Do you plan to stay raw over the next 5 days?

[smasty]

What's your plan??

For me, it's easy....no temptations here!!!

My menu for tomorrow is:

fruit
taco chips with hummus
Salad with honey/mustard dressing
Noasted Turkey
Olives
Pecan Pie
Chocolate/banana flax crackers in case I'm still hungry :p

I posted a recipe for raw egg nog and a good looking cranberry relish that I might try (see the holiday recipe folder)

If you WANT to stay raw...make your plans if you haven't already. You can do this! It's easy! Eat good food! Don't get hungry! Focus on health, focus on giving thanks, eat a lot if you need to, don't feel deprived...but keep it raw.

[tglasco4]

I didn't even think about it. But I suppose that the holiday season would be a "testing" time for those that have chosen the raw lifestyle. Planning is the key in that situation. Most people know where they are going to be and who else will be there. Planning your menu now would be very wise. ;)

Peace.

Todd

[yeahbethany]

We are, of course, staying raw! We are visiting my family on the East Coast. They are making the traditional cooked turkey and stuffing, and Matt and I are going to make the (all-raw) side dishes and desserts! Basically, we are making raw food for ourselves, plus enough to share, so everyone else can eat it as side dishes! Here's our plan:

Savory Sage Croquettes (from Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine. These are amazing).
Cranberry Sauce
Kale Salad
Mashed "Potatoes" and Gravy
Fennel Salad
Apple Pie and/or Pecan Pie

I agree with Smasty and Todd...if you make your plan, it will be easy to stay raw!

Have a great Thanksgiving!
-Bethany =)

[Rawkinlocs]

I'm gonna try my darndest! I know turkey and all the meat dishes won't tempt me, but it's certain "side" dishes that will, so I'm currently in the process of preparing my own raw versions of:

Greens
Sweet Potato Pie
Alissa's Mock Turkey Loaf (although I'll have to improvise on some of the ingredients as I have very little pumpkin seeds and cashews, but plenty of walnuts, almonds and brazils and I plan to add mushrooms and chopped onions and bell pepper to it!
I'm thinking I might make a torte to fill that craving for cake
and Cranberry sauce

That should be good enough to keep me happy, satisfied and raw :p

[vegbaby]

OK, I just got off the phone with Alissa for a consult, and I am now raring to go, so yes, I will be raw during the next five days. :) I was already planning to make lots of salads and a few desserts to take along with me to two Thanksgiving dinners we plan to attend, so I think I'll be ok. Like Rawkinlocs I was thinking about those old side dishes I used to love, but I've totally got a new mindset now!

I'm making:

Pecan/date balls
walnut torte
broccoli-cranberry salad
spinach-mushroom salad
waldorf salad

[yeahbethany]

Rawkinlocks,
You should do just fine substituting walnuts, almonds, and brazils...I like that combo better! =).

Its so inspiring to hear how everyone is planning to stay raw over Thanksgiving! I like this thread!
-Bethany =)

[Olive]

I may have a boiled sweet potato or some steamed broccoli, but I will try my darndest to stay raw! I have such a tight schedule though that I don't know how much time I'll have to prep dishes. I did take care of myself ahead of time though, since I agreed to bring the salad (a nice spinach, pecan, red onion, dried cranberry combo) and the veggie tray. I might whip up a small pecan pie, the noasted turkey and some butternut squash noodles with curry sauce if I have energy tonight. If I don't make a dessert for myself, I know I will cave to the vegan pies!

[greengirl]

I'm definately staying raw! I'm going to my brother's for the big meal, but am bringing lots of veggies and Alissa's spinach dip, mock turkey loaf and pumpkin pie with me. Oh, and a bottle of raw wine! :p

No one in my family knows about my new raw lifestyle yet... wish me luck in fielding all the inquiries!

[smasty]

Hi Everyone!!!

Greengirl!!!....be prepared to be the center of attention. People will be shoveling food in their mouths and saying "tell me again why you think what you're doing is a good idea?!"

Let us know how it goes!!

Ok...everyone is doing mock turkey loaf instead of Noasted Turkey...should I switch?

[Mary Anne]

Like Olive I'm going to have some healthy cooked foods like chestnuts and a vegan soup that my mom makes. But no sugary side dishes -- I can't have sugar or preservatives, my body won't let me.

It will be just my mom and I and she's a vegetarian, so no comments from her. She has accepted my raw lifestyle, even though she thinks I am too thin (But I'm not, ha-ha).

I'm making a raw yam dish for the both of us and she's going to provide lots of fruits. Unfortunately my mom is on blood thinners (she had open heart surgery over the summer) so she can't have any greens, but we'll work around it.

What really makes me happy is that she agreed to having dinner at her place, not at a SAD restaurant.

I'll get back on track on Friday and the rest of the weekend.

Have a beautiful holiday everyone!

Love,
Mary Anne

[Jay]

Hi,

well, I wish all of you good luck in the next couple of days, there's no such thing as Thanksgiving here in Belgium, so it won't be too hard for me to stay raw :)
Besides, I'm going to this sort of potluck (we don't have to bring our own food, they ordered it and will make it, we just eat, hee hee :D ) the 27th. Really looking forward to that!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!! :) :) :) :) :)

Joke

[VeggieGirl]

So Hubby is thinking "WHY did I decide to do this now?"....I, a former vegan- now-raw, have no problem on Thanksgiving...but this is a TRUE test for him.
I'm going to do everything I know to do raw - we don't have a dehydrator yet so it's all going to be cold.... any Ideas for good recipes on TKSGVG with no dehydrators????

Thanks,
VeggieGirl

[smasty]

Hi Veggiegirl! Except for the taco chips, everything on my list does not require a dehydrator. A good knife, a food processor and you're set.

[smasty]

This was in a devotion I read this morning:

Spend time today eating "food that endures"...what is that?
Building relationships, peace-making, forgiveness, gratitude.

Since this is such a food-oriented day for most of us, thought I'd share that.

Sue

[Curtis]

Thank you Sue have a great Thanksgiving. :)

[smasty]

Oh my! I have made such an incredible spread for myself today!

DH and I both shared some hummus w/ taco flax crackers...he loved it!!! I added a bunch of red pepper flakes to the hummus. It's wonderful.

I made a double batch of Alissa's honey mustard dressing for salads this weekend, it tastes great.

I didn't realized the Noasted Turkey takes 10 hours in the "oven" so I opted for the turkey loaf. I added more sage and a ton of sea salt to it, some fresh rosemary....it tastes wonderful.

Finally...Alissa's Pecan Pie. I couldn't believe how wonderful the filling tasted as I was licking out the bowl. This is going to be another winner I think! Here's a pic...I should have "styled" it better for the picture, oh well.

If you have time to take a pic of something you've made for today...share!

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/photopost/data/500/18P1010073-med.JPG

[Rawkinlocs]

Wow, I'll try the pecan pie maybe for the next holiday!

I wish I could report that I stayed all raw today, but I did not. I ate my raw meal before we left, wasn't really hungry once we got there, but once the food was blessed, I found myself joining in with everyone else (no meat) even though I had brought some of my own food :rolleyes:

But that's cool, I have plenty to eat over the weekend and I plan to keep it RAW! I guess I just got caught up in the socializing or something...me thinks part of it is that I didn't want to be out of place with my own plate of food...but I'll get there...I'll be okay next event!

Anyway, here is a photo of the meal I prepared (cranberry/applesauce, mock turkey loaf, marinated greens and sweet potato pie) I have more photos in my album and I journaled about this evening in my journal if anyone is interested. I also made a torte adapted from Juliano's "RAW" book and it is SOOOOO good!
http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/photopost/data/500/47rawg008.jpg

[Sharon in Colorado]

Well Rawkinlocks, I ate both as well.

Here are some pics from the online album:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/share/landingA2?i=EeAOWbZuzcNmbCxg&open=1&x=1&sm=0&sl=0

Just by-pass all the stuff about ordering online and click on 'view slideshow'

I wanted to add, also, that I made both the pumpkin and pecan pies. I found that they both had very wet crusts, so I stuck them in a turned off 'warm' oven with the light bulb on for an hour or so to dry the crust out a bit, before I put the filling in them.

The noasted turkey turned out really dark because I threw in a couple of portabello mushrooms. I need ideas for the leftover noasted turkey, because I don't want it to go to waste. Thinking of slicing real thin and dehydrating to make little crackers. It came out a bit salty because I got a litte miso-happy. I can never follow a recipe exactly! LOL

[greengirl]

Well, I stayed raw over Thanksgiving. But, I felt left out and depressed. I brought plenty of raw food, but I'm starting to wonder if I want to do this forever. My family was unbelievably supportive, even! Does anyone else ever have these feelings? :(

[Sharon in Colorado]

I think had I stayed raw I may have been upset like I was missing out. But looking back, I wish I'd have just had the melon, salad and soup because everyone seemed to enjoy themselves up to that point. After the main meal, my hubby and I both got full and uncomfortable and had to lie down for a bit!

Tonight I had some salad and soup and a few cooked vegetarian leftovers, and they did not taste good to me at all! I also ate a lot of the raw pecan pie and due to it being a rich nut-centered recipe it was really heavy in me. Next time I will do a fruit pie for sure. The Noasted Turkey was heavy, too, and too much miso made it really salty. I need to either slice it up and dehydrate into crackers or make mini meat balls for the fettucini recipe.

I had a bowl of the cranberry sauce for breakfast this morning, but because it was too tart to eat by itself, I added some agave nectar to sweeten it.

I think many people tend to regret whatever they ate, or didn't get to eat. I did enjoy my meal, but I went a little overboard making too much stuff for our family of small eaters.

[FEELIN'GOOD]

Rawkinlocs-

That looked amazing! I should have made that mock turkey too--- I got elected this year to host Thanksgiving at our house, and as the host I had to make 75% of the traditional dinner. I did pretty good, but because I did most of the cooking, I got caught up with taste testing. Other than that, I was satisfied with the huge salad I made and a handful of Medjool Dates for dessert- I love those! They are most definitly the reason I am not losing weight on RAW- I need to finish up what I have left, and then stay away from them for a while! As for the fam, they noticed that I hadn't eaten any of the dinner besides salad... and they cracked jokes that I had poisoned them all... :) But I just said I was watching my weight and trying to stay away from meat and dairy products for health reasons. Everything on the table had some sort of dairy or meat in it, so it took care of the questions- they looked at me a little strangely, but oh well. Next year when I am thin and healthy, I can go into more detail on things... I hate to say too much right away, because I don't exactly 'glow' yet. When I spill the beans on my secret, I want it to show on the inside and out!

Anyways, congrats to all of you who were able to go 100% percent! Next year, I'm hoping that I will be like Todd and Smasty- no temptations at all!

Now, let's plan for Christmas.... YIKES!

[Olive]

Well, I managed to stay raw for Thanksgiving, but the rest of the weekend went downhill! So let's start with the positive . . . I made the noasted turkey, salad, pecan pie and cranberry relish (cranberries, dates and an orange put through the food processor--YUM!). It all turned out great and people sampled my dishes. Since I wasn't eating what everyone else was, I got questions as to why. It came out that I was doing raw and rather than getting the 3rd degree, everyone commented how healthy it sounded! Wow! The next couple days, while my parents were in town, I ate a fair amount of cooked food, though it was all vegan and pretty healthy. I'm back 100% today and glad of it! The cooked food didn't make me feel too bad, but my stomach felt heavier and I had a slight hangover feeling in the morning. Next up . . . Christmas!