trouble in rawland

[soprofound]

ok...im new to the raw thing and im reeeeaaaallly having trouble with it. i dont own a dehydrator and can't reall afford one right now but i want to try some of the recipes..i notice that rawness requires quite a few kitchen gadjets andright now i only own a vitamix and a jack lalanne juicer. can someone help with with some tips, hints, tricks on staying raw and not having my taste buds go on strike?

[Brianna]

You can still make a lot of good things without a dehydrator. Alissa's book and other raw recipe books have lots of good recipes for foods that don't require dehydrating. And if you have a health food store near you that carries raw food bars, etc, that would be a good treat for you. If you don't have a health food store nearby, you can order these things online. Most health food stores do carry Larabars though, which are raw and absolutely delicious. Rawfood.com has lots of fun raw foods like crackers and cookies, as do many other sites. Also, raw trail mixes and things like guacamole can be yummy snacks to fill you up. I hope this helps and I hope all goes well!

[aromaticwings]

my suggestion would be just concentrate on eating the raw foods... like fruits and veggies.. experiment with various salad makings and fruit combos... then when you can... go for the un-cooking... You CAN DO IT! :D

[vgloveforlife]

Soprofound-
The simplier the better- I found that out the hard way.
The more fruits and vegetables, especially vegetables, the better!

Instead of juices makes smoothies in the blender
Instead of dehydrating eat the food without dehydrating-it's moist but still good.
Instead of a spiral slicer used a regular slicer or food processer with the grating blade.
If you don't have a food processer a good blender is great!

Be creative and keep it simple. Raw food is delicious but it's all too easy to eat too many dried foods which are not as good as fresh.

A good cookbook that doesn't use the dehydrator is "Raw Food Made Easy"

[Jordann]

I don't have a dehydrator either, nor a VitaMix, so you're doing pretty good! A dehydrator certainly makes it easier to re-create raw versions of cooked foods, but you can do a pretty spectacular job without one too.

There a tons of recipes you can create with just a blender or food processor -and since summer is coming you could try dehydrating in the sun too :) I did this last week with a batch of 'feta cheese' and it worked quite nicely in a few hours... and drying soaked nuts works in the sun like a charm. It was only around 20 degrees C (but with the cement around the front door probably warmer!)

I will never tire of fruit smoothies, and banana ice cream variations... both only need a blender. And you can make crusts and fudge balls and stuff without dehydrating too. I found that with a recipe book or two, or even just finding recipes online, there are endless things I am able to make with limited equipment. And there is always improvisation! Have fun!

[soprofound]

I don't have a dehydrator either, nor a VitaMix, so you're doing pretty good! A dehydrator certainly makes it easier to re-create raw versions of cooked foods, but you can do a pretty spectacular job without one too.

There a tons of recipes you can create with just a blender or food processor -and since summer is coming you could try dehydrating in the sun too :) I did this last week with a batch of 'feta cheese' and it worked quite nicely in a few hours... and drying soaked nuts works in the sun like a charm. It was only around 20 degrees C (but with the cement around the front door probably warmer!)

I will never tire of fruit smoothies, and banana ice cream variations... both only need a blender. And you can make crusts and fudge balls and stuff without dehydrating too. I found that with a recipe book or two, or even just finding recipes online, there are endless things I am able to make with limited equipment. And there is always improvisation! Have fun!

how do you dehydrate in the sun without it going bad or getting attacked by flies and bugs?

[Jordann]

Uh, I don't know! I just put the stuff out there in a foil pie plate or glass dish and set it on a stool or just the cement by the door. It's not getting super dehydrated as it would in an excalibur -- I don't think I could make crackers very easily, unless I had some mesh screen or something... hmm, I should try that actually :rolleyes:

I've only left things out for maybe 4 hours, and I'm not using ingredients which would go bad (well, maybe in 3 days it might!) and bugs...?

Since I've only done non-sweet items so perhaps the bugs are not attracted. I'm sure a fly probably landed on my almonds without my knowledge, but as long as I don't see maggots or something - :eek: - It's cool :D

[rawpriestess]

having a Vita Mix is way ahead of most people who go raw.

You can make almost anything in there, that you can in a food processor, and you don't need a dehydrator at all.

just eat all of the fruits and veggies that you love, get some nuts, make some sprouts, and in your vita Mix you can make juices, and smoothies, and sauces and gravies, and all kinds of stuff,you can make nut milks and

there is only crackers that you can't make, just about everything else you can make without a dehydrator, even the burgers are excellent without dehydration, and in a wrap, they are great.

so, let's get started.

[Denise Nicole]

I do not have a dehydrator or juicer and refuse to have one. IMHO the caloric/nutrition intake is inferior (i.e. I would be as big as a house) to whole foods. However, there are some who thrive on dehydrated foods, but it's not for me.

If you have a blender or food processor your are doing fine, I happen to have both and neither are high end. I seem to do just fine. :D

[Nenyath]

lol.. If you've got a vitamix and a juicer, you have a lot more than I do! When I began not so long ago, I had nothing but my knife and chopboard, and my imagination :p Now I've got a blender as well (I live in Denmark and there is no such thing as a vitamix here).. My message is quite simple, don't worry! ;) You can make so many beautiful and amazingly well tasting things with what you've got already, you'll be amazed!

Fly forever free..