Ani Phyo has a new raw food recipe book coming out at the end of the month. I can’t wait!

Ani’s Raw Food Essentials will feature “simple, fresh recipes using what you’ve already got in your kitchen while also offering tips on dehyrating and more sophisticated techniques. Phyo offers everything from classic comfort foods like nachos and burgers to Reuben sandwiches and bacon, along with more gourmet dishes like risotto, angel hair pasta, and her ‘you-won’t-believe-they’re-raw’ desserts.”

Ew. This just proves that we should always take time to read ingredient labels. We should know what we’re eating!

The juice in the photo is the Depth Charge, from Daily Juice in Austin, TX.

I enjoy making my own juice. Sometimes (especially in summer, when the fruit is amazing) I make fruit juice, but more often than not I make green juices, with cucumbers, celery, kale, limes, grapes, apples, coconut water and more. I’ve been using my Breville juicer since 2007, and although it has served me well, I’ve been thinking about an upgrade. The Breville is a centrifugal juicer, which means it’s speedy and easy to clean, but you have to drink the juice fast to avoid nutrient loss, and the pulp is pretty wet, which means the juice isn’t being fully extracted. This means I can’t make juice in large batches to save for later, and as the juicer gets older, I’ve noticed that its extraction power seems to be deteriorating. For about a year, I’ve been eyeing the Green Star, which is the gold standard of juicers. It makes really good juice, but is bulky, slow and expensive, so I’ve never taken the plunge. It seems that now I don’t have to. According to awesome raw chef Kristen Suzanne (she really is one of my faves), there is a new juicer on the market that combines the quality of the Green Star with the ease and speed of the Breville. Luckily for me, Kristen compared all three juicers; the videos are posted below. I’m definitely going to start saving for the new Hurom juicer, which looks amazing.

For Kristen’s original post on juicers, click here.

I like making this shake – it’s vegetarian (not vegan, because of the honey), full of protein and superfoods, and tastes a lot like a chocolate shake. The amounts of the ingredients vary depending on how you like your shake (super chocolatey, lots of protein, runny vs. thick), so you might have to experiment to find your blend. But here are the ingredients (try to use as many organic ones as possible):

1-2 bananas, depending on size (use frozen bananas to make it extra cold and thick)
Goji berries
Chocolate rice protein powder
Raw cacao powder
Raw maca powder
Bee pollen
Raw honey (raw honey is generally solid, not liquid)
Cold-pressed coconut butter
Ice
Hemp milk

The bananas, honey and coconut butter add smoothness and sweetness.
The cacao, protein powder and maca make it nice and chocolatey.
The protein powder and hemp milk pack it with protein.
The goji berries, maca, bee pollen and cacao are all superfoods.

Put everything in a high-speed blender and give it a whirl (I guess you can use a regular blender on this, but you won’t get as smooth a consistency, because of the berries and the bee pollen). Serve cold – I like to sip mine with a straw. Enjoy!