*WARNING* – vegan cheese to die for! and camping too!

Dreaming of Vegan Cheese? I know you are!

Hey peeps! Happy Wednesday! I hope you all had a fab Valentine's Day. We went camping with the kids – I  know, not very romantic but we had alot of fun anyways. On the way home, I finally got my crippled hands (get it? I have RA - crippled hands?! haha) on some Daiya Vegan Cheese! Yeah baby! I was at Whole Foods in Henderson, NV and decided to see if they had any of this taking-the-vegan-world-by-storm cheese stuff in stock. At first I could not find it *sigh* but I finally asked some nice WF dude and we found it in the pizza/olive section. It was in plastic containers, so I am guessing they buy it in bulk? Who knows…I bought two kinds - yellow cheddar and white cheesy Italian – It kind of looks like cheese, but who cares what it looks like – WHAT DOES IT TASTE LIKE??!!???  That is the ultimate question for all you "wanna-be-vegans-but-wont-commit-cuz-you-love-cheese" people! jk - (BFF you know who you are! hee hee).

 

Daiya Italian Shredded and Cheddar Shredded

It kinda has a crumbly-shredded texture

So this raw girl decided to do some actual vegan cooking!

I am still trying to stay clear of gluten for the most part and these Trader Joe's Brown Rice Tortillas were a nice alternative. They are really stiff so they would be hard to eat right out of the bag. I decided to make a yummy quesadilla with my new non-cheese find.

 

This was one screaming-good quesadilla –with grilled onions and peppers – I thought I died and went to cooked food Heaven.

Check out the melty not-cheese action! Got it going on baby!

I wanted to play a Barry White song!

Can't get enough of your love baby! Oh yeah it was that good.

 

Daiya not-cheese rocks the house people! I mean it was really melty and greasy (in a good way) like real cheese.

 

And I think it tasted like cheese – although I have never been a huge cheese connoisseur. If I think about cheese too long, visions of spores, molds, and fungus fill my head – hee hee – its twu- its twu!

 

ABCDEFGHHIJKLMON

The verdict: Me like 'em Daiya not-Cheese!

ABCDEFGHHIJKLMON

 

Hey, we went to the Valley of Fire in Nevada over the weekend and took the whole fam damily camping. Even flew in the college kid to spend the weekend with us. The red sandstone scenery was spectacular. You will love this place if you are into rocks - rocks are awesome by the way – of course I am a geologist so I am partial. Check out this pic my son took of an arch in the park. Amazing.

Cool arch – looks like a scorpion tail

Cool campsite at Arch Rock Campground

 

Another cool shot of the campground – we used to have a big trailer and F350 when the kids were little. Now we just tent it. We like the easy set up. I could live in a tent and plan to for a few years when we retire – cannot wait!

It was 40 degrees in the manana, I have 3 layers of pants on and 2 tops and a jacket on! People with RA get really cold (in general). All the kiddos are still sleeping in the tent~

 

My raw breakfast – GoRaw Chocolate Granola with Brazil Nut Milk and my Sierra Sunrise Cocktail (juice). And while we are on the subject, as far as nut milks go, Brazil Nut milk is my all time fave! I also packed three days worth of Massaged Kale Salad, Carrot Juice, sprouted bread with some coconut butter, oranges and apples, avocados (of course), veggie burgers, Pure Bars and Larabars, and a vegan cookie – so I stayed about 85-90% raw on a three day camping trip – not bad eh? I did have one handful of popcorn before the fam buttered it up – man do I miss popcorn on the raw diet!

 

My Chiquitita

 

The Valley of Fire is a great place to see some thrust fault action. Younger, Jurassic sandstone is found beneath the older Cambrian Limestone in this area. I came here for a geology field trip back in my college days – I am surprised I can remember it. I am sure you have heard about geologists – hardcore partiers– hey, but not me! lol (in case my kids read this blog.)

 

View Full Album

I can has veggie burger? lol

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today I find myself feeling blah – and I do not know why. So I am trying to remind myself all the things I have to be thankful for and the list is long. God, husband, kids, family, friends, my life, etc. I need to express my gratitude everyday to all the good and wonderful things in my life. This seems to help the blahs!

So what's going on this Wednesday with you? This year is already flying by if you ask me. Of course ever since I turned 40 last year (ahem, cough, cough - lol) I feel like time travels at the speed of light!

So, I am starting to introduce a little more cooked, vegan food into my diet. Not everyday, but maybe twice a week. Got to get ready for a big backpacking trip in July (Sawtooth's? Justin you going?) where I will be eating cooked food every night. So I thought I would take a shot at some veggie burgers…..tada!

My first veggie burger thingys evah! Thanks to Angela at Oh She Glows for the Jiffy Spelt Burger Recipe (I used Oat flour instead of Spelt cuz I am trying to be gluten free these days). Heck I never even heard of Spelt until I went to Angela's site! How is that for ignorance! I do not think I have a gluten intolerance, but who knows what effects RA these days. So I am trying to cut out all that stuff. Its tough being raw and gluten free isn't it? Especially when your family is made up of voracious carnivores!

This morning I had green juice that was about the best green juice I have made as of late. I am trying to cut down my fruit in my green juice so I was a proud mama, only including one apple in this recipe. I LOVE celery in juice, do you? It gives such a salty kick to juice.

Today is ENBREL day. For those of you that do not know what this is, it is a Biological RA med that you inject 1 or 2 times per week depending on the type of ENBREL you are prescribed. RA is an autoimmune disease. So the short answer is, if you have RA, your immune system is attacking itself. Can I get a big BOO to that? ENBREL helps stop some of that bad-action-immune-system-attacking from occurring. So I got to inject this stuff and lately my thighs look like I am junkie. My bruises from the injections linger forever! Could I have a vitamin deficiency? We shall see as I am getting a full blood panel next week.

I hate taking this stuff. Yes, it makes my RA alot better, but the side effects suck – like Cancer, TB, infections, oh and even death. How's that for a cure for RA? Haha –

I won't get into the logistics of how ENBREL works to stop the immune system from attacking itself. But know this, ENBREL is EXPENSIVE. If you do not have insurance it is around $1500 for a one month supply. And it probably will not go generic since it is a biologic drug made in special facilities. It is very sad to think there are people with RA who cannot afford to take the latest breakthrough drugs to ease their symptoms. And if you are on Medicare fughettaboutit! With Medicare's tier pricing, you are in the donut hole in less than two months. Can you see why we need healthcare reform in this country?

*SIGH*

I started a RAW diet to see if I could get off this stuff. ENBREL helps me ALOT, but the side effects suck. Some of the side effects I have experienced recently are nerve issues in both hips and ENBREL warns about nerve damage among other things. But, if I do not take ENBREL, I will never get out of bed – Yes, RA sucks that much!

Let me list the positive things that the RAW diet has helped me with:

The good things RAW has done

• Constipation (I know a yukky subject, but it has cured me of this chronic ailment – a miracle!)
• Weight Loss – I was not heavy to begin with but I have lost about 6 pounds and I do not count calories – yeah!
• Food Addiction – I pretty much eat to live now instead of live to eat (does this make sense? – food does not have as much control over me as it used to)

What I am still waiting for RAW to do

• Acne – I do NOT have that glow or good skin yet? What is up!!!! Everyone on the raw diet says their skin clears up…well not mine! And I want it now! lol
• Energy – I feel NO difference in energy levels – boo. Maybe its my RA, no duh, I am sure its my RA
• More weight loss – having RA, I would like to be slightly underweight to put less pressure on my joints, but my body does NOT want to cooperate! I want to get to 115 lbs, but I think I will have to cut off an arm or something.
• Cure RA – well one can hope right?! At least ease my symptoms
• World Peace

Okay, so there you have my long-winded post! I hope everyone has a terrific night. My hubby and I are watching LOST on Hulu (my son, Cody, got us addicted, and we are on the final episode of season 1.

Love to all! – More backpacking pics for your enjoyment!

View Full Album