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!