apple sandwiches with date caramel + almond butter

These are really fun to make, and super healthy. Oh and as you can tell from the photos - so easy they hardly need instructions. Slice up some apples and layer them with caramel and almond butter. Yum! Make these with kids and you will make some new little friends. 

They actually taste like candy or something... it's almost too good to be true. But then - isn't zucchini pasta almost too good to be true? Yes. Yet it exists. Thanks, Mother Nature and innovative kitchen equipment. So eat as many of these as you want and feel great afterwards about yourself and your awesome healthy, humane, eco-friendly choices.

apple sandwiches with date caramel + almond butter : serves 2 to 4

4 apples
Almond butter or other nut butter

Caramel:
1/2 cup dates
2 tablespoons liquid coconut oil (or use water... won't be as creamy though)
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional) 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Make the caramel: blend all ingredients until smooth. 

Assemble: Slice the apples thinly from bottom to top and then core each piece. Now layer each slice with alternating caramel and nut butter. Enjoy!

protein party

this bowl is packed full of protein for your muscles! it has banana, nut butter, goji berries, coconut, and cacao nibs. it's terrific for after a workout, or whenever you want a filling, super healthy snack or meal.

i believe the perfect post-workout food is a green smoothie (greens, fruit and water/nut milk) with hemp seeds or some other high-protein food added. That being said, you need a variety of protein in your diet, just as you need a variety of all foods so you can get the most out of the nutritional landscape surrounding us.

after my workout today (and said green hemp smoothie) i did a few things around the house and on the computer but then started to get hungry again. i decided to make a healthier version of oatmeal. NOT that oatmeal isn't healthy. i've always loved it, personally. but i try to keep gluten out of my diet when i can, and use the most nutritious whole grains possible. thus, my "oatmeal" today had millet quinoa.

or maybe couscous... honestly i can't tell the difference because i don't use grains that much and the jar wasn't labelled. but you get the point. when i first got into raw food i was a whole lot stricter than i am now. i realize i can't eat 100% raw all the time and i am now quite comfortable with that reality. i also believe that eating mostly raw with some lightly cooked veggies and whole grains is probably more ideal for my body than eating all raw.

many hard core raw foodists suffer omega-3 deficiencies after some time, but whole grains such as quinoa, millet, barley, couscous, etc. are rich in omega-3's (as well as other vital nutrients that can be in short supply in a raw food diet). read this book for more info on this topic. another option is to simply sprout these grains instead of cooking them. in any case - my health is my primary concern, not the percentage of raw food i eat. so go couscous! ... or millet. i dunno (nope, apparently it was quinoa. thank you, knowledgeable readers.)

whole grain protein bowl: serves one

1/3 cup whole grains (like millet, couscous, quinoa, oat groats, etc.) cooked in 2/3 cup water
1 sliced banana
1 tablespoon nut butter
1 tablespoon raw sweetener (or throw in some dates or raisins)
2 tablespoons dried goji berries
1 tablespoon cacao nibs
3 tablespoons dried coconut chunks 

throw it all together and eat it up! 

bananas, peanut butter & chocolate - OH MY!

I've learned that I'm definitively addicted to kale chips and exercise, and in the past two days I've realized the combination of peanut butter, chocolate and banana is also a substance I cannot resist. That's right - today I have made MORE peanut butter cups for you (see my other recipes here, here, and here)... enjoy.

SIDE NOTE: This is my 100th post! Hurraw!

I don't know what it is... but all those components together create something so beautiful, delicious, perfect... so right. Peanuts are chocolate's best friend. Somehow they taste better together than chocolate does with any other nut or seed butter. I guess they're soul mates? When I made PB cups two days ago they were amazing (duh) but I had an epiphany. "Why don't I add banana to this!?" So I did.

Yes. I put a slice of banana in these peanut butter cups. 

You know it's genius. 
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This recipe isn't raw, but you can make it so really easily. Just use raw peanut butter and chocolate! Pretty simple. I have cashew butter so I used some of that along with PB (I have jungle peanuts but I wanna use my cashew butter up before I make raw PB), and I don't have any raw chocolate currently so I used the dark Lindt we have. Mmm.

Jungle Peanut Butter Cups: makes 2-3, they're really big

1 bar dark/raw chocolate

1/3 cup raw nut butter/jungle peanut butter (I used a mix of PB and raw cashew butter)

1 sliced banana

Melt 2/3 of the chocolate and cover the inside of pliable cupcake molds with it. Refrigerate until they're hardened. Now spoon 1/2 the nut butter into each one and layer on a slice of banana. Put on the rest of the nut butter. Melt the rest of the chocolate and pour on top of the cups. Garnish with a jungle peanut, coconut flakes, or a goji berry if you have it. Perdy. Refrigerate until they're solid, take them out of the molds, eat! 

"vegan goes mainstream"

I often write to newspapers, journals, authors, TV shows and companies with my thoughts on their articles, episodes and products.

If I see something I like, I let them know! And if I see something I dislike, I also let them know. Either way, they're appreciative and I get my vegan, environment-loving voice heard.

I've had my letters and whatnot published a number of times before (our family seems to have a knack for being presented in social media) but this time, I have a blog to show it in! Here's the article.

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And here's my letter; they shortened it somewhat:

It's not a big deal, but for those of you reading - I say get out there and write letters! Tell authorities, companies, and influential people what you think is important and bad/good for your community. They want to know!

This letter isn't anything powerful or particularly important, but my point is that you should be active in your community =) It's fun and can sometimes lead to great things.

Anyhoo, not much else to report today. I had some trippy dreams last night about oranges, motorcycles and sugar. Tonight I ate a butt-load of broccoli with a yummy cashew-garlic sauce =) And I think tonight I will stay in and perhaps watch a movie. Maybe enjoy a few dates filled with nut butter:

Have a great Friday night!

nature's fudge

Eat this as soon as possible. It will improve your life.

Not to be too blunt, but this is a mouthgasm for sure. Better than any candy bar I've ever had, AND it packs a nutritional punch. I eat way too many of these.

There's not much else to say except that you will not be able to have just one.

A Moment of Happiness: serves one

 

1 dried medjool date, pitted

1 teaspoon almond butter (or other nut butter, you could even use chocolate)  

Cut the date in the middle and fill it with the nut butter or chocolate. (Pretty simple, folks.) EAT.