Here’s a Juice, Smoothie and Salad Recipe you’ll love!

I can’t believe it’s been 2 months already of eating a mostly raw vegan diet. I’m not a big fan of labels because I don’t want to deter anyone from my main message which is that fruits and vegetables ROCK!!! The more fruits and veggies you add to your diet the healthier you will be and feel… guaranteed! I do appreciate labels though for how important they are in having discussions of any kind. In my quest to attain greater health this year, those words (raw and vegan) are the IT words. My diet has sloooooowly evolved in the past 9 years (since I read Never Be Sick Again by Raymond Francis) and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve never gone cold turkey on anything. Cold turkey does not work for me. I am much further along than most people I know who for years have quit this, that or the other, announced it to the world and sworn by everything, only to be smothered in grease on a Friday night and decide that eating healthy is too hard. Nice and slow works, no need for torture 🙂 I know my why and that keeps me going. I’ve had a few cooked non-vegan meals (one or two a week on average) since this journey began but I’m not sweating them! I am focusing on how easy and delicious it is to have simple and fast raw vegan meals! Here are 3 new recipes I made in one day. I actually wasn’t trying to create new recipes, it just happened! and then of course I thought to myself… better run and get that camera so you can share this with everyone. Enjoy folks. Every recipe was deeeeeelicous 🙂

Juice Recipe #32: Orange Glow

I love 3 ingredient juice recipes, they’re so easy! This juice was sweet and had a great zing thanks to the ginger. Remember… go for organic ingredients if possible. This recipe is very reminiscent of this ABC and ginger recipe but it tastes and looks very different. I used my Breville Juice Fountain Plus instead of the Omega J8006 for this recipe because they were all hard ingredients that the Breville just juices faster.

• 1 large golden beet (this was my first time using them and they are gorgeous)
• 5 carrots
• 1 inch of ginger

Smoothie Recipe #9: Hubby’s Fruit Medley

I have a confession. This was my husband’s creation, not mine. It is THE joy of my life that eating this way (and sharing it with others) inspires anyone, and most importantly the people I love so deeply. Hubby has become quite the smoothie maker so when he came up with this winner I knew I had to share it. If you want to do it hubby’s style just throw everything in your Vitamix (blender) in whatever proportions you like, add ‘some’ water and voila! If you’re like me, you’ll use…

• 1 mango, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup of strawberries
• 1 large banana, frozen
• 1 cup of pineapple, frozen
• 1 apple
• 1 cup of water

It doesn’t matter what fruits are fresh or frozen, I just indicated which ones I used that happened to be frozen. I particularly love using only frozen bananas for smoothies. It somehow tastes better to me.

Salad Recipe

This salad was filling and out of this world good!

• 3 large handfuls of baby kale, chopped
• 1/2 cucumber, chopped
• 1 large carrot, shredded
• 3/4 cup of broccoli florets
• 2 large handful of a variety of sprouts (garbanzo, alfalfa and bean sprouts)

Salad Dressing: 5 strawberries, 1 orange and 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar.

Ok, so balsamic vinegar is obviously not raw but I loooooove the one I have and it is fantastic for making salad dressings. The recipe would actually be just fine with only strawberries and oranges so feel free to leave it out.

~Add more fruits and vegetables to your diet, juice and enjoy!~

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I think I’m RAW, VEGAN and Juice Recipe #31

I’m not sure how in heavens name I have a blog and don’t own a laptop. It makes no sense to me, hence the lack of blog posts. I do intend to fix that sometime in the next few months and get a really nice laptop. Suggestions welcome. I have spent the last few months wisely though and chosen to make food my medicine especially since the latter part of 2013 came with lots of physical and emotional trauma. 

I have never planned any of my life’s major changes. I spend as much time as the next person setting goals but I almost always get side tracked. I probably intuitively ‘plan’ all of the changes that happen in my life by ‘day-dreaming’ about it, reading about it, talking about it, being truly grateful for where I am, excited about all of the changes that I am already experiencing and then WHAM! my life’s on a whole new path.

So my latest life change is that I’m my diet is now RAW and VEGAN. I have been reading and thinking about eating this way for a few years now. The urge to try this lifestyle became so strong that on the night of January 22nd I’d had enough and decided I just had to do it. My diet was already significantly healthier than the average American’s diet thanks to the changes I’ve been making in the past several years. I had (and still have) juices/smoothies for breakfast, fruits for snacks and delicious home made salads very often. I purchase organic fruits and veggies when available as they are my absolute favorite food. In spite of all this I felt like there was plenty of room to expand, not physically! 🙂 . I have since had a few cooked meals because my husband and I traveled out-of-state for 5 days. Boy oh boy! Traveling and trying to remain raw and vegan with only 14 days of experience at the time was haaaaaard. I’m back home now and its been much easier. I don’t want to ramble on and on about this so I will just outline some of the benefits I have experienced from eating this way for 3 weeks.

• I feel lighter after meals
• I have increased energy
• Meal prep is FAST and EASY
• Increased mental clarity
• Better and less sleep necessary
• Weight loss 

The hardest thing has been trying to eat enough. With this lifestyle, your food is digested much quicker so the best thing is to either snack more often or have larger meals if your stomach can handle it. Snacking more works better for me now. The cooked meals I had were at restaurants with family and I have only experienced TERRIBLE effects, not side effects… EFFECTS 😦

• I felt sluggish/lethargic after eating
• SEVERE acid reflux
• Nausea
• SEVERE Indigestion
• Excessive gas

No matter how small or large the cooked meal was I experienced ALL of the above effects ALL the time. I am now wondering…was I experiencing some/all of the above effects before and just totally oblivious to them? How sad is that? Or…did my GI tract love raw food so much (after only a few weeks) that it’s trying to let me know that cooked food is not the way for me anymore? I honestly don’t know what the answer is but I do know I enjoy eating raw and vegan for now and I will continue to do so to the best of my ability.

Here’s today’s breakfast green juice recipe.

New Beginnings GREEN juice recipe

• one large cucumber
• one head of romaine lettuce
• half a pineapple, peeled (do not core)
• one orange, peeled

It’s light, refreshing and on the sweeter side. I prefer stronger green flavors in my green juices but I craved something slightly sweet this morning and this juice satisfied that craving perfectly!

~Do something new, juice and enjoy!~

Anyone make any new (small or big) changes to their lifestyle in the past few months? Please share. 

Here are some pics from my raw food adventures. I took all of the pictures in today’s post with my iPhone so excuse the not-so-awesome quality.

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?

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?

Juice Recipe #22: Not-So-Green Juice

I was craving a green juice today and made this tasty juice that looks anything but green. In fact, I’m not fond of its color but it packs some serious nutrient power so whatever! I purchased some collard greens at my local supermarket a few days ago that were calling my name. I’m sure I’m not the only weirdo that sees a gorgeous veggie in the market and just has to have them. That’s how I felt about these collards when I laid eyes on them. They were fresh, large, leafy and the most gorgeous shade of green.

I LOVE Collard Greens or what I grew up referring to as Sukuma Wiki, google that! Collards and Kale are definitely my favorite greens. I grew up eating them sauteed with onions and tomatoes. My mouth is watering just thinking about them. But given that this is a juicing blog and I was craving one I thought I would create a juice around them. It just refused to become green though thanks to the carrots. Go carotene! I also was excited to drink a veggie juice out of the glass in the picture. It was a wedding favor from a wedding I attended two weeks ago and I can’t say I’ve ever been more excited about a favor. Silly, I know!

Collard greens are loaded with Vitamin A, C and K, along with calcium, potassium and omega 3 fatty acids. Greens are definitely nature’s secret weapon. Here’s one recipe that helps you drink your greens and get filled up on these nutrients.

• 2-3 large collard green leaves, thouroughly washed, stem and all!
• 5-6 carrots
• 1 apple
• 1 inch piece of ginger

~Juice & Enjoy!~

If you want to taste and see a ‘real’ green juice, check out the most popular green juice recipe MAJ has so far… Juice Recipe #4

Juice Recipe #21: Thanksgiving Juice

I can’t believe I haven’t had a single post since right before Storm Sandy came and turned mine and so many other people’s lives around. I pray for those whose lives will never be the same again and it is admirable to see the country come together to help in any way possible.  Like so many of you Thanksgiving is truly one of my favorite holidays and in the spirit of gratitude for all that we have, are and can do I would like to take the time to list 5 things that I am beyond grateful for.

1. The idea and inspiration to begin this blog this year. Eating and Living well is my life’s passion and this blog has been a wonderful channel for expressing that. Thank you World Wide Web, thank you Word Press, thank you Breville Juice Fountain Plus, thank you Olympus Pen epl1 and thank you Veggie Markets.

2. Thank you to every follower, reader and ‘liker of my posts’. Thank you for validating my work and taking the time to support my blog and sharing in the excitement that a little homemade juice can bring.

3. There are no words to express how grateful I am for the strength and health that I have had this year. I have gone the entire year without so much as a sniffle. This time last year I was suffering from my umpteenth cold, couldn’t breathe and felt like death warmed over. Yup! It was that bad. Health is our Wealth.

4. I am thankful with every breathe that I take for my AMAZING family but most importantly my beloved husband. He is my rock, my #1 fan and my best friend. I am grateful that he tastes almost every one of my kitchen creations and gives me feedback that is sometimes a bit too honest 🙂

5. I am thankful for this juice recipe I created last week while feeling mooshy and happy inside. It awoke my taste buds and got me excited to juice like crazy again.

• 2 cups of pineapple, chopped
• 2 oranges, peeled 
• 1/2 an inch of a ginger root

~Juice and Give Thanks!~

Raw Breakfast Recipe: ‘Oatless’ muesli

When I am on my laptop, anyone that knows me knows I am constantly browsing the web for articles, videos and blogs that relate to living a healthier lifestyle by incorporating nutritious, delicious and lately… raw foods. I do not ascribe to any particular diet and never have. I simply eat what tastes divinely delicious, makes me feel ALIVE and what I truly believe is made with whole and preferably organic foods… most of the time. I’m human ok. Lately that has meant trying to incorporate as many raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds into my daily meals and it is so much fun! The universe must be trying to send me a sign of some sort because in my browsing adventures I have come across lots of muesli recipes. I ate muesli when I was younger every once in a while. It was pretty expensive so it was actually quite the treat to have it in the house. The truth is though that my ‘oatless’ muesli should not even be referred to as muesli because it contains none of the ingredients from Bircher-Benner’s original muesli recipe. Any combination now of oats, nuts, seeds and dried/fresh fruit seems to be referred to as muesli so here’s my ‘oatless’ muesli recipe that I created with the nuts and seeds I had in my kitchen. Please note that all nuts and seeds in this recipe are raw.

• 1/4 cup of organic almonds, roughly chopped in food processor
• 1/4 cup of cashews, roughly chopped in food processor
• 1/4 cup of walnuts, I just crushed them in my hand
• 1tbsp of sunflower seeds
• 1tbsp of pumpkin seeds
• 2 dates, finely diced
• Itbsp of dehydrated, shredded and unsweetened organic coconut flakes

Serve with cold homemade almond (or your favorite) milk and enjoy! This was so good and incredibly filling. I can’t wait to make this again.

Juice Recipe #18: My ‘Everything’ GREEN Juice

So after creating an ‘everything’ juice last week that was really delicious I was obviously inspired to make an ‘everything’ green juice. I had an abundance of green fruits and vegetables in the fridge and got to work as soon as the idea came to me. While the first ‘everything’ juice was AMAZING and so was this one, I don’t think I’ll be doing this too often. I love my kitchen, it is by far my favorite space in my home, but like with anything else I prepare I prefer to be in and out so spending lots of time preparing lots of different fruits and vegetables for juicing is not my cup of tea. I like to keep it simple! (and spend more time drinking/eating my creations). One of the many things I am most grateful for since I started this blog is that it has truly inspired me to get more creative with my juicing and to overall live a healthier life. I hope it does the same for you. Even if you never make your own ‘everything’ green juice, I dare you to find healthier, new and exciting ways to prepare meals/juices for you and your family. You might really love what you come up with 🙂 and your body will thank you for it.

Here are the ingredients for my ‘everything’ green juice, all organic: Cilantro, Bok Choy, Kale, Green apple, Lemon, Kiwi, Romaine Lettuce, Mixed baby greens, Cucumber, Celery, Pear and Broccoli. Yeah, I know… I went way overboard! I had about 60 or so ounces of green juice. This juice is alkalinizing and filled with phytochemicals, vitamins, antioxidants, enzymes, light energy and minerals. I can’t imagine a more nutritious way to start the day.

~Keep Juicing and Enjoy!~

Juice Recipe #16: Tropical Bliss

So, I was sitting at home tonight feeling sad for two reasons. One, I totally forgot my husband had a school-related dinner at an uber-fancy restaurant, he actually took me there for my b-day dinner earlier this year. I was really looking forward to spending some quality time with him tonight. Second, we (my husband and I) haven’t been on a vacation together for… hmmm… can’t remember when we last vacationed so it must be never or a very long time ago. So, I took these two sucky feelings and decided to juice them.

I juice when I’m mad,

I juice when I’m glad,

and I juice when I wanna be on a beach so bad!

That’s about as poetic as I’ve ever been. Anyway, I took to the kitchen with these emotions and created a juice recipe that literally transported me to an island far far away with white sand, clear waters and a bright blue sky.

Here’s the recipe to experience Tropical Bliss wherever you are

• Half a pineapple, peeled (do not core)
• 2 kiwis, peeled
• 1/2 a lime with the peel

~Juice and be transported too…~

Juice Recipe #13: Evening Regulator by Cherie Calbom and Maureen Keane

Here’s the second new juice I made today from Juicing for Life by Cherie Calbom, M.S. and Maureen Keane, M.S., C.N.

Evening Regulator

• 2 organic apples, seeded
• 1 organic pear

This recipe is simple and sweet! It’s fantastic over ice. I have actually developed an affinity for my veggie juices so I consider my all-fruit juices a treat and try not to make them too often but when I do boy do I enjoy them. 🙂

~Happy Juicing!~