Juicing & Salads ~ Continue!

I'm REALLY trying to stay positive but it's been hard to lately!

I'm trying to keep my mind and body busy with other things to not over analyze like I tend to when stressed.

This past weekend my mom and I put the SlowStar Juicer to the test again!  WHY?  Because it's STRAWBERRY Season!  Woot!

This juice you see here is Strawberry, Pineapple, and Kiwi Fruit!  It was very tasty!

This week I will continue with the juices, smoothies, and salads for the most part.  I can see myself doing this - or at least - aiming for the major of my meals planning around these items - throughout the summer months into the fall.

It's mostly back-to-the basics while trying to detox a bit and shed a few in the meantime.

I have had MANY salads the last week or two and I'm not getting sick of them in the slightest!

This one you see here is iceberg lettuce (which I realize has the least nutritional value of any of the lettuces but I like the CRUNCH), a few leafy greens and spring mix are in there too...you can't see them but I have carrots and cherry tomatoes in there - PLUS - nutritional yeast, hemp seeds, corn strips, topped with Vegan Ranch Dressing, and smoked paprika.

Over the weekend we stopped by a family restaurant that has the best salad bar in the county and I piled up.  They have a California French that happens to be vegan...so I usually go with that.  We also stopped at a Variety Buffet yesterday and I had salad, corn, brussels sprouts, rice, and fruit!

Vegan MoFo ~ Presidential Treatment?

Today's Vegan MoFo Prompt is: Barack Obama is coming over because he knows you make awesome vegan food.  Well, I do NOT get political on this blog but just for fun I figured I would play a long and show you some of the ideas I would consider.  Because I am fickle person I most likely wouldn't do actually courses but give the guests multiple items to choose from.  No matter who your guests are they have to have munchies upon arrival so I was thinking Watermelon Candy (which is dehydrated watermelon), BBQ Tofu Jerky, possibly some Raw Vegan Pepperoni, and small raw vegan wraps with a seasoned Nut Meat.

I know the President has Irish Ancestry so I would do a version of Vegan Irish Stew, of course.

We can't forget about Buffalo Bites!  Some might call them Raw Vegan Buffalo Wings.  It's basically a spicy coated cauliflower appetizer with a lovely dipping sauce.

There has to be at least 1 (or 5) different salads to choose from.  pictured here is one of the favorites I have made in the last year...an Apple, Celery, Walnut with Spicy Dijon Mustard Dressing.

More dipping foods are a MUST!  So most likely raw vegan veggie wraps with a peanut dipping sauce would be in order.

We can't stop with salads - there MUST be soups, too!  One of my faves over the last 12 months has been the Creamy Hemp Beet Soup...both raw and vegan, too!

Staying with some raw options - there has to be a raw pasta in there somewhere, too!  How about zoodles with a Tomato-Peanut Sauce?

They will NOT leave hungry, that is for sure!

Let's not forget about the various side choices!

Marinated Tomato and Cucumber with Hemp Seeds, Swedish Green Beans with Garlic and Herbs, a Dijon Mustard flavored Quinoa (or Cous Cous) dish with veggies, Kale Chips of some kind (because we all know how the First Lady brought Kale Chips to the mainstream), Yellow Grits topped with Brussels Sprouts, Hot Sauce, and a vegan sour cream, and one of my name favorites Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Spinach topped with a Vegan Cream Sauce (recipe coming soon)!

And the Desserts & Sweets!

Personal Cherry Pies, Raw Vegan Mint Chocolate Cookies, Raw Vegan Cacao Pistachio Freezer Fudge, Coconut Covered Protein Power Balls would be another good one, and of course different kinds of Vegan Ice Creams...one of which you can see in my blog's header banner.

Those are just a few ideas I have off the top of my head.  I would have to include my version of Dreena Burton's Quinoa Hummus Casserole, tho, that might be one of my personal faves to date!

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...

Raw Eats, Organic Fresh Pressed Juices, Salads, and More from West Palm Beach

Yes...I'm still trying to catch up with vacation pics!  Today I will have a photo heavy post about the food I enjoyed!  For the most part I enjoyed a lot of raw food...pretty impressive for being on vacation, eh!?

First off we have some organic fresh pressed juices!  This red one is called ZEN.  It had Red Beet, Red Apple, Fresh Ginger, and Lemon.  It was great!  It was part of my lunch that day along side a salad.  I had a LOT of salads and they were all great!  I also got a bunch of ideas for salad dressings, too!

For this GREEN Juice...it's called Garden Tea and it was made up of Parsley, Mint, Kale, and Pineapple.  It was WONDERFUL!!! 

I really enjoyed both juices!  There were about 3 or 4 other choices, too, but they were REALLY expensive.  They averaged between 13 and 15 dollars each.  I opted for those rather than the 'adult beverage' options. 

The colors of the juices were AMAZING!  And they were oh-so-tasty!

Here's one of my many salads.  It was one of the restaurants at The Breakers CHOP Salads. 

The dressing was a citrus balsamic...yummy, yummy, yummy!

As you can see it has greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.  ALL of the lettuces were so crispy and fresh.  I am pretty sure that all of the tomatoes they used in all of the restaurants there were heirlooms, too!

Don't you just LOVE hierlooms?

Each morning I started my day with various fruit and fruit juices.  In this case I had strawberries, pineapple, watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe.

The juice you see in this photo is fresh squeezed grapefruit juice!  It was terrific!  I need more grapefruit juice in my life...I have missed it a lot!

Other mornings I have various berries, melons, some pears, lots of citrus, etc.

Around mid to late afternoon I had a lot of veggies and some fruit too.  Here is a plate from one of those mini meals.  I had corn chips with a really great salsa, some guacamole, plus some raw squash, cucumbers, celery, and jicama.  I must have eaten my weight in jicama!!!  I think I had a slew of it each day!  YUM!

Other days I had various sweet peppers, carrots, zukes, beans, tomatoes, grapes, etc...

YUM!

And speaking of YUM...Mango Gazpacho!  Most of these photos are tidbits from our offerings at the Flagler Club Level.  The one girl specifically knew that I was vegan and I think she put in a good word for me so she pointed out this cold soup and I adored it!  I want to try and makes some VERY SOON so I will be sure to share those attempts with you! 

And I just LOVED these little shot glasses they put them in, too! 

This Mango Soup had, of course Mango, citrus, red pepper flakes, and some herbs!

Here's another salad I had and was great, too!  LARGE heirloom tomatoes, walnuts, pears, onions, cranberries, leafy greens, all with another citrus balsamic dressing but it was different from the one I mentioned above.  I think it had some kind of wild flower in it, too, the dressing not the actual salad...it was very unique!  I had another salad that was similar but it had marinated hearts of palm and pink beets!  I need more salads like this in my life, too!  VERY SOON I will be continuing on with some of these things!  I really enjoyed HIGH RAW during vacation and now that spring is here and the farmers markets are opening close to me again I hope to get back to it SOON!

One of my many mini goals during this vacation to The Breakers in West Palm Beach was to have coconut water straight from the coconut and you know what?  I did it!  Here is a pic of the one I got!  It was AWESOME!  And I pulled some of the coconut off and gnawed on it a bit, too!  SO GOOD!

Yeah...so...the coconut water IN the coconut was still $12!  Oye!

But it's not like I get REAL coconuts and fresh coconut water here in the snow belt so I was stoked to get it when I could!

The last full day we were there we decided to go to their Italian Restaurant and when I made the reservations they asked us if we had any special requests and I said 'Well, I'm looking for vegan options' and when we showed up our super nice waitress was WONDERFUL and said 'I know you are vegan let me tell you what we can do for you' and suggested the roasted brussels sprouts (with a bit of onion) in oil and they were done to perfection!

I also had a salad similar to the one with the pears and leafy greens above.  There was also a bruschetta, too!  YUMMO!

And FINALLY the last food photo I wanted to post was this dish!  It was listed on the menu as Vegan Porridge but I would just call it Vegan Lentil Chili.  It was excellent!  They topped it off with root veggies and a single apple crisp!

I could have eaten this dish every day I was there but the salads, fruits, and juices were DELISH, too! 

So...what do you think of some of the foods I consumed on vacation?  I think I did really good!  I certainly behaved myself and kept things interesting!

Foods From Last Week...This Week!

Yup!  I'm still behind with posting!  Here are some of the foods I have been eating the past week or two!

Up top on the left - it's a comfort food and not ultra healthy due to the store-bought vegan cheese but I considered it a CHEAT and haven't been doing that all the much lately!  I made Egg Trick Muffins!  Yum!  To the right of that you will see one of the recipes I have submitted to The Raw Food World NEWS Recipe Section!  It's a Nut and Seed based "meat" inside a raw vegan paleo wrap!  On the bottom is an awesome salad with greens, pineapple, tomatoes, peppers, almonds, coconut, and Balsamic!

Of course this isn't all I ate but some of it...and with the post from Friday with the smoothies you can get a good idea of some of the things I have been working on!  

Salads & Sass

Yesterday Hubby and I did some shopping for our upcoming trip and did a "Linner" afterwards.  I have to say I was overly impressed with the Make Your Own Salad option they added to the menu and I couldn't pass it up!  I decided to do mixed greens, avocado, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, cranberries, broccoli, pecans, and cherry tomatoes with a Sun Dried Tomato Balsamic.  It was AWESOME!

I'm not going to lie - I can't wait until we get there - for the pure and simple fact that the temperatures will be significantly warmer!  Everything else is just a PLUS.  I'm already trying to research vegan options when we are on site.  There are a few but the prices where we will be staying are out of this world.  After all it IS a 5 start hotel.  I have never stayed at a 5 start hotel and I highly doubt I will again!  I'm just NOT that type of girl!

This is one of the dresses I tried on yesterday...

Eventho I didn't purchase this one - now I am wondering if I should have. I kind of like it.  Which is FUNNY because I don't generally wear dresses!

The one I bought I will NOT post YET but will after I wear it in sunny Florida!

I now have 3 dresses, 3 shirts, a long skirt, a short skirt, and some capris I will be bringing which is a bit more than I need but maybe I will be in the mood for a wardrobe change in the middle of the day! HA!

I will be completely out of my realm - but - you have to do that every once and while to keep things interesting, right!?

Eats this week - Salads, Fruit, and a Cashew Dip Treat!

Since I am doing a mostly raw week while focusing on my Lymphatic System I thought I would show a few things I have eaten over the last few days.  I'm also thinking about extending this adventure into next week.  Time will tell.

First up a MASSIVE Salad.  I wish you could see how big this bowl was!  The salad turned out awesome!  It has 5 different kinds of lettuce in there, mini cucumbers, raw walnuts, 2 different colors of sweet bell peppers, and I topped it with a Braggs Dressing that had Ginger and a few other things in there.  Also on top is Garlicky Green Vegan Parm.

Yesterday for lunch I had 6 Kiwi Fruit.  I've also been gnawing on Kale Chips a lot this week.

I was able to find a few different kinds of Apples yesterday - including Grapples that are NOT pictured.  Cantaloupe - YAY - I hope to make a smoothie or at the very least Cantaloupe Milk with it.  A few oranges - hopefully I will make some dressings with those.  And MORE kiwi fruit!

Later in the day I bought 3 bananas and will be freezing them either today or tomorrow after they have ripened a bit more. (Frozen and in smoothies are the only way I can stomach Bananas!)

The Salad was amazing and I can't wait to have another one!

I had some Spirulina Chips left from a while back and wanted to get rid of them.  The reason I bought them was because they were Spirulina based but when I got them and tried one I knew right away they had a good amount of banana in them. Oye.

Well, last night I attempted to make a Cashew Dip and OMG it turned out AWESOME.  I dipped the Go Raw Spirulina Chips in it and PROBLEM SOLVED it was an AWESOME Combo!  I am going to be doing a recipe for The Raw Food World NEWS Site but I will tell you NOW that I used Cashew Butter, Lemon Juice, Coconut Oil, and Coconut Aminos in this recipe and now I'm kind of addicted to it!

RAW WEEK - Thursday

It's my 4th day of RAW during my RAW Week this week!  I thought I would share some of the Kitchen Adventures with you from last night and today.

In random order...

These Carrots with "Cheesy" Walnut Tomato Dip!

Recipe - All in Vitamix:

1 C Walnuts
3 Sun Dried Tomatoes
1/2 C Nutritional Yeast
2 T Lemon Juice
1 tea Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tea Paprika


I had some of these as a snack last night as well as part of my lunch today.  I still have some of the dip left over.

I jumped back in with the smoothies today after skipping only one day. 

Today's was a Blueberry Hemp Smoothie

Recipe - All in Vitamix:

2 one-inch chunks of frozen banana
1 C Blueberries
2 T Hemp Seeds/Hemp Hearts
1 C Water
1 Handful of Spinach
1 Date

This was super tasty!

My energy level has been pretty good.  I noticed a blemish on my chest yesterday and I'm chalking it up to my body's way of detoxing.

 I took another selfie this morning.  My hair is pulled back into a pony tail.

Other that no afternoon crash - which I don't usually get any ways - maybe once or twice a week - and the blemish I found - I haven't seen many major changes after 4 days.  I've been waking up better which is nice. 

I have already made a choice tho...eventho...I will be going back to cooking foods after this weekend...I'm going to try and stay High Raw...my goal is roughly 75% or so.

So I'm sure you will be seeing a lot more salads from me in the near future.

One thing I have noticed about my "senses" is I have found that I LOVE pickles in my salads now.  I have tried it every once and a blue moon before but I'm totally digging pickles in my salads now.

Speaking of Salads...here's mine from last night!

The lettuce variety I used for this salad was Petite Tango.  I did a whole head again.  I also threw in a good amount of Cherry Tomatoes, a few mini Orange Bell Peppers - diced, pickles - diced, and a really tasty dressing!

Apple Walnut Mustard Dressing

1 Apple
1 T Raw Grapeseed Oil
2 T Lemon Juice
1 Date
1/2 tea Mustard

I really enjoyed this dressing!  I will say this is the first oil I have added to anything this week!  Eventho it was 1 T or less even - I am pretty sure that is what was 'going on' in the toilet POST my visit earlier today! 

:)

RAW WEEK - Wednesday!

Check this bad boy salad out from yesterday!

This Salad was a bit of a Mish Mash of things and it turned out pretty tasty!

The Lettuce you see here is Petite Oak.  I used a whole head of it for this LARGE Salad.  I read up on this lettuce and noticed that it averages over a gram of protein per serving.

I also added 2 good sized carrots, 1/4 of a pickle, and about 10 raw Almonds.  This was my Dinner in addition to leftover Chia Seed Crackers and Raw Vegan Cheese Dip.

I made another dressing last night for this LARGE Salad.  I think I will call it Tomato Tahini but it's much more than that.  Here's what's in this Raw Vegan Salad Dressing...

4 Roma Tomatoes
1/3 C Tahini
2 T Braggs Liquid Aminos
2 Lemon Juice
2 Mini Sweet Red Bell Peppers
Cayenne to taste

And once I mixed in the Salad Dressing this is what it looked like!

It was YUMMY!  I'm looking forward to a different Salad and Salad Dressing tonight, too!

This morning I didn't make a Green Smoothie and I must say I missed it!

Last night I didn't get enough sleep due to major Thunderstorms in our area.  The thunder was cracking from 12:30am to after 9am.  I probably only got about a half hour of sleep.  Considering that - I'm actually not feeling too bad today!

Today I have consumed 4 Mandarin Oranges, 1 Pink Alice Apple, and over a cup of small kale leaves from our container garden.  I massaged the Kale Leaves in (fresh squeezed) Tomato Juice and Spices.  It was just what I was hungry for!

I found a Pink Alice Apple at one of my local stores the other day and tried it today for the first!  I must say I am a fan!  It sort of smells like WINE when you first cut it...very pleasant.  Here's a little bit more info about this kind of apple!

• Description: This new and distinct apple variety possesses several unique and desirable characteristics such as having a distinct pink stripe over a creamy-yellow background, which distinguishes it from other known varieties. The background color deepens to an orange-yellow after harvest. Lady Alice possesses a distinctive taste and its dense flesh is sweet with a hint of tartness. The shape of the Lady Alice is round and somewhat broad with a shallow, slightly open calyx.
• Parentage: The Lady Alice apple was discovered as a chance seedling in Washington State and is therefore a *Washington Original*.
• Availability: Available February through May or while supplies last.
• Usage: It is slow to brown after cutting which makes it excellent for eating fresh, cutting into salads or served on fruit trays. Additionally, the dense flesh holds its texture when baking. Lady Alice is an excellent all-purpose apple.

What I Ate Wednesday Participant

RAW WEEK - Tuesday!

Hello Lovelies!

It's day 2 of my RAW WEEK!  After posting yesterday I went home and made this CRAZY HUGE Salad!  But not before a mini outing!  I had to swing by and drop off a cat carrier that I borrowed from my parents neighbor and then I went to Aldi's.  Early yesterday morning when I went to a nearby Grocery Store most of their daily produce was WAY TOO Expensive.  Average Every Day NON-Organic Cauliflower was $3.99 a head, their tomatoes were $3.49 per pound and most of them HUGE so I bet they were well over a pound a piece, even their grapefruit was $1.29 each...their avocados were over $2 each, etc.  So I really wanted to stock up and got a bunch of stuff at Aldi's and only spent $22.  I wish I would have taken a photo of my haul before putting everything in their places in my kitchen/frig/pantry.

While at Aldi's I found a super huge awesome hard plastic bowl for $4 - I went home, washed it, and threw this salad in it!

This Salad Contains the following...Romaine Hearts, Cherry Tomatoes, Mini Cucumbers, Orange Sweet Bell Peppers, and Hemp Seeds.  I think it worked out to be between 4 and 6 cups of greens.  I made a dressing last night as you can see in this 2nd photo but silly me I forgot to jot down everything in it...so...here's a guess...I know there was at least 1 C of Mango along with about 2 T Tahini.  I think I added some Lemon Juice and Garlic Sea Salt.

This 3rd photo is a pic of the Salad Dressing I made prior to pouring on the salad.  OH!  Yes...I think I also put about 2 T Dijon in there, too!

I really enjoyed this dressing but think next time I would use less Mango and more Dijon for the extra ZING!

Later in the evening - last night - I had the munchies.  I decided to cut up 2 more Mini Cucumbers and treat them like Raw "Chips".  I made a Raw Vegan Cheese Dip to go along with it. 

In this Raw Vegan Cheese Dip and/or sauce here is what I used...

1 C Pine Nuts
1 C Cashews
3 Cloves Garlic
2 Mini Sweet Red Bell Peppers
2 T Lemon Juice
1/2 C Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 C Nutritional Yeast

I get Raw Cashews and Pine Nuts at my local herb store in bulk.  Mostly when I buy in bulk the prices are better.  When it comes to nuts - especially raw nuts - that isn't usually the case. 

I realize Nutritional Yeast isn't necessarily raw but I do know a lot of Raw Foodists that consume it.

Next up...I made some Raw Vegan Chia Crackers or Chips last night.  They kind of remind me of Blue Corn Chips/Tortillas.

For the crackers/chips I did about 1 C of Chia into 2 C Water for about an hour.  I stirred in about 1 T Garlic Powder - maybe a little less - for the whole batch - and then spread it out on a Dehydrator Sheet and flipped every 2 hours or so until crisp.

I was pretty impressed with myself, actually.  I ended up doing quite a bit last night around the house as well as food prep.

Now...I only had one of these this morning as a Taste Test and I really liked them.  I'm probably going to have them with dinner or as a snack tonight.  And LOOK - I used that Raw Vegan Cheese as a dip since there was SO MUCH in the batch that I made.  I also noticed it thickened up pretty nice over night in the frig.

This will last me a few days.

I felt like I literally ate all day long yesterday.  But I think I did a good job of getting a variety of foods. 

As for today...I started my day with another smoothie which you can see in the following photos. 

For this smoothie I used 2 C Strawberries, 4 Handfuls of Spinach, 2 inch chunk of frozen banana. 

It's not the most beautiful color but it tasted good!

I've been putting my Vitamix to the test as well as my Excalibur!  This REALLY excites me!

Yesterday I was up from about 4am until about 11-ish last night. 

Not Bad. 

Best part?  No afternoon energy crash! 

I, did, however, sleep in longer this morning - but - not as long as I usually do - so that's good!

I've also been able to use more of my cute Mason Jar Glasses with the handles and more consistently.

So far - TODAY - I had the smoothie listed above along with 3 Apples and 1 Nectarine.

For Lunch I had some GREENS from the Container Garden...a mix of both the Sweet AND the Spicy Mesclun Mixes...so up to 8 different lettuces altho I think there is only about 5 in what I picked today.  On top of the Greens I threw in about a tablespoon or two of Hemp Seeds and about 1 C of Grapefruit.  For the "dressing" I just used Apple Cider Vinegar to taste.  I also had about 1/4 of a Watermelon on the side.  I'm looking forward to Dinner tonight!

Chocolate Chia Pudding OR Triple Thick Vegan Milk Shake, Tahini Veggie Stir Fry, Black Bean & Corn Salad, Tomato Cucumber Salad, Jalapeno Italian Dressing, Jalapeno Corn, Farmers Markets, Superman!

I posted a little bit about Chia Seeds last week and I had some questions about them so I will do a little break-down for you!  Because...guess what!?  I have another Chia Seed Recipe!  Chia Seeds are a concentrated food containing healthy omega-3 fatty acids, carbohydrates, protein, fiber, antioxidants, and calcium. They have a mild and nutty flavor and they can be added to just about anything.  When you mix them with water - they gel.  You do want to make sure you drink a lot of water when you consume Chia as they do 'take' water from your system as you digest them.  Some people say they curb your hunger.  Some people say they are good for digestion and weight loss.  Others just really love the nutritional benefits of them!

As you can see here, I did some Chocolate Chia Pudding!  Sometimes I am not really in the mood for the texture of whole/gelled Chia - it's much like Tapioca or some have compared the texture to caviar.  What I did for this Chocolate Chia Pudding is I used about 4 to 6 T of gelled Chia Seeds and put them in my Ninja Blender and flooded them with Chocolate Soy Milk.  This made it very thick.  SO you could say it's a Pudding or even a Triple Thick Milk Shake.

Friday Night I wanted something QUICK and decided to do this Veggie Stir Fry.  I decided to cover it in a Tahini Sauce.  It's a little different than the last few I have done and applied it right to the frying pan while I was cooking it.  I used 2 to 3 T of Tahini, 2 T of Bragg's Liquid Amino's, Splash of Grapeseed Oil, 2 T Minced Garlic, Red Pepper Flakes to taste, I did add a little water, as well.  This turned out pretty good!  I think I added a little Lemon Juice towards the end to taste, too!

Yesterday I made some Vegan Sides for a Picnic type thing my hubby's family had.  This was one of them!  Black Bean and Corn Salad.  It's quick and easy, too!  I used about 8 ounces of sweet corn, 15-ounces of Black Beans, 1/4 C Wildtree Balsamic Dipping Oil, 1/2 teaspoon of Organic Raw Cane Sugar from Wholesome Sweeteners, 3 T Cilantro, and Chili Powder to taste.  It seemed to be a hit!  And I got a little crazy with the Vinegar's this weekend apparently!  The Vinegar Fun Continues...check it out...

For this Tomato, Cucumber, Onion Salad I used 3 Tablespoons of Rice Vinegar, 1 Tablespoon of Grapeseed Oil, 1 teaspoon of Agave Nectar, Black Pepper to taste, 1 Cucumber, 2 Tomatoes, 1 Vidalia Onion, and 1 teaspoon of Wildtree's Italian Seasoning Blend.  Right at the end I added a little of the Balsamic Vinegar to kick it up a notch!

This was also a hit!  There was not much left but what was left of both of these dishes I mixed together and ate for lunch today.

Many of you know I am NOT afraid of spicy foods.  I wanted to do an Italian Type Dressing but a spicier one!  So what I did with this one is quite simple!

I used:

1/3 C of Coconut Vinegar (Coconut's Secret)
3 T Water
2 T Wildtree's Italian Seasoning/Dressing Mix
2/3 C Wildtree's Jalapeno Grapeseed Oil

This was DARN tasty and just enough Jalapeno to get me excited!  I had a few ideas right away but have been thinking about other ways to use this prepared dressing ever since I mixed it together!


Here is one thing I did with this dressing!  I used it as a marinade!  It was VERY tasty!  I added a little bit of Nutritional Yeast to it as well to give it a little cheesy flavor and to thicken it up a bit.  I ate a small dish - just to see what it tasted like - after eating a bit of it - I knew I wanted to save the rest to use on salads this week!

This past weekend I was able to get to our local Farmers Market and I bought Collards, Green Garlic, and Pak Choi.  I'm super excite to 'play' with those this week!  I also visited one of our local produce stands that does not participate in the Farmers Market as they have full time seasonal hours.  There - I bought a few others things.  Later Saturday I went to a Produce Store in Lakewood and was able to pick up some great deals on fresh produce as well.  I was especially impressed with the Watermelons at $1.99...they were so flavorful! 

And we FINALLY saw the NEW Superman Movie!  Man of Steel!  LOVED it!  What did you do this weekend!?  Hope you had a great one!  I have a feeling this week is going to be another CRAZY one!  Game On!

Art & Vino Venue, Salads, Smoothies, and Creamy Vegan Savory Spinach & Cilantro Dressing

 This past weekend we took our Wildtree stuff to an Art & Vino Event in Youngsville, PA.  This is the 2nd year we have done this event and it was even better than last year!  This is a photo of our table - I'm taking the picture and you can see my sister, mom, and dad here!  My sister Megan is talking to one of our customers.  We were set up beside Allegheny Cellars Winery.  They are some 'friends' of ours that we've known for a few years and done several events with.  There were 3 others wineries there as well!  Burch Farms/Winery, Flickerwood Wine Cellars, and Courtyard Wineries. I've been to 3 out of the 4 wineries and have sampled a little bit of Courtyard's before as well.  It was a lovely event.  Thankfully it was INdoors because we got a bit of snow on Saturday and it was quite cold...like around 30...that after it was 80 degrees on Thursday!  Oye!  Regardless we did GREAT at this event!

Towards the end of last week I did some Smoothies in my Ninja!  Here is the first one!  It contains Mangoes - about a cup, 4 Clementines, and 2 C of a blend of Strawberries, Papaya, Pineapple, as well as about 1 C of Coconut Milk.  It was pretty good!

I mentioned a while ago that I got some new SuperFoods and Powders I would be playing with.  One of them is Boku Organics and I tried their SUPER FOOD last week in a similar Smoothie!  I added a nice level scoop of their greens powder and came up with this...

I loved how GREEN it was!  Next time I would probably omit the Papaya in this, tho, That was the only thing that stuck out and didn't quite jive right with the other flavors.  Perhaps there was just too much Papaya in this attempt, not sure, but the rest was lovely. 


I even had enough to take to work the next day!  I put it in my Blender Bottle.

Remember last week when I was telling you about the Butternut Squash I did with Grapeseed Oil and the Wildtree Savory Spinach?  Well...I had left overs and decided to add it to a last Salad for Friday Night's Dinner!  I ended up finishing the Vegan Lemon & Chive Store Bought Salad Dressing I had on hand, too!  I do like that dressing!  I was tempted to buy more of it at Wegman's yesterday but didn't - I'm making more and more of my own these days!

Which brings me to my next tidbit!  The Dressing I made!  I posted this immediately after making it last night and have had people on Instagram ask me for the recipe so here it is!

Creamy Vegan Savory Spinach & Cilantro Dressing

1 small bunch of Cilantro
8 to 10 ounces of Vegan Sour Cream
1 T Lemon Juice
2 T Wildtree Savory Spinach Blend
pinch of Wildtree Lemon Pepper
1 T Minced Garlic
About 4 ounces of Water
A Squirt of Agave Nectar - I used Wholesome Sweeteners Raw Blue Agave

This was tasty as-is but I wanted to see what else I could do with it in addition to putting it on Leafy Green Salads!  So I decided to make a Mini Cucumber & Grape Tomato Salad.

I used my slicer for the mini chukes!  I believe they are actually called Crunches!  Regardless they are wonderful!  I mixed everything together and added some Foods Alive Nutritional Yeast Flakes to the top of it.  I eventually mixed that in as well!  It was very good!  This is something I would make often!

I will be back in a while with another post as this one is already lengthy and I'm trying to squeeze in posts between MADNESS here!  It's been a doo-zee of a week or two and this week is looking like another!

What kind of foods did you eat this past weekend!?  Did you get out and about in your community?  If so - what did you do!?