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

What I Learned & Enjoyed Over The Weekend

It's Monday...AGAIN.  How was your weekend?  Looking back on my weekend it was good but it was also a time of learning a few things.  And my learning continues TODAY as I have downloaded a few FREE eBooks from Cloth-Paper-Scissors!  Take a look & enjoy the Freebies!

Another thing I learned was something about my leg/ankle/foot issue.  I blogged a little bit about that here.  I ended up going to Walmart and doing the Dr. Scholl's Custom Fit Test.  I found out that I have High Arches AND High Pressure.  My feet don't look any different than they have throughout the years but my father DOES have high arches and apparently it's hereditary.  So I got these custom fit insole/inserts and hope they do the trick.  It's been driving me nuts that I haven't been able to exercise the way I want to with this annoyance.  Fingers crossed these babies will work!

Tonight I am going to make this Salad Dressing!  The photo, here, is stock, not my own.  BUT...here is what I am going to put in it!

1 Avocado
1 Tomato
1/4 C Lemon Juice
1/4 C Water
1 T Wildtree Taco Seasoning

I suppose you could do a chunky version of this and mash everything together but I really want it smooth so I am going to use my Ninja.

I'm a HUGE Music Fan and LOVE all sorts of different kinds of music.  I thought it might be fun to showcase a few picks on occasion.  I put my Pandora on Shuffle and I have LOTS of different stations on there.  These were the first 11 songs to pop up!

Some I have been listening to a lot lately...like Ziggy Marley.  Some were wonderful flashbacks like Salt & Pepa, Rusted Root, Vanilla Ice, and Run DMC.  Others were ones I tend to go thru phases and streaks on like Rusted Root, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Moby, and Smashing Pumpkins.  And I know it's kind of nerdy but The Monkees are one of my all time FAVORITES no matter what age or era.  I'm still mourning the death of Davy Jones

So I guess what I am trying to say is...my mishmash posts do beyond my daily life and food and blend right in with my musical tastes!  It keeps things interesting...just the way I like 'em.

I hope to do more of these posts and would love to hear your comments about my music shuffle posts.

Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm

The Tragically Hip - Heaven Is A Better Place Today

Red Hot Chili Peppers Snow (Hey Oh)

Vanilla Ice - Play That Funky Music

Run DMC - It's Tricky

Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers - Live It Up

Lenny Kravitz - Dig In

Moby - In This World

The Monkees - The Monkees

Rusted Root - Sister Contine

Salt-N-Pepa - None of Your Business

Participating Post: Blue Mondays Just Another Meatless Monday Macro Monday Made By You Monday Make The Scene Monday Mix It Up Mondays My Meatless Mondays Project 52 Simple As That Veggie Mama's Meatless Monday Marvelous In My Monday