Acai Bowl

Acai Bowl

Let me first start out by saying how sorry I am for being such a flaky blogger.  What is my problem?  I guess I have just been mostly busy, and quite possibly a little lazy.  Please don't hate me;) I can say life has been pretty crazy in my house this past week.  My husband, "Mr Accident Prone" had a freak thing happen to him.  First off let me say he has earned this nickname.  He gets hurt all the time.  My kids will totally confirm this allegation. Check it out, a picture is worth a thousand words...

He stepped on a screw driver, and part of it stuck in his foot.   One surgery later, and he is now on crutches healing beautifully.  So with him out of commission for a few days life got kind of hectic around here.  Now this really has no bearing to why I haven't blogged in forever, but I guess I thought you might take mercy on me, or at least feel sorry for my husband!  Anyway once you try this recipe I am about to give you, I know all will be forgiven when it comes to my lack of blogging :)

I am sometimes a creature of habit.  I am especially like this with food.  To eat the same thing everyday for months at a time is not unusual for me.  Call me weird if you want! I don't care because what I am about to share with you is so worthy of eating everyday!   Ever since I tried the Acai Bowl, I just can't stop craving it, and therefore am compelled to eat it almost daily.  I first had one at Whole Foods last year.  They were serving them for breakfast.  I loved it, and decided to buy the ingredients and start making them myself.  My recipe morphed a bit from the original bowl.  I added spinach to mine.

Guess what...?

Give up?

You can't even taste the spinach.  You can put an entire cup or more of fresh spinach in this and not taste any of it.  Now, I like spinach so I truly wouldn't mind it if I could taste it. My kids on the other hand would rather not touch the stuff.  This is a great way to get your kiddos to eat their greens.  This is also a really easy way to get your fruit intake for the day. 

I had never heard of acai before trying this recipe.  In case you are curious, the acai berry comes from an acai palm.  The palm grows berries similar in size to grapes.  It is thought that the berry has some great antioxidant power. Yeah, I know blah blah blah! This is a bit more juicy.  I saw one study that claimed it could actually enlarge the size of a man's penis!  Hello!  Sadly, those claims couldn't be proven, but I am sure at one point it "lifted" the sale of acai.

A year after my first taste of acai at Whole Foods, and I now notice it everywhere. I  have even been to restaurants serving it in cocktails. Yum! Unfortunately, I have never found fresh acai in the store, but only these frozen pouches of pure organic acai.  Which is fine, they are easy to use.  I get mine at Whole Foods.  I am addicted!

Acai Bowl
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup fresh organic strawberries
1/4 cup fresh organic blueberries
1 cup spinach
1 acai frozen pouch
1/2 frozen banana
1/4 hemp granola

Blend the almond milk, spinach, acai and banana.  Layer strawberries and blueberries in bowl.  Top with blended ingredients.  (It almost tastes like banana ice cream!) Top with granola.

I eat these for lunch a lot of times.  It tastes great after a workout too!  My whole family loves it.    An Acai Bowl is truly a delicious treat!  Let me just warn you that once you make this you too might just become an acai addict!

Have you tried acai?  If so tell me how you eat it...

Crazy Sexy Veggie Quesadilla

Crazy Sexy Veggie  Quesadilla pg. 137

Today I did a massive grocery shopping trip.  I have a big list of to-dos for Crazy Sexy Kitchen.  I would love to be on to my last 10 recipes come next week. My birthday is next week, and it would be so cool to give myself the gift of completing CSK.  Not sure if I can finish that many recipes between now and then?  I also have a baby shower to throw next week, so it will be a tough one! Before I count down my last 10, I still have 9 recipes to make.

I have been in search of burdock root for my last juice recipe.  I am wondering if I am going to have to offer the guys at Whole Foods a bribe in exchange for that darn root! They have promised me Tuesday, so we will see.  As I looked for ingredients for various upcoming dishes, I couldn't help snickering to myself about the Crazy Sexy Veggie Quesadilla recipe.  I admit I was being a little snarky.  I was thinking why do we need another quesadilla recipe in the world?  It really seems like a no brainer thing to make.

I stand corrected with this recipe.  You do need this one.  It is so yummy.  Quesadilla's can really be quite heavy and unhealthy.  If they are not vegan then they are usually loaded with cheese.  This recipe has a coarse puree of veggies and beans as its base.  It is so delish and flavorful. Then, you grill some mushrooms (remembering not to crowd the mushrooms ;)!) and add some crisp red bell pepper. Your mouth will begin to water as you prepare it. 

This made an awesome lunch, but you could easily have this for dinner as well.  It is a kid friendly meal.  I would maybe use a little less jalapeno in the kid's version.  We had some fresh salsa with our quesadillas.

It was so simple, and one of my favorites.   Pretty funny how wrong I was when I started this recipe.  All I can say is "awesome!"  

PS Check out this link on Kris Carr's website:
  Two Crazy Sexy Grads Share B-School Results - KrisCarr.com 
It is all about growing your business or potential business!

Save The Tuna Salad on Rye

Save the Tuna Salad on Rye pg. 139

I don't think I would have imagined a sandwich made out of almonds & sunflower seeds before Crazy Sexy Kitchen.  Those are finger foods right?  Snacks you might grab a handful of after a workout.  Well it turns out they aren't just for that after all.  You can actually build a delicious sandwich using nuts and seeds as your base.  Who knew??

Curious what you might need to have this for lunch?  Well here ya go...

Just soak your nuts and seeds in the morning so they are ready for the food processor by the afternoon.  The toasted rye bread and dijon mustard hit this sandwich out of the park.

Scoop some Save the Tuna on your bread, and I promise you won't be longing for canned tuna or mayo here.

Good thing there are people like Chef Sarno who come up with this sort of recipe because I couldn't have dreamed this one up in a million years.  I am really glad he did (and so are the tuna)!

Mediterranean Wrap with Cashew Cream Cheese

Mediterranean Warp with Cashew Cream Cheese pg. 131 & 237

Mediterranean Wrap

It is safe to say that I am positively exhausted! Christmas is a week a way, and it is kicking my ass.  I am feeling slightly burnt out in every aspect of my day.  I am just putting one foot in front of the other in hopes that a good nights sleep gives me the energy to complete my to do lists tomorrow...

On a more positive note, I got a cool reply to my last tweet from Chef Chad Sarno last night.  It gave me a burst of energy before I totally collapsed of exhaustion.  He said that the Chickpea Crepe was one of his favorite recipes in Crazy Sexy Kitchen.  I tell ya, it is the rosemary in the crepe batter.  It pretty much makes you want to lick the bowl.  It is so fricken awesome to get a tweet,  retweet or reply on a tweet from Chef Sarno or Kris Carr.  It always feels like a virtual high five.  It never gets old or boring.  It is always a thrill! Imagine Julie Powell from Julie/Julia having gotten a tweet from Julia Childs.  She would have been so excited.  That is how I feel!

Today I made a really delicious lunch.  It was simple to make and very fulfilling.  You start by making a Cashew Cream Cheese.  The recipe makes enough cream cheese for many wraps.  The only thing you need to remember for the recipe is to soak the cashews the night before you want to prepare the cream cheese.  That way you will get a really creamy sauce.  Here is what you will need for your cream cheese and wrap.

Cashew Cream Cheese

The sun dried tomatoes and capers are so fantastic in the wrap.  Now that I have made the cream cheese, I will be able to enjoy this for lunch all week.  I heated my tortilla on the burner for a few seconds to soften it before I prepared my wrap.  You will think twice about making a boring sandwich once you make this Mediterranean Wrap. 

Quick and easy for those busy days ahead. 

Curried Nada-Egg Wraps & Jolly Green

Curried Nada-Egg with Arugula pg. 135
Jolly Green pg. 87

The rewards I have received for making just 50 recipes from Crazy Sexy Kitchen have been amazing.  The kind comments many of you readers have left me always bring a huge smile to my face.  I am so thankful that you take time out of your day to visit this blog.  I know there are a lot of blogs out there and I thank you for visiting mine!

Since I started using Twitter last week, Chef Sarno has been so good to retweet many of my tweets.   Today, Kris Carr sent a Tweet in honor of recipe #50.  Thank you all for being so awesome to me!  Check out Kris Carr's Tweet:

I have just been having so much fun.  Yes, sometimes I am super tired and don't feel like doing the grocery shopping or cooking.  Even so, when I have a day like today I can't wait to do it again tomorrow!  Life is short and I am all about having a full experience.  This Crazy Sexy Kitchen Project has taught me so much about cooking vegan and social media.  I can't wait to see how I feel at recipe 100.  I am going to use Dori's motto from Finding Nemo, "Just keep swimming!" Eventually I will have completed my goal.

Curried Nada-Egg

Today I found myself slightly tortured at lunch time.  I had just ran 3 miles.  I was hungry, but I couldn't eat my lunch.  Why you ask?  Well, first I had to prepare and make it which had me drooling, Then I had to photograph it.  It smelled so good, but I totally had to be pleasure delayer.  I finally couldn't hold out any longer.  I made Curried Nada-Egg with Arugula Wraps.  The recipe called for Watercress or Arugula.  I happen to love arugula, so of course I went with that.  The curry smelled so fricken good.  Here is what you will need to be in curry heaven.

It was so easy to put together.  It makes enough for at least 6 wraps.  My kids unfortunately are not fans of curry so this recipe was a no go for them.  Their loss, because there will be more for me!  I didn't become a lover of curry until I was well into my adulthood.  So I am sure at some point they too will like curry.
I made Jolly Green juice to go with my lunch.  I have to admit I was a little nervous to taste this juice.  Usually I have some sort of fruit like an apple or pear in my juice to sweeten it up.  The juice has lemon in it which adds good flavor.  Truth is, I had a pear ready in case I needed it.  I figured I would make the juice, try it, and then if I didn't like it I would add my pear.  It didn't need the pear.  The juice was great!  It was enjoyable and quite refreshing.  My tummy didn't feel bloated after I drank it either.  Sometimes green juice can have some stinky side effects.  I know, TMI, but it is the truth.  Jolly Green was mild and I promise you will just feel healthy and satisfied for drinking your veggies.

Jolly Green

 So drink up!

Pita Pizzas & Clementine Sorbet

Recipe 38 &39
Pita Pizza pg. 136
Clementine Sorbet pg. 269

Pita Pizza

Leftovers are an awesome thing.  Not only do I not have to make dinner tonight (Yea!),  but I was able to use some of Nana's Marinara from the night before in a lunch recipe.  Today I made Pita Pizzas.  Pita and pizza were not two words I would have used together before today.  It actually made a decent pizza crust.  Nana's Marinara is really what gave the pita its wings, but together it was a great lunch.  I am such a creature of habit, I never really considered how easy it is to change up the lunch routine.  To take a little zucchini, spinach and tomato on top of a pita was awesome.  It was essentially a salad on top of a pita.  I got all my veggies, and didn't have to use a fork.   Obviously the beauty of pizza is you can put whatever you want on it.   So don't sweat it if you don't have the exact ingredients.

This may take away a bit of the illusion from my amature photography, but this picture is too cute to pass up showing you.  Keep in mind I am learning as I go when it comes to cooking and taking pictures.  I find the lighting outside is so much easier to work with.  So I usually take a chair outside and snap away.  These are the conditions I am working under...

My puppy Lily could smell my yummy lunch.  This project has been a test of my patience.  I always have to photograph my meals before I can eat them!

Finally, lunch is served!

I treated myself to a little dessert today.  I had been itching to try the Clementine Sorbet.  I am lucky enough to have a friend with an ice cream machine that she let me borrow.  I blended all the ingredients, and poured them into the ice cream maker for about 35 minutes.  My understanding is you can also just pour the ingredients in a container and freeze according to the CSK cookbook.  Then pulse in a food processor to make the sorbet. 

I actually made the sorbet two ways. First with cashews and coconut.   I thought this way was too creamy.  It tasted more like ice cream than sorbet.  I really wanted sorbet.  So I did it again without the cashews.  I still wasn't crazy with the texture.  I really wanted to like this recipe, but for me personally I would leave out the coconut as well next time.  Orange sorbet is what I wanted.  I had expectations, and couldn't get them out of my head.  So each time I made the recipe it wasn't what I was craving.  Maybe if I didn't have a craving for Haagen Dazs orange sorbet in my head I would have liked it more.   

Clementine Sorbet

It looks creamy right?  Sorbets aren't creamy are they?  What do you think...

Hummus & Hummus Pinwheels

Recipe 33 & 34
Cashew Hummus pg. 243
Hummus Pinwheels pg. 136

Cashew Hummus

I went to No Doubt last night.  We took the kids.  It didn't quite turn out like I pictured it in my head!  I envisioned my husband, myself, and my 2 older kids dancing, singing and having a blast.  What I got instead were two very bored children.  It turns of No Doubt was kind of like Fiddler On the Roof was to me.  The kids just stood there, and eventually standing led to sitting.  Even when Gwen Stefani asked all the audience to get up and jump while she rocked out my kids wanted no part of it. I even nudged my teen to jump with me, and he shot me a look like stop embarrassing me!  I would say it was a generational thing, but it wasn't just an age difference.  My son saw one of his friends from school. A girl.  She said No Doubt was one of her most favorite groups.  I guess the moral of the story is either:
"A" Don't push your likes on to your kids,
"B" Accept that embarrassing your kids is occasionally part of parenting.
"C" We should have just gotten a babysitter for all the kids. 

When I was looking through Crazy Sexy Kitchen taking a look at what I had made I realized I hadn't made many lunches.  In fact, yesterday was the first lunch item I had made.  Today I made another lunch recipe.  If yesterday was devoted to kids and their tastes, then today was all about the grown ups.  I started by making a Cashew Hummus.  This was to die for. The red pepper gave it the perfect amount of kick.  I could have sat with a large bowl of this hummus and eaten the whole thing,  making sure to lick the spoon and the sides of the bowl.  Here is what I used so you can lick the bowl too.

I  stopped myself from eating all the hummus and created Hummus Pinwheels.  I am just going to warn you that you are going to want more than one of these.  So make a few pinwheels.  Here is what you will need.

Then put it together like this:

This is one my most favorite things I have made from CSK.  It was absolutely awesome. 

Hummus Pinwheels

I hope you like it as much as I did!

Fruit and Almond Sandwiches & Vanilla Mystic

Recipe 31 & 32
Fruit and Almond Sandwiches pg. 131
Vanilla Mystic Smoothie pg. 90

 Today is devoted to kids, or to the inner kid in you!  I am treating my kids to a bit of fun tonight.  My husband and I are taking them to see No Doubt.  You know the band with Gwen Stefani?  Songs like Spiderwebs, Don't Speak, and It's My Life to name a few.  My parents once took me to the theatre to see shows like Sweeney Todd and Fiddler on the Roof.  I prefer to take my kids to the occasional concert.  I think it is just as culturally enriching.  Not to mention the cardio you get from jumping up and down to awesome songs is so much fun. I was doing a little research on the band, and it seems the band may be vegan.  They pop up on celebrate vegan sites that list the who's who of Hollywood.  Just a little factiod .  I have seen them preform multiple times, and it has always been a great night.  So I am looking forward to it!

Today's menu is sure to be a hit with any kid small or big.  First up I made a Fruit and Almond Sandwich for lunch. 

The recipe calls for date paste.  Not to fear.  Date paste is just softened dates that you add a little water to.  Mash it up and there you have it, date paste!  I soaked my dates in really hot water for a few minutes and they were ready to be pasted.  This sandwich was soooooo much better than the traditional peanut butter and jelly.  See how yummy it looks... Maybe the picture doesn't translate, but I promise you it was superb!

Fruit and Almond Sandwich

Ya know what is the magical ingredient for this sandwich?  Cinnamon!  It made it spectacular!

Since today is all about spoiling our inner child I also made Vanilla Mystic Smoothies.  The recipe says add cashews or coconut meat in the smoothie, but I was feeling a little wild and added them both.   My 4yr old saw it and said, "That looks yummy mommy."  He is a picky eater. To get thumbs up from him is huge! Here is what you need to please your inner child.

Vanilla Mystic

Did you catch the Dinner with Kris last night?  So fun to be a fly on the wall at someone's dinner party! Kinda heavy material though.  I felt like I needed a cocktail after listening to the discussion.  It was all valid and important info but maybe too serious.  Maybe the next one will be a little more upbeat.  I did love her kitchen, very cute!

I am off to my concert.