Cruda Cafe: Raw Vegan Restaurant Review

Gnocchi Carbonara + Flourless Sundried Tomato Wrap + Green Drink (Kale Chipotle healing soup not shown, WAS INSTANT TELEPORTATION TO SHPICY LAND)

Claudia, the owner, and Veronica, employee!

Waiting for my epic food..

Where the magic happens!

Cruda Cafe

92 Front Street East, Toronto

905-477-6501

Price: $5 - $12

Open: Tues-Fri: 9 AM to 5PM, Sat: 8 AM-5PM. Closed Sunday, Monday.

RAW FOODISTS/VEGANS/CARNIVORES/AND THE REST OF THE WORLD:

Cruda Cafe, another petit restaurant, this time in the glorious city of Toronto, ON is my new favourite eatery. This little hidden gem can be found in the lower level of the St. Lawrence Market on Front Street. Owned by the beautiful Claudia Gaviria, she makes everything from scratch, and with love. A completely raw vegan experience, you will be able to choose from a huge variety of entrees like gnocchi, pizza, nut burgers, quiches to delishhh wraps made with raw vegan pate, and flourless "tortillas", fresh salads, warm soups, and best of all desserts! My favourite is the Gnocchi Carbonara: house made dumplings, creamy rawmesan and fresh English peas with pea shoots and crispy eggplant, over zucchini pasta, and the Green Smoothie: kale, banana, sprouts, udo's oil, raw vegan protein, and E3 Live. Students and Toronto citizens alike, this place is a treasure trove waiting to be discovered. GO. DISCOVER IT!

David Wolfe's Longevity Conference.

I took some notes from Wolfe's conference, the main points are listed below. As you can see I immediately took them to heart, I'm eating more pomegranate..

He basically said, if your body is out of whack in any way it is most likely caused by a hormonal imbalance between, the growth hormone, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.

To rejuvenate your system the following were consistently mentioned:

-Eat cruciferous vegetables: cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, kale (my fave!), radishes, and brussels sprouts

-Include wholesome saturated fats: olive oil, coconut oil: ingested OR rub it on your skin.

-Remove any sources of RANCID oils and fats, these come from shelf items, including safflower oil, sunflower oil, hydrogenated anything, trans fats, etc.

-Use peels of lemon, lime, which break down bad estrogen in your body

-Eat steel cut oats

-Eat less, live longer, and include regular fasts

-Great sources of protein: spirulina, chlorella, hemp seeds (unaltered sources)

-Omega 3's from marine phytoplankton, fish, crill

-STOP ALL FORMS OF SOY, 2 products are equivalent to 3 birth control pills, and can significantly change levels of estrogen in your body negatively (there are 30 types of estrogen in your body btw)

-Include pomegranate, goji berries (UGHHHH delish) and flax (make sure you grind this up, or it will go right through you)

Hope this helps, incorporate one thing at a time, experiment. I am starting with pomegranates, and raw coconut oil.

pretty and red, (natural phytoestrogen)!

Seasons Greetings.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

I hope you enjoy this special time with friends and family!!

We just had xmas dinner, and are following up on one specific family tradition--Watching Home Alone 2 as a family! What are your holiday traditions??

Love,

Amy :)

Orange rindz.

Tip #3: Never, EVER. underestimate the power of grated orange rind.

ok..i'm kidding, that's not the REAL tip of the day, but I guarantee it will spruce up anything you make during the holidays.Chocolate log cake? Add orange rind! Cranberry squares? Add orange rind! Mushroom risotto? Add orange rind! (It's the answer to EVERYTHING).

Real tip of the day: Keep your environment clean. It seems simple enough but having a clean room, kitchen or house really does clear your mind. My parents always say, "Your room is an exact representation of your mind!" They're usually saying that with irritation because my room is not always clean, HOWEVER. Now that I'm on winter break, I have time to de-clutter my life, thoughts and surroundings.

Recipe: SALAD with figs and apple slices and citrus ginger vinaigrette.

-spring mix (pre-boxed leaves) or spinach/romaine

-dried figs cut into pieces with kitchen scissors

-one apple sliced thinly

-raw cashews

-one carrot made into ribbons with peeler

-olives

Dressing

-grated ginger

-grated carrot

-grated orange rind

-red wine vinegar

-a tiny bit of olive oil

-2T water or more (to your desired consistency)

-half an orange juiced or one (add less water)

-grapefruit sliced (optional)

Don't be fooled. This is a big salad bowl..that might be an understatement even.

festive snow truffles.

Tip #2: To avoid unnecessary weight gain from fluid retention/poundage, decide for yourself a nice time during the day that you will make your green drink (preferably more green than fruit). Another helpful point is to avoid eating once you have eaten devoured err' thang. Let's say it's 4PM, and you are stuffed..do not eat till the next day. Trust me, you've provided your body enough fuel most likely to last more than a day or two, give it a rest. The final point of this tip is to do exercises at home, anything you do is better than lazying around. A great walk outside in the snow will help diverge your thoughts to more serene things.

Recipe: Festive Clementine and Ginger Snow Truffles!

-2-3 small juicy clementines

-rind from two juicy clementines

-cloves (grind these separately)

-raw ginger grated

-1.5-2T raw carob powder

-2-3T raw coconut grated

-3T raw almonds, soaked

-4-5 giant medjool dates (remove pit!)

Blend in food processor (or magic bullet), freeze, then roll in coconut powder. The result will be a delicious, christmas truffle, moist, chewy, and chocolaty with a hint of spice.

Santa wants a snow truffle..

i have a slight obsession with nutcrackers.

If you are reading this you may or may not be under the stress of holiday dinners, guests arriving and leaving, tree hauling and decorating and are maybe even finishing exams slash fall semester!

Every few days I will be posting a tip that will help you emerge from Christmas 2010 more or less raw. There will be some holiday recipes as well.

Today's tip: Yes, it's only December 15th, but this is a perfect day to pull out an old notebook, and write down your goals for the new year. If you start now, you will have had a a good 2 week head start than others and if not a physical head start, definitely a mental head start. To make these goals, you need to be specific with what you want. There has to be a destination, so that you take the journey.

Vague: "I want to spend more time with my family and friends this year"

Better: "I want to spend one hour a week with a different friend or family member"

To make your goal go from Better to Best, you need to think about how you're going to measure that goal. Can you measure the vague goal? No, not as easily as the Better goal.

Best: "I want to schedule in weekly times for family members and friends" There's a reference in this goal, and proof, that yes! you are accomplishing that goal.

The Recipe

Understanding that most of us are under stress, MOST of the time, either from schoolwork, work in general, and or life, reaching this relaxing time of the year may be the moment your body decides to get sick. It's been putting it off for approximately 365 days, so when you're snuggled in front of the fire with some tea, and you feel a tickle in your throat...don't freak out! Drink this instead. [I woke up feeling congested, and wheezy after wearing a peacoat on the coldest day of winter so far<---foolish: symptoms were gone in two hours after drinking this]

1 large grapefruit

3-4 leaves of romaine

1 large handful of cilantro

1 large handful of parsley

grated ginger, amount to your liking

BLEND. DRINK. REFUEL.

*a woman on the subway asked me what I was drinking, I had to explain...everyone was watching. Maybe opaque jars would work better for drinking this in public..

only a mere third of my nutcracker collection.

going overboard with sprouts.

im going to start taking pics of sprouts i grow.

i will also provide a step by step, super simple way to grow your own.

what are your fave types?? mine's pea and alfalfa.