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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Raw Vegan (Emergency) Brownies in under 10 seconds. PuraVegan Raw Vegan Pizza. Horton gets out of Jail. Laughing Giraffe Raw Vegan Granola.

PuraVegan. In St. Louis, Missouri-United States.  Barbecue Pizza.  Had zero idea what to expect.  Um, amazing.  I went home & made raw bbq sauce for a week afterwards!  Lots of food and the crust was dense.  Very filling, and that's no BS. I hate "light" dishes as I am a powerhouse eater & can't stand it when there are a few pretty sprouts with some "raw" dressing and some nuts and it's called a burger or something.  But PuraVegan totally delivers & I have been to a fair number of Raw Places.  Try it!



This was the Italian Pizza I think...Deliciousness with the olives.  Once again, a great crust that had lots of flavor and was perfectly "done".  Raw crusts can be tricky.  They have to be thick enough to hold food, yet thin enough that they can fully dehydrate.  Also, when "wet" food hits the crust, the crust (if not protected), can get a bit damp.  So you can protect the crust by putting down an initial layer of collards, a dry nut base, or something to create a kind of barrier between the sauces and the crust.  It is not essential, but it does help the integrity of the crust last a bit longer.  Loved these pizzas!


And Raw Vegan Laughing Giraffe Granola.  I have never tried this, since it is usually not on sale & it has agave in it.  Usually I aim for the snacky snacks that are date sweetened.  But, I splurged.  

 The stuff is delicious.  Cranberry Orange.  Yum.  But delicious comes with a price.

190 out of 260 calories from fat.  That said, it is all from nuts.  Walnuts, Pecans, Almonds, Pumpkin Seeds, and Raw Cacao.  I have been trying not to overdo the nuts (my belly revolts) but of course I ate the whole bag within the day.  Yeah, I know.  I tried to pawn some off on my hubby but he likes to "save" the raw treats for me.  The combo of cacao, cinnamon & oranges rocked though.  And I might try to make a low fat version of these same flavors.  Without the agave.

So the whole bag has something like 28% RDA of Iron.  14% RDA of calcium.  7% Vitamin C.  



Improvisational Salad......Cabbage, Apples, Avocado, Cayenne.  Have been using Apple Cider Vinegar, salt free seasonings, and some dates as toppings.  

Ever heard the jokes about how raw vegan cookies are some nuts and dates smushed (yeah, it's a made up word) together?  Well, they are wrong.  Because usually it is in the food processor! :) But if I want some chocolate, and I mean, fast.  I don't want sugar. I don't want preservatives.  I pull out those Cacao Beans & grab a few dates from my 15 pound box from The Date People.


Ingredients: Cacao Beans.  Dates.
Usually I don't get this brand of Cacao.  It's fine, but this type is pricey & from Whole Foods.  I shop online for the best deal, typically.  

Step 1. Gently Massage/twist the peel of the Cacao Bean.  You can eat it.  But it is a little bitter.  My hubby loves the things, straight up.  But for the 10 second brownie, I peel it.  The cacao bean may break into nibs.  Try to keep them kind of together.

Step 2.  Take the pit out of the date.

Step 3.  Put the Cacao Bean into the date.  And Smush!




Pj & Horton.  Before he was rescued.  Horton is a doll.  He has hung out with multiple packs of dogs & all of his friends had been rescued.  We had plans to rescue him, but he actually went in an Animal Control Trap just prior to that!  Luckily a beautiful girl who works at the adoption center part of that, recognized him from some photos sent out weeks before.  We were notified, and Pj & GPG made a beeline for Animal Control.  If I did what Pj did every single day, I would have either have a yearly subscription to yoga, an organic vegan wine club & mandatory meditation classes-or be on high doses of Prosac.  Going into Animal Control was hard............We left with Horton but heard the cries of so many other dogs.  It was hell.  I was trying not to actually just sob uncotrollably and have a meltdown.   That's when I play "The Suffering Game".  I just have to focus on all of the suffering on the entire planet.  The ocean that is polluted.  The millions of animals on factory farms, that no one cares about.  The chickens with their beaks cut off, laying eggs.  The people in other countries risking their lives just to make water runs.  The widows of India, exiled from their families, spending their days begging.  The plants that are crying because their planet has been so polluted.  And what is happening inside of this Animal Control, is just a small piece of that suffering, that is happening as I type this.  So we are saving this one life, reducing the suffering by just a little bit.  And we cannot alleviate all of the suffering, all of the time.  We can only do our best.  So I just take those bad moments & try to put them in another spot in my head & try not to visit it too terribly much.
East St. Louis, Illinois

Here is Horton walking out of Animal Control (in Illinois) with Pj & Gateway Pet Guardians.

Horton getting kisses from the gals at Hillside Animal Hospital.

Walking out of Animal Control. Sigh. Cry. Sigh.

Pj helping Horton out at Hillside Animal Hospital.

Horton gets weighed!


A doll!

RaRa.  Still on the Streets.  East St. Louis



RaRa is in East St. Louis, Illinois.  If you would like to help her out, or any of the other kids on the streets.........please contact us.  Horton still needs a forever home as well. 
314.664.7398

1 comment:

  1. Look at those faces! I want to scritch their cheeks. Are they into that?

    When I see the word "cacao" I feel giggly because of Portlandia. Thanks for helping to desensitize me. :D We're not yet raw vegans, but I want to learn more so I'm not all ignorant of stuff.

    ReplyDelete