Raw Vegan Ranch Dip & Dressing

I was having a serious Ranch Dressing Craving not too long ago and threw a bunch of things in my blender and came up with this.  The first recipe is for the dip.  It's thicker and tangier.  Perfect for carrot sticks and dipping!  To make a dressing just add a few tablespoons of water and/or non dairy milk of your choice!
1/2 C Cashews
1/2 C Sunflower Seeds
1 C Water
3 T Lemon Juice
3 T Coconut Aminos (or Maple Syrup)
1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
3 t Onion Powder
2 t Dill


You can add a splash of oil and/or sea salt or Braggs Liquid Aminos if you wish.  Optional, of course!

Hurry Up & Use It!

Last week was CRAZY!  Sorry for the lack of posting!  But I did take some photos and I thought I would do a bit of a backlog today!  And maybe tomorrow, too!  Starting off with a VERY EASY Smoothie I made!  Cantaloupe & Raspberries!  That's IT!!!  The only two ingredients!  It was because of a "Hurry up and USE IT" scenario but I really wanted to point out what kind of cantaloupe I used because it was a first for me!  It was a Juan Canary Melon.

It was a cross between a Honeydew and and Cantaloupe but was extremely juicy and even a bit more tangy, too!  It was tasty!  It was AWESOME for smoothies, too!  It was OVERLY RIPE so I had to use it and FAST.  I used almost the whole thing minus a few pieces I ate while cutting it and a few handfuls of raspberries!  It was delightful!

This isn't going to be an overly exciting blog post, today, but I still thought I would share a few things!  I have been drinking more teas and tisanes and you can follow the tea adventures over at Sororitea Sisters where we have at least 4 posts everyday!  We have added a few new guest sisters, too!  If you are interested in reviewing teas and tisanes on the Sororitea Sisters site please let me know in comments!

This was one of the chunkier teas I had been sipping on - I think it was from David's Tea and was one of their Nutty Teas!  As you can see I used my Grosche Infuser which I LOVE!

I had more than a few simple salads last week.  I threw what ever I could find in a bowl and made my own dressings out of Just Mayo, Ketchup, and a splash of Sriracha.  It's my own version of Russian Dressing.  If you add pickle it could pass for a Creamy Thousand Island Dressing!

I also found a Balsamic Vinegar Ketchup that Heinz had out and I have to say I'm in LOVE with it!  Of course I'm a HUGE fan of Balsamic anyway!

Vegan MoFo ~ Fusion Challenge!

I'm STILL plugging along with Vegan MoFo and the pre-determined prompts!  Today's is...the Fusion Challenge!  I'm not sure how much of a fusion dish this is but I *think* it would or could qualify!

COLESLAW!

First up is the more traditional vinegar based type of Coleslaw.  I took about a pound of red cabbage, carrots, and broccoli stalks that were pre-packaged and added the sauce which was made up of 1/3 C Tahini, 1/3 C Maple Syrup, 1/3 C Vegan Mayo, 1/3 C Apple Cider Vinegar, 1/3 C Ground Pumpkin Seeds

Here's where the FUSION part comes in...

I made a 2nd slaw.  Both of which I took to an omni pot luck.  This 2nd one is a Curried Coleslaw.  I used the same pre-packaged julienned/match-sticks and added a sauce made up of...1 C Golden Hunza Raisins, 1/4 C Pumpkin Seeds, 1/3 C Tahini, 1/4 C Lemon Juice, 2 T Maple Syrup, 1 T Curry Powder, 1/2 t Garlic Powder, 1 T Nutritional Yeast.

I enjoyed both.  The more I ate the more I liked the curry one.  It seems the more traditional type people at the potluck enjoyed the first one more - including my husband.

Not that these are FUSION but I also brought these Raw Vegan Lemon Balls to the Potluck.  The flavor was good but they were a little dry.  I suspect the Almond Flour was to blame.  I need to tweak this recipe before posting.

As you can see here there are 3 different looking "balls".  One I rolled in Shredded Coconut, the one is left as-is, and the one in the back I rolled in Coconut Sugar.

Question of the day: would you classify my Curried Coleslaw as a FUSION dish?

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!

Build Your Own Salad & Greeting Geese During a Walk

A while back hubby and I went to a restaurant and they had a new build-your-own salad option and it was pretty impressive for our area I have to say!  I took a picture of the salad but had yet to post it here until now.  Check it out...it has multiple types of greens in it including spring mix and iceberg, fresh raw mushrooms, dried cranberries, steamed and chilled broccoli, roasted red peppers, cherry tomatoes, raisins, pecans, and a balsamic dressing!  YUMMO!

The following video was taken and apparently was stuck sideways -  sorry about that but you will get the idea!  It's just a quick one showing you the Geese and River and such...

My Very Own RAW WEEK!

I mentioned in a post earlier today that I declared this week RAW WEEK for myself. 

I'm going to try my darnest to do all RAW all WEEK this week! 

Since I woke up between 4 and 4:30am - and woke up pretty well - at that - I decided to start using a new shampoo/conditioner combo - one of the few things I actually add to my body.  (I don't wear make up or much else for that matter - but I do put Shampoo - usually every other day - and conditioner maybe once a week). 

Naturally Speaking...Tomorrow I will start Oil Pulling again.  I use either Coconut Oil OR Grapeseed Oil.  About once a month - if I remember - I will use a 'scrub' that was made by a friend of me - locally - that contains - Coffee, Olive Oil, and Sugar.

As far as food intake is concerned here is what today looks like for me...day 1 of all raw...

2 Large Glasses of Water
1 Large Mason Jar of Green Smoothie (2 C Mango, 1/2 C Papaya, 2 Large Handfuls of Spinach, Water)
2 Apples
2 Mandarins
1 Grapefruit
1 Peach
1/4 of a Large Watermelon
Various teas and herbal tonics
1 Super LARGE Salad - yet to be determined - with homemade Raw Dressing.

All of the fruits you see listed above were eaten individually throughout the day.

I will try and log more attempts at what kind of activities I will be doing, too. 

At least 5 times a week I walk for about 30 to 40 minutes each day!  I hope to increase this most days.  My plan is to walk from home to work and back 5 times a week in addition to 15 to 20 minutes each day.  By walking from home it's a mile one way...so I will probably walk at the very minimum 2 miles, 5 times a week.  I hope to do a minimum of 15 to 20 mins of yoga 5 times a week up to an hour a day at the most.  In addition - I hope to do Step Aerobics at least once a week.

I'm not really doing this to lose weight - but if it happens, it happens.  I'm doing this more for well-being, mostly.

I do better when I am accountable so my points here at my blog will certainly help with the accountability part.  More on this - throughout the week!

Foods Of The Weekend

Happy Monday!  This post I will show you some of the foods that I did at home over the weekend.

This was the large lunch I had on Saturday.  I wasn't sure if I was going to eat much of a dinner so I wanted to make sure I ate an early lunch before visiting my parents.

We ended up going out to a Buffet later that night and there were quite a few options for me there as well!

As for this specific plate, tho, here's what's on it...starting on the top...I made Seasoned Rice!  Here's the quick recipe for that...

1 C White Rice
2 T Earth Balance
2 T Nutritional Yeast
1/2 tea Garlic Powder
1 T Dried Basil

It was so simple but was so flavorful!  I really enjoyed it.  Then...moving to the right...I have Mango Chunks topped with a little Cashew Cream that was left over from the other day.  My husband had some on a cracker and really liked the Cashew Cream.  He asked me to make more so I did that last night.  Then on the other side of the plate you'll see 2 Indian Vegetable Burgers.  I have yet to eat these as an actually veggie burger on a bun.  I love these so much!  The main ingredient is potato.  I was able to stock up on 2 boxes of them while at Trader Joe's in Buffalo last weekend!  I think they are GREAT stand-alone.

I had this next dish for Dinner last night and saved some leftovers for my lunch today.  It's Polenta Triangles (Sun Dried Tomato Flavored) that I did on my stove top in a dab of Wildtree Tuscan Dipping Oil.  The herbs in that oil when well with the Sun Dried Tomatoes.  I then added in some plain corn and plain peas - both organic and both from my freezer.  I added a few table spoons of Medium Salsa at the end - the Salsa was from Trader Joe's, too!  It was on sale!

Another thing that happened this weekend was while I was doing some kitchen cleaning I decided to check Facebook on my phone and saw that Opal tagged me and challenged me to some Vegan/Raw Vegan Food Creations in my Excalibur.  I said I would join in!  So...this week you will be seeing more dehydrator recipes and ideas from me.  In the meantime...make sure you check out Opal's site too!  For my first recipe and idea...some Nut/Seed/Cheese Crackers that I just took out this morning!

Here are a few of them I ate this morning for my first taste test.  I think they turned out wonderful flavor-wise!

I must say I sampled a bit of the 'mixture' after smoothing it out on a 'sheet' using a spatula.

I think I would make this recipe and use it as a sauce, too, it's just that good!

Here's the recipe...

1/2 C Cashews
1/4 C Walnuts
1/4 C Brazil Nuts
1/4 C Hemp Seeds/Hemp Hearts
2 T Lemon Juice
2 Mini Sweet Red Bell Peppers
2 Mini Sweet Orange Bell Peppers
1 Large Stalk of Celery
1 Small Zuke
1/2 C Nutritional Yeast
2 Cloves Garlic
1 T Bragg's Liquid Aminos

I know that this is more 'nuts' than Opal would use but I thought they were really good.  And I think just a few small crackers is enough for a snack!  They were really filling so a little goes a long way!  I do think that the Zucchini and the Celery helped break it up a bit, tho!

SUBMIT Your Raw Food/Dehydrated Creations on this week's Dehydrator Challenge! 

Fruit Friday - EPIC Breakfast Jar

Last night I made some Cashew Cream and it turned out FAB!  I'm so very excited about this Cashew Cream!  More on that later in the post! 

But first...I might be spoiling the rest of the photo's by posting this one first...but here-goes!  My Epic Breakfast Bowl!  I layered various fruit...starting at the bottom and moving up...Peaches, Strawberries, Mangoes, Raspberries, Blueberries.

On top you will see that I added some Cashew Cream to the top!  YUM!

Before I get to the recipe for the Cashew Cream - I have to say the next time we do fresh. sliced Strawberries - I'm going to do this Cashew Cream for dipping!  Another thing I want to use it for is straight-up "Peaches & Cream"!

Okay...without further "ah-due"...the Cashew Cream I made last night!  Here's a little pic of it.  I wanted it a bit thick but you could add more water if you want it thinner.  Here's what it contains...

1 C Soaked Cashews
1/4 C Water
1 T Wholesome Sweeteners Vanilla Flavored Agave
1/2 tea Natural Vanilla Extract

I think I am going to do a variation of this and submit it to the Garden of Life Blog, too, because I had some extra toppings for additional options and additional protein!  This was amazing and I just might have to try something similar on a weekly basis!