Time to Play

Someone told me this morning that I have been working too hard and that I should enjoy a day of play.

Hmmm. Let me think about that for a moment.




Check
and
Check

Can I just say. Check, CHECK, check, CHECKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!

Not really complaining! Life is good. I have been working on some great projects. I have a new website in the works, along with some raw food cooking classes and Health & Raw food coaching. As many of you know I have been studying nutrition and raw food for a while. I am so excited to be putting everything together in some fun ways.

Sometimes it is just important to take a BREAK. I think it is great to stop while you are in the midst of a project and just allow yourself to relax, play and have fun.

So today after dropping my daughter off to school and my son off to preschool for a few hours I took a trip to Chapter's. I had fun checking out the raw food and the vegan sections and also the nutrition area. I ended up picking up a new book and a journal for an upcoming trip.

Then into the kitchen to have some fun playing with food.

My husband and daughter made zucinni and squash noodles.



I used a tomato sauce. This one is from the book RAWvolution by Matt Amsden. This is one of my favourite raw books. I added some shitake mushrooms, fresh basil, black olives and a little bit of kale. Can't forget the kale.



Then I made a cashew/ macadamia nut cheese. I think this one is my best yet.

Cheese Recipe

I cup raw cashews
1/4 cup macadamia nuts
pinch of salt
lemon
paprika
onion
nutritional yeast
agave

Raw Play= Yum!!



So I am suggesting that you find some time for play, to relax and just have fun with whatever it is that you enjoy. For me it is often food related.

I would love to here what you are going to do to nourish your sense of play?

Make sure to join my FB page on the right so we can stay connected.

Raw Weekend Part 1: A Rawsome Potluck!!

As many of you may know I started up a raw meet-up in my community a few months ago. I wanted to connect to other's with an interest in eating healthy with a focus on raw food. We have met once prior to this weekend at WOW, a raw cafe.

For our second meeting we had a Raw Potluck on Saturday, that was hosted at a members house. Let me tell you it was a lot of fun. Fun to meet all of the new members and also great to eat all of the wonderful food.

Here is a picture of our RAW FOODIES who attended. I am taking the photo, so I am not in the picture. Also two members had to leave early. We had 15 people attend, so a big thank you to all that came.



As you can see we had lots of fun things on the table. Raw food book, a couple of bottles of kombucha, some marinated mushrooms and raw homemade salsa and dip.

Here is our raw food feast.


I am so happy that we had a great turnout and so much yummy raw food to share. Thanks to everyone for all of your raw food dishes. Take a look at this spread of raw eats. This is most, but not all because we could not fit it on the table.

Menu included:
Thai Coleslaw
Nori Rolls
Almond Nori Rolls
Pesto and veggie noodles
Cheesecake (not in photo)
Carrot Cake
Fudge
Mok Tuna
Mixed Seed and Fruit Salad
Kale Salad
Kombucha
Marinated mushrooms
Real raw salsa, veggie chips and guacamole
Cookie Dough Balls
Several Salads
Broccoli and Veggies
Fruits
and more (sorry if I missed anyone)


Can I just say how RAWSOME it was to have this great table of raw food to eat. I think everyone had a great time and had lots to eat.

This is one of the dishes that I brought. Thai Coleslaw from Rawvolution. It is always a hit.




We played a fun bingo icebreaker game and I also had two raw treats to giveaway. Some kale chips and a goji bar.




I had a great time and can't wait to meet up again and for our community to grow!!! Thanks everyone who came.


Stay tuned for the rest of the weekend in the next post.... and a belated MOTHER'S DAY to all my blogging friends.

A favorite Raw Book

I was first introduced to raw food 3 years ago. I have been dabbling in it off and on. Sometimes I have eaten entirely one raw meal a day. Then a full day raw here and there. Then a couple of days raw at a time. In the spring I had my longest stint of being straight 100% raw and that was for 40 days. It was totally spur of the moment and I just felt like it was time. I feel that now is the time to get back into raw food and try to keep it in my life for good.

Over the years I have have gathered a collection of a few raw books. Maybe about 10 or so. So I am going to share some of my books and favorite ingredients, so that you can get started and enjoy trying raw food. DON'T WORRY if this sounds all foreign to you. I will also back track and explain the health benefits of raw food and some of the equipment used to make it in the upcoming weeks for those of you that are new to raw food.

I do have few favorites books. Today I am making 2 recipes from one of my the raw books that I frequent quite often. It has great pictures and I find the food easy to make any yummy. It is called RAWvolution by Matt Amsden. I haven't tried all of the recipes, but quite a few and I have never been disappointed.

As we speak I have a batch of onion bread dehydrating.

First processing the onions


Then mixing the bread and getting ready to dehydrate it. Trust me this may not look appealing to some but it is so yummy. Even if you don't dehydrate it you can eat it just like this.


Then onto some some Cauliflower Couscous that I made this morning. Again using the handy dandy food processor for the cauliflower.


Add some chopped up herbs(cilantro and parsley)


Add the last few ingredients and voila. I may use this in a salad or in a wrap.


I can't show you the finished bread as it has to dehydrate for 24 hours. Long I know..but so worth it. I post the finished product if it doesn't get eaten up to quickly:)