{Happy WW!} harvest picken’s!

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

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!

Today’s Harvest: Grown with L.O.V.E.

Hi friends!

How do you DO?

I’ve been zippity doo da’ing ….

click on photo’s for better view

Check out this full plate of rewards from our garden…

green beans

serrano peppers

bell peppers

our only 2 white bird peck peaches

bunches of basil

our last 3 carrots

& our 4 standard eggs

I’m watering my MIL’s garden while they’re on vay k…

her garden is flourishing with all sorts of squash, tomatoes, peppers (all kinds), beets and plenty of wild purslane!

Crook neck squash

Butternut squash

& Trombocino squash

Making myself some sort of tomato basil creation with these lovely juicy red tomatoes!

I heart fresh veggies from the garden.

It just makes my heart pitter pat.

I love being barefoot while I tend over our bounty.

GRATEFUL.

This is what summer is about.

fresh, abundant, organic produce at your fingertips!!

Grown with LOVE.

<3

How does your garden grow?

{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?

Urban Garden Update, Part 2 & CSA Crate Contents #9

Good evening, peeps!

Hope you enjoyed yesterday’s front yard urban garden update!

We have a lot of ideas and still have much more work to do.

It’s a slow going process but so worth every little bit of progress.

The backyard garden is doing alright this year. The heat really interferes with growth.

It’s tough but so much of a live and learn experience.  Gettin’ there.

Today, we did nothing but tend to the garden and housework… all day long! It was totally worth it because things are much neater and tidy.

The garden was fertilized, watered, weeded and we harvested basil, two serrano peppers & more peaches. Lot’s of yummy veggies & fruit coming our way shortly.

This post is full of pics and is lengthy, SO consider yourself  forewarned. LOL!

Our Basil is doing so well… parsley, cilantro, and 2 different kinds of thyme in this bed

& watermelon would be on the left …(not pictured)

Cukes trellised … so many blossoms…fingers are crossed!

Almond trees in the ground!

The area we live in was once known for it’s almond orchards…

some still exist but many have been plowed by new development

Backyard garden…  our pepper bed on the right… (chocolate, purple, green, jalapeno’s)

The calendula flowers are starting to die out… we reworked the bed today and planted more beets and dill!

Zucchini bed having some trouble… starting to come back and turn green again

WAS yellow and had spots (possibly mold) but looking a bit healthier these days.

Will get a flower then baby zuch’s die off…so, we shall see. A little bummed about the zucchini…

anyone know what might be the problem?

Dixie out free ranging or wreakin’ havoc…

she loves to eat our tomato flowers… Grr!

The eco tot and Baby C garden is in the very front of the pic… carrots and peppers so far…

all planted by Tristan, our 3 year old himself. He works this area and waters…

Baby C proved that he liked dunking his head in the muddy water after his brother watered.

It was pretty hilarious and I wish I would have had the camera for that shot.

Strawberries halted in production but have a a couple blossoms…

*click on photo’s to enlarge* 

Hot green chili peppers…serrano’s and jalapeno’s

These pepper plants nearly died while we were on vay k!

upon my return I discovered them to be a shriveled mess.

After a little water revival they perked up some..

Not entirely but it’s looking WAY healthier.

Tomatoes! We shaded them some because it’s hella hot

& they could use a little break from the heat.

They’re VERY happy about this.

Purple kale…

living on (just barely) after Henrietta & Dixie took the liberty of helping themselves!

Asparagus, in it’s first year… the stalks fern out… pretty, huh?!

They’re some baby gus’s in the box but the first year they get to kick it.

Our 2 peach trees sit beside this box… only 1 is producing fruit this year.

I’m still leaving out our cabbage bed, carrots, grapes, apricot, cherry and nectarine tree…

phew… it’s overwhelming! LOL!

Our first Orange Jubilee Tomato and the chicks pecked at it!

sheesh!

Now onto the CSA loot… all organic & farm fresh… support your local farmer!!!

“personal” watermelon (scored 2 extra for being early at the pickup)

& a cantaloupe from the farmer’s market.

Peaches& Saturn Peaches– round (on bottom)

red potatoes galore.

Sunny, sun… sunflowers! They brighten my soul.

Olliaberries & cilantro are from the farmer’s market…

purple basil, corn (gave 4 ears to parents)

paddy squash (3), summer squash (3) all included in CSA crate.

I like to reuse the butcher paper from the CSA box and wrap up herbs in it.

Once herbs are wrapped, I allow a tiny bit of water to run through so dampen the paper…

this helps the herbs “keep”.

Kale from the farmer’s market. I promise it’s not moldy… LOL!

Oops! PLASTIC…. next wk. I need to remember to leave the green baskets behind &

remember my cloth bags because this week I forgot them… doh! The consequences:

2 plastic bags and the green baskets. YUCK!

Red onions…  which I plan to use in salsa

Oh! which reminds me… I completely forgot to edit the jalapeno and tomato pic…

visualize 4 tomatoes, a package of cherry tom’s & a handful of peppers ( jalapeno & serrano), will ya?

All tucked inside our CSA crate!

Looking forward to using up our bounty of veggies & fruits (from the garden and our crate).

Having fresh organic produce on hand makes me giddy!

Are you involved in a CSA share?

How does your garden grow?

Hope you had a great weekend!

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