Vegan Brunch, figured out

Leave it to the people over at Healeo to concoct the another one of the most delish raw breakfasts around....

Yes! What you're looking at is a young thai baby coconut stuffed with strawberries, blueberries, coconut and hemp seeds! And after you're done with that deliciousness, there's still the coconut meat left to finish off. Perfffffect. Don't live in Seattle? Never fear! You can easily make this in the comfort of your own home....

Raw Banana Pancakes

I got a serious pancake craving today. So I turned to my trusty copy of Ani Phyo's Raw Food Essentials  and found her recipe for Brazil Nut Banana pancakes. I modified it for the ingredients I had, and was really happy with the results! I used some delicious coconut nectar for syrup :)

Chia/Banana Pancakes for 1:

1/4 C almond meal (or any other nut)
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 mashed banana
1 tsp cinnamon or mesquite powder
1/2 C> water for mixing

Combine and dehydrate at 105 for 7-8 hours!

Raw Almond Butter Cups

Hey everyone! I hope you had a great Valentines Day, and today's post is just bringing you a lil' recipe for some everyday treats you can make in five minutes! These are my favorite raw treats, they remind me so much of Reeses peanut butter cups. They're not to sweet(but adjustable of course!) and not too rich, like so many raw pies and cakes can be. Any raw nut butter will do, next time I will try with coconut butter :) I was really intimidated to try this recipe so here's a step-by-step just for you:

First prepare a batch of liquid chocolate a la Ani Phyo, or just combine one part liquid extra virgin coconut oil to one part ground cacao, I used 1/2 C : 1/2 C. If you live in a warm climate your coconut oil is probably already liquidated, but if you live in a Seattle-like climate just run the jar under warm water a few minutes, it melts quickly. Avoid microwaving. If you're using cacao nibs, which I highly recommend, grind them very well, for at least a minute to avoid graininess. Then sweeten to taste with coconut nectar, agave, stevia, or mesquite(I used 1 T mesquite) and pour half of the mixture into a muffin tin as pictured above. Throw in the freezer for about 5 minutes to solidify the chocolate.

Stir your almond butter with about 1/2 t pink himalayan sea salt and scoop 1-2 t on to your solidified chocolate pieces. Distribute the last of the chocolate over the almond butter and throw in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

What's your favorite raw dessert?

This is for real.

I think I have a problem. A coconut water problem. Actually it might be a coconut everything problem. Not to mention I annoying rave to anyone who will listen about the amazing benefits of coconut oil on your skin. There are so many brands, but I only drink the kind thats not flash pasteurized and have had to go through a bunch before I find the ones that taste the best. 

Likes:

• Amy and Brian's all natural coconut juice with pulp. Trust me, it's wonderful. Their lime kind comes in second. 
• Taste Nirvana's coconut water/pulp AND their coconut water with aloe vera juice. Both are very good. Here are the benefits of aloe vera juice (not like the cream you put on sunburns!)
• Cracking open a young thai coconut and going to town!

Dislikes:

• Zico coconut water! It's gross, made from concentrate and tastes nothing like coconut water. Don't be suckered in even though they have lots of fun flavors, their nasty!
• O.N.E., Harvest Bay, and Vita Coco are all heat processed.

Coconut water hydrates you better than any man-made energy/sport drink out today. Whether you excersized hard or are just hungover, coconut water will gets your body the electrolytes it needs to recover quickly. Read about just how amazing it is here!

A few fun facts about coconut water:

• Coconut water is more nutritious than whole milk-with no fat and cholesterol.
• Coconut water is more healthy than orange juice-much lower in calories.
• Coconut water is naturally sterile. Water permeates through the filtering husk.
• Coconut water is a universal donor. It is identical to human blood plasma.
• Coconut water is higher in potassium and magnesium and lower in sugars than any sports/energy drink.

Want to win some Stevia from Katie? I've never tried the vanilla kind... :)

Vegan Dragon Roll in Amazing Sauce

This is the brand new Dragon Roll from my favorite raw/vegan restaurant in town,
Thrive. Every time I go it's impossible to choose what to get, everything is so delicious!

I tried their brand new Dragon roll with red rice, avacado, cucumber, cilantro, wrapped in sesame ginger sauce and nori. It came with a truly amazing "garlic cilantro god sauce" for dipping. I will be saving the remainder for my salad tomorrow. I am seriously interested to know what's in that amazi-balls sauce, but can understand why it would be a secret...

Hemp Brownies

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Sorry about the shottie iphone photo!

Ingredients: 

1/3 cup hemp seeds

1 banana

2/3 cup ground walnuts

pinch salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup ground cacao powder

1 T coconut oil (opt)

1 T Mesquite powder

stevia to taste(I used 2 packets)

Preparation: 

Mash banana, wisk together liquid ingredients then add dry ingredients. Sprinkle wit hemp seeds and freeze. These are low sugar and packet with healthy antioxidants to get you through the day! I love hemp seeds!

nummy raw 'fast food' salad

If you're on the go and are lucky enough to have a Chipotle in your town, I totally recommend you stop by and give it a try! I'm not sure what their method of preparing everything is, but everything tasted very fresh and delicious! They best part is you can bring your omnivore friends in and everyone can get something to enjoy :) Omit the fajita veggies and sauces for a truly raw salad. Here's what I got:

Have you been to chipotle? What do you think?

a new sally obsession

If you're like me and you consume a family-of-four sized salad once or twice daily, you know what I mean when I say I often have to ;switch it up' to not get bored. Well, my new obsession is Rawmesan. A friend actually recommended Parma, a vegan parmesan which I will definitely try next time, but in the same section I found Rawmesan for a cheaper price and less ingredients. I usually roll with olive, macadamia, or coconut oil for salad dressing, but when I sprinkle this on, it really pumps up the flavor and satiety of my salad, almost like a cooked meal. It's also great sprinkled on veggies! This stuff is great for people who are okay with nutritional yeast, but think it's a little overpowering.

Ingredients:Organic walnuts, organic sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast, celtic sea salt. 

Nutritional Facts: 1/2 tsp (3g) Calories 15, Fat 1.5g (Sat. 0g), Carb 1g, Protein 1g, Vitamin B12 (8%DV), Zinc (2%DV), Selenium (2%DV), Phosphorus (2%DV). % Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. 

Any one tried Rawmesan, Parma, or Vegan Grated Topping?

I don't know what I waited so long to try these things!

new year

Hola, raw kids :)

I took a few days off and now am back strong with some "Resolutions" for you. After eating all of that Raw Junk Food over the holiday I am ready to reduce some of the high fat and sugar foods in my diet and focus on vegetables and greens as much as possible. It seems everyone in the bloggy world is making resolutions. I admire Tina so much for sharing her sugar difficulties with everyone. As you probably know, many people experience emotional AND physical cravings for sugar that are tough to get over, and I am so happy to see her success!

Some diet/fitness goals for 2011:

1. Eat a salad every day.

You would think I already do this, but sometimes I either crave fat or carbs and choose some 'vegan junk food' instead or simply just want something HOT.

2. Reduce sugar intake.

Sugar shakes me up. Even the natural kind can mess with me and my blood sugar. I would be lying if I didn't say I'd love to eat an entire box of dates in one sitting, so I feel that by purposefully reducing my sugar intake I will also reduce my cravings for it.

3. Make more raw food 'meals,' not just desserts, as to not get bored. 

I got Ani Phyo's Raw Food Essentials for christmas and I plan to use it!

4. Reduce unnecessary fat intake.

Now, I know that fats are essential to life, so I promise to not over-do this. I always have a healthy dose of olive, macademia (I received some Hawai'ian oil from 'santa' this year), or coconut oil on my salad and love to munch on raw nuts and avacados. But just because things are raw it doesn't mean I should exceed the daily normal value. I don't need 10 handfuls of Brazil nuts or 25 raw cookies made of almond flour with cashew icing. This goal is to simply be more mindful, that's all.

5. Fruit for breakfast.

Instead of nothing.

6. No Starbucks food.

My sister and I both work at Starbucks, so this will be a toughie.

7. 30 minutes of exercise a day with one rest day!

My sis and I are both committing to this, you can too!

8. Do yoga once a week.

For some reason this is harder for me than it used to be. I just can't seem to make my mind relax, and that makes me anxious and stiff. I would really like to get back into this. Any tips?

9. Incorporate more fermented foods/probiotics into my diet.


I love Kombucha and Rejuvelac, but I definitely drink a lot more black coffee and tea than I do that. I think that would definitely make a difference in my health and general well being. Any more probiotic food suggestions?

10. Dance, laugh, sing, create, be...


What are your diet/fitness/life goals for 2011?


I raise my green smoothie to 2011, it'll be a good one!