Chic Vegan

Are you guys tired of hearing about my month of raw yet? Well, this is the last post about it, I promise!

Yesterday was officially my last day of eating raw and guess what I ate for breakfast today?  Tempt Ice Cream! I am a complete maniac. Needless to say my stomach hurt for a good portion of the day. What is wrong with me? (By the way, the ice cream was delicious.)

What I Learned

30 days of raw food taught me to really value persistence and willpower. Every single day I was tortured with the possibility of warm hearty food.( Burritos… I heard you calling my name.)  I literally took one day at a time and sometimes even one hour at a time. This made me realize the power that I let food have over me.

Needless to say, food is an important part of my life. I cherish it and enjoy it’s nurturing goodness. I relish in the occasional goodie or not-so-good-for-you meal. But never did I realize how much I let food and the idea of it control me. Sadly enough, in 30 days my willpower failed me a few times, but all in all I am proud of my accomplishment and would endorse a raw diet to just about everyone.

The Benefits

Weight loss – My intention of doing a raw food adventure was not to lose weight, but it was an added bonus! I lost a great deal of weight the first 2 weeks – 8 lbs to be exact. I was kind of nervous because I didn’t want to shed too much weight. I love my muscles and curves! But my body knew exactly what to do and after I lost those initial pounds everything regulated and I remained (and still remain) at this ideal weight. This was quite amazing considering the fact that I was consuming at least 2,000 + calories a day.

Mental clarity – My thoughts were extra clear and I felt an increased sense of well-being. I would fade in and out of “zen” moments. This was all very nice and unexpected. I didn’t realize how scattered my thoughts were until they were calm and collected.

Energy – I had tons of energy! I kicked ass at the gym and in aerial class. I didn’t have bouts of sleepiness or “crashes” during the day anymore. I also needed less sleep. Unfortunately this was not a constant occurance during the end of the month. (See: “the pitfalls”)

Lightness – It might have been the weight loss or the extra energy, but I felt incredibly light during my time eating raw. I’m not really sure how else to explain it, but my body and mind felt light and airy.

Bye bye PCOS – Remember when I said that something really exciting was happening? Well, almost all of my PCOS symptoms disappeared during the last month. For those of you unfamiliar, PCOS (short for Polcystic Ovarian Syndrome ) is an endocrine disorder. It is closely related to female infertility, diabetes, obesity and a long list of other symptoms and side effects. I initially cut gluten out of my diet to control the symptoms of PCOS and that worked really, really well. However during this month I noticed that many of my annoying symptoms like hair growth, cramps, and breakouts completely disappeared.  I really believe that if I keep eating gluten free and high raw that I can naturally get my period again! (I haven’t had my period naturally in a few years… don’t be jealous, you actually start to miss it at a certain point.)

Bye Bye Migraines – I typically get 6-7 migraines a month. The type of migraines I get leave me in bed for hours and sometimes whole days. This past month I had 2. And I was able to take an Excedrin, a nap and get on with my day. This fact alone makes me want to be raw all the time!

The pitfalls

Weakness – Towards the end of the month I started to have “funky spells” where I would feel light-headed and weak. Some people suggested that I might have been detoxing. It also may have been completely irrelevant to my raw diet.  I’m not sure what it was, but it was not fun!

Constant cravings – {insert KD Lang joke here} I was constantly craving non-raw foods. Even food that I didn’t typically eat anyway. These cravings continued for the whole…entire…month.  This was totally due to my personal food addictions/obsessions.

Not enough diversity - After a while, everything started to taste the same. After two weeks my tastebuds started to get a little bored.  It might be because I was not exploring enough diverse foods or recipe But is could also be because there is only so much you can do with veggies and nuts!

Future Plans

I am so happy I completed The Raw Food Adventure. I think that it helped me grow and come to grips with my food hang-ups and obsessions. It also helped me become more in tune with my body and what it needs. I am now able to easily feel my blood sugar rise and fall and then eat accordingly. Pretty cool!

From here on out I am planning on eating high raw, gluten free and alkaline (80/20). I would like to avoid refined/processed foods, soy, sugar, and caffeine. My main goal is to eat to cure my PCOS and get the hormones in my body regulated on their own. I really feel like I am on the right path. However, I do know that I am human and really love food (and sweets!). I am not going to beat myself up about slipping up and having unhealthy food once in a while. What is the point of eating crap unless you can enjoy it?

This week I proudly concocted this raw “pasta salad” with basil cream sauce. It has been a while since I have broken out the mandoline to pasta-fy my veggies!  The marinated mushrooms in this recipe are good for pretty much anything. I’ve added them in salads, on top of pizza and in wraps. Right now Doodlebug is obsessed with them and we constantly have a batch marinading.

So below is how you can make this delectable dish for yourself. You can pretty much just use any veggies you have lying around. If you make enough zucchini noodles, mushrooms and sauce to last a few days, you can make this dish in under 2 minutes!

Ingredients

• 2  large Kale leaves, ripped into bite sized pieces
• 1 spiralized zucchini (if you don’t have a spiralizer, a mandoline works fine.. and so does a vegetable peeler.. which gives you “fettuccine”! )
• Marinated mushrooms (see below)
• Chopped veggies of your choice. I used:
  Avocado
  Tomato
  Red pepper
  Summer squash
  Broccoli
• Basil cream sauce (see below)

Marinated Mushrooms

• 1 cup of mushrooms (any kind)
• 1/4 cup Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 Tb Apple cider vinegar
• 2Tb Olive oil
• 1Tb Oregano

Mix all ingredients together and let mushrooms soak, covered, overnight, stirring once or twice.

Basil Cream Sauce

• 2 cups of basil
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 4 Tb olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp  black pepper
• 2 Tb nutritional yeast
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 4 Tb water

Mix all ingredients together in blender or processor. Add more water if you need it creamier.

Put it all together!

• Place kale on plate to make a “bed”
• Pile Zuchinni “noodles” on top
• Throw chopped veggies and mushrooms on top of that
• Add Basil Cream Sauce
• Enjoy!

As The Raw Food Adventure draws to a close I have realized how my gratitude and diet have been so closely intertwined. Without having such readily available and delicious raw food, supportive friends and loved ones, and a wonderful community of like-minded people (you guys!) I would have never been able to do this. And for that I am grateful. Lets see what else deserves props this week:

Vegan Las Vegas - My last visit to Las Vegas was filled with disappointing meals and mornings crying over the fact that fruit was my only option at the expansive breakfast buffet. I would like to give a huge thank you to (supposed) new vegan, Steve Wynn and his decision to make it mandatory for all of his restaurants to have a few vegan choices on the menu.

Fall Fashion -What is more exciting than fall fashion? Nothing! The layers. The patterns. The possibilities!

Mini Notebooks – I recently bought myself a set of cute striped mini notebooks to harbor my various obsessions. So Far I have the following notebooks designated: Happies (gratitude), Inspiration/Ideas, Words (word I like or don’t know the meaning of), Dreams (for my lucid dreaming project).

Trapeze Boots – Look at these things. They are boots.. for aerials. Problem is I can only find them in leather (boo!). Any of you crafty hotties want to make me a vegan pair? PLEASE!

Raw Food Adventure Recap: Week 4

I’m almost there!  There is officially only a few days left of The Raw Food Adventure and I am already planning out all of the non-raw food I want to eat. Eating raw has been incredibly beneficial to me and my health and I plan on eating high-raw from here on out.. but sometimes a girl needs her quinoa.

This week I made an incredible dish: Raw pasta salad with basil cream sauce. Recipe coming next week! I have been religiously drinking smoothies with hemp seeds, blueberries and banana. I have eaten enough kale and avocados to feed a small tribe for a year.

Next week I will be doing a special recap of the whole entire month! I know you are excited!

I currently have a few consults who have the same exact problem: They are vegan, in college and broke. The general consensus is that these 3 factors lead to dinners of freezer burnt Morning Star patties, a wardrobe that hasn’t changed since 11th grade and quite a bit of nights out, staring in admiration at your friend’s food. Darlings – I have been there!

Whether you are at the University of Oregon (vegan options galore) or community college  in the middle of Nebraska, it is VERY possible to eat vegan and healthy on a minimal budget. While your at it, you can dress like the compassionate hipster you long to be and show all of the naysayers how fabulous being vegan really is.

While these tips are targeted at college students, they can be incredibly useful to anyone who lives on a strict budget or who is looking to save some money. I use most of these tips every day!

I broke this post into two parts. This first part is about eating vegan and healthy, even when it seems like all odds are against you. The second will be about staying fashionable and fabulous even if you are beyond broke and have 2 minutes to get to class.

Eating Out

Only eat out twice a week, tops. I understand that in college it is almost impossible to have every meal at home. Going out to eat with friends is a huge social event, and sometimes you just don’t have time to eat and then you get stuck in the middle of your bustling day, starving.  Try to plan out your weeks so you can have the majority of your meals at home (or take them with you).  However, when you do go out to eat try to make your meal under $10 and healthy. How do you do this? Research and trial and error. You can find menus online to almost every eating establishment in existence. Research what is offered on your campus and go try it out. Make a list of each business and what they offer. You could even put your list online and share it with other vegans on your campus! Eating out is actually not so bad once you do your research.  Here is a list of vegan items at chain restaurants and Happy Cow allows you to search out veg and veg-friendly places in your area.

Eating at Home or in a Dorm

Not many people have the option to  cook big elaborate meals everyday. While in college, you may be able to do this once in 4 years. If you are lucky enough to have an apartment or still live at home, your task is relatively easy.  To save time and money, make things in bulk. Make a huge pot of chili, soup or stew and store in the fridge or freezer. Now you have at least one meal a day covered for 7-10 days, for relatively cheap. Chop up veggies and store in bags or containers in the fridge so you can quickly make salads if needed. If you like big fancy meals, cook one once a week and invite some friends over. Or even throw a monthly potluck. It is much cheaper than going out to dinner.

If you live in a dorm, things can get tricky depending on how your building is set up. If you have a “floor kitchen” then you can just try out the ideas listed above.  If you do not, then your task just got a bit harder! You can purchase a portable stove top and a small refrigerator (with your college logo on it!) for cheap on Amazon. If you feel like getting really gourmet you can get a George Foreman Grill.  But please, please, please try not to burn your dorm down! For some easy and dorm-friendly recipes check out The Vegan College Cookbook.

If you purchased a meal card and your college does not offer sufficient vegan options, then you need to make a huge deal about it. Petition, write letters, and perhaps talk to the person in charge of your school’s meal plans about how important it is that EVERYONE has something healthy to eat. If they know the demand is there, they will deliver. Another option is to tell them you have serious food allergies.. if it is something that might lead to a potential emergency situation, they will probably go out of their way to accommodate you.

Grocery Shopping

Do not buy prepared and pre-packaged foods. Buy limited processed food. (You should actually not buy any processed food, but I’m thinking about what I ate when I was in college and I’m being realistic here.) Pre-packaged food is WAY too expensive for what you get. I know, it’s quick and easy, but if you cut it out of your shopping list, you will save loads of money.  Processed food is at times, a bargain but not worth it for the nutritional content. A bag of chips may be 99 cents and a bag of spinach may be $3, but the bag of chips has absolutely zero nutritional value and you will just end up being hungry again, soon after. Try to buy primarily produce, grains, beans, legumes and nuts. Grains, beans and nuts in bulk are typically the cheapest. You don’t have to buy all organic produce as long as the dirty dozen always is. Only buy enough produce to last you a week.

Figure out a budget and calculate exactly how much you can spend a week on food. Make sure you stick to this figure. After a few weeks of shopping you will be able to figure out how to get the most bang for your buck. Farmers markets are a great place to find cheap produce. You could also sign up for a CSA share and split it with a roommate or friend.

Do you have any tips for eating vegan and healthy on a college student’s budget? Let me know if there is anything else you would like covered and I’ll add it in part 2!!

Stay tuned for Part Two of this post that covers staying fashionable and beautiful with $3 in your bank account and no extra time!

I know you love my stock photography

I have a confession to make: I love balls.  Now that you have a clear image in your head.. get your mind out of the gutter! Lets move on!  Balls are simply just a melange of goodness rolled up into one sweet, healthy and satisfying spherical concoction. I typically make huge batches of them and store in the freezer for random munchies throughout the day. Today I’m going to share with you a huge collection of recipes from the queen of balls herself, Averie from Love Veggies and Yoga. These are all a special gift for those super busy raw folks that love sweets!

Dark Chocolate Cherry Balls

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

Almond Butter Cookies (flattened balls?)

Chocolate and Coconut Snowballs

Donut Holes

Chocolate-Peppermint Donut Holes

Bonus:

Caramels!

The following recipe comes from one of my new favorite sites (with one of the greatest names ever),  Modern Hippie. Don’t let the long list of ingredients frighten you, these roll-ups are very easy to make! As always make extra pâté to go on crackers, zucchini pasta, or other wraps! Pâté always comes in handy.

If you head over to Modern Hippie you can find this whole recipe along with an instructional video.

Garden Herb Roll-ups

Serves 6

For the wraps:
6 large collard leaves
3 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced

For the Pumpkin Seed Pâté:
2 cloves of garlic
½ cup Brazil nuts
½ cup lemon juice
1½ cups pumpkin seeds, soaked for 4-6 hours, drained and rinsed
¼ cup olive oil
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ cup parsley
¼ cup basil
¼ cup dill

Place the garlic in your food processor fit with the s-blade.  Process to chop.  Add the Brazil nuts and process until they are finely chopped.  With the blade running, add the lemon juice until the mixture is creamy.  Add the pumpkin seeds, olive oil and salt to the processor and continue to purée.  Lastly add the parsley, basil and dill and pulse to finely chop the herbs.  Scrape into a bowl.

For the Marinated Veggies:
2 cups baby spinach
1½ cups shredded carrots
¼ cup onion, very thinly sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste

Toss all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well to combine all of the flavors.

To assemble:
Lay a collard green on your cutting board with the darker side on the board.  Chop off the stem and trim off any very thick portions of the remaining center stem.  Place 6 tablespoons of the pâté on the collard leaf and spread out a bit, but leave plenty of room for wrapping up the leaf.  Top with a few slices of tomato.  Cover with ½ cup of the marinated veggies.  Roll up just like a burrito, folding up the top and bottom first and then rolling in the sides.  Enjoy!

Recipe and photo property of Modern Hippie and Natalia from Glowing Empire.

I can’t believe I am almost halfway done the raw adventure already! The weeks seem to be flying by and I feel amazing! My schedule has been a bit hectic lately, between preparing for my performance tonight, working extra shifts at the BL, keeping up with freelance and running things here at Chic Vegan, I have been one stressed mamma jamma. But that is okay because it is all tons of fun and I feel inspired and invigorated with every step I take. This week I found myself actively looking for things to be grateful for during my day. Some days I found myself struggling to write one happy thing in my notebook and on other days, a dozen happies would easily find their way onto the paper. Such is the ebb and flow of life, I guess.

Things that made me happy this week:

Puppies! Portland is a seriously dog-friendly town. You can’t go anywhere without being bombarded with tons of doggies to pet. Unfortunately I am not able to adopt my own rescue doggy yet, but when I do I can’t wait to bring him to one of the million dog parks to go frolic with his friends!

Flutter – This shop is a mish-mash of all things girlie and a bit bizarre. Stepping into this magical wonderland is like taking a tour through my brain. Every inch of the store is covered in reclaimed vintage gowns, candles, quirky books, baroque lighting and furniture, beautiful vintage jewelry and random other ephemera.

Cuddles - I always love cuddles, but I have been needing extra this week. And as always, Doodlebug is there to provide!

Random acts of kindness – I love seeing strangers do nice things for each other. I saw this a few times on the street this week and it made me smile.  I also love seeing strangers smile and laugh together, and even strike up playful conversations. You don’t realize how often interaction with unknown others is avoided until the opposite happens and you realize it’s pretty nice!

Eating Raw – I have been loving eating raw! I feel amazing and the results are pretty damn fantastic. More on that below….

What topped your list of happies this week?

Week 2 of The Raw Adventure

I have been keeping up the habit of eating rather simply this week which not only is nice to my body but also turns meal time into a more natural, relaxing time than one of contrived and complicated meals. My food has been mainly consisting of juices, smoothies, crackers, wraps, salads and then whole fruits and veggies as snacks.  This week I made some stuff for raw pizzas and stored it in the fridge. This is all you would need:

• Your favorite raw crackers, store bought or made. If you have a dehydrator, these crackers are super easy to make, and you can make enough to last 2 weeks if you would like. Here are some great recipes. (the kale chips are delicious but wont apply here!)
• Some cashew cheese or other delectable spread. Again, this is easy to prepare and you can make double the recipe and store in the fridge.
• Tons of veggies, diced up. You can use whatever you have on hand here. I also marinate mine in braggs, salt and pepper.

Then just assemble accordingly! It is a nice filling meal that is readily available, just for you. Here is my sexy raw pizza:

I also got a few questions about the “Big Ass Salads” that I make. I actually always make these salads for myself, but since going raw I have omitted the quinoa, hummus and beans I typically add. (Speaking of this, I miss quinoa!) These beautiful, green bowls of goodness are pretty much made up of whatever veggies I have happened to get at the farmers market. The base is always a whole lot of kale. (Kale is magical! It should be abundant in your diet! ) Lately I have been adding a few dandelion greens for extra detox measure.  This week I have used zucchini, squash, banana peppers, red peppers, broccoli, and carrots. This all is ALWAYS topped with avocado and pumpkin seeds. I typically use a salad dressing made up of Evoo, vinegar, salt, pepper, and cayenne. However, lately I have been making this amazing tahini dressing with fresh dill, lemon juice, water, salt, pepper and cayenne. I have no exact measurements for these dressings, but they are pretty easy to eye up and mix according to your personal tastes. If you are a busy bee, set some time aside to chop up lots of veggies and make batches of the dressings.

I have also been snacking on whole dates when I need a sugar fix. I love dates! These will probably be a permanent staple in my kitchen. I also splurged on a jar of raw cashew butter -OMG! This stuff descended from heaven and blessed my mouth with its other-worldy goodness. I would most definitely recommend.

So how do I feel?

Wonderful! I have so much energy, it is pretty amazing. I seem to have more strength and stamina in aerial training and more energy during the day. I am also sleeping better and having an easier time waking up in the mornings. My skin looks amazing and I have lost a little bit of the extra weight I gained from “exploring” all the vegan food Portland has to offer. (Keep in mind, I lost weight while eating raw like a proverbial piggy and never being hungry!) Another wonderful thing that is happening is that I have not been getting many migraines at all! They tend to come in clusters, so I’m waiting until the end of the month until I make any assumptions.   I am also noticing something else… something HUGE! I’ll leave you in suspense about that until the end of the adventure.

Have a beautiful, magical weekend!

Top photo by Tim Walker

Perhaps one of the easiest and funnest foods to make is sushi. I love choosing random fresh veggies to roll into a delicious cylindrical concoction. I had almost forgotten how easily vegan sushi can be made raw! (Just make sure you use raw nori not toasted nori.) You can totally omit the rice factor if you would like or replace it with things like daikon, sprouted kamut, jicama, and anything else you can think of. The fun with sushi is experimenting!  I’ve stumbled upon some great raw vegan sushi recipes to get your creative juices flowing.

Sushi with sundried tomato spread from The Bees Knees Kitchen.

Raw sushi with daikon rice from Veggie Wedgie.

Sushi with jicama from Eat Healthy! Be Happy!

Sushi with sprouted kamut and portobellos from Rawmazing.

Eggilicious-Eggless Raw Nori Rolls from Cherry Bomb Pie.

This is one of those amazing raw recipes that look much fancier than they really are. Whoever the creative force was behind raw pasta gets an A+ in my grade book.

This is a recipe for pea-pesto mixed with zucchini on top of a bed of wilted kale, finished with sun-dried cherry tomatoes, brought to you by Rawxy. Go to her site to enjoy more photographic splendor.

It is almost go-time for the 2010 Raw Food Adventure! Are you excited? I am! This is something that comes much needed after a handful of stressful months loaded with not so good foods. My body is actually craving delicious raw veggies like crazy lately! I hope that some of you wonderful ladies will consider doing this with me. I would love to hear your stories and for us to experience challenges together. Remember you can do any variation of this you want: maybe only 80% raw, maybe only for 2 weeks, maybe you just want to eat less processed foods – Whatever! Come join the party!

Overall Mission

For the month of August, I plan to eat a 100% raw diet for 30 days. I want to do this to cut out processed foods, caffeine, soy, wheat and sugar. I want to make every meal a mindful one. During this time I want to get more active by doing some kind of workout every day.  I also want to reduce stress by meditating every day, and adapting a more minimalist work regimen. I will be recapping my adventures every Friday here on the blog and hope that those of you  joining in will share your experiences as well!

Shopping List

My menu is going to be pretty basic for the first week, so I will just be buying a whole lot of produce, nuts and some oils. I will just be eating a lot of salads and drinking a lot of juice. Remember to only buy enough produce to last a week.

Raw nuts (cashews, almonds, walnuts, macadamia)
Fruits
Lots of veggies (including collards for wraps and an obscene amount of kale for juicing and eating.)
Dates
Oils (evoo, coconut, hemp, udos)

Preparation!!

I’ve got lots of prep to do this week! I’m going to try and dehydrate enough crackers (flax and some others) to last two weeks. I think that raw crackers and breads are important to eating raw because they are so nutrient dense, can be stored easily and if paired with a dip and some raw veggies, can make a whole meal. Of course raw crackers are by no means necessary, I just really enjoy them! If you don’t have a dehydrator you can buy crackers at your local health food store, online or try some of these tricks.

Next I’m going to make some dips/spreads and a dressing. I typically use oil and vinegar with some spices as a salad dressing, but just in case I get bored of that I’ll make another one to have on hand. Thrive has tons of great dressing recipes, my favorite is the Ginger Carrot Dressing. This creamed spinach dip looks yummy and you can never go wrong with the old standbys: Hummus and Guacamole. The reason why I make dips/spreads in advance is because they are delicious with vegetables, spread on crackers/breads, and also used as spreads on wraps or as a base for a sauce or dressing. It is always good to have some on hand!

Then I’m going to make some energy bars or “balls of goodness” as we like to call them around here since we prefer the spherical shape to the square.  These can be stored in the freezer for snack time bliss or a post workout pick-me-up. Again, Thrive has some great recipes for these. (I love this book so much because all of the recipes are insanely easy, taste good and each ingredient has a serious nutritional purpose. Most of the recipes in this book can be made raw or cooked depending on your preference. AND it is a great resource for vegan athletes.) If you don’t pick up the book here is a great energy bar recipe. And if you are feeling naughty, here are some deliciously easy raw desserts you can make and freeze for future noms.

Finally, I’m going to chop up veggies and store them in the fridge. If they are all washed, chopped and ready to eat, “I’m too busy” is not a valid excuse!

Great online places for raw food inspiration

Choosingraw.com
welikeitraw.com
lovingraw.com
loveveggiesandyoga.com
rawfoodcrafting
rawfoods.com
goneraw.com

Meal Ideas

I was going to create a very specific meal plan  to follow each and every day. However, when I really thought about it I realized that all of the fun in eating raw is getting to be creative and adventurous with your food. Raw food is easy to mix and match, add to and take away from depending on your preferences. Some days you will be much more hungry than others, or be craving greens, or fruit. I think the most important part of this adventure is learning to listen to your body and what it needs and wants. We are all very different and you will want to nurture your own unique self.  That being said, I don’t want to leave those of you considering this adventure, empty handed. So here are some great meal ideas.

Breakfast

– Shakes & Smoothies(made with water or coconut water)
Hemp seeds, berries, banana, cashews
Banana, cacao powder, cashew butter
Kale, mango, blueberry
banana, ginger, lemon juice, cayenne, blueberries
spinach, apple, banana
Smoothie Add-ons: Maca, cacao, Udo’s oil, chia seeds
Smoothie FAQ

- Almond butter & bananas

- Flax crackers and almond butter

- Juice
Your options are really limitless here, but these are some great drinks to start with.

Lunch

- Salad.
Anything you please, thrown in a bowl with a dressing of your choice! Choosing Raw has some fancy salad recipes.

- Collard Wrap with spread, dressing and lots of veggies.

-Zuchini noodles

- Juice

- Crackers and dip with veggies

-Cucumber Dill Soup (soups can also be made in bulk and stored in the fridge!)

Dinner

- Raw Zucchini Alfredo with Basil and Cherry Tomatoes

- Juice

- Spicy Thai Tacos

- Collard wraps (see above)

- Green Smoothie

- Huge  salad

-Falafel hummus Wrap

Snacks

fruit, veggies, balls of goodness, crackers, nuts.

I will also be featuring some yummy raw recipes here on the blog and in the newsletter for the next month so there will be many more ideas to come! I will be starting on Saturday so be sure to connect on twitter and facebook and share your  experiences!

Delicious photo from Pure Food and Wine!