Hemp Protein Shake, Raw Cherry Cheesecake and Super-Wellness Shot from Real Raw Live February 10, 2010

Today I stopped by Real Raw Live in Franklin Village, Hollywood, to get a bite to eat. And by bite, I really mean sip! It was a wonderful rainy day again, all grey and gloomy and beautiful outside (I love a little of this dreary weather, it’s a welcome change from the LA sun seeking to scorch me with its far-reaching rays all the time!) so I figured now would be as good a time as any to top up the olde immune system again.

To start:

Super-Wellness Shot (pictured above)

This delightfully dark green drink was comprised of all sorts of sexy, constituents, from cayenne pepper to lemon juice, algae and chlorophyll. It’s not as bad as it sounds, I swear! It’s got a spicy lil tang to it, but you just knock it back in one or two hits and you’re good to go. You’ll feel great and your immunity will get a little ramp up while you’re at it!

The Drink

Protein Power Smoothie: This was full of hemp protein (be sure to ask them to make it with hemp protein if that’s what you like because they also have (non-vegan) whey protein and I believe brown rice protein too – you don’t want to get poisoned!), L-Glutamine (supposed to be awesome for your muscles!), almond milk, bananas, almond butter and cinnamon. I also added the superfood Maca to it. (Costs a little extra but certainly worth it! Maca is an ancient South American superfood meant to aid your libido, hormone balance and energy levels!)

Dessert!

This was a cherry dream cheesecake by Earth Cafe. These are too good, they are melt in your mouth tasty! Also completely vegan, raw and gluten-free.

According to the ingredients list it contains: Fresh cherries, soaked cashews, coconut, coconut butter, agave nectar, soaked pecans, soaked walnuts, lemon, lecithin, vanilla bean extract, cinnamon and sea salt.

The label also mentions that it’s made with love, yum!

The whole thing was gone in 60 seconds, I swear! Just that good!

Hot Cayenne Pepper on a Cold Day – Lunch from Healthyca February 6, 2010

Today was a lovely, rainy LA day, and inspired by yesterday’s delicious delving into the world of cayenne pepper, I decided to order something hot and spicy to sip on again. I chose “The Fighter” a drink from Healthyca in North Hollywood, which contained… you guessed it… cayenne pepper.

The dude on the phone told me that he would go easy on me and make mine a mild so I was a little apprehensive when the drink arrived that he would have gone a little too easy and left the cayenne out all together. I think this combined with its yellow colour may have been the issue. I was expecting bright, firey hot neon red plasma in a cup! But the delivery guy allayed my fears and told me “that’s what its supposed to look like.”

So with that in mind I took the jump and drank the drink and oh my was it ever good! Not too spicy and not too sweet with just that tang of cayenne as a somewhat secret afterthought. Cayenne pepper is meant to be great for the metabolism and circulatory system so I was of course stoked on that, it was the perfect warming drink to get on a cold day that didn’t veer too far off the raw foodie’s path. The drink also contained pineapple, grape, orange and ginger, yum!

Add to this my mammoth salad (oh my!) and I was in complete and utter raw, vegan heaven. The size of these things is enormous! Full of all the good stuff like avocado (my favourite!), hearts of palm, jicama, artichokes, mandarins, pecans and baby greens! I got the balsamic dressing and a side of quinoa. I love quinoa, it’s such a versatile, nutritious grain and I highly recommend it!I’ll talk more in depth about quinoa and other great nutritious foods, but for now I’m off to Planet Raw 😉

Kefir Madness from Real Raw Live! February 5, 2010

Yesterday I stopped by Real Raw Live in Franklin Village again for breakfast this time.  Usually I would get my never-fail favourite, their Super maca 3500 shake, or at least some incarnation of it – with added spirulina or hemp protein or God knows what else! But today I felt a little adventurous. I felt like having….something…else.

The Menu there is always dazzling, and just like Wholefoods, I want to eat everything off it pretty much, but one thing that had caught my eye over and over again on various expeditions to this place, was the ‘Kefir madness’ drink. Just the name alone begged me to try it. So after double-checking it was vegan yu never can be too careful!) I ordered up one of these to go.

In the meantime while I was waiting for homegirl to whip up my fancy new concoction, (it was a little busy in there but that’s good – I love to see people eating…or in this case drinking…healthily ) I took a shot of E3 live that she poured into a real life shot glass for me. It felt as if I should be pouring whiskey down my throat, but no instead it was blue-green algae, the colour of green, green, green. “Here’s your pondwater”, as one of the guys whoserved me there one time exclaimed. Pond water indeed, but tasty pond water that makes you feel amazing! With all those nutrients packed tight there in that one little shot glass, E3 live is one superfood for sure.

Wow, she set it in front of me and just wow. The whole thing was an ultraviolet orange colour. It looked vicious. It looked tasty. It looked…divine. And it was. Coconut kefir, the main constituent of this drink other than berries and what seemed like quite a lot of paprika, is a fermented drink with probiotics in it that help promote good intestinal flora in your guts. so in other words it’s pretty good for you. Not having enough of the right ones in your belly is allegedly responsible for a whole host of health complaints, so kefir is amazingly good for digestive health.

While it was a little spicy due to the copious quantities of cayenne pepper she threw in there (again supposed to be good for your metabolism etc) this was a tasty treat that made me feel great and I would definitely get it again. Go real raw live!