walnut sausage! sunflower seed cheese!

these are two delicious raw foods i made today. here is what i had for dinner:

















a bed of mixed greens topped with zucchini noodles, shallot and mushroom slices, walnut sausage, sunflower cheese chunks, nutritional yeast, cayenne pepper, balsamic vinegar

we biked 37 miles yesterday and then went in a sauna

still very, very sore today. owww. we also found a very well-stocked donut dumpster. shiiiit. i did eat a lot of donuts :( but i am going to tell my friends where it is and never go back there myself, haha. today i will have free lunch from working at eco, then free dinner from playing a show at acadia! salads all day long, i think. got to flush out the donut gunk. laughoutloud

the thing about papaya.

we got a papaya and found that some sections taste good while others taste like barf. my solution: papaya sauce (like apple sauce). food process with a touch of honey. every bite is now delicious.

how to solve my problem.

so. ive started giving out my dumpstered food. i basically just like to find things in dumpsters but it is mostly stuff i shouldnt eat (bread, mainly) and so i make sure to share it with others so i dont regret eating it. today we stocked up on a bunch of raw food bars and nuts and stuff from co-ops that are far away. im excited to try the gopal's brownie.

6-hour freegan walk-a-thon

it happened today. at a dumpster near you (if you happen to live near me).
after cleaning at work, and eating raw food for half the day, i decided to go freegan for the rest of the afternoon. what do i mean? eat barely any raw foods, eat only foods i find for free. it was an experiment. a very long, tiring experiment.
it started with a white flour tortilla from la perla.
following that, i scored a backpack FULL of bananas. we're talking pounds. apparently the somalian grocery stores get rid of their spotty bananas on monday. well, this was the only raw thing i got from a dumpster. i ended up eating two bananas.
i then went to st vincent de paul thrift store, where they allow you to take up to two loaves of bread from a cart of freebies. i chose a whole-wheat loaf. ate three pieces of that along my walk.
went to midtown after that and sampled some pineapple and grapefruit. also an olive from holy land.
i think somewhere along the way i took a bite of an m&m cookie. and a nibble of some pizza...
next i went to my friends' house to give them the bananas and the loaf of bread. they shared with me some dumpstered feta cheese (yeah, sounds sketchy), peanut butter, and another tortilla.
after this there was a dry spell for a while, but i think the next thing i had was three samples of bread from lund's.
i was then ready for dessert. luckily i found some at wuollet bakery: a small piece of some raspberry cake with creamy frosting, and a bite from each of four danish-type pasteries. gross.
the dessert kept coming. i then found a bunch of little debie's cakes at the loon grocery. i had never eaten these in my life, so i took a nibble of each: swiss rolls, honey buns, fudgy rounds, zebra cake, some fudge cake thing. OMGDISGUSTING!!!!!!!!! i still feel like barfing.
so, fortunately, after all that i only found packaged food that i will not eat today. some macaroni noodles from second harvest heartland (no shit), pinto beans, macaroni and cheese (for my friends), a can of grapefruit juice, and a can of apple juice.
so to recap my freegan eats:
tortilla
banana
bread
pinapple
grapefruit slice
olive
m&m cookie
pizza
feta cheese
peanut butter
cake
pasteries
little debbie's
macaroni
...and cheese
pinto beans
grapefruit juice
apple juice

i ate a TON of SHIT. i dont feel too horrible, except there is a lumpish sensation in my belly. i drunk some emergen-c and now im going to have a bunch of water and brush my teeth. and do some yoga. i wonder how many miles i walked in six hours? i think i walked about 10 miles in 3-4 hours last week...today involved a lot of covering the same ground over and over, so its hard to find out. anyway, i am looking forward to eating mainly raw again! theres so much horrible food out there...in our dumpsters...haha

EDIT: here, roughly, is the route: URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2663533
so it was over 11 miles. i probably went a little more than that, since i was going back and forth along the streets to the alleys and cutting in and out from behind buildings. it was a lot of pacing around. im kind of foot-tired.

my body asked for

black beans!!! so i delivered and am satisfied.

with sprouted quinoa, beet greens, lemon zest, green onion, cumin, garlic, cayenne, acv, olive oil, nutritional yeast. i feel strong

carrot cake smoothie.

juice three carrots
and a nob of ginger
put in food processor with
2 ripe bananas
1 frozen banana
cinnamon, liberal
a pinch nutmeg
scoop of honey or other
vanilla extract

blend until smooth
then pulse in

almonds
flax seeds
4 dates

pour into glasses and top with
some shredded coconut

dreamy. serves 2.

uh oh.

i flipped out. i went to macalester to visit some friends, and when i got to the campus center there was some catered lunch going on with box lunches...well, everyone was getting done and there were still four tables of box lunches sitting out. so i decided it would be fun to go in and steal one. bad idea! because i succeeded, and then i wanted to eat my prize. a veggie sandwich, raisin-walnut cookie, apple, and pasta salad. i proceeded to eat the whole box in under five minutes, only passing on a bag of lay's potato chips. i am now slipping deep into a food coma. i have terrible gas, too. WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! whenever i get my hands on free food, i eat tons of it because its free and my sensibilities leave me. oh well, it couldve been worse. although, i do have some standards even when it comes to free food (no shitty pizza, meat, etc). i had plans to walk home from st paul, and now im just going to end up sleeping with all this "sad" food in my belly.

sprouted black beans and other things.

so i cant seem to find one solid opinion on sprouted black beans. some people say it is definitely trouble, and then there are also raw food books that have recipes involving them. it seems like its up to an individual's digestive system. i sprouted some to see what would happen, and they did sprout...but they smell kind of funny and make my throat feel a little weird!?!? so instead of wasting them i am boiling them like one would normally do to cook black beans. we'll see...

i went to eco today and they didnt have more than 1.5 hours work for me. but i met some really awesome people and was given a delicious green smoothie and a taco salad.

in AMAZING NEWS: we got a champion juicer for $50 from craigslist! and it works great. its the commercial one, 2000+ or whatever. anyway, im glad we held out for this one, what a deal.

sprouted chili / kelp noodle salad.

here is the sprouted chili i made using sprouted peas and lentils. on a bed of lettuce and topped with cashew sour cream.












my first dish made with kelp noodles. it was delicious...i soaked them in lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, thyme, garlic, salt, pepper, cayenne and tossed with dandelion greens, apple, avocado, sundried tomato, lemon zest. on a bed of kale.

today.

i woke up around 9 am (well, thats when i got out of bed) and made a smoooooothie

strawberries
kiwi
orange juice
lemon zest
spirulina
bee pollen
honey

then i made some vanilla almond halva and stuck it in the freezer. im still eating the caroby halva i made last week. mmmmm. im eating so much tahini since i was mistakenly sent two jars in addition to the ones i ordered! now i have four. so lots of hummus and halva. speaking of, we did make hummus over the weekend, too. its been delicious on collard wraps.

so then we waited around for the wild durian to come, since today was the last day UPS would try to deliver it. well, not only did the durian show up, but also we received our correct order of kelp noodles (these i will try for dinner, and im excited), two jars tahini, and a bag of raw cashews. after all this waiting, it was time to make lunch

collard leaf
hummus
cucumber slices
apple slices
lemon zest
black pepper

so good and filling. i only used half the apple for the wrap, so i took the second half and a jar of water with me on a walk. you can see my route here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2641420. so almost ten miles, not bad! i was attempting to do 100 blocks. im not sure how many i managed...i would estimate around 80? i saw some interesting things now that the snow is melting. potentially edible food: a can of soda, a bottle of club soda water, a granola bar, a zebra cake, and pumpkin pie filling. nothing i would eat, but someone could...

anyway, i ate some of that durian this morning and it prompted me to go on this long walk where i fantasized about finding a $100 bill that had just appeared from under melted ice. i would then take the money to gain admission to the farmer's warehouse place down at 61st & nicollet, which would be open despite their limited hours. none of this happened, but it was still fun to think about. my walk was very nice even though realistic :)

another volunteer night at the eco.

mmm. purple kale salad from ecopolitan! kiwi! garlic-tahini dressing!

i also just stocked up on choice greens...kale, mustard, chard. unfortunately, it is 0 degrees out and i had to carry the chard, which immediately froze upon being outside, and is now that defeated dark green color. floppy. it will become "massaged" chard, surely. maybe with some flax seeds and balsamic vinegar. that will be ok, right? the kale and mustard survived just fine in my backpack.

tonight i did eco chips again, but also the eco burgers, which were pretty easy to make and smelled amazing.

cashew sour cream, chili.

i just made some. im not hungry enough to eat any, though. i had the rest of the spouted quinoa for lunch, and im still full. it was a late lunch, an addendum to my argula salad at work. anyway, the sour cream seems lovely. i didnt have enough lemon juice, so its not real "sour," but it has a great consistency and will be good on wraps. speaking of wraps, i also just got a head of cabbage, so im thinking this will be real tasty. i made some chili from sundried tomatoes & chipotle soaked and then mixed with sprouted lentils and sprouted peas, seasoning.

why is right now so irritating (mostly unrelated to food)

so. i went to work earlier than normal to clean, to get it done, out of the way. i biked there thinking it wasnt too cold or anything, but the whole way was miserable with chilly winds blowing in my face. cleaning wasnt that bad, though; i took a short break and had argula, apple, and raspberry salad with apple cider vinegar and sea salt (thats the food part of this entry!). after another hour or so, it was time to go home. i contemplated leaving my bike and taking the bus, since the ride there was so unpleasant...but i decided waiting for the bus and paying $1.75 wasnt worth it, also i would regret having to go get my bike later. so anyway, another yucky ride back. then i get home, feeling pooped, and 1) ryan's clothes are on the floor in the middle of the kitchen, 2) the toilet is very clogged and plunging must ensue, 3) must change oliver's litter box, which smells strongly of ammonia, 4) the shower curtain is a way i dont like...hahah im so bad..., 5) the laundry is still all scrunched up in a bag and will become wrinkly if i dont fold it all immediately. so much for a relaxing day!

picture tyme.

curried cauliflower on beauty heart radish slices /
collard leaf stuffed with sprouted quinoa salad



tonight's dinner: portobello marinating in homemade bbq /
massaged collards, sprouted lentils



more pictures of the bbq...no grilling took place



final dish. spicy chipotle goodness. great greens /
fruit salad with honey, cinnamon, cardamom for dessert

we ended up not going to french meadow today (yay); it was too busy and i suggested going to the wedge for sandwiches. so i was able to get a garden salad from the deli, and also i got a lydia's raw food bar...lemon ginger with sprouted buckwheat. it was pretty good, and i would have liked to crumble it up and top with some nut milk for a granola effect. somehow i managed to get a bubbly/gassy stomach...maybe from the salad dressing, a tomato i ate from a ham & cheese sandwich that was being disgarded, or from the glass of organic V-8...anyway, im trying to sleep it off.

maca root powder.

ryan bought some. ive been putting it in my morning smoothies. pretty good. i like the taste and texture, works very well in smoothie/shake.

the raw food world is giving 17% off for entering "visa" as the coupon code at check out. we got some kelp noodles, tahini, and cashews. the 17% off was less than the shipping paid, but at least it off-set it a little bit :)

in about an hour we will be going to lunch with ryan's family. i prepared by looking at the menu ahead of time...french meadow...it looks like i might be able to get a salad that is mostly raw, minus, perhaps, roasted beets? although, maybe they are raw. im not sure. anyway, i had a delicious shake of maca, sprouted almonds, seasame seeds, carob, vanilla, bee pollen, honey, wheat germ, and banana for breakfast, and im feeling good for a while

i prepared a bbq sauce to marinate portobello mushrooms in for dinner. we'll see how that goes.

good foods.

just ate some mighty good "pizza"

crust:
sundried tomatoes, dried chipotle pepper, clove of garlic, almonds, nutritional yeast, scoop of miso...processed, then smashed down into a, uh, crust. we dont have a dehydrator, so i froze it for a while. the result was rather moist and flimsy, but it worked to eat with a fork

toppings:
avocado, lettuce, mushrooms, oregano, rawmesan, black pepper, balsamic vinegar

living the dream.

seriously.
could today have been any better
probably not

i got a volunteer position at ecopolitan, my favorite restaurant, 100% raw, vegan, organic. holy crap. i met dr t, the owner. i spread flax crackers and eco chips on to sheets for the dehydrator. a room of dehydrators...warm, smells so good. after being there only an hour, i was randomly given a jar with almond vanilla shake. whoa. and then i got a free meal of my pick off the menu. i couldnt even eat the whole thing...marinara pasta, which was amazing...so now i have a second meal in a jar.

to top today off, it was nice enough that i could bike everywhere, and had i taken the bus, i wouldve spent probably $5. so today was awesome.