Healthy, Simple Raw Lunch and Snacks

Here’s a healthy and simple raw lunch I have just finished preparing and packing to take with me to work tomorrow. I get such a kick out of preparing my lunch and snacks especially when they look this yummy 🙂  It reminds me of my childhood and being a student in primary school. I hated the lunch my school served so I packed my own lunch (most days) and snacks. School lunch was usually under or overcooked and lacked any flavor whatsoever but it was prepared from scratch with real whole foods. In hindsight it was definitely so much healthier than what most public schools serve children here in the US, hence the childhood obesity epidemic. If only everyone listened to Jamie Oliver. Snack time & Lunch time, at work now, are still one of my favorite parts of the day so why not take the time to prepare something tasty and healthy for the day ahead or early in the morning if you can manage that. A longer work day means you should pack even more food so as not to succumb to temptation. Don’t forget to hydrate 🙂 with water and your favorite no-fuss juice recipe.

Breakfast: I’ll make this green smoothie recipe early in the morning in the Vitamix before I head out the door! I LOOOOVE that Vitamix. It is so incredibly powerful, fast and easy to clean. I have gotten so much use out of it! Can’t imagine our kitchen without it. *Thanks babe*

Snack time #1: Peeled and quartered juicy oranges

I bought a huge box of these oranges wholesale at Costco and to be honest they are the juiciest and most delicious oranges I’ve ever had. Hubby & I finished a box in a few days so I joyfully took at trip back to Costco last Friday for box #2 . Let’s see how long they last this time…

Lunch time: Large Green Salad with your healthy dressing of choice

• organic mixed organic greens
• cherry tomatoes from mummy’s garden
• mini bell peppers from my other mama’s (MIL) garden
• sliced cucumber
• organic baby carrots

Snack time #2: Mangoes & Strawberries

Are you salivating like I am?

Bonus snack: Trail mix

*nuts are all raw and measure half a cup all together

• cashews
• pumpkin seeds
• almonds
• sunflower seeds
• 1 heaped tbsp of dried cranberries

Ready to go!

What are your favorite easy peasy healthy and simple snack and lunch ideas?

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Joyful Juice Recipes, #29 and #30

I’m so glad I’m back to juicing and blogging about it. I took a very long break from doing both most of this year to pursue other personal goals that suffice it to say left me feeling drained and hopeless. I am finally beginning to feel like my true happy self again and I owe much of that to my beloved 5 year old Breville juicer and my yummy hubby. While in the throes of my sadness I forced myself to think of (and act on) activities that bring me joy and juicing was pretty much at the top of the list. Ok, so maybe juicing tied with sleeping 9+ hours on my days off regardless of how many ‘important’ and  ‘timely’ errands I needed to run. So here are two recipes that I made on a day I literally slept in till 11am! These recipes are raw, fresh, mostly organic and quite delicious. Give them a try!I had one for breakfast, at 12pm 🙂 and one for lunch at 3pm 🙂 🙂 with lots of water in between.

BEET JOY JUICE RECIPE (32 ounces)

• 6 large carrots
• 3 beets, thoroughly washed
• 2 granny smith apples
• 1/4 large fresh pineapple
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 3-4 leaves of beet greens

GREEN JOY JUICE RECIPE (24 ounces)

• 4 stalks of celery
• 1 large green bell pepper
• 2 granny smith apples
• 1/2 lime
• 2 leaves of mustard greens

Juice and Be Joyful!

Creamy Dreamy Green Smoothie Recipe #9

I can’t believe I’m about to post a smoothie recipe with avocado in it. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE avocado, but the idea of it in a smoothie was crazy to me before now. I despised avocado as a child but I somehow fell in love with it as an adult and I ‘treat’ myself with them every once in a while because they tend to be pretty expensive. You can imagine my excitement then when my mother-in-law gifted me with a juicy and perfectly ripe avocado among very many other garden-fresh fruits and vegetables. I knew I wanted to create a recipe I had never made before with the avocado so when I woke up last Saturday morning with a craving for a delicious healthy green smoothie I knew I just had to use some of the avocado. I threw all my ingredients in my oh-so-powerful Vitamix and said a prayer! Well folks, it was delicious and the perfect breakfast smoothie. I couldn’t believe how amazing it was. I feel so silly now 🙂 .It was creamy, dreamy and delicious. Did I say it was delish? I will absolutely be making this recipe again and again and again. Ladies and gentlemen…dare to do something different with your smoothies, you just might create a winner!

CREAMY DREAMY GREEN SMOOTHIE

1/2 an avocado

1 frozen banana

1 date

Handful of organic spinach

1/2 cup of water

ENJOY 🙂

Here’s a picture of some of the peppers we got from her. Thanks mama! I will NOT be making a smoothie recipe with these hot as Hades habanero peppers. I’m not that crazy. Aren’t they gorgeous though?

Juicing date with my mother and Juice Recipe #28

I had an incredibly fun Saturday evening. I spent it juicing with my mother. I obviously looooooooove juicing, hence the blog, but it is an activity I do solo. My mother has had a juicer for a while now and why we haven’t had a juicing date before yesterday beats me! Turns out, juicing is so much more fun when you have an equally enthusiastic partner. We had so much fun, made three different juices, and I took no pictures because I was too busy chugging them. My beloved mother had two big AHA! moments while we juiced.

The first one was that she does way to much prep work. After thoroughly washing the veggies, she chops them up into smaller pieces!?! I couldn’t believe it. I basically told her she did not need to help her super powerful centrifugal juicer out and that she should just (gently)  shove her veggies whole down the chute, as long as they fit of course. She had the most surprised look on her face as I threw whole cucumbers down the chute, large and long carrots, celery stalks etc.

Lesson #1: Don’t help your juicer out by chopping up the veggies. Your juicer can take it! Just wash and juice. Slice/Chop only to make larger veggies fit.

The second AHA! moment she had was that I have a rhyme and reason to my juicing while she doesn’t. My mother just juices a little of all of the vegetables and fruits she has available in her fridge. She ALWAYS juices this way and of course sometimes they taste great and a lot of times they don’t. That must not have been very encouraging for her. I’ve been experimenting with different fruit and veggie combos for so long now that I know, for the most part, what works together and what doesn’t.

Lesson #2: Recipes are great for making your own juices. Feel free to make them exactly as you see them or use them as inspiration but be warned that throwing everything-but-the-kitchen-sink down your juicer’s chute may not always result in a tasty juice.

While these lessons may seem pretty basic to novice or expert juicers, I hope there’s a beginner out there who will see this post and benefit from them.

One of the juices we made was this creamy and delicious orange-colored juice, the second was your usual deep red colored ABC (plus ginger) juice and the third was a green juice that I don’t think I’ve made before. Check out the ingredients below. We made an incredibly large batch but I will modify the quantity to what should make approximately 16 ounces.

MAMA’s green juice

• 4 organic celery stalks
• 1/2 large cucumber (1 whole small cucumber)
• small handful of cilantro
• 1 large head of organic romaine lettuce
• 1 organic apple
• 2-3 stalks of a dark leafy green, we used beet greens

~Happy Juicing y’all!~

Summer Reminiscing: Snack Time!

I think the best motto for trying to lead a healthy lifestyle especially with food is… Keep it Simple and Keep it Real! (and organic if possible :-)) Hubby and I had snack time one lazy afternoon this past summer that was just too pretty not to photograph! One of my absolute favorite things about summer is the abundance of fresh fruits. This was the most delicious snack time we’d had in a while. It had me thinking of how incredibly delicious real food is and how grateful I am we get to indulge. Here’s to keeping it simple and real with all our meals!

Ingredients: Pineapple, Strawberries, Bananas, Cherries, Grapefruit and Mango. Use your favorite fruits, especially what is in season since it tends to be the most affordable and have the most nutrients. This is a great breakfast recipe too!

~Munch&Enjoy!~

2 Green Juice Recipes #26 and #27

Here are 2 new green juice recipes. One is light and sweet and the other is tart and has a stronger ‘green’ flavor. Both are equally delicious and of course full of nutrients that are bound to leave you feeling clean & much healthier. Use organic ingredients if possible. Each recipe makes approximately 16 ounces of green juice.

Recipe # 1: Cleansing Green Juice

• 1 large cucumber
• 5 celery stalks
• 2-3 apples
• 1/2 lemon (you can juice with the peel on)

All the celery (a powerful diuretic) in this juice makes it a great cleansing juice recipe!

Recipe #2: Tart & Zing Green Juice

• 2-3 mustard green leaves (they are pretty bitter so use with caution)
  
• 1/2 inch of ginger, no need to peel!
• 2 apples
• 3 celery stalks
• A handful of cilantro

Adding ginger to a juice definitely boosts its anti-inflammatory power, strengthens the immune system & improves circulation. It also gives the juice that ‘zing’ flavor!

~Juice & Enjoy!~