Refreshing Citrus Cooler

• 1 Orange
• 1 Grapefruit
• 1 Lemon
• 1 Lime
• 1 tbsp Coconut Oil
• 1 tbsp Chlorella
• 1/2 tsp Maca Powder
• 1/2 tsp Almond Extract
• 1 Frozen Banana
• Ice

Juice all the citrus fruits and place the juice in a blender.  Add banana, coconut oil, chlorella, maca, almond extract and ice.  Then blend and enjoy.

Strawberry Milkshake (Vegan)

Strawberry Milkshake (Vegan)

1/4 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup filtered water

1 cup strawberries

3 medjool dates

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp raw vanilla bean powder

Blend everything together and garnish with fresh berries.

Thai High Smoothie

Thai High Smoothie

1 mango

1 handful fresh parsley

3/4 cups water

1 handful ice

1/8 cup unsweetened coconut yogurt

the juice of 1/2 a lime

A fresh, creamy taste of summer to beat the snowy winter blues.  
Blend all together and enjoy :)

Pumpkin Recipes

I bought a pumpkin this Halloween and am still coming up with creative ways to use the leftovers. Here are just a few of the recipes I came up with that turned out absolutely delicious.

-Raw Vegan Pumpkin Pie-

Crust:
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
3/4 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pecans
pinch of sea salt
10 deglet dates or 5 medjool dates

Filling:
2 cups of raw pumpkin
1/2 a can of coconut milk
1 medium carrot (washed and unpeeled)
1/2 cup soaked raisins (30m or so)
4 deglet dates or 2 medjool dates
pinch of sea salt
pinch of nutmeg
1 tsp of cinnamon
6 tbsp soy lecithin

Instructions:

In a food processor, blend up all the nuts and sea salt for the crust until they're just a bit crumbly. Then add the dates and blend until it forms a ball or gets pasty enough to hold together if you press it with your fingers. Press it into a glass pie dish and place in the fridge or freezer.

For the filling, first blend the pumpkin and coconut milk in a high speed blender until smooth. Then add chopped up carrot, raisins, dates and spices, blending again till smooth. Finally, add the lecithin and give it a good blend until it's thoroughly disputed throughout the mixture.

Remove crust from the freezer and fill with the pumpkin filling. Place in the fridge over night so it can set. The next day it should be ready to serve.

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-Pumpkin Pie Smoothie-

Having not much in my fridge one day, i resorted back to my frozen pumpkin for breakfast ideas. This was the result.

1 cup unsweetened almond milk
3/4 cup frozen pumpkin
2 medjool dates
1 tsp coconut oil
1 tbsp hemp seeds
3 tbsp plain goats yogurt (soy or coconut would work if you're vegan)
1 tsp cinnamon
3 cardamom pods (seeds)
a pinch of sea salt
5 ice cubes

Blend it all together in a high speed blender and you're all set. Pumpkin pie filling in a glass. This smoothie is pretty thick and filling so it makes a great breakfast.

Rawvolution NYC

Rawvolution is a restaurant transplant from Los Angeles, CA. Knowing this going in and my general love for all that is raw vegan cuisine, needless to say, I was expecting allot. Upon first glance, they had a great selection of take out meals or parts there of. Mock tuna and egg filling, sandwiches and and an assortment of dessert balls full of nutritious superfoods. As far as other dessert options go, the other pickings were pretty slim. One type of cake, being pumpkin which I could really appreciate for its seasonal conscious instead of focusing on more imported products as well as a few different cookies.

I went in with a humongous smoothie craving and seeing as I was not particularly hungry, I figured I'd go for that and a dessert. Since they were out of ingredients for the smoothie I initially chose, I settled on a simple strawberry smoothie with a maca add in. No ingredients listed for the smoothies on their menu so I was going into this a bit blind. With this I was fairly disappointed. Being the average $8 smoothie price for NY, plus the additional charge for the maca, what I received was something I could have put together at home if I were running out of ingredients in the fridge. It literally tasted like straight up strawberries and nut milk which, don't get me wrong, is tasty enough but when I go out and spend $10 over all on a drink, I'm expecting something a little more elaborate and flavorful. At least a date or something to sweeten it. On top of the basic taste, it was pre-made. The texture was thick but it didn't have the satisfying icy texture to satisfy my craving. I tried to legitimized that perhaps their raw vegan values system is so stringent that they also refuse to freeze fruit due to nutrient loss or they don't want to add ice because it would make it less easily digested. I would never order a smoothie here again. You know you're dissatisfied when 1/3 of the way through something you think 'I'll just take this home and mix it with something else later.'

My desserts of choice were the raw cookie dough balls. These were spectacular. Not like a regular cookie dough ball but probably as close as you'll ever get in the raw vegan world. The texture of the dough was extremely smooth in contrast to the crunchy cacao nibs. The taste was slightly like coconut but not so overpowering to make them a coconut dessert. If anything, I'd go back for these.

The Staff was absolutely lovely. I'm salivating just thinking about their take-out selection so despite my disappointment, I think I'll be back for lunch at some point.

Rating: 6.5/10