These days, vegetarians and vegans are ubiquitous, but unless you live in Southern California, raw vegans—those who eat foods in their natural state and eschew cooking anything above 116ºF—are harder to come by.
It’s no wonder. As a society conditioned to cook mostly everything we put in our mouth, the idea of trading our gas range for a dehydrator may seem daunting. But most who follow a raw diet say they live life with the utmost vigor and vitality and are even able to reverse the aging process!
The truth is, we can ALL benefit from incorporating more raw food into our diet—because it’s highly alkaline and oxygen rich, it promotes optimal health. In addition, cooking food zaps it of its nutrients, zaps valuable digestive enzymes, and zaps good bacteria (probiotics).
Here are a few ideas of how easy (and tasty!) it is to convert some of you old standby recipes into healthy raw doppelgangers.
Zucchini Pasta & Tomato-Pesto Sauce
Serves 4
2 large zucchini
2-3 large tomatoes
Handful fresh basil
½ cup pine nuts or walnuts
3 large cloves garlic (peeled)
¼ cup nutritional yeast
¼-1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and pepper to taste
1. With a mandolin or a spiral slicer, slice zucchini into thin pasta-like ribbons. Set aside.
2. Put remaining ingredients into food processor and pulse until thoroughly combined. Toss with zucchini and enjoy.
Kale Salad
Serves 4
1 bunch kale leaves
1 avocado, diced
Juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt to taste
1. Tear kale leaves into bite-size pieces and put into a large bowl.
2. Add remaining ingredients, and with CLEAN hands, massage avocado and lemon thoroughly and evenly into the kale leaves (don’t be shy!). You’ll be left with an uber-healthy salad that’s dressed with a creamy-tart dressing.
Raw Brownie Bites
Makes 12-15 bites
1 cup walnuts
1 cup Mariani Pitted Dates
Splash of vanilla
Pinch sea salt
2 tablespoons Raw Organic Cacao Powder
2 tablespoons Raw Cacao Nibs
Dried coconut flakes for dusting
1. In a Food Processor, pulse nuts until finely chopped.
2. Add dates, vanilla, salt, cacao powder, and cacao nibs, and pulse until everything is incorporated and the mixture sticks together when pressed between your fingers.
3. Roll into balls and dust in coconut. Set and store in the fridge or freezer, and TRY not to eat the entire batch in one sitting. (It’s hard not to…)
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Related Links
Raw Food Culinary Arts Institute
http://rawfoodfoundation.org/
Raw Food for Real People by Rod Rotondi: http://amzn.to/2aBvybj
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