Day 25, New Mision in Life

This morning Loren and I were going to get up early to go to hot yoga (I got us an awesome deal through LivingSocial for 20 sessions for $20 but we have yet to find the time to start them! By the way, if you are interested in signing up for your daily email with deals in your city, click either link and you will get 5 Deal Bucks to spend on whatever deal you want).

The alarm went off at 6am and I made a brave attempt at pretending I didn't want to keep sleeping. Loren said that breathing all the varnish fumes yesterday must have gotten to him because he felt a little asthmatic...


I have never been so happy to hear my husband complain of a possibly-life-threatening condition!

We went back to bed and, even though he says he set the alarm for 8, we didn't wake up until almost ten. So this morning has been leisurely to say the least. I'm enjoying it.

Since my smoothie is a very portable breakfast (the main reason I came up with it) I like to reserve it for work days and decided today I would have some GRAWnola. I made my own with 1/4 cup of sprouted buckwheat, 1/4 cup of walnuts, 1/4 cup of dried blueberries and about 3/4 cups of vanilla yogurt. Very yummy and filling!  Unfortunately... it gave me acid reflux!!! I think it is the processed sugar in the store-bought yogurt! I guess my body REALLY doesn't want me to have any more processed sugars, which I am happy to do without.

What I am still not so happy to do without is crunchy salty carbs (chips, crackers, etc), and I am still missing coffee (not caffeine, just COFFEE). I realize (and hope) that this might go away once we pass the magical 30 day threshold, and I also realize that I might not be missing these things so much if I were having more "Fun With (Raw) Food".

I continue to eat the same 4-5 things over and over again and I am getting tired of it. In fact, I have made a list so I can get ingredients to make a few things that I haven't had in a while (Gazpacho, Raw Hummus, etc). I also have been on the Internet for a while this morning (OK, it's after noon. OK, I should be putting varnish on the ceiling. OK, I have laundry to be done too! OK, I should at least go for a walk outside!!... see how my brain works?) looking for new recipes....

I did find a recipe for marinated mushrooms that looks promising, another one for mushrooms and basil (dehydrated together) that could be fun, and I was reminded of a shredded carrot salad my sister used to make (with pineapple and raisins) that I love. BUT, here is the problem with 90% of the recipes I find...

They require A LOT OF WORK.

People... I DON'T COOK!! 

I didn't cook when I was eating cooked food! Why would I want to spend hours laboring over something that is going to end up being a lukewarm (and perhaps poor) imitation of something I can't have!!!!

So I have A New Mission in Life.
[OK, this is not going to be the main, principal, driving force in my life, but it is becoming more and more important]
I am going to write a "Guide to Health Through Food for Non-Cooks on a Budget"
How does that title sound?
It will be something any idiot can pick up, make sense of, and apply to their life without breaking the bank or having to, all of a sudden, learn to cook. It will be an amalgamation of the knowledge I have acquired and applied over the last decade in terms that any normal-non-cook-who-shops-at-the-regular-grocery-store can incorporate into their life in order to improve their health and well being.

I don't know about you, but I am getting REALLY excited over this! Now I just have to finish 10-12 other projects I have going so I can find the time to get it done, but it's brewing! I started an outline! it's going to happen people!

Day 19, Forced Presence, continued (with yummy photos!)

When I got home today I lied down for a few minutes (don't tell the kids I was crying).

Loren was as sweet as ever, he put the covers over me and gave me a clean handkerchief, then went into the kitchen and made me these:

Lettuce wrap with Guacamole, Savory Brazil Nuts
(and Pepitas) and Pico de Gallo
Chef: Loren Powell, Photographer: Me

Which include these:

Savory Brazil Nuts (and Pepitas)

All the recipes are in my recipes page!!

For snack I had dried apple rings with raw almond butter and white wine mixed with orange juice (that's why you buy the cheap wine).


On a somewhat unrelated note... there are A LOT of sites on the internet that offer recipes for raw food. I am very appreciative of the fact that people have taken the time to create things like the raw substitute for mashed potatoes and gravy, but, to be perfectly honest, those recipes just don't work for me.

I don't cook.
(Thank you for feigning shock)

In fact, I have been known to say I cook one meal a year (Costa Rican Christmas Eve dinner, featuring my dad's leg of pork, rice with heart of palm, cabbage and cilantro salad, mashed black beans, tortillas, chips with salsa and/or anchovy dip, and a couple of not so Costa Rican favorites: prunes wrapped in bacon, and maple syrup and balsamic vinegar Brussels sprouts), the rest of the year (and ONLY because Loren has been working nights for a few years so he is not here to cook) I make: chili, spaghetti, pasta primavera, eggs and Gallo Pinto (also Costa Rican, basically spiced rice and beans --out of a can), Picadillo (details in this post, I'm not adding it to the recipes page because it has meat and, well, it is cooked) and -my favorite- frozen Taquitos with mashed black beans out of a can, cheese and salad (no bad ingredients, I read all the labels!!), and, of course, you will always find an "emergency Pizza" in our freezer.

So, for a person that doesn't cook these recipes seem a little over the top. I do not want to spend hours in the kitchen, slaving over a lukewarm dish that wants to be something else. I would rather stay away from things that are going to remind me of stuff I can't have and just enjoy fresh, yummy things that take very little preparation and are not going to make me wish I were eating something cooked!

So, if you're like me, I hope to be of assistance. You CAN eat healthy without cooking, and by that I mean even if you are eating cooked food, you can find the healthy alternatives at the grocery store so you don't have to frustrate yourself in the kitchen.

And, most importantly, I *support* you in your inability or unwillingness to cook.
Non-Cooks of the World UNITE! and be ashamed no longer!

PS. Loren also made himself a very interesting and tasty wrap with raw Tahini, olives, tomato and alfalfa sprouts, awesome combination of flavors!