Pinha and Bananas

Pinha is one of my favorite fruits in Bahia, Brazil. English name is sweetsop. Looking at the outside it is so contraty of what is in the inside. So beautifully packaged by nature. The shell protecting the soft pulp with many black seeds, which I have been collecting. Taking a spoonful into the mouth and eating the creamy pulp around the seeds which come off perfectly is such a treat.

How beautiful is this cluster, "hands" of bananas. A gift from a family in one of the villages. Brazil is the second highest producer of bananas in the world, second to India. The majority of the large production serves its domestic markets and the largest consumer of the fruit in the world. Below is the red variety. Also a gift.

Passion Fruit /Banana Frozen Cream

Blend in food processor:
frozen bananas
1 or 2 passion fruits, depending on size
coconut pulp
small handful of almonds

that's it. so easy. delicious.
do it.

Fruit Cobbler in Paradise

Here's a deep-dish fruit dessert with topping. I changed it up a bit from last time, being that I am in Bahia, Brazil and the ingredients can be different from New York.

blend in food processor and pour into casserole dish
2 cups peaches/strawberries
3 dashes cinnamon
3 tablespoon coconut oil
coconut pulp
1/4 cup honey
dash of salt

Add bite size pieces of peaches and strawberries or one or the other on top.

pulse in food processor and pour onto fruit mix
1 cup pecans
coconut pulp
2 tablespoon coconut oil
2 dashes of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of vanilla

dehydrate

In Bahia my dehydrator is the sun. It works beautifully. I place the dish into a pan with water so no ants get into this delicious sweet meal. Next time i will make it with mangoes, passion fruit and cashews, doesn't that sound exotically delicious?

Look at this fabulous branch of coconuts bought at the mercado. We have become daily coconut water drinkers, so we need quite a bit and the price is affordable at 50 cents a coconut.

This is half fresh orange juice, half coconut water. Oh so delicious.

Are you thinking this might be paradise?
YES IT IS!!

Coconut Water

I have been drinking one or two coconut waters per day. My body is just absorbing it, craving it. The nourishing feeling is amazing. Coconut water is filled with natural electrolytes. What a perfect food. The pulp is put in smoothies, eaten right from the coconut or saved in the fridge for a great snack. At the mercado we buy them by the branch, there's about 7 on it at 50 cents each. At the coconut stands they are about $1. Loving them oconuts.

Pomegranate

Loving this wonderful fruit, the Pomegranate.

Rawkathon

Here he goes again, that Kevin. Full of spirit and goodness. So looking forward to this event!!

FREE Access to These Living Food and Health Experts by Online Video, Phone, or Web
for One Week ONLY! Online Starting October 19th, 2008!

Rawkathon

"This is your once in a lifetime opportunity to WATCH or listen in to the easiest, and quickest ways to transform your health, stay on track and reduce cravings from 14 of the world's foremost health, raw and living food nutrition experts and medical authorities!"
Kevin Gianni
Founder - Rawkathon and co-producer of Raw Summit

Inspired

I very much appreciate Jinjee's, Daily Raw Inspiration at the The Garden Diet.

The Q&A she offers is very informative. She is on top of raw things. The latest being Raw Food and Orthorexia Nervosa as presented on 20/20.

Organic Tomatoes

This morning our neighbor brought to us these beautiful organic tomatoes from his garden. A lovely gift. I know it will not last long, I love tomatoes. Cut up with a little sea salt on ......delicious.

Shazzie on Raw Vegan Children

Shazzie is doing super essential work. Her soon to be published "Evie's Kitchen" will help raw/vegan families address many of the questions that are needing answers. Meanwhile she is offering the radio interview, free of charge on this subject.

This is a crucial topic for parents and parents to be. Keeping this subject open and on-going is a must. You can't mess with your precious little one's well being.

Avocado and Prunes Creamy Kickin' Dressing

Kristen's, avocado and prunes creamy kickin' dressing is kickin'.

I'm loving her recipes lately.

Also her "Easy Raw Dehydrating" ebook is fabulous.

My salad is shredded carrots and beets with chopped kale and pine nuts.
Topped off with the avocado and prunes creamy kickin' dressing.

Super delicious.

Food Matters

Have you seen this DVD yet?
Food Matters, You are what you eat.
Watch the trailer.
Get the movie.

"Let thy food be thy medicine

and thy medicine be thy food"

Hippocrates

Fluffy Green Smoothie

Kristen's Fluffy Green Smoothie I just had to have. It is a perfect drink and yes, it is fluffy. Great way to get some apples into the body which I normally do not. Yum! Thanks Kristen.


1.5 cup water
2 handfuls spinach
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2-3 apples (Iused 3, they were on the small side)
blend

My Italian Buddha

I am still dreamy from our trip to Italy. As we passed through a small town in Italy, in the window of a studio were these buddhas. I thought they were sitting there so sweetly, meditating. To me Buddha symbolizes peace, compassion and wisdom. A good reminder. I wanted one of these simple little sculptures. We went into Brigitte's art studio. There were more of these lovely buddhas on the shelf. They made me smile. Even though they were very similar, I took each one in my hand and looked at them. Then I chose the one that would come back to New York with me.
This one is my Italian Buddha. How sweet is that blissful face. May we all have peace and love in our lives and wisdom to guide us.

Sun Tea

Sun tea to sip on and for my smoothies. This one is green tea.

Save The Whales!!

This is funny and very sad!

Please open and read.

>>>SAVE THE WHALES<<<

Chia Goji Pumpkin Seed Muesli

so light and refreshing and so yummy!

soak about 2 teaspoons of chia seeds in about 1/2 cup of water.
soak a handful of goji berries, just to cover so water soaks into berries and puffs them up.
when chia is jelled and goji's are puffed, mix together.
add some pumpkin seeds and sweeten with agave.

it's pretty and delicious.

Ciao Italia and hello USA

We are back from our honeymoon in Italy. The food was amazing. I had tons of water to drink, it is plenty in beautiful glass bottles. The green salads were so fresh and delicious. Fruit always available at the markets. I relaxed about not having everything I wanted to eat and no guilt feelings about eating some pizza and some pasta....hey it's Italy. A vigorous hike this was, with a good detox sweat. A dreamy trip forever to be remembered. Tomorrow, I will purchase the ingredients for my green smoothies and all the lovely raw foods that I love.

Lunch

Lunch at Bellagio overlooking Lake Como was simple and fabulous, except for the ending......decadent. A perfect salad, a vegetable soup and wine. Wine is a must at lunch and dinner and water too! I love how no salad dressing is offered, olive oil and balsamic is placed on the table, for me that's perfect. The fish that is in the picture was my husband's....it was from the lake. I am not an ice cream person, however in Italy gelato is a must. Of course we ordered one for dessert with a capuccino. I had two spoonfuls....it was out of this world. Ciao!!

Eating in Italy

This was tonights dinner. There's a great market near the hotel and we took salads out. Also bought some fruits. I have been very good at eating lots of salads and eating lots of fruits. I had some bread a few times and my skin told me to stop it....I was itching. Earlier we sat out in a cafe and had some red wine and olives and a few other items. When purchasing take away meals, you have to pay for the utensils, salt (it is sea salt..how wonderful), little packs of olive oil and lemon juice, etc. I think this is a great way to keep waste down. If we had this implemented in the USA, I believe people would only take what they need, because they would have to pay for it. Of course we are paying for it, it's factored into the price. It felt good being conscious of what I truly needed, not just grabbing a handful of stuff. Dinner was delicious!

Indulging!

We are on our way to Italy for our honeymoon. I will be indulging in some amazing cuisine. I have never been to Italy and I understand the food is the best. I will keep it vegetarian. Of course I will drink a lot of good, bottled water. Eat tons of fruits and veggies. We are driving through the lake regions.....so beautiful. So exciting.

CIAO BELLA!!

Green Gazpacho

Absolutely delicious dinner this was.

3 roma tomatoes
1 cucumber
2 celery stalks
large handful of spinach
about 1/4 cup of mixed herbs, I used: basil, oregano & parsley
2 scallions
1/2 lemon juice
salt, pepper to your liking
blend till nice and smooth
serve with fresh dill sprinkled on top

a side of cut up avocado made it complete

Dilly Dally Kale Chips

Sorry, I do not remember whose raw blog I got this recipe from. It is delicious. I made two trays of it and it never made it into a bowl. Kept going to the dehydrator and picked at it till it was gone.

Wash and devein a bunch of kale leaves.
Tear into palm size pieces.
Put in bowl of salted (1 tsp.) cold water.
Take kale in hands and squeeze for 30 seconds to bruise.
Drain water, do not rinse.

In separate bowl mix the following:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon honey or agave
1-2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Mix above with kale and sprinkle with dried dill.
Place in dehydrator until crispy.
See if yours makes it into a bowl.

Tonic Oxygen Bar

When in Boulder, Colorado you must get yourself over to Tonic Oxygen Bar on 10th Street. What a fabulous little shop. Three of us sat on cushy, comfortable sofa chairs breathing in our individual oxygen session, my choice was "Three Wise Men". For me it was extra special since the essential oils used in the recipes are my favorite: pure, therapeutic blends. With it I had a cup of Straight-Up Cacao (raw hot chocolate).....yummmm! There's also Maca Cacao and Kava Cacao. Although a bit outdated, here is a good description of the oxygen bar.

On another note, I am so thrilled to know that Oprah who I respect and admire very much is doing a 21 day vegetarian cleanse. Being that she has been on a deep spiritual journey, I thought what a great time to include this cleanse.

Inspirations

Sharing some inspirational sites:

Pear Magazine is filled with a colossal of information. Jinjee's daily "Raw Inspiration" arriving in my email is always uplifting...... sign up for it. The subscription to the online Pear Magazine has been an incredible read. Loving it!
Raw Mom is a blog written by 8 raw food moms, sharing their adventures, lifestyle and motherly tips.
Juice Feasting hosts of the 92 day juice feasting program, for extraordinary health. Their motto, "cleanse, rebuild, rehydrate, alkalize". I do plan on doing this program at some time. Having done mini juice feasts, I know this will be a transformational experience.

Cucumber Salad

Having grown up on Hungarian food. This is one recipe I continue to use.

peel cucumber
slice as thin as possible
sprinkle with sea salt
add crushed or chopped garlic
add a small amount of vinegar
mix
sprinkle with black pepper and paprika
cover and let it sit a while to marinade
mix and serve
If any is left store in refrigerator, delicious next day too!

Acerola

Look at this gorgeous fruit, acerola.
Super high in vitamin C.
Beautiful little red berries. They look like miniature apples.

Blend acerola with water.
Strain.
Add agave.

Have been drinking tons of it.

I've been Tagged

I've been tagged by the lovely Carmella of The Sunny Raw Kitchen.
I am to list five things that you may not know about me.
Here they are:
1. I live in Brazil six months of the year, escaping the winter months of New York; when it is gorgeous summer in Bahia, Brazil (I am there now).
2. I was born in Budapest, Hungary.
3. I speak Hungarian, English, Spanish and learning Portuguese.
4. Absolutely love to listen to and go to Krishna Das' concerts. Beautiful, powerful devotional chants.
5. I am very involved in helping a small community in Bahia, Brazil.

I am tagging five others. Raw Girl in Japan, Penni at Real Juice Daily, Rediscover Raw Food, Gina at My Craft & Sewing Projects, and Julie at Is there a Shadow?
The rules are: link your tagger, share five facts about yourself, tag 5 people at the end of your post, linking them and let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog. Post the rules.
Have fun!

Watermelon juice with lime juice

Delicious and hydrating.
Pure watermelon juice made in blender. No water added.
Squeeze 1/2 lime or to taste.
Mix.
Refreshingly wonderful.