SPAGHETTI MARINARA BOWL

Some days I just can't get enough of the good foods. This here is certainly a dish that makes my mouth water every time I think of it - my spaghetti marinara bowl.

This delicious main dinner dish is made of only fresh veggies, herbs and fruits. No chemicals, preserving agents or stuff you can't spell. But full of gorgeous colors and textures.

I also kept it nut free and you can make this dish totally low fat by leaving out the quarter of avocado. 

This is by the way my first blog post from my new home. I moved to Copenhagen (Denmark) for my studies and I am very excited about it. Copenhagen has an awesome raw community and the fresh fruit festival is coming up. I am certainly trying to still get a place in it - Doug Graham is coming! (Do I have to say more? ;)). Unfortunately, some of my stuff is still to be delivered and I can't wait to get it! One week without my mason jars, wooden utensils, spiralizer and vitamix and I feel lost. I guess this is why I am craving this dish so badly that I made some weeks ago and forgot to directly share with you. But YOU are lucky. Grab your spiralizer or julienne peeler and get going. Green food=Love.

SPAGHETTI MARINARA BOWL

Serves 1 

Raw spaghetti

1 medium zucchini

1/2 english cucumber

3 medium carrots 

Marinara sauce

1 cup halved cocktail tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped dried tomatoes

1/2 small red onion

1 clove of garlic

1/2 t dried oregano

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup water

fresh chives, spring onion, cocktail tomatoes, avocado and sesame seeds

Spiralize your zucchini, english cucumber and carrots into noodles. If you dont have a spiralizer you can use a regular or julienne peeler. For the marinara sauce, blend all ingredients into a sauce. In a large bowl, massage sauce into noodles and let sit for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh chopped chives, chopped spring onion and sesame seeds. Top with cocktail tomatoes and 1/4 of avocado if you like.

Indulge. 

RAW VEGAN COUSCOUS

Hello to you beautiful people out there! This week has alreday begun to be an amazing one with Raw, Fit & Happy hitting the 2k mark and all the new people who joined this community. Instead of making you raw cake (I know I know..raw cake IS awesome), I give you my long promised raw couscous recipe (which is awesome by itself) and some pics from my holiday in Tunesia.

As some of you may have noticed, I haven't been posting that many new recipes in April and that was due to my wonderful holiday in Tunesia. I had a great time recharging my vitamin D tanks, breathing the fresh air, having nearly no noise level and swimming in the wide sea. Tunesia is a beautiful country with a totally different flora and fauna than Germany and I loved all the flowers, palm trees, turtles and birds. It was totally relaxing and decelerating. The people I meet had nearly nothing, but were happier than most people I meet in Germany everyday.... It was really good to see and feel again how important a calm, happy environment with fresh air, little noise and beautiful nature is. And maybe we can learn from these people a bit..possessions are not everything and happiness is no situation you should see for yourself in the future but already now. Be happy. Live life. Share your love.

Okay...for all of those who really want the couscous recipe and are already asking themselves: "what is she talking about?", I give you what you want. now.

This is the recipe for a raw vegan Tunesia-inspired couscous. It is based on cauliflower, which can be shredded into a rice /couscous like form and it tastes amazing combined with fresh fruit, veggies and herbs.

For my Tunesia-inspired couscous, I mixed my cauliflower base with a dressing made of fresh tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, orange juice, paprika powder and turmeric and added fresh parsley, tomatoes, spring onion and juicy oranges. This is a quick, low fat, raw entree that you can enjoy by yourself or bring to a party, brunch or dinner. I love the combination of cauliflower, tomato and oranges and how savory, rich but low fat it is. 

RAW VEGAN COUSCOUS

Serves 2-3

Base

1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped

Dressing

1 cup of halved cherry tomatoes

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes

1/3 cup orange juice

1/2 t paprika powder

dash of turmeric

And to mix in:

1 orange, diced

1 cup of halved cherry tomatoes

1 large spring onion, chopped

1/3 cup of parsley, chopped

For the base, pulse cauliflower into small pieces. Set aside.

For the dressing, blend cherry tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes and orange juice with spices until creamy. Massage into cauliflower. In a bowl, combine this base with orange pieces, halved cherry tomatoes, chopped spring onion and parsley.

Enjoy!

CARROT BEET SMOOTHIE

As some of you may or may not know, I am in the middle of moving at the moment and between all the packing, planning and organizing I have less time for myself as I usually would. That's fine, because afterwards there will be plenty of freetime again. But with me running around all day long, solving upcoming issues and saying goodbye to many people, I recently got some severe headache of not rehydrating and resting enough.

This smoothie here did a great job. It nourished me, cleansed, made me feel fresh and ready to go again and that all in mere minutes. So if you need a reset and a quick greens-fix, try this smoothie.

I know, the colour is not the most beautiful one, but the ingredients are! This smoothie contains wack loads of vitamin c, beta carotene and fiber from beet, carrot and apples and is spiced up with ginger. This smoothie just makes you feel so good and tastes amazingly sweet from the apple and savory from beet, carrot and ginger. For me, that was the perfect start into the weekend- try it for yourself.

CARROT BEET SMOOTHIE

Makes 20 oz

1 large carrot with greens

1/4 medium red beet

2 medium sweet apples

1 inch ginger

1 cup of water

Blend everything and enjoy!

BERRY APPLE PARFAIT

Today I have for you this super delicious nut-free, low fat, gluten-free raw vegan berry apple parfait. This is a 80/10/10 dessert that you can easily whip up in a few minutes and share with your friends and family or indulge in on your own. When I started my raw vegan journey and I had serious sugar cravings I made myself a less fancy version of this: fresh fruit + dates = pure heaven. In this parfait you'll find both pink lady apples and sweet pineapple layered with a raspberry/strawberry/date compote.

You can substitute the fresh fruit with what you have on hand and store this dessert in the fridge for up to 3 days. I love to make myself simple low fat desserts to keep my nut/seed intake low and this is just sooo good! You have to make this for your own and enjoy it in the warm spring sun. Have fun :) 

BERRY APPLE PARFAIT

Serves 2-3

1/2 pineapple, thinly sliced and quartered

2-3 pink lady apples, thinly sliced and quartered

1 cup of raspberries

1 cup of sliced strawberries

1 banana

1/2-1cup of pitted dates (depending on how sweet you like it)

Blend berries with dates into compote. Don't blend until smooth, you want some remaining date and fruit pieces inside. Layer pineapple, apple and compote in your dessert glass/bowl and enjoy!

RED ANTIOXIDANT SMOOTHIE

The weekend is finally there and if you have been as busy as I and feel the need to recharge your body, this smoothie is the perfect start. It is made of red grapes, pomegranate seeds, cherries, blackberries and is thus chock-full of antioxidants, the small molecules essential for prevention of oxidative cell stress. Plus, red grapes contain loads of reservatol, which was shown to reduce stroke risk and support weight loss.  

Smoothies are an easy way to get in all your minerals, vitamins and other nutrients and this smoothie is such a health bomb. Besides it's superhero ingredients, the antioxidants and the reservatol, it provides you with more than a quarter of the daily recommended values of vitamins K and C. And I even hid some kale in it...smart me :) I think the kale balances out the sweetness of the red fruit. If you like it sweeeet, you may leave out the greens.

P.S.: Have you known that pomegranates are one of the oldest fruit known to men? Found in writings and artifiacts of many cultures, punica granatum is an original native from Persia and has been a symbol for fertility, health and eternal life.  Isn't that cool? Let's drink that up!!

RED ANTIOXIDANT SMOOTHIE
Makes 64 oz (serves 2)

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
2 cups red grapes
1 cup mixed frozen blackberries and cherries
1 red sweet apple
1 cup kale (or greens of your choice)
1 cup ice cubes 
water as needed

Blend and enjoy!

MY GREEN BOWL OF HAPPINESS

This is one of my most beloved raw breakfast dishes. I call it my green bowl of happiness, because it gives me all I need for the day and is so delicious and rich that it makes me smile :) This dish is really awesome, because it combines all the health benefits of a green smoothie with the sweet flavors of fresh fruit. You can basically add every kind of fruit you have at home as well as top your green bowl with extras as some nuts for additional protein or shredded coconut for that special exotic taste. I just LOVE my green bowl!

Healthy beautiful food as in this recipe has become super important to me since I began the raw vegan lifestyle. Actually I think eating beautiful real food is the essence of living. I just love the idea of my body being made of fresh ripe mangoes, sweet strawberries, leafy greens and cute raspberries. Plus, real food makes me happy. And aren't happiness and health all we're looking for? On my journey for greater happiness I have already been taught several lessons. Here are my favorite TOP5 tricks and tips on how to be a happier you.

1. Love yourself

It is just really hard to be happy with your life, your job, or somebody else if you don't love yourself. There is no reason to criticize yourself all the time as it will just push you down and not change anything. For me it helped to ask myself what I don't like about myself and I have started to change these things. Although it is healthy to constantly want to improve, we must not forget that we are all equal. We are all a product of mother nature.

2.Exercise

On the most stressful days or in the most confusing situations, a good workout always clears my mind and relaxes me. Most often afterwards I have found a solution for a problem or at least put it in relation. 

3. Eat mindfully

Enjoying my meals with the TV turned off, the radio shut down and in a peaceful environment has helped me to become more aware of what I put in my body and makes me enjoy all flavors and textures. Eating is fueling our body and I personally think it is only possible to know what the body needs and wants if you're listening to it.

4. Sleep enough

Sleep was always my buffer on stressful days when I cut back sleep in order to finish school things. As I've learned, a good sleep routine is important to me to be really awake on the next day and profit from my sleep time as much as possible. Sleep is the time that your body needs to flush out toxines, clear your mind and reset several cellular processes.

5. Be open and let go

In my opinion, happiness has a lot to do with being tolerant and compassionate with other people and with letting go old problems and drawbacks. Life is very short and it should be beautiful.

I hope that my tips are in some way helpful to you and I would be very happy to learn about your ways to improve your life and I am here for any kind of questions. But for now, enough. Let's get back to our recipe :)

MY GREEN BOWL OF HAPPINESS

Serves 1

Green base

Handful of fresh basil (or one herb of your choice)

2 T spirulina powder (I used JumpUp and GoGo GO GREEN)

1 cup spinach (or any other leafy green)

1 small sweet apple

2 ripe bananas

2 pitted dates

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 cup water

Toppings

1/2 cubed mango, 1 cup sliced strawberries, 1 sliced sweet apple, 1 cubed persimmon, few almonds (optional), 2 T shredded coconut.

Blend everything for the green base. Pour your base into your favorite bowl and top with fresh fruit and extras. You can easily customize your green bowl by chosing your favorite herb and leafy greens and add your preferred toppings.

Enjoy!

RASPBERRY DREAM CAKE (nut free!)

Over 400 likes in facebook and over 5000 blog views :) THANK YOU ALL! I am very happy to have you in my life and I promise I will create many more sweet and savory raw vegan recipes for you all :) Now, let's dance and sing and have some cake :)

I made for you this sweet delicious raspberry dream cake. It is not only raw vegan but I also wanted to create a cake recipe for all of you to enjoy: it is completely nut (and almond) free, contains no sweetener except dates and raw carob instead of cacao. This is only ripe raw fruit and this purple beauty hides 5 layers of pure rawesomeness.

If you are in the mood for something sweet, give this recipe a try :) It is raw, healthy, inexpensive and clean. And it will satisfy every sweet craving that you might feel at the beginning of this new year.

Inside this beautiful cake are layers of raw vegan chocolate mousse, sliced juicy bananas, sweet pink raspberry coconut cream and fresh raspberries. What's more to love than raspberries and chocolate mousse? Grab your forks :)

RASPBERRY DREAM CAKE
Makes one 9'' cake


Chocolate mousse layer
2 ripe bananas
1 cup shredded coconut
4 pitted Medjool dates
3 T raw carob (or cacao)
1/4 vanilla bean

Raspberry coconut cream layer
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1 ripe banana
2 cups young coconut meat
2 pitted Medjool dates
1/4 cup water 

2 bananas, 1/2 cup fresh raspberries, 1/2 cup fresh blueberries, 1/4 cup shredded coconut

Line a 9'' form with cling film.
For the chocolate mousse layer, blend bananas into cream, add shredded coconut, dates, carob and vanilla and blend until you have a delicious mousse. Pour 3/4 of the mousse into the cake form and store into freezer. Store rest of mousse in fridge. 
For the raspberry coconut cream layer, blend coconut meat with raspberries and banana. Add dates and water until cream consistency. Slice additional banana and layer over chocolate mousse. Cover with 3/4 of raspberry coconut cream. Place fresh raspberries on top as fourth layer. Use remaining chocolate mousse and 1/2 of the remaining raspberry cream and cover raspberries with both, placing always 1 T next to the other. Use a skewer to create a beautiful pattern.
Freeze cake overnight.
Keep remaining raspberry coconut cream in fridge.
The next day, remove cake from form and cover sides with remaining raspberry coconut cream. Sprinkle cake with shredded coconut and garnish with fresh banana slices and berries of your choice (I used blueberries).

Enjoy!

APPLE CRUMBLE CINNAMON ICE CREAM

This is a very simple dessert, but it's raw vegan. It's good for you and so super yummy. 

And yes it's on purpose that I don't use an ice cream spoon.No, I am sorry. I wanted to buy one for such a long time, but keep forgetting it. So here is your ice cream the Italian way. It's still unbelievable delicious, believe me :)

In this raw vegan treat, chewy apple crumble chunks are mixed with cinnamon-infused banana ice cream and to make this dessert perfect it is topped with sweet caramel syrup.

This will satisfy every sweet tooth craving and even make you healthier.

Who wants some ice cream?

 

APPLE CRUMBLE CINNAMON ICE CREAM

Serves 2

Cinnamon ice cream

4-5 frozen bananas

1 T cinnamon powder

1/3 cup raw coconut oil

1 t pure vanilla extract

1 t sweetener of your choice, I used 3 dates

Apple crumble

1/2 medium red apple

1/4 cup almonds

1/4 cup raisins

1 T sunflower seeds

1 T hulled sesame seeds

Caramel syrup

5 pitted dates

1 T coconut oil

few drops pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup water

For the cinnamon ice cream, melt coconut oil over boiling water and stirr in cinnamon. Let rest for 1/2 hour. Thaw frozen bananas for 10 minutes and blend in high speed blender with vanilla extract and sweetener of your choice. Add coconut/cinnamon mix and blend until ice cream consistency. Store ice cream in freezer.

For the apple crumble, process almonds into flour and add raisins, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds. Combine mix with chopped apple into apple crumble. Store in freezer.

For the caramel syrup, blend dates with water and add coconut oil and vanilla extract.

Mix cinnamon ice cream with apple crumble chunks and top with caramel syrup.

Enjoy!

PURE LOVE BREAKFAST BOWL

On a regular Saturday morning, I sleep in a bit, take time for myself and relax to let all stress of the week go. Afterwards, I run all errands that I didn't have time for during the week and meet up with some friends or my family. Although I have a smoothie every work day morning, on Saturdays I mostly have a breakfast bowl. Today, I made this beautiful and delicious breakfast bowl, which I call pure love breakfast bowl, because it looks so pretty and combines everything I could wish for in one breakfast.

 

This breakfast consists of a base of raw vegan caramel pudding made of bananas and dates, all my favorite autumn toppings, which are shredded almonds, dried cranberries, apple, cinnamon and vanilla, and a fruity cranberry sauce swirl. This breakfast is super satisfiying and gives you power for the rest of the day and only consists of fresh, raw fruits and nuts. You can easily add your own favorite toppings or leave out the nuts to keep it super low fat if you want. This breakfast dish tastes like a dessert and makes a great alternative to my regular smoothie. Here is what you need.

PURE LOVE BREAKFAST BOWL

Serves 1

Caramel pudding

2 ripe bananas

1/3 cup pitted dates

1 t cinnamon powder

1/2 cup water

Cranberry sauce

1/3 cup raw dried cranberries

 2 pitted dates

1/4 cup water

1 t pure vanilla extract

Toppings

1/2 apple

1/3 cup shredded almonds

1/4 cup raw dried or fresh cranberries

For the caramel pudding, blend bananas, dates and cinnamon. Add water until you get a creamy pudding consistency.

For the cranberry sauce, blend cranberries, dates and vanilla. Add water until everything is mixed well.

Chop apple.

Spoon the caramel pudding into your favorite breakfast bowl, add cranberry sauce and use the end of your spoon to swirl both. Top your breakfast with apple, almonds and cranberries.

Enjoy!

LAYERED THANKSGIVING SALAD with CRANBERRY WALNUT DRESSING

Last year, I spent Thanksgiving in the USA-in New York City and South Orange (NJ) with my amazing American cousin. We planned the whole holiday, decorated the house and watched the parade and ended up on the sofa, cozied up, munching on a vegan holiday menu. Although it was no big thing, we had the most wonderful time and a really thankful atmosphere. Back then, I really loved the vegan menu, but this year, I decided to go one step further and do a raw vegan Thanksgiving dish. Also, I am on my own celebrating Thanksgiving this year, since I could not find any German friend to join me and my cousin is the ocean away.

But at least I have all the great food for me :D

I thought about Thanksgiving fruits and veggies and cranberries, walnuts, apples and persimmons came to my mind. To make something sepcial and because it is for me alone, I decided to use my beautiful mason jar to make a layered thanksgiving salad.

However, I hope that you celebrate this day with your beloved ones and figured that you can easily make a huge bowl full of this layered salad or just mix everything up.

This salad is super healthy, colorful, low fat yet satisfying. I think it looks really pretty and it tastes oh so good. Here is what you need.

LAYERED THANKSGIVING SALAD with CRANBERRY WALNUT DRESSING

Serves 2-3

Salad

5 cups spinach leaves

3 cups red cabbage

1 persimmon

1 cucumber

3/4 sweet apple

Dressing

1/4 cup fresh cranberries

1/4 cup whole walnuts

1/4 sweet apple

4 pitted dates

1 cup water, or as needed

Chop all fruits and veggies and build layers.

For the dressing, blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy.

Pour over your salad and mix well. Let rest for at least 1/2 hour outside the fridge to let the dressing mingle with the salad.

Enjoy!

GREEN MACHINE SMOOTHIE

I am feelin' like a green machine :) 

My fuel are only the best, ripe fruits and veggies and I start to crave my greens as soon as I need energy and power or want to relax. One of my favorite greens is spinach, because it is so delectable on its own and matches nearly every fruit. I love spinach to make my green smoothies and green smoothies make it easy for me to consume enough greens in my diet.

The smoothie recipe that I show you today is one that I just created some days ago and I love it! It combines ripe, juicy pineapple and sweet pomegranate with hearty fresh spinach and spicy ginger. This is an anti-cold recipe and here are my top 5 reasons why you should make this smoothie this winter:

1. Pineapple prevents cough and colds. It is loaded with vitamins and minerals as vitamin C and it contains bromelain that was shown to suppress coughs and loose mucus.

2. Pomegranate is a superfood that has been shown to be a cure-all. It is packed with antioxidants and vitamins and stimulates the immune system and wards off the flu.

3. Spinach is packed with vitamin A and helps your skin to stay healthy and retain moisture in winter. Additionally, more than a dozen different flavonoid compounds in spinach are powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer fighting agents.

4. Ginger is warming on a cold day and helps promoting healthy sweating helpful for detoxification during colds and flus.

5. This smoothie tastes out of this world and makes for a low fat, healthy and quick breakfast or snack.

Here is what you need for the green machine smoothie.

GREEN MACHINE SMOOTHIE

Makes 32 oz

2 cups of spinach leaves

3 cups of cubed pineapple

1/4 cup pomegranate seeds

1 inch fresh ginger

3 bananas

Blend all fruits and veggies in a high speed blender.

Enjoy !

ICE CREAM DREAM

This raw vegan dessert will directly transport you to heaven!

This is why I called it ice cream dream. It consists of perfectly ripe bananas, gooey dates and juicy pomegranate combined with raw delicious vanilla bean and a little raw vegan homemade chocolate. I used these super healthy ingredients to create a low fat, sweet and nutritious version of classic vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and sprinkles. But here you even get pom sprinkles- doesn't that sound too good to be true? 

This treat is perfect for a beautiful harvest afternoon and will be loved by all your non-vegan friends as well, because it is simply heavenly.

You could also layer the vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce to create a perfect holiday dessert. Just look at these colors. And the super creamy texture. And the sweetness. Just imagine what it tastes like when the pomegranate explodes in your mouth to merge with the vanilla ice cream and caramel. Multiply that by 1000. Now you got the right idee of what this ice cream dream tastes like.

I have no more words for this deliciousness :)

ICE CREAM DREAM

Serves1

Vanilla ice cream

3-4 frozen bananas

1/2 vanilla bean

1 t sweetener of your choice, I used agave nectar

Caramel sauce

1/2 cup of pitted dates

1/3 cup of water or as needed

1/4 vanilla bean

Pomegranate seeds and raw vegan chocolate

If you want to make the chocolate by yourself, mix 1 cup of melted coconut oil with 1/4-1/3 raw cacao, 1 t sweetener of your choice and vanilla to taste (yields about 1 cup of chocolate sprinkles or 1 chocolate bar).

For the vanilla icre cream, blend your frozen bananas with the vanilla and sweetener until creamy.

For the caramel sauce, blend dates with water and vanilla. Add water to desired consistency.

Spoon your ice cream into your favorite bowl, layer with caramel sauce and sprinkle with pomegrante seeds and raw chocolate.

Enjoy!