So any time I find an opportunity to visit a raw-food restaurant – meaning that I don’t have to prepare the food! – I take it.

While on vacation on Queensland’s Gold Coast recently, I visited a fantastic raw-food restaurant called From Earth & Water.

It was recommended to me by my super tech dude, Jimmy Gilker. Last year, Jimmy had been living in northern New South Wales and had driven up to this Queensland restaurant a few times. He raved about it. He was right to rave.

I headed there one hot, sunshiney day with my dear friend Tracey. That’s Tracey in the pic above, enjoying the refreshing green juice that featured pineapple juice and a dash of spirulina. SO good. We also ordered a mango, banana and coconut-water smoothie… so thick and creamy, and full of smooth flavour.

We then shared this gorgeous main meal – it’s a Summer Vegetable stack with ‘almond herb crisps layered between sundried tomato cheese, caramelised shallots, broad beans and zucchini wedges served with salsa puttanesca, basil aioli and organic leaves’. My goodness. My mouth is watering just looking at this photo, remembering the intense, rich flavours and satisfying textures.

I have a heap of almond meal in the freezer (left over from batches of nut milk), so I plan on having a go at making dehydrated ‘almond herb crisps’ myself! If they work out, I’ll feature them in an upcoming edition of my ezine (if you’re not already a subscriber, just leave your deets in the box on the top right of this page).

And, my friends, for the magnificent ending to our meal – a generous slice of Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake. I mean, look at it! Chocolatey, silky, rich… heavenly. And without all the dairy, wheat and refined sugar that features in traditional cooked cheesecakes.

I think people sometimes don’t realise that raw food can be just as rich and flavoursome as cooked foods – and it’s usually a LOT healthier. I wouldn’t go crazy overindulging in raw cheesecakes, but trying nut-based cheeses and sumptuous juice combinations is something we can all add to our everyday menus. Along with plenty of green leaves, of course!

If you’re ever on Queensland’s Gold Coast, I would HIGHLY recommend taking yourself to From Earth & Water. Its opening hours are limited, so check out the website for details.

PS I was also very impressed with how the chef worked in the very limited space he had available. Everything was so neat and clean and orderly – it inspired me to get my raw kitchen working more smoothly!

My parents-in-law are pretty amazing gardeners. Everything they grow seems to flourish.

On our recent stay with them in my old hometown in Queensland, I got to see how ‘my lime tree’ was doing – when my husband and I moved down to Victoria about 15 years ago, I left my potted lime tree with my parents-in-law to look after. They planted it in the ground, and it now produces so many limes that they end up giving away bags full to friends.

Although lime season was nearly over, they’d left one ripe lime on the tree for me to pick. That’s it in the photo above. Isn’t it a beauty? I enjoyed the juice from that in my morning glasses of water.

I also admire how resourceful and thrifty my in-laws are in the garden. My father-in-law created the below lettuce planter out of an old upturned refrigerator, painting it green and adding bits of flexible plastic across the top to serve as holders for protective mesh (for when those snails and birds come a-hunting!). Clever, huh?

Behind the lettuce planter are tomato, beetroot and butter bean plants. As usual, they end up with huge gluts of vegies, and give many of those away, too! And of course, they use home-made compost as fertiliser.

One of their neighbours recently found an unopened packet of Yates tomato seeds in his old garden shed, and the date on the packet was from 1940! He decided to try planting the seeds, and they germinated, creating masses of tomatoes with a slightly different flavour to those you buy in the stores these days.

While we were there, my father-in-law planted eight seeds from one of those heirloom tomatoes, and they all germinated. They’ve since given us some seeds, so we’re going to try them in our garden next summer. I can’t wait.

I just love how abundant nature is – and how we can have bucketloads of fresh, organic fruits and vegies for only a few dollars when we take the time to grow them ourselves.

If I’ve inspired you to get growing in your garden, you might like my fantastic (if I do say so) organic gardening-recipe book called I’m Hungry, Let’s Grow It!. It’s a kid’s book, but, really, it’s great how-to guide for beginner adults, too. With two recipes for each of the 14 featured fruits, vegetables and herbs.

I’m now putting thought into what winter vegies we’ll grow this year – more kale and spinach, no doubt, for all those vitamin- and mineral-packed green smoothies!

I wonder what my father-in-law is planning on growing…

I’ve taken an awfully long break from connecting with you on the blog, so I thought you might like to see what I got up to during my time away.

Well, just after Christmas, we packed up and headed north to Queensland. We wanted a really good, long summer holiday, spent with family and friends. After a very busy 2011, we couldn’t wait to unwind completely.

We drove up the Newell Highway (of course), and I just loved the changing roadside scenes, including dramatic cloud/storm formations, grasses blowing in the wind, and avenues of beautiful bushy trees. I’m telling you, if you haven’t been to Australia yet, you MUST come see this breathtaking country!

We used to drive this road once or twice a year when I was a child, but I don’t remember it being this beautiful. Or perhaps I just didn’t truly appreciate it, back then.

Not long after we arrived at my mum and dad’s, I planted myself on their back patio and gazed out at their dam. I don’t know if it’s something in the air there, but it was SO easy to relax. We indulged in a few goodies, nattered, watched movies, hugged each other, and laughed and laughed and laughed.

The girls enjoyed an outing to our hometown’s local museum, which hosted a ‘Creative Capers’ craft session for little ‘uns. It must have been 35 degrees in the shade, but they loved it anyway!

After our time with family, we cruised on down to the beautiful Gold Coast to stay with close friends. The beach at Surfers Paradise was, as usual, stunning. Just look at those white-capped waves. This really is the lucky country.

Not long after a beach outing, we headed to Build-a-Bear – our friends had given Evie and Bella vouchers for Christmas, so they came with us to be part of the creation experience. Honestly, the girls adore their new bears.

On our drive back home to Victoria, we encountered Cunningham’s Gap, which I’ve never before driven through – spectacular!  And just look at those cloud formations. I loved soaking up such gorgeous vistas.

One of our final stops on the way home was at the Parkes’ Observatory in, of all places, the town of Parkes. Does that satellite dish look familiar? It featured in the movie The Dish. Fascinating history (one we didn’t get to stop and appreciate on all my childhood trips – my Dad was always keen to keep going and get to Melbourne in record time. He did allow the odd toilet break, which was nice…).

And now, we’re home. After what I believe to be our ‘best summer ever’ (as a family), we’re ready to launch back into life, all refreshed and reinvigorated. If you subscribe to Rich Radiant Real in the box on the upper right, and I’ll keep you posted on all the goodies I’ll be bringing you this year!

Here’s to a fabulous year of prosperity, health and happiness. Mwuh!

Love is in the air this month because of that special, somewhat schmaltzy, celebration known as Valentine’s Day.

I LOVE that there’s a day dedicated just to love. Do you, too?

Here’s a thought! Why don’t we use the Valentine month as a reminder? Not just about the importance of loving people, but of loving what we do in this world?

Do YOU love what you do? Really?

Do you love your work? The food you eat? The places you go? The sports you play? The hobbies you have?

Or are you just going through the motions, doing activities that you may once have loved, but now leave you feeling a little flat?

I probably don’t need to tell you that the universe responds to our vibration, and when our vibration is high (that is, we’re doing what we love and we therefore feel great), we receive experiences that match that vibration.

Maybe you could use this beautiful month of love to check in with yourself? To question how you feel about the activities that make up your days?

How do you feel about your job, for instance? Is it still fun? (Or was it ever fun?) Do you feel that you’re using your talents, and the skills that come easily to you?

I had an office job in my early 20s, and after the initial fun of starting something new, I began to feel as though I was dying on the inside. I was drifting, having deferred a university journalism degree. I thought that this job, which was in the finance industry, might be interesting and secure (and well paid).

Boy, was I wrong. I tried all sorts of things to gain a promotion (well, not EVERYTHING), but it just never happened. My colleagues were heaps of fun, but the work itself was sapping the life out of me.

I’d been planning to take a year off to go overseas with my then-boyfriend (now husband) Darren, and to come back to that job when we returned. But I remember the day when I decided that, instead, I’d go back to university after our trip. I remember sitting at my desk and feeling absolutely elated, and with such a sense of purpose, clarity and certainty. I knew I was back on the right path, and that I’d be studying something that I loved.

Thank goodness I didn’t ever receive a promotion in that office job, because otherwise I might never have taken the time to think about what I LOVED. Now I get to do work that I love, every day!

I still keep letting myself be pulled towards things that I love. I believe that our intuition – that ‘knowing feeling’ – guides us beautifully. If we listen to it.

Look, it’s OK to outgrow something. You don’t need to love the same job, food or places your entire life. Don’t hang on to an activity just because you’ve ‘always done it’.

Letting go leaves room for the things you really want to do.

So, on 14 February, why not instigate a new Valentine’s ritual, and do a ruthless ‘love review’ of your life’s activities?

This could just be a Valentine’s you’ll never forget…

PS I’d love for you to tell me what you’d love to do! Leave a comment below, or email me at joanne@richradiantreal.com. Just putting it ‘out there’ will show the universe you’re serious about doing what you love.

I received an amazing book for Christmas: Screw Business as Usual by Richard Branson.

Now, I’m not usually one for cussing, so the title turned me off a little.

I’m also not a huge fan of the use of women in marketing the Virgin airlines brand. 

But I still like Richard Branson. He’s big on social responsibility, and on helping others to help themselves, and this book has revealed to me the full extent of his philanthropical work and his passion for helping others. Now I like him even more!

He believes that it’s up to entrepreneurs to ‘do good’. If we’re to get this planet back in shape, and to finally get on top of the dire poverty and hunger that’s rife around the world, businesses need to take action. Governments just aren’t up to the job.

‘Business as usual’ refers to the fact that, for many years, the only focus of many companies has been on the size of their bottom line. However, as we move into a new age, business is not all about profit, but it’s also not about making a token gesture and giving handouts. It truly is about empowerment. And when a business does good, Richard has discovered that the bottom line flourishes, too. Win-win.

So, if you’re a business owner, is this something you think about? Is the work that you do (the product or service that you provide) bettering the world as well as bringing you personal income?

Or if you’re an employee, do you feel that you work for an ethical company that’s attempting to make the world a better place? Does it treat its staff well? Does it look beyond profit?

In your personal purchases, do you support forward-thinking companies by purchasing their products or services? Be it soap powders, make-up, organic or locally produced food, or services offered by people such as stay-at-home mums who want to make extra income for their families from home?

It’s not easy for every business to ensure their whole production line is environmentally sustainable, but they can make big strides towards that goal, and part of their mission can also be to help people help themselves (wherever possible).

Richard believes that people are basically good, and that, given the chance, they really want to do good. And we all know that doing good also feels good. In my opinion, we’re all connected, so when we help others, we really do help ourselves!

Since reading Screw Business as Usual, I’ve reflected on my own path, and have realised that as my awareness has grown over the years, I’m now more conscious about ‘doing good’. I love personal development, and I love helping other people realise that they have control over their destiny. How wonderful that I can make such an impact on people’s lives, now that I’m a life coach!

In earlier years, I worked as an editor for Lonely Planet travel guides, a company dedicated to helping raise awareness of different cultures, giving to worthy grassroots organisations, and maintaining editorial independence. I LOVED the culture of that company. Since then I’ve written three recipe books for children, encouraging kids to choose organic produce and to practice skills that empower and equip them for life.

I know there’s so much more I can do, and I’m so glad that my radar is now tuned in to a very conscious way of living. I know that I’m in a privileged position of being born in a first-world country that has access to so many resources, and I know that I have a responsibility to ‘do good’. Not just because it’s the ‘right thing to do’, because I really do want to help.

As you set about planning a phenomenal 2012, I invite you to think about the type of world you want to live in. Consider making ‘doing good’ a tangible, meaningful goal that flows through any other goals you create… and be prepared to reap rich rewards!

PS Head here to discover more about Richard’s work, and the amazing work of other entrepreneurs from around the world. I may not agree with some of Richard’s marketing philosophies, but I do respect that he uses his name, influence and money to effect hugely positive change in the world.

PPS I love the work of microfinancing organisation Opportunity International. It gives loans to people in developing countries who want to create or grow their own businesses!

Well, it’s Christmas Eve. (Actually, we’ve taken to calling it Christmas Evie at my house, given that one of my daughters is called Evie.)

It’s time to slow down, savour time with loved ones, feast on rare treats and reflect on the year that was.

I’ll be doing exactly that over the next few weeks, and will be taking a wee break from blogging. I’ll help you start your New Year with an inspirational article (pop back here for that, or sign up for my ezine in the top right corner), but otherwise, things will be quiet here at Rich Radiant Real, while we deeply relax and then return completely rejuvenated!

Thank you for joining me here on the blog this year, and I really look forward to inspiring you in 2012, and beyond!

All the very, very best over this beautiful season, and I’ll see you soon!

It’s Friday, and it’s been a whirlwind week! All that preparation for Christmas (I secretly – or not so secretly – love it)…

What am I grateful for this week?

• Receiving some gorgeous, fresh silverbeet (Swiss chard) from our lovely retired neighbours, grown in their organic garden – that’s one of the silverbeet leaves in the pic above. We’ve used the vibrant leaves and stalks in green smoothies, in a frittata, in salads… We’re so fortunate!
• My girls finishing school. I love having them all to myself for a while!
• Having a lovely long phone chat with a special friend.
• Receiving a Christmas gift of fresh cherries from the tree of those lovely, kind neighbours of ours. The cherries (pictured below) are so fresh, sweet and juicy. It always feels like Christmas when we have cherries.

• Knowing that Christmas is nearly here, and that we will soon be spending time connecting with family and friends. I LOVE this time of year.
• Having YOU come visit me here at the blog!

Have a wonderful day!

OK, there goes another week, and here we are nearly at Christmas. Woohoooo!

What am I grateful for this week?

• Getting to share the fun of Christmas craft, helping out in my children’s classroom.
• Sensational weather – does this mean summer is finally here?
• A fabulous chat with my friend Michelle Mayur.
• Being treated a special high tea at Craig’s Royal Hotel here in Ballarat (definitely not raw, but a lovely treat).
• Getting all our Christmas cards in the post, and just about finishing our Christmas shopping.

What about you? What are you grateful for from this week? Share with us, in the comments below.

The power of raw foods is incredible.

They’ve been known to help people lose weight, to cure or reduce symptoms of disease, and to make skin glow and give your energy a huge boost. They bring out your inner ‘gorgeous’ – just look at the picture of raw food coach Karen Knowler, above!

You’ll know from my 7 Ways to Recharge Your Vibration & Attract the Riches of Life ebooklet that raw foods contain life force and are chock-full of vitamins and minerals. Eating more raw helps you live life to the full.

(If you don’t have the 7 Ways ebooklet, you can downloaded for free by popping your details in the box on this page.)

Are you new to the concept of raw foods? Would you like to know more?

Then I have a beautiful gift for you.

I’m giving away a copy of Karen Knowler’s funky little book called Raw Food Made Simple.

It’s a beginner’s guide to raw food – its beautiful, full-colour pages explain everything you’ll need to know, in a very accessible way. You’ll be shown how to transition to a way of eating that includes more raw foods, and about the low-cost equipment you could use to help makes your food even more delicious!

You can find out more about this book here.

If you’d like to go into the draw to win a copy of this amazing book, simply leave a comment below by the end of this weekend, letting me know your biggest concern about your health, and a ranking out of 10 for how good you feel most of the time (0 being ‘feeling awful’, and 10 being ‘leaping of my skin with energy and a sense of supreme wellbeing’).

Remember, you need to let me know both your health concern and your ranking in order to go in the draw.

I’ll announce the winner on Monday! (You might even receive the book in time for Christmas.)

Do you get overwhelmed when you think of how much you want to do?

At this time of year, things can get a little crazy, and our to-do lists can run a mile long.

I have a little tip for you.

When I realise that I have an awful lot that I want to accomplish, I create a detailed schedule for my day.

I remember to include the important things such as exercise, good food, and relaxation, so that I have the energy to get everything else done.

I account for every important activity in one- or two-hour blocks, and ensure that I include a ‘buffer’  (that is, allow a little more time than is needed to complete the activities). This leaves me stress-free, and means that if other little five-minute jobs crop up, I have time to do those within one of the blocks I’ve allocated for other jobs. But, for the most part, I keep similar tasks within the one block of time, so that I’m ‘batching’ and can really get on a roll.

I don’t use this scheduling technique all the time, but it’s a lifesaver when the pressure is on, and when I have a lot to accomplish.

It really helps me avoid overwhelm!

Hope this tip helps you – do you have a technique for ‘getting it all done’? I’d love to hear what works for you. Leave a comment below!