another juice fast

hello, my sweet, plant-loving comrades.

i have decided to go on another juice-alicious fast. why? let's start at the beginning: i didn't tell you that when i THOUGHT i had strep throat and couldn't swallow without flinching for a week... i actually had MONO. it was total agony for seven days and i hope i never go through it again. would've been nice to know what i actually was suffering from...

thanks a lot, doc.

he tells me AFTER i recover... cool. anyways, that's not really relevant but you must deal with it. tough. the point  is - i didn't eat for a week. the first two days i just drank tea, lemon water and miso soup, the remaining days i basically went on a juice fast. it reminded me how much i love juice, and how much i appreciated my previous juice fast (search "juice fast" on my blog to get my posts about it.) it made me want to complete another one.

so i have the best news ever... for me, anyway. 

we (mom and i) have officially ordered our OMEGA VRT350 JUICER!!! i am way too excited about this, people. but as i said to my girlfriend - at which she promptly laughed - "why can't everyone get this stoked about juicing!?" as you may have noticed, i have gradually fallen head over heels for juice. i used to be a smoothie girl all the way. i will always keep a place in my heart for my green smoothies. but i have warmed up to juicing. i used to dislike the absence of fiber but my mind has been changed. taking out the fiber allows for instant assimilation... it is the fastest way to get the highest quality nutrients in the greatest quantity. simply put: it's excellent nutrition in a glass.

we should get our juicer in about five days (fingers crossed, canadian postal system) and then i'm going to sell our old juicer to my friend. at that point she will join me in a juice fast! i am really excited about this because i've only ever cleansed and/or fasted by myself. i think it's gonna be loads better with a partner. i don't want to set a number of days this juice fast will be, but i'd like it to exceed ten days (the length of my last one). we will see. i plan to listen to my body.

i'm going to be reading up on juice fasting this time too. so far i've gotten juice fasting & detoxification, and juicing, fasting and detoxing for life - sound pretty enthralling, huh?

just wanted to give you all a heads up about this! i will be posting recipes for shampoo and conditioner soon, as well as some salads and other raw concoctions that have come from my twisted mind and dutch-inspired kitchen. love all. drink juice.

twelve balls of love

it's my girlfriend's birthday. she is now 19. but we have an ongoing joke that she's actually 12, because she can act pretty silly. she brings out the goofiness in me as well; this is a good thing because i can be too serious sometimes... no really.

to show her my adoring devotion and love i made her 12 chocolate covered peanut butter balls.
they're pretty freakin good.

we were SUPPOSED to go out like every night this week and party until the wee hours of morning (19 is the legal drinking age in canada). but i have gotten a terrible swollen throat so i've been really sick for five days now. it hurts to swallow and i can't eat any solids! what a BUMMER, right? ah well, i will make up for this lost party time when i recover. it's turned into a liquid cleanse i guess? gotta look on the bright side.

for now though, i need to seriously rest and recuperate. i've been drinking tons of lemon tea, miso soup and hot water. also been doing some salt water gargles. i juiced some fruit and veggies yesterday and today and it actually tasted AMAZING. very soothing.

i think this is a virus or bacterial infection or something. if it lasts more than a week (oh god please no) i'll have to go to the doctor but i'd rather not. i prefer treating illnesses myself and naturally. i'm not too concerned at this point.

i'm going to take advantage of this time and read some good books (atlas shrugged, cat's cradle), have a bubble bath, watch some good movies (back to the future trilogy, anyone?), catch up on sleep, and i guess detox since i can't eat anything... i wish i could eat these.

my mom said they were PERFECT and couldn't be improved, which i was actually thrilled-out-of-my-pants to hear (well, i don't wear pants, so, skirt) because she is my toughest critic - which i much appreciate. i hope you agree with her. if you make this recipe, let me know how it goes and if i should change anything because the recipe written here will be slightly different than what i did.

make 'em mostly raw by using raw jungle peanuts & peanut butter!

chocolate peanut butter love bites: makes 12 and ONLY 12 (teehee)

center:
1/3 cup peanuts
1/4 peanut butter
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 oats
2 tablespoons almond butter

chocolate:
3 tablespoons almond butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 heaping tablespoons cacao/cocoa 
1/8 teaspoon salt
teensy bit of cayenne and ginger powder
1-3 tablespoons almond milk
1/2 dark or raw chocolate bar, melted (optional)

coating:
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 teaspoon salt

in your food processor, blend all the ingredients for the PB center together until it forms a ball and you can press it together. form them it into balls and put in the freezer.
to make the coating, pulse the nuts and salt in the food processor until they're like large crumbs... you can see in the photos. put in a large bowl and set aside.
to make the chocolate, blend all ingredients together in the food processor until smooth, it will start thickening fast so take out your frozen PB balls and dip them in the chocolate, then roll them in the chopped nuts. stick back in the freezer for an hour or two and voila! 

i love you, amber! xox

vanilla bean ice cream

you know that popular recipe i have for "the best raw vegan ice cream ever"? i am a liar. that stuff is off the chain, but nothing - and i mean, nothing - can compete with this recipe. it's one ingredient, stupid-easy, fat-free, around 150 calories, filling, full of fiber, dairy-free, delicious, and the best soft serve you will ever eat.

i sure hope you like bananas.

that's right, all that's in this recipe that's really necessary are frozen bananas. for the pictures you see here i added vanilla seeds, some sweetener and lemon oil. the possibilities are endless with this, feel free to add whatever you like. i'll be doing several variations in the future with ingeniously clever names such as: chocolate craze, caramel swirl, gone nuts... oh that's all i got. damn. that wasn't impressive at all. maybe you guys can help me think up some cute names? 

i am currently suffering a terribly uncomfortable sore throat and all i am capable of consuming is liquids; miso soup, tea, hot water. i've been having a lot of lemon (good for the throat and anti-inflammatory) to soothe my discomfort and hopefully bring the swelling down. that explains the lemon in the ice cream! this has been my dinner for two nights now, it's the closest thing to solid food i can have. grrr. 

the truly best raw vegan ice cream ever: serves one

2 frozen bananas

Optional add ons: 

seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 tablespoon maple syrup/date paste

throw everything in your blender and blend until GORGEOUSLY smooth like vanilla soft serve - i can never get over how pretty this looks. make sure to keep pushing the bananas down into the blades otherwise they'll just get shredded into small pieces and stick to the side.

"it tastes like christmas!"

Today was my wonderful, funny, strange, and vegetarian friend Emily's birthday (yes, one of my best friends names is the same as mine). I gave her numerous hugs and a tart.

The crust tasted like crumbly Reeses, even though the only nuts in it were sprouted walnuts. That and some dates, cinnamon and cocoa. I molded that into a tart shell (remembering my mom's b-day present, anyone?) and then filled it with a chia seed caramel sauce. Which was just gelled chia seeds added to the caramel recipe.

I let it refrigerate overnight and then decorated it before I ran to meet her at the SkyTrain station.

It's a wonderful world we live in, when you can make something that tastes THIS GOOD, and is also crazy-good for your fabulous bod at the same time. Plus, it's easy to make and turns out really cute! The prefect gift for that special someone, an impressive dessert, or an (uber healthy) treat for yourself.

So go on, make this tart and enjoy life. What's not to like?

Goji Berry Caramel Tart: makes 4-5 or so, but you won't have any problems with leftovers

Crust:

1/2 cup walnuts

1/3 cup soaked dates

1/4 cup cocoa/cacao

1 t cinnamon 

1 t vanilla

1 T coconut oil, if it's too crumbly

Process all ingredients until it's like dough (but a little crumbly). Press it into your favourite tart shells and freeze while you're making the filling.

Caramel Filling:

Handful Brazil nuts

2-3 T raw honey/agave

1 t vanilla extract

7-10 dates, soaked for 30 minutes or so if you can - but don't dump the water!

3 T almond butter

2 T tahini

2-3 T coconut butter, melted 

1/2 t cinnamon
Pinch salt 

Water as needed (preferably the date water)

1/6 cup or so coconut flakes (doesn't really matter, you be the judge)

2 T chia seeds gelled with water

Process Brazil nuts into fine pieces, add all other ingredients EXCEPT coconut flakes and chia seeds. Process until it has a caramel-y consistency. You may need to add some water or more of the other ingredients. Try it. Your mind should be exploding now. If not, continue tampering until it reaches the mind-blowing stage. Add the coconut flakes and gelled chia.

Spoon this into the frozen tart shell crusts and let it freeze for maybe another 30 minutes. Then carefully take the crust out of the mold, not letting it break! Chill until you need them, and decorate with goji berries or anything else!