It's been a while!

So I know, it's been quite a bit since I've posted anything new. Mainly because I'm just been so ashamed of my eating habits as of late. I took a break from raw for a while but stuck with the veganism and now I'm trying my hardest to jump back onto the raw food wagon but it seems to keep getting away from me. Speedy little wagon it is...or maybe I'm just sluggish from all the cooked food weighing me down. It wasn't even healthy cooked foods, it was oreos and Trader Joe's maple leaf cookies. I'm trying to put all that unhealthy stuff behind me again and lose the weight all over again. I really need to conquer these food issues I have.
What I've realized I must do during these cold northwest winter months, however, is keep some cooked food in my diet. Veggie, nut, fruit and seed laden of course, but cooked nonetheless. I simply refuse to give up my mom's (and now mine as well) authentic Russian borscht with vegan sour cream. As far as cooked foods go, I think that's as healthy as you can get! For some reason though, I have noticed that I have a hard time keeping my portions under control with cooked foods so I have to focus on this issue when I do eat them. The majority of my meals on most days are going to be raw regardless but keeping my options open will help me in the long run.

Okay, I think I'm off for today but keep your eyes peeled for my authentic Russian borscht recipe soon. Simply to DIE for...I could live off of this stuff. Hmmm...there's a contradiction.

TTFN!

I've Lost My Mojo

This is depressing: I've lost my raw mojo and I don't know how to get it back. It seems like everything I do isn't up to par. Every recipe I've tried lately just isn't doing it for me anymore. It's not a lack of inspiration, I've got plenty of that. I just don't know what's lacking. Nothing tastes as good as it did when I started. I can blame this on this past week. It was, as I've mentioned non-stop lately, my last week at work and everyone wanted to take me out. So I had a couple of meals (literally two) that were not raw: some hummus with pita and some green curry with rice oh and some chocolate and coffee. Everything was delicious. I've been trying to recreate a green curry and thus far have been failing MISERABLY. I'm thinking that I may want to just lower my expectations of myself for a little while. This is the first time I've considered that I may have dived into this too fast. I really don't want to give up and really want to succeed at this but I think I have been pushing myself too hard. Until I feel comfortable again, I think I may need to make a few exceptions to my raw food diet. While all of the food I will make at home will be raw, I think giving into a few of my (still healthy) temptations may give me a renewed enthusiasm about raw food. I will also have to resort back to a few of my favorite recipes from the beginning and lay off the new recipes until I'm back on track. This is just a little bit disappointing for me. I've been doing so well but I don't think I can take another failed green curry recipe =\

And school starts tomorrow and I don't remember the last time I was this nervous. Okay, since most of my recipes have been sucking lately I'll hold off on posting any. I did buy the most delicious raw honey from a local company this weekend at a farmer's market. It's maple honey and it is amazing, it has a very subtle minty flavor...nothing like maple syrup. I can't stop eating it. Well, I guess I better get my things ready for tomorrow...after all, I won't be home until after 10:00 pm. I'll report back on Tuesday and see if things have gotten any better. TTFN!

An Apology

I would like to offer my most sincere apology for being absent as of late. To say the least, it's been a crazy week. It's my last one at my full-time job, I'm training a new girl to take over for my position, I'm trying to get things figured out with school and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with Finn during this time. It's been hectic so I haven't had a lot of time to sit down this week and really write down everything that's been going on. I do have some recipes to share that I experimented with this week but those will have to wait until I have more than 15 minutes on the computer. You can look forward to raw barfi and an orange glaze.

As far as my insanity work-outs are going: pretty damn well! I'm almost done with week two and I caught a glimpse of my legs in the mirror last night and I have to say I'm impressed. They're starting to get some of that definition back and I can actually see muscle again! Of course, my legs are always the second thing to get fit/lose weight (my face is the first and boobs are third =P). But I'm happy with this progress because it proves to me that something is happening and if I keep going then everything else will shape up as well. I don't know what I'm going to do when school starts up again. This month shouldn't be a problem but next month, when the workouts get harder and longer it may pose more of a problem. I may just have to decide to go slower next month and not workout every day...just the days I don't have to work. Or even possibly just repeat the first month and wait until break to finish the second month. Regardless, as terrified as I am of what's to come in the second month, I am determined to finish this program...even if it takes a little longer than I had originally planned. I just can't wait to finally see my stomach start to go away at last! That, more than anything else, will give me the most self-confidence.

Again, my sincerest apology and I will try to post again soon with the recipes. TTFN!

Stress, stress and stress

As you've probably figured out...I'm stressed. I'm freaking out about quitting my job. Or rather stressing out about school and my new job. The closer I get to the start of school and the start of my new part-time job, the more I start to panic. I just don't know how I'm going to handle it. I literally have to be in three cities every single day and somehow find time in between all the driving (because there is no way a bus is going to get me anywhere on time) to walk my dog, do my insanity work-outs, make food and the cherry on top of this sundae, do homework. I'm most concerned about not being able to walk Finn. I feel like I'm abandoning him. And hindsight being 20/20, this is probably not the best time for me to have a dog. I don't regret getting him, I love him to death but I'm so scared that I don't have enough time to really give him what he needs...it's breaking my heart. I'm sure I'm making a big thing out of nothing. On the days that I'm not working after class I'll be home sooner and have more time to spend with him than normal so it should even out. On days that I am working however, I have to drive back and forth between the city school and work are in and my home in Downtown Seattle just so that I can walk him. One of the women at work (she is an angel, I swear) caught me being all miserable and offered to walk my dog during her lunch breaks on days that I have to work so that I don't have to come back to Seattle. I immediately broke down and started crying; that is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me...especially someone I hardly know. So today being the crap day it is, I caved and got myself a dark chocolate bar. Obviously not raw but I'm pretty sure it's as close to vegan as mass produced chocolate bars get. I just needed those endorphins...I think it helped.

But aside from that, I somehow managed to gain two pounds this week while still losing 1% body fat and a quarter inch off of my waist and another quarter inch off of my hips. I'm praying that those two pounds are just the new muscle I'm building with my new work-out regime. I'm not eating too much more than I usually do. Regardless I'm not worrying too much about it right now...I have enough to worry about on my plate. I think I need to wait until my life settles down again and I get into a routine to really focus on weight loss. I am by no means saying that I'm going to start eating junk again...or cooked foods for that matter. I will still be eating raw like I do now, I'm just not going to stress over everything that I'm eating...I'll do my best and whatever happens, happens. Not like I'm going to have a lot of time to really sit and eat anyway with my new schedule.

Okay, now for some more recipes!

Szechuan Dressing inspired by Shannsu on RFC:

Ingredients:
1 small clove garlic, crushed
2 tbsp. raw sesame oil (or olive oil)
1 1/2 tbsp. umeboshi plum vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
2 tbsp. nama shoyu
2 tsp. raw honey (or agave nectar)
1 tsp. coarsely ground Szechuan pepper (or some black pepper)
1 tbsp. tahini
Cayenne pepper, to taste

Directions:
Combine everything together in a blender until a smooth consistency is reached.

Notes: This turned out pretty good and very spicy. If you don't like it spicy, you really want to be careful with the cayenne pepper. I also added a pinch of ginger.

Curried Broccoli inspired by Daniefon on Gone Raw:

Ingredients:
1 medium ripe tomato
2 dates
1 tbsp. sesame seeds
1/2 cup cilantro
juice from 1/4 a lime
juice from 1/4 a lemon
1/2 tsp. tumeric
1/2 tsp. cumin
curry powder, to taste
1/2 tsp. ginger
1 clove garlic
1 green onions
Salt, to taste
2 cups chopped broccoli florets

Directions:
Blend everything but broccolli together until well combined and only slightly chunky. In a large bowl add broccoli until everything is coated evenly. You can eat this immediately, or marinate it overnight in the fridge for softer broccoli. Serve with your choice or sides (i.e. rice, kelp noodles, veggies).

Notes: Oh wow! This stuff is delicious! If you like curry you will love this. I may try using only one date next time as it was a little bit too sweet but definitely still amazing! And the best part? Not a drop of oil in here and you could easily make it seedless! Incredible right?!

Okay, that's all for today folks...I'm off to be stressed, upset and grumpy. TTFN!

P.S. Now that chocolate is starting to make me sick...my bad.

Uncertain Future

Good Morning,

As promised I will post a couple (maybe three) more recipes today before I'm done. Trust me, they will be good!

However, I am having a minor panic attack this morning. It's probably clear by now that I'm quitting my well-paying, cushy and easy job to go back to school full time to become a nurse. One of my co-workers sent out an email to the whole team (all three hundred plus people) telling them that I'm leaving and why I'm leaving. Of course, no one reads the email so they all come up to me and start asking where I am going. How many times do I have to repeat the same information over and over? I feel like I should send out a mass email myself...not that it would help. Of course, she did this with the best intentions but it definitely was not something that I was looking forward to in my last week of work. So why am I freaking out? Because although I have a part-time job lined up already, I just don't know if that will be enough to cover all of my expenses. I've gotten used to living a life of relative comfort and apparently, I'm not quite ready to give that up. Too late now though. But the worst part is that I have had some people from my office approach me and start scaring me. They mean well and I'm sure they simply want me to be prepared but I'm scared enough as it is, do you really have to tell me how hard it is to get into the University of Washington Nursing School? I already know it's competitive, I'm not an idiot but that doesn't mean I want to be reminded of that fact constantly. I've considered that bit and I've decided to go for it anyway and I was happy with my choice, why do these people have to remind me of the possibly life-destroying aspect of all this?

Speaking of intimidating, I did the Cardio Recovery work out of the Insanity program. Can all of the work outs be like that? I worked up a sweat but my heart rate wasn't at a "holy shit just kill me now!" level today. It was very pleasant and hopefully it will let my muscles rest a bit. Right now, they are KILLING me. It will be nice to have this recovery day to look forward to every week. I've just been so stressed lately that I'm sure I've been eating awfully this past week and it's depressing me. I will try and do better next week, though I'm sure that will be nearly impossible as well given that it is my last week at work and who knows what these people will drive me to.

Okay, enough of the ranting, here are the recipes!

Hoisini Sauce by Russell James on RFC:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup tahini

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon yacon syrup or agave

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

3 teaspoons tamari

1/2 a garlic clove

1/2 a small de-seeded chili

1/2cm cube of fresh ginger

Directions:

Blend everything together in a blender.

Some notes: I never have fresh ginger in the house (probably because I'm not the biggest fan) so I used some ginger powder instead. I also did not have any chillies so I completely omitted them from the recipe and it turned out fine. I used a whole clove of garlic and replaced tamari with nama shoyu. This turned out really creamy and delicious. Russell suggests serving this with dehydrated broccoli and parsnip rice (which does sound delicious) but I have no dehydrator and no parsnips so I used my favorite; kelp noodles and some fresh, raw broccoli. You can go to the link and check out how he serves it.

Chocolate Covered Coconut Bites by Erin on Gone Raw:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dates

water

2-3 tbsp. tahini, or other nut butter

1-2 c coconut flakes

favorite chocolate sauce recipe

Directions:

In a blender or food processor, combine dates and water to make a thick paste. Add tahini and blend until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and add coconut until you reach desired consistency. Make into desired shape and lay on a cookie sheet in the freezer while you prepare your chocolate sauce. Once chocolate is ready, you can either roll each piece in the chocolate, dip half in it or drizzle the sauce over the tops. Put back in freezer to allow chocolate to set and enjoy!

Some notes: I made two attempts at this recipe. The first time my date paste was too thick and I added about 1 1/2 cups of coconut so the balls turned out way to dry. I recommend using about a half a cup of water (or more) to 1/2 cup dates, it will look thin but trust me, you want it that way. Then I used only 1 cup of coconut and it turned out to be the perfect consistency. It was a little soft but it set in the freezer. I also used 4 tbsp. of cacao, coconut oil and agave to make the chocolate sauce and I found it was enough to cover all of the balls entirely.

You can leave them in the freezer until you serve them but I recommend letting them defrost a little bit because that's when you can really taste them. These were REALLY good! Even the dry ones but the second batch was amazing when it melted a little. YUM! I even had SAD folk at work devouring these, they loved them as well and couldn't believe they were Raw.

I still have the Szechuan dressing and the simple curry to talk about but since this post has ended up being so long already, I'll save the rest of the recipes for a later date. TTFN!

Insanity and Chocolate

Good Morning!

I had a pretty decent long weekend despite my episode of binge eating on Saturday night. I was definitely happy to have the extended break so that I could play around in the kitchen. The kitchen time, however, made me realize something about myself: I am one of those cooks who makes the biggest mess possible! It looks like a tornado ripped through my kitchen every time I finish a recipe, I really should take a picture one of these days...I probably will. And the bad part is that I hate cleaning so I probably should make more of an effort to be neater.

Anyway, I experimented with four new recipes but so as not to bombard you with a painfully long post, I'll only post two today.

In other news; I started the Insanity work out program and it really is insane. My calves, lower back and obliques are so sore after just three days of working out (technically two and a half). Right now I'm probably not pushing myself as hard as I know my body used to be able to go and that's frustrating but hopefully I'll get back to that level of fitness and finally be able to push myself 100%. My goal by the end of this month is to get through one of the DVDs while taking only three breaks the whole time (stopping to catch my breath doesn't count). It does feel good to be pushing myself this hard again. It's awful and painful but so good to know I'm doing something healthy for my body. Whenever I start dreading my morning work out I just think "it's only 4o minutes and then you're done and you'll feel better about yourself for the rest of the day."

I did make the mistake of doing a 41 minute cardio circuit training work out yesterday morning and then going to hot yoga in evening. It wasn't bad but I was definitely exhausted. I've decided that since I do love doing hot yoga, I'm going to just take a class on Sundays in the morning because it's my day off of Insanity. Still don't know how I'm going to pay for it but if I can't afford it down the line, then I guess it will just have to wait until I can.

Okay, without further delay, here are two of the recipes I experimented with this weekend.

Cream of Tomato Soup by Carmella:

Ingredients:

2 cups tomatoes

2 cups red peppers

1/2 cup almonds or cashews, soaked

1/4 avocado

Juice of 1/2 large lime

1 tsp. miso

Salt to taste

Fresh or dried basil (optional)

Water until desired consistency is reached

Directions:

Blend until smooth, then taste. If it seems too acidic, add a little sweetener. If desired, gently warm up on the stove, stirring constantly.

Notes: I added fresh basil and some fresh thyme. I used all cashews and I forgot to soak them but that didn't seem to make a big difference. I also added some sun-dried tomatoes. I have to say that the soup was very good and creamy but for some stupid reason I forgot that I've always hated creamy soups with nothing of substance in them. Oh well, lesson learned.

Chocolate Milkshake by Heathy:

Ingredients:

2 large frozen bananas

2-3 tsp. pure vanilla extract or seeds of 1 vanilla bean

2-3 cups water

4 medjool dates or 2 tbsp. agave

Directions:

Blend until creamy and smooth, adding enough water for your preferred consistency.

Notes: I think I added too much water for the size of the bananas I used so it was a little runny and watery but otherwise pretty good. I also didn't add vanilla and I think I used a mixture of dates and agave. Obviously, since this was a chocolate shake, I added some cacao powder to get the desire chocolate flavor. I will definitely try this again using either less water or more banana...I'm pretty sure my bananas were just too small.

That's all for today, I will be spending more time in the kitchen tonight so look for more recipes to come.

TTFN!

**********************

Correction 3:47 09/09/2009 : It's actually five recipes so I have three more to come tomorrow.

Gluttony

I make myself sick...literally!

What kind of person eats until they can't breath, eats until they are sick?! I have such an effed up relationship with food and I'm so frustrated with myself for not being able to fix it. I just want to be able to look at food without seeing a means to stuff my feelings down. I don't see food as a way to stay alive, I see food as a way to kill time. If I was religious, it would be obvious that gluttony is going to kill me. It finally feels like food is going to destroy me...and my mother. She is even more sick than I am but I unlike her, I don't want to spend the majority of my life having this sick relationship with food. I want to be healthy and I want my perception of eating to be healthy as well. I'm tired to slowly eating myself to death.

The Culprit!

It was definitely the raw hummus. As delicious as it was, it was definitely the reason behind my digestion issues this week. I don't know if it was the ton of (badly processed) sesame seeds or some weird combination, but it definitely did not sit well with me. Which is too bad...I think I'll try it without the extra sesame seeds and see how that turns out, after all, I've had tahini with no problems...I'll make a small batch though.

I'm so just grateful for hot yoga this week, it has been amazing for my stomach. Yesterday did nearly kill me though...for some reason I was just stiff as a board and had no balance whatsoever! Still made it through and am happy I went. Next week will probably be my last week in yoga however =*( since my coupon is running out and I need to conserve as much money as possible in the next month or so since I'm quitting my job to go back to school.

Thankfully, I've got a back-up plan as far as maintaining my fitness. I got inspired by Courtney who is doing the P90X program and I was considering getting it until I saw an infomercial (yes, an infomercial, save your judgements) for the Insanity DVDs. It's not as long but looks just as tough and the results seem to be pretty substantial. The program arrived in a five pound box yesterday and the DVDs are in a case that is meant to look like a book (kind of nifty actually). I will start on Monday with the fitness test...apparently even the test is supposed to kick your behind but I'm not deterred. Terrified of all the warnings that come on the box but I'm determined to get through it and to be proud of myself and my body for keeping up. I want to look my best and obviously, feel my best and I know that won't happen until I get serious about working out and shape up. I guess I should take some of the dreaded "before" photos this weekend.

So despite my stomach problems in the past week and a half, I still somehow managed to lose another two pounds this week! I was shocked when I stepped on the scale: I was certain that I would have gained back some of the weight that the flu helped me lose. I don't even know how I did it, I was worried that I was eating pretty badly this week. That just goes to show you that you don't have to consciously be on a diet or counting calories and points to lose weight...you just do your best and try to give your body what it needs.

I've also found that my OCD is starting to get better and that I'm not as dead-set on perfection like I usually am on a diet. This feels so much more natural because I'm not restricting myself and I'm learning not to over-analyze everything I'm doing. Even if I do succumb to the occasional call of the Larabar, it's not the end of the world; it could be a lot worse...


...it could have been Doritos.

Hot Yoga to the Rescue!

I finally feel like my digestion is back on track. I guess hot yoga helped last night as I imagined it would. I can't emphasize how wonderful I feel after doing 90 minutes of hot hatha yoga, it feels so good. It's kind of sad to realize that I can't bend the way I used to and do some of the poses with the same ease that I once did but it's not as if I didn't expect it.

Last night I came home at around 8:30 pm after yoga class and wanted something to put in my mouth. I wasn't really hungry but I wanted something. Given that I knew I was going to bed fairly soon I didn't want anything that would take too long to digest so I used up some of the fruit in the fridge and made myself a fresh fruit juice. Oh my god was it GOOD! It was perfectly sweet, cool and refreshing. Probably found my favorite combination of fruit ever and it was simply by pure luck: peach, apple and orange. Ran all three through my juicer (which I guess I won't be returning after that miracle) and tada; easily digestable, healthy and delicious evening sustenance:

I apologize for the crappy photo but it was late therefore there was no natural light so I had to use the flash =\

In other news, I think I finally figured out what is making me so gassy and irregular: tahini. I made zucchini hummus this weekend and it called for a ton of tahini and then some more sesame seeds and I think it may just be too heavy for me to digest. Shame, because it's so delicious. It took a little while to grown on me but now I'm really liking it! It tastes nothing like hummus but oh well. What I have started to figure out about raw foods is that they are always better if allowed to sit overnight. Unlike with cooked foods, flavors don't combine together immediately because there is no heat to break down the bonds of the food thus allowing all the flavors to fuse together that quickly. The blender obviously breaks down some of the bonds but heat is a catalyst in many reactions so without the artifical catalyst, the natural catalysts in food take longer to work therefore food never tastes the same (and sometimes as good) when you make it at night and the following morning. Okay, just a little basic chemistry for your Wednesday afternoon.

And in case you want to give it shot, here is the hummus recipe:

Zucchini Hummus by Gena:

Ingredients:

2 zucchini, chopped

½ cup lemon juice

1 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp cumin

1 cup raw tahini (the Artisana brand is nice; substitute regular tahini if you need to)

4 tbsp olive oil

½ cup raw sesame seeds

Vitamix directions:
Put all ingredients in your Vitamix and blend to a rich perfection!

Food processor directions:
Same as above. You may have a hard time blending the sesame seeds, so I recommend soaking them for a few hours first, halving the recipe, and stopping frequently to scape the bowl. You can also omit the seeds entirely, but in that case I also recommend omitting the olive oil to keep a thick consistency.

I did not use a food processor or a vitamix, I used my regular old blender so mine wasn't nearly as smooth or creamy and it's very thick. Probably because I also didn't soak the sesame seeds or halve the recipe. I think next time I will try using less of the tahini and less of the sesame seeds. This was just too heavy in my opinion. Though still quite delicious.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, I'm off to do some work! TTFN!

Digestion Problems Once Again

I'm feeling so off today. I don't know what's going on but pretty much since last Thursday's stomach flu, I just haven't been feeling my best and I don't know what to do! I know my digestion is way out of whack and my IBS is back with a vengeance. Ugh! Not to mention the fact that I'm just tired all of the time now! I feel like I did before I went Raw and that is not a good thing. Maybe I'll try eating a smaller lunch tomorrow and see what happens...I'll halve my salad or something. I've finally got my water intake to an adequate level since Thursday so I'm pretty sure I'm not dehydrated anymore. It's pretty amazing how your body can get better and you feel great so subtly that you hardly even notice the difference but you feel crappy the second something gets skewed. I should probably have been a little bit more diligent about weaning myself back onto real food after getting sick, but that's just me...I dive right in.

I'm going to hot hatha yoga tonight so hopefully that will help with my digestion issues. I just want to go back to feeling good. I really don't like this lousy, gassy and bloated feeling. This could also be due to the fact that I'm about to start my cycle which would explain the bloating, the abdominal pain (not cramps, just upper abdominals), the exhaustion and most notably...the irritability. Whatever it is, I really don't like it; I'm not comfortable and I'm definitely not happy or glowing, I just want to crawl into bed and cry...

Hmmmmmmmm...that does sound suspiciously like PMS.

Stomach Flu and Green Juice Weekend

So, starting this past Thursday, I had the weekend from hell! My annual stomach flu decided to skip last year and apparently came back early this time. I have NEVER slept on my back before Thursday night and I didn't even have the energy to get under the covers after spending the later half of the day being violently ill. I woke up on Friday and thankfully wasn't nauseous anymore but I soon realized that the worst still wasn't over. The second I moved every single muscle, nerve and tendon in my entire body screamed out if I so much as twitched. A ten minute walk with Finn felt like a marathon, I literally couldn't even hold myself up. So I caved and once I felt certain I wasn't going to be sick again, I made myself some warm miso soup (two bowls actually).

I know that Friday and Saturday would have been great days to do a little juice fasting but the thought of putting together and cleaning my hurky juicer was as exhausting as standing up so I just stuck with fruit and other easily digestible foods. Finally, on Sunday, when I was feeling more like myself I decided I'd give the blender a shot at making me a green juice. SUCCESS!

Obviously, I'm happy with the results, much happier than when I was using the juicer...in fact, I think I may just return the thing. The blender works better and I can just save up to get an actually decent juicer...preferably a press-style juicer not a centrifuge one.

The blender way DEFINITELY takes a lot longer than the juicer but the results are a lot more juice-like and I use less fruit and more greens with this method. And clean-up is a breeze!

So what was in this juice? Well, it had one apple, a small carrot or two, I actually used celery (god I despise celery), half a cucumber, some broccoli, a TON of spinach and about a cup of water. Clearly, I don't have a nut mylk bag so I'm doing it the old school way: with cheesecloth. It was amazingly refreshing and delicious. I felt very light and invigorated after drinking this...as if I actually did get all those good nutrients that I didn't feel I was getting with the juicer.

I will certainly be doing this a lot more frequently. A few notes to self: don't use peach instead of apple...NOT GOOD. And I did find that if I strain the juice twice, less gritty stuff gets into the final result.

Happy Juicing!

The F word!

I don't believe I've ever thought about the fact that "fail" is a four letter word. How appropriate. Obviously, that's the F word that I am talking about today. I have decided I want to eliminate it from my vocabulary, from my mind and from my life. Why is that some people are so ready to see someone fail? It's as if they're giddy with the anticipation of watching this person fall flat on their face! How sick and twisted this human race is. Shouldn't we support one another's endeavors to improve upon ourselves in any way we can? We should not put others (and ourselves) down and we should not hold our breath until they (or we) fail. Waiting for failure is a self-fulfilling prophecy intended to sabotage our good intentions. Do you really want to sabotage your friend or your colleague or, most importantly, yourself?

When I decided to starting eating/living Raw, I told a few colleagues of mine about my newly found enthusiasm for a healthier lifestyle and their response was "I give you two months." And now, it's as if they are watching my every move in order to see me fail or falter. It was incredibly discouraging to hear people think so lowly of me that they don't believe I can manage a healthier lifestyle. At the same time, it was empowering because I wanted to prove them wrong. But not anymore. I've known all along that I shouldn't be doing this in order to prove someone wrong or to prove myself to anyone but it was always there in the back of my mind but I am releasing that now. I am doing this to improve myself, I am doing this to be happy. I want to let go of all my preconceived notions about what I should and shouldn't be doing and what people expect of me. I want to be comfortable and happy and if my idea of happiness does not coincide with another person's that should not be a problem. We are, after all, individuals.

My theory is that people get scared/intimidated when you try and improve upon yourself because they feel guilty that they are not living a healthier life as well. They are threatened by this. God only knows why and even though I was one of those people, I still can't really tell you why it was that I resented people who were thinner, more fit, or leading a healthier life than I was. Perhaps it was jealousy. But it's like a friend making your favorite brownies with the full knowledge that you are on a diet; it's sabotage disguised as a sweet gesture. I am done with the ulterior motives and I am done setting myself up for failure by listening to what others have to say as if it's set in stone. From this point forward I will try my hardest to live my life with only my own health and well-being in mind, I will take everything I read and hear with a grain of salt and I will only do what I feel is right for me. I am not one size fits all.

Sustainable Eating, Hot Yoga and Food!

As promised, I brought the recipes from Sunday's kitchen adventure to share. First, however, I must advertise an article from Time Magazine about food sustainability. This is a long one but incredibly informative. It doesn't preach a certain way of eating (i.e. raw, vegan, vegetarian), it only explains how eating the standard American diet is killing our environment and ultimately killing us. It is time for a change and I hope that this article helps to open the eyes of the masses. I, personally, have never been happier to eat a diet that has such a small impact on the world.

Now some personal information: my friend, Megin and I went to hot yoga last night. I hadn't gone in about a year and the only hot yoga I had ever done before was hot hatha yoga, not hot power yoga. It's definitely not as relaxing as hatha but I can see why people go to get in shape...my arms are killing me! I will most likely go again but I can't deny that I definitely like hatha a lot better. I just hope my arms recover by the next session on Wednesday...I've had the displeasure or nursing a nearly torn ligament in my arm and it was excruciating and I don't want to experience it again.

Okay, now on to the recipes!

Sage & Sun-Dried Tomato Cashew Pate:














Ingredients:
1 cup cashews, soaked
1/2 cup water (or more if you wish)
a few slices of dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. sage
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. agave nectar

Directions:
Process cashews in food processor first until nuts are completely crushed. Add the remaining ingredients and continue processing. Scrape sides frequently.

This is mmmmmmm-mmmmmm-mmmmmm-mmmmm gooooooooooood! It's even better when it sits overnight as the flavors get a chance to blend together (it's color even changed to red). It's amazing on a romaine leaf with some tomatoes or other veggies. Even though I wasn't at all hungry last night after yoga, I still had to have some.

Smooth Tomato Dressing:
















Ingredients:
1 large tomato (heirlooms are great but anything else will work)
2 tbsp. tahini
2 dates, pitted
1 large sprig fresh thyme
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
pepper (to taste)
salt (to taste)

Directions:
Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth, adjusting salt and pepper to your liking.

Oh so good! It tends to be dominant in a salad so make sure the vegetables you use are appropriate, i.e. no lemon cucumbers. Sweet peppers and zucchini work very well.

Well I feel like a more reliable blogger now! Enjoy and I hope the article provides some insight! TTFN!

Creamy is the Word of the Day!

I'm sorry, I've been slacking lately. There has just been too much going on at once right now: I just notified my boss that I will be leaving my wonderfully cushy, well-paying job in the middle of September to go back to school full-time and now, I'm downright terrified! To make myself feel better after my not-so-good meeting with my school counselor last Thursday, I went home and made myself some chocolate...it did the trick ;) Yay, endorphins!

Anyway, I'm extremely excited to be going back to school and I could talk about it for hours, but I think I'll move on to more food-y topics.

I finally bought a juicer this weekend. It definitely isn't the best, but it gets the job done, I got the Jack Lalanne Power Juicer. P.S. They lie to you: sure the pulp that comes out the back is dry, but they don't bother to show you what it looks like on the inside; all sorts of wet pulp stuck near the filter. But for the price, who am I to complain? I haven't been hungry in the mornings lately and I've come to the conclusion that my body is getting acclimated to my new way of eating. But I still want to get all those nutrients early on without forcing my body to consume more than it wants, so I got the juicer, made juice this morning and it was delicious! I also bought a 2 and a half pound bag of spinach ;) I look forward to my juicy mornings and Sundays!

This past Sunday, my mom, sister, nephew and I went blueberry picking so I have a ton sitting in my fridge that I've been gorging myself on; fresh and delicious! Though I think cherry season and mango season (where ever it is mango season) is over =( No more mangoes for me unless I want to wait for them to ripen...and I'm not patient when it comes to mangoes.

So to emphasize what a space-case I am; I came up with two INCREDIBLE recipes last night, took pictures and enjoyed them immensely for lunch today...and forgot to take the list of ingredients with me. I know, how awful can I get?! So I'll just tease with some photos today and some recipes that were created by bloggers who can actually remember things.

I bought some delicious heirloom tomatoes at a farmer's market this weekend and made a wonderful dressing out of them: Smooth Tomato Dressing. This salad had some mixed greens, some sweet peppers and some yellow zucchini I bought at the farmer's market as well.

I also made a Sage & Sun-dried Tomato Cashew Pate this weekend and I'll post that tomorrow. But WOW...it is delicious, so is the dressing. I've managed to impress myself!

And now, for a recipe from someone else:

Creamy Citrus-Herb Dressing by Carmella:

Ingredients:
½ avocado
1 small orange
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. olive oil
½ large lemon, juiced (or to taste)
½ large lime, juiced (or to taste)
1 tbsp. tahini
1 tsp. sweetener
Handful fresh parsley and/or cilantro
Dill or dried herbs of choice
Salt, Braggs or tamari (to taste)
⅓ cup water (or more)

Directions:
Blend until smooth. Add water to get desired consistency.

This had a very mild flavor, very creamy and understated.

And the last one of the day:

Creamy Spinach Sauce by Carmella:

Ingredients:
4 cups spinach
1 small garlic clove
½ cup cashews
¼ cup water
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. olive oil
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. thyme

Directions:
Blend until very smooth. Serve with vegetable pasta or kelp noodles and top with pine-nut Parmesan if you like.

I omitted the nutmeg and went for some tarragon instead. Mine also ended up a little bit watery because I could not get my blender to combine all that spinach so I added some water...not even thinking about the fact that I COULD have taken out some spinach and blended it in batches. I added a few more cashews to make it more creamy. I also soaked the cashews for a few hours. Being the HUGE fan of thyme that I am and the small bunch that one of my coworkers gave to me from her garden, I added a bit more (okay, a lot more) than the 1/4 tsp. suggested. And of course, I served this with kelp noodles, heirloom tomatoes and some lemon cucumber.

I promise, the recipes I created will be posted tomorrow! TTFN!

Raw Dining Adventure

Yesterday, I went to a Raw/Vegan Restaurant for the very first time...I lost my raw dining virginity so to speak ;) My friend Heather, who is a newbie vegetarian was in town from college and we decided to go have dinner at Chaco Canyon.

That would be Heather (on the left) and me (in the big sunglasses!).

So needless to say, the experience at Chaco Canyon was great! The food was delicious, the selection of smoothies and juices was fantastic. I really wanted to get a juice but knew better than to do that.

I apologize in advance because though I reminded myself before we got to the restaurant to take pictures of all the food, I somehow ended up forgetting regardless. I know, I'm an awful blogger...I'll do better next time. I ended up getting a housemade raspberry kombucha tea and raw green curry (which isn't even on their online menu). It was delicious, it was served with all sorts of yummy veggies and it was very filling. Heather got herself an Elvis Smoothie (not vegan) and a pesto melt (not raw but looked yummy). For dessert we ended up splitting a raw chocolate fudge brownie. Which I did get a picture of!

Doesn't it look absolutely delicious? Good, because it was! So rich and creamy yet it didn't leave me feeling heavy and sick to my stomach! It was delicious. Actually the Kombucha was amazing too! It wasn't overpowering and it was sweet so very easy to drink.

Sadly, I am not capable of coming home and not eating so I supplemented my dinner with a banana and a plum. Just looking at that brownie makes me drool though. With it's tempting hazelnut-date crust...who could resist?

Okay, well enough salivating. Next time: Thrive it is! I've really been wanting to go there, too.

And now for the pictures from two weekends ago...the one where I ate like a pig and drank like a teenager (sort of) with my friend from the Marines. The first picture is me with my friend Tim and the second one is us taking The Rock's infamous jell-o shots out of giant syringes! Classy, huh?

Well okay, that's all for this round! I'm going to be trying a new recipe tonight and will post it tomorrow if all goes well. TTFN!

Recipes & My Weekend

Good Afternoon!

So this weekend I tried a drink called Synergy and it had vitamin B12 in it...I have to tell you, I didn't know what I was missing! The energy boost was amazing and my mood was dramatically better. The drink itself came as kind of a shock but not bad. So of course I had to go out and buy myself some B vitamins. Of course I forgot them at home this morning so I'm dragging. But they're actually vegan (it's so hard to find vegan vitamins) and they have all sorts of vitamins in the B family. Thank you Trader Joe's. Though I just wanted B12, the ones at PCC were all sold out and I didn't feel like waiting.

On Sunday, I had the inexplicable urge to take a photo of my green smoothie. It was delicious! It had a banana, a ton of spinach, some water, some frozen strawberries and half a pear. Yum! I had about 1 and a half of these cups full.

Sunday was also my recipe experimentation day so I came up with a sunflower seed pate recipe...not exactly original I know, but hey, you've got to start somewhere right?! So here it goes:

Asian Inspired Sunflower Seed Pate:

Ingredients:

1 cup sunflower seeds, soaked for 12 hours or so

1/2 cup water (or to your preference)

1 tbsp. Nama Shoyu

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. White Miso

1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. agave

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Add water until the mixture reaches desired consistency.

I added some salt after adding too much agave so be careful with that squirt bottle!

It took a little bit of tweaking ultimately I got it to about where I wanted it. Still needs improvement in my opinion but who knows...maybe the flavors fused more overnight.

I was also surprisingly good this weekend. I didn't over-indulge and I don't feel painfully heavy and bloated like I did after last weekend. Hopefully the scale rewards me for my good behaviour ;) I do generally feel a lot better and a lot more optimistic (the B12 may have something to do with it) and my motivation to continue on with this lifestyle is renewed after an awful few days last week. I was so close to giving up but I'm so glad I didn't. P.S. My grocery bill for this week was HUGE! Note to self: don't buy raw Sesame Oil and Nama Shoyu (or Tahini for that matter) on a regular basis!

I also made a banana soft-serve but I added mixed frozen berries this time. It was so good but a little icy (probably because of the high water content in the berries)...I'll still eat it again.

I'm so excited to almost be done with my Nursing Assistant training course...I was getting very tired of giving up all of my Saturdays!

Okay, enough procrastinating: here are the rest of the recipes as promised.

Raw Peanut Noodles by Gena:

This one is AMAZING because it doesn't have any peanuts in it but tastes so authentic!

Ingredients:

1 inch ginger

1 cup olive oil

2 tsp. sesame oil

Juice of 1 lime

4 tbsp. mellow white miso

6 dates, pitted or 1/4 cup maple syrup

2 tbsp. nama shoyu

1/3 cup water

Directions:

Blend all ingredients on high until creamy and emulsified.

Some notes: I added an extra date because it didn't taste sweet enough to me. I would also use less miso next time as it came out a little too salty. I added more water to thin it out a bit. This sauce is DELICIOUS! It tastes so rich and creamy, you won't believe it's raw! Gena uses this with vegetable noodles but mine (of course) goes with kelp noodles. She also calls for toasted sesame oil but if you're trying to be 100% raw, stick with the raw oil. I also used lemon in place of lime.

Miso-Dill Dressing by Carmella:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. brown rice miso (tamari or Braggs works, too)

2 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. dried dill weed

1 tbsp. tahini

1 garlic clove minced

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl or blender.

Some notes: This dressing is very tart...but tasty. I added some water to the recipe along with an extra tablespoon of olive oil. I also used garlic powder in place of a garlic clove (I was being lazy). I used white miso instead of brown. Personally, I like my dressings a bit sweeter so I added about 2 teaspoons of agave nectar. And same as the peanut noodles, I would use less miso next time.

Enjoy! And next time, I'll put up the pictures of me and my friend from last weekend.

Going Raw: Day 24

This has not been my week so far. Yesterday, I discovered what that odd pain was when I scratched my lip...it was a canker sore right under my lip. I've never had one and boy is this on unpleasant...found out that it occurs in people with a vitamin B12, folate and iron deficiencies. I was already low on iron but I'm sure that eating only raw food exacerbated the issue by lowering my B12 amounts as well. "Oh well," I thought "I'll just suck this up, it could be worse." And the Universe didn't disappoint. This morning I woke up with my left eye swollen half shut! I went to bed and it was fine and then this morning something felt a little funny so I looked in the mirror and BAM! There's my eye, all swollen and ugly looking. I couldn't even put make-up on...I feel so naked in my glasses and no make-up. It's so uncomfortable and I have no idea what it could be from! Going to see my optometrist this afternoon. I'm still not 100% certain that this is an eye doctor problem or a physician problem (or just Rita being paranoid) but we'll start with my eye doctor since I had to go anyway.

On the bright side. I didn't eat dessert yesterday like I told myself I wouldn't and this morning I woke up and felt pretty decent (except for the eye thing). I definitely wasn't bloated, in fact from yesterday morning I lost a 1/2 inch off of my waist and another 1/2 inch off of my hips! This from just not eating banana soft serve right after dinner?! I'm amazed. It definitely makes me want to keep not eating desserts after dinner unless I actually need it. For right now, I think I'm going to limit my heavier desserts (anything that requires more preparation than washing) to three times a week maximum. I did end up having a few cherries last night, a plum and an apricot right before bed. But this was about two hours or so after I ate dinner...thus giving myself enough time to digest the heavier foods.

So I've ultimately decided to make a "rule" list for myself. Not "rules" per-se but just some guidelines to keep me running at my optimum levels:

I will only eat desserts three times a week.

I will have one day of juice fasting per week (Sunday).

I will distract myself until I am truly hungry, not just bored, on weekends.

I will work out at least four days a week in addition to walking at least 45 minutes a day with Finn.

I think that's about all that I can handle for the time being. It's a good place to start if anything. Personally, I'm even baffled by my choice to do a weekly juice fast...I never thought that I would want to do a cleanse at all. Maybe I'll even work myself up to longer fasting periods.

Deviled Mango Dressing & Chocolate Pudding

Deviled Mango Dressing by Kristen:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon vegan, organic white wine

1 mango, peeled, pitted, and chopped

2 dates, pitted

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon Himalayan crystal salt

1/8 teaspoon red Limo Pepper (or cayenne)

Directions:

Blend everything together until smooth and creamy.

Some notes:

I only used 1-1/2 tablespoons of coconut oil as I found it was rich enough without the other half.

I also didn't use any wine in mine.

This dressing is incredible, it's so creamy and rich! Delicious!

Chocolate Pudding by ME!:

Ingredients:

1 avocado

1 banana (save half for garnish)

Juice of 1/4 lemon

2 tablespoons agave (or to taste)

2 tablespoons raw cacao powder (or to taste)

Directions:

Blend everything but 1/2 banana until well combined and smooth. Taste and adjust sweetness and chocolatiness to your own liking.

Slice remaining banana half and use as garnish.

Some Notes:

I really am not a big fan of avocado...actually this is the first recipe I've ever used it in...in my life so I wanted to make sure I couldn't taste it at all. I used a little bit of cacao to begin with and could still taste the avocado (which made me gag a little) so I added more. Then I realized that the only thing that could cut through the avocado taste was lemon juice. So make sure you don't forget the lemon! Other than that the recipe turned out creamy and refreshing (thanks to the lemon).

Going Raw: Day 22

Well this past weekend was a wash-out. Since my friend was in town, on Friday I had to say bye which, oddly enough, involved me driving out to Renton to a bar. I had a drink but didn't think anything of it. Then we decided to go to The Rock where I had a salad and caved and had some bread and a jell-o shot that came in a nifty syringe (pictures to come)...oh well. The rest of the weekend was pretty much spent the same way my pre-raw weekends were spent, especially when I had been drinking. I ate too much, did too little and the consequences were definitely evident. My face on Saturday night was puffy and I just didn't feel alive the way I had...I felt weighed down. To make things worse, I caved and had a cigarette on Saturday night with my sister...now I remember why I quit: it tasted awful. Basically, I was just not in control of myself at all this weekend. I did what I craved without so much as a second thought. And while I'm disappointed in myself, I'm proud of myself at the same time because for the first time ever, I'm not beating myself up for my mistakes; it's Monday and I'm back on schedule and eating raw and healthy again. Less dessert (i.e. chocolate) and I'm saving the Larabar in my cupboard for Friday when our bi-weekly breakfast treats show up at work and I'm tempted by the evil muffins, bagels and cinnamon rolls. Overall it may not have been the healthiest weekend but it's in the past. I'll just have to do my best this next weekend...which will be hard as well since it's my friend's birthday on Saturday. *Sigh* This has to be some kind of a test of my determination.

I did to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Saturday and WOW! It was amazing...the best of the bunch by far...I actually cried! And the music score for the movie was to die for so I bought the soundtrack and listened to it all night. Just a great experience overall. I highly recommend everyone go see it...it will not disappoint.

Freedom from Fruit!

An epiphany:

I was reading Gena's blog (again)...I'm not stalking I swear, I just really like what the girl has to say! And reading the entry on how she chooses to limit her intake of fruits and other sweeteners scared the bejeesus out of me. "How can someone possibly go without fruit?!" But then I got to thinking (okay, finishing up my grocery list) and I tried to figure out what fruit I should have in the house for next week. I just kept crossing fruit after fruit after berry off of my list. It hit me that limiting the amount fruit consumed is exactly what I'm doing. The only fruit I ever eat these days are in my morning green smoothie which only has two fruit in it (banana and mango), my afternoon fruit snack (cherries and an apple or something) and my evening banana soft serve. I used to think that the best thing about being Raw was the I could eat as much fruit as I wanted but now, I just find it a bigger hassle to eat it. What with the concern over food combining, it's just simpler to limit the fruit I eat. No, I could never completely eradicate fruit from my diet, nor do I want to, but even substantially cutting back on the amount of fruit I do eat is quite an accomplishment for me. I'm still battling with the chocolate addiction, though even this is starting to look less daunting.

Given that fruit should never be eaten after a heavier meal like one that contains nuts for example, it's hard to even find enough time in the day to eat fruit. At this rate, I may even cut the fruit snack out of my day and replace it with some carrots. I'm also finding that lately, sweet foods have been less tempting. I'd much rather enjoy some veggies with a nut pate rather than gorge myself with fruit...it's also a lot easier to control my cravings and appetite with savory foods versus sweet ones. Like I said, I'm not planning on cutting fruit (or sweeteners) from my diet but I am truly enjoying the independence from them that I have gained these past (almost) three weeks. It's immensely refreshing.

Going Raw: Day 18

Wow! What a painfully slow day it's been. I keep thinking it's Friday!

Unfortunately, my OCD is kicking into high gear today. I can't seem to get anything done because my mind is so stuck on something else. As embarrassing as it is to say...it's stuck on raw food. I'm trying to make out my grocery list...again. I thought maybe if I started earlier I wouldn't get so obsessed, alas, not so. I just get obsessed for an extended period of time instead of one day. Oh well, you live, you learn. I just keep focusing on the foods I want to have next week and it's driving me insane because I know what I want to have but I also don't want to have too much of one thing (i.e. nuts, oils, etc.) or spend an absurd amount of money. I also feel like I should be making my own recipes...as if I'm some sort of mooch or a failure if I don't come up with my own creations. I always thought I was creative...I'm just scared to try with food.

I'm also freaking out because I'm worried that I may be eating too much dessert. My scale told me I gained a pound this past week (though I cheated and weighed myself way before my weigh day) and the only thing I can think of is "too much raw chocolate." But then I look at all these other raw foodists and talk to people on the RFC and they seem to eat dessert pretty much nightly. It's not like I'm gorging myself on pies and cakes and cookies...I just have my banana soft serve every night with some chocolate. So why am I freaking out?! It's a learning process...if something doesn't work one week, assess it and change it for next week until you find something that works for you. The only problem is that I'm so used to counting something (calories, points, etc.) that I don't know how to gauge how much I'm eating without them. This is how distorted our perceptions have become. We can't even tell when to eat and when to stop without the assistance of some irrelevant number given to us by god knows who! It should come naturally but we've been so acclimatized to eating based on these numbers instead of on our own hunger that we've forgotten how to. I want to learn but I'm just feeling so overwhelmed right now; it's like learning a new language in a foreign country...you have to pick it up but it's painfully hard and lonely until you do.

Okay, well in other news: I actually worked out yesterday. Instead of sitting on the couch yesterday while watching two hours of So You Think You Can Dance (yes, I'm addicted), I got on the floor and did some weight training for my arms and upper abs, as well as some resistance training for my lower abs. Now ironically, out of all the groups that I worked, not one of them hurts more than my thighs...which I barely worked on! And I thought my legs were in pretty good shape given the giant hill I have to walk up to get home everyday from work. I guess not =\

And completely irrelevant to food: my dentist is worried about my teeth (I went yesterday)...not because of cavities or anything like that (which I do have) but she says that I ground them so much that they're shorter than a lot of 60 year-olds' she's seen. She says that if I keep going, my teeth will be half the length they are now in eight short years! I don't want to lose my teeth! I should have seen this coming though...my dad lost his teeth when he was young, too. Though he didn't have the benefit of a night guard when he was my age. The dentist says that should help tremendously with the headaches, cavities, lock jaw and help me keep my teeth a lot longer.

Going Raw: Day 16

Well it's been an unusually slow day for me...not that I'm complaining. There have been no crises but nothing exciting is happening either except for the weather finally cooling down.

I gave the sweet and sour sauce another shot last night and it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was...neither was the dressing. I think maybe both of them just needed some time to sit. I did have to add more salt to the sweet n' sour sauce though.

See, I actually like week days because I have a schedule and that keeps me organized and from eating when I shouldn't be. I get home, take Finn to the dog park until 6:00 and then when I get home around 6:15 I have some dinner and make my banana soft serve and chocolate sauce for dessert and after that, I'm pretty much done for the most part. I've been trying to keep the variety of fruit to a minimum in the house. That's definitely been helpful in not noshing after I've had dinner and dessert because I know that everything in the fridge has a purpose and I shouldn't deplete my supply before the week is over. I sound like I'm talking about living in a bomb-shelter...I just really hate shopping during the week.

What I do need to pick up again is exercising. It's ironic...I think I worked out more when I didn't have a gym available to me for use 24 hours a day for free. I've found that I just prefer to pop in a work-out DVD and do that for half an hour. It used to be because I didn't have a gym...and now it's because I have a dog that goes ballistic every time I leave the house for anything but work!

Whatever I figure out though, I really do have to get back into the habit of working out...walking an hour or so a day is great but I'm pretty sure I need more. I would like to get rid of this flab I've been collecting for some time.

Not to mention, I think with all the walking, I'm getting enough cardio...I just have to work on weight and resistance training...both of which I can do in the comfort of my own home...but we'll see. Maybe one of these days, I'll make it down to the gym.

BTW: That's my puppy, Finn.

Going Raw: Day 15

15 days already? I can't believe it's been two weeks now.

This weekend, as is usual, I over did it just a bit. On Saturday, I had my normal breakfast smoothie and had some watermelon for lunch (I was in a care-giving class from 8:30-5:00 pm) and caved and had some cherry tomatoes with Alfredo sauce (recipe to follow). Again...I just don't learn. Then for dinner I met my friend and we went to Whole Foods and had dinner there after which I went shopping. And had a Jocalat bar for dessert. On Saturday night/Sunday morning, I had to pick my friend up from the airport. I was so excited/nervous, I hadn't seen him in two years (he's a Marine). He was my drinking buddy back in my "party girl" days. He was surprisingly understanding of my new lifestyle. But we had to have a few drinks (unfortunately they were not raw) that were hanging out in my fridge from a previous life. And wow, was everyone right: when you're eating nothing but raw food, your body processes the alcohol a lot faster and I was tipsy after just one drink. I only had one. We stayed up until five in the morning just talking.

On Sunday, I woke up at eight and had my breakfast smoothie (the dog refused to go for a walk) then a big salad with Heathy's Italian Dressing. When Tim left, I went to my parents' house and got some things that my mom picked up from Costco for me. At home, I made a sweet basil dressing and a sweet n' sour sauce and some raw chocolate. I took a nap before I made all of this and overslept and was completely rushed to make this stuff. Needless to say, the experience was not the best un-cooking one I've had. The things didn't turn out so great (except for the chocolate which was AMAZING!). And I ate so late that I didn't give myself enough time to digest and I definitely felt the consequences this morning: I overslept slightly and was so sluggish that I barely made it to work on time. Then I wasn't even hungry until lunch time rolled around (which wasn't really a big deal). So I really have to remember to give myself enough time to digest a big meal or have something lighter if I don't have the time.

So what have the results been so far? I'm not sure if it's just my mind convincing me that something is happening but I do feel better about myself, I feel happier and that is the best result I could ask for. I don't feel weighed down by my decision to change diets and I don't feel like it's a hassle or that I have to make sacrifices that I don't want to make. The sacrifices I'm making or only the ones I want to make. My friends may not understand why I'm doing this but I'm not phased by it because I'm not doing this for them or for any reason they may think I'm doing it for. I'm still not happy with my body yet but hey, it's only day 15! I think six pounds in 12 days is a pretty incredible number.

Okay...now for the recipes:

Cashew Alfredo Sauce adapted from Gena's recipe:

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cup cashews, soaked for a few hours (I just put them under water when I left for work in the morning)
¾ cup water
1 Medjool date, pitted
Juice of 1 1/2 lemons
½ tsp sea salt
2 tsp miso
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Directions:
Combine all ingredients (use only 1/3 cup water to start) in blender until everything is combined and smooth. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the remaining water until the sauce is the consistency you like and everything is well blended and smooth.














This recipe calls for using zucchini noodles but since I'm not a big fan (I find that they have too much water and dilute any sauce I put on them) I used kelp noodles and some cherry tomatoes and sugar snap peas.

Chocolate by Snowdrop on RFC

Ingredients:
3 tbsp coconut oil
3 tbsp raw cacao powder
3 tbsp agave

Direction:
Combine all three ingredients until smooth. Add any fillers you like (i.e. nuts, dried coconut, fruit, etc.) and pour into a mold or onto wax paper or aluminum foil and place in freezer until solid. Pop out of mold (or break into pieces) and enjoy.
Another (fantastic) use for this chocolate is as a self-hardening chocolate coating. Before the chocolate has solidified, pour it on top of your favorite raw ice cream (such as banana soft serve) and give it a few seconds to a minute to solidify. Enjoy.

This chocolate really is amazing! It has a very subtle coconut taste and solidified perfectly. The only problem I see with this is that I cannot control myself around it. And it's so easy to make! I guess I should only make enough for one use on top of my ice cream to avoid temptation.

Here are the links to the other recipes I used this weekend but they weren't my favorites...the dressing was much too sour and runny (I couldn't seem to rectify the issue). And the sweet n' sour sauce was just not right...I think I may give it one more shot today after I run it through the blender one more time. By the way, I used the sweet n' sour sauce on top of kelp noodles so I added some of the tomato soaking water to thin it out.

Gena's Sweet Basil Dressing and Fairygirl's Sweet n' Sour Sauce.