CatherineR

Edit: yep, made the mac and cheese (left a 5* review on the Rawtarian's recipe page!) with zucchini noodles. Oh, and salting and squeezing the zoodles worked REALLY well. Made me wish I did that for my pesto dish the other day. I also made the red pepper soup. I probably wouldn't pair these two dishes together again since it was going from one creamy thing to the next but both were really solid dishes. 

Day 29 (and doing fine)

Breakfast: I had some raw granola with coconut milk. I actually ate it last because it was super dense and needed to soften. Buckwheat groats are no joke, those are crazy hard. I also had some sapota and papaya, both which were sweet and fantastic. The sapota is grown at my house, and the papaya is organic. It's been a great sign having all of this organic produce taste so delicious given my initial trepidation. Like a sign saying, "yes, this is a rewarding decision." Oh, and cacao smoothie. Not gonna lie, it's highly likely coffee is getting reinstated after the 30 days. Cacao is a pretty good substitute but I like coffee more.

Lunch: red cabbage salad with ranch. 

Post-lunch: I made the usual cacao smoothie, and then also attempted a tropical one. I had ice, mango, banana, coconut milk, pineapple juice and juuuust a few dates. It turned out so much like a custard in its consistency that I actually made some nut crust on the quick and turned it into mini pies. I made sure to add a dash of coconut oil and another banana since I know that will help with the frozen consistency as it thaws. But I'm looking forward to tucking into those maybe tomorrow. They're reasonably low fat, too. I've actually halved the cashew and substituted bananas for a lot of cheesecake recipes and have noticed no adverse effects. I should probably do that more often. 

Dinner: I've had a few flax crackers I picked up in Bali. I'm going to go simple and do a red pepper tomato soup. I'm also taking stock of my fridge which was crazy full and kinda messy, since it'll have things like leftover pizza sauce that I simply can't bear to throw out. So, I'm trying to meal plan based on whatever clears out the fastest. I might do some mac n cheese with zoodles as a side... but I really don't want soggy noodles. I should salt them and squeeze them: might help. 

My kid's finally feeling better, woohoo. This is a good thing because sleep has been terrible and she's wanted to nurse all the time. On the plus side, I really think the fact our household has done extended breastfeeding for as ridiculously long as we have is one reason why she's almost never sick. Even now, her temperature never got higher than 101. So, win for the house. 

Day 26:

Breakfast: Watermelon juice (small cup), cacao smoothie. 

Lunch: Finished the rest of those sliders from yesterday and continued with the magical chutney, avocado and tomato toppings. I also had the tomato soup.

Snack: another cheesecake cup.

Dinner: Lovely salad of my usual purple cabbage, pomegranate seeds, cucumber, tomato, and ranch dressing. The ranch is perfect because it doesn't cause the salad to become runny and it sticks to all of the ingredients perfectly. Very happy. 

Post-dinner: made the banana cream pie in prep for tomorrow (got moved til then). I tried marbling the pie by segregating a bit of the batter and dying it red (beet juice DOES work and doesn't affect the taste at all, woohoo). I uh, seemed to not do the greatest job but I think it's good enough. It's the thought that counts. 

I got a few more groceries today and I continue with my resolve to switch to all organic when possible. Unfortunately the prices of some things gave me a mild heart attack. Going organic is two to three times as expensive, easily. My household can swing it given that this is still a relatively inexpensive country, but the frugal part of me had to go and read several articles as a pep talk for why organic is worth it. While it IS a privilege for sure, these stores and farmers that need all the support they can get. Lack of demand is always the biggest roadblock for why organic is not more prolific and to some extent it becomes a moral obligation that those who CAN afford organic should do it (no judging anyone else's decisions here, though). Sort of like electric cars: of course not everyone can buy one, but those who can and purchase them ultimately drive (heh) down the price for those in lower income brackets. I actually wondered if I should just grow more produce here, but since I can afford to buy organic, I actually can't think of a better way to allocate that money since it aligns with my overall values. 

 On another note, I was thinking of doing Chris Kendall's crazy pizza because it looks so amazing, but I saw the insane amount of dehydration time and realized I didn't have 30 hours in one location until Sunday night. Then I saw the cabbage rolls recipe and that too required a, "chill this overnight, then dehydrate for a long time." Made me sad! But, I will give it a shot. I seldom trust 80/10/10 recipes, though. Maybe I'll eventually gravitate towards less fat, but I remember when I did the insane version of 801010 and ate a million sugary fruit calories and just felt gross, lethargic and vision was weird. Oh, and I gained weight, not in a good way. I realize I unapologetically love raw fats and I feel really good after eating something like a giant salad with a creamy dressing. More culinary adventures will come soon.

Y'all are making me wheatgrass converts. I will say that I think diet (and lifestyle) has a lot to do with gray hair. My mother convinced me I'd go gray at 24 because not only is that when hers started kicking in, but she actually lost almost all of her hair from stress at that age. 

I also believed this because my oldest sibling started going gray at the same age and began dying her hair as a result: she also had poor diet, overweight, lots of deficiencies but I figured it was genetics.

My middle sib had to start dying hair at 27, maybe 28. Vegetarian but the bread and cheese type.

I'm 31 (vegan of 12 years) and surprised that I've still not had to dye mine. I have a few stray grays but they're not too noticeable enough for me to do anything about them. I've also never dyed my hair nor gotten highlights even growing up because it always struck me as too many chemicals. I did shed a bit of hair post my child's birth but it's since grown back. I'm convinced graying isn't a genetic issue handed down from parents like it's made out to be. My own family history proves that.

Haha, yeah Claire, I'm terrible at 1) planning in advance, 2) following recipes and 3) thinking, "it's not in the recipe, but maybe it'd be better with a bit of ___?" and then it turns out not as good. When I call myself challenged in the kitchen, I really think it's due to an inability to just follow directions. I also notice when I make dishes more often, my ability to improvise goes up just because I've seen enough recipes (and tasted enough of them) to know what goes well together. I'm sure others are the same, except for those freakishly lucky people who are just naturally gifted in the kitchen.