Simply Divine Chocolate Macaroons

Chocolate is so heavenly! I am constantly amazed about how much people love these decadent treats! They are simply gluten free bliss!

Ingredients for Chocolate Macaroons:
3 cups dried, unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup carob powder
3/4 cup maple syrup or agave
1/3 cup coconut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
To make Chocolate Macaroons:
In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and stir well to combine.
Using a small ice cream scoop, your hands, or a big tablespoon, spoon rounds of the dough onto dehydrator screens. If using your hands, it helps to have a bowl of water to wet your hands so macaroon mix does not stick. I find it easiest just to let my macaroons sit out on the counter overnight. They end of perfect the next day! You may also choose to dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 6 hours, or until crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. you may also choose to put them in the freezer for a frozen treat or simply dehydrate in oven by turning it off and on till desired consistency is reached.
You may also use all carob or all chocolate in your recipe. I find that a little chocolate goes a long way!

Benefits of Raw Cacao:
Magnesium: This is one of the most essential minerals, yet studies say that more than 80% of the United States’ population is deficient in magnesium. In nature, the most concentrated source of magnesium is raw cacao! Other good sources of the mineral include certain nuts and any chlorophyll molecule. Magnesium supports the heart, increases brain power, relaxes muscles, increases flexibility, causes healthy bowl movements, and helps build string bones. As one of the body’s primary alkaline minerals, magnesium assists the normal functioning of several chemical enzymatic processes — facilitating more then three hundred different detoxification and elimination functions.
Chromium: This mineral helps balance blood sugar levels, and cacao has ten times the amount of chromium as whole wheat, a chromium-rich food, making it the highest food source of this mineral.
Antioxidant Power: Raw cacao beans are super-rich in antioxidant flavonols. They contain 10,000 mg (10 grams) of flavonol antioxidants (that’s a 10% concentration level!). This makes cacao possibly the best source of antioxidants, with twenty to thirty times more than red wine or green tea.
Vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, C, and E are all present in significant quantities.
Other nutrients: Fiber, iron, niacin, phosphorus, as well as hundreds of other chemicals and phytonutrients (special plant nutrients) are found in cacao.
Pure Chocolate Bliss,
Michelle
xoxo

Living Cereal with Almond Milk

Most mornings I wake up, have a glass of water with sole and iodine and then sometimes I will eat this cereal concoction, and a little later I’ll have a mid-morning snack of a juice or smoothie to keep me going until lunch. Then at lunch I usually have a BIG salad and some miso soup.

To start out, I cut up half an apple, cranberries, and some sprouted buckwheats that I dehydrated with cinnamon spice (I like to always have some on hand because they are a lot like rice krispies), next I like to add some raw trail mix with cacao nibs, raw cashews, golden raisins, goji berries, and mulberries, I also like to add homemade almond mylk and coconut flakes. The combination is great!

Almond mylk is naturally sweet, versatile and alkaline.
Soak 1 cup of raw almonds overnight (I add half of a vanilla bean to the soak water). The next morning, rinse and drain your almonds and place in a blender with four cups of filtered water.  Blend until ingredients are smooth.  Pour into a strainer to separate the remaining pulp.  You may use the pulp again for a lighter mylk. Place almond mylk back in blender and add a pinch of sea salt, a few dates, and the soaked vanilla bean for flavor.  Blend and serve.
The Real Deal About Cow’s Milk, is that it isn’t good for you!
1. Modern commercial farming involves the heavy use of growth hormones and antibiotics, in order to produce more, supposedly healthier milk.  The problem is that these hormones and antibiotics get into the milk the cows produce, and when we ingest them, they have far-reaching effects on our health, including the possible endocrine and reproductive problems and the development of “super” strains of bacteria that are resistant to the constant low doses of antibiotics they are subject to.
2. More than 60 percent of the human population is either lactose-intolerant (meaning their bodies do no produce the enzyme to digest the main sugar in milk, lactose) or they are allergic to milk. If more than half of us can’t drink milk, it can’t be as necessary to good health as many think it is.
3. Dairy products cause excess mucus production in the body.  Excess mucus production can ultimately affect your digestive and immune systems.
4. Dairy milk really isn’t as nutritionally packed as we are led to believe.  We are all told that we need milk in order to get sufficient amounts of calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin D. But truth be told, this is a marketing scheme, and milk is not a very rich source of these vitamins naturally; it’s generally fortified with them.  And most green vegetables have more calcium than milk!  Eat your veggies and you’ll be just fine. (Cow milk info from Renee Loux, Living Cuisine).
In Love, Life and Laughter!
Michelle

Zucchini Rolls

This recipe is one of our family favorites, packed with delicious flavors and exciting textures. Many people tell me that they cannot eat raw food because its so cooling. It can be if you are eating it right out of the fridge! Pine nuts, basil, nutmeg and garlic are all warming foods, couple that with placing your dish in the dehydrator for a couple of hours or in the oven on a low temperature for 20 minutes, and you still have a raw dish that is warm!
This recipe might be a little labor intensive because it has many different parts and steps but its well worth the time and effort! Let me know how yours turns out!
Zucchini Rolls:
4 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into very thin slices.  Its easiest to use a mandolin slicer.
Ricotta:
2 cups pine nuts or raw cashews or walnuts
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (gives ricotta a more “cheesy” flavor)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
6 tablespoons of water (or coconut water or rejuvelac)
Blend until smooth and fluffy.

Pesto:
2 cups packed basil leaves
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (soaked one hour)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
2-3 cloves of garlic (or as much as you want to taste)
pepper to taste
Blend in blender until you reach desired
 consistency.
Marinara:
1 teaspoon ginger
2 tablespoons garlic
1 teaspoon jalapeno
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
2 green olives
1/4 cup shallots or red onion
1/3 cup basil leaves
1/3 cup red bell pepper
1/4 cup oregano leaves
1/2 cup strawberries
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup nama shoyu (or tamari for gluten sensitive people)
1 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine
blend together so that it is still slightly chunky.
To make rolls:
*Pour half of marinara into a 9 by 13 baking dish.
*Lay out zucchini place dallops of ricotta and pesto on zucchini and roll up.
*Place rolls into baking dish and pour other half of marinara on top of rolls.
*Serve at room temperature.
**If you like them slightly warm, place in dehydrator for a couple of hours before you are ready to serve.  If you do not have a dehydrator you may put them in oven on low for about 20-30 minutes.  Enjoy!
This delicious dish has it all in one power packed meal! I absolutely love the pesto, cheese and the marinara in this recipe!
Basil is rich in antioxidants, which help boost immunity.  It’s also an antimicrobial, which fights the germs that can cause colds.
Nutmeg is a “warming spice” that can bring blood from the center of the body to the skin.  This helps disperse the blood more evenly throughout the body, reducing overall pressure.
Since the 1950’s there have been more than 2,700 articles that have been published about the health benefits of garlic, this would include, digestive and respiratory problems, fatigue, bacterial infections, toothache, arthritis, and heart disease.  Wow!  It’s a good thing I enjoy garlic!
Lycopene, although not an essential nutrient for humans, research has shown an inverse correlation between consumption of tomatoes and cancer risk, lycopene has been considered a potential agent for the prevention of some types of cancers, particularly prostate cancer.
xoxoxxo
Michelle

Green Goodness

I love to juice! It helps me to feel amazing and improves my energy level!

Green juice helps me to consume a wide variety of produce in any given day.

Juicing helps the body assimilate nutrients faster than eating vegetable on their own, plus you can juice more! Green juice promotes the body to shift from an acid to an alkaline state. Our body needs a balanced pH to function properly, if we are either too acidic or alkaline our body goes through a series of adjustments to try to neutralize the imbalance.

Juicing helps me to maintain balance, youthful, more radiant skin as well as helps me maintain a stable weight because I am getting the nutrients I need without overeating.

These recipes can be used during the 3-Day Juice Cleanse, the 5-Day Juice Cleanse and the 7-Day Juice Cleanse!

I have had a lot of people lately comment on how they love my juices. How do I get them to taste so good? Many people either put too much dark pungent greens in their juices thinking that more is better or they either start using too much fruit because they are addicted to sugar. Its all about balance, use different greens a little sweetener.

A good balance to a good green juice and its usually includes a delicious base like celery or cucumber. From there I like to include kale, chard, romaine, spinach, parsley, cilantro, mint, the list goes on depending on what is in my fridge. To sweeten the juice, I like to add a couple of apples or some pineapple or even some grapefruit. If I want my juice to be a little more zesty, I might add some ginger or lemon or lime.

Some good Green Juice combos to try:

Celery/Kale/Apple/Lemon/Ginger

Cucumber/Kale/Cilantro/Pineapple

Celery/Cucumber/Apple

Cucumber/Spinach/Mint/Pineapple

Celery/Basil/Pineapple

Cucumber/Chard/Parsley/Apple/Ginger

Celery/Chard/Grapefruit/Ginger

Cucumber/Romaine/GreenApple

Experiment, have fun and don’t forget to taste as you go! You can do it!

For those of you who like measurements, try these green juice recipes:

Green Lemonade:
1 bunch celery
5 to 6 stalks kale (any type – I use dino kale because its super green and fits through my juicer beautifully)
1 to 2 apples for sweetness
1 lemon
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh ginger (optional)
Green Goddess:
1/2 buch of celery
1 bunch kale
1 bunch cilantro
1 to 2 apples
1 lemon
1 to 2 teaspoons ginger (optional)
As you can see, I like celery but this can easily be interchanged with cucumber or whatever other greens you have on hand.

Amazing ingredients to use while  juicing  for life:

Celery: Is an amazing relief for all inflammation including rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, gout, asthma and bronchitis.  Celery helps fight cancer, lowers blood pressure & cholesterol, aids in digestion, elimination & weight loss, helps with insomnia, and it is also beneficial to help those with a weak sexual drive. Juice is the most efficient and nutritious way to eat celery, and people who have these conditions can drink as much juice as desired without overdosing.

Cucumber: Do you remember putting cucumber slices over your eyes to reduce morning puffiness (or seeing women do it in movies)? Well, imagine cucumber doing the same thing for your gut. It contains vitamin C and caffeic acid, both of which may help reduce inflammation and swelling.

Kale: Amazing superfood to include in your diet, whether you are juicing or not. Kale is an incredibly effective anti-inflammatory food and since inflammation is the number one cause of arthritis, heart disease and a number of autoimmune diseases, kale is the perfect leafy green to add to your juices or salads for that matter. It is also a good source of essential omegas 3 & 6, helping not only to get protein into our body but to boost our immune system as well.

Chard: Recent research has shown that chard leaves contain at least 13 different polyphenol antioxidants, including kaempferol, the cardioprotective flavonoid that’s also found in broccoli, kale, strawberries, and other foods. Now what does this mean? I means that chard has unique benefits for blood sugar regulation for people with diabetes, it has powerful antioxidants as well as anti-inflammatory benefits and supports bone health! Who needs a glass of milk when you can just add chard to your green juice?

Cilantro: This herb isn’t just a commonly used leaf or seed, used in exotic recipes, its a powerful cleansing agent! Cilantro helps remove heavy metals and other toxic agents from the body. It works to cleanse the liver and is a powerful anti-inflammatory that may help relieve symptoms of arthritis as well as wards off urinary tract infections and is helpful in fighting anemia. It is anti microbial and anti fungal. Helps with insulin secretion and lowers blood sugar. Contains immune boosting properties, helps ease conjunctivitis, as well as eye-aging, macular degeneration, and other stressors on the eyes. Cilantro is so amazing it helps as an overall digestive aid and helps reduce feelings of nausea. It helps ease hormonal mood swings associated with menstruation and reduces menstrual cramping. What’s not to love about this amazing herb?

Parsley: The inclusion of fresh herbs in your diet can be especially beneficial, as many of them are strong antioxidants. Parsley contains beta-carotene, vitamin C, and a number of phytochemicals with antioxidant properties. It also tastes great in carrot juice!

Apples: You know the saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away?” While that may be an exaggeration, apples are a miracle fruit in my mind. Studies have linked the consumption of apples to a reduced risk of a variety of cancers, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and Type II diabetes. They are strong antioxidants, and contain a number of phytochemicals, including quercetin, which is anti-inflammatory.

Pineapple: Packed with the enzyme bromelain which plays a major role in the body’s healing process. Bromelain is a natural potent anti-inflammatory that has many health benefits and encourages healing. According to recent researches, bromelain is very effective in treating bruises, sprains and strains by reducing swelling, tenderness and pain. This powerful anti-inflammatory effect can also help relieve rheumatoid arthritis symptoms and reduce postoperative swelling.

Grapefruit: I love grapefruit. I crave Grapefruit. If you are serious about wanting to improve your health, grapefruits are one of many live foods you should consider adding to your regular diet. It helps cleanse the kidneys, digestive and urinary systems, detoxify the liver, ease chronic liver conditions and help to eliminate toxins from the body. It may also help dissolve gallstones, lower cholesterol, aid in weight loss, helps fight cancer & is awesome in fighting candida and parasites in the body. Its anti-inflammatory properties are helpful with chest congestion, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and other inflammatory disorders like osteoarthritis.

Lemons: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! Lemons are anti-inflammatory and great for detoxification because they have high levels of vitamin C, which can bind to heavy metals and neutralize the toxins in our body. Lemons also stimulate the liver to make glutathione, a special enzyme used by the liver in detoxification.

Ginger:  Ginger ale is historically the tonic of choice for stomach unrest. However, with all the high fructose corn syrup or sugar in ginger ale, your best bet is making your own tea or including a chunk of fresh ginger in your juice. In addition, ginger is known to alleviate migraine symptoms, and my own experience with ginger juice has proven that to be true. Whenever I feel a headache coming on, I make a ginger juice – the worse the headache, the more ginger I add. If you’ve never used ginger in your juice, it can taste pretty strong, so start with a 1-inch chunk and increase the amount over time.

Here is a link to some amazing beet juice recipes: Pre-Workout Juice
Cheers to Life!
Now go on and get juicing!
What is your favorite juice? Please share your recipe!
Love and juice,
Michelle
It goes with your everywhere you go. It is on display at work and at home. People around you are affected by it. It has no shape, color, or size, yet its impact on your life is profound. What is it? Your attitude!
~Lucy MacDonald