Collard Wraps and Mango Cilantro Soup, Strawberry/Cashew Green Smoothie

This was our centerpiece for today's munchies.

What's on your table? 

 If you stay home and have children I encourage you to make a veg/fruit tray and have it on the table.  Better yet, have your young ones help make it. 

Children love to be involved in what you are doing....make it fun and don't get fussy when they make a mess.  You and your children will grow together and cherish the memories always.

Whenever I spill something on the floor, I laugh and say....I guess it was time to mop the floor!

Always remember...Relationships are more important than things....whether it be broken items or messy kitchens...

COLLARD WRAPS

collard greens

avocado

tomato

carrots

lime juice

I used Annie's Goddess Dressing as the dip

MANGO CILANTRO SOUP

2 roma tomatos

4 stalks of celery

2 handfuls of spinach

small handful of cilantro

1/2" jalapeno

lime juice

handful of frozen mango

water to help blend

Blend in Vita-mix on #3 until soup-y

My son and I gobbled this down after running errands this afternoon.

STRAWBERRY CASHEW GREEN SMOOTHIE

1 c. fresh almond milk

1 banana

large handful of spinach

large handful of frozen strawberries

1 heaping t. beet root powder

about heaping 1/4 c. of raw cashews

blend well...this will hold you for a few hours....

Today was my major produce pick up for the month...I miss my van on this day each month.  I am part of a co-op where we buy organic produce from our local distributor.  We get great prices purchasing this way.  We have several families that participate with us.  We have to purchase produce by the case, so we share cases or purchase them whole.  When you buy this way it is imperative that you have the necessary refrigeration space.  I find that if I carefully bag most of my items they stay good for some time.  Most fruits keep well in cold storage.

Although it is best to get your produce as fresh as possible...this works for our family. I still  buy other items during the month, but this is the bulk of what we use.

We live outside of the city in a rural area so frequent trips to the grocer is not feasible for our family.

Some of the items we received today were:

Avocados

Granny Smith Apples

Bananas

Blood Oranges

Red Beets

Broccoli

Carrots

Caulilower

Celery

Cucumbers

Kale

Romaine

Spinach

Gourmet Lettuce

Roma Tomatoes

What's in your fridge?

Ani's Raw Food Essentials!

Last week while checking out book's at Half Price Bookstore..I spied Ani's new book on their new release shelf.  I was thrilled to see a her book available there.  This is the first raw food book I have found at this bookstore.

Ani has done it again!!

Her recipes are uncomplicated and always bursting with flavor.

This book is a raw fooder's essential book.  If you are new to raw foods this book will fill you in on all the necessary info to get you started.  It even has recipes for Nontoxic cleansers.

Pictured above is Ani's RED PEPPER HUMMUS (BEAN-FREE)

I love hummus...but me and beans have issues...this no bean hummus is extremely flavorful, with a perfect texture for a spread or as a dip.  I opted for an orange pepper rather than red.

Inspired by Ani's un-cookbook I purchased some collards and made my first collard roll ups.

I just filled mine with what I had on hand....Avocado, red bell pepper, tomato, sprouts, Bragg's Liquid Amino's and dulse granules.

One of Ani's recipes stuffs them with her recipe for Avocado-Pistachio Pesto..mushrooms and some other yummy eats.

I was surprised at how mild the collards are and they held my wrap together very well.  I was quite satisfied after eating one of these.  My son enjoyed the other one.

I need a little more practice rolling these babies up.
I believe I started at the wrong end?