Two Day Streak!

It's been two days since i promised baby Hendrik/Haven and myself to put only the best in our bodies. I'm excited to spend the remainder of my pregnancy and his/her childhood providing not only a good example, but also ensuring that my child has unlimited access to fruit and delectably prepared veggie dishes.

I always felt like the reason kids don't like vegetables is because nobody knows how to prepare vegetables so they taste really good! Nobody puts passion and love into the vegetables that have so much potential to nourish their families. Nobody except raw vegans that is!!! I have eaten some incredibly tasty foods... comprised of nothing but raw unadulterated vegetables, fruits, and spices! Making them just takes a little more effort than pb&js and a little more of a learning curve than making hamburger helper for dinner. There's a lot more uncharted territory when it comes to cooking - or not - with vegetables.

Anyway, it's day two and I am feeling so great! Even though I am in week 14 of my pregnancy and morning sickness is no longer supposed to be debilitating, I've still been throwing up (and not just in the morning). Today, however, I woke up with no nausia at all. I also just feel remarkably clearheaded and happy. I was in such a good mood all day at work too. All thanks to a sudden massive influx in vitamins, minerals, living food, and superior hydration in just one day. I'm excited for how I feel tomorrow after eating this way for 3 days!

Anyhow yesterday for breakfast i had an apple and a banana-frozen-strawberry-oj smoothie. It's literally the best smoothie in all the land. I used to eat A QUART OR MORE of it every day for breakfast. The combination is so good! It should be a staple food for everybody, vegan or raw vegan, because it's just so easy and tasty and filling. And nutritious! Talk about a great way to get your fiber and vitamin c in.

For lunch I ate fruitarian sushi, another favorite of mine back when I ate all raw. I will create a recipe soon.

Dinner was creamy cucumber noodles, recipe once I get at a computer. These so simple. And so good, another all time favorite from when I was raw.

I was hungry just a little later so I also made myself 2 eggs, and black beans wrapped in corn tortilla shell with enchilada sauce. Another win, super good, and a great, healthy way to push in some protien for me and baby (: I've decided to modify the diet from how I used to follow it, to include quality protiens like eggs and legumes.

Today I woke up and had a smoothie for breakfast. Lunch was apples. Here's dinner:




But nom tho!! BBQ shredded carrots! Wrapped in homegrown cabbage leaves with a dill pickle. (: Here's a link to the recipe.http://thegaychickwiththeblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/fresh-creamy-noodle-like-goodness.html?m=1

It Has Been A MINUTE!

Wow! It's been a while since I posted. It's been a while since I thought a lot about this part of my life! So much has changed since my last post, where do I start?

I would no longer call myself a vegan, hippie, or child anymore. Let me go on.



I'm pregnant!!! My fetus is 3 months old and I'm starting to show and my life has changed so much since I got pregnant, since I found out, and it's only going to continue to change at a rapid rate with the growth and birth of our child. I wasn't planning on the pregnancy obviously at 18 years old with plans for college but my boyfriend and I are both so excited for him.

I also slipped off the wagon. I began struggling again with eating disorder tendencies last winter and began eating unhealthy food with enthusiasm this past summer. Non fruitarian food is freaking good! Icecream, cookies, french fries, pizza, vegan burgers. There's a reason those foods are pretty much universally loved. My hair thinned considerably this summer though too and I can't help but wonder if that wasn't affected at all by my poor diet in the previous months. Wanna see it somewhere around its worst?



Remember how long and thick and nice it was when I was eating lots of healthy living vegan nutrients!? Let me refresh your memory if not.



Since then I cut most of it off and it's looking thicker and better but it's nowhere near as nice as it used to be.

I've been trying hard to eat healthy and also lots of protiens, but admittedly there are still a lot of bad foods in my diet that shouldn't be there for the sake and health of my future kid. I've been thinking a lot lately about how amazing I felt all the time when i ate all raw vegan. It seems pretty normal to think back to a time in my life when I was healthier and happier than ever, at a time in my life when I wake up feeling like I got punched in the gut by a train every day. And also at a time when I'm making a fragile, impressionable little person in my belly and have greater nutritional requirements than I've ever had before. I really wish to teach my child how to live healthy, happy, and fruitfully too. I've been dreaming of going back to a high fruit diet - obviously though, this time including plenty of healthy fats and protiens due to, well, you know. My little person.

From here out this blog is going to be dedicated to the story and struggles of a 18 year old girl learning about pregnancy and childhood in a whole new way as I relearn the art of raw vegan fruitarian veganism.

Low Fat Raw Vegan 811 Dinner Ideas

Low Fat Raw Vegan Gourmet Veggie Pizza

I don't do complicated recipes too often, but I just got back from California - a week and a half of camping and living as simply as possible, and it's mother's day and the whole family is going out for pizza!

So just for kicks and giggles, I'm making myself a low fat raw vegan gourmet veggie pizza!

Here's what I'm doing:

Crust
2 - 3 c of young spring greens (I went out to our woods and picked mine own - violets and young dandelion leaves!)
3 stalks celery
A few dried apricots
A splash of orange juice
3 - 4 basil leaves
1 - 2 tbsp flax
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt-free pizza spices
1 - 2c Water

Blend all ingredients and squeeze through cheesecloth, or juice everything.

(Mix the juice you get with fruit juice - I like orange. Tomato would be good too. - and drink.)

Take the pulp and spread out in a circle. Dehydrate until somewhat chewy (or however crip you want it).

Once the crust has dehydrated....

Cheeze
Spread avocado on the crust.

Toppings
Slice up veggies and put on top!

Good options include:
•Cherry (or regular) tomatoes
•Leek greens or green onions
•Sweet pepper
•Fresh Basil
•Mango

...etc!

After all the toppings were assembled, I sprinkled a little more salt-free pizza seasoning on top.

Enjoy!

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Buying Enough Bananas!

Hello! Do you struggle on a raw diet? I have one big tip to share today if you are someone who falls into the large camp of people who want to, but do not know how to accurately execute a raw vegan diet.

A big turning point in my success on a low fat raw vegan diet was when I really learned how to buy fruit like a fruitarian. (Why fruit-based raw veganism is the only way to go!)

These days, we normally try to keep 40+ lbs of fresh bananas in the house, plus maybe 30 (give or take) lbs of frozen bananas in the freezer at all times (we have 2 large chest freezers so this is no problem).

Bananas are very cheap and dense in calories, so they make a pretty obvious staple unless you live in a mango forest or something. (; They are easy to peel and prepare and make the best smoothies - I'm not even a huge fan of plain bananas, but I wouldn't make a smoothie without them! (Here are a few if my favorite smoothie recipes - bad food combining though some may be.)

I normally buy discounted "overripe" nanas Kwiktrip (a gas station in central US). Depending on how many discounted bananas they have - or how few I have at home - we'll buy anywhere from 5 - 40lb at a time. The person at the cash register sometimes doesn't blink an eye. Other times, s/he'll ask if I'm making banana bread....I tell her I make lots of smoothies and she's like, "oh, I see." No big deal. (:

I think a big part of being successful on a low fat raw vegan diet is getting over caring too deeply about what people think. At first, you may feel crazy buying 40lb of bananas at a time. people around you may confirm your feelings either verbally or with shocked looks. But wait!

Ask yourself what's REALLY so crazy about buying loads of bananas? You eat lots of bananas, they make you feel good, etc. You have very good reasons for buying those bananas! What is far more crazy when you think about it, is spending hard earned money on all the junk crap (potato chips, instant meals, little debbies...) you see in every other shopping cart! Who wants to put their resources into stuff that's not doing good things for anyone, and actually makes them feel worse?!

Once you've found a place you like to buy bananas, you can give them your name to a produce manager and suggest they call you if they ever have a large amount of "overripe" bananas. This is good for you and the store! That's a symbiotic relationship! (I think. I had bio last year. We dont talk about symbiosis too much in physics :p).

In conclusion, bananas are awesome and they will make your raw vegan life so much easier! Buy loads of bananas, specifically discounted ones if available. Get to know the people in charge of the fruit. And remember... Going through 4 - 7+lb of bananas per day is not crazy! It's just abnormal. (;

Peace!

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Struggling On A Raw Food Diet?

Are you not getting everything you had hoped for out of your raw food diet? If so, you're not alone! Many, many people find themselve exactly where you are. I myself was struggling with my raw food diet for quite a while, until I discovered the information that I am going to share with you in this article.

Most raw foodists say they eat "a lot" of food. But the thing about raw food is that it is MUCH less calorically dense than the cooked food they were raised on. My first thought, if you are not feeling awesome, is that you are not getting enough calories. Are you tracking your caloric intake on a website like Cronometer.com? Doing this really helped me to better understand the foods I was eating, how much I should be eating, ect. I suggest aiming for at least 2500cals per day for women, 3000 for men, and significantly more than that if you excersize or are otherwise active.

Next, it's best to examine where your calories are coming from. Namely, are you eating enough fruit? On a raw diet, there are 2 places to get our calories from: fats (nuts, seeds, avocado) or sweet fruits. Obviously, greens/veggies could never supply enough calories to keep us going throughout the day. Fats are good in small amounts (maybe 1 avocado or 1 - 2oz nuts per day), but I don't think there can be much argument that we shouldn't be getting the bulk of out calories from them!

So that leaves us with fruit as the bulk source of our calories. What could be better? Everybody knows how nutritionally awesome fruit is. However, sadly, many people are scared to eat too much fruit because it's "too much sugar". I hope you haven't fallen into that trap. Remember that the sugar in fruit is accompanied by fiber, nutrients, water, ect. It is not refined and it is nothing to be afraid of. It is worth noting that generally any study that points to fruit as the source of health complications (such as obesity or diabetes) used isolated (refined) fructose or glucose, NOT whole fruit.

In fact not only is fruit not bad for us, but it is what our bodies run on most optimally. It is delicious, it digests so easily, and it kicks cravings like none other! The energy in fruit is very easy for us to utilize, as our bodies run on glucose. It takes very little relative effort by your body to convert simple carbohydrate sugars to glucose, which means more energy for you!

Now that we know fruit is the best source of calories, how much of it should you be eating? Fruit is far less calorically dense than cooked food or even raw fatty sources of calories like avocado, nuts or seeds. In a typical day I eat:

-breakfast: 9-10banana smoothie, w/ water (or other calorically equivalent smoothie) for around 1000calories
-lunch (I eat at school): green smoothie (ex: 5nanas, 1c pineapple, 1/2cilantro, 1c greens, 1c water) or monomeal (of oranges, this time of year), about 600cals
-2nd lunch (I eat again several class periods later in study hall): green smoothie or smoothie, about 600cals
-dinner: GIANT SALAD (1+ head lettuce, half a cuke, half an avo, 1 tomato, strawberries/apples/oranges, and 1/2c+ dried fruit or dates, + fruit-based, homemade, fat-free salad dressing (leave me a comment if you'd like some ideas, I'd definitely do a post on that), or a blended salad, 400 - 500cals
-----------------
All this = around 2,700cals.

Eating this way, I feel AMAZING, better than I can remember ever feeling! I have so much energy. I am 5'2 weighing 100lb, and I've been eating this way for over a year now....so all the sugar in this fruit certainly hasn't made me fat! (;
(Oh, here you go, if you don't believe me:)

I was never fat, but I haven't always had a nice, flat stomach, either! Here's a before & after.

What does a typical day of food look like for you, in detail/numeric amounts? If you still have questions, feel free to post a comment below!

Peace. (:

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Strawberry Ice-Cream Shortcake

Yum! This is so decadent and super simple and healthy - only 4 whole food, raw ingredients!
It would make an excellent Valentines meal or dessert.

There's two parts:

Shortcake:
—30 halawy dates (or 15 medjools)
—¼c dried, unsweetened coconut

Icecream:
—¾c frozen strawberries
—1 banana

Simply blend dates & coconut until a sticky, sweet dough is formed. Press lightly into bowl or dish.

Blend bananas & strawberries with a little bit of water. Pile on top of your shortcake pastry and enjoy!

This recipe makes a nice meal for 1 person, or a good dessert for 2.

Peace!

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Comforting Kale Soup

Hehe.

Ingredients:
—3 c kale (preferably baby kale)
—1½ c warm water
—1Tbs lime juice
—1in ginger (or to taste)
—½tsp turmeric
—⅓tsp cumin seeds
—½ avocado

Easy Prep:
1) Blend kale with warm water
2) Add spices, ginger, and lime; blend again
3) Add avocado and blend one last time

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Creamy Low Fat Raw Vegan Dill Chowder

Hi there! Yes, yes this is a new recipe. And yes, I realize pretty much all my recipes are green. I love greens, they make me feel awesome! (And they have a pretty overpowering color.)

I love fruit, too. Fruit makes me feel awesome as well.
However - I don't know why, but - in the winter, I'm much more attracted to greens & savory foods. I normally eat greens with at least two of my meals in the winter, unlike in the summer, when I might have a some greens every few days.

To ensure I'm getting enough carbohydrates with my green soups and so that they are more satiating, I normally add some sweet dried fruit or dates to my soups.

Anyhow, my favorite way to eat greens is blended. It's less natural, I know - but I feel better afterwards, and enjoy eating blended greens over whole greens, generally.

For lunch, I like to have either a green smoothie or green soup.

Today, I made myself some nummy Creamy Dill Chowder Soup, and now I'm gonna share it with you.

Ingredients

• 1¼ cucumbers
• 1 c water
• 1 c fresh dill or 1Tbsp dried
• ½ c cilantro
• ½ c salad greens
• 1Tbsp lemon juice
• ½ avocado

• 1½ c corn kernels (one corn cob=about 1c corn kernels)
• 13 small dates (or 7 medjools)
• ½ tomato

Easy Prep

1. Blend 1 cucumber with water.
2. Add dill, cilantro, salad greens, lemon. Blend again.
3. Add scooped out avocado and blend one last time, until smooth.
4. Chop dates and tomatos into chunks & slice ¼cucumber thin (like in photo to the right!)
5. Pour soup into bowl. Mix in veggies & fruits.
6. Enjoy!

(Sit cross-legged on a wooden floor while playing Jack Johnson as you eat for full effect.)

Peace! 

Raw Vegan Teens: Tips From 16y/o Low Fat Raw Vegan

What A Teenage Fruitarian Eats In A Day

I get people asking me often enough, what and how much they should be eating in a day. I obviously can't answer that 100% - we're all different; only you can answer that by experimenting and finding out what what works for you.

However, I can show you what works for me and what I do, to give you some sort of basic understanding.

So, here is a play-by-play of everything I'm eating today!

Breakfast - smoothie (1L):
—4-5 bananas
—2c OJ
—¾c strawberries (or other berry)
Blend everything until smooth.

I always start my day with a smoothie! I sometimes experiment with different foods for breakfast, but in my experience, a smoothie for breakfast is the best! It's hydrating, flavorful, easy to digest, and full of healthy carbohydrates to fill you up and energize you for the day.

I've found that it's very important to get enough calories in my breakfast meal, and that eating a lot early in the morning provides excellent energy levels and a positive mood for the whole day - plus I'm not hungry all the time for the rest of the day.

This size smoothie normally fills me up until lunch - but some days I'm hungry earlier, so I often bring a small snack of whole fruit or extra smoothie to school with me (it almost always gets eaten up, either before lunch or as a snack in the afternoon).

Snack - extra green smoothie that wouldnt fit in my lunch jar. Aha

Lunch - green smoothie (1L):
—2c romaine
—¼cilantro
—1c water
—½lemon, juiced
—3bananas
—1.5c pineapple
Blend greens with water and lemon until smooth. Add fruit, blend again until smooth.

This is probably my favorite green smoothie! I love pineapple with greens.

For lunch, I normally have either a green smoothie or a monomeal of whole fruit.

I like the fruit monomeal because it is convenient and easy. Recently, my monomeal has been about 10 oranges. There're super easy to transport and don't go bad fast, so it's nice.

I'm out of oranges now, though, so I've been doing green smoothies instead. I really like the way they are sort of savory and sweet at the same time. I think this is awesome for lunch, because you're not looking for something quite as sweet at lunchtime as you had for breakfast, but you still need a good amount of calories to get you through the rest of the day. Making smoothies take a little extra prep time in the morning, but they are also a nice, convenient way to eat at school (or work).

Dinner - 2 heads of broccoli dipped in maybe ½c sundried tomato paste, with ¼ avocado and a sprinkling of curry

This may sound like a wierd meal, but I thought it was super good! Lol, I have really been loving broccoli the past few days! (And, it was on sale at the grocery store, aha.)

I've noticed that at different times, I'll crave different types of greens and fruits. (I normally can't stand broccoli or cruciferous veggies, but I sometimes go through phases of like a week, where I just can't get enough of them. Wtf?) I can't imagine this is anything other than my body telling me what it needs, which I think is pretty cool! ...I used to try and eat the things that I knew were *good* for me....but I've found that I feel and do a lot better when just eating the fruits and veggies I'm wanting to eat at the time.

Previously to my broccoli kick, I was doing a cucumber "pasta" just about every night, with a sauce that differed from day to day. I posted a few of these sauce recipes. Basicalky what I would do, would be blend up a base of about 1c water and 2 - 3c greens, then add spices, herbs, other veggies, to to taste, and see what worked. This was super fun, and made for awesome flavor variey - even when using basically the same base ingredients every day, hah. (:

I like having a savory, green meal for dinner. I often throw in a few dates or some dried fruit to sweeten the meal up. The sweetness helps to satiate better than if it were just a low-calorie green meal. The fact that I eat more carb calories earlier in the day, makes it possible for me to have and enjoy a green/salad-type meal for dinner.

I also had about 2½ cups of water today. I don't force down the water like I know sme raw foodists do. I just drink when I feel I need it. Many days, I don't actually drink water by itself (though I normally blend some with my smoothies), and this seems to work just fine for me.

-----

So, thats my intake for the whole day! Keep in mind that I am a small-boned, 5'2, 100lb female. I don't do huge amounts of excersize, especially being winter - just some walking and about an hour of yoga every night.

So, obviously most people are going to need more food than this. The best way to figure out just how much food you need is to listen to your own body and experiment: there is no one size fits all answer.

If you are just beginning a low fat raw vegan diet, theres a good chance your tummy won't even be able to fit all the food you'll be needing! This is because cooked food is a more concentrated source of calories - a lot of the fiber and water that is present in raw foods is normally removed in cooked food. So it will take some getting used to, just do the best you can - and if you must, don't be afraid to maybe supplement with some rice for dinner, if you must. It's better than not getting enough food, in my opinion!

Hope this was helpful to you!

-Peace!

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Super Creamy Green Protein Pasta

The first thing anybody ever says when they find out you are vegan is, "but where do you get your protien?!" We are warned (incorrectly) to make sure we're eating lots of protien to replace the meat that we've left off of our plates. While that's pretty much a giant load of BS that they've swallowed fed to them by the multi-million dollar meat & animal secretion industries, it does make sense that people might be worried about this.

I don't think anybody actually has anything to worry about, but the placebo effect can work wonders. So if you're worried about your protien (or just craving a healthy, savory, low fat meal!), this recipe is for you.

Is not only packed with protien (at just over 20g per serving), but its one of the tastiest, creamiest low fat meals I've had!

Here is my latest creation, Creamy Green Protein Pasta.

—3 cucumbers
—15 small dates

—1c greens
—1c peas
—1c water
—¼ avocado
—Singapore Salt-Free Seasoning (found at Penzey's)

1) Spiralize cucumbers
2) Chop dates

3) Blend greens with water
4) Add peas and blend again
5) Add avocado and blend one last time

6) Pour sauce over noodles & dates
7) Sprinkle Singapore Seasoning on top liberally (if you dont have singapore seasoning, its basically a curry with lemon and black pepper)

Enjoy!!

Flavorful Fat-free Parsley-Tomato Pasta!

Yumm. I've got a super simple, intensely flavored, awesome low fat raw vegan pasta recipe, and I'm gonna share it with you!

This salt free, fat free, raw recipe is soo good, you've gotta try it!

Introducing, cucumber noodlies with tomato-parsley sauce!

Ingredients:

• Noodlies: (I just love that word. Say it: "Noodlies." Hehehehehehe.)
• 3 Cucumbers
• You could probably use zucchini as well if you like it; I don't. I do think the cucumber noodles give a lovely freshness to the dish.
• Dressing:


• ⅓ c sun-dried tomatoes
• ½ c parsely
• ½ c water
• ⅛ onion (or, preferably, use chives or scallions for a fresher tasting, less mucous-forming option!)
• 1Tbsp lemon juice


• Optional, but yummy:
• avocado chunks
• dried apricot slices

Spiralize, julienne, or use a veggie peeler to make noodles out of cucumber.

Blend parsley & water until smooth. Add rest of ingredients and blend until smooth.

Pour sauce over cucumber s'gettis and enjoy!

Low Fat Raw Gourmet: Crêpes

Merry Christmas, all; hope you had a great time opening gifts and hanging out with your wonderful family!

My family is full of cooks and food connoisseurs, so we like to do different cuisines for holiday meals. This year, the theme is French food.

Not eager to be left out, I decided I would take part in this French cuisine theme myself! I plan upon having a creamy, nut free, salt free, raw red pepper bisque (it's delicious); I'll definitely post that recipe in the near future!

For dessert, I shall be enjoying crêpes...yum!

This has got to be the easiest crêpe recipe ever. Its also super duper yummy & 100% fruit! It does use a dehydrator, but its still a great once-in-a-while treat, methinks.

Ingredients:
—3 bananas
—¾ avocado
—8 - 12 halawy dates (or 4 - 6 soft medjools)
—¾c water
—½c berries, +a few more for the filling

There is three parts to the recipe: the crêpe, the creamy filling, and a berry coulis to drizzle on top.

For the crêpe:
Blend bananas together in blender. Spread into two circles on a dehydrator sheet (you may want to spread a teeny bit of coconut oil down first, so they dont stick). Dehydrate until pliable, but not sticky (I just dehydrated mine overnight).

For the cream filling:
Blend dates (pitted), avocado, and water (don't add it all right away) in blender until smooth and creamy.

For the coulis:
Blend berries of your choice into a sauce (I used strawberries).

Assembly: (wait until your ready to eat or almost ready! If you assemble agead of time, the banana crêpe may absorb water from filling and turn back to mush.)
Spread half the cream on one side of each crêpe. Sprinkle some whole berries on top (I used raspberries). Roll up the crêpes, and drizzle the coulis on top. Now you're done, enjoy!

Low Fat Raw Gourmet: Chili

It's Christmas Eve! Happy day-before-the-overly-commercialized-stolen-from-the-pagans-everybody's favorite holiday. Ok, no more cynical.

Today, Daddy spent hours crafting a very complicated cooked vegan chili out of beans, mushrooms, and lots of spices.

I'm generally opposed to beans and salt and cooked things, so I decided instead, I would make a healthier version of their dinner that I could eat at the same time. I searched the internet, looking at traditional cooked recipes, overly complicated raw recipes, and the simplest of the simplest lowfat fare, and I think I've come up with something somewhere in between!

Like the sushi recipe I posted yesterday, this is a more complicated, more gourmet low-fat raw recipe - though it's still not nearly as long or painstaking as many high-fat gourmet raw recipes! If you're a chili fan, this is a good way to eat ligit chili yumminess and keep it low fat, raw, and salt free.

So without further ado,

(I know, my phone camera sucks. My apologies. Haha)

Recipe will feed 2 'cooked' people or 1 LFRV.

Ingredients:

• 3 tomatoes
• 8 sun-dried tomatoes (more for a richer, deeper tomato flavor; less for a lighter, fresher flavor)
• .5oz dehydrated mushrooms (I used shiitake)
• 1 zucchini
• .5 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 or 2 red bell peppers
• 1 or 2 poblano peppers
• 1 - 2tsp cumin
• 1Tbsp chili powder
• dash oregano

1. Blend sun-dried tomates with a little water in a blender to form a paste
2. Put tomatoes (quartered), mushrooms, garlic (minced), sun-dried tomato paste, onions (chopped up), cumin, chili powder, & oregano in food processor; blend until chunky
3. Grate, julienne, or cut zucchini into small cubes (I grated)
4. Slice or julienne peppers into small, thin strips
5. Mix together, and let sit 2 - 12hrs (the longer it sits, the more the flavors will blend).
• You could put it in the dehydrator to warm it/make the flavors blend faster
6. Serve & enjoy!

Low Fat Raw Gourmet: Sushi

Ahhh, winter break! As of last Thursday, I went from having little to no free time, to having all the free time in the world! I've been investing this time doing lots of yoga, playing outside, cleaning, reading, and making art in the kitchen!

Today I came up with a nut & oil free, low fat, raw, vegan sushi recipe that is just incredible!

It's not traditional simple low-fat fare; there are quite a few ingredients - but it's definitely a dish worth treating yourself to - without splurging on the fat, salt, and/or cooked foods!

There are 3 basic parts (rice, veggies, dipping sauces), plus the nori.

Rice
—1 head cauliflower
—¼ onion

Veggies
—2 carrots

—1 cucumber

Dips
—1in ginger, peeled & sliced
—½c water
—½ lime, juiced
—5 - 6 small dates (or 3 large), pitted

—1c arugula
—¾c water
—½ lime, juiced
—½ celery stalk
—1 garlic clove
—½ avocado

For the rice:
Chop cauliflower into pieces:

Put about a handful or two in your blender at a time, and pulse once or twice (until consistancy of rice):

Finally, mince onion and mix them in. Mix in a few tablespoons of ginger-date sauce.

For ginger-date sauce:
Put ¾c water, 1in ginger, and 6 dates in blender; blend until smooth. Mix some into 'rice' and set the rest aside.

For the pineapple-avocado sauce:
Blend arugula with water until smooth. Add celery, lime, and pineapple. Blend until smooth. Add ½ avocado.

For veggies:
Julienne or spiralize cucumbers. Shred, shave, or spiralize carrots (I used a veg peeler).

Assembly:
Lay out a nori roll, smooth side down. On one side, put a generous helping of cauliflower 'rice'. On top of the rice, put some carrot & cucumber, then drizzle some ginger-date & avocado-pinapple sauce, roll up tightly, and eat! (Or cut them into little noris, if you're sharing with other people. 

Yum! 

Before & After II

Hey! I just realized, yesterday was my one-year blogiversary! Exciting day. Haha

In honor of a year passing since my first blogpost... I figure perhaps another before and after is in order. ヅ

I honestly haven't changed in weight that much, but I have been getting stronger, losing retained water weight, etc. - also, I think I look significantly healthier now than I did a year ago...or two years ago...or three!

What do you guys think? ☺

This is me! Today! (Actually, that's a lie. It's me, last night, before I went to bed. Haha)

I've been raw vegan for 2 years, and vegan for 3 - and honestly I can't remember feeling better than I do right now! So glad I discovered LFRV.

Oh my goodness! Don't laugh, guys! Haha. This is me almost exactly a year ago! I honestly didn't realize there was such a change!

Well there it is, folks. This is before I removed nuts and oils from my life - and you can see the difference!

And here I am 2 years ago! Haha.

It's almost exactly a week after I went raw, I believe!

Don't be fooled by the relative healthy-looking-ness.

I was pretty much starving myself at this point,, and I had loads of makeup on.

..That's all I've got for ya today! Peace! ☮

Banana-nog!

YUM! So it turns out even raw vegans can sip eggnog by the fireside this holiday season! (And anybody else can have a nutritious, guilt-free version of this favorite holiday drink!) Just made this for breakfast this morning, it really does taste pretty eggnog-y. (And yummy!)

It's super easy to make:
—2 bananas, chunked
—2 frozen bananas, chunked
—1c coconut milk (or, if you're staying overt-free, coconut water would probably be good as well)
—½ tsp cinnamon (or more, to taste)
—dash nutmeg (to taste)

Throw everything in the blender and blend away until it's smooth and creamy...then pour into your favorite mason jar and enjoy!

Curry-Ginger-Lime Soup

Tonight, I got to make dinner for the fam - and of course I wanted to give the people I love something yummy that would also nourish them, like all food should.

Well. Dad didn't want to be adventurous and Joe wasn't hungry - so I actually just made dinner for Mom and I... but she loved it! (And so did I.)

Tonight, we dined upon a delicious Curry-Ginger-Lime Soup!

If you're craving a savory, flavorful, creamy, warm raw soup yourself, give this one a try!

The ingredients are as follows:

• 1 endive
• 2 c lettuce (I used romaine)
• 1 c warm water
• 2 Tbs fresh ginger
• 2 Tbs lime juice
• 1 tsp curry
• ½ avocado

• ½ cucumber
• 10 small dates (or 5 large)

I know, it's kind of a lot of ingredients. But it sure is good!

It's very easy to make, too - no worries! 

1. Chop dates and cucumber into small-ish chunks.
2. Blend romaine & endive with warm water until smooth.
3. Add ginger, lime, and curry. Blend again, just until mixed.
4. Add avocado. Blend one last time.
5. Pour into a bowl, mix in dates and cucumber, and enjoy!

Yum!

The Cooked Experiment

"You know what I want more than anything for Christmas, Daddy?" I asked, following a list of objects I would like to receive under the Christmas tree. "The gift of life! You could be vegan with me...vegan December. Peace on earth."

To my surprise, Dad didn't look at me as if I was being ridiculous. In fact, his response was, "I would be willing to be vegetarian - if you would start eating some cooked vegan foods again."

And that was how it started. My family is eating vegetarian meals, which I will share with them - in true family dinner fashion (which was done away with a while ago in my family, when I started taking interest in my health and the ingredients that would make up my sacred temple of a body, while my mother, father, and brother lacked this enthusiasm), throughout the month of December (maybe longer, if cravings for their meaty addictions don't get the best of them), as an experiment for themselves (and maybe a ploy to get me eating 'normal' food again, and to experience family dinners again).

I still won't eat wheat. I still won't eat salt. I still plan upon keeping it low fat high carb. My breakfast, lunch, and snacks will still be fruit. I don't think I'll eat legumes. I don't want to eat refined foods like flour and sugar. And as soon as January comes, I already can't wait to metaphorically throw myself back into fruit's perfect embrace and start repairing the damage that I know I'm furthering with each bite I take.

Both parties will obviously have to compromise this month to make this work. I know the idea that I would give up my fruit for a month sounds ludicrous to a lot of my friends who understand just what I'm giving up, and the damage that I will be putting myself through.

But for this month, because I love my family and because I know it will make them happy, I temporarily walk away from the beautiful, colorful, flavorful world that is low fat raw veganism, for the less enchanting reality of cooked veganism.

Anyhow, this month, I plan upon posting about things I'm experiencing differently from fruit, tribulations and triumphs, etcetera.

So, tonight was December 1st. I had my first cooked family meal, "Brown Rice & Lentil Soup". It was fat free, basically tomatoes, rice, lentils, corn, and some other vegetables, all mixed together into a soup. I noticed just a few things.

• The soup (though there was a lot of water in it from the tomato juice, I assume) felt quite dehydrating.
• I normally don't feel the need to drink much water throughout the day (and my pee is most always clear), but I've been drinking non-stop since dinner.
• I felt really super full.
• I was kind of hungry, and the soup was pretty good...but after about half a bowl, I felt so full I just couldn't eat anymore.
• It would seem it is way easier to eat lots of energy from fruit. I can't imagine I had more than 200cal over dinner...
• I felt emotionally off after dinner last nigh.
• I don't know whether it was real or in my mind, but I felt distracted, heavy, tired, and just not...lacking that emotional glow I feel from fruit, I guess. Interesting.

That's all I've got for today. But stay tuned, I guess. I plan on posting every few days, listing new experiences and noticings.

Peace!