Summer Eats

Here are a few pictures of some dishes that I made last week. I have been on a cacao fix lately so I have been experimenting with some new recipes.




My two little ones are just getting over a cold, so this weekend has been pretty hectic and busy. It just so happened that my husband had to work some very long days over the weekend. On a regular night I am usually up pretty late watching my son who has special needs. When he gets a little cold, it makes his sleeping even more compromised so my husband and I were up a lot later. Both children are fine now, but needless to say that my husband and I are recovering from very little sleep this weekend after pulling some late nights. If you haven't had a chance to meet my son you can find more about him on my other blog.


So I will leave you with some photo's of some summer eats that I made the week before


Raw Chocolate Crackers made with hemp and flax seeds. Lovely on their own, but even better with fresh strawberries!



Homemade Raw Cereal made with pumpkin seeds, almonds with fresh raspberries and blueberries. You know I love my fresh homemade granola. You know exactly what you are eating, not like a lot of boxed cereals.





Garden salad with some fresh chives and lettuce from our backyard. This made for one great green salad.





That is all for now. I hope you enjoy !

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!

Rise and Shine Juice and Cereal

To help your body heal and feel good, homemade juices are a great option. I felt that I needed to skip the smoothie this morning and head straight for some juice. Both of my kiddo's are sick this week and thus I have been having a lot of really late nights. I mean up till 4:00am type of late night.

This juice contains celery, beets, green apples, one carrot and some swiss chard. It tasted nice and mellow and not too sweet, just the way I like it. I recommend organic produce for your juices.



This is what it looked like after the juicing.



Juice pulp that is left over. Don't throw this out. All this fiber can be used in treats, crackers and other raw food or even salads.



Juices are a great way to get your nutrients and lots of them directly into your body. Juicing takes out the fiber from the food and leaves the nutrient dense liquid. This allows for easy absorption with all enzymes intact. It can help to heal the body. Juices should be taken on an empty stomach for best results. If you are new to juices, take it slow and try a basic juice first, then after a little while start to experiment with flavors. You will be amazed and how they taste and how your feel.

You can also juice:
Apples
Kale
Carrots
Celery
Garlic
Ginger
Beets
Swiss Chard
Herbs
and much more.

I also had my homemade cereal for the last post. It turned out really good and I am pretty happy with it. The only problem is that I didn't make enough. As promised here are a few shots of the cereal after dehydrating.

Cereal in the dehydrator



Finished dehydrating. Could break into small or big chunks.



Final product



Yummy!!

Yummy Homemade Cereal

Since the mornings are a challenge. I have to find ways to get the most out of my food. Usually I make a smoothie or even a juice. Sometimes I make my own cereal, which is really easy. You can take your ingredients that you want to use and put them in a mixing bowl. Add your choice of sweetener and then a little oil. Mix and put in your dehydrator for the raw version. If you don't have a dehydrator stick the mixture in your oven on the lowest heat for about an hour. If you do the oven route it will not be raw, however it will still healthier for you and better than the majority of the grocery store cereals.

My favorites ingredients are sesame seeds(black), almonds(crush them), sunflower seeds, chia and hemp seeds. Oats are another option. You can use oats too. Raw oats and oat groats are also another option



Get a large bowl and mix it together.



Then pick a sweetener, a flavor and an oil from below and mix it up and that's it.

Either dehydrate or put in your oven depending on if you want it raw or not.


Here are some options below.
Sweetener:
Agave nectar, Stevia, raw honey, molasses and maple syrup depending on your preference.

Flavor:
Cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, pinch of sea salt, cacao powder, carob powder

Fun stuff:
Goji berries, cacao nibs, shredded coconut, pumpkin seeds, chopped apple or pear, whole flax seeds.

Oil
Coconut oil is my suggestion.

Note: If you need to have more moisture you can use a blended up apple or pear. Also non sweetened applesauce can work.

When it is done you can serve with almond or any other nut milk. I like mine in chunks but you can break it up if it is stuck together. Keeps in fridge for a while...but will be gone in no time. Enjoy and have a great breakfast.



Mine is dehydrating right now so I will show the final pictures later.