Project 10 10 10 – Pill or Perception

This is an awesome documentary!! Mental wellbeing without the pills and drugs.

Please watch and let me know what you think of it.

 

Namaste 🙂

Rawpolooza

If you haven’t been tuned in this week, Steve Prussack from Raw Vegan Radio has been hosting Rawpolooza.  Steve has been interviewing some of the most interesting people in the Raw Food Movement, and making it available to us to listen to via phone or web from the comfort of your own home. This event is available to everyone, and so far has been amazing to listen to.  We are into day three, and this event goes until Monday.  If you are interested in hearing real people talk about this lifestyle and their experiences, this is a great event to check out!

http://rawpalooza.com/

Queen of the Sun – Screening

Queen of the Sun

Good Afternoon,

If you live in the Vancouver area, you may be interested in the FREE screening of the Queen of the Sun documentary.  This film is all about the vanishing of the bees, and what we can do to help them from becoming extint.  Without bees, we wouldn’t have fresh fruits, vegetable and honey! How could you live without these amazing foods??

Check out the trailer here: http://www.queenofthesun.com/

Screening is tomorrow, January 24th @ 6pm at the Vancouver Public Library – 901 C St., Downtown Vancouver

Hope to see you there!!

 

 

 

Hemp Goji Bars

Hemp Goji Bars

Its been awhile since my last post.   I have been pretty busy and haven’t had much time to make any goodies lately. I made these Hemp Goji Bars yesterday and they are so good! And of course healthy 🙂 Stay tuned for more recipes cause I am feeling inspired in the kitchen this weekend.

I hope you enjoy these!

• 2 cups coconut flakes
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 cup hemp seeds
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3 tbsp maca
• 1 tsp vanilla power
• 1/4 tsp himalayan sea salt
• 1/4 cup goji berries

1. Mix all ingredients in your food processor except goji berries.  Mix until everything forms into a sticky ball.
2. Once mixed, press into a square pan.
3. Grind goji berries in a spice or coffee grinder until they are a fine powder.  Sprinkle goji powder onto squares and press everything down.
4. Place in fridge for about one hour, then cut into bars and eat.

 

Raspberry Chocolate Ganache Fudge Cake

I recently made Ani Phyo’s Raspberry Ganache Fudge Cake, and I have to share! It was SO yummy, and so easy to make, and best of all not full of refined sugars, so kinda healthy 🙂

 
Fudge Cake

• 3 cups dry walnuts
• 2⁄3 cup unsweetened cacao powder or carob powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup pitted Medjool dates

Frosting

• 1⁄3 cup semi-soft pitted Medjool dates
• 1⁄4 cup agave syrup
• 1⁄2 cup ripe avocado flesh (from about 1 medium avocado)
• 1⁄3 cup cacao powder

Filling

• 1⁄2 cup raspberries

1. To make the cake, combine the walnuts, cacao powder and salt in the food processor and pulse until coarsely mixed.  Add the dates and pulse until mixed well. Shape into two  same sized cakes of desired shape and set aside.
2. To make the frosting, combine the dates and agave syrup in the food processor and process until smooth. Add the avocado and process until smooth. Add the cacao powder and process until smooth.
3. To serve, frost the top of one of the cakes with half the frosting and top with the raspberries. (I like to mashed the raspberries a bit).  Stack the second cake on top and frost the top and sides of the cake.
4. Add some more raspberry’s on top if you like, to make it look even prettier.
5. Serve immediately, or place in the refrigerator for a couple hours to firm up.

I divided the dough into six balls and made three mini cakes, which can be handed out as gifts, which is a nice healthy treat for the holidays.

Hope you enjoy!

 

 

Almond Cookies

I have so much almond pulp building up from all the almond milk I have made in the last month, so I decided to make something with it, so why not make a delicious cookie.  Mmmmm…

These are so simple to make, and you do not need any equipment for this one, just a bowl to mix everything up in.  Almond flour or meal can be made using your left over dehydrated pulp from almond milk or by crushing up almonds in a food processor.  The mesquite powder gives this cookie a slightly caramel flavour, while the cacao nibs give it a bit of a crunch.

• 1 cup of almond flour
• 4 tbsp of agave
• 1/4 cup of cacao nibs
• 2 tbsp of almond butter
• 2 tbsp of coconut oil
• 1 tsp of mesquite powder
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla powder

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Shape cookies, by rolling into a ball, then flattening them slightly. 
3. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes, so they can harden up.  Makes about 8-10 cookies.

Unfortunately my camera is broken so I wasn’t able to take an amazing picture for you, but come 2012, you just wait for the amazing photos that will be posted on this blog!

Hurraw!

Okay, so I have recently discovered the best lip balm EVER, and I have to share!!

I have been a lip balm connoisseur since the first time I went to the Body Shop in grade 6, and I feel like I have tried all lip balms out there.  I have found ones that I like, and others that made my lips chapped (?!), and now I have found my very fave.  It’s Hurraw!

HURRAW!

Hurraw is a all natural organic vegan/raw lip balm company, which uses the finest ingredients in their products.  Their flavours are so much fun, I need to try them all 🙂  Right now I am using their cinnamon flavour, and have also ordered the lime, vanilla and chocolate! Yum! These lip balms glide on your lips like silk, you really don’t wanna stop the application it feels so good! lol Not only are their flavours fun and exciting, the tube is oval shape, which fits the lip better.

If you are looking for an all natural lip balm, or a nice stocking stuffer for x-mas, these will be a real treat for anyone’s lip!

Chemicals in Food

Chemicals.  They are everywhere today.  We cannot escape them.  But I often wonder why is it even acceptable for chemicals to be in our food supply?  A few articles have come out in the past week which make me ill, such as allowable limits of arsenic in chicken and tartrazine (which is made from coal-tar derivatives) in our pickles jars (I have included both articles below). Why is this acceptable, and why do we continue to consume these chemicals?  Could it be because the general public does not know what the ingredients listed on our food labels actually mean or how they can negatively effect their health? If you have seen the following on your labels, you would be best to avoid them: Allura (red dye), Amaranth, Aspartame, Benzoic acid, Butylated Hydroxy, Calcium benzoate, Calcium sulphite, Monosodium glutamate (MSG), Potassium benozoate, Potassium nitrate, Sodium sulphite, Sulphur dioxide, Tartrazine (yellow dye) to name a few.

Chemicals are purposely added to food to change its color, preserve it, prevent rancidity, keep fats emulsified, and keep foods stable.  They can be found in soda, pre-packaged baked treats, sauces, cereals, soups, meat and meat products, canned food, fruit juice, alcohol, candy and fast foods.  Most of these added chemicals are synthetic compounds with known negative health effects.   Not only should we all avoid these chemicals, but parents should be reading labels to ensure that their children are not ingesting them as well.  These added chemicals can cause numerous side effects including, hyperactivity, asthma, nausea, hives, headaches, low blood pressure and allergies, just to name a few.  Asthma sufferers should avoid these foods especially, as they can trigger symptoms.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034330_pickles_food_coloring_ingredients.html#ixzz1fn8yptoT and http://www.naturalnews.com/032659_arsenic_chicken.html

So how do we easily avoid these chemicals? Choose fresh products.  Make your own fresh snacks and choose organic foods when available.  It’s amazing how fast your energy levels will increase eating fresh ingredients, and your body will thank you.

Since adopting a healthier diet and slowing increasing my intake of raw foods, and totally eliminating these chemicals from my routine, I have noticed a huge difference in my life.  I have more energy, I no longer have mid-afternoon crashes, I have lost some weight, my sleep has improved greatly (I used to have insomnia), my attitude towards life has done a one eighty and now I am on track to teach and empower others to join me in living a healthier lifestyle.

Share this with friends, especially if they have children, and remember to read labels!

Natural News Store

Welcome to December 🙂

Check out the sale right now at the Natural News Store!

They have those pink Himalayan crystal lamps for only $11.95, a price I have never seen before.  Not to mention the great prices on chia seed, goji berries and more fabulous products to add to your pantry!

Have a great night 🙂

Almond Milk

With the growing concern over all the GMO‘s in our soybeans these days, a while back I decided to switch to other milk alternatives (as I have never been a fan of the dairy version).   Moving into a high raw diet this year has been an interesting journey, and a great learning experience for me.  So a few months back, after putting this off because I thought it would be too much work, I finally bit the bullet and made my own almond milk.  And can I just say, I will never go back to the store-bought stuff after this, this is SOO easy to make!

Almonds

• 1 cup of raw almonds
• 3 1/2 cups of filtered water
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 tbsp of agave (optional)

1. Soak the almonds in filtered water for about 12 hours or overnight.
2. Rinse the almonds well, then add all ingredients into your blender and blend very well, until everything is looking kinda like milk.  Taste your milk and add agave or another sweetener of your choice if you desire your almond milk to be a little sweeter.
3. Next, either strain your milk into a bowl using a nut milk bag or by lying a piece of cheese clothe over a mesh strainer over a glass bowl.  Let all the milk drain into the bowl then squeeze the bag or cheesecloth tight, until all your milk is drained, and you are left with the almond pulp.
4. Pour your almond milk into a glass jar and seal tight.  It will be good for about 4-5 days in the refrigerator.

I usually cut this recipe in half, because I don’t go through that much milk at a time.  But if I still have some milk left at day five, I just dump it all into my morning smoothie 🙂

Also the almond pulp can be used in a nice bread, cracker or throw it into your morning smoothie, for a little extra protein.