Raw Foods for Busy People Recipe: Basic Vinaigrette

Heidi Chopping Garlic - photo by Justin S. Ohlander

Please refer to our Massive Raw Recipe Book Challenge post to get the scoop behind the Massive Raw Food Recipe Challenge.

Our third book: Raw Foods for Busy People by Jordan Maerin.


Recipe Type: Salad Dressing

Serving Size: More than two servings, or enough for one REALLY big salad

Ingredients: Olive Oil, your choice of vinegar, garlic and other spices

Approximate Time to Make: About two minutes including chopping the fresh garlic

Our Ratings:

Heidi - 4.5/5 stars
Justin - 5/5 stars

Heidi's Thoughts: This is a great standard dressing. I love how the recipe calls for an optional blender. If you choose not to use a blender, just mix all the ingredients and shake it up! Justin joked with me that this wouldn't be a natural hygiene recipe, but we're not hygenists...yet! The raw food floodgates are open, and we're trying lots of recipes right now! I gave it a 4.5 because it was almost perfect...perhaps a few little tweaks and I'll have a 5 star dressing recipe! But in terms of raw food right now, for quick and easy raw food recipes, I'd give this recipe 5 stars!

Justin's Thoughts: It's hard to not like a vinaigrette dressing and Jordan's is no exception. All the classic fixin's are there for you to play with. You can take this basic recipe and make endless combinations. The best part of this dressing, is that it will stay for quite a while in the fridge. Excellent addition to any salad eaters arsenal...


To Your Health,

Justin & Heidi

(Where's the full recipe? Find out why we do not post full recipes.)

50 Quick, Easy, Healthy & Delicious Raw Food Recipes: Our Fourth Raw Recipe Challenge Book

Please refer to our Massive Raw Recipe Book Challenge post to get the scoop behind the Massive Raw Food Recipe Challenge.

Our fourth book: 50 Quick, Easy, Healthy & Delicious Raw Food Recipes by Karen Knowler.




Wow!

We should have bought this recipe eBook months ago.

After reading through all the recipes, we are both drooling with anticipation!

Like Raw Foods for Busy People, this recipe book focuses on recipes that are quick and simple to make. And seeing that is exactly what we're all about, this book is another perfect addition to our Massive Raw Food Recipe Challenge.

It looks like we have our work cut out for us.

Keep your eyes glued to this blog in the coming months as we blend, chop, and eat our way to perfect health!


Justin & Heidi


P.S. The Chocolate Pudding looks especially scrumptious. In fact, we may even make it tonight...

Raw Foods for Busy People: Our Third Raw Recipe Challenge Book

Please refer to our Massive Raw Recipe Book Challenge post to get the scoop behind the Massive Raw Food Recipe Challenge.

Our third book: Raw Foods for Busy People by Jordan Maerin.


This is another book we wish we would've had when we started going raw in 2004.

We would always pick this book up when we saw it at our local co-op or Whole Foods.

But for some reason, we never felt called to buy it.

Until now.

Raw Foods for Busy People is an incredible recipe book that is right up our raw food alley. The recipes and tips are aimed to be simple, easy, and quick. After all, it's designed for those of us who are busy and can't be full-time raw food chefs!

There are a myriad of recipes in this book, from a raw latte to simple smoothies. The most amazing part is that some of the recipes are designed to be machine-free.

Wow!

Now, that is a feat in the raw food world.

We have yet to make any of these recipes but are looking forward to sharing our experiences with you.

We hope the book will live up to its name, because we certainely fit the "busy people" motif.

After all, that's why we called this blog Raw Food, Right Now!


Justin & Heidi

Raw Food, Real World Recipe: Lime Mousse Tart

Making the Lime Mousse Tart photo by Heidi Ohlander

Please refer to our Massive Raw Recipe Book Challenge post to get the scoop behind the Massive Raw Food Recipe Challenge.


Recipe Title: Lime Mousse Tart

Book: Raw Food Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis.


Recipe Type: Dessert

Serving Size: Four or More People!

Ingredients: limes, avocados, nuts, dried coconut, and lots more

Approximate Time to Make: About an hour (minus soaking and chill time)


Our Ratings:

Heidi - 4.75/5 stars
Justin - 4.5/5 stars

Heidi's Thoughts: This dessert cures my craving for key lime pie, which was one of my favorite cooked food desserts. After eating this, I have no cravings for the pie anymore. I'd give it a five, but it's the amount of Stevia that doesn't float my raw food boat. I want to try this recipe without Stevia and I predict I will be in raw food bliss.

Justin's Thoughts: As we promised in a recent post, we made this amazing tart. This tart is almost perfect. It was very filling due to the avocados, but left me feeling satisfied and in true raw food bliss. It's amazing that there is food out there that will make you feel like you are in heaven, without the feeling of hell in your stomach. The only reason I didn't give it a five, is because of the amount of Stevia recommended for sweetener and how it tasted a little too avocado-y when the recipe could've used more lime instead.

Justin & Heidi

(Where's the full recipe? Find out why we do not post full recipes.)

Why I'm Still Fighting "Cooked Food Man"

I'll admit it.

I'm off the "raw food wagon" again...

...or is it on the "cooked food wagon"?

Either way, I did not keep my 100% raw food promise.

Why? What happened?

If you have read any of our previous posts, you'll remember that Heidi and I were never into being "100%" raw in the over two years we've been on the raw path. But recently, we felt our bodies calling us to go 100% raw.

At first, it was easy. Things were going great. We were raw. 100%.

Then a series of events happened. Some stressful events and others that were just life in general.

Lucky for me, I don't really care about being a staunch 100% raw foodist (although I still aim to strive toward that goal). But in order to understand what happened to me, I've been doing a lot of thinking and reading.

Why is it so hard for some people and easy for others? What does it really take to go raw?

After reading twenty or so books on raw foods and hundreds of websites and forum posts, I personally am still not sure what that answer is. Nothing this simple and nautral should be this hard, right?

Or then again, maybe it should be.

Either way, in light of my current situation, I decided to find some more raw food resources that I haven't tapped before. Maybe there is something I'm missing.

Until just this week, I have never read Paul Nison's book, The Raw Life : Becoming Natural In An Unnatural World:


For some reason I have never been drawn to read any of Paul's books. I've picked them up and flipped through them before when I've seen them, but never actually had the urge to read one.

Coincidentally, this week, Heidi and I found The Raw Life at a local used book store. And while it doesn't shed any new light on the subject of transition, the book's presentation is hilarious!

In the book, Paul provides a fascinating metaphor of transitioning to a raw food diet to boxing. You, the reader, are a boxer seeking the championship title, which is to be a raw foodist (or ultimate health). But in order to become the champion, you must face many opponents, such as Dairy Man, Meat Man, Grain Man, and the reigning champion:

Cooked Food Man.

Paul gives a list of each "Man" that you must defeat, in order of difficulty, to reach ultimate health.

While Heidi and I have beaten many of these "Men" (some permanently) there are a few that still keep coming back for a rematch.

Next time, we will be ready.


We will train.

We will train hard.

We will succeed.


But most of all, we do this because raw food makes us feel amazing and because it's fun!


Cheer me on for each round,

Justin

Instant Raw Sensations Recipe - Easiest Bananaberry Shake

Please refer to our Massive Raw Recipe Book Challenge post to get the scoop behind the Massive Raw Food Recipe Challenge.

Recipe Title: Easiest Banana-berry Shake
Book: Instant Raw Sensations by Frederic Patenaude.


Recipe Type: Smoothie

Serving Size: Two people

Ingredients: Bananas & Rasberries

Approximate Time to Make: About 2 minutes (Super quick)

Our Ratings:

Heidi - 4/5 stars
Justin - 4.5/5 stars

Heidi's Thoughts: I have made smoothies like this one in the past, but I usually like my smoothie with a bit more rasberry flavor in it. With Frederic's particular amounts of bananas and rasberries, it was a refreshing change. Overall, it was pretty good. Not my favorite smoothie, but I still like it and I'd have it again.

Justin's Thoughts: I have made a variation of this smoothie about a thousand times. It's become a staple in my diet to have some sort of banana berry smoothie every day. This specific recipe, while not perfect, gives an example of an everyday smoothie that a raw foodist can eat. It's quick, it's easy, it's filling. It's raw food right now!

(Where's the full recipe? Find out why we do not post full recipes.)

Life Happens

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." ~ John Lennon

On Friday afternoon, I was on my way to our local raw food restaurant called Ecopolitan, to grab a little raw food take-out for Justin and myself.

I never made it to Ecopolitan because I was in a car accident.

Fortunately, the structural damage to the car was just a few really tiny scratches. It is a miracle considering the velocity of the impact.

However, the internal damage to Heidi was a lot bigger. I felt exhausted afterwards. I was completely worn out.

Since Friday night, my energy levels have been at level zero. I had no energy to work on my projects. I didn't want to see anyone. I didn't even want to surf the web.

I kept asking myself what I needed to make me feel better. Eventually, I knew how I could heal my wounds of the soul.

What did I need? I needed to relax.

I spent some time with my aunt and uncle who came in from out of town. I took a nap. I had a cup of herbal tea. I had some raw chocolate pudding. I took a long hot shower. I went to bed early.

A little rest and relaxation can do wonders. It's something I need to do more often.

I learned from this weekend that relaxation doesn't take a lot of "things". You don't need the Super Herbal Relaxation Kit. You just need a comfy quiet place to be, and some time.

Perhaps the accident was just what I needed. Then again, maybe not.

;o)

~ Heidi

Raw Food, Real World Recipe - 30-Second Nut Milk

Please refer to our Massive Raw Recipe Book Challenge post to get the scoop behind the Massive Raw Food Recipe Challenge.


Recipe Title: 30-Second Nut Milk

Book: Raw Food Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis.


Recipe Type: Beverage

Serving Size: Two people

Ingredients: Nut butter, water, agave nectar (and a few other minor things)

Approximate Time to Make: About 30 seconds


Our Ratings:

Heidi - 1.5/5 stars
Justin - 2/5 stars

Heidi's Thoughts: This really isn't nut milk, it's more like nut water. It's a great idea, but I would not use this if I wanted nut milk.

Justin's Thoughts: With this recipe, you can use any nut butter you have and basically blend it with water. Every time we've had this recipe or made it ourselves, it always gets to watery and is never creamy. Personally, I would take another 30 seconds to start soaking my almonds instead of using this time "saving" recipe.

Justin & Heidi

(Where's the full recipe? Find out why we do not post full recipes.)

Making It Happen: 100% Raw Food

We have a confession to make...

We don't eat all raw food. In fact, we have never really considered eating "100% raw".

But something has changed...

We've been thinking about it this week, and we realized that our record for being "100% raw foodists" is about a week at a time within the last two years. The rest of the time ranges from 70 - 95% raw.

We still haven't figured out how to be consistent raw foodists. We imagined that eventually we would gravitate towards 100% raw foodism and just one day find ourselves there.

But recently, we've had this nagging tug from our bodies to increase our raw food intake. We've had grand delusions of 100%-ism -- you know, that glorious, magical, mystical 100% world that everyone talks about?

Vibrant people that are full of energy from morning to night! Never feeling tired after meals. Bouncing off the walls with a natural raw food high! Never caving into cooked food cravings!

You know what we mean.

Could it really be all that magical? Could it really help us get to our goal bodies? Can it really give us the high energy levels that we want? Can it help us with our creativity?

We have conducted various "experiments" on ourselves over the years, including:

• ...how much coffee can we drink in one day.
  
• ...how many bags of corn chips we can eat in one sitting.
• ...how many hours at a time can Heidi surf the internet.
  

We realized we have to conduct a new experiment: we have to find out if 100% raw food is really as wonderful as it appears to be.

We've been at this "raw food thing" for what seems like a long time. A LONG time. We have read the books, made the recipes, tried the transition "tricks", watched the seminars, listened to the teleclasses, and discussed raw food philosophy with each other for what seems like years.

Oh right, it has been years.

Enough is enough. We've got to get this raw food show on the road.

We said to each other last night:

Let's really make 100% raw food work.

We'll eat all raw food, even when Grandma makes us her special recipe for chocolate chip cookies. And she won't stop asking us until we eat a cookie.

We'll eat all raw food, even when we get invited to dinner at some restaurant without salads.

We'll eat all raw food, even when we get visions of cheesecake, or french fries, or some weird craving that our minds want to tempt us with.

We realize, that at first, this is not going to be easy. Over time, eating only raw food is going to be our routine. It's time to make raw food a normal part of our lives so we can get back to working on our other creative projects.

Let's see what happens...

Justin & Heidi

Raw Link of the Week: Lisa Peake, a New Raw Foodie

Raw Taco Photo by Lisa Peake

Last week blogger Lisa Peake shared her excitement on her new found raw food journey. It's always exciting to meet others who are just starting on the raw food path. There is so much to experience, so much to learn, and so many new foods to try! It can be an overwhelming experience!

Lisa seems to be calm as she enters into the raw food world. She has already met some raw foodies along the way. She's doing this and working on her Master's program, and working with productivity guru David Allen. Lisa is definitely a woman on the go!

Check out those raw tacos. All I can say is....yum!

Lisa also had the pleasure of dining at Pure Food and Wine a few weeks ago. I loved her review of PF&W: "I highly recommend it for anyone wanting a meal that leaves you feeling as good as it tastes."

I'm looking forward to seeing some photos of some raw desserts that Lisa mentioned. Or better yet, if she needs a taste tester, she can let me know!

~ Heidi

p.s. Pure Food & Wine is on my To-Do list. Justin, let's start planning a trip to NYC!

Review of Online Tools For Raw Food Mastery or Weight Loss Success

If you are on the raw food path, want to count calories, or if you are trying to loose weight, there are now many free tools online that you can use to track your progress.

I know many raw foodists track their food intake to make sure they are not eating too much fat. Some people want to maintain an 80/10/10 raw food diet, consisting of 80 percent carbohydrates, 10 percent protein, and 10 percent fat. Other raw foodists are concerned about calories, to make sure they are getting at least 1200 calories per day. And for those that want to loose weight, using a food tracking software can show you visually just how much you are eating, or how much you should be exercising.

Whatever you are trying to watch, there are tools online to help you watch it. Here are four online tools that can help you achieve your goals.

1. FitDay is the classic online food tracking program. They offer a free weight loss and diet journal. With FitDay, you have your choice of using their free online program, or buying their FitDay software for your PC. With Fit Day, you can

• Track your Foods, Exercises, Weight and Goals
• View your Calories, Nutrition, Weight Loss and more

Fit Day is a classic, and many people love the site. They seem to offer many tools from food tracking to watching the pounds fly by!

2. NutriDiary is a free online food and exercise diary. They offer free accounts for everyone, with the option to pay for an account and get bonus features. I have found that the graphs in Nutridiary seem to be more conducive to those of us on the raw food path. Nutridiary is also great for athletes and athletic people who want to track how much they work out every day.

One thing I love about Nutridiary is that you can easily log how many servings of fruits and vegetables you had for the day, as well as count the glasses of water you have consumed!

Nutridiary appears to be the best place for raw foodists to track their progress.

You can check out all the features of Nutridiary, including their Gold Membership, here.

3. Traineo is a recent addition to the online food and fitness tools. They offer a pleasant dashboard with well designed icons, and simple ways to update your progress. I signed up for an account, and checked it out, but I found that there are no food tools on Traineo. Nice idea, but us raw foodists tend to want a place where we can log what foods we ate. There is a section to input your caloric intake for the day, where you just type in the numbers, I guess? There is also a part where you "rank" your diet. No need to count calories, just tell yourself on a scale from poor to great how your diet was for the day!


They even have a nice button to add to your blog or web page. Isn't that nice?!

One thing I really like about Traineo is that every part of the site seems to be encouraging you and motivating you to reach your goals. I think the website is cheering me on!

Traineo seems great if your focus is on weight loss or exercise. But if you want to track your food, you'll have to find some other website.

4. The Daily Plate seems to be the opposite of Traineo, where the focus is on the food. Daily Plate is an online food tracking system, full of many features including finding many of your favorite cooked food brands. It seems to be great if you want to tally your food, but it's not a great place for weight loss tracking, as that is reserved for Gold members only.

Conclusion? It seems that Nutridiary is still my favorite online food log tool to use...but Traineo seems to be great for when I need some encouragement!

Is there a site that you use for food tracking, or for your weight loss goals?
Tell us about what website you use, and we'll check it out!

~ Heidi

Carol Alt At the Supermarket

Justin and I went out to grab a few things at the grocery store, including some yummy bananas.

Just as we were about to reach the checkout lanes, we decided to walk past the drugstore aisle. I glanced to my left, and on top of an endcap there was Carol Alt on the cover of a magazine!

I had to see what this was all about, so I grabbed a free copy of "MediZine", and read the short article on Carol Alt.

The tagline for the article reads, "Carol Alt turned her life and health around with a new way of eating." And sure enough, they mention raw food and the word raw over five times in two short pages!

Keep in mind the rest of the magazine is filled with nothing but ads for non-raw things (lots of drug ads), so I am considering this quite an achievement for the raw world!

~ Heidi

p.s. You can probably find this free magazine at your local drugstore or grocery store. I'd love to hear what you think of the article!

Pure Food and Wine Review by Vanessa at Vanesscipes

Chocolate Banana Sundae at Pure Food and Wine in NYC - photo by Vanessa

This morning while searching the blogosphere, I was surprised to find a awesome review of Pure Food and Wine's 5 course tasting menu, reviewed by vegetarian food blogger Vanessa on her blog called Vanesscipes.

She describes her birthday meal in great detail, tempting me to fly to NYC and have a Pure Food and Wine meal tonight!

From an amuse bouche of nut cheese (probably cashew cheese) on a raw cracker (probably with flax seeds in the cracker), to raw asian cabbage wraps, creamy tomato soup, raw ravioli and more... all the way to two chocolate decadent desserts, this sounds like a raw food fantasy experience!

I can only imagine what it must feel like to have a raw meal like this for the first time, and have your taste buds bursting with raw flavor.

When I have people try my raw food creations, I see what they are thinking... they are wondering... "this is what raw food tastes like? Impossible! This stuff tastes good!"

But this IS what is possible with raw food. And I have food like this every day.

Well, maybe not a 5 course tasting menu, but I have delicious raw food every day.

And I hope that from reading this blog, you will feel inspired to try some raw food too!

In the mean time, check out the full review from Vanessa here.
And if you make it out to Pure Food and Wine before I do, let me know!

~ Heidi

Raw Food, Real World Recipe - Almond Milk

Please refer to our Massive Raw Recipe Book Challenge post to get the scoop behind the Massive Raw Food Recipe Challenge.

Recipe Title: Almond Milk
Book: Raw Food Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis.


Recipe Type: Beverage

Serving Size: Two to Four people

Ingredients: Almonds, water, agave nectar (and a few other minor things)

Approximate Time to Make: About 10 minutes (soaking took at least 4 hours)

Our Ratings:

Heidi - 5/5 stars
Justin - 4.5/5 stars

Heidi's Thoughts: The first sip was a superb treat. Creamy. Just like milk, but much much better. I love this recipe. I have made it more than once. This is my favorite nut milk recipe right now! I love to put this recipe in smoothies, especially banana smoothies. This recipe makes me want to stay on raw food. I think every restaurant should be serving fresh nut milk!

Justin's Thoughts: We have made many almond milk recipes in the last two years. This is one of the best. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is because I can still taste the almond skins in this recipe. I am going to try an experiment to blanch the almonds first in hopes that that particular flavor will be avoided. The dash of cinammon that we added at the end (which was not a part of the recipe) made the perfect touch to this creamy beverage.

Justin & Heidi



p.s. PLEASE PLEASE if you are going to make almond milk, go and get yourself a nut milk bag. Trying to make any kind of nut milk using cheesecloth is just a pain. There are multiple places to buy nut milk bags.

We recommend the nut milk bag sold by Victoria, Igor, Sergei and Valya Boutenko over at RawFamily. They sell a great nut milk bag. Check out their US/Cananda store here by visiting their online store here.
Or if you are an international customer, you can go to their International Online Store here.

Take it from us; being a raw foodist is so much easier once you have at least one nut milk bag!

(Where's the full recipe? Find out why we do not post full recipes.)

Self Portrait of the Day: October 1st 2006

Self Portrait. October First by Heidi Ohlander

If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of photos on this blog. It seems from birth I have always been an artist. I am always creating. I took all the art classes I could in high school, and for a time, I majored in art in college.

One aspect of art I have always loved are self portraits. I enjoy viewing self portraits of artists created from all sorts of media. Paint, sculpture, photos, toothpicks. I believe a portrait can capture so much. A portrait always tells a story.

For years I was a painter, but in the last few years I have found digital photography to be much more rewarding for me. My camera has become my canvas, and my self portraits are a brief window looking into my soul.

From time to time I will share some of my recent photos, and some photos from the past. One of the reasons why I want to share these photos is that I think I will see changes happening in my face and my body, as I continue to loose weight, and get the raw food glow. Changes are already happening, and these portraits will continue to show the changes.

In this photo, I see myself thinking about the fall colors, and how they are so beautiful, if only for a few days. These are days to treasure every year.

What do you think I'm thinking about in this photo?

~ Heidi

p.s. I think this photo reminds me of when Justin has photos taken of him. He's so serious in photos, but adorable when the camera is turned off!

Life Adventure Day Twenty-One: Raw Food Hugs

View of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum taken by the U of M Alumni Association

Day Twenty-One of My 123 Day Raw Food Adventure!
You can read the first post regarding my Life Adventure here.

Date: Sunday October 1st 2006

Journal:

What a day!

I started out my morning with an almond milk and banana smoothie that was incredible. I have found this combination to sit really well in my stomach, and it keeps me going for quite a while. I'll post a recipe soon. I was going to take a photo of it, but it was so delicious, that I drank it all up and then remembered I wanted to take a photo! Sorry!

At the last minute I changed my plans today, and headed out to the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for a "meeting of the minds". There was a traffic jam to get inside the Arboretum due to the beautiful fall colors.

By the time I went inside the warmth of the day had filled the main building. And here I was wearing a sweater and a jacket! I was roasting!

And the warmth did not end there, as I entered a room filled with amazing people. It wasn't even 1pm yet and I had over 6 hugs for the day. Incredible!

Later I had lunch with some raw food friends of mine. Shame on me, I didn't take a photo, but I should have; we all had big grins on our faces, and having a wonderful time in such delightful weather! And the food? Fresh green grapes? Creamy guacamole without a lot of "junk" in it, apple slices? Yum! It was over 70 degrees today, and warm fall sunshine warming our hearts.

Afterwards I spent the evening with Justin, and we had lots of laughs...and hugs!

I probably got over 20 hugs today! Wow! That might be a hug record for me!

I don't think enough raw foodists talk about the daily intake of hugs. They are an essential part of a nutritious diet! I need my hugs!

Sending Hugs 2 U!
~ Heidi

BONUS!
Free Hugs Campaign Video on You Tube