Thanksgiving Dinner (Sorry its a little late)

I had two thanksgiving dinners this year soo I just had to try out many different recipes. My first Thanksgiving dinner was Sunday with my family and I made sure what I made and ate was all nut-based. And it was very yummy. 

Everything Yum!

A beet salad that my mom made, I will post the blog when she tells me what it is. :)

Walnut Cranberry Squash "Rice" (Raw) from Ani Phyo

Grain-Free Stuffing by Detoxinista

Raw Bread, my own creation made with Almond and coconut meals with cranberries 

and pecans (it wasn't great so I am not giving you the recipe.)

Homemade Cranberry Sauce by Detoxinista

Raw Pumpkin Pie topped with Raw Cheesecake (oh and this cheesecake is AMAZING!)

(it didn't mix very well, I wouldn't do it again, but I am still eating and enjoying it!)

And a Raw Pecan Pie!

My second dinner was with my husband's family at my house and I, unfortunately, did not take any pictures, but here it is any way! Oh, this meal was starch based.

And I am sorry but this next one is going to be more of a list because I didn't take pics, sorry!

Stuffed Seitan--leaving out the walnuts and cranberries

Butternut Squash and Brussel Sprout Stuffing

Mashed Cauliflower

Whole Grain Spelt Bread inspired by this Recipe
     Whole Grain Spelt (5 cups)
     Sorghum Flour (1/2 cup)
     Rye Flour (1/2 cup)
     Brown Rice Flour (1/2 cup)
     Soaked Oat Groats (1/3 cup)
     Honey instead of Brown Sugar

A Yummy Kale and Roasted Sweet Potato Salad made by Me:) (Recipe  and Picture to come)

Happy Green Holiday Eats!!!

Peace Feast Challenge

It is time! For my first monthly Peace Feast! This time I am going to do a 10 day Peace Feast. I am still feeling super stressed out and I am definitely not getting enough sleep so I think that this contributes to weight gain and of course the loss of sleep contributes to more stress which makes me want to eat and it is just a vicious cycle. So 10 Day Peace Feast!

So what is a Peace Feast? Well it is basically a juice fast with a twist. The last time I fasted I realized how wonderful and peaceful I felt at the end of my fast. And actually (I am addicted to food shopping) I didn't want to stop by Natural Grocers on my way home everyday. Other areas of my life began to become more in balance while I was fasting. So a Peace Feast is when you only drink freshly made fruit and vegetable juice (I may add in some cocoa powder in the evening or some Stevia for extra sweetness) for, in this instance 10 days. During your juicing you make one pledge to make your life more in balance in another way too, like "I will do 10 minutes of abdominal exercises or yoga every day." Stick to it and see how you feel at the end of the 10 days, I guarantee your life will feel more in balance than when you began! 

I am going to start next Sunday. I am writing this now so that you can join me! I will try to post what I will be eating the next day on my Facebook page, I make three juices at night so I can eat them through-out the next  day while I teach. I usually make about 4 juices per day. Sometimes I drink all 4 and sometimes I only drink 3, it all depends on how I am feeling that day.

Fasting Tips for Beginners 

Some things I have noticed by watching other people try to do a juice fast. When you juice you are letting your body cleanse the toxins that you have been putting into your body through food and other various ways.  THIS CAN BE PAINFUL, usually people feel awful about day three. I have seen people have really bad headaches and become lightheaded. You have to get through that horrible, detoxing day and I promise you will begin to feel wonderful, awake, peaceful, and light. So if you are doing this for the first time please make sure you let me know so I can support you and I will start on Friday with you instead of Sunday so you have the weekend to detox and the week to feel amazing!

10 Day Peace Feast Challenge begins next Sunday the 21st!

Leave a comment if you want to Feast for Peace with me and during the challenge you can post on my Facebook page and we can support each other and let me know how you are doing!

Wheatgrass Comfort Drink

Well, I am sick. My husband and I thought it would be a really great idea to go to Debate Fest at the University of Denver on Wednesday night. It could have been fun, except the temperature dropped 20 degrees in about an hour. Besides that we decided to splurge and got ice cream before the temperature dropped. So I think a combination of watching the debate for an hour and a half in the freezing cold and eating a ton of sugar in that ice cream made my sickness, which was leaving, come back full swing and once again I cannot talk! But fortunately we have Friday and Monday off so I am sitting in my bed doing all the homework I was suppose to do this week.

So because I am sick and it is freezing outside I have been drinking hot drinks, that will hopefully heal my throat. I also wanted to make a green drink, but my kitchen is a mess and I am not in the mood to clean up just yet so I didn't want to get my juicer dirty. I made a wheatgrass shot compliments of The Vegetable Centric Kitchen earlier and had an amazing idea!

This idea comes from a drink which my daddy used to make us when we were sick. I still make it every time my throat hurts! (There was no ginger or wheatgrass in the version my dad would make us ;)

Wheatgrass Comfort Drink 

1 1/2 - 2 cups warm water

1 large lime

1 1/2 TBS Honey

1/2 inch piece ginger, cut into small, thin strips

2 cubes frozen wheatgrass

Place the ginger in a mug add lime and hot water, then stir in the honey till melted. Place cup in the refrigerator for a few minutes until cooled enough so the heat does not damage the wheatgrass. Add wheatgrass cubes and stir. Then be blessed with the bliss of comfort foods!

On a side note, I know that this month is vegan month and honey is not vegan. I don't know if we could ever give up honey, I like the taste too much and haven't heard a convincing argument against it (except the sugar content). If you would like to try this drink and make it vegan I would suggest try agave nectar or coconut nectar. You will have to put more in to get the sweetness. If you try this veganized, tell me how it tastes. 

Confessions of a Food Addict

Well I am sick today, but thanks to veggie juice I feel good. I just can't talk and it is very hard to teach preschool children without a voice ;) So my day has been very productive (or maybe not). I started my first sauerkraut! I will tell you how it turns out sometime next week.
I made some very garlicky hummus for my husband to enjoy as lunches (I always enjoy a little too). Finally I am now working on Spicy Peanut Kale Chips, I substituted the peanut butter for almond butter and tahini and they are coming out great!

 Well on to confessions :( I cheated. You know that juice feast I am suppose to be on, well I confess it, I cheated. I saw the fruit that I was suppose to be juicing and I just couldn't help it. I ate a pear one night, some watermelon another night and another pear the next night along with some raw coconut, almond balls I had made for my husband. Plus this morning while I was cooking I couldn't help trying the food I made, I have to eat when I cook. If you can cook without snacking on everything you make, more power to you. I get that from my mom, she always said she ate two dinners. So I am finishing Feasting on Juice a little early, but guess what! I lost all 10 lbs that had gained since school started. Tonight I am going to be making some raw soup, and will hopefully post the recipe later and a raw salad. YUM! I am soo excited!

Feasting on Juice this past week has been very eye opening for me. I not only lost the weight, but I learned something very important--when you eat healthy foods you are happier and less stressed. I have been so calm this week even though making four juices every night for dinner and then to take with me in the morning, takes a lot of time, I still felt more peace. My body really needs peace. I thrive on stress, which is why I am a teacher, but it is hard on my body. So I have decided that in addition to eating healthy foods more regularly and in a more detoxifying way. I am going to feast on juice about once a month or so, it will be my Peace Feast :) I will tell you a couple days before so you can do this with me if you want and I will try to post on my Facebook page what I ate that day.



Well I think I will end my post with two recipes I discovered this week. I have pictures for one but not the other. First a smoothie...
I was trying to make Vegan "Booster Juice" but I couldn't find half of the ingredients so I came up with my own 

Tropical Kombucha Smoothie

1 mango

1/2 pint strawberries

1 Frozen Banana

3 Kiwis

1/4 cup each Passion Fruit Kombucha and Guava Kombucha ( I like J.T.'s Kombucha best)

Pour everything in a blender and blend till smooth. Add ice if desired.

I am drinking this one right now :)

Carrot Papaya Pumpkin Pie Juice

It might not sound the best, but believe me, it tastes like pumpkin pie and I LOVE pumpkin pie!

4 carrots

1/2 papaya (Mine was on the firm side, otherwise I would have just eaten it.

1 bag Celestial Seasonings Sweet Harvest Pumpkin Black Tea

6 drops Vanilla Stevia

Pumpkin Pie Spice to taste (I put in quite a bit)

Juice carrots and papaya. Stir in tea bag, stevia and spice. I let mine sit in the fridge overnight, but you could probably drink it within half an hour or so.

Happy Juicing!

New Recipe, Challenge and ... Fast or Feast?

Well there has been so much going on lately I have not had time to post anything. I have made two resolutions since my last post which I would like to share with you. But first, the moment you have been waiting for...! 

Strawberry Rhubarb Juice (Creamed)

Yes I finally did it, I figured out the recipe--it is smooth and sweet!

1 pint strawberries

1 1/2 long stalks rhubarb

1 medium beet with greens (add extra greens if desired)

2 sweet apples

2 limes or lemons

Juice all ingredients and top with a little cinnamon and nutmeg (you may also want to add a little vanilla stevia depending on your taste-buds). 

To cream--after juicing the ingredients pour into a blender and add a banana and an avocado (I think that is what I did, I will have to look at this recipe again when I get home so the creamed version might change a bit in a few days) and blend until smooth. Top with toasted almond and coconut meal leftover from making nut milks. And most importantly ENJOY!!!

On to my two resolutions and I am very sorry but I do not have pictures for this part. 

There has been one constant in my life for the last two months...STRESS! It has ruled my eating choices and also my purchasing choices so I decided I was going to spend less money on groceries (I happen to be addicted to food shopping. Can anyone relate?) Well to do this I decided I needed a plan and there are soooo many amazing blogs with recipes on them, I decided to try and go through them making the recipes found on these blogs. I will try to remember to tell you on my page on facebook what I am eating that day. Also I will try to post my husband's and my favorites for the week. I am hoping this will be fun and also save me money :)

So my next decision... I recently looked at my eating decisions and they have not been good. Basically I have been eating everything I can get my hands on in the last couple of months and it has gotten so bad I cannot stop eating, especially chocolate and sweets! So Friday morning I stepped on the scale and instantly decided I needed to go on a juice fast because what I was doing was not working...Hello my name is Alissa and I am addicted to food! So I started with what I had, a green juice, two smoothies, and another green juice to end the day. Today, Saturday, was my first full-blown juice fast and I had a very difficult time. We didn't do much today--just play with my two-year-old nephew and wait for my newborn nephew to wake-up (which I don't think ever happened). So I got very frustrated today and finally went for a walk to clear my head, but I am going to do this fast because I do not want my life run by food adding to the stress that is already piling on top of me. 

I don't like the word fasting...Courtney Pool from www.CourtneyPool.com and www.SpirulinaJunkie.com calls it juice feasting. I love the term feasting because it is something you want to do not have to do and when you juice you are feasting on an extreme amount of nutrients. So I am going to use the word feasting. 

This week I will be feasting on juice. I will add in a smoothie Friday afternoon and for dinner raw soup and salad. Would anyone like to join me? Post on my facebook page the best juice you ate that day and I will keep you up-to-date on what I am drinking and how I am doing through out the week!

Happy Juicing!!!

Raw Cardamom Soup

I know I promised the Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Juice, but you are just going to have to wait. I have perfected the recipe but as I was drinking it in the car the other day I thought, "Hey this would be good with crust and crunch!" So I want to try on more thing.

I am currently trying to be on a juicing fast, but I have cheated today (and it was my first day :( ) I just had to try the banana muffins my kids made and the raw carob cheesecake was in the specials isle at Natural Grocers and I must say, AMAZING!!!

So anyway on to the soup. It is sweet and has a nice Cardamom flavor--kinda makes me feel like I'm back in India. In fact, now that I think of it you could garnish this soup with raisins, pistachios, and cashews and make it really Indian! Huh, I'm going to have to try that! 

Raw Cardamom Soup

1 Zucchini or Sweet Potato

1 Avocado

1 tsp ground cardamom seeds (out of the pod)

Juice of 2 beets and a handful of greens (I like using beet greens)

1 dropperful Vanilla Stevia

Cinnamon and salt to taste

Blend everything in a blender and enjoy!

Nut-Butter Mocha Smoothie

This is my husbands FAVORITE breakfast recipe. I came up with it because he used to love the Chocolate Protein shakes I used to make for breakfast, but since I stopped buying processed foods I haven't bought any protein powder either. So this is what I came up with (and it definitely is super yummy!)

(Better-than-Starbucks) Nut-Butter Mocha Smoothie  

-About 4 cups of Chocolate Milk Juice   

     - 4 or 5 carrots

     - 1 head romaine lettuce or a couple handfuls of spinach

     - 1 or 2 beets (optional, but I like the flavor)

     - a handful of beet greens (optional, but I LOVE beet greens)

- About 4 cups cold coffee (I make mine ahead of time and put it in the fridge to cool)

- 1 to 2 bananas (can adjust for sweetness)

- 1 to 2 Tbls of cocoa powder 

- 2 to 4 Tbsp almond butter (or other nut butter)

- 1 dropperful chocolate stevia (can sub in regular or vanilla if you don't have chocolate)

- A handful of ice

- Optional add-ins

   - sometimes I add a cup of cranberries to the juice

   - If you like the Java Chip Frappacino at Starbucks (its my favorite) add in a tsp of cacao nibs. They give a  nice chewyness to the Smoothie

   - My husband likes to add about a cup of nut milk to the mix, although I don't think its needed.

   - a scoop or two of ice cream (I've never done this, but maybe I'll make a tray of Chocolate Covered Katie's and throw it in some morning!)

So this is just a tease of what is coming soon!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Juice ;)

ENJOY YOUR JUICING!!!

Garlic "Bread" and Iced Banana Cream

This post has been long in coming. We moved and I have been unpacking and trying to get started setting my classroom up. Its been really hard to start balancing my life and getting back into work. I also finished Natalia Rose's The Raw Food Detox Diet and today I began reading Raw Food Life Force Energy today. I love the health tips in both books, but I also have some reservations and different ideas about other things. Some day I will write a blog about my beliefs and how I feel that has led me into this diet, but not today. 


I did accomplish one goal. I ate raw for an entire day last week! I was VERY excited and it was not hard. I will do it again soon!

Today I did really well too. Although I did not do an 'all raw' day, it was a healthy day!


I started out with about 20 ounces of water.


A half hour later I had a cup of English Breakfast Tea infused with chocolate and berries.


A little later I had a Cucumber/Apple/Mint/Ginger/ Detox Juice (I added a few leaves of Kale)


Mid afternoon I drank a concoction of Beet Greens/2 small beets/1/2 cup cranberries/4 carrots/ 1/2 inch ginger root/1/4 inch turmeric root mixed with a Chai Kombucha.


A couple hours later I finished the leftovers of a yummy pizza type salad I had made for our family dinner on Saturday afternoon.

And last, but most wonderful, my day culminated in an amazing taste-bud sensation dinner, made with "gasp" vegetables!


I made Flourless Goat Cheese Ravioli  (compliments of The Vegetable Centric Kitchen). Added some parsley to a beet/sweet potato/yellow squash/zucchini pasta with pesto (found in Natalia Rose's books) that was also left over from Saturday. And because the most difficult thing for me to say no to during our Saturday dinner was garlic bread, I created Cheesy Garlic "Bread" Zucchini Style!

Cheesy Garlic "Bread" Zucchini Style

1 monster zucchini (this one is from my mom's garden)

1 Tbls Earth Balance Butter (or butter of choice)

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup shredded cheese (or not, I almost thought it tasted better without the cheese. But that could have also been due to the fact that I did not use a very good cheese)

Salt and Pepper to taste

  Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Cut the Zucchini lengthwise into three pieces.

Lay on a cookie sheet. I sprayed it with grapeseed oil first and the bottoms of the zucchini browned nicely.

Place butter and garlic in a food processor and blend until smooth. (you may need to use more garlic and butter to facilitate blending)

Spread the garlic butter on the zucchinis and sprinkle with cheese if desired. 

Bake on 400 for about 40 min. or until the zucchini is soft and the cheese is almost browned. 

Sprinkle a little salt and pepper and enjoy!

We ended our meal with a most amazing dessert. Before I let you in on the secret, I have decided something! When we were kids our mom came up with "Dessert Days". We could only have dessert every other day plus Saturday (because it was a special day) and only during one meal on those days. Well, I think, by the time I have kids I will have this detox diet thing down so I am going to tell my kids that they are allowed to eat dessert EVERY day and  perhaps even for every meal! ;)

Ok, I know it looks like soup, but it's not! It is a most amazing concoction!

Almond Butter Chocolate Chunk Banana Cream

3 frozen bananas

1 6 oz container plain coconut milk yogurt

1/4 - 1/2 cup almond butter

1/2 large Bar Dagoba Dark Chocolate (I used Xocolatl, and it gave the cream a nice punch)

2 dropperfuls vanilla stevia

1 dropperful chocolate stevia

1 tsp vanilla extract

scant salt

Pour all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Then you must sit back and slowly, very slowly enjoy this wonderful treat!

We ate our cream with this lovely chocolate cake I made for (again) lunch on Saturday. (I think that The Vegetable Centric Kitchen must be my favorite blog). After I served the bowls I stuck them in the freezer while I finished cleaning the kitchen and the dessert was coldly refreshing in our hot apartment.

Isn't my cake pretty?!

Happy Juicing!

Green Juice and A New Goal!

Well I know I promised this post a couple days ago and I am sorry it has taken so long, I got a little sidetracked. I started reading Natalia Rose's book The Raw Food Detox Diet. I really enjoyed reading it, at first. Then I read the step about proper food combinations and I began feeling really depressed. I realized that I should not be eating some of my favorite combinations, such as sandwiches (bread, cheese, and nuts (for vegan cheeses) should not be mixed. I LOVE sandwiches. And, as a Hispanic, one of my husband's favorite meals is eggs, beans, and tortillas. Also should not be mixed. :(
So I got depressed and got out the leftovers from one of my vegetarian meats made from peanuts (also bad apparently), some provolone cheese, and smothered both in lots of miracle whip (also a favorite). So now that temptation is gone at least. But this is going to be a struggle, right now my goal is to practice making food in proper combinations that will make digestion easier on my body. That is all, not to be 'raw till dinner' or anything else. I'll let you know when I have to stop thinking about how to put things together and it comes more natural. (In the little test Natalia has in her book both my husband and I scored a 2, which is very high raw, but we decided we are not mentally ready for this level. We have been eating at a level 3 for a while so we will continue at this level until I need a new goal.)


Ok, Green Juice! I started juicing about 4 months ago and I HAD to use recipes and there are a gazillion on the internet. I came up with a couple REALLY nasty juices at first, but I have learned better combinations since. This week I made a few really good ones with some interesting ingredients. My mom grows lettuce, chard, cabbage, and other goodies in pots in the backyard and so a lot of these ingredients are from her "pot" garden ;)

 Zucchini Green Limeade

1 large zucchini (from my mom's garden:)

1 stalk broccoli (I eat the florets and save the stalks for juicing)

1 lime (with or without skin

1 Apple
1 handful Swiss Chard

1 handful Parsley

Juice, Pour over ice and enjoy. I like my juices tart sometimes, so you may need to sweeten this with Stevia

Sparkling Cactus Green Juice 

1 large cactus leaf 

2 lemons

1 apple

2 - 4 dropperfuls Stevia

1 bottle sparkling water

Juice the cactus first as it is slimy, then juice the fruits. Pour juice into a blender and add stevia and ice to taste. Pour into glass about 1/3 full. Add 2/3 sparkling water. Enjoy!

My husband told me that he thought this was the best juice I have made so far. 

My next juice includes Kombucha. I honestly still don't really know what this is, but I like it, ALOT. I was going to make Pumpkin Pie Kombucha from The Vegetable Centric Kitchen, but I was going for green juice this week and the Kombucha I naively bought worked out perfectly!

Green Juice Kombucha with Cactus

1 large cactus leaf

1 medium cucumber

1 big handful of parsley

2 handfuls of Swiss Chard

1 Bottle Green Kombucha

Juice all vegetables and place juice in a blender with a little stevia and ice. (The juice by itself is fairly good so if you don't have Kombucha you can still drink the juice). After blending slowly combine with the Kombucha and share with a friend or enjoy alone!

On a side note, look what I found at Natural Grocers today! Really good and raw! But kind of expensive, I won't be buying them often. 

HAPPY JUICING!!!

The Mail and Cranberries

Guess what I recieved in the mail yesterday!


I am so excited I started reading The Raw Food Detox Diet today, despite how busy I am!


I am going to let you in on how busy my life is right now, it will slow, when I get used to it. I just got a new job teaching preschool! I have been teaching Kindergarten for the past two years so I have a lot of planning and preparing to do! We are moving on Sunday, so I am supposed to be packing right now! And I am starting a Master's degree in Special Education in August. Now this may not seem very busy to some of you, but I will say this again, I am a teacher! That alone takes up most of my time. But I am determined to change my eating habits and find the Life Force Energy which will help me keep up with my adorable 3 and 4 year-olds :)

Tonight's Dinner, Veggie Fajits!

Lately I have been feeling burdened down and tired. And with all this talk on different blogs about cleansing I decided I needed a detox, so I started drinking juice for the first two meals of the day and just eating dinner. I was planning on doing a juice fast tomorrow and Thursday, but I am going to put this on hold. After beginning Natalia Rose's book I realized how much unhealthful foods I still have in my house and I decided that if I do not get them out of the house before I detox with a juice fast that the fast will end up being pointless. So I am going to continue juicing during the day and eat dinner until the unhealthful foods are gone and then I will do a juice fast, somewhere between 3 and 8 days, I haven't decided how long yet. 

So I guess today I am going to share with you a juice that has become one of my favs! 


First off, I swear by cranberry juice! I don't know if other women suffer from the same problem I do, but cranberries virtually eliminate the problem. After I started juicing I gave up my cranberry supplements and replaced them with a half cup of cranberries (juiced or blended) a day. The cranberries (I get mine frozen at Natural Grocers and let them thaw for a while before I use them, but when I can get them fresh I will!) go well with any carrot or beet juice. But I found a recipe I just had to try on The Vegetable Centric Kitchen  and I just made it my own.

Healing Cranberry Green Juice

1 Handful of Green (your choice, I usually use spinach or lettuce)

1/2 cup Cranberries

Fresh Coconut Water (absolutely love!)

2 cubes of frozen wheatgrass

Stevia or Chocolate Stevia to taste (I use 1-2 dropperfuls)

Directions: Put greens in your juicer and before you push them through the chute poor cranberries on top, this prevents the cranberries from jumping out at you if you have the same type of juicer I do (Breville). I always pull out the pulp and put it through the juicer again then run water down to get all the remaining juice dislodged (I don't like to waste anything). Pour into a glass, pop out the wheatgrass cubes and add to juice. Fill the glass full with Coconut Water and add Stevia. If I want something even more chocolaty I add about a tablespoon of cocoa powder! I will be adding variations of this drink periodically.

Tomorrow I will be talking a little about green juices that I enjoy! 

Until then, HAPPY JUICING!

Stuffed Breakfast Mushrooms and Healthy Carob Cream

 This week I have been really good at my veggie intake for dinner and I have really been enjoying it. One problem I had tonight was not feeling fully satisfied even though I ate and amazing dinner.

Our dinner included a really yummy salad made with broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes (from my plants) cucumbers, flax seeds, and carrot pulp. I mixed the salad with the rest of my miso/honey/mustard dressing and set it on a bed of sprouts. Then I topped it off with half an avocado.

I was looking around on the internet and I really wanted to make Healthy Spring Rolls from http://kibbysblendedlife.com/ but I didn't have the ingredients for the almond sauce (which sounds amazing and I will eventually be making). So I thought about what I had in my house and what I needed to get rid of and this is what I came up with. 

Stuffed Breakfast Mushrooms

6 baby bella mushrooms

1 Tbls grapeseed oil

1/2 cup prepared polenta (I made mine a few days ago and it has been solidifying in my fridge.

1/4 package soyrizo

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (chopped)

small handful of fresh basil, oregano, and thyme (I picked these from my pots they could all fit in my hand and I chopped them pretty fine.)

salt to taste

Directions: Pull the stems out of the mushrooms and spray the heads with coconut oil. Set on a baking pan. Warm the grapeseed oil in a pan on medium heat and add polenta and soyrizo. When the polenta begins to stick to the pan add the tomatoes and spices. Stir until spices are wilted and turn off heat. Spoon mixture into mushrooms and bake at about 400 for about 10 to 15 min. I had a little extra of the mixture left over and a red pepper I acquired in one of my dollar bags at Natural Grocers (not one of my favs) so I spooned the rest of the mixture into the pepper, topped it off with some cheese and stuck it in the oven for my husband. I think I cooked the pepper for around 30 min. 

Ok so really yummy meal and I was still hungry. But one thing I have learned is--If it is healthy go for it! So I whipped up my own version of Avocado, Chocolate, and Sweet Potato Pudding from choosingraw.com. Basically I didn't want to cook the sweet potato and I wanted something cold so this is what I came up with. 

Healthy Carob Cream

1 avocado

1 1/2 frozen bananas

2 medjool dates

2 Tbls carob powder

a pinch of salt

Blend up and enjoy! I topped ours with cinnamon and cacao nibs. 

Ahhh Satisfaction!

Mexico and Veggie Juice

Recently my husband and I celebrated our 5th year anniversary. We were able to spend seven wonderful days at a resort in Playa del Carmen, just a ferry ride away from Cozumel where we spent our honeymoon. We even got a picture in the same place we did on our honeymoon. It was a lot of fun!

When we left for mexico I had only been in this lifestyle for about a month and I finished an amazing eight day juice fast the week before-so when we got to Mexico we decided to try to keep our diet as much as we possibly could.

We were blessed to be at a resort with lots of different restaurants and choices for food. We were able to skip the, I'm sure, amazing breakfast buffet and eat-what do you know-Veggie Juice! There was a juice bar in the fitness center and we visited this yummy cafe every morning. Our favorite juice became the Pineapple, Cactus, Parsley, blended with orange juice. When I make this juice at home, I juice everything except the pineapple and then blend it all together. (If you want to try this yummy juice make sure you blend it otherwise the cactus will make the juice really thick and slimy)

We weren't as lucky when it came to food, but we ate a lot less than we thought we would. One of the dishes that we loved turned out to be Ceviche, which is essentially raw fish in spices which you eat on crackers or chips. There happened to be a salmon version that was AMAZING. Now I am usually a vegetarian, except when it comes to sushi and raw salmon-that is the only fish I really like. If I could make this dish at home I would probably make some sweet potato chips to eat with it. 

There are a few recipes that I came away from this trip wanting to make. Most are drinks and one is a raw version of an amazing soup. Here is one idea that I came up with after this trip-it is very sweet so you may want to use it for a dessert. I made it for my husband for breakfast on the fourth of July.

Well I tried to do the half and half thing, but it didn't work so this is what the drink turned into. 

Stuffed Coconut Green Mango Smoothie

Kiwi Coconut Smoothie (the white one)

3 Kiwis

4 frozen bananas

3 cups coconut milk (I used homemade)

Juice of one lime

Blend and pour into glasses

Green Mango Smoothie

4 small mangoes

4 handfuls of ice

1 large handful of spinach

3 tablespoons flaxseed (I grind mine in a coffee grinder because I don't have the most amazing blender in the world.

Blend and carefully pour on top of the Kiwi Coconut Smoothie, Enjoy!