Raw Food World Shipment Thoughts

Last week I received my last shipment from The Raw Food World and here are the highlights from that shipment.  In this first photo you will see I have 2 Parma! products.  I have never tried them because I don't have them in my region.  There was a 'problem' with the Garlicky Green one and they replaced it PRIORITY MAIL which was awesome!  It's been a while since I have looked into purchasing Kelp and when I saw this one shaker seasoning that had a Cayenne kick to it I knew I had to try it!  The Lemon Pecan Fig Bars were not necessary but more of a treat to myself.  I must say they are wonderful.  I shared with 2 of my co-workers and still have some of it left.  They are super rich and flavorful so a little nibble goes a long way.  I bought some more Freeze Dried Mangosteen for my mom.  You may remember reading previously how much she loved them so I wanted to make sure I bought some for her to support her new love.  I wanted to grab some Sun Dried Persimmons for a few reasons.  One because they are a product I can't get around here even on my best attempt and two because they were straight from Ojai, California.  And next to those you can see I scored some Adzuki Bean Spaghetti.  I have tried the Black Bean and enjoyed it and still have some.  Christine over at the Raw Project has been blogging about her attempts with this brand of pasta, too!  Right now over at The Raw Food World they have the Mung Bean, Black Bean, and Soy Bean Pastas for $4.99 - last month they were $3.49, I think.  RIGHT NOW you can get the Adzuki Bean Pasta over at The Raw Food World for $3.49!!!  Woot!  Take a look at my sidebar for the affiliate link if you want to check it out more!

Next up...I wanted to get some Apricots and Peaches for my Dad.  He tried them but they were 'too dried' for what he was looking for.  He's completely in to the Pineapple I blogged about before so now I will now to get him more of that when I place orders.  As for the HUGE batches of Peaches and Apricots I will most likely be using them in recipes and maybe snacking on them from time to time, too.   I have been sharing my shipments of Cashews with my sister so I had to get more.  AND it had been a while since I had Red Quinoa on hand so I included some of that in my last order, too.  That AND the Red Quinoa was one of their At-Cost Specials last month.  So now my pantry is all stocked up again!  YAY!

So...yeah...now I'm a little addicted to buying more Raw Food Books.  These are my latest additions to my collection.  The Philip McCluskey ones are a little thinner but I have been thumbing thru them quite a bit and have tweaked a few Salad Dressing ideas that he has in them and they are great.  I can see myself using them often.  I'm not really into desserts since going dairy-free but I figured I would TRY a few and that book in the center really looked interesting.  Then...I have been overly into Matthew Kinney's books and wanted to get two more...his flavor combos and photos are amazing!

Vegan Fair Food

A few weeks ago Christine over at The Raw Project posted about some of the Vegan Fair Food items she recently found at her local fair.  Not too long ago I did the same thing.  During our county fair - not only is my husband there for about a week and a half because he's a fair board director - but we also have 10 LIVE broadcast remotes in 5 days - for the radio stations I work at.  PLUS I like to volunteer in between so it's a VERY busy week - and then some.

The cafe that is run by volunteers and benefits the fair made a custom salad for me made with every veggie they had on hand and I did salsa for the dressing!  This was a HUGE salad!  I was so thankful for them doing this
for me!

The first day everyone was there and settled in there was the annual Media Lunch.  The only thing I had was these green beans.  Thankfully they were 'naked'.  No butter or other ingredients so they gave me a HUGE plate-full.  They were super fresh, tasty, and surprisingly filling.

I wasn't the only one with a plate full of Green Beans - a friend of mine who was Gluten Free (but not veg) thought it was safer to just eat 'green' that day, too!

I was lucky because I knew the girl who did the meals for the entertainment - such as Tyler Farr, Lorrie Morgan, and Joe Diffie - and their crews. 

She saved some items for me or let me grab a quick munchie in between things we had going on.  This was one of them...CORN...it was pretty good...even on day 2.  Other items consisted of mostly FRUIT which was completely fine by me!  I was grateful for the strawberries and cantaloupe.  She even grabbed me some Broccoli, too!   And she was so nice to even bring me some cherry tomatoes from her garden!

There was a booth there who did 'from scratch' strawberry shortcakes.  Instead of the strawberry shortcakes - I just had the fresh strawberries - everyone was so willing and helpful to make exceptions - all I had to do was ask - most of the time!

PLUS...a friend of ours was camping there and she brought me 2 HUGE bowls of fresh cut watermelon that week!

Christine's Chia Curry, Cold Curried Peas, Strawberry Chia Smoothies & Jams, and Deals

One of my favorite Bloggers & Instagrammers is Christine over at The Raw Project - as I mentioned in my previous post, today!  Yup!  Two posts, today!  Keep scrolling!  Anyhow, Christine is super awesome for many reasons but one of those reasons are her Crazy Blender Skills!

As a fellow Blender NUT - I HAD to try this Chia Curry last night!  I followed the instructions EXACTLY and it came out wonderful!  I love everything about this!  I love the color, I love the aroma, I love the flavor!  It's AMAZING!  I ended up dipping celery sticks in it.  But that's not all!  It made a nice sized batch so I decided to add it to some Frozen Peas that I soaked in warm water to thaw.

This flavor combo was tremendous, as well!  Since this is one of her original recipes I will not post the measurements here but you can find them at the link above!  Her blog is a real winner so DO take a look-see!  But I will tell you that this contains the following:

Chia Seeds, Carrots, Curry Powder, Garlic, Coconut Oil, Lemon Juice, Nutritional Yeast, and Water.  YUMMO!

I mentioned in my previous post that I was going to talk a stroll today - which I did do - and I did take some photos - but I think I will hold off to show you some of them until next week!  I think I will probably get some more snapshots Monday or Tuesday to include in a lengthier post as well!

After soaking a few Chia Seeds to do the above sauce I had some left over and ready to use.  I was trying to figure out some quick things to do with them so the already-prepared gelled Chia Seeds didn't go to waste.

I have also been going thru a lot of my freezer and cupboard items try to get some rotation-system down or something.  I came across some Strawberries that were frozen and did the same thing...soaked them in warm water to thaw.  I added them to the 2nd largest Ninja Blender I have.  There was about a pound of Strawberries in there at this time.  Next, I added 3 Tablespoons of soaked Chia Seeds to the Ninja as well as 2 Tablespoons of Maple Syrup and a half teaspoon of Vanilla Extract and blended.  One of the 3 things I made with these ingredients is pictured here.  A nice Strawberry Chai Smoothie.  For the Smoothie I continued to blend until quite smooth. 

I could help but wonder what this would taste like with a little bit of that Wildtree Chocolate Syrup I mentioned earlier this week.

So, of course, I added some.  It was super yummy!  This made a wonderful little dessert!  Two thumbs up!

But before REALLY blending this together I quazi-blended it and wanted a little bit of chunkage to it.  WHY?  Because I wanted to try and make some Strawberry Chia Jam.

The flavor was pretty incredible!  I had a bit of it on my English Muffin this morning but seriously, I could just eat it straight out of the bowl!

I think at some point I am going to try and build on this jam and make it into a fruit chutney or a salsa of some sort.  I can envision Mangoes, herbs, maybe Pineapple, the possibilities are endless!

I think I am down to only two of these little glass bowls that I have had for several years and I believe I got them at the Dollar Tree.  I might have to go check them out soon and see what other kind of little bowls I can buy for cheap.  The little glasses you see above are from gift sets my Brother-In-Law got me for Christmas.  So are the Wooden Surfaces I used for the background.

Question of the Day: What's the last thing you made with Chia Seeds?  I absolutely LOVE them!

CONTEST Continues, My Take on Christine's Avocado Ranch Dressing, and SPICES!

Don't forget to enter for your chance to WIN FREE CHOCOLATE from Fearless Chocolate thru Monday!

You see this lovely green goodness over here!  Well, it was inspired by Christine over at The Raw Project!  It's Avocado Ranch Dressing and I did my take on it.  You know how I have a hard time sticking to instructions - teehee - but then again - I did use some Wildtree products, too!  Here is what I did:

1 Avocado
2 T Lemon Juice
1/2 tea Wildtree Garlic Galore
1/2 tea Wildtree Onion & Chive Blend
2 T Foods Alive Nutritional Yeast
1/2 C Water

This turned out AWESOME and I want to thank Christine for the idea!  I can't wait to jump into it later today!

In other news...

I am trying to continue with kitchen cabinet organization!  TRYING being the key word!  Here you can see some of the ones I have in small jam/jelly mason jars.  LOVE them!  Wish I had 200 more!  BUT...I don't...so...I ended up working with what I have...

What I have is a lot of these glass shakers that I got at my local herb store.  I also buy in bulk there.  As much or as little as I want or need!  It's handy!

You will see some old McCormick containers, too, those I re-used and have Frontier Co-Op Bulk contents in them!

Here is another photo of another nook on the shelf that I did last night for quasi-organization. YES...I have a LOT of spices!  I actually 'chucked' at least 20 of them - off brands, really old store bought ones, etc.

I needed to do this - not only because I was having a hard time finding all of them but because I needed to reserve a space for some more things I am getting into - including SuperFoods, Raw Blends, Greens, and Vegan Protein Powders! I'm really excited to start adding some of these to my smoothies and I figured if I had a nice newly organized space I would be more apt to do that!  Fingers Crossed!

A product I would like to share with you today is Bites Of Bliss Pineapple Coconut with Chia Seeds!  You may remember my last post about my first experience with their lovely products!

My first 3 words when I bit into this were...

WOW!  Potent Pineapple!

Yes!  It was!  And I loved every bite of it!  I've always been a fan of Pineapple as well as Coconut!  I must have gotten the LOVE gene from my father as he's a fan of both of those ingredients, too!

If you have a sweet tooth - TRY THIS PRODUCT!  This flavor is INTENSELY flavorful, wonderfully sweet, extremely healthy, jam-packed with FRESH goodness and nutrition!  I absolutely LOVE it!  It is extremely sweet! Dare I say ALMOST a sweet overload?  Nah!!!!  I wouldn't change a thing about this flavor!  It's wonderful!

The Dates and Pineapple hold it together - perfectly!  The Walnuts and Coconuts add to the snap, crackle, pop, and crunch of it all!  The Chia Seeds ALWAYS pack a powerful punch of health into anything but this certainly gives you the bang for your buck!

I also have a heads-up from this GREAT company that their Bites of Bliss will be listed at an "At Cost Special" over at Raw Food World in April!  Keep an eye out!  Matt & Angela have some really awesome stuff over at their site!  Take a look!

And another bit of information I found out about these Bites of Bliss since my last review is that they are Ashley Koff Approved!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  I have LOTS on tap and remember to scroll down for the giveaway!

Hats, Chickpeas, Raw Sauce, Chi-Wee, and Global Juice

 Good Morning!  I've been talking HATS with a few people and thought I would post another one of my winter hats here!  I purchased this one from a local artisan back in December.  She not only makes hats and scarves but she's a Photographer, too!  All of her work is wonderful.  I procrastinated during the 'craft show' and didn't make my purchase until the end...prior to buying this one I had my eye on a RED one.  But I do like this one, too!  I'm wearing it much more than I thought I would.  I know I look like a 'goof' but you can see how long my hair is these days...it goes beyond what you see here, too!  Sorry for how 'yellow' these look.  Our Living Room has that sort of lighting so you will see that in many of my Living Room Photos that I take.  I have a few other things to share with you today, too!

 Some Bubbly...and I don't mean Champagne!
Check out these chickpeas!  They are from last night!

I did them on stove-top with Garlic Grapeseed Oil, 1/2 C Parsley, 2 T of Tahini, and 1 T Lemon Juice as well as a little Wildtree Lemon Pepper to taste and cooked down.  It BUBBLED! 

 Here's a closer look at them and when they were done and ready to serve.

They were pretty good!  I'm going to be testing some more Tahini Sauces out soon!  This was a neat start!

One of my new favorite blogs is The Raw Project!

She's really making me WANT to try a lot of new things!  PLUS...she's a fellow Chihuahua House Hold!

I even 'stuck to' the recipe - which I rarely do!  Mine didn't turn out as awesome as hers!  You will have to check her post out!  I didn't do it justice!  I am going to try this one again and SOON.  Mine wasn't CREAMY enough.  I think I might try adding more water.  It could be that I didn't have it in the blender long enough, too!  I'm using a NINJA.

I did, however, take half of this and added some of the batch of this and added a little bit of Aztec Chocolate Spice Blend from Made With Love Detectible Edibles.

I think I would still want it thinner and creamier so I am totally blaming this one on myself!  I think it's a neat recipe and LOVE that the original recipe she posted was RAW :)

The Sweater Adventures continue!  Last night I put a different sweater on Paco right after dinner!  He didn't mind me putting it on him and I will now say I am CONVINCED it totally changes him and his attitude!  So we have decided to let him rip-roar thru the house for a while and then when it's 'calm-down' time we will put the sweaters on him!

Towards the end of the night when he was all about MAXIN' and RELAXIN' he went under the blanket on my legs and vegged out for a while.  When I called his name he struck a pose that I captured here.

 Earlier in the evening I caught him sitting rather 'prim and proper' on the arm rest of DH's recliner!  He's never done this before.

I put him thru another 'test'.  I went up to my Craft Room for about 20 minutes.  He's been chewing on one of our end tables to get my attention or chewing on the banister to the stairs to get my attention lately when I go upstairs or go in the kitchen and don't let him come with me...I would like him with the other dogs in the living room sometimes, ya know?  Anyhow...this TEST...worked!  I'm now sure what it is about this Sweater Method but he's being so much better...WAY LESS mischievous!  It's a Chi-Miracle!

And of course...I HAD to share this one with you!  This was him watching TV late at night (prior to the darker photo above!).

We were catching up on The Office.  After that we watched a documentary about Black Bear Ranch - a Commune in California on Netflix.

I'm gearing up to participate in some of the calls over at Global Juice Fasting Day starting tomorrow.  I probably won't do the actual Juice Fast NOW but I LOVE the info and always learn a lot from them when I do listen in.  I also try and increase my juices and smoothies even if I don't do the actual FAST...so hopefully you will be seeing some of those tidbits here soon! 

Well, that's all for now but I might be back later today or tomorrow at the latest!  Have a great day!