seven things you don't know about me

recently i was tagged in a post at addicted to veggies so i wanted to share seven things you probably don't know about me:

friends

1. i am so blessed with the most beautiful set of people in my life. i get to hang out with the most diverse and radical people every day. often i find myself calling my friendships, "creationships" because i'm surrounded by people who share their passions and unconditional love.

my father

2. i have the most supportive, loving and caring father. he is an abundant source of insight and has allowed me to think freely ever since i was a child. this man his given his heart to his family before anything and makes it his job to see his children succeed in happiness.

reading

3. i love to get lost in stories. become part of other realms and live in fantasies far from the world we are from.

rain

4. one thing i really appreciate is rain. i love to walk outside when it's pouring, and jump in all of the puddles. it's a good feeling to let go of all self conscious and act exactly how your heart wants to. to achieve that free feeling you have when you are a child.

lost

5. i love to spend my time alone wandering around in familiar places getting lost in my own head. listening to everything i have to say and allowing myself to internalize the world around me. i like to find strange things people don't look twice at, and interact with beautiful things that uplift my emotions.

nature

6. i am conscious for my planet, because the root of my passions are all because of it. i love animals and our planet universally and appreciate the resources i am given. i love to play and adapt to all of the different environments our world has to offer.

and last but not least, i love love love, banana soft serve ice cream:

chocolate cashew soft serve

(serves 2)

3 bananas (chopped and frozen)

2 tablespoons raw cashew butter

1 heaping tablespoon raw cacao powder

1/2 tablespoon raw agave nectar

process bananas alone until it becomes creamy texture. then add the rest of the ingredients and pulsed until swirled in. delicious!

breath

rainbow chard

this week has been especially tough. i started teacher training for yoga this week and have been working late most days. i don't have to much free time to think. in the midst of it all i've been forgetting to just stop and breathe. its surprising how much breathing effects our day to day life. how it effects the way we process things, or our energy levels throughout the day. just taking a second to realign your breath and listen to your body is especially hard when your working retail! i've been catching myself getting overwhelmed and telling myself "its okay, your doing all good things." and that generally changes my mood.

but today i got to catch up on some much needed rest and also adventure into making things i was craving! on my days off i like to challenge myself with recipes as well as creating new ones.

rolling almond pate veggie nori rolls

inspired by ani phyo's blog

nut free crust

after leaving my friend jackie's house the other night i was craving some more fruit tart, so with inspiration from hers i created one myself this morning to freeze. (the picture below is pre-freeze so it was still a bit gooey) i tried to keep it like the original with a few friendly eating modifications.

mango breath fruit tart

(serves 4)

crust:

3 cups sunflower seeds

2 cups dates

3 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons shredded coconut

2 tablespoons raw agave nectar

pinch of pink himalayan sea salt

filling:

2 bananas

1 large mango

topping:

3 kiwis (or any cut fruit)

start by processing sunflower seeds and dates. add the rest of the crust ingredients and pulse until well combined. press the crust mixture into a pie plate and set in refrigerator to set. next process or blend bananas and mango together. pour filling into crust mixture and let freeze for a few hours and then serve. i topped mine with kiwis, but you can use any other fruit you would like. enjoy !

if your taking a picture, make sure you don't drop your camera into the tart like i did.

now i'm off to take a nap, do some om work (home work for yoga school) play some ukulele and get into empire strikes back with a bowl of banana soft serve. ☺

friends

red cabbage

today i had an amazing time. i spent my day off at a mineral/ rock expo with a couple of friends and picked up some really beautiful stuff. after that, i scootered over to my friend jackie's house. we planned on making pizza and what i came to was a surprise.

the surprise was colorful veggies in her garden. i haven't been to her house previously, so the mass abundance of produce was brilliant! there was everything we needed for our dinner. so we strolled through and picked out toppings for our pizza and what we needed to make salad.

we didn't eat pumpkins, but they're awesome anyways.

eggplants, roma tomatoes and jalapenos

we had a raw/ cooked fusion three course meal that consisted of:

spinach salad with beets, heirloom tomatoes, red cabbage and lemon dressing

vegan pizza with roasted garlic, basil, roma tomatoes, spinach, eggplant and mushrooms

and a raw fruit tart.

the raw fruit tart had a sunflower seed crust, and mango and strawberry filling. we topped it with fresh kiwis, strawberries and pineapple. pretty to look at, yummy to eat.

cooking with friends is magical. everyone gets to craft together and share stories while preparing. what i love is the inspiration that fills the room. i'm blessed to have friends with so many different skills and insight. food is just layers of amazingness. not only does it nourish us, but it brings us together.

mind

my new ukulele/ best friend

once you've set your mind towards something and have free and willing intention the easier things become. a year ago i tried to play guitar and i expected to much that i really didn't connect to it because of my lack of faith in myself. growing up and just a lot of different situations i've been in, i've realized that being self conscious definitely is the biggest road block between us and what we want to accomplish. it's not something new, but something never really acknowledged to often.

coming home from my trip with tons of magic and inspiration i set my mind to new things. i've picked up this instrument and really have been focused on chord work and practicing songs, and i'm really starting to strum along. it's amazing how much progress i've made just in a few days. the difference between the years is black and white. i care more about having fun then being great and thats a whole other lesson in itself.

what if we could have this focus for everything in our life. i think we can! really i do! just imagine if we stopped doubting ourselves and just kicked it in to gear! a lot of vibrant things would get done.

now for a sweet and sour concoction i whipped up a few times this week:

three berries in mind

(makes 2 16oz servings)

3 frozen and chopped bananas

28oz distilled water

hand full of raw cashews

3 tablespoons goji berries

1/4 cup frozen strawberries

1/2 cup frozen cranberries

pinch of pink himalayan sea salt

1 tablespoon acai powder (optional)

start by pulsing goji berries, cashews and acai powder (optional) alone. one pulsed into a powder add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth consistency!

time

i freeze a week of bananas for ice cream, smoothies and other recipes.

i've had the past couple days to really enjoy time to myself. i straightened up and got all of my busy errands done, took a few yoga classes and really made some yummy food.

it's good to really take advantage of the time you have because we are generally working or our and about. one thing i've been trying really hard to do is to maximize my free time so i'm doing something crafty versus watching movies or on the internet all the time. all of that raw energy keeps me going, serious!

my spiralizer (really awesome $30 investment!)

i like to add zucchini noodles to my salads for an extra crunch!

arugula/ spinach salad with flax seeds

I dressed it up with some creamy cashew dill sauce inspired by:

choosing raw, although i added some black pepper

and for a good quick recipe that i feel everyone should be able to create is:

simple guacamole

(makes 2 servings)

1 avocado

juice from 1 lemon

handfull of grape tomatoes

1/4 cup cilantro

1 teaspoon raw agave nectar

pink himalayan sea salt/ black pepper to taste

pit and chop avocado and place into bowl. mash well with juice from the lemon. you want a thick texture, but not to mushy. from here, place the rest of the ingredients and mix well!

our time to ourselves is precious. when we get our space to think and be ourselves some really creative stuff happens.

picnic

local kombucha and green salad with flax seeds, raisins and cashews

first, i want to say that i've been all over the place, so that has translated into not updating my blog. i've been slowly trying to get back into my raw routine and it's been good for the most part, but i've allowed myself to eat things i wouldn't normally! always vegan though =) i've been having a good time decompressing from my trip, but wow there is a lot of clean up. it's been over a week and i'm still getting things back to normal. but what is normal anyways?

one emotion i've been feeling is extremely excited.. and thats for yoga teacher training! i start on wednesday the 22nd. i've been given an extremely great opportunity to deepen my practice at a fraction of the cost because i clean at my yoga studio. i can't wait to be teaching classes! I'm so ready to share something so beautiful i practice in my life.

one thing that sparked inside of me when i came home is wanting to play music.. one night i was watching youtube videos of people playing ukulele.. so i decided i want to learn. literally, the next day (three days ago) i bought one and started practicing immediately. i've been hooked ever since. all of my free time has been dedicated to ukulele and yoga.

today i went to the park with a few friends and we sat in the sun. i brought along a big salad from my leftovers of vegetables from the week. it was nice to be in the outside for a few hours considering fall is peeking in. here in colorado we get sunshine 300+ days of the year, but when it's cold, it's cold! i've been taking advantage of as much sun as possible.

looking back (at four eyes) summer has been amazing. there was so many magic moments and i'm glad i was a part of them. i'm ready for the colder months and to play around in the fall. to me they are the most beautiful months of the year.

what i love

early wednesday farmers market is less crowded then the weekend.

what i love is getting to spend time with people i love. early this morning i went to yoga with one of my good friends piper. she has amazing energy and glad she is around. getting back into my routine has been easy with the support from the lovely people in my life and having a few days to myself to gather, clean and decompress from my vacation.

i am blessed with good light!

getting a good start to the morning energizes me for the rest of the day. i was able to go to the farmers market and pick all of my yummy fresh food for the week. what i did was really listen to what my body wanted, and i was surprised at what came out. i was craving onions, peppers and basil!

with an assortment of veggies and fruits i came home feeling inspired to create a herbed cream "cheese." so delicious!

true love herbed cream cheese

(makes 1 cup serving)

1 cup cashews (soaked for at least 2 hours)

2 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon pink himalayan sea salt

6 basil leaves

1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion

3 sprigs of minced parsley

juice from 1/2 lemon

pepper to garnish (optional)

once cashews are drained, process alone until you have a powder. add the rest of the ingredients and pulse together until the mixture becomes smooth and creamy.

- soaking nuts neutralize enzyme inhibitors and encourage good production of beneficial enzymes. soaking increases the vitamins and makes the nut much easier to digest. ideally you would want to soak longer, but a couple hours works. i generally have various nuts soaking the night before a day of recipes.

this makes a good dip for cut veggies, or a spread for crackers and bread. i generally double this recipe so i can have a good spread for the week!

welcome home

salad, fruit and local kombucha at watercourse foods

today is my first day back into the real world. let me tell you i had an amazing time. i'm just so thankful to have had the experience once again. i was able to maintain a very healthy diet and enjoy the company of so many beautiful people. there will be a whole post on my thoughts and eating at burning man, so look forward to that.

being in the rv for over 24 hours after a week of desert camping was pretty hard. we had very little food left and we were starting to get creative.. i.e. raw cashew butter banana raisin sandwiches on sprouted grain bread! after the travel and getting everything sorted i took one long shower and washed away all of the desert that came home with me. needless to say i was barely ready to prepare anything for myself so i headed over to watercourse and got a very yummy salad with arugula, olives, house sauerkraut and avocado.

watercourse foods is a vegetarian restaurant here in denver. they offer some really awesome gluten free options as well as a mainly vegan menu.

one thing i was craving was something i make pretty regularly a recipe i've perfected over time.. it seriously only takes about 10 minutes or less to prepare.

welcome home truffles

(makes 10-12)

truffles

1 cup raw cashews (soaked for 2 hours)

10-12 pitted medjool dates

1 tablespoon raw cacao powder

1 heaping tablespoon raw hemp seeds

2 tablespoons raw agave nectar

pinch of himalayan sea salt

1/4 cup raw sesame seeds to garnish

sauce (optional)

2 tablespoons raw agave nectar

1 tablespoon cacao powder

drain the raw cashews and process alone. once cashews are processed add additional ingredients. process until well combined. (i use a tablespoon to pre measure small increments of truffles) hand roll the 'dough' into balls. from here you can dip them into the sesame seeds. let the truffles sit in the refrigerator to set.

for the sauce simply stir the nectar and powder together. this is completely optional, but works well on raw ice creams!

if you want to add a rich flavor try adding 1 tablespoon of raw almond butter. yum!

anyways, it's good to be back home. i have a few days before work, but theres a lot i need to do to catch up.