pizza pizza pizza...

this morning for breakfast i had a banana and a champagne mango...and for lunch i had a salad with "the gena divine salad dressing"...it was amazing...and i ate it...and forgot to photograph it...my salad consisted of...romaine, fennel, cucumber, avo, hemp seeds, and carrots...yummy!!!

this afternoon i went to panacea...i promised a special blogger i would send her a few treats...so while i was grabbing this special girl her yummy treats...i picked up some daiya italian cheese and some tofu...and hemp seeds...

for dinner i made myself a yummy pizza with my mother's organic homemade tomato sauce, artichokes, mushrooms and onions...andddd daiya cheese...it was very good...the cheese melted nicely...and it was gooey...my momma also made a veggie soup for me, with veggies she picked at a farm (white beans, zucchini, chicory, carrots, celery, onions, and something i would never put in a soup, brussel sprouts...)...she didn't pick all those veggies herself...





i bought my love a cd he's been wanting for a long time...miles davis, the story of cool (i think?)...just curious, any cds you ladies are thinking of? what is your favourite song?

have a beautiful night lovelies...

purple sweet potatoes...are amazzzzzing...

i love sweet potatoes...love love love them...i can't explain it...i just do...if it were possible to just live off of them i would...oh, and avocados too...getting back to my love affair with sweet potatoes...i was watching an episode of doctor oz one day this week and in one of the segments of his show he listed the 5 superfoods of 2010...and one of them was "imo"...a purple-fleshed sweet potatoe...imo are a good source of anthocyanins and have the highest antioxidant activity among sweet potato varieties...in one study, the antioxidant activity in purple sweet potato was 3.2 times higher than that of a blueberry variety...crazy right?

my mother and i went on a hunt for them earlier today, and found them in an asian grocery store...i had some for dinner this evening, i steamed them very lightly, for about 5 minutes...i'm hooked...this variety of sweet potato is incredibly tasty...it reminded me of a cross between a roasted chestnut and sweet potato...it's not as sweet as a regular sweet potato...it's a little more dense in texture than the orange fleshed sweet potato...i think i want to eat them every day...

i had some really yummy food today...

cherry chocolate bomb (breakfast)
sprouted corn tortilla with some amy's refried beans (lunch)

and for dinner i had:



i mixed this with some frozen veggies (kale, collard greens, yellow beans, rapini) and i got this...



i steamed some of these lovely pretty purple sweet p's...



and i sauteed these little gems...



and i had myself a beauty of a plate...a fantabulous dinner...



what did you all have for dinner this evening?

i hope you're all having a wonderful weekend. my head is aching right now...and i have no coconut water to help make it go away...

good night lovelies...

dogs and food...

i was reading my copy of ani's raw food kitchen today...i've had the book for a while...but i love to read and re-read my cookbooks...anyway, i was really interested in the last section wherein she discusses her dog and how healthy she is eating live foods...and i don't doubt that, in fact, i would really love for jackson to perhaps eat only plant based foods one day...the little guy loves lettuce, anything green he'll swallow, mind you, i honestly think he would eat anything...

anywho, getting back to the point...i read that she feeds her dog grapes...i thought that grapes were highly toxic for dogs? i also noted that her dog eats avocados...and she also makes doggy biscuits out of the her black sesame and sunflower bread, which has onions in it, which i also thought was highly toxic for dogs...

many times i stop myself from feeding jackson food because it has onions in it, and avocados...only because i thought these foods were toxic and not a good idea to feed to a dog...

i would really love to be able to give jackson the food i eat without worrying whether he's going to have a bad reaction to it, or even die...i keep thinking, perhaps it was a typo and she didn't mean to write that she feeds her dog grapes, avos and onions...

i don't have any food pics today, i ate the salad and dressing i mentioned in yesterday's post...i also ate a huge amount of pineapple for breakfast...and for lunch i met a friend, and put aside my issues with eating out and had some tabbouleh, chickpeas, and falafel from a middle eastern place...it was alright...nothing special...i also had some grilled eggplant...yummo...oh and i finished off my rawky road...mmmm so so so good...

i do have two very sweet pics i took of jackson today...i heart him...he's my baby love...





have a beautiful weekend lovelies...

i'm pretty blah...but my food is vibrant...

meh! exhausted is the only word that can truly describe how i feel. just spent.

these last two days i've been eating my favourite pretty high raw tostadas with this lovely cheezy nacho hemp sauce some pretty yummy salads with an amazing dressing i decided to make the other day...cayenne tahini dressing created by the lovely kristen...it's so creamy with a hint of heat...it's fabulous! and raw tahini is just so good for you...it's made of raw sesame seeds...and sesame seeds are high in these minerals:

* copper
* manganese
* tryptophan
* calcium
* magnesium

sesame seeds also provide iron, phosporus, and zinc, vitamin b1(thiamin) and vitamin e. i'm pretty interested in the fact that sesame seeds are very high in calcium and magnesium...who needs cow or goat milk? please read this amazing "dairy free" post by my girl averie for information on calcium and where to get it on a plant based diet...

i'd also like to apologize for the quality of my photos...i am too lazy to use my perfectly wonderful canon...so i use my iphone camera...it's so much easier to just snap the photo and email it to myself...one of these days i'll snap out of it...and start snapping with a real camera...PROMISE...until then please enjoy my very amateur food porn...







sweet dreams y'all...

path to the high rawky road...

move over mcdonalds...i was famished this morning...running late, and dreaming of fresh fruit...watermelon, pineapple...mmmm...all i had were ezekiel wraps, sunshine burgers, and caesar dressing...what's a girl to do? make a breakfast vegburger...it. was. amazinggg. hit the spot...well not really...i did want fruit...but where is one gonna find fresh fruit that hasn't been touched by a gazillion dirty hands...



i have issues with buying prepared food most of the time, because, i once grabbed a salad from a little place downstairs (i work downtown toronto, at bay and queen)...i was pretty excited because it was my favourite salad...i took my first bite...scooped up another bite...and guess what i saw...a hair...not just a regular hair girls and boys...but a hair that came all the way from down under, and i am not talking about australia!!! let's just leave it at the fact that i was mortified...

last night i made vegan high raw rocky road, the only ingredient that isn't raw are the vegan marshmallows...

i used averie's recipe for vegan coconut oil chocolate, tweaked it just a tad as i don't like my chocolate very very sweet, i'm the girl that likes extremely dark bitter chocolate...so i added a little less agave, it still turned out pretty sweet...and i made three batches of it...

vegan rawky road (high raw)

3 tbsps of coconut oil
2.5 tbsps of agave

i melted these two ingredients together using a bowl of very hot tap water and placed the glass containing the coco oil and agave in it...

then i added 1.5 tsps of vanilla powder to the mix...i then added 6 tbsps of raw cacao powder...

i lined a container with plastic wrap...and added raw macadamia nuts, raw pecans and sweet & sara's mini vegan marshmallows and poured the chocolate goodness on top of the nuts and marshmallows...i placed the container in the freezer for an hour...and enjoyed a few pieces...y u m m y.





anywho...my thoughts, heart and prayers are with ryan, evan and harvey today...good positive thoughts...

have a beautiful day everyone...

*note, the lovely kelli of animal-friendly eating suggested i call the rocky road recipe high "rawky" road...i think it's a fabulous idea...thanks kelli...

what do you do with over ripe bananas?

you make banana bread of course...and your almost father-in-law eats an entire loaf...ha! i'm serious! but don't tell him it's vegan...

vegan banana bread
preheat oven to 350 degrees celsius

6 bananas
1/2 cup of agave
1 tsp vanilla powder (you can use extract)
1/4 cup of coconut oil melted (i placed the coconut oil in a glass and put it inside a bowl of very hot tap water)
2 1/4 cups of whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

in a bowl mash bananas, add agave, vanilla powder or extract, mix well...add coconut oil and whisk for a minute...in a separate bowl add flour, baking powder,baking soda and salt...mix well...add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mix well...add to greased baking pan/pans...

so i made two banana loaves...once i poured half of the batter into one baking pan...i added 1/2 a cup of vegan chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut (you can use sweetened or non vegan chocolate chips)...i poured the mixture into the baking pan and sprinkled some shredded coconut on top...you don't have to do this if you don't want to...

i baked for 75 minutes. it's ready when you insert a toothpick and it comes out nice and clean and it's a nice golden brown colour...











it's a very moist treat...and yummy...i love coconut oil...it's pretty amazing...it's extremely versatile and so so wholesome...

both of my loves enjoyed the banana bread (jackson was only allowed to eat the very plain option)...i've added a few pics of my two snugglebums....







i love it when he (jackson) does that thing with his lower lip...love him...both of them...

stay tuned for a very high raw vegan rocky road chocolate bar...

have a beautiful monday...(as beautiful as it can be)...

sunnylicious...and lucuma...

i love love love the sun...and at plus 19 degrees during the middle of march, in toronto, ontario, canada, no less, i am on top of the world...slightly slow...still dealing with the time change...not really too sure why, as in previous years it hasn't really affected me...could it be the age factor? hmmm...i'd rather not think about it too much...

i haven't really cooked or uncooked anything interesting this week...i've made cherry chocolate bombs...and snacked on the raw vegan turtle bar i made at the beginning of the week...i've eaten my share of lovely refreshing salads...and yesterday during my lunch hour i ventured off to fresh and i ordered a cherry blossom smoothie and the two pieces of grilled cornbread and hummus...it was yummy...the cornbread was pretty dense and slightly sweet...it was good...i was going to have a soup but was filled to the gills...





yesterday after work i decided to go to panacea...a solely vegan store in toronto, so you don't really have to look at the ingredient list for any of their products, unless you're on a sugar cleanse...or cleanse...i read that they had started selling daiya cheese...i was really looking forward to making a pizza...but, to my dismay they had sold out of the 120 pounds of daiya cheese in 3 days...i guess i'm not the only one that reads the toronto vegetarian association religiously for updates...meh! i was a little bummed...as i couldn't decide what to have for dinner...i kept walking up and down the aisles trying to spark up some idea...but i was a blank slate...

i ended up buying a few little treats though...check it out...












the twilight bar is fantastic...there is so much caramel, i fell in love...i had a bite and gave the rest to my man...he asked me to put it in the freezer, don't think he ate any of it...but i am curious to know what he thinks...i also had a 1/3 of the jokerz bar as my dessert after lunch today and, ummm, what can i say...but wow...i have to thank averie for her review...i would never have even given it a second thought...i'm pretty excited to try the other products...

i am debating whether to use agave anymore, with all the bad press, i think i may need an alternative sweetener...and lucuma seems like the more healthy alternative...it has amazing stats and beta-carotene, niacin, and iron...and is thought of as "antidote to notorious “empty calorie” sweeteners".

what is your stance on agave and all the bad press...and have you tried lucuma...how creative have you been with it? i know that kristen suzanne uses it in her desserts...which i can't wait to whip up now...

have a beautiful weekend my friends...

when the man snores...make chocolate...

so i spent about 2 hours listening to john (boyfriend) snore...poor guy was so tired...he's not use to working during the day and waking up at 5 a.m. like the rest of us, and with the time change and the full moon, he totally deserved the nap and the snore...

and i...deserved a piece of amazing heavenly chocolate...

so i used this recipe, averie's famous vegan coconut oil chocolate bars and i used the caramel recipe from averie's raw vegan turtle recipe...and i made a raw vegan turtle bar...i didn't have any cupcake liners to make proper chocolates...so, yes, i ended up with a chocolate/caramel/pecan party in my mouth bar...













question: is there anything that can turn your blah days into happy days? before i became vegan i use to go to this dessert place down the road from my apartment and order a triple layer fudge cake, trek back to my apartment and drown my sorrows in chocolatey goodness...so glad i can still do it...and not have to leave my apartment, added bonus!

it's pretty late and this girl has too be up early tomorrow...sweet dreams my pretties...

lentils...a girl's bestie...

i. am. exhausted. i feel like i ran a marathon...but i don't remember it...ha!

i spent saturday morning and afternoon shopping with my mother...and the rest of the day with my love and our baby jackson...we watched the two coreys for a bit and i felt so heartbroken afterwards...some of the episodes totally foreshadowed corey haim's death...i felt so sorry for him...i just don't understand how people can get so deep into that lifestyle...i can't understand how drugs can be the centre of anyone's life...i just don't get it...i never will.

this morning i felt robbed. i felt robbed of my hour. weird. i've never really cared about daylight savings...but today. i. cared. it truly got under my skin. i slept in. i really have nothing to complain about...i can't explain it.

today we spent the day with my family, cooking, laughing, teasing one another...just having a good time. it was really nice. i really didn't want the day to end. but sadly, it did.

i made a lovely dish today. lentil and quinoa stuffed bell peppers...if anyone cares for the recipe let me know, it was pretty simple, and so tasty!







cute little story...i made myself kristen's high raw vegan tostadas last night for dinner...i made a few extra...my boyfriend had one and he absolutely loved it...which gave me the warm fuzzies...i don't want to change him in any way (well i kind of do)...i want him to eat what he loves, but i also want him to be a little more healthy. he eats so much crap (sorry for the choice of words, but there is no other way to describe it)...i've asked him to eat more veggies and he has, which is great...now if i could only get him to eat fruit...

i have to add that he expressed some interest in blogging...i was reading lovely averie's post and he was really interested in her raw chocolate treats...he wanted to check out my blog, but i was not at all confident in showing it to him...haha...i'm still pretty new to this. i'll definitely show him one day when i am better at it! also, my girl averie is having an awesome giveway...y'all should check it out...

here's a question? would you try to change the eating habits of someone you love and care for, especially if you know that what they eat is so extremely bad for them? how would you approach the subject? how would you go about changing their diet?

well good night my lovelies, hope you all have sweet dreams...

some of my favourite things...

nostalgia...i've been thinking about my childhood...and how carefree and beautiful my days were...i use to travel to italy during my summer vacations and i spent about 4 months in italy every year until i was about 16...and at 16 i decided i was too afraid to fly home so i lived there for 2 years, went to school, and had quite possibly the most amazing time of my life...

i was very fortunate to have such amazing grandparents...who taught me so much and showed me the very wonders of this beautiful world...they had the most beautiful farm, with the most beautiful animals...and they treated them with such compassion and love...and they had the most beautiful trees and gardens filled with fruits and vegetables...it was here that i learned and developed my everlasting bond with mother nature and all of her amazing creations...i use to sit in the barn with the cows and their babies, and i'd give these cute little babies my hand to use as a soother...i'd watch all of the mama hens strut proudly about with their beautiful little baby chicks...and i'd play with the piggies and look for all of the stray kitties and try to entice them with cheese i had pretended to eat earlier in the day...i would literally sit for hours and wait patiently just to try and pet one...i remember riding in the tractor with my grandfather on our way to pick up hay from one his fields and i wouldn't even flinch when mr. spider decided to use my legs as a crosswalk...

i remember being told about a few little baby chicks that had died and were placed by the side of the road...i was told that if fed them milk they would come back to life...and so i ran over to the baby chicks with milk in hand, ready to save their lives...bees buzzing around them...and i without a care in the world except to save these babies reached in to scoop them up...i remember getting stung 10 times...and all i could think about is how i had blown my chances to help these little creatures...and one more funny memory of sitting underneath one of the bulls in the barn and trying to milk him...my grandmother flipped her lid...i had no idea what the big deal was...i was only 5...anyway...that bull and i were such good friends...he would let me climb on his back and he'd be ok with me sitting on him for hours...or until i heard my grandmother on her way down to the barn...

such amazing times...such amazing memories...

moving a long to today's eats...i had one of the no bake protein bars i made last week...i had the red lentil dal with quinoa and avocado for lunch...



i snacked on some raisins and apricots...and for dinner i had a piece of toasted organic spelt bread with some heathy's caesar dressing...



which i made this evening...guess what i'm having for lunch tomorrow...can't wait...and this dressing is AMAZING...oh. my. goodness. it's such a treat!

and...i had a piece of the averie's lovely raw vegan cheesecake with a chocolate fudge crust for dessert...man, it was out of this world...it reminded me of ice cream...it. was. so. good.



things that make me smile...sunshine, fluffy duvets, my love, jackson, avocados, chocolate, cooking or uncooking...hanging out with a good friend and driving all around toronto...grocery shopping...reading blogs...sweet potatoes...frank's hot sauce...watching a movie in bed under three or four fluffy duvets...

what are some of your favourite things? and what are some of your favourite childhood memories?

have a beautiful night...sweet dreams...

just my opinion...

i've been following the blogosphere for a little over a year now...and i believe that every blog i read is amazing...everyone has their own style of writing...sharing their recipes, their lifestyle and their life...i've noticed something however, that has sort of made me a little upset...judgment...i read something today (and it's not the first time either), something about how food journals should only consist of mind blowing recipes and great pictures...and blogs that consist of people's daily eats and life stories aren't as important...and i actually disagree and think that anyone that thinks this way is seriously out to lunch...

a blog is whatever someone makes it...and no one has the right to judge someone's hard work...i am more than baffled...anyway...i needed to get that off my chest...

for breakfast i had one of the no bake protein bars i made a few days ago...i had ginormous salad (lettuce, avo, chickpeas, cucumbers, carrots and goddess dressing)



and i snacked on some apricots and raisins...dinner didn't happen, i was not hungry at all...

today i made averie's raw vegan cheesecake with a chocolate crust...and i didn't JUST use any lemons...i used meyer lemons...my filling didn't come out as creamy as averie's...but i don't have the vitamiracle, i went from food processor to magic bullet, but still no dice...and i used vanilla bean powder instead of pure extract...

for the crust i used raw cacao powder, raw carob powder, dates, agave, pecans, vanilla powder, himalayan crystal sea salt and a little bit of water...

i ended up with the same amount of crust and filling...but whatevs, it works for me...







i also made an amazing red lentil dal with some quinoa to take with me for lunch tomorrow, i can't wait to dig in...it smells and looks out of this world...yummmmo...i pretty much followed the recipe, except i used fresh ginger and turmeric...and i didn't have paprika...



i am hoping for a better night's sleep...sunday night and monday night didn't cut...sweet dreams everyone...

confessions...

this weekend was such an emotional roller coaster...we went to a wake friday night and a funeral/burial/reception all of saturday...what a sad sad sad day...it was so emotional...it's really hard to sit around and watch people you care about suffer the loss of a loved one...sometimes i wish i could put everyone i love into a box and save them from the hardships of this life...it is so hard to lose people...the funeral also brought back some sad memories of all of the people that i have lost...my heart is sore...when we got home saturday night, i needed a bit of smile so i dressed my little jackson up in a cardigan, wrapped around his little neck...i have to say that my little man is so gracious and such a great sport...



so, my confession is that...this weekend i broke...i totally bended and i didn't care about what it was that i ate...i ate SUGAR...i drank wine and sparkling wine...and so i am sad to say that my sugar cleanse has come to an end...i feel very guilty, but it was a good almost two weeks...i will start all over again, perhaps next week...but for now, i'm packing it in...and tomorrow i am making averie's raw vegan cheesecake...i'm thinking of changing up the crust a little...but...i guess you're gonna have to stay tuned and see what happens tomorrow...

this weekend wasn't all sadness and tears...my man's family is amazing...they are super fun and there is always some sort of party going on...his mom and her husband hosted an oscar party yesterday evening...there was a pool, which i lost...but it was so much fun hanging out with everyone...i was a little upset that meryl streep didn't win the oscar...i love sandra bullock, i think she's fabulous, BUT, meryl is even more fabulous...

here are some iphone photos of some my eats today...

amy's indian vegetable korma, i love indian food...and this was actually not bad...you should definitely try it...i love lentils and the dal was amazing!



roasted sweet potato mashed, topped with some homemade hot peppers and green onions...and some himalayan crystal sea salt...



i'm off to finish watching gossip girl...and then i am off to bed...i barely slept 3 hours last night...and i plan on making up for lost time tonight...hope you all have sweet dreams...