Delicieux!

I recently did an exercise in which I was asked to draw a square room from bird's eye view, with a picture window on each wall.  The eastern wall represents that which I am newly growing into, the western is that which I have let go, the north is that which drives me, and the south is that which inspires my artistic side and creativity.  I'm sure you can guess that under that southern wall, raw vegan food was the first thing I wrote =) Doing that exercise was an important reminder to myself that life is too short - don't forget to cultivate your inner creativity.  Beauty is latent and present in so many things, but too often we get wrapped up in Life to stop and take a moment. To contemplate...how can I make this truly unique, my own, something special, something larger than life?

Teaching yoga is another thing that inspires creativity within me. After guiding friends through a few asanas a couple of times, I've realized that it's going to take practice before I will find myself in front of a room of yogis.  My biggest challenge right now is learning how to articulate postures that I know how to do but have never tried to describe aloud. With time and consistent practice, I have faith. Alway have faith!

I'm sure you're curious as to what I have been uncooking lately. The first picture above is of some romaine wraps filled with some "Demonslayer" guacamole and some "Fabulous Fig Balsamic Vinaigrette" from "I Am Grateful." Without betraying Cafe Gratitude (buy the book), I will simply list the ingredients for the vinaigrette.

Cafe Gratitude's "Fabulous Fig Balsamic Vinaigrette"

Black mission figs

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinaigrette

jalapeno pepper

lemon juice

himalayan salt

lime

chili pepper

crushed black pepper

The next picture is of some sesame chocolate chai milk I whipped up. You can get the recipe from thekitchendispensary.com.

The result: AMAZING. I've never thought of using sesame seeds to make a milk before. The consistency was incredibly rich and creamy. However, the next time I am going to stick with the raw herbs and use the recipe's recommendation of figs instead of dates. I used two teabags of chai tea and the flavor was slightly too bitter for me. The sweetness of the dates was perfect, but I just got a batch of juicy black mission figs and would love to try them out in a drink recipe.

There's a picture up there of a salad with some of the Fab Fig vinaigrette. Then, below that is some strawberry ice cream I made. Delicious!

Raw Strawberry Ice Cream

4 cups strawberries

1 cup cashews

1/2 cup agave

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Puree all the ingredients, chill the mixture for an hour or two and then process through an ice cream maker. YUM!

Next picture down is of some Teriyaki Almonds. This recipe from "I Am Grateful" is absolutely delicious and super easy. You'll need a dehydrator for this one, though I have read about people using their oven at the lowest setting (though I wouldn't recommend doing this as it would probably waste a ton of power). The picture above is after coating some sprouted almonds with the sauce and dehydrating for 48 hours.

Ingredients for "I Am Grateful" Teriyaki Almonds:

Dates

Bragg's liquid aminos

Himalayan salt

Ginger

How to sprout almonds:

Sprouting almonds reduces phytic acid, which inhibits the absorption of vital nutrients, rids of enzyme inhibitors that prevent you from deriving other nutrients and breaks down gluten in grains (which makes it easier for you to digest).  Each nut and grain has a different "soak time" and "sprout time." The denser the nut, the longer the soak time. 3 cups of almonds should be soaked for 8 hours. The sprout time for almonds is 1 to 2 days. When you soak nuts, submerge them in a glass sprouting jar (you can buy one or make one out of a glass jar and a mesh wire top) with purified water (8 hours for 3 cups of almonds) in a dark place. After the soak time is up, drain the soak water and rinse the almonds a couple of times until the water runs pretty clear. Place the almonds without soak water in a dark place for 8 more hours and continue the sprouting process (rinsing and draining a couple of times until the water runs pretty clear) for 1 to 2 days. Then, you can dehydrate the nuts and preserve their vital nutrients, and add fancy sauces to spice things up. Be creative! I coated some sprouted almonds with honey and sprinkled them with cocoa powder and cinnamon, then dehydrated for two days. I like to put these on ice creams for a fun and delicious topping.

The next picture below is of some zucchini pasta topped with some raw tomato sauce from Raw Goddess Heathy. If you like fresh basil, this tomato sauce recipe is for you. I'm going to try my hand at another Cafe Gratitude recipe for tomato sauce. It integrates cold pressed olive oil, which I think will make the sauce richer than Heathy's, which doesn't call for any oils. I topped the pasta off with a basic nut cheeze. Yummy!

Peace and blessings,

Vegan Goddess Siham =)