I haven’t updated in a while. To be honest, physically I have been *exhausted* and my meals have been super simple. I’ve been eating tons of watermelon ( I really do mean it. I ate a 6 kilo watermelon in 2 days recently!), gluten-free pizzas, homegrown sunflower sprouts, tahini+stevia+carob on rice cakes, raw fruit sorbets, etc. Things that are quick, easy and tasty are what I am about now. There are so many recipes that I want to try out and I would love to spend hours in the kitchen doing it but my body is rebelling against that. I suppose that with less than two weeks until the baby comes, I need to rest when I need to rest and that is that!
I did, however, whip up these super easy, super delicious and (in my book) super healthy cookies from Sketch Free Eating. These cookies are the bomb! They are filled with high quality ingredients like buckwheat flour, chickpea flour, honey tahini and flax. And the recipe is so versatile! For example, the recipe calls for honey but I wanted my husband to be able to enjoy them as well, so I substituted the same amount of xylitol and added some quinoa milk I had on hand to thin out the batter a bit. I also love the fact that with the chickpea flour, they are quite high in protein.
Find the recipe at the website: Fudgy Socca Carob Cookies.
Last weekend, we went out to the river again and had a lovely day. We went to a more remote part, which meant that we had the entire place to ourselves! The pools weren’t quite as deep as the more popular (i.e. filled to the brim) spots, but they were more than sufficient to totally immerse yourself in the cold, clear water!
I basically spent the whole day laying in this! I only got out to have a beautiful lunch of some tortilla de patata, gazpacho and pimientos de padrón. All made by a friend who must love me very much 🙂
me getting my Vitamin D!
I hope your week has been great so far! I am looking forward to a lazy afternoon and a ginormous salad!
Here we are again, at the start of another week! My weekend was tiring but nice. On Saturday, we decided to venture into the city and have lunch. It ended up taking much longer to get in than planned, but we made it and decided to go to one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants in Madrid, Yerbabuena. If you are ever here, I recommend it as they have much more imaginative cuisine than most other veggie places here.
To start, I had corn tortillas stuffed with veggies, guacamole, pico de gallo and nut cheese. Then, I had an enormous salad with endive, lettuce, seaweed, sprouts, avocado and more! For dessert, I had a delicious mint sorbet. The hubby had a salad to start, with black rice, tofu, avocado, sprouts, and so much more, and a creamy pea risotto for his main. I don’t have any pictures because we were sooo hungry and way too excited to tuck in!!
Anyway, today so far I have had:
a breakfast parfait of vanilla-cashew chia pudding + apricots, peaches and nectarines mixed with a bit of lucuma, hemp protein powder and cinnamon.
For lunch, I had a big plate of sliced cucumbers, rocket and lettuce with a simple pumpkin seed and garlic cream, raw burgers from this recipe at the Sunny Raw Kitchen, my sprouted falafels and a simple zucchini/flax wrap (in recipe index if you are interested!) Those burgers are delicious, and next time I will absolutely use the jalapeño, I just didn’t have any on hand this time 🙁
I worked for a bit on my yoga projects, then decided I needed something sweet. We aren’t fully stocked up on chocolate making supplies at the moment, so I winged it with this coconut oil+carob powder+goji berries+raisins+pumpkin seeds+buckwheaties+xylitol creation. Simply mixed everything together in a bowl, poured into some silicon cupcake cases and put in the freezer to set. Took all of 5 minutes from start to finish. Talk about instant gratification! I may or may not have had more than my fair share 😉
I had these with a green/nettle tea.
Today, the husband came home with some non-GMO corn pasta, so I am going to make that for dinner with a bit of tofu, broccoli greens, carrots, zucchini and garlic in a coconut-curry sauce.
With some watermelon sorbet for afters.
So, that is a day in the kitchen of this high-raw vegan, pregnant lady!
Hi there! I hope you have had a wonderful weekend. Mine has been super busy, but also extremely rewarding! As I mentioned in my last post, I gave my first raw foods workshop. It was really nice to do, but also so, so tiring. I think that more than anything that has to do with the fact that I am 8 1/2 months pregnant, LOL! I think sometimes that I truly must be crazy to take on projects like this right now, but it all turned out well in the end and I am looking forward to doing more- hopefully each time, it will get a little more polished and professional and each time I will get more interest and more people involved.
Today, I have been resting, taking it easy and sipping on iced green tea/nettle blend with lime juice. So delicious, refreshing and gives me a little energy without burning out my adrenals like coffee does.
Anyway, here is some of the things I have been eating recently:
This has been my go-to breakfast most days- super simple Banana Soft-Serve. With the heat here, I just can’t get enough cold things, it seemed. This particular day, my ice cream brekkie had 3 frozen bananas, 2 tablespoons hemp protein powder, 2 T. raw cacao powder, 1 T. Greener Grasses powder and 1 t. crystal manna powder. Seriously, who needs that dairy crap when you can have this??
Next, in order to take advantage of the summer fruit bounty, I have been making fruit sorbets *a lot* Sometimes, even twice a day! This one had frozen strawberries blended with fresh nectarines and a tiny bit of vanilla stevia. I am LOVING the organic fruit we are getting now!!
Lastly, this is a nectarine cheesecake that I made last week and have been slowly munching my way through. Hard work, I tell you! I basically adapted the recipe from Heather Pace’s mango cheesecake recipe.
Nectarine Cheesecake
For the base:
- 1 cup hazelnuts
- 1 cup dates, stoned and soaked for one hour
- pinch of cinnamon
- pinch of salt
Add all ingredients to a food processor, and process until mixture is crumbly but sticks together. Press into 7 inch springform pan.
For the filling:
- 1 cup cashews
- 3 tablespoons agave nectar or honey
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 drops vanilla stevia (you can substitute with a combination of vanilla extract and plain stevia, or just vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon more agave or honey)
- 2 cups chopped nectarine
- 1 tablespoon lecithin
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
In a blender, add all ingredients except for coconut oil and blend until smooth and creamy. Add coconut oil, and blend again. Pour over base and place in freezer for half an hour or the fridge for 2 hours in order to set.
I topped this off with a quick chocolate sauce to make it extra lush!
Magic Chocolate Sauce
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup agave nectar
2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
Mix all ingredients together and pour into squeezy bottle. Now you can squeeze magic chocolate sauce to your hearts content.
Yield 1/2 cup
Enjoy! Serves about 7 people.
Lest you think all I eat is sweet foods, today I have had a BIG salad with watercress, romaine lettuce, grated carrot, cucumber, radish and apple, with a tahini lime sauce and sprinkled with a few cashews and hemp seeds.
I also had a few bits of spelt bread with mashed avocado, apple cider vinegar and ground black pepper.
Tonight, I am making a quick raw pizza with some bases left over from the last time I made it, and a sundried tomato and basil pesto that I will share tomorrow.
I’m going to leave you with a picture of myself, taken today at 34 weeks. I think that I have gained a little more weight this pregnancy than what I would have ideally liked to do, but the important thing is that I feel healthy and happy and that the tummy creature is doing well.
Here is looking forward to an awesome week!
Today is hot in Madrid, and I wanted something cool and refreshing. I also had a Galia melon that needed to be used. I started thinking about the canteloupe icees my mom used to make me when I was a kid and decided to do something similar. The result was super yum!
You need:
- half a Galia melon*
- 2 bananas, frozen
- half a cup ice cubes
Blend thoroughly and enjoy! Serves 1
* A Galia melon looks like a canteloupe on the outside but like a honeydew on the inside. The taste is more like a honeydew melon. Feel free to substitue either of these melons if you don’t have access to galia melons.
Hoy en Madrid hace un calor tremendo y por eso me apetecía algo fresquito y refrescante. También, tenía un melón que necesitaba usar urgentemente. Empecé a pensar en los granizados de melón que mi madre solía hacer cuando yo era pequeña y decidí hacer algo parecido.
Batido de Melon Galia
Ingredientes:
- un melón galia
- 2 plátanos helados
- media taza cubitos de hielo
Instrucciónes:
¡Batir y disfrutar! ¡Así de fácil!
Confession-I love coffee. I do, I adore it. I haven’t really been drinking it during my pregnancy for a number of reasons, mainly because I’m not convinced that it is a good thing. I have, however, had a few decaf coffees. Which to be fair, I am not sure than isn’t worse.
I digress. Today, Hubby came home with a pack of Oxfam fair trade coffee. The leaded stuff, the full strength kind! Well, considering that I have been feeling so, so tired lately, I immediately set out to brew a pot and make something delicious out of it.
Here is the resultant beverage:
Emily’s Naughty Pregnant Lady Frappe
- 1.5-2 frozen bananas
- 1 cup ice
- 1 dropper English Toffee stevia (or whatever liquid stevia you have around, or 2 tbsp. your favorite sweetener i.e. agave, honey, coconut sugar etc.)
- .5 cup raw vegan whipped cream* (I had this on hand from earlier. You could easily substitute almond or other non-dairy milk. Or hell, dairy if that is your bag! Or cream!!)
- .5-1 cup freshly brewed coffee (depending on how strong you like it. I went light with mine because my body is not used to the caffeine anymore)
Put all ingredients in blender and blend until creamy, thick and smooth. Pour into a glass and enjoy! Makes 1 large or 2 small servings.
Raw Vegan Whipped Cream
(from Cafe Gratitude)
- 1 cup cashews
- 1 cup coconut milk
- .25 cup agave or honey
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- pinch salt
- .5 cup coconut oil, liquid
- 1 tbsp. lecithin
Place all ingredients except for coconut oil and lecithin into blender and blend until smooth. Add coconut oil and lecithin and blend again. Place in fridge for at least one hour, or in freezer for 2o minutes to set.