Spinach Salad with Marinated Shiitakes and Red Onions

This is good stuff. I love my shiitakes and will eat them in any form. I added some toasted almond slices on top and took it to another level :-) Would love to hear your comments after you make it!

2 Tbsp coconut oil
2 C sliced shiitake mushrooms
2 tsp braggs liquid aminos
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
dash of hot pepper flakes
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 C diced red onion
6 C spinach
2 C purple cabbage
(1 C toasted sliced almonds)

Heat coconut oil in pan, add mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes. Add braggs and and cook until dry. Remove from heat and place in a bowl. Add vinegar, s&p, and hot pepper flakes. Cool completely.
Add olive oil to the pan and saute onion over low heat stirring frequently for about 5 to 7 minutes. Cool.
Toss mushrooms, onions, spinach, and cabbage together with vinaigrette. Top with toasted almonds.

Green Juice

Green juice is so packed with nutrients providing all kinds of benefits, and it can even taste good! This is one of my favs but there are many variations. My best recommendation is to start with more fruit and slowly add more greens and less fruit each time you make the juice. You will start to crave it! I have so much more energy after I have had my green drink- LOVE IT!

2 celery stalks
2 kale leaves (kale can have a strong flavor so use spinach if you prefer)
1/2 cucumber
handful parsley or cilantro
1/4 in fresh ginger (optional)
1/4 lemon

If you want to make it sweeter (I recommend this when trying for the first time) add 1/2 apple or carrot or beet.

I use my vita mix to make juice by putting all the ingredients and then filling with water until it covers the veggies and then I add a few cubes of ice. This recipe makes a couple of servings.

Green juice can be made in so many ways so play around with it. If I don't have a cucumber I will use some broccoli or cabbage...whatever you've got, just get those greens in ya!

Watch this Movie!!

I saw this movie a couple of months ago, along with another movie called Fresh (I highly recommend that one as well). It will change how you think about your food. Check it out!

Must share this experience...

Denny and I are in Santa Ana, California right now attending some courses for our business, hence the reason I haven't posted in a while...BUT we having been eating some delicious meals since we've been here so I thought I would share :-)

Okay, so I was going to post some pictures, but it isn't working so here is a link to the website of this super delicious restaurant called 118 degrees.
www.shop118degrees.com

Check it out! We ate some stuffed mushrooms, then I had the lasagna, and strawberry cheesecake for desert. What a treat! Everything was so so so good and good for you! No guilt at all! I love indulging in desert and not feeling bad afterward. Jude had samples of everything and I think he loved the lasagna best (my favorite too). As luck would have it Jenny Ross, head chef and owner of the restaurant wrote a book called The Art of Raw Living Food, so I bought it and I'm excited to try some recipes. I'll be posting as I try them. I also just purchased and excalibur dehydrator (www.excaliburdehydrator.com) so I am real excited to incorporate that into some of my recipes. Be on the look out!
Happy healthy eating,
Mandy

Coconut Bars

Speaking of coconut...wowsers these are fabulous! I used the same ingredients that are in the coconut cream pie larabars and they turned out pretty good. The portions aren't exact so you might need to play around with it to get the bar consistency. Yum yum, go coconuts!

Mandy's Version of Coconut Cream Pie Bars

1 1/2 C Almonds, unsoaked
1/2 C Cashews, unsoaked
1 C shredded coconut
6 pitted dates
3-4 Tbsp coconut oil

Process nuts in food processor then add remaining ingredients until it all sticks together. Pat into an 8x8 pyrex pan and refrigerate to firm up bars. Enjoy!

Coconut Oil

Many of the recipes on this blog call for coconut oil. It has been a running joke that I am half-coconut. I absolutely LOVE it in all forms...shredded, flakes, milk, young coconuts, mature coconuts, coconut oil, coconut water...you name it, if it comes from a coconut I'll eat it :-)
We buy coconut oil in bulk from http://www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com/
They have a great website with lots of good information so check it out!

Garlic Burgers with Pepper Cheese and Guacamole

De-li-cious!!! I am a big fan of Denny's garlic burgers but this made them extra special!















Garlic Burgers

garlic and beef (haha...it really is that easy!) We normally use 3-4 cloves and mix in with 1 pound grass feed beef and then grill to your liking with sea salt and black pepper.

Guacamole

You can get fancy with this, but we were going for a fast and easy supper. I used 1 and half avocados, fresh lime juice and garlic salt to taste.

Black Pepper Cheeze

1 C cashews (soaked mine for a few hours)
Juice of 1 lemon (~2 Tbsp)
2 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/8 C water

Blend in vita-mix until smooth and creamy.

Place on top of a some mixed greens and veggies and enjoy! I used some guac and cheeze as baby food for Jude and he loved it!