Simple Pleasures

 I DO love food! I always have and always will.... I can't tell you how amazing it is to really enjoy each and every bite of food now. No more counting calories or carbohydrate grams, points or whatever ~ .what freedom!
This is the first time in my life that I'm able to enjoy my meals without a hint of guilt. It's been interesting to see that small portions totally satisfy me now. If anything, I sometimes want to eat more than I need because the food tastes so good, but now I just listen to my body and when I feel full, I'm finished eating. I always know there's more to come at my next meal. The foods I eat now always keep me full & satisfied, I never feel deprived or hungry. To think it all started with those lovely green smoothies. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to follow the path I have, eliminating meat, dairy and most processed foods. Nor did I ever expect to love and thrive on all the nutritious, delicious foods I've added into my diet! It was just a natural progression that has provided me with the most amazing benefits of good health, weight loss and a total feeling of well being :)


Here are a just a few of the foods I've been enjoying lately... 

Recently I made the most beautiful salad. I wish I had taken a picture of it. It was just a simple spinach salad dressed up with sliced pear ~ sliced raw almonds ~ sprouts ~ pomegranate seeds and scallions. The tastes all blended so nicely and it was oh so pretty :)   


Look at this strawberry hemp mylkshake!

Unbelievably easy ~ scrumptious and nutritious!.... I got this recipe from Raw Food Rehab ~ http://rawfoodrehab.ning.com/ where I am a member of the community. It's a wonderful site to join if you are looking to increase your raw food intake and find supportive, friendly people to interact with. There isn't a more inclusive site for recipes, info and support from people at all levels of their raw food adventures.




Strawberry Hemp Mylkshake
 add 1 pint of fresh strawberries or small bag of frozen strawberries to the hempmylk recipe below
 blend until frothy and creamy ~ Enjoy!


Hemp Mylk
1 cup hemp seeds
1 quart water or coconut water
1/4 cup coconut nectar
1 tsp vanilla extract
 pinch sea salt




A few days ago I whipped up a batch of the most amazing Granola! I like this as a snack or as a cereal with my favorite nut mylk. The other day I had this for dinner with a few sliced strawberries on top. This and a cup of pomegranate green tea and I was in heaven :)

Granola Recipe
6 cups rolled oats
1 cup what germ
1 cup shredded coconut flakes
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 cup raw cashews
2 tbsp almond meal     **
2 tbsp sunflower meal  **
2 tbsp sesame meal      **
1 cup honey
1/2 cup safflower oil
1 cup raisins


Preheat oven to 325
Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl ~ except for raisins
combine honey and safflower oil
add to dry ingredients and mix until well blended


spread in shallow baking pan and cook for 10 minutes
add raisins & cook 5 more minutes
let cool and store in airtight container


I tweaked this just a little ~ I didn't have the almond, sunflower or sesame meal this time so I used flax meal instead...
I added in extra raisins and some dried cranberries too.... This granola is AMAZING !!
Although it has a lot of ingredients, don't let that put you off.... once you have them all together it's easy to put together and you'll have so much it you'll be enjoying this for quite awhile!


Enjoy :)