Cinnamon Roll Smoothie

This morning I made a wonderful recipe inspired by the lovely Joanna, of one of my favorite blogs Promoting the Raw Food Diet while De-bunking the Myths.

Click here for the Cinnamon Roll Smoothie recipe
another broken recipe link above...so sorry here is the recipe: Ingredients: - 2 cups Brazil nut milk (blend 2/3 c. Brazil nuts and a little vanilla bean with 2 cups water and 2 T agave nectar. Strain.) - 1 piece vanilla bean (about 1 inch) - 2 T agave nectar - 1 t cinnamon - 3 small frozen bananas - Dark syrup such as agave nectar or yacon syrup. Directions: - Blend all the ingredients together except for the dark syrup, which you will use to drizzle the inside of the smoothie glasses (optional but pretty!) - Pour the liquid into the decorated glasses, and sprinkle a little more cinnamon on top.
I took a little short-cut, and simply put the frozen bananas, a few Brazil nuts, cinnamon, vanilla bean, and a little water in the blender all at once:)

I drizzled some yacon syrup in the glass to decorate, as Joanna did. Next time, I want to try a swirl on the top:) I thought this looked so pretty when I first saw her post, I knew I would have to make it:)

Thank you so much, Joanna, for this wonderful recipe! It really does have all the yummy flavor of cinnamon rolls:)

You may want to check out this post at Joanna's blog for an awesome giveaway for Purely Delicious Magazine, a publication focusing on the raw food diet! How awesome is that?!!! This giveaway has ended~Congratulations to Tale of Two Vegans

ETA~Raw Juice Girl at Healing with (Raw) Juices is having a Glass Dharma giveaway!

Quickie post today...looks like I may have to shovel some snow:)

Halloween8

Here is another eerily tasty beverage idea for a Healthy Raw Halloween party.

Swamp-water Smoothie

Ingredients for smoothie:
6 fresh pineapple spears
2 frozen bananas
4 cups baby spinach
1/2 cup fresh mint
1/2 cup water

For garnish:
1 tablespoon hemp seeds
1 tablespoon chia seeds
6-8 of the tiniest mint leaves
6-8 goji berries, soaked and sprinkled with a few chia seeds, optional for ladybugs
1 coconut skull ice cube, optional*

*For ice cube, blend the meat and water from 1 young coconut until smooth and freeze overnight in a skull mold. The mold holds 3 cups, my coconut was 2 and 1/2 cups, so it did not fill completely. Pass under warm water to make it easier to pop out of mold.

If using coconut ice sculpture, put a small custard cup up-side down in bottom of punch bowl, as the ice will sink. You can let it sink if you want it to reveal itself as your guests serve the smoothie:) Another suggestion is to use two ice molds(back to back), or just an ice block, to elevate the skull from the smoothie.

1. Combine pineapple, banana, spinach, mint, and water in high speed blender until smooth.

2. Pour into prepared bowl. Lay scull onto custard cup, if using.

3. Sprinkle with hemp seeds, chia seeds, tiny mint leaves, and goji ladybugs, if using.

Of course, you can make this with any flavor smoothie and ice sculpture. A green smoothie skull in a light tropical smoothie would look awesome too!

The ladybugs are from my Ladybugs on a Log. They would be a cute snack for the little ones at the party.

Ladybugs on a Log

Ingredients:
1 stalk celery
1 tablespoon almond butter
5 dried goji berries, soaked for 1 hour
1 sprinkle chia seeds, pictured, or poppy or black sesame seed

Preparation:
1. Wash and dry celery.

2. Fill with almond butter.

3. Sprinkle berries with seeds, and place across almond butter.

A variation:
ladybugs on a "raft"
Top sliced apple,pear,banana the same way.
Sprinkle the fruit slices with lemon or orange juice if making ahead (to slow browning)
Sprinkle with cinnamon, optional before adding the "ladies"!

Another quick fruit idea for the kiddies:)

Spooky Silhouette Slices

1. Simply cut slices of any fruit. Apple and pear can be sprinkled with lemon or orange juice to prevent browning. Melons work well for this idea.

2. Cut out center of apple or pear slices with a tiny cutter shape large enough to remove any seeds. Discard this cut out if it has seeds.

3. Cut out a contrasting color of fruit slice (the same thickness) with same shape.

4. Fill in the hole with contrasting colored fruit shape. All edible scraps can be blended into smoothie:)

I have also made these with geometric shapes to teach basic shapes to little ones:)

This eerie edible is a version of my goji jam and apple fries:

Cut fruit with bone shaped cutters and serve with a side of red jam for dipping:)
Remember to sprinkle apple and pear with lemon juice, and a sprinkle of cinnamon if the little ones like it:)

Good Morning!

One of the benefits to eating primarily raw food is the extra energy you may experience. Most mornings, I wake up at least an hour before I need to, feeling good and ready to go! Lately I have been sneaking out quietly and going for an early morning walk. I love this special time of day...the air is so fresh. The trees are filled with singing birds. Just me and the little critters I hear scurrying in the woods as I walk by:) I live close to a pretty lake, and it looks so lovely with the early morning mist on it. I can slip back in the house before anyone knows I'm gone. It's a great way to start the day.

This morning, after making breakfast for my family and sending hubby off to work, I looked in the refrigerator to see what would make a good smoothie. There were quite a few types of berries, so here is what I made:

Blissful berry smoothie













1/2 pack acai
1/4 cup strawberries
1/4 cup blackberries
1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup red raspberries
1/4 cup dried goji berries
2 medjool dates, pitted
1 cup of ice

just blend it all up and enjoy!
p.s.
I did not really measure out all the berries, 1/4 cup is approximately a small handful for me:)

There are so many benefits to eating berries.

You can see their antioxidant value here.

I have been enjoying acai for about 3-4 years now , but is there yet another "super" berry????
Oh nooooooooo!

This smoothie is a quick way to get in all the goodness of berries, but just eating them by the handful is my favorite!















These little guides pictured with the wildflowers I picked this morning have been a great help. The orange flowers are butterfly weeds, the white daisy is the oxeye variety, the lacy white one is queen anne's lace, the shiny yellow flower with 5 petals is a buttercup (not edible).

It's not easy being green!

Being "green" is becoming more mainstream. In the following picture are new glasses made from recycled glass. They were found at a major department store, and they actually are green:) We liked them because they are so thick and less likely to break, which is the only problem we have with glass.

Several health food stores I go to have the stainless steel containers for sale. The smaller one is the perfect size for lunch, you can see it here.

Bamboo is a nice option for cutting boards and other kitchenware items , as they are a resource that is easily renewed.

Eating raw is very eco-friendly. Most of the food does not come in packaging. I bring my own reusable shopping bags to the store, and keep my purchases in glass jars or in the refrigerator. Glass is a great option for reusable straws, as well.

Another great way to be green is to use organizations like Freecycle in your area, and to frequent the goodwill and salvation army thrift stores. It is much "greener" to make use of older items, rather than buy anything new. They have some great nearly new and vintage clothes. You can sometimes find very unique, lovely housewares. If you can, donate your unwanted items to these organizations, rather than throw them away.

I admit, I am not as green as I'd like to be, but whenever making a new purchase, I try to make a greener choice if it is available:) Where we live there are not many options for shopping close to home. If you are interested, go to the sidebar for some green links!

Here is the smoothie recipe:

favorite green smoothie













3 fresh pineapple spears
1 frozen banana
2 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup fresh mint
1/4 cup water

blend all ingredients in blender until smooth!