Mono meal

One of the lovely things I've learned while on this raw journey, is that a meal that is perfect for me can be quite different from a "traditional" meal. In other words, I don't need a variety of foods to be satisfied and nourished.

A "mono meal" - one item. Rather monotonous? Not at all. Especially if the bowl is full of fruit. It could be just ONE type of fruit. Today I felt a craving for a mixed bowl of sweet and tart, juicy and crisp - but first I went blackberry picking!

After loading a bowl with jewels, I slipped a banana from it's skin and into the Vita-mix, added a heaping spoon of sin (that's raw cashew butter), a good dash of cinnamon, and blitzed it into a creamy topping. A nudge from somewhere in my head made me reach for the sesame seeds, and in they went. Next time I might grind them first, the creamy was a bit "seedy". But the extra helping of calcium seemed to be what I was needing. I "listen" to my body a lot when deciding what to eat...

After the picture was taken, I poured on about another 1/2 cup of that luscious cream!

I've had mono meals of just a couple of bananas for lunch. Or several cucumbers. A apple is usually in one of my bags, snack on the run.

Raw life doesn't get much easier - or tastier.

Great Balls o' Fire!

OK, so the song title dates me...but I couldn't resist, 'cuz these balls are so full of ENERGY!


If you've ever indulged in LaraBars, you will appreciate this "recipe". I use the word lightly, because it's more a matter of ratio.

RECIPE: 1 part "wet", to 3 parts "dry".


It was fun to check out a couple of LaraBars and come up with similar flavors. The Lemon bar and the Apple Pie bar looked like a good place to start.

This was a project for the most recent Raw101 Uncooking class I've been teaching monthly over the summer. The topic for this class was "Sweeties". Dividing the students into three groups with three different bags of ingredients/recipes to choose from has been a fun way to do a sort of Raw Iron Chef! The group that got the red bag made Truffles, and these great energy balls.

Each ball recipe began with 1cup of dates pulsed to a paste. Then the 3 cups of dry ingredients are worked in by hand, to form a nutty glob. Bits are pinched off, rolled into balls, then rolled in sesame seeds if desired. Expect to have really sticky gooey hands, but you get to nibble off the bits and pieces that stick to your hands - yum!

In the small balls we used some Young Living Lemon Essential Oil for the lemon flavor along with some microplaned lemon peel. TASTY!! The nuts used were cashews, macadamias and almonds.

The larger balls used a different combination for the 3 c. of dry ingredients: pumpkin seeds, raw sunnies, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamia, almonds, walnuts, hemp seeds, sesame seeds,
diced dried apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a dash of vanilla.

These are great treats, handy for hikers (wrap individually to keep in pockets), great for mid-day pick-me-up, lunch on the go, or whatever excuse you can think of to enjoy a healthy, delish bit of crunch and sweetness!