SO it has been about a month now since we have been eating primarily raw foods. I just want to give an update, some recipes, since I have had several requests for a recipe for the cake I made for James's birthday. I got extremely sick 2 weeks ago. 8 days in bed, 3 days of a really high fever, headache and completely exhausted, lethargic, and absolutely no appetite. When I did eat I had an orange, water, and I tried to make it down for our family dinner every night when possible. I think I had a combination of my body giving in to a flu that has been going around, and a complete detox from all that has been passing thru my body as I eat pure, raw foods that have been cleaning out my system. I had some consulting from my homeopathic doctor on the phone, and he recommended something that did indeed perk me up and get me back on my feet! (I love homeopathy!) Having all of that time in bed, I was able to listen to a lot of interesting lectures on health. For some reason I thought it would be a great idea to watch "Supersize Me" and "Food Matters" again, which are two quite disheartening and startling films. "Food Matters" is the film that originally inspired us to become raw vegan. I also came to realize that beating myself up for not eating EVERYTHING raw that goes into my mouth is not necessary. I am beginning a year long program through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, founded by Joshua Rosenthal. It is an online course, the headquarters for the program are in NYC. Joshua has a book called "Integrative Nutrition", where he talks about having 90% of your food consumption be what you know makes you feel amazing (whole, real, fresh, in-season food), and 10% of the time "slipping up". It is not fair to create so much pressure to stick to a health food attitude when at a party or gathering, or for a more real example- visiting family and going out to eat! I am seeing now that the only things that we really need to worry about are stomach upsets from eating food we are not used to having in our bodies. I have also been discovering more and more that my cravings for food are completely shifting, and I'm not really craving cooked food, but when I do (about once a week or so), I go with it and have something from a nearby to-go place. I soon realize after I have eaten this food that I actually didn't need to eat it, my body is not so happy about digesting the food, and I can move on and learn!
So enough lamenting about raw foods-on with the recipe!
This is from "Ani's Raw Food Kitchen"- I highly recommend this recipe book, I use it almost daily and she has very yummy food in here, as well as some great annectdotes between recipes.
Deep Forest Carob Cake with Fudge Frosting
Cake:
3 1/2 cups Brazil nuts
1 tsp. sea salt
3 cups pitted dates
1 cup carob powder
3 cups shredded coconut
Frosting:
1 cup pitted dates
1/4 cup carob powder
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup water, as needed
To make cake, process Brazil nuts and salt into a powder in your food processor (it is actually quite wet) Slowly add dates. Empty into a large mixing bowl and add carob and coconut. Mix well. Form into a cake shape. (I lined a bowl with parchment paper, smooched in the cake mixture, packing it in real well, the flipped the bowl over on a tray and removed the bowl and parchment paper- makes it a cake shape!)
To make frosting, place all ingredients into your blender. Blend into a smooth frosting. Frost the cake.
Will keep for seven days in the fridge.
*Is especially excellent on day 2 after its been in the fridge for a while, adding fresh fruit to each bite- strawberries and bananas are oh so good!
No baking, easy breezy, and I actually had all ingredients but the Brazil nuts already in my house (actually, I did have to get more dates). Enjoy, let me know how it goes!
Here is another recipe for a smoothie that I enjoy most mornings for breakfast, keeps me going without even thinking about consuming more food until about 1pm (drinking half of this recipe's making at around 7:30am, James has the other half)
Taken from VegNews, a guy with the last name if VanOrden is an amazing world-class athlete running his body 100% on raw food!! This is his morning smoothie, using all organic produce whenever possible.
Green Smoothie
1 Banana
1/2 cup blueberries
4 large kale leaves, de-stemmed
1/2 cup spinach
4 Medjool dates, pitted
1/2 teaspoon dulse
2 cups water
In a blender, combine all ingredients
I will keep posting recipes on here if people are interested, and let me know how your food prep goes! I have quickly learned that preparing raw food is actually much faster, easier and less dish cleanup that cooking food. Most of the time it's just a cutting board and knife that need scrubbing, or the blender needs a run with soap- then the meal is ready to eat and the only thing that's left is cleaning the dishes we ate off of! The kids are adjusting well, Sorrel declared spinach as one of his favorite vegetables tonight! We actually eat much less food (quantity) than when we were cooking food for each meal- the raw food is so full of nutrients, as nothing is lost in cooking, that you actually fill up with about half the amount of food as when eating cooked food. Interesting....
