Now that there's a bit of the fall chill in the air, I've been craving a pumpkin spice latte.  Every morning.  And every time that Facebook shows me another add for one.  How do they know my weakness??  Get out of my head, fb.

The thing is, I gave up caffeine and coffee/espresso is just not in my world right now.  I've been on the herbal tea express train.  So, I was downing loose Rooibos Chai Tea a few times a day.  It was close, but not quite hitting the spot. 

I decided to try a carton of the pre-made chai tea concentrate from the store, with almond milk.  It was delicious.  But unfortunately, not kind to my wallet.  So, I went ahead and made my own.  And to make it extra fall-like, I added some pumpkin spice to the mix. 

The result is satisfying and delicious.  I made a big batch and stored it in the fridge.  I just mix 1 part tea concentrate with 1 part unsweetened almond milk, then heat it up.  Here's what you'll need.

Yields: 8 cups

Ingredients:

• 8 cups water
• 8 bags of chai tea (I used rooibos, but you could use any kind)
• 6-8 teaspoons pumpkin spice (you could use fresh spices and ingredients, but I just used the dried spices)
• 3/4 cup maple syrup (or another sweetener)

Directions

1. Bring the water to a boil
2. Remove from the heat and add in the tea bags & spices, cover and let steep for 10 minutes
3. Remove the tea bags or strain through cheesecloth if using loose tea
4. Stir in maple syrup
5. Let cool to room temperature, then store in an airtight container in the refridgerator

Curl up with a book and a puppy and enjoy this delicious fall treat!!  Or maybe that's just what I do :-)

You know when you go to Whole Foods, Earth Fare or whatever health food chain your city has, there is always a raw sesame kale salad in the prepared food section.  Well that salad is my favorite.  It's delicious and seems to always be made exactly right.  I always end up buying a container and scarfing it down before Serial has a chance to get some.  Me and kale, we're tight like that. 

Now that it's summer (or at least it feels like it everyday), I've been craving raw foods more.  This salad is top on my list and I've been able to recreate that same one I see in the store from my own kitchen.  It's so easy too. 

There are different kinds of kale leaves, but the one I most often see in the store is the curly kale or the dino kale (you can see the types here).  For this recipe, the curly kale works better.  You could use others and it would taste the same, but the texture is best with the curly version. 

Curly kale is kind of rough when it's raw and this recipe will soften and the leaves into a salad that is super tasty.  I usually make this in the morning before work and let it sit in the fridge until lunch or dinner, at least 4-5 hours. 

Ingredients

• 1 Bunch Kale
• 2 Tbsp Sesame Oil
• 2 Tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
• 4 Tbsp Rice Vinegar

Directions

• Tear the kale leaves from the stalks, and into medium size pieces.  Place the pieces into a large bowl.  Usually at this point, I have about 4-5 cups of loose kale.
• Add in your oil, aminos and vinegar.  Use your hands to massage everything into the leaves.  They are coarse pieces so just stirring with a spoon won't have the same effect.  Use your hands and make sure each leave gets a good coating.  You'll probably have a little bit of liquid left in the bottom of your bowl when you're done and that's OK.
• Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, if the leaves were coarse to start.  If they weren't as coarse/curly, they won't take as long to soften up.  Once the marinade sets in, the leaves will soften up and they will appear to shrink down.  They're really just loosing their toughness and laying flatter.  I usually end up with 2-3 cups of salad when it's all said and done.
• This salad keeps for the whole day, but I find that it's not great past that.  It gets too soggy.  Try to make it in the morning for dinner that night, or make it the night before to have at the lunch the next day.
• Enjoy!
  

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The Ingredients:

2 Cups Basil
1/2 Cup of Soaked Cashews (soak at least 4 hours)
3 Cloves of Garlic
1/3 Cup of Olive Oil
Salt to Taste

The How To:

Pour all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse for several minutes until nuts are finely ground. The longer the cashews are soaked, the creamier it can turn out. However, even after soaking them for 18 hours, there still was a slight crunchy texture about it, which both Jill and I really liked. It makes about 1.5 cups of pesto.

The Yummy End Product:

The result is a nice, garlicy spread that tastes fantastic. We bought some Quorn Chik'n Cutlets and stuffed them full of our cashew pesto. Super delicious! The next time I make this, which will be soon, I'll experiment by adding some boiling/simmering water to the food processor to make it more creamy or maybe add some agar flakes to make slices. I'm not sure yet.  While it didn't turn out to be cheezy, it was really good and another recipe I'm excited to make!

If you like what you read, we would love to hear from you in the comments section!  It's fun to get feedback and it helps us create future posts.  And be sure to stay in touch on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or RSS!

Last week Serial got us started on making our own nut milk and it has been so great to have it for our coffee and smoothies.  With the milk comes the leftover nut pulp and we have a few different recipes we wanted to try, but we decided to start with a raw pesto. 

Back when we lived in the south, there was an amazing restaurant in Boone, NC that made a vegan pesto tempeh sandwich that still makes us drool whenever we think about it.  So we set our sights on making a pesto.  It was super simple and tasty and so far we've used it on a homemade vegan pizza and tonight I plan to use it to saute some tofu and veggies.  The raw garlic gives everything an extra kick.  And requires me to brush my teeth 3 extra times before bed. 

Yields: 1.5 cups

1 cup nut pulp (we used cashews, you can read more about it here)
3-4 garlic cloves, depending on taste
1/2 cup fresh basil (dried basil won't give the same results)
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a food processor (we use a Ninja), combine the nut pulp, basil and garlic and pulse until well mixed.  If you want a milder garlic taste you can saute the garlic cloves with a little bit of oil before adding them to your food processor.  Raw garlic has a bit of a "bite" to it, but we love it.  We actually used about 8 cloves of raw garlic, but that's way too much for most people.  If you don't like the raw taste, a few minutes in the skillet will give it the roasted garlic taste instead.  Play around with the recipe and see what you like best!
   
2. Slowly add the olive oil and continue to pulse until it reaches the consistency you desire.  We used a half cup of olive oil, but you might prefer a little less or a little more.  There's no wrong way to do it.
3. Add in the salt and pepper, if you are including it.

That's it!  Store it in the fridge and use it on anything you like!  If you have any good recipes for pesto, we'd love to hear them.

If you like what you read, we would love to hear from you in the comments section!  It's fun to get feedback and it helps us create future posts.  And be sure to stay in touch on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or RSS! 

Raw Revolution Bars aren't new to us and we've mentioned them in several other posts, but I don't know that we've done them justice.  We have a lot of love for these bars and today we wanted to really share the love with you guys!

You guys know that we are healthy eaters.  We like to eat live, whole foods and we keep to a vegan diet as often as possible.  We're not fans of processed foods and we almost always make our own at-home versions of things just to avoid preservatives and control the ingredients that we put into our bodies. 

But let's face it, sometimes you need something on-the-go.  Most granola bars have a bunch of extra fluff ingredients that don't really do much nutritionally and just provide empty calories.  But Raw Rev bars are different.  You can count the number of ingredients on your fingers and you actually know what each one is. 

Check out the stuff in my favorite flavor, Spirulina & Cashew:  Organic Dates, Organic Cashews, Organic Sunflower Seed Kernels, Organic Agave Nectar, Organic Almonds, Organic Spirulina Powder, Organic Sprouted Flax Seed.

LOVE. IT.

And there are tons more flavors that are just as tasty.  We've tried Chocolate & Cashew, Chocolate & Coconut, Raspberry & Chocolate and Cashew & Agave (Serial's favorite).   They're all delicious and filling.

And there are even more flavors that we plan to sample soon.  Especially the Almond Butter Cup and the Cherry Chocolate Chunk - those belong in my belly.   You can see their full product line here.

Taste is obviously important, but let's get back to those ingredients.  If you're maintaining a vegan or gluten-free lifestyle, you're going to love these bars.  Raw Revolution Bars are Vegan and free of Gluten, Wheat, Corn, Soy, Trans-fat, Cholesterol and Refined Sugar.  (side note - it makes my insides happy when something is vegan AND soy-free).

The Raw Revolution Bars come in a few different sizes, which is great for those counting calories.  The larger bars range from 210-240 per bar (varies by flavor) and the smaller Raw Rev bars are just 100 calories each.  When we were on our hike, we carried the 100 calorie bars in our hip belts and snacked on them while we were walking.  It was perfect. 

These days, we keep a stash in the car and in my purse.  Yes, I'm that chick who always has a snack in her purse.  But with good reason.  Everyone know what "hanger" is?  It's when you get so hungry that your anger takes over and you become a crabby hot mess.  Yep.  It's real people.  Let's just say that after a few hiking trips that ended in beastly hanger during the car ride home, we wised up. 

So let's review... they taste delicious, they're healthy and they come in two convenient sizes?  I'm sold.  But just to put a little icing on that cake, they have amazing customer service.  When we were planning our hike last year, we wrote to them asking for a few bars to take on the trail with us.  They responded immediately and provided us with enough bars for the whole hike and enough to share with friends.  We stashed a bunch in Damascus so that when we hiked into town, we were able to hand them out to tons of hikers.  It was wonderful. 

This year we emailed them again to see if they'd be willing to host a few product giveaways and once again, they were so helpful and positive.  So stay tuned, we will be hosting multiple giveaways of Raw Revolution Bars and we can't wait for you all to love them too.  In the meantime, you can check out their products on their site.  They're also on facebook and twitter, if you want to stop by and say hello! 

My first week of going dairy-free and vegan is complete!  It's going really well so far and I plan to keep this up for at least another week, but most likely for a full month.  Once this strict trial period is complete, I'm going to review everything I've learned and see if this is something I'd like to continue. 

If I had to decide right now, I honestly think I would continue this for a long time.  I don't think I would call myself a vegan because I know I wouldn't be 100% perfect all of the time, but I'd aim to be dairy-free 95% of the time (I've already been meat-free for 25+ years).  I might give myself one day a month to have a little bit of cheese or something.  Who knows.  But these are the things I'd like to use this trial period to figure out. 

I've received a couple of messages asking for basic meal ideas so I thought I would show you a sample day for me right now

Breakfast - I usually have oatmeal with apples & PB or a smoothie.  This has actually been a hard meal adjustment for me because I loved having greek yogurt for breakfast.  I still miss it.  Plus oatmeal reminds me of the trail... not in a good way.  BUT, I have to admit.  I feel better with the oatmeal or smoothie, plus I feel full for longer. 

The oatmeal is 1/2 cup oats cooked on the stovetop with 1 cup of water.  Once it's at the consistency I like, I stir in chopped apple and peanut butter than add a tsp of agave to sweeten it up.

The smoothie is apple juice, protein powder, coconut milk, frozen berries and greens.  Easy and delicious.

Lunch - I try to get at least one serving of veggies in at lunch.  My favorite meal has been 1 or 2 vegan burgers (I like the Trader Joe's frozen kind) on a big bowl of greens with a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar.  I just cook the frozen burgers in a skillet and then add them to the salad.  Easy!

My other go-to lunch is carrots and hummus with a side salad or soup.  I like the Amy's brand of soup and I look for hummus with the least amount of ingredients at the store. 

Dinner - I try to get the most meal variety with our dinners.  Breakfast and Lunch are less exciting to me so I just try to be healthy and calorie conscious, but Dinner is something we eat together at home and I look forward to it so I try to change it up as often as I can.  We certainly repeat meals, but instead of having 2-3 options like Breakfast and Lunch, I have 8-10 choices. 

Here are a few of my favorite vegan options:
3 Ingredient Veggie Burgers
Breaded Tempeh
Chickpea Punjabi Chhole
Crispy Sweet Potato Cakes
Mac 'N (no) Cheese

Snacks - I aim to keep these at 100-200 calories and sometimes we pair them with dinner.  Other times we just snack throughout the day.  It just depends on how active we've been that day.  If I run or lift weights, I snack more.  Apples and PB are a quick snack that I grab frequently.  I also keep Raw Revolution bars in the car in case we get hungry when we're running around during the day.

Here are a few other ideas for vegan snacks:
Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Kale Chips
Kombucha Tea

Desserts - my favorite.  I don't budget specific calories for these, I just see how I'm doing at the end of the day and if I have room for it, I have a little bit of dessert.  I usually make something raw or healthy to have on hand in the house, but in a pinch I just have a bit of chocolate coconut milk ice cream.  It's dairy-free, but tastes delicious and creamy. 

Here are a few other ideas for vegan desserts:
Cauliflower Brownies
Coconut Macaroons
Healthy Brownies
Healthy Pumpkin Pie
Quick & Easy No-Bake Cookies

Anyone else in a trail vegan period or trying to go dairy-free?  I'd love to hear how it's going and exchange recipe ideas.  I'm really encouraged by how well this first week has gone.  I haven't felt a huge change or anything yet, but my cravings for cheese are gone which I didn't think was possible.  I'm excited to see what happens in the next few weeks!

The farmers market that we have been going to has officially closed down for the season and we found ourselves really missing the crusty artisan bread that we usually purchased.  Thankfully Pinterest had a surplus of recipes and ideas for making it at home and after a trying a few out, I'm excited to say we have a winner. 

It's really a combination of a few recipes that I tried - a sort of greatest hits collection where I picked and chose the best parts of each.  The great thing is that it's made with 50% whole wheat flour and is a great base recipe for other flavor variations.

Today I'll share the basic whole wheat recipe with you so you can master it and get one step closer to making crazy delicious flavors like garlic feta and chile cheddar.  Seriously.  I made those.  They are beyond delicious and I should NOT be left alone with them.  I need the shame of others to keep me from eating entire loaves of bread.  (I'm only kinda kidding).

This weekend I picked up a giant bag of coconut and decided to get churnin' on the coconut butter.  I had a recipe in mind that required it (more on that later this week) and there was no chance I was handing over 12 bucks for a jar.  To be honest, even if it was the same price, I'd still like to make it at home.  It's fun and easy. 

Alright, on to the pictures!

Now that you have a bunch of delicious coconut butter, what the heck can you do with it?  Well, tons.  It's used in a lot of raw and healthy dessert recipes, but it's also great for little everyday cooking tasks.  I use it to butter bread, saute veggies, make popcorn and lots of other things.  Pretty much anything that calls for butter or oil ends up with coconut butter in my kitchen.  Oh, and it's super good for you.  Read about the health benefits here.

One of the most common questions about coconut is whether coconut butter is the same as coconut oil.  Nope, it's not the same.  They're very similar and are both made from coconut as the only ingredient, but the main difference is the solidity.  Coconut oil is more liquid and melts down quicker at room temperature and coconut butter is solid at room temperature and is very solid in the refrigerator.   

Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions!

If you like what you read, I would love to hear from you in the comments section!  It's fun to get feedback and it helps me create future posts.  Oh and it wouldn't hurt my feelings if you pinned, tweeted and/or shared this post  ;-)

And be sure to stay in touch on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or RSS!

If you like what you read, I would love to hear from you in the comments section!  It's fun to get feedback and it helps me create future posts.  Oh and it wouldn't hurt my feelings if you pinned, tweeted and/or shared this post  ;-)

And be sure to stay in touch on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or RSS! 

If you like what you read, I would love to hear from you in the comments section!  It's fun to get feedback and it helps me create future posts.  Oh and it wouldn't hurt my feelings if you pinned, tweeted and/or shared this post  ;-)

And be sure to stay in touch on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or RSS!