First up: here are two breakfasts. Cheesy grits topped with leftover chicken (1/4 cup grits, cooked in water; cheese added at the end). There was a little bit of avocado on there too (avocado came with the chicken salad that this is leftover from).

Oat bran cooked with protein powder, cinnamon, vanilla, and a dash of salt. Topped with sesame seeds and maple syrup.

Have you tried Averie’s raw vegan cookie dough balls yet? Okay, mine are not balls (the first batch was), nor do they have chocolate chips. They are so simple to make.

Averie-inspired Raw Vegan Cookie Dough Yum

Ingredients (1 serving)

• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• a little bit of water

Directions

Mix syrup and flour together. Add a few drops of water at a time until you get your desired consistency. I like mine a little bit too wet for balls (TWSS?).

Variations

• part wheat germ, part flour (my favorite)
• part wheat bran, part flour
• ground nuts for flour (Averie‘s original recipe)
• part oatmeal or oat bran, part flour
• grind oatmeal/oat bran in the blender and sub for flour

I also made bread the other day. I just took my Easy Peasy Pizza Dough recipe and subbed in a few things for the flour. Instead of 3.5 cups of flour, I used the dregs of a cornbread mix (maybe 1/4 cup – Jiffy brand), some Heart Smart Bisquick, and whole wheat flour. It came out well. It was a little dense, but yummy with soft butter.

I have 3 more pictures of healthy yums, but I’ll save them for when I’m on the road and lacking in delicious food.

I can’t wait to pick up Sophia tonight and go to the Foodbuzz Festival.

What are you doing this weekend? You know what I’m doing.

Like this post? Check out...

• January 24, 2008 -- Carrot Soup with Roasted Apples Recipe
• October 28, 2009 -- Recipe: Raw Energy Balls (coconut, carob)
• April 13, 2008 -- Spicy Indian Beans (Beans Foogath)
• November 16, 2009 -- I love New Jersey!
• January 19, 2009 -- Are women hungrier than men?

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Pimp my juice:

• greens: romaine lettuce, napa cabbage, celery
• bling: 1/2 cucumber, 1/2 granny smith apple, 1/2 lemon, ginger knob, mint

Smooth Jazz Juice (dessert):

• rhythm: celery, 1/2 cucumber
• melody: 1 asian pear, 1/2 fuji apple, mint, 1/2 lime

Another morning, another Pimp My Juice…

I’m really loving juice. I’ve also discovered that not only am I a juice addict, but I’m also an avocado addict. I had a craving for one on Friday night (midnight snack) and I ate it straight with a spoon and a little bit of coconut butter. It was a smallish avocado and it totally hit the spot.

I have been having frozen fruit (typically grapes or cantaloupe) at night. Chocolate just doesn’t cut it for me for dessert (::gasp::) – I’ve never really been a chocolate person. Fruit is my dessert of choice, but I try to let dinner digest for several hours before digging in.

When I make my juices, the one thing that I have to add is citrus – whether it’s lemon or lime, that zest eliminates the green taste. The ginger is also zesty; Bobby is not as much of a ginger fan as I am so I have to add it at the end if I’m making a juice for both of us. Mint is also a fun addition. These green juices with mint, lime, and cucumber make me think I’m drinking a mojito in the morning… eek! And I don’t ever ever drink.

Gena raised an interesting point today about favorite foods. What are your top 5 favorite foods? I’ll recap later with my thoughts and my own favorites.

Like this post? Check out...

• September 27, 2008 -- Apple-Banana-Oat Loaf – Blogger Secret Ingredient!
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• October 31, 2009 -- Happy Hallowe’en!
• October 16, 2010 -- What’s Up Saturday – 10.16.10
• May 26, 2009 -- Memorial Day and Challenge Recap

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When I woke up I did rebounding for 30 minutes. Then I tried to make something good with leftover pulp that I’ve been collecting. I spread it out on pans and baked it at 190F with the oven cracked open.

While that was cooking I made green juice: 1/2 granny smith apple, celery, napa cabbage, romaine, mint, 1/2 cucumber, 1/2 lemon, big knob of ginger.

Then I dropped my camera and broke it. Crap. I found my old camera and it still works. Here’s what came out of those luscious greens. My old camera is not so great. It’s a Canon PowerShot SD110. It’s actually held up kind of well, considering it’s from 2004.

That’s a lot of liquid. (TWSS.) When the pulp came out of the oven a few hours later, it was not good. It’s in the trash. Don’t try that at home. Around the time of the pulp flop, I made a nice raw favorite salad: iceberg, red leaf lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes, raw corn, salsa, and liquid gold elixir (olive oil, bragg’s, rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar, stevia, garlic).

Later Bobby came home because he lost his job. We ate our sorrows away… no, we just ate snap peas and more liquid gold elixir (see above). More than pictured. Also green beans. Before this bit of yum we walked to and from the grocery store (<1 mile roundtrip) to get stuff for juices.

And then I made a dinner salad that was identical to the lunch salad except this one had purple cabbage and a whole big avocado made into guacamole (just add salsa and mash). Had to go back for more.

We watched a few episodes of Dexter before I had a juice craving. This one was more of a dessert juice. It had celery, 1/2 cucumber, an Asian pear, 1/2 fuji apple, 1/2 lime, and mint.

So good. Bobby loves juicing almost as much as I do. We each had one full glass and then I had what was left, plus the foam (nom).

He also loves frozen cantaloupe and kept stealing mine! So I had to get more. A lot more.

I did manage to tear myself away from Dexter and the frozen fruit for a few minutes to write about why we have silent k’s (like knight, knee, etc…). Click for more.

This morning I did a 75-minute Dave Farmar power yoga class (5/18/09) thanks to Coco’s suggestion. It was fantastic – a great workout. I haven’t done a full length yoga class in ages and I definitely want to start up again.

Now I might play a game with Bobby soon (Scrabble or Miami Monopoly). Do you ever play board games?

Like this post? Check out...

• March 29, 2009 -- Guest Post – Maeve!
• January 26, 2010 -- Ch-ch-ch-changes
• February 6, 2011 -- Indian Brown Rice Recipe (Whole Foods-Inspired Recipe)
• May 12, 2011 -- Video Post: Thursday Latelies!
• July 12, 2008 -- Rosemary Roasted Vegetables and WHB

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First up – Enoki & Kelp Medley.

• base: weird lettuce from Han Kook (labeled as kale, but not)
• toppings: kelp noodles, sprouts, watercress, cilantro, onions, cluster tomatoes, enoki mushrooms
• dressings: liquid gold elixir (olive oil, bragg’s liquid aminos, rice vinegar, lemon juice, stevia, tons of garlic) & salsa (post-pic)

Next – Shout for Sprouts.

• base: red leaf and iceberg lettuce
• toppings: avocado (massaged in), tomatoes, cilantro, sprouts, enoki mushrooms, kelp noodles, raw corn
• dressings: liquid gold elixir (see above) & salsa (post-pic)

And then – Charming Parm.

• base: iceberg lettuce
• toppings: chopped purple cabbage, tomatoes, raw corn, scallions, chopped seaweed, PARMESAN
• dressings: liquid gold elixir (see above) & salsa

Along with Charming Parm I had some more parm – on top of steamed broccoli stalks (I ate the heads raw). So good. I also added some olive oil.

Lastly – Simply Scrumptious.

• base: red leaf & iceberg lettuce
• toppings: chopped mushrooms, tomatoes, seaweed, purple cabbage, raw corn
• dressings: liquid gold elixir (see above) & salsa

I think I’ve figured out the perfect combination. It has a base of red leaf and iceberg lettuce. The toppings are raw corn, tomatoes, seaweed, and cabbage. All salads must be topped with liquid gold elixir and salsa.

Do you have a favorite salad combo?

Like this post? Check out...

• February 17, 2009 -- Homemade ketchup (unsweetened options!)
• January 12, 2010 -- Review: intenSati (cardio class & warrior challenge) AND yoga AND pilates (Equinox gym)
• August 6, 2010 -- Andrea: The Power of Two
• June 7, 2010 -- A Giveaway and Hot Sauce Discount
• May 18, 2010 -- Easing a Grumpy Tummy… Who Knew It Could Be So Easy?

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• greens – romaine lettuce, celery, 1/2 a cucumber
• jazz – 1/2 granny smith apple, 1/2 lemon, mint leaves (more than yesterday), big knob of ginger

I love the cucumber and mint flavors – they go so well with the ginger, apple, and greens. It’s a wonderful combo – try it out.

Can you see that crazy candle in the background? I love the way it melted around the other candle. I don’t want to get rid of it.

I had a few delicious things last night. First up was kabocha… with guacamole. Unfortunately, the avocado I got was watery and bland; I guess that’s what I get for getting cheap avocados at Han Kook (Korean grocery). I had more bowls than this, but didn’t have guac with the rest. The kabocha was to die for.

I also had raw corn the same way I have popcorn – with sea salt, chili powder, and cinnamon. It was great. I liked it even more than I like popcorn.

This morning I was out running errands and I decided to stop by Mitsuwa, a Japanese grocery store that I don’t go to often (Han Kook is closer) but that I love. I got all this for $15.25. I do know how to bargain shop when I want to.

• whipped butter (not organic, but from non-hormone cows): $2.79
• 2x iceberg lettuce – $0.69 each
• 2x bag of tomatoes – $0.99 each
• package of green beans – $1.00
• package of snow peas – $0.35
• bag of (3) granny smith apples – $0.99
• 2x pack of 2 ears of corn (4 ears total) – $1.19 each pack of 2
• bag of (2) asian pears – $0.59
• head of romaine – $0.79
• 2x package of mushrooms – $0.29 each
• package of ginger – $0.87
• napa cabbage – $0.49/pound

I like to stalk the bargain shelves at Asian grocery stores. Han Kook doesn’t have one, but most do. Not everything I got was from the shelf; the butter, napa cabbage, ginger, romaine, and corn were all full price.

I’m off to read something… I’ve been spending entirely too much time on the computer recently and I need to stop. I did write about linguistic determinism last night if you’re interested in some linguistics info.

What’s your favorite way to save money? Do you shop sales, have a special store, use coupons, or something else?

Like this post? Check out...

• April 11, 2009 -- Cleansing Veggie Soup
• March 30, 2009 -- Guest Post – Mara!
• January 22, 2009 -- So many things
• May 13, 2009 -- Ice Cream for Breakfast!
• May 31, 2009 -- Up! We Go

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Maggie’s Kabocha Pie

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups chopped kabocha or other squash or sweet potato (you may leave the skin on; I did)
• 1/2 cup water (or additional carrot juice)
• 1/4 cup carrot juice (I used Earthbound Organic)
• 1/4 of a large avocado
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• stevia or other sweetener (optional; I tried it with stevia and it was way too sweet; it was perfect without any sweetener and Bobby even said it was still too sweet)

Directions

1. Steam the kabocha OR microwave it in the water for 3 minutes.
2. Blend the cooked kabocha, water, carrot juice, avocado, spice, and (optional) sweetener in a food processor. Add more water/juice to get your desired consistency.
3. Serve! I like mine at room temperature or chilled, but hot is good too.

I’m glad I started eating kabocha again. Sometimes after eating something so much I just stop for a while, but my kabocha love is now back with a vengeance. Last night I enjoyed a big bowl of “pie” along with a huge raw salad.

• base – red leaf lettuce, organic iceberg
• toppings – tomato, raw corn, kelp noodles (!), cilantro
• dressings – liquid gold elixir (garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, bragg’s liquid aminos, rice vinegar, stevia) & trader joe’s salsa

This morning I did rebounding for another 30 minutes while watching Millionaire. I’m trying to decide if I want to do some yoga now, or maybe later this afternoon.

Word of the day…

• vinegar – first appeared in the 13th century. break it down: vin = “wine” + aigre = “sour” (same root as eager!). in Latin it was vinum acetum = “wine turned sour”. so vinegar is sour wine

Hope you’re all planning to have a lovely weekend! What are you going to do?

Like this post? Check out...

• May 6, 2008 -- Healthy curry creamy leeks (vegan)
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• June 8, 2010 -- Recipe: Hot-Cold Asian Salad
• January 21, 2009 -- Chocolate Banana Popsicles (easy, vegan!)

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I don’t know how it happens, but I unconsciously avoid the chunks and am left with a jar of peanut bits and a little bit of creamy peanut butter. Just one of my quirks, I suppose. I don’t know what to do with the bits besides eat them plain; I’m not complaining though. But I really should only buy creamy.

When I’m not desiccating (= removing moisture from) nut butters, I like to make raw salads.

This is:

• kale (1/2 bunch or so, maybe a little more) – massaged with 1/2 avocado and my own version of liquid gold elixir (olive oil, rice vinegar, bragg’s liquid aminos)
• 1 tomato, chopped
• white onion, chopped
• 1/2 ear of raw corn
• salsa (taco bell brand… not exactly raw! but you could use raw salsa)

I massaged the kale with the avocado and dressing, then topped it with the other goodies. As soon as I was done I made a repeat salad; do you ever do that? Sometimes after I have a salad I go back and make the exact same salad for seconds.

In this case it was nice because I was able to use the rest of the kale head, the other 1/2 ear of corn, and the other 1/2 avocado. It works out. Maybe the reason I make the repeat is to use up the leftovers from the first one!

Here are some word origins for y’all…

• vegetable (Dori) – vegetables comes from a base in proto-indo-european (PIE = basically what preceded all of the european languages) that means “be strong, lively”. It’s also related to watch, vigor, velocity, and possibly witch. after PIE it went through Latin and French before it came to English.
• shampoo (Heather) – this comes from Hindi (champo) where it meant, “to massage”, or “to press, knead the muscles”.
• massage – this is from French, and before French it probably came from Arabic (massa = to touch, feel, handle). If it did come from Arabic it was probably picked up in Egypt when Napoleon was there. If it didn’t come from Arabic, it probably came from India (the French colonized it) from the word amassar (to knead), which came from Latin massa (mass, dough).

Gotta go grade… Have a great night/morning!

P.S. I’m in the middle of The Time Traveler’s Wife. So freakin’ good. Have you read it? I’m going to see the movie so I have to read it first.

Like this post? Check out...

• May 12, 2010 -- Recipe: Grilled Portobello Kale Salad
• July 1, 2011 -- Potluck BBQ RECIPE: Mexican Couscous and Bean Salad + How to Cut an Avocado
• May 11, 2011 -- A Spiced Rice Obsession
• February 16, 2011 -- Butternut Kale Salad (Whole Foods Inspired Recipe)
• October 7, 2010 -- Family, Salads, Documentary, Flowers, Dessert, and Zumba (!)

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Post tags: avocado, corn, kale, linguistics, peanut butter, raw diet, recipe, salad, word origins

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Massaged Kale Salad

Ingredients (serves 2-3, or 1 salad girl)

• 1 bunch of kale
• 3 tablespoons olive oil (I know; it’s a lot – you don’t need this much though)
• 1/2 avocado
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• splash of balsamic vinegar
• chili powder, salt, pepper to taste
• 1 shredded carrot

Directions

1. Remove the kale from the stems and rip it into pieces.  Pour on the oil and add the avocado and massage them all together.
2. Add the spices, vinegar, lemon juice, carrot, and mix some more. Serve!

Some variations – any kind of shredded veggie will do in place of carrot.  I’m trying to cut down on my orange food consumption because I got the dreaded orange tint. Oh, well.  Haven’t had kabocha in probably 2-3 weeks now, but I probably still eat enough carrots to still be orange.  You definitely don’t have to use as much olive oil; I change it up depending on my mood. If I use more, I might not finish the whole salad in one sitting. More oil does make it really delicious though.

I had it one night with some pork and a whole hunk of sauerkraut.

I’m trying to eat more (organic, free-range) meat for various reasons, and this meal was a major success. Be back soon!

Like this post? Check out...

• January 12, 2010 -- Review: intenSati (cardio class & warrior challenge) AND yoga AND pilates (Equinox gym)
• February 23, 2010 -- I Love Chipotle Burritos & Grits. And Wedding Planning.
• October 14, 2008 -- New Idea
• September 2, 2009 -- Boy food
• January 21, 2010 -- Thursday Treats

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Banana-Avocado-Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients (serves just 1)

• 1 banana
• 1/2 small-ish avocado
• 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
• 1-2 teaspoons raw honey

Directions

Mash everything witha fork, or if you want to be snazzy use a blender/food processor.  Enjoy.

I will be back soon with somewhat of an update, and hope to be blogging more regularly again soon as well.  Here’s to a great new week!

Like this post? Check out...

• January 26, 2009 -- I like breakfast.
• May 2, 2010 -- Reviews Galore
• March 15, 2009 -- Tips for Awkward Social Situations
• April 19, 2011 -- America Wakes Up (Sugar = Evil)
• July 3, 2011 -- Weekend Link Love – 07.03.2011

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Heirlooms, peaches, and avocado of course! (Again, with salt and pepper.  Try it!)

One more snacky… I bought these as a movie snack before we saw Harry Potter on Saturday.  Chinese dried fruits.  One of them is dried Hawthorne, but I can’t remember what the others are and I can’t remember which is Hawthorne.  Any ideas? Help?

I got them at this cute little dried fruit/weird other dried Chinese foods store at the mall with the movie theater.  I guess I have to go back to figure out what they were because I forget the names aside from Hawthorne. Unless you, dear readers, can enlighten me.

Happy Thursday!

Today’s thought comes courtesy of Jillian Michaels – life has its ups and downs. When you have a down, think of it as a flat tire. Do you pull over and slash the rest? Heck no! You pull over, FIX IT, and keep going.  Take that, farfegnugen flat tire!

Like this post? Check out...

• October 14, 2009 -- Review: YummyEarth! & Discount
• February 21, 2011 -- Weekend Link Love – 02.21.2011
• January 21, 2009 -- Chocolate Banana Popsicles (easy, vegan!)
• March 8, 2010 -- Walking the Happy Walk & the Aisle
• September 9, 2010 -- NuNaturals Coupon & Thursday Wrapup!

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