Thursday 25 April 2013

milk, bread and cookies

Milk, bread and cookies, bunny style. First up, a delicious jug of freshly milked nuts.  I believe this was a cashew/almond combo, sweetened with dates and vanilla bean. The nuts are soaked a few hours so they are soft, alive and readily digested, then blended with water, strained through a fine mesh bag then blended again with dates and vanilla. yum.  Great warmed up with chai spices, or in a creamy smoothie or...
A nice big glass alongside  gluten-free vegan almond butter cookies. The recipe I use calls for peanut butter but I swing the almond butter way. Chewy, dense, slightly sweet, slightly salty and I still get that old school cookie comfort. 

The other day I had a funny thought. Ive been on such a lettuce-as-the-bread kick that I now buy gorgeous heads of butterleaf or romaine as though I were buying a loaf of bread. Look at that beauty! 



That there lunch would be homemade guac, sweet potato chickpea burgers on butterleaf (grown locally!) And Ill proboaly have a variation of this for lunch today too!

Saturday 13 April 2013

catching up

gettin fresh in the am 
Things have been same-same here, waking up the ol' GI tract with a juicy grapefruit and green juice. So much life in this combo! And when I am done it looks like the fruit plates they leave for the butterflies at the zoo.  Feeling good, eating well and getting back into the groove of participating in the outside world.

all healed up @ 6wks
I'm pretty happy with way surgery turned out. I'm far enough along  from the intense hospital part that I can enjoy the benefits of my gi renovation project. Its pretty crazy that they can knock you out and go inside fixing stuff and bring you back like that. I went in with a positive attitude and tried naively to prepare myself for the post-op situation but it still utterly kicked my butt.  Good news is it got a tiny bit better every single day, and 6 weeks later I am healed up in pretty good shape! 

rice tortilla pizza with a blue-green smoothie
That there photo is yesterdays lunch, with the added bonus of a sneak peak at my glass  collection. That is  a spinach, tempeh leftovers, tomato feta pizza and a blueberry-banana-green smoothie, in a sundae glass, and yes, that it a glass straw.

Oh, and since I havent officially introduced her, this is Lula. She would like to get that squirrel over there.










Monday 8 April 2013

double dinner

The other night as I was considering what to make for dinner I had funny feeling that I should consult sister before I committed. We had a undefined loosey goosey hangout plans that food would fit nicely into, but before I knew it was whisking eggs and chopping broccoli for a frittata.  While it was baking in all its eggy glory wouldnt you know, I was invited for black bean burgers with sister! I am no stranger to hobbit style eating (Im a big fan of second breakfast) so I accepted the invitation and had a wee small slice of sweet potato broccoli frittata for pre-dinner.
sweet potato, broccoli, green onion, sheep feta

 You guys, Nunus black bean burgers were ridiculous! All the flavors were spot on, I felt like I was 11 years old eating tacos in New Mexico! We ate them on romaine leaves (we are so on to the breadless sandwich trend) and because of the shape of the leaves and slight crumbling of the burgers we called them burritos! There was a touch of heat in the patties but the cool crunch of the lettuce and creaminess of the avocado and goat cheese were the perfect combo for my delicate bunny palette.
black bean burger burrito bar for sisters!
I had a spot of coconut milk ice cream for 2nd dinner dessert but Nunu skipped as she thinks mint chocolate tastes like toothpaste. And because she didnt have dessert she made a yummy almond milk chai to sip while watching Babe. And to this I asked "even though I had dessert can I have tea too???". And so it was, there was tea for two!

Friday 5 April 2013

toddler pancakes/ bunny waffles

So I recently learned this cutie is making "toddler pancakes" for her very cute and hungry toddler. From what I understand toddler pancakes involve a free-style blending of veggies with banana/egg/oats to sneak the veggies into the toddler in a toddler friendly yummy unit of food. I found this rather suspicious. This sounds alot like bunny pancakes. Or bunny waffles. It started with my pumpkin pancake craze one fall many moons ago in art scool. Then pumpkins were out of season so I quickly became famous in my art school house for sweet potato pancakes. My most used ingredients to blend into a good old breakfast cake are cooked sweet potato or squash/pumpkin, banana, applesauce, grated carrot and oats. Pancakes are incredibly versatile and while there are a million yummy creative recipes out there I usually just wing it. They are my breakfast of choice. And if the batter is just so I might get crazy and pull out my vintage thrifted waffle maker rescued from Mom's apartment of wonders and make bunny waffles!
sweet potato waffles, butter, maple syrup. perfection.

Off to make breakfast now! I think its banana pancake day....

Tuesday 2 April 2013

getting my veggie groove back, the things I didnt know

One of the major issues I had leading up to my surgery was extreme stricturing of my small intestines- which made it difficult/painful/impossible to eat straight up raw veg and most raw fruit. I was juicing, blending, steaming, stirfrying and roasting my produce but eating a raw apple or a raw carrot would have me doubled over in stitches or other worse fates. Even though surgery was a total ass-kicking, it was just a flinch compared to the 11 years of ass-kicking that crohns has given me.

Well 4 weeks into healing and I am comfortably and jubilantly eating raw raw raw veggies! It is so exciting. I have also been super-reflective, now that I am well into healing and growing fresh new cells, about the bigger picture of this disease and what this surgery marks for me. I was diagnosed at the tender formative age of 14 when this disease was utterly destroying me. I was raised on the standard american diet (SAD) of white bread, gluten in every meal, convential meat&dairy, sugar cereal every day, tons of fast food and a candy bar or two at every grocery shopping trip. I was fond of the deep fried pizza pops at the mall and made myself microwaved minute rice and cheeze whiz as my packed lunch in junior high.  Ive come a long long way in understanding food as medicine and shifting to a whole foods, plant based, unproccessed low allergen diet as well as learning how to manage stress and finding peace and self-love in the hardest of times. Ive let go of the years of sadness and struggle and confusion that were trapped in those 3 feet of destroyed intestine and have a new sense of peace and strength about the years ahead of me. I have a renewed sense of dedication to my health and spirit, and am excited about the new connection of my healthy intestine as it represents a new connection to healing, growing and possibilty. Heres some eats Ive been crafting lately:
rice tortilla pizza with shitakes, spinach, sheep feta

romaine wrap with sprouts and sweet potato latke
super delux salad! romaine, apple, cuke, avacado, fried tempeh and sheep feta

addicted to these almond butter cups. Ive made 3 batches. I want to feed them to everyone I love.

lovely dinner of salmon, broccoli, rice and sprouts

Eat your veggies and be bountiful and bright! Nourish and be grateful for you health, treasure your body and practice self-love and empathy.