Dairy-free Mango Lassi

To me, there is something very comforting and soothing about mango lassi's. Perhaps because it invokes memories of eating indian food with my parents, the aroma of cardamom and cumin wafting through the air. The choices of different masalas and curries all piled on top of fluffy rice. Then scooping a delectable bite with a piece of papadum and onion chutney.

Ahhhh. I can almost taste it and smell it.

After giving up dairy many many moons ago, I knew that I could still have a mango lassi with soy yogurt. However, now that I am not eating soy, I was left puzzled. But not for long, a thought dawned on me as quickly as flicking a switch: coconut milk. And good it is.

Quite simply, we blended in our vitamix:

2 fresh mango's
Squeeze of lemon
Coconut milk
Raw honey
Ice cubes

We didn't measure, my guess is approximately 1 cup of coconut milk, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and a 1/2 tablespoon of raw honey.

Serve. We sprinkled a bit of our own chia spice mix on top.

Enjoy!! It is perfect on this nice sunny day. We have to indulge and bask in the warm weather, for tomorrow and the following day we have snow predicted :)

-heather

Lemon pie with a pine nut crust

Ooh la lemon!

This pie is delicious with lots of zing. And maybe even a little bit of zang! :) So I formulated the recipe as I went along. If you are timid of foods that are green, then you'll be missing out indeed. Pictures below :)

»Why is it green?

Avocado (noun): a pear-shaped fruit with a rough leathery skin, smooth oily edible flesh, and a large stone.

A large stone? Ha, I never knew that was a term sometimes used for a hard seed in cherry, plum, peach and some other fruits (apparently avocado).

Enough of that, let's get to the good part. 

The recipe!

»Crust:

› 1/2 cup Pine Nuts

› 1/4 cup Cashews

› 1 tbsp Coconut Oil

› 1/2 tbsp Raw Honey

»Filling:

› 1 1/2 Avocado 

› 1/4 tsp Lemon Peel

› 1 Large Lemon (or 2 small lemons)

› 1 1/2 tbsp Raw Honey

Okay, so I know that "1/2 tablespoon" is kind of a weird measurement. But that's how I measured the honey. The honey that I use is Raw Honey by Honey Gardens. It is the only honey that we'll use. I know the owner. It is actually the only honey that my husband is able to eat. He would eat other honey (that has been heated and processed) and his throat would get itchy and irritated. 

Also, please note that you can adjust the recipes to suit your individual preferences, for example less lemon, or more sweetener etc. I made the recipe on a whim, so you may want to double the crust recipe to make a thicker crust.

-heather

Easy Cucumber Soup

This soup is very easy to make and requires minimal effort and time. It can be devoured alone or with seed crackers. You could also eat it along side a nice greens salad. I made it yesterday, and because of the lemon juice, any left overs can be kept and enjoyed the next day as well.

I tossed the ingredients into my vitamix without peeling the cucumber. Because the vitamix liquifies everything, peels can be left on. If you are using a regular blender, you may want to peel the cucumber.

Recipe:
from Alissa Cohen's book: Living on Live Food

1 Avocado
1 Cucumber
4 tbs Dill
2 tsp Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Salt
** 1/4tsp to 1/2tsp Onion Powder

**I felt inspired to add a bit of onion powder, however this is optional. Unfortunately, I did not measure that amount that I put in so I had to guess. If you feel intrigued to put onion powder, I would recommend starting out with 1/4tsp and adapt to your own preferred taste.



-heather

Earth Day 2008 and Comments on Whole Foods' reusable bags

Happy Earth Day! 

I am pleased to see that a lot of companies are celebrating Earth Day. Whole Foods and Vitamin Cottage are among them of course. Other companies such as Tokyo Joes are also celebrating by planting a tree in your name if your purchase a reusable water container. 

If I'm not mistaken, WF and VC are both giving away free reusable bags tomorrow on Earth Day. We don't have anything special planned, although it seems we should...

A note on reusable bags...

Some of our favorite resusable bags:

Chico bags:These are durable and have a handy-dandy pouch.
String cotton bags: These are very versatile bags. We even use one to hold bath toys.

We bought some reusable bags from Whole Food's recently. They are blue nylon (or nylon-like) material. At first glimpse, they seem durable and expansive. However, I went to use one today and noticed the seam had ripped on one side. Because of the stitching, the bag is still useable because there are other seams holding it together. I am not sure if this happened as a result of my use or prior. I was only carrying a few light items, so I can only imagine what would have happened if I was truly carrying large grocery items.

Whole Foods does not have my full trust for many different reasons. The CEO has proven himself to be a nut case. But that aside, here is an article about Whole Foods that I recently found:

The Whole Story About Whole Foods Market

One thing we are going to do to celebrate is plant a tree.... 


-heather

Ch-Ch-Chia seeds and Baby butt spray

Did that just catch your attention? Baby butt spray? well.. it might not seem like something that goes along with food but hey it's all good right?

We just bought 5lbs of Chia seeds.

My husband makes great gluten-free pancakes and one of the ingredients is chia seeds.

An excerpt from the web site that we bought the seeds from (link above):

"When you hydrate the seeds in water the seeds shell opens up and absorbs up to nine times its volume in water. This then forms a gel, which is called Chia Seed Gel. The gel helps keep your body hydrated. The gel is also 90% soluble fiber, which is beneficial for your digestive track. People use the seeds when they are involved in sports or physical activities for endurance.
The seeds have twice the protein of any other seed or grain, five times the calcium of milk, boron which is trace mineral that helps transfer calcium into your bones, omega 3 and omega 6 which are essential oils for the body. They also have a very long list of valuable nutrients in them naturally. The soluble fiber in the gel forms a wall between carbohydrates and the body, releasing them slowly into the body. This has been found to be very helpful for people who have trouble controlling their sugar levels like Diabetics. Dieters love the seeds because it can be added to any food or drink in a ratio of 75% to the volume of food or drink and will not change the taste. Because the carbohydrates are released slowly you will get the feeling of being full. Many use the seeds as a way to control their appetites. The gel has no taste."

The make chia gel:

Put 1/3 cup dry seeds into two cups of warm water
Whisk, wait fifteen mins then whisk again then store gel in refrigerator

Use three tablespoons three times a day of the gel (seeds hydrated). You can mix them into any drink or food and may even just take the gel. Once a day you can take up to one tablespoon of the dry seeds and add them to fluid or sprinkle them on food and drink fluid at the same time so the seeds hydrate from the fluid.

We make drinks with our vitamix everyday and put the chai gel in it.

My husband does not want to call it "baby butt spray" so I am being a rebel here. We call it "Diaper spray" and this is what it is....

Company: Sophie Baby
Product: Diaper Spray
Uses: to use with cloth wipes, refreshing mist, hand disinfectant, and anything else you can think of :)

More info:
Sophie Baby

We are also thinking about selling on etsy.com! More info soon!

-heather