Ambercup Squash "It's Finally Cold" Soup

YEP. Autumn is here. October 18th and it's finally less than 80 degrees (F) during daylight hours. In fact, it only got into the 60s today. I got to show off my cute new fall coat. I might even carve my pumpkins this week (I've been delaying the carving for fear of the aforementioned 80 degrees rotting my carved pumpkins well before Halloween).

To celebrate, I'm finally cooking my ambercup squash. I bought it last week and baked it as soon as I got home. Then I cut it into pieces and stored it in my fridge and had no idea what to do with it. WELL NO MORE. Today soup.

(in the background: pumpkin and butternut that I surely have big plans for.....)

Here's what you need:

• 1 ambercup squash
• 1 and 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 3/4 cup cashew milk (or other nut milk... or regular milk I guess, if lactose is your friend) (also, to learn how to make cashew milk, go here)
• About 1/4 cup chopped sweet onion (more if you like, but that's about what I used)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce (ish... gonna be honest, I used 2 leftover soy sauce packets from store-bought sushi)
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp garam marsala
• sea salt to taste
• coconut nectar to taste (I probably used 2 tbsp) (you can also use molasses, buckwheat honey, maple syrup... I just wanted something with a molasses-type taste and coconut necter is low glycemic and awesome)

Here's how I made it.

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (F). Take an ambercup squash (or a butternut or pumpkin or other similar squash). Cut it in half and scoop out the stringy stuff and seeds (you can then bake those.... the seeds, not the stringy stuff). 
• Next, cut your squash into crescents. The skin is pretty easy to cut through (fuck you, acorn squash) so you shouldn't have any trouble. Put the crescents on a baking sheet (I covered my baking sheet with foil for easy clean-up) and then forget about them for like 40 minutes. Do your thing. Check on them occasionally. Once they're soft (stick a fork through 'em, seem like they'd do well in a blender soft), remove them and let them cool.
• Once cool, run a knife between the skin and meat (squash meat) to remove the skin. It's edible, but I want creamy soup, not not-creamy soup.
• Put the squash in a blender with your vegetable broth. BLEND.
• Put that in a sauce pan.
• Add the rest of the ingredients (you can use a hand blender to blend the onions in, or blend them with the squash and broth, but I did not) and cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes, stirring often.
• Serve warm, eat.

This soup is pretty darn tasty, if I do say so myself. 

I love squash soup and I love fall. Make this! You'll like it.

Steve

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

These words by the late Steve Jobs give me knots in my stomach. Consider this man and how he left this existence. As I think of him, I find myself considering my own existence and my desperate - albeit vain - desire to make an impact on the world around me. I am a songwriter. I need an audience to thrive. It is endlessly rewarding to play a good show. It is hopelessly daunting to imagine what it will take to be valid/lucky enough to make a living doing this thing that I love.

Death takes everyone. Even the icons.

I hope that one day I, too, will discover what I am meant to become.

Nut milk is a good idea

Hey. Try making your own nut milk.

MmmmmmmmmmmmMMmmmmm

As you know, I'm lactose intolerant. So, since sophomore year of college (when my intolerance kicked in the front (and back) door of my digestive system (eeeeewwww)), I have bought alternative forms of "milk."

But now I make them.

It's so much better. Tastes better, no additives, I can flavor it however I want, and I can make any kind I want. It's great! So far, I've done pecan milk (several times), cashew milk (smoothest, imo), and almond milk. I want to try Brazil nut milk...... maybe pistachio milk if I feel a little crazy (and can find raw ones).

You take a cup of whatever nuts you want, and soak them overnight (or 8 hours). Strain out the water, rinse them off (to get off the enzymes!), and put them in a blender. Add four cups of water, and BLEND. Now strain it to get the nut particles out. I've ordered a nut bag, but I've been using a mesh tea basket in the meantime (it takes longerrrr). You can use that or a cheese cloth or... I dunno, some kind of mesh material that will catch nut bits. AND NOW YOU HAVE NUT MILK. I usually add a bit of stevia to mine.... but I think I might treat myself soon and make pecan milk with a little maple syrup. Can you imagine?

ALSO. Also. With your leftover nut bits, you can make THIS:
Raw cheesecake!

I made one out of my almond leftovers and I keep eating iiiiit.

Here's a video from My New Roots about making nut milk: Here. Go here.

Also, I've been giving natural cosmetics a try and so far, I loooove them. A zinc/mineral sunscreen (Vive Sana) worked really well for a weekend at the lake (pictures later I hope) and I've switched from Olay as an everyday sunscreen/moisturizer to one from 100% Pure. It has argon oil. It's a bit pricey, true. But the ingredients are marvelous and a tiny bit goes a long way. Seriously, like half a fingernail size. Also I'm using their coffee bean eye cream, which is also super awesome. AND I take their lavender body wash with me to the gym for quick rinse offs.

For makeup, I've switched foundations from Neutrogena to RMS "un"-cover up. You can find it at Spirit Beauty Lounge. It all feels really nice to put on my skin and it actually feels like my face is getting less oily.

I have plenty more to talk about (like my hair and how I've stopped shampooing it and it's wonderful), but there will be other blog posts. So for now, go make nut milk.

Food for Thought

I am often asked if I am a vegetarian or a vegan when I tell people about the kind of food I make at home. The answer is no, although I do follow certain rules when cooking for myself. I suppose the following post will be a sort of testimonial to the benefits of the lifestyle I choose and perhaps a good starting point for someone looking to take on a similar approach.

So here we go.

1. Accidentally hitting a bunny with my car made me cry
I swear to god it came out of nowhere and I had no time to stop. I wept for that silly rabbit, and I have wept merely for videos or stories of abuse. I am not a mighty hunter. The thought of watching an animal writhe to death repulses me and requires me to admit that unless I were absolutely starving (with no other options), I could not kill for food. And yet, I am not a vegetarian.

2. Meat is expensive and kind of gross to prepare
The sort of meat that I would buy is grass-fed and ethically raised. The flavor and health benefits are worth the extra cost, but when I can forgo that cost all together.... I will. Also, I have memories of preparing Thanksgiving turkeys and chicken breasts and more than once while I've been elbow deep up a turkey's ass or scrunching my nose at the bizarre feeling of a knife going through flesh, I have thought... "What the fuck am I doing?"

3. Cooking with vegetables and fruits is fun and colorful and quick and easy
Woohoo!

But no, I'm not a vegetarian.

I have a rule for myself, and it's that if I'm not willing to kill it and prepare it myself... I don't buy it and bring it home to cook and eat. If someone else prepares me a dish with meat in it, I will probably accept some. It's not that I'm opposed to hunting, it's just that I can't do it myself. So I don't buy huge portions of meat because I feel like it's cheating somehow.

I do eat eggs (ethical eggs), use butter to cook with sometimes (from grass fed cows), put honey in yogurt (raw, local honey and Greek yogurt - I try to look for a note about pasture raised cows), put cheese on things (raw when I can, always look for something about grass-fed or ethically raised cows, etc), and use whey protein in my smoothies (again, from grass-fed cows). None of these things kill living animals, the animals don't suffer in the production (as opposed to factory farming, where they do), and I feel I could prepare these things myself if I had the know-how.

Furthermore:
I feel like we (Americans, anyway) are way too focused on our meat portions and not nearly imaginative enough with vegetables.
When you go out to eat, you order your meal, and it will probably be a huge piece of meat with some vegetable side item(s) that you don't give a fuck about and neither did the person who prepared them. If most people were asked to prepare a filling vegetarian meal, they might not know where to start. We are so obsessed with meat.

We don't need to be! There are so many flavorful options that take less effort/money/time to prepare and they are filling and GOOD for you. They give you energy rather than make you tired after a meal.

Also, I cut out processed grains and simple sugars wherever I can. That's not to say I don't still enjoy toast with my Waffle House (or have a weakness for tiny cakes), but I don't buy loaves of bread or cereal anymore; and when I want to make a pasta dish, I julienne slice a zucchini for my noodles.

Since I started preparing raw meals for myself, I have lost fat, gained energy, need less sleep to feel awake, my complexion has improved, and I workout almost every day. Also I feel better about my diet from a conscience stand-point. I'm proud of it. I don't feel I'm being a hypocrite like I sometimes used to. It starts with a few good recipes and you end up learning so much about how to creatively prepare food. Anyone who knows me can tell you: I'm amazing in the kitchen.

So! Hopefully that came across as helpful and not "I'm so great lol." I'll post another recipe soon. ;)

New Orleans, smoothie time, my juicer, and try these tacos

So! I didn't mention this (I meant to), but the week before my photoshoot, I did a juice fast (well, mostly... I did sneak some walnuts and my boyfriend snuck me a couple tomato/feta grilled cheese sandwiches while I was at his house.... seriously, he was eating one in front of me and was like "I'll totally make you one if you waaaaaaant." I couldn't resist; he makes the best (as I like to call it) stoner food ever. I reasoned that it was after dark when I ate it so it only half counted... yyyyep). ANYwho, it was fairly successful and I felt pretty great. My favorite combo was sweet potato/carrot/celery. Plus or minus an apple.

And then I went to New Orleans and ate a bunch of seafood and beignets. And spicy bloody marys and hand grenades..... OH WELL.

Also,  we did a lot of shopping.... I got three dresses (they had a buy two, get one free deal... come on), this hat:

and this bracelet:

And while I'm at it, here are a couple favorites from the trip...

 Bourbon St. from a balcony:

We had a great deal of fun. I went with my boyfriend Caleb and a best friend Katy. Surprisingly, there was no third-wheelage to be had. C and K have been friends for years and I'm persistent and needy, so no one was left out. ;)

Also I had a photoshoot! My photographer is editing (I just told her my favorites) and I should have some AWESOME photos to share soon! Woo!

So! Uhh... mostly why I opened the create new post window was because I got an idea for a smoothie.... and I thought I'd share. I'm thinking:
Sweet potato juice
Banana
Frozen berries

I'll tell you how it went by the end of this post.

Also, I made some of this raw taco recipe from My New Roots: Raw Taco Fiesta!

I made the walnut meat substitute (DANK! also, I just used regular soy sauce because it's what I had around the house), the cashew sour cream (mine turned out more like cashew sour butter... but that's cool, because it stays on the lettuce better... also dank), and then I just bought some black bean salsa, an avocado, and a lime. And then yes, lettuce leaves. It's been feeding me for days, I love it. There are some recipes I make where I think, "That was fun, but I probably won't make that again." This is not one of those recipes. I will make this all the time.

Also! I just stared at myself in the mirror for a bit, and I swear to god, I'm starting to get some abs. YEAH! This eating mostly raw thing is giving me ABS. Granted, I've been working out in some form or fashion almost every day. I'll either do yoga or short intense (12-15 minutes) interval workouts. But diet is a big part of tummy appearance. And I'm proud.

So, my smoothie:
I use an Omega juicer, and I love it. I'd been using a Acme juicerator for years, but finally outgrew it. The Acme is a centrifugal juicer, and it worked for when I occasionally wanted to juice. However, now that I've started juicing more often, I need something more convenient. The Omega is a single gear masticating juicer, which means it "chews" the veggies for you and extracts the juice that way, rather than chopping and spinning like in a centrifugal. This results in less oxidization (meaning more live enzymes, hurrah!) and a less terrifying noise when I'm juicing. Seriously, the Acme made me so nervous. It is loud, it spins, it shakes, and depending on what you put in it, it shakes violently. I tried to juice a kiwi and it lost its shit.

Also, the Acme was a bitch to clean. Huge parts, including a massive grated part that I never felt I got all the fibers completely out of... This Omega is way more convenient. The motor takes up the same amount of counter space, but the actual parts that I have to clean are way smaller, and the bit with a grate (to strain the juice) is small and easily cleaned. Also, way less noise. Way way way less noise. If I want to juice in the middle of the night, I won't wake anyone up. For that matter, if I want to juice without giving myself a panic attack...

Plus, I got my Omega for I think less than what I got my Acme for. Thanks, Amazon.

So all in all, I have to say, the Omega wins. Bomb dot com. And one of the parts is even sort of phallic, so when I leave it out to dry, it makes me giggle. Bonus!

As for my smoothie, I first juiced

• 1 sweet potato
• 2 carrots

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm


Then I put the juice in a cup and added

• 1 banana
• some frozen cherries.... idk, like 7-ish

BLEND!!!

And smoothie! It's tasty. I like it. Sort of liquidy, I'd say add ice if you want it thicker. I don't really mind it going down quickly. I think next time, I might add some almond butter so that it's an even slower digesting smoothie (healthy fats!). I didn't mind that my juices were easy to digest during the fast, because then my body could focus on detox. But if I'm just treating myself to a shitton of nutrients, I try to add a bit of fiber or something to make it more of a meal. And so it is. I am satisfied with my breakfast without being full. Perfect for workouts soon. :D

All right then. Done!

Alisyn's "I have a photoshoot in a week!" Spaghetti

It's true. I do. You know that singer/songwriter thing I'm doing? It's for that. I'm pumped. In order to feel my best for the occasion, I've been working out every day this week and eating as nutritiously as I can. But good lord I love me some Italian. So I decided to try and come up with a spaghetti recipe. There are things I want to experiment with (it ended up pretty soupy), but for my first attempt, this is pretty dank. And the garlic/basil/tomato/Parmesan are all present and accounted for and my craving is sated.

So! How did I do it?

Sauce:

• 5 vine ripe tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• handfull fresh basil (you might add more to taste later)
• several leaves fresh oregano (same as basil... whatever you like)
• 3 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 to 1 inch jalapeno (or whatever pepper you prefer... if I could have found a red chili, I would have used that)
• spoonfull of almond butter (or any nut butter.... for more healthy fats to make it more filling ;))
• juice from half a lemon
• 2 large spoonfulls of goat cheese (I LOVE GOAT CHEESE)
• some grated Parmesan
• 2-3 tsp soy sauce

BLEND!

 lol it's orange idk

Noodles:

• Julienne 2 large zucchini (gluten free yaaaayyy)
• k, done

I then put my portion in a saucepan and warmed it up. I recommend doing this. You're not really trying to cook it, but heating it up enough to where steam comes off brings out something delightful in the garlic, zucchini, tomatoes, etc. Not my rawest of recipes, but it's still pretty dang good.

After that.... MORE PARMESAN! ....if you want. I wanted. I'm pretty lactose intolerant, but I do cheat with certain cheeses every now and then. Hard cheeses seem to be more forgiving than soft. Who knows.

I cleaned my bowl.

Raw cashew banana cherry other stuff cheesecake!

CHEESECAKE!

Yes, dear readers. I am a snacky snacky girl and I do enjoy desserts of the cheesecake persuasion. HOWEVER! I'm lactose intolerant. It's sort of a mixed blessing. On one hand, I am not at all tempted by normal desserts or ice creams when I'm out and about, because I know I don't stand a chance against them and I will surely end up visiting a bathroom before I can say "Was there dairy in that?" It's honestly good for keeping my figure in check. On the other hand..... I'm lactose intolerant.

But I am also persistent.

I found this recipe for a cashew based cheesecake and got super pumped:
My New Roots: Raw Cashew Dreamcake

That blog in general is full of good things.

I have made raw brownies before (they're dank, I'll show them too you sometime) and the crust is a similar process to that. I followed this recipe fairly closely, but I definitely made some changes (some out of necessity). Let's do this.

Crust:

• 1/2 cup walnuts and hazelnuts (more walnuts than hazelnuts)
• 1/2 cup soft Medjool dates
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder (not necessary for the composition of the crust, but I wanted chocolate crust)
• less than 1/4 cup coconut flakes (this is optional, really, but if you have some on hand, throw them in)

Filling:

• 1 and 1/2 cups raw cashews (soaked at least 5 hours or overnight - I used warm water)
• juice of 2 lemons
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1/3 cup raw coconut oil
• 1/3 cup raw honey (solid or liquid)
• 1/4 cup (ish) coconut milk (So Delicious works)
• 1 cup (ish) cherries (thaw completely if frozen)

My process:
1. Soak those cashews.... come back in 5 hours. Bye!
2. Oh you're back. Okay, get your crust ingredients together. Food processor, GO! What I usually do is process the nuts and coconut flakes first, followed by the cocoa powder, followed by the dates. You'll know it's the right consistency when you can take out some of the mixture, squish it together, and it holds.
3. Put the mixture into your pan (I put plastic wrap on mine so I could pull it out later) and press it down. Crust done.

4. Now get those cashews and strain the water out. What I then did was put them in my food processor (after I cleaned it) and pulsed a few times. Then I put them into a huge measuring cup (4 cups big).

5. Heat the coconut oil and honey in a saucepan until it's all liquid. Whisk to combine.

6. Forget to take into account that your dad went on a kitchen cleaning frenzy and threw away all the vanilla extract, which is what the original recipe calls for.
7. Get frustrated.

8. Mash up a banana and use that instead. Feel awesome.

9. Add that, the coconut oil/honey, and the lemon juice to the cashews (sidenote: a trick I learned from an ex-boyfriend - roll/mash the lemons with your hands a little before you cut them, making the juice squeezing way easier)
10. BLEND IT. I have an immersion blender (it's tight, I talk about it all the time), so that's what I used. If you just have a normal blender, you should have been putting the ingredients in that. Haha.
11. Once it was blended and I tasted it, I wanted to add some coconut milk. I used that So Delicious (original) stuff and it was probably around 1/4 cup or less. Add to taste if you're interested.
12. Once it's smooth, pour like 2/3s of it over the crust. Eyeball it, you'll be fine.
13. Take the rest of it and add the cherries. BLEND AGAIN! Pour that over what you just poured.
14. FREEZER TIME

Now you wait until it's solid. Bye again!

While you wait, look at my dog!

EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

While I wait, I'm thinking about how I really need a camera other than the one on my phone.



Like 2 hours later....

IT'S DONE!!! (well, done enough... I got impatient)

It's pretty. :) The photo does it no justice. Hope you enjoy! I'm gonna go eat this piece.

And then probably another 2 pieces because let's not kid ourselves.


Nom.