Blissful Eating Has Moved!

Thank you for being my very first followers. You’ve done so much for my confidence in my work and I want to say thank you so much for inspiring me to keep going; for showing me that someone was out there, someone was reading. I am so grateful for your love and support.

I’ve configured it so that, although I’m leaving WordPress.com, my new posts on my updated site should still come up in your Reader. If you’d like to receive yummy recipes and holistic health articles straight to your email inbox, come on over and subscribe to my newsletter. Check out the new website here at http://www.blissfuleating.com. Thanks again. =)

 

A Word On Green Juices

I have found that if I set myself up for the sometimes daunting task of juicing all the ingredients for a Mean Green juice (ginger, apple, kale, celery, cucumber, lettuce), the vegetables start to turn in the fridge and I am less likely to make it because of the length of time it takes.

But when I think of juicing fresh cucumber for a cool, refreshing cucumber juice, I’m excited and motivated to give my body such a nutritious treat. It’s much less work and tastes even more delicious since I don’t love the taste of celery juice (although of course I can always just take this out when making Mean Green).

The game is to get as much absorbable nutrients into your body as possible, so that you and your body can visibly thrive. Juices are like cheat codes in the game of life, your body is able to receive a bevy of enzymes, vitamins, and minerals without having to lift a finger to process it. Living Greens Juice says that in order to get the nutrients from one 16-ounce of green juice we would need to eat 2 lbs of carrots, 10-12 apples, or 8 lbs of spinach. Now, that’s what I call an awesome shortcut!

It’s actually pretty difficult to get 100% of the most optimal quantities of nutrients for our body every day, and 95% of what we need is found in the juice of fruits and vegetables. Just adding some fresh, unpasturized juice into your life in the mornings can be extremely beneficial – they aren’t confined to the realm of juice fasts!

Remember to drink juices on an empty stomach. The best way to do this is first thing in the morning because, without fiber and other obstacles in your stomach to overcome, they act as a shot of straight goodness to your system. Your body is able to immediately absorb those nutrients into your bloodstream and you will receive the benefits faster and with less work.

Today, with our knowledge and technology (and our privilege of having a diversity of quality foods at our fingertips) we can eat the most optimal foods for our energy, appearance, sleep, and general functioning. We can overcome the sluggishness that comes from fast foods with the crisp, clean power of fruits and vegetables. Just adding one extra clean element into your diet makes a difference to your body. Any produce you choose very likely has some percentage of a vitamin you are currently deficient in. Experiencing a health challenge currently? Try adding more fruits and veggies into your life; it could just be that your body has gone without a nutrient for too long, or that your immune system has been running on empty.

The Cost Problem and Golden Rice

Why does eating healthfully cost so much money?

Quite unfortunately, in our country, eating healthfully is more expensive than eating poorly. It is such a travesty that eating a quality diet is so expensive these days. Plants are much more sustainable and much cheaper to produce, yet are more expensive to buy than factory-made, laboratory-created, packaged foods. Our government currently subsidizes low-nutrient junk foods, when we could be helping the farmers and the people by subsidizing fresh crops instead (or at least as well).

The types of foods and way of eating that I encourage are not focused on what is cheapest or easiest. This clean-eating lifestyle is about absorbing the most vitamins and minerals, ingesting the least amount of toxins, and cleaning your beautiful body inside and out. This goes a step further than normal healthful living; it’s about beauty, youthfulness, energy, sleeping well, focus, and healing – and is a way for food lovers to lose weight while being fulfilled by their love of gorgeous food.

The main focus of my high-quality, plant-based lifestyle is to get you into the most incredible shape you have ever been in your life, and that requires sacrifices and, unfortunately, doesn’t mean that it is affordable for everyone in it’s purest, most precise form. A version of it can be done, however, by adjusting how and where to get your food, the type and quantity of that produce, by giving up other (junky) foods, and sacrificing less important things to free up your money – while still basing your diet on plants because that is where your life-sustaining, energy-inducing, I-am-thriving nutrients come from.

So to eat this way, and the way of any sort of super clean, healthfully-sourced, “perfect” kind of food lifestyle, you’re going to have to adjust your priorities and compromise (possibly by adjusting to what extent you can live by this lifestyle).

There are ways to get a few fruits and vegetables into your home and bellies on a daily basis.

• Join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group where you pay a fee for a share of a farm’s crops.

• Buy produce at a farmer’s market. Bypass the fancy stuff to find the cheap, fresh-off-the-farm produce. Both this and the CSA option gives you access to eating produce that is in season as well.

• Look for produce that is on sale at the grocery store and shop at a discount store, rather than the “whole paycheck” stores.

• Ditch the organic. Yes, I know this is blasphemy, but if you can’t afford it – eat fruits and vegetables anyway! That is where you get your life nutrients. The longer you go without those vitamins and minerals that sustain you and help your body to thrive, the more you will start to deteriorate, see new health challenges arise, and be unable to function optimally.

• Grow your own food. This suggestion definitely depends on where you live, but even in a little apartment one can grow tomatoes and herbs. Any little bit helps, and it tastes absolutely delicious by the way! Mother Earth News says that the easiest 10 crops to grow are radishes, salad greens, green beans, onions, strawberries, peppers, bush zucchini, tomatoes, basil, and potatoes. Look into which crops grow great in your particular area, in your climate. For example, here on Guam my basil and bell pepper plants grow wild without any work at all!

• Start foraging. Foraging may seem pretty old school, but it’s actually really fun! Start looking at the trees and bushes around your area – you may be surprised to find that they actually produce food. Research which crops grow wild near you, identify them, and start finding them. You may find a gathering group near you while you’re at it. When I visited Perth, Australia, I joined a foraging group on Facebook that had a lovely group of people who held fun foraging hangouts. My neighbor and I forage for mangoes, guava, avocados, mulberries, and papaya where I live. It turns out that many fruit trees that aren’t planted for the purpose of harvesting have their fruit drop to the ground and spoil because no one thinks to find food outside anymore. Once you find some trees and know the seasons they produce food, it’s fun for the whole family to harvest together.

• Volunteer at a farm. Some farms will exchange a little bit a of labor, like harvesting for a couple hours on a weekend, for fresh produce. Research these kind of opportunities in your area.

Obvious Epiphany of the Day:

Back in the 90’s, scientists were trying to augment rice so that it was more nutritious and could be used to successfully feed children suffering from vitamin A deficiency, a problem which is estimated to kill 670,000 children under 5 per year. In the year 2000 they were able to fortify rice with beta carotene (a precursor of vitamin A), which could be identified by the orange tinge it gave the rice, hence it’s name – golden rice.

Now, the super obvious point I take away from this is that rice is lacking in nutrients and cannot be used to sustain a healthful life on it’s own. Granted, it also is very low in fat and is generally a very clean food – both the brown and white varieties. It is wonderful as a filler food because of the aforementioned cleanliess of it, however, it is all the fruits and vegetables that you eat, which accompany that rice, which sustains and benefits your body. The rice rounds out your meal and satisfies your stomach and makes raw eating more financially sustainable.

I have found rice to digest well in my body and it also helps me to eat clean by keeping me satiated both mentally and physically. It can be easy to slip into eating more rice and less produce when I become busy, but this thought has reminded me that it is the fruits and vegetables that are truly feeding my body, not the rice.

It Only Takes 4 Weeks…

I have struggled with my weight all my life. It has taken me 10 years to figure out what works for me in terms of eating and exercising. Within that time I have wavered from overweight to a good weight, trying all sorts of diets and lifestyles, but even while I was at a great weight (as I realize looking back at pictures – I was so pretty! – why couldn’t I see it then?) I saw myself as enormous (not conducive to good choices I might add!)

It has taken me 3 years (maybe more?) to actually be able to use “what works for me” in a steady, continuous, comfortable, SUSTAINABLE way, to be able to relax into it as a legitimate lifestyle. Now I know what foods cause me to gain weight, I know what exercises I love and what amount of exercise keeps me balanced, I know that annual cleanses clean me out, and I know I have cleanses in my arsenal whenever I don’t feel well, or after a not-so-great day (or week…).  I’ve learned that loving myself and seeing what is great about me can help my confidence and therefore help my lifestyle choices. Now with this knowledge I have the power to do right by me.

I have come across clients who say that they don’t want food and exercise to be what their life is all about, and it doesn’t have to be what it’s all about. But it’s going to be what it’s partially about, regardless of if you try to pick up a healthful lifestyle or just kinda do what you’ve always been doing.

If you are like me you love food. Now, I’ve said that before and people have laughed at me. They say, “Of course you love food, we all love food.”

No. I LOVE food.

Some of my favorite experiences have been eating an incredibly delicious food. When I travel, one of my top 3 most important things to do is to experience a culture’s food. I look forward to eating during the day when I know something amazing is coming. I am overweight due to poor food choices and/or overeating any kind of delicious food (even healthful food).

So if you are like me eating is already a huge part of your life, although not your entire* life by any stretch of the word.

And, if you’re like me, you fret about your appearance. You can tell when your clothes are feeling tight and it affects your whole day. You see yourself in pictures after a bit of weight gain and figure out how you can not go out into public again until you lose that weight. Pictures in general are not totally welcome. You look at yourself naked in the mirror to assess how your body is looking, maybe sucking in a bit to show yourself that you look alright. You may feel guilty sometimes because you haven’t been exercising or you haven’t been eating well. Maybe you are experiencing some physical reactions to the foods you’ve been eating, paired up with the lack of exercise, and wish you could overcome these health challenges so you wouldn’t have to suffer anymore.

Your health is a big part of your life. Especially if you’re like me and have been struggling with obesity all your life; it is apart of your life for better or for worse, and you have a choice as to how it’s going to be. Not to mention that if you decide that you don’t explore your health, or find out a comfortable way to add your health back into your priorities in life (step-by-step!), your health might actually become YOUR WHOLE LIFE.

So make it a part of your life right now. Begin a little exercise routine, just 3 times a week. Start adding in some fruit, vegetables, salads, reducing your dairy, reducing your fatty foods and oils, cooking more at home, eating junk food less and less. Do whatever you know is good for your body. Any one of these steps can help start a glorious beginning to a healthier you. Start adding in a new step once the previous one has become a normal part of your life.

You can do it. You have a choice. In 6 months, you’ll look in the mirror and be so glad you did. The more you eat fresh, healthful meals, the more you will crave them. The more your taste buds will recalibrate and the other stuff will taste way too salty or fatty or sugary. Remember the saying related to working towards your fitness, “It takes 4 weeks for you to see your body changing. It takes 8 weeks for friends and family, and it takes 12 weeks for the rest of the world. Keep going.”

Chinese Brown Sauce and Singapore

Sensing a trend here? Why have I been talking about Asian food so much lately? Well, let me tell you all about it.

So, I recently spent a month in Hawaii where I quite immediately (well… benefit of the doubt I ate well for 1.5 weeks…) fell off the proverbial wagon and ate everything that I missed in Hawaii. The long rice being the main thing… and the sushi boat restaurants… and the ono food… and almost anything mainstream (I live in Guam where there’s not too much “mainstream”-ness).

ANYWAY. As soon as I returned home my body was crying out for some clean, structured eating. I knew exactly what to do. I returned back to how I ate when I hung out with my Chinese friends in France and whenever I travel through Japan. I ate rice as a base along with fresh sides for flavor.

Then a few days after getting back from Hawaii, I was back out on my way to Singapore, where I knew my current favorite style of eating was totally going to work.

On my layover in Japan I ate my favorite Narita airport dish: Spicy Tofu and Rice

So. Freaking. Good.

I flew into the Singapore airport after midnight. I found a Hong Kong food stand that was still open and had steamed bok choy, clear broth soup, and a side of steamed rice. SO glad I didn’t have to resort to Burger King.

The next morning I ventured into the heart of Singapore, got off at the Esplanade station, and found myself inside a large mall-like structure. I found a typical Singaporean food court, which I had read so much about and jumped right in.

(In Singapore, food trucks and street vendors aren’t allowed on the roads, only in designated group areas, so food stalls band together in large food courts, similar to, but very different from those we find in American food courts. They have a much more street food-y, hole-in-the-wall feel to them, which I personally love… as long as I don’t get sick of course.)

I stood in line where the food posters looked most delicious. I listened to the person ahead of me who said, “rice” and a pyramid of rice was placed on his parchment (our plate in this case) on his tray. Then he pointed at the sides he wanted through the glass; a starch, a vegetable, and a meat. So at my turn I said “rice” and pointed at Singapore noodles (something familiar!), some spicy-looking okra, and something that looked like curry.

“Two vegetables?”, he said. “Yes, please.”, said I.

Then he asked if I wanted chili paste, which of course I definitely wanted.

Singapore Street Food

The chili sauce was sweet and nutty at first, with a spice that came at the end, almost as an after taste, that stayed in the back of my mouth similar to Thai heat. I will be making this recipe in an upcoming blog post. The yellow curry was light and made with cabbage. The okra was absolutely delicious; soft and not the kimchee taste I was afraid of (I’m not a fan of kimchee). And the Singapore noodles and rice were of course delicious as well.

This all cost me under 3 USD. Heck to the yes.

Also, some of these food courts (like the outdoor Newton Food Court) have awesome fruit stands. Here’s some rambutan that I had, which taste and look just like lychees after the bright red, hairy peel is removed; soft and sweet.

Peeled Rambutan

Okay, okay I got away with myself thinking about the food on my trip. My bad.

Anyway, the whole reason I told you this was to explain why I’m all about Asian cuisines right now. Today it’s Chinese food because although Singaporean cuisine is a melange of Malaysian, Chinese, Indonesian, Indian, Thai, Filipino, Middle Eastern, and other cuisines, the mother tongue of the largest percentage of the population is Mandarin (although the main spoken language is English), and it’s gotten me in a Chinese food kind of mood.

(Hey… that rhymes!)

I love Chinese food… Well, let me be more specific. I love the real Chinese food that my old college pals used to make, full of fresh vegetables with a plethora of different tastes and spices.

I also like Chinese-American food (eeee GASP!), because that’s the kind of junk that I grew up on. However, so many of the dishes at these American restaurants are too greasy, have too much sodium, and/or have superbly overcooked vegetables…

It would be WAAAAAAY better to make Chinese-American food in our own kitchens, wouldn’t it?

…

So how about we make some Chinese food ourselves, shall we?!

I include this Chinese Brown Sauce recipe in my clean eating repertoire, because if a little bit of this sauce tempts you and your loved ones to eat a bunch of al-dente veggies, I’ll take it! It does have some sodium from the soy-based sauce and a bit of sugar from natural honey, but there is very little oil or calories from fat and so many nutrients.

Allspice Berries

Sometimes you just feel like having a nice warm meal with a good sauce, so use this recipe on top of some lightly steamed vegetables. Keep them nice and crisp to retain as much nutritional value, texture, color, and flavor as possible. Add these veggies on the sixth step. The vegetables I used for tonight’s dinner was eggplant topped with fresh green onion garnish.

Ingredients:

• 4 Tbs Braggs Aminos (or low-sodium soy sauce)
• 2 Tbs real honey
• 1 Tbs cornstarch
• 1-2 tsp allspice or cinnamon
• 1 cup pure water*
• 1-2 Tbs nutritional yeast*
• 1 tsp oil (olive preferred)
• 1 Tbs garlic, minced
• 1-2 Tbs ginger, minced

* instead of these two, you may use vegetable stock or just the plain water

Instructions:

1. Mix the first 4 ingredients together until they are fully incorporated, with no clumps.
2. Add in the water and nutritional yeast (together being a vegan broth) and mix thoroughly.
3. In a pan on a stovetop on medium heat, add the oil.
4. Once the oil is medium-hot (sizzles when a drop of water is added, but not violently) add the ginger and garlic. Allow to just slightly brown, and be careful not to burn.
5. Add the liquid mixture and allow to boil.
6. Add your steamed vegetables and coat thoroughly.
7. Bon Appetit!

Keep in mind that this is my version of this sauce, so it’s not exactly the sauce that bathes every dish you can think of at a Chinese-American restaurant, but let me assure you, it is CRAZY GOOD. It reminds me of a few of the legitimately authentic Chinese dishes that my friends made for me, but I have since been unable to find the region or ingredients list for such sauce.

Try it my friends… try it.

Clean Eating: Japanese & Chinese Cuisine

Back in 2009 when I lived in France, I often had weekly potluck nights with my Chinese and Japanese friends. I somehow found enough ingredients to make tacos (small French cities are pretty lacking in Mexican spices and ingredients) while they made these incredibly flavorful Chinese dishes. They always put on a rice-maker while they prepared their dishes. Once everything was made, we held bowls of steamed rice and plucked up tasty morsels from the family-style array of dishes before us. They would laugh at me as I scooped up bits of the different dishes with a spoon and laid them upon my rice instead of eating one bite from the group pots and eating my rice separately. My Taiwanese friend said it reminded her of how children eat where she’s from.

 

Szechuan Eggplant

A few of my favorite dishes included; leek & egg pancakes with salty green Chinese olive (Canarium album) paste (a Cantonese dish, not well-known to Northerners), a dark, spicy, saucy eggplant dish made with coveted Szechuan peppercorns [which our friend had brought straight from China] and chili bean paste [similar to this Szechuan eggplant recipe], and a simple dish of scrambled eggs and tomatoes (now my favorite, most typical dish I eat with rice).

Back at my University in Eugene in 2010, I had a Chinese foreign exchange student living on my couch for a while. When her mother came to visit she made a delicious cumin- and salt-based soup and a raw potato and vinegar dish that I will always remember.

Szechuan Peppercorns

In all instances, meat was sparse and really only used for a bit of flavor. The dishes were plant-based and eaten with rice. In Japanese, these side dishes that accompany rice are called okazu.

I find that when I eat rice with my meals, I eat less and feel fuller faster. It creates a hearty meal, even when I am only pairing my rice with clean, raw, plant-based dishes like garlic tomatoes, greek salad, or cucumber-sesame salad. I love having a variety of side dishes to eat, and I love being able to decide, while eating, what I feel like eating in moment. It’s quite a satisfying feeling, and I feel that the diversity of tastes is what makes me naturally eat less. I don’t have to keep eating more of the wrong thing, trying to feel satisfied, when my body is missing something; I can adapt what I’m eating to what my body needs instead.

When I eat this way, I thin out pretty easily and feel balanced and renewed. It resets my body. It does away with sugar and heavy-food cravings. I feel like I’ve come back to my most natural way of eating and it’s comfortable, easy, and delicious.

Sounds to me like I need to go live in Japan for awhile!

 

Hawaii and Raw Vegan Parmesan Cheese

I’m currently on Oahu where my husband and I first met, while he’s here for a month for school. I am so content being back here, seeing the places I used to go. This is where I found raw foods, or rather, raw foods found me. I feel like it’s where my creative, healthful life truly began.

My husband is all about sailing, so we had a lovely dinner with some friends last night at a gorgeous marina at sunset.

In the spirit of being where the gourmet half of my clean eating began, I want to show you guys one of my favorite toppings ever: crumbly parmesan cheese.

Sometimes you just want that rich, salty bite of cheese as a topping on some of your favorite dishes. I like to use this “cheese” on my pasta as a parmesan cheese, on my tacos as a Cotija cheese, or on anything that would taste good with a salty, cheesy, crumbly topping. This recipe uses clean ingredients, with no oils or fatty ingredients, and is naturally low-calorie and healthful so you can add as much as you want and eat to your heart’s content.

Here’s the very simple recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower (stems removed, cleaned, still slightly damp)
• 1/2 cup – 1 cup nutritional yeast (to taste)
• salt to taste

Instructions:

Blend up the cauliflower, nutritional yeast, and salt in a food processor until it makes tiny parmesan crumbles. Store in an air-tight, glass container and store in the fridge – it tastes better the next day! Enjoy on any of your favorite foods!

Epiphany Moment of The Day: Crowding Out

I’ve been really excited about getting more into the Raw Till 4 and Banana Girl lifestyle of eating. I’m deeeeeeeefinitely not where I need to be yet, but health is not a race; I’m just figuring out what works for my particular body, slowly but surely.

I know this is going to be completely obvious to most of you, but I’ve realized through this high-fruit intake idea that when you fill up on healthful, delicious foods, you literally have no room in your tummy to be hungry and you are sooooooo much less likely to crave something terrible.

It’s quite simple really. Although, in the moment, while you’re eating that double cheeseburger, it doesn’t seem so simple, eh?

It’s a preventative system; if you focus on eating enough of the good stuff your body will naturally balance out and you won’t need to compensate for something really sweet you ate for breakfast or something really salty you snacked on during the day.

So don’t focus on limiting yourself, don’t tell yourself that you can’t have this, or you can’t have that. Find those delicious, incredible, healthful, plant-based foods that you absolutely love, and eat them all the time, until your tastes change and your addictions go away; until you literally crave those good foods and start to feel sick when you eat the nasty stuff (as you should since you’ll be able to finally listen to your body more clearly!), which will make you naturally not want to eat such things.

Be patient with yourself. Be good to your body. Love yourself first. Know that this is not a race and that if you keep at your journey, you will ultimately find health and wellness, and hey, quite possibly a kick-ass body.

Love and Hugs,

How Raw Foods Are Helping Me Heal

Disclaimer: If you have an eating disorder, please consider seeking help. Please see a therapist or talk to your doctor. You, your body, and your health is worth it!

So I just recently was asked the question (and I’m paraphrasing here), ‘Shouldn’t it be about teaching people how to eat healthy portions rather than advocating “abundance” and “freedom” in the form of raw food cuisine?’

Okay, I’m going to open my heart and soul to you right now. I’ve had an eating disorder for longer than I can remember. The first time it got to the point of full-on bulimia I was a sophomore in high school, but even before that I was trying every diet in the book, largely restricting consumption of food, binging on food, craving foods as if I would die if I didn’t have them, and had all my feeling of worth tied up in my image and what I ate. My relationship with food has always been desperate, confusing, and emotional. I had stints of depression and self-deprication since before I was a preteen due to my chubby appearance and my uncontrollable need for the comfort and love that I found in food.

 

I’ve had many ups and downs when it comes to thinking a diet was working for me or thinking that my weight-loss was sustainable, which would inevitably end in me gaining plus or minus 25 pounds again.

For me, the freedom and abundance with raw foods that I experienced thanks to my good friend Amira is slowly but surely healing me. They have given me a beautiful sense of freedom that I’ve never known before.

This is because the foods I am eating might taste great and might even be fun to make, but they are also deeply healthful for me.

I know that I can and should eat as much as I can because your body cannot physically eat too much raw fruit and vegetables. It just will not happen. It would be torture to force yourself to eat so much fiber.

Granted, when you’re adding in nuts, seeds, avocado, and coconut, you may need to give serving sizes a little bit of attention because they’re so good and not as fiber-dense that you could overeat them.

There is nothing off-limits or considered “too much” in the raw fruit & veggie world (unless you have food allergies & sensitivities of course).

I really believe that my experience of raw foods has freed me from my unhealthy relationship with food. It is healing my body and soul alike. I no longer have to see food as the enemy. I no longer have to hate myself for the things I eat.

I am still on a journey and am in no way 100% raw. I currently usually eat raw for breakfast and lunch, and eat a healthful cooked dinner with my husband in the evenings. I still go out to eat, and sometimes I have less than healthful weekends. Sometimes I only eat raw for breakfast, sometimes I eat raw all day. Raw foods make me feel incredible, so the more I eat it the better I feel. I am on a path to greatness, and I’m okay being patient with myself as I lean farther and farther more to the side of raw fruits and vegetables.

If you are interested in the idea of how I eat, check out this “Raw Til 4” video here.

I have been watching this amazing girl on Youtube who has overcome her eating disorder through raw foods as well. Her name is Sasha or “Rice and Raw” and you can check her out here.

Thanks for checkin’ in with me and feel free to ask me questions below. I’d love to answer your questions. I’ll be starting a Youtube channel soon where I’ll be making recipes and talking about my raw foods experience.

Peace and Love To You My Friends,

Balsamic Figs and Cream

I had a dairy version of this dessert at a sort of cocktail party in Southern California at a beloved friend’s house. They have this huge, dark Mission fig tree that had bare, rustic branches during the off-season and then start to grow these perfect little green and purple packages and fresh green leaves in spring and fall. By summer and (especially) winter, these figs are full of sweet jam and have developed into a dark purple color. The birds (hummingbirds especially!) enjoy the treats as well.

They are truly a spectacular sight, especially when you tear the soft outter skin to expose the gorgeous maroon and pink colors within.

 

Each fig has it’s own slight variance of color inside and outside. They’ve got to be in the world’s top 10 most beautiful fruit.

 

I have converted this recipe to be 100% raw and vegan, and I have to say, it is IN-CROY-ABL[AY]. It was a huge hit with my clients here in London, and is extraordinary at parties. And no one would ever know or care that it was raw, plant-based, and full of wonderful, amazing, anti-aging nutrients!

Ingredients:

• 7 raw macadamia nuts
• 7 raw cashews
• 1/4 cup fresh raw coconut or soaked, dried coconut
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 Tbs raw honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8-1/4 cup pure water
• 8 figs, cleaned

Suggested Toppings:

• lemon zest
• drizzled raw honey
• balsamic vinegar

Combine the first 7 ingredients in an emulsion blender until smooth. Only add enough water to get the blender blending and for everything to become nice and smooth. The consistency we are looking for is thick; similar to a cream cheese frosting.

Cut the figs in half and remove their stems.

Set them on a serving plate and add a generous dollop of the cream mixture to the top.

 

Add any of your desired toppings.