I'm Going (to do everything I can with) Bananas

Wow what a week! I'm so totally exhausted!


And getting back on the SPIRULINA to keep me going!

A quick one to let you know what I've been doing (and muching away on)...

I'm back at work and although it was a quiet week due to some people still away on holidays, we were still pretty busy and I was still on my feet unloading orders and what not for 8hrs a day, whilst still going to the gym before work and meeting up with people after work... everything adds up and starts to take it's toll. But I figure it's good to feel this now so I can get back on track with what I know works for me, in order to get everything done, still have time for me, and feel rested. Breathe Christie.

Ok... so I went out for dinner with my cousin Bernie and our girlfriend Carla one evening which was so nice. Girly gossip is always good :)
I went shopping Thursday evening with my beautiful baby sister Lisa, and caught up with Heidi from college Friday arvo for a long catch up over beautiful herbal tea.

And today I spent the whole day with Maya at Taste Organics Raw Cafe. AND SOLD OUT OF EVERYTHING! It was crazy busy. Both Maya and I were admittedly exhausted and not overly enthused as we usually are each month, but then BAM! And it didn't stop. We had people waiting for table ALL DAY LONG! That has never happened!

All Chocolate Lovers Dream's - GONE!
All Coconut Pie's - GONE!
All Roundtable Salads - GONE!
All Moonlight Shadow's - GONE!
All organic fruit and vegies juices - SOLD OUT!
Green smoothies - so good with the warm weather we had today.

And the surprise this month was Strawberry Cheescake - all GONE!


Other than that... Brock ventured up to Queensland last week to do a few things and see a few people and came home with this -

Locally grown lady finger bananas that are delicious! And then for some crazy reason, Thursday morning at the wholesaler, he comes home with this -

Coz we need more!! With a cheeky grin kinda knowing we didn't really need them all, but as they were so cheap, like a kid in a lolly shop, he couldn't resist. But I am excited to be able to freeze, blend, dry, and simply eat these babies for the next few weeks!

STOP PRESS! It's now Saturady afternoon/evening and markets are over for the week so any leftover produce is ours. I'll give you one guess what the man comes home with -


So if my calculations are correct, 9-10 boxes of bananas at roughly 13kgs each... about 129KGS OF BANANAS at our place right now. Well I'll definatley be getting creative this week!!

Last week however, whilst I was staying at mum's for a few days I made RUM AND RAISIN ICE CREAM with left over dried fruits I had, and a nice big SPLOSH of rum, mixed into a quick ice cream recipe I found. OMG! HEAVEN!

Yesterday I whipped up a loaf of buckwheat bread and a few raw bread rolls (by 'whipped up' I mean I made it up, nothing spesh, presuming it couldn't end up too bad) -

Here's my little buckwheat loaf -


And my sweet-cinnamon-banana-cacao-pecan rolls. I wanted to use dried dates but couldn't find where I put them when I brought them home the other day... until of course I finished making them and then found them in my wardrobe, in the bag with all the new clothes I bought!

The verdict - not nice. I think my buckwheat had been out too long coz it's been a little warmer the past couple of days so it tasted a bit funny. My bread was very dry and crumbly also. But I haven't given up. I'm determined to make a better bread - next time using a different grain (or grainS), adding more liquid and different nuts and seeds to spice it up a bit!

I invented (yep it's my claim to fame) a new AMAZING salad topper - the ULTIMATE in flavour combos - coconut oil, nutritional yeast and dulse flakes which totally rocks my world! OMG! Ontop of shredded kale, mung sprouts and juicy red tomatoes. WINNER! I've had at least one plate of this everyday :)

I've been munching away on PURPLE CARROTS at work with hommous and other vegies...

One of the latest and greatest "superfoods" I see in magazines, the humble little purple carrot tastes much like the regular orange variety, only a subtle difference. Much much higher in antioxidants though due to their colour (think blueberries, blackberries and the like), for me they just make an interesting colour variation on my plate!
I'm all about different colours = different vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

Loading up on wholesome smoothies for all the energy I've needed this week -

this one is my work-brekkie-smoothie and was made from oat milk, frozen nanas, rice protein, hemp protein, acai, maca, cacao, and spirulina (I found out I'm low in IRON so I'm pumping up on the greens and the spirulina so I'll be sure to let you all know how I am on my next blood test in about 5months time... aside from that I'm itching to tell you all the AMAZING things about everything else in my smoothie but I'll save it for another time).

I can appreciate that it looks a little like tar, but take my word, it tastes amazing and is super dooper to get you up and buzzing in the mornings.

And I'm back taking some herbs to cleanse my intestinal tract, and others to help with my hormones (and clear my skin - yay) so they're making me feel good and helping to get gunk out of my system too. Great start to the New Year, even if it has been a little chaotic.

Open For Business

MoFo Day 7 and I'm SO EXCITED to be heading off for the Cruelty Free Festival in Central in a few hours! There will be BIG blog piccies from that later on for sure!!

For now though I've got a few mouth-watering temptations for you to salivate over.
Yesterday was the RAW CAFE at Taste Organics that I help Maya out with every month and another great day it was...

Chocolate Lovers Dream Pie - chocolate base, white chocolate layer, dark chocolate layer, cacao nibs and oozy goozy choccie sauce. Yep definatley a chocolate lovers!!

Roundtable Salad - greens, cherry tomatoes, activated pepitas, sprouts, the BEST chilly/curry/flavoursome tomato sauce and a delicious garlic and chive cheese/dip that always surprises customers who think it's dairy. Love those questions :)

Served with crackers but this month we had a new variety - Rosemary Almond and a Spicier version that also differs in colour (both from a new company called The Goodness Company)

This is my all time favourite - Moonlight Shadow - a chocolate spiced moon brownie with THE BEST vanilla ice cream known to man kind. I'm not kidding!

Another newbie this month - on the left is a Chocolate Mint Slice, and on the left is a chewy Goji Cookie. Both delicious.


And then this was the SURPRISE this month. There is always one brand spanking new dessert on the menu that noone knows about unless they come to the cafe. It was the MESSY COLADA! A light, soft, creamy Chocolate Mousse served with a fresh orange slice, orange chocolate pieces and finished with a rich chocloate sauce.

Saturday I'm in Love

Saturday morning and I was up at the break of dawn to set off for my 8am COLONIC :) Happy as Larry! I LOVE getting my colonics and the past couple of times I've gone I've also had infra-red saunas that are TO DIE FOR! I walk out of my therapists place feeling like I'm GLOWING and I'm BEAMING with enthusiasm for whatever life throws at me next! I've got a spring in my step, sunshine from within, and a smile on my face :)

I met up with my cousin down the road at the Newtown Vegan Bake Sale to grab some cruelty free goodies for my mum who beautifully indulges her sweet tooth daily, and to say hi to my friend Mandee (who has a great blog of her own here) who runs the stall. Doing her usual FABULOUS baking and organising, they raised a whopping $994.45 for A Poultry Place in Canberra this time around. Good work!


I later did a couple of house inspections with Brock before we stopped in at Taste Organics for a bite to eat with Maya at the cafe as it was the last day it will be open for a while. I was hanging out for some raw ice cream of hers that is DELISH and to my excitement/surprise/indulgence/happiness/every-other-yummy-word-you-can-think-of... she had made ICE CREAM SANDWICHES!! So so so good - but silly me forgot to take a pic for you all.

The rest of my afternoon was spent making raw soup and hitting up the gym for my favourite class before I was out with good friends for a Raw Potluck in Turramurra.
I made my favourite Spiced Carrot Soup, Maya had cakes from the cafe, Brock made a big tasty coleslaw and a beaut green salad, Tam had the greatest choc-banana pudding (that was only made better with dried bananas dipped into it), and Tsung brought loads of sweet juicy organic oranges (we had as appetisers, palate cleansers inbetween meals, and as "after dinner mints").

We GORGED on coleslaws, kale salads, curried cauliflower, sweet potato slices in some sort of dressing that I feel in love with and still can't put my taste buds to working out what it was... parsnip mash, live fries with sundried tomato sauce, mini sausages wrapped in eggplant strips, soups, saurekraut, garden salads, fresh fruit...

Dessert was UNREAL and even though I wasn't initially feeling like alot, I did eat alot. Here's my DESSERT MOUNTAIN (mind you that was only the first helping).


There is a mango passionfruit sorbet to the right that was deliciously refreshing amongst all the CACAO. An apricot pie that was gooey and sticky but a bit much for me, a dark rich gooey CACAO pie, Tam's AMAZING cacao-banana-avo-mousse-pudding that we dipped our dried banana fingers into and used as spoons (MMM), and a very sweet yummy pecan pie pictured here. Ontop of all that (or as well as once inside my happy tummy) we shared beautiful sliced bananas with coconut and sultanas, a chocolate mint ice cream, an apple and date 'dip' with celery sticks (strange but really good to break up so much cacao), Maya's coconut pie, little chocolate balls, and itty bitty almond date fudge pieces. Wow.


Maya, Tam and I before our cacao-high-laughter fits

Delicious food, beautiful company, close friends and new people to mingle with, everyone had a blast, ate too much, laughed even more and went home BLISSED andblessed by the evening shared, and the full moon eclipse we were so lucky to have seen - helping us all cast off the old and move on with the new (side note - mid next month we have another eclipse, this time a new Moon so between now and then it's up to us all to think about where we know we have to make changes...)

Brock and I braved the cold for a 45minute 'digestive' walk back home at 11pm, making the most of the beautiful moonlight, and then sleeping like babies :)

What a Weekend!!

WOW!
Saturday morning marked the opening of an EXCITING NEW SPACE in Sydney - the first RAW cafe! My bestest-most-amazing-beautiful-friend Maya, is the brains and LOVE behind it all, I was there as the "hospitality guru" (my long standing background), barista, and helper. (check out her blog and other raw events in Sydney at http://www.changingmaya.com.au/

A steady day with loads of friends and interested newbies stopping by to try OH-MY-GOD AMAZING cakes (trust me when I say ther's no over-reaction there), sensational "Better Than Muesli", open sandwiches, GREEN SMOOTHIES, herbal teas, and organic coffee (obviously the only non-raw thing).
RAW @ Taste Organics will be open weekends now starting from April 9th (as it's closed for the Easter weekend), and I'll be back there from April 17th :) Can't wait!! Check out some of the cakes here...


Yep, that's RAW ICE CREAM alright!! Atop a CHOCOLATE BROWNIE! Um yeh... could it get any better??

Other than that I spent a fair bit of time doing yoga at home and cardio at my gym (self-confessed "borderline" gym junkie right here), had a fancy dress party to go too, and spent some time having FUN IN MY KITCHEN!! What's a weekend without food fun hey?!?!

Here's what i made...


Raw Pizza - sundried tomato sauce base, greens, capsicum, shrooms, grated pumpkin, chili flakes, coriander






Raw bruschetta on really good garlicky almond bread - go to bed alone after this :)




Little Chocolate Pudd's (coz "pudd" is so much cuter than "pudding" and these were in little espresso cups AND with little spoons - ooo munchkins)


"Shreks Swamp" - I can thank mum for that name.


This is my latest and GREATEST brekkie sensation I'm addicted too. Chocka-block-FULL of so many amazing foods that are super nutritious, it's like a complete meal! And you'll just have to take my word for it in that it tastes SENSATIONAL - despite what most of you are probably thinking.

I like to EAT my swamp out of a bowl, and be fully present to each and every soft, yummy, gooey, spoonful :)


However, it does look alot prettier in a tall glass...




... complete with red roses as backdrop :)

Can you guess what's in it?