eats.

dolls, it looks as though a few posts have been eaten by the internet. no matter, i'm back with a few thoughts on food. i am back to eating high-raw high-vegan*. i begin every day with a green smoothie or juice. this is my breakfast. i love the feeling of charging up for the day with fresh veggies and fruit. (but then i do drink a cup of coffee or tea afterwards, which is a necessary evil for this time in my life. seriously. baby does not need to see me without caffeine right now!)
my newest favorite smoothie ingredient is... BASIL! here are a few ways it has jazzed up my mornings this week.

watermelon cocktail:
1 cup fresh watermelon
1 cup water + dash of coconut water
1 handful of basil.
{blend on high. drink! enjoy!}

mango healer:
1 cup fresh (or frozen & thawed) mango
1 cup coconut water
1 handful of basil.
{blend on high. it's a vacation to thailand in your mouth!}


i have also been using the heck out of my food spiralizer. this is one of those weird gadgets that has been absolutely indispensible for eating raw. it makes sweet potatoes edible raw! and it makes the best "pasta" from raw zuchini and squash. i made a sweet potato pasta last week coated with edamame pate that knocked my socks off! the pate is super easy to make.


soak shelled edamame in enough water to cover. toss into the blender or food processor with 1 tablespoon of cold-pressed olive oil, a touch of salt or shoyu and a dash of apple cider vinegar. blend until smooth. smear on whatever looks good. it's amazing.

xxoo
kel

* labels often make me act crazy. i aim to eat about 80% raw vegan. it's better for everyone if we make that aspirational and not a strict rule. when i am rigid about food, i tend to stress myself out. that's not healthy and healthy is my goal.

feasting.

loves,
lately we've been feasting on greens. i've been concocting some ridiculous salads and slurping down more homemade soups than i can even believe. oh, and i broke another blender (at least this one lasted nearly 9 months!), so we are having serious talks about buying the vitamix. i always knew we'd eventually buy one, but it seems like the time is right. am i the only person out there who has had a series of serious talks about blenders with the spouse? ha ha.
the broken blender means no smoothies for a bit. boo. instead i'm drinking a lot of organic rooibos tea. so good, but without the caffeine-crazy factor.

{salad of kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, walnuts, green beans and carrots. topped with a touch of extra virgin olive oil + balsamic vinegar.}
&
oona is now two months old. holy cats. i feel like i'm getting the hang of this mama-hood business.

the week's eats.

This week, we kept it pretty vegan. Emphasis on pretty.
Monday. Barbeque tempeh (vegan). Smashed potatoes (veganized with rice milk + earth balance). Beautifully green salad with lots of spinach (raw vegan).
Tuesday. Take-out from Blossoming Lotus-- living nachos (raw vegan). Four "cheese" lasagne (vegan-- lots of kale).
Wednesday. HUGE green salad with spinach and bok choy (raw vegan). I was in the process of making a vegan lentil curry when baby-girl had a collosal melt-down, so that burned.
Thursday. Jasmine rice (vegan). Baked tofu with asian marinade (vegan, recipe from The Veganomicon). Salad of Bok choy, corn, and plums with spicy mustard dressing (raw vegan).
***TOnight, we are hosting my mom & dad from out-of-town, and I HOPE we can go out to the Farm.***

I made the most delicious smoothie this week--- cucumber juice + frozen strawberries + handful of baby spinach. RAWmazing. (Inspired by a juice I had a Por Que No? a few weeks ago.)

To be fair, I also ate a slice of rhubarb pie topped with ginger streusel and a side of whipped creme from Random Order.

Have a beautiful weekend loves.

Getting Organized.

"Take a minute to get organized," is something I often whisper to Baby-O when she is worked up and trying to nurse. It's something I've had to do much more of myself since adding this beautiful bundle of joy into the mix. Gone are the days of waiting until dinner time to decide what to eat, for example. I have really taken to planning out a week (or so) of meals before heading to the market on Sunday afternoon (once my little bear is a bit older and we no longer need papa's assistance, we'll go back to a weekday grocery shopping trip-- Sundays are insane). Here's what we're feasting on for dinner this week:

• Baja-style tempeh tacos (vegan) & gunsmoke slaw (raw vegan).


• Minestrone (vegan).


• Curried butternut squash soup (vegan) and mixed grains (vegan) with sauteed chard & parsnips (vegan).


• Tortilla bake (i vegan-ized this recipe and added more veggies) & cornbread (dairy-free).


• Indonesian tofu stew with jasmine rice (vegan).


• Dal (vegan) with Garlic Naan and green veggie salad (raw vegan).

I like to make a bit extra so we'll have leftovers for lunch and for freezing.

Also, I'm slowly reclaiming my high-raw, high-vegan lifestyle by adding more raw vegan choices to my diet. (Choosing Raw, one of my favorite sites, recommends ADDING what you want more of rather than starting off by subtracting or limiting yourself. I love this. It definitely corresponds with my personal philosophy of beginning where you are.) One of my favorite ways to do this is with breakfast. I'm back on green juices and smoothies. Here are two favorites for the week:

Thai Spinach Smoothie

1/2 bag of organic baby spinach leaves

1-1/2 cups frozen mango

1 organic banana

1/2 can organic coconut milk

1/2 cup orange juice

Blend ingredients & enjoy.

Easy Way to Meet Kale Smoothie

1 bunch organic kale

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 cup frozen pineapple

1 organic banana

2 cups orange juice

Blend, drink, and watch a love affair with kale begin.

Hope you are having a delicious week!

another post about food!

hi loves.
i made an amazing discovery the other day: corn cakes made from jiffy corn muffin mix are ridiculously tasty. after teaching a sweaty yoga class on sunday morning, i was famished. Mr. Loves Whales was working on a deadline, so he couldn't join me for brunch. i thought that brunching alone at a restaurant while he toiled away at the office seemed beyond unfair, so i decided instead to whip up something filling (yet decadent, it was Sunday after all) to munch on. well, our waffle maker is packed up for home-staging purposes and the beignet mix that was open was LONG expired (and also, the box said i should keep it in the refrigerator after opening...ooops). i did, however, spy a box of jiffy mix.

now, one of my favorite brunch meals comes from the vita cafe in portland... thai corn cakes, so i thought i would recreate them somewhat at home by adding bananas and whipped cream (i know it's not thai, but i was fresh out the other ingredients, like ginger, cilantro and coconut syrup).

holy amazing.

i think i'll make them with cilantro, ginger and coconut syrup next time (and share them with someone else... i had an incredible amount of food!).
xo

la la la granola.

hi darlings,
i hope you had a delicious weekend.
i was blessed to have a husband home all weekend!
we enjoyed walks in the sunshine and the rainy rain and watched a pileated woodpecker search for food whilst pecking.
& i made a pie.
& began work on a few new fun projects, including peach pie.
also,
i'm obsessed with making granola. obsessed!

{mine is based loosely on the granola recipe in the Tassajara Bread Book}.

preheat oven to 250 degrees.
toss the following on a big, lipped baking sheet:
5 cups oatmeal;
1 cup sliced almonds;
1 cup flax seed;
1 cup sunflower seeds;
1/2 cup coconut shavings;
1/2 cup cashews.
mix with 1/3 cup olive oil + 1/3 cup honey + dash of water.
bake for at least an hour.
once it has cooled, add dried fruit if you like ( i don't love fruit in mine).

{ to modify, use the following guidelines: for every three parts oatmeal, one part nuts and seeds (i used sunflower, almonds, flax seeds & cashews). for roughly 10 cups of dry ingredients, 1/3 cup olive oil and 1/3 honey or agave nectar + a dash of water.}

xxoo

Burning through a bumper crop of basil.

Darlings,

My sweet house has one of the tiniest yards I have ever seen that still qualifies as a yard. Nonetheless, my Mister and I have always been big gardeners (and probably always will be) and maximize our small space for greenery. This year, some of our edibles include three varieties of basil. Basil start out slowly in the Northwest (they are too fragile to make it outdoors without a cold frame until well after Mothers' Day), but they went crazy this year. In honor of this bumper crop, I made a few (okay five!) batches of pesto yesterday. What fun times! I cannot wait to give a few jars away as gifts.

I used two different recipes: one savory and one sweet. The savory recipe I used (and modified) came from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, by Mollie Katzen. Basically, pesto involves whirring all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and then smearing it on whatever you like. The savory recipe I used is as follows:

3 packed cups fresh basil leaves

4 cloves of garlic

1/3 cup toasted walnuts (love those omega-3 fatty acids)

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

salt + pepper to taste

For the sweet basil recipe, I turned to The Veganomicon, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Totally yum on a great crusty bread.

3 packed cups fresh basil leaves

3 cloves garlic

1 cup toasted walnuts

1/3 + cup olive oil (a running over cup)

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

salt + pepper to taste

Our next basil project (I still have about 2-1/2 plants left to harvest) is a cocktail...one of my favorites in fact!

Happy Monday, I'm off to teach yoga.

Peace. & LOVE. always.

{photos by BK.}

la la la monday.

darlings,
i hope you had a most delicious weekend.
we did.
it all started when i woke up with the urge to make beignets on friday morning.
then there was the lavender + lemon wedding cake i inhaled on saturday afternoon.
& the sweet weekend was punctuated with a big batch of brownies on sunday night!
{life is for savoring, my dears.}

{you know i balance all of the sweet-treats out with fresh veggies + fruits, lots and lots of water, lots and lots of exercise and full nights of sleep.}
happy happy monday.