DAY ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR OF COOKING COURSE

I got my car back!  After two weeks my car is back safely in the garage.  It is 95% fixed. I have a hose that has a slow leak (don't worry it is not the breaks) that they can not find a replacement for.  Between Covid and shops closing, it is really hard to find parts right now. My car is 20 years old and it may be time to get another car.  Not yet but in the next year.  I just spent money fixing it so it will be fine for a while.  

I made an Italian Menu today.  First I made Zoodles which are raw zucchini spirals.  Then I made raw-mesan which is vegan Parmesan cheese made out of cashews.  Lastly, I made raw marinara sauce out of sun-dried tomatoes.  It tastes very good.  

It had a number of steps and used the same food processor so there was a lot of cleaning in my very cluttered kitchen.

I took my Orencia last night but I have not been feeling too good lately.  I thought I was okay but now I see I am not.  I have a lot of pain in my hands, legs, and feet.  My broken toe is still hurting.  I am keeping it taped. I am trying to take it easy.  

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE OF COOKING COURSE

 I went for another walk with Lucky.  We walked to the post office to mail the payment for the solar panels.  We got notice that the inspection is definitely on Friday morning.  We went on this walk closer to lunch time and it was more crowded outside. I was less comfortable.  We will be walking later or earlier in the future.

The nuts that I dehydrated turned out wonderfully dehydrated.  I was nervous and had a hard time sleeping with the dehydrator running all night.  It was fine but I was still nervous.  I am running it again tonight but I think I will sleep better.

 I made a Berry Cheese Cake today.  I can't show you the final product because it needs to stay in the refrigerator for 6 hours.  I took a photo before I put it in the fridge.

It has a raw chocolate crust and the "cheese" part is made out of cashews.  I tasted it and it tastes good.  The pink part is strawberries pureed and added to the cheese mixture.  I did a free style swirl. I can't wait to see how it turns out tomorrow.  

Update on my car: the part they ordered came in and it didn't fit.  So maybe tomorrow it will be ready.  The problems with old cars during a pandemic...

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-TWO OF COOKING COURSE

 The roofer came again to try and seal the cracks in the roof but, alas, it was too wet again. We are now planning on Friday morning.  Unfortunately, I just found out the inspection for my solar system is also Friday morning.  I will have to reschedule the roofer.

I had a lot to do today with my cooking.  Last night I soaked two batches of nuts for two different recipes.  The recipe I was making today was a Japanese Menu.  The other set of nuts needed to be rinsed and put in the dehydrator to now dry them out.  I know that sounds weird but it changes the way the nuts behave.  

The Japanese Menu consisted of sunflower seeds soaked and put in a blender with some other items and it made a Un-Tuna Pate. It was a pate that a bit fishy because it had wakame seaweed in it.  Then I made a Ginger Sauce that is for dipping.  Lastly I put the Nori Sushi together.  I rolled the sushi with the pate and vegetables in the nori sheets.  It is definitely a different type of sushi.  

I gave the sushi to my dog walker since I do not like most sushi.  I kept some of the pate to eat with crackers and veggies.  It is really good as a dip.

I have two sets of nuts soaking for tomorrow and one set of the nuts from last night in the dehydrator.  To be a raw vegan eater you really need to be organized.  

Still no car.  They can't find a part and since things are moving slowly from Europe it is hard.

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE OF COOKING COURSE

Well, this evening I heard a beeping.  It was a weird beeping and not the normal "your phone is beeping or you set an alarm or your smoke alarm needs a battery" beep.  I just had solar panels installed so I was thinking "oh no not the solar system".  I went around the house trying to locate the home of the intermittent beep.  Finally I found it downstairs from a carbon monoxide detector.  It is a plug in type with a back up battery.  I thought okay the battery has died.  I changed the battery and it was still going off. Now I got nervous.  

I was nervous because I just finished cooking with the oven door propped open for almost 2 hours.  I thought what if that caused the carbon monoxide detector to go off?  I have a very old Wedgewood stove/oven probably from the 1940's or 1950's.  I love it but I did get a little nervous when the carbon monoxide detector went off.  

Turns out the carbon monoxide detector had just lived it's life.  I figured it out by putting my new carbon monoxide detector downstairs and it didn't go off and then I put the old detector outside and it was still going off.  It was clear there was no carbon monoxide.  The detector just died.  I also called my brother just to check and he agreed that I was not going to died from carbon monoxide any time soon.  

I cooked Raw Bread today.  I had to clean my new dehydrator before any work could start.  

First, I had to make more almond milk to get the nut pulp.  The nut pulp is used to make the raw bread.  I mixed the ingredients for the raw bread and added thyme from my garden.  I put it in the oven to dehydrate.  Once it was "dry" I cut it into slices and put it in my dehydrator to finish it up. I put olallieberry jam on one, almond butter and roasted sesame seeds on another, vegan cream cheese and sun-dried tomato on another and vegan gouda cheese and olive on the last one.  The raw bread is nutty and really good.  It isn't dry but moist. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED TWENTY OF COOKING COURSE

 We got up early and went for a long walk. Just as we stepped outside, it started to rain. We had to come back for a coat and umbrella. By the time we got two blocks it stopped.  We picked up my mail and walked home.

The roofer arrived around 9 am to seal a few cracks as well as the crack in my shingles he found the other day. I will be happy to have that fixed. Every time it rains heavy I hear “tick tick tick” where the water is dripping and it drives me crazy. Hopefully this crack is the problem. The roofer showed up and got up on the roof. It was too wet to do any sealing but he took a good photo of the solar panels for me. 

Once the roofer left I started cooking. I first made nut milk in order to make a few more recipes. Then I used some of the nut milk to make Chia Porridge. When I made Chia Porridge before I didn’t like it very much. This time I made it with sweetener, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, and chia seeds.  It tasted like hot cocoa or chocolate milk. I put bananas and chocolate nibs on top. 

I had to have a shopping delivery of nuts. I had no idea how many nuts raw food uses.  I bought a bunch of nuts to last for a bit. 

I was very tired today and took a nap. I m not sure why I am so tired but a nap helped. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED NINETEEN OF COOKING COURSE & SOLAR POWER

 Big news! Running on solar power. They finished putting in the solar panels and hooked everything up. I am good to go almost. I have to wait a few weeks until inspection for it to be fully operational.  I got my final electric bill for the full amount before solar today. Kiss that goodbye! 

I cooked (or should I say made since it is raw) nothing today. I had to purchase more nuts and such. The thing with raw is that it takes a lot of nuts. I am constantly soaking nuts to do things with. The nuts need to soak overnight to get them “activated” or soft. 

Last night I used my leftover pasta to make a cute little dish and I posted that today. 

I also posted a cute photo of Lucky since it is International Chihuahua Day. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEEN OF COOKING COURSE

I got up early because the solar people said they would be here between 8am and 10 am.  Don't you wish you could tell people you would be there "between 2pm and 4pm".  It would make it so much easier.  Of course I was ready at 7:55am and they showed up at 9:45am.  But they showed up and they were ready to work.  My roofer showed up also.  I sent him two reminders: one last night and one this morning.  I realize that is the best way to get action.

My roofer came to make sure they were adhering the panels to the roof in the right way.  You may think that is redundant but years ago I had a deck attached to my little roof and I found out when it rained months later that they adhered it by making holes in my roof and the water leaked through to my ceiling.  Yeah.  Nice.  I hired my current roofer to remove the deck and fix the roof and put the deck back on.  That is why I trust him.

The solar people got 1/2 way done.  They worked very hard all day.  It was serendipitous that my car is still in the shop because they stored their stuff in my garage overnight.  

I used the morning to make make Coconut Kiwi Porridge.  In the USA that is oatmeal with apple, cinnamon, coconut, kiwi, walnuts, and hemp seeds.  It tastes really good and is really filling.  

I spent most of the day dealing with solar install and roofers.  

I also think I broke my toe.  I thought it was just bruised but I am now leaning toward it being broken.  It happened last week.  I was rushing to do something (who remembers what now) and I hit it really hard on the dog stairs going to the couch.  I usually walk around the stairs but Lucky was standing at the base of the stairs and I was in a hurry and I tried to leap over the stairs.  Hence, banging my foot.  It hurt a lot.  I ignored it like most of us do.  I assumed it was just bruised and as time went on, it got worse.  I had another friend who broke her toe and she went to the hospital for x-rays.  The ER told her basically there is nothing they can do but tape it to another toe and she needs to keep off it.  Well, I can do that by myself.  So, after a week of ignoring it, I taped it and it feels much better being taped.  It still hurts but being taped seems to help.  

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEEN OF COOKING COURSE

 I went for my first walk by myself today. Lucky was off at the beach with the dog walker and I decided to go off for a quick walk.  I went on the same circle as I did with Lucky but this time there were many more people out and about.  I won't go at that time again.  It was during late lunch time.

I started the Raw Food Essentials chapter in the cooking course today.  I still have one recipe to make in the last chapter but I had to wait for one ingredient that was delivered tonight.  I made Raw Vegan Chocolate Brownie with Chocolate Ganache.  I am so surprised how good it is.  The ganache is so fantastic  that I want to swim in it. I have plenty left to eat for a few days.

For those of you wondering, it is made out of nuts, dates, cocoa powder, and sweetener.  Then added raisins, cocoa nibs, and nuts.

The solar panels are being installed tomorrow. I am charging electronics just in case the electricity gets turned off.  So exciting.

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED SIXTEEN OF COOKING COURSE

 Lucky and I went for another walk.  I have been stretching every day to get rid of my shin splints.  This morning my shins felt back to normal and I stretched very well.  We went on a walk and then I stretched again.  So far so good no shin splints.

I made a Pre-Workout Green Smoothie today.  It contained bananas, spinach, matcha powder and cocoa powder.  It tasted very good.  I was much more careful to go easy with the greens this time.  A handful does not mean My handful.  

My car is not ready yet.  They need a part or two and it should be ready tomorrow.  It is an old car so parts are always hard to obtain.  My car is a 2002.  It turns 20 next year.  It still has less than 100,000 miles on it.  

The solar people contacted me and we have a tentative install date of this Thursday.  I am excited.  I need to plan tomorrow since I am sure my electricity will be turned off for some of the day.

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED FIFTEEN OF COOKING COURSE

 Today's cooking was a success.  It was nice to have a success after a few not so successful dishes.  Today I made Mango Lime Protein Bars.  

I don't normally like protein bars because they are so dry. These homemade protein bars are moist and delicious.  The lime comes out and the mango is subtle.  The chocolate on top is a delight.  This will be a fun treat this week.  

This morning I took my car into the shop.  I didn't realize the hours changed so I showed up very early and sat in my car.  I spoke to my rep on Friday so he knew what needed to be done and I pulled my car in the shop and left the keys.  I got a taxi home and a text from the shop.  My car is still there waiting for parts.  Not too much is wrong with the car which is surprising considering it hasn't been serviced in almost 2 years.  Granted it sat in the garage for one year.  I knew the fluids were super low as well as the tire pressure.  They also recharged the battery to 100%.  I thought I needed new brakes but they said the brakes were just dirty from sitting.  So, I should get my car back tomorrow.  

Until tomorrow...