Hot Pink Smoothie Recipe

I had a surplus of beets in my garden this year and I had to figure out what to do with them once we had eaten our fill of fresh beet salads.

I decided that a beet smoothie would be just the thing! Now, I'm really big on putting greens in my smoothies because they are so good for you, but this one was such a beautiful color, I just didn't have the heart to turn it muddy brown by adding greens.

The really cool thing about this smoothie is that it's such an enticing color that many people turned off by the thought of raw foods are actually willing to give this smoothie a try! I have had several raw veggie haters try this smoothie and like it.

Here's my recipe, but feel free to experiment with what you have on hand.

Serves 2 adults or 4 children

1 scoop vanilla Sun Warrior Protein powder
2 cups coconut water or filtered plain water
10-15 large fresh strawberries (frozen works great too)
1 large frozen banana
1 small lime peeled
1 -2 small beet, peeled
1/3 cup coconut meat (optional)
Agave nectar to taste

Place everything in the blender and blend until smooth and creamy.

Beets are wonderful for smoothies but they can be very strong tasting in large amounts, so if you have people in your home sensitive to strong tasting foods, use less fresh beet. This will allow them to adjust to the taste of beets without pushing them into a taste overload that may turn them off beets for a long time.

8 Raw Food Travel Tips

Hey Everyone,

I'm back from spending the summer in New York training for my new job as a configuration analyst so I haven't been updating my blog like I should, but I'm back now and ready to go!

What I'd like to talk to you about today how to stick to a raw food diet while traveling away from home. Let me tell you that living in a hotel room for 6 weeks sure does make you appreciate the convenience of being at home!

I didn't have my beloved Blendtec Blender or Excalibur Food Dehydrator with me due to the current suitcase weight restrictions and the fridge in my hotel room was dorm room sized which meant storage space for fresh produce was extremely limited.

Here are some of my own raw food travel tips. I hope you find them useful.

1. Get online and find the health food stores and local grocery stores in the area where you will be staying. You can make a bee-line to one of these places for supplies as soon as you get checked in to your hotel.

2. Check the internet for any raw food restaurants that may be in the area. You can order several dishes at a time and store them in the fridge in your hotel room.

3. I recommend packing at least 1 raw food bar for each day you will be away from home. Raw food bars make tasty, portable meals that don't require refrigeration. (My favorite brand is Raw Revolution Organic Live Food Bars) Other good things to bring would be a container of Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt or Dulse Granules that will go a long way in flavoring your food.

4. A good multi-vitamin such as Garden of Life Living Multivitamin and a green food powder like Greener Grasses can help you get the nutrition your body needs while traveling.

5. Also buy things like a jar of organic raw almond butter to spread on fresh fruit, and a bottle of organic extra virgin olive oil to drizzle on salad. None of these things have to go in the fridge so you can save your precious space for other things like salad greens, tomatoes and other items that require refrigeration.

6. Think portable when buying fruits and veggies. Choose foods such as apples, cucumbers, bananas, avocados, lemons (for salad dressing, and other foods that can be left a room temperature, but don't buy too many at a time or they will go bad before you can get them eaten.

7. A few things to pack from home would be a bag of soaked and dehydrated nuts and seeds and a bag of sprouted dehydrated quinoa and/or buckwheat groats to sprinkle on salads. Try to bring a variety in order to get the most nutritional benefit. You might also bring a few bags of raw dehydrated crackers. I put these items in my carry-on so they don't get crushed.

8. The last thing I would suggest either bringing with you or purchasing when you reach your destination is a Magic Bullet High-Speed Blender. Why this brand in particular and not something cheaper? I bought a cheap personal blender when I got to New York and burned the motor up within a week and a half making very simple green smoothies. Anything less just won't hold up. And while having a small blender like this isn't necessary, it certainly makes life easier when you can just mix up a green smoothie, kick back and relax knowing you are giving your body the very best in nutrition. And don't forget to bring either some Sun Warrior Protein Powder or Living Harvest Hemp Protein Powder for those smoothies so you can get in some good, high quality, plant based protein.

I hope you got some good inspiration for how to stick to a raw food diet while traveling and enjoyed my personal tips and tricks.

Until next time,

Happy Traveling and Eat Raw!

Raw Chocolate Pudding Recipe - My Granddaughter's Favorite Easy Raw Food Recipe

At 2 and 1/2 years old, my granddaughter is already a chocoholic and the darker, the better as far as she is concerned. She was once caught polishing off a bar of baking chocolate when Mommy came to see what she was doing so very quietly.

For those who don't know, baking chocolate has NO sugar in it!

When she comes to visit, as children will do with grandparents, she almost always asks Ma-Ma (that's me) for candy. Instead of feeding her junk food, I whip up my favorite raw chocolate pudding recipe for her to satisfy that chocolate tooth of hers.

I figure if I can make raw foods taste good enough to please the palate of a picky 2 year old, I've done my job of caring for this precious little person when she comes to visit.

Not only does she eat it, she usually asks for more! Score two points for Ma-Ma! A healthy treat my granddaughter loves that wins brownie points in the "no junk food" arena with Mommy.

Here's the recipe. Please note that the vanilla isn't raw, but I'm not an absolute purist. If you can't get your hands on raw cacao powder, a good organic cocoa powder will do.

Raw Chocolate Pudding Recipe

2 ripe Avocados
1/4 to 1/3 cup cocoa or raw cacao powder if you have it
1/4 cup agave nectar or organic raw honey (add more to taste)
1 tsp. vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla bean scraped
1 pinch of salt.

Cut avocados in half and scoop out the flesh into a food processor. Add all other ingredients and process until smooth. Adjust cacao and desired sweetener to taste. Chill and serve.

I have also used this recipe as frosting for a raw cake! Just stiffen mixture with extra cacao powder.
Enjoy!