Raw for Christmas

I'm glad that eating raw gets easier and feel more and more natural for each day. I often don't need to make an effort to plan what I should eat because what comes to my mind is raw foods. I'm not fully raw though. But I'm getting there. 

For the first time I made a raw dinner for Christmas eve. That was what I really wanted. It didn't feel like I was missing out on something. Ok, I did have a taste of some of the other food that was served, but just a small bite. Next Christmas will hopefully be totally raw without any problem. 

Even though it is in the middle of winter here you can still get really good rawfood. The oranges are wonderful and make the sweetest orange juice. 

There is also other citrus in season. Kale is really easy to get your hands on, which doesn't happen all year round. And there are a lot of tasty nuts to snack on. Christmas brings a lot of goodness.

Here is what I had for Christmas. 

Kale salad

Kale 

Oranges

Red onion

Pomegranate

Walnuts

Finely chop the kale, oranges and red onion. Squeeze some orange juice over the kale and massage the kale a bit so it gets softer. Mix everything together in a bowl. Serve. 

Saffron cream salad

Carrots

Fennel

Apples

Cashews

Water

Saffron

Finely chop carrots, fennel and apples. Blend cashews with some water and saffron until it makes a creamy texture. Mix everything together in a bowl. Serve. 

I also blended some walnuts and cashews with sambal oelek and had together with the salads. 

This Christmas dinner was so tasty! My family also liked the salads which they had together with the other foods that was served. 

Warm in the winter

Christmas is coming up. I'm planning my raw christmas dinner and think of all the good food I will eat! Even though it is in the middle of the winter, there is a lot of tasty raw food to eat. I'll get back to you on that. 

It has been stormy outside today and I'm happy to stay inside. Not very hard to stay warm when you're indoors. I have a warm and cozy house. And I love to put a cute knitted sweater on. Fashion is fun in the winter. 

Many people ask me if I don't miss warm food, but I really don't. Well, first of all I should be honest and tell that I don't eat raw food all the time, but it is not because of the warmth I eat cooked food, it's mostly because I just feel cravings for a certain taste or to eat enough food. 

When you get used to eat raw food you eventually don't think about that it's not warm. Actually raw food is not totally cold, if you don't take it straight from the fridge or the freezer, which I don't recommend. I let my fruit stay on the counter and I take out my greens from the fridge an hour or two before I eat it. 

You often eat cooked food room temperatured anyway, don't you? It loses it's warmth so quickly when you put it on the plate, only the first bites are hot, then it gets warm and then just room temperatured. 

And then there is tea! To some meals tea is my water. I drink hot water with fresh ginger. Soo good! So I get heated. Don't worry. 

So stay indoors when it is freezing outside, with an extra sweater on, eat room temperatured raw food and drink ginger tea. Those are my stay-warm advices. 

Carrot cake balls

These balls are really a hit! I've made them several times lately and everyone seem to love them. I must admit they are quite tasty.

I gave a speech on rawfood the other day at the library in Tärnaby. I had so much fun! I'm kind of the only rawfooder in the community where I live, but it is nice to get the chance to explain to people what and why I eat the way I do.

I really enjoy talking about rawfood with others and I brought the carrot cake balls as a food sample.  People asked me for the recipe so here it is:

Carrot cake balls
1 big carrot
1 dl walnuts
1 dl almonds
10 dates
a pinch of cinnamon
a pinch of dried ginger powder
a pinch of cardamom
a pinch of vanilla powder
a pinch of lemon zest and some lemon juice
grated coconut and some more lemon zest (to cover the balls in)

Blend everything but the grated coconut and lemon zest mixture in a blender. Form into balls and cover them with the grated coconut and lemon zest mixture. Eat!

Raw Redbeef

Redbeet season! Love redbeets, but they're quite tough to eat as they are. Made this way they taste so good! Bloody steaks are so last century. Make way for redbeet beef! 

Raw redbeef (makes about 4-5 beefs) 

2 redbeets

1 carrot

1/2 avocado

1 stem celery

1 tsp dijon mustard

Black pepper

Blend together and form like beef. Serve with your favorite greens! 

Rawsome wild blueberry pie

The blueberries have started to get ready out in the forests now and I got a lot from my dear auntie. Felt blessed I wanted to share this rawsome goodness with some friends so I made a Wild Blueberry pie.

This pie rawks!

Crust
15 dates approx
1,5 dl dried Mulberries

Blend and then cover the pie dish.

Filling
6 dl wild bleberries
5 dates
3 tbsp chia seeds
a pinch of vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp grated fresh ginger

Set 4 dl of blueberries to the side, blend the rest. Then add the blueberries and turn together. Put in the pie dish. Let it set fo a while or eat immediately!

True beauty just exists

True beauty comes from nature. Humans can create wonderful designs, but nothing compares to nature's own creations. Billions of years of practice... Who can compete?

Humans create grand things to show off and get admired, hired and remembered. Nature creates beauty all over the world, much never to be seen by any human, without any need to show off or even to exist very long. Just simple, sheer, perfect beauty. Over and over again. Without anyone paying or asking for it. Made just to exist, to bring life and continue on.

It surrounds us, but how often do we stop and take part of the beauty around?

Such a delicate design gazing up to the sky

I got struck by the beauty right now when I was going to look after my plants. It may seem as a boring rainy day, but when you look up close you see the beauty and get aware of the life that the water brings and the beautiful scenery.

All dressed up in diamonds of raindrops

Fruity lemon salad

Start your meals with fruit and if you can't choose which fruit or don't have enough of one type of fruit - just have them all in a fruit salad! 

Make sure that the fruit combines well. In this one I used oranges, nectarines, apples and bananas. Works for me! 

I love fruit salad and sometimes, like today, I put some chopped fresh mint and squeeze lemon juice all over the fruit.  I think it makes it extra yummy! 

Raw Tabbouleh

This summer it hasn't been easy to grow anything. It has been so cold and we are weeks behind. The only plants that have turned out well are spinach and parsley. 

I really like parsley and it is so good with all its nutrients like iron and calcium. Make sure to smack in those greens! 

Perfect with a lot of parsley since it is the key ingredient in Tabbouleh, the tasty classic lebanese dish. Raw tabbouleh is often made with cauliflower but I think cauliflower can give a quite dominant taste, and I didn't want that. I used zucchini instead, and it was so good! 

Here is my recipe. Serves one person that doesn't eat large amounts of food (me) so make more if you're going to serve more people. 

Raw Tabbouleh

1 zucchini

1 green onion

1 clove of garlic

Fresh parsley, as much as you want

Fresh mint, as much as you want but I used much less than the parsley

Juice from a lemon

Cherry tomatoes or other tomatoes of your choice

Bring out your food processor and process everything except the tomatoes and the lemon. Make sure to cut everything in chunky pieces first. Also make sure to not process it too much. Put in a bowl. 

Then cut the tomatoes in pieces and add to the bowl. Then mix it together. Cut the lemon and serve it with the tabbouleh so you can squeeze as much lemon juice as you want to when you are going to eat it. 

You can serve this to anything you want or just eat it as it is. I just ate it as it was and found it delightful! 

Fresh Food Festival - lifeboosted!

A week ago I was in Denmark at the Fresh Food Festival. I've been thinking about how to sum it up, but I don't really know how to. Maybe because I still don't yet know how it will effect me in the longrun. It has actually been one of my best experiences ever, at least concerning personal development.

I didn't really know what to expect when I went to the festival. I was a bit nervous at first actually. Thinking that everyone there would be hardore raw vegans, promoting the raw vegan lifestyle and ban everyone and everything else. It turned out not to be like that, of course! What was I thinking? There were wonderful people of all kind - young, old, vegans, raw vegans, non vegans, vegetarians, non vegetarians. People new to this lifestyle, and those who are totally living by the 801010 lifestyle. The thing everyone had in common I guess, was that everyone was interested in improving their health. It felt a bit weird to not be the only weird eating person around, and I L-O-V-E-D it!

I was also a bit starstucked. I have never had a special idol in my life, and this will probably be as close at it will get for me to having idols. To me the raw vegan community is a bit of a fantasy world in a far away land, and not really real, as I've never met a raw vegan in person before, and the people I've seen on Youtube has felt quite far away, in a made up futurelike world. And now they were there! The founder of 801010 was there - Dr Doug Graham - and his wife Rosalyn Graham, and then Anne Osborne, Chris Kendall, Marina Grubic amongst other great speakers. It was so great to hear them give their inspiring talks and get the chance to talk to them. I actually got some personal advices from Dr Graham. I'll keep them in mind and try to live by them.

The talks were so good, and much more focused on personal development and self love than raw-vegan-must-live-up-to-speeches. Everyone can benefit from the talks, raw vegan or not. I would actually say that everyone should attend an event of this kind at least once in a lifetime.

The food we had during the festival was great of course! Honey mangoes for lunch three days in a row. Awesome! Never tasted honey mangoes before. Had never tasted fresh durian, mangosteen or fresh jackfruit either. There is obviously some nice fruit out there, in far away land. Durian I might say has some strange impact on me. I was a bit skeptic about the taste, but now I have been craving a bite for the whole week, and I probably will not have a bite for a long time...

Overall the festival feels like a lifechanging experience, and I want to go back next year as it feels right now. Now I want to keep the experience of the festival as close as I can for as long as I can so I will keep this lifestyle up, and make better choices for me and the world.
 

Roadtrip - The east coast

Many things have happened and I've been on the roads for 3000 km these last weeks. Still some places to go! Right now I'm on the east coast, close to the city Kalmar. I'm staying in a cabin in the countryside with my parents. It is a really nice place, vegetables grow outside and there is a cherry tree here. We also have an apple tree here but it is way to early for apples here yet. We've picked some cherries for snack though. The farmer doesn't seem to mind. It is also ok to eat from the lettuce outside. Cannot be at a better place! 

In the days we're exploring the surroundings by car. We've been to the city. Kalmar is a really great city in the summertime. It even has its own castle!

And today we've been around in the countryside. Sweden has a tradition of making high quality glass, and this is the area where that history has its sprung. Seen a lot of masterpieces today! 

Roadtrip - Music festival!

I'm on a roadtrip to the southern part of Sweden. On my way to work actually, but along the way I make a stop to attend the Bråvalla festival. I hope I will hear a lot of great music and eat some nice vegan food at the festival! 

We're staying at a hotel, so it is kind of a fancy way to stay for a festival, but I prefer to not sleep in a tent a the festival. Not my cup of tea. So this morning I almost emptied the bowl with fruit salad at the breakfast and now I'm carbed up and ready for a long day at the festival! 

I try to eat a lot of raw food, but I do eat other foods too. The raw food gives me the best energy though. I like that it seem to get more and more easy to get your hands on vegan food at festivals. 

I'd better go to the festival now. 

Raw Bounty

At last I'm at my home for awhile. This spring has been crazy! Travelling all the time for work. And finally I'm home, for a couple of weeks.. then some more work and then... vacation! I'm so exited for the summer.

When I'm away from home I don't get to eat things I like to all the time, but then it gets better when I finally do. For some time I've had cravings for Bounty bars. I've never done Raw Bounty but I thought in my mind that it would be quite easy and tasty. Yesterday, when I went through my groceries I found some grated coconut and decided to give it a try, and it turned out really yummy!

This is my recipe. I have just estimated the amount since I actually didn't measure the ingredients, so maybe you have to add something or have less of something, but it should be quite right.

Raw Bounty
3 dl grated coconut
1 dl agave
a pinch of vanilla powder
3-4 tsp coconut oil
Blend the ingredients. Form into bite size pieces, and put in the freezer for a while.

For the chocolate cover:
4 tsp coconut oil
4 tsp raw cacao powder
4 tsp raw carob powder
1-2 tbsp agave
a pinch of vanilla

Let the coconut oil melt on very low heat. Add the rest. Then dip the freezed coconut bites in the chocolate, it is a bit messy, but what a nice mess it is. Double dip if you want the chocolate cover to be thick.

Then try to let the Raw Bounty sit in the freezer until the chocolate cover has hardened. A couple of pieces accidently jumped into my mouth before they reached the freezer. Accidents can happen...

Enjoy! I will!

Tap some birch sap

Tapping birch sap in the spring is an old swedish tradition. The birch stores nutrition during the winter to use in the spring when the leaves are about to burst. 

The nutrition get released when it gets warmer and the tree starts to suck up water. At that time you can collect the birch sap, which contains minerals and antioxidants, and it is said to be a real remedy for cancer. 

This is also our local "coconut water". Drink it as it is or use in smoothies. 

A shot or two in the day is supposed to do wonders. And don't forget to thank the tree. Cheers! 

Heartbeet dressing

Tonight's dinner was so tasty! I've been away from home for almost a week, been working in Stockholm again. Have had a great time, but it is even more great to come home, and prepare my own meals. I love to cook! Well, there is not so much cooking when it comes to raw food, but you get me.

It is so satisfying to create a meal of raw foods. I have had cravings for beetroot so today I made a dressing. Beet is good for your immune system and can lower your blood pressure, so your heart likes it too. I didn't have whole beetroot at home so I used beet powder.

This is what I used for the dressing.

Heartbeet dressing
2 tsp beetroot powder
1 orange (peeled)
1/2 avocado
some fresh basil
some water

Toss everything together in the blender and then blend. Pour it over your salad and enjoy. I had some green salad, cauliflower salad, the rest of the avocado, semidried tomatoes, and some chopped almonds to go with my dressing. Taasty!

Back on it!

Been a while since I made a post... Can't really say I've been a good raw fooder, but I'm eager to get back on track! I haven't lost it all together, and my mind is starting to set for this lifestyle for real. More and more I feel that it is the food that my body craves and long for. 

Here is tonight's dinner. 

Smooth green orange

2 Bananas

Some kale

1 tsp Wheat grass powder

1 tsp Nettle powder

2 tbsp Chia seeds

2-3 dl Almond milk

1/2 Orange 

Some water

Mix together and have the rest of the orange on the side. 

That green grass taste is quite special but I've come to like it a lot and sometimes I like a smoothie that is less sweet than if you just use fruit and berries. And for dinner I like it more savory than sweet. 

Now I'm longing for the snow to go away and for those green little nettles and leaves to grow and bring even more life to the food! 

Struggling

It has been a while since my last blog post. I've had very much to do a work, been away quite a lot, and just haven't been inspired to post something on the blog. I got a real boozt when I got the results for my blood tests, and that has continued to motivate me to eat a lot of raw food. But I want to be honest and I have to admit that I have been struggling too. I haven't eaten as much raw food as I would have liked to. I guess I want to blame it on stress and old bad habits.

I also had a real backlash when I one day felt an enormous pain in my belly, and I even had to spend a couple of days at the hospital because of that. I was in Stockholm for a conference, but I had to leave the conference. I turned out that I had got diverticulitis, inflammation in the gut. I hadn't really been sticking to the raw food so I guess that was the result. My blood tests were still good though at the hospital, except from the infection.

I learnt that the diverticulitis got cured by not eating and drinking for a couple of days. Isn't the body a wonderful construction? Cures itself if it just get some rest. You could say it was a kind of water fast, but I got the water straight into my veins, at the hospital. I did the hardcore version ;)

I got quite hungry in those 3-4 days that I couldn't really eat, and when I started to eat again the food had never tasted as good! The fruit and the smoothies tasted awesome! I did have cravings for really fatty foods though but I tried to hold back.

I have had some really powerful reactions in my body the last months, probably related to stress, because it has mainly occured when I've been away for work. My plan is to try to cut down on stress related situations. Not so easy though...

This looks like my goal - totally relaxed and stress free.

Amazing!

I've been to the doctor for my yearly check up today, and I was really excited to hear about my blood test results, I got the best answer ever! All the results are good! Then you should know that some of my blood test results have never been normal.

I've had rheumatism since I was a kid, and eaten tons of medicine, but even when the rheumatism stopped being active, like 25 years ago, there has always been something wrong. Medicine has never been able to fix it, even though I've tried.

And now it is all good! This is AMAZING! And it is all thanks to one thing - RAW FOOD! Since I started eating a high raw diet the results have got better and better. I haven't just imagined that it feels good for my body.

Now I've seen it for myself: Food is my medicine!

Pink is the color

My belly has been nicer to me these last days. Seems like I should stay away from fat. It is not hard at all. As long as I can eat my fruits and veggies! My favorite smoothie right now is this pink dream. Bananas, strawberries, beet powder and some flax seeds.

I also love my new pink dumbbells! It is so important to get your body moving and your muscles to do some work. I sit still all day, and get so restless sometimes, but at the moment I have got into the habit of working out in the evening, in front of the tv (yes!), with my dumbbells. My muscles aren't strong but I can actually feel a tiny change of a little bit more muscles in my arms than before. That will probably go away as soon as I skip the training for some days but I'm happy about it! And the dumbbells get to tag along in my suitcase. Can't skip training when I'm away...

I'm a little bit bothered about the color of the dumbbells - do the lightest dumbbells really have to be pink?! Can't help to think that it is a statement. But I do like pink and I love the configuration, feels so good in my hands, so I'll let other concerns lay aside this time.

Not a friendly belly

I haven't forgot about this blog, neither the raw foods. Just haven't been up to writing something. 

My belly hasn't been the friendliest kind these last weeks. Seems like some kind of gastritis. A while after I have eaten a meal I get a blown up belly, and then the pain starts and then I get nauseous. I can't really connect it to any special food, but it seem to get the worst when I have eaten fat cooked food. My body likes raw food the best. Maybe I should be happy about that but I want to be able to eat whatever I like to and what's suitable for the social occation. 

A couple of days ago I got a really bad attack a few hours after eating. A short while after going to bed I felt the nausea coming, and then an hour followed where I threw up over and over again. Not that funny... It was not the stomach flu. Maybe problem with gallstones? I don't know. I will get into this and find what's causing the problem. 

I do know that my body seem to like low fat raw food anyway so I guess I'm on the right path! 

I got this wonderful meal at the hotel the other day with beet spaghetti, guacamole and lactic acid mushrooms. It was so delicious and healing for my sore belly! 

Raw porridge

Even though my dinners this week haven't been all raw I have eaten some great raw breakfasts.

My sister has gotten really into raw foods, and the other day she made me this raw porridge that was fantastic. It is made of chia seeds, one half of a banana and almond milk that has set in the fridge overnight, then we topped it with orange and blueberries. So, so yum! Even Emil, 9 yrs, gave it a thumbs up.

The day before that, I stayed at a hotel that doesn't serve breakfast but I found this raw porridge at a grocery store on the way to the hotel. It was really tasty and will problably be a common staple when I'm travelling! 

Off the wagon, at the airport

I'm away for a trip because of my job, but I'm off the wagon when it comes to the raw food. Well, not really, but a bit. I haven't been eating totally raw, but mostly. It is a bit hard when it comes to being away and finding good and satisfying raw food.

At the moment I'm in Stockholm. Of all places I've had a meeting with one of my collegues at the airport. Quite perfect really to meet up at the airport for some job. Saves time and money. We also had a business meeting with a third person who flew in from Gotland. Have to give that a smile :D

A smoothie from the Naked Juice Bar gave a well needed energy rush.

After the meeting I moved on to the city centre and had a great vegan dinner at Wagamama, close to the Central Station. Started the dinner with some beet carrot orange juice. Yum! I know that some don't like that earthy taste that beet gives, but I like it, a lot. Then I finished the meal off with a tofu raisukaree and edamame beans.

OJ addict

This last week I have consumed LARGE amounts of orange juice! The oranges in the store have been cheap and sweet. 

People have different opinions about juice. Is it good for you or not? Is it just extra sugar that you should avoid? Should you not drink juice 'cause it's not a whole food and a lot of good fibers are gone? Guess it all can be true, but sugar gives energy and you get a lot of vitamins, and some fibers are still left in the juice and it tastes like paradise! 

You get some vitamin A from oranges. Vitamin A is good for your eyes, especially your nightvision and your skin.

You get a lot of vitamin C from oranges, which is good for your gristle and bones.

Facts from the National Food Agency. 

Remember that you need your Vitamins. 

I will continue to drink as much orange juice as I feel like. 

Storm outside, calm inside

We have a stormy winter weather today! Woke up in the night by the wind thundering outside. And it has kept on all day. The snow is just whirling around, creating snowdrifts all over.

Fortunately I wasn't going anywhere today so I could just spend the day inside, working and looking through the window to see and listen to the powerful storm outside. I feel a bit sorry for the animals out in the woods, but I guess they know how to find shelter.

This was the view from the kitchen window when I was preparing my lunch today.

As it is warm and cosy inside, I don't miss warm food, but I have consumed some cups of fresh ginger tea, but I always do. I had this strangely looking food for dinner, made of cauliflower, green onion, apple and tomatoes. I made my own curry spice to put on the cauliflower.

Buckwheat crackers

Sometimes I get cravings for crackers, and it is quite easy to make raw food crackers, but many of them are made of nuts and is quite dense. I decided to try and make some crackers out of buckwheat.

I soaked buckwheat for about 8 hours. Then rinsed them, not thoroughly but quite a bit, and then put them in a blender together with some flaxseeds and ramson salt. I blended it all and then put a thin layer on a baking tray and put it in the oven for 45 degrees C for at least 12 hours. I don't have a dehydrator but the oven works just fine.

The crackers turned out really good! Crackers need some spread so I made this tomato spread to put on the crackers and it is Yum!

Dining out at Hemavans Wärdshus

Yesterday we were some people who had decided to go out to have some dinner.

I like dining out, but when you want to eat vegan or even raw vegan you don't have many choices. Were I live there aren't many restaurants too chose from at all, and most of them serve meat, because that is what people eat up here. We went to Hemavans Wärdshus (tavern/inn). I had prepared the restaurant in advance though, told them that I wanted raw food and they promised they could fix it, so I was quite excited to see what they could present and this is what I got.

A really nice salad with romaine, cucumber, fennel and sage. The portion was a bit small and the dressing wasn't raw, but I give the chef a thumbs up for to the salad and for the try.

Apart from the raw and vegan food (that isn't on the menu) they have a really fine menu of conventional food like moose/elk with home made rustic french fries and roe with sourcream.

I like their interior, an old house made of timber. The tavern is situated close to the ski-slope and also has rooms and cottages for rent.

I was wrong... (Green papaya story)

...about the green papaya. Bought some tropical fruit a couple of days ago and one of them was green papaya that I have never heard of. I cut a bit from it and had a bite and it was terribly bitter! Horrible! Thought I was going to throw it away. But I decided that there had to be a way to eat it. It had to be edible in some way, since people obviously eat it. I checked it up on Youtube and now I have constructed my own raw recipe for a suitable dressing to the green vegetable.

The green papaya has to be peeled and make sure not come too close to the seeds. Those little suckers taste so bitter! Shred the papaya into thin noodly stripes. I have a super mandolin that does the trick.

For the dressing I used a clove of garlic, a piece of fresh chili, crushed those into a paste in a mortal, then added some nori flakes, to give it a shrimp kind of taste. Poured some honey (ok, not vegan I know, but I'm out of agave) and fresh lemonjuice into the mortal and mixed everything together. Then I poured it over the green papaya. And voilà! A really fresh and tasty salad!

Raw Banoffee Pie

I love this sweet pie! So sweet and creamy, but yet with a crunchy crust. Even my very conventional-eating dad had a piece and said it was really good. He loves cakes and sweets, so he is kind of an expert in the area, but he's not a fan of raw food. He liked it = it must be really good!

My recipe for

Raw Banoffee Pie

The crust
1,5 dl Buckwheat crunch (I usually make my own but I had run out of my own so I used a good one from the supermarket from the brand Renée Voltaire with Ginger, Apple and Mulberry taste)
1 dl raw almonds
7 fresh dates

Put in a blender and blend until a sticky paste. Add dates or more of the other stuff until you get a paste that you can cover the bottom of your pie dish with.

The filling
6 ripe bananas
3 tsp raw cacao
4-5 tsp carob powder
4-5 tsp lucuma powder
You can also add some salt and some cayenne if you want more depth to the taste
1 dl agave or if you use honey you can use that, and if you want it even sweeter you can have more of course

Blend everything together. Pour over the crust. Garnish with bananas. You can even make some cashew or almond cream and top it with and then the bananas on top. I wanted a non-fat version though. Eat it as it is or put it in the freezer for like 4 hours or more so it will get more like a smooth ice cream. If you leave it in the freezer too long it will get hard and then it has to be in room temperature for a while before you can eat it.

ENJOY!

Here comes the energy

Been waiting for the energy to show up, and yesterday I started to feel it. I almost couldn't go asleep.

When I first started eating high raw, four years ago, the first days were hard, and I felt like starving to death. I probably didn't eat enough, but then a kind of euphoric energy showed. Now I wouldn't call it a euphoric feeling, but it is a true energy boost to eat raw food, if you eat enough, that is. A raw food high!

We have -28 C outside now so I don't feel like using the energy outside, but I have done some workout on my exercise bike inside the house instead. When all that energy comes you feel the motivation grow inside.

Jeeeez, no cheeeese...?!

Never understood what vegans eat to get satisfied and how they could manage without cheese?! I love cheese! All kinds of cheese. Never thought I could stay away from cheese. Unfortunately I don't love vegan cheese that you buy at the supermarket. 

Fortunately you can easily make you own raw cheese. No, no dairy. Tonight I made some almond milk so I had some leftover almond pulp I had to use. 

Blended about 1,5 dl cashews with a clove of garlic, a piece of fresh chili, black pepper, salt, and one tsp ramsons vinegar (bought the vinegar in Gotland where ramsons grow, note to myself: buy some more vinegar this summer). Then added 0,5 dl sundried tomatoes marinated in oil, and the leftover pulp from 2 dl of almonds. Blended everything together with some water. Then let it set in the fridge for a while. Would have used some fresh herbs if I had some but I didn't. The taste of this soft spread cheese turned out DEVINE anyway! Who said something about no cheese?! 

Sliced apples and mushrooms made perfect crackers. Gimmie more cheese, pleeease! 

Got to love raw sushi!

Love the colors of raw sushi!

Ok, raw sushi is quite common and there are many ways to do it. I have never done it this simple. I have usually made a more advanced "rice". This time I just blended zucchini and used as rice and also a carrot. It was not that easy to make stuffing stick together, the zucchini got a bit too watery and the carrot a bit too dry, and the nori rolls didn't look so good because of that, but it tasted great! Raw sushi is much easier to make than regular sushi with white rice!

I love sushi!

I used nori sheets (not raw), zucchini, yellow and red bell peppers, avocado, cucumber and mushrooms. Served with shoyu, wasabi and sushi ginger (not raw).

Raw sushi in the making. 

The final result! Guess I have to practice some more before I can call myself a raw sushi chef ;)

Having doubts

You may ask why I'm doing this and question if raw food is really the most beneficial diet, and you may think that a standard diet is the best. I too have my doubts sometimes about this, and then I fall off the wagon and go back to my vegetarian/pescetarian diet, but then I get a reminder that it isn't as good as I might think. I get troubles with digestion, I lack energy and my body feels achy among other things. Back to raw foods again.

For more then ten years ago I started to eat a vegetarian diet to see if that would improve my body, because studies show that people with rheumatism responses positive to vegetarian food. And then I turned a vegetarian. I realized that a vegetarian diet was much better than a diet with meat. It wasn't even hard to transition to a vegetarian, or actually more a pescetarian diet. After a couple of years I felt that there must be another step I can take to improve my health and started to experiment, excluded sugar and tried a high fat low carb diet. Everybody did it at the time. I liked the food but it didn't really do anything to my health, and it was quite limiting also when I didn't eat meat, mostly ate salmon and tuna with broccoli and other greens, and dairy products. Had bad cholesterol though. It wasn't the way to eat to be healthy. Turned back to my previous way of eating and included more carbs like potatoes, rice, pasta and quinoa. Until I found raw food.

Even if there are people having doubts about a raw food, and raw food could use more research and studies to prove the theories behind raw food, I'm listening to my body and it speaks to me and tells me that raw food is Da Shit! Don't care about studies. I study myself. I have drastically improved my cholesterol profile since I started with raw foods, and I feel energized, so now I'm determined to improve my health even more!

If I only could get all the calories in that I need, so that is my struggle right now, becacuse I want to say "Bye, bye" to cooked carbs. They make my joints feel swollen. The way I'm eating now is far more better though then before, and I have learned quite a lot about raw foods these last four years. I'll continue to learn.

Keep it simple

This week I've been eating simple meals with some mango and avocado or some fruitsalad and orange juice, and I start my days with a smoothie. Also had some cooked potatoes and bussel sprouts this week. Guess I have to try to be a bit more creative, but I haven't had the inspiration and I have spent my energy on the job.

Been looking through some magazines tonight and found some recipes I wanna try. The magazine Vego is a wonderful source for ideas! Got the latest issue today. Was so glad when I found that all vegetarian/vegan magazine last year! 

Not very creative dinner tonight either though. Mango and avo with a head of beautiful romaine. Just love mangos!

Curried zoodles

Thank you for the spiralizer that makes it possible to make zpaghetti and zoodles! So easy.

This zoodle dish is made with an avocado mango curry sause, just avocado and mango blended together with some green onion, cumin, curry powder, cayenne and a pinch of salt and black pepper. 

Busy, busy

Sometimes there is just no time for food or time to eat! This has been one of those days. Total focus on the job instead, even been on national radio today! I love my job (nothing to do with raw food), and the intensity that there can be! But it also gets you all wired up. Then you need a lot of energy to cope with it all.

Luckily raw food is both energizing and can be fast food, so today I've had mostly fruit, some cabbage and a handful of nuts.

Now I'll take a bite of those leftover nutty balls and that'll be all for today!

Hard time?

Been doing this for a little more than a week now. It's going fairly well. The most difficult thing for me is that I can't eat enough of fruits and greens and when the evening comes I feel hungry and then I don't feel like eating more fruits and greens. So this past week I have actually had both some potatoes, rice and pasta, to go with my greens, for some meals. And I've had a sandwich and a couple of crackers that wasn't raw. I was aiming for no exceptions but I'd rather add some starches then trying to stay on raw foods, get starved and not succeed. So as I'm training to eat larger amounts of fruits and greens I'll eat a potatoe or two once in a while.

Even though I have eaten some cooked foods I'm still eating high raw, and hopefully, when this year is through I'll be closer to a fully raw diet. I don't want to give myself a hard time with the raw food and I probably have to take it a little more slow to do this transition than I have planned at first.

I must say that I love all the experimenting in the kitchen that comes with all this, even if I can't get enough calories in with only raw foods all the time. I need variation and I can't eat the same thing over and over again, so I have to try different combinations all the time.

When I talked to a friend the other day she told she had made a pesto of kale and almonds. That inspired me, so today I made a kale pesto of my own and it turned out really good!

Kale almond pesto
Kale
Almonds
Coldpressed olive oil
Sundried tomatoes
Garlic
A pinch of salt and black pepper and cayenne

Put everything in a blender and blend. Serve with a huge portion of salad. I ate the pesto together with a large portion of salad and some small potatoes. It has kept me satisfied the whole day since lunchtime!

Nutty balls

Saturday. Calls for some candy! I love raw balls. They tend to end up different everytime depending on the ingredients I have at home at the moment. Sometimes covered with seeds. This time uncovered. Today's balls turned out really tasty and sweet! 😜

Nutty balls (makes approx. 24 balls)

1 dl sunflower seeds

1,5 dl almonds

13 dates

3 tsp raw cacao

3 tsp carob powder

3 tsp lucuma powder

2 brimful tsp of coconut oil

Put everything in a blender and blend until it makes a sticky mixture. Then roll into balls and have a bite! 

Big bowl of salad with mango avocado dressing

Starting to get into this binging in greens! Still not a big eater though. Need some more training to get all the calories in. 

Made a big bowl of salad for dinner. A small head of lettuce (think it was called heart lettuce), a cucumber, some small orange bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, celery and green onion. Made a dressing of mango and avocado with some fresh mint. Yummie to go with the salad! 

Started the meal with a mango and an avocado, then the salad, not all of it though. Have to work on the rest a bit later on. 

Have a great weekend! Eat your greens!