Cashew Almond Butter Chocolately Goodness

This recipe comes from my good friend Misty.  It is one of my favorite smoothies because it tastes like a milkshake.  I save it for a treat, for when I need something sweet.  

• 4 c frozen bananas
• 1/2 c cacao nibs
• 1/2 tbsp cashew butter
• 2 c vanilla almond milk*
• 1/4 c agave (I use raw honey)

Blend all ingredients in high powered blender like my beloved Blendtec.  I should give that thing a name.

*Sometimes I don't have almond milk so I just use raw almonds (soaked and dried) with water or homemade almond milk. I also usually add in a few handfuls of raw cashews (also soaked and dried) and sometimes some almond butter.

If you make your own almond milk and/or nut butters this would be considered a "raw" recipe.

Homemade Lara Bars aka Lara Balls

I made four versions of Lara Bars yesterday.  Here are the recipes and results.  Use nuts that have been soaked then dehydrated and dates/raisins/prunes that have no preservatives.  Because I made most of these into "ball" shapes, my 7-year-old dubbed them "Lara Balls".  The Protein Bars listed at the bottom need to stay refrigerated, the Lara Balls do not.

Coconut Cream Pie
1 1/2 c. dates
1/3 c. almonds
1/3 c. cashews
1/3 c. coconut

I used 1 cup of dates and 1/2 cup raisins.  In a food processor, mix the dates (and raisins) until it forms a sticky ball.  Remove to a mixing bowl.  Process the nuts (with coconut if it's not already shredded super small) until mostly fine, but with a few smaller chunks.  Add them to the mixing bowl.  With your hands knead the mixture around until it's combined.  Shape into bars or balls.  I opted for balls.  Some people use waxed paper or cling wrap to help in shaping the bars. 

This earned 5 out of 6 thumbs up. 

Cashew Cookie
1 1/2 c. dates
1 c. cashews

Again, I used 1 cup dates and 1/2 cup raisins.  Process the dates (and raisins) until it forms a sticky bowl.  Remove to a separate mixing bowl.  Process the nuts until mostly ground, with a few smaller chunks.  Add them to the bowl and mix with your hands (sort of like kneading bread) until combined.  Shape into bars or balls.  I opted for balls.  Some people use waxed paper or cling wrap to help in shaping the bars.

This earned 2 1/2 out of 6 thumbs up, with it being "the favorite" of the 7-year-old.

Apple Pie
6 dates
about 1/4 c. dehydrated apple slices
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. honey
1/2 c. walnuts
1/2 c. almonds

In a food processor, process the dates, apples, cinnamon and honey until it forms a sticky ball.  Remove to a mixing bowl.  Process the nuts until mostly fine, with a few small chunks.  Add to the date/apple mixture and mix with your hands until combined.  Shape into bars or balls.  I opted for balls.  Some people use waxed paper or cling wrap to help in shaping the bars.

This earned 6 out of 6 thumbs up.  I may try it with more dehydrated apples next time to make it a bit more appley.  Many of the recipes I saw online used raw apples for this, but said they were runny.  Some also added 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, but I don't like the taste so I left it out.

Protein Bars
2 c. almonds
1/4 c. flax seeds
1/2 c. prunes (or dates or raisins or mixture)
1/2 c. coconut (I left it out)
1/2 c. almond butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. coconut oil
1 tbsp. honey
2-3 tsp. vanilla (I left it out)

Add all the dry ingredients in the food processor (or blender like Blendtec) and process until almost fine. In a small saucepan, melt the coconut oil.  Then add the honey and vanilla if you're using it.  Add to the food processor and pulse a few times to combine.  Press into an 8x8 pan and let chill in the fridge for about an hour.

This earned 4 1/2 out of 6 thumbs up.

The End of Raw

I officially lasted almost two weeks on raw. I had a series of minor breakdowns, followed by a biggie that had my husband wondering if he needed to lock me in a padded room.  It was ugly.  I apologize for not telling you sooner, but it’s taken me quite a while to get back to feeling like me again.

I spent quite a while feeling like a total loser because I couldn’t even go 30 days.  

30 days is nothing.  

Or so I glibly thought.

I kept telling myself that those darn people on Simply Raw went 30 days.  And they had detox like I did.  They wanted to give up.  They had breakdowns.  And THEY KEPT GOING.  

Why couldn’t I????

As my husband pointed out…

1.     They were at a retreat where their food was made for them.  And most likely it was delicious.

2.     They were at a retreat where they did not have to take care of laundry and dishes and kids and homeschool and church service and many other things.

I was in no such place.

I will openly admit that the detox was bad.  Really bad.  The first week or so I was feeling great…and then I started crying…and getting angry…and crying…and getting impatient…and edgy….and crying…and raising my voice (which I NEVER do)….and crying….Most of my detox was emotional and my kids were noticing.  I didn’t like the mom I was becoming and felt very little control over myself at that point. That made me cry even more. 

By the end of the almost two weeks I was a quivering mass of depressed mucous-covered raw nerves.  My husband called an end to the insanity and I started eating “normal” food.  And wouldn’t you know it, within a few days I was happier, calmer, and in control of my emotions again.  And fatter.  I regained the 7 pounds I lost. 

I’m currently working on a semi-raw diet.  So far I’m doing well emotionally and physically.  I eat raw for breakfast in the form of a large smoothie (usually a green one).  Lunch is either salad or vegetable soup/chowder with another massive smoothie.   Dinner is a small portion of whatever I cooked for dinner with veggies and fruit on the side.  I’ve been making a lot of vegetarian meals lately and tons of soup.  I feel so calm, so healthy after a big bowl of veggie soup with homemade broth.  It is very grounding.  I’m also trying to avoid sugar and bread.  

But they are NOT trying to avoid me.

My husband still thinks that raw is a great idea, in moderation.  He also suggested that I try various recipes out while eating “normal” thus building a collection of meals that I enjoy…after a while I should have a supply of “go to” raw recipes that I like, instead of ones I throw in the garbage. 

So, our current goal is to maintain the status quo albeit a modified status quo including many, many more smoothies….and work on building a repertoire of raw and/or vegetarian meals.  Are we giving up meat and dairy?  Not for now.  But we do want to decrease the amount we eat…and increase the quality. 

I found that I don’t really care for “gourmet raw”.  I don’t like the fake sour creams and fake noodles and fake whatevers.  They taste fake.  The things I enjoyed the most were raw foods acting like themselves – a salad acting like a salad, veggies tasting like veggies instead of like some nasty sauce, fruit that still looked and tasted like the actual fruit.   Gourmet raw relies on a lot of nuts and seeds, which I found somewhat irritating (to my gut).  And expensive.  Some recipes used hardly any veggies at all – it was all nuts and seeds.  That didn’t feel “raw” to me.  Just fake.  (The repeated use of the word fake in this post has now ended.)

I have learned a few things from this experience:

     For my mental health and well-being, I need to make gradual changes to my diet.  Some people may not have this problem.  I do.

     I was surprised at how strong a hold food has over me.  How emotional eating is.  I want to work at freeing myself from this dependence.  Food is my drug…and I want to break the chains.  Any suggestions?

     Food tastes best when it is in its most natural state.  Covering it with a sauce, even a raw sauce, usually doesn’t enhance the food.

     Blended soups need my attention.  I must figure out how to make more blended soups…but make them  chunkier  …and warmer.

    Smoothies are my friend.

     There is really no replacement for a great salad.  All the gourmet raw in the world doesn’t beat a salad with a fantastic dressing.

     Foods eaten in their natural state are faster than making fancy recipes.  That’s a big duh, but I need to learn it.  A nectarine is much faster, much tastier, much easier than putting together a frilly little doo-dah to snack on.

For now, raw is done.  It was not fun.  Hey, that rhymed! I’m still learning though, and still experimenting with raw recipes.  Just at a slower pace. 

I’m taking one day at a time and doing the best I can that day to be healthy.

A (Not Gross) Raw Recipe

For lunch today I made a raw "chicken" salad.  It was rather tasty!  If only they all were.....

Raw “Chicken” Salad

1/2 cup sunflower seeds, soaked 3 hours

1/2 cup cashews, soaked 3 hours

2" piece cucumber

1 tablespoon chopped onion

1/2 celery stick

1/4 cup pecans pieces

1 teaspoon dill

1/4 teaspoon curry powder 

1/2 teaspoon salt

 Juice from 1/2 lemon

 lots of ground black pepper

one half carrot (optional)

In a food processor bowl fitted with a metal blade, combine all ingredients. Pulse to combine. It should be a finer texture than regular chicken salad--that helps it to stick together.   The cucumber and nuts and carrot should release water after it sits.  Stuff sweet peppers or wrap with Romaine.

I just pulsed everything in my Blendtec.  I had to stir it around a few times to make sure everything got their turn on the blade.  I didn't soak the nuts because I decided to make it last minute; it turned out just fine.

I'm still raw...and I hate it

I haven't posted for the last few days.  I'm still raw.  I hate it.  I've had several recipe disasters lately which has me feeling demotivated to keep going.  I can't tell you how awful it is to cook a meal for the kids, make a raw meal for me and hubby and then taste it and realize it's putrid...and then have to go back in the kitchen to try again.

The kitchen is my prison.  I spend so much time there right now.  I feel like the only thing I do, all day, is cook, "uncook" and wash dishes so I can do it all again in a couple hours.

Not to sound any more pathetic and whiny than I already do, but mealtimes are now a dreaded part of my day.  I have actually spent the last two dinner preps crying the entire time.  It's difficult to chop veggies with a sharp knife while tears are streaming down your face.  Try it sometime.  Okay, don't.  It's dangerous.

The thing I was most unprepared for was how the whole diet change would affect me emotionally.  Warm food calls to me, beckons me, mocks me and makes me sob. 

Warm food……

My husband is encouraging me to continue.  A part of me is grateful for that…..the other part is really angry.  I want him to say it’s okay to eat comforting, delicious food again.  I’m tired of eating weird tasting COLD food. 

I want a steak.

I’ve lost around 7 pounds.  That should encourage me.  It does.  Sort of.  I’ve resigned myself to not enjoying my food for the next three weeks.  In fact, I’m on a short of uncooking strike.  I’m eating salads and drinking smoothies.  All those fancy schmancy raw food recipes are just sitting on my counter gathering dust right now.  Too many failed recipes.  Too many ingredients wasted.

Have you ever noticed that most raw foodists are single?  Okay, some of them are married, but they only have a designer dog.  They’re not trying to prepare food for small children.  They’re not trying to maintain a home filled with small children.  Small children who need attention and who make messes.  Not that my children would ever make messes.  They would never take the entire bucket of Legos and dump it on the floor.   Okay, they might.  They did.

I need to go shopping tomorrow.  It’s a serious debate for me whether I buy another week’s worth of “raw food”.

 It cost over $230 last week. 

That’s over HALF of my monthly budget.

That’s a lot of money.

And did I mention it’s gross?

Thanks for listening. 

I will now go back to my normally scheduled happy mood.

After I eat a steak...

Maybe.

Raw - Day 4

The big news.....so far I've lost 6 pounds.  Since Friday!  I'm not sure where I'm losing it from because I don't see much of a body change yet.  Well, my belly is a bit smaller, so is my rear end and my double chin is shrinking.  I'm also noticing that I don't have my afternoon crash - the one where I need to take a nap around 3:00.

I've had headaches off and on (but I have a lot normally) so I'm not sure if I'm detoxing or just being me. I'm surprised at how I'm not feeling hungry.  I sort of expected to starve the whole time and feel like I was never getting enough to eat.  But I've felt full after every meal and rarely feel like snacking.  The thing that's the hardest is the temperature.  I miss warm/hot food!  I'll be eating something and think, "This would taste so much better if it were warm."  I hadn't realized that I equate comfort with food warmth.

I ate a late breakfast and my husband came home early for lunch so I ended up eating Pad Thai for brunch.

Breakfast
Pad Thai with Kelp Noodles - recipe by Ani Phyo

1/2 c. almond butter

1 c. coconut oil

1/4 c. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos

1/2 c. lemon juice

2 tbsp. jalapeno

2 tsp. coriander

1 1/2 c. water

Blend.  Toss with:

2 to 4 packages Kelp noodles

½ c. basil

2 c. shredded cabbage

My thoughts...it tastes nothing like pad thai, but was still very good.  Pretty much nothing can taste like pad thai unless it's pad thai from a little restaurant in Seaside, CA called Baan Thai.  They make the absolute best pad thai (and singapore noodles) on the planet.  When we lived in CA we ate there almost every week.  They knew us so well they bought us a Christmas present!  Nothing beats sitting at the beach eating great pad thai.

Um, back to the recipe.  This obviously makes a lot so I halved it.  I soaked the kelp noodles in warm water with some lemon juice.  Within 15 minutes they were nice and soft.  The fresh basil was such an amazing addition.  I now want to grow a basil plant so I can put it on everything.  The sauce was quite lemony so the next time I'd decrease that a bit.  I didn't halve the cabbage though, and I liked having a lot of crunchy veggie with my noodles.

Lunch

1 pomegranate (I'm so loving them right now)

Cream of Zucchini Soup - Jennifer Cornbleet, 'Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People'

½ cup water

1 zucchini, chopped (about 1 to 1 1/2 cups)

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 tablespoon lemon juice 

1 teaspoon mellow white miso

½ teaspoon crushed garlic (1 clove)

¼ teaspoon sea salt

dash cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ avocado, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh minced dill, or 1 tsp dried

Place all of the ingredients except the olive oil, avocado and dill in a blender. Blend until smooth.  Add the olive oil and avocado and blend until smooth. Add the dill and blend briefly just to mix.  Serve immediately.  Serves 2

My thoughts...If I hadn't gone a bit crazy with the raw garlic, this would have been a nice, mellow soup. Don't do as I did and add two large cloves of garlic - more is not always better.

I didn't chop anything.  I just cut stuff into two or three pieces and added it to the blender.  I don't think it serves two.  I came away with one and a half bowls...which I ate myself!  Like the last soup I made it was very, very thin.  I like thick soups.  Even chunky ones.

Dinner

Mushroom Tacos with Mango Salsa

Tacos

Portabella mushrooms

zucchini

olive oil

Nama Shoyu

garlic

sea salt or seasoning salt

lemon juice

I cut up 2 large mushroom caps, after chasing the kids around with them.  I cut the zucchini into small strips.  Then I just sort of drizzled or dashed stuff on top and stirred it around.  I made it at breakfast and let it marinade all day (stirring whenever I walked through the kitchen).  By dinner time they were very soft and seemed almost cooked, albeit not warm.  I was surprised at how much the mushrooms reduced.  From filling a small bowl at the beginning to barely covering the bottom!

Mango Salsa

1 mango

a nice medium tomato or a few small ones

some onion

a bit of garlic (unless you're still burping it up from lunch)

salt

cilantro

a lime 

avocado

I cut up the mango, seeded and chopped the tomatoes, tiny diced about 1/4 cup onion and skipped the garlic.  I added a large handful of cilantro and chunked the avocado, sprinkled with salt, then squeezed half a lime all over it and stirred.

To serve, I used romaine lettuce leaves (I ate 4).  Add the mushroom stuff and the salsa, roll and eat.

My thoughts...these didn't taste like tacos.  But I'm a diehard taco fan (they're my favorite food, followed by pad thai).  But they were tasty.  They dripped a lot (I should have drained the marinade better), but I liked the combination of slightly sweet and salty.  Towards the end I just ate the salsa and mushrooms with a fork and yes, I ate the whole thing by myself.  

Raw - Day 3

Today was a slightly weird day for raw because we had church, and additional church leadership meetings and visits and such.  But, I made it through another day!

Breakfast
Fruit smoothie
1 banana
several cups of frozen strawberries, blueberries and cherries
1 orange
about 2 cups coconut water

Blended in the good old Blendtec and gulped it down before we ran out the door.

Lunch
1 persimmon

Nori Rolls
1 avocado
salt
a tsp. or so Nama Shoyu
a bit of garlic powder
a splash of lemon juice

Smooshed it all together in a bowl with a fork.  That's what us old-fashioned people without food processors do.

On a piece of seaweed we spread some of the smooshed avocado along one edge.  We added:
the leftover "noodles" from last night
broccoli slaw
spinach and butter lettuce, sliced small

Then we rolled it all up and dipped it in the Raw Asian Dressing and Spicy Peanut Sauce (separately), both from yesterday.  The overall taste was very nice - the dipping sauces totally 'made' the meal though.  I don't think I would have been able to eat the seaweed without them.  Thanks Misty!  You totally saved my bacon (except I didn't eat bacon).

My two oldest, once again, decided to try these on their own.  They made up a roll, dipped and had 2 or 3 bites and said they were done.

Dinner
I didn't get home until after 8 so I just made a quick soup.

Thai Vege Soup - posted by Ocean at Raw Freedom Community

1 orange pepper

1/2 tbsp. sea salt

3 carrots

3/4 c. cashews

4 radishes

2 c. warm water

1 tbsp. curry powder

3/4 c. almond milk

1 tbsp.. Nama shoyu

1 tbsp. agave

1/2 tbsp. jalapeño pepper

1/8 cup green onions

Add everything to a blender and blend until blended.  (That's a lot of blending!)

My thoughts....very tasty.  I used two small sweet peppers, one yellow and one orange.  I cut off the end of a jalapeño and used that instead of measuring.  And I didn't use the green onions because I think they're nasty.

The soup was very, very thin.  I'd like to make it again and use less liquid, and possibly add some veggies right at the end so there's some chunkiness.  I ate my second bowl with coconut milk stirred in, which made me think that using coconut milk instead of water might be a tasty replacement.  I love curry, and this definitely had the curry taste.  I might decrease it though because it overpowered everything (in a mostly good way).  

This whole "blended soup" thing has me thinking about all the soups I can make for my family and, instead of using a water or broth base, I can blend a ton of veggies making a smooth base and then add chunks and textures to give the mouth feel that thin, watery soups make me long for.

We finished the meal with another fruit smoothie, at the insistence of my 4-year-old.  Three of the four boys joined in and by the end there was barely enough for me!

Raw - Day 2

Well, I'm not sure I'm going to make it!!!  Eating raw is already starting to annoy me.  Maybe I'm just detoxing lots of negative emotions....

First of all, I hate having my entire fridge full of produce.  It's so full I can't find anything.  And there isn't room for anything except produce.  And it's getting squished.  I only did a one-week shop because there is no way I'd be able to fit more than that.  It was expensive.

Second, if a meal flops, there isn't much you can grab at the last minute so you don't starve.  Most of the meals require quite a bit of prep and many need "marinating" time.  Essentially I'm making 6 meals a day, 3 for my kids and 3 for my husband and me.  It's a deflating thought to have to go back into the kitchen and make something else if the first thing tastes yucky.

That being said, here's what I ate today.

Breakfast
Hot Pink Smoothie - recipe by Green Smoothie Girl
1 1/2 c. young Thai coconut water
1 large carrot, cleaned and cut into pieces (or 5-6 baby carrots)
1/2 medium raw beet, peeled
1/4 c. cashews
1/4 c. chopped dates
2 tsp. vanilla
12 frozen strawberries
2 tbsp. kefir or yogurt (optional)

Puree all ingredients except strawberries for 90 seconds.  Add strawberries and puree on high until smooth.

Okay, here are my thoughts after having made this a bazillion times...the coconut water can be obtained by cracking open a young Thai coconut (look for the white pointy one, not the brown hairy one).  You can also use canned coconut water if needed.  I also scrape out the coconut meat and add that to the smoothie.

I don't add the dates.  I also don't add the vanilla.

I add way more than 12 strawberries.  About a cup or two.  I often add a berry mixture instead of plain strawberries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and/or blackberries).

I also just throw everything in at one time.  I love this smoothie and drink it about once a week.  Thai coconuts cost $2.29 each so I don't use them every day.  My husband thinks this tastes "too beety", but I enjoy the taste and don't find it overpowering at all.

Lunch
Romaine Wraps with Sweet Mustard

3 leaves romaine

1 cucumber

1 carrot

1 avocado

2 tbsp raw agave

1 small onion, chopped

1 cup mung bean sprouts

1 tsp mustard powder or 1 tbsp prepared mustard

salt and pepper (to taste … about 1/4 tsp each)

Mix agave, mustard, salt and pepper and set aside. Chop cucumber into sticks, shave carrot curls with a vegetable peeler, slice avocado into strips. Divide all equally between the romaine leaves, drizzle with the sweet mustard sauce and wrap up. These are juicy and messy.  This serves 1 person.

My thoughts....these were fantastic.  My husband and I agreed that we'd eat these again, even if we weren't on a raw diet.  And here's a funny thing about me - I hate cucumbers.  But I loved them in these wraps.

We each ate 3 wraps worth (3 leaves) and felt pleasantly full.  I cut the cucumbers into small matchsticks (and only used half of a large English cucumber).  I used a handheld julienne peeler for the carrots (I used 2, one for each of us).  One avocado per person.  I didn't use the onion and I didn't have any sprouts.  

For the sauce I used agave, but if you like raw honey (like I do) you could easily switch them.  I also used prepared mustard (French's, which probably isn't raw but it was the easiest to find while making lunch).  I added salt and pepper, then some garlic and onion powder.  I kept tasting until I thought it was right.  Then I doubled it because it was so good!  So per person I used 4 tbsp. agave + 2 tbsp. mustard and the seasonings.

Eating these were messy.  Very messy.  But yummy.  I think next time we'll make this into a salad - same ingredients, but chopped up and eaten with a fork.  One of my 10-yr-olds asked me to show him how to make the dressing and he ate a huge plate of salad with it and said it was "one of the best I've ever had".

Dinner

1/2 of a pomegranate

Sesame-Mixed Vegetable “Noodles” with Herbs - 
from Living Raw Food by Sarma Melngailis

Sesame Dressing

1 cup sesame tahini


1/4 cup sesame oil


1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice


1/4 cup mellow red miso


3/4 cup plus 2 Tb. filtered water


1/4 cup black sesame seeds

In a large bowl, whisk together the tahini, sesame oil, lemon juice, miso, and 1/4 cup of the water.  Add the remaining ingredients a bit at a time and continue whisking until smooth. Stir in the sesame seeds and set aside.

Vegetables Noodles

4 cups daikon radish, julienned on a mandoline


2 red bell peppers, cored and julienned


3 medium zucchini, julienned on a mandoline


3 medium carrots,  julienned on a mandoline


6 baby bok choy, leaves thinly sliced on a bias


3 scallions, whites and about an inch of the green, thinly sliced


1 big handful cilantro leaves


Sea salt

In a large bowl, toss all prepared vegetables and the sesame dressing until evenly coated. Season to taste with sea salt. Serves 8-10.

My thoughts....the sesame dressing was disgusting.  I tried the sauce after making it and knew I would never be able to eat it.  That sparked a "discussion" with my husband about how all raw food was gross and I just needed to Cowboy Up and eat it.  We went back and forth for a bit and I just made a different sauce (actually two of them) to serve with the noodles.  At the table my husband insisted on serving himself the sesame sauce, and said "It isn't bad.  Just what I expected raw food to taste like."  A few minutes later he said, "You're right; this is bad."  He then sampled the other sauces and enjoyed them much more!

The 'noodles' themselves were great.  The daikon was a bit peppery, and next time I'd use less.  I didn't use the quantities in the recipe because I didn't want to serve 8 to 10 people.  I just julienned (with my hand-held gadget) the amounts I thought looked good.  I also only used 3 baby bok choy.

For the sauces I used two that Misty over at J&M Ranch shared.

Raw Asian Dressing

1/4 cup safflower or grapeseed oil

1/4 cup of agave

2 Tbsp Nama Shoyu, San J Tamari, or High Quality Soy Sauce

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp sesame oil (optional)

Blend on low power in Vita Mix just until blended. Store in a mason jar or salad dressing jar in the fridge.

My thoughts....very good.  I just used a small hand whipper thingy because my Blendtec doesn't like small quantities like this.  I think I added a bit of salt too.

Raw Spicy Peanut Sauce

1/2 cup raw peanut butter


1 teaspoons Chinese hot chili oil with red pepper flakes


3 teaspoons Nama Shoyu or organic soy sauce


1 clove minced garlic


Coconut milk


In a food processor combine everything except the oil until well blended. Add the coconut milk just until the sauce is of the consistency you like. Adjust shoyu and chili to taste.

My thoughts...I don't have a food processor so I just used the hand whipper thingy again.  We all really liked this.

I preferred the peanut sauce on the 'noodles' (the Asian sauce would be better as a dip or lettuce salad dressing).  One of my older sons had 2 servings of the noodles, plain. The other 10-yr-old ate a big helping of the noodles with the peanut sauce.  Neither was required to do so, they just saw it and wanted to try it!   We ate them with chopsticks which made us feel super cool.  

This is very similar to a recipe for Asian Noodle Salad that I tried (and liked) from Pioneer Woman, but which isn't entirely raw.

So final verdict...I'd made the noodle part again and use the Raw Spicy Peanut Sauce or similar delicious sauce.  I might also try the PW salad without the noodles.  Or with them when I'm unraw again.

Raw - Day 1

Today is Day 1 of my Raw for 30 Days.

Breakfast:

3/4 of a persimmon  

Green smoothie consisting of:

1 apple

2 seckel pears

some frozen mangos and pineapple

1/2 frozen banana

4 large handfuls spinach

3 large handfuls "mixed greens"

a little over 1 cup coconut water

Have you folks tried persimmons yet?  I had never tasted one before and I love them!  I've only tried the Fuyu kind which I've read is sweeter.  I just washed it, sliced it and ate it, skin and all.

Lunch:

Uh, I was grocery shopping and skipped lunch.

Snack:

Cauliflower popcorn

This was pretty tasty.  It didn't taste like popcorn, but it was a pleasant way to eat raw cauliflower.  My kids were not impressed, but my husband said it was "okay".  One head of cauliflower made way more than I could eat, and it gets rather soggy if not eaten right away.  If you're making it for just one person, only cut up what you'll eat in one sitting.

Dinner:

Tacos

Salad with guacamole

Pineapple

I have a lovely picture of this, but can't find my camera cord.  I guess tomorrow will be a cleaning day!

Tacos

1 c. pecans 

1/2 c. sunflower seeds

1 1/2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

3/4 tsp. coriander

2 tsp. Nama Shoyu or Bragg's Liquid Aminos

3 tbsp. water

1/2 tsp. sea salt

Pulse until chopped but not blended.  To assemble, place a few spoonfuls of 'taco meat' on Romaine or butter lettuce.  Top with chopped tomatoes and avocados.  This would also be good with chopped cilantro, sprouts and/or cucumbers.

These were actually quite tasty.  The nut meat tasted very tacoish.  I couldn't get my sunflower seeds to crack (I used my Blendtec and it didn't like the small amount of ingredients) so the texture wasn't quite what I wanted.  I only had coriander seeds and I think next time I won't use them, or I'll try to find ground coriander.  I found large chunks of them while chewing and it overpowered that bite (and several after).  I ate 4 lettuce leaves worth and along with the salad and pineapple was rather full at the end.

Fruit Cereal

One of the "raw" recipes we experimented with a few months ago was a huge hit.  We've had it at least once a month for the last little while.  Here's what we do....

I set out a bowl for each person and put whatever fruit we have in the house on the table.  I go around the table asking who wants a banana, or an apple or some strawberries, etc.  I cut up the fruit into smaller-than-bite-sized pieces and put it in the designated bowl for that person.  At the end, everyone has a bowl of their favorite fruits.

I know what you're saying, "Hey, that sounds like fruit salad."  Well, it is, sort of.  But it's different for each person and my kids hate fruit salad.  They love fruit cereal.  (It's all in the sales pitch!)

All of them like it with a drizzle of raw honey.  A part of me cringes at that, but a bowl of fresh fruit with a small amount of raw honey is much better than two big bowls of Cocoa Puffs.  Some of them like to put milk on theirs, others prefer it without.  You could use cow milk or nut/rice milk.  One of my boys loves to eat just bananas for his "cereal".  A bowl with 2 bananas cut up.  Fine by me!!!

Some suggestions for fruit....
Apples
Pears
Bananas
Strawberries
Blueberries
Raspberries
Grapes (green, red or black, just make sure they're seedless)
Cherries
Nectarines
Peaches

I prefer not to put citrusy-type fruits in mine because I think it overpowers the sweet berry flavors, but you could certainly add them to yours.
Oranges
Grapefruit
Kiwi
Pineapple
Mango
Papaya

Any leftover cereal gets recycled into a lunch smoothie!