So. Day 1 was a success!! I ate 100% raw, and felt great, until I realized that I was slightly dehydrated. I ended up with a headache that not even Advil could cure. It was HORRIBLE. Other than that, I would say that day 1 was great! I had tons of energy, slept great, and got a ton of stuff around the house accomplished.

As for exercise, Smalls and I danced our respective asses off to some good tunes for about an hour. Then we dissolved into giggle fits, which also burns calories. Score one for mama and son!

So…what did I eat yesterday?

Well…

For breakfast I had a smoothie that consisted of 3/4 of a pineapple, 4 bananas, and 5 chard leaves. It. Was. Delicious. Seriously, you should try it.

Lunch was a large meyer lemon tart (I’ll get the recipe up here eventually…

And dinner? I had raw ‘sushi’ with avocado, carrot, zucchini, tomato, and bell pepper, all wrapped in collard leaves. I love collards. They are SO good for you.

Happy Monday, y’all! Or you two. Pretty sure that it’s just Thai and Irene out there. Love you both. MWAH. Moving on. So. I’ve got cramps.

Don’t you feel better now that you know that? I know that I feel SO much better having shared this tidbit with you. They suck. Seriously. I’m almost 100% positive that cramps suck WORSE after you’ve had a c-section. At least Smalls and I are both miserable. Poor baby is cutting his incisors and having a heck of a time at it.

So. Cramps. Not only are they leading me down a path toward definitely NOT-raw waffle sammiches (OH.MY.GOD. Another post, but OH.MY.GOD. These things are like crack…not that I’ve ever done crack, but I assume…it’s okay to assume, right? I can’t get enough of them…which reminds me of why I stopped making them….) and chocolate.

DEAR LORD, do I want chocolate. So I got creative. I’m currently totally in LOVE with chia pudding.

Remember Chia Pets? They totally rock. AND, turns out, chia seeds are awesome. And they’re super healthy. BONUS!

They’re a great source of Omega-3, fiber and protein. Sign me up!!

So far, I’ve used them to make a strawberry pudding (YUM!), and tonight, I got creative and made myself some chocolate chia seed pudding. It rocked my world, y’all. And I think it’s gonna rock yours, too.

Here’s the recipe:

Raw Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding

1 cup raw vanilla almond milk
1/4 cup Chia Seeds
3 tbsp raw cocoa powder
1-3 tbsp raw agave nectar (depending upon how sweet you like your pudding)
dash of salt

So. Put everything in a bowl, adding the chia seeds last. Whisk until lumps disappear and everything is well blended. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. The longer it sits, the better it gets, trust me.

Then dig in! Enjoy a SUPER healthy, period-appropriate dessert.

So. Happy Friday, lovelies! Or lovely, since it appears that only ThaiHoa is reading this. LOVE YOU!!

Okay. Moving on.

I got the brilliant idea yesterday to make some raw almond butter. Yup. I’m a full-on domesticated-type goddess-person…at least I like to think so. Apparently I’m NOT.

Not at all. My almond butter is more like almond paste. In all fairness, my little 8-cup food processor probably doesn’t have a motor powerful enough to justify using it to make nut butters…at least that’s what I discovered as smoke started to come out of its base and a horrific screeching noise came from the actual blade. Yeah. Not my proudest moment. So.

Now I have almond paste. It will serve it’s purpose for this morning’s breakfast sushi. It was surprisingly yummy. I dare you to try it!

I did have a modicum of success in the kitchen yesterday, even though my almond butter was a #EPICFAIL.

I made more kale chips (I can’t keep them in the cupboard!!), and make some spicy zucchini chips…wait. What? You’d like the recipe? Sure thing!

Raw Spicy Zucchini Chips

Juice from 2 1/2 lemons
3 tbsp cold pressed olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
dash oregano
3-5 zucchini (depending on size. I used 5 small)

Start by mixing everything but the zucchini in a large bowl. slice your zucchini into thin disks using a mandolin or a sharp knife. Add zucchini to your sauce and stir to coat. Place the chips into the dehydrator. Allow to dehydrate for 24 hours at 105-110 degrees. Enjoy!!

Okay…moving on. It’s good, y’all. You should try it. If you have been craving potato chips, these are WAY better. Just sayin’….

AND, I made raw almond milk. SO yummy! Now to make some chia pudding….

Okay. So I went a little bit overboard with the zucchini buying this week. I have 1 large and 6 tiny (they’re adorable!) zucchini. I made some zucchini pasta last night to go with my RAWsome green smoothie (recipe follows). It was DELISH. I am going to use the rest of the zesty marinara to top some avocado crostini for breakfast. YUMMY!

Moving on. So. Zucchini surplus. What is it with me and an overabundance of vegetables this week? Not that I’m complaining. I love veggies. And fruit. It’s an equal partnership to keep my body happy. So. Too much zucchini (since I don’t like having pasta every night, and I’ve already made some wraps…). I’m going to make some crunchy zucchini chips.

Yes, you read that correctly. ZUCCHINI CHIPS. Spicy ones. If they turn out, I’ll share the recipe. I just have to wait for the kale chips to crisp before I spice up my zucchini and start dehydrating it.

Now for that recipe that I promised…

Green Sunshine Smoothie

2 ripe bananas (make sure they have brown spots)
1 kiwi
3 tangelos
3 kale leaves, stems removed

Place all ingredients in your blender, with the wettest (tangelos, everyone. NOT bananas. Don’t be like me.) ingredients on the bottom, kale on the very top. Blend away. ENJOY!

Happy Monday, lovelies! Have you heard of mocha? NO, it’s not RAW. Bad me. I know, I know. But it’s SOOOOOO delicimous! Serioulsy. You HAVE to try this stuff (recipe follows).

Oops! I forgot. How are you feeling? Did you have a good weekend? How are your resolutions (just because I didn’t make any doesn’t mean that you didn’t) coming?

Okay…back to what I was saying. I. LOVE. MOCHI. It’s gooey-ooey-yummyness all rolled up into one. It’s pretty much as perfect as a food can get…a cooked food.

So what is this stuff? Well, mochi is made by soaking short grain glutinous or sticky rice overnight, cooking it, and pounding it into a sticky paste. The paste is molded, and sometimes blended with other flavors, such as mugwart and sweet brown rice
(my FAV). It’s OMIGODDELICIOUS.

And I totally binged on it. Yup. I had TWO FULL PACKS (that’s SIX blocks, or 12 individual servings, y’all). It was HEAVEN. OOEY, GOOEY, SMOOSHY, DELICIMOUS HEAVEN. No regrets, except that it is NOT raw, and I felt like crap waking up the next morning…weird how cooked foods do that to me know. I just felt…

HEAVY.

Now, that’s not to say that you won’t enjoy mochi and not feel that way. If you’re used to cooked foods, and haven’t been eating entirely raw for any length of time, you’ll probably die of pleasure. Seriously.

How to prepare it? Okay…one more thing, though. If anything, this little experiment has convinced me that being 100% raw is a GOOD thing for my body. YAY for revelations!

Sweet Mochi Puffs

3 squares mochi, halved
1 tbsp olive oil
powdered sugar
brown rice syrup

Heat skillet (preferably cast iron) and olive oil over medium heat. Add the mochi halves, so that they do not touch. Cover with a lid for four minutes (set the timer!!). After 4 minutes, remove the lid, and carefully flip the mochi. They should be starting to puff a little, and will be sticky. Recover with lid and allow to cook for three minutes more. move to a plate, sprinkle with powdered sugar and drizzle with brown rice syrup (agave would also work). Dig in!!

Hello, everyone! I hope that you’re enjoying reading about my journey so far!! I am having a blast! This morning I Zumba-ed while Smalls napped (no giggling at me this time!), and then we headed out for my bowl. I have to say that everyone at my GG location is super sweet. AND, they are working on losing weight with me! How awesome is that?!

When Smalls and I got home, we did some mommy and me exercises (He loves to dance around with me and play ‘airplane’.) and then I kicked my rear with a combination of Tracy Anderson and Physique 57. OUCH. That’s all I have to say. My hips and thighs are KILLING me. They feel like they’re ON FIRE. YEOWCH. I have to admit that I have the world’s best trainer, which makes working out that much easier. Smalls just smiles encouragingly at me while I’m working the weight off. He’s so positive! I love it!

My tip of the day? Learn to use chopsticks (without any of the cheats that are out there)! They’re more difficult to use than a fork, and truly hinder you from shoveling food into your mouth. Normally (with a fork) a bowl would take me all of 5 minutes to devour, but with chopsticks, it takes me nearly 30 minutes to eat, and I notice that I’m barely able to finish my bowl because my tummy feels full, so I stop. YAY!

I also have to mention that I cannot wait until Sunday! I’ve banished the scale to my closet so that I won’t psyche myself out. Stay tuned for my Sunday night confession: inches, pounds and all the gory details of where I started!

And now for the food:

Breakfast: 1 cup Kashi Go LEAN Crunch with 1 cup chocolate Silk Almond Milk …go ahead, roll your eyes. It’s GOOD!

Snack: Pumpkin Shake

Lunch: Sweet & Sour Tofu Bowl with brown rice (only 350 calories!)

Snack: frozen yogurt and a banana

Dinner: black bean burrito with rice, bell peppers, mushrooms, and salsa verde (OH, and about 2 TBSP of guacamole)

And my planned snack for tonight?: frozen grapes!

Please vote for me at the Health Kwest website, and by liking my daily comments on Genghis Grill’s Page on Facebook.

“What’s this?” said Ish. “It’s a parsnip,” I replied. “A what?” “A parsnip. Kinda like a carrot, only sweeter. They’re good.” Ish put the parsnip back and looked at me like I’d just stated that the sky was green (it wasn’t in case you’re wondering). I love parsnips. If you haven’t tried them, they’re great slow roasted with some carrots and sweet potatoes. Parsnips are also a great substitute for crab (if you have the inclination or miss crab salad) in the vegan world. I will admit that I’ve been missing my pre-vegan crab salad loving ways. It’s not the crab that I miss, though-it’s the creaminess and the contrast of textures. So I set out to replicate the flavors that I loved so much. I don’t have any kelp powder (just haven’t been able to find any locally and am absolutely against paying more in shipping than the actual jar is worth!), so what I came up with didn’t have that ‘fishy’ taste-but it was cool, creamy, and just what I was missing. I caught Ish stealing bites out of the fridge before it had chilled (I like to let it sit for awhile to let the flavors meld). Here’s the recipe:

‘Crab’ Salad

• 2  c  shredded peeled parsnip
• 1/4  c  finely chopped celery
• 1/4  c Veganaise
• 2  tblsp minced fresh onion
• 1-2  tblsp  soy or almond milk (coconut isn’t the best for this) for thinning
• a pinch of  kosher salt
• a pinch of  freshly ground black pepper

Mix everything well and let it chill for at least 1 hour. You can mix this recipe up by adding cayenne or hot sauce-it’s very open to interpretation. If you sub scallions for the onion and add some slivered almonds it’s really yummy, too!

Since my first attempt was SUPER successful, I thought ‘why not?’ So, I made another batch of brioche this morning…but this time, I baked it the old fashioned way. (I have to say that my house smells AMAZING!) It turned out wonderfully!! I did cheat a little and let the bread machine do the mixing-there’s really no nice warm spot in my house that I can use to let the dough rise since I live in Texas and it’s 70+ degrees in the winter. Since my recipe turned out so well, I thought that I would share (and I did promise Christina that I would post the recipe). I will warn you that this recipe is DELICIOUS, and may cause you gain a few pounds since it’s hard to have just one slice.

My Brioche:

And now…

I started preparing for our month of full-blown veganism (remember that I am vegan, but Ish is not). I have to start by saying that I am SO excited!! I went to the grocery store and loaded up on all of the good stuff: plenty of veggies, fruits, legumes, and some nummy soy products. When I got home, I got started prepping. I wanted to make sure that there were plenty of hubby-friendly snacks on hand (he doesn’t like to do much prep), so I chopped some veggies, cleaned some cherry tomatoes (YUM!), and made power balls and granola. I LOVE granola. My house smells heavenly, and now I can’t stop snacking! While the granola was baking, I also made a wonderful sushi salad. It was so yummy, I ate until my tummy hurt (in a good way). I stumbled on the recipe in my new cookbook Appetite for Reduction and was definitely not disappointed. Ish even thought it was particularly yummy-in fact, the salad tasted just like my favorite veggie rolls! I will definitely have to make it again. I wanted to be sure to share my recipes for the power balls and granola, as they have been snack staples for me (just not normally in the same week), and are great for curbing those holiday cravings for less than healthy snacks.

The granola is simple (I just eye the quantities): combine 2 1/2 cups rolled oats, 1/4 c almonds, 1/4 c walnuts, 1/4 c cashews and 1/4-1/3 c seeds (sunflower or pumpkin work well) with 1/4 c canola oil and 1/3 c real maple syrup in a large bowl and stir to combine. Add in a dash (about 1/8 tsp) of salt, and some cinnamon (taste it so you don’t get too much). Then, dump your mix onto a baking sheet and spread it out. Pop everything into a 350 degree oven. Set your timer for 5 minutes-the take the granola out and stir it…repeat another few times, until it turns yummy and golden. Be careful not to let it burn! I didn’t watch carefully the first time I tried to make it, and ended up with sadly charred bits. Normally, it takes a total of about 20 minutes to cook. Once it’s done, let it cool, then you can add in any dried fruits that you may want…I like cranberries and cherries. Enjoy!

And now for the powerballs…take 6-8 medjool dates, pit them and soak them in HOT water for about 10 minutes. While that is working, toast 1 1/2 cups walnuts (doesn’t matter if they’re chopped or not) either in the oven or on the stovetop. Drain the dates really well. While that’s happening, put your walnuts into a food processor and let them go until they’re near dust. Then add in your dates, and 1 tsp pure vanilla extract. Blend until the whole thing looks like cookie dough. Now, form the dough into little bite-sized balls or press it into an 8×8 pan lined with waxed paper (if you choose to go this route, chill it down, pull it out of the pan, and then cut into bars). Chill tightly covered and enjoy! You can also vary the flavor by adding 2 tbsp of either cocoa powder, key lime juice, coconut, almond extract, etc. Get creative!