What I Eat

What I Eat is constantly evolving with new information and results from previous personal experiments. The past month has been a green smoothie and salad binge and I feel really good :) Here is my daily menu this month:

a.m.- 20oz glass of water with OG(organic) lemon-alkalizing a.m. tonic & 2 bananas

...10 min later...

Green Smoothie:

1/2 OG(organic) avocado

1 OG lemon-peel cut away

1/2 bunch OG watercress or any green

1/2 bunch OG parsley 

1 Tbsp Chlorella

3 frozen OG bananas

20-30oz spring water

Blend 

Lunch- 18oz cut papaya or comparable serving of fruit

             salad and cooked sprouted quinoa with homemade dressing -mix it up and enjoy!

Creamy Garlic Chipolte Dressing-SOOOOO GOOD!

1 cup cashews

1 small chipolte pepper

1 med clove garlic

1 lemon-peel cut away

like 12-16 oz water

pinch sea salt

Blend

Dinner(post-work)- 4-6 bananas, 4-6 mangos, & various other fruits...mangos, pears, apples, etc

Another salad

2 Greek Style Coconut Yogurts with bee pollen and hemp seeds stirred in

4 Tbsp Raw coconut butter mixed with 2 Tbsp raw honey

Last month I was steaming my veggies and they looked sad. So this month they are fresh, crisp, and happy! This experiment has reminded me that raw vegetables provide a higher quality vibration and make more sense. 

Today my salad had bok choy, romaine, red cabbage fresh local cucumbers & local heirloom tomatoes-all OG dude. This month cooked sprouted quinoa with a fresh salad is the new deal!

I have eaten this same menu everyday for the past month...changing greens in the smoothie, switching salad ingredients, and inventing new dressings....I <3 smoothies I <3 salad I <3 Mangos. These three foods I could eat everyday for the rest of my life and remain happy and healthy.

I got hooked up with some super fresh-picked amazing local produce yesterday and threw together this awesome smoothie for breakfast...including local tarragon(yellow flowers), mint, and chard. 

          

Flower Power 

West Coastin: part 2.5

So, after day one of the Mega-Conference, I was feeling a little tired. This lasted for about 5 minutes...and then Lee and Ilayda asked if I was ready to go to Planet Raw. Of course I was! I am ready to live on Planet Raw! We were walking up to the restaurant and of course we see David Wolfe and his posse stepping back down to earth from the Raw Planet. He says, "hey Wolfeman, you guys want to meet us at a raw food party downtown later?' Uhhhhh...yeah!!! These synchronicities happen ALL the time! They happen more and more as I go further down the stream...going with the flow :)

If you are ever at Planet Raw, I urge you to get the Alien Blood Elixer...field greens, cucumber, sea weed, zucchini, salsa, and spirulina. It was sooo good! One of the best drinks I've ever had in my life! Tasted like a healthy bloody mary. For dinner I had a cheesy pasta dish...super tasty!

Dinner rawcked and now it was time to dance! We rolled up to the raw foodist colony, aka Peace Yoga Gallery, and stepped into another dimension. We were greeted by smiling tribe members adorned with blue face paint. The blue marks were anointed onto our hands and were accepted into the 36th chamber of rawness. It was unlike anything I've seen in my life! At ground level, there were 2 matriarchs creating and serving raw cabbage quesadillas and some other raw food that looked AMAZING!

Then we descended, shoeless, downstairs into the Los Angeles Raw Food Underground. It was 100% THE BEST PARTY EVER!!! There was a crunchy drum/jam band reminiscent of Hare Krishna's mixed with Ravi Shankar and smiling souls everywhere dancing and twirling around like dervishes.

I saw David and his friend Rachel on the dance floor and boogied out to them. I was grooving out to the hypnotic drum and sitar beat talking fruit with the Wolfeman, and realized L.A. is where I need to be. I shared this thought with David and he said, "dude Cali is where it's at, this is the epicenter of cool! But San Francisco is even cooler". Then all of a sudden the music stopped. The crunchy front man asked everyone to sit down and be quiet...that it was time to meditate. All 100 people in the underground yoga lair obeyed and sat still. The music continued and the chanting began. I was situated in front of a club-style laser light and it kept shining across my eyes, adding to the trance that I was falling into. As I got deeper and deeper, I was overcome with gratitude and love for life and my path. It was as if this was my 5 year reward for living a good life and everything had fallen into place exactly as it should. A tear came and went as the music slowly picked up. I grooved out of my meditation and back to my feet. The party was reborn through the sound!

Lee and Ilayda asked me if I wanted to cruise out to the next party...the 'Burner' Party. At first, I was thinking that I would stay at the Crunch Fest and meet up with my crew later. Then I decided to go with the flow and the flow was going to the dark side. In defense of the dark side...it has amazing music and more BASS!!! Being a South Florida bass head I was right at home. 'Burners' are the people who go to the Burning Man Festival. It appears to be a subculture of strange style and designer drugs. The Burner party was on the out skirts of Downtown L.A. in a Warehouse/Apartment Quadplex...basically a Burner Vampire Lair.

It was one of the strangest and coolest party spots I've ever seen. This party was the POLAR opposite of the Rawker's Ball. We payed a $20 'donation'. It was a 'donation' because this party was after hours and well...in warehouse full of the dancing vampires. I had a good feeling this donation didn't go to the March of Dimes. The first room was an electro bass room with a hot female DJ ripping electro breaks....my ideal wild monkey dance music. I grew up on electro breaks and tofu in Central Florida. The other main room had a sick Dubstep/Glitch-Hop DJ, spinning distorted bass and trippy highs. It was AWESOME!!! The people at this party were not smiling. In fact, this one Vampiress hissed at me as I walked by her. Thankfully we made it out with our blood.

36 hours in L.A., 9 hours sleep in 4 days, powered strictly by raw foods and cacao, still energized, having the BEST WEEKEND EVER!!!

West Coastin: part 2

This music playing is my latest mix. I spun it live at an outdoor Halloween party in a park while it was raining...just sayin (= feel free to download it by clicking the little down arrow on the player

Day two in Cali was a Saturday and was, in the words of David Wolfe, one of the BEST DAYS EVER!!! Speaking of David Wolfe...this guy radically changed the course of my life and didn't even know it. He caused a cataclysmic cosmic shift in my conscious!!! Crazy that our last names are the same too...spelled with an E. David was featured on an a.m. radio show called Coast2Coast with George Noory. My Dad is a C2C fan and makes copies of the shows for me to listen to. He passed this show along to me in 2006. I listened to it and was immediately 'juiced' up by the cosmic energy that spews from this guys soul! He is the most energizing speaker that I had ever heard in my life and all of a sudden I was INTERESTED!!!

Wolfemen @ Dr. Etti's Penthouse-Miami

A year later I revisited the talk show while living in Delray Beach and got INTERESTED in these freakin GOJI berries and CACAO BEANS. I jumped on my bike and rode to Boca Raton Whole Foods to source these superfoods. I walked in and was like, "wow! I need to work here". The rest is history. Down the line David came into the South Beach store and we developed a friendship. He told me about the relationship between avocados and cacao and how they used to counterfeit cacao beans out of avocado pits. Cacao was used as currency in ancient Mexico. CHECK THIS OUT!

So, back to last weekend. I woke up after a 3 hour post-Drum & Moshpit snooze and drove Lee's car to the IIN conference. By the way, Lee is one of my two best friends in the world. I have known him since we were in 3rd grade. I stayed with Lee and he let me use his car to drive to Long Beach for my conference!!! I love you LEE!!!

Boss Hawg Lee 

The whole reason I was in Cali was for an Institute of Integrative Nutrition Mega-Conference. This is the school that my store has paid for me to attend to become a certified holistic health coach! I am grateful beyond words for this opportunity! The conference was a two day information slam with some of the best nutritional and motivational speakers in the world!

Founder of IIN-Joshua Rosenthal & the Prius Raffle Prize

The conference was in the Long Beach Arena which is painted with blue whales and other cetaceans. Super cool! In the morning we heard from the guy who wrote the Primal Blueprint. Basically this diet goes against my primal instinct for what I should eat...PLANTS NOT ANIMALS!!!

Laser Whales

After lunch Lee and his gf Ilayda came to join me for the rest of the day as my guests. It was awesome! We heard a lecture on the toxic and addictive properties of sugar and why we should avoid refined sugar like cocaine! Sugar is BAD....MMMMKAY!!!

Ilayda & Lee peeling cacao beans for raw avocado chocolate ice cream

Then the healthy eating rockstar David Wolfe spoke and everybody listened. I was laughing the whole time because he is sooooo funny!!! He is funny because he loves what he does. He loves food. He presents his subject like he just discovered food yesterday and wants to share his discovery with the world! He knows his stuff...he knows FDA basic dinosaur nutrition and he rides the cutting edge of superfoods, superherbs, and supercosmic future foods! After David spoke he made a superfood smoothie and then got rushed by 500 screaming adoring female fans! LOL What a LIFE!!! He is the Beatles of health! By the way there were about 25 guys at the conference and 4975 health conscious females :)

Wolfe-Dismembering a Coconut for the Super Smoothie

part 2 is long, so 2.5 coming soon...

West Coastin: part 1

So, as it turns out, Cali is pretty F*****G sweet!!! I went to L.A. this past weekend and my eyes were opened to the endless possibilities of life. I met some AMAZING women and fell in love with Los Angeles.

Friday: Flew into L.A. at 3pm after 3 hours sleep the night before. I stepped outside the airport and was met with the refreshing California sunshine...a softer sunshine in Cali…maybe why the people are cooler J

My homey Lee Davis picked me up from LAX and brought me to his apt in West L.A. He went back to work, so I jumped on his bike and cruised West! I have a very very well calibrated internal compass and internal clock. Both of which are completely thrown off by the West Coast. My compass is set according to the Atlantic Ocean and my clock is set on eastern standard time. So when I say that I went west to the beach, it’s still confusing.

I cruised up to Santa Monica Beach on Lee’s brushed aluminum Electra beach cruiser and began my weekend love affair with Los Angeles. It was such an amazing site! I was on a cliff looking down on the mighty Pacific Ocean and was immediately surrounded with Cali <3. I was sitting there, sun gazing; taking in the beauty of the air and the flowers, watching the hummingbirds imitating the bees. I was at peace.

Then out of somewhere this beautiful soul sits down near me with her little dog Penny and smiles at me. We started talking and instantly had a connection. She’s a vegetarian with raw food tendencies, yoga, spirit…we are from the same tribe. We spoke, smiled, laughed, and connected. The sun set, she went her way, I went my way and at that point I felt the California connection. The connection is a consciousness for connection & oneness.

I then cruised over to Whole Foods and discovered the amazing West Coast food scene! My first taste was of a Sumo Mandarin...amazing! Seedless, sweet, easy to peel, perfect! I ate 40 of these citrus gems during my 3 days in Cali.

Next stop the other Whole Foods up the street. Here I ate a bag of kale chips, a raw chocolate bar, and a bottle of Mountain Valley Spring Water. Funny that these first four things I ate became my staples throughout my stay. I ate 6 bags of kale chips, 5 lbs of raw chocolate, and I drank 10 bottles of MVS water.

I decided that I would eat all raw on this trip.

Later that night Lee, Ilayda(Lee’s gf), and I hit the local drum & bass scene. AK-1200, DJ Dara, and a whole lot of rowdy bass youths at the DragonFly bar. This was exactly what I needed! LALA Land BASS…you feel no pain! I must say…reluctantly…that the D&B scene is more grimey in L.A. then MIA L These cats were str8 moshing the whole time! LOL I was under the false assumption that legalizing marijuana would chill people out. I’m guessing that this was a sativa, rather than indica crowd J

Beautiful Food

Today, for lunch, I had a little Indian soup with brown rice and fresh spinach. I felt horrible afterwards! I felt disoriented, slowed down, and ill. The soup had oil and a lot of salt. I have narrowed down 4 things that do not make me feel beautiful...extracted oil, refined sugar, dairy, and excess sodium.

In comparison, my last lunch break I had 16oz fresh papaya and a container of organic blackberries. This made me feel amazingly beautiful...energized, light, and very happy!!! I listen to my body. If I feel bad after I eat something I will avoid it. 

With food, beauty begins on the inside and eventually works it's way out. Sometimes it comes to the surface immediately, sometimes gradually. 

Have you ever eaten something and felt disgusting afterwards? A Great Biggie Fry dipped in a Great Biggie Frosty? Or a ten pack of Bean Taco Supremes with 20 Fire Sauces and 4 bags of Cinnamon Sticks?  Yeah...me too. These oil-drenched, salt-covered, sugar-filled, cow juiced JUNK foods make us feel and look like JUNK!!! 

EVERYTHING we put in our bodies BECOMES our bodies!!!

We are what we eat. You can be a bean sprout or a dead fish...choice is yours.

Chia-Berry Pudding

I made this for a class tonight and it came out really good! I realized that I say this phrase "really good" a thousand times a day and that my ! button is hanging on by a nano thread. But it's all really good and of course, it's all really healthy! The inspiration for this dessert/breakfast food came from the Whole Foods Market's website: Chia Pudding. Chia seeds contain a significant amount of dietary fiber, calcium, and omega-3's. In addition they produce a great tapioca effect when left in a liquid overnight. Enjoy!

2 cups unsweetened hemp milk
2/3 cups chia seeds
1 cup freeze dried blueberries
2 Tbsp raw honey

Whisk honey into hemp milk.
Add chia seeds and blueberries and whisk for 2-3 minutes.
Refrigerate overnight. Enjoy with an herbal tea.

taste rating: 3 stars
effort(scale 1-5): 2 easy

Veggie Stir-Steam(No-Oil/No Salt)

Veggie Stir-Steam(No-Oil/No Salt)-Large Batch Cooking....serves like 10

Ingredients were not measured but here are my estimates:

1 cup flax seeds
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup walnuts
toast seeds in a hot pan until the flax seeds start jumping. put aside in a bowl

5 carrots-sliced
5 parsnips-sliced
Steam-saute in 2oz coconut water for 5-8 minutes. Cover but toss every minute, adding another oz of coconut water if dry before cooked.
place in a large serving bowl

1/2 large head red cabbage-chopped
1/2 pinky fresh ginger-minced
1/2 pinky fresh turmeric root-minced
2 cloves fresh garlic- minced
1/2 a large jalapeno-minced
1 large clove shallot-minced
1/2 bunch green onions-chopped
Steam-saute spices in 2 oz coconut water for 1 min then add cabbage and cover for 3 min
uncover and toss. Cook for another 3 minutes or so until done. Add to serving bowl.

2 heads of bok choy- one head at a time

1 head sliced bok choy-separating the green tops and the white bottoms

1/4 pinky fresh ginger-minced

1/4 pinky fresh turmeric root-minced

1 clove fresh garlic- minced

1/4 a large jalapeno-minced 

1 large clove shallot-minced

1/4 bunch green onions-chopped

steam saute spices in 2 oz coconut water for 1 min then add bok choy whites and cover for 3 min

uncover and toss. Add the greens and cook for another 3 minutes . Add to serving bowl.

Repeat for 2nd head of bok choy.

1 lb fresh crimini/baby bella mushrooms-sliced

1 Tbsp fresh garlic-minced

1/2 Tbsp fresh ginger-minced

1 large clove shallot-minced

Steam-saute spices in 2 oz coconut water and add mushrooms. Cook for a minute and toss. Repeat for 3-5 minutes adding coco water if dry before cooked. Add to serving bowl.

Toss all ingredients in the serving bowl with the juice of one freshly squeezed lemon for added flavor and preservation. I'm not sure if it's the polysaccharides in the shrooms or the flax seeds, but something in this dish coats the veggies with an oil-like texture. This is super tasty! Super healthy! And super fun to make! Enjoy with quinoa or brown rice!
Taste rating: 3.5 stars
Time spent: 1 star...takes a while, so have fun with it!

Setting the Mood

I have fun when I cook. It is my time to relax and have a spiritual connection with my food. I am 100% convinced that energy is transferable to water and food. Watch THIS and THIS. I want to emit positive vibrations while I cut my water filled veggies, or make my fresh carrot juice, or blend a green smoothie.

My thoughts and energy will positively or negatively charge my food. Energy is neither created nor destroyed...right Einstein? It makes sense that the energy I put into my thoughts or beliefs doesn't fall to the curb. It is transferred somewhere...maybe into my mango?

So to create a space of peace and love I have created a little cooking ritual. This is how I set the mood:

1. Totally clean my entire kitchen. This will allow me to relax and enjoy my space.
2. Light a candle or two. The light from the candle always brings peace.
3. Play relaxing music. As the ultimate mood setter, I highly recommend Pandora: Thievery Corporation.
4. Pop a bottle. For me it's: Organic Martenelli's Sparkling Apple Cider. For you, maybe a Belgian Ale
    or a bottle of Moscato. The point is to Celebrate our Food and Life. I drink a whole $5 bottle of
    sparkling cider in the hour or so that I cook :) even using a splash here and there to cook with.
5. Send thanks and love to the creator for providing the water and sunlight to grow these magical plants.   Shower the food with good vibrations.
6.Cut all my veggies, slap chop my onions, mince my garlic, etc before I cook. I cut everything and  
   place it in bowls to make the experience as smooth as possible. I'm going to start doing this for my
   classes now too.
6.Chef it up!

Life is Beautiful!

Of course I don't do this every time I'm in the kitchen. I do large batch cooking twice a week and this is when I create my happy space.

The Creation = Nutritionally Balanced & Superbly DELICIOUS
Oil-Free/Sodium-Free(except whats in the veggies)
Organic and Light
Full of Love
Food

Unleaded Please

I was just thinking about the simplicity of my diet at times. For instance, right now I have a HUGE bowl of No-oil stir fry in my fridge. I made it two nights ago and this will most likely last me four-five more days. I mix it with brown rice and I have my work lunchbox and late night snack too. Most people will say, no way! this is too boring! To this I think...we are animals, specifically mammals. Any other mammal on earth would be very content with the same meal everyday for a week. In fact, if we eat local with the seasons we will eat the same fruits & veggies everyday for three months. It seems we have totally lost sight of what food is. Food is our fuel. I have been putting regular unleaded in my tank for 15 years. Not once have I said, nope...feels like a diesel kinda day. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE food! But at the end of the day I hope to have only put the best fuel in my tank. So, this week it is: juice in the a.m., No-oil stir-fry, and a quickly dwindling stash of HONEYBELLS!!!
Plant <3

Raw No Caffeine: Day 11 take 2

Let's try this again lol So, besides two little pieces of Danish candy last night, 100% raw for 11 days. This week I have been starting my day off with a bok choy lemonade juice:

20oz bok choy juice

1 lemon-juiced

Bok choy is my new best green friend. It is so crisp, juicy, nutrient dense, and delicious! I have been removing the greens from the tops and juicing the white stalks. This is the best way to get our water; through mother natures filter. Forget a $20,000 Klingon water filter...just eat more fruits, veggies, and drink spring water! Anyway, I juice the stalks and then use the greens for my lunchtime green smoothie. Organic bok choy is only $1.29/lb at Whole Foods. So for $2.00 a get my morning juice and my green smoothie! As a comparison, a lb of kale is about $9.00 and nowhere near as juicy as the choy! So save the choy greens and the kale for the smoothies and juice the Bok!

After I drink the lemonade, say some prayers, meditate, and digest the juice, I drink my brAVO-Carotenoid Smoothie. This has been modified to:

10 carrots juiced

1/2 an apple juiced

1 lemon juiced

then blend the above with 

1 avocado

This has become my all-time favorite tasting smoothie creation! It is amazing! 

After 1-2 hours, I make my green smoothie:

40oz water

1 avocado

2 Tbsp flax seeds

1 Tbsp bee pollen

Blend until consistent then add

2 large handfulls leafy greens

3 frozen bananas

Blend and drink up!

this makes 64oz and you may need to add more water. I drink half, then bottle the other half for work. I have beeb packing little superfood snacks for work:

1 handful raw cacao nibs

1 handfull bee pollen

1 handful walnuts

1 tip of the jar of raw unfiltered unstrained wildflower organic honey

I mix this up and munch it in the afternoon. It's energizing and very satisfying!

I didn't make this today though. Today for a snack I had spicy raw flax crackers, 18oz fresh organic pineapple, and then a spinach salad and a large bag of dried mangos for dinner.

Everyday I have been making another bok choy lemonade for a midnight snack, but tonight I just munched:

coconut butter(whole ground coconut)

cacao nibs

raw honey 

bee pollen

Today was different. I had, in this order:

9:30am:

Green Smoothie

Raw homemade sprouted hummus

12pm:

Bok choy lemonade

brAVO Carotenoid Smoothie

5pm

Fresh Organic Pineapple 

Spicy Flax Crackers

9:30pm

Spinach salad

large bag dried mangos

12am:

Coconut butter/cacao/pollen/honey mix

1 fuji apple

I'm writing all this because people always ask me what I eat and to show that you can be raw and eat very well. I have learned this time around that I need more protein, fats, and acidic foods while eating raw. The lack of grounding some report when only eating raw food may be from an extreme alkaline high. I am so nourished and mentally balanced between the raw oil-free food and the no-caffeine that this time around, the raw path is without speed bumps and is immensely more rewarding. 

Raw No Caffeine: Day 11

Also, of course, totally oil-free. When I say oil-free, I mean no added oils. As in the extracted, packaged, pure fat, low nutrient, no fiber, no protein, added oils. This includes the oils: olive, coconut, flax, hemp, canola, etc. Some people claim that oil is good for us, but facts are facts...it isn't. I have heard many people cite the Mediterranean diet as an excuse to continue pouring oil onto their salads and into there frying pans...so here is an article with the truth about olive oil:

http://www.thevegetariansite.com/health_oliveoil.htm

Another truth about oil is your food tastes so much better without it! I stopped using oil in all of my cooking and raw food creations since January and I have consumed less than a half cup of oil since then. I used to eat a half cup of coconut oil in one salad. I would eat it and need a nap immediately after. Now I skip the middle man and go right to the source, using fresh avocado, nuts, seeds, coconuts, oilves, and so on. In other words: HEALTHY FATS!!! When we use these types of fats for cooking, salad dressing, ice cream, chocolate mousse, we actually taste our food the way it was intended to be eaten: fresh, whole, and in it's natural state. We get the fiber, the protein, the flavor!

But the proof is in the avocado pudding...that I feel soooo good after eating a salad without oil, or a no-oil stir fry, or a cashew mint chocolate chip ice cream. I feel light, nourished, and beautiful on the inside! I know I wrote about all this in a previous post, but it's something that needs to be repeated. I feel more of a difference after giving up oil than after giving up dairy. So the oil-free path is healthier, tastes better, you'll feel better, and your skin will look better! These are the facts. I will be leading a group on an oil-free plant-based 28 day challenge at the end of January with a weekly cooking/educational class. All are welcome and encouraged to join. It will be free and open to the public.

Raw Food..Hold the Caffeine: Day 2

I'm back on a 100% raw foods...Day 2. Every time I do this it gets easier and easier and the food gets better and better. The huge, earth-shattering difference between this and my other raw-ventures is that I have given up caffeine. No YERBA MATE!!!  I was drinking a LOT of mate...enough to kill a small chihuahua. The equivalent of at least 4 cups of coffee first thing after opening my eyes...then whatever after shock satellite mates would ensue. So, to substitute the mate rush is....LEAFY GREEN JUICE! LOL I was eating two full heads of greens everyday and today I munched 3 bunches and then juiced 2 bunches. I was given a juicer by my amazing boss yesterday and lit up tonight with quite possibly the best drink I've ever made. I turned the juicer on, tuned in, and let my body dictate the ingredients:


brAVO-Carotenoid Smoothie

1 decent size garnet yam or sweet potato
6 thin carrots
1 lemon
juice these things then blend with:
1 avocado and maybe a little ice

It was soooooooo freaking delicious! At first I made a bok choy, collard green, broccoli juice. It was awesome and I got a buzz from it, but it didn't tickle my sweet tooth. The garnet yam is loaded with carotenoids and vitamin A and so are carrots, giving them their orange hues. As I've mentioned everyday!!!and in previous posts...Avocados are the best thing to pair with a carotenoid. This drink gets:
double high five and five stars
energy spent: 4 due to cleaning the juicer

Cruciferous Salad

This is the best oil-free vegan salad EVAH! 

Cruciferous Salad

1/2 bunch fresh kale-ripped to peices

1/4 red or green cabbage-chopped

1/2 cup fresh dill-chopped

1 avocado

1/2 lemon squeezed

1 tsp fresh garlic-crushed

curry powder

liquid aminos to taste

Get your hands in there, mash it all up,

and feel the energy!

Then add: 2 Tbsp hemp seeds and

1 cup alfalfa sprouts.

Seed Nibbling, Cabbage Munching and Alligator Pears

Toasted Curry Flax Seeds

1 cup gold or brown flax seeds

sea salt and curry powder to taste

In a frying pan toast seeds until they begin to jump out of the pan.

Add salt and curry.

Great for movie night!!!

I have been feeling like I need more omegas and more cabbage in my life these days. I started nibbling on flax seeds a few weeks ago and I haven't stopped. At first I was munching the seeds raw and then I started toasting them in a frying pan with sea salt and curry powder. This method is a much tastier snack and easier to munch. Toast the seeds until they start jumping, then they're done. Around this same time I started mashing up avocado, cabbage, and kale. I prefer red cabbage, but green is good too. Cabbage is super sweet and last night, in bed, I munched a quarter of one like an apple. The monounsaturated fat, oleic acid(omega-9), in the avocado makes this fruit the best thing in the world to eat with kale and cabbage or any other super greens. These omega 9's are a carotenoid's best friend. The absorption of the other nutrients in the greens is increased 200-400% when an avocado is added. I may have already written about this magical food relationship, but this is exciting news!

Nori Rawrap

Nori Rawrap

1 sheet raw nori
1/4 avocado sliced
4 thinly sliced cucumber slices
2 sliced shiitake mushrooms
small handful of sprouts(alfalfa, clover, sunflower greens) or romaine lettuce

Roll it, dip it, and enjoy

          

Sunflower Green Rawrap with Carrawt Ginger Dressing

Rawrap Figgy Dipping Sauce

1 cup dried figs
1/2 cup raw cashews
1 1/2 cup coconut or filtered water
1 small chipolte pepper
1/4 lemon lemon squeezed
1/4 tsp rock salt

Blend and use as dip or salad dressing

 Sprout Rawrap with Figgy Dressing

Ginger Carrawt Dressing

1 cup carrot cut into pieces
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup water
1 lemon peeled and de-seeded
1 inch fresh ginger root
Liquid aminos to taste

Blend ingredients and use as a dip or salad dressing

Carrawt Ginger Dressing

The idea for the Rawrap was introduced by a beautiful Danish girl. It's beauty is in it's simplicity. I took it and ran with it...but not too far. The great thing about a raw dish like this is that it's so incredibly healthy and super easy to make. It is filling and you feel like you can float away after the meal. The nori seaweed wrapper is so good that you will start to crave it after a few times. Avocado is in my top two most important foods...after leafy greens of course. Sprouts are in my top five and shrooms are growing on me. lol Mushrooms are an underrated nutrient powerhouse... shiitakes are an excellent source of vitamin B-2(riboflavin), B-3(niacin), B-5, B-6 as well as potassium, zinc, and selenium. Mushrooms and sunflower greens are also plant sources of vitamin D. I take complete responsibility for the raw Figgy Dressing. I wanted something sweet with a little heat for this set of Rawraps. The flavor of the figs goes amazing with the smokey heat of the chipolte pepper. The Ginger Carrawt Dressing is something I just made up an hour ago and it is out of this world good! This is way better than any oil-spill ginger dressing at a Japanese restaurant. Both these dressings are top-notch and would fly equally as high on a salad or anything that needs a little kick. I've eaten a Rawrap every night this week and with unlimited dipping sauce possibilities this will be a staple food for a while :)
Flavor rating: 5 stars. Energy spent rating: 1 star (1=least energy 5=most energy)

Evolving Through Food

I was thinking that there is hope for mankind. Even though we are destroying our planet and constantly at war, there is an awakening taking place. I see it every day. People are beginning to change their ways and their ideas about food. This is the most important aspect of the health of our species and we are in the midst of an awakening. Those who see the truth and eat the good food will evolve, while those who continue to eat the bad food will die off. Natural selection will take it's course. It sounds harsh and clinical but it is the truth. In this food awakening I have found hope for our species survival.

If we can start here, with our  own bodies, in our own temples we can go out and spread love elsewhere. But we must start here first and then we will be mentally and spiritually fit to address the global issues that are ripping our planet and civilization to pieces.

When we are conscious of what we are putting in our bodies, we are showing ourselves love. When we eat an organic vegetarian diet, we are showing our planet love. When we make this food for friends and family, we are showing others love. This simple act of respecting ourselves can have an unlimited impact on us and those we come in contact with. Everything we put in our bodies becomes a part of us. We are what we eat.

At this point the humans are in a period of devolution. We are living shorter lives than our parents and our quality of health is the worst it's ever been. Heart disease, diabetes, and cancer are all at epidemic proportions. The good news is these are all food-related diseases. The better news is these are also food reversible diseases.

We have an opportunity to heal our planet with the good food instead of killing it with the bad food. We can choose to devolve or we can choose to evolve. The answer is: evolve and eat more plants!

From Raw to Cooked & the Zombie Kitchen

I ate cooked food for the first time in 28 days yesterday and I felt ok. Then today I made sprouted Whole Grain Pasta and I felt like I had the flu. I had cold sweats, light head, queasy stomach, and indigestion. It was rough. I now know that a proper raw food diet is the healthiest food path for me. I will continue my raw ways except for when I do my cooking classes. haha Sounds insane right? A raw food chef who cooks. Luckily I am able to come up with accurate recipes on the fly and do not require much recipe development. I love cooking and I love raw foods! So, I was thinking that it makes sense to combine these two elements into a hybrid 1/2 cooked 1/2 raw recipe series. If I make pasta sauce I will put it hot over raw zucchini. Or if I make a delicious raw Asian sauce I will put it over lightly steamed bok choy and shiitake shrooms. This way my meals will be half alive and half dead...like the Zombie Kitchen!!! This is much better than all the way cooked and a little easier for people to 'stomach' than straight raw foods. I can always end the meal with one of my 5 star raw desserts too :)

Day 28: Raw

So, after 28 days of eating 100% raw food I decided to break the streak today. I ate 2 whole wheat spinach empenadas.They were so freaking good! I felt great when I was raw and eating enough food. But the days that I didn't have copious amounts of fresh fruit, or lettuce for a salad, or kale for a green smoothie...raw food life was physically draining. Observations from my experience raw:
1. More balanced mood/calmer at all times
2. Sleep was more efficient/less hours with better rest
3. Raw culinary vision heightened
4. Ate about 1/3 the food as before
5. Spent a lot of $$$ on food
6. Frequently hungry
7. Lost 5 pounds
8. Missed cooking

Raw food makes the most sense most of the time for me...however, I will go back to where I was pre-raw to part-raw. I will make my green smoothie everyday, salad for lunch, quinoa/brown rice with nuts and beans, and fruit in between. I was on this journey with a beautiful friend of mine who made this a memorable and inspiring experience. I highly recommend doing any fast-like activities with a friend or a group for support. I will be teaching my raw food series at the store twice a month and this is a great place to meet raw foodies and health conscious friends. It is also in my job description to cook healthy food, so I am excited to reunite with my hot plate! I will continue posting raw and cooked oil-free healthy recipes on here until I am ready to write my book :)

Persimmon Pudding(raw)

I taught a raw food class yesterday and made Cream of Sweet Potato Soup, Kalocado Salad, and Persimmon Pudding. The soup is amazing, the salad is delicious, and the pudding is uniquely flavorful.

Our produce department had a some persimmons that were on there way out, so I rescued them and cut out the goodness. Persimmons are one of the sweetest fruits in the world when they are ripe. There are two main varieties; Hachiya and Fuya.

I prefer the acorn shaped Hachiya against the tomato shaped Fuya. If you eat a persimmon before it is ripe(when totally mushy) it will have an awful chalky affect and leave your mouth feeling like you just bit into a pile of powdered drywall.

The variety we had at the store was Fuya, so that's what went into the pudding. This is the first time I ever made this and I made the recipe up as I went along. Adjust spices to taste:



Persimmon Pudding.

8 ripe persimmons de-seeded and peeled
3/4 cup raisins
1 Tbsp chia seeds
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp ginger

 Blend ingredients and serve chilled. Garnish with a mint leaf and ground cardamom.

I use dates to sweeten everything, so I found an opportunity to use raisins and it worked perfectly! The chia seeds are there to add the jello like consistency to this pudding. They really work!

I was going to add cinnamon and nutmeg and turn this into a Christmas style dessert, but then I realized that this flavor is played out, so I got Slum Dog Millionaire on it and turned into an Indian delight! These flavors complement the sweet complexity of the persimmon and raisins.

This is an excellent dessert to enjoy with a cup of warm almond milk or your favorite tea. Taste rating : 4 stars. Energy spent rating: 2

day 21: Raw

Wow! I ate a handful of raw cacao treats at like 12am and I feel like I just drank a pot of coffee. This is the ONLY problem with being uber detoxed. Anyway I have to be up in three hours for Mango Fest and I'm not tired at all. I always seem to pick the worst times to eat cacao at night. The great thing about being a raw oil-free vegan is I can totally function on three or four hours of sleep. It's when I hit the 2 hour zone when my body is like 'sorry not long enough' and I start forgetting where I parked my car....where did I park my car? Anyway, Day 21 and I am feeling great! I figured as opposed to taking my T.V apart again, I would just write in my blog here. Oh I forgot, I have cherries I can eat...sweet! Cherries are supposed to help calm the body. Any excuse to eat more fruit! 

peace be with you earthlings!