Raw Food: Struggling or Thriving?

I would love to know how you are doing on your raw food journey? Since I often share how I am doing on my journey, I thought it would be great to see how everyone else is doing.

I know that some of you are totally new to trying to implement raw food into your life and that is okay. While others have been raw foodie for years. Wherever you are at I would love to hear about it?

Here are a few questions relating to you and your raw food consumption.

On average how much raw food are you eating?

Are you struggling with keeping raw food in your diet?

Do you feel like you just run out of time in the craziness of the day to make raw food?

Are you doing Awesome and keeping on track?

Have you converted your friends and family to raw foodies too?

Do your family members eat a non raw diet?


If any of the above questions feel like you, I would love to hear from you. In the meantime keep up the good work and give yourself a pat on the back for all of your hard work and awesome changes that you are making in your life.

Thanks for sharing and I am sending you all a big virtual tropical smoothie!! Yummy.




Stay tuned for another "Super Food Series" post coming up soon.

If you haven't yet joined me on facebook, come check it out.

Nut Smoothies & Goji Chia Jam

One of my favourite things to drink besides a fresh green juice is a nut based smoothies. I haven't had one for a while and after I made one this week, I could not figure out why I haven't been making this.

I think this is also a great drink to share with your friends who have never tried raw food or drinks. If you have someone who is skeptical that raw food tastes good then this is one to share. I love nut "mylk" because they are so nutritious and filled with trace minerals. They taste amazing and they don't have any negative anti-nutrients in them. They are not filled with sugars, chemicals or other additives.



This week I have made an Almond & Brazil Nut Smoothie and Protein Smoothie.

For almond milk, you will need to soak the almonds overnight. Put them in water before you go to bed and drain them and rinse them in the morning. Then you are ready to start. I use a Vitamix so I have some pretty powerful blending happening. However, you could use whatever blender you have on hand.

Almond & Brazil Nut Goodness:

1 cup almonds soaked and drained
5-6 Brazil nuts
Frozen banana
1 date (pitted)
Vanilla- I use powdered organic vanilla that is lovely.
Water

First add water to your blender with the nuts. Blend until the nuts are liquefied. You will need to strain the mixture with a nut bag. You will need to strain the mixture with a nut bag. Once you have strained you nut milk put the pulp aside for another dish. DON'T THROW THIS OUT. If you don't know what you are going to use it for you can freeze it. Add the milk back into the blender and add the rest of the ingredients.

I didn't put the exact measurements, because you can play around with the amount of dates and banana to get the sweetness you would like. As well if you are on a budget add a little more water to make the nut milk or "mylk" stretch.

Bring on the protein:

Later in the week I was feeling a little tired and this was in part due to the fact that I was rushing around doing to many things. Now who can relate to that? So I choose an nice protein packed smoothie to give me a lift. I am so loving Sunwarrior protein. I will give you my honest opinion, that I think it is the best out there. In this drink, you can not taste anything but pure goodness.

Vanilla Protein Punch:

1 scoop Vanilla Sunwarrior Raw Protein
Frozen Banana
Hemp Seeds
Vanilla (powdered vanilla)
2 spoons or almond butter
Water




This had the same amazing profile of the almond & brazil nut smoothie, however it was packed with a protein punch. Enjoy and take a moment to relax while sipping on this.


Now on to Goji Jam:

I have been eating a lot of goji jam this week. One raspberry and goji jam, one orange and goji jam and one ginger jam. However I think the best profile is with orange. If you don't like the goji flavour, then the raspberry mixture is a good one to choose. I originally got this idea from David Wolfe's recipe. However, I felt like trying something a little different.



Blyssful Health Goji Chia Jam:

1/4 cup goji berries
1/2 to 1 whole date (I don't have a huge sweet tooth, so you can up the dates to your liking)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup of chopped orange segments
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp of fruit zest (I used lemon and orange)
1 tbs of chia seeds soaked for a minute in 1 tbs water
pinch of salt (optional)
1/2 tsp coconut oil( optional)

Soak the goji berries in the freshly squeezed orange juice. Let the date sit in the water as well. I let it sit for about an hour or more. Place the goji berries and the liquid in your food processor. Add in the fresh orange segments and blend until smooth.Then stir in the lemon juice, fruit zest and chia seed mixture. You can add a pinch of salt. If you find the jam is to thick add a little more orange juice to the mixture. I also added about half a spoon of coconut oil to my mixture at the end.

If you want to hide the goji flavour, add some frozen raspberries to the mixture. You may need to add another date.

You can eat this on it's own, put it on some raw crackers or even use it in a salad.



Enjoy.

Please let me know what you think of the new layout? I would love the feedback.

Raw Weekend Part 1: A Rawsome Potluck!!

As many of you may know I started up a raw meet-up in my community a few months ago. I wanted to connect to other's with an interest in eating healthy with a focus on raw food. We have met once prior to this weekend at WOW, a raw cafe.

For our second meeting we had a Raw Potluck on Saturday, that was hosted at a members house. Let me tell you it was a lot of fun. Fun to meet all of the new members and also great to eat all of the wonderful food.

Here is a picture of our RAW FOODIES who attended. I am taking the photo, so I am not in the picture. Also two members had to leave early. We had 15 people attend, so a big thank you to all that came.



As you can see we had lots of fun things on the table. Raw food book, a couple of bottles of kombucha, some marinated mushrooms and raw homemade salsa and dip.

Here is our raw food feast.


I am so happy that we had a great turnout and so much yummy raw food to share. Thanks to everyone for all of your raw food dishes. Take a look at this spread of raw eats. This is most, but not all because we could not fit it on the table.

Menu included:
Thai Coleslaw
Nori Rolls
Almond Nori Rolls
Pesto and veggie noodles
Cheesecake (not in photo)
Carrot Cake
Fudge
Mok Tuna
Mixed Seed and Fruit Salad
Kale Salad
Kombucha
Marinated mushrooms
Real raw salsa, veggie chips and guacamole
Cookie Dough Balls
Several Salads
Broccoli and Veggies
Fruits
and more (sorry if I missed anyone)


Can I just say how RAWSOME it was to have this great table of raw food to eat. I think everyone had a great time and had lots to eat.

This is one of the dishes that I brought. Thai Coleslaw from Rawvolution. It is always a hit.




We played a fun bingo icebreaker game and I also had two raw treats to giveaway. Some kale chips and a goji bar.




I had a great time and can't wait to meet up again and for our community to grow!!! Thanks everyone who came.


Stay tuned for the rest of the weekend in the next post.... and a belated MOTHER'S DAY to all my blogging friends.

David Wolfe Live & In Person!

This weekend I went to see David Wolfe speak for two evenings at Downward Dog Studio in Toronto. It was awesome and I am so glad that I went. I first learned that he was coming to Toronto about month ago, so I jumped at the chance to go since I have never seen him do a lecture or seminar before.

I am taking David Wolfe's Ultimate Raw Food Course and just loving it. The course is filled with lots of information on superfood, herbs, raw foods, oils, seaweed and more.

To be honest I was trying to see if I could get an interview done with him to ask some key questions (comments from my lovely followers-you guys and gals). He did say okay, however on day two it never materialized. "Close but no cigar." Isn't that what they usually say. Maybe next time folks.



That being said I did get this picture above with my sister in law Erin who joined me for the second evening. I am so glad that I had some time to talk to him and ask him questions on both evenings. I also purchased a copy of his newly revised book, Naked Chocolate, which he kindly signed for me.

If you haven't had the chance to see him speak, I highly suggest it. He is a wealth of information and energy. He graciously did the talks for extended period of time. Each night he talked for an hour or two more than scheduled for the event. So definatley more than you money's worth.

Topics Included:

Hormone Health
Bad Estrogen
Superfoods
Mushrooms
Grounding
Cacao
Raw Food Diets
Supplements
Spring Water
Fermented Foods
Herbs
Autoimmune
Cancer
and more.

Seriously I took lots of notes(thanks to my fellow friend giving me some much needed paper).

I got to pick up some grounding shoes, fulvic acid and a msm/tumeric supplement and a few other things that I know I can not get in a local health food stores. I also got to meet a couple of local vendors. Stay tuned as I will be doing a review on a couple of their products too. I also made a few friends and connections which is always fun.

Stay tuned for more from this great event.

Giveaway: FOODMATTERS DVD

It is giveaway time again. I am excited to announce that the 2nd giveaway here on Blyssful Health is a copy of this amazing documentary FOODMATTERS.



This documentary cuts through the mass of information out there today on Nutrition and Natural Healing and presents it all in an easy to understand format leaving you ready to take steps to improve the quality of your health and life today. It is packed with leading edge nutritionist and health experts. If you are wondering why so many people are sick and how you can change your own eating and health, then watch this documentary. It is very eye opening.

You can check out the trailer at the bottom of my blog.

CONTEST RULES:

1. The contest will only be open to Canadian and U.S. Residents.

HOW TO ENTER:

First answer the mandatory question?

"If you could ask a raw food/health food expert one question about your health or eating raw. What would your question be?"


AND THEN DO ONE OF THE FOLLOWING AND TELL ME IN YOUR COMMENT :


1. Write about this contest in a blog post and link back to this site.

2. Join my Facebook Group

3. Add Blyssful Health to your blogroll

4. Mention and link to this contest on your Facebook Page

5. Recruit a friend to join Blyssful Health via Facebook or email subscription

6. Tweet about this contest (@BLYSSFUL HEALTH: Giveaway: FOODMATTERS DVD http://t.co/cURdAJ0)

7. Join Google Friend Connect



Example: My question is how to get more energy? and I tweeted.



Want to enter more than once?

All you have to do is complete another one of the options listed above and leave a new comment.

Example: I joined your facebook group!


Contest ends Friday April 29th at 4:00pm

Good luck!!!!
I will not make comments until after the contest as I will be using random org for the draw and I don't want to have my comments impact the draw.

Just wanted to say thank you to FOODMATTERS for sending me this DVD for our contest.

Medicinal Herbs & Upcoming Contest

Oh YES and Easter Pics. I couldn't fit that all in the tittle. Happy Easter and belated Earth Day everyone! Hope you are having a great time with your family and friends. I wanted to share some photo's of my daughter's Easter Eggs.



This year we experimented with homemade colouring and some traditional ones. We got to use some rose hip tea for red, curry for yellow (I could not find the turmeric in time) and some raspberries too. My daughter had a great time doing this and she was truly delighted.



Then yesterday we went outside and planted some seeds. It was pretty cold. Both children were wearing winter coats.



We lasted outside for about 15-20 minutes. Then back indoors.



Loving the feel of the soil on our hands.



This year I am growing my own little medicinal garden. I am going to use the herbs for teas and tinctures(if I get time).



I love the open the package and dump all the seeds in the pot "method" that my daughter had.



We planted:

RED CLOVER
ASHWAGANDHA
MILK THISTLE
BURDOCK ROOT
MUCUNA(still to be planted)
DAIKON

and more to come...

I was really inspired to plant a more medicinal garden this year while studying David Wolfe's Ultimate Raw Nutrition Course. In the course I was able to get a very detailed explanation and view of what he grows in his garden. It totally makes sense to have at your fingertips the best vegetables and herbs for your daily use.

What are you planning on planting this year? If you can't grow your own garden due to space and time? Consider joining a CSA in your community.

Stay tuned for my next giveaway in a few days. It is another GREAT one. I am so excited to share it with you.!!! I love sharing things that I believe in and that have impacted my life in someway.

Raw food in a HURRY

A lot of the time I make some of my raw food dishes at night and do my blog posting at night when the children are a sleep. I should have called this blog the "Midnight Foodie", or something like that. It has been a bit hectic this week. We were out all day for medical appointments for my son Wysdom. For those of you that may not know I started blogging about my son almost two years ago. I loved blogging so much that I then started this blog to talk about my raw food and health journey.

This week I have made quite a few new things. To be honest when I am in the kitchen I just throw together whatever I have. I have a lot of raw food books, but I often don't get the time to look through them. So I just wing it a bit. For the most part things go pretty well.

This week it has been really simple though.

A simple salad with marinated corn.



Ingredients:
lettuce
kale
avocado sliced
corn (marinated in cumin, coconut vinegar, splash of olive oil,salt, pepper and sweetener if needed)
tomatoes

I had planned to do more with the corn, but time did not allow it. The corn had at least 1 tbs cumin and I was pleasantly surprised how yummy it tasted. I left it sit in the marinade for a while and the cumin flavour was nice and strong and made the salad work.

Next I made a broccoli & carrot dish with a nut sauce. This turned out to be so yummy.




I added scallion, some cilantro, ginger, garlic,salt and a touch of tamari. The ginger made it work really well. Put all together and mix. I think the key is to let the broccoli to sit in the sauce for a bit and soften.




My husband who HATES broccoli and never eats it. Ate this dish and asked for more!! Loving it. He may soon be a raw foodie too.


Lastly I also made some dried apples with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Yum.




I also got an order that I placed last week and in it are some of the things that I talked about in regards to radiation protection. I am really interested in the the bag of Chaga Mushroom, but I haven't been able to try it out yet.


Love to hear what things you make when you are really REALLY pinched for time or on the road all day?

Asian Chickpea Salad & Curry Chickpea

On any given day I am making a whole lot of food. Raw food and cooked food. My family is very willing to eat raw foods, but they don't eat as much as me. They try a lot of the things that I make, but they still have a vegan style meal a lot of the time. Their food is healthy and contains some of the best ingredient, so I thought that I would share a typical night for us. I make my raw meal and their cooked meal often by using the same theme.

I made myself this chickpeas dish which is not all raw, but still very good.


Salad Ingredients
Chickpeas
1/8 Cup Dulse
1/4 Cup Scallions
1/2 Cup Celery
Few Raisins (yes this is a weird idea with the dulse but it worked well)

Dressing
miso
apple cider vinegar
olive and algae oil
salt (this will depend on what type of seaweed you use-you made not need any)


For mine I scooped some onto some mixed greens and added a few sprouts. My daughter actually really liked this and took it to school for her lunch the next day.

Then....

I made a Curry Chickpea dish for my husband. This is a really tasty vegan dish that you can make for your family. It is so quick that I can make it in about 30 minutes and it is healthy for you. There is barely any oil, and the oil we use is good for you.


You will need:
Chickpeas (soaked and boiled or or canned)
I tbs curry powder
I medium sized onion
1tbs coconut oil ( Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil by Nutiva)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bay leaf & 1 sprig of thyme
1/4-1/2 Cup shredded cabbage
1 carrot slice or shredded
1/2 Cup Coconut Milk (Organic)
1/2 cup water
hot pepper to your liking ( I used about 1/4 green chili)
pinch of Himalayan salt or sea salt

Heat the coconut oil and lightly saute the curry, onion, bay leaf, thyme and garlic. Add in chickpeas, carrot, cabbage and stir to get all veggies coated with the curry powder. Add your water and coconut milk. Allow to come to a slight boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes. Add hot pepper, salt and pepper to your liking. If it is too thick add water, if it is too runny mash a couple of the chick peas and the curry will get thicker. Enjoy.

I like it when the vegetables are just slightly cooked and still crunchy. I have made this many ways and you can change the vegetables that you use. You can use kale or spinach and add it to the mixture just before serving.




You can serve this over steamed brown rice. Or even quinoa or millet. This is so quick that it a great meal to have in your recipe file. There is usually lots left over for lunch.

Now my favourite part. Use the left over coconut milk for a treat for all of your hard work in the kitchen. I use mine in my Matcha Green Tea.

I hope you ENJOY!. Does you family require different meals? How do you incorporate new foods into your family meals? I would love to hear from you on what works for your family.

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!

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.

Broccoli & Daikon Salad...Yum

The beauty of raw food is that it is good for you and the more you eat the more your body craves it. When your start to incorporate more raw and living foods into your body, lots of things start to happen. You start to have more energy due to increased nutrients from your food. Your body has to work less to digest raw food because the enzymes are intact and the enzymes in the food help partially digest itself. With cooked foods there are no enzymes present and therefore your body has to use a lot of enzymes to digest those heavy grey fried meals. The greatest thing of all is that your body wants this food and you will start to seek it out more and more.

Don't know where to start? You can start to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables. Eat more salads and start juicing and doing smoothies.

Today I felt like peppery arugula again so I made the salad from the last post without the veggie burger. I added in some beautiful organic cherry tomatoes.


Then I made this tasty broccoli and daikon Salad. This rustic looking fellow is not so pretty... but it packs a good nutritional punch and has a lot of health benefits. It can be used in many raw dishes, made into a tea and more.

They can be found at your local store. They have lots of great health benefits and is used for a number of raw dishes. I actually used to use it as tea years ago for PMS.

Ingredients

1 cup broccoli cut into small pieces
1 half a daikon shredded (or less if you just want a mild taste)
Black sesame seeds for finish

Sauce
1-2 tbs Tahini
1 tbs of Tamari ( start slow and add more if needed)
1/2 chopped garlic
water

Add all together and whisk. Pour over daikon and broccoli. The longer you let sit the better. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Note that the water is just help you mix the tahini into a smooth texture.



For the non raw version like I made for my husband. First quickly saute some spinach and chickpeas in a little bit of coconut oil. Then add sauce to the mixture and take off heat. Pour over a bowl of brown rice.



Enjoy being healthy.!!!

Reflection on Stress and Eating Well

Today and last night I ate this nutrient packed arugula salad. Arugula is a great addition to your shopping cart. It is part of the mustard family. It is a source of sulfur which is great for your hair, nails and skin and it also contains several vitamins and is a source of Vitamin C.It tastes slightly peppery and is great in salads and juices.

Today I am reflecting on stress and how it influences my eating. Yesterday was a hard day for me and here is the quick lowdown on why I was feeling so overwhelmed.

1 semi sick daughter home from school
1 very sick son(with special needs so the illness was an urgent matter)
1 sick husband
1 food processor lid melted and stuck to the stove top
1 batch of sunflower cheese sitting in the processor waiting...
3 hours of sleep last night
1 trip to on call clinic at 7:30pm
1 trip to the pharmacy

Hence I was feeling stressed and when I feel stressed I want to grab things that are quick, pre-made and satisfy my hunger and cravings. And let me tell you the cravings were for things that are not healthy. Since I was so busy yesterday I ended up skipping a couple of meals and low and behold I was starving and tired and ready to jump off my health eating. However I am happy to say that my will power and Arugula won out.

So why am I telling you this story? Well because I think that a lot of us have some type of trigger, event, person or mood that might causes us to make less than ideal food choices and routines. However it is these quick choices that add up day after day, week after week, year after year and eventually create our overall health and vitality or lack of it. So yes it was a small choice...but I won.

For this easy salad add the following ingredients:

Organic mixed greens
Sunflowers soaked overnight with a little garlic and tamari
Tomatoes
Arugula chopped
Nutritional Yeast

Make a quick dressing by mixing some apple cider, agave and olive together and that's it. I also added some chopped up Walnut Veggie Burger on top. I got the idea of the veggie burger on top from a fellow blogger.(Ginger is the New Pink)



I also added in two shots of wheat grass juice


And a Yoga magazine to look at for my down time.( Whenever that comes)

What makes you want to give into your cravings or eat poorly? What types of food do you eat under pressure? Do you have a system to deal with your challenges on the road to eating healthy? I would love to here about them.

Keep posted for some great giveaway contests coming soon.

Herb and Flax Crackers

These healthy crackers are loaded with good stuff and they taste great. They contain ingredients that are easy to find in most kitchens. As well here is a link to Jordan Rubin's new e-book called " Raw Truth".

Now more about crackers. One of the things that people often ask when you mention raw food is can I eat bread. Really commercial bread is not good for you. I think it is key to find some raw breads and crackers that you like when you are in transition from cooked food to raw food. That way when you are craving a piece of bread, instead you can grab a healthy cracker.

Making raw crackers and bread is really quite easy once you give it a try. The neat thing about it is that you can than add any flavor profile that you like.


Here is my cracker "dough". It has been all mixed and is ready to go into the dehydrator.


Ingredients

1 tomatoe chopped
1/4 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup kale pulp or shredded kale
1/2 cup soaked flax seeds
1/4 cup hemp seeds
couple of teaspoons of nutritional yeast
pinch of Himalayan salt or sea salt
1/3 cup or more ground flax seed until a light dough is formed

Now you can add your choice off seasoning such as thyme, chopped onion, cumin. Just remember that the spices may have a slightly more intense flavor when the are dehydrated. Dehydrate about 7-8 hours and make sure to flip the crackers half way through so the underside gets dry.

For the non-raw version. Oil a pan with coconut oil and place in the oven on a low heat. Remove when dry.


Add on some avocado, nut cheese and tomatoe and you're all set.

I would love to hear about your healthy bread alternative. Do you make your own raw crackers?

For my new health enthusiasts you can make the transition away from commercial bread by switching to a Ezekiel bread, found in your health food store in the freezer section. This is a much healthier option for you.

Remember to check out the link for Jordan Rubin's (the founder of Garden of Life) e-book. It has some useful information in it and also contains a bit of history. He does talk about his own line of supplements but also about foods, enzymes, digestion and more.


Stay tuned for sunflower cheese and walnut spread.....

Rockin' Raw Nori Rolls

Really this is a great appetizer or main meal to share with your friends and family who are interested in raw food. If you haven't tried raw food than this is for you. It is simple but packed with flavour. Just for the record...there is no raw fish here.

In my personal opinion this is an easy, fast, yummy dish! I remember when my sister tried this. She is also an avid foodie. She loved it and kept talking about it for about a week or more afterwards. It is really simple to do and of course as with most raw food it is GREAT for you. HINT...This is one time that you might want to double the ingredients.

This recipe is adapted from Cafe Gratitude. So let's get started. The first step is to go buy some organic pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds are great for you and are a good source of protein and zinc. Soaking time varies from about 4-6 hours. I just put mind in water before I go to bed. Soaking nuts and seeds helps start the sprouting process and increase the nutritional value of it. As well it removes enzyme inhibitors present in nuts/seeds that keep the seed dormant. After you have soaked the seeds make sure to rinse them off and drain well before using in any recipe.



Put the pumpkin seeds in the processor with some ginger, scallions and tamari or Nama Shoyu. Add any Asian seasoning of your choice. I do love cilantro so I added a little to mine. I used just over one cup of pumpkin seeds. If you have a smaller amount it can be a little harder to get smooth in the food processor. I add about 1 tbs of water to mine to help it get nice and smooth.



Once processed it looks like this. Scrap out and put into a bowl.



Next take a Nori wrap and get started. You will notice that my nori wrap below is a black. This is actually a roasted wrap. Raw Nori are available on line and at some health food stores. Depending on where you live you may have to do a special online order. Today this is all I had at home so I used to. Start to put the pumpkin seeds mixture on the wrap, followed by the toppings of your choice. I put avocado, red pepper, shredded carrots and shredded lettuce. The sky is the limit.



Roll up and enjoy. You can make a dipping sauce if you like or add some hot peppers or wasabi depending on your taste buds. You could do a simple asian style sauce with a little lime and tamari or namu shoyu..



Dig in and enjoy.