Thick & Creamy Vegan Vanilla Shake

I wasn’t sure whether to call this a shake or a smoothie, because it reminded me so much of a vanilla milkshake so I opted for calling it both. This is one of the best smoothie (shake) recipes I’ve come up with so far. I was actually going to call this a breakfast smoothie until I decided to have it for dinner too because I enjoyed it so much.

This is one of those quick and easy smoothie recipes that is just so delicious and nutritious that there’s no excuse not to make it any time you need a quick meal or pick-me-up.

Vanilla, honey, maca and lucuma are all superfoods. Sesame seeds have more protein than any other seed or nut, are loaded with calcium, iron, and magnesium. Plus they contain lignans that can help burn fat. Flaxseed (also called linseed), is high in omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and fiber. Oats are the king of the grains, they help lower blood cholesterol, are a good source of magnesium, zinc and vitamin E and are also very high in fiber. And the humble banana… contains potassium and vitamin B6, which the body needs to make serotonin the brain-chemical which makes you feel good. Bananas also have plenty of fiber, and it’s a particular type of fiber that aids bowel health, and has been found to lower the incidence of bowel cancer. Whew! And if you need any more convincing, just taste it.

Ingredients:

4 cups water
4 ripe bananas, peeled (fresh or frozen)
1 cup oats *
4 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp flaxseed (linseed)
2-3 tbsp honey or agave nectar (to taste)
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 teas natural vanilla extract
dash of Himalayan sea salt
1 tbsp maca-root powder or lucuma powder (optional)

Instructions:

Grind the sesame seeds and flaxseed to a fine meal. A coffee grinder works beautifully for this, otherwise use a high-powered blender (make sure the inside of the blender jug is dry). Grind the oats to a fine meal in a coffee grinder or a high-powered blender.

Add all the ingredients to the blender. Blend well until, rich and creamy.

Makes 5 cups.

* Oats are almost always cooked, even when you find them as oat groats. It’s very rare to find truly raw oats, but if you want a 100% raw shake and can’t find raw oats you can substitute buckwheat groats instead. Just soak and sprout them for a day or two, but make sure to use them before the tails get longer than the buckwheat seeds. You can dehydrate the sprouted buckwheat and grind it, or just add the fresh sprouted buckwheat to the blender. The result is not as creamy in texture, but it’s still really nice and super healthy.

Related posts:

1. Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream I was having a sweet craving this evening… actually it was going on all day and I was trying to come up with something I could make with what I...
2. Blueberry Coconut Smoothie Today I decided to take a break from my usual green smoothie for breakfast and go with an all-fruit smoothie. I recently cracked open a couple of fresh coconuts, and...
3. Raw Sesame Halva I love halva, the Middle Eastern dessert made from sesame seeds. I’m not even sure how they make it but I decided to make my own healthy, raw version. Actually...

Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse

If you love desserts, and chocolate desserts especially, but were afraid you’d have to give them up in order to eat healthier, rejoice! It turns out that in the uber-healthy world of raw food, desserts are some of the easiest and most delicious dishes to make. And if you have a special relationship with chocolate, you’ll be delighted to know that organic raw chocolate is not just good for you. It’s a superfood! It’s that good for you!

Organic raw chocolate, also known as raw cacao, is higher in magnesium than any other food on the planet. Magnesium is the number one mineral deficiency in the world. Raw cacao is also the #1 source of antioxidants, iron and chromium. So if you’re a chocolate lover just trade the commercial, processed chocolate for raw organic cacao. Then trade in the guilt for the satisfaction and joy of knowing you’re eating one of the healthiest foods on the planet. Yes, there is a god!Okay, so if you’re new to raw cacao it comes in a few different forms. There are whole beans, broken bits of bean called nibs, cacao powder, and cacao licqor (no it’s not alcoholic) which is made from beans that have been ground into a paste which hardens into something like a block of chocolate. They are all good for you. The cacao powder is convenient, but it has the cacao butter removed, so you are losing that healthy fat. The nibs, beans and licqor (if grated or cut into small pieces) can all be ground down into a powder in a coffee grinder, so I usually buy the nibs or licqor.

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
1 ripe banana, peeled (can use a frozen banana if you want a chilled version)
2 tbsp sweeter (honey, agave syrup, soaked pitted medjool dates)
5 tbsp ground organic raw cacao nibs
1/2 tsp natural vanilla (extract or vanilla bean)
1 tsp maca powder (optional)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
dash of Himalayan sea salt

Instructions:

Add all the ingredients to your blender and blend until smooth and creamy. You can add a little water, if necessary to keep the ingredients moving so they blend thoroughly. If you used soaked dates as your sweetener, add the soak water.

Serve immediately.

Makes 2 servings… if you can share

Related posts:

1. Banana Mocha Non-Milk Shake I created this as a non-dairy alternative to my former favorite, espresso milkshakes. Now, I may be biased, but I’d say espresso milkshakes pale in comparison to this baby! This...
2. Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream I was having a sweet craving this evening… actually it was going on all day and I was trying to come up with something I could make with what I...

Raw vegan miso soup, with zucchini and pumpkin noodles

As winter time approaches here in New Zealand I’ve been thinking about a strategy for stay raw throughout the winter. I know from past experience that while it’s easy and quite natural for me to eat raw during warm weather, when it starts getting cold it’s harder for me to stay raw naturally, and I especially love soups in the winter months.

Today I think I found a solution, and I’d just like to take a moment to express my gratitude for miso. I have loved miso since I first tasted it. But to make things even better, it’s a fermented food. Which means that even though the ingredients are cooked (and not raw), the fermentation process turns it back into a living food, full of enzymes and friendly bacteria that help to promote healthy digestion.

Simply dissolving a spoonful of miso paste into a cup of warm water makes a delicious, nourishing broth. And from there you can add whatever vegetables you like and have on hand.

Miso comes in many varieties, all with different flavors, depending on the base ingredient used to make it. The one I use most is the sweet brown rice miso, I find it’s the most versatile. But I also love the brown rice miso in soups. For stronger flavor, try the barley or soy bean miso. Just be careful to choose a miso that’s made with non-GM foods, and one that’s raw and unpasteurized.

The pasteurizing process was developed to kill any bacteria, so pasteurizing any fermented food, like apple cider vinegar, yogurt, miso, sauerkraut, kills all the beneficial bacteria – totally defeating the whole purpose of fermenting the food in the first place. It seems totally ridiculous to me that anyone would even consider doing it, but we’ve strayed so far from nature and what’s natural that we do ridiculous and counter-productive things like this all the time. We’ve become so paranoid about bacteria that we’ve forgotten that without these amazing little creatures, the world as we know it would not exist.

The trick to miso soup is to never boil the miso. If you boil the miso you’ll kill the friendly bacteria and enzymes.  Always boil or warm the water, wait for it to cool down a bit and then add it to the miso. To qualify as a raw food you want to make sure you don’t heat it above 110-118 degrees F (43-47 degrees C), because above that temperature you start destroying the nutrients and enzymes of the food.

So with all that said, let’s get onto the business of making raw vegan miso soup with zucchini and pumpkin noodles. The easiest way is to prepare the vegetables and divide them into a bowl for each serving you need. Warm up enough water to fill the number of bowls you are preparing.

Ingredients:

1-2 tbsp of white miso paste
handful of dried, shiitake mushrooms, sliced
handful of wakame seaweed flakes (or other seaweed of your choice)
fresh vegetables (zucchini, capsicum/bell pepper, green or red chili pepper, cabbage, spinach, etc), sliced thinly
handful of mung bean sprouts
zucchini and/or pumpkin for ‘noodles’ (or any other squash you like)
water

Instructions:

Put the water on the stove to start warming up, and while you’re waiting for it add the seaweed and shiitake to each of the bowls. Break up the shiitake into smaller pieces so they will soften more quickly. Start slicing the remaining vegetables, except for the zucchini and pumpkin to be used as noodles.  When the water is warm enough, add enough to the bowls to cover the seaweed and dried shiitake and allow them to soak and soften while you continue to prepare the rest of the vegetables.

If you’re using any vegetables, like cabbage that are a bit crunchy you might want to add them to a separate mixing bowl, add a little sea salt and massage and squeeze them until they are more tender. In my soup I added some red cabbage kim chi that I made yesterday, so it wasn’t fully fermented and sour, but very tender, similar to the effect that you get from cooking.

To prepare the ‘noodles’, cut open the pumpkin or squash and, using a spoon, remove the seeds and any mushy pulp that was around the seeds by scraping them out with the spoon. Zucchini can be cut in half lengthwise. Use a vegetable peeler to make long strips from the zucchini and pumpkin. Try to make the strips as wide as possible.

Zucchini and Pumpkin Noodles

Lay the strips out on a cutting board and stack about 4-5 strips on top of each other. Then starting at one of the short ends roll the strips up. Use a sharp knife to cut across the roll of strips in whatever thickness you prefer. I felt like linguini, so I cut my strips as narrow as I could.

Zucchini and Pumpkin Noodles

For each bowl, dissolve 1-2 tbsp of miso paste in some warm water by putting it in a cup, adding the water and mixing with a spoon or fork until dissolved. Pour the miso into the bowl. Do this for each bowl in turn. Divide the remaining sliced vegetables and noodles to the bowls and top up with the warm water and stir. Serve and enjoy!

The finished miso vegetable soup with zucchini and pumpkin noodles

Related posts:

1. Garden Vegetable Soup Since I haven’t gotten around to making any raw soups yet, I thought I’d go in search of a video recipe, and I found a good one. Garden Vegetable Soup,...
2. Split Pea & Chickpea Soup This thick, hearty stew can make a filling meal all on it’s own, or can be served with warmed pita bread, dipped in olive oil and salt. Or, if you’re...

Creamy blueberry coconut smoothie

Today I decided to take a break from my usual green smoothie for breakfast and go with an all-fruit smoothie.

I recently cracked open a couple of fresh coconuts, and I still had some coconut water left, so I decided to use that, as well as some of the coconut flesh. The result was a beautiful, creamy, fruity smoothie with a hint of vanilla.

Blueberries and coconuts are both superfoods. Blueberries are considered one of the best foods for fighting free-radicals and repairing cell damage thanks to the anthocyanins they contain, which also give them their blue color. They also have anti-inflammatory properties, protect against dementia and are great for the eyes and memory, especially as we get older. They also contain resveratrol which protects us against cancer and heart disease. Coconuts contain the most heart-healthy oils of any food. Prunes are good for the digestion, they help nourish the friendly bacteria in your gut. They also contain lots of beta-carotene, and lower cholesterol. Cinnamon helps to even out blood-sugar levels and prevent mood swings. So this smoothie is not only delicious, but awesomely good for you.

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut water
3 cups water
3 bananas, fresh or frozen, peeled
handful of fresh coconut meat
1-1/2 cups blueberries, frozen
3-4 prunes (or 1 tablespoon of honey or agave syrup)
1 teas ground cinnamon
1/2 teas natural vanilla extract

Instructions:

Put about a cup of water and the prunes into the blender and process until the prunes are well blended. The prunes will add sweetness and can be replaced by honey or agave syrup, you can adjust the amount you add to suit your taste.

Pry a handful of fresh coconut meat from the shell. If the coconut meat still has the brown inner shell on one side cut it off. A sharp knife will work but I like to use a vegetable peeler. The fresh coconut can be a bit slippery because of all the beautiful coconut oil it contains, and I feel like the vegetable peeler is a lot safer than using a knife, and it works just as well.

Add the fresh coconut, and all the other ingredients and blend until smooth. Drink immediately.

Related posts:

1. Creamy Vanilla Vegan Smoothie Shake I wasn’t sure whether to call this a shake or a smoothie, because it reminded me so much of a vanilla milkshake so I opted for calling it both. This...
2. How To Crack A Coconut Fresh coconuts are so much nicer than the dried coconut you get in the shops. I love eating slices of fresh coconut, but it’s also a real treat to use...
3. Banana Blueberry Ice Dream I was craving something sweet at night, but I wanted to stay on my raw food diet because I feel so much better on it. Fortunately I’d put some bananas...

It's easy to make your own raw tahini

Tahini is a ground paste, like a nut butter, made from sesame seeds. It’s popular in Middle Eastern dishes, and it’s one of the ingredients in many hummus recipes. It’s also great in salad dressings, especially if you like rich, creamy dressings but want to avoid mayonnaise.

It’s delicious, nutritious, and often expensive. But usually when you find it in the stores it’s made from toasted sesame seeds. I use tahini in so many things I wanted to make my own to save money, and to make sure it was raw. Fortunately it turns out to be both easy and inexpensive.

For this recipe, we soak the sesame seeds to activate them. Soaking nuts and seeds neutralizes an growth inhibiting enzyme that’s found naturally in seeds and nuts and makes them harder to digest. So by soaking, we make the nuts and seeds easier to digest and more nutritious for the same reasons that sprouts are more nutritious have loaded with good enzymes that aid digestion.

Ingredients:

1 cup raw (un-toasted) sesame seeds
2 cups water, to soak

Instructions:

Soak the sesame seeds at room temperature for 4 hours in enough water to cover them plus about an inch more because they will swell as they absorb the water.

Drain and throw away the soak water. Rinse them under running water and put them in the fridge to sprout for another 4 hours.

Put the sesame seeds into a high-powered blender and blend until creamy. Use a spatula to scrap the seeds down from the sides as needed until there are no more whole seeds left. Add water as needed, a tablespoon at a time to keep the mixture moving.

Will keep for about 3 days stored in a sealed glass jar in the fridge.

Makes about 2 cups.

Ideas for using tahini:

• In salad dressing to make a rich, creamy dressing.
• In nut milks. Use about 1 tablespoon tahini per cup of water to make the quickest, easiest nut milk possible. No need for straining the pulp out.
• Add to chickpea hummus.
• Add herbs and spices to make raw vegan seed cheeses.
• Add a spoonful to raw tomato-based pasta sauces to make a delicious creamy pasta sauce.

Related posts:

1. Creamy Vanilla Vegan Smoothie Shake I wasn’t sure whether to call this a shake or a smoothie, because it reminded me so much of a vanilla milkshake so I opted for calling it both. This...
2. How To Make Almond Milk This delicious, creamy almond milk is so satisfying that it was the key to my easy transition to being completely dairy-free. I’ve wanted to give up dairy for some time...

Delicious, nutritious, green smoothie

Green smoothies are a delicious blended drink made from fruit and leafy greens.

We all know if we want to be healthy we should eat more greens. But many people don’t like greens. Even if you’re one of the people who does like greens, the secret to getting even greater nutritional and health benefits from them is to eat them raw, leaving all the nutrients intact, and to chew them very thoroughly to rupture the cell walls and expose the nutrients within. But the amount of chewing required makes it difficult. Green smoothies are a perfect solution in both cases.

I must admit that when I first heard about green smoothies I thought, yuck! It took me a while to get to the point of trying one. Now, I’m a convert. Not only do they taste great (if you follow my tips for making them), but the benefits are amazing. One of the most noticeable benefits for me has been vision. I’ve been nearsighted (myopic) since I was 12 years old. When I’m drinking green smoothies every day I definitely notice an improvement in my vision.

What If You Don’t Like Greens?

If you gag at the thought of blending up greens and drinking them, here’s the good news. In a green smoothie you use more fruit than you do greens. The fruit masks the taste of the greens, and neutralizes the bitter taste that some greens have, and adds natural sweetness to the drink. There’s a technique to making tasty green smoothies, but it’s simple. Once you’ve mastered it, even kids will love the taste of them.

Because you’re blending the greens in a high-powered blender, the blades are able to liquefy the greens far more thoroughly than we can by chewing. This releases the nutrients from the indigestible cellulose, making them more easily available to our digestive system.

The Trick To Making Tasty Green Smoothies

There are three important tips for making sure your green smoothies taste great. The first, is make sure the fruit you use is ripe. Second, always use one either bananas or mango in your smoothie. Finally, don’t add too many leafy greens.

The sweetness and taste of the fruit will override the taste of the greens, but only if the fruit you use is flavorful to begin with. That means the fruit has to be ripe. Ripe bananas, for instance, are the ones where the peel has started getting brown spots. A ripe banana will be sweeter and more flavorful than when it’s green because as it ripens the starches will convert to sugars. Ripened fruit is also easier to digest, and has greater nutritional value. Where possible, grow your own or shop for your fruit at farmer’s markets where the fruit was more likely to be ripened on the tree or vine.

Always use mango or bananas as a base for your smoothie creation. Because of their consistency both fruits create a smoother texture and keep the ingredients from separating so much. They also both have a strong, sweet taste that will help to mask the taste of the greens.

If you hate greens, or if you’ve already had a green smoothie and it was too ‘green’ for you, don’t give up on them, just add fewer greens next time. It’s better that you start off slow and have fewer greens than abandon greens altogether. As your body starts getting the nutritional benefits from a daily green smoothie, your tastes will change and you’ll find yourself wanting more green in your smoothie. It’s important to listen to your body and do what works for you.

What Goes Into A Green Smoothie?

The basic ingredients of a green smoothie are water, bananas or mango (the base), leafy greens, other ripe fruit that you like or have available. Berries are a great addition to your green smoothie, and most are high in antioxidants and other important nutrients.

What Exactly Are Leafy Greens?

This is an important distinction to make, leafy greens are not vegetables. You want to make sure that you add leafy greens and not vegetables to your green smoothies.

Vegetables as we know them, fall into 4 categories:

• Roots: are the vegetables where the part we eat grows underground. Carrots, potatoes, beets, and turnips are examples of root vegetables.
• Fruit: these are the vegetables that are not sweet but have seeds inside them, just like the sweet fruits which we commonly call fruit. Zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes, bell pepper, eggplant, pumpkin, beans and peas.
• Cruciferous: these are vegetables in the Brassica family, such as cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts.
• Leafy greens: as their name suggests, leafy greens are the green leaves of edible plants. Some of these leafy greens are grown specifically for the leaf itself, such as lettuce, kale, spinach, celery, and parsley. Leafy greens can sometimes be found as the green leafy tops of root vegetables, such as carrots, beets and turnips. There are many wild edible plants (i.e., weeds) that produce leafy greens too, such as dandelion leaves, plantain, chickweed, purslane, yellow dock. If you decide to try wild edibles please be certain that you’ve correctly identified the plants and that they aren’t in a area where they may have been subjected to chemical sprays and other poisons. When picking dandelion, plantain and yellow dock try to find the young leaves they’ll be the best tasting.

What Not To Eat

Be sure to avoid picking and eating the leaves of the nightshade family. Many of our common and favorite vegetables belong to the nightshade family, and the leaves are poisonous. So NEVER put potato, tomato, eggplant, or bell pepper leaves in your green smoothie!

How To Make A Green Smoothie

To make a green smoothie add 4 cups of water to your blender. Rinse a handful of greens, and remove any thick or fibrous stems. Add greens to the blender. Put on the lid and blend, starting on low and turning your blender up to high. Blend until you can’t distinguish any bits of leaf. Add 3-4 bananas (or one mango) depending on how thick you like your smoothies. Add other fruit and berries as you like, removing pits, cores and peels if necessary. Blend again until smooth. Serve and drink fresh.

Some greens that go particularly well in green smoothies are kale, spinach, parsley, Swiss chard, Romaine lettuce, and young dandelion leaves.

Frozen fruits works well in green smoothies, especially in warmer weather, it will make a nice cold refreshing drink. You can also substitute some of the water with ice cubes.

High powered blenders (at least 1000 watts) are best when it comes to making green smoothies. But if the blender you have isn’t that powerful, don’t worry. You may just have to chop the ingredients into smaller pieces so you don’t put too much strain on your blender. It might also work better if you add half the water and the leafy greens to start, blend them as thoroughly as you can, then add the rest of the water and the fruit and blend again.

How Much To Drink And When

Green smoothies are a meal in themselves. They are packed with nutrition, and because they are a blended drink they include lots of fiber and are therefore very filling. They are great as a meal replacement for one or two meals a day. Drink a cup or a quart (liter) at a meal.

They are best consumed on their own, rather than with food. By not mixing them with other, solid food, you ensure that your body will have an easy time digesting them and get the maximum nutritional value. Because they are so easy to digest may find that you have more energy than if you ate a heavy meal, because your body doesn’t have to expend as much energy digesting.

The Easiest Way To Get Started With Green Smoothies

Well, this was what worked for me anyway. Like I said at the start of this article, I had a bit of, um, resistance to green smoothies. What helped convert me was a fun and informative ‘challenge’. It’s called the 3-Day Green Smoothie Challenge. It’s fun, and it’s free. I decide to do the challenge after finding out about it while searching for more information about green smoothies. The nutritional information about green smoothies impressed me so much I just had to try it. I figured I could handle it for 3 days. Well I loved it so much I just kept going after the 3 days was up. I did that for a couple of months. They’ll explain everything you need to do to get started, and send you a daily support emails with information and 3 recipes a day to choose from (or you can create your own of course).

Then for some reason I eventually stopped doing the green smoothies. I started doing more superfood smoothies, things like maca, mesquite and raw cacao. At first I mixed them into the green smoothies, but then I don’t know exactly why, maybe the greens were coming to an end in the garden, anyway, I stopped doing the green smoothies. I was drinking these expensive superfoods instead – supposed to be totally awesomely nutritious. And you know what? I actually feel more benefit from the green smoothies. The maca did have huge benefits, I just sailed through menopause quite easily once I started having it every day in my smoothies. But it’s really nice added to green smoothies too.

I’ve started up with the green smoothies again, and it’s the best thing I could have done. Do you ever notice how you can make positive change in your life or diet, and you feel good because of it. But then for some reason you stop and fall back, and don’t feel so good. Then you start implementing the positive change again and you really notice the benefits so much more the second time around. Does that happen to anyone else? Or is it just me? Anyway, I’ve been drinking green smoothies for about a month now. Every day. I’ve been listening to an interview from the Women’s International Summit for Health with Victoria Boutenko, the raw food pioneer who discovered and popularized green smoothies. I went back and read all of the books I got when I did the green smoothie challenge. The challenge is free, but there is also a very affordable book, Green Smoothie Queen’s Complete Guide to Green Smoothies. It has tons of information, recipes and an interview with Victoria Boutenko. There’s also a Q&A with Victoria, and they are well worth the price. I’ve just learned so much more in the past couple of days by reading them, I highly recommend them.

So are you up for a challenge?

Do your body a favor and sign up for the green smoothie challenge.

Related posts:

1. Strawberry Superherb Green Smoothie There are some tasty foods that just don’t look that appetizing, and certainly are not photogenic. This is one of them. We stopped by our local orchard yesterday and were...
2. Green Smoothie of the Day Today’s green smoothie (breakfast of Champions!) came out really creamy. I’m not sure why, but I’m sure enjoying it. I’ve got 2 superfoods packed in this one, goji berries and...

Raw Vegan Blueberry Ice Cream

Blueberries are a superfruit. They are extremely high in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties which combat oxidative stress and inflammation that many experts believe are involved in all the major killer diseases as well as age-related conditions like arthritis and memory loss. In fact, blueberries are considered the ultimate memory food. Bananas contain potassium and fiber. Avocados are high in good heart-healthy fats, and lutein, an antioxidant that’s great for your eyes and skin.

All tremendously healthy foods to eat. Blend them together and you’ve got one of the most delicious and satisfying desserts ever. Well I think so anyway. I ate the whole lot of this myself for dinner. Isn’t it every child’s dream to eat dessert for dinner? As adults we can do whatever we want, but usually don’t because we know it’s not healthy for us. Well, go ahead, now you can live the dream and know you’re still eating healthy!

Ingredients:

2 cups frozen blueberries
1 frozen banana
1/2 avocado
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp honey
dash Himalayan sea salt
water

Instructions:

Add honey, lemon juice, flesh of the avocado and dash of salt to blender. Blend well until creamy, add a bit of water as needed to keep it blending. If you add the honey after the frozen fruit it will harden and be harder to blend in.

Add remaining ingredients and blend well until creamy. Add water, a little at a time, as needed to keep the mixture blending and get the consistency you like.

Serve and eat immediately. Serves 2, or 1 if you are like me!

Related posts:

1. Banana Blueberry Ice Dream I was craving something sweet at night, but I wanted to stay on my raw food diet because I feel so much better on it. Fortunately I’d put some bananas...
2. Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream I was having a sweet craving this evening… actually it was going on all day and I was trying to come up with something I could make with what I...
3. Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse If you love desserts, and chocolate desserts especially, but were afraid you’d have to give them up in order to eat healthier, rejoice! It turns out that in the uber-healthy...

Strawberry, Oregano & Wild Greens Smoothie

There are some tasty foods that just don’t look that appetizing, and certainly are not photogenic. This is one of them. We stopped by our local orchard yesterday and were lucky enough to score some strawberries “for jam” at half price. So this morning’s smoothie featured… you guessed it, strawberries!

I’m also getting a bit more daring on the wild edibles front, and this was the biggest handful of weeds I’ve put in yet. I managed to find really young dandelions and plantain. I was also especially lucky to find young dock leaves. I took a nibble from one just to see and was surprised to find they have quite a pleasant taste. No bitterness at all, they have an almost nutty taste. I’d like to try them in a salad too. All the wild edibles are highly nutritious, and so is oregano I have recently discovered. It’s definitely a superherb, so I snipped a bit of that from the garden to put in too. I’ve been using oregano in my green smoothies since I first started having them, it doesn’t impart the strong flavor that’s so nice in Italian foods. It adds a really nice, fresh taste to the smoothies. And now that I know just how awesome it is, I’m making it a point to add some oregano as much as possible.

Ingredients:
4 cups water
1 cups strawberries (fresh or frozen)
3 bananas (fresh or frozen)
1 cup frozen plums
handful of young wild edible greens (dandelion, dock, plantain) and fresh oregano
handful of spinach

Instructions:
Rinse and drain the leafy greens. Strip the leaves off the oregano stems and throw the stems away. Remove any thick stems on the spinach. I used wild New Zealand spinach, which have small, tender stems so they can be blended right in.

Add 4 cups of water to blender jug. Add in the greens. Blend until there are no bits of greens left. If you have a high-powered blender at least 1,000 watts you should be fine. Otherwise, try adding only 2 cups of water at first, then the greens and blend. Then add the rest of the water and blend again.

Once the greens have liquefied, add the fruit and blend until smooth. Serve and drink as soon as possible.

Related posts:

1. Peach & Strawberry Smoothie The delicate hint of rose complements the taste of the strawberries perfectly and really brings out the fruity flavors of this drink. I can’t eat much first thing in the...
2. Green Smoothie of the Day Today’s green smoothie (breakfast of Champions!) came out really creamy. I’m not sure why, but I’m sure enjoying it. I’ve got 2 superfoods packed in this one, goji berries and...
3. Blueberry Coconut Smoothie Today I decided to take a break from my usual green smoothie for breakfast and go with an all-fruit smoothie. I recently cracked open a couple of fresh coconuts, and...

Apricot Goji Gelato - YUM!

I often get sweet cravings at night, when I really shouldn’t be eating at all. We were lucky enough to find apricots at a local orchard just a couple days before. So I made this as a way to satisfy my sweet tooth while making sure I wasn’t taxing my digestive system before I went to bed. This scrumptious, fruity, slightly tart gelato is so incredibly nutritious you can indulge all you want without feeling guilty.

Apricots are very high in beta-carotene, which your body needs in order to produce vitamin A. They are also a good source of vitamin C and vitamins B2, B3, and 5. They provide nutrients that help support your immune system, are a great source of anti-oxidants, as well as fiber. They also provide calcium, iron and zinc.

Goji berries are a nutritionally-dense superfood. Among other things they contain more protein than any other fruit. You can read more about the health benefits of goji berries here.

Ingredients:
2 bananas, peeled and frozen
50 g dried goji berries, soaked overnight
4 fresh apricots, stones removed

Instructions:
Drain goji berries and reserve the soak water. Break banana into 3-4 pieces and add to blender. Add apricots and goji berries to blender. Blend until smooth, adding goji soak water a little at a time if needed. Drink any extra, it’s delicious and nutritious, and will keep for several days in the fridge.

Kitchen tips:
I always try to keep frozen bananas on hand. They are great in smoothies, as a base for raw vegan ice cream (or gelato) and it’s a great way to deal with ripe bananas. I try to find bananas on special, and then buy up big time, or order a whole box of organic bananas at wholesale prices. Freezing them is a great way to preserve them until you need them.

Goji berries are better soaked over night, but in a pinch you could soak them for a couple of hours before making this dessert.

Serves 2-4

Related posts:

1. The Health Benefits of Goji Berries Goji berries (Lycium barbarum) are the most nutritionally dense fruit on Earth. They are a member of the nightshade family (Solonaceae), which contains many other common vegetables such as potato,...
2. Banana Blueberry Ice Dream I was craving something sweet at night, but I wanted to stay on my raw food diet because I feel so much better on it. Fortunately I’d put some bananas...
3. Green Smoothie of the Day Today’s green smoothie (breakfast of Champions!) came out really creamy. I’m not sure why, but I’m sure enjoying it. I’ve got 2 superfoods packed in this one, goji berries and...

Sesame Halva

I love halva, the Middle Eastern dessert made from sesame seeds. I’m not even sure how they make it but I decided to make my own healthy, raw version. Actually I was going to see if I could make raw tahini with my blender because I’ve not been able to find a raw tahini here in NZ. My blender ground the sesame seeds really well, but I was having a bit of a sweet craving and I ended up abandoning my tahini experiment in favor of raw halva. I didn’t regret it, it really hit that sweet spot!

This isn’t an exact recipe, but it’s such a simple recipe with so few ingredients that if you just let your taste buds guide you and you can’t go wrong.

Ingredients:

Sesame seeds (raw)
Honey or agave syrup
Vanilla extract
Dash of Himalayan sea salt

Instructions:

Make sure your blender is really dry before you start. If there’s any moisture the sesame seeds aren’t going to grind up so well.

Pour sesame seeds into the blender and grind them to a fine meal. Stop frequently and using a spatula scrap down the sides, and fluff up the meal and seeds that will end up underneath the blades at the bottom of the blender jug, then continue blending. Do this until you have ground all of the sesame seeds.

Pour the sesame meal into a bowl. Add honey to taste and enough to form a dough. Add a dash of Himalayan sea salt, not enough to make it salty, but the salt will bring out the other flavors. Add vanilla extract to taste. I used about a cup of  sesame seeds and 1/4 teas of vanilla extract. You don’t need much. Mix by hand until all the ingredients are thoroughly blended together.

Pinch off a little bit of the dough and roll them between the palms of your hands into little balls. I made mine very tiny, about a heaping 1/2 teas worth of dough. They probably came out about the size of cooked chickpeas. They were the perfect size. Even though it’s raw, this is a very concentrated food, so you don’t want to eat too much at a time.

Keeps well in the fridge. In fact I think it’s even nicer the next day after it’s been sitting in the fridge, it seems to bring out the flavor.

Variations:

• Add ground cinnamon to the sesame meal. It adds a nice, subtle flavor.
• Add some raw cacao powder to the mix, or roll your halva balls in raw cacao powder to give them just a hint of chocolate flavor.

Related posts:

1. Creamy Vanilla Vegan Smoothie Shake I wasn’t sure whether to call this a shake or a smoothie, because it reminded me so much of a vanilla milkshake so I opted for calling it both. This...
2. Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream I was having a sweet craving this evening… actually it was going on all day and I was trying to come up with something I could make with what I...
3. How To Make Raw Tahini Tahini is a ground paste, like a nut butter, made from sesame seeds. It’s popular in Middle Eastern dishes, and it’s one of the ingredients in many hummus recipes. It’s...