Inspired by SouleMama
September 20, 2013
September 18, 2013
living naturally fair :: raw zucchini pasta recipe
Photo by Tereza Anderson
I had the honour of participating in the Whole Foods Living Naturally Fair again this year on the chef stage. Last year I did a one hour demo of a green smoothie and gourmet smoothie, representing the Juice Caboose. Recipes can be found here. This year I competed, yes, I said competed, as a Whole Foods employee on the chef stage against another Whole Foods employee. The ingredient that both of us had to incorporate into our dish was Beyond Meat Chicken-Free Strips. It is a vegan, gluten free chicken substitute that Whole Foods using in some of its vegan dishes in the prepped foods department. C and I tried it in preparation for the competition. In the past I've stayed away from meat replacements when eating vegan/vegetarian as I haven't enjoyed them all that much. I have to say that this one is really delicious and the most chicken like I've ever tried! We cooked up the strips quickly from frozen and ate them as chicken strips with BBQ sauce.
I decided to pull out some raw vegan recipes of days gone by. I've been noticing that fresh, veggie pastas are making the circuit of main stream food blogs. Thanks raw vegans and all your great ideas! I decided on a raw zucchini pasta, as I always think it best to keep it fresh when making vegan dishes. It's easy to turn a vegan and vegetarian diet into a junk food vegan/vegetarian diet therefore my first priority with a vegan/vegetarian dish is to start with the raw vegetables and incorporate my other ingredients from there.
One of my favourite dishes when I was a practicing raw foodist was zucchini pasta. It always seemed to be the kind of dish that you could get non-raw vegans hooked on healthy quite quickly.
Photo by Whole Foods Market Robson
Beyond Meat Raw Zucchini Pasta & Tahini Avocado Alfredo Dressing
:: 5-6 medium zucchini
:: 1/4 C raw tahini
:: 1/2 avocado
:: 1-2 cloves garlic
:: 1 lemon juiced
:: 3 T apple cider vinegar
:: 1 1/2 T raw honey
:: 3 T nutritional yeast
:: 1 t black pepper, to taste
:: 1 t sea salt
:: 2 T tamarind paste
:: 1-2 C water, as needed
:: 1-2 C Beyond Meat Chicken Free Strips, grilled and cubed
:: Alive and Radiant Foods - Perfectly Plain Kale Chips, crushed
Trim the ends of the zucchini. Using a spiral slicer slice the zucchini into noodles (**see note below on spiral slicers and alternatives) and transfer to a large bowl. Using a paper towel or cloth, gently ring out the zucchini, discarding the leftover water.
In a blender, blend all ingredients until smooth. The dressing should be quite thick. Add more water to thin as desired.
Store in a glass jar with a lid in the refrigerator.
Beyond Meat can be grilled, baked or fried from frozen. For the above recipe we grilled the Beyond Meat Chicken Free Strips for a few minutes on each side. Careful not to over cook. Chop Beyond Meat into size you prefer.
Combine all three together in the large bowl. Toss until thoroughly mixed. Garnish with the crushed kale chips and serve. (4-6)
Variations:
:: Add julienned red and yellow peppers to add some colour and vibrance.
:: Instead of garnishing with kale chips try: nutritional yeast, seaweed flakes, or hemp seeds.
:: Take out the tahini and tamarind and increase the avocado and lemon juice to make more of a caesar dressing for your pasta.
** The spiral slicer that is featured on the lower part of this link is the one that I have in my home and used for the noodles. It has two types of noodles - thin/spaghetti or ribbon/fettucine. The top one of this link has more types of noodles. In my recent research on the topic of spiral slicers I found this called the Gefu for $29.99. It looks like a great little kitchen tool, but I've never tried it. If you don't have a sprial slicer or a mandolin, you can use a vegetable peeler to make the noodles. I have eaten very delicious zucchini noodles made this way.
Much to my dismay I do not rock a baseball cap! Nor did I rock the competition. Pictured above is Mary, my competitor who made Beyond Meat Chicken-Free Caesar Wraps with ginger and spring greens. It was apparently a tight contest, like I lost by one vote type thing and that's ok. I already have another invite to next years fair and I had a blast hanging out on stage with Mary and the other marketeers that were running the competition. Plus I got to hang out and try all the other dishes paired with delicious Harkers Wine. Here's a little taste of my weekend:
The real winner this weekend was UBC Farm - they walked away with $30,000 raised by the Living Naturally Fair 2013. What a huge success and fun way to raise money.
All the recipes are to be posted from all the contestants on the Whole Foods Robson Facebook Page. I will update when they are. In the meantime, enjoy this recipe of mine!
XO.
Suzanne
September 11, 2013
summer :: part 1
If you aren't a close friend or coworker you probably don't know why we took off to Ontario for two months instead of sticking around and working the Juice Caboose to the bone! Well, family comes first and a part of my family has become sick. So sick, that the best thing I could think of to do was to leave work for two months, fly to my home town with my 6 year old and pup in tow, and spend as much time as possible with my dad as we could, while his time was still quality time. It was the best decision I ever made.
So just in case yesterday's post gave you the wrong impression about what I was up to this summer, here is a little taste of what the first month looked like.
Yes there is a Whole Foods Team Member card in there! I worked part time at a local Whole Foods and just loved the people so much. They were so wonderful and supportive and I had great pleasure in working with them.
We also spent some great times with my brother and his new wife! They took off time just to spend with us and we hit Canada's Wonderland, Milton Strawberry Festival and lazer tag in just the first couple of weeks.
The first month had some ups and downs. I did my best to support my dad with what I could offer. I was just so glad to be there when there was an emergency. I've been pretty helpless being across the country with all the details of his illness going on since last November.
Anyway, I'll be back with month two and more details on this experience.
XO.
Suzanne
September 10, 2013
my summer drinking binge
I decided that if I wasn't going to be making my drinks this summer, having put the Juice Caboose on hiatus to be with my family in Ontario, I was going to be trying as many new drinks of everyone else's I could get in. It was one of my big splurges and allowable treats that I put into an expanded summer budget.
This is what my drink menu looked like:
Perhaps you thought I meant alcoholic? Yeah, I can't really handle my liquor, unless it's fermented! Here's the list of my delicious and virgin cocktails from the summer. Drinks from largest, clockwise: 1.Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar Drink with Honey; 2.GT Daves Raspberry Chia Kombucha; 3.Whole Foods Cold Pressed Juices; 4.Anne of Green Gables Raspberry Cordial; 5.Blue Monkey Coconut Coffee Drink; 6.Rise Kombucha Blueberry Maple; 7.Rise Kombucha Rose Schizandra; 8.Liquid Nutrition Nutty Smoothie; 9.Rise Kombucha Mint Chlorophyll; 10.Volvic Water with fresh Mint, Lemon, Lime and Strawberries
Another great drink that didn't make the photo cut was Steaz Organic Green Tea with Coconut Water. Very refreshing!
Overall these drinks were all quite delicious. Some naturally stood out as favourites more than others for me. My absolute favourites were the Rise Kombucha Mint Chlorophyll and the Blue Monkey Coconut Water Coffee Drink. SO Yum! Part of my interest in these drinks is being able to make my own varities. I especially love coconut water and have been drinking it long before it became the canned drinking frenzie that it has become. Mixing it with green teas and coffee sure have my senses going. Also, kombucha has long been on my list of things to try making. My one friend Heather is a pro and has been offering me a free scobie for some time. Perhaps there will be batches of my own in the near future.
And just like that, my summer drinking binge is over! I already whipped up a Pumpkin Pie Spice Smoothie recently as a treat to a few Whole Foodies to celebrate the impending fall. Maybe we need to get that recipe up here sooner than later.
Made any exceptional yummy drink discoveries lately... do share with us here! Let the drinking binge continue!
Cheers!
Suzanne
September 03, 2013
EC Returns :: 37 by 38
Oh dear friends! It is great to be back. I feel the ground beneath my feet. I feel the subtle ebb and flow of the earth and the directions that I should go. I feel... better. This year has been no picnic. I thought that this summer was going to be a great opportunity for me to catch up on my love of blogging, however, technology proved to foresee a different direction for my summer. In the end, it was all just a great opportunity to really put EVERYTHING on hold, relax, feel, be with my family, recover, recouperate, rejuvenate, revive, repeat. And that is just what I did.
Now that we're back, I bring you the long awaited, long overdue, drumrollllllll...... I bring you my 37 by 38 list of intentions for the next year! This list of intentions was inspired by the women of A Beautiful Mess and her inspiration at Hula Seventy. (PS. I had a lovely birthday with great friends and great food. I'm a lucky gal. Unfortunately it wasn't very blogable - I was moving my entire life into a 7 by 9 by 7 foot box. A story for another time).
Without further ado:
1. Unpack
Just kidding.
Without further ado:
1. Take snowboarding lessons with C.
2. Sell the Juice Caboose and settle its accounts.
3. Get my long awaited tattoo.
4. Do a cleanse.
5. Finalize my separation.
6. Save up living expenses for 3 months.
7. Redesign the Enchanted Chameleon blog.
8. Plan a trip to Disney World with family.
9. Experiment with updating/refinishing old furniture.
10. Attend a knitting circle.
11. Write a book.
12. Get myself into a cleaning routine.
13. Create a chore chart for C.
14. Experiment in the kitchen with low glycemic sugars and sweetners.
15. Go on a date.
16. Go out for dinner at Acorn.
17. Set up a sewing kit for C.
18. Buy a record player.
19. Listen to more music.
20. Create a beauty regimen for skin.
21. Create a beauty regimen for hair.
22. Get a bike.
23. Start saving for a laptop.
24. Restore trailer.
25. Go camping.
26. Take a weekend trip alone.
27. Practice yoga.
28. Watch the entire series of Little House on the Prairie.
29. Clean my car.
30. Go surfing.
31. Take C to the CN Tower.
32. Take C to Medieval Times.
33. Write for Rhythm of the Home.
34. Fill the house with plants.
35. Don't let the above plants die.
36. Watch less TV.
37. Take a trip to Portland with C.
Looking at this list, I can't help but think about the year that has just passed. Oh my goodness! In time I will share it all, but only as the wisdom of the experiences comes. In case you are wondering how last years list went, you can see it here. I'm hoping that there are less life changing events this year and more down time to just be and experience the little things. That is what this list is to me: the little things.
Oh I'm so glad to be back! I can't wait to see where this goes!
XO.
Suzanne
May 07, 2013
~ gone baby gone ~
I've been thinking a lot lately of which direction to go with Enchanted Chameleon. I'm no longer the same woman that started this blog, and to be honest it's partly because of this blog and the world that has come with it that I have changed. I don't want to just post DIY projects I complete or recipes that I make. I really want to write. Mostly I think that my writing isn't going to be sustainable. And you know what, I'm probably right. But practice would make it sustainable and if the amount of growth that has come from this blog is directly proportionate to the amount of growth that my writing would receive from writing more than I guess I should just start writing. Non?
As for content, well, the best I can do is start with the present...
I was packing up C's old baby stuff last week and it touched a spot that along with my heart and feelings towards love relationships has long been bound up in concrete, keeping me safe from pain. I was packing and posting for it to be sold, donated or given away to friends. I mentioned my task to another mother on the playground that was missing a Padraig slipper on her baby (an exact Padraig slipper whose opposite foot was in my contents minus it's mate - serendipity) and she jokingly called me a horder. Without judgement or drama I responded that I had been saving the clothes for another baby. She quickly apologized but really, no apology was necessary. I wasn't looking for sympathy or attention, I just had no qualm about being honest. I really hadn't thought about the lots and lots of clothing, shoes, hats and other infant and toddler items in my storage for a while. Not until recently, the storage space for it became the center of my living room.
A few special pieces passed through my hands and memories returned and the urge to hang onto those items just a bit longer came with it. But I managed to pass along the ABCD/ACDC onesie to the right person at work and to set aside the knitted Ruby Slippers that I made myself for a friend that will truly appreciate them. Other than that, the goods are on their way out.
It's complicated yet, it's really straight forward. I still wanted more children before and after my marriage disolving last year. It's not the reason that it ended but it's best that it ended while I still have a chance at that hope. Yet, for me to get there, to a place where I can put my loving trust in another human that can go with me on the journey of another baby, I first have to let go of that hope, because at 37 next month, there is a good chance that there might not be another baby regardless of what I want. And that's that.
Insert tears here.
To get to the next journey, I must first complete this journey. I've had to say good bye to a number of things these past 6 or so months. I said good bye to a good friend, the dream of marriage, my home, my business and in the next year, if the doctors are correct I will also be saying goodbye to my dad. I guess I figured saying goodbye to some baby clothes was just that. Clothes. But it turns out there is a dream there too. Although the feelings that come with all of this just basically suck, I often answer in response to the question of how I am doing quite truthfully: Better than I think I am.
And I mean it. I'm better than I think I am. Or at least, I'm better than I feel like I am. This will all end and a new journey will come along. Maybe by the end of this year I'll have a clean slate. A blank canvas for new hopes and dreams. But they won't be worth having if I didn't learn why the old hopes and dreams didn't work. So practice my writing I shall. Today I practice writing goodbye. Goodbye to the things that must go in order to move forward. Be it a onesie, a photograph, or a self defeating belief. I'm ready, not really ready, but ready. And I know cause I just wrote so. Xo. S
March 29, 2013
{this moment}
Normally I post {this moment} photos on Friday's (inspired by SouleMama) completely wordless and to the point. A single photo that I want to remember. This week I'm going to break my rules to share a really special moment from last month and talk about it.
Allowing C to be the ringbearer in my brother's wedding was a little stressful for me. He's 6. He's a boy. He's got a mind of his own. My brother and his wife to be at the time had zero expectations for perfection from the little ones in the wedding party and with that I agreed. Leading up to the wedding C practiced a little but mostly used being the ringbearer as a means to negotiating for things he wanted. I swear I had no idea how it would turn out in the end. Well, in the end, dressed up in a Vera Wang suit, he took his part as ringbearer the most seriously. I literally gushed in awe as he walked out, displaying the pillow that had the word love on it for everyone to see. All the bridesmaids thought I was going to cry right there! Turns out I had the real problem walking down the isle. I walked too fast and had the most ridiculous smile because I was so enchanted with C. It was a great moment, I will never forget.
Thanks for stopping by friends. Check out more wonderful pics from my brother's wedding here. Have a lovely long Easter weekend. XO. S
Photos by Stec Photography.
March 20, 2013
~ pillow talk ~
One night not long ago a Mama and her little boy snuggled in bed after a long day of school, work and play. The little boy was telling his Mama about his day and an event that wasn't sitting well with him at all. He had gotten "into trouble" with the woman he spent his afternoons with when Mama was at work. Mama continued to listen as the story unfolded. wanting to know all the details. She knew that sometimes getting into trouble was a good thing even if it was from someone else and she also knew that sometimes her sensitive little one, much like her, felt like things were much worse than they were and there was just a lesson to be learned.
The story turned out to be what Mama would only deem a miscommunication between the two. The boy had thought the books in his hand at the store were paid for by the woman and the woman hadn't realized they had left the store with the books still in his hands. A mistake, nothing more. Naturally a little lesson (insert 'trouble' by the boy) had followed on the rules of paying and not paying. Fast forward to that evening, at bedtime, snuggled with his Mama and he resoundingly swore to never touch anything ever again.
"It sounded like you had made a mistake". Mama explained. "Sometimes when we make mistakes the bad feeling that comes with it feels so bad we want to make it so that we don't feel like that ever again. It's okay to make mistakes, and it's okay to feel this way, but I know you'll be able to touch things again".
He didn't agree and she expected that. He rolled over and closed his eyes for sleep, a little more at peace with the situation in spite of himself.
Mama let out a sigh and rolled over the other way and turned her attention inward.
Sounds a lot like the feelings that she was having. She had recently become single after 6 years of marriage. The two were cuddled up on the old mattress in their new home, together, the two of them, well, three, if you count the dog, and they usually always counted the dog, beginning a new chapter, a new and very scary chapter in their lives.
Maybe really more scary for the Mama.
She took in her own words of wisdom that she had just spoken to her son, knowing that they were lying there for this moment together more so that she might learn the lesson and not he. She, like her son not touching anything, had made her own pact with herself never to date ever again. Not even solely out of protection from the bad feelings but the improbability that she could bring herself to feel vulnerable or connected or even loved ever again. It just didn't seem likely that these feelings would ever go away.
But, momentarily a glimmer of hope that she too could love again someday, much further down the road than her son would be touching things of course, but yes someday, the bad feelings would pass, her lessons would be learned and life really would go on and things would be better.
"No rush", she thought to herself. And she slowly drifted off to sleep, also a little more at peace with the situation, in spite of herself.
And they both, as well as the dog, lived to live happily ever after. XO. S
March 13, 2013
December 17, 2012
~ a xmas break ~
"There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stagecoach, that is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place."
~ Washington Irving
Tales of a Traveler (1824)
Dearest EC friends and family. I hope you are all finding some time to enjoy the magic of the holiday amidst all the running around and busyness that this season also brings. I know that I haven't posted as I had planned to the past couple of weeks partly due to the extra doings surrounding the holiday and C's birthday. I had some crafts and birthday party doings and lot's of Xmas shopping help to be posted but not only did my schedule start to close in on me but so did some recent personal changes.
In light of these personal changes, I've discovered that I'm not a superhero and am unable to be in more than one place at one time or do more than one thing at a time or even do everything that I normally do when I'm facing a personal challenge. I have figured that the best thing to cure what is ailing me at this time, is most likely to slow down as opposed to speeding up. I'm doing my best to capture the happiness that is going on and the gratitude that I feel for those things and would love nothing more than to return to this space when the season has died down and I have a better grip on my time and share them post Xmas. Above all, I personally don't want to be so caught up in the hustle and bustle while trying to tend to a long list of extra tasks and miss out completely on the importance of the season, and that is time with my beloveds. Especially in the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook, more than anything a hug and a cuddle are 100 times more gratifying than 100 things off my to do list.
Perhaps I will have opened myself up to posting something now that I have opened myself up to you, maybe not. I think you will all find the perfect gifts and the perfect recipes with or without me this year. And what an incredible year. I have so much to be grateful for, and I am hanging onto that wonderful feeling as I 'shift positions'. I look forward to a relaxing and joyful holiday full of only the best things, I wish you the same. I look forward to a wonderful new year, that experience shows is always better than the last, I also wish you the same.
Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice and Happy Hanukkah! XO. S
Welcome
- single mum. gluten-free. photography. beabull. sass. love. enchanted chameleon. north vancouver.
