Indian Mandarin Fruit Lassi

[Post Updated 09-25-2012]

I am a little bit crazy and obsessive over Indian Lassi's. I have fond memories of my Mom taking me to indian restaraunts on special daughter/mother dates when I was in high school. After missing them I set out to create one at home. A Lasi is a cold traditional Indian drink consisting of yogurt and milk and topped with cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and pistachio nuts. Often a Lasi will have fruit added to it. It is a cool and creamy drink with a delightful soured yogurt tang. Since Indian Food is often made very spicy and hot this drink is absolutely delicious with a spicy meal.

You can make it thin or thick by varying how much mandarin juice you add. I actually like to make this thin and pour it over ice and drink it with a straw. There is a restaraunt called Bombay Grill in Ogden Utah that I absolutely love. I usually get a Mango Lasi with my meal and this recipe tastes just like it! If you can't get a hold of a truly ripe mango, I learned that the trick is adding canned mandarin oranges and juice. Feel free to change this up however you like. When experimenting with this recipe I try to remember that it should be tangy, fruity, cold, frothy, rich and creamy! This version can easily be VEGAN. Please see my notes below.

Indian Mandarin Fruit Lasi  Serves 4

1 cup Coconut Bliss Vanilla Ice Cream
1 cup vanilla or plain kefir OR Vegan Organic Soy Yogurt OR Nut Yogurt
1 large can mandarin oranges, juice reserved
1/2 Juice from the can of mandarin oranges (***you will need to add slowly until desired thickness is achieved)
2 small oranges, peeled or add the equivalent of fresh ripe mango slices
1 1/2 cups frozen peach or mango slices (or a combination of both)

Blend all ingredients in the blender and pour into glasses.

Top with a light sprinkle of cinnmon, nutmeg, cardamom (optional)
Crumble some pistachio nuts on top (also optional)

I like mine plain. Kind of like a yogurt smoothie.

Here is a picture of a traditional Mango Lassi:

(Source)

You can add some ice if you like it super thick and cold. If you want to bring out the flavor of orange and peach a bit more squeeze a little bit of lemon juice into the smoothie and add a pinch of stevia.

Make it Vegan!

To make this vegan add coconut or organic soy yogurt instead of kefir but you may need to add a little bit more liquid such as orange juice, water or mandarin orange canned syrup to make up for how thick yogurt can be. You may also want to add a tsp of lemon juice to make it tangy like kefir would. For vegetarians, a really high quality kefir will give you beneficial probiotics and will impart a zesty tang that complements oranges peaches and mango really well.

Avocado Boats

1/2 Avacado
Celtic Sea Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

Slice the avocado into cubes while still in its shell. Sprinkle with celtic sea salt and black pepper. Mash the slices witha fork and eat straight from the avocado shell.

Eat with seawead & sesame chips, SO Good!

Chai Banana Morning Frappe

serves 2

Ingredients:
1 cup Almond Milk or Creamy Cinnaburst Almond Milk (recipe soon to come!)
1/2 cup Chai Tea
1 tsp. Raw Cocoa Powder
1 Banana (fresh or frozen)
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
1 date
1-2 packets Stevia
1/2 cup ice

Optional:
1 tsp Kava low acid instant coffee granuals
OR
1/2 Cup decaffinated cold brewed coffee

Blend all ingredients in the blender and enjoy!

For an iced frappe: Reserve the ice into cups and poor smoothie over ice.

Cold Brewed Coffee:
Add 1/2 Cup Decaffinated or Organic Coffee to 4 cups of water in a mason jar and leave overnight in the fridge.

Sour Tropical Peach Mango + Supergreens Smoothie

Sour smoothie? Ehw!!! That's what you're thinking right? That's what I thought until I tried adding Apple Cider Vinegar into a green smoothie. Enjoy the alkalizing, cleansing effects of ACV and greens because it is sooo so so good :) For some reason this green elixer is calming and energizing at the same time.You will feel this pumping through your blood and it will make you happy :)

Be patient, it’s a lot faster to put this smoothie together then it looks!

Step 1 -Liquid Base:
1 ½ cup fresh pressed orange juice (about 4 oranges) or just add the oranges whole (peeled)!
½ - 1 cup filtered water  
½ cup pink grapefruit juice (about ½ grapefruit)
1 cup vanilla kefir, coconut kefir or yogurt
2-3 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar (depending on how sweet/sour you like it)

Step 2 - Greens:
2 Large Kale leaves
2 cups Spinach, compacted
1 Tablespoon Ormus brand Super Greens Powder

Frozen Fruit/other:
¼ cup frozen or fresh pineapple (I cut up fresh pineapple and freeze it in zip lock bags)
3/4 cup organic frozen peaches
½ cup Frozen Mango
1 packet orange flavored vitamin c packet (optional)
1-2 Packets Stevia (optional)
2 Tablespoons Chia or Flax Seed
1 handful of ice

You can also just use a tropical fruit blend to make the list of ingredients less daunting. Just replace the pineapple, peaches and mango with about 1 ½ cups of frozen tropical fruit medly. Costco sells a huge bag for around $11.

And almost any flavor of vitamin C powder should work, if you don't have any simply leave it out, it will still taste fantastic.
Add the fruit juice and water then the greens and green powder and chia seeds then the kefir, frozen fruit and ice and blend in a high speed bender such as the Blend-tec or Vitamix. Delicious!

If you don't have a high speed/power blender only add the greens to all the water and blend it, then after you make a green puree, then add the frozen fruit and ice.

Sprouting 101

You can buy any kind of sprouts and they will work fine for sandwiches and salads etc. But knowing how to sprout your own will bring the freshest plant foods on earth into your home! Plus you can eat a lot more and save money. You can purchase sprouting seeds online in bulk or you can go to your local health food store.

How to Sprout Seeds/Nuts:

For anything you choose to germinate, fill 1/3 pint or quart jar with the seed or nut. Leave it on a counter with the remaining 2/3 of the jar filled with filtered water. Let small seeds like alfalfa/clover/radish sit for about 4-6 hour, and then put the sprouting lid on and drain the water completely. The sprouting lid can be cheesecloth inside a canning lid, or wire or plastic mesh (I buy plastic mesh from the craft stores) cut to fit the inside of a canning lid. You can also purchase canning lids with screens in them at health food stores.

With larger beans like mung or garbanzo, or seeds like sunflower or pumpkin, soak them 8 hours or overnight before draining. (If you accidently forget and let them go too long, it's so big deal-- just drain them as soon as you remember). Soybeans and wheat berries are difficult to sprout, because they go sour or moldy easily.

Put the jar of soaked and drained seeds on its side, turning it two or three times during the day. The second morning, rinse and drain the sprouts again. You do this until you see the seed/nuts begin to grow a sprout, usually after two or more days. With almonds or other nuts, don't worry about them growing a sprout: they are germinated and "live" after soaking for eight hours.

Then remove the sprouting lid and put a regular, air-tight canning lid on the jar. Put the sprouts in the fridge, where growth will slow, and they will last a week or two. Sprouting will happen more quickly in warm weather. If you live where it is hot and humid or if you are sprouting in late summer, rinse and turn your sprouts more often.


Sprouting Instructions By Robyn Openshaw, "12 Steps to Whole Foods."

Avocado Broccoli Sprout Sandwich + Basil Nut Cheese

Components:
Spelt Bread (or other high quality sprouted bread)
Pine Nut Herb Cheese
Broccoli Sprouts
1/2 Avacado
Spinach
Celtic Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper

Basil Nut Cheese:
3 Tablespoons Pine Nuts
3 Tablespoons Macadamia nuts or Cashews
3 Tablespoons Walnuts
1 tsp. Coconut Oil
1 tsp. Organic Butter (Flexitarian Option)
Juice of 1 Lemon
1/3 C. Fresh Parsley
1 tsp. Dried Basil Leaves (or several fresh basil leaves)
7 Dashes Bragg's Liquid Aminos
Dash of Tamari or Namu Shoyu Soy Sauce

Mix all of the above cheese ingredients in a food processor or vitamix until smooth (or chunky if thats what you prefer). Scoop the cheese into a seperate container and reserve.

I would mix all the nuts, lemon juice, oils soy sauce/liquid aminos until creamy, then add the parsley and basil and pulse until just incorperated. This will make a beautiful cheese.

Cheese Recipe Adapted from "The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose." 

Layer the Sandwich:
Toast the spelt bread and smear on the basil nut cheese. If you choose to add coconut oil and a bit of butter it will melt a little more but tastes absolutely fabulous! Now layer on a heaping stack of broccoli sprouts and organic spinach (Costco sells organic spinach cheaper then regular at most stores!). Slice half an avacado vertically into thin slices and peel off the outer skin, spread then over the top of the spinach and sprinkle it with celtic sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.

This is my all time favorite open-faced vegan/flexitarian sandwich! The first time I made it I shared it with my family and they went berzerk over it!!!

Strawberry Banana Porridge + Spiced Hazlenut Milk

1/2 cup Dee's Cereal
1 C. Filtered Water
1/2 tsp. Coconut Oil (optional)
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Pure Vanilla
1/2 tsp. Celtic Sea Salt

1/4 cup Raw Walnuts

Boil the water and add the salt, coconut oil, cinnamon and vanilla. Stir well. Add the cereal. Let this cook for about three minutes on medium heat, stir, then turn down the heat to a low simmer. Cook for another 3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Top with the raw chopped walnuts.


Topping Options:
Coconut Palm Sugar or Brown Sugar
Molassis
Stevia
Strawberry slices
Banana slices
Fresh Blueberries (so good!)
Hazlenut Milk Creamer (So Delicious Brand makes a great one)
Almond Milk

Somthing I do: Cut up the stawberries and put them in a bowl with any other berries you like and sprinkle with 1 packet of stevia and a little bit of coconut palm sugar. This brings out the natural sugars in the fruit without adding too much additional sugar! Then pour some almond or hazlenut milk on top.

I have seen this cereal several times at health food stores but never imagined how yummy it really was. I finally tried it after looking at the ingredients and seeing some amazing stuff! Here is what is inside of Dee's Cereal.

Here's what's in it:
 Organic Whole Wheat
Organic Yellow Corn
Sweetened Cranberries
Garbanzo Beans
Sunflower Seeds
Banana Chips
Oat Bran
Oat Groats
Flaxseed
Brown Rice
Sesame Seeds
Rolled Oats
Raisens
Barley
Almonds
Millet
Spices

D' Anjou Delight - Green Smoothie

Ingredients:
1 D' Anjou Pear (green, red or tan), peeled
1 Organic Apple
1 Lemon, Juiced
1 Chunk of Lemon Peel
1 Chunk Ginger Root, peeled
1 Lime, Juiced
11/2 C. Apple Juice
1/2 Avacado
2 Stalks Organic Celery
2 Large Leaves Organic Curly Kale
1/2 C. Italian Parsley
1/2 C. Organic Spinach
1 C. Ice
2 tsp. Ormus Supergreens Powder

I made this up very late at night. I rushed to the grocery store because I was craving the green juice my mother used to help cure her cancer. I wanted the flavors of lemon, lime, sweet apples and pears and cleansing greens. I kept having visons of this smoothie and low and behold the experiment was perfect the very first time around! It's green-drink smoothie! I am so thrilled I don't have to get my juicer out for the same satisfaction! When I went to a natural herbaligist in Provo, she told me that I should just blend up a bunch of cilantro and parsley and "chug" it. But in this smoothie, I savor every last delicious sip! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Notice that I placed "organic" in front of some of the ingredients. This is because these items are on the "Dirty Dozen" list of foods that are sprayed with a exorbitant amount of pestisides! The dirty dozen are:

12 Most Contaminated

• Peaches
• Apples
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Pears
• Grapes (Imported)
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Potatoes

12 Least Contaminated

• Onions
• Avocado
• Sweet Corn (Frozen)
• Pineapples
• Mango
• Asparagus
• Sweet Peas (Frozen)
• Kiwi Fruit
• Bananas
• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Papaya

Sugar Should Be Regulated As Toxin, Researchers Say

Today, added sugar, as opposed to natural sugars found in fruits, is often added in foods ranging from soup to soda. Americans consume on average more than 600 calories per day from added sugar, equivalent to a whopping 40 teaspoons. "Nature made sugar hard to get; man made it easy," the researchers write.
Sugar and other sweeteners are, in fact, so toxic to the human body that they should be regulated as strictly as alcohol by governments worldwide, according to a commentary in the current issue of he Journal Nature by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
Many researchers are seeing sugar as not just "empty calories," but rather a chemical that becomes toxic in excess. At issue is the fact that glucose from complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains, is safely metabolized by cells throughout the body, but the fructose element of sugar is metabolized primarily by the liver. This is where the trouble can begin — taxing the liver, causing fatty liver disease, and ultimately leading to insulin resistance, the underlying causes of obesity and diabetes.
Many researchers are seeing sugar as not just "empty calories," but rather a chemical that becomes toxic in excess. At issue is the fact that glucose from complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains, is safely metabolized by cells throughout the body, but the fructose element of sugar is metabolized primarily by the liver. This is where the trouble can begin — taxing the liver, causing fatty liver disease, and ultimately leading to insulin resistance, the underlying causes of obesity and diabetes.