Itzy Bitzy Kitch

What I wouldn't give to be able to work in a sizable kitchen with an island; big enough to accommodate two high speed blenders, a monstrosity of a food processor, a dehydrator, stock piles of mason jars & heaps of produce from thy farmers market. I've had it with wobbly make-shift cutting boards over oven tops and hardly any elbow room to speak of. (Hurrah, Top Chef comes back this week!! Sorry, kitchen-talk always makes me channel my inner Top-Chef-worshiping-self. This blog post really has nothing to do with Top Chef, except that their kitchens are enormous and make mine look even punier!)

And yet, my itzy bitzy kitchen still manages to turn out more food than I know what to do with sometimes...wobbly cutting board and shifting blender/food processor no counter space and all!

Last week my impractically small kitchen turned out some pretty delicious raw food goodness:

Strawberry Jam Shortcake Bars

Served warm and ooey gooey straight out of the dehydrator...

I'm a sucker for veggie loafs. They make for super quick and easy meals that are just packed with lots of veg, nuts, and seeds. It's a great way to sneak in veggies that people don't normally like. 

 This week I did a 'Parmesan' Encrusted Italian-style Veggie Loaf

The veg loaf is so versatile too. You can cut it up and eat it in a wrap or crumble it over a hearty kale salad.

Another yummy delight and an all around raw food nerd fav.: FALAFELS!!!! Raw, vegan dollups of herby deliciousness!

Cumin-Cilantro Falafels

I loooovee cumin...in everything. I mix it with nutritional yeast and add it to my many variations of avo mac&cheeze and my cucumber mash. It's sooo good. I try and eat pretty clean and I don't get too crazy with adding tons of spices to my food, but for someone who really doesn't eat nuts and seeds, I think seasoning is really important. It's a great way for me to remain 'consistant' and basically eat the same thing everyday while still allowing for variety.

On Friday, in the midst of a cleaning frenzy, I decided to whip up a batch of sauerkraut. I haven't had it in so long and I was really craving some. I threw together a rather spicy batch of green cabbage/carrot/jalapeno/cumin kraut.

I've read a lot of conflicting facts about the health benefits of kraut/fermented veggies. I can't imagine that eating what essentially is rotting food can be all that good for you, but it sure tastes good! If my only real vice is some delicious fermented food, then guilty I shall be. lol.

All jarred up and ready to be fermented!

I've been incredibly thirsty these last two weeks which probably has something to do with yoga. Bikram has been so humid and I've been sweating so much...like pouring in my eyes sweating..I go through an entire gallon of water during class. Afterwards all I want is juice, but alas, I am far too lazy to cut, blend, and strain everyday. (Ohhh huroom, I'mmm waitingggg!)

And so begins my love affair with melons of all varieties...watermelon and honey dew make the most insane tasting juice. Maybe I've just been a raw foodist way too long but, it seriously tastes like liquid cotton candy!

The Blendtec has made juice making so easy. Especially when I've got ten trillion blood oranges and tangelos to get rid of. They were like eight for $1 at the Farmers Market. I heart minola tangelos - so tany and tart, but still sweet. Unfortunately, the tangelos had so many seeds it really wasn't worth the trouble of picking them out so I just made a yummy juice instead. Carrot/Orange/Lemon juice. You can stuff so much into that carafe!

I strain it through a nut milk bag and it's fantastic. It's actually still kind of thick which reminds me of drinking pulpy OJ. Although, I think regular navel oranges are the best for making homemade pulpy OJ!

In other, less foodly, news, I am trying to get better with blogging and commenting back! I suck, I know. I'll be better, I promise. Either way, I always appreciate the comments! It gives me some serious motivation to get my tush in gear. (Hence, it's 11:52 PM and I'm writing out the rest of this post that I started on Saturday! Saturday! Oye vey!)

I've also got something very exciting to share this week! No, I'm not pregnant...my bump is strictly from eating too much watermelon...lol

P.S. Has anyone else been watching Food Network Star? Am I the only one who thinks this season is a disaster? I feel bad for the two women, Artie and the Britney Murphy-look-a-like, since they are the only two who really have a shot at this. They should just send the rest home now and let those two compete, Iron Chef-style...