Happy Thanksgiving:
Tradition is the number one downfall of my raw veganism.
As much as I want to only eat raw food because of how amazing it makes me feel, I do admit the social pressures of eating cooked food is enormous. So if you are going home for Thanksgiving this year here are a couple great recipes to incorporate into your T-Day meal that don’t stray too far from tradition.
Have a happy Raw Thanksgiving!!
Happy Sunday:
Here is a little fruit porn to liven up your morning.
DESK SNACKS:
Like most people I spend a fair amount of time at a desk. And like most offices, there is a large amount of snack food around, none of which is healthy, never mind even being raw.
So in these hard times we must be self sustaining!
My desk always has the following items on hand: Apples, Raw trail mix and bananas. Today I have the addition of some raw cookies and kiwi’s.
Trust me, these save you when you’re tempted by left over Halloween candy or the upcoming holiday candy destined to find its way to your desk.
RAW DINING:
My friend Kelly and I went to CRU in Silverlake yesterday to have a lovely raw vegan dinner. I have to say I was very impressed and it was a relief to not have to cook and clean up after myself for once!
We had an appetizer as well as the two entrees pictured above and the total bill with tip was about $25 each. It was definitely worth it and gave me some great ideas on how to spice up my own dinners!
Pasteurization: A dirty word
Pasteurization is a process of heating a food, usually liquid, to a specific temperature for a definite length of time, and then cooling it immediately. This process slows microbial growth in food. (via wikipedia)
They tell ya its necessary because it kills the bad stuff, but it also kills the good stuff too!
For the past few weeks, almost every time I come home from the grocery store I realize that something I bought, thinking it was RAW actually says “Gently Pasteurized” or “Flash Pasteurized” somewhere on the packaging.
Obviously this means, the raw almonds or orange Juice, is not actually full of wonderful enzymes, but dead food. I now spend a great deal of time reading labels at stores and scowering the packaging for the “P” word.
A perfect example of this is the Orange Juice I bought at Trader Joe’s last week on the right, actually is flash pasteurized. Today I purchased the OJ to the left which actually says several times on the packaging that the oranges are squeezed fresh, bottled cold, and never heated.
To learn more about the comercial process of pasteurized OJ click here.
Raw Tea!
My good friend Molly told me an awesome recpie for raw tea.
Chop up your desired amount of lemon, ginger and fresh mint. Heat up some water (not too hot!) and voila! Delicious and healthy tea!
Or do a HUGE majority of raw food recipes seem to be just desserts? I do love chocolate and dessert, but COME ON, I do have three other important meals throughout the day.
Todays Lunch: Nori Rolls!!
I am discovering I am quite the lazy raw vegan. I do love mixing up sauces and dips, but honestly, some weeks I do not have the time. One easy trick to keeping things easy is to have Nori on hand so I can chop up veggies, and simply roll them into a delish hand roll.
Ingredients: Mixt greens, sprouts, thinly sliced cucumber, tomato, carrot, and avocado.
Instrucions: Place your veggies evenly on the sheet, leaving just one inch from the bottom and one inch from the top. Then start to roll tightly from the bottom and when you get to the end moisten the last half inch to stick it closed.
If you have a sushi mat that will help, but I do it just fine without one. Also, don’t worry about cutting them, just gobble them up!
Today’s lunch: I didn’t have a lot of time so I grabbed mixed greens, avocado, daikon sprouts, and the salsa I made on Monday then squeezed on some lemon for dressing. Viola! Delish raw lunch
