Cucumber, Tomato and Sprout Salad With Spinach Tahini Dressing
I love cucumber and tomato – and sprouts are always amazing -but sometimes it’s all about the dressing! This is my all-time favorite and was, essentially, born of a desire to incorporate raw tahini into as many things as possible. Certainly, spinach is an excellent choice for the dressing but alternate light, flavorful greens can be used: arugula is great… especially the wild, spicy kind that I am fortunate enough to already have growing in my garden. Likewise, basil can be tasty as well. Experiment with your favorites and you’re sure to find winners! But stay away from kale and collards. Maybe I’m kale crazy but this is one recipe…
Multiple O Onion Bread With Leeks and Scallions
Just taste this dehydrated onion bread and it will be obvious to you why it’s rated with multiple O’s! We offered this at our cafe and actually had customers order it in bulk so they’d have their own stash on hand! Kids love it too so you’ve got all areas covered. In our house, where there might be five kids at any given time, it’s hard to keep it stocked! It’s deliciously addictive and well worth setting aside a dehydrator day for, although it is actually very quick to prepare. The leeks and scallions in the bread make it very pretty as well.! At first you will think that there…
Mushrooms Stuffed With Pistachio Basil Pesto
This is my all-time favorite side dish or raw snack. If you use larger mushrooms (and larger tomatoes for the topping), this could be an amazing main dish to serve with a side salad. Just plan on dehydrating a little longer. The recipe is simple but potent and you will be rewarded ten-fold with amazing flavor that will have you wondering if this is really raw food at all! I have made this dish for office parties and no one can believe it’s not cooked… I literally serve slightly warmed straight from the dehydrator and people are salivating! The smell becomes so intoxicating as it dehydrates that it drives me…
Food Combining : A Potent Combination
On the surface you would think that going raw or vegan would solve all dietary or weight woes. Like you could just go on your merry way eating anything, in any way, that wasn’t restricted by that diet. But it doesn’t necessarily work that way. And it’s most likely that any problems that do ensue, come from really bad food combining. Prominent doctors and nutritionists have studied the whole science of food combining. There are many charts out there reflecting their findings. The general consensus is that properly combining food, whether raw or vegan or vegetarian or omnivore, is essential to good health. This is due to the fact that digestive…
The Organic Raw Shopping Experience
Very early on my raw lifestyle timeline, I had myself convinced that I could go 100% raw. I was always trying to eat consciously. Looking at packaging and trying to avoid anything that contained ingredients that I couldn’t pronounce was second nature to me. What I fed my husband and children was carefully considered; even if they clamored for ‘Lucky Charms’, I would undoubtedly force muesli and organic fruit upon them. And it seemed like it would be simple for someone like myself to just go completely raw since I had – for the most part – always preferred fruits and vegetables anyway, albeit not exclusively. Avoiding the Bad Stuff…
What’s So Great About Fermented Food?
Thousands of years ago when refrigerators were yet to be invented, our ancestors depended on fermentation as a method of preservation. This was especially true when it came to preserving vegetables. They relied on the fact that once triggered, chemical changes activated certain bacteria in fruits and vegetables, turning on the production of lactic acid. When lactobacilli just ‘do their thing’, starch and sugar content in fruits and vegetables transforms into lactic acid, a natural preservative. Voila! We have fermented food! Lacto-fermentation is the process that prevents raw organic produce from rotting. Ultimately this happens through the production of enzymes that keep harmful elements like carcinogens and toxins at bay.…
Happiness in the Raw : 8 Mood Boosting Foods
It’s scientifically proven that happiness seems to be more plentiful in people who eat a plant based diet. Maybe that’s why so many other folks are so grumpy! Is everyone else just jealous? Is that why they keep pestering us about our weird diets? Yes, our weird diets. Fruits and vegetables. All Natural. Coming from the earth. Weird. Apparently the raw food diet makes people nervous. Even if it’s just raw till 4. It’s not normal. What’s Wrong With Us? Many of us get really tired of people asking us the same old, tired questions about the raw diet: I know it’s pretty much the same way with vegans too.…
Raw and Ready: Eating In and Eating Out
For many, adopting a raw vegan diet – even if it’s just till four – is scariest because it means that, unless you confine yourself to a salad, there is less opportunity to eat out at restaurants. All of a sudden you represent a minority: meagerly represented and majorly misunderstood by the masses. It’s bad enough being a vegan – but if you add Raw into it, you’re really a Wierdo! You would assume that if the celebrities have caught on – and they have – then what’s the deal with everyone else? Suffice it to say, the celebrities have their own personal chefs. Some even open up their own…
Sickness, Salt, Spices and Natural Remedies
The world is full of natural remedies, some of them so old that it doesn’t seem in anyone’s best interests to turn a blind eye. If they’ve been around this long. there just must be something to them! Salt Saves The Day Recently one of my close friends gifted me with a bottle of sole (pronounced sole-lay). I had heard about this stuff but never really tried it before. That’s a type of Sea Salt elixir that you are supposed to drink every morning to replace electrolytes, stimulate metabolism and increase energy levels. Sole is a preventative and pretty much great for everything. Anyway, I’m on board! Bet you’re wondering…
In Praise of Slowness: On the Road to More Raw
I love Raw Food. Its that simple. Although ‘More Raw” is my mantra, I’m not a vigilante. Nor am I going to get on my soapbox and tell anyone that this is ‘The Way’: eat Fruits and Vegetables and You Will be Saved. And there’s no reason to tell you that even if it might be true. For me, it kind of is. And for you, it might be too. You’ll find out for yourself, all in good time. Just don’t be in too much of a rush. It’s not all or nothing. The journey to better health is just that: a journey. And, like all journeys, it takes time.…
