Flu-soother smoothie

On Sunday night I started feeling a little sore throat action, and a few hours later I was full-fledge flu.  I'm gradually feeling better, but whoo, the last three days have been a little brutal.  The kind of sore throat that makes swallowing a Herculean act, pounding headache, achy lower back and hips, hyper-sensitive skin, one of those icky come-and-go fevers where you wake up sweating and freezing in the middle of the night.  What the heck, body?  I hadn't been sick in a long time.  When I was younger, I would often get the flu up to three times a winter!  But I've been taking really good care of myself, so I was surprised when this flu business popped up.  I did a lot of whimpering.  And a lot of smoothie-drinking!  Smoothies are so, so awesome when you're feeling under the weather.  Easy to digest, soothing to the throat and kickin' with all the nutrients and good hippie vibes you need to make you feel better.  This recipe is my current favorite (I'm drinking it as I type this!):

• 2-4 cups spinach
• 3/4 cup frozen wild blueberries
• half an avocado
• 1 1/2 inches vanilla bean, roughly chopped (or 1-2 tsp. vanilla ext.)
• small knob of ginger root, peeled
• 1 tbs. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. Celtic sea salt
• 15 drops liquid stevia
• ice (optional)

Pop it all in the blender, zip away and enjoy!  (No picture because I'm too lazy to get my camera, it's not all that pretty anyway and other excuses.)  This recipe makes a lot of smoothie, which works great for me, but if you're a lower volume guy or gal, you may want to cut this recipe in half. 

Hope everyone is well!

In love -
Mada

Roffle-offle

Otherwise known as Raw Falafel!

This is one of my favorite recipes- quick, easy, satisfying, delicious.

  Raw Falafel Recipe 

  - 2 cups soaked sunseeds
  - 1 tbs. tahini
  - 3 cloves garlic
  - 1/4 cup chopped red onion
  - 1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley
  - 1 tbs. ground coriander seed
  - 1 tbs. cumin
  - salt to taste

Soak the sunseeds for at least 8 hours, or overnight.  Once they're done soaking, rinse well and drain.  Combine all ingredients in the food processor and process until well combined, but still fairly chunky.  Form into balls and place on a dehydrator tray covered by parchment paper (or a Teflex sheet).

 

Dehydrate 4-6 hours, and ENJOY!

These are awesome because of their amazing texture- crisp on the outside, soft and warm on the inside.  I like to eat them crumbled up on salad wraps or just plain.  They keep in the fridge for about a week, and they travel well!

In other news, spring is coming here in CT!  Claire and I had a picnic at the Mansfield Hollow Dam today- salad, etc. on a blanket in the grass.  I took pictures, but they were film and I haven't developed them yet.  I got some old film developed, though!  Check it out here.

In love and gratitude-

Mada

Cha cha chiaaaaaaa

So, the Willimantic Food Co-op (here) celebrated their 32nd birthday this month by having a day-long party with 32 cakes!  Claire and I signed up to make one of them, deliberated, and decided to create a super-size version of her In Love cake.  I ended up making most of it because she wasn't home, so I followed and expanded her recipe, swapped maple syrup for some of the stevia, and added a cashew cream/blueberry layer, which was basically 1) cashews, 2) coconut oil, 3) maple syrup, 4) stevia, 5) salt, 6) vanilla 7) water and 8) frozen wild blueberries.  The cake was gorgeous, and so delicious.  I was glad we were sharing it with other co-op-goers, because I could easily have eaten waaaay too much.  Cashews + me = bleh; love 'em, but my body doesn't.  Luckily it got gobbled down about 15 minutes after I delivered it, so I only got a piece and a half!

I know, right?

I also made a little frosting to decorate the top: 1) cashews, 2) maple syrup, 3) coconut oil, 4) macadamia nuts, 5) vanilla and 6) salt.

It was, all in all, an enormous success!  Definitely something I would make again (but ONLY for a special occasion.)

Happy belated love-day!

Smiles-
Mada

Greeeeeeen smoothie time

The first thing I consume every morning is a quart of water.  After that, I like to have something light and nutritious to satisfy and energize me until the next meal.  Usually this is a smoothie, a juice or a salad.  My current favorite green smoothie recipe (below) is warming, hydrating, delicious and packs a major nutrient punch.  (For more info about the benefits of green smoothies, go here.)

Gingerberry Shake

•  2 cups (or more!) spinach, baby or mature
• 1 cup frozen wild blueberries (antioxi-daaaaance!  shimmy shimmy!)
• 1 cup coconut water, preferably fresh
• 2 inches vanilla bean, scraped (or 1-2 tsp. vanilla extract)
• small knob fresh, peeled ginger root
• handful of ice

Pop it in the blender, and voila!

SO YUM!  It's like sunshine in a glass!

Smiles-
Mada

Dill garlic pate + further wrap adventures

A great way to mix up your wraps and salads is to make different pates.  Here's one I made earlier this week.

Dill Garlic Pate recipe 

• 1.5 cups walnuts, soaked 2-3 hours
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh dill
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 1 tbs. apple cider vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in the food processor and process until smooth:

Delish!

Now for the wrap-date:

I can't actually remember what was on this one, but I think I've written it down in a previous wrap post.

THIS WRAP.  IS SO GOOD.  Dressed baby greens, cuke, fresh dill, avocado, live garlic sauerkraut, wakame and tahini.

The second wrap was, if I do say so myself, a pretty brilliant creation.  It was heavenly.  I have a feeling this is going to be a wrap I make again and again and again.  And again.  I recommend.

In other news, Claire led her second JourneyDance class in Storrs on Saturday, and it was SO AMAZING.  If you live nearby and love dance, yoga or free expression of any kind, you should keep an ear out for her next class.  The class on Saturday was in this beautiful space:

Gorgeous!

In love and gratitude-
Mada

Beautiful food

As any reader of this blog may have noticed, I get very, very excited about food.  (My friend Joe says I hum when I bite into something delicious.)  Half of the excitement is the taste, but the other half is the appearance.  Take this blood orange:

I mean, WOW!  I could stare at it forever!  So, so beautiful!  The same goes for these soaked almonds:

!!!!!!!

Deeeeeeply appreciating the taste and appearance (and the basic existence) of everything I eat is a huge part of the gratitude I feel every day.  To me, cultivating gratitude means cultivating joy, so it's obviously pretty high on my priority list.  If you take a minute out of your day to take a deep breath and feel real gratitude for just one thing, you'll see how hard it is to stay unhappy!

I am juice feasting today, and this was my breakfast this morning:

The juice of one lemon, the juice of one lime, 1 tbs. Vitamineral Earth and stevia in a quart of water.  Mmmm.  I am grateful.

In love and gratitude-
Mada

Why wraps are comparable to ambrosia

As if you needed more convincing!

More recent wrap-tivities:

Wrap 1: Dressed baby greens, red pepper pate, cuke, tomato and avocado on nori.

Wrap 2, part 1: Kale pesto, almond cheese, dressed baby greens, tomato, cuke, broccolette, snow peas and avocado on a collard.

Wrap 2, part 2: Drizzled with almond butter.  Hooooly moly.

And just when you think food bliss can't get any foodier or blissier, THINK AGAIN!  Yesterday, it was so warm (55℉) Claire and I drove our food train outside and ate in the SUN!

It was gorgeous.  And so was my wrap!

Dressed greens, tomato, cuke, avocado, kale pesto, snow peas and almond butter on a collard.

Ridiculously satisfying.

In non-food news, I held crow (bakasana) for the first real time yesterday!  I'm so grateful for my strong, stretchy body.

In gratitude-
Mada