Category Archives: raw

Kaeng Raeng Cleanse Grocery Haul

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Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing well and had a great week so far! I forgot to update you all but my tooth never healed and actually got much worse so I ended up having to schedule the root canal which actually just happened. I can’t feel half of my face typing this, lol. It actually is perfect timing as I received my Kaeng Raeng Cleanse in the mail yesterday and I’m planning on starting it this weekend! In order to prepare I went to Whole Foods this morning before the dentist so I wouldn’t have to attempt to speak to anyone with a numb face ;)

So before I get into the haul just a little info about the cleanse. It consists of three smoothies a day that include a mix that they send. You can just use the contents of the packet or you can blend in fruit, greens, etc. You can supplement the smoothies with raw fruits and veggies so you get to chew as well as sip which is pretty great for a cleanse. I’m supposed to be careful about chewing on the one side since I have a temporary filling so the sipping and chewing mostly soft fruit and veggies will definitely be easy.

Anyway, here is my beautiful haul that I’m excited about!

Before I even walked into the store I was excited to see boxes of clementines sitting right out front! These are such a great snack so I grabbed a box :)

Lots of organic berries to snack on and add to my smoothies! Two containers of strawberries and some blackberries.

5 organic Pink Lady apples, 4 organic mangoes (2/$4!!) and some frozen peaches for smoothie additions.

Giant container of baby spinach, lots of carrots (may be the only thing I really have to be careful chewing) and a cucumber.

Isn’t it a great haul! I love looking at all of the colors :)

Here’s some stuff from the past few days too:

Here’s an amazing smoothie I made the other day. All I used was frozen strawberries, frozen pineapple and one and a half bananas. I blended with a half cup of water and it was so thick and creamy! Plus I love this mug ;)

That was a snap of the weather on Tuesday. It was warm, sunny and beautiful. My ideal weather is about 70 degrees and sunny so it was warm but not unbearable (not a fan of 90+ degrees!). It was such a nice day and I couldn’t believe how quickly it warmed up like that!

So that’s it for now! I’m back in my PJs laying around watching Role Models (which randomly happened to be on) waiting for the novacaine to wear off. I hope you are all doing well and I’ll be back soon to update you!

*Edited to add – OMG the novacaine just wore off and holy shit! It hurts! I don’t remember it feeling like this ha! Maybe that means I need to treat myself to some ice cream for dinner tonight ;) Which means I’d have to go get it. Does gluttony or laziness prevail? We shall see.

Weekend Wrap Up

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Hello my friends! Thank you all so much for your kind and supportive comments on my last post. It always means so much to me :) I feel better now that I’m supplementing my raw veggies with some cooked grains and veggies and I added fruit back which has been great for my soul. That first orange was pretty magical, ha!

Anyway, there is no major theme for this post, just a little bit of everything. Let’s check out some stuff.

First up is a small grocery haul. Got some carrots, bananas, maple syrup (the only sweetener I’ll be using), gf low sodium tamari, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, brown rice cakes, kale and sweet potatoes.

A salad I forgot to show you in my raw haze. A raw taco salad with romaine, guac, tomato and raw walnut taco “meat.” It was good!

Been drinking lots of yummy spearmint tea. It is my absolute favorite. Switching it off with herbal teas so not to deal with too much caffeine. Always in my favorite mug :)

I received the newest issue of Marmalade Umlaut in the mail!! Read it the day I received it and absolutely loved it! Maud is so incredibly talented, thank you so much for sending it Maud!

And my favorite part of this weekend so far has been babysitting this handsome fellow! Definitely enjoyed the cuddles from this sweet pup.

And that’s it for now. I’m planning on showing you a full day of eats tomorrow. There will be a liquid lunch since I’ll be getting a cavity filled but I have a good one planned.

Hope you’ve all had a great weekend! Enjoy your night!

Dehydrator Snacks

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Hey everyone! I don’t know if it’s the calm before the storm but the weather is AMAZING here today. It’s sunny and warmer than it has been and generally pleasant. I have the windows open and I’m getting stuff done and it feels pretty good to be productive.

Part of this burst of productivity includes not one but two dehydrator snacks!

First up I made some salt and vinegar kale chips! I wanted kale chips, I’ve been on an apple cider vinegar kick, and I didn’t want to put THAT much effort into making them so the stars aligned and these Salt & Vinegar Kale Chips are ready to be eaten ;)

Since there wasn’t a thick coating on these kale chips they only took about 3 hours to dehydrate! The seasoning is easy… one tbsp olive oil, two tbsp raw apple cider vinegar and sea salt. Easy as that!

I also figured now was a great time to FINALLY try Gabby’s Raw Wheat Thins Crackers. I’ve been dying to try these since she posted them and now is finally the time :) These take much longer to make so they are still in the dehydrator. They smell great, I can’t wait to try them!

I had to gently cut mine into squares since my dehydrator is a circle but I was impressed that they stayed together. They look soooooo good!

I have another half a tray along with these and I have a feeling they are going to go quick. Yum!

Other than these treats it’s business as usual today. Fingers crossed I can avoid getting called in for jury duty for as long as possible this week.

That’s all for today! Hope all is well with you and I’ll be back with some green food soon :)

Raw Madness!

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Hey everyone! I know it’s been a while and I haven’t even given you a raw update yet. This week has been madness with work, three side projects converging into one stressful nightmare and all of the effort it takes to eat a completely raw diet. That results in fewer pics and posts but hopefully I’ll be able to get back into posting more next week (even with jury duty, ugh!!!)

I figured I’d pop in to show what I have been able to get pics of:

First I thought I’d share that I started my apple cider vinegar routine again. 1 tbsp ACV in 8 oz of water chugged down 2-3 times a day. It doesn’t taste great but the effects are immediate. I started yesterday and I barely yawned at all (I usually yawn every 3 minutes), had tons of energy and even fell asleep easier than I have in months. I thought the pic looked cool with Instagram effects too ;)

Made some homemade raw almond butter using sprouted raw almonds from Whole Foods. Making your own nut butter is so easy, I don’t know why I don’t do it more often!

I’ve been enjoying my raw almond butter with some of my giant organic carrots :)

I’ve been enjoying lots of big salads like this one. This is a kale and avocado salad. Basically I just massaged kale with avocado that was mashed with salt, pepper, garlic powder and lemon juice. It was really good but the kale didn’t get as tender as I like. Still tasty though!

Haven’t taken pics of them but I’ve been drinking lots of green juices. I’m hoping to post a fun meal tomorrow too! I have off but I have to do a baby shoot but I should have time to get some pics of the yumminess and post :)

That’s all for today. Hopefully going to get to relax tonight after a long work week. Hope you all have a great night!

Getting Ready!

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Hey guys! I’m back from my weekend babysitting Delilah. She is so freaking cute and funny and smart but she is exhausting! I am so glad I have today off to recover! She’s a little too smart for her own good though and she tricks us a lot but we caught on ;) Can’t get outsmarted by a two year old! I didn’t get a lot of pics but I did get this one.

She was driving the ice cream truck ;) She’s so freaking cute. I can’t believe how big she is.

So now that I’m home I’m getting ready for my raw journey. Some things I’ve done so far today:

I’ve torn up two heads of kale and cleaned them in filtered water. I tore them up ahead of time because I thought it would cut some prep time during the week to make my salads for lunch. I’m going to get more for some kale chips too :)

I didn’t take a picture because it’s not interesting but I changed the filter in my Brita so I have a fresh one for clean water :) It seems silly but I’m paying attention to everything because who knows, maybe I have a sensitivity to chemicals? I try to eat all organic but sometimes it’s not available so I’m trying to be extra diligent with that. And with the water because that could make a difference too.

And now I’m going to comb through my raw “cook”books to look for recipes to try for dinners. I laid them all out and was surprised by how many raw books I’ve accumulated! Books I saw after I took the pic and forgot to include are Ani’s Raw Food Asia by Ani Phyo and Thrive by Brendan Brazier. I’m sure I’ll be able to use recipes from those as well.

I’m getting started tomorrow with a one day juice cleanse. After that my plan/goal is to have a green juice breakfast, a big salad for lunch, a snack that ideally includes healthy fats (veggies with almond butter, avocado, etc.), and dinner will be something different and more involved than just a salad. Who knows, I may stray from that meal schedule but a big goal is lots and lots of greens. I’m hoping to keep this up through February and depending on how I feel, add back very minimal amounts of cooked veggies (sweet potatoes, etc.) and grains like brown rice, gf oats and quinoa. That will happen slowly to see how my body takes it. Hopefully all of this effort will pay off.

That’s all for today. I’m gonna get back to the books so I can make my grocery list! I hope you all have a great day!

Kitchen Adventures and Rainy Day Dramz

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Hey everyone. Hope you’ve all been well over the past few days. I’m writing this from my bed, barely able to move. I’m so exhausted! And SO SORE! A little from shoveling and a little from wandering around aimlessly for hours. See what happened was I left super early this morning to run errands so I could bake this afternoon and get to the gym. Well. No. Didn’t happen. When I got out of the store and started up my car… my windshield wiper wouldn’t work. The very one I replaced two days ago. Wouldn’t move at all and it was POURING. I was a little panicked because I literally couldn’t see anything while driving but I managed to drive about a half mile or mile down the road to a gas station, where I proceeded to wait for hours for a new part. The gas station was right next to the mall so I climbed over snow mountains in pouring rain then wandered like a teenager cutting school. It was very surreal and by the end of the ordeal I was exhausted.

I don’t know about you guys, but I like to get in the kitchen after having a bad day. Even though I was exhausted, I still managed to make all three recipes I had wanted to make :) Check em out!

 The first recipe I made was Alicia Silverstone’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. I’ve made these before and they always come out great!

It is my friend’s birthday this week and these are his absolutely favorite treat. I first made them for him a few years ago and it has become a tradition. The recipe made 12 large cups and they fit perfectly in two layers in this cute little box.

There are a few other birthdays I’m celebrating in April and decided to gift these friends with some homemade cookies. I’ve been holding on to a recipe I wanted to try for a while and figured this would be the perfect time to test it out. I am so happy with the way these came out and I can’t wait to share the recipe later on this week!

Check out these beauties! They are my Gluten Free Almond Coconut Oatmeal cookies. They are light, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I pulled out a secret weapon for this batch as well. Stay tuned to see what I used!!

The last recipe I tried was Laura’s Raw Snickers!!!! I knew the minute I saw these I HAD to try them before I embark on the Anti Candida Diet. These cuties are the naked candies, pre-chocolate dipped. My caramel was a little chunky since I don’t have an awesome high speed blender but I’m ok with some date chunks in my caramel ;)

The finished product. My bars aren’t as pretty as Laura’s but oh well. Not too bad I guess!

I cut one of the bars in half… you know, so you guys could see the inside ;) I tried a small half and it was so delicious!! They are decadent and definitely worth all of the effort. This treat will be a perfect send off into ACD land.

This will probably be the last sweet I have for a few months as I did a great job using up most of my sweeteners today (maple syrup, agave, dates, etc.). I just have a little bit of fruit to use up then I’m ready to start!! I’m excited about starting and hoping to see some improvement in how I’m feeling. I’m hoping to keep it up through the next couple of months, maybe until the spring? The plan in to be strict for at least three months then start reintroducing fruit slowly in the spring. Hopefully I’ll be able to tolerate fruit by the summer so I can enjoy my watermelon, cherries and berries (in moderation of course;)).

That’s all for today. I’m planning on just crashing the rest of the night and relaxing big time. Hope you all have a great night!

WIAW – Liquid Wednesday

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Hey everyone! Happy hump day! Hope the middle of the week finds you all well. I decided to do a What I Ate Drank Wednesday post today. I’ve been feeling yucky since yesterday and decided maybe I’d just drink my meals today to see how that works. I’d be able to sip throughout the day and I’d mix it up between juices and smoothies (with protein powders to bulk up the calorie count!) and see how I felt.

Before I get into my beverages for the day, I just wanted to show you two pics from yesterday:

Check out how gorgeous this breakfast is! I had a piece of my Cinnamon Oat Bread with raw pecan butter, strawberry and banana. I sprinkled the top with a little coconut and ate the rest of the banana on the side. It was pretty to look at, delicious to eat and filling in my belly. Perfect meal.

I just wanted to show you the cupcakes all dressed up and packed up to go. I was really happy with how these came out. :)

And on with the liquids!

Lots of green juice!

A cherry chocolate smoothie for breakfast. Seriously my favorite smoothie.

Some unpictured kombucha (not the one I got carded for ha!) is going to be consumed at work.

I’ll be having a Carrot Cake Smoothie for dinner tonight. This one is the bulkiest one of the day as it has oats, walnuts, raisins, carrots and vanilla protein powder. This one will fill me up for the night :)

I will definitely let you know how I felt after this experiment! It’s definitely not like a juice cleanse because there is plenty of bulk in the smoothie but I’m hoping sipping sits better with me than chewing ;)

Hope the day finds you all well! Have a great night and I’ll be back soon with some actual food that I chew ;)

CSD Cleanse: Day 8

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Hello friends! Happy Tuesday. Today was business as usual for me. Woke up a little earlier than usual to get some meal prep in and it worked out pretty well for me. Lots of gorgeous meals eaten so far :)

For breakfast I juiced up a ton of green goodness to make this nice large serving of green juice. I used the same recipe for “Morning Glorious” juice from CSK. Glorious indeed!

Around noon I snacked on an orange. Mmm.

Lunch was a hummus wrap with romaine, sun dried tomatoes and carrots. I had it on a gluten free wrap. It was really delicious but the wraps are so brittle they get really messy. Still good though!

I made a second juice to drink in the afternoon. This one was a simple cucumber lime juice as suggested by Allysia. So good! A great afternoon pick me up.

Still deciding what to do about dinner. I’ve been experiencing some tooth pain as a result of a cracked crown or filling or whatever. I had a really shitty dentist in the past that basically messed up my mouth and I have recurring dental problems so this isn’t much of a surprise but still annoying nonetheless. I’m going on Friday to hopefully get it fixed. Anyway, trying to figure out what soft food I’ll eat for dinner. I kind of want a smoothie but it’s cold so I’ll probably go for a rice bowl with some soft veggies and tofu.

Hope you all have a great night! I’m going to be resting up since I’m exhausted and achy today. Looking forward to checking out what delicious things you’ve been cooking up :)

CSD Cleanse: Day 6

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Hey everyone! Happy Sunday! I hope you all had a great weekend! Yesterday ended up being a very busy day so I didn’t get a chance to get on here but you didn’t miss anything new or interesting :) I’m sorry I didn’t say ahead of time I wasn’t going to be posting every day. I’m trying to deal with anxiety issues again and I decided to take the stress of posting every day off of my shoulders and I think it’s been helping a little.

The cleanse has been going well! I’m enjoying everything I’m eating (and drinking!) and I feel good! I’m going to the Dr. again tomorrow so we’ll see what kinds of tests I’ll be going through but I guess I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing. I’ve been reading up on connective tissue disease (which is what my test results are pointing to but I don’t have all of the positive results necessary to actually make a diagnosis) and it seems that they are progressive diseases and it may take years for tests to come up positive (if I do indeed have a connective tissue disease). I’m guessing that’s why my Dr. keeps testing me for the same things so I am starting to understand. We’ll see what else we come up with!

Anyway, here’s the yummy stuff I ate today!

I got out of bed late today so rather than fuss with a green juice I decided to brunch it up with some avocado toast. 1/2 avocado split over 2 slices gf toast with sea salt and pepper. Simple, filling and delicious.

Lunch was an S&M salad. More avocado. I’m ok with it. ;)

In the afternoon I made myself a nice glass of carrot apple juice. It was SO FREAKING GOOD! I decided to keep it classy and drink from a wine glass (inspired by one of the guys from Impractical Jokers). There was another half a glass enjoyed after this one.

I kept the pulp because I have some plans for it :) Check out how dry it is too! This juicer is really great, very powerful!

Sorry for another recycled image but I chowed down on dinner before I could photograph it. I had a similar sandwich one a gf wrap with hummus and tons of fresh veggies. Delicious!

That’s all for today! I’m debating if I want to make tomorrow a juice cleanse day like Kris Carr suggests. It’s an option since I have Mondays off. I’ll be ok to get blood drawn after just drinking juice right? I don’t typically get light headed or anything from it so I think I should be fine. Thoughts?

Have a great night friends!

CSD Cleanse: Day 4

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Hey everyone. Sorry I didn’t post yesterday. As you may recall, the third day of my cleanses tend to be pretty brutal and I didn’t eat anything new or interesting so I skipped the post. There’s nothing new or interesting today either but oh well!

More juice, the same recipe I used that other day. Still delicious!

Simple stir fry for lunch.

Sorry for the recycled pic but dinner will look exactly like this. Salad with sun dried tomatoes, portobellos, cucumber and carrot. Yum!

I read somewhere that they are tearing down the boardwalk in Long Beach this weekend. It’s such a sad story since I can pretty much assure you that every single person on Long Island has a lot of great memories at the boardwalk, myself included. Hopefully they’ll be able to rebuild and we can all enjoy it again soon.

Sorry for the short post, just a busy night. Hope you all have a great night, hopefully I’ll be able to pop in tomorrow, if not then definitely Sunday!