Gluten - no way!

Jeez, I haven't made a post for the blog in a loong time. Today I felt like writing a post though. Since January I have moved to the city, mostly because of my job. It wasn't possible to travel as much as I do with my job and still live up in the mountains. And I kind of like the city too. I have a lot of my friends there. This weekend I'm up in the mountains though.

Another change since the last time I wrote is a health change. I have completely stopped eating gluten. Entirely. It is the best thing healthwise that I have done since I discovered raw foods! Even though I have eaten rawfood I have sometimes eaten pasta or some bread to complete the meal. Not any more. The changes I have seen is amazing! My skin is so moist and soft compared to before and I have had some eczema that is just gone.

I have also lost some weight. That wasn't a goal for me, but it has just happened, and I don't complain.

I have had a test a couple of years ago to see if I'm gluten intolerant but it didn't show that. But I obviously seem to feel better when I don't eat gluten so I'm sticking to this. No more gluten for me.

What my body tells me

A new year. Hurraw! It is now five years since I started to learn about rawfood, and I've mostly been high raw since then. Last year I set the goal to be almost fully raw during that year. I couldn't keep it. But during 2015 I have over all become more raw anyway and I think that it is the way for me to go. So I won't set a fully raw goal this year, but I will keep eating as much rawfood as I like and listen to my body.

Last year my body made it totally clear for me that I don't feel good from certain cooked food. I even ended up in the hospital and had to go through some medical examinations that led to another visit at the hospital. I kind of feel that I've had enough of the hospital for a while. What seems to keep me away from the doctors is clean, healthy, lowfat food, preferably raw food. Not even what you would say is clean cooked vegan food is enough, it should be raw for the best result. 

I still have to practice to eat enough and to always make sure to have enough food at home. Foods that I like. I really can't eat foods that I dislike. Then I end up eating some cooked food that I like better. 

I'm really getting to know the signs from my body connected to certain foods and this year I will listen to my body and continue to see the positive results from eating rawfood. 

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!