Come to Health&Fitness Week With Me!! ALL TRAVEL EXPENSES COVERED

K readers, this is no gimmick. I am driving to H&F Week in Sedro Wooley, Washington from SLC, UT and if you are in the area [or on the way] I am offering to drive you there and back absolutely FREE.
SEPTEMBER 15-22
No pitching in for gas.
 I want you to come meet Dr. Graham, play with me, and eat exclusively 80/10/10 raw vegan for a whole week that bad. I have room to fit 3 people comfortably in my car.
The cost of the week is $4,199.00 which covers everything, and now, your travel costs too.
CLICK HERE to sign up!! All I ask is that you mention that you heard about it from me when you sign up!

This unforgettable week of strength building and habit creating includes:

• A supportive community, regardless of your age or ability level, to help you achieve your personal goals.
• Personalized training in small groups to meet your needs.
• 100% organic fruits and vegetables served at each meal.
• Food for your travels homeward.
• B&B-style accommodations, with one roommate.
• Two lectures daily in nutrition and fitness theory. See schedule below.
• Family and friends to support your raw fitness journey for a lifetime.
• Massage and bodywork therapists available.

It is worth mentioning that the head chef at this event is Alicia Ojeda, a classically trained professional chef who has serviced the likes of over 1,400 people daily at Dream Works Studios. She has spent the last 10 years transforming her dishes into raw vegan 80-10-10 friendly style cuisine and is passionate about transforming the palate through unforgettable combinations of fruits and vegetables. I've had the chance to dine from her dishes more than once and you do not want to miss it!

I promise you will come out of this event with newfound vigor to live healthfully, priceless information about the human body and how to properly use it, as well as an arsenal of incredible 80/10/10 recipes.

Email me at dotwren@gmail.com to let me know if you will be joining me for this epic week of Health and Fitness!

Tomato Rainbow

First thing when I woke up this morning: harvest time!
I get unbelievably excited every 3 days or so when I get to go bring in another haul from my garden. It's like Halloween for grown ups...and it never, ever gets old.
Lately it's been all about tomatoes, and it is just now maybe starting to get ahead of me..
My landlady gave me free range to all of her incredible tomato plants; combine that with my 2 fox cherry, 2 celebrity, 3 roma, 2 beefsteak, and 2 marvel striped, and we are in business! Months ago when I wrote about planting my first garden I expressed that I was basically pulling numbers out of thin air because I had no idea what each plant would yield. Well. Each plant yields, A LOT. My cherry tomatoes definitely win for best product and most overall; every 3 days I get about 150 from those two plants. I've been dehydrating them more and more for winter recipes, but I've also been just eating them as is!

Feeling very blessed

Shockingly, Michael has become quite the connoisseur of cherry tomatoes. When I was out of town last week I asked that he keep up with the harvesting so the ripe ones wouldn't go bad, which he dutifully did. Out of curiosity and part boredom, he tried one and was surprised at how much he liked it! [He never requests tomatoes and if asked, he'll say he doesn't want any on his salads.] Now he is my shadow whenever I go picking and will tell me, "Dot, that one's not ready. Don't pick it yet." I do tend to get over-excited as soon as I see the slightest blush.   

These orange sun-golds are award winning tomatoes that my land-lady grows. Best in State 2008 and 2010 I think? For good reason. She has 5 plants that are overflowing with fruits. They epitomize everything that is savory. The strawberries are growing outside out backdoor and are super sweet. 

How to be an Ant: Food Preservation

I grew up reading Aesop’s Fables. For those of you perhaps not familiar with this book, it is full of allegorical stories told mostly from the perspectives of talking animals. Sounds freaky? Yeah, some of them are. One story that I will always remember is the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper: it’s a beautiful summer’s day and the grasshopper is relaxing in the grass, loving life. He pokes fun at the ant nearby who is tirelessly working at gathering food for the winter season. The ant keeps doing his thing, winter comes, and the ant is snug, warm, and fed while the grasshopper freezes to death while begging the ant for some food and shelter. Kind of a morbid story that perhaps has more than one moral, but the main point is to prepare.

One of the benefits [okay, maybe the only benefit] of missing out on the Woodstock Fruit Festival is that I don’t miss one wink of peach season! Last year I came back at the tail end due to my travels and missed out on many a mono-meal during the peak. Tomatoes are in full-swing as well, meaning I am getting loads of seconds from my work, on top of what I’m harvesting out of my garden. It’s all just starting to get ahead of me [meaning I’m getting more than I can eat], which calls for some serious food prep: freezing and dehydrating. In the chill of winter I will be so stoked to whip out my sundried tomatoes and add them to sauces, soups, dressings, or just re-hydrate them to eat whole. And I am still eating frozen peaches from last year!

5 trays later we have a full dehydrator. Dried tomatoes are yummiest after about 8 hours, still juicy, drier skins, packed with flavor. These guys are getting the full throttle experience though: 18+ hours, nice and thin, then off to live in the back of my refrigerator until needed.

No matter your eating-style, just go the extra mile now, buy some produce in bulk and dehydrate or freeze it for your winter smoothies! A little tip: mangoes at Costco right now are PERFECT [and those of you who know me know that I rarely have good things to say about Costco] so buy some cases, freeze the flesh and eat what’s on the leftover peels/pits! Add some diced tomato and make a meal out of it! When you drift past the frozen isle come January and see a tiny 4 oz. bag of frozen mango for $5.99 you’ll be smiling inside knowing that you planned ahead.

My freezer is FULL. Tons of mango, middle is frozen pitted cherries from this season, right is frozen medjool dates from last fall. In the way back is frozen bananas for ice cream nights.

Presenting Excellence

Wow the last week has flown by! I can't believe it is already Monday again.
Presenting Excellence was hard in that it was an actual course [3 days of real school] and it was difficult to stay focused on one subject matter for that long, but it was full of learning, fun, and friends so it was definitely worth it. I am pining, aching to have stayed for another week... ooh the Woodstock Fruit Festival is happening right now and I am missing it...but for good reason! I am taking a week off in September to go to Health and Fitness Week in Seattle and I didn't want to take that much time off of work, especially since it's non-stop harvesting right now. But still, it was so hard to see everyone arrive, even help put away the massive amounts of fruit [600+ raw vegans' food for 1 whole week, that's a LOT of food] before catching a ride to the Albany airport. Ugh. The airport. I had to spend the night there before catching my 6AM flight back to Utah. The best part? At my connecting flight in Chicago, I happened to be on the same plane as my longtime childhood friend Reuben, and we caught up the whole way back! What a coincidence!

The actual event of PE was pretty non-stop, so I didn't take too many photos, but I managed to take these snapshots and I think it sums it up pretty well.

What we ate:

There were about 20 people at this event, all raw vegans. We had 3 volunteers who did a great job making sure everything was in order, clean, and set up, but when it came to meal time, simple was easiest, so simple it was. I really enjoyed these meals. It was very easy for me to gauge when I wanted to stop eating, and there was no guilt of "oh, but I have to finish what's on my plate!" because...there were no plates! 

Breakfast: watermelon

Lunch: peaches, pears, celery, romaine

Dinner: peaches, tomatoes, cucumber, celery, romaine

Partway through the week we ran out of peaches and got mangoes, grapes, and figs which were added to either lunch or dinner.

Who was there:

Jennelle was there! Doesn't she look great? Positively glowing! It was so good to see her again post Costa Rica...we roomed with Melanie, a girl from Germany who I really enjoyed talking to!

Most of the other attendees were all presenters at Woodstock who came to sharpen their public speaking skills before the big week. I went to Woodstock last year and got to meet everyone, but of course I was just part of their "fan-base." It was much cooler to actual become friends with them at PE. Chris Kendall, John Kohler, Karen Ranzi, Chris Randall, Dr. Sam, just to name a few...and of course it's always a good time with Dr. Graham...

I just love this picture of Dr. Graham at dinner, suited up in his Pink Floyd cut-off, sweats, and vibrams. Alright! Fruit power!

What we did:

In the classroom it was about 60% lectures, 40% practicing our public speaking. Oh man. I never realized how hard it is to get up and talk in front of a group of people! And they were all my friends who I had loads in common with! Wow. And to do it well ?? There are endless factors: volume, stance, body language, tone, fillers, smiling, eye contact, gestures, speed, content...it makes my head spin just thinking about it!

We had our down time though, my favorite of which was getting to lift with Dr. G, Grant, Kevin, and whomever else was hanging around before dinner...

I broke some of my PRs including 205 lb 1x deadlift and 135 lb 2x squat! Woohoo!!

Beautiful sunrise in Albany, NY before boarding my flight back to Utah

Back on the East Coast

Today is the first official day of Presenting Excellence, a FoodNSport even right before the Woodstock Fruit Festival in upstate NY. This year I prioritized going to this event and Health and Fitness week in September, although that meant I had to forfeit the Fruit Festival [very sad, since I know what I'll be missing and everyone here is staying for it] but alas, it is what it is. Next year I plan on attending the Festival as a volunteer.
Nearly everyone trickled in for this event yesterday afternoon/evening and it was very casual: setting up your cabin, working out, taking boats out on the lake, eating fresh fruits and veggies. I absolutely love lifting with Dr. Graham; he knows my limits so well and knows exactly how to push me just a little bit past what I think I can do. I set a new PR for deadlifts [165 lbs. 4x]! Woohoo! I might be breaking that again before the week is over!

It is beautiful country up here: green rolling hills, thick, dense air that is rich with oxygen and moisture, perfect 80 degree temperature...but more than anything else, it is so refreshing to be surrounded once again with like-minded people. I'll soak it up as long as I'm here, virtually "refilling my tank." Just another reminder that I am not alone in my chosen lifestyle. More pictures to come!

Our beautiful view of Lake Trout, Diamond Point, New York

Saucy Spicy Dressing [easy!!]

Here's another recipe coming at you that I plan on putting in my recipe book. It is the perfect savory summer dressing that I love on salads, but can also be used as a dip. I didn't take a picture last time I made it, so you'll just have to imagine what it looks like [until you go make it yourself]. 

Ingredients:

Corn [4 years, shaved raw]

1/2 of jalepeno [de-seeded and diced!]

1 small avocado

juice from 1/2 lemon

+ your favorite herb. I've used chives, basil, and dill [on three separate occasions] and it came out great every time. If I had to choose, I would say basil was my favorite.

Blend ingredients and serve immediately

My favorite combination is zucchini noodles over a bed of arugula/mixed greens. The arugula gives it a little kick and the noodles soak up the flavors.

It doesn't get much easier than that...well unless you count just cutting open a watermelon or other piece of fruit. Seriously, it takes NO time to prepare these meals. People always ask me how I "make time" and I frankly have to laugh at the idea...my food IS the ORIGINAL fast food! No waiting, no "messing up" the cook time, temperature, or ingredients [unless you count eating fruit that isn't ripe, big no-no], it's the simplest, most stress-free, easiest way to eat. Try it and tell me what you think!

Weekend in Evanston, WY

This weekend Michael drove northeast to Evanston, WY to visit our friends that just moved there. What should have been an hour and half took just over 2 hours due to my granny driving in my tiny 4-cylinder Hyundai Accent combined with wretched hills. I was unpleasantly surprised to need a jacket basically the whole time...what happened to my 100 degree hotness I was so used to?! You definitely don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. Yes, it's been hot, but I'll take the heat over the cold any day. Except Christmas. Even then, it's a worthy sacrifice if it means living in the tropics...

Any-who, it was fun hanging out with Tyler and Kara and their new baby girl: going on a walk, making dinner, watching a scary movie, and watching part of a meteor shower on their back porch. The next day [today] we drove through the Uinta's and hiked a little before heading to Michael's sister's house where we enjoyed dinner and good company. Ah the joys of young married life, weekend freedom and a quick road trip. It was good to get out.

We just got new phones! Michael is loving his camera including the wide screen front facing camera. Partway up the mountain it started to hail, yes hail. Granted we were somewhere around 12,000 feet up, but I wasn't prepared to see anything frozen for at least another 3 months. Looking forward to hibernating this winter in Costa Rica again...

Tomorrow I work and then pack up for my trip to Massachusetts/New York. I am SO excited to see Jennelle [my roommate during my fast last January and good friend from home] and of course my parents, who just celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary! My mom was in Utah in July but I didn't get to visit with her for very long due to my schedule, and even though this trip will be much the same, I'm glad I'll get a day or so with them.

In garden news: things are going very well! I picked another 60+ cherry toms upon coming back home, along with a handful of blushing beefsteaks. Tomatoes ROCK. It used to gross me out to see people eating them like apples. Now I'm that person. Go get yourself some organic ripe heirlooms and discover savory juicy bliss.

Title Wars

Okay so I'm looking for some feedback, PLEASE comment sharing your opinion [or email me at dotwren@gmail.com]. 

I'm working on creating a website and am trying to decide between names: amadapuravida.com OR freshcompost.com.

Fresh Compost is the name of my first blog from 2011. I still like the name a lot, but wanted to start over when I created this blog. A website is a bit more of permanent venture, so what do you think? Amada Pura Vida vs. Fresh Compost??

Follow-Up

Why hello there and thank you for not giving up on my inconsistent blogging as of late. Life has gotten ahead of me as I plan for my mid-August trip back home to Massachusetts and my weekend in upstate NY, and 40 hour weeks on the farm have really started to feel more like 60+ hour weeks in this heat...but alas, these are just my excuses. Regardless, I appreciate my readers' loyalty.

My last post sure was an eye-brow-raiser and may have struck some of you as random. After all, it was off of my usual topics of life, health, and recipes. For those of you who know me well, the information was probably not news, but it was still a big deal for me to write it out and post it for the world to see. It was essentially my "coming out" and I have to admit, I felt a waive of relief after posting it. I invited my friends on Facebook to read it [as I often do] and I got LOTS of reactions, some mixed, a few negative, but overwhelmingly positive. It taught me to not be afraid of other people's opinions and to do things for me. A little selfishness is not a bad thing, and overall I feel rewarded for it. So, do I regret having posted my intimate story and thought processes on the subject of religion? Absolutely not.

On another note, my garden is coming in quite nicely! I was allotted 150 feet [not very much to the naked eye, but actually a decent chunk of land] of fertile soil in my backyard to grow my own personal garden a few months ago, and things are progressing quite nicely! I get tons of free/cheap food April-November because of my job, but I still wanted to take advantage of this chance to have my own garden. The only problem was that I had no idea how much of what to plant...at my job those numbers are already done for me, my boss just says, "plant 200 cucumber plants" and I do it...I have no idea how much each plant actually yields...
So it's been incredibly fun tracking my garden thus far. I've been keeping a diligent record of exactly how many fruits I harvest from each plant and am looking forward to counting it all up at the end of the fall season. So far I've harvest [and eaten] over 100 of these Fox Cherry Tomatoes! They are little fireworks of delight in my mouth!