Jungle Bars & Day 8 of Cleansing Food

Yesterday marked one full week of eating raw and of course I feel great.  My daily diet has been mostly smoothies, juice, and salads with some raw crackers, dips, and whole fruit for snacks.  It was already a delicious experience, then I made Jungle Bars.  They're full of cacao and coconut and raw vegan energy.  Yum! 

Jungle Bars

1 cup medjool dates
1 cup raisins
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup cacao powder
pinch of salt

Blend in a food processor until fully combined and mixture starts sticking together.

Add 1/2 cup walnuts

Pulse until nuts break into small chunks.  Press the mixture into a 7 inch springform pan.

In a mixing bowl combine:

1 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup agave or maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon melted cacao butter
1/4 cup almond butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

Spread this mixture on top of cacao mixture.  Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of cacao nibs on top and lightly press into coconut.

 

Chill in refrigerator for an hour.  Remove the top of the springform pan and cut into 1 inch squares.

 

Store in the refrigerator in a sealed container.  Share with friends.  Take 'em to go, they like to travel:

These have really come in handy when I was craving chocolate or sweets.  They're rich so one square does the trick, even with my mega sweet tooth.  Enjoy!

Lunchbox: Raw Cleanse Day 6

After 5 full days of raw food I woke up feeling energized this morning.  Today I go back to work after the long weekend, which means being away from home for 14 hours.  This is my lunchbox:

Clockwise from top left:  Salad (romaine, avo, tomato, hemp seeds, nutritional yeast, currents, lemon ginger vinaigrette), Fruit (grapefruit, orange, peaches), Jungle Bars, Frawnch Onion Dip, Raw Crackers.  All Raw Vegan.

I'll also take along some extra pieces of fresh fruit, just in case.  Recipes for the easy Tahini Sauce and Jungle Bars will be posted this later this week.

What are you having for lunch today?  Have a great Tuesday!

Labor Day Picnic Eats: Frawnch Onion Dip and Rosemary Hemp Flax Crackers

Happy holiday Monday U.S. readers!  Today's recipe is perfect for picnics, potlucks, and snack time.  Actually, it's inspired by a dip that showed up at just about every gathering that involved food during my childhood.  French Onion Dip.  You know the one where you take a packet of dried soup mix and stir it up in a tub of sour cream then serve it with some potato chips?  Well, this one is even more tasty than the original and full of healthy raw vegan ingredients. And it blends up in less than five minutes.

 

Frawnch Onion Dip

2 cups raw cashews
Juice of 2 limes
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic
the white portion of two green onions
1 1/2 cups water

Blend in a high speed blender until smooth & creamy.
Chop up the remaining portion of the green onions used above plus 2 more chopped green onions and stir into the dip.  Sample.  Season with salt  & pepper according to your taste buds.
Chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours before serving.  The longer this chills the more flavorful it becomes. 

Serve with Rosemary Hemp Flax Crackers (pictured above) or your favorite bread, cracker, chip, or veggie.

Rosemary Hemp Flax Crackers
1 1/2  cups flax
1/2 cup hemp seeds
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender.  Spread about 1/2 inch thick on a teflex sheet and dehydrate for 12 hours.  Flip onto a mesh sheet, score if desired, and dehydrate another 12 - 24 hours, or until completely dry and crispy. 

We've been enjoying a tub of Frawnch Onion Dip kept in the fridge for snack attacks at our house and the Rosemary Hemp Flax Crackers are great on their own too.  If you try these recipes let me know what you think! 

Are you going to any food related gatherings today?  What dish are you going to bring?   Do you have a favorite summer picnic dish? 

Cleanse Day 4: Everything's Peachy.

It's true.  The cleanse is going well on Day 4.  But there's another side to the title of this post.  Everything's Peachy is also the name I gave my juice for Elena's Juice Contest.  I see that Antony has his entry posted.  Where is yours?  HiHoRosie is going to help with the judging and the winner gets all three of Elena's ebooks.  Fun! 

Everything's Peachy:

2 yellow peaches
2 golden beets
1 lime
2 fuji apples
1 orange (late for the photo shoot)
1 inch nub of ginger root

*Made in a Power Juicer

Sweet & yummy with a little spice.  BF and I enjoyed these in my fancy crystal wine glasses that were a gift from my sister.  My juice has class.  It's also cleansing and packed with vitamin C. 

Now, back to the cleanse.  I've gone back and forth between feeling great and then getting tired with a headache.  I'm not even sure if this is detox related because a few friends are sick with an icky summer cold.  Regardless of what's causing it, I'm just going with my body's signals and resting when I feel tired, drinking a lot of water and detox tea to support the flushing out of toxins, and enjoying the spurts of energy as they come.  I've definitely been exposed to whatever bug is going around, so hopefully all of these nutrient packed smoothies and juices will help me fight it off. 

Oooooh... here's a little teaser.  BF and I worked together to make a raw vegan French onion dip that looks and tastes like the old school soup-powder-packet-mixed-with-a-tub-of-sour-cream version.  I'll post that recipe tomorrow.

Happy Sunday!  I'm so glad I still have one more day of weekend tomorrow.   How are you spending your weekend?  Have you made juice? 

Raw Vegan Cleansing Foods Day 3

Today is my third day of eating raw and I'm feeling pretty good.  I felt a little tired this afternoon with a headache and I'm pretty sure it was a symptom of detox.   I'll just keep drinking a lot of water and encourage those nasty little toxins to flush out.

We've been blending up lots of smoothies with various combinations of greens, fruit, veggies and herbs.  My bf has really been into the smoothie makin' and has introduced me to new flavor additions like basil and lime.  One of the great things about sharing a kitchen is being exposed to new ideas. 

And juice.  This one was inspired by HiHoRosie.  We were chatting on twitter about making a gold juice from gold beets and she made her beautiful Sunflower juice.  I gathered up some golden ingredients and made the Gold Standard.  It's more of an orange color because of all the carrots, but the gold beet flavor really stands out.

Made with these:

 

I was craving some crunchy greens, so I made a simple salad with butter lettuce, arugula, avocado, hemp seeds, and a sweet ginger vinaigrette.  So fresh and delicious!

 

This afternoon Chef T and I have spent some time in the kitchen making some raw vegan snacks.  Post about today's creations coming soon. 

Hope you're holiday weekend is off to a great start!

More Thoughts On Cleansing

 blueberry, banana, orange, spinach, spirulina, chia, coconut milk

Why cleanse?  I was enjoying a meet-up with my favorite work ladies this morning and this question came up as I sipped my yerba mate and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice while they chowed down on sweet smelling pancakes and lattes.  This was my response:

• Overall, I feel much better when I eat unprocessed foods, especially mostly raw - 100% raw.  The more raw I consume, the better I feel.  My body just happens to thrive on it.  

• My energy levels have taken a dip recently and I know my body well enough to know that processed food has this effect on me.  Actually, my body is letting me know in a few other ways that my nutrition is off:  horrible monthly cramps, bruising, and dry skin patches.

Shanonmarie left a thought-provoking comment on my last post about eating as an on-going cleanse.   I like to think that I am ultimately moving in that direction, but it does ebb and flow.  I am grateful to have enough physical awareness that I can change directions as needed.  That said, I do believe that making permanent healthy changes to diet with a focus on fresh, whole food is the key to healthful longevity. 

I've been enjoying mega-smoothies, fresh juices & fruit, and had a delicious Live Taco Salad at Blossoming Lotus yesterday.   I'm going to spend some quality time with my Vita-Mix and dehydrator making raw vegan treats this long weekend.  Anyone else have kitchen marathons in their holiday plans? 

Oh, yeah... I've switched my comments to disqus and as of now all of my past comments have disappeared, but I've been assured that they will reappear sometime in the next few days, after blogger & disqus have finished the importing process.  Fingers crossed!  I wanted disqus because it allows for a direct reply to specific comments.

Happy Friday!

Hello, September. Hello, Cleanse.

Hello, September, I welcome you with open arms.  One of my favorite months of the year!  September usually brings beautiful, warm, sunny weather to the Pacific Northwest and is also the bearer of Autumn (9/23 this year), my most favorite season.  Last year in September I moved to Portland.  Best decision EVER!  This September my sister is moving here. Yes!

I've decided to celebrate by making myself feel healthy and awesome with a super-cleanse.  It's been a happy year full of new and exciting events.  I've enjoyed a lot of tasty vegan food.  Most of it on the heavier side of things, like this avo mac-n-cheeze:

 

I've loved all of the rich comfort foods, but I'm feeling the need to lighten things up and get this month off to a fresh start.  Today is going to be all about juices & smoothies. This morning's smoothie was spinach, avo, banana, chia and spirulina courtesy of Mr. CatMan, smoothie maker extraordinaire. 

 

Any good suggestions for detox/cleansing information?  I have some great resources and good old standbys but am always looking for new material.  

Ok, Have a great first day of September and bring on the greens!