Happy Halloween! Raw Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

For the first time in at least a decade, I went trick o' treating this Halloween in rural Woodbury, CT with an old friend. We had a blast, and of course in true Halloween spirit, after coming in from the cold, I dumped my booty out on the floor and counted how many candy bars I had scored in each flavor. My favorite candy bar has always been Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and I could not resist unwrapping that shiny orange paper and biting into its saccharin sweetness. It tasted good because it brought back childhood memories, but let's face it, the Reese Cup is pretty low on the quality scale for chocolate and peanut butter.

So today I decided to make a raw version! I researched a few recipes, and finally decided on the one from Gone Raw. This was my first attempt at raw candy, so I would definitely do a few things differently next time. For example, melt the coconut oil before processing it with other ingredients. And I definitely made the chocolate layers way too thick- the recipe was enough to make 16 and I only produced 9 so the ratio of peanut butter to chocolate was low. Overall, however, I produced a much tastier Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, as confirmed by my father during an official taste test. His official comment: "I like the chocolate better." Raw cacao baby!

And perhaps one could argue this version of the Reese Cup is healthier, but raw or not, it's still candy. Yes, there is such a thing as raw junk food!

Raw Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
From Gone Raw 
Servings: 16 candies

Ingredients: 

½ cup cocoa powder
¾ cup coconut butter (Ed. note: I thought this was a bit high, would reduce next time to 2/3)
½ cup agave
1 tablespoon vanilla
½ teaspoon sea salt
5 tablespoon raw peanut butter

Preparation: 

Blend all ingredients except the peanut butter in a food processor until smooth. Then put half of the batter into a 16 cup mini muffin tin that has been lightly greesed with a little oil. Put in the freezer for two minutes. Then put about one tsp of peanut butter into each cup and then cover with the rest of the chocolate sauce. Freeze (about five minutes-but I keep them in all the time and just take them out when I want one) and enjoy.

Juice recipes

Some more juice recipes to inspire you and delight your senses. Do you have any favorite recipes you'd like to share?

Utopia Juice
1 canteloupe (get organic and it can be rind and all)
Mint (I juiced 20g and then added about 1/3 of that)
3 sticks of celery (smallish sticks)


Olfactory Delight Juice (makes one pint)
60g of alfalfa sprouts
60g of roquette/ arugula (It is arugula season right now and it is sooooo good! I would have added more but this was all I had).
20 strawberries (they were on the small side)
juice of 1 lime
1 cucumber


Blow your mind green juice (makes more than 1L)
3 handfuls bean sprouts
2 zucchinis
1/2 large red pepper (or 1 small)
knob of ginger
1 cucumber
3 pears

Yum yum yum!

Juicy Green Italian Soup

Today is Day 3 of my first ever juice fast. I am doing the fast through an online program offered by Natasha St. Michael on Raw Radiant Health. So far, so good! My sense of smell has improved enormously -- to the point where I can smell the traffic fumes on my morning ride to work. No wonder fasting causes people to radically change their lives!

Last night I made a super delicious green juice, poured it into a bowl, sprinkled a few spices on top, and ate it as a soup. Really delicious and filling! Above is the picture of ingredients before going through the juicer, below is the recipe. Enjoy!

Tguch Green Italian Soup
1/2 head of red lettuce (could increase this to 1 head)
5-6 stalks of basil
1/3 bunch of parsley
6 tomatoes
1/2 a large cucumber
1 red pepper
3 carrots
1/4 fennel (yum, juiced fennel is awesome!)
2 garlic cloves
cayenne pepper + paprika sprinkled on top

Consciousness and the restaurant

Occasionally a vision jumps into my head of me sitting in a restaurant with friends or family and ordering a meal off a menu that someone else has purchased ingredients for, prepared, and served to me. This vision is accompanied with a warm feeling of comfort. A comfort that comes from being taken care of by someone else.

When we eat out, we trust that the restaurant is offering us food that will benefit our bodies. And in response to this trust, we turn off our brains. Eating out is enjoyable in part because we allow ourselves to turn our brains off and eat without consciousness -- consciousness of where the food came from, how it was prepared, what it's nutritional value is etc. In part, the comfort of eating out comes from the comfort of not having to think.

On a raw food diet (and sometimes on a vegan diet) eating out is no longer a comfortable experience. One, most menus do not offer more than one raw option. And two, eating together is a communal experience and I am always concerned that my eating companion will be uncomfortable with my side salad or plate of crudités in comparison to their appetizer, main dish and dessert. As a result, unless it is a raw or vegan restaurant, I no longer eat out with friends. So what else is there to do? you may ask. Good question! It has been fun finding other social activities to invite friends to that do not involve eating.

But unfortunately, I miss that comfort that comes from turning off my thoughts and just indulging. I am ashamed to admit that because one of the reasons I strive to live a vegan raw lifestyle is because I want to live consciously. But there is something relaxing about not being conscious... perhaps with time I will find that same sense of relaxation and comfort in this choice as well.

Recipe: Summer Zucchini-guine with Miso

Day 14 of my 30-day 100% Rawgust adventure, and I am so psyched to be sharing my first raw food creation with you. This is the very first raw recipe thought up completely from scratch in reaction to what tastes and food my body was craving. And it was delicious! A really nice, light, flavorful pasta dish for the summer. I would do a few things differently next time around, and I am including these potential variations in the recipe below. As with all raw recipes, take liberties with it and mix up the veggies based on what your body gravitates towards. Bon appetit!

Summer Zucchini-guine with Miso

Summer Zucchini-guine with Miso

Pasta: one round zucchini spiral-sliced in a saladacco to make wide noodles. I have recently started using the round zucchinis as they make thicker strips then the long squash, and I love a nice pappardelle noodle.

Sauce:
- Bring water nearly to a boil (this will be the quantity of your sauce so use as much or as little water as you want. Remember also that the zucchini will expel water unless you salt and drain it prior to mixing in with the sauce).
- When the water has cooled a touch, mix in with 1/2 T of white miso. Let sit while you prepare your veggies.
- Cut up your veggies. I chose thinly sliced yellow onion (1/4 of an onion), freshly shelled peas (my first time eating raw peas - yum yum and yum! be sure they are not old- you will know because old peas' skins come off and the peas split- as old peas are bitter), thinly sliced radishes (about 6), green onion (2 bunches), 1/2 green pepper. You can see I was gravitating towards bitter and spicy veggies... I will add tomato next time.
- Back to your miso: cut up ginger (I did 2 T) and add together with sesame oil (few squirts) to miso. I also added a touch of agave, but next time I will use lucuma as I prefer the taste, and the powder will help to thicken the sauce. Whisk it up!
- To serve, I put the veggies on the bottom of the bowl, then added the noodles, then poured the sauce over the top. Stirred it up, and ate it with a smile.

Any comments or thoughts, please share. And enjoy!

It takes a village

According to my friend Arletty, a raw foodie Curaçao-Parisienne, there are 100,000 raw foodies in the entire world. This is not a large number, yet simply being able to count the size of this community points to the growing interest in consuming a living, plant-based diet. The Paris raw food community parallels the global dynamic--it is small and growing.

As with any diet and lifestyle choice, the reasons for choosing a raw food diet vary. For me, one of the reasons is I love food, and I love experimenting with food -- I was curious to make a raw lasagna. Second, I was also curious to see if the health benefits were really as life-changing and profound as raw food advocates claimed. Last year I did a 30 day raw challenge with support from Alissa Cohen's Raw Food Talk Forum. For anyone considering going raw, this is a great place to start.  The changes in my energy level, mental clarity, and skin were incredible. And finally, I believe that as individuals, each time we consume, we have the power to choose the economic and world order we want to see manifested. And a raw food diet does not support today's mainstream agro-business.

I think the desire for better health and greater vitality is probably the key factors that attract people to a raw food diet. And then the delicious variety of food keeps them hooked. Perhaps this is why Arletty organizes cru potluck (raw potlucks) in Paris.

Last week, we gathered together near the Seine on the eve of Bastille Day to share homemade raw goodies, and the food and conversation was so inspiring the next day I made raw pizza bread.  Check out my pizza marinara made with a raw basil/oregano/flax seed/almond flour crust, raw marinara sauce, and fresh basil from my balcony garden. Yum!

I am not 100% raw right now and when I travel, I tend to migrate back to cooked foods. But since our cru potluck, I have once again started experimenting with raw recipes such as zucchini-etti with raw alfredo sauce (cashews, fennel, shallots, lemon juice, and garlic) and banana carob pudding (banana, coconut oil, carob powder, cinnamon and lucuma). The joy that comes from eating raw food always raises the question as to why I choose not to eat it 100%. But that's another question for another post.

When I look at the pictures from the cru potluck, the saying: It takes a village to raise a child, pops into my mind. In this particular analogy, the village is the child -- 100k strong and growing. Tomorrow night I have been invited to a ladies night with a group of women I do not know very well. I am inspired to bring a raw dessert -- a combination of this raw almond cookie and cacao walnut cookie recipe with my own twist -- and spread the raw food vitality to a new community. I am amazed at how joyful I feel to do so. A year ago I was tentative to discuss raw food as I often felt as though I had to defend my choice, and being on the defensive is never enjoyable. I no longer feel the need to explain myself. The food will speak for itself.