my latest raw adventures...

I had some agitated nights and discountinuous sleep, and I can't help feeling that it was because of my lack of will. I cooked on friday...some vegetable soup with sausage and sour cream...my boyfriend's favourite...and I just couldn't resit and eat some too, although I scooped-out the sausages...
I am though happy that I managed to find the time and do some grocheries shopping...and I bought as much as I coud fit into my sadllebags....a ton of carrots and bananas (which are never enough in our household), cucumbers, a pineapple, pears, lemons and......some strawberries! They smell heavenly, but don't taste that nice...since they are imported from Greece or somewhere....but they give the extra touch to my morning smoothies....which M totally likes, by the way!
Here's my preparations for one of the mornings' smoothies,  and the final results themselves....which were yummy, btw.....(p.s. that means I'm getting better at this...):

...and the final yummmy result:

...and I've been experimenting all weekend long:

above smoothie + carrot juice! a delight! then some more experimenting...below pinapple + strawberries...

...and I've been showing my food the sun and the nature that I can see from my balcony, just like Anastasia said....(kind of...more on that later...)
And made zucchinni pasta with tomatoe sauce, which was much better than I ever dreamed it would be! I never ate raw zucchinni before.... but I'll do it more often...

looking very good, right? I've been showing it the nature too:

...am I obsessed? yes! definitely yes!!
I just have to share a new find: Digesta:

which is a very fine corn flour, from which you can even make vegan mayo! I only mixed it up with the tomato sauce, and it was a blast!
      I also made some avocado + tomatoes + garlic paste yesterday...and it was awesome, I spread it over bread and ate alot of it....M was afraid to taste it!!! maybe I will be able to convince him sometimes.....
Unfortunately, I also ate some meat during the weekend...but really not that much as ever....maybe somehow I will be able to just not want it anymore...because I now it is not that I need it, but I am a sucker for food, and I am always wanting to eat what I see others eating...
Someday soon.....

on the road...

...or I least I think I am on the bumpy road to enlightnment...

source: bing.com photography

 I was watching the other night these inspirational videos of a recently found raw-blogger:

...

 ....

...and preety much every video this beautiful girl posted on her youtube channel, and I have to say she nailed a big part of my mistakes while starting my journey into this completely new world of goodness and opend-minded people.
        Like any 180 degrees changing decision about your life, the one about deciding to change the way you think about people around you, about yourself and about what you trully need, cannot be a simple one, and I can see that now.
        I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Pupici!

motivational quote.....

As today I woke up with a crazy need to go out on the field and run...and run...and tumble in the tall grass, but of course I cannot, as I had to come to work....I came to work and changed my mozilla persona with a photo with a field and wild flowers...

and I am still dreaming of something like this...

And so, my motivational quote for this day is

                                      Eat your Veggies, Ignite your Spark and Live like you Mean It!
 inspirated by this book:

which I would love to read.....but for now my list of reading is surely consistent enough...I may even post it sometimes...
Yesterday I had some vegetable soup with some meat in it...and some boilled potatoes with onions and sour cream in the evening...so that's one blow out of my diet...but this morning I am proud to say that I've started my green clay detox diet...
So I've prepared a glass with tap water with the content of one satchel

and left it rest over night and drank it in the morning...I just left the clay on the bottom of the glass, as I am not yet prepared to drink the entire content....
     And I am also not proud about the fact that today I gave in to temptation and had a salad with spicy chicken breast.....yes...I am also disappointed with myself..but I'm trying to not let myself go entirely...so I still eat alot of veggies too! I don't want to make an excuse of it, just a motivation!
That would be all for now...
Pupici!

In search of tranquility...

I don't know if my current state is because I had to much meat during this past week, or just because I am tired and can't hold on to my life schedule....what I do know is that I woke up with a bad feeling, and with a nervousness which I cannot explain.
Thus, I've been "digging" in my work fridge, found a quarter of an avocado, some bell pepper and brocolli and done this:

It is really incredible how you can feel satiated, but do not experience that state of fatigue which you get after eating cooked food. And as I've said in my previous post, avocado is the best, being it a fruit or a vegetable....who cares??? it is tasty! and also gives you a full belly!
 I will buy some more and try to combine with sweet paprika..that must be interesting....
      In another order of ideas, regarding liquids...I'd love to try this:

image source

 it is the interesting and tantalizing Kombutcha Tea, which everyone (or at least everyone I think is worth listening to) is drinking!
Until I have the money to purchase the Kombutcha scoby, I am trying out some new teas brought back from Germany:

 honeybush, mellasses, sweet wood, kardamom and lotus petals for Inner Peace.....and...

...camomille, ginger and fennel. They both taste great, and I know that it's not the time for teas...as winter is gone, but I do love tea sipping while at work, so that't that!

 Pupici!

Holy guacamole!

I had no idea...I mean I always heard avocado this...and avocado that...but I never thaught it would be so good. I even bought two or three avocados last year, I let them overripe and threw them away, I was to afraid to even try one!
But yesterday evening I came back from work, and even if I was really exhausted, as I had a terrible stressed-out day, I decided to cut one...and did this:

...I cut one avocado in half and peeld the skin off, cut some bell pepper, a tomato and two small radishes (too bad the pepper and the tomatoes are not in season, the pepper is ok, but shurely no nutritional value, but the tomatoes are awful this time of year); and of course Rucola!!! I'm in a special relationship with rucola, I use it in my morning smoothie, in my lunch salad and as you can see, with my evening dish also!

So after arranging them nicely for the photo shoot and taking a deep breath (I got frightened by the buttery felling of the avocado! is that a fruit???or just butter??WOW!!!)...

...chopped them all and hop into my blender jar......and voila:

 I forgot to say that I also put a garlic slice which I previously crushed in it. I was so delighted by the looks of my work that I snapped three photos:

....nice for a first, right????? As you can see, there are 2 slices of this bread:

but I will be making my own as soon as I have the money and get my hands on a dehidrator...but after eating the two slices...I ate two more! It's awesome! it's delicious!! And after a few hours I ate the rest of my yummy "guacamole!"
            I just have to add here that I'm listening to Tanya's 25 blue rules , as I call them, and I'm trully drinking my teas, my smoothies and my water from a wine glass:

Yesterday I made a smoothie for myself and when I went to the bedroom to wake-up M he snatched it from my hand and drank it and he liked it! So today I made one for him too:

with just bananas, kiwis and...guess what?? rucola!aaaa, and a little bit of good water! He liked it alot!  
          Maybe I'll manage to make him eat healthier too! That would be sooooo good, as I am always worried about his health.
          Well, that would be all for last evening, I just had to share my meeting with the awesome avocado! Pupici!

p.s. I intend to do this to my avocado stone:

www.weggie-wedgie.com

maybe I'll be lucky and have an avocado plant of my own (avocados are sold by the piece here in Romania and are preety expensive!)

Weekend recap

I think it's a little bit late for a weekend recap, but i'll still do it, as I said I'll be closely watching what I'm eating and document it here. Thus, the excuse for so late a report is the fact that I'm over excited by the fact that I'm buying a new bike, and this may be the main cause for my lack of interest for food, but I don't think it is entirely that.
I have to say that the decision to not totally eliminate meat from my diet has worked wonders, as since last time I wrote I only had one sandwich with 2 salami slices, and that is all the meat I needed, and only because I was hungry and I didn't have anything prepared. in order to avoid that, I've made a vegetable soup:

 peas, corn, onion, carrots, cabbage, prasley, celery and some green leaves at the end, plus some tomato juice I made myself last automn from boiled tomatos only, kept in glass bottles.

            I still have some of it, and yesterday afternoon when I came home from work I was hungry and warmed up some of this soup, and ate it and then I could really think straight...so that the only think I ate afterwards was a kiwi, carrot and broccoli juice...and i tfelt great; and this morning I still did feel very good.
           It's some kind of strange, last week during this time I was limp, lifeless, in no mood for anything, and since I've eaten a lot of salads and fruits I already sleep better, have more energy, and I am less stressed at work...but as I've said, it can be from the fact that I am excited to get my motor, and not only from  the food.
Anyways, I've found my "decalougue" so to speak....

and glued it to my fridge door...

...it is infact the Better Raw Protocol, which I find very useful and inspiring! My first obedience act was to dust off my juicer...get it from its box and put it on my kitchen counter for good:

 where it's going to have company from my already used and trust-worthy hand mixer:

They are not state-of-the art, they were not expensive, but they will have to do for now...
             I've also tried something new last evening: germinating seeds! Here is the 1 kilo bag of red clover seeds:

that I was to afraid to open until now (funny, right?) and here is what I did:

just put some in a jar with water, and leave them there until today evening...when I have no idea what I should do...I'll have to look it up today....
              So, I've been busy busy!
              Wish me luck and pupici!

You're not yourself when you're hungry

Is there anybody out there who hasn't seen this commercial?

I, for one, find it very true!
That is why I understood the main reason for my weakness whenever I'm alone (and I can't blame anyone for tempting me). I'm working for about 10 hours a day, I take my luch with me and eat it at about 12-13: 00 o'clock. With a short math exercise, that means I leave work at about 6-6.30 in the evening, and I'm home late at 6:45-7.00 pm. And then I'm starving.
          Guess what my first thaught is when I open my front door? Yep....my fridge......
           Because I'm hungry my mind is clouded and I just have to eat...and some vegan sweets wouldn't do the trick. When I'm hungry, I'm hungry for real food....
           You see then, my main obstacle is mysef. My main concern right now is finding a solution to this compulsive eating, and I thaught about taking two meals with me and eating the second at 4 or 5 in the afternoon, but trully that won't do...
           My other option is to have something prepared, something that will temporary satisfy my hunger, but something light still, and something already made! Something that just needs to be put on the plate and eaten.
I'll have to think about that, and pronto!
           Yesterday for example I instanly toasted a loaf of bread with butter and cheese, while I was waiting for my potatoes to boil, in order to eat them with home-made sour cream.

           Pupici!

First motivation

       I know it is not correct to start a text with the pronoun I, as it is above all ego-centric, but this blog really is about I, that is about Me and also all others who decide to change their lifestyle at one point. This world is composed of many many I's (I guess..), so let this journey begin and take Me and You wherever the road ahead will lead us.

       First of all, I should answer the crucial question Why? Well, most of all because this year I'm turning 30 and feel that I need to make a huge change in my life, because I feel something missing in my life and maybe this is it, I really do not know but it's worth a try after so many years of search, and also for health reasons. Don't worry, not irremediable and really grave health problems, just some old old constipation, some 20 kilos to much and most of all : my (almost total at times) lack of energy!
        When and if asked why a blog for it; my answer will be simple: because writing about it will encourage me more, will help me realize my successes and failiures and will motivate me at some point to keep going!
         I will have to add here that I've been tempted by this whole vegetarian-vegan thing for some time now, I've even had a vegetarian period and a vegan shorter one, but it didn't last long and I slipped. Now that I think back and look forward I know partially what I did wrong: first of all I decided overnight that I wanted to be a vegetarian, without mental preparation. I now realize that I have to train my mind even more than my body for such a change. I understand now that being a vegetarian is first of all a connection to nature, and not just a plate full of vegetables. I have to know my body and that can only be accomplished by my brain.
         In consequence, this will also be the documentation of my path towards enlightning, as well as a vegan life. Or at least I hope so! If I totally stop writing, then I've let go.
         My second mistake was that, in my hurry to start my vegetarian life, I didn't prepare my kitchen well enough, that is make stocks of all the essential ingredients needed to start this kind of a journey. I had some green, and some nuts, and some seeds, and fruits, but as much as I loved eating them at first, they started tasting bland after a while. And I must add here that being a vegetarian in Romania is not easy, but even not very hard, from a material point of view.
         I decided that from today on, I will be a vegetarian on Wednsdays and Fridays. All the other days I will still eat as I used to, just add salad to the steak if you whish. At some point, which I haven't decided upon yet, I will also introduce Sunday probably, so that I will have a veggie day and an off-veggie day...and so on.
         My third mistake, or better to say weakness, was that I let "temptation" come my way, through my friends, who eat all the ordinary things Romanian eat: pork steak, fried chicken, french fries, baked potatoes, chicken soup, etc... and it's hard to resist when all at the table, and you eat only your "poor" salad...or even worse, not eat at all!
           I will have to prepare my "goodies " for whenever I go to visit so that I will have my own good food and don't need theirs. Plus, they'll have to respect my 2 day's fasting during the week, and maybe they'll do it too, who knows?
          My last problem is my boyfriend, who is a convinced carnivore. I could convince him to move to China, but never, and I mean NEVER will he give up his meat! So I have to cook a carnivore meal, and also my meals....and that will be preety hard! I haven't figured out yet how I will deal with this unavoidable aspect, but as soon as I'll know, I'll let everybody know!
          Still, I'll shurely try to introduce more vegetables and fruits, for he's also overweight and I am shure his body also lacks all good vitamins and minerals ! Maybe this will help? We'll see...One thing I know for shure, he loves vegan cookies! and that's a start, right?

         As you may see, I've given a lot of thaught to this aspect and I'm embarqueing on this journey with a baggage of knowledge I didn't previously own.
         What I shurely understand is that a vegetarian life for a girl like me has to start in my mind, and not in my plate. So you see, it's not a pure coincidence that I'm currently reading and taking notes on:

and intend to read :

as well as all the following books in the collection written by Vladimir Megre.
I've read:

...but it shurely wasn't enough, although I loved reading it. I just wasn't prepared back then. I don't know if I am now, but I'll try!
I'll even write my impressions on the books I'll be reading, just to make my journey here complete! For anybody who will want these books, I'm more then willing to send them by e-mail, so feel free to ask!

        I love nature, countryside, forests, grass, flowers, but animals above all, so I'll make them my allies in this new quest!
        Pupici!