My first proper green juice!!

I said I was going to juice so that's what I did. Put all things green I could find in it, including a whole romaine lettuce, a green pepper, a bit of chard from my plant!! a stick of celery, half a cucumber, mung bean and aduki been sprouts and some sunflower seed sprouts!! This made about 600ml, and it tasted much better than I thought it would! In fact, it tasted rather nice and I enjoyed it!!!!! Unfortunately I am having trouble uploading photos today, but you can take my word for it - it looks like pond water, but don't let that put you off!! (TIP - if you refrigerate any remaining juice and come back to it 8 hours later, it does not taste very nice - room temperature surprisingly seems to be best)

So I had that about 10.30am and to be honest with you I was hungry until 3pm when I ate some raw dahl (see the 'recipes' entries) so lots of lovely lentil sprouts there, and a load of celery. So I actually fasted for 24hours apart from this green juice as I didn't eat anything after about 2pm yesterday. I never thought I'd be able to do that, but I can! After that I wasn't really hungry at all but for dinner I had a medium green salad, followed by a decent bowl of oats, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds and cacao nibs, as I don't want my weight to drop. But I haven't had any sugar today, yay!

I have decided to do a 7 day green juice fast at the end of August when I have some time off work. By that time I should have grown some wheatgrass and can do it properly. Right now though it's going to be the week of the sprouts. I have got loads of alfalfa and mung beans on the go. Mung beans sprout so fast which is great.

Finally, my parents friends brought us some vegetables from their garden - loads of beetroot, a huge lettuce, mange tout and shallots!! Amazing. The lettuce was so impressive I took a picture, of course!

Brian and Anna Maria Clement

I went to the lecture with Brian and Anna Maria Clement today in London. It was very good - they are both very charismatic and fantastic speakers, particularly Brian. I will try and summarize! -

Nutrition/food is not a faith but a fuel to a life that is worth living. We have to achieve this through positive thought and self-value. He advised writing down 7 things we like about outselves every night before we go to bed to help with this. We also make internal realisations - the answers can't be found outside ourselves (i.e. with food) but only within us. If we eat living foods this will allow us to move up out of our physical (I think that was the word he used, or something along those lines) energy centre in our lower abdomen to our emotional and intellectual energy centres in our heart and our head respectively, into a state of consciousness. We need light food in order to do this; eating bad, heavy food keeps us unconscious, if you like, at this base level. It is easier at first to find raw substitutes for the heavy foods we are addicted to from our cooked food days (eg. raw flax bread, raw chocolate) however, this is almost certainly better than old eating habits and is a positive way of transititioning to an optimum raw/living foods diet.

The distinction yet interrelation of food itself and emotional-cognitive function was really thought-provoking and illuminating to me. It is commonly thought amongst raw fooders that raw food will help you think and feel more clearly, and Brian stressed that 'the answer' is not in the food itself. This is worth exploring further. When I remember that I am a raw vegan, and while I am preparing the food, I know that this puts me in vibrational alignment with 'Source energy', a state which allows you to realise your true self. I think it is easy for the distinction to become blurred for me because the person I want to be, how I want to realise 'my truth' is by bringing the gift of raw food to other people. Where potential problems lie is I get pleasure from actually consuming the food for it's own sake. Emotional dependence on food consumption is a complicated topic in itself which many would say (including, funnily enough, an article in the latest edition of Get Fresh I was reading on the train home) needs to be addressed if I find myself searching for happiness through a bite of something tasty. Noting this distinction will hopefully help me move forward.

And kicking my addiction to fatty and sugary foods, (evident in my sweet avocado pudding every night) which Brian pointed out we all have, is one way of doing this. I said yesterday I think a green juice fast may be in order, and I now feel even more certain of this. I want to really simplify things to give myself the best possible nutrition and allow my body to realise what it really does and doesn’t need. I think it will also uncover more about my preferences, desires and needs in my emotional-cognitive life. I am a little apprehensive about what could be dug up, but I think it will be worth it.

So it's time to get sprouting, as I'm going to need a lot to make 50% of two 16oz servings of green juice per day!! Anna Maria’s recommendation is also 2oz of wheatgrass twice a day, and to include pea shoots, so I'll have to look at getting some of those. Mung beans, aduki beans and alfalfa I can do. Good thing I bought that chard plant last week too as that will save me a fortune! (It is doing well actually, and my tomato plant has started to flower!)

It has taken me ages to write this! But it’s been a very worthwhile exercise because it is now clearer than ever. I am aware that raw fooders can be very persuasive, but having gone away and examined what they’ve said, it is clear that I already knew all this on some level. My only confusion now is to where this leaves me with all the wonderful gourmet recipes I learned last weekend with Russell James – I guess I just have to go with it and not worry if things change. And of course I’ll be keeping the blog updated with these changes!

Reflection on another eventful week

Now I've got down that Blueberry Yoghurt recipe, I can go on to say this week has flown by and I have not even made a single blog entry, even though I have loads to report.

People at work are very interested in my diet, some positive and some less so. One lady said this week, 'but Amy, you're not exactly (she paused for a moment while she chose her word carefully) hearty are you?' Presumably meaning I was thin. I just stared at her trying to formulate an answer that would reveal and reject the implication that in order to be healthy you need to be a bit fleshy, all in one short and succint sentence. Of course I failed and said nothing.

After receiving a complaint letter from a customer saying that they'd had food poisoning for a week after eating some kipper fillets bought from the supermarket where I work, I jokingly said to my boss that, of course, you don't get food poisoning from vegetables. He, quick as a flash, answered 'No, you just die from malnutrition.' Why I can't I be so sharp as that! This time I consciously decided it best not to enter into discussion, gave a polite titter but said nothing.

On the whole though I think most people are genuinely intrigued - there are two colleagues who always bring up veganism whenever they talk to me, and they obviously give quite a lot of thought to it and seem to understand where I'm coming from, even if they don't completely agree. Happily, the one lady who has been rude to me ('Are you eating real food today or grass?') is out working in another store for the forseeable future.

Moving on - this week I have spent much less time preparing meals and neither my stomach nor tastebuds have suffered for it. One thing that is great to throw together is small cauliflower florets, cashews, flax oil and nutrional yeast. I had the idea from the ingredients of cashew 'cheese' sauces, and my (then) boyfriend told me he'd done something similar which brought it all together. They say nutrional yeast creates this kind of 'cheesy' flavour.

I have also mastered making a salad I used to spend ages grating up by hand by just putting all the ingredients in the food processor, and have re-discovered the hand-blender, which saves so much time spent jiggling the blender trying to get the mixture moving, then taking it apart and washing it all after ... hand-blenders are the way forward.

The day before last, I took my breakfast to work and ate nothing til 11am, which is the time I always get hungry, whether I've eaten before I've left the house or not. Then I skipped lunch and ate when I got home. I made my breaky more filling using an extra large banana and mesquite, which according to Shazzie holds your hunger for up to 6 hours! This seemed to work for me. Today I did the same but had green juice before I left the house, and had a raw snack bar at lunch time. Both days I ate when I got home and felt satisfied. I have been reading Tonya Zavasta and am trying not to eat too early in the morning or too late at night to give my digestive system a rest. I feel a juice fast may be on the horizon; however, I think I have been able to go longer between meals the last couple of days as they have all contained nuts, avocado and seeds... fats which won't be contained in a juice fast! So we'll have to see what happens!

Finally, I am going to London for a lecture tomorrow - 'The insider secrets to success on a living foods diet' with Brian and Anna Maria Clement (from the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida.) Will tell all when I get back. For now better get to bed!

Blueberry 'Yoghurt'

I made this up the other day. It is similar in taste and mouth-feel to one of those expensive luxury yoghurt-type deserts - similar because with no dairy and no added sugar it is way better!!! I used to eat loads of yoghurts when I was growing up, but ate fewer as I got older, and was only eating plain joghurt very occasionally by the time I went vegan. This pudding makes you wonder why on earth you would ever need to buy the sugary-dairy version ever again. All it is (to serve 1) is

1/2 avocado
1/2 banana
handful of frozen blueberries, depending how sweet you want it.

(This version in the photo also contains cacao nibs which can be added for texture. I actually prefer it without though)

Just put in a suitable container and blend with a hand blender (tip - use a hand blender for this kind of thing wherever possible - it is far easier than getting the blender out)

You can make it really smooth or leave it so there are still little bits of blueberry left. If you add just thawing blueberries to room temperature avocado and banana, the temperature is perfectly cool and you can really taste all the flavours. Or refrigerate and serve chilled. I like to leave it not perfectly mixed so you can see tiny swirls of green still in it. Green and purple are the perfect colour combination in my opinion. There is so much to say about this simple combination, so many variants without even changing the ingredients. I remember my first ever exposure to raw food at one of Kate Magic's demonstrations last summer - she said with raw food, making even little changes to texture could change the whole eating experience and you could never get bored with it. It is so true. The possibilities are endless, and it makes me so happy it is almost ridiculous!!!!!!! I'm sure many passionate raw fooders out there would agree with me! Look how carried away I've got.

This desert has also been tried and tested on my parents, who loved it. I have just made them some and put it in the fridge for their desert this evening. They have also volunteered to do tasting panels for me whenever I like!

What a weekend

Lots has happened since my last entry! On Friday I went to the farmers' market in Chichester where I got my amazing raw oats from a farm in Haslemere in Surrey. I have them every morning. I also got some organic strawberries and rainbow chard from a local farm. I don't think I've ever had chard before and it was so pretty. Also got a chard plant and a tomato plant although I know absolutely nothing about growing your own vegetables - I just decided to bite the bullet and hope for the best!!

Then my boyfriend arrived with some raw cake, made from one of Kate Magic's recipes. It was amazing.

(I know, I am still working on my photography skills!)

On Saturday and Sunday it was Russell James' 2 day raw food class which was fantastic. Learned loads of new things, ate some awesome food - the highlights were lime and passionfruit cheesecake with ice cream, and a raw sandwich!! - and met some really great people. All very inspirational which was just what I needed!! It is like therapy being around so many like minded people. So after the large quantities of cooked food I consumed on Wednesday I have managed to go 100% raw Friday through til tonight (Sunday), which has felt great. It was interesting that at the course a lot of people experienced detox symptoms - I had a headache which we thought was from drinking the alkaline water from Russell's water ionizer. I think this was no bad thing and I drank more than I normally do which was good.

I am definitely ready to start trying some more challenging recipes. I came away feeling happy and inspired but also frustrated and impatient as I just want to get stuck into the raw food world straight away and just walk away from all the undesirable aspects of my current circumstances behind right now!! When I have periods like this I have to be patient and keep telling myself it will all happen in time!! I don't like it when I lose my focus and it seems silly as I know I'll regain it when I try out the new recipes, if not before!

Bean salad

Again, another no fixed quantity recipe, just things that work well together in a salad.

Salad
Bean sprouts (mung beans are my favourite and they sprout super easily)
Celery (medium sliced)
Cucumber (cubed)
Tomatoes (cherry toms cut in half or cubed large tomatoes)
Fresh basil
Spring onions (not too much)

For the dressing
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Crushed garlic
Put all dressing ingredients in a jar and shake. Pour over salad.

Cooked food

Yesterday I went out for lunch. There was nothing even vegetarian on the menu (unless you count fish) apart from a jacket potato with cheese. So I asked for a jacket with a plate of steamed veg. Why I didn't ask for salad I don't know, as they also served this with most mains. Jacket potatoes are one of favourite cooked foods but this was the worst jacket potato I've ever had unfortunately. Still it was fine and I felt fine afterwards, but I was really tired in the afternoon. Unfortunately I can't say whether this was in any way down to the food, as I'd had a late night the night before, it was cloudy and close and I had a long car journey back which made me feel tired too.

I also had cooked vegan curry dishes for supper as my mum made it for one of my parents' 'meat free days' and as my friend was coming round for dinner, so we could all eat together. I ate a big plate of salad beforehand and then had the cooked. I felt full but fine. This is most definitely one of my favourite cooked vegan meals. We went out with her and I had 2 malibu and lemonades ... not sure why ... I enjoyed it but still got the feeling when I got home of, what was the point, an regret all the sugar!!! But never mind. Came home and ate more raw carrot salad ... but also tomato rice, dahl and cooked porridge! It was good.

She's been really supportive of my new eating habits and wants to try things I eat, so I'm more than happy to share!! I am really happy for her support as we've been friends for ever and I know she is always honest with me! She's like 'we'll have to go for lunch in a vegan cafe Amy!!' Makes me realise how important it is to have the support of family and friends and how much better it feels!

More excitement

ok, 1. Got the new issue of Get Fresh! magazine in the post!! Can't wait to read that.

2. Went to a supermarket (I know we should support local organic vegetable box schemes but I am working on this - more on this in point 3) and found many many special offers on organic veg, many of which, were cheaper than the non-organic ones! My asking for an abundance of more affordable organic veg is being answered.

3. I have been told by a friend that there is a local farm (like less than 10 miles away!) that delivers organic vegetable boxes. Will investigate further and get on board!

4. I am very pleased to say that today I have not had any cooked food! Apart from olive oil (- again, I am working on this - have found some that is extracted by 'mechanical' means only and I am assuming this means raw - will find out) and possibly goji berries - does anyone know if Linwoods are raw?

Here is a run down of my eating:

10.30 - late breakfast of my usual porridge oats with lots of superfoods
12-1.30 - 2 pears, not at the same time
3pm - mung bean sprouts salad with cucumber, celery, basil, spring onions and 1/2 an avocado. 2 whole carrots
8.30 more of the same mung bean salad. Chocolate-avo pudding, with 1 avocado, 1 banana, 1 tsp cacao powder, 1 tsp carob powder and 1 tbsp agave nectar, sprinkle of goji berries, followed by 1/2 a carob pod!!

I don't think this was completely ideal as I did feel hungry at about 6.30, which then went away again. And I wonder if I ought to consume more than this in a day. But it has made me think about adjusting my eating times. At the moment I think I often don't eat when I am hungry and then do eat when I'm not hungry. I usually eat 4 times a day which seems to work for me.

I also felt I had so much more time today as I didn't gear what I was doing around fixed ideas of meal times; it all seemed to fall naturally into place. This allowed me to easily fit in visiting a friend then going to aerobics - it is feeling easier after just 3 sessions! woohoo.

Looking forward to going out to lunch tomorrow and meeting new people. Instead of being worried there will be nothing on the menu and embarrassment will ensue, I feel completely sure it will all be fine. Will let you know how it goes.

Exciting news

My boyfriend and I are going to a 2 day class next weekend with Russel James, The Raw Chef, who lives in my home town of Bognor Regis!! I am so excited and can't wait to meet him. The class is called 'How To Be Your Own Raw Food Chef ... and Still Have Time To Eat It'. The kinds of things we'll be doing look brilliant. I can't believe it is finally coming around - I am so excited!!!!!!!

http://www.therawchef.com/classes/82-2-day-class-how-to-be-your-own-raw-food-chefand-still-have-time-to-eat.html

The other exciting thing is that I got an email from my sister - she said she would definitely like to give it a go eating more raw as I seemed to be so happy doing it! That made me really happy as I believe so strongly that everyone can benefit from raw!!!!

Tomato and coconut curry sauce

Just spent ages fiddling with the layout and colours of my blog but I am finally happy with it now! For the time being anyway!!

What I should have been doing is recording the new tomato and coconut curry sauce I made yesterday. I used to love this cooked recipe - wheat-free veg pasta, with aduki beans and spinach and a tomato and coconut butter sauce. Funnily enough the last time I made this version when I had a cooked food craving, I burnt it. I don't need to worry about that anymore now I have created the raw version!! I haven't had coconut butter in a while and I forgot how comforting and somehow warming it is even when cold. Of course it could also be actually warmed if you want.

The raw version has become a creamy curry sauce with lots of tomato. It is really mild and sweet which is just how I wanted it, and looks and feels and tastes exactly like something you'd get in a tandoori, without all the yucky stuff.

1 tbsp coconut butter
4 tomatoes
1/2 bag of spinach
1 tomato
1 1/2 tsp food processed white onion
1/4 - 1/2 tsp curry powder

In the blender, blend the coconut butter and 3 of the tomatoes. Put into a bowl. In the food processor, finely chop all the other ingredients except the onion. Drain off excess water and add to the bowl with the coconut and tomato sauce.

Now finely chop an onion in the food processor and add 1 and 1/2 tsp of it to the mixture. Stir in curry powder to taste.

This made only a very small portion for 1, but the base ratio is good.

I tried it as a sauce for cashews, mushrooms and aduki beans but wasn't sure about any of them. Cashews worked best. Any ideas on what this could be served with anyone?

Nori rolls

Have only just discovering the joys of nori sheets after my sister moved back in and brought them from her store cupboard. I snacked on one in the evening after the party. I spread it with left over guacamole and filled it with grated courgette - I have to say I am not a huge courgette fan but do enjoy eating it grated - it is good grated in green salads too. The night after I made some more and included grated cucumber this time which I prefered. Mixed guacamole with sprouted aduki beans and served with this and some lettuce and cucumber salad. Ended up with a very 'earthy' looking plate.

Content of the rolls and overall presentation could be improved but I was pleasantly surprised with this supper!

The vegan at the party

It was my Mum's 50th Birthday party on Saturday and there was a lot of catering to be done. My mum and sister did most of it and did a really good job. I get my passion for food from them. My contribution was roasted mediterranean veg, houmous (cooked) guacamole, and a tomato and cucumber salad - thought it was best to keep it simple. A lady who grows her own leaves came with a beautiful plate full (pictured above) and my sister brought some awesome spicy red pepper chutney. So of course I just had to take a picture of my plate, which looked fab. Cooked food can certainly still be colourful and vibrant and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

My raw kitchen!!

As promised here are photos of my raw kitchen. It is an extension on the side of our house, a glass-roofed utility room with a bit of a conservatory feel in one end of it. Complete with fridge, cupboards and a sink, plugs, and room for my sprouting (you can see the stack of green sprouting trays just past the sink) everything is to hand and it is actually better than the normal kitchen! Really it was made especially for me, only no-one knew it at the time (except my angels of course)

Observations

I need to record my of my observations about what's been happening to me since going raw, as they all came flooding into my head yesterday. I also realised that there are quite a lot of other factors which make it impossible to tell just how much raw food is the cause, but here I go.

I believe raw food has sparked off an emotional detox for me - a lot of issues have really come to the surface, making me realise there are things about myself, my life and my surroundings that I would like to change. If I knew these things already, since going raw I've come to realise why I would like to change these things, what I would like to change them for, and what I would like to replace them with. My job is an example. The first stage of this process was thinking that I needed to change so that I could make my job work for me, but I now realise that this is not going to work. I need to focus on what I want and let it come to me, rather than trying to find it somewhere where it is not.

Changes are in sight on the job front as well - I am starting teacher training in September. I am feeling positive about this and really want to start visualizing a great experience and transferring any good feelings I have about it on to other things, like I do with raw food. And then find more things to be positive and feel good about, so the good feeling just keeps growing and growing and spreading out into everything.

These ideas are coming from a book I am reading, which was recommended by Russell James, The Raw Chef, on his blog. It is called ‘Ask and it is Given: Learning to Manifest the Law of Attraction’ by Esther and Jerry Hicks. They recommend the technique of putting images of things you want into a box and looking at them every day. It is an amazing book and I completely recommend it to anyone. I have been telling people that you read it and it just makes perfect sense. It raises questions in your mind and then answers them a few pages later. And, better still, I am only just over half way through and I practiced one of the techniques the other day when I was driving home from work and it actually worked, and it blew me away.

The other thing I am going to do is make a list of all the things I have to be grateful about. As they say that appreciation is the best thing you can feel to attract all the good things you desire into your life.

So going raw has led me to reading books like this, which I don’t think is a coincidence, I really believe I am eating foods which make me feel connected – I have already said it connects me to a happy source – so it was inevitable that I would find out more about how this process works, as I had in fact already experienced it. Now it all makes perfect sense.

It occurred to me that this emotional detox is also coinciding with me coming off the pill, which may be wreaking havoc with my hormones until they settle down again. A friend also told me yesterday that women’s hormones change at around my age (22) as well, so this could also be a factor! Either way, raw has definitely brought more spirituality into my life which will help me make sense of all these changes.

Another observation is that I am craving a lot of fruit at the moment. I am enjoying it, but it is bringing up symptoms of something I had a while ago, which I don’t want. I also read that this symptom can be the result of a lack of beta-carotene, which is interesting as I am craving carrots at the moment. So it’s like I have two eating habits which are in conflict. I am making an effort not to eat too much fruit today so we’ll see what happens.

Neither have I been eating much green leafy veg at the moment. I think a kale salad might be in order.

Final observation is that my energy levels are completely constant all the time. I wouldn’t say they are particularly high, but I have plenty of energy. If I need to stay up late to get done everything I need to do, I can do it easily, and still get up early in the morning if I need to, and not be tired.

I’m on holiday this week so will be spending some time working on some recipes and adding them to the blog. Watch this space.

Guilt-free diet

Well, I don't feel I have much to report today. I had some raw food followed by a bit of my mum's cooked dahl and rice for supper. Then some fruit. It is weird because I kind of think that cooked food is naughty on this diet, but really I know by most standards, having a little bit isn't at all. So you get to have a treat which isn't really naughty. A bit like the maltesers advert haha. And this recipe is vegan, so I am happy with that. I have definitely got to a level I'm comfortable with at the moment, and I do still envisage a time when I will not even desire cooked food at all. My cravings for cooked porridge are already starting to weaken, it often strikes me as not being fresh and vibrant. At the moment though I am happy to call myself 90 to what shall we say, about 97% raw!!

Raw Dahl

I love dahl. My mum makes an amazing vegan dahl when I am very lucky. It is one of my cooked treats.

This raw version is an adaptation of Kate Magic's dahl recipe from her book 'Raw Living.' I made it and since then I have been experimenting with my own recipe. The raw version tastes absolutely nothing like the cooked version, but is a dish in its own right.

250g puy lentil sprouts
50g sesame seeds (preferably pre-soaked overnight)
1/4 white onion
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp tamari
1/2 tsp cumin
water
juice of 1 lemon


Food process all ingredients together. Take half out and blend in a blender to get it really smooth, adding water to get it moving, but don't make it too runny. Mix both versions back together. Serve with tamari to season and grated cucumber and tomato to garnish.

Serves 2 as a main with a side salad or 4 as a starter.

I am currently working on some more curry dishes to get that luxury of being able to dip into lots of different dishes you get when you go to the curry house and they're all in the middle of the table. I did try to experiment with carrot and corriander the other night but it didn't go quite as I'd hoped ... I've just had a thought that tomato and avocado might work well too as a kind of rogan josh ... hhhm. Watch this space for more curry recipes!!

hemp-miso-lemon-agave dressing

new salad dressing:

hemp oil
sweet white miso
lemon juice
agave syrup

no fixed quantities, just hand whisk together, it's all good

Connection

I said to someone yesterday it’s like being raw vegan connects me to this source of happiness and feeling of being provided for that I can just tap into when I want. That is how I would describe it. I am so happy about it I want to tell everyone!!!!!!

Perfect pudding to end a perfect day

I have had a good day today. I grabbed a raw bar from the supermarket where I work and ate it on the way home as I was dashing to aerobics. (Indeed, there is some 'fast food' that exists for raw vegans besides carrots and fruit) Really enjoyed the class, came home and made myself a smooth raw choc pudding with avocado, banana, carob powder, mesquite, cacao powder and agave (pulled out all the stops and just put everything in basically.) Covered it with frozen blueberries and raspberries. Didn't make it all fancy and take photos or anything because tonight it was just there to be eaten by me. You really can't beat this for a meal in itself, not just a pudding. Completely satisfying and I didn't want anything else. Awesome.

Photos

Green Green Super Juice

This was inspired by Vitaorganics and Inspiral Lounge, two cafes I visited when I was last in London that serve juice containing these ingredients. I just had to go home and experiment with the ratios, and I do believe I have found the perfect combination: not too veg like and not too sweet.

4 apples
1 cucumber
1 fennel
1 stick celery

makes 550-600mls of juice.

Serve at room temperature to really taste the wonderful flavours or serve chilled for a super cool and refreshing juice.

Custard

This started out as another experiment. I am still partial to a bowl of cooked porridge sometimes in the evenings and I wanted something sweet to go on it one night. I created this wonderful custard-like sauce.

2 bananas
1 1/2 tablespoons coconut butter
1 tsp carob powder

Blend the bananas and coconut butter in the blender. Transfer to a bowl and handmix in the carob powder.

Put this in the freezer and it makes an awesome ice cream.

Serves 2

Sticky toffee chocolate pudding

For those with a really sweet tooth. This was an experiment when I wanted a sweet and filling desert. The bananas make it really sticky and sweet and the cacao powder adds richness. To be honest I don't think you can ever go far wrong with these kinds of puddings - this seemed to work out pretty well anyway.

2 bananas
2 tsps of coconut butter
1 1/2 tsps of carob powder
2 1/2 tsps of cacao powder
1 tbsp of agave nectar

Eat it on its own or sprinkle with cacao nibs for some crunchy texture

Ultimate Calm Salad

This salad was created when I came home from work late one day and my mum had made salad. I added a few bits and before I new it a new salad had been born. The white cabbage amongst the different shades of green and looked beautiful. I added a sprinkle of purple corn and all the colours together felt so calming to look at, hence the name. Of course, it also tastes wonderful.

rocket
watercress
lambs lettuce
kale
white cabbage (roughly chopped)
corriander (roughly chopped)

serve with apple cider vinegar to taste and a sprinkle of purple corn, and hemp seeds (optional)

Mind and body

I went to aerobics tonight for the first time in 18 months!! Shocking. I loved it. I think concentrating on what my body is doing and how it feels is good for my focussing skills. Will go again next week for sure.

re-connecting

So it's been ages since my last blog, sorry.

I went to the Bristol Vegan Fayre last weekend which was awesome. Beautiful weather, beautiful people... a few inspiring people stand out in my mind including a stock-free organic farmer - made me realise that animals really are implicated in so much stuff!! How tragic. A future project is to start growing my own vegetables. All in good time.

An Indian lady talking about re-connecting with our food and with the earth was also special and thought-provoking. For me this is also what raw food is all about - she claimed that when you go vegan your mental health improved as you feel more connected with the natural world, people and animals. Eating animal products hinders this connection as in order to eat this, we have to put blinkers on to the cruelty that animals suffer, otherwise we wouldn't be able to eat it (she believes all people really hate suffering)

This has only really gelled with me in the last couple of days, when it occurred to me that I had lost that connection to my food when I was away for the weekend! Although I only ate a vegan diet when I was away, it was not the raw food I so lovingly prepare for myself, that keeps me focussed and connected. I was actually in quite a bad mood when I got back from Bristol. This was of course partly because the weekend was over, and I didn't want to go back to work on Monday afternoon. But when I got in my kitchen on Monday morning to prepare my food for the day, in my sunny space with my music on, I felt happy. I thought perhaps I spend too much time preparing my food, but usually I think it is worth it, especially when I can take photos and blog it and really think about and appreciate how amazing it is.

Raw food is taking that vegan connection philosophy to the next level. My vegan orange chocolote spread, which I bought from some lovely people at a lovely stand at the lovely Vegan Fayre is lovely to eat straight from the jar, but I don't feel amazing after I've eaten it. And I want my food to make me feel amazing.

I feel raw vegan is my life now, almost an affirmation. I want to say 'I am a raw vegan' out loud, even shout it from the rooftops.