How easy are Alissa's recipes?

[Holland_z]

I really want to get Alissa's book but as weird as this sounds something keeps holding me back.I guess what I"m afraid of is that this lifestyle change is going to be too expensive & the food will be too hard to prepare.Are the recipes in the book easy to do? I don't have a dehydrator,just my VitaMix.Will i still be able to make most of them? are the ingredients hard to find? I don't have alot of money at the moment so I"m not going to be buying too many organic things.I just want to make sure this is doable before I take the plunge & buy the book.
thanks,
Patricia

[tracyinfo]

I myself don't have Alissa's book ( I have alot of other uncook books), but I have read so many great reviews of her book, that I would recommend it. Don't be concerned you do not have a dehydrator. There are many great recipes that you can make without a dehydrator. Also, someone mentioned in another thread, that they skipped dehydrating whatever it was they made, and just ate it right away.

If you have a vitamix, you are ready to prepare some great soups, sauces and smoothies!

Blessings.

[veg-one]

Hi Patricia,
Yes the recipes in her book are really easy to prepare. There are some like the lasagna or the calzone that obviously take longer but there are so many easy ones that take only minutes to prepare. as far as finding the ingredient, she doesn’t use any of the weird stuff that ive seen in Juliano book or Roxanne Clines book or some of those other ones. she uses things you can get at a regular market or a health food store in most of her recipes.

I have almost all of the raw books out there and not to put any of them down because i have found little bits of good in all of them, Alissa's book is by far the best in my opinion. The first half of it is just so motivating, you feel like she is talking directly to you in a straight forward no nonsense way without the ‘weirdness’ or the complication of some other books. She talks to you like you are a friend living in the real world! With family and friends and a life that you may not want to change. she makes you feel like you can really do this. Also there are 15 testimonials of people she has worked with in there and they tell their story.

In the 4 week guide she gives you recipes to make for the month. Even if you don’t want to follow it totally, you can look at the first 3 weeks and pick out those recipes and you will see how easy and quick it is.


The only thing she says you need is a food processor. On the DVDs she says you can buy a black and decker for 30.00 and they work the best! If you already have a vita mix you will one step ahead.

I really cant recommend this book and DVD enough, i think its the best out there even though other ones are good but just the way she presents it and her recipes -ive never made one i didn’t like yet!- (which in most books there are only 1 in about 5 i do like) its really worth every penny, i personally think its worth more as its a HUGE book!

I hope that is helpful in your deciding,
Veg-one

[Revvell]

I agree w/ Veg-One. If you are only going to get one thing ~(actually 2), get Alissa's book and dvd's. The next thing is a food processor.

Alissa states in her book that she has made almost all her recipes in a food processor. I may have been the one who said I ate much of the stuff before it ever got to the dehydrator. I made her meatloaf and instead of dehydrating, made a wrap out of it. Just added a green leaf and some guacamole or even just chopped tomatoes.

Her dvd's show how easy it is to eat raw.

Enjoy ~ and remember to play with your foods ~

Revvell

[Rawkinlocs]

You can sample a few of Alissa's recipes (many of these do not require a dehydrator) to see how easy they are to make:
http://www.alissacohen.com/recipes.html

I think that like with any other recipe book, there are varying levels of difficulty depending on the recipe. I don't find any of her recipes "difficult" but some may be a little more involved than others. But many of them are very simple and easy to make and a lot of them can be made without a dehydrator.

The main thing I can see you "needing" a dehydrator for are making the breads, cookies and crackers but even with the cookies, you can make them and refrigerate or freeze to make them firmer and eat! (that's the beauty of raw - being able to eat cookie dough or unbaked cookies without worrying about salmonella! :) )

Also, you can get a decent-working dehydrator for around $49 from Walmart or walmart.com called the American Harvest Snackmaster w/ temperature control.

There is also a thread here (maybe someone can post it) where someone gave the plan for making a dehydrator.

But Alissa's book will be a good investment and you will find yourself putting it to good use! It's more than just recipes too, you get inspirational before and after stories, great advice and lessons in being successful at a raw foods lifestyle, encouragement, and more.

[sachis2112]

I've always looked at recipe books as idea books. I almost never follow a recipe to the letter. I usually improvise based on the wonderful ideas I get from the books.

That being said, with my food processor, I can do anything! Alissa's book is great for recipes but also a wonderful source of support and information. I have the DVD too and I really enjoyed it. My friends enjoy watching it as well!

[cordeliaflyte]

i completely concur -- even without the recipes (which are terrific) alissa's book would be worth it for the chapters of the first half. my boyfriend and i each ordered copies and spent the days they came transfixed, unable to put the book down till we'd read the whole first half.

i don't have a dehydrator at home -- just a cheapo food processor and a good consumer blender -- and i've made and enjoyed tons of alissa's recipes. there's a great section of salad dressings, and i've also especially enjoyed the suggestions for sauces for veggie "noodles" -- the pad thai sauce is spectacular. i've also found it extremely easy to adapt and mix and match her recipes to make new creations. sure, i've made some things i didn't really care for, but taste is subjective!

i think i went raw the day i finished reading alissa's book after a few months dalying about with vegan whole foods and some raw... definitely very inspiring.

-annie

[lodestar]

My book and dvd's came on Saturday and have I ever had fun! Even as I post there are some garbonzo beans on the counter getting fatter and fatter (not me) waiting to be made into hummus in a couple of days.

Honestly, Alissa makes this whole adventure into raw very doable and a lot of fun as well.

Good luck!

Oh, and did I mention...day 11 of my raw challenge and down five lbs....
peace, happy, more energy, focused, clear, confident, and free! :D

[sachis2112]

I just tried the hummus... and while it didn't taste like hummus to me, Oh My Goodness! It made the most excellent addition to my greenleaf wraps!!! It didn't last long LOL!

[RawTruth]

Patricia - when I got to the chapter in Alissa's book where she says to get up right then and clear out your kitchen and then return to the book, I did just that. I was raw the next day and haven't even fallen off the wagon in 4 months.

If it weren't for her book, I wouldn't be here now. And, for me, it's not really the recipes; it's the rest of the book.

As to your question about whether "this lifestyle change is going to be too expensive" -- well, there's two ways to answer that. One -- if you buy meat, dairy, and prepared foods now and eat out (at all), then, eating raw will be cheaper. Two -- you will save money on doctors, prescriptions, OTC medications, and restaurant meals. So, even though some of the staples may seem expensive, you don't buy them often ... and, in the end, it's defienitely not as expensive as the SAD.

If you have to recycle plastic bottles to do it, definitely buy the book! You won't regret it.