Mmm...Garden Fresh Gazpacho!

I tried my first bowl of cold soup today, and that's a pretty big deal for me, because in January in Minnesota, I like my soup HOT. Ooooh...now that was good!
(Next time I'll take a picture :)

Here's the recipe I used:

1 zucchini, chopped (1 cup)
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice (or to taste)
1-2 tablespoons miso
1 clove crushed garlic
1 cup spinach or chard
1/2 ripe avocado
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of water to thin to taste

Add ingredients a few at a time to a blender and whirl away! Viola!

(additional ingredients from the original recipe-I modify everything)
1/2 ripe tomato (I didn't have one)
Dash cayenne (we're on a trial separation since the Master Cleanse)
Dash salt (I added a couple of pinches of Dulce on top for a salty effect)
6 fresh basil leaves (again, I didn't have any)

Yield: 2 cups, 2 servings
Original recipe from Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 people, by Jennifer Cornbleet.

Learning to Love Fruit

My ultimate goal is for a diet consisting of 80-90% raw, but I still have a way to go. So far, only two of my three meals are raw-and only about 80% raw at that. My challenge is going to be developing a taste for raw fruit. Maybe it's because of the climate I've grown up in (Northern U.S.), or my Scandinavian heritage, but eating fruit has never been a big part of my diet. I don't dislike it, but beyond the occasional apple, orange or banana, it just never occurs to me to eat any of it. I guess that's why I've never really acquired a taste for it (that must sound so odd to the Floridians in my family ;)

I've got a mango, 6 kiwi and 4 pears in the fridge. I think I'll focus on eating them "as is" for now. I'll save dressing them up using fancy pants recipes until I get bored. How do you eat a kiwi anyway?