Latest Shipment From The Raw Food World

I received my latest shipment a few weeks ago but have been so busy that I had not had time to blog about it yet!  So today is the day...here's the latest haul from The Raw Food World!

I've been tinkering with more and more essential oils the last few months.  I have been researching and learning a lot and SOON I will be sharing some of the things I have been doing and using.

Here are the latest 3 oils I have added to my stash...Ginger, Rosemary, and Orange.

I finally bit the bullet and got my hands on a copy of The Art of Fermentation.  I know a few of my blogging buddies including Opal and Christine have this book and/or other fermenting books.  I'm looking forward to jumping in this new JOURNEY as well.

Also in this photo...Hemp Seeds...I was almost out...and a new-to-me-product I am darn excited about...Sun Root Sweetener.  The main ingredient?  Jerusalem Artichoke Root.

With this last shipment I gifted a lot of the products I have already sampled myself.  I bought some vitamin patches for a co-workers husband, a few goodies for a old high school buddy, and some items for my mom, dad, and sister - as well as - her husband.

I couldn't help but grab a few flavored Kale Chips that were on sale which came in handy during Fair Week.  Then you will see that I also got some Monkfruit Sweetener, too!  And that little blue bottle with the white cap is tooth powder that I thought I would try!

Mostly Raw Vegan Foods - 4 Ideas

Lately I have been doing a lot of foods like you see here.  You know I LOVE my dips and spreads.  I did a spin on a creative Guacamole and I made some Kale Chips with a bit of a kick that turned out pretty awesome.  I hope to be sharing these recipes with The Raw Food World NEWS Site and the Recipe Section on there, too!  For Smoothies lately I have created many.  Two of them are shown here.  I'm looking for some ideas!  In comments let me know what kind of smoothie you would like me to try and throw together.  Also what kind of Kale Chips you might have in mind, too!

Next week I will be having a week FULL of giveaways!  One each day for 7 days starting MONDAY.  Then I will have a HUGE Grand Prize so be sure to subscribe to this site AND my new YouTube channel!  In other YouTube news I bought a new GoPro Camera and have been doing some crash courses on it.  I hope to start using it for some videos soon!

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!

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?

Quinoa Broccoli Bowl

Sunday I made this dish - as well as others - to get a jump start on my week of foods.  If you scroll down you will see I did a bit of Meal Planning this week.  This specific dish was inspired by Jason Wrobel.  The video of his recipe is at the bottom of this post.  I made a few changes based on what I had in my kitchen.

Instead of 'just' Quinoa I decided to use a Super Grain Blend of white and red Quinoa, Millet, and Buckwheat.  Instead of 'only' broccoli I used Broccoli, Peas (in the pod), and Yellow Bell Peppers.

I had just a very little bit of Daiya Shreds I need to use so it was perfect for this dish because you only use a very little bit.  I did top it with Hemp Seeds and Kale Chips, too!  For the Kale Chips I used a Mexican Flavor that I had on hand...it was perfect because when you get down to the last little bit of Kale Chips in the bag - it's just a bunch of crumbs - so it was ideal!

Here's a closer look at the dish.  It turned out really well!  It was very tasty!  Towards the end of Jason's video when he samples it - he makes a special comment on the 'mouth feels' of the dish and eventho I dislike that phrase - I totally agree with him.

You are probably wondering why I don't like the phrase 'mouth feel'...no reason, really...it just drives me nuts!  It's right up there with "shindig" and "panties" - I can't stand 'em!


Anyhow...here's the original video and recipe from Jason Wrobel himself.  He's so entertaining I really like his YouTube Channel!  I really need more 'bowls' in my life.  Perhaps that will be another mini goal of mine...to make more "bowls" and one pot meals.  Questions of the day...what are some words that drive you NUTS?  What are your favorite 'bowl meals' or 'one pot meals'?

Energizing Black Bean Dip & Happy Mail on a Monday

I wanted something with Black Beans last night and decided to make an Energizing Black Bean Dip.  The recipe I came up with as follows...

2 C Black Beans
2 T Vegan Mayo
3 T Vegan Cream Cheese
1 T Wildtree Garlic & Herb Blend
1 T Cilantro
2 T Lime Juice
1/2 tea Cumin
1/2 tea Wildtree Adobo Seasoning
1/2 tea Chili & Garlic Sea Salt
1/2 tea GoL's Energizer 

It was creamy, a tad spicy, and savory!  I'm thinking I might make a soup with all this but the Vegan Mayo soon!

I got some more HAPPY MAIL today!  I received a bunch of tea from Culinary Teas and I'm currently sipping on their Coconut Creme Chai and it's lovely.  Early I had some of the Key Lime Black.  It's very flavorful...but easy to over infuse and go bitter.  With a little more attention on my part would have been very good.  My mistake certainly NOT theirs. 

In other news I received another smaller shipment from The Raw Food World today and here are some of the photos.

They were having a MAJOR Inventory Blow Out Sale and I HAD to grab some things...plus...I ran out of Cashews and was low on Nutritional Yeast. 

I was really excited to order Jason Wrobel's Simple Vegan Classics on DVD.  He's so entertaining!  I also FINALLY grabbed a few of the Gopal's Nori Wrapped Energy Snacks because they were on sale!  I grabbed the Masala, Curry, and Italian Flavors.  Not that I needed it - but it was drastically deduced in price - was the Raw Coconut Butter with Coconut Blossom Sugar.  I also grabbed 5 Chocolate Cacao Bars for a friend of mine...she's loves them and she's NOT raw or vegan...some Raw Crusts that I like to use for Breakfasts or Snacks....Kale Chips that were all on sale, and Pumpkin Super Chips...again on sale.  One other item I wanted to try and it was reduced in price was the Pure Wraps - the Curry flavor - they are coconut based.

A Few Happenings & Reviews

I'm attempting to catch up on blogging a bit before my 'hell week' starts next week.  Then I will once again be behind.  Funny how that works, eh!?

Anyhow...I have been munching on a bunch of different foods lately and many of them I have done reviews on or will be doing reviews on SOON.

One of them being the Season Kale Krunch.  I REALLY liked them!  I gave them 5 out of 5 starts over at the Raw Food World.  Read my FULL REVIEW here for the Seasonal Spring Onion Kale Krunch.  YUM!  Tastes like Sour Cream & Onion!!!

Another one of their products I'm super excited about is their dried pineapple!  It's wonderful!  Again...another 5 out of 5 stars!  There is a story that goes along with this product as to why I ordered it!  I originally ordered it for my father and a whole slew of people ended up eating the package!  I've since ordered more specifically for my dad and both times he's LOVED them!  For the full review on the Puckery Pineapple - Click Here!

Eventho I do dry my own things at home I enjoy trying everyone elses, too!  PLUS a lot of the items I have been getting from the Raw Food World I do not have access to locally.

I also wrote up a review about their Cheezy Chipotle Kale Chips.  Since I haven't had the best looking fresh Kale lately or readily available for mass Kale Chip making this was a nice alternative!  Read the full review HERE - Kale Krunch Helps Me on Krazy Days!

In other news I'm REALLY enjoying the books I recently got, too!  So far - out of all of them - I have hit this one up several times.  My goal was to focus on some Breakfast Ideas.  Since I'm not much of a breakfast person I really wanted to push the envelop and jump outside of my comfort zone and try some of them and that's exactly what I did!  Of course I put my own spin on it and wrote about it on The Raw Food World's news site and it was featured under RECIPES.  I called my version Nutty Fruity Breakfast - check that out in its entirety HERE.

I still have so much more to tell you about so stay tuned!

Vegan Roasted Coconut Curry Cauliflower, Simple Kale Chips, Kitchen Gardening, More Sprouting

Last night I really NEEDED to use a head of cauliflower and I decided to do some Roasted Coconut Curry Cauliflower.  Boy-oh-Boy am I glad I did!  I have to admit that I was egged on by Cedella Marley's post on Facebook. She was promoting her brother's Coconut Oil which I do enjoy!  I tweaked the recipe a bit because it called for Greek Yogurt and I used Vegan Sour Cream instead and used different measurements in addition to adding a Wildtree Product in there!  So here's what I did!  I roasted the Florette's for about 15 minutes - then took them out and covered them in the mixture below to then put them back in the oven for another 10 or so minutes.  The flavor was AMAZING!  I nibbled on 2 small pieces last night as a taste test but wanted to save the rest for dinner tonight!  Here's what I used for the sauce/coating for this dish!

3/4 C Vegan Sour Cream
1 T Lime Juice
1 T Coconut Oil
1 tea Red Jalapeno Powder
1 T Garlic Powder
1/2 tea Wildtree Rancher Steak Rub
1 tea Cumin
1 tea Curry Powder

Next up...you will see that I've done some more Kale Chips.  I went the Easy-Peasy Route and just massaged them in Wildtree 'Butter Flavored' Grapeseed Oil - but only a very little bit because I put them in my dehydrator overnight! 

I also used Organic Onion Flavored Sea Salt that I picked up somewhere a while ago.  This was a VERY FINE grain sea salt and OMG I should have used LESS.  You may know I'm not much of a salt fan.  Oh well...they were still edible!

 As for some Kitchen Experiments as of late...

I've noticed that my Onions have been sprouting shoots fairly quickly so I thought I would try and grow some in my kitchen and see if I could do it successfully.  I also am trying this with Kale.  I'm eager to try this with Lettuce, too, just need to get a nice starter one, first!  If I can do this successfully I will be very happy and looking forward to trying more! 

I also started sprouting again.  Today is day 3 after the soak and I have to take some photos soon!  I'm only doing a small amount but want to reserve a space n my kitchen to start doing more things like this! 

First up is the Red Clover Sprouts.  I've been craving some Radish Sprouts, too, and I hope to start those next!  I guess it slipped my mind that Red Clover Sprouts took 7 to 14 days!  That's ok!  I'm not in a hurry and if I was I have other seeds that sprout quicker!

Just when I think I don't have much to blog about I do!  I found a slew of new(er) Vegan Cookbooks I want to look into so I will be scheduling a post about that for the weekend, I think.  I also have photos of the rooftop we will be doing our Rooftop Garden!

In My Kitchen ~ January

I jumped on the In My Kitchen wagon in November and I think I may have skipped December!  Oops!  But I'm not going to let that stop me for January!  I have a lot to share with you about my Kitchen Adventures!  Looking back to that first post many things have changed!  I mentioned in that first post about wanting to upgrade my dehydrator and I did that last month!  I even gave it a name!  Another update since that last post has to do with Maca.  I mentioned I wanted to do more with my Maca stash and I have...a few desserts and smoothies.  And finally...my Garden of Life Products I have been having fun with - almost on a daily basis!  So much so that I hope to have some REALLY exciting news to report in the near future! 

Moving ahead to a new month and a New Year...what are some of the utensils that I cannot live without?  Well, it may be simple, but, my all-time favorite is wooden spoons.  Any kind, really, but today I would like to narrow that down to these smaller scoops that I like to use for loose leaf tea, matcha, and other things!  I really love them!  I also obtained some plastic funnels over the last month or two.  Can you believe that up until recently I had never had funnels for pouring food related items into other containers?  Now that I have been reusing a lot of my glass jars I have been using these almost every day!

Speaking of Tea...Tea is a staple in my kitchen and my life everyday.  You can read a lot about that over at the Sororitea Sisters site that my friend Anne and I co-founded.  But I not only drink tea...I use it for crafts and more recently revisited a childhood use of washing my hair with it.  More on that down the road.

A few new products to my kitchen include...The Spaddy and the Spaddy Daddy...as seen on Shark Tank.  I will be doing several posts about these products in the future!  It's a neat little tool that helps reach the bottoms of bottles - such as condiments - and make-up containers - like foundation, for example.  But one thing I will be playing around and posting about is my attempts to use this product with small compartments of my Bento Boxes.  Which brings me to my next item In My Kitchen for January...Bento Boxes!

And let's not forget about my NEW obsession with EcoJarz and many of their products!  I started blogging about them last month and continue to LOVE them.

The last In My Kitchen I posted a few of the healthy snacks I had be into at that time.  This time around I've decided to include - various home made Kale Chips that I have made in my new dehydrator, some of my new favorites including Coconut Chips from Trader Joe's, and some seasoned Cashews that I have been making at home, too! 

(And it just occurred to me that I think I forgot to post about these so I will try and do that in the near future, too, they are a very tasty and healthy snack with very little time and effort involved).

In my freezer this month I've been pretty hot on frozen fruit - mixed berries and Mangoes - but also I challenged myself to get into frozen bananas more and have been able to handle about a half of one in a smoothie.  I'm pretty proud of that - for some one who has always HATED bananas! 

This past weekend I was able to SCORE some FRESH Blackberries and Blueberries as well!  They aren't local this time of year - of course - but I bought them anyways and they were tasty.  If you scroll down to the previous blog entry before this one you will see a vegan smoothie recipe I made with the Blackberries!

I have been getting back into various grains, again, including Farro - which I posted about in the previous blog post as well!  YUM!  And have also been tinkering with my NuNaturals Products again - thanks to Christine for the encouragement there, too!

And here's a REAL Shocker...I attempted to BAKE...read more about this HERE.

I could go on and on with things happening in my kitchen as of late but I think I will end it with this next item...that I have YET to try...but am super excited about...Chocholistic.  Raw Vegan Chocolate...among other things...but a full review on that, soon!

Colorful Bento & Holiday Arrangement Surprise

I will surely be catching up from the Holidays in several mini-posts over the next week or so.  Earlier in the week I took this Bento Box to work.  From left are...Garlic Pine Nut Couscous with Peas flavored with a little bit of liquid from the Sundried Tomatoes that are next to it...then a little leftover white rice.  Next to that is leftover Cheesy Raw Vegan Kale Chips and Home Made Corn Chips that I made in my Excalibur.

Christmas Eve - a few of us at work were surprised with these very nice and festive holiday arrangements from our Sales Staff.  I LOVE the pine cones and pine needles.  It smelled lovely.  The ribbon is awesome, too!  The Glass base is VERY heavy-duty...I will certainly be reusing it after the arrangement loses its life.  More in the coming days!  In the meantime...how was your Christmas!?

Today's Bento Box & More Kale Chips

I have a fairly simple lunch today in my Bento Box.  I have Whole Wheat Sandwich Rounds in the bog container with Spicy Cashews surrounding it - I must make more - they didn't last long!  Then in the center I finished up some shredded lettuce the reddish/orange sauce is the leftover sauce I used on my newest Kale Chips...I had just enough to use as a spread for this Bento Box Sandwich.  Then you will see a little section of dried Salt & Vinegar Zuke Chips!

Here's a photo of it all assembled, too!  I'm LOVING my boxes and my insulated bag!  They are easy to clean!  I MAY be getting something in the mail that I might be able to incorporate with my Bento Box Adventures - if I do - I will keep you updated on that if it happens!

My Mini Goals have been going fairly well!  I still have to JUICE and get to making Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Foods but other than that all of the other Mini Goals are going well so far!

You probably can tell I LOVE Kale Chips...most people do...that have tried them...but I REALLY LOVE them...especially now that I have my upgraded dehydrator!  Woot! 

Check out these BABIES! 

They are Cheesy but also a little sweet! 

Here's what I did for the sauce for these:
 
About 6 C Kale, Chopped
1 C Cashews, Soaked
1 HUGE Red Bell Pepper
4 T Lemon Juice
1 T Agave Nectar
1 tea Onion Powder
1/2 tea Turmeric
Sprinkle Pink Himalayan Sea Salt
1 teaspoon GoL Perfect Food Regular Flavor

I have a few other things to post but I will wait until tomorrow and the weekend!  What do you think I should try for a Kale Chip Flavor NEXT!?

Vegan Sandwich Spread, Cheesy Tahini Kale Chips, Jalapeno Cajun Cashews, Sprouting Again, and Cleaning!

Yesterday was a CRAZY Blogging Day...I think I had 4 posts!  Today I will probably have more than one but this first one will cover multiple things!  First up is this Vegan Sandwich Spread I made over the weekend!  It has...
1 Can of Kidney Beans, Mashed
1/2 C Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus
1 tea Onion Powder
1 tea Garlic Powder
1 tea GoL Wheat Grass Perfect Food

I ended up putting this in my Ninja for a smoother consistency, tho, but you could mash it by hand if you want.  This was tasty!  I ended up putting it on Whole Grain Bread and put a few Sun Dried Tomatoes on top that had been in oil.  It was yummy!  You can also use this as a hearty dip, too!  But it's really great on sandwiches.

I ended up making a few different kinds of Kale and Spinach Chips last week as well but these were the best ones of the batch.  So I thought I would share the recipe with you!

4 C Kale
1 T Tahini
1 tea Balsamic
1 tea Garlic Powder
1/4 C Cashews
1 tea Crushed Red Peppers
1 tea GoL Wheat Grass Perfect Food

They turned out pretty good, too!  They didn't last long...so that's a good sign!  I FINALLY restocked my Nutritional Yeast at the end of last week, too, so I will be doing some more soon...I also found a great deal on a HUGE bag of Kale so I need to use that fairly quickly!

 As for these Cashews...YUMMMMM!  I will be making various flavors of these soon!  This was the first of many!  And it was a success!  Here's what I did by putting it in a zip lock bag and massaging everything together...

1 C Cashews
1 tea Cajun Spice
1 tea Red Jalapeno Powder
1 tea Wildtree Basil Pesto Grapeseed Oil
Sprinkle of Garlic Sea Salt
Sprinkle of Paprika

Another seasoned snack I would like to try is a Green Holiday Cracker Snacker...yet another mini goal of mine, I guess!  I'm having a lot of FUN making homemade snacks!  I must say!

And - speaking of mini goals - one that I blogged about was jumping back into sprouting again!  Well, I started in with that again Sunday Night!  First up is Marrowfat Peas and Broccoli Sprouts.

It was easy and FUN to start in with sprouting again once I cleaned up my Cabinets and Kitchen yet again!  Let's just say I was a little over ambitious Saturday thru Monday.  I took Monday off.  I need to use vacation before the end of the year so I have a couple of full and half days!

Here I am soaking the sprouting seeds the first night.  I'm using my old tops as well as the Sustainable Santa Cruz Kit I blogged about in the past, too!  I really LOVE that system!  It's wonderful!

I was going to show pictures of my cabinets and cupboards but I think I will save that for another post.  When I purchased nearly 200 Mason Jars I never thought I would use them all - but - you know what?  I think I have to purchase some more - because NOW I am using them for almost EVERYTHING!

Participating: What I Ate Wednesday, 

Vegan Cheez-Its & Vegan Cheez Slices Made In My Dehydrator

I'm still overjoyed with the way my Kale Chips turned out and if you read that you saw that I had left over sauce.  I said that I was going to keep you posted about what I did with it and that, my friend, is what THIS post is about today.

Following the same recipe in that post with the addition of the Garden Of Life Perfect Food I evened out the rest of my sauce into my dehydrator and let it run overnight.  This morning when I opened it up the thinner parts of the spread dried into nice thin chips.  They reminded me of Cheez-It's and I was so happy!  Some of the thicker parts were a bit flimsier and I noticed they could pass as sliced 'cheese'.  I figured I would try it on toast.  It worked well.  The flavor was cheesy-like but the texture reminded me back when I ate cheese and that little bit stuck to the pan...oh yes...it was nice!  I know the photo doesn't do it much justice.  It's a bit dark...the color of these slices and chips was that of an orange or a reddish-orange.  More importantly - they were both tasty!  And FUN to make!  I am pleased with these two taste tests, indeed!  Tomorrow I will be posting about a Smoothie or TWO so stay tuned!

Red Pepper & Cashew Kale Chips

It's been WAY TOO LONG since my last batch of Kale Chips.  Sunday Night when we got home from the hubby's Family Thanksgiving I had a bunch of Kale and wanted to make them for MY family's Thanksgiving on Thursday.  My sister really enjoyed them last year and I told her I would make some again this year.  She seems really excited!  They turned out EPIC if I do say so myself!  I have to restrain myself from eating them prior to Thursday!  Eeeeeek!  This is a picture of the finished product.

Here's what I used for the 'sauce' to coat them prior to putting them in the dehydrator overnight...

2 Sweet Red Bell Peppers

1 C of Cashews

Pink Himalayan Sea Salt to taste

5 or 6 Squirts of Bragg's Liquid Aminos

4 T (or so) Lemon Juice

Pinch of Curry

Here's another look at the sauce stand-alone.  I REALLY coated it well!  I ran out of Nutritional Yeast prior to doing these so these are Nutritional Yeast FREE.  Normally I would add some in the mix but didn't this time around.

I had a LOT of sauce left over and used it as a dip last night.  I might use it as a spread on bagels too!  

But I also added 1 T of Garden Of Life Perfect Food Raw (Regular Flavor) to the leftovers.  This sauce is AMAZING!!!  I am tempted to spread this on my top dehydrator sheet and dry it over night and make a cracker out of it!  It sort of tastes cheesy!  YUM!  I will surely keep you posted on that if I do!

Participating Post:
Live It Up At The Healthy, Happy, Green

Convenience Foods with a Twist, Product Reviews, Happenings

I left the last couple of days without a new post so I have a lot to catch up on today!  I have been cheating with some convenience foods lately but have been trying my best to increase the nutritional value of the foods even if they are convenience foods.  For example...I found store-bought vegetarian Stir Fry.  It was oddly low in sodium for a stirfry as well as a store bought item it was gently flavored but lacked a good a mount of veggies.  So I added a little bit of Coconut Aminos (which I will be doing a review for soon!) and added a few more veggies to it!  It turned out pretty well!  The 3 reasons I am posting about these couple of 'convenience' foods is ONE - the produce - for the most part - in my area is LACKING.  I can find it but the quality is not very good.  TWO - time!  I hate to use that as an excuse but between the ice storms, our work schedule, and medical issues between my husband and now my father - it's been a little crazy lately!  THREE - I have been starting to coupon a little bit - nothing extreme - but - the coupons I have been finding are for things I enjoy and/or haven't tried before and am getting good deals on them - PLUS - my VitaCost and VeganEssentials orders came in over the past week!

Speaking of VitaCost...here is a photo of my order!  I removed some of the packaging, tho.  There are some other items in there that were not necessarily part of my order but I received in the mail and will be blogging about them soon!  I'm VERY excited about it!

I ended up getting $10 off my VitaCost Order AND got FREE SHIPPING!  As far as the coupons go - I saves $21 this past weekend and the weekend before saved about $20.  I wasn't able to find everything I had coupons for either and I need to use them before the end of the month! 

One of the MANY things I got in my VitaCost Shipping was a different new-to-me kind of Kale Chips!  They were tasty but the crumbed quite a bit.  The flavor was Sweet Mustard.  I am going to do this flavor at home myself once I find some good Kale!

Speaking of crumbled Kale Chips...here is what I did with them!  I got Pacific Foods Cashew Carrot Ginger Soup for a good price so I had this for lunch yesterday.  I sprinkled a generous amount of Kale Chips/Crumbs on top!  I LOVE these two colors together!  It added nicely to the overall flavor, too!  Actually I ended up getting two Kale Chips, now that I think of it!  The ones I used on the soup were from Rhythm SuperFoods and were Zesty Nacho Flavored!

Just another convenience food with a little more added nutrition!

 I need to use an open bag of Daiya "Cheese" so one evening over the weekend I made these snack bagels.  I know that Daiya Cheese does contain added oils but I had not been using as much Grapeseed Oil in the foods I have been making the past week or so.  I wanted to increase this comfort and convenience food with a bit more nutritional value so I squirted a little bit of FoodsAlive Flax Oil SuperDressings on it - you can see the little bit of orange color under the 'cheese'.  They were really tasty!  I have to admit!

I asked my husband to pick this week's country for my Foods Around The World.  He picked Mexico!  I LOVES it when I make Tacos!  He's not a vegetarian - far from it - so he had his and I had mine!  This is a photo of mine!  I had Organic No Fat Vegetarian Refried Beans, a small amount of Avocado, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, a very little bit of Daiya Cheese, and a little bit of Hot Sauce. 

For Breakfast I had this Mom's Best Organic Cinnamon Plum Oatmeal.  I just added water and a small teaspoon size packet of Wholesome Sweeteners Blue Agave.  I plan on doing some reviews for these products down the road, too!

Speaking of Cinnamon...recently I tried the Apple Cinnamon Bar from Raw Revolution.  It was fantastic! 

At first bite it was like eating dehydrated Apple Chips and Cinnamon!  Then the textures came in to play!  The powders and seeds contribute to the texture as well as the hardiness and chewiness!  Both the flavor and the texture were satisfying!  As I continued to munch on this bar of delight it continued to be sweet - super sweet - but in a good way!  Apple, Cinnamon, Seeds, and Grainy-goodness from the powders - all played a part!

Here is what's inside of it!

Organic Dates, Organic Dried Apples, Organic Sunflower Seed Kernels, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Hemp Protein, Organic Agave Nectar, Organic Sprouted Flax Seed Powder, Organic Wheat Grass Powder, Organic Spirulina Powder, Organic Spinach Powder, Organic Oat Grass Powder, Organic Kale Powder, Organic Broccoli Powder, Organic Barley Grass Powder, Organic Broken Cell Wall Chlorella Powder.
Nutrition Facts Serv. Size: 1 Bar 1.6 oz. (46g) Amount Per Serving: Calories 150. Fat Cal. 45. Total Fat 5g (8%DV), Sat. Fat 0.5g (3%DV), Trans Fat 0g, Cholest. 0mg (0%DV), Sodium 0 mg (0%DV), Total carb. 27g (9%DV), Fiber 6g (23%DV), Sugars 20g. Protein 3g, Vitamin A (6%DV), Vitamin C (8%DV), Calcium (4%DV), Iron (10%DV). Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

 Have you found any new-to-you products lately that have interested you!?  Share in comments!