Easy Raw Green Smoothie

While in California last month visiting my mom and dad I had to adapt without my kitchen tools that I use daily. No high powered blender! My mom had a blender that even had the food processor attachment so that meant I could still have my green smoothie. It was not as pureed as I usually have them at home in Montana but it certainly still worked and green smoothies taste great!

I took a few leaves of kale, frozen blueberries and some fresh pineapple to make my favorite green smoothie ever!

I know not everyone can run out and get a Vitamix or Blendtec right away but don't worry just make them in any blender you have and I know you won't be disappointed!

Tribest: Glastor Airtight Glass Storage Containers

Tribest's 4 piece square set are airtight storage containers that are oven safe all but the larger one, dishwasher safe, microwave safe, freezer safe, and they stack nicely to store and save on shelf space. I just received these to review from Tribest.

Here are the approximate sizes:

112 oz (3.3L) 9 x 9 x 4 inches

64 oz (1.9L) 7 1/2 x 7/ 1/2 x3 1/2 inches

34 oz (1.0L) 6 1/4 x 6 1/4 x 3 inches

17 oz (0.5L) 5 x 5 x 2 1/4 inches

Love at first sight is all I can say. These days I'm trying to forget plastic and use more glass to store my food as much as possible. Yes, I'm try to be green as much as possible. You get the idea. More eco-friendly right! I love the idea that they nest inside each other to save room. Okay, did I mention that the lids are BPA free and snap on and they are made out of tempered glass made to hold up to everyday use. The lids really go on and snap off very easy. Just think if you have more than one set you can stack several of the same size on top of each other in your pantry and really save room and remember they are airtight so your dry goods shouldn't get stale and remember airtight means a lot! Most of all, think of how organized and neat your pantry or refrigerator will look. Plus, you'll be able to find things better because you can see right through the glass.

Now if you go to Tribest's website you can find these glass storage containers in sets of 4 in rectangular, square or round or you can buy single sizes to customize your kitchen with the sizes you need.

The square gift set's model number is GLS04SN and retails for $39.95 and you can call 888-254-7336 for more details and are available at www.tribestlife.com. Manufactured by Tribest--Making Healthy Living Easy.

Raw Food for Real People Book Review

Chef Rod Rotondi and founder of Leaf Organics sent me this great raw food cookbook to review. Rod lives in Los Angeles and teaches courses and holds retreats. This book gives you an introduction to organic food, a vegan diet, our relationship with food, and notes about the recipes. He covers the S.A.D. diet, getting natural and mind over matter. The big question we always get about protein! He talks about the pH Acid-Alkaline Balance, oxygen, water, antioxidants, fiber, electromagnetic energy, B12.

Chapter 4 covers transitioning towards a raw-food diet, dealing with food addictions, exercise, detoxing and fasting.

Chapter 5 Setting up your raw-food kitchen, basic equipment, stocking your pantry, helpful hints for preparing raw foods.

Chapter 6 Sprouting basics, a word about nuts

Chapter 7 Dehydration: crackers, croquettes, pizza, and bread

Chapter 8 Breakfast, smoothies, nut mylk

Chapter 9 Appetizers

Chapter 10 Making a salad a meal

Chapter 11 Soups

Chapter 12 Entrees

Chapter 13 Desserts

Chapter 14 Raw foods for real kids

I'm really excited about this book and can't wait to start trying recipes. I forgot to tell you it has 16 color pages which is wonderful. I love when they add color photos just gives you more of an idea of what a finished recipe is going to look like and presentation is a biggy!

Tonya Zavasta Book & DVD Review

Low Fat Raw Vegan Recipes

July 29th

Tonya Zavasta will be here in Kalispell, Montana giving a lecture on "Beautiful on the inside and out" that you don't want to miss. In reviewing her book and "Your right to be Beautiful" and her DVD titled "Make aging Optional: Miracle of Raw Foods", I am really excited to hear her speak in person.

Her DVD is 90 minutes long and she gives you information to improve your chances for optimum health, how to reach an ideal weight and have boundless energy, how to reverse the aging process and enjoy impressive youthfulness, eliminate eye bags and puffiness and add a glow to your face, and prepare green delicious smoothies to become youthful.

In her book her chapters contents are:

I Will Be Beautiful, or I Will Be Dead

Model's beauty: Inspiration or Desperation?

Take a Walk in Beaty's Shoes

Beaty Test for Goodness and Truth

Beaty Is God's Handwriting

Beauty Pleads Not Guilty

Beauty's Dilemma

Health Is Internal Beauty

Meet Beauty without Meat

Nature Always Right, Cooks Never

Will White Mustaches Make you Beautiful?

Beauty in a Sweet Prison

The Salt of Beauty

Divine Food for Divine Beauty

Body Knows Best

Beauty Assailants

Does a Lifelong Beauty Need Daily Bread?

Worshipping the Wrong God

Take the Experts at Face Value

The Death of Beauty Lies in Every Pill

Squeeze the Beauty Out

For Beauty To Last Forever!

The Mermaid's Beauty secret

You Have the Right to be beautiful-Exercise It!

Long Live Beauty!

When the White Crow Is Beautiful

Recipes For The Most Beautiful You

Daily aid in Your Beauty Crusade

The Hallmark of Beauty Is Style

Healed By Beauty

Beautiful Organic Garden

When I see beautiful gardens, I just have to snap photos if I have my camera with me. This garden is amazing! Love it. Good snap pea idea there!

Great idea for the potatoes.

Raw Food Sesame Buckwheat Raw Cracker

Raw Food dehydrator recipes are my favorite. Just made this easy raw food recipe for  buckwheat crackers with a hint of cumin. I make these a lot. Very yummy!
5 cups buckwheat sprouts
2 cups pine nuts or sunflower
1 cup flaxseed meal
2 t salt
2 tsp cumin
2 Tb honey
2 limes
2 big pinches cayenne
3/4 t garlic or 2-3 garlic cloves minced
2 tb olive oil
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
2 tb sesame seed (opt)

Juice
1 stalk celery
5-7 small carrots
use pulp and all

Process buckwheat in food processor and pour into bowl. This will take a few times of processing. Then process your nuts. You could use your blender for this and blend nuts with carrot juice. In a dry blender or coffee grinder you need to process your flax seeds. Mix everything together except your sesame seeds for your topping and spread on parchment paper and process probably 24 hours until desired dryness. I like mine dry but my friend makes hers not so dry so it just depends how you like them. Don't forget to score with pizza cutter after about 8 hours.
 

Raw Onion Crackers

I adapted these crackers from Abeba's Onion Rings recipe that I found online at livingmom.net and on rawfamily.
I really like these crackers because they don't have a lot of nuts. That means I consider them a lower fat cracker depending on how much flax seeds you put in! Yipee!! I have to watch my nut and avocado intake as my body wants to keep them all and store them for a cold day. This recipe would be good as a wrap with some of Ani Phyo's Baja Cheese and greens all wrapped up into on of these tasty treats. Oh, my next time I make these crackers I will save some for wraps.

1 1⁄2cups Water
2 Carrots
1-2 dates
2 tsp Pizza Seasoning
2 tsp celtic salt
1 Celery Stalk
2 Tomatoes
1⁄2 cup Sundried Tomatoes
dash Cayenne Pepper
to taste Nama Shoyu or Celtic Sea Salt
1 -2 cups Flax Seeds (ground into meal)
8-10 Medium White Onions

Blend all ingredients except flax seeds and onions. Check the taste and add salt . Add flax seed meal to your large bowl.
Process the onions coarsely in food processor. Spread about 1/4 -1/2 inch thick. Dehydrate for 10-12 hours at 105 degrees. Flip onion crackers and score whenever you can.
Yields a full 9 trays.
 

Garden Goods and Wild Edibles for Breakfast

Went out this morning to pick strawberries for breakfast. My strawberries are just beautiful and yummy. Love having a garden and in the garden are some wild edibles like lamb quarters. So I picked some for the morning fruit bowl. My husband and daughter gobbled it up. I did a post a while back on Lamb Quarters and here it is
http://veganrawfood.blogspot.com/2010/06/edible-plant-lambs-quarters.html

$10 Shipping for $50 and over Pure Market Express

Below is my review for the greatest online raw food service Pure Market Express. Today they started offering shipping for $10 for orders over $50. WOW! If your not used to raw food this is a great way to find out just how yummy it can be. If your gone all week working this is a great way to have meals ready for the week and know your doing your body good.

If you ever wondered how that gourmet raw food arrives to your door via Fed-ex in a disposable cooler packed with ice packs and fresh as can be. This is what you will see when you open your box. This raw food delivery service based in Chaska, MN makes it easier to bring raw food cuisine into your home.

According to Pure Market Express' website:

We source, shop, soak, sprout, slice, dice, dehydrate, pulverize, puree, vacuum-seal and ship generously portioned meals-breakfast, lunch and dinner--plus desserts, snacks and occasional surprises. (There's nothing express about "cooking" raw yourself)

Even if your not raw you'll find Pure Market Express' choices a favorite.

I just received a huge box at my door filled with Lasagna, Bac'un Jalapeno Poppers, Corn Chips and Chocolate Cheesecake.

Let's talk taste:

There was nothing that I didn't like about the tastes of all these gourmet raw food items from Pure Market Express. I keep looking back in the refrigerator for more.

Raw food delivery can be helpful in learning about the raw food lifestyle. It's not all salads. It's gourmet raw food choices that you won't miss cooked foods.

Raw food delivery also is a huge help when we just don't have time to make food for ourselves. Making raw food takes time and especially when your just starting out and never made raw food before.

Raw Food Coconut Brownie Bites Recipe

1 1/2 cups walnut

dash salt

15-20 pitted dates

1/3 cup carob powder

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp water

1/2 cup coconut set aside

Place walnuts in food processor and process until fine ground. Add dates then process. Add remaining ingredients and process until you have a mixture that you can roll into balls not too moist but not too dry. Roll in coconut. Store in refrigerator for one week or up to a month in freezer.

Add coconut to mixture or chopped nuts if you want to create a different flavored ball.
Roll in sesame seeds, carob powder, finely chopped nuts, hemp seeds. You decide!

Adapted from Jennifer Cornbleet's book "Raw Food Made Easy"

Absolutely Abeba's Krazy Krackers

Here I found yet another one of Abeba's Krazy Kracker's recipe here at "Women Go Raw" and who doesn't like corn chips. I can hardly wait until I can try these.

CORN CHIPS! (These are WORLD FAMOUS!)

6 to 8 ears—Corn
3/4 cup—Sunflower Seeds (Soaked overnight)
1/3 to 1/2—Red Onion
1/3 cup—Ground Flax Seeds
1/4 tsp—Cumin
Cayenne—dash
Celtic Salt—to taste

Mix corn, onion, sunflower seeds in food
processor (can use blender), but I prefer
processor, the crunch is better. Add,
remaining ingredients and process well.

Drop by spoonfuls on Teflex sheet.
Dehydrate for 10-12 hours at 105 de-
grees. Flip krackers and remove Teflex
sheet. Continue dehydrating for 8—10
hours or until desired crispness is ob-
tained.

Yields 2 trays or approximately 90-100
krackers

You can go to Abeba's website and order her cookbooks here.

http://www.absolutelyabebaskrazykrackers.com/order.html

She has quite the Kracker Kollection of recipes!

Baja Wraps

Today for lunch I took some organic collard greens and make myself some raw Mexican wraps. I called them "Baja Wraps."

These are so simple to make. I made a recipe called "Baja Cheese" from Ani Phyo's cookbook called "Ani's Raw Food Kitchen." I happen to be visiting my parents out of state here in California so I don't have my kitchen tools with me and this is a easy wrap to whip up anywhere. The Baja Cheese has almonds, cilantro, jalapeno. You can make this type of wrap a Mexican or you could even make a Thai wrap by changing your flavors a little.

I made a quick guacamole just by taking an avocado and mashing it and giving it a sprinkle of salt and garlic powder.

Then I make a quick salsa recipe

3 tomatoes

1 jalapeno (use garlic press)

2 cloves garlic

3-4 tablespoon chopped red onion

cilantro (handful chopped)

lime juice (from 1 lime)

salt to taste

I then take what ever vegetables I have on hand. Today was cucumbers, red bell pepper, clover sprouts and I start layering my cheese, guacamole and then topping all my ingredients and roll up my wraps.

Quick to make and I have leftovers for a few days and the only tool I did need was a food processor for the cheese. If I didn't do the cheese I wouldn't need any tools other than a chopping mat and knife. Oh, I forgot the garlic press! If you don't have a garlic press you will have to use a knife. It saves your hands from burning from the jalapenos. That is why I like the garlic press it really gets the flavor distributed throughout your salsa.