ANI PHYO

Ani Phyo spoke at our local raw living foods group!!

I am so thrilled to write this post. Our local raw living foods group was fortunate enough to have Ani Phyo come and speak. She prepared one of her raw recipes, answered questions and signed books.
  For those of you who are not familiar with Ani, I will tell you a little bit about her. Over the past fifteen years she has gone from making the simplest raw meals to starting her own raw foods company, SmartMonkey Foods. She has published three books: Ani's Raw Food Desserts, ani's raw food kitchen, and Ani's Raw Food Essentials. I personally own the latter two. She signed both of my copies, you can see one of them in the photo above. 
  She was raised in the Catskill Mountains, living on a large plot of land. Her family grew their own organic produce. She ate a lot of Korean food which was whole and unprocessed. A majority of the Korean food was vegan, raw and fermented. Her father was a raw fooder and frequently ate a mono diet. Her parents were frugal and were good at conserving and using less. They passed these wonderful traits onto their daughter, Ani, and she tries to do the same in her daily life. To ensure her overall health and longevity she strives to live eco green and toxic free. She enjoys an active lifestyle, chooses natural beauty and eco fashion. She tries to be happy and eat whole, delicious, fresh, organic raw foods.
  Ani strives to make easy and delicious raw recipes for anyone interested in the raw lifestyle or making better food choices. Her books contain a wealth of information, numerous recipes and beautiful photos. Anyone could pick up one of her books and make a quick, easy, and deliciously healthy raw food recipe.
  My challenge for you--Begin your journey today! Choose one meal today that you will eat 100% raw and you are well on your way to a beautifully healthy lifestyle. Do this for one week and then choose to add a second raw meal each day; continue this for one week. Gradually increase the quantity of raw living foods in your daily diet and you will notice that you have less room in your stomach to consume unhealthy choices. It is not about what you are eliminating, it is all about adding in more of the raw, fresh, organic, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds; oh, and of course don't forget about my favorite, the sprouts!!!
 

  Ani prepared for us her TOMATO AND TARRAGON BISQUE. This recipe is in her new book, ANI'S RAW FOOD ESSENTIALS. I have all three of Ani's books in my astore. Click on my store's link. 
She blended tomatoes with herbs and a hint of nutmeg to create a wonderfully, fresh, and uniquely spiced raw soup. Here is the original recipe:

Tomato and Tarragon Bisque

Base
3 C seeded and chopped tomatoes
3/4 C first cold pressed EVOO
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp grated nutmeg
1 T fresh tarragon, packed
1 tsp fresh parsley, packed
2 tsp sea salt
2 C filtered water

Topping
Tarragon sprigs, for garnish

Place all soup ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend till smooth. Divide among 4 serving bowls. Garnish each portion with tarragon sprigs and serve immediately.

In this book, each chapter begins with a base. Ani gives you a base to start  all of her recipes, that way you can personalize any of the recipes to your taste or to what ingredients you have on hand. For example, Ani did not have the tarragon for this recipe today so she substituted all parsley in the base and then garnished the soup with chopped tomatoes and one sprig of parsley. It was amazing! People were asking for seconds. A truly delicious soup. The recipe possibilities are endless; choose your favorite herb and create a masterpiece! I think I will try using my lemon thyme and boxwood basil that I am growing on my porch herb garden. 
  ~JMJ~ I am grateful today for so many things, but the most important today are, my husband, my thirteen year old son and my father.Today was Father's Day and we celebrated one of our son's 13th birthday today as well. All three are amazing men. I love each of them for their own individual qualities. I am proud to call them husband, son and Daddy!
Peace and Enjoy a Raw Life!!