• This cute monkey face was found via Crafzine. Add a little excitement to your summer picnic, this monkey man is so easy to make, if you don’t have grapes for eyes try using, almonds, raisins or blueberry’s. He’s so lovable even the pickiest eaters would find him delectable.
• Haha, vegetarian kitteh. My cat eats cashews and loves, loves mana bread.
• The NY Times posted 101 Simple Summer Salad recipes. They happen to be mostly vegan, you can get some great ideas for adding variety to your salad menu. I think the “number 9″ salad would be incredible.
• Not raw, but so freakin’ adorable. This panda bread is just too fun not to link. Another gem from Craftzine. I suppose you could make a raw almond flower freezer cookie using this same method, hmmmm. Any suggestions on how to utilize this panda in raw foods?
• I saved the best for last. I started skin brushing twice daily with Tonya Zavasta’s skin brush. If you don’t skin brush, start right away. This simple routine has tightened my pores, improved circulation, skin texture, color and clarity. I don’t think my skin has ever been this smooth, it’s incredible. On Tonya’s website she gives detailed instructions on how to skin brush and why it works so well. I’ve also been using her skin cream and mask, there good but I love, love, love that skin brush.
♥ Lesley Anne ♥
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August 21st, 2009
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New recipes with exotic ingredients that require a trip the “little India” area of Manhattan are my new favorite thing. Maybe I was Indian in my former life, who knows, but I love everything about their culture, the clothes, jewelry, dancing, Ayurveda, make up and yes, the food.
Martha Stewart had Suvir Saran on her show and he made a dish called cardamom roasted cauliflower. With a few small adjustments I made an awesome raw version. I really enjoy this vegetable but usually only as a snack because it requires so much chewing. With this recipe it marinates making it softer and a great main course.
Cardamom Cauliflower
● 1 Head cauliflower
● 1 Red onion
● 1 Dried red chili pepper
● 3 Green cardamom pods
● 1 1/2 Tsp Cumin seeds
● 1 Tsp Coriander seeds
● 1 Tsp Turmeric
● 1/2 Tsp whole pepper corns
● 1/3 Cup olive oil
● Celtic sea salt
Cut your cauliflower into small bite sized pieces then place in a large mixing bowl. Dice the red onion and add it to the cauliflower. With a coffee grinder or food processor grind all your spices until fine. Pour the olive oil and spices into the mixing bowl, stir and coat all the cauliflower pieces. You can serve right away or let it sit over night in the refrigerator. The spices will intensify and they cauliflower will soften.
My version is very similar to Suvirs except for a few differences:
1. I added less chillies because as this sits in your refrigerator the chilies will intensify making this dish too spicy.
2. My version has more cumin and I added turmeric because I love those flavors together.
3. Dicing the onion and cauliflower smaller makes it easier to eat.
Enjoy!
♥ Lesley Anne ♥
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August 4th, 2009
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• Hulu has a documentary called The Future of Food that’s a must watch. They’re also featuring Morgan Spurlock’s series 30 Days, you probably know him from Super Size Me. There’s speculation Hulu may start charging for content, boo, so watch these gems while you can do it for free.
• Yardsnacker once again finds goodies via youtube! Take a peek at the “Eating” video, it’s particularly interesting.
• Galadarling linked to Audrey Kitching’s near death experience with Gardasil. Please be sure to read her story.
• Evelyn Feilds is responsible for making the most adorable reusable sandwhich bags on Etsy. Using organic fabrics and cute fruit appliques your bound to want them.
• What are your favorite affirmations? An inspirational thread on the Give It To Me Raw forum.
• HighonHealth is a natural skin care blog. Fran posts about alternative methods for keeping your skin clear, a favorite subject of mine. She loves the same Bee Yummy skin cream I do. Great minds think alike.
• East and West Books is hosting a raw event with Tonya Zavasta on Sunday, July 26th from 7-9pm. The class is only $20 if you register online at newlifemarket.com. I’ll be there with bells on! I love Tonya and can’t wait to meet her, yippie.
Enjoy!
♥ Lesley Anne ♥
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July 17th, 2009
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Macadamia nuts and a champudeck, oh this is heaven. The spiky fruit below is called a champudeck (chomp-pu-deck). Never heard of it? Me neither, I had no idea this fruit even existed. I thought it was a durian at first, but I was quickly corrected by. There both spiky right? I consulted the oracle of information (Google) about champudecks and I only found minuscule amounts of information. It may be known by another name but as far as I’m concerned champudeck sounds pretty good to me. When I asked how to spell it someone replied, any way you want??? I love that line of thinking, I will be applying it to more things in life. So here it is, a chapmudeck in all it’s fruity, fruity glory.
Spiky and soft on the outside and very, very fragrant when ripe. I’ve never smelled such a strong fruit before. Not in a bad way, it doesn’t stink but it’s so fragrant you could smell it from ten feet away, unopened, crazy!
When fully ripe you open them by tearing the soft skin with your hands. Inside are fruit covered seed pods and sticky fibrous fruit strands that kind of melt in your mouth, yum.
This is Olucean, he’s a member of Pangaia and maintains the gardens, he’s highly knowledgeable about exotic fruit and was so nice to share this lovely chompudeck.
The shiny seeds of this exotic beauty are saved with the intent of planting new champudeck trees.
These cute little guys are macadamia nuts! I’m not used to seeing them with the shell so I had no idea what they were until someone told me. They have two shells, on the left is the dark brown outer shell and on the right is the light brown inner shell.
Pangaia’s macadamia nut cracker makes it easy to open these babies. I could sit in Hawaii and open macadamia nuts for hours, I love the tropics:) Fresh out out of the shell, so cute, so tasty…hooray for Hawaii!!
P.S. I’m blogging from my very own computer! My last PC was a work computer so I bought a little Macbook and I dig it. It’s my first Mac so it’s taking me a little while to figure it out but I look cool typing;)
♥ Lesley Anne ♥
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April 30th, 2009
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Aloha! The long awaited Pangaia posts are finally here. Grab a mango and pour yourself some coconut water because this is a several post series, yippie.
Pangaia is a permaculture project on the Big Island of Hawaii, located in the great district of Puna. They’re in an active volcano and tsunami zone. You may be familiar with Pangaia from Jenna Norwoods YouTube posts. They’re completely off the grid, water is by rain catchment and the electricity is obtained via solar panels. They’re a self sustaining community and eat what they grow. What they don’t grow they get from the Pangaia Pantree the online raw food store they own and operate.
My mom and I enjoy going on adventures together and this was our first raw food vacation. We had been wanting to visit Pangaia for quite some time. We were thrilled to see they were so flexible with accommodating visitors. You can stay at Pangaia for a nightly or monthly rate, it’s also possible to trade accommodations for services. We taught a class on the benefits of water kefir in exchange for our stay and food.
Welcome to Pangaia! I will be your tour guide for today, please keep your hands, arms and legs inside the ride at all times:D
This was the cute Bali hut we stayed in, it was screened in on all four sides and in the back there was an outdoor sink. Our hut was peaceful and quite in the day but rather noisy at night. As soon as dusk rolls in the singing frogs come out. Around 6 a.m. natures alarm clock would join in as well, I’m talking about roosters, Pangaia has several of them. It was a little shocking the first day but you get used to it.
Even when it rained all day and night this hut kept us nice and dry. It was also an insect free zone due to the gecko mating ground above the bed. Since they eat all the mosquito’s, spiders and anything else that crawls, I welcome them:)
All the cozy nooks in the top of the hut made the ideal gecko nest. There were probably 30 geckos up there, if you look close you can see some tails and feet.
Occasionally, a rogue gecko would jump down from the ceiling. This one was rescued from my moms hair, I don’t know who was more shocked!
Ahhh, the great kitchen! This mega kitchen is the hub of Pangaia. The kitchen, living and dining room are situated on a polished concrete slab. It’s protected from the elements by a massive roof made from clear corrugated fiberglass panels that let the sun in. This kitchen is well loved and is often the busiest part of Pangaia.
The kitchen is right next to the garden, a perfect location. It was awesome to pick your own fresh food every day. If you look closely you can see the papaya trees. The garden is really quite big and my picture does not do it’s size justice.
The living and dining room is where the electricity is, everyone comes here to charge phones, cameras and plug in laptops. At night everybody congregates here to chat and check their Give It To Me Raw profiles over tea:) We came to visit at a great time because there were two parties during our stay and they were a blast! Bongo’s and ukulele’s in full swing and of course fun people and great food.
The showers are embedded in this lava rock wall. Each little crack had something interesting to look at, a shell, a crystal, a statue or painted rocks. This wall was gorgeous. I admit to being nervous about the showers and bathroom before I came to Pangaia. They look amazing but being in the buff in front of people I don’t know didn’t thrill me. The first two days I purposely showered at the beach. I soon realized that know one else here cares if I’m in the buff so on the 3rd day I showered at night. No sweat;)
The bathroom sink was stately and adorned with shells, crystals and plants growing from coconut husks. If you look in the mirror you can see the bath tub as well.
A zen soap holder;) One of the many decorative touches on the shower wall.
Yes, this is the loo! It looks intimidating but it’s very user friendly:) In the top left corner of the photo you can see the toilet seat. You would remove the lid and place the seat over the hole. Outside the loo you are supposed to pick a few broad plant leaves and that’s your TP. We did however get the 411 on the real toilet paper stash. I have no problem with leaves but I prefer the conventional paper stuff. The ceramic bowl contains a sawdust that aids the composting process.
So that was the quick tour of Pangaia, hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned because the next post is all about food, oh boy! I’ve got some great photos, so start drooling in anticipation.
♥ Lesley Anne ♥
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March 11th, 2009
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Sorry to have left you guys hanging for so long! My inspiration and motivation for blogging has been zapped by cold weather. My space heater and I are now best friends, we tell each other our innermost secrets and thoughts, we’re practically joined at the hip;) In the last month I’ve lacked interest in raw food due to living in an urban icicle. No amount of spicy raw foods, hot tea, warm baths or sweaters are solving the problem either. I’ve just been plain cold and want hot food. So what changed Lesley? Why are you blogging now, it’s still an urban icicle here? Well, I’m no longer in NYC Toto. I’m back in Utah where it’s warm and sunny, well, warmer anyway. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the fresh air is reviving my blogging spirit and thawing out my toes.
On my trip back home I happened upon a gem worthy of posting. JetBlue’s new JFK terminal has a self serve salad bar! A nice one with pretty a spring mix, spinach and a hearty veggie selection for toppings. It’s priced per lb but worth the $7.99. It was so exciting to see nice salad while traveling I had to take advantage even though I had snacks. Fresh food at an airport, what a novel idea! No more roaming around terminals only to find gross washed out salads, hooray! Ahhh, if only all airlines followed JetBlue’s trend, some day…..in the not so distant future.
I still like to clean out the fridge before I leave on a trip, taking my fruits and veggies with me. This has been a great asset for keeping in the raw while on the go and you don’t waste your food. This photo was from a trip I took in the summer and those were my very own home grown tomatoes;) Cute little guys aren’t they?
I promise I won’t be such a stranger. I’ve got several fun posts up my sleeve, book reviews, recipes, beauty secrets and yes, the long awaited Pangaia pictures. Stay Tuned:)
♥ Lesley Anne ♥
P.S. You may have noticed, my blog got a mini make over, the photos are bigger and better than ever:)
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March 7th, 2009
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Thanks Drhumil for posting Andrea Primm’s “10 minute or Less Delicious Raw Vegan Chocolate Cake!”. Andrea’s YouTube posts are fun, entertaining and to the point, I dig em:) Here is my version of her chocolate master piece:) The recipe is exactly the same and I did make it in under 10 minutes…..YAY~
I shaped my cake dough into a heart by hand because I’m a mushy romantic. Then decorated it with shredded coconut and banana slices. This cake is IDEAL for Valentines Day:) Awwww, romance begins with raw chocolate.
I was really surprised at how light and fluffy this cake was. It wasn’t heavy at all. At first I wasn’t sure the dough was going to stick together because it was so fluffy in the food processor. This is the perfect recipe for making the chocolate fudge cookie parts of ice cream sandwiches. It would also make great pie crust, cookies or cupcakes. The possibilities are endless!!!
♥ Lesley Anne ♥
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January 25th, 2009
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My package from TheRawFoodWorld.com arrived!! Yes, the very package that raised so many eyebrows;) My fellow blogger Sam from Yardsnacker.com informed me Matt Monarch posted a video clip about my blog, on his blog. Check it out, it’s pretty funny, it made me LOL. Matt is the author of Raw Success and Raw Spirit as well as the owner of The Raw Food World. I didn’t realize that Matt owned this site when I purchased my goodies. I’ve read his books and found them entertaining and helpful. I’m glad you found my blog entertaing as well Matt;) It’s funny how small the raw world can be.
Wanna know what I ordered??? Two bottles of Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide for veggie washes and mouth wash. Camu Camu Berry Powder & E3 Live Hemp and Maca Powder, say that three times fast. After reading Yardsnacker’s post on the benifits of the Camu Camu berry I had to get on board that train, choo, choo. The E3 live, hemp and maca combo was too good to pass up. I’ve been putting both these powders in my morinig smoothie and I like em. Neither one of them taste very stong, they’re really mild and blend right in with spiniach, apples and bananas. You can’t go wrong with that.
After watching Matt’s YouTube review, I thought I’d share some insight as to why I named my blog Raw Food Porn. I once heard someone refer to cooking shows as ”food porn” because they would then disire what ever was being made on the show. At the time I loved the sarcasm but didn’t really think much of it. When I first got into raw I found my self surfing the net for beautiful raw food pics. I had to laugh at myself because I realized I was surfing the net for “RAW” food porn!! The light bulb when off and I thought, bingo, what a great name for a blog. I’m always sufing the net to find more “Raw” food porn. That’s one way I keep up my enthusiasm for raw foods. I also rely on great companies like Matt’s to feed my raw food porn habbit;)
Thanks again Raw Food World!!
♥Lesley Anne♥
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January 17th, 2009
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♪ ♫ ♪ ♫Tis’ the season for goal setting fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la! While your at it, sing some carols, fa la, la, la, la, la, la, la, laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ♪ ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫ Tis’ the day for New Years resolutions, check out this effective method on how make your New Years resolutions a success.
Recently I found myself in a goal setting class and what I learned made perfect sense, their goal setting structure was very similar to how I started going raw, starting at the bottom, laying out small simple steps to obtain the bigger picture, your goal!!!
My very first raw goal was set and met with the help of David Wolf. He recommended starting your raw journey by incorporating one green smoothie or juice and one salad into your daily routine. The little light bulb in my brain went off at Davids suggestion because I realized, I can actually do this!
He advised newbies to make a list of grocery’s and tools they’ll need to obtain this goal for one week. This was easy enough to do, I had the tools, a blender for making smoothies and a knife chopping veggies. Making the grocery list was as easy as raw pie, a whole lotta’ fruits and veggies.
Now that you have your tools and supplies your ready to rock’n'roll the raw way. My first week was a success and the next and so on. Once I mastered the salad and smoothies I moved on to making raw dinners, oh boy:)
Davids advice and this goal setting system reminds me of stairs. You start at the bottom and work your way up, one step at a time until you reach the top. Have you ever heard the joke “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!!” Haha funny I know, my mom says this often but it’s true, we all have to start somewhere. It’s either the first bite or the first step. This system helps us lay out our goals one step at a time.
Blog readers, here’s the goal setting outline I got from the class, I find it’s very similar to Davids structure that worked so well for me the first time. This model helped me put a little more thought and detail into my goal setting and thus far has been pretty rad.
A Model to Illustrate Achievement of Your Goals
Goal: What would you like to achieve?
1.________________________
Objectives: What must be done to reach your goals?
1.__________ 2.__________ 3._________
Daily Action Steps: Create your day toward your objectives.
1.__________ 2. __________ 3._________
4.__________ 5. __________ 6._________
Here’s one of my goals that I’ll share with ‘yall to get ‘cha started. I have one for blogging on a consistent basis, going to the gym 3 times a week, finishing school by June and this one saving more mooollah.
Goal: What would you like to achieve?
1. Save more money in 2009.
Objectives: What must be done to reach your goals?
1. Set up a high interest saving account.
2. Stop buying things I don’t need.
3. Put 10% of what I make into savings.
4. Sell more on Ebay and take more temp jobs. Put that money directly into savings.
Daily Action Steps: Create your day toward your objectives.
1. Get online and compare savings accounts
2. Set up checking account to deposit 10% of each paycheck into savings.
3. Change paypal info to deposit Ebay earnings into new saving account.
4. Seriously evaluate what I’m buying when shopping, making a grocery list, asking myself if I really truly need that new hand bag, sweater ect.
5. When I do truly need something, shop around and find the best price possible.
6. Follow up with the temp job connections I have. Accept the temp jobs I’m available for. Seek out more temporary gigs.
Print this out and make as many copies as you want, fill ‘em out, put ‘em on your fridge save them in your wallet, put ‘em under your pillow, what ever you do PLEASE WRITE THEM DOWN! For what ever reason we take our goals more seriously when we take the time to commit them to paper, can we say manifest?? As Nike would say, Just Do It!
PS. Remember, were human so no matter what your goals are just always do your best! Wishing you a warm and Happy New Year, this is Lesley Anne signing off till 2009, peace out!!
♥ Lesley Anne ♥
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December 31st, 2008
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Aloha, Mele Kalikimaka and Merrrrrrrrry Christmas!
I hope your all having a wonderful Christmas! I’m no longer in Hawaii but thought I’d send you guys some Aloha and holiday cheer from the Big Island. This Sandy Snowman was spotted on Hapuna beach, his chubby cactus arms were so cute I couldn’t resist taking his picture. This was also the beach where I was doing my best running “Bay Watch” impression and ate it! There was sand in places sand should never be, it was a wee bit embarrassing but too funny not to laugh about;)
I have tons of updates and goodies to share with you from my trip to Pangaia. This holiday season has been a bit of a whirlwind for me and I admit I haven’t been the most consistent blogger:( It’s all good because I have tons ‘O’ drafts in the works so there are a more posts coming….awesome ones with exotic and tropical pictures, YAY!
♥ Lesley Anne ♥
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December 26th, 2008
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