"Not-So Cheese Sauce"

(From Vita-Mix's "Whole Food Recipe" book)

This is surprisingly delicious! I was amazed at how much it looked and tasted like real cheese sauce. I don't even really like cheese sauce, it tastes so artificial to me, so this was much better to me. You can put it on macaroni, or use as a nacho sauce or dip, or anything else you can think up. :)

You pretty much need to have a Vita-Mix or Blendtech to make this sauce.  I got this recipe from the recipe book that I got when I purchased my Vita-Mix (which is filled with great recipes like this one).

1 cup water
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 large roasted red pepper*, peeled (or 1/4 cup canned pimientos)
1/2 cup raw almonds or cashews (I used almonds and it was great, cashews would probably be even better)
1 tsp onion powder (I used garlic powder instead and it was great)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (or 2 Tbsp baking yeast- don't know how that would taste though)
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (this isn't in the original recipe, but it's great if you like spicy nacho sauce)
1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 Tbsp potato starch mixed with 1/4 cup cold water (I didn't have it so I used cornstarch, and had to use a little extra to get it to thicken better)

Put everything into the blender in the order listed above, except don't add the boiling water or potato starch mixture yet. Start at low (Variable 1) and increase quickly to Variable 10, then to High. Keep on high for 5-6 minutes (or until you see steam coming out of the lid). Turn it down to Variable 7, take out the lid plug, and pour in the boiling water and cornstarch mixture. Keep blending until the sauce is thickened (1 minute or so).

*Note: I used a roasted red pepper, instead of canned pimientos. Here is a link with step by step pictured instructions on how to roast a red pepper:  http://www.aspicyperspective.com/2013/02/roast-red-pepper.html

If you use a regular blender, I'm assuming the nuts won't completely blend up, and you won't be getting any heat as you blend. But if you really wanted to try it, you might try using boiling water to start (for the 1 cup water listed as the first ingredient), and somehow grind your nuts before putting them in (in a coffee grinder, masticating juicer that also grinds, or buy almond meal) or using creamy almond or cashew butter. Let me know if you do try it with a regular blender and how it turns out!

Cheese-less Omelets & Quesadillas

Is it possible to have a cheese-less quesadilla or omelet? Of course!

Here are some ideas:

Sweet Potato Quesadilla:

For my filling I combined brown rice & pinto beans with mashed sweet potato, then seasoned with cumin, salt, and pepper. I put my filling into the tortilla and grilled on both sides until brown. Then I scooped some guacamole into the middle and it was so delicious!

The Guacamole Omelet 

(I made my guacamole here with avocado, tomatoes, red bell peppers, lemon juice, and seasonings):

The Rainbow Omelet:

Pick whatever veggies you want and arrange over your omelet in a rainbow (I put avocado slices in my omelet here).

Mexican Fiesta Omelet:

(I put chopped greens inside the omelet, topped it with guacamole, then put sliced grape tomatoes on top, and filled my plate with chopped red pepper)

Green Energy Soup

I just made this today and I want to eat it everyday! It is packed with nutrition and extremely alkalinizing. Just put it all in the blender:

Green Energy Soup 

(from my book "Going Raw" by Judita Wignall)

2 cups water

5 leaves kale, stems removed, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

1/2 cucumber, chopped

2 Tbsp lime juice

2-3 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp sea salt

pinch cayenne pepper (opt)

1 avocado

pepper to taste

Blend in vita mix (best option, but regular blender is ok, just won't be as smooth). The lime juice makes this amazing, so don't leave it out. What a refreshing, completely raw meal that is so easy to eat and very tasty!

Note: If your produce is room temp (such as if you just came back from the store), and if you blend in a Vita Mix or Blendtech, the soup will be luke warm (or warmer depending on how long you blend for) which I thought tasted great, especially if you're not used to cold soups (such as the Spanish "gazpacho"). Please don't microwave this, or heat it up... half the nutrients will be killed, and the whole point of this soup is that it contains awesome nutrients for your body. :)

3 Steps to a Healthier Life

Here are some simple steps that we all can take to live a healthier life:

3 R's to a Healthier Life:

REDUCE-- REPLACE-- REPLENISH

1. REDUCE exposure to toxins. Be aware of the toxins in our food supply and in your personal care products, and reduce, or better yet, eliminate them.

Click here for a guide to avoiding toxins in food products.

Click here for a guide to hazardous ingredients in personal care products and how they compare with organic products.

(There is a lot of information about this, just google "toxins in food" or "toxins in cosmetics", etc)

2. REPLACE bad food with good, aiming to eat at least 50% raw fruits and vegetables (emphasis on the vegetables, especially the dark leafy greens which are packed with important vitamins/minerals for our bodies to function well).

To get my greens, I drink a green juice in the morning, a green smoothie with lunch, a huge salad for dinner, and additional greens if possible (such as in a sandwich). Every time I make a meal or snack, I try to eat at least 50% vegetables (or fruit, but I try to eat a lot more vegetables than fruit). For example, for a snack I will have carrots with hummus, or for breakfast I will have oatmeal with a whole apple (chopped up and mixed in- it will look more like apples with oatmeal than oatmeal with apples- I also add cinnamon, almonds, dates, & ground flax seed). So instead of vegetables and fruits being the side dish, I try to make it the main course, with my grains/nuts/seeds/legumes on the side.

One more thing that helps me do this is to always eat my fruits or vegetables FIRST, before I fill up on other food. That way I make sure to fit them in. And when you start to eat fresh fruits and vegetables first, when you are hungry, you may start to crave them the next time you are hungry, because that is what your body is now used to. It is amazing how we can change the way our bodies work.

I challenge you to try eating 50% fruits & vegetables (and eat them BEFORE your other food) for a week and see what happens! Then comment below about your experience! :)

3. REPLENISH your body with nutrients that you are not getting from food. I hate to say it but despite your best efforts to eat lots of fresh produce, our food isn't the same quality it used to be (due to depleted soil, pesticides, GMOs, hybridizing, and "green harvesting"). I was sort of in denial about this until lately. I thought, as long as I eat a healthy diet, I will be fine. Besides, I didn't want to spend my money on something that I could get in food. But it simply isn't possible today. Our grandparents could eat 1 peach, and we have to eat who knows how many just to get the same amount of nutrients. (Click here for an article about how vegetables are losing their nutrients (or just google "nutritional value of vegetables decreasing").) It is another sad truth I have had to accept lately.

In order to give your body what it needs so it can fight off disease effectively, you will need to supplement with natural (NOT synthetic) supplements of essential vitamins, minerals, and glyconutrients (have you heard of those?? Click here for more info).

Do you know the difference between natural and synthetic vitamins? Synthetic vitamins are made in a lab, whereas natural vitamins are found in plants. Our bodies absorb natural vitamins well; synthetic vitamins aren't completely absorbed into our bodies and I just learned that they are actually quite harmful to us! My relative has a consumer awareness guide on her website about how to tell if your vitamins are natural or synthetic, and what the difference is. Click here to get the guide. 

I'll give you some examples:
Vitamin C: if it says Ascorbic Acid, it is synthetic. If it says citrus, rose hips, or acerola berries, it is natural.
Beta-carotene: if it doesn't list a source, it is from acetylene gas (synthetic!). If it says carrot or sweet potato, it is natural.
Vitamin D: If it says irradiated, ergosteral, or calciferol, it is manufactured in a lab. If it says fish oils, it is natural.
Click here for more.

Did you know that MOST vitamins are synthetic? It's much cheaper to produce synthetic vitamins than the real ones. I just can't believe I didn't even know there was a difference. I thought "vitamins are vitamins" and I'm sure most people do too.

One final note: Please, please, please throw away your pharmaceutical vitamins (aka the prenatals my doctor prescribed me when I was pregnant that my insurance covered). They contain artificial color to make them look pretty! And a host of other nasty ingredients. When I finally realized this, I went to Whole Foods to get more "natural" vitamins, even though my other ones were free. But I had no idea that I should have been looking to see if they were synthetic or natural, and after learning about this, I just checked my new "natural" vitamins and they are...you guessed it...synthetic! I'm breastfeeding right now so it's kind of a big deal to get the best nutrition possible so that my baby can be healthy too. So I'm going to start taking a completely natural vitamin/mineral/glyconutrient supplement that I just found out about and I can't wait to get REAL nutrients into my body.

Hope this info helps! Good luck with your own journey to better health. :)

~Lynleigh

P.S. I'm sure we all know this, but once you start giving your body the nutrients it needs to do its job, get out there and exercise every day! That is another essential ingredient for optimal health!

Whole Wheat Pancakes (Vegan) with fruit

This is a healthy and very tasty pancake recipe you can make for your kids, without the bad ingredients in packaged mixes, and with the benefits of ground flax seed (fiber, protein, Omega 3s) and whole wheat flour (protein, fiber).

These are topped with lots of fresh fruit, instead of syrup, or you can make your own fruit syrup (put pears or peaches in the food processor, add a little honey or pure maple syrup).

I based this off of a recipe I got when I was a missionary in Brazil. The friend who gave it to me was American, so these are not Brazilian pancakes unfortunately. :) But these are way better than any packaged mix I've had.

Whole Wheat Pancakes (Vegan)

These are not raw, but with the loads of fruit piled on top, your meal can be mostly raw! (See below) 

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup unsweetened Almond Milk (or Rice Milk) (add a little more for a thinner consistency)

1/2 banana, mashed (this is the egg substitute)

2 Tbsp raw honey

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

3 Tbsp ground flaxseed

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil

Mix all ingredients and cook on medium heat, flipping once until done. Enjoy!

Special thanks to my husband for making these delicious pancakes this morning and adding the banana instead of egg (because we were all out) to make them vegan. He always makes the pancakes at our house and they always turn out great- way better than I make them. Thanks babe!