RAW ENERGY

So Ben and I have been to Raw Energy since forever. Ok, maybe not forever, but certainly ever since there has been a branch at Cotton Tree. There are also branches at Mooloolaba, Peregian Beach and Noosaville. We like Cotton Tree on a Sunday morning. This time, I went with my mum on a Monday morning.

Despite the name, Raw Energy doesn’t have a lot of raw products outside of its juices. Until recently, they had almost no vegan food either, but this is starting to change. There was a vege stack that was vegan on the day we went there and they sell some energy balls that are vegan. I’ve had the avo and tomato toast when I was vegan which is really yummy.

Another place that gives you plastic fruit to summon your meal 🙂

I opted for my “usual” juice: Green With Envy. It’s apple, pear, celery, broccoli, spinach and something else (I’ve forgotten) but the best part is you can’t taste the veggies! Mum had a Tropical Twist, which is orange, pineapple and ginger. I also ordered the lentil and three cheese triangle and two chialicious balls to take away for later.

These are my new favourite thing. I’m so glad to choc ones were out so that I tried these instead.

This place can get hectic on the weekend and service can become slow, but today was a Monday and things were speedy. We sat at the communal table and read “Vogue” while we waited.

My triangle was delicious. The lentils had a tasty tomatoey sauce they were cooked in and although I couldn’t name the “three cheeses”, I really enjoyed the meal and the wee bit of salad on the side. Our juices were great- they always are. There’s a huge juice and smoothie list to stare at while you order or wait.

Overall, this meal was delicious and boosted our spirits. We went and browsed the shops and then sat in the shade behind the public pool overlooking the Maroochy River mouth. Very relaxing.

Be patient on weekends and you’ll be rewarded!

ORAWGI

So I’m in love. I love raw food places because you can feel the care in the food. I’m serious! Nothing can be “slapped together” in a raw food cafe because everything is a process- blending, chilling, dehydrating, marinating, etc.

Orawgi (meaning Organic, Raw and low GI) is run by the supremely talented Jamie Louise Stevenson. I like to think her parents read her Treasure Island as a child. It’s actually located inside another building- BioSolar- on Ipswich Road in Wooloongabba. Their Facebook page is here and the owner also runs the yoga studio next door.

The decor is white and bright but a lot of fun. I forgot to take a picture of the wall that was just black and white photo frame wallpaper with the staff’s colour photos stuck on it, but it was very cute. There were quite a few people there and the three staff were bustling and busy.

Ethics is the name of the game here. Everything is vegan (except for honey in smoothies) and organic and made in the store. It’s not cheap, but when you consider the labour that goes into making an organic dehydrated pizza base or quiche or bagel, it’s worth it! Take away containers are biodegradable and non-plastic wherever possible.

I oggled the display cabinet but decided upon the pizza straight away. I think most of the meals were $15 but a lunch deal is $20 and includes either a drink or something sweet. I ordered The Jefferson Special smoothie (walnuts, protein powder berries and honey) with my lunch and it also came with salad. I had the garden salad and the kale salad (although you can just have one or the other if you want). This might not look like a huge serve, but I was FULL by the time I’d finished.

That is not a real orange. It is my “magical orange” which will summon my meal when ready. Hehehe

The salads were tasty- the kale one had purple carrots and a Asian soy-ish flavoured dressing with lots of sprouts and seeds. Fresh.

How do I describe raw pizza? Hmmm… well the veggies included tomato, capsicum and florets of broccoli (trust me when I say that broc on a pizza can work!) on a crispy base. The base is made from nuts that are made into a “dough”, rolled thin and then dehydrated (dried without cooking) until crispy. The sauce was amazing- it tasted like sun-dried tomatoes and perhaps capsicum buzzed up in a Vitamix blender until super-fine and smooth. There was also a drizzle of cashew sauce- cashews, garlics and I’d have to guess perhaps some nutritional yeast- which serves as the “cheese”. This is not Dominos people, this is nutrient dense food that tastes great.

I also ordered a brownie to take away but they were all out so I had the chocolate and salted caramel tart. It’s a hard life. Even though it has coconut oil/butter in it, it lasted all the way home via the fruit and veg shop without turning into a gloopy mess. I don’t know what I liked more: the base or the toppings.

The verdict?

Can you marry a shop?

Pity Party, or a solo resistance to my bad habits.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”. ― Hippocrates. He knew how to roll.

So today I was going to review a cafe, but every time I began, I just couldn’t get into it. I couldn’t recreate the dishes in my head and why they gave me so much pleasure. So I stopped. Obviously, otherwise you’d be reading a cafe review.

Instead, I planned to go the gym while Mr. Ben and his sister swam. I mentioned the other day that I went for a huge walk that resulted in mondo blisters. And they’re not better. Not by a long shot. You know those pictures of zombie makeup people make with oatmeal and food dye? Yeah. Like that! I nearly screamed trying to put my shoes on and looked on jealously when the other two popped off to swim. Bastards.

I went and sat with my feet in the sun because according to my sister-in-law, drying them out helps. I can’t find anything online to support this, but “Heck! Why not?”. I started researching foods that help our skins heal to remind myself what I should be boosting in my diet.

A lot of articles these days focus on the beauty element, such as this one (which admittedly I found in Glamour magazine) but I’m happy to report that not all are focused on eating well simply for skin deep results. This article in particular had the approach that healing your skin can be about your whole body, not just your face.

In particular, zinc, vitamin C, E and K as well as taking serious steps to reduce stress were good elements for healing.

Normally if I was feeling bummed (I really hope this expression “means down and out”/ “mildly depressed” as it does in Australia and not something else!) I would eat poorly, not get off the couch and spend a huge amount of time on Pinterest. Then I thought: Meh. Meh to that.

And I decided to distract myself from potato chips with much better food.

My Challenge: To fix myself a snack that would be packed full of skin-benefiting nutrients.

Zinc: Nuts (almonds and walnuts) and homemade yoghurt in a smoothie.

Vitamin C: Pak choy and mixed frozen berries in my smoothie (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries).

Vitamin E: Almond and walnuts

Vitamin K: Pak choy.

Bonus smoothie ingredients: Frozen banana, maca powder, spirulina, protein powder, water.

Final product? Yo’ ugly, but delicious.

Bonus BONUS round: One leftover vegan maple quinoa hazelnut muffin made by a good friend on Saturday. Not the healthiest thing in the world, but a little quinoa never hurt anyone (except the Bolivians who eat it which I why I don’t buy quinoa or purchase meals with quinoa in them, despite this food being super awesome and arguments for and against eating quinoa being many).

This muffin is also a bit of an ugly blighter, but so delicious and as well as real maple syrup, quinoa and hazelnuts, bound together using chia seeds, the weirdest, coolest thing to hit health food shops in the last 10 years.

So I’m been slowly nomming on these all afternoon and apart from coming to the obvious conclusion that your feet are important (really really!), I realised that I didn’t have to fall onto poor eating habits and eat my birth weight in salty snacks just because my “get moving” plans for the holidays have been set back by zombie feet.

And I felt a bit better.

 

CHOCOLATE HIT!

Think chocolate can’t be good for you?

Wrong.

One of my post work out smoothies:

Banana (chuck it whole in the freezer before you go. The longer you work out, the more frozen it is)

1 tsp Honey

2 heaped tsps Raw Cacao

Protein powder (optional)

1 cup of milk (I used soy, but plan to make my own nut milk these holidays)

Local, organic honey tastes a million times better than supermarket stuff

Raw Cacao is not heat treated like cooking Cocoa. It is HEAPED full of more antioxidants than goji berries, green tea, and all the usual antioxidant superheroes. There is an element in cacao that inhibits calcium absorption, so consume in moderation.

 

This smoothie is a great post workout drink. Not everyone will want protein powder, but I’m recovering from some injuries so I add it. A more natural alternative would be spirulina, but it WILL turn your drink green (and can be an acquired taste).

 

Chuck it in the blender. Drink it.

So, so good.