Tag Archives: plant strong

B is for Bananas

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It was about a year ago that David and I went to Banana Island. Banana Island, you ask? Where is that? Well, Banana Island is essentially a cleanse where you eat only bananas. We did it for three weeks and we felt amazing. 

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I figured it was an easy way to get started on the high carb, low fat, raw vegan lifestyle and I was right. It’s the only thing I ever did where I didn’t have sugar withdrawal.  Now, bananas are a HUGE part of our lives and we go through a lot of them each week.

Because we eat so many bananas each day, we always have to have some ripening. Since we moved, we still haven’t gotten far enough ahead of the game to have some to freeze and make ice cream out of which is a deficiency I need to correct. Soon. Spooning banana ice cream (frozen bananas put through the juicer with a blank = soft serve) off of celery sticks is a taste treat like no other. I also saw a recipe for mint chocolate chip ice cream yesterday that I’d like to try. Anyway, I digress.

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Bananas are super good for you. We wait to eat them until they have brown spots on them. This makes them easier to digest and gives you a whole range of health benefits. 

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The other day, I got the surprise of a lifetime when I opened a banana and found twins inside! Trust me, I’ve eaten a lot of bananas in my 54 years and I’ve never seen this before. I was so weirdly excited. 

twins

I have blogged about bananas before but in the event you missed why I eat so many, the reason is because they are calorically dense. I’m a pretty large (5’11’ on a large frame) and extremely active person. If I eat a pound of lettuce, which is a lot of food, it’s still only around 100 calories which isn’t good enough. The bananas help to keep my calorie levels up. 

They are also a good workout. When I buy a case of bananas, 15 bunches, it’s somewhere around 40 pounds. I have to squat those babies eight times to get them from the car to the apartment. 🙂 

So, anyway, that’s the story of bananas in my life. I love them, they fill me up, they’re delicious. 🙂

Mmmm Summer Rolls!

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One of my very favorite things to eat these days is Summer Rolls. I’ll admit I don’t make them too much because the dipping sauce, which is divine, contains a little more fat than I like right now. But every once in a while, you’ve just gotta.

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I made them for dinner last night and, as well as being delicious, they are super easy.

You’ll need some spring roll wrappers. I got the biggest rounds they had at the Asian market. They have them in some standard grocery stores, too, but there’s a bigger selection (and bigger wrappers!) at the Asian market. 

Then, you put whatever kind of veggies you want in them. 

This time I had romaine, spinach, carrots, cucumber, tomato and alfalfa sprouts. I will tell you that in my opinion, these guys are NOTHING without the alfalfa sprouts but you decide for yourself. 

You just dip the wrappers into water to soften them up, layer the veggies of your choice inside, and roll them up. Easy peasy!

You will, most definitely,want to dip these in this dipping sauce that I modified from one that Megan Elizabeth shows on her YouTube channel.

I use 2 tablespoons of almond butter, 2 tablespoons of coconut sugar, 1 tsp of Liquid Aminos, 1/4 cup of water and some crushed red pepper for the dipping sauce. I take all of the ingredients and blend them in my little Magic Bullet which does a fabu job of mixing it all up. I have mixed it with a whisk, before I got the Magic Bullet, and it’s a little difficult because the almond butter is very thick. But it can work. 

And that’s all there is too it! A tasty way to eat a bunch of veggies. I can usually eat three of of these and sometimes more if I’m particularly hungry.

Try them, you’ll like them! 🙂

Wheeee!

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I rode a bike! I haven’t been on a bike since I was a kid but I rode one today. Here’s my experience. 

The biggest thing I learned is that while I might be able to run with my mouth open, I should most definitely not ride a bike with my mouth open. LOL! I’m pretty sure my protein intake is higher today. 😉 

Mango!

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Since I started eating the high carb, low fat, raw vegan diet, I’ve listened to other raw foodies on YouTube extolling the virtues and deliciosity of mangoes. I didn’t think I’d ever eaten one and, honetlly, I wasn’t sure how.

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I saw the red kind of mango at Aldi several months ago and the glambaby and I were going to try it. I’m so glad I tried it first or she would’ve probably thought I was trying to poison her. It wasn’t good. I’m not sure if it was unripe or what. I sincerely had no knowledge about mangoes.

On our first trip to Costco here, I saw the mangoes and mentioned to David that I rally wanted to try one but didn’t have any idea of how to know if they were ripe or not. A lady who was selecting some for herself turned around and gave me a mini mango class. It was so sweet of her but I wasn’t ready to buy a warehouse store quantity of something I wasn’t sure about so I didn’t get any mangoes that day.

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 A few days later we were at a grocery store where I got one yellow mango to try using the instructions the lady at Costco gave me. And guess what? It was good! I liked it. 

I need to figure out how to get into them better.  I didn’t know what kind of a seed situation was inside. The first half was a mess and I basically sucked the flesh off the skin. But the second half I was able to cut into chunks that came off easily when I ate them. 

So, yum! I’ll definitely get some more mangoes. 🙂