Valine's Fruit Tacos

This is a fun and easy to make recipe.

Filling:
2 mangos, diced
1 banana, diced
1 apple or pear, diced
1 cup red grapes, diced
1-2 cups spinach, minced

Mix all ingredients in a big bowl and then spoon the mixture onto lettuces leaves.

Shells:
1-2 heads of romaine lettuce

Chop the bottom off of the lettuces leaves and clean well. Be sure to check the leaves for those tiny bugs, especially if you purchased organice lettuce. Spoon the mixture on top of leaves and serve.

I like this recipe because it is so versatile. You can change all of the filling ingredients to your liking. You can even put the filling on top of a bed of mixed greens or spinach and enjoy it all as a salad. Any mild tasting green works great, such as red or green leafs lettuce. Fruit and greens are a great combination!

NOTE: Avoid adding any fats. I used to add hemp seeds or flaxseed meal to my fruit recipes, but I have since learned the fruits don't combine as well with fat. If interested, read more about proper food combining at http://www.rawfoodexplained.com/.

Fruit Cereal by Valine and Hempseed Milk from Alive in 5

My husband and I started eating Fruit Cereal years ago. The original recipe came from The American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit for Life Kitchen by Marilyn Diamond. So this recipe is inspired by her Cocobana Cereal and Fall Fruit Breakfast Pudding which are found in that that book.

Fruit Cereal is a real treat because it is sweet and somewhat "heavy". Sweet and heavy is not something I do often, but when I'm in the mood for a filling breakfast, I choose this recipe. This also a fun cereal to make as a family or group.

I use bananas and apples as the base, but you can be versatile with the rest of the ingredients, and enjoy it with your favorite milk. Here are the ingredients I used for this recipe on a particular day. Shown in the picture is 1/2 cup of raisins, a handful of dates, and 1/4 cup of hempseeds. I didn't even use all of the raisins and dates.

Here is the recipe:
3 ripe bananas, peeled, halved and chopped
4 apples, peeled and grated
1/3 cup of raisins
a handful of pitted dates, chopped
1/4 cup of nuts and/or seeds of your choice (my note: Be sure to activate them by soaking them the night before. Hempseeds don't need soaking.)
1/4 cup of freshly ground flax seeds (my note: I was out of flax seeds that day.)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
berries for the top (optional)

When I add the ingredients in the order listed, it always looks beautiful to me.

Enjoy the cereal with a milk of choice. Vanilla Brazil Nut Milk is now a favorite, but most mornings, when I want a quick milk, I make Hempseed Milk.

Hempseed Milk from Alive in 5:

5 cups filtered water

1 cup raw hempseeds

1/2 raw agave nectar

1 tablespoon vanilla flavor (my note: I used alcohol-free vanilla extract)

1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt

Combine all the ingredients in a blender, and process until smooth.