Only a warrior could handle this mega shake...

Its green, slimy, and will revitalize you faster than the cure for the zombie apocalypse. I don't care what you say man, this stuff tastes GOOD! You can give me weird looks all day long, but I guarantee that now one of them will get me worked up in the slightest. You can say what you want, but I think I just found my after-workout snack.

It looks like a mint-green color but tastes nothing like it. Actually, it kind of tastes chocolaty. That's one of my favorite aspects of raw food. I can make something that tastes absolutley amazing, but people look at me as though i'm devouring the slimy brains of another helpless victim. Being a raw, vegan highschooler is awesome!

Choc.Cado Super Shake

(serves 2)

Ingredients:

1 Avocado

1/8 c. Cacao Nibs

1/4 c. Chia Seeds

2 tbsp. Coconut oil

4 tbsp. PURE SYNERGY Powder

4 tbsp. Honey/Agave

-Mix the chia seed with 1/4 c. of water (or coconut water works well too!) and set it aside while you prep your other ingredients.

-Skin and pit your avocado and throw all of your ingredients into the blender. Blend until everything is well mixed. Add a bit of water if needed.

-Pour into a glass and enjoy!

I....FEEL.....THE POWARRRR!!!!!

Recovery smoothies and shakes are so incredibly easy to make. Its all about whats inside that makes it all worth while. So lets go over the yumminess inside, shall we?

Chia: What the crap is a chia?

Chia is like a dieter's dream come true. You soak it and it gets filled with water in about 3 minutes. Then those big, slimy beads of water fill your stomach so you feel full...off of WATER! Water has no calories! Not only that, but it contains a combination of soluble and insoluble fiber which balance out your blood sugar by slowing down the conversion of starches into sugars. They also are a complete source of protein to help build you up and are rich in antioxidants omega 3s.

My favorite part of it all is its cleansing aspects though. As it runs through your body, it picks up a lot of the build-up in your body and safely moves it all out. So this food builds you the good and cleans out the bad all at the same time!

Avocado: Guacamole in my drink?

This green fruit(yes, its a fruit) is one of the best foods to add to just about anything for the reason that it helps you to absorb nutrients. The fats in avocado are soluble, meaning they are absorbent. So when nutrients is eaten with and absorbed into the avocado, your body is able to take in sometimes five times as much of the benefits!

And the fats themselves prevent different cancers on so many levels and the Vitamin E is one of the best for radiant and clean skin. The oils and fats in it are especially excellent for tissue repair after your workout.

Coconut Oil: Need I say more?

I really need to do a coconut oil post. This is my absolute favorite food and is one of the most complete foods on the planet. Its contains the best oils for your hair and your skin, is incredibly rich in antioxidants, contains acids that fight of viruses, helps with high blood pressure, tissue repair, revitalizing blood......i really need a coconut post.

But for now, it is excellent for both repairing old tissue and rebuilding new tissue after your work out. It also strengthens your thyroid which increases your metabolism for more of a fat burn after your work out. A fat that burns fat is always loved! Not to mention the energy it will give you after eating it!

Green is Good: Pure Synergy is beast!!

As i've stated in previous posts, pure synergy is probably the only green superfood formula I will ever use. Its raw, completely organic, and is the most complete green superfood powder on the market. I could basically live off of this stuff and still maintain optimum health.

I am NOT advertising for them by any means, nor is this a medicine supplement. Its basically just some of the most potent foods on earth dried and ground up to size where your body can digest it the easiest. I just strongly believe that this powder is by far superior by all standards due to the complete combination of enzymes , fruits, and sea vegetables, and herbs.

In short, this stuff is amazing!

Cacao and Honey: Not just for taste..

Raw chocolate and unheated, organic honey are the two most antioxidant and enzyme rich foods ever recorded to this day! Chocolate contains the same oleic acid as the coconut oil and macadamia nuts do, which is the absolute best oil for your skin. Honey absorbs nutrients rather quickly and sends them straight to your blood stream.

The sugars in honey if it is unprocess and unheated are mostly fructose, which are the best foods to power your brain and metabolism. Its even been shown that eating a spoonful of honey before bed send energy to your brain without storing it, and then to your thyroid to produce more metabolic hormones. In short, eating a spoonful of it before bed can help you loose weight!

Its also sends energy directly through your body without need for digestion, so fuels and repairs your body almost instantly to help with that after-workout burn.

In short, this shake-smoothie thing tastes delicious and begins repairing your body almost instantly, building you up and strengthening you from the inside out!

Whats your favorite after-workout snack or meal?

-Andrew D. Morrison-

Almond Butter and the Monster under my bed

Peanut Butter is just what my dreams are made of. Its thick, creamy, and maybe the greatest thing to ever be created on this little planet we call earth. But sadly, i've been able to find it raw and being a raw foodist I guess that's defeat....wait...defeat..? DEFEAT?! I know not the meaning of the word! Forget you too stingie peanuts! I got me some raw organic almond butter and will devour it without the likes of you! That's right. Be Jealous........

I've been in a chocolate-peanut butter mood for the past few days and finally decided to get rid of my craving with a dessert that I figured would satisfy my craving. But this wasn't just a little craving. It was a monster craving! A craving bigger than the ravenous beast that sleeps beneath my bed and plots my demise for how he will finish me off if I ever leave my bed before the sun rises..... Yeah, that kind of craving. So for a monster craving, I get a monster dessert! Oh, and he likes bananas...

Almond Butter-Banana-Chocolate Ice Cream

(serves 4 hungry monsters)

Ingredients:

2 large bananas

1 c. Almond Butter

1/2 c. Cacao Powder

2 tbsp. Honey/Agave

2 tbsp. Coconut Oil

-Blend everything together in your blender until smooth.

-Use your Ice Cream maker and follow the instructions. Or just pour it into a bowl and freeze for 2-4 hours or until it resembles the texture of ice cream.

-Enjoy!

Its peanut buttery and its THICK! Kind of like a chocolate-almond butter mcflurry almost, only tastier. I love it! This is the kind of thing I could easily down 5 batches of. Better make extra though, cause the monster under my bed is growling in hunger again..

What guilty pleasure brings out your inner monster?

-Andrew D. Morrison-

Starting off my cleanse....with ice cream

Yes, I cleanse my body with dessert. Whats wrong with that? Ok, so its more of a sorbet but its still sweet and delicious! Fruit just made it that much better and easier to get away with.

So, when I woke up I had some lemon juice in water and a bit of Pure Synergy. Pure Synergy is my favorite green superfood powder and is the most complete one i've been able to find. All of the enzymes and food in it are so incredibly good for you and nutritious to the highest extent! So of course I needed to add some good stuff into my cleanse to help replace all of the bad stuff.

By the power of the green gods of cleansing and healthiness, I now grant you as a super vegan! MWAHAHAHAHA

Alright, so then later after some pure synergy for breakfast and a bland salad for lunch, now off to the good part. I made a sorbet out of some of the most cleansing fruits I had with me! Papaya, grapefruit, and lots of berries. Time to get this part started!

Cleanser Sorbet

ingredients:

1 papaya

1 grapefruit

1 avocado

2 c. mixed berries

1 tbsp. honey

1 tbsp. coconut oil

1/2 c. shredded coconut (optional)

-De-seed, de-pit, and de-skin the papaya, grapefruit, and avocado and through them into the blender.

-Add in the rest of your ingredients (except the shredded coconut if using) and blend everything until its nice and smooth but not watery. Add another avocado or a banana if that helps.

- Pour everything into a bowl and mix in your coconut. Then freeze everything for 2-4 hours or until it resembles icey ice cream or a sorbet.

-Enjoy!

Not the prettiest sorbet in the world, but it was still delicious! Papaya contains a unique enzyme called papain which is renowned for its ability to cleanse your skin and prevent cancer. I threw in the grapefruit due to the acidity in it which burns away at mucus build up and helps cleanse your digestive system.

Coconut, i could go on all day about. Though sweet, it contains acids that are not absorbed by the stomach and help to move things along. Coconut oil is so clean that it is the only oil that doesn't need to be filtered through your pancreas. Its also one of the only oils that don't clog your pores when you sweat it out. My favorite part of it, though, is its strong effect on the thyroid which strengthens it increases your metabolism to clean everything out.

The avocado contains essential fats, but i don't know if its necessary cleansing. I added it to make everything more ice-creamy. But honey, on the other hand, wasn't only added for taste. It contains more enzymes and antioxidants than any other food tested! So of course, it was worth adding.

On a different note, wow. Second day of October, and the temperature drops! Its almost magical!

What do you think is the most magical thing about fall?

-Andrew D. Morrison-

Cleanin It Out!

So as you can probably tell, I like me some desserts. I don't just like them, but I love them. If its sweet, fatty, chocolaty, or involves peanut butter in any way then it is most likely a staple of my diet. But I did become vegan for a reason and raw for an even greater reason. I wanted to keep my body healthy and help myself to feel better. Above all and the full extent of my selfishness included, I wanted to look better. So even in the midst of Vegan Mofo, I think I need to clean myself out before I get to the good stuff.

I know you guys probably don't want to read about fasting and eating salads and blah blah blah. You guys more or less would rather attack a delicious recipe like a zombie to a big and juicy brain. You want something to om nom nom that tastes like a melt-in-your-mouth piece of chocolaty goodness. Well I promise, those are to come. But what is the point of being raw if a flesh-eater (aka carnivore) can prove to me that they feel better and are healthier than i am on my plant based diet?

So this is not for you. This is for me. I've been raw for almost a year and vegan for almost 3! So its time to take a stand. I will get rid of my acne finally and quit feeling so exhausted all the time. I plan to juice a bit, eat a few salads, and get myself into shape before the moonlight madness race later this month in my town. I need to prove a point!

I will still be making and posting brownies and yumminess all through this month, but just expect for me not to eat the whole batch and for a salad to be ingested every once in a while. But i'm coming out of it not only alive, but feeling like I can kick a bowl of organic salad right in its green little...oh wait....kids could be reading this...

Any cleansing tips?

-Andrew D. Morrison-

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Torte (aka. Reeses!)

What better way to start off Vegan Mofo than with a dessert recipe? Something sweet and delicious to start off October and to give you something to snack on as you make your way through the month.

I dislike how all of the dessert recipes show up at the end of the month when you have little time to prepare yourself. All of the attention for Halloween and candy comes when its a bit too late and when things are almost over and done with. So with the taste of a Reeses peanut butter cup, but the creamy and chocolaty melt-in-your mouth feel of a chocolate torte, this halloween candy will satisfy Ladies and gentleman, boys and ghouls...... raw peanut butter torte!

Raw Chocolate - Peanut Butter Torte

Torte Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. Cacao Powder

3/4 c. Pecan Flour

6 tbsp. Coconut oil

6 tbsp. Honey

-Mix all of your dry ingredients together all of your dry ingredients in your food processor. If you don't have pecan flour, just process them in a coffee grinder a few times until they form a flour-like texture.

-Add in the liquid ingredients and mix until it dorms a very wet dough, almost the texture of peanut butter.

-Mold the dough into muffin tins, poking a hole into the top where the cream will go.

-Freeze the muffin pans while you make the cream.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cream Ingredients:

1/4 c. Cacao Powder

6 tbsp. Almond or Peanut Butter

1/4 c. Coconut Oil (melted)

1/4 c. honey

-Mix all of the ingredients in your food processor or a blender until it forms a liquidy cream. Add a few tablespoons of water or extra coconut oil if needed.

-Take your tortes out of the freezer and spoon the cream into the holes you made.

-Freeze for at least 30 minutes or until everything firms up.

-Eat and enjoy!

I had both of my little brothers try them, and they claim it to be excellently similar to Reeses peanut butter cups only chocolatier! My parents liked them as well, my dad saying they were good but not quite the same. Maybe a bit more peanut butter will do the trick but the texture was spot on!

They melt quickly though so be warned! They taste best straight from the freezer. I'll work on getting them a bit longer-lasting just so I can bring them to school and brag around Halloween time about my vegan epicness!

Whats your favorite Halloween candy or treat?

-Andrew D. Morrison-

Vegan Mofo Epicness!

Vegan MOFO has been a tradition with me since I first started vegan blogging two years ago. Its essentially an entire month of nothing but the best of the best vegan bloggers attempting to make it through an entire month trying to do a post every day! This month is not only my first year eating completely raw and creating this blog, but i will attempt to make it my first to get completely through this epic Vegan Month Of FoOd!

This month, i'm showing you guys the very best of raw style. I will have giveaways from Nuts Online and maybe a few other companies, some epic recipes, and some awesome posts on the different health benefits behind the food you eat! I intend on making some awesome brownies and not to mention a raw pumpkin pie! Lets not forget the ghoulish desires of Halloween deliciosness that my teenage soul desires. MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But this year, i intend on showing you guys how its done. I'm kind of curious if my 17 year old self will be the youngest doing it and also if i am the only raw foodist celebrating this month, but i hope to see much awesomness from the blogs of my fellow vegans! May we all unite, sacrificing celery under the full moon and worshipping the gods of raw edibles! (only joking of course. Everyone knows i'm the only supernatural vegan around here.)

Besides my blog, be sure to check out a few of the other participating blogs doing it!

What are you looking forward to for Vegan MOFO?

-Andrew D. Morrison-

USDA's Evil Little Secret

I am so sick and tired of people falsly telling the world what to eat. I'm sick of it! Now before you continue reading this, i'm going to warm you that I do argue against the government just a little bit in this post, but I am NOT planning on protesting outside of city hall in an attempt to make a statement for change in what I truly believe in.

As many of you health minions of mine know, the USDA comes out with a little something every ten years known previously as a My Food Pyramid, although recently it has been changed into My Plate. This guide is essentially the American guideline for what healthy eating supposedly should look like. You can either look at the chart and decide what you need nutritionally based off what you eat, or you can simply go to ChooseMyPlate.gov and have it do everything for you based off of your size and level of activeness.

2005:

2011:

As this may be an excellent conversion from what it has been in the past, the opinions of the USDA have shown to be over-biased for the past couple of years. I mean, think about it. Grains can be found in a chemically-enriched and overly processed piece of bread according to their standards. Meat can easily be greasy and fried as long as its 4-6oz a serving. Not to mention that even a milkshake is considered dairy under their standards. Sounds to me like the equivalence of any fast-food restaurant i've ever walked into.

I will admit that the increase in fruits and vegetables is a plus but by their daily allowance, it could very well be one of those extremely sugary fruit cups packed in syrup that a majority of American kids currently pack in their lunches. Why would such a "loving" government who "cares" for its people ever wish to harm the citizens of out nation?

The answer is actually incredibly simple and has been going on since the foundation of our country. The United States Department of Agriculture gets a large bit of its money from big-buisness farmers and drug companies. When food began to become studied in the late 20th century, protein was thought to be the absolute most important thing for you. Everyone needed protein and you couldn't be strong without it. Meat, being a sufficient source of protein, was then raised and bred to feed our nation. It has always been about getting as much protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and whatever else we've been told, despite the source of our information.

What we fail to realize is that our bodies need good, whole food to be sustainable instead of the overly processed chemical dumps our bodies have been put into. "FIBER" in big bold letters on the box catches your attention and you automaticlly think thats what you need for a healthy diet. So what is it do we need?

Do we need foods that have been grown in horrible conditions and covered with pesticides?

No.

Do we need food that has been canned, cooked, or processed?

No.

Do we need "enriched" foods where all of the healthy parts are replaced with man-made chemical vitamins and minerals?

No!!

Do we need sugary fiber bars and get-slim-now milkshakes?

HECK NO!!! (They taste gross anyway)

We need food that is not only going to bring nourish and sustain our bodies, as well as are going to fill our soil back with nutrients. We need foods that don't require the counting of calories to keep the weight off. What we need for optimum health is food that will teach us to trust our bodies so that we cleanse ourself out and learn to trust our bodies and know what we need. Optimum health is not going on a diet and getting a few nutrients a day. Nutrition can even be a cure for any illness you may have when done right. Getting more and more of one nutrient is not what we need.

Perfect health is when all of the nutrients in your body work together in perfect harmony. So sorry My Pyramid. Sorry to mess up your little USDA plan. Lets see what you guys come up with next time.

-Andrew D. Morrison