:) haPPineS (: —> Come Forth!

Well readers here we are!  Another year!

I wish you THE BEST YEAR you could possibly have!

You are ALL BEAUTIFUL SOULS!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Quite a bit has changed around here at Veg888 headquarters since last year!

I will continue to seek out longevity and healing & will ALWAYS INCLUDE YOU along my journey! 🙂

Thursday Night Run…

I headed out for my run about 5 min till 11pm.  It was cold but there wasn’t a wind factor to contend with! Whew!  Since it was so late, I was unable to take more than 1 picture of the run! 😦  I will miss the holidays!  It is the only time the streets are illuminated with lights and creativity.  One of the houses decorated their palm tree with various colored lights!  Hopefully I will be able to take a picture of it before the lights are taken down!

I plan on running into the new year!  I will be out there thinking of the wonderful world we live in and all the beauty it posses!  Not that there aren;t bad things happening around the world, but I will release love into the world tonight!  I hope you will join me! 🙂

Raw Cashew Adventure – Part II – Update

When I got home, I went to look at my cashew cheese.  It smelled different than the eve before.

Projected Problems:

– I think I should have placed the cheese on top of the cheesecloth and allowed it to drain, this way I would have ensured a firm cheese.  (This is all theoretical until I can experiment!)

-The blender I have has seen better days.  Actually, it saw better days a year ago! 🙂  All the RAW FOOD PREPARATION over the last year has worn out the blades in both my blender and my Food Processor.  I think if I had a better blender it would have ground the cashews better and I would have had a “thicker” firmer cheese. (Again my theory!)

With these factors in mind, I added lemon, onion powder, cayenne, salt, dehydrated leeks, scallions, and shallots.

I mentioned my “antique” molds and I wanted to use them for the cheese…

Here they are before the process…

Next I lined each mold with plastic wrap and filled each mold with cheese.  Filled the molds with the cheese and covered.  I had hoped the cheese would firm up by morning, but 8 hrs later the cheese is still soft! 😦  I have seen on the Raw Forums this problems occurs and I hope this is not like my adventure in making Gnocchi!  In one word… DISASTROUS!  I have NEVER ATTEMPTED it at home AGAIN!

Rejuvelac Front – Update

This is my third batch of Rejuvelac and I am quite PLEASED!!!  Tonight will be the last batch I can make with what is brewing.  I saved the other sprouts and hope to experiment with the next batch ALL TOGETHER!  I am also going to DEHYDRATE the “spent” sprouts and make a bread!

I have noticed some profound differences since I have begun conuming REJUVELAC!  My running times have contined to get BETTER! YES!  Last night I ran the 2.8 miles in 38 minutes!  For the last few weeks, between the REJUVELAC and the E3 I have felt enormous differences.  I have cut my time by 8 minutes! 🙂  I’ve got to get to 35 minuted!  Once I do that, I will be able to start with intervals.  Intervals will change my time and strength while I am in a race!  10 k – HERE I COME!!!

Hopefully I will be able to conquer a 4-5 miler this weekend!  I will let you know!

Another positive and maybe negative ALL AT THE SAME TIME – MY SENSE OF SMELL!  I know this seems strange, but I have a keener sense of smell and sharper vision.

My stomach seems to feel really good all of the time and the “Taste Tester” has definitely experienced some changes as well!  Love It! 🙂

Love and Light!

Namaste!

Last Years Holiday Wish! Read It and Know I still mean it! 🙂

New Years Eve – Eve!

As we drove home from the shop last night it was FREEZING!  Least by California standards! 🙂  I know, I know – here in California we are big babies about the temperature!  I don’t know how some runners, raw foodies and vegans deal with zero degree weather! Eeek!

It was 48 degrees with winds at 15 – 20 mph!  I WENT RUNNING ANYWAY!  I figured if I could conquer the run last night, I would be alright to conquer my runs the rest of the week!  The weather promises to be windy and cold and I have made a promise to myself to continue running !!  The January 10k will be here soon enough! 

There were a few races I wanted to attend, but traffic and being in the car isn’t something I want to deal with during a holiday weekend. If you know what I mean! So I will be hosting my own mini race!  Between 11:30-11:45 pm I will be embarking on my own 5k!  Hopefully my taste tester will accompany me into this NEW YEAR RUNNING!!! 🙂

Sorry no pictures from the run, my camera wasn’t charged! 😦

After my run, I lifted weights and headed into the kitchen! 

I went to the Rejuvelac brewing and witnessed a phenominal sight!  There were green sprouts coming out of the REJUVELAC!

WILD!  I thought how beautiful! How A-L-I-V-E! 

I think they sprouted because there are other sprouts growing in the kitchen – life is abounding in the Veg888 kitchen right now!

I am going to try and make a recipe I came across in an Ann Wigmore book – Energy Soup!  Followed by a Rejuvelac/E3 Live Cocktail and a run sometime over the LONG WEEKEND! The soup requires fresh sunflower sprouts, rejuvelac, etc. I will update later!

I also decided to take advantage of the fact that I have several jars FULL OF REJUVELAC!  I am making a Cashew Basil Nut Cheese! 

Last night I pulled out my trusty Recipe Book/Personal Journal.  In it were the basic instructions for a Cashew Nut cheese.  I got the recipe from somewhere on the internet!  I am always scouring for interesting recipes and have wanted to make this particular recipe for a fair amount of time.  I don’t know why I hadn’t made Rejuvelac before?  It would seem that I would have totally made it during the cleanse last year, but???? Well I suppose it doesn’t matter.  Slow and easy!  I’ll get there….

Basic Cashew Cheese

3 cups soaked Cashews

1 1/2 – 2 cups rejuvelac

Instructions: Place ingredients in the blender/food processor and blend until smooth!  Place contents in a glass and cover.  Allow to ferment for 24 hours!  Uncover and begin creating!!!

Here we are ALL COVERED!  I will do all of my experimenting when we get home this evening!  I would like to cover the cheese with some herbs and spices.  However, I was able to attain one of my KITCHEN GOALS!  YES! 🙂

I purchased some antique molds off of EBAY a few months ago and I am planning on using them for some Cashew Cheese experiments…stay tuned!  I will update soon!

Thank you for reading!

Love and Light!

Namaste!

Enter the Cilantro!

Well Readers…I finally decided to try KELP NOODLES.  The package says their RAW, but I am a little skeptical about that fact…

Anyway, I decied to make a Cilantro Pumpkin Seed Pesto for the Kelp Noodles.  More than anything I wanted 1) to know what they tasted like and 2) I didn’t want to attach any one countries cuisine to the noodle until I had tasted the noodle.

Initially these noodles are kind of chewy and crunchy in a strange sort of way.  I know that sounds ridiculous, but it’s true.  The more they soak in whatever sauce you use, they begin to be much more like a glass noodle found in Asian Cuisine.

So here is the package of the noodles…

Here are the noodles after I rinsed them…

Since the noodles looked a bit like a Glass Noodle I borrowed the cilantro from Thai food flavors + Borrowed the Pesto / Herb Paste type of sauce from Italian Food + and a bit of Mexican with the Serrano Chili and Pumpkin Seeds = Cilantro Pumpkin Seed Pesto.

Cilantro Pumpkin Seed Pesto

1 Bunch Cilantro

1 Serrano Chili

Juice of 1 Lime

Juice of 1 Lemon

2 Cloves Garlic

8 Cherry Tomatoes, Halved

1/4 cup olive oil

1 splash toasted sesame seed oil

1 Handful of Black Sesame Seeds,

Preparation: Halve Cherry Tomatoes and set aside.  Place all ingredients, (except Black Sesame Seeds) into Food Processor and process until you have a nice fragrant paste.  Mix into noodles and add the Black Sesame Seeds. Serve on two plates and garnish with Tomatoes.

Here is the finished plate!

I added a salad on the side.  I used the sauce you see around the noodles as the dressing.

Notes: I don’t know that I will buy these noodles ever again.  However the next time I make this type of Pesto, I will use a Zucchini Noodle instead. 🙂

Sprout Update

Sunflower

The sunflower sprouts have filled the jar.  I needed to give them more space and have moved 3/4 of the jar into a colander, and left the 1/4 of the jar filled with Sunflower sprouts .

Here is the Colander filled with the other sunflower sprouts…

The next morning this is what the Sunflower sprouts looked in the jar…

And the Colander…

Radish

Lot’s more little green leaves!! Yeah! This is so exciting!!! Darker green as well.  The jar is at 3/4 of the way full! Wow!  There are some that are a really pretty red/magenta type of color.  Can you see them?  Those must be the China Rose Radish Seeds.

The next morning this is what the radish sprouts looked like! These are almost ready to eat!!!

Peas

These tails are about 2″ at this point.  The first set of leaves are forming and barely beginning to turn green.

Look at the incredible Green color that emerged in the morning!! The second set of leaves are emerging! This is wild stuff!

I will update the sprout pictures as they grow.  Tonight when I arrive home the Radish will be ready to eat.  I admit I sampled a taste and they were SPIIIICY! YUM! LOVE IT!

Thanks for reading!

Namaste!