Christmas Break Days #2 & 3: Let the Fun Begin!

     Hey guys! I would have posted yesterday, but we got into Jamie's parents place later in the evening and they don't have internet. I'm currently sitting in a Starbuck in Ukiah to write this. 

DAY #2

     So, yesterday we got up pretty early and headed out. Nevada consisted mostly of barren flatland and rolling hills, but it was beautiful in its own special way, especially as the sun rose. The rest of our time spent driving through it was relatively uneventful, but there were some fun photo opportunities during my driving breaks.

     We crossed the border into California around noon.

     And it wasn't long after that we were stopped and checked to see if we had any "contaminating" or "illegal" items in our cars.

     We were fine. =)

     Our next stop was off of exit 184 for Donner Pass Road. It was a totally random choice; we just needed a place to stop and stretch our legs out. However, we ended up finding some pretty cool places to check out...

Like an epic health food store! =)

DAY #3

     The plan was to sleep in, but  ended up waking up and going for a nice run with Jamie's dog, Chief at 7:30am. When I got back I was able to enjoy some of the California fruit that Jamie's folks had bought for us. I grabbed some strawberries, bananas, dates, and coconut water, through it all in the blender, and made myself the BEST fruit smoothie I have had in a long time.

Honeydew, pineapple, persimmons, oranges, mandarines, 

clementines, strawberries, bananas, etc.

     Afterwards we played with the dogs and hung around the house a little bit before taking Jamie's horse, Arnie, out for a buggy ride! I even got to steer him for a couple of miles. =)

   
     A couple hours later we came back, had lunch, and headed out again. We stopped off at Glen Eden trail to check it out. We only trekked a half mile  up and then raced back down, but we plan on going back there later this week and hiking the whole thing.

     Then we stopped of at the Blue Lakes and a Bison ranch.

     And that sums up the day. It's about time for dinner so Jamie, Johnny, and I are going to go head out and find some food. Tomorrow we'll be heading out to Fort Bragg to spend the day on the coast. I can't wait!

Happy Birthday Dear Blog!

     Today, my good people, is the very first birthday of my Raw Plant Based Living blog. On this same day exactly one year ago I created this blog and made my first post. I have to say, since that day my life, my world view, and my diet have changed more than I imagined it would. 


     This year has been such an amazing journey for me. Since I began this blog I have lived in Oxford, England for a month, discovered the 80/10/10 diet, run a half marathon, gotten back into martial arts, hosted a raw Thanksgiving, created numerous amounts of yummy raw recipes, and so much more! I can't wait to find out what will happen to me after another year of blogging.


     I want to thatnk all of you out there who have read, followed, and commented on my blog. Your support means the world to me and I hope that sharing certain aspects of my life has given you inspiration, things to think about, laugh about, and anything else in between that I can't think of at the moment.


     In celebration of Raw Plant Based Living's 1st birthday I prepared this lovely dish for lunch. . .

A parfait dish layered with sliced banana and Figgy Carob Pudding.

     In conclusion, in honor of this brilliant day I am giving you the recipe for the Figgy Carob Pudding. I hope you all have a wonderful evening and that you enjoy lot's of yummy pudding!  =D

Figgy Carob Pudding

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- 15 Black Mission Figs

- 5 large Medjool Dates, soaked in water for 10 minutes

- A rounded 1/2 Tbs. of Raw Carob Powder (feel free to add more or less according to taste)

- Just enough of the date water to blend.

- Blend until smooth and creamy.

- Let sit in the refrigerator for an hour to thicken and cool or pour out and eat warm as is.

Fruity Friday

     A few weeks ago, my mom and I were at Sears when we stumbled across a refrigerator on sale for $175 ! This was an amazing opportunity since I had been on the lookout for a refrigerator for my fruit. In the winter time it was ok to leave half of my fruit out on the counters when we ran out of space in my mom's refrigerator, but in the summer fruit can rot and/or fruit flies and spiders come into the house to get at them. Most refrigerator with any sort of decent storage space had been way out of my price range. 


     In the end I bought the refrigerator and about two weeks ago it arrived safe and sound. However, in all the joy of finding, buying, and recieving this refrigerator, I had forgotten in considering where I was to put the thing! Up So up until last Friday, my poor refrigerator sat in my mom's kitchen, laying dormant, awaiting to be used. 


     Last Friday was Farmer's Market day and there were lots of good deals in bulk buying organic fruit this time around, so I really stocked up. When my mom and I got home I knew that we weren't going to be able to fit my groceries and my mom's groceries into her refrigerator. It was then I convinced my mom to let me get her to move the refrigerator into the garage. 


Behold my brand new refrigerator and its first load of fruit and veg!! 

     It didn't take me long to devour all of this! My mom and I split the figs and oranges between us, but the rest was all me. Sunday is whe I get to replenish my supplies. Luckily my Mango and Dragon Fruit order came in over the course of the week. I also bought a watermelon today at my local Publix so I should be good until Sunday.

The fridge was filled with:

- A large Yellow Watermelon!

- Organic Black Mission Figs

- Organic Navel Oranges

- Organic White Cherries

- Organic  Georgia Peaches

- Organic Strawberries

- Belize Papaya

- Organic Grape Tomatoes

- Cherry Tomatoes

- Organic Iceberg Lettuce

- Organic Asparagus

- Organic Radishes

     As for today I had a completely clear schedule! I was so excited at the prospect this morning and decided to use it by spending most of the day exercising in whatever way I felt like! I didn't have to rush through the workout because there wasn't anything I urgently needed to get done and there was no one that I had to meet at a specific time. 

     When I finished working out, I was able to take my time in the showers and getting dresses, and I even stopped off at Starbucks to buy a water and eat my lunch (a bunch of bananas) in the sun! During my lunch, a few people looked at me as if I were mental! However, I might have misread their facial expressions and they might just have been jealous of my yummy bananas! LOL.

My lunch set-up (from left to right): Garbage baggy with banana peels inside, organizer, yet to be eaten bananas, journal, and Runner's magazine.

In summation of my day. . .

Sleep: 8 hours (getting better) 
Sunshine: 2 hours 
Water: So far 2 liter (working on my 3rd liter at the moment)
Food: Dragon Fruit, OJ, Bananas, and a giant Mango/Banana/Peach smoothie
Exercise: 22 minute run 6mph pace, 20 minute 3mph walk with my mom and the dogs, 10 minutes lifting weights (tried a new routine and felt muscles I didn't even know I had!), 18.5 mile bike ride (approx. 80% of the course being uphill) at an average 15 mph pace, and 22 minutes swimming laps freestyle as hard as I could!

I hope everyone enjoys there weekend and that it is filled with warm sunshine, a cooling breeze, refreshing water, and juicy fruit!! =D

Fun in the Sun

Today. . .

Sleep: 7.5 hours
Sunshine: 4 hours
Water: 2 liters
Food: banana/fig/carob smoothie, LOADS of watermelon, and a big salad!
Exercise: 4 miles of hiking (ran some of it to race my friends), 30 minutes of paddleboat racing followed by a water fight, and a 20 minute walk.

Today I realized just how high my energy levels are in comparison to some people. All the excercise I did today, I did with my brother  and his two friends.  We got to Stone Mountain Park at 9:30am and left at 2pm. We were planning to stay longer (until 4pm) but everyone but myself was tired so we called it a day. I still had loads of energy and was sad to leave. I hope that when I go to college in the fall I can find some people with as much passion for exercise and energy as myself!


Despite leaving sooner then wanted to, today was absolutely wonderful! It was so nice to get outside, move around, hang out with some awesome people, laugh, and eat sweet and juicy watermelon! I didn't realize how much I needed to do something like this until today and I hope have another day like this again soon.

Athletic Recovery, Fruit Shopping, and Alice in Wonderland

     Since the Georgia ING Half-Marathon almost two weeks ago thing have been pretty uneventful at the moment around the house. However, things are looking to be more lively soon as I am starting the up the spring garden, making plans for starting my own business, writing a book with my mom, and eventually moving to southern Florida.
     
     I've signed up for the Georgia ING Half-Marathon next year and I plan on signing up for another half-marathon scheduled for this fall, so i'm going to be training through this summer. Hopefully that training can begin this weekend as I have finally been able to take off my ankle brace. Yes, for the past few days I have been stuck with an ankle brace. I was stupid and went running to hard, to long, and to fast, to soon after the half-marathon and the lower part of my ankle (which was sore after the half marathon) began to ache and swell up. Word of advice, no matter how antsy you are to get back out onto the pavement after a big race, give your legs the rest they deserve, otherwise you will end up doing more harm then good.

     Yesterday, Wednesday, was "Market Day" and it was most probably the best one I have had in quite a while. The weather was sunny and unusually warm, my mom and I decided to take the day without any sort of rush, and just enjoy eachothers company. We visited Whole Foods to have lunch and to pick up some yummy Ataulfo Mango.

My lunch: 4.37lbs. Cantolope Melon

                                        

     Afterwards we made a quick side stop to visit the Apple Store so that I could get myself some new headphones (mine broke AGAIN!) before heading over to Rainbow and the Farmer's Market for our routine grocery shopping. This time around my mom and I decided to pull our budgets together so that we could buy more melon and bananas than we could usually afford by buying in bulk for a discounted price. All in all we bought:

• 6 Honeydew Melon
• 9 Cantolope Melon
• A 40 lb. box of Organic Bananas
• 30 Atalfo Mangoes
• 10 llbs. Organic Valencia Oranges (for juicing)
• 15 lbs. Organic Navel Oranges (for eating)
• 1 pint of Organic Strawberries
• 170g packet of Organic Rasperries
• 170g packet of Organic Blueberries
• 7 pkg. of Medjool Dates
• 2 lbs, Muscadine Grapes
• 20 oz. fresh pressed Sugar Cane Juice
• 3 20 oz. bottles of fresh Coconut Water

     Today was the first day I was able to take my ankle brace off and walk comforatbly. The sun was out again and it got up to 88 degrees! I walked for 70 minutes around my neighborhood in the early cooler morning air without my iPod for once. It was refreshing to just think and take in the morning in semi-silence.

     Later this afternoon my mom surprised me by treating me to a movie at the Carmike Cinema. My family and I rarely go to the theatre due to finding most of the movies uninteresting or to the price of theatre tickets. I brought my big purse with me which I used to sneak in a bottle of water and 10 Navel oranges that I had peeled and bagged before hand. We ended up attending the final showing of "Alice in Wonderland" in 3D. The storyline wasn't very original with the usual good vs. evil and good eventually triumphing plotline, but the graphics, colors, costumes, and characters were beautiful! All in all it was a fun fairytale to allow my mind a break from the burdens of reality.

Green Grape Smoothie

     Finally! I've been planning on making this video for ages, but have kept putting it off for reasons unknown to me. Here it is though, I hope you can gain something from this video. 

     Au revoir! :-)

Banana Bonanza!!

     Today, as is you can see, I bought a lot of bananas! My family and I go through quite a few bananas throughout any given week, and I was just getting tired of running back and forth to the store JUST to buy bananas. So today I drove down to my local Kroger and bought every ripe or almost ripe banana bunches they had. I think I can now be confident that I can grab some bananas to devour without worrying that my mother or brother might want one because there is plenty for all!


     I have had quite an eventful week. I created some new recipes, my special superfood order came in, my friend Terra moved back from Oklahoma, I've looking at potential property with my mom, I've been working on CSNN and college applications, and helping out my lovely mother any way I can. Lot's of stuff and I'm loving it all! I really enjoy keeping busy, especially these last couple of days as I have been feeling steadily euphoric. I don't know why but for the last couple of days I have been feeling so good both physically and mentally. I hope it lasts.

     So let's start with my superfood order. Now, since my raw plant based diet is basically the exact same thing as the rv80/10/10 diet, I don't really do superfoods anymore. However, with the economy the way it is today, it doesn't hurt to stock up on nutritionally dense supplements that are as close to a whole food as possible. Bananas, I believe, will always be relatively cheap and available, but other fresh fruits and greens (especially organic) might become more difficult to afford and/or obtain. So, my mom and I decided to stock up on cacao powder (my brother loves this stuff), spirulina (because it contains B12), and a sample pack of some other superfoods to try to see what we like.


All Raw and purchased from http://livesuperfoods.com/:

• Organic Cacao Powder
• Organic Spirulina Powder
• Organic Yacon Powder
• Organic Purple Corn Extract Powder
• Wildcrafted Green Papaya Powder
• Organic Pomegranate Powder
• Organic Acai Powder
• Organic Mangosteen Powder
• Wildcrafted Acerola Cherry Powder
• Organic Noni Powder
• Wildcrafted Mangosteen Powder
• Organic Green Stevia Powder

     For the last couple of months my mom and I have been looking around online for plots of land for sale within our price range. We both would like to be able to have enough land to start a garden, have a goat and a horse, and start a bee farm, and living in suburbia puts a clincher in this dream. Last Friday we discovered a 10 acre plot with a barn and a small lake up for sale, and only 45 minutes from where we live. My mom and I went out to take a look at it and found it had potential. I don't think we will be making an offer on it anytime soon because we do want to see what else is out there, but it was nice to actually SEE something that could give us a better idea of what we're looking for.

The stairs lead to a living apartment. Basically if you lived here you would be living above the barn. :D

     As for recipes, I have created the most AMAZING raw Cinnamon Apricot Jam. It's a big hit with my mom. She and I can polish a batch of this stuff of in about 4 days, so I have to have dried apricots on hand all the time. Seriously everyone, this stuff is now officially a staple in my household for the rest of this winter. My mom likes to spread it on her nine grain toast in the morning, and I like to have it as a dipping sauce for my crispy sweet apples.

Cinnamon Apricot Jam

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 1/2 C. dried apricots, soaked in water for 6-12 hours

1 1/2 Clementines or Tangerines

1/8 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tbs. Raw Honey or 3 Medjool Dates

Blend until thick, smooth, and creamy!

This recipe is so good and SO easy to make, that I plan on making a recipe video on how to make this, just look for it sometime within the next week at - http://www.youtube.com/user/Rawaholic.

     Today I tried two new recipes that I've been meaning to try but haven't ever got around to it because I never was able to have all the ingredients on hand at the same time. The first one was a recipe that I got from joannabanana (check out her blog at - http://acupofjoanna.blogspot.com/) on the goneraw.com forums. She has ranted and raved about this green smoothie and I just had to give it a try today for my lunch. OMG it was the BEST green smoothie I have ever tried. I put like a TON of spinach into this smoothie and I didn't taste any of the greens.

Green Grape Smoothie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2 C. red Grapes

1 C. frozen Bananas

4 1/2 C. Spinach

I will be making more of this tomorrow only with even MORE spinach now that I know the taste won't be coming through anytime soon. Grapes and bananas do wonders in dominating the flavor of this luscious concoction.

Then for dinner I made a lovely raw fruit cereal out of 2 large bananas, 1 1/4 C. blueberries, and 1 C. raspberries with fresh coconut milk (just the water and meat of 1 Thai coconut blended with a splash of vanilla). I haven't really had any overt fats in the last week (i.e. oil, avocado, nuts, & seeds) so this was a real treat for me, and man did I love it!  So good. . .

Am I making you all green with envy yet? Hehehe! :D

     I think that's about it this time, it's getting late and I get up at 5:50 a.m. every morning to I need to get some sleep. Posted below me are a video that I found on youtube that I think are worth sharing with you. Feel free to make comments on anything that you read or watch on this post or my blog in general, and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!