Destruction (me) Creation

Really, destruction and creation are the same thing, no? At the moment I happen to be in that transitional period that separates the two. I mean this in the very best way possible. I started my new job two weeks ago and absolutely love it. I feel SO blessed. My boyfriend and I have also been looking for a new apartment, and signed a lease two days ago! Again, I feel SO excited and SO blessed.

However, in the midst of training and apartment hunting, I have for the most part let a lot of things fall by the wayside. Blogger, for one. I apologize bloggie friends! I miss you all and look forward to catching up on your blogs in my nice new space! Raw eating has also, for the most part, not been a priority. I've been eating a lot of brown rice and Indian, Chinese, and Mexican food. I've been craving spicy. 

I have a few new raw vegan recipes. This is a new favorite, Raw Vegan Gingerbread Cookies!

Raw Vegan Gingerbread Cookies

1 1/2 cups raw cashews, ground to meal

1 cup almonds (I used Italian), ground to meal

1/2 cup shredded coconut, ground to meal

1 tbsp spirulina (optional)

1 tsp maca powder (optional)

t tsp vanilla bean or extract

4-5 tbsp fresh grated ginger

1/2-3/4 cup molasses (start with 1/2 cup then add slowly until dough is soft enough to roll out)

1 pinch sea salt

pinch of cinnamon plus more for rolling out the dough

Mix together all ingredients, the dough should be tough but stick together, similar to regular gingerbread cookie dough. Formed into several balls, then sprinkled cinnamon all over a sheet of parchment paper and roll the balls out under another piece of parchment paper (this dough is sticky!) until it's about 1/4'' thick. Use small cookie cutters to cut out little shapes then put them directly on a dehydrator sheet. Dehydrated for 9 hours at 95 degrees.

I think this is by far my most successful dehydrator endeavor. These cookies are delicious, ginger and molasses taste so fresh when they're not baked! Frosting could easily be made using soaked cashews, vanilla, and agave nectar but I didn't feel it was necessary. I will absolutely make these again, they're sturdy but soft and stayed fresh for two weeks. They'd make a great personal gift.

Inspired by Giada's Sweet Basil Smoothie, I decided to make a raw version of my own.

Raw Sweet Basil Smoothie

3/4 cup cashew milk or any mylk of your choice

1/2 cup fresh organic basil leaves, packed

1/2 cup ice

1 tsp vanilla

4 tbsp lemon juice

agave to taste

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Be careful how much agave you use, esp. if you use pre-sweetened mylk. I think the basil enhances sweetness, and mind ended up being a bit much! 

Basil is super rich in nutrients, and drinking it like this gave me a pretty serious boost of energy. I think I giggled for 5 minutes after finishing the last sip, maybe I had some sort of crazy vitamin k high! The flavor wasn't a favorite of mine, but I was almost literally bouncing off the walls after I drank this. It would make an excellent substitution for an energy drink and could even help with inflammation.

Another unsuccessful soup attempt. I had to post it because it looks so pretty.

It's made from raw black beans, raw cashew nut milk, red onion (why it turned out purple!), lemon juice, salt, pepper, and chili powder. I make a similar soup using cooked black beans that's out of this world, but this one really falls short. Or I just don't like raw soups period. 

My lovely friend Anna went to visit family in Oregon earlier this month and brought me back some Jerusalem Artichoke Syrup. It's low glycemic and helps out the friendly flora that live in our gastro intestinal tract. It reminds me a bit of molasses but less sweet and with almost a smokey flavor. I can't wait to make something with it, thanks Anna! <3

I might not get a chance to post again for a few weeks. I hope you are all happy, and healthy! I look forward to being more present with you once things have calmed a bit <3

I Heart Fruits & Veggies

Whew! It's been a long couple of weeks! I catered a small shoot last weekend for a pre-pilot. I was on set for 13 hours on Saturday & Sunday plus another 15 or so hours during the week spent shopping and baking-on top of my real job! It was a lot, but a really good overall experience.

Here I am with the spread on day one.

Close-up on salad fix-ins

I'll only show the vegan selections! Salad and veggies.

Chips, salsa, & hummus

The glamour of Hollywood!

Like I said, great experience, but so exhausting. It really stayed with me for the next five days, I just ate whatever we had (still vegan, not raw).

I did make mostly raw vegan peanut butter balls for my yoga instructor's birthday.

The were sooooo good. I don't know why I haven't made these before. Peanut butter, coconut, raw cacao nibs, maple syrup, vanilla, and brewers yeast. I threw them together really quickly and I don't remember the exact measurements, but I'm pretty confident there's no way to mess these up! So good.

On my non raw kick I tried Gardein for the first time. I've never been very interested in fake meat, just because I'm not crazy about the taste of real meat, but Gardein's Crispy Tenders have a really delicious meat like flavor (better than meat in my opinion).

They were on sale at the regular grocery store, and I went a little overboard.

It's not something I think I should eat a lot of, but man. It is really good if that's what you're in the mood for!

My first step back on track was a trip to Whole Foods.

Avocados, sprouted beans, oranges, escarole lettuce, coconut juice, coconut milk, raw nori, raw cashews, raw Italian almonds-they taste like amaretto!

My second step, a trip to Rainbow Acres! I bought my mom some chia seeds, two coconuts, some Jason lotions, and a nut milk bag which I'm absolutely in love with. I don't know how I lived without one!

Another reason to love Rainbow Acres: I bought two coconuts, and they put the water in a cup for me, and removed all the meat! Check it out!

This saved me so much time and effort! Using my nut milk bag and blender, I whipped up some fresh raw coconut milk using 1 cup coconut to 3 cups water.

Coconut milk is my favorite liquid in chia seed pudding. Today I mixed one cup coconut milk, two tbsp cocoa powder, 1 tsp agave nectar, and 2 tbsp chia seeds and had the most wonderful chocolate pudding for breakfast, yum!

My third step to getting back on track was a trip to the glorious farmer's market!

Wonderful. I feel so good buying fresh produce, washing it, preparing it, and eating it. I had forgotten how very important to my sense of well being cutting up veggies is! It feels calming and therapeutic :)

I made a raw bean salad using the sprouted beans I purchased at Whole Foods. I sometimes feel guilty buying sprouts when it's so much cheaper to grow them, and relatively simple, but for $2, these were well worth it!

Raw Bean Salad

1 ear corn, kernels cut off
2 slices of a large red onion, chopped
1 roma tomato, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
4 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
4 oz sprouted beans
1/2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
1/4 tsp pepper (or to taste)
juice of 1 lemon
3-4 tbsp olive or hemp oil, preferably cold pressed

Mix all ingredients, add more salt, pepper, and lemon juice if necessary!

Make sure the corn you use is sweet, mine was pretty starchy which I found to be rather disappointing. The corn I used in my Raw Corn & Avocado Salad was so sweet and juicy! I was hoping for a similar flavor, but alas! Maybe next time!

I also made some Raw Ginger Bread Cookies, I'm still working on the frosting, but I'll post the recipe soon! Hope your weeks are going absolutely swimmingly and I'll talk to you soon!