Vegan MoFo Day 24: Meh

I know I've been a bad MoFoer this last week or so, but I'm honestly not that worried about it. Ever since my computer went out of commission I have been spending more time at the gym, more time with ben, more time in the kitchen, and have had more time to myself. I still get on Facebook and I still check my email, but I'm not on ALL THE TIME like I have been for the past five years or so.

What's weird about it is it really hasn't been that tough. I haven't gotten computer cravings (probably because I'm on the computer at work 8+ hrs a day) and I don't miss reading every single status update in my Facebook feed for hours.

---- RANT: IWhen it come to Facebook I have to make sure I read EVERY status update there is, just in case I were to miss something. So when I get on I have to read my feed all the way back to the hour, minute, and second that I last was on, reading. This means if I go on vacation I have DAYS of useless information to catch up on. I have been known to do this 'catching up' for hours. Literally. Oh, and I do this on my blogger feed too. Imagine how much time I was spending looking through feeds?----

Yes, this also means less blogging. Not that I haven't been cooking, eating, having fun, and taking pictures. I just haven't had a place to PUT them. They're all safely tucked away on my phone. I hope I get them up eventually, but I also am cool with knowing that they may never get up.

To sum it up: less blogging, more life. I know it sounds cliche, but I'm cool with it. And I'm enjoying not having a computer (weird... weird...). So, that's it--and I'm not too worried about it.

Our Wedding Was Featured!

Our wedding was features on The Brides Cafe here. Isn't that awesome?!

Oh, and for those of you who haven't already, you can check out a feed of all of our wedding posts here.

Our First Vegan Care Package Swap

This year Ben and I participated in the Cook Vegan Lover third annual care package swap. It was our first time and we seriously had SO much fun!

Our partner was US blogger Dana from Theme From an Imaginary Film. Since it was my first time we didn't really know what to expect but we got a great box of stuff.

From top left clockwise, we have crunchy corn sticks (apparently like vegan cheetos!), gum drops, raw sweet curry flavored sunflower seeds, raw truffles, a raw goji cacao bar, some vegan jerky, a bora bora bar, and a letter from my partner!

Now that we have had a taste of everything, I would say highlights were the raw truffles (amazing!) which were made locally to Dana, the bora bora bar (I've never had these before, so good!), and the gum drops (Ben was in heaven, he used to LOVE gum drops). I also thought the personal letter was a great idea, I'm definitely going to do that next time. It included a personal message and an explanation/description of each of the treats. I can't wait to do this next year!

Also, see what got Dana in this post on her blog.

Vegan MoFo Day 18

Hey MoFoers. Sorry my MoFo posts have been a bit sporadic the last few days. A few of you will remember that the hard drive on my computer crashed a few days ago. I was really hoping I would be able to get a new one, but Ben and I decided we really needed to put our extra money toward our honeymoon trip in December. (Have I announced that officially yet? I will soon, I'm sure.) Sooooo in the meantime I'm stuck trying to sneak in laptop time on Ben's computer or blog while I'm at work, which hasn't been a possibility lately since I've been so busy.

Anyway! Enough excuses! I posted a recipe today to keep you all at bay and hope to post more this week. I have a bunch of product reviews coming up since I got my VEGAN CARE PACKAGE from the CVL care package swap on Saturday. Fun!

Attention Utah Vegans!

The Trolley Square Whole Foods has these amazing taquitos. I think they might make their own filling and they are topped with Daiya cheese. Ben got these the other day when we were at Whole Foods and I just HAD to take a bite. Yum!

Raw Vanilla and Peach Pie

Holy raw pie, Batman. For those of you who don't know, Merilynn is the master of raw pies. She whipped up this little doozie on Sunday and it was gone by last night.

Crust
2 C Macadamia nuts
Salt to taste

Filling
2 Young coconuts
1/2 C Chia seeds
1 Tbs Vanilla
3 Tbs Coconut oil
1/4 C Organic soy lecithin
1/2 lemon, juiced
Salt to taste
Agave to taste (depending on how sweet you want it)

Topping
1 Peach
Maple syrup
Cinnamon

To make the crust, place the macadamia nuts and salt in a food processor. Process until the mixture barely sticks together. Be careful not to over-process because you do not want the macadamia nuts to turn in to nut butter. You want them to be sort of macadamia crumbles or meal for the crust. Press the mixture in to a pie plate.

To make the filling, open young coconuts and set the water aside. Scrape the meat and place in blender with chia seeds. Pour enough coconut water in to the blender to cover the meat and seeds. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.

Pour the filling over the crust and place the pie in the fridge. Let it set up for 10-12 hours, or until the filling is solidified.

Once the pie is solidified, you can make the topping. Slice the peach and place it in a bowl. Drizzle it with a tiny bit of maple syrup and cinnamon to bring out the flavor of the peach. Do not drizzle to much maple syrup because you do not want the peaches to drip. Place the peaches on top of the pie and serve.

Great for breakfast too!

Cauliflower Mashed 'Potatoes'

Mashed cauliflower is kind of a unique and lower-calorie alternative to mashed potatoes. In fact, cauliflower has less calories, less carbs, more protein, it's a lower glycemic load, and has a higher nutrient balance. Though, honestly, it's a miniscule difference. The taste and the texture are a bit different but they are great with some good gravy poured over top (isn't everything?).

1 head Cauliflower
Earth balance to consistency
Vegan sour cream (optional) to consistency
Garlic salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

Steam cauliflower until you can poke a fork through it easily. Let cool for a few minutes, and then place in a food processor or blender with other ingredients. Add a little of each at first and then add more until the mashed cauliflower is the consistency and flavor that you like.

Raw Hamburgers (I just realized this sounds gross... I'm not sure how else to describe them)

This post is a tribute to something Merilynn introduced me to this week--raw hamburgers. Holy cow I am in some serious love with these things. And they are SO EASY to make! It's amazing how with the other flavors the manna bread takes on the taste and texture of ground beef. It's so weird.

1 leaf Lettuce
1 slice Multigrain Manna Bread
A couple of raw onion rings (recipe to come)
Ketchup
Mustard

Wash and dry leaf of lettuce. Place the slice of manna bread in the middle and top it with ketchup, mustard, and onion rings. Wrap the bread around it and die in ecstasy.

Vegan MoFo Day 15: Raw Food Day 14

Day 14 I got a bit discouraged about doing this raw cleanse again after I weighed my self and found that I had only lost two of the eight pounds I had gained in my first week of doing raw. Two weeks on 90% raw and absolutely no refined foods and I've had a total gainage of 6 pounds. UGGGG. I've been going to the gym too! What is going ON?!

I'm not discouraged enough I'm going to give up, I just hope the number goes down again next week. I'm going to stick it out through this month like I said I would and just see what happens.

For breakfast I had another vega/frozen fruit/banana/spirulina/maca shake.

For lunch I had a simple salad with random veggies from the fridge.

For my afternoon snack I had dehydrated apples and tahini butter. Oh, and I got really hungry and got an orange juice from the vending machine at work.

For dinner Ben and I tried to do something a little more 'indulgent,' so made cauliflower mashed potatoes, mushroom and onion gravy, and steamed green beans. I kind of whipped up the gravy from scratch and it wasn't my best so I'm not going to give you the recipe. The mashed cauliflower, however, was as good as I've ever made it. The benefit to having cauliflower over potatoes is that it has less calories, less carbs, more protein, it's a lower glycemic load, and has a higher nutrient balance. But it's a miniscule difference, really. Recipe for the cauliflower mashed potatoes here.

Vegan MoFo Day 15: Raw Food Day 13

Day 13 the detox/release continued and I was starting to feel really good about the raw food.

For breakfast, I woke up and had a vega/frozen fruit/banana/spirulina/maca/date shake before I left for the gym.

When I got back, I had two hamburgers. What? Hamburgers you say? I thought you were raw/vegan? Yes, yes I am. And these are RAW VEGAN hamburgers. YES YES YES YES YES YES. I am completely in love. Tribute post and recipe here.

For an afternoon snack I had more pecans and some manna bread.

And for dinner Ben whipped up a really quick and easy couscous and veggie dish. Yum!

Chia Seed Pudding

I love this pudding for breakfast with some cut fruit on top. You could also make it like a parfait with cut fruit in layers if you want to be fancy :)

1 C Chia seeds
2 C water
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 C Fruit of your choice (I like mango)
Salt to taste
Agave to taste

Soak chia seeds in water for about 10 minutes. Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth and thick.

Will stay good in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

Vegan MoFo Day 12: Raw Food Month Day 11

For breakfast yesterday, we had a bowl of fruit. Bananas, raspberries, mangoes... pretty basic.

For lunch, we used the AMAZING onion bread and made veggie sandwiches. Merilynn used the Pierogi cheese filling from the other day and made a tasty mayo-type sauce out of it to go on the sandwich.

For an afternoon snack, we had chia seed and mango pudding (recipe here) with fruit.

And for dinner we had THE MOST AMAZING winter soup I have ever had in my life. Seriously, amazing. It's from the cookbook Horizons: New Vegan Cuisine. Well, it's actually a off-shoot from the Calabaza Puree with Roasted Cinnamon Oil recipe from that book. Merilynn made some fantastic improvements and it is to die for. Its so rich, flavorful, and SPICY. But not cayenne spicy, it's cinnamon and clove spicy. Mmmm.

Raw Maple Pecans

Mmm I love these. Great for an anytime snack or for dessert. The ingredients are all to taste (I know, that's not super helpful) but it really just depends on how sweet/spicy you want them. 

Pecans
Maple syrup
Cayenne pepper
Salt

Soak the pecans for 24 hours. Rinse them thoroughly.

Place the pecans in a bowl. Mix them with maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and salt to taste.

Place the pecans on a dehydrator sheet and dehydrate 12-15 hours or until the coating sticks to the pecans. They will still be sticky.

Vegan MoFo Day 11: Raw Food Month Day 10

Day 10 my body started detoxing again. I think I had a few days of rest and repair and now it's working hard and getting everything moving! Fun. Hopefully this means the weight will come off too!

Anyway, yesterday's breakfast was a bowl of fruit (grapes, raspberries, and pears) topped with maple pecans.

Lunch was an arugula, tomato, avocado, and beet salad topped with a lemony red pepper dressing.

Dinner was more of our easy can chili from the day before.

And my after-workout snack was a bunch of random things. Dates, onion bread, maple pecans, etc. But OMG the onion bread! I wish so much I could give you all the recipe because it is AMAZING, but it's from the book RAWvolution. It nothing else you should buy the book for this recipe. It is FANTASTIC. I can't rave enough about it. One thing we did different, though, is blended the onions in the food processor with the rest of the ingredients. I really liked the way it turned out.

Raw Tahini Balls

The picture isn't so great, but I am in love with these things. They are my go-to snack, dessert, after and before workout boost, etc. AND they are super easy to make.

2 parts raw Tahini
1 to 1.5 parts raw Honey
1 part raw, soaked, and dehydrated almonds
Salt to taste

Process the almonds in a food processor until they are chunky. Mix tahini and honey together. Taste the mixture to make sure it is sweet enough, if not continue adding honey until desired sweetness. Keep in mind that the more honey they contain the less they will stay in ball shape. Mix in the almonds and salt.

Form the mixture into bite-sized balls and place them in a flat container or on a plate. Place them in the fridge and let them sit until firm (again, if they have a lot of honey they will stay tackier).

Vegan MoFo Day 10: Some Random Eats

Sooo today I had a hard drive failure with my main laptop. You know, the one where I keep EVERYTHING that is important to me? Don't you just hate that? But hey, look on the bright side. If Ben can't fix it by tomorrow morning I'm going to tear out the hard drive, take everything off it, reformat it, stick it back in, and trade the whole laptop in for a brand new one. I've had this one for seriously sooo long I've just been WAITING for an excuse to trade it in. I'm actually really excited, and I kind of hope Ben can't fix it (fingers crossed!). The only thing that would suck is if I can't get all my stuff off the hard drive... oh well.

So, I'm sure you all know what this means. Not very many pics today :/ I only had the ones I had kept on my phone or were from previous posts, so this is going to be a bit short.

Here are some things we have been eating in the past two days...

'Pierogis' that didn't end up turning out. Merilynn was gone and we were supposed to slice the jicama paper thin, which turned out to be impossible for novices like us. So, we made the best of it and dolloped some of the cheese on top of slices with red pepper and ate them like that. The cheese was a bit too acidic/lemony for me, but the taste was great.

More tahini balls... (recipe to come today!)

And some chili we made up using what canned ingredients and lentils we had laying around. It was very tasty!

Oh, and my dehydrator is full of wonderful things for this week! Candied pecans, kale chips, and ONION BREAD!

Hearty Carrot, Sweet Potato, and Lentil Stew

I made this stew the other night when it was snowing (yes, in October) and brought it to a potluck. It was so yummy and was a huge hit even with the omnis in attendance. 

The sweet potatoes add a meaty texture and I absolutely love the French green lentils over brown lentils. The broth is simple, but divine.

4 Tbs Oil
2 Tbs Basil
2 Tbs Oregano
1 Tbs Garlic powder
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Cumin
2 Onions
4 stalks Celery
1 bag Baby carrots
3 Sweet potatoes
5 C Vegetable broth
1/2 C Tamari
1 1/2 C French green lentils
Salt to taste (add after you add the tamari!)

 Cut the onions, celery, and carrots in to large chunks (think stew chunks). Heat the oil in a large soup pan. When hot, add the onions, celery, carrots, and spices. Saute until everything is soft, about 10-15 minutes. While you are waiting, wash and peel the sweet potatoes. Cut them in to 1.5" square chunks.

Once the veggies are soft, add the sweet potatoes, vegetable broth, tamari, and lentils. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer. Simmer until the lentils are cooked, about 30-45 minutes. Add salt if needed. Serve warm.

Vegan MoFo Day 8: Raw Food Month Day 7

Yesterday marked a week on our (mostly) raw month of food. This month is supposed to be a cleansing month, in the hopes that I can detox and recalibrate my body--and specifically my metabolism.

This attempt was spurred on by two things. First, the opportunity to do raw food better than I have before (when I was just doing it on my own) and be able to take advantage of Merilynn's wisdom and skills in the kitchen. Second, in an attempt to lose weight.

If you follow my blog you will know that I have tried literally everything to lose weight. Diets, exercise regiments, the whole thing. It's not like I have a lot to loose, but I just have a pesky ten to fifteen pounds that I would LOVE to be rid of.

Ben's sister, Emily (Over at The Mad Hatter's Damn Blog) was on a similar journey almost a year ago. She did a month of raw food with Merilynn (her mom) and KAPOW the weight started coming off. Her workouts suddenly were making dents and her metabolism seemed to be restarted. Since then Emily went back to eating normally but has lost more weight and is able to maintain her new weight.

Unfortunately, I seem to not be having the same results. By day 7 (yesterday) I had GAINED EIGHT POUNDS. Yes, gained. Not lost, gained. It's a little frustrating, but I'm just hoping I'm still detoxing and that soon I will start dropping. Water weight maybe? I can only hope. I can't help but hate my body a little bit for never giving me an inch.

Anyway, not to the food. (Which at the least I am enjoying eating!) For breakfast yesterday we had our regular green smoothie (recipe here).

For lunch, we made mostly raw spring rolls and dipped them in tamari. They were super yummy and SUPER easy. Recipe here. I also had some tahini balls and kale chips with lunch.

For an afternoon snack, I had manna bread with almond butter and honey.

And for dinner Ben and I made a stew. Now, for those of you who live in warmer climates, stew might sound so appetizing. But here in Utah it is in the forties and snowing on the mountains. Check out these pictures...

So, anyway, we made stew. We actually had a potluck we were attending and wanted to make something that fit the weather and was really yummy (I knew there were going to be a lot of omnis in attendance). So I talked to Merilynn and she gave me a great stew recipe. It was a huge hit and was SO YUMMY. I was glad it was yummy because it turned out to be one of two things I could eat at the potluck (the other being some BBQ tofu). Merilynn has me on a strict diet when I'm not eating raw, so my options are limited. Recipe here.

Spring Rolls

1 Avocado, sliced
1 Cucumber, julienned
1 Carrot, julienned
1/8 C Fresh basil, minced
1/8 C Fresh mint, chopped
A few leaves of romaine lettuce, spines removed
Spring roll wrappers (you can get these at an Asian market or online)

Fill a large bowl with warm water. Dip one of the spring roll wrappers in the water and let it soak for 1-2 minutes, flipping if necessary. Be careful not to force it down in to the water because before it is completely soaked it will break very easily. If one breaks, discard it and start over.

Place the soaked wrapper on a cutting board. On one edge of the wrapper, layer lettuce, cucumber, carrot, avocado, and a sprinkling of basil and mint. Tightly roll it like a burrito, folding in the edges. The wrapper will stick to itself.

Serve with tamari or some other kind of sauce for extra flavor. Enjoy!

Vegan MoFo Day 7: Raw Food Month Day 6

On day 6, we had another green smoothie (recipe here) for breakfast with the addition of a peach.

For lunch we had a very cleansing (according to Merilynn) tabbouleh salad that was basically parsley, mint, lemon juice, olive oil, agave, and some cherry tomatoes. It was pretty acidic in my mouth but I thought it tasted really good with the cherry tomatoes. Since the tabbouleh wasn't very filling I had some leftover cucumber zucchini soup from the day before as well.

For my afternoon snack, I had some of Merilynn's delectable kale chips...

And for dinner Ben and I got creative. We took a block of firm tofu and crumbled it. Then we mixed it with spices, and then we put it in our tofu press. We left it in there for a few hours and then when we pulled it out it was awesome and marble-y. It wouldn't have sliced, but what was great about it is that the tofu really took on the flavor of the spices.

We took the spicy tofu and crumbled it in a pot with some sauteed veggies and then just ate it. It was pretty good, but I'm more excited to see what else we can do with this new marbled tofu discovery!

After dinner we had some tahini balls, which are sweet tahini and almond balls. Yum!