Raw Food + Delicious = Rawlicious!

Each time my mom and I go to see the Bizios  it tends to be after work and by the time she sees us both we are positively starving.  Since we’re in the city we try to take advantage, and Dr. Bizios always has a suggestion or two.

The last time we were down, we decided to take her up on her top suggestion.  Rawlicious.

This is a tiny little restaurant in the Yorkville area of Toronto.  The claims of its name are all true.  Everything is raw.  Everything is delicious.

Mom and I went in at about 7:30 on a Wednesday evening.  We thought we’d be able to easily get a table.

No dice.

Apparently the Bizios wasn’t kidding! Rawlicious is the place to be!

We had the good fortune of sitting in every area of this teeny tiny restaurant, starting at the wing-back chairs in the front window, to the bar, and finally to a table.

It’s a small menu but packed with intriguing choices – and all Challenge friendly for sure!

I kicked things off with a green juice

And we both enjoyed raw spring rolls – which were good, but the rap was a really weird texture.  If you’re a texture person (brother) these are not for you.  Perhaps go with the nachos that also looked delicious.  Sorry I forgot to take a picture.

For dinner?  Mom ventured out and got raw pasta.  Not traditional pasta of course.  Nope, in this case it was zucchini.  Raw spiraled zucchini.  With “Neat Balls” a combination of nuts and seeds and veggies and mystery, and deliciousness.

I took the advice of The Bizios and went with the Taco.  She’d been right so far – so why fight it?  With salsa and guacamole, some kind of secret sauce and a “neat bread” that you would swear is meat, all wrapped up in a delicious leaf of lettuce.

OMG that’s all I can say.  SOOO good!

We wrapped it all up with a Choco Minty smoothie to go. Very minty and once again very delicious.

All in all I gotta say we both absolutely loved the food at Rawlicious. The service left a little to be desired (it was quite busy), yet somehow it all seemed to be part of the experience – and it was very busy.

Since our first visit I took BFF Kate and the Sista there.  We all had tacos but instead of being wrapped in a lettuce leaf they were wrapped in some kind of dehydrated corn tortilla.  It may have looked sketchy but it did not disappoint – even Kate thought so!

New favourite spot to be enjoyed each time we go to see the Bizios.  Which is only once more for the summer… but she’ll be back.  And so will we.

Mmmm…. chocolate

Does this boy look like he’s enjoying something delicious?

He’s enjoying some raw vegan chocolate mousse.

3 simple ingredients into the food processor.  Blend.  Pop it into the freezer for a few minutes if you want.  Or for a few days (if it lasts that long).

It’s not the Boy’s first time with these little experiments.  He knows the right questions to ask.

“What’s in it?”

It’s not my first time either – I made sure he admitted to liking it before I told him

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup agave nectar

2 avocados.

Both boys response when I told them….

“It’s avocado?!”

*dramatic pause*

“That’s pretty cool.”

Cool indeed.  And delicious.

For other ways to use the recipe and more cool things to do with avocados check out Loves Veggies and Yoga.  And special thanks to A Handmade Story for the inspiration!

Another Merry Monkey Morning

My parents are away, and the boy and I have been staying at their house to look after the dog, Denver.  The boy claims that this decision was to make it easier for Denver (he won’t be as stressed out because he’s still at home) and had nothing to do with their large TV that has access to multiple sporting events in HD, or that it happens to be NHL playoffs right now… no it’s not that, it’s all for the dog.

I don’t mind though, I’ll miss my house when it’s gone – so it lets me soak up some time within the walls I know and love.  The other great part about being and Mom and Dad’s, they have ice cubes (a luxury that we have not purchased yet at our apartment).  Not only that, they have a blender that happily makes delicious smoothies.  And beyond THAT, my Mom recently got a new raw food cookbook Art of Raw Living Food complete with a tried and tested smoothie recipe.  The result is filling deliciousness.

Every morning this week I have made myself a Merry Monkey Smoothie, and every morning I am not even peckish until lunch.  Typically in the morning I enjoy almond butter or peanut butter and honey on toast.  It’s good, it’s fast, it’s healthy, but I’m usually looking for a snack around 10:30.  My new smoothie is beyond delicious, really takes no time at all to make, and I’m full until at least noon.  Brilliant.

Here’s the skinny on the smoothie:

1 banana

1/4 cup almond milk

2 tbsp almond butter

1 tbsp agave nectar (to be found at your local health food store)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup ice

Today I added a heaping teaspoon of ground flax seeds – you know to make sure things keep moving.

SMOOTHIFY, pour and enjoy.

I’m hoping my blender at home will be up to the task because I am really addicted to this deliciousness – so much so that last night I tracked down organic bananas at 9:45pm so I would be able to have one this morning.  It may have required 2 stores.

This does mean that I’ll have to break down and buy ice cube trays, and find room for them in the freezer, a daunting task, but worth it.

The next recipe in the book is an Avocado Whip Smoothie – which consists of an avocado, mango, pineapple, almond milk, and ice… plus whatever I’ve forgotten.  I’m intrigued but much like my love of the Starbucks Chai Tea Latte – what if I try something else and it’s not as good?  I’ll be so disappointed.  We’ll see.  I may have to take the leap and try something new or I’ll be at risk of too much of a good thing.

Picture from here