Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Alternative post title: “More Cookies? Uhm, yeah.”

Anyways … blogging has been sparse this week because, of course, it’s Erik’s birthday week!! He turned 30 on Wednesday. I tell you what, I married an old man! Ha.

After eating dinner on Wednesday we were going to go get a “sweet stack” (cashew ice cream + brownie) at Fud buuut after getting there we realized they’re not open on Wednesday nights yet (they’re going to be soon, so we’re not totally crazy, we just jumped the gun a bit).

Sooo … Lesley to the rescue! Erik’s request was oatmeal raisin cookies and cashew ice cream. The cookies turned out deliciously!

Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
lightly adapted from Oh She Glows

Ingredients:

• 2 cups oats, divided
• 1 1/2 cup toasted almonds (or any other nuts)
• 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup Sucanat
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 2 tablespoons almond milk
• 4 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup raisins

Instructions:

• Preheat oven at 350 degrees, and roast almonds on baking sheet for about 10 minutes. Remove, let cool for a few minutes. Place in food processor or high powered blender until finely ground.
• Mix together flour, baking soda, 1 cup oats, cinnamon and Sucanat. Place in food processor or high powered blender until finely ground, and combine with the ground almonds.
• Stir together wet ingredients (coconut oil, agave, almond milk and vanilla), and mix together with dry ingredients. Stir in remaining 1 cup of oats and raisins
• Place on cookie sheet (I made 12 large cookies) and bake for about 15 minutes.

Tip: Add chocolate chips for added deliciousness!

And, of course, I’ve posted my cashew ice cream recipe before. Instead of almond butter, though, I tossed in a little peanut butter this time around. Delish!

We’re having a party on Saturday to complete the birthday celebration and, of course, it will be full of delicious vegan food!
Can’t wait to tell you all about it

Have a great weekend!

Carrot Cake Balls

More carrots, anyone??

Carrot cake raisin bread just wasn’t enough, apparently, because that was not the end of carrot inspired baked goods. These are fairly similar to the bread, but have a different, surprisingly delicious taste to them.

Carrot Cake Balls
Adapted from Oh She Glows

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat bread flour
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup finely shredded coconut
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds (or other nut)
• 1 cup finely shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions:

• Preheat oven at 375.
• In large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt and oats. Add carrots and almonds.
• In separate bowl, mix together agave, vanilla, and coconut oil. Add to flour mixture and stir until combined.
• Drop onto parchment paper lined baking sheets, about 1 tablespoon in size. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden.

*Makes around two dozen.

As I said before, these are surprisingly delicious! I initially figured they would be just okay but, no, they far surpass “okay”, I promise. And they get even better the next day.

Okay, now who’s ready for pumpkins, crisp evenings and crunchy leaves to step on?? I am, I am!

Jonsi’s raw raspberry pie

Happy December!!

The only thing that makes going to work in the dark, and leaving in the dark okay is the Christmas music I listen to during my short commute!  It’s sure starting to feel a lot like winter … scarves, brisk mornings, blowing wind, knee high boots, and hot beverages … ahhh :)

{Awkward transitioning to hair products}

Has anyone ever tried “Yes to Cucumbers” shampoo/conditioner?  I’ve seen these “Yes to … “ products before, and saw they had a color care version and decided to try it out.  We’ll see how it goes!

Now as promised, back to this:

Raw Raspberry Pie

But first, a story behind it …

Erik had been listening to a lot of music by Jonsi, of Sigur Ros, (aka this guy):

And he soon discovered Jonsi & Alex … musician by day, raw foodie by night (or something like that, ha).  Either way, Jonsi & Alex’s raw strawberry pie caught Erik’s eye.

So we went to work!

Their recipe is on their website, where you can download a free mini recipe book called Good Heart Recipe Book, and watch some recipe videos.  But basically, here were the ingredients with one difference of raspberries instead of strawberries:

Crust:
- 1 cup almonds
- 1 cup coconut
- 1 cup dates
- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
- Pinch of salt

Filling:
- 2 cups coconut
- 2 cups frozen raspberries (or other fruit)
- 1/2 cup agave nectar
- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
- Pinch of salt

Directions:
Simply blend crust ingredients one by one, mix together, and flatten into pie pan.

Add blended filling mixture, refrigerate for two hours (or more), and EAT! 

Thanks, Jonsi & Alex!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! : ]

Cup of joy

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family, and good food!

I’ve been loving this extra time off work, and my relaxing mornings with no alarms, bright sunshine, and warm cups of joy:

Also known as … warm chai tea.

Erik and I spent Thanksgiving at my mother-in-law’s and she was nice enough to make us a non traditional, vegetarian meal of delicious appetizers and lasagna, yum!!  I didn’t miss the turkey, in fact that was never my favorite part about Thanksgiving anyways.  My contribution was peanut butter cookies:

They were decent, but could have been sweeter, and baked a few minutes less!
 
And I’m sure none of us have had enough food lately, so it’s only logical that it’s recipe time!!

Erik and I have made this several times now, I talked about it in my last post, and we love.  So without further ado …

Grown up Mac ‘N Cheese

Ingredients:
- Penne pasta
- Chopped medium onion
- Cheese of choice (we actually used Provolone, and it tastes delish!)
-1 vegetable bouillon cube or about 2 cups broth
- Minced garlic
- Olive oil
- Kale or other greens such as spinach or chard
- Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
- Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
- Boil a pot of water for the Penne, which will need to be cooked al dente.
- Sautee chopped onions and minced garlic in olive oil until tender.
- Pour dried Penne pasta into boiling water.  Cook al dente.
- Add vegetable broth and chopped kale to sauté mixture, and let cook down a little.

- When pasta is complete, pour into baking dish, and add a small layer of cheese.

- Pour in vegetable mixture, and the another layer of cheese. Add salt, pepper, and other seasonings of choice.

- Pop it in the oven for thirty minutes, or until cheese becomes golden brown, and voila!

We’ve been on a huge pasta kick lately, and this fits the bill perfectly.

I got up way too late this morning, because Erik and I stayed up way past our bedtime watching season one of Mercy on Netflix.  Therefore, my goal today is to be productive!

What’s on tap for your weekend??

Help us out!

Help us out! We recently added a Facebook page for our healthy vending business riiiiight HERE.  There’s not much action goin’ on over there yet, so head on over and give us some love! ; )  Thanks for all your support, it’s greatly appreciated!

And since you haven’t seen enough vegetables sitting on my kitchen counter lately, here’s some more! Ha. 

By Lesley Lifting Life standards, highlights of this week are the two squash (butternut and acorn), the fact that we had regular potatoes AND sweet potatoes, followed by the zucchini squash. And just for fun’s sake,  some random items from our recent grocery store visit:Quinoa = a given. 
Chocolate chip Larabars = a nice break from normal Larabars.  I’m sick of date-based bars, but these Laras with chocolate chips are my only exception.
Chobani = my current favorite Greek yogurt
Go Raw ginger snaps = good, but too much ginger fro me.  I’ve decided I don’t think I love a really strong ginger flavor.

And finally, onto dinner!

I decided to utilize our awesome veggies to make a simple, delicious soup.  It’s a very similar version as the crock pot stew I made a couple weeks ago, just a few minor changes, and cooked in a stock pot on the stovetop.It involved the following:
-Broccoli
-Carrots
-Sweet potatoes
- Regular potatoes
- Celery
- Brown rice
- Quinoa
- Little olive oil
- Little balsamic vinegar
- Chili powder (generous amount)
- Salsa (I put in about a cup, just for some tastiness good measure)
- Sea salt, to taste
- Water (as much as you want, depending on how thick you prefer your soup) Perfect for a windy fall evening! 

Have a great Wednesday, and don’t forget to check out Originally Organic Vending on Facebook! And while I’m at it, come and be Lesley Lifting Life’s friend on Facebook as well! : )

What did you have for dinner??

Veggies, Apple Butter & Fall

I’m so glad the weekend is practically here!  The week has actually flown by but the weekend just doesn’t ever get here too fast. 

Everyone may be sick of seeing a giant pile of produce on my kitchen counter by now, but here are some more! Ha.  I just love Door to Door Organics.  It’s made me very motivated to cook, and the quality of produce has yet to disappoint us.I don’t have an “official” list this week but here’s the gist of it:

• Lettuce
• 4 artichokes
• Sweet potatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 4 oranges
• 7 pears
• 6 apples
• Bananas
• Carrots
• Kale
• Onions
• Broccoli
• Green and purple bell peppers
• Tomatoes

We eat a lot.  But I guess if you’re going to eat a lot of something, produce is a good pick ; )

We picked up a few groceries tonight (not any fruits or veggies, mind you) and here’s a major highlight … apple butter!
Apples, squash, browns, oranges, golden yellows, warm tea, crunchy leaves, crisp mornings …. Fall.

Although I’m  tired of Larabars, I saw peanut butter chocolate chip and chocolate chip cookie dough and had to try them.  One thing about Larabars, they really do taste like what they say they will.  That means this baby is going to be a good one ----> 
And next up … our new favorite milk.  For awhile we’ve been stuck on almond milk but have lately made the switch back to good ole cow’s milk of the 1 or 2% version. 

Enter …. Shatto:
Shatto Milk Company is a local Kansas City area farm that sells cow’s milk with no growth hormones.  On top of that, they use glass bottles that can be returned and reused, and the milk tastes awesome! 

I find myself drinking milk with random things such as pasta and burritos and just for fun … and I love it!

Finally, dinner is served:
Crockpot veggie and bean stew

Mmm!  It was very simple really, throw these ingredients into a crockpot:

• Cubed sweet potatoes
• Broccoli, chopped
• Carrots, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 can garbanzo beans (suggested brand w/ BPA free can: Eden Organic) 
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 cup lentils
• 2 cups quinoa (dry)
• 2 chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 to 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 TB minced garlic
• Chili powder, generous amount
• Garlic & herb seasoning
• Sea salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Water, filled to top of crock pot once veggies are in

Feel free to add any other random veggies in the mix, it’s hard to mess this one up! Cook in crockpot on high for 5 hours, or until ingredients tender (those darn sweet potatoes took forever to cook!) 

Eat and enjoy : )

Juicing + Sloppy Lentils

This weekend I decided to utilize my crock pot.  Why don’t I use this genius invention more often?? It’s so easy to make something delicious with little to no effort.

Friday night while Erik and I were out, my crock pot made us sloppy lentils.  I saw this recipe, or something similar to it, floating around some blogs recently and bookmarked one of them for a time such as this.

I was really happy with the results.  I think next time I might sub half of the lentils for black beans, though. Lentils are so fiber packed it’s almost a little much in my opinion.  I adapted this recipe.

Sloppy Lentils

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup dry lentils, rinsed
• 1 small chopped onion
• 15 oz can diced tomatoes (drained),
• 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 3 tablespoons agave nectar
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Throw all ingredients in a crock pot, cook on low for approximately five hours. Serve with bun and  side of choice.

And it made for awesome easy leftovers the next day:

“Truth without beauty can turn into arrogant condescension; goodness without beauty can turn into finger-wagging moralism. Beauty matters." –brian zahnd-

Cold and colorful couscous salad

What a crazy night!

I talked to my mom this morning and she told us that if we leave to head to NE at our scheduled time (Wednesday when I get off work around 3) that we probably wouldn’t be able to make it due to an impending blizzard/snow storm.

So last minute asked my boss for Wednesday off and we decided to do our traveling tomorrow (Tuesday) at 3 instead. Therefore, that meant I had to do all the laundry, figure out what I needed to bring for Christmas dinner, pack and get everything ready tonight.

I feel rather scatterbrained after all that but I’m still smiling ….

… and I needed another picture for this post since I didn’t have time to think about blogging today and this is one is the only I had to use ; )

I thought tonight would be a good night to post my couscous salad recipe.

Cold & Colorful Couscous Salad

 

Ingredients: (all as desired)

• 10 oz box of couscous (I used Hodgson Mill’s whole wheat couscous with milled flax and soy)
• yellow zucchini
• green zucchini
• red bell pepper
• yellow bell pepper
• red onion
• lemon
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• sea salt
• pepper
• Mrs. Dash’s garlic and herb seasoning

Directions:

1. Follow directions for cooking couscous, let cool and place in fridge
2. Chop all veggies into desired size (I like them small)
3. Place chopped veggies, seasonings, olive oil and balsamic vinegar into bowl together and place in fridge to allow flavors to permeate.
4. Thirty minutes to an hour prior to serving, fluff couscous with a fork, stir in veggie mixture, and serve.

Enjoy!

Time for Christmas

Thank you all for still reading even though I haven’t been very involved in the “community” lately apart from posting … life will slow down soon and I’ll be around more ; )

I may not see you all tomorrow as we’ll be on the road and pulling into Nebraska late in the evening.  Say a prayer and cross your fingers that we beat the storm!

And guess what ….. CHRISTMAS IS ON FRIDAY!  Ha, are you ready? I am!

 

-Lesley

Portabella mushroom pizza

Happy Wednesday!

Is this week going by slow to anyone else? The full week before a holiday seems to always be extra long!!

However, I just love this time of year : ) I keep saying that but I just can’t help myself! A lot of exciting things seem to be happening in our lives as well, so that makes it even better.

Christmas Card

Here is our finished Christmas card. The color turned out darker than I had expected but they’ll work (you can’t see the dark color in this picture ; ) Now I just need to get them addressed and sent out!

Dinner

Last night’s dinner is an “old” favorite of ours … portabella pizza! (Except for Erik … he had “real” pizza).

And here’s the portabella …  

I LOVE this pizza. It’s any mushroom lover’s dream … not to mention a total guilt free and healthy pizza. It’s great topped with any of your favorite pizza toppings but here’s my mix …

Ingredients:

• large portabella mushroom
• no salt added tomato paste
• no salt added tomato sauce
• no salt added diced tomatoes
• ground turkey
• chopped onions
• reduced fat feta cheese
• 2% shredded mozzarella cheese
• olive oil
• Mrs. Dash’s garlic and herb seasoning
• pepper
• sea salt

Directions:

• Wash large portabella mushroom, removing stem and hollowing out the inside to desire thickness
• Add desired ingredients beginning with sauces and ending with the cheese
• Bake directly on the rack at 425 degrees until cheese melted.

Tip: place some tin foil on the rack underneath pizza to catch the dripping

What’s your favorite way to eat portabella mushrooms?

 

-Lesley

 

Cold day, warm soup!

It’s almost the weekend! : )

The temperature seems to be getting lower and lower and winter weather seems to be sneaking up on us. When I got home from work, my wonderful husband had a huge pot of soup simmering on the stove. It turned out perfect! Erik is a wonderful chef! ; )

Chicken & Garlic Vegetable Medley Soup

He started with a base of water and here’s a list of the approximate ingredients:

• chicken breasts
• carrots
• mushrooms
• onions
• zucchini
• celery
• asparagus
• a few potatoes
• peppers (he used red, yellow aaaand green ; )
• little olive oil
• pepper
• sea salt
• Mrs Dash garlic & herb
• oregano
• bay leaves
• Italian seasoning

Chop it all up, throw it all in and let it simmer!

Yum! I love my husband (and his soup)!

Needless to say … soup is for dinner! (Topped with reduced fat Parmesan cheese)

Erik and I just finished working out and now for the rest of the night … a whole lot of nothing. On the TV agenda for tonight = American Choppers. Erik is from NY and he used to live really close to the OCC headquarters and he hung out with Vinnie a little (though he’s not on the show anymore) back in the day so he likes to watch it. 

That’s all for me … hope you have a great Friday!!!  : )

 

 

-Lesley