Raw Banana Split at Quintessence in the East Village

HELLO AND GOOD AFTERNOON!

If you're wondering, husband and I have fallen completely off the raw-wagon. Well, maybe not completely, but we definitely ate only one raw thing over our spring "vacation" (read: grad school visit) to New Jersey/New York City. And, while we are going to get right back on the raw horse (ew), today's blog is going to be about the one raw thing we ate on our "vacation" (read: grad school visit).

Can I just say:

RIGHT!?!??! (btw that's my arm digging in...couldn't stop for a photo)

HOLY CRAP!!!! Chia seed pudding, some kind of raw ice cream, strawberries, bananas, and the most delectable raw chocolate sauce.

I'm telling YOU!!! Husband and I almost fell out of our chairs. This aint your Dairy Queen's banana split, but my goodness buy this and eat it! EAT IT I SAY! So yummy. Just thinking about it makes me want to drive 13 hours to NYC to get another!!! Um, can I just say I have started searching Chia Seed pudding recipes!? Ok, so you get it, right? 5 GIGANTIC RAWS! RAW RAW RAW RAW RAW! 

My favorite part of visiting Quintessence was when my husband said, "This is something you could make!" Awww, he believes in me! 

My least favorite part of visiting Quintessence was the price. It is a NYC "gourmet" restaurant, so of course it was EXPENSIVE! Totally worth it, and a great splurge. I mean, the "comedy show" tickets we bought in Times Square for $15 were 100x less worth it than the $8 we spent on this banana split. 

Well, just check this restaurant out next time you're in NYC. Apparently, there are 3 of them around Manhattan (I think), so go find it.

SO YUM YUM YUM YUMMYYYYYY.

All for now. PS: I ate some fruit for breakfast and some veggies at lunch. Dinner is BBQ chicken. I know. Not raw. We'll get back to it...I promise! I've never felt so good as with an 80% raw diet! :)

LUNCH TODAY! YUMMM!!!

Well, I am finishing lunch today and thought I'd share what I had. It was SO GOOD.

This lunch consisted of a nice plate of romaine and other lettuces, topped with organic couscous, three kinds of bell peppers and some extra red onion. I topped this all off with a nice raw, cucumber-mango salsa, which is probably one of the best tasting, not-spicey salsas ever. I really love me some spicey salsa, so this was a bit of a change. The weather is just too nice out right now to have too much spice on my plate. I wanted something a little more refreshing. Here is the recipe for cucumber-mango salsa:

Ingredients: 

* 1 Cucumber

* 1 Mango

* 2 TBSP fresh cilantro

* Half a red onion

To prepare: Throw this all in your food processor until desired consistency is reached! :) That's it! I also added a little water to mix. Not much, though, so be careful it doesn't get too runny! 

It looked like this:

I kept mine pretty chunky! :)

Finally, I topped this awesome mostly raw lunch off with a raw berry smoothie. For this, I used about two cups frozen, mixed berries, half a cup of almond milk, a handful of romaine lettuce, and a little raw honey. Mixed it up in my blender and ta-da!  A tastey, wonderful, after-lunch snack to keep me full and going until dinner! :) I do prefer fresh berries, though. This is the first time using frozen ones and you can definitely tell they've been frozen. Next time, I'll just get fresh berries! 

Local Folks Foods!

Andrew and I have been going to our incredible local winter farmer's market the past couple weeks. We have met some wonderful and pleasant people there! One of them is Fiedler Farms. We love these natural, grass-feeding farmers! However, I am not going to talk about that today. Today, I want to focus on a "company" called Local Folks Foods. From their website, "This family-run enterprise has a simple mission statement: To develop a diverse food line emphasizing local, fresh, natural ingredients, making a conscious effort to reduce the distance our food travels before consumption." And how! Andrew and I were blessed to meet some of the "folks" behind Local Folks and bought some various items from them. Might I add that one of the best things about Local Folks is that they are incredibly nice and bring their children to the farmer's market! Nothing says awesome like having a family sell a family product (as opposed to corporate machines selling "family" products) and actually seeing their faces! Their website is (and visit!): http://www.localfolksfoods.com/

The first thing I grabbed was a bottle of habanero hot sauce. I love me some spice and this item was delicious! I am trying to make it last, but I want to put it on everything! lol. 

We also bought from them some hand-made butternut squash/bleu cheese raviolis. No, these are not raw, but we ate them with big salad, so I can talk about them here. Anyway, what's the use of going raw if you're not supporting local farmers?? Its a lifestyle, not a book of laws! Andrew says that these raviolis + the salad + some "garlic bread" we made on sprouted grain breads was one of the best meals he has ever had. So, 5 raws!!!!!! RAW RAW RAW RAW RAW (want your ravioliiiis)!!!! YUMMY!

Here are some pictures of the delicious (and incredibly easy to prepare) dinner:

Ani Phyo's Ginger Almond Nori Rolls

Hey everyone!

The other night, Andrew and I made (I made, he ate) Ani Phyo's Ginger Almond Nori Rolls. They are BEAUTIFUL. As it turns out, I HATE nori. I know, right? Everyone in raw food land likes it, it seems. I hate how fishy it looks/tastes/is, though. Really, it's gross. I ended up pulling the insides out of my nori rolls and eating them like that.....THAT was tastey. SO, we gave them 3.5 raws because the insides are very, very yummy! However, if you don't like fish, the taste of fish, the idea of seaweed, just try it like a salad. The ginger almond pate will work as a type of ... pate dressing! :)

Here are some pictures, followed by Ani Phyo's video about how to make these:

I AM Smoooooothie

Well,

As it turns out, I have discovered FINALLY that I love smoothies! Now, I have yet to actually throw some veggies in....but I will try that soon enough (i.e. tomorrow!). I created (as far as I know) an ah-mazing recipe for a banana/mango smoothie. It is not totally raw, but it is totally good. Here is the very simple, 4 RAWs (raw raw raw raw) recipe:

2 Bananas
1 Mango
Half a cup of soy milk
About 1 or 2 TSP raw Honey
3 drops of vanilla extract

This is not my picture! I found it on google images! :)

And you get: AMAZING SMOOTHIE LAND HAPPY TIME!!!!!! I'd start with the banana, mango, and soy and then add the honey and vanilla to your liking. It was a GREAT post-work out "meal," keeping me energized for a few hours before eating lunch. Right now, I am having a berry smoothie. Just a bunch of berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries) and some soymilk to help it mix. Oh, I put some honey in that, too, to help it.

I have decided that, as I am a married woman not taking an oral contraceptive, I am going to prepare my body for pregnancy even though we are not planning for it. We all have heard stories about people who have become pregnant "accidentally" and, well, I'd like to be healthy and happy if that occurs. SO, I am going to begin a pre-pregnancy regimen. First, I will be working out every single day. Now, that could just mean I go for an extra two mile walk every day, but I MUST walk. This workout will also include an every-other-day ab exercise. I mean, wow, a woman needs some strong ab muscles to go through labor!!! Also, I will be trying to look into the foods that will provide some great vitamins for a pregnant body. Now, like I said, I AM NOT PREGNANT, so don't freak out. I just want to be sure my body is ready if the day comes when I am. And, when we decide to start trying, I will be ready!

:)