Simple is Great when it comes to Food

I know that I have previously mentioned that lately my life has been crazy busy. With a full-time job, a photography business (a wedding and 4 sessions in a week time, for example), and house renovation underway I feel that I have no time to eat or sleep. One last thing that I would want to worry about, although in any other time I would thoroughly enjoy it, is being creative with food. Anything that might take more than 1-20 minutes is out of the question at this point in my life. But, regardless of my busy schedule, I want to make sure to feel my best, to ward off any problems or illnesses. That is where Raw/Vegan living comes to the rescue. Fortunately eating healthy can be very simple… It is as simple as making a green shake in the morning, grabbing an apple or a banana for a snack, of anything else you can imagine, and heading out the door.

After staying up until almost until midnight last night, laying floors with my hubby, we were totally exhausted this morning. I had no time to prepare anything… literally. We had a choice between herbal tea or a green smoothie for breakfast. Demetrye made the right choice… and I was off to make a green smoothie. Here is what I came up with (it was great and simple too):

Rainbow Chard & Apple Smoothie

Served 2
· 1.5 cup filtered water
· 3 large chard leaves (stem and all ;))
· 2 Fuji apples, cored and quartered
· 2 tablespoons hemp seeds

I threw all ingredients into my Vita Mix, and our breakfast was done in less than 5 minutes!

So, see, folks, there is no excuse not to eat healthy and stay well. I actually get quite tired of hearing people complain of how time consuming eating healthy is. It might be, if you are thinking about gourmet foods, but not if you resort to simplicity and consume foods in near their original state, with little or no processing. What could be easier than grabbing an apple or a banana? You don’t have to slice, dice or sauté. All you will need to do is bite and chew. That is it!

So… no excuses! Ok?!

Until next time: Live an Unprocessed, Simple Life!

Raw Vegan Tomato Soup

I have recently come to the conclusion that my life will continue to be hectic, unless I move away or get done with the remodeling Demetrye and I are working so hard on. I am literally trying to squeeze every second out of my day and be PRODUCTIVE, PRODUCTIVE, PRODUCTIVE. If I could, I would have a 30 hour day just to catch up on everything I need done.

Living this way, as you can imagine, makes is harder to be very creative in the kitchen. It is very easy to fall prey to what is convenient, even if it is not the best for us. Having lived on a high raw vegan diet for most of the year, I fell prey to my schedule. With so little time on my hands it is so easy to eat what has been already prepared by my loving Mom. She loves to cook for us. She makes our dishes vegan, since she knows we won’t anything with animal products, but she COOKS. She loves to make soups, and, although they are very delicious, they are cooked. She also likes to make bread—all you have to do is ask her and she will be happy to make your wish come true. If you read my blog for a while you know that I had cut out all wheat products out of my diet last year for a couple of months and then slowly reintroduces some this year. I tried grinding my own flour, however, as good as the Vita-Mix blender is, the dry blade container was not as good as I hoped it to be for at-home flour grinding. I actually ended up returning the try blade container, while still loving the blender itself.

With the summer season almost over I am awakening to the reality that I need to optimize it for all I can and eat as much fresh produce as possible. But… it has to be quick and painless—I have no time to be too creative now. And yet, it has to be delicious.

Today, as I was getting ready for work, I needed a quick solution. While green smoothies are an optimal way to start one’s morning, at times we all need a bit of variety. I flung open the door of our fridge and took a quick inventory of what we have. Our fridge is literally overflowing with tomatoes at this time of the year. I cannot bring myself to dehydrate them, although I know I can, but I feel it such a waste since I like the juicy fragrant taste of tomatoes.

We also have bell peppers… lots of them: green, yellow and red. Bell peppers have always been on my favorites list.

So, a new recipe (well, not so new, but new this season) quickly formed in my head and I gave it a go. It would take no more than 5 minutes to make and I will still be on-tim! So, out came my Vita-Mix and a cold, fresh, raw Tomato Soup was born. I am actually eating it as I am typing this post.

You will have to forgive the picture—I did not have a chance to take a pretty one, like I normally do—I only had my cell phone on me.

Raw Vegan Tomato Soup

Ingredients:
1. 1 red bell pepper (or any other that you have, but red will help the soup to remain red) [I only cut off the green stem, but use everything else, seeds included)
2. 1 cucumber (you can peel it, if you want, but I use the entire cucumber, as long as the ends are not bitter)
3. 1 peeled clove of garlic
4. ¼ medium onion
5. Small handful of green onions (optional)
6. 2 large tomatoes, quartered
7. Favorite seasoning to taste (I use Kirkland Organic)
8. Sea or Himalayan salt to taste

Preparation
1. Place first 5 ingredients into Vita-Mix blender and start it
2. Increase from the lowest setting on the dial to the fastest, gradually
3. Run it until all ingredients are blended—they do not have to be pureed, but you can do that if you wish
4. Turn down the speed and add in tomato quarters (I like it slightly chunky, but, again, you can crank it up if you like)
5. Add seasoning and salt
6. Blend until desired consistency has been reached
7. Serve cold, or run your blender until it slightly warms up your soup. If you do, just remember that your veggies will oxidize more.
8. Serve with your favorite crackers or home-made bread (if you are adventurous enough) and, if you can, with a dollop of some sort of raw vegan sour cream.

Enjoy!

Vegan Dumplings with Tomato Sauce-Quick Meal

Once in a while we all look for a quick meal. The reasons vary: too tired, too little time, etc., but one goal--feed me now!

The recipe that follows was created purely out of such frustration. One night when I was not in a mood to make any big meals, it was "fend for yourself" night. I saw my husband go through one of his very special, ritualistic, yet unusual "food dances". Although such a dance might be more usual than I think, since I have heard many of my female friends describe their husbands' behavior in a similar way. What is a food dance? It is when someone, in this came my husband, goes from cupboard to cupboard and then to the refrigerator, in hopes of finding a prepared meal. He does it in almost a hypnotic manner, especially when he gets to the fridge: he opens it, leans on the door and starts staring into the space, as if trying to summon a meal to create itself. When nothing happens, he closes the fridge, sits down, only to get up and repeat the same thing over and over... until I become frustrated watching him, or have pity on him and offer to make a meal.

What follows is the next part of this food dance. "Honey, would you like me to make something for you?" I would ask. "No. No, I am not hungry." [He goes through the cupboards and the fridge again.] Me: "Honey, can I make you something quick?" "No, I am OK." The dance normally ends in one of two ways, actually with the same result:1. I get frustrated, get up and make him a meal; 2. He finally gives in, confesses to being hungry and unable to fend for himself and... I get up and make him a meal.

It was the case on a night when I was particularly tired. The problem was resolved as in case #1: I got frustrated, got up and made him a meal. He insisted that I should relax and that he would not eat anything I made, even if I tried feeding him. That lasted only until he got the first whiff of this simple, and simply delicious dish. Then, as if on command, he got quiet. When the meal was done and served, my not-so-hungry husband kept going for more until everything was gone and I ended up making one more serving of the same meal.

Total time needed to make this dish: 15-20 minutes max.

Vegan Dumplings with Tomato Sauce
Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

Dumplings

• 1.5 cup whole wheat organic flour
• 1.5 cup white, unbleached organic flour
• 1.5 teaspoons of sea or Himalayan salt, or to taste
• 2 cups warm water

Preparation

• Combine flours and salt and pour in water, while stirring slowly, as seen below.

• Meanwhile, boil water.
• Take a teaspoon and drop dough mixture into boiling water, 1/2-1 teaspoons size.
  
• Stir dumplings as you are dropping them in, so they do not stick.
  
• Boil for 10 minutes after dropping in the last dumpling.

• This is what dumplings look like when they quickly set in boiling water.

While dumplings are cooking, it is time to make Tomato Sauce.

Ingredients:

Sauce

• 4 medium-large tomatoes
• 4 springs parsley
• 2-3 springs green onions (several individual shoots)
• 2-4 cloves peeled garlic
• Sea or Himalayan salt to taste
• Black Pepper or favorite seasoning to taste

Preparation

Sauce

• In a blender [I use Vita Mix] or food processor, chop garlic, parsley and onions, adding 2 tomatoes. Try not to blend too much, I keep my speed setting between 1-4, so I end up with some junks.
• Add salt and pepper/seasoning.
  
• Add remaining two tomatoes (I quarter mine before adding to the mix) on a very slow speed, so they get chopped in chunks.
  

Combining

• When dumplings are done, drain them (you might want to keep water as a soup base),
• In a big bowl combine dumplings with sauce.
• Serve immediately and enjoy while the dish is hot.

It is that simple! Takes no time, and leaves everyone satisfied. I know my husband was happy when I fed him.

Until next time: Live an Unprocessed Life!

Absent from Blogging-A NEED to Explain

Hello, dear Readers! There are a few of you who still come to this blog, even though I have been noticeable MIA (gone) for the last couple of weeks. Thank you! I want you to know that I have not abandoned writing… but I will be honest about why I have been gone—I feel like I have lost my creative mojo, so I do not have much to write about. I do not want to write for the sake of writing and try forcing content out of me. I believe in writing about things that I am passionate about. Since the information on this blog is absolutely free and is not my source of income, I felt that it would be better I took a break, rather than writing passionless posts.

You might have read one of my latest posts: How to Reverse Hypothyroidism, in which I had mentioned that I am still dealing with a couple of small issues from my pre-vegan, pre-unprocessed lifestyle issues. Actually there is only one left, and when it is resolved my entire being should be in tune with how God made it to be.

Unfortunately for me, this specific issue was not going away on its own, as the rest of the things did, or simply needs more time. So, I sought a help of a professional—ND, who is diligently working with me on speeding up the process. One of the things that we were trying in the last couple of weeks, although it is all natural, has messed with my creative/writing Mojo… so it’s gone missing. I am about to get off the protocol that I was on, so I expect my Mojo to return!

Thank you for sticking with me. Thank you for listening to me bare my soul. I am a very private person and sharing what I just did with you was not an easy feat for me. I hope that you treat what I shared with you gently.

Keep living an Unprocessed Life—there are so many benefits to it!

Till next time,
Elena