College, Cake, and Coconut Ice Cream

I'm on my break at work munching away on a big bowl of salad and thought "Hey! I could get a head start on my blog for tonight!" and so...

After 2weeks of feeling shit - emotionally, physically, spiritually - I can now say that I feel like I'm back on track and its feels FANTASTIC! I've got ENERGY, I've set GOALS, the SUN IN SHINING, and I feel on top of the world!

This weekend just gone I was at college again for the final Air and Fire components of our Medicine Wheel Life Quality and Design module.



As I've no doubt said before, I LOVE going to college to spend time with the girls in such a supportive, nurturing environment. And as a TREAT for all - with the good old "its my birthday next Wednesday" excuse, I made a big double-decker-raw chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and strawberry jam sandwiched in between... more frosting ontop and berries for decoration. Everyone LOVED it which made me very happy - proof in the pudding with Kara and Megan digging in :)


But as promised, here's the coconut ice cream recipe I made last week.

1 cup cashews
1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup agave syrup (but next time I wanna try yacon syrup and use less)
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups young coconut flesh (from 2-4 coconuts)

Blend it all, then add 1/4 cup melted coconut oil and blend it all again.
Taste! VITAL STEP ;) OMG!
Keep it in the fridge til super cold, then churn it through an ice cream maker.

I've just made another batch, and think I'm gonna add cacao nibs THROUGH it so its COCONUT-CHOC-CHIP! MMM!!!
I had some the other night with a chocolate brownie Maya kindly gave me, and sprinkled some cacao nibs and coconut flakes over the top. YUM!

Saturday I'm in Love

Saturday morning and I was up at the break of dawn to set off for my 8am COLONIC :) Happy as Larry! I LOVE getting my colonics and the past couple of times I've gone I've also had infra-red saunas that are TO DIE FOR! I walk out of my therapists place feeling like I'm GLOWING and I'm BEAMING with enthusiasm for whatever life throws at me next! I've got a spring in my step, sunshine from within, and a smile on my face :)

I met up with my cousin down the road at the Newtown Vegan Bake Sale to grab some cruelty free goodies for my mum who beautifully indulges her sweet tooth daily, and to say hi to my friend Mandee (who has a great blog of her own here) who runs the stall. Doing her usual FABULOUS baking and organising, they raised a whopping $994.45 for A Poultry Place in Canberra this time around. Good work!


I later did a couple of house inspections with Brock before we stopped in at Taste Organics for a bite to eat with Maya at the cafe as it was the last day it will be open for a while. I was hanging out for some raw ice cream of hers that is DELISH and to my excitement/surprise/indulgence/happiness/every-other-yummy-word-you-can-think-of... she had made ICE CREAM SANDWICHES!! So so so good - but silly me forgot to take a pic for you all.

The rest of my afternoon was spent making raw soup and hitting up the gym for my favourite class before I was out with good friends for a Raw Potluck in Turramurra.
I made my favourite Spiced Carrot Soup, Maya had cakes from the cafe, Brock made a big tasty coleslaw and a beaut green salad, Tam had the greatest choc-banana pudding (that was only made better with dried bananas dipped into it), and Tsung brought loads of sweet juicy organic oranges (we had as appetisers, palate cleansers inbetween meals, and as "after dinner mints").

We GORGED on coleslaws, kale salads, curried cauliflower, sweet potato slices in some sort of dressing that I feel in love with and still can't put my taste buds to working out what it was... parsnip mash, live fries with sundried tomato sauce, mini sausages wrapped in eggplant strips, soups, saurekraut, garden salads, fresh fruit...

Dessert was UNREAL and even though I wasn't initially feeling like alot, I did eat alot. Here's my DESSERT MOUNTAIN (mind you that was only the first helping).


There is a mango passionfruit sorbet to the right that was deliciously refreshing amongst all the CACAO. An apricot pie that was gooey and sticky but a bit much for me, a dark rich gooey CACAO pie, Tam's AMAZING cacao-banana-avo-mousse-pudding that we dipped our dried banana fingers into and used as spoons (MMM), and a very sweet yummy pecan pie pictured here. Ontop of all that (or as well as once inside my happy tummy) we shared beautiful sliced bananas with coconut and sultanas, a chocolate mint ice cream, an apple and date 'dip' with celery sticks (strange but really good to break up so much cacao), Maya's coconut pie, little chocolate balls, and itty bitty almond date fudge pieces. Wow.


Maya, Tam and I before our cacao-high-laughter fits

Delicious food, beautiful company, close friends and new people to mingle with, everyone had a blast, ate too much, laughed even more and went home BLISSED andblessed by the evening shared, and the full moon eclipse we were so lucky to have seen - helping us all cast off the old and move on with the new (side note - mid next month we have another eclipse, this time a new Moon so between now and then it's up to us all to think about where we know we have to make changes...)

Brock and I braved the cold for a 45minute 'digestive' walk back home at 11pm, making the most of the beautiful moonlight, and then sleeping like babies :)

When you think the fridge is empty.

The past two days our fridge has been almost empty of FRESH VEGGIES for lunches and dinners… yet I have some how managed to come up with some damn tasty meals much to my surprise!

Ingredient numero uno - Cabbage.
Enough said for some. Not for me. I LOVE the stuff. Red. Green. Chinese. Savoy. It's cheap, always available, and the combinations I can create with it are ENDLESS making it PERFECT for when you think there's nothing in the fridge. ADD ANYTHING TO IT!

For lunch the other day I chopped CARROTS, RED ONIONS and PARSLEY. Added a dressing of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, maybe a bit of agave too I dont remember. Salt. Pepper. Voila.


Cabbage is a BEAUTY FOOD so rich in sulphur. I feel BEAUTIFUL eating it.

Then lunch today... After a morning of shopping with mum I came home with a very healthy appetite. But with minimal ingredients???
I’ve always got GREENS so usually start with that – and I had ZUCCHINI so decided to grate it instead of my usual quick slicing job. I found a BEETROOT in the drawer and thought I’d do the same. A bit of AVO, drizzle of cold pressed olive oil. Presto! Alongside a piece of my raw bread that lasts forever in my fridge so I've always got some... A very fine juicy colourful Sunday lunch!


Then dinner.
What to eat when mum was cooking a roast! I'd usually try my hand at something along the same lines only RAW-STYLE, but coming home from the gym at 6pm I wasn’t feeling all that adventurous with the little bit of time I had to prep my meal, so again I had the GREENS… got some finely sliced strips of ZUCCHINI (love the stuff of late), some tasty PUMPKIN mum had got for her roast… TUMERIC and olive oil. Easy. Tasty.


And to top it all off… there's always frozen fruit in my freezer so I threw BANANAS and BLUEBERRIES in the blender with some carob, lecithin and a drizzle of agave. Delish!



So with what I thought was a fridge full of not alot - I surprised myself!

Going Bananas

Musa Acuminata - Banana Tree

Anyone that knows me knows I'm addicted to bananas. I LOVE THEM! Can't get enough. And so after a bit of a difficult week and not eating too well I decided that I wanted to do a short mono-fruit fast to get back on track - mentally, emotionally, spiritually and nutritionally - and to help my digestion along the way. Due to my work committments I chose bananas as they're high in carbohydrates that will keep me going and going and going and going (it's like an indulgence fast for me)... amongst SO MANY other AMAZING benefits I've listed below...


- Bananas are a GOOD MOOD FOOD as they contain an amino acid called tryptophan. Tryptophan is converted by the body into serotonin, which relaxes a person and helps in improving one's mood.

- Bananas are FULL of POTASSIUM. Potassium is beneficial for so many reasons... it helps to keep the body fluids and electrolyte balance in our body cells, it normalises our heart beat sending oxygen to our brain (so really good in times of stress when our potassium levels are depleted quite rapidly; perfect late night snack at the office) and it also helps muscles contract properly during exercise and in turn reduce cramps. Potassium is also known to prevent high blood pressure and reduce the lieklihood of strokes.

- Great post workout! During long exercises your body loses vitamins and minerals and a banana replaces these nutrients as well as giving you the energy you need. Conveniant. Nutritious. And comes in it's own packaging.

- Bananas are packed with vitamins B6 (helps to improve nerve function), loads of vitamin A (helps with the development of specialised tissue in the eyes and for the growth of the skin and soft skeletal tissue), and vitamin c.

- Bananas are the only raw fruit which can be eaten without distress in chronic ulcer cases. They neutralise the over-acidity of the gastric juices and reduce the irritation of the ulcer by coating the lining of the stomach.

- Bananas are great for heart burn as they have a natural antacid effect in the body.

- Rubbing the inside of a banana peel on a mosquito bite is very effective in reducing itching and swelling, and using the skin to get rid of warts worked for me as a kid!

- Bananas are also a natural source of iron. The iron found in bananas can help in the creation of haemoglobin, thus making bananas an ideal fruit for people who are suffering from anaemia.

- Bananas are very high in fibre, making them of great value in constipation and diarrhea as they normalize colonic functions in the large intestine to absorb large amounts of water for proper bowel moments. They also contain pectin, a soluble fiber that can help normalize movement through the digestive tract.

- Bananas also possess the ability to change the bacteria in the intestines - from the harmful type to the beneficial type thanks to an exceptionally rich source of fructooligosaccharide; a compound that nourishes probiotic (friendly) bacteria in the colon.

- ATTENTION ANY DRINKERS: Bananas are also considered to be a natural solution to hangovers. A banana milkshake mixed with honey will help to calm the stomach and build up depleted blood sugar levels at the same time (if you can stomach it) :)



- And last but not least bananas taste AMAZING, satisfy sweet cravings, can be made into mouth watering raw ice cream (see the bowl I whipped up for afternoon tea), eaten dried up, chewy and full of flavour, blended up with your favourite nut milk and added yummies then gulped down or straight out of the beautiful skin you find them in.

Day one of my two day fast. Feeling great. Full of energy. Loving life :)