Moving Into Raw

Lunch today marked my first official forey into raw foods. I didn't make anything too complicated , but what I did make was mighty tasty :) So tasty, in fact, that when dinner time rolled around, I ended up duplicating what I had for lunch just to keep things simple. I desperately need to make a co-op run to stock up on fresh veggies and fruits, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Today was spent finishing the framing for our sauna until it was time to go to work. More on that later...

Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast

Oatmeal with soy milk
2 slices of Ezekial whole grain bread (toasted) with peanut butter

Lunch & Dinner

Spring Rolls
Spinich Salad with Newman's Italian Dressing

Spring Roll Recipe
2-3 nori sheets (or use spring roll wraps)
2-3 teaspoons miso (1 per nori sheet)
1/2 red pepper cut lengthwise into thin strips
1/4 cup carrots cut into thin strips
1/4 cup cucumbers cut into thin slices (or coins)
Sprouts (I was out, but I usually add them)
1/2 ripe avocado, thinly sliced
(or add any veggies of your choice!)

Tamari Saunce for dipping (I use San J brand-the low sodium version)

Simply lay out the nori sheets (shiny side down) and spread the miso along the entire length of the bottom edge. Pile on the raw veggie filling evenly along the length of the sheep and roll it up! Now wet your index finger and roll it along the edge to seal the wrap. Once sealed, the roll can easily be cut into pieces for easier dipping.

If your using spring roll wraps and they come dry, you'll need to moisted them with water and let them sit for a minute and soften before rolling them up. I just run pass under the kitchen faucet and lay them out on a cutting board. Be careful not to stack them when wet, you'll never get them apart again. When wet, you can tuck the ends in around the filling and then roll them up more like a burrito.

Some raw food cookbooks I'm reading right now include:

Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 people, by Jennifer Cornbleet (love this one!)
Eating in the Raw, by Carol Alt
The Raw 50, also by Carol Alt

These 3 happen to be my first raw "cookbooks." I have to say that so far, I like Jennifer Corbleet's best. Carol Alts books are also very good, but some of the recipes are a bit more complex (like you might find at a raw food restaurant) and many call for the use of a food dehydrator, which I don't happen to have yet. I do have a juicer and a blender, but that's as complicated as I've gotten with the "raw" kitchen appliances so far. At this point, my motto is KISS-keep it simple stupid! My goal is to go 80-90% raw and see how my body handles the detox. I hesitate to complicate things until I've had a change to navigate my way through this new world for while.

There are tons of great books on the health benefits of eating raw, as well as some really great web sites. I happen to have stumbled upong Karen Knowler, Alisa Cohen and Angela Stokes first (try here or here) or my favorite, here.

They are all so inspiring. I think I like the before and after pics most of all. There's also some great YouTube videos about how to go raw.