I'm Going (to do everything I can with) Bananas

Wow what a week! I'm so totally exhausted!


And getting back on the SPIRULINA to keep me going!

A quick one to let you know what I've been doing (and muching away on)...

I'm back at work and although it was a quiet week due to some people still away on holidays, we were still pretty busy and I was still on my feet unloading orders and what not for 8hrs a day, whilst still going to the gym before work and meeting up with people after work... everything adds up and starts to take it's toll. But I figure it's good to feel this now so I can get back on track with what I know works for me, in order to get everything done, still have time for me, and feel rested. Breathe Christie.

Ok... so I went out for dinner with my cousin Bernie and our girlfriend Carla one evening which was so nice. Girly gossip is always good :)
I went shopping Thursday evening with my beautiful baby sister Lisa, and caught up with Heidi from college Friday arvo for a long catch up over beautiful herbal tea.

And today I spent the whole day with Maya at Taste Organics Raw Cafe. AND SOLD OUT OF EVERYTHING! It was crazy busy. Both Maya and I were admittedly exhausted and not overly enthused as we usually are each month, but then BAM! And it didn't stop. We had people waiting for table ALL DAY LONG! That has never happened!

All Chocolate Lovers Dream's - GONE!
All Coconut Pie's - GONE!
All Roundtable Salads - GONE!
All Moonlight Shadow's - GONE!
All organic fruit and vegies juices - SOLD OUT!
Green smoothies - so good with the warm weather we had today.

And the surprise this month was Strawberry Cheescake - all GONE!


Other than that... Brock ventured up to Queensland last week to do a few things and see a few people and came home with this -

Locally grown lady finger bananas that are delicious! And then for some crazy reason, Thursday morning at the wholesaler, he comes home with this -

Coz we need more!! With a cheeky grin kinda knowing we didn't really need them all, but as they were so cheap, like a kid in a lolly shop, he couldn't resist. But I am excited to be able to freeze, blend, dry, and simply eat these babies for the next few weeks!

STOP PRESS! It's now Saturady afternoon/evening and markets are over for the week so any leftover produce is ours. I'll give you one guess what the man comes home with -


So if my calculations are correct, 9-10 boxes of bananas at roughly 13kgs each... about 129KGS OF BANANAS at our place right now. Well I'll definatley be getting creative this week!!

Last week however, whilst I was staying at mum's for a few days I made RUM AND RAISIN ICE CREAM with left over dried fruits I had, and a nice big SPLOSH of rum, mixed into a quick ice cream recipe I found. OMG! HEAVEN!

Yesterday I whipped up a loaf of buckwheat bread and a few raw bread rolls (by 'whipped up' I mean I made it up, nothing spesh, presuming it couldn't end up too bad) -

Here's my little buckwheat loaf -


And my sweet-cinnamon-banana-cacao-pecan rolls. I wanted to use dried dates but couldn't find where I put them when I brought them home the other day... until of course I finished making them and then found them in my wardrobe, in the bag with all the new clothes I bought!

The verdict - not nice. I think my buckwheat had been out too long coz it's been a little warmer the past couple of days so it tasted a bit funny. My bread was very dry and crumbly also. But I haven't given up. I'm determined to make a better bread - next time using a different grain (or grainS), adding more liquid and different nuts and seeds to spice it up a bit!

I invented (yep it's my claim to fame) a new AMAZING salad topper - the ULTIMATE in flavour combos - coconut oil, nutritional yeast and dulse flakes which totally rocks my world! OMG! Ontop of shredded kale, mung sprouts and juicy red tomatoes. WINNER! I've had at least one plate of this everyday :)

I've been munching away on PURPLE CARROTS at work with hommous and other vegies...

One of the latest and greatest "superfoods" I see in magazines, the humble little purple carrot tastes much like the regular orange variety, only a subtle difference. Much much higher in antioxidants though due to their colour (think blueberries, blackberries and the like), for me they just make an interesting colour variation on my plate!
I'm all about different colours = different vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

Loading up on wholesome smoothies for all the energy I've needed this week -

this one is my work-brekkie-smoothie and was made from oat milk, frozen nanas, rice protein, hemp protein, acai, maca, cacao, and spirulina (I found out I'm low in IRON so I'm pumping up on the greens and the spirulina so I'll be sure to let you all know how I am on my next blood test in about 5months time... aside from that I'm itching to tell you all the AMAZING things about everything else in my smoothie but I'll save it for another time).

I can appreciate that it looks a little like tar, but take my word, it tastes amazing and is super dooper to get you up and buzzing in the mornings.

And I'm back taking some herbs to cleanse my intestinal tract, and others to help with my hormones (and clear my skin - yay) so they're making me feel good and helping to get gunk out of my system too. Great start to the New Year, even if it has been a little chaotic.

I'm up. Now what?

Breakfast for me has always been my FAVOURITE meal of the day. As a kid I'd tuck into cereal or toast with vegemite. In high school I went through a banana smoothie phase where I couldn't seem to get enough. Travelling overseas I looked forward to food regardless of what it was! And now my tastes are changing again.


When I first went RAW I was eating fruit of course. I'd have a few pieces cut up like a fruit salad. Then as my stomach got used to it I found I could eat alot more. And further on I grew accustomed to a MONO meal of fruit for breakfast, finding this easier on my digestion first thing. And with that, brekkie was more often that not 8 or 9 bananas straight up, half a red papaya, or 3-4 mangoes in Summer (Oh my God the memories...DROOL). Then I got hooked on throwing bananas in the blender and adding a bunch of yummy things to BOOST me up ready for the day!

Most recently I've been having juice - GREEN JUICE. I've spoken about the benefits of JUICING here before so I wont go into it again, but I will say that over time our tastes change as do our emotions, circumstances, schedules, and the weather.

And so here we are now in Winter down under in the Southern Hemishpere, and each morning I find myself struggling to decide what I feel like. For whatever reasons they might be, I'm finding that of late I'm not hungry for my usual favourite meal of the day!

However, I wanted to suggest a bunch of ideas that I like to have for brekkie as a RAW-ie to add some inspiration to your day, and some excitement to your next breakfast! Some of my fav's are:

Raw buckwheat or oat groat porridge with all my favourites mixed in and added ontop for an easy filling comfort-food-winter nomnom.


or a quick "run-out-the-door" version, and one for later on


A quick and easy miso soup with some seaweed. Great on the mornings I've gotta be up real early, out the door pretty quick, and it's FREEZING.


Banana bowls... ...or a variation of them


Superfood smoothies


Nut milk Smoothies - this one is with cacao and bananas


Or just plain simple tasty nut milk...


...which would be great alongside some raw bread with nut butters or tahini


Another tasty treat (if advance preparation has been thought of and done of course) is gRAWnola


so so good :) crunchy. chewy. like toasted muesli. a good jaw workout this one


And for those special occasions...

Blueberry Flax pancakes drizzled with agave


Cardamon Flaxjacks with fresh fruit



What's your favourite breakfast yumminess?

Too much pulp!!

And Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake!"

Last post I wrote about the BENEFITS of JUICING and why I LOVE it so much! But one issue I had for a while was knowing what to do with all the left-over juice pulp! It seemed such a waste to throw it out and my compost heap is having a hard time keeping up with that amount of fruit n veg scraps I go through!

And so, I make BREAD. I make CAKES. I make BURGER PATTIES.

To make delicious, tasty kitchen creations, all you need is your IMAGINATION... (or the help of me with a recipe) ;)

Left-over pulp will keep in the fridge for at least a few days if you're not ready to use it straight away. Sometimes I keep my carrot pulp seperate from my celery pulp seperate from my beetroot pulp... and sometimes I keep it all mixed together!

To make bread - combine 1 part ground flaxseeds to 2-3 parts left-over fruit or vegie pulp then add whatever you wish... spices, garlic, onion, lemon juice, curry powder, herbs, tamari, dried fruits, etc. You can do it all by hand or throw it all in your blender. You might need to add a drizzle or oil or water to help bind it until it's of a dough-like consistency. Spread it on teflex sheets and dehydrate your bread for an hour or so, flip, and dehydrate for another hour or so. The length of time depends on how thick your bread is. If you dont have a dehydrator, you can use your oven and set the temperature to 40 degrees, spreading your mixture on baking paper-lined trays. GLUTEN FREE. WHEAT FREE. and depending on what you choose to put in your mix, it can also be FAT FREE AND SUGAR FREE. Use it for sandwiches or as a side with a big green salad.

To make crackers - as above, just spread your mixture thinner and dehydrate longer! Serve with raw dips or pate or eat as is!

To make burger patties - as above, just alot fatter and shaped like burger patties! Experiment with almond meal or other nut pulp (left over from making nut milks) in place of flaxseeds, or in addition too! Dried herbs are also really good. Blending fresh tomatoes are good for extra juiciness in your patties. Dehydrating time is usually alot longer due to the thickness (and any added juciness) of your patties. Serve on raw bread, large green leaves or field mushrooms, with salad or vegies, salsa or nut cheese.

These are "Conversation Burgers" by Gena

To make cake - well here's where you don't have to think coz I've got a quick and easy CARROT CAKE recipe for you! An all time favourite, I was so excited to make this RAW!

1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup raisins/sultanas/dates/figs
1 cup carrot pulp
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp flax oil
1 Tbsp ground flax seed
1/4tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg (MINIMUM! If you're like me, and LOVE your spices feel free to add more)

Pulse walnuts and raisins in food processor until crumbly. Then TASTE TEST HERE (fun part) - if you want your mix sweeter add more raisins or dates, agave syrup or honey and pulse again. I like my cakes not too sweet.
Then add the rest of the ingredients and pulse again until it starts to form a “dough”.

Shape your cake dough into a square or round cake on a plate, or put into little individual silicon moulds like I did. I got 5 small cakes out of my mix.

For the icing - I experimented and used

1/4 cup soaked cashews
1/4 tsp coconut oil
1/4 tsp agave
squeeze lemon to taste and a drizzle water

Blended it all until smooth and spooned it ontop of my mini cakes, followed by a dusting of nutmeg!

So tasty. So cute. So good on a little plate for afternoon tea.