Five More *Essential* Raw Recipes :)

On October the 28th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
2 cups watermelon/orange juice
chunk of fresh jack fruit
bowl of fruit salad (papaya, granadilla, banana, pineapple) with chia gel and coconut yoghurt
1 cup water
2 cups greeeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
shared cucumber salad meal with Mr. M - salad stuffed into nori sheets with a little Brazil Nut Butter, followed by a "Carob Brownie Batter" yumpot :)
mug of horchata tea
1 cup water


I wanted to share one more set of five fabulous recipes with you, from all the 100s of "Essential" recipes y'all sent in, in response to the August RawReform Giveaway Contest to win a free copy of Ani Phyo's new book "Ani's Raw Food Essentials". Here below are five more of your wonderful suggestions for yummmmmy raw meals that you love and rely on...enjoy ;)

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Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen Smoothie

I would have to say my essential Raw Food recipe is my green smoothie, where all the ingredients, except the lemon are green!

2-3 handfuls of organic greens (favorites are spinach, green leaf lettuce, kale)
1 organic haas avocado
1 organic cucumber, 1⁄2 of skin peeled (otherwise tastes too bitter)
20 organic green grapes
1⁄4 lemon, with peel removed (white pith left on)
Handful or 2 of ice cubes
1⁄2 cup filtered water

Blend it until it’s super smooth. Depending on the amount of greens and water, this will easily fill a 32 oz bell jar (or your smoothie container of choice). It has a sweet & sour flavor and super filling, especially when coupled with a handful of sprouted almonds and fresh bell pepper J

Randi R.

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Cashew Cheez

This is a recipe I found online a couple of years ago, I make it more often than anything else. It's great because it can be a spread, a dip, or a sauce. Everyone that tries it loves it, too, and it's so easy!!

1 cup raw cashews
half a large red bell pepper
one juiced lemon (large)
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

Put cashews in blender, then add the lemon juice. Add a bit of water (preferably spring water) so that it almost covers the cashews, but not quite. Then add the rest, and blend away!

I like to pour this into halved bell peppers and then top with fresh dill or dulse.
To make it into a salad dressing, just add more water.

SO good, seriously. Sometimes if it seems to sweet I just add more lemon juice. and blend again until it has the nice tart tangy flavour.

P.S. Your recipe for kale chips is now in my top 2 fave recipes - I LOVE them, and so easy.

Lorra F

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on October the 29th I was blissed with:

1 quart water
2 cups watermelon/orange juice
4 granadilla
3 cups greeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
3 cups smoothie: coconut water/carob/greener grasses/lecithin/astragalus/ashwaganda/stevia
2 cups smoothie: coconut water/carob/greener grasses/lecithin/astragalus/ashwaganda/stevia
a papaya
1 cup water
3 cups greeeeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
2 cups smoothie: coconut water/carob/ lecithin/ ashwaganda/stevia/papaya/lavendar essential oil
1 cup water


Here are three more of your "Essential" raw recipes:

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"Waldorf" Salad

I'd have to say that my essential raw food recipe that I love to make is a variation on the Waldorf Salad.

Ingredients for salad:

2 medium apples, cored and sliced into bite-sized pieces
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 handful of walnuts, soaked then chopped
chopped parsley to taste

Sauce:
juice of 1 orange
3-4 tablespoons almond butter or tahini
cinnamon to taste

To prepare, whisk together sauce ingredients and toss with salad ingredients in a large bowl. This is a quick and easy recipe that definitely satisfies a sweet tooth.

Much love to you,
Ellen P

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Cleansing Energy Smoothie

* 1 1/2 cup of water
* 1 head of organic romaine lettuce, chopped
* 2 organic apples, cored and chopped

* 1 organic banana
* a small bunch of organic cilantro
* a small bunch of organic parsley
* Juice of 1⁄2 fresh organic lemon
* stevia to taste
* (1 tsp of lechitin will make it very smooth!)

Add the water and chopped head of romaine to the blender. Starting the blender on a low speed, mix until smooth. Gradually moving to higher speeds add the herbs and the apples. Add the banana and lemon juice last.

Marianne R.

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Grapefruit Mango Cilantro Green Smoothie

1 mango
1 grapefruit
1 bunch cilantro (or 1-2 c)
1 bunch spinach (or 2-3 c - or another green!)

1/2 lime
1/2 lemon
2-3 c water (to desired consistency)
seeds from 1 vanilla bean pod
agave to taste if needed (depending on the sweetness of the mango and the
size of the lime & lemon :)

Blend and enjoy!! Mmmm...

(This recipe was inspired by/adapted from a recipe by Sarma Melngailis that a friend shared with me.)

Blessings,
Layah J.

NICE, thanks everyone for all your fabulous recipe ideas and suggestions - we love you :)

Happy Halloween/Samhain/Day of the Dead or whatever else you may be celebrating at this time - enjoy ;)

All love, 

Angela Stokes-Monaaaaaaaaaaaaarch. xxx

Have *You* Ever Had an "Ice Cream Bean" Fruit...?

Three things I'm currently excited about:

1. 'Ice Cream Bean' Fruits :) This evening I found a new (to me) fruit in a local store in Ojai, called "The Ice Cream Bean" fruit, or "Inga edulis" by its Latin name...it is *so* cool :) It is shaped like a huge green pod, which opens up to reveal cotton-candy-like white pods of fruit, wrapped around black beans. The white fruit tastes like *vanilla ice cream* and apparently in some places the black beans are cooked and eaten too...wow :) It is native to S. America, so hopefully we'll be able to grow it in Ecuador... We filmed a video on this yummy fruit tonight, that we'll post over at TheRawFoodWorld.TV soon...

2. Permaculture in Vilcabamba...I recently found out that there's a Canadian guy called Yves running a 10 acre Permaculture village on the outskirts of Vilcabamba - YAY :) He went there at the tender age of 20 with less than $2000 to his name and a vision in his heart ;) He now has a community with abode/cob buildings, a yurt, a humanure system, amazing gardens and the intention to run Permaculture courses there in the future - *LOVE* it - we hope to connect with him when we get back down there soon...you can read more abt Yves' adventures HERE.

3. Green Smoooothies - I am *loving* drinking green smoothies at the moment, throughout the day...as some of you know, I have a sweeet tooth and whenever I eat something savoury, I always want to eat smthg sweet after it, which can lead to other-than-optimal food combinations...my current side-step of this pattern involves drinking green juices and smoothies throughout the day...because green smoothies are already sweet, I feel no pull to have anything else sweet after them - in fact the only thing I add in is Spirulina Manna sprinkled on top, so I have 'spirulina-mouth' condition more-or-less most of the time at the moment... ;)

What are *you* excited about, dear reader...?

on February the 10th it was mmmmmy sister's 35th birthday and I enjoyed:

1 quart water
2 cups greeeeeen juice
2 cups greeeeeeen smoothie: apple, sunflower greens, meiner's lettuce, chia flour, water, with Spirulina Manna sprinkled on top
2 cups water
1.5 cups reishi/shilajit/ormus tea
2 cups greeeeeeeeen juice
1 quart greeeeeeen smoothie: apple, sunflower greens, meiner's lettuce, chia flour, water, with Spirulina Manna sprinkled on top
3 cups greeeeeeen smoothie: apple, cilantro, meiner's lettuce, chia flour, water, with Spirulina Manna sprinkled on top
2 cups reishi/shilajit/ormus tea
2 cups water

I've been doing quite a lot of 'manual labour' in the last week or so, at our warehouse, where things have been intensely expanding and there is a lot to 'do' every day...I actually really enjoy it - I love doing physical work and used to do a lot of it before I started the RawReform website in 2004. Prior to website-ery I was working on farms, teaching English to primary school children, working in greenhouses and so on...and these last few years I've been tapping a lot on computer keyboards instead... ;) Mmmmm...it feels so *right* to be moving around all day... So, I'm really enjoying helping out in the warehouse, movin' and shakin' all day long and am even further excited to get back down to our land in Ecuador in a couple of weeks, to start channeling my activity into the land there - yeeeeeeee-HAH :)

on February the 11th I loved:

1 quart water
1.5 cups reishi/shilajit/ormus tea
2 cups greeeeen juice
2 cups greeeeeeen smoothie: apple, meiner's lettuce, parsley, chia flour, Ormus Greens, water, with Spirulina Manna sprinkled on top
2 cups greeeeeeen smoothie: apple, meiner's lettuce, parsley, chia flour, Ormus Greens, water, with Spirulina Manna sprinkled on top
1 quart greeeen smoothie: apple, meiner's lettuce, parsley, chia flour, Ormus Greens, water, with Spirulina Manna sprinkled on top
2 cups greeeeeen juice
3 cups greeeeen smooothie: papaya, boysenberries, sunflower greens, romaine lettuce, chia flour, water, with Spirulina Manna sprinkled on top
1.5 cups reishi/shilajit/ormus tea
2 cups water

In the midst of the warehouse cyclone of activity this week, our dear friend Kiumars Imandel of TheGuruOfYou.com came to visit, mid-Juice Feast, to pick up some juicy supplies, share some much-appreciated energy work with us and do some filming - fun :) He interviewed me for about an hour and is posting the clips up to his YouTube account - you can see the first one here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9VgvCgShbg 

Kiu's a great interviewer and asked lots of insightful, juicy Qs about my life pre-raw, our intentions in Ecuador, the relationship between Mr. M and I, my 'spiritual' life practices and lots more...enjoy ;)

All love,
Ms. Stokes-Monarch. xxx

Into the New...

Happy 2009, beautiful people.
I hope you had a FANTASTIC launch into this delightful new year...we certainly had an eventful last day of the year, between packing up to leave Mexico, doing a lot of filming for projects, dealing with dog traumas, listening in to the prize announcements for the ‘Best of Raw 2008’ awards and ‘accidentally’ doing a live 2–hour online broadcast with the Monarch and the Giannis, it was a bit of a packed day and I ended up having about 2 hours sleep last night...
Well, we had a lot of fun though, especially during the live broadcast – thanks to all of you who came out to join in – it was so fun to play games, discuss goals/resolutions for the new year, do prize giveaways and so on... :)
MY resolution was to sing more and we got straight on it, with Mr. Gianni on guitar and all of us warbling along with some of our favourite tooooons. (If you missed this gathering, I believe you can view it HERE, although I believe the first 20 minutes or so accidentally didn’t get recorded. My favourite part starts around 1h 10mins into it, when we sing 'My Life' by The Beatles ;)

on December the 31st I had:

1 quart water
2 cups green juice: celery, cucumber, lettuces, radish, dandelion, lime, ginger
20 chlorella ‘nuts’
2 cups energy soup with kale chips, followed by a chunk of raw coconut ice cream
3 cups water
2 cups green juice: celery, cucumber, lettuces, radish, dandelion, lime, ginger
1.5 cups energy soup with kale chips, followed by a hand–made yumpot of hemp butter, carob powder, lucuma powder, stevia, cinnamon, maca, vanilla powders, water
mug of herbal tea
water of a young coconut
2 cups water

Mmmmmm, I’m excited to let you know that yesterday we also finally recorded a little video demo of how to make energy soup – which has been posted to RenegadeHealth.com – I know a LOT of you have been interested to see smthg along those lines, so you can check that out HERE if that would please you... ;)

Or perhaps you’d enjoy seeing Matt’s adventure at a San Diego Farmer’s Market, where he stumbled upon Julie and her ‘Born this Morn’ green smoothie company. Julie makes green smoothies and sells them at local markets – GREAT job, Julie :) – she also has plans to take them into schools and businesses – you can see that video HERE.

If you’d also like to meet our PUPPIES, there is a very sweet little video of them just posted to RenegadeHealth HERE. Mr. M has them with him back in the US now and we just keep on sending them love and love and love...


on January the 1st I had:

2 quarts water
20 chlorella ‘nuts’ and 2 tbsp Sproutein powder
lettuce wraps stuffed with avocado, cucumber, kelp/cayenne powder and shredded kale, followed by some freeze–dried jackfruit – yum ;)
3 cups water
2 tbsp greeeeeen powder
little bowl of raw cereal with macadamia ‘mylk’
1 quart water

I’m writing this post from Mexico City airport, amidst an epic 24 hour journey back to the UK...eeeeeeeeeek ;) It has been SUCH a blessing for Mr. M and I to be able to pass this last month in Mexico together (well, together about half the time anyway, as he came and went from the US)...Now it’s time to shimmy on back to Blighty though and visit those nice people at the American Embassy to see what happens next with my Fiancee Visa...we’re sincerely hoping to see the end of this process very soon...any bright blessings sent in the direction of that vision will be most gratefully received ;)
(P.S. a woman just gave a very sweet announcement over the loud speaker here at the airport in Mexico, in broken English that 'you will arrive at your destiny on time'...what a beautiful 'slip', I'll take that as a good sign ;)

See you on the other side ;)
Happy New Year galavantings to ye all...
One love,
Angelelelelalalalalallaalaaaaaaaaa. xxx

Ready for 'International Green Smoothie Day'...???

MMmmmmmm, thank you all SO much for all the yummy birthday wishes that have been pouring in from internet-world this week – they are very much appreciated ;) We celebrated the occasion with a special trip to pick fresh wild Icelandic blueberries at a lovely location next to a national park. It was very blissful, out in the sun, collecting up Mother Earth’s delicious offerings...you can see a few pics from the day HERE (including this one to the right of the BEAUTIFUL blueberry birthday cake creation Mr. Monarch made ;)
...and don’t forget, you can currently order my ten favourite products in the RawReform store at 30% OFF, until August the 30th – see HERE for the birthday celebration specials...
My dear friend Solla also gifted me a NETI POT for my birthday :O LOL – FUN ;) (If you’re not familiar with neti pots, they are little pots, not dis-similar to a teapot in appearance, used to clean out the nasal passages/sinus with salt water.) The Monarch and I have both used the neti pot a few times already and we’re both AMAZED at the feelings of clearing and open-ness it brings to our sinus cavities...breathing seems to automatically come more deeply after using it...very interesting – another new ‘detox’ gadget to play with ;) LOL...

on August the 10th I had:

1 quart water
2 cups veggie juice: cucumber, kale, parsley, fennel, sprouts, carrot
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with coconut chips and some bell pepper on the side
handful of fresh blueberries
slice of AMAZING blueberry birthday cake made by Mr. Monarch
1 quart water
teaspoon of chlorella powder
2 cups water
slice of birthday cake and a delicious little coconut ice cream heart
mug of ‘sweet chai’ tea
2 cups water

on August the 11th I had:

1 quart water
mug of ‘sweet chai’ tea
2 cups veggie juice: cucumber, kale, parsley, fennel, sprouts, carrot, beetroot, spinach
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with coconut chips and a raw ‘burger’ on the side, little slice of leftover blueberry birthday cake YUM
3 cups water
teaspoon of spirulina powder
2 cups water
yummy fresh garden salad with raw ‘burgers’, onion bread and creamy sauce, followed by a little almond ice cream and fresh berries
cup of peppermint tea
2 cups water

After a whirlwind last few days in Iceland, I’m back in England again now...and the Monarch is back in the States :(
He speaks Thursday night in CT and Saturday in NYC – you can see all the details of his events HERE. Meanwhile, on the right-hand-side of the ocean, I’ll be attending the sublime Funky Raw Festie this weekend, which has now ceremoniously sold out of tickets...it’ll be GREAT fun, I’m sure...keep visualising bright sunny festival days, despite the current gale-force winds in southern England ;)
A huge, delicious THANK YOU to Iceland and to ALL the wonderful people we have been connecting with there for the last couple of months – love, love, LOVE you :) It is truly SUCH a unique place with outstanding natural beauty and resources...thank you for fresh water, clean air, yummy greens, geothermal wonders, loving community, enthusiasm, courage and of course...wild berries…MMMMMmmmmmm… Watch out for an interview about my weight loss story in Icelandic newspaper ‘24 Stundir’, scheduled to be printed this Friday...and I do hope it’s not three years again before we make it back to Icelandic shores... ;)

on August the 12th I had:

1 quart water
2 cups veggie juice: cucumber, kale, parsley, fennel, sprouts, carrot, beetroot, spinach
1.5 cups ‘energy soup’ with coconut chips and a raw ‘burger’ on the side, followed by a YUMMY raw coconut ice cream heart
3 cups water
2 cups 2 cups veggie juice: cucumber, kale, parsley, fennel, sprouts, carrot, beetroot, spinach
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with coconut chips and a raw ‘burger’ on the side, followed by my final piece of yummy birthday cake and fresh blueberries ;)
mug of ‘sweet chai’ tea
2 cups water


on August the 13th I had:

1 quart water
2 cups ‘energy soup’
little bowl of blended yum: tahini, yacon powder, maca, cinnamon, vanilla powder, water, with gojis swirled in
3 cups water
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with coconut chips stirred in a raw ‘burger’ on the side, followed by a little bowl of blended yum: pine nut butter, lucuma powder, yacon powder, cinnamon, water, with gojis swirled in
mug of peppermint tea
1 quart water


Have you heard? This Friday, August the 15th is ‘officially’:

International GREEN SMOOTHIE Day...

Yeeeeeeeeeee-HAH ;) Yep, those sassy, yummy ladies over at TheRawDivas.com have co-created once again with the ‘Green Smoothie Queen’, to bring you a 3-day green smoothie challenge, starting on the freshly declared ‘International Green Smoothie Day’, this Friday.
People all over the world will be starting up their blenders in unison, in honour of the mighty green drinks...everyone is invited to participate: loved ones, reluctant spouses, ‘less-than-impressed’ children, curious pooches and anyone else who could perhaps use some extra green love ;) There is a little $5 fee to ‘officially’ join the challenge, wherein you’ll be emailed the full details, recipes, two special interviews with the Goddess of Green Smoothies herself - Victoria Boutenko - and more, including exciting CONTEST details – there are LOTS of fun prizes up for grabs, including all the books by The Monarch and I, yummy gifts from Jinjee Talifero, the Boutenkos and others, PLUS, the ‘Grand Prize’ of a BLENDTEC Total Blender – HOW COOL :))) Incidentally, $3 of every $5 participation fee is also being donated to the ‘Sea Shephard Conservation Society’ to support their work protecting whales worldwide. Nice ;)
To see more about this event and sign up for the 3-day challenge, CLICK HERE.

ENJOY ;)
All love,
Angela. xxx

ACTIVATE... :)

Yeeeeeeee-HAH :) Warning: excited outburst follows…
I am VERY excited to announce that we now have POI for sale on the RawReform website. Have you ever tried poi dancing? I think it’s a FANTASTIC form of exercising…I’ve been learning/practicing for about 4-5 years…I used to teach myself out in the snow at night in Iceland when I was first learning ;) I LOVE it…I find it so beautiful and graceful…it’s also great for toning the body (especially upper body), improving coordination, meditating, inspiring kids to be more active and much more… ;) The poi we’ve just started to sell are soft, GREAT for beginners and a bargain at $15 a set – an ideal ‘stocking-stuffer’– see HERE.
I filmed a quick 3 minute YouTube video demo of me poi dancing on the beach yesterday, so you can see what it’s all about if you’re not familiar – see here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRpdEsBYVoU

If you’re after a bit more in-depth instruction than that, we also have a FANTASTIC full-length instructional DVD from super-fit raw food wonder-girl Tonya Kay, called ‘How to Spin Poi’…see HERE...

on December the 3rd I had:

7.30am to 11.30am 1.2 quarts water
12pm 1.2 quarts watermelon/orange juice
1.30pm 3 cups cucumber/carrot/tatsoi/parsley/apple/wild celery/all-kinds-of-greens juice
3pm 2 slices of Mr Monarch’s fabulous raw pizza – base of ground buckwheat and coconut flour, topping of avo mushed with curried hummus and chopped tomatoes, dusted with a layer of coconut flour. Three little cacao/dried apricot/coconut flour balls.
4.30pm 3 cups water
5.30pm 1lb cherries
6.30pm 2 cups water
7.30pm 2.5 cups green smoothie: mango/banana/sultanas/romaine/all-kinds-of-random-greens blended, then swirled with goji berries – yummmmmm ;)
9.30pm 2 cups water
10.30pm 2 cups water

Ooooo la la…what’s the timeline all about then…??? ;) Well, one of you stunning cherubs wrote in to request an approximate Stokes feeding timeline…so, the last couple of days have been closely monitored and the results are…thus…hope that helps make some more sense of it all…I tend to just have water the first hours of the day, then light stuff to ‘break into’ the day, like fruit/juice etc, then my heaviest meal in the middle of the day, then more fruits/juices/green smoothies later, wrapping up ingestion of solids around 7.30 – water again after that…

on December the 4th I had:

7am to 11am 1.2 quarts water
11am 2 cups cucumber/spinach/parsley/pineapple juice
11.45am 1 juuuuuuiiiiiicy mango
12.15pm 2 cups water
12.45pm slice of Mr Monarch’s exquisite pizza: base of ground buckwheat and coconut flour, topping of avo mushed with curried hummus and chopped tomatoes, dusted with a layer of coconut flour. ½ a brazil nut/carob raw bar
2.30pm 2 cups water
4pm big slice of lush watermelon
5pm handful of yummmmy flowers out on my foraging run
6pm 3 cups cucumber/romaine/sprouts/all-kinds-of-greens/carrot/apple juice
7.30pm 3 cups green smoothie: mango/banana/sultana/romaine/all-kinds-of-greens, swirled with goji berries
9pm 2 cups water
11pm 1 cup water

Two little reminders for you:

1. Although it is somehow already a few days into December, there is still time to enter the current RawReform prize giveaway, to receive three tubs of delicious Ulimanamana raw chocolate balls – yummmmm ;) To be in with a chance of winning, all that is required of your dear self is to send in your answer to the following Q:

What is YOUR favourite recipe containing raw chocolate (cacao)?

Send your answer to angela@rawreform.com and the winner will be picked at random and announced very soon. Enjoy :)

2. Myself and Mr Monarch shall be presenting presently in Brisbane…next Saturday to be precise, December the 8th, commencing at 1pm at Ahimsa House…full details on the RawReform events calendar HERE…we do hope to enjoy the pleasure of your company should you happen to be in the area…
(FYI, we are also delighted to announce that events are in the works for Byron Bay on January the 12th, Adelaide on January the 15th and Perth on January the 23rd – more details to follow... ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx