Fun...and Not Fun

I'm up in the air right now, but got the time to write this post before, so enjoy!

In the past few days there have been some fun and not so fun things...let's take a look:

Fun:

The beautiful lighting illuminating my mother's meal at Pei Wei in Dallas....

Not Fun:

The horrible lighting not illuminating my meal...but the coconut curry was so good.

Fun:

The hummus at Cosi

Not Fun:

The hummus I made...too garlicky and dry.

Fun:

The carrot juice I had; it's so creamy!

Not Fun:

My berry smoothie, but it was marred by the fact that there was a pit in one of the cherries that got pulverized into tiny pieces by the VitaMix. Thus every spoonful had a hard little piece of the pit in it...awkward.

Fun:

The socca I made, inspired by the Twins.

Not Fun:

The sister pan of socca...as you can see, it really didn't want to come out of the pan...

Question: What were your fun/not fun moments of the day?

Dalls Trip, Part Two

Ah, on to day 2!


So I woke up to a banana and small gala apple doused in cinnamon. I love sliced apples with cinnamon; it beats apples and nut butter, and this is coming from a girl who absolutely LOVED apples and peanut butter when she was little. 


I followed my sister to two of her classes, then came back when she went to her three hour thesis session. I didn't think I'd be able to sit there for that long! I went back to her apartment and decided to go on another adventure run. When I got back, I made myself this:

Delicious! And I did eat it with a spoon...


Since my sister had some raw cashews and almonds sitting in her fridge, I decided to make her a little thank-you gift. I concocted two kinds of nuts, an Asian chili ginger flavor I put on the almonds and a spiced almond flavor I put on the cashews. She doesn't have a dehydrator, so I just popped them in the oven on a low setting. They made the little apartment smell amazing. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture before we gobbled them all up.


That evening we planned to go see "Valentine's Day" (not my kind of movie, but I knew my sister really wanted to see it, so I of course agreed). We were going to see it at an Indian movie theater that had Bollywood movies playing too. It was a pretty cool place.


We ate dinner at the place I've been dying to try for forever! (Well, actually, since last summer... ;-) ) It's called the Chaat Cafe, and my sister informed that it is a legit Indian restaurant, since late at night lots of Indian come in to eat. So it was good that it was authentic.

Don't worry, I did not eat all of this food...our two meals combined, haha.

 I ordered veggies (peas, potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, and I think green beans) in a curry sauce (but I forgot what it was called) and decided to get the dinner, which came with extra sides, so my sister could take the rest home for another meal. The sides were naan, rice, lentils, and Indian cheese with a spinach-y sauce over it.

My entree

Let's take a closer look...

The main dish was yummy! I really don't like rice, especially white rice, so I gifted that away. I tried a piece of the naan but really didn't like it that much. Ever since I stopped eating bread, I just don't have a taste for it. Which I guess can be a good thing...The lentils were tasty and tasted very similar to refried beans. Finally, the Indian cheese came in little cubes the size of dice and the spinach sauce tasted a bit like spinach and artichoke dip. Yum.

The lovely sides....

After our Indian food we hit up Jamba Juice for a tasty smoothie. I never order off the menu; I prefer to just have fruit juice and fruit in my smoothies, so I figured I'd create my own. I like to get carrot juice as my base (this tends to make the smoothie more like a juice, because I still haven't figured out how to get the people to just make a little bit of carrot juice, so the smoothie is thicker) and then add in banana (for thickness) and some type of berry. This time I got carrot, banana, and raspberry. Yum! It would be nice if Jamba actually had frozen pineapple to put in smoothies, but unfortunately, they only have pineapple sherbet. Boo...


Day 3 is coming (which a visit to the raw restaurant Bliss)!

And don't forget to enter Averie's Celestial Seasonings Giveaway!

The Impromtu Peach Banana Smoothie

Hmmm...I ate a lot of dates again today. They are so delicious when they are fresh. On my salad at lunch today, I had an amazing little salad of spinach, onion, grape tomatoes, and feta. It was very delicious; probably not completely raw, but pretty much there.


I wanted to share a smoothie that I made the other day after discovering that my last peach (before I bought more at the farmers' market...and unfortunately the last harvest) was pretty much frozen from my crazy fridge/freezer. So, I peeled off the skin (which was actually quite easy to do), chopped it up, and threw it in the Magic Bullet with a splash of almond milk and a frozen banana. I blended it up till it got frosty. The consistency was like a soft sorbet, and it was delicious!

Doesn't it look tempting?


I'm almost out of nuts, so this weekend I'll be getting some more and making a trip to the health foods store (and perhaps Wegmans, where they have the most delicious carob covered raisins in the organic bulk food section). I'll keep you posted on my purchases!

Green Smoothie

Being a raw (practically) vegan, it's a little hard getting enough protein in without eating tons and tons of nuts. So I bought this protein powder made from plant protein (with chia seeds!) with some Superfoods mixed in, and I'm using it to make this wonderful green smoothie. Unfortunately, the protein powder has sugar in it, but a minimal amount. Really, the benefits outweigh the cons of having the sugar.

With the help of my trusty Magic Bullet, I blend up this super tasty smoothie, which can be thicker or thinner depending on how much water I put in!

The Mean Green Protein Machine

Makes: 1 green smoothie

1 small/medium banana
2 scoops protein powder of your choice (as I mentioned, I use the plant-based version)
2 tablespoons SuperFoods ( I use Dr. Schulze's)
1 teaspoon Vitamin C
1/3-1/2 cup water

Blend all ingredients together for about 20 seconds in the Magic Bullet. For a sweeter smoothie, add raw agave or use very ripe bananas. For a thicker smoothie, use a little less than 1/3 cup water. For a thinner smoothie, add 1/2+ cups of water.

I drink this everyday, usually as lunch, but sometimes as dinner, if I can't get to the dining hall. It's the next best thing to a spinach salad!