Seems like I just can’t get enough kale!  Not only is this salad super yummy, but it is incredibly healthy and easy to make. This is a great raw choice for the warm months and a nice dish to bring for a potluck.

Ingredients:
-  1 bunch of kale
-  1 avocado
-  1 lemon, squeezed
-  1 teaspoon Sea Salt

Rinse the kale, remove the stems and chop. Combine the kale, lemon and sea salt in a bowl. Massage the kale with your hands for a few minutes - until the kale becomes tender. Chop up the avocado into small pieces and massage it into the greens.

Optional Add-ins:
− Grated root vegetables such as beet, carrot and daikon radish.
− Toasted sesame or sunflower seeds.
− Crumbled goat or feta cheese.
− Extra Virgin Olive Oil
− Quinoa

Collard green wraps are my new favorite thing! Collard greens replace the tortilla and provide a healthier wrap option. It’s also a great way to get more greens into your diet. Get fresh collard greens from your local Farmer’s Market and fill them with your choice of fillings. You can put just about anything in the collard wrap and make them raw too.

My current favorite:

Take 1-2 raw collard leaves with the inside facing up and fill with:

- Hummus, brown rice or quinoa, grated carrot, 1/2 avocado, dash of toasted sesame oil and tamari. Yum!

Collard greens are packed with nutrition! 

Like other vegetables in the cabbage family, collard greens provide anticancer properties. They offer an excellent source of vitamins B6 and C, carotenes, chlorophyll, and manganese.  One cup of collard greens provides more than 70 percent of the RDA for vitamin C. Collard greens are also a very good source of fiber, and several minerals, including iron, copper, and calcium. They also offer a good source of vitamins B1, B2, and E.

I love having smoothies for breakfast in the summer! This chocolate smoothie is my favorite… cooling, nutritious and delicious. Yum!

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 4 tblsp hemp protein powder
  
• 1 tblsp cacao powder
• 1 tblsp almonds
• 1 tblsp flax meal
• 2 tblsp hemp seeds
• Splash of vanilla
• Splash of raw agave
• 1 1/2 cup of water
• 4-5 ice cubes

BLEND!!!

I recently spent a week in Sedona visiting a friend. It is always good to get away on vacation, but I was especially happy to find myself catching up on important self-care - hiking, feeling my connection with nature, breathing the fresh clear mountain air and eating lots of healthy good food. It’s easy to forget how much I need these things!

I had a lot of yummy food inspiration while I was there. We made a trip to the Bliss Cafe almost every day. Their food is organic, vegan, mainly raw and made with love - absolutely delicious! Their raw sushi and nut cheeses were amazing and the raw cacao was to die for!

I’ve been particularly fascinated by nut cheeses since I’m always trying to balance my love of cheese with my need to eat less dairy (it makes me congested!). My first foray into the world of nut cheese was a delicious sunflower seed cheese that was a big hit at a recent girlie get-together (see recipe below).

Since there isn’t any raw cacao in my neighborhood, I’ve also been experimenting in my kitchen with making my own raw cacao treats. When I discover the best combination of flavors I am looking forward to spreading my newfound love of raw cacao around Boston. Oh yes, the taste tests are going well so far! Maybe a little too well…

This recipe is raw, vegan and a great dish to bring to a party! It is also super easy to make. It can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.


Ingredients
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup Nama Shoyu
3-4 garlic cloves, peeled
3 cups raw sunflower seeds, very finely ground in a food processor

Directions
In a food processor combine all of the ingredients, adding the sunflower seeds last. Blend thoroughly until the resulting cheese is smooth and uniform.

Wrap with kale or collard greens. Dip with carrots. Spread on rice crackers. Yum!

Note:
Low sodium tamari can be substituted for Nama Shoyu.