{Meatless Monday} is making the news, baked mac & cheese + linky love!

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Hello lovelies!

Hope your weekend treated you well. Nothing too exciting went on here as my husband had to work the entire weekend. Needless, to say, there was lot’s of action outdoors and some craft time involved.

I unplugged for the weekend completely so that I could focus on a few new projects and mostly the boys and the last of our summer days.

Now that the weekend is over it’s time to get back to bloggy business and  today happens to be…

Meatless Monday!

Of course, the interweb news wires are all buzz this morning… AND  I happened to stumble upon a great article at NPR (National Public Radio) with the headline reading…

“Campaign Aims To Make Meatless Mondays Hip”

Be sure to click the link and take a peek or a listen…

Yay! for Meatless Monday making the news!! Let’s keep up the good work and keep our kitchie’s meatless one day a week.

& behold… an amazing raw vegan dish we made last week…

You can find this wonderful recipe in the uncook book “everyday raw” by Matthew Kenney. I did everything by the book this time though I was very tempted to add in fresh basil from the garden…hee, hee! Maybe, next time. *wink, wink*

I’ve made a few dishes, snacks, and desserts from this book and really really enjoy them. Remember the pizza?! That one was fun but probably won’t get added on my weekly/monthly “to- make” list. The “mac & cheese” recipe is super good and very filling. I had ton’s of summer squash from our CSA crate that needed to be used up and this recipe fit the bill perfectly for it. Creamy goodness without all the guilt.

If you’re interested in eating more living foods … I recommend this book to you. Most of the recipes are pretty darn simple and the result is always yummy! I’m working on a fresh corn “tortilla” chip recipe today as well as prepping for a few other raw dishes I’m planning to try this week.

I love trying new recipes. It’s so fun. It’s helps me to realize, just; how creative you can be with food. I’m such a plain jane when it comes to cooking in the kitchie … but I’m really learning to taste food before it’s done and to also not be afraid to add in other ingredients.

Getting creative in the kitchen is fun and I’d venture to say that leaning towards a raw food lifestyle has really made me more aware of just what creativity can be!

Meatless Monday around the blogosphere…

The Blissful Chef needs your help!

Mmmm! Spicy Peach Salsa

Quinoa Stuffed Zucchini Boats

that’s all folks!

As always if you have a recipe to share please feel free to email me for consideration

& if your blog participates in Meatless Monday’s, let me know! 

Happy Meatless Monday!

{Meatless Monday} Banana Berry Hemp Butter Lettuce Wrap!

Hello lovelies!

Happy Meatless Monday!

Yesterday, I was in the kitchie doing a lot cooking and uncooking up a storm! I had 2 kinds of beans in two different crocks…black and lentils. I also made more coconut lime cookies, hemp seed butter, and cut and sliced up two watermelons, a cantaloupe, carrots, and celery!

It was a busy day! On top of that, I did some laundry, cleaned the bathroom all while the hubby watched the boys and tended to the outside of our home. It worked out really well. I took a few breaks to enjoy some much needed sunshine though which is when I realized my neighbors were BBQ’ing (it also smelled like they were cooking something in a crockpot too!).

Yesterday, our meal theme seemed to be tostadas/open faced taco related … breakfast… lunch… and dinner!  I didn’t intentionally plan out this way but funny how things work out.

It started with brekkie; where I made what I’m calling a banana berry butter tostada aka lettuce wrap  (see pic above)… then at lunch we had hummus tostadas and for din-din we had black bean tostadas with fresh gauc! See, I told ya, it was a tostada day.

All three versions were refreshingly yum for summer meals.  I wish I would have taken a photo of the black bean tostadas…damn! I was so proud of myself for not frying the organic corn tortillas in oil. I decided to use the toaster oven instead and was so happy with the results.  I put the toaster oven on broil and let them heat up until they were crisp and a little browned but not burnt by any means. No fuss, no mess and a crispy tortilla.  Anywho, I digress…

back to the main feature…

The idea for the banana berry butter lettuce wrap  came from Kristen Suzanne. Kristen is a raw vegan chef and has her own website known as Kristen’s Raw where she blogs about raw vegan foods and shares recipes. I happen to follow her updates on Facebook and  a few times she’s mentioned having something similar to the banana berry lettuce wraps.  I couldn’t locate the update in which she has the ingredients… but it went something like this…

(all organic, of course!)

cashew butter on a piece of romaine with sliced bananas for breakfast…yum!

After seeing the update it’s been stuck in my head since. I’m a huge banana and almond butter fan so, to say the least, I had to give this a try. Plus, it seemed like a quick and easy meal.

QUICK + EASY = SOLD!

So, while I was in the kitchie gettin’ all my ingredients together I realized we did not have any cashews… (could have sworn) so, hemp butter it was. Yes!  Hemp butter and NO! you can’t smoke it…haha!

If you have unhulled hemp seeds in your pantry just process them down into a butter…it only takes a few minutes. It’s very, very, tasty and VERY nutritious. The hemp seeds turn into a beautiful green color which in turn makes buttery GREEN goodness… it was SO meant to be! haha!

After the hemp seeds were pulverized down into a butter using my food processor; the rest of the recipe was a cinch! I also figured it wouldn’t hurt to add in the fresh strawberries from the farmer’s market…so in they went!

Banana Berry Hemp Butter Lettuce Wrap

2 leaves of Romaine

1 banana sliced

2-3 strawberries sliced

1/2 cup of hemp butter

sprinkle of cinnamon

And if you want you can sprinkle on some hemp and chia seeds for a little extra nutrition punch.

Directions:

Take your romaine leaves and using a knife, smother them with hemp butter or nut/seed butter of choice.  Next, add in sliced bananas and strawberries. Sprinkle on a little cinnamon, fold together and enjoy! These lettuce wraps are so filling and delicious. Believe it or not,  both boys ate them right up! I could not believe it. They LOVED it.

Too cool!  Honestly, this would be a great meal any time of the day or snack!

Thank you, Kristen, for all your wonderful raw vegan meal ideas!!! This one is definitely a keeper.

YUM!

I also made more Coconut Lime Cookies. I made a small batch of them last week but they were so damn good I had to make more.

& because I was once addicted to cereals….I found a little way to make these cookies into a fun bowl of yummy cereal. I confess, it was a late night snack, but nonetheless, a healthy one.

I crumbled up a couple cookies and poured homemade hemp milk over them…HOLY MOLY…it was like I was back in Fruit Loop heaven. SUPER good and no guilt!

Sarma’s Coconut Lime Cookie, Living Raw Food

Alone, these cookies are fantastic and remind me of  Key Lime Truffles from See’s Candy. Back in the day, my husband Tyler, would spoil me with a box of Key Lime Truffles from See’s …and guess what… I’d eat them all up, every single one! *gulp*  Shameful, I know.  I MUST say, lately, anything too sweet, like, fake sweet is starting to taste like CRAP. Seriously. Slowly but surely this candy craving of mine is diminishing. YAY!  Pass me the greens, please….

The hubby and I have had numerous discussions about our newly clean diet (approx 6 mos +) and we’re really starting to notice a difference in the way we feel as well as when we eat something that’s processed, refined, fried…etc. It’s been an amazing journey for us and I love comparing notes about how eating less meat and including more and more greens into our diet has made a significant difference.

On Friday night, we were craving a good stir fry meal and by accident my poor hubby added a little too much water so it really steamed down the veggies and made them mushy!  Of course, we all know stir fry veggies are usually a little firm and al dente, if you will… lol!

It was a tiny sweet mistake but in the end we both couldn’t believe we truly, in our heart of hearts, wanted our veggies closer to raw and the mushy-ness factor was not pleasing…even though we ate as not to waste food. It was great knowing this though.

AND then all weekend after this mushy dinner… I was craving celery!

Is that weird?! Haha! (NO, I’m not pregnant!)

Alrighty, well, I’ve gotta run…

looking forward to tonight’s yummy’s

Mushroom Burgers and Quinoa Pistachio Salad…

Hope you have a fabulous Monday!

and as always, please feel free to share any meatless recipes in the comments or on our Facebook page!

What are you having?

Collecting natural spring water: my kind of bottled water!

Hello!

How are ya? All is well here, just playing a little catch up. The laundry/unpacking is the worst part to tackle after being away for a few days or more. sheesh!

Oh! How I miss the view of Mt. Shasta! Isn’t is gorgegous?!!? I definitely would not mind having this view on my daily drive everyday. I’ve never seen so much snow on it this time of year. The drive we took from Redding up to Mt. Shasta city is picturesque. Absolutely stunning everywhere. When out on the road were big fans of natural hot springs. A natural hot soak from nature is the best thing ever. I highly recommended the experience of enjoying a natural hot spring. It’s a nice way to end the day after a hike in the wilderness.

Before, I digress, I’ve always known about “hot springs” and “spring water” but it never really occurred to me that it was available for the masses. I learned about the importance of collecting natural spring water last summer after listening to Daniel Vitalis during the Raw Moms Summit. After learning such pertinent information I took it upon myself to start doing more research on it and find out where I could locate a spring to do so ourselves.

The thought was fascinating… collecting spring water straight from the source… no additives, unprocessed… full of rich minerals and pure! It was something I felt we had to do and since we’ve been on the road to eating cleaner and eliminating toxins from our daily lives. We’ve had a reverse osmosis system for a little over a year now and it’s been such a treat to have clean drinking water. I wish the entire system was throughout the house but unfortunately it’s just available in the kitchen. I’m certainly not complaining, but collecting spring water was just something really unfamothable until just the other day. I mean seriously, who needs bottled water when you get your water from the source!

Before leaving  town, we scrounged for a few bottles to take with and boxed them up. The day we arrived at the Headwaters of the Sacramento River we were so excited and noticed others were pulling up to the spring as well. Some filling up gallon bottles but mainly lots of varied sizes. It was such a sacred feeling once we walked up to the spring. I felt like we were taking something so special and didn’t want to be a water hog! LOL! Honestly it felt like we brought home gold. You get the feelin’ the place is so well respected, as it should be!!!

The area was pristine and not a bit of trash in site. I observed lots of locals pull right up to the spring fill up their water bottles like it was daily routine and my goodness sakes the jealously that raged over me during that moment. What a gem of a place to live so closely to. I’d be there as often as possible. Which is why, I feel as though the bottled spring water we hauled halfway down the state, is liquid gold!

Both boys experienced the spring but as I mentioned in my previous post update, the camera battery died and I had no way of recharging it, so pics with the eco tot were not taken (  Taking pictures wasn’t my main priority though. Experiencing the spring and taking it all in was. It’s not easy and convenient to lug around my Nikon D40 with 2 kids, water bottles and whatever else. haha!  After the eco tot (my 3 year old) took his first sip he said “this sure is some good water!” which proceeded with an “ahhhhhh” sound. It was hilarious and totally worth the trip.

Our collected spring water! So pure and crystal clear.

I kicked myself for leaving behind our growler from Etna it would have made a good collection jug!

Clark getting his first sip of natural spring water straight from the source- right out of the ground!

Can you believe there are people actually standing in line waiting for the spot were in?

& moi…  feeling so grateful &  spiritual here…

I paused for a long time before walking away with freshly collected spring water…

the taste was incredible and so refreshingly alive!

The lower portion of the headwaters. The area was beautiful with a park to hang out and picnic at. Big redwood trees surrounded the area and there was a lovely bridge that took off over the headwaters and into the woods. There was plenty of nature exploring to be had. We saw lot’s of butterflies and heard the sound of many birds. At the Mt. Shasta highway exit we even spotted a Bald Eagle nest!

We did just that and visited the headwaters twice on our trip. We wanted to do the second spring located in Mt. Shasta but we ran out of time. “So much to see, so much to do- so little time” syndrome quickly sank in and we really didn’t want to rush from one place to the next. Our time was somewhat limited. Next time, for sure… and a little more planning for that trip- like having a charged batteries

While in Mt. Shasta City we found Berryvale Natural Foods store which we immediately fell in love with! I heart natural foods stores and hunt them down in every town. I even picked up a few things our natural foods store doesn’t carry in bulk like unhulled sesame seeds, vanilla beans, blueberry roiboos tea, lucuma powder &  fresh raw honey comb because they weren’t a rip off like some natural food stores can be so we indulged a little.

I couldn’t believe how fairly priced everything was.  We even tried Coconut Bliss (Cherry Amaretto) for the first time and it was seriously {blissful} and it deserves a separate post cuz it’s my new obsession besides collection natural spring water-  hee, hee!

I can’t wait to get my hands on another pint. Mmm, so delish!  We picnicked Saturday and Sunday at the Headwaters park and ate yummy fresh food from the Berryvale cafe + noshed on fresh black berries from a local farm near Redding. We even tried sunflower sprouts for the first time and they were fantastic. Crunchy and a little sweet. The”sprout guy” was selling them right outside the market from the back of his truck.

I’m SO going to sprout some sunflower seeds just so I can have em’ on my salads and in my smoothies or atop my Coconut Bliss ice cream…which is something, I admittedly; did while sitting in the park watching the boys play with my husband. Ahhh… the memories… LOL!

I miss it so much that every time we leave and arrive home I do everything I can to bring home a little piece of our heaven…

This time it was natural spring water. OMGoodness, truly heaven on earth!

The plague reads: Mt Shasta, City of Pure Water… if, you don’t have time to head to the spring…  fill up here!

The thought that Nestle waters once  considered opening up a plant in Mt. Shasta is sickening!

Thank goodness for intervention by the city & it’s people because who knows what could happen once “Corporate America” gets involved.

It was beyond beautiful there and I’m really looking forward to visiting more springs in the near future.  Fern Spring in Yosemite Valley is next on our list!!

I highly recommend, finding a spring in your area, it’s worth the experience, in so many ways.

Have you collected natural spring water recently?  What are your thoughts?

{Meatless Monday} raw vegan pizza, cereal recall, & linky love!

Hola!

Happy Meatless Monday!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend. It’s going to be a crazy week here. The hub has to work day and night+ the weekend. I don’t think the 4th will come soon enough!!!! ay carumba!!! I preparing myself mentally… lot’s of visualization and mantras’ for a STRESS FREE week. It’s possible, right?! RIGHT!!!!!

Our CSA crate was filled with yummy goodies… I’m soooo looking forward to using up the tomatillos.

I’d like to make  a delicious and fresh salsa.

Speaking of  salsa…Holy guacamole!!

Last week, I couldn’t get enough of it.

It was my lunch or snack several times last week.

My friend Jenna, over at Chivetalkin, has a great GUAC recipe along with a “not so secret” salsa recipe included!

We experienced triple digits over the weekend so cooling foods are definitely on the mind. Both the kids and I good eat bowls and bowl of guac and hummus on these HAWT summer days. Both are easy peasy to make.

Last week, I  made Matthew Kenney’s, tomato, basil, and ricotta pizza.

I like  mimicking traditional foods, I would normally eat and try them in the raw! The recipe was pretty simple and after the crust was done dehydrating the rest was a breeze.

What did it taste like?!  (I hear you asking…)

Well, it wasn’t exactly what you’d call a delivery pizza…(which I wasn’t expecting in the least)…rather, the fresh flavors of tomato & basil really stood out…and the “Macadamia Moaazrella” was creamy and yummy. The crust was very herby but a little on the salty side… next time I think I’ll cut the salt portion in half. Other than that, I could see myself making these again and trying a few things differently.  It’s the REBEL in me.

I’m really lovin’ Matthew Kenney’s book as well as Sarma’s, Living Raw Food uncookbook.

Both books have given me new inspiration into the world of the raw vegan diet…

I’m having a blast making up all kinds of goodies from each book!

The buckwheat treats so far have been my fave goodie! *noms*

I made myself a lovely little bowl of what would be “rice crispie” treats cereal drowning in coconut milk …

*double noms*

AND—-> I don’t know if you’ve heard but there’s been a RECALL on 28 million boxes of Kellogg’s cereal due to chemicals leaching out from the packaging!

Ya, don’t say?! Oh, sorry! <insert, evil cackle here!! heh, heh, heeeehhhhhhh>

Aside from what I’ve been eating…

here are a few meatless recipe links for you to check out…

The Daily Green’s: 4th of July Vegetarian Menu

Candon’s Bulgur Vegetable Salad

Meatless Monday’s: Bell Pepper Snap Pea Salad

My Healthy Happy Vegan Toddler at The Blissful Chef: Cranberry Pepita Quinoa

BBQ & Buffalo Shiitake Mushrooms at Addicted to Veggies

Balsamic Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sandwiches with Goat Cheese and Roasted Pepper

What have you been uncooking or cooking up in the kitchie lately?

Please feel free to share a recipe link  in the comments!

Have a fantastic week.

{tidbits of green} what we’ve been up to!

Hi everyone!

Sorry about the glitch you may have experienced… glad to be back up!

We’ve been busy tending to our garden,crafting, making goodies for the tots, going to the park, playing outdoors a whole bunch and everything else in between. It’s summer what can one expect from two tots ages 3 and 1 yr.? A whole lotta FUN, that’s what!  They constantly want to be outside. We’ve been filling up the kiddie pool and theyhave a blast splashing around and getting wet. Good times!

I’ve been busy chasing them around, making goodies in the kitchie and whatever else in between. Were supposed to be leaving town this evening and as of right now I’m unsure if that’s going to happen. The boys seem to have caught a bug. They’re both sneezing and acting a little sicky. I don’t think it’s allergies but it very well could be. I’m making sure they get lots of fluids, homeopathics….basically the whole nine!

Argh! The trip isn’t exactly vacation related but I do believe we intended to do a least one side trip. Unfortunately, my husband’s Aunt is ill with Cancer and was given two months to live. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Words cannot even describe …  *** UPDATE*** Started this post early this am… and as of 3:30 pm verdict is in… we will NOT be going up north Boys are congested and probably not a good thing to travel and visit when the boys aren’t feeling well…especially under such circumstances.

Okay, well, let’s change the subject…

so, on my outings this week… I happened to come across some organic ear swabs that are biodegradable- no plastic and all organic! Pretty cool, I thought.

Random,  I know.

Since I don’t have much time to go on and really share a juicy post…I’m going to spare you some reading …

** warning you now, lot’s of pictures are included**

sorry all cell pics… damn D40 battery died. If it isn’t one thing it’s the other… sheesh!

Bought some local beeswax to make the salve below!

Salve recipe coming soon!

Fermentation station… fresh kraut doing it’s thang!

Turnips, beets, cabbage red/green all from the RYD garden.

Summertime fun! The classic kiddie pool.

You can’t see Clark’s bottom but he is wearing a swim dipe/trunks.

More on that too!

OMG! A raw version of rice crispy treats!

So, so, GOOD & “D”- Lish!!!

Recipe from Sarma’s Living Raw Food

Cacao sauce + Buckwheat Treats = YUM!

Received almost 4 lbs of Green Beans in our CSA crate

& we’ve been harvesting beets like crazy!

superb and perfect with tea!

Alright, well, since we aren’t going I intend to get a planned post up tomorrow… this was on a whim…

I hope to have garden pictures up for you shortly too. 

tah-tah, for now!

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