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Book Review: Ani’s Raw Food Asia share

Ani Phyo is a renowned raw foods chef and eco-lifestylist. She has published six un-cookbooks in a decade, and all are full of gorgeous, raw vegan recipes that will inspire even the most meat-and-potatoes folks to eat their raw veggies. In fact, the first raw recipes ever created in my kitchen were those by Ani; recipes that are so delicious that they are still a staple in my kitchen rotation. Recently I was sent a review copy of Ani's Raw Food Asia: Easy East-West Recipes (DaCapo/Lifelong), which was published in 2011. It's one of her best books yet, featuring a global selection of recipes, kitchen tips and wellness wisdom from across Asia. Even though it's a few years old now, the recipes are even more important today, as we continually confirm that a plant-based diet (especially one that includes lots of raw foods) is the healthiest way to live. Ani's beautiful raw recipes are an easy way to learn to truly enjoy eating all our veggies!

Ani's Raw Food Asia is a gorgeous collection of totally raw recipes that feature the flavor and stylings of the Far East. The recipes cover classic foods from India, Thailand, Korea, Indonesia, Japan and more. Amazingly enough, many recipes from these cultural cuisines are already raw, but for those that feature cooked ingredients, Ani has replaced them with wholesome alternatives like kelp noodles, cauliflower 'rice' for sushi rolls and raw ice cream for the classic dessert of the Philippines, Halo Halo.

Some of the standout recipes include a Jackfruit Curry (Indonesia), Samosas with Tomato Dal (India) using raw wraps made in a dehydrator, Corn Fritters (Indonesia) and a wide range of Korean namuls, or small sides for all your meals. In addition to the recipes Ani shares tips and tricks for a healthier lifestyle, including why to include probiotics (through homemade fermented foods like Kim Chi), the importance of proper hydration, benefits of toxic-free living and little sidebars of information about cultivating a healthy life, both in and out of the kitchen.

You can find all of Ani Phyo's books on her online store, and learn more about her chef and consutation services and her vibrant life here on her website, AniPhyo.com. I also recently reviewed Ani's newest book, Ani's 15 day Fat Blast, on my other blog. To learn more about Ani's definition of raw foods and how to detox daily and why these are the healthiest things to put into our bodies, check out her six minute video here. Thanks to DaCapo/Lifelong publishers for sharing a review copy of this book!

Posted: | Categories: book review, Books, Food+Drink, raw food, vegan recipes

Feb

Review: Hail Merry Raw Macaroons share

When you think raw food, you probably don't picture desserts, but there are lots of yummy raw dessert options out there! I recently got the chance to try out Hail Merry Raw Macaroons, and I have got to say: I was impressed!

The macaroons came in the same Conscious Box as the raw protein bars I reviewed last week. This might make it seem like the Conscious Box is full of raw food, which isn't the case. This one had a lot more raw treats than usual. Not that I mind raw snacks - they're delicious and much healthier than most cooked snacks!

The macaroons they sent me were the chocolate variety, and they were rich and cocoa-y! All of Hail Merry's macaroons are gluten free and vegan and contain no refined sugars. I was a little bummed that these were sweetened with maple syrup, though. Often, raw cookies use dates or other dried fruit to get the sweetness, which means a little boost of nutrients and fiber to balance out that sugar.

Here's the whole ingredients list:

organic maple syrup, organic shredded coconut, Fair Trade dark cocoa, organic extra virgin coconut oil, pure Madagascar bourbon vanilla, sea salt

As desserts go, I'm really impressed with this list! No mystery ingredients, and they went the extra mile to source their cocoa from a fair trade supplier. All of Hail Merry's products are also Non-GMO Verified, which means no franken-ingredients here!

Hail Merry makes macaroons, tarts, granola, and sells a few types of nuts. You can find their whole line of raw snacks on their website.

Posted: | Categories: Conscious Box, Food+Drink, Hail Merry, Living, raw cookies, raw food, raw macaroons, raw snacks, vegan food, vegan macaroons

Feb

Review: Dale’s Raw Protein Bar share

Every once in a while, the awesome folks at Conscious Box send me a media box to check out full of vegan goodies, and they sent me one in December that I'm just now making my way through! There was nothing wrong with the box, it's just been a super crazy time: I didn't even open it until last week. D'oh!

The box was full of awesome goodies like a PeopleTowel and some fun vegan bath products that I can't wait to try out, but the thing I sampled right away was a vegan protein bar that came in a shiny silver wrapper.

I'd never heard of Dale's Raw Protein Bars before, and I'm so glad that I did! I've been avoiding my previous go-to vegan energy bars - Larabars - because their parent company (General Mills) funneled big money to stop the California GMO Right to Know Act. This Dale's bar kind of reminded me of a Larabar, but I think I actually liked it better! I tried the raspberry hazelnut variety, and it had crunchy chunks of hazelnut throughout the bar.

The bar itself was soft and a little bit chewy, like other date-based energy bars, but it didn't taste as strongly of dates as some of the others that I've tried. These seem like a great snack to keep in your purse for those mornings that you're too busy to eat breakfast!

What's in It

Like Larabars, these Dale's bar is date-based, which means it's naturally sweet. You don't need to add any refined sugars when you're using dates - they're nature's candy! The bar gets its protein from peas (just pea protein - it didn't taste like peas!), rice, hemp, and almond butter, and one of the things I liked most about this bar is that aside from the pea and rice protein, all of the ingredients are things you could pick up at the grocery store. Here's the ingredients list for the raspberry hazelnut bar:

dates, pea protein, hemp protein, rice protein, almond butter, hazelnuts, coconut nectar, dried raspberries, raw cacao, coconut oil, water

How It's Made

Not too shabby, right? On the Dale's Raw Foods site, they have a video showing how the bars are made, which I thought you guys might like to see, too:

Don't you love how hands-on the production is? They even make the raw almond butter from scratch!

I've never seen Dale's in any stores (Have you? Tell us where in the comments!), but you can pick them up by the case on the Dale's Raw Foods website. At $36.99 for a case of 12, that works out to just over $3 for a bar, which I think stacks up pretty well to other energy bars I've seen, especially since Dale's is a small company.