15 posts tagged “blossoming lotus”

Thank God for Dr.Oz and so many others that are showing a vegan diet can be healthy and are encouraging people to give it a try!

Specifically, a few family members of mine are taking Dr.Oz's 28 day vegan challenge and I'm so happy for them! And so of course I want then to enjoy the food so very much that they don't miss what they thought they might. I have about a zillion ideas so let's see...

*While I don't own this book I have heard good things. And I like to keep meals easy so this book could be a good choice: The 30 Minute Vegan

*Books I know and love: Eat to Live and Skinny Bitch

*Website: Post Punk Kitchen  - Loads of free recipes!

*One of my personal favorite dishes from a local PDX vegan restaurant called Blossoming Lotus is called the Green Gaia which is steamed kale, mixed greens, sprouts & avocado tossed in garlic olive oil, topped with sesame seeds with a choice of rice or quinoa. Actually all of Blossoming Lotus's bowls are fantastic and you could make them at home. I highly recommend quinoa as a great rice substitute. Find it in the bulk bins at the grocery store and cook it up like this:

1 cup quinoa

2 cups filtered water
Rinse quinoa well and drain.
Add water and quinoa to sauce pan and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook on low heat until all liquid is absorbed, approximately 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and enjoy. Makes about 2 generous servings.

*Doing a bit of research online is very helpful. Exploring a food shopping site like Food Fight will give you lots of ideas of things you might want to try to find and/or ask your grocer to carry.

*Field Roast and Gardein are amazing. My meat-eating husband likes them. Seriously. So Good! I would suggest Gardein's Santa Fe Good Stuff with a big spinach salad. (Husband even diced it up and put it in a whole wheat tortilla with salsa, guacamole and greens once). Yum! Or the Smoked Apple Sage sausage from Field Roast sliced onto mixed greens, chopped celery and use fresh salsa as dressing. Delish.

*And last but most importantly increasing fresh low sugar fruits, eating more greens then you ever imagined possible, eating colorful veggies, orange peppers, broccoli, red peppers, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers... explore the produce section like you never have before. When I first started eating more raw foods I was not shy about asking the produce man questions, and most of them were basic, like how do I cut this open? And again going on line really helps just omit the dairy and meat from whatever recipes you find and use the yummy Earth Balance butter and eat more greens and eat more greens and eat more greens. Can't say it enough.

*My personal dessert of choice is Endangered Species 88% dark chocolate. One square satisfies my sweet tooth. And another sweet craving curbing food for me is Kombucha. I adore Kombucha. Here's a link to my fav: http://www.synergydrinks.com/ 

Coming up I hope to share breakfast ideas, more greens recipes, and smoothies. Tell me what you need and I will do my best. I hope I can help. Much love and yummy food to you all. Love you!

Birthday plans for Thursday February 12. May have to do some of this on Valentine's Day cause the list is too long!

*Pie - to look at vegan footwear.
*Sephora - to smell perfumes.
*Blossoming Lotus - to eat raw vegan food.
*Yummy Tummy - for more raw vegan food.
*Free People - to try on pretty clothes in their equally pretty dressing rooms.
*Seaplane - cause it's next to Free People. Clothes are really expensive here but handmade and gorgeous to admire.
*Anthropologie - love it and I've got a gift card. Thanks Toni and Michael!
*Urban Outfitters - I love their new heart shaped mixing bowls.
*boot camp at the gym - cause I like to sweat and it's my birthday.
*Stella McCartney for Adidas - oh, yeah there's no where to buy it in Portland. blech.
*Lululemon - love this store too. Best pants and jackets to work out in even if their design turnover is way too fast for my taste.
*Yoga class - a nice way to start the day. If I don't go to a class I'll at least spend some time when I wake up doing sun salutations and more.
*Laurelhurst Park - for a walk if it's not too cold.
*Sock Dreams - duh!
*Xtabay - because it's fun to look.

A little PDX love this weekend spending some money at some local favorites. This weekend I...

*bought a custom hula hoop from a local hoop teacher/performer http://portlandoctopus.com/hoop-dance-classes-euphoria-studios/

*ate at Por Que No http://porquenotacos.com/

*ate at Blossoming Lotus

*bought a dress at the http://www.ultrapdx.com/zero/2009/01/20/easy-on-you-pdx-collective-sale-this-weekend/

*ate at the new vegan Italian restaurant called Portobello http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=128664968

*bought a few greeting cards at Poppy and Ivy's birthday party http://www.amyhollands.typepad.com/

*attending our local music school's open house http://soundrootsmusic.com/cart/index.php?main_page=index

*ate at Miss Delta

*visited VooDoo Doughnut for the first time. A Portland institution.

Local businesses are dropping around here so if you can please visit some of your favorite places in your town and spend a few dollars if you can. It can make a difference! And the shop owners will appreciate it! xoxo

Sorry, Vox was being pesky and wasn't letting me link everything!

Kauai is magical and beautiful. We spent ten days at the Sheraton on Poipu beach, south shore. Andy snorkeled, zip lined and ate the best seafood ever. I loved almost daily trips to Lotus Bar and Blossoming Lotus, drinking Lava Flows and the waterfall jump! Eliot went on a train ride with his grammie and gramps, and Riley. We swam in pools and in the ocean. Eliot had a fast crush on an island girl named, Sky. Can you stand it? It is crazy beautiful and relaxing.

We had a birthday party for Cooper, our anniversary dinner and celebrated grammie's birthday too! We saw a sea turtle, big and small tropical fish swimming around our feet, chickens everywhere, and a monk seal came to swim with Summer and Mary! Watching Summer in the ocean gave me the courage to really go out far and swim in the ocean. It was exhilarating because I was a bit scared but I loved it. I stayed in that salty water until my eyes burned! A big wave even pushed me down the beach filling my bikini bottoms with sand!

We have great pictures to share. Here are some from my sis-in-law and Andy's cousin, Mary. More later!

Andy and I jumped off of a waterfall cliff 20 feet high!

Me, taking a photo of Gina!

I don't get to see my tattoos very often!

I love this one.

At Cooper's party at Brick Oven Pizza.

Blossoming Lotus with my sister and her boyfriend.

Vegan miso soup 

Live pizza

Live pad thai

Rice paper hand rolls

I really love Blossoming Lotus but I've got to say the service is spotty! Although, on this particular day the sun was out, we sat outside and service was great. The live pad thai is divine, by the way.

i'm back and refreshed, lovelies!

B: smoothie: coconut water, mango and blueberries. the rest of a almost all raw chocolate torte from blossoming lotus.

3 mile run, weights and trampoline jumping

s: live fudge, water

L: coconut water, cherries, strawberries, mango, hulled hemp seeds, raw raspberry honey, mesquite and cacao.

i wanted to highlight just a few of my favorite websites today. i've probably mentioned them before but here i go again in one swoop:

http://www.tonyakay.com/ - raw vegan performer

http://crazysexycancer.blogspot.com/ - kris carr's site. she's endlessly lovely to me. i learn so much from her and i adore her writing style.

http://rawtoddleralex.blogspot.com/ - if i could follow this toddler's diet i would rock so hard!

http://rawmom.com/blog/ - again, well written blog that is full of positive women

these four sites are ones i truly learn from and love each time i read. they get me thinking, motivated, and going!

D: juliano!! dinner was fantastic! six courses of raw perfection. i love gourmet raw food, i mean sally albright in when harry met sally, love it. true for real orgasm love. dig it. he says he's going to come every three months to portland and put this little party on. so, if you're in the area look it up! i should have grabbed a menu but here it goes from memory: a fancy elixir drink with bee pollen and honey, yes i'm one of those vegans who eats honey. second, a perfect salad with spicy creamy no nuts and no seeds dressing- how did they do this? seaweed soup with avocado, and then a plate with three yummies- a zucchini creamy pasta,  greek nachos, and a dehydrated vegetable rich flavored little dish. dessert was a creamy strawberry mousse with beepollen and manna on the top. there were edible flowers and free flowing water. juliano's lecture was short and entertaining. he said when anyone asks him a question he always has the same answer: raw food and yoga. i concur.

smooches!

3 mile run, weights

B: smoothie: msm, chia seeds, almost 2 cups water, 2 grapefruits, one banana, and mango. i dumped some vanilla in here too and it was heavenly!

L: leftovers from blossoming lotus- 1/2 collard wrap, thai red bell pepper and mango soup, 2 flax crackers

d: one piece of live fudge

s: 1/2 a beautiful ripe papaya with fresh squeezed lime. wow! the nice produce man at new seasons cut open a papaya for me and a fresh lime, gave me a slice to eat there and the rest to buy and bring home!

d: one piece of live fudge

went for a walk with andy and eliot to our local wild oats grocery store that recently switched over to become whole foods. i am consistently disappointed in whole foods selection of organic produce and nuts and seeds. new seasons markets and our local co-ops rock their socks off. take that whole foods, time to step it up!

eliot loves to pick up rocks and gets so excited when he finds them and always says things like, "i win!"

D: zucchini "pasta" and 2 flax crackers

B: smoothie: mixed greens, banana, mango and acai juice

s: one yummy date with a teeny scoop of raw pecan butter

L: pineapple and melon, garden of eden salad from blossoming lotus. small bowl of thai curry from andy's food from last night

D: blossoming lotus: live soup- thai red bell pepper and mango- amazing! 1/2 live collard wrap.

walked around nw portland, finally a lovely night.

when we got home i was still feeling snacky. so i had a little more soup and the cashew creme fruit parfait. all from blossoming lotus.

blossoming lotus really sucked tonight for service. i had my soup practically thrown at me after waiting for about 35 minutes and asking very kindly for it. never brought us water, asked how we were- nothing. there was more but that's enough.

i feel sad. i feel like i don't belong here. i don't feel accepted and i am not embracing life here. i'm trying to embrace it and i keep encountering a prickly reception. what else should i be doing?? i try to find a good vibe at a freaking vegan restaurant inside a yoga studio, an outdoor fitness class, blah blah blah. i feel like there is no box to put me in but everyone just needs to put me in a box anyway- the box they have chosen and i say, no!  i am too many things:

mom, wife, massage therapist, reiki practitioner, personal trainer, raw vegan, artist, tattooed woman, marathoner, ambitious, creative, book lover, music lover, art lover, earth lover, animal lover, petite, redhead, glasses wearing, contact wearing, insecure, quiet, loud, proud, competitive, crazy, lovable, adorable, klutzy, silly, tree hugging, shopper, runner, tiny feet, tiny hands, curled toes, meditating, dancing, hippie, snobby, jumping, beach loving, dreaming, movie lover, fairy, valentine, blogger, reader, architect and design nut, big sweet tooth, bad tv lover, sex and the city fan, traveling, i love to drive, i have terrible balance, don't like the desert, love dessert, love new york, love california, love the sky, love the sun, i love clothes and shoes and jackets and bags, love vegnews magazine, and dwell, i love tori and joni, cat and the beatles, rufus, and so many singer songwriters, concerts, vintage, pianos, acoustic guitars, wind, slapstick comedy, i love hearts and stars and eating and restaurants, and believing in people, and believing in love and knowing we don't know anything so we could and should just embrace it all and everyone cause we're all in this together- take a glance and feel it with your heart. grow up and in and out and take good care of yourself so you can pass the gift on to others. i can't believe you've read this far, thank you from the bottom of my endless and ever evolving heart. we're all so much more then what others "see".
  

3 mile run, weights, squats, abs, jump and stretch

B: 28 ounces water with msm and half an orange. and the rest of my strawberry shake- strawberries, almond milk, dates and banana

L: green drink: 2 cups water, spinach, apple, cinnamon and nutmeg- how yummy is nutmeg? the rest of my broccoli salad

s: chocolate pudding with cherries and a banana

this was in my google feedreader today. eat it up people!

Raw vegetables and cancer - there is a link!

I just love when I come across articles like this one from my new favorite site Vegetarian Baby. From the article:

“The researchers looked at the past diets of hundreds of breast cancer victims and healthy controls, and like many studies before them, they found a modest trend towards decreased risk of breast cancer development in people with the highest daily vegetable consumption. But when they broke up intake categories into raw vegetables versus cooked vegetables, they were surprised to find that women who ate just a single small salad a day seemed to cut their risk of developing breast cancer in half (compared to those who like only ate a salad every couple days) while the women eating the most cooked veggies didn’t seem to have any protection from developing breast cancer at all.”

See the rest of the article here.

i got a tattoo tonight! i'll post pictures soon, please send me some sweet fast healing tattoo vibes please!! i went to the vegan tattoo shop here in portland called scapegoat. sam did my art and the guy at the counter gave me the run down on tattoos not being vegan- the ink! especially black ink, it's made from animal bones. yucky! and not cool.

D: blossoming lotus take out: potato salad- not raw and eden nut salad- raw

B: vegan oatmeal chai blueberry pancakes at jam- today these lost their draw for me. they just didn't taste good. not enough blueberries, and too doughy.

s: 2 ounces- shot of wheatgrass at jamba juice, they looked at me like no one ever orders this, peculiar!

L:  vegan tempeh bbq wrap- blossoming lotus takeout from food fight, lucky me! i've been craving tempeh and this was alright, too many onions.

40 minutes jumping, 5 minutes abs and 10 minutes weights

s: rest of the wrap

D: cashew cream/nut/fruit parfait- raw- bl takeout

eliot and i went to rudy's today where i got a haircut while he played ms pac man! we also went to scapegoat, portland's vegan tattoo shop, where i browsed the books and eliot played rampage! before those two adventures we played in a toy store with a remote control car! and before that we stopped at jamba juice and eliot drank a tiny free smoothie that had mango, strawberries, orange sorbet and more!

tonight we're watching monsters inc. while daddy paints the town with comic book artists, i can't make this stuff up.

oh yeah, and as we step out of scapegoat eliot says, "mommy, i think i want to get a tattoo of a bird."