anulicious

I am in love.

And it is this woman’s fault: Sarah Britton from the My new roots – Blog.

I told you about Sarah before in this post, when I wrote about the awesome Raw Taco Recipe.

And now she got me again with a Raw Chocolate Milkshake.

The great thing about Sarah’s recipes is, that you don’t primarily make them because they are so healthy for you (which the are) but because the taste so amazing.

Same with this recipe. I am normally not really a chocolate kind of girl, but the last days this image of Sarah’s raw milkshake didn’t go off my head, so I went to the Whole Foods Store and bought some raw cacao powder.

The great thing is, you can drink this milkshake without any guilt, because it is super healthy for you.

Raw Chocolate has so much benefits and is even a superfood. Read the whole blog post from Sarah here. There is a lot of interesting information concerning this.

Yesterday I had:

Green Smoothie

Salad with china cabbage, cucumber, tomatoes, sauerkraut and Tahini Dressing

Carrots

Raw Chocolate Milkshake

xoxo

Raw Food is not all cucumber sticks and apples.

There are actually some really cool raw chefs out there and they can make some fancy, fancy food I tell ya.

Ani Phyo is one of them. The good thing is, Ani’s recipes are not all complicated and time consuming. Most of them are actually pretty easy.

So on Sunday we tried a recipe from this video:

I can tell you, it was sooo yummy and super easy and fast to make. What surprised me the most was, that the marinated mushrooms really get this cooked texture after 15 minutes of soaking. And the sauce… No words for how good it was. And so satisfying, too.

Girls, when you are crazy about low carb and are looking for some yummy dinner alternatives: that’s your dish!

Here is my complete food journal from Sunday:

Green Smoothie

Vegetarian Salad with Miso Dressing & Wakame Salad at Lunch with my pals

Ani Phyo’s Mushroom Bul Go Gi

Yesterday I enjoyed:

Green Smoothie

Apple

Salad with Cucumber, Tomatoes, Sauerkraut & Tahini Dressing

Avocado

Some Nuts

Broccoli with Raw Cheeze Sauce

What me and my husband both discovered is that we really have so much more energy, while we are eating this way. You know when you had Lunch and after that you really wanna take a nap because you are so sleepy? With raw foods this doesn’t happen. Our mind is clear and sharpe the whole day.

So, we made the first week. Over all it was much easier than I thought and just after this few days I see how much less food I need already to satisfy me. And I also sticked to my Workout Plan and went to the gym five times the last week. So, pretty proud at the moment

xoxo

I have to admit that I never was really into eating leafy green vegetables. I mean, I always liked carrots, beets and all this stuff, but greens?? Not so much. When I leaned to a plant-based diet this didn’t change immediately but soon I learned about this great thing:

The Green Smoothie!

Fruit Smoothies are familiar to most of you I guess, but what the heck is a Green Smoothie you ask?

Well, it is made of fruit PLUS green leafy vegetables blended in. Yes, that’s right. When I learned about all the benefits of this, I started to incorporate green smoothies in my daily meals. It is my  breakfast now.

Now on christmas I got the book “Green for Life” by Victoria Boutenko as a gift. Victoria actually really made this whole concept very popular. She, her husband and her two kids healed themselves from chronic diseases with a raw food diet and are consuming a lot of green drinks on a daily basis.

Victoria explains, that the chlorophyll in the Greens is very similar to the hemoglobin in our blood. So drinking greens gives us extra health benefits.

But who really eats a bunch of Greens every day? That is almost impossible. So Victoria had the idea, to blend them in the Smoothies, with the fruit. The great thing about this is, when you have the right ratio, you don’t even taste the Greens, only the fruit.

Also, when you blend the greens very high, Victoria claims, that makes them easier for your body to digest.

You can read more about the Green Smoothies here at the Boutenko website.

I already started to drink Green Smoothies some months ago for breakfast and I really felt the difference. It gives me so much energy and it decreases my appetite for unhealthy foods. Even if you don’t eat anything else the whole day that is healthy (what should’t be your goal) you have this super healthy drink in the morning.

I always make enough in the morning for my husband and me and I take 500ml with me to work in this pretty jar.

I mostly put frozen banana and mango in there and rotate my greens (read here why this is important), sometimes it’s baby spinach, kale, romaine, lettuce,… And I also like to add some super foods to it for the extra health kick.

I also recognized that drinking my Green Smoothies helps me easily reducing and controlling my weight.

If you now think, this could be a great thing for you, I have a video at the end where Victoria Boutenko’s daughter Valya shows how to make tasty green smoothies.

But first here are my food journal of the last two days.

On Friday I enjoyed:

Green Smoothie

Salad with Cucumber, Tomatoes, Sauerkraut and Baby Spinach

Avocado

Broccoli with “Cheese” Cashew Sauce (Sooo good), Kale & Pomegranate Salad

Raw Bread

Yesterday I had:

Green Juice

Green Smoohie

Red Beet Salad & Tomato Cilantro Salad at one of my favorite Cafés

Wakame Salad & Avocado Salad at a Sushi Place before we went to the cinema

two dates

Have a lovely Sunday!

xoxo

Okay Guys, this was a good day.

No more detox symptoms and I really felt satisfied with my meals. I enjoyed:

Green Smoothie

Salad with Baby Spinach, Cucumber, Cherry Tomatoes, Avocado, Sauerkraut (my new favorite, who did see that coming?) and Tahini Dressing.

Kalamata Olives

A few Nuts (Brazil, Walnut, Almond)

And for dinner a had this Beauty:

Aren’t the colors amazing?

It is massaged kale (yes, that’s right, kale in a salad!), pomegranates, raisins and pine nuts. I also added some Nori for the iodine intake (not in the pic).

I tell you the flavors were just amazing. Such a simple dish, and so tasty. That is the great thing about exploring raw food. You realize, that the simple things can be so amazing and bursting with flavor. And of course they are so healthy for you!

So a win-win situation!

xoxo

Just a quick Hello from me before I had to bed. I had light detox symptoms today and a lot of appetite. But I forced myself to the gym after work, which was a good idea. I took a sauna after the training and now I am ready for bedtime.

Yesterday I enjoyed:

Water with lemon

A green smoothie

A salad with greens, avocado, cucumber, tomatoes and a tahini dressing

raw tomato soup with kalamata olives, green onions and raw bread, here is a picture:

For my cravings were pretty strong today, I had a lot:

A green smoothie

Carrots

Cucumber Salad with Tomatoes, Sauerkraut and Tahini Dressing

Avocado, Bell Pepper

Blueberry Smoothie

Handful of Walnuts & Almonds

Olives, One Raw Bread with sundried tomato

Despite of the detox symptoms and the appetite for some cooked food like brown rice (oohhh, brown rice…),I think I am doing pretty fine. We’ll see, how it will be tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Good night!

xoxo

So we really made the first day of our Raw Food Challenge. And I have to say, it wasn’t hard at all.

I thought, I might have more detox symptoms like a headache, but nothing. (Only my husband had a little headache, but I guess this is because he normally consumes coffee on a regular basis) Actually, my energy was very good and I had no strong cravings.

Here is what I ate:

 Two Green Smoothies

Three Dates

A lof of Raw Tacos

The raw tacos were inspired by lovely Sarah Britton from “My new roots”- Blog. They are so yummy and taste like the real deal. Here is the post.

Sarah is a holistic nutritionist and vegan chef and has a great talent for lovely recipes that also boost with nutrition and are just amazing for your health. The recipes are mostly vegan and she has a lot of great raw options, too. Especially her raw desserts are so mouthwatering. I will definitely try out this raw brownie in a couple of days.

But for now here are some pics of the raw tacos we made.

We put together tomatoes, avocados, cilantro, red onions, bell pepper with salt, pepper and some lime juice.

Then we made the walnut “meat” – Yes, that’s right! This grounded up stuff is NOT real meat, it’s walnuts. And believe me, you can hardly taste a difference. It is blended with olive oil, cumin and tamari (soy sauce).

And last but not least a cashew “sour cream” – Also absolutely devine. You would not miss the normal stuff.

Then you just take some salad leafs (we had romaine) and put all the stuff in and fold it like a little taco. Violà!

Stay healthy and happy!!!

xoxo

Happy New Year to all of you!!!

So, 2012 is here, time is flying so fast. A new year is always a good time for resolutions. Some people want to lose weight, some want to do more sports, quit smoking, and so on.

Although me and my husband already eat very healthy, this year we want to go a bit further to incorporating more raw life foods  in our diet.

In the past, I always thought of raw food only as salads and carrot sticks and that was very dull to me.

But than I read a lot about the Raw Food Movement and came across lovely recipes from Ani Phyo and other raw food chefs and realized that this food and lifestyle can actually be very fun and diversified. Although at that point of my life I can not imagine eating a 100% raw food diet, I definitely want to eat more life food.

Read this interesting article, why raw food is so good for your body.

So as a conclusion of all this, my husband and I are starting this year with a 4-week-raw-food-challenge. We want to eat only raw food for the next month and see, how this feels and if it has any positive effects on us.

I am very excited about this and will share my experiences with you on this blog.

For today I want to leave you with lovely Mimi Kirk. She was voted Sexiest Vegetarian by PETA and is 72 (!!!) years old and looks amazing. She has been a vegetarian for decades and since some years now been totally raw. Check out this radiant beauty!

xoxo

P.S.: Of course, it is important before EVERY detox, to talk to your doctor, if such a cleanse is suitable for you. Everybody is different and not all detoxes are for everybody. So it is necessary to inform and educate yourself and get medical advice first!

I have to say, this year was pretty awesome.

1. I found a new job I really, really love and I am so thankful for that.

2. Me and my family and friends all stayed healthy and nobody suffered from anything serious, and that is the most important thing in the world.

3. I found a new way of lifestyle through cutting out animals from my plate.

So for this year was so nice, here is my favorite list of 2011

Favorite Song released in 2011:

Impossible to pick just one song, but this one I loved very much:

Favorite Movie watched in 2011:

Remember me

Favorite TV Show in 2011:

Dexter (!!!) / 30 Rock

Favorite Read in 2011:

Sebastian Fitzek – Die Therapie

Jonathan Safran Foer – Eating Animals

Favorite Place to eat in 2011:

Ouzeria, Cologne

(not a Veggie Restaurant, but a lot of veggie options available, my hubby and I go there nearly every week)

Favorite Blog:

Oh She Glows – Angela Liddon

(and soooo many more)

Food, I loved in 2011:

Avocados, raw desserts, Green Smoothies, Antipasti Pizza (no Cheese!) from our Pizza Place

I would love to hear from your favorite things in 2011.

xoxo

As I have time off between Christmas and New Years, today I met with my dear friend Nadine for lunch.

We wanted to try out the restaurant Ecco, because it has an extra vegan menu and a lot of vegetarian options. I think that is just a great thing and I hope that more restaurants will incorporate veggie meals in their normal menu. In Cologne we really don’t have that very often.

I had a yummy vegan Bolognese and my friend Fettucine with mushrooms.

We had so much to talk about because we have so little time to see each other regularly. So there was a lot of chatting and before we knew, it was already getting dark outside. Time flies when you are spending it with lovely people.

Nadine has also a great blog. You can check it out here.

So now I am at home and looking forward to a cosy evening with my man. Just watching a movie and making a tea of the Love Tea – Collection I got for christmas. A hard choice to make.

xoxo

If you are having some friends over for new years eve and you are looking for ideas for simple and quick recipes, I have a few suggestions.

Earlier this month we celebrated my husbands birthday and I made a small buffet.

We had classic Bruschetta and the wonderful Black Olive Bruschetta with Cashew Cream from Colleen Patrick-Goudreaus book “Color me vegan”. This is so yummy and easy to make.

Watch Colleen’s video for the recipe here.

She is such a great person and I admire her work so much. She really is an inspiration to live a compassionate lifestyle. Check out her website.

A party wouldn’t be one without proper party salads. For that how about these two?

Trattoria Pasta Salad

Creamy Avocado Potato Salad (No Mayo!)

These recipes are from the Post Punk Kitchen Website from Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Isa is also an author of many vegan cookbooks and has some lovely recipes, so it is really worth checking out her website.

So, happy party planning and bon appetit!

xoxo