Happy Monday, Bloggie Friends!  Hopefully your day has been going along nicely and that you’re at least savoring some great memories from the weekend.  What did you do over the weekend?  Anything cool?  As I mentioned yesterday, my out of town guests left and it’s been back to business as usual ’round here.  I really value my downtime, a little quiet time, and some space, and as a mom I get very little of that anyway, and then with out of towners here, I got precisely none.  So, I especially enjoyed a hot power yoga class today.  It was really re-balancing and centering for me and oh-so-needed!  Not to mention, it’s been rainy, cold, dreary, and just disgusting weather here, and so a nice hot yoga room was just what the Namaste Doctor ordered! 

I am really glad you liked yesterday’s Vegan Coconut Banana Cookie Bite Recipe!

As I mentioned in The Vegan Coconut Banana Cookie Bite Recipe, you Don’t Need a Dehydrator For These, just an oven, so I hope you give them a try!
They are Gluten & Soy Free, and you can make them with no added sugar or additional sweeteners if you choose!

They are soft in the middle and just slightly crunchy on the outside.  Sweet and coconutty, but not overpowering.

Also thanks for your amazing Comments on the Tiger Woods fiasco on everything from if you’ve Been Cheated On to What You Did to How You Found Out and If You’d Stay or Go and how Children add another twist to these already really messy situations.  It was great hearing everyone’s perspectives and stories!  Definitely an eyeful in my inbox and I loved all the perspectives, and thanks for chiming in, bloggies!

Moving along to Today….
I won some Coach’s Oats in my friend Marla’s Give Away!

Thanks Marla, you’re a hottie doll!

I love Oats and have an Entire Post devoted to nothing but Recipes Using Oats so I can always use more oats!  For My Recipes Like…
Raw Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

To Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls (yes there are oats in them)

I love the chunks of (vegan) chocolate chips in the high Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

Thanks Marla & Coach’s Oats! Oats will never go to waste in this house with all my Oats Recipes!

Today I want to give you my Raw Vegan 4-Ingredient, 5-Minute Chocolate Mousse Recipe!  I’ve made it before if you Click Here but I tweaked it up just a little and holy moly, Scott told me it should be illegal it’s so good!  I also impressed my out of town guests who had No Idea What one of the Key Ingredients is….

…Avocados are a Key Ingredient and I promise you “cannot taste them”!

Averie’s Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse-4 Ingredients and 5 Minutes!
4 Avocados
2/3 c cocoa powder (use raw cocoa if this is important to you, or use carob)
1 and 1/3 cups Agave
1.5 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Yields: About 4 cups of Mousse.  (It’s a sizable amount but feel free to cut this recipe in half if you are cooking for 1 or 2 people or don’t want a big batch.  For a smaller Batch you can also try this recipe here for my Raw Vegan 3-Ingredient, 5-Minute Chocolate Mousse Recipe)
Optional Ingredients and Add-In’s:  2 Tbsp Coconut Oil, Cocoa Butter, Orange or Lemon Zest, Cinnamon, Honey, Maple, or Yacon Syrup instead of Agave, Splash of nutmilk like almond or coconut milk, 

Optional Twist: If you really want to go all out with the high raw vegan theme, you can layer it with my Vegan “Cool Whip”, also known as my Cashew Cream Recipe, which is pretty much the same as my Raw Vegan Cheesecake Filling without the lemon juice! 

Directions for Today’s Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse
Combine All Ingredients in Vita or Food Processor, Bullet, etc.

Blend Until Smooth.  It’s thick, fudgy, and rich!

Put into a Container and Either Refrigerate…

You can also Freeze This and it sets up into a lovely cold treat!

This will keep in your fridge for a few days and for much longer in your freezer.  But honestly, it’s super amazing you won’t have any Leftover “Problems” on your hands! 

I served this to my very non-raw, very non-vegan, don’t-even-like-avocados-out of town guests, and they were shocked, amazed, and floored about how amazing it is!  They had no idea there were even avocados in it!

I also brought it to a 4th of July Party last year and arrived about 7pm.  Men, women, children, and toddlers were all raving about it!  The bowl was cleaned out long before the firecrackers went off at 9pm! 

I know Gena, Evan, Robyn, Bitt, Heather, Voracious Vegan Natasha, and tons more of you all have your own versions of this…whether you call it chocolate “ice cream”, pudding, mole, I say “ole baby! This is Good stuff!!!!“

Raw Green Food involved Brussels (they were the only thing steamed; 1 minute in 1 inch of water in the micro), cukes, carrots, tomatoes, mixed greens, and sugar snap peas

With a Fresh Batch of Homemade Vegan Slaw Dressing

The recipe for today’s batch is Right Here.
Veganaise, ACV, Sugar (or stevia).  Whisk.  Easy! 

Dessert was Vegan Homemade Coconut Oil Chocolate…
Which I am convinced has made my skin nicer and softer.  Must be all that coconut oil doing wonders for my mush!  I know Heather mentioned that amping up her fat intake makes her hands and skin look nicer too!  Laugh about eating more chocolate for softer skin… haha…but I kid you not!  I can hear it now: Prevent wrinkles and get softer, nicer skin by eating more chocolate, made with Coconut Oil of course!

And There was a Return of the Midnight Popcorn Munchies!   
Click Here for my Super Easy & Healthy Cooking Method

This Popcorn was doused in nooch (nutritional yeast) and 1 packet of Stevia.  It had that Sweet-n-Salty thing going on, sans and actual sugar or salt, but with a nice cheezy noochy flavor! 

And some unpictured Chocolate Chips also sprinkled on!

Yoga Today is Eka Pada Urdhva Dhanurasana (One-Legged Upward Facing Bow or Wheel Pose)
Eka=One, Pada=Foot, Urdhva=Upward, Dhanur=Bow or Wheel, Asana=Pose.
There’s your Sanskit translation of the day. 

Skylar was all excited that we were going to do yoga together!

Tip of the Day: My Tropical Traditions Coconut Peanut Butter Give Away!
**GET IN ON IT NOW!!!  LAST CALL: WINNER TO BE CHOSEN TOMORROW!

The Give Away goes until Tuesday, February 23, 2010 and if you Need to Enter, Click Here to Win some Coconut Peanut Butter!  Seriously the combo of PB and Coconut.  Hello, I’m in Love!

Questions

Because of the Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse that I made with cocoa power (chocolate), I thought I’d ask if you like Carob or Chocolate better? 
When I was in high school, getting fro-yo with carob chips was the highlight of my breaktime because I had a job at the local mall and I loved carob chips on my fro-yo!  Recently, I have tried Sunspire and Enjoy Life, and neither of those brands of carob chips is the holy grail for me.  I prefer chocolate chips, but I want to love Carob for the health benefits!  I’ve heard Chatfield’s is worth a shot to try.
Do you like Chocolate or Carob and what are your fave brands, either chips, powder, for eating, for baking, give me the scoop!

Do you notice a change in your skin, or your mood, mental state, or other physical signs when you eat certain foods?  
I have noticed that since I’ve been upping my coconut oil, my skin really is nicer!  It’s softer and smoother and less random blemishes popping up.  Conversely, if I were to eat fried foods, or refined/processed foods, I would pay the price and my skin would start to look blah and I would have breakouts.  I would be detoxing the toxins and crappy food remnants right out of my pores!  

I’ve heard both sides to this argument: that greasy foods like french fries or crappy processed candy bars don’t give you zits, but I tend to disagree.  Those foods may not give you zits per se, but I believe eating foods that cause our bodies to have to work very hard to digest and process them does leave a trail.  Meaning, your skin may suffer from breakouts, your digestion may get a little funky, you may get headaches or moody.  I believe that’s your body’s way of saying no more toxins please, “this is too much for me to handle”.  I think that our bodies will give us physical signs and symptoms to clue us in to get back on track with our dietary choices, get rid of the crap, cut out the processed foods and junk, and get back to eating more healthfully, which for me is a high raw vegan diet.  But I am far from perfect, hello, I love my un-baked goodies (usually naturally sweetened with dates or with agave) and don’t subsist solely on broccoli for sure!

What do you think about this?  How much do you feel physically, mentally, or emotionally effected by the foods you eat?

Stay Tuned For The Give Away Winner Announcement & Roasted Veggies and Mailbox Finds…