Eat Dance Live

I have to prelude this post with the disclaimer that I am ideally a fan of whole-food based nutrition. Having dedicated myself more seriously to LFRV-ism over the past week, it's obvious that I will always pick the banana over the vegan supplement. That being said, I do also respect and recognize the place that supplements and protein powders hold for some people, especially vegan athletes. I've used them in the past, and when they're organic, natural and plant-based, I think they're great! So last week, the lovely people at Sequel Naturals sent me a couple packs of their Vega Sport to try out. (They ship both in the US and Canada!) As you may know, Vega was designed by plant-fueled triathlete, Brendan Brazier, and if there's a guy who knows vegan fitness nutrition it's him. He's got pre-workout, during-workout, and post-workout nutrition down to a science. As a triathlete, he's worked really hard to find optimally-absorbable vegan supplements and p...

Before I get into the whole tempeh biznazz, if you haven't tried Laury's Vegan Pistachio Almond Ice Cream , stop reading this blog post and go make it, stat: And while I'm not getting to the topic of the day just yet, have you entered my giveaway yet? You've only got a couple more days! Anyhoo, in my constant endeavour to find new ways of preparing vegan protein for my weight-lifting spouse, tempeh is something that comes up every once in a while. Even as a raw foodist, I've already discussed why tempeh is still okay in my books and you'll find quite a few tempeh recipes in my Recipe section... but what to do this time? Since Andrew isn't a huge tempeh fan and he's the one whose going to eat the thing, I found a sneaky tempeh "tuna salad" recipe (cleverly called "Tempuna") in my trusty Green Door cookbook . Since only happy and delicious vegan things come from the Green Door , I knew this would do the trick, and it ...

When I saw that Lisa and Nicole had organized a new Raw Recipe Challenge , I knew it was time to roll up my sleeves, put on my apron, and sign up for my first ever recipe blog challenge. The challenge: A Raw Vegan Ice Cream Sandwich. The problem? I'm about the world's worst decision maker ever. Step 1. Brainstorming Here was the short list of what I considered creating: A marzipan cookie with blueberry lavender ice cream (I already had the blueberry lavender ice cream down pat) but too dainty A s uperfood cookie (goji berries, pistachios, mulberry) with a plain vanilla ice cream (it could have been really colorful and pretty) but potentially too expensive for recipe testers A beet-juiced reddened maple cookie with maple ginger ice cream in honour of our upcoming Canada Day but too... patriotic? and maple syrup is an iffy raw ingredient. A chocolate chipotle cookie with a vanilla spice-kissed ice cream ... but potentially too spicy (we had made something s...

Happy Summer Solstice! Yes, we are indeed at the height of summer! Today is the longest day of the year, and it has many names Midsummer, Summer Solstice, Litha, to name a few. From now on, we enter into the waning of the year, when the days will grow shorter and shorter so get out there and bask in the sun while you can! In Pagan lore, the Holly King, who represents the waxing year, triumphs over the Oak King, who represents the waning year. For all those of you who have read   A   Midsummer Night's Dream, it's a time when elves, sprites, and fairies are out in great numbers, so magic is bound to happen tonight! Being the day when the light is strongest, Midsummer symbols are yellows and gold, fire, the sun, oak trees, fruits and sunflowers. We unfortunately never got to planting our sunflowers this year, but if you have some around, make a bouquet and celebrate! I met up with Andrew for lunch today for a high noon Solstice meal. I tried to aim to make e...

The first night my parents came over to visit a few weeks ago, we had them over so I could make a raw feast for them. Given their taste for foods from all around the world, I knew I wanted to introduce them to their first 100% raw meal by doing something a little more exotic than just raw pasta or the like. After scouring my brain for my own recipes and a couple raw cookbooks, I settled on the following: Marinated Peppers & Portobello Caps* Soaked & Sprouted Quinoa with Saffron, Pepitas, Sundried Tomatoes, and Raisins Matt Amsden 's Falafel Balls served with Mango Chutney *marinated in ACV, EVOO, Bragg's liquid aminos, maple syrup, and herbs  I also served cucumber and tomato canapes with peppered raw cheese to start and a spring mix salad with walnuts, cranberries, tomatoes, and cukes served with a vinaigrette with the main meal. The result: They loved  it. In fact, they loved it so much they talked about it for the following three d...

So my little blog has finally grown up. It's three years old and I finally decided to finally let it get its own URL. I'm still trying to figure out the transition, and if there's even anything to do at all... I'm already totally confused (either that, or it's so simple, I'm not even seeing it).  It'll be super easy, just come over and join me at http://eatdancelive.com and all the goodness will continue from there! For all those of you who already have my blog in any kind of list or bookmark bar or favourites section on your blogs, your feed will only update if you switch over to my new address, so I'd love you if you made the switch too!  And just to keep you interested, I feel a blogoversary giveaway coming on so stay tuned! Thanks for all your support :)

I should have entitled this post "The Kale Chips that Never Were." Last night, I got really excited to make a bloggable kale chip recipe made from one bunch of kale, EVOO, balsamic, tahini, and sea salt. After massaging all those lovely things together, one-third of the batch mysteriously disappeared. After about an hour in the dehydrator, another third evaporated into thin air... and then, well, I figured it was silly to dehydrated 1/3 of batch of kale chips, so I figured I might as well eat them too . (p.s. half dehydrated kale is delicious) So with that off the table and in my tummy, I wanted to give a shout out to Toronto's Live Organic Food Bar instead. Last weekend, we took another quick trip to London for Andrew's mom's annual spa day. The deal: she invites all the women of the family including sisters, spouses, and nieces to get pampered for a day because she's awesome like that. The upside: Umm, who would complain? The downside: an 8 hour bus ride (o...

Sometime in the middle of last week, I signed up for Gina's annual Summer Shape Up Challenge . This year's is an awesome 4 week routine (with optional meal ideas) and I've been loving it so far. In fact, I love her workouts so much that I mentioned her first Summer Shape Up Challenge (a full-on 12 week program she came up with in 2009 ) in an earlier post I wrote about the 5 best workouts of my life . Having just launched into a new SSU series, I thought I'd talk about the flip side of that coin by sharing exercises that I just dread. Conveniently, a lot of these are features in Gina's latest SSU so I guess I'll have to conquer my fears! I know, I know. They're really effective. You have to work up to them. It'll all pay off in the end, but as much as I love weights or bootcamp style workouts, whenever these babies appear in my routines, I kind of want to run for the hills: 1. Burpees: Push ups, planks, jumping up and down, all of these moves I love in...

When I knew my parents were coming into town, Andrew and I knew right away that we had to take them to Zen Kitchen . After the fabulous first experience we had there back in August of last year, we knew that if anyone could convince friends and family that vegan fare can be more than just dahl or tofurky, it would be Zen Kitchen. Once again, thank you so much to all the folks at Zen for giving us another memorable experience in fine vegan dining. In any gourmet restaurant, I always take such joy in the unique dynamic created between those who experience their love for food by eating it (the customer) and those who are show their love for food by creating it (the chef). Last time I wrote about them, one of biggest draws I noticed was Zen Kitchen's ability to combine "taste, textures, and timing" to perfection. Once again, they did not disappoint. We all truly appreciated the frequent attention the waitstaff and the chef herself gave to us and other diners. It show...

I haven't posted two days in a row in a while, but I learned a whole bunch of neat things from my awesome new dentist today that I thought I'd share with you. A mouth with a low pH (aka. a more alkaline mouth) decreases your chances of getting cavities, so stick with those raw fruits and veggies As I recently mentioned, dried fruits kind of play the opposite role as they are of the perfect sticky yumminess for cavity gremlins to feed of off Starches as well as sugar creates acid when in contact with plaque, which results in tooth decay (so yesterday's post about sugar and starch sensitivities might not that be far off!) Gum sensitivity doesn't necessarily mean your oral hygiene is off, but can indicate that you have hormonal imbalances (who'da thunk?) Your mouth can give away how flexible you are. True story. After looking at my file (jaw measurements, how much I can open and close, etc.) my dentist asked if I was crazy flexible, which I am... weird. Grinding your...