Raw Pumpkin milk and 2nd Vega Sport Review

Hello everyone,

How is everyone’s Tuesday going? Good I hope.

Well I must say the twins are having a really good day!

First off we woke up early this morning to run (Tuesday is our long run days for our training). Today we decided to run 13 miles.

But first let me do a quick re-cap of our dinner last night. We made ourselves some roasted cauliflower (one of our favorites ‘cooked’ veggies) and served with some grass feed  steak avocado.

IT was so yummy….although not sure if our tummies liked it : (

When we were eating the dinner we felt fine, although we were still a little ‘full’ from our green smoothie a few hours earlier. ** First note to self: do not eat dinner if not really hungry for it… haha easier said then done, right??

Both of us were not extremely hungry just wanted something else to satisfy us (mentally hungry). So we thought what we were eating for dinner would have been fine…not too big, just a simple meal. Though about 10 minutes or so after finishing dinner both of stomachs flared up in big balloons. Immediately we realized that one our dinner was too big and/or second wrong food combination to do together, so we think. We are not sure if we just ate too soon after our green smoothie, was it bad food combination, or was it because of having “cooked” cauliflower??

We were supposed to a lot more prep work for our raw desserts for this weekend’s markets though neither one of us could stand. Therefore, we did some computer work and than called it a night. I must admit going to bed feeling bloated and uncomfortable is not the greatest feeling and also was not sure if I would be able to run in the morning. Not a good sign!

LESSON LEARNED ONLY EAT DINNER IF TRULY HUNGRY AND IF SO TRY TO KEEP IT SMALL AND MAYBE A MONO_MEAL! We at least for us : )

Ok, now it is morning time. After a few times hitting the snooze button finally forced myself to get up. Got Michelle up and then it was time to get ready to RUN! Both of our stomachs were still a little upset with us though we said we will give it a go.

Before we headed out the door we tried Vega Sport drink for the second time. (we have been only using our samples on our long run days).

Then we put our layers on and grabbed some gloves and hit the road. And 2 hours later we were done at 13 miles! We did on of our best run yet…. We increased our speed. We were running about 9 minute mile for majority of the run (which is great because outside we typically do a 10 minute mile)

The last 10 minutes were tough. Both of our legs started to ache and get tight. We kept pushing ourselves through. Kept telling ourselves that we can do this that we are almost done. This is when having a running buddy really helps : )

*on a side note – if you have long hair like ours – braiding your ponytail is a good thing to do or else you end up with a big ‘rats nests’ as I like to call it. Not fun to comb out! Gotta love humidity ; )

Second Review of Vega Sport: Taste still averaged, definitely palatable.  Despite our tummies already being upset from the previous night, we managed to have a good run. The drink helped give us the energy without hurting our stomachs even more : )

Upon arriving home I made us a simple hemp protein shake filled with extra goodies to help replenish our bodies from our run. I added some maca, sun is shining, lemon zest, dulse flakes (electrolytes), sesame seeds and dates. Blend up and inhale drink!

About 30 minutes later Michelle made us a blue green smoothie. This one was filled with blueberries and red kale. Added some lemon zest and hemp oil. Smoothie not bad — for some reason the texture of this smoothie was really thick – we ended up drinking it through our glass straws, which helped!

Than it was time to go get ready for our 3^rd round of colonics.  Michelle did castor oil on our stomach last night and I did it this morning. Castor oil helps with detoxing and great thing to do before having a colonic. It really helps break things up and get things moving Castor oil has amazing healing powers. Just rub it on belly and it penetrates through the skin. Castor oil helps the intestinal system and reduces mucous! It has other benefits too besides like infections on the skin or sunburn. Soak a cotton ball with the oil and wrap it around the infected area. The ricinoleic acid in castor oil keeps bacteria, yeast, and virsues from growing. It is great for skin health too. Just massage into the skin once week for showering/bathing.

We both had great sessions! Thanks to our increase in greens and castor oil! We both are really feeling much better overall. Our gas and bloated feelings have slowed (well besides last night) and our elimination is getting slowly better. Also both of our faces are slowly starting to clear up. It is a slow process but definitely heading in the right direction.

Ok – enough of the serious talk let’s talk about something more FUN! Well ok I know colonics are fun to talk about … HAHA.

I want to share how we made the pumpkin we talked about yesterday. I know some of you were wondering what it was.

Now before we begin when we say pumpkin milk we are meaning pumpkin seed milk not actually pumpkin.  Sorry for any confusion! Although that might be something worth trying…who knows with us.

How to make pumpkin seed milk: *please note this is how we make it. Michelle learned how to make it when at 105 degrees. We altered the recipe due to being lazy and not having all the ingredients on hand…and it still comes out fine, just a few separation action going on.

• 2 cups pumpkin seeds, soaked (although 1 cup will work too, we just prefer it thicker)
• 4 cups water
• 2 tbsp coconut oil (although I don’t always add that, just depend on my mood)
• vanilla extract about 1 tbsp or so
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp lecithin (which we do not use here but at 105 we did, it helps keep it together, but we don’t mind giving it a good stir)

Ingredients and tools needed

1 large Bowl

Measuring spoons

Cheesecloth (a little bigger than the strainer)

Strainer

Directions:

First soak your pumpkin seeds overnight. To do this place your raw pumpkin seeds in a large bowl and cover with water. And let sit out on table overnight (although good let it sit longer, but I find the more they soak them softer they get so easier to blend)

In the morning drain and rinse your seeds well.

Get your Vita-mix or any blender ready.

Add your 4 cups of water in the blender.

Next add your 1 – 2 cup(s) pumpkin seeds in the blender with water. Start at a low speed then increase.

Blend for a few minutes till everything looks like it is becoming blended.

Next add your flavoring (vanilla, salt, coconut oil). Again you can add lecithin, which helps with binding everything together so it looks like milk. Though you do not have to use it. What will happen if you don’t – the milk will just separate some and all you have to do is give it a good stir or shake before consuming it.

Blend some more till it all looks well incorporated.

Then time for the real fun part, grab your large bowl, strainer and cheesecloth.

Lay the strainer over your bowl and than lay your cheesecloth over the strainer.

Slowly pour the milk into the strainer  and cheesecloth. Now depending on the size of your drainer and cheesecloth will depend on how much you can pour out. Ours is somewhat small so it usually takes us two rounds of straining.

Once your cheesecloth is full. Stop pouring the milk. Carefully start to pick up and close the tops of the cheesecloth together. Than to make sure you got all the milk out of the cloth gently squeeze it like you are ‘milking’ a cow as Michelle would say. You need to do this part slowly so you don’t rip the cloth.

Once you feel that you got majority of the milk out. Take your leftover pulp to another bowl and scrap it all out into bowl. Than repeat the straining and milking step till you have no more liquid in your blender.

And what is left in your drained bowl is your pumpkin milk. Our the milk into a glass jar and set it refrigerator till ready for consumption. Should last 3 days in fridge. You may place the milk in freezer for longer shelf life.

Now in your other bowl you have your leftover pumpkin seed pulp. You might be thinking now what do I do with this?

Many different things…. We typically place the pulp on a teflex sheet and place in our dehydrator. And let dehydrate till dry. This is great to use in recipes like muffins, biscotti’s, or cakes because it creates a very light texture to the product.

More things that you can do with pulp. Instead of dehydrating right away you can make a raw burger out of my adding some chopped veggies, seeds, and some flaxmeal. Stir it all together till it holds together – may need to add some water as well. Than make burgers out of mixture and place in dehydrator to ‘cook’ till desired dryness. Or you can pumpkin seed butter with the pulp.

Now onto Dinner

We both were hungry after our colonics so we decided another kelp dinner will do.

Green Kelp Noodles

This was so yummy something we would make again. It was so light and refreshing, due to not having NUTS! It almost taste tropical due to the coconut and lime flavors : )

Here is the recipe for green sauce:

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp coconut vinegar*
• 1 tsp fresh ginger
• 1 cup fresh basil
• 2 garlics
• 2 tsp agave
• 1 tbsp shallot, minced
• 1 lime juice and zest

*This is a new product we came across from Living Tree. We love it!! But you could use any vinegar you have on hand.

Okay I think that is it from the twins…phew!

Till next time,

Lori and Michelle