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! 

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!