Garden Boxes-UPDATE

Mother's Day afternoon project :)  Finally the boxes are put together, and will slowly be filled with dirt over the course of this week (as weather and free time permits).  It is still a bit too early to plant yet for our area, but hopefully starting sometime toward the end of NEXT week (Memorial Weekend), I'll have plants in the boxes :D

Here are a few pics from the project.

 Maddy, John Sr., and Simon...working on Box #1

Maddy, John Sr, Ephraim, and Simon

Box # 2 laid out...

Maddy...uh..supervising and John Jr. WORKING! 

Ephraim putting in the first shovels of dirt

So now we have two boxes built and ready for dirt.

Box #1 is made 8' long by 4' wide and about 12" deep.

(for root veggies)

Box #2 is made 8' long by 4' wide by about 6" deep.

(for above ground veggies)

Raised Bed Gardening

It's been 2 years since I had my first REAL garden.  I loved it...but last summer was too busy with traveling, I didn't have time for a garden.  The spot I used for my garden 2 summer's ago is no longer available...and our "yard" isn't really garden worthy, so I am going to put in some raised beds.  Two 8' x 4' beds to be exact, one that will be about 12" high (for carrots, beets, potatoes-root veggies) and the other 6" high for everything else.  This is a new adventure for me (even the gardening is "new" to me). 

 

A few weeks ago I started some of the plants inside...and here is where my babies are now:

 

So I got the wood...

And the dirt...

The plan is to get the boxes built this weekend, so through the week I can fill them with dirt, build the grid, and by memorial weekend I can start planting!  I am so excited for mid-summer veggies!! :)

Gluten-free/Raw Update

I can't lie, gluten-free was hard for the first week...even though I'm just "doing my best" at being 95% gluten-free.  The first week I ate a good bit of the "gluten-free" breads, waffles, etc, just replacing what I would normally eat.  Then we did our first "Raw Food" demo, where my friends, Cheryl and Maria, and I demonstrated a day of raw foods.  We did, a green juice, a green smoothie, zucchini with raw alfredo, salad with raw dressings, homemade almond milk, and chocolate and vanilla chia pudding.  So starting that week I've been doing about 80-90% raw foods everyday, which has made "gluten-free" very easy!  

Single serving "Tropical Delight"

Green Juice

Chocolate Cherry Smoothie

(with LOADS of Kale)

Cheers!

Fresh Veggies, with (homemade) Raw Salsa, and sometimes ya just gotta have some Nacho Doritos (I said 80-90% Raw) ;)

This was my after workout drink last night--not as sweet as some of the other juices I've done.

It had an "off" aftertaste, which was probably the red and green chard that was in the "power greens"

This was about 2 cups of the 3 cups that I made...Sara ended up with the last cup, however, she was not as enthusiastic about this one as the others I've made.

I have also been experimenting with some nut/veggie pates, which work well as a "taco" filling, or a spread on gluten-free bread, and even as a dip for raw veggies. (You can check out those recipes and pictures on a previous post.) This week I hope to do some raw crackers in my dehydrator, and experiment with sprouting some nuts/seeds.

Chocolate for Breakfast :)

I absolutely LOVE the DQ's Chocolate Cherry Love Blizzard...so that was the inspiration for this morning's breakfast smoothie.  However this one IS actually good for you!

BTW...I am LOVING my Ninja Ultra Kitchen System...I use the single serving smoothie blender almost EVERYDAY.  

The Ingredients:

(this is a mix of kale, spinach, chard, and beet tops--you can use any greens you have, keep in mind though beet tops will give a slight "beet" flavor)

Frozen cherries, frozen banana (about 1/2 of one banana is enough to sweeten), almond milk, cocoa powder (about 2t.) and vanilla extract (about 1/2t)

Blend it all until...SMOOTHIE :)

Vegan Raw Taco/Sushi/Salmon

Ok, so the post title is a bit strange and confusing.  Let me explain.  These are raw nut/vegetable pate type "spreads/fillings", which I find to be quite versatile.

I also found, while playing with these recipes, the end result is better when the nuts are soaked for several hours before blending.

First up Taco filling.

1 C sunflower seeds
1 1/2 C walnuts
1 1/2 t cumin
3/4 t coriander
2 T soy sauce (or liquid aminos of some sort)

Soak the seeds and nuts for several hours or overnight.  Blend in a food processor until finely ground.  Add the remaining ingredients and process until well mixed.

This can be used in place of taco meat or if you want to stick with a more "raw" entree, you can use lettuce leaves as your "taco shell" and top with raw salsa and avocado.

As you can see, I was lazy and just threw some chopped tomato on top.

Next up, Sushi....

I'm not including a recipe, for this one, just the idea, because I'm still tweaking the recipe.  I am using soaked walnuts and sunflower seeds, orange bell pepper, and water chestnuts (you can leave these out IF you want this to be 100% raw), sesame seeds, soy sauce, and ginger.  Once this is all processed in your food processor, you can roll it up in seaweed by itself, or with other veggies.

And finally, mock salmon spread.

2 C almonds

1 C carrots

3/4 C water

1 T lemon juice

1 t salt

1 t paprika

1-2 T Liquid smoke

Soak the almonds for several hours or overnight.  Blend in a food processor until finely ground, add the remaining ingredients and process until well blended.

This is great on cucumber slices, bread, crackers, etc.

Tropical Delight Smoothie

This smoothie is packed with greens giving it lots of vitamins and minerals, and FIBER!

In your high speed blender (I used my single serving ninja cup) pack:

1 C spinach
1 C kale

Then pour in about 1 C lite coconut milk (Thai Kitchen Brand is what I used)

Now blend until smooth.

Add:
1 C pineapple (frozen, unsweetened)
1/2 medium banana (I used one from my freezer--I keep overripe bananas in my freezer just for smoothies)

Blend again until smooth, adding a bit more coconut milk or water if needed.

Raw Brownies

My first attempt at raw "brownies".  I'm not sure I would call these "brownies" because I am of the opinion that there is only one REAL brownie, and that it is in the cake mix aisle of your grocery store.  However, I decided to make this "raw" dessert recipe and give my honest opinion.

1 C Walnuts
1 C Almonds
2 C Medjool dates
3/4 C Cocoa powder
1/4 C Coconut shavings
1/4 C Coconut oil
1 t. Vanilla extract
2 T Agave nectar
pinch of sea salt

In the food processor, blend the walnuts and almonds until finely ground.  

Add the cocoa powder, coconut, coconut oil, vanilla, agave, and salt, blend well

Rough chop the dates.

Add this to the food processor and process until it forms a sticky mass.

Press this into a 9X9 or 8X8 pan.

At this point you want to refrigerate it for an hour or so.

You can drizzle melted chocolate over this, or you can frost it with the following recipe:

Raw Chocolate Frosting:

Process the following in a food processor until smooth.

1/2 Avocado

3-5 T. Agave nectar

1/4 C. Cocoa powder

2 t. vanilla extract

I am a bit disappointed because I didn't take a picture of the finished product, but because it was actually really yummy (however not really a "brownie"), I'm sure I'll be making it again....and hopefully I'll post a picture then. ;)

UPDATE:  Here's the picture :)