Traveling Raw.

Traveling to the States is ALWAYS tricky for me because there are usually no alternatives. So I have to be proactive and plan ahead. I was on a bus for 18 hours from Ottawa, Canada to Greensboro, North Carolina. I made sure to buy nuts, and fruit for the right and made a breakfast granola to eat during breakfast time. An example of what I found at the hotel for breakfast is as follows: (following is in red due to imply potentially threatening DANGER)

-biscuits and gravy
-french toast, waffles
-processed OJ and apple juice
-peanut butter with sugar and hydrogenated rapeseed oil
-quaker oats, and fruit loops
-yogurt and hard boiled eggs (literally hard as a rock, watched my friend gnaw on two)

Sometimes it's an excellent opportunity to give your body a rest, as traveling is already tiring enough.

Buckwheat Granola Recipe

-buckwheat (quickly soaked and rinsed to remove starchy water)
-cinnamon (as much as you like/OR should I say LOVE)
-carob powder 3T
-cranberries
-currants
-almonds
-coconut oil 2T
-goji berries

Mix gently together and dehydrate overnight, flipping occasionally. It will come out crispy, and DELISHUSSSS. What snacks do you bring when traveling?

Raw in Ottawa.

Delicious food from La Belle Verte and Market Fun.

If you're ever in Ottawa make sure you drop by Byward Market to check out the local produce from berries to corn, it's all there and super delicious! La Belle Verte is also my favourite restaurant to visit since I don't have to question anything regarding ingredients. Plus the food always looks beautiful, and their green juices are tasty and SO refreshing.

Salad for Breakfast.

I have one goal: to balance my blood sugar levels. [People who have tried 811 diet, comment below as to how you deal with this, because I literally have felt knees wobble when eating 10 bananas and dates.]

I made this and realized that only two utensils are necessary for a perfect salad!! 1) A pair of tongs and 2) a big bowl, not a flat plate. If you can mix everything together and break down the leaves a bit, your salad meshes flavours perfectly.

Summer Salad aka. YUMMO BOWL.

-strawberries

-blackberries

-spiralized zucchini

-grated carrot

-organic spring mix

-epic Lebanese EVOO

-sea salt

-lemon juice

-sunflower seeds

-Corn sliced right off the cob

AND MY FAVE NEW FRUIT. Texture cityyyy.

I bought one the other day, giddy, and beside myself with EXCITEMENT, I cradled it like a dragon egg, all the way home. LOOK HOW PRETTY.

FIRST TIME EATING DURIAN. EPIC.

I LOVE DURIAN, I've loved it even before I had the chance to try it, I didn't care that it would smell, didn't care that it might have a sweet onion taste, just seeing a picture of Ani Phyo relaxing on a beach eating it has made me crave this for years, AND FINALLY, yesterday my Malaysian friend brought a fresh one from the grocery store and cracked it open.

I'm in love.

Here's a picture.

I couldn't contain my excitement hence all my blurry pictures. Smoothie recipe to follow, with cinnamon and cacao.

EPIC JUICE DAY.

The weather is AWESOME in Toronto today, which calls for a hydrating, luscious, divine, magnificent...pre-mother's day juice.

I have to say, I have been taking amazing care of my mom lately...she's probably reading this now and agreeing. We created a health routine that involved regularizing juicing, and smoothie-making, plus massive salads throughout the day. Obviously, not far from the regular Mediterranean diet, raw is the focus, especially being wheat and dairy free, AND MOM, YOU'RE DOING AN EPIC JOB, if I do say so myself.

I am going to take a picture of the juices we make, today we juiced and made 2 L of beet, apple, kale, celery, cucumber, and carrot juice, it was so beautiful---a giant glass pitcher of fuschia coloured juice with orange foam on top, and it tasted heavenly!

Pics to come!

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU.

YAYYY STAR WARS SALSA.

Ingredients:
yellow bell pepper
red bell pepper
braggs apple cider vinegar
lemon juice
grated lemon rind
fresh mint from my backyard
tomatoes, diced
green onions, diced

MIX, AND SERVE.

Ballin' Salads.

Firstly, salads should NEVER be boring, ever. I have a few tips to tell that will ensure your salad never remain boring. The key words I think of when choosing TOPPINGS to my salad are COLOUR, TEXTURE, FLAVOUR. Pretty simple, right? You want to maximize your utility of each category.

COLOUR: Think rainbow using fruits + veggies, these are just for toppings.

Red: bell pepper, blood orange, grapefruit, cherry tomatoes, raspberries, beets, swiss chard (stem), cherries, pomegranates, strawberries

Orange: orange (OBVI), carrots, cantaloupe, pumpkin, sweet potato, papaya, mangoes, peach,

Yellow: pineapple, korean sweet potato, yellow beets (BEAUTIFUL!), pickled radish (korean).

Green: Brocolli, cabbage types, green onions, leeks, cilantro, parsley, sprouts, avocado!

Blue: blueberries, raisins, grapes, purple figs, purple potato.

Purple: purple cabbage, plums, blackberries

You get the idea with colour, go WILD. Continuing on to TEXTURE, my favourite category, my favourite thing to do is to use different ways of cutting up veggies/fruits.

TEXTURE: Grate, Straight-slice, Mandolin-slice, food process, peel, spiralize and use scissors!

You may wonder how you could eat the veggies I've listed raw in a salad, as chunks of sweet potato seem slightly off-putting but, when you grate veggies you get an epic assortment of texture in your salad. Grate the carrots, the potato, then food process on the thinnest blade all cabbage types, you'll be surprised at how much more edible your bowl will become.

dried unsweetened coconut

sprouted chickpea hummus

babah ganouj (eggplant dip)

guacamole

artichoke hearts

pickles

red onions finely chopped

garlic grated/minced

grated lemon rind, orange rind

FLAVOUR: 2-step process for flavour.

I used to never enjoy the taste of onions or garlic, and honestly I still don't so much now, but whenever I use them in my salads I feel as if they excite and bring out everything else. [LFRV's, if you're reading this ignore the flavouring part.]

STEP 1-Take a big bowl and put your salad base in (kale, romaine, arugula, watercress, spinach, etc.) Dress appropriately with a citrus juice + oil + salt. I usually use himalayan or pink salt + grapefruit/lemon juice and EVOO. Mix that up, and let it sit while you prepare your toppings.

STEP 2-Take your sprouts, your grated veggies, your fruit assortment, and your crunchy/smooth topping and put on the side. Add all of them together and decorate over top of the preset salad base.

EQN SHEET:

colour + texture + flavour = epic toppings

citrus + oil + vinegar/salt = dressing

salad base + toppings = EPICNESS.