On the 18th August, I teamed up with Kind Living Cafe in Maleny (about an 1.5 hours drive from Brisbane), Queensland to conduct a raw food class for their Thursday night students, and then some more.

The lady behind this wonderful concept cafe (I say concept as Kind Living Cafe is way more than a Living Foods Cafe – it is a franchise and if you follow their facebook page you’ll see they are even working on a retreat plus way more) is none other than the lovely Lucy.

Lucy contacted me to see if I would be willing to guest present a class for her Thursday night students on my recent holiday home in Australia as she knew I was a local girl.

I jumped at the chance, even though I was on holiday with family, I was itching to get myself up to Maleny anyway, to sample their menu.

So I took my family with me for lunch before the evening event.

Onto the class [Photos courtesy of Kind Living Cafe]

The thing that really struck me about Kind Living Cafe, and Lucy, was the loving energy resonating from not only the staff but also the customers and students. If you follow Kind Living Cafe on facebook, you’ll love the statuses Lucy often puts up about how grateful she is for the staff she is blessed with. And the food was pretty tasty too

I felt honoured to be in their company that night and look forward to my next venture to Maleny on my annual holiday home.

Kind Living Cafe

 Next post I’ll give you the lowdown on where we stayed!!!

If you are interested in hiring me for Raw Food Classes contact me here 

**All photos of this post taken on my iPhone as we left our big camera at home

Hi everyone! How are you all going?

Sorry I’ve been AWOL but you cannot imagine how much busier a holiday home to your family here in Australia becomes when you have a little person to introduce to everyone.

But rest assured, I’ve got loads of posts to update you on when we get back to Saudi next week (:() , but in the mean time, last night I headed to the only raw food night I know of in Brisbane at Cafe Checocho with this lovely lady.

Ames of Raw and Peace from Northey Street Organic Farm Markets, has been running raw food Monday nights out of Cafe Checocho in Brisbane’s West End for the past 10 months but decided to close the doors for the time being as of last night. So I was priveledged to be there for her first night and her last.

Citrus Slaw

Plate of dips and breads/crackers

Brocolli and Sesame Salad

Have I heard of a hairbrush?

We ordered a few plates of mains and desserts and shared them amongst the four of us.

Pistachio & Fig Pie – my fave

Strawberry Cream Pie

Ames is a really talented lady and will be offering Raw Food Classes in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide next month, starting with a class this Saturday 3rd September (click here for Tastes of Spring Brisbane)in Brisbane.

You can keep up to date with Ames stuff on her facebook page here. Oh and if you do, tell her I said hi. I’m a big fan

Yesterday we took at trip across the water to the island Country of Bahrain for some shopping sans abaya and to stock up on some new wardrobe items (I’m still not back to pre baby weight, but was deserving of some new duds).

Here’s the view we have on the drive to Bahrain (and no I am not driving – women are not permitted to drive in Saudi Arabia remember?)

We even had a beautiful lunch in a non raw nor vegan restaurant where I ordered the Asian Salad

2 of them infact! See you can order raw/healthy foods in normal restaurants and still enjoy the food! This had bean shoots, chinese cabbage, mixed leaves, shittake mushrooms and a sesame/soy dressing garnished with nori. Totally recreating this in my future.

I know I’ve promised you a juicing review post, but I know, my video needs a bit of work before going public bear with me and my technical skills!

I’ve still been around on facebook and twitter though so if you are not already liking me WHY NOT???, as I’m quite often posting food/recipes and ideas on there throughout the day

Funny that my Soul Sister Kristen kinda posted a similar post this week saying she’s been scaling back her work a little too (that is why she is my Soul Sister – we are always so in sync) and we HAVE been playing Words With Friends whilst we are oceans away from each other – it’s a great way to have fun whilst the days get a little longer with nursing. I’m not really that good though.

Another thing Kristen’s been doing is a really informative series every second Friday on raw food  weight loss. You can read about it all here. As part of her series, she mentions food journalling as a way to see how different foods make you feel, so as of tomorrow I am starting a food journal (which is what this blog was supposed to be in the beginning). I’m interested to be accountable and to see what foods make me feel great and what don’t! Plus get closer to fitting into those jeans

How that will work with the blog is I am going to post my food journals here on the blog  and share any new recipes that I use along the way, hopefully giving you inspiration on how to incorporate RAW into your world.

Also I am too, going to start a new blog series, every Monday: How To Go Raw – The Easy Way. It’s a question I get asked most (other than am I 100% Raw) by clients and friends and I love sharing with others how to get the ball rolling with a healthier way of life. It really isn’t as hard as you think! I promise!!! I’ll be including proven ways on how to still be social, how to eat raw with minimal equipment, and how to do it when your partner doesn’t even eat the same way! And I’d love you guys to get involved to and share your experiences in the comments too.

I even went to a friends house for dinner tonight and saw THIS!

So excited to see it somehow hitting the mainstream

Just not happy with the use of raw fish in one of the recipes – BIG THUMBS DOWN.

Anyway it’s time for me to hit the sack but not before I share a really yummy easy dessert with y’all.

Easy Raw Mango Softserve w Fresh Strawberries and Chocolate Cream

Frozen Mango

Sliced fresh strawberries

2 avocados

2/3 cup of agave nectar

1/2 cup of cacao powder

squeeze of lemon juice

pinch of Himalayan or Celtic Sea Salt

Blend 1 frozen mango in food processor, blender or champion juicer with the blank plate  to homogenise (awesome for making ice cream from frozen fruit!).

Blend remainder of ingredients together in high speed blender or food processor until smooth.

Place frozen mango soft serve in the bottom of dessert dish and layer with fresh strawberries then top with chocolate cream.

DIVE IN!

Last Chance to VOTE for me to be HOT RAW CHEF  please!!! Voting ends today! Please help my dream come true and I have one more ebook left to giveaway when it is complete in September – email me at events@girlonraw.com once you have voted. Don’t forget, my video is #19 VOTE HERE

Don’t forget to LIKE this post if you are on facebook too. Spread the love!

Monday night I was a proud and honored patron at Cafe Checocho in West End (Brisbane)for the debut of raw night Mondays by raw foods chef Ames of Raw and Peace.

I first met Ames when she had taken over the prime real estate of newly departed, Skye Craig of Wild Sugar Desserts at the Northey Street Organic Farm Markets (ok I LOVE that place).

She had me at her Raw Pizzas (and my non vegan, non raw dad! He loved them!)

On my following visits to the markets she has showered me with pizza and cheesecake love but NOW you can enjoy even more of her tasty raw creations.

Raw Food Dining has made it to Brisbane!!! Can you believe it?

I took my mum and she thought she was tagging along to another workshop or a talk so was really excited when she discovered I was actually taking her out to say thank you for her hard work as my trusty assistant at my Raw Basics Workshop on Sunday afternoon.

We started off with the Plate of Living Dips/Cheeses with Sprouted Seed Crackers to share

And I couldn’t go past the Bruschetta. I’ve been dying to come up with my own as the Kitesurfer dude who has my heart, loves the real thing.

Random sidenote: I get to see him hopefully this week

Then we agreed to get 2 different mains that we could both test out.

I just HAD to have the Kelp Noodles with Almond, Chilli, Lime & Ginger Sauce. I lived off kelp noodles when I was studying at 105degrees.

(Please healthfood stores in Australia and Sea Tangle , when are you going to stock kelp noodles so we don’t have to ship them in ourselves?????)

Kelp noodles for the uninitiated are actually clear noodles with NO flavour at all, that are made entirely of sea kelp. They take on the flavour of the sauce you pair with them and are fat free and gluten free (and very low in carbs for those that still worry about carbs….) AND you don’t cook them!!!

Mum had the Roast* Vegetable Stack which was capsicum, tomatoes, portobello mushie and cucumber with sprouted seed pesto. Sorry iPhone pics were quite dark as was a bit worried to take the big gun camera out in such an intimate cafe

We were pretty full and satisfied but who could go past this:

Chocolate Brownie with Vanilla Icecream. Off. The. Hook.

Mum and I thought it be a good idea to take something home for the father, so he was given the Sticky Date Chia Pudding with Cashew Cream and Agave.

But not before we took big chunks out – QUALITY ASSURANCE of course!!!

Ames messaged me to let me know afterwards that even through this was her first night, and she is only ‘appearing’ at the cafe one night per week (it is NOT usually a Raw Food Cafe):

“it was an epic night!…. turns out in the end it was their busiest night EVER – crazy busy right up til the end, and I didn’t get out til 1am! AND (this is the best bit!), loads of first timers, total newbies that just stumbled in, are totally converted now! Yay, raw food yay!!”

Those were her words and isn’t that exciting!!!

So Brisbane friends, whether you are already converted or simply raw curious or just want a different and healthy night out (I think they are even BYO woine!) you totally have to check this place out every Monday night from 5pm.

Get there early to get a seat as we arrived at 530pm and the place was almost packed then! When we were leaving at 730pm the line up was out the door and people were ordering food and eating it out on the pavement.

Cafe Checocho

69 Hardgrave Road

West End QLD 4101 - (07) 3846 1144

*Roast means dehydrated to give the illusion of being cooked.

This will be a brief post as I race out the door to pick up supplies for my Raw Basics Workshop I’m conducting on Sunday. Really looking forward to it!

But first of all check out the pics of the beginning of the storm that hammered us up here on the coast last night!

The sky almost looks green here, but this was before it turned completely black at 2.30pm and the rain did not stop all night! Flash flooding occurred almost within half an hour of the downpour and public transportwas halted and delayed.

Yep, life in the tropics. Beautiful all morning, stormy in the afternoon.

I always know when it’s going to storm here as Cassie, the weather dog starts snorting and panting and becomes really clingy even when the skies look completely blue and you wouldn’t even think there is a storm on the horizon.

So today the skies look gorgeous, but who knows what’s in store for tonight!

Today I started my day off with a Chia, apple and cinnamon porridge, recipe care of the lovely lady Ames of Raw & Peace at Northey Street Organic Farm Markets.

If you are in Brissie on Monday nights you have to check out her raw food menu at Cafe Checocho at West End. Details here.

1 apple, grated
1/4 C chia
1/4 C pepitas and sunflower seeds
1/2 – 1 T cinnamon
A knob of ginger, as much or as little as you like, grated finely
1 T hemp seeds (optional)
1 – 1 1/2 C water or your favourite nut milk

Halved this bowl with mother.

Then chased it with this:

Strawberry Seduction with extra add ins: 1 T hemp powder & 1 t spirulina powder. I would have put a handful of spinach in but had none left.

I’m outta here! Happy Friday What are your plans for this last weekend before Christmas?

Don’t forget about the Robins Kitchen giveaway for Australia based readers only. It closes this coming Friday so if you haven’t entered yet, here’s your chance!

First of all last night I rediscovered my love affair with almond butter.

On a red juicy apple that mum kept saying reminded her of the red apple Snow White bit into. So sweet, red and juicy.

This morning I woke up and made myself something I’ve not had in a while, but felt my body was in need of after eating out for most of my holiday (other than breakfasts and some lunches).

Liver Flush Drink

thanks to Spa Resorts, Koh Samui.

This drink is recommended to have in your pre cleanse prior to attending Spa Samui for your detox and it’s also great way to detox your liver at home, one of your most important organs in your body which can end up storing many of the toxins we ingest daily from pesticides to processed foods, drugs and alcohol. The liver can have have difficulty eliminating wastes from the body or digesting your food if it becomes overloaded. We can assist by giving it a slight break by: avoiding fatty and fried foods, red meats, all processed foods and sugars and having these liver flush drinks 1 to 2 times a day whenever you feel your body needs it. It’s even been said this drink could assist with helping to pass gallstones or help with gall bladder problems.

Occasionally I’ve felt a little nauseous following this drink, however I know those have been the times I have most likely been the most toxic and this is the flush doing it’s job in detoxing. If you really feel ill, you may feel the benefit of a colon cleanse or self administered enema, but I’ve never found this necessary.

I’ve heard this drink makes a GREAT hangover cure as well!

I actually quite like the taste, but BEWARE, it WILL keep the Ed Cullen’s at bay! If you get the mix correct you might even enjoy the taste. I LOVE IT!

Ingredients:

• extra virgin olive oil- 2 tablespoons or up to 1/3 cup (I used 1/3 cup)
• fresh lemon juice-about 1-2 thirds cup (I used 1/3 cup)
• garlic 3-5 cloves
• ginger 1-knob
• 2 cups orange juice
• cayenne pepper to taste

Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender and enjoy.

Mum loved it, but did NOT heed my advice to take her toothbrush to work with her following the drink. Oops, sorry mum’s workmates! She is actually hanging out for her next one tomorrow morning so it couldn’t have been that bad eh

Afterwards I headed to one of my favourite malls to run some errands and pick up one of these:

Apple, Carrot, Beetroot, Celery & Ginger.

Although I’m almost certain they don’t juice their apple juice fresh and use bottled , I think the rest of the juice is made fresh on the spot and Boost Juice make a healthier alternative to what else is around.

Then I received a call from this lovely lady:

So of course I had to take an errand break to have a late lunch as in a few weeks it won’t be so easy to catch up with my girls, when I head back to the Middle East

It was a no brainer, we had to hit up Wagamama

We shared some edamame with salt and their yummy sweet potato chips – so much for sticking to my non processed foods for the day following my Liver Flush. My quinoa salad at home would have to wait

I really wanted to grab one of their new salads, so I have no idea why I ended up ordering what I did:

Moyashi Soba. But it was delicious however I could only eat half, bringing the rest home to eat for r’on. (Later on)

I’ll be back later with holiday details for those of you possibly interested in a boating, island hopping, diving holiday in Thailand.

Congratulations Hannah, I just know you are going to love these straws, and I am sooo happy to finally have a winner I can send this off to! Thanks again Biome!

Yesterday, I went along to celebrate with a couple of my girl friends, an Australian Tradition , The Melbourne Cup.

I tweeted that I had my fascinator and I was ready to go celebrate and had a couple of international pals ask to help them out with an Aussie translation. They had no idea what a fascinator was.

So for those of you that don’t know, it’s this piece of millenery:

It’s long been a tradition for women to wear a hat or headpiece of some kind when going to the races or celebrating it off the racecourse.

As we are NOT in Melbourne, we elected to spend the day NOT at the local racecourse, but at another popular venue, where the party was really happening, Byblos Bar & Restaurant.

I thought it was ironic that here I was, celebrating an Australian tradition at a Mediteraanean Restaurant, that was serving me the kind of food I eat almost everyday in Saudi (hommus, arabic bread, fattouch salad etc), but it was the party place to be it seems. The last few years have sold out and this year was no exception.

The venue had hired some really awesome entertainers keeping in with the theme of Mad Hatters Tea Party, complete with the Mad Hatter and Alice themselves, along with some really cute mini cupcakes.

I loved that they got the party started and really set the atmosphere by pulling people up to the dancefloor and mingling through the crowd.

There was even a lawn set up with croquet.

My most memorable moment of the day?

Watching the race on the TV screens and having my bestie and London partner in crime and mother to my beautiful twinnie god-daughters look over at me and say

“Gosh it’s good to be back in Australia and be Australian”. At that exact moment I was thinking the same thing and we both had goosebumps. Awwww.

First off the owner was curious if vegans would be happy to share a restaurant with non vegans and their dishes, so I put it out there to the twitter world and facebook to see what everyone thought and here were some of the responses:

Facebook wasn’t so favourable with some people saying things like:

“This is a tricky one ~
However, not 1 single vegan cafe / restaurant here in the west, so I don’t really have much choice…”

“depends…. what are the non vegan items… if they are serving charred flesh … no. If the other options are VEG yes”

But also this:

“Yes. Actually, I do all the time since my family is not into the whole vegan thing.”

The result of my meeting today was I have to come up with a menu that has 3 starters, 6 mains and 3 desserts that would appeal to to Vegetarians, Vegans and Raw Foodies whilst using the majority of the stock they already have in store and the main ingredients of their current menu. I may have even encouraged a purchase of a dehydrator

Now I, for sure have my ideas on what I WOULD adore to see on the menu, but thought I’d put it out to you, my readers and healthy food and conscious connoisseurs to have your say on what you would love to see if you were to pop on in to your local restaurant, and even more exciting if YOU are based in Brisbane.  How cool would it be for your idea to appear on the menu, and then  you’d have no excuse not to pop out for a meal with your omnivore partner/friend/family member and be able to enjoy a similar experience without having to do a ‘Meg Ryan’ with the menu, from When Harry Met Sally (and I am not talking about THAT scene!)

So put your thinking caps on and let me know. I am working on it for the rest of the week, with my deadline this weekend. So have your say! Keep in mind, here, Downunder, we are moving into the warmer part of the year. So no soups and heavy wintery dishes.

• • I’ll be back later with the winner of the 4 Glass Dharma straws giveaway
  • Something to do: check out my friend Amber’s run down of her first day at 105degrees Academy here. Gosh I am going to love reliving my time there through her blog.
  • I know I promised some fun raw food recipes this week, but I may have to postpone due to my menu prep, but will see how I go

Seriously, until recently, the weather has been way too humid to even venture outside for any kind of activity, but of late, the heat has started to abate and I finally braved the golf course circuit on my compound for a serious walk.

I think Lucy was pretty happy!

I regularly used to jog the circuit most evenings with my own veggie dog in tow, but because it has been since March that I have done the circuit I thought I would take it a bit easier and just walk it. 430pm is a good time to start the walk as it’s just before sunset and the weather is at it’s coolest. Plus I like to get my exercise in before dinner.

Have you ever wondered what a golf course in the desert would look like?

Usually this walk/jog would normally take me around 45minutes, but this evening it took me almost 1 1/2 hours – and my HRM told me my heart rate was up as high as what it used to be running.

Man I am outta shape. But as @theveganlisa said on Twitter, “growing a beautiful baby takes some work”.  But I am concerned about keeping in shape throughout my pregnancy so I want to continue my walking and also get to the pool for some gentle swimming. I’ve heard by keeping it shape will not only assist with healthy and steady weight gain (and subsequent loss after delivery), but will also help with an easier labour.

Does anyone have any advice on safe and healthy exercise for preggy ladies?

After I stumbled home a little sore, and VERY hungry, we headed out to our favourite place for dinner in Khobar.

The Grill.

Our friends own the restaurant and were hosting us and another couple to congratulate us on our new marital status.

This is the table we arrived to….

But unfortunately no photos of the BANQUET we indulged in! Sorry guys, but I DO LOVE their Fattouch Salad.

Such a fun night and made us feel very spoilt indeed.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more fun eats…btw I am loving living off smoothies right now! Do you have a favourite smoothie recipe you’d like to share?

After catching up with my other favourite twinnies – NOT these ones – but one day (I didn’t get any good photos – but they are having their 1st birthdays next weekend, so expect plenty when I do my godmother duties), I met my dad for breakfast at Brio.

I am in love with this neighbourhood and look at that blue sky IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER. (And my dad wearing shorts!)

I had watermelon, pear and mint juice.

Porridge with soy and apple compote (I didn’t eat the yoghurt & honey) and I could only get through HALF of the porridge. Sooo yum.

Then I came home and started on some kale chippies.

I coated a bunch of kale with olive oil, chilli flakes, garlic powder, cumin & sea salt. I then put them in the dehydrator for 6 hours or so til they crisped up.

Meanwhile I made good to my promise of making my dad a strawberry milkshake:

Fresh strawberries, frozen bananas, home made almond milk, agave, cacao nibs, coconut oil, lemon juice and pinch of salt.

Then I went off to catch up with some pals from high school. It happened that 3 of us who live out of town were all here this weekend, so we organised an impromptu get together. It’s been 5 years since I’ve seen any of them! Was sooo good to catch up on everyones lives and made me realise that after so much time, we could all still meet up as if no time had passed.

This is not the entire gang, but all we could do last minute. Such fun.

Then it was time to come home, taste test the kale chippies

Then head to bed early ready for the FARMERS Markets. More on that tomorrow, I got some awesome finds and met some really cool peeps!