New Year's Eve 2006

Tonight is New Year's Eve.

It's time to party!

I always party hard on New Year's Eve. Music, dancing, food, and most importantly my friends!

I love the idea of a fresh new year!

For many years I have been the hostess for large elaborate parties making sure everyone had a good festive time all day and night.

No matter how big the party is, I always make sure to create a delicious late night meal. Before going raw our snacks have included fried cream cheese wontons (my own special recipe), chips and dip, cheese ravioli with marinara sauce, frozen cheese pizza and perhaps some candy bars. Mostly junk food. The next day was always a recovery day.

No worries about that cooked food hangover anymore!

Here is the menu* I have planned for tonight:

• sunflower seed cheese served with spicy flax seed crackers
  
• my deviled egg spread served with carrots and celery
  
• apple slices served with a sweet creamy cashew cheese dip
• fresh greens salad with a raspberry vinaigrette
  
• sparkling punch
• fresh squeezed orange juice

This menu is not meant to be eaten all at once, but rather snack throughout the night.

But what about you? What are your New Year's plans? Are you doing something special?

Tomorrow we are going to talk about the all famous New Year's resolutions, as well as give an update on what you can expect from Raw Food, Right Now! in 2007, but for now, it's time to get this party started!

Happy New Year!

~ Heidi

* We are not posting the recipes for this New Year's menu, but you will probably find many of these recipes in our upcoming raw food recipe books in 2007!

Our Present to You: Thanksgiving eBook Free Offer

***Please Note: The Raw Thanksgiving eBook is no longer being given away for free. Due to popular demand we are offering it for sale.***

Order by clicking here!


Raw Waldorf Salad - photo by Heidi Ohlander

Okay...you're right...

We promised a raw Christmas eBook.

We promised a raw New Years eBook.

And we didn't deliver...

We know. Santa now knows, and we may be on his naughty list.

We had such an incredible holiday break, that we just didn't have a moments time to work on anything related to the blog.

So as our gracious gift to you this season, we are re-offering our free, wildly successful Raw Food Thanksgiving eBook this weekend only.

Go ahead and contact us using our feedback form here. We will gladly send you a copy of our free Raw Food Thanksgiving eBook.

Remember, this is for this weekend only (12/30 & 12/31). Offer expires at midnight, Central Time, on 12/31.

This is your last chance to get this for free, so email us now!


Happy Holidays!

Justin & Heidi


P.S. As we've mentioned before, we have a lot for you in 2007. We will be posting more details soon.

Free Shipping this Weekend Only Over at Raw Guru!

This weekend only (12/30 & 12/31), the fine folks over at Raw Guru are offering free shipping on everything ordered!

Raw Guru is an incredible online raw food superstore. The prices here are so good, that we bought both our VitaMix blender and our Excalibur dehydrator through them! They absolutely have the best deals we have yet to find.

So if you are thinking of buying a blender, dehydrator, food processor, or anything raw food related...this is the time!

Head on over to Raw Guru right now, and buy something for your health...you're worth it:

Raw Guru raw food superstore.


Best New Years Wishes to You,

Justin & Heidi

P.S. Raw Guru is only offering this awesome deal to those of you in the continental U.S.

Raw Christmas Book: Not This Year.

Hello Loyal Fans -

Due to the overwhelming "hustle and bustle" of the holiday season, Heidi and I are unable to bring you a raw Christmas eBook this year.

But don't despair!

We will still be posting some Christmas recipes directly on the blog. We have not even had a sleigh bells' moment to make any recipes for ourselves yet, but when we do (which may even be after Christmas), you will be the first to know.


*Bonus!*

We do plan on releasing some sort of small raw New Years recipe eBook.


Details to come...


Thank you all for being so incredibly awesome,

- Justin

Can You Have a Raw Christmas?

Can you have raw Christmas?

We think it's very possible!

After all, you can certainly have a raw Thanksgiving, as we have recently proved.

And as over 400 of our fans found out by getting our free Thanksgiving eBook (offer now expired), they found they could have a raw holiday, even with their non-raw family members!

Many people are asking us lots of questions, and we want to try to answer these questions right now....

Q: Are we writing a new raw Christmas ebook that will be out this week, full of raw food recipes that you can make for yourself or even other family members?

A: Maybe........


Q: Will it also contain fun holiday recipes for a raw New Years?

A: Maybe........


Q: Will it be free again?

A: Very maybe.......


Stay tuned to Raw Food, Right Now! this week to find out all about more raw food fun!

Justin & Heidi

About Raw Food, Right Now!

Raw Food Right Now - Bringing Raw Food To Your World

Hi! We're Heidi and JS Ohlander, and we want to welcome you to Raw Food, Right Now!

We started Raw Food, Right Now (RFRN) in August 2006 as a site to help those interested in the raw food lifestyle to learn how to better integrate raw food into their daily life.

Our tagline is Bringing Raw Food to Your World. We know that not everyone can live in a perfect paradise where fresh fruit is growing outside their doors or walk down the street to their farmer's market to get fresh, organic food year round. We should know, we live in Minnesota! Whatever "your world" is, we are there to help bring raw food into your lifestyle, whatever it may be.


Where Have You Seen RFRN?

Raw Food Right Now has written numerous articles for popular raw food magazine Get Fresh!, as well as Pear Magazine, Lilipoh, and have been featured in the Twin Cities' local magazine, Metro.


What You Will Find Here

Our vision is to make sure we communicate our passion and joy while approaching raw foods from a realistic, real world angle. Here on Raw Food, Right Now! you will find raw food product reviews and the latest in raw food news and information.

We also have a raw podcast called Raw Food Right Now Radio, where we interview popular raw food experts and notable guests in the raw food movement.

You will also find us sharing our raw food creations, as well as a range of raw food ebooks to help you on your journey.


History of RFRN

Although Heidi first found the term raw food back in 2000, she was never fully successful at eating raw food on a consistent basis. Heidi temporarily gave up eating raw food in 2002, and hardly thought about it until JS brought up the idea of eating raw food after he found a raw food book on their bookshelf.

That was March 2004, and we have never looked back since.


Getting a Hold of Us

For media inquiries, to schedule an appearance, or for more information, please contact us here:

Contact Heidi & JS.

Our mailing address:

Raw Food Right Now

Heidi and JS Ohlander

Post Office Box 22426

St. Paul MN 55122-0426

To your health,

~ Heidi and JS Ohlander

P.O. Box 22426
St. Paul, MN 55122
USA

http://www.rawfoodrightnow.com/

Angela Stokes' Juice Feast

Angela Stokes, Before and After

Angela Stokes, of Raw Reform fame, has recently taken on a 92 Day Juice Feast in Costa Rica. She is drinking only raw food juices and water for 92 days. Not only is she drinking only juice and water, she is making sure she drinks enough to fulfill a 1500 calorie a day requirement.

Note: That is a lot of juice. And truly a feast!

If you are unaware of Angela Stokes, she is an amazing woman who healed herself five years ago of morbid obesity and transformed herself and now lives a truly raw and healthy life. Her story is incredible and she has been spreading the raw word ever since.

To help support her choice to take on a 92 Day Juice Feast, she has joined the ranks of the blogging world and is detailing her daily journey. I have been reading her blog every day and it is truly a fascinating read!

Do you want to find out why she is doing this? Or how she is doing? Is she hungry? Is she feeling weak, or strong?

Go to her blog right now, bookmark it, subscribe to her feed, or whatever and get reading.

Angela Stokes' Juice Feasting Blog


As of this post, she is 18 days into her journey, and her experience thus far is inspiring!

Neither Heidi or I have ever taken on a juice fast (or any prolonged fast, for that matter). In fact, we rarely drink juice. It is always good to entertain the possibility of doing something new. Will we ever take on a juice fast/feast? Who knows?

Either way, we are happy to see more raw foodists getting out there and sharing their personal journeys. It takes a lot of guts to get out there and post about your personal struggles and triumphs for the entire world to see.

No longer will raw food be a book-only, in-an-ideal-world, happens to others lifestyle; we will be seeing a surge of experiential experiences logged and blogged for the entire world to see from people in many different countries. Massive amounts of real world experiential data will swarm the blog world, inspiring others and laying aside doubt and leaving a trail for skeptics to follow and reassess their positions on diet and health.

It will be incredible.

My advice? Start your own blog!

- Justin

Raw Food Real World Recipe: Chewy Chocolate Freezer Fudge

Chewy Chocolate Freezer Fudge 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: Chewy Chocolate Freezer Fudge

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


Recipe Type: Dessert

Serving Size: Makes a lot of fudge

Ingredients: almond butter, carob/cocoa powder, and some other stuff

Approximate Time to Make: About ten minutes (minus chill time)


Our Ratings:

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

Heidi's Thoughts: Why didn't we make this before? This is an easier recipe than some of the other raw fudge gourmet recipes we've seen. If you're going to go out and eat a candy bar, stop, make some freezer fudge, and then see if you still want it!

Justin's Thoughts: Wow! The perfect raw food fudge recipe. Easy to make, quick to chill, quicker to eat. This is great for when that gnawing, heavy hunger happens. Definitely not something to eat every day! Enjoy, it's fun.

Warning: This melts *very* quickly once taken out of the freezer.


Justin & Heidi

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

Our 100th Post!

Raw Food, Right Now! has reached the big 100!
100 posts, that is!

According to many bloggers, post 100 is the first milestone of a blog. Many say this because by the time you reach 100 posts, you have found your voice of your blog, and the content of your blog.

100 posts is kind of like the blog is graduating high school, and getting ready for college.

And sure enough, now that the blog is 100 posts strong, I must admit it feels great. We've found our direction on how to keep this blog going, and keep it interesting. And we have been so happy to meet so many amazing raw foodists along the way, and many more we want to meet in the next year and beyond!

So! To celebrate, Justin and I have chosen our top ten favorite posts so far since we've started!

Raw Food, Right Now! Top Ten Posts (so far)

1. Our First Raw Food Adventure: Our Trip to the Minnesota State Fair (it's more than one post, but consider it a continuing story)
1. Getting ready to go to the State Fair
   
1. State Fair Part One
2. State Fair Part Two
3. State Fair Part Three
2. Raw Caramel Apple Dip
3. Raw Food, Real World's Almond Milk
   
4. Karen Knowler's Easy Chocolate Pudding
   
5. Raw Mashed Potatoes - Tips and Tricks
   
6. Raw Pumpkin Pie
   
7. Justin's Fight with Cooked Food Man
   
8. Me water fasting
9. Justin's Detox
   
10. Knights of the Raw Table - The Association of Raw Foodists

All these posts, and so much more to come!

Do you have something that you are celebrating today? Did we leave out your favorite post from the blog so far? Leave a comment and tell us about it!

~ Heidi

p.s. What is the blog going to major in college? Raw food, of course!