RUBIES {what my regular cooked dinner looks like}

For whatever reason, I was having trouble titling this post; should I name the recipe that is included? Should I call it "What I Ate For Dinner"? Em was stumped. Then she remembered that while she was eating this giant bowl of colourful goodness (and inexplicably talking in third person), she couldn't stop thinking it was like she was eating jewels! Not in a "My Strange Addiction: Can't Stop Eating Precious Stones" way, but more in a "these colours are so vibrant it's like I am eating rubies or gems" kind of way... you dig? 

Anyhoo - the point of this post is to show you guys what an average dinner looks like for me these days. As most of you know - I do not eat a 100% raw diet anymore. I believe everyone should eat to feel their best and be their happiest; I've learned that a mostly raw diet does this for me. And no matter what, I always eat whole foods and vegan. 

So this recipe is a perfect example of what an "regular" dinner is for me right now. Sometimes I will go through phases where I just eat salad for dinner, or smoothies, or fancy raw meals or what have you; but generally-speaking it's a lot like this: steamed veggies with beans or tofu, and occasionally whole grains. 

I pretty much eat fruit all day, and then make sure that the majority of my dinner is straight-up vegetables (making my diet primarily fruits and veggies); I almost always steam my veggies, but sometimes I'll cook them at a low temperature in the oven. I aim to stay away from oils but occasionally I'll add a teaspoon of olive oil to soften up eggplant or tomatoes, etc.; and lately I haven't been making sauces either, instead just using a bit of Himilayan pink salt for enhanced flavour. I eat as many veggies as I want, but moderate the amounts of denser foods like whole grains and high-protein foods. Sometimes I'll just have a huge bowl of only vegetables like broccoli or potatoes; in fact, that's what I have been doing recently because I haven't wanted to cook brown rice or quinoa. Note: when I say "veggies" I am including non-sweet fruits in there too; like tomatoes, bell peppers, etc. Let's keep life simple, shall we? 

Summing it up: I eat raw all day, and basically all of that is fruit and greens in the form of juice, smoothies, or giant bowls of fruit. My dinner is a huge portion of lightly cooked vegetables, usually followed by a raw dessert since I always have one around (plus that's where I get my nuts and seeds in for the day). If you have any questions: please ask! I know many of you are new to this kind of lifestyle and could be confused about how and what to eat. I am here to help! *big smile*

Now onto the recipe. 

I used heirloom tomatoes from our garden and beets and yams from the farmer's market. I threw in some organic chickpeas - because why the heck not? The beets and yams were steamed. The tomatoes were drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt, then cooked at about 200 degrees until they softened up and got juicy. They are LIKE CANDY when you prepare them this way. Also: tomatoes, when gently cooked with olive oil, have more absorbable lycopene. Boom!

slow-cooked tomatoes with chickpeas, steamed beets & yams

1 cup cooked or sprouted chickpeas

2-3 cups chopped heirloom tomatoes

1 large peeled beet

1 peeled yam

Spices, salt, olive oil

Rub the tomatoes with olive oil and salt and then cook in the oven at about 200 degrees until they start to smell amazing and get juicy and soft. You can take them out whenever you want but I usually leave them in for 30 minutes or so. Steam the yam and beet until tender, about 10-12 minutes. Toss the chickpeas with your favourite spices (I used cumin, coriander and turmeric) and salt, if desired. Throw everything together and sprinkle on salt, pepper, curry powder, peanut sauce, or whatever else you want. Now nourish your body and soul. 

pink juice, positively bursting with life

I love the colour of this juice; it's so bright and bursting with life! The majority of my diet has been mostly juice and smoothies lately, along with the raw desserts I'm making everyday for my COOKBOOK (it's way too exciting to type that). I think in warmer seasons I naturally crave lighter, cooler food. I haven't really been wanting cooked meals at all, or even my giant fruit bowls or salads. I am totally content with just my juice for now. I would go on a juice fast  because the idea is so appealing and natural at the moment - but then I'd have no way of knowing how my recipes for the book will taste!

this lovely pink juice: 

1 beet

1 cucumber

2 apples

2 oranges

3 tomatoes

1 lemon

Some mint leaves

2 sticks of celery 

2 slice of pineapple 

Wash, chop and peel the produce as needed. 

Put through your juicer, drink up the goodness, and get the glow. 

Zukay Raw Drinks Giveaway!

*US residents only*

Hey all! The awesome peeps over at Zukay Live Foods want to give you free stuff! Specifically - their delicious, healthful, raw, fermented veggie drinks. They call them Kvass and you can see them all here. I have tried them myself and give you my guarantee they're rad. The Green is my favourite.

So what do you have to do? 
It's EASY. Just enter the Rafflecoptor contest (at the bottom of the post) by liking This Rawsome Vegan Life and Zukay Live Foods on Facebook, and following @rawsomevegan and @zukaylivefoods on Twitter.

The grand prize is a 6-pack of drinks of your choosing. 10 runners up will get a coupon for one free drink. And finally - ANYONE (as long as you're in the U.S.) can get a coupon booklet by sending their address to Zukay Live Foods in a private Facebook message. Don't worry - they won't use your address for anything else.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

product review: zukay raw veggie drinks

The generous folks over at Zukay Live Foods were kind enough to send me some delicious fermented vegetable drinks - traditionally called Kvass - to taste test. They pride themselves on creating and providing naturally probiotic drinks and salad dressings that help to combat the effects of the Standard American Diet. They describe their products as being made from "raw, organic, farm fresh veggies that are fermented in the ancient traditions, using only wild cultures [they] hand-batch [them]selves". You can learn more on their website linked here.

So what did I think of their raw Kvass? Well they were thoughtful enough to send me 3 different flavours: Beet, Super Green and Veggie Medley. My favourite is the Green which shouldn't come as a surprise for those who know my obsession and love for kale. To be honest, when I first took a sip my immediate thought was "This tastes like pickle juice..." but then I quickly got used to the flavour of the fermented cucumber and it actually started tasting sweet. I think it's because I was expecting something like Kombucha (my other favourite raw fermented drink) which is quite sweet.

Anyways - you soon get used to the taste and then start to like it. It helps knowing that these beverages are nutrient-packed and completely raw. There really is nothing like this on the market, speaking of - I hope to see Zukay in my own Canadian grocery stores soon! I give this product my stamp of approval (do they sell physical Approval Stamps?) and recommend it to anyone willing to try a refreshing drink that's healthy and different!

beet & avocado soup with cashew cream

Many of you have been asking for simple recipes that are comforting in these chilly winter months, when eating raw can be its most challenging time. To be honest, I find myself eating the most raw food in winter! It is probably because the first time I jumped into the 100% raw diet, it was winter time. Something to do with my subconscious, I’m sure.

Thanks, Freud. 

In any case though, generally winter is when we crave heavier, heartier, warm foods. When it’s cold, your body is working harder to keep you warm so you want to eat more, as one might expect. So although a fruit bowl may be delicious and totally satisfying in warmer months, it might not be just what you want when the sun goes away and temperatures go down for a while.  SO what do we raw foodies eat? Raw soup! For me, it’s the perfect winter meal. It is filling, easy to make and digest (think of it a savoury smoothie), delicious, warming and beautiful.

Instead of cooking soups all day on the stove - which, I certainly can’t deny, creates a heavenly, homey aroma - you simply blend a few whole food ingredients together with spices and hot water. The spices warm you up from the inside out and you feel satisfied with the nourishing bowl of goodness you just enjoyed. The colours are always outstanding, as a plus. But then, aren’t they always with raw food?

Mother Nature sure knows how to paint a beautiful canvas. 

beet & avocado soup with cashew cream: serves 2 or 3

Soup: 

1/2 avocado 

1 peeled beet

1 tablespoon tamari

1 tablespoon miso

1 peeled garlic clove

1 tablespoon peel fresh ginger root (optional) 

1 1/4 cups hot water (approximately) 

3 mushrooms

pinch of salt & pepper

juice of 1/2 lemon 

Cashew Cream:

1/4 cup soaked, drained cashews with enough water to cover them

Pinch of cinnamon & salt

To make the soup: blend everything together in your Vitamix until very smooth. Taste and adapt to your liking. Place in bowls and set aside. 

To make the cashew cream: blend the cashews with the water, salt and cinnamon until creamy. Add a little more water if you don't want it so thick. Change it as you like. Spoon onto your soup and enjoy! I recommend adding some fresh herbs and seeds. I used peppermint and pumpkin seeds but any combination would be lovely. 

layered ice cream cake with chocolate, vanilla & peppermint

First of all - please listen to this exquisite album by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, it's incredibly beautiful and makes me cry.

Secondly - this turned out fabulously, if I do say so myself (and I just did - so there.) I had a dream about this cake a few days ago and have been itching to make it ever since. When it comes down to it - this ice cream cake is mostly bananas. The pink layer comes from beet juice, and the green comes from avocado and peppermint leaves. I recommend using your Vitamix for this (can be bought on amazon or ebay) to make the layers as creamy as possible. 

I must admit - the avocado layer tasted sort of funky on it's own and I was thinking "Hmm... maybe my subconscious failed to consider the weird combination of avocado and mint in an ice cream cake." But it ended up tasting great with all the other delicious flavour pairings. The beet layer is unusually enjoyable. you might be thinking beets are a strange thing to make into ice cream, but the earthy tones of beets along with the sweetness of bananas is outta this world! Letting each thin layer freeze is a tad time-consuming, but it's worth it. 

I love when my dreams come true.

spiced chocolate, cashew vanilla, peppermint-avocado & banana-beet layered ice cream cake

Crust:

1 cup raw flour (I used buckwheat)

1 cup dates or prunes

Chocolate layer:

3 ripe bananas

1/3 cup cacao

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne, to taste

2 tablespoon agave/maple syrup

water, if too thick

Vanilla layer:

1 1/2 cups cashews

3 tablespoons agave/maple syrup

seeds from one vanilla bean

1/3 cup water

juice of one lemon 

Beet layer:

1/2 cup fresh beet juice

2 ripe bananas

1/2 cup pine nuts

1-2 tablespoons agave/maple syrup

2 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Mint layer:

2 cup fresh mint leaves

1 avocado

1/4 cup agave/maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon salt

juice of one lemon

1/4 cup nut milk

2 ripe bananas

Coconut Maple Drizzle:
1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup

To make the crust: process the dates or prunes and flour until it all sticks together somewhat. Press into the bottom of a lined spring form pan and set aside. 

To make each layer: blend the ingredients (in each list) until smooth, then pour each one in a separate bowl. Pour on part of the chocolate mixture quite thin, then let it harden in the freezer. Next, pour on a thin layer of beet mixture, let it freeze. You get the idea. Pour, freeze, pour, freeze. Put them in whatever order you want until you use all the mixtures up! 

To make to drizzle, stir ingredients together until combined then decorate, I also added some lemon zest - why not. Enjoy!

glorious juice

i've been at my boyfriend's place this weekend so i took these photos before i left to share them with you now, since otherwise i'd have nothing to show ya today. sadly his little kitchen does not have the room nor does he have the budget for all the wonderful equipment my family has in OUR well-endowed kitchen; like an omega juicer, vitamix blender, dehydrator, food processor, mandoline, and so on.

i mean, technically you don't NEED any of those semi-expensive appliances to enjoy a raw vegan diet, but it sure makes it more fun and interesting. case and point: raw pasta. they're all worth buying if you can afford them, but if not - simple fruit bowls and salads rocks too! personally, i gotta have my juice... and so does my cat, sugar, apparently.

enjoy this recipe and the good health and happiness it brings!

colourful concoction juice: serves one or two

3 carrots

1 cucumber

chunk of ginger

1 tomato

1 lime

1 bell pepper

4 beets

1 green apple

1 orange

wash, cut, slice and peel as needed. juice it and drink! mmm... live 4 juice; juice 4 life!

 one last thing - don't you love everything about compost? (except maybe the fruit flies...)

juice fast: day 3

today was busy but i am still feeling really good, mentally. physically, all my muscles are sore and feel tired, as if i had a hard workout but then didn't eat enough afterwards. i am also having a bit of trouble sleeping, slight headaches, and an occasional light-headed feeling. oh, detox... what a love-hate relationship we share.

i've had three delicious juices today: a simple carrot and apple based one for breakfast; a replica of my current fave juice for lunch; then a delicious beet pink juice for dinner. i'll have some tea later and maybe some prune juice (the soak water from prunes).

admire the lovely bouquet my mother made from our garden plants in celebration of the fall season. oooh boy do i love the colours of fall. the trees in our city are just mesmerizing and i cannot help stopping what i am doing and taking a breath (and moment) to appreciate the glorious and elegant universe we are blessed to live in. PLUS i have the best juicer ever. what more can a girl ask for?

i spent most of today driving around with la copine and all his belongings, helping him move into his new place. exciting! then i had to watch my whole family eat sushi - GRR. oh well. i was PERFECTLY satisfied drinking my beet juice... yum? 

but seriously, it wasn't that bad. yes, my brain was telling me to dig into those heavier calories but my mind knew i didn't need to and that in the long run continuing on this juice fast will be best. it's all about remembering the big picture. if you do - fasting is easy! especially when you get to drink delicious and luscious beet juice on a daily basis...

 earthy tones beet juice: serves one or two

4 beets
3 carrots
1 apple
1 orange
1/2 cucumber
1 bell pepper
4 pineapple slices

peel, slice and cut as needed. juice it up and drink it down. 

juice fast: day 1

first juice of the day was rather late. i thought i would be home earlier so unfortunately my energy was running pretty low. i am feeling better now though and warming up too (got pretty chilly sitting outside reading for two hours). plan for my friday afternoon? watch a movie with my juice-fasting buddy and generally just be cozy.

last night i went to see cadence weapon at fortune sound club and it was really fun. i went with all my favourite people (my boyfriend even came out!) and danced until 2 am. then drove to the naam for tea (and food for some). i had a great time, but sweating the whole night then passing out at 4 am probably isn't the smartest way to start a long fast... lesson learned. woke up today and had a headache and sore muscles.

my feelings are mostly excitement right now. for the past several days i've been looking forward to this. i am very ready to let juice and other liquids (tea, broth, strained nut milks, lemon water, etc.) become my diet for the next little while. as i've said - i'm not giving this a pre-decided time span but i'd like to go for three weeks or so. we shall see.

pink dream juice: serves one or two

1 beet
2 carrots
2 apples
1 orange
3-4 pineapple slices
1 cucumber

wash, cut, peel and slice as needed. then juice 'em up! mmm so sweet. i would have added spinach but i couldn't lose that gorgeous colour from the beets so i left it as is.