Taking a break

So after a bit of thought.  I've decided to take a 3-4 day break from just raw food.  Cravings have won out.  But I'm ok with doing this.  I don't view it as a failure and am really proud of what I've already accomplished so far.  Part of what I hope to do is maintain raw for two meals a day and then return to all raw in a few days and try another 2 weeks.  Not much more to say.   I need to do some cooking the next few days.  as I cook I'll keep you updated! 

The Runner Stumbles

These are my raw pancakes, topped with mashed blueberries with a slight amount of agave nectar

So the last couple of days have been a little more difficult for me. I slipped a little bit but am back on track and doing ok. On Thursday hate I had made, Curry Rice really didn't turn out. I don't think it was so much of fault on my part as it was that soaked rice doesn't soften enough to make it palatable. The rice still tasted raw and ruined the dish. I'm going to try the curry sauce again but next time, only with vegetables. I had planned to use the rest of the meal for the following day, having not planned anything else. Then I was out for a good portion of the day and when out we stopped ay the Apollo Restaurant on Hopkins Street. For numerous reasons, first and foremost cleanliness, I wouldn’t recommend eating here. I ordered a salad. The good news is that it was $2.99, the bad news was it tasted like it was $0.50. The salad and the dressing had absolutely no taste.

 

So feeling hungry and a little bad for myself. I stopped at wegmans and bought eggplant parm and cheesecake. I went home and ate them all up. I felt crummy too so I guess I got what I deserved! I finished up the cheese cake the next day, but stayed on the diet for the next day.

 

The really good news in all of this is that my sugar didn't spike up noticeably. On Saturday my blood sugar was 121 and Sunday (today) it was 144. It's not that I think that I could go off of my meds but it showed me that I can goof up and still see the improvements.

 

Now onto what I cooked today. I finally made the Ani Phyo Sunburgers

 

Ani Phyo’s Raw Sun Burger

 

Makes 4 burgers
Ingredients:

• 2 stalks celery
• 1/4 c onion
• 1/2 c red bell pepper
• 1 t sea salt
• 2 t oregano, fresh or dried
• 1 c sunflower seeds
• 1/2 c flax seeds, ground
• slightly less than 1/2 c water

 

Rather than chopping these ingredients, I threw them all into my food processor and blended until everything was only slightly chunky. Now, simply place on your keflex sheet and form into 4 patties. Her directions didn't say to flip the burgers but I decided to flip them. The recipe didn't say how long to dehydrate but I decided that I'd go for about 12 hrs.

 

I decided to double the recipe because I really like the other sunburgers that I've made and hope that I will theses as well. We'll see how they taste tomorrow. I also made my first raw cupcakes!

 

Choccie Cupcakes!

• 1 cup walnuts, un-soaked
• 5 Medjool dates, un-soaked, pitted
• 1/8 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil, liquid form
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt

 Process walnut and dates in a food processor until mixture sticks together. Add sea salt, vanilla extract and almond extract. Roll small eight balls out of the mixture and place each one in 1 ¼-inch baking cups. Mold the sides of the baking cups around the balls and form into a cupcake shape.

 

The cupcakes were delicious! I really liked them and to be honest they did remind me of a really dense version of cupcakes. I made the following frosting recipe to go on top. It was very simple and initially tasty but as I licked the spoon a little more I found the oil to be a bit much. We’ll see how it works on a cupcake. I am also a little worried on the amount of oil used. There were a few other recipes available, using less oil but they required me to soak tings over night and I wanted to try these a little sooner then tomorrow. I will try the other frostings next time and see how it goes. I also am not the biggest fan of walnuts so I will try different recipes that use a mix of other nuts. (Well I just ate one cupcake. I do think I will go for another type of frosting. The oil is a bit too much, but overall it was very good!)

 

 The Raw Food Frosting Recipe

 

The recipe is from a post on the Raw Freedom Community. While this recipe features lemon juice, you could make the same recipe with most fruits. I have reprinted it below with modifications.

•  1 C coconut oil
•  1/4 C agave nectar
•  rind from 1 large lemon
•  1/4 C lemon juice

 

1. Beat the coconut oil until creamy.

 2. Mix in the agave nectar.

 3. Mix in the lemon rind and lemon juice.

 

The frosting will spread well. However, it will not be thick enough to pipe. After you put it in the refrigerator, it will harden. I liked it much better cold and would strongly recommend serving it that way

 

 Dinner was nice and easy and very satisfying! I made my version of raw burritos.

 

 Raw Burritos

• Romaine lettuce leafs
• raw salsa (Make your own or you can do what I did and purchased it at Wegmans. I checked all of the ingredients first and I bought the fresh, not bottled!)
• raw guacamole (Any recipe will do. I just used avocado, garlic, cumin, and a tomato. I forgot to add some lime juice and cilantro, but it tasted fine.)
• sliced portabella mushrooms
• black olives
• carrots, thinly julienned
• jicama, thinly julienned
• sliced tomato
• sliced broccoli spears

 

I distributed a healthy serving of each item on the two romaine leaves and I then enjoyed. they were very good.

 

Not perfect for definitely a nice switch and I'll have the rest tomorrow! I might even throw in a little bit of a sunburger to see how that tastes in it!

 

I'm not sure if I’m right here, but it seems like I might be spending less at the supermarket the longer I am preparing raw. Now the initial out put of money for all of these specialty items is definitely a chunk of change, but i went shopping tonight and only bought what I needed. Which for me is rare. usually I buy all of these other items which I munch on or plan to eat later. They are obviously not raw, so I no longer am interested in buying them. So all in all I'm doing less binge buying. I wish I had kept better track of how much I spent before, but I didn't so it can only guess!

Well That's all for now. TTYL!

Planning, Planning, Planning

Well let me start off by noting that I've discovered that there is a new editing box for new posts.  it allows different colors as well as different fonts. Although the fonts are not that different and are not as quickly noticeable, it's kinda cool to have it. I can also change the size of the lettering to emphasize things. There are a few other features but you're hear to discuss raw food with me, so lets discuss!

I went back to all of the old posts and added labels.  labels are the words or phrases that search engines use when they decide to display different pages for ones review.

You will not that there is a new gadget to the right of the blog.  It's Seasonal Foods. Which i felt was in keeping with the theme of the blog.  As you cook and eat raw foods, for planning purposes, it's important that you be aware of what the different foods are during the season.  It's best to buy local which is both ecological and good for your community.  All of which brings us to today's topic PLANNING!

Planning is probably the most important parts of a raw diet.  You usually have to plan one, to two days ahead for a meal. This is due to all of the soaking, and dehydrating that must occur before you are able to eat many pf the meals.  It is actually the most difficult part for me.  I tend to eat at the spur of the moment, which I think might certainly contribute to my weight problem.  If i planned better and more often I would probably have healthier meals. Some days I forget to plan properly and am stuck having the same thing over and over again.  (Today being an example, although I did enjoy the salad.) I'm getting better but it's still something that I have to work at.

So a couple of thoughts, not directly related to planning, but:

• I'm betting that purists will frown, but I don't always use organic (Cost can be a problem as well as availability)
• And the few processed foods i use, (nut butters and soy sauce) are not even raw. But the bulk of my food does fall under the raw heading.

I just wanted to be completely honest! I hate to have people think that I'm doing so good when they may be struggling or are intimidated by the raw diet.

So I tried the Raw Oatmeal Cookies and they were fantastic.  If you make them, please remember that they are not the same as cookies but they are sweet and delicious! Initially I thought that I would dehydrate them for less time but after they have sat a day or two they soften back up so the time suggested seems to be perfect.

I also tried the two Essence breads that I made. The Essence Bread #1, which is the less sweet one, I preferred over the second bread. Although one thing I did notice was that it was a bit too thick, so next time I will have to make them a little thinner.   I had no real problem eating it.  I had it with a Sunburger and the fixins.  The Essence Bread #2 I found to be very bitter and harder to eat.  I served it with Peanut Butter, honey and bananas.  I eventually removed to the top slice so that I could eat it better (This was one of those days where i had not planned well and had nothing else to eat.) It was suggested in one blog that the longer the sprout tails are the more bitter the grain and my sprouts were pretty long so I will be careful next time and see of that makes a difference.

Today I tried a few new things. 

                             Raw Pancakes
                        The Idiots Guide to Raw Eating

• 1 cup red Fuji Apple, cored, and chopped.
• 8 pitted dates, soaked for 30 minutes
• 1/4 date soak water
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1 TB vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lime zest
• 1 tsp cinnamon
•  TB golden flax seeds, ground
• pinch salt
• 1/ cup buckwheat groats, ground
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1. place apple, dates, soak water, agave nectar, vanilla, lime zest cinnamon and flax seeds in a blender.  Blend for about 20 seconds or a chunky batter forms. 
2. combine with groats and coconut in a bowl and mix
3. scoop onto teflex sheet. They will flatten a little so make about 1/2 in thick.
4. Dehydrate for 6-8 at 120 degrees.  Flip and dehydrate for another 4-6 hours. 
5. Serve while still sightly soft in the middle
6. Serve hot.  They can be stored for 3-5 days.

I didn't have groats so I just used rolled oats. I used a granny smith apple and forgot the lime zest.  If the batter was any indication, it was really good.  I'll be having them for a late lunch tomorrow. 

                                Brown rice in curry sauce

                                                 By Vanessa Johnson  

• 1/2 cup of brown rice (must be brown)
• 1 tbsp. curry powder
• 1 lb. carrots
• 1/2 small beet
• 1 stalk celery
• Chinese spinach (when juiced thickens sauce- could use soaked flax seeds instead)
• 1 clove garlic grated
• 1/2 small onion chopped finely
• olive oil
• mung bean greens

Soak brown rice in plenty water for 12 hours. Drain. Mix in chopped bean greens and place in serving dish. In a glass place onion,garlic and any other desired seasoning greens. Just cover these with olive oil and let soak. In another glass mix curry powder with enough olive oil to make into a paste. Juice beet, carrots and celery and Chinese spinach. Add curry paste to juice and mix well. Pour curry sauce into serving sauce bowl.

Part of the enjoyment of this dish is all the serving that you allow yourself. I'll explain. You have the rice mixture in a bowl. The onion/garlic mix in a serving shot glass (or something) and then you have the sauce that should look orangy/reddy/browny in a another serving bowl all on a tray. Your bowl is empty. Then you spoon in some rice and on one side of the rice you spoon on some of the onion garlic mix, on the other you spoon on some of the curry sauce and so as you eat the rice, you decide how much of what flavours you want. Then you can serve yourself some more rice and more sauces... it reminds me of the way Asians eat- many serving bowls of different interesting stuff.. and you keep serving yourself as you go along.

Be careful not to buy mung beans too soon, I bought mine two days ago and they already went bad.  I'll have to go get more tomorrow now.  Well TTFN! Hope to chat with you all (Both?) again soon!