Cucumber shiitake salad with hempseeds

Load up on Collards!

According to Dr Fuhrman ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index), Collard Green, along with Kale are two of the vegetables that top the ANDI scale (at 1000 out of 1000).  Collard greens are packed with nutrition.  As other vegetables in the cabbage family, collard greens provide anticancer properties.  They offer an excellent source of vitamins B6 and C, carotenes, chlorophyll, and manganese.  When eaten raw, one cup of collard greens provides more than 70 percent of the RDA for vitamin C.  Collard greens are also a very good source of fiber, and several minerals, including iron, copper, and calcium.  They also offer a good source of vitamins B1, B2, and E.

Collard is sweet in taste, and made a great salad.   Similar to its Kale’s cousin, it would make a great marinated salad.  Marinates softens the stem and makes the nutrients more readily available to the body.

Blueberries – packed full of antioxidants and is also one of the least pesticides fruits (unlike strawberries)

Use blueberries to make a beautiful raw desserts!!

Choco-Granobuckola (g.f.)

delicious snack and b-fast cereal – Raw Chocolate Granola Crunch

sprouted buckwheat, apricot, raisins, dates, manitoba hempseeds, agave, chia, cocoa  powder

Goji berries – Super Antioxidant

I have had goji berries since I was little.  It is a traditional Chinese herbalist ingredient whereby most households would add it as an ingredient for one of the soups.  Goji berries have been used for 6,000 years by herbalists in China, Tibet and India to:

protect the liver, help eyesight, improve sexual function and fertility, strengthen the legs, boost immune function, improve circulation and longevity.

For myself, I like to put a handful of goji berries in hot water in a thermo-bottle, let it steep for 10-15 minutes, and top it up with room temperature water for drinking during the day.

Tags: antioxidant, goji berries

hemp seeds – nature’s power house

Shelled hemp seeds have the most concentrated balance of proteins, essential fats, vitamins and enzymes combined with a relative absence of sugar, starches and saturated fats.

Just made a mixed fruit bowl with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.  Topped with yogurt and 1 Tbsp of hemp seeds.  Add a nice nutty flavour to b-fast.

Tags: hemp seeds

Sweet craving 2: Peach Crumble

Well another raw dessert uncovered – and I fell in love with it!  Was in the farmers’ market on the weekend the peaches are perfect ripe!  This is a great dessert that have no trans fat – unlikely typical pie crust or crumble toppings which are made with hydrogenated fats.

So to make this:

Filling:

4 ripe peaches, diced

2 golden delicious apples, peeled, cored, pureed

Crumble:

1.5 cup almonds, soaked, drained, dehydrated for 12h

2 cups pecans, soaked, drained, dehydrated for 12 h

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup maple syrup* or agave nectar (* non raw)

Mix peaches with pureed apples.  Place mixture on 9″ pie plate.

Add almonds to a food processor until it resembles flour (do not overmix).  Set aside.  In the same blender, add pecans and process until they begin to release oils.  Add mixture to almond.  Add remaining ingredients.  Dehydrate on teflex sheets for 24h until crisp and dried.  Top the filling with the crisp.

Tags: dessert, peach crumble, raw

Sweet cravings….

Delicious, cold, refreshing SORBET.

Take 1 cup of fruits, frozen (in this case I use mangoes).  Add 1 tsp of vanilla, 1/4 cup coconut water or almond milk.  Blend, and you have yourself the most amazing, freshly made sorbet.

Tags: dessert, mango, quick, raw, sorbet

Sensational burrito…

Had yoga, I went to a raw organic restaurant nearby.  I have always gotten the big salad, but instead I am feeling like changing it up and decided to order the burrito instead!!  The presentation was wonderful – zucchini dehydrated wrap, with a seed and nut burrito filling, jicama rice, avocado, tomatoes, lettuce…topped with cashew sour cream, and a side salsa. Containing in the soft rolled wrap, vegetable-made fillings were bursting with fresh flavours.  Loved every bite of it…..

Tags: burrito, jicama, raw, salsa, zucchini wrap

Living plants have a way of bringing itself back to equilibrium…my basil as an example

The day I bought my basil, I had left the planter out to soak up the sunlight.  I deliberately kept it away from the wind.  Perhaps it was well out of sight, I had completely forgotten about it until a week later my Thai recipe called for Basil.

Sadly, I rushed out to my garden, only to find the sad looking basil dehydrated and perched, lifeless.  Those once big, fragrant leaves were wilted and darkened to a shrivel.  Guilty as charged, I immediately brought my plant indoor.  The picture you are looking on the left it’s the “dead” plant; while the one on the right it’s that EXACT SAME PLANT, a week later after re-watering – back to its 90% life.   Food for thought:  If living plants have a way to undo the damage and bring itself back to equilibrium, our body in comparison to a plant is even more sophisticated and has many built in de-tox mechanisms.  And yes, with healthy diet that have high nutrient density such as green-leafy vegetables, we can also bring ourselves back to equilibrium from environmental disadvantages and diseases.

Tags: equilibrium, healthy, raw food, sunfood