Garlicheezy Zucchini Fries

Oh my goodness it's been a roller coaster the past few weeks. Logged in hours upon hours of work and on top of that I had so many papers due for my english class. But guess what? Now I'm done with English! I can finally start channeling my shiitake writing skills into this lovely blog :]

Just because I haven't written a lot lately doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. Oh, trust me I've been cooking. I have so many recipes that will be coming up, including:
-Cornbread
-Foccacia Bread 
-Raw Cookie Bites
-MORE SMOOTHIES
- Thai takeout at home
- PUMPKIN CHILI
- Homemade Guacamole
- IGGY!
- Cold cucumber salad

Lately me and the brother 'scroey' have been hanging out on a daily basis, which is nice to get him away from all the little girls that want him. However, I don't know if it is a good idea to have two Luzzis in one room, things get a little reckless. However, if there is one little peeve I have with my brother, it is that he is the hardest person to cook for- he is extraordinarily picky! But one day, I got some zucchini out of our garden and made these zucchini fries, and he LOVED them! Go me! So here's a recipe that might satisfy a picky eaters appetite

Garlicheezy Zucchini Fries

raw~glutenfree~vegan

-2 zucchini, sliced

- 1/4 cup vegan parmesan cheese

-2 garlic cloves, minced

-1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

-1/2 teaspoon salt

- pinch of pepper

1. slice your zucchini into the shape of fries, just like the picture above

2. add in all your ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix together

3. Let sit for 10 minutes

4. Place your zucchini fries onto a mesh dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 105 for 12-16 hours (depending on the crisp that you prefer).

[Chocolate] Fruit and Nut Granola Bars

As my half marathon gets closer and closer, the more health-conscious I become. Probably my main goals in order to pull through are 1) not pass out, 2) eat so my muscles aren't worn out and 3) eat more protein. Protein is one of the hardest things to get when you are Celiac-crazy and vegan!


Every morning after I run, I make sure I have a very protein-dense shake. Even when I don't run, I make sure to get a good portion of protein in the morning. It is optimal to get it at breakfast. On the mornings that I don't drink a Hemp Chocolate Protein Power Shake, I make these awesome fruit and nut granola bars- it is SO easy to make; just needs a little love and time; but it's totally worth it- even my mom was enthused to make these awesome granola bars! I use a dehydrator to make these, and I'm not 100% sure how these would be in the oven. If you do put them in the oven, I would suggest putting it on the lowest heat possible. If it works- let me know!

Chocolate, Fruit and Nut Granola Bars

vegan ~ gluten free ~ can be raw

2 cups raw almonds

1 cup raw walnuts

3/4 cup flax seeds

1 cup fresh strawberries

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 cup dates, chopped and pitted

(optional) 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1. First, place your flaxseeds in a coffee grinder and grind into a fine powder. Set aside

2. Place your strawberries and blueberries (or any other berries you prefer) into a blender and puree. Add your flax seed into the mix and blend until it is finely incorporated.

3. Next, add in your chopped dates into a food processor and pulse for 5 seconds. Then, add in your walnuts and almonds and process it into a find, crumbly texture.

4. combine your nut and fruit mixture into a mixing bowl and stir until finely incorporated. 

5. Spread your mixture onto a teflon dehydrating sheet. Put in the dehydrator at 100 F for 12 hours.

6. After 12 hours, take out your almost-ready granola bars and cut lines, you can either do 4 x 5, 2 x 6, whatever you prefer! Put them back in the dehydrator for another 12 hours on 100 F

7. Once they are done, you can melt the dark chocolate chips in the microwave and drizzle on top! To make them raw, you can omit this- but it is so good with them!

Mini golfin' with this goon- guess who won?

Dehydration Celebration

It's been way too long since I've actually wrote a post! Ah! On top of work, I've been doing an online class. Usually when I come home from work I use that time to work on my blog, but lately I've been having to use that precious, glorious time on silly English (BLEH). 

One thing I've been finding so valuable in my busy schedule is the dehydrator. Not only do you not have to put in so much precious time into it, but you can honestly just throw some fruits and veggies into it, set the timer for like a million hours, walk back and eat it and you have some awesome snacks or toppings! For the 4th of July, I managed to get the day off (I don't know how I managed to do that!), so me and Squilliam feasted. It was also our 1 1/2 year anniversity on July 1, so we spent the day together :]. He got me something I've been asking for for goodness knows how long- an edible arrangement! And he picked the BEST one too! Iggy seemed to really enjoy the grapes (I'm pretty sure he ate every one). Bill got a little frustrated with me because I honestly got so excited over the KALE!!! hehe..woops. I guess that's what he gets! I'm slightly obsessed with kale.

 Speaking of kale- you know what I did with the decoration to my edible arrangement? yup, dehydrationnnn!! On the 4th, we had a humongous feast of dehydrated stuff and grilling out. It was awesome. First on our list were Anna's BBQ Cajun Chips. I followed the recipe as is with extra kick!


Me and bill decided we wanted some "sun" dried tomatoes. So what did we do? We dehydrated some tomatoes and voila! These were honestly my favorite of the many things I dehydrated. It was absolutely simple- slice, sprinkle some salt on top and then dehydrate for 4-5 hours on 115 F. 

Third thing we dehydrated was of course: KALE!! My absolute favorite. I honestly get ancy when there is no kale in my house...because I literally eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I made kale chips 2 ways: One was just the original kale chips (get it? Instead of original lay's chips) where I massaged olive oil and salt onto the kale and dehydrated for 5-6 hours on 115 F. The second batch of kale chips were my nacho cheeeezzeee kale chips. 

Nacho Cheezey Kale Chips

1 cup cashews, soaked overnight, then drained

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/3-1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon ancho chili powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne

pinch of sea salt

1 bunch of kale of choice

1. pour in all your ingredients except water into a food processor and let it mix.

2. slowly incorporate your water as the food processor is running, until the mixture is not too chunky, but relatively smooth.

3. massage onto kale, and dehydrate on 115 for 6 hours. 

Of course, for the 4th of July we had a mini-cookout. Bill made some awesome veggie burgers and I slow-cooked some onions. It was honestly a great day. We had some lovely dehydrated foods to go with it (see the tomatoes!?!!). I think I was so happy with the day because it might have been one of my first 4th of July's I've ever enjoyed since I usually work on holidays. 

Iggy was so pooped, he passed out while eating popcorn! 

4th of July- 1

Iggy Smalls- 0

Raw Taco Boats

Happy Friday everybody! I'm going to have to make this short and sweet because this weekend Bill and I have off so we are going to visit his family. And it's also Friday and beautiful out and Nascar weekend so we need to head out asap! 

Bill had a half day of work, and wanted me to make him some grub before we headed out. Usually when he goes out of his way to ask me to make food, it usually means that he doesn't want a fried, fatty, processed food filled with meat and gluten. So I instantly hopped on this opportunity to make us a light little lunch! 

Recently, I've been fascinated with the Raw Food Diet, and I've been testing out a few recipes here and there to see how it is, and it's not bad at all! However, my current arch enemy has to be potato chips, because they are everywhere in my house and I can't get enough of them !

This recipe was inspired by a post in the blog Pickles n Honey - with my little twist to things!

Raw Taco Boats

Serves 2

1 cup chopped walnuts

2 Tablespoons Chili Powder (I use mexican chili powder)

1 Tablespoon Cumin

2 Tablespoons Namashayo Coconut Aminos

6 Vine-Ripe tomatoes, sliced 

White of 1 scallion, sliced

1/4 cup carrots, sliced

2 handfuls bean sprouts

2 romaine heart lettuce leaves

Mix walnuts, Chili Powder, Cumin and Coconut Aminos together and set aside

To set up: place your walnut mixture, scallions, carrots, tomatoes and bean sprouts in your lettuce boat 

Rockstars interpretation of Downward Dog :D