Chakra Smoothie & More

I made a Chakra Smoothie this time. The ingredients were pomegranate, orange, lemon, spinach, blueberries, plum, and grapes. In the photo above, Jona is holding the finished result! Below is the fruit in all its glory :-).

 

I also made a Chocolate Spinach smoothie, based on the recommendation of Dr. Gail Parker, a fellow presenter at the Yoga Retreat for Women of Color.( Her blog is Taking Yoga off Your Mat.)  The recipe is 2C Spinach, 2C unsweetened rice milk (or sweetened if that's all you can find),

 3 bananas, 4T cacao powder, 1t cinnamon.

This makes a super yummy smoothie. It tastes like a chocolate milkshake. I couldn't taste the spinach at all. I think it's a good way to sneak green veggies to your kids, as long as they don't see you making the smoothie :-).

And last, just sharing a photo of Wild Strawberries that grow in my yard. They weren't sweet at all (not ripe?) but they are beautiful.

Love,

Althea

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Chakra Smoothie & More

Mango Sorbet and Nut Milks

Mango Sorbet

This Mango Sorbet from Ani's Raw Food Desserts is a winner. And it's simplicity is even better.

This is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO easy! It's very kid-friendly to make and to eat!

My version wasn't as frozen as in the book photo, but darn, it was perfectly ripe, sweet, and ideal for a hot summer day! 

 

And you can see that I'm making stuff from Raw Food Real World. I'm working through fears this year. I'd asked Matthew and Sarma if I could blog through their book last year. It's August of 2012 and I'm just now doing it. I'm taking my time. No rushing. No pressure. I look at the simple stuff and make it.

 

That also means I can't always share recipes. Publishers have told me they prefer bloggers to limit recipe sharing to five recipes from a book.

 

Nut milks and shakes are pretty basic. Once you know the formula, you can add to it.

 

Nut milk basic recipe:

1 cup nuts

4 cups water

 

Soak the nuts for 4-8 hours.

Blend in a high-powered blender.

Strain and squeeze in a nut milk bag or cheesecloth.

 

From there you can add sweeteners, coconut oil, or whatever you like.

 

 

Milkshake Basic Recipe:

http://theveganmochaangel.blogspot.com/2010/07/vanilla-milkshake.html

I wrote this two years ago. It's the vanilla milkshake from the book. I make this at least once a day. That is how yummy, vanilla-ee, sweet, refreshing it is.

 

Again, once you got the formula, you can make a chocolate shake, strawberry shake, peanut butter shake, etc.

 

Enjoy!

 

Love,

Althea

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Mango Sorbet and Nut Milks

Raw Food Real World / Raw Food Rehab

I've gotten the green light from Sarma and Matthew to blog through Raw Food Real World, as well as Sarma's solo book Living Raw Food. A few things have changed since, but I'll get to that in a moment.

Raw Food Real World is my favorite raw food book, bar none. I've made a few things from it in the past. But it always scared me. This is gourmet food to the hilt. But it also has scrumptious home meals and drinks too. I chose this one because I do want to be a raw chef. Until I make it to 105 Degrees and back to Carolyn's Raw Food Institute, why not go for the gusto? 

But here's the shift I've made: I've decided to eat only savory raw food for the rest of the 10 weeks left in the Raw Food Rehab program. (I'm careful with my words these days. "I only eat savory raw food" sounds better than "I'm not eating any sugar for 10 weeks!") I need to heal from Candida. Period. Eating savory raw, and using the food as my medicine is the way to go. I've created my own healing and food plan, which I'll assess every two days. I have a shopping list too. The list includes food from both Raw Food Real World and Living Raw Food. After the 10 weeks is over, I'll completely reassess and see if I want to add fruit and dessert back into my life.

The photos I've taken and food made were created in the midst of this decision:

Blue Grape Juice: I have never liked grapefruit, ever. But this drink adds honey and blue-green algae (I used spirulina). It's quite addictive.

I only made the salad dressing not the Greenmarket Salad. I found it tangy and rich. To keep the flavor, blend it each time you use it.

My new favorite dessert (when I start eating desserts again). Chocolate macaroons. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The recipe calls for leaving them in the dehydrator for 12-24 hours. For me, any longer than 6 hours is too long. (I was eating them right out of the dehydrator.) I prefer the macaroons dry on the outside and moist on the inside, like a warm cookie. I left them in for 18 hours. They were still sweet chocolaty goodness, but too dry for me. But these treat are decadent, rich, not too sweet, and very easy to make. Raymond was my sous chef. It was like making a cake batter. Kid-friendly and awesome.

Time to Go Juice: That is prunes and water blended together I'm about to pour into the juice. The recipe called for juicing the prunes, but that didn't work. I even soaked them in water, then ran through the juicer. Still didn't work. So that's where the idea of blending prunes and water together, then adding to the juice came from. Another winner.

Thai Green Juice: I love cilantro as much as Sarma does, so this juice was right up my alley. Pineapples, cilantro, collards, and limes. Makes you squish your lips together and say, "Wow! That is TART!" But if you like that fruit and veggie combination, you will LOVE this.

Spiced Oatmeal with Dried Fruit: Yes, the oat groats require 5 days of soaking. But it was worth the wait. Although I didn't have golden raisins to mix into the oat groats, the dish was sweet and cinnamony. Raymond loved it, and I would make this again.

I've made this Cinnamon Banana Shake since March. Rom asks me for it all the time, even now in the dead of winter. It tastes like the best vanilla milkshake you'll ever drink. Malty and ice cold. Keep frozen bananas in your fridge so you can make it 365 days a year.

Love,

Althea

Mocha Angel message: Do not allow fear to ruin your life or thwart your destiny. Fear is an illusion that has destroyed many lives. Don’t let your life be one of them. Faith in God, and yourself, is the only way to defeat fear.

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Raw Food Real World / Raw Food Rehab

Vanilla Milkshake

We've had triple-digit degree weather here on the Eastern Seaboard. It finally rained last night and this afternoon, breaking the unbearable heat. Summer is not nearly over, so I thought I'd share a vanilla milkshake recipe with ya'll so the next time it's blazing hot, you'll have a "go-to" drink!

This recipe is adapted from Raw Food Real World by Sarma Melngailis and Matthew Kenney

2 frozen bananas

2 cups non-dairy vanilla milk (I use almond milk)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 packets stevia (you can use raw honey or agave too, to taste)

pinch of sea salt

opt: 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract if you make your own milk or use a plain milk

Blend!

Always keep ripe bananas your freezer.

I run them under hot water until the peel comes off easily.

If you need more milk, just add it as the milkshake is blending.

This is a creamy, refreshing drink that you'll be drinking all summer long! Your children will beg you for it. Thank me later :-).

love,

Althea

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Vanilla Milkshake