What is your INTENTION?

This past weekend my husband and I celebrated our 6 year Wedding Anniversary. Yeah!! If you know our story well, you will realize that this is a great day for us. Don't get me wrong, it is not that we are having problems. It is just that the amount of things that we have had to deal with and withstand in the last couple of years ranks pretty high on the stress level. Want to read more: My story is the 3rd one down.

This weekend turned out really great. We took a road trip into the country and had a raw picnic which of course included fresh fruit and cashew cream:). We also had a chance to look at some amazing paintings and jewelry while touring an art gallery. My daughter was away at my Aunt's house for the weekend, while my son stayed with us.

Even though life can be CHAOTIC and busy and crazy sometimes or a lot of the time. Setting your intentions for the day, week or even year can add focus, clarity and purpose to your days. So I new this weekend that even though it maybe busy and hectic that if I set the INTENTION to value our weekend and all of the time and effort that we have put into our marriage and family over the years that the outcome would be good.

Intention is defined as being a GOAL, a PLAN, an AIM or OBJECTIVE. It is a conscious thought or goal put into place in efforts to reach a desired outcome or experience.

You are probably wondering why I am talking about this on a raw food blog? To be honest I like sharing a little bit about myself and my family so that you get to know me a little better. However the main reason is that I think that to be healthy you need to take a holistic approach. Yes food is really important, but so is our thoughts and actions.

Intentions are POWERFUL and they can help you along your journey to better health and wellness. They can help align you in a direction that you desire. It just takes a few minutes at the start of the day to sit and write out your intention, or just to simply think of it before you jump out of bed to start your day.


So what is your INTENTION?

Is it to make a juice today?




Go to the local market and buy some fresh produce?



Or maybe make a fun new salad?



Maybe it is something even bigger than this. Whatever your goals and dreams are, start with your intention and you might be pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

Take action now and set your intention for the week. I would love to hear from you. Share what you have set into motion for yourself this week.

Peaches and Cashew Cream

I just love fresh fruit in the summer. This is dish is so yummy and easy that you will be surprised. Right now in my community there are a lot of fresh local peaches on hand. We have been going through peach after peach after peach. However this would also work with strawberries too.



This dish provides you with a healthy cream to dip the peaches into. My daughter and husband had this eaten up in record time. I won’t tell you how fast, but I bet you can use your imagination. The great thing is that my daughter didn’t care what the cream was made of, she just loved it. To my daughters I add a sprinkle of ground flax and hemp seeds to give her some fibre and protein. The flax seed mixes in nicely with the cashew cream.


Here are the ingredients that you will need to make the cream:
1 cup raw cashews (soaked for 4-6 hours in water)
2 tbs and 1 tsp of Extra virgin coconut oil
2-3 tbs of sweetener (agave, maple syrup, yacon or raw honey can be used. Or any combination)
3 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla powder
3-4 tbs water (more if needed to make it fluffy)
ground flax (optional for added fibre sprinkled on top)

First prepare cashews by soaking them in water for 4-6 hours.



Rinse and drain cashews and put them in food processor and blend well. Add the rest of the ingredients. You can choose the sweetener of your choice. I used a combination of agave and maple syrup. Maple syrup is not raw however often used by raw foodies for it’s flavour. You could also use raw honey if you wanted.

I prefer mine on the slightly less sweet side and with a heavier vanilla flavour. So you can adjust yours accordingly. Blend and blend until cream is fluffy and add to your peaches. This stores nicely in fridge, however it won’t last long!



Enjoy!!


Just a note if you have not voted yet. Please go and "Like My Sunwarrior Raw Smoothie" . First you must "Like" the SunWarrior Page, then like my smoothie pictured below.


Contest ends August 18th.

Thank you.

Tropical Infusion!

In the spirit of summer and the hot weather I have decided to come up with a new smoothie recipe.



I also was inspired to create this by an email I received from SunWarrior. SunWarrior just happens to be my favourite raw protein to use in my smoothies. So if you are wondering how to get protein on a raw diet this is one of the products that you can use. Here is a post on why I love it so much.



So here is my smoothie contribution. It is light, tropical and great for a hot summer day. I hope you enjoy! I am sure this would be great on a beach.

Tropical Infusion

500ml Water
1 Star Fruit
10 Organic Strawberries
1 Ripe Mango
2 Tbs Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
1 Tbs of Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice
1 Scoop SunWarrior Vanilla Rice

Add water to Vitamix. Peel mango and prepare star fruit by cutting off ends and trimming edges. Take tops of strawberries. Add fruit, SunWarrior protein, lime juice and coconut oil. Blend until smooth. The smoothie will be nice and thick. Add 3 ice cubes to a fancy glass and fill. Garnish with starfruit slice .





Close your eyes and imagine that you are on vacation on a a beach relaxing and enjoy a healthy drink. (That's what I do)

Starting August 8th-18th please go over to Sunwarrior and Vote for my smoothie entry. A winner will be chosen based on how many viewer Likes it has. You must like the Sun Warrior Page First and then scroll through to find my smoothie in the photos.

Fennel Salad and Zucchini Stars

I got a whole lot of zucchini and fennel this week in my CSA box. I love this box, you never know what you will get.



I know this concept does not work for everyone. Some of you may like to know exactly what you are getting each week. However for me this has been fun, it brings out my creativity in the kitchen. I imagine myself being on a TV show where you have a mystery ingredient and then you are off to the races to make something new....


So here is my Going with the Flow Fennel Salad

1 Fennel Bulb, sliced thinly
1-2 Oranges, peeled and cut into cubes
1-4 Sun dried tomatoes, chopped
Lettuce
Parsley


Assemble salad by laying fresh lettuce on a plate. Layer fennel on lettuce, followed by orange chunks and sun dried tomatoes. Sprinkle parsley on the salad.

Dressing

Olive Oil
Hemp Seeds
Orange Juice
Apple Cider Vinegar
Honey
Pinch of salt

Mix well and pour over salad.

Enjoy!



The sun dried tomatoes add some extra texture and colour.




I also got about 5 LARGE zucchini's, so I sliced them up for my daughters Birthday Party of the weekend. The zucchini had these great ridges on them and formed star shapes when sliced.


Zucchini Stars

This is from one zucchini!


I used these as veggie chips and offered it with a delicious hemp dressing.



So get out there this week and find a new ingredient to use in your salad or meals. Maybe it is something that you have wanted to try but have been afraid to experiment with.

Be open to new vegetables and tastes and you might be pleasantly surprised. I would love to hear what you come up with!!

5 Reasons Why You Should Try a Raw Food Meet Up!

This weekend I had the pleasure of hosting a raw food potluck for the K-W Raw Food Meet Up. It was a success and the turnout was a great. Big thank you to all of the members!



5 Reasons Why You Should Try a Raw Food Meet Up:

1. You get to sample a multitude of raw food dishes. Having access to 15-20 different dishes to choose from is amazing.









2. The company is just as great as the food. You will meet all sorts of people from all walks of life and most of them are passionate about raw food whether they are new to the raw movement or have been in it for a while.


3, Share resources on raw food recipes, books, films and information.



4. You become part of a community. You can do a lot of things together like go see health related movies, have discussions and go to raw food events together.




5. The sweetest part is the SUPPORT. Whatever stage you are in on your raw food/health journey you can get moral support from other's in the group. I think this is one of the most important points. While you start to eat more and more raw food it is nice to have the support of others to help you along the way.



I hope you get out there before summer is over and enjoy some raw food with friends! Big THANK YOU to all my raw foodies for the great day.

If you haven't seen it yet, I would love for you to check out the guest post that I wrote on Crazy Sexy Life on "Raw Food Strategies For Your Family" and leave a comment.

.............Stay tuned for our next contest coming up soon.