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!

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!!!

Carrot Orange Juice with my SlowStar Juicer

Another quick post of my most recent SlowStar Juicing Adventures and Journey!

This juice consisted of Mandarin Oranges and Baby Carrots!  That's it!  

I LOVE the color!

My mother really liked this juice which kind of surprised me but I was delighted when I found out!

We juiced about 3 pounds of oranges and 2 pounds of baby carrots for this!

Today I will leave you with this photo!  For some reason I kept forgetting to post it!  So sorry!  I found this lovely couple on my walk home from work a few weeks ago!  They were right near the road - a brick road - to be exact - right near a beautiful Methodist Church in downtown!

Pure Apple Juice With My SlowStar Juicer

Yesterday I blogged about my most Juicing Adventures and I wanted to keep the momentum going!  Since it's the weekend I wanted to Keep It Simple!

Here is a quarter of PURE Apple Juice that my mom and I juiced the other night!

It's about 5 pounds of Gala Apples!  That's it!

Both my mother and father were a fan of this apple juice!

Just a short post today!

I will leave you with this sweetie-of-a-pup...Cricket from the other night!  Everyone have a great weekend!

Spinach Pineapple Lemon Juice!

I FINALLY did it!  I FINALLY started Juicing again!  Last night I grabbed my Slowstar Juicer and everything that came with it and went over to my parents house!  I did this for several reasons!  My parents have more kitchen space not only for storage, display, and counter space while actually juicing but they also have better lighting, too!  Another reason I decided to take my juicer over to my parents house is because my father has shown interest in juicing lately and when I mentioned it to my mother she seemed semi-interested as well.  I figured it was something we could do together!  The 3 of us!  I go over to their house at least once a week anyways so why not do something good for us while we are together, eh?

I have this juice that you see here!  It's a Tribest Slowstar Juicer.  I bought it over at The Raw Food World and you can check that out HERE.

I have 3 people that I would like to THANK for their Slowstar inspiration!  Chris over at The Vegan Zombie, John Kohler, and Linda & Jay Kordich.  You can click on their names for a video from each!

Now...on to the Green Juice you see at the beginning of this post!

It's Spinach, Pineapple, Lemon!

I took a large bag of organic spinach and juice it all!  I also juiced about 4 lemons and about a half of a pineapple!

With the lemons I left the skin and peel on.  This was hardcore LEMON...lucky for me...I LOVE Lemon!  I have LOTS of others juices on tap!  I will be posting over the weekend so be sure to see what else I have juicing!

Vegan MoFo ~ Kitchen Tour Time!

Today is Kitchen Tour Time but I'm embarrassed at the sight of my kitchen at the moment so I thought I would take this time to blog about some of the things I HAVE in my kitchen.  This may be a lengthy post.  I have a feeling it will be!

Before I get to the appliances I have in and around my kitchen I have been getting a lot of questions about certain ingredients and products I have been using as of late.  I thought I would combine many of these into one post.

First up...one of the most asked about products as of late is this Kelp with Cayenne.  I've also LINKED to the specific product for you in case you wanted to check it out over at The Raw Food World which is where I got it to begin with.  It's part of a line of sea seasonings.  The one I have been referring to a lot lately is the Organic Kelp with Cayenne.  It gives you the benefits of a sea veggie and gives you a little bit of natural saltiness without adding actual salt to your foods.


They have other flavors, too, including a Trio Blend of Dulse, Laver, and Sea Lettuce which I have yet to try...one with Sea Salt, Kelp, and Dulse...another being Dulse with Garlic...on that is straight-up Dulse...you get the idea.  I've had a couple of these in my pantry for a while and they keep well in a cool dry place.  Right now they are only $4.10 each and are TOTALLY worth it!.

I usually make my own dressings but there is a new-to-me line that I am REALLY stoked about!  And it's from a company that I have adored in the past!  Foods Alive!  Check out THESE dressings!  They are AMAZING!  And right now the individuals are priced at-cost!

If you take a look at my sidebar you will see a search button and if you type in Foods Alive you will see the others posts on my blog containing some of their products that I have enjoyed and blogged about in the past.  But these dressing are in a class of their own!  Take a look at the link above and let me know which ones appeal to you most!  Oh...and of course WILDTREE is my favorite brand of many products and I am a Rep if you are interested!

Salad Booster from Living Intentions is another product I keep in my frig as often as possible.  It's a great product to have on hand.

There are TWO flavors...the original and the Vegan Cheesy!  Both are excellent!

The original contains: Seeds, Wild White Chia Seeds, Spirulina, Himalayan Crystal Salt, Chlorella, Organic Dulse, Organic Kelp, Organic Dill Weed, Organic Spices, Organic Lemon Peel and Organic Cayenne.

The Vegan Cheesy contains: Organic Sprouted Pumpkni Seeds, Organic Sprouted Sunflower Seeds, Organic Sprouted Sesame Seeds, Wild White Chia Seeds, Spirulina, Organic Red Bell Pepper, Himalayan Crystal Salt, Nutritional Yeast, Chlorella, Organic Dulse, Organic Kelp, Organic Dill Weed, Organic Spices, Organic Tumeric and Organic Chilies.

SunRoot Sweetener is something I JUST started using.  I need a little bit more time with it before I completely make up my mind but so far so good!  It's an alternative to Agave and other natural sweeteners.

It's made from Jerusalem Artichokes - also known as - Sun Chokes.

It's sweet but I don't think it's AS sweet as some of the Agave's I have tried.  It's VERY dark in color, too.  I made a two layered RAW Freezer Fudge that I will be posting about in the near future and used this as the sweetener.  The flavor of fudge was Pistachio Cacao in case you were wondering.

Of course other things you will find in my kitchen are various Nut Butters, Garden of Life products, raw nuts and seeds, more recently Cacao products, and Super Food Powders among other things.

Now...when it comes to certain appliances I have throughout my kitchen there are a few.  I started with Ninja Blenders before I was able to get a high speed blender.  Once I got my high speed blender I saved all of my Ninjas.  Yes...I have several.  I still use them for food processing, mostly.  I have many different sizes and I also have these containers that I store in the frig at times, too!

Once I finally got a high speed blender I went with a Vitamix...actually the Vitamix went with me, actually!  I was lucky enough to win one.  I'm so grateful I was able to win one.  The only down fall is now I will ALWAYS have to have one.  I hate to say I have a 'prized possession' because that sounds so material but I would have to say my high speed blender is one of the things I just may have to guard with my life.  Is that too dramatic?  Meh.

I use my Vitamix EVERYDAY at least once.  However, I have  often wondered the differences between the Vitamix and the BlendTec.  I'll get to that in a moment.  But first I would like to jabber about my Vitamix.  I supposed I should name her, shouldn't I?  Anyways, I LOVE my Vitamix as I have said but there are only a few things I wish were better about it.  One being I wish it was glass and not plastic but that isn't a 'make it or break it' for me.  When making thicker dips and spreads like nut butters and hummus for example it is hard to get all of the 'good stuff' from under the blade.  I feel like I am wasting a lot when this happens.  Also...it's not the easiest to clean when doing a lot with nuts...they tend to cause a build-up under the blade.

Enter the BlendTec WildSide Rebel Jar and XR Vitamix Fit Jar.  These jars make it so that you can have a BlendTec and a Vitamix at the same time, basically.  I wanted to try this prior to possibly purchasing a BlendTec, too.  I'm glad I did.  Yes, I know...I'm a bit of a blender freak now.  I have noticed a few things with this WildSide Jar.  I LOVE the jar.  It fixes the problems I was having!  It's so much easier to clean and under the blade stays cleaner with little effort.  I also get nearly everything out of the jar with little effort - that was the other concern I had with the Vitamix Jar in the first place.  There are 2 things I'm not overly thrilled about, tho.  One being it's MUCH louder than the stand alone Vitamix and the other is I don't think the BlendTec gets 'chunks' as smooth as the Vitamix.  I think the BlendTec breaks them down better but I like the textures of the Vitamix better.

This could be because I'm using a BlendTec blade and Jar on the motor of the Vitamix that is yet to be determined.  There are pros and cons of each but I have a love for both of them because of their pros.

Next up...yes...I have an Excalibur Dehydrator.  I love it and I need to use it more than I have been as of late.  I think that will be a goal of the upcoming season.  If you want to search for my past recipes feel free in the search box on the side just type "Excalibur" in there.  I will be gearing up for snacks and breakfast bars and cookies with this soon I have a feeling!  I'll tell you it was one of the BEST Christmas presents I even got (thanks Hubby!)

More recently I added this to my kitchen...it's the Tribest SlowStar Juicer.  I'm ashamed to say that I haven't put it to the test YET but will very soon!  Prior to this one I had a Jack LaLanne Juicer.  I liked it but it didn't get the juice as 'juicy' and 'clear' as I wanted so I decided to get this one.  I almost purchased a different brand and made a last minute switch-a-roo because of the Instagram photos that Chris from The Vegan Zombie posted.  It seemed like he was getting the results I was looking for and that is what switched my mind at the very last moment.

Another thing I should mention is that I have a SLEW of Mason Jars throughout my kitchen!  Dozens!  I store everything in them.  You can read more about that HERE as to why I started that when I did.  It has just grown since.  HERE is another post and HERE is another post - both with pictures!  I guess in a way you can see my kitchen in those photos and posts, too, when it was a little more 'put together'.  Another example would be HERE.

Love My Body Challenge

I'm on Day 3 of FullyRawKristina's Love My Body Challenge!  The challenge is to encourage participants to love their body and eat at least 1 fully raw meal a day.

I usually do eat at least 1 fully raw meal a day but my goal is to eat at least 2 or all 3.  I didn't eat a raw dinner last night but today is a new day!

I've had body image issues most of my life but I have to say since going mostly vegan they've been better.  I'm not really sure why that is maybe I just feel better about myself it's not necessarily because of the weight issue per say.  Perhaps I'm just growing up and caring less (what others think), too!  Regardless I'm enjoying this challenge so far and it runs thru June 21st but I can see doing this challenge over and over.

Below is a 1 minute video of one of my quick meals last Friday.  I try and have fresh fruit around during the day, dried or freeze dried fruit, nut & seed crackers, and lately I have had Kale Chips and/or Nori (snack) Wraps/Sticks as filler incase I get hungry or didn't bring enough to eat that day.  I also do smoothies and will be getting into fresh juicing again real soon because my SlowStar Juicer came in recently!  YAY!

Mango Cream Smoothie, Dijon Walnut Sauce, and Raw Vegan Eggplant Strips

One of the issues our household has been battling since we've been back from West Palm Beach has been Kidney Stones.  Hubby has battled with them for years now and now that we know he has Crohn's we have found that they are connected.  While looking for foods that help certain issues I came across how the might mango may help fight kidney stones.  We will be incorporating more of them in our diet to see how they can help him.  I recently made a Mango Cream Smoothie and it turned out tasty so I shared it on The Raw Food World News Site.  

If you have been to my blog in the past you may have picked up on me being a SAUCE type person.  Above you will see the photo and excerpt of the Dijon Walnut Sauce I did for raw vegan zucchini noodles.  It was very flavorful and creamy.

On the bottom you will see Hearth Healthy Raw Vegan Eggplant Strips.  I paired that with info on heart health - of course!   I made those in my Excalibur Dehydrator.

In other news - I FINALLY ordered a new juicer!  I opted for the Tribest SlowStar Juicer.  It's a Single Auger Juicer and Chris over at Zombie Gate/The Vegan Zombie was the one who twisted my arm to finally make the purchase.  His Instagram Juicing Photos are amazing!  I'm still waiting on the juicer to arrive but I'm VERY excited to jump right in!