Raw Taco Salad

Man I just keep getting laaaazier and laaaaaazier with photographs lately. I guess it's because it's difficult to get excited about raw foods.

I've been perusing a lot of raw food blogs, and the photography is just stellar. Everything about the diet sounds so healthful, and conscious, and like a perfectly decent way to live and prepare fresh, whole foods.

But it's not for everyone! Simple as that, I guess. Whereas I am excited that my new journey into these types of foods allow me to be able to introduce raw meals into my diet, I am MORE excited knowing that at some point soon I will get to eat a FRIED EGG!!!

That said, I was pleasantly surprised with this taco salad. The other week I made tacos that featured this very raw corn salsa, and it was a hit. So I decided to whip that up agian. It consists of:

~raw corn!
~diced tomatoes!
~juice of a couple limes!
~lots of fresh cilantro!
~cucumber!
~avocado!
~S&P!

I bet garlic would be good too. But I knew I'd be adding it to the "meat" so I held off.

The "meat" consists of walnuts and cauliflower. That's it! Oh, and maybe a little bit of olive oil and some Mexican spices (cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder).

The "sour cream" consists of cashews, lemon juice, water, and apple cider vinegar.

It's hard to replace meat and cheese. But I didn't feel guilty downing two bowls of this...so that's a plus ;-)

Raw Zucchini Lasagna

This was, actually, delicious. Doesn't beat the cooked version with actual cheese, of course. But a chubby girl's gotta do what a chubby girl's gotta do to become slighly less chubby. -_-*

I think the reason I enjoyed this is because there is a lot of hidden fats in there. Haha. I am SO BAD at this diet.

Started off by making rather thick slices of zucchini from boyfriend's garden (they just keep COMING! It's like the zucchini-pocalypse, I swear --- oh yes, and I'm totally copyrighting that term.), slices of a yellow-orangish heirloom tomato, some sliced crimini mushrooms, and a handful of fresh spinach. I kept layering them, adding a new sauce to each layer.

Awful. Photos. Sorry. @_@

SAUCE 1: PESTO
Thrown in the food processor:
-Handful of raw almonds
-Handful of fresh parsley
-Handful of fresh basil
-Several large glugs of cold-pressed olive oil
-S&P
-1 large clove garlic
-Glug of lemon juice

SAUCE 2: MARINARA
Thrown in the food processor:
-1 large red Heirloom tomato, roughly sliced
-1 clove garlic
-S&P
-A few slices of orange bell pepper from the garden
-Some fresh leaves of basil
-Some fresh leaves of parsley
-About a teaspoon of raw honey
-Several large shakes of dried basil & oregano

I guess cutting the zucchini thinner may
help with the cutting problem?

SAUCE 3: CHEESE
Thrown in the food processor:
-Handful of raw cashews
-A few tablespoons of Nutritional Yeast (not raw I guess; oh well)
-Scant amounts of coconut oil
-S&P
-(Next time, totally going to add some almond milk or coconut milk)

And there you have it!

It was good, but actually pretty hard to eat. It doesn't "cut" like a normal piece of lasagna, so you just sort of end up eating it like a messy salad. I tried to cut into it several times, and the whole damn thing slipped off the plate at least twice!

Oh --- and the first few bites I took were room temperature/cold, but when I heated it slightly in the microwave the flavors really came out more.

Raw Salmon Wraps

This was MUCH more of a success than lunch. At least I'm not on a vegan raw diet. I still get to eat fish!!!

I got a giant slab of Salmon from Whole Foods the other day, and wanted to do more with it than just cutting it up and pouring soy sauce all over it (which would be delicious also).

SIDE NOTE: Soy sauce is not raw. Coconut Aminos, however, is. It's basically sap from the coconut tree. And it tastes surprisingly like soy sauce. Nature is WEIRD.

Nothing like good ol' laptop daylight to make things look more appetizing.

SO, I decided to put my kitchen tools to the test, and sliced up some strips of carrot & zucchini, laid a thin strip of salmon over the top, added red amaranth sprouts and green onion, then wrapped them up in a cozy thinly-sliced cucumber blanket.

I'll be back to 15 pounds
lighter in no time!...Maybe.

I gotta be honest. I had trouble mandolin-ing the cucumber. I don't know why...maybe the cucumber was too big? It really was huge. 

That was the reason I decided not to cut them like small pieces of maki sushi...I figured they would fall apart. So they became little wraps!

I prepared a yummy sauce for them --- coconut milk, grated ginger, coconut aminos, and sriracha. THAT was good. I might try the same thing on some kelp noodles and mushrooms or something next time I feel like "cooking" up an Asian meal.

All in all --- this is a raw meal I could get down for.

It looks pretty now, but dang did I make a mess eating it.

Of course, I had to raid the pantry for raw watermelon seeds and raw chocolate snack bites to satiate my still-remaining hunger, but hey, small steps.

The Worst Diet EVER - AKA, Raw Indian Spice Soup & Heirloom Tomatoes

Well, the title might be an exaggeration. But seriously. The raw diet is the OPPOSITE of everything I look forward to when it comes to food. It's so foreign to me. But of course, since I am a glutton for punishment, I am now on this diet. Well, okay. Less about being a glutton for punishment and more about being a regular glutton (needing to lose weight).

NOW I know what it feels like to have no idea what you're doing in the kitchen. It's scary.

But, on a brighter note, I do appreciate fresh ingredients and fresh flavors. And, THANK GOD, I can still have avocados. I also bought some raw sprouted watermelon seeds, which turned out to be quite delicious (who would have thought?)!

Anyway, here we have a raw soup experiment for lunch! I didn't really like the texture and I don't think I like raw carrots as a soup base. I kept trying to make it more savory but I just couldn't do it, so I accepted that it's going to basically just taste like carrots. Because, well, that's what it's made out of.

...Not appetizing, I know. I think I'll put cashew cream in it next time to mellow it out.

It's basically 4 large carrots, a few medallions of sliced leek, curry powder, garam masala, salt and pepper, cumin, garlic clove, and some coconut milk.

Oh yeah! And I sprinkled Red Amaranth sprouts on it (that's what's awkwardly floating in the bowl). No idea what they are. But they're a pretty color and have a unique fresh taste, that's almost beet-like.

Inadvertent color coordination with the purple basil and red
amaranth. AND the tomatoes match the carrot soup!
I guess I really am an artist.

As far as the tomatoes went, It's a pretty basic situation.

Sliced up an orange heirloom, added olive oil, balsamic vinegar (not raw, oh well), fresh garden basil, S&P and more Red Amaranth.



I NEVER eat raw tomatoes. I never eat raw anything. This is going to be a very challenging diet for me.



The good news is, the tomatoes weren't all that bad! I actually enjoyed them.



...Could use some mozzerella though.