Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Review: Rejuvenative Foods

Rejuvenative Foods’ nut butters are wonderful. Of particular deliciousness is the Pecan Pie Butter and I love making it into an easy 1-Minute Nut Milk by blending 1-2 tablespoons with a cup of water. Then, I enjoy it with raw granola, as cream in my Teeccino, or just as a tall glass of cold raw nut milk. Truly delightful! They have other great raw vegan nut butters, but, not all of their products are vegan (some have honey), so you might want to check the label.

Rejuvenative Foods also sells fermented foods – whoo hoo! When I don’t have time to make my own sauerkraut, I love being able to turn to Rejuvenative Foods’ fermented foods. They’re always fresh and packed full of flavor, zing, and bite. And, let me tell you… Fermented Foods Rock -> they can help fight disease, they’re great for digestion, and they’re loaded with fiber and nutrition. I love all of their sauerkrauts and kim-chi options. In particular, the kim-chis have a sassy spice to them that warms up my mouth even though they’re cold from the refrigerator. I have enjoyed them on my homemade Raw Vegan Hearty Buckwheat Biscuits, topped on salad, and just plain by the forkful. I was particularly fond of the Sea Vegetable Garden Kim-Chi because I’m not normally a sea veggie girl, but this tasted great. I love finding tasty sources of sea veggies since I don’t regularly get them in my diet. And… my husband loves their sauerkraut on non-gmo tofu brats.

I have been a paying customer of Rejuvenative’s for years, and was grateful when they offered to send me a sample of goodies. They also sent me some of their oils, and I’ve been enjoying the raw almond oil and raw sesame oil on my body as a moisturizer (including my pregnant belly!). It smells fabulous. Sometimes I add a dash to my green juice if it contains carrot juice to help my body assimilate the beta-carotene better.

On a Green Mommy Blog note: I blogged a bit about Elimination Communication if you’d like to hop on over there and take a peek.

High Raw Food Intake – Pregnancy Food Journal – Sunday

by Kristen in black bird, food journal, green juice, hearty buckwheat biscuits, hemp protein, hurom, pecan pie butter, Plant Blood, raw chocolate, rejuvenative, sun warrior rice protein

My husband and I are enjoying a day of High Raw food day. All organic. And, that’s me having fun in my third trimester – YAY! I am so happy being pregnant! (OH! On Monday I’m having another AWESOME GIVEAWAY so come on back tomorrow!!!)

1 large banana – I had mine fresh peeled, and my husband had his warmed in the dehydrator as semi-dehydrated slices

Teeccino with Raw Vegan Nutmilk – I am writing a post on getting over caffeine addictions this week, so stay tuned for that. For my Raw Vegan Nutmilk, I made a 1-Minute Nut Milk with 1 hefty tablespoon of Rejuvenative’s Pecan Pie Butter (so extra yummy!) blended with a cup of water. It’s aromatic, a hint of spice, a touch of sweet, and super delish!

1/2 cup fresh pineapple – I had mine fresh, and my husband had his warmed in the dehydrator as semi-dehydrated. He loves it like that.

Hearty Buckwheat Biscuits – This recipe will be in my next email newsletter, which goes out on Tuesday. I had one of these today and my husband had two. They’re so good! I already need to make another batch!

Plant Blood – I made 2 quarts of organic green juice using my Hurom (love this juicer!). We each had about 2 cups and I’m saving the rest for later in the day. It had 1 bunch of celery, 1 bunch curly purple kale, 1 bunch cilantro, 2 large cucumbers, 2 large carrots, 1/2 inch knob of ginger, 1/2 pineapple, 1/2 cup water)

Protein Shakes – My husband will have one of his Protein Grenades and I will simply have a shake mix of Sun Warrior Brown Rice protein powder, Hemp protein powder, cinnamon, and water.

Huge Protein Salads - Giving my little monkey some extra protein now that we’re in the third trimester. This salad has an awesome raw vegan dressing, cucumbers, red bell peppers, spinach, broccoli sprouts, raisins, and tofu.

Plant Blood – Leftover from earlier in the day.

Sauerkraut – This homemade kraut is sooooo good! I could eat a cup at a time. Yum! I’m enjoying this batch on top of another Hearty Buckwheat Biscuit. (Learn how I make my organic, unpasteurized sauerkraut here.)

Strawberries with Sweet Frosting Dip – The Sweet Frosting Dip recipe will be in my next book, due out in the next couple of months (hopefully before I give birth to my baby). Stay tuned!

Raw Vegan Truffles – My good friends, Dolly and Anthony (you might know him as Raw Model), are making Raw truffles that they sell (Blackbird Naturals is the name of the company) and they happen to live nearby! I bumped into them at the market over the weekend where they blessed me with FREE CHOCOLATE. And, um… about 2 hours later I went to Oakville Market where they sell them and I bought a package. I’m having them for dessert tonight!

Protein Shake – I’m undecided, but if I find myself hungry or needing more protein later tonight, I’ll shake up another protein shake. Perhaps I’ll have another banana, too!

Monday’s All Raw Food Intake – Pregnancy Food Journal

by Kristen in cherry chocolate bomb shake, go raw, kaia foods, pregnancy, raw food, raw vegan chocolate, rejuvenative

Magic herbal tea blend given to me by my goddess midwife
3-4 T Kaia Foods Garlic Salt Sprouted Sunflower Seeds (mega yum!)
2 cups organic green juice (cilantro, grapefruit, carrot, collard green, tomato, celery)
1/2 serving Kaia Foods Fruit Leather (OMG YUM!)
Raw vegan chocolate (about 4 bites worth)
7.5 oz jar of Rejuvenative Brand’s Kim-Chi (ate the whole jar!)
Huge organic salad with lip smacking awesome dressing, red bell pepper, carrot, and gorgeous romaine from the farmer’s market
2 servings Kaia Foods Fruit Leather (OMG YUM again!)
Go Raw’s Ginger Snaps Cookies (maybe 1/2 the bag?) Mmmmm!!!!!!!
Huge organic salad (same as above)
Cherry Chocolate Bomb Shake! (This recipe is making the Internet rounds and the feedback is AWESOME! Have you tried it yet?)

Tuesday’s plan (here is why I love planning my food intake):

Magic herbal tea blend
Organic green juice (cucumber, celery, collard green, tomato)
3 T Kaia Foods Garlic Salt Sprouted Sunflower Seeds
4 Organic prunes
Huge organic salad with lip smacking awesome dressing, cucumber, carrot, and romaine
1 serving Kaia Foods Fruit Leather
2 scoops Sun Warrior Brown Rice Protein Shake
Crunchy Buckwheat Biscuit with Rejuvenative Brand’s Kim-Chi on top
Spicy-n-Sweet Fitness Noodles (from my Hemp recipe book)
If I’m still hungry? Then a Cherry Chocolate Bomb Shake!

I walked on Monday and will also get in my 2 mile walk Tuesday, too.

High Raw, All Vegan Food Intake – Pregnancy Food Journal – Monday

by Kristen in banana, green juice, hurom, Mint Chocolate Jazz, rejuvenative, sun warrior rice protein

Here was my delicious day!

Kashi Organic Shredded Wheat w/ Raw Granola topped with Organic Rice Milk

I was famished when I woke up today and I wanted something QUICK! Monkey was hungry! So, I ran for a bowl of cereal. The Raw part was the granola, which was from the company Two Mom’s In The Raw (they now have their raw vegan granola available at Starbucks!) I like the granola for the most part but sometimes I get a funny taste in my mouth with it.

1 Quart fresh organic Greeeeen Juice

After the cereal, my body was craving something pure, fresh, Raw, and alkalizing. I made a juice with my Hurom juicer comprised of the following ingredients: cucumbers, kale, Swiss chard, lemon, and celery. It was fabulous. Green juice does a body GOOD!

2 small Raw Chocolates

About a year ago I made the Mint Chocolate Jazz recipe from my book, Kristen Suzanne’s Ultimate Raw Vegan Chocolate Recipes. I enjoyed 2 of them. They remind me exactly of York Peppermint Patties – only my recipe is healthy! I love having a freezer full of organic Raw vegan chocolates for those times you need a bite. Mmmmm! (I don’t eat a lot of Raw chocolate while pregnant, but a little bit here and there.)

Huge Salad with Light-n-Lively Tahini Parsley Dressing

My salad was seriously large. It was filled with organic romaine, carrot, and red bell pepper topped with a version of my Light-n-Lively Tahini Parsley Dressing from my book, Kristen Suzanne’s EASY Raw Vegan Salads & Dressings – except that I used cilantro instead of parsley. Cilantro is a great herb that is full of nutrition and has the ability to help draw toxins (especially heavy metals) from the body.

Celery with fancy schmancy nut butters

In practicing to be a mommy, I went to the kitchen with the intent on making the kid-friendly Ants On A Log recipe. Instead, I ended up using Rejuvenative’s Raw Vegan Organic Almond Butter for two celery logs and their fancy schmancy Pecan Pie Butter (they sent me samples). I write fancy schmancy because the Pecan Pie Butter tastes unique and gourmet. It’s made from pecans, dates, almonds, cinnamon, cardamon, and nutmeg. I ended up liking the Pecan Pie Butter even more than the almond butter today. It was so yummy on the celery.

Large Sun Warrior Raw Protein Shake

I made a quicky shake with 2 scoops of raw protein powder mixed with water. It filled my up nicely for a while.

2 cups organic Greeeeen Juice

I made extra juice when I made my morning batch and here is where I finished it off.

2 organic bananas & 1 small organic pickle

I love bananas… aren’t they like the perfect FAST snack. They’re sweet, nutritious, inexpensive, and did I say FAST? If you make sure that you keep a steady supply of these on your counter than you can do all sorts of things from eating them plain (did I mention what a FAST snack it is?) to blending them into smoothies, sauces, nut milks, desserts, and soups.

The pickle… well, I am pregnant. ;)

2 “Pretty High Raw” Tostadas (organic)

These were made from sprouted corn tortillas from Food for Life (they’re not raw but they’re pretty much minimally processed). I topped them with cooked black beans, (raw) fresh salsa, (raw) guacamole, (raw) lettuce, and (raw) Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce.

High Raw, All Vegan Food Intake – Pregnancy Food Journal – Wednesday

by Kristen in daiya, hemp protein, hemp seeds, kim chi, kindle 2, Manitoba Harvest, Mother Earth Chocolate, mountain rose herbs, playful parenting, rejuvenative, unconditional parenting, vegan cheese, zpizza

I keep getting emails and comments from people interested in my food intake, so here is today’s. It’s another day of delicious food.

Breakfast

Organic Hemp Protein Smoothie made from: 1.5 cups water, 1/4 cup Manitoba Harvest Hemp Protein Powder, 2 Tablespoons Manitoba Harvest Hemp Seeds, 2 bananas (I recently bought a 25 pound bucket of seeds from Manitoba Harvest! I transferred them to glass mason jars and they’re all stored in my freezer now. I’m going to enjoy giving a couple of jars away to friends and family as gifts; I’ll even tie a little bow on it. That’s the gift of health!)

Mid-morning Snack

I was cold and still a little hungry after my protein shake so I had the following nourishing, warming foods. Let me tell you, they warmed my body right up, literally in minutes.

~1 cup organic miso soup from South River Miso (dandelion leek flavor – one of my faves!)

~1/2 cup organic kim-chi by Rejuvenative (they were so kind to send me samples – yum!).

Second Little Snack

While shopping at Whole Foods, I bought GoRaw’s little chocolate cookies and opened the bag in the store, eating 3 of them.

Lunch

~Large organic Delicious Apple (this was so delicious and juicy)

~Large organic salad with romaine, cucumber ($2.50 each now at Whole Foods – yikes!), tomato, and another batch of Cayenne Tahini Recipe I talked about in yesterday’s post. This batch I made last night around midnight and added a big handful of organic cilantro that I had in the fridge. When I gave my husband his salad he said, “Honey, thanks so much for making me so healthy with all the food you make.” I replied, “Of course! I want us to be centenarians together!”

~1 piece of Mother Earth Chocolate

We went to Starbucks to read (these are the books I’m reading on my Kindle2 right now: Playful Parenting and Unconditional Parenting). On a side note… I absolutely love my Kindle and it’s one of the best things we ever bought. While we were there I had some organic herbal tea (Mountain Rose Herbs) that I brought with me in a Starbucks thermos and glass mug.

Dinner

~Huge Salad (same as above)

~Rejuvenative’s Kim-Chi (same as above)

~Vegan Pizza! ZPizza makes the yummiest vegan pizza and they use Daiya cheese. If you haven’t had Daiya cheese, and if you have some cooked vegan food from time to time, then you’re truly missing out. This is reputed as the cheese to keep vegans as vegans (for those of you feeling like life isn’t the same without cheese). It’s life changing for many. It’s non-dairy, non-soy, non-gluten, non-rice, non-corn, non-nut, non-preservatives. For the most part, only a handful of restaurants around the country have access to it (ZPizza, Blossom, etc), but it’s supposed to be available for retail stores like Whole Foods in 2010. Furthermore, I did hear a rumor that it’s actually available in some Whole Foods now, but that they have been running out of it because it’s so popular. Anyway, back to ZPizza… they offer a whole wheat crust made with organic wheat and they also have organic vegan sauce. I top my cooked pizza with fresh veggie toppings to get some extra Raw into the meal.