Raw Energy in a Glass: 125 Nutrition-Packed Smoothies, Green Drinks, and Other Satisfying Raw Beverages to Boost Your Well-Being

by Stephanie L. Tourles

Best-selling author Stephanie Tourles offers more than 120 delicious, super-nutritious recipes for smoothies, shakes, green drinks, power shots, mocktails, longevity elixirs, and fermented beverages, all designed to boost your health and energy. All of the recipes are vegan (Tourles even includes her own recipe for vegan yogurt, made using nut milks and probiotics), use only raw ingredients, and can be made in a standard blender. From Green Grapefruit Refreshers and Ginger-Lime Mocktinis to Golden Antioxidant Fusion, Aloe and Pineapple Digestive Health Elixir, Pain-Away Chlorella Smoothies, and Sunbutter Banana Shakes, there's no shortage of nourishing, energizing, and irresistible choices.

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Health

288 pages, Paperback

First published December 2, 2014

Reviews

[Sally Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saw this book at the library and checked it out for the smoothy recipes. It has so much more than just recipes. It is very informative about eating raw foods for your health. The details on the health benefits of each ingredient as well as tips on produce selection has changed my approach to my daily diet. So far, the recipes are delicious too.

[Annette McIntyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting combinations given in this book.

[Sherri Atherley-Niemirowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raw Energy in a glass gave lots of ideas. Some I've never heard but would love to try.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

Raw Energy in a Glass is an especially lovely, easy to read and follow, large font recipe book of different types of drinks to be made in a blender. Although most of the graphics are just images of various ingredients rather than the final products themselves, it's still a beautifully presented volume that makes one actually want to try the recipes. The focus is on the health benefits so a lot of the drinks are variations of the same ingredients.

Contents: The books breaks down into two parts: The Basics and The Recipes. Chapters include: Liquid is vital to life; What exactly is raw, live food?; Superfood dictionary; Nut and seed milks; Green smoothies; Longevity elixirs; Vegan yogurt drinks; Protein powered smoothies and shakes; Blended salads, Thick and Frosty shakes; Raw shots; Fruity, frothy and frosty frappes; mocktails; resources; recommended reading; index.

The book goes beyond simple green drinks and smoothies: shakes and mocktails, yogurt drinks, and blended salads round out the selection. Since the author is non-dairy, the creamier recipes are made from nut milks or yogurt (recipes in the beginning cover the nut milks).

The beginning of the book has a surprisingly long introduction about health benefits, juicing versus blending, antioxidants, green veggie benefits and more. Because of the multi-color presentation, it really isn't a laborious read and has some good information in there.

Each recipe has a large font title, an introduction, ingredients listed separately in green font with large paragraph leading for easy reading, and then step by step directions in paragraph form. Most of the book is color coded in light green or pomegranate pink - making each recipe very easy to follow. Of course, few recipes have more than 3 ingredients so everything is fairly easy to whip up.

Admittedly, I feel there is a lot of filler here and rate one star less as a result. Quite a few of the recipes are just variations of one ingredient - and could easily have been listed as a main recipe and then variations on the following pages for different health benefits. E.g., I love strawberries and mango combinations, but don't like pineapples. So I'd prefer to see all the berry recipes together without having to troll past the pineapple or coconut ones (e.g., Berry Drinks: recipe with nut milk, recipe with yogurt, recipe for raw in shot glass). As well, listing a superfoods dictionary with large paragraphs of nearly every ingredient did seem a bit much.

As with all Storey titles, you are going to get a quality book that is well thought out and useful. In this case, especially beautifully presented as well.

Reviewed from an ARC.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephanie Tourles begins Raw Energy in a Glass with her story since the publishing of Raw Energy. It’s not exactly what you would think as life took some nasty turns for her, and she suffered some serious setbacks in her health and personal life. She decided to do something about it and started tackling her health with real food. Slowly, things started to get better and a new book came about through this journey. She never claims that raw food, real food is the cure all for everything that ails you, but she does do a good job explaining why this way of eating could help lead you to a healthier, happier you.

The Superfood Dictionary dives into all of the great ingredients, foods used in this book. It gives readers a better idea of the whys behind the different foods which I really like. It covers:

Fruits
Veggies
Nuts, Seeds, and Nut and Seed Butters
Herbs and Spices
Oils
Sweeteners
Specialty Ingredients
Essential Kitchen Equipment

Once she gets through the basics of the philosophy, foods, and kitchen prep, Stephanie dives into loads of recipes that fall into these categories:

Nut and Seed Milks
Green Smoothies
Longevity Elixirs
Vegan Yogurt Drinks
Protein-Powered Smoothies and Shakes
Blended Salads
Thick and Frosty Shakes
Raw Shots
Fruity, Frothy, and Frosty Frappes
Mocktails

Many of the ingredients are ones that you’ll have on hand or ones that you can easily pick up from your local farmers market or grocery store. There are some specialty ingredients that you’ll need to pick up from a health food store or online. (Resources are given at the back of the book for those who can’t find the ingredients locally – like me.) If you’re not already using the ingredients in your home, you may suffer from sticker shock on some ingredients. Produce costs can be lowered by eating seasonally and freezing fruits/veggies when they are readily available.

I like the way the information was presented in the book, and the recipes are very easily to follow and make. If you’re looking for nutritional information, you will not find it in this book. I appreciated that her vegan yogurt was not soy-based. Overall, I enjoyed the new ideas for powerhouse drinks and look forward to utilizing more of the recipes when more fruits/veggies are in season.

Disclosure: I received an ARC copy to help facilitate the writing of a frank and honest review.

[Chrissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been on a huge raw food kick lately, and I've learned through trial and error that smoothies are really the best way to sneak in loads of nutrients without sacrificing taste. So, of course, I couldn't resist the opportunity to review RAW ENERGY IN A GLASS, a bright and colorful book that claims to teach me how to make 125 different raw drinks that are sure to boost my health and vitality.

The first thing that I noticed about RAW ENERGY IN A GLASS is that it is a *beautiful* book. The bold colors are fantastic and the gorgeous photographs are enough to make anyone want to whip out a blender. The recipes were fun and the variety was enough to keep even the more seasoned raw fooders interested.

I love the way that the author began with a general run down on the benefits of a raw food diets, while explaining the reasoning behind a plan that favors uncooked fruits, vegetables, and nuts over other foods. It was also great to see a brief description of the benefits of each drink, and the organization of the book made it easy and convenient to read.

The only thing I didn't love about RAW ENERGY IN A GLASS was the use of some more obscure ingredients that I really wouldn't know how to locate -- and I wasn't crazy about the addition of salt into so many of the drinks -- although it definitely wouldn't be difficult to modify any recipes to avoid these things.

One added benefit of this book to me, as a reader, was the recommended reading section -- there were definitely some great suggestions here for additional resources.

If you love raw food smoothies and already have a bit of experience under your belt on very basic food combining, I'd definitely give this one a try. I appreciate that the publisher provided me an electronic version of this book for review purposes, and I do plan on purchasing the actual book for a place on my bookshelf!

[Guylou (Two Dogs and a Book) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book on juicing I have the opportunity to read. I was amazed at the amount of information I got from this fantastic book. The author provided important health tips and set the readers up for success on their juicing journey.

I particularly enjoyed getting to know more about the benefits of all the possible ingredients and the recipes I tried were absolutely delicious. I did not know the difference between using a juicer or a blender and which one was best for my health. This book helped me purchase the right equipment to make juices that are healthy for me and taste divine. I had the misconception that juicing was not going to fill me up enough and that I would be hungry very quickly. That is not the case. This is actually a very positive aspect of juicing and encouraged me to try more and more delicious recipes.

I am still new at this nutritious way of eating and this book has equipped me to be successful in enjoying juices that are delicious and healthy for me. Great book!!!

The book will be available at your local book store on November 12, 2014.

[Sandra Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great little cookbook for anyone wanting to boost their health and/or energy. A lot of books like this rely heavily on bananas, and that is a problem for me. I get that bananas are very healthy, but I really dislike them. Thankfully, there are some great recipes here such as Tropical Berry Sunset Frappe (with citrus, strawberries, raspberries and mango), various yogurt drinks and protein shakes. This book is worth it for the first section alone! In "The Basics" if covers all kinds of information on juicing, blending, energy, getting the most out of your food and more. My favorite section is the Superfood Dictionary that breaks down exactly what is in each ingredient and what it is best for. It is divided into sections (Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts and more) which makes it easy to find what you're looking for.

This is a really great cookbook to get your new year started right. I'm not making big New Year's Resolutions to lose weight, exercise more etc., but I AM trying to get healthier this year. This book gives me a great start!

I received a copy of this book from Storey Publishing for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven’t read many non-fiction books lately, but this is one that I jumped at the chance of reading. My son has some eating issues, and as he tends to drink a lot of shakes and smoothies, I picked up this book with the hope of discovering a few new ideas.

The first part of the book is mostly nutritional information. It was very informative, with the information presented in easy to understand sections.

The second part of the book is all recipes. I have earmarked several to try, including a few cold soups that sound delicious as appetizers.

I do wish that there were more recipes that could be created using an ordinary blender, instead of using a high-powered blender. There was nothing in the summary or title that indicated special blenders would be needed, and while there are a few alternatives provided, they are definitely not mentioned enough times to make all of the recipes accessible to everyone. With the exception of this one flaw, I was quite impressed with the book.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is nothing like a raw fruit and/or veggie smoothie to give you instant energy that you can really feel! This great book has so many awesome recipes that if you have a daily smoothie for breakfast like so many people do, you'll never get bored! I received a free preview copy from NetGalley for review. For a full review, please see my blog post scheduled for Nov. 14, 2014 here: http://www.abeautifullittlelife.com/2....

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC generously provided by publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My husband and I have been juicing and making smoothies for years. THis book had some juice combinations we have tried before but also had some new suggestions that we will put in our normal routine. It is amazing how good a glass of juice can make you feel.