Some Great Raw-Food Basics

One of my good friends has been on a Raw-food-only diet for quite some time now, and it seems to me that the most basic raw-food meal is a salad. I don't mean a restaraunt side-salad. I mean a real meal.

Salad is great because it is so incredibly versatile. You start with a bed of lettuce (mesculin mix is excellent) and you can add almost anything on top. Try to include a variety of veggies- remember that you get different nutrients from different types, so try to go for a good spread of colors, eg, lettuce= green, summer squash= yellow, shredded beet or yam= orange/red. Also remember to include a protien source and fruit.

Some great additions to the lettuce:

Spinach, fresh greenbeans (or greenbean flowers), raw walnuts, dried cherries or cranberries (some suppliers dry food at below 40 degrees celsius), orange slices, and olive oil. Balsamic vinegar makes an excellent seasoning for most salads- raspberry vinegar works well for this one as well.

Shredded beet-root and carrots, apple slices, and almonds

Shredded rhubarb, almonds, beets, and fresh peas. Drizzle lightly with honey, olive oil, and apple-cider vineger.

Nasturtium flowers, summer squash, snow peas, green beans, and sunflower seeds. A nice fruit addition to this salad is papaya.

Green beans, shredded beets, chopped mango, and hazelnuts.

Tomato, cucmber, etc work well on most of these as well- these are just some nice flavor combos that will spice up a veggie diet, and are fairly nutricious as well.

Also, a great seasoning for a raw diet is Bragg's. You can buy it at most health food stores- it looks and tastes a lot like tamari, but it has a lot of amino acids (protiens) in it as well. Another fun seasoning is shredded ginger. It adds great zap! Ginger shreds very easily with the small holes on a hand-held grater- the tough inner fibers and the skin will fall on the outside, and the nice flesh will shred on the inside.

Energy Balls:

Mix together about 1/4 cup peanut butter with 2 Tbs honey. Fold in 1/2 cup rolled oats and 1 tsp flax seeds, and 1 Tbs cocoa powder. You can sweeten with more honey if desired. Roll the mixture into small balls or pat into cakes. They make an excellent dessert, especially if served with fruit. These are excellent for protien and energy- for variation, you can make them with other nut butters or with tahini, and put in carab instead of chocolate.

Anyway, I hope some of these ideas are fun and helpful. Don't be afraid to change things around or experiment with your own favorite flavors!