Afternoon Tea

Still on the theme of Fresh and Live mama, I weighed myself this morning, 'just to see'! I have lost four pounds since Saturday - and I feel really, really good! My skin has already taken a turn for the better and a dry patch of skin that was developing on my left eye has now gone. (thought it was important for you to know that!)

It's all great news for me as even though I don't want to fall into the trap of a daily weigh-in, (weigh-ins can sometimes affect the tone for the whole day and as we all know, weight can fluctuate!) I can see results! And I can see them physically too, which shows that when you commit to eating really lovely fresh foods, you won't have to wait long to feel elated! Which then, of course, spurs you on to continue with your efforts!

I was thinking earlier on of what some people say when I eat like this (as in cutting out dairy, sugar, white carbs etc) and mainly eating raw, unprocessed foods. One person retorted that I shouldn't deprive myself of things otherwise I will stay in diet mentality.

I simply disagree. I find it interesting that anyone would think they are being deprived if they cut out low-nutrient and high processed foods from their diet. Sure, I am not having them, but doesn't deprivation mean that you are not getting things that you need? In that case, I would say that I have often (mainly in the far-away past) deprived myself of fresh high-nutrients, and low calorie foods. My body is certainly not deprived right at this very moment!.

Today, I have had a morning smoothie (we were out of most things green so we had a rather sweet and juicy orange, apple ginger and lemon smoothie with avocado, spirulina , hemp protein powder and mesquite), two raw flax omega bars (whilst we were on the go), more of the morning smoothie for a late lunch and I have have just had 'afternoon tea' which was simply delicious! Just strawberries and blueberries drizzled with the orange cashew cream I made yesterday. OH MY!!!

So, I feel good. I knew that I would!

I urge you (yes, urge!) to make this for your afternoon tea (or anytime snack) so you can see how amazing it tastes!!

x

Friends, Strawberries, Cashew Cream and Milestones!

What a fabulous day! We all went to see good friends in Oxfordshire... Camille and her two children love eating lots of fresh and live yummies too so we were in for a treat for lunch! Salad, marinaded mushrooms, nori sushi rolls, and peppers! Camille and her daughter had made the most delicious apricot fudge - it was just like the real thing, only more real!!! They got the recipe out of one of our favourite books, Evie's Kitchen, by the gorgeous Shazzie.

I bought lots of fruit this morning for me being a Fresh and Live Mama! Watermelon, oranges and 2 big punnets of strawberries! I already have a plan for the strawberries (in addition to me eating them in the car on the way to Oxon.) Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I will be feasting on

Strawberries and Cream!!

The cream will consist of:

1 handful of cashews

juice of two oranges

pinch of salt

dash of agave

I have already tasted this cream and I have to say OOOOOhhhhhhhh! It's divine!!

Had wonderful chats all day about eating the kinds of foods that make us feel brill instead of ill (ooh, I should patent that!) It's so refreshing chatting to Camille - she is such a resevoir of energy, although I am not sure she knows! She fills me with light and power! She showed me some incredible pieces of jewelry - I can't wait to buy some!!

Seems like my decision to lose that weight and feel great coincides with a major milestone in my daughter's development too! She is out of nappies! I am actually immensely enjoying the whole process. We all feel calm and cool about it - it's just fabulous what these little ones have the potential to learn.

Well, got the rest of my evening smoothie to drink now so have a good night/day and see you tomorrow! xxx

I am Extremely Very Fresh and Live Indeed

That is how Lola (from Charlie and Lola) would say it! It is 'Day One' of the Fresh and Live Mama! And I have just had my last smoothie of the day, which I have to say was mightily delicious. Here is the recipe! 

Juice:

2 apples

1/2 a lemon

5 carrots

2 sticks celery

half a cucumber

big slice of pineapple

inch of ginger

then blend with:

1 whole avocado 

handful of ice (I actually used a whole tray!)

big handful of spinach

big handful of watercress, rocket (and spinach again!)

1 tsp spirulina

1 tsp mesquite

1 tsp hemp protein powder (www.detoxyourworld.com)

This made two big cupfuls - and now I feel pleasantly full (but not bursting at the seams and all bloated!)

I made a smoothie for lunch that was quite similar but included a handful of blueberries and a banana.

I relaxed between meals today and it was actually very refreshing not to pick at things. Usually, what I would do is eat a Bounce Ball, then maybe some dehydrated snacks, then something else, something else, then have lunch then also snack in the afternoon - all good snacks but if you want to lose weight, the extras still add up.

Tomorrow I will be juicing and salad-ing. (better tell my friends in advance that I am on  the salads tomorrow as we are going to visit them for the bank holiday monday!)

If I get hungry later on, I know that I could just drink some water but I will probably have a bowlful of blueberries and banana with strawberry cream drizzled on top. (well, I don't want to waste it!)

Quick recipe for THE MOST delish strawberry cream!

Wash and cut off the tops from a punnet of strawberries

Blend with a handful of cashews (soaked if poss - I didn't soak these ones)

Dash of agave

Pinch of salt

A little bit of cream goes a long way!

So all in all, a very splendid day. I have been fresh and live all day, the sun has been shining, me and Tom have done some much-needed sorting in our home, we played at the park and listened to live music and Maya has also had a fabulous day - half with us and half with my mum and dad! This is what I call living in a positively healthy world! xx

Fresh and Live Mummy

OK, here's the deal. I love, LOVE eating fresh and live foods (also known as RAW but I like to use words that describe how I feel when I eat these foods. I do feel fresh and alive and bursting with energy). 

But then, as I have written before, something sneaks into my diet. Then before I know it, I am still eating 'high raw' but also having a lot of junk OR eating a lot of fresh and live but still fatty foods, that enable me to feel pretty darn good but I am NOT LOSING ANY WEIGHT!!!

I just read one of my friend's old blog posts (www.discoverrawblog.com if you want to check out the gorgeous Jo Thomas) and I suddenly felt inspired to give my energy eating a bit of a theme and focus.

So here's the deal.

I am a mummy. I am a mummy who likes to eat lovely, yummy, fresh and raw and brimming with nutrients food. 

When I did my 30 Days in the Raw experiment last year, I felt amazing.

I am overweight. By at least a couple of stone. People don't believe me when I say that but I am.

So, my new project (as these things always seem to work better for me when I bring them into the format of a project!) is based around the fact I am an overweight mum, who needs to be very strict with herself and lose that weight. By being strict, I mean giving myself a list of foods I can eat, make sure all my nutritional needs are met but saying bye byes to everything that gets in the way. Even raw chocolate and my favourite - Bounce Balls! I don't believe in denial but this is why I want to create the most amazing salads, smoothies and flax crackers so that I can just not worry about the weight coming off, as it just will. Plus I will reap the other rewards that always come when eating this way - amazing skin, hair, nails and maybe the niggling pain in my knee will go away again. In fact, I already know it will.

I already know why I want to do this - I want to feel brilliant. I want my body to be in tip-top condition for my next pregnancy and just for general life! 

I really, really do want to fit into those trousers, dresses and wonderful clothes that are just waiting for me to shed just even a few pounds!! I have said this before, but something keeps getting in the way and I just don't have time to analyze anymore!! It's time for action! Sustained action.

So, I am now the Fresh and Live Mummy! I kind of want to go a bit American here and say I am the 'Fresh and Live Mommy' instead as the former makes me sounds a bit wrapped up in cotton! But saying 'Mommy' when I only spent three-months living in New Jersey will simply not do. Ok, so how about:  

The Fresh and Live Mama!

Yeah, I like that!

So I guess a lot of my posts now will be centered around what I will be eating, new recipes, how I feel and the weight I am losing. Even if you are a Dada or not a Mama, you could get on board with me and take what you want from my experiences (and share your own too.)

I am rather excited about all of this. I already have a short-term plan, which will be reassesed in week 5! Do you want to hear the gist of the first few weeks?

Day One - (tomorrow!) All juice day! This is a day for my body to just breathe a sigh of relief. AHHHhhhhhh! Plenty of fresh and live green juices to make me feel brill. Spinach, watercress, apples, cucumber... yummmy!

Days Two - Day Six - 2 juices and a lovely large salad (daily!) 

For the next five weeks, I will have one 'juice day' a week and the rest of the week will be 2 juices and a salad (which will include flaxxie crackers!)

After six weeks I would like to have a three-day juice feast!

And then back to juice, juice, salad.

In the juice, juice, salad days, I can also have any raw fruit and veggies and if I want a veggie soup I will make one. If I feel like some steamed veggies one day I will simply have them. Nothing is the enemy... but I know (very much so) what will enable me to lose weight and what foods will enable me to stay where I am (not so pleasantly plump!) I will also be including small amounts of nuts and seeds (soaked where poss).

Anyway, now I am accountable to all 5000 of my blog readers (well, no harm in visualizing that amount of people!) I already feel raring to go!! I love food! I love being fresh and live! Let's do it!

Chocolate Competition!

Just a quickie to say... would you like four BIG bars of delicious raw chocolate from RAWR? Then enter the competition on www.littleguru.co.uk - it's fun and you will love it if you win!!

xxxxx

Chocolate Orange Cake - No Cook!

The other day I got really excited as a big glossy mag advertised on their cover about a 'no- cook cake'. Hooray! I thought. Another raw cake makes its way into the mainstream world.

However, it was just an everyday usual cake - that didn't need cooking but was still full of sugar, milk, golden syrup, alcohol, double cream, icing sugar... and ok, some raw raspberries! There is another way people! And I have the recipe!! It's more of a torte than a cake - and I think it happens to be delish!

Victoria Torte (see what I did there?!)

the base...

2 x cups of buckwheat flour * 

2 x cups almond flour (I ground up the almonds in my high speed blender)

4 x heaped tbsp lucuma powder (www.detoxyourworld.com)

3 x tbsp agave nectar

4 x tbsp apricot paste (this was made by whizzing up one cup of apricots with a little warm water from the kettle)

pinch of pink salt

4 tbsp melted coconut butter

4 tbsp water

Mix all together with your hands and then press the mixture into a torte/flan dish, taking care to press up the sides too.

Now it's time to make...

the filling...

juice of two small oranges

1 avocado

6 tbsp coconut oil

pinch of pink salt

4 tbsp agave or other sweetener

4 heaped tbsp chocolate powder (I used Green and Blacks for this recipe)

2 x tbsp lucuma powder

Blend all the ingredients until you get a thick creammmmmmmmmmmm x

*  I soaked my buckwheat first then dehydrated the groats, then ground them into a flour! If you are not able to do all of this, then you can just soak them and grind them in the food processor. In saying that, I don't know how that will turn out as I wanted the buckwheat to be totally smooth in my cake. You could also try ordering from www.rawliving.eu  - they sell 'Buckwheaties' which you could then grind into a flour. 

Now, I think this covers it all - if any ingredient has been left out, this will still make a tasty cake!! When I blended all the filling ingredients, I can't tell you how gorgeous it was to pour into the torte dish on top of the base.... such smooth, velvety, chocolate orangy sweet goodness!!

If you want an all-raw version, of course, just use raw choccie powder. I can't have much of the raw stuff as it brings me all out in eczema but that's another post!!

Enjoy making and eating the cake xx

Crafting Peace with the Community

In Northampton we have a fabulous venue called The Fishmarket. Yes, it used to sell fish (ands surprisingly, green lipsticks that turned pink when applied!) But now, instead of cod, salmon and sharkfins (and weird lippies), this bright and breezy venue is an Art Gallery and space for artists and musicians to use for creative projects. It is also a place for local craftspeople and businesses to work on and sell their wares. Plus, it has a cafe which sells very delectable cheesecakes and brownies amongst other goodies!

It is such a hub of inspiration and light so when my local faith community needed a place for people to take part in a unifying arts project, we thought we'd give this place a go. One of the goals for Baha'is everywhere is work with people from all background, cultures and faiths and to learn with them and build communities... we wanted to host a project where people could come and paint, draw, write and play music... together. Would this alone bring world peace? Of course not, but it got people from Northampton and further afield working, talking, eating and planning together. There were a group of youths outside playing and we invited them to come in and draw. Not only did they come in a work with us, we had some really good conversations and I think they felt respected and valued for being youth. 

One lad stuck around for three or four hours. I let him use my camera for about an hour - and this 13 year old went round taking the most fabulous pictures! So most of the pics you will see here are taken by him.

When I reflected on the day with my friends and family, I realized that this is what we need to be doing. Being with each other. Working together. Planning alongside one another. Creating as a team or at least if on our own, with the support and in the shadow of loving, caring people. There was such a positive vibe on the Saturday this took place  - we'll have to do it again!

What can you plan for your own area? You don't need to be in a faith community to get together and get something going. We arranged this day in two weeks, and the reason why it worked was because everyone pitched in, from gathering materials, to taking photos, from playing music for the artists to work and relax to, to cleaning up at the end. One of our friends wasn't able to come but she lovingly prepared two beautiful flower arrangements which were commented on and appreciated. (They continue to be appreciated as I am looking at them now!)

The great things about days such as these is that you don't know what will be inspired by them. One thing my husband and I decided to do was host a monthly 'Spiritual Cafe' in our own home. Many people loved the beautiful quotes we had laid out on the tables and many people were engaged in spiritual conversations. So this is what we are doing! It was as simple as deciding it and then making a plan together. x

Buttons - not just for coats!

As I love noodles, I also love chocolate buttons and am constantly drawn towards eating the ones that are readily available (ie Cadbury's Buttons). I don't know what it is about eating chocolate that is in the form of a little button but it is so much more appealing to me than eating, say a bar of chocolate. Maybe with buttons, they bring out the child in me... or maybe, like the noodles, they have a way of 'being' on my tongue that I just enjoy when consuming.

However, I am striving for a healthy mind, body and spirit and the run-of-the-mill buttons don't assist me with that quest as they are full of vegetable fat, milk and sugar. And even though Cadburys have brought out GIANT buttons (argggghhhhhhhhhh!) I thought it was time to do some searching for ways to make my own or to actually buy some that me and my little sweetie Maya could eat together (as she is also a fan.)

Whilst scouring the internet for raw chocolate buttons, I came across a site that sell exactly what I was looking for! I put in a request to sample some and they arrived this morning. I received buttons of all shapes and sizes and had a taste. Mmm. Not quite like Cadburys, I frowned. But then as the button melted on my palate I thought, yes, there is definitely 'button credibility factor here' (BCF) and the chocolate hit is striking... now!

The thing is with products from the old world order is that they have the knack of keeping you hooked to their tastes, textures and sensations. But this is why I am committed to trying things beyond a first taste. The first time I tasted raw chocolate I did not like it one bit. Now, I am a big fan and would rather munch on a Shazzie Choc Bar over most mainstream ones (Green and Blacks still has a little hold on me though).

I got two packages in the post today - my choccie buttons from the lovely K Creations (hand-made raw chocolate from Hampshire - visit them! www.rawchocolateheaven.co.uk PLUS I also, strangely received chocolate button moulds from the USA which I put to the test immediately of course. I didn't haven't any cacao butter to hand but had some coconut butter, mesquite, maca, agave and pink salt.

The buttons turned out ok - Maya didn't like them but she loved the ones from K Creations! The only thing is, one of my button moulds from Bake It Pretty snapped - and I hardly put any pressure on at all. 

But now I know, I can have my buttons and eat them!!

Many thanks to K Creations for sending me through some very yummy samples indeed!! x