First timer

[vae393]

Okay, I just bought 5 lbs of grapefruit, .5lb grapes, 4lb oranges, 1 pineapple, 3 green delicious apples, 3 other apples kinda red, 3 pears, 4 kiwi, 3 bananas, I also have your regular house herbs (quite a few different kinds, probably more than average house).

I know you guys and girls are all brilliant raw-food makers.. I on the other hand have not yet grasped the kinds of tastes that need to go together to make something exceptional, so, if anyone can suggest combos using those above, that would be awesome! (I also have ice!)

I've got a dehydrator, food processor, drink mixer (kinda a blender), and a juicer

oh yea, and a box of strawberries!

Thanks!

Jay

[Bobbie]

Yum! Wow that list had me wanting to run over to your house and start eating the fruit plain.

I'm not sure about recipes, I'll have to think about it. I'm a useless raw chef anyway but I'm sure the others will have lots of suggestions.

Well done for taking the leap!

[raw-siobhan]

I am a simple kind of gal and not big on intricate recipes because I have the idiot gene and screw up anything and everything very easily so I made a yummy fruit salad the other day with sliced kiwi, banana, strawberries, pears, etcetera and then I squeezed several oranges over the concoction and it was darn yummy. Best of luck to you!

[luckitri]

I have been loving on my orange banana smoothies.

Peel the oranges so alot of that white pithy stuff is still on them. (It is full of vitC and complements and helps get that creamy fluffy texture) Juice them.

Pour juice in blender on top of banana. Blend and drink.

Make very very small portions. It is very easy to go overboard making smoothies and then you just want to scream or cry when it is undrinkable and you have to throw it out. Most of my problem this way has been from mixing "healthy" things I should have like the greens or the flax seeds.

Now that the weather is cold I don't have to clean my juicer every time I use it so that helps me have a constant supply of fresh juice when I am home plus variety.

[vae393]

Most of my problem this way has been from mixing "healthy" things I should have like the greens or the flax seeds.


I think I have some flax seeds or flax seed oil?, not sure how long they are good for though, I think I also have hemp seeds. they are all from the summer (June-July)

[trinity082482]

I love this thread. No body ever talks about how well certain flavours mingle together. Bravo!

Actually I have a few of my own I think are great together and which ones I avoid mostly.


Great:

Olive oil and vinegar.
Onions and garlic.
Basil and Rosemary.
Cocoa and mint or vanilla.

Not so great:

Lemon juice and really nutty nuts.. Bleck :(

[MaryWalker]

To the banana/orange smoothie, I also throw in a few strawberries. Very Yummy! :)

[Veganforlife]

All the fruits would go very well blended into a smoothie together, not all at once, unless you wanted to! :rolleyes:
I would purchase some greens, like spinach, or green leafy lettuce and throw a handful of the greens, one or two of the fruits, 2 cups filtered water and blend away and make a wondrous green smoothie. You'd be eating a lot of greens, it's already broken down so it would be assimilated throughout your body quicker and they taste so darn good.
You have gotten the ultimate fast food there dude! There is nothing cooler then grabbing a grapefruit and ripping into it.
If you work, take a basket of a mixture of the fruits to work with you.
I do. Folks bring in cookies, candy and crap (I call it crap because that's how that food makes me feel). Then the temptations wouldn't be calling you.
I think your flax oil/seeds and hemp seeds should be okay from the summer. Have you had them in the fridge or freezer? That's the best place for them. I keep all my nuts in the fridge (some in the freezer) and all my seeds in the freezer. It maintains their life longer.
Going raw can be as complex as you want, or as simple as you want. You have chosen simple for now, which is awesome!
I love fruits.
Hopefully they are organic?
I forgot something. The BEST way to cut a pineapple? Once it is pretty much golden in color all over, after you've brought it home and turned it upside down until golden, slice off the green top, then put in fridge for at minimum overnight (cut side down). All the sugars will distribute throughout the pineapple. A friend who lived in Hawaii informed me of this. Makes sense.
I've also frozen some of my quantities of fruits before I could get to them. Then THAT makes awesome frozen smoothies - into that throw in some flax seed/hemp seed. And you've got yourself a powerful smoothie!

[Apasaraw]

I love grapefruit in a salad with avocado for the fat but you can add whatever fats you like for a dressing. I also jewel a grapefruit and squeeze a tangerine/orange into the bowl to sweeten.... Can you tell I like grapefruit? :) It's good in a savory salad with fresh basil too!

OJ and almond milk taste like a dreamsicle as does a frozen banana, blitzed with a peeled orange. (or juice)

You are going to have so much fun figuring out your personal likes and dislikes!

[Raw Jewelrylady]

Welcome to another fellow Michigander...I'm in Mackinaw...

OK- You have a GREAT start-as fruit is the thing we go through the fastest here-esp Bananas. When we leave the store they think we are feeding a monkey..

Green smoothies are the best for mornings-easy...bag of baby spinach...throw in handful..add some bananas & I use frozen organic berries...but use whatever you have on hand. Bananas really make them taste great IMO.

Fruit -cut up with a squeeze of lime is excellent...but you can even do the mono thing...eating one fruit at a time..like a bunch of oranges-etc.

The thing with Raw is freedom.

The seeds should be ok-just smell them.

I would urge you to get Alissa's Book DVD combo as it opens up a whole fun world of Raw delights.. :)

It's available right here on this site-upper lefthand corner.

Lana

[vae393]

Thanks again everybody, all your comments are very helpful...

I don't have any greens right now, I am going to try and buy the Green for Life book as someone suggested.

I'm going to try the banana/orange/strawberry smoothie, I think you guys said 2 cups water and ice? or do you substitute ice and water? I also have some minute maid I got last week I could add to it.

The help/flax and a bunch of other stuff I got when I first heard about raw food is in the fridge. I do have a few seeds (labeled) in jars in a box from when I moved, they said they didn't have to be cold, but I don't know how to tell if anything in the fridge or the jars are good other than looking at them and seeing if they have mold :)

I think the only thing I open from the sealed stuff was the almond butter, so that might not be good anymore.. I do have coconut oil I think and a few other things. - grape seed oil... I really don't know what any of this stuff is used for lol

I will take a little bit of the smoothie and put some help seeds in it to see what it tastes like, hopefully all will be well!

Jay

[RawFoodieMom]

ohhhhh... I was glad to hear you say you might have coconut oil. :)

My favourite lately that I just happened to throw together is: 1/2 pineapple, a couple of oranges and a tbsp or 2 of coconut oil... and blend up... mmmm Tastes like a pina colada! (virgin of course, lol). really good. that makes 2 big cups full so you might want to halve that. If your blender thingee is not too powerful you might want to juice the pineapple and oranges first, I'm not sure what your blender is like. Let me know how you like it if you try it. :)

Debra

[Apasaraw]

oooh! RawFoodieMom, your smoothie is right up my alley. I have been making a smoothie of almond milk, pineapple and raw coconut and a dab of coconut butter...but the addition of the orange sounds super...thanks for the recipe... :)

[Bobbie]

I love orange smoothies too!! I blend a whole orange to a liquid and then add banana, so I don't need to use water which would dilute the flavour. When I make multiple-fruit smoothies, I use that as the base. I love orange, banana, strawberries and nectarine.

I make a milkshake-sort of thing by blending water, strawberries, bananas and hemp seeds (the amount of hemp seeds you use depends on how thick/thin you want it).

[Bobbie]

If you have a garden you could pick some weeds or grass to put in green smoothies or maybe there's somewhere near where you live that you could find weeds?
You could use herbs but its a shame to waste them in a smoothie when you could be using them in other recipes.

[vae393]

Hey, thanks alot you 2 for the receipes! I will try both!

On another note, I know people have said you tend to eat more when you first start going raw because your body is used to not getting its nutrients. But, are you supposed to be hungry ALL the time? I had a little bit of taco salad this morning (just the meat is cooked) and then fruits/veges the rest of the day, and I was hungry the rest of the day. I kept eating green beans, cherries, bananas...till finally I ate some doritos to ward of the hunger.

Jay

[vae393]

I make a milkshake-sort of thing by blending water, strawberries, bananas and hemp seeds (the amount of hemp seeds you use depends on how thick/thin you want it).

Okay, so I just made this a little bit ago. It was great. I didn't have any ice, so I took about a third of it and put it in the freezer for a while. AWESOME! It was almost like ice cream. Thanks again for the recipe!

[michigan roman]

about being hungry yes i was many months .
what helped was drinking green tea all the
time because it has an appetite suppresant property .

trail mix also because the heavy fats in nuts and
seeds would give my gut some heavy fuel to burn .

[Ama]

You've got a dehydrator... have to tried making some breads? Those help me A LOT. When I'm feeling like a snack or if I have a smoothie or some soup and need that FULL feeling, I have some bread. Pate's usually fill me too, because of the nuts. Also... make up some raw desserts like brownies or cookies and keep them in your fridge or the freezer and when you're hungry just pop one. That's what I do. I tend to keep RP's brownies (modified version) in my fridge or freezer.

[vae393]

You've got a dehydrator... have to tried making some breads? Those help me A LOT. When I'm feeling like a snack or if I have a smoothie or some soup and need that FULL feeling, I have some bread. Pate's usually fill me too, because of the nuts. Also... make up some raw desserts like brownies or cookies and keep them in your fridge or the freezer and when you're hungry just pop one. That's what I do. I tend to keep RP's brownies (modified version) in my fridge or freezer.

I have a dehydrator that I bought last spring and never opened. Still unused in the box. Not sure what to do with it exactly haha.

Jay

[Ama]

Jay, here is the recipe for the almond bread: http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=219282&postcount=1

and here is a recipe for onion bread:
http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10422&postcount=1

You will need teflex sheets if you don't already have them. They prevent the mixture from slipping through the mesh sheets. You put the teflex on top of the mesh sheets.

You just blend up the ingredients as per the instructions and spread the mixture on the teflex sheet about 1/4" thick and keep it in the dehydrator for as long as the recipe states. After some time you'll get a feel for how you like it. Half way through the drying time (when the bread is firm enough to flip) you'll want to flip the bread over and remove the teflex sheet so the bread can dry quicker. I have a 4 tray excalibur which has rectangular trays, I spread the mix on the whole teflex sheet and most recipes use up 2 whole trays.

If you don't have a book I can't recommend a better one than Alissa's. I have many raw recipe books but I really don't even use them any more. Her book is definitely the best of the bunch and is used daily. There are really quick simple recipes, and then there are some more complex recipes... lots of great stuff. She has lots of easy to prepare desserts that are great for transitioning. I always make sure I have dates, almonds, sunflower seeds and honey on hand as they are used in many of the dessert recipes. Thanks to her great book I never had to cheat, there was always something I could throw together quickly to satisfy my hunger!

[RawFoodieMom]

I have a dehydrator that I bought last spring and never opened. Still unused in the box. Not sure what to do with it exactly haha.

JayAlso if you don't have any teflex sheets, instead of buying those you can use parchment paper. Kind of like wax paper. I found some at Costco so I'm sure other stores have it, it's inexpensive, and you can just cut it to size, whatever size your trays on your dehydrator are. Does it have a temperature control?

[RawFoodieMom]

On another note, I know people have said you tend to eat more when you first start going raw because your body is used to not getting its nutrients. But, are you supposed to be hungry ALL the time? I had a little bit of taco salad this morning (just the meat is cooked) and then fruits/veges the rest of the day, and I was hungry the rest of the day. I kept eating green beans, cherries, bananas...till finally I ate some doritos to ward of the hunger.

JayThe meat you ate in the morning could have triggered your hunger for the rest of the day because your body may have been craving cooked. I know that's happened to a lot of others here. Eating even a little cooked seems to spark wanting more and more for a lot of people. Also, some of the more seasoned raw foodists here have mentioned before that sometimes what we think feels like hunger isn't. The way our bodies and stomaches feel on raw is so much different than the way it feels on cooked that we aren't used to that feeling and automatically think it's hunger. I've noticed this myself. But I still have trouble with knowing whether I'm truly hungry, OR, just wanting that full feeling that I used to get with cooked food which is really just a full stomach of food sitting there waiting to be digested. I'm not sure I want that feeling anymore, LOL. Am I making any sense? Anyway, Alissa says to eat as much as you want until you feel satisified so that's what I do. Just eat as much raw as you need to, until you get to the point down the road where you will be able to read your body and know what it needs. You might want to try dried fruits, and nuts to snack on, they will give you more of a full feeling. And get that dehydrator out of the box. :D And experiment with it. Also avocados added to your salads would help.

[vae393]

...your trays on your dehydrator are. Does it have a temperature control?

Yep, I got it specifically because it had temperature control.

I will try that onion bread. This next week is going to be difficult because i'm not sure what i'm going to eat all week! lol

Going to try that milk-shake smoothie but this time i'm going to add a pear to it see what happens.

Jay

[vae393]

lol, I was looking around in some bags and found hawaiian lehua honey, 100% organic and raw. Grade A, all sealed up. Got some brazil nuts and almonds today as well oh and walnuts. I am thinking of also trying that stroganov recipe on friday. I'm SOOOOO hungry after my first 100% raw day that i'm dying for something to eat! And I just had another banana.

[Bobbie]

Well done for your first day!! It does get easier, I promise.

I like eating bananas in the same mouthful as brazil nuts, it reminds me of banana sandwiches.

This cake was one of my staple foods when I first switched to raw. It doesn't take long to make -

grind equal amounts of walnuts and dates
slice strawberries, paw paw and bananas

on a plate, make a layer of the nut (don't pack down, just place it loosely, in a cake size circle)
a layer of the fruit, a layer of nut, layer of fruit, layer of nut
Make a topping from almonds, lemon juice, water and a couple of dates.

You can also make icecream by freezing bananas, but you have to leave them in the freezer quite a long time or they'll still taste like banana.
You peel 2 at a time, chop them into pieces, and place in a bag in the freezer. After a while take them out and put them in the food processor and blend until ice-cream like.
You can add frozen berries to make different flavours, but you might have to add honey to sweeten it. If you add a small handful of pecans it makes it more icecreamlike. Some people also add coconut oil and/or salt.

[Bobbie]

Do you have any vegetables???

Waldorf salad is chopped apple, grape, celery and walnuts with mayonnaise (there are many different versions of raw mayo)
Watercress, rocket and spinach blended with pineapple is nice. It doesn't burn your mouth.

[vae393]

I don't have any vegetables right now because I don't like to just eat veges plain (except corn mostly) I have been adding green beans to my smoothies. Tomorrow I am going to get some raw dressing so I can start eating salads.

Thanks for the recipe!


Jay

[vae393]

I have another question for everybody. 2 cups of water is pretty standard for a smoothie, but everybody says to add greens in there. Great. Now, what if you use something like green tea instead of the water? Has anybody tried this and was it good or gross?

Thanks for your reply!
Jason

[portiz]

Make very very small portions. It is very easy to go overboard making smoothies and then you just want to scream or cry when it is undrinkable and you have to throw it out. Most of my problem this way has been from mixing "healthy" things I should have like the greens or the flax seeds.


I actually make larger portions on smoothies so that i can throw that onto the dehydrator and make fruit leathers (rollups).

Just remember to pour the edges thicker than you do the center because of the drying (outer edges tend to dry faster than inner part of fruit leather).