News & Blog

I just made my zucchini hummus. I haven’t made it in so long and I forgot how easy and good it is. I ate this with little baby carrots but you could spread it on crackers or other veggies.

Zucchini Hummus

5 cups zucchini, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup tahini

4 cloves garlic

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Also, don’t forget, when you order for alissacohen.com now through the month of August, you get a 15% off coupon for your next order that can be used anytime!

Also, make sure you try some of the Shea Butter Bundles that are on sale through the month of August also.

On Friday I was lucky enough to get a box of goodies from Organic Essence. They sent me a bunch of samples to try. I’ve been using them all weekend and WOW! I am in LOVE with these Shea Butters!

I have a jar of organic Shea butter that I use whenever I have really dry patches, but it’s very thick and almost waxy like and not easy to spread. Although I love what Shea butter does, I never liked the texture.

These samples jars were totally different than anything I’ve tried. First of all, the cream was really silky smooth right out of the jar. It melted on contact with my skin.

Second, the smell is divine! There is one that is just Shea butter with no smell that is perfect for those sensitive to essential oils and smells. The lemongrass one has strong notes of mint that are perfect for a morning wake up. The lavender is really lovely and not overpowering and then there is the orange-vanilla… This one is my favorite! I think I’ve used half the jar already! It smells like an orange creamsickle! It’s not too heavy on the vanilla, which, although I love vanilla, can get a little much, smelling like a cupcake all day.

And, the best part is that my skin feels amazing! I’m not a huge cream person, I just don’t always like the heavy or oily feel of it on my skin all day, but these soak right in and feel incredible!

Oh! And the lip balms. I am a total lip balm freak. I actually make my own because I don’t love what’s in most of them. These are great! Again, really nice smells and they feel good on.

The fact that they are packaged in an eco-responsible biodegradable organic jar, makes them even more desirable!

Here is the really incredible part though, even the label is eco-friendly – no need to peel it off. Don’t worry about the adhesive, it’s organic, too. This whole entire package, including the cover, is completely compostable! When you’re done with the contents, just bury it in your backyard!

So, I have created some specials for you so that you can try some of these and save a bunch of money at the same time. Just click here to see the three bundles. One is the original Shea Butter and the Lemongrass Shea butter with 2 lip balms, vanilla and grapefruit. Another package is all 5 lip balms and the last package is the Vanilla-Orange Shea Butter and the Lavender Shea Butter.

Oh and another special for you… when you buy any products during the month of August, you get a 15% off coupon for your next order! After you place your august order from alissacohen.com, we will automatically send you a 15% off coupon to your email that you can use whenever you like.

And…. Because you guys have been ordering lots from the store since we opened in July, I just made another donation to more animal rescue groups!

Ive been eating lots of the nut and seed butter as well as lots of the fermented foods, like the kim chi and sauerkraut that I’m now selling. I have to say, I feel really good lately! I always feel like I ‘should’ be adding more fermented foods into my diet because I know how great they are for you and really it’s so easy with the Rejuvenative Foods products, but usually when I eat too much nut butter I don’t feel that terrific. I noticed the other day that I’ve gone through quite a few jars already and I’m eating a lot more nut and seed butters but I feel really amazing!

For a long time when I lived in California, I would only buy Rejuvenative Foods brand nut butters at mothers market and some other health food stores (that I love and miss!) but then for a long time, I couldn’t find them at all. I searched for a while at different places and then gave in to buying the ones on the shelves when I knew I wouldn’t have time to make my own. I used them, but never felt great about it and I noticed if I ate too much I felt lousy.

In setting up my store again I knew I wanted to make available all different kinds of nut and seed butters, tahini, almond butter, cashew and some other basic staples that are commonly used when making raw food. The almond butter, cashew butter, pecan pie butter and halva in a jar are so creamy and amazing and are some of my favorites. Others, like the pumpkin seed butter are really rich and strong tasting and while I may not eat them every day, I love how full of vitamins,  minerals and fatty acids they are and they are really unique and different. They are great for recipes as well as eating straight out of the jar. I also tried the new mulberry treegan butter and flipped out over it!  There is such as huge difference between every other commercial nut and seed butter I’ve tried. Rejuvenative Foods brand is the only one I truly trust and promote now.

You can see the difference in texture between the smooth creamy almond butter and the rough texture (full of hearty flavor) of the pumpkin butter. Each nut and seed butter is so totally different in taste and texture. I actually don’t sell the sunflower seed butter and some other ones because they are too bitter for me. All of the ones on my site though I love and are really unique from one another.

Below are some explanations and questions and answers from Rejuvenative Foods.

Let me know how you like these products if you try them! There is a discussion here where you can let me know your comments and thoughts about them.

Maintaining the Benefits of Raw Nuts and Seeds when Making Nut and Seed Butters

There are three major areas of concern: that fresh raw nuts and seeds are used, that the nuts and seeds are ground at a low temperature and, finally, that the butter is kept refrigerated and is consumed while still fresh. When creating fresh raw nut and seed butters from these nuts and seeds, the goal is to enhance the flavor while retaining the nutrients. The nut butter is bound to be more flavorful when the ingredients have been kept as fresh and as nutritionally intact as possible. Part of this goal is to minimize the conversion of the healthful components of nuts and seeds into unhealthy substances during processing, such as altering the form of the unsaturated fatty acids by heat or oxidation.

Most nut and seed butters are made from roasted nuts. These once raw nuts and seeds have been deprived of their life potential by being cooked. Furthermore, if the nuts or seeds have been roasted in oil, not only has the life potential been damaged, but the amount of fat in the nuts, which includes the saturated fats, has been increased. In the process of being ground into butter, the roasted nuts and seeds are again heated up, having an even greater debilitating effect on the nutritional value of the nuts and seeds.

Even raw nut and seed butters retain their life energy and unique flavor only if they are kept fresh and if the temperature during grinding has been closely monitored. Consider as a guideline the maximum temperature in the desert that still allows for the continuance of life and use that as a reference point for the maximum temperature allowable in the grinding of nuts and seeds. The heat friction of the grinding must not cook the raw nuts and seeds and the butter must be kept fresh by refrigeration.

Taking Care to Preserve Life Energy

When making nut and seed butters, the seeds and nuts should be ground 2 to 5 times in short intervals with a cool down period between grinds, instead of one uninterrupted grinding. Grinding non-stop until the nuts and seeds become butter overheats and devitalizes the food. The life energy and rich flavor of the nuts and seeds may be preserved by maintaining a low temperature during grinding and then refrigerating immediately afterwards. In this way, one can expect to retain a much higher degree of life energy in the food that one is eating.

The important point is that tasty, raw, low temperature ground nut and seed butters provide the opportunity to consume the nuts and seeds with the proteins, enzymes, anti-oxidants and the many vitamins and minerals intact and with the fatty acids unaltered by heat and still in their natural healthful form. In this flavorful and healthful way you are able to obtain the valuable energy that is stored in raw nuts and seeds, the concentrated potential of plant life.

At what temperature do we process our Raw Nut and Seed butters? Generally the nut and seed butters are ground at temperatures between 112 and 116 degrees. Occasionally the grinder might get as hot as 118 degrees, although this is rare.

How pure are Rejuvenative Foods? Are there trace amounts of peanuts or other extraneous raw materials in our nut and seed butters? No. There are no peanuts in any of our foods. In fact, there are no peanuts processed in our plant at all, and our grinder and all of the other machines we use are cleaned very thoroughly in between batches, so there is no residue from any other nut or seed in our foods.

What is it about Raw Cultured Vegetables that enhances health? Raw Cultured Vegetables are delicious and provide an excellent self-rejuvenating source of non-dairy lactobacilli, including acidophilus and lactobacillus plantarum, important for the maintenance of healthy intestinal flora and the alleviation of digestive disorders. This is important for people who are lactose intolerant, have pathologies that prevent the consumption of dairy or simply choose to avoid it.

We often hear from customers that symptoms caused by stomach aches, ulcers, other digestive issues and health problems related to Candida are improved or disappear entirely after consuming our Raw Cultured Vegetables and other products. Many healing practitioners recommend the consumption of our raw foods to alleviate their client’s ailments and to improve overall health and general well-being.

In addition to the healing benefits found in our Raw Cultured Vegetable products, we also expect our customers to feel better after eating Rejuvenative Foods brand fresh, raw, low-temperature ground nut and seed butters than after eating another brand of heated nut and seed butters.

We spent a night in the condo this weekend in Boston. It was nice to get away for a night, the dog nanny was with the boys and we had a lovely time just the two of us. Fun weekend but I’m so not a city girl. I love the name of this place on Hanover st, the Connah store, typical North End jargon. Fun night, even though I had kind of a crappy salad at this place we never go to. Dennis and I walked around and stopped in a few places to chat with friends we haven’t seen for a while.

Alright, I get why I received so many emails begging me to keep Grezzo open.  I was so mad there was no great raw food place to eat! Although I’m glad I’m out of the restaurant biz, I miss Grezzo also!

BUT, luckily, my new book with all of the Grezzo recipes will be out in October! You can preorder it here.

The rest of the weekend was so relaxing. After spending weeks and more hours then I cared to, setting up my online store again, it was nice to hang out and not do too much. Gorgeous weekend here!

A friend came over Saturday when we got back from Boston and we just vegged out while admiring my cherry tomatoes and peppers that are actually growing! I killed the lettuce but apparently it’s hard to grow in the summer and I planted it on the hottest 90+ degree day. I know, you would think I know how to grow things being a raw foodie but for some reason I don’t. But, most of my garden is surviving, just not the lettuce. Dennis said maybe by the end of the summer we’ll have enough tomatoes to have a salad

I tried one of the tiny red prairie fire peppers since they were ripe. I took a tiny bite off the end and had to run into the kitchen for relief. After guzzling water, some cashews and a banana to put out the fire, I turned to see Dennis entering the kitchen with a pained look on his face. I handed him the rest of the pepper before running into the house because I didn’t want to put it on the table for the dogs to eat and he popped the whole thing into his mouth. When I planted them, I told him they weren’t supposed to be super hot but after seeing me run into the house, I was shocked he ate the whole thing. It took about an hour before his stomach stopped burning.  So maybe it wasn’t the most relaxing day for him…

I made some cabbage salad on Thursday night that we then dug into on Saturday (my friend and I – Dennis wasn’t ready to eat again for hours after that!) I didn’t measure but it was just shredded purple cabbage, pine nuts, raisins, apple cider vinegar and a drop of agave. I left it out for a few days on the counter and it was delicious!

Dennis and I took a drive up the coast today to Ogunquit. I love it there! Although the traffic was insane with tourist and people coming back from their weekend escape to Maine. When I came back home I made my raw peanut butter cups.

SO easy to make, but, I shouldn’t be eating these at night. That’s why I’m wide awake right now!

You have to make these, they take only minutes to put together. Just use about equal parts raw cocoa powder and melted coconut oil. Mix together and add a good amount of agave to taste. Just keep tasting until it’s not bitter and it is to your liking. Mix this well until there are no lumps and it’s smooth. It will be a chocolate sauce consistency. Next, place a small bit of this on the bottom of each mold. Then take a dab or more of almond butter and place that on top of the sauce. Cover the almond butter with more chocolate sauce until the mold is full to the top. Place this in the freezer. They freeze really quickly.

They are extremely addicting!

I’m moseying on up to my art room because I think I’ll be up for another hour or two after eating these. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and stay tuned for a BIG blog about some new personal care products. I just received a huge box of samples from the same company that sells the Body Balms, the Whipped Shea Butter and Cacao Butter. It’s going to take me at least a week to go through most of them but these are some of the best products – soaps, shampoo and conditioner bars, face cream and lips balms – that I’ve tried. It felt like Christmas, having this package waiting on my doorstep when I came home Saturday!

Oh and don’t forget! Free Shipping ends tomorrow so stock up now!

I’m so happy to be offering my Therapeutic Enzymes again. I had so many calls when we took these off the site along with the digestive enzymes.

These are the same enzymes that Dr. Fred Bisci recommends and sells under his name that have helped so many people.

Here are some testimonials below that we have received from people after using these enzymes. My husband, Dennis, also contributes a large part of his healing to these enzymes. He was given a year to live seven years ago after severe liver disease and these enzymes where a huge part of his daily regime.

The difference in these Therapeutic Enzymes compared to the digestive enzymes is that these are a highly aggressive therapeutic formula.

The main ingredient in this formula is a very strong fibrinolytic agent. It has been reported to have the ability to digest arterial plaques. Case studies have shown this product to be beneficial in the assistance of tumors, bacteria, parasites, fungus, candida, cancers, immune deficiency disorders and a host of other ailments, as well as having a powerful effect on undigested proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

Testimonials:

• I wanted to let you know how thankful I am that I found these enzymes. I had very bad Candida and fibromyalgia. Along with cleaning up my diet, I believe that these enzymes were a huge factor in my road to recovery. I’m so glad I found your site and your products. Thank you for all of the work that you do. You have helped me more then you know! C.R

• I just wanted to let you know that by taking your therapeutic enzymes I have dissolved my tumor. I am on my way to healing my other issues and am still taking the enzymes because I believe they will also help with a host of other issues.  J. S

• I have lost 79 pounds and feel terrific! I am so happy with Alissa’s Therapeutic Enzymes. I know they have helped me cleanse my body and have also noticed some major healing around my arthritis and other ailments. Thank you for recommending these! Blessing, S. R

• I LOVE these enzymes! I am a runner and weight lifter and after taking these enzymes I am no longer sore after workouts and runs. My recover is quicker and my body is healing from a long injury much faster than I would have expected. Thanks again and keep up the good work! P. H

You don’t have to be sick to take these enzymes! Everyone needs enzymes, the more enzymes you can afford to take, the better! I take these off and on for long periods of time and feel that I have more energy and greater health while taking these. You can find these Enzymes here along with the ingredient and more information. Oh and don’t forget, free shipping continues until August 9th!

I just tried a peppermint wild bar. Wow, are those good! They really do taste like a peppermint patty.

I don’t always love raw bars so I’ve been searching out ones that I hear are the best. The  description says that you can eat them as a meal.  They’re not huge but they are pretty filling. After eating it I felt like I had a lot of energy from the blue green algae and all the other super foods like mesquite , maca and cacao. Yep, I think I could eat one of these before working out every day and be very happy! They’re a little nutritional powerhouse packed in tasty little package!

So of course this update to my site is taking forever! Isn’t that always the way with techie stuff!

My shopping cart was supposed to be updated last night (Thursday night) but apparently it won’t be ready until after 5-6 pm tonight (Friday evening).

So, I apologize for those of you trying to order, you won’t be able to until later tonight. Ill post an update HERE when it’s back up but should be later today or early evening.

Many of you have asked about the free shipping though and are worried that you won’t get in on time so I’ve extended it until next week. I won’t be giving free shipping again for a while so I wanted to make sure you get in on it and because of this little glitch its used up some time on that as it was supposed to end tomorrow.

So, free shipping will be extended until the 9^th of August! Yippie!!! This is fantastic news as so many of you have been ordering juicers, dehydrators  and other large appliances, kitchen gadgets and raw foods in large amounts this week and are saving tons on shipping!

And… the shopping cart is going to be SO MUCH better! Major upgrades!

I’ll be sending out a bulk email Monday reminding you all of this as well!

Happy weekend everyone!

Friends of ours called late yesterday and asked us to go out on their boat. We jumped at the chance! We were a bit stressed out after coming home from our family trip to Texas and I was craving water and swimming.

It was late in the day and I hadn’t eaten much SO… imagine my excitement when I found out we could pick blueberries in the middle of the lake!

It was an amazing day that turned into a nighttime cruise. The moon was bright orange and the sky was lit up.

Here’s a  picture of me, Brad and Ruth swimming over to the blueberry bushes.

And here we are looking for the blueberries we dropped when we got back on the boat!

And… here are the blueberries… They’re tiny but I think I’ll make my blueberry pie with them.

Ruth also gave me a HUGE bag of blueberries that she picked from her yard!!! Those went into my smoothie this morning along with bananas, some Hemp Seeds kale, spinach, Green Food Powder, Camu Camu, Coconut oil, Vanilla Beans and a handful of other stuff such as a bit of Maca and some sprouted buckwheat that I never got around to using after I sprouted it before I went away for the weekend.

(don’t forget, free shipping on these and ALL of the products in my store including appliances and kitchen gadgets until the end of July)

Ah, feeling much more relaxed now. Definitely needed that!

The perfect raw food lunch. Amazing produce at the farmers market yesterday. Look at these organic yellow heirloom tomatoes. I’m eating them for lunch today and they are divine sprinkled with a little Flor de Sal! I’m sorry to say that Dennis will not be trying any as I only purchased a small amount. If I knew how incredible they are I would have bought a ton more! oh well, what he doesn’t know wont hurt him They’ll be long gone before he gets back home today!

Some of you have asked about the mushrooms in the store. You were concerned that they were small 2 ounce bags. The mushrooms don’t weigh much so it really is a good amount in each bag. Here’s a pix of them and don’t forget, when you soak them they also expand a bit.