I’ve been posting pictures of my steamed alkaline food on instagram and many have asked for recipes. I started steaming alkaline vegetables a few months ago because towards the end of last year I had been eating a lot of acidic foods and even though they were raw, it was acidic.
Steaming Alkaline Vegetables
The idea with eating steamed food was to reset my taste buds and help my body become more alkaline again. Denis and I just a conversation about how when we discovered the Alkaline principle that we stayed pretty alkaline until we went to our first raw food festivals in Sedona in 2008 ans we were told cashews, chocolate, mushrooms, and agave were good for you.
We knew better but didn’t listen.
Alkaline Food Recipe
The recipe for steaming alkaline food is simple. I take my list of alkaline food and throw any combination of these in the steamer. I don’t steam avocados or seeds or fruits. Everything else I steam and then add oils when the food is done ans on my plate.
Since it’s fall, I’m using a lot of fall organic local veggies and whatever else I see at Josh’s that fits the “highly alkaline” requirements. Here is one of my favorite combinations:
1 handful of Brussel Sprouts
1 handful cauliflower
1/4 cup of sprouted beans (including peas)
1/4 rep pepper
Garlic (as much as you like)
2 large collard leaves
2 large chard leaves
Kale, spinach, and other greens
Real Salt, cumin, and other spices
Hemp oil to taste
I use all my ingredients fresh from Josh’s Organic Garden, so I only have to steam them for less than 10 minutes. I don’t buy anything frozen because it’s not considered raw. My steamer has a timer, so I add all veggies but the greens and spices and oil and set the timer for 10 to 12 minutes.
When there is about 2 minutes left, I add the greens and cover until the steamer rings and shuts off. I add hemp oil to all my meals that are cooked so I can get all the benefits from the hemp oil and not complain about the taste. A major reason I steam some food is to reset my taste bud and to learn to eat oils I did not like when I was only eating raw.
Serve warm with seasonings.This is enough food for me for dinner or sometimes I have leftovers for the next day. Do not microwave or warm up again! Anything good left in the food will be dead if you microwave it.
You can change the ingredients with any of the vegetables on the Alkaline list and add other seasoning or spices or even hot peppers and the seasons change and other veggies become available. Below is a picture of garbanzo sprouts, broccoli, and peas as as different mix.
Until about 4 weeks ago, my diet consisted of raw junk food! Yes, I was eating tons of raw cashew ice cream, raw chocolate bars, and more cashew based foods. I had stopped drinking my Thank God from Josh’s Organic Garden and any other green leafy vegetables. I think the stress of having opened our new consulting firm and planning and traveling to Colombia made me go for easy raw meals that were not alkaline, drinking caffeinated tea with sugar, and tons of Kombucha. I even started to eat corn and mushrooms again! Yikes!
Many health issues I had before when I was on a regular SAD diet came back. Infections, weak immune system, migraines, sinus issues, and low energy. So I took my copy of the pH Miracle book and made a list of all the vegetables that were high int he Alkaline scale and went shopping. But the challenge was that I didn’t want to eat them raw. I didn’t want to eat anything raw that was healthy! Just the junk!
Alkaline Vegetables List including Oils and Nuts
Cucumber
Dandelion
Broccoli
Endive
Celery
Sorrel
Green Beans
Lemon
Lettuce
Dill, Parsley, and Cilantro
Carrots (not carrot juice)
Watercress
Cauliflower
Artichoke
Asparagus
Lima Beans
Snow peas
Brussels Sprouts
Onions
Kale, Collards, Chard, Sprouts, and Spinach
Black radish (the rockstar of pH!) I don’t eat this steamed, I eat it raw in salads
Avocados too 🙂 Thank you to Lisa for reminding me!
I knew the reason why I couldn’t eat these veggies raw and oils was because I had been eating so bad the last 5 months that my taste buds would not allow anything healthy in.
Resetting my Taste Buds
Denis suggested I do a green juice fast but we all know what happened the last time I did that! hah hah! So instead I decided I would steam these veggies for 28 days until I was able to get used to an Alkaline diet again.
The next challenge was that I don’t have a stove in my kitchen. So I went and bought a vegetable steamer for two people. I decided I would eat about 20% of my dinner steamed. That way I would stay mainly raw and 100% Alkaline. That meant no sugar, no cashews, no caffeine, no alcohol, no mushrooms! The only fruit I allowed myself to have was grapefruit everyday and blueberries once a week.
The first few days I went thru sugar and caffeine withdrawals, and I was dreaming of cupcakes and pizza. But after 2 weeks, I was fine.
Results
I’m about 20 days in, just eating alkaline and can see the difference. I haven’t gained any weight even though I have not exercised, and I have been able to heal all health issues I had. I’m drinking/eating hemp and flax seed oil with no issues and feel great!
I’m very excited of returning to my healthy path on the Alkaline diet! I carry this list of vegetables everywhere with me so I don’t forget what is Alkaline.
I love soups! I think I have mentioned that many posts ago and if you noticed, a lot of my recipes are for soups.
Denis and I recently took a trip to Colombia in South America and had a blast. But after 14 days of plain salads, I was ready for some “fancy” raw food. However, we got home and drove to the Green Wave Cafe right after the airport! Yes, we wanted some raw food!
The next day though we had no food in our refrigerator but fortunately it was Sunday and time for shopping at Josh’s Organic Garden. He had everything I wanted and more! The spinach, for some wild reason, looked amazing to me. I’m not a big fan of spinach but once in awhile I go crazy for it. And when I saw last Sunday at Josh’s, I wanted Cream of Spinach.
So I googled it and then modified the recipe for my raw lifestyle and here is how I created my own Raw Vegan Cream of Spinach Soup.
Ingredients:
Fresh Organic Spinach (about 2 handfuls – about 1/2 of your vitamix)
1/3 cup of cashews (you can also use 1/2 cup sun flower seeds instead)
1/2 cup of water
1/2 Tb Spoon of white miso paste
Onion (I did one large amethyst/green onion, but it could be about 1/4 medium size onion)
Add everything in the vitamix and blend until smooth. If too much water or not enough spinach, add more spinach or cashews. I also like to add a celery stalk and some Italian seasoning even though the common cream of spinach soup doesn’t call for either.
Let it blend until it has the consistency that you like, if you want more creamy add more seeds or cashews. I let it blend until is a little warm or sometimes I add warm water so that it’s a little warm.
Serve with some raw crackers or raw bread and sprinkle some black pepper. It’s delicious and nutritious!
I love soups! Specially when I’m tired, I just want soup. But until today, I was stuck with my soup-creating ideas. All I kept making for months was my Tomato Bisque soup or my Miso soup.
On my last trip to California for Bhakti Fest 2011, we made a stop at Au Lac’s in LA for raw food. I love their Paella and soups. This time I tried a Tumeric soup that I don’t remember the correct name, but it had kelp noodles.
So today, in trying to come up with something that had noodles in it, I came up with a brand new AMAZING recipe for soup, which is now Yellow soup.
Start by rising the kelp noodles and then place them in a bowl. I like to cut them in half or even in quarters so that they are easy to take out the bowl while eating the soup. Sprinkle some salt and olice oil on them. Cut half of the red pepper in long strips or juliened and throw on top of the noodles. Chop 1 of the celery stalks in small pieces. I make mine tiny, like for a baby to chew because Denis and I don’t like celery otherwise. Place in the bowl with noodles and pepper.
Take the Kale and chard and cut in strips and add to bowl. Chopped half of the cilantro and the tomato and add to the bowl as well.
Cut the carrots and place them in your vitamix or blender. Cut the rest of the celery, red bell pepper, and cilantro and add to blender as well. Add the miso paste, salt, tumeric, paprika, and coconut oil and some water to begin blending. When it becomes smooth, begin adding the cashews. Add as much water as you want. I like it on the smooth creamy side so I didn’t add more than 1 cup. Squeeze the lime before you stop blending. Leave as long as you want to warm up or not. When you feel is ready, pour over the vegetables and noodles in bowl. Mix well and let it sit for a few minutes.
Serve and sprinkle the green onion/scallions on top of each bowl of soup. Makes about 6 servings (of course Denis and I finished the entire thing!).
I also put some sprouts on the table and plantains to accompany the soup.
One of the most important parts of planning your vacation or traveling is to know where to find food and restaurants. Some people plan ahead, specially if they have specific requests for food or if they love food traveling as much as I do. As a raw vegan and eco-activist, I always plan ahead my food stops before I head out in to my destination. One of my favorites sites to help me plan is Happycow.net where I can find all the local vegetarian and vegan places to eat and shop. As a full time South Florida resident, there are several places here for my fellow vegetarians/vegans to eat and shop. So here is a list of my favorite South Florida places to shop for healthy food:
Josh’s Organic Garden & Juice Bar – Hollywood
Josh’s is probably one of the best, if not THE best, farmers market in the country. Most of the produce is organically grown locally and in Pennsylvania and treated with the utmost care. You can hear Josh scream and see him run every Sunday as he tries to keep the veggies and fruits in the best condition possible. Josh’s greens in the winter beat any store in the county. Once you eat his greens, you cannot accept anything less.
The juice bar is out of this world too! Even though you may feel the prices are high, other supermarkets charge way more for less. Josh’s Juice bar uses their own greens, veggies, and fruits right from the market to make the juices and smoothies. Nothing is processed or pasteurized.
Josh’s Organic Garden is open on Sundays from 9:30 to 5:31 pm and it’s located on Hollywood Beach’s Boardwalk on Harrison street. The Juice Bar is open Sundays 9:30am to 5:31pm, Monday to Thursday 7pm to 9pm.
Glaser Farms – Coconut Grove
The actual farm is located way south in Homestead, but on Saturdays Stan and Tracy bring the farm to Coconut Grove from 11am to 7pm. Located just west of the main Coco Walk center on Grand avenue, Glaser Farmer’s Market is a great place to hang out and enjoy delicious organic, vegetarian, raw food including ice cream and pies! Other vendors set up tents around the market making locals and visitors feel at home.
Marando Farms – Fort Lauderdale
Fairly new, Marando Farms offers great prices for mostly non-organic produce. Some are locally grown from other farmers and some from their own farm. They also offer eggs from their own chickens and sometimes you can see the chickens running around. Great for the kids! They recently open another “wing” for high quality pet foods, so now you can get your food and your pet’s food in the same place!
Marando Farms is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10am to 5pm; Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 5pm; Closed on Wednesdays.
Other places for Organic Produce
Other places in South Florida where you can find great prices for organic produce include Green Wave Cafe in Plantation, a raw vegan restaurant. On Mondays Green Wave opens for their “Organic Market” from 8am to 2pm.
Thrive Restaurant in Miami Beach and LifeFood Gourmet in Coral Way also have Farmer’s Market days. You can visit their sites to see more information on when they offer organic produce for sale.
Today Denis and I celebrated Thanksgiving and our 3 year anniversary of being 100% raw vegans. I didn’t want to put a big production as I usually do every year so we kept it to just the two of us today.
Last week, I got asked: “What are you guys doing for Thanksgiving?” and it’s been so overwhelming for us in the last month that I realized I was not planning ahead for this weekend. I answered back: “I’m just trying to get thru today!” Which was true! I’ve been so busy with my school and work and life that I’ve been just taking it one day at the time.
Oh and no, I’m still not ready to share what I’m going to school for… in case you were hoping I spilled the beans here 🙂 .
So I woke up this morning and I asked Denis what he wanted to eat. His response was: “Nori rolls!” I smiled and got my phone to show him pictures of last year’s Thanksgiving food and even what I made for Christmas last year to see if it would inspire him to ask for something other than nori rolls. But he still wanted nori rolls and instead he said: “If you feel inspired to make something, go ahead.” And I did.
After all, I was grateful that I didn’t have to stress about having people over, clean the house, and roll out the “big carpet” as I always do for my guests. I LOVE having people over, but with all the weekends I’ve had to give up, I haven’t been able to rest. So these four days were strictly for me and Denis to rest, spend time alone, and beach! And that’s what we did!
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Three Year Anniversary to Denis and I! Here is what I wind up “putting together” for today’s holiday:
Avocado Steaks with Sun-dried tomato gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and salad with hearts of palm and olives on the side and pumpkin pie for dessert.
Last Full Moon, I made the best gazpacho soup ever! We fast every Full Moon and this is one of my favorite soups to make at the end of the fast since it’s liquid but has some “chunks” of veggies that are easy to eat to break the fast.
These are the ingredients needed:
4 Heirloom tomatoes (soft ones, medium size)
2 Stalks of celery
1 Clove of garlic
1/4 of a medium sweet onion
Juice of 1/2 lime or lemon
1 Date (soaked for 10 to 15 minutes)
Cilantro and basil to taste
Salt and olive oil to taste
1/2 medium avocado cut in cubes
In the food processor, add 2 of the tomatoes, celery, garlic onion, lime/lemon juice, date, cilantro, basil, and salt. Pulse as many times as needed to make chunks that will be added to the base. Take everything out of the food processor into a bowl and set aside.
Take the remaining tomatoes and put them in the food processor or blender, add salt and make into the base of the soup. You can also add water if desired. I prefer mine with no water.
Pour the tomato juice into the bowl with the chunks, add olive oil, and mix with a spoon.
To make it spicy, you can add a chilli pepper or any hot pepper you can handle and blend with the base. Another option is to add cayenne pepper powder on each bowl.
Add the avocado cubes to each soup bowl and serve! It’s simple and delicious!
Denis and I had wanted to do a green juice fast for the longest time. We do a monthly liquid fast during the full moon and it feels great. So we wanted to know what it was like to just do a green juice fast. We decided this full moon was good time to do it and planned to get all our juices from Josh’s Organic Garden.
We started on Monday and finished it on Saturday. Initially we wanted to do seven days, but I had the feeling I wouldn’t last more than two days. I thought for sure by Tuesday I would quit and go back to eating. Sure enough by day two I was ready to quit, but decided to stick with it because a lot of emotions were surfacing and I wanted to see what else would come up.
Instead of describing how each day went, I wanted to share some insights I had during my fast, not about how my body responded or all the benefits I enjoyed, but the emotions I had to deal with during the green juice fast. We followed Dr. Young’s pH Miracle Cleanse in case you’re wondering.
Empty Refrigerator
Since we decided to get all the juices already made at the Josh’s Juice bar, we didn’t shop and our refrigerator was empty. I hid the truffles we had purchased during our trip to Naples and any other “goodies” I would cheat with.
Seeing the refrigerator with no greens, no food made me sad. I felt like I had nothing in life. Empty. Without a home, without love, without money. I felt like my world was ending because my refrigerator was empty. I immediately told Denis about this and he hugged me and laughed. So I started laughing too. This happened the second day of the fast and it was the reason I decided to keep going.
I don’t know exactly how my brain/mind believes that food equal the meaning of life (apparently). All I can say is that it may go back all the way to childhood but I’m not sure yet.
Not Having to Make Food
The second thing that surfaced in my mind was this. I had extra time in my hands by not having to prepare food and not going to yoga class so I was able to take time for blogging. While I was working on my blog, I kept thinking: “Oh I have to go make food, I better stop typing” and then I would remember: Oh I’m fasting no need to make food. Ten minutes later I would start panicking cause I hadn’t make food yet and it was getting late, but then I would remember I’m fasting, no need to make food. And that continue the whole night.
One of the first reasons I got sold on the “Raw” idea was cause it took less time to prepare food. I’m constantly looking to cut things out so that I can have more time to do other things. And I always feel stressed out about making food. Once this issue came right in front of me, I realized that I think making food is all I do and live for. To feed people. I don’t know exactly how to handle this information, but it was very interesting to find that deep inside I feel food is my ONLY job and purpose in life.
Variety of Food
I’ve always known this about me: I get bored with the same thing over and over. And that’s just not food. Everything. Well except for my partner in life (9 years and still not bored one bit!)… Anyways, so going into the fast I knew that having the same juice everyday wasn’t going to work for me and would probably quit by day two. But this time was worse than ever. I didn’t want to see the green juice even as hungry as I would get, I didn’t want it. Instead I wanted to keep drinking water but not the green juice. I believe one of the reasons why I’m creative in the kitchen is because I have to have variety. Even my lunch salad is different everyday.
Sticking with the green juice fast help me see that my issue with food variety is deeper than I imagined.
Dreams about Food
Going in I had the feeling I would be dreaming about food every night and eating all sorts of junk in my dreams. I actually thought that in the dreams I would want to stop my raw diet. But I was wrong. One night I had a dream about a carnival, possibly Renaissance fest, where I had to drop off something for work. I walked through the food to where I was going, but no I didn’t stop for any food even thought I was offered a donut. That was one of the two dreams about food I had.
During the fast, I wasn’t even attracted to junk food. I didn’t even for a minute think I would run and start eating a SAD diet again, even a vegan junk cooked diet for that matter. But I did want and was tempted to eat the sun dried olives in my refrigerator, my avocados and some oil. So all doubts that I had about ever “cheating” or going back to a cooked vegan diet are no longer there. I now know that I love my raw food, even under stressful circumstances, I only want raw food.
In conclusion, and now a day after we broke the fast, I’ve got work to do with all this information I collected during this fast. I do have to say that compared to the first fast I ever did (6 years ago, water fast for three days while I was still on a vegetarian SAD diet), I did excellent. But compared to my monthly liquid fast, I did not do well at all. I complained the whole time and didn’t want to drink my juice.
Physically my body felt great, happy, healthy and grateful. I’m going to try it again, possibly the next full moon or the one after. Not having any fruits this week was amazing for my body and it let me know so.
So what’s next? Meditate on all these issues that came up.
About 4 weeks ago, Denis bought 30 coconuts and we had a feast! From drinking the water to making creams, salad dressings, smoothies, soups, etc. The following week he bought 20 coconuts, and the week after that 15 coconuts.
By the end of the third week I couldn’t come up with any more coconut dishes, and Denis had made coconut cream and stored it in the refrigerator. I didn’t want to waste it, and I needed breakfast but was tired of coconut smoothies, so I made cereal!
I soaked some nuts, seeds, goji berries, and raisins in water overnight. The next morning I mixed in the coconut cream with cinnamon powder, maca, mesquite, salt, and palm sugar to taste.
I took it to work and when I got to the office all the flavors had come together rather nicely. So that night I soaked the nuts, seeds, etc but only for a short time. After I rinsed everything, I mixed them in the coconut cream with the same powders, etc and stored overnight in the refrigerator. The next morning I had an amazing breakfast! The flavors of all the nuts, seeds, dried fruit and powders had blended and made an amazing cereal!
The coconut cream was made by blending the coconut meat and water from a young fresh local coconut. You can add extra water or more coconut butter to make as smooth as desired. The water from young coconuts is very energizing and mildly alkaline.
I don’t know about you guys, but I love eating greens. However when it comes to kale, it’s a little bit difficult to just pop in my mouth and chew it without anything on it.
One Sunday, I was being lazy and enjoying my day at the beach when I got a call that there was no green left at Josh’s market.
So Denis and I ran to the market but it was true, no lettuce was left! There was only two buckets of kale left. So I packed almost all the kale left and bought it. When I got home, I made a nice kale salad but I remembered it was always hard for me to eat it without anything. So I came up with a nice dressing for it. The next day I had the same issue, so I whipped up another dressing!
I came up with actually 5 kale salad dressings that I thought I MUST shared with the world. Spicy Sun Dried Tomato Tahini, Avocado Tahini, Ginger Miso, Sunflower Dill, and Almond Butter Coconut. They all have pretty much the same ingredients and are made the same way.
Spicy Sun Dried Tomato Tahini
5-6 sun dried tomatoes (soak for 10 to 15 minutes)
1 TBS Raw Organic Tahini (you can also switch for raw almond butter instead)
1 Red Chillie Pepper or any spicy pepper to taste
1/2 Tsp organic or natural Mexican seasoning
Salt, garlic, and olive Oil to taste
Mix in personal blender until smooth adding water if needed. Pour over kale salad and add chopped cilantro.
Avocado Tahini
1/2 ripe organic avocado
1 Tbs of Raw Organic Tahani
the juice of 1/2 grapefruit
1 Handful of cilantro
Olive Oil and salt to taste
Put all ingredients in blender and mix until smooth. Pour over Kale salad and sprinkle some black and white sesame seeds.
Ginger Miso
1 inch (cube) fresh ginger peeled
1 Tbs unpasteurized miso (I prefer brown or red)
1/2 carrot
1 Tbs raw tahini or raw almond butter
1 Date
Salt and Olive Oil to taste
(you can also add chillie peppers to make it spicy)
Put in blender and mix until smooth. If needed, add water to blend. Pour over kale and mix well.
Sunflower Dill
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup dill loosely fit or to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
the juice of 1/2 grapefruit (or lemon)
1/2 Tbs raw organic tahini
Salt and organic cumin seed powder to taste
Mix in blender until smooth. Add more grapefruit juice if needed. Pour over kale salad and massage. Sprinkle sunflower seeds and any other seasonings.
Almond Butter Coconut
1/4 cup raw almond butter
2 teaspoon namashoyu
1 Date
1 Tbs fresh lemon or lime juice
1/4 cup raw coconut milk
1/2 chillie pepper or spicy pepper of choice
Garlic, Salt, Olive Oil, and Curry powder to taste
Mix in blender or personal blender. Add water for desired consistency and pour over kale salad. Mix red cabbage with kale for a “Pad Thai” feel. I use this recipe for my kelp noodles to make raw Pad Thai.
