Eat Dance Live

First off, brace yourselves for a long and detailed post. It dawned on me today that I've now been a (mostly) raw vegan for 2 years and counting. 2 years? How did that time go by without my noticing? I don't have an exact "raw anniversary," but I know that it all began around May-June 2009. I know that by July 2009, I became committed, and by August I've officially been calling myself a raw foodist. I also realize that since that date, I've definitely had my ups and downs with that choice and I wanted to share them with you today. (Disclaimer: I do not blame my diet for any of these lows. Overall, my love for food and health have been higher than ever over the past few years. I only blame myself and the sub-optimal choices I've made leading to these lows.) For starters, I've never been a big proselytizer when it comes to dietary choices (okay, except when it comes to choosing organic and unprocessed foods). What I do want is to contrib...

The avocado that has been sitting on my counter since Sunday must think I'm a total creeper, and he's probably right. Since last week, I've been watching him, waiting... waiting for him to ripen, thinking of all the things I'll be able to do to him. Haha, okay, now I'm even creeping myself out... Sorry. Really though, I've been dreaming of creamy kale salad every day since Sunday, with today as my avocado's ETR (Estimated Time of Ripening). A while ago, I wrote a really cut and dried post about how to actually massage kale , and why you should do it too. In short, kale is from the brassica family. As a hardier cruciferous green, it not only has some indigestible fibers, but as a brassica, it also contains potentially thyroid-problematic goitrogens when eaten straight up. Since that later post, I've recognized that you don't necessarily need to cook your brassicas to make them digestible because massaging them actually plays a similar function. In ma...

It's time for some more vegan recipe link love! I couldn't quite pick a theme for this week's recipes, except for the fact that they are generally of the savoury category. I know most people don't get as excited about main courses as they do about desserts, but actually, I do. These have mostly been the best recipes I discovered as I developed my vegan culinary skills. Every single one is amazing in its own right, so whatever your tastebuds are into, I suggest you try one! I realize that given my current lifestyle, only one of these is raw, but that's mostly because I tend to be more experimental with raw food than I was with vegan food, so I've got a lot more vegan savoury links to share than I do raw ones! (once again, for anyone cited, I've directly linked them to your sites but please let me know if you don't want me using your photos!) The Wannabe Chef's Dessert Hummus Dessert Hummus. Seriously. What...

Whenever Andrew takes too long to eat his bread and it goes stale, I get really excited because it means I get to make one of the things that remind me most of my childhood: pain perdu . Pain perdu is probably the recipe that makes me think the most about my paternal grandmother. She made so many amazing things whenever we visited, but her pain perdu 's simplicity and wholesomeness just really stuck with me over the years. It was always so unpretentious, and was one of those "wrap you up in a warm comfy blanket" type foods. When you bake it, the warm smell of cinnamon and milky bread will take over your whole kitchen. I love it. It's also one of the first things I remember making with her, so it holds a special place for me. I know that traditionally pain perdu , is actually just French Toast, but you know how sometimes your family calls something by the wrong name and it just sticks? Yeah, well this one is kind of like that. Pain Perdu is actually the French name fo...

So a little while ago I promised two cookie recipes , and realized I actually only posted one... heh. My bad. I have to admit, I'm not as satisfied with this one as the other one, but it's still pretty tasty and is still a reliable high raw cookie recipe. My intention was to do something snazzy with black pepper and chocolate and pecan, but it wasn't nearly as cool as I thought. I'll probably be tweaking it and posting something niftier when I figure it out. Peppered Chocolate Pecan Cookies Makes about 12-14 cookies 3 C rolled oats, ground into flour 1 vanilla bean, ground (or 1 tsp vanilla extract) 1/4 C raw almond butter (I made my own) 1/4-1/3 C maple syrup/raw agave/raw honey 1 tsp peanut butter (or your favourite raw nut butter) 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 C filtered water 1/2 C "candied" pecans* 1/4 C chocolate chips black pepper, for topping or mixing in *my usual mix of nuts, maple syrup (or agave), cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allsp...

Ever wondered what to get a loved one if they are a raw foodist? Ever wondered what to get someone if you are a raw foodist and want to get something that agrees with your ethics but still makes a fantastic and beautiful gift? I guess this is a plug for a certain company, but I certainly didn't mean it that way. I'm only trying to share what I thought was both a great experience and a fantastic present :) This could just as easily be made at home or something... This weekend, Andrew and I are in London (Ontario) to celebrate his mom's birthday. Earlier this week, I'd been scratching my head quite a bit to try to figure out what to get her. Obviously, it either had to be something we could pick up here or be able to carry on to a plane... A couple days before heading out, I had an epiphany that would be both a beautiful gift and a lesson in the healthiness and fun of raw foodism. It might seem a little preachy to some, but rather than try to coerce people to adopt our l...

Now I've never been a big coffee drinker, and I won't even touch the whole "should you drink coffee debate." (My short answer is no, unless perhaps on the odd social occasion... and by "odd social occasion" I'm not making some kind of loop hole to mean every week because I go out with my friends.) If you do want details on some of the reasons why I stand by this opinion, check out Sabine's awesome post about the subject which she conveniently just wrote up today! Sure I've had coffee. When it's strong, I love the stuff, like an espresso, or better yet like Turkish Coffee ... mmmm,Turkish coffee, it's like liquid chocolate, but coffee... and yes, I do lick the coffee paste at the bottom of the cup that they tell you not to eat. And for good measure, sure, a cafe au lait at a little cafe in Paris is quite charming too, just not all the time. All that being said, I somehow ended up with lots of sample bags of teccino , the supposed "co...