new omega juicer

oh lawd. i am so excited about our new juicer. it is an omega vert 350 and i love it almost as much as i love dante (my cat).

random: check this out.

as i have already told you, i was planning to go on another juice fast as soon as it arrived in the mail! so the next few days will be smoothies, juice and raw snacks. then i go into 100% juice mode for... who knows how long. i want to fast until i feel my body should stop. the human body doesn't identify calendar dates or week-long time periods, it runs on it's own watch and i plan to monitor it carefully. i will know when to stop.

this time is really special for me because my friend is doing the juice fast with me! i've never had someone want to join me for one of these things so i'm looking EXTRA forward to this; maybe even... double extra? 

i know. double. woah.

the first juice we made was carrot, apple and lime (as you can see in the photo). it was SO DANG GOOD. you can literally taste the difference a good quality juicer makes. this thing is my new baby. i am going to use it so often and for everything. i can finally juice my own wheat grass! be jealous. BE JEALOUS.

the juice was so flavourful (more nutrients available because of the difference in juicing process so there is more to taste) and the pulp was so dry! cleaning it is easy too. if you're serious about juicing, or know you will be, or just WANT to be: get this juicer. 

perfect first juice: serves one

2 apples
1 peeled lime
4 peeled carrots

juice. drink the juice. 

another juice fast

hello, my sweet, plant-loving comrades.

i have decided to go on another juice-alicious fast. why? let's start at the beginning: i didn't tell you that when i THOUGHT i had strep throat and couldn't swallow without flinching for a week... i actually had MONO. it was total agony for seven days and i hope i never go through it again. would've been nice to know what i actually was suffering from...

thanks a lot, doc.

he tells me AFTER i recover... cool. anyways, that's not really relevant but you must deal with it. tough. the point  is - i didn't eat for a week. the first two days i just drank tea, lemon water and miso soup, the remaining days i basically went on a juice fast. it reminded me how much i love juice, and how much i appreciated my previous juice fast (search "juice fast" on my blog to get my posts about it.) it made me want to complete another one.

so i have the best news ever... for me, anyway. 

we (mom and i) have officially ordered our OMEGA VRT350 JUICER!!! i am way too excited about this, people. but as i said to my girlfriend - at which she promptly laughed - "why can't everyone get this stoked about juicing!?" as you may have noticed, i have gradually fallen head over heels for juice. i used to be a smoothie girl all the way. i will always keep a place in my heart for my green smoothies. but i have warmed up to juicing. i used to dislike the absence of fiber but my mind has been changed. taking out the fiber allows for instant assimilation... it is the fastest way to get the highest quality nutrients in the greatest quantity. simply put: it's excellent nutrition in a glass.

we should get our juicer in about five days (fingers crossed, canadian postal system) and then i'm going to sell our old juicer to my friend. at that point she will join me in a juice fast! i am really excited about this because i've only ever cleansed and/or fasted by myself. i think it's gonna be loads better with a partner. i don't want to set a number of days this juice fast will be, but i'd like it to exceed ten days (the length of my last one). we will see. i plan to listen to my body.

i'm going to be reading up on juice fasting this time too. so far i've gotten juice fasting & detoxification, and juicing, fasting and detoxing for life - sound pretty enthralling, huh?

just wanted to give you all a heads up about this! i will be posting recipes for shampoo and conditioner soon, as well as some salads and other raw concoctions that have come from my twisted mind and dutch-inspired kitchen. love all. drink juice.

The Post

Hey my darlings, I'm sorry I haven't posted in FOREVER. I've been preoccupied, but mostly lazy and forgetful. Today's post is just a plethora of photos and things I've been doing/eating for the last weeks. Enjoy. Regular scheduling will return shortly.

First: I made the ultimate sundaes with friends. Avec les sparklers.

They were obviously ridiculously good. I don't even remember what we put on them but it looks like figs, chocolate sauce, and peanut butter? It was a food party. We also made some amazing Thai noodles and sweet and sour tofu... thinking about it now makes my mouth water. Mmm...

I've been eating a lot of raw pasta lately because my dear friend Eva bought me a Spirooli. I usually make it with a nut butter and garlic sauce, or avocado. Here's some recipe ideas. I pretty much always use zucchini for the noodles. Carrots work as well but zucchini has the perfect texture and colour. I've used bell peppers in the past. Any wide vegetable will work. Get creative!

Another thing I've been making a lot for dinner is raw wraps. In seaweed sheets or rice paper. I have always loved burritos and anything else in a wrap. Something about it being packed with good stuff, picking it up in your hands and taking a big bite =) Normally I put in a mix of any or all of the following: carrots, avocado, bell pepper, corn, onion, tomato, zucchini, lettuce, sprouts... and probably a bunch of other stuff. I use the same kinds of sauces I'd put on pasta. Actually - in this picture I HAVE pasta in the wrap. I know - it's gettin' wild up in here.

Look at that sexy avocado... goodness me. 

My mom has been making tons of fresh juice lately in our Jack La Lanne Juicer. I'm a smoothie person myself because I love the fiber, and you take that out when you juice. Having said that, fresh juice is AWESOME! Make it. It's delicious and the since you DO take out the fiber, the nutrients enter your blood within like 15 minutes. Crazy. Juice definitely has it's benefits - it's great for fasting, detoxing and nourishing nutrient deficient individuals. Juicing has saved lives! 

And here's a smoothie I've been making after my workouts these past few days. We don't have any greens so for ONCE my smoothies are actually a pretty colour. It matches my pink glass straw =) It's a blend of a banana, kiwi, protein powder, coconut milk, hemp seeds, and strawberries. 

Okay... coming to a close soon - I made some more chocolate. Of course. For the first time it's TOTALLY RAW! In the past I've only been able to use cocoa because we didn't HAVE cacao. Now we do =) I can never leave things be so I also added mesquite, goji berries, coconut and jungle peanuts. Greg called it chocolate brittle.

ALRIGHT THE LAST THING. Mad Men premiered again after an 18 month hiatus! If you watch the TV show, you will understand the importance of this event, if you don't watch it - you should. It's an awesome show, not only for the sets, costumes and 60's era feel, but for the human drama as well. It's smart and different. 

Anyways, we made vegan White Russians - oh so 60's - and I made raw finger food... dates and nut butter with toothpicks. I suppose any small food with a toothpick in it could be vintage finger food, right? The drinks and snacks were great, and the show's premiere was like seeing a friend after 1 year and a half.

I will post a baked cupcake recipe tomorrow, and some links to recipes in this post! 

That's all for now, folks.