Naraya Cooking Health Recipe

Today, my friends, is April 20th.

It is 420. You know what that means? International celebration of the wondrous and ancient herb called Cannabis Sativa. From it are two wonderful and infamous varieties - marijuana and hemp.


To celebrate hemp, I have this link to an eBook from Purely Elizabeth, an organic whole food company dedicated to sustainability. It's a FREE DOWNLOAD. There's tons of yummy hemp recipes, great facts about nutritional benefits of hemp... and, you might notice... I'M FEATURED IN IT! Very, very exciting for me.

Among some other great uses for hemp: it's a super sustainable, low energy material to grow for clothing, rope, paper, even fuel. Read for yourself (this article is short and to the point). It's so efficient because it's a weed, hence why the other variety is called weed. This means it can grow practically anywhere, with totally different climates. It also doesn't need much water. Cannabis forests can be found all around the world.

P.S. - hemp DOES NOT get you high. I think it's less than 1% THC.

Now moving on to the more controversial variety of Cannabis - marijuana. The plant has been enjoyed as medicine and for fun for thousands of years. It has healing properties and has never killed a soul. It's funny the number one killers in the U.S. are directly linked to poor diet. I say white sugar should be illegal - not a plant. Anyway that's my two cents and I won't rant about it. I can wait, because it's only a matter of time before it's decriminalized here in Canada.


Let's also keep in mind that marijuana is prescribed as medicine - for everything from depression, anorexia, and glaucoma to insomnia, ADHD, Alzheimer's, cancer and IBS. Yes, the potency has been increasing a little too rapidly, but this can easily be reversed if the industry would become legal and government monitored and managed. Again - I won't rant.

And this super short but informative one is from Michael Pollan - you should read his books if you haven't already. I loved In Defense of Food. The Omnivore's Dilemma is also great.


Okay, okay - I lied. I have ONE MORE to show. This is a full documentary also from Michael Pollan, based on his book about how plants - like apples, flowers and marijuana - seem to be able to manipulate us to their advantage. "Huh?", you say? Watch it and see for yourself.


That's all for today, folks! I'm gonna go make my green smoothie elixir WITH HEMP SEEDS, and some avocado chocolate hemp pudding ;) Then I'm going downtown to celebrate 420 with my city!

After learning from my first go at nut cheeses, I have improved the recipe. I used half pine nuts, put it through the Vita-Mix and didn't freeze it (still smacking my forehead for that). It ended up being SUPER creamy and full of flavour. I let it age for 3 days this time and warmed it in the oven for about an hour, which developed the flavour and rind ever more.


My mom, who used to be a cheese lover and has practically given up dairy now, says that she loves this. Greg said he liked it too although "it's nothing like cheese". I have to agree. Don't expect cheese when you eat this - it's not! It's delicious cashews, garlic and rosemary. Enjoy the incredible flavour and texture for what it is. I guess you could call it Nut Pate if you want. Anyway - it's tasty and good for ya.

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Aged Pine Nut Cheese with Garlic & Rosemary: makes 1 wheel 
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1 cup pine nuts
1 cup cashews
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
Juice of a lemon 
1 tbs sun dried tomatoes 
2-3 tbs whole rosemary 
Salt & pepper, to taste
1 cup water
2 tbs favourite oil 
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Soak the nuts for around 2 or 3 hours. Blend all ingredients in high speed blender or food processor (blender really makes a difference though) until smooth. See if you like the taste. Change it until you do.
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Line a colander with a cheesecloth and put it in a bowl. Transfer the cheese mix into the colander and set it in a warm place for 1 or 2 days. Then leave it in the fridge for another day. You can dehydrate it or put it in your oven at a low temperature for maybe 30 minutes so it develops a crust. Enjoy!
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In other news: I watched A Night At The Roxbury a few nights ago and my love of disco has been reborn.  I downloaded the album, and as I wrote this post I was listening to this:

This is basically the same recipe I've used before, and it's become hugely popular! This time I made a simple vanilla bean cheesecake. Vanilla is underrated, don't you think? I've always loved it myself but people tend to categorize it as "plain". That's a shame (and a rhyme).






Ooooooh boy this is just plain freakin' delicious. I love the sour you get from the lemon, just the right amount to pair with the sweetness and richness of the maple syrup and cashews. This time I put coconut chunks in the crust and they added another texture. NOM.

Like I've said, this and the chocolate banana coconut cream pie are my family's two faves. If I were you, I'd trust their judgement. Now - if you're one of those people who are worried about many calories are in a slice of this heavenly creation... STOP IT! Who cares? You're not eating the entire thing, and all that's in it are raw nuts, dates, maple syrup (or agave) and vanilla beans.


I really just don't worry about calories. When you are eating whole plant foods in reasonable amounts - you shouldn't either. What do you think is healthier? A 100 calorie pack of Thinsations, or a 200 calorie Larabar?


Let's compare the ingredients, shall we?

Thinsations: enriched wheat flour, sugar, glucose-fructose, canola oil with TBHQ and citric acid, cocoa, corn starch, sodium bicarbonate, salt, ammonium bicarbonate, monocalcium phosphate, colour and artificial flavour.
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Larabar: nuts, dates... LOL! 
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Anyway the point I have to share is that "low calorie" is not necessarily synonymous with "healthy".   This is a really important fact that I think too many people in North America don't understand or think of. The corporations have drilled into us that as long as it's low calorie - it's guilt-free! Ya know what, aspartame is low calorie and it causes blindness (it also turns into formaldehyde when it enters your blood). For Pete's sake, cement is low calorie. Getting my message?
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If you'd like to email me about this, please do. Back to cheescake bliss.
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Yesterday night I put some cashews and pine nuts in water to soak overnight, so today I could make nut cheese and cheescake! They are both ready to roll now. I think I'll let the nut cheese age for 2 or 3 days, and we will eat the cheesecake tomorrow. I can't wait. 

Mom borrowed the gardening book The Zero Mile Diet today, and also bought some organic seeds to plant! We like West Coast Seeds. They're totally organic, and local! So my mum got the idea we could actually go and visit where they harvest their seeds - it's a short drive from our home.

Over the long Easter weekend, we put our garden reno plans into action.

My mom has been wanting to install raised beds for awhile now; it maximizes your garden space, sunlight and it's more efficient for watering and picking - especially compared to our old garden. It was lovely, but frankly-speaking it was a big patch of dirt with a stone path winding through it.


We are the definitive do-it-yourself family... I would explain further but really, we just do everything ourselves. My dad is an engineer and has always loved creating and building stuff, I take after him and usually I'm the one helping him with projects. We built the Zen Den together, for example.


I am very excited about this new garden, mostly because I have WAY more room to plant my greens and berries. I will be planting loads of - you guessed it - rainbow chard, dinosaur kale, and spinach.
My favourites <3 Plus some strawberries (YES!)

We're also gonna plant carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, herbs, beans, zucchinis, etc. Ya know. West Coast schtuff.


All and all - it was a bit of hard work to get the garden done but now that it is, I think we're all really looking forward to the improvement once it starts producing. Besides, it's so pro-looking now, even with no plants in it, it looks stellar.

If you are thinking of renovating your garden, GO FOR IT! Even if you don't have the space we do (we are blessed with a gorgeous, enormous yard) you can still have your own garden sanctuary. Buy a planter for your window and grow flowers, herbs or berries. If you have enough room for a patch of dirt - grow food in the patch of dirt!

There is nothing like walking barefoot into the garden, picking a few leaves of kale, going back inside and adding them to my smoothie, then coming back out and sitting by the kale still growing - while drinking it in. Ultimate connection. 


Tonight I have been making some nut cheese, and I'll let it age for about 2 or 3 days. I am betting it will be way too delicious for words. I'm also making another CHEESECAKE! Get ready =) You guys know you love it. It's definitely a favourite around here.

Much love - Em.

Today, friends, I start my 5 day weekend! Easter weekend plus I don't have class on Tuesdays. Rather excited.

Amber is coming over tonight and we're gonna chill in the Zen Den and make some raw pasta ;)
I might make something to do with chocolate and peanut butter too... you know of my obsession.

Anyways today's post is just sharing some stuff: a song, a book and a video.

I shared this on the Facebok page but in case you didn't see it - listen now! And if you did hear it... listen to it again. It makes me so happy!! Reggae is sick on it's own, but when you make it about being vegan - well. It just can't get any better."Immaaa veeegggann!"


Next I will tell you a bit about the book I'm reading. Unlike the song, it doesn't have much to do with eating plants at all. But it's FASCINATING, MIND-BLOWING, and really well written. You feel smart, but you're laughing out loud at the same time.


The book's called "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. It's basically what it sounds like, with an emphasis on scientific discoveries. Apparently, normally he doesn't write about topics like this but he should! It's great so far... and I'm only a few chapters in. Here's the description on the back:

Get it? Caramel + chia seeds = chia-mel! I'm proud of the cleverness. Don't judge me.
Something else I'm proud of is the fact that these aren't primarily chocolate! However, I couldn't resist and put a little cacao in the crust.


They're super tasty, and super nutritious. Think of the healthiest, most delicious granola bar - this is like that in dessert form I guess. The crust is mostly almonds and prunes, while the center is pine nuts, chia seeds, dates, maple syrup and cinnamon. Oh... and I added a little peanut butter.


I actually used my caramel recipe, using chia seeds. But instead of almond butter and tahini, I used peanut butter =} And instead of Brazil nuts I used pine nuts. Equally as delicious. I had leftover filling so I ate it with a banana for breakfast - yom. I could also eat balls of the crust... it might even be better than the filling.

Either way, make these for a healthy snack and get your dose of EFA's, fiber, protein, iron, magnesium, plus a bunch of other goodies.

I love noodles. 
So it makes perfect sense that among desserts, raw pasta is one of my favourite meals. I prefer it made with zucchini, although bell peppers, yams, carrots and other veggies work well too. I also love it with a creamy sauce and a bit of spice.

It's so satisfying, nutrient-dense, low-calorie and RAW, in every sense of the word. 


I don't really use recipes when preparing raw food (as you probably know by now) so for the following recipes, feel ABSOLUTELY FREE to play them with them as you like. There's endless possibilities for sauce ideas - just like for smoothies and salads. The combinations are infinite.


For the pasta: use any wide, fairly long vegetable - zucchini is the perfect example - and slice it on your spiral slicer or mandoline, into noodles. Set aside. Now for the sauce =)

Avocado Hemp Sauce: 

1/2 avocado
1 clove garlic
3 Tb tamari
Water or non-dairy milk, as needed
Salt & pepper, add other spices if you wish
2 Tb hemp seeds

Blend all ingredients except hemp seeds until smooth. See if you like the taste and consistency. Stir in hemp seeds and pour over noodles. Let them sit for a few minutes, then enjoy! I like to add hot sauce and raw marinated veggies.


Garlic Miso Sauce:

2-3 Tb miso
1 clove garlic
2 Tb tamari
1-2 Tb rice vinegar
1-2 Tb almond butter
2 Tb black sesame seeds
Water as needed

Blend all ingredients except sesame seeds until smooth. See if you like the taste and consistency. Stir in sesame seeds and pour over noodles. Let sit for a few minutes then eat it up! This recipe is good with broccoli.