Gettin Raw

with Rawdawg Rory

Acknowledgements
Wow, where the heck do I start? First off, I want to thank you. Yeah you the one reading this book! I really appreciate the support and am very happy that youre looking into adding some awesome rawness to your life! I hope you enjoy all the info and recipes! Thanks so much to my friends and family for all the support theyve given me. Huge thanks to my brilliant wife Amanda, for her relentless editing and re-editing of this book. You have made it much more readable and beautiful beyond what I couldve anticipated (she took 99% of the photos!). All my friends, subscribers and viewers on You Tube! You all freakin rock! I love all the great comments and questions I receive from all of you, and its awesome to know youre enjoying and gaining so much from all my recipe videos. Many thanks and well wishes to Bunny Berry! Bunny, your work on Raw Fu is awesome, and its been a lot of fun doing recipe videos for the challenges. Keep rockin the Fu! Thanks so much to all my friends online who Ive learned so much from. Huge thanks to all the awesome raw pioneers out there, and those pushing the boundaries to see how healthy and fun we can make our lives by thinking outside the box of pre-processed crap in the middle aisles!

This book is dedicated to Isabel, much love and my deepest wishes for you to have a long, healthy and fun life! You can do anything!!

Disclaimer: This book is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, nor should it be interpreted as such. It is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease. Always work with a qualified health professional before making any change to your diet, prescription drug use, exercise, or lifestyle activities. The reader assumes all risks from the use, misuse, or non-use of this information. In this book I hope to give you some ideas, info, tips and guidelines you can use to make your own decisions about eating healthier!

TableofContents
And so it began............................................................................................................. 7 What raw foods did for me............................................................................................ 10 What can raw do for you? ............................................................................................. 13 What are your goals and inspirations for gettin raw? .............................................. 20 What exactly are raw foods? ........................................................................................ 21 Easing into the raw world.............................................................................................. 26 What you need to get started ....................................................................................... 32 Basic raw food prep techniques................................................................................... 46 Enzyme Inhibitors........................................................................................................... 52 Breakfast ........................................................................................................................ 56 Lemony Goodness ......................................................................................................... 57 Dandy Blend Coffee....................................................................................................... 58 My Favorite Cereal......................................................................................................... 59 Granola, Rawdawg Style .............................................................................................. 60 Fruit as your breakfast? ................................................................................................ 61 Lunch............................................................................................................................... 62 Veggies ............................................................................................................................ 63 Honey Mustard Sauce ................................................................................................... 64 Sunflower Seed Ranch Dip .......................................................................................... 65 Mexican Style Seed Cheeze ........................................................................................ 66 Rawdawgs Raw Energy Bars...................................................................................... 67 This Aint Tuna Salad? .................................................................................................. 69 Cucumber Aioli with Bruschetta and Cheezy Bread Sticks ................................. 71 Cluckless Noodle Soup ................................................................................................. 73 Living Miso Mushroom Soup ........................................................................................ 75 Curried Carrot Soup....................................................................................................... 76 Snacks............................................................................................................................. 77 Flax Crackers.................................................................................................................. 78 Pizza Crackers................................................................................................................ 80 Cheesy Crackers............................................................................................................ 81 Red Pepper Dulse Crackers......................................................................................... 81 Sunflower Flax Tortilla Chips........................................................................................ 82 Ranch style Tortilla Chips ............................................................................................. 83 Nacho Cheese Chips..................................................................................................... 83 Chipotle Chili Cheeze Chips......................................................................................... 84 Salsa Non Queso ........................................................................................................... 85 Zesty Salsa...................................................................................................................... 85 Teriyaki mix ..................................................................................................................... 86 Sushi Seeds .................................................................................................................... 87 Honey Mustard and Onion Mix .................................................................................... 87 Kale Chips ....................................................................................................................... 88 Sweet and Salty Seed Bars.......................................................................................... 89 Dinner.............................................................................................................................. 90 Stirred, Not Fried Veggies ............................................................................................ 92 Rice................................................................................................................................... 93

5 Faux Shoyu ..................................................................................................................... 93 Fajitas............................................................................................................................... 94 Rawdawgs Fave Guacamole ...................................................................................... 95 Sunflower Sour Cream .................................................................................................. 96 Marinated mushroom wraps with a simple seed cheeze ......................................... 97 Marinated Mushrooms................................................................................................... 97 Sunflower Seed Cheeze ............................................................................................... 98 Zucchini Pasta Ala Marinara ........................................................................................ 99 Amandas Amazing Marinara Sauce........................................................................... 99 Faux Parmesan Sprinkles........................................................................................... 100 Sunflower Seed Alfredo Sauce .................................................................................. 101 My Favorite Burger....................................................................................................... 102 Southwestern Burgers with Chipotle Ranch ............................................................ 103 Zucchini Onion Bread .................................................................................................. 104 Raw Ketchup................................................................................................................. 105 Raw Mustard ................................................................................................................. 105 Turkish Style Cauliflower Patties ............................................................................... 106 Cilantro Lime Dipping Sauce...................................................................................... 107 Curried Mushroom Salad ............................................................................................ 108 Vision Boosting Burrito ................................................................................................ 109 Simple Salsa ................................................................................................................. 110 Super Easy Raw Tacos............................................................................................... 111 Buffalo Veggie Platter.................................................................................................. 112 Simple BBQ Portabella Burger .................................................................................. 113 Stuffed Peppers............................................................................................................ 115 Rawfried Beans ............................................................................................................ 117 Buttery Green Beans ................................................................................................ 118 Salad .............................................................................................................................. 119 Simple, Yet Amazing Dressing .................................................................................. 121 Creamy Teriyaki ........................................................................................................... 121 Amandas Herbal Dressing ......................................................................................... 122 Creamy Basil Vinaigrette............................................................................................. 123 Desserts........................................................................................................................ 124 Sunflower Seed Crme Parfait .................................................................................. 126 Strawberry Pie .............................................................................................................. 128 Other Fruit Pies............................................................................................................. 129 Fig Walnut Brownies.................................................................................................... 130 Rawdawgs Raw Version of Nutella .......................................................................... 131 Raw Tahini..................................................................................................................... 131 Chocolaty Banana Bon-Bons ..................................................................................... 132 Raw Creamy Chocolate Pops .................................................................................... 133 Creamy Vanilla Pop ..................................................................................................... 134 Dreamsicle Pop ............................................................................................................ 134 Peaches and Cream Pop............................................................................................ 134 Coconut Cream Pop .................................................................................................... 134 Pina Colada Flavored Pop.......................................................................................... 134

6 Deep Blue Pop.............................................................................................................. 135 The Mayan Special Pop .............................................................................................. 135 Creamy Vanilla Tahini Pie .......................................................................................... 136 Tahini Torte with a Cacao Coconut Crust ................................................................ 137 Lemon Cookies............................................................................................................. 138 Chocolate Ganache ..................................................................................................... 139 Banana Ice Cream ....................................................................................................... 140 Candied Walnuts .......................................................................................................... 141 Date Syrup..................................................................................................................... 142 Green Vanilla Pudding ................................................................................................ 143 Chocolaty Chia Seed Pudding ................................................................................... 143 Sorbet............................................................................................................................. 144 Drinks and Smoothies .............................................................................................. 145 Rawpuccino................................................................................................................... 147 Cinnamon Hazelnut ..................................................................................................... 148 Chunky Monkey Coffee Shake .................................................................................. 148 Berry Chilly Coffee ....................................................................................................... 148 French Vanilla Delight ................................................................................................. 148 Dandy Blend Icy ........................................................................................................... 149 Chocolate Banana Smoothie...................................................................................... 150 Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie...................................................................................... 151 Green Vanilla Bean Shake ......................................................................................... 152 Purple Numminess....................................................................................................... 153 Strawberry Banana Shake.......................................................................................... 153 Mango Lassi.................................................................................................................. 154 Pumpkin Pie Smoothie ................................................................................................ 154 Nectarine Lemonade Icy ............................................................................................. 155 Orange Frosty ............................................................................................................... 156 Strawberry Icy Goodness............................................................................................ 157 Sour Blue Raspberry Icy ............................................................................................. 158 Sour Melon Slush ......................................................................................................... 159 Pink Pear Icy ................................................................................................................. 160 Green Lemonade Juice ............................................................................................... 160 Obviously Orange Juice .............................................................................................. 161 Green Grapefruit Juice ................................................................................................ 161 Lemonaide Tonic.......................................................................................................... 162 Raw Orange Soda........................................................................................................ 163 Raw Chocolate Soda ................................................................................................... 164 My Original Fave Green Smoothie ............................................................................ 165 Green-Ya Coloda ......................................................................................................... 166 Banana Mango Delight................................................................................................ 167 Strawberry Orange Pineapple.................................................................................... 167 Spring Cleaning Detox Smoothie .............................................................................. 168 Water.............................................................................................................................. 168 Raw Resources........................................................................................................... 173

7 When I first heard of raw foods the health benefits made sense to me, but visions of carrot sticks, salads, and juices danced in my head. Being a foodie, I said to myself, No freakin way! I had just recently gone vegetarian and could not imagine giving up cheese, let alone the ability to cook! On my wifes 25th birthday I took her out to dinner at Loving Life Caf in New Oxford, PA. I knew shed love the idea of going to a raw vegan restaurant and I was up for trying something new! She ordered the zucchini lasagna and I had the raw tacos. I was blown away when I saw that someone could make something so tasty and with all the familiar textures of the original dish, while using the healthiest ingredients ever. I was hooked!

And so it began
That Spring I picked up a few books on raw foods and began searching online for any info I could get on this Tao of munching. What I came across was people making amazing improvements on their health, looking good and feeling good, and doing it all by eating whole, unprocessed foods in their natural state. This struck a chord with me since, although I had eaten my share (and your share!) of junk food throughout my life, I always had a passion for eating and living in a more natural way. (I even met my wife while doing an internship at an organic farm at her college.) Raw foods brought all of my passions and hobbies together in one livable, eatable package!

Culinary challenges
That April I started out with a goal of 50% raw eats a day, and it just went on from there. I was excited by the challenge of creating delicious foods without cooking and I began experimenting with all the complicated raw recipes that I could get my hands on. This was a lot of fun, but soon became impractical because I was spending way too much time in the kitchen. Another challenge when whipping up these complex dishes was that a lot of the ingredients were either difficult or impossible to find locally. I didnt want to have to live off of mail ordered

8 munchies, so I began concocting my own recipes and using easily found goods that were available at my local grocery and health food stores. This allowed me to easily and affordably stick with my raw foods mission.

Eating cooked during my transition

I decided, rather than just dropping cooked foods cold turkey, (theres a pun in there, I just know it!) I went for a slow, comfy withdrawal from them. During this time I aimed for the healthier cooked food choices available: cooked vegan eats, sprouted breads, veggie subs, rice crackers, oat cereal with rice milk, etc. This satisfied my cooked cravings without resorting to junky foods. Did I slip and eat less than ideal stuff? Heck yes I did! But, I never wasted time beating myself up over it. Id just laugh at myself and realize that Im still eating better overall than I ever have in my life. When Id get home after the occasional lapse Id whip up a green smoothie and venture forth with my raw foods. These lapses usually helped me because, as I was eating those junky eats Id be dreaming up a raw replacement for them. A lot of those recipes are in this book! cooked. I recommend that you try experimenting with healthier cooked options during your transition to raw eating. These dishes are leaps ahead of their counterparts and usually just as tasty. Theyll also be good fall back options when you do crave something

If you set out with a high raw goal, dont ever waste time beating yourself up over eating something that is not ideal. This energy could be going to much more positive work! Theres a select few out there with an iron will and loads of free time that jump into this lifestyle head first and never look back. For the

average person, this isnt feasible and in my opinion, isnt completely necessary. Just keep excited about all the positive changes youre making in your diet (and life!) and focus on that. This will keep you motivated and wanting to eat healthier, rather than falling out of it because you were worried about the punishment youd put upon yourself if you didnt do it perfectly.

Give yourself the freedom to fudge up, laugh at your goofs, and remain excited and inspired by the positive changes that youre making. This passion will keep you going!

Over the course of about a year and a few months I went from 50% raw to 100% raw, and it went along smoothly because I took my sweet time at it and allowed myself the freedom to fudge up every now and again. I experienced minimal detox effects and a huge increase in my energy levels. Since Ive started raw foods Ive had some amazing changes.

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What raw foods did for me

Me before

Me After

During the first year and a half of gettin raw I shed 90lbs! I went from 260lbs when I started and I now weigh about 170lbs. The constant stuffy headedness and chronic sinusitis Id suffered from faded away. I believe a lot of this was a result of food allergies to gluten and dairy, which were easily phased out and tastily replaced with the many raw dishes I discovered and created! Annoying aches and pains in my ankles, lower back, and legs began to fade away, and even after hours on my feet doing work I have no discomfort in any of these areas! I cant remember the last time I had a headache.

11 A couple of big scars on my left leg (the results of injuries on my leg as a child and teen) began to fade and now have been reduced to about 30% of what they were in color, density, and size! I figured these were a permanent fixture on my leg and joked that theyre the reason I never realized my dream of being an underwear model. I never wouldve thought they could heal and diminish, and was shocked to find them doing just that! My teeth and nails feel much stronger, and the annoying sensitivity in my teeth disappeared. My overall mood got a surprising boost, and I cant remember the last time I felt down in the dumps. I didnt notice the improvements in my eyesight, but during my last eye exam my doctor was surprised that my glasses didnt need an upgrade, even though it was my first new pair in five years! My energy levels went through the roof! I would work eight hours, and rather than feeling beat afterwards, I had plenty of energy left over to do more of the fun stuff I wanted to do! Exercising became fun and easy with the extra energy. A nice bonus was that I found my recovery times were a lot faster than back when I was eating cooked foods, and I didnt feel all sore and achy afterwards. This encouraged me to work out more, and I experienced a lot of awesome results! My skin became quite a bit clearer and my eyes brightened up a bit. I noticed a big increase in the whiteness of my eyes as well. There are so many more lil benefits that the list would start to get a bit silly. The changes Ive experienced since I began adding raw foods to my life have been amazing and inspiring to me and my family!

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What changes await you? They could be any one of the experiences I had, or more! Eating more raw foods means giving your body better building materials and more of the minerals and nutrients it needs in a form that it can effortlessly access. This leaves your metabolic enzymes and immune system free to work their wonders. So you never know what kind of changes await you, you can just be sure that its bound to be good!

My deepest well wishes to you in your mission to improve your health and life! You can do it!

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What can raw do for you?

Raw foods can do a LOT for you and your body. Some of the many benefits include: weight loss, cleansing, detoxing, and healing. In many cases they can reverse numerous common health issues, such as: back pain, aches and pains, digestive issues, low hydrochloric acid, skin conditions, acne, fatigue, and many other ailments. Raw food is well known for giving people increased energy, mental clarity, and increased stamina and vigor overall. Check out personal accounts in the many online bios of people trying and benefiting from raw foods, and get involved in online raw foods communities. How can something as simple as un-cooked food do all that? The answer is that it doesnt do it all! It allows your body to do the miracle work by providing it with the proper building materials. This Includes chemical goodies such as chlorophyll, polyphenols, enzymes and many other awesome things (and heres the most important part) in an easy to digest package. All the good food in the world is useless if you cant absorb and assimilate it. Raw foods are easy to absorb because: They are full of their own intact digestive enzymes, so your body doesnt have to go through the energy intensive process of making its own. They are full of water. Their structure is not altered by exposure to high temperatures. They are whole foods with all the necessary co-factors that allow you to use the vitamins and minerals within them.

Gotta love enzymes

Before I became hardcore into raw foods, I thought I knew quite a bit about the health benefits of certain foods, which fruits and veggies had high amounts of antioxidants, polyphenols, vitamins, minerals, etc. I hadnt bothered to think about enzymes and knew little, if anything, about what they do or how important

14 they are to our health and well being. Once I discovered their intrinsic value I became even more geeked up about eating raw and living foods. I had understood early on that cooking food can dilute or denature vitamins and minerals, as well as change the molecular structure of the food itself, even creating carcinogenic properties when food is burnt. When I delved into the raw food world I learned that one of the biggest things we lose when we cook foods is active enzymes. Why are enzymes so freakin important? Our bodies couldnt perform any of its vital functions without them. Enzymes aid our body in digesting and assimilating our food. Some enzymes actually identify cancerous cells for our immune system to attack, and without their assistance, our DNA couldnt replicate itself. How do they do that voodoo so well? Enzymes are catalysts for every biochemical reaction that takes place in our body. They lower the amount of energy required for a chemical bonding or un-bonding to take place by becoming the lil landing platform (of sorts) for the two chemicals about to undergo a change. When these chemicals land upon the enzyme it holds them in place and either brings them together or bends them apart, causing a physical reaction. These reactions would be impossible for our bodies to perform without the help of enzymes. When we constantly eat foods that have had their naturally occurring enzymes denatured by cooking, our body must produce its own digestive enzymes to pick up the slack. To make digestive enzymes (the enzymes that enable digestion) the body has to use metabolic enzymes (the ones responsible for all those amazing functions that keep us going) at a ratio of 10-1. That means it takes up to 10 metabolic enzymes to create one digestive enzyme! What a bum deal, eh? This is one of the main causes of that energy drain we feel after eating a heavy cooked meal.

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On the flipside, if we were to consume foods with their digestive enzymes intact (raw foods), they pretty much digest themselves. This leaves our body not only with much more energy, but think of all those vital roles that were previously tied up by digestion. How many ailments do we deal with that could have been caused by our body not having enough of its metabolic enzymes free to do such amazing things as: healing, regenerating, fueling our cells, and being weapons in the arsenal of our immune system? Then imagine what we could do with an abundance of these helpful lil protein catalysts. They can make us stronger and healthier, they can rebuild us.... they have the technology!

Metabolism boosting
Easier to digest foods can make your metabolism way more efficient. Raw foods allow for easy weight loss as raw sugars and fats present in fruits and nuts actually fuel your metabolism. Processed sugars and trans fats and oils from cooked food lead to fat warehouses in your body. Since raw foods dont contain a lot of starches, refined sugars, or cooked carbs, they dont promote unhealthy weight gain and can allow the body to cleanse itself of these stored fats. Eating raw leaves you feeling lighter and more willing and able to get moving and keep active. This is a big plus for those looking to shed some pounds!

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Health = Fun!
Healthy eating isnt just for the sake of health; its for the sake of fun as well! With more time spent feeling good and full of energy, youll have more time to do the things you love and spend less time feeling tired, sick, or uncomfortable. If youre looking for an improvement in the quality of your life, you can get there by adding more fresh living foods to your diet. Raw food can boost your mood! Now Ive heard that what you eat affects the way you feel emotionally and the science made perfect sense, but I had no idea how much diet affected the way I felt until I started to change mine for the better. Ive always been a pretty happy go lucky guy, but like many people, I would have those nagging negative thoughts and Id find myself feeling down in the dumps some days for absolutely no reason I could think of. I began to notice that as my diet gradually changed, my negative thinking began to fade slowly away. The days I find myself bummed out have diminished now to the point where I cant remember the last time I had one! People around me have noticed that, not only has my attitude improved tremendously, but I also seem more energetic and excited about everything. This unanticipated bonus to changing my diet was a very welcome change!

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Acidic body pH and a lack of the minerals that For more about green smoothies check out the drinks section on pg. 164 support our bodys normal neurological functions can cause symptoms such as depression and lethargy. Luckily, simply adding green smoothies to our daily diets can give us the good stuff we need to keep feeling a lil more chipper!

Readily absorbable protein

When we cook proteins they can become denatured and unusable by our body. The Max Planck Institute for Nutritional Research in Germany found that cooked foods lose up to 50% of the original usable proteins through the cooking process; thats a big loss! These denatured proteins can cause inflammation of our digestive system and digestive leukocytosis, not cool! Whats more, according to The China Study, only 10% of our calories should come from protein. The average American gets about 15-16% of their calories from protein. Raw fruits, veggies and seeds contain plenty of protein, especially greens! Raw foods havent had their amino acids denatured by cooking and theyre readily available for your body to absorb and put to good use. For example, cucumbers get 11% of its calories from protein, kale gets 16%, and broccoli gets a staggering 20%! For more info on greens and protein check out Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko. If you do your homework on greens and decide that you still would like to add more than whats available in the usual raw sources, there are raw hemp and brown rice bran protein powders available to add to your smoothies.

18 For the thorough low down on protein, check out The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, PHD and Thomas M. Campbell II. An amazing resource for anyone with protein concerns, whether you get them from animal or plant sources. A very worthwhile read!

Alkalizing your body

A lot of common ailments, disorders, diseases and sicknesses can be caused by having acidic conditions within our body. Issues ranging from E. coli to Candida and parasites can flourish in the body when were not pH balanced. This acidic condition is caused by constantly eating meats, potatoes, and cooked starches amongst many other common foods in the Standard American Diet. Raw foods, such as greens, lemons, and watermelons (as well as others) have the opposite effect. They help alkalize our body and bring us closer to our naturally intended balance. Even if you arent planning on going 100% raw, its a great idea to add more of these foods into your menu and get yourself closer to a 7.0 on the pH scale. Even weight loss can be realized by becoming more alkaline, because our body uses the fat as a buffer against the harmful effects of acidic conditions. As our pH becomes more balanced, we may find ourselves shedding some of that protective poundage.

Maximize your immune system

One of the many roles of our metabolic enzymes is to support the activities of our immune system. Eating raw can help by freeing our metabolic enzymes from the duty of digestion. But, there is another good reason to eat rawDigestive leukocytosis. This is a condition caused when we eat food that has been physically altered by the process of cooking. Because cooking actually changes the physical structure of the food and denatures the naturally occurring enzymes, it becomes unrecognizable by the body. Our bodys natural response to this now unfamiliar substance is to attack it! Our immune system becomes activated and

19 floods our digestive system with white blood cells in an effort to kick the invading substances booty. The problem is that its going through all this effort just over some food. This wastes a huge amount of our bodys energy, and ties up our immune system from performing other vital roles, like preventing disease, infections, and other sicknesses. What to do? Eat more raw food! When we eat raw foods our body can easily recognize and digest them with no immune response. Even combining raw foods with cooked foods can make the total meal more recognizable and can reduce the occurrence of digestive leukocytosis. Reducing this issue can leave our bodies with extra energy and allows our immune system to do what it does best, keeping us healthy! Who couldnt use an immune system boost? The number of times a year Ive gotten sick since gettin raw has been dropping fast! I used to get sinusitis 4-6 times a year. During my first year of raw this dropped to only 2! The second year, 1! Both times my recovery from these bouts was rapid. Now that Ive been raw for a few years Ive not come down with anything for a long time! *knock on wood* I attribute this to a fully functioning immune system and all the awesome nutrition I get via my new way of eating!

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What are your goals and inspirations for gettin raw?

Take a moment to consider, and even list your motives in this plot for a healthy diet. Write down all the wonderful reasons, inspirations, motivations, and daydreams you have for taking on this new addition to your lifestyle. Keeping these reasons in your mind and in your heart will keep you going when there are challenges! Is it for you, your health, fun, weight loss, or to help heal yourself and the world? Or is it for all of these? Going raw can and will help with these goals, but remember that its your reasons, not someone elses that are the most important! If youre goal is simply to add more raw foods into your current diet, then that rocks as well! The more you add, the better you will feel. Every little step counts and is rewarded by health improvements. Some easy raw foods to start adding to any regular cooked food diet are green smoothies, nut mylks (to replace dairy), and eating more fresh fruits and veggies. When cooking, go for healthier options, such as baking or steaming, rather than frying. Lightly stir frying veggies is a great way to preserve as much nutrition as possible while still ending up with a cooked dish. As you learn more about how raw foods affect your health (and you experience it), you will feel that certain foods affect different parts of our body. Silicon rich foods are good for joints, bones, nails and hair. Antioxidant rich foods are great for skin and eyes; and foods rich in zinc are important for our vitality. I had a lot of fun learning about all the amazing benefits that come from eating whole foods in their natural raw state and it inspired me to add more and more variety to my diet! This was not only fun, but by mixing things up a bit and not getting stuck in a food rut, it helped make sure my diet was balanced and I was getting all the vitamins and minerals I needed.

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What exactly are raw foods?

Raw foods can be described as any foods that are prepared at temperatures below 105 -115 Fahrenheit. For some, this includes raw meat and dairy, but were going be sticking to raw vegan foods. These include: Green leafy veggies - get to love these bad-boys and your body will love you for it! Spinach, kale, collards, chards, mustard, dandelion, romaine, green leaf lettuce, etc., and herbs such as parsley and cilantro can be included in the greens category.

Veggies some nice bulky stuff to beef up your dishes. Broccoli, radishes, carrots, turnips, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, etc.

Fruits awesome sweet and spicy treats! Apples, bananas, oranges, lemons, grapefruits, grapes, cherries, plums, peaches, apricots, pineapple, watermelons, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, pumpkin, and more.

Nuts and seeds- The creamy, the meaty, and the sweeties!

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Creamy nuts and seeds would include almonds and cashews, as well as sunflower seeds. Meaty nuts are walnuts and pecans. Sweet uns include macadamia and hazelnuts. And so many more!

Fungi Mushrooms come in many forms and textures, from the standard white capped ones to the enormous portabellas. All make great additions to pates and salads. When marinated and seasoned, they can be a great, and easy to prepare, meat substitute.

Do you just eat plain fruits and vegetables?

You could, but that may be a bit boring, especially when were so used to complex flavor combinations and heavily seasoned (and salted) food. Do as much of the plain stuff as you enjoy, saving yourself some food preparation time, but dont allow yourself to get too bored. Youll want to do some gourmet raw meals to give you that cooked flavor and feeling, and because its just plain fun! Eating gourmet raw meals may help you to curb your cravings for their cooked alternatives.

Where do you get your b12 on a raw vegan diet?

Good question! Being a huge fan of this way of eating, I personally wanted to read up on this a LOT! What I found was a lot of differing opinions and theories on where raw vegans can hope to get this very important nutrient, but first lets talk about what b12 is.

23 B12 is one of the most complex vitamins. It can only be synthesized by the activity and enzymes of bacteria. Without b12 our body couldnt effectively move about proteins, fats and carbs, or properly absorb them! Also, b12 is crucial to red blood cell production, without it the cells cranked out can be misshapen. Serious issues such as pernicious anemia can be caused by these poorly built blood cells. Well where do we get this vital, bacteria built b12? Lets take a look at some of the reported sources: Honey - Although raw honey is a great source of enzymes, long chain sugars and some vitamins and minerals, it doesnt contain enough b12 to supply our nutritional needs. Same goes for pollen, Im not knocking pollen at all because it is a great source of nutrients, including protein! Seaweeds and other sea veggies - Although sea goodies are often reported to contain b12, its actually the analog form of b12, not the human active form were looking for. This analog form of b12 can actually bind to our b12 receptor sites and block absorption of the good stuff! Kind of like eating negative b12. These sea veggies are awesome sources of minerals and nutrients though (and are pretty tasty) so dont count them out of your diet! Kombucha and other cultured foods - These contain small amounts of b12, but again not enough to supply all our needs effectively. They do however provide loads of friendly bacteria that support our digestion and assist us in absorbing vitamins (such as b12). There are some studies that contend that plants grown in healthy, bacteria laden, organic soil can absorb b12 from the bacteria present in the soil. These b12 loaded veggies are then a source of b12 for us. Unfortunately, Ive also read that this isnt a reliable source either!

24 Speaking of soil full of b12 rich bacteria - There a lot of prominent raw food health advocates that suggest that if youre growing your own organic veggies, you can get b12 directly from the soil microorganisms clinging to your homegrown produce. That is, if you eat them unwashed! Im planning to experiment with this when I get a piece of land to garden on. This is not recommended for produce that you purchase (even from organic farmers markets), as theyve been handled by many hands before youve picked them up! And especially the stuff at the grocery store, yech! Many raw food health experts base our diet on the diets of our closest biological relatives, such as chimpanzees and anthropoid apes. Then where do they get their b12? They have several sources. It turns out b12 is present in err poo! And primates dont generally wash their hands! But who wants to apply this principle to their diet? I mean raw foodist sure, but raw poopist?! No freakin way!! Also, these wild bad boys dont wash any of their produce, so it probably has a decent amount of b12 in the form of bacteria, soil organisms and bug poopies. Hey speaking of bugs Bugs can be quite a good source of b12! Primates do eat a small amount of bugs, even by chance from the potentially infested wild fruits they eat, along with the odd one that piques their interest, and the ones they pick off of their buddies! As you may have heard, many strict vegans can suffer from b12 deficiencies if they arent using a b12 supplement. There was a vegan community in India I read about that had good b12 levels. It turned out though, that their grain storage containers were constantly populated with bugs and bug poop. So there we are with bugs again! Well if youre like most people who wash their hands, eat washed produce, and dont fancy eating either bugs or poop, then you might want to consider taking a b12 supplement. This is the route Ive gone. There are many sources of vegan b12 supplements out there that you can purchase to make sure your b12 bases

25 are covered. But which are the best? The most common is the cyanocobalamin form that is available in most supplements. This form isnt that easy to digest, and if combined with other vitamins and minerals in a single supplement (such as a multi-vitamin) it can interact with Vitamin C, iron, or copper and create those unabsorbable analog forms of b12. Dont give up yet though! There is methyl cobalamin, which is an easily absorbed form of b12 that can be found in vegan friendly supplements at your local health food store or online. This is the kind I use, and whats cool about it is that its a high dose supplement. This is great because your body can store and stockpile b12 so one high dose b12 lozenge can supply you with a weeks worth of the stuff! So it saves you $$$.

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Easing into the raw world

For some individuals, when doing something like kicking a bad habit, they need to go all or none, cold turkey and hardcore. For those who this works best for, go on and jump in 100%! For most people though, its best to take it step by step. My advice is, slow and steady wins the race! You can start with a goal of one green smoothie a day, or one salad a day, or replacing all your dairy milk with nut-mylk. Maybe even setting a percentage goal like 50% raw meals to start, then working up to a higher percentage goal later on. Consider your lifestyle and set a goal thats doable for you. When it comes to the actual preparing of your raw food meals, lets try to keep it as simple as possible to start; salads, pates, leaf-wrap sandwiches, raw cereal mixes, smoothies and marinated veggies and such. Starting off simple will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed with hundreds of new recipes. The term Gourmet, when applied to raw-dishes, usually refers to it being something more complex and very reminiscent of a cooked meal. Perfect for people transitioning into eating more raw, and as a treat for the hardcore raw fooder! These dishes usually involve some prep-time, but not including the dehydration time, it usually takes a lot less time than if you were cooking. Not to mention, a dehydrator is a lot more forgiving than a stove if you leave something going too long. A nice bonus to consider when tackling a meal with a few steps is that the dishes leftover from preparing raw meals are a lot easier to clean up than those with baked or fried-on residues! Youll want to try at least one of the gourmet meals a week to keep your menu interesting and fun. You should choose days when you dont have much else to do and make it a fun experience. Put some of your favorite music on in the background, maybe light some candles and get geeked up about playing with

27 your food! A cool thing about many raw foods is that they can store for several days in the fridge (longer for dehydrated stuff) so you can take a day like this to make several days worth of foods in one shot! This allows you to only have to rinse some fresh veggies and do some simple prep during the rest of the week.

Letting raw foods grow on you

If you dont eat much raw plant foods already, then your body may take a lil time to adjust to them. You may feel bloated or very full after some meals. This is perfectly normal since the Standard American Diet can cause the body to become low in hydrochloric acid, making some plant foods, especially greens, hard to digest. Some people just assume that these foods arent for them or doesnt agree with them, but dont get intimidated! Your body will remember what it needs to do to assimilate these foods, since it was meant to thrive on them. Some ways you can help ease your bodys transition and jog its memory include: Green smoothies! These delicious beverage/meals are a great way to get your digestive system in gear. They are basically leafy greens blended with water and fruit in whatever combinations tickle your fancy! They introduce greens into your system in a highly palatable and easily broken down form. They have been proven in studies to help increase hydrochloric acid production in individuals suffering from a deficiency. For more information on the miracle of the green smoothie, Victoria Boutenkos Green for life is a must read. It is also loaded with delicious recipes. Blended foods such as raw soups, smoothies, and nut-mylk based creamy shakes are also a great way to present your body with an easy to access dose of raw plant goodness. Everything you ingest is (ideally) broken down into liquid form and absorbed as such. So proper chewing is very important, especially with fruits and veggies. This is a common digestive

28 issue for everyone no matter what they eat. Blending your foods makes this a no-brainer, but for best absorption, you should faux-chew your blended foods to allow some saliva to be released before swallowing. Saliva and enzymes in the mouth are the first step in digestion and this action gets that going! Eat oranges. Oranges and other citrus fruits help increase hydrochloric acid production and are a great after-salad snack to aid in digestion. Try these steps, and if you still feel like you need more you can buy enzyme tablets or other digestive enzyme supplements. Your foods will already be loaded with their own enzymes, which will help you digest them, but when it comes to enzymes, the more the merrier!

Detoxing
Detoxification sounds scary, but its really just your bodys way of taking out the trash. Whatever foods you eat your body will use as its own building blocks. When we eat foods that are low in minerals and nutrients, or that are overprocessed, our bodies are left with dough when they need bricks! When we begin to eat nutrient laden living foods our body begins to tear down the junk and rebuild with the good stuff. All the inferior stuff needs to be disposed of, along with the many toxins and pollutants that we absorb from the air, water, and the junk in our diets. This is all a part of detoxifying. One of the many reasons I recommend taking a moderate paced journey to raw foods is to spread out the detoxification period, stretching it out so as not to get hit by it all at once. If you decide to go 100% raw right off the bat, youre going to detoxify rapidly, which can cause a lil discomfort. You may feel flu-like symptoms, tiredness, loose stools, slight fever, runny nose, gas, and headaches. A lot of people bail on healthy eating because they misinterpret these feelings and think the food is

29 making me sick or healthy foods dont agree with me. Dont be alarmed by these symptoms, they are a good sign! Here are several things that I would recommend to deal with the detoxifying process. 1. Drink plenty of water. This will help keep things flowing along. Keeping you and your bowels hydrated is going to allow some of the nastiness youre cleaning out to exit more efficiently, instead of hanging around and making you feel miserable. 2. Add psyllium husk powder, ground chia and/or ground flax seed to your smoothies. This helped me a LOT during my transition to raw foods. Whenever I felt down in the dumpsit usually meant I should take one! All the toxins that youre cleaning out of your body are going to be heading to the colon first, and if you dont flush them out, they can make you feel like crap. So get them out! 3. Colon hydrotherapy. When I first got into raw foods I thought, Hey, Im eating the best diet ever, why the heck should I need to flush out my colon? Isnt all the fiber Im eating enough? Well, it may not be enough in the long run when we change our diet rapidly from the standard American diet to a cleansing raw food diet. Because this diet allows your body to really clean house, your colon can get bogged down with all this rapidly exiting junk! So if youre up for it, colon hydrotherapy can provide a rapid release from all that funky stuff thats been building up in your system over the years. For those who may be uncomfortable about going for a colonic, there are sources out there for enema bags that even go up to 6 quarts for a thorough bum flush! Although enemas may sound gross and unpleasant, they have been a common treatment for all sorts of ailments for years. People have used them for everything from reducing fevers to treating disease. For the DIY pooper flusher, these can be a great tool for easing the symptoms of detoxification.

30 4. My preferred method overall for easing detox symptoms is easing into the raw food diet. If you dive in head first it can be a shock to your system. You might think, as I have, that the faster you get rid of the unhealthy eats, the faster youll feel better. But in fact, by switching so rapidly to a 100% raw diet, you can open the floodgates, allowing your body to release all the toxins its been accumulating over the years, from your diet and from the environment. This sounds great, but these released toxins dont just dematerialize into the ether, they have to make their way out of your body, and along the way they can cause you some discomfort or leave you feeling downright miserable. But if youre like the average person that doesnt have the time to take off from work during your detoxing, or the money to pay for regular colonics, then the easiest route is to allow yourself to cleanse gradually. This is what I did. I started out with a 50% raw foods goal and gradually (over the course of a year and several months) worked my way to a 100% raw diet. During this time I also made healthier cooked food choices. So I was increasing my raw intake, decreasing my junk food intake, and keeping some cooked food in there to slow down the detoxification process! By doing this I experienced a minimal amount of detox symptoms, I wasnt tortured by cravings, and it gave me time to create raw recipes that tasted great and were easily made with stuff that I could find anywhere! Because, lets face it, to be dealing with detox symptoms, harsh food cravings, and trying to find raw recipes that are doable for you and your schedule all at the same time can be a bit overwhelming to say the least!

Weight loss from detoxing

For some who go 100% raw for a while, they may find themselves losing a little more weight than theyd expected. When we eat raw and unprocessed healthy foods long enough our bodies want to take the opportunity to flush out all the garbage, including the garbage that had previously been bound up in our body fat. Flushing all this contaminated fat away can leave us looking a little on the skinny side! This happened to me and I didnt want to become one of those

31 scrawny vegans, so I did a few things to bulk up. Now Ive not only lost the unhealthy weight, but Ive gained weight in muscle mass. If youre finding that you are losing too much weight, or losing weight too quickly, these things worked for me: I mixed raw fats with my green smoothies, such as in my Green Vanilla Bean Shake (which youll find in the drinks section). Raw fats can aid in the assimilation of the amino acids in the greens, which helps you bulk up. I also made an effort to eat bigger meals less often, this helps to slow down metabolism, allowing your body to assimilate more of what youre eating. (The opposite is true for losing weight; eat small meals often.) Most importantly, I began to do resistance exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, and free weights. I also did abdominal exercise like crunches and sit-ups. You dont have to go for a body builders look or workout for hours a day, but a moderate addition of these anaerobic exercises is the healthiest way to maintain an ideal body weight. Muscle building exercises also help maintain a healthy bone density. Some raw foodists have chosen to add a lil healthy cooked food meals back into their diet when faced with excessive weight loss. This hasnt been necessary for me, but if you find yourself facing this challenge someday in your raw food journey, I would advise you to try several options and do what feels right and works for you.

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What you need to get started

Equipment
Not nearly as much as youd think! To get prepared for your venture into raw foodism, you probably already own a lot of the equipment youll need. Lets do a run-down of the basic tools. That blender that sits around collecting dust between margaritas is a smoothie making monster in waiting! A standard food processor; doesnt need to be fancy. 8 chefs knife. So many uses - dont be without one. Be sure to have a sharpener handy to keep it nice and honed. A sharp knife is often safer than a dull one because a dull one can slip from what youre cutting and may get you instead! A nice, large cutting board, preferably bamboo (or wood) as it is easy on the blade and easy to clean. One or two nut mylk/juice bags. These will come in handy like crazy. Use them to make mylks out of all sorts of nuts; and with one of these bad-boys your blender will become your juicer! A couple of small paring knives for those random, small cutting tasks, and to make pretty stuff out of your veggies. A large plastic or glass bowl, with a spouted rim for straining your nut mylks or juices into; makes for easy pouring! Salad Spinner. A must have! Invest in a big one if you dont already have one. Makes your salad much more appetizing, and will allow it to keep longer in the fridge. For fast juicing- simply blend your fruits or veggies with just enough water to get them moving, then strain this through your nut mylk bag, and squeeze every last drop of juicy goodness from the pulp with ease.

33 Colander. Great for rinsing off veggies after scrubbing, and for washing fruits under the tap. A couple of veggie (potato) peelers. You will be surprised at all the cool stuff you can make with a good veggie peeler. Quart sized mason jars. Great for storing your nuts and seeds, nut mylks, smoothies, raw soups, and for soaking small amounts of nuts and seeds. Also awesome for toting around your smoothies and other beverages, as theyre non-reactive and dont leach anything into your drinks like plastic can. The more the merrier! A washable marker. Not your typical kitchen tool, but comes in real handy for marking your storage containers, taking the guesswork out of determining the shelf-life of your recipes. This isnt just a good idea for raw foods! How many times have you taken something out of your fridge and played leftover roulette? Ive done that many times in the past, and sometimes with unpleasant results! This is all the stuff you need to get going to whip up some lovely raw creations. But as you get more into the groove of whipping up raw dishes, I strongly recommend investing in a food dehydrator. You can make so many delicious raw snacks, breads, granolas, crackers, pizzas, pie crusts, cookies, trail mixes and more with one of these wonderful machines! You neednt invest in a highpriced model right away (or at all). There are a lot of inexpensive models available now. The main thing youre looking for is a model with an adjustable thermostat with a minimum low temp setting of 105 Fahrenheit (lower if possible). Youll want to be soaking your nuts and seeds as much as possible when getting started in raw foods to remove the enzyme inhibitors, so to get your nuts crunchy again youll want to dehydrate them. Use a veggie peeler to peel a zucchini or yellow squash, and then use the peeler to shave off noodle like strips, which can be used for raw pastas. Slice super thin carrots for salads, or to add to your nori-rolls.

34 One item I dont think is completely necessary is a juicer. This may sound like sacrilege to a lot of raw food enthusiasts, but I find I can pull off all my juicing needs with my blender and a nut mylk/juice bag. This saves a lot of time and hassle compared to cutting the veggies and fruits into juicable slices, feeding it through piece by piece, and taking apart and cleaning all the juicer components. When we first got started in raw foods, we purchased one of the most recommended juicers on the market and found it to be nothing but a hassle. Now its relegated to making ice cream out of frozen fruits. A $250 ice cream maker! Oh well, live and learn! Another problem we had with it, as far as juicing was concerned, was that it was heating up the finished juice. We did some research and found that youd have to purchase one of those $400+ models to avoid this problem. So Ill stick to the blender and juice bag option! The one high-price item I can wholeheartedly endorse would have to be a high powered blender. I use a Vita-Mix and I freakin love the thing! It does all our blending jobs in a fraction of the time, and does a more thorough job of annihilating the produce, even tough greens like kale. It can actually pulverize the seeds of many fruits into drinkable goodness, unlocking all their health-giving properties. Beyond blending, it can be used to grind soaked seeds into creamy dips and seed cheezes, and blend frozen fruits and nut mylks into ice cream-like treats. So with all this going for it, I find it well worth the price (I so wish Id bought one before the juicer!). But, dont get discouraged if you cant afford to invest in one right away, we went our first year and a half raw without one. You just want to have a blender with at least 450 watts power to handle your smoothie needs. Speaking of ice cream, you may want to consider investing in an ice cream maker, especially if you enjoy ice cream on a regular basis. This device can help save your life! There are many disputes surrounding dairy (especially pasteurized dairy) and allergies, the high fat content, and digestive complications it can cause. Its a good idea to experiment with alternatives. Youd be amazed

35 at how many delicious creamy sweet concoctions you can make without relying on milk! Nut and seed mylks, as well as blended coconut meat and oil can be used to make rich, creamy bases for your ice creams, and you can use all sorts of fresh fruits to create awesome refreshing sorbets. So consider an ice cream maker as one of your potential new kitchen toys. Speaking of toys...How fun would it be to crank out your own raw vegan version of spaghetti? Well lucky you, they make just such a device! Its called a spiral slicer, and all you have to do is peel a zucchini, squash, cucumber, carrot, parsnip or other veggie. Crank it through this bad boy to create mountains of raw pastas to serve with the raw sauce of your choice. Believe it or not, it does make a really good stand in for the traditional cooked pastas without all those heavy cooked carbs and wheat allergy concerns!

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Food staples
Nuts o Almonds should be on hand whenever possible, as theyre so versatile! With almonds you can create delicious pates and creamy mylks (which can be used as bases for smoothies, shakes and raw ice creams). And any leftover pulp from mylking can be used to make pie crusts, cakes, cookies and crackers. I managed to find some inexpensive raw almonds on Ebay and Amazon.com. o Walnuts are great additions to dishes where youre going for a meaty texture and flavor. All great taco meat substitutions, burger patties and pates feature these beauties. They also make a strong, yummy mylk, which goes really good with bananas in cereals and smoothies. Soaked and dehydrated walnuts are a really satisfying addition to raw trail mixes and cereals. They can be candied for a tasty treat by tossing with agave nectar or honey and a pinch of salt, and re-dehydrating until crunchy. Try them on salads with raisins or diced apples for a nice complimentary flavor. o Brazil nuts make great mylks, a nice creamy base for salad dressings and are an awesome addition to a raw granola. Theyre also very rich in selenium. o Hazelnuts make an amazingly delicious addition to many raw desserts, as well as a mylk thats out of this world! Try it blended with some cinnamon, vanilla and honey or agave and ice. They

37 also make a wonderful crust for raw pies when processed 1 to 1 with dates and a pinch of salt. o Macadamias are ridiculously creamy nuts due to their naturally high fat content, but fear not this raw fat, as it is so good for you! Awesome in deserts, smoothies, or for a really rich salad dressing. o Pecans. Another great desert nut in crusts, mylks, toppings and candied or salted as a yummy treat. o Pine nuts (pignollis) have a flavor that lends perfectly to savory dishes such as pesto, creamy pasta sauces, and rich dressings. o Pistachios are particularly good soaked, dehydrated, and either tossed with some salt, or lightly coated in oil and your choice of spices, and re-dehydrated for a tasty snack. o Cashews. Why are cashews way down here on the list? Well cashews are a tricky lil nut. The outer shell is naturally coated in an acidic poisonous compound for their own protection, and to remove this yucky shell, theyre often either steam heated or fried in oil until they pop. So unless youre dealing with those truly raw (and truly pricey) cashews, then you may want to skip on them. But, Ill leave that up to you to decide! However, theyre widely used and are an awesomely creamy nut for pasta sauces, cheeses, creamy dips and desserts. Many of the recipes that I use sunflower seeds in can be substituted with cashews (aside from in pates) if you prefer them. Do what works for you! Seeds o Sunflower seeds are a must to have on hand! They can be made into cereals, cheeses, creamy dip bases, and are a great addition to raw trail mixes, or just eaten as is after being soaked and dehydrated. Theyre also a great source of linoleic acid which is helpful for lowering cholesterol levels!

38 o Sesame seeds are great for making into a blended mylk that usually doesnt even require straining. Theyre also an awesome creamy base for salad dressings, smoothies, and pies. Making your own homemade tahini with them is super simple (recipe in the dessert section). Sesame seeds also pack quite a bit of nutrition. Theyre loaded with calcium, zinc, iron, and copper (which works out really well as copper is essential to the absorption of iron). o Pumpkin seeds. Rich in zinc and other minerals, these tasty mama-jamas are great for cereals, trail mixes, or marinated in various flavors before being dehydrated into crunchy-snackygoodness! o Chia seeds act as a great thickener for smoothies, or for making a pudding. Chia is also an awesome source of omega-3 fatty acids and cleansing fiber. o Flax seeds are also loaded with essential fatty acids (both omega-3 and -6), and both soluble and insoluble fiber, which makes them a great internal cleansing aid. Flax seeds are a great binder for raw breads and they make a great cracker. o Hemp seeds. These lil guys wont cause you to fail a drug test, so dont panic! Theyre chock-full of protein (up to 60%) and are rich in essential fatty acids. They also taste pretty darn good! Awesome additions to your raw cereals, dehydrated cookies and and a good movie! For a quick savory snack, try a small bowl of pumpkin seeds with a tiny drizzle of olive or hemp oil, and toss with a lil salt. For added points, stir in some other spices and seasonings to see what awesome flavor combinations you can come up with. Now all you need is a beverage

39 brownies, as a savory snack tossed with a lil oil and salt, and add a really nice touch to your finished nori-rolls. Just mix some dulse flakes in with some hemp seeds and dip the ends of your finished sushi for a good looking and yummy touch! All nuts and seeds should be stored in a cool dark place, or even in glass jars in the door of your fridge for long term storage to protect against rancidity.

Dried fruits such as raisins, dates and currants are a common ingredient in raw desserts, smoothies, and cereals. They are also a nice touch to a salad or as an awesome snack on their own. They can be stored short term in a cool dark place. For long term, place them in a sealed baggie or container in the fridge. Sun-dried tomatoes for thickening up sauces, soups and dressings. They make a great base for raw ketchup, and are also great in pates, flax crackers and raw breads. For me, they also make a fun substitute for jerky, as they have a meaty, chewy texture and savory quality. If you have a dehydrator, making your own dried tomatoes is super easy and inexpensive. Agave nectar and/or raw honey. You should always have one of these on hand to sweeten up everything from your smoothies to your sauces. Agave is low-glycemic, making it appropriate, not only for people with diabetic issues, but also great for people looking to avoid sugar highs and crashes. Raw honey is loaded with active enzymes, antioxidants, and its polysaccharides (long chain sugars) provide long-lasting energy and have anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, as well as many other healthy goodies! Even better for people with sugar concerns is stevia, which comes in several forms, including powder, which you would use as you would artificial sweetener or a liquid extract (often with some yummy flavor

40 options). Stevia is not an artificial sweetener, but is derived from an herb whose leaf has the same effects on our taste buds as sugar. Herbs and spices. Youll want to stock up your spice cabinet! If you can, find a local health food store with a bulk foods section that carries herbs and spices, and have fun! With the option of choosing the quantity of each, you can experiment easily with all sorts of flavors that you may have never even tried before, and for reasonable prices! If you dont have access to such a health food store, then you can save a lot of money by purchasing your herbs and spices from an online source such as www.mountainroseherbs.com. Their quality is awesome and their prices rock! The more variety of herbs and spices you have, the more options you have for creating delicious raw dishes that totally blow away cooked versions! Mineral or sea salts. Get rid of that mineral deficient salt and get some of the good stuff! These types of salts are rich in trace minerals, and are not only a nice flavor enhancer in your culinary tool-box, but their nutritional elements can be a helpful addition to your healthy diet. Braggs liquid aminos, tamari, or wheat-free nama-shoyu. These salty sauces are great for enhancing the flavor of all sorts of foods like: sauces and soups, pates, marinated veggies and mushrooms, etc. You can add them in for a savory addition to wraps or salads, and they make great sauces on their own for dipping your nori-rolls. In my recipes youll find a mushroom based sauce, called Faux Shoyu, which I created to provide a totally wheat free and inexpensive alternative to these sauces that you can experiment with. Cold pressed olive, hemp, flax and coconut oils. Did you know that veggie based oils that have been either heated or allowed to go rancid transform into trans-fats? Yeah, sad thing is that this includes corn, canola, vegetable oil, and oils that havent been cold pressed. Oils should always be either raw or cold pressed and should be kept cool and away from air and light. The containers storing them should be a darkened glass or

41 black plastic bottles. Most hemp and flax oils are packaged like this in the refrigerated section of you health food or grocery store. Hemp and flax oils are rich in omega fatty acids and make great additions to many a yummy dish! Coconut oil is rich in medium chain fatty acids, which are actually good for your heart, increase your metabolism, detoxify your system, and even have anti-parasitical and anti-fungal properties that help your body eliminate the baddies in your system. Hemp and flax are my oils of choice, but a great low-cost and often easier to find substitute would be first cold pressed (or stone pressed) extra virgin olive oil. It makes a great base for salad dressings, and is awesome for making a raw pasta aioli sauce! Raw chocolate, or cacao powder, is an essential for me! Gotta love chocolate! Just because youre getting into raw foods doesnt mean you have to give up this tasty treat, it just means that theres a new way to go about making it! Raw cacao is the same chocolate bean we know and love, but rather then being roasted, it is fermented (which is a much more low heat and gentler process) to produce that rich taste. This means the fats in it arent altered much, and the antioxidant and mineral content (which is amazingly high in this magic bean) are intact and readily absorbable. You can use raw cacao powder in your smoothies, puddings, pies, and cakes. And with a lil coconut oil or raw cacao butter and some honey or agave, you can make your own delicious raw chocolates thatll put any of those store bought candy bars to shame! Raw chocolate powder is becoming much more readily available in health food stores (even chain ones), but if not, this is one of those things worth ordering online! If youre just starting out with raw, you can sometimes substitute regular cocoa powder for the raw stuff in many of these raw cacao creations, as I did when I first got into raw foods. One tip if you plan to use regular cocoa is to always try using a lil less than the amount recommended, since it is often much more bitter. If you have chocolate

42 allergies or concerns about the simulating affects of the theobromine in cacao you can often substitute raw carob powder. Those were your basic staples of non-perishables; now lets get to the produce section! GREENS!! Never be without some fresh greens in your fridge! Spinach, mixed salad greens, kale, chard, or collards should be on hand for smoothies, salads and entrees. Theyre the most important foods in your raw diet, and having plenty on hand will allow and encourage you to eat more of them. Even if you dont, or arent planning on going 100% raw, adding more greens to your diet is one of the best things you can do to improve your health. Tomatoes and cucumbers should be on hand as well, as theyre great salad additions and make quick and easy snacks themselves. Plenty of raw entrees call for either of these juicy, nutritious, non-sweet fruits. Frozen fruits are great to have in the freezer, ready and waiting for your green (and other) smoothie creations. Nowadays, you can get everything from pineapple, strawberries, wild blueberries, and raspberries, to acai and goji berries. Garlic. This delicious bulb is loaded with way too many health benefits to list here, and is easily storable for weeks. So when you get that hankering for a savory dish, you can have fresh garlic within easy reach. Fresh fruits are your lifeline! They make tasty and easy breakfasts, smoothie and dessert additions, and quick handy snacks for anytime. Ive heard of diets that shun fruit because of the sugar content, but the sugars in fruit actually fire up your metabolism and foster healthy weight loss. If youre concerned about fruit spiking your blood sugar level, then consider this, fresh fruits (or blended fruits in smoothies) contain their own fibers which slows down the absorption of the sugars during the digestion process. This works especially well in the case of green smoothies, which

43 are loaded with fiber. If you want to give your fruit smoothies a fiber boost, simply add a lil ground flax or chia seeds to them. Fruit juices, which lack pulp (fiber), can spike your blood sugar levels as theyre rapidly absorbed. If you have diabetes, or other blood sugar issues, be sure to do your homework on the quantities of fruit you should have daily. Also check out the documentary Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days, which follows the lives of several of the many, many people reversing their diabetes by changing their diets!! Amazing stuff! Having fresh fruit on hand means constantly having access to a healthy raw snack whenever a sweet craving strikes. So pick up a bunch of your favorites and experiment with some new ones often to keep things interesting!

Pimpin out your kitchen

Your kitchen is going to be your playground and laboratory for playing with food and tinkering with delicious and healthy creations, so it should be a place thats inviting and comfortable to be in! Here are some ideas and suggestions to help turn your kitchen into a place youd actually like to spend a lil time in. Clear out clutter! Go through those cabinets and find any of that stuff that you havent touched in the last six months. You might want to consider giving these items away, either to friends or family, or to a local charitable organization. If youre shooting for 100% raw, you may want to think about relocating some of your cooking appliances, such as the toaster, crock pot, and definitely the microwave. You can simply store them
Our fridge with motivational Raw magnets

44 elsewhere for a while to see how you like going without them on your raw journey, and maybe giving them away later after youve decided whether or not youll need them again. Clearing space in the kitchen makes a great improvement on the flow of everything that goes on in there, and allows for a more relaxing atmosphere. Make places to set out your awesome raw edibles! Large serving platters, big ol wooden bowls, baskets or even large plates make a great place to set your bananas, avocados, tomatoes, garlic bulbs etc. Having them right in plain view isnt only a great way to beautify any kitchen, but it also keeps these healthy eats in mind and within easy reach. Stoves? Where were going, we dont need stoves. Cover up your stove-top if youre not going to be using it much. You can purchase range top covers in a variety of materials, some of them also doubling as cutting boards. Speaking of which, you could also just use a large cutting board. This will increase your work and food storage space. Covering the range top is also a good motivator to discourage you from using it so much. Get rid of junk food propaganda! All those flyers, menus, and coupons for pizza joints and such that are floating around your kitchen gotta go! When youre dealing with cravings you dont need those lil reminders hanging about. You know those fridge magnets that you occasionally get from the delivery places? Well, we cut them into squares and used them for our own goal of healthy eating! We took some of our favorite photos of raw dishes we prepared, glued them to thick pieces of colorful scrapbook paper, and glued four squares of the magnets to the back. Now we got our own raw-food advertisements, lil reminders of the awesome eats you can prepare with healthy ingredients! Put up some artwork! In the spirit of decorating for success, you might want to put up some beautiful and/or inspirational artwork in your kitchen. Art or photos of nature scenes, people doing activities that youd like to do

45 with all the excess energy that a raw foods diet can lead to, and anything that puts a smile on your face! Motivational quotes are another fun thing to put around! You can print out or write your favorite quotes, cut them out and stick them up on the fridge. You can change them up whenever you want. These will not only make your kitchen look nice, but also give you a lift whenever you see it! Plants! Cant say enough about the power of plants! They not only lend a beautiful natural feel to your kitchen (or any room for that matter), but they produce oxygen and filter your air by acting like living dust magnets. Airborne pollutants, dust, and even germs become trapped on the leaf surfaces and can easily be washed away by giving your plants a weekly bath. I place my plants in the bath tub and spray them down with roomtemperature water from the shower head. This not only washes away the junk theyve filtered, but also waters them thoroughly and they come out sparkling clean. Plants also make nice house guests; I am always comforted and relaxed when I look at them or am watering our lil green companions. Fresh flowers are a nice way to bring some life and color to your eating and prep area! So every now and again treat yourself to a bunch when youre out picking up your groceries, or from your own flower garden if you are lucky enough to have one! Little sculptures, candles, knick-knacks, and anything else youd like to style your kitchen with. Its all good if it makes you feel comfortable, motivated and inspired! Be creative and youll end up with a place you look forward to being. Last, but not least, you gotta have some music! Get yourself a radio with a CD player for your kitchen; its one of the best things you can invest in. Listening to tunes always gets me motivated and keeps me going even through somewhat tedious tasks, like washing the dishes. You can also be listening to the news, books on tape, motivational or meditational CDs, or my favorite, stand up comedy albums!

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Basic raw food prep techniques

Making pastas out of veggies
Zucchini, yellow squash, and cucumbers can easily be turned into quick and tasty pasta with just a couple tools: a potato peeler and a kitchen knife. Simply peel the skin from your veggie and then, using the peeler, peel it into long flat strips. These strips make great noodles for raw Pad Thai, lasagna, and fettuccini. Now to spaghettify them, simply stack several of these large noodles and slice them lengthwise with your kitchen knife. And like I mentioned earlier, if you get hardcore with this you may want to go ahead and pick up a spiral slicer!

Marinating mushrooms and veggies

Marinated veggies can make a great substitute for meats, especially when you use mushrooms. Marinating flavors and tenderizes veggies, adding new dimensions to your raw dishes. From beefy slices of portabellas marinated in a mix of Braggs liquid aminos, onion and garlic powder, with black pepper and a splash of apple cider vinegar, perched atop a bed of baby spinach - to standard white caps marinated in a blend of hemp oil, lime juice and curry powder to make a zesty Thai-inspired wrap inside of a romaine lettuce leaf. There are so many opportunities to enhance your menu using a marinade. Fajitas can easily be done up raw by marinating sliced peppers, onions and mushrooms in a mixture of lemon juice, chili powder, salt, pepper, cumin and cilantro. The magic component of your marinades is the acidic ingredient. Citrus juices or vinegars, being acidic, break down the veggies, soften them up, and in a sense, cook them.

Ricing squash and root veggies

You can quickly and easily transform squash, pumpkins, and even turnips into a pretty convincing rice substitute using your food processor. Simply peel and chop your veggie into 1-2 chunks and place them in the processor. Pulse them

47 in short bursts and frequently use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides to make sure everything is getting chopped. When the pieces get down to lil ricesized bits, youre in business! To finish it off, mix in a lil oil of your choice and a dash of salt, or go all out and experiment with adding other spices and veggies to make your own raw versions of rice and beans, fried rice or even Indian spiced rice. These veggie rices also make great fillings for your nori rolls.

Juicing with you blender

Easy and straight forward! Simply toss your ingredients in the blender with just enough water to get them blending. Once theyre thoroughly liquefied, strain the contents through a nut mylk/juice bag and youre done. No need for a high priced juicer! Some may argue that this method of blending and straining can lead to oxidation of some of the nutritional content of the greens, fruits or veggies youre juicing when compared to a high quality (and high priced) juicer, but if youre enjoying your juice right after making it, then there wont be an issue. Also, adding citrus to your juices can help prevent oxidation as its antioxidant qualities can actually help reduce oxidization of your juice. Its the same principle as using lemon juice to keep sliced apples from browning. Either way you go about it, fresh home made raw juices are way more beneficial than any pasteurized prepackaged stuff you can buy in the store, and not to mention you get to pick exactly what goes into it!

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Using leaves as wraps

This is a great way to enjoy your raw dishes more and get greens into your diet in a fun and creative way! You can use any large leafy green for wraps, but my favorites are romaine and collard leaves. For romaine leaves, the only prep work that needs to be done is cutting off that extra bit of crunchy stalk at the end. With collards, youll want to lay the leaf out flat with the underside facing up. Youll notice the stem protruding up along the leaf. Use a sharp knife and carefully cut along the upper part of the stem, removing as much of the top portion as possible in an effort to thin it. This will allow you to easily roll up the finished product and avoid that chewy stem being a part of the finished dish. The romaine leaves are great for raw tacos and seed cheese, or nut pate wraps. The collards are great for rolling up into burritos or mock egg-rolls.

Dehydrating
I saved dehydrating for last, as many people dont own a dehydrator. Allow me to make a case for these nifty kitchen gadgets! Dehydrators allow you, as a potential raw foodie, to create everything from crackers, to fruit leathers, pizza crusts, to breads, and an amazing assortment of chewy desserts, crunchy snacks and even your own vegan burgers! I understand the cost concern with dehydrators, as they can be $300 for the larger models. There are inexpensive alternatives out there, such as the Nesco brand Snackmaster model which goes for about $60 and has that key component of a good raw food dehydrator an adjustable thermostat! This makes the difference compared to those $15 store models (which are usually set at a temp around 150 F, way too high for a dish rich with active enzymes). When

49 choosing a dehydrator, you should go for one with a thermostat that at least goes down to 105 F, which is a generally excepted enzyme friendly temperature. If all you have to work with is the $15 bad-boy, then I say work with what you got! (for now) it may not preserve the enzymes as much as youd like but, its a LOT easier on the foods than an oven! Then, later on in your raw foods adventure you can upgrade when you get the chance.

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Making nut mylks

Use the nuts and/or seeds of your choice. I prefer a nut with a creamy quality, such as almonds, Brazils, walnuts, macadamias, pecans, or cashews. You could alternatively use sunflower, pumpkin, or sesame seeds to make a nice creamy mylk substitute. Experiment a bit and find what you like the best. 1. Soak your nuts or seeds (see my recommended soak time for nuts and seeds on page 53) 2. Now that our seeds are done soaking, its time to mylk them. Well need a blender, a nut mylk bag (or cheese cloth or fine mesh strainer in a pinch) and a large bowl with a spout. You will need to figure out your preferred nut to water ratio; I like to do about 3 cups water to 1 cup nuts. Sometimes more or less water, depending if I want it creamier or thinner. Play with this a bit and see what amount you like the best. You may want creamier mylk for your raw cereals, and a thinner one to use as a base for your smoothies. Pour your water and nuts/seeds in the blender and blend away. For standard blenders, you may want to give about 2-3 minutes of blend time (1-2 for high-powered models) to allow for maximum extraction of all the yummy raw fats and flavors.

Making Nut Mylks

Mix water and soaked nuts in blender at your favorite ratio. I use 3:1.

Blend until its creamy.

Pour into a nut mylk bag over a bowl.

3. Once its finished blending, youll want to strain it (especially for almonds and Brazil nuts) but you can get away without this step for some, such as walnuts, pecans, and sesame seeds. Try a glass of your mylk unstrained,

51 then strained and compare to see which you prefer. I try to go the unstrained route when it works because it saves a lil prep time. If it needs straining, just put your nut mylk bag or cheese cloth inside your bowl and pour the milk through. Cinch the bag up (or bring the corners of the cheesecloth together) and begin gently squeezing the pulp until youre left with a well wrung-out mass of pulp. Dont toss the pulp out though! It can be used in raw breads, pie crusts, cookies, and other goodies. Refrigerate the leftover pulp for up to 3 days. 4. Now that its strained, its done, but if you want to give it that authentic milk taste, then pop it back in the blender and add a lil agave or honey for sweetener (approx 1 teaspoon per 3-4 cups mylk) and pinch of salt. You could also have fun experimenting with other flavorings such as vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg or raw carob or cacao powders. Your finished nut mylk makes a great beverage all on its own, or as a creamy base for smoothies and shakes, a nice topping for a bowl of raw granola and fruits, or as dairy free base for your raw ice cream creations. To store it, I recommend glass mason jars with tight fitting lids or another glass carafe with a sealing lid (that
Pour into a glass jar and store in the fridge Squeeze the juice out of the pulp and into the bowl

Save the left over pulp for another recipe!

can easily be washed after use). My favorite storage containers are glass milk jugs. We get them for about $3.00 at our local health food store, and they make great easy-to-wash jugs for our own mylks. You can keep your mylk in the fridge for 4 to 5 days. After that it may get funky.

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Enzyme Inhibitors
Always soak your nuts and seeds. Enzyme inhibitors are the seeds way of remaining dormant until conditions are right for it to begin germinating and sprouting. If conditions are dry, the seed will not sprout, but when the seed is exposed to moisture for a while the enzyme inhibitors are washed away, and the enzymes that cause the growth are allowed to get to work making a new plant. These enzyme inhibitors also hinder digestion of the seed, presumably so that if an animal were eating them it may miss chewing some, leaving them to pass through and be deposited elsewhere along the animals travels. This digestion retarding effect also affects us if we consume raw nuts with the inhibitors intact. This can lead to improper nutrient absorption at best, as well as bloating, gas, and stomach discomfort. Therefore, we soak the nuts and seeds to wash these away and begin the process of germination. This way we not only knock out the inhibitors, but we allow the seed to undergo a change that permits it to contain more active health giving enzymes. Sweet deal!

Soaking your nuts and seeds

Lets get soakin! Simply measure out the amounts of nuts and seeds you need for your recipe and plop them in a bowl or mason jar. When selecting a container for soaking your nuts or seeds, be sure to keep in mind that the thirsty seeds may double in size after soaking. I like using a bowl with a spout for soaking nuts or seeds for nut mylk because I can then use that same bowl (after rinsing it out) to strain the nut mylk into. Mason jars make awesome soaking containers as well, especially if you can pick up some of those plastic or wire mesh sprouting lids. This allows you to easily drain and rinse the lil guys your soaking, especially useful for small seeds. Once you got your nuts or seeds in their ideal container, just pour on the water. How much water? The more the better! I would recommend having the nuts or seeds covered over by about 2-3 inches. This allows plenty for your nuts to absorb and have a bunch left over for the enzyme inhibitors and tannic acids to wash out into. After the nuts or seeds have soaked, plop them in a colander and

53 rinse them through with filtered water. If youre making a recipe that uses several kinds of nuts and seeds (such as granola or my Energy Bars pg. 67) its totally okay to soak them together.

Recommended soak time for nuts and seeds

Almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, pistachios, hazel nuts and pecans Softer nuts such as macadamias, cashews and pine nuts Pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds flax and chia seeds I dont soak these unless Im using the chia seeds to make a pudding. This is my personal preference as soaking and rinsing either of these seeds can be quite tricky due to their gelatinous properties. Ive not noticed any digestive issues from my method and I also believe it helps prevent losing some of the omega fatty acids these two contain. hemp seeds I dont soak these as they are very low in enzyme inhibitors. This makes them a quick and easy addition to your recipes and a quick base for a seed mylk. Can you soak your nuts and seeds too long? The answer is yes. I wouldnt let any of them soak longer than 12 hours (if you can avoid it). Ive accidentally left almonds soaking for over 24 hours and they tasted funky because at that point, they began to ferment. If youre concerned you may forget to drain them and store them before this length of time, then simply place your soaking nuts or a mere 2-6 hour soak If you let them go longer than that it wont hurt them. about 4-6 hours between 68 hours This not only activates the enzyme inhibitors, but also removes the tannic acids, which reduces bitterness. So the nuts arent only easier to digest, but tastier. This reduces those enzyme inhibitors and makes them easier to blend into a creamy goodness!

54 seeds in a container with a lid and pop them in your fridge. This slows the germination process and delays fermentation. You can leave them floating in the fridge like this for a couple of days if you had to, but I would recommend draining and rinsing them as soon as you can. Now that you got your soaked and rinsed nuts and seeds, what are you going to do with them? If youre not ready to use them right away they can be stored in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 5 days. When using nuts that have been stored like this, be sure to subtract the stored days from the shelf life of the recipe youre using them for. To keep youre soaked nuts extra long (which is really handy for whipping up meals in a hurry) just pop your soaked nuts or seeds into your dehydrator and dry them until crunchy (about 24-36 hours). These dehydrated mama-jamas will store in your fridge in a sealed container or a zipper bag for up to a month. This works out great for whipping up recipes on the fly! Whenever a moist recipe (such as a pate or seed cheeze) calls for soaked nuts or seeds, simply use your dried goodies and add a lil water to the recipe. Now that we have some basics, we are going to dive right into the best part, the recipes!

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Recipes

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Breakfast
Whats for breakfast? Here are some great healthy eats to start your day! I like to keep breakfast simple so that I can start out my day feeling refreshed. Whats really cool is that raw foods leave you feeling full of energy rather than sluggish, as many a cooked morning meal can. When you get around to getting out of bed and eating them, that is.

Lemony Goodness Dandy Blend Coffee My Favorite Cereal Granola, Rawdawg Style Fruit

Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61

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Lemony Goodness
Heres a recipe and a health tip all rolled into one! A large glass of filtered water (or otherwise purified) A lemon (or other citrus fruit of your choice) A lil honey or agave for sweetness (totally optional) Squeeze the citrus juice into your water, add a lil sweetener, if desired, and stir. Add ice if you like, then sip and enjoy. A glass of water is one of the best pre-breakfast beverages possible! It hydrates you, cleans the funky taste out of your mouth, and helps you clean the residues out that your body was dealing with while you slept. The citrus helps to alkalize your body, and this not only has many health benefits, but may also reduce your cravings for caffeine (such as soda or coffee). How can lemonade replace coffee? The caffeine in coffee is an alkalizing stimulant and often we crave such things (along with nicotine, and THC *marijuana*) because our bodies can be too acidic from all the heavy foods and stress we deal with everyday. The lemon in this beverage can help to boost our pH closer to neutral without the side affects of coffee. Even if you have no intentions of cutting coffee from your diet, adding more water to your diet, especially in the morning, can help you avoid a lot of aches, pains and other annoying issues that come from being dehydrated. A big help when preparing to head off to work!

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Dandy Blend Coffee

If you need a nice warm cuppa in the morning, then you might give Dandy Blend a try. This tasty beverage is made with roasted dandelion, chicory and burdock root. Sounds yummy right? Believe it or not, but this instant coffee like beverage has a delicious natural sweetness from the caramelization of the sugars in these mineral loaded roots! It is not a raw product, but is a tasty and healthy beverage for those mornings you need something hot or you are really craving coffee. Give it a shot with some honey or agave nectar and some almond mylk, or straight up if you like it black. For a fun and tasty coffee alternative, be sure to check out my Rawpuccino recipe (pg. 147) in the Smoothies section. You can find dandy blend in many health food stores and online at www.dandyblend.com . stuff to your personal menu! Getting excited about adding more good stuff to my diet and allowing the bad stuff to slowly be gradually and effortlessly edged out was one of the principles that helped me to transition smoothly and comfortably into my raw lifestyle (and other healthy living goals Id set along my lifetime!). Dont let yourself get focused on what youre going to be removing or reducing from your diet but, focus on how awesome it would be to add more healthy

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My Favorite Cereal
Cereal was one of my alltime weaknesses when going 100% raw, but combinations like these soon filled my morning menu and left me satisfied and ready to start my day!

Walnuts and bananas in a bowl of almond mylk with honey drizzled over top

- cup of soaked and dehydrated pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, brazils or almonds (or your favorites) to cup of your favorite nut mylk Fresh, ripe fruits or berries peeled and chopped to your liking (strawberries, bananas, blueberries, blackberries, etc.) Dried fruits of your choice (raisins, currants, dates, cranberries, etc.) Honey or agave to sweeten Simply toss your nuts and seeds into your preferred breakfast bowl, pour in some nut mylk, top it off with your fruit of choice and drizzle with a lil sweetener if your heart desires! This will satisfy the crunchy cravings and start you off with the energy you need to get going!

Some yummy cereal combos I enjoy are: Pumpkin seeds, bananas and almond mylk Walnuts, & bananas, topped with walnut mylk & drizzled with honey Pecans with blueberries, almond mylk, and a drizzle of agave Sunflower seeds, chopped apples, almond mylk, drizzle with agave or honey and sprinkle with cinnamon

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Granola, Rawdawg Style

Granola is one of those comforting traditional breakfast eats that fills you up and keeps you buzzing until lunchtime. Heres a raw version that tastes great, is easily modified to whatever floats your boat, and is storable. You can make a bunch in advance, saving you prep time in the morning. This potent mix is loaded with zinc, which is an allimportant mineral for vitality. 2 cups pumpkin seeds, soaked and dehydrated 2 cups sunflower seeds, soaked and dehydrated 1 cups walnuts or pecans, soaked and dehydrated cup honey or agave (more or less to your taste) Pinch of salt teaspoon of vanilla bean extract, or the seeds of a vanilla bean pod teaspoon of cinnamon Plop all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and toss until thoroughly coated and mixed. Spread this onto the solid trays of your dehydrator and dehydrate until crunchy. I like to use pre-soaked and dehydrated nuts and seeds before coating them because I find that when using freshly soaked and rinsed ones, the excess moisture washes off the tasty coating. Once your mix has crunchified, you can stir in any dried fruits you like, such as raisins, currants or blueberries, and place it in an air tight container and store in your fridge up to three weeks.

61 This is an awesome breakfast topped off with almond mylk and some of your favorite fresh fruit. It can also be bagged up and popped in your lunch box, pocket book, or pocket to take to work for whenever the munchies strike. Also great for sneaking a healthy snack into the movies! Other tasty raw morning kick offs can be fruit pie, green smoothie, or my raw energy bar. But, its your life, your goals, and your creativity that will guide you in your breakfast choices!

Fruit as your breakfast?

If youre interested in experimenting with something lighter and easier on the digestion, you can try having a simple breakfast of fruit. However you like them, either cut up and mixed, or as they are. If youre really shooting for super easy digestion then just eat one kind of fruit by itself. This is referred to as a mono-meal and some raw foodies love to start off their day this way. I personally prefer my granolas or cereals and a big ol green smoothie, but my wife goes for the fruit in its simple form. Its completely a personal choice.

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Lunch
Lunch is the easiest time to fall off the raw wagon (or any healthy eating adventure for that matter!) because were far away from our comfy kitchen with its healthy goodies and the equipment needed to prepare them. Additionally, were going to be surrounded by less than ideal, but tempting foods. So we gotta think ahead a wee-bit and whip up some packable goodies in advance to fuel us along in our daily travels! Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 69 Page 71

Veggies Honey Mustard Sauce Sunflower Seed Ranch Dip Mexican Style Seed Cheeze Rawdawgs Raw Energy Bars This Aint Tuna Salad? Cucumber Aioli with Bruschetta and Cheezy Bread Sticks Cluckless Noodle Soup Living Miso Mushroom Soup Curried Carrot Soup

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Veggies
Veggies with dip is a simple lunch or snack and easy to pack up and eat wherever! Creatively cut veggies with one or more raw dips will have you looking forward to lunch time, even more than usual! There are all sorts of handy lil travel containers that make toting these and your other raw munchies easy. Make sure that you use an insulated lunch bag and an ice pack to keep your dips cool and your veggies crisp. This lunchtime treat can also be done up as a large party platter with all of the different dips. Itll be a hit at any party or pot luck for sure, and no one will even notice that its a raw dish. That is, until you cant keep from sharing the truth that healthy eats can be delicious! Also, mini-platters make for a great TV watching snack, as that can be a time when we crave something savory and crunchy. Any one, or combo, of the following veggies: Carrots, thinly sliced in a diagonal direction, leaving you with a long carrot chip, perfect for dipping Thin strips of red or green bell peppers Broccoli or cauliflower florets Slices of cucumbers (peeled if non-organic, to remove that waxy coating, as its not digestible) Cherry tomatoes, no need to slice, just dip and pop! Snow peas, sliced radish, baby bok choi leaves, slices of fennel bulb or kohlrabi are also fun and tasty options to mix things up!

64 Now for the dips

All of the below dips and cheezes are great salad dressings as well. Simply add a lil more water and liquid ingredients and bump up the seasonings a bit, to compensate for the dilution. These dips or dressings can be stored in a sealed container in your fridge for 3-4 days.
Clockwise left to right: Ranch Dip, Honey Mustard Sauce, and Mexican Seed Cheese

Honey Mustard Sauce

Just like the original, only a LOT healthier! cup soaked sunflower seeds - cup water Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, because recipes should be flexible!) 2-3 tablespoons honey (or agave) 1 tablespoon ground mustard seed 1 tablespoon turmeric 1 + teaspoons onion granules 1 teaspoon black pepper teaspoon salt This tangy dip is great on all sorts of veggies, and is also good as a condiment on a leaf wrap sandwich with marinated mushrooms.

65 Blend the seeds, water, lemon juice, salt and honey until creamy, then add remaining ingredients and blend until just combined.

Sunflower Seed Ranch Dip

Oh yeah! Good ol ranch dip with a non dairy twist! 1 cup soaked sunflower seeds This makes an awesome and familiar veggie dip, as well as a tasty wrap condiment! Of course its also an awesome salad dressing! cup of water Juice of 1 lemon 1 + teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon onion granules teaspoon black pepper 1 + tablespoons dried dill

Blend the seeds, water, juice, and salt until creamy then add remaining ingredients and blend until just combined.

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Mexican Style Seed Cheeze

Spicy, creamy and cheesy dip. 1 cup soaked sunflower seeds cup water Juice of a lemon 1 + tablespoons apple cider vinegar 1 pitted date 1 teaspoon salt teaspoon onion granules teaspoon garlic powder teaspoon black pepper 1 tablespoon oregano 1 teaspoon ground coriander teaspoon cumin to teaspoon chipotle pepper powder (depending on how spicy you like it

Blend seeds, water, lemon juice, cider vinegar, date and salt until creamy. Toss in the remaining goodies and blend until just combined.

This stuff not only makes one heck of a dip, but an awesome raw taco or burrito sauce.

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Rawdawgs Raw Energy Bars

These satisfying nutrient packed energy bars are ridiculously easy to prepare! 1 cup of pitted dates 3 cups of soaked and dehydrated nuts and seeds (my favorite blend is 1 cup of sunflower seeds, 1 cup of pumpkin seeds and 1 cup of almonds, but you can use any combination of nuts and seeds that you like. You can even add in some shredded dried coconut for a tropical flare.) cup of dried fruits (raisins, cranberries, goji berries, or chopped dried apricots, pineapples, mangos or whatever sounds tasty to you; or none at all, as this ingredient is optional.) Coarsely grind the nuts and seeds in your food processor and toss into a mixing bowl. Toss the pitted dates into the food processor and grind into a pulpy mass. Once it starts to roll into a ball its ready! If you have a good standard sized

68 processor you can add the nuts back in and process until everything is combined. If you are using a small one, then simply hand mix the dates and dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Also, hand mixing in the dried fruits is a good idea if you dont want them ground up. Once you got your dough going, grab a small pan and sprinkle sesame seeds, coconut flakes, cacao powder or finely ground nuts or seeds on the bottom of it to prevent your bars from sticking. This also adds some interesting flavor and texture! Press in your dough and chill in the fridge for about a hour. Simply slice the mix into bar shapes and store in an airtight container in the fridge. If you want to make them even easier, you could just roll them into snack sized balls and roll them in the ground seeds or powder for energy balls. This good stuff will keep in the fridge about two weeks, so that you can have them on hand for travel or a quick snack at home. This stuff is incredibly versatile and can be mutated into all sorts of flavor combinations using different nuts, seeds or dried fruits, and by adding in flavorings such as vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cacao powder, or carob. If you have any favorite superfoods, such as goji berries, maca powder, spirulina, chlorella, blue green algae, etc., you could go ahead and blend them in and create superfood bars!

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This Aint Tuna Salad?

If you like tuna fish, youre going to love this tasty raw rendition! 2 cups soaked sunflower seeds 1 cup soaked almonds Juice of a lemon cup of water 1 + teaspoons salt, or to taste Toss these ingredients in your food processor and give them a go around until the nuts and seeds appear to be coarsely chopped. Then toss in the following flavorings: 1 tablespoon parsley flakes 1 tablespoon dulse flakes teaspoon black pepper 1+ teaspoon onion granules (or powder) 1 teaspoon celery seed 1 teaspoon dill Process until it has the consistency of a finely ground tuna salad. At this point its ready to go, but if you want to make it even more tuna salad like you can go ahead and hand mix in some minced celery and onion. This fish alternative is perfect for topping off salads, scooping with sliced veggies, stuffing halves of tomatoes, a great filling for making your own raw vegan version
This Ain't Tuna Salad? on celery

70 of sushi rolls, or my personal favorite, rolled up in a collard leaf with sliced romaine lettuce, chopped tomato, sliced onions and a generous sprinkle of black pepper. Either way you serve it, this stuff is great for stocking up your lunch box. Dulse is a nutritious seaweed that comes in flake form and is readily available at most grocery stores with a health section, or your local health food store. If you do have to order it online (as we did before we found it locally) its usually inexpensive as a lil goes a long way in giving your dishes a familiar seafood taste. Optionally, there are prepackaged shakers of kelp granules and seaweed flakes that would also work well in this recipe.

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Left to Right: Bruschetta, Aioli, and Bread Sticks

Cucumber Aioli with Bruschetta and Cheezy Bread Sticks

This simple meal makes a great dinner or lunch when you want something quick, simple and savory! All you need is a cutting board, a knife and a veggie peeler. 3 large cucumbers Peel the cucumbers to remove the skin, and then using the peeler, peel the cukes into a mass of thin wide noodles. Save the seedy core for the Bread Sticks. Aioli Sauce: cup of hemp or olive oil 4 large cloves of garlic, minced teaspoon of salt teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes (or cayenne pepper powder)

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Stir together in a small glass bowl and allow it to sit for about 10 minutes while you make the bruschetta. Bruschetta: I like to make this one really simple with a mild flavor, so as not to outcompete the taste of the aioli sauce. 1 cup of diced tomatoes (preferably Roma) 1 teaspoon of thyme (or basil) teaspoon of salt teaspoon of black pepper Toss these into a glass bowl and stir. Allow to marinate a few minutes while you make the Bread Sticks. Cheezy Bread Sticks: Take the cucumber cores and slice them in half lengthwise, then cut these in half so that youre left with quarters. Cut these strips into thirds so that youre left with sticks. Toss your cucumber sticks with some nutritional yeast to coat them and you got a yummy side dish for your pasta! You could also sprinkle on some Italian seasonings and salt if you like. To serve, drizzle the Aioli sauce over your noodle cucumbers and toss to coat. Place a pile of these tasty strands on your plate. Next take a generous scoop of the Bruschetta and plop it right next to your noodles. Last, but not least, arrange some of the Cheezy Bread Sticks on the plate and its ready to go!

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Cluckless Noodle Soup

My wife whipped up this delicious raw version of chicken noodle soup, and it blew me away how much it tasted like the original! 1 carrot, chopped roughly 1 + large celery stalks, chopped roughly clove of garlic 1 + cups of water 1 tablespoon dried celery leaf and stalks (these are sold as a seasoning, but if you cant find them locally its just as easy to throw in another celery stalk) 4 tablespoons of veggie broth powder (available at most health food stores or supermarkets with healthy options) teaspoon salt teaspoon black pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil Blend these until thoroughly liquefied.

74 Stir in: 2 cups of fine cut zucchini noodles, or you can use a spiral slicer to make noodles cup of minced mushrooms 1 grated, or noodlefied carrot And 1 stalk of finely sliced celery This soup makes an awesome hearty lunch, and with all its enzymes and nutrients intact, it blows the original version out of the water when it comes to helping you fight a cold!

Raw soups such as this can easily be toted to work in a mason jar or other non-reactive container. If you need to warm it up you can run the jar under hot water for a bit, or if its fresh out of the blender you can pour it into a pot on the stove and warm it at the lowest possible flame until just warmed (when we do this we use a candy thermometer to make sure it stays below 115 F).

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Living Miso Mushroom Soup

Miso soup was always a favorite of mine back in my cooked days, so I was geeked up when I figured out how to whip up a raw version! 3 + cups of water cup of water (separate) 1 cup of sliced mushrooms 1 large carrot (peeled into thin strips) 5 scallions (with greens) thinly sliced cup of unpasteurized red or brown miso 3 sheets of nori seaweed (rolled up and thinly sliced) 1 tablespoon dulse flakes teaspoon black pepper Add the miso paste and cup of water in a cup and stir until the miso is dissolved (this prevents chasing a clump of miso around in your pot). Toss this and all the other ingredients in a large pot and stir. Next, place on the stove top (gasp!) on the lowest flame possible (phew). Stir constantly and monitor the temp using a candy thermometer to make sure it stays below 115 F. Once it gets close, its ready to serve! This hearty living soup is rich in probiotics and active enzymes, not to mention some awesome minerals and nutrients from the seaweeds! It makes a great accompaniment to nori rolls, and a satisfying lunch all on its own. Miso is not technically a raw product; it is a cultured food that starts off with a base of cooked soybeans. However, when it undergoes this culturing process it develops a lot of probiotic cultures and active enzymes. So be sure to pick the unpasteurized variety, as it hasnt had all these wonderful goodies cooked out of it.

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Curried Carrot Soup

This creamy carrot soup has a warming quality and a beautiful color. 2 + cups of chopped carrots 1 + cups water cup of red onion 2 tablespoons of coconut oil 1 tablespoons of curry powder teaspoon turmeric 1 teaspoon salt teaspoon paprika teaspoon cayenne pepper Blend the carrots, water, onion and coconut oil until creamy, then toss in the spices and blend until just combined. This soup tastes best when allowed to sit for about 15 minutes to allow all the spices to wake up. Warm, if desired, on the stove top or seal in a jar and run under hot water. This creamy spicy soup is rather light, so its nice for when you want a lil something. It makes a great accompaniment to a wrap or salad, particularly the Curried Mushroom Salad in the dinner recipes section.

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Snacks
The fun thing about raw foods is they dont require heating! So theyre quick and easy to eat anywhere, and the majority of them travel effortlessly. So many of the dishes were going to whip up can be taken to work, on the road, or anywhere else that may otherwise be hard to find healthy options. Page 78 Page 80 Page 81 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Flax Crackers Pizza Crackers Cheesy Crackers Red Pepper Dulse Crackers Sunflower Flax Tortilla Chips Ranch Style Tortilla Chips Nacho Cheese Chips Chipotle Chili Cheeze Chips Salsa Non Queso Zesty Salsa Teryaki Mix Sushi Seeds Honey Mustard and Onion Mix Kale Chips Sweet and Salty Seed Bars

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Flax Crackers
These tasty crackers are simple, delicious, and really hit the spot when you need something with all the familiar crunchiness of a chip! Im going to give a basic recipe for flax crackers, but let me tell you, these are near impossible to mess up yes, even for those who say they can mess up anything!
Clockwise from left: Cheesy Crackers, Pizza Crackers, and Red Pepper Dulse Crackers

Since these require dehydration and arent an instant raw food, I recommend a lil forethought when making them, i.e. go ahead and make a batch when you can because theyll last a bit and you never know when youll get that crunchy craving! 1 cup of flax seeds, freshly ground in a coffee grinder 1+ - 2 cups of veggie slurry (basically a mix of savory fruits and veggies, with just enough water to get them moving, blended into a soup like consistency in your blender). I like any or all of the following either in combination or by themselves: Tomatoes, onions, red bell peppers, carrots, celery, zucchini, sun dried tomatoes, or even greens like spinach. I also like to toss in a clove of garlic before blending, but its totally optional. -1 teaspoon salt Herbs and spices of your choice

79 Blend your herbs, spices, and salt with your veggie slurry. Mix the flax seeds into your veggie slurry with a spatula in a large mixing bowl until it begins to thicken up into a thick, but spreadable consistency. If its still runny, let it sit for about 15 minutes and it should be ready to go. Spread the mix on the fruit leather trays (or Teflex sheets if using an Excalibur) of your dehydrator to about a thick layer (a lil more or less wont hurt) using a rubber spatula. Using the edge of the spatula like a knife, score lines in the cracker mix, this will allow you to easily break the finished layer into individual crackers. Dehydrate until thoroughly dry on one side and flip over the Teflex sheet or fruit leather tray and peel it off to allow the bottom side to dry. Once your crackers are nice and crispy theyre done! You cant over dry these in my experience, but the total drying time may be between 10-24 hours. Once your crackers are all finished, allow them to cool to room temperature and store in air-tight containers in your fridge, where theyll keep for up to two weeks if you dont eat them all by then! If there is leftover cracker batter after filling your dehydrator, you can simply pop it in an airtight container and store in your fridge until the initial batch is done. Flax crackers are such versatile munchies! You can snack on them as is, which makes them perfect for your lunch box or backpack, so that youre not tempted to pick up a baggie of chips while youre out and about. They are also really great Most dehydrators only come with a couple fruit leather trays/Teflex sheets, but offer the option to purchase more. I recommend ordering as many liners as there are trays in your dehydrator. This will save you time by allowing you to prepare large batches of dehydrated recipes at a time, which works out well as theyre storable in the fridge for weeks. In a pinch, you could also line the mesh trays with either cling wrap or parchment paper.

80 for movie theatre munchies! Theyre awesome for dipping in your fresh salsa or guacamole, not to mention any of those tasty veggie dips on the previous pages. And for adding a new dimension to your salads, try crumbling up a handful of these lil bad-boys over it for your own raw croutons. Now that Ive given you the basic recipe, here are a couple of specific combinations I enjoy.

Pizza Crackers
Oh yeah! These have a savory pizza taste with a cheesy twist, thanks to the nutritional yeast. 1 cup flax seeds, ground in your coffee grinder

Slurry 2 medium tomatoes cup water cup sun dried tomatoes 1 teaspoon oregano

2 teaspoons Italian seasonings Pinch of cayenne pepper 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast Pinch of salt

Blend the slurry ingredients in your blender and mix with the ground flax. Prepare as the above recipe for basic flax crackers. These are an awesome snack on their own, or as a fun appetizer. Serve with a bit of seed cheese spread on top and a bit of the marinara sauce from the zucchini pasta recipe. Voila, you got Raw Pizza Bites! Also for fun, go ahead and plop on any other toppings you like, from diced marinated mushrooms or red peppers, to minced pineapple! Get creative and have fun with your food!

81

Cheesy Crackers
Heres another munchie thats met its raw match! 1 cup of flax seeds, ground in your coffee grinder 1 cup water cup nutritional yeast flakes Pinch of salt Pinch of black pepper No need to blend a slurry on this one, simply mix your ground seeds with the rest of the ingredients. Once its a gooey, spreadable consistency, prepare as the basic flax crackers. The nutritional yeast tastes amazingly cheesy and gives these crunchy snacks a great flavor. Perfect for eating on their own or dipping.

Red Pepper Dulse Crackers

My lovely wife, who loves sea veggies and red peppers, concocted these savory snacks. 1 cup of flax seeds ground in your coffee grinder Slurry 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast 1 cup of water 1 red bell pepper (stem & seeds removed) 2 tablespoons dulse flakes 1 clove garlic Pinch of salt Pinch of black pepper

These are so delicious and flavorful that youll probably just want to eat them as is! You could also serve them up with a nice dollop of seed cheese, and maybe a sprinkle of minced red bell peppers on top.

82

Sunflower Flax Tortilla Chips

This is my favorite tortilla chip recipe! 1 cup flax seeds ground in your coffee grinder 1 cup soaked sunflower seeds teaspoon salt Toss everything but cup of the sunflower seeds in your food processor and process until the sunflower seeds have been ground smooth. Remove the blade of the processor and use a spatula to mix in the remaining cup of seeds (for texture and a neat look to the finished chips). Spread the chip mix onto your fruit leather (or Teflex trays) about thick. Score tortilla chip shapes into the spread mix and dehydrate until dry thoroughly on one side. Carefully remove the mix from the fruit leather or Teflex trays and continue drying the chips on the mesh sheets until crispy. Once theyre done, allow to cool to room temperature and store in a sealed container in your fridge up to two weeks. These tasty crunchy chips have a slight thicker consistency than the flax crackers, thanks to the sunflower seeds. They totally rock for dipping in all sorts of stuff and are especially tasty in my favorite dip, the Salsa Non Queso!

83

Ranch style Tortilla Chips

This is similar to the Sunflower Flax Tortilla Chip recipe, with just a few extra ingredients. 1 cup flax seeds ground in your coffee grinder 1 cup soaked sunflower seeds teaspoon salt teaspoon onion granules teaspoon garlic powder teaspoon black pepper 1 tablespoon dried dill

Toss everything but cup of the sunflower seeds in your food processor and process until the sunflower seeds have been ground smooth. Remove the blade of the processor and use a spatula to mix in the remaining cup of seeds. This tangy variation is awesome all on its own!

Nacho Cheese Chips

Use the Sunflower Flax Tortilla Chip recipe on the previous page, but toss the following flavors in the processor: 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast teaspoon of turmeric for color - teaspoon cayenne pepper teaspoon paprika Cheezy, zesty and crunchy! Who needs the bagged, trans fat loaded junk, when you can make your own healthy raw junk?

84

Chipotle Chili Cheeze Chips

Use the Sunflower Flax Tortilla Chip recipe, but toss the following additional goodies into the processor: 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast 1 tablespoon chili powder - teaspoon of chipotle powder Wowsas! The chipotle really gives these chips a kick, so if youre not big on spicy, go easy on it! If you are big on spicy then go ahead and load them up, but be sure to have plenty of dip on hand to cool them off!

85

Salsa Non Queso

A ridiculously yummy dip that will make that cheese and salsa dip look bland in comparison! You will need 1 cup of the Mexican Seed Cheeze (pg. 66) and the Zesty Salsa

Zesty Salsa
1 large ripe tomato, chopped cup of minced onion (red or Vidalia are my choices) Juice of 1 lemon clove of garlic, minced 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro teaspoon salt teaspoon cumin teaspoon black pepper - teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix all the salsa ingredients together in a glass bowl and allow to marinate for about 20 minutes. Put salsa and Mexican Seed Cheeze in a glass bowl and stir gently until just combined. Serve right away or store in the fridge for two days. This awesome spicy cheezy dip is a perfect partner for the tortilla chips or any of the flax crackers that youd like to dunk in it. Veggies are also very fond of taking a dip in it! For a quick taco wrap, plop a healthy dollop of this onto a romaine lettuce leaf and top off with chopped tomatoes and minced romaine or baby greens. Versatile, simple and tasty, gotta love that!

86

Seed Mixes
You cant get easier than this for a tasty and crunchy raw munchy. Simply take whatever mix of raw nuts and seeds you like and soak and dehydrate them until the excess water is gone (dry to the touch), and toss with a variety of seasonings and a lil oil or honey (or agave) to help
Clockwise from Left: Honey mustard and Onion, Teriyaki, and Sushi Seeds

the seasonings adhere. Dehydrate until crunchified. Here are some combos I like, but remember to get creative, work with what youve got, and try flavors that you know and love!

Teriyaki mix
1 - 2 cups of soaked and dehydrated nuts and seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, almond, etc. Toss with 3 tablespoons of agave or honey 2 tablespoons Nama Shoyu, Braggs, or my own Faux Shoyu 1 tablespoon minced garlic teaspoon minced fresh ginger (or teaspoon powdered ginger) teaspoon black pepper

87 Follow directions above in bold. Allow to marinate about 10 minutes and spread on fruit leather or Teflex trays and dehydrate until crunchy. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks. MmmmmMmmmm! Traditional teriyaki flavor in a crunchy snack you can enjoy anytime. This cant be healthy eating or can it?

Sushi Seeds
1 - 2 cups of soaked and dehydrated nuts and seeds 1 + tablespoons of Braggs, nama shoyu or my own Faux Shoyu 1 tablespoon dulse flakes - tablespoon wasabi powder (Depending on how spicy you like it!) Follow directions above in bold. Allow to marinate about 10 minutes and spread on fruit leather or Teflex sheets and dehydrate until crunchy. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks. This exotic snack mix will impress you and anyone else you share them with!

Honey Mustard and Onion Mix

1 - 2 cups of soaked and dehydrated nuts and seeds 2 tablespoons honey 1 teaspoon ground mustard teaspoon turmeric teaspoon salt teaspoon black pepper teaspoon onion granules or powder

Follow directions above. Allow to marinate about 10 minutes and spread on fruit leather or Teflex trays and dehydrate until crunchy. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks. One of my all time favorite flavor combinations!

88

Kale Chips
I didnt invent these tasty chips, and Im not quite sure who the originator of them is, but to them I give major kudos for such a ridiculously simple and undeniably tasty snack! You cant talk of raw crunchy goodies without sharing this one. 1 large head of organic kale, washed, torn into approx. 2x2 pieces and ran through your salad spinner to remove excess water. Toss with and gently massage into the kale the following 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil teaspoon salt Take your massaged/seasoned kale pieces and spread them onto the mesh trays of your dehydrator. Dehydrate until crispy and store extra in an airtight container in the fridge for maximum freshness. They should keep up to two weeks, but trust me, they wont survive munchies attacks for that long! These chips are actually mineral loaded, trans fat free, and have an alkalizing effect on our body. All this from a snack see why Im so geeked up about raw foods? If you want to get creative with these chips, your imagination is the limit! You can toss them with these same ingredients and add in whatever blends of herbs and spices you like, or you can go all out and make a spicy seed cheeze or my Ranch Dip and coat them with that for added flavor and crunch.

89

Sweet and Salty Seed Bars

Crunchy, sweet, and salty, these bars are tasty, satisfying and travel with ease for a raw snack thatll replace any desire for other goodies when youre on the go! 1 + cups soaked and dehydrated pumpkin seeds 1 + cups soaked and dehydrated sunflower seeds 5 tablespoons agave or honey 1 teaspoon salt Reserve cup of the seeds and coarsely grind the rest in your food processor. Toss everything into a mixing bowl and stir until thoroughly coated. These are a great crunchy snack for watching TV, or sneaking into the movies or a restaurant! Experiment with mixing in other ingredients before dehydrating, such as sesame seeds, coconut flakes, or ground flax seeds; and spices such as cinnamon, or nutmeg, or whatever you like. Also raisins, cranberries, or other small dried fruits can be a chewy addition to these crunchy bars.

Spread the mix onto the fruit leather trays or Teflex sheets of your dehydrator at about 1/2 thick. Dehydrate for about 12 hours. Remove from the trays and cut into bars and then pop them back in and continue dehydrating until crunchy. These will store in an airtight container in your fridge up to three weeksif they dont get munched first.

90

Dinner
There are so many fun and savory options for making a raw dinner! And with no greasy, burnt up pots and pans to clean; dinner time is going to be a LOT more enjoyable!
Stirred, Not Fried Veggies Rice Faux Shoyu Fajitas Rawdawgs Fave Guacamole Sunflower Sour Cream Marinated Mushroom Wraps Sunflower Seed Cheeze Zucchini Pasta Ala Marinara Amandas Amazing Marinara Sauce Faux Parmesan Sprinkles Sunflower Seed Alfredo Sauce My Favorite Burger Southwestern Burgers with Chipotle Ranch Zucchini Onion Bread Raw Ketchup Raw Mustard Turkish Style Cauliflower Patties Page 92 Page 93 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 105 Page 106

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Cilantro Lime Dipping Sauce Page 107 Curried Mushroom Salad Vision Boosting Burrito Simple Salsa Super Easy Raw Tacos Buffalo Veggie Platter Simple BBQ Portabella Burger Stuffed Peppers Rawfried Beans Buttery Green Beans Salads Simple, Yet Amazing Dressing Creamy Teriyaki Dressing Amandas Herbal Dressing Creamy Basil Vinaigrette Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 115 Page 117 Page 118 Page 119 Page 121 Page 121 Page 122 Page 123

92

Stirred, Not Fried Veggies

This is super quick and easy to prepare, and rather than slaving over a hot wok, you just sit your veggies in a bowl and let the marinade do the cooking for you! The Veggies 1 heads worth of broccoli florets, sliced into about 1/4 thick pieces 2 large portabella mushrooms, sliced thinly red bell pepper, sliced thinly 4 scallions sliced thinly
Stirred, Not Fried Veggies with Sesame Seeds

The marinade cup Braggs liquid aminos, nama shoyu, or my own Faux Shoyu cup of fresh squeezed orange juice 4 + tablespoons agave nectar, raw honey or date syrup 1 + tablespoons brown rice vinegar clove of garlic, minced very fine teaspoon cayenne pepper powder teaspoon black pepper Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a drinking glass or small bowl. To do this super easy you can put it in a small mason jar, lid it up and shake it like a Polaroid picture! Place all your veggies in a large (preferably glass) bowl and pour on your marinade. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel, or loosely cover with a lid

93 and allow it to set on your kitchen counter for up to two hours, stirring once or twice in between. Once the veggies begin to feel tender, its ready to serve. You can warm it up in your dehydrator or your stove top on the lowest setting, monitoring the temp with a candy thermometer. If youre going somewhere and are worried about leaving it out too long you can set the bowl, covered with a lid or cling wrap, in your fridge. The dish will keep in your fridge for about 4 days. To make this a more substantial dish you can serve it over a bed of pumpkin or turnip rice.

Rice
Fresh pumpkin or turnip without skin and cut into 2 chunks A lil splash of either hemp or cold pressed olive oil (optional) Salt to taste Pulse pumpkin or turnip chunks in the food processor while constantly scraping down the sides to ensure even blade contact. Stop when it starts to resemble rice-sized bits. Add salt and oil and toss.

Faux Shoyu
This simple and inexpensive replacement for Braggs liquid aminos or nama shoyu can be whipped up in seconds! cup of water 1 medium sized portabella mushroom cap 1-2 teaspoons salt

94 Blend everything in your blender until mushrooms are liquefied, and use immediately for an assortment of recipes. Can store in the fridge in a sealed container for about 2 days.

Fajitas
Yes you can make a delicious fajita without busting out the frying pan!

Fajitas with Rory's Fave Guacamole

Veggies 3 bell peppers preferably red, orange or yellow. Cut them in half, remove the tops, cores and seeds and slice into thin strips approximately 1-2 long. 1 lg. peeled zucchini and then peeled into thin strips with a veggie peeler. Cut these strips into about1-2 pieces. of a red onion sliced into thin strips as well

Marinade In a large (preferably non-reactive) bowl place your veggies and toss them with the following: juice of 1 lemon 2 tablespoons of minced fresh cilantro 2 tablespoons chili powder 1 teaspoon cumin powder 1 + tablespoons oregano 1 + teaspoons salt pinch of onion powder sm. pinch of cayenne or chipotle powder

95

Simply stir everything until well coated and allow to soften. This delicious mix can be served either rolled in collards or wrapped in romaine leaves for a 100% raw dish. For those still transitioning to raw, or just adding more raw into your diet, you can also eat them in traditional tortillas as I had done when I first started. Guacamole goes great with these, so Ill give you my favorite guacamole recipe!

Rawdawgs Fave Guacamole

I love guacamole and it was seriously helpful to me in my transition to a high raw diet for fighting off cravings. It turns out that most cravings for cooked foods can be satisfied with good raw fats, which avocados just happen to be full of. 2 ripe avocados 1 lg. ripe red tomato 2 tablespoons minced red onion teaspoon fresh minced garlic Juice of 1 lemon 2 tablespoons of minced fresh cilantro 1 teaspoon of salt teaspoon cumin powder teaspoon black pepper - teaspoon cayenne or chipotle powder 2 teaspoons of nutritional yeast flakes (optional)

Peel and pit the avocados and mush them up with a potato masher. Dice the tomato and drain off the excess tomato liquid before adding to mashed avocado. Add all the remaining ingredients and stir well. This stuff is awesome on flax crackers, veggie slices, raw fajitas, or served in hollowed out tomato halves and sprinkled with minced fresh cilantro and a dash of cayenne! Great now Im drooling!

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Sunflower Sour Cream

This is a super easy, dairy free topping for fajitas, tacos and burritos. Also good drizzled over a bowl of raw soup. cup soaked sunflower seeds - cup water (depending on how thick you like it) Juice of a lemon teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon of agave or 1 date (balances out the tang of the lemon juice) Blend the all the ingredients until creamy in your blender. This will keep in the fridge about 3-4 days. This stuff rocks! Plain and simple goodness.

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Marinated mushroom wraps with a simple seed cheeze

This recipe is a two-parter, but is as simple to prepare as it is delicious to eat!

Marinated Mushrooms
2 lg. portabella mushroom caps, washed, allowed to dry on paper towels, and sliced in half down the middle and furthermore into about thick slices. Juice of an orange teaspoon of fresh minced garlic 2 tablespoons Braggs liquid aminos, nama shoyu, or my own Faux Shoyu teaspoon black pepper Dash of onion powder Sprinkle of Italian seasonings

Combine all the above in a non reactive bowl, loosely cover and allow to soften. While its doing its thing, lets make some cheeze!

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Sunflower Seed Cheeze

1 cup of sunflower seeds, soaked about 2-3 hours, rinsed and drained. Juice of a lemon Approx cup of water 1 + teaspoons salt clove of garlic Blend all this in either a high power blender or a food processor until its creamy and spreadable. This simple cheeze is great as a dip for veggies, a rich addition to your raw veggie wraps, great plopped on a salad, and can be easily tweaked with the addition of some spices to make it Italian, herbed, or even spicy. Now to wrap up our wraps! Simply spread some of your yummy seed cheeze onto either a collard or romaine leaf, and pile on some marinated mushrooms. Top off with diced tomato, a lil sliced onion, and maybe a sprinkling of black pepper. Enjoy this savory treat for lunch, dinner, or as the perfect munchie meal with a movie!

99

Zucchini Pasta Ala Marinara

A simple, yet delicious dish. Perfect when youre in the mood for pasta! 2 lg. zucchini peeled and either spiralized for spaghetti or peeled into large fettuccini type noodles with a veggie peeler. For thinner noodles without a spiralizer, stack up your zucchini peels about 3-4 layers high on your cutting board and cut them into strips lengthwise. Next, take your noodles and place them in a non reactive bowl and sprinkle with a lil salt, toss them well, and allow to sit a while as you prepare the sauce.

Zucchini Pasta with the Amazing Marinara Sauce and Faux Parmesan Sprinkles

Zucchini Pasta with Sunflower Seed Alfredo Sauce and Faux Parmesan Sprinkles

Amandas Amazing Marinara Sauce

Amanda came up with this delicious pasta sauce; its also a good pizza sauce! 2 lg. red-ripe tomatoes 1 clove of garlic 2 tablespoons minced red onion 1 teaspoon salt 2 heaping tablespoons of your favorite Italian seasonings 2 sm. teaspoons honey (or date syrup) cup of coarsely chopped sun dried tomatoes Dash of cayenne pepper

100 This is too easy No slaving over a hot stove for that perfect tomato sauce, just grab your blender! Blend everything except the sun dried tomatoes and Italian seasonings. Add the sun dried tomatoes and blend thoroughly, add the remaining bit and blend again (if using a high speed blender you could just toss it in all at once). Now toss in your seasonings and give it one last quick blend to mix in, but not obliterate them. This sauce tastes best served at room temperature, or slightly warmed using either youre dehydrator or the stove top on a super low temperature and monitor carefully. Now for those zucchini noodles (recipe above). Drain away the liquid that the salt drew from zucchini and toss the noodles with a bit of Italian seasonings, and either a good cold pressed olive, hemp, or flax oil. Place a generous pile of noodles on your serving plate and top off with some marinara. For a meaty touch, you could also serve with mushrooms that have been marinating in Italian seasonings, salt and oil of your choice. For an extra fancy touch you can warm your serving plates before dishing it out; simply run your dishes under hot water and towel them off. Or put them in your oven on low heat until warm, but not hot. This nifty trick is used by raw restaurateurs to give that illusion of a cooked dish.

Faux Parmesan Sprinkles

Adds that cheesy goodness to top off any pasta dish or your favorite salad. cup of soaked and dehydrated sunflower seeds 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast teaspoon salt Grind all the above in your coffee grinder and its done! Store in an air tight container in your fridge and it should keep at least two weeks.

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Sunflower Seed Alfredo Sauce

This creamy sunflower seed based Alfredo is so yummy, you wont miss the original version! cup soaked sunflower seeds - cup water (depending on how thick you want it) Juice of 1 lemon 1-2 cloves of garlic teaspoon salt teaspoon black pepper Simple, creamy and tasty! You can amp up the cheesy flavor with a teaspoon of nutritional yeast. And feel free to mix in extra ground black pepper, red pepper flakes, or more garlic to make it spicier. Blend in a few sun dried tomatoes for a Sun Dried Tomato Alfredo. Or, if you want to get really creative, chop up a handful of baby spinach leaves and mix them in for a Creamy Spinach Alfredo. Dont forget to play with your food! This Alfredo sauce and all its variations make good salad dressings or wrap condiments as well.

102

My Favorite Burger
This savory burger was a welcome replacement for the burgers of my past diets! To me, it tastes better than both traditional or vegan burger patties.

1 cup soaked walnuts 1 cup soaked and dehydrated sunflower seeds cup of minced mushrooms cup of water Pinch of salt 2 tablespoons Braggs, nama shoyu or my Faux Shoyu teaspoon black pepper teaspoon paprika 2 tablespoons of minced red onion clove of minced garlic Toss garlic and onion in your food processor and give them a quick whirl. Then add everything but the minced mushrooms to the processor and grind thoroughly. Hand stir in the minced mushrooms to add texture. Form into patties about 1/2 thick and dehydrate on the mesh trays until crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. This should probably take about 4-5 hours. Serve warm out of the dehydrator and store extras in the fridge for about 4 days. Alternately, you can freeze them for longer storage. This makes about ten 3 inch patties.
My favorite burger with raw ketchup and raw mustard on Zucchini Onion Bread

103 These meaty bad boys are awesome between slices of raw bread or romaine lettuce leaves with sliced tomatoes and onions, mixed baby salad greens, or shredded lettuce, and a raw ketchup and/or mustard.

Southwestern Burgers with Chipotle Ranch

A spicy twist on a couple of my recipes, and when combined they create something youd only expect to experience at one of those trendy restaurant establishments! Take the ingredients from the My Favorite Burger recipe, except the minced mushroom, and process with the following: 1 tablespoon chili powder If youre feeling tough, sprinkle in an additional tsp of cayenne pepper When done processing, hand stir in: 1 finely diced jalapeo minced mushrooms from the My Favorite Burger recipe Now prepare as directed in the original recipe. Next, take or make a batch of the Sunflower Seed Ranch and stir in: to teaspoon of chipotle chili powder Simple huh? Waitll you taste the difference! Place a burger on either a slice of dehydrated bread or romaine lettuce, put a generous dollop of the chipotle ranch on top, stack on some sliced tomatoes and onions and shredded lettuce and cover with another slice or leaf. Im drooling just writing this!

104

Zucchini Onion Bread

Now that youve got your burgers you need a good bread to serve them on! 3 cups chopped zucchini 2 peeled and quartered sweet onions 3 tablespoons of olive oil 1 tablespoon salt Puree these in your food processor and then pour into a mixing bowl. Toss in the following: 1 + cups of flax seeds ground in your coffee grinder 1 + cups sunflower seeds ground in your coffee grinder Stir until thoroughly combined with a spatula and allow it to thicken up for several minutes. Spread this mix onto the fruit leather (or Teflex sheets) of your dehydrator about 1/4 inch thick and score into squares or triangular bread shapes with the edge of the spatula. Dehydrate for 6 -10 hours, or until ready to be peeled from the sheets. Flip them and continue drying for another 4 - 8 hours. You want the bread to be dry, but not crunchy. The oil in the recipe (as in all raw bread recipes) is to keep the finished bread pliable like nice flat bread. Once its done, allow to cool and break or cut along your score lines. It can be stored in an air tight container in your fridge for up to two weeks, one month in the freezer. This savory flat bread is great for either of the burgers, the tuna salad, marinated mushrooms, seed cheeze, or tomato sandwich with any of the dressing recipes in this book. Because it keeps so long, go ahead and whip up a large batch so you can have it on hand whenever you have a sandwich craving!

105

Raw Ketchup
Yes you can have ketchup! 1 medium tomato 3-4 sun dried tomatoes 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 1 date (or 1 tablespoon honey or agave) teaspoon salt Pinch of cayenne pepper Simply blend until smooth and store in a sealed container for up to 3 days in the fridge. This tangy raw ketchup is great on the burgers and as a veggie dip. If you have extra and are not sure what to do with it, use it as the base of a salad dressing or a raw tomato soup.

Raw Mustard
Simply make half of the recipe for Honey Mustard Sauce, but omit the honey! Who says raw food is hard?

106

Turkish Style Cauliflower Patties

I used to live next to this awesome lil Turkish restaurant back in the day and thinking about all the yummy stuff I would pick up there inspired me to concoct these spicy patties!

Turkish Style Cauliflower Patties with Cilantro Lime Dipping Sauce and lime

1 head cauliflower, broken into florets 1 cup soaked sunflower seeds cup of ground flax seeds 1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons paprika teaspoon black pepper teaspoon turmeric Pinch of cayenne

Grind everything in the food processor until thoroughly ground, then hand mix in: 6 green onions sliced into thin rounds Form the mix into patties and dehydrate until crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. These are awesome atop a salad, on a leaf wrap or in between two slices of raw bread. Definitely try them with my Cilantro Lime Dipping Sauce (inspired by a yogurt based version I made back when I was into cooking vegetarian).

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Cilantro Lime Dipping Sauce

cup of soaked sunflower seeds cup water Juice of 1 lime 2 tablespoons of minced fresh cilantro teaspoon salt teaspoon turmeric - teaspoon cayenne pepper

Blend the seeds, water, juice and salt until creamy. Then toss in the cayenne, turmeric, and cilantro and blend until just mixed in. Tangy, creamy, and spicy! Makes a great condiment for the Turkish Style Cauliflower Patties, as well as an awesome veggie dip!

108

Curried Mushroom Salad on a bed of Arugula

Curried Mushroom Salad

The marinated mushrooms in this dish are tasty and meaty (it was actually inspired by a curried shrimp salad I used to make as a teenager). A great salad for those switching to a diet lower on the food chain! pound of sliced mushrooms (I prefer either baby portabellas or white caps) 1 + teaspoons of curry powder 1 tablespoon hemp or olive oil Pinch of salt Toss all these together and allow to marinate in a glass bowl for at least 20 minutes. Serve over a bed of mixed greens, drizzle on the remaining marinade, sprinkle on a lil additional hemp or olive oil, splash fresh squeezed lime juice, and add a lil dash of black pepper and you got one heck of a salad!

109

Vision Boosting Burrito

I concocted these zesty raw vegan burritos for Ocular Health Week on RawFu.com www.rawfu.com An awesome online community for people whore just getting started or already lovin the raw foods lifestyle! They not only taste good, but they utilize ingredients that help your eyesight! cup soaked pumpkin seeds cup soaked sunflower seeds cup water Juice of a lemon clove garlic 1 teaspoon salt Blend until smooth in your blender or food processor, then toss in the following: 2 teaspoons paprika 2 teaspoons cumin 2 teaspoons onion granules 1 teaspoon oregano to teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending your heat preference) Blend until just mixed in. For best flavor, allow to sit for about 20 minutes before serving, this allows the spices to fully penetrate the mix. Then, to give it a lil added flavor and texture, mix: - cup chopped mushrooms 1-2 tablespoons of chili powder
Vision Boosting Burrito with Simple Salsa

110 Toss in a bowl and stir, allow the flavor to absorb in for about a half hour. Gently stir these seasoned mushroom chunks into the filling and its done! If youre looking to lower the raw fat content of this dish you could bulk it up with more of these seasoned mushroom chunks or season some other diced veggies along with them, such as minced onions or diced zucchini. Now for a simple salsa to compliment this zesty filling

Simple Salsa
1 tomato (diced) 2 tablespoons minced onion Juice of a lemon clove garlic Pinch of salt Pinch of cayenne

Mix everything together in a glass bowl and allow to marinate for 10 -15 minutes before serving. Now to assemble you can either roll this mix up in a collard leaf for a traditional burrito look, or serve in a romaine leaf wrap. Awesome hearty meal when youre in the mood for Mexican food!

111

Super Easy Raw Tacos

A ridiculously easy raw taco! 1-2 ripe avocados Taco seasoning (Preferably organic, look for one without wheat)

Simply scoop the avocado flesh into a bowl and mash it up as

Super Easy Raw Tacos with Zesty Salsa

you would for making guacamole. Sprinkle in some taco seasoning (about 1-2 tablespoons, or to taste) and mix it in. Serve on romaine lettuce leaves with toppings of your choice. Told you they were ridiculously easy! You can amp up the spiciness with a lil cayenne or chipotle powder if you like, and if you want to give it more texture, you could stir in a handful of soaked walnuts that youve ground in the food processor. My favorite toppings for these mama-jamas are a Simple Salsa, diced onions, some mixed baby greens, and a squirt of lime juice.

112

Buffalo Veggie Platter

One thing Ive missed after going vegetarian was buffalo wings! There are plenty of vegan and vegetarian replacements, but now that Ive gone raw, I had to invent my own! a head of cauliflower, broken into florets a head of broccoli, broken into florets 2 large carrots cut into chips Toss these with the following tangy marinade: 2 tablespoons hemp or olive oil 2 teaspoon honey or agave 3 teaspoon paprika 4 tablespoons lemon juice Now either allow to marinade at room temp for about 30 minutes before serving, or pop in your dehydrator for about an hour to soften and warm them up. Dont be afraid to tweak the marinadethink of all the combos you can do! Try blending to this mix any of the following: chili powder, minced garlic, extra honey, chipotle powder, extra cayenne, taco seasonings, curry powder, or whatever floats your boat! Serve this zesty dinner or snack with some celery sticks and a lil dipping bowl of my Sunflower Seed Ranch and you got an awesome alternative to wings! This is sure to impress even your non raw friends! teaspoon cayenne teaspoon salt teaspoon black pepper

113

Simple BBQ Portabella Burger

This is one of those really quick and easy savory dinners thatll hit the spot when you need it most! 4-8 medium to large sized portabella mushroom caps (depending on how big you like your burgers and how many youre serving). Dont be afraid of having extras as theyll keep in the fridge for up to 2 days after making. BBQ marinade: cup tomato 3 sun dried tomatoes 2-3 dates or 1 tablespoon honey clove of garlic teaspoon ground mustard 1 tablespoon chili powder

114 teaspoon paprika teaspoon onion powder teaspoon salt teaspoon cayenne pepper (feel free to amp this up!) Pinch black pepper Blend this mixture, except the mushrooms, in your blender until its smooth. Rinse your portabella mushroom caps clean and allow to dry on paper towels or a colander. They dont need to be super dry, but it helps them to absorb the marinade. Slather the mushroom caps with the marinade and either allow them to marinade in a dish for 30 minutes, or place them on the fruit leather trays or Teflex sheets in your dehydrator and warm them for about 30 minutes. Either way theyre great! These burgers are crazy yummy! Serve them up on either raw bread or between romaine leafs, with some sliced tomato and onion, a sprinkle of black pepper, and maybe some ranch dressing.

115

Stuffed Peppers
Yep, you can do raw stuffed peppers, and believe it or not, they taste just as good as the original! In fact, I like them better because the peppers retain more flavor when done up raw style! 5 lg red, yellow, or other ripe bell pepper (green ones are okay, but the ripe red ones are best). Cut the peppers along the naturally occurring grooves lengthwise so they form shallow boats. These shallow pepper boats fit perfectly in the round dehydrators. If using an Excalibur, you can cut the peppers in half lengthwise as you can remove some of the trays and give them more head-room. Stuffing Toss these ingredients in a large mixing bowl:

116 2 diced roma tomatoes 4 lg portabella caps (diced) 2 lg carrots minced (or processed into tiny bits) cup minced red onion cup peas, fresh or frozen Set this aside for later. Then food process the following ingredients until smooth: 2-3 medium zucchinis 2 teaspoons salt cup soaked sun dried tomatoes 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 + teaspoons oregano 1-2 teaspoons fresh minced parsley teaspoon cayenne pepper Plop this mix in with the previous ingredients and stir well. Scoop the mix into your pepper boats or halves and pop in the dehydrator for about 4-5 hours. Awesome hearty dinner! Serve warm out of the dehydrator with a side salad or all on their own! The stuffing mix also tastes great in dehydrated mushroom caps and Anaheim peppers. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days.

117

Rawfried Beans
I know, I know, a lot of Mexican food! But hey, I gotta make what I love! This tasty refried bean replacement is an awesome addition to many dishes! 1 cup soaked sunflower seeds 1+ cups avocado flesh 2-3 sun dried tomatoes Juice of a lemon 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 1 teaspoon salt Blend all the above ingredients until smooth in blender or food processor until smooth, or almost smooth, then add the following ingredients and blend until just combined: teaspoon cumin 1 + teaspoons paprika teaspoon chili powder - teaspoon cayenne (depending on how spicy you like it!) clove garlic teaspoon onion granules For best taste, allow the mix to sit for about 10 -15 minutes. This stuff makes an awesome filling for raw burritos or tacos, an awesome dip for any of the tortilla chip recipes, or try a scoop on a bed of mixed greens with a topping of salsa and drizzle of the sunflower sour cream for one heck of a taco salad! Dont forget to serve with a side of lime wedges!

118

Buttery Green Beans

This savory side dish also makes an awesome snack for enjoying while relaxing at home, our when your out and about. It also makes a great alternative to French fries! This recipe is so simple that you dont even need to worry about amounts, its all to taste, and tasting is the best part of food prep if you ask me! Fresh green beans A drizzle of hemp or olive oil (just enough to make the following ingredients stick) Nutritional yeast Salt Black pepper (optional) Simply toss your green beans in a mixing bowl, drizzle with the oil and mix with your hands until theyre evenly lightly coated. Then sprinkle on the seasonings and toss to coat. Start out on the light side with the flavorings and add more till it suits you just right! Theyre now ready to enjoy! They make an amazing side dish for many of the dinners, especially great stand in for fries to go with the burgers. You could even add chili powder in the mix to give them a boost, and then dip them in the Sunflower Ranch Dip! They also make a great snack all on their own to enjoy whenever.

119

Salad
Many people have an aversion to salad, as I did when I first began my transition to raw foods. I would scoff when I heard people talk of how they craved them. I never pictured myself longing for, let alone thoroughly enjoying, salad. I can attribute this lack of affection for salad to a couple of things. 1. All the lame, translucent iceberg concoctions, with cardboard tomatoes that they dish out at many restaurants. Thatll turn anyone off salad! 2. Our bodies (sadly) arent used to (or prepared for) properly digesting greens! Luckily both of these situations are easy to remedy! Lets start with number 2. Greens are an important source of minerals, chlorophyll, fiber, and alkalizing nutrients, but they require hydrochloric acid to be properly digested. After years of eating a lot of cooked foods and lil greenage our bodies slow down or have impaired production of this important digestive element. So it makes perfect sense that our body doesnt long for salads because it knows it cant properly break them down! One way to fix this mess is to begin adding green smoothies to your diet. I say, start off with a mild green such as baby spinach and add a handful to your fruit smoothies. After a week or two of this you can up the amounts and even try other greens such as kale, dandelion, or mixed salad greens. This allows your body to easily adjust to the digestion of greens by providing a lil at a time and

120 offering them to your stomach in an easy, pre-broken down smoothie. After a month of doing green smoothies I was actually craving salads and found myself eating the greens out of the colander before I could even get them in the blender! For more in-depth and well researched info on greens and green smoothies, I strongly recommend picking up a copy of Victoria Boutenkos Green for Life. Victorias work with greens is eye opening, and it helped me reap the many benefits of a properly balanced and mineral loaded raw diet! Citrus to the rescue! An instinctual thing happened when I began eating more salad. I craved oranges. Im not an orange loving person in general. I enjoy them in my smoothies and occasionally Ill eat one, but once I started eating salad regularly I was putting away 3 - 4 of them a day! I thought it was just an odd craving, but it turns out my body may have been looking for help in assimilating the greens. The citric acids in orange juice can actually break down the fibers found in greens. So you may want to try eating an orange or other citrus fruit before or after your salad, and/or a citrus juice infused salad dressing can also impart such benefits. The number 1 reason for my lack of affection for salads (only having experience with lame iceberg lettuce salads) was easily fixed by making my own salads. When you do it yourself you get to be the quality control expert! Pick the best looking greens from your local grocery store or farmers market. Dont skimp on the tomatoes! Get the good looking ones and then start searching for other salad goodies: Red bell peppers, green or red apples, fresh carrots, radish, and whatever catches your eye! One of the really cool things about salads (besides their ridiculous amount of healthy elements) is that making them couldnt be more straightforward. Once you get to love them, whipping up one for dinner is a breeze! Wash your greens in a colander under cold running water (preferably from a countertop water filter). Run your greens through a salad spinner; this not only keeps that excess water

121 from diluting your salad dressing (another thing that grossed me out about salad back in the day), but increases your salads life in the fridge. Now toss the ingredients together in a large bowl to evenly distribute the goodies, and serve up a plate of it! I like to prepare enough salad to fill a large bowl with a snap on lid and store the leftovers for the next days lunch or dinner. Just keep the salad dressing in a separate container so that it doesnt wilt your greens in storage.

Simple, Yet Amazing Dressing

cup of lemon juice 3 tablespoons agave or honey 2 cloves of minced garlic teaspoon salt teaspoon black pepper This seemingly uncomplicated dressing has a tangy sophisticated flavor, sure to impress you and anyone else sharing your salad! Pop everything in a glass mason jar (or other container) and shake to stir. Allow to infuse for about 10 minutes for best flavor. Can be kept in the fridge up to 3 days.

Creamy Teriyaki
cup water 4 tablespoons tahini 1 + tablespoons honey or agave 1 + tablespoons Braggs, nama shoyu or my own Faux Shoyu 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger (or teaspoon ginger powder) 1 tablespoon hemp or olive oil clove garlic teaspoon black pepper Pinch cayenne pepper Blend in your blender until smooth and store in your fridge up to 3 days. This creamy dressing will give your salad a nice Asian flare. Also a great dip for veggies.

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Amandas Herbal Dressing

cup water cup hemp oil (or olive, or flax) Juice of a lemon 2 tablespoons Braggs, nama shoyu or Faux Shoyu 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar teaspoon honey 2 tablespoons herbal seasonings blend (such as Herbamare or Spike. If you cant find these you can substitute 2 tablespoons of your own favorite dried herbs) 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon onion powder teaspoon salt teaspoon black pepper Place all ingredients in a jar or other sealed container and shake it up. This dressing will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. This dressing speaks for itself! An intense herbal vinegary taste slightly mellowed by the honey and hemp oil. It makes an awesome vegetable marinade as well. Try some mushrooms marinated for a few hours in the fridge, theyll make and awesome salad or wrap addition, or a tasty snack on their own.

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Creamy Basil Vinaigrette

cup soaked sunflower seeds cup water cup olive oil (or hemp or flax) 1 + tablespoons apple cider vinegar Juice of 1 lemon teaspoon salt Blend the above until smooth and creamy then toss in the following flavorings: 1 + tablespoons dried basil 1 teaspoon dried rosemary teaspoon mustard powder Blend until these are just mixed in. This dressing will keep in the fridge up to 3 days. This tangy dressing is one of those that actually leaves you looking forward to a plate of salad! Its a great veggie marinade as well. These dressings, along with the Honey Mustard Sauce, Sunflower Seed Ranch, and the Mexican Seed Cheeze, should be a great start for you to go on! When concocting your own salad dressings you cant go wrong if you mix some sour (vinegar, citrus juice) with some sweet (honey, agave, date syrup) and a lil creamy or oily (blended seeds, almond butter, tahini, and or hemp, olive, flax, or coconut oil) then taste and add any spices you think would work well with your blend. Get creative and have fun with it! teaspoon salt teaspoon black pepper

124

Desserts
Guiltless Pleasures, otherwise known as raw desserts! The best thing is that these tasty treats have no dairy, refined sugars, hydrogenated oils, trans fats, or cooked starches. So theyre a lot friendlier on your health and waist line than their cooked counterparts! Sunflower Seed Crme Parfait Strawberry Pie Other Fruit Pies Fig Walnut Brownies Rawdawgs Raw Version of Nutella Raw Tahini Chocolaty Banana Bon-Bons Page 126 Page 128 Page 129 Page 130 Page 131 Page 131 Page 132

Raw Creamy Chocolate Page 133 Pops Creamy Vanilla Pop Dreamsicle Pop Peaches and Cream Pop Coconut Cream Pop Pina Colada Pop Deep Blue Pop Page 134 Page 134 Page 134 Page 134 Page 134 Page 135
Banana Ice cream with strawberries, kiwi, and cacao nibs

The Mayan Special Pop Page 135

125 Creamy Vanilla Tahini Pie Tahini Torte with a Cacao Coconut Crust Lemon Cookies Chocolate Ganache Banana Ice Cream Candied Walnuts Date Syrup Green Vanilla Pudding Chocolaty Chia Seed Pudding Sorbet Page 136 Page 137 Page 138 Page 139 Page 140 Page 141 Page 142 Page 143 Page 143 Page 144

126

Sunflower Seed Crme Parfait

This creamy parfait is satisfying, familiar and versatile. Not to mention its as much fun to make as it is to eat! 1 cup soaked sunflower seeds cup ice water (this is a neat trick for blending up things that you want to serve chilled, it also helps protect the enzymes from the heat produced by the blender blades during long periods of blending.) cup of honey or 3 tablespoons agave (I find agave to be more pronounced in this dish than the honey, so I recommend starting off with 3 tablespoons and taste to see if you need more.) Juice of 1 lemon 6 pitted dates The seeds of of a vanilla bean pod (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; I recommend an alcohol free extract for raw desserts because you wont be cooking off the alcohol as in traditional cooked sweets)

127 Blend all the above ingredients until creamy in your blender or food processor. You can set it in a sealed container in your fridge for about 20-30 minutes to allow it to thicken up. Now to make the parfait. Youll need parfait cups or clear glasses and an assortment of your favorite fruits, such as sliced strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries, and maybe some of the Candied Walnuts that Im going to show you how to make in the next recipe. Pile a layer of fruit at the bottom of the glass, then a layer of parfait, and another layer of fruit, and so on and so on until your glasses are full. This recipe can be tweaked a million different ways, as you can use any combination of fruits you like, and you can alter the crme as well. Toss a handful of fruit into the crme mix before blending, or remove half of the blended batch and add fruit to the remaining mix in the blender so you have two different colors/flavors to pimp out your parfait with!

128

Strawberry Pie
Freakin yummy, especially when topped off with some Banana Ice Cream! Crust: 1 cup of almond pulp (leftover from making Almond Mylk. When you make almond mylk, youre actually getting more for your money because you can do so much with the leftover pulp!) 1 + cups raisins Pinch of salt Grind these ingredients in your food processor until thoroughly combined. Lightly coat a spring form pan with coconut oil. Then press the crust evenly into the spring form pan, making a rim around the inside about 1 + 1/2 high. Filling: 1 + cups chopped red apple 1 + cups fresh strawberries cup of dates 1 tablespoon psyllium husk powder Blend or food process these ingredients until smooth. Then toss in a large mixing bowl with: 3 cups of chopped fresh strawberries

129 Hand mix until thoroughly combined. Then spread this mixture evenly into the pie crust. Cover the spring form pan with cling wrap and set in the fridge for about an hour to firm. When removing your chilled and set pie, take a small paring knife or butter knife and run it along between the crust rim and the inside of the pan. This preseparation will help keep your pie in perfect shape when the pan is disassembled. Wasnt that freakin easy compared to baking!? Enjoy this sweet and tangy pie with a dollop of Banana Ice Cream. This pie is so good for you that you can have it for breakfast! Psyllium husk powder is a fiber supplement made from the ground husks of the common plantain seed. Its an awesome tool to use, not only for thickening desert recipes such as puddings or pie fillings, but also is good for adding a lil extra colon cleansing power to your smoothies or stirred in juices! You can often find it in your grocery stores vitamin and supplement section or healthy foods section. Its also sold at most health food stores.

Other Fruit Pies

Now that you know how to make a strawberry pie, you know how to make peach, apple, mango, blueberry, pineapple or just about any fruit pie! As long as the fruit has a similar consistency, you can use the same recipe and simply substitute the fruit, or mix up a couple or more different kinds of fruit for your own flavor combinations. If using softer or wetter fruits, you can simply add a lil more psyllium powder to the blended mixture. Easy!

130

Fig Walnut Brownies

These are simple, delicious, and are a lot faster from start to finish than cooked brownies!

Heres what youll need:

1 cup of dried figs cut in half and soaked for about 30 minutes to soften 2 cups of walnuts (soaked) 4 tablespoons honey or agave 4 tablespoons raw cacao powder Seeds of a 1 pod of vanilla bean (or teaspoon of alcohol free vanilla extract) Pinch of salt Process all ingredients in your food processor until thoroughly ground. You can leave it a bit chunky if you like. Next, roll into lil brownie balls and theyre done! But, if you have a dehydrator you can pop them in there on the mesh trays for a few hours to firm them up and warm them through. A few of these lil guys and a glass of almond mylk and Im good to go! Another way to pimp them out is to roll them in ground nuts, cacao powder or shredded coconut. These will keep in your fridge for up to a week (longer in your freezer) and make great snacks when you have a chocolate craving. They travel great too, which can help prevent you from choosing less healthy sweet options when youre out and about!

131

Rawdawgs Raw Version of Nutella

This chocolaty, buttery spread tastes similar to its inspiration, but is so much healthier! 1 cup raw tahini (my recipe for tahini to follow; you could also substitute raw almond butter, but I love the peanut butter taste of tahini) cup of raw honey or agave 2-3 tablespoons cacao powder (depending on how chocolaty you like it) Seeds of a 1 piece of vanilla bean pod (or teaspoon vanilla extract) Pinch of salt Simply toss all these ingredients in a small mixing bowl and stir with a spoon or spatula and youre done. This mix will keep about 4 days in the fridge. This stuff is delicious spread on a sweet raw bread and made into a sandwich with some fruit, or it makes a heck of a fondue-like dip for a platter of fresh fruits!

Raw Tahini
1 cup of sesame seeds (soaked for two hours, drained and rinsed) cup water Pinch of salt Toss these into your blender and blend until creamy, occasionally stopping to scrape down the sides of the blender with a spatula. This creamy homemade tahini will keep in your fridge about 4 days, and makes a great dip for bananas and other fruits, and a creamy base for salad dressings. It also makes a quick nut mylk, just throw a couple tablespoons per cup of water in your blender with a lil sweetener and give it a quick blend. No need to strain it either!

132

Chocolaty Banana Bon-Bons

These are super simple ice creamish treats! Great for when you want to just grab a bite of dessert.or a handful! or more (depending on how many you want to make) of my Raw Version of Nutella recipe Several beautifully ripened bananas, sliced into rounds and frozen in a single layer on a cookie sheet in your freezer, until at least firm Sesame seeds, ground nuts, or shredded coconut flakes Just dunk the banana rounds in the chocolaty spread using tongs or chopsticks and place on a plate or cookie sheet that has been sprinkled generously with sesame seeds, ground nuts, or coconut flakes. Pop in the freezer and allow to chill through. Theyll keep in the freezer about 2-3 weeks and are perfect for those random cravings or for treating your guests!

133

Raw Creamy Chocolate Pops

These are another great chocolaty frozen treat that is so good youll want them any time of year! Theyre also kid approved! The cream base, you can go about this 2 ways: 1 + cups water + I cup of tahini or other nut butter blended together Or 2 + cups of extra creamy nut mylk (for example, 1 cup of soaked almonds blended with 2 cups of water rather than the usual 1:4 ratio) Use whichever is easiest for you! To this base blend in the following: 1 ripe banana cup of agave or honey (this sounds like a lot but with popsicles its better to error on the sweeter side because the coldness diminishes the taste a bit) 5 tablespoons of raw cacao powder (or raw carob) Seeds of a 1 piece of vanilla bean pod (or teaspoon of vanilla extract) Pinch of salt Blend until thoroughly mixed and pour into popsicle molds. If you have extra, simply toss some ice and a lil more nut mylk in the blender and blend yourself up a smoothie! These creamy treats are a great alternative to dairy based chocolate pops. Also, this recipe can be modified easily! Below are some fun variations.

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Creamy Vanilla Pop

Simply use the above recipe, but omit the cacao powder and triple the amount of vanilla.

Dreamsicle Pop
Jody Allens Dreamsicle Smoothie (www.lovinglifecafe.com) inspired me to make these tasty orange cream pops! Use the original recipe, but omit the cacao powder and add: cup of fresh squeezed orange juice Seeds of 2 more inches of vanilla bean pod (or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract)

Peaches and Cream Pop

Use the original Creamy Chocolate Pop recipe. but omit the chocolate and add a couple of beautifully ripened peaches. The tiny flecks of peach skin in the finished pops make an awesome visual effect!

Coconut Cream Pop

Use the original recipe but omit the chocolate and toss in - cup of shredded coconut flakes. Reminds me of those whole fruit bars I used to pick up at the corner store as a kid!

Pina Colada Flavored Pop

Use the original recipe, but omit the cacao powder and add cup of fresh or frozen pineapple - cup of shredded coconut flakes Tasty, refreshing, and healthy; raw food rocks!

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Deep Blue Pop

Take the original recipe, omit the cacao and replace with a cup (or more) of fresh or frozen blueberries. Antioxidant rich, creamy, and sweet with a color thats sure to impress! Many of these recipes will also work in an ice cream maker! For added creaminess you may want to blend in cup of coconut or hemp oil.

The Mayan Special Pop

Use the original Creamy Chocolate Pop recipe and add teaspoon of cinnamon and teaspoon of cayenne pepper. This is one unique flavor sure to surprise anyone who tries it! There are millions of variations, and any of the smoothies (including green ones) can be used as a popsicle base, simply up the creamy and sweet ingredients a lil bit and freeze them up!

136

Creamy Vanilla Tahini Pie

This tastes amazing! Its vaguely reminiscent of cheesecake, but on a different level of creamy goodness. Crust: 1 cup of almond pulp (leftover from making Almond Mylk) cup of pitted dates Seeds of a 1 piece of vanilla bean pod (or teaspoon vanilla extract)
Creamy Vanilla Tahini Pie with strawberries and blueberries

Grind thoroughly together in your food processor. Lightly coat an 8-10 spring form pan with coconut oil. Then press the crust evenly into the pan. Filling: 1 + cups of soaked sesame seeds cup of water cup of pitted dates 3 tablespoons honey or agave Seeds of a 2 piece of vanilla bean pod (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract) Pinch of salt Blend until smooth and creamy and pour into pie crust. Cover the spring form pan with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for a few hours to set up. This creamy delicious pie was whipped up on a whim one afternoon while visiting family and it was such a hit that I had to remake it quite a bit! Enjoy as it is, or with a topping of chopped strawberries that had been stirred with a lil honey or agave.

137

Tahini Torte with a Cacao Coconut Crust

This ridiculously good medley of flavors was randomly concocted one evening when preparing a desert for a friends dinner party. The results were drool worthy! Crust: 2 cups shredded coconut flakes cup of honey or agave 3-4 tablespoons cacao powder (or carob powder) Pinch of salt Grind in your food processor until everything is happily and thoroughly combined. Press the mix into a lightly coconut oiled spring form pan and set in the fridge to chill a bit while you prepare the filling. The filling: 1 + cups of soaked sesame seeds cup of water 4 teaspoons of honey teaspoon salt Blend until smooth and creamy then pour onto the crust. Cover the spring form pan with plastic wrap and set in the freezer to firm up. After the pie is all set up remove from freezer and sprinkle on chopped pecans and drizzle with either honey or agave. This rich, tasty creation is satisfying and impressive both to look at and taste! Enjoy with a glass of almond mylk.

138

Lemon Cookies
Those prepackaged iced lemon cookies were one of my arch nemeses during my transition to raw foods that was until I concocted my own! 1 + cups of almond pulp (leftover from making almond mylk) cup of pitted dates 2 tablespoons of chia or flax seeds ground in your coffee grinder 3 tablespoons lemon juice 2 teaspoons lemon zest Grind all the ingredients in your food processor until thoroughly blended and form into cookie shapes by hand. If you want to get really fancy, sprinkle a large cutting board with finely ground nuts and spread the cookie dough out on it. Using a cookie cutter, cut out your favorite shapes. Place on mesh dehydrator trays until firm on the outside and chewy on the inside. Store them in the fridge for up to 5 days. If you dont have a dehydrator you can simply form them into cookie shapes (or balls if you like) and eat as is and they can be stored up to 3 days in the fridge, or up to two weeks in the freezer. These lemony cookies are tangy, sweet and are an amazing substitute for the real deal..especially with a glass of almond mylk.

139

Chocolate Ganache
This rich, creamy, cacao laden cake is one of those desserts that hits the spot with a mere slice!

Crust: 1 + cups almond pulp (leftover from making almond mylk) cup of pitted dates Seeds of a 1 piece of vanilla bean pod (or teaspoon of vanilla extract) Grind these in a food processor until thoroughly combined and press into the bottom of a lightly coconut oiled 8-10 spring form pan. Filling: soaked sunflower seeds cup of almond mylk cup of pitted dates cup of raw cacao butter (This ingredient can be a lil pricey, but a lil goes a long way! If you dont have access to it, but you want to give this cake a go, then replace with coconut oil and toss in an extra teaspoon of cacao powder.) cup of honey or agave cup of raw cacao powder Seeds of a 1 piece of vanilla bean pod (or teaspoon of extract)

140 Blend until smooth and creamy, then pour over the crust and spread it out evenly using a rubber spatula. Freeze for several hours to set and then cut into thin slices and serve. This cake has the best taste and texture when allowed to thaw for about 10 minutes. This cake is a lil slice of life by chocolate! Great follow up to a nice gourmet style raw dinner. Chop up some strawberries and mix them with a lil honey or agave for an awesome topping!

Banana Ice Cream

Seems too simple to taste so good, but wait until you try it!

Banana Ice Cream with Candied Walnuts

3 perfectly ripened bananas (lots of those lil brown sugar spots), peeled, sliced 1-2 thick, and frozen Simply take your frozen bananas and slightly thaw them (about 10 minutes). Put in your food processor through the chute while it is operating. Process until it just resembles ice cream, but not much longer than that to prevent it from melting At this point its ready to serve!

141

Candied Walnuts
These sweet and crunchy walnuts are versatile and delicious! 2 cups of walnuts, soaked 6-8 hours then rinsed, drained and dehydrated Toss with the following: cup of honey or agave teaspoon of cinnamon Pinch of salt Pop these in the dehydrator again until crunchy and cool for about 20 minutes before popping into an airtight container in your fridge, where theyll store up to three weeks. These are an awesome snack on their own, and are great for crumbling up and topping off the Banana Ice Cream (pg. 140), or for using as a crunchy layer in the Sunflower Seed Crme Parfait (pg. 126).

142

Date Syrup
Dates can quickly be turned into a yummy syrup, and have a good amount of calcium, potassium, magnesium and fiber to boot. 1 part dates (pitted) 1-2 parts water (depending on how thick you want it)
Date Syrup on blueberries and bananas in

Simply toss your dates into a non-

almond mylk

reactive bowl or glass mason jar and add the water. Allow them to soak for about 2 hours. Plop the dates and water into your blender and blend into a smooth liquidy gooey goodness! This finished syrup can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to five days, where itll be at the ready for . Adding to your sauces and dressings, smoothies, drizzling over your bowl of raw cereal, tossing into a nice fruit salad, top off raw desserts, and sweeten whatever you need sweetened! Get creative - You can experiment with blending in fresh or frozen fruits, vanilla, and cacao or carob powder to make your own flavored syrups for jazzing up your raw ice cream or desert concoctions!

143

Green Vanilla Pudding

Kids ought to get a kick out this tasty puddings funky hue! The flesh of 2 ripe avocados cup of almond mylk 3 tablespoons honey or agave Seeds of a vanilla bean pod (or 1 teaspoon of extract) Small pinch of salt Blend everything in your blender until smooth and creamy. Serve right away or chill in the fridge if preferred. This tasty pudding will keep in your fridge for a day. This is awesome all on its own, but I like to serve it topped off with slices of bananas, strawberries and a sprinkle of blueberries.

Chocolaty Chia Seed Pudding

This chocolaty pudding has the consistency of tapioca and are loaded with omega fatty acids and fiber. To start, blend the flowing: 1 cup almond mylk 2 tablespoons honey or agave 1 tablespoon of cacao powder (or raw carob or cocoa) Seeds of a 1 inch piece of vanilla bean pod (or teaspoon extract) Tiny pinch of salt Pour this in a sealable container and stir in the following: - cup of chia seeds Stir until well combined with a spoon and cover. Allow to set up in the fridge for about 30-45 minutes. This rich pudding will satisfy your sweet tooth and provide you with plenty of healthy goodies! Not a bad deal, huh?

144

Sorbet
With a food processor, some frozen fruit and a lil imagination you can create all sorts of delicious sorbets! Simply take frozen chunks of fruit of your choice (whether theyre ones you cut and froze yourself, or store bought), allow them to thaw a lil bit and blend them in your food processor. Add some fresh citrus juices or water to get it going, & a lil sweetener, such as agave nectar or raw honey. Quick, simple, and yummy.

145

Drinks and Smoothies

Now to whip up some creamy smoothies, juices, and shakes. These recipes are very flexible; change any of them to include foods you enjoy, or leave out any that you dont. Rawpuccino Cinnamon Hazelnut Chunky Monkey Coffee Shake Berry Chilly Coffee French Vanilla Delight Dandy Blend Icy Chocolate Banana Smoothie Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie Green Vanilla Bean Shake Purple Numminess Strawberry Banana Shake Mango Lassi Pumpkin Pie Smoothie Page 147 Page 148 Page 148 Page 148 Page 148 Page 149 Page 150 Page 151 Page 152 Page 153 Page 153 Page 154 Page 154

146 Nectarine Lemonade Icy Orange Frosty Strawberry Icy Goodness Sour Blue Raspberry Icy Sour Melon Slush Pink Pear Icy Green Lemonade Juice Obviously Orange Juice Green Grapefruit Juice Lemonaide Tonic Raw Orange Soda Raw Chocolate Soda My Original Fave Green Smoothie Green-Ya Coloda Banana Mango Delight Strawberry Orange Pineapple Spring Cleaning Detox Smoothie Water Page 155 Page 156 Page 157 Page 158 Page 159 Page 160 Page 160 Page 161 Page 161 Page 162 Page 163 Page 164 Page165
Green-Ya Colada Smoothie

Page 166 Page 167 Page 167 Page 168 Page 169

147

Rawpuccino
This creamy, icy beverage is a great alternative to those franchise coffee drinks! 1 + cups of almond mylk (or other nut or seed mylk of your liking) 3-4 tablespoons of Dandy Blend (or Teeccino) 1 + -2 tablespoons of honey or agave 1 frozen banana 1 + cups of ice Teeny pinch of salt (for flavor enhancing, totally optional) 1 tablespoon raw cacao powder (or raw carob powder) Blend everything until smooth and serve right away! Serves 2-3 coffee lovers. Really awesome anytime of the day, and something fun to bring along for a car ride where you mightve been tempted to stop at one of the many coffee pimpin places! If kicking coffee altogether is a hard thing to imagine, you can try adding some chilled coffee to the base of this smoothie and gradually reducing the amount at a pace thats comfortable for you. Ive used this trick to kick my soda addiction when I started with raw eating. I would use coffee as the base of my morning smoothie and this kept me from craving soda later on in the day! I believe it was the caffeine that was the addictive portion for me, but by doing this I was able to keep away from soda (which has far more health consequences than just caffeine). Gradually, as my diet began to work its energizing magic, I didnt desire the coffee rush anymore and I phased it out without even realizing it!

148 Some fun Rawpuccino variations

Cinnamon Hazelnut
Same recipe as above, but substitute the almond mylk for hazelnut mylk, and omit the cacao. Add a 1/2 teaspoon powdered cinnamon. Freakin tasty!

Chunky Monkey Coffee Shake

Use the Rawpuccino recipe, but substitute unstrained walnut mylk and toss in another frozen banana. You could take or leave the cacao powder, either way this variation rocks and can be a nice filling drink thatll tide you over for a bit.

Berry Chilly Coffee

Use the good ol Rawpuccino recipe, but omit the cacao, add a lil extra sweetener, and replace the ice with mixed frozen berries of your choice for a tangy iced coffee replacement that also packs a nice dose of antioxidants!

French Vanilla Delight

Use the original Rawpuccino recipe, minus the cacao and add the seeds of of a vanilla bean pod (or teaspoon extract); equals one tasty drink!

149

Dandy Blend Icy

This variation is Amandas favorite! 1 + cups of almond mylk (or other nut or seed mylk of your liking) 3-4 tablespoons of Dandy Blend (or Teeccino) 1 + - 2 tablespoons of honey or agave 2 - 3 cups of ice Tastes just like an iced coffee!

150

Chocolate Banana Smoothie

So creamy, frosty and sweet, youll think it came from your former favorite fast food joint! 2 + cups almond mylk 2 frozen bananas 3 tablespoons agave or honey 2 + tablespoons of cacao powder (or carob powder) Seeds of a 1 piece of vanilla bean pod (or teaspoon extract) Teeny pinch of salt Blend everything to a creamy goodness and serve immediately. Serves 2-3 chocolate shake lovers! Great treat anytime of the day or night. I love to enjoy one of these bad boys as an after dinner special! Kids love them too!

151

Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie

Oh yes! 2 cups of water I cup of ice 1 frozen banana 4 heaping tablespoons of raw tahini (I have a recipe for tahini in here, but in my opinion the raw tahini you can find in health food stores or online has more of a peanut buttery taste. It could be that they add sesame seed oil, or that they dont soak their seeds, but either way you can adjust this by adding an extra pinch of salt to the smoothie if using your own fresh made tahini) 4 tablespoons honey or agave 4 tablespoons raw cacao powder (or raw carob powder) Seeds of a 1 piece of vanilla bean pod (or teaspoon extract) Blend until creamy. This blew me away when I first accidentally concocted it and no, it didnt happen because someone accidentally got their tahini in my chocolate smoothie! You can also experiment with using other raw nut butters.

152

Green Vanilla Bean Shake

This sounds like a funky combo, but trust me youre going to love this creamy vanilla shake with a green twist. 2 cups almond mylk 2 frozen bananas 2 big handfuls of baby spinach 3 tablespoons or honey or agave Seeds of a vanilla bean pod (or 1 teaspoon extract) Pinch of salt Blend everything until smooth and creamy. Serve immediately. Serves 2-3 vanilla fiends. A simple and tasty way to get some more greens in your diet, and great for kids!

153

Purple Numminess
Easy - peasy, and delicious! 2 cups of water cup of soaked walnuts 3 frozen bananas cup of frozen blueberries cup of frozen blackberries 2-3 pitted dates (could sub 1-2 tablespoons honey or agave) Blend everything into a purple creamy goodness and serve immediately. Serves 2-4 frosty fruit beverage addicts! This is a creamy and delicious antioxidant loaded shake that leaves its dairy laden counterparts in the dust!

Strawberry Banana Shake

The classic combo in a raw vegan shake! 2 cups of water cup of soaked walnuts 3 frozen bananas cup frozen strawberries 2-3 pitted dates Blend thoroughly into a creamy smoothness. Serve right away for 3-4 or 2-3 strawberry/nana fiends.

154

Mango Lassi
I used to love whipping up this traditional Indian yogurt based beverage. Im geeked up to have created my own raw substitution! 2 cups of almond mylk 1 cup of ice 1 fresh mango peeled and chopped (you can sub with 1 + cups frozen) 2 tablespoons of honey or agave 1 tablespoon lemon juice (this gives it the traditional tang of the original!) Blend thoroughly and enjoy thoroughly! Serves 2-4 Tangy, sweet and creamy. A wonderful beverage to accompany the Curried Mushroom Salad (pg. 108)!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

One day I was craving a raw pumpkin pie, but didnt have all the ingredients necessary to whip one up on hand. I looked at the pumpkin and thought Im gonna smoothify that mofo! Heres the resulting drinkable pie! 1 + cups peeled and cubed pumpkin 1 cup almond mylk cup of soaked pitted dates (or 2-3 tablespoons honey or agave) 3-4 ice cubes 2 frozen bananas (broken up so it doesnt kill your blender) - 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger (or teaspoon powdered) 1 piece of vanilla (or 1 teaspoon extract) teaspoon powdered cinnamon - teaspoon ground nutmeg Pinch of salt

155 Blend everything but the frozen bananas thoroughly until smooth, then add bananas and blend until creamy. This smoothie will satisfy up to three pumpkin pie cravers! You can turn any of the above smoothies into an ice cream base simply by using a double thick mylk (1 part nuts to 2 parts water ratio; in the case of the peanut butter cup smoothie, use another 3 tablespoons of tahini) and about a cup of coconut oil, also up the flavorings just a bit adding approximately a more of the amounts given for the sweeteners and the cacao, vanilla or spices. Use it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers directions.

Nectarine Lemonade Icy

This unlikely combination was created one ridiculously hot summer night and it really took the edge off the heat! 1 cup of water 2 + cups of ice 2 pitted nectarines Juice of 2 lemons 2-3 tablespoons agave or honey Blend everything but the ice until liquefied, toss in the ice and blend to a frosty goodness. Serve right away to 3 lemonade lovers. Youre going to love this one, especially on a hot day!

156

Orange Frosty
I used to love those frosty orange beverages from the mall and this drink brought back many fond memories! 3-4 peeled and seeded mineola or tangelo oranges 2 + cups ice cup of water 1 tablespoon honey or agave Blend everything but the ice until thoroughly pulverized, and then blend in ice until frostified (you may need to occasionally scrape down the sides of the blender with a spatula and rev it up again). Serve immediately to 2-3 frosty beverage fans!

157

Strawberry Icy Goodness

This drink brought me back to my slushy addled younger years! 1 + cored and chopped apples 1 + cups frozen strawberries cup ice water 1 tablespoon honey or agave Blend thoroughly into an icy goodness and serve immediately to 2-3 who salivate over strawberries. The apple in this icy beverage balances out the tartness of the strawberry much the same way it does in those bottled juice blends, leaving you with a sweet, tasty drink that now has a bit of fiber and cleansing power!

158

Sour Blue Raspberry Icy

I think I cracked the raw code for this sweet and sour tongue dying favorite of convenience store runs! Its ridiculous that this is good for you! It has antioxidants, Vitamin C, and fiber in something youd have thought came back from an open all night joint! 1 cup ice water 1 cup ice cup of frozen blackberries cup of frozen blueberries 1 cored and chopped apple Juice of 1 lemon 1-2 tablespoons honey or agave Blend everything thoroughly and serve promptly! Thisll satisfy 2-3 blue raspberry fans.

159

Sour Melon Slush

Sweet watermelon blended with sour citrus in an icy slush of a beverage, perfect for a hot summer day! 1 peeled and seeded orange (preferably mineola or some other small soft orange, as they blend very easily) 1 lemon, peeled and seeded 1 lime, also peeled and seeded 1 teaspoon of orange peel (you can use a zester or small paring knife to take this from the rind of the orange) cup of water Blend these ingredients thoroughly until liquefied (or as close as you can get to it), then add the following: 3 cups frozen watermelon chunks 2 cups fresh (or frozen) watermelon chunks 1 cup of ice 3-5 tablespoons agave or honey Blend into a slushy goodness thatll serve 3-4 people drained from the summers heat! This makes an awesome sorbet as well! Simply replace all the fresh watermelon with frozen, omit the water, and juice the citruses instead of blending them. Toss everything in your food processor and blend until sorbet-like!

160

Pink Pear Icy

This tangy and sweet frosty beverage is loaded with fiber and pectin, as well as Vitamin C. Tasty, fast, and healthy; lots to love! Makes an awesome sorbet as well! 4 ripe pears (cored and chopped) 1 + cups frozen strawberries cup of ice water Blend the pears and water until smooth, then add in your frozen strawberries and blend again. Serve immediately to 2-3 of those who crave something sweet and icy. To make this as a sorbet, simply freeze the chopped pears and replace all the water with ice. Allow the frozen fruits to thaw slightly and toss in your food processor with the ice until it is a sorbet.

Green Lemonade Juice

Now this stuff is freakin awesome! A ridiculously refreshing beverage with some awesome alkalizing properties. Perfect drink anytime of the day or year, and excellent post workout drink as it has loads of Vitamin C and the hydrating qualities of the salts in the kale. a bunch of kale Juice of 2 lemons Juice of 1 lime 2 cups of water 1 cup of ice 3-4 tablespoons honey or agave

Blend thoroughly and strain through a mesh strainer or nut mylk bag. Serve over ice to 2-3 lemonade fans!

161

Obviously Orange Juice

This simple juice blend combines a couple of potent goodies into one tasty beverage! Rich in Vitamin C, beta carotene, and antioxidants. 1 + cups ice water 4-6 large carrots washed and chopped (if they have greens, save them for a green smoothie. The greens actually pack more nutrients than the carrots themselves!) 3 oranges (peeled and seeded) Blend everything thoroughly and strain through a nut mylk bag or mesh strainer. Serves 2-3 that are fond of the color orange!

Green Grapefruit Juice

Grapefruits and greens? Oh yes! This pair makes for one lovely juice to start your day off with. Loaded with minerals, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, folic acid, and potassium. a bunch (or 4-5 large leaves of kale) 1 + cups of ice water 2 large grapefruits (peeled and seeded) Blend thoroughly and strain through a nut mylk bag or strainer. Serves 2-3 looking for great way to start their day!

162

Lemonaide Tonic
I concocted this juice blend to fight off colds and sinus infections using a combination of ingredients inspired by Ayurveda and natural health research. 2 cups of ice water Juice of 2 lemons 2 tablespoons ginger (peeled and chopped) Blend thoroughly and strain through a nut mylk bag or strainer. Serve over ice. You can store the extra in a glass mason jar in the fridge, so you can make days worth at a time, helpful for when youre feeling down in the dumps! The ginger helps relieve sinus congestion and inflammation of the throat, and along with the cayenne, helps to stimulate circulation. Increased circulation can help you reduce fevers and assists in moving waste out of your bloodstream. Lemon juice provides you with Vitamin C, and has an alkalizing effect which bad bacteria dont really care for! If using raw honey, it is loaded with enzymes and the long chain sugars (polysaccharides) in it have antibacterial and antiviral properties. This concoction helped me a LOT when dealing with the sinus infections I used to come down with so frequently. Since gettin raw though, the number of times a year I get sick has been steadily declining. Recently, Ive not come down with anything even while people around me have. This diet does wonders for your immune system! Those are my favorite juice blends, but the sky is the limit when it comes to combinations and the many fruits, greens, and veggies that you can easily blend and strain to whip up your own favorites. Fresh raw juices are ridiculously more nutrient and mineral rich than the pasteurized pre-packaged stuff you find in the store, so if youre a juice lover I suggest you try this simple technique of blending and straining to create your own healthy concoctions! 1 heaping tablespoon of honey or agave - teaspoon cayenne pepper

163

Raw Orange Soda

Now how about some soda? No, not the high fructose corn syrup laden concoctions you find everywhere, but my own raw rendition of my ol addiction! So easy and so good! This stuff was inspired by Orangina, which was one of my favorite drinks to pick up at my local Italian grocery store as a teen. The juice of 3 mineola oranges (or other good juicing oranges) 2 tablespoons agave or honey 2 glasses naturally sparkling mineral water (chilled) Pour the orange juice and 1 tablespoon of the agave or honey in a glass and stir until the sweetener is thoroughly dissolved, then gently pour in some of the sparkling mineral water and stir lightly. Add an ice cube or two and its done! This is a great beverage to go with a salty, crunchy snack like flax crackers and dip or any of the nut and seed mixes. This recipe serves 2, but if youd like to have more its easy to go ahead and mix up enough of the orange syrup to make up several glasses and store in a sealed jar in your fridge for up to a day. That way you can have a couple bottles of the mineral water chilled and ready to go, and its just a matter of pouring in some syrup and stirring in the water to have seconds, or thirds! Great for a party!

Go ahead and experiment with different juice blends for this recipe to make your own fun variations!

164

Raw Chocolate Soda

This creamy chocolate variation is good for those looking to recapture that classic creamy soda of yesteryear! cup of double strength almond mylk (almond mylk made with either the water or double the almonds of the regular recipe) 1 tablespoon of cacao powder (or carob or cocoa powder) 1 + - 2 tablespoons of honey or agave Blend the above ingredients until thoroughly combined in your blender. Pour the mix into a glass and top off with the chilled sparkling mineral water, stir gently and add ice if you like. ________________________________________________________________ Now lets delve into the ultimate in raw food smoothies, the Green Smoothies! These surprisingly delicious beverages are a staple of my diet and are a great way to get your daily supply of greens, which can sometimes be tricky even for the hardcore raw fooder! Theyre also an amazing way to begin your ventures into raw food eating because they pack a tremendous amount of nutrition, fiber, minerals, and alkalizing properties in a delicious and easy to digest drink! Because theyre blended, your body gets the most out of the greens and it allows your digestive system to re-learn how to break down greens. Many people whove added a quart of green smoothie to their regular daily diet began to restore their hydrochloric acid levels (hydrochloric acid is a powerful digestive secretion needed to break down greens and other fibrous foods) as documented in Victoria Boutenkos, Green for Life. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in improving their diet, whether theyre looking to go raw or not, green smoothies are amazing and Victorias book gives you all the exciting details of their benefits, how to incorporate them into your diet and a butt-ton of recipes! Another cool benefit for people looking to go raw is that after a while of drinking green smoothies you may find yourself craving more raw foods, particularly

165 salads! A lot of this fun bonus is due to your body having redeveloped a taste for and the ability to digest raw eats. I had this experience myself and it made my transition to raw foods a lot more fun and easy! Here are some of my favorite green smoothie concoctions:

My Original Fave Green Smoothie

This is my original green smoothie concoction and I still enjoy this combination today. All the benefits of a salad in an easy to drink beverage! 3 big handfuls of baby spinach leaves (you could use other greens such as kale, chard, dandelion etc., but baby spinach is such a mild and easy to blend green that it makes a great starter green for those just delving into green smoothies) 2 cups of ice water 2 frozen bananas (broken into chunks) 1 ripe pear (cored and chopped) 1 apple (cored and chopped) cup of fresh or frozen blueberries Blend everything thoroughly and enjoy thoroughly! Serves 2-3 soon to be green lovers. This smoothie is best served right away, but the cool thing about green smoothies is that they can be stored for about 24 - 48 hours in a sealed container (glass mason jars are my favorite) in the fridge. This allows you to prepare a bunch ahead of time so that you can have it ready to go throughout the day. You could also prepare your work lunch smoothie the night before, saving you time in the morning!

166

Green-Ya Coloda
All the benefits of a green smoothie with a tasty tropical and refreshing twist! 4 big handfuls of baby spinach leaves (you can use any green you fancy, I put baby spinach leaves in the recipe because theyre good to start with) 1 cup of water 1 peeled and seeded mineola orange (or other small soft orange) 1 cup frozen pineapple chunks 2 + frozen bananas (broken into chunks) 1 heaping tablespoon of honey or agave 3 teaspoons of coconut oil (gives that pina coloda taste) Blend thoroughly and enjoy! Serves 2-3 pina coloda fans.

167

Banana Mango Delight

4 big handfuls of your choice of greens 2 cups of ice water 1 fresh peeled and chopped mango (or 1 cup frozen) 3 frozen bananas (can substitute one of them for a fresh one) Blend thoroughly and drink to your health! Serves 2-3 fruity smoothie lovers.

Strawberry Orange Pineapple

This green smoothie was inspired by the popular orange juice blend. When I first ventured into raw foods I used to add some pre-packaged juice blend to my green smoothies and it was helpful for covering up some of the stronger greens until I got used to them! Like I say, Do what works for you and then go from there! 4 big handfuls of your choice of greens 2 cups of ice water 2 peeled and seeded mineola oranges (or other soft oranges) 2 frozen bananas (broken into chunks) 1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries 1 tablespoon honey or agave (optional, but I found that adding a lil sweetener in the beginning made my green smoothies even more palatable. After a while I was enjoying them with no added sweetener) Blend everything thoroughly and enjoy thoroughly! Serves 2-3 a delicious green breakfast beverage!

168

Spring Cleaning Detox Smoothie

This green smoothie blend is loaded with stuff to help your body flush out toxins! The greens are potent liver and kidney cleansers. The Vitamin C in the lemon juice helps to liquefy toxins in the blood so theyre ready to be moved out. The ginger increases circulation to encourage the toxins to move out, and the fiber and pectin from the greens and apples gives them the final boot out the backdoor! 1 cup of ice cup of water 2 apples peeled and chopped a bunch of dandelion greens a bunch of parsley Juice of 2 lemons 1-2 tablespoons of minced ginger Blend everything but the greens until liquefied. Then toss in greens and blend again. Serves 2-3 looking to clean house! Oh, and although the mere mention of detoxifying might lead you to think of spending the rest of your day in a seated position, this smoothies effects are quite mild, so its ok to drink anytime!

Water, water everywhere so why doesnt anyone want to drink it?

This is not a recipe, but a brief suggestion. Drink more water! Im sure youve heard it a million times before, as have I, but once I actually started doing it the difference was night and day! Even back when I was eating all sorts of junk food and drinking soda I began to make a conscious effort to drink more water, and I noticed the benefits within a few days.

169 Many of us, when eating the standard American diet, are living in a dehydrated state. We dont drink much water and what we do drink is usually soda or coffee. Sodas and coffee actually suck moisture out of us by acting as a diuretic (because our body is trying to flush them out!) and our cooked food is sadly lacking in its own previously existing water content. All this lack of water leads to many small and annoying, to large and serious health issues.

How I upped my water supply

I used to have headaches, aches and pains in my joints, soreness in my lower back, and a slew of annoying issues that bothered me. Whenever Id look up natural remedies I would come up with drink more water. This was hard to hear for a soda addict! I went about adding more water to my beverage intake simply by pouring myself a glass of ice water along with my glass of soda. This simple step ended up cutting my soda consumption in half! What was happening was, I would drink the water when I was thirsty and sip the soda when I wanted soda. After a while of doing this the water became more and more familiar and palatable, and it became easy to get more and more of it into my diet! Many of the aches, pains, and certainly the headaches greatly diminished with my new fondness of water. Much of these benefits came about because water is necessary to keep our joints lubricated.

Even raw foodies need plenty of water

Some may think that because theyre consuming water rich fresh fruit and veggies, as well as drinking smoothies, they dont need to be drinking plain water. Sounds logical, but in reality even when eating a raw food diet filled with moisture rich goodies, we still should be drinking plenty of water to assist our bodies with the removal of toxins that this wonderful diet allows our body to do away with!

170

Waste removal problem solver!

Water is essential to elimination, not only through urination, but (lets drop the technical stuff for a moment) though pooping! If our body is dehydrated our stools become hard and are not easily dumpable, leading to constipation and a back up of our biggest waste management department, our colon. We want to keep these toxins moving out through our bowels or urinary tract, otherwise our body is going to move on to other resorts for dealing with the stuff, such as pushing it out through our skin (which leads to acne and other annoying skin issues), or it binds the toxins up in fat. Many people suffering from weight issues may really be dealing with toxin issues! The body doesnt just store fat for a rainy day, but it also uses fat in a last ditch effort to trap the toxins we ingest or absorb from our environment. By adding more water to our diet we help support the two main avenues of waste removal and begin to free our body from using the other (less pleasant) routes!

Water quality
One thing to consider when adding more water to your daily menu is where to get the good stuff!? As many are coming to find out, the stuff in the plastic bottles isnt all that great. Even if it actually does come from some pristine spring, it sits around in a plastic bottle, usually gets exposed to high temperatures during transit, and absorbs all sorts of chemicals from the plastic. This doesnt mean that its not better than the soda next to it in the vending machine!

Filter it
I highly recommend that you get yourself a decent water filter. There are all sorts of models out there. My favorite right now is a 10 stage countertop water filter that easily connects to your sink faucet. It set me back about $90 and the filter cartridge lasts a year! After that it costs just $60 for a replacement cartridge. Not a bad deal, especially when you consider the cost of bottled water. Whether you start off with an inexpensive water filtering pitcher, or go all out and get an

171 expensive version, its still a step in the right direction! I love what David Wolfe says, You either buy a filter, or you become a filter! Filtering doesnt just remove unhealthy junk from our water, it improves the taste. I used to hate drinking tap water as a kid because it had a metallic taste to it. You want your water to taste clean and refreshing, and your filter will give you just that.

Take it to go
Now that you have your refreshing and healthier water, you gotta bring it with you! There are a bunch of options for traveling with water, but some rock more than others. Here are my two best picks. 1. Stainless steel. These durable and attractive bottles are great for taking your water anywhere you go. The best thing about stainless steel is that it doesnt leach anything noxious into the water, so youre beverage stays healthy and refreshing! 2. Glass mason jars. Now this is the option I end up using most because I also tote my smoothies in them. They are great non-reactive and inexpensive drink carriers, but they do have one drawback, they can break. This led me to concoct the smoothie jar bags that Amanda and I make and sell. These smoothie jar bags are handmade fabric mason jar carriers with a shoulder strap for hands-free carrying, and are lined with a bubble wrap insulative insert that not only keeps your drink cold for
Smoothie Jar Bag www.rawdawgrory.com

hours, but adds some cushioning to reduce the chances of breakage! We also include a couple of jar lid inserts with pre-drilled straw holes. If they

172 sound neat to you then check out my website www.rawdawgrory.com to see them for yourself! Whatever container you choose to bring your water around in, make sure you purchase two of them. Thisll usually save you from having to wash it at the last minute as youre running out the door! I hope these ideas and suggestions help you to get more of this important element into your daily regiment. The simple act of adding water to your diet, without worrying about taking something away, can help you keep hydrated, lubricated and detoxified!

173

Raw Resources
Here are some of my favorite raw resources that Id like to share with you to make your goals a lot more doable! For most of us, gettin raw is going to be a fun and exciting adventure with lots of new tricks to learn. Some of our friends and family may think its a lil odd, so its nice to connect with other people embarking on this path. You can learn from each other, share the experiences, and just shoot the breeze and have a good time! Its a lot of fun and you can learn a lot, gotta love that! Give it to Me Raw - This fun and funny group has been rocking the raw scene for a while now and they just keep growing! Lots of great info, forums and discussions, and interesting people to chat with. The creator, Dhrumil Purohit, is a great guy with a positive message, and all around kind soul. Give it to Me Raw is the first raw online community I joined and I highly recommend it! Raw Fu - This wonderful, down to earth, yet well versed community is run by the loveable and easy going Bunny Berry. If youre a newbie to raw and may be struggling, this is the place to be! The community is very supportive and Bunny likes to make it a personalized experience with specific raw food (Raw-Fu!) challenges that range from 30-100 days, where she challenges you to add more raw foods to your life. Could be a salad a day, or a loftier goal of 100% raw, either way, youll find support and regular videos by Bunny that are inspirational, educational and fun. Definitely join up and tell Bunny, Rawdawg sent you! Raw blogs are great resources for learning more about this awesome Tao of munching from people whore living it on a day to day basis. Here are some of my raw friends that provide loads of fun, informative and inspirational through their writings, photos and videos. Be sure to check them out!

174

Yardsnacker.com - Follow the adventures of Sam. A warm, intelligent, and humorous guy, with a wealth of info to share on many facets of the raw diet. His fun videos were a big inspiration for me on my raw journey, and his passion is contagious! Lots of fun stuff to learn as you share his experiences with raw foods, fitness, and gardening. Raw Model - Anthony Anderson is a well read and fascinating dude. This guy likes to constantly take it to the next level, putting into practice many awesome ways of eating, living and being. In his blog, he covers everything from raw foods, to his adventures with Permaculture, in hopes to inspire others to look and learn better ways to live more according to our true nature. Great stuff! Gaia Attuned - Pedja Milosavljevic is an awesome guy with a beautiful and artful way of sharing his passion for Living in harmony with our planet, the animals and ourselves. His videos are nothing short of amazing and are really fun and informative! Check out his work! Raw Food Health Tips - Justin is the man! Hes been doing the raw foods thing since 03 and has created a great website/blog to help people getting started with the raw foods lifestyle! Great info, and Justin is an all around great guy! Be sure to check out what hes got going on! Now for some awesome raw websites! These are some of my favorite places to check out for cutting edge info on healthy living and living foods. The Renegade Health Show - Kevin and Annmarie Gianni are freakin amazing! This dynamic duo of health advocacy have been putting out amazing cutting edge info on raw foods, fitness and healthy living. They are one of my favorite sources of health info online! Their fun and educational videos provide you with everything from interviews with experts in various fields of healthy living, to

175 delicious and easy raw recipes. Kevin and Annmarie also do videos showing you how to workout safely and properly for maximum results. Their website has links to purchase their various books, which I highly recommend. Check out Matt Monarchs amazing website/blog/RawFoodWorld TV show central! Matts been a 100% raw foodist for 11 years now and has some amazing insights to share on his journey towards optimal health. In his Raw Food World TV show he shares a lot of info, fun stuff from his travels, and other interesting goodies that will help you out in your raw journeys. Matt also put out a couple of awesome books, Raw Spirit and Raw Success. Raw Success has inspired me quite a bit, and is one of the most awesome books on being 100% raw successfully in the long run! Glen Colello of Catch a Healthy Habit Caf has an amazing raw vegan caf/ store/awesome event central in West Haven CT. He has had, and continues to have some of the most prominent names in the raw food world stopping by to give amazing talks and presentations! The menu at the caf is fun and tasty, and the atmosphere is laid back and enjoyable. Glen also films much of the awesome goings on at the caf and in his adventures in raw living. Be sure to link over to his You Tube channel and check out all the awesome videosyou might even catch me in some of them! And last, but not least, my website! At Rawdawgrory.com I created a blog where I write of some of my adventures with raw and healthy living, I share a bunch of recipes and fun photos, and many of my findings from reading up on this raw lifestyle, links to my many online hang-outs, info on the benefits of raw foods, and a link to all my fun and informative recipe videos where I show you how to make all sorts of raw eats! The fun thing about my recipe videos is that I started doing them early on in my raw journey, so you get a real before and after visual, not to mention, you get to see the improvements in our filming and editing! Be sure to check out the videos and website and drop me any comments or questions!

176 Raw Food! Yay! Were getting to the munchies. Heres my favorite online source for awesome raw edibles for great prices. ShopRawFoods.com - My buddy Justin of Raw Food Health Tips launched this amazing online store featuring practically EVERYTHING raw foodie could ever want! Appliances, supplements, raw staples, books, DVDs, and even apparel, all at amazing prices! I really appreciate the effort he puts into making raw foods more affordable, and I had to share his awesome shop with everyone so that you could pick up some gear at prices that make raw living even more doable! Mountain Rose Herbs is an amazing resource! In their catalog you can pick up an amazing assortment of herbs, from culinary to medicinal, at ridiculously low prices. You can really stock up your pantry with an assortment of organic high quality herbs and spices without breaking the bank. Also be sure to check out their other healthful living products! For those looking to express their love for life and raw living as well, be sure to check out the awesome selection of cool and eco friendly shirts available at Lovemore. This cool company is out to encourage people to practice a more loving way of being. The mere slogan, Love More, is a constant reminder to think and act more in sync with our hearts, and to reap the benefits of such a state of mind! They also carry green living goods such as stainless steel water bottles and stylish re-usable shopping bags! Now that you have some awesome online resources, here are some of my favorite raw books: Green for life by Victoria Boutenko This book is a must read for anyone. Greens are a key ingredient in any healthy diet, raw, cooked, or in-between! In this info packed book, Victoria extols the many benefits of adding more fresh greens to your diet. Not only does she lay

177 out all the awesome whys of consuming greens, but Victoria takes it a step further by showing you how to add greens to your diet in the form of easy and delicious green smoothies! In the book youll find a wealth of charts, graphs, and comparisons of various greens thatll leave you with a newfound respect for these all too often neglected goodies. I highly recommend as it has helped me immensely! The Sunfood Diet Success System by David Wolfe This awesome piece of work is loaded with an immense amount of info that could change your life. David Wolfe gives you the goods on the many, many benefits of various raw foods, and gives recommendations for customizing a raw diet to assist you with various goals, from healing, to weight loss, to beautifying yourself from the inside out. Davids passion for the raw food lifestyle is contagious, and one bug that you oughta catch! Rawsome by Brigitte Mars Brigitte Mars is an herbalist and nutritional consultant who has over thirty years experience with natural medicine, and her knowledge shines throughout this awesome book! In depth descriptions of the numerous advantages of a raw over a cooked diet, practical advice, and loads of info on the various health giving properties of a multitude of common, and some not so common, fresh foods. This book is also packed with more than two hundred delicious raw recipes. I always heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in healthful and raw eating! Raw Power by Stephen Arlin This is a hardcore book on the benefits of the raw foods diet, and how you can attain, not only optimal health, but also great physical strength and muscle mass by adopting this way of eating. Complete with recipes and exercise regiments, Stephen Arlin shows you how to get pumped up with a living foods diet!

178 Recipes Made With Love by Jody Allen Jody Allen is a living foods chef with over eleven years experience and is the founder of Loving Life Caf. Her passion for creating delicious raw dishes that taste even better than their cooked counterparts shines through in this awesome lil book! Jody outlines the basics of a living foods diet, what you need to get started, and then dives right into some amazing recipes such as Living Lasagna, Chocolate Brownies, Onion Rings and my absolute favorite Veggie Cheesesteak Sandwich. These awesome and savory dishes are a great way to make loving live foods and loving yourself (by eating the kind of healthy stuff your body deserves) a lot easier and so enjoyable! Also in the book youll find deserts, drinks, appetizers, soups and salads many of which were popular items on the cafes menu! You can check out the book by going to Jodys website www.lovinglifecafe.com. Be sure to tell her Rory says hi!

179 It is my sincerest wish that the info, recipes, and experiences I shared in this book help inspire and assist you in improving your life by improving your eats! Many smoothie cheers to your health and many thanks for checking out my work! Peace, love and rawness ~ Rory :0)