All Done

Those were 3 short days, but it was fun. Yesterday I ate loads of fruit and today I broke the fruit feast with Raw Cocoa Crispies with coined bananas and fresh almond milk. I probably should have had a Green Smoothie, because I haven't eaten greens in the past few days, but I'm afraid I just didn't want one. But I had a salad at lunch today and will probably have some for some of my supper too.

Probably everyone has made this classic, fruit shake...but in case you haven't here's a lovely snack that I had for breakfast yesterday...

Simple but Sweet

2 oranges, peeled

1 banana

Ice

Blend in the Vita-Mix and pour into a tall glass, garnishing with an orange wedge and a fun straw.

It tastes like summer in a glass. Speaking of summer, the sun has been shining with such brilliancy these last couple days (minus today and yesterday) and I've been soaking up every beam of sunlight I can. I'm even starting to get a tan (yay!). I think my sisters are jealous, lol, they're the best!

Dreaming of summer...

Frozen berries and Yumberrys

I have a lovely habit of ill-timing. I choose to do this fruit cleanse, right when nearly our entire house is out of produce. Yesterday, I managed alright, but today I ate rather lightly and drank a lot of water.

Breakfast~ Frozen berries blended into a chunky sorbet, and then a date

Snack~ A couple more dates

Lunch~ A tomato (can you sense my desperate-ness? ...That was all the fresh "fruit" left, and yes, it is scientifically a fruit)

Snack~ Some dried figs and a couple dates and a Yumberry juice

Supper~ Oh, I long for supper, even though I don't know what it will be. My parents are in town today so they will bring home food, glorious food...and most importantly fruit. I'm thinking of bananas, oranges, mangos, and young coconuts. (happy sigh)

I don't mind eating all fruit and I don't feel really any deprivation, but to do a fruit cleanse without real, juicy fruit...well, it can be a challenge. It wasn't my initial idea to be eating some dried fruit in these three days, but if you're hungry, you're hungry. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

Juicy Fruit Cleanse

And no, I'm not talking about the gum. Every month of this year I have succeeded in doing some sort of cleanse or detox so I wasn't about to let April slip away without my doing one. I think it's been a great habit to keep up with, just to have a time of limits on food (anyone who had done a detox knows how good it is to eat afterwards), rest (if that's possible in this house), and get priorities back into shape.

Because fruit is one of the best catabolic (speeds up cleansing or detoxifying) foods, I have chosen it to be the subject of my 3-day cleanse. My sister-in-love and my brother did this once, making my brother say, "You don't know how sweet fruit is after 3 days." I guess I'll find out.

I have been drinking lemon water (often with stevia added) every morning for the past few days. I'll sometimes drink an entire quart of it before breakfast. It's so easy to drink lots of water when I just carry my quart-jar around all day. About 8 or so days ago I started taking MSM for the first time. I'll be taking it 50 days until the bottle is empty and see how I feel about it then. I know many people are crazy about it and all the benefits, but some others after taking it, haven't noticed much at all. We'll see how my body responds.

Breakfast~ 2 oranges and 2 apples

Lunch~ cucumbers (There was a potluck after church and I thought someone would bring fruit, alas, they did not. I ate cucumbers thinking it the best replacement)

Snack~ 1 young coconut

Supper~ Not sure yet, but I'll probably have some sort of fruit shake, drink, or sorbet

Oh, and if you have any MSM success stories, please comment and tell me what you like about it.

Scrummy Cereal Bars

A few days ago...I was craving sweets desperately. And this was the result...and I tell ya, I'm making it again. These seriously taste like the typical cereal or popcorn bars that everyone always brings to your average potluck, or you know, the recipes that are always on the back of cereal boxes or peanut butter jars. In fact, that's where the inspiration came from...I just rawified one of those SAD favorites. Hope you enjoy!

Sticky Cereal Slices

3/4 c. of liquid honey (or agave if you're vegan)

2/3 c. raw peanut butter (or do what I did, using organic peanut butter, which is just ground up peanuts)

Combine the two, mixing well. And then mix the following into it.

3 c. of raw cereal or granola (the simpler the better, something like "Buckwheat Crispies")

1/2 c. of shredded, unsweetened coconut

1/2 c. dried cranberries

1/4 c. raisins

Toss together and then place in a lightly oiled (coconut oil or olive oil) 8" square pan. Freeze until firm and then slice. Makes 16 squares roughly.

After I placed the squares in the pan I added a Carob Syrup (just carob and maple syrup mixed) over top. Totally scrummy!

And because I'm giving you a really sweet treat recipe, I'll give you something to balance you out. Admit it. Most of us eat too many sweets, raw or not, so here is something that is an example of a better daily staple.

I was totally surprised how good this actually tasted.

Really Romaine

1 head of romaine lettuce

Put this in your blender with a little water, until the Romaine is totally liquid. Then add the following:

1 banana

2 TB. of raw honey (or agave)

1/2 ice cube tray of ice

Blend and enjoy.

That's what I had yesterday, but this morning I made it without the banana and it was still really good, just with the Romaine and honey. Simple, but lovely.

"Simplicity is the ultimate Sophistication..."

Banana Cheesecake Trifle

I guess it's a rather flamboyant name for such simple preparation, but I must say...pompous or not, it does somehow fit, because it tastes so divine. Our camera is not working properly, so the picture really doesn't do the dessert justice.

All I did was slice bananas into a bowl, make a quick, raw chocolate sauce, and then put spooned out pieces of Carmella's Whipped Cream along with it. The secret is to refrigerate the cream until it's like cheesecake consistency. And then, of course, you drizzle the sauce over top and enjoy every spoonful till...saddest of tragedies...it's all gone.

Today I made kale chips for the first time ever. They were incredible. To be honest, when I first heard of them, I thought that sounded really disgusting. But now my mind has been most certainly renewed and I like them. I ate nearly an entire bunch of kale, just in the "dehydrated chip" form. Very addicting. My sister and I were reading "The Fellowship of the Ring" together again and that was my snack along with some organic tea. She and my Mom liked them too. Really, I think it's a marvelous way to eat kale, and get more greens into our diet. I could easily eat 3 or 4 bunches of kale just straight, when they're prepared this way. I know I'm going to make these much more often. I meant to post a picture of a bowlful of them, but...alas! I ate them all before it could be done.

Raw Chocolate Bar

...My first "official" raw chocolate bar ever. I just finished it this morning while doing some studying, so, so good. I got it from Raw Guru, the ultimate online raw store.

A couple days ago I had this dreadful chocolate craving, what's a girl to do? Here's my quick fix, which I shall entitle the...

Crunchy Maca Chocolate

1 T. organic cocoa or raw cacao

1/2 T. maca powder

1/2 T. lucuma powder

2 T. almond bits (I just smashed some in a bag with something hard)

1-2 T. maple syrup or agave nectar (or honey)

Mix in a small container and shape into one deluctable ball of indulgence. Coat with lucuma powder or cacao nibs.

I'm afraid I've been craving sugars lately (not again! lol) so it's nice to have a little fix now and then, such as the dreamy Medjool date, Shannonmarie's Million-Dollar Brownies, and Carmella's whipped cream. :)

A couple days ago my Mom served our whole family Green Smoothies with our lunch, they were actually purple, but they had greens in them. I'm so proud of her. Oh, and Anne-Marie, my eldest sister has been having Green Smoothies in the mornings too. Our family loves to have smoothies and is always happy when someone is willing to share. We keep our Vita-Mix very busy. I really just adore my family! :)

Our Singing

This post has nothing to do with raw food, but a couple people were interested in our family's singing (as we just got back from a 3-week tour), so I promised I'd post a few singing pics. Here they are! Above...not anything official. We were just waiting for the man to unlock the church's door (we thought he was late), so we decided to use our time "wisely" while we waited. Good memories.

Next: Raw chocolate! ;)

Orange Memories

I can't believe we're back home! So many good memories. It was the best singing trip we've ever taken, meeting so many new friends, seeing old friends, singing fun places, and going on a bit of a holiday in between. God was so good and it was such a special time. Now that we're back you can expect me to post more regularly.

One of my highlights was picking oranges off a tree for the first time in my life! It was so fun! We were staying at a family's place who juice oranges nearly every day, in large amounts, so I got to juice oranges in an citrus juicer for the first time too!

Mom and I with our freshly made orange juice...such fun!

I'm actually picking oranges...off trees!

We brought home so many oranges that we were able to leave a bag at many, many people's home's we stayed at afterwards. The friend's we were staying at were so generous to give us so much of their fruit. Even now, we have a big basket on our table just asking to be devoured. Actually, at this moment my sister Anne-Marie is making fresh orange juice, Vita-Mix style.

Here's her easy-peasy recipe (it tastes like Orange Julius!)

Anne-Marie's Easy Orange Juice

Oranges, peeled with not too much white pith on

Water

Ice

I didn't give measurements, because it's really up to you...how sweet you like it, how thin, how watery or juicy, or how cold. :0) It's good to have water and ice because then the sugar level isn't so high. If you're making fresh fruit juices, it's usually a good idea to add some amount of water.

Two Wishes Come True...

At another hotel, with a few minutes on my hands again. Yesterday was such a beautiful day...and as the title says, two of my wishes came true! I got to go to a raw cafe and touch the ocean for the first time! I was so excited! I ordered a chocolate tart with strawberries and my sister Anne-Marie, who went in with me, ordered a mango fruit tart. It was so special! We popped into Good to Go, a new raw cafe here in California. I believe it's only been open for about 4 weeks. It's really quite near the beach, so I got to eat a few bites actually on the sand.

Daddy and I, he's my hero!

On Tour ~ Grand Canyon

Just wanted to post some quick pictures from our latest escapade. We've been having the most wonderful time EVER! We've met loads of wonderful people, sang quite a few times already, toured the sites (when we have time, which is rare, lol), and are having the most incredible time as a family. Today we found time to visit Grand Canyon and all I can say is "Wow!" It is gorgeous! God has created such a beautiful world, hasn't He?

I can't say that I'm eating all raw on this trip, but I am eating really healthy (and raw), which means a lot of natural and organic food, so that's good. I've been really quite careful about what I eat and so it's been a fun adventure. I'm the kind of girl that loves experimenting and trying new things, especially while on vacations/singing tours, so I'm not giving myself many rules concerning food...just trying to stick to healthy guidelines and be careful. I'm so glad that people all over are becoming more health-conscious in general, this gives me so many more options in restaurants or even fast-food places (most sell salad, whatever the quality...it's a GREAT step!). Anywhoo, I'm having a wonderful time (but missing reading all of your blogs...Internet access is very limited due to our busy-ness) and enjoying every minute travelling. I want to find time to post again (some singing and concert pics perhaps?) so hopefully it'll be soon. In the meantime, I need to get some shut-eye. We're singing tomorrow and I need to be rested. Enjoy the pictures!