Posts from — May 2010

Now that summer is near, most of us need to be drinking more water to stay hydrated. Even mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you tired.  According to Dr. F. Batmanghelidj who wrote the book, “Your Bodies Many Cries for Water” he believes that Unintentional Chronic Dehydration (UCD) contributes to and even produces pain and many degenerative diseases that can be prevented and treated by increasing water intake on a regular basis such as preventing heartburn, backpain, migranes, asthma, and other ailments. Click here to learn more about his groundbreaking work .

There is so much information out there about how much water we should be drinking a day and everyone’s needs is going are going to vary a bit , some say 64 ounces a day (8 ounces 8 times a day), some say more than that. According to the Mayo Clinic website  a good rule of thumb is to drink enough fluid so that you rarely feel thirsty and produce 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) or more of colorless or slightly yellow urine a day.

Regardless of what the experts say I bet most of us could feel better if we drank more water, but if you are like me you are not always motivated to drink enough water. I’m not a fan of plain water, but luckily I’ve found a way to make it taste really good so that I actually enjoy drinking it! Here’s my simple recipe:

Citrus Mint Water

You can use a big glass water pitcher or make it one glass at a time.

Add a few slices of one or a combination of the following fruits: apple, lime, lemon, orange, grapefruit, and/or cucumber and add them into your glass or water pitcher.

Then add a sprig of fresh mint.

To make it over the top, you can add a few drops of liquid stevia, my favorite is Sweetleaf’s brand Lemon Drop, naturally flavored Stevia.

 I can’t wait until our stevia plants start growing and then I’ll add a few stevia leaves to the water to replace the liquid stevia.

Make it a glass at a time if you want it at room temperature, or put the pitcher in the refrigerator and make sure you drink it in one or two days at most before the fruits go bad.

For a fizzy soda type drink you can use natural sparkling mineral water, which should help you kick the soda habit forever!

It tastes so good, especially with the stevia, I’ve never enjoyed drinking water more and I’ve never felt so hydrated.

Enjoy!

♥,
C

Most people I know involved in the raw food movement including myself eat some cooked food at least occasionally. On today’s blog post I wanted to give a healthy suggestion of what to eat when you’re not eating raw:)

When my husband and I were in Venice Beach not to long ago we came across this amazing restaurant that serves Macrobiotic style food call Seed Kitchen For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Macrobiotic diet, it is a primarily whole foods diet that focuses on seasonal organic food. The staples of the diet are traditionally prepared grains, vegetables, beans, and sea vegetables. Click here for a more in depth explanation of the Macrobiotic diet.

When I went to Seed Kitchen I ordered their Macrobiotic bowl which contained perfectly steamed brown rice, kabocha squash, black beans, shitake mushrooms, steamed kale, seaweed, and fermented vegetables. I sprinkled it with gomasio and it was one satisfiying bowl of warm goodness.

When I’m in the mood for something heavy and warm I try to recreate this bowl at home using the below ingredients:

For the grain element I use steamed brown, wild rice (or a mix of both) or quinoa. Quinoa is a lighter grain and it’s the easiest and most quick to prepare grain that there is!

For the squash element I have used steamed Kabocha, Delicata, Butternut, Curry Squash, but any winter squash will do.

For the bean element I usually use well cooked black beans or black eyed peas because they are my favorite, but any bean like pinto, navy, white, or kidney will do. Sometimes I skip the bean element because it requires soaking the beans in water the night prior. If you do decide to cook your beans make sure to cook them with a piece of Kombu seaweed for the minerals and Kombu helps soften beans and makes them more digestible.

I stick with steamed Shitake mushrooms for the mushroom element for the health benefits and the taste. I’m so lucky I get to buy organic Shitakes at the Santa Rosa farmer’s market, but you can get them fresh at a quality grocery store. If you can’t find Shitake mushrooms you can skip the mushroom element.

For the green element I usually use chopped and lightly steamed collards or kale but any leafy green will do.

For the seaweed element I’ve use soaked and rinsed wakame or you could use steamed arame, laver or my favorite, silky sea palm.

For the fermented vegetables you can use your homemade or store bought raw fermented veggies like sauerkraut or kimchi. Most health food stores carry these items in the refrigerated section just make sure the ingredients are just vegetables and there is no vinegar or sugar added.

I make homemade raw gomasio by putting 1/2-1 cup of hulled sesame seeds in my Vitamix with a little sea salt. If you don’t have a Vitamix you can try grinding the sesame seeds in a spice/coffee grinder or a mortar and pestle. Keep it in a sealed container in the fridge and you can use it as a nutritious seasoning during the week.

After you have cooked all the ingredients you can put a little of each of them in a big bowl, sprinkle with your gomasio, and if desired finish it off with a good quality cold pressed oil such as hemp or olive but I’m sure it would taste good with some sort of tahini or miso based dressing (chickpea miso is my fav because it doesn’t contain soy).

I only eat this for dinner because it’s pretty heavy if you’re not used to eating a lot of cooked food, but it really hits the spot and it’s full of massive nutrition such as iron, calcium, zinc, omega 3′s, beta-carotene, protein, fiber, and it’s low fat!

♥,
C

Do you like those raw energy bars you can get at the grocery store? I love them, especially when I’m traveling or too busy to prepare something, having one on hand gives me a little energy boost. When I was traveling in Southern California recently, a typical breakfast for me was a non sweet green juice from a local juice bar and a yummy raw bar. Talk about a breakfast on the go:)

Making your own raw energy bars can be just as satisfying as buying them because you get to control exactly what ingredients to include and make them taste exactly how you want!

To make them you’re going to need a food processor and a blender (a high speed blender is best ) or a spice/coffee grinder that will grind seeds.

The basis of a raw bar is dried fruits and nuts or seeds but you can also add your favorite super foods such as spirulina, carob, maca . . . and your favorite spices such as cinnamon and vanilla. You can use one nut or seed or a combination of different nuts and seeds. I like to grind my seeds first in the blender and if I’m using nuts I like to food process them in the food processor with the S blade until they reach a coarse flour like consistency.

Here is a recipe I came up with recently and you can use it as the basis for making your own raw bars.

Lemon Omega Bars

1 well packed cup of soft medjool dates chopped really fine
2 cups raw dehydrated coconut
1/2 cup ground chia seeds*
1/2 cup ground sesame seeds*
2 tablespoons lemon zest (I like mine really “zingy” but you can use less zest if you don’t, I used the zest of about 6 lemons)
10 drops lemon stevia (optional)

First grind the chia seeds and sesame seeds in a blender or a grinder until fine. Then add all the ingredients to the food processor with the S blade on and process them until they are well incoporated. Then press the “dough” firmly into a small glass pan greased with coconut oil (optional), 8 X 8 works well. Cut them into bars or squares and then freeze them in the freezer at least overnight. Pop one out any time you need a boost. Makes 16 squares and 8 bars.

*I used chia and sesame seeds because I wanted to get my omega fatty acids and I find them easier to digest than nuts but for a richer (better tasting) bar I recommend using 1 cup ground almonds or 1 cup ground brazil nuts ground in the food processor with the S blade.

Fun!

This is another one of those everyday recipes I wanted to share with you. Speaking of everyday raw recipes my friend Shea Lynn Baird came up with 2 incredible e-books called, What Raw Chef’s Really Eat.

In the E-books you will find out how 15 raw chef’s eat everyday and their favorite everyday raw recipes. Both e-books contain over 80 everday raw recipes from top raw food chef’s including Matt Samuelson, Melissa Mango, Abeba Wright, Chaya-Ryvka, Cherie Soria, and many more including yours truly:) Click Here to learn more about the What Raw Chef’s Really Eat E-books.

 ♥,
C

I often get asked, what do you eat in a day? I hesitate to answer the question because what I eat tends to change seasonally, it changes with new information I get about nutrition, and it changes depending on what I’m in the mood for:) Also, I would venture to say that everyone is just a little bit different in their tastes, metabolism, their caloric and nutritional needs so what might work for me may or may not work for them. I don’t want people to feel like they need to eat exactly like me or someone else for that matter!

I will say though, that I keep it really simple. Yes, their are a lot of beautiful gourmet raw food recipes out there and I definately appreciate them when I’m making food for a raw dinner party, celebration, or raw potluck, but day to day I actually feel so much better and have more time if I keep things light and simple.

 As a general outline, I typically eat a large green smoothie  (about 40 ounces worth broken up into two servings, two hours apart) for breakfast. For lunch I prefer to have a raw blended soup, and for dinner I usually have a large salad sometimes with one of the following: steamed veggies, squash, brown rice or quinoa and sometimes not. Dessert usually consists of some coconut kefir sweetend with some flavored stevia. Throughout the day I munch on carrots and apples. That’s the basic routine for this week anyways!

I wanted to share you with you a really simple blended soup that I’ve been eating almost everyday. It’s a recipe that can change slightly according to what’s in your fridge. This is not a gourmet recipe and I probably wouldn’t make it for a dinner party, but it’s what I eat almost everyday.  It’s easy, and it keeps me happy and satisfied.

Cecilia’s Everyday Blended Soup

3 really ripe medium sized tomatoes
1/2 of an apple (for sweetness)
1/4 of a red, yellow, or orange bell pepper
1/4 of a medium cucumber
1/4 of an avocado (for consistency)
1 green onion (white part only)
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 small cloves garlic (or 1 large clove)
few pinches sea salt or pink salt to taste or a small handful or dulse seaweed (for saltiness)
cayenne pepper to taste

Garnish (choose all or only a few)
Your choice of chopped green onion (green part only), chopped cucumber,chopped bell pepper, chopped apple, chopped tomato, and/or chopped parsley
Sprinkle with ground pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, or whole hemp seeds
Sprinkle with dulse flakes or kelp granules
Top with sauerkraut (optional)
Drizzle with olive oil

Rough chop the tomatoes, apples, and cucumber. Then add all the ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth. I choose different garnishes everyday, whatever I happen to have on hand. The more chopped vegetables you put into your soup the more filling it’s going to be. You can add fresh herbs and seasonings to the soup such as basil or oregano for variety, whatever you have in the fridge works:)

If you are curious about what other long term high raw foodies (love that word) eat you’d love the Monday Night Live Presentations, “What the Top Raw Chef’s Really Eat” – two 90 minute panels of some of the country’s top raw chefs talking about what they eat everyday! For access to the presentations and over 100 HOURS of Audio and Video from some of the top raw food educators in the country as well as experts in other fields please check out the Monday Night Live All Access Pass It’s a wonderful resource to keep learning about health, raw foods, the law of attraction, and much more in the comfort of your own home.

Have fun with your blended soups:)

♥,
C