Raw Chocolate Superfood Energy Balls

Raw Chocolate Superfood Energy Balls

Adorable, good-looking, delicious and healthy: What's not to love about Raw Chocolate Superfood Energy Balls?

Back when winter seemed like a fun-fresh idea, I brought these little gems to a New Year's Day gathering. They were a big hit, and I've been meaning to post the recipe ever since.

Ahem.

Daylight savings time started today and according to my calendar, it's almost Spring. Whoopsie!

I hope you'll agree this is a recipe worth waiting for, and better late than never...

Raw Chocolate Superfood Energy Balls

Ingredients
1.5 cups organic raw almonds
1/4 cup hemp protein powder (or pea protein)
3 Tbs raw cacao powder
2 tsp spirulina powder
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbs Chia seeds
18 Medjool dates, pitted
1 tsp vanilla powder or extract
a few tablespoons of cold water

+ your choice of coating: shredded coconut, cacao nibs, hemp seeds, chopped goji berries (Tip: If using gojis, chop them in your clean food processor before you start making the energy balls!)

Directions
Add almonds, hemp protein powder, raw cacao, spirulina, cinnamon and chia seeds to food processor and pulse repeatedly until well combined. Add vanilla and pitted dates and pulse-process again until mixture starts to bind together. Add cold water by the tablespoon and continue processing until mixture pulls together and you have what looks like a firm, soft ball of dough.

Transfer dough into a clean bowl. In separate smaller bowls, pour out about a half cup each of your chosen coating ingredients. (I used shredded coconut and goji berries.)

Using your fingers or a spoon, pull off a tablespoon-sized chunk of dough and form it into a ball. Roll or toss ball in coating of choice until well-covered; then set aside on a plate. Repeat until all the dough is used up.

Chill finished energy balls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least one hour or until firm.

This recipe makes about 16 energy balls. They can be frozen or stored in the fridge for several weeks. For best flavor, eat at room temperature.

NOTE: You can also use this recipe to make energy BARS instead of energy BALLS. To make bars, simply press your dough into a Pyrex baking dish until desired thickness is achieved. About a half-inch thick is ideal. (Don't try to make the bars fill the entire Pyrex dish—getting the thickness you like is what matters, so expect there to be some empty space in the dish! Just square it off as best you can.)

Use the back of a spatula to get the top flat. Then, gently press your shredded coconut or coating of choice into the surface, cover entire dish with plastic wrap (or use a clean, dry produce bag) and refrigerate as above. When firm, slice into bars and, if desired, individually wrap each one using saran wrap, waxed paper or parchment.

Pumpkin Spice Chia Pudding (Vegan & Gluten-Free!)

Pumpkin Spice Chia Pudding

Wish you could eat pumpkin pie every day but don't want all that fat and sugar? Try this delicious, healthy pumpkin pudding instead! It's made with organic canned pumpkin puree, naturally sweet dates, plain coconut milk and plenty of fragrant, warming pumpkin pie spice. Chia seeds make it thick without eggs or dairy while adding protein, fiber, calcium, iron and a good dose of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids. 

Enjoy Pumpkin Spice Chia Pudding for breakfast or dessert. Perfect just as is, or add sliced bananas, currants and pecans -- on top, stirred in or layered for an elegant holiday parfait. Yum!

This recipe makes about four cups of pudding. Double it if you have a crowd to feed, or simply want more on hand for you. Keeps well for several days in the fridge since antioxidant-rich chia seeds act as a preservative. 

Pumpkin Spice Chia Pudding

2 cups liquid unsweetened coconut milk (the kind in a carton, not the thicker canned kind)

1 cup organic canned pumpkin (that's half an average can)

6-8 medjool dates

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch Himalayan pink salt

1/2 cup chia seeds (I used white)

Directions: Put all ingredients except chia seeds in the Vita-Mix and blend on medium to high speed, until creamy. Stir in chia seeds, wait five minutes, stir again, wait another five minutes, stir again, wait another five minutes (!) and then give a final stir and pour pudding into two glass pint mason jars or any serving bowl of choice. Cover and chill in refrigerator until firm, about two hours, for best texture. 

Look how thick it gets!

Solar Return Energy Smoothie

I made myself the most delicious green smoothie this morning for my solar return (i.e. birthday) breakfast! It's packed with fresh ingredients and superfoods, including organic banana, grapefruit, wild dandelion greens (aka "weeds"), maca, spirulina, chia, ginger-burdock tea and more. YUM!

One of the things I love best about drinking green smoothies is the instant energy boost they give me - brain and body both. One sip and my eyes just widen right up. Seriously! Talk about a wake up call.

Even the cats are interested. Here's Clyde, ever the smooth operator (pardon the pun), moving in to investigate the situation.

I confess, a cupboard full of superfoods and a Vita-Mix bring out the nutritional alchemist in me, hence, as you'll see from the recipe below, I ended up adding about a dozen synergistic health and energy-boosting ingredients to this drink... but please don't let that deter you! Following this recipe to the letter is hardly required. Just use it as a launching pad, as my friend Melissa likes to say, for making your own amazing, health-empowering green smoothie creations!

See my quick-reference glossary of superfoods and nutritional ingredients below the recipe to learn about their benefits, and become your own kitchen alchemist. ❤ Diana Banana & Co.

Autumn Empress Salad with Currried Hemp Seed Dressing

It’s been more than a month since I posted my last blog from the beaches of Florida...and suddenly, its twenty degrees outside and Thanksgiving Day! How did that happen? And what better occasion to share a delicious harvest recipe featuring a cornucopial favorite: winter squash.

But first, a brief explanation for my absence. No—I didn’t run away with a pod of dolphins (sigh). I’ve been home in Western Massachusetts, witnessing the emergence of bare branches and absorbing, activating and working with Reiki, the healing energy system transmitted and taught to me in Florida last month by Reiki master, psychic healer and author Diane Stein. After intensive practice and further attunement, I am pleased to begin offering Reiki healings and energy balancing as an adjunct to nutritional counseling for my clients.

Of course during these many weeks of inner transformation, I have still been eating and preparing food! I’ve had a lot of new "raw materials" to work with as well, lol, brought to market by the wonderful organic farmers of the Pioneer Valley. I’m astounded at the variety of never-before-seen fruits and vegetables our farmers introduce to the locally-grown table each year… new and unusual shapes and colors of peppers, heirloom tomatoes, baby potatoes, squashes, apples, pears and more. Amazing!

My latest vegetable crush is on Orange Sunshine kabocha. This hefty baby is the red/orange-skinned version of my beloved "buttercup" squash, formerly the sweetest, most velvety winter squash I had tasted. That is to say, before my new squash crush changed things forever.

Orange Sunshine’s bumpy, scarlet-tinged outer skin hides richly hued, orange-gold flesh within. When baked at 400 degrees, cut side down in a pan of water, the flesh of this beauty becomes soft, smooth and sugary enough to give garnet yams a run for their money. Eaten raw, it is surprisingly crisp, juicy and, yes, super sweet! Who knew?

The raw winter squash raw-velation came to me while preparing my first Orange Sunshine for the oven. Once I started crunching on thin slivers of fresh squash and realized how DELICIOUS it was in its natural state, I couldn’t bring myself to bake the whole thing! Setting some hunks aside, snugly wrapped in a plastic bag in the fridge, I came up with this recipe the following day.

Combining gorgeous Orange Sunshine kabocha with royal Purple Cabbage creates a magnificent color combination, a visual feast fit for a queen. In my Autumn Empress Salad, this imperial vegetable duo is topped with an exotic savory dressing, spiced with curry and rich in protein and healthy omega-3 fatty acids from golden hemp and thickening chia seeds. For a hotter version, double the curry powder and add cayenne pepper to taste.

Enjoy Autumn Empress Salad as a main meal or simple side. For a regal presentation, spoon into pale green butter lettuce boats and imagine them as crunchy royal barges, floating straight down your plate in the direction of your happy mouth and belly. ☺


Autumn Empress Salad with Curried Hemp Seed Dressing

Salad Ingredients
1½ - 2 cups shredded purple cabbage
1½ - 2 cups grated Orange Sunshine kabocha squash

Dressing Ingredients
¼ cup hemp seeds
1 Tbs white chia seeds
½ lemon, peeled and pitted
1 lime’s juice
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp each curry powder, turmeric powder
1 tsp raw honey or agave, or 3 drops liquid stevia extract
1 cup cold water

Serving Suggestion Ingredients
2 butter lettuce leaves per person
4 slices honeycrisp apple per plate

Directions
Shred or finely chop purple cabbage leaves after removing the thick inner stem. Grate kabocha squash in hunks, by first cutting off a slice and removing any seeds clinging to the center, then cutting a wedge that will grate easily. Hold the skin side of the squash towards your palm and grate only the inner flesh. The remaining strip of skin may be eaten by you, composted or given to the dog. (My dog is crazy for squash!) Place shredded cabbage and grated squash in a large bowl and toss gently to combine.

Add all dressing ingredients to a high speed blender and blend on high until creamy. Taste and adjust seasonings. Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat. Spoon into butter lettuce leaves if desired and garnish plates with crisp, sweet apple slices. Apples combine well with this beautiful raw salad, provided no starches, cooked veggies or animal proteins are eaten at the same meal.

Wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving!
With grateful ♥, Diana

Native Diet Secrets

Have you heard of the Tarahumara? A remote tribe of Mexican Indians, the Tarahurama are renowned for their skills in endurance running. These native people are known to consume high energy chia seeds as a dietary staple. Chia is an excellent source of omega-3 essential fats, protein and fiber. Chia also promotes satiety (reduces appetite) and fights dehydration due to its unique ability to bind with water in a gel-like matrix that is digested very slowly.

Like the Tarahumara, native people around the world make use of special foods to meet their needs for nourishment and health.

An article in the Spring edition of Publix GreenWise Market Magazine explores the findings of Daphne Miller, M.D., who travelled the world, in the spirit of Weston A. Price, to discover features of native diets. Her new book, The Jungle Effect (Harper Paperbacks, 2009) discusses some of the secrets uncovered in her global journeys.

The book sounds like a fascinating read. You can get a taste for it in this excerpt (below) from the GreenWise magazine article. I think it's so interesting to see what people around the world are eating, don't you?


5 Secrets of Native Diets
Publix GreenWise Market Magazine - Spring 2010

Imagine a community of Tarahumara Indians so deeply entrenched in the gorges of Copper Canyon, Mexico, that they’re virtually cut off from the modern world—a community where type 2 diabetes is an unusual occurrence. Now picture a tiny village in the rain forest of Cameroon, where colon disease is practically unheard of.

What do these exotic locales have in common? They’re places where remote, indigenous populations still follow diets that have been passed down through generations. Their inhabitants are far removed from the modern Western lifestyle—and some of the health problems that come with it.

Could it be their native foods, which have sustained indigenous populations for millennia, are deeply connected to their well-being? Daphne Miller, M.D. shares important insights gleaned from the dietary habits of native cultures with low rates of chronic disease.

1. Where: Copper Canyon, Mexico
What: Low rates of type 2 diabetes
Miller’s observations: The Tarahumara Indians eat a diet rich in carbs, but they’re unrefined, low-glycemic carbs. A number of traditional healing spices and plant foods, such as cactus, also have blood-sugar-lowering properties.
Local foods: The tres hermanas (three sisters) of corn, beans and squash, plus eggs, chicken, chiles, nuts, berries, greens, cactus, seeds, oranges, tomatoes, avocado and occasional wild game or fish

2. Where: Crete
What: High rates of good heart health
Miller’s observations: More than 50 years of research has shown the benefits of the Mediterranean diet. By the end of her sojourn, Miller concluded it’s not just one specific food that protects the heart—it’s the whole diet. The people of Crete also eat slowly, use small plates, indulge sparingly in rich foods and eat seasonally.
Local foods: Olive oil, greens, whole grains, grapes

3. Where: Cameroon, western Africa
What: Low rates of colon cancer
Miller’s observations: Fermented foods such as sour milk, relishes, pickled meats and fermented grains are staples of the diet. The fermented foods are rich sources of probiotics—live microorganisms similar to the beneficial bacteria that live in the healthy human gut.
Local foods: Tasty stews flavored with vegetables, legumes, grains, peanuts, spices, wild game meat (used sparingly)

4. Where: Iceland
What: Low rates of depression
Miller’s observations: It’s hard to believe that dark, frigid Iceland boasts very low rates of depression, but the locals eat a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which helps combat depression.
Local foods: Miller discovered to her surprise that Icelanders in general do not like vegetables, but they dine regularly on foods such as fish, wild berries and lamb fed on wild forage.

5. Where: Okinawa
What: Longevity; low rates of breast and prostate cancer
Miller’s observations: In addition to eating lots of colorful fruits and vegetables, the typical Okinawan drinks three cups of green tea a day.
Local foods: Yams, squash, cabbages, greens, papayas, melons, fish, sea vegetables, unrefined soy foods

Click here to read the full article.

Hemp n' Half Update - Grinding Tip

This morning I made a fresh batch of hemp 'n half and, for the first time, tried pre-grinding the hemp seeds and chia seeds. (I used my beloved Cuisinart Nut and Spice Grinder for this purpose, but a regular coffee grinder would do.)

After just a quick buzz in the grinder, I added the ground seeds to my Vita Mix and proceeded as described in the last post.

WOW! The results are sooo creamy! Honestly, I have to say: maté latte never tasted better!

I plan to use pre-grinding method again – if not always, at least from time to time. Although Hemp 'n Half comes out fantastic without pre-grinding (which does add an extra step) the results might just be a little bit more ultimate in the smooth and rich department.

A votre sante! ♥ Diana

Diana's Amazing Hemp 'N Half

For many years, and I mean many, I’ve experienced an off and on dilemma about what to put in my tea. Black tea, that is. A drink to which I have a longstanding allegiance.

I was introduced to tea as a child. My dad used to make me a tea drink he’d call “Concoction” – tea with lemon, honey and sugar. Very tasty. I later got hooked on sweet creamy milk tea (chai) during the ten months I lived in India in the 1980’s. In India, chai is practically a religion and I was a fervent worshipper. Once home, my conversion appeared official. What coffee is to many Americans, tea became to me. Sweet tea. With cream. For a while, it was practically my reason to get up in the morning.

Needless to say, I was thrilled when studies started coming out attesting to the health benefits of tea drinking. (For starters, it's high in antioxidant flavonoids that help support vascular health.) Even so, I'm not one to like being dependent on any substance, no matter how good it is for me. So I decided to take periodic black tea breaks – just to be sure it was me who was actually steering the ship, lol.

Today, I frequently switch up my AM beverages – at times partaking of various herbal teas, yerba maté, hot lemon water, etc. following my tall glass of pure water or lemon water. But most mornings, I enjoy a cup of black tea – either an organic bulk tea from the local tea shop or a high quality bagged tea such as Yorkshire Gold, a current favorite. Always with a spoonful of raw honey and, frequently, a "creamer."

The cream is the problem.

There just aren’t any excellent creams out there. Regular half-and-half tastes and feels pretty good in the mouth but it’s nasty stuff: ultra-pasteurized and oozing with growth hormones, antibiotics and all the other chemicals fed to conventional cows.

Organic half-and-half is a step up but it’s still ultra-pasteurized, i.e. not only dead but potentially harmful to blood vessels and brain cells due to heat-damaged protein and fat molecules.

Raw cow’s milk will do but doesn’t provide the creaminess I’m looking for, plus after a few days, my tummy just says “no” to raw milk.

As for Silk Soy Creamer, well that was an option when I still used processed soy products, thinking them a fabulous meat/dairy substitute. Hah! I now avoid “soy foods” like the plague… for a multitude of reasons, such as: phytates (block mineral absorption), enzyme inhibitors (impair digestion), phyto-estrogens (helpful in menopause and other certain cases, but otherwise problematic in excess; linked to cancer, reproductive issues, etc), GMO’s (artificial DNA sequences; effects unknown), etc. Not to mention my general tendency to avoid highly processed fake foods. (Note: the only soy I currently consume or recommend is traditionally fermented soy – miso, tempeh, tamari – and the occasional tofu or edamame.)

So, soy milk’s out. Rice milk is too thin. Almond milk curdles in tea. Oat milk kind of works, but it’s still a highly processed product made in a factory, the original oat stripped of all energetic wholeness. What’s a tea drinker to do?

Enter my new invention. Hemp ‘n Half.


I came up with this the other day on a whim, and it worked! Thick, smooth, tasty – you name it! And so… I am very excited to share this recipe with you.

What’s to love about Hemp ‘n Half:

1. Fabulous taste – light, creamy and delicious; very similar to dairy half-and-half.
2. Mixes well into hot drinks: tea, yerba maté, coffee, Pero, mineral mochaccino, etc.
3. Contains chia seed: the world’s richest known source of omega-3 fatty acids and an excellent source of protein, calcium and fiber.
4. Contains hemp seed: protein-rich balanced source of omega fatty acids, high in minerals and fiber.
5. Non-dairy, lactose free, gluten-free, hypo-allergenic, vegan.


Please be advised, this recipe owes it’s smooth consistency to tiny chia seed, an up and coming superfood for the 21st century. Without the chia, the cream would separate into particles in the tea.

You can read all about chia seed in my recent booklet, Chia Seed (Woodland Publishing, 2010).

Chia Seed describes the fascinating history of this ancient Aztec power food, provides a comprehensive nutritional profile, benefits and delicious recipes – from sweet nut milks to velvety soup, savory raw crackers and the Mexican lemonade drink, Chia Fresca. Find Chia Seed at health food stores, community superfoods and online. Click here to order from Amazon.

Now, I present to you, my amazing…

Hemp ‘n Half
You will be elated at how well this thick, seed-based cream blends into hot drinks and tastes surprisingly like dairy half and half.

¼ cup raw hemp seeds
1 Tablespoon chia seeds
1 pinch sea salt
1 cup warm, filtered water

Add all ingredients to blender container. Allow seeds to soak for fifteen minutes. Blend on high for a few minutes until thoroughly homogenized. If desired, add optional one quarter teaspoon raw honey or agave nectar (I leave this out since I prefer to sweeten my tea separately). Store Hemp ‘n Half in a tightly closed glass jar in refrigerator. Keeps very nicely for 5-7 days.


Confession: as much as I love chai, an inviting cup of Mate Latte with Hemp 'n Half gives black tea a run for it's money!

Shilajit & Diana's Mineral Mochaccino

It's a NEW YEAR - 2010. Wow. Coming to terms with this strange sci-fi fact (2010? Impossible: that's the future!), I can't think of a better reason to introduce you to something really, really OLD! I'm talking about ancient minerals. Earthen minerals. Life-born minerals, concentrated into the form of a highly revered, Ayurvedic power herb/superfood/supplement, Shilajit.

Shilajit comes to us from the sacred Himalayan mountains, 10,000 to 12,000 feet above sea level. The substance is said to contain all known minerals and trace minerals in bioavailable ionic form. Yes, you read that right: ALL known minerals. In our world of demineralized soil, demineralized food and acidic bodies, its outstanding mineral content alone gives Shilajit incredible potential for health.

The origins of Shilajit are fascinating. Two hundred million years ago, during the time of drifting tectonic plates, the Indian subcontinent collided with the landmass of Eurasia. This impact not only created the Himalayan mountains, it caused entire rain forests to crumple and become trapped between and below the two land masses. Buried under the massive, newly formed Himalayas and subjected to millions of tons of pressure, the lost rainforests–once teeming with plant and animal life forms–became transformed over time into the nutrient-rich substance we call Shilajit.

Shilajit escapes from it’s deep, dark abode during the hot Indian summer months, when in molten form, the ancient substance rises to the surface and literally oozes through cracks in the stone face of the Himalayan mountains. Appearing first as a thick, sticky goo, liquid Shilajit quickly dries and can be collected, powdered and purified for use as a human medicine and food supplement. Compressed over millions of years, composed of fully stabilized, broken down organic plant matter, traces of fossilized life forms, rock dust and stardust, Shilajit represents a uniquely energetically complete and balancing substance.

The minerals in Shilajit are carried by fulvic acid, a natural electrolyte also found in humus. Fulvic acid forms complexes with the elemental minerals in Shilajit and holds them in the ionic form that supports their bioavailability. As such, fulvic acid is considered the primary "active ingredient" in Shilajit. It can help restore and maintain critical electrical balance in cells and also offers antioxidant and detoxification support, as the ionic minerals it carries serve as cofactors for several vitamins and enzymes involved in free radical scavenging and detoxification.

Long famed in Ayurvedic medicine, Shilajit is best known as a superior mineralizer with adaptogenic (stress-balancing) and immuno-modulating qualities. The herb is said to support memory and cognition, boost detox and enzyme activity, and offer antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.

That's all very interesting, you may be thinking, but how does it taste?! Well, in a word, earthy. Bitter. A cross between coffee and, well, soil.

O-Kay, you respond. So how do I consume this earthy powder and enjoy it? Easy! You use it sparingly, like any true superfood powder, in servings of one-half to one teaspoon at a time. You can take it straight: simply stir one serving into a cup of hot water for a coffee-like beverage. Or mix it up: blend Shilajit into smoothies or puddings, especially those containing raw cacao.

On that note, you may like to try my amazing Mineral Mochaccino! It’s basically a warm, sweet nutmilk beverage blended with raw cacao and Shilajit. (Reminder: chocolate + coffee = mocha.)

For a quick, simple version, simply combine one cup of warm almond milk with ½ to 1 teaspoon of Shilajit, 1 Tablespoon raw cacao powder and 1 teaspoon of raw honey or agave. That’s yummy, but if you have the time, I suggest the official, scrumdillyicious version below, made with freshly blended hemp and chia seed milk and soft dates for sweetness. It is SOOOO good, you won’t believe your tongue!

Diana’s Mineral Mochaccino
Makes 2 servings

INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup hemp seeds
2 Tablespoons chia seed
3 soft dates
2 cups warm water
2 Tablespoons raw cacao powder
1-2 teaspoons Shilajit
½ teaspoon cinnamon
pinch Himalayan pink salt

DIRECTIONS
In a high speed blender, soak hemp seeds, chia seeds and dates in warm water for 15 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and blend well, until frothy. Continue blending until desired temperature is reached OR pour into saucepan, set on stove and heat gently to a comforting 100 degrees Farenheit.* Pour warm Mineral Mochaccino into two mugs and sprinkle with additional cinnamon. Then, sit back, sip and enjoy the New Year!

*Your Vitamix or other high speed blender will heat up raw blended foods. However, it does so rather “violently” as far as the food molecules are concerned, so many prefer to gently heat their raw foods in a more traditional way–on the stove or in a dehydrator.

A HOT RAW NOTE: Some age-old traditional dietary systems, notably Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine, assert that eating raw food is not appropriate in the winter. The presumed reason for this is that because raw food is cold, its digestion will draw warm energy from your body and make your body cold and weak in the process. However, there is a hole in this assertion. Namely, it is a false belief that raw food = cold food. My friends, raw food does not have to be eaten cold! In fact, technically, most raw foods can be heated to anywhere between 110 and 120 degrees (depending on the structure of the particular food - some can withstand even more heat) and still remain alive, with enzyme activity preserved. Therefore, in winter, please make your juices and salads with room temperature vegetables and fruits! Also, feel free to heat up raw soups, sauces, other foods and drinks to a temperature of, say, 100 degrees F, which is distinctly hot to the touch AND well below the 110-120 degree span that most raw foodists recognize as the killing zone for enzymes and life force in our food. In this way, you will promote warmth in your body AND continue to derive the wonderful physical and spiritual benefits of consuming natural, living foods.

Drink Your Greens

Many of you know that drinking green juices and green smoothies is one of the tastiest, easiest and most satisfying ways to help get optimum amounts of mineral-rich, alkalizing LIVING greens into your daily diet.

The word LIVING is capitalized in the previous paragraph (and this one, come to think of it) for an important reason. We need to consume life to generate life. If we consume only lifeless food, we must give up our own life force to turn something dead into something that can support vitality. Of the foodstuffs we consume, only raw living foods provide life force -- as living cells, active enzymes and stored solar energy -- direct to our body.

A new book, Catching Fire, argues that one reason humans started cooking food was to cut down on chewing time (thereby adding more productive tool-inventing, brain-developing hours to the day). Even if this were true, we must admit that just because our ancestral cave-men and -women, in all their primal wisdom (and I mean that), started a trend a million or so years ago doesn’t make that trend the best choice for health.

Yes, chewing pounds of leaves daily can be tedious work. And the hard cell walls of certain plants do inhibit nutrient absorption in some cases. Nevertheless, cooking all of our veggies down to a limp squish is NOT the only alternative! Scientifically, it is well known that cooking leafy greens and other plant foods diminishes or destroys many of their health-giving properties -- from their precious, living vibrational energy force to their proteins, vitamins, delicate phytonutrients and so on.

There must be a solution to the "must I eat these mounds of leafy greens again, Ma?" problem. Enter the BLENDER. Blenders make short work of kale, spinach, chard, parsley and any fresh leafy green you can name. Blending greens yields a product wherein no chewing is required to break down fibers. (It's still a good idea to "chew" your smoothies, to commence digestive action via salivary enzymes.) And JUICERS take the process a step further by removing all fiber from the final product without damaging nutrients or enzymes and enabling almost direct absorption into body cells. Who knows – if cavemen had access to these modern kitchen tools, perhaps they never would have invented cooking in the first place!

I love drinking vegetable juices (what Kristen Suzanne vampirously, and with a wink, calls “plant blood”) for the pure hit of liquid solar energy they provide. And smoothies offer the convenience of a delicious and satisfying meal in a glass – especially filling when they include a handful of goji berries, chia seeds or other whole food soluble fiber source.

Smoothies also provide an ideal vehicle with which to indulge your inner alchemist, as you may add any number of nourishing superfoods and medicinal botanicals to your potion -- think golden berries, green foods, maca, MSM, raw cacao, bee pollen, milk thistle, pau dArco, Reishi mushrooms, and on… and on….

If you are interested in learning more about Green Smoothies, do consider reading Victoria Boutenko’s Green for Life, the book which started it all. For rationale and ideas on juicing, anything by Norman Walker or Natalia Rose’s excellent Raw Food Life Force Energy are sure to inform, inspire and delight.

Very Green Super Chocolate
Hemp Seed Smoothie

1 banana
1 soft pitted date
4 leaves kale
10 raw almonds (small handful)
2 teaspoons hemp seeds*
1 teaspoon chia seeds*
1 Tablespoon raw cacao powder*
1 level teaspoon spirulina powder*
1 scant teaspoon MSM powder (3 grams)*
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper or more, to taste
½ teaspoon cinnamon or more, to taste
1 cup leftover herb tea or water
2-4 ice cubes

Add everything to the blender and blend on high speed till well combined. Pour into a glass and drink. Will thicken up as it sits so be sure to add enough liquid at the beginning.

*These items available at a significant savings to clients and local readers by pre-order and in person at my new discount superfood store, Community Superfoods!

Cream of Sweet Corn, Dill & Zucchini Soup

The August 2009 raw blended soup extravaganza continues with this knock-out recipe -- an elegant, pale jade soup of smooth, thick consistency sprinkled with freshly chopped dill. Makes two bowls. Pairs delightfully with crispy Rainy Day Crackers.

Cream of Sweet Corn & Zucchini Soup with Fresh Dill

Ingredients
1 Tablespoon chia seed
2/3 cup water
1 ear sweet corn
1 med. zucchini (same size as corn cob)
1/2 avocado
1 lemon's juice
1/3 cup fresh chopped dill
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 Tablespoon miso
sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions
Put water and chia seeds in blender to soak while you cut sweet corn kernels off cob and prepare other ingredients. Add everything to blender except about two teaspoons of fresh dill, for garnishing bowls. Blend and taste, add more lemon, salt, pepper or water if desired. Warm soup in a small saucepan on medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until temperature reaches 100 degrees. Pour into two bowls and garnish with one teaspoon reserved dill each. Bon appetit!