Happy 4th of July: Easy Raw Livin' & New Jane Jewels

Official Business - New Jane Business Cards!

Happy 4th of July Friends!  I hope there are some fireworks in your near future along with a sunny day, some bike riding, maybe a BBQ or two, and lots and lots of smiling faces!  This is one of my absolute favorite days of the year!  I'm a HUGE HUGE HUGE lover of fireworks and for me this day really marks the celebration of summer.  HOLLAH!!!!  Here's a great little Independence Day note my girlfriend Melli sent me earlier this week.  I especially like the second "D" I've highlighted for you.

 I     accept my unique preciousness, loving myself unconditionally
 N    ewness awaits me in every area of my life
 D    oubt evaporates as faith surfaces
 E    ach day brings promises of spiritual surprises
 P    eople in my life are messengers of God
 E    very moment is a gift from God
 N    ever depend on any person for your well being
 D    on't just spend time - invest it by planting positive seeds
 E    njoy your day/week/month/year/life
 N    ever say 'never' - with God everything is possible
 C    hange your 'thinking' - change your Life
 E    very demonstration happens in time and on time

 D    elays are temporary - be patient
 A    lways maintain  an attitude of gratitude
 Y    our first success comes after your last failure

I also wanted to share with you how flippin' AMAZING this month's issue of Whole Living Magazine is.  There is an awesome section with raw food recipes and beautiful photos (i've pasted a few below with links to the recipes).  Reading through the recipes, they are simple and easy for even the kitchen novice to approach. 

Sprouted summer salad:  click here for recipe

Strawberry Oat Bars:  click here for recipe

Zucchini Pasta:  click here for recipe

And news on the Jane Front:  Sculpt Fusion Yoga is now carrying my line of jewels.  All pieces are made with semi precious stones for their healing properties.  New business cards read:

"healing semi precious stones, femininity & sass, and a touch of glamour, Baby."

Though not on my etsy page yet, i do have a couple necklaces:

amazonite and agate

agate is known for it's grounding qualities and helps to dispel negative energy.  Amazonite helps to calm.

 And of course more danglers are online for your shopping, gifting, and wearing pleasure:

meredithgnau.etsy.com

meredithgnau.etsy.com

meredithgnau.etsy.com

meredithgnau.etsy.com

meredithgnau.etsy.com

meredithgnau.etsy.com

meredithgnau.etsy.com

my little vintage box of goodies

Ruby Beet & Black Quinoa Salad

Hi all and Happy Monday!  I hope those of you who celebrate Easter had a great day with friends and/or family and hopefully the easter bunny left you some candies, chocolates, or cooked you a fabulous Easter dinner.  We had the boyfriend's parents in town so dinner was at ours.  Lots of fixin's were made and shared, but my fave was the beet salad:  beets, mixed greens, red onion, black quinoa, walnuts, and love.  Yes love....cuz that's what makes food taste good right?  There was a small amount of beets left over today from last night so i salvaged the remains and recreated the dish for lunch. While i didn't add any walnuts or red onion today i would highly recommend tossing both into the mix.  I also subbed spinach in since i was fresh out of mixed greens, but that didn't compromise taste.  Now i will say this salad is slightly involved, but only because you need to cook beets and quinoa.  So when you are going to be at home for a while - say working on your computer, wasting time on FB, edu-ma-cating yourself on good eating here on my blog, or say...shopping on me' new etsy shop (hint hint), you can toss the beets in the oven and let-em cook for an hour.  You'll be so busy you didn't even realize that the hour passed!  Quinoa only takes about 20 minutes to cook, and it's always good to cook up a pot to have on hand for salads and other quick dishes.  It stores well for a few days in the fridge.

Beet and Quinoa salad:

Heat oven to 400.  Trim the tail and the leaves off of the beet.  Leave about a half inch of stem so the beet doesn't bleed out too much.  Rinse and scrub gently, but leave the skin on.  Wrap the beets in foil to create a steam pouch, pun on a rimmed baking dish and cook for about an hour, until soft when pieced with fork.  Allow to cool.  Once cool you can use a towel to help slip the skins off.  Cut off the stem and slice to the size you prefer for your dish.

Cook quinoa - one part quinoa to two parts water or veggie broth.  Heat water/broth to a boil, add quinoa and dash of EVOO, stir, return to boil, cover and reduce to simmer for another 15- 20 min. Fluff with fork.  Allow to cool.

Make your dressing:  1 Tbsp stone ground mustard,  approx 2 tsp EVOO, approx 2 tsp balsamic vig, stevia (or honey or agave) and dash sea salt to taste.

Thinly slice red onion, crush a handful of walnuts, and toss this into a mixing bowl with mixed baby greens.  Toss lightly with dressing.  Add the cooled quinoa and beets, lightly toss and serve.

This would also be great with some soft cheese like feta or goat if you are a dairy do-er.

Cleanse Thy Body: Juice Feasting & High Vibration Food

I hadn't realized that my diet for the past few days has been primarily red and green until i uploaded all the foodie shots from the days previous.  I'm on a juice feast, and red and green seem to be the name of the game.  For the past three days (and still thriving) i've consumed massive amounts of enzyme rich juice throughout the day, a satisfying smoothie in the late afternoon, and a raw dinner.  I feel TOP NOTCH with boundless energy and my body feels light and free.  My food seems to be either green from detoxifying chlorophyll or red with blood purifying beets.  HOLLAH!

I stick to my 3 meals / 2 snacks a day schedule, so a typical juice feast day looks like this:

morning: juice
mid-morning: juice
lunch: juice
mid afternoon: smoothie
dinner:  raw salad
dessert: fruit or nut based smoothie

I drink until i'm satiated.  I don't let myself get hungry.  At the top of the day i press out 64 oz (two large mason jars) of juice, and make about 25 oz of a smoothie.  Dinner has been greens from the garden with any other veggies on hand and a veggie based dressing.  Dessert is either fruit or a nut based smoothie, which i've found really satisfying.

Scroll through for a sample of juice feast days, and recipes.  Each image will have a caption with recipe.

Rock on in your sexy God Pod!

Potassium Broth and Basic Green Drink

Potassium Broth (red): 2-3 potatoes, 2-4 carrots, 2 beets, 4-6 stalks celery, bunch of parsley, optionally ginger and garlic.  Scrub all produce well but don't peel if it's organic.  Slice or grate the veggies and add to a soup pot. Fill with purified water and bring to a boil.  Reduce, cover, and simmer for 1.5 hours.  Strain the veggies out and discard or compost.  Enjoy the broth which is rich in minerals and electrolytes.

Basic Green Drink:  celery, kale, lemon, and apple

spinach salad with mixed grated veggies & beet orange dressing

Beet Orange Dressing - blend 1/2 a large beet with a peeled tangerine and a nub of ginger.  Add a little water to get to the consistency you like

Basic green drink with extras.  Beet Carrot Spinach Smoothie

The green drink had a few extras:  some cuc's, some chard, & some broccoli

The Smoothie is half a large beet, a few carrots, a couple dates, a few fistfulls of spinach and enough water to blend and thin (probably around 12 ounces of water).

Rancho Food inspired:  another beet dressing

I ate at Rancho Foods in Ocean Beach this past weekend.  For those of you 'picky' or 'raw' san diegan's, they have a salad bar with 2 or 3 raw dressings.  I chose the beet dressing (obvi, i have a love for beets).  It was beet, EVOO, ACV, agave, and sea salt.  To make it cleanse approved, i took the salt out and used date instead of agave.  It was equally as delish!

Beet Dressing:  1/2 large beet (these beets i'm using are pretty insanely large), 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a couple dates and as much water as you need to thin to your liking (about 1/4 - 1/2 cup)

As you can see in the pick the dressing was smooth and creamy - DELISH!  I love it so much i could eat it with a spoon!

with less water, a thicker version

The next day i made it quite a bit thicker.  Just as good..with a little more texture.

Our Amazing Garden Fresh Greens and the thicker beet dressing.

Our garden is thriving!  We've got tons of kale varieties, spinach, and some crazy edible weeds!
Today's smoothie had some of the garden spinach in it:

1 pear, 3 stalks celery, 1/4 avo, fistfulls of spinach, water, ice

I didn't take a pic of the yumma-lish nut based smoothie i had last night for dessert.  It was SOOOO incredibly decadent.  It looked something like this, but not so orange tinted:

i think this one was cashew, carrot, date, pumpkin pie spice, water, ice??? can't remember if banana was in there.

Nut Smoothie:  1/4 cup raw cashew, 1 large ripe banana, small dash of vanilla, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a few ice cubes, and 6 oz water.

Happy Feasting!!!

Powered By Veggies: What I'm Eating Now.

I'm in the midst of leading a 30 day challenge at Sculpt Fusion Yoga.  I can't express how excited I am about this incredibly inspiring and open minded group, their enthusiasm is contagious!  As part of the challenge we are about to embark on a 7 day whole foods supported cleanse.  Taking out gluten, soy, dairy, salt, sugar, processed foods, canned foods, caffeine, alcohol, and chocolate may not sound like much fun, but there are so many incredible, flavorful, and high powered foods that don't contain any of these ingredients.

Here are a few that i'm really into right now...

Green Juice!!!  I should wear a shirt that reads, "Powered By Veggies".  This is my moto.  I am a vegetable machine, and these green juices and smoothies are my ammunition.   I'm loving drinking this simple green juice each morning that gets my vegetable machine engine gunnin'!

1 or 2 small red apples, lemon, celery,  kale, nub of ginger: all through the juicer.

Papaya!!!  Any reason to eat papaya is a good reason to me!  Here are a few good reasons why you might start lovin' on some papaya too!

*Papayas are a rich source of antioxidant vitamins (vit C, A, and E)
*Full of carotenes, flavonoids, B vitamins, folate, pantothenic acid, potassium, and magnesium.
*They contain the enzymes papain and chymonapapain which help in protein digestion
*Papaya aides digestion, prevents constipation, lowers cholesterol, prevents formation of urinary stones, and prevents infection by parasites. (the seeds taken with honey are known to expel worms. Used in this way you would chew and swallow a couple teaspoons of papaya seeds after your meals). Click here to check out this old blog i posted with a recipe for carrot papaya juice.  It's super slammin'!

Sah - WEEEEEEEEET!

High Raw Veggie Salads!!!  Lunch is typically a high raw veggie salad much like the past two blogs i've posted.  I'll often add a little steamed sweet potato, steamed veggies, legumes, or just some fruit to my salads.

 

 

Grounding Foods In The Evening!!!  My dinners lately have been more grounding cooked veggies and roots.  Last night was bok choy cooked in a small amount of ghee and garlic with steamed sweet potato and broccoli (sorry no pic, devoured happily without thinking about photos).  I've also been diggin' on lentils lately, spicing it up with garam masala, cumin, raisins, sweet potatoes, and whatever veggies are on hand.

thinly sliced kale, cauli, broccoli, sweet potato, raisins, green lentils

Bring a 1/4 cup of green lentils with 1/2 cup of water to a boil, turn to low, cover and set a timer for 30 minutes.  Add the raisins, cumin, and garam masala.  At about 10 or 15 minutes in to cooking add the sweet potato (the smaller you chop it the quicker the cook time), and in the last 10 minutes of cooking toss in any additional veggies.  The greens can wait til the last 5 minutes, they wilt quickly.  Tada!  Need more flavah??  Add some more spices or use fresh cilantro as a garnish.

Gobble This: Acorn Squash & A Grateful Thanksgiving

So here it is the day before thanksgiving and i haven't planned what i'm making.  hrrrmmmm....  Let's figure this out together.

This year is all about EASE.  We have some friends coming over for dinner, but it's all very informal.  A casual day/evening of hanging out, eating, drinking, socializing, and enjoying the wonderful friends and company that we keep.  I just hit the market (a complete zoo and parking lot hell-zone) and still need to pick up a couple of harder to find essentials.

So what's on the menu?

Boyfriend is taking care of the bird (so not my thing), and he's picked up Trader Joes gravy and stuffing, and beer for the boys.  He also picked up some brussel sprouts which he's recruited me to roast.  Simple enough task.

I have one friend bringing dessert and one bringing a salad and a rutabaga dish.

I made sure we had ample vino for the wino-friends i keep (God love'em).  I know i'm making a tagine of carrot, butternut squash, and yam (all from my csa this week) with prune, gold raisins, onion, and warm spices.  The chopping will take some time, but the tagine cooks slow without much attendance or effort on my part.  The outcome is always worth the chopping time!  I'll also whip out some cranberry sauce tonight, no sweat...and i don't have to think of it tomorrow.  Oh yea, and the persimmons....what to do with the insane amount of these i have.  I tell you, from the csa, i have persimmons out the hoo-ha.  Perhaps i'll make the persimmon salad i blogged about on halloween, as well as a little persimmon in a second dinner salad if we need.  My favorite salad right now is a 6 oz bag of spinach, some thinly sliced red onion, 1 persimmon sliced and chopped, 1/3 - 1/2 an avocado, a dash of seasoned rice vinegar, a squeeze of lemon, and a few solid cranks of sea salt...you have to mush it all together in a bowl with your hands so the juices from the persimmon and the avocado squish into the salad...it's sooo good).

My final act will be acorn squash.  It's so simple to prepare and so delicous with warm holiday spices.  That's the effortless recipe i'm sharing with you today. 

I hope your Thanksgiving is full of warmth, love, smiles, hugs, and lots and lots of healthy delicous foods.....and maybe a spirit and/or dessert.  Tis the season, right?!

Half Moon Squash:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Clean the outside of the squash well with a scrubby brush.  The often pushed aside skin is edible.
Slice your acorn squash in 1/2 and scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh in the inner circle.
Place halves flesh side down onto a cutting board and cut into slices (half moons) about 3/4 inch thick
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
Place half moons on parchment lined baking sheet and drizzle lightly with EVOO
Gently rub the EVOO into the half moons to coat all sides
sprinkle with cinnamon and garam masala
Roast in the oven at 400 until soft, about 45 minutes.



*acorn squash images sourced from google images, but the last one looks exactly like this dish does!

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet, Gimme Something Good To Eat: Persimmon Pistachio Halloween Salad

Whah hah hah hah ha....Boooooo....Raaaaaawwwwrrrrr....AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

Happy Halloween Friends!  I wanted to leave you this week with a festive dish for your spooky weekend.  Between marathons of scary movies, costumed trick or treat-ers at the door, and identity transformation be it to witch, devil, princess, or warrior...you might only have a couple minutes of prep time for anything you'd like to serve or bring to your halloween occasions.  While this dish may not be mimicking eyeballs, or brains, or worms...it is super delicious, seasonal, and will curb your sweet tooth so you won't go munching on cheap sugary treats from the candy bowl.  Plus it's orange and green, which to me are the colors symbolic of Halloween.

We just made this as a side dish for an amazing dinner we hosted tonight for my boyfriend's parents.  On the menu: Pear and Spinach salad, Roasted Butternut Squash with cinnamon, garam masala, and curry, and persimmon pistachio salad (recipe below).  Naturally sweet, the persimmon salad is great in liu of dessert, creating the perfect end to your harvest meal.

This recipe is inspired by Cea who recently completed the 23 day cleanse i led.  Thank you Cea for being an inspiration.   Hope you all enjoy this deliciously healthy and uber-easy dish as much as we did!

Persimmon Pistachio Halloween Salad:

3 fuyu persimmons
3 pitted medjool dates
1/3 cup pistachios
small dash or two of cinnamon

remove the top green from the persimmon, cut in half, lay flat side on cutting board, and slice thinly, alternately use a mandoline.  Chop the dates.  Bang the nuts in a bag lightly with a hammer to crush them coarsely.  Mix all well in a bowl together with a dash or two of cinnamon.

THAT'S IT!  Takes about 5 minutes!



*top image provided by google images