Go Raw Chicago / The Green Crush

Well I made it out to the “Magic Hedge” for the first time last week.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day.  I was on a mission to find mulberries too, after reading Anthony’s post on them that week.  It was all a sign that I was to find them that day and then lead others to them.  I’ve been getting more and more into wild foods.  Studying up on more exotic types in books, trying to ID them whenever I’m out walking or running around.  It gets to be a lot of fun!

The Magic Hedge was just beautiful.  What a perfect blend of nature and city. As you can see from the pic below, you’re walking around in this thick brush yet you can see the beautiful city of Chicago from just about anywhere.  It is known to be a bird sanctuary so there are birds EVERYWHERE.  I thought I had died and gone to proverbial heaven!!  I did find the mulberry tree, too.  They weren’t ready quite yet, unfortunately but I’ll be back.  In fact, I’ve scheduled a meetup called “Mulberry Meetup Madness at Montrose” for July.  It’s going to be a blast! I’m planning on bringing a blanket or two with me too so we can shake all those ripe suckers off of there too ☺

It’s quite a change for me to not be working (in an office anymore).  I’ve pretty much taken the last two weeks as vacation and so I’ve been waking up to no alarm, no agenda or meetings, no real schedule.  I just kind of fit in what would best fit in the next chunk of free time I have (the only real things scheduled being gym classes and dinners and lunches with friends).  I’ve also gone from 9 hours of computer time a day to about 1-2 hours a day.  It’s kind of nice.  Less EMFs too.  I plan on starting up the research and scripting for me DVDs as soon as I come back from California in July though.

I’ll be going to California for eight days starting Monday.  I’m a bridesmaid in one of my best friends weddings.  I’m really excited to be headed back home too.  I’ve been having lots of surfing dreams lately.  The ocean is calling me!   I’ll be taking the bf with me too so I’m excited to show him the best ever farmers markets and raw food restaurants CA has to offer.  There are so many new raw food restaurants that have opened since the last time I was there–it’s incredible. As long as we get to hit up the favorites though, I’ll be happy.

Here’s a fun new smoothie I made for myself this morning.  I’ve made it before, but never realized how much the flavor reminded me of Fruit Loops Cereal!

Fruit Loops Smoothie

1 Coconut–water and the meat
1 peeled orange–with seeds is best

1 BIG handful of spinach
1 handful of goji berries
Blend in the vita-mix for about 20 seconds and…..
1 swear to God this tastes like fruit loops cereal!  Even the little speckles of red remind of how the milk used to look after all the “loops” were gone ☺  Enjoy! Raw food is so much fun.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a recipe on here so here ya go:

Cherry Cacao Smoothie

1 cup frozen cherries
1 frozen banana
1 tablespoon cacao powder
1 small handful cacao nibs
1 tablespoon maca

Blend in the Vita-Mix
Optional: Stir in sliced/slivered raw almonds

Enjoy!!!

Hi friends!  If you’re in Chicago, I hope you’ve been out enjoying the good weather we’ve been having.  I certainly have been.  This week marks the first week of cubicle freedom for me.  Last Friday was my last day in the office.  I’ll now be working full-time for myself!!  I’ll be working on a series of raw food lifestyle dvds—based on the classes I taught last year; some short e-books; speaking at Doc’s-the local 100% organic juice and smoothie bar about green smoothies and the value of having/using a Vita-Mix ; and blogging more often.  For fun I’ll be exercising more, spending time in my garden, studying up on and eating more wild foods, putting together more Chicago Young and Raw Events, and making full use of the Bucktown Wicker Park Library, reading and learning all I can.  I’ll also be mediating and learning Reiki !!  (The bf and I will be taking a Reiki class in order to get “attuned” this Saturday morning.)  I’m so exciting and so appreciative of this precious gift (of a good severance package) I’ve been given.

My garden is thriving from the recent thunderstorms we’ve been having and I’m just loving it. Last night my boyfriend came over for dinner and I picked all kind of fresh greens from my blooming garden.  I made us the best salad ever- with freshly picked romaine, Boston lettuce, parsley, spinach, and some delicious radishes.  Of course I threw in all kinds of other goodies too, carrot, sprouts, avo, sweet peppers, and more.

Last week the Chicago Young and Raw Meetup Group had a raw food picnic potluck in the park.  It was so much fun.  We even ended up feeding some random guy in the park who wanted to join us.  You should have seen the look on his face when he tasted his first forkful of kale salad (with gojis and pine nuts in it).  It was crazy.  He was like “what IS this???”  It’s always nice to share the best food ever with strangers and turn them onto what’s out there to enjoy.  It’s definitely not all about caviar and filet mignon

What else is new?…  Here is a really neat trailer about an upcoming movie about food and just how big a role it plays in our life.  I’m not sure when it’s coming out but I’ll be there on opening night for sure!   Check it out at http://foodmatters.tv/trailer.html

Also, talking about simple holistic healing:  I’ve been having a few issues with super-tight shoulder and neck muscles lately and just bought this really simple kit with two rubber balls and I can’t tell you how much it’s helped lately.  Every morning I just lay on these two balls and it’s HEAVEN.  It’s called the Miracle Ball Method .  You can find it on Amazon if you have any sort of back, shoulder, neck problems and don’t really want to pay up the $$$ to see a chiropractor.  It feels so wonderful that I just know it’s doing the same sort of benefit—without all the pain.   Just click on the link above to see what I’m talking about.

That’s all for now kids.  Much love to you.  Muuah!

~L

Hi all,

Sorry to have been gone for so long.  Last weekend, my boyfriend and I went to Colorado Springs and had a really amazing time.  We went biking in the Garden of the Gods, experienced some really fresh mountain air at the top of Pikes Peak, got to sample some mineral water for several different natural springs, did some hiking, and even got a psychic reading.  It was all pretty awesome.  Here are some pictures of the trip below.

<–sampling some natural spring water in Manitou Springs.  It tasted very minerally and not as clean-tasting as I was hoping.

<–Ponderosa Pine trees smell just like butterscotch!

There are no raw food restaurants in Colorado Springs (yet) but with the help of Lara Bars and Safeway’s organic produce section, we did pretty darn good diet-wise.  There was also a great organic restaurant in Manitou Springs that we ate ate twice.   My advice for travelers is to bring some organic fruit for the first couple mornings and also some tupperware containers and utencils for making your own salads when you go grocery shopping, along with some Lara Bars, bee pollen, and Vitamineral Greens.  I bring Celtic Sea Salt and stevia too whenever I travel.

<–”Seven-Falls” behind me.  What a gorgeous day and view.

<–Garden of the Gods from afar.  Very appropriately named!!

Anyway it was a fantastic trip as you can see and it really is true that you can eat well –raw-vegan-organic pretty much anywhere!  (well Lara Bars aren’t organic but close enough ;)  I was hoping to do more wild food foraging and was studing my book the entire way there on the plane but there wasn’t much that I recognized.   There’s always my front yard though!!

I found out yesterday that I was in the Chicago Redeye on Monday.  Here is the article.  It’s about detoxing and the pains and gains of it.  It’s short and worth the read.

Two other tidbits:  I just bought myself a Q-Link because I’ve been feeling like it might give me some more energy (and more energy is always a great thing).  I think it’s really been helping me.  It didn’t go off when I went through the airport metal detector either. There are some really good deals on these on Amazon now.  I think the price has really gone down substantially and could be worth it.  I’m not a huge fan of wearing it as jewelry so I just safety pin it to the middle of my bra and it seems to work.

Also, I think I’ve found my replacement for Kombuchas.  I really love Kombucha (mainly the carbonation of it) and have been brewing my own in my apartment.  However, it takes quite a while to brew if you want to get all the sugar out (about 2 weeks) and I’m only making about 5 1/2 bottles worth at a time so it goes pretty fast.  But I just discovered this great drink called Talking Rain at Costco last night!  It’s fizzy, organicly favored sparkling artesian spring water, and it has zero calories and no artificial flavorings.  It’s perfect.  And it was only $9 something for 24 bottles so that’s about 42 cents per bottle.  Pretty good compared to 3.50 or so per bottle.  Just thought I’d share that with all you Kombucha addicts out there… ;) 

P.s.  I am also looking into taking a reiki 1 class so if any of you have done this or have any recommendations on where to take this class please e-mail me.  Thanks so much!
~Lenette

<–one of two of my new 4 x 4 square foot gardens (surrounded by tons of wild edibles ironically enough!)

Happy Friday Everyone!!!  Need some upliftment?  Here are some short but effective audio clips to get you in the mood ;)   I try to listen to these every morning now.  I’m a such a nerd, I know!    http://www.soundboard.com/sb/laugh_track.aspx

The Chicago Green Fest last weekend was awesome.  I think it was the biggest so far.  It’s always fun running into friends from the local raw food community, sampling new products, supporting local companies just starting up, and browsing through the gorgeous organic clothing.  I’m not sure what booth/product was my favorite, but my friends and I all got a health reading at this one particular booth and each got a print out of where we stood with our digestion, adrenals, hormones, sleep, etc (there were about 30 points of measure)-and we thought this booth was well worth visiting.  The testing method was new to me but the guy said the readings were usually pretty accurate.  He put a clip the hand of tip of my left index finger and then wet an electrical probe and pressed it onto the outside of the middle bone of my right index finger.  The guy pressed down with the probe for each health measure and obtained a number on the computer.  Funny enough, I was slightly outside the ideal range for water!!  That was a great wake up call for me though.  I am now really focused on making sure I get at least 3 liters of water in me a day (not including juices, teas, etc.)  The basics are always a great thing to re-focus on

I’m seeing wild foods everywhere right now!  Clover, plantain, dandelion, wild violet, rhubarb, lambsquarters, lemon sorrel, and garlic mustard (I LOVE garlic mustard).  I think I’ve been thinking about and studying wild foods so much lately that the universe is literally putting them right in front of me everywhere I go!  I borrowed a book on wild edibles from the library last month, wanting to identify everything in my front yard.  It turns out I have four of the above eight wild foods in my front yard alone.  I feel so lucky.  I plan on going to the Magic Hedge near Montrose beach in Chicago soon to check out what else is going off now that spring is in full gear.  Probably mulberries, wild apples, and tons more.  Check out this post I did last year on wild foods for more info on the Magic Hedge.  I think the next young and raw meetup will be an intro to wild foods in my front yard and then a field trip out to the Magic Hedge.  I’m VERY excited…

One last thing for today to spark that ever-expanding mind of yours:  I found a great source for some free e-books on superfood health from Mike Adams, “The Health Ranger.”  He’s such an awesome guy that has started up a website called http://www.newstarget.com/, a completely independent website dedicated to educating us on health info the FDA doesn’t want us to know about.  The website is

http://www.truthpublishing.com/Articles.asp?ID=131 and gives you access to about 10 free e-books.  I’ve already read/skimmed through four of them and have learned a ton of new info.  Also, here are some great youtube videos of him I’d highly recommend.  This is a series of about eight though so watch them when you have time.  His knowledge base is huge and this is not your everyday information.  You’ll definitely learn something new from him.   Enjoy and have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

~Lenette

  <—at the Chicago Greenfest last year.

Well I asked, and of course the universe provided… I got my organic compost from a local woman here in Chicago.  She had a whole Vermicompost operation going on in her basement and it was quite interesting to see all the stages (and worms) involved in compost-making!  (Her business name is “Windy City Compost” and e-mail is ebrandstetter “at” gmail.com if your local and interested.)

So with the tremendous help of my angelic landlord, I built the frame and filled it with the blended peat moss, vermiculite, and compost on Monday and planted the transplants, and seedlings last night.  What fun!  I haven’t gotten that dirty in SO long.  It actually felt cleansing.  I’ll be posting pictures of the progress.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I inherited some sort of green thumb from my mother.  If not, I may be a tad embarrassed.  But it’s all about the experience, right?  But seriously, just in case, I’ve decided not to invest in any sort of sea mineral supplement like Ocean-Grown until next year!

The annual Chicago Greenfest is this Saturday and Sunday and I’m pretty excited about it.  I think I’ll be getting my “million dollar idea” there or sometime real soon.  I’d like to address some sort of problem or dilemma that raw foodists have with some sort of product (could be physical or informational).  If any of you have any ideas, feel free to pass them onto me.  I’d love your input!!   Last year’s fest was really awesome though.  I’m bummed Sunfood Nutrition (and David) won’t be there this year, but I always look forward to meeting the people behind new up-and-coming business.  Paul Stamets, the author of numerous books and papers on the subject of mushroom identification and cultivation, is giving a talk at 2pm that I’m really interested in going to, and the Young and Raw Group is meeting up to watch the Raw for 30 days film playing in the film room at 5:30.   Local raw and vegan restaurants will be in the food court area too and I know local raw chef Blake will be cutting open and selling young coconuts for about $3.  Should be a blast!  (I love getting asked “what IS that??” when I’m drinking/eating out of a young coconut.)

 <—I was getting a bit carried away with this supersmoothie :)  I remember it tasted out of this world though!

On one last random note for the day–my bf got himself a Vita-Mix this week!   (As well as maca, goji berries, hemp seeds, and cacao powder–another superfoodist is born ;)   It’s just such a treat to make a perfectly blended smoothie for yourself in the comfort of own home whenever you want.  He finally couldn’t take it any more :)  Smoothies are a great way to go if you are just getting into raw foods, short on time, having digestion issues, on some sort of detox problem, or just want to simplify meal prep time.  Other blenders are fine when you’re just starting out, but after a while, you want the BEST.  In my humble opinion, Vita-Mix and Blendtec Blenders are by far the very best for a raw foodist.  Let me know if you need any more convincing on this one.  But I don’t think you would regret the decision to buy one.  I’m pretty sure they last well over 10 years (and there’s a 7 year warranty).  That comes out to about 12 cents per day if you think about it if you use it at least once per day-and you will!

Here’s a fun clip to watch of Tim VanOrden, the creator of the Running Raw Project, talking about green smoothies.   I didn’t realize what a funny guy he was until watching some of his youtube videos.   [*Note: Tim obviously prefers the Blendtec to the Vita-mix.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion of course. I feel the Vita-mix has two legs up on the Blendtec for two major reasons: 1) there is a tamper that allows you to help move the foods and thus speed up the process and 2) there is no auto timer and so the likelihood that you overblend (overhead) the smoothie is minimized. For a great comparison that Mike Adams from Newstarget has done on the two check out this great article.]   Enjoy! ~Lenette

Last weekend I continued my shopping (I feel like it’s been a real scavenger hunt) for supplies and ingredients for my square foot garden.  It seems like it’s been years since first talking about this and I am just SO excited to get started.  However, I’ve encountered a few challenges:  I’m finding that not a lot of gardening supply centers carry organic transplants, composts, copper shovels, etc–at least not in Chicago.  I REALLY thought these things would be more prevalent and not at all hard to find but I guess I was wrong.  Chicago is striving to be the “greenest” city in America.  Why not start with the actual greenery?  Organic gardening materials are definitely the most sustainable and earth friendly way to go.  Oh well.  I’ve posted some want ads on Craig’s list.  Maybe someone is making organic compost in their kitchen using some sort of automatic composter and has some extra to unload.  The universe will line it up for me, right? Right!  It would definitely be a great business for someone in the Chicago to take on–making and selling organic compost.  It’s a great way to promote growing your own food too, or the whole Anastatia Movement. 

One thing I did see (and smell!) at the garden supply center that I thought was pretty cool was a bag of cacao shells.  I wasn’t sure how to use this in my soil mix so I didn’t buy it.  I’ve heard David Wolfe say that cacao shells add a lot of nitrogen to the soil.  The bag that I saw was sitting in the sun and smelled SO good I was seriously ready to take it home and use it as potpourri (maybe someday soon.  It would be a pretty neat idea.  I wonder if anyone has done this?).

On another topic:  Are you interested in trying out young green coconuts but don’t have $400 to take a vacation to the tropics?  I was pondering this question myself the other day and decided to start Googling.  If found this business in Florida, Broward Palm Trees, where you can order a case of 12 (I don’t know why 12) young green coconuts for about $5-$6 per coconut, depending on where you live.  Expensive I know, but it’s FedEx that really gets you because I spoke with the guy and he sells them for only $1 each!  It’s just an option.  Maybe if you can get five other friends together you can go in on a box together for $10-$12 each.  If you are anything like me-I know you’ve spent more than that on good food and superfoods before.  Why not try something new?  OR….if you can get together a bunch of friends and order a crate of 400 you can get the cost down to about $3 each.  Maybe if you’re in New York or California it would be possible to get this many willing people together.  Just putting it out there… It would be a good reason to put an event together

Have the best weekend ever,

Lenette

<–me being smoothie gurl at the All Things Organic Expo helping out my Superfood Snacks friends.

Sorry for the absenteeism on here lately.  Life has been sort of hectic–in a good way though, of course.  But I am back in the swing of things now.  I have, once again, a plethora of things to share with you!  Here’s the run down of what I’ve been up to and what I’ve been observing in the past 2 weeks in Chicago Raw Food-Land (I’ll save some for later though so this post won’t be too long) :

Last Sunday, the Chicago Young and Raw Group had a meetup brunch at The Balanced Kitchen, a relatively new organic, vegan, local-foods, gluten free, green restaurant in Chicago.  They’re not a raw vegan food restaurant per se, but I’d say they can definitely hang with the best of them.  (Currently, they’re only doing raw for special events.) We were served 6 course meal and treated our taste buds to some amazing new flavors.  One friend in our group even said that the food there was better than a meal him and his girlfriend had a Charlie Trotter’s (a VERY VERY VERY expensive restaurant in Chicago that will serve a raw food course upon request).  The interesting thing is that none of the chefs there are “Raw Food Chefs”– they are pretty much self-taught.  In a way, I think this is a lot better because it’s not the same old stuff–raw hamburgers, raw tacos, raw pizza, etc.  They are creating completely new flavor combinations (not that other raw food restaurants aren’t though) using the chef training they have, as well as whatever they’re learning from raw recipe books or websites.  All in all, I was really impressed.  We left feeling quite good, and definitely not stuffed.  It was kind of like going to a raw food tapas restaurant–nibbles and tastes here and there, really savoring the flavors and the company!

There were a couple of new businesses that presented to us before and after we ate at the Balanced Kitchen that I really wanted to mention.  Why not? I feel we should all support each other–especially new and upcoming green/raw/organic businesses ;)  It’s always so thrilling to hear entrepreneurs tell the story of their product/service and business vision/unfolding with pride.  I think back to my visions and how (especially lately) they have been unfolding and changing and getting tweaked here and there and all over the place.  Now I think I’m going to be going into the online e-commerce business.  What a complete 180 from a opening up a smoothie/juice bar!  But I digress…the first business is my friend Jason’s.  He’s making organic, vegan, gluten-free raw desserts like cheesecakes and pies and he just got into a few Whole Foods in the Chicagoland area.  His company’s called Raw Creations.  How exciting.  I can’t express just how wonderful his desserts are.  He’s always coming up with new things too.  After brunch, we were treated to a cacao-lavender pie and it was just amazing.  Check his website out here if you’d like to learn more or if you’re near the Whole Foods in Wheaton or Willowbrook.  Here’s an awesome video of him talking about his product with “190 North” too.  Check it out! 

A “decadent raw vegan organic chocolate and catering” business called Cru Cacao was also in the house that Sunday.  Cru Cacao was started by couple Dereme and Blazej only back in December (wow) and they were there presenting their amazing chocolate truffles to us.  They had about 8 different flavors with exotic ingredients and flavorings such as mango dust, rose water, saffron, clear agave nectar, and gold flakes (not all in the same truffle).  They run about $4 each and will be available at Whole Foods soon.  These are what you’d give your honey or mom when they’ve been real good.  We each got to sample one.  Below is a pic:

Another quick note (EXCITING): I just got an update last week from Emily, the person who keeps up the Raw Food Restaurant Guide Blog and List, and 17 new raw vegan restaurants have opened up since mid-February.  What exciting news.  And that means more places for us to eat! Lol.  But a real important note here, especially for those not in the city of Chicago: please take a look at her list.  If you know of someplace (either raw vegan, or organic and very raw friendly) that should be on this list, PLEASE e-mail Emily and let her know.  It will take two minutes.  I know she will thank you on her site for the tips too! Thanks to you from all of us raw fooders too

MUCH appreciation for your readership and support,

~Lenette

The basis of your life is absolute freedom, the goal is joy, and the result of that perfect combination is motion forward, or growth. Your goal is to find objects of attention that let your cork raise. — Abraham

Sorry I’ve been M.I.A. as of late, there is just SO much new stuff happening.  I keep making notes on my “Blog” word doc on what to talk about next, and it’s to the point where I have enough to write a 10-page post!  Instead, I think I’ll post some short tidbits on all these new things.  Hope you this newsletter-like post!

-I’ve been jogging around my neighborhood a lot more lately.  Chicago is definitely getting “greener” and greener.”  Especially in Bucktown and Wickerpark–there are more and more eco-boutiques and vegetarian and organic places popping up all over.  Most noteworthy is the organic juice and smoothie bar, Doc’s (which I’ve mentioned before).  When I walked in to say hi to the owner the other day, I saw that he was now selling 100% organic juices and will be rolling out green smoothies (with some help from little ole me) very soon!  The prices are so reasonable too!  AND you don’t have to get carrot juice in it if you don’t want to :)  I had a celery-cucumber juice and it was amazing!

-Another place of note is The Green Grocer that just opened on 1402 W. Grand Ave.  Todd and I went and checked it out on Saturday to meet the owners and thank them for opening up more organic-purchasing opportunities for them.  They are really wonderful people.  The Chicago Conscious Choice ran an article about them and that’s how I found out.  I just love helping to spread the word about businesses like this though.  They have a great little website in the works that even has a coupon on it.  Please check them out if you’re in the neighborhood.  They have some fresh organic and local produce there too.  I bought some organic ginger there (which Wholefoods surprisingly doesn’t even have). 

-I’ve updated some pages on my website quite a bit.  They are the Great Links, How to Makeover Your Kitchen, How to make your own Super-smoothies, Super-juices, and Super-soups, Raw Friendly Places to Eat In Chicago, and How to shop for raw foods if you’re in Chicago pages. Please check them out!

-In the spirit of Earth Day, last weekend my girlfriends and I got together at my place and had a Girls Night In/Score Your Friends’ Clothes Party!  We all brought trashbags of clothes we no longer wanted or were going to wear and just had a ball going through each other’s things.  I think we were all amazed at how many clothes we went home with.  I must have scored at least 30 new items, not including some brand new makeup a girlfriend no longer wanted.  There were about 8 trashbags full of clothes leftover which no one wanted so I’ll be calling the VVA soon to come pick the stuff up BUT I want to do this again!!  This was just such a great idea and SO much better than getting ripped off by going to a Buffalo Exchange or similar clothing store. I should host a Young and Raw clothing exchange meetup.  Hmmmm…..   ;)  

-I’ve been getting into a few new things practices lately:  EFT and Muscle Testing.  I think I’ve watched about 30 YouTube videos on these two things alone in the past week!  Wow.  There is just so much out there (on YouTube), it’s just ridiculous.  I don’t think I’ve blogged about this yet (I probably need to), but when I had the Young and Raw meetup featuring a naturopath guest speaker at my apartment the other week, there was a huge interest in her muscle testing (a.k.a. kinesiology) abilities.  What an invaluable skill to have!  We can waste $100s of dollars a year on supplements that really aren’t doing anything for us or may even be HARMING us.  I’ve talked to my bf about this, and from now on, he’ll be muscle testing me (if he’s with me) before I buy any new supplements at the store in the future.  Here are the best YouTube videos I’ve found on muscle testing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t1qaEAYu1w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vZyWouhNpc

- EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique).  A lot of you have probably heard about this in the past.  I’ve heard about it a couple of times a year now for about five years.  It’s never really caught on with me until now though.  I’ve been using it on all sorts of things (mainly while I’m in the car driving to or from work, before I’m about to eat a meal, and before I go to sleep at night) and it’s really been working wonders.  If you haven’t heard about this before or would like to learn more, here are some great YouTube videos I’ve found on this (they can explain it much better than I could here):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQp0kA5a5OI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyU08zK8mzs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKMFPFB1Ng8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1mqUPm7L5A

-A money-saving tip for Chicagoans:  The cheapest place I’ve now found to buy coconuts in Chicago is Chicago Food Corporation (there’s as big sign that says JOONGBOO market that you’ll see from the 90/94).   The address is 3333 North Kimball Ave.  I went there last night to buy some coconuts (in dire need for some more coconut kefir) and realized that I was only paying 39 cents per pound for them.  They came out to less than $1 each.  I was paying $1.50 for them at the Chinese market in uptown Chicago!  No durian at this place though :(   Darn!

-Here’s a really cool news clip taken at Karyn’s Fresh Corner the other week if you haven’t seen it yet.  I hope to be looking at feeling that young at 61!!

-The Raw Spirit Fest:  Yes, it’s still about 5 months away but this is really getting me excited!!  My friend Anthony, from RawModel.com, just registered to host a workshop there (I’ll be assisting him) and I’ll be working with the We Like It Raw team to get the Give It To Me Raw members together at some point in the weekend for a some sort of awesome shindig!  If you haven’t bought your ticket yet, it’s definitely not too late.  But it IS getting a little late if you haven’t make hotel accommodations yet so I suggest you start looking around or talking to others going.  Just a little favor to ask you:  if/when you do buy your tickets, if you could buy them using this link,that would be the best ever! Thank you so much

-Ask and it is given–It’s SO true!  I’ve been wanting to leave my corporate job for a long time now and my wish has finally been answered.  I’ll be leaving with a severance package in July!!!  I’m SO excited to pursue what I want to do and am so good at doing, full time now.  This is the best situation ever.  I’ve just been walking on air the last two weeks.  So many opportunities are opening up in front of me right now and I’m just scribbling down my ideas as soon as they come.  The BIG idea is still on the way though….

Hope you enjoyed the randomness of this post as well as the MANY, MANY links.  Hope this keeps you busy for a while!.  Love you guys!

~Lenette

I am just loving coconuts right now!  I’m going through them like crazy.   I recently got into two new things: coconut water kefir and nut milk kefir.  So far I’ve been pretty successful making each one.  For this post, I’ll focus on the coconut water kefir and coconut meat/yogurt kefir though.  I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to hop on the kefir train.  It’s power is probably in the ranks of  superfoods.  My friend Marilyn was always talking about making it, hosting kefir-making parties at her place.  I guess I’ve always just assumed it was made with a dairy base and did not want to compromise on my veganism.  But two weeks ago I was searching for something new….some new information to expand my nutritional knowledge base, you know?  I know you all do this.  It gets boring for me to not try new things all the time.  My Amazon.com purchase this time was The Body Ecology Diet by Donna Gates as well as a kefir starter kit.  It’s funny too because the week before, I watched this great youtube video (see below) by the owner of Real Raw Live in L.A. (he has a GREAT blog too-check it out!).  After I started researching coconut water kefir more and more.  I wanted to taste some!  It’s pretty expensive stuff if you buy it bottled!  See here if interested.

Kefir is some really amazing stuff.  There are two whole chapters on it in this B.E.D. book.  I think the best thing (for me) is that it really reduces sugar cravings–which I could definitely use less of.  And even if I do indulge in a little dessert, if I eat/drink a little coconut yogurt/coconut water kefir with the dessert, the probiotics in it reduce the harmful effects of the sugar!  How great is that?

To make the water, you use the water from three young coconuts, heat to 90 degrees (careful here!) and mix in the contents of one starter package.  Let sit in room temperature for 24-36 hours until sour and then put in the fridge.  You drink 4-8 ounces at a time.  Then to make the yogurt, blend up the meat of about 5 coconuts and stir in 4-6 Tablespoons of the coconut water kefir.  The ‘yogurt’ will be done out in room temp in about 8 hours.  After that you can move to the fridge.  If it’s too sour for you, you can always stir or blend in some stevia, berries or other fruit.  Just like yogurt and fruit from the good ‘ole days!

Here’s a fantastic smoothie recipe for you.  I just made it Sunday.  It was HEAVENLY.  Just be sure to air out your place before friends come visit!

¾ durian pod

Meat of 1 young coconut

Some young coconut water

2 cups of spinach

Blend!!! (in the Vitamix for best results)

Try it.  Love it.

**Extra, Extra**

Here’s an awesome idea for a knife (I didn’t do this myself, this is my most recent purchase from the last Chicago raw food potluck)

Weld a weight onto the edge of a butcher’s knife to make opening coconuts 20X easier.  Seriously.  Awesome idea folks!  They cost about $8 bucks.  I bought this one for $35 because I don’t have any friends that weld.  Oh well

~Love,
Lenette

This post actually is on how to go and stay raw in the city…the city of Las Vegas!  The two Go Raw Cafés there definitely make it possible.  I really didn’t see any other organic dishes on any menus to even consider the plain-salad-and-your-own-flax-crackers option.  I just snacked on organic fruit I brought from home, a couple Lara bars, and some pumpkin seeds and ate two good-sized lunches from the Go Raw Café.  

Visiting this raw food restaurant was one of the major to-do things on my list :)  Sure, I love my green juices, smoothies and salads, but every so often it is SUCH a treat to go to a raw food restaurant for the fancy-shmancy stuff.   On Sunday, my boyfriend and I took a $25 taxi cab ride (yikes!) out there from the strip for a late lunch.  It just over 6 miles away from the strip.  We were starving so we chose to order and split three entrees.  We got the cheeseburger, Mexicali pizza, and mock salmon rolls.  We were in heaven!!!!   I even remembered to take pics this time.  It is always so refreshing to be in a new raw food restaurant.  I just love soaking up the healthy vibes.  I am also so grateful and lucky my bf appreciates healthy, raw, organic food so much.  This brunch ended up being part of my b-day present so I couldn’t have been happier!   We ate the food so slowly and happily; we were even laughing as we ate it!  Raw food is happy, fun food!  I think what we loved the most about this place was the bread they used for the bun and pizza crust.  The owners/managers of this place are the same ones as the Raw Makery.  It’s not just flax but a TON of ingredients including oranges and yams.  I usually try to make things myself once I can figure out the ingredients but this stuff would be way too much work.  It was very special stuff.  If you haven’t tried their products yet, I would strongly recommend trying it out.  Karyn’s Fresh Corner sells it.  It’s kind of pricy but it’s a real treat.  And you could make it last if you wanted to.

 And guess what?  We later found out they deliver for $10 so the next day, five of us in our group made a lunch order and they delivered it to the Flamingo!  (Got the cheeseburger and pizza again-they were so good).  I forgot to take a picture of us but believe me– all of my friends (non-raw foodists) were loving it!  I just love giving my friends the opportunity for a raw-food experience

Las Vegas was awesome.  We took a limo instead of a taxi cab on a whim for only $6 each; my friends surprised me by taking me to go so the Cirque Du Soleil show “O” at the Bellagio for my b-day; and my boyfriend and I won at the roulette table FOUR times in a row!!!  We took Vegas at the very last hour!!  Not to mention all the fun we had at the craps table.  I just love craps.  My friends can really throw those dice too ;)  FUN, FUN, FUN in the Vegas sun…

Stay tuned for my first youtube video coming soon.  The Young and Raw Chicago Meetup Group is having a potluck meetup this Saturday with special guest naturopath Kathy Warpinski of Nature’s Blessing.  I plan on video taping her doing some eye reading and muscle testing

~Lenette

It’s my b-day today!  To celebrate, I thought I’d share my most recent news and thoughts around it (all pretty celebratory thoughts, I think).

So as I’ve been letting those who read my blog know, I’ve been just LOVING working and dreaming about the Green Crush Smoothie Bar.  It’s been so life and energy-giving; a true blessing.   I was sleeping only a few hours each night at one point last month; going to sleep with a huge smile on my face!  About 1 ½ weeks ago, things started to feel a little different.  All of the sudden it didn’t feel like much  fun.  It was energy depleting instead of energy giving.  I was having some major challenges making my menu items and pro form financial forms show substantial profits–at least enough to break even.  Yeesh.  I didn’t think it would be that hard but a 100% organic business does present somewhat of a challenge–especially if you’re in Chicago AND you’ve got the winter to deal with.  I was doing major market research last week and decided to start calling up organic juice and smoothie bars as well as raw food cafes and restaurants around the country.  The feedback I basically got was going something like this: “yeah, it’s pretty tough,” “yeah, there’s not a lot of money to be made here,” “get ready to have no social life for a LONG time,” and “it’s been four years and we’re still no where close to breaking even.” Yikes!  I decided to invest some more money into this and hire a professional smoothie bar consultant.  We were talking a few times a week and he let me in on the tricks of the trade regarding how to make smoothies.  I was absolutely disgusted and really just disenchanted with the whole business/industry: 1 ½ cups of shaved ice, 2 cups juices, 2 tablespoons flavors syrups, THREE blueberries, 1 INCH of banana, then.blend???  No wonder some are making money in this business.  There was no way I wanted to compromise on my smoothies or ingredients in anyway.  I am somewhat of a purist when it comes to food and if I wouldn’t drink it, there’s just no way I could sell it to a customer!  Also, my equipment needs, hence start-up costs, kept going up.  And commercial equipment is about 3 times as much as the home equipment.  So it didn’t feel right, fun, or energy giving anymore to do this.  SOOOO….I’m taking a step back and rethinking the entire thing

I feel this is a good thing.  I LOVE change.  Here were some of my “car thoughts” on the way to work yesterday morning:

• The Green Crush has been so much fun to think about and work on.  Thrilling really.  I could work on the plan until 2am.  Some nights I could hardly sleep I was so excited!   
• I loved daydreaming about it and talking about it with others.
• I know all of the work I did on the smoothie bar is far from null and void–everything I’ve done will play in perfectly in what’s to come next.
• I’m so excited for my next business venture.
• Life is so much fun with all its twists and turns.
• I’m so happy and grateful for where I am.
• Sure I’ve invested time but it was all mostly time feeling great (causing other things that make me feel great to flow my way-Law of Attraction, baby!).
• Sure I’ve invested money but it was really just a drop in the bucket compared to what I was about to invest (probably around $250,000!)
• Experimenting with smoothie recipes has really improved my diet.  I LOVE my new 1 green-smoothie-1 superfood smoothie-1 salad diet right now.
• My smoothie repertoire has expanded 20-fold.  I’ve become much more courageous in experimenting with different combinations. 
• I’ll really get to focus on my organic garden this spring.  I was afraid I wasn’t going to have much time to devote to it in trying to get T.G.C. up and running in October.
• I’ll also get to take a few trips I thought I was going to have to skip out on, like San Francisco in November and Thailand and January. Woohoo!!
• I get to keep my social life!  More yippees and yahoos here for sure.  My social life and work/rest/social life/me time balance is HUGE for me.
• I’ve learned SO much about business plan writing, financial spreadsheets and the abundance of business resources in Chicago, like the kind and very helpful SCORE counselors downtown.
• I have a huge new-found abundance for organic raw juice bars, cafes, and restaurants.  Those people are true ANGELS.  I don’t think I’ll ever complain about prices at these places again (especially at Karyn’s!)
• Something awesome is coming my way….Everything always works out for me and I know something great awaits me.
• Of course, I could still use The Green Crush name and http://www.thegreencrush.com/ for my next business endeavor.  
• I get to keep my focus on my blog, posting some youtube videos, organizing meetup events, and running in races (just ran the 8k Shamrock Shuffle last Sunday downtown)
• I now know how much I desire to have my own business and work for myself.
• I know how committed I can be to a goal and I definitely have what it takes to plan and visualize everything out.  I am very detail oriented.
• I am proud of myself for allowing me to step back and say that moving forward with the Green Crush doesn’t feel right anymore.  I am allowing myself this space.
• I am proud of myself for really going downstream with this whole thing and reaching for better feeling thoughts instead of beating myself up for changing directions.
• The Green Crush Smoothie Bar is still a definite possibility in the future.
• There are so many things that I could do with my knowledge, passion, and talents.  I just need to stay in alignment and the inspiration will come in no time. 
• I get to practice my law of attraction exercises:  “I am so happy and grateful now that I have the job of my dreams!”
• I will be setting forth the intention every morning to know what is it I want to do and to get more clarity and focus around it
• I will be getting more and ideas at the All Things Organic Expo coming up in Chicago as well as the Green Fest and the Raw Spirit Fest.
• I’ve made so many contacts and friends in calling up suppliers and national organic juice bars/cafes/restaurants for advice.  Networking is awesome
• The ideas are already coming to me.  I can feel it.  On the brink of manifestation…

Please let me know what you think!  I’d love to hear your comments.  Love you guys!  Have a great day and sorry to all those looking forward to The Green Crush opening this year.  But I did just hear through the grapevine two weeks ago that a raw food restaurant is opening up downtown this summer!  We are so lucky.  That would be the seventh place in Chicagoland offering raw food

~L

A major blog is coming… Sorry for the spaciness in the posting.  Big things are happening and changing.  Life is so much fun!!!  I’m working on the post right now but wanted to buy myself some more time.  Here’s an AWESOME recipe I’d love to share with you in the meantime!

Berries and Cream Puddin’

8 oz nut milk (your favorite recipe.  Mine is brazil nut milk.  If you didn’t put any vanilla extract or bean in the milk, make sure to put a little in before you eat this)

1 tablespoon of chia seeds stirred in

Small handful each of goji berries and mulberries (dried)

Stir and shake every couple minutes for about 10 minutes and then place in the fridge to soak and expand in the milk overnight.

This turns out to be the most heavenly berries and cream breakfast or snack ever.  You’ve got to try it out!  It’s a good excuse to get those chia seeds you’ve been thinking about buying for a while now too

 ~Lenette

Part two of the previous post coming soon.  For now, here’s a great new recipe I created last Saturday: 

Lenette’s “Forget Spring–Bring on the Summer!” Smoothie:

¾ cup of frozen pineapple

1 peeled orange

¾ frozen banana

1 tablespoon vitamineral green

1 tablespoon greener grasses

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon non-gmo lecithin

1 heaping tablespoon coconut flour (optional)

It’s was the best tasting Pina Colada I’ve ever had!  Like instant summer in my apartment Bring on the warm weather!

Hi All,

Happy spring!! Life has been keeping me quite happy and busy!   I have wanted to write a post lately but not felt compelled to do so until right now.  Here is a great quote on the feeling of procrastination:

When you feel enthusiasm to do something, it means you’ve lined up the Energy, and you are being inspired to take action from that point of alignment. When you don’t feel like doing it, don’t push yourself, because your effort is not worth it. But, when you line up the Energy, the feeling of procrastination goes away. — Abraham

I have been feeling absolutely high-on-life.  The best ever in fact.  I don’t think I’ve been in such alignment for this many days in a row for a while.  Four to five hours of sleep a night is all I need and even when I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I literally can’t wait for the next day to start.  What’s happened??  I can think of three MAJOR reasons right away.  I’ll reveal the first of the three in this post and the other two will follow  (otherwise this post would be waaaaayyyy too long)

Reason #1: New dietary habits

-More of a liquid diet (you could also call it the bottle/jar-diet or the screw-cap diet!).   In testing out the dozens of recipes and measurements for the items on the menu of The Green Crush, I’m now eating at least two green smoothies, superfood smoothies, and/or puddings every day instead of my usual one.  I get up a bit earlier in the mornings and make them before I go to work.  My body has been responding SO well to the smoothies for lunch as opposed to a salad with flax crackers and I have more than enough energy to carry me through to dinner at 7 or 8 after I get home from the gym.  I feel satisfied but not full after lunch, and if I do get hungry, I snack on 2-3 tablespoons of bee pollen (I have a bottle in my desk drawer).  This totally works for me.

-Less cacao more often is better.  I’m also realizing how much I love cacao.  I used to think it really made me crazy and jittery but I think that was because I was over-dosing.  2 tablespoons is way too much for me.  1 tablespoon of the powdered stuff is just perfect and gives me such an alive, vibrant feeling.  Sometimes I feel like such a weirdo walking around my office with such a huge grin on my face.

-Bee Pollen instead of dried fruits for a dessert or snack.  My little dessert after lunch used to be dried fruit (2-3 dried figs for example) but now with the bee pollen in my drawer I like to have some of that instead.  It satisfies my sweet tooth and I now know that less dried fruit is definitely better for my energy levels.

-Powdered Greens:  I’m not drinking my daily green juices anymore because I no longer feel like spending the time to make juice in the evenings, especially with all the green smoothies I’ve been drinking/eating.  But I AM using a legal cheat and making a green drink using a shaker jar and 2 heaping tablespoons of Healthforce’s Greener Grasses.  I LOVE having the extra 30-40 minutes in the evenings to NOT make juice as well as the extra 20 minutes or so spent not preparing salads for the next day (s).  Woohoo!

-No nuts or sprouted grains anymore: I realize that I really don’t digest nuts (even soaked and dehydrated ones) or sprouted quinoa that well so I’m staying away.

-Avocado instead of salad dressing.  Less fat is definitely better for me.  Salad dressing plus avo plus nuts or seeds so too much.  So I don’t use salad dressings with oils in them on my nightly salads anymore.  I’ve started to massage ½ an avocado with some celtic sea salt into my salads now that that works great for my digestion.  I feel really energized after dinner.  Now that I realize how much better I feel with less nuts, seeds, and dried fruits, I don’t think I’ve ever been such best friends with avocado!  Now I’m putting ½ an avo into some of my smoothies for more creaminess.  And I also sometimes make a little dessert pudding out of ¼-1/2 an avo, 1 tsp maca, and some agave nectar all mixed an mashed together.  It tastes amazing.  You have to try it! 

Hopefully that wasn’t TOO much info for you but I was hoping that it would give some friends a few new ideas on how to tweak your diet for optimal energy throughout the day.  And not only optimal energy, but optimal attitude and alignment throughout the day.  Because that’s what it’s all about right?   At least for me, I eat this way (plant-based living foods) because it makes me feel good.  I love how it makes me feel and think and focus and I just love the fact that my diet is STILL constantly evolving.

Dietary change isn’t the only reason I’ve been in such alignment lately but I’m sure it’s at the basis of it.    More on some other changes that have gotten me in peak alignment in the next blog!  Stay tuned

My new favorite drink recipe (I forgot which website I grabbed this off of.  I think it was thebestdayever.com).  My friend thought I was on something when I called him shortly after drinking it.   Life (and raw food) is so good!!

Best Coffee EVER!

The official drink of superheroes everywhere! 

Grab your blender and add:

a scoop of cacao powder

add a few capsules of Fo-Ti (Ho Shou Wu), minus the capsules!

a scoop of maca

a tbsp of lucuma

a squirt of yacon

a squirt of agave

1/4 inch vanilla bean

dash of nutmeg

handful of cashews

cup of ice

cup or so of water

Chocolate sauce for lining the glass and topping the drink:

cacao and a capsule of ho shou wu & a dash of sea salt mixed with agave.

 ~Lenette