MANGO BANANA SMOOTHIE with GINGER KOMBUCHA

Hello, darling readers. I've been away for 8 days in the far north of Turtle Island, in Kwanlin Dün lands (aka Whitehorse, Yukon Territories). The temperature was -20 most days, and whole rivers and lakes were frozen under many feet of pure, white snow. I hiked through the woods and took in the humble silence of earth in the absence of other humans. I wrote a lot of poetry and experienced some profound moments of realization atop tall hills, utterly and gloriously surrounded by icy blue peaks and deep green forests. I become a witness to my own existence in a way I've never been before. There are no words to express the emotions that found their way to me in those mountains. Since I am literally made of earth, I am always home, no matter where I am on the planet. However, in a more specific sense, I have returned to my regular living space, and bring you this recipe now. 

ALMOND, CINNAMON + GINGER LATTE

I received a lot of interest in this recipe when I posted it on an Instagram story last week, so here ya go! The latte is delicious in its own right, but also works as aid to anxiety and PMS. This is a rich, grounding drink for slow mornings, cloudy afternoons, with a book, or a meditation. I find it to be a wonderful snack before or after yoga as well. You have tummy-friendly, blood sugar-lowering, heart-healthy spices including cinnamon and ginger, which are also both anti-fungal foods, and beneficial to brain health. Ginger helps with menstrual pains. Ashwagandha reduces anxiety with its adaptogenic power. There are cordyceps mushrooms in here too; don't worry though, the flavour is so mild you won't actually notice (in fact I think cordyceps is kind of sweet and caramel-y). More scientific research is needed for this fungus, but it's been utilized in Traditional Chinese Medicine for centuries for promoting longevity, and helping with lung and kidney function. All these ingredients are anti-inflammatory and rich in anti-oxidants, which may help prevent or fight free radicals.

Content warning: I will now talk about my anxiety for a lil bit.

STRAWBERRY COCONUT SMOOTHIE with a LIL BEET

Baaaaaabes. How are you. How is your month going. How are you sleeping. What are you eating. Why am I not putting question marks at the end of these questions. In today's post I am gonna give you a quick lil run down of what's been up with me. Then I'll talk about the recipe for a sec. Then I promise I will go. I SWEAR. 

After a long period of what felt like a necessary hibernation, I have emerged from the cavernous recesses of my emotive existence in a refreshed and renewed state. I feel capable, grown, confident and energized to continue manifesting the life I know I desire and deserve. (Can you tell I haven't stopped listening to Oprah's Super Soul podcast. Still no question marks.) I am SO SUPPORTED by my amazing friends. Bless our hearts for the femme softness we provide and embody for one another.

A NICE GREEN SMOOTHIE with MINT + TURMERIC

I was gonna call this a "healing" green smoothie blah blah blah but then I though, "Hmm, don't wanna buy into that pseudoscience stuff so I'll keep it simple." Because honestly I don't know if this smoothie will heal anything for you, but in my opinion it's at least certainly nice and yummy and green. I'll leave it at that. I am not a doctor. 

WARMING CHAI ALMOND MILK

I like to work hard. I like to relax hard (if that's a thing... I mean 'power naps' are a thing so relaxing hard can be a thing too, right?) I generally don't like long-term routines, so my workout regime changes at least once or twice a year. For awhile recently it was bodyweight exercises in my room plus dancing really sporadically to music. Things have changed. Now, most days I do P90X (and my workouts are always in the morning by the way). For those of you who don't know P90X: I will direct you to the wikipedia page on it. Basically it's an awesome program of videos that focus on different muscle groups (biceps, back, legs, chest, etc.) and there's a few that are high intensity cardio workouts as well (lots of jump squats, oh mama). There's also one for yoga, which is like an hour of warrior poses (feel da buuuurn) and then another 30 minutes of less challenging yoga moves. The program is technically designed to be 90 days long, and you're supposed to do a certain workout each day of the week, but I don't like following rules so I just do what I feel like. I usually do one workout (they're all about an hour) every morning, but they're tough and every few days or once a week I need a break, so I use those days for stretching, because there's a DVD for that too. It's an hour of taking care of yourself, and it feels so good. Tony Horton, the guy who designed the program, is really into yoga - and he was actually vegan for a little while; there's a part in one of the videos when he talks about making non-dairy corn chowder! - so there's a lot of yoga in the stretching video too.

HOT CACAO with CINNAMON, COCONUT + DATES

Fall is upon us and nothing feels more appropriate when I finally get home after these busy, rainy days than a big ole mug of hot chocolate. Make that raw, vegan and super easy to make and you got me head over heels in love with it. I wonder if Freud would have something to say about how frequently I compare my food to romantic lovers. Just a moment ago I was telling my dinner (homemade green curry with baked eggplant, greens and Israeli couscous) that I was seriously considering leaving Jack in order to go steady with the curry. I regularly kiss and hug my fruits and veggies before eating them, and at any hour of the day if you entered my brain you would notice countless love signals being transmitted to the nearest edible plant. I thought I wanted to marry my record player, but when it comes down to it, my ideal spouse might be an avocado. Or mango. Dammit. Is fruit polygamy legal? 

I JUST LOVE MY FOOD SO MUCH. 

BANANA BREAD SMOOTHIE with PECANS, NUTMEG + CAROB SYRUP

Woah. The deliciousness of this recipe was an accident, but that makes it even better. I made pecan milk yesterday morning and decided to add a little to my smoothie because nut milk in smoothies takes them to the next level. Every time. What I didn't realize was that the tap water I used to make the milk was hot, so I ended up with warm pecan milk. To this I added frozen bananas. What happened? The warm liquid made the bananas taste baked - like banana bread! By chance I had also thrown in some nutmeg so the spicing was perfect. I couldn't believe it! Seriously it tastes like banana bread batter (the main reason I woke up every morning as a child: to eat banana bread batter when my mom so happened to be making BB loaves). I decorated it with some carob syrup and pecans to make it look pretty. Then I inhaled it. 

MY FAVOURITE GREEN SMOOTHIE

I have made a lot of smoothies. I drink at least one, usually two, and often three, everyday and I have been doing that for years. I plan to continue doin' it for the rest of my life. I have written an entire cookbook on smoothies (it's coming out in December and you can pre-order it here). Let's just say I know a thing or two about them; including making their textures, flavours and colours the most appealing possible.

PERFECT RAW VEGAN GRANOLA (+ PERSIMMON STRAWBERRY SMOOTHIE)

Hello, hello! And happy Sunday! I have spent the entire morning working at my new standing desk (which I got on Craigslist for $30, whaddup), trying to figure out how to make my blog more beautiful and efficient for you. My conclusion is that it's gonna have to wait. I am so busy these days with school, promoting my second book (pre-order your copy now!) and trying to maintain a life that I don't have the time to build a whole new website... yet. However, I want you to know it is something I am planning on doing. I wanna update my recipe index, take better pictures, give you more recipes, focus on putting out great YouTube videos (like recipes demos and FAQ's), and in general just keep improving This Rawsome Vegan Life. I hope that's cool wit you. Don't worry - I'm not gonna turn it into some bland, generic webpage. TRVL is my heart and soul and I always mean to show that in this cyber corner of the 'net. But you don't wanna hear about me and GALANT here wishfully searching for unicorn HTML code... you wanna hear about granola.

Let's talk about granola. This recipe is the bomb! 

CHOOSING RAW {cookbook review + smoothie recipe)

When the glowing raw vegan pioneer Gena Hamshaw asked me to review her new cookbook - titled Choosing Raw (her amazing blog has the same name) - I couldn't say no. Gena's recipes and website were a huge inspiration to me when I first started becoming interested in raw food and in blogging. She provides a plethora of easy, healthy, whole foods vegan recipes with a big focus on the importance of raw ingredients. It's no wonder she's so popular! What's not to love? When you look at her blog you can immediately tell she is dedicated to sharing the steps to a healthy and long life with anyone who wants to learn, and she makes it almost effortless for you. Her blog is a source for all things wholesome and plant-based: desserts, snacks, meals, drinks, raw, cooked, gluten-free, and more! You find it all at Gena's beautifully designed page: www.choosingraw.com. 

BREAKFAST BERRY SMOOTHIE with CACAO DRIZZLE + CHIA PUDDING

Yo. This recipe is part of a Breakfast In Bed Fest series hosted by Canned Time! I am keeping it simple with a delicious fruit smoothie paired with raw chocolate sauce and chia seed pudding. This is not as big as my normal breakfast smoothies usually are but the chia seeds make you feel really full, so I was more than satisfied after drinking it up. Chia seeds are super sexy and super good for you; they help keep your hair and skin glowing, and your digestion system happily humming. The smoothie tastes more like a vegan milkshake than anything else, especially when you drizzle it with wholesome dark chocolate! This recipe is a winner. Try it out for breakfast or anything time of day, and show some love over at Canned Time right now!

ORGANIC BURST SMOOTHIES!

Ey, babes, guess what time it is. It's Smoothie Time (AKA the best time)! This morning I got busy in the kitchen whipping up two different super nutrient-dense drinks for ya'll to slurp up with a smile. The special ingredients in these recipes are Organic Burst super foods! Within these colourful liquid concoctions are amazing concentrated forms of the healing and energy-giving plants: wheatgrass, acai berries, maca root and baobab fruit. Woo! Let's party cuz we can! Ain't no better way to start the day then with a giant glass of raw vegan fruity goodness in the most digestible format. Your body will be doing the happy dance.  Mine definitely is right now! Hence all the exclamation points!

RAW VEGAN BLOODY MARY

I was really surprised at how delicious this tasted. Then again, if I thought a moment longer I would've realized it shouldn't be surprising at all. I love tomatoes, garlic, lemon and spices! But I've never been into alcoholic drinks, so the idea of Bloody Mary was not exactly a turn on. However, it's one of my moms favourite cocktails so I decided to make a healthy vegan version just for the challenge. It turned out splendidly. I actually didn't want to hand the glass over to mom because I wanted it for myself! I didn't add any booze (to my mothers dismay) but if you want to, don't let me stop you. This is great a juice recipe on it's own, or a terrific healthy base for a real cocktail.

GOOD MORNING, GREEN JUICE

Today's post is a delicious, easy recipe for green juice because I think many of us could use a bit more dark leafy greens in our diet. Obviously a lot of the people reading this (hey there, sexy) are already very interested and in control of their health. But at the same time, I know many of you are just starting out on a new journey to well-being, or maybe you're like me and have just been plain forgetting to eat/drink your greens lately. I used to LIVE for my green smoothies but lately I've been fruiting it up hard core, and have incidentally left the kale and spinach crying at the sidelines, asking "WHY DOESN'T SHE LOVE US ANYMORE!?" Don't fret, my dear leaves! I still care for you and your chlorophyl deeply. But I got kinda carried away with my fruit smoothies and high carb dinners of rice and sweet potatoes. I hadn't eaten a salad in months, and would only occasionally throw a handful of greens into my blender or stir-frys. Well, things are back on track now. I am again head over heels with salad, and I love the taste and colour of spinach in my smoothies. 

GINGER ORANGE CARROT JUICE (AND I GOT INSTAGRAM)

The title is pretty self-explanatory: I finally got Instagram, and I'm sharing a recipe for ginger orange carrot juice. First thing's first: follow me on Instagram if you want to (...  you want to). Secondly: make this juice and feel the good ole fruit and veggie vibes! Carrot juice and beet juice are my faves right now. I love adding ginger and garlic for extra flavour and nutrition; and cucumbers, celery, apples, oranges, bell peppers, greens and pineapple for volume (and equally because they're obviously super healthy). The colour of carrot juice is legit inspiring (same goes for beet juice)! You can't NOT want to drink up a glass of this vibrant, glowing juice filled with life. Get it in ya.

Now, moving onto Instagram! I mean I suppose there's not too much to say about it; but I am really excited to have this new social media platform to share my life with you guys on. My Instagram feed will be a good picture into my daily diet and lifestyle, which I sometimes don't show on my blog (instead I generally only share my "wow!" recipes, not what makes up the bulk of my diet). If you guys want to only see the food I eat, that's totally fine; but if you're also interested in how I spend my days personally, I'd be happy to share that with you too! Just let me know. *smile*.

In other news: I just got my manuscript for my second book back from my publisher today, with their notes attached for what I should change or fix. *excited*! I can't wait to bring this new book to all of you. It's bursting with juicy goodness and the food porn you've hopefully come to expect from me. *wink*. (I don't know why there are so many asterisks in this post). This book has 100 recipes for mostly juices and smoothies, as well as about 15 for energy bars and snacks. There are chapters for ingredients, equipment, methods, tips and tricks... everything you need to begin or master a juicing- and blending-filled life! Cheers to living long and being sexy (because you will, and you are)!

GINGER ORANGE CARROT JUICE

5 carrots
1 tablespoon chunk of ginger
2 oranges 

Wash, peel and chop as needed, then juice it up and drink it down! Mmm. 
Note: this is a snack-sized juice. Double or triple this to get a full tummy.... although if you do, watch out for the ginger. Even with huge juices, I keep my ginger to about 1 tablespoon. 

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THE HEALTHY NUTELLA MILKSHAKE

I know my last post was about how I've gone all low-fat but ya know what? I got my period today and I also received a box of amazing goodies from Prana Organics, which included a jar of magical hazelnut butter. So I am marrying the jar of hazelnut butter today and my 80/10/10 ways can wait til my period is over. I need to continue talking about this hazelnut butter because you do not yet fully understand the magnitude of deliciousness that it is. My life changed when I dipped my spoon into the jar an hour ago, and it changed for the better. Imagine Nutella... then imagine it being approximately 1326 times yummier... then imagine it's healthy... then you realize that what you are imagining is Prana's organic hazelnut butter, and the only ingredients ARE HAZELNUTS. For real, guys. It's better than Nutella and it doesn't even contain chocolate or sugar. That is why I called it magical a moment ago. Normally I say any organic, ethical brand is a great choice for food, but I have to say that I cannot imagine any hazelnut butter tasting better than Prana's. Also, the texture is heavenly. It's like chocolate sauce. UGH IT'S TOO GOOD PLEASE GO GET SOME NOW. You can buy their wonderful treats foods here.

Moving on. To my period. (I promise I will eventually connect this all to the recipe). I have to celebrate my feminine fertility whenever this time of the month rolls around, because it's pretty freaking awesome that us ladies have a human-making system in our uterus', and when I research menstruation (yeah... I do that), I just get really excited and intrigued about what is going on in my body. Having said that, it doesn't change the fact that for 5-7 days every month I basically just roll around moaning and crying for no reason like a depressed bipolar beached whale... plus blood. But at least the weather is nice so I can groan and lay around in the sunshine, and I've got a sweet boyfriend who's gonna massage my bod later tonight. Until then I will just have to keep trying to do it myself... and keep failing. Have you ever attempted to give yourself a back massage? There's a reason humans are social animals: IT'S ALL FOR THE BODY RUBS, GUYS.

So I'm in whiny hormonal hopeless whale mode today and all I want is copious amounts of vegan mac and cheese - it's happening tonight, I am so glad I was smart enough to buy an organic butternut squash the other day - and more of that incredible, better-than-Nutella magic. Therefore I created a milkshake that is essentially just diluted Nutella. Obviously I love you so I made it healthy. Let's drink.

THE HEALTHY NUTELLA MILKSHAKE

4 frozen bananas
1 tablespoon cacao powder
1 tablespoon Prana's organic hazelnut butter 
6 Medjool dates 
2-3 cups nut milk or water

Blend it all up, adding as much or as little liquid as you want. Uggghhh yessss.

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LIQUID FEAST: DAY FOUR & FIVE

Sorry I didn't have time to post yesterday about the liquid cleanse and how it's going. I am feel physically okay, but I think I am emotionally detoxing right now. I've been in a strange mood since I got out of bed, and I slept for a long time. I was taking the bus home in the rain, but decided to get off and walk because I loved the feeling of being soaked with the water falling from the sky. At the skytrain station I bumped into my friend from Vancouver island who is supposed to be staying with me this week... I had completely forgotten. She had tried calling my phone and knocked on my door for awhile but of course I was wandering around getting drenched and trying to figure out why I was feeling so grey, so I didn't notice my phone. Fortunately she had made plans with another friend so she's out right now, but I'll see her later. Once I got home, I realized I was really hungry so I made a mango-banana-date smoothie and it tasted good. Yet even after consuming it, I felt like laying down and crying. I've been feeling that way a lot lately, but I've been too busy to let myself actually give in. I don't have time to be sad.

I think that although I devote much of my time to actively confronting all my emotional demons, I let some become repressed unconsciously, and then convince myself they aren't hidden there. I have let that happen now, with emotions coming from my past relationship. My current partner's roommate is a friend of my ex-boyfriend, and so occasionally my ex will be over at my current partner's house. Inconvenient for us all, to say the least. Well, fate finally wanted to have a laugh so last week I went over there with my friends to see my partner and hang out but ended up walking into a room full of guys laughing together... my ex being one of them. My past relationship was very intense and emotional for me; I tell myself I have healed from it but obviously this is not so, because whenever his name is brought up, I have trouble breathing and speaking; and when I saw him a few days ago by surprise I was basically paralyzed. No one in the room seemed to notice this and they call kept laughing at jokes being told. I didn't know what to do so I just left. A little later I broke down in tears by the road without being able to explain precisely why. By the next morning I felt better... but evidently this was temporary because I think the same clump of suppressed feels has surfaced again and is making me glum as scum today. I suppose I need to allow myself to soak in these emotions and then hopefully they will leave me... I don't know. Sorry for making This Rawsome Vegan Life more like This Rawsome Vegan Depression but I gotta get my thoughts out somewhere.

As far the liquid fasting is concerned: it's going well. Yesterday was probably the toughest for me and partner, I wrote a final exam for archaeology then we went grocery shopping... we ended up getting way too hungry and really wanted to bite our meal instead of drink it, but we are strong willed and it wasn't a serious issue. We drank a bunch of amazing soup - seriously it was one of the best things I've ever tasted - and watched a documentary, then felt much better. And now we come full circle back to today: after having that mango-banana-date smoothie, I wrote the bulk of this post and did other blog/computer tasks. Then I made some soup, wrote in my journal, and still felt hungry. I made a blueberry smoothie with bananas, cacao and almonds. It's pretty good albeit a little grainy because I didn't let the almonds blend fully. If I feel hungry again later, I'll make some vegetable juice.

PARSLEY BEET JUICE

1 bunch parsley
2 beets
5 carrots
1 garlic clove

Juice. Drink. Mmm.

THE BEST CORN & CAULIFLOWER SOUP with TOMATOES & AVOCADO 

1 head cauliflower

2 cups corn 

6 field tomatoes

1 avocado

Juice from 1/2 lime

1 garlic clove

2 tablespoons miso paste

Cumin and coriander, to taste

Hot water, as needed

Steam the cauliflower and corn until tender (or leave it raw if that is important to you), then put everything in your blender and blend until smooth. This makes a lot of soup. It should taste amazing. If it doesn't, adjust according to taste until you like what you've got. 

MANGO-BANANA-DATE SMOOTHIE

1 frozen banana
2 mangoes
5 dates
4 ice cubes
Water, as needed

Blend it all up until smooth. 

MEXICO-INSPIRED SOUP 

5 tomatoes
2 cups corn 
1 avocado
Juice from 1/2 lime
Coriander 
Pepper, to taste
Vegetable broth, as needed

Blend everything until smooth. 

BLUEBERRY SMOOTHIE with CACAO & ALMONDS

1 banana
1 cup frozen blueberries
3 dates
1/4 cup almonds
1 tablespoon cacao powder
Water, as needed

Blend until smooth. Enjoy.

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LIQUID FEAST: DAY TWO

Hello, lovelies! I hope you're having a fantastic day; I definitely am. The liquid feast is going swell (but in any case life can't really be bad when you're listening to this). I've had decent energy levels all day. Actually... as I was typing that I remembered I woke up at 7 am today - an hour earlier than normal - because I couldn't lie still anymore! Hmm, so to correct myself: energy levels have been VERY decent. I'll probably stay up until about midnight tonight. My period has decided to align it's timeline exactly with this liquid feast and that is honestly for the best - I need all the instant nutrition I can get. For that reason, I will be adding cacao to some smoothies. Chocolate banana shakes, anyone? *everyone raises their hand as they sit at their computer - cyber unity*

My partner says he feels good and has more energy than normal. He did mention he was really noticing the smells of food when he was out and about and that makes sense because in my experience when you "fast", your senses are heightened. Of course, he likes a challenge and was much more anticipating getting over to my house to drink all the smoothies, juices and soups I made throughout the day. He tells me he is getting almost as excited about food as I am... this is the best news. If you and I ever get to eat a meal together, you will quickly learn I am very passionate about it. I scream, I moan, I fall over. As much as I love some good ole herbal medication, I really don't need recreational drugs when I have stuff like avocadoes, heirloom tomatoes, blueberry cashew smoothies, and super food truffles to enjoy. The experience of eating organic plants is trippy enough and my sensory systems are like "WOAH ARE WE ON SHROOMS OR WHAT?" Basically, yep.

You might be wondering if I have no life and if all I do is hug my blender and trip out on blueberries all day... well, you'd be partially right. These days I am spending most of my time whipping up juice and smoothie recipes, but I have REASON, OKAY? I am writing my second book, and these fab drinks are the main feature. So it's a perfect time to do a liquid cleanse, especially with another person, because my job is literally to make huge amounts of different juices and smoothies all day... every day. For real - my manuscript is due in a few weeks. I gotta hurry up. 

Here's what I made today that I will share with you: a blueberry cashew smoothie sweetened with dates, beet juice with garlic and carrots, and carrot and onion soup with tomatoes and bell peppers. I was awake for several hours before I made and drank a few different smoothies for my book, and the beet juice (saving half of everything for my lover), then I studied for my final exams for awhile and sunbathed in the nude. I got hungry again so I made the blueberry smoothie. Studied some more, went through my emails, etc. then at about 6 pm I made the carrot soup - it hit the spot. I might make super food hot chocolate later but I feel satisfied right now. I hope this feast is going well for you, too! Get my recipes below:

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BLUEBERRYLICIOUS SMOOTHIE

1 cup frozen blueberries

4 bananas

6 dates

2 cups cashew mylk 

Blend until smooth and creamy. Mmm oh yes. 

RUBY RED JUICE

8 carrots

4 beets

1 garlic clove

Wash, peel and chop as needed. Put it all through your juicer and strain if you wish, then enjoy. 

CREAMY CURRY CARROT SOUP with BELL PEPPERS, TOMATOES & ONIONS 

4 cups carrots
1 onion
2 bell peppers
3 small tomatoes
Cumin and coriander 
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3 dates
Vegetable broth or water

Roughly chop all the veggies. Cover the carrots and onions with vegetable broth or water in a pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let them cook for about 30 minutes or until tender. Throw all the ingredients (including the veggie broth mix) into a high speed blender and blend until smooth and creamy, adding the spices as you like. Serve with tomato slices and cilantro if you like.

Note: if ya wanna keep this one totally raw, skip the cooking part! Simple. 

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LIQUID FEAST: DAY ONE

So my partner and I are beginning our liquid feast today, and ending on 4/20 (heh heh heeeeh). What the HECK is a liquid feast, one might inquire? We're only gonna consume liquids for the next seven days; in the form of juices, smoothies, puddings, nut mylks, teas and water. Okay, but WHY the heck would you do this, another person might ask? Because it's fun and makes us feel great! Well... he's never done this before so I shouldn't assume... but I can confidently say it makes ME feel great. My diet is mostly smoothies and juice anyways, supplemented with steamed veggies, grains, beans and raw desserts; so this isn't a crazy change for me. Instead of having steamed potatoes and brown rice for dinner, we will be enjoying savoury smoothies or banana mylkshakes! Or both! Yep. Both. 

Now, I am choosing to call this a liquid FEAST, because I am not going to be restricting calories. I'm not into that. 

I do not believe in restricting calories temporarily as a way to lose weight. Long-term health is only achieved through permanent lifestyle changes, not a week of juice fasting or starving yourself. In fact, when you restrict your caloric intake for a short time then go back to your regular diet (that apparently made you "overweight" in the first place) - you will probably gain back more than you lost. This is because the body goes into starvation mode and quickly packs on the weight it can, as soon as it gets some extra calories. When you transition to a whole foods, plant-based diet, your body will naturally find it's ideal weight - maybe you're already there! Maybe you were actually underweight before! Don't worry about social norms dictating what an attractive weight is. To me, a healthy body is a beautiful body. Let's take a second to remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and changes with the ever-pulsing culture of the time, so no matter how we look we are all deserving of love. Back in the day, cellulite was the epitome of sexy. 

My point is: if you want to find your ideal weight, make lifestyle changes and switch to a whole foods, plant-based diet. Your body will do the rest... it's smart like that. Do not think that just because you are above the average number for what is considered "normal", that you are overweight. I say: screw the system! Calculating the mean of a populations weight gives you a number that reflects none of the diversity you had in the original data. The fact is we are all unique and beautiful and pushing our identities through an equation then telling us that that resulting number is what we should all strive for just makes everybody get bummed and feel inadequate. Don't try to be the norm! Be YOU. But of course, like I was saying a second ago, I personally think you can be the BEST you, when you feed yourself right. That means lots of fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, beans and grains. Mmm... healthy is sexy. 

Okay! Enough of that. I'm gonna talk a little bit about our day. We woke up and went to the farmers market. Great start. We bought a HUGE bag of carrots, a couple bags of beets, bell peppers, garlic, apples, spinach, parsley, tomatoes, and I think that's it. To be frank, I was feeling super sore and tired because I got my period today, but we got back to my house and made a smoothie and almost immediately I did a 180 in my mood. Honestly, the previous night and during our grocery shopping I had been moaning and groaning about my feminine-induced discomfort for hours, but the second we sat down in the sun and sipped this drink I said "I feel so good right now!" and meant it 100%. Amazing what a little cucumber and pineapple can do, huh? I also made some cashew milk with dates and cinnamon, and some tomato garlic soup with cilantro for dinner. I can't share the smoothie recipe with you because it's going to be exclusive for my next book, but I will share our soup recipe and the cashew mylk! I'm not totally evil, right? (Please someone say "right"...)

SPICED CASHEW & DATE MYLK

1 1/2 cups cashews

5 dates

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla powder

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

8 cups water

Blend everything until smooth, letting the blender buzz for about a minute so it gets uber smooth. Strain through a mylk bag, cheesecloth or sieve, and enjoy! This will last sealed in the fridge for around a week (but I bet it'll disappear much sooner than that.) 

TOMATO GARLIC SOUP with BELL PEPPERS, ONION, AVOCADO & SPICES 

2 cups tomatoes

1 garlic clove

1/6 cup onion 

1 red bell pepper

1 avocado

Pinch Himalayan salt

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon coriander

1-2 cups water or vegetable broth

Blend everything until smooth. Serve with cilantro if ya want. 

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COFFEE & CACAO BANANA BLISS MYLKSHAKE

Am I telling you to have a chocolate mylkshake for breakfast? Yes. Am I saying it will change your world and alter your taste buds' perception of reality for ever more? Yep. Am I claiming said creamy, dreamy, sweet choco shake is super healthy for you? Oh, baby, hell yeah. Will I stop asking questions now? Fine. Okay. 

I don't usually eat stuff like cacao right away in the morning, and I don't normally have coffee at all; but I woke up today and wanted to make a face mask from coffee grounds and cacao powder (mix them both with water to make a paste, rub it on your face and leave for 10 minutes to get gorgeous skin). I didn't use all the mixture so I decided to throw the extra in my Vitamix with frozen bananas, almond mylk and dates. I know, right: basically ALL the good things. As I was saying to my lover the other day, "I have no reason to be sad when I have bananas in my freezer and ripe avocados on the shelf." Can anyone disagree. I didn't put a question mark at the end of that because it's not really a question. 

Maybe you're one of those folks who's all like "COFFEE IS EVIL, KEEP AWAY FROM IT!" First off lemme say that I don't even really like coffee so I'm not directly disagreeing with you. But let's think about this: in almost every way, coffee and cocoa/cacao are very much the same; and almost everyone is passionately on-board the cacao train of health and positivity. It seems like the "problem with coffee" is that in today's world, people are pretty much addicted to it and more importantly, they are addicted to it in a very processed form (like instant coffee with white sugar and dairy cream). That ain't good. All I AM SAYING is that a lil bit o' fresh, organic, fair trade coffee beans can actually be a great addition to your diet every now and then. The benefits of drinking black coffee have been studied and are pretty influential. In any case, coffee is definitely awesome for body scrubs and facial masks. Psst... also... in this recipe. Yum. Let's do it up. 

COFFEE & CACAO BANANA BLISS MYLKSHAKE 

3 frozen bananas

1 tablespoon cacao powder

1 teaspoon ground coffee beans 

1 teaspoon vanilla powder

1 teaspoon lucuma powder 

3 dates

1 cup almond mylk 

Blend it all up until smooth and creamy, then drink it down. For the wiiin! Note: most of the ingredients are optional... just blending up frozen bananas is *freaking amazing*.