super food energy bars with cacao

These are chock full of super foods to provide your body and mind with long-lasting energy to get through your busy (or leisurely) day. What have they got? Chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, cacao nibs, raisins, dates and coconut. You can't beat this recipe as far as nutrition goes. Try to find organic varieties of each ingredient - and of course raw! 

I was snacking on the mix as I made the recipe and immediately felt a difference, they gave me enough strength to get through a workout and then they made an excellent post-exercise snack, paired with my green protein smoothie. I had a bit of extra mix that I shaped into tiny cupcakes and I thought... hey, I could top these off with dark chocolate to make it a sweet super food treat. Done. 

If you want real, raw, cruelty-free, high quality, efficient and delicious energy bars - you've got 'em right here. Don't look at those sugar- and refined protein powder-filled candy bars in the grocery store that for some inexplicable reason happen to be called "power bars". It's a joke. The best brand on the market is the Larabar (or the Clif bar for more protein) but you can make better recipes yourself, plus add in a bunch of other awesome ingredients. You've got the power! Get it...

super food energy bars with cacao: makes about 15 bars

1 cup walnuts

1/3 cup chia seeds

1/3 cup ground flax seeds

1/3 cup hemp seeds

1/4 cup cacao nibs

1/4 cup coconut flakes 

3/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup dates 

1-2 tablespoons melted coconut oil, if needed

Throw the dry ingredients (keep a little bit of each ingredient to add in a second) in your food processor, then add the dates and raisins and process until everything it starts to stick together. If too dry, add more dates or coconut oil. Put in the remaining dry ingredients you left out and mix in with your hands. Press into a lined pan and set in the fridge for an hour or more. Cut into bars and store for up to one week. If you have extra, shape them into cupcakes and top off with raw chocolate.

energy elixir

as i said on my facebook, i was feeling a bit drained yesterday after my weekend. but today i got TONS of sleep (maybe too much - i just kept sleeping because my dreams were so enthralling...) then had a great workout and drank a gorgeous pink jar of juice.

yum yum. i'll give you the recipe in a minute (or - due to the magical nature of the internet and time-space continuum - you may just scroll down.) last night i felt like just having juice today to get my energy back and guess what. it's already returned! all it took was some deep sleep, weight-lifting, and the elixir of living fruits and vegetables. i made a glass for mom too, since she was in desperate need of some nourishment after a busy day of random errands like getting a bunch of knives sharpened.

oh! just remembered something. heard of global girl? well if not - check her out. she just did a raw vegan dessert round-up for her fave recipes; one of them is mine. yes, i am indeed tooting my own horn. if you've got a problem with that - well you can DRINK MY JUICE!

oh wait, you should do that anyway. 

everything awesome life juice: serves two

2 carrots

3 tomatoes

2 apples

1 cucumber

3 slices of pineapple

4 beets

chunk of ginger

lemon

2 bell peppers

i think that's all i put in there... 

wash, slice, peel, chop and cut as needed. throw it all in the juicer! not literally, that would be messy. drink!

oh one more thing. PLEASE take a listen to this amazing woman. she is a visionary in my opinion. her albums are "projects" and she makes a video for each song. you can watch them all in a particular order and it becomes an emotional journey. she keeps you guessing. it's beautiful. 

10 day juice fast: day 3

seriously... where are all of the terrible detox symptoms? today was another great day. i feel on top of the world. i've noticed all my senses are heightened. my emotions are also very strong, but easy to control. i feel quite light, as if i'm floating sometimes. i can feel every cell in my body and it's a magical experience.

last night i suddenly became very tired around 10 PM. i could hardly keep my eyes open. but after watching a movie with my friend i gained all the energy back! i wanted to run around and do everything at once. i couldn't sleep until 5 AM. i woke up at 11 AM or so, which is early for me. as i'm typing this - i'm realizing that's only 6 hours of sleep; yet i feel great!

my parents are being really understanding with this (PHEW!) and my mom bought me a bunch of fruit yesterday for the coming week of juice fasting. i cut up some pineapple this morning :) i need to get some more cucumbers, carrots, and celery though...

look at this beautiful juice! it is a work of art. it was made of:

handful baby heirloom tomatoes
2 carrots
2 stick celery
1 orange
1 apple
chunk of ginger
2 slices pineapple
2 bell peppers
1 kiwi
huge handful kale

YUM! looking at these photos is making me want more... maybe later. 

along with heightened senses, i am really appreciating music these past 3 days. i love my music and am so grateful i have the collection i do, but for a week or so leading up to the fast i was beginning to tire of listening. now...

forget it!

i am loving every single song that comes on, and i'm listening to it in a whole new way. so wonderful. i'm really in the best mood right now, and have been since i started fasting. i feel elated. 

my friend gave me this CD of radiohead remixes and it's so impressive. you probably won't like it - it's a bit weird - but give it a shot. i was listening to this song at the bus stop the other day and dancing (literally like no one is watching, i just don't care) when a man approached me and asked if i was aware i looked crazy. i said yes and thank you.

i had tons of positive energy today so i went downtown to buy a dress for my friend. on the way back it started raining and i soaked it up :) i stood on the street holding my arms out, staring at the sky. lovely! i could feel every drop hitting my skin and i was totally connected with the clouds.

for my second juice i used a papaya mom bought for me. the juice was made of:

1 orange
chunk of ginger
handful of baby heirloom tomotoes
2 slices pinapple
1 bell pepper
1 kiwi
huge handful lettuce
1 papaya
1 lime

i added some lime to the juice because whenever i eat papaya i put on lime juice. they're best friends and should always be together. 

i had a terrific bath today as well. i posted a link on facebook but if you didn't see it, no worries. all you need to know is to put olive in your next bath! it makes your skin sooooo soft. i added some lavender oil too, of course. 

tonight i'll be taking it easy. see you all tomorrow! love.

lavender vanilla dream balls

i dreamt about these, woke up and wrote down the recipe, then went back to sleep. hence the "dream" part of the title. all my dream recipes are so much better than reality ones.

these were a big hit. my family loved them and so did my friends. i really tried to do something sans chocolate, but hey - can you blame me? i'm sorry i dipped these delicious, healthy treats in dark chocolate.

sue me.

you can leave out the chocolate, but - no surprise - i recommend adding it. chocolate and lavender seem to like each other, and who am i to deny them a great relationship?

for some reason the coconut oil in these did not want to be part of the party. i only put in about 2 tablespoons but it wouldn't combine with the other ingredients! you can see it soaking into the cutting board... hopefully this won't happen for you. start with 1 tablespoon and see what it does.

after rolling out all the balls with my friend, we had coconut oil dripping from our hands - literally! so i just rubbed it all over my body. yum! i love when the food i eat is also the stuff i put on my skin to keep it glowing and healthy. like avocados, bananas, oats, papaya, lemon, mango, etc.

vanilla lavender balls: makes around 25?

1/2 cup coconut chunks

1 cup walnuts

1 cup cashews

3/4 cup dates

1-2 tb melted coconut oil

1-2 tb agave/maple syrup (optional)

1/2 t salt

1/2 t cinnamon

1/8 t ginger powder

seeds from 1 vanilla pod

2 t vanilla extract

1 t dried lavender

2-3 tb hemp seeds

in food processor, process coconut chunks and nuts until they're crumb sized. add dates and pulse until it clumps together. add all other ingredients and process until it forms into a ball.

roll this into balls and then dip in raw chocolate, or melted dark chocolate. stick 'em in the fridge for maybe 10-15 minutes and then gobble them up.

Protein Chia Pudding

I had this after my workout a few days ago. It was very tasty and full of protein to rebuild the muscle tissue I just broke down =) If you like chia - and it's unusual texture - you'll love this.

Chia is a superfood. It has tons of protein, healthy fats, fibre, and gives you long-lasting energy. And yes, it IS the seed that grows those goofy ch-ch-chia pets. Who knew one of the most nutritious foods on the planet is only used to decorate our porches?

I want to talk more about chia and it's benefits but I gotta go workout!
Here's what some are saying!
Here's another good site talking about it's benefits.
Or just google it.ORR read Brendan Brazier's books. He is an elite endurance athlete who is a vegan and mainly raw. He talks loads about hemp, chia, flax, etc.

Muscle-building Chia Pudding: makes 1 serving

2 Tb chia seeds

1/2 cup water

1 Tb hemp

1 Tb ground flaxseed

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t vanilla extract 

Handful of raisins

Honey (optional)

Mix water with chia and let it gelatinize a little, add other ingredients and flavour to your liking. Enjoy!

like balls?

I must come up with a new name for these... but I can't think of anything catchy. Hemp spheres? Globes? If they were covered in coconut, I could just call them snowballs. Ah well, I'll think of something. For now, it's fun to see peoples' reactions when I offer them big ole chocolate hemp balls. They're really good though! And not too sweet.

My friend was going to Nanaimo for the weekend to visit her mysterious, grammar-obsessed lover; and she asked me if I could help her make something gluten free to give their family.
Since I couldn't use my sprouted flours or any of my more expensive ingredients since I was giving it away (yes... I am cheap), I took advantage of the sprouted buckwheat I had.

We used that for the base and added cocoa, hemp seeds, agave, cashews, peanuts, flax seeds, coconut oil and vanilla. Processed it all together and rolled 'em into balls. Then covered them in hemp seeds to make them pretty. The jury's out on whether or not the Nanaimo-ians liked them... but I think they're tasty. Perfect for a pre-workout snack, or just sustained raw energy in your busy day =)

raw energy hemp balls: makes 18 or so, I like big balls (sorry, couldn't resist)

1 1/2 cups sprouted buckwheat

1/2 cup cashews/peanuts

3 Tb maple syrup

1/3 cup raisins/dates

1 t vanilla extract

1 Tb coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup ground flax seeds & hemp seeds

3-4 Tb cocoa/cacoa 

Process buckwheat into rough flour, add all other ingredients and blend until you've a got a chocolatey dough. Add what else you want. Roll the dough into balls and roll those in hemp seeds until they're covered. Chill for 1 hour if they're not hard enough, or have them at room temperature. Enjoy!