31 | March | 2011 | hungry hungry hippie

Archive for March 31st, 2011

Adios afro

Posted in hummus, sabra, vegan cookies on March 31, 2011| 55 Comments »

I got a Brazilian Blowout today. Thanks to Groupon, it was nearly half price (although once I added in the tip and shampoo/conditioner it was basically full price).

I’m happy to say, my ‘fro is now going to be well maintained with ZERO effort on my part…at least for the next 90 days…

In the food realm, I had a really rough night. Top Chef had me sweating for a full hour, but in the end my boy Blais came through. Phew! It was nail biting and my poor stomach was in knots the entire time. Fortunately, my meals were the opposite of intense – after all, I pretty much aim for soothing (read: IBS-friendly) eats on a daily basis.

I was out and about much of the day and there’s nothing ~~interesting~~ new about apples, veggies and hummus so my camera is on the emptier side.

However, one of the day’s snacks is definitely worth sharing. I received a package in the mail yesterday from Caveman Cookies. I met the reps at Expo West and was so excited about their cookies, I knew I had to try them out and share them with you guys.

The Caveman Bakery makes three flavors – original, alpine, and tropical – all of which are dairy and gluten free. Oh and I discovered something else! They’re all based on the caveman diet (which I only just learned about).

Unbeknownst to me this is a way of eating that’s built on the diet of primitive man (hence the caveman term). It’s basically the paleo diet, a holistic approach to eating that emphasizes the foods humans “grew up on” like vegetables, fruit & nuts. Supposedly our bodies are best able to digest and enjoy these kinds of foods, rather than ones that have been recently introduced into the human diet (like grains and dairy). In theory I like this idea because it encourages people to nix processed foods, which reduces refined sugars, saturated and trans fats, salt, high-glycemic carbohydrates, which lead to obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and numerous other health problems. Although The Paleo Diet isn’t vegan (lean meats are included in the diet), it does encourage people to replace processed food and dairy products with fresh fruits and vegetables.

The first flavor I chose was the original…since it contains honey it isn’t vegan. I love how pure the ingredients are though, with just honey, almond meal, walnuts, raisins, ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Isn’t the brown paper bag packaging cute! They are individually wrapped inside as well.

They were much smaller than I expected, but I guess that makes sense as each cookie is only 60 calories.

They were kinda chewy like a cross between cookie dough and fruit leather. The texture was awesome because the nuts were undetectable, but there was still a hint of crispy crunch with raisins mixed in too. It reminded me a lot of a molasses cookie…with a touch of gingerbread flavoring. Definitely yummy.

For dinner I made a rice pasta dish featuring Peacock Rice Vermicelli.

This product is hard to come by, and is pretty much an online only item at the moment.

For a person who is not so keen on pasta dishes (Italian is probably my least favorite), rice pasta has recently made me a convert. I’ve had it several times in the past few months. The silky fine noodles are so delicate and soak up sauce like nobody’s business. And yet, nutritionally speaking, they are almost the Black Swan to my idyllic carbohydrate choice (whole sprouted grains). What can you do.

Kinda reminds me of grandma hair.

The best part about this pasta, is the fact that it takes all of 5 minutes to cook. Seriously. Because the pasta is so stringy, once added to boiling water it’s done before you can even set the table. I added frozen corn and for the ultimate lazy girl sauce, I used Sabra spinach and artichoke hummus.