What’s shaking in your world on the weekend? Have you had a productive day? By productive I mean, nourishing your body, mind, and soul. Hopefully you’ve gotten to lazily read the paper or some blogs while drinking coffee or tea, or maybe you got in a lovely workout. Whatever it is, I hope you’ve had a chance to recharge your batteries and be “productive” in the way that best works for you!
Thanks for all the praise from yesterday’s Vegan (almost Raw) Girl Scout Samoas Cookie remake that I did. They were really fun to make and I am pleased with how closely they resemble the real Samoas! If anyone tries them, please fill me in! I know a couple of you hotties wrote to me saying you were going to make them, so let me know how it goes!
And I also posted the Raw Vegan 5-minute Donut Holes if you’ve got 5 mins to spare and are feeling munchy, these are for you.
I know that I’ve done sooo many desserts recently so I thought I’d switch it up and show you a dinner I made.
First, I spiralized 2 zukes.
Then, I combined:
About 15 basil leaves (loosely packed it would be 1/2 c, tightly packed it’d be 1/8 c, I just used 1 package of organic fresh basil, de-stemmed)
About the same amount of spinach, about 1/2 c very loosely packed
Juice of 1/2 lemon (careful if you don’t like things lemma-licious, go easy)
1/4 c raw walnuts
Cracked black pepper
Then I mixed this in my New Blendtec using the Pulse feature
And then added about 1 Tbsp EVOO and pulsed again
The Result
I must thank the Fitnessista for her recipe inspiration. In her recipe, she also added garlic and salt, but since I am a fan of neither, I omitted both.
While I was making this, Skylar was hot to trot to have a taste. What 2.75 year old begs their mom for raw spinach, walnuts, and basil? Why the offspring of a raw vegan mommy, I guess.
Anyway at dinnertime, I tossed it together with zuke noods for Raw Vegan Pasta-n-Pesto.
And added mixed greens, B.S., Cauli, Carrots, Cukes and Tomatoes to the Mix. Very good.
But remember how I had spiralized 2 zukes? Well, I whipped up another batch of Peanut Sauce in the Blendtec.
Averie’s Peanut Sauce Today (I even tweak my own recipes so if you look back the last time or the time before that, they are all slightly diff.)
I used the last 1/3rd of the jar of PB (so a generous 1/2 c)
Juice of 1/2 an orange, about 1/3 c
3 Tbsp Maple Syrup
2 Tbsp Agave
3 Tbsp Sesame Oil
1/2 Tsp Ground Ginger
Cracky Blacky
Tip of the Day: When in doubt making Peanut Sauce, there are 3 things you cannot skimp on: Peanut Butter, Sweetener (agave or maple syrup), & Sesame Oil. If you are feeling like you’re almost there with your concoction, but not quite, use more Sesame Oil. And then, you will probably need to add more sweetener, and trust me, it will all work out. Beautifully.
I’ve said it before to some of you privately, but don’t be afraid to use your sweeteners when cooking, raw or otherwise. If you don’t, the food is not going to taste quite right or it will seem a little low cal, off, or just not quite there. Some may disagree, but I have to say Katie, here’s your Hug-A-Carb plug via my little plug for sweeteners.
Anyway, then I poured it back into the jar for storage. It’ll last 5-7 days in fridge I’m sure. If it lasts that long before I slurp it all.
And had a little boatload reserved to go over the other zuke noods.
For dessert we munched the Vegan (almost Raw) Girl Scout Samoas knock-offs I made. And yeah, they went down like butttahhhh.
And I also popped a couple Raw Vegan Donut Holes
VeganMofo in the house today.
Yoga today is an Astavakrasana Variation
Please go enter my Vegan Blondie Macaroon Give Away if you haven’t already!!!!!!!!!! I’d love it if you could spread the word about it, too!
You know I like to make my own sauces and dressings and really don’t use store-boughts for those things. What do you make at home that you’re proud to shun storebought for? Or, what do you wish you could make at home so that you could give up store boughts? Maybe if you tell me what you’re wishing for I can help you create a recipe….
Stay tuned for A Desserts Week Recap….
So many great reviews! I'd love to try some of that POM.
great review. that is def. one of my favorite poses! i have to try those donut holes! i am all things chocolate-lol
wow you are the luckiest gal everrr!! what generous foodie gifts you got! you must be so siked!!
those flax crackers look amazing! as do the tomatoes
from reading others blogs I have certainly widened my horizons when it comes to food. I have tried new products such as different cereals and lots of squash!! I love the reviews everyone gives! Oh and different flavors of larabar such as the coconut cream pie! I would have never tried that before reading someones blog that had an amazing review!
First we wanted to mention that we are both chocolate lovers, although Michelle sometimes leans towards vanilla more!
We love Navitas Naturals too!! So far when we read other food/health blogs the products they have reviewed we have already tried before, so have not seen something new yet. It is nice to see people like some of the same products we do : )
LOTS of cool stuff in this post! I love the yoga pose at the end…you should also do a book of yoga poses!! That'd be so cool.
I've taken lots of great ideas from your blog – the raw cheesecake and the raw apple crumble (that I plan on making), Larabars, salad dressings, oodles of noodles, nut butters, Chobani and other Greek yogurts, and I recently got some samples of Stevia NuNaturals. I haven't blogged about them because let's face it – I haven't blogged about anything lately – but I also need to try them!
I've had no problems with your site since switching to Safari. :)
holy swag, batman! Haha…those crackers have your name all over them. :)
Yikes…foods from blogs? Pretty much most of the things I eat! Nut butters, oatmeal, seitan, tempeh, yogurts messes (I have been eating greek-style yogurt my whole life, but never with the stuff I mix in now), hummus, felafel…should I stop?.. :P
Thanks for the browser tip. What is REALLY weird now is that my internet is 'down- your blog is the only one I have been able to access! No facebook, twitter, email..nada. You got superpowers or something?
Hi! I just found your blog through Janetha's awesome blog and I have to say, I'm lovin' everything about it!! I love products reviews, and even more dessert recipes and ideas!!! Can't wait to read more. :)
Sun warrior vanilla protein powder! Chia seeds. Agave. Almond butter.
'nuff said
PS: and a wonderful big good morning to you Averie :D
Look at all that loot you got to try! I think I'm drooling more over your Nativa Naturals stash – I've got some of the Vega products heading my way and can't wait to try them.
I never tried almond butter until I read about it in blog world. Greek yogurt, hemp milk, kashi crackers, green & black chocolate – basically everything I fill my cupboards with these days!
Thanks so much for the product reviews! I actually have never heard of Lucuma powder and Im going to go out and try and find some now. I also love that you added what they could be used to replace! Thanks. Love the dessert pics too. Looks amazing! I think the biggest thing Ive learned on alot of food blogs for me has been about raw foods. I love them and have been really experimenting alot more with it. Ive been having a blast with it!
Great reviews Averie! Totally jealous of all those goodies… those crackers certainly sound intriguing!
xxoo
Heather
Whoops! My iPhone decided to change faves to faces hahaha
The Matter of Flax sounds great! I'm glad you posted these because I always love to see what raw things are out there. I think when people adopt an "unconventional" lifestyle they get very creative! Most stuff isn't readily available so you improvise and it's wonderful! I can even see the creativity and experimentation in your eats.
I was actually wondering – do you sell the stuff you make? I would really love to try some. I know you post the recipes but some of the igredients are ones I don't have on hand. Not to mention – you ARE the expert ;)
thanks for the well wishes! I had a butterfingers today and thought of you lol. Even though it's not dark chocolate it made me feel good because they're one of my faces!
XO
Hi Averie! Thank you so much for your kind comments.
There are so many wonderful products in this post, I am experiencing a bit of sensory overload! Those Navitas Naturals items look especially awesome and healthy.
I love all of your raw vegan desserts too :)
Wow, so many great products! Those tomato crisps look yummy! I bet they would taste good on salads or dipped in some Raw Hummus, yum!
I made the chocolate doughnut holes last night and added some cacao nibs then rolled them in coconut. All I can say is, yummo!! Thanks for the recipe, it's always good to find a delicious way to get some healthy Omega's in there : )
Hey girlly! Hope all is well while you and the babe are flying solo. You HAVE to let the hubby out every once in a while! :P You are so lucky to get such awesome products to review. I want some!!!!!! :D
-A