Forks Over Knives

Please watch this documentary. It will change many peoples lives and support why others choose to live theirs the way they do.
http://www.forksoverknives.com/

Read this.

Raw Sweet potato chips and Artichoke Tapenade

The raw food craze is both awesome and I definitely believe that raw food should be a significant part of our diet. The live enzymes and unprocessed fibers allow our body to get to work! which is what is was made to do. By cooking all of our food (an unnecessary process for so many types) we are actually making more work for ourselves and robbing our bodies of essential vitamins and minerals that are destroyed by various cooking processes. I am not a full raw vegan and I don't ever plan to be however, food needs to be appreciated for its natural state and consumed in this manner to reap its full benefit.

The first part we have to get over are the texture changes. Just as  many things follow suit, different isn't bad, its just different. Different soon changes to familiar and awesome after hanging out with different for a while. Different is a cool guy, he's interesting mysterious and soon becomes your best friend. Embrace the various textures food takes on when it is in its raw form. yes cooking food provides great taste (I do not disagree).
Not trying food in its raw form is kinda like falling in love with someone and never meeting their parents. (some might be totally cool with this) You don't always know who someone is until you learn about where they come from.

Time spent on organic farms taught me to eat straight from the ground if I can. Obviously we get caught up in many things and methods and comforts but when we are conscious and aware of it, give raw food a try. Skip the oven and stove and go straight to the plate from the cutting board.

Sweet Potato Chips and Artichoke Tapenade

Serves 1
one large sweet potato. Wash it (little scrubber helps) and cut that baby right up into little potato chip like discs.... thats it. People we have raw sweet potato chips.

I cut up some artichoke hearts and mixed them with olive oil salt, pepper and lime juice. Food processor would be great for this.

So good for snacking and insanely filling.

Coconut water!

Personally, one of my favorite beverages. Additionally, there is a lot of hype about coconut water these days. Whats so special about it? Well it naturally contains electrolytes that are commonly found in sports drinks and provides a low caloric value per serving comparatively.

Re-hydration. A study, cited at the bottom, examined the restorative qualities of coconut water, a typical market sports drink and plain water after exercise induced dehydration. Their data indicates that coconut water exudes the same plasma level (blood level) measurements as consuming the sports drink and similar blood glucose response post ingestion. It was also easier to ingest and caused less nausea and had more "drink-ablility" (as Budweiser would say). When choosing foods and substances to place in our body, going natural is always better. You avoid mysterious unwanted chemicals and simple processed sugars.

Give coconut water a try for post workout re-hydration. I like to make a protein shake with it by taking 8oz of coconut water, 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder (70 cal, 13 g protein) and stevia to sweeten. This proves to be much healthier in maintaining your insulin response, is natural and satisfying.

Snap Soup!

In a pinch? or just tired and don't feel like waiting an hour for dinner? A simple way to add nutrition and volume to a meal is to take a can of healthy soup and add your favorite veg to it! I started with half an onion and 3 stalks of celery, slice and dice and sweat in a pot. Let them get as soft as you like. I add dill and garlic powder which are great for adding to whatever soup you have. Dill was  spice my grandmother used a lot when she made soups when I was young so it bring back memories and definitely turns a canned soup into a home made comfort. Add the can of soup and additional water, maybe half a can? cover and put on medium heat. This helps "beef" up a soup without adding serious calories or time.
Being a vegetarian, I LOVE Amy's Organic soups and the Lentil is perfect for the protein. Its also a little bland to me on its own so the dill and garlic help it out.

LOVE IT! Perfect after getting back from walking the dog in the woods on a wet Olympia day.

Luna Protein Plus

FYI, I love butter fingers and conveniently, Luna makes a protein bar that tastes like them! they are the peanut butter protein variety. Its awesome.
I also recommend the Pepper mint flavor from Luna, Iced Oatmeal and Chai Spice.

I love Luna not only because they taste good but almost all their products are 70% organic and have appropriate proportions of protein carbs and fat.

Spring Rolls!

A good friend and I decided to make Spring Rolls! the awesome thing about them is you can put whatever you want in them. We used rice noodles carrots cucumber and shrimp. I made a rice wine and sweet chili dipping sauce. The main tip I have is to not over soak the wraps when they are too gooey, they are just that, too gooey. And take the time to wrap em up good, it makes eating them much more fun. 

other things I have put in them are cooked buckwheat soba noodles, napa cabbage, brown rice, wild rice, mushrooms, sprouts, tofu, and even a little bit of greek yogurt. The sky is the limit. 

Another way to make spring rolls is to use lightly steamed cabbage leaves as the wrap or collard leaves. I found that stripping a portion of the major vein int he center of the leaf helps it fold better. This is great for raw eating as well. 

When I was in Brazil, using cabbage, chard, collard or kale leaves was a great way to reinvent a pot of cooked veggies and tofu from the night before, just wrap it up and you're good to go!