Sunday, December 20, 2009

Today's Meals

Today was a great raw day for me. Here are my meals.
For breakfast I at my remaining buckwheat groat granola with sliced bananas, a few blueberries, cranberries and almond milk. This was sooo yummy and hit the spot since I was craving cereal. I have to try more grawnola recipes. Later on I wanted some spaghetti so, I decided to pull out my new spiralizer thing and make to zucchini noodles.



Ok, this was my second time using this piece of equipment. While I was spiralizing I got a lot of zucchini mush. Is this normal? Since I paid $50 for this machine I expected a bit more that what I'm getting. Side Note- I also saw this machine on Amazon for way cheaper so I might return it and get the cheaper one.
Ok! So on with today's menu. I finished the zukie noodles and searched online for a marinara recipe. Guess who I found! Jennifer Corbleet author of Raw Food Made Easy. She has listed a number of great looking recipes on her website including a marinara recipe. I made a few modifications to her recipe. Since I did not have a  red bell pepper she adds for sweetness I used 1/2 a date; for spices I used lots of basil, oregano, parsley, salt, crushed red pepper and onion powder. Check it out! -->
You know what I love about Jennifer Corbleet is that she has such a calming demeanor on her videos and she makes raw food seem (what her books suggest) easy for the average person who may not have access to a dehydrator or high-powered blender like the Vita-mix (which I love) or Blentec. With most, if not all of her recipes you can you the basic blender, and food processor. Love that! And no, I do not have her book yet but I plan on purchasing them soon.
Here is the end result of the Zuketti (yes I know that is not a real word) Dish! My mom even liked it!








This was my dinner salad.

Sorry for the blurry pics! Oh! And yes I did reuse the same bowl all day long! :o)


Saturday, December 19, 2009

Happy B-Day Mom! Raw Brownies



Today is my Mom's birthday! It was a great day to be outside! It was in the 70's here in AZ. So we took a stroll outside with my dogs..

as soon as they were up!
Since I'm still not feeling well I decided to (un)cook pasta with basil pesto, my usual big salad with a choice of a vinaigrette or her Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing and pecan brownies. Little did I realize that my mom can't stand walnuts. She says her dislike for them stems from her childhood- when she and her sibling had to pick them. She explained that walnuts have a difficult to remove husk similar to young coconuts.


Usual Salad


Basil Pesto with Zukie Noodles

Brownie Recipe:

1 cup pecan, ground; 
1 cup dates; 
Approx. 3 Tbps Cacao powder;
Agave to Taste; 
1 tsp vanilla extract;








Chocolate Icing:
Coconut Oil,
cacao powder, 
agave
vanilla extract









Topping:
Chopped pecans


See Yah Later!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Feeling a little under the weather...

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts my mom is visiting me for the rest of the year in Arizona. We went to the casino a couple of days ago and the smoke was ridiculous to me. See- I had asthma growing up but haven't really had an attack in the last 5 plus years. Well, I've been in AZ that entire time so that may be the reason. Since Arizona has laws against smoking in public places (excluding casinos.)I never have issues with smoke....until now. The casino we went to wasn't bad compared to others but I ended up with a sore throat later that night and not I have a slight cold. I'm hoping it will go away soon.

This morning I wanted to get some pure vitamins into my system so.....I went to the grocery store and stocked up on oranges, pineapple, grapes, cranberries and limes. When I got home I made about 32 oz of  wonderful juice from



a lime, 
oranges, 
grapefruit, 
and 1/2 a pineapple. 


It was sweet, tart, and flavorful!
My mom had pure oj!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

How have I done this week?

I haven't done my best. I'd say I ate about 70% raw so far. When I get off work I just get anything. That's pretty horrible huh? Yes..I know. But I will continue on my raw food path until I am successful. A typical day this [work]week:

Morning
Green Smoothie or Juice
Snacks
raw chocolate, fruit and nuts,
Mid-day-
Large Salad  or Collard Greens and fruit
Dinner something cooked or a large salad.
I love my greens!!



Since I'm off from work work for 1 1/2 weeks, I will be able to concentrate on my  my new lifestyle change. I should be recieving my vitamix soon!!!!!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

I got HealthMaster!

My Mom had been telling me about some incredible machine she got me for Christmas last week. While lounging at home last Friday- just enjoying having no classwork, no classes and being done with the LSAT, I heard what sounded like a delivery truck pulling into my close to my driveway. I was so excited that I met my UPS man as he was walking up to my door. I brought the box in my house smiling the entire time. I ripped opened the box and emptied the contents and to my surprise it was the Montel HealthMaster! I actually screamed with delight! I had wanted a Vitamix, but because of the cost was thinking about purchasing the HealthMaster! I called my mom and thanked her for the gift. It's great that my Mom supports me!

When I examined the blender the first thing I noticed were the rounded shape of the blades. On the infomercial, I've watched 10X over, the blades were said to be sharp. My glee was slowly declining. Next, I noticed that the tamper was shaped like a + (cross) and not a solid o like the Vitamix. So I wondered how will I be able to push nuts (haha...I said nuts) down when making cashew or almond butter.

After examining the machine I decided to watch the DVD and search reviews online. The DVD was helpful but I thought it was funny after the woman finished blending a spinach and fruit smoothie as she poured it into the glass a couple of whole spinach leaves started to fall out before she stopped pouring.

On to searching the wonderful WWW. Unfortunately, I found more negative reviews than good ones. The common complaints were about the motor not working after a short time- say ...3 months or so and moreso about the blades and container. Some spots I searched were Alissa Cohen's rawfoodtalk and 3 blenders and goneraw.com and various other customer review websites.

Ok. So my excitement was nearly gone. But, I went to the kitchen to give the machine a try. The first thing I blended was a pear/spinach/lemon smoothie. It was GREAT! The next morning I blended a spinach, banana,apple lemon smoothie....results= still good. In the meantime my mom arrived in town Saturday- one day after I got the healthmaster. She had a craving for tomato soup and hummus while I had a craving for kelp noodles and pesto and zuke hummus. I made everything last night. The regular hummus took forever grinding in the blender and the tamper was very little help. Pesto was a breeze.

Final Decision:
After my experience with blending the traditional hummus combined with the reviews and the fact that my heart is set on the American-made trusted machine (even my great great grandmother wants one)- Vitamix- I chose to ship the HealthMaster back for a refund. My mom agreed when she saw the reviews and the machine.

Monday, December 14, 2009

My first Blog Post


Well, I figured I might as well join in the Internet world. I have chosen to try dive into the Raw Food movement for a few reasons. One, I want to know how it would feel to let go of the processed foods- at least most of them. Second, I love trying to new recipes. And Lastly, I want to improve me overall health.

I've been researching the benefits of raw food for approximately a year and there are plenty of benefits. I tried and loved green smoothies and I completed a brief juice feast . I think it was about 10 days. I loved it! I loved the combinations of fruits and veggies and I loved trying out veggies I never got a chance to growing up. As a child my mom always made sure I consumed my 5 fruit and veggies daily.

You know how people start their New Year's resolutions January 1st? Well, I want to go into the New Year already into my resolutions. So, for the next 15 days I will be on a high raw diet. High raw will be 90%-100%. I promise myself I will included a green smoothie daily! I will also try a new recipe weekly.

I had two 32 oz green smoothies today. One consisted of a banana, orange, apple and bunches of spinach. The other was a Samra's Cilantro Shake posted here :


cilantro, 

pineapple,
grapefruit,
lime,
agave,
vanilla and cinnamon.