More boring blather...

So this past week has been another hectic one, and I'm sad to say filled with lots of cheating on bad foods (chicken sandwich, fries, burger, cheesecake..). What I'm happy about though, is that I have only eaten bad food lately because of necessity (meaning there was no other food), not because I really wanted the food. In fact, I went to a BBQ yesterday and ate a hamburger, but what tasted the best to me was the veggies I put on it, and the veggie salad that I had on the side. Weird. In fact, earlier in the week I was eating some french fries from the BK lounge, and I realized that I didn't even really enjoy the taste, but I was just eating them out of habit, almost like subconsciously I was thinking that I need to eat them because they "go with" a chicken sandwich. In actuality I would have much rather eaten a bowl of pineapple instead. Now that is really something that tastes good. Speaking of pineapple, I ate an entire one today. I really don't recommend that though, considering my mouth hurt for hours...ah the acid, it tastes like, burning!

Anyways, so after a week of eating much too much junk I find that I am craving healthy foods. This leads me to believe that my body is starting to recognize what it really needs to be healthy. Sometimes I lay awake at night just thinking of creations that I can make...

So there is an Asian food market by my house and I thought I'd check it out. I hope I can find bean sprouts there. Also, they probably don't but I wonder if they have durian? I really want to try that stuff, just to see what all the fuss is about. The very fact that durians exist just proves to me that nature has a sense of humor. I mean, it's supposedly the most delicious fruit on the planet (the "king of fruit"), tasting like vanilla pudding or some such, but the fruit is covered in huge sharp spikes, and supposedly smells like really bad feet. I wonder who the first person to eat one was, and did he stumble upon it by accident? Well enough about smelly fruits, I will try to share some new recipes soon. Adios for now!

Recipes galore!

Ok so it's not really "galore" but I have a few things to share that I made that I thought actually tasted really good! First I made the key lime pie recipe from Alissa Cohen's book, but I modified it a bit (the crust).

Key Lime Pie Tarts

Crust: 1 C dates
2 C soaked almonds
about half a cup shredded coconut (I use dried because it's much easier)
about 2 Tbs of coconut oil (just to make it stickier)

pat it down in muffin tins or tart tins and deydrate for about 12 hrs (or until hard)

Filling: 1 C soaked dates
1 large avocado
3 whole limes, peeled

Mix up thoroughly in food processor and pour into cups. Garnish with coconut! These are tart but yummy!




Ok I took this recipe from Raw, the Uncook Book

Milkshake: 2/3 cups favorite nuts (I used cashews), soaked for about 2 hrs*
2 C water
1 Tbs vanilla extract
2/3 C maple syrup ( I suppose you could substitute with honey)

Blend all together and then pour into ice cube trays to freeze. Once frozen, let thaw for 5 minutes, then blend for a ice cream-like treat!

*If you don't strain the nuts they will retain their pulp which gives the milkshake a grainy texture. For more smooth taste use a nut milk bag or cheesecloth and strain the nuts after blending.

This is also from Raw, but I left out the dates and raisins which was very bad, because my cookies were not very sweet! :(

Oatmeal Cookies: 2 C oat groats

1/2 C raisins

1/2 C raw almonds, coarsely chopped

2 or 3 apples, coarsely grated

Place oat groats in a FP and grind until fine. Add dates, raisins, almonds and apples and mix batter well. Mold into shapes and dehydrate at 90 degrees for about 12 hours or until desired texture is reached.

Sprouts

Ok no recipe for these, but these are what my sprouts looked like before I attempted to make bread (this is kamut). Austin kept saying that they look like maggots...rude! It's the only thing I've been able to sprout so far, but they didn't turn out too bad! Too bad I can't say the same thing about my bread! :(

Watermelon Soup (a.k.a. a smoothie in a bowl)

Ok I didn't get too creative with this one. Basically it's watermelon and mango that I put in a blender and made soupy. I should have added big chunks of fruit so it didn't feel like I was eating a smoothie with a spoon! But it was good none the less!

So I'll make sure to add more recipes once I make them!

Oh my it's been a busy week!

Ok, so I have been HORRIBLE about posting this past week! I've been so busy, and out of town, and things have been a blur. I did get to go to Boise to see one of my favorite bands, Sonata Arctica, and it was so awesome! Ok, so every time I try to do one of the 30 day raw challenges something hinders me, and I can never finish it out. I lost track of what day I'm supposed to be on over the week, but I'm really thinking that there is no need for me to even do the 'raw challenges' anymore. I already know what I need to eat, and who cares really if I'm eating 100% except for myself? I think that's the whole point of the challenge, to do it for yourself, but I don't even need to do it for myself, so why am I doing it? I think the only thing I'm really accomplishing is confusion. I have managed to stay mostly raw, except I did eat cooked for my birthday on Saturday. Also, Sunday my mother in law brought me over a cake...and I ate half of it, (it was small!) lol! However it's obvious how chocolate cake effects me now, and it's not good. I've never felt like I needed to throw up after eating my raw creations (however I can't say that about my raw bread if I had eaten it), but after eating that cake I needed to lie down!

So, speaking of the raw bread...let's just say it was inedible (the picture was too horrible to post). I've decided that until I can move into a kitchen with adequate space/light that I am going to just buy my sprouts from the store rather than do it myself. In fact, I was at Whole Foods the other day and I saw some 7 grain sprouted bread for sale. I think that I'm going to have to start eating bread like that, because there is no way I'm going to find raw, sprouted bread for sale, and I'm not sure I'd want to eat it if I did! However, I haven't given up on making raw, sprouted crackers. That will be my next experiment! I've been doing a lot of research lately on whether or not raw, sprouted grains, or cooked grains are better. I've come to the conclusion that raw grains are certainly more packed with nutrients, but that cooked grains allow us to assimilate the nutrients better. I think a good mix of both would be conducive to a healthy diet. I also learned that flax seeds are not processed by the body in their whole form, so to get the most of the omega 3 that they offer they must be ground (and probably soaked as well). I am making raw Doritos soon, so I'll share if those turn out well.

I don't have any pictures to post yet because they are in my camera and the computer I'm on will not let me transfer them, but hopefully tomorrow I will have at least 2-3 things (with recipes) that I have made lately posted. I did make manage to make pie tart crusts, and they look yum!

I guess my next big experiment will be to start sprouting rice to see how it tastes and whether or not it's worth it to eat it raw rather than cooked. Beans will be next after that, although I think I can just buy bean sprouts from the store (the ones that can be eaten raw anyway...the ones that can't I will cook). Mung bean sprouts are mmm good!

Oh and I have to mention that I went all the way down to Sugarhouse on Saturday just to go to the one and only raw food restaurant in Utah, and they were closed until the 15th because they went to some raw food festival in Arizona. How sad for me! Hopefully soon I will have another reason to go down there... /tear.

Anyways, today I ate:

-a small salad
-a giant peach
-some pecans
-a baked potato (with butter...gasp!)
-some chocolate cake (blast that cake, staring at me from my fridge!)

I must make Austin finish that cake else it be my downfall.

Oh, I'm also going to try to put up my journals from the very first attempt I had at going raw a little over a year ago to commemorate my 1st year. I did a 30 day challenge and I learned a lot.

Happy Day! Adventures with Sprouts

Alright...so today is "technically" day 6, but...yesterday was sort of "fall-off-the-wagon-day" so I have decided to count this as day 5, lol. Ok, ok, so I'm not doing 30 days consecutively but I'm still doing 30 days! Lol. Yesterday was my last cheat day, except for my b-day that is in 1 week. If I can make it raw that day then ok, but if not then ok too, as long as I keep it healthy.

So, today has been a happy day! I found my cousin's blogs from my sister's page and it was so good to read about their families and how they are doing! I miss everyone so much, all my friends and family are elsewhere it seems, and I'm under a rock here lol. Not really, but it's hard to keep in touch when life gets so hectic and full. I guess today I am just feeling grateful for life, and I have a lot more energy already since doing the 30 day challenge. I am a lot less lazy, although I feel like I still have a LOT to get in order. Did you know that laziness is a sign of disease? I never realized that, and I've been lazy for a long time!

So yesterday I started my sprouting, and today they are looking quite the same really, except my wheat berries look like they might be starting to split open to make way for a sprout. Hopefully tomorrow or the next day they'll be ready to use. I hope my kitchen gets enough light for them! It's amazing but since I've gone raw I feel like I have a new found respect for life in it's simplest form...the seed. It's amazing how things grow. I was thinking about the difference between plant forms of food and meat forms. I really do believe that God intended us to eat mostly plants, because a. He made it easy for us to create plant life, and b. We can benefit from a plant's fruit/seed/nut for years without killing the plant itself. But when it comes to meat, each time we eat it the animal has to give its life. We cannot create animal life, only take it away, and once we take the meat that we need, the animal is gone forever. Which seems more productive? I am starting to believe more and more every day that meat should only be eaten sparingly, and in times of need. I don't believe that it is wrong to eat animals, but I do believe that we eat them much too much. I've tried to find a word that describes what I could call myself or my thoughts on food, but ya know, I really don't want to be just a label. Why do I have to call myself anything, even a raw foodist? I think that if people ask about my chosen diet I'm just going to say "I try to eat the healthiest I can every day". :)

So today I am making a bunch of desserts to eat, like cashew cookies, a key lime pie, and also oatmeal cookies...all raw! Oh yes, it is going to be good! If I have enough walnuts I'm also going to try a milkshake...sounds strange, I know, but we'll see how it is! I'm charging my camera now so I'll be back later with some pictures...

Day 4, ho hum

So today was kinda uneventful. I ate:

8 oz almond milk w/ carob (chocolate milk)
a salad with avocado and tomato
1/4 watermelon

I think I'm gonna make tomorrow a dessert extravaganza day. I have these really good recipes that I wanna try! Also, I'm going to start some sprouting to see if I can really do it, lol. I'm going to try to sprout wheat berries, chickpeas, and kamut. I hope my basement has enough sunlight! It should take 2-3 days but if I'm successful then I'm going to make bread! Oh yess..

I'm starting to get hungrier than I have been so I'm sure I'll be eating a lot more from now on. I'm really glad it's the weekend so I have time to actually prepare stuff, and make crackers too.

Day 3 means pea soup!

Today I accomplished something that I don't think I've ever done before in my life. I got full off watermelon! The one that I bought was just so delicious that I ate a massive container of it! Then out of curiosity I looked up how many calories a whole watermelon has in it. Would you believe that a 15 in. watermelon has approx. 1355 calories? Holy! Which means that watermelon was meant to be shared! :) That's probably why God made them so huge :)

Still, I'm not really concerned about calories anymore. As long as I'm eating enough, and eating the healthiest food on the planet, then there is no need to count them really. Especially because it's almost impossible to overeat on fruits and vegetables. I will need to watch my intake of nuts and oils, but when eating a raw and living foods diet it would be hard to overdo it on those even. Unless I ate an entire coconut cake with tons of coconut oil, nuts, and dates. Holy saturated fat! The funny thing is though, even saturated fat is necessary for us, and when we eat a balanced diet nature doles out everything that we need in perfect proportions. Such a comforting, freeing feeling!

So anyway I have to talk about this "un-cookbook" that Austin bought me (he is a very supportive hubby, I'm so grateful!). It's called Raw, the Uncook Book by Juliano, and it's got some really awesome stuff in it. Well since I went on my little "I'm gonna eat rice and beans and bread rant" the other day I realized that I never actually tried sprouted rice or beans, or grains...so how do I know that I won't prefer them? I probably better try them before I spout off stupid stuff. Well, this book has a recipe for mango essene bread, and from the photo it looks sooo delish. If I could manage to make it, and it turned out decent, then I would totally eat that instead of "real" bread. Plus I could make it without the sweetness and use it for sandwiches and stuff. I really should make the recipe soon...if it's good I'll probably end up eating the whole loaf! Imagine mango bread with raw preserves or some almond butter....heavenly!

Well today I ate:

half a whole watermelon....oy it was good
a small salad
8 garlic croutons (oopsie)
a big bowl of pea soup

Let me just say, Alissa Cohen's pea soup turned out really good. Here is the recipe:

Pea Soup

2 1/2 C almond milk
2 C peas
1 small avocado
sea salt to taste

Throw everything in the blender and mix well.

I'm starting to like cold soups, even if this one did remind me of the exorcist. I was going to take a picture of it, but once again, my camera is dead!

Day 2

*Sorry if the dates on my blogs seem a little off. I always blog late at night so I'm writing about the 3rd, but technically it's the 4th..

Something really struck me today when I was reading Alissa Cohen's book Living on Live Food. She says: "Knowing how to eat a raw and living foods diet isn't enough. If you don't know why you're doing it - if you don't have a dream - you will fail." This is soooo true! So I've decided that my "why" is "because I want to be the healthiest I can be. Because I want to treat my body like the precious gift it is, so it in turn will treat my spirit with love and respect". When I think about it that way I realize that I'm not eating raw so that I can prove to anyone that I'm 100% raw all the time, but I'm eating raw foods because I feel they are the best food choice. But do I feel like they are the only food choice? No, and I think that's because it's unreasonable to think so. I think that there are some foods that were meant to be cooked, such as certain beans and potatoes, and since those foods are not bad for us then they cannot be bad if we eat them. On special occasions and when I feel like eating a cooked treat then I can say, "ok I'm going to go out to eat and get a yummy healthy dish, and if it happens to have something cooked in it then so what?" Honestly, am I eating raw because I never want to taste cooked food again because it's a carnal sin or something? No! I'm eating raw because that's the best fuel that I can put into my body, but some cooked foods are good too. The last time I did my 30 day challenge I came to the conclusion that there is absolutely nothing unhealthy about eating cooked rice/beans/grains. Are they the most healthy eaten in their raw or sprouted forms? Probably, but eating them cooked a few times a week will not hurt me, and will probably be beneficial in every way. I am still really trying to do my 30 day totally raw challenge (after all I am only on day 2 lol), but after that I am going to slowly start introducing those good cooked foods that I mentioned. I will not eat a lot of them, but I'll eat them when I feel like I need to. I have tried to listen to my body over the past year, and I have already decided that 90% raw works better for me than 100%. Ok that being said, do I sound like I'm justifying bad habits and bad foods? I hope not!

SO........today's menu was very limited, I wasn't feeling well (maybe detox?), but I got really hungry tonight and didn't have anything prepared, so I gave in and ate some Smart Pop :( I did however, resist zingers, so at least I am learning some self control!

1 banana
2 peaches
some Smart Pop

I really need to eat my produce that I bought a few days ago, and eat all of it!! I just need to eat more, period! I think tomorrow I am going to pack a salad and lots of fruit for work, and make a raw soup. I really love Alissa's corn chowder. I think I'll try her pea soup too. If it's good I'll share the recipe tomorrow! Oh I also got some locally grown green beans today, yumms.

Officially Day 1

Alright, today was the first official day of my 30 day raw challenge! I did go buy some neato Rubbermaid containers and I got them for a good deal, but I'm still working on the whole cleaning my kitchen thing. I totally need to get a bunch of mason jars or something so I can keep all my dry goods (like nuts/seeds/grains etc) organized and readily available. I wish I had more counter space!! When I get my own house I am totally customizing my kitchen! Think how much space would be available in a raw kitchen with no stove or microwave. I could fill the space with sprouting racks and 3 VitaMixs so I could make tons of raw dishes simultaneously :P...in my raw dreams of course....

So anyway today I bought enough yummy stuff to make lots of soups and salads. I love getting good deals on avocados! Also I got a whole watermelon for around $2.50 which will make for some tasty eatins. I estimate that I got enough food for about 2 days and it cost about $15. So that means $2.50 per meal, which ain't too shabby. I guess eating healthy really isn't as expensive as people make it out to be. Sure I could get a cheeseburger and fries at McDonalds for $2.50, but I could also make a yummy pea soup and avocado salad for the same price. I guess when it comes down to it it's all about putting the time and effort into making nutritious meals rather than grabbing an insta-meal of toxic fats and craptastic chemicals.

Creepy Ronald gives a big thumbs up to healthy food! Just don't stare into his beady eyes or they will consume your soul.

Anywhoo, after all this food talk it's funny to note that all I ate today was:

3 bananas
a TON of frozen grapes
some Ruby red grapefruit juice (not raw I know, but the machine was out of water!)

I find that when I switch overnight from eating SAD to raw I don't end up very hungry for the first week or so. I think it's because my body still has a lot of stored energy that it needs to use up. Then after awhile the hunger hits me hard and I end up eating A LOT. And, I'm sad to say this because it kinda grosses me out, but last night I ate one of those steakhouse burgers from Burger King, and I am probably still digesting it. That thing was a monster, and I can't believe I ate the whole thing. I need to learn that just because I get something for free doesn't mean that I should eat it. I find myself saying that very phrase "I can't believe I ate the whole thing" a lot, and I hope that the next time I say that it will mean that I just ate an entire raw chocolate pie or something instead of a greasy pizza :). Tomorrow is a new day! I'm gonna try to get some exercise in!

Day 1 of September raw challenge!

Alright, so I decided to do another 30 day raw challenge and just start over completely and new. However, today was not the best day to do it, lol. I've realized that there is no way that I can follow this diet if - a. my kitchen is disorganized, and b. I don't have any tupperware or anything to bring along my raw food with me. So....tomorrow morning I'm going out to buy some containers so that I can actually bring lunch/dinner to work with me! And also tomorrow I'm completely cleaning my kitchen so that I have space to work and create. I HATE my kitchen, maybe that's why I don't clean it? I would sell my soul for a dishwasher, or even cabinets that close all the way and don't have spiders in them >: Ugh, I can't wait until I can afford my own house so I can get out of the dump I live in!

I've noticed that my living surroundings are really affecting my moods and abilities to succeed. I think that if we want positive energy we need to make the area around us exude positive energy, otherwise it will only bring us down. I certainly feel really blah because of the place I live in. There is hardly any light/windows, it's stuffy, and we have a spider problem. I'm greatful at least that I have shelter and a place to call my own, but sometimes I feel like I'd rather live in a treehouse or a tent than a basement. However, I've been reading a lot about sunshine, and I've decided that my mood will probably greatly improve if I can just get about 20-30 minutes of sunshine per day. Whether it's taking a walk, riding my bike, or just laying out, the positive effects should be enough to get me through spending the rest of my day indoors.

Today was also a gorgeous day. It started off rainy and ended up with super clear skies and sunny, yet slightly chilly. It was as if I could feel the onset of fall coming. I absolutely love fall, it makes me so happy! For some reason my moods are very closely linked with the weather, and my memories too. If I could have 1 practical superpower it would be to control the weather (aside from manipulating time of course :P)...however I sure wouldn't tell, else people would know why winter ceased to exist (global warming?). Well enough of my blather, I'm sure tomorrow will be a better raw day. I'm going to start writing down what I eat, because that's what I did when I first went raw and it seemed to help. It also gave me a sense of accountability. Wish me luck!