Two New Raw Vegan Products I Am Loving Right Now, and My Instagram

Hello, long time no seeeeee.  The month of May went by so fast.  I haven't been able to update here, but I have been posting on Instagram.  So, if you're interested in keeping up with me there, you'll find me as nikkifyc.  I've already found some of you there, but if you follow me and leave me a message I'll follow you back if we haven't already connected.  Here's a little instagram recap of May.

Punk Rawk Labs finally made it's way to Portland via Food Fight! Grocery.  All I can say is YUM!  What a delicious treat.   We tried the smoked cashew cheese and devoured it with crackers.  Also, the packaging is really cool.  The tin that it comes in can be washed and reused.  If you're in Portland stop by Food Fight! and pick up a tin.  PRL nut milk cheese is the perfect thing to take to a get together this summer with some flax crackers or veggie chips.

After eating the amazing PRL cheese I decided to try making my own.  Let's just say that I'll have to try again....

It's farmers market season and Portland has a market open almost every day of the week in different neighborhoods.  We've been eating a lot of local veg.

This mouthful of heaven is made locally by Pixie Retreat Raw Laboratorie and Makery.  You can find it at Food Fight! Grocery, Food Front Coop, Alberta Food Coop and People's Coop.  I am totally addicted to the Mock BLT sandwich and they have a kale salad with macadamia cheese that will blow your mind.

Sunday morning vegan gluten-free pancakes with warm fruit, agave, and powdered sugar.

The usual breakfast:  gf oats, chia, flax meal with nut milk and agave.

Afternoon treat.  DIY green tea latte with coconut milk and agave.

Sorry for the month-long absence.  My mind has been elsewhere, but like I mentioned at the beginning of this post you can keep up with me daily on instragram (nikkifyc) and twitter (nikki_fyc).  

Hope everyone is having a lovely long holiday weekend.  I am preparing for a little vacation to somewhere WARM and full of MUSIC and good VEGAN FOOD.  Any guesses?   Here's one more clue: I plan on eating vegan ice cream every day.  I promise to reveal my location and I'll be posting my travel pics on instagram.

Lunch Box: Black Sesame Saffron Rice and Tangy Soy Curls

It's not uncommon for me to walk through the front door after work to a warm house full of delicious smells and the sounds of stirring, blending, or pots banging. My boyfriend loves hanging out and creating in the kitchen as much as I do.   I feel so lucky to get a nourishing home cooked meal after a twelve hour work shift, but also to have left-overs for an awesome lunch the next day!   

This gorgeous meal of brown jasmine rice with saffron and black sesame seeds is not just pretty to look at, but the taste is incredible.  Pan fried apple cider vinegar soy curls are on the side, which are crispy, chewy, salty and tart.  This combo is perfect on a bed of spinach.   I love taking food this beautiful and vibrant to work because I get a lot of questions about it and I can spread the word about tasty vegan food.  

We usually don't eat fake meat products because they tend to be hard to digest and often have ingredients that we're not into, but soy curls have been going down just fine for both of us.  Our favorite way to make curls is to rehydrate them in warm water then pan fry with seasoning and vinegar to taste.  

I've had a long, busy, exhausting week and I'm really looking forward to a beautiful weekend and the opportunity to go for a long run by the river.  Happy Friday to you!

Lunch Box: Azuki Beans with Kabocha Squash, Sweet Potato and Kale

Hello!  I'm feeling so much better after last weekend's gluten invasion sickness.  There are still a few lingering symptoms, but overall I'm feeling good.  No more gluten for me, no thank you!  This lunch box looked extra pretty to me, so I thought I'd share.  From top left:  azuki beans with kabocha squash, sweet potato with black sesame seeds, and steamed kale with umeboshi vinegar.  This is a good example of how I've been eating lately.  Real, whole, unprocessed foods.  Local and in season as much as possible.  Vegan and gluten free, of course.  Lucky for me these foods taste amazing just the way they are.  Bravo, tastebuds!  

For the azuki beans and the kabocha squash I use this recipe from the Kind Life blog: http://www.thekindlife.com/post/azuki-beans-with-kabocha-squash

*edit - Shoyu is not gluten free.  I use Bragg's or gf tamari as a substitute in this recipe.  Thanks for noticing this Bitt! 

The sweet potato is just baked until soft then scooped out of the skin and sprinkled with a pinch of sea salt and black sesame seeds.

The kale is simply steamed and sprinkled with umeboshi plum vinegar.

Hope you're having a great week!  What are you having for lunch today?

This Blog Is Going Gluten Free!

Hello!  In my last post I brought up going gluten free.  Well, turns out I feel about a million times better when I'm not eating gluten.  Things that I thought were "normal" like cramping, bloating, and extreme fatigue after meals became non-existent after a month of being gluten free.  I'll admit I had some suspicions about gluten for quite some time before I did anything about it.  I just didn't want to give up bread!  But once my system cleared out and I started feeling the real "normal" sans gluten I found that I didn't even want the stuff.  Why eat something that was obviously making me feel like crap?  And finally, my decision to go gluten free was validated yesterday....

That's me, in Astoria, about to visit the Goonies house!  I grew up on the Oregon coast and have 2 friends that lived in the Goonies house at different times and I was a huge fan of the movie when I was a kid.

Do you recognize it from the movie?  Anyways... what does this have to do with my gluten free experience?  Well, while in Astoria we ate lunch at a cute little cafe that offered vegan and gluten free options.  Finding a place along the coast with vegan options isn't always easy, let alone vegan and gluten free.  What happened next is totally my fault.  I ordered something that I assumed was gluten free even though it wasn't advertised as such because I didn't want to annoy the person taking my order with more questions. Part way through eating we guessed that the injera (Ethiopian flat bread traditionally made with gluten free teff flour) was made with a combo of teff and whole wheat flour.  Like I said, I should have known better and I could have saved myself a lot of pain if I would have just inquired about the ingredients.

My second mistake was finishing the bread, but can you blame me?  Look at that pretty plate of food!  I kept eating, thinking "Ok, so I'll be a little bloated after this".   And sure enough, the bloating happened, plus more.  Waaaay more.  To the extent of missing the next day at work.  It was a miserable experience and a valuable lesson.  First of all, I'm committed to staying gluten free.  No bread is worth having to go through that again.  And second, I really should have just asked about the bread.  Sheesh.  Another thing I've been pondering is this:  If having gluten made me feel this terrible, what has it been doing to my body all of this time?  I'm happy to be rid of it.

So, from now on this blog is going to be gluten free too.  The food nerd in me is super excited to experiment with new ingredients and see what I can come up with that's tasty and makes me feel the best.  A good handful of my blog friends and blogs that I read are already gluten free, but if you know of any awesome blogs, books, or websites please leave me a link in comments.  I'm soaking up all the info I can get my hands on right now.

Green Eats, RIP Gluten, and Macro-Curiosity

Well, March flew right on by!  What have I been doing?  Not blogging, obviously.  There's been work and family and plotting and planning new future things that will be announced in due time.  Sometimes I put on my tunnel vision glasses and get carried away focusing on one single thing.  That's what happened in March, but I'm okay with it because the outcome is going to be fantastic.  While I was focusing on other projects food became simple and nourishing.  Lots of green smoothies:

Spinach, mango and almond milk have been the stars in these light & bright green morning starters.  We've had plenty of kale salad, too:

Massaged kale with tahini, avocado, sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast and help seeds.  Eaten with chopsticks for lunch.  So good!  Dragon Bowls have been making a frequent appearance lately, inspired by a local cafe:

Quinoa, steamed kale, avocado, soy curls, miso-tahini sauce and nutritional yeast.  I am obsessed with making these bowls!  They're so satisfying and delicious.

I've been doing some experimenting and tweaking my diet lately.  RIP gluten, you do not make my tummy happy.  I've also re-introduced more cooked whole grains like quinoa and brown rice.  My body seems to respond well to these right now and I'm feeling great!  My mom and sister have also suspected a sensitivity so they've said good-bye to gluten, too.  Giving it up as a team has made it a little more fun.  And none of us seem to miss it because we're feeling so good.

Have any of you ventured into the macrobiotic territory?  I've been reading about it and my body seems to like the grain + veggie combinations.  I've been doing green smoothies & green juices for breakfast and grain + veggie dishes for lunch and dinner.  I'd love to hear about any of your experiences.

Oh yeah, I turned 36 a few days ago.  It was awesome.

Sunshine Juice, Purple Power Smoothie & Sunday's Brunch!

Happy Friday!  It's sunshiney in Portland today and I plan on getting outside and doing one of my favorite activities: wandering around my neighborhood, window shopping, & people watching.  I was so excited about this morning's beautiful weather that I went for a 7 mile run right when I woke up.  Then I made this juice:

It was sweet and delicious and perfect for after a long run.  I'm totally hooked on putting fennel in my juice right now.   It really compliments everything I've added it to, and this was no exception.  Yum! 

One of our breakfast smoothies this week was purple:

I got a tub of the Vega on sale and have been adding it to smoothies.  It's flavor is a little strong for my taste, but I've found that if I include peanut butter and berries I can tolerate it.  I do feel good after I use it, so I'm liking the nutrition it provides. 

Last Sunday my bf and I went to one of our favorite neighborhood cafes for breakfast:

He had a Thai waffle with peanut sauce and spiralized veggies on top.  I had the Hot Mess, sourdough with veggie chorizo and pesto tofu scrambled with jalapenos.  They were both fantastic and with bold flavors.  We love adventurous food! Perfect for a special Sunday treat. 

I have some studying to do this weekend, but if the weather keeps up like this I might have to squeeze in the book time after dark!  What are you doing this weekend?  Anything fun involving food? 

I Loved Fennel, Sweetie Peppers & Green Food This Week.

Good Sunday morning!  Sleeping in, playing with the cats and having some extra coffee time felt great today after much busy-ness.  Sweet bf even refilled my coffee while I was still in bed.  He's a keeper!  Work has been taking a little more of my energy because I'm learning a bunch of new stuff (thankfully there's always more to learn in my field!) and I'm studying for certification in my specialty.  I also turned our spare bedroom into an office.  And I was on call for 75 hours on top of my usual work schedule.  Hmmm, this explains sleeping 11 hours last night? 

I'm still on my green food kick.  Work food has been kale salad, carrots & tahini, and fruit:

I actually pack 2 kale salads because I'm at work for 12 hours.  I've been trying to have a green smoothie or juice before I leave the house in the morning.  The difference in my mood and energy level is noticeably better when I have my green drink.  Here are a few juices I made this week:

The addition of fennel was especially good!  For dinner one night I made a cheesey green pasta with some veggie noodles that we get at a Japanese market:

The noodles remind me of udon, but have extra veggies added in.  Of course I Americanized them by putting them in a creamy cheesey sauce with some sweetie peppers and sauteed onion.  The cheese sauce used We Can't Say It's Cheese Cheddar Spread, Daiya Mozzarella Shreds, tahini, lemon juice, salt & pepper, and almond milk.  It was quite a delicious comfort food treat.

And of course we had our favorite non-green food on pizza night:

Rosemary crust brushed with olive oil, red sauce, fresh basil leaves, sauteed fennel & mushrooms, Daiya shreds, and sweetie peppers from the olive bar.  I really love making pizza. 

I hope everyone's enjoying the weekend as much as I am.  See you next week :)