Nutritional Yeast.  Yup!  Had to stock up on some nutritional yeast...I was getting low.  I did get the Kelp Noodles but because of the horribly cold winter weather we have had for MONTHS now they froze.  I contacted the lovely customer service people over at TRFW and they said they could send me another one or credit my account because Kelp Noodles change texture if frozen.  I thought that was pretty amazing that they offered to do that - I mean - it wasn't their fault they froze,  you know?  It's not like THEY control the weather! LOL - but I thought that was wonderful!  I decided to opt for the credit and will re-order in the more fair weathered months since it's still really cold here.

In this photo you will see I stocked up on some snacks!  I couldn't resist!  The prices were awesome when I ordered them!  Plus I LOVE Foods Alive products!  I got two of their Flax Crackers.  I also grabbed a pound of cashews, a few salad boosters, some raisins, pro-biotic almonds, Organic Cayenne Powder, and some Khorasan Wheatgrass Juice Powder (Kamut).

I have to say all of the powders that I have been getting from TRFW have been AMAZINGLY fresh!  The colors and aromas are so VERY vibrant!

I've still been building my Raw/Living Foods and Vegan cookbook area in my house and this was one of the books I grabbed with my last order. 

I have a slew more on order again and hope to get them before the end of this week.  I'm also visiting my local library again since it has been a while.  If anyone is on GoodReads let me know - I have been posting on that app for a while now, too!

Have you gotten any new books as of late?  I'd love to hear about them! 

A couple of weekends ago Hubby and I went to our new favorite place in Erie...Mad Mex...mainly because there are a lot of vegan options there for me!  Here is what I had...it's the Chickpea Chili Burrito.  You can opt for the Daiya Cheese and Tofutti Sour Cream like I did.  We also got a few of their amazing dips!  2 out of the 3 of them were vegan.  Now hubby wants me to try and make Pepita Hummus and Tomatillo Avocado Dip...and I hope to do that soon!  I'm already trying to come up with a few other things I want to try at this place the next time we go!  They have 'home made' vegan salad dressings, too, including a RANCH.

Now...this past weekend we visited a local gem of a place that has been around for decades - and generations!  My husband loves it - always have - of course - he's no where near being a vegetarian - so yes - we are a mixed diet household - anyhow - they had a special salad for March - and I had them do it without what ever meat they had on the menu.  They came up with this for me and it was FABULOUS!  I asked them to add it to their menu full time!  Not sure if they will but it was great!  It was iceberg lettuce and mixed greens, pineapple, green peppers, tomatoes, almonds, roasted coconut, and I choose the grape balsamic dressing made with local grapes!  It was WONDERFUL!

Now for a quick PACO update!

His ITP has been under control for at least 3 months while he's been on a LOT of medication.  While I hate putting all the pills in his body - it's what he needs to stay 'normal' - we tried to take him to a lower dosage with the approval of our vet - he ended up relapsing - so she told us we had to get back on the dosages he was on prior to trying to take him down.  It seems to be working, so that is good.

However, it's been about a week and he had an unrelated issue...he basically threw his kneecap out of place.  This has happened once before about 3 years ago.  But this time was pretty bad.  He's been trying to 'walk it off' and has found some work arounds.  The first two days was rough but he's been getting better since then.  The vet told us she didn't think he was in pain - and she thought he just noticed a 'difference' or it felt 'weird' and it was something that he would have to work out himself.  He hasn't been acting like it's been bothering him but he will pull up on it every once and a while...I think he's trying to pop it back in. All-in-All he's been doing fairly well with it and we do have pain pills but he's only really needed one on that first day.  I hope to have more posts very soon!  There are LOTS of things going on!  It's been CRAZY in my whole lately! How about you!?

Stocking Up on The Raw Food World

YAY!  Happy Mail!  Today I received my box of goodies from The Raw Food World and here's what I got in my most recent shipment from them.

I've been a little addicted to Raw Recipe and Raw Books lately so I decided to stock up on them.  I have been a fan of Ani's for a while and decided to get two more of her books including Ani's Raw Food Asia and Ani's Raw Food Kitchen.  I already have her Essentials one.  Then I noticed The World Goes Raw Cookbook and grabbed that one, too!  I think this will be my first encounter with Lisa Mann.  Looking forward to it!

Then I have had my eye on Raw Food Revolution so I finally decided to get that book, too!  Also in this last shipment I got Raw & Simple and Soak Your Nuts - Cleansing with Karyn.  I remember thumbing thru Karyn's book a while back while seeing it in a store and I regretted not getting it. 

I joined the GoodReads App a while back...I guess it was in 2012...but I have been using it an awful lot lately to take not of what books I have been reading.  Mostly Vegan, Raw, and Health related books with some journals/dairies, and books of poetry mixed in. 

And since I have been contributing to The Raw Food World's NEWS Site the last several months and chatting with Matt Monarch I wanted to make sure I added Matt and Angela's books to my collection...so...you will see I finally did that in this last order/shipment!  I can't wait to jump in - but - I have been getting behind the last several months.  So I have decided to PUSH MYSELF and join a Book Challenge on the GoodReads App.  You can see my progress on there!

Like I said - I am stocking up on some things!  I have been out of my brown rice pasta's for a while now and decided to get the Penne and the Spirals.

They had a few new products that interested me including one you see here in this photo.  Turmeric Wraps!  They are raw and paleo - not that I'm into paleo - but still - thought they sounded cool.  I can't wait to try them!  Plus - anything Turmeric is usually pretty awesome...they have a few others flavors as well so I might get those down the road!

They had great pricing on this brand of Kale Chips so I stocked up on those, too, while I was at it!  I'm gnawing on some of the spicy ones while I am writing this!

You can see that I got some Pine Nut Flakes!  Matt spoke so highly of them that I HAD to try some for myself!  I will keep you posted on my opinions on them, too!  Organic Currants was another item I have in there and can't wait to use them in Smoothie Bowls.  I splurged and bought some Raw Chocolate items, too!  Excited!!!!

And...FINALLY...last...but not least...

I thought I would start testing out Copaiba Oil on myself!  More on that down the road, too!

And I got two rings!  But not just any two rings!  These are pieces from the Andean Gypsy Jewelry Collection over at The Raw Food World!  They were hand made and one-of-a-kind from Gypsies in Matt and Angela's community in Ecuador!  The money from their jewelry sales goes to pay for the Gypsy children's schooling.

I have a lot of LEARNING to do with all of these products and books and I can't wait to jump right in!  If you have any of these items - let me know - and let me know what you think of them!