whoa, where is the time going? (plus... a green smoothie)

so, i have many unfinished posts on this thing. what is my excuse? i just had a mostly slower pace for a couple months! now as fall gets ready to start, i am de-cluttering and getting things back in gear. but back to excuses.... i'm going to blame my lack of blogging on baby brain! paul and i are expecting "the little" in december! i'm happy to say that so far pregnancy has been glorious and i have escaped first trimester with minor nausea (that was eliminated with eating) and extreme exhaustion that had me basically comatose after work or napping on the couch so that i would have the energy to go brush my teeth before bed!
second trimester has felt a lot more energetic and i'm hoping this keeps up as i'm heading into my final trimester.
i'm getting myself ready for the unwanted advice and touching that seems inevitable but i feel lucky to have only had one comment of concern about my vegan lifestyle (ie "did you hear about the vegan couple whose baby died?") and i feel really great about my diet and exercise right now! i haven't had any strange cravings. i guess the most surprising to me is that i don't want to eat coconut milk ice cream and raw chocolate as much as i usually do! and i haven't had the same urgency to go to starbucks for my unsweetened soy green tea latte as i have in busy work months. veggie brown rice sushi has been my meal of choice when i'm hungry but can't think of anything i want and in general, i'm really enjoying hunting down new vegetables and fruits to try at the farmers market and eating different grains and beans and legumes. ethiopian food has come up as a dinner craving a couple times though i don't feel like that's specific to pregnancy!
i'm taking vegan prenatal vitamins and while i was taking separate folic acid tablets, i (coincidentally?) did not feel like making my morning green smoothie! too much green leafies?
anyways, i'm finished the bottle and i feel like the folic acid in my prenatal and my food is more than sufficient and i've regained my green smoothie tendencies! hurrah! i'm taking daily iron (spatone liquid iron is my fave) and generally that is just with orange juice or a ginger/orange/frozen banana smoothie but sometimes it ends up in a green smoothie.
i made a green smoothie tonight to get some drinks in the freezer for some mid-morning energy boosts in the next couple work days and it was a nice one so i figured i should post it!

ingredients:
-about 1.5 cups filtered water
-one nub of ginger
-the tops of about 4 purple carrots
-a few sprigs of parsley
-about half or more of the tops of a bunch of radishes
-one peach
-one pear
-about 1 cup of orange juice

i got everything from the farmers market except the ginger and orange juice. maybe that's why it was so especially delicious!
anyways! i'm so excited to meet the little! but also really enjoying this time that she's been hanging out inside me. i can feel her moving around now and it's fun to feel her movements especially when me or paul are talking. i haven't had any food aversions so far and figure this means she is going to be super happy and excited to eat fruits and veggies like us! (and green smoothies, of course!)
hope your september is off to a great start and you are still enjoying farmers market goodies! i'm relieved to know ours goes into october as i was worried this was the last month!

slaw. fail.

do you ever spend extra time to carefully cut/slice/julienne your veggies to make a beautiful salad and then add one ingredient that spoils the whole thing? i think my confusing addition the other day was, sadly, basil. but i'm now thinking also that there were simply too many radishes!

i spiroolied up some green cabbage, shredded some carrots and kale, thinly sliced some watermelon and easter egg radishes, snipped in strips of several basil leaves and then stirred in my dressing mix of avocado, meyer lemon, a swish of ACV (i added more to my finished salad in the end though), a spoon of sunflower seeds, a splash of water, a small nub of ginger and a small clove of garlic. i had been having strange cravings for corn when i made this and later added a few kernels to top it off. it needed a bit more sweet or something!
paul couldn't eat it.
slaw fail!

(why do i post? i haven't posted so long and i need to remember to do things differently next time!)

hurrah for cozy dinners at the dinner table!

when is the last time you ate at a table in your home? for paul and i, it was last night! after what seems like months! and we vow to do it way more often. but a big push to actually sit down for dinner is to make a dinner worth sitting down for (rather than a quick rice and veg that we sit on the couch with), which last night was roasted butternut squash, raw chili, ginger garlic coleslaw, edamame quinoa and kombucha (grapefruit sage is my absolute favourite!) with jodie and janna!

the butternut squash was inspired by a recipe i saw in alive magazine but as usual for me and recipes, i didn't quite follow it. what i did was bake the butternut squash and then blend it with about 2 tablespooons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of earth balance and 2 tablespoons of dijon and a palm-full of fresh sage and a pinch of sea salt and a small nub of ginger. then i baked it at 400 F for about 30 minutes and then i broiled it at a bit higher to brown a bit of the top because i hadn't added anything (like cheese, like the recipe had suggested). it was smooth like baby food and i liked having it mixed with the other dishes, like janna's yummy quinoa, for texture purposes. it was also nice for a "sweet" change from my garlic-heavy chili and slaw.
the chili is my ever-faithful matthew kenney one (his everyday raw book is worth buying just for that recipe, i swear!) and i had made a raw caesar-ish dressing earlier that day that we used like a sour cream on top (delicious! it was a blend of cashews and water and lemon juice and ACV and sage and dulse and tahini and olive oil and braggs) and the slaw was inspired heavily by ani phyo's chinese chickenless salad (page 161 of raw food essentials, another great book to have around). i did a blend of braggs and ACV and garlic and ginger and olive oil and tahini and maple syrup. paul told me today when he pulled out the leftovers that it really needed some nuts on top which i agreed and the original recipe had called for that.
having time off right now affords me the luxury to relax and take time to make food and i hope this experience influences my working days as well so that i get into the habit of coming home from work and sitting down at the table for dinner after making more inspiring meals with paul. ^_^

no-pumpkin pie custard-like smoothie!

oh goodness, is this delicious!
smooth and thick like a custard, cold and refreshing as a smoothie, comforting like a pumpkin pie, though i can't remember the last time i had a pumpkin pie! the last "pumpkin" pie i had was at organic lives (last year maybe?) and it wasn't made with pumpkin either!

ingredients:
-1 cup almond milk
-1 frozen banana
-1 frozen persimmon
-1 nub of ginger
-a good-sized shake of cinnamon
-a sprinkle of lucuma
-a sprinkle of mesquite
-a small splash of maple syrup

teriyaki sprouted almonds!

good luck trying not to eat these all before you take them out of the dehydrator!

what i did:
sprouted 1 cup of raw almonds (soaked in filtered on counter for 8-12 hours, rinsing a couple times a day and letting sit for another 8 or so hours without soaking water)

i blended the following to marinate the almonds in before dehydrating for a good day or so:
*a nub of ginger
*a splash of braggs (possibly?)
*a spoon of brown rice/soy miso
*a clove of garlic
*a couple dates with probably 2 tablespoons of filtered water (or more?) to soak them a bit - i figure the dehydrator is going to suck all the liquid out anyway, i don't need to stress about too much liquid!

these are uber inspired by the teriyaki sprouted almonds from organic lives - they use a sprouted chickpea miso (swoon!) and i'm sure there are other magical ingredients (*note - upon checking my link to buy them, i see they use lemon juice and himalayan salt also! yum!). but really, start with some garlic and ginger, two "can do no wrong" ingredients, and you won't go wrong! enjoy! ^_^

sesame ginger creamy, for goodness shake!

this smoothie has been a daily occurrence the past couple days. having no almond milk made but a desire for a creamy smoothie, i did a spoon of sesame butter (aka tahini) with a cup of water. then i added some frozen banana, dates and ginger. YUM! 

i made this for my sister today and she was super into it too. YAY! 

make-this-morning-easier smoothie

today's smoothie for paul and i (with extra for seconds for me! hehe) is 2 cups filtered water, 1 avocado, 1.5 frozen banana, 1 teaspoon(ish) spirulina, 2 plums, 1 bunch of parsley, 1 bosc pear and a nub of ginger. YUM!

day 29 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

today's smoothie was a head of romaine lettuce, 2 rainbow carrots, a nub of ginger, an orange, a pear, and 1.5 frozen bananas.

loved the texture of this one! didn't use any water, like yesterday and that helped keep the smoothie portions to 2 glasses. just had to blend in a couple stages to get everything to fit in the blender! i think the orange pulp and carrots really helps pull the textures together to make a smooth smoothie type blend. the frozen bananas help as well, of course.
not sure i like the ginger in this one which is weird because i love it in my parsley blend from earlier this week and i love it in a frozen banana/mango "tropical" style smoothie. who knows.
think i gotta pick up some kale today to do a kale/orange/banana drink tomorrow, like the simple yet delicious drinkme smoothies you can get in the freezer section of organic grocery stores. ^_^

day 26 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

today's smoothie is basically a repeat of yesterday's (loved it!) but i added one apple:

day 25 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

today was my perfect green smoothie. paul wasn't totally into it (he blended his with more water  - he's not keen on drinks you have to chew! hehe) but i really appreciate that he wants to drink healthy things ^_^

(all the tall glasses were in the dishwasher so we had to do a couple refills!)

so today was... a couple stalks of celery, about half a long english cucumber, a parsley bunch, a nub of ginger and the juice of one lemon.

this is the juice of my one lemon.

figure today is a good day to point out the importance of having seeds in your citrus fruit! david wolfe says (in his sunfood diet success system book) that :"a good quality citrus fruit should contain 14-15 seeds, even if the fruit is small in size. the more seeds in citrus, the better. the less seeds in citrus, the more hybridized or grafted is the strain. after you purchase or pick them, keep citrus fruits in sunlight or on the windowsill so they remain at their maximum nutritive value and quality. the more ripe and sun-exposed the citrus fruits, the sweeter and less acidic are its contents."

and i think it makes common sense, yes? you want to eat the most natural food as it simply must be the most nutritious and healthy! healthy plants want to (and can!) reproduce. can seedless plants reproduce? hmm... thinking not. buying organic guarantees that you are buying non-genetically modified produce. just one more reason to buy organic, just saying.

so, as much as seeds can be a drag, i'm totally happy to see them when i open up my fruit. it means i have a good one ^_^

day 15 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

today's smoothie was a whole bunch of dandelion leaves and because they have such a bitter medicine-like taste, i added some ginger, a pear and frozen banana and sampled it and then added frozen mango and an apple too! eek! but it worked! we had these this afternoon and i think dandelion would be better in the morning. just a thought.

day 6 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

so i stayed home sick today. i couldn't talk this morning without tears and my head congestion reached an all-time high. (i have been on-off sick for the past 3 weeks. super annoying)
anyways... i got to make green smoothies for paul and i when he was actually up too. so that was a nice perk. and not to be gross or anything (TMI?), but i felt like i managed to ooze out at least half of my congestion after drinking this drink this morning! YAY!

this smoothie was blended kale and romaine with ginger, frozen banana and mango. i think i will have to switch up the fruit component tomorrow as i have been relying so much on b+m. but they are so good!

i realize posting a photo of my green smoothie every day could get a bit repetitive so i'll try switch it up! ^_^

some fun foods... despite an 'elimination' diet plan...

just over 3 weeks in to this elimination diet plan and i'm doing well! eating lots of salads but i guess i always did! i don't feel like i'm doing anything different except having to ask about ingredients when i go out for dinner. (like the other night at panz veggie - the chef was super accommodating and friendly, though probably thought i was crazy coming into a vegan chinese, aka gluten-crazy, restaurant for dinner) i'm also enjoying smoothies as much as usual but maybe appreciating them even more for how lucky i am to get to eat so many wonderful things!

 it's been awhile since i have had food at organic lives so it was fun to have this pad thai a couple weeks back. i forgot that it is served with jungle peanuts so my friend had those (wasn't sure if they counted as peanuts i can't have right now) and the kelp and coconut meat noodles were served on what looked like spinach (i forgot to ask) so i didn't eat that. but it was super awesome to be able to eat relatively easily here! and look at the amazing chopsticks! they must be from thailand ^_^

and just an obligatory raw cracker bread sandwich photo...

(weird maybe, but i LOVE putting lettuce, avocado, fresh basil and sauerkraut together... the combo kind of reminds me of pickles!)

and i've done some awesome smoothie combos lately. this one is frozen banana and blueberries, pear, ginger, camu camu, ground vanilla and 2 sachets of spatone liquid iron:

and an even prettier picture (doesn't mint garnish make this look pro?) is my frozen banana and mango smoothie with ginger and camu camu.

this next one is blatantly inspired by my high school friend menaka's facebook status. she is yogi-ing it up and making smoothies and raw goodies in bali and i hope someday to get out there to see her and see ubud for myself! anyways, this smoothie is frozen banana and mango, some supergreens (spirulina, chlorella, barley grass, wheatgrass, AFA, and brainon), lucuma, ginger, coconut meat and some spatone (liquid iron) and filtered water.

and finally... who would have thought you could have a dessert on a diet plan like this? though not raw by any means, this is definitely vegan. it has chocolate but i'm allowed that "rarely" (it had been over 2 weeks, maybe even 3 since i had chocolate - i think i did well, yes?) and if i remember correctly, this is quinoa and arrow root and fava bean flours, maybe some potato starch, almond milk... i really should have taken a photo of the ingredients. but there was this, chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting, a lemon cookie and chocolate chip cookie, and a banana loaf that were gluten-free, corn-free, buckwheat-free, possibly even soy-free and sugar-free at edible flours! i couldn't believe how many options they had that i could have!

i really can't get over how mellow and relaxed i have felt since adopting this diet. i am excited to see my naturopath at the end of next week to see if she has noticed any of the fire of my pitta decreasing. i totally feel like it has!

getting rid of your cold...

morning vitamin C smoothie: parsley (couldn't resist as its iron should be more easily absorbed with all of this vitamin C!) and filtered water, camu camu, freshly squeezed orange juice (eek! so amazing! from the juiciest sweetest oranges ever!), mango, papaya...

 and then frozen bananas and some frozen raspberries...

 and later we did several shots of what organic lives puts in their cold/flu shot: e3 live, celery, ginger and camu camu!

coughing and sneezing = gone!

wow, this coleslaw is next level.

argh. so i just wrote an entry here about my 'on the fly' coleslaw inspired (heavily inspired as i don't seem to want to often try something with no reference) by this and i managed to delete it and then when i clicked 'undo', the ever-handy auto-save of this blogger had already saved the blank. lovely.

anyways, this was a hit. though paul would've added raisins. i didn't want to open the bag he was taking on his trip though ^_^

what i did for dressing:
1.5-2 garlic cloves
couple nubs of ginger
2+ tablespoons sesame oil (out of olive! and didn't have tahini like in recipe so... perfect compromise!)
2+ tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1-2 tablespoons ground flax
1-2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons braggs
pinch or 2 cayenne

then after pouring that over half a head of sliced cabbage and 4 grated carrots, i took a small handful of brazil nuts and broke them up in the processor to soak up more dressing and to add even more heartiness.

i guess i'm a sucker for sesame and ginger. i think this salad is a win!