The Live Green Smoothie Diet

Archive for August, 2009

raw-green-bean-salad-lemon-mint-dressing
raw-green-bean-chutney-salad

This is an excellent side dish for a raw pot luck, or to perk up an everyday family meal. Citrusy, crunchy, creamy, slightly sweet, refreshing, and unexpectedly minty, it would make a great accompaniment and counterpoint for many other dishes. Oh, and also… it’s very pretty on the table. :D

For someone preparing a cooked meal and wanting a nice raw accent, this dish would go especially great with Mediterranean cuisine, or steam some brown or wild rice to enjoy with the green beans.

Made with three kinds of fresh citrus juices (orange, lime, and lemon), with just a bit of red onion for a savory undertone, and a little bit of natural sweetener (I used organic palm sugar… a favorite of mine of late for it’s mellow sweetness and golden color), and offset nicely by the creaminess of avocado in the dressing, the dish has a nice balance of flavors and textures.

I’ve never been a big lover of raw green beans, but when I saw these unusual long, narrow green beans at my local Indian market, I was inspired to create a dish that *I* would like… because if I like it, odds are others who aren’t big lovers of raw green beans might also enjoy it. Turns out…I ate the entire recipe all by itself after making it. :D

tender-long-green-beans

 

raw-lemon-mint-dressing

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momma's-milk-raw-coctail
momma's-milk-raw-cocktails

Creamy milk, heavenly vanilla…and a bit of vodka to jack up the festival spirit. This soothing raw vegan cocktail is not just luxurious, but refreshing as well.

“Momma’s Milk” was originally a dairy cocktail made with cane sugar, and here I’ve transposed it into a version made with fresh almond milk.

I am forever seeking to create delicious vehicles for vanilla, one of my absolute favorite taste sensations. Alas, I can’t say I’ve yet found a raw vegan medium that can truly highlight the exquisite heavenliness of vanilla standing on its own, as the neutral flavor of dairy products can do.

For example, the fresh flavor of almond in this cocktail is delicious, but not a neutral background. Still, this is a wonderful, luxurious cocktail quite worthy of its name…and Momma’s Milk has been famous in my house for a couple years, now.

raw-vegan-vanilla-cocktail-momma's-milk

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raw-papaya-medjool-date-compote

This dish is a winner, with its pairing of fresh sweet papaya just exploding with juice and giant medjool dates, which go beautifully with garlic, lime, and olive oil. Topped with chopped salted macadamia nuts, it’s a beautiful dish for entertaining as well as for your own private table.

A simple “raw compote”, this dish is a convergence of all my favorite raw food elements: juicy, sweet, crunchy, creamy, filling, grounding, and savory. It’s filling enough to make a meal of it all by its lonesome, and satisfying enough to the taste buds to star solo as well.

I’m always on the lookout for raw dishes that are filling, grounding, savory, and quick to prepare — without getting into the fuss of dehydration –, as these qualities combined are (in my humble opinion) the least pioneered area of raw & living foods cuisine.

 

giant-medjool-dates

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Traditional Chinese Medicine: Foods Great for the Spleen

If you do a little research you’ll find that dates, garlic, and papaya are all foods that are considered in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) to be tonifying and strengthening for the spleen.

This I know because last fall I became very ill with mono and immediately set about to strengthen my spleen, chi, and blood…and these were among the top of the list for foods to help support all of those systems. I immersed myself in those and other foods, and within a week I was back to normal, and considered myself very fortunate that I didn’t have a lengthy struggle with the illness.

When I eat these foods, I feel both grounded and deeply nourished and comforted. Try it and see how it affects your own body!

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papaya-date-compote-closeupp

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raw-vegan-milk-chocolate-cashew-almond

When I released my “Super Chocolate” Raw Chocolate Truffle Bar recipe, I had a request from one reader for a “milk” chocolate recipe…and so here it is. Lighter, creamier, and smoother, it still has that intense chocolate flavor that dark chocolate lovers adore, but is milder for those that prefer the milkier variety.

Obviously, in a raw vegan world, there’s no way to make milk chocolate because dairy ingredients are out, as is the possibility of taking fresh almond milk and cooking it down. 

Cashews, however, have a milky quality when blended. So I “lightened” this chocolate a bit with cashews, and added a bit less raw cacao than in my “Super Chocolate” recipe. The result: another great nutrient-packed, superfood energy bar.

You can get your chocolate fix a good dose of naturally occurring magnesium and calcium.

Raw cashew-honey butter.

Raw cashew-honey butter.

raw-milk-chocolate-bars

 

 

 These are great natural, nutrient-packed energy bars!!! Forget the store-bought stuff and make your own!

 

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raw-lemon-garlic-soup

closeup-shot-raw-lemon-garlic-warm-live-soup

With its soothing texture and hit of lemon, this warm, creamy soup reminds me of Greek “avgolemono soupa”. You can prepare the soup quite mild, for children, or add lemon and garlic on the heavy side to make the soup explode with flavor. Jacking up the fresh herbs in the recipe will also give an even more pronounced Mediterranean flavor.

Aside from the fresh herbs, which are easy to pick up at your local market, and the hemp seeds, which in my opinion should be a staple in your kitchen anyway *grin*, there’s nothing exotic about this soup. It’s a good base to have in your repertoire, because you can doctor it up a number of ways, and it’s wildly healthful…especially if you have a cold or are feeling congested. In which case: jack up the lemon & the garlic! :D

To create additional layers of texture and flavor, add fresh chopped cucumber and pistachios, and sliced scallions and chopped fresh tomato.

raw-lemon-garlic-spinach-soup-closeup
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creamy-raw-lemon-garlic-soup

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pink-pussycat-martini-raw-cocktail
pink-pussycat-martini-raw-cocktail-two

To be honest, in my home this martini is known by a slightly abbreviated nickname with a much steamier connotation. Chalk it up to my bawdy Greek sensibilities.

But by whatever name you choose, this is a lovely concoction made from two of the fruits most famous around the world for inspiring amorous sentiments: the lychee and the strawberry.

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fresh-lychee-fruit-inside

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The Lychee: “Gift for a Joyful Life”

The inner flesh of the lychee is so plump, delicate, sweet, succulently transparent and florally fragrant, it is almost embarrassingly obvious why it came to be regarded in Chinese culture as a symbol for love and sensuality.

In addition to its romantic associations, the fruit is loaded with anti-aging and disease-fighting antioxidants, lending a clue as to why “lychee” translates in Chinese to “Gift for a Joyful Life”.

lychee-fruit-flesh

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A Perfect Marriage for Passion

While the strawberry is alleged to have developed its reputation as an aphrodisiac due to the many delicate seeds on its skin, symbolizing fertility, what is most obvious to me about the two of these luscious fruits it that they are in the shape of the human heart (as evidenced by these photos taken of the fruits lying on my kitchen counter).

Blending the blood-red strawberries with the sublime transparent gleam of the lychee creates a lovely shade of pink: a great pairing to ignite the passions of the heart. Add some vanilla-infused vodka to the mix, and you have an intoxicatingly yummy drink to sip with someone you care about. 

fresh-strawberries-closeup

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17 Aug, 2009

My Kitchen

Posted by: Angela Leeds In: *Site News

Don’t forget to check out Angela’s “LGS Daily Recipe” online recipe magazine & the new “Jack Up The Raw” 6-week coaching program!


Pythagorion on the island of Samos... the birthplace of Pythagoras, and where my family is from.

Pythagorion on the island of Samos... the birthplace of Pythagoras, and where my family is from.

My Background

I’ve been a lover of great food as far back as I can remember. I relished working side-by-side with my mother from childhood to prepare the exquisite Greek dishes that were such a part of my upbringing, and I started pouring my attention over cookbooks in elementary school, launching an early passion for inventing dishes for my family.

In fact, I don’t think I can undermine the effect my Greek upbringing had on my sensibilities around food. Growing up visiting my family on the island of Samos in the Aegean, ingredients were simple, fresh, colorful, and utterly delicious. A great part of every day revolved around the pleasure — and community — of eating. And the imprint of gorgeously sensual fruits and sensational comfort foods left an indelible mark that is with me yet today.

 

 

greek-salad

"Horiatiki" Salad -- The center of any Greek's table...

By the time I was in my teens, I was a lover of Things Gourmet before gourmet had hit its stride, and by 20 I started working in some of the country’s best restaurants.

I’ve been a waiter or headwaiter (captain) in great places such as Gotham Bar & Grill and Union Square Cafe in NYC, and The Ryland Inn in New Jersey, where waiters are expected to be professionals and keepers of rarified knowledge and purveyors of rarified service. In Minneapolis, in earlier years, I opened Yvette at Riverplace and worked at Mitterhaus La Cuisine and The New French Cafe. I’ve worked at French, Italian, Bistro, California, Spanish & Portuguese restaurants, and studied fines wines for years as a part of my work.

union-square-cafegotham_bar_diningryland-inn-craig-shelton

At the same time, I started a family early and, in lieu of the freedom to travel, I used the kitchen as my travel medium. I learned how to cook Indian, Thai, French, Italian (and Greek) cuisines from scratch, without recipes. The world of food and creating delicious experiences, and working with the finest ingredients I could lay my hands on, has been an enormously significant and intensely creative, fulfilling part of my entire life.

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Pioneering Raw, Living, and Superfoods Cuisine

Enter: Raw foods. For me it is the most natural pleasure to be able to delve into this brave new world of raw, living, and superfood cuisine, and to share my discoveries and creations with others.

My style is not fiddly or complex. It is home-cooking and simple, with maximum pleasure for minimum effort being modus operandi, always. In that regard, my spirit in the kitchen is very similar to Nigella Lawson’s. I’m no chef… but a great lover of great food!

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Delicious Food, Extraordinarily Healthful Food… For Everyone

So, in that vein I hope my creations are accessible — and useable — to many. I create dishes for the pleasure of my own taste buds, which by now are irretrievably jaded. But my focus isn’t on rarified technique — it’s only on the simplest, best, cleanest, most wholesome ingredients… food with maximum life force, minimally contaminated by the massive urge in our current culture to push-push-push and force past what nature is naturally inclined to create in its most balanced state. 

I love to feed. I love to nourish. I love to give pleasure. My world is driven on many levels by the urge to experience the full deliciousness of living, on both a physical as well as a soul level. 

So, I invite you into my “kitchen”, and hope you find some enjoyment, pleasure, and deliciousness there which makes a difference in your life, which brings your soul a feeling of satisfaction, your spirit some upliftment, your taste buds fulfillment…and your body unprecedented vitality, nourishment, and health. 

Welcome to My Kitchen. :D

Angela

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raw-vegan-cooked-cereal-closeup

raw-vegan-cooked-cereal

If I had little kids, I know that some variation of this recipe would be a daily staple on the kitchen table.

This mild-flavored dish is sweet, creamy, and sooooo much healthier than cooked grains with milk. It’s chockfull of calcium from almonds, and essential fatty acids, protein, fiber (and many other good things…) from hemp seeds and macadamia nuts — with a daily apple to keep the doctor away. Fresh almond milk poured over top mixes with fresh almond pulp to give a texture not unlike good old Cream O’ Wheat. 

It would also make for a comforting dessert for adults, or a nice light supper. Despite the dish involving a few different steps, it’s very quick to make.

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raw-almond-pulp-with-hemp-seeds-and-macadamia-nutsorganic-apples

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16 Aug, 2009

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-08-16

Posted by: Angela Leeds In: *Site News

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raw-vegan-greek-spaghetti-closeup

raw-vegan-greek-spaghetti

Anyone who knows me knows I am a HUGE fan of Greek-style spaghetti. It is a highly enjoyable part of the non-raw, non-vegan portion of my diet. Yet I’ve wished many times that there were a way to create a healthy raw vegan equivalent that also actually tasted great and gave that hit of “comfort” that pasta gives…and in particular, pasta with the sauce that I grew up on.

Greek spaghetti sauce is typically seasoned with “sweet” spice combinations, such as cumin & cinnamon, cinnamon & orange peel, or fenugreek & clove. It is also less “tomato-saucy” as it is generally made with tomato paste rather than sauce.

raw-vegan-greek-spaghetti-sauce-closeup

raw-vegan-greek-spaghetti-sauce

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  • stardancer: Delish!! Have enjoyed the Caesar series... used a lemon basil in it, very good. Thanks :)
  • stardancer: Quick Update: Your salads were especially a big hit at party! Thanks Angela :)
  • stardancer: Am taking these Date Caramels, along with Chocolate Dipped Tangerines. And, Mushroom Caesar, Strawberry Dressing Salad to (non-raw) party tonight. A

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