SuperHealthy SuperBowl Ideas

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If you are invited to watch the game at a friends or expecting guests at your place, there’s no rule against providing healthy alternatives to your favorite comfort foods.   Raw Fusion is a realistic and enjoyable lifestyle — you can meet your health and fitness goals by making simple, yet delicious changes to the dishes your family favors.  These recipes are vegan-optional and gluten-free, raw and raw fusion.

STRAWBERRY AMBROSIA SALAD  – Not the way Grandma used to make hers, but this one is so refreshing and will delight the kid in all of us.  See the recipe below this instructional video I made for eHow.com.  Orange blossom water is optional but it has such an incredible taste impact!  You can find this at a specialty store or Indian and Middle Eastern groceries.


Strawberry Ambrosia Salad — powered by ehow
STRAWBERRY AMBROSIA SALAD
Ingredients:
2 bananas, sliced
1/2 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
2 tangerines, peeled and separated into segments
3 pineapple spears, chopped
Juice from 1 orange
Zest from 1 orange
1 tsp. orange blossom water
1/3 cup shredded dried coconut
3 vegan or regular marshmallows chopped into small pieces.
Optional:  honey or agave to sweeten, if neededAssemble chopped and sliced fruits.  In a small bowl mix the zest, orange juice and orange blossom water.  Pour over fruits and chill for 1-2 hours.  Sprinkle on coconut and marshmallows before serving.CREAMY DILL RANCH DRESSING– Who doesn’t love a nice ranch dip with veggies or toast?  This one is fully raw, vegan and dairy free – made with cashews that have been soaked an hour or two to change their consistency.  This makes a wonderful salad dressing and will thicken slightly when refrigerated and can be stored (covered) for up to 5 days in the fridge.  Recipe below the eHow video.


Carrots With Dip — powered by ehow
Ingredients:
1 cup of raw cashews, soaked for 20-30 minutes, rinsed and drained
¾ cup of filtered water
2 TB. apple cider vinegar
3 sprigs fresh dill (leaves only) or 1-2 TB. dried dil
1 ½ TB. nutritional yeast
Celtic sea salt to taste
Directions:  Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth.  Taste and adjust accordingly.  Serve with fresh carrots and other crudites or as a salad dressing.

DON’T FORGET DESSERT!

And if you are looking for the PERFECT, yet healthy dessert option, check out my previous blog on “Peanut Butter Joy Bites” with an eHow.com instructional video.  These seriously taste like a cross between Reese’s peanut butter cups, Almond Joys and Mr. Goodbar!

Thai Coconut Soup

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A Raw Vegan Recipe with Shortcuts

You can buy both young coconuts and frozen kefir leaves at Asian markets, but you can also find the young coconuts at many health food stores.  Young coconuts have a delicious jelly-like meat inside, along with some of water which is super-high in electrolytes and nutrients.  These are a staple food to many raw foodists.  The only drawback is that the seemingly impenetrable husk takes some practice in learning how to open, but I provide a shortcut so that you can enjoy this soup often:

Asian markets also usually carry frozen shredded young coconut meat in their frozen food section.  They are slightly preserved and do contain sugar, so while defrosting I open the package and place the frozen coconut meat in a colander so that the sugared water will run off. Then run fresh water over the meat for several minutes to remove the rest.  You can also buy some preservative-free coconut water to blend with the defrosted young coconut.

THAI COCONUT SOUP

Serves 1-3
 Ingredients:
1 young coconut (flesh and water)
½ garlic clove
½ inch fresh ginger
½ cup water
½ cup pineapple (reserve ¼ cup cut into small pieces)
2 kefir leaves
juice from 1 lime
½ tsp. Celtic sea salt
1 TB. agave or honey
1-2 fresh or dried chilis

Directions:
Scoop out the soft meat from young coconut and place in blender with the coconut water.  Add the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT:  ¼ cup pineapple, 2 kefir leaves and reserve 1 chili
Blend for 1 minute – taste for spiciness and adjust by adding additional chili if needed.

Blend again for several minutes until the blades warm the mixture.  If you prefer a warmer soup, heat gently on stovetop but do not allow to boil as this will destroy the enzymes and nutrients.

Break kefir leaves into small pieces and stir in gently – allowing their flavor to steep into the warmed soup.
Stir in the pieces of pineapple and garnish with a dried chili pepper.

Add any additional items for more texture:
Corn (defrosted) or shaved off ear
Diced cucumber
Shaved slices of shitake mushrooms
Crumbled kale chips

 


Peanut Butter Joy Bites

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Raw Fusion, Vegan, Gluten-Free

If you are someone who has loved many a candy bar, yet looking for healthier solutions, you are destined to adore this recipe!  Kind of cross between a Reese’s peanut butter cup, Almond Joy and those little Mister Goodbar squares that come in Hershey’s chocolate  Halloween assortment bars, these sinfully satisfying little bites are an unexpected taste sensation.  Especially considering how easy they are to make and how good they are for you compared to the processed and high-sugared alternatives.

Best of all, these nuggets of wonderfulness require no baking, have no flour or grains, no preservatives or processed sugar and are gluten free.  If you have a sensitivity to chocolate or caffeine, try making the ganache coating with carob powder.

This is a raw fusion dessert because peanut butter and roasted peanuts are not raw ingredients.  For the most part I have eliminated peanut butter from my diet but it’s something that I crave from time to time.  From a raw fusion perspective, we support fulfilling a craving occasionally (providing you are not allergic or seriously ill) so that feelings of deprivation don’t sabotage your good intentions to eat a mostly healthy, balanced diet.  Once I have my peanut butter fix every few months, I am more than happy to stick with my wonderful staple of raw almond butter, which is much less acidic to the body and not prone to the kinds of molds that peanut butters have (even the freshest, most organic ones are susceptible to the aflatoxin mold.)
SEE A VIDEO OF ME MAKING THESE COCONUT CLUSTERS FOR EHOW.COM


Coconut Cluster Recipe — powered by ehow

 

EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
2 Bowls
Wire Whisk
Waxed Paper
Covered plate or pan for freezing
Optional:  Cookie Dough Scoop  (see example of “Chip Clik” here:  http://www.kitchencollection.com/Temp_Products.cfm?sku=01094782.

Ingredients:
FOR GANACHE
2/3 cup agave or coconut nectar
2 TB. melted coconut oil
½ cup  cacao powder
1 tsp. alcohol free vanilla
Pinch salt
Optional:  2 TB. melted cocoa butter – makes the shell more candy-like but not needed

Directions:  In bowl combine ingredients with wire whisk, adding more chocolate if needed.  Should be a fondue-like smooth consistency.

Ingredients:
FILLING
1 ½ cup shredded coconut
6 TB. coconut milk (can be the kind packaged in a box or can)
2 TB. raw honey
2 oz. roasted peanuts (preferably not dry-roasted)
5 TB. creamy peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
Line plate or covered bowl with waxed paper

In the other bowl, combine coconut,peanuts, vanilla and salt.  Mix in coconut milk and blend with fork.  Add honey and peanut butter and blend until even throughout.  The “dough” should be sticky.  Either using your hands or a cookie dough scoop make a ball or cluster the size of a large jaw-breaker.  Dip into the chocolate ganache and place on waxed paper.  Continue until coconut dough is finished.  Some of the chocolate will run down onto the paper.  Using a spoon, you can scoop up the chocolate over the bites.

Freeze for at least 2 hours before eating.  I find that they are best stored in the freezer but you can also transfer to the fridge.

This recipe should make at least a dozen of the bites.  Enjoy and would love to hear your feedback.  Everyone who has tasted these has practically swooned – especially knowing how relatively healthy they are!

Green Juice Fast January 2012

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                                                                                             Monday,  January 9th to Thursday, January 12th
                             FEEL FREE TO JOIN US 

Greetings!  It’s always a good idea to start out a new year with some kind of cleanse.  Not only are you backing up your healthy intentions for the new year, you are also detoxing the inevitable excesses of the end-of-year holidays.

In my article about the movie “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” I quoted the experts that 10 days of green juice fasting is enough to do a “re-set”.  Ten days is probably a lot to commit to if you are relatively new to fasting.

ALERT: Before starting a fast, make sure to check with a medical professional to gauge whether you are in good physical condition and/or to supervise your fast. Also, it’s vital to have someone checking in with you several times a day to monitor your progress. If you feel light-headed or extremely weak or nauseated, do not continue your fast! Furthermore, coming off a fast should be done slowly and according to recommended procedures.

Healthi(er) Pizza

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 Cooked Food Compromises for a Busy Life

Pizza might not be the healthiest food choice, but raw fusion is about finding realistic compromises and manageable ways to amp up the nutritional value in your daily meal choices. If you find yourself craving a pizza, here is a relatively guilt-free version.

Instead of dialing for delivery, try doctoring up a frozen cheese pizza. You’ll save money, calories and hours of self-recrimination! The fresh veggies will provide important micronutrients and help you digest the cheese and crust, especially if you add leafy greens.

* Buy a plain cheese pizza. The one I started with has a gluten-free crust and vegan cheese, but you can choose according to your dietary restrictions. If you can get a whole-grain crust, even better.
* For toppings, keep it vegetarian. If you are trying to lose or maintain weight, meat does not combine well with the cheese OR the carb-based crust. The cheese and leafy greens will provide enough protein.
* Use a variety of fresh veggies. The ones that are on frozen pizzas are processed and have very little nutritional value. In mine I used a combination of spinach, spring mix, red onions, tomatoes, mushrooms and olives. Red peppers are also great.
* Add fresh herbs for more chlorophyll and nutrients (Mine has basil leaves.)
* Let the pizza defrost for awhile before you bake. This will cut down the baking time and keep the veggies as close to raw as possible.
* Mist the toppings with olive or grapeseed oil to enhance the flavors.
* Add seasonings, like garlic powder (I love Rinaldi’s Garlic gold — roasted garlic nuggets) red pepper flakes, Italian seasonings.
* Instead of adding parmesan cheese, try flaked nutritional yeast – it has a cheesy flavor and loaded with B Vitamins. A super way to avoid that processed cheese!

This year we will be adding many more ideas for “cooked food compromises”.  Feel free to request a raw fusion version of any of your favorite comfort foods by sending an email to lj@rawfusionliving.com

Want to achieve a healthy and fabulous new body in 2012?  Check out our Hypnovation for Health program – 25% savings.  Weight loss and other powerful lifestyle changes through the power of your mind!  We are also starting a group “Green Juice Detox” January 9th 2012 through January 12th.  If you’d like to opt-in for recipes, motivational tidbits and moral support visit our Facebook Fan Page.

Turning Resolutions Into Realities

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 Recipe for Mind
Did you know that the average life span of a New Year’s resolution is less than three weeks?  The reason that they tend to fizzle out as quickly as New Year’s Eve champagne is that most of us have not been schooled in the dynamics of the subconscious mind.

Whether you want to break a persistent negative habit, like overeating or choosing the wrong foods, or create a positive one such as getting on a regular exercise program or being more organized, the secret of success lies in making the new behavior second nature to you.

LJ’s 6 Tips to Avoid Overindulging this Holiday

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 With the holidays upon us and temptation abounding, here are some tips that can help you cope with the main events this season:

1.  Have a couple of pieces of fruit about an hour before the main meal.

2.  Drink a glass of water or seltzer one half hour before your meal – if at all possible avoid drinking liquid with your meals as it interferes with digestion.

3.  Food combining is key – if you really crave some meat, poultry or fish, have it with only salad and veggies but no starch (rice, stuffing, potatoes corn, beets). If you prefer the starch, mix that with green veggies and salad. Your stomach will thank you – you will avoid that bloated feeling and not have to loosen your pants!   Have a second meal a few hours later and then you can switch it out and enjoy what you “denied” yourself before.

LJ’s Healthy “Not Really Egg”-Nog

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 For the past two years I’ve had requests to create a raw vegan “eggnog” and decided to take on the challenge for my recent holiday menu class at Abby’s Health and Nutrition last week.

After playing around with a few different concoctions, I came up with a recipe that even surprised me with how much it resembles “the real thing” in taste and consistency.  The response from the class attendees was super-favorable and that included a rave review from my husband, Jeff, who has never been an egg nog fan.

Just made up a second batch today so that I could photograph for this blog and decided to feature it in one the beautiful Baccarat crystal glasses I inherited from my mother.

Green and Red Walnut Boats – Healthy Holiday Fare!

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 Make a festive recipe for your holiday parties that will totally impress your friends and family!

The Green and Red Walnut Boats are at 9:00 on the photo, surrounded by a quartet of mouth-watering raw appetizers from the Raw Fusion Recipe volume, including Angel’d Eggs, Fennel Seed Sausage with Dijon spread and BruschettMa Raviolis (forefront)

WALNUT PATÉ

Ingredients:

Mind Over Muscle – Part 2

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Super-Charge Your Fitness and
Diet Goals Through
the Power of your Imagination.

Have you taken the self-test in the blog directly below this one?  (Mind Over Muscle – Part I)

The information in this post will be much more valuable once you take the time to do that.  Knowing how to communicate to your mind in its preferred representation medium is a monumental resource!

We are learning more and more about how powerful our minds can be in creating your life experience.   The more you engage your mind in the process of any goal or ambition, the faster the results.  Many self-help methods recommend that you should “visualize” your goal in order to get faster results.  I choose to use the term “guided imagery” in recognition that not all of us can easily “see” an image on our mental screen.

This might come rather easily to a VISUAL type, but the AUDITORY or KINESTHETIC might not have that inner sense as well developed.  A way that you can flex all of your sensory muscles is to make lists of different images in every category and practice daily until it becomes effortless to imagine.
For instance:  A baby holding a bottle, or a kite flying in the breeze may be visual images; the sound of a telephone ringing or chimes blowing in the wind are examples of auditory images; while the feel of holding someone’s hand or the sensation of warm flannel sheets against your body are kinesthetic images.  Also experiment with taste and smell; The more you can develop your inner vision, the more magnetic attraction your thoughts create.