Cookbook Mondays: Choco Chia Shake

I have a confession to make. I don't eat properly when I'm by myself. I eat too little, just snack, and mostly can't be bothered. It's not that I eat junk, I just don't eat enough, and I eat snacky things like vegemite on toast, or just a banana. The Beloved has gone away for a few days and so this week I'm making an effort to eat properly while the hubby isn't here. He knows I do this and will undoubtedly ask what I've eaten. So I decided I would have a look in Gorilla Food by Aaron Ash. I like raw vegan, and some stuff is truly amazing, but I mostly can't be bothered soaking, sprouting, and dehydrating something that will take four days before I can eat it. Plus, by the time its ready its more than likely I want to eat something else. If I'm going to eat raw, I like simple fast recipes or just eating au naturale -give me a whole pineapple, or half a watermelon or whatever. I like the Gorilla Food book because it has a really good combo of fast and simple, and more complex. I decided a shake would be the perfect thing, but I wanted something comforting. Let me tell you, I think The Oh My Choco Chia Shake is the best choc shake I've ever had! Serious. Vegan or otherwise. And my gut is thanking me for it, even better! It's rich and creamy thanks to some cashews (which I didn't have to soak- phew!), not overly sweet (even better, my face isn't going to tingle from a sugar rush), and I got two servings of fruit and a protein boost (ha, its a complete meal bonus points!) It's like drinking a chocolate pudding its so velvety and delicious. If you are going to buy a raw vegan uncook book I would definitely recommend this one simply because of its variety and intensely flavoured recipes. I'll be making this shake over and over again I know!

Raw Vegan : The Real V8 Smoothie Juice

I really dislike V8 juice you get in a bottle. I remember my Nan trying to give it to me as a kid. I tried later on but basically it tastes not very fresh to me, and a bit chemically and too salty. I suppose it's because its reconstituted juice. Anyway, this tastes a thousand times better. I also only juiced the carrot and celery because I think its important to get fibre from the flesh of the other ingredients to fill you up and slow down the release of the sugars.

Ingredients

juice of 4 carrots

juice of 2 celery sticks (leaves reserved)

three roma tomatoes

1 whole cucumber

1/2 avocado

1/4 red capsicum

1 small garlic clove

1 small wedge red onion

1 small chilli

I juiced the carrots and celery, and then put that in the blender with the celery leaves and everything else. I didn't have to add any water, the juice took care of smoothing everything out. It was fairly spicy, so if you aren't good with chilli I would suggest 1/2 or omitting it and adding a dash of cayenne pepper.

So what else did I eat today? Breakfast was my favourite green smoothie - banana, orange, and baby spinach, about 750ml. Lunch was a watermelon, kiwi, celery juice and spinach smoothie, a bit under a litre. I probably drank about  a litre of water during the day as well....I forgot that when you first start a week of smoothies you pee lot because you get super hydrated and all the fluid retention is flushed out. I also forgot how hard it was last time  - when you work in a food business and do nothing but talk about food all day! and my office is opposite the kitchen, so I smell EVERYONE's morning tea toast and lunch. Yikes! But I think if I can get through the week I'll sort myself out and will have got past many of the cravings. Cravings weren't that bad today, the only thing I really missed was a cup of tea. The lack of tea probably explains the headache I got mid morning, but that subsided after lunch. I'll have a chamomile tea before bed probably, but that's allowed being caffeine free!

When I think of how many serves of fruit and veg I've had today, that makes me feel pretty amazing.

For anyone that's doing anything similar or following along I'd love to hear how you are going!

Dairy Free Thickshake Style Smoothie

This may be boring to you, but after my run this afternoon I wanted something sweet but nutritious to replenish my energy. The Beloved was making himself a very non nutritious malt shake, and it made me feel like a thickshake.  I had some frozen bananas and strawberries in the freezer, so I whacked a banana and a handful of strawberries in the blender with 250ml water and scraped out a vanilla bean into it. A few bursts in the powermill and I had a nutritious thickshake without any sugar or dairy. The bananas  made it super creamy, so I'll be making more of these with other fruits to see how it goes. Yummy!