Grocery Shopping in Aruba & Trip Pics

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Happy Hump Day  New Moon Day!  I hope life is mellow for you today!  Just to let you know, sometimes when it’s a New Moon we tend to feel tired, sluggish, somewhat blah, but in a grounded, stable sense.  If you’re noticing anything like that, you could blame it on the moon.  If you missed my post on the Full Moon and sensations you’d notice with a Full Moon, you can get your astrology groove on over here.  For me, things are great, but before I get to what I’ve been up to, I want to thank Katie again for her Guest Post yesterday here on my blog where she unveiled her Raw Tiramisu BallsYummy stuff, go check out the post in case you missed it!

Tiramisu Babies
Tiramisu Babies in bar form next to mug of coffee beans

 


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Tiramisu Babies cookie dough

Thanks again, Katie, for the Tiramisu Action….yummy!!!

I also wanted to give a shoutout to Anna who made my High Raw All Vegan Sugar Cookie Dough Balls.   (In case you missed that post, here ya go!)

High Raw All Vegan Sugar Cookie Dough Balls

 

Up close of High Raw All Vegan Sugar Cookie Dough Balls

Anna said her whole family loved them and that no one knew they were high raw or vegan!  I love it when we can help steer our family members’ and their food choices into those that are more healthy than the traditional fare just by making things that taste awesome, vegan & raw not withstanding!  Glad your family approved, Anna!

High Raw All Vegan Sugar Cookie Dough Balls in clear container

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But moving on to Today’s Post…
As I mentioned before, I’m in Aruba and when traveling, I employ the mindset of when in Rome, do as the Romans.  Even if that means braving grocery stores that are chaotic!  

Outside of grocery store in Aruba

The grocery stores here do not keep weekend hours, they do not stay open past 5pm, and they are closed for days before and after major holidaysPeople even start to hoard food!

Like greens & lettucesNote that by 11am on Monday morning, they were sold out.  Who knows when the next air shipment from Miami will be here.  

Grocery store shelves in Aruba

Good thing I loaded up on kale and have been making tons of kale salads.  Just like back home.

Kale Salad with Vegetables in white bowl



With brock, cauli, and cukes.

Close up of Kale Salad with Vegetables

And my own Homemade Vegan Slaw Dressing:  
1/4 c vegan mayo (Veganaise, Spectrum, or if you’re not a vegan whatever you like)

1/8 c sugar (or less, or stevia, agave, lucama to taste) 
1/8 c Apple Cider Vinegar 
and Whisk.  Good stuff!  Try it!

Tip of the Day: Use Store-bought Condiments and then Doctor Them Up!  Mayo becomes salad dressingKetchup by adding chipotle seasonings and some canned tomatoes becomes a chunky salsa-esque dip or spread.  Prepared yellow mustard with brown sugar and EVOO, or mustard with honey + bbq sauce, becomes a lovely glaze for squashes and potatoesGet creative with your store-bought condiments!!!  Thanks, Janetha, for reminding me to post about this with your Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade post :)

But if I wasn’t making my own dressing, I spied some Annie’sNice, even if it is about 6 bucks a bottle! 
Mama’s Weeds apparently got in on the Annie’s recently, too!

Variety of Annie's Naturals Salad Dressing on store shelves

 There have been no tomatoes on the salads I’ve been making, though.  Note the price which is about 9 dollars per kg!

Aruban sign for price of tomatoes

Nor peppers.  Again, sticker shock.  About $12 dollars per kg!

Aruban Sign for price of Peppers

More shopping finds…
A huge table of Seasonal Goodies.

Seasonal groceries on shelf

And then notice the Maranatha AB buried admist products with labels in languages other than EnglishHeather, you can happily survive in Aruba, my sweet almond-butter loving friend!

Stacks of Almond Butter behind other bottles

I also saw some other nut butters.  Most writing is in Dutch as it’s a Dutch island.  I need a translator.

Various nut butters on store shelf

White “Chocopasta”, aka White Chocolate Paste.  And the Hazelnootpasta.  Chocolate Hazelnut Paste.  Move over, Nutella, there’s a new sheriff in town!

Jars of White Chocolate Paste and Chocolate Hazelnut Paste

And more Hazelnut Pasta and Pure Chocolate PastaThey don’t mess around here, I’m tellin’ ya!

Jars of Hazelnut Pasta and Pure Chocolate Pasta

If you’re into deli meats and cheeses, they don’t mess around here with that either.  Reasonably priced, excellent quality, and although I never was a meat eater, when I used to come here and was still partaking in dairy, the cheese is excellent.  Straight from Holland. 

Deli meats and cheese's in refrigerator section of grocery store

Another thing that makes me wish I didn’t have to be gluten-free for health issues is this bread.  

Hand holding package of sliced bread

Muesli breadNutty, seedy, raisins, oats, divine.  

Tag showing price of Muesli Bread

In a former life when I came here, I could eat a half a loaf at once.  It’s the best bread in the world, period.

Hand holding sliced loaf of Muesli Bread

Oh and they love their sweets here. 

Various packaged desserts on shelves

Banana Cake and Pineapple Cake.

Packages of Banana and Pineapple Cake

And Carrot Cake

Package of Carrot Cake
And it’s alot cheaper to eat locally, made-fresh-daily-cakes, than it is to eat M & M’s.  About $8 US Dollars for a Medium bagA total no brainer.  Back to the When in Rome, do as the Romans thing.  It’s always cheaper, better, and easier to eat locally than try to import.
M&M's on shelf with price tag below

I did have to break down though and get a couple flavors of gum I’ve never seen in the States before: Wild Blueberry Twist & Passionberry Twist.  They both rock!  And with xylitol so my choppers are benefiting from my cud gum chewing.

Packages of Trident Wild Blueberry Twist & Passionberry Twist gum

Here’s a couple shots of Skylar at the pool.  If she’s a girl after my heart, she’ll love hoops. 

Little girl holding basketball poolside

And she’s wondering why I keep telling her to smile and look into the sunlight.

Little girl in swimsuit standing next to fence

And here’s me.  There is no lounging as a mom of a 2 year old.  It’s called, lay down and take the picture, then get up and start playing again!

Woman in swimsuit laying out on lounge chair

I kinda can’t believe I am posting a pic of myself in a bikini.  Trying to keep a Whatever attitude.

Woman on towel lined lounge chair in bathing suit

There are those Sexiest Raw Vegan Awards, remember those!  Maybe these pics will help my causeHopefully not hurt it! 

Click Here to Vote for me in these 3 Categories (you don’t need to complete the whole ballot, you can just quickly fill in the bullet point next to my name if you’re so inclined in these 3 places).

I am asking for your vote and support in these 3 categories:
1. Sexiext Raw Vegan Woman of 2009:  Averie from Love Veggies and Yoga
2. Favorite Raw Blog of 2009: Love Veggies and Yoga
3. Favorite Raw Vegan Website: Love Veggies and Yoga

Again, click here to Vote and if you choose to take a couple minutes to do this, I would just love it!!!! 

And we also have spent some time at the beach.

White sandy beach with clear calm waterBeach and water with pier sticking out into water
Beach with boats out in water

And after all the playing, splashing, sun and surf, it was time for nap!

Sleepy little girl in bathing suit on chair

Yoga Today is Eka Pada Urdhva Dhanurasana (One-Legged Upward Facing Bow or Wheel Pose)
Eka=One, Pada=Foot, Urdhva=Upward, Dhanur=Bow or Wheel, Asana=Pose.
There’s your Sanskit translation of the day.  Since there was Dutch at the Grocery Store, why not some Sanskrit in Yoga.

Woman doing Eka Pada Urdhva Dhanurasana yoga pose

Tip of the Day:

What’s your strategy for traveling in terms of food, the customs, dress codes, and so forth?  For instance I don’t trot around the grocery store in my bikini.  The locals don’t do that so when in their country, I cover up and show some modesty and respect.  And with food, I try to go with the flow as much as humanly possible and keep the when in Rome mentality goingI did pack and bring food, but not a ridiculous amount.  I hit up the markets for whatever fresh produce I could and cest la vie to the rest.  How do you play things when you travel?  Are you able to break out of your day-to-day routines and embrace new things? Is it easy or not for you?  Creature of habit or adverture-seeker?  I am kinda a mixed bag on the last question.  Tell me about you though!

Stay Tuned For An Awesome Guest Post and Trip Pics unless you don’t wanna see them.  I don’t wanna tick anyone off by posting beachy photos!…

About the Author

Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

Comments

  1. I'm closing comments on this post because some Russian Spam Service keeps leaving me comments that I need to keep deleting and it's getting old :)

  2. I have no excuse for not having made those delicious pb cups yet other than a lack of time. Maybe I'll make it a new years resolution? Haha

  3. I didn't consider it 'trouble'! I was making candy — I was happy!! :-D

    The water could definitely have made it seem more oily.

    After finishing the recipe, it occurred to me that the Blendtec would have easily pulverized the dry coconut if I had blended it alone first. At that point I could have taken the coconut 'powder' and mixed the other ingredients in easily by hand. So that might be a tip for anyone else trying this.

  4. Katie – I'll answer your question here so that others can benefit.

    You're right–this is a really small quantity, so to be honest, you're probably just as well off to mix the filling by hand. I don't have a Vita/Blendtec, but I suggested using one because I thought it would probably be up to the task of mixing the filling smooth, closer to the texture of a York pattie.

    I didn't find my patties so very oily, but of course you could adjust the quantity if you find it to be too much. It does help the filling to be less crumbly and more of a paste, though. I wonder if the water you added made it seem oilier than mine came out, due to the extra liquid? Anyway, I'm sorry the recipe gave you so much trouble. This is why I don't have a cookbook deal!

  5. I needed a quick 5-minute recipe last night, so I made the coconut patties (no peppermint). I spent the first 10-15 minutes trying to get the mixture to blend in the Blendtec. The quantity was so small. I ended up tripling it and freezing the extra. I don't like my treats very sweet, so I was using less agave then called for. I ended up having to add a bit of water to get it to blend, but it ended up OK. It just occurred to me that the Blendtec would probably pulverize the coconut if I had blended it alone first!

    Question – why use so much coconut oil? My mixture was SO oily. I love coconut oil in every way, so I didn't mind. I'm just wondering if there is a reason to use that much.

  6. Oh my goodness!
    1st) Love Diana's blog. :)
    2nd) This recipe is awesome! It's like your chocolate coconut snowball+peppermint donut holes+PB cups all in own. Genius. I need to make these and your PB cupsss. Specifically bought a big thing of PB the other day too.

    Great guestie, and looking forward to your giveaway! Love ya babe.

  7. fantastic post! the peppermint patties sound awesome. It just sounds so refreshing and delicious. Thanks for the recipe.

    The candle idea is great! I have tons of vanilla scented candles around my apt. I love to kick back after work and light them. They give great mood lighting and the smell is really relaxing!

  8. What a neat recipe! I love chocolate mint.. and especially if it's dark chocolate mint!

    And thanks for the yoga pose! My quads are in desperate need of a good stretch!

  9. That "chocopasta" stuff looks amazing…is it like a white chocolate spread? DECADENT!!

    You have seriously started a chocolate-making trend, Averie. Diana's peppermint Patties look fantastic!! Great holiday treat, too. :)