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Permalink Reply by br00k on May 31, 2008 at 1:58pm

what has worked for me is the goal of eating greens three times a day- at least. and I always have them with some sort of fats, like oils, nuts or avocados so they are satiating. if I have that many greens, I don't want cooked foods. they balance you out.

maybe you haven't figured out how to make interesting salads yet? add nuts, seaweeds, ground up veggies, marinated mushrooms....etc. my favorite veggie mix right now is carrots, cilantro, and cabbage, food processed into little pieces, mixed with oil, salt, pepper. I keep it in the fridge and then add it to salad greens for a quick meal that is filling.

hope this helps...

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Permalink Reply by Rachel on May 31, 2008 at 2:08pm

Dani,
There are lots of quick and easy meals you don't need a dehydrator for. The best thing is for you to get tons of great ideas...go on www.goneraw.com and you can search for recipes by the appliances you have so you won't be overwhelmed by all the dehydrator stuff.
I love my salads for lunch but find it's really important to make is fun and exciting (not just always the same salad-bar type thing). Make a large batch of kale salad for a base and it will store in your fridge for 4-5 days. Then each day pick different toppings depending on your mood. Some days I top with savories, avocado, dulse. Other days I might go lighter with pear and figs chopped in.

Another awesome thing is the nori roll. When a salad just won't do, and you are craving a sandwich, a nori roll is great! You can make all sorts of fillings by blending nuts or seeds with different seasonings and veggies. Then cut up some carrots, cukes, celery, sprouts and roll it up and chow...RAW Burrito!!! You can also use lettuce for really great wraps too!

Raw Almond butter is awesome and you don't need bread...some ideas...thinly slice an apple, spread almond butter in between the slices, maybe sprinkle on some cinnamon or mash up some strawberries for jam and have delicious mini-sandwiches! Put almond butter in a stick of celery and top with raisins. Just cut up a bunch of veggies and fruits for almond butter dipping. You can also do this with raw pesto, nut and seed pate, salsa, guacamole, etc.

Bread is tough for most people to kick...it's highly addictive and comforting so ordering some flax crakers, or essene bread online or buying from the health food store is going to help you through the transition. In the long run, however, the amount of money you will spend on this is way more than the price of a dehydrator so it's your call.

Also, increase your greens. If you are not so much into salad, start blending greens into your smoothies and very soon you will drool when you see greens at the store. My palate has totally changed in the last 6 months (I went completely raw Jan 1st).

Lastly, if you do decide to have something cooked...Keep it as green, vegan, and raw as possible. And eat conciously...savor every bite, chew slowly, mmmm and aahhhh...no judgement. Going raw is a journey and just know you make progress each day you eat as raw as possible ;-)

Cheers,
rachel

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Permalink Reply by Dani on May 31, 2008 at 2:45pm

Wow Rachel! Thanks for the strawberries as jam and apples as bread idea! I am definitely going to get a dehydrator. The one that a friend told me to get wouldn't work, because it was round. I guess I have to order my excalibur. :) Thanks again!

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Permalink Reply by Pixy Lisa on May 31, 2008 at 2:10pm

I'm a pretty simple raw eater, so lots of times lunches consist of celery with some raw hummus or paté. I also like plain spinach and strawberrries. Sometimes bananas and celery. You could make a "Gorilla Sandwich" http://www.gorillasandwich.com/
Also, wraps are pretty cool, where you chop some of your favorite veggies and wrap them in a collard leaf. Nori rolls make good lunches too. You can find wrap and nori recipes in most any raw food cookbook. One of my favorites is RAWvolution.
Also, www.goneraw.com and http://thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/2007/03/this-blogs-recipe-in...
has lots of recipe ideas.
Hope that helps.

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Permalink Reply by Dani on May 31, 2008 at 2:46pm

Hey Pixy Lisa! I have the cookbook Rawvolution! I JUST bought it last week. I didn't even think about wraps for luch. Great idea. I've never tried Nori so I'll give that a try. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Keith on May 31, 2008 at 2:22pm

I hate to state the obvious, but why not buy a dehydrator. I love ours and it really opens things up in terms of recipes (at least some of the ones I find appealing).

This is a great one, but you can probably find a better price through an independant online dealer:

http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/5-Tray-SMALL-GARDEN-Excalibur-35...

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Permalink Reply by Dani on May 31, 2008 at 3:00pm

Hey Keith! I am going to by a dehydrator. I want to excalibur but my finances only allow me to take one step at a time. I needed my Vita Mixer and Food Processor first. I don't want to just get any dehydrator. I want the best. ;) Thanks for the website!

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Permalink Reply by Rishi Kumar on May 31, 2008 at 4:37pm

Hi Dani!

I definitely know how you feel. For the first few months I was raw, I definitely had a hard time coming up with different things to eat. Even now, after 2 years, I'll have my off days where I'm completely lacking creativity. Sometimes the best thing to do is start with an idea of something cooked you want to replicate. A lot of times its just a matter of replacing the cooked ingredients of a recipe with their raw substitutes (collard green for tortilla, agave for sugar, ACV for vinegar, etc.). If that's too much, I would definitely recommend goneraw.com like Rachel said. It's got thousands of wonderful recipes.

Since you don't have a dehydrator, you should also definitely check out the site my brother and I started called Roshi's Raw Lifestyle. The recipes we post there are always suuuuper simple, and never need anything more than food processor or blender. If you're looking for a few good lunch recipes, try these out:

http://roshis.com/sunny-side-sandwich/

http://roshis.com/spring-time-wrap/

http://roshis.com/curried-vegetable-wrap/

There are multiple pictures for each recipe to help you decide what to make.

Also, we update the site often, so if you like the recipes, check back every week.

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Permalink Reply by bitt on May 31, 2008 at 10:53pm

collard wraps are really fun. you can make a raw pate or just simply throw greens, sprouts, avocado, and some dressing in there. whatever you like.

try some kelp noodles, they are low calorie, but make a more fun meal and they are crunchy. i know most nori is not technically raw but it can be a good transition food to stuff things into and wrap up.

i have also used smoothies to get more volume of food with less work. it fills me up lots.

i was a little apprehensive about getting a dehydrator too. it's a big investment. but it will pay for itself if you use it for making some raw burgers, crackers, and breads. you will save $ in the long run.

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Permalink Reply by Charles on June 1, 2008 at 12:16am

Definitely collard wraps with a raw nut pate. I'm with you, sistah. Those actually got me hooked on raw. They're so simple too.

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Permalink Reply by Gavin on May 31, 2008 at 11:17pm

some of the sites recommended are rawesome! i was dying to see this post as soon as i started eating my "dinner"

i don't really think in conventional meal time terms. like what to eat for lunch or dinner. i only eat when i'm hungry really. i make dinner salads and pretty much get super creative each time. what i've just come up with....

tahini blended with lime juice, plenty of pink salt, some cashews, couple slices of cucumber, green onions (tahini, salt, green onions, lemon juice is amazing) half clove of garlic, dash of cayenne, turmeric, cumin....

i then blend to taste. next is butter lettuce this time... chopped. chopped cilantro, sliced cucumber, minced celery stalk, one white corn cut off the cob. chopped cashews, one avocado, one tomato, sea salt, cayenne.... eat slowly with chopsticks.

LUNCH: what i do often that works great as an alternative to salads is avo/cacao smoothies. or i'll actually juice and smoothie. i use the very large glass VOSS bottles you can buy at some supermarkets. i do not prefer to juice and eat at the same time... but when i juice three apples a lemon, a cucumber and ginger and fill up a whole bottle.... it's soo nice to drink it slow and see how much it keeps you going. when i have gotten back to work after all this and have my juice and smoothie... i'm mostly gone with the juice and i just wait till my appetite draws me toward the smoothie. so for the smoothie:

1 avo, healthy dose of cacao powder, some mesquite powder, hemp seeds blended with water and agave... plenty of salt as avos need good amounts of salt and they taste delicious.. cinnamon... spirulina sometimes. cashews are great filler... i let them sit a second in the water before blending. that's pretty much it. i usually keep an apple around or something in case it's not enough. i make a lot of chocolate and keep it around as much as possible for snacking most of my days. i might be starting to have a problem. haha i'll just wait and see.

SUPER SNACK! apple chopped, hemp seeds, honey (or agave, or yacon root) cinnamon, pinch of spirulina. peanut butter (if you can afford it) almond butter instead if necessary.

if i do have salads for lunch i don't usually have stuff that's real hard to eat like broccoli or carrots. cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, olives, avos, red/orange bells... those are my favs. oohh cabbage chopped with the lettuce is great too. i used to eat kale salads but not so much anymore. i used to have young coconuts for smoothies as a staple and i've gotten a real hang on just water smoothies or drinks. goji/honey/nuts/water/superfood/banana whatever... just make it up. i rarely but sometimes make something up that doesn't work out.

in my opinion you can juice anytime you don't feel like a salad. everyone tries to eat greens a lot and i totally back that and try to do it myself. i just often find myself absolutely not feeling like a salad. juice, smoothie, snacks like fruit and nuts and nut butters or chocolate are usually my alternate choices.

<3

oh one more thing... i did have a 9 tray excalibur and ended up selling it because i wasn't using it and wanted the money. they are definitely not necessary but are more fun. once ur raw for awhile you figure out your own routine. i don't even know how i was doing or what i was doing the first year.

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Permalink Reply by Valine on June 1, 2008 at 1:13am

Gavin, that was totally useful, thanks.

I get that feeling from a lot of people that the longer you're raw the less likely you are to need the complicated gourmet raw foods. Unless you're impressing the non-raws around you....

Having said that - I made the best truffley things the other day = I was *supposed* to be making ani pho's doughnut holes but got inspired and basically put the following in a food processor and they were AMAZING:
- a cup of dates
- a cup of raisins
- healthy heaped tablespoon of cacao
- tablespoon of purple corn powder
- heaped teaspoon of coconut oil
- handful of goji berries
- tablespoon of agarve
- dash of coconut water
I blended it until it was a sticky paste and then rolled them into truffle-sized balls and rolled them in coconut and put in the fridge for a couple of hours. They. Were. Amazing. Like so good you can't believe they're raw.

I'm definitely using them as a sweets and chocolate substitute for when I want to raid the store for caramels and chocolates.

I really think the dehdrated recipes are great transition foods and I know its made my journey easier as a stepping stone to a time when I eat more simply and don't have cravings for bread or other cooked food, processed items.

Dani - I'm 8 weeks raw too - last week was my most challenging so far as the initial enthusiasm has worn off and I've started socialising again with non-raw friends so it's been tougher. Just got to keep in mind the reasons why raw is so great and remember why I'm doing this. I've been eating LOADS of nuts and avocados this week, but you know, thats cool, I know I won't be doing that every week so I'm trying to accept that for now and know as long as I'm raw 80% of the time then I'm doing great.

One other thing - I used to find sprouts a chore - then my friend hannah gave me mung-bean sprouts with loads of olive oil, some salt and some lemon and they tasted amazing. I'm going to have them tonight with olive oil, garlic and chilli and I'm actually excited about it......how times change.... :o)

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