Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

Awesome Raw Vegan Shake of the Week – Mesquite, Anyone?

Here’s another terrific raw vegan shake recipe that can be enjoyed as a breakfast, snack, or dessert. Why is it so good? Well, let me tell ya!

It has… Creamy sweet bananas, satiating chocolate protein powder to keep you filled up, energizing zing from cacao nibs, refreshing-ness from the ice, and the awesome malt-y-like flavor from Mesquite to tie it all together.

One of the best things about smoothies and shakes —> Versatility, baby! With all of the different available sweeteners, protein powders, superfoods, greens, fruits, and other fun and unique ingredients, smoothies and shakes are something to look forward to every day. Multiple times a day. I get excited just thinking about them. Am I weird? Naaaaah! I’m a foodie!

Mesquite Cacao Banana Shake

Yield 1 to 2 servings

1 1/2 cups water
1 + cup(s) ice
1 to 2 servings Sun Warrior chocolate protein powder
2 bananas, peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons raw cacao nibs
1 tablespoon mesquite powder

Blend this awesomeness up in your blender, sit back, and enjoy.

Awesome Smoothie of the Week – Raw Vegan

by Kristen in avocado, raw food, raw recipe

This recipe is delectable. I took a vacation from my usual protein-powder-filled and superfood-loaded smoothie staple to switch it up. And, boy, is it amazing. This gorgeous recipe is light with flavors of apple, pear, and vanilla, yet satiating, creamy, and loaded with nutrition from the avocado. And, the ice sets it all off perfectly.

Damn. This is goooooood.

Creamy Goddess Goodness

(Don’t let the title deter you awesome dudes out there from making this… Greg loved it!)

Yield 1 to 2 servings

1 avocado, pitted and peeled
1 cup (or more) filtered water
1 cup (or so) ice
1 cup (or so) spinach
1 pear, cored
1 apple, cored
splash vanilla extract
splash fresh lemon or lime juice
4 to 6 turns of the black pepper mill
dash himalayan crystal salt

Give it a whirl in your blender. Voila! Creamy Goddess Goodness!

A Life of Beauty

by Kristen in Kristen Suzanne

I am living a life of beauty.

I am free as a bird.

A Day of Food in My Life

by Kristen in food journal

Organic jasmine green tea (2 cups)
Cleansing Organic Green juice (Made 1 quart, split with Greg) - carrots, celery, kale, cucumber, romaine, lemon juice. I made this with my little Breville juicer.
Goji berries, dried blueberries, apple
Power Anti Aging Organic Smoothie (Made about 5 cups, split with Greg) – I used mom’s Blendtec and loaded it up with filtered water, 2 leaves kale, 3 tablespoons Udo’s oil, 1 cup coconut milk, 3 persian cucumbers, 4 to 5 fresh mint leaves, 6 oz fresh raspberries, 1 cup frozen blueberries, ice, 2 teaspoons maquis powder (huge source of antioxidants), 1 teaspoon camu camu powder (tons of vitamin C – extra good for this time of year with flu season), 2 tablespoons cacao nibs, 1 serving vega performance protein powder (vanilla), 2 servings Sun Warrior chocolate protein powder, 3 tablespoons hemp protein powder. Now, let me just say… I am not drinking this shake for flavor. I am loading all of those goodies up in it so I can get it all in.
Supplements: Jigsaw magnesium, vegan DHA, vitamin D, vitamin B12, wheatgrass tablets, vitamin k2, chlorella
Organic decaf coffee with a piece of raw chocolate (new recipe I made!)
Light n Fresh Organic Raw Lunch: Mesquite Red Bell Pepper Dip with raw broccolini, whole romaine lettuce leaves, apple, and cucumber crudité. I also had a kombucha (addicted to these lately… I love all the flavors but I’m partial to Trilogy and Guava as of late)… and I had to test (again) my new raw chocolate recipe. :)
Fun n Hearty Vegan Dinner - Gardein chicken nuggets, organic jasmine brown rice with organic peas stirred in, and topped with my own daiya cheese sauce. Ummm had to have dessert so I went crazy on some peanut butter chocolate coconut ice cream topped with… um… raw chocolate. :)
Supplements: Jigsaw magnesium, vegan DHA, vitamin D, vitamin B12, wheatgrass tablets, chlorella

Weekly Awesome Vegan Shake Recipe

by Kristen in raw food, sun warrior rice protein

Wanna feel friggin’ UNSTOPPABLE? Drink this!

This bad boy will carry you through your morning where you will kick ass and take names.

Deadlines looming? Knock ‘em out – boom boom!

Snarky peeps coming at ya? Shield ‘em out – kazam!

Feeling down in the dumps? Pump up your happiness a million notches – sparkle pop!

P.S. Keep it organic for more super powers.

Kristen’s Super Duper Shake

Yield 1 to 2 servings

1 1/2 to 2 cups filtered water
1 big ol’ banana
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 to 2 handfuls of greens
3 to 4 fresh mint leaves
2 to 4 scoops Sun Warrior chocolate protein powder (amount depending on serving size)
1 to 3 tablespoons Udo’s oil (amount depending on serving size)
2 to 3 tablespoons raw cacao nibs
1 hefty handful Bija goji berries

Blend it all up in your blender, and start your day right.

Happy Halloween!

by Kristen in kamea, kids

Fairy Kamea - 16 months.

Kamea - vegan Chipotle burrito - 1st Halloween at 4 months

My Favorite Brand For Goji Berries – Heaven Mountain

by Kristen in goji berries

All this time…. I’ve been eating goji berries and semi-enjoying them. Never crazy for them; rather, I kind of tolerated them because of their amazing nutrient profile. I used to eat them with cacao and raisins to mask a bit of their texture and flavor. Turns out, it was the brand of goji berry that was the problem.

A couple of weeks ago, I tried a different brand and cannot believe the difference. Turns out that not all goji berries are hard and almost crunchy. They’re not all dry in texture and flavor. Who knew?!

Now, most of you know I’m a big fan of Navitas Naturals products, and I still am! But, it’s time to move over when it comes to goji berries. In fact, we were at a raw restaurant recently where the lime cheesecake was served with goji berries on top. We noticed that the berries were soft, yet didn’t seem wet from soaking. I began to wonder how this could be… my goji berries never had that texture or color. I now realize it was a different brand, probably the brand I now love.

I’m a Bija / Heaven Mountain Goji Berry girl now!

Bija goji berries are richer in color, flavor, and texture. It’s like night and day. They’re soft. They’re chewy. Their color is deeper and more vibrant. And… the real test? Kamea. I can’t get her to eat Navitas Naturals goji berries whether dry or soaked. But, Bija? She eats them by the handful.

Check the difference out in this picture below. Dry and light colored goji berries vs moist, chewy, and densely vibrant goji berries (so much that they clump together). I’m so glad I tried Bija Heaven Mountain Goji Berries. They also sell a blue bag called just Heaven Mountain. Same awesomeness!!!

Click the image to see them even better.

What do you think? Have you tried Bija Heaven Mountain Goji Berries? Do you have a favorite brand?

Food Journal – Tuesday’s Good Stuff!

by Kristen in food journal

I’m almost finished with my next email newsletter… sharing with you tons of great tips and recipes for navigating the holidays with ease. Be sure to sign up, if you haven’t already! I’m only sending this email newsletter out for a limited time.

Here are Tuesday’s eats.

Organic decaf coffee w coconut milk and a couple of Winter Solstice Cranberry Cashew Nuggets. Truth be told, these are usually a dessert, but sometimes I eat a raw dessert for my breakfast! Um, and I had three, but only two are showing. That’s part of the beauty of raw. The foods are so darn healthy you can often gobble up dessert for breakfast. That puts a little extra joy in your day, eh? And, I know… my picture shows halloween fun with “winter solstice” nuggets… oh well. :) Note: this delicious recipe will be shared in the email newsletter I mentioned above.)

Large protein shake with two scoops Sun Warrior chocolate protein powder, Udo’s oil, Vega protein performance powder (vanilla), water, a hunk of Organic Raw Fudge with Raisins, frozen raspberries, and Navitas Naturals camu camu powder.

Organic Sun Tea (nettle, red raspberry leaf, mint) I get a 1/2 gallon glass mason jar and put 2 bags of red raspberry leaf tea in it along with two each of the nettle and either a mint or green jasmine tea). I drink this throughout the day and Kamea loves it!
Organic Apple. Organic Tofu.

Lettuce cups with Mesquite Red Bell Pepper Sauce. Yum – this sauce was deliciously unique spiced with mesquite from Navitas Naturals. Kamea couldn’t get enough of it either… she kept dipping her spoon in and licking it up. Oh, how that warms this mama’s heart to see my baby girl eating so much organic raw goodness. After my lettuce cups I had Organic Raw Fudge with Raisins (homemade) and an Organic Apple.

Pure Bar (chocolate) – While we were shopping at Trader Joe’s I was hungry so I grabbed one of these and ate it while shopping.
Organic Apple.

Protein shake – similar to the one above but minus the Udo’s oil/Vega, and made with coconut milk instead.

For those of you wondering… yes, I’m still breastfeeding. Some days I load up on calories and some days they’re average (depends on my hunger and exercise, which I haven’t done a lot of lately but carrying my baby around all day counts, eh?). My smoothies are usually large and with the oils or seeds or whatever else I add, they’re usually high calorie. So, yes, I’m eating enough. :)

Vitamin E Attacked – Here’s Another Perspective

by Kristen in Uncategorized

I recently read on NPR’s iPhone app (national public radio) about vitamin E being attacked, which focused on prostate cancer risk and links to vitamin e supplementation. However, after reading it, I was emailed the following newsletter from Orthomolecular Medicine News that gives another perspective. It’s very interesting. (You can read more articles here and subscribe to their newsletter here.)

Vitamin E Attacked Again
Of Course. Because It Works.

by Andrew W. Saul
Editor, Orthomolecular Medicine News Service

(OMNS, Oct 14, 2011) The very first Orthomolecular Medicine News Service release was on the clinical benefits of vitamin E. That was seven years ago. (1) In fact, the battle over vitamin E has been going full-tilt for over 60 years. (2)

Well, you can say one thing for vitamin critics: at least they are consistent. Consistently wrong, but consistent.

A recent accusation against vitamin E is that somehow it increases risk of prostate cancer. (3) That is nonsense. If you take close look at the numbers, you will see that “Compared with placebo, the absolute increase in risk of prostate cancer per 1000 person-years was 1.6 for vitamin E, 0.8 for selenium, and 0.4 for the combination.” That works out to be a claimed 0.63% increase risk with vitamin E alone, 0.24% increase in risk with vitamin E and selenium, and 0.15% increase in risk for selenium alone.

Note the decimal points: these are very small figures. But more importantly, note that the combination of selenium with vitamin E resulted in a much smaller number of deaths. If vitamin E were really the problem, vitamin E with selenium would have been a worse problem. Selenium recharges vitamin E, recycling it and effectively rendering it more potent. Something is wrong here, and it isn’t the vitamin E. Indeed, a higher dose of vitamin E might work as well as E with selenium, and be more protective.

And, in fact, this study did show that supplementation was beneficial. Vitamin E and selenium reduced risk of all-cause mortality by about 0.2%., and also reduced the risk of serious cardiovascular events by 0.3%. Vitamin E reduced risk of serious cardiovascular events by 0.7%. But what you were told, and just about all you were told, was “Vitamin E causes cancer!”

The oldest political trick in the book is to create doubt, then fear, and then conformity of action. The pharmaceutical industry knows this full well. One does not waste time and money attacking something that does not work. Vitamin E works, and the evidence is abundant.

Food Journal

by Kristen in food journal

Monday was filled with lots of nutritious foods… here’s the breakdown.

Organic Superfoodie Smoothie - This bad boy had frozen blueberries, spinach, Sun Warrior chocolate protein, Udo’s DHA oil, goji berries, and homemade raw almond milk
Large Organic Apple
Large Organic Salad - (romaine, bell pepper, handful of sprouted tofu cubes, carrot, soaked/dehydrated sunflower and pumpkin seeds). The salad was dressed with Himalayan crystal salt and balsamic vinegar.
Ants On A Log. Why don’t I eat those more often (for those of you who don’t know… organic celery stuffed with organic nut butter and topped with organic raisins)? They’re so friggin’ yummy! Seriously, I have a feeling that you’ll see a lot more of these in my food journals. Yum!
Navitas Naturals snacks – Have you had these? Man, I’m really liking them. Navitas Naturals sent me a bag of each to sample and I like the blueberry and chocolate ones. Perfect for snack attacks, going to the movies, on road trips, or airplane rides. Oh! And, Kamea was very fond of them herself. :) (Turns out we polished off two bags in one day. Oops.)
Organic Cauliflower with Hot Mama Mango Sauce
Organic Green lentils (cooked with thyme, mushrooms, onion, garlic, carrot) – large serving
Organic Raw Chocolate Mint Mousse - you know the drill… avocado, raw chocolate powder, raw agave nectar, etc. – large serving