*The winners are: Abby, Tracy, Hope, Aimee and Amanda! I discovered I had 5 coupons, all good for 1 free Nasoya item so yay for you guys! Email me your addresses and I’ll pop them in the mail!*
There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. That good thing right now is cake.
Oy.
With cooler weather on its way and the desire eat heartier foods pulling at me, I’m also feeling the need to take a step back and freshen up my palette. My recipe for recalibration = fruits and veggies, and lots of ’em!
Breakfasts have consisted of monster green smoothies which easily stick to my ribs and tide me over until lunch with a little scoop of hemp seeds. Lunch varies between salads, soups, stews and veggie chili. Dinner, we’ve been keeping light with yummies such as this:
Mexican spiced beans with sauteed bell pepper and onion and a healthy blob of guac in a crisp leaf of lettuce. Oh, guacamole-topped-anything, how I love thee.
When I don’t feel like cooking, one of my favorite places to eat (besides Blossoming Lotus, for whom my heart burns bright), I journey across the river to Prasad, which shares the Yoga in the Pearl space which BL once held. “Prasad” is a Sanskrit word meaning “holy food” and this place pretty much nails it on the head. They have that whole natural-meets-gourmet thing well worked out and some of my favorite dishes to turn to are of the raw pasta variety. If you’ve never had raw pasta before, behold:
Above is my favorite, the Love Pasta. Zucchini noodles, adorned with hemp pesto, some greens, tomatoes, carrots and a cashew cream sauce that is mouthwateringly fabulous. They even cap it off with a darling carrot heart. Aw…
Above is the Sea Ceasar Pasta, zucchini noodles coated in a seaweed spiked Ceasar dressing, with some cucumbers, raw kale and carrots tie it all together. Creamy and delicious, Prasad knows their raw pastas. Sorry that the pictures don’t do more justice to the food, as they were from my phone.
I HAVE to get one of those spiral cutters for zucchini, it’s just amazing the kind of noodles it makes! I am experiencing some serious raw food envy, between the amazing food that I get here and my raw foodie co-worker, who is always telling me about her latest adventures with her dehydrator. Ah, vegan eating… And people think we’re deprived… 
What kinds of things do you like to eat when you’re trying to clean up your act? Or if you’re just a raw/whole foods lover (as I suspect most of you are), what are your favorite treats or meals? The fine folks at Nasoya have gifted me with some coupons for 1 free item and they have some yummy products to tickle your tastebuds. On Friday I’ll randomly pick 3 lucky people to get these coupons (US only again, sorry), so leave a note with your healthy eating suggestions!
16 Responses to cleanin’ up my act… for now
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It’s here!
Ah, Prasad… that brings back memories of a yummy dinner in lovely company! Can’t wait to do it again!
Yes, definitely! I hope you’ll be able to make it back to PDX sometime soon!
It’s that time again to bust out the brussel sprouts: my fave veggie & act cleaner-upper. I like to roast them simply & add some chestnuts to the mix.
Yes, I love brussel sprouts! I’ve never thought of adding chestnuts, I bet that’s great!
I bought a spiralizer over the summer and I love it! It’s amazing how much zucchini tastes like pasta when it has a fabulous sauce on it! I only wish I had a little more time to experiment! It’s so much fun…you totally deserve one!
Aimee, what brand is yours? I’m looking for recommendations.
I love to make a “cream” sauce for pasta with pureed cauliflower, roasted garlic and olive oil. The texture and taste is so creamy and yummy you’ll feel like you should be having some sort of guilt but it’s good for you and won’t give you a fat gut with matching love handles. . .
Ooh, that sounds great. Jim hates cauliflower, I wonder if I could sneak it in like that…
Ooh, that sounds awesome. And less time-intensive than the cashew cream sauce from the pumpkin gnocchi recipe I was thinking of trying this weekend (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/recipes-for-a-vegan-thanksgiving/)
My family had dinner at Blossoming Lotus one night while we were there. Hands-down one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I’ll definitely have to try Prasad the next time I’m out your way (and this time, Kris, I promise to get in touch so we can meet up!).
That recipe looks delicious. And yes, if you skip out on me again I will be very sad. I actually had a weird dream last night about our class reunion. It was really strange…
This sounds delicious, but too easy; is that really all there is to it?
To clean out, I love brown rice. It’s so simple, yet so yummy and so good for the belly! For an actual meal, I’ll add brown rice to some homemade veggie chili – yum!
Also, for the fall, I love to make squash risotto. Risotto + veggie stock, then add in one package of frozen squash (thawed/defrosted in microwave first), sea salt, pepper and some vegan parmesan cheese. It tastes almost like mac and cheese, but is so much better for you!
That sounds SOOOO amazing! Thanks for the idea, I’m totally going to give this a whirl!
The cauliflower sauce is super easy. All you gotta do is steam the cauliflower,add some milk (we use almond) or veggie stock (if I’m trying to be really low cal),olive oil, garlic salt, pepper, sometimes fresh basil. Throw it in the blender and your good to go! Really good.
THANKS! I’m on it
For healthy but comforting in fall and winter I use this recipe my aunt invented. It’s as hearty as any chili I ever had even in my former meat eating days and has only about 100 calories per 8 oz cup. (without vegan sour cream) And lots of fiber and protein!
http://sarahbligh.blogspot.com/2010/09/chili-weather.html