A question for the raw veterans

[NappturalBeauty1980]

Hello,

I am currently on the RFC and I have been doing my research on eating a raw food diet. However, it seems like there has to be a lot of preparation before a meal (soaking, dehydrating..etc). Also, a number of the recipes I have been finding seem to be really exotic (foods that I have never heard of and I dont think a regular supermarket would carry...however, I could be wrong). My question is, what do you typically eat in a day (especially for dinner)? I dont want to eat salad everyday. The good thing is that I am a good cook so I dont mind going the extra mile to make my food. Also, I am very interested in eating this way for good so I am open to a lot of suggestions. I am getting a dehydrator this weekend so I am looking foward for that.

Thank you very much for the help....I need it! :)

[Rawkinlocs]

Hey fellow napptural! (You've GOT to be someone from nappturality, no?)

Oh my, the possibilities are endless! You definitely don't have to do salad everyday unless you want to. Definitely invest in a good raw uncook book or two such as Alissa's...but also check out sites like http://rawguru.com, http://fromsadtoraw.com amongst many others for recipe ideas and don't be afraid to venture out on your own and recreate raw renditions of your favorite dishes.

That being said, a typical (raw) day for me is:
Smoothie
fruit
almond butter and banana or almond butter w/chopped apples and bananas and sprinkled with raisins
salad or marinated greens
maybe another smoothie or sometimes a raw pizza (or like recently collard wraps)

I think there's a similar thread, I'll see if I can dig it up for ya! But you can also get an idea of what some of the members here eat on a regular by checking out the journals.

I also wanted to say don't be intimidated by the soaking and stuff...once you do it a couple of times, it's easy peasy! Usually when I buy my nuts and/or seeds, I'll just pull out some jars and put some in with water and soak overnight and then dehydrate them the next day to have on hand. The key to raw prep is planning ahead. If I have a taste for pizza, it can be started on early in the day and then ready that evening; other things like crackers might have to be started the evening/night before and then turned over the next morning and they're done by later that afternoon or evening. Don't worry, you'll catch on and since you liek to cook, you should do fine UN-cooking once you learn the in's and out's of it!