What the heck do you people drink around here?

Hey there everybody, I hope every one is well! So I am sure some of you that that are looking at the Raw Lifestyle and are saying, " ok, so what all can a raw vegan drink?" and that is a great question. Being raw in a lot of people's mind means limitation, meaning; oh I can't eat this or I cant drink that, but the truth is if you really want to successfully change your life for the better you have to look at it from a positive perspective, especially since being raw does take some time.

Now if you research raw drinks you can actually find really great raw replacements for a lot of what people drink today such as for fizzy flavored corn syrup you have keifer, frozen concentrate juice we have juicers and smoothies, milk ect. Some of those options are some what time consuming but its well worth it. So since milk is such a big cornerstone in the average American child's diet I think raw milk would be a good place to start since its not only much healthier but kids will undoubtedly love it.

The type of nut milk I most often make is almond milk. Now the recipe i am about to share with you is only a base. Whats really cool about it is you can play with it like you do cows milk. Although that doesn't mean adding nesquick to it for choclate you would simply add some raw cocoa ( pronounced cu cow ) and for strawberry, well its as simple as blending strawberries in.

ALMOND MILK

1C soaked almonds (soaked just means leaving them in filtered water for a few hours so they will blend up easier)
1C filtered water

Place all ingredience in a blender and let blend until smooth. After blended take some cheese cloth ( or a towel ) place in bowl. Pour milk into bowl on cloth or towel to collect pulp. Ring out the the cloth and set pulp aside. Pour milk back into blender and add:

1t sea salt
1 1/2T honey
1T lemon juice

blend for a min. and enjoy!

One thing I would like to point out is that I used FASS ( fat salt sweet acid ) in this recipe. Seeing as how it is complete nutrition wise it is great for breakfast or even a snack. Like I was saying earlier you can play around with this as much as your heart desires. Adding frozen fruit makes it more of a malt/milk shake texture. Seeing how almond milk is great and all don't limit yourself. You can also use other nuts and seeds as well, and they all go together well with different meals too. So have fun and let me know how it went!

peaceloveandalmondmilk

I'm not stuffed, just full.

Olah fellow blogsters! I hope every one is doing well in spirit and in health. So to every on that tried the spaghetti , i'm glad it was tastey. One thing I didn't mention last post was that raw foods definitely do not fill you up like cooked food. A few things that are great for some and good for bad are that when they eat raw foods they are looking for that bloated feeling after they clean their plate. Since we have grown up expecting to feel like this guy below after certain meals, it feels almost awkward beginning raw foodies eat their meal and think to themselves," Whats going on here, i'm not stuffed and tired, but not just hungry. This is weird!"
The reasoning behind this madness is when you eat a well balanced raw meal you get all of the nutrients you need, thus instead of feeling that triptopanian experience and wanting to just go crash you feel energetic and ready to take on the world! That's right ladies and gentlemen, no energy drinks, no sodas, no sugary snacks in between. After experiencing those feelings after being raw a few days I was quite dazzled too. So, sine my body was feeling all this new energy I figured what the heck, it feels good so ok body!

Now up there i mentioned about having a balanced raw meal is key and this is what I mean by that. When you are making a recipe, making you own recipe ect. you need to keep in mind this acronym FASS. FASS stands fo Fat, Acid, Salt, and Sweet. When using FASS in anything with food you are not only balancing a meal but also balancing flavors. One thing I have learned in raw foods is that it is actually kind of hard to completely mess up a recipe ( unless you use too much acid, then it gets tricky).

Before I wrap things up I was wondering if you like apple pie? That's exactly what was expected. So the recipe for today will be one of my classic favorites apple pie, raw of course. This one of the first deserts I tested out and fell in love with. This masterpiece is not only a sweet tooth satisfier but also an omnivore pleaser that makes your raw skills look impressive. I know you will enjoy!


Better Than Granny's Raw Apple Pie

CRUST-

1C walnuts (using almonds is fine too, just be sure the nuts are raw either way)
1C medjool dates; pitted
pinch of salt to taste

SET UP- place nuts in food processor and pulse until finely chopped; place dates and salt and process; final product should stick together, in not at a date or two more; form in pie pan and place in the ice box.

APPLES-

2-3 apples ( i prefer pink ladies but you can use your fav. or more than 1 type)
1 1/2 T lemon juice

SET UP- peel the apples; cut core out; slice as thin as you like; place in bowl and toss in lemon juice

GOO FOR APPLES-

2 oranges; peeled
3/4C medjool dates; pited
1T cinnamon

SET UP- place all ingredients in food processor and process; add in bowl of apples and mix; place apples in pie crust and eat it up!

* feel free to add raisins or whatever you think would be nice. Comment and tell me what you thought and what you did different!

peaceloveandrawapplepie

Baby Steps

Happy Easter to all! I am sure most of you had a wonderful time Easter egg hunting and visiting with family. So yesterday I told you I would talk a little about the essential equipment for a raw food kitchen. The most important two to make sure you have are a good sharp knife and cutting board. If you try and un-cook with a dull knife i will heed you warning, THEY ARE VERY DANGEROUS!so it is very important to make sure the blade runs all of the way through the handle and is sharpened as often as needed. After you make sure you have that the rest of the equipment you probably already have, it lust might be in the cupboard and a little dusty.

The rest of the essential equipment are as follows:
1. juicer ( to juice your fruits and veggies)
2. a dehydrator ( to make buns,chips, breads, reduce water content,ect.)
3. blender ( to make smoothies, make nut milks, blend items for recipes, ect.)
4. food processor ( to blend items but not as finely as a blender )
5. vegetable spiralizer ( to make veggie noodles with )
6. mandolin (to get those really small slices, but be VERY CAREFUL!)


(This was a juicing demo we were doing in class one day. More on juicing another day!)


Now those items plus your measuring spoons/cups, spatulas, mixing bowls, ect. vuala! You will then have everything you need for a raw food kitchen! Some people get caught up on which brand of whatever appliance it is is what they need to buy, and I say whatever you have to work with at the moment will be fine. As time goes on and you find it a need, go ahead and shop away! Like I said though, don't get to caught up on brand names right now.

Ok, so now that you have your list of things for the kitchen I want to give you guys a heads up about raw foods. So it is extremely important to incorporate raw foods into every meal because of the nutritional density of the food. Now when you eat raw foods your body gets super excited and just takes in all of those nutrients and since they aren't cooked and damaged enzymes and nutrients it's easier for your body to recognize and digest properly. Thus you get more energy, you become more vibrant, the pounds shed off and the list goes on and on.

Great, since were getting an idea of what is essential in the kitchen i'm sure most of you are thinking, " ok man, you have us look for all of this equipment, but what is it good for if I don't have anything to un-cook?". Well, your quite right! Lets get started on it then. The recipe I am about to share with you is the first actual meal I tried out when transitioning into raw foods and wouldn't you know it I fell in love. So here it is, make it with love!

First Timer's Raw Spaghetti

Noodle:
1-2 yellow squash
1T olive oil ( cold pressed )

SET UP- cut the ends off of the squash, place onto spiralizer or peel with pealer to make alfredo strips, place now "noodles" into bowl, add olive oil and pinch of pepper if you like. don't add salt, it will make the noodles' cells break down to produce water which will dilute sauce.

Spaghetti Sauce:
3-4 roma tomatoes (roughly chopped)
3-4 sundries tomatoes ( soaked for about an hour so they will blend more smoothly)
1 clove of garlic
1T of dried basil (1-4 leave of fresh basil to taste)
1T oregano (if fresh, add to taste)
fresh cracked pepper to taste
pinch of SEA salt to taste

SET UP- place all ingredients into blender and blend until smooth, or if you like it chunky all the more power to you!

*optional- roughly chop up your favorite mushroom to make a cup and marinate in
1 cup balsamic vinager
3/4 cup olive oi (cold pressed)
add your favorite herbs
salt and pepper to taste

let marinate in fridge or dehydrator (105-110degrees), drain, slightly dry if wet, serve with dish!

DISH SET UP- place spaghetti on plates, add sauce and enjoy!

I really hope you enjoy this simple yet delicious recipe. I encourage you to experiment as much as you want! Thanks everybody.

peaceloveandrawspaghetti!

ps. leave a comment on what you did differently or ask any questions you have!

It's Blogin' Time.

Hello to the beginning few of you checking this out! I'm Austin, or I guess the Raw Food Kid Now. A little about myself for those of you who don't know me. I just recently got out of raw vegan culinary school at 105degrees Academy ( http://www.105degrees.com ) under the instruction of Russell James (http://www.rawchef.com/ ) and learned so much that over time I will share with you through this blog.

Now for those of you who don't exactly know what a " raw vegan " is, here is my definition: noun; an individual who follows the guidelines of a vegan ( no meat, dairy or eggs ) as well as not consuming and kind of food prepared above 115 degrees Fahrenheit. So after looking at this definition i'm sure a lot of you are thinking WHAT THE HECK? THIS GUY IS NUTS! I LOVE MY MEAT!!!!! and thats cool, i get that almost every time i talk to some who is not a raw foodie. But fear not, i wont judge you, i'm not a bible thumping vegan psycho. My goal is to make people aware of what they are putting into their body, how its affecting them and and answer any questions along the way.

So i'm going to assume that the next question on a lot of your minds is this, " So all you eat now are nuts berries and grass?", and in lament terms....yes! But when you get past that you will see that when you put those fruits, veggies and nuts together in the right order you with no artificial preservatives or cooking all of the nutrition out of it the you get something not only profoundly nutritionally dense, but as well something so tasty you won't believe it.

So check back in tomorrow and I will share with you some recipes that are really simple and some kitchen tools that are essential for a raw food kitchen. Until next time, i'm Austin Cummins.

Peaceloveandfreshgreens