Raw Cashew Cake

2 cups Raw Cashews
1 cup Pitted Dates
¾ cup Cocoa Powder
½ cup +2tbsp Agave
1 Avocado

Put cashews in a food processor until finely ground. Add the dates, ½ cup cocoa powder and ¼ cup agave. Process until a thick dough is formed. Put half of the dough inside a tin or glass container (whatever you have that is not very big). At this point you should make the frosting, by blending avocado and remaining cocoa powder and agave.
Spread half the frosting on one half. Place the other half on top and spread on remaining icing. It's awesome! Just make sure to make it a day before you want to serve it. Refrigerate and serve :)

Breakfast Smoothie

I'm not really a breakfast person. I'm rarely hungry in the morning, so a breakfast smoothie is the way to go. I buy frozen berries and spinach and I freeze bananas as soon as they get ripe (we buy a lot of bananas).

Here's what goes in my smoothie:

1 cup almond milk
1 frozen banana
a handful of frozen berries
3 balls of frozen spinach
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1 tbsp raw cacao
1 medium piece of ginger

Put everything in the power blender and serve.
I like how the ginger gives the smoothie a subtle bite. Also, I substitute the spinach with anything green I have in the fridge. Arugula is great and so is kale. Sometimes, I add beets and carrots and it's a delicious way to start my day. You should try :)

Garlic!

Yes, I love garlic! It makes everything taste great, so when I saw this video the other day I had to share it with you.

I originally saw this video on vegan.com which is a great website with lots of useful information.
So, I hope this can make your life a bit easier. Peeling garlic is really not my favorite thing.

dZ's yummy garlic bread

1 loaf of your favorite bread
Earth Balance (probably about 1 cup)
Olive oil (1/2 cup)
Garlic (minced) - 4 cloves
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1tbsp nutritional yeast

Mix and put it on the sliced bread. Bake for 10 minutes at 375F, check to see if it's ready. If not give it another 2 or 3 minutes.
Eat!

Easy Dinner :)

Rice Paper Wraps

Probably the easiest thing you can make!
Buy some rice paper at any Asian store or even at the Asian aisle at your local grocery store. It looks like this:

You are going to need a bowl of water to dip the rice paper before rolling it. It doesn't take long to get moist enough to wrap.

I used grated carrots, beets and guacamole for my wraps:

Carrots

Beets

The final product

Guacamole is very easy to make too: 

1 avocado (mashed)

lemon juice

1/2 onion (finely chopped)

2 tomatoes (chopped)

one splash of hot sauce (cause I like spicy food)

Very easy and very delicious!!!

Raw Aura!

If you live near Mississauga, I recommend you try this restaurant. The food is delicious and you can just relax and enjoy the flavours, because they use all organic, gluten-free, sugar-free ingredients. All raw, which is my favorite cuisine by far.

Some of the things I ate and love:

Collard Green Falafel

Lasagna

Big Kale Salad with live bread

Sweet and Sour Noodles

Burrito

Chocolate Banana Cake

Totally in love with their food! Raw Aura is definitely AWESOME!

Lentils

If you don't have a lot of time, but still want to eat something nutritious, then you should consider making some lentils. After you give them a good rinse, you put them in a big pot, cover them with water, let it boil and then simmer for 20 minutes more or less. When they are ready, chop one onion and lots of garlic. On a separate pot, add some olive oil and fry the onions and add the garlic. Add a ladle of lentils and some seasoning like onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, whatever you like in your food. I like hot chilly powder and sometimes a bit of Indian spices. Stir everything together and pour on the pot where the lentils are. So easy and so good!
You're probably going to end up eating everything, but if you don't, here's something delicious for you to do with the leftovers:

Lentil Hummus

Leftover lentils (just the lentils, not the saucey part) - I used about 3 cups
2 Tbsp tahini
4 cloves garlic
lemon juice
1 Tbsp Tamari

Put everything in a food processor or a blender and EAT! Soooo good you won't believe it!

Rice Rice Rice!

I have to admit I was never a huuuge fan of rice. Until I discovered black rice. It's really easy to make and it's ready in 30 minutes. You can find it at the bulk store and cook it like regular rice. 2 cups of water or vegetable stock for 1 cup of rinsed rice. I usually just boil the rice with no added oil. Then when it's ready I can create something delicious.


dZ's happy rice

4 cups of cooked black rice
1 handful of sesame seeds
1 handful of sunflower seeds
1 handful of cashews
1 sweet potato (roasted)
1/2 cup of goji berries
1/2 cup of raisins
1 avocado, diced
1 tsp sesame oil

Mix and EAT!
This is super nutritious and guaranteed to make you HAPPY!