Carrot Cake Bites (raw)

Raw Carrot Cake Bites

Ok. So I made these amazing Carrot Cake Bites. They were so good. Normally I don't even go for carrot cake on a dessert table, but if these were on there I would.  I'm not sure if it was because they were made of real food or what. I just know that I really enjoyed eating them.

I found the recipe from the Queen of Quinoa's website (http://www.queenofquinoa.me). I was just browsing around and I ran across this recipe. It had few ingredients and it was simple to make...so I went for it. I had all of the ingredients on hand already, so why not? Well, I sorta had all of the ingredients. Her recipe calls for 5 Medjool dates, of which I did not have, but I had Barhi Dates so I rolled with them. Good decision! I'll have to post about dates at another time. For now, I'll just say Barhi dates are my favorite dates so far and they taste like caramel candy when they are cold. Yum!

So here's the recipe that i used.

Ingredients:

• 4 small Carrots (her recipe calls for 2 medium size carrots, but I had organic carrots and they seemed really small so I used 4 of them)
• 1/2 cup of Walnuts
• 1/2 cup of Pecans
• 10 Barhi Dates (her recipe called for 5 Medjools, but since I didn't have them I used Barhi)
• 1 TBS Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
• Unsweetened Shredded Coconut

Instructions:

• Shred the carrots in a food processor using the S Blade.
• Remove carrots from food process and set aside.
• Put walnuts and pecans in food processor. Process until they form a meal.
• Add back the carrots, plus add the ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon.
• Process until a dough is formed.
• Form dough into balls. I used a cookie scoop to do this. It made it easy-peasy.
• Roll the dough balls into the shredded coconut.
• Place in refrigerator for at least an hour to set.

I was able to make 10 of the mini bites and 14 of the regular bites. That's it! Enjoy your carrot cake bites!

2-Ingredient Pancakes

2-Ingredient Pancakes topped with Almond Butter with Banana Slices

Yes, that's right. Pancakes can be made using only 2 ingredients - eggs & bananas!
I'm not sure how I came across this recipe online, but I'm so glad I found it.  It seems that this recipe has been floating around the blogosphere for at least a couple of years. I've visited lots of blogs that have the recipe for these pancakes so I don't know who came up with the idea first. At any rate, I'm just so happy that someone was genius enough to create these babies. :)

Most of the recipes I've seen calls for 1 banana and 2 eggs, but I wanted to add flaxseed meal to mine...and so, I did. These are so simple to make. I put all of my ingredients into the blender and blended until smooth. I then poured the mixture into a bowl and then scooped out the desired amount (about 2 tablespoons) to make a pancake. I cooked the pancakes on medium-low heat using coconut oil. Delish!

2-Ingredient+ Pancake Ingredients
1 Egg
1 Banana
1 Tbs Flaxseed Meal
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
dash of cinnamon (a little less than 1/8 tsp)
*This recipe yields about 5 mini pancakes. *

A few notes:

• The pancakes have sort of a mushy texture to me. I can definitely taste the banana and a hint of coconut (because I used the coconut oil). 
• If you don't have coconut oil, you can use butter or olive oil.
• You may also make the mixture by mashing the banana in a bowl and then combining it with a whisked egg.
• Be careful when flipping the pancakes. Wait until the middle of the pancakes begin to bubble before flipping.
• Be patient as these pancakes take a little more time to cook than normal pancakes.
• Additional ingredients that may be added: pumpkin pie spice, blueberries...whatever you like.
• Top with nut butter, honey, agave nectar, or maple syrup. I used raw almond butter on mine because I thought the pancakes were sweet enough without adding any other sweetener.
• The next time I make these pancakes, I plan to use 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal to see if it changes the texture a little bit. 

I'm also planning to use sweet potatoes instead of the banana just to switch it up a bit. I think those will be very tasty as well. I L-O-V-E sweet potatoes. :)

If you try these, let me know your thoughts.

~rena

Fruitgrass Green Smoothies

Hello out there!

www.Fruitgrass.com ( use Coupon Code: 362476567) 

I’d like to introduce you to a new product that I’ve fallen completely in love with.
It is called Fruitgrass.  It is a mix of super fruits and super greens such as wheatgrass, chlorella, spirulina, acai berries and goji berries. No artificial ingredients are added and it is sweetened with Stevia. I believe in this product and I'm very proud of the Chief Ambassador of the company.  Her name is Tracey Baaset and she is a friend of mine. Tracey created Fruitgrass when she found herself on a wellness journey as she battled breast cancer.

Other than the fantastic results I get from using 1 packet of Fruitgrass per day I like that it is conveniently packaged in  individual packets. You get 26 packets per box. It's so easy to just grab & go if you don't have time to make a smoothie. Just buy a bottle of your favorite juice. Add, shake and drink!

When I first started using the Fruitgrass I would add 1 packet to a bottle of pineapple juice.  I tried it with yogurt and water, but I didn’t like it as much. Now my most favorite way to use it is to add it to my morning smoothie. 

What I ate today for breakfast & lunch (05/02/2013)

This morning my smoothie consisted of 1 Avocado, 1 Banana, 2 Tbsp Almond Butter and 1 packet of Fruitgrass and 12 barhi dates. I added water and ice to blend.  This made a lot of smoothie. It almost filled the Vitamix carafe. However, my favorite & go-to Fruitgrass Green Smoothie is made without the avocado. I like it simply with 2 bananas, 2 Tbsp of Almond Butter and 1 packet of Fruitgrass blended with water/ice.

The taste of the Fruitgrass is not bad at all if mixed well. It's actually pretty tasty. I love it so much that I became a Fruitgrass Ambassador! That means, if you decide to order your own Fruitgrass and use the coupon code above, you will get $3 off of the purchase of a box and I will receive a small fee as well.  If you don't want to buy a full box at first you can order a sample pack from the website.

Go ahead. Give it a try! Let me know if you love it as much as I do. 

Passion, Purpose & A Recipe

Hello Everyone!
I'm back! Hopefully this time it will be for the long haul.
I have been really busy on another project, but now that I have that one up & running, I can re-focus my energy on what's equally as important to me. If you are interested in what I've been up to, please check me out here: https://www.facebook.com/SmartWomanAtlanta .  I'm really excited about the possibilities of this!

I have been spending a lot of time lately thinking about my Passion & Purpose in life and I've come to the conclusion that I'm very passionate about health & wellness (Eat Mostly Raw) and helping women (Smart Woman Atlanta).  In order to live out my passion & purpose I can do both of these things through Smart Woman Atlanta and my blogs.  So stick around, come back often and refer others to my sites so we can all learn with, share with & educate each other together.

I'm still eating healthy for the most part and sticking with a Mostly Raw Diet.  When I don't eat raw I eat a lot of cooked veggies and fish (mainly salmon).  Every so often I will eat bread, eggs and cheese.  This happens to be a week where I was craving eggs, bread and cheese.  So with that being said, I took the time out to photograph what I ate today.

Breakfast

• Egg & Cheese sandwich using Arnold 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Thins
• 1 Minola Orange
• 2 Fresh Strawberries

Dinner

• Baked Teriyaki Salmon
• Stir Fry Collard Greens
• Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Dinner was so delicious and it is one of my favorite meals.

Baked Teriyaki Salmon Recipe:

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse off salmon. 
• Pour Teriyaki marinade over salmon. I used Ken's Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce.
• Sprinkle with your favorite seasoning. I use Bragg's Organic Sprinkle Seasoning.
• Cover with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes. 
• Remove foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes.

That's all there is to this salmon recipe. I like to eat simple meals so I keep my recipes very simple by trying to use the least amount of ingredients as possible with as fewer steps as possible. Yes, I'm kinda lazy, too. LOL!

Hope you enjoyed the post and I hope you visit this page frequently.

What's one of your favorite meals?

Good-4-U Smoothie

Strawberry-Nana-Flax Green Smoothie

I just wanted to share my new favorite breakfast smoothie with you.
I love Green Smoothies. I drink one almost daily for breakfast. Green Smoothies are very filling and I get to consume a green leafy that I probably otherwise would not eat during the day.

Lately I've been trying to add more flax seed into my diet.  Flax seed is very, very good for us. (I'll write a post about flax seed and its benefits in the near future.)
 
Strawberry-Nana-Flax Green Smoothie
Ingredients:
2 frozen bananas
1 cup frozen strawberries
2 handfuls of spinach
2 - 4 Tbs flaxseed meal
2 cups almond milk

Preparation:
Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour the smoothie in a glass and garnish with a fresh strawberry and a sprinkle of flaxseed meal.
Drink up & Enjoy!

Notes:
Add extra water or nut milk if needed.
Add some ice if you do not have any frozen fruit or if you want a colder smoothie.
Substitute strawberries and/or spinach with other berries and green leafies.

My New Best Friend

I'd like everyone to meet my new best friend!
Her name is "Dee-Dee" and I already love her so much. :-)

Isn't she a beauty?
We've already had a wonderful time hanging out together and making some snacks.

First up was a batch of cheesy kale chips.  The kale chips were okay, but I think I'm gonna tweak the cheese sauce just a little bit. I like the kale chips as a replacement for potato chips. I love the crunchiness of them.

Then I whipped up a batch of Cauliflower Popcorn.
I took a head of cauliflower and separated it into small portions.  The pieces will shrink once they have been dehydrated.  I tossed the cauliflower in a cheese sauce (different from the one I used to make the kale chips), making sure the cauliflower was well coated with the cheese sauce.
I then dehydrated them at 105 degrees over night.  If you decide to make these snacks, just check the dehydrator ever so often until you think your snacks are ready.



Do you own a dehydrator? If so, what are some of the foods you create in it?

Cauliflower Popcorn

Cheesy Kale Chips

New Year. New Name.

Hello Everyone! I've only posted two blog entries for this blog and the last one was back in May 2011.  Yes, I sort of...no I neglected my blog. :(  Well, I'm back now and I've decided to change my blog name to Eat Mostly Raw.

Although fitness is a very important part of being healthy, I realized that I don't really like to exercise. Yeah, I said it! I confess. I don't like to exercise. With that said it is very important for me to be true to myself and my blog readers.  I don't want readers coming to this blog site expecting to read a lot about fitness and exercise routines and then I don't deliver.  I've discovered that my passion is more-so with eating healthy so that is what I will be mainly focusing on in the future. 
From time to time I will post entries about my exercise routines and what I'm doing to get fit, which right now is mostly walking.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to eventually become a runner and add in other types of strengthening & toning exercises.  Since I am mostly walking, I feel that it will be a little boring to blog about that every day.  I do love walking outside and being one with nature though. So we'll see how it goes.

So what now? Well, I received a new dehydrator for Christmas and I also got lots of other goodies that will help me create new recipes and try out new dishes in the kitchen. I'm hoping to share a lot of the dishes I create as well as encourage those that are trying to live a Healthier Lifestyle by sharing what my experiences are and sharing tips & tricks about raw foods.  From time to time, I'll also share a few cooked recipes. It won't be many because my diet consist of Mostly Raw. :)

Thanks for reading.  Until next time...