Yesterday, on Day 26 of the Raw Food Challenge, I ate:

– 1 leaf romaine lettuce, a couple spoonfuls of cakey apple pie, and 1 glass lemon water with 1 digestive enzyme capsule

– Chocolate shake with spinach, 1 1/2 frozen bananas, 1 1/2 cups water, the contents of 1 probiotic capsule, 1 scoop calcium/magnesium powder, cinnamon, and 1/2 tbsp cacao powder. This was delicious. I think that cacao powder is the secret to eating raw 😀

– Fruit salad (1 banana and 1 apple sliced and tossed with cinnamon) with 1 mug mint tea

– Salad with spinach, romaine lettuce, clover sprouts, hemp seeds, frozen blueberries, raisins, tomato, and cucumber and 1 mug mint tea

– 1 apple

– Potato chips with sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds (dehydrated and seasoned)

– Vegetable medley (frozen peas, carrots, green beans, and corn that I thawed in warm water) and 1 apple with 1 mug mint tea

– A few eggplant chips (seasoned with black pepper, basil and thyme), a some more sunflower/pumpkin seeds, plus 1/2 frozen banana and 1 cup lemon water

I’m surprisingly feeling more energetic with not including nuts or added salt in my diet! I didn’t have any cravings at all again today.

Raw Food Recipes

Some of you have been asking for recipes and pictures of my raw food meals. I’ve been very bad at taking photographs, but honestly, most of these things don’t look like much. My photography skills are poor at the best of times, but when I’m dealing with raw food (especially with the kind of raw food we have around here, which is not the best quality… that’s Winnipeg in the winter for you, though!), most of my meals look like sludge.

There have been recipes that I did not like, but I’ve also discovered a few real gems whilst eating raw. These are my favourite recipes:

– Chocolate Brownie:

1. Place 1/2 cup walnut crumbles in a food processor and process until it is a smooth nut butter consistency (you can also use whole walnuts, but I use walnut crumbles because it’s cheaper to buy in bulk).

2. Add 1/2 cup dates, a pile of cinnamon (I just shake and shake and shake, but would suggest 1-2 tsp), and 1/8 cup cacao powder to the food processor. Process until it’s mixed well. Press into a couple of ramekins or other small dish for a nice brownie shape.

3. Eat on its own, or slice a banana lengthwise and then top it with some slices of brownie. Tasty!

Note: Raw cacao powder has a lot of nutritional benefits, but it is only found at health food stores and I know that a lot of people may not be willing to go out and find it. If this is the case, you can use cocoa powder (yes, there is a difference between cacao and cocoa!) or even chocolate protein powder instead. I expect you can use just about any kind of nut, too. This would also be excellent with a little touch of vanilla extract.

– Chocolate Truffles/Bombs:

1. Mix together the exact same ingredients as what’s in the brownies.

2. Shape into small balls. Roll in coconut, cacao powder, cinnamon, sesame seeds, or anything else if desired. Pop into mouth!

– Chocolate Ice Cream (dare I sense a chocolate theme?):

1. Put 1 frozen banana in the food processor.

2. A couple minutes later, add 1 tsp cacao powder and a pile of cinnamon (also some vanilla extract or vanilla bean if desired). Blend; at first it might roll into a ball, but if you let it continue blending, it will become light and creamy. It helps to let the banana thaw out just a little bit (which is why I leave it in the food processor for a moment or two) so that it gets that nice creamy texture.

Note: Substitute a squeeze of lemon or some frozen berries for the cacao powder to vary up the flavours of your ice cream, or just have it as plain banana flavour.

– Cake-y Apple Pie Pudding (oh, never mind. It’s not just a chocolate them, it’s a dessert theme!):

1. Put 1 chopped apple (with peel), a pile of cinnamon, a spoonful sunflower seed butter (anywhere between 1 tsp and 2 tbsp), and 1/4-1/3 cup dates or raisins in the food processor.

2. Blend until it is mixed well and takes on a “gooey” look. Refrigerate overnight so that the substance becomes more cake-y than gooey (it tastes better after it’s been refrigerated). It will retain a more cake-y texture if you use more seed butter; if you use less butter and dates, it will be more pudding-like.

– Cookies/Granola Bars:

1. Put into the food processor about 5 dates, 1/2 cup soaked buckwheat (I soaked it for a few days, but you could probably get away with just soaking them for a few hours), a pile of cinnamon, a vanilla bean or a bit of vanilla extract, a few big spoonfuls of ground flaxseed, and some orange juice pulp if you have it. Mix well.

2. Add 1/2 apple and a small handful each raisins and sesame seeds. Mix again.

3. Shape into bar or cookie shapes and dehydrate overnight. Spread a little bit of nut butter on top and enjoy!

– Lettuce Wraps (I do, on occasion, eat my greens, as opposed to just dessert for every meal):

1. Take 1 romaine lettuce leaf and place it on a plate; add desired toppings (this can include any chopped/diced/sliced vegetable, fruit, nut, seed, and/or sprout that you can think of, or crumbled juice pulp cracker).

2. Place another lettuce leaf on top to hold the filling inside. Enjoy!

Note: My favourite combination is to crumble some juice pulp cracker and then also add lentil/clover sprouts, red pepper, and tomato to my lettuce wraps.

– Juice Pulp Crackers:

1. Toss any juice pulp you have into the food processor (preferably vegetable juice pulp as opposed to fruit, but both will work), along with a small handful each chopped onion and carrot. Add a few big spoonfuls of ground flaxseed, a couple spoonfuls of hemp seeds, and whatever spices you like (I prefer cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, black pepper, and cumin. As you might have noticed, my go-to spices are added to just about everything 🙂 But you can also add thyme, marjoram, basil, Herbs de Provence… the sky’s the limit!).

2. Mix well until it is quite smooth. Spread onto parchment paper or the fruit roll tray on the dehydrator and dehydrate for about 8-10 hours; flip halfway through. You can also make these at night and flip them in the morning instead.

Note: These crackers are super easy and fun; you can be creative with them. Add whatever ingredients and spices you have on hand. Every time I made them they were a little different. I preferred them crunchier to crumble on top of my lettuce wraps, so I spread them out fairly thin on the dehydrator sheets.

– Vegetable Chips:

1. Slice vegetables (potatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, eggplant, or beets) and dust with cumin, black pepper, and crushed red pepper (also sea salt if desired).

2. Dehydrate overnight (anywhere between 7-12 hours is fine). Enjoy as is!

– Butternut squash or Pumpkin Seeds:

1. If the seeds are store-bought, rinse them with a bit of water so that they’re a little damp. If they are from a squash, remove as much goop as you can. It works best for seeds that come directly from the squash as opposed to store-bought seeds.

2. Take the seeds and mix them with desired seasonings. I like sea salt, black pepper, cumin, and crushed red pepper. Spread out on parchment paper (or the fruit roll tray) in the dehydrator and dehydrate overnight.

Will I make these recipes again once I’ve completed the Raw Food Challenge?

The chocolate brownie, ice cream, and lettuce wraps: yes. The other items, probably not. They were enjoyable, but I prefer the taste of making vegetable chips and squash seeds in the oven. The juice pulp crackers are decent enough but I wouldn’t ever have a “craving” for them if I were eating non-raw, and the cookies/granola bars weren’t quite tasty enough for me to make them if I could make a (healthy!) baked version instead. I’m still undecided on the cake-y apple pie pudding.