BIG LUNCH and Other Odds~N~Endz

Last week I while traveling around the region for work I stopped at Wegman's for lunch.  They have a WONDERFUL hot and cold lunch bar which is priced by the pound.  I believe it's $8.99 per pound and this worked out to be about a pound but I had heaps of food here!  The photo really doesn't do it much justice!  What you can see, may see, and can't really see...

* Marinated Zucchini, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Onions (Raw), 

* Roasted Multi-Colored Sweet Peppers, Eggplant, Sweet Onions

* Raw and plain Corn

* Raw and plain Mushrooms

* Grilled Asparagus

* Grilled Pineapple

* Herb Tofu

* Raw Blueberries, Raw Raspberries

* Raw Sweet Peas

* Sweet and Raw Coleslaw with Raisins and Cranberries

I think that is it...might be a few other items in there.  But I will tell you...this was an AMAZING lunch!  I wish I could eat something like this EVERY DAY!!!

A few weeks ago I started my random watermelon mono meals for lunch again but there is a lull in flavorful watermelon here at the moment so I will hold off on that for a while until it improves!

And speaking of watermelon...here is a snapshot of pure watermelon juice from our Juicing Journey!

One of the other juices I forgot to post about from last week's juicing session was this one!  This is Spinach Lemon Pineapple and it was TERRIFIC!

And I will end this post with some CUTENESS from my parents house!  These are the cats in their household...Bernie on the left and Jeter on the right!  They LOVE their sun room!

Raw Vegan Juices of the Moment

Yesterday I mentioned how behind I was in posts for taking a little bit of time off from blogging but I didn't know how far back I was logging stuff until I went to edit photos!  OMG!

So this post will be ALL juicing and juices!  This is the first of at least 2 (or 3) posts today so be sure to check back!  I have so much to share with you over the next few days and weeks!

First up...take a look at this rich, deep color of the Blueberry, Raspberry, Grape, Lemon Juice my mom and I recently did!  I believe this was made out of 1 container of raspberries (maybe 2), 2 containers of blueberries, about 2 pounds of grapes, and 1 whole lemon.  This made well over a quart.  My father LOVED it so he kept the quart!

This one is simply Plum Watermelon Juice.

We bought a watermelon that wasn't very flavorful so instead of 'chucking it' we decided to juice it!  We used about a pound or more of watermelon and 3 pounds of plums!  YUM!

The funny thing is that my mom LOVES watermelon but doesn't like watermelon juice by itself.  Lucky for me I LOVE BOTH!  I did find out that my dad like plum juice...he also like things with lemon in them were as my mother doesn't.  It's fun learning what each one likes to zone in on and how taste buds are different!

What are your favorite things to blend with watermelon?  I wanted to do Strawberry Watermelon but I wasn't able to find any strawberries YET.

Hubby has been CRAVING Orange Juice.  Since he was diagnosed with Crohn's he hasn't been able to drink it because of the pulp.  I won't drink store bought OJ because it freaks me out...most OJ here in the US has funky ingredients in it (some even contain fish or fish bi-products!!!!)  So it's been a while since I had a good, solid, NATURAL, freshly squeezed cup of OJ.

This was great!  We took about 3 to 5 pounds of navel oranges and juiced them.  It made more than you see here but for the jar I brought home for my husband it was less because we strained it 3 more times.  I'm SO HAPPY he liked it!  It didn't seem to affect his stomach either!

I've heard that the Tribest SlowStar Juicer I use is one of the best to yield more juice and less pulp!  I will try and post a few videos in the near future!

Next up...Pineapple Kale Blueberry!

Here we used 1 container of Blueberries, a whole Pineapple, and about 6 to 10 leaves of kale.  The kale I used was of the sweeter variety and smelled like cabbage.  It was white with dark green highlights!

I will say this smelled weird.  I will also say this is one I sipped on a bit and revisited the following morning.  Word to the wise on this one...if juicing and refrigerating overnight you most likely will have to restrain this in the morning!  Some of the pulp that got thru the juicer and strainer expanded overnight!

ALL of these would make FANTASTIC Freeze Pops, too!  I have some more juices to share with you in the near future and I know my parents are both excited to be trying new juices so I am sure this will be at least once week or every other week I will have new ones to share!  If you have any suggestions let me know in comments!

MacIntosh Apple Juice

Nope...this IS NOT Beer!

It's Pure Apple Juice!

A sample of the MacIntosh Apple Juice that my mom and I juiced this weekend and it turned out GREAT!

3 pounds!

I know I went 'missing' for a bit again but I should be back in full force again tomorrow with plenty more to share!!!

Vegan 'Meaty' Stew?

I have to admit this sort of freaked me out!  Even my mother said it looked like 'meat' you would put in a stew.  It's not.  It's actually Jackfruit!

My mother is not a vegetarian and she sampled a little bit of this Sesame Ginger Teriyaki Jackfruit and thought it tasted like meat, too!

Normally I am not a fan of meat alternatives or fake meats but I think because this is straight up fruit based it seemed to be better than a lot of the others you see on the market.

It came as a packet that you could heat and serve and I just added carrots to it and poured it over pasta.

Here's a photo of the package!  It's from the Jackfruit Company.  It's Nut-Free, Dairy-Free, and Vegan.  It's the Sesame Ginger flavor.

Overall it was a very impressive product.  I don't think it's something that I would eat everyday as it was a little more salty than I like...but it had a good flavor.

The reason I bought it was purely because of the Jackfruit!  It's rare to find Jackfruit anything around me!  I've only ever had Jackfruit flavored things and have also had dried Jackfruit that I bought from The Raw Food World.  This was a nice change and certainly gave me some ideas as to what to do with it if I can find some down the road.  Other ideas that I am drawn to are Jackfruit Tacos and Jackfruit Sandwiches (instead of Pulled Pork Sandwiches), for example.

Things Are Getting Kinda CHEESY Again!

After a few days of 'technical difficulties' I'm back posting!  Very sorry about that!  I'm excited to get 'back to it' tho!

This post is partially a TEST as well as a post to show you some of the random foods I have been eating as of late.

These are literally 'thrown together' but I will say that the 2nd photo that you see below was darn YUMMY so I will be doing it again and post the recipe down the road!

First up is a Mac & Cheese of sorts...and vegan of course!  I used a handful of the remaining Daiya Shreds I had left and built the vegan cheese sauce from there!

Even more YUMMY is this 2nd dish!  I enjoyed this one WAY MORE than I thought I would and I hope to post the recipe soon!

The cheese sauce does NOT contain Daiya or any other 'fake cheese' to make it.

The secret ingredients are organic liquid smoke and a splash of chunk salsa!  Yes...there IS Nutritional Yeast in this recipe!

Over the next several months my recipes will focus on 'eating from your pantry' and 'vegan eats on the cheap' for the most part.  There is sure to be some strange food combos and odd ball ingredients - but that's all part of the FUN...isn't it?

Vanilla Cacao Power Nuggets

Just a quick post today to show these little gems of a snack.  These are full of chocolatey goodness with notes of vanilla, highlighting various coconut products, as well as using the secret weapon of Apricot Kernel Butter.  Check out this recipe!

1/2 C Apricot Kernel Butter
1/4 C Cacao Powder
1/8 C Coconut Nectar
1 T Coconut Flour
1/2 T Coconut Sugar
1/2 tea Organic Vanilla

1 tea Garden of Life's Vanilla Flavored Protein

Pinch of Sea Salt

I stirred everything together, made the little balls, and set them in the frig for about 3 hours (which ended up being there over night after that, too!) and there you have it!  YUM!