Raw ish - Fast Breakfast

1/2 avocado, cubed
1/2 tomato, chunked
1 cup cabbage, fermented overnight in olive oil and balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs sesame seeds
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
s&p

Here's the raw-ish
1 hardboiled egg chopped

Or the vegan option is always cubed tofu.

Add a touch more balsamic and oil if you like it wetter. Toss and eat!
Enjoy!

Liver Detox

Many of my friends that were in Mexico with me last week have reported they were quite sick when they got home!

I told them my remedy and I will say I didn't get sick. I felt a bit off but I thought it was the traveling.
I also didn't eat the fruit on the beach the last day. Maybe that was it?

Here are my home remedies that I swear by, and I took them while there too.
Alpha Lipoic Acid, Vitamin D, and zinc. I take it all at the first feeling of a bit under the weather. All of these boost our own immune system so that it can do what it needs to do.

I also did the green juice when I got home, and I made some detox soup.
1 can of stewed tomatoes, or 5-8 fresh tomatoes, quartered and mashed
1 can of water
2 tbs chopped garlic
1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
3-4 stalks celery chopped
1 bumch kale, washed and chopped into 1" pieces
1 bag baby spinach, washed and chopped into 1" pieces
1 good handful of fresh cilantro, washed and chopped

Put it all in a pot and put it on low. Cook until all the vegetables are soft.
Add salt, pepper, cayenne.

This is a great detox. Make it anytime you feel a bit punkish. It will clear your system out!
If you want more flavor, add some bullion. Vegetable miso or chicken work best.

Raw Juice To Start Every Day

Fresh raw juice is the best, most nutritious, easiest to assimilate food you can have! It feeds you. And it feeds you on multiple levels. It has rich color, flavor, smell, and taste. So why isn't everyone doing it?!

Night time tonic:
2-3 apples, washed and quartered. When it comes to apples, organic is best
5-6 stalks celery
1/2 lemon
1 inch of ginger

Juice it and drink it before bed for a tonic that will improve your sleep and end your day the right way.

Corn Tortillas are a great alternative

Did you know that a corn tortilla - a little one, only has 32 calories? Or 58. Or 62. It depends on the brand and the size. But overall, if you have a corn tortilla instead of bread, it's a big savings. That's if you are looking for alternatives. You can have raw ingredients with it. Shredded cabbage, fresh salsa, sliced avocado. Yum! My current favorite.

They are great for fish too-if you are doing fish...

Raw-ish Spinach. tomatoes and white beans over pasta

Fresh ingredients:
Tomatoes-chopped
Spinach-torn into pieces
1 onion-chopped fine
2-4 cloves, chopped fine
1/2 bundle parsley-chopped
4 leaves basil-chopped

salt and pepper
cayenne or hot pepper flakes
I can white beans, rinsed and drained

In a wok pan saute the onion, garlic and tomatoes and spices in a splash of olive oil until soft
Add the beans to warm them
add the fresh spinach and stir until it's wilted

Cook angel hair pasta until soft, and drain
top servings with mixture and add parmesan cheese (unless you're vegan)
and eat!

You can use quinoa pasta or bean pasta if you want to opt out of gluten too.

Raw - Marinated Cucumbers

Since we are all entering harvest time, here's a fast raw favorite of ours:

Peel and Slice 1-2 cucumbers. Make slices about 1/4"
Add:
1/3 Cup olive oil
1/4 Cup balsamic vinegar
(this are aprox. I splash it in so bare with me on this one)
2 tsp garlic
Juice of one fresh lemon
salt and pepper.
Fresh chopped: basil.

Yes, we use both the vinegar and lemon, but you can use one or the other.
This saves for a few days-if there are any left, so we do usually make extra.
They are great alone as a side dish or add them to the top of any salad.
Take them to work because marinated doesn't need to be refrigerated!
If you take your salad in one container, without dressing, take the cucs in a separate one and add them as the dressing.

Variation:
we add crumbled feta cheese at serving, and sliced olives for a greek flare!

Variation #2:
Add sliced red tomatoes to the cucumbers before marinating so they are both steeped in the dressing

Raw - Stuffed Tomatoes

6 nice big fat deep red fresh tomatoes! This is the season for them!
Cut off the tops and core them scooping, out the insides so you have tomato cups

save the insides, chop and mix with:
1/3 c each: onion, celery, finely chopped
jalapeno pepper chopped - to taste. If you like it spicy add more.
fresh basil leaves-finely chopped, *I use about 1 big leaf per tomato
I cup chopped fresh parsley
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup finely chopped mango
salt and pepper
juice of 1 fresh lemon
a splash or two of olive oil

Mix all ingredients and stuff into the tomatoes until they are heaped full! Garnish with a sprig of parsley and a serve with wedges of fresh lemon or lime and pita bread and more mango!

This is another great on-the-go lunch recipe!

Rawish-salmon spread

This isn't raw-technically. I use a large can of alaskan salmon...but it IS raw-ish and salmon is chock full of omega 3s for great brain function!

I make this and keep it on hand, sometimes I'll freeze half for another time too. As you can see, the recipe varies with what I have on hand

1 large can alaskan salmon, drained. Flake with a fork and mash so any tiny bones are dissolved up
1/2 onion chopped fine
1/2 gr pepper chopped fine (or red, or yellow)
1/2 c edamame or green peas
chopped fresh: parsley, cilantro, oregano and basil
salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
parmesan cheese
toasted pine nuts (or leave em raw too)

mix up and add a splash of olive oil, a good swig of red wine vinegar, and the juice of a whole lemon
I don't add mayo but I suppose you could if you like it

ANd we like it hot, so the pepper flakes, jalapeno peppers and a sprinkle of cayenne go in for us.

Toast corn tortillas in oil until crispy and then fill with this mixture, top with shredded cabbage and a squeeze of fresh lime before eating!
You can use lettuce leaves instead of tortillas but of course!

This is one of those "even better the next day" so it's great to make enough for lunch the next day too.

Healthy Lunchtime Eats

Lima Beans Greco
1 bag dried lima beans-soak overnight in cold water, rinse and drain when time to cook. Boil in water until soft. Drain. Remove any loose skins that have separated.

olive oil
red wine vinegar
fresh lemon juice-at least 1 lemon
oregano, basil, parsley (fresh if you have them in the garden-yum!)
hot chili peppers (if you like hot!)
cayenne
salt, pepper
garlic-as much as you like and we like it

add what you have, and here are some we've liked:
onion-chopped fine
celery-chopped fine
carrot-julienne slices
mushrooms-sliced

parmesan cheese or other dry cheese, grated
sesame seeds, sunflower seeds or even chopped walnuts (whatever you have works!)

Toss it all together and let it steep overnight for great second day flavor.

This holds for days, and gets better and better.

You can: eat it on a salad, put it in lettuce rolls, stuff a tortilla. You can have it as a side dish or all alone. This doesn't last long in our house!

This is a taste and test recipe, so allow yourself to play with the spices and go for color and splash!

Raw-ish

When we started our journey into raw food land, we decided to do 'raw-ish'. We thought we'd aim at 100% and hit closer to 70% and figured that 70% was still better than what we were doing.

It worked for us, but I don't tend to be an extremist with anything. My motto is pretty tolerant of all views, and walks and usually I say 'try it for yourself' because I do firmly believe that no one thing will work for everyone. That includes raw. That includes vege, and vegan.

It's not true that eating raw or vegan will make you happier, nicer or more spiritual. If someone tells you that you 'have to' do anything special to connect to God, walk on. Eating nothing but raw food can make you feel good, and if you do it long enough without the right additional nutrient support, you can feel drained and not good. it's true. Sorry.

The very very bottom line is LISTEN TO YOURSELF, be your own TRUTH, and come into right relationship with YOU. If your body wants an egg, or a steak or a hunk of liver tonight, it well could be that it is craving the nutrients in those foods. Going with your body instead of villifying the body will do alot for your health in general!

We've been working on identifying our food beliefs, and frankly, thanks to the wonderful world of marketing, we have tons! Did you know that the average American woman is 5'5" tall, and weighs 152 lbs and wears a size 12? Yep. That's the American average. Do you know that the American average in the 1950s was...a size 12? When Lucille Ball was doing her show in black and white, those were the stats. Size 12.

The media has thrown us into a frenzied hype that we are all hopeless hippos but the truth is we are about the same. We have more fears of food than ever before. We have more processing of foods, engineering of foods, food research and interestingly more allergies than ever before.

Eat what you want. Bless it, which means bring your intention and attention to what you are about to eat. Slow down, sit down and make it a special time-not in the car, not on the run. Pay attention to the color, the smell, the taste, and whatever you eat, savor it.

Let whatever you eat really feed you! ALL of you!