One step at a time

So not off to the best of starts after my 2 months away... and as much as I procrastinate telling myself that I can't post a blog without photos, as my mobile phone/camera is in at the shop getting repairs done (complete with all my photos of our Sunday banana-choccie-almond-crunch-chia-layered-parfait-brekkie, my tranquil trip away to Bowral last week with my step-mum's home grown vegies in the back yard, the massive green salads Brock and I had post yoga, and more)!!

NOTE: since typing this draft yesterday I've had an AHA moment and 2 of the pics I posted straight from my phone last week onto FB, have now been posted below. Blonde moment yes, but we've got some piccies!! :) And my photo-shopping program has been updated so I have a bucket load of new designs and effects to play with! Happy days :)

Mid-morning snack on the front balcony over looking the lake

Besides the lack of a good mobile phone at present (although my old cute little flip top Sony I bought in Italy years ago brings back such happy memories), things are pretty much the same as usual.

Actually no - you know what, they're not the same! They're BETTER than usual! Yep! BETTER! I'm forever telling people I'm the "same as usual - never ending study, work, etc, you know" when this past week has been so much more than just that! The past few weeks infact.

- I took 3 weeks off work to really knuckle down some college modules and I have done just that, and feel great for it! Sure it's a challenge getting my head around Biology and the deepening ins and outs of nutritional studies but when I understand it I LOVE IT and it's FASCINATING!

- I spent 5 days down in Bowral at my dad's place to really chill out, focus, drink tea (I say that like I don't otherwise drink copious amounts), eat lightly, and rest. I got a bunch of assessments done there, and since being back I've got a bunch more done.

- I'm trying new bits n pieces for my skin issues and am finding small improvements (yippee!). I'll let you know how things are going a bit later.

- Brock and I have been spending the best time ever together - even if that was one whole day driving from one mobile phone shop to the next, back home for contracts and receipts and back again. He is due to head off to Thailand on Sunday so intentionally or not, we've been glued to one another hip. I quite like that ;)

- I've also been doing a few gentle -but powerful- online workouts as well as rebounding and find I'm feeling a lot better from them both. I've always been a fitness and gym junkie but after a shoulder injury, followed by a sciatic injury (both for reason's still unknown to me), I was off the gym and have been for probably 3months now. Soooo unlike me! But you know what? I am so surprised at how my body has held up! My mind was trying to convince me that without my 4-6 gym classes a week I would surely balloon out, get fat and feel yuck! Well, my body looks very close to exactly the same as it was when I was up early every second day to work out. I know there's no way I could lift the weights I was 3 months ago now which is a bit of a bummer, but Brock mentioned to me yesterday that some of the world's top athlete's take 6 months off every year to really rest and recover, which was a huge boost to my self esteem, and a real joy to hear after beating myself up for not working out. My step-dad has also said each time I've popped over to say hello, that I'm looking better than ever! I laugh and say I'm doing absolutely nothing! It doesn't really surprise me though. My body has been feeling too tired and sore and exhausted to do much of anything that all I muster up is a 20minute walk most days, and even that brings on minor pain. But it's good to get out of the house.

So with that, I've been on my rebounder more and that has given me loads of energy, lymphatic boosts, and with minimal impact, and I'm feeling so-far-so-good coz of it! Really good infact. Yay :)

But I best get going again coz my aim is to finish one big Nutrition assessment today, and a Biology one too if I can squeeze it in! I'm off to a comedy gig tonight and very much looking forward to surprising Brock with that! I only just got given free tickets - ten minutes ago!

Quick and easy (minimal pantry ingredients) dessert or brekkie parfait

But before I jet I'll spill the beans on a super easy-use-whatever-you've-got-dessert-or-brekkie-recipe you can try this weekend.I made this at dad's down in Bowral the night before I left to use up my last few bananas, and coconut. I've tried to guess the quantities I used but adjust to taste coz I never measure anything myself.

Recipe (quite literally):

Step 1

Young coconut flesh from one coconut

1 banana

1 tsp vanilla

Coconut water as needed... blend all until smooth then pour into a small bowl and set aside

Step 2

2 bananas

1-2 tsp cacao... blend together then pour into a small bowl

Step 3

Handful of chopped dates

Handful of nuts

Pinch of salt...blend until crumbly and set aside

Pull out 3 little glass cups, bowls or jars and start layering your 3 mixtures. Eat straight away, or set in fridge or freezer. If you're like we were and too full from dinner, save these for brekkie!

I'd usually use a few other ingredients in something like this but at my dad's the pantry is not stocked for a raw vegan and so I use what I can. Something like this can be made with any fruit, and nuts, and any dried fruit. Be creative. Experiment with your favourite flavours and let me know how you go!

Have an awesome weekend!!

Christie :)

There's never enough crumble

Ok guys so guess what? It's Vegan MoFo! VEGAN MONTH OF FOOD and over the years it has gotten bigger and BIGGER that countries all over the globe participate and blog about vegan food non-stop, day and night, for the whole month of November (like we don't do that all year round anyways). And I'm UBER excited! I commit to sharing as many simple tasty quick delicioussly VEGAN recipes with you as possible (raw of course - although I'm not totally 100% raw at the moment as I'm experimenting with my digestion and such... another story).

And to start the ball rolling I thought I'd share what I made for Brock's birthday last week (during "Brocktober" as he likes to call it). Now admittedly, it was a simple meal due to a hundred other things I had going on (along with a migrane that day), but a birthday is special, so it had to be special! I think it's cool to also show you guys that raw doesn't always have to be tricky to taste damn good.

Close friends of ours, Mitch and Sheree came over to dine with us, so Sheree and I were whipping up what we could find in the kitchen, while the boys watched gruelling workout videos on YouTube. Go figure.

The Menu:

Crisp carrot sticks drizzled with agave syrup and sprinkled with raisins, coconut and sesame seeds.


Garden fresh crunchy asparagus spears in a flaxseed oil and fresh garlic dressing. OMG.


A melange of greens including fresh kale, assorted lettuces, celery, cucumbers, and avocado, finished with fresh herbs and spices. Along side broccoli florets covered in warm coconut oil and nutritional yeast flakes (can you see these babies hiding in the background?)


...Melange salad topped with pepitas, sunflower seeds, flax oil and a whole squeezed lemon


And then of course DESSERT. I had so many ideas but not wanting to be in the kitchen for hours (with my migrane) and with limited supplies I remembered a box of apples we had in our spare fridge (yes Brock and I need a spare fridge for the amount of fruit and veg we eat).


So my little mind immediatley thought APPLE CRUMBLE! "I've got some nuts, the apples, spices... I'll just go buy raw ice cream this time... get some dates... Easy!" (yep, that's how my little mind ticks)


So I layered some crumble, some apple filling and then some more crumble into individual glasses, then topped them off with big dollops of vanilla ice cream.

We also had some chocolate crackles I had left over from the batch I made for college. Think of them like our "after dinner mints" (only lacking in mint). Our evening was really nice. Sheree and I initially thought to go on a picnic but as the weather turned last week, our little picnic ended up being on our living room floor. But the perfect place to be with a belly full of good food in on your floor at home is it not?

So going on memory here guys, my wham-bam-thankyou-mame-APPLE CRUMBLE recipe is something as follows...

Chop up 2 apples and throw them in the blender (or food processor) with a few medjool dates, a pinch of cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg, a pinch of salt (trust me it makes the sauce) and a drizzle of water, and blend it all til smooth.

Slice, dice, cube, grate (however you want) 3 or 4 apples. Pour your sauce over these and mix them through well.

For your crumble, pulse equal parts nuts and medjool dates until crumbly.

Then layer as you wish. And ENJOY!

I did crumble first, then apples, then more crumble - coz let's admit, there's never enough crumble!! Bung it in your dehydrator or low heat oven to warm it up a bit, or just never stick it in the fridge once you've made it.

Ice cream to serve (of course) and let your taste buds go nuts!

Creativity in Colour

So I've been back home now since Wendesday and only just got my NEW DEHYDRATOR in gear this morning.
I've been working everyday this week so havn't had alot of KITCHEN PLAY TIME free, and ontop of that I've been a bit funny with my eating the past few weeks so there's not alot of inspirtation coming out.



I'm more into SIMPLICITY (at it's best... or is it laziness?) - and by that I mean dinner last night was the last of my HEIRLOOM TOMATOES I bought last week and a couple of carrots with half an avocado. Delicious nonetheless, but far from CREATIVE.

And so last night I thought "come on Christie" and put some sunflower seeds and buckwheat aside to soak so I could make crackers this morning.
AFter reading both papers (as I love to do), and having a big juice with apples, beetroot, some greens and lemon... I threw my buckwheat and seeds in the food processor with some grated beetroot, carrot juice, flaxseeds, herbs, spices and salt... to make some beet-coloured-buckwheat crackers.

MY FIRST DEHYDRATOR CREATION AT HOME!!

They've been in there all day and I think I might have a couple with my salad for dinner :)

Soup not Smoothies

Ok so I read all my favourite blogs almost daily but as most of them are written by people overseas, all I'm seeing is DELICIOUS ICE CREAMS and creamy frosty smoothies. Sunshine. Beaches. Summer!

I've always got ice cream in my freezer sure, but sometimes it's just too freaking cold to eat it! Like now. In less than a week WINTER will be here!!

The other night I was feeling like somthing simple. Tasty. Light. And I came up with this...


My Asian-inspired Green Veg Miso Soup.

I chopped up broccoli, spring onions, chinese broccoli and bok choy...
Threw it in a large bowl and poured hot water over it to soften for a bit...

In a seperate dish I had some miso in warm water dissolving...

Then to my big bowl I added sliced fresh ginger, some seaweeds, herbs and the miso...

Voila!

Simple Emotions...

... if there is such a thing.

It's a week today since my last entry and to be honest blogging hadnt crossed my mind once last week! GASP! My week was a little up and down with a bit playing on my mind and I suppose it brought me back to the knowing that when life throws me a curved ball, sticking to simple wholefoods I know that NOURISH me and dont fog my mind too much are key to getting through the thick of it.

In the past I would have no doubt turned to the mass produced chocolate bars and anything from the bakery to NUMB my emotions, but now on RAW there's nothing processed I will eat to take me away like I used too. So there's more room to sit with my feelings and to really FEEL them. Scary? Shit yeh! Rewarding? You bet! So I keep reminding myself of it. It's the path I have chosen and no matter how tough it is, I know I'll be fine.


I made sure I had enough FRESH FRUIT and VEGIES around to keep me going. Stripping back to simplicity sometimes works best when I'm feeling a little emotional, other times making gourmet raw feels better. This week it's been all about SIMPLICITY.

And I'm feeling much better :)