Today's Menu

Breakfast: Raw Smoothie

1 avocado

1 mango

1 frozen acai block

1 tsp maca powder

1 tsp chia seeds

water

maple syrup

The avocado made it soooo smooth and creamy! I loved it!

Lunch: Raw Spring Roll from Down to Earth

Snack: Raw Coconut & Agave Revolution bar

Raw Salsa & Pita Chips

Salsa recipe:

Orange baby tomatoes

Olive oil -just a little

Lime juice- just a little

Apple cider vinegar -just a little

Salt

Cilantro

Parsley

Green onion

Onion

Garlic

Cumin

Jalapeno

Dinner: Quinoa (cooked in rice pot-not raw)

1 cup red quinoa (cooked in a rice cooker w/ 1 1/2 c water)

Sake

Lime juice

Cilantro

Mint

Thai Sweet Basil

Olive oil or sesame oil

Garlic

-recipe courtesy of my bro-in-law Ronnie Kaopuiki

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day everyone! What will you do to celebrate? I told my husband and brother that when I get home from work tonight the lights are going off and we are having game night by soy candlelight! I was thinking, what can I do differently and special for Earth Day? A lot of the daily things I do are already pretty earth friendly. What I came up with was my reusable toilet paper! Today would be a greta day to start using it. I just have to finish my new set up in my bathroom and it'll be good to go. I do need to get a bicycle also. Then I can be car free and ride to work. I've walked to work a few times but it's a good 4 miles. I don't mind the walk, but I don't like being all sweaty when I get there. Here are a few ideas for what to do to celebrate Earth Day (though we should be doing these things every day:)

• Start recycling your glass, plastic, paper, and electronics
• Start a compost (it is SO easy)
• Start riding your bicycle to work or carpool
• Plant a tree or garden
• Adopt a beach or highway
• Replace as much plastic or paper with cloth products
• Start making your own cleaning products
• Make your own dog treats
• Buy a reusable travel mug instead of getting a disposable plastic one every time you go to Starbucks
• Go vegetarian, vegan or even better raw!
  

I took a long drive out to La'ie yesterday, because I had to pick up two cats for SCARShelter named Sassie & Twitch. On the way home we stopped at a coconut stand. They were selling coconuts for $2 each. My husband got me three coconuts and a bag of chopped up coconut. I absolutely LOVE coconuts!

This was my dinner one night.

1 avocado chopped

1-2 mangos chopped

Lime Juice (to taste)

Olive oil (just a drizzle)

Cilantro (maybe a tsp or more to taste)

Day 2: Raw

Tonight I pre-made a view of my things for tomorrow so that I will not have to wake up super early. I made some chia pudding/smoothie and some salad dressing.

Chia breakfast:

1/4 cup chia seeds w/ 1 cup water -soak for an hour or overnight

1 cup or more blueberries

Pure maple syrup to taste

*1 Banana- optional*

*Maca powder- optional*

Blend half of the soaked chia seeds with the rest of the ingredients. Mix in the rest of chia for a more textured pudding. (Mine just had chia, water, blueberries, & maple and it was awesome!)

Healthy Salad Dressing:

3/4 cup olive oil

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup or more agave

1 TBSP or more Bragg Organic Sprinkle

Recipe courtesy of my sis-in-law at Bubnchunk's blogspot.

I think I am either going to make a big green salad tomorrow for lunch or an avocado and mango salad. Hmm...the choices!

This was my chia seeds mixed with water that I took to work. Everyone at work was a tad bit freaked out. They already don't know what to do with the fact that I do not eat meat or dairy. I think every one of them asked me, "Um, Carissa...what is that?"

Oh! One side note, my reusable toilet paper came in today! I am so excited! Maybe a little too excited. My husband said, "Uh, you are excited about toilet paper?" Here are a couple pictures of it.

Beautiful designs huh? This is not necessarily going to be the set up, but it is for now :)

Check out WallyPop's website to order!

Week One: Raw Food

I finally went on my long needed shopping trip yesterday to Wholefoods. In Hawaii, it is a far drive. It is on the other side of the island, so I normally only make it out there once a month. I bought a bunch of nuts, fruits, and vegetables. Let's see what all I got...Two types of organic kale, baby spinach, zucchini, eggplant, onions, basil, green onions, pears, mangos, blood oranges, avocados, chia seeds, hemp seeds, cashews, mushrooms, dried dates, red quinoa, dried coconut and a few other things. I made an awesome raw dessert that I just have to share!

RAW Coconut Dessert

3 cups unsweetened dried coconut flakes
1 cup real maple syrup
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1 TBSP vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt

Combine all the ingredients. Roll into small bowls with hands and then place them in parchment paper. Wrap each individual ball in parchment paper. Freeze. Enjoy!

These are sooooo good! Like coconut ice cream!

I just recently discovered chia seeds and wow! How did I not know about these before?! They are so extremely good for you. Why should you eat chia you say?

Chia seeds are said to contain:

2 times the protein of any other seed or grain
5 times the calcium of milk, plus boron which is a trace mineral that helps transfer calcium into your bones
2 times the amount of potassium as bananas
3 times the reported antioxidant strength of blueberries
3 times more iron than spinach
copious amounts of omega 3 and omega 6, which are essential fatty acids
They are also a complete source of protein, providing all the essential amino acids in an easily digestible form. They are also a fabulous source of soluble fiber.

Stats courtesy of: Raw Reform

Chia seeds can be added to anything that you eat on a daily basis. I add them to smoothies or juice. Basically, you let them sit for a few minutes and then they expand and the juice or water becomes slightly gelatinous. I am drinking mine in water today. It is a little weird in just water. It doesn't have much taste to it. Just a weird textured water drink :) I don't mind though!

So Day 1 of my rawness, this was my menu:

Breakfast:
1 blood orange

Lunch:
Kale & spinach salad
Taboula
Hummus

Dinner:
Kale, apple, & pear smoothie
Pesto stuffed mushrooms

Snack:
2 coconut dessert balls
1 cup of herbal tea

Today is a little harder because I work today. I brought some things to hold me over though. I brought a jar of chia seeds & water, a green smoothie, and a sprouted pita bread with avacado, sprouts, spinach, and onions inside. I'll keep you updated :) Also, I tried to add pictures on here but I am having problems. I will add pics later!

Love me some green smoothies

I really have a love for green smoothies. Green is one of favorite colors, so I think that that is a big part of it. I also love the idea of raw food eating. I do not do a lot of it, but I know that I should! Here is what I added to my smoothie last night:

2 cups of organic baby spinach

1 cup organic blueberry juice

1 tsp spirulina

1/2 cup mango

A little random I know, but I work with what I have in my fridge :) This was so very tasty too! I need to go buy some more flax seeds, hemp seeds, and kale badly.

Rahjah & Panther are enjoying some organic cat grass too.

Homemade natural cleaning

I am always looking for ways to save money and live more naturally. One great way to do this is by making your own soap, toothpaste, etc. This is also a great way to start going plastic-free as well! I have listed a few recipes that I like to use, and I hope you like them as well!

Mouthwash:

2 ounce water

1/4 tsp (or more) baking soda (aluminum-free only)

1 drop peppermint oil

1 drop tea tree oil

Hand soap:

3 c. distilled water (plain or with a green tea bag)

1 bar grated hand soap (Castile is best)

Boil water. Once it is boiling add grated soap and take off the burner. Let it sit for 15 min until dissolved. Add your choice of essential oils. Let sit until cool. Blending in blender may help to solidify your soap more. If you don't mind it in a more liquefied form, then leave it as is. It serves it's purpose.

Laundry Detergent:

1 c. grated soap (Ivory or Castile)

1/2 c. washing soda (or aluminum-free baking soda)

1/2 c. borax

essential oils

Use 2 TBSP per large load.

Toothpaste:

Baking soda (aluminum-free)Dip wet brush into soda and brush! Easy enough.

Multi-surface Cleaner:

1 Part water

to

1 Part vinegar

Pour in spray bottle & keep on hand for kitchen cleaning especially.

Choose to Reuse

Over the past few months, I have been in the process of getting rid of everything disposable and replacing it with something reusable. Now a days, it's considered almost weird to have reusable stuff. People still look at me weird with my reusable shopping bags. What do you think that they used back in the days before they had reusable plastic bags? They used paper bags! Do you know how many plastic shopping bags the US goes through annually? The number is approximately 100 billion! How crazy is that?! Now, some of those bags get recycled when thrown away, but only about 5.2% of them. Sad number huh? All the rest of them will most likely end up in your local landfill. Also, plastics are not biodegradable. They will eventually, if left out in the sun, photo-degrade. Plastic bags can also be burnt. This process is also bad for the environment though. Basically, bottom line is that disposable plastic bags are very bad for the environment. We can relpace a lot of daily things with reusable products like the following:

Plastic shopping bags: Now this one is an easy change. Plus many stores will give you a small credit for using them! Bonus! There are many sites that sell them and actually most grocery stores sell them now as well. You can check out Reusable Bags. They have a bunch of cool stuff on there.

Paper towels & paper napkins: Cloth towels and napkins just make so much more sense! I do know that using paper towels can be addictive. I would use them every time I cleaned my kitchen counters. Just think of how much better it is for the environment though. If you chose to replace your paper towels and napkins with cloth, then just use up whatever you have left of your paper ones. *If you have a compost heap or worm compost, then you can throw your used paper towels in there after use as well.* There are so many cute cloth napkins too! I like these ones on Etsy.

Disposable feminine products: I say organic cotton or hemp pads are the way to go! I just talked about this in my last post, so I will make this short. A lot of people say, "Gross! That is so dirty and unsanitary!" Um, no not really. Do a little research and look into what all is in a tampon. You will be suprised. Products I recommend are the Diva Cup & Moonpads.

Disposable diapers: Now, I am not a mom yet, but I plan on using these when I am. I have lots of friends and relatives who have used cloth diapers. They also have a lot cuter designs now then they did back when I was a baby according to my mom. You can read more about cloth diapers here.


Disposable plastic sandwich bags & plastic tupperwear: These are definitally adding to land fills more and more every year! Here is a good site on how to make reusable sandwich bags.You can also buy glass tupperwear instead of plastic.

Toilet paper: Using reusable toilet paper is the most controversial in this list. I am still trying to convince my husband on this one. I think that at first I will just have the cloth toilet paper in my bathroom and then slowly work on getting him to switch over. He is going to get a baday for his bathroom, which I am happy about. Basically for reusable toilet paper there are dry and wet wipes. I like the idea of putting the wet wipes in a wipe warmer with a soap and oil solution. You have two separate bags for the wipes. The dry wipes go in the "wet bag" and the wet wipes go in a bucket with a lid. It is a good idea to have a solution in the bucket as well such as Bac-Out and water. A lot of people worry that it is not sanitary. It is plenty sanitary so long as you take care in washing them well. I say to wash them in hot water with a natural detergent and some baking soda. You can also add vinigar to your rinse cycle. You can read more on cloth wipes at WallyPop.

Moonpads

I finally got my first order of moonpads! I was so excited to try them out, even though all my friends and family think that I have finally lost my mind. Here are the facts on moonpads. They are handmade reusable menstrual pads. They are guaranteed to last 5 years. They are super comfortable and absorbent. It is great on the environment to use moonpads, because women in North America alone throw away 20 billion disposable tampons and pads a year!

Now here is the scary part. There is a chemical called dioxin used in bleaching tampons & pads. Dioxin has been linked to cancer, birth defects, reproductive disorders, infertility, depressed immunity and TSS. Rayan is also used in tampons and leaves behind paticles that cause drying, ulceration, which ultimately lead to a breeding ground for bacteria. I knew all this stuff, which is why I stopped using tampons about a year or so ago. I found out about moonpads and thought that it was a brilliant idea! I have only had them for two days, and so far I have no complaints! They are way more comfotable than disposable pads and way more absorbant than I thought.

In short, I am very happy with my moonpads! If you are interested in ordering some you can check out the site I ordered them from: http://www.etsy.com/shop/epicerma .

Fast vegan food is nearly impossible

Who knew that trying to order something vegan at a national fast food restaurant chain would be so hard. Just for those who do not know yet, here are a few things I found out.

What can I get vegan at taco bell?

7 layer burrito (minus the cheese & sour cream)

--remaining layers are rice, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, & guacamole.

Bean burrito (minus the cheese)

--remaining ingredients are red sauce, onions, & beans.

I do not think that McDonalds or Burger King has anything vegan. Burger King does have the veggie burger which may or may not be vegan. The only thing that is vegan at BK is the onion rings I beleive.

What can I eat vegan at Jack in the Box?

Side salad (no cheese)

Hash Brown Sticks

Natural Cut Fries

Potato Wedges

Seasoned Curly Fries

Horrible choices huh?

What can I eat vegan at Dominos?

The crunchy thin crust is vegan, as well as the pizza sause. So you technically could order a thin crust pizza, no cheese, with your choice of veggies :)

It is pretty much impossible to find vegan fast food places in Hawaii. I opt for chinese, thai, vietnamese, or japanese a lot of the time.