One Dish Raw Food Meals for Summer: Pineapple Chipotle Salad
- by Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo
If your summer is keeping you busy and you want to include more raw food meals without spending hours in the kitchen, then all you need to do is find a few one dish meal recipes that deliver exciting and satisfying tastes. I made this salad the other night after a busy day of work and rushing kids around to appointments. It was quick, easy to prepare, and very delicious and satisfying.
The unusual combination of pineapple and sesame for the dressing is a delight to the taste buds.
Not only is this one dish meal for summer refreshing, light, and tangy, it’s a nutritional winner as it’s high in calcium and vitamin C!
Pineapple Chipotle Salad
Ingredients:
- 4 cups mixed greens
- 1 tomato, finely diced
- 1 cup finely diced red bell pepper
- 1 cup pineapple, cut into tiny cubes
- 1 cup pineapple plus core (for dressing)
- ¼ cup sesame tahini
- 1 teaspoon chipotle powder
- Water to desired consistency
Directions:
Place all vegetables in a bowl. Put pineapple core and 1 cup pineapple in blender with tahini, chipotle, and salt. Blend and pour over salad.
It’s so much fun to put together the ingredients on hand and create a masterpiece.
We did something similar in the One Dish Meals Class on Sunday. I challenged Karen to go through my refrigerator, choose some ingredients and make a recipe on the fly in front of the entire class. The pressure was on!!!
She made an amazing Arugula Salad containing fresh mango slices, heirloom tomatoes, sunflower sprouts and a few other ingredients. The videos from this raw food class will be up in a few days so you can watch Karen create on the fly and learn to make an array of taste tantalizing one dish meals. I loved the Curried Cauliflower, Caribbean Mung Beans and Sweet and Sour Broccoli. You can enjoy these delicious recipes and more here!
Looking for even more recipes?
- Delicious
- nutritious
- quick and easy
- sugar-free
- dairy-free
- gluten-free
- trans-fat free
Discover Deliciously Quick Lunch and Dinner Ideas! Find out more!
Tags: one dish meals, raw food classes, raw food recipes, salad recipes, salads
Posted in Gluten Free Diet, Gluten Free recipes, Holistic Nutrition, Living Foods, Raw and Living Foods, Raw Food Recipes, Raw Foods, Raw Foods classes, Raw Foods Diet, Vegan Diet
Healthy Meals in a Hurry: A 3-Step Guide for Busy People
- by Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo
“What can I eat that supports my health, tastes great, and is quick and easy to get on the table?”
I get asked this question all the time. People wonder how I manage to eat so healthfully when I am so busy. This is an actual comment, taken from a recent consultation form:
“One of my challenges is making food for myself – I would love to have someone else do it. I don’t want to be taking time at lunchtime to do that – so I tend to nibble and then get hungry in the afternoon – then work too late, so I’m really hungry at dinner time – and need to eat right away.”
I have hundreds more just like it!
My friend and colleague, Chef Karen Osborne, is one of the busiest people I know, besides me of course. As a home schooling Mom, choir member, volunteer at church, personal chef, instructor and Fresh ‘n Fun co-op manager she’s constantly juggling this activity and that. Yet she always manages to eat high green, delicious, nutrient-dense meals.
How does she do it?
She’ll be sharing her secrets in our One Dish Meals raw food class, but I thought I would give you a few hints and tips today to help you put healthy meals on the table in less than the time it takes to order pizza.
Step 1: Stock Your Brain with Purpose
Consistently choosing healthy foods to consume, despite time pressures requires a mindset shift. It starts by focusing on what’s most important to you–making the connection between what you value most and healthy meal choices. Then, you must simply act from that place of knowing what you value most.
It sounds simple, and it is. Implementation takes dedication and truly connecting to your core values. One thing Karen and I have in common is a framework of reference that we get what we most want in life when we feel strong and energetic. We feel strong and energetic when we eat lots of green foods and avoid the energy zappers like gluten, dairy, sugar and processed foods.
If we’re rushed or out and the food choices don’t support our ultimate goal, we hold true to our values and don’t eat the foods that will tire or weaken us.
Step 2: Stock Your Kitchen with Essentials
The next step is more practical. Make sure to keep your house stocked with lots of whole foods. With a little forethought and careful shopping, you can have foods around that you can prepare in a hurry.
Here’s a list of recommended food items to always have around:
- Tomatoes
- Avocados
- Sprouts
- Lemons
- A variety of dried herbs and spices
- Seeds, like sunflower, pumpkin, chia or hemp
- Raw nuts
- Greens
- Sea vegetables
- Powdered sea veggies, like kelp.
- A variety of vegetables like cucumber, celery, carrots, and peppers
Step 3: Stock Your Meals with Creativity
I was in a hurry to get something to eat for dinner tonight, so here’s an example of throwing a healthy meal together in only 5 steps:
- I went down to the kitchen and found an avocado, a tomato and a jar of sauerkraut.
- I sliced the tomato in rounds and placed them on a plate.
- I sliced the avocado and placed the slices on top of the tomato (sometimes instead of avocado, I spoon nut or seed cheese on top).
- I put a dollop of sauerkraut on each tomato slice.
- I sprinkled the works with Italian seasoning and kelp powder
I had a delicious meal in less than 5 minutes!
In our One Dish Meals class we’ll be sharing how to whip up a one dish meal using whatever you have around. Again, the key to quick and easy meals is having an open mind, having the ingredients on hand, and tuning in to your creativity. Think outside the box. Learn from people who have been there, done that.
Use your imagination.
Join us for Delicious One Dish Raw Food Meals! It’s guaranteed to be a winner!
Tags: energy, healthy meals, raw food, raw food classes, raw food recipes
Posted in Events, Gluten Free recipes, Living Foods, Raw and Living Foods, Raw Foods, Raw Foods classes, Vegan Diet
14 Ways to Supercharge Your Health With Whole Foods
There’s a hot off the press brand new f’ree e-book called “14 Ways to Supercharge Your Health With Whole Foods” and
it explains WHY some so-called “health foods” are aging you, and which foods are the real nutrient powerhouses.
I got a sneak preview of the book this weekend, during a seminar I attended with the author, Trevor Justice and I have been chomping at the bit to tell you about it. It’s available today (yeah!)and I can’t wait for you to get your hands on it.
Get Your Healthy Eating Quiz HERE
What I love about the book is that Trevor takes a variety of categories of foods, like bread, pasta, sweeteners, crackers, chips, ice cream substitutes, salad dressings, cheese substitutes and more, compares different foods in each category and ranks them as most processed, less processed and optimal. There are lots of nutrition charts comparing the best and worst in each category on a nutrient level. Plus, each section has at least one recipe for the optimal selection in that category. It’s an awesome resource and it’s absolutely f’ree.
There’s even a quiz so you can assess your own Healthy Eating Score. So many processed foods are marketed as “health foods”, misleading people who desire to eat well.
Don’t be fooled. Take the quiz, get your score then use your complimentary copy of this awesome new ebook: “14 Ways to Supercharge Your Health With Whole Foods” to make your healthiest possible choices. (The recipes are by some of the most popular raw foods and vegan chefs and authors!)
Go here now to take the quiz and get your f^ree e-book!
Love, Health and Joy,
Dr. Ritamarie
P.S. There’s one small area of the book that I disagree on the optimal food in the category. In fact, what i think is
optimal is not even listed there. Can you guess?
Go here now to take the quiz and get your f^ree e-book!
Comment below when you figure it out.
Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo
9508 Bell Mountain Drive
Austin, Texas 78730
(877) 727-5992
To help us get back to you quickly, please address all comments and support questions to http://drritamarie.com/helpdesk
Ritamarie Loscalzo, MS, DC, CCN, DACBN
Tags: "Trevor Justice, healthy, raw foods recipes, vegetarian, whole foods
Posted in Raw Food Recipes, Vegan Diet, Vibrant Health
Mother’s Day Memories and Wishes
My Mom Mary at age 43
It’s been 20 years since I sent my Mom a card on Mother’s Day. Of course, I still express my appreciation to her for all she did. I just wish she was still around in physical form so I could give her a big hug and tell her how much I love her.
If your Mom is still alive, let her know how much you love her and appreciate her. Give her a hug if you can. Enjoy her while she’s here. Don’t leave things unspoken, as you never know if this conversation will be the last.
The last time my Mom and I spoke was on Easter 1991. It was late and we ended the conversation so we could go to sleep. My Mom was sharing some childhood experiences and ended with, “There’s so much more to tell you, stories you’ve never heard. We’ll get all caught up in June when you come to visit.” I had been planning a 2 week stay after my graduation from chiropractic school. I never got to hear those stories. She died just a few days later.
I know in my heart that my Mom’s premature death was preventable. She was only 56! Sometimes I blame myself, for not finding the right words to convince her to quit smoking and adopt a plant strong diet with lots of raw foods. I told her many times, and often I wasn’t as patient or kind about it as I could have been. I just so wanted for her to change. I gave her books to read…the ones written by MDs because they were “real doctors” in her eyes…to no avail.
I copied articles from medical journals. I even gave her a bottle of Vitamin C to go with the article that said that each cigarette depleted 100 mg of Vitamin C and asked her to at least take Vitamin C with her cigarettes. My message fell on deaf ears. When I found the unopened bottle of vitamins on her night stand and asked her why she wasn’t taking them, she told me she was scared that maybe they would have some kind of side effects. Yet she smoked cigarettes, knowing the effects!
I graduated and started my practice just a couple of months after my Mom’s death, committed to saving other people’s Moms from my Mom’s fate. I’ve dedicated my life to educating as many people as I possibly can about the dangers of processed food, smoking and other common unhealthy habits.
The war on cancer is far from being won. Heart disease and diabetes take a huge toll.
At my son Kevin’s baseball game the other day, I watched as small children bought candy and chips from the concession stand, not knowing what danger lurked inside the pretty wrappers. Parents give this stuff to their kids, thinking it’s safe. It’s sad to watch these young ones creating the perfect environment for disease. And the food they eat at home is not much better. Most kids eat fewer vegetables in a month than I do in a day.
I miss my Mom, and in doing so, I strengthen my commitment to make a difference. Education is foundational.
Changes are happening. While we still have a long way to go, as a society, we have so much more awareness today of the diet–disease connection than we did when I first started on this path 26 years ago. One step, one bite at a time, we can change the health of the world. It starts with your commitment and dedication to yourself and your family and spreads from there.
If you’re a Mom, I wish you a joyful, healthy day. Avoid the temptation to eat chocolate and unhealthy “treats” in celebration. I’ve already put in my request for breakfast in bed! On the menu is a green smoothie, fresh coconut water and a tropical fruit platter with fresh coconut, mango, pineapple and papaya.
Also on the agenda for the day are a run and a swim, and some relaxing time by the pool with a good book. My favorite way to celebrate special days is with extra special self care.
Treat the Mom’s in your life to some good food, relaxation and lots of appreciation.
If my Mom was here to celebrate I’d treat her to one of the recipes in my book “Dessert: Making it Rich Without Oil.” I might try to somehow gift it to her anonymously, so she wouldn’t realize it was good for her until after she enjoyed it. Then I would let her know.
With love and appreciation to all the Moms. May you seek health and in doing so, find the joy and fulfillment that vibrant health brings forth.
Love, Health and Happy Mother’s Day!
Dr. Ritamarie
P.S. Post a comment and let me know 2 things: Do you see the resemblance between my Mom and I? What are you doing to honor your Mom for Mother’s Day?
Tags: Cancer, Diabetes, diet, heart disease, Mother's Day, plant based diet, raw food breakfast, raw food dessert, Vibrant Health
Posted in Articles, Raw and Living Foods, Vegan Diet, Vibrant Health
Raw Foods Recipes: Quick and Easy Healthy Meals for BUSY People on the Run
3 Simple strategies for preparing healthy Meals EVEN when you’re SUPER BUSY
Last week I shared about how to fit exercise into your life…even if you’re super busy. I wrote an article about burst training and posted a video on You tube.
This week I’d like to share how to eat really well, even if you’re super busy. SO many people tell me they were doing well with eating whole fresh foods and felt really good when they were doing it, but then got busy and fell back into old habits.
There is NO NEED for this to happen once you learn HOW to make super delicious, nutrient dense foods even when you’re in a hurry.
Last week was super busy for me. I had several technology challenges, a couple of program deadlines, articles to write, guest appearances on telesummits, radio shows AND kids home on spring break. Add that to a new puppy that’s not quite house broken, a weeklong trip to prepare for, private clients and patients to talk to on the phone AND see in person and……
If you felt tired just reading my list…welcome to my life.
In spite of it all I managed to exercise every day…a couple of days less than 5 minutes combined burst sessions as I showed on last week’s posts…and to eat really WELL.
How did I do it?
I have developed tricks and techniques over the 26 years I have been following this “Fresh Green Living and Eating” life style. It didn’t happen overnight. I had my struggles in the beginning and would often fall back into the “grab a taco and run” mode. I usually felt the drop in my energy whenever I grabbed for a starchy meal on the run, even if it was organic and made with whole grain flour and natural sweeteners.
Today I’m going to share a little bit about my strategies …as much as I can in a short post, a few of the recipes I made this week…ones that took UNDER 5 MINUTES to fix, and then let you know how you can learn my strategies and recipes in DETAIL .
My Top 3 Strategies for Eating Well, Even When You’re SUPER BUSY!
1- Have Ingredients on hand.
This may seem overly simplistic, yet it needs to be stated. If you always have a variety of healthy choices on-hand, it’s easy to whip up a quick, healthy Gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar and trans-fat free meal in a matter of minutes.
Sometimes people object saying they don’t have time to go to the store several times a week to keep fresh ingredients on hand. Others argue that when they do stock up on fresh veggies, oft-times they spoil before they are eaten.
These are simply, I hate to be so blunt, excuses. Many of the green leafy veggies are hearty enough to keep around for over a week before they spoil. I’ve had kale that’s been forgotten in the back of the refrigerator for up to 10 days before I found it resurface and make a perfectly great smoothie, soup or salad.
Even if you can only shop once a week, you can keep a supply of fresh foods on hand to make most of the recipes I’ll share. Just be sure to have your staples on hand. I have a FREE gluten-free pantry stocking guide available on my website.
2- Make things in advance as much as possible.
With as little as 15 minutes a week, on a weekend or day off from work, you can pre-make a few dips, sauces and spreads that make creating healthy “fast food” a snap. We teach all about that in our class Quick and Easy Healthy “Fast Food”. For those times when you run-out of fresh veggies, once you learn the art of making delicious bread, chips and crackers in your food dehydrator, you can make a month’s supply with less than a half hour a month time investment. We have some free resources about dehydrated comfort foods on the web as well
3- Be adventurous. Think veggie and green at each meal. Think filling.
It can be as simple as a handful of carrot sticks, celery or a red bell pepper eaten out of hand with or without a dip. What’s a good wrapper in the veggie world and what can I fill it with. The “filling” is just that. The veggies alone are not calorically dense enough to “fill you” so you need a filling. I usually turn to avocado, nuts or seeds as the filling and have all sorts of recipes for combining them with herbs and vegetables to make delicious and nutrient dense fillings.
My Meal in a Hurry Recipes
Cheesy Italian Tomato Slices
Ingredients
Several tomatoes (depends on how hungry you are and how many you’re feeding)
- 1 recipe creamy nut cheese
- Dried basil
- Garlic powder
- Kelp powder (optional, adds to the mineral content)
- Sea salt, unrefined
Directions:
- Slice tomatoes about ¼ inch thick and place on a plate
- Spoon enough nut cheese on top to cover
- Sprinkle with basil, garlic powder, kelp and salt.
- Enjoy….heavenly!
*****************************************************************
Creamy Nut Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw nuts**, your choice. My preference is ½ macadamia nuts and ½ cashews.
- ½ cup pure water
- Juice of ½ – 1 lemon, depending on size and to taste
- ½ teaspoon sea salt, unrefined
Directions
Blend all ingredients until creamy and smooth, adjusting water, lemon and salt to taste and desired consistency
**Seeds can be substituted for all or some of the nuts. The macadamia and cashews are white and make the cheese look like ricotta cheese. Pine nuts can be substituted, except they are VERY expensive. Hemp seeds are a good choice. Almonds and Brazil nuts are tasty, and make the cheese more brownish gray than while.
*************************************************************************
Green Avocado Wraps
Ingredients
- 1-2 large green leaves per person – romaine and collards seem to work best
- A small handful of spring mix or shredded cabbage, lettuce or other greens per person
- A small handful of sprouts per person
- A few spoonfuls sauerkraut per person (optional, adds to the flavor and nutrition)
- ½ avocado per person
- 1 tablespoon seeds per person – hemp, pumpkin, sunflower or ground sesame (optional, for texture)
Directions
- Lay leaf on cutting board. Top with greens, sprouts, sauerkraut if using
- Slice avocado and lay on top of the greens
- Sprinkle with seeds
- Roll up leaf to cover the filling and eat with your hands like a sandwich.
**************************************************************************
Wilted Arugula Salad
Arugula is one of nature’s best sources of nitric oxide, a potent circulation enhancer…nature’s Viagra and blood pressure lowering green. Here’s a tasty way to enjoy it. This can be a no cleanup meal if you get the arugula in one of those big plastic containers.
Ingredients
- 1 container pre-washed arugula
- ½ teaspoon sale
- 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
- Your choice of seasonings
- Creamy nut cheese (optional)
Directions
- Rinse arugula if desired
- Sprinkle with salt
- Massage well with hands to wilt it.
- Add lemon
- Continue to massage until the arugula has shrunk to half or less of its original volume
- Add seasonings to taste. I love curry powder, Italian seasoning and Mexican seasoning (not all together…choose 1 and try them all eventually!!)
- Add nut cheese and massage in or stir well for a creamy and more filling salad.
There you have it. These are actual meals I eat on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes I use spinach instead of or in addition to the arugula
My YouTube video Dr. Ritamarie’s Raw Food Recipe for “Sautéed” Spinach…Fast Food without Cleanup demonstrates the massage technique in action using spinach.
Our video class Quick and Easy healthy “Fast Food” shows all these techniques in detail and includes a recipe booklet with recipes, photos and guidelines for preparing and creating your own recipes.
I look forward to hearing your feedback.
Please comment below and share your favorite healthy “fast food” recipe.
Love, Health and Joy,
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: bone strengthening foods, cancer and diet, DrRitamarie, Gluten Free Diet, Gluten Free recipes, healthy fast food, loscalzo, meals for busy people, nut cheese recipe, nutrient dense foods, osteoporosis diet, quick meals, raw food Austin, raw food classes, raw foods recipes, vegan diet
Posted in Cancer Nutrition, Gluten Free Diet, Gluten Free recipes, Raw and Living Foods, Raw Food Recipes, Raw Foods, Raw Foods classes, Vegan Diet
