Friday, May 30, 2014

Inspiration and YouTube



Aloha!!

When I first started this blog a few years ago, I had no real intention of what I wanted to do with it.  There was no structure, I just would post about my daily happenings and sometimes food/recipes.  Now, with so many new and exciting things going on in my life now (wedding planning, internship, raw foods, yoga, etc.) I have decided to really dedicate some time into this blog and share my experiences.

At first, I was trying the whole YouTube scene and it was so fun, but it just took up so much of my precious time.  I found myself dreading to make another video because of the amount of time it took to edit and upload.  Since I love to write/type, I think it is in my best interest right now to focus on this blog as a tool to share my experiences and passions.

I will be sending out a post once a week and it will range from recipes to what I'm working on in my internship, or even some yoga inspiration.  I'd love to hear from you as well!  It literally makes my day when someone comments!!


So, here's to this journey!  Luana ola!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Chili "Rice"

Sorry, but there are no pictures for this recipe because by the time I decided I wanted to write a post for this recipe, I had already eaten it!!  Yep...it's that good.

I pretty much made this up as I went, so bare with me as I guess the amount of ingredients to use.  I'll also throw in some additional ingredients if you'd like to change up the flavors

Chili "Rice": (yield:  a lot!!)
1 head cauliflower
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1/2 c sun dried tomatoes
1-2 T chili powder
1 stalk celery (or salt to taste)

Place cauliflower in a food processor and pulse until it resembles the texture of rice.  Set aside

In a high speed blender, add the tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, chili powder, and celery or salt.  Blend until well combined, adding water as necessary until your desired consistency is reached.  Eat!

You can also use a curry powder instead of the chili if you'd prefer a Middle Eastern flavor.  For an Italian twist, replace the chili with 1 t each oregano, thyme, and red pepper flakes.  Add any other fruits/veg you'd like:  avocado, olives, zucchini, bell peppers...and if you don't like cauliflower, too bad!!  Just kidding...you can substitute with actual rice, or any grain, beans, shredded zucchini/carrots.  The sky's the limit!

My favorite way of eating this is to make tacos out of it!  Take a few collard leaves (or any wrap of choice), smear on some hummus, add the rice mixture, and top with hot sauce!

Enjoy!!

Monday, May 12, 2014

Hey guys! I'm back for another wedding update!

I am in finals week and also have a few meetings to go to for the internship process through my school.  So life has been busy busy busy.

Before I go onto all that stuff, I want to wish all of you a Happy Mother's Day.  Even if you are not a mother, or not a woman, I hope you had a great day and got to share some quality time with your family/friends.  Holidays are funny.  We sometimes can get so caught up in the festive part of the holiday that we forget the whole purpose of the celebration.  For Mother's Day, it is celebrating the woman who brought each of us into this world.  It is such an amazing and beautiful thing; mom's should be celebrated every day!

Now back to the topic...wedding!!!  Since we have both been so busy, A and I have not done too much planning since the last post I did, but we have plans to meet with my parents and visit a couple of venues this weekend.  I'm really excited to see them, but I'll be honest, I'm dreading the cost.  It makes no sense to me why the caterers for weddings are so expensive.  The toughest part about these places is that they only have a select few caterers that they go though so we can't bring our own food or find a less expensive caterer.

We are both love simple and with these caterers, most of them think we want the whole sha-bang.  Since we will be having an afternoon wedding, we really don't even need alcohol and all of that is included.  So hopefully, we will be getting some more information on cost this weekend.  Here's to hoping!

I'd love to read comments on creating a great budget wedding, so leave me one below if you have any info! :)

Much love and Luana Ola!