The Whole Pizza

Wayne and I had the home made raw pizzas for dinner tonight. I must say, I did a good job! My pizza crusts weren't as pretty as Bliss', but they tasted just as good. I made pesto and raw pizza sauce and layered them on the crusts. Then I topped the pizzas with raw sun-dried olives, purple onions, and Roma tomatoes. They were pretty, but they looked pretty small. I was worried that we would still be hungry, but neither Wayne nor I could finish our entire pizza -- they were very filling! I will eat the leftovers tomorrow for lunch. Wayne was worried because they didn't have cheese on them, but once he tasted it, he said he didn't miss the cheese at all.

Today I took the kids to North Park Mall in Dallas and we went to the model train exhibit. It was really cool, and the kids absolutely LOVED it, even Emma. The tracks and scenes were so elaborate. It doesn't cost much money and the proceeds go to The Ronald McDonald House. It was very well done. We also saw a very cute (and FREE) puppet show in the mall. I try not to take 3 children to the mall EVER, but especially when it is crowded, because it is a recipe for disaster. Not today, though, and let me tell you, the mall was not just crowded -- it was packed! Nevertheless, we had a very nice time. The SPCA also had a booth set up in the mall and played with all of the puppies. They really had some cute ones. My favorite breed is a mutt, and they had lots of those. We adopted both of our dogs from dog shelters and I am a huge advocate of shelter adoptions. If we did not already have two dogs, I may have brought one home. The pic is of one named Minnie. She looked like a little Clyde (one of our dogs).

By the way, Happy Winter Solstice. I can't believe that there are only 4 more days until Christmas.

Home again.

I have been off of the radar for a few days because we decided to make a quick trip to Nashville after all. A small trip is better than no trip. We celebrated Thanksgiving in Dallas with Wayne's mother and brother and it was very nice. However, it just felt weird not seeing my family at Thanksgiving, too. So Friday we packed up the car and took off driving. It is a bit of a haul, but well worth it.

We have been visiting with my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and my niece and nephew. It has been a lot of fun! I think my mom was really nervous about what to make for me to eat while I was here, but it has been easier than she thought and my family is very supportive. I had some vegetable soup, green smoothie, and we made a wonderful salad that everyone enjoyed yesterday as well!

I wish we were able to stay for a longer trip. Since this is "home" for me, I have many friends I would like to see, but am just not going to have the opportunity this time around. It is strangely wonderful being back. The scenery is so beautiful! Even though most of the leaves have already dropped, the landscape, the hills and valleys, are still gorgeous! I miss the texture of the land -- Dallas is pretty flat and metropolitan. I must say, though, that Dallas is growing on me. Whenever you move it is always hard to adjust, but moving away from "home" is particularly difficult. We have been away for two years now so I am starting see that Dallas isn't so bad after all.

YUM!

Yesterday we went to Bliss, a new raw food restaurant and elixir bar in Dallas.  It was so good!   Miranda made some suggestions about what we should try.   Our friend Matt ordered the rawsagna and a superfoods caesar salad.  His plate was absolutely beautiful!  The tomatoes, which were the outside layers of his rawsagna were huge and succulent.  The other layers were mushroom, zucchini, and different sauces (red, green, and orange).  Matt has never eaten raw cuisine, so I could tell he was taken back a little bit.  I think he expected it to look more like cooked lasagna.  He was surprised to find that, "it actually tastes like lasagna."  Of course we all sampled it and I thought it was delicious!  Matt thought it was a lot of food and was not able to eat it all.  He also had a Minty Hemp elixir and a gogi berry sheezecake.  Matt said he would go back again.

Wayne had the Thai Noodle Bowl.  Of course I am fairly new to raw foods so I was wondering how in the world they got noodles that were obviously not squash.  Turns out they were made of kelp and they were excellent!  Miranda explained that they come in a package and are dry, but once you add the sauces they obtain their noodle-like quality.  Wayne really liked his dish. All of the herbs and spices mingled together made it look and taste wonderful.  I think that my children would like what he had.  He drank a goji berry lemonade elixir, which was a beautiful color, and had a banana chocolate sheezecake for dessert (more on that in a minute because I had the same thing).

I had the Rawko-Tacos Plate.  The plate was absolutely gorgeous!  The taco shell was red and it had ground sunflower "meat", a beautiful salad, salsa, and even sour cream on top.  YUMMY!  My plate was the hit of the table.   Wayne and Matt both loved it.  Eating it was a very messy experience, but well worth the effort!  I also had an elixir called chocolate bliss -- my children would LOVE this drink!  For dessert I had a chocolate banana sheezecake.  It was so very yummy!  The good thing was that my sweet tooth was more than satisfied and I did not feel like a heavy blob after I ate it.  My mouth felt clean and not filmy.  The texture of the cake was perfect, and Wayne said he would definitely be having that again.  

Overall, our experience was wonderful!  There is only outdoor seating and we were lucky to be there on an evening when the wind was blowing and the humidity was low.  I highly recommend going if you get a chance!  Miranda told us they were adding a children's menu and I would take Jake, Emma, and Phillip.  I can't wait to take my friends and family back to my new favorite restaurant!