Open Coconut

I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts...

There they are all standing in a row...on my countertop.

Both are about the size of my head..

I have been trying to eat more raw foods lately. I haven't gotten too fancy in my preparations, because in the past, that has been a recipe for disaster. Not that the food hasn't turned out well, I just lose enthusiasm really quickly.

However one thing that is in every raw recipe book I've ever seen is the young Thai coconut. They're so elusive, they're so expensive, they're so....covered in a rock hard husk. Needless to say I did not have the confidence to try and crack one open. But I recently discovered two things:

1.) our local Asian Markets (there are two great ones)

2.) videos on cracking these babies open

Okay, to be fair, we found the Asian markets long ago, I just didn't think I had it in me to get them open. Then I saw this video on Kristen's Raw. It seemed doable. One problem.

No cleaver.

Back to square one. So I tried the illustrious youtube and came across many videos that used a knife. I only looked at one and decided it was possible. She makes it look really really easy. It is easy, but not really really. Especially when you have a dinky little knife that isn't even a full tang.

This cut off the husk no problem, but required some elbow grease to get the inner cap off. Still, there was success, and it really didn't take long. It was a bit messy, but I suspect it will get much easier now that I know what I'm doing.

I was a little worried about its freshness, but it produced a full cup of almost clear coconut water.

I was thrilled! It was possible! Good thing because I bought two!

I scooped out the meat with an ice cream scoop, and peeled off the bits of brown skin that was stuck to it with a vegetable peeler. After that, I sat down and looked at the internet for information on how to store it. Bottom line, it can be stored for about 3 days in the fridge, but is best eaten immediately, as far as taste and nutrition are concerned. I can do that.

In went 1/2 cup of the coconut water, all the coconut meat, 1/4 of a large papaya, a banana, some ice, and 1 tsp of Xanthan Gum.

Out came a papaya coconut smoothie!

This was so nice and thick, obviously from the Xanthan Gum, and you could totally taste the coconut. Loved it! I have big plans for the next coconut, but we'll see what happens. Have you taken a crack at the young Thai coconut yet? Its not as hard as it sounds!! I'm so excited to take a crack at some more complicated applications with it, especially as I am getting some Teflex sheets for my dehydrator soon!

Raw Foods, Mixed Well

I've been doing a lot of stealing lately. Of course I mean stealing from other bloggers and websites. As such, I have tons of pictures, and not much to write about except how delicious everything is. So I figured I will do just that.

First off though, we got a Vita-Mix! This has been a very exciting development, and I think I have used it multiple times every day. I love it love it love it already. So most of the food being shown here was made with that.

I hit Averie's blog first. She posts a lot of stuff that looks great, but I have been dying to try her Raw Vegan Kale Chips. They were one of the first things that got made in my shiny new (well...refurbished, but new to me) Vita-Mix...and oh man did they deliver.

They were cheesey and crispy and made the whole apartment smell yummy while they were dehydrating. I added some cayenne for a little kick too, and they were gone very quickly.

I also tried one of Averie's newer desserts that she had posted. Now don't get me wrong, I love chocolate and all that too, but when I saw her recipe for Raw Caramels, I had to make them.

Either my hand is smaller, or I spread mine thinner!

Sandwiched with chocolate soynut butter

Ah, there he is. I'm not the only one in this place that's been stealing. Ivan, our newest little stinker, LOVES food. And I don't mean he gets excited when a can is opened because he still thinks there's a chance it might be tuna, like Zoe does. The cat loves anything. One of his favorite treats is spinach, he loves zucchini and asparagus, and he has an especially soft spot for coconut (flakes, oil, milk, any form). So you can expect to find him in most pictures from here on out because it is almost impossible to keep him out of them!

So, one of the reasons I have always wanted a Vita-Mix was because it seemed like making smoothies was just SO much easier. And...it is infinitely such.

Avocado, kale, spinach, parsley, cucumber, banana, dates.

Avocado, cucumber, parsley, kale, spinach, frozen strawberries, pear.

Topped with grapefruit.

Spirulina smoothie from Annie's Raw Food Kitchen. Which Ivan especially loved...

and got him very messy, since he knocked over the blender and crawled inside to lick it all up.

I did have some not so raw food this week. I was watching the Food Network while working out and saw these Sauteed Potatoes with Chorizo being made on Mexican Made Easy. I was thinking how I could easily do it with a Soy Chorizo, and was then dumbfounded when the host actually suggested doing that to make it vegetarian. So, I tried it.

We also used sweet potatoes instead of white.

Honestly, this was just okay. I've never had real chorizo and I used Trader Joe's Soy Chorizo. I don't think that Soy Chorizo is really an awesome substitute. It just tasted like TVP marinated in spices. I'm sure that's what it is, and I've made things like that before. So, it was fine, just not what I was expecting I guess. Have you tried the Soy Chorizo or even Soyrizo? Is one better? Am I just asking too much of poor TVP?

I also whipped out another tool that I had promised I would be using a lot this year. I have been using it, just haven't been posting about it for some reason. Anyway, enter the spiralizer!

Zucchini "Noodles"

which Ivan, of course, loves

Mixed with a mango and red pepper mixture from the Modern Ayurvedic Cookbook.

All together with a sesame oil dressing, lime, and cilantro.

This recipe was supposed to be made with buckwheat noodles, but it made such a fantastic combo with the Zucchini "Noodles". I have leftovers of this and I am very happy about it!

Back to the Vita-Mix for the last thing today, which was from one of my newest very favorite bloggers, the lovely Michal, from Earth Muffin. I was at a loss for what to have for breakfast this morning. On the weekends I always want something "special", but I still want it to be healthy. I usually end up compromising one of those. Not today! I made her Spiced Carrot Puree.

Yummy.

This pretty much tasted like carrot cake in a bowl. I used 2 dates to sweeten it, and added cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and ginger, and it was totally perfect...with the obvious addition of coconut and raisins! This made such a satisfying breakfast, it totally fit my "special", and healthy, requests. Oh, and this got Ivan's seal of approval too. At one point he was able to get some by sticking his foot in it (I know, I'm not proud), and when I was done, he licked the bowl.

So there we have it! A week's worth of good food, thankyouverymuch blog friends and Vita-Mix! And as I mentioned above, I did get a refurbished model, so it was about $100 less. Still expensive, but I've only had it for a week, and I can tell you it is so worth it.

Enjoy the weekend! I am off to my cousin's birthday party, and my brother's band's show.

Challenge Weekend One

We're closing in on week one of my husband's 30 day vegan challenge.  In my last post I mentioned that I thought this would be his most difficult weekend, and...well if I was right, then the rest of this challenge should be a breeze.  

I don't have any pictures so I won't bore you with too many words, but Saturday we had a cookout at my aunt's house with some of our relative who are visiting from Italy.  We brought veggie burgers, so we had them on whole wheat buns with some rice salad that my aunt made.  Plus there was the raw veggies out.  Oh, and then fruit salad...watermelon...yumm.  It was really a lot of fun to meet them, and was all around a good day!  

Sunday we went down to my husband's family to see his sister off (she is going to Greece).  We now live exactly halfway between both of our families, so its kind of convenient.  Anyway, they were cooking out too, so we brought veggie burgers, but I didn't even end up eating them because my mother in law had gotten a tofu recipe from a friend of hers that was really good (thankfully...I don't think they had really tried tofu before). That with brown rice, corn on the cob, some polenta and vegetable pie she made, baked potato wedges, etc, was plenty for me.  My husband still ate two veggie burgers (Southwest flavor Sunshine burgers.  I've never had them, but he said they were good), along with everything else though.  Oh and there was dessert too!  My sister in law is gluten-free, so we had two options for vegan and gluten-free dessert.  Impressive.  

My in laws have a really awesome natural food store near their house, and as much as I love Wegmans, I do miss the local places.  So we went on our way home.  I didn't really get too much, but I did get these olive oil...things.  

I can't explain them, and I ate them all already (they were REALLY good).  I guess they are kind of like a mix between a pastry/cookie and a cracker.  Like, a sweet cracker.  But round, and sprinkled with sugar.  What put them completely over the top awesome though was the ground anise and anise extract.  Soooo good.  I have never seen them there before, and they were this special "imported" item, so I don't know if they'll be there next time, but if they are...you KNOW I'll be buying some more.  

Today we got up EARLY and went to spinning at 5:45.  We got there at 5:40 only to find out we were actually 10 minutes late because they moved the class up to 5:30.  I totally LOVED it!  It was so much fun.  On top of that we're going to be lifting tonight.  It sounds like a lot, but because of his job, my husband almost always works out twice a day.  Since I have the time now, why not?  On days we don't lift I am going to do yoga.  I've found a place around here called Yogawood that does an Ashtanga style flow, which is what I am used to, and what I love, but I think I may try a Bikram place tomorrow.  By the way, I want to clear up something I said on Friday, that the yoga didn't keep my legs very strong, and I think I should mention that "strong" is a pretty relative term.  Yoga keeps your muscles fit and relatively strong...but not strong enough to squat 100 pounds.  I hope that makes more sense.  To ME, that is STRONG.  Warrior poses don't really do much of anything to my leg muscles (my hips, that's another story).  I lost much more strength in my big legs lifts than I did in my upper body lifts.  But, every kind of exercise, every practice, whether its yoga, running, lifting, etc they all have their own benefits, and they all make you strong in some way.  Which explains why I'm always trying to do a little bit of everything!      

After spinning we have breakfast, which has been "interesting".  Since all I have is a Magic Bullet (no blender), I have a very limited volume capacity.  My smoothies always consist of six ingredients:

1.  Banana

2.  Spinach

3.  Protein powder

4.  Non-dairy milk

5.  Frozen fruit

6.  Water    

Well, as you may imagine, this does not fit in the Magic Bullet very well.  So I've been making them in pieces, and we end up with a green component (spinach, banana, water), and a fruit colored component (today was purple---blueberries!!).  When you pour them together it looks all swirly.  

I just think it looks cool, but my husband likes it like this because he says he can taste the separate components.  Okay. 

In case you were wondering, we're not using the same protein powder.  I'm using the same stuff I've talked about a bunch of times.  My rice and pea blend, sweetened with stevia, from trueprotein.com.  He is using a GNC soy protein isolate.  I can taste such a difference.  His is sweetened with sucralose, I believe, and it is so much sweeter.  I don't like it because it reminds me too much of whey.  So if you are trying to move away from whey, this stuff may be the way to go.  

One last update.  I stopped at my parents this weekend before going to my aunt's house.  I talked about the baby birds living on their porch a few days ago.  

Well this was my mom's most recent picture of them, just a week after that first picture. 

 And this was my picture of them this weekend.  

They're gone!  The babies have officially grown up and left the nest (and my family can use the front door again).  

As far as the vegan challenge, so far it is going very very well.  He says he's feeling really good, and...well that's about it, what else do you want?  Yesterday on the way to my in-laws, I had him listen to Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's podcast, Vegetarian Food for Thought.  Now, I know I have  mentioned her in passing before, but I seriously love this podcast.  The one I really wanted him to listen to was one of her most recent episodes, and its one that I suggest everyone listens to.  I know I have people who read this who aren't necessarily vegetarian or vegan, I'm talking to you, too.  It may not be something that you want to hear, but I think its worth the 40 minutes to just listen.  Not because I want you to be vegan.  But because I want you to be sure you are YOUR definition of healthy.  You can take from it whatever you want, but I think it should be required listening.  And I will never beg you to listen to another one of her podcasts again, I swear.  You can even do it through iTunes, just search.  So, go download:  Vegetarian Food for Thought, Diseases of Civilization.  Now.      

My husband was really unhappy I was making him do this, but once he started listening to her, I think he is hooked.  He takes a lot of pride in being well educated, and her podcast present information that he has never really looked into before.  It is very well research, and it isn't presented in an angry way, so its hard not to listen.  We listened to it the whole way there, and then he told me I could put it on "if I wanted to" on the way home.

One last thing (I swear).  I get really tired of say "my husband this", "my husband that", etc.  I know that other bloggers have other names for their significant others or family members (BoyfriendLovlie from VeganLovie, CD from Heather Eats Almond Butter, and Mama and Papa Crunk from Vegan Crunk come to mind), but I got nothing .   Any ideas?  

Allright, NOW I'm done.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday!!

Catching Up

This is an old meal, but I really wanted to share it.  Not to mention the fact that I haven't really been taking any pictures, so I have nothing else to share.  

When I finished my cleanse a few weeks ago, I asked for suggestions:  tofu, tofu salad, BBQ tofu.  Miss Shelby suggested BBQ tofu salad.  When I think of that, I usually think of BBQ tofu in a salad (like, with lettuce), but I'm not a big lettuce salad person.  What I do love, however, is a mock "chicken" salad, so BBQ tofu salad it was.  

It started with the BBQ tofu, and while it would have been nice to cook it on the BBQ, it was just marinated for about 2 hours and baked at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes. 

 The BBQ sauce was "homemade", kind of.  I mean, it didn't come from a bottle, but it was super crazy easy because I am almost always in a rush now.  It was 1/3 ketchup, 1/3 soy sauce, 1/3 agave nectar.  Ta-freaking-da.  Seriously, its really easy, and its not the *best* BBQ sauce in the world, but for the amount of time it takes, its awesome.  

I let it cool in the fridge, overnight, before using it in the salad.  

Its pretty easy.  You can probably come up with it yourself, but this is my version.  

About 5.5oz tofu (two of the blocks I made above)

Vegenaise

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup chopped celery

1 minced clove garlic

1/4 cup cabbage strips

salt & pepper to taste, if you want

That's it.  Easy easy, and SO good.  Actually, I kind of wish I had some right now.    

This would be equally as good in a sandwich, I'm just not really a big bread person.  It just doesn't do anything for me.  So if possible, I don't eat it.  I've been on the run a lot lately, so I've been having wraps and sandwiches more, and I don't like it.

In other news, I received some pomegranate juice from the wonderful people at POM wonderful a few weeks ago.  

I only drank one straight, and its such good stuff.  Really tart, but sweet.  Careful though, it stains (my brother stained a shirt, but then, you aren't going to spill yours everywhere, are you?)

I had intentions to do all kinds of fun stuff with this.  Then after a few days, I had intentions to do at least one fun thing with it.  Then...it was gone.  It actually all went into some variation of this:

Yes, I've finally jumped on the smoothie bandwagon, and its all thanks to POM.  I believe this particular one was made with a banana, a mango, and pomegranate juice (topped with some pomegranate seeds, of course).  

Since then, I've actually jumped on the green smoothie bandwagon, which is sometimes cool, when its actually green, but today, when it is kind of brown (cherries, bananas, coconut milk, spinach), its not as fun.  But I have been having a smoothie every day for breakfast, and I love it.  I've also been in love with scones, but that is a story for another day.  Actually, if anyone knows of some awesome scone recipes, pass them on!  

So, that's all the food for today.  Sad, right?  I'm gone for three weeks and that's all I've got.  There has been so much going on.  My husband did, indeed, come home about 3 weeks ago now.  Its been kind of hard, because I'm at student teaching all day, then I have class at night, and I have to plan lessons and write my thesis.  Plus, interviews here and there, job fairs, which are in Maryland, so a lot of driving (I have spent over 50 hours in the car since he came home).  I know that you all don't need an explanation, I'm just like....Ack.   

Right now, he is working somewhere in NJ.  What's kind of...um...strange, is that I am not at all looking for a job in that area.  I have interviews mainly up here, in NY, and in Baltimore County.  So, that's interesting.  He's staying down there for the time being, and I'm going to be going down there today, and when school is over, I'll stay with him until I find something.  Then we have decisions to make.  

Speaking of student teaching, I only have a week left!  Its crazy, really.  My new cooperating teaching isn't the same as the guy I was with at the High School, but I still LOVE the kids here.  I can't believe its almost over.  I'm going to spend a few days with my old mentor teacher and the High School kids when I'm done at the Middle School, until grad school is over.  He would just sign off on them all, but what else am I going to do for those three days??  

So, things have been kind of crazy, but I have been planning out all my food pretty well, which is excellent.  For the time being, don't expect any nutrition information, it takes awhile to do it.  If I get the chance to come back and add it in, I will.  

I'm still not sure how regularly I'll be posting, although I'll be bored as anything after May 15th, so you can probably expect to be hearing too much from me around then!