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Monday, February 16, 2009

Rawday Sunday

Firstly, I would like to thank Denny for the SO sweet Valentine's Day e-card!  I got it first thing on Valentine's Day, but forgot to post about it yesterday when I posted about my other V-day swag.  My favorite line:  

"Do you have a raisin?
  No?  How 'bout a date?"

Thank you Denny, you're the best!  

How was everyone's Presidents' Day?  I hope you all had the day off.  It was a pretty nice day here.  I went to see He's just not that into you with my mom this morning, and since my grad class was also cancelled tonight, I got another yoga day this week!  

Most notably though, today was my second successful raw day (I had a raw flop a few weeks ago).  Same as last time, everything is from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen.  Its the only raw book I have, and I like it.    

For breakfast I made one of my favorites from my first raw day, the Coconut Cashew Pudding, which I had with an apple and 2 tbsp of ground flax seeds.  I love this stuff, although I probably should have eaten a little more.


For a snack I made a batch of the Donut Holes.  I skipped rolling them in coconut (there was already coconut in them, and I had coconut for breakfast), and they were yummy!  


I used these dried green mangos, which I got while I was in Hawaii, instead of dried pineapple, because...well that is what I had.  They weren't green at all, and they were awesome!  I wish I had bought another bag.    

A melon baller worked perfectly for making the little "holes".  Does anyone actually use a melon baller for balling melon?  I can't say I ever have, I always use it for stuff like this.  Anyway, I had three during the movie, along with some dried pears.  I also had the rest of this raw Kombucha tea that I bought a few days ago (which is organic and raw).  Its weird, has an effervescence, but its pretty good once you get into it.    

Guava Goddess Flavor..they really don't market this stuff towards men, huh?

Lunch was probably the highlight of today.  I made the Stuffed Anaheim Chilies with Mole Sauce recipe.  They are stuffed with Ani's Black Pepper Cheeze, which is utterly fantastic.  

I wasn't thrilled with the Mole Sauce on its own, but it was good with the stuffed pepper.  I think my favorite thing about this was the strong spiciness from the garlic.  I can't believe I've never mentioned this before, but I adore garlic in any way shape or form, so this was totally perfect.  What is also perfect, is that this pepper package is totally portable and will be my lunch for most of this week!  


Snack time, banana ice cream!  Pretty simple, just a blended frozen banana topped with 2 tbsp of the Artisana Raw Cacao Bliss, that I found in Hawaii.    


Then I had some unplanned Donut Holes (they're so good!).  

Dinner was the Marinated Portabello Steak and Brazil Nut-Broccoli Mash.  This wasn't totally raw, because I didn't spring for the Nama Shoyu, and just used tamari sauce.  

My grocery store always has the most beautiful portabellos

Excuse the bite I took out of it...oops.

Now, I have something important to tell you.  If you have never had a raw marinated portabello mushroom, go out and have one right now.  Seriously, I've been trying to make myself like mushrooms for about a year now, and I just...don't.  Sometimes they're okay, but most of the time I just think they're icky.  But this is delicious.  I would seriously eat this often, happily.  And I really have to convey the fact that I have HATED mushrooms for years.  You may be asking why I even bothered trying this, but, again, trying to like them.  I'm so happy I found a way that works!  It is a tad salty from the tamari, but all in all, a glowing success.  As for the broccoli mash, as much as I am a huge fan of cooked broccoli, its never been a raw veggie favorite of mine.  So it was alright, but I'm not raving.  It probably would have been better if I had made the Mushroom Gravy, but I opted out of it.    

All in all, there is no doubting that raw food can be incredibly delicious. 

I'm looking forward to this week, although I won't have a lot to post about.  I made full servings of each recipe, and planned out my whole week, and it should be a pretty high raw week, as I go through all the leftovers.  I'm not so much looking forward to it because it is raw, but because I have it all planned.   

I have to get to bed, up at 5 again tomorrow!  I'm getting used to getting up, but I've been falling asleep on the way home.  Anyway, what I am trying to say is that I'll edit nutrition info tomorrow!  I've started, but it takes so long for an entire day.  

Enjoy the four day week everyone!

17 comments:

  1. Gina, everything looks amazing...but I seriously think my favorite was the blended banana dessert. So simple, but I bet it tasted so good. Excited to see the nutrition stats.

    I don't like raw broccoli either...blech.

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  2. Denny is the sweetest! I wuv her!

    I want to see that movie but it will have to wait until it comes out on DVD.

    What an awesome raw day! And you are right, those portabellos are beautiful.

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  3. I love green mango, but never had them dried..that sounds really interesting..

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  4. i just finished my raw week!!! i felt so great at the end.. and now that im eating cooked foods again i dont feel AS good.. i think im going to try to do high raw again... starting tomorrow... good idea hahah

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  5. mmmm!! everything looks so delicious!! isn't raw food just so wonderful??!! Good luck this week, enjoy it!

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  6. TOO.MUCH.RAW.GOODNESS!!!

    I hate raw broccoli, it MUST be steamed or cooked in some way for me to eat it.

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  7. I love all those raw foods on there, it makes me want to try them! (They do look incredibly delicious).

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  8. Kudos on keeping it raw. I have a hard time with the raw thing. Maybe I need to do a fast before going raw...realign my tastebuds. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  9. Wow! This raw day looks so much better than my raw days. I MUST BUY THE ANI BOOK! The mushrooms are making me drool, and I used to hate mushrooms too. I started liking them about two years ago.

    On namo shoyu, I haven't bought any either. I always use regular soy sauce in my raw stuff that calls for it even though I know it's not all raw...but someday I'll shell out the bucks for it.

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  10. All that looks amazing. I really should stop saying I'm going to do a raw day and actually do one.

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  11. Thanks Heather :) It is SO easy, but I kept forgetting to make it...those frozen bananas have been in my freezer for awhile. The first time I actually had frozen banana "ice cream" was on Kauai, I think the place is called...Banana Joe's, or something like that.

    River, I think waiting until it comes out on DVD is a good call. Also, with working now, I feel like spending 3 hours at a movie (you know, by the time you get there, buy the tickets, get a seat, the previews, etc, its like 3 hours) is a waste of my precious weekend.

    Sala...I seriously thought they would be green. Is that crazy? I mean, the picture on the front was green, they were called GREEN mangos...I was surprised. And I thought they would be tougher, but they are SO yummy.

    Synthia, kudos for doing a raw week! I saw you did lots of shakes. I've actually never had a raw shake, I don't know why. I think because I always have a post workout shake that something about shakes doesn't appeal to me as another meal option.

    Elizabeth, yes it is wonderful, and its just so freaking cool!

    Shelby, I always assumed that most people liked raw broccoli, because its always on those platters at parties, and it seems to get eaten. Hm. Or maybe we are just the weird ones? (I don't think so)

    Lesley, you should try!! Its really just kind of fun. It takes some preparation, but anything good takes some prep, right?

    Joanie, I am NOT keeping it raw, haha. One day raw is enough, I'm only keeping the rest of my week higher raw because I have leftovers, haha. I have no intentions of becoming raw, although those mushrooms will become a diet staple, I think.

    Bianca, you are a liar! I totally went to your blog for inspiration, but I got distracted. I wanted to make the raw BBQ carrots you had on your last raw day, but no recipe. I feel bad that I can't post any raw recipes because none of them are mine, haha. I'm not that inventive yet! On the nama shoyu, I looked it up online, and it was like, $10! Considering the mushroom recipe called for 1/3 cup, that seems like way too much money for me. Maybe one day...somewhere I was looking called it the "Champagne" of soy sauce.

    Jenn, you totally should, just plan it out, its fun!

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  12. gina, you are making me so hungry!!! i love ani's book, too. it's one of two raw books i have. the other is called the 80/10/10 diet. it's good so far. the brocolli nut mash looks really yummy. i have to try that one.

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  13. oh my! coconut cashew pudding sounds divine!!
    your doughnut holes look better than most places! like larabars rolled up :D

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  14. omg must you be so sweet to me...and of course I am sweet on ya cause you're gina gina!!!

    awwww I am so glad you like the card...I chuckled at the date thing too cause I didn't get it at first!

    Hey I wanna watch that movie too!! I just read that it's just a date book and it was quite hilarious ....geez i cannot wait now!!

    omg i have no idea how u ppl do raw! u are amazing. raw for me begins and ends with salads.

    lots of good eats ya got there!

    xoxoxo
    denny:D

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  15. I nominated you for an award! Check out my blog for the details :)

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  16. Everything looks delicious! I could reach into my screen and snatch that banana ice cream... yum!

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