Taco Tuesday! #thebomb

Last week for taco Thursday (I like to be different, ok?)  I posted these bad boys on my IG: RawFoodNerd (Check it out!) and got several requests asking for the recipe.

Romaine hearts as "shells" or "boats" for your favorite dips are an excellent and fun way to eat more greens without always feeling like you have to eat a salad. Chips and guac, anyone? 

So I decided I better share this recipe with you guys too..for taco Tuesday, which I suppose is the more "traditional" weekly celebration of all things taco. The salsa is the perfect combo of sweet, tangy, and a hint of kick to spice things up and the Mexi Mac & Cheeze is reminiscent of sour cream; the perfect cooling agent if you like your tacos especially spicy or if you were like me and used to lob on the sour cream quite liberally. 

Honestly, I don't care when you eat tacos, but you NEED this recipe in your life- it's that good! 

What you will need: (all of my ingredients were organic)

Food Processor

• 1 head of romaine
• 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 juicy ripe mango
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 lime
• 1 large handful of cilantro
• 3-4 zucchini, shredded
• 1 ripe medium tomatillo (optional)
• 4 scallions (chopped; green tops only)
• sliver of hot pepper of your choosing
• 1/2 avocado

Salsafy Your Life: 
In a food processor pulse together your tomatoes, red bell pepper, mango, two of your chopped scallions, tomatillo, 1/2 of the [whole] lime (peeled), cilantro, and your sliver of hot pepper. Set aside until you are ready to assemble zee tacos!

Mexi Mac & Cheeze:
 Peel and chop off the ends of your zucchini. In the food processor, push the zucchini through the blade that allows you to shred veggies (or you can do this manually with a grater)

In a separate bowl mash your avocado, juice from 1/2 a lime, and the green tops from the other two scallions. You want the mixture to be as smooth and creamy as possible

Once you have shredded your zucchini and made your avocado sauce you can now combine the two together, making sure the zucchini and the sauce are fully incorporated. 

I like to add extra cilantro to my Mexi Mac & Cheeze because I am a bit of a cilantro-freak, but you can abstain from adding more cilantro if you choose. I know most people like their Mexican food/tacos spicy so feel free to add more hot pepper if you wish. I, personally, am not that crazy about spicy food so I only add a little just to give it a small kick. 

This is a different version of Mexi Mac & Cheeze where I spiralized
the zucchini instead of shredding it. And then I added in
additional chopped scallions, tomatoes, & red bell pepper. You
can see the flecks of cilantro too! Love the green!

Now, for the best part- assemble and EAT!

 There is nothing better than being able to take your old favorites and make them healthy and Positively Plant-Powered without having to sacrifice an ounce of flavor! 

Exotic Eats!

Happy Thursday everyone! Time for a small update!

"Open heart, open mind."

Getting my stretch on before Bikram. I'm on Day #3 of my 100 day Bikram yoga challenge. (I will be talking more about this next week after my Friday update on The Cane Juice Chronicles)

Still drinking cane juice like it's my job. It's been so beneficial for alleviating sore muscles. I can't wait to share my findings with you guys as far as my running goes!

I've also been eating ginormous quantities of jackfruit lately. We've been going up to San Gabriel Valley to hit up 99 Ranch at least once a week and we've been getting 2 15-20 lb. jackfruits at a time...which I polish off all by myself by the end of the week.

Sweet and juicy! So much yum!

If you've never had jackfruit it kind of tastes like pineapple and bubblegum. In fact, it is rumored that Juicy Fruit Gum was supposed to mimic the flavor of this exotic fruit.

I wasn't really into jackfruit like this until recently when I went to a Fruitluck and had the most bombing fresh jackfruit! After that, I was hooked. There is such a clear difference in taste and texture in fresh jack vs. frozen jack. I find frozen jackfruit to be very chewy and almost gummy. It's decent, but if you really want to experience everything this fruit has to offer I would suggest biting the bullet and picking up a fresh one.

It should be soft and fragrant when ripe; I've read that it should smell a bit over-ripe and that's a good sign that you've got a delicious jackfruit on your hands.

Durian! King of fruits!

Also, this happened today. Everyone's favorite stinky fruit, mmmm DURIAN! I, personally, do not find it's smell that offensive, but I know lots of people do. To the extent that in Asian countries where this fruit originated, Thailand, for example- this fruit is banned in hotels, buses, trains, most public venues. Poor Durian, but that's ok because what it lacks in appealing smell it makes up for with the most amazingly creamy, sweet, almond-y vanilla custard!

A lovely treat for a beautiful, sunny Thursday in California!

Enjoy the rest of your Thursday and don't forget to keep it Postively Plant-Powered! 

What I Eat Wedesday, Raw Vegan Persimmon Pudding & Soft-Serve!

What to do when you've got 40 + pounds of ooey gooey sweet ripe end of the season persimmons left? Well, you make persimmon pudding of course! ...And then you top it with double vanilla soft-serve and mulberry-graham... Boom! The ultimately guilt-free, dairy-free, nut-free power bowl! 

Persimmon Pudding w. Double Vanilla Soft-Serve topped with Mulberry-Graham

Part of living this lifestyle is buying fruit in bulk. And if you are like me, you tend to kind of over do it sometimes when your favorite fruit comes into season! Other than durian, persimmons are my favorite fruit. As you can tell, I am very pro-versility here and I like fruit that can be used in both sweet and savory dishes. (Check out my previous post here for my Butter Lettuce/Zoodles (Zucchini Noodles) w. Tomato-Persimmon Ginger Dressing and here for my Festive Persimmon Salad w. Spicy Persimmon & Sun-dried Tomato Dressing)

This is the ultimate twist on your standard sundae, without the habitual guilty conscious that typically follows. You should never feel guilty about eating nourishing bowls of delicious goodness like this. Fruit is fuel. Not just for your body, but for your brain. Recent studies have shown that fruit raises serotonin levels in the brain and serotonin is a lovely little chemical that keeps us feeling happy; who doesn't want more of that? 

Here is what you will need: 

• 10 ripe, peeled, frozen bananas 
• 5-6 ripe (soft and squishy) persimmons 
• 10 dates 
• 1.5 cups of dried mulberries (Hunza is my favorite brand) 
• 1 cup coconut sugar (optional) 
• a vitamix or food processor 

Instructions: 

In a food processor or vitamix, pulse your mulberries + coconut sugar until you have a crumbly, flour like consistency. Sometimes, if I am craving a bit more texture I will reserve some mulberries and add them in afterwards, only pulsing a couple of times so I still get some lovely chewy bits mixed throughout. 

Put your mulberry-graham to the side in a separate container. 

Next, let's make the double vanilla soft serve! 

I use a vitamin here so it is a bit easier for me because I can throw the bananas in whole and get a great arm workout while using the tamper to push the bananas into the blade. However, if you are using a blender or a food processor, this will be a bit more of a time consuming task. 

For the blender you are going to want to make sure your bananas are a bit thawed and cut into smaller chunks that way it will be easier for the blade to chop them up. I would add 1-2 T of coconut water first to assist in the blending. I would also recommend doing this in advance that way you can throw your soft serve back in the freezer if it gets too melty. 

If you are using a food processor I would suggest also cutting your bananas into chucks and only blending half of the bananas straight through. Then pulse in the rest so that it helps maintain the soft-serve like consistency that we are going for here. 

For the double vanilla kick, I use Vanilla Powder + 1-3 drops Sweetleaf Vanilla Stevia. However, you can feel free to use alcohol-free vanilla extract, whole vanilla bean, or Vanilla-infused Coconut Sugar!  

For the persimmon pudding I throw all my persimmons into the vitamix or blender with my 10 dates and puree until super smooth. 

Now comes the fun part, assembling & eating! 

In nice big bowlI pour in my persimmon pudding. Then I layer on my double vanilla soft-serve. And lastly, I top it with a whole lot of mulberry-graham! Feel free to assemble or add your own little twist to this sundae!

This is a less artfully layered version where I did persimmon pudding, double vanilla soft-serve,  more persimmon pudding and topped it with date caramel and mulberry-graham. 

For more of my daily eats, tips, and recipes check out my Facebook page, Postively Plant-Powered or my instagram: RawFoodNerd. 

Breakfast of Champions

Ok, let's talk bananas...

As a high carb, predominately raw, fruitarian I eat a sh!t load of bananas.

What people think ripe bananas look like:

WRONG!

What RIPE bananas ACTUALLY look like:

If your bananas are green, then they aren't ripe, If your bananas aren't spotty, then they are not ripe. If your bananas don't effortlessly break from the bunch, then they are not ripe. Unripe bananas = constipation and indigestion. Unripe fruit is starchy and unpalatable, whereas ripe fruit is sweet and delicious- full of easily absorbable fructose that your cells just soak up!

There's a lot of fruit-shaming going on in our world today and often people blame the fruit they eat for sour stomaches and poor digestion when really the fruit was just an innocent accomplice to poor food choices, combinations, and lack of ripeness.

Why you should eat bananas: (Preach!)

• Bananas (other than being incredibly delicious) are actually great for soothing an upset stomach and aiding in the correction of poor digestion since they are high in fibre and actually function as a natural anti-acid. Have an ulcer? Really hope you don't, but if you do, bananas coat the lining of the stomach creating a barrier against corrosive acids. 
• They contain a great deal of pectin which helps move degenerative toxins and heavy metals out of the body
• Full of tryptophan, which gets converted to serotonin, they help combat depression and elevate mood.
• High in potassium, they are a sure-fire solution for cramps
• Bananas also help increase calcium absorption 
• They are also full of B-vitamins, manganese, and a host of disease-fighting antioxidants! 
• Great source of ENERGY! Bananas are the original protein-brotein shake! Easily assimilated, digestible workout/post-workout fuel! 
• Bananas are the ultimate weight loss fruit! They keep you satiated and carbed-up which will prevent you from reaching for unhealthy, oily, fatty, salty snacks throughout the day. 

And it just wouldn't be right for me to leave you without a banana recipe so you can begin to include some 'nanners into your daily diet! This is a personal favorite of mine and I typically have it for breakfast and/or lunch when I am not digging into some super, sweet melon. It's a staple in my 'diet' because I can pack in a lot of carbs that won't leave me feeling weighed down. I tend to have this on days where I know I am going to be doing Bikram yoga AND running later in the afternoon. 

Banilla Kreme Smoothie

optional, to add some variety to your budding banana relationship: include a handful of pitted dates, carob powder, cinnamon, or all of the above!

15 Organic, ripe spotty bananas 

3 drops Stevia Sweetleaf Vanilla Cream drops 

2-3 cups of distilled water 
(depending on desired consistency)

Blend until creamy perfection is reached! 

Unripe bananas? Ain't nobody got time for that! #7 baby, for the win!

Spotty ripe banana chart and unripe banana picture from google images 
Banana facts from food matters.tv

Quick & Easy Raw Meals for the New Year

Happy New Year everyone! I know I am a little behind and it's been 2014 for at least two weeks now, but I have been hard at work putting together some new delicious recipes for the blog and my future e-book, which hopefully will be coming out this summer.

In honor of 2014 I wanted to share with you a couple of incredibly simple and satisfying raw vegan fruit-based meals that I have been enjoying as of late.

The first is a sweet mango vanilla pudding topped with thawed organic blueberries and tart crunchy pomegranate seeds. It takes less than five minutes to make and you can find the ingredients in virtually any supermarket. I purchased mine from Trader Joes, mostly in the freezer section. Frozen fruit is a perfectly acceptable way to get your fruit in especially if you live in an area where getting quality fruit in the winter is more difficult.

Mango-Vanilla Pudding with Organic, thawed Blueberries & Pompom Seeds

Ingredients: 

One bag of thawed, frozen mango chunks or two ripe mangoes, peeled and chopped 

1 bag of thawed, organic blueberries or 1 punt fresh organic blueberries 

dash of vanilla powder 

seeds from 1 whole pomegranate

Blend mango and vanilla in high speed blender until smooth. Pour into bowl and top with blueberries and pom seeds. 

This pudding is light, creamy, and so so sweet. It's easy on digestion, a great way to refuel, and full of healthy carbohydrates that will keep you energized throughout the day! 

The second recipe I want to share is for a savory salad that I ate nearly everyday during the holiday season. The dressing is really what makes this salad and the flavor just explodes in your mouth! It's overt-fat free, salt-free, and oil-free, but it tastes so rich, you would never been able to tell! You can also put this over zucchini and/or cucumber noodles -- I've done both! 

Butter Lettuce w. Tomato-Persimmon Ginger Dressing

 

This dressing totally reminds me of French Dressing! However, this is a dressing that is actually GOOD for you!

Tomato, Persimmon, Ginger Dressing over Zucchini Fettuccine

Ingredients: 

4 ripe (soft to the touch)persimmons

1 pint of cherry tomatoes

1 cup of mango

3-4 sun dried tomatoes, soaked

knob of ginger 

handful of chives 

In a high speed blender combine the mango, tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, and ginger. Taste to make sure flavor is on point-- you want to really be able to taste the ginger as that is what gives it the yummy kick! Blend until smooth and then add in your persimmons. Blend again until creamy consistency is reached and at the end pulse in chives. Pour over salad or noodles of your choice. 

In the first picture I poured my dressing over butter lettuce with chopped tomato, mango, and chives. Best.salad.ever! 

In the second picture I used the dressing for my zucchini noodles. And this was actually my Christmas Day dinner! Several of my family members tried and it loved it as well!

If you try either of these recipes, please let me know! I love to get feedback! Enjoy!

The Unlimited Calorie Mentality

As I mentioned in my last post, eating a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle does not automatically correlate to sacrifice. So, I figured, I would show you how a high carb, low fat, plant-based vegan gets down by posting my general eats.

Now, let me be clear, I'm tall (5"7') but, I'm quiet lean weighing in at no more than 110 lbs of pure muscle. However, I can pack it away, often to the shock of other people who simply don't know WHERE all that food goes!

I can assure you that I eat more food in one sitting than my husband. And I probably eat more calories in a meal then some people eat in a whole day.

On a high carb lifestyle, calorie consumption is of upmost importance. And I personally eat an upwards of 3,000 calories a day (primarily coming from sweet fruit), never, ever calorie restricting. I eat until I am full and satisfied and I don't have to moderate my intake or feel guilty about anything I eat.

*Just to note, all these meals follow proper food combining and are salt and oil free.*

Every morning without question I always drink at least 16 oz. or more of distilled water. I do this to flush out my system after a full night of detoxing, regenerating, and healing. It also hydrates my muscles and gets me energized and ready to work out! Sometimes I add some lemon, which is especially good for removing toxins from the body and also functions as an electrolyte.

After I workout, which either involves me going to Bikram Yoga or running & taking a spin class, I always re-fuel with a juicy, mono-meal. Mono-meal, meaning I eat only one type of fruit until I can't eat anymore. I am melon apologist of the highest order. I love love LOVE honeydew and golden melon. I can effectively count on both hands the days where I have not had some type of melon this year. In the summer, watermelon aptly becomes apart of this wonderous rotation.

When I am eating melon, I usually eat anywhere between 2-3 melons depending on the size. And I will generally eat one whole watermelon on my own.

 My next meal functions as what I like to call 'linner' which is a mash up of lunch and dinner, i.e. late lunch + early dinner. I don't like to eat at night because it makes me feel groggy and bloated the next day. Eating early ensures that my food is completely digested before I go to sleep and thus, I sleep more soundly at night. Also, my body can do what it was intended to do while I sleep, and that's remove toxins and heal versus having to focus on digesting my meal.

That being said, my linner meals are quite large, very high carb. I always make sure to carb-up with a large amount of fruit before I move onto the savory part of my linner - whether it be salad, zucchini pasta, or a savory stew.

Cucumbers w. Mango Herb Dressing + Arugula 

Cucumber Pasta with Peach Nectarine & Heirloom Tomato Salasa

Romaine lettuce, Cucumbers, Grapes w. Lemon Dill Tahini Dressing

 Zucchini Pasta w. Sun Dried Tomato & Nectarine Sauce

Butter Leaf Lettuce Fruitful Salad w. Blueberries & Mango-Cilantro Dressing

(I indulged in that perfectly ripe pile of bananas to the left before I ate this salad! Incorporating fruit INTO my salad is like getting two for the price of one, as i'm able to make sure I carb up AND get my greens in, satisfying my sweet tooth and getting my minerals!) 

Mango & Heirloom Tomato Salad w. Spring Mix, Mint,& Basil 

Two Different Mango-based dressings: Mango-Celery Sage & Mango-Tomato w. Pomegranate mixed in for added crunch!

 Sometimes, I like to just have a dinner entirely composed of sweet fruits. In the warmer months that most definitely means I am eating bowls and bowls of fruit-based ice creams. I have written extensively about my fruity ice creams on this blog so I won't get into too much detail here. These are delicious and loved by all. I have found that desserts are the best way to introduce omnivores to a plant-based lifestyle - it's familiar, approachable, and everybody loves sweets!

Mango-Banana Ice & Papaya-Banana-Date-Cinnamon Ice Cream

 topped with Passion Fruit & Pomegranates 

     

As I mentioned above my "Linner" falls into the late lunch/early dinner category, so by the time dinner actually does roll around I'm usually still not hungry, but more so I crave calories of the liquid variety aka i'm thirsty! As a particularly active person I like to make sure I am topping off my calorie intake so at night I usually go for high-quality juice like Lakewood Organics. Their Pineapple Juice is my absolute favorite! Each bottle is 4 servings and each serving is 120 calories so in one bottle I get nearly 500 calories, huzzah! Not to mention, this juice contains no added junk, it's strictly pineapple juice that has been fresh pressed and the fiber from organic pineapple! In addition, pineapple is notoriously excellent for digestion and it's even better in juice form! Obviously, juicing your own pineapple is numero uno, but I am more concerned with not allowing myself to be under-carbbed than I am with the fact that this was pasteurized; high quality juice is a perfectly acceptable option!

Lakewood Organic Fresh Pressed Pure Pineapple Juice 

Another one of my go-to nightly drinks is fresh squeezed orange juice. There is nothing more satisfying then drinking OJ you juiced yourself- the taste and quality are second to none. I typically juice about five lbs of oranges, give or take depending on their size, which is generally enough to fill my 32 oz Vitamix carafe. OJ is a potent blend of vitamins and a remarkable immune booster. It helps cleanse the body of toxins and when juiced in this way the fiber remains intact so as to aid in cleaning out the system. I love love love orange juice, but don't be confused-- not all OJ is the same. Tropicana and conventional OJ often contains animal by-product in the added form of Vitamin C they use to fortify it. And because their OJ typically comes from oranges that are picked before they were ripe, it tends to be very acidic; both in taste and inside the body. However, while ripe oranges, and fresh pressed juice as shown here are actually alkaline once inside the body.

Fresh-Squeezed Organic Orange Juice

My last and final example, and shhh, don't tell the others - but, my favvvvorite, is raw cane [sugar] juice! You have not lived unless you have tasted this delightful, refreshing, sweet bottle of liquid gold. Cane Juice is actually considered a grass so it totally counts as a green juice! ::high five:: I like to get mine frozen and let it thaw halfway and then I blend the frozen juice with the thawed juice and it's like drinking a very indulgent milkshake. I believe it the ultimate cravings buster. It's also great for pre and post-run fueling! For a more complete description of all the amazing benefits of drinking cane juice click here!

Organic Raw Cane Juice

So there you go, a SMALL sampling of the food I typically consume on a plant-based lifestyle. From my perspective, this is not limiting at all. I believe in eating food that makes me feel like my best self and plants (fruits and vegetables, high carb/low fat) is the way to go if you want to feel like your BEST self too!