How to get started.

[kongmen]

Awesome site!

My wife and I are trying to add raw "live" food to our diet but are having problems finding ways to get started. What we really need is 2 or 3 base meals to get started with. We are so used to having like potato soup, chilly, and spaghetti as staples. Can some of you post 2 or 3 of your "base" meals that you rely on that are not to complicated to make and the ingredients are available at the big box stores? Thanks for any replies.

[MysticTree]

my staple food is a large plate of mixed salad leaves with chopped onion, sliced tomato and cucumber. Add a homemade raw french dressing tarted up with herbs and an avocado sliced on top.

You can learn about smoothies which make for easy breakfasts, chia puddings, nut milks and much more by searching online - raw on $10 a day is a good site for recipe ideas.

massaged kale is nice. Just put however much kale you want in a bowl (cut off the tough ribs) add some raw dressing or just raw olive oil and juice of one or two oranges and massage the kale adding some salt and pepper.

Set aside to macerate. Add grated carrot and courgette. Serve with other salads or on its own. I often sprinkle a little raw shelled hemp over the top

[kongmen]

Can you tell me how to make a raw salad dressing? I don't know anything about herbs can you get those at a grocery store? I will look at the site raw on $10 a day. Thanks for the reply.

[Dirkg]

The thing which helped me is to become comfortable with a blender and trying out new flavors. You can find many recipes by doing a google search, then try to find recipes using your favorite foods or vegetables.

Salads and salad dressings in general are raw to begin with. Smoothies too. My version of raw food is just the basics - e.g. add a bunch of greens (spinach/kale/rocket/celery/cucumber), some fruits (apple/banana/oranges), some spices (ginger/cilantro/parsley/mint/lemon), blend them all up. If you add some oil+vinegar and omit the fruit it becomes a dressing instead. Chop the ingredients and it becomes a salad. Add some hot water and it becomes a soup.

Its all about what you prefer. For me the fun is in the experimentation and discovering new flavor combinations!

[sport]

My staples are bananas and melons. Quick and easy and yummy.

[amoux]

Some of the things I like to have in the fridge are:

Raw vegan nut 'meat'
Raw hummus
Raw mushroom and walnut pate

All of these are fast and easy to make.

Oh, and a chilled soup I usually have on hand is Spicy Mango Ginger soup - it's delicious, and seems to improve with time.

I always have plenty of salad vegetables and fruit on hand - salad is the basic for dinner, and then I can add to it as I choose.

[MysticTree]

Some of the things I like to have in the fridge are:

Raw mushroom and walnut pate



that sounds good how do you make it?

[amoux]

Mushroom and walnut pate

Note: Pre-soak walnuts (for about 4 hours or so)

1 cup raw walnuts, soaked for 4 hours
1 cup chopped mushrooms
2 teaspoons Nama Shoyu soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon rosemary
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Adjust seasonings as desired - I use more garlic and omit the parsley and add more black pepper - if you can't get fresh herbs, dried work okay.

Put liquids in your food processor first, then nuts, onions etc. Use the pulse setting for 30 seconds or so, then blend at low and then high speed for another 30 seconds or so - about a minute in total.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge. This is a really rich, creamy tasting pate - it doesn't look great, but the taste is wonderful :-)