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!