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.

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 ...

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!

First I started embroidering the lettering.  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 ...

But I didn't want to just leave it plain like that.  So I used a pattern from Bugs and Fishes' book Super-cute Felt for the spool of thread (tons of cute felt projects in there by the way).

All that embroidering left quite a mess of stitches and knots on the back of the cover.  So I decided to use a bit more felt to cover it all up.  I used this piece of felt with a heart attached.  The heart encases my favourite sewing needle (yes, I have favourites).

Then I added some co-ordinating ribbon to each flap to keep my kit closed.

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?

 

Raw Vegan Blueberry Pie Ice Cream

It's blueberry season!  Let's celebrate with a frosty bowl of blueberry soft raw serve, shall we?

If you missed my raw serve highlight post, check it out for tons of variations on raw, vegan & sattvic ice cream like treats.

Raw Blueberry Pie Ice Cream

• 1 banana, cut up into small pieces and then frozen
• 1 pint blueberries, frozen (reserve some fresh berries for garnish)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom (optional)

Whiz the frozen fruit (& cardamom) in a food processor until it resembles ice cream.  Scoop into a chilled dish and top with the fresh blueberries.

The frozen blueberries didn't combine as well as the frozen strawberries in my strawberry version, but the dish is still absolutely heavenly.  I love cardamon, especially with blueberries, so I might have put more like 3/4 teaspoon in mine.  Use it to suit your tastes.  Cinnamon would also be lovely I think.

Is your heart crying out for more blueberry recipes?  Try my Raw Vegan Sattvic Blueberry Cardamom Pudding or if a smoothie is more your scene, my Banana Blueberry Mint Raw Smoothie.

I'm having such a great summer this year, teaching yoga, enjoying nature, meeting new people and learning all the lessons I was destined to learn (some lessons are harder to learn than others, but I'm still smiling).  I hope you all are enjoying your summer too!

Wild Raspberry Raw Pie

What I did today:

Walked outside & picked some wild raspberries, no pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. 

& then made a pie with them!

I love days like these.  Shouldn't all food be this simple?  Here's the recipe:

Wild Raspberry Raw Pie

CRUST -

• 1 cup raw nuts (I used a mix of almonds and sunflower seeds)
• soaked raisins

PIE FILLING -

• 1 cup raspberries (it's nice if their wild, but I know this isn't possible for everyone)
• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked until soft & then rinsed
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• Raw sweetener (honey, agave, stevia), added as desired
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed

First make the pie crust by grinding the raw nuts into a powder using a food processor.  With the food processor running add the raisins slowly until the mixture begins to form a ball.  You may need to occasionally stop the machine to scrap down the sides.  Press the crust into a cake pan and put in the freezer while you prepare the filling.

It almost seemed a shame to mash up these little ruby spheres of raspberry goodness.  Nothing like the ones you get in the grocery store.

But ya can't make wild raspberry raw pie without breaking some raspberries. 

Okay so for the filling, simply blend everything in a blender until creamy & smooth.  If you don't have a high speed blender (as I don't), you'll have to do a bit more work.  Add a little bit of fresh water to the blender and add the cashews one handful at a time.  You will have to keep stopping the blender and stirring quite frequently.  If you add more water it will blend faster, but then you will have a less dense pie that falls apart when it's cut.  So try to add as little water as you can - it's worth it in the end.  Once the cashews are blended well, add the rest of the ingredients.

Pour the filling into the crust and leave in the fridge for a few hours to set up.

I've heard rumours that there's blackberries around these parts too.  Mmmmm wild blackberry raw pie!  Possibly a future post (unless I find something else creative to do with them).

But for now I'm enjoying the wild raspberry raw pie goodness ...

Who wants the last piece?

As I mentioned before, I don't have a high speed blender (Bullet budget, Vita-Mix dreams), so I had to slowly add the cashews and stop the blender constantly to stir.  But it was completely worth it, when I cut that first dense, decadent piece.

I bet those wild raspberries would be good in my raspberry raw serve too.

Have you ever scavenged in your backyard for edibles?  This was my first time using wild raspberries, but definitely not my last.

Chinatown Chic Refashion

Here's my current situation: I have a cute pink chinois top that I don't really wear anymore (it's backless ... a relic from my previous life where I went out to lots of parties).

... AND a bamboo handle purse in a pattern I hate.

Hmmmm ...

Hey, why don't I combine the two to make a cute Chinese-style bamboo handled purse?  Well that's exactly what I did.

The whole thing was super easy and took me probably no longer than 30 minutes.  First I removed the collar from the top.  I love the Chinese style button.  I have to think of something fun to do with it.

Then I cut off the two long straps on each side.  The fabric comes to a point here where the straps were attached.  I decided to use these points for attaching the handles.  With right sides together, I folded the fabric into a rectangular shape and stitched the sides together leaving the pointed ends open.

Then I turned right sides out.  Folded each of the pointed ends over a bamboo handle and hand stitched them to secure.

Super easy, uber chic and 100% recycled/reused materials.  I love it!

I would love to do this with some old sari material and the square wooden handles they use in South India.  Future project for sure.  But for now I'm happy with my Chinese-Bamboo bag.

Happy re-fashioning!

Raw Chai Cookies (nut-free)

Remember my raw, vegan & sattvic chai spiced chia pudding?  I promised to provide you with another Indian spiced recipe, and here it is (a promise is a promise after all)!

In India they have masala cookies, not raw, probably not vegan and definitely not sattvic (lots of hot spices, onion & garlic).  But I tried them anyway :)  They pack quite a punch, but so do my raw version and I like them better anyway.

Inspired by my trip to India, when I got back home I decided to experiment in the kitchen and see what I could whip up.  I'm getting a lot more adventurous now, but unfortunately I don't remember any of the measurements I used (sorry!).  Like all the recipes I feature on my site these cookies are super easy to make and use only simple ingredients.  You'll need a food processor for this one.

Raw Chai Cookies (sattvic)

• uncooked oats (not the quick cooking kind)
• raisins, soaked until plump
• freshly ground spices : cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, star anise

In the food processor blend some oats until it becomes a fine powder.  Scrap the sides and add in the spices.  If you have a spice grinder, freshly ground spices will make these cookies taste divine.  If not, pre-ground spices will work too.  Pulse to combine the spices with the oats.  Then with the food processor running, add the raisins until the mixture begins to form balls.  The dough should stick together when you squeeze it in your hand.  

The raisins are enough sweetener for me, but at this point you can taste the dough and if you'd like it more sweet you can add in some raw sweetener such as agave, stevia or honey. This was definitely a sampling kind of recipe for me.  I kept tasting the dough as I went along and adding what I thought it needed to taste nice.  I used much more cinnamon than the other spices.  I used just a little of the nutmeg.

When you're happy with the dough, roll into balls and they are ready to consume.  Store in the fridge ... but I'm sure you already knew that.  This isn't rocket science, it's raw cookie balls!

Kind of reminds me of the raw pecan pie cookies I made a few years ago (Ani Phyo's recipe).  My raw chai cookies are nut free.  Oats are also less expensive than pecans, which is nice if you're making a big batch.

And of course the plethora of raw vegan & sattvic donut holes too!  Lots of good recipes and photos to drool over in that post!!

Now get out your food processor and make some raw cookies!