Feeling Fine

This week has been great. It's Day 5 of our 10 day detox diet and cleanse and I can happily say that I have not felt "hungry" without grains, meats or dairy. I snack a lot and have discovered some fabulous products out there that can be used as lifestyle replacements. Here are a few photos of the deliciousness we've made so far:


I've made Butternut squash and lentil curry, Spinach and kale salads, Cauliflower mash with shallots... and SO many kinds of juices. Also, These FLACKERS are amazing with hummus!!!

Raw Vegan Cocoa Date Bars

To prepare for this awesome week of veggie bliss, my love bought me an early birthday present: A NINJA!!


This amazing blender is a multipurpose tool combining the powers of blending and food processing. I've already made smoothies, ice cream & pesto. NOW I am about to make some raw, vegan power bars for our cleanse this week. Three years ago I interned with Larabar in Denver Colorado. Larabar makes amazing gluten free fruit and nut bars and I thought I would attempt my own. There are a ton of recipes of these kinds of bars on Pinterest! and the like but you can really make these without a recipe... I promise. The key is TEXTURE.

Dates will give you the sticky-ness needed to hold your bars together and nuts will give some bulk to your bars. Flavors are up to you. I chose cocoa, cinnamon, fresh ground ginger and vanilla. But you could use any number of extracts or spices. I also threw in some dries cranberries, rehydrated Goji berries a hint of maple syrup and some melted coconut oil. The texture should be dough-like. It should stick together all by itself. When you are content with your mixture, turn it out into either a greased glass pan or onto waxed paper. With the back of a spoon, press you bars into a 1/2 inch thick sheet and chill in the fridge for a couple hours. Once they are cold, you should be able to cut them into bars, wrap them individually in wax paper and they will keep for 3 days in the fridge.

Spring Detox Diet and Juice Cleanse

Tomorrow, my fiancée and I (it sounds so cool to say that!), are starting a 10 day vegetable and juice cleanse in order to reset or metabolism with the changing season. Over the winter we love our comfort food! Casseroles, pies, meats and starches and frozen meals. Now that it's spring- time to reset. NO meats or meat products ei. dairy, fats, eggs etc., NO grains, NO sugar, Nothing pre-made or frozen unless it's all organic and a necessity. Just fresh (organic, non-GMO!!)vegetables. Lots of (local if possible) vegetables. Some Fruits. Small portions of nuts. And of course WATER.

These are just some of the delicious goodies we will be devouring over the first 3 days!

I'm Engaged!

My love took me on a weekend trip to Seattle. We had a wonderful time exploring the Market and doing all the touristy things. He Proposed on the ferry to Bainbridge Island! As you can see from the photos, I was completely surprised!!

TGIF

Blogger's Remorse

I wish I wrote more. I wish I thought my life was a little more interesting. I find myself lost in the daily musings of other women bloggers but have a hard time musing over the seemingly mundane normalcies of MY life. Even though I'm enjoying life more than I have in a long time at the moment. I haven't done anything too exciting lately (except ring shopping with my lover- but we'll talk about that later) and in general I have a pretty uneventful schedule. My work week starts on Tuesdays when I help open the burrito shop, I come home and play with the dogs, do some dishes(maybe) and take out the trash. I spend a few hours on the internet and make a simple dinner and go to choir practice. Wednesdays and Thursdays I babysit for a two-year old boy which is exhaustng but fun. Fridays I go to yoga in the morning, which is my favorite part of the week, and I work a few hours at the burrio shop in the evening. On Saturdays, Tim and I run errands and eat lunch in town- usually at a pub. I close the burrito shop Saturday nights. Sundays and Mondays are my days off and I try to spend them relaxing a little, doing housework and browsing Pinterest. That's it. That's what I do. On one hand it feels nice to have a reliable schedule, especially after years of willy nilly college living. On the other hand, I feel bored. I sometimes imagine I was a world traveller, or a ballet dancer or something more exotic than an every day working girl. But this is my life and I am happy. I'm just wondering whether I have much to write about anymore....

Valentine's

Tim and I celebrated Valentine's a few days early this year and its a good thing we did because my boss came down with the stomach flu and I got called in. I don't generally mind working on Holidays. I'm not religious (in the calendar sense) so Holidays like Christmas and Easter seem like good excuses to get time and a half... but I'm a little bummed out about having to work on Valentine's Day. In my opinion, Valentine's is THE holiday of all Holidays... the day of LOVE!! I always celebrated this holiday, even when I didn't have a Valentine, because it's a day where I feel like people are celebrating the RIGHT thing. There is a lot going on in our world; A lot of crazy, unknown and misunderstood events. The answer to all of our problems is LOVE. I know it's cheesy. But it's true. And if people celebrated and appreciated Love every day the way they do on Valentine's Day (without all the attached capitalistic BS of a "hallmark holiday"), we might actually become better people! Imagine that.

Say it with me now.

I AM LOVED

<3