How I Found Raw Food Through The Beatles

It was almost 11 am in early May 2004. I was working as an administrative assistant for a sales and marketing department. The office was nearly silent except for the hum of the air conditioning, as everyone was off at a very important meeting. Everyone...except me, who was sitting there waiting for packages and answering the phone.

I had completed all of my work for the day, and I decided to take a little Internet break. Being that I am a passionate Beatles fan, I was checking out various Beatle websites. I skimmed over the Wikipedia article on the Beatles, even though I knew all the stuff in it, the article was fun to read. I read a few other sites, and then I decided I needed some eye candy. I did a simple Google image search for the Beatles. I was on a quest to find fun Beatles photos.

I looked at pages of the Beatles. I looked at search pages full of photos of John, Paul, George and Ringo. I looked for early Beatles, White Album Beatles, Abbey Road Beatles. It was fun. My favorite era of the Beatles is the Sargent Pepper era, so I had fun looking at all the fun psychedelic technicolor photos.

And then, I heard a little voice in my head. It said "Sugar Plum Fairy".

I knew immediately what that meant. During the Sargent Pepper recordings, John Lennon and George Martin were working on the rhythm for the final song on the album entitled "A Day In The Life". It was during the recording of the song that John came up with a little saying to repeat in order to keep in line with the rhythm. The saying was... sugar plum fairy.

It seemed like a fun thing to search for. I typed it into Google, and started to look at all the photos. Immediately, I knew I was looking for something, but I didn't know what. I looked at pages of ballerinas, and ceramic sculptures that look like fairies. I almost started to get frustrated, because I didn't know what I was looking for, but I had to find this something.

And then, On page 7 or 8 or so, I saw a sugar plum fairy that looked different from all the others.

I saw this Sugar Plum Fairy:


I clicked on the photo, and I was taken to a page full of pictures of a Christmas party.

I soon realized that this wasn't an ordinary Christmas party, this was a Raw Food Christmas Party!

Now keep in mind I already knew about raw food. I first learned of raw food in 2000, and since that time was eating either cooked vegetarian, cooked vegan food or macrobiotic food.

The day I found the Sugar Plum fairy was just a week after I had nearly given up on eating healthy. I knew there was something else, but I didn't know what else to eat. Cooked vegan wasn't right for me, macro wasn't right for me. It felt hopeless.

And it was just three days before finding the Sugar Plum Fairy that my husband Justin found my only raw food cookbook. (And that is another story.)

But even after finding a book on raw food, I had not been searching on the Internet about raw food. That is until I saw the Sugar Plum Fairy.

I saw the photos of that raw food party. I saw delicious looking raw mock sausages, I saw happy people. And that is when something happened. The light bulb went off. I felt inspired to search for more.

I started to read this website about a woman named Shazzie. And I remember calling Justin on the phone to tell him I had found a raw sugar plum fairy and she lives in the UK!

I was so excited that day. It was after that moment that I started to read other raw food sites.

My raw food world opened up at that moment. It was beautiful. I knew I had finally found what I was looking for.

And to think that the Beatles, in some strange way, gave me the inspiration to finding raw food.

I love telling this story because I find it is important to point out that something so small can be just what you are looking for. I wasn't searching for raw smoothies, or how to eat a salad. I was searching for a sugar plum fairy. And it was just what I needed.

This is just another story that is all about following your intuition. Follow your heart. Follow your bliss. You just might find what you are looking for.

Thank you, John. Thank you, Shazzie. Thank you raw food.

~ Heidi

P.S. Who's your favorite Beatle? Email me and share your Beatles Love!

Got Pith?

I previously posted that I found a giant lovely Pomelo at my local asian market. Last night I was able to experience the pomelo first hand.

I sliced it, and found some serious pith. Look at that pith! When I ate my first pomelo slice, I knew that sometimes the simplest recipe can be the most delicious. I decided to make pomelo juice.

I didn't realize what I was getting myself into, as I started to peel away the enormous pith. After peeling away the pith I then found each segment of the fruit is covered in what felt like fish scales. It was a fascinating culinary experience. This fruit was so strange, and so wonderful at the same time.

This is not your ordinary citrus fruit. You're just going to have to get one to understand what I mean.

I decided to make this juicy pomelo juice in the blender, using the Vita-Mix. Here is the pomelo, about to be blended:


Isn't the color pretty?

I blended it on high for about 30-45 seconds, and added a few ice cubes. Then I poured the mixture into glasses. After Justin and I tried the juice, we realized that the pulp had not blended as well as we would have liked. I have made orange juice in the VitaMix using the same process, but I think the pulp is smoother in oranges. I decided to strain the pulp slightly using one of our medium mesh strainers. It helped immensely, and that is when we really enjoyed the pomelo juice.

The pomelo juice tasted like the sweetest grapefruit I have ever had. It was a mellow grapefruit flavor, with a hint of sweetness, and a balance of tartness.

I will definitely make pomelo juice again. It was delicious!


If you're at an asian market and you see a pomelo, be daring! Try it! You might like it!

~ Heidi

p.s. The pomelo is sometimes known as the shaddock, the jabong, or pummelo. So if you see it labeled as something else, it most likely is a pomelo!

Montel Williams Green Smoothie on Rachel Ray's TV Show?

Did you hear about this???

Talk show host Montel Williams was on the Rachel Ray Show back in January 2007, where he made a green smoothie for Rachel to try!

Wait. Did I just write that? A Green Smoothie was made on Rachel Ray's show? And Montel Williams made this green smoothie? And this isn't an April Fool's joke?!

According to a PR.com article that interviewed Montel Williams in 2006, he stated that he had hired a raw food chef were preparing food for him everyday. Montel has been quoted as saying this about raw food: "I started doing this (green smoothies) about a year and a half ago. I use greens to mitigate some of the effects of my illness." Montel has been public about his diagnosis of MS since 1999.

That is why he appears passionate, in front of millions of American TV viewers. Montel made a green smoothie for cooking/foodie television personality Rachel Ray. The look on Rachel's face in this photo is priceless.

Just look at the photo... I think the conversation went something like this:

Montel: You have GOT to try this, Rach! This kicks your EVOO any day! This stuff has helped me feel better!
Rachel Ray: I ain't drinkin' that ugly stuff! Ew, Gross!
Montel: Please try this! It really tastes good! You're going to be surprised!
Rachel Ray: Sigh. I guess... I'll give it a shot. If I spit it out, it will be good for ratings.

On the Rachel Ray Show website, they are kind enough to post the recipe they made from the show. The recipe that they made included light agave nectar and some sea salt. While I enjoy both of those ingredients in many of our other raw food recipes, I don't see the need for it here.

Here is a slightly revised version of a green smoothie that Justin and I make often:

Montel William's Green Smoothie - Revised by Raw Food, Right Now!

Ingredients:
2 ripe organic bananas, peeled and cut into chunks
1 large organic orange, peeled leaving pith and seeds intact
1 large organic mango or 2 small organic mangoes, skinned
2 heads of dark green organic romaine lettuce washed in cool water OR
1 big bunch of organic baby spinach, washed in cool water
purified water, approximately 1 - 1.5 cups

Preparation:

In the Vitamix container add bananas. Place the orange on top of the bananas. Cut the mango and place on top. Add one cup of water. Place lid on container and turn on the Vitamix. Blend the fruit for 15 - 30 seconds, or until well blended. Then place the desired amount of greens into the container. Turn the Vitamix back on and blend for another 15 - 30 seconds, or until the greens appear well blended.

Pour into large smoothie container (aka Nalgene) or other large glass. Serve immediately.

Smoothie keeps up to 12 hours in the refrigerator.

Yields 1 quart

You can find Montel's version here:
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/?q=recipes/montel-green-smoothie

Hooray for Green Smoothies!
~ Heidi

P.S. To balance out the show that had a bit about green smoothies, they also made Orange Cashew Chicken with Broccoli, and fried Wonton cups. Oh well. More smoothies, please!

What To Do With A Pomelo?

I was at an Asian market the other day, when I spotted a giant delicious looking citrus fruit.

It is a Pomelo.

I brought it home. It smells lovely. Almost too pretty to cut up into sections.

What am I going to do with this enormous Pomelo?

I don't know yet, but I am going to make something with it today.

Tomorrow I will tell you what I made with it.

Until then, take a look at the informative article on the Pomelo, courtesy of Wikipedia.

~ Heidi

P.S. And take a look at this size comparison of the pomelo and a red grapefruit!

Raw Food Blog Review: Raw Vegan Muffin Princess

Raw Food Blog Review: Raw Vegan Muffin Princess

For the first raw food blog review, I thought I had better start with royalty, after all, we have a princess in our midst!

Freedom is the Raw Vegan Muffin Princess, and she has been successfully 99.999% raw and vegan for the past six months, and has been blogging about raw food on her blog since around May 2006. Freedom is currently attending University in Australia (that's college to us American folks), so she is a busy raw girl on the go!

I chose Miss Vegan Muffin Princess' blog to review today because I think her blog is a great example of a quality raw food blog. As I had previously mentioned some of the criteria for a great raw food blog, Freedom's blog has all of the qualities I am looking for. From frequent posts (yes a few pauses thrown in), lots of photos, and talk about her experience with the raw food lifestyle, she shows us what it means to be a raw food blogger.

She has shared many of her personal experiences of how raw food has changed her life, and shared her adventures in raw food, including raw food picnics and her quest for raw recipe books!

The majority of posts on Vegan Muffin Princess are about food. When Freedom first started her blog the posts were about her vegan food creations. Cooked vegan food; delicious looking vegan food.

A few months later Freedom found raw food, and since that time she has managed to capture her previous passion for vegan food blogging and is now sharing her love for raw vegan food!

Sometimes she takes a moment to talk about her life, and her busy studies at the University. I enjoy her delicate balance of food blogging with a few personal stories thrown in.

Fortunately for all of her readers she always makes sure to take photos whenever she can. I am always delighted to see what she is making next, as I think her posts can be very informative for someone who is on the go (especially high school and college students wanting to go raw!)

And she is creative in her raw kitchen too! Just take a look at these raw pancakes!


Miss Vegan Princess also has her own raw food recipe blog, which has the recipe for the above raw vegan pancake. Check out her recipe blog here:

http://freedomsrawrecipes.blogspot.com/

You can start reading Freedom's blog from the beginning and read her posts starting from February 2006 by clicking here.

May you continue blogging for a very long time, Princess!

~ Heidi

What Makes A Great Raw Food Blog?

In my last post I announced that I am starting to review raw food blogs.

Before I start talking about all the great raw food blogs I have found, I want to share with you my criteria in evaluating what it takes to make a great raw food blog.

• The blog is mostly on the topic of raw food. There is a lot to say about raw food. I believe raw food blogs are meant to help both the writer and the reader to eat raw food! If the blog is mostly about a cute new boyfriend or how much they want to travel to Greece, that may be interesting, but it really isn't a raw food blog. Going off topic once in a while is totally ok, but it is important to keep on topic as much as possible.
  
• Quality writing. I love reading raw food blogs from other people that write creatively. For a moment I am able to submerse myself into their world, and see raw food from their perspective.
• Photos are a bonus. I am a very visual person, and I love to look at photos of raw food. From fruit on the tree to the salad on the plate, I want to see what other people are making!
• Posting is current or has a solid ending. This is pretty much my one rule that I am sticking to when it comes to reviewing blogs. It is important in raw food blogs to keep them current, or at least find a way to gracefully take a break from posting or completely end your raw food blog. I can not tell you how many raw food blogs I have seen that were really great for a few weeks and then poof! They're gone.
  

I have not created any sort of official criteria, but this gives you an idea as to the types of blogs I am reviewing.

All right, let the raw food blog reviews begin!

~ Heidi

Raw Food Blogs

According to Google and Yahoo!, there are approximately 5 to 7 million links to websites that contain the words raw food blog. Put those words in quotes, and you'll get somewhere between 500 to 2000 links to websites that have the words raw food blog on a page somewhere.

When I first started going raw, I wanted to read everything related to raw food, especially anything on the 'net. I still remember the first raw food website I found - it was Shazzie's journal. I am going to talk about her journal later this week. After I read her journal, I wanted to read more journals from other people too!

Do you sometimes feel like you want to read every raw website? I know I did! And I sure got information overload from attempting to read everything! Right now there is an overload of spam raw food blogs and websites claiming they are raw food blogs, but they're not raw, or they're not blogs. Reading those sites can be a frustrating waste of time.

Well, this past weekend I scoured and searched the web, and I found over 500 non spam websites related to raw food, and raw food blogs. Some good, some not so good, and some I'm really excited about.

Over the following days and weeks I will be posting reviews of the really great raw food blogs, so you can learn about some of my favorite raw food blogs out there!

Raw Food Blogs Reviewed:

http://veganmuffinprincess.blogspot.com

~ Heidi

Dehydration: What's the Raw Deal?

Here is a comment we recently received from one of our regular readers, Julie:

• "Hi! I hope that you can give me some guidance that may also be helpful to others. I'm new to raw (un)cooking and stocking my kitchen with equipment. I've settled on purchasing an Excalibur dehydrater, but I'm just not sure which size to choose. I thought you posted a few months ago that you were downsizing to a smaller dehydrater. I'm curious as to what sizes you went from/to and why. I'm the only one in my family eating raw, but I would like to buy a dehydrater big enough to make enough to share ... of course, without making way too much or wasting space. Any suggestions?"

Funny you should ask....because we finally ordered a new dehydrator today!

We thought this would be an excellent time to talk about dehydrators and how using one led us around in a circle.

Let's flash back to 2004, when we were both really serious about eating more raw. At that time, there were a few raw recipe books at the bookstores, and a slew of sites on the 'net with varying opinions about every aspect of eating a raw food diet.

Not much has changed since then, except for there are now more books and more sites and more opinions than ever!

After reading some advice on which dehydrator to buy, we settled on the defacto standard of the raw food world: The Excalibur dehydrator, by Parralaxx.

We weren't sure what size to get. It seemed every book or website we read told us that we'd want to be dehydrating basically 24 hours a day and that'd we need lots of trays for dehydrating large batches of crackers. Not only that, but we'd need the largest size, a nine tray, for all the raw breads we would be making. So we ordered the nine tray Excalibur from RawGuru.

When it arrived and we unpacked it, the dehydrator took up almost all of the counter space in our small kitchen!

After using our dehydrator for a good six months, we found that since there was only two of us, we didn't need such a large dehydrator. Sure, we used it quite a bit at first, but we just ended up wasting trays as we did not dehydrate in large batches.

I suppose if you had a family to feed or you really like to make dehydrated goodies, or if a raw food "bake" sale is in your future, a nine tray may very well work for you.

Soon after buying our dehydrator, we started seeing a lot of information on the 'net about dehydrating being "bad". Some of the authors painted a bleak and scary picture with comments like:

"All the water is sucked out and then you will be dehydrated!"

and

"You will lose your teeth if you dehydrate!"

and

"Dehydrating is not much better than cooking! It destroys nutrients too!"

and on and on.

Being still relatively new to raw food at the time, and lacking our own philosophy and experience, we were easily swayed by all the "experts" we were reading. We quickly sold the dehydrator and vowed to only eat food with water in it.

This lead to a spiral of reading and believing just about everything we heard on "doing the raw food diet right." It took a year of believing different books before we realized a valuable lesson:

Don't let all the loud raw food voices out there scare you!

Don't let them drown out your own intuition. If you always listen to them, you will continue to change what you eat based on what they say. That will lead to craziness, as you go from all smoothies to no smoothies, all fruit to no fruit, and so on.

We tell people: If you want to dehydrate, then do it!! If you feel you shouldn't do it, that's cool with us too!

The bottom line is: don't let all the information out there stop you from eating raw, right now!

Learning all the opinions and recommendations on how to do the diet right is all fine and good, but don't let it stop you. Sit down with a dehydrated flax cracker and read what these people have to say. Change the way you eat if you want, but in the meantime, eat raw and enjoy it the way you want.


~ Heidi & Justin

Bonus Photo: Raw Pizza Crust

Here's one from our photo archives from 2005. This photo is of Justin's hands getting sticky making raw pizza crust. It was one of our first dehydrated successes. If I find a photo of that tiny kitchen with our humongous dehydrator, I'll post it for all of you to enjoy.

P.S. The best place to get a good deal on the Excalibur is over at Raw Guru, they offer free shipping and free Teflex sheets with any dehydrator order:

Raw Guru Raw Food Superstore!

We love buying dehydrators from Raw Guru so much, we've done it twice!

50 Quick, Easy, Healthy & Delicious Raw Food Recipes: Raspberry Vinaigrette

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


Recipe Title: Raspberry Vinaigrette

Book: 50 Quick, Easy, Healthy & Delicious Raw Food Recipes by Karen Knowler.




Recipe Type: Dressing

Serving Size: Approx. four smaller salads, or two big salads (average size for master raw foodists)

Ingredients: sunflowers, raspberries, orange juice. That's it!

Appliances needed: high speed blender

Approximate Time to Make: Less than 5 minutes


Heidi's Thoughts: I was excited to make this dressing because raspberries have always been a favorite of mine. It was fun making this dressing, and getting the sunflower seeds to blend up nice and creamy. I was most surprised about the fantastic flavor! Technically, I don't know if I would call it a vinaigrette. I like this recipe, but I am planning out new ways to use it instead of a salad dressing. I would use it as a sweet pate or spread, and put it on crackers topped with fruit. You will see this recipe in the future, in a new fresh interpretation.

Justin's Thoughts: After blending it initially, the first bite was amazing. We found that after blending it, it was extremely thick and we started adding this and adding that and soon, it became another recipe altogether...which seems to happen a lot in raw food "cooking". Overall, an excellent recipe by not really a vinaigrette, which I believe must have vinegar in it...I could be wrong, though.

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


Justin & Heidi

P.S. Please note that although Karen has given us permission to post her recipes, we will only be posting some of the recipes from her ebook.

I Love Raw Almonds

Raw Almond Milk

Over the past week there has been an enormous outcry throughout the raw foods/ living foods communities:


Almond Board of California plans to label pasteurized almonds as "raw"


Now, when Justin and I started this blog, we made the decision that we would avoid anything "political". But, when I first saw the news via an email message someone had sent to me, I knew that we could not avoid this issue. Soon enough, there was a ripple of blog posts and news articles. I read posts by countless raw foodists who are normally very happy people who normally write about how much they love raw food. But when this news came out, people were livid instead of "living". They were pissed. Teeth clenching, fists in the air. Screaming and yelling and typing on keyboards.

Many of the raw bloggers out there have pleas to write to the Almond Board of California with letters that sound more like death threats than concerned consumers. Someone posted one of the letters that they sent to the Almond Board. It said something to the effect of.. "You better make the almonds raw, or else."

Yeah, that sure is nice! I'd hate to be the person opening that piece of mail!

I was saddened by all of this drama. Sadness doesn't get you very far to a solution. And neither does anger.

So let's take a time out here.

Think about this: The Almond Board of California is a group of farmers who have almond trees. In this organization is a wide variety of almond growers, representing big farms and small farms. We buy almonds mostly from these guys because they are the largest almond organization in the world.

We eat these almonds, from these farmers, about 99% of the time.

Although California is the largest area of almond growers in the world, there must be other growers elsewhere. So if the Almond Board of California wants to take away our yummy delicious raw almonds... I'll just buy raw almonds somewhere else.

But I do not think that all hope is lost. The decision does not seem to be set in stone...yet.

A few days ago I was thinking about the situation and thinking about all the times I have had raw almonds. I feel so grateful that they have grown these almonds and sold them in their current raw state for so many years. These almonds still sprout. We still make nut milks out of these almonds. We still make pates from these almonds, and buy nut butters made from these almonds.

And that is when it hit me: I love these almonds! We all love these almonds!

Why are we all spending so much time worrying and being angry about pasteurization? Why aren't we talking about how much we love raw almonds?! This is what I want to think about. This is what I want to talk about. And that is what I am going to blog about.

I love raw almonds. And I want there to be more raw almonds in my life.

And this is when I had an idea that made me feel really good inside....

What if there are enough of us to send thank you cards and words of encouragement to the Almond Board telling them how much we love raw almonds!

• What if we told them how many pounds of raw almonds we buy in a week or a month or a year!
  
• What if we sent them pictures of all the delicious things we have made with raw almonds!
  
• What if we told our stories of how raw almonds changed our lives; especially those of us with dairy allergies falling in love with milk and cookies again, this time almond milk and cookies!

Perhaps they would see how much we care about them, and care about raw almonds. I don't think they know how many customers they would completely lose if they stopped offering raw almonds.

Here are some suggestions you can do right now to show your love for raw almonds:

• Start making recipes with raw almonds, and take photos of your creations.
• Sign the Petition created by Seth from Living Nutz (I wish the petition title was a bit more positive, but perhaps the love is in there somewhere. 7188 signatures so far!)
  
• Send some love to the Almond Board of California, and tell them how much you love raw almonds. Send a postcard. Or a care package!
  
• Have a raw almond party potluck, and have everyone bring a dish with raw almonds as one of the ingredients. Perhaps you could even wear ivory and brown, just like almonds do!
• If you have a blog, create a post or share some photos on Flickr about how much you love raw almonds. Then send us a link, and we'll post everyone's love for raw almonds in a blog post in the near future.
  

Got another idea? Let us know and I'll add your idea to this list!

Let's send out some love!
Rock On,
~ Heidi

Further Reading and Resources:

News Target.com article "Almond Board of California to falsely label pasteurized almonds as "raw"
We Like It Raw: Mandatory Almond Pasteurization
Specifics of the Almond Boards Pasteurization Action Plan
Contact the Almond Board of California - feedback form


P.S. I want to thank the many people who contacted us and asked me to write something about this.

Easter Raw Chocolate Overload!

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

VS

Double Chocolate Dream Tarts by Carmella

Do you miss Easter chocolate and candies?

Personally, looking at that lame, chocolate Easter bunny above in comparison to the incredible Double Chocolate Dream...what is there to miss?!

Once again, here is proof that not only can raw foods be exciting, they can be downright incredible.

That insanely tasty picture was posted last Tuesday over at The Sunny Raw Kitchen, where chef and fellow raw food blogger Carmella has given probably the greatest, tastiest, and chocolate-iest blog post ever!

Being very inspired by a request to create something raw and chocolate for Easter, she turned her kitchen upside down to create the most incredible display of raw chocolate treats we have ever seen in one place!

So if you "cheated" this Easter and had some pastel M&M's, get ready to never want bland, sugar and dairy-laden, non-raw chocolate ever again.


So go see for yourself...

and drooooooooooooooool...

Raw Easter Chocolate Overload at The Sunny Raw Kitchen blog

~ Justin & Heidi

Bonus: Carmella has generously posted some of the recipes! Go check out the blog right now!

P.S. The chocolate post may seem "long", but that is because it is full of information and recipes. If you just want to see some raw food pictures to drool over, just keep scrolling; we know you will want all the recipes!

Raw Food Real World Recipe: Creamy Macadamia Milk

Creamy Macadamia Milk 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: Creamy Macadamia Milk

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


Recipe Type: Beverage / Nut Milk

Serving Size: Two large servings, or four smaller servings

Ingredients: macadamia nuts, sweetener (like agave nectar), water, some other stuff

Approximate Time to Make: About five minutes (minus soaking and chill time)

Heidi's Thoughts: Yum. Yum. Yum. I know I have said it before, but this is now my favorite nut milk. This nut milk has a fantastic creamy flavor. I was excited to make this milk because I thought that the Macadamia nuts would make it so creamy that we wouldn't need to strain the milk. Next time I think I would strain it, unless I was going to put the milk into another recipe, or into a fruit smoothie. My favorite part about this milk is that the color is amazing. I tried to take a photo of the milk to show off the color, but you'll just have to make it yourself to see it in person. This is the only nut milk I've made that comes close to an actual "milk" color. Very ivory white. Beautiful. And delicious too!

Justin's Thoughts: Matthew and Sarma recommend keeping it a little gritty by not straining it. Personally, I like my nut milks really, really creamy and smooth, so next time I will definitely strain it. This is our first time using macadamia nuts for a nut milk, although we've used mac nuts for cream and "cheeses" in the past. I'm still blown away by the macadamia nut; it truly is an amazing nut and can always be counted on to make things really creamy and smooth.

Bonus: This milk can last in the fridge for one to two days!

Justin & Heidi

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

Instant Raw Sensations Recipe - Roquette Me Soup

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

Recipe Title: Roquette Me Soup

Book: Instant Raw Sensations by Frederic Patenaude.


Recipe Type: Raw Soup

Serving Size: Two people

Ingredients: Avocado, arugula (roquette), orange tomatoes

Approximate Time to Make: About 10 minutes (mostly prep time, blending is quick)


Heidi's Thoughts: This is one of our more successful soups. This is a recipe that shows how easy a raw soup can be if your ingredients are in proportion to one another. This is a good blend of flavors and I love how creamy the soup is.

Justin's Thoughts: I don't know why, but I love bitter, green, dark stuff. I love green soups and green smoothies. I love raw cacao, plain...right out of the bag. It must be all the espressos I used to drink! But it's a good thing, because we all know how amazing dark-leafy greens can be for your body and this soup does deliver that. Arugula must be one of my favorite greens; bitter, pungent, yummy. Great soup. I'll be making more green soups in the coming months as spring is here.

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



P.S. And by the way, if you do plan on getting this book, be prepared that most of the recipe titles are...um, silly...but the recipes are quick, delicious, and contain mostly all fruits, vegetables, and greens. Very little fats.