Pinch me...I live here! Our Wallowa Lake Hike

My hubby actually woke up Saturday and wanted to go for a hike so I jumped on it and we got going before he changed his mind.

We hiked the east moraine of beautiful Wallowa Lake, which lucky for us only sits about 7 miles from our house.  There was no one else hiking and it was so peaceful and beautiful.  There is nothing like hiking in a place like this.  You hear nothing but your breathing and the sound of your shoes hitting the earth.  Although... when we hike, you also hear all 5 dogs running by and snorfing, snotting and coughing.  It wouldn't be the same without them.

It's been so rainy here this summer and with the stress of getting the garden in and house repairs done, I kinda forgot (only for a moment!) that the place we live is absolutely amazing and breathtakingly beautiful. 

My life couldn't possibly be any better than this!

J with the furry kids

XOXO
Niki

Tomato Summer Stacks, Lemongrass Asparagus and my Cheezy Kale Chips.

Isn't it beautiful?  It looks too nice to eat.  Of course I'm learning that almost every dish I make that's raw is a work of art.  This dinner came out of my new cookbook, Living Cuisine: The Art and Spirit of Raw Foods, by: Renee Loux Underkoffler.  

I made:

Tomato Summer Stacks

Lemongrass Asparagus Bundles with Lemon Cashew Sauce

My own wraps with avocado, mustard, pickle and dulse, wrapped in Romaine.

I garnished the plate with some white radishes that I bought at the farmer's market.  They were wonderful and sweet.

(Recipes below)

Every recipe that I've tried from Renee is so decedent and fabulous.  I have bookmarks poking out of every spot of the book because I have a list of recipes to try. 

Here's a little blurb on Renee-

"Renee Loux Underkoffler is a raw-foods chef and former co-owner of the Raw Experience restaurant in Maui.  Through her company, Euphoric Organics, she facilitates health retreat and workshops worldwide, which incorporate yoga and living foods into a balanced lifestyle.  She lives in Maui." 

This weekend I plan on making her Crumble Apple Strudel Bundt Cake.

I'll let you know how it turns out!

The cheezy kale chips that I made turned out to be very tasty.  They didn't last very long!  I plan on making two batches this weekend.  You can get the recipe here.

Here are the dinner recipes from Renee's book.

Tomato Summer Stacks

2 large tomatoes

1 1/4 cups raw macadamia nuts, soaked for 30 minutes

1/4 cup pine nuts

1 small clove garlic

1/4-1/2 cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

2 teaspoons organic EVOO

1 teaspoon sun-dried sea salt

1/2 cup finely chopped parsley

1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

1/4 cup finely chopped basil

1 ear corn

2 green onions, finely chopped to the top

1 tablespoon dill

Lemongrass Asparagus Bundles with Lemon Cashew Sauce

1 bunch asparagus

6 cups hot water

4 long blades lemongrass (if fresh lemongrass is unavailable, the flexible green leaves of a green onion can be used)

2 tablespoons EVOO

1 lemon, juiced

2 teaspoons lemon zest

2 teaspoons raw honey, maple syrup or agave

1 teaspoon sun-dried sea salt

2 teaspoons dried lemongrass

Lemon Cashew Sauce

1/2 cup cashews

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons nama shoyu

1 1/2 teaspoons raw honey, maple syrup or agave

Off to make dinner!

XOXO

Niki

Cheezy Kale Chips

SOOO I've been a bit nervous about trying kale chips, but now that I have, I don't know why I was being so silly.

I had to take my mom to her doctor in Carson City, Nevada so, I got to go on a road trip...which also meant I got to go in a brand new Whole Foods!
I live in a rural area and being vegan isn't always easy because I can't find a lot of the items that specialty recipes call for.
I took advantage of Whole Foods and bought all sorts of scrumptious goodies.  Raw chocolate, raw coconut butter, coconut water, raw tahini etc. etc.  I ALSO bought some kale chips.  I chose the Earth Chips brand Cheezy Kale on the recommendation of the stock boy.  They looked strange when I opened the bag, but once I took a bite, I was sold.  I savored every chip and tonight I'm attempting to make my own recipe.
Here's the recipe I chose to try:

Cheesy Kale Chips

Ingredients:
1 large bunch of curly, green kale, washed, large stems removed, torn into bite sized pieces

Coating:
1 cup cashews, (soaked 2 hours)
1 red bell pepper
juice of 1 lemon
2 t Agave (optional-I don't add, I like them more salty and savory)
1 T nutritional yeast
1/2 t Celtic sea salt

Preparation:

Put coating ingredients in Vitamix (or processor).  Blend until smooth.  Using your hands, massage coating onto kale pieces getting it inside of curls.  Put on teflex sheets (don't worry about flattening them, they're better bunched up) and dehydrate at 105 overnight or until coating is dry.  Slide onto mesh screens and dehydrate 12 hours, or until very crispy.

**note: author said that hers only took another 4 hours after overnight and flipping.  Yum!

The recipe is from gone raw

I'll make sure to give an update on how my kale chips turned out. 
Cross your fingers!

XO
Niki

Liver Flush Results!

I was out of town so I haven't been able to update, but I had great success on my liver cleanse!

Here is the flush that I followed by Dr. Hulda Clark.
It basically consisted of drinking Epsom Salts and olive oil with grapefruit juice.  Next time I'd like to incorporate some Castor Oil packs.

The Epsom salt drinks were a bit difficult to get down, but well worth it.
I could actually feel my liver cleansing.  It felt like my liver was rumbling and vibrating and I passed a fair amount of stones.  I only kept the few larger stones to share.
It was very interesting, I enjoyed it and I will definitely do it again....maybe once monthly until the amount of stones I'm passing subsides.
Here's a pic!  Yumm

They don't look like much in this bag.  They were bright green and brown when I first passed them.  This is a few hours later. 

XO
Niki

Mold, Rainbow and Liver Flush

More rain today...

Yesterday was an interesting day.  As I pulled the bed away from the wall to paint, I found a nice little party of mold going on by the baseboards and found the carpet to be wet.  I knew I had smelled something, but I wrote it off to the ancient carpet that we were planning to rip up next week.  SOOO not the carpet...we had a mold inspector come out today and it's black mold.  Could explain my stuffed up head and coughing that's been worse lately.  Apparently the mold is in the sub floor so it's no bueno!  We will now be sleeping in a borrowed trailer while the remodeling happens.  We are renting now, but we do hope to buy this property some day.    Fortunately, I will be out of town next week and the construction is considered urgent so it hopefully will start next week while I'm gone.  Old houses are so fun!


I'm staying optimistic because it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow AND I just saw the most incredible rainbow.  I unfortunately didn't take my camera on the walk (go figure), but it was so beautiful it brought tears.

As far as my liver flush (should I even be completing a cleanse with all this mold and guck in the air?)
I just drank my first dose of Epsom salts....whewwww it's disgusting.  SO bitter and hard to get down.  I have one more Epsom dose tonight before I get to drink the olive oil/grapefruit mixture.  I'm not super excited about that one, but I'm excited to complete a liver flush.  I'll report back tomorrow with more on the flush.
For now enjoy some mold photos!

XOXO
Niki

Rain, Parasite Cleanse, Gardening and Painting

The clouds just opened up and rain is coming down hard.  It's been raining almost non-stop for 3 weeks.  On a positive note...it's VERY green outside and I don't have to water my garden very much!

I've been prepping for a liver cleanse, which I'll do this weekend and I'm in the process of a parasite cleanse right now.  I'm not sure if this is normal, but I've felt super bloated and a bit tired this week.  I've also had some random aches and pains in odd places.  The weirdest part is how angry I've been feeling, which is strange....like psycho, throwing a fit, angry!  I've heard that one can get quite angry while completing a liver cleanse, but never a parasite cleanse.  If I'm angry already, I can't imagine how pissed off I'm going to be during a liver flush!!  I know there are YEARS of toxic eating and 4 years of bartending that my liver will be purging quickly..not to mention the years of past stress festering inside of me.  I'm hoping to see some stones just for immediate gratification.

I've been getting my starts planted.  I had a small set back yesterday when one of the loose chickens decided to come and dig up about 10 of my freshly planted brussell sprout and kale plants.  I was not a happy camper, but then again, this is my first year of gardening and everything is trial and error for me. 

Lock the chickens up next time?  Check.

We are going to finish building the main garden area this weekend with about 4 or 5 raised boxes that I plan to convert into cold boxes during the winter.  I'm really excited about having lettuce and cold veggies all year.  I've been reading, Four-Season Harvest, by: Eliot Coleman.  He has wonderful ideas and is teaching me all about the benefits of rotational planting and succession planting (all new things to me!)

Tomorrow I'm painting the bedroom.  It seems kinda strange to be cleansing and painting during the same time, but time is of essence during remodeling and I don't really have a choice.   I'll make sure to post before and after pics.

Well off to figure out dinner!  I'm thinking a huge salad for me, but I've got the two meat eaters to think about since salad doesn't seem to satisfy them enough.  =)

Til' next time!

XOXO
Niki

A moment of sun yesterday with this strange rainbow that hovered.  I love where I live!

The fridge- "A divided household" and my health

I find this funny and thought it would be fun to share.

My side, the fridge, with mostly greens and produce...some of our own eggs and some OJ for my smoothies. 

My husband's freezer...a meat fest!  That's pretty much an entire cow in there.  Yikes!

Life has been great!  I've been busy with my photography and the garden is growing.  Unfortunately this blog tends to get put on the back burner when life gets a little hectic.

I've been feeling better.  My energy level has been awesome and I actually feel like ME again.  I'm still having some joint pain and it comes and goes.  Some days I don't even know it's there and other days, it's worse and quite noticeable.  I'm about 80% raw now with my goal to become 90-100% raw.  I feel like that will really help my joints, but for now I still am having cooked veggies and some chips.  I am addicted to these fabulous, spicy tortilla chips right now and I can't stop eating them with my guacamole.  They are delish! 

Well off for now!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

XOXO

Niki