Wow I can’t believe how fast time flys.  I haven’t posted in forever! Naughty me, I know. Not much new and exciting to share. But I do have pics!!! Lets start off with a picture of a papaya tree that is between me and my next door neighbors house. I love papaya. There are a few different types here, but my fave is one they call The Red Papaya. It’s so sweet and yummy. The weather has been super windy, gloomy and rainy, but this picture was taken when the Sun came out (briefly) to play.

..:: My Favorite Corn Salad::..

I changed it up a bit and sprinkled Sunflower Seeds and these super tasty Raw Sicilian Habanero Olives on top!

..:: Cauli-Mash, Fresh Corn, Pesto Stuffed Shrooms and a Cauli-Mash stuffed Bell Pepper. Sprinkled with Green Onions ::..

So my latest obsession is Cauliflower! I feel like I fall in love with a new vegetable every week. Oh god it’s so good. Just grab some cauliflower and throw it in the food processor, add a little extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. Process it well, and TADA!! Done.   I’m really into, it’s so fresca and light.

..:: Passion Fruit::..

This next pic reminds me of Easter Eggs…. Pastel-ish colors

..:: Cauliflower Mash, Corn and Chopped Red Bell Pepers ::..

Are you bored of cauliflower and corn yet? hehe I’m not!

..:: Green Smoothie ::..
Papaya, Spinach, Frozen Bananas and a little Coconut Oil

This smoothie was soo good. It was sweet and filling. I had 2 of these glasses for dinner and was so satisfied. Perfect way to end the day.

..:: Coriander Plants ::..

A very kind lady gave me a few coriander plants. Coriander is the same thing as Cilantro, and I LOVE Cilantro.
The leaves don’t look like Cilantro… do they?   Either way I am stoked because I just I love FRESH HERBS!

I have more pics but I am a little tired. Til next time my Lovelies!

It has been rainy and just all around gloomy here for the last few days. Such a bummer, I was really looking forward to my usual nude sunbathing this weekend, but unfortunately there was NONE of that.  What’s funny is all week long it was gorgeous outside and I kept thinking “Girl you better get out there” but I figured I would just wait til the weekend and Sure enough… RAIN! Oh well.

So last week I told yall about my very exciting mango purchases at the market. Yesterday, three of them were calling my name as they were perfectly ripe. I just kept thinking, MANGO PUDDING! A couple clicks later and I found a recipe that sounded fab. OH MY GOSH! Seriously it was the BEST raw pudding I have ever had.  NO joke, If you have access to mangoes, PLEASE make this. You can thank me later.  Oh and we must thank The Daily Raw Cafe site, of course.

Recipe found at The Daily Raw Cafe website. (Thank you DRC, this was sooo freaking good)

MANGO PUDDING
1/2 c macadamia nuts, soaked for an hour
2 oz water
3 cups peeled, fresh mango
1/4 c agave nectar
1/4 t sea salt

Blend macadamia nuts and water until smooth. While blender is running, add mango, agave nectar and sea salt. Process until creamy. Refrigerate for an hour to set.

I found some locally grown celery!  I usually buy celery at the grocery store and it’s usually not organic and shipped in from Australia or New Zealand.  You know, the thick light green very juicy celery stalks. You know the kind you layer with almond butter and drizzle raw honey on top of. mmmmmmmmmm  Anyway, so I was at the store the other day and I found this beautiful Green Local Organic Celery. It’s nothing like I have ever seen before. It’s not thick and juicy, but instead it has this beautiful green color, with thin stalks! Very fragrant. Check it out.

The color was so pretty and the smell was sooo good.  I decided to make green juice with it.

Green Juice Ingredients:
1 head of Butter Leaf Lettuce
Gorgeous Green Celery
1 Cucumber
3 Apples
2 Lemons
1 big chunk of Ginger

Hope you all are doing fab!
Love and Besos, Ibis

I went to the market yesterday and I have to say it was probably the BEST produce shopping trip I’ve had since living here in Vanuatu.  I got coconuts, bananas, ginger, wild berrys, passion fruit, papayas, pineapples, mangoes and 2 avocados. Heres why I am particularly stoked this time… Mangoes have been in season for a while now, but the mangoes have been SUPER stringy. Every bite leaves string stuck in every one of your teeth, it’s gross and no fun. BUT….yesterday I found a lady selling these long beautiful mangoes and she had a little cardboard sign that said “No String”.  OMG I was sooo happy! Yay! $3/pop, cool no sweat.  I always knew there HAD to be some real mangoes on this island, I just wasn’t looking in the right place.  I’m going back today and pray she’ll be there again so I can buy 10 and freeze them for smoothies. YES!!!  Ok on to the next reason why I am happy, AVOCADOS!!!!! They have not been in season for many months, and I am so very sad about that. But I found a lady that had a few avocados on her table. YES!!! Score #2!!!

Check out these Berries

I had Quinoa with sliced and marinated portobello mushrooms last night for dinner. Sorry no pic, I was too hungry for pictures.  I just recently discovered quinoa and I really like it a lot. I have read that you can sprout it and eat it that way, but I really enjoy it cooked. It’s my new rice substitute. I used to love rice until I realized how much it clogged me up.  When I say clogged, I mean like…I can’t poop. Yeah, no fun. It’s amazing how “tuned into my body” I have become since adding  large amounts of raw foods to my diet.  What’s wild is all the signs that my body used to give me that something was wrong, but I just ignored it. Instead I looked at those signs as, “oh I better take a Gasx, or an Alkaseltzer, or Tums OR some allergy pills. Going raw has changed me in MANY ways.  If I had to use one word it would  be AWARENESS!

An Awareness of things that I can No longer ignore!

Hello Beautiful People! I hope you all are feeling great! Me? I’m fab, but HOT! Actually its more humid then anything.  Anyway this heat has me wanting to share my newest and latest favorite salad in the whole wide world.  Its FRESCA! Main Ingredient? Corn! RAW CORN! Oh my gosh, why did we ever cook our corn? We should neva eva! I remember loving barbecued corn smothered with butter from the Del Mar Fair in San Diego.  But why I ask??  Why? Why did we torture our poor corn?  If you have never tried fresh raw corn off the cob…then you are so missing out. It is sooooooo YUMMY and FRESH and CRUNCHY and SWEET! If you have tried raw corn and you weren’t really feeling it, try it again! Seriously, I think most of us are trained to think that veggies need to be cooked, and it is SO not the case.

My latest obsession with raw corn led me to a recipe called Mexicali Corn Salad and it’s found in The Raw Gourmet book by Nomi Shannon. Can I just say I love this book. I sort of forgot about it and since revisiting it,  I see that shes got some really nice recipes. They are so fresh and light. Just so perfect for this Hot Humid season we are getting into here on the island. I’m really trying to eat lighter to keep my energy levels up.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh corn kernels
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped scallion
1/4 cup cilantro
4-5 green olives, sliced  (I skipped this)

Dressing: (you can use this one or just use your favorite dressing)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Braggs liquid aminos
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
pinch of cayenne pepper.

This corn salad has totally become a staple for me. I usually double up on the recipe and use it on everything!

Heres a few ideas for you to play with….

1) It’s awesome on it’s own (obviously), with a little dressing.
2) Sprinkle a handful or 2, over a big green salad. Use it as a topping. Use it as a topping.
3) Sprinkle a handful or 2, over a fresh blended soup.  mmm with Gazpacho!
4) Add it to a lettuce wrap. Grab a large Romain lettuce leaf or collard green and smother with some sunflower seed cheese then toss a handful of this mixture on top, with a little dressing. SO fresh and crunchy!
5) Scoop a dallop of Sunflower seed cheese on top and mix it in. I did this last night and just used the sunflower pate as the dressing.

I’m thinking I should add the recipe to the Sunflower Seed Cheese too, instead of just talking about it.  This pate is also a staple of mine and almost always found in my fridge.  This recipe was found online, but I didn’t bookmark the link so I’m not sure who to give credit to. Sorry Sunflower Seed Cheese Maker!

Ingredients:
1 cup soaked sunflower seeds (soak them for at least 4 hours, I usually do overnight)
1/2 cup water
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
juice of 1 lemon or 2 ( I usually do just one)
1 garlic (I use 2 or 3)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Pour Braggs liquid aminos over once all this is in the blender.  (I don’t measure, so lets just go with a 3 second count)
1tablespoon of tahini (not included in original recipe, but this is how i do it)

Strain and rinse seeds first, then throw everything in your Vitamix.  Blend til nice and smooth, pour into bowl and sprinkle lightly with cayenne and fresh or dried dill.   Now… I’ve tweaked this recipe to suit my taste buds so definitely tweak to suit yours.  I personally love the heat found in cayenne and I can NEVER  get enough garlic.  I added the tahini to this recipe because I like my pates to be thick!

This recipe is totally satisfying. Use it as a dip with crackers celery, carrots, or throw a dallop on zucchini rounds or even cucumber rounds. You can even use bell peppers to dip OR stuff the bell pepper with the pate. mmmmmmmmm!

xox, Ibis

I am sure you all are with your families right about now, and probably working on your pumpkin pie dessert by this time. mmmm yum!! I miss that. One thing about moving to this island, is that no one celebrates Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving what? Halloween What? hah yeah it’s the strangest thing.

I will say that it does make me happy that atleast on this island, there are no turkeys being sacrificed on this day for our gorging pleasure. Well actually there arent ANY turkeys at all on this island, HA!

I realize now how much I took for granted the holidays back home. I miss getting together with my family on these days. I miss my family a lot actually. I am really looking forward to getting back to the States. I’m thinking a few months and we’ll be back. YAY! As much as I love this island, I miss California. I miss all the 1st world amenities! It’s amazing how much is taken for granted. This is quickly realized when you find yourself in a 3rd world country.  A gorgous tropical island I might add.

You know what I will miss the most when I go back home… The coconuts! Fresh Organic Coconuts. Oh gosh they are so tasty and the juice is so sweet and beautiful. I remember when I lived in Cali, I would buy the young coconuts from a health food store. We all know they are dipped in something gnarly and toxic, but they also just don’t taste like the ones here, not even close.  I usually have 2 a day here.  They are like 60 cents each.

Went to the market today (usually go every other day), didn’t get too much.

Just a couple things, but the best part….. Pineapples!!!!!!!!
They are in season. $2 bucks a pop. CAN’T beat that right?? woot.

It was a beautiful day today! The Sun decided to come out and play finally. Soooooooo Happy about that!! This place just lights up when the Sun comes out, Kinda like me

Was feeling particularly Fruity today. Heres what I had for brekky.

Watermelon Juice and Coconut Juice throughout the day.

Had a late lunch of  Kelp Noodles with Cilantro Pesto Sauce,
Topped with  Chopped Zucchini, Cheery tomatoes, and Green onions.

Cilantro Pesto sauce Recipe is from Julianos RAW, the UNcook Book

I was pleasantly surprised with this Cilantro Pesto sauce. Its pretty light and refreshing for having nuts. It wasn’t as heavy as your usual Basil Pesto. I think because it didn’t have pine nuts, only walnuts.

We are heading out to dinner with a few friends so that means “cooked food”. I am not 100% Raw, I’m one of those “mostly raw” type of girls.  So dinner… for me means I will probably have some local tasty fish or maybe even lobster!!!!!!!!! woooo sounds yummy.  Yeah I am pretty hungry! Oh and ofcourse some wine. It’s been a while so I am REALLY looking forward to some white wine.  Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc Please. Its a New Zealand wine.  Me loves it.

Til Next time Cuties,  Ibis.

Well I am finally getting to it and posting my very first blog post.  Starting a blog has been something I have wanted to do forever and just never have gotten around to it.  But I am here now so lets do this!

Let me first  start off by giving props to Shuana, who did a fab job hooking up the design work. Thanks Girl!

The weather here in Vanuatu has been craptastic for the last few weeks, not much sun at all. It’s been windy, and rainy and just plain gloomy.  This type of weather just doesn’t make me happy and it’s easy to feel down. So this morning I kicked the day off with one of my favorite things, A green juice (lemonade), ala Natalia Rose.  Her book Raw Food Detox was actually the very first raw food book I ever purchased.  It’s a great book and highly recommend it to anyone just starting out with raw foods.

This drink always lifts my spirit. I swear…it’s total Happy Juice.

Ingredients:

Bok Choy   (which the locals here call White Poon)
Cucumber
Apple
Lemon
Ginger

Yummy!!!

Adding the lemon and the apples really makes for a tasty green drink. Totally kills the bitter taste you might get when juicing certain greens.

______________________________________________________________

For tonight’s dinner, I decided to go with Kelp noodles served with a really tasty  Peanut Sauce (raw version).

Can I just say this is one of my favorite meals of all time! Oh god its so goooood!  I am totally loving these raw kelp noodles right now.  They don’t taste like seaweed at all. They are fat-free, gluten-free, and full of minerals including iodine, which is a plus right?  There is a bit of controversy over their raw or  non-rawness but regardless they are tasty and sooo satisfying.

Sorry for the ugly flash in this pic, but arent the colors  just Gor-Jesss!!!!!!

Sauce recipe was found here

Ingredients:
1 package of sea tangle kelp noodles

For the sauce:
4-5 Tbsp almond butter
1/4 cup filtered water
3 Tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
1-2 jalapeno peppers, deseeded* (depending on how much spice you like – start with one and add another if you want to make it SPICY)
1 Tbsp agave
1 Tbsp nama shoyu
1/2 – 1 Tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp hot pepper sesame oil (or regular sesame oil)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

I blended the sauce ingredients in my trusty Vitamix, then hand mixed this sauce it into the bowl of rinsed kelp noodles.

Toppings:
Shredded carrots
Shredded Purple Cabbage
Fresh corn
Chopped green onions
Chopped red bell pepper
1 Large handful of cilantro

Hope your day was fab!

Kisses,
Ibis