Sunshine Project!

Last night I attended a meeting at a beautiful little house to talk about getting good food to people in Denver who don't have access to it.

I knew this was gonna be right up my alley.

It was only a small group of people, but we talked about the need for affordable, organic, fresh & unprocessed foods to be accessible to EVERYONE - especially certain "food deserts" in Denver (where there are no grocery stores nearby, no access to any foods except fast "foods").

It was a wonderful meeting, and I love how excited everyone is about this food program.  It started as a co-op, but they're now a full non-profit.  They need help with gardening, filling orders, reaching out to the community, and much more.  I am SO EXCITED.

This is just a sample of some of the amazing foods they sent me home with from their garden!

I can't wait to try them all!  :D

Click here to read a little more about the project (it's from last year, but still has good info).  I'm so excited to be a part of this program, and to be helping people who share the same passion that I do.  Getting good, local, organic, HEALTHY foods to EVERYONE.

It's time to change the world!

Weekend Fun & Bein' Productive

This weekend was full of all KINDS of awesome stuff!

Did I mention that I'm going to be doing an online cooking show?  Oh, well, I am. :)  I found these guys on Craigslist, and we're doing a whole vegetarian / vegan cooking show together!  My show is called "My Meatless Kitchen", and on Saturday morning (bright & early), we filmed the first two episodes. 

This is the kitchen we shot in!
 

One of my first items that I made - quick sticky buns!  I adapted it from this recipe here - it's one of my favorites, and ridiculously easy to make.  For the first two episodes we did breakfast foods.  Fun fun!
 

Look, ma!  I'm on TV!!

A close-up of the quick sticky buns - the crew went crazy for them, and John was bummed when I came home without any to share with him.  Haha!  I'll post a link when the website / videos are up & running!  It was pretty darn fun.  I was a little nervous at first (I've never done anything like this before!), but eventually it started to feel a bit more natural.  The crew was awesome too - they were a huge help with getting me where I needed to go, and guiding me with what to say.

Also, it was a pretty rainy / cold / dreary Saturday, so it was kind of perfect for filming indoors!

Saturday night I surprised John with tickets to the Outlaws Lacrosse game.  It warmed up a bit finally, but there was still a chill in the air.  My friend Ryan gave us his season tickets for the night since he couldn't make it, and DANG were they close!!  It was pretty great!  

 

I lent John my uber fashionable scarf since he was cold.  I should've probably told him to wear a coat - it was kinda cold!  Whoops. ;)  Luckily we snuck in some pocket shots of rum & whiskey to spike our cokes with.  That helped keep us warm. 
 

Best part of the night was me getting to dance for the Jumbotron!!  I stood up and did a little boogie for the crowd.  The guy in front of us turned around and said - "Oh my gosh, you are awesome."  HA! 

We stopped for Thai food on the way home, and ate it in front of the TV.  It was a great end to a great night!

The next morning John and I got up late and hit the Farmer's Market for the first time this year.  It was super fun!  Not much produce yet (it's a little early in the year to harvest just yet), but we did get a few things.  

We also FINALLY got seeds for our own garden at home!!  

That's me plantin' seeds like a pro.  Well, a very confused "am I doing this right?" really-hoping-that-I-don't-mess-up-our-first-batch-of-veggies pro.  :)  
 

My little seed-planting set-up!
 

Grow up BIG and STRONG, lil' guys!
 

While I worked on the seeds, John went to work on the garden.  He's been working his booty off with cleaning it up, raking, tilling, and getting the soil ready to go.  Our compost should help to fertilize too.  He did an awesome job! 

After we finished our work on the garden for the day (it's barely started, but at least we got things going finally), I cleaned out the fridge and the cupboards.  I mean, REALLY cleaned them - I emptied everything, wiped off shelves, condensed things... it felt AMAZING when I was finished!  

Then I decided to make some Coconut Scones.  I pinned these a little while ago on my "Sweet Recipes" page on Pinterest, and I have been dying to make them ever since.  Also after my cleaning adventure, I realized I had all of the ingredients I needed!  WOOT!  Love when that happens. :)  

Here is where you can find the recipe with step-by-step instructions.  The only differences from mine is that I substituted soymilk for heavy cream, and I used whole-wheat flour for regular flour.  

I'm not kidding, folks - these things are DELICIOUS.  I had mine with a cup of tea, and a side of strawberry jam.  I enjoyed it SO MUCH and it was a wonderful treat to wrap up the busy weekend. 

 
 Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!!    
 

A year of only eating home-grown foods!

I absolutely love these videos from Whole Foods!!  I mentioned the first episode in this post, and this is another one in the Thrive short-video series called "GROW".  This family decided to avoid grocery stores for an entire year, and only eat food that they can harvest from their own backyard. 

It's wonderful, and inspiring - and I can't wait to get my garden started next year!! ;)