5 Raw Vegan Recipes To Try When I'm Back in Canada

No blender, no food processor, no fridge, heck I don't even have my julienne peeler!  So these 5 yummy recipes will have to wait until I get back on Canadian ground ...

1. Raw "Oat"meal (oat-free) from Raw Therapy (my new favourite blog)
2. Juice: carrot, grapefruit, ginger, lemon - Facebook status update from Ani Phyo (love her!)
3. Broccoli & tahini heaven from Path Less Trodden
4. Heart Beet Rawvioli from My New Roots (which is an awesome blog BTW with amazingly mouth watering photography)
5. Avocado, fennel & citrus salad from Vegetarian Times

Of course there's no reason why you can't prepare these recipes right now, unless of course you're away from home like me.  That's why I`ve shared my raw to do list with you all.

My Organic Pilgrimage in South India

Hello bloggie friends!  Are you still with me?  I wouldn't blame you if you've forgotten me in favour of those other blogs.  You know, the ones where they post frequently ;)

My blog-o-sphere absence is because of two things:

1. My camera broke so I have no interesting photos to share. 
2. I'm working on a super exciting project that has taken up most of my time here in India.  More on that in a few weeks ...

As I've mentioned before the place where I stay in India has a kitchen team, and they provide the food for the teachers, students and yoga vacation guests ... soooOooo that means I don't really have a lot of control over the food I eat.  At home its mostly raw green veggies, green smoothies and vegan, sattvic cooked foods.  Here it's mostly rice, sambar and dosa (all vegetarian of course).

When I first ventured to south India in 2010 I couldn't find anything organic.  Sure, big cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai have health food stores selling organic items.  But I'm in rural south India.  Sometimes we don't even have electricity!

To my surprise this year I discovered a few items using the word "organic" on the package.  I was skeptical at first.  "Yeah right," I thought.  But a funny thing, turns out it's actually legit.  Here's what I've learned about organics in India:

Similar to our system in North America, India has several third party organic certifiers.  If a product meets the certifier's standards, the package can feature their logo, thus reassuring the legitimacy of the product's organic claims (of course, finding genuine organic products is a problem back home too.  See my previous post on this topic for more information).

But here's where it gets interesting ... organic certification takes a few years.  Back home a product cannot bear the certifier's logo until this lengthy (and costly) process is completed (often it can take up to 2 years!).  One franchised company, Fab India, actually categorizes organic products depending on where the company is in the certification process, and then uses a corresponding logo to signal to customers where they are in this lengthy process.  This process is broken down into 3 steps:

1. Natural - Produced by a farm that uses 100% organic methods, but has not taken the steps to officially certify (possibly due to the large costs).  This category also includes products that are mostly organic but may contain non-organic preservatives, dyes or flavourings.
2. In Conversation - Producer is using organic methods but has not yet completed the 3 year process in order to be considered organic. 
3. Certified Organic - Producer is recognized by a third party organization as using 100% organic methods.

I love it!!  Okay I know at this point I've probably lost a lot of you, but for those of you that are organic nerds like me, isn't this great?!  See other examples of my organic nerdy-ness here and here.

So far all of the organic items I've found are pre-packaged (teas, spices, lotions, etc ...).  I haven't seen fresh fruits or veggies marked as organic yet (again I'm just referring to my small corner of south India), but unless there was some kind of package with a certifier's logo on it, I wouldn't trust any organic claims anyhow.

So there you have it!  My organic report on south India.  Rest assured, you haven't heard the last of this from me.  So stay tuned for many more posts on organics!!

Gluten-Free Coconut Cupcake (with Coconut Frosting)

I think I might be obsessed with coconut.  I am definitely obsessed with coconut!  These gluten-free, vegan cupcakes are a coconut lover's dream.  Hot from the oven these little gems are sure to keep you warm on those cold winter nights. 
Now no more chit chat, here's the recipe:
for the cupcakes -

• 1 1/2 cups coconut flour
• 1 cup raw evaporated cane sugar (would be lovely to substitute coconut sugar if you can)
• 1/2 cup shredded dried coconut
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 cup almond milk (hemp milk might be nice too)
• 1/3 cup grapeseed oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

for the frosting -

• 1 cup coconut oil
• agave, honey or coconut nectar (to taste)
• shredded dried coconut (for garnish)

Combine all the dry ingredients for the cupcakes in a bowl and mix well.  In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients.  Slowly add the wet to the dry and mix until well combined.  Pour into a muffin tin and bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes.
When the cupcakes are cooled, whip together the coconut oil and sweetener.  Give each one a generous dollop of frosting and then sprinkle with more shredded coconut. 

It really can't get any more coconutty than this!

What could be better ... um ... how 'bout chocolate gluten-free coconut cupcakes with chocolate coconut frosting!!

I just couldn't resist trying out a chocolate version.  Simply add a few tablespoons of cocoa powder to the batter (chocolate chips in there might be nice too) and add some cocoa powder to the coconut oil frosting.

The Law of Least Effort: It Doesn't Have To Be That Hard

It doesn't matter if you believe in them, or even realize that they exist, but everything and everyone in the universe acts in accordance with certain laws.  There's laws of gravity, laws of cause and effect and laws of attraction (made famous by the highly criticized movie, The Secret).  In Deepak Chopra's book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success he briefly discusses another law, one that turned my life upside down, the law of least effort.

Life is an up hill struggle and nothing worth while comes easily.  No pain, no gain.  Makes sense, right?  It used to make perfect sense to me until a few years ago when I started studying yoga.  Now I'm just starting to realize that it really doesn't have to be that difficult.  When you are living authentically the life that you were created to live, things easily and effortlessly become available to you.  It's The Law!  Nature (as is often the case) is the best example of this.  Deepak Chopra explains: 

"Grass doesn't try to grow, it just grows. Fish don't try to swim, they just swim. Flowers don't try to bloom, they bloom. Birds don't try to fly, they fly. This is their intrinsic nature. The earth doesn't try to spin on its own axis; it is the nature of the earth to spin with dizzying speed and to hurtle through space. It is the nature of babies to be in bliss. It is the nature of the sun to shine. It is the nature of the stars to glitter and sparkle. And it is human nature to make our dreams manifest into physical form, easily and effortlessly."

Wherever you're going in this life, whatever your dreams and heart's desires, achieving them doesn't have to be an uphill battle.  It's only when we struggle against our nature, against the laws of the universe that things become difficult.  You wouldn't expect to defy the laws of gravity by throwing an apple in the air and having it stay suspended there while you fold laundry.  Likewise you must also live according to the law of least effort.  One of the most powerful pieces of advice one of my yoga teachers said to me was to practice letting go and letting be.  Let that be your mantra from now on.  Putting aside expectations, anxieties and past life baggage to allow your unique divine path unfold naturally, effortlessly and with ease. 

The Bhagavad Gita describes this state of effortlessness as the action in inaction.  The Bhagvad Gita, a sacred text in India, chronicles the story of Arjuna, a warrior on the battlefield who is conflicted about his involvement in the war.  Lord Krishna guides Arjuna in his journey and discovery of right and wrong action.  One of the most profound verses is Chapter 4, verse 18, where Krishna explains how one can do very little, yet accomplish huge tasks.  In Swami Sivananda's translation the verse reads:

"He who seeth inaction in action and action in inaction, he is wise among men; he is a Yogi and performer of all actions".

My interpretation of this verse is you can physically appear to be doing nothing (effortlessness), but using the law of least effort also be hard at work making your deepest desires come true.  This verse shows us that although the physical body remains still (inaction), the higher self can still be busy at work (action).  On the other hand, we all know people who run themselves ragged following their every impulse and material whim (action).  But since these actions are not in accordance with their authentic selves, they are really going nowhere and doing nothing to grow and mature (inaction).

When we studied the Bhagavad Gita in my yoga teacher's training course, intellectually I understood this verse and could explain it's meaning in detail (it was one of the exam questions!).  But that was just cerebral.  I couldn't really understand it practically or see it's importance in my own life.  It made sense, but how could I living in this world put all this theory into practice?  I'm not Arjuna on the battlefield. 

Actually we are all Arjuna on the battlefield.  But it's not a battlefield, it's your life and you can chose whether it's spent in conflict, war, anxiety and doubt or bliss (ananada in Sanskrit).  Like anything in life, integrating the law of least effort into your life takes time, patience and lots of faith.  I still have days where I feel like Sisyphus rolling that boulder up hill.  But when I slow down, breathe and try to see beyond the temporary chaos, I always find an answer to help me through.  To help you integrate the law of least effort into your life, Deepak Chopera lists 3 techniques: 

1. Acceptance - Accepting people, situations and everything that occurs.  If you believe that every challenge is present in your life to teach you and help guide you, you will realize your "difficulties" are really blessings. 
2. Responsibility - Taking responsibility for everything that happens to you and how you chose to react to the difficult situations.  Whatever happens, ultimately you are the one that is allowing it to happen that way.
3. Defenselessness - Sounds similar to helplessness, but it doesn't have to be.  Don't waste energy on fighting it, just surrender and let whatever comes, come.  Because believe me, life's difficult situations are going to come, whether you like it or not.  So why get on the defensive?  Instead see the lesson in the chaos and move on.

Wishing all of you an effortless journey forward this new year.

Pre-Flight Green Smoothie

The last green smoothie ... well for a while at least. 

As you read this pre-scheduled post, I am sitting in a tiny airplane seat taking off for a land I've only dreamed of.  The length of my entire trip from my door in Canada to the door of the resort where I'll be teaching in Thailand is probably 48 hours.  YIKES!  Of course I need something in my belly that will be easy to digest, nutritionally dense and give me a little energy. 

When I'm home I drink a large green smoothie every morning, but alas, a quick search of my blog revealed that the last time I posted a green smoothie recipe was over a year ago!!  Here's what I tossed into the blender this morning ...

Pre-Flight Green Smoothie

• 2 cups fresh spinach (or another leafy green)
• 1/2 avocado
• 1 banana, frozen
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• water, enough to make everything go 'round

I like my smoothies to taste green, so you may need to add more fruit if a cuppa grass ain't your style.  Try raspberries or mango.

I love the creamy decadence that the avocado brings to this drink, and the banana adds just a touch of sweetness.  Being my third winter now, travelling to the east, this just may be the start of an old tradition of mine - the annual pre-flight green smoothie.

Thailand, Here I Come!

Did the picture in my previous post tip you off?  That's right yoga fans, I'm off to Thailand in just one week's time.  Somewhat of a detour on my way to India, I'll be helping with a yoga teacher training in beautiful Chiang Rai, Thailand.  I've never visited Thailand before, so as you can imagine, I'm super excited and nervous all at the same time.  My itinerary this winter is Thailand for one month and then straight to south India, where I'll spend some time and then take an advanced yoga teacher training course in February.  I should be back in Canada earlier this year, mid-April.  What's the plan after that?  Only the outcome of my time in Thailand & India will determine that ...   

Yoga Shows the Way ...

Super exciting announcement about where I'll be going next ... stay tuned!

(can you guess by the picture??)

My Secret Ingredient for Raw Carrot Cake

I've made raw carrot cake in the past.  It was good, but it didn't exactly knock my raw socks off (or anyone else's socks).  So I decided to experiment and create my own.  When I started out on my raw food journey I didn't have much experience and I wasn't confident enough to create my own recipes.  I relied heavily on recipes I found in uncook books and websites like goneraw.com. 

Oh how times have changed.  This time I couldn't wait to get out my food processor and play!

I've made a few raw carrot cakes these past few weeks and I've been carefully refining my recipe.  In an effort to use up some produce that I had on my counter, this secret ingredient was born.  Here's what I did:

Secret Ingredient Raw Carrot Cake

Grind 3/4 cup of raw sunflower seeds in a food processor.  Keep processing until the seeds are ground into a powder.

Then run one large carrot through a juice extractor and scoop out the pulp.  This is raw cake gold!  I always scoop out the pulp and run it through a second time.  It gets the maximum amount of juice out and also a drier pulp is good for making raw cakes (especially if you're dehydrator free like me).

But wait, before you run off to liquefy your carrots, there's one more thing - the super secret ingredient.  Are you ready?

Along with the carrot, juice one apple too.  Easy peasy, right?  It will give your cake an extra kick of sweetness and the apple compliments the carrot so well.

Mix the carrot-apple pulp with the ground sunflower seeds and 2-3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon.  With the processor running add some soaked raisins until the mixture begins to form balls in the food processor.

Spread the cake "batter" into a pan and place in the fridge to harden.  Really pack the batter in tightly to make a nice dense cake.  I hate when raw cakes don't cut well and then fall apart when you try to serve individual slices.  This cake is not like that at all.  It cuts beautifully.

For a super simple raw frosting I used coconut oil mixed with a touch of honey.  Spread on the cake and place in the fridge for a few hours to harden.

Beautiful isn't it?

Even my mom, who usually stays away from my raw dessert experiments, kept asking me if she could have a piece.  She liked this version infinitely more than my non-secret ingredient raw carrot cake.       

Now my mind is turning .... what else can I make with this secret ingredient?  To be continued ...

I Like Her Style: Lauren Bush

This girl's got style.  Fashion with a message is something I whole-heartily support.  Let's face it, all us girls need to carry a purse or bag of some sort.  Your bag can either be something mindlessly bought at the mall or you can express yourself with your fashion choices.  I choose the latter and I hope you will too.

What I admire about Lauren Bush (yes, that Bush family) is that whether she's causally shopping or hitting up a star studded Hollywood movie premiere, she's always sporting a Feed Bag.

Feed is a non-profit organization co-founded by Lauren to help address the world's growing problem of starvation and malnutrition.  Ingeniously using the concept of a burlap animal feed bag, in 2006 Lauren designed a tote bag that could be sold as a fundraiser for the United Nations world food program.  Originally bearing the logo "Feed 1" the profits from each bag was said to feed one child in school for one year. 

Feed now offers several different bags, t-shirts, scarfs and many other accessories, each bearing the number of people that will be fed with the purchase of the product. 

Of course all the bags are also made from environmentally friendly materials using fair and ethical labour practices.  What's the use of feeding starving children if the bag's production exploits people and the environment, right?

I adore this clutch Lauren carried to a Unicef event:

She's even convinced her Ralph Lauren heir boyfriend, David Lauren to wear one - a man feed bag!

I can't wait to see what this humanitarian will do next ...

 

 

 

The Lost Photos From India

In case you missed it, here's the story of what happened to the original first blog post I did when I got back from India in May. 

When Blogger "restored" the post, most of the photos were gone and ALL the text (that took me hours to write about all the lessons I learned and how much I grew spiritually during this time) was erased.  But hey I'm not bitter or anything ;)

Here's some of those lost photos:

One of the yoga teacher training courses in session. An army of yoga teachers - gotta love it!

Pranayama (breathing exercises) in progress. inhaaaaaaale ...

A photo from Sivarti. Prayers started at 7:30 that night. We stayed up until 4:30 AM chanting, drumming, dancing and eating sweet prasad (blessed food). Good times!

The famous loooooooooong chai pour.  Helps to mix the tea with sugar, cool it down and also makes the tea taste so much better for some reason.

Sujith, a human pretzel yoga teacher, shows off his moves on stage.

Shortly after I arrived in India, a fellow teacher announced she was getting married!  They had a traditional, simple, small wedding (not the big flashy kind of wedding you see in Bollywood movies.  And no the groom didn't ride in on an elephant).  BTW, see those cascading white things in front on either side? They're coconut flowers!

Travel Sewing Kit UPDATE

I know you've all been kept up at night wondering how I decorated the cover of my travel sewing kit that I made a few months ago for my trip to India.  So here is the final reveal:

I had an afternoon off from teaching, so I grabbed my sewing kit, a needle and some embroidery thread, and headed for my favourite mango tree (it was my favourite because there were 2 hammocks hanging there).  Darn I should have taken a picture of it!

I used a straight stitch with gaps to give it that sewing kind of look.  I brought a lot of embroidery thread with me on that trip, but unfortunately this was the only embroidery I did.  Not enough hours in the day ...

If you missed my tutorial on how to make your own sewing kit, check it out here.

It's much easier to make than you may think, and allows you to have all your crafty supplies with you when you travel.  I'm sure glad that I had this kit with me because shortly after arriving at the airport the zipper pull came off my carry on bag.  It just zzzzzzzzzzipped right off the end of the zipper.  I used the big safety pin in this kit to secure the end of the zipper, so it wouldn't fall off for the rest of my 30+ hour journey to India (layover in Abu Dhabi).

This would make a cute gift too for that world traveller in your life.

5 Pinteresting Links

Are you on Pinterest?  It's a cyber cornucopia of craft ideas, eco inspiration and beautifully shot photography.  It's also incredibly addictive, more so than Facebook I'd say. 

Anyhow you can judge for yourself.  Here are some of my favourite things I've seen on Pinterest lately:

1.  Upcycled spool side table

When I was growing up we used to have dozens of these wooden spools in our backyard.  I love this idea of bringing them inside to use as a side table/book storage.  All you need are a few strategically placed dowels, wheels and a coat of paint.

2.  DIY alphabet stones

These are just adorable and seem so simple to make.  I think my favourite part of this craft will be hunting for the stones.  I'm going to walk down to the lake as soon as I hit 'publish' on this post.

3.  Non spiralizer technique for making zucchini noodles

Must try this tonight ...

4.  Raw vegan ice "cream" bars

Raw vegan ice cream bars, need I say more?

5.  Eco-friendly business card idea

This pin reminded me of a fellow yoga teacher I met last summer.  Before he went back home to New Zealand he told me he had to give me is business card.  Wow, I thought, he has a business card?  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a torn piece of cardboard with his name and email address written on it!  This stamp makes his idea so much more classy.

Honestly I could find 10+ things on this site everyday that interests me.  Genius!.  Are you on Pinterest?

 

Yogi Raw Food Workshop #2

Remember the two fabulous yogis I told you about who conducted a raw food workshop a few weeks ago?  I was hoping and hoping they would do another one, and they did!

Our raw food teachers, Lakita & Murali, work so well together.  I love seeing them in the kitchen.  The energy changes immediately.  When you see them in action, you can just tell that they had their own restaurant.  It's no wonder they are such a wealth of knowledge, they have been following a raw food lifestyle for 14 years now!!

There was less food to sample in this workshop, but I learned A LOT more, which is more important anyhow.

First Lakita showed us how to make rejuvelac.  Remember my post from the first workshop, where they showed us sprouted wheat berries, and I said I wouldn't know what to make with them? 

Problem solved!  Lakita gave us a recipe for rejuvelac that uses sprouted wheat berries. 

The only problem is that it takes a few days for the drink to ferment, so we didn't get to sample it.  I've actually never tried rejuvelac before, so I'm interested to see how it would taste.  Since it's fermented, it's not sattvic, but since it's full of good bacteria Lakita explained there are many benefits of this drink.

We did, however get to sample another drink - green lemonade!  Lakita said this was their most popular drink at their restaurant, and I can see why!  It was a cup of green-y delight.  It was so fresh and lemony, but not too lemony (very important). 

Like last time I didn't get the exact recipe, but the main ingredients that went into the juicer were: romaine lettuce (lots), apple, and lemon. 

 Jack Lalane juicer, very cool!

My juicer at home doesn't really see much action.  As most of you know, when I'm at home I have a green smoothie every morning.  Green juices never really interested me before, but now I'm looking at them with completely new eyes!  Don't get me wrong, nothing could ever replace my beloved green smoothie, but green juices are definitely going to be consumed from now on too.  I think they would be especially good in the summer, since they're so refreshing!

Next up was a raw soup.  Murali made us a basic soup base and then showed us how we could add in a variety of spices and/or herbs to customize it.  The possibilities are endless really. 

Green lemonade and green soup.  I was in raw green heaven!

Lastly Murali whipped up an apple pie.  He made it so fast.  No one could believe how easy it was.  First was the crust, soaked and then dehydrated walnuts combined with dates.

The filling was chopped apple with a cashew cream.  The cashew cream was used to hold it all together.  He made it by combining cashews with water and agave in the blender.  Then Murali combined the cashew cream with the chopped apple and spread it onto the walnut crust.

Then the remaining crust was added on top.  Big ol' pile of raw pie crust, yummy!

The finished apple pie:

There was way more pie than students, so everyone got a large piece!

It was absolutely delicious.  The crust was crunchy and the apple-cashew filling inside was sweet.  It would have been divine a la mode (with the raw coconut ice cream from the first workshop).  There was even a space on the plate for it.

Hey a girl can dream, can't she?  I'm also dreaming and hoping that Lakita & Murali will host another raw workshop ;)  They make a raw kale dish that I am dying to learn.  Somehow they marinade the kale leaves and they soften up like they've been cooked, but it's completely raw.     

Of course I'll be sure to share the technique on my blog ... once I've discovered it.