Day 47 Lost in Translation

DAY 46 is Lost in translation, lol I didn't post yesterday, was super busy all day. Have you had the chance to watch that movie? you should. Another documentary you definitely must watch is 'KILLER AT LARGE'http://www.killeratlarge.com/ and 'FOOD MATTERS'http://www.foodmatters.tv/ Know what you are eating and if you still choose to eat it then fine, at least you know what the consequences might be. You might even want to get these on DVD as gifts for Christmas.
Nina's idea: our apple slices with delicious Almond dip. This will cure your sweet cravings in a second. We ended up eating about 3 apples, beats the unhealthy, sugar-infused caramel dip in the store.

DEEEEEEEE-LI-CIIIIIOOOOOOOSSSSOOOOOO!

Why would you ever want to buy chocolate when you can make a heart healthy one in less that 10 minutes?

Ingredients:

1/2 cup melted coconut butter

2 tbsp raw cacao powder

1 tbsp carob powder

(or you could just use 1/2 of cacao powder or 1/2 of carob. I like to mix them both)

1 tbsp organic grade B maple syrup

1 tbsp agave nectar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Blend all together and then spread over pie pan or molds. Then sprinkle 1/2 of crushed walnuts or your nut of choice and freeze for 5 minutes. THIS MELTS IN YOUR MOUTH LIKE NOTHING ELSE. what a healthy treat for the holidays! You can then transfer to a sealed container and keep in the fridge.

My walnut salad dressing. This is fantastic.

This was my first go at raw/vegan 'mylk' (yes, trying not to spell 'milk') chocolate using cacao butter.

Amazing stuff, these were so rich that one was enough for the day. Desert should be that way, not that you seat and eat a whole cake because it's so light and fluffy and airy, it should be dense and rich so you can have a bite and it completely satisfies you.

This was my salad with my sweet tahini dressing. Yum!

Stay blessed.

~B~

DAY 42 My extra virgin Piña colada

EXTRA VIRGIN PINA COLADA

Ingredients:
1 cup coconut water
Juice of 1 lemon
1 Tbsp agave nectar
8 0z frozen pineapple
2 Tbsp coconut butter
pinch of salt

Blend and enjoy!

RAW WHITE CHOCOLATE in all its glory....

Okay, I always said if I could make raw/vegan white chocolate then I would be sold on the raw food lifestyle, yes I CAN! The secret ingredient for white chocolate lovers like me is raw cacao butter...AMAZING STUFF!!!!!! For this I just used equal parts of cashews, agave, cacao butter and 1 tsp of Lacuma powder. I got this recipe off http://www.thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/

RAW NOT-NESTLE CRUNCH BAR

Then to tweak it some more I used half of my batch and added some raw cacao bliss and some crushed walnuts, okay people why on earth (even if you're not a raw/vegan) would you not want to eat guilty-free deserts??????????????????????????????????? This came out so great and fooled everyone who tried it. It tasted like a Nestle Crunch bar, except that it is a healthier choice. Try any raw desert and you will never miss the other kind.

Tomorrow I will unveil my raspberry white chocolate pie. It is sitting pretty in the freezer for a little while. Thank God for His bounties. RAW IS FABULOUS.

~B

Day 40 (30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge)

Coconut-Curry Soup

Garnished with cilantro, tomato, mushrooms and avocado slices.


Whether it's cooked or uncooked, preparing food is an art form but I believe that raw/uncooked food is superior when it comes to nutritional density and benefit. Today is day 40 for me on the raw food lifestyle, I would never have imagined myself eating raw for 40 days but it got so simple once I got rid of my cravings for cooked food, got more recipes and joined some raw food communities for support. There is no way I can go back feeling the way I feel and knowing the things I know now. I love this lifestyle! It is back to basics and that to me is just gravy.

Today I made a delicious coconut curry soup (thanks Alexa, for the young Thai coconut).

This recipe if off a video I saw on YouTube and the host said it is from the Cafe Gratitude uncook book. Just type in 'Vegan coconut soup at cafe gratitude with the hippy gourmet'

There are so many great nenefits of coconut water and I will list some here:

-It is a natural isotonic beverage

-It is better than processed baby milk: it contains lauric acid which is present in a human mother's breast milk

-It is more nutritious than whole milk, it has less fat and no cholesterol

-It contains more potassium than most sports drinks

-It has less sodium and sugars than most sports drinks.

~B

Day 38 (30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge)

PHOTO FROM: http://www.naturemoms.com

I think finding the book that will become your favorite raw uncooked book is like finding the person you will be with for the rest of your life. Yesterday my wonderful hubby bought me a great pre-Christmas gift; RAW FOOD REAL WORLD by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis and I must tell you I haven't been able to put this book down since yesterday.

I am in love with everything about this book, the colors, the photographs, the personal stories of the two very beautiful people (who happen to also be a couple) who wrote it and of course the recipes are to die for! For those of you who know me personally or at least know of me through my book Lemonade Street, you must know I am a die-hard romantic, so yes, I am stating (and forsaking all other books to come) that I have found my favorite raw uncooked book and I am only on page 37 out of 367. It is like an album of never ending warm and fuzzy feelings; a love story. And what a wonderful way to be connected with the one you love by sharing something you're both passionate about: that is one of the secrets to a happy and fulfilling marriage. Rick and I talked about this years ago, no wonder we're still together and still so in love with each other.

Anyway I just wanted to share this with you guys and hope you get a copy for you plus what I wouldn't give to get a gift card from her organic beauty site http://www.oneluckyduck.com/

This is a link to their restaurant in NewYork http://www.purefoodandwine.com/

I have to run now, will share some pictures of our dinner tomorrow. We've been invited to dinner by some good friends and I can't wait to see what's to eat. Come back tomorrow for more.

~B.

Day 5 (30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge)

FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS: My Honeydew Heaven

FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS: Bernice's Creamy coconut butter with tempeh

I am constantly amazing myself, yes I am. Last night I created this wonderful recipe for Rick and Nina. I am not doing cooked food but I do cook for them. In Rick's own words "This is by far one of the best tasting foods I've ever eaten." and my husband is a phenomenal cook. So I am going to start by sharing my beautiful recipe with you.

p/s I did save some in a container for the freezer, that way I can try some when my 30-day challenge is over :-)

Bernice's Creamy Coconut butter with Tempeh

Ingredients:

1 can 13.5 oz organic coconut milk
2 Tbsp almond butter
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp peanut butter
1/2 tsp sweet basil
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 Tbsp agave nectar
1 pack 8oz organice garden tempeh
1/4 green pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup of water
1 cup of quinoa

Method:

In saucepan on medium heat, add olive oil and coconut milk. Stir in almond butter, sweet basil and black pepper. Add garlic powder and curry. Then add 1/2 cup of water and then add peanut butter and mix evenly. Add agave nectar, cover pan with a lid and cook for 5 minutes. Add tempeh and the rest of the water and let cook for another 15 minutes. Add thinly sliced green pepper towards the end for a more crunchy taste. This make s a very think and creamy sauce. Add on a bed on cooked quinoa and serve, listen for the "umph" and "ah". DELICIOUS!

I started my day with 46 minutes of Taebo; cardio and strength training(resistant bands). After that I made this delicious smoothie:

Honeydew Heaven:

2 bananas

1/2 bunch of parley (or if any greens of your choice)

1 celery stalk

1/4 frozen honeydew melon

2 cups of water

I love parsley because it does wonders for my skin and it 'wakes' me up. You can substitute it with lettuce, spinach or kale. Yummy!

I am having a blast with this raw challenge, I swear I never thought I would. I have joined a meetup here in Atlanta and can hardly wait for their next potluck and ofcourse i will contribute--been studying my raw cook books. There are so many raw deserts I can make to satisfy my sweet tooth. This is just too good.

Arrivederci!

Day 3 (30-Day Green smoothie challenge)

PICTURE OF Bernice's Kale-Panana. FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS.

Good morning, rise and shine! You can tell I feel great right? Well, I do. When I woke up this morning I didn't feel groggy, it was almost like switching on a light bulb and click my eyes snapped open. After my usual glass of water first thing in the morning, I went walking in the early morning sun. I did circuit training with Jillian Michael's for 20 minutes and then I invented one of the best tasting smoothies ever.

Before I give you that recipe I want to tell you about a few changes I've noticed since day one. Day one and two I woke up with a little stuffiness and on day two especially I noticed a lot of mucus being expelled(from my nose, catarrh). Today I woke up not stuffed at all. You will realize as you go along with this challenge that you will sneeze and have a runny nose at times, sometimes even slight chest pains and headaches. Rest assured that your body is doing what it needs to be doing, these are detox symptoms and they will go away so don't throw in the towel yet. Even hunger pangs or cravings are detox symptoms, you might just want to drink more water or another smoothie.

When you've had a habit of eating all the time, it is hard for your body to not be constantly fed so you have to remember this the next time you feel hungry (especially after you've just had a smoothie). The reason for constantly wanting food is due to the body not having the nutrients its need, so when you keep feeding it those empty calories guess what it will still 'need' more food so that it can get what it needs from somewhere.

When you do green smoothies, your body starts to sing, yes, you feel full and energized. I hate feeling tired in the middle of the day but when you're constantly feeding your body the right nutrients you will notice a surge of energy. Here's my AWESOME recipe:

Bernice's Kale-Panana (nice huh?)

2 bananas
2 golden ripe pears
6 kale leaves
1 Tbsp Flax seeds
2 cups of water

This is so delicious and filling. Kale is one of my favorite veggies to use because it if packed with nutrients. It is high in Vitamins A and C and it's a powerful antioxidant and has high cancer-fighting properties. The benefits of kale are numerous. Just know that a cup of kale a day keeps sickness away.

Day 2 (30-Day green smoothie challenge)

HOW DELICIOUS DOES THIS RAW FOOD LOOK?
(photo from www.rawpower.com)

This is day two and everything has been going great so far. I woke up bright and fresh, went for a 20 minute walk. The sun was warm and inviting. My green smoothie today was so tasty

Spinach Delight (Nina's favorite)

2 bananas
1 cup of red grapes
2 cups of spinach
1.5 cups of water

This is one of the best tasting smoothies, no child can resist this one. That's going to be my smoothie for the day. I've been drinking my water constantly and don't feel hungry. Well, I made a peanut butter sandwich for my hubby this morning and couldn't help enjoying the scent of that peanut butter but I am strong and dedicated to this, I didn't even have a lick!

Been reading a most fascinating book (tops my list of health books to read and believe me when I say I have a library of health related books.) I will leave you with a passage from the author:

"A fundamental error of all schools of so-called medicine has been the assumption that disease is something at war with life and that it must be met, subdued, counteracted, cast out, killed or cured with substances that are antagonistic to the body itself. They have never adequately recognized the antagonism that exists between living organism and the chemical substances with which they seek to cure the disease. This is the reason they continue to fill the bodies of the sick with poisons (foreign or non-usable chemicals) which the body must resist and expel. Not only have such causes of disease been mistaken as remedies for disease, but in some cases they have been mistaken for food."

He goes on to state how all drugs impair the body's function. You might want to pick up a copy for yourself, 'Self Healing Colitis & Crohn's' by David Klein, Ph.D. Here is his site:http://www.colitis-crohns.com/ I don't have colitis or crohn's but this book is for everyone who seeks optimum health, it is simply amazing and I'm not even half way through it. The testimonies and reviews alone sparked my curiosity.

Later on tonight (before 8pm, my kitchen closes at 8pm sharp) I will have some raw veggie medley with my dressing being freshly squeezed oranges and olive oil.

Come back for more tomorrow. We shall discuss blood PH and what you must know about how it affects your body. Ta ta!

30-Days Green Smoothie Challenge

YES, THIS IS A RAW VEGAN PIE PICTURED ABOVE, THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN


I know I said I would start my 30 days of green smoothie challenge on October 1st but I decided why not add a few extra days for and extra umph? right?. I am a little nervous. I have been vegan but never gone completely raw for this long. I figure if I want something to chew on I have my salads and celery sticks. I need a detox and I'm willing to give my body the respect it deserves. I can do this, I just need to decide to and I have :-). Basically all I will be doing is green smoothies, salad, fruits and nuts (walnuts). The whole idea about the raw-vegan is not to eat anything that can't be eaten in its raw state, for example, we can't eat potato raw or plantains or rice. I am looking forward to seeing the changes in my body, mind and spirit. I have decided to go for a twenty minute jog first thing in the morning. The main component of healing the body is sleep, so I will sleep more and let my body heal itself. I remember back home Mom would make us take naps during the day or 'Siestas' as we called them.
I have two raw food cook books and I am looking to delving into them. My three basic rules are:
Lots of sleep,
sleep,
sleep. lol

I understand that the first few days will be cranky, nothing new to me, I've detoxed before. I know about the headaches, gloominess and mood swings. These are all good signs as my body will be depositing toxic wastes into my blood stream for excretion. Bananas will be my best friend because they are very filling and sweet. Okay, enough for now, I think I've pumped myself up enough. Tomorrow is the first day of the challenge, come back for my daily report. See you on Health road where Self-doubt street meets Decision ave.
And oh, I will be listening to alot of the Raw Vegan radio :http://www.rawveganradio.com/wordpress/ and visiting my raw food restaurant for more ideas.

Tomorrow I'll go into some benefits of raw foodism.

Want More Energy?

Do you feel tired all the time? Feel like taking a nap in the middle of the day? Do you feel tired everyday and can't seem to roll off the bed easily in the morning? There is a reason why we feel tired. Think about this, will a car drive good on an empty tank? well, the answer is no. Just like cars our bodies need fuel. But it has to be the right kind of fuel.

Just as a car will not run on water or veggetable juice, the body cannot run well on gasoline or soil. It has to be the right kind of food. Have you noticed that when you combine a starch and protein you get bloating, indigestion and you always feel lethargic? Food was meant to provide us with energy and not make us feel tired and weary. When you load the body with food that it does not need and cannot use, you are wasting the body's energy source. The energy that was meant for you is now diverted to trying really hard-- and most of the times without success--to break down the 8oz of steak you just ingested.

By the way, did you know that it takes about three days for a meat to be broken down in your system. By that time, you've obviously eaten other things and your dead meat is putrifying in your stomach and bad bacteria is growing around it. I don't mean to gross you out but the truth sometimes is a bitter pill to swallow. For the body to have more energy, we have to feed it with live fooods that require little or no energy for the body to break them down. By incorporating more fruits and vegetables and properly combining our foods, we help the body conserve more energy it may need for things such as repairs and maintenance.

The easiest way to make sure you get the right servings of fruits and veggies everyday is to add green smoothies to your diet. Don't be suprise if you stop craving those sweets and actually start eating less. When your body has the nutrients it needs, you start to crave more of the good stuff and less of the bad. Green smoothies are complete foods, very easy to digest and they leave you feeling very energized. Here is a thought: Make a mental list of all the animals who live on greens alone and then ask yourself this, these animals hardly get sick living in the wild on roots, fruits and veggies why then don't we humans--who are 99.4% genetically identical to them--eat like that?

Here are a few recipes:

1 cup of spinach, 2 pears and 1 cup of water (how easy is that? you can be creative.)

1 cup of spinach, 10 finger bananas, 2 cups of water (Nina's Favorite. Kids love this)

2 mangos, 1 bunch of parsely, 2 cups of water

4 apples, 1/2 lemon, 5 leaves of kale, 2 cups of water

Have fun!!!

Carrot Juice & Green Juice recipe

Carrot Juice

-Five large carrots

-2 medium size apples

*For larger quantities double or tripple the batch

Super Green Juice

-5 celery stalks
-A bulb of fennel, include even bulb in the juicing
-3 tablespoons of sliced ginger
-A handful of kale

*You may add some apples and pears to sweeten