Recipes, projects & products that don’t suck.

Last weekend we were invited to our friends’ house for a vegan, gluten-free dinner. Vegan because of us, gluten-free because of them. It was an excellent meal! For starters, there were chips & salsa and veggies & hummus. Then we enjoyed a salad with roasted pears and stir-fry with vegetables and tofu. We should have stopped there, but there was vegan, gluten-free Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, which needed to be taste-tested for the blog. Tough job, I know. I brought this dessert because I know our friends like carrot cake and so do we. I had never tried this recipe before, though, so it was a risk. Fortunately, it passed the test. I was surprised by how much I liked it. The flavor…

Before going vegan, microwave popcorn (usually the 94% fat-free kind) was pretty much a staple in our kitchen. In fact, I thought of it as a healthy treat. Now that I read the ingredients before the nutritional info, microwave popcorn is out. We can do without the artificial flavoring, the trans-fats and toxic diacetyl. Instead, we do it old-school now – in a big pot on the stovetop. It’s so simple, cheap and fast that I’m not sure why the microwave kind even seemed like a good idea. Making it the traditional way eliminates the junk and allows you to choose your oil (try coconut oil!), your seasonings, flavorings, etc. When I started making popcorn this way, it brought back so many memories. My mom used…

I know, I know – ANOTHER dessert post. Believe me, I’m well aware. I’ll be sure to get back to more entrée recipes soon. A while back, I mentioned a Lemon Bar recipe I found, tested and loved. I promised to share the recipe and finally, here we are. Actually, what I found was a Grapefruit Bar recipe which I converted to Lemon Bars. Traditionally, lemon bars are made with a lot of butter and eggs. Instead, this recipe uses coconut oil and silken tofu. Don’t freak out – you won’t even taste the tofu. I promise. There is still a load of sugar in this recipe, so I wouldn’t categorize it as healthy, but it’s definitely better for you than traditional lemon bars. And…

Brrr!!! It’s so cold today. Boo. At least the sun is shining. I’m looking forward to attending a (free!) Holiday Raw Food Demo in Grand Rapids tonight, where I’ll sample and learn how to make raw pumpkin pie (among other foods). Anyone is welcome! Last week, I did a trunk show for a lovely gal (hi B!) who kindly loaned me a couple of books by Gillian McKeith (even after I accidentally spilled hot candle wax all over her hutch – I felt TERRIBLE). The books contain a wealth of information on healthy foods, nutrients, herbs, juicing, detoxing, etc. While McKeith is neither vegan nor vegetarian, many of her recipes are. B recommended that I try McKeith’s Crunchy Walnut Coleslaw recipe, which happens to be raw, vegan…

Last night was detox class #2 (out of 4). We talked about poop pretty much the whole time. Yeah. Poop. We were instructed, among other things, to do an enema a day. I’m scared *@!*less to do an enema (pun intended). Jury’s out on that one – not sure I can do it. But apparently it makes a huge difference. And the thought of gross mucus lining my intestines isn’t too pretty. I kinda want to get that stuff outta there. Ya know?! As I mentioned in my last post, one of my goals for the remainder of the detox (21 more days) is to eat only raw food as much as possible. Yesterday, I made this beautiful salad for lunch… And is was sooooooooooooo…