Rudolph Cherry Cobbler (Gluten Free. Paleo. Raw Vegan.)
I asked my husband, who has a birthday around the holidays, what he wanted to eat for his birthday dessert. He said without thinking twice, Rudolph Cherry Cobbler. It’s a raw vegan, paleo, and gluten free recipe from my Holidays Recipe Book that he’s been a raving fan of for the past five or so years. I said to him, “Really? That’s what you want for your birthday?” He said, “YES! It’s the best and I can’t eat just one serving, I keep going back for more.” I can’t say I blame him… it is friggin’ delish. The squishy and delicious cherries explode with flavor in your mouth.
To celebrate the new look of my blog, I’m holding a giveaway. The prize? A complete set of my ebooks (that’s 12 ebooks!). And… I’m going to select 3 winners!
WANT THE CHANCE TO WIN?
It’s simple to participate. All you have to do is answer the following question (BOTH PARTS!) in this post’s comment section. The contest will end Wednesday night, April 13th @ 11:59pm. I’ll enter everyone’s name who answered the question into a drawing and announce the winners on my blog Thursday, April 14th.
QUESTION: Where is your favorite place to travel in the United States and Why?
Want another chance to win? Tweet a link to this blog post and come back to let me know in a separate comment.
Want another chance to win? Facebook a link to this blog post and come back to let me know in a separate comment.
Want another chance to win? Write about this giveaway on your blog and link back to this blog post. Come back to let me know in a separate comment.
It’s time for another Kristen’s Raw Awesome Giveaway!!! The prize this time? A complete set of my ebooks! And, since shipping is not an issue with ebooks, this contest is open to anyone in the world. Yay!!!
WANT THE CHANCE TO WIN? It’s simple to participate. All you have to do is answer the following question in this post’s comment section. The contest will end Friday night, July 16th @ 11:59pm. I’ll enter everyone’s name who answered the question into a drawing and announce the winner on my blog Saturday, July 17th.
QUESTION: What is the best new parent advice you have for my husband, Greg, and myself?
Want another chance to win? Tweet a link to this blog post and come back to let me know in a separate comment.
Want another chance to win? Facebook a link to this blog post and come back to let me know in a separate comment.
Want another chance to win? Write about this giveaway on your blog and link back to this blog post. Come back to let me know in a separate comment.
Want the chance to win?It’s simple to participate! All you have to do is answer the following question in this post’s comment section. The contest will end Thursday night, August 13th @ 11:59pm. I’ll enter everyone’s name who answered the question into a drawing and announce the winner on my blog Friday, August 14th.
UPDATE! I’m excited to have so many people participating that I’m going to select THREE people to win a set of my ebooks.
To add some extra fun to my blog, I’m having a monthly giveaway of awesome goodies. Sometimes it’ll be a matter of simply responding to a question or leaving a comment in order to have your name entered into a drawing to win or sometimes it’ll be in the form of a contest / quiz. It could happen at any time during the month.
For September’s drawing, I’m giving away one of my ebooks (your choice of 1 of the 10 I have available – take a look at them here) and all you have to do is simply answer the following question in the comment section of today’s blog. At the end of three days (Monday night, 11:59pm) I’ll enter everyone’s name who answered the question into a drawing and announce the winner on my blog Tuesday. Are you ready? I’m really excited about this… I have some super cool goodies to give away.
I was asked recently which juicer I use. The answer is that I actually have two, and I love them both for different reasons.Nothing – and I mean nothing – beats juicing. Like the vegan version of being a vampire, you feel absolutely super-human when you drink down pure Plant Blood.
1) Green Star This bad boy isn’t cheap, but it’s life-changing. Wanna go hardcore? This is it! This machine is great because it’s extremely durable, reliable, can also juice wheatgrass (most juicers cannot do this, so you often have to buy a separate wheatgrass juicer), plus more. Because this juicer uses twin gears which gently and slowly extract the juice, it doesn’t degrade or oxidize nearly as fast as it does with a centrifugal juicer (below). Green Star juice can be stored in an airtight container for a couple of days without much oxidation, which makes it perfect for people who can only juice once a day or less.
This juicer squeezes out every bit of juice, leaving you with very dry pulp, so you’re really getting your money’s worth from your organic produce. Here are other tricks this juicer can do: make ice cream from frozen produce such as bananas or mangoes, as well as homogenize nuts, seeds and grains for pate and butters, and it’s great for making baby foods, apple sauce, etc.
The Green Star takes longer to use and clean up, but it’s still amazing and well worth the money (and the time if you have it).
2) Breville Fountain Juicer This juicer has a special place in my heart. I LOVE my Breville Fountain Juicer (and pretty much use it daily) because it’s lightening fast and SUPER EASY to clean. This machine inspires me to juice multiple times a day due to its ease of use. It’s considerably less expensive than the Green Star, but because it’s centrifugal, you should drink the juice within 15 minutes of making it to prevent oxidation and nutrient loss.
This is the perfect juicer for people who plan to do a lot of daily juicing, and want it to be fast and efficient — just be sure to drink right after juicing. The other thing to note is that the pulp from this juicer is quite moist, so you know that you’re not extracting all of the juice like you do with the Green Star. However, I usually add the pulp to my dog’s food or put it on top of my salad or feed it to the bunnies in my yard or make raw dehydrated crackers from it (so, you can see, it doesn’t go to waste).
All in all, I love both of my juicers and I’m happy to have and use both. I find that I drink a lot more juice having the Breville due to its ease of use and cleaning, but I love having my Green Star for times I juice wheatgrass, make other things besides juice, or for those days that I need to make my juice made ahead of time.
For those of you looking for great juicing and smoothie recipes, I have a terrific ebook loaded with fresh raw vegan beverage recipes.
UPDATE! A new juicer is on my scene! Check out the video I did comparing it with the Breville and Green Star here.
1. Show your family great Raw recipes from books and the Internet.Then, let them take turns picking out which recipes you make for them. This will really get their taste buds overflowing with anticipation.
2. Make one Raw dish at every dinner (or every other dinner), and don’t even mention it. They probably won’t even realize they are eating so much Raw food.
3. Introduce your family to Raw with Raw desserts. When kids get to eat dessert after every meal, that is exciting, especially when they can have second helpings of it.
4. Make certain meals Raw. The easiest way to do this is to make breakfast 100% Raw. You can start by drinking fresh organic smoothies for breakfast or having creamy cinnamon nut milk with crunchy Raw granola. It’ll greatly help if you let your family take part in choosing what flavors to make. So, the night before you make a smoothie, ask your kids which flavors they would like. Make it fun by talking about the different colors, too. I love getting my nephews excited about drinking Green Smoothies. I give it a much cooler name, however: “Dragon Smoothies,” or, make a strawberry and banana smoothie and call it “Pretty-In-Pink Smoothie.” Trust me…these things help!
5. Give your kids choices so they don’t feel forced to eat just one thing. You can do this by offering them something really tasty compared to something that might not be as tasty, thereby making the tasty option seem that much better. For example, offer your kids a choice between blueberries and celery. They will probably pick the blueberries and be happy about it because they had a say in the matter and blueberries taste good (imagine how different this is than offering them blueberries or Oreos!) Or, make it a choice between carrots and zucchini. They’ll probably pick the carrots and be happy about it because of the alternative.
6. Another super tip is to cut your children’s fruit and veggies into fun shapes and sizes using inexpensive kitchen tools. They’ll be sure to show these off in school!
7. Include your children in the experience of shopping and preparing the food. This helps them feel more connected to the food and it makes them feel proud to have helped. Have fun while you’re doing it and be sure to thank them for their help.
8. Here is another great way to get children excited about eating fruits and vegetables. Tell them that they get to eat a “rainbow of colors” each day. Get a piece of construction paper for every color of the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Then, have your children cut out a big, fun shape for each color. On one side of each shape, write the word “DONE” and draw a smiley face. Stick them on the front of your refrigerator door with the word “DONE” side down. Each day, as your kids eat a fresh fruit or vegetable that is a color of the rainbow, flip over that color’s shape so the word “DONE” is face up and you can see it. It’s a great way to motivate your kids and get them excited about eating all the colors of the rainbow, because they get a challenge and a sense of accomplishment.
This is theultimate introduction, instruction manual, and guide for living the Raw Food lifestyle. Whether you’re totally new to Raw or just looking for new ideas, this is the perfect ebook for you. In this ebook, I cover what Raw is, why to do it, and most importantly, how — in a way that makes it easy to SUCCEED, by addressing or avoiding the obstacles that most people encounter as they introduce more Raw food into their lives.
A true lifestyle guide, this ebook includes topics such as mental tricks for sticking with it, dealing with cravings for cooked food, tips for handling family and social situations, sample meal plans (recipes not included), thorough instructions on equipping the perfect Raw kitchen, traveling Raw, growing your own sprouts, and more.
How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something, but to be someone.
While I understand that alcohol destroys pretty much every cell it comes in contact with, I also understand that not everyone is going to swear off alcohol for life. Wine would be the best choice for your alcoholic beverage since it’s considered Raw. In fact, I created some amazing and fun beverages with wine in my book (boy those were fun to make and test!): Kristen Suzanne’s EASY Raw Smoothies, Juices, Elixirs & Drinks.Once you go Raw though, expect to feel the effects of alcohol more quickly and strongly, as your body will have become very efficient at absorption. Until you discover your new, lower tolerance for alcohol, be very careful when you drink. And…don’t drink and drive.
Organic: Look for organic wine that is low in sulfites or without added sulfites. This is sometimes a point of confusion because sulfites occur naturally even in 100% organically produced wine. According to Professor Roger Boulton, Ph.D., of UC Davis’ Department of Viticulture and Enology, even if no sulfur dioxide is added to wine, fermenting yeasts will produce SO2 from the naturally occurring inorganic sulfates in all grape juices. Thus, says Boulton, it is impossible for any wine to be completely free of sulfur dioxide.
Vegan: But, just because the wine is Raw and even Organic, doesn’t mean it’s Vegan. If it says “vegan” on the bottle, then you’re good to go. Does yours? If not, you might want to contact the company and ask, although I suspect it won’t be vegan unless it says so on the bottle. Here is one that I have tried and enjoyed. It’s organic and vegan: Organic Vintners Mendocino Pinot Noir (pictured here). This is what they had to say about vegan and biodynamic wines:
Biodynamic principles take the organic approach a step further by making sure that the growth of the grapes is in tune with the larger environment. Using homeopathic sprays, herbal preparations and lunar cycles, soil fertility is increased and vines are protected from pests and diseases.
Vegan wines. Winemakers, both organic and conventional, are not obliged to declare on the label when they use animal by-products as fining agents to clarify wine. These include egg white (to brighten red wines), casein (a milk protein to make wine taste softer), gelatin (removes bitterness) and isinglass (derived from fish). A vegan wine, on the other hand, uses no animal products whatsoever. The vegan versions typically use clay to make the wines clear.
I’m excited to see the organic vegan wine selection growing at Whole Foods, as well as to see such a great collection online at places like The Organic Wine Company. Sometimes for holiday, anniversary, or birthday gifts, I buy a bottle of organic vegan wine for people and have it shipped. I like The Organic Wine Company’s selection. AND! Since I’m all about voting with my dollar….here is my planwhen visiting restaurants. I’ll ask if they offer an organic (and vegan!) wine selection. If they say, “no” then I’ll tell them that I’ll just drink water. That’ll teach them, eh?
Here’s a fantastic recipe from my book, Kristen Suzanne’s EASY Raw Sides & Snacks, available on my website by clicking here. This great recipe is so easy and takes very little time to prepare, like most of my recipes. I like to call my recipes “No Excuse Recipes” because they’re so delicious, nutritious, easy and quick to make that you really have no excuse not to make them and, therefore, always have fabulous Raw food on hand whenever you’re hungry.
Tuscan Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Yield 4 servings
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked 2 hours in enough water just to cover, reserve soak water
1/2 cup fresh basil, packed
1/4 cup pine nuts (or pili nuts, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, walnuts, etc… you can pretty much use any you want)
1 teaspoon garlic, pressed
1 teaspoon Himalayan crystal salt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
In a food processor, fitted with the “S” blade, combine all of the ingredients except the olive oil, adding a little of the sun-dried tomato “soak” water, if necessary. While the mixture is pureeing, add the olive oil. Enjoy!
Serving suggestion:
~ Dip zucchini slices into this delicious pesto for a fast and easy treat
~ Stuff 1/2 of a seeded tomato or bell pepper (yellow or orange are especially beautiful) with 1/4 cup of pesto, topped with fresh sprouts
~ Serve on top of zucchini angel hair pasta or kelp noodles for an awesome meal
I'm Kristen, and welcome to my blog. I'm a wife, mom, author, and I love to eat so food is usually the topic of my blog posts. I'm a former (almost decade long) vegan turned back omnivore who enjoys reading, rebounding, coffee, and dark chocolate. More...
I'm Kristen, and welcome to my blog. I'm a wife, mom, author, and I love to eat so food is usually the topic of my blog posts. I'm a former (almost decade long) vegan turned back omnivore who enjoys reading, rebounding, coffee, and dark chocolate. 
