Hello there!

Sorry it’s been a while since I wrote here, if you follow me on facebook, you might have seen my status update explaining why I was taking a short break from the blog. If not, well the reason is because my beautiful grandmother passed away on December 25th, leaving us with a broken heart and very sad. My family and I still miss here too much, and probably it’s something that only time will take away, but she will always be in our hearts. She was the most amazing human being I’ve ever met. Her kindness, wisdom, joyful and happy attitude towards life, even in the darkest moments, and that is the memory I’ll carry on with me forever.

Well, though our holiday season was not the usual because of being at the hospital for several days and then going through her funeral, I did had some time before that to make some yummy meals and prepare some food for me and my family.

Every year, all my cousins and I have a “cousins get-together” during this season, we are 31 cousins (without counting the ones that are married and now we’re more)! I have a huge family, my grandparents had 10 daughters and sons! So for sure you can imagine what a big family we are, my mom is one of them and we all are very close, I love them so much and we are staying strong in these days because we know we have each other’s support. Here are a couple of pictures of that day, we of course had the traditional piñata, are you kidding me? This wouldn’t be a christmas celebration without it. And they of course knew I wouldn’t eat any of those candies, so they got me some fruit like mandarines, sugar cane and jicamas! We had such a good time!

Also, one of my christmas “presents” was a fresh jackfruit! It’s funny, I know, but my uncle has a jackfruit tree and this is the season when they are ready. I got a huge and delicious jackfruit, I waited 3 more days after this picture and it was perfectly ripe, gooey, sweet and just perfect!

A few days back, I made lunch for me and my family. I made a huge salad for me which was divine, the dressing was a mistake and I was like oh no, I ruined i! But then I tried it and I was like wow, this is literally like Alfredo Sauce! Healthier, of course. I also made some filled avocados, which were a total success, they all disappeared and I made like 6 halves, you must try them, my sister which is sometimes harder to please with vegan food loved them too.

Gastrawnomica’s Filled Avocados

3 large avocados, halved
1 1/2 cups cubed jicama
1 cup tomatoes, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tsp dried herbs
1 tsp nori flakes
*Balsamic vinegar in spray
**Season to your taste if you’re not used to eat salt-free.

Mix the filling ingredients in a bowl. Let it sit for a couple of minutes to absorb all the flavors. Take the avocado seed and prepare your halves. Now fill your avocados with the mixture and right before serving “spray” with some balsamic vinegar (if you don’t have this type of presentation add a 1/2 tbsp over the avocado).

*I’ve noticed that having the spray is amazing because you don’t add too much of it, my mom bought this for both olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and though I don’t use any of these two products, I see how when they use them, their intake is less than with a bottle.

Gastrawnomica’s Alfredo Salad

2-3 cups fresh spinach
2 cups cubed jicama
1 medium avocado
1/4 cup nori flakes
Pinch of dried oregano
Water as needed
*Almond powder/flour (optional) for topping

Prepare you salad by mixing jicama and spinach in a bowl. Blend the rest of the ingredients in a high-speed blender adding water as needed until you have a creamy consistency. Toss your salad with the dressing and top with almond powder.
*You can make the powder by grinding the raw almonds.

Last, but not least, a couple of pictures of our beautiful Christmas dinner, as usual, we were like 70 people (and just family), I had a simple dinner that I didn’t took pictures of, but I promise more raw recipes will come soon. My mood has been a little bit down with this loss, so I don’t feel like getting creative, but I’ll do my best to keep posting new things around here. If you want to follow me closer, like my facebook page, where I always post new things and many don’t make it to the blog. Fun updates, news and pictures!

I wish you all have a wonderful week, talk to you soon!