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.
One of the intentions I made for the Blue Moon was to become a morning person. I have always been a night owl, better yet a vampire. I become alive at night and died during the day. Always have.
Denis is the same way. Which is not good when we both have 9-to-5 jobs and neither one of us wants to go to sleep at night.
So this year I decided I was going to try and teach my body different, to wake up early and also exercise in the morning… after 29 years of being a night person. “YEAH RIGHT” my body said and laughed in my face.
I tried many times and failed. Of course it didn’t help I stayed up watching TV, reading books, or blogging. But I made a breakthrough! After two weeks of waking up earlier and earlier, my body is finally doing it on its own. Mind you I still wake up ready to kill someone and destroy the world, but I wake up. And to my surprise, I wake up to roller blade!
I don’t know how long this will last as so many of my other “trends” for lack of a nicer term for addiction, but the great thing is that I was able to do it and enjoy it too.
Of course, it’s now 1:48am and I’m here typing away, and probably won’t get up by 7:30am to rollerblade, but that’s ok. I also need to learn to give myself some credit for trying.
Some of you have heard me say this before, my online friend Mike at 365 Ways to Go Green, has a blog about how you can do one green thing a day, well I can open another blog call “365 excuses to NOT exercise” because I can come up with all sorts of excuses why I cannot exercise.
In the meantime, I’m enjoying rollerblading in the morning. Now if I could just get myself to a yoga class, that would be awesome! LOL But one thing at the time!
It took longer that a week to write this post. But here it is: I would like to share some of the things I do on a daily basis to keep contributing to conserving resources in my daily routine. So let’s start with the bathroom! Why there? well it’s the first thing I do in the morning when I wake up, and these are easy tips to start changing your lifestyle.
Cleaners
I know you clean your bathroom… At least I hope you do. So this is an easy way to get started. Next time you run out of your regular chemical cleaners, instead of buying the same toxic spray or poisoned cleaner for your bathroom, consider purchasing vinegar and baking soda instead. Odds are you already have vinegar and baking soda in your kitchen. There are also other products that are more natural and are ready to use. One of the most popular brands is Seventh Generation. I also recently started using Method and it works great because there is no smell.
Soaps, Shampoo, and Tooth Care
These are easy to replace and you will be saving a money as well. I recommend Dr. Bronner’s soaps for hands and body. They last a long time because you can dilute them in water. Shampoo and tooth paste are also important since they go on your skin and mouth. I recommend using Aubrey Organics for hair care, and Tooth Soap for brushing your teeth.
Toilet Paper
If I could replace toilet paper for something reusable or that didn’t come from a tree, I would. But so far I haven’t found anything I’m comfortable replacing toilet paper so instead, I purchase brands such 365 or Seventh Generation. Here is a guide to Toilet Paper from the Grist.
Water
Reducing the amount of water you use in the shower and toilet is one of the best things you can do. For example, start by replacing your shower head for a more efficient one and possibly a filter as well. There are many tips to save water in the toilet and the bathroom and many blogs written about the matter, so I won’t reinvent the wheel, instead I’ll invite you to read these tips on how to save water.
Electronics
I went thru my bathroom drawers and found many electronics we use. An electric tooth cleaner, hair dryer, hair iron, beard trimmer, foot massage/spa, etc. For the most part, all of them are rechargeable or plug into the wall. There is only one “device” that uses batteries, the beard trimmer. So in this case, we use rechargeable batteries instead of one-time use batteries. In addition, I have stopped using the hair dryer and iron and not only I saved money by not using these two, but also I’m not damaging my hair from all the heat.
So I hope that with these tips I have shared, I’m inspiring you to take a look at your bathroom and possibly start replacing and changing things in your house one room at the time.
Next week: How to Green your Kitchen!
If you have other tips for “greening” bathrooms, please share with us. Blessings!
I’ve summarized the questions I get all the time from family, friends, strangers on the beach, at work, in a plane, etc.
What do you eat normally on a daily basis?
For breakfast I eat one of these: fruit smoothie, green smoothie, fruit, oatmeal, ALT (Avocado, Lettuce, Tomato) salad, or a green juice.
For lunch it depends, weekdays a salad because is the easiest to take to work than some fancy raw gourmet dish. Weekends I get fancy or go out to lunch at one of my favorite raw food restaurants.
Dinner is always different. Most times it will be a new recipe or one or favorite meals like hummus, nori rolls, kelp noodles, cucumber noodles, tabouli, and all meals always accompanied by avocado and a bed of romaine lettuce.
Raw Indian Food
Do you miss cooked food?
Not eating the cooked food so much but cooking it. I have been cooking food since I was 11 years old and that way my only creative outlet. The first 6 months I missed eating cooked lentils the way I made them and some vegan spicy Indian foods.
Do you get tempted to eat cooked foods?
No, I may enjoy the smell of cook food I see other people eat or at the beach while I ride my bicycle and the smell all the fried food, but when I imagine putting something cooked in my mouth and eating, I know it’s not for me.
What is the biggest challenge of being raw vegan?
For every person is different. For me the biggest bump on the road was not being able to prepare food and be creative. With cooked food, I was able to go to a restaurant and copy the recipe at home and make it ten times better. With raw food it was hard at the beginning, it was like learning a new language. I had to start from my ABCs and then make sentences until I was able to speak, write, and read fluently! So for me the biggest struggle was in preparing the food, not eating it because I was so attached to working in the kitchen and making from delicious exotic gourmet dishes to your regular fast food favorites.
What do you drink?
Thank God, Orange Juice, & Grapefruit Juice
Well this is tough one because most people struggle with things I gave up years ago. I stopped drinking sodas when I was 11 cause my basketball coach said he would throw us out of the team if he saw us drinking sodas! When I turned 18, I was drinking a lot of coffee and water all day long, about 8 cups of coffee and 1 bottle of water per coffee cup. And I did it for years until I turned 21. At 21, I started drinking teas cause of the Russian and so I replaced my coffee habit for tea. So I stopped caffeine 9 years ago, and when we started on Dr. Young’s diet, we began drinking a green powder in our water. So now I drink my “greens” from Alkavision or Dr. Broc’s from Dr. Young, fresh non-heated non processed juices made at home or from Josh’s Organic Garden Juice Bar or Glaser. So drinks were not an issue for me when I transition to raw because I had started it years ago.
What do you use to replace sugar or artificial sweeteners?
This is also a hard question to answer for me because I haven’t had regular bleached sugar since I was 12, unless it was sugar included in processed foods that I consumed. And once I switched to Dr. Young’s diet, I had no sugar at all, not even from fruits and if I wanted to sweetened my tea I would use stevia. I only starting eating fruits again when I became raw, but they bother me, so I avoid most fruits. We also used agave for the first year we were raw, but now agave make us sick too. So what’s left that works for us? Stevia or lucuma powder. Some raw foodists will use honey, but I’m a vegan and I believe honey farms are a form of slavery and therefore I don’t support them.
What about Kombucha?
I love Kombucha! Yeah it’s fermented and it’s not good for me. So I’ve had it for “recreational” purposes, but now I avoid it.
What supplements do you take?
I don’t take any, I started fading them away about 3 years now. But there are other people who may need them, so again, I would recommend to consult a doctor about that. I know a lot of raw foodists that are against supplements or doctors, but one’s gotta do what is good for the body. I let my body guide me and if it needs something, I’ll go directly to the source. For example, if I need iron, I’ll eat foods that have iron and so forth. Lately, I’ve been eating raw tahini by the gallon (JK) so I can guess that I probably need the calcium.
If you have any questions, please send us an email.
“What is a raw vegan?” I get asked sometimes or why I choose to eat a raw vegan diet. So in this post I’m going to describe in my own terms what I consider my diet is. First, I choose to do vegan diet first and foremost, before organic or before raw, I’m a VEGAN. That means no animal byproducts such as honey, eggs, cheese, etc. Raw means that I choose to eat all vegan foods uncooked or unheated.
Some people wonder what is left to eat if I don’t eat animals. Well, any vegetables, grains, fruits, nuts, seeds, sprouts and to eat them raw means no steaming, stir frying, boiling, roasting, or heating above 105 degrees. While most people get to a supermarket and head for the frozen section, I head over to the produce and the bulk grains and nuts.
I was a vegan for about a year before I transition to 100% raw, but before I even knew what raw was, I was already eating about 70% raw for years. I started the raw vegan lifestyle inspired by a documentary by Kris Carr, Crazy Sexy Cancer, and haven’t turn to look back since then!
There are many types of raw diets, and what works best for me is a raw alkalarien diet. I use Dr. Robert Young’s pH scale and principles to do a raw alkalarian diet. He basically states that to stay balance and not create an acidic environment in one’s body, one must balance the pH in the body by consuming more alkaline foods and practicing more alkalarian ways of living. Denis and I learned about Dr. Young’s pH diet 7 years ago and before transitioning to raw, we had already been following the pH diet which made it very easy to transition to raw.
As I mentioned, I chose to eat a raw vegan diet for health reasons. However, I now see that this lifestyle fits my beliefs. For example, being raw helps the environment which as you all know I’ve been passionate for many years. I can write a whole new post about the different ways being raw contributes to the environment. It  has also helped me improve my spiritual practice and sculpting my body.
A raw vegan diet is not for everyone and it’s not the solution to one’s issues. As always, when making any changes in my lifestyle, I made sure I monitor my health by visiting my doctors and ensure that the changes I made were beneficial to my body and mind.
In part two of this blog, I will answer the most common questions I get asked about my raw vegan lifestyle. But the most important point I would like to get across in this blog is that everyone is different and while this lifestyle works for me, it may not work for other people at this point in their lives. That’s why is critical to do research and consult a doctor before making any changes.
We were living in a small 3 bedroom/3 bathroom house for over four years. When we first moved in, we had nothing and most of what we had was furniture that other friends or family didn’t want. We also had a one-car garage that basically stored boxes and shit from friends and family. It was a disaster that garage!
The Problem
I didn’t enjoy living in such a big space (to me), I grew up in a city in a small apartment, so houses are not my favorite. Plus being paranoid about break-ins doesn’t help when you live in a house with many entrances and windows. So needless to say, I hated the house. I wanted badly to get rid of everything and move to a small space.
Denis had bought me two books on Feng Shui and Clutter by Karen Kingston but I couldn’t get past the first few chapters. It was stressing me out to read the books because I had a cluttered house at the time. The first time we went to Sedona, I decided to take one of the books with me to read in the plane. Of course I didn’t read it on the way there because I was so excited to go hiking in the red stones that I decided to read about Sedona instead.
I  had one of the most spiritual experiences there while in guided meditation and also with a spiritual consuler. On the plane ride back home, I decided to read Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui and couldn’t put it down. When I got home, I decided that I would make the best of the house since we had to stay there to save money for traveling, and once I had a taste of traveling, there was no going back. So I did what a crazy paranoid Scorpio would do, I cleaned the garage.
Where to Start?
I called my uncle and aunt to help me clean and get rid of everything. We made three piles, one for donations, one for recycle, and one for garbage. Oh yes, that one for what HAD to stay. But I was merciless… I donated and recycled away. It took the four of us six hours to clean the one-car garage, but it was done. And once I had finished, wow… what a feeling. It was like I lost 50 lbs. And I was hooked!
Within the next few days, I had cleared a couple of closets that were holding gifts and things people had given us that we had no place for. The next week I moved to our bedroom and clean our closet. Donated clothes we were not using or had never worn. Then it was the dresser and all its drawers with more clothes and things to donate or throw away. After the bedroom, I moved to our bathroom, and this went one for the next few months. Every weekend or so, I would unclutter a small part of the house. One drawer at the time and even our backyard!
Benefits
As I cleared clutter, I opened space for new things in our lives. Wonderful and amazing things began to happen. The energy flow in our house was better and my attitude and mood improved. I actually stopped hating the house and starting enjoying our space. I also enjoyed having less stuff, less clothes, less shoes, less crap to worry about and collect dust. I became less attached to “things” and open my heart to important things in life.
After living in that house for six years, we finally moved to a smaller space in our “dream” location, the beach. Our new home is so small that it took me 1 month to prepare the move. From a 3/3 we relocated to a 1/1! So I had to use all my un-cluttering skills to ensure that I would only take what was needed to our new space. And even after the move, we still wind up having to get rid of more things.
 5 Tips to Keep it Up
IÂ do a routine clutter clean up without even thinking about it or scheduling it
I get rid of something if I buy something new or if I receive a gift. For example, my friend gave me purple purse as a gift, so when I got home, I found a purse and donated it. I apply this rule to books too (these are most precious possessions)
I committ to detach myself from possessions by understanding that when that object would be loved by someone else who needs it and will cherish it more than I do
I abstain from buying unnecessary things that will not contribute to my path… unless they are purple of course! Just kidding!
I say to myself and other (as a mantra or affirmation) that I’m a minimalist and will continue to open space for wonderful things in my life
I wanted to share this story with everyone because I strongly believe that when one clears the clutter in our lives, one receives more beautiful things in exchange. Clutter is dead energy sucking the good energy out of life. And one way I measure how uncomplicated my life is is by looking at how many keys I have in my key-ring. At this time, I have three keys, car, home, and office… How many keys do you have?
Denis and I moved from a small 3-bedroom house to a tiny beach apartment a few months back and during that stressful packing time, I made this recipe everyday.
I was making sure to empty my refrigerator so that I could clean it before returning the house, so we had very little fresh food left. I came up with this salad with different types of Seaweed to sort of keep the “ocean-sea†theme since we were moving to the beach. So I named it “Moving to the Beach Saladâ€!
Here is what you need:
Romaine lettuce
1 Tomato
Yellow/green beans
1 pack of Pacific Sea Vegetable Mix (wakame, funori, kiriboshi wakame, shiro kikurage, ito kanten, kizami hoshi kombu)*
*I’m able to buy a pack from Glaser market that is ready to prepare, but any seaweed salad mix will do.
Soak the seaweed salad for 10 minutes and drain water and add more water to soak for another 10 minutes. Or if you buy a particular brand of seaweed mix, simply follow the directions in the package. Some mixes require more or less time soaked in water.
In a separate bowl, mix the sesame oil, olive oil, namashoyu, pepper flakes, and apple cider vinegar if you are using it. We don’t use vinegar, but most seaweed salad dressings have vinegar and agave, but I believe apple cider vinegar replaces both. Depending on how big the package of seaweed is, you may have to increase the amounts of the oils and ingredients for the dressing.
After draining the seaweed water the second time, rinse the seaweed in a strainer or colander with more water. Shake the excess water off and add the salad to the bowl with the dressing. Mix well and let sit for about 5 minutes.
In the meantime, shred the lettuce or cut thinly to use a bed for the seaweed. Cut the beans as thin as you like and add to the lettuce. Cut tomatoes to complement the meal and finally add the seaweed on top of the lettuce and beans. I also serve this with avocado slices.
We eat seaweed at least once a week; it’s a good source of minerals and vitamins. We are fortunate that we can buy the seaweed mix at our local farm, but there are websites that sells amazing seaweed salads for a reasonable price. I recommend the Sea Tangle Noodle Company which also offers kelp noodles.
This is a passionate and inspiring video presentation from Ted Talks with chef and activist Jamie Oliver. It was heartbreaking to watch Jamie at a school asking children to name some vegetables and foods. Most kids didn’t even know what a tomato looked like!
How can we expect people to be healthy when the new generations don’t even know where food comes from or what basic foods look like? I hope this talk from Jamie inspires you to teach a loved one about food and health.
Last year I wrote about beginning to transition to a vegetarian diet. Â If you are ready to take the next step and have decided this is the right choice for you, here are five ways to get started with a vegan diet. These tips follow the steps from the previous post.
Start Fading Fish from Your Diet
Fish was hard to give up because I loved sushi! I started using mock meats and substitutes such as tofu & tempeh. I used the same formula for meats and other animals; I started eating fish only three times a week for a month and only if I prepared it at home. When I went out, I would order a vegetarian or vegan meal. After a few months, I was able to only eat fish once a week and soon stopped completely.
Substitute Milk and other Dairy for Soy or Almond Milk
There are many products out there to replace dairy. I started with almond and rice milk, cheeses, ice cream, butter, etc.
Photo by:Â Veganbaking.net
Tofu, Your New Best Transitional Choice!
Learning to prepare and enjoy tofu can be challenging. But with the right recipes or going to the right restaurants, one can soon enjoy tofu. I found that the best tofu recipes can be found at Asian restaurants like Japanese, Korean, Chinese, etc. I also learned that the trick to preparing tofu at home is marinating it for about 4 to 8 hours in your favorite sauce. I used to copy the recipes from my favorite restaurants and prepared them at home. It’s important to know the different textures tofu is sold and how it is used. Most brands have a picture of how to use tofu depending on its texture. Silken is most commonly used in puddings and smoothies, firm and extra form for frying baking, etc.
Once I found out that I was allergic to dairy, I stopped consuming dairy products. However, I was not aware that hundreds of packaged foods have dairy. For example, crackers and you good-old-plain saltines have dairy. It’s important to read the labels of packaged foods even if they are labeled vegetarian.
Learn to Order Vegan Dishes in Non-Vegan/Non-Vegetarian Restaurants
This is one of the tips that saved me, learning how to order a healthy meal at an unhealthy restaurant. Whenever I went out to eat, I would ask the waiter/waitress for any vegan or vegetarian dishes so that I wouldn’t have to read the entire menu. I have yet to find a restaurant that doesn’t have a vegetarian or vegan alternative. If they didn’t have a dish, I would make one on my own. For example, every restaurant offers side dishes, baked potatoes, side vegetables, fruit plates, etc. So I would order three sides and a house salad which usually didn’t include meats or dairy. Because I was allergic to dairy, I would always ask for no butter or cheese in any of the side dishes and would let them know of my allergies.
One of the biggest challenges is learning to change your habits, and enjoy the transition. If it is done right, it will be very rewarding. Any time I made changes to my diet and lifestyle, I made sure to visit my doctor to monitor my health.
It is important not to judge others and preach. We’re all different and what works for one person, may not work for someone else. So love your family and friends the way they are and don’t try to convert anyone. Just because you made a choice, doesn’t mean it’s the right choice for others.
Have fun & don’t stress!
Chocolate Cake
Recommended reading
Vegan with a Vengeance: Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
The pH Miracle: Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health by Robert O. Young
Vegetarian Times Vegetarian Beginner’s Guide by the Editors of Vegetarians Times
Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman
Healthy at 100: The Scientifically Proven Secrets of the World’s Healthiest and Longest-Lived Peoples by John Robbins
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.
