Raw Food Friday #4 Green Smoothie!

I had this fantastically fancy recipe to share for Raw Food Friday this week but I'm just not up to it.  I'm really focusing on what I eat lately and simple just feels better.

I found so many awesome recipes over at Green Thickies  (also on my sidebar) so I thought I'd share one today.  One of my favorite posts so far is 8 Best Vegan Blogs.  I'm not vegan but these bloggers have some amazing recipes!

Coconut Pineapple Spinach Smoothie
adapted from Green Thickies

source

Ingredients

1 Cup cold Water

3 Cups Pineapple (1 medium pineapple chopped)

½ Cup shredded Coconut (You could use coconut milk, creamed coconut or coconut meat)

1 Cup Spinach, tightly packed or 2 cups loosely packed. (Or other mild greens)

Instructions

Blend the ingredients in the order listed. Add more water if required to thin it out. Substitute any of the ingredients for whatever you already have. If your smoothie is too warm, you can cool it down in the fridge.

Raw Food Friday #3 Green Onion Dip

This is an amazing dip for any veggie!  While it may not be a low-fat meal because of the nuts it is extremely healthy!  The recipe does not specify but raw nuts should be used for the dip.  YUM!

Raw and Dairy-free Green Onion Dip

source

from Diana Stobo
Ingredients

1 1/4 cup Water

1/4 cup Lemon juice

1 1/4 cup cashews, un-soaked

1/3 cup macadamia nuts, un-soaked

2 teaspoons onion powder

1 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan Sea Salt (or regular sea salt)

6 scallions, chopped

Directions

Place Water, lemon juice, cashews, macadamia nuts, onion powder and salt in a high-speed blender and process until creamy. Add scallions, and blend on a low setting to incorporate but not break down completely, (10 seconds). Cover and let sit in refrigerator to chill and fuse flavors for about two hours.
Serve chilled with flax crackers or beautifully sliced vegetables.

I have not made this recipe yet but I'll have plenty of time at lunch plus a massage this afternoon.  YES!  Looking forward to an amazing weekend.

Don't forget to enter the Seeds in a Stocking Giveaway! 

Raw Food Friday #2 Kale Pesto

There is more to raw food than shakes and salads but I'm just getting started.  I am including more raw foods in our daily meals lately but I don't think I'll go completely raw.  We eat oatmeal for breakfast every morning (which my hubby makes) and I'm not trying to mess with a good thing.

Why raw food?  The phytonutrients in fruits and veggies are essential to our bodies.  They help our immune systems fight colds and cancer.  I could go on but I'd rather let the experts do the talking.  
Check out:
Why Raw Food?
Rawmazing
The Raw Food Institute

I'm going to try my best to share at least 1 raw food recipe every Friday and I encourage you to try it out and share your own recipes.

I love Kale!

Lemony Kale Pesto
from Diana Stobo
Ingredients

1 bunch lacinato (dinosaur) kale

1/4 cup nutritional Yeast (optional substitute for cheese)

3/4 cup pecans (I used sunflower seeds)

½ teaspoon sea salt

zest of 1/2 lemon

1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed

1 clove garlic, grated

¼ cup cold pressed olive oil

Directions

Remove stems from kale. In a food processor fitted with an s-blade, add the Kale, nutritional yeast, pecans, salt, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and garlic. Process until coarsely chopped. Slowly add olive oil and pulse to incorporate. Taste for salt and add more oil if it is too dry. This should not be an oily pesto, only add enough oil so it is moist. Toss with a zucchini Pasta (or raw veggies), use as a raw pizza base or as a delicious dip.

Raw Food Friday #1

Happy Friday!  As I mentioned on last week, I'll be making a few changes to our eating habits.  I hate the word "diet."  At some point in the last 6 months we started eating a bit less healthy so it's time to make a change.

I thoroughly enjoyed the No-Bake series I posted here a few months ago so I've decided to make a long-term series called Raw Food Friday.  There are SO MANY healthy, raw food meals out there and I can't wait to share them.  Every Friday I am going to try my darndest to eat raw.  All day!  I won't bore you with in-between snacks of carrot and celery sticks but I'll try to include more than one meal when possible.

Blueberry Mango Smoothie

Ingredients

1 tablespoon chia seeds (or flax seeds)

1/2 cup vanilla or plain yogurt

1/2 cup mango juice

1/4 cup fresh blueberries

1/4 cup fresh mango chunks

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1/c cup spinach

*I add 2 scoops of SP complete powder which is a whole food protein powder with veggies included* It also comes Dairy-free 
 

Directions

Add all of the ingredients into your blender and blend until smooth.   Add ice and blend until smooth.  Serve.  It might be easier if you blended your chia or flax seeds in a food processor first but that just makes more to clean up.

Today I'll have a shake for breakfast and another for lunch!  Dinner will be a large salad with homemade Apple Cider Viniagrette dressing!  It may not sound all that exciting but I'm looking forward to sharing more next week!

I'm over at It's Your Life today so stop by and say Hello!
Linking up HERE!