Sailing and a Visit!

A couple weeks ago I mentioned I was going on the race committee boat for the Crew of 2 Race which is a 24 hour race that goes around Catalina Island. We got to the boat bright and early Saturday morning with all the race equipment, and drove out of Newport Harbor to anchor in the ocean near Balboa Pier. I made some breakfast muffins and biscuits for everyone to munch on while we did all the check-ins, horns, and flags to kickoff the three different race boat classes. It's really simple to do, we just have to make sure you watch the GPS time and coordinate which class flags and prep flags go up and down so that certain boats know when to start. We finished in no time and then hung out in the sun and had lunch. Of course I made dessert too! ;)

For breakfast I made two Happy Herbivore recipes!

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

These were so good! I love blueberry muffins in general, but the addition of oats makes them even better. You can get the recipe on her site here.

Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits with Almond Glaze

I also made these biscuits which can be found in her Everyday Happy Herbivore cookbook. I highly recommend :)

For dessert I made one of Chef Heathy Pace's recipes from Sweetly Raw.

Raw Dark Chocolate Mousse with Hazelnuts

 

So rich and decadent and completely raw, loved it!

Here's some shots from the boat.

This past week a friend of mine I used to work with back in New York came out to visit. It was Meg's first time on the West Coast so we kept busy! So busy that I don't think I even made any recipes lol. We brought her to Universal Studios in Hollywood, I took her to Huntington Beach, shopped till we dropped at South Coast Plaza, and also to the huge Orange County Fair. Went out to eat a bunch, did some more shopping and site seeing, and had some down movie time with wine :) It was definitely a busy week, but fun.

 

Being little kids again apparently lol.

Views from Universal of the Hollywood area.

Huntington Beach for the day getting sunburnt.

Forgot the US Open for Surfing was going on and there were thousands of people everywhere!

Coronarita anyone?!

Anddd a few strawberry margaritas! It's vacation ;)

Results of tequila mixed with beer before shopping ;)

This is as fancy as Meg and I got with dinner lol. Fruit, salad, and beer. We were too tired to cook!

I took Meg to Native Foods Cafe for some yummy vegan food :) My chik'n sandwich and she had a greek gyro bowl with homemade seitan & some lavender lemonade!

Meg loves to bead and make jewelry so while bead shopping I decided to pick up some stuff and made my own watch with changeable bands ;) I plan on making a bunch more to match different outfits.

This summer has definitely been busy so far. I leave for Phoenix in less than a week for Isagenix's Celebration Convention!!! So excited and it's our 10 year anniversary as a company. Plus my handsome boyfriend will be flying into Phoenix to meet me for the convention then coming back to Cali for a few days, yay :)

Fun Findings in July

This month was the first time I participated in Foodie PenPals! A program put together by Lindsay, over at TheLeanGreenBean, for foodies around the country such as myself! At the beginning of the month you're assigned someone to send a package of $15 worth of fun foodie items to that you think they'll enjoy. You receive from one person and send to a different person, and then post a blog about what you received at the end of the month. This month I received my package from Summer, over at EatReal.LiveWell, who lives over in sunny Florida!

I was SO excited when I saw all these delicious goodies she picked out for me!!! :)

I have never had freeze dried fruit before but it was so good! Literally melts in your mouth.

These carrot cake cookies were also super yummy. I love how they incorporated coconut into them as well. Great for snacking when I'm out and about and they're raw!

Yummm, chocolate! Need I say more?? Who doesn't like chocolate! The coconut raw bar was such a treat! Sweet and chewy for a perfect snack, while the chili chocolate was spicy and sweet! I've never had chili chocolate before and have always wanted to try it, and it was definitely tasty! The perfect blend of sweet chocolate with a kick ;)

Ah, the spirulina bar! I munched on this beauty while roaming around Universal Park up in Hollywood for the day! It was a great energy boost and tastes just like bananas!



And finally the strawberry preserves she picked up from her local produce stand! She says this is the absolute best strawberry preserves and I cannot wait to try it! I need to use up what's in my fridge first, but I'm excited to dig in soon. She even included a cute postcard from the same farm with a note! :)

What a great box of goodies Summer picked out for me!!! She really hit it right on with everything I love to snack on. Thank you so much for putting this together for me Summer! I loved it all :)

Check out what I sent to Madison over at PilatesMakesYouHappy!

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And now it's time for some details about Foodie Penpals. In case you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of what the program is all about:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re interested in participating for August, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by August 4th as pairings will be emailed on August 5th!

*If you're from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I'll see if we get enough interest this month!

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The next fun thing I discovered this month was when I was roaming around the Orange County Fair and saw a booth for 'Farm Fresh To You'. It's about ten local organic farms in the area coming together and putting difference boxes of produce together and delivering right to your doorstep every week or as little or often as you want that month. I was originally looking into the co-ops where you become a member and go pick up your box of produce every week from whatever retailer they drop it off at, but this is way better! Not only is there no membership and it's pay as you go, you can add or change items you might not like or want. You can see what's coming the following week and log in to your account and make any necessary changes, including the type of produce box you want to receive! There are mixed boxes, all fruit, all veggies, and ready to eat ones with less cooking required produce. I thought this was such a great idea not only to support local organic farms, but they literally pick the produce and bring it to you by the next day or so. MUCH fresher than even the organic markets I regularly go to and everything was SOOO tasty!

I decided to get the regular size box to start out with and adjust it from there depending on how much we'd eat in a week. I got the mixed box which is a combination of fruits and veggies. That particular week it came with grapes, nectarines (faveee), plums, cherry tomatoes, assorted tomatoes, a lemon, an onion, a cucumber, a bunch of carrots, and a head of lettuce. The fruit was sooo amazingly juicy and fresh, and the tomatoes and other veggies just as good! I will definitely continue to get a box from FFTY every week! Oh, and if you live in the LA,or Orange County areas you can save $10 on your first order with referral code 6164 and giving them my name, Gabbie Raymond ;) Enjoy!

A friend of mine from back in New York was visiting this past week so things have been a little crazy, but I'll post some recipes I made in a day or two ;)