The Healthiest Breakfast Cereal Ever

Breakfast Lovers!

Tired of eating cereal out of a box? Try this combo instead:

Peace, love, and eat your veggies!

Tara

The healthiest sandwich EVER!

Hey Guys!

I'm back from cookie land. Okay, I've been back for a while.

I just wanted to quickly share with you my new favorite lunch aka the healthiest sandwich EVER made... the raw hoagie!

Ingredients:

1 romaine heart

1 Tblsp raw tahini (sesame seed butter)

red pepper, sliced

mango, diced

cucumber, diced

2 scallions, diced

1 stalk of celery, diced

3 dates, chopped

Spread the leaves of your romaine heart and spread the tahini inside with a knife. Then start shoving and layering your fruit & veggie goodness inside. And feel free to get fancy and add in your own fav fruits and veggies.

Results: Delicious & Nutritious lunch.

I need to give a quick shout out to the super hot low fat raw vegan Megan Elizabeth, whom I am a HUGE fan of. I got this recipe/idea from her! Check her out at www.meganelizabeth.com. She's hot. You can tell her I said so.

Also, if you want to hang out with me and eat some of my yummy raw food, come to my Un-Cooking class on August 10th! I am limited to only ten spots, and as of this moment, only five are left! http://rawtara.eventbrite.com/

Peace, Love, Eat Some Veggies,

Tara

Grandma's House

Hello RawPeeps/FoodFans/HappyEaters :::

It all started out with an innocent trip to Grandma's house.

I was on day three of a thirty day 100% raw food extravaganza.
And then lil silly me decides to go visit Grandma's house.

What are grandmas famous for???

Home cooked meals. Comfort foods. And cookies. Lord oh lord...
Chocolate chip cookies.

I have been about 90% raw over the past two months. What has
consumed my 10% non-raw, might you ask?

Cookies.

I have zero willpower when it comes to cookies. Especially
chocolate chip cookies.

What, might you ask, does Grandma keep in her freezer, just for
hungry-trying-to-be-100%-raw-grand-daughters? Chocolate chip
cookies.

Have you ever had a chocolate chip cookie frozen? A doughy,
huge, grandma-style extra chocolate chips cookie?

If I could eat one food every day for the rest of my life and it
have no negative effects on the size of my derriere, it would be
chocolate chip cookies.

So, magically, I went back to my old ways at Grandma's house.
Sure, I still had some salads. Even my raw savory veggie stews a
couple of times. I even had smoothies for breakfast. But
somewhere between post lunch and pre dinner, I would secretly
sneak my way into the kitchen for more cookies.

After 5 days of delicious cookie crumbles in the mouth, I have
extracted my self from Grandma's house. It was like a bad
episode of
TaraInTheWillieWonkaChocolateFactoryTurnedGrandma'sHouse.
And now I'm out. And back to my original program.

Thanks for letting me be honest. I figured this was the only way.

And yes, I am human and humans sometimes say they're going
to do one thing for 30 days and then don't.

And now I have the scale (now 3 lbs in 5 days heavier) to point and laugh
and mock me for being so naughty.

I, Tara Cheney, am a sinner.

But I have also forgiven myself. Because someone needs to and
that someone might as well be me.

And now, I shall go back to my salad.

Amen.

Day 2 of 30 of Tara's 100% Low Fat Raw Vegan Par-tay

It's day 2 of my excellent adventure. Today, I describe what I eat in a day on the 80-10-10 diet and show some of the tools I use. Bon apetit!

Love,

TBC

Day 1 of 30 of Tara's 100% Low Fat Raw Vegan Lifestyle

I am ready to go 100% on my low fat raw vegan diet and have decided to post my progress for all the world to see. How's that for accountability?!?

Here's Day One:

Today's lunch with a super yummy, home-made, fruit-based, no oil/sugar/vinegar dressing:

Stay tuned for more!

<3,

TBC

Back in the 208!

So it's been a while... And I'm going to make this short and sweet (literally sweet, with a yummy low fat raw vegan dessert recipe!).

1. I went to Norway, had a fabulous time. Okay, more than fabulous time. And then I came home.

2. So, I'm back in the beautiful beautiful 208 aka Boise, Idaho. And I must say that there's no place like home. Before I began my travels, I was on a "Boise is a Bubble" and "I'm ditching this town!" mentality. I never appreciated the beauty of having friends and family 10 minutes (or the next room) away. Or the simplicity of being able to sit with a friend that you've known for years and speak the same first language with each other. I am so.very.thankful for seeing the world. And I am extra.so.very.thankful that the world has shown me the beauty of home.

3. While in Norway, I became a student of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. In March of 2012, I will be a certified holistic health counselor. Just call me "Health Coach" for short. My focus is (surprise!) raw vegan foods!!! I have started my own company: Rawtara and already have three health coaching clients!

And now for the good stuff... I held a raw foods potluck at mi casa on Saturday. Here are the results of this tasty event:

Tara's Cucumber Tomato Date Dill Sliders

Fred's Guacamole

Chris's Tomatoes with Crackers & Garlic from her garden!

Angela's Parsnips, Fruits, & Veggies

Tara's Smoothie Sampler Bar

Tara's Low Fat Raw Vegan Cherry Pie

The spread.

As you can see, raw foods are bright, tasty, and a snap to create!

And now for the grand sweet finale (as promised):

Tara's Low Fat Raw Vegan Cherry Pie

Super yummy & healthy... Easier to make and just as tasty as the real thing! Adapted from the low fat raw vegan Chef Megan Elizabeth (aka my idol!).

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups pitted chopped medjool dates

1/3 cup shredded raw coconut

2 cups frozen cherries (thawed)

4 to 6 extra cherries

Directions:

- Place 1 1/2 cups of chopped dates and only 1/4 cup of coconut in food processor.

- Mix until the dates and coconut are spread evenly throughout.

- Press into the bottom of a 6 to 8 inch wide bowl or pie pan, or into 4 to 6 molds from a cupcake pan, to make the piecrust.

- Blend the 2 cups of thawed cherries until creamy.

- Pour the filling into the crust.

- Freeze for 2-3 hours. Wrap with plastic wrap if freezing overnight.

- When the filling is hard, garnish with a few cherries and the left over coconut.

- Serves 4-6 people.

Thank you so very much for reading and stay tuned for more on the always changing adventures of TBC and Tara's Rawvolution.

With Love,

Tara

Viva Las Vegas!

Hello Beautiful Peeps!

Toot toot! I am back from a two month nonblogging absence! I shall provide no excuses... Only a list of the fabulous chain of events that happened to me during the most wonderful pinch-me-if-this-is-my-real-life last two months:

1) I was feeling a teensy bit homesick. Okay, that is a lie. I, Tara Beth Cheney was super homesick. I am a pack animal. I love my family, my friends, and mostly - being home for the holidays! Amongst emails from my best friend that I must return home immediately because she could not live for one more day without me and constant pestering from my little sis if I was going to make it home for Christmas... I caved.

My sister, mom, and several other relatives were going to be in Las Vegas on December 9th to celebrate my sister (CeCe) and two other cousins' 21st birthdays, all which occurred in 201o... I had been well informed of this fabulous trip, because my sister had sent me some very sad emails begging, pleading, and wishing I was going to be there celebrating the year of her 21st birthday with her. Little did she know that I had a very very fun surprise up my sleeve.

So, I secretly hopped on a plane from Hong Kong and came back to the beautiful United States of America! One would think I would fly home to Boise, Idaho. But no - I went to Vegas! I knew my mom and sister's flight arrival time, so standing in the Las Vegas airport's limo driver line, I held a sign in front of my face that said, "Tami & CeCe Cheney." With my Aunt Amy to film the surprise (I had to let her in on the secret because I needed an accomplice), well... You watch for yourself:

Before the surprise.

Just after CeCe noticed me, took out the line of limo drivers with her carry on, and attacked me (plus my cute mama crying in the background).

So the surprise was the best ever. And we proceeded to do exactly what all single 21-year-old girls* do in Vegas...

Party like ROCKSTARS! And this brings us to event number...

2) Picture this... First night in Vegas. It's a Thursday night, so the clubs aren't quite hopping like they normally are on a Friday or Saturday. CeCe, our cousin Steffanie, and I have a few lovely beverages, put on our party skirts, and head down to the Rok Club, which is a somewhat small dance club in the New York New York - the hotel we were staying at. With our lovely beverages demolished, and a nearly empty dance floor, we were literally dancing like no one was watching. We're talking soulja boy, moon walking, the robot, and as CeCe chastisingly calls them - TBC's cheerleader dance moves.

I look up from my running man just long enough to notice some cute boys looking our direction.

"Hey CeCe," I say. "Check out those cute boys over there. They want to talk to us but they're too shy."

To my surprise, seconds later, the cute shy boys have us surrounded. One particularly very-tall-blonde-haired-blue-eyed-godlike-wonderful-smelling-Abercrombie-dressed-with-really-nice-Italian-leather-shoes-and-European-jeans-beautiful-boy comes up to me and starts talking to me with a strangely sexy foreign accent (have I told you lately that I loffffff accents? Okay, what girl doesn't?).

"Where are you from?" I ask.

"Norway," he smiles with the yummiest most kissable lips I have ever laid eyes upon.

"Ohhhhhhhhh." I giggle. "What's your name?"

"Uheestein"

"Uhee-what?" I ask.

"Uheestein."

"Uhee-what?" I question again. "Oh, never mind. I'll call you Mr. Norway."

My only recollection from that point forward is of me and Mr. Norway - as if we're in our own little world... The rest of the club fades away as we dance, me still doing my moon walking, trying to get him to robot, and jumping on him rodeo-style only to have the bouncers kick me off. We even go to the co-ed bathroom together:

Dancing turned to kissing and the next thing you know.... I'm pregnant!

JUST KIDDING! (And sorry Mom - bad joke.)

This leads us to event number...

3) ********

HOWEVER, I am going to make you wait! MUAH! Stay tuned for the continuation of TBC's pinch-me-if-this-is-my-real-life last two months!

Love,

TBC

* Okay, I know I'm 27 and not a 21-year-old girl. But for that weekend in Vegas, I temporarily reserved the right to be 21... again.

PPS - Mr. Norway's correct spelling of his first name: Øystein. The Ø is pronounced like the U in urge. The Y sounds like ee. The stein is just like the stein in Einstein. "Uheestein." Now have 5 vodka sodas and try and say that out loud. :)