Homemade popsicles! / Helados veganos hechos en casa!

Here’s one more easy, fast, healthy and refreshing recipe I want to share with you today.

My way of taking my plantbased and holistic vitamins in a fun and delicious…. Watermelon juice!

You’ve heard me talk about Living Silica many times before. It is the vegan and natural collagen supplement I’ve been taking on a daily basis for over 2 years now to boost my body’s natural collagen production and support my skin, hair and bone health. Sometimes I take it with a spoon but today I added it to my morning watermelon juice. You can also freeze it into popsicles! I did that too. ☺

Ingredients:

-Half of a watermelon (only pink part not reel)

-1 tablespoon Living Silica

-3 leaves of basil or mint

Add all in a blender and blend until smooth. You can also add some ice to it. That’s it! Enjoy it as a juice or freeze it in popsicle containers to preserve and enjoy in the future on those warm days!

PS: big discount for you guys! Use code “waterthruskin” to get 30% off Living Silica products until end of July 2020.

If you guys want to read previous articles I wrote about Living Silica with more information, click here.

To go to Living Silica’s blog to read about the research they’ve done on the positive health and beauty benefits of this plantbased collagen booster, click here.

*(Sponsored by Living Silica)

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(ESPAÑOL)

Aquí les dejo una receta fácil, rápida, saludable y refrescante.

Mi forma de tomar mis vitaminas holísticas a base de plantas de una manera divertida y deliciosa ... ¡Jugo de sandía!

Me han escuchado hablar sobre Living Silica muchas veces ya. Es el suplemento de colágeno vegano y natural que he estado tomando diariamente durante más de 2 años para aumentar la producción de colágeno natural en mi cuerpo y apoyar la salud de mi piel, cabello y huesos. A veces lo tomo con una cuchara, pero hoy lo agregué a mi jugo de sandía de la mañana. ¡También pueden congelarlo en paletas! Yo hice eso con lo que me sobro del jugo. ☺

Ingredientes:

-La mitad de una sandía (pelada)

-1 cuchara de Living Silica

-3 hojas de albahaca o menta

Agreguen todo en una licuadora y mezclen hasta que quede suave. También pueden agregarle algo de hielo. ¡Eso es todo! ¡Disfrútalo como jugo o congélalo en recipientes de helados para conservarlo y disfrutarlo en el futuro en estos días cálidos!

PD: ¡tengo un descuento para ustedes! Usen el código "waterthruskin" para obtener un 30% de descuento en los productos Living Silica hasta finales de julio de 2020.

Si quieren leer los artículos anteriores que escribí sobre Living Silica con más información, haga clic aquí.

O vayan al blog de Living Silica para leer sobre la investigación que han realizado sobre los beneficios positivos para la salud y la belleza de este refuerzo de colágeno a base de plantas, haga clic aquí.

National Bacon Day Vegan Recipe!

HAPPY #INTERNATIONALBACONDAY, WORLD! Today, I decided to try something new and share one of my favorite recipes (transformed into a vegan one) with you, and also give some tips to those souls that might not be ready to go vegan yet. It’s ok! We’ve all been there. Some people are born into vegan families and have never tried meat, others discover veganism by themselves. Like I did. I ate meat until my early twenties when I watched a few eye-opening documentaries that changed my life. I’m the only vegan in my family and, if there’s something I’ve learned in these 6 years of a plantbased diet, is that judging or criticizing others for not making this transition doesn’t create a positive outcome. We inspire and lead by example and by sharing the knowledge. Therefore, below, you will find a delicious vegan recipe for International Bacon Day, and also WholeFoods Animal Welfare practices that focus on improving the life of animals and our world, and providing animal products that have been raised in more ethical ways than those under the ordinary meat production industry. When you go shopping at WF, you will see these steps in a huge banner in the meat section. Something worth reading!

Vegan Stuffed Potatoes

Ingredients:

-Vegan Bacon (you can get it at WholeFoods) Yes, I know it’s processed and we all try to avoid processed foods but you will only be using one slice of it for flavor. All other ingredients are natural :) I bought two vegan bacon brands to choose from for taste. Yves Veggie Bacon was the winner!

-1/4 cup Shiitake mushrooms

-1/4 cup Kale

-3 tbsp Coconut Cream

-Sweet potato or regular potato (up to you)

-Coconut oil

-Low-sodium soy sauce

1) Wash your potatoes, dry them and make little holes in them with a fork. Cover them with a little coconut oil.

2) Set your oven at 425F. Once ready, add potatoes and bake for 30-45 minutes. Check on them to make sure they don’t burn.

3) In a saucepan at medium heat, add 1 tbsp coconut oil with half tbsp soy sauce. Once the pan is hot and coconut oil bubbles up, add the sliced mushrooms, kale and cubed vegan bacon. Stir for about 5 minutes.

4) Once your potatoes are ready, wait for them to cool a little. Make a cut in the middle and take some of the insides out with a spoon to make space for the toppings.

5) Add the sautéed kale, mushrooms and bacon to the potatoes.

6) Top it with coconut cream (For the coconut cream, open the can and only use the thick creamy part on top. Don’t use the water for this recipe)

7) Add cubed avocados.

8) If you want more flavor you can add chimichurri to it or vegan mayo.

 I hope you guys enjoy this super simple yet delicious recipe!

 For my carnivores, Whole Foods is having a National Bacon Day sale today! Their products follow a 5-step Animal Welfare process (no cages/crates/crowding, enriched environment, enhanced outdoor access, pastured centered, animal centered) which means their practices are more humane and ethical than the ordinary meat industry ones. Thus, this is your opportunity to choose wisely when shopping for meats……until the day you are ready to go vegan :) 

ToGo Smoothies! No cutting, chopping or pealing!

I want to share a little secret with all my On-the-go peeps! Now, morning shakes have become easier and faster with Daily Harvest's frozen cups full of mouthwatering ingredients ready to be placed in your blender and go! No chopping, peeling, or cutting. They are vegan, 98% organic, unrefined, paleo and full of superfoods and natural ingredients. In case you're wondering how this works,  Daily Harvest offers 12 different flavors you get to choose from and ships out your frozen cups right to your doorstep. Then, all you have to do is open your cup, add water or nut milk to it (all the way to the top), pour all ingredients in your blender, and blend at full speed. That's it! The cups are made from paper and come with a lid for you to take them everywhere. The lid even has a hole for your straw. PLEASE use paper or bamboo straws. We all know the devastating effects of plastic straws on our oceans, animals and mother nature.

The flavors I've tried so far and LOVED are:

-Cold Brew + Almond (photo below. Mine looks a little greener because I added a teaspoon of Moringa powder to it! :p) 

-Pineapple + Matcha

-Blueberry + Hemp

-Cacao + Avocado

-Apple + Greens

Another secret worth sharing? ....Use code "waterthruskin" and get 3 free smoothies from your first order!! Happy Tuesday!

Superfood Smoothie Bowl + Coco Cream Recipe!!

Happy Friday, babes!

I've been getting a lot of questions from you guys lately about my everyday breakfast options so I decided to show you what I prepare almost every morning. And I mean literally show you with this step by step video :) Plant-based, organic, fair-trade, easy to make and delicious smoothie bowl with coconut cream and superfoods on top. 

I felt really inspired after I received a call from my doctor yesterday with my annual lab results. Everything is balanced, healthy and normal!! Even my Thyroid hormones!! I’ve had Thyroid disease since I was 7 and had to take pills for over 20 years until a year ago when I decided to switch those toxic pills for natural remedies such as hemp oil! Even my doctor was surprised with my results. The secret? A healthy and delicious plant-based diet!! I first went vegetarian 5 years ago and then vegan over 2 years ago. Best decision I’ve ever made. For our planet and my health!

I hope you guys like this video!

For more recipes, click here. 

xx

Go Vegan for Earth Day?...Tips, Videos and More.

Earth Day is coming up and our planet is probably one of the main reasons why most of us go vegan. Some do it for the animals, others to reduce soil and water depletion, others to help stop climate change, and then there are others who also do it for health issues. Whatever the reason behind it, there’s honestly no excuse not to go vegan or at least try it for 21 days and see how it feels. (I recommend 21 because, as research says, that’s the number of days it takes for something to become a habit/routine).  For me, it was mother earth: Animals and nature. I’ve been a big fan of them since I was little. Saving cats, mice, lizards, frogs and whatever other lonely earthlings I found in my way. I also remember talking to trees when I was little, specially the Weeping Willow trees. I somehow felt protected by their size and the way their leafs hung all the way from top to bottom as if they were trying to cover whomever sat next to their trunk from the world. So of course, going vegan was a no-brainer the minute a friend of mine sent me the link to Paul McCartney’s PETA documentary revealing the cruelty behind the meat industry. I have to be honest though. Back then it was not as easy and simple as it today. , Today, the vegan industry has grown so big worldwide, we have hundreds of healthy alternatives to animal products compared to 5 years ago! Today, the US alone has 13million vegans and 25million vegetarians and growing! Can you believe that? Those numbers put a huge smile on my face. Seriously!

With that being said, I want to challenge you guys a little (or maybe a lot. Depends on how you see it! :p) Yes, I want you to go vegan! For Earth Day, April 22. If you don’t want to do the full 21 days, try it for 3 days or even 1 day! Every action counts and each person who switches to a vegan diet can save 1,100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 sq ft of forested land, 20 lbs CO2 equivalent per day, and dozens of animals’ lives. Incredible, right? How the power to help heal our world and solve every human-inflicted issue is in the palm of our hands? Think about it, babes!

For more info about how a vegan diet impacts our planet as a whole, please watch “Cowspiracy”. Another documentary that gave me a different perspective of life.  

PS: I leave you guys with this yummy 100% vegan, healthy and organic smoothie bowl recipe. Besides the regular ingredients I use on my morning smoothies, this time I also used Pure Potions superfood box. Inside of it came the prettiest glass jars and tiny bottles (Beauty, Longevity & Brilliance) with different superfood powders, dates, coconut oil and hemp seeds. Talk about happiness in a box! I put a little of each and Voilá! Vitamin, vegan protein, minerals, omegas, antioxidants and everything I need to become the best and purest version of myself all in one smoothie bowl serving. <3

Graduated as a Raw Vegan Chef!!

I owed you guys this post! …My last week at Matthew Kenney Culinary in Venice, California. It took me so long to write it because that week I was honestly focused on studying for the written final and on preparing a 3-course raw vegan menu for the second part of the final!! My mind was solely thinking about that menu but turns out I did great! I aced both finals but more importantly, I had the BEST time of my life! Besides learning how to make eye-seductive and delicious recipes that are kind to our planet and humanity, I also got to meet the most incredible and inspiring souls during those 4 weeks. So, if you’re planning on taking this course, be prepared to have a blast creating healthy food-art while laughing at every joke your classmates or the Chefs throw at you. And, to make my last week even more memorable, Nov 19th not only marked Finals day but also my 28th birthday!!! Yeap! It’s that time of the year again. J Right after we finished presenting our dishes to the Chefs and our loved ones (you get to take your friends and family with you), I got surprised with a delicious Chlorella cake topped with chocolate and ice cream. All vegan, organic and made at the MK’s restaurant! No words to describe how good it was. All I can say is, some of us almost licked the plate clean!!

OK, now back to MCK. These are the recipes we made and the menu I prepared for my final. Each of us needed to write a 3-course menu but only execute and present 2 of those dishes. I made a spinach-carrot cream with avocados topped with a truffle oil foam and smoked paprika for the appetizer, and raw vegan Arroz con Leche topped with white chocolate for dessert. Thoughts? <3

PS: I'm officially a Raw Vegan Chef! How about that for my 28th birthday?!!

PS2: Don’t forget you guys can still sign up for MKC’s classes in LA, Miami, Thailand, Maine or even online! They have one every month! Use code “waterthruskin” for a 15% discount. Email admissions@matthewkenneycuisine.com

Preparing for my final menu.

My final menu :)

Chefs grading our finals.

Raw Vegan Tiramisu

The Art of Raw Vegan Food

Hello from LA!!

As you guys might've already seen on my Instagram, I've relocated to LA to take my love towards animals and our earth to the next level by taking Matthew Kenney's Culinary 4-week raw vegan course. Week 1 is over and this has honestly been an eyeopening and wonderful experience already! Not only because I'm learning the powerful basics of a raw plant-based diet and the healing power of foods but also because throughout the past week I've discovered a side of me I didn't know existed. A creative side. After spending 5 years working in the Private Banking industry and 4 years studying International Business in college, I was taught to see (and was used to seeing) life in numbers. Everything was either black or white, even when it came to cooking. Until now! It's been only 7 days and I have learned to get out of my comfort zone and dare to play with ingredients and colors fearlessly. I've also discovered that plating is a big factor when it comes to serving food. Even if you're cooking and serving it for yourself. Believe it or not, besides food being our medicine (or slowest form of poison), the way we serve it can very much brighten up our day or sadden it. Since day 1 at MKC, we've learned to combine colorful raw ingredients like beets, carrots, cabbage, microgreens and beautiful flowers that have managed to open up my mind to a new blissful side of gastronomy. Not to mention the mouthwatering flavors of the recipes we've been preparing. I'm sharing a few pictures of the recipes I made during the past few days in the hopes that I get you a little excited about raw vegan food, but most of all, excited about getting out that comfort zone and trying new things. Specially, cooking consciously. For your health and the future of our planet. I'll also keep sharing more details of this course with you as the weeks go by but, in the meantime, you can find out more by visiting www.matthewkenneycuisine.com. 

PS: I've never EVER taken a cooking class and somehow managed to create the dishes below, so there's really no such excuse as "I could never do that". I'm literally starting from 0 here too and possibilities are endless. You just have to believe, let go and have fun! :)

*In case you guys don't know, raw cuisine is just like veganism- in the sense that no animal products of any kind are consumed- but goes a step further by not cooking anything above 118F to preserve the enzymes and nutrients of each ingredient. Like the name says it, everything is "Raw", unprocessed and made from scratch. 

How we start every morning. Knife skills. Best part of it is that we juice every ingredient and enjoy fresh and organic veggie & fruit juices every day! :)

Raw vegan Zucchini Lasagna with Macadamia Ricotta, Red Pepper-Sundried Tomato Marinara, and Pistachio Pesto. 

Veggie Hand Rolls with Spicy Mango Chutney. 

Red Beet Ravioli with Cashew Cheese, Pistachios & Bell Pepper Puree. 

Kale Cesar Salad with Sunflower Dressing & Shiitake Anchovies.

Sushi roll with Jicama Rice, Shiitake Mushrooms & Chipotle Mayo.