Stay Local; A trip to the source

So this weekend, I had the chance to finally make it over to the Dave's Dave's Killer Bread bakery in Portland. It was awesome! Every type of loaf they make.... including the amazing cinnamon drenched Sin Dog... and at amazing prices. Most places sell each loaf for $4.80 to $5.00! When you buy them here they cost just over $2. It was awesome! We stocked up and bought a variety that we have not tried.

1. Try Dave's Killer Bread, not only is it delicious and local to the north west, it has a great story behind it (I'll let you read that for yourself)
2. It has amazing organic ingredients of course

Go get a loaf and support someone doing something good for the world.

Forks Over Knives

Please watch this documentary. It will change many peoples lives and support why others choose to live theirs the way they do.
http://www.forksoverknives.com/

Read this.

Raw Sweet potato chips and Artichoke Tapenade

The raw food craze is both awesome and I definitely believe that raw food should be a significant part of our diet. The live enzymes and unprocessed fibers allow our body to get to work! which is what is was made to do. By cooking all of our food (an unnecessary process for so many types) we are actually making more work for ourselves and robbing our bodies of essential vitamins and minerals that are destroyed by various cooking processes. I am not a full raw vegan and I don't ever plan to be however, food needs to be appreciated for its natural state and consumed in this manner to reap its full benefit.

The first part we have to get over are the texture changes. Just as  many things follow suit, different isn't bad, its just different. Different soon changes to familiar and awesome after hanging out with different for a while. Different is a cool guy, he's interesting mysterious and soon becomes your best friend. Embrace the various textures food takes on when it is in its raw form. yes cooking food provides great taste (I do not disagree).
Not trying food in its raw form is kinda like falling in love with someone and never meeting their parents. (some might be totally cool with this) You don't always know who someone is until you learn about where they come from.

Time spent on organic farms taught me to eat straight from the ground if I can. Obviously we get caught up in many things and methods and comforts but when we are conscious and aware of it, give raw food a try. Skip the oven and stove and go straight to the plate from the cutting board.

Sweet Potato Chips and Artichoke Tapenade

Serves 1
one large sweet potato. Wash it (little scrubber helps) and cut that baby right up into little potato chip like discs.... thats it. People we have raw sweet potato chips.

I cut up some artichoke hearts and mixed them with olive oil salt, pepper and lime juice. Food processor would be great for this.

So good for snacking and insanely filling.

Coconut water!

Personally, one of my favorite beverages. Additionally, there is a lot of hype about coconut water these days. Whats so special about it? Well it naturally contains electrolytes that are commonly found in sports drinks and provides a low caloric value per serving comparatively.

Re-hydration. A study, cited at the bottom, examined the restorative qualities of coconut water, a typical market sports drink and plain water after exercise induced dehydration. Their data indicates that coconut water exudes the same plasma level (blood level) measurements as consuming the sports drink and similar blood glucose response post ingestion. It was also easier to ingest and caused less nausea and had more "drink-ablility" (as Budweiser would say). When choosing foods and substances to place in our body, going natural is always better. You avoid mysterious unwanted chemicals and simple processed sugars.

Give coconut water a try for post workout re-hydration. I like to make a protein shake with it by taking 8oz of coconut water, 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder (70 cal, 13 g protein) and stevia to sweeten. This proves to be much healthier in maintaining your insulin response, is natural and satisfying.

Snap Soup!

In a pinch? or just tired and don't feel like waiting an hour for dinner? A simple way to add nutrition and volume to a meal is to take a can of healthy soup and add your favorite veg to it! I started with half an onion and 3 stalks of celery, slice and dice and sweat in a pot. Let them get as soft as you like. I add dill and garlic powder which are great for adding to whatever soup you have. Dill was  spice my grandmother used a lot when she made soups when I was young so it bring back memories and definitely turns a canned soup into a home made comfort. Add the can of soup and additional water, maybe half a can? cover and put on medium heat. This helps "beef" up a soup without adding serious calories or time.
Being a vegetarian, I LOVE Amy's Organic soups and the Lentil is perfect for the protein. Its also a little bland to me on its own so the dill and garlic help it out.

LOVE IT! Perfect after getting back from walking the dog in the woods on a wet Olympia day.

Luna Protein Plus

FYI, I love butter fingers and conveniently, Luna makes a protein bar that tastes like them! they are the peanut butter protein variety. Its awesome.
I also recommend the Pepper mint flavor from Luna, Iced Oatmeal and Chai Spice.

I love Luna not only because they taste good but almost all their products are 70% organic and have appropriate proportions of protein carbs and fat.