Raw Food Pet Peeves??

[Im2Fruity]

Hey everyone, this post is meant as a sort of joke lol

My raw food pet peeve is peeling bananas and having those annoying stringy bits clinging on to them!!!!

[daisyduke]

Oh, I hate those too!

[codajess]

I hate when avocados go bad and they don't look like it from the outside. The kind where you open it and it's all stringy :(

Oh, I also hate that I'm dumb enough to pay $1.50 for one avocado. And I buy a lot.

[Halo Aglow]

My raw food pet peeve is having to touch and handle frozen bananas! That stuff seems to always hurt my fingers so bad to where I have to clench my hands and wait for the frozen pain to go away before I can handle it again. I probably need to store it into smaller sections so I don't have to handle it as much when trying to break it apart or let it slightly thaw out a little.

But even with all that, the end result of having thick choco-banana almond milkshake is worth it!

[Lay-Lay]

hmmmm......not being able to find condiments with making and 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive.

[Rawkinlocs]

- Salivating for watermelon, cutting into it and finding it's not sweet and ripe enough! I've tried every "trick" in the book to picking ripe ones but it's always hit-or-miss.

- Knats in the summertime! We had a great winter fruit-wise, but seems like as soon as the warm weather comes, so do the KNATS!!

- Making a smoothie or something with apples and having to discover AFTER the fact that I accidentally left the sticker on the fruit! :o

[berrymarymac]

Having my sister eat ALL of my banana fruit leather.

Trying a new recipe and failings

Having fruits and veggies going bad.

High prices for organic and raw foods!!!

[English Tracy]

Definitely the high cost of the raw foods - plus the cost of shipping as regular English stores don't sell them.

Tracy

[Green Life]

When peeling avacados for guacamole the stems falls off and I don't notice them until their lost among the chopped onions and tomatoes amidst the guacamole when it's super hard to retrieve them. I have even noticed the little stems in restaruant guacalmole. Yuck. Very unappetizing.


Green :D Life

[Apasaraw]

Pet Peeve: Here here! That avocado disappointment is number one!
Two is fighting with the blender while getting frozen fruits stuck inside under the blade because I don't have a vita-mix yet. I really need to get one from Alissa.

English Tracy, tried to email you privately but you don't have option checked. Have you tried Shazzie's shop? Not London, it is in the Great Yarmouth borough of Norfolk I think. Not sure if you get to the coast but at least shipping for some foods like coconut butter etc would be less than ordering from the U.S....?

[rawlee]

Getting those little, fine mango fibers that are around the pit stuck in my teeth. I can never eat them out unless I have dental floss with me. Never, really stops me though, I love mangos and always chew on that pit until it's quite bare! :D

[Im2Fruity]

Oooh mango fibers stuck in my teeth!! that's definitely another one!! Pineapple too...

[English Tracy]

Apasaraw - I have just updated my profile and my email address should be there. I have purchased stuff from Shazzie, Fresh Network and Funky Raw in England. Shazzie does cap her postage costs so the more you buy, the better the deal.

Thanks for the advice.

Tracy

[Shan]

I hate washing fruit and veg SOOOO much... I get so tired of it.

[codajess]

I buy conventional cucumbers, because my mom's haven't come in yet. I HATE, HATE, HATE the nasty, sticky, slippery wax they put on the skins. I think cucumber wax has got to be the WORST! I hate touching them to even put them in my cart. Ugh! *shiver*

[goyethere4raw]

I am so surprised to see that I am not the only one here who forgets and leave those little sticky pesty labels on!!!! Boy that burns me up when I do that!!!

Also, when I forget to test the coconut water BEFORE I poor it in the blender to make smoothies and then discover the coconut is ruined and I have already put all of my wonderful EXPENSIVE fruit in there! ARRRGGGH!!!!!!

[Conscious Midwife]

Strings on the oranges

LABELS THAT SAY RAW, but really the items are not, like some brands of raw peanut butter made of duh roasted peanuts

to cheap to buy raw seasoning\

samples at Sam's are always for processed packaged foods

Hybrids and GMO's... I just don't know if I wanna bother

Overpriced stuff at Wild Oats

Not having a dehydrator, food processor, nut milk maker or spiriolla thingy

Craving warm wheat pasta dishes

[juliebove]

Realizing that all of my food has spoiled, seemingly all at once. This happened to me the other day. By careful trimming, I managed to scrape together enough stuff to make a salad for dinner. But then I had to go to the store because there was no produce left except for some lemons that were in the fridge. I have no clue what happened. Most of the fruit was sitting out and it is hot so that would explain that. That wouldn't explain what happened to the stuff in the fridge though. It was as if it froze or something . Limp carrots and celery and wilted lettuce. Blech!

[swingbolder]

My raw food pet peeve is having to touch and handle frozen bananas! That stuff seems to always hurt my fingers so bad to where I have to clench my hands and wait for the frozen pain to go away before I can handle it again. I probably need to store it into smaller sections so I don't have to handle it as much when trying to break it apart or let it slightly thaw out a little.

Lunalin, here's how I handle bananas:

1) peel and break fresh bananas into small pieces, and freeze overnight on a cookie sheet

2) the next day, transfer the banana pieces to a ziplock. (Use a potholder glove thingy so you don't freezer burn your fingers)

When you follow this method, the bananas don't stick together and they are easy to handle.

[Halo Aglow]

Lunalin, here's how I handle bananas:

1) peel and break fresh bananas into small pieces, and freeze overnight on a cookie sheet

2) the next day, transfer the banana pieces to a ziplock. (Use a potholder glove thingy so you don't freezer burn your fingers)

When you follow this method, the bananas don't stick together and they are easy to handle.


Swingbolder! Ooooooohhh! I'm going to try the cookie sheet thing first! Thank you sooo much!!! So basically, when the banana pieces freeze sort of seperately first, they won't be stuck like crazy together after being put into bags, right? That makes sense!!! Thank you again! I'm excited! LOL. :D This was truly a pet peeve!

[Conscious Midwife]

Huge frozen bannas break in half whn i tap them on the counter. The also snap apart sometimes. I've never ha a need for a small amount since I'm always making smoothies for 3 or more folks at a time.

[Smiley24_7]

1. Attempting to cut a tomato with a dull blade.
2. Oranges where the skin seems to stick to them and when you ttry and peel them it gets squished, sticky, and the inside come off with the peel.

[Pailani]

Rinsing bugs from my lettuce. One day I hope to start a collection of all the different species I find. Once I even found a small spider, and sometimes live beetles like ladybugs.

I once left the label on an apple that went through the blender. I guess the apple must have had two labels. When it was in my mouth, I had no idea what it was - it was a rubbery one and had clumped together in my smoothie - ewwww!

[Halo Aglow]

Huge frozen bannas break in half whn i tap them on the counter. The also snap apart sometimes. I've never ha a need for a small amount since I'm always making smoothies for 3 or more folks at a time.

I may be a weakling, lifeAgift! Hahahaha. Because, I tried the knocking it on the counter and sink too (with my hands freezings! It doesn't take long at all for that coldness to make my nerves scream!). For what I was doing, I think it was just too much and too compact. The bananas end up freezing and fusing together something wretched (plus I wait for the bananas to be kinda mushy before dicing and freezing). I usually have about 4 or 5 bags full of bananas in my freezer with each bag equalling 5 or 6 bananas, and for the choco-banana shake recipe, I use a whole bag. The big ol' banana blocks are just too big to fit into my blender right for the blades to reach. I'll definitely see how the cookie sheet thing works though. It'll require more freezing time compared to stuffing my fridge with all the bags at one time but I'm willing to see how I can help out my poor sensitive hands.

Maybe I should've used some gloves. :D

[rawlee]

hey Luna Lin....Another method that I find exceptionally easy is to peel the bananas and break into halves or thirds and wrap the pieces in wax paper and then in the ziploc bag to the freezer. They don't stick together and come out very easy. :D

[swingbolder]

Swingbolder! Ooooooohhh! I'm going to try the cookie sheet thing first!

Glad I could be of help. I should probably clarify, when I said to break the banana into small pieces I didn't mean itty bitty pieces, I meant to break them into 3rds or 4ths. Also, I place them standing up (not lying on their sides) on the cookie sheet otherwise they stick and can be somewhat hard to get off once they're frozen.

[dreamrawalwz]

Hmm, I would say sulfites, GMO stuff (everything now!?). Eww, that wax is SO bad! Isn't it the same for red delicious apples? Oo, those labels bother me, so annoying lol. I'm sure there are other thing, but I' can't think of them at the moment.

[codajess]

I can't deal with all the bugs and stuff in unwashed organic lettuce. I don't know what to do with them, so I buy the earthbound farms prewashed/cleaned stuff in the plastic tubs.

[rawpriestess]

Not being able to find dates, even though the stores had them for months and months, now no one has them YIKES!!

buying vanilla beans at $2.50 each, and they were small and all shriveled (long ago in a galaxy far far away), now I get big long plump ones, for sooooo little YEAH!!!

trying a new fruit, and having it be terrible, so I don't know if it was bad, too ripe, not ripe enough, or always bad, so I have to buy another one to make sure, and it's terrible too

never having enough recipes for raw, I've got every uncook book in the world, and I still search in them for the perfect recipe to make. LOL (I used to collect cook books, so this isn't a NEW thing for me)

making a new recipe, and forgetting one of the ingredients, and not knowing enough about it to know if it will matter or not. LOL (I do this alot)

trying new recipes, and having some weird alien lifeform of an item in there, that I will NEVER find, don't know what it is or I could substitute for it, and knowing the ONLY place I can get said weird alien lifeform is at the uncookbook author's website, at an outrageously high price, and it is the ONLY place that sells this stuff raw in the whole world. YEAH RIGHT!!! LOL

and also those little sticky lables, I can't get them off my fingers, or my knives, they are relentless, they stick everywhere but the garbage can, and they are on every single piece of fruit or veggie that I buy, thank goodness we grow so much of our own stuff. YES!!!

[codajess]

I've bought ONE vanilla bean in my lifetime. It was probably 4-5 inches long, doubled over in the container. For over $8.

I think I read to scrape it, then keep the pod to use that later, too. I usually just cut a chunk off and put the whole thing in the blender. I don't know how effective that is, I have a million other things in the blender at the same time. I usually use frontier's vanilla extract.

[rawpriestess]

I have used Frontier's vannillin and vanilla extract, I've tried everything, but when I bought a "REAL" vanilla bean and used that, it burst with flavor in my mouth.


So, now I buy them in bulk, I LOVE them, I use them every day, sometimes I think I'm addicted to them. LOL

When I first tried vanilla extract, when I was young, I used to use it as perfume, because the scent was so intoxicating to me.

Now, I don't use any scent, but my pee does smell like vanilla, I think it's because I use about 1/2 a bean each day in my almond milkshakes, and ice creams and puddings and such.

YUMMY!!!

Oh, the ones I buy now, are about 6 to 8 inches long, and they are soft and plump and fragrant and yummy, and delicious.

[Im2Fruity]

trying a new fruit, and having it be terrible, so I don't know if it was bad, too ripe, not ripe enough, or always bad, so I have to buy another one to make sure, and it's terrible too



lol! That has happened to me too many times!! Persimmons were the worst :eek:

[Halo Aglow]

hey Luna Lin....Another method that I find exceptionally easy is to peel the bananas and break into halves or thirds and wrap the pieces in wax paper and then in the ziploc bag to the freezer. They don't stick together and come out very easy. :D

Wax paper!!! :) I need to buy some next time I go to the grocery store. I'm writing that on my list. Thanks rawlee!


Glad I could be of help. I should probably clarify, when I said to break the banana into small pieces I didn't mean itty bitty pieces, I meant to break them into 3rds or 4ths. Also, I place them standing up (not lying on their sides) on the cookie sheet otherwise they stick and can be somewhat hard to get off once they're frozen.

Ha! Thanks for the clarification! What I really need to do now is organize my freezer. I still need to find a shelf to put in there. But in the meanwhile whenever I need a level surface to set food on I use the ice maker combined with withever bags I can stack up. LOL.

Thank you again for the ideas ladies! I love this forum. ;)

[Green Life]

Here's how I freeze my banannas:

Peel and slice in 1" pieces, putting them into a large bowl as you hold with one hand and slice with the other.

Spread plastic wrap on the cookie sheet so that it's hanging over the edge of the cookie sheet at least 3" all around. You may have to double/overlap it.

Dump the bowl of banannas onto the cookie sheet and spread the banannas so that they form a single layer (it doesn't matter which side they are laying on).

If you still have more banannas left, layer another piece of plastic wrap the exact way on top of the first layer of banannas, then dumb the bowl of banannas on top of the plastic wrap on top of the banannas on top of the plastic wrap on top of the cookie sheet. Just keep doing this until all your sliced/overripe banannas are used. I have frozen as much as six of these layers on one cookie sheet before and it's so easy and doesn't take up as much room.

When they are frozen solid, take a very large bowl and set it on the counter. Take the frozen bananna cookie sheet out of the freezer. You must work sorta quickly as the longer the banannas are out of the freezer, the more likley they are to stick to each other when re-frozen. I take the entire cookie sheet full of bannnas by the plastic wrap grabbing the very first layer of wrap and lift and dump the entire bananna conglomeration into the bowl at once,then I peel away and shake off the bananna pieces from the wrap while everything is in the bowl. This takes a huge bowl. If this is just too risky for you to try, just take one layer off at a time like this. Grab the last layer of plastic wrap from each end of the cookie sheet and sorta lift up in such a way that the banannas won't fall off, and have your bowl sitting right up against the cookie sheet so that all you have to do is dump the layer of banannas with plastic wrap into the bowl. Now you have the banannas in the bowl, and some are probably stuck to the wrap. This is easy, just shake the wrap and get a spoon to loosen the banannas and they just fall right off. You don't have to touch the banannas with your hands anymore, LOL. Now, just repeat this process until the cookie sheet is empty. When all the banannas are in the bowl, you just take a freezer bag and hold it under the bowl as you tip the banannas out into the bag, sorta like you're pouring batter into a baking pan. Repeat this process until all the banannas are saftley home in their own little baggies at last. Now, you have banannas to make smoothies and ice cream.

Since I make about 20 pounds of frozen banannas at a time like this, I uaually skip the part where I use the freezer bag. Instead, when the frozen bananna cubes are in the bowl, I will take about four cups of these cubes and process them into ice cream using my food processor. I repeat this procedure until all the bananna cubes are used. Then, I put the ice cream into freezer containers, making at least a gallon of ice cream at at time. This saves time, and there is always ice cream ready for making smoothies, too!

I love being able to go to my freezer and take out ice cream anytime I want, knowing there is alot more where that came from without the hastle of going through the whole entire processing process again.



Green :D life

[Conscious Midwife]

WOW

So if your just making icecream, couldn't one blend room temp bananas with a nut milk and freeze from their. Instead of food processing froze banana pieces just to refreeze into ice cream. Now if he banana pieces are left intact for other recipies I understand.

Hmmm


Guess i'll enjoy a banana smoothie today with my avacado

[Pailani]

When I first tried vanilla extract, when I was young, I used to use it as perfume, because the scent was so intoxicating to me.

Mmmmmm! Vanilla is one of my favorite scents/tastes in the world!

Can they be mail ordered in bulk for a reasonable price?

[sport]

WOW

So if your just making icecream, couldn't one blend room temp bananas with a nut milk and freeze from their. Instead of food processing froze banana pieces just to refreeze into ice cream. Now if he banana pieces are left intact for other recipies I understand.

They will not be as creamy. You would have to put in the processer again before serving to get the creamy texture

[LisaDS88]

Those pesky little fruit flies that multiply rapidly in your kitchen in the summertime when there are fruits and veggies around!! (However, I have done that vinegar/water bowl trap thing to catch them, but they are still annoying!)

[codajess]

Those pesky little fruit flies that multiply rapidly in your kitchen in the summertime when there are fruits and veggies around!! (However, I have done that vinegar/water bowl trap thing to catch them, but they are still annoying!)


That's not very vegan of you! ;)

[veganman]

- Salivating for watermelon, cutting into it and finding it's not sweet and ripe enough! I've tried every "trick" in the book to picking ripe ones but it's always hit-or-miss.



Rawkinlocs - I knock on them and listen for a deep sound. Also, if you take your fingernail and scrape the skin and it peels off. Those two things work for me.

Any suggestions for honeydew - ours always end up crunchy!

[GlimR]

The cookie sheet idea works great....used it this week for blueberries, mango and papaya.....great to just take out what you need with no fuss.

peeve...yup.......rotten avocados~

RP~
May I ask where you get your vanilla beans??

[Halo Aglow]

Wow, Green Life! You are efficient!!! Thanks!!!