Recently, the best place to find me would be standing in front of my refrigerator with a spoon in a jar of almond butter. This is new to me. I've officially crossed over to the dark side. Please tell me you've been there too.
This love for almond butter crept up on me slowly until it became a full-blown obsession. Now, my day is not complete without a scoop of almond or peanut butter in my mouth.
I've been trying to come up with different ways to feed my all my AB/PB cravings. I'll have a scoop of it over some banana after a workout, I smear it over some apples for a mid-day snack, I make it in a smoothie with cacao and mint and have it for breakfast, and I eat it straight out of the jar .... oh sorry, I've already mentioned that.
I've been trying to come up with another way that I can devour my favorite treat, and I decided I wanted something that incorporated not just almond butter, but my favorite things to eat with my almond butter.
I thought about dipping bananas into some sort of almond butter chocolate concoction, then I thought, sure that would be great, but how often am I going to make that. Then, the light bulb went off. I can just blend everything together and make fun little bite sized snack things. Simple. Easy. Yes!
You know what is awesome about these bites? I can eat them for breakfast and I pretend like I am being really bad, but actually I am being really really good. Give me one of these little bites over a muffin any day of the week. In fact, give me 7. These also make awesome snacks, as well as dessert that you can bring over to a friend's house. Loaded with vitamins and antioxidants, this could be one of the healthiest and tastiest little bites you will ever put in your mouth.
Be sure to adjust any ingredients depending on the amount that you are going to eat out of the jar/blender.
Let's be serious for a second. I'm not fooling anyone with this vegetable stack.
You and I both know that stacking vegetables makes them look wayyy better than if I were to just carelessly throw them into a salad. It's impressive, it's fun, it's thought out, it makes you feel super creative. We should all be stacking more vegetables.
It's like when I get my hair blown out, I just feel a little more fancy and little more special. Same hair, same person, just a little something extra. Same tomatoes, same ingredients, but they just look and feel a little more special.
When I was at the market the other day, I saw dozens of gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. I wanted to take a bunch home and love them and make them feel special. I didn't want to mutilate them, I wanted to show off their quirky crevices and imperfect shape. I wanted to bring out their juicy texture and taste. I wanted to throw a party and have them be the main event.
Well, I ended up making this salad and ate it all by myself for lunch. Tomato party for one .... why not, right? But as I was eating it, I daydreamed about how impressive it would be to walk out with these gorgeous stacks of tomatoes as an appetizer at our next bqq. I am going to do that, I think you should too.
A funny thing happened the other morning. I was going about my morning routine, running a few errands, when I was stopped by a man on the street. He goes:
"Excuse me, would you happen to know where the nearest place is that I can buy a julienne peeler?"
To which I responded "Well, that's funny, because I am actually on my way to buy a julienne peeler."
(whaaaaaat .... soooo random)
Me: "A few blocks away in the Chelsea Market there is a store called Bowery Kitchen. They sell everything, I am almost certain they will have a julienne peeler."
Guy on street: "Thanks! I am trying to eat healthier, so I thought it would be great for me to buy one so that I can eat more raw veggies."
Right on guy. Right on.
The story does not stop there. So, I continue on my way, run a few quick errands, and head over to buy my julienne peeler .... and there's the guy. Scouring the peeler section. I went over to him and said "Looks like you found it!"
Guy: "Hey! Yeah! I did, but I don't know which one to buy."
Well, then, of course I went on a bit of a tangent about different peelers, what purpose they each serve, as well as different things you can make with raw vegetables. Raw veggie pasta, raw veggie salad, raw veggie noodle pad thai.
In fact, that's what's been on my mind. Raw pad thai. That's was why I was buying a julienne peeler.
Last summer I bought this crazy, clunky Japanese spiralizer that I would make noodles with. The problem was, I hated using that thing. It was not very user friendly and it was taking up a lot of precious cabinet space.
There's been a lot of talk recently about a julienne peelers, so I thought maybe that would a better solution than my cumbersome spirilizer. WELL. I am telling you. This $5 piece of kitchen equipment will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Seriously people. Life changing.
Being able to eat more raw veggies in the summertime, being able to eat my favorite pasta dishes subbing veggies for the bad carbs .... amazing. Yes. Run out and buy one right now.
Hold on, I am sure that many of you probably already have a julienne peeler, and many of you have probably already told all of your family, friends, and the checkout person at the grocery store how amazing it is. So, those of you can realte to my level of enthusiasm.
The first thing I made with my julienne peeler was this creamy pesto zucchini dish. Seriously delicious.
The second thing I made was this raw pad thai. I have been dying to make raw pad thai ever since we moved away from my favorite raw foods restaurant, and I am no longer able to order it on the regular. So now that I have my handy fancy julienne peeler I will be making my own. On the regular.
So the story ends with me the and the guy each buying our own julienne peelers ... and we go off on our merry ways to live happy, raw veggie filled lives. And, I hope (if you don't already have one) you will go out and do the same.
When I chop a lot I think a lot.
Even thought there's a lot of thinking going on when I'm chopping, it's the kind of thinking that clears my head the same way running or exercise would.
I am not good at not thinking, I wish I was a little better at it. In yoga when they tell you to quiet your mind, that's right about the time that my mind starts to wander to some far-off bizarre places. It probably sounds a little like this:
I want to adopt another dog that is a cross between a newfoundland and a king charles cavalier
ahh! I forgot to email so and so back
I really want a yellow mixing bowl
a nice wrap dress for the summer would be a great addition to my wardrobe
I need to get a pedicure
I've had a lot on my mind recently. Nothing crazy, but we just have a lot going on right now. It's impossible to stay balanced all the time, so when things are a little off kilter, I need to find ways to make it back to my center place.
Yoga usually gets me there (despite my wandering mind), and chopping. Lots of chopping.
Maybe that's how this slaw recipe came to be. Maybe I just needed to chop it out.
As I am sure you know, I am a sucker for twists on classic recipes. This recipe takes a classic slaw and adds a lot of fun surprises. The cilantro mayo dressing is light, bright, and happy, and the snap peas add this lovely little unexpected crunch. It all goes so well together that this side dish might become the main event.
This slaw would pair well with so many things. It would be killer on top of these quinoa burgers I made recently, or maybe beside some shish kabobs, or a nice piece of fish .... or if you're like my husband, you can just eat it straight out of the bowl for lunch (yes, he did that).
Now that summer is coming up, I love to have fun recipes like this handy for when we are grilling or if I need to bring something to a friend's BBQ. It's vegan (depending on the type of mayo you want to use) and gluten-free, so you won't have to worry about food preferences or allergies with this dish.
I realize that fresh sugar snap peas are seasonal and are only around for a short time so make this while you can. They tend to taper off around mid-summer around here. If you want to make this and cannot find sugar snap peas, a snow pea would be a okay substitute, or you can just make it without the snap pea. Even though the snap peas are the real treat, the cilantro mayo and cabbage can still hold it's own.
This past weekend, Michael and I celebrated out 1 year anniversary. Our anniversary is on Cinco de Mayo, and I kind of love that we share our anniversary with a silly, happy, tequila drinking, mexican food eating holiday. I cannot believe it has been one year already, this has undoubtedly been the fastest year of my life. Well ... know what they say .......
We didn't make a big deal over our anniversary. We spent the day attending a culinary class that Michael had gotten me for Christmas. For dinner, we had sushi at a no-frills, hole-in-the-wall sushi place down the street from us. It was peaceful, perfect, exactly how I wanted it to be.
In celebration, I thought about posting a fun cupcake recipe for you here, or maybe even a mexican-themed dish, but I just wasn't feeling it. I have been really into spring vegetables and salads recently, so instead I thought I would go with one of my newest and prettiest salads.
Simple, perfect, not over the top, just how our anniversary was spent.
We are in the height of asparagus season right now, and the asparagus that I've been finding at the markets have been so good that they are just as deliciuos raw as they are cooked. If you can find them, the white asparagus are a real treat. They have a slightly brighter taste than the green, and they go so well together in this salad, visually and taste-ually (is that a word? I don't think so).
The carrots add another layer of taste and color to the dish. I looked for colorful carrots, and could not find any, but if you are lucky enough to find some I am sure they would make for a stunning presentation.
Thinly slicing and marinating vegetables has a way of making raw vegetables taste "cooked". You can eat this totally raw, or if you want a little more umph to it you can add in rice, quinoa, millet, or any grain or you like. I loved the look of the red rice. I'm big into color coordination here if you haven't been able to tell.
I’ve been making and eating a lot of lettuce wraps recently. For lunch, for an appetizer, for no real reason at all. I know it might not sound very exciting, but trust me, I'm talking about some high-maintenance lettuce wraps here.
High-maintenance in the best way possible. Bear with me now...
Not the kind of high-maintenance that would scare you away. You know I don't like things to be too complicated around here. Just the kind of high-maintenance that takes something that needs a little fixing up and making it a little fancier.
It all started when I found the most beautiful head of butter lettuce at my local Whole Foods, that was grown here, locally in Brooklyn. Beautiful lettuce from Brooklyn? I was smitten. This lettuce was meant for big, beautiful, veggie-filled lettuce wraps.
I started with a basic lettuce wrap with lots of raw veggies and some pea pesto that I had made recently. They were delicious. The pea pesto really made the wrap, but I thought maybe it could use a little something else.
A few days later, Michael and I wanted a snack, and I had a little leftover butter lettuce so I decided to make some more lettuce wraps. This time I added some black beans for some protein and a dash of hot sauce for some spice. These lettuce wraps rocked our world.
Because they were so good, I had to make them again. This time for myself for lunch, but I went one step further and I decided to make my own hot sauce. I have been dying to make my own sriracha for quite some time and in browsing some favorite blogs of mine I found this great recipe to make a proper sriracha (one that would taste exactly like the original but without the added preservatives) however it requires days of fermentation. Something I will be tackling soon, but not today. I needed some hot sauce, pronto.
So I found a few other recipes, this one from Winnie of Healthy Green Kitchen, via this post from Sarah from Sprouted Kitchen. It looked super easy so I gave it a go. This hot sauce is awesome. Although it is not exactly like sriracha, it is close enough for me. I made a large batch and have been putting it on anything and everything.
I have a thing for hot sauce if you couldn't guess.
Now, of course, if you are not a hot sauce person, you can totally leave it out. The lettuce wraps are just as great without it. You can also make up any combination of veggies and beans that you like. White beans and red pepper, chickpeas and carrots. This is a fridge leftover kid of recipe.
What's also great about these is that they are like a reconfigured salad. So if you are bored with your salad routine, go make yourself some fancy, high-maintenance lettuce wraps for lunch.
With the never-ending winter we've been having here, I've been yearning for a little warm weather fun so last weekend Michael and I headed down to Cartagena, Colombia for just that.
When we were trying to figure out where to go, we were surprised to find that Jet Blue now has direct flights to Cartagena from NYC. Michael is Colombian and this was our first trip there together, and my first time to Colombia, so when we figured out that we could easily get there, there was no question. Yes. Take me there.
The old town in Cartagena is one of the most colorful and vibrant cities I have ever experienced. Being surrounded by bright beautiful colors and humidity makes me happy. We had such a great time wandering the streets, eating, drinking out of coconuts and taking tons of photos. I loved being there with Michael, hearing him reminisce about certain foods that he would eat when he lived there and experiences he had as a kid.
Since Cartagena is located on the Caribbean sea, there is no lack of fresh fish and light, tropical meals. Ceviche is big there, and we made sure we tried our fair share. So fresh, so good.
While we were eating and trying all kinds of seafood ceviche, I thought to myself, why haven't I seen a vegetable ceviche on any menu? You know what happened next.
When we got home the first thing I made was a vegetable ceviche with radishes, apples, and a lot of other tasty ingredients like avocado, red onion and lemon juice that make a typical seafood ceviche taste so good. The zesty radish flavor pairs so well with the sweetness of the apple. It's such a fun and colorful snack or appetizer. The only thing that was missing was the 80º weather.
If we're anything alike, you probably pretend that you don't care all that much about Valentine's Day, but deep down you love it and you're secretly hoping for a surprise delivery of big, beautiful bouquet of flowers.
When I was single, sometimes I would hope that some really hot guy like ..... say ..... Bradley Cooper would send an enormous lovely bouquet of flowers to my work. You know, because stuff like that happens on Valentine's Day all the time.
Now that I am happily married, I still pretend like I don't care all that much, and I still secretly hope that Michael will surprise me with flowers, or a food-related thing. And he does. He always does well.
{and ... sorry Brad, you can hold the flowers, Michael beat you to the chase.}
I love Valentine's Day. It's a holiday about love. It's another reason to show the person/people in your life that you love them. It does not have to be a romantic type of love, it can be a friendship love, a parental love, an animal love. Celebrating love is a wonderful thing.
I think one of the best ways to show someone you love them it to make something for them. And when that something is raw, vegan and loaded with super healthy vitamins and antioxidants, well then you are spreading extra special love all around.
Nothing says "I love you" like homemade chocolate truffle rolled in a powerful aphrodisiac. Yes you heard me correctly. Goji berries are known in Asian herbalism not only for their high antioxidant content, but also for their aphrodisiac qualities.
Every single ingredient in this truffle is a super ingredient with superpowers. Cacao, cinnamon, coconut oil, and hazelnuts are all great for us, especially when consumed raw.
I cannot think of a better gift than a homemade truffle that is as chocolatey and tasty as it is good for you.
Happy Valentine's Day! XO
let's talk truths.
truth: I love NY
truth: sometimes I try and tell myself that the green smoothie I had for breakfast will negate the french fries I had at lunch
truth: I'm uncomfortable with the question: "what's your favorite recipe?" because I do not have a favorite recipe
truth: I love my husband more and more every day (yes, I am one of those people)
truth: I just ate an entire container of hummus and mary's gone crackers and I was not even hungry
truth: I hug my dog on average 7 times a day
truth: I make raw brownies all the time, however, when coming up with this new raw brownie recipe it took me 4 tries to get it all just right
truth: these raw fudge brownies are gooey, chocolaty, and addictingly delicious
truth: raw cacao (like the kind you use to make these brownies) has the highest amount of antioxidants per serving of any "superfood"
truth: raspberries and chocolate are totally meant for each other
truth: these brownies and the vanilla raspberry sauce are made without butter, eggs, sugar, and guilt
truth: these brownies will definitely cure chocolate cravings and impress friends