Adventures in health food-land
Now thats what a pre-packaged fruit salad should look like!
I’m not only a certifiable raw-food nut but, I also love meandering around health food stores gawking at all the different products and goodies like a kid in Willy Wonkas’ chocolate factory. This started looong before I got into raw-foods and has only steadily worsened since. Although now I don’t take much interest in pre-packaged eats or vitamin fortified thing-amabobs (considering the amount that whole vitamins and minerals I’m ingesting in my current diet I don’t feel the need for them ….except for b12 but, that’s another post!). I still enjoy smelling all the essential oil laden products, trying to figure out the latest tongue-scraping technology and drooling over the latest eco-friendly kitchen gizmos. So I thought it’d be fun to share some of the neat stuff I picked up during my travels this past weekend as Amanda and I found ourselves lost in Whole Foods…again. *note; I’m not receiving any $ for the products or places I’m discussing here just sharing some of my fun-finds*
First off is this nifty product for all the germaphobes out there (like myself and many people I know!). The hand sanitizing products have met their green match! Instead of using alcohol to nuetralize noxious microbes, Clean Well All Natural Hand Sanitizer uses a blend of essential oils to kill 99.99% of germs. We thought this would come in real-handy after our experiences with , forgive the pun, crappy public restroom experiences during our ride up to CT. I like the smell of it and it doesn’t leave my hands feeling dry after using it It did get a lot of use on our ride home!
I’ve been meaning to pick up one of these ceramic veggie peelers for ages and I’m glad I finally did! This mamajama ,made by kyocera, cut like a razor blade and quickly turned a hapless cucumber into a pile of thin fettuccine-like noodles which I seasoned up with some hemp-oil, minced garlic, red-pepper flakes and sea-salt in what I like to refer to as “Cucumber aioli”. De-freakin’-licious!! One of the benefits of ceramic blades over steel is that it doesn’t impart a metallic flavor or smell to your food, it resists rusting, holds its sharpness 10x longer than regular blades, and because it’s chemically inert it doesn’t cause browning of your foods in the way that steel can. Neat stuff! 
Last but not least is this delicious kombucha creation, High Country’s “Wild Root”. I do brew/grow kombucha myself but, can’t resist sampling new flavors of the pre-made creations that are out there! This pro-biotic, naturally carbonated living beverage is cleverly flavored with sarsparilla, licorice, yellow dock, burdock and dandelion root amongst other natural flavors to give it an almost birch-beery taste. Nice!! I discovered this refreshing brew at Catch a Healthy Habit.
Take care everyone and happy health-ware hunting! :0)
More fun in CT!
Hey everyone! Been going hardcore with the moving preparations lately as the countdown is closing in! This past weekend we did a lil’ pre-moving, loaded up the Honda Fit (as much as you can load up a Fit) with some of our store-able possessions, packed up the vita-mix and some munchies and headed up for the weekend. March 26th is the big move and my family and I are very excited about our new adventure!
The Kale Whale!
Speaking of new adventures…We had the opportunity to attend Kevin and Anne Marie Giannis’ send off party/pot-luck last Friday. We had a kick a$$ time, sampled and shared some yummy eats. Our “salsa non queso” dip was a big hit! We used the taco sauce recipe from the previous post, reduced the amount of water though and stirred in some Zukay living salsa. The resemblance to the original cheezy tortilla dip was uncanny! We served it with cauliflower florets, carrots and my flax/sunflower tortilla chips! We also got to meet some awesome people, including Kevin and Anne Marie, and were able to take a tour of their veggie oil fueled RV “The Kale Whale”! I’m really geeked up for them to not only be embarking on their tour but, also to be fueling their travel with this eco-friendly technology! Back in the day, while working at the Fulton Farm of Wilson College I had the chance to produce Bio-diesel from recycled veggie oil and love the concept of transforming a waste product into a low-emission alternative to fossil fuels! Best wishes to Kevin and Anne Marie on their crusade of spreading their wealth of healthy living information throughout their tour. Rawk on!!
From left: Amanda, Me, Bette, Barbara, Kevin Gianni, and Me again!
Saturday we checked out Health in a Hurry in Fairfield, CT. This awesome lil’ fast healthy food restaurant run by Sue Cadwell offers vegetarian, vegan and raw vegan eats made fresh and packed grab-n-go style for people looking for a healthy (and delicious) alternative to fast food!
I sampled Sues’ raw spinach soup and enjoyed it thoroughly!! Wonderful spice and texture to it! :0D Definitely recommend stopping in there if you’re in the area and also giving her website a look!
reboundin'
On our way home Sunday afternoon Amanda and I made a pit stop at Catch a Healthy Habit. We picked up a bunch of raw-goodies! Raw-cacao butter, maca, and mesquite …yeah I’m gonna be whipping up some raw chocolate concoctions soon! While there, couldn’t pass up the chance to grab some of Glens’ delicious snacks; chocolate cookies, chocolate chip cookies and nutmeg infused chocolates (WOW is all I can say about those) good stuff! Also sampled a shot of the infamous and powerful “Island Fire”, a noni-berry juice based superfood elixir with one heck of a bite to it! The lingering warm feeling it imparts was really nice on a cold day!
The Raw Food Wonder Emporium!
Peace! :0)
My top five books
Recently I was tagged by my buddyYardnsacker asking “What are your top five favorite books?” This was a tough question as I have soooo many faves so I picked some that were particularly inspirational to me. :0) I hope you enjoy!
In praise of…toothpicks?
I’ve always loved chewing on toothpicks ever since back in the day as a lil’ kid. We’d be leaving a restaurant and my mom would get annoyed at me grabbing one of those mint-tipped buggers from the counter, fearing I’d choke on it, or put my eye-out or one of those things parents typically stress about.
Now that I’ve grown up and gotten hardcore with healthy eating I’ve since given up chewing gum, mostly because it’s now loaded with artificial sweeteners (one of which I’ve found out for sure that I’m actually allergic to) and if it’s not full of them it’s got a heapin’ helpin’ of corn syrup. But occasionally I miss chewing, especially since I drink a lot of smoothies! So what to do? Well when we were in Whole Foods I found Preserve brand Cinnamint toothpicks. *Mmmmm* (I’m not gettin’ paid to endorse them or anything) They’re freakin good! It keeps my jaws moving, saliva forming (which is very helpful in our central heated world), freshens my breath, and keeps away munchy feelings.
So with my newly revisited habit I’m now gonna look like someone trying to kick cigarettes (which my grandfather did successfully with the aid of toothpicks….and no he didn’t later die of Dutch Elm disease :0P ) but, it’s all good! I was a lil’ concerned that Amanda was gonna be disturbed by this as she says “It makes you look red-necky” But, alas she must thinks its’ alright because she had put a container of their tea tree mint flavored ones in my stocking this Christmas!
Happy Holidays!
Tonight we’re gonna be lounging by the Christmas tree, watchin’ some holiday flicks and I’m gonna be blendin’ up some “Warm Cacao”~
3 cups almond milk
4 Tbsps cacao powder
4-5 Tbsps raw honey ( I know I like it on the sweet side use less if desired! )
sm pinch of salt
1/4-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract or a 1/2′ piece of bean
Blend thoroughly and transfer to a small pan ( double boiler style prefereable) and warm gently on the lowest your range-top can go, stirring constantly and either use your best judegment or a candy thermometer and heat it to about 115-118F. If you’re using a high-speed blender you can simply run it a bit until the blades’ friction warms it!
You can tweak the recipe by adding some cinnamon, cardamom powder, or mint (fresh or extract). A good sub for the original x-mas special!
I thought I’d repost Amanda’s video of our sad lil’ rescued fakie-tree. Its apparantly our last holiday with it as it’s fallin’ apart now (oh well at least we kept it from the landfill this long!) and my terrible attempt at caroling!
Happy Holidays to everyone! Peace and many well wishes! :0)
Random fun musical sampling!
Just thought I’d take a moment to share some of my current fave music videos with you! Enjoy~
Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip ~ Thou Shalt Always Kill
Don’t quite get the bit at the end about that commandment but, a clever and funny song none-the less!
Fat Boy Slim ~ Push the Tempo
Awesome song and a hysterical video to go along with it! Warning may cause involuntary movement of your butt. :0)
Bright Eyes ~ First Day of My Life
Beautiful song and cute video. Makes me think of Amanda every time I hear it. :0D
Hope you enjoy the tunes! Peace and rawness ’till next time.
Fruit!
Here is something a lil’ fruity from one of my faveorite comedians, Eddie Izzard. Pardon the foul language please, it was too funny to not re-post. :0)
