I enjoy eating preparing tantalizing meals that are simple, nutritious, and delicious. Healthy food doesn’t have to taste bad in fact it should taste good the times I’ve eaten bad food that was good for me had everything to do with the person not knowing how to prepare the food correctly.

It’s a beautiful day outside. I’m planning on making pineapple smoothie, and later today I plan on cranking up the grill and adding some marinaded vegetable kabobs to the grill. I might even toss on some homemade veggie burgers.

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Simple Garden Salad

2 cups romaine lettuce
1 cup kale
1 cup collards
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup green onion
*1/2 cup raisin, optional

See, I told you it was simple? My daughter Aiyana helped make the salad. We simple tore the greens into tiny pieces and added them to a large bowl. She tossed in the raisins for added sweetness. Munch and enjoy.

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My daughter is only four years old and looks to me for guidance. Realizing the impact I can have on the food choices she might make later on in life I know the importance of getting her on track now. We talk about the foods that we eat and the impact they have on our bodies. Since my diet consists mainly of whole foods eating vegetables daily doesn’t seem strange to her. I eat as close to the natural food source as possible. Eating a lot of vegetables and fruit doesn’t seem odd to her because she sees mommy do it every single day. In fact, the processed snacks that many people consume don’t appeal to her. She’ll sniff the food and put it down. Even before I made the switch to vegetarianism in 1992 I always made healthy choices; however, I noticed when I made the switch to vegetarianism I became even healthier.

People at times are turned off by things they don’t understand but that shouldn’t be used as an excuse. If you don’t know about something take the time to learn. Educate yourself. That means the amount of processed foods I consume is very low. As you can see from some of the recipes, I’ve shared it doesn’t have to take a long time to make a nutritious and delicious vegan meal. I don’t have that type of time. My meals are quick and usually on the table in less than 10 minutes. That’s important to me.

Changes isn’t always easy and at times people need to take baby steps to meet their goals.

Technorati Tags: vegan food, nutrition, healthy choices

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if you are looking for a way to jump start your day try this delicious raw fruit smoothie.

Banana, Strawberry & Nori Smoothie

• 3 cups apple juice (juiced or 100% apple juice)
• 1 cup strawberries
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 sheet of raw nori ground
• 2 tablespoons of freshly ground raw cashews

Directions

1. Add apple juice to a blender
2. Add the remaining ingredients
3. Blend until smooth
4. Serve and enjoy

Nori is a seaweed and is loaded with nutrients that our body needs including trace minerals we normally don’t find in other foods. My daughter loves nori and snacks on it throughout the day. I’ve found that adding cashews to my smoothies adds richness and additional flavor to the drink. Occasionally I’ll add nutmeg. This is a truly delicious drink and doesn’t last long in our household.

Technorati Tags: fruit smoothies, raw vegan, vegan, nutrition

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Aiyana had a small serving mixed in with her raw veggie pasta. She also had garlic roasted mashed potatoes to accompany the meal.

What was in the green salad?

2 cups kale
1/2 yellow onion finely chopped
2 plum tomatoes

That’s it the meal was filling and delicious realizing the importance of digestion. I took time to chew my food. When we gulp or swallow our food, our body cannot properly break it down.

Technorati Tags: raw food, vegan, raw vegan, raw salad, raw pasta

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Mango Pudding With A Kick

• 1 medium sized mango - cubed
• 2 overly ripe bananas
• 1″ ginger

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a food processor
2. Blend until smooth
3. Enjoy

This is a simple dish, but I love it. My daughter ate the entire bowl. I was fortunate to get a few scraps. The past week I’ve been upping my intake of greens. I love greens so for me it’s not an issue to eat them raw or cooked; however, if you aren’t used to them and wanted to trick yourself into consuming them add them to your fruit smoothies. It won’t alter the taste of your smoothie. Guess what? It’s still sweet. It’s better than the sugary empty calorie drinks that are on the market.

Empty Calorie Drinks

They are definitely not good for your health. Your body cannot do anything with what you are feeding it. You are starving your body of nutrition, and simply gorging yourself on junk in time this will take a toll on your body. The added bonus of the smoothies is they taste great, and you are getting the vitamins and minerals that your body craves.

Raw Food Cravings

Since I’ve been upping my intake of greens through my smoothies I’ve notices that my desire to eat mainly raw foods has increased also. I mainly eat raw foods, and have for the past few years, whenever I get these craving I listen. Whenever I have intense workouts I try to add more greens into my daily routine. In following this simple procedure, I’ve noticed that I don’t become tired during the day. It’s my energy booster.

Raw Pasta

I’ve been craving raw pasta for a while. If you are dieting this is an excellent dish to add to your eating habits. I mainly use zucchini for my pasta but today I might try pumpkin just to see what it tastes like. Are you curious how I make my raw pasta. You can check out raw pasta in 5 minutes to get an idea. I usually marinate my raw pasta for at least a few hours however today I believe we’ll be eating it as soon as I make it. It’s still good freshly made. However I think it becomes even better after you let it marinate.

Technorati Tags: vegan, raw food, raw pasta, raw food recipes, vegan recipes

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Mango & Banana Fruit Pudding

• 1 mango chopped
• 1 ripe banana

Directions

1. Place all ingredients into a food processor
2. Blend
3. Enjoy

I’ve made this meal many times.  Occasionally I’ll add something different like I’ll add nori to the blend. It’s loaded with nutrients and works wonderfully with fruit puddings.  Sometimes I might use different fruit or add fresh vanilla beans to the mix.  Think of the fruits that you like and experiment.  I always like combining different fruits together in my food processor.  I usually love what I create.

Technorati Tags: vegan, fruit pudding, vegan recipes

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I enjoy simple meals and you will see me making them the majority of the time. I eat a high amount of raw foods so many days you will find me eating some deliciously raw vegan dish. Who thought raw food good be so sinfully delicious and nutritious at the same time. I’m on a wrapper kick so many days I’ve been eating a lot of organic greens. Where do I get the greens? From my garden. We have them all year round. They are hardy plants and survive the colder months quite well.

I usually wrap the filling in a collard or kale leaf. They make fabulous wrappers. The first time I ever saw a sandwich made as this was watching one of Juliano Brotman’s videos. I’ve included one of them although this isn’t the one I’m referring to. He was nothing like I expected and I loved it.

I listened to what he had to saw about raw foods and decided to come up with my own style of raw cuisine. I had purchased his book Raw: The Uncook Book and although I love the pictures I found many recipes to be a little long for my taste.

Yesterday after I was leaving the gym I stopped by the market and purchase eight mangoes. They don’t last long in our household, and they are a delightful addition to fruit smoothies, sauces, and raw ice-cream.

Aiyana, my daughter has been clamoring for “mango ice-cream” for the past several days so I told her we would make some tomorrow. She is on cloud nine.

It snowed here today, we hung more Christmas lights, and tomorrow she gets her raw mango ice-cream. It’s a four-year olds dream come true.

I’m hoping I’ll have a chance to take a picture and post the raw mango ice-cream tomorrow. It is delicious and so good for you.

Technorati Tags: Juliana Brotman, raw food, raw ice-cream

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Green Energy Drink

• 4 cups apple juice
• 1 cup grapes
• 2 cups rhubarb (or other greens like lettuce, kale, or collards)
• 1″ ginger root

*If you don’t like yours thick add more apple juice.
Directions

1. In a blender add all ingredients
2. Blend until smooth
3. Drink and enjoy

This is one of the numerous high energy drinks I make throughout the week. It’s all natural, sweet, and it’s good for you. I naturally have a lot of energy but this drink makes me sore. I stopped taking supplementations years ago simply because they weren’t as effective as the juices and smoothies that I make. I work out almost every day and my energy level is the same as it was before my workout. I owe a lot of that to the fact that my boty is able to use most of the nutrients that I supply it with because it is easily digestible thanks to my whole foods diet.

Technorati Tags: smoothies, organic greens, juicing, recipes

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Well, I’ve finally done it. The Raw and The Cooked had been converted to an ezine. There are still changes I need to make but so far I’m enjoying it immensely. Eventually I would like to open it so that readers can submit their recipes. Do you have some suggestions please feel free to leave a comment.

I have several website, nine active, and six of them have been converted or are in the process of being converted to ezines. This way I don’t feel as if I need to post as often. On a regular blog I always feel that I should post at least every other day. I’m really happy with the WordPress CMS theme. My only regret is that I didn’t implement it sooner.

Technorati Tags: The Raw and The Cooked, online ezine

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