I don’t know the recipe, but I know it had lots of peanut butter. It was delicious. Maybe I’ll ask her how she made it sometime soon. It had all of my favorite veggies – broccoli, mushrooms, carrots (which I actually avoided because I’m trying not to turn orange), and red peppers. She’s not scared to use enough oil to make it taste good either.

This morning (and yesterday I think) for breakfast I made a really good bowl of hot cereal. I mix together…

• ~1/2 cup of quick cooking oats
• a few tablespoons of farina
• cook it in water & almond milk
• cinnamon, almond or orange extract (or both!), dash of salt

I like to top it with milk (whole cow’s milk or more almond milk) and maple syrup or honey. My facial lady told me to avoid sugar and see what happens (I know what will happen – my face will be clear), so today I had it with no syrup (but extra milk).

Uh oh. I think I have a new addiction. It sounds like kabocha, but it’s more expensive – kombucha.

The one I tried was $3.39 (yikes) and it was "GT’s Organic Botanic No. 7 Kombucha". I specifically got the one with probiotics to help with my digestion. This one was raw.

Kombucha is a fermented Chinese tea. It takes about 30 days to make; during the process various nutrients are formed (enzymes, probiotics, amino acids, antioxidants, and polyphenols). It’s basically the healthiest thing you could possibly drink.

Some people say it tastes like vinegar; I thought it tasted a little bit like wine, only fizzy and better (I don’t really like wine). I’ll definitely be buying this again as soon as I can wrap my head around the price. It’s so darn pricey. I will absolutely try to make this in the future. Tips?

Speaking of yummy things, I did these 5 videos yesterday for exercise. They are each 10 minutes. Try them out! My sister loves Polly’s videos too.

• YOGA for yummy abs
• YOGA for upper thighs
• YOGA for your muffin top
• YOGA for yin
• YOGA for triathletes

Do you like kombucha? Have you tried it? Have you tried Polly’s videos yet? (It’s her birthday week by the way!)

P.S. Check out Clare’s Positivity Giveaway. She’s so sweet

Like this post? Check out...

• October 25, 2009 -- 30 Rock my socks
• January 3, 2010 -- Recipe: Banana Oat Cookies (with goodies!)
• June 8, 2009 -- Japanese Dinner for Decluttering
• September 22, 2009 -- Friendship & Fall
• January 7, 2009 -- Power Yoga Sequence | Power Yoga Routine (Sadie Nardini)

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Tonight we drove up to San Francisco for the first Foodbuzz Festival event. The welcome reception was from 5-7pm at the Hotel Vitale. This wasn’t the main food event of the day, but they did have two cool appetizers: gruyere gougeres with bacon and mascarpone and pork rillettes. They were provided by midi.

I tried the rilletes. Pretty good, but kind of salty. I didn’t try the puff things, but they looked cool.

After the reception we headed over to the Ferry Building for an amazing dinner event. Foodbuzz rented out a portion of the building and had restaurants serving food all the way down the alley.

As soon as we entered I saw mini cupcakes, and I couldn’t resist. Dessert first! I tried the pumpkin cupcake, but they also had red velvet, chocolate cinnamon, and an almond flavored one. I had an almond one on my way out for my real dessert. These were provided by Mission Minis.

I also tried this delicious vanilla bean ice cream by Straus Family Creamery. Awesome.

Then it was time for some real food. I had a bean burrito from Tacolicious. It wasn’t that good. I wanted chicken, but they were out. They had cool shirts though.

I also tried these savory vegetarian and meat pies from Pie Truck. Pretty yummy!

And a raw oyster from Hog Island Oyster Co…. awesome.

I passed on these chicharrones (fried pork chips) but they were cool looking. From 4505 Meats.

Alive had a selection of raw foods – 2 raw pizzas and raw cheesecake. These were okay. Not my favorite, to be honest.

The best items of the night: Spencer on the Go‘s Beet Salad with blue cheese and "far west fungi vol au vent" (creamy mushrooms on top of a puff thing). I went back for seconds on both of these.

Then there was some incredible thin crust pizza from Pizza Politana. This was the best pizza I’ve had outside of Italy and New York. And I didn’t think I was a pizza person.

Lastly, there was a cool pork sandwich and potatoes from Roli Roti. This seemed to be really popular with other bloggers, but I thought it was just okay.

They had this funny shirt: "I heart Crispy Skin". (TWSS? Not.)

My favorite of the night was absolutely the mushroom dish from Spencer on the Go (second favorite was their beet salad). Holy amazing yum. On the way out I snagged some more ice cream and the almond cupcake.

Don’t worry, I didn’t finish everything pictured. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for tomorrow… Happy Saturday!

Like this post? Check out...

• January 13, 2009 -- FAQ request, yoga, & good music
• June 18, 2008 -- Scrambled Tofu Recipe
• October 15, 2009 -- Crazy Love
• January 12, 2008 -- Cibo a Venezia (Food in Venice)
• November 7, 2010 -- I Ate Fried Chicken!!! And ditched the scale. And quit the gym.

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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...

• October 3, 2008 -- 03 October 2008
• October 23, 2008 -- It’s almost Friday…
• December 14, 2008 -- Holidays, parties, desserts OH MY!
• October 18, 2010 -- Healthy Monday Tip #1: Skip the Sugar (and the Splenda)
• January 8, 2008 -- Leek Soup Recipe

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This challenge might be hard for a few reasons – 1) Bobby and I are driving across the country next week; 2) the holidays and lots of decadent foods are coming up; 3) due to the move, I don’t know what my new routine will be (we’re moving to Manhattan btw). But I’m going to try. I’m synthesizing their goals and mine, and this is what I came up with. I’m going to try to do this for as long as I can. These aren’t arbitrary; these goals are what my ideal lifestyle would be so I want to keep up with them.

1. Go to bed early (by 11:30pm) and get 7-8 hours of sleep a night.
2. Cut out artificial sweeteners. I’ve been on a diet coke kick recently and it’s time to stop.
3. More veggies, less fruit.
4. More cooked foods, fewer raw.
5. Lots of water and tea.
6. Cook and plan more (or at least eat out at cheap-yet-healthy places).
7. Sit down for every meal.
8. Do something relaxing for 30 minutes every day (yoga, a bath, these exercises).
9. 30+ minutes of cardio each day (walking, running, yoga).
10. Give myself credit. Even if I don’t do all of these things perfectly, I’m going to give myself credit for the attempts and partial successes.

Because we’re moving, I’m trying to use up the groceries we have and I don’t plan on buying more. This week I’ll be eating out a lot but I’m not too worried about that; I love eating out and I can always find something healthy on the menu. The only thing that worries me about eating out is the money issue. I wish I was less frugal

The other issue I might have is that this weekend is the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival. I plan on eating well, but I doubt that I’m going to get much sleep because two of my favorite bloggers are coming to stay with me and we’re all going together. I am so excited to meet them.

Some of the yummy dishes I plan on making and eating during this November challenge are…

a healthy Thanksgiving meal, like last year’s

fresh delicious salads

lots of squash fries…

this fun Indian mushroom recipe

… and lots more. You should check out my recipes page for more inspiration. This bread recipe was one of the first things I ever posted (December 2007).

Anyway, back to the “back on track” plan. Today has been a good day so far. I did a yoga class this morning at my studio and I went to bed early last night (crashed on the couch at 9:30pm). I wanted to go to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner, but Bobby has band practice… so maybe not.

And now this post is getting epic. Happy November! Are you challenging yourself this month?

Like this post? Check out...

• August 10, 2009 -- Back to School
• January 4, 2012 -- Yoga Flow Playlist #1 – Teacher Resource
• September 25, 2011 -- Weekend Link Love – 09.25.2011
• February 2, 2008 -- Rice Puff Granola
• September 16, 2010 -- Stevia Giveaway Winners

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Raw Zucchini Hummus

Ingredients

• 2 zucchini
• 3/4 cup tahini (raw)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil (cold pressed, if you want it to be truly raw)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2.5 teaspoons salt (I would cut down on this)
• 1/2 tablespoon cumin

Directions

Chop the zucchini and blend everything in the blender. Add the lemon juice and garlic (and salt) a little bit at a time to get the flavor that you want.

I thought this was really yummy. I might use a little less garlic and salt. I few other substitution ideas might be…

• nut butter instead of tahini (like a yummy Thai peanut sauce)
• experiment with other oils – sesame oil would give it a nice Asian flavor
• other spices instead (or in addition to) cumin – chili powder, Asian 5-spice, cinnamon
• add in some herbs – oregano, basil, dill, etc…
• vinegar in place of lemon juice
• add some Bragg’s liquid aminos (cut out salt, cut down on lemon juice)

Of course you could do beans instead of the tahini, but then it would be a more standard hummus.

What’s your favorite hummus? I really like Tribe’s Olive Hummus. So good. I know Sabra is a popular one as well. I love putting hummus on crispy fruit like apples. I don’t know if that’s common or not…

HERE is my recipe for simple homemade hummus.

Like this post? Check out...

• November 16, 2008 -- Family, Friends, Fun, & Fantastic Food = the perfect Saturday
• September 24, 2008 -- Herbed Bread Pizza
• September 11, 2008 -- I’ve been tagged!
• February 28, 2009 -- Fun & Free Day
• June 15, 2008 -- Happy Fathers’ Day!

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Raw Energy Balls

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup carob powder
• 3 cups shredded unsweetened raw coconut
• 3/4 cup coconut butter/oil
• 1/2 cup raw agave nectar

Directions

Mush everything together by hand. Shape into balls and freeze before eating.

Substitution ideas (not all raw)

• honey or maple syrup in place of agave
• oatmeal in place of some shredded coconut
• nut butter in place of coconut butter/oil
• cut down on oil; add more sweetener
• replace half the oil with a super-ripe mashed banana
• cocoa powder in place of carob powder
• ground flax in place of some shredded coconut

These were good, but a little bit too heavy for me. I find that many raw food desserts do not sit well with my temperamental stomach. The recipes with a lot of oil or sweet ingredients are especially tough for me to eat. These were really delicious though, and I would make them with a few modifications. I would cut down on the oil and Jill suggested maybe subbing some of the coconut for oatmeal (like no-bake cookies).

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I watched The Biggest Loser last night. I’ve been enjoying this season (“Second Chances”) mainly due to the fact that Jillian is digging up the contestants’ issues and forcing them (the contestants) to deal with the issues head on instead of hiding them as the contestants get healthy. The theme with all of the contestants is self-forgiveness. We can all relate to this on some level; I certainly have (more than) one experience in my life that I just can’t seem to let go of. Watching the contestants grow and change and evolve into these new and inspiring people is motivating. I suppose that’s why the show is so popular.

While I’m on the topic of growth and change, I wanted to say again how excited I am to be moving (to New York) in less than 2 short weeks. Thank you for your ideas and positive comments. I can’t wait to begin this next phase of my life. It’s bittersweet to be packing up my things and making preparations to move back “home”. I will certainly miss some of the people I’ve met here and I’ll always remember the fun times I had in California. Now I think it’s time to let it go and move on.

My high school reunion (5 years) is at the end of November. I’m going to go since I’ll be back in the area. Did you go to your high school reunion?

Like this post? Check out...

• March 26, 2009 -- Guest Post – Jules! (my sister)
• July 18, 2011 -- Weekend Link Love – 07.17.2011
• June 25, 2010 -- Guest Post: Substituting Ingredients
• January 22, 2008 -- Garlic and Chili Tilapia Recipe
• March 28, 2009 -- Guest Post – Juliet!

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Today’s breakfast was simple – oat bran, protein powder, lots of cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Topped with fresh maple syrup. This stuff rocks. You can still get it on sale at Amazon – $26 for 2 big jugs. Check out Alisa’s blog for the deets. The background of papers is the result of me studying for my anthropology midterm.

Dad got here late in the afternoon, and we hit up Whole Foods before going out to dinner. We got some yummy appetizers: big local globe grapes…

And Jarlsburg cheese (swiss) with organic water crackers. Dad also got this kinda cool Spicy Pumpkin Ale. I don’t usually like beer, but it was decent.

We went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. It’s that awesome salad/soup/dinner buffet. I forgot the camera, so no pictures. My eats were pretty standard – 2 humongous salads (mostly raw), some lentil and ham soup, and frozen yogurt with cookies for dessert.

I’m really glad my dad is here. We’re going to do some sightseeing and he’s going to help us get ready to move. I can’t believe I’m moving back to the east coast in just a few weeks. I’m incredibly happy about it. I’m going to be so much closer to my family, and it’ll be really easy to visit Bobby’s family too (just a 2.5 hour plane ride, and in the same time zone).

What do you do with your parents when they visit?

Like this post? Check out...

• October 26, 2009 -- Pancake Circus
• October 19, 2008 -- Fall fun!
• October 30, 2008 -- The Creamiest Oats
• August 29, 2008 -- Goodeats for 8/28/2008
• April 28, 2010 -- New Jersey: Trail Making & Wedding Planning

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Chicken, sun dried tomatoes, and mozzarella + parmesan.

Beef (free range, organic, grass fed), mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and cheddar + parmesan.

Veggie – mushrooms, olives, cheddar + parmesan.

Unpictured veggie – mushrooms, red peppers, olives, mozzarella + parm. I’m sure you can guess which pizzas I had.

But we didn’t just have pizza. I made a nice veggie stir fry as well (Brussels sprouts, collard greens, red pepper, onions, burdock, and various sauces).

And our friends made this yummy bread topped with crab + mayo + curry dip. They baked it for a few minutes and it was delicious.

Dessert was ice cream for me, and another slice of pizza when we got home.

This morning I woke up to a nice bowl of oat bran. I loved that grilled cheese yesterday, but it was not filling at all. (For me. Bobby claims his was very filling.) A heart healthy serving of oat bran is my favorite breakfast. This one had some protein powder, flax seeds, and sesame seeds for crunch.

I also did a little raw experiment this morning. I made Averie’s Raw Donut Holes – so simple. Mine were kind of crumbly, because I am impatient and my food processor is getting old.

Ingredients – 1/2 cup flax seeds + 1 tablespoon maple syrup + 1 tablespoon flax seeds mixed in at the end.

Directions – grind the 1/2 cup of flax seeds. Add the maple syrup and blend some more. Add the last bit of flax seeds, mix some more, and shape into balls. Mine made about 20 balls (teaspoon size).

Haven’t figured out lunch yet. Tonight we are heading up to San Francisco to celebrate our friend’s birthday. We’re going to this Italian place and I’m trying to figure out what to get. What do you get when you eat Italian? What would you order from Amarena?

Oh yeah… we are moving. I’ve kept it a semi-secret for a while. We’ll be heading back east to New York city in a few weeks. I’m happy More deets to come.

Like this post? Check out...

• March 28, 2008 -- Lemon sponge pudding
• August 16, 2010 -- Anne: Flavors from Finland
• October 24, 2008 -- Cocoa Banana Oat Muffins
• January 21, 2011 -- More Great Books
• December 20, 2007 -- Fresh Persimmons and Apples with Dip

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I thought the transcript was incredibly interesting. You can also listen to the program (it’s just under 30 minutes). If you don’t have time to read or listen though, I’ll summarize here…

• It’s an interview with Dr. Richard Wrangham, a primatologist (someone who studies primates = humans, apes, monkeys, and prosimians) who wrote Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human.
• Dr. Wrangham proposes that cooking has actually been a key aspect of evolution and our bodies have changed over the years due to the fact that we can cook our food. It’s given us a huge evolutionary advantage because we have more time to use our brains instead of foraging and chewing all day long. (This is called biocultural evolution, when you evolve along with the tools/methods of your culture.)
• Apes show either a preference for cooked food over raw food, or they are neutral… they never prefer raw to cooked food.
• A human’s digestive system is 2/3rds the size of an ape’s (if you adjust for the size of the ape versus the size of the human) and we have small teeth and small mouths – not ideal for lots of chewing.
• We’ve adapted to a “high quality” diet. (High quality meaning mostly cooked and easy to digest… not talking about the processed, industrial “food” crap that most people live on.) Cooking is what increased the “quality” of our diet.
• We don’t have to eat large amounts of food and we don’t have to retain and ferment food for many many hours to digest it.
• The changes to our digestive system happened about 1.8 million years ago.
• Cooking our food increases the proportion of nutrients and energy that we’re able to digest. While a cooked carrot may technically have the same number of calories as a raw one, we are able to access more of the calories from the cooked one. Another example – when you cook an egg and eat it, you can digest about 94% of the protein. A raw egg? You digest about 60%. That’s a big discrepancy.
• Why does cooking make things easier to digest? For protein, the process is called denaturation. The protein cells are kind of like a big ball of yarn; cooking unwinds the yarn so it’s easier to digest. One way to denature something is to put it in acid. So our stomach acid can do some of this, but cooking makes it that much easier for our bodies to digest protein. A similar process happens with starch – chains of sugars open up during cooking so that they are more readily available to absorb.
• Humans are one of the only species that typically does not thrive on a raw diet… about half of women following a raw diet stop menstruating and most people lose weight (due to an energy shortage = significant calorie/nutrient deficiency).
• Now this doesn’t mean that a raw diet can’t be beneficial – a lot of people are eating too much currently, so a raw diet may help them reduce the amount of food they eat (because it’s so limiting) so they can maintain their weight and feel better. A lot of the benefits that come from a raw diet are due to cutting out processed foods and chemicals. Many people have undiagnosed food allergies (gluten, wheat, dairy, etc…) and since those foods aren’t common in a high raw diet, people will feel better since they’re not eating them anymore.
• Again, eating more raw food is not necessarily bad or unhealthy, but you should not follow a high raw diet. If you live in a place where food is scarce, you should especially *not* follow a raw diet… if you live in the US or another developed country, incorporating more raw foods into your diet is a fabulous idea if it will help you eat less and eat fewer processed, industrial foods.
• Many people think that following a raw food diet is the most “natural” way to live… not true. We have evolved away from eating raw food. And one of the major reasons that we’ve been able to advance so far in terms of knowledge and technology is due to the fact that we are NOT like other primates – we don’t have to eat all day to get enough food, giving us time to use our gargantuan brains.

I’m learning about some similar concepts in my anthropology class. There is the idea of biocultural evolution, which basically says that our culture (using tools, cooking food, etc…) has a large influence on our evolution. The invention of tools allowed us to evolve away from huge teeth. The cultural idea of wearing clothes might be the reason that we aren’t covered in hair. And maybe cooking is responsible for changing our digestive system, our mouths, and our teeth.

What works best for me is a fairly natural diet (no processed foods) with a little bit of raw food. I am influenced by macrobiotics (completely cooked, nearly vegan but with fish, and very Japanese). I’m also influenced by the paleo diet (limited grains and carbs, lots of animal fat and protein, lots of veggies – mostly all cooked). When I eat fruit it’s usually raw I do snack on raw veggies sometimes. I love salad (obviously, again) but I don’t eat salad every day unless it’s the summer. I love my oatmeal, oat bran, baked and steamed squash, and many other cooked foods, especially in the cooler months.

What works for you? What do you think of the ideas that this guy is proposing?

Like this post? Check out...

• January 2, 2011 -- Happy New Year! A Year In Review.
• February 13, 2011 -- Big Fat Video Links – Weekend Link Love
• November 10, 2010 -- Everything Is a Contradiction – Just Eat Food and Stop Thinking So Much.
• September 9, 2010 -- How to Get Glowing Skin – My Make Your Skin Glow Post!
• March 8, 2010 -- Walking the Happy Walk & the Aisle

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Post tags: animal fat, cooked food, evolution, healthy fats, macrobiotics, paleo diet, raw food

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It’s my birthday! I’m 23

Chia Ice Cream

(Note: for Chia Gel, mix 1 cup water and 2 tablespoons of chia seed. Let sit and gel up.)

Ingredients

• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1-2 cups ice
• juice from 1/4 of a lemon (<1 tablespoon)
• 1/4 cup chia gel
• stevia, to taste

Directions

Blend everything in a food processor. You can put it back in the freezer to chill for a little more if it starts getting watery. Enjoy.

Unfortunately, my food processor died yesterday while I was blending oat bran (yes, oat bran is back – more on that later). So I will have to enjoy REAL ice cream on my birthday (aw darn). Or at least some really good froyo. I think if there’s one day I’m willing to suffer the dairy bloat, it’s going to be today.

I haven’t decided exactly what else to do today; maybe I’ll get a manicure. Bobby is going to take me shopping (new kitchen appliances, most likely).

Did you ever wonder about why we have names, and how names are created? Or why your parents picked your name? I thought it would be a fitting birthday topic.

Like this post? Check out...

• October 3, 2011 -- Pose of the Week – Utkatasa; Dig INN!
• August 27, 2010 -- How To Eat Like A Child (aka Intuitively)
• April 15, 2009 -- Salad, yoga, & shopping
• November 2, 2008 -- Great Thanksgiving Challenge
• November 4, 2008 -- An historic Tuesday

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