WOW Cafe & Nut Cheese

Last night I held my first local raw food meet-up and I had a great time. We went to WOW Cafe in Guelph, Ontario. WOW Cafe (Wild Organic Way) is one of my favorite places to eat. My sister and I found WOW Cafe many years ago and that was the spark that got us loving raw food. At the time we were driving around searching for an organic cafe. Little did we know, that it was raw. Isn't it funny how the universe just sends you in the right direction. After our first visit, we fell in love with Raw Food.

I am not showing any photo's because my camera was on the fritz and it just doesn't do their food justice. So instead I will just link to their cafe. I am getting a new camera and therefore I will have an excuse to go back soon and take some photo's and maybe try something new. There menu features a great selection of raw smoothies, juices, meals and desserts. I had a great raw pizza and awesome smoothie. I also picked up some of their yummy crackers and a bag of raw cacao butter.

Today I used some crackers that I bought last night from WOW and they have a great unique flavour probably one of the best I have tried. Not only do they taste great, they are sturdy and I love that in a raw cracker.

I added some avocado to one cracker and some macadamia nut cheese that I made earlier in the week on the others. I also have some cut up cucumbers and a marinated kale salad that I made. This was a great easy meal.

Simple Kale
wash,cut and dry kale leaves
olive oil
sea salt
nutritional yeast
Mix well and let marinade. The longer the better.

Macadamia Nut Cheese
I actually made this for a raw pasta but had some left over. I soaked the nuts overnight and then drained and rinsed them.
Blend all ingredients until smooth. Use for salads, on pasta or on crackers.
raw macadamia nuts.
red pepper
lemon
scallions
pepper and salt
nutritional yeast
water

This is the cheese below. It looks slightly orange and spreads nicely on the crackers. I usually use cashews for nut cheese but I had a few macadamia nuts left over and wanted to use them up.


Last night before the meet up my sister and to a local book store. I picked up this book, while my sister picked up 2 vegan cupcake books. I feel a cook off coming up.:)


What do you like to put into your salad? What is your favorite raw food cafe or restaurant? If you are in the local area here, stop by WOW and you will be hooked on raw food...I promise.

Hemp & Sesame Milk

It's all about the milk. I am a fan of almond milk. I make my own and I also purchase unsweetened almond milk from our local health food store. This week I have really been hooked on Hemp Milk and I am loving it. I usually drink almond milk. Not only does Hemp milk have this great nutty taste but it has this power packed nutritional profile that just makes you feel healthy by drinking it . It is a source of calcium, omega's, magnesium, potassium, iron and more trace minerals. It has a nice earthy taste to it and has a slight browny white tinge to it. I love hemp seeds so much that they are very much a part of my children's diet.

Here is the brand that I used this week. When I buy any nut milks I always buy unsweetened milk. Then if I need to, I will add my own sweetener of choice. However I usually don't need to add anything. I will be making my own on the weekend.




I had a lovely cereal mix this week to accompany the hemp milk. I soaked some buckwheat groats overnight. Rinsed them off really well in the morning. They are a bit slimy but that can all come out when you rinse them. Then I put them to dehydrate for a few hours. (You could do this on low in your oven if you don't have a dehydrator).


Once they are dry I put them in the fridge in an air tight container. Each day I have had this lovely cereal combination.

Buckwheat
Chia Seeds
Walnuts
Hemp Milk (health food store or homemade)
Fruit of choice.

Enjoy. (next week it will be a new combo as I am almost out of this one)


I also made sesame milk this week and used it in a chocolate smoothie. Yummy. It was really easy and pretty good. First I soaked the sesame seeds overnight. Then put them in the Vitamix and gave them a quick blend. I used a nut bag to strain the milk. I threw out the left over sesame pulp and it left this amazingly white milk.

There is a bit of a stronger taste to the milk so I mixed it with a banana, cacao butter and a little agave. Really I did this because I wanted to see what my 4 year old would think of this new milk. She normally drinks rice milk or almond milk. She recognized the smell of sesame seeds, but loved the taste. This is great because sesame seeds are a source of calcium.

I usually use almond milk and I love homemade milk but I don't always have the time. However I am glad I stepped out and did the sesame milk which was new for me.What type of milk do you use in your house? Do you use one type and your children a different type? Is there a new milk that you want to try?











I also got my first blog award for Blyssful Health from Rawkinmom. So sending out a big thank you to Rawkinmom. I just need some time to think of who I am going to pass it along too.

Raw chips and Rejuvelac

I have been all over the place these days with choosing what raw food to make. I want to try so many new recipes and I am finding out that some turn out well and other's not so well. Over the years I have collected quite a few raw food books and I also take some out of the library. No matter what the books say my critics are my family. They tell me what they think. My daughter is my biggest critic. She will tell me if it is a "keeper" or if it is a "flop". She doesn't use these words exactly but her expressions and actions say it all. I am lucky that my husband likes and tries everything.

Overall I am having a lot of fun with raw food. My goal is really to maximize my food choices and therefore increase my nutrient consumption and energy levels. Really who doesn't want more energy these days? I also want my family to enjoy more raw foods. For our meals I try to make a raw version and a cooked version that work along the same theme. So if I am making a raw pad Thai, I will also make a cooked version. For times when that doesn't work I put together my own little sampling of raw foods and make my family something else and then give them the option of what they want to eat.

So my keeper was this new recipe for nacho style chips pictured above. It was from a book I took out from the library called Everyday Raw. The base of the nacho chip corn and flax. I did it a little to safe this first time. However was pleasantly surprised that it was so quick and easy. I think if I added some scallions and more seasoning they would be better. I did like how sturdy they were as a chip as well.

My flop was my first attempt at making rejuvelac. I made that about a week and a half ago and let's just say I am not sure about it. I soaked and sprouted wheat berries as shown bellow.

Then I crushed them a little bit just to open the seed and then added water.

And let it ferment....

Well let me tell you, I could sure smell the fermenting. So could my daughter and so could my husband. When your daughter walks into the kitchen and says what's that smell. Mmmm well it doesn't help the situation.

I have had rejuvelac before but it was while I was working at a health food store and it was a product sample. It was good. The book that I got them from said that you will know if the mixture has gone bad. Well not exactly... because it is fermented I had a hard time telling if it worked or not. So I will try it again very soon. I picked up a new batch of wheat berries.

Do you have experience with rejuvelac? Do you like it? How do you make yours? I would love to hear your stories about fermenting. However never fear as I have a new little workshop that I am taking that will be helping me with fermenting! So stay tuned for more information on fermenting soon.

Detox from your computer?

I have a funny story. Well it was not so funny at the time, it was actually very frustrating. I somehow happened to get a horrible virus on my computer this week. Not sure where it came from, however I new the instant that I got it that it was a bad one. When you see a HUGE waring sign on your screen and you can't get it off no matter what you do...it's bad. It attached itself and caused havoc!! That is why you have not seen any posts,tweets or comments from me in the last couple of days. I was on a forced detox from my computer for a couple of days and it got me thinking. Don't worry everything is cleared up and we are up and running again. The computer did have to go in for a repair for a couple of days.

However the interesting thing about this is that, yes it was very frustrating, but I think this event served a purpose. After the initial frustration had eased and I realized that my husband or I could not fix it, we just dealt with no computer. Has this ever happened to you? At first I missed it a lot. Then I really and truly realized how much time I spend on it and how connected I am to the people on it. When it was gone I somehow had a lot of time. Don't get me wrong. I love using the computer and blogging. However this new found time that I had was very useful. I got to read some interesting articles that I had around the house, I got to study a little and I got to create a lot more things in the kitchen.

So what have I learned? I have learned that yes we detox our body from toxins, but do we detox ourselves from technology enough? Do we allow ourselves to turn away from the "on button" and just relax and be? I think I am going to try to incorporate more of this down time each day. It is actually ironic that the article I was reading last night included a little bit of information on detoxing from our homes and part of it was about our computers, TVs and gadgets and the EM fields in our homes and what we can do to help reduce their effects in our life.

What about you, have you or will you be detoxing from any of your gadgets? Do you have a set amount of time that you use your computer? It would be really interesting to share and see how much time we use technology and what it feels like to disconnect for a while. I would love to hear what your opinions are?

This week try setting a computer free zone. Or a no gadget zone for a couple of hours and see how you feel?

The Winner is!

Thank you everyone for entering my healthy book giveaway. This contest was a lot of fun and I loved learning about what things would make you healthier. Let's all work together to get healthy this spring. I appreciate all of you that entered the contest and helped spread the word about Blyssful Health.



Now the drum roll please!!!!


The winner was chosen using Random.Org




The Winner of the Healthy Book Giveaway is comment #45!

HiHoRosie said...
follow via GFC
March 20, 2011 12:48 AM

Congrat's Heidi!!!! Enjoy!!! Please pick the book of your choice and email me your shipping info. You can find my email if you click on my profile at top right of the blog.


And.... for those of you that did not win....don't worry I received a a nice package in the mail today that will be used for our next contest in a couple of weeks!

I have been making a lot of food, but just haven't had a chance to post about it yet. I am in the process of switching over to a new camera and we just have been really busy. However I wanted to leave you with the thought of making your own green smoothie.

This included 2 green apples, one pitted date, water and a handful of mixed sprouts. Quite a bit thicker than my juices, but very good and yummy.

Book Giveaway: Get Healthy With Us!

Now is your opportunity to get healthy. Spring is approaching and what better time to get a new health book to help you on your journey to Blyssful Health. Please join us in getting healthy and enter our book giveaway contest. A big thank you to all of my followers. I love that you are all getting inspired, are trying my recipes, and making changes.

So now to the prize. The winner gets their choice of one book. Since there is an eclectic group of followers, I figured it would be good to give you some choices.


HERE ARE THE BOOK CHOICES:

























HOW TO ENTER:
Please note this contest is only open to Canadian and US Residents.

Everyone must do a Mandatory entry by answering the question. How could you improve your health? Then do any of the following:

1) Tweet it! Follow me on twitter and say something like: @Sash_Campbell is having a Healthy Book Giveaway!! OR USE RE TWEET BUTTON ON TOP OF POST.

2) ADD ME TO YOUR BLOG ROLL!

3) BLOG ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND LINK BACK TO MY POST!

4) JOIN US ON FACE BOOK BY CLICKING THE Join Our Group Button (blue box just to the right)

5) FOLLOW BLYSSFUL HEALTH BY JOINING "GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT"

6)SUBSCRIBE to Blyssful Health by entering your email.

*BONUS* GET A FRIEND TO SIGN UP ON EITHER FACEBOOK OR GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT AND RECEIVE 2 BALLETS FOR YOURSELF. JUST GET YOUR FRIEND TO SAY WHO SENT THEM. YOU CAN BRING AS MANY FRIENDS AS YOU LIKE. MAKE SURE TO ENTER YOUR NAME 2 SEPERATE TIMES.

Please leave a *separate comment* for each entry! (ie. I tweeted, or I joined facebook).

The giveaway will close on Monday March 21st at 11:30pm

I will announce the randomly-chosen winner on Tuesday, March 22nd!

Good luck!

Time For Tea: But not your regular tea.

Lot's of exciting things are happening here at Blyssful Health. I am having a contest here this week for a great book, and I started a local Raw Meet up Group. As well there will be some great product reviews, some new information on fermenting coming your way and a new website. So it is pretty busy and exciting.

However as promised I mentioned that I would share about how I make my new tea. As some of you know I am taking David Wolfe's Ultimate Nutrition Course. I am learning so many things. One of the things that I am learning about is tea. I am not talking about a simple tea bag. I am talking about a multi functional tea. I no longer look at teas in the same way. My new saying is "What can my tea do for me?" The answer is a lot. It can nourish me, calm me, feed my body nutrients and help my immune system.

Here are some pictures of my tea experiment.

So below are some herbs that I bought at the health food store.


In a large pot on the stove I added some water(not tap water) and them some Nettle, Horsetail and Oat straw. I also added a handful of Goji Berries and some Vanilla Powder. The Vanilla gives it a nice flavor and the Goji berries are so good for you and help round out the flavour. I let it simmer but never boil.

Next strain the mixture and use right away our put some in jars for later use as a tea or as a base for my smoothies.

After all of the liquid is drained off the remains look like this. Don't throw this out. You can make a couple more batches of tea with the same herbs and Goji Berries. I took my large batch and put some in the fridge as I could not drink the huge amount I made all at once.

The first batch of tea I made was strong. The first batch is always the strongest. So for me I had to dilute it with some water. The next batch was milder and milder with the third batch.

For me these herbs are important because of their silica content which is good for hair, nail and skin. Many herbs these days have several different functions so it is good to do some research on what herbs you are using. Lastly I added some Reishi mushroom powder to my tea as that was the only mushroom that I had on hand.

A few days late I went out and bought these. No that is not BACON, it's Reishi mushroom slices that I will steep with my next batch of tea. I am learning about mushrooms and their medicinal qualities, I definitely want these in my tea.

It took me a couple of cups to get into it. Now I am more used to it and I actually love the Goji berries in the tea. Especially since I now know how good there are for you.

Hope you enjoyed this and now look at your tea differently. While you are sipping your tea...here are a few quotes for you to think about.

Whatever your mind can conceive and can believe, it can achieve.
Napoleon hill

The power of intention is the power to manifest, to create, to live a life of unlimited abundance, and to attract into your life the right people at the right moments.
Wayne Dyer Quote


All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
Buddha

Corn Avocado Soup and Mexican Crisps

Creamy soft avocado and corn soup! This raw soup is so easy to make. You will wonder why you never tried this or raw food before. I have been eating lots and lots of salads, smoothies and making lots of sprouts in the last couple of days. I wanted to switch things up a bit and add in a nice soup. I also made another smoothie and some little appetizers below.


This corn soup is adapted from The Raw Gourmet. I have had this book for years and although I don't use it that often it has some really great information in it especially for those that are new to raw food.

Ingredients
1 cup of frozen corn
1 avocado
1-2 tbs of chopped red onion
water or plain almond milk
cumin
sea salt
crumbled flax crisp
pea sprouts

Blend all of the ingredients in Vitamix. Add pea sprouts and few kernels of corn on the top. I added some flax crackers on top. You can add any type of flax cracker on top. Mine was a nice spicy Mexican Beet Fiesta crisps from Two Girls Cooking, which went really well with the soup. This really took about 5 minutes or less. The left over soup was used as a dressing for my salad the next day.


I used the same Mexican Crisps for this little appetizer below. Very simple but tasty.I like these crisps because they have a good flavor to them and they are definitely not bland. Actually they have a good amount of heat to them. You could used any type of flax cracker.

I just mixed some tomatoes, cilantro(my favorite), red onion and some of the thick creamy corn and avocado soup as a sauce. Yummy.

Lastly I also made another smoothie. This time I made a chocolate raspberry smoothie but added some Chocolate Amazing Grass to it. This is another brand that I like.

This has many different great ingredients in it and is not to costly. It has a great chocolate flavor. I think I am on this raspberry chocolate kick lately. Give me a couple of days and I am sure it will pass...and I will be onto something else. Speaking of something else I am trying to make rejuvelac, which I will report when it is done.

Want tips on detoxing, short inspiring movie clips and more...Come join our facebook group by clicking the "LIKE" button on the right.


Ps. Yoga was great!

Chocolate Maca Treats and Bean Salad

Last night I decided to try a new recipe from a book that I took out from the Library called Everyday Raw. Raw cashews can be used in so many raw dishes that it is sometimes hard to decide what to make. I decided to try something new.

This truffle recipe uses maca which is a Peruvian root. It has kind of a mild or bitter butterscotch taste. You can find it in bulk or in capsules. It is often used with chocolate dishes like this or in hot chocolate drinks. I like the idea of this recipe, but I think the next time that I do it I will change a few things. For me it is a lot of maca and I might like it more if there was a little less. Really you could take the base of the chocolate and cashews and add your own flavor profile. I did love the texture of the dough that it created. However it was a little harder to clean out of the vitamix.(tip-scrape all you can out of the Vitamix then instead of washing with soap and water add almond milk to help remove all the chocolate and then you have a little bit of a bonus..Chocolate Milk)

I adapted the recipe and cut it in half. I usually cut the recipe in half when it is new just in case I don't love it then I haven't wasted a lot of high quality ingredients. This recipe uses maca and cacao powder.

Then some cashews, coconut oil, sweetener and vanilla powder.

Blend well. It takes a while to blend. I had to adapt the recipe and add some water to get it going. I also cut the sweetener down and replaced it with water. It turns into this thick dough. Scrape out and place dough in freezer for an hour or two.

Then roll into balls and coat with Maca. Note this is messy. If you plan on doing half chocolate and half dipped in maca, it is good to keep them separated. As you can see the maca powder gets everywhere.
My daughter Blyss was my little helper. We were covered in chocolate!!

Then....my sister Michelle came over and dropped off some lettuce and bean salad. This was great as my husband was out of town and I had no car and was craving a salad.

Top your lettuce with bean salad. There is a dressing on the bean salad so just put a huge scoop of the beans right on top of the salad.

Michelle's Bean Salad (non raw version)

Ingredients
Apple Cider Vinegar
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Sweetener

Kidney Beans
Chick Peas
Onion
any other bean you would like to add


Enjoy!!! Yum. Even my daughter who is a picky eater loved this bean salad.

I am really getting excited to share a lot of the things that I am learning about raw food. I am studying at night and I am almost finished taking David Wolfe's Ultimate Raw Nutrition course. It has been really interesting and I have been learning a lot about the body and raw foods. I also have a few other courses to finish up in the area of cleansing and detoxing.(more about that later).

Please let me know if there is anything specific that you would like me to make or talk about.

Also I would love for you to join us on facebook by clicking the "LIKE" button on the right hand side of the blog. Now off to yoga...wish me luck it is my first class in a long time.

Chocolate Raspberry Sunwarrior Smoothie

Move over old proteins, Sunwarrior Protein is here to stay.


Take a look at their profile.

100% raw
vegan protein
soy free
hypo allergenic
sprouted brown rice
great nutritional profile
non GMO
easy to digest
full of vitamin and mineral
contains all 9 essential amino acids


This really fit's in with my whole quest to get healthy with raw and living foods and use the best products out there, so I thought I would give it a try. I was still a little sceptical as I have Not used any protein powders for over a year. I have had a love-hate relationship with protein powder. I love the idea but never really enjoyed the taste of them, the extra fillers and the not so healthy ingredients in many of the other products on the market.

So I gave Sunwarrior Protein a try. First up a Vanilla Blueberry Smoothie.

Ingredients
2 scoops Sun Warrior Vanilla Protein Powder
1 ripe banana
1 cup of frozen wild blueberries
1/2 tsp vanilla powder (optional)
1 tbs coconut oil or butter

Blend well and enjoy!
Really good. I am impressed with that fact that the texture of the powder is very smooth and there is absolutely no gritty taste. For me the best part is that there is also no fake vanilla smell to it.

Next...on to the Chocolate Raspberry Smoothie.

2 scoop Sun Warrior Chocolate Protein Powder
1 tbs Cocco-Locco (or 1 tbs of coconut butter, cacao nibs and sweetener)
1 cup water
1/4 cup or more of raspberries
2 tbs coconut milk
1 tbs greens product of your choice


Blend well and enjoy! I loved having my greens in here because the chocolate is strong enough to cover it. So you get that little extra punch of nutrition. Look how thick this is. Yummy.

I hope you give it a try. Overall I would rate the Sunwarrior Protein very highly. I had a chance to look over their website and facebook page. They have some great resources on their site including 25 free recipes for smoothies. I am excited to go and sample their Ormus Greens product which is supposed to be really good too.

Check out other testimonials

Look for the black box on the right to "Like" our new facebook page!

Avocado Dressing & Curry Chickpeas

Fresh papaya, a sprout salad with avocado dressing and a curry chickpea dish. That is what you will get here today. Oh yes and a few pictures of products that I bought today at the health food store. Love sharing new finds and old goodies too.

I had a busy day running around doing errands so I wanted to make sure that my diet supports me as much as possible. Sometimes it's hard as last night I had about 4 hours of sleep. So I really needed to pack in some nutrient rich foods.(hence the shopping trip)

Shopping at the health food store's is one of my favorite things to do. That why I used to work for one. I can spend hours there if time permitted. I just love looking at all the new products and picking up fresh produce. Today I got to go with my sister, who is also a health foodie who you will surely see here guest blogging.

This is what we picked up.

Pack of mixed sprouts, organic Thai coconut, coco-loco chocolate coconut spread, bag of sprouted buckwheat, kombucha tea and pea sprouts. I also picked up a small bottle of freshly made kale, carrot ginger juice. (oops drank that on the way home...yummy)

and this.....


Organic papaya. Let me tell you it was AMAZING. I was going to do a smoothie but just decided to cut it up and well all ate it. Don't you just love papaya? It is so good for you and your digestive system.

Then for our evening meal I was in a big rush so I threw together some pea sprouts and some of the mixed sprouts. The mixed sprouts had clover, alfalfa, broccoli and kamut sprouts. I shredded some daikon and cut up some red peppers. Then I used this great avocado dressing that I made last night. It is taken from Raw Glow which is a great raw food book. It has a lot of amazing pictures and great recipes. I adapted mine a little bit.

Ingredients
1 Avocado
1 cup of fresh orange juice
1 tbs red onion
lime juice
honey or agave
salt
pepper
and additional hot peppers if you like

Blend it all up and that is it. Oh yes you can add olive oil or flax oil which will cut the lime if you want. To be honest I forgot the olive oil and made it without and didn't really miss it.


Pour over salad and enjoy. This keeps in the fridge for a couple of days.

I also made an easy curry chickpeas with rice.

Ingredients

chick peas
1/2 can of organic coconut milk
2-3 spoons of curry
3 sprigs of thyme
3 cloves of garlic
some water.
1 tbs coconut oil
1 scallion
2 chili's (optional but a must for me)

Heat all of the above ingredients in a dutch pot if you have one or a just a regular pot. Heat slightly and then that is it. You can use this on top of brown rice if you like or on it's own. Very quick and easy meal. Sometimes I add raw kale on top.



Lastly some herbal tea and time to reflect....


I will be talking about making tea and what your tea can do for you as far as your health in the next little bit. Stay tuned for some very exciting things to come.

I also signed up for a yoga class today so I am really excited about this. I think it is so important to nurture your mind, body and soul. Tell me how are you nurturing yourself these days ?

PS. If you are interested in taking the yoga class with us just let me know.