Smoothies

I have consumed a 16 ounce smoothie nearly every day for the past two years. Originally they were made from just fruit, juice, and flax seed oil, but now I've added in greens (usually spring mix, sometimes spinach or wheat grass juice), soy milk, and VEGA every day.

The smoothie pictured here contains about two cups of mixed greens, 1/2 cup soy milk, 1/2 cup juice, 7-8 strawberries, half a banana, 1/2 cup mixed berries, and 1/4 serving of VEGA.

Smoothies are a great way to get in nutritious stuff that you might ordinarily not include in your diet.

Raw almond pate wraps

OK well the wrap itself isn't raw, but it could be if one was so inclined (i.e. using collard leaves).

I have discovered that I absolutely LOVE almond pate. Some recipes say it's like salmon pate, but I've never eaten salmon in my life so I have no idea if it has any similarity.

I started by using a recipe I found online, but it was no good so I just kept adding seasonings and cayenne pepper until it was absolutely delicious. Wrapped in a fresh whole wheat pita from a bakery downtown with carrots, spinach, and green onions, it's fabulous!

Spicy Almond Pate

* 1/2-2/3 cup unblanched whole almonds

* 2 stalks of celery

* 3 spring onions (green onions, scallions)

* 1 carrot

* lemon juice from half a lemon

* 1/2 tsp. dulse

* 1 TB cayenne pepper powder (or start with 1 tsp and add to taste)

* sprinkle of sea salt

* 1/2 tsp. raw apple cider vinegar (optional)

1. Soak the almonds at least overnight, changing the water every 12 hours.

2. Drain the almonds

3. Chop the celery, onions and carrot. Put these and the almonds into a blender or food processor, and process until smooth.

4. Add lemon juice to taste, and mix dulse/seasonings.

5. Use as a dip for fresh veggies or crackers, or as a wrap filling

Tu-no sandwich

This is another Natasha recipe (www.simplyraw.ca). This is raw Tu-no, made primarily of walnuts and a number of seasonings and vegetables. I used hemp oil instead of olive oil. Also on the sandwich is spinach, tomato red onion, and a bit of Vegenaise. I only used one piece of bread because two pieces is too many.

This was great, and only took about five minutes to make the Tu-no. I think we will eat this fairly regularly.

Raw kale and collard salad

This recipe is from Natasha of Simply Raw (www.simplyraw.ca) It's very simple- kale/collards, salt, lemon juice and an avocado dressing.

Also pictured is a marinated tofu sandwich, with alfalfa sprouts, tomato and red onion slices, and mixed greens.