Current Vegan Eats & Winner Announcements!

Hello there!  Before we get into all of these vegan eats - even some RAW Vegan Eats...I wanted to announce the winners of my last contest which was the NuNaturals $70 Prize Pack!

Linda K from the USA

Brenda P from Canada

Suituapui from Malaysia

Ashley R from USA

Thanks so much to everyone for participating the feedback was AMAZING!  Congrats to all of the winners!

In the first photo you will see a dip that I did a while back!  My thought behind it was to incorporate Mesquite Powder because I recently received a slew of it in an order from The Raw Food World and I wanted to start experimenting with it.

In this dip I used Cashews, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Red Bell Pepper, Garlic, Apple Cider Vinegar, Mesquite Powder, and Parsley.

Check out the entire recipe HERE it's one of the featured recipes over at The Raw Food World NEWS Recipe Section.

In other news I recently acquired like 20 pounds of bananas for FREE from a local produce stand! How awesome is that!?  They had a SLEW of over ripe bananas and they were due to get more in the following day and asked me if I wanted them!  Of course, I jumped at the opportunity even tho I'm not a fan of bananas I have been trying to incorporate more and more of them in my smoothies because I know how GOOD bananas are for you!  I shared a few pounds with 2 of the girls at work and went home to freeze the rest of them!

I also found a new-to-me flavor of Naked Smoothie at a nearby store.  I REALLY liked this flavor and grabbed it while traveling for work the other day!

Not too long ago I threw together a Farro Dish!

It was similar to the one I did HERE but I didn't have any artichokes or pine nuts to add to it this time around.

Before I get to my next few photos I wanted to let you know that this weekend my sister and I are going to the WNY Veg Fest in Buffalo!  We had so much fun last year we decided to make it a priority to go again this year.  I've already contacted Chis from The Vegan Zombie and he and Jon will both be there again!   This year I think I will make up some cards to pass out for my site!  I really want to start networking more with people in the Tri-State area and more online!

Here's a Mediterranean Chickpea Salad of sorts I did this past week!   Here's what's in it...

2 C Chickpeas
1 C diced tomatoes
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
1/4 C Parsley
1/4 C Chives
1 T Oregano
3 T Balsamic
Sea Salt/Pepper to taste

I loved the way this turned out!  It was so yummy!

Question of the Day...what's the last dish you made using Chickpeas?

And FINALLY...some raw vegan ice cream...

What it contains:

4 Frozen Bananas
5 T Almond Milk
1 C Frozen Strawberries
3 to 4 T Nut Butter of your choice

For the Nut Butter I used Jem Organic's Super Berry Maqui Camu and it was wonderful!

I blended the Frozen Bananas first (with the Almond Milk) and then added half of the nut butter.  I blended the strawberries separately and added both mixtures into a large glass dish and mixture by hand because I wanted chunks of fruit.  I then added the remaining nut butter.  It was great!

Vegan & Raw Vegan Food Hauls - Wegman's & The Raw Food World

I've been backed-up with posts lately but I wanted to share with you my online shopping and Wegman's hauls! 

First up was my last few shipments from The Raw Food World.  I am waiting on a few other items from them but they should be on their way soon!  Including my new SlowStar Juicer!  Woot! 

I decided to grab some heavy-duty Spirulina Tablets - they were on sale a while back!  I think I ended up getting 500 or so and I want to try and ground them and use in recipes.

I had to re-order Nutritional Yeast and they started getting CGF Organic & Freeze Dried items back in stock!  YAY!  My mother LOVES the Mangosteen!  So I got her some and I wanted to try Durian because we can't get fresh Durian where I live so this will probably be the closest I come to it for a while!  Then I grabbed some dried Pineapple and Mango for my father - he loves both and I wanted to try some dried pitted prunes for myself.

Oh yeah!  Almost forgot!  If you got back up to that first photo you will see I splurged a bit and scored some Ojio Vanilla Powder!  I have been wanting to try this for a while.  I don't usually trust grocery-store vanilla extract and powders but this is organic and Ojio and they pride themselves in quality products so I thought I would try them.  Plus the other products I have gotten from Ojio have been fantastic!

To the left...YUP!  I bought another Spirooli Spiralizer - I already have one and love it and bought this one for my sister.  I did save the one on top for myself tho and that slices ribbons - a bit different from the one I have!

Now...on to the Wegman's run I made WEEKS ago!  I grabbed some of their Organic Applesauce - it looked too good to pass up - and the price was right, too!  I have been a little low on lentils lately and really craving them since that lovely lentil dish while in Florida so I decided to get the sprouted green lentils I found at Wegman's.  PLUS...I had been out of Farro for the LONGEST time so I well passed due to get some more of that, too!  The prices were fair on all three of these products!  I did grab some Daiya Cheese, too, I only get it when it's on sale for 2 reasons...it IS expensive...but I also don't want to eat too much of it because it is a processed food.

In their deli area I found wonderful chickpea salad!  One of the MAIN reasons I LOVE Wegman's is because their label ALMOST everything with the V if it's VEGAN.  Yay!  The flavor of the bean salad was great and I also wanted to try it because of the tri-colored chickpea factor.  Of course the default is your regular chickpeas that you see everyday but there were brown and black ones in this salad, too, and they were pretty tasty, too!  Then I grabbed some of the Wegman's brand Tofu for some Egg Trick Muffins I made (shout out to The Vegan Zombie and Strong Hearts Cafe)

I was running low on mustard - and still am - didn't realize I was also out of yellow mustard, too, but I was able to purchase some of their Dijon and it's GOOD.

I was happy to see that they came out with some flavored beans that also happened to be vegan including these Chana Masala Garbanzo's!  I couldn't resist the Artichoke Hearts - I hope to be making my favorite Farro Dish with them soon and some yellow wax beans!  Yum!

Last but not least I finally broke down and bought some of Eat Pastry's Cookie Dough and let me tell you it's everything I was dreaming of and more!  I have been hearing The Vegan Zombie go on and on about this line for a while and now I finally see what all the hype is about! 

Again, I don't want to get too used to it and over indulge but it is a tasty treat on occasion and in moderation.

Below you can see some of the cookies I made with the dough...but it is certainly tempting to eat prior to baking, too!

Nom, Nom, Nom!

I'm not going to lie...YUM!

So there you have it!  My hauls from Wegman's and The Raw Foods World!

I have LOTS more to share with you so stay tuned!  It's been so busy as of late but things are going fairly well!  How are you and what have you been up to lately!?

Farro Lentil Dish

I was going to post about this yesterday but already had two blogging entries.  So - why not today, eh!?  This is the Farro Lentil Dish I came up with that I ate for my lunch yesterday.  I ended up making extra Farro as well as some Lentils that were pre-packaged from Trader Joe's the last time I went.  All you had to do with them is put them in the microwave or on the stove-top for a few minutes.  I only used 5 ingredients in this dish but I think I had it figured out that it was roughly 30 to 34 grams of protein in this...yet another dish to prove those nay-sayers wrong that vegetarians and vegans can't get enough protein, eh!?  Here's what's in this dish:

1 C Farro, Cooked

1 C Lentils, Cooked

1 C Zuke in Tomato Sauce

2 tea Wildtree "Everything Blend" (More on this below)

2 T Pine Nuts

Inspired by the ubiquitous “everything” bagel, this blend can now be applied to, well, everything! Use as a coating for fish, flavor pretzels, or mix it into butter to make a unique everything spice garlic bread!

 

Of course you won't be seeing any 'fish' here on my blog...but you WILL be seeing other ways to use this product that goes along with my vegetarian/vegan lifestyle.  This product does have a speck of sea salt in it and as many of you know I'm not usually one to add "salt" to my foods but it worked well here probably because it complimented and didn't overpower the other flavors.

 

This Wildtree Product includes the following ingredients:
Sesame Seeds

Sea Salt

Poppy Seeds

Onion

Caraway Seeds

Garlic

Each ingredient is organic is at has the new(er) Wildtree Organic Label right on there!  I will be trying to use this more in my dishes and post them here for all to see.  If you would like to order this product on my website it's only $8.50 and a very little bit goes a long way!  I would say 1/2 tea to 1 tea is all you need at a time but it DOES come in a shaker top so  you can add as much or as little as you want.

I will have at least 1 more blog entry today so be sure to visit again soon!

A Word About Farro AND Recipes for Farro with Artichokes, Sun Dried Tomatoes, & Pine Nuts AND a Blackberry Chia Smoothie

Oh YUM!  So...I made this for my lunch today and I have to say it's WONDERFUL!  I would have to say it's probably one of my new favorite dishes!  It's chewy, flavorful, and filling!  Here's what's in it...

1/2 C Farro (Nature's Earthly Choice)
About 3 C Water (to cook the Farro in)
1/2 C Sun Dried Tomatoes (with gentle oil)
About 3 C Artichoke Hearts
5 to 6 T Red Wine Vinegar
3 T Parsley
1/2 C Pine Nuts

If you are a fan of any or all of these ingredients PLEASE try this!  The flavor really pops!  YUM!  The texture is great, too!  It's a neat comfort food as well!

For my Breakfast today...I had a Blackberry Smoothie of sorts!  Here's what's in this:

1 1/2 C Almond Milk
1/2 Banana
1 Pint Blackberries
2 Small Dates
1 T Chia Seeds
6 drops of Vanilla NuNaturals Stevia

A word about Farro...

I'm by no means a Farro Guru.  I think including this dish I have only used it about 3 times so far.  But I'm REALLY loving this grain!  I guess that's why it's been around for over 5,000 years, eh!?  Not only because it's so tasty but because it's so GOOD for you!  It's high is fiber, protein, and a good source of complex carbs!  Just how much Fiber and Protein!?  Well, let me tell you!  Nature's Earthly Choice says that 1/4 C contains 5 grams or 21& of Fiber and 7 grams of Protein!  It also contains 2% Calcium and 12% Iron.  It acts like a sponge with spices, vinegars, flavored oils, and fruits and veggies which I really like, too!  But I keep going back to that chewy texture.  I guess those are just a few reasons why this grain has quickly gained a place in my heart!