rose water & mango

One thing I'm really loving lately is rose water.  My son and I discovered rose water in our smoothies a while back at Buddha-Full in North Vancouver, and C especially liked it.  We had some rose water in the house but he quickly drank it up.  I was inspired to get some again recently with all the talk of flowers, spring and mothers day and I've been mixing it into various concoctions.  My favourites are whipped topping with rose water and berries and the smoothie above, a Vegan Rose Water Lassi.  This one is sooo delicious!  I just had to share, maybe some special moms might get one on their special day this Sunday!

Vegan Rose Water Lassi

::  1 mango

::  1 T hemp seeds

::  1 cup water

::  3-4 large ice cubes

::  2 T of agave

::  2 t of Rose Water

::  1/4 t of ground cardamom - MOM!

::  pinch of cinnomon

::  rose petals for garnish (felt rose found here)

Pour all ingredients into a blender pitcher and blend until smooth.  Serves 2.  ENJOY!

Interested in the healing benefits of roses?  Roses and variations of roses be it, in tea, rose water, on skin etc. are pretty incredibly nutritional and healing.  I was surprised to see how much roses can heal and wondered why we don't use them more often.  Check it out here.

Juicy Suzy

cinco de mayo :: raw vegan horchata

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Interested in celebrating today with a delicious, tasty and dare I say healthy option!  Check out Annemarie and Kevin from The Renegade Health Show's take on a raw vegan version of the creamy sweet Horchata drink.  Click here to check it out!  It's so yum.  Of course, prepping it is a little time consuming like a lot of raw vegan recipes but then how often does Cinco de Mayo happen.  That's a rhetorical question!

Today we'll be celebrating with a few virgin cocktails and some Fresh Tomatillo Salsa.  I first tried tomatillo's last summer, fresh from the farmer at the Kitsilano Farmer's Market.  What a delight!  Just on it's own, so beautiful, wrapped in it's little paper husk.  Tomatillo's are a real treat.

::  photo source  ::

Another great and original salsa recipe that I discovered recently was by Emma at the Food Coma Blog.  She dabbles here and there into vegan and gluten free recipes but mostly her passion for food and experimenting with recipes is inspiring to me.  I love to frequent that space.  Here is her delicious Strawberry Salsa recipe that she posted recently if you are looking for a little something different!  Strawberry and cilantro together = YUM!  Gives me an idea for a new smoothie recipe....  

Hope you have a festive day.

Juicy Suzy